The Valley - Part 4

"Hey, Ian," Frisk said into her phone. "It's me again."

She lay down into the soft grass, staring up at the distant crystals of the cavern.

"Has it really been only a day?" Frisk said into the recording. "God, it feels much longer. Like a year longer, in fact. So I know I called you last just earlier today, I think? Or maybe it was in the evening yesterday? But I need something to keep my sanity in check for the time being."

She stared at the distant ceiling, only hearing the subtle rustling of grass in the wind. She was alone out here, right outside of Vladi's house. She put her hand on her chest, feeling her heart beating more than usual. Frisk took a deep breath and continued.

"God, Ian, where do I even start?" she said. "Well, for starters, we left Snowdin. Holy crap, I just can't do that whole place good enough justice. A whole town inhabited by large, talking rabbits that act like modern-day humans? Just think about that sentence and realize I'm not joking. Man, I wish I could've taken pictures. If only I didn't delay getting my phone's camera fixed so often. There were not just rabbits, though. From what I recall, there was a cow, a donkey, and I think I saw a mouse as well. And there were not just animals either. Remember those skeleton brothers I mentioned last time? Yeah, they were neat as well, and perhaps some of the most helpful ones in town. Not something you'd expect from what looks like literal human skeletons. What's up with that anyway? Eh, I'll just ask Flowey about that. Oh yeah, he's still with me, despite everything. The little guy stuck with me almost the whole journey. A bit difficult at first, but once you get to know him, he ain't that bad. I couldn't ask for a better guide in this world, although his memory loss is kinda annoying at times."

She gave out a bit of a chuckle.

"So, Snowdin," Frisk added. "Sounds like a cool town? No pun intended. Get it, because the town is covered in snow? Anyway, the people, err monsters, there are nice. For the most part. But the town itself?"

She gave out a deep sigh.

"Hmm, how do I put it," she said. "You know all those war photos of ruined impoverished towns. Yeah, the state of the town was kinda like that. Besides that one restaurant bar, every house seemed only a single punch from falling apart. Apparently, the kingdom had some sort of civil war a few years back. Following that, the town just fell apart over the years. But despite that, the townsfolk were nice and non-judgemental. At least, for the most part. The only problem, turns out they're not actually fond of humans. Thankfully, almost all of them have forgotten what we look like. But let's just say I did some nice things that… wasn't a hundred per cent thought out on my part, and the gig was up. And we were kicked out. Sure, we were planning on leaving, either way, but… you know, still sucks. Now, I know what you're now thinking. Why didn't I just use my awesome time travel power to fix it?"

Frisk paused at that moment. She was no longer sure how to answer that question

"It's a long story," Frisk simply answered. "In short, we had to leave town, and fast. Thankfully, the skeleton brothers already knew about me being human ahead of time and were much more understanding. So there were no hard goodbyes there. After that, Flowey and I found ourselves in a super wet area named Waterfall. God, Waterfall. Blue trees, blue flowers, blue grass… just blue everything. And the lakes, oh god, the fucking lakes! Sorry for the f-bomb, I just don't think I've ever seen such clean water in my entire life, it literally tasted like nothing! I still have some with me. You know, for home. Oh, and the echo-flowers. They were these flowers where if you touched them, they'd replay the last noise they heard like recordings. God, it was like a dream! I also met this monster kid, or rather, I met them again. Met them in town first. Named Max, or MK, and they're non-binary You know what that is, right? It just means they- yeah, you know. Either way, nice kid. Very energetic and a very, very big risk-taker. The type that runs headfirst into danger. Or they were like that, at first. Then…"

Frisk stopped herself, thinking twice. If there was any time to talk about The Royal Hunt.

"Ian?" she began. "There's something that I've should've told you."

She stopped, closed her eyes and shook her head.

"It's just that I forgot to return old Murphy his charger back," Frisk said. "Nothing else. Can you do it for me? Not many people with antique mobile phones and chargers beside us, you know? I'm sure he'll appreciate it."

In her stomach, there grew a strange sensation that was partly relief and partly disappointment towards herself.

"There's nothing to worry about," she lied. "Right now, the three of us are staying with this nice old monster farmer. A farmer who's a monster, not a farmer who- you get me. He's a dragon, by the way. Yes, an actual fire breathing dragon. They're real, and you have no idea how happy that makes me. He's more of a humanoid, though, and has no wings. Plus, he's not big, just a bit chubby, I'd say. But still, close enough. His house is neat, located in this valley where a big battle took place. There's like a huge memorial nearby. They call it The Valley of Dust because monsters turn to dust when they die."

Frisk gave out a big yawn.

"God, I think I've said enough," she said. "Sorry for taking so long. I just have a lot on my mind, more than usual. The point is, I'm fine for now. You don't need to worry about me or anything. Love you, Ian. Excited to see you and the surface again."

With that, she turned off her phone and put it in her pocket. She placed her arms under her head as she continued looking up at the distant crystals.

"Someone from home, I assume?" Flowey asked nearby.

Frisk turned her head and saw Flowey standing just a few feet from her face, watching her curiously.

"Hey," Frisk said. "Didn't notice you there."

"Eh, I got kinda bored," Flowey said. "Wanted a change of scenery."

He moved closer to her and rooted himself into the ground right beside her.

"Didn't know you could root," Frisk said.

"I can do a lot of things, it turns out," Flowey explained. "I think I can even burrow."

"Like a mole?"

"Like a mole."

Frisk gave a quick smirk and continued staring at the distant ceiling.

"So who is this "Ian" ?" Flowey inquired. "Is he your boyfriend or-"

"You have no idea how wrong that sounds," Frisk said, snorting lightly. "No, Ian is my brother actually. Older brother, that is."

"Huh," Flowey said, pondering. "Yeah, that sounds kinda wrong. Didn't know you had a brother."

"Didn't see a need to mention it," Frisk said and shrugged. "Truth be told, he's the only person above who still gives some shit about me. Well, maybe except for-"

She paused a bit with a lot of uncertainty in her expression.

"Except for who?" Flowey inquired.

"I don't know," Frisk said.

"I thought you mentioned someone named Murphy earlier"

"Oh, that's my teacher," Frisk answered. "Seems nice, perhaps the nicest teacher I've had so far. But, honestly, I feel like that's more of a formality on his part than anything else. You know, it's his job to be. Frankly, I wouldn't be surprised if I were indistinguishable from his dozens of other students."

"Eh, don't be like that," Flowey replied. "You don't get far if you assume the worst in everyone."

"Says you," Frisk said, smiling. "But yeah, maybe I'm too hard on him."

"That's good to hear, but I'm gonna pretend I didn't hear the first thing you said. But don't you have any parents? Or something close, at the very least?"

That question was precisely the line Frisk hoped he wouldn't cross. But she realized she brought this on herself, so she felt more annoyed at herself than anything.

"Right," Flowey said. "Bad territory."

Then, without even trying to, accursed words came flowing out of Frisk's mouth.

"My mom died when I was little," she spouted out.

She shut her eyes, almost on the verge of facepalming while Flowey looked at her like he was utterly clueless on how to react.

Oh god, why the fuck did I just say that?! Frisk thought. Welp, you just opened Pandora's box, Frisk. And in front of the guy who can remember events before resets, nonetheless. Too late to back out now.

"Oh…" Flowey added. "W-what was-"

"Cancer," Frisk said, unflinchingly.

Flowey looked like he was confused by his own emotions at this point.

"I…" Flowey began. "I don't know what-"

"I'm alright," Frisk lied. "It happened a very long time ago. I was just a baby then. Honestly, she might as well have been a stranger to me."

Flowey looked utterly baffled at this point as he grasped his chest vine.

"Are you alright, Flowey?" Frisk asked with worry.

"It's nothing," he said. "Just surprised."

"By what?"

At first, Flowey opened his mouth as if to speak but changed his mind last second.

"Not sure," he said after a pause.

"Ok," Frisk simply said.

"Erm, what about your dad?"

"Oh, he's still alive."

"Well, that's good," Flowey said.

"Meh, maybe so."

"What do you mean?"

Frisk sat back up as she tried to wrangle her brain on where to even begin.

"To start with," Frisk said. "The last thing I ever heard him say to my brother was, and I quote, "I don't want to see you or your goddamned face ever again"."

"Gee," Flowey said. "Sounds bad."

"It is bad. Haven't seen him for five years. And I feel lucky for that."

They both remained quiet for a few moments, not even able to give each other eye contact. For a moment, Flowey opened his mouth as if to speak again, but then quickly shut it.

The wind combined with the sight of the distant entrance to the valley, that rose like a mountain in the air, created a discomforting melody. The uneasy feeling that the hunt could appear on that horizon any second and come rushing down was too much to bear at times. In every second that passed in those moments, she was alone in her thoughts, the brashness of some past choices becoming clearer and clearer. There was one choice, however, that stuck out more than the rest. One she had been neglecting to ponder about as much as she felt she should've.

"I've been thinking back," Frisk said. "To that scene in the bar. With those two ladies."

Flowey gave out an extremely tired sigh.

"Look, Frisk-"

"You were right."

Flowey looked at her, mouth agape, more baffled than ever before.

"Geez, Frisk, you-"

"Ok, you were partly right," Frisk explained. "I still stand by that helping them was a good thing. But I should've tried again. I should've tried harder. I should've continued resetting until I managed to save them while hiding my identity. But instead, I stopped with a half-finished job, and now, because of that, The Hunt is after us."

Flowey turned away, looking like he didn't expect any of those words from her mouth, and became horrified as it did.

"Geez, Frisk," Flowey said with confusion. "W-well, why didn't you?"

Frisk exhaled some air as she thought about it.

"No freaking clue," she simply said. "Guess I was too scared. And too stubborn. Plus, I don't think I expected any of the monsters to truly give us up. Assumed they were all nice for that. No, I think I know what it was. Back then, when you said I had done it ten times, I think something just… broke in me. Then I tried to justify it with the whole "getting them back together" thing when I was actually just scared to retry, and… it was a huge mess. I mean, I'm glad about what I've done,t but you were right about one thing. I could've done better."

Flowey gave out a quick shrug as he thought back to that moment.

"Yeah, quitting too easy was kinda dumb, not gonna lie," he said.

They sat together, pondering, for a few moments.

"Huh," Frisk said.

"What?"

"Eh, nothing. It's just that, normally, in these situations, you would be telling me "oh no, Frisk it's not your fault" or "you did the best you possibly could,"."

The flower gave a quick chuckle while smiling with an open mouth.

"Guess I really fucked up back then," Frisk simply said.

"Well, if it makes you feel any better," Flowey said. "I was also wrong about a thing back there."

"Oh? What thing?"

Flowey shut his mouth as if refusing to continue this conversation further.

"Err, nothing," he then said. "Forget I spoke."

"Come on, tell me. I gave you my heart-felt apology for the mess up on my part. It's only fair."

"Err…"

Flowey looked like he was about to start sweating.

"For the millionth time, I'm not gonna laugh," Frisk said and gave an encouraging smile. "Pretty please?"

"Ugh, you were doing the right thing back then," Flowey said quickly, sounding almost insulted at himself for saying this.

Frisk looked at him, almost feeling surprised.

"You were doing the right thing," Flowey repeated. "Or at least, you were on the right mindset with saving those two ladies. Or at least preventing one from dying. It was a good thing you did, even if the execution… could've used some improvements and extra tries. But the thought itself, you know, using your resetting powers for an act like that is something you shouldn't feel ashamed for."

Thoughtfully, Frisk leaned back down, pleasantly surprised.

"Even if you do make some moronic choices here and there," Flowey began. "You shouldn't be so hard on yourself all the time. Bad for morale. Trust me. Also, I don't really think you were truly scared back there. From what I gathered, I think you truly thought it was the best outcome. Trust me, you were more than ready to cut your own throat again."

Frisk turned to him with a smile.

"You just did it again," she said.

"Did what again?"

"Encourage me. Lift me up. You know, the thing you "suck" at."

"You're… welcome?"

They both looked over the horizon, towards the seemingly infinite field of white dust surrounded by the large totems.

"About that whole "encourage" thing," Flowey began. "For context, there was once a period of time where I literally didn't have any empathy or most emotions in general."

"Oh, assuming that's what you have right now?" Frisk asked.

"Frisk-!"

"I'm joking! Sorry, sensitive info?"

"Clearly. Geez, Frisk, has anyone ever taught you about social cues?!"

"Not very well, I have to admit."

"Explains a lot, actually."

They remained in silence for a bit longer, letting the discomfort grow in Frisk's chest.

"Sorry about that," Frisk said after a few moments.

"Already taken," Flowey said and suddenly looked like he remembered something. "Oh shoot, I think Vladi was calling for you earlier."

"Oh?" Frisk asked.

"Yeah, wondering if you could help him with gardening or something."

"Ugh. I'm not in the- Well if he insists."

That last work for the evening involved picking crab apples from the tree in the backyard. Apparently, one had to remove the pinchers from the fruit to get the best flavour, similar to removing stones from grapes. The pinchers themselves proved to be practically useless, with no nutritional value and seemed only to serve as a sort outdated defence mechanism. Crab apples in the past were very much alive.

That was the most Frisk could gather from Vladi's long exposition on them. She felt lost in her thoughts midway through his long chatting and monologues, only reawakening every moment or so.

"Gotta say," Vladi said. "You're a pretty good listener. A hearing me go on and on about crab apple lore most would've told me to, erm, stop talking at this point. To put it in a lighter term."

"Erm, yeah, yeah," Frisk said, awakened from her thoughts for a moment. "Very interesting."

Vladi looked at her, unamused, and continued picking from the trees in silence.

Deep inside, Frisk did feel a bit interested in all of this. If only due to the "alien" element of it all, as she began to call it in her head. But if crab apples worked like any other surface fruit, she surely wouldn't even have a spark of focus left.

Turns out that monster food sort of has a "life" on their own, although much less developed and without what could be called consciousness. Frisk pretended to always know that, of course.

"Were you enjoying the view?" Vladi asked while tossing pinchers in a bag.

"Huh?" Frisk replied.

"You sat out there for a bit," Vladi reiterated. "I didn't want to bother."

"Yeah, I was out there. It's a nice view."

"Huh. See anything interesting."

"Here and there. I went outside mostly to use my phone. Call home, stuff like that."

"Ah, of course," Vladi said, smiling. "Kids are still up in those things I see ever since I left from The Capital. Wondrous machines aren't they? Easy to mistake for magic. It's not magic, though. I'm not that backwater. Speaking of which, how did you acquire one?"

Frisk looked at him, trying to understand what he was getting at.

"Oh shoot, I'm very sorry!" Vladi profusely apologized. "Didn't mean to imply you Ape-Monsters were backwards or anything-"

"No, no, it's fine," Frisk replied, smiling with relief. "Some old guy gave it to me a while back."

"A whole phone?"

"Yeah, he was kinda-"

Frisk stopped her words as she thought back, and a familiar resemblance seemed to form as she looked back at Vladi.

"What?" Vladi asked.

"Nothing," Frisk said. "Just overthinking things."

"Well, I'm not that surprised," Vladi added. "That someone would give away such a valuable thing."

Valuable? Frisk thought.

"Why not?" she asked him.

"Clearly you haven't been outside of Apetown that much. Some monsters are what one could call more "eccentric" than others. For instance, Temmies. Met any of those?"

"What now?"

"Eh, long stories. But let's just say if you ever encounter one on the road, you're in for a treat."

The smile he gave was earnest and almost encouraging. But then, his face suddenly took on a look of realization.

"Wait, if there are no phones in Apetown, then how were you calling home-?"

"Err, one monkey I know has phones!" Frisk anxiously answered quickly.

"Oh… ok then."

Whew, that was close, Frisk thought.

Without another word, they continued. After a few minutes, they had filled the basket with pincher-less crab apples.

"I think that about does it for today," Vladi said. "Gotta say, that was a quick job."

"Really?" Frisk asked.

"Well. Relatively speaking. For me, that is."

He began to pick up the basket.

"May I?" Frisk said almost instinctively.

"Ahh, you're too nice, Frisk."

"Don't mention it."

The basket proved to be surprisingly light despite being nearly full. Frisk didn't bother questioning things like that anymore.

"Oh, it's been such a while since I had this much help and company," Vladi said. "Not since Bjorg, that is."

"Who's Bjorg?" Frisk asked curiously.

Vladi stopped moving as his face turned grey. The look of a person who shared too much.

"Hmm…" he simply muttered.

"Too much?" Frisk asked.

"Uh-huh," Vladi said bleakly without looking. "Too much."

The attic was almost the biggest room in the house, about the size of the living room itself. Or maybe it seemed that way simply due to a lack of any furnishing. All that remained in there was a triangular window and a couple of small boxes.

Vladi helped the three travellers with carrying up to two of his extra mattresses. He had no third one.

Flowey was offered a pillow since he was so small, but he asked for a simple flower pot instead, claiming to "be growing a bit of a soft spot for them, no pun intended".

So now the trio found themselves standing in the nearly empty attic room, with Frisk holding one of the mattresses and a duvet.

MK had Vladi put their mattress close to the hatch as if they wanted to be the first to run out. Frisk put her's down by the wall opposite them, closer to the window. After a while, Vladi returned, reaching out with a simple flower pot in his hand through the hatch.

"I know it's not that spacious or homely," Vladi said, peeking out of the entrance.

It's extremely spacious, what's he talking about? Frisk thought to herself as she received the pot from him.

"Eh, I've slept in worse places," Flowey added.

"Oh, that's good," Vladi said. "And you, MK? Are you feeling better?"

"Err, I guess…" MK said.

"Ah," Vladi said with a smile on his snout. "Anyway, erm, keep yourselves comfortable. I'll be downstairs if anything occurs. Not that I have anywhere else to be, heh. Erm, yeah."

With that, he closed the hatch, one of the two only ways out.

"That guy has better be as safe as he acts," Flowey said and moved towards the window.

"Where you wanna put the pot?" Frisk asked.

"Eh, don't care. I'm not going to sleep just yet."

Shrugging, Frisk simply put it down between the two mattresses.

She let herself fall on hers, back first. An act that brought up all her hidden exhaustion to the surface.

"I think this is the best mattress I've ever been on," Frisk said, feeling herself sink into the material.

MK lay down on theirs, on the side so that their backspikes wouldn't pierce the mattress, and spotted Flowey standing by the window, looking out intently.

"What are you doing?" MK asked him softly.

"Keeping watch," Flowey said without looking away. "Someone has to."

"Planning on doing that the entire night?" Frisk asked.

"Uh-huh," Flowey answered. "If I need to."

"How do you know if you need to look out the window all night?" MK suddenly asked. "I mean, without doing it?"

It seemed Flowey did not want to even attempt at an answer to that, so he continued staring. So MK looked away and lay down.

"See anything special?" Frisk asked, not expecting an answer.

"Just grass, wind, and rocks," Flowey said. "Thrilling indeed. Oh? I see old Vladi sitting down there on his porch."

"What's he doing?"

"Nothing. Just staring across the valley. Towards the old battlefield."

"Why?"

"I don't know. It feels odd. The way he's sitting."

"How does someone sit oddly?"

"I… I can't really explain it properly. Come over here."

"Nah, I'm too lazy to get up. I'll just take your word for it. He's sitting weirdly, so what? Maybe he's got a back problem? We've been working all night."

"It's not just the position. It's this weird, erm, vibe he gives off. Call me crazy, but it's almost like he's waiting for someone."

"If you're gonna say The Hunt-"

"I'm not certain of anything just yet," Flowey stated. "That's why I'm gonna keep watching."

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

She continued laying in silence a bit. She looked to her side and saw that MK appeared to be fast asleep.

That quickly? Frisk thought.

"Hard for you to sleep?" Flowey asked, not turning around.

"Not really," Frisk answered. "After the last dream, I'm much more enthusiastic. I just need a bit to find a good spot, that's all."

"Wanna chat?" Flowey asked.

"About what?"

Flowey gave out a big, audible yawn.

"Eh, whatever" he then said.

"How do you do that?" Frisk asked.

"Pardon?"

"Yawning. You're a flower, aren't you? Ok, maybe the question is rather why rather than how."

"Well, I do have some… magical essence in me. If I were to be technical, I'm not a flower in the entirety. Just about 90 per cent."

"And that 10 per cent includes the ability to yawn and eat?"

"I guess that last 10 is just sapience. Or rather the concept of sapience. Frankly speaking, I don't feel comfortable talking about this topic-"

"Right, let's forget about it then."

"Right."

Frisk leaned down and closed her eyes.

"What about eating?" she then asked. "How does your body even digest-"

"Frisk," Flowey simply said.

"Right, sorry. Dropping it all now. Pinky promise."

Flowey sighed tiredly and kept looking out.

Way to go, Frisk, said her thoughts. Don't know when to stop, do you?

Shut up, I'm sleeping, she told her thoughts.

Frisk didn't even know it was possible, but the mattress had almost the complete opposite problem of being overused. It was like it hadn't been used in over a century. So unnatural in its smoothness. There was no sense of crumpled sheets or residues of previous inhabitants, and Frisk's body just couldn't adjust to this strange sense of newness.

She moved to her sides, careful as to not make much sound. She then moved to her other side. She moved her hands under her head, over her head, under the blanket and over the blanket.

"Can you stay still?" Flowey asked.

"I got it, I got it," Frisk whispered.

She pressed her hands under the pillow, feeling the weight of her head. She just needed to adjust the rest of her body a bit more-

There. The perfect spot. Now, she just needed to lay still.

A minute or two passed.

Finally, her thoughts began to wither away like a dispersing chaotic crowd, signifying the party had ended and it was time for them all to go home.

And just like that, her conscious mind faded into sleep.

…

"Holy shit."

"Uh-huh. Indeed. That was my reaction as well."

"Woah, I… I never knew there were so many stars in the sky!"

…

"So is it everything you hoped?"

"Something like that. Either way, I can't deny that sight."

"Yep, I told you, Frisk. The best spot on Mount Ebott."

…

"Ian, what's wrong?"

Author's notes:

So turns out I don't really have much to say about this chapter ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ Guess I could start with by saying that this and the next one were originally going to be one chapter, until I decided to split it in half... again. Seems to be a common occurence with me. (Guess I just suck at formating ahead of time, idk)

Anyway, this chapter, like the last one, is pretty calm I'd say. Intentionally so. Guess you could call The Valley segment a "calm before the storm". Question is just how far or close the storm really is. There are some moments with Frisk and Flowey bonding closer, I've finally gotten the chance to reveal who this "Ian" is who Frisk keeps calling, and the character Vladi got some moments with Frisk. (I realized as I was writing that I could've used Gerson in this role, but I already have plans for that old turtle later down the line).

Now the next will be out very soon. This time, I can gurantee that because, at the time of writing, I've finished the first draft. Just need run over it and perhaps tweek it until I decide it's ready to go.

Also, please check out my ongoing Gaster prequel/spin-off to this fic, The Cry from the Void if you're interested.