Chapter 5: The Valley - Part 1
The soggy roads bent under the feet of a large, muscular figure. Whatever monsters that stood in her path had long scurried to their homes or holes for the night. The figure was the only living and awake thing in the lush blue greenery at this time.
Self-named after one of the greatest heroes of the surface, few who were not her target were fortunate enough to see her in person.
A vigilante some called her. Sometimes called a hero in the same breath. But others, many of those more privileged in life, called her a nuisance or worse, a villain. Or just a desperate one-person army. A solo crusade with a silly alias and no realistic chance. Surely only the most delusional would hope to stand alone against The Royal Hunt and the entire kingdom.
That's what everyone always said about her. And she agreed. Should she ram headfirst and alone through the gates of hell, she would only stumble. No matter how heroic, the self-centred oppressors would gawk and laugh at her broken form bleeding and dusting on the ground, while those she was so desperate to help would then only shake their heads in shame, before subjecting their surrendered state to further oppression.
However, even the most hopeless of monsters have a spark of determination, the lifeblood of progress. Maybe the right person to inspire those lowest of lows to stand up can help that lifeblood truly flourish.
The figure scanned her surrounding from above a short cliff before making sure to land down on the road spectacularly. Her massive shadows forming from the bioluminescent foliage spread a great deal of distance. Even on her knees, her massive, muscular build stood tall above many others. She rose to her feet, cracked her neck and then slowly walked down the road.
Her black combat suit was hard to see in this darkness. Occasionally through patches of light, you could see her properly, and the large athletic limbs wouldn't be hard to miss. A dark blue armoured vest covered her stomach, and a featureless metal cover hid her facial features, save for a single glowing eye underneath a small, single eyehole.
After a short walk, the figure looked around her area once more. The trail of rumours had led to this strange sight, and it appeared they were not meritless. Several distinct looking sets of footsteps were on the ground, walking around infrequent patterns.
She counted each type of footprints as she followed them. About two or three people had walked this way. Not so long ago, from what she could tell. Were they what the Royal Hunt was after? Were these strangers the reason that they made camp not so far away?
Not enough evidence to make an assumption, she figured. Not yet.
After crossing through an old river puzzle, the footprints led to a lone echo flower sitting just by the corner of the cavern wall. The footprints seemed more frantic here, and the grassy ground looked bent in some places as if someone just sat there.
With much care, the figure poked the echo flower.
"We… we have to go!" the flower said. "Frisk, what- WE HAVE TO GO NOW!"
Two distinct voices, the figure could discern. One belonged to an older sounding teenage girl and the other of a snobbish sounding boy around the same age.
The flower continued, now echoing the sounds of hurried steps. After that, it spoke again in a third voice. A little kid, clearly younger than the other two.
"Frisk?!" it spoke. "Flowey, what's the matter-?"
"I don't know, kid, but let's hurry!" the previous snobbish voice interrupted. "Before she does something stupid!"
Intriguing, the figure, Ashu-Tsuki, thought to herself and smiled. Intriguing indeed.
"Seriously?!" Flowey asked with disbelief. "Are you absolutely sure, Frisk?!"
"Yes, I'm positive!" Frisk exclaimed. "He's a human! An honest to god, freaking human!"
"But… that makes no sense!" Flowey stated. "Alright, it would make some sense, like it could be why you can't find any information about Mickey before he appeared, or at least not any trustworthy information. Then there's the fact that he rarely shows his face but… really? You're telling me that a grown human being not only somehow evaded capture in the most brutal and paranoid phase of this kingdom, but has also somehow become the head honcho of a human-hunting fanatic group without being discovered?!"
"I… I know what I saw," Frisk said.
"You sure?!" Flowey asked sceptically. "I mean, maybe you just got confused. Everyone who's seen him claim he's a shaved ape monster and shaved apes look very similar to humans, and considering you've yourself passed off so far as an ape-"
Flowey stopped himself as a realization quickly washed over him.
"Oh…" he said. "Oh yeah. But wait, what about his tentacles? Humans don't have tentacles on their heads. Do they?"
"They're not tentacles!" Frisk exclaimed. "They're dreadlocks. Means his hair is just… braided that way. Look, I don't know how or why Mickey's where he's at, but I'm completely certain of what I saw. He was also bleeding all over, and not a single part of him was turning to dust. He was solid all the way through, even after he freaking killed himself. Mickey can reset time, like me. And how you used to. Maybe that's how he managed to get through all that shit!"
"I… I don't know Frisk," Flowey said, sounding as if grasping on straws. "I believe you, or rather, I believe that you think that you're telling the truth, but… it's just too hard to grasp. Two people being able to reset down here at the same time? It's just unheard of. It's supposed to be impossible. Are you sure you didn't just subconsciously reset without dying? Or that you didn't just, I dunno, dream it or something?"
Frisk immediately halted in her steps, and Flowey followed suit. She took a deep breath and turned around, feeling the desperation and uncertainty cling to her.
"Look," Frisk began. "My mind is a goddamn mess right now. Everything I ever knew- no everything I thought I knew all my life has been completely turned around in like a single day. Now there's monsters and magic, timelines jumping back and forward all the time and I don't know what the fuck to believe in anymore!"
She placed a palm on her face and sighed. She wanted to lean back and just vanish back home. Flowey turned thoughtful, while MK looked anxious at her.
"Ugh," Frisk muttered tiredly. "Sorry, I-"
"No, no, it's fine," Flowey said. "Maybe you're right. Maybe he really is human."
Frisk stood silent for a moment as if her mind wasn't fully functioning anymore. Then, after a moment, she gave him a nod.
"Alright," she said. "Maybe."
She turned and continued onward, her two companions following her suit.
It was clear they were reaching the end of the blue forest and perhaps The Waterfall area in general. The blue luminescence was almost gone before any of the three noticed. Trees were smaller and grew to duller colours, and ordinary rocks and dirt were much more frequent.
"You've… seen a human before…?" MK asked in a low voice.
MK. Max. Frisk hadn't heard anything from them for far too long. But only now did she notice it.
"I know what… erm… what they look like," Frisk answered without turning around. "I think that's enough."
MK turned silent as if they didn't care much for the answer.
"So he's a human…?" MK pondered to themself. "Should've guessed. So cruel…"
Frisk made no response to that. She didn't want to think about it. She tried to not even think about anything anymore, except the path ahead. But it was hard. Virtually impossible.
The struggles, the resets and the close calls. Far too many close calls. Especially the last one with MK.
Just as Frisk began to consider, Flowey spoke right on time about what she was starting to notice.
"Hey, Frisk?" he whispered. "I think somethings up with the kid."
Frisk finally looked at them. What she saw was a sad sight. Unsurprising, but sad nonetheless.
They seemed uncaring to keep up, tagging behind by several feet. Their head bowed down without energy, and their eyes drooped without a spark of life.
"MK?" Frisk asked gently. "You ok?"
MK said nothing for a few seconds.
"I'm fine…" they eventually said.
Frisk and Flowey looked at each other, both with worry in their gazes.
"You sure?" Flowey asked.
They said nothing. Despite this air of discomfort growing, the group continued walking as if nothing was the matter.
There were several branches now covering the path. It didn't take long before Frisk stepped on one, with a very audible crack forming. A very trivial mishap, Frisk simply dismissed it as. But only for a second.
"GYAH!" MK exclaimed with shock.
"What's wrong?!" Frisk asked and stopped and turned.
MK simply stood there, shaking and staring at the ground with lessening terror. Even Flowey expressed surprise by their reaction.
"S-sorry…" MK apologised. "Just a stupid branch is all…"
They lowered their face down again as if to hide it.
"Kid…?" Flowey asked calmly. "I don't think you're ok."
"I said I'm fine…" MK said dismissingly.
Frisk and Flowey exchanged worried looks once more before the three of them continued forward.
"Frisk?" MK suddenly asked without looking up. "How… how did you know?"
"Um, what do you mean?" Frisk asked gently.
"About the attack?" MK reiterated. "How did you know… that they were coming?"
Frisk thought for a moment on the easiest way to explain it. Should she mention the erased timeline? Didn't they already have enough on their mind?
"I have… somewhat of a foresight ability," Frisk eventually answered. "Kinda."
"Oh…" MK said back with little enthusiasm.
They walked in silence for a while more.
"Can you…?" MK began.
They stopped their words abruptly.
"What?" Frisk asked calmly.
"Can you… see the future?" they asked.
Frisk gave a quick shrug.
"Meh," she eventually "Not really."
"But… can you tell what will happen to us?" they asked. "What will happen to my parents? To my sis?"
"I-" Frisk began.
"It doesn't work that way," Flowey explained.
"Oh… ok…" MK simply said.
Frisk turned her gaze back to the road, feeling worse by the moment.
"Are we safe?" MK asked, raising their head.
Frisk hesitated to answer that question.
"I think so," Frisk lied. "Yeah."
MK said nothing to that. Just continued to stare at the ground.
The last of the blue around them began to lose its last bits of vividness, and Flowey suddenly began to frantically look around as if something was missing.
"Wait a minute," he said. "Where the heck are we?"
"You're asking me?" Frisk replied. "Yep. we're definitely lost."
"No, no, no, this place seems familiar," Flowey said. "It's just not the way I was planning before. It was a rhetorical question."
"Do you know what a rhetorical question is?" Frisk said.
"Whatever, you get my meaning," Flowey muttered.
"Well I kinda got turned around during the chase," Frisk said. "So don't start blaming me."
"I'm not gonna start blaming you," Flowey replied annoyed. "Geez. We all got turned around, frankly. I was too busy surviving rather than guiding back there."
"Uh-huh," Frisk replied. "That's one way to put it."
It was clear on his frown that Flowey noticed her subtext. He sighed.
"If this is about that thing I did-" Flowey began.
"Look, I don't wanna talk about it now," Frisk said. "Let's just focus on getting as far away as possible, ok? It's like you always say. What happened, happened.
Flowey frowned and shut his mouth.
"I came back didn't I?" he said to himself.
"Are… are we lost?" MK asked, concerned.
"No, no, we're not lost, don't worry," Frisk said, hiding her worry.
"But he said…" MK began.
"We'll be fine," Flowey said calmly. "Yeah, this isn't the way I intended, but I've been on this path before. It just needs to come back to me, trust me. Plus, any road can be the right road if you think about it."
"Right road…" MK repeated in a whisper. "Right road to what?"
Several more minutes of walking passed, during which no one spoke a single word. The trees and foliage turned small and less dense. A moment later, they were completely gone. Following that, the dirt road began to lose its discernibility as if it was slowly fading away. Eventually, only grass remained. Grass which slowly began to lose its blue hue until it turned dull green, that in the shadow of the cavernous walls might as well be black.
"Yeah, this is all coming back to me," Flowey said after some time.
"Where would you say we are then?" Frisk asked.
Flowey squinted his eyes as he looked around the place.
"Seems… we're about north of Waterfall," Flowey said. "Judging by the colour and foliage. Or lack thereof, I mean.
A look of concern seemed to grow on him.
"Hang on," Flowey began. "That means we're…"
A large opening revealed itself on the wall on the left. As the three kids turned, they found themselves standing on a precipice overlooking a vast magnificent view, with bright white cavern crystals above shining on it like moonlight.
Down below was a deep valley of grass, the size of several football fields. So high above were they, the three of them could see the swathes of dark blue and green meadows ending by swamp covered in a thick white fog. But a big noticeable grey and white spot lay near the centre of the valley as if it had snowed only in that singular point. Several stone slabs stood near it, alongside what looked like a single farmstead sitting lonesome.
Frisk stood still in the centre of the group as they looked down at the view few had ever been lucky to see. On any other day, she would've felt amazed at the sight.
"Do you recognise this place now?" Frisk asked Flowey.
"Yep," Flowey said with confidence. "The Valley of Dust. Kinda hoped I wouldn't ever come here again."
Author's note:
So since the last chapter was Waterfall, logically that would mean that the one after would be Hotland and after that the finale, right? Isn't that how the formula usually goes?
Well, not here. All the previous chapters, the ruins to Waterfall, were pretty much just act one. A third of the story. Now, for the next several chapters, we'll be exploring areas never before seen in UT with more mystery and strange(perhaps brutal) perils. Only now do I think the AU truly begins.
Anyway, on to the chapter itself, the first one of "The Valley" chapters. I'm kinda sorry that it's a relatively short one after a two-month wait, especially compared to the other ones. Frankly, I just think it's fitting. It's more of a calmer chapter meant to get you, readers, back on track. You could maybe call it a filler chapter.
Here we are also introduced to a "new" character at the start, the mysterious Ashu-Tsuki. I was considering whether or not I was going to reveal her identity here, but this story already has enough mysteries to go around. As to the character themselves, I'm really excited to show more of her. That's all I will say regarding her identity.
I also wanted to use this chapter to explore the lasting effect of the last chapter. Especially with poor MK. I also wanted to establish that Frisk is still not 100% over the fact that Flowey just spontaneously left, and while I may not have fully shown it, I'd say he still harbors some guilt over it. But this Flowey we're talking about so... who knows? ;)
Anyway, not much in plot development happened here. The next part will pretty much have the same pattern, although we will meet a new, fairly minor character I've been looking forward to, as I've hinted at with the farmhouse. Either way, I hope you enjoy the story so far, and I'll see you soon, for it is far from over.