Chapter 4: Waterfall - Part 1
Wet was the first word Frisk thought of once she entered this new area of The Underground. Wet and moist. Each step, each patch of the bluish grass and mud-covered path, leaked out moisture like a used sponge. The air had a consistent quality of fresh dampness, even though no rivers or waterfalls were around in sight or sound. Even the rocky walls looked soft and soggy like they were just submerged underwater.
There was also a lot of blue, Frisk noticed. All of the foliage that covered the place, be it seaweed, vines, grass and large flowers, were of a bright azure blue, with some of it even seeming to glow like lamps. And not just a single, boorish blue colour filled the air, but rather a collection of bright to dark, almost black blue. Having just walked from the snowy yet usual look of the dark forest and town, Frisk felt as she had now been transported to an alien world without noticing.
I guess that's somewhat accurate, she thought to herself.
Flowey crawled on the ground by her side, using vines to push himself forward like limbs, and his height reaching just above her shoe level. It was clearly a tiring effort, as he breathed heavily and slowly. Yet, he remained adamant.
Frisk did not miss his complete silence. He hadn't said a single word to her, not even a sneer, ever since they left town and came to Waterfall a few good minutes past. The only thing he did was move forward while trying to hide the visible frown on his face.
Frisk thought to lighten the mood slightly by asking him a few questions, hoping to ease his mind of whatever was bothering him. But no good ones could come to her at the moment, so Frisk just opted for the first thing that came to her mind.
"So… just down this road?" she asked her companion.
Flowey did not answer. Just kept moving determinedly as if she wasn't even there.
"Flowey?" Frisk pried.
"Are you able to see any other roads that I can't?" Flowey asked back with feistiness. "If not, then yes. Just down this road."
"Alright, gee," Frisk replied, taken aback. "Just wanted to make sure we were going the right way."
"If we weren't," Flowey said and gave an exhausted sigh. "I… I would've said so by now. Wouldn't I?"
"Are you sure you wanna go ahead like this?" Frisk asked him. "I can still carry you, no problem."
Flowey gave out a big huff as he pulled himself extra further this time.
"Nah," he replied stubbornly. "Practice makes perfect is all. I haven't moved in years but… after a few miles… this will be like nothing. It's like riding a bike or… no, you know what? It's more like riding a bike but you haven't for years. But somewhere in you… you still remember. Somewhere in your noggin there… there is muscle memory. Of sorts."
"I get it," Frisk said. "Wait, do you even have muscles? I still don't understand your biology. Err, no offence."
"None taken," Flowey replied. "Honestly? Neither do I at times."
They continued walking in unison, Flowey making it clear he was not in the mood to talk. Yet, Frisk found it hard to ignore his grumpiness.
"Are you alright?" Frisk asked him. "You sound a bit on edge. More than usual."
"More than usual?" Flowey repeated. "Eh, that's nothing. This place just gives me the creeps, is all."
"Really?" Frisk asked, not fully convinced. "More than in the forest?"
"Yeah," Flowey answered. "While I felt plenty of terror in the woods, which you so kindly comforted me through by laughing at me-"
"Look, I'm still really sorry for that-" Frisk interrupted.
"I know, Frisk, I know," Flowey said. "You've said so a bunch of times. But back there? I at least felt, I dunno, hidden? This place is much more open, sure, but now? Now I feel like we're being followed or watched."
Frisk listened to the droplets of water splashing, the subtle swishing in the foliage and the occasional crickets of unnatural insects. But while there was nothing she felt be out of the ordinary, a similar feeling lingered. A haunting aura that surrounded her, surrounded them both. Despite her stubborn side wanting to refuse, Frisk had to admit she agreed with him.
"I feel that too," she admitted.
"Hmm," Flowey muttered thoughtfully. "Hear nothing but moving leaves and water though. Seems more likely that our fears are just getting to us."
"Maybe," Frisk said. "You sure you don't wanna go back into the bag? There's nothing wrong with-"
"Oh, not a chance," Flowey quickly said. "I'm a sentient being by The Angel's sake. Not a tool or a doll to be carried around."
"Ok, geez," Frisk replied.
Flowey then returned to silence once more. However, Frisk was still not convinced by his answer. There had to be at least one more aspect to his grumpiness, and Frisk had a suspicion on what that aspect could be. Either that or her insecurities about her choices were speaking to once more.
Whatever the case was, Frisk decided it was better to at least bring it up.
"Hey, Flowey?" she asked. "Do you wanna talk about the… thing?"
"Thing?" Flowey asked, clearly confused. "What thing?"
"The thing," Frisk reiterated. "Y'know. Back at the restaurant-bar?"
"Oh right," Flowey said. "Yeah, I remember."
"Ok good-" Frisk began.
"Wait," Flowey interrupted. "Which thing do you mean exactly? Because a lot of things happened there."
"The thing with the two rabbit ladies," Frisk reiterated. "And with me constantly resetting and revealing my identity. Y'know? That whole thing? Unless you're telling me you've forgotten already."
"Oh, you meant that thing?" Flowey replied with a tone of realization. "Could've just told me to begin with y'know? Didn't need to be so vague like it's some strange taboo to talk about."
"Yeah, sorry."
"So what is it? Wanna defend your choice again or what? Cause I don't see the point in dwelling on it. Or at least not right now, especially since its too late to undo it. What's done is done, so all we can do about it is to keep moving and live with our choices."
"I've just been giving it some thought. And, well, there is one thing that still really bothers me."
"And that is…?"
"You said that I… that I had attempted it about 10 times. But that makes no sense. For me, that was only my second attempt. Did you… did you actually mean that? The 10 times thing?"
Flowey looked at her bluntly, as if he was attempting to solve some sort of puzzle in his mind. Then after remaining silent as if he was waiting for some vaguely right moment, he spoke.
"I've actually just been pondering about that," Flowey said. "And frankly? I don't understand it either."
"You mean you don't understand it or…" Frisk pried.
"It means I don't understand it," Flowey said. "Wow. Good guess! Almost like that was exactly what I just said."
"Geez, you know what I meant," Frisk replied, mildly annoyed.
"Yeah, I did," Flowey said and smiled a bit. "But to answer your question, no. My cluelessness here is not due to a memory loss this time. From my perspective, your act was a bunch of failed attempts after failed attempts until I lost count, while for you there were just two? I, genuinely, honest to The Angel, can't understand this at all. The only explanation I can think of, or at least based on my understanding of resets, which may be wrong after all this time, is that either of us is lying."
"I'm not lying," Frisk quickly said.
"And I'm not saying you are," Flowey continued. "Necessarily. But if you truly are completely honest, which I'm not doubting, then… then I don't know. Unless…"
"Unless what?" Frisk pried.
"Unless… it really is just a simple memory loss?" the flower pondered. "Like with me? But I always thought, or assumed rather, that my selective amnesia was an after-effect from my years-long coma. And you didn't fall into a coma in any of your failed attempts. Or at least I'm pretty sure you didn't. So that leaves some weird, quantum, timeline science stuff as the explanation, which could imply a lot of scary and or confusing things about reality. Or it's just magic. Maybe both?"
Frisk hoped to see some hints on his expression that he was hiding something. Some hope to shake off this immense rush of dread. But it was clear to her that her companion was as clueless as she was.
"There has to be something you know," Frisk said with mild desperation. "Just think harder. Maybe in any of the books you've read before or… something? Please?"
"I'm… I'm sorry Frisk," Flowey said apologetically. "But for most monsters, even the scholarly, the ideas of determination and resets… are just that. Ideas. Even if I had all my memories, there weren't many books written about it in the first place. And most of those books were completely unreliable or wrong, as none of them had properly witnessed or used it. Pretty much ninety-nine per cent of my understanding of this power came from my own experiences with it. But I have never been on the other side of it, where there is another person with more determination than me, so… all of this is pretty much new territory for me."
Frisk did not feel satisfied with that answer and was sure Flowey knew that. Yet she gave up and decided to just accept it for now. She had no doubts regarding his honesty at this moment and instead just hoped for a good explanation later.
"I just don't know what to take from it," she told him. "Not understanding it. It kinda worries me."
"I know," Flowey said. "Worries me as well."
"Oh, and one more thing," Frisk began. "In my last reset, the last one I failed in. From your perspective that is. Did… did something unusual happen? Like was I acting strangely, or did I die in some weird way? Something that… just anything that could clue us in?"
"There was nothing unusual in that reset, no," Flowey answered. "It was pretty much like all the others. You died and that was it."
"Hmm," Frisk muttered, feeling slightly more uncomfortable at that thought.
"Wanna hear how it happened?" Flowey suddenly asked. "I can tell you all about your many failed tries. If you're up to it, that is."
"I… I'd rather not," Frisk answered.
"Eh. Alright then."
So they continued walking beside each other, the shared unease slowly subsiding in the returning silence.
Moments later, Frisk saw something mildly peculiar on the road ahead. She had to double-check to be sure, some strange, glistening surface covered the road ahead that made her stop in her track.
"What's that up there?" Frisk asked. "Looks pretty."
"That's what we monsters call "a lake"," Flowey answered snarkily.
"A lake?" Frisk asked back as if she didn't recognize that word. "As in a water lake? You're kidding, right?"
"Err, are you?" Flowey asked, squinting at her with confusion. "Why would I- you've never seen a lake. Are lakes like some alien or mythical thing to you humans or something?"
Frisk did not reply to that, as despite all she had seen the past few hours, this she almost couldn't believe. She felt she could only believe her companion once she saw it for herself, and so rushed closer towards it without hesitation, her gaze intently focused on the glistening surface ahead. Her doubts diminished as she came closer and closer until she came through some foliage and stood above it, where the doubts finally vanished altogether.
Just by her feet stood a small lake of incredibly shiny blue water. Giant dark blue lilypads floated on the surface like small boats, and the water was so clear you could see the seaweeds on the bottom. Frisk had never seen such pure water in her life, with light glistening off it in an almost hypnotising sense. Yet it seemed so mundane, so normal in this already tranquilly area, that Frisk couldn't understand why she felt so shocked by it.
"Holy shit," Frisk muttered.
"Yeah that's water alright," Flowey said unenthusiastically. "So you humans really don't have lakes, huh?"
"Of course we do," Frisk answered. "Just none this big or… clean. Or at least, not ever since the climates went to shit. But it's so clear! And blue as well. How the hell does this water manage to be both blue and clear at the same time?! You're sure there's no magic in this?"
"Never implied there wasn't," Flowey answered. "But yeah. I'm about 80 per cent sure there isn't."
"Can I… drink from it?" Frisk asked, almost in a daze.
"Sure," Flowey said. "No need to ask my permission."
Thus without hesitating, Frisk squatted near the edge of the lake and reached into it with her open hand. It was cool to the touch, not by an overwhelming amount, and she proceeded to drink from the makeshift cup in her palm.
It was refreshing, very refreshing, but there was one thing incredibly strange about it. The almost complete lack of sensation.
"So… how is it?" Flowey asked with sarcasm.
"I… I taste nothing," Frisk answered. "Oh my god, this water! It literally tastes like nothing!"
Flowey looked at her, a bit confused, but once he realized she wasn't joking, he looked at her like she just spontaneously grew a third eye.
"Erm, yeah?" he asked back. "Of course it doesn't."
"W-what does that mean?" Frisk asked with growing worry. "Is this bad? No taste? Does that mean the water's cursed or-?"
"The water is fine, calm your tits," Flowey said, still confused.
"You sure?" Frisk asked back.
"Yes, absolutely," Flowey answered. "Why? What should water taste like?"
"I… I don't know. Like… water, I guess?"
"You're weird."
"So you're sure I'm perfectly fine with drinking this? No freaky magic after-effects or-?"
"No, no, nothing like that. Geez, no need to be so paranoid, Frisk."
So Frisk reached her palms in again and took another sip. And then another. And another. She never realized before she was so thirsty.
"You're planning on consuming the whole river?" Flowey asked, his "eyebrow" raised.
"This is the purest fucking water I've ever had, holy shit!" Frisk answered excitedly. "Never knew this was even possible."
"Ok, good for you, but can we hurry up now?!" Flowey said, starting to sound anxious. "I don't wanna stay here too long. The Royal Hunt has probably heard about what happened at Snowdin by now and I would like it if-"
An audible sound of rustling came from the bush behind them. Frisk, still crouching, stopped her drinking and froze in her spot, while Flowey followed suit as they slowly turned with alertness.
"I heard that too," Flowey confirmed.
"Who's there?!" Frisk asked the bush sternly.
There came no answer. Frisk reached for her knife as she slowly rose back up. Nervousness gripped her chest yet she stood on. For a moment, she began to feel relieved, thinking it was perhaps just the wind. But then the bush rustled once more. Flowey raised his expanded vines in an attack position, and Frisk gripped her knife hard and raised it halfway out of the sheath.
"I know you're in there, whoever you are!" Frisk cried out. "Show yourself!"
But then, a surprisingly familiar youthful voice came out from the rustling leaves.
"DON'T FREAK OUT!" the voice cried out intensely. "DON'T FREAK OUT, IT'S ME! IT'S ME!"
Out from the bushes stumbled a familiar-looking yellow, armless reptile monster. They fell face-first onto the ground with an almost audible thunk, before looking up, smiling with excitement and nervousness.
"It's me, MK!" they said. "Remember?"
"MK?" Frisk asked back, relieved as she lowered the knife back fully into the sheath. "Jesus…"
"What the heck are you doing out here kid?" Flowey asked sternly. "Were you following us?"
"Erm… a bit?" MK answered and smiled awkwardly.
"A bit?" Flowey asked back.
"Just… not at the start," MK excused anxiously. "Only for like a few minutes. I… I saw you and recognized you while looking through the bushes! I didn't want to scare or bother you, but I was curious and… and... I'm so sorry, ok? I-!"
"It's… it's ok, kid," Frisk said calmly.
"I-I'm not in trouble or anything?" MK asked nervously.
"Nah, don't worry, you're not," Frisk said.
"Well… not unless you're working for someone," Flowey replied. "Are you?"
"I'm… I'm not, no," MK answered anxiously. "Who would I even be working with? And why?"
"Er- no one!" Flowey quickly said.
"Wait, are you talking about like Mickey?" MK pried. "Why would he be after you?"
"He's not!" Frisk answered anxiously. "Erm, sorry. We don't think he is. I mean, it's like you said. Why would he be, huh?"
"Hmm," MK said, thoughtfully. "Yeah unless you've done something really bad, then I don't see why-"
"Hang on a minute," Flowey said, realising something. "Kid? Do you not know what happened at Grillby's?"
"Yo, what?!" MK cried out with shock. "Did something happen at Grillby's?!"
"Wait, you… really haven't heard?" Frisk asked. "How long have you've been out here kid?"
"Heard what?!" MK asked again with worry. "I've been here about a couple of hours. Or something like that."
"Well crap," Flowey muttered.
"Erm… shit," Frisk muttered. "Ok kid. There, uh, there was a bit of a… fight."
"A fight?!" MK replied. "Oh, gee. Did anyone get hurt?!"
"No one got hurt, don't worry," Frisk said. "Not severely that is."
"It started with those two rabbit sisters, Clare and Isabell," Flowey said. "You know, the old shopkeeper and innkeeper? Anyway, Isabell got blind drunk and attacked Clare, almost killing her even."
"Isabell attack Clare?!" MK said, almost gasping. "Oh no! Is she-?"
"She's fine, don't worry," Frisk said. "She's alive and… she's alive. Both of them. I think they've reconciled even."
"Whew," MK said, relieved. "Hope my second mom wasn't there."
"I'm sure she would've been fine," Frisk said. "As I said, no one got seriously hurt."
"But wait," MK suddenly said. "I don't understand what that had to do with you."
Frisk and Flowey looked to each other, cluelessly and with desperation, as if expecting the other to have a good answer.
"Err…" Flowey began. "Thing is… we may or may not have made one or more enemies during that mess."
"Like who?" MK asked. "Oh, and is that the one who is after you?"
"No one is after us!" Flowey quickly said.
"Uh, yeah," Frisk replied anxiously. "Or at least… we don't think so?"
"But then why did you act like someone was?" MK pried, sounding genuinely confused.
"We never did," Frisk answered nervously. "When we suggested that someone specific was after us and that we made some enemies, it was more of a… erm, it was more of a…?"
"General thing?" Flowey replied.
"Yes, general thing!" Frisk said. "You know? Just in case… someone is after us. Yeah, we don't know who would but… we'll never know. Right? Better to be safe than sorry, as they say."
The kid eyed them for a moment with clear confusion on their expression. But, they thankfully seemed to have bought it.
"Man," they said. "You two are paranoid, ain't you?"
"Yeah…" Frisk answered. "Guess we are."
"I think we should get going now, Frisk," Flowey said anxiously. "Been in this place far too long for my liking."
"Yeah let's," Frisk said.
"Yo, can I come with?" MK asked with excitement. "I told my mom at home that I'm sleeping over at a friends house and I don't want to come home early and make her worry. And I don't have anything to do in the meantime so… can I come? Please?"
"Ehh…" Flowey began, sounding unsure. "I don't know kid-"
"I'll just follow for a short while!" MK interrupted. "I'll promise. And I can be perfectly silent if you want to! Just look!"
The kid proceeded to shut their jaw tight, almost hard enough to give an audible thump. They grimaced a bit, as silence returned to the area.
"See?!" he suddenly cried out. "Oh, darn it!"
"Ok, kid," Flowey began. "First things first-"
"Yeah sure," Frisk answered. "I think we have room for at least one more."
"Really?!" MK said, happily. "Yo, thank you! I'll promise I'll be good and shut up if you need to!"
"It's alright," Frisk said. "You don't need to do all that. You're not like our servant or anything."
"Yo, awesome!" the kid said.
They ran around in a circle with clear excitement, having become clearly blind to their surrounding.
Meanwhile, Frisk turned to Flowey who stared at her with clear displease.
"Oh come on, Flowey," she said with annoyance.
"I'm not sure about this, Frisk," Flowey said to her. "What with The Hunt and everything. I told you before I'm fine with kids, but-"
"It's just for a short while," Frisk excused. "I don't think one more companion is gonna hold us back by much. Plus, look how happy he… she… erm, they are."
Flowey looked back at the kid who immediately proceeded to clumsily trip and fall face-first onto the mud.
"Geez," Frisk exclaimed with worry. "Are you alright kid?!"
"I'm… I'm fine!" MK reassured, muffled with their face still halfway inside the mud. "Happens all the time."
Then like a spring toy, MK popped their head quickly back up, a smile visibly showing under the mud-covered face. Afterwards, they proceeded to quickly shake their head, mud splattering into all directions.
"Alright, fine," Flowey said in defeat. "They can be with us. For a while."
"That's the spirit," Frisk said snarkily. "The more the merrier. Or something like that."
"Yeah, I've heard of that before," Flowey answered.
Frisk proceeded to pick up her bag again, feeling the small weight of the empty bottle lying at the bottom inside. But as Frisk adjusted the straps on the bag, the audible clanking coming from inside it gave her an idea.
"Hey, can you give me a moment first?" she asked. "Wanna do something first."
Before waiting for an answer, Frisk turned in front of the lake and squatted in front of it once more. Then she reached into the bag and pulled out the bottle she got from Gyftrot in the forest and proceeded to fill it up with the water.
"Frisk, what are you doing?" Flowey asked impatiently.
"Just taking a little memento is all," Frisk said as she closed the lid.
She raised the now full bottle in front of her. Even with those few alcohol stains, there seemed to be nothing but utter cleanliness contained in the water inside. If it weren't for the weight, you could almost be fooled into thinking there was nothing inside the bottle.
"Memento?" MK asked curiously.
"Yeah," Frisk answered. "For my folks back home. I'm sure they will love this."
Author's note:
So, it's been three months.
I'm sure most of you have given up by now, or maybe just completely forgotten about this fic. I won't blame many of you for assuming I had completely given up on it. One day, just as the story is getting interesting, I vanish for three months. In terms of internet time, that might as well mean I'm dead.
But if I never really did lose interest, why am I only now uploading it? Why did I leave you all in the dark for so long? That... is a question I don't have an easy or a single answer for.
Truth is, these past few months have been... really rough for me. For my mental state. For a while, I just felt... unhappy. Angry, anxious, and/or depressed. I don't think there was anything that sparked it, except for maybe just the state of the world as it is now. I just did not have the energy for anything. Especially not writing. I just... I needed a break, is all. But I did not expect that it would be so long.
But now... I am back. I promise. This story is only starting to get interesting. I occasionally debated whether or not to simply just skip huge chunks of the story "in order to get to the good parts", but I've decided not to. Undertale is very dear to me, and I think this fic deserves a lot more respect due to it.
Now in terms of chapters, I'm pretty sure it sucks to have such a short chapter after such a long wait. Truthfully, it was originally going to be a lot longer, but yet again, I split it in two. But I do hope it brings back some interests for you, my dear readers, and I'll try, I won't promise, but I'll try to make the next one come much sooner.
Either way, I don't really have much more to say in terms of this chapter. Oh, and I'm also currently requesting a commission from an artist on DA, a commission that relates to this fic and will come out sometime soon. I'm not gonna say who it is, but once its done and uploaded, I will be sure to share it with you all, if you're interested. It relates to two of the villain characters that have appeared in the story so far.
(oh, and one more thing. One of you inquisitive readers, may or may not have pieced together a... let's say an idea that I'm going for in this story. I won't say which one of you did it or what that "idea" is, but be patient, as the image will be revealed pretty soon in a nearby chapter.)