Undertale: The Royal Hunt

by HowManyJays

"The little girl just could not sleep because her thoughts were way too deep, her mind had gone out for a stroll and fallen down the rabbit hole." - A life of fear is not what Frisk ever expected to have. - Warning: this is a dark AU that tackles mature themes and is not recommended for sensitive readers.

15. The Forest FINAL

The Forest FINAL

Frisk was now once again walking in silence through the cold and dreary forest. Half an hour had passed since the strange old creature died in her arms and his dust and previously tangled garbage flew the windy air. Flowey then spent a good few, dreadful but quiet minutes cleaning the dust that fell on Frisk. Even if she managed to perfectly guise herself as a monster, Flowey pointed out that it was perhaps not a good idea to be wandering around covered in monster dust. Frisk didn't find herself able to care as she just stood there silently and partly shook, absorbing what had just occurred.

These minutes felt like hours for her, with so many dark and bleak thoughts filling her mind at the time. Then she looked at the dust on her hands, the one that used to be a living, breathing creature just a few minutes ago, and began to think about how some people and monsters die alone without no-one ever noticing or caring. If not for her, this creature, Gyftrot, would've. Was such a common occurrence here in this strange new world? How many people, or even monsters, died in secret and yet the world kept turning? Those thoughts led to other thoughts about mortality, her own or currently lack thereof, and then she wondered whether the timelines or universes where she died didn't get erased, but rather branched off, so she may have permanently died in the ruins after that long fall in the ancient city, or when she stabbed herself in her own throat back by the stone door, and the surface world would never know her true fate..

These dark ponderings and many more kept flowing even when she had wandered far from the dusty grave of the old monster, like a constantly splitting stream where all paths flowed to misery. Flowey noticed her unease after about a half an hour of silence. It was subtle, but it was impossible for him to miss since he knew what had just happened. He sighed. Not because he was annoyed at her for feeling awful, or because he expected her to behave differently, rather because a part of him, even if it was a small, minuscule source of empathy, knew her feeling. And he hated being reminded of it.

"Don't be so hard on yourself Frisk," Flowey said to her. "There was no way we could've saved that guy."

"I-I just can't stop feeling if I missed something," Frisk said. "Like, maybe there was something I could've done differently to save him. Called someone or… or maybe..."

She stopped herself mid-sentence. Every choice, every possibility she tried to think of, she couldn't find any that didn't involve her having to go back much, much further than her last point. As much as she hated to admit it, Frisk found herself agreeing with Flowey.

She found herself now mentally exhausted and sat down on a nearby rock on the road.

"You're right," she said, staring at the ground. "There was nothing I could've done. And I know that that means I should just move on so to speak but… I still can't help but feel awful y'know? It really fucking sucks."

"I know," Flowey said. "I know how that feels, trust me."

Frisk went quiet as she gathered her thoughts. Then she gave out a deep, sad sigh.

"When I woke up yesterday," she began. "Hell, even after I fell down that hole, I literally did not expect that just a few hours later I would learn that actual monsters, magic and souls, things that should belong in fantasy, are real, and then in just a span of a single day I would see 2- I mean 3 people, for lack of a better word, die right in front of me, if ever. One by my own hands even. God. I'm 16 years old and I've already killed someone. I mean yeah, yeah, that technically didn't happen any more but...y' know."

She gave out another sigh.

"Now, here I am," she continued. "Scared, cold and confused while stuck in the middle of goddamn Wonderland while some guy I've never met or even seen before possibly wants to take me and maybe kill me. And then there's my power that I still don't understand. I've even died twice now and… it's all just too much ok? I've just…"

Frisk then put her hands on her head as she stared exhaustingly at the ground.

"I'm not made for this shit," she muttered.

At the moment, Frisk found herself no longer thinking or caring. She barely even cared when she felt a slight stirring in her backpack, followed by the soft sensation of a flowery vine moving slowly against her cheek.

"Y'know," Flowey began. "I know what I'm supposed to do now, but I just like to start by saying I'm not really great at all in doing these "comforting" things. Heck, I may not have even done one as far as I can remember. Not to mention, I believe I literally lack some emotions everyone else has."

He waited for a second, seemingly expecting a cheeky response from the girl, but she instead said nothing. So he continued.

"But," Flowey began. "Even with that said and while my memory is admittedly terrible and full of random holes, I can honestly say I know what you're going through. Truly. Of all the things I've forgotten, all the possible joyful moments I have had that have vanished deep within my memory back, somehow that feeling, the feeling of powerlessness, is one of the things that stayed. I mean, I felt that way during my years-long coma unsurprisingly so that might be why it stuck so hard, while other things I wished for have long gone deep into my memory storage. Anyway, the point I'm making is… I agree. It really does suck. When I had the same time-binding powers as you do now, I had to eventually accept that while I could do so many things with it, I was not omnipotent, in that there were still so much I couldn't do. It took me years to realize that even with the power to literally undo your mistakes, you're not really a god after all. But… that's just life ain't it? Even the most powerful monsters or magicians can't control everything. And while we would all love to be able to, the fact is we can't. No one can. So in a way, once you find the limit, I think is the moment where you find out you can make the most of yourself. In other words, I honestly believe that the best we can do once we hit the impossible wall is to just go with it. If we can't cross the stream, then we might as well just go with the flow and see where it takes us. Or something like that."

Frisk turned to look at Flowey partly in shock. She felt at the moment like he was a completely different flower from the one she awoke in the ruins just a few hours ago, the one who snarkily didn't care when she accidentally killed the old man. It was if he was replaced sometime in the past hour without her noticing

But either way, she didn't care. His words caused a small weight to be lifted from her heart, only slightly but it was enough so that she found herself smiling again.

"Thanks, Flowey," Frisk said. "It's not much, but… thanks for the effort. I think I needed something like that."

"Well I tried to do my best," Flowey said. "Like I said. It was my first time."

"Heh, for a supposed first time that wasn't too bad," Frisk said and chuckled. "Could've maybe made a few changes here and there but… its the thought that counts at least."

She became quiet and her smile faded slowly.

"I… think I should apologize," she said.

"For what?" Flowey asked as if she just grew ten feet.

"Well I… kinda thought you were an asshole at first," Frisk admitted. "And I… may or may not have been considering tossing you away earlier."

"Really now?" Flowey asked, sounding even more surprised, yet slightly amused at the same time.

"I only considered it for a moment," Frisk quickly said. "Still, it just goes to show you that I maybe shouldn't have judged you so early after all after all."

"Oh no, honestly you weren't wrong," Flowey said. "At first that is. I was admittedly… kind of an ass."

Frisk smiled softly.

"Yeah you are," she said half-jokingly. "You may be an ass, but... you're not that bad actually. Turns out, you're kinda nice actually."

Just as Frisk finished that last sentence, there came what looked like a sudden and terrible shock to Flowey. He glared at her, with what looked like a heartbroken expression, almost as if she had just triggered a terrible memory from his past.

"Flowey, what's wrong?" Frisk asked worryingly.

He suddenly turned his head away from her like he couldn't bear to be in her presence anymore.

"I… I…" was all he muttered while sounding like he was utterly traumatized.

"Did I say something bad or…" Frisk began, feeling somewhat scared. "Seriously, what's wrong?"

Flowey didn't reply.

"Alright, maybe it's not my place to ask," Frisk said. "I mean, sure we only met like this morning and-"

Suddenly, as if he was possessed by some devil, Flowey suddenly and incredibly quickly turned back his head in a complete half-circle and his usual smug face was now instead replaced by pitch-black eye sockets and a terrifying visage that seemed to express pure hatred and evil.

"That's right, you don't know me!" he hissed with utter fury in his voice. "You don't know me one bit!"

"Jesus fucking Christ!" Frisk exclaimed and fell off the rock.

At that moment, all the blackness and evil in the flowers face suddenly faded away, and he stared at the girl with the biggest face of sorrow and regret Frisk had ever seen like he had turned a tearful little lamb.

"I-I'm sorry, he quickly said. "I- I'm so sorry."

"You better be," Frisk said as she slowly rose back up from the snow. "What the fuck was that?!"

"I… I…" Flowey muttered as if he tried to find an excuse. "It's just that…"

Frisk sighed.

"Look, man," she began. "If you don't want to talk about it now, that's fine. We all have things we don't want to share, god knows I have a lot, and as you said, I don't even know you. But Jesus you really didn't have to pull that shit. Let's just agree that we both have secrets we would rather not share, ok? If you don't want to talk about it, then that's that."

Flowey became quiet for a good few moments as if he was thinking something.

"Alright," he then said. "Let's just agree that this never happened."

"Deal," Frisk said.

They looked away from each other, into no particular direction, and the air became filled with silence again. It felt a bit awkward at the moment, but to Frisk, it made her feel slightly uneasy.

"Well now," Flowey said as if he read her mind and decided to break it. "That could've gone better. I'm guessing this is the first and last time I attempt the comforting business again."

Frisk lightly snorted and smiled.

"Alright, let's keep going now," she said.

"Oh yeah lets," Flowey said.

They had only walked for a few more minutes when Flowey suddenly became agitated.

"Stop," he whispered.

Frisk immediately followed his command and became very still.

"What?" Frisk whispered back.

"Do you hear that?" Flowey asked as he looked around.

Frisk stood awhile and listened. She now did indeed hear something. It was a bit faint, but in the immense quiet of the wood, it might as well have been as loud as a storm. It sounded as if somewhere in behind the trees, there was a hint of chatter.

"Yeah, I think I hear it," Frisk confirmed. "Sounds like people talking right?"

"Exactly," Flowey said.

"Wait, could we be finally close to that town, umm, Snowing or whatever it's called?" Frisk asked.

"Snowdin, and no, I don't think so," Flowey answered. "Because if my memory serves correct, which it honestly might not but I am sure of it this time, there should be a hill and a bridge that connects to it, and so far we've seen no hill or bridge."

He slowly extended his neck vine towards Frisk and smiled cheekily.

"Should we go check it out?" he asked.

Frisk snorted lightly in surprise.

"You seem suddenly interested in this?" she replied suspiciously. "Not like worried about any danger or anything this time?"

"You scored well two out of two so far," Flowey said. "You're not quitting this curiosity game now are you."

"Of course not," Frisk said and smiled. "I mean, if it's finally something bad then I still I have a best two out of three points."

Flowey out of the sudden looked as if he had a silly realization.

"Hang on, did we just make a game out of this?" he asked.

"I think we did, yeah," Frisk said, with the same tone of realization.

"Alright," Flowey said and his grin widened. "Then let's continue playing."

With that said, Frisk headed off the road again and trod through the snow and trees. The snow wasn't that deep thankfully enough, so the biggest obstacle was the thick trees and branches. After a while, the voices became more audible.

"Gotta say, that innkeepers bun wasn't as good as I remembered," one male voice said.

"Yeah, it tasted almost as bad as Jerry's asshole, HAH!" said another, smugger sounding voice.

"You've tasted Jerry's asshole?" asked a third male voice.

"What!?" replied the smug sounding voice. "No, I- hey stop laughing guys it's not funny!"

"Sounds like they're having fun," Frisk said softly as she closed in on the chatter.

She could now see a bright, orange light through the foliage. After a few more steps, she thought it was very clear what this source of light was.

A campfire, she thought. Must be. But if so, who would be camping here so deep in the forest? And why?

Her suspicions were confirmed as she moved through the next branch. In front of her now was, in fact, an average-sized campfire, only slightly larger than the one in the old camp with the fat skeleton, and with clearly much more effort put into this one.

Around the campfire were what looked like four strange bird creatures, clearly clueless about her presence and Flowey's presence. They were unusually large for birds, with the smallest one being just about the size of her backpack, while the tallest seemed to be about as tall as Frisk herself. The four of them seemed to be three separate species, with two of them being very similar-looking besides the different coloured feathers.

The smallest of the bird creature, the one who also happened to be the farthest from where Frisk was standing, looked a bit like a snowman with an oversized head, much larger than its body. How the entire body could even support that weight, Frisk had no rational solution for, so she just assumed it was magic. The body was white and plain-looking, and it's thick, seemingly fingerless limbs reminded Frisk very much of old school teddybears. On the large head were two white dots resembling eyes of a penguin, just much paler, and in the centre was what Frisk assumed was a long, yellow beak. Finally, on top of its head was perhaps the most noticeable part of its strange design, a large, crown-like structure that appeared to be made of solid ice. It took Frisk a moment to notice that it wasn't a part of its body, but rather a strange ice hat of some kind.

To the right of that creature, or rather left from where Frisk was standing, were the two similar-looking birds, sitting side by side. Both of them were very large, both in height and width, almost reminding Frisk of penguins like the first creature. But they both were clearly much closer to ostriches or chickens that had somehow grown to human size. Their bodies were covered in thick feathers except on their distinct yellow underbelly, and their large heads were looked to resemble snowflake patterns, with white lines expanding from each corner and meeting in the centre where a large, yellow beak was formed. They also both had two yellow eyes that faced the front rather than the side like most birds on earth, and their avian look was complete with yellow chicken legs standing out beneath them.

The most noticeable difference between the two of them, besides their outfits or lack thereof, was their colour schemes, with the one sitting beside the small, ice hat-wearing bird being cyan coloured and the other one being sea-green, and wearing what looked broken, oversized sunglasses on his beak.

Last but not least, was the tall, skinny bird closest to Frisk. For some reason, it sat much further from the other two, with its back just a few feet away from Frisk. Frisk found hard to gain much from it, as heavy foliage hid most of its features so she could only guess from silhouettes. From what she could see, that one was much more humanoid than the others, with rough and very dirty feathers, and it also seemed to be the only one who wore any proper clothes on the rest of his body and not just on its head. That was the only thing Frisk could manage from that particular one as she hid in the foliage to hide from the sight of the clueless birds, and she wasn't even sure if that particular one was even a bird after all.

These four monsters were all casually chatting, about nothing major from what Frisk could gather. Their subjects and way of speaking, in fact, reminded her incredibly much of her classmates from back home.

"Ahh, teenagers," Flowey whispered as he examined them. "Looks like we found your people Frisk."

"Oh haha," Frisk replied in a whisper as well. "You're the one speaking. Didn't you say earlier today that you are a teen as well?"

"Yeah I technically am, but try telling these guys that that," Flowey answered.

"Ok I think I get that, somewhat," Frisk replied. "So any idea what they are doing here anyway?"

"I can't tell you," Flowey answered.

"Hmm, figures," Frisk said.

"Oh it's not because of missing memories this time," Flowey said. "I think so at least. From what I remember, I have never seen teenagers hang out like this in the middle of the woods."

"Whatever the case, I'm gonna go take a better look," Frisk said.

She slowly stood up and began to creep to her right.

"Ok it goes without saying but be careful," Flowey said. "We still don't know what they're-"

Without looking, Frisk had stepped on a small twine and a distinct crack echoed through the campfire, causing all the birds to immediately stop their chatter.

"What was that?" the cyan coloured, snow-flake patterned bird said with a startle.

"Oh shit," Frisk whispered and quickly ducked into a nearby bush.

"I- I think it came from there," the one with the ice cap said in a soft, male voice.

He pointed with his fingerless hand in the direction of the bush where Frisk was now hiding.

"Oh must be that old Gyftrot guy again," said a smug sounding male voice.

Frisk didn't see who of the group said that, but she assumed it was that bird monster she couldn't see clearly.

"That old geezer?" The cyan coloured said. "What does he want this time?"

"Hey are you spying on us?!" the green bird with the sunglasses yelled at Frisk's direction, clearly trying to sound tough.

Crap, Frisk thought. Crap, crap, crap.

"What should I-" she began.

"Shhh!" hushed Flowey.

"I heard that!" the green bird yelled. "Show yourself!"

Crap, Frisk thought. Guess I've got no choice.

Feeling defeated, she slowly stood up from the bush and revealed herself.

"Frisk, what are you-" Flowey began.

She didn't listen to him, and now she stood in the open while all the birds looked at her direction with interest and suspicions, including the tall one that was previously hidden. Now that he was turned around, Frisk could see that his dirty, rough feathers were cobalt blue and his beak was yellow like a chicken. His black, strangely human-like eyes were behind broken, plain-looking glasses, and to complete his somewhat nerdy look, he was also dressed in a white and short-sleeved, bottom-down shirt alongside a plain black, t-shirt underneath.

That bird looked at her with a bit of an analytical expression that shewed a clear hint of smugness, yet he somehow looked like he also cared the least in her out of the four around him. The large cyan coloured one with a head like a snowflake didn't seem to mind her either while the green twin beside him with the broken sunglasses, Frisk found hard to read. The dwarf-sized one with the strange ice hat, on the other hand, seemed surprisingly the most interested in her.

"Uhhh, hi?" Frisk said awkwardly and raised one hand.

"Who the hell are you?" the green bird asked her.

"I'm Frisk and this is my, uh, friend Flowey," she said and pointed to her companion dangling from her backpack.

Flowey turned to her, slightly surprised and amused by her choice of words.

"Hang on," the small one with the ice-cap said while looking straight at Frisk. "I know what you are."

Uh oh, Frisk thought.

She could feel Flowey stir in her backpack as if he was preparing for her to book it. Frisk was now even starting to seriously consider that idea. But only for a moment, as that idea faded once the strange, small bird continued speaking.

"You're an ape monster," he said. "What the hell are you doing all the way up here, and so deep in the woods."

Oh thank god, Frisk thought and softly breathed in relief.

"More importantly," the cyan one began. "What were you doing hiding there? Did an adult send you? Because if so, we are not going back to town."

"No, it's nothing like that," Frisk said. "We were just travelling nearby, and then we heard you talking and became curious. That's all, I swear."

The four avian creatures looked at each other in unison.

"Alright, I guess that sounds fair," the green one with the sunglasses said.

"I told you guys we should've kept it down," the cyan one said.

"Oh, how were we supposed to know that tourists just happened to be walking by at this hour?" the green one replied to him.

"I personally think we should give these guys a chance," the small one with an ice hat said and turned towards Frisk. "Hey, why won't you join us? We've got some space."

"Uhh, what?" Frisk replied in shock.

She didn't expect that invitation and felt incredibly pulled back.

"Yeah it's been nothing short of a sausage fest here for a while now," the tall, blue one said and smirked. "Would nice to have a few… buns here as well, eh?"

"Oh, c'mon Berdly, don't be like that," the green one with broken sunglasses said and then turned towards Frisk. "Yeah, what Ice-Cap said, you can sit down with us, we don't mind."

"I mean… you don't have to," the one called Ice-Cap added. "I was just suggesting that and uhh-"

"No, no, it's no problem," Frisk quickly said. "We're not in a hurry or anything so I guess I can join you for a while."

Without even checking on Flowey, she pushed through the thick bush and headed towards the campfire.

"Aww, you called me your friend," Flowey whispered sarcastically into her ear. "How sweet."

"Yeah yeah," Frisk muttered back.

She sat down between the large, cyan bird and the dwarf-sized creature with the ice cap, who on closer inspection, didn't look much like a bird up close. He, in fact, looked much closer to a snowman built to imitate a bird.

The green one with the broken sunglasses seemed like a leader of the group, so it was fitting that he was the first to speak now.

"So for starters," he began. "You can call me Chilldrake, and these are my roommates. Sort of. That jerk over there is Berdly."

He pointed with his winged hand towards the skinny blue one, who raised his hands as if to wave. He even managed to somehow make that simple act of raising his hand seem smug.

"That guy over there we call Ice-Cap, because he, well wears an ice cap," Chilldrake said and pointed to the dwarfish, snowman looking one besides Frisk.

"Hi," that one said courteously before suddenly turning a bit serious. "Don't touch my hat though. It's mine and I really like it."

"Right…" Frisk replied.

"And this," Chilldrake continued and patted the back of the cyan bird between Frisk and himself. "Is my pal Snowdrake, and before you ask, no we are not related."

"Ahh, Snowdrake," Frisk said and snorted. "I get it."

"Get what?" the cyan, snowflake headed bird asked, sounding genuinely confused. "What's so weird about my name Snow-"

Suddenly, his eyes lit up like a Christmas ornament as his expression turned into shock.

"Oh my gods," he said, sounding shocked and mildly insulted. "My friggin name is a pun!"

All the other boys suddenly burst into laughter, and Frisk found herself feeling a bit of confusion. Then, without being able to help it, she found herself beginning to chuckle a bit as well.

"Hey stop that!" Snowdrake commanded. "It's not funny."

"You're… you're only figuring it out now?" Berdly asked amidst his glee.

"Wait, you guys knew?!" Chilldrake asked in frustration. "Why the hell didn't you guys tell me before!"

That just made the group laugh harder, and Frisk now finally properly joined inn. She couldn't remember the last time she laughed so hard among a group of people, much less one in her age group. She heard even Flowey snicker a bit behind her, but Frisk didn't pay much attention to that in the middle of the hysterics.

After a few seconds, the laughter finally faded.

"Ok, ok," Frisk began while she took a breath and smiled. "I'm sorry. I'm really sorry. I just have the tendency to laugh at the worst moments."

"Nah it's fine," Snowdrake said as he stared melancholically on the ground. "It's fine."

"Look, man," Chilldrake began and laid his wing on Snowdrake's shoulder. "You know we didn't mean to hurt you. You're still the same bird we all know and love."

"Yeah, yeah," Snowdrake said and grew a short smile.

"Just goes to show you your parents truly had a sense of humour," Ice-Cap added.

The smile on Snowdrake's beak suddenly faded as quick as off a light bulb.

"Yeah they sure did," he said in a tone of sadness.

Frisk felt like a rainstorm was gathering overhead them. She knew these conversation moments very well and decided it was best to steer away from it, somehow, before this joyful feeling was completely extinguished.

"So umm… what are you guys doing here?" she asked them.

"Oh, we are just… chilling like usual," Snowdrake said and smiled again.

"Out here in the woods?" Frisk asked. "I mean I'm pretty much new here so-"

"Wait, did none of you get my joke?" Snowdrake suddenly asked. "Seriously? Chilling? Y'know, because it's cold out here."

"Uhh, what?" Chilldrake said.

"Umm sorry Snowy," Ice-Cap began. "But I didn't even think any of us realized you were joking."

"Oh seriously?!" Snowdrake replied, mildly frustrated. "You and the newbies laugh at my misery but you don't think much about a proper, actual joke?"

"I got it," Berdly said.

"See?" Snowdrake said. "He has only half a brain but even he got it."

"Yeah, but it wasn't like funny," Berdly replied. "I got it, but it wasn't funny."

"Oh, c'mon man," Snowdrake exclaimed.

"Yeah and the fact that you explained it," Flowey suddenly added. "Which is like the number one sin in comedy, kind of did nothing but take away from it."

"Flowey, he's just trying to have fun," Frisk said, somewhat sternly.

"Well, then if he wants to be properly funny," Flowey began. "He should be able to take some critique in the least."

"What are you like the joke police now or something?" Frisk asked sarcastically. "Besides, I don't think he's really here for critique. Let's just agree to disagree about what's funny for now ok?"

Flowey looked at her, then at Snowdrake and then back at her. Eventually, he frowned and said:

"Fine, I'll shut up."

"Great," Frisk said.

"Oh thank you girl," Snowdrake said with relief.

She then turned towards Berdly.

"Oh and you too," she added.

"What are you, my mom or something?" the bluebird replied snarkily. "You ain't telling me what to feel or do."

"C'mon let's not make a deal out of this," Chilldrake said. "She's right. If we keep arguing, today is just gonna suck for everyone. We don't want to create another Jerry situation right?"

"Ugh, good point," Berdly said and frowned.

"Jerry situation?" Flowey asked with interest.

"Eh, it's a long story," Chilldrake answered.

"We have time," Frisk said. "Right Flowey?"

"Yeah, yeah," Flowey said.

"Umm, about that," Snowdrake began.

"Yeah, sorry but we kinda don't want to bring it up again," Chilldrake said with a hint of discomfort. "Kinda brings back bad memories."

"Oh," Frisk expressed. "Ok then, nevermind, I get that."

An awkward silence suddenly formed between the group. The type that forms when most of the people involved never properly developed their social skills. The only sound Frisk heard was the subtle crackling of the fireplace and the soft wind fluttering against the other kids' feathers. She decided that she should be the one to break the ice, as it felt like her job for the previous conversations she had in the past few days.

"Sooooo like I asked before," she began. "But what are you guys, well, doing here?"

"Well we live here," Ice-cap answered.

"Why do you care?" Berdly asked rudely.

"I'm just curious," Frisk said. "I mean, I see no adults or teachers around- wait. Did you just say you live here?!"

"Uh-huh," Ice-Cap confirmed.

Frisk looked at him in disbelief and then smirked.

"What, so is this like a Lost Boys situation or something?" she asked.

The four creatures looked at her confused.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Chilldrake asked in confusion.

"Yeah, we're not lost, I think," Snowdrake added.

"No that's not what I meant," Frisk said. "Nevermind. Why did I think you would get that reference?"

"What reference?" Snowdrake asked.

"Uhhh," Frisk began awkwardly. "It's nothing. Just a thing from… Peter Pan. A famous… story… from where I am from. Apetown that is. Obviously. Because I'm an ape monster. Where else?"

"Ohh, can you maybe tell us?" Ice-Cap suddenly asked. "I kind of have an interest in folktales. Especially foreign monster stories."

Oh fuck, Frisk thought anxiously. Why did this group of teens just happen to have a fairy tale nerd?

"Ok umm, listen," Frisk began nervously. "I ain't gonna tell you the whole story, otherwise we'll be here all day. It's a long one. Let's just say that a part of it involves a group of boys who umm, call themselves The Lost Boys and they uhh…they live in the woods I guess. Away from parents and civilization. Sorry, it's been a while since I saw- I mean heard the story, yeah."

The group of teenage monsters looked at each other as if they all simultaneously got the same idea.

"Looks like we found our name boys," Berdly said.

"The Lost Boys?" Chilldrake repeated. "Gotta say, it has a nice ring to it."

"Shouldn't we umm… call ourselves The Lost Kids rather?" Ice-Cap asked. "Since we are not… only boys anymore that is."

"What?!" Frisk exclaimed. "No, no, no, sorry. I think you guys are getting some mixed messages because I'm not gonna live with you."

"I-I didn't mean that way, sorry," Ice-Cap said quickly and with a tone of regret. "I just meant… like a group of friends or something. If you don't like us or anything-"

"It's not that I don't like you," Frisk interrupted. "It's just… I've got some places to be. People to meet, crap like that. Sorry. I didn't mean to come across as rude."

"Oh ok," Ice-Cap said in a surprisingly sombre tone.

"Hey speaking of which," Flowey began. "Where are your parents? Shouldn't they be worried about you guys? Being all on your own here?"

All the teens suddenly turned dreadfully silent and they all took on a sad expression.

"Ummm…" Flowey stammered, sounding awkward and slightly disturbed. "Did I say something wrong or…?"

"No," Ice-Cap said. "Not exactly."

"What do you mean?" Frisk asked.

She was beginning to feel slightly disturbed as well.

Then after a short awkward silence, Chilldrake stepped in and said in a melancholy tone:

"We are… orphans."

Frisk felt complete discomfort drown the air around her. She stared in disbelief at the group of teenagers, waiting for another burst of laughter to follow, and if not, then at least some punchline of sorts.

"All of you?" she asked with slight disbelief.

"Uh, huh," Ice-cap confirmed sadly.

"Are you really surprised?" Berdly said. "War makes orphans y' know?"

"Wait, what?!" Frisk asked with a much clearer tone of surprise. "There's a war going on down here?!"

She was beginning to feel that every single time she asked a question about this world, at least two more questions would appear like the head of a hydra. She turned towards Flowey as if she was expecting an answer, but just a saw a similar hint of confusion in his expression.

"Wow you ape monsters are really isolated from the rest of the underground huh," Berdly said, somehow sounding both surprised and smug at the same time.

"There was a war rather," answered Chilldrake. "It ended about 15 years ago actually before most of our parents even died. Dunno why he thinks it's at all relevant."

"Uhh, are you dumb?" Berdly said. "It's not over yet just because they say so, especially if one side is still fighting."

"Yeah, but the rebellion, even if it still exists, is so small and insignificant to have any effect at this point," Chilldrake said. "Besides, most people don't give a shit about it anymore."

"So in other words, it doesn't count because you say so?" Berdly asked smugly.

"That's not what I meant and you know it!" Chilldrake said harshly.

"Maybe," Berdly replied, still with a hint of smugness. "But, either way, my old point is actually not that far fetched if you think about it. War costs money, and lack of money leads to poverty, which leads to crime and famine and those things lead to death, such as most of our parents' death. See? It's a long road, but simple."

"It sounds more like you are saying that war leads to poor people," Snowdrake added.

"Yes and that leads to more death," Berdly said, sounding almost insulted. "Are you really that dimwitted? It's not supposed to be hard to piece it together."

"I dunno," Snowdrake said. "I've known and heard of a lot of monsters who managed just fine being poor without ending up dead or criminals."

"Well those are mostly the exception obviously," Berdly said. "Besides I'm mostly talking about the underground in general as not everyone is as lucky to be born in the capital as you, where what counts as being poor is still someone owning a two-storied house with an acceptable income."

"You've never been to the capital, you are just pulling stuff from your ass!" Chilldrake said, almost yelling.

"Maybe, but at least it's all based on facts rather than guesses," Berdly said smugly.

"Guys, guys," Ice-cap said. "C'mon, stop this. Let's save this arguing for later ok? You're making our guest uncomfortable."

"Frankly, I just literally have no idea what's happening or what you guys are even talking about anymore," Frisk admitted.

It was true what she said, at least. Words and concepts like war, rebellion and the capital were just casually dumped on her already confused brain like a scrambled alphabet soup. All these new pieces of information did was add more questions to her already unclear view of this strange, new world.

"Me neither," Flowey added.

There was a subtle but unmistakable tone of confusion in his voice.

Well, if he's lost then that feels kinda validating, Frisk thought.

"Alright," Snowdrake began, sounding as if he was giving a presentation. "So in short, about 15 years ago, war broke out all over the underground. Basically, it broke out because almost everyone became unhappy with the current state of things and the king complete silence regarding everything, so many decided to finally take to arms and revolt. So, there was the kingdom's side, being King Asgore and his knights, versus a makeshift army of rebels, mostly consisting of farmers or city folk."

"You forgot to mention what happened with the queen," Berdly added.

"Dude, I'm trying to be as concise as I can for these newbies," Snowdrake said to him. "I ain't going over every detail."

"No, please tell us about the queen!" Flowey quickly said with unusual urgency in his voice.

"Uhh fine then," Snowdrake said, clearly taken aback by it.

Frisk also felt like there was something odd about his reaction. She almost felt like he was hiding something.

"Ok, so before the war," Snowdrake continued. "And before the king, well, became isolated and... crazy, the queen, who had been missing for decades mind you, suddenly returned one day. I'm not gonna go into why she was away or even why she came back. It's not really important in this context. Bottom line, she came back after a long time which was a huge deal… and then she apparently died a few days later."

"Oh," Flowey expressed.

Frisk felt a surprising hint of shock and disappointment in his voice. There was even some sadness, though she didn't think much of it at this moment.

"How did she die?" Frisk curiously asked Snowdrake.

"Well-"

"The king killed her," Berdly answered before Snowdrake. "Impaled her with his fork is what I've heard."

"That's just a theory Berdly," Chilldrake said sternly to him.

"I heard she committed suicide," Ice-Cap added.

"And I've heard she's somehow still alive," Snowdrake said. "Point is, no one knows what exactly happened during the time she came back and when she died, except for the king of course. As far as we and the public know, she's dead. There was even held a funeral and everything. After that, everything went to shit so to speak. The king became isolated and depressed and sometime after that he just officially cracked. Then there came a war and everything got worse. The economy drained, monsters lost their homes, etcetera. Yes, it was a real mess. Then the king locked himself up even more and very few have seen him ever since."

Frisk sat there for a moment as she absorbed it all. She felt a bit more satisfied now. Finally, she had some clear answers about this world and history.

"Hmm, interesting," Flowey added.

Frisk noticed that there was something about his tone that sparked interest, yet confusion. Like the type where you notice a contradiction in someone's testimony, or where you hear a different point of view from yours that makes you rethink what you've learned.

"I was too young to experience most of this by the way," Snowdrake said. "So a bunch of what I've said is just what I remember in history classes, and read online."

"Don't worry, it was good enough," Frisk said. "Thanks, I kinda get more of what's going on- wait. Read online?"

"Uhh," Snowdrake began. "Oh, yeah. You Ape monsters probably don't have internet where you are from."

They have their own frigging internet down here? Frisk thought.

"Erm," Snowdrake began. "So… it's this giant database thingy. Sorry I am not really good at explaining that shit. Berdly?"

"Yeah like he said," the bluebird began. "In short, it's an invisible giant database filled with a bunch of information. The word online, that Snowy here used, is basically a synonym for the Internet."

Frisk felt a bit of panic growing in her. For a moment, she almost blew her cover. Hearing that this strange, magical kingdom with talking animals and monsters has its own version of the internet completely threw her off track. But if she showed any knowledge of the internet, Frisk was sure they would catch on to it. She knew she had to play dumb.

"Umm… this internet… sounds fascinating," she began. "Umm, how do I… umm, where do I go to this… internet?"

God, that might've been too dumb, Frisk thought. Oh please work. Please work.

"Oh, it's not a physical place," Berdly began. "How do I explain it? Well, it's a thing you can access with your phone and stuff. You know what a phone is right?"

"Uhh," Frisk began, trying to keep up her clueless facade as best she could. "What's a-"

"You have a phone, don't you Frisk?" Flowey said behind her.

Goddammit Flowey, Frisk thought.

"Uhh yeah, yeah I have," she said and pulled it out of her pocket and showed the group.

"So you ape monsters have phones but not the internet?" Berdly asked with a confused look.

Crap, what do I say now? Frisk thought. They're right. A bunch of out there Amish people shouldn't have phones.

"Uhh, no I got it from someone recently," she lied and put the phone back in her pocket. "Right Flowey?"

She turned her head towards the flower and shewed not-so-subtle signs on her expression for him to play along.

"Right?" she asked him again.

"Uhh, yeah," Flowey said, slightly confused. "Yeah, there was this old guy we were… staying at. And he had a spare phone he gave her."

"Giving out free phones in this frigging economy?" Ice-Cap asked with interest. "Where the hell was he?"

"Uhh, somewhere near Apetown," Flowey said. "It was also his last phone and only other phone… and it's not that good. Heck, as she said, it doesn't have the frigging internet heh."

The group looked at Frisk and Flowey, and Frisk couldn't tell but hoped to god that they didn't turn suspicious of her. Thankfully, that didn't seem to be the case.

"Sounds like he ripped you off," Chilldrake said and shrugged.

"Yeah, was that guy like super old or something?" Ice-Cap asked.

"Oh definitely," Flowey said. "Like, he must've been like a few hundred at least."

Damn Flowey, Frisk thought, feeling great relief. Turns out you're actually a decent liar after all.

"Anyway, let's change the subject a bit," Flowey said. "Let's talk about something we can all understand, and not this… internet jargon. We are confusing this girl over here. Don't want her to be left out, do we."

"Yeah, good point," Snowdrake said.

"I was actually thinking the same thing," Ice-cap added.

"So if I'm getting this right, the four of you have just been living here alone in the woods for years?" Flowey asked the group.

"Pretty much," Snowdrake said.

"Well, we used to be five actually," Ice-cap said. "There was this one other guy, Jerry, but he's gone now."

"Oh," Frisk said sympathetically. "Well, I'm sorry for your loss,"

"Oh he's not dead or anything," Snowdrake said. "We think. He just left is all."

"Yeah he said he couldn't handle our "hippie lifestyle" and ditched himself a few weeks back," Chilldrake added.

"I don't think anyone of us really misses him though," Berdly said. "Guy was an utter twat."

"Yeah, if anything, I'm glad he's gone," Snowdrake added and smiled.

"S-seriously?" Frisk exclaimed, utterly baffled at their reaction and casualness. "Aren't you guys worried about him even one bit?! That guy could be dead for all you know!"

"Nah, we're sure he's fine," Chilldrake said. "Jerry is a… well to be honest none of us know what the hell kind of monster he is exactly. But he's super tough. Like his skin is almost impenetrable."

"Yeah you'll have to throw a whole dictionary at him just to give him a papercut," Snowdrake added and chuckled.

"You know why?" Berdly said and sniggered. "It's because he's so dense."

"Heh, and not to mention, he can survive over a year without eating," Chilldrake said. "Still, he ate much of our stuff anyway just because he felt like it."

"Hmm, either way, it sounds like you have a pretty boring lifestyle," Flowey said. "No offence of course."

"Well, it's not that bad," Ice-cap said. "Of course I still miss the constant warmth and sleeping in bed. And pizza of course. In fact, just having a bunch of food in general."

"So why won't you just… go back to town?" Frisk asked. "I'm sure some, uhh, people would be willing to give you shelter."

The four birds stared at her for a while, thinking, before Berdly shook his head, seemingly in embarrassment.

"Oh you're clearly not from around here," he said. "Because I don't think anyone bothers caring about us."

"Yeah, and it's not like it's much better in Snowdin than out here," Snowdrake said. "Last I heard, some bunny lady had to sell her whole family heirloom just to not starve for a few more months."

"And also, fuck adults," Chilldrake said. "And fuck the orphanage. You have literally no idea how bad it was back there."

"Oh yeah fuck that," Frisk agreed. "God, orphanages are the worst."

She felt a wicked, but clear joy spark within her. Finally, she thought. Some other teens she could relate to.

"We are doing much better down here," Chilldrake added. "Despite everything, at least we are not in the dirty little orphanage where it's pretty much the same as here, except much more fucking strict. Like we couldn't even have a snack without someone keeping guard since the cameras were all broken. Down here we have no rules and freedom to do whatever we want, and if we need food we'll just sneak to some old farmers or townsfolk and take a little."

"Yeah we have some, bad stories from the orphanage," Ice-Cap added.

"It practically had no budget," Berdly added. "Barely had a roof either, so we could have just as well been here in the woods."

"Not to mention, the owner was kinda abusive," Snowdrake said. "Never like beat us or anything, but man he was great at making us feel guilty for nothing."

"To be fair, I don't think he ever meant to," Ice-Cap added. "Not to excuse him or anything. He was just a shit caretaker."

"Sure, but that just makes it worse in my opinion," Snowdrake said. "Not to mention, the food was barely edible. When we got it, that is. Yeah, that's right, some days we just didn't get any food."

Frisk stopped smiling. After hearing their tales and descriptions, she felt a tinge of guilt for comparing her life to theirs. In fact, those teens would've most likely killed for her childhood. She knew that maybe she shouldn't feel that way, but at the same time, she couldn't help it.

"Yeah, I think Jerry's gone all the way back there," Ice-Cap said. "Or if not, then he's probably living with old mister Gyftrot now or something."

"Nah, I doubt it," Chilldrake said. "That grumpy old fart doesn't like us in the least, so what chance does Jerry have?"

"Wait, did you say Gyftrot?" Frisk began.

They truly have no idea, she thought.

"Yeah, you know that twat?" Snowdrake asked her.

"Kinda," Frisk said somberly. "I… uh, met him a while back."

"He was a real prick wasn't he?" Berdly asked and grinned and turned towards the group. "Hey, remember when we snuck into his house and covered his horn in some garbage?"

"Oh, I remember," Chilldrake said and smiled. "Boy was he angry."

"I still kinda feel bad about that though," Ice-Cap said.

"Eh, you shouldn't," Chilldrake said. "He's a complete ass."

"He's dead," Flowey blurted out.

Complete silence now filled the campfire as all the creatures stopped smiling. It was like a magic spell had been cast that sucked out all the joy in the place.

"Oh," Chilldrake said. "That's… umm…"

"Shit man, how long ago was it?" Snowdrake asked.

"About a half an hour ago," Flowey said. "Maybe more or less."

"How did he die?" Ice-Cap asked somberly.

"He stepped on some… landmine or something," Frisk said. "When I met him, his entire leg was like… gone."

"A landmine?" Ice-Cap asked in a somewhat startled tone. "Out here in the woods?"

"That's what he said," Flowey added. "Supposedly left here by some guy called Mickey. You guys don't happen to know anything about him do ya?"

The entire group stared at them, all looking slightly surprised.

"Wow, you guys are really isolated," Berdly said after second of silence.

"Everyone's heard of Mickey," Chilldrake said. "He's kind of a big deal actually."

"Yeah, he's like the most famous warrior down here," Ice-Cap said. "If you guys know nothing about him, then yeah, you Ape monsters are REALLY isolated. Especially since Mickey is, well, supposedly one himself."

"Well, we've heard a few things about him," Frisk said.

"What do you mean by supposedly?" Flowey curiously asked Ice-Cap.

"Well umm, not much is known about him," Chilldrake answered instead. "Not many monsters outside the capital have managed to see him."

"I've seen him and I can confirm he's an ape," Snowdrake said. "He also had these weird, hairy tentacles on the back of his head. I assumed for a long time that was, well, the standard look for ape monsters, but apparently not."

"Uhh, yeah it's… not standard… amongst us," Frisk said nervously.

"Right," Berdly said, eyeing her somewhat suspiciously. "I've also seen him before. He used to come by Snowdin fairly often back then. Mostly with his lackeys."

"Lackeys?" Flowey asked.

"Oh right, you're apparently a bunch of hermits," Berdly said. "I'm talking about The Royal Hunt. You've must've heard of them at least. Mickey's their leader."

"Uhh, yeah I've heard of them before," Frisk said, thinking back to the warning from the fat skeleton. "I didn't know about their relationship to Mickey though."

"Hang on," Flowey suddenly said with a tone of realization. "I think I just remembered something. Yeah. Yeah! I think I've seen them before. A group of warriors, all with those creepy, blank human masks."

"Yeah, that's the one," Berdly said. "Seems like you guys know more than you're laying on."

"Oh, sorry, my friend's been around here longer than me," Frisk said. "He just has some strange amnesia so he sometimes has a lapse of memory."

"Hmm, alrighty then," Berdly said, still with a tone of suspicion.

"I personally don't know much about them," Chilldrake added. "Except for the things I've read online. But shit, leaving a mine around here just seems reckless, even for them."

"Yeah, things haven't been the same ever since King Asgore lost his marbles," Snowdrake said somberly. "Man, it was so long ago yet I can still remember when life was awesome down here. When Undyne and the Royal Guard was still around, and not this… hunt or whatever."

"I… think I can imagine," Frisk said. "That things used to be better that is."

Snowdrake and Ice-Cap stared melancholically at the warm fire, while Berdly and Chilldrake put on a thoughtful posture. No one spoke for a while, as if they were all mourning a time long passed.

"Y'know what?" Ice-cap suddenly began. "I still blame Gaster."

As soon as he said that, Frisk felt as if the whole world was suddenly collapsing. She couldn't for the life of her understand why, but that name, that one name he so casually mentioned suddenly sent Frisk's heart beating rapidly as if the mere mention of it dragged back echoes of old, forgotten horrors.

"Oh, here we go again with your dumb conspiracy theories," Berdly said to Ice-Cap.

"Frisk are you ok?" Flowey whispered, sounding surprisingly worried.

"Who… who the hell is Gaster!" Frisk almost yelled.

The loudness of her tone shook every single monster around as they all back a bit and stared at her in shock.

"He's the uhh, Royal Scientist," Ice-Cap said after a while. "Shit girl, why were you so loud?"

"Yeah, Frisk" Flowey agreed, sounding surprised as well. "What the heck was that?"

Frisk found herself suddenly pushed back into reality and saw in front of her a group of bewildered monster teens and a confused flower stare back at her.

"Sorry, sorry!" Frisk exclaimed. "I'm really sorry about that, I… I have no idea what just came over me."

"Well if you really hate that guy," Ice-Cap began. "You are not the first. Just saying."

"It's not that," Frisk began. "It's just that… I've heard that name somewhere. Somewhere awful. Like from a nightmare."

"So why the hell did you yell it then?" Chilldrake said, adjusting his broken sunglasses that almost fell off during his shock.

"I- I don't know!" Frisk exclaimed. "I honestly don't know why I did that. It was like… instincts or something."

"Doesn't surprise me honestly," Snowdrake suddenly said. "The fact that you seem to have bad memories of him, not that you don't know why you yelled."

Frisk looked at him curiously. She found it strange to see him so sour, much more so than before.

"Why is that?" she asked him.

The cyan, snowflake headed bird sighed.

"I hate him," he began. "I absolutely hate him. He is… kind of the reason I'm here in the first place."

"Wh-what do you mean? Frisk asked.

He turned quiet for a while as he stared at the ground. His friends looked at him with clear sympathy, as if they had heard this story many times before.

"He took my mom away," Snowdrake said. "She was… dying. Of some disease. Can't remember its name, but he and his assistant, Alphys I think her name was, managed to persuade her and my dad to give her up for some... experiments. That was many, many years ago and I haven't seen or heard from her since. Then the war started to have an effect on the capital."

Snowdrake suddenly looked as if he was about to tear up.

"Even though we lived in the capital, we were pretty much fucked," he continued. "If we had never accepted that bastards offer, we might've found another way to save mom. Dad said it wasn't possible, but I know it was. But as it stood, bills just kept piling and piling. My father was a comedian, and such a job doesn't pay well in the capital so we were eventually forced to move down here. Obviously, it put my dad in a bad mood for a long time and so he… he began using some Baron's Breath to help with his nerves, but one day he accidentally took too much and… and he…"

He finally began to cry.

"Jesus," Frisk said. "Sorry I… I had no idea."

"Yeah," Ice-Cap said somberly as well. "My parents died in the war. Or so I've been told. I was only a few months old back then."

"Mine died of some disease," Chilldrake added. "They didn't have any money to do anything about it though, so they gave me off to the orphanage before they could infect me as well."

"I never knew my parents," Berdly said, and Frisk found it strange to hear a hint of sorrow in his otherwise smug voice. "I've lived in the orphanage ever since I hatched."

All the monsters turned quiet and they all stared off into no discernible direction. Before Frisk noticed, the only in the area came from the crackling of the wood breaking down in the warm fire.

She didn't know what to think. What to feel even. She believed she could sort of relate their grief, the way they spoke about their parents, but she wasn't sure if it was fair to compare herself to them. A part of her, a somewhat selfish part wished she could, but another part of her knew it was not at all right.

"I don't want to see you or your god-damn face ever again", ran through her mind. A reminder, an echo, that she had tried her hardest to run away from for a long time. She didn't want to be in this place anymore.

"Alright," Frisk began. "This conversation has taken a turn. It was nice meeting you guys, but I think its best we go before I somehow make it worse."

She stood up and dusted the snow from her pants.

"Wait, a-are you leaving?" Ice-Cap asked her.

"Yeah, that's what I said," Frisk said.

She sighed, as she saw his somewhat saddened expression.

"Its nothing to do with you guys, I promise," Frisk said. "I just… I have to go. I'm late… I think. There are people waiting for me."

"Personally, I've been, surprisingly enough, enjoying your company," Flowey said. "But I'm kinda her guide and she's kinda my boss so it's not like I have a choice in the matter."

"Alright then," Chilldrake began. "It was nice meeting you two."

"You too, guys," Frisk said back.

"Hey before you go, you guys didn't happen to see a fat skeleton around here have you?" Snowdrake suddenly asked.

Frisk quickly turned to him.

"Uhh, yeah I think," she said.

"You mean Sans right?" Flowey asked.

"Yeah, I think that's his name," Snowdrake said.

"That is his name," Berdly added.

"Why?" Frisk asked, feeling slightly nervous. "Should we watch out for him or something?"

"Nah, he's not that bad on his own," the bird said. "But I'm not sure if you know this but… Gaster is his dad."

Frisk looked at him with a tinge of disbelief for a good few moments. Then as the momentary shock faded, she felt it being replaced a soft dread.

"Seriously?" she asked him. "Well, that's something. Thanks, I guess."

Now that she had this info, she felt it was explained to her, even only slightly, some of the unease she experienced from her encounter with the strange, fat skeleton. Frisk thought that Snowdrake could have well just told her that he was rumoured to be a serial killer and she was sure she wouldn't feel much different.

"Be careful," Chilldrake advised her. "Shit's fucked out there. Not a great time for a newbie like you to be around."

"I figured that already," Frisk said. "Alright. Off I go I guess."

"Bye," Ice-Cap said courteously to her.

With that said, Frisk turned around and began to slog back the way she came.

"Hey, now that Gyftrot is gone," she heard Berdly say to the guys behind her. "You think we maybe should check out his house? Maybe move there? Seems like a perfect time to live somewhere warm."

"Oh, you're such an inconsiderate asshole Berdly," Frisk heard Chilldrake say. "But fuck it. Might be better than this freezing cold."

After that, the group of teens went completely out of her earshot.

"So… you humans really don't have internet where you are from?" Flowey asked Frisk once they had been back on the road a bit. "I may be remembering this wrong, which is a possibility mind you, but I was pretty sure that the monster internet was based on… well, your internet."

"Of course we have internet," Frisk answered. "I was just playing dumb with those guys earlier. I was afraid I might reveal too much."

"Oh," Flowey said and then his face changed into realization. "OH. Is that why you were acting so weird for a moment back there?"

"Yeah duh," Frisk said and smiled. "No offence, but you are a bit too slow sometimes."

"I blame my memory loss personally," Flowey said.

"That may be the case," Frisk said. "Yeah, the internet is actually super important amongst us human folk. Honestly can't imagine life above without it. Hell, it's so important that some rich celebrities or business owners or such even have it literally implanted it in their brains and or eyes."

"Really?!" Flowey asked with great intrigue and surprise.

"Yeah, with cybernetics and shit," Frisk answered.

"Oh you're just joking now," Flowey said with doubt in his voice.

"I'm not," Frisk said and chuckled lightly. "Man, if I had WiFi down here, I would definitely show you some photos. Some of them look like frigging cyborgs. Speaking of which, when we get to town, do you think it might be possible for me to access the monster internet on phone? I got some things I need to do. People to speak to, and stuff to catch up to, things like that."

"Yeah, about that," Flowey began.

Just hearing his tone, Frisk was already disappointed.

"I don't think it's possible," Flowey continued. "I seem to remember that it's built so that only monster made technology can access their internet."

"Hmm, that makes sense," Frisk said disappointingly.

"But we can try," Flowey added. "I mean, human technology seems to have certainly evolved from over a hundred years ago. Who knows? Maybe it'll work now."

"Yeah hopefully," Frisk said.

"Gotta say though," Flowey added. "I'm still not buying your cybernetics thing until I see it for real. I mean it just sounds completely Sci-Fi."

"Now that you mention it, yeah," Frisk said. "Funny. When you actually think about it, most of the shit we have right now would be considered futuristic and something from a Sci-Fi flick from a hundred, hell even just 50 years ago. Most of it is just so ingrained in our lives that we don't think much of it."

"Huh, never thought about it like that," Flowey said with intrigue.

"Or maybe you have but just forgot about it," Frisk added.

"Heh, maybe," Flowey said and smiled.

Frisk glanced at the trees and felt them look more lively now somehow, even though these ones looked unchanged from the pine trees she had walked past dozens of time without thinking.

The road also felt different now, curving more to sides or being patterned like a wave, rather than the simple straight-line she had walked on the past hour or so.

Her silence this time was not due to fear, rather, it was because her thoughts were somewhere else this time, and she couldn't think of much to say.

Part of her thoughts was focused on the growing discomfort she felt on her shoeless foot. Her white sock had finally gotten soggy after walking and sitting on pounds and pounds of snow. She was now starting to regret throwing it at the monster in the ruins, even if it did buy her valuable time for a moment. She thought that if she had analyzed the situation better and not rushed in, she would've maybe thought of other ways. Then again, Frisk believed she had no reason to think that the next area beyond the stone gate would be covered in snow for miles on end. She, in fact, assumed it was the end of the cavern. A door leading home.

But even with her current hindsight, Frisk didn't dare to reset and try again. She didn't even want to think about the poor old monster again, much less confront him again.

It was at this moment the silence of the woods got to her, and the bad thoughts were beginning to crawl in, so she moved her thoughts to about getting back home and what she planned to do once she did. Then she thought about the teens she met a short while ago, about their conversations and moments of joy

But then another thought came, one she just couldn't repress no matter how hard she tried. It was of Gaster. That name, that person she knew next to nothing about, yet the mere utterance of was enough to make her shiver. She learned a fair bit about him from the teens. They way Ice-Cap mentioned his name so casually made her think this Gaster person was at least well known, and from what she gathered from Snowdrake, she was sure it was not due to a good reason. It was like she had found a missing piece of a half-finished jigsaw puzzle, one where the available pieces hinted at a very disturbing picture to come.

Yet, she still wanted to know more. A large and scared, but morbidly curious part of her wanted to know more. Had to know more, as if she wouldn't be complete without a full picture, even if it would horrify her beyond reasoning.

"Hey, Flowey," she began. "Is there anything you can tell me about… Gaster?"

"Oh yeah, I've been meaning to ask you about that," Flowey said. "Didn't you just get here a few hours ago? How in the world have you heard of him?"

"I told you and the guys, I dreamt of him," Frisk answered.

"Yeah sorry but I doubt that," Flowey said with brutal honesty. "I don't think you're able to dream about a person like that without having had at least some memories of him. What are you hiding?"

"Nothing!" Frisk exclaimed. "I swear to god, my nightmare last night was the first time I've ever heard of him. Christ. So much weird shit has happened the last few hours. You can buy magic and monsters, but not weird nightmares of people I've never met?"

"Hmm," Flowey said as he looked at her analytically. "Alright, fair point. I'll bite."

"Ok good," Frisk said. "By the way, why didn't you tell me before that Gaster is that skeleton guy's dad?"

"Pardon?" Flowey asked.

"You know, back when we met him, Sans or whatever," Frisk said.

"Seriously?!" Flowey asked, sounding as if he was offended by stupidity. "How the… how the hell, sorry heck, was I supposed to know that was relevant back there? Yeah, Gaster is a creep, but I felt he wasn't that important to mention at the time. Also, I didn't know you had a dream about him or anything at the time you hadn't told me about it yet!"

"Oh, you're right, sorry," Frisk said apologetically. "I just… wasn't thinking straight."

"Not the first time today," Flowey softly muttered.

"Anyway, you mentioned he was a creep," Frisk added. "As in how exactly?"

"Hmm," Flowey said thoughtfully. "How do I put this? Well… do you know that feeling when you see something that supposed to be familiar and friendly, but you feel like something about that thing is wrong or incorrect but you can't place what that is exactly so it makes you somewhat disturbed by the thing in question?"

"You mean like the uncanny valley?" Frisk asked.

"I have literally no idea what that is," Flowey said.

"Oh, it's a term we humans use," Frisk explained. "Basically, it's used when we see something that's clearly not human mimick human look, but not completely enough which makes our brains go haywire and freak out. Like, for example, a baby doll that has so many details that it could almost pass as a human baby, but there is just something about it that doesn't fit so it comes across as creepy rather than cute. More often than not you can't tell what's wrong at first glance, but your brain can, so it makes you feel scared of it no matter what. Personally, I'm not really that bothered by those things, but lots of people- I mean humans are."

"Hmm, yeah might be about it," Flowey said. "Frankly, that sounds like a perfect explanation of what I'm talking about."

"Yeah I know," Frisk said.

"Uncanny valley," Flowey repeated. "I think I'm gonna use that. But yeah. That's kinda Gaster in a nutshell. Familiar, but something always feels wrong about him. Heck, now that I think about him, everything about him feels wrong or, well, uncanny in some way or another. The way he looks, the way he talks, even his movements feel wrong. Gods, the way he moves. It's like his whole body has its own gravity to it, distant from ours."

Frisk felt shivers just after hearing this short description. She thought it could just be because of the wind, but she felt otherwise. Still, with her morbid curiosity, she wanted to know more.

"Anything else you can tell me?" she asked. "About Gaster that is."

"Oh, I can tell you plenty about Gaster," Flowey said. "Most of my memory might be missing yea, possibly even plenty related to him, but I thankfully still have enough in my noggin about him to give me a lasting impression."

His expression turned uneasy, in a way as if something was suddenly disturbing him.

"Honestly, I'm not sure thankfully is the right word," Flowey said. "As I said, he's creepy. He's also smart. Very smart, obviously. He's the royal scientist after all, so it's his job to be."

"That reminds me," Frisk began. "What is a royal scientist exactly?"

"Well, I think that's best described as almost like a fancy, modern-day rebranding of court magician," Flowey explained. "Basically, he oversees most of the science divisions and experiments going on, while also assisting in the technological advancements going on in the underground. His job also consists, like any good court magician, of occasionally dabbling in the mystic arts and the unexplainable. Mostly as a way to better understand, and or quantify those things."

"I see," Frisk said.

"Of course, he also has followers," Flowey added. "Can't pull such a large job on your own after all, and he's smart enough to know that. But I doubt he would be able to find many new monsters to willingly work for him these days."

"Why not?" Frisk asked.

"Well it's not just his look and behaviour that's creepy," Flowey began. "His actions and manner of speaking are… questionable, to say the least. In all my memories of chatting with him, I always felt like he was hiding something. That he knew more than he lay on. Even if we were just talking about something mundane like I dunno, Ice-cream, his words always seemed to paint a picture of something being obscured. Kinda like he… knew exactly where the conversation was going as if he's been through it countless times. Not to mention, his tone of voice always made me shiver a bit, and I'm a flower for the angel's sake. Worst of all is that, sometimes, he seems to imply that he knows he comes across as uncanny to people, but decides it's not worth doing anything about as if everyone else is lesser than him or something, and not worth his sympathy."

He sighed.

"From what I've read and can remember reading," Flowey added. "He was, supposedly, a much better person before his accident."

"Accident?" Frisk asked curiously.

"Ahh it's a long story," Flowey began. "Basically, a few years back, before I was alive that is, one of his experiments went horribly wrong. He lived, obviously, but he had disappeared for a while, and when he came back he went into a coma of sorts before waking up as… well, who he is now."

"Alright, how was he before the accident though?" Frisk asked.

A small grin grew on Flowey's face.

"Oh from what I've gathered," Flowey said. "He was like his son is but better. In almost every perceivable way. He was cheery and sympathetic, and some reports say that when he wasn't working, he used to pull all sorts of stuff, some of it even bordering on unprofessional, but nothing that ruined the day for anyone. Unlike his son, he was also pretty funny apparently, and not as irritating."

"Ehh, Sans is not that bad," Frisk said.

"Oh let's agree to disagree with that," Flowey said. "Gods though. What I wouldn't do to meet the old Gaster."

Flowey turned silent as he put on a dreaming expression.

"Anything else you know or remember about him?" Frisk asked.

"Hmm," Flowey said thoughtfully. "Nah. I think I've said everything I got."

"Well I think it was more than enough," Frisk said. "Thanks for the info, Flowey."

"No problem, friend," Flowey said.

"Oh you're not gonna let that down are you?" Frisk said and smiled.

"Not unless you truly disagree with it that is," Flowey said mischievously.

"Alright," Frisk said, still smiling. "Let us not get ahead of ourselves just yet?"

After that dialogue, she felt she was now one step closer to understand her nightmare and her sudden knowledge of the strange, mystery man. She still felt somewhat uneasy about him, but for now, with more knowledge, she felt just a teensy bit better.

Frisk eventually lost track of the time. The road seemed to change constantly now. Not only did it curve and bend, but sometimes it led to bridges over small frozen lakes, or through open fields, some with old shacks or playground. One even seemed to have a tiny, frozen mini-golf course of sorts. There were also cliffs here and there and the road leading up and down some, and only recently did Frisk realized she was on a higher altitude once the road curved by a brink where she could see a valley far down. The mere height and size of the cavern impressed her. It was like an entire, underground country with its own landscape.

Frisk and Flowey now talked a lot on the road, most of it unrelated babble. Frisk asked him, for example, of monsters and how many types there were and Flowey then proceed to list a dozen or so he remembered. Many of them were names Frisk had never heard of before and she proceeded to immediately forget. Then she asked him if dragons were a type of monsters, and she expressed clear joy once Flowey confirmed that.

Mostly, she just chatted with him to lessen the unease and bothersome thoughts she was having, so Frisk tried to ask as much she could think of. She asked questions about the history, the culture and why monsters were locked down here in the first place, and if there were any other places they could be. That's when Flowey told her a short version of the history of the monsters, of a war between human monsters which ended in the monsters defeat, and then he told her about the barrier around the mountain that was erected by seven human mages and that only humans can go through it. Frisk asked why the war happened and Flowey told her the truth that no one really knows why.

As to whether there were other mountains with monsters, Flowey wasn't sure, although he told her there plenty of theories of it. But also made a clear emphasis that's all they were, theories, and that even the oldest monsters down here didn't know for sure either.

A lot of those answers Flowey gave her, Frisk felt thankfully answer a lot of her questions. There were some moments of annoyance where Flowey's amnesia manifested and he couldn't remember some details or important tidbits, but overall, the answers he could give were mostly enough for her to keep a clear head.

"So do you personally think there are other mountains, or do you believe you guys are really alone?" Frisk asked as they passed into another open field.

"I don't know," Flowey admitted. "I mean I like to think so. Would be a bit lonely otherwise. I guess we'll find out when we monsters get out of here."

"When?" Frisk repeated. "So there is a chance of freedom?"

"Well, some monsters are working on it," Flowey said. "They've been working on it for quite a while in fact, and they've in fact made plenty of progress so far with some... methods and ideas I'm not getting into because I've forgotten."

"So how long do you think until you guys are free?" Frisk asked.

"I dunno," Flowey said. "My guess is about a few decades at most."

"Hmm, alright then," Frisk said. "I hope I'll still be alive by then."

"I hope so too," Flowey said. "I think everyone down here does."

Frisk began to wonder now. The same questions she wondered before. How would society react and change once monsters suddenly started pouring out? Would humans accept them? Would there be another war? Would there be chaos? Frisk didn't know what to think as the likeliest outcome. At the very least, plenty of books would have to be rewritten. Whatever happens, Frisk decided at that moment that if she were still around once the time came, she would become one of their first supporters.

"Alright," Flowey began as the road again grew surrounded by trees. "If my memory serves correct, then we should be close to town. Now. There should be a-"

"Sup kiddo," said a familiar voice behind them suddenly. "Fancy seeing you again."

"Gah, fuck!" exclaimed Frisk.

Behind them, there now stood a familiar short yet bulging skeleton in a blue jacket, with black shorts and a wide grin stuck on its face.

"Jesus Christ," Frisk said, her hand on her chest. "Do you really have to sneak up on me like that every time?!"

"I was just passing by and wanted to say hi," said Sans. "Sorry kiddo. Didn't meant to scare the skin out off ya."

"Ugh," Flowey expressed and rolled his eyes.

"Yeah, yeah," Frisk quickly said. "What are you doing here anyway?"

"Oh, you didn't hear?" Sans asked back. "I said I was passing by and wanted to say hi. Not surprised you forgot since it was a pretty uneventful conversation."

"No I meant, what are you doing here?" Frisk said, somewhat harshly. "As in why were you passing by?"

"Geez kiddo," Sans said, still grinning as usual. "You seem suddenly harsher than before. Are you even the same striped jacket-wearing kid, because if not, have you seen another human kid here recently? She was wearing the same looking striped jacket, with only one shoe and brown skin like you. Speaking of which, now that I think about it, she looked very similar to you, whatever your name is. Do all humans look the same? Or does that count as racist?"

Frisk said nothing. She simply felt incredibly on edge dealing with him, now that she knew who his father was. It didn't help that Frisk felt like the smiling skeleton was reading her mind.

"Giving me the silent treatment eh kiddo?" Sans continued. "That's alright. You don't need to waste your words on me. I'm not that interesting anyway."

"You can say that again," Flowey said.

"Alright, you want to know the truth of why I was around here?" Sans began, either ignoring or not noticing what Flowey said. "Will that make you happy? Ok then. So I was just here setting up a new business I'm planning. I've decided I want to start selling fried snow. Haven't seen much of that around so I decided to tap into this unused market. Give me a month or maybe even a week and I'm sure I'll be a billionaire. Now, since you've been such a good kid, I think I'm gonna give you a great, once in a lifetime discount on the first batch official fried snow. It's only 9999g. Take it while it's still warm."

"Why are you really here?" Frisk said sternly.

"Alright kiddo," Sans began. "Did something happen recently? Because if so, I think I can help ya out. I may be lazy, but I ain't heartless. Metaphorically at least."

Frisk felt a bit unsure of herself now. Looking at him now, she could not miss the similarities he had to the man she saw in her dream, even if he was literally just a skeleton. While she knew it was possible he had no ill intent, Frisk still didn't feel comfortable by his presence. But she also realized that it wasn't the best idea to judge a person by their parents, especially since she didn't really know his. Properly that is.

"It's nothing," she lied. "Nothing's the matter."

The skeleton stared at her suspiciously.

"Alright," he said. "If you say so."

"You didn't answer her question before," Flowey said.

"Geez, everyone is acting suspicious of me today," Sans said, still grinning. "I swear to you, I do not know where they hid the money."

"Hold up, what?" Frisk asked in surprise.

"It was a joke, kiddo," Sans said.

"Oh," Frisk expressed. "Huh."

Flowey gave out an exasperated sigh.

"Can we continue on Frisk?" he asked. "I wanna get to Snowdin in the next few minutes if we can, especially if this trash bag is gonna tag along the way."

"Oh, you're in luck then," Sans said. "The town is just over that hill."

He pointed with his bony, index finger to a spot behind them. Frisk then turned around and indeed saw the road leading up a hill large enough to obscure what was behind it. Looking closer, Frisk saw the occasional smoke rise up here and there. Chimneys, she figured. Frisk now felt a rush of excitement build up within her.

"Oh, I knew that already," Flowey said, somewhat awkwardly. "And I definitely… did not forget that."

"We're finally here?" Frisk said, with joy in her voice. "Holy shit. I get to see an actual town full of monsters."

"Don't get too excited," Sans said. "It ain't as cool these days. No pun intended. Or was there?"

"It can't be that bad since I last remember," Flowey said.

"Oh it is that bad," Sans said. "Then again, I can't read your mind so I don't know whether the last you remember was like from yesterday or a decade ago."

Without uttering a word, Frisk hurried her steps as she began headed towards the hill.

"Wow, someone is excited," Sans said behind her, with the same calm demeanour in his voice as he had in the last hour or so.

Frisk saw the hill grow closer and closer while her excitement grew at the same pace. The grey clouds of smoke in the distance also became more distinct. In only a few minutes, she had already reached the hill.

"Woah calm down Frisk," Flowey said, bouncing around in her backpack as she climbed up the road. "I'm getting sick from all this dangling you're making me do."

"Can flowers even get sick?" Frisk asked him.

"I honestly don't know," Flowey answered. "But if I throw up in the next few minutes I'm holding you accountable."

"Well then I'll happily take full blame I guess," Frisk said and smiled.

Climbing up the hill proved to be very arduous. To make it worse, the snow grew thicker with every height, and once she was close to the top, she was knee-deep in snow. Frisk almost felt like she was climbing a mountain. If it wasn't for the moment with the stone door in the ruins, this would've been the most she had used up her strength today. Yet, like with the stone door, she was determined to pull off these last steps, only in this instance, she didn't have the fear of someone chasing after her.

Once she finally reached the top after a surprisingly gruelling climb, she took a short breather and gazed upon the other side… and became utterly shocked, disappointed and saddened by what she saw.

Across the other side of the hill, and across a long wooden bridge that lay above a tall crevice separating the hill from the town and leading far, far down, was what Frisk could only surmise from the crudely stacked buildings was once a prosperous town. Whatever it was like in the past was a time clearly long gone, as if it wasn't for the couple smoking chimneys and strange unidentifiable figures of various shapes and colours in the distant, Frisk would have assumed this town was long abandoned. All the houses were drab and colourless, with dozens of holes and empty frames, with some missing their front doors or even entire walls. Some of the buildings had the windows boarded up, and the streets were covered in newspapers and garbage blowing in the wind. The only two buildings that looked in decent shape was one at the other end of town she could only glance at, and another one in what seemed to be the square, that looked like some sort of bar or restaurant of sorts, but even these two buildings didn't seem to be in perfect shape either.

The figures, that Frisk could only guess were other monsters from this distance, looked like they were either wandering alone aimlessly, gathered up around makeshift campfires or huddled together in some empty building. If there was one thing on earth Frisk could best compare this horrendous sight too, it would be a warzone.

"By the angel," Flowey gasped. "What in the world happened here during the time I was asleep?"

Sans walked beside the surprised and disappointed duo, and even with his large, seemingly permanent smile, his posture and look gave off a clear vibe of utter saddened shame.

"Welcome to the cheerful town of Snowdin," he said. "Or at least what's left of it anyway."

---

Author's note:

So I decided to take a break from being dead and finally uploaded a new chapter.

Seriously speaking though, hi. It's been a while. I'm sure some of you (the ones that stayed and are thus reading this) began to suspect that I've given up on this fanfiction, or maybe even fanfiction in general. That's actually, sort of, the opposite reason of why I was away. I'm actually writing several fanfictions now, all UT or DT related, and one original short story of my own. One of those I've already written a chapter for, and you can check it out yourself. Just look up the fic, Dungeons and Darkners. My idea for that came as I was going through some of my favorite fan artists and realized we all have our own takes on Frisk, so that story is basically a semi non-canonical, crossover fic involving all of our three versions of Frisk meeting up, and before you ask, yes I got permission from them. Alongside that, I've also been brainstorming some other fics, most of it just spin-offs of this AU with other side characters, including one about Politics Bear. Yeah, that guy from Snowdin who only had like 3-4 lines in the game at the very least. I kinda starting writing his story if you can remember a while back, but I'm kinda starting over with it, now that I'm more adjusted to writing. Then there is also my original short story, unrelated to UT or DR or any other work already made, but I haven't touched it in months and I kinda wanna finish it before the year is over. Maybe I'll post a link to it here once I'm done with it.
So I've just been busy with that, and other stuff. Turns out, this might've been a bad time to start working on multiple fics at once, since we are at the end of the semester, and Christmas is coming up and all that jazz.
But it doesn't matter much now because guess what, I've finally uploaded the next chapter, and it's a long one at that. The longest chapter so far, maxing over 26 pages on my Google docs. I guess it's only fair after such a long wait, and I also have so much to say about it.
This is kinda the chapter where we get to know more about the state of the underground in this AU, and there is also some character and lore building going on. We also meet some characters from UT, including the group of teens I decided to not make hostile this time, and even Berdly. Yes, in case you were wondering, this is that Berdly. From Deltarune. I was originally going to make it Jerry, but then I wanted to add more connection to the DT world and thought "why not?" and so I gave him a short camoe so to speak. This will not be the only character or reference to DT, so keep an eye out for more in future chapters.
As I've already laid down before, every chapter, and I'm talking about chapters overall but not parts, is followed a short interlude. While the first interlude was used to build mistery with new characters that never appeared in UT or even DT, the next chapter will... be slightly mysterious as well, but unlike the first one that is not the focus, and it does feature two major characters from UT and is kinda their introduction in this AU, so to speak. As to who these characters are, well I leave you to guess until it comes out. All I will hint at is that they have already been mentioned in the story so far.

Anyway, enough babbling and enjoy the story. The interlude and next chapter will come soon (hopefully before 2020) and I hope you'll stay until then.
Adios.