Chapter 46
Resuming her role as Captain of the Royal Guard was so seamless that it was as if she were never striped of her title, imprisoned, and treated as a wanted criminal. Sometimes, Undyne had to pinch herself to make sure everything that had happened with Frisk truly happened. It was almost as if everything with the human were a dream, as if Undyne took an unexpected nap and lived a whole other life in the realms of another world only to awaken and question what was reality and what was fiction.
Only her semi-frequent communications with the head of the Blues was proof that everything that happened with Frisk was indeed reality.
Quickly deciphering the encoded message she had received from a monster named Mandy Sizzle, Undyne read that new arrivals had come to the hideout, that a team was sent out to verify those on The Island were still safe, that Frisk was still safely at the camp. When she was finished, Undyne destroyed the message. The update contained no important or urgent information, but Undyne was glad to know that this time Frisk was choosing to stay someplace she would be protected from danger.
As she made her way out of her chambers, Undyne aimlessly roamed the halls of the castle. Without thinking where she was going, she found her way to the front. This portion of the castle stood apart, as if it were nothing more than a modest home. Undyne had to remind herself that other than the path to a grander castle in the basement, it was a modest home. It was an almost ideal place to raise a family.
After all the years she had spent in the castle, Undyne had never once set foot inside the room of the lost princes. The living room and kitchen were fair game. She had been inside the storage room many times to help Asgore search for items from his past. Nothing needed to be said of the king's bedroom. Prince Asriel and Chara's room was the only other felt to possess the unspoken off-limits rule.
That was why it surprised Undyne when she reached out, wrapped her fingers around the doorknob, and opened the door. Stepping inside, Undyne gently shut the door again behind her. Nobody else was going to enter the room, so no one would ever know or suspect she was here.
Two beds pressed against either side of the wall. Undyne didn't need to look long to know whose bed was whose. The personalities of the deceased boys were clear as day.
Prince Asriel's side of the room possessed a lot of awards. Film strips were pinned to a corkboard on the wall. A dusty camera sat on his desk, waiting to be picked up again and film a new mini movie. Although Undyne had never seen any of Prince Asriel's work, she knew from Asgore that Asriel was a talented storyteller. As she stepped closer to the desk and inspected the papers best she could without touching them, Undyne could see in two sets of penmanship plans for the upcoming film that was never shot.
Besides his main hobby, Prince Asriel possessed books and CDs neatly organized on his bookshelf. The crown prince seemed to have a preference for graphic novels, much like Alphys did with her human history books. Most surprising was the prince's collection of religious CDs – Undyne knew that Asgore occasionally attended church, but she had never considered that perhaps the Dreemurrs used to be more religious.
When she was done dissecting everything she could learn about Prince Asriel based on the décor of his room, she tore her eye away to look at the other side.
In contrast, Chara did not have much plastered to indicate the kind of person he was.
Chara's bed was tightly made, unlike Asriel's which looked as if he had rolled out of bed the morning he passed expecting to fall back into it that night. The human also had a desk and a bookshelf, but there was nothing on his desk, and his bookshelf only possessed textbooks placed in alphabetical order. Even his shoes were neatly placed by the bed.
The only sign of Chara's treating the room as his own were the pictures on the wall. Paint, graphic, charcoal – the human was not afraid to draw with anything. The portrait of Asriel was so realistic, Undyne could have sworn that if she reached out to touch it, she would feel Asriel's soft fur against her fingertips.
The more she looked, the more she noticed portraits of the royal family. Asgore and Toriel nuzzling, Asriel filming with his trusty video camera, the three monsters posing by a Christmas tree – every drawing a perfect rendition of the photo that was held with the artwork by a paperclip. Chara's art was either paintings of what Undyne assumed was the surface or recreations of photos of his adopted family.
The human himself did not appear in any of these photos or drawings.
"Unless it was for one of Asriel's movies, Chara hated to be in front of the camera," Asgore had once explained to her during one of his nights where thoughts of his human child and the human's betrayal did not fill the king with rage. "He would rather take the picture and draw us than dare create an image of himself in any form. Sometimes, I don't think he wanted to leave proof he ever existed."
Curling her fingers into a fist and resting it on her chest, Undyne looked around more. She didn't know what she was trying to find. Maybe something to prove that everything she had ever been told about Chara – about how he was a murderer and lead Crown Prince Asriel to his demise like a lamb to the slaughter – was right all along. If that was the case, then she should have taken Frisk's soul while she had the chance. However, if everything she thought she knew about Chara was not as true as she always believed . . .
Undyne marched back to Asriel's desk and looked at the movie plans. It was the only piece of the room that gave away the kind of person Chara was without Undyne having to check closets and rummage through drawers. With so much of the future she believed in depending on the past, Undyne desperately needed to know if she was fighting for the right cause.
The start of the plans was written by one hand, but two paragraphs in, another's hand jotted down suggestions. At first, the two took turns sharing ideas, but barely half a page in, both began to write sloppily and on different ends of the paper, as if both were having a rush of ideas and wanting to get as many down as possible without having to wait to take turns. Not knowing whose handwritten was whose, and none of Chara's drawings having any signatures for her to compare with these plans, Undyne was unable to know who wrote what.
Yet as she read the plans – for a superhero, action movie – Undyne could more and more imagine the monster prince and human sharing the desk. They would start off respectfully taking turns only to quickly dismiss politeness in favor of pushing the other out of the way so each one could make sure his ideas made it onto paper. There would be laughter in their pushing, the kind of jabbing Undyne always imagined brothers did to each other.
There's no way everything Chara did was an act, right? Undyne once again looked around the room. She looked at the lovingly recreated moments of the Dreemurrs, each piece drawn with love and care. Her eye once again fell on the move plans. If he really loved the royal family so much, why would he betray them?
For the first time in her life, Undyne was unsure of what she believed.
The journey to Waterfall Castle was uneventful. Frisk mostly stayed by Mon's side, but Suzy was as present as Frisk's shadow. Not too long ago, this would have unnerved Frisk, only now she found she didn't mind Suzy's presence as much.
That's only because she's pretending to be your friend, Frisk had to remind herself. Chara already told you the plan: Suzy's job is to get close to me so she can swoop in and kill King Asgore after I already weaken him. Suzy doesn't actually care about me. Besides, we already planned to have Mon try to befriend her so we can get Suzy on our side. This is nothing more than a bunch of girls pretending to be friends for some ulterior motive.
For the umpteenth time that day, Frisk reached for her chest and touched the locket. It didn't matter that Chara was walking within sight: Frisk had to be certain that the locket was not anywhere except with her. After Flowey of all creatures taking her locket, Frisk wasn't sure who else wouldn't snatch it away if given the chance.
"Man, I'm ready for this to end," Mon complained as they continued to trek through Waterfall. "My poor feet can't take much more."
"We are almost at the marker for tonight's camp," Suzy supplied. "We only have to walk for maybe another hour."
"Suzy, I have a question," Frisk said before she could lose her nerve.
"Fire away."
"Why aren't you a commander or anything?" Frisk asked. When Suzy didn't immediately answer, Frisk added, "Being Mandy's goddaughter, it would make sense you could be someone she trusts to have in rank. Not to mention you're a really strong fighter."
"Yeah, man," Mon said, sounding genuinely curious, "I've been wondering the same thing."
Suzy was silent for so long, it surprised Frisk when the monster finally answered, "I don't want to be responsible for babysitting a bunch of people."
"Okay, that makes sense," Mon stated, content with the response.
Frisk bit her lower lip as she wondered if Suzy was being completely honest. After Suzy had revealed that she didn't fully believe in the Blues, Frisk questioned if Suzy saw a point in fighting only so far for what she only half-believed. It started to seem to Frisk that Suzy was only doing what she was told and took no initiative to do anything beyond that.
When they reached camp more than an hour later, the girls quickly settled down at the end of the party. Mon complained that the trip took longer than Suzy said it would, but the other girls didn't pay Mon much attention. For a moment, Frisk was sure she and Suzy were looking at each other, but she could never be certain with Suzy's bangs covering her eyes.
Without speaking, Chara sat next to Frisk. She spared him a glance but offered nothing more. Having no way to communicate, they had to settle for nothing beyond the other's company.
As they settled for the night, it was only by knowing that Chara kept watch Frisk was able to sleep. She found no comfort in this mission. The closer they came to the castle, the more Frisk sensed that something heavy was about to fall.
It was shortly after they awoke the next morning that the castle came within sight. Frisk's heart nearly stopped. Her chest felt constrained, making it difficult to breathe. It required much effort to keep her breathing steady. With each step Frisk took closer, the more she wanted to turn around and run away.
"Everything is going to be okay," Chara told her, speaking soft and steady. "Nobody is there to capture you again. You don't have to do anymore ridiculous trials."
Wordlessly nodding, Frisk forced one foot to continually step in front of the other. Both Mon and Suzy, who had since walked ahead of her, noticed that Frisk was no longer by their side and turned around. They stopped and stared at Frisk for a moment before Mon backtracked to walk alongside Frisk.
"Yo, dude, you okay?" she asked.
"No," Frisk softly answered.
"Relax," Suzy said when the other girls walked to where she waited, "everything that hurt you there is gone now. 'Sides, even if there was anything left there, I would get my hands on it before it came even close to you."
"You saw the show?" Frisk asked, more surprised Suzy knew what Frisk had gone through than that Suzy indirectly promised to protect her.
"I used to sneak out and watch the TVs on display at the electronic store," Suzy answered. "Your show was the only thing ever on."
Not having a response, Frisk silently kept walking forward. Then Suzy added, "It was freaking awesome how you showed up that self-obsessed drama queen."
"Wait, are you . . . complimenting me?"
"Hey, don't get used to it. I'm so sick of seeing that guy's face and hearing about how many people love him so much, I would shake your hand had you punched his face on the air."
"Yeah, I don't think that would have flied with his producers."
"Still would have served him right," Mon muttered, and that was the end of the conversation.
When they finally came to Waterfall Castle, the leader of the mission divided the group into pairs. When he paired Frisk with Suzy, Frisk couldn't help but wonder it Mandy had let him in on her plan or if she only strongly suggested the girls stick together. Either way, the comfort Frisk had developed with Suzy began to melt away when she remembered that Suzy was only pretending to be friends with her.
"I'm here," Chara reminded her, "and Suzy has no ill intent towards you. If anything, she's ready to finish this mission as soon as possible and get out here."
That makes two of us, Frisk thought.
With directions to go towards the set of the final trial – Frisk didn't doubt that sending her there was intentional – Frisk was on high alert as she and Suzy walked down the dark halls. It was a very different environment now that producers and crew were no longer running around, trying to make Mettaton's show as perfect as possible. It was eerily silent and empty in comparison. Yet somehow the air was thicker and the silence noisier. When Frisk tried to swallow, she found her throat too tight and dry. Chara looked at her as if he wanted to ask if she was all right. Without words, Frisk tried to answer that she was fine despite being aware that Chara would know better.
"Now," Suzy muttered to herself as she and Frisk entered the large room, "if I was a Core key, where would I be?"
Thinking through what she remembered from that night before things went from bad to worse, Frisk suggested, "The camera crew kept their things stationed by the snack table in the corner. Perhaps we could start there."
"Do you think it will be there?"
"No, but we might as well do what we're told before we go off and do our own thing."
"Screw that!" Suzy spun on her heel and began to walk out of the room. "If you have a better idea where the key would be, then we should check there."
Wide-eyed, Frisk looked at Chara, who could only hold his hands up as he shrugged, then chased after Suzy. "I don't think we should just disobey orders like that!"
"Who cares as long as we find the key?" Suzy challenged.
"Suzy!"
Stopping abruptly, leaving Frisk to collide against Suzy's back, the monster spun around and stabbed Frisk with her pointer finger. "Trust me, you do not want to waste our time checking in there, okay?"
Without waiting for Frisk to respond, Suzy spun back around and resumed marching out of the room. Frisk turned her attention to Chara, but he was already walking back inside. Torn between following whom she wanted to stay beside and with whom she needed to stay, Frisk slightly jogged after Suzy.
The reptilian monster did not turn around as she asked, "Where do you think the Core key would be?"
Frisk didn't need to think about her answer. "Either in Mettaton's dressing room or Muffett's office."
"Makes sense. Do you know where either of those rooms are?"
"Unfortunately, no."
"Any ideas where to start looking then?"
While Suzy continued to speed walk away, Frisk kept her pace slow in hopes that Chara would rejoin them soon. She didn't know the exact distance she and Chara could be from each other, but Frisk believed Chara would not check the larger room if he did not find it necessary to do so. There was something for which he deemed worth lingering behind, but that didn't stop Frisk from wishing he would hurry so he could come back and direct her towards the rooms she wished to investigate.
"Never mind," Suzy said when Frisk hesitated to respond, "I'll pick a starting point. Hmm, how about here?"
Suzy didn't wait for Frisk to reply before barging into the room. Hissing Suzy's name, Frisk followed the monster into the room. It was bare save for a small box in the corner. Suzy didn't waste a second looking through the box. After shoving the box's contents around for a moment, Suzy stated, "There's nothing in here except a few promotional posters."
"Let me see." Frisk accepted the poster Suzy handed her and inspected it. The promotion was written with large, blocky letters.
METTATON CAPTURES A HUMAN! EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW TONIGHT!
Underneath the announcement was a picture of Mettaton posing glamorously at the same desk he used when interviewing Frisk. There was a white rose in his mouth as he smiled seductively at the camera. Other than the time of the interview, there was no other information on the poster.
"For promoting his conversation with me," Frisk mumbled, "there's no picture of me anywhere on this poster. He could have at least used a snapshot from capturing me."
"What," Suzy snorted, "are you jealous you didn't get your face plastered all over the Underground?"
"Jealous? No, but I do think it's rude to use me for marketing but give me no other credit."
Suzy snorted again as she walked out of the room. "Truth be told, I'm kind of glad you finished him off. It's nice not seeing every corner I turn saturated with his name and face."
Heart stopping, Frisk froze in place. Her muscles became as hard as steel. Suzy had mention Frisk's killing Mettaton so casually, it wouldn't have been a surprise to Frisk if Suzy had known for a while. It was likely Mandy knew this information as well. Somehow, it felt to Frisk that anyone other than herself and Sans knowing what she had done made it real.
"Whatcha standing around for?" Suzy asked when she noticed that Frisk no longer followed her. "This place ain't gonna explore itself."
"Right, right." Frisk shook her head and forced herself to put one foot in front of the other.
"Do you think we should go right or left?"
"I don't know. Left?" Frisk answered as she looked over her shoulder to see if Chara was on his way back.
"Okay." Suzy turned right and walked down the hallway.
Frisk furrowed her brows. "Why did you ask which way if you were just going to do the opposite?"
"It was only after I asked that I realized that I didn't care." Then Suzy stopped, and she held out her arm as an indication for Frisk to also stop.
Seeing how tense Suzy's posture had gotten, Frisk let her senses go on high alert. "What's wrong?"
"Someone's here." Using magic to materialize her ax, Suzy cautiously stepped forward. Frisk drew her own weapon and followed closely to Suzy. Although she didn't see or hear anything out of the ordinary, Frisk could feel in the air that something was indeed off.
Before she could grasp her own weapon, a force came from the shadows and grabbed the back of Frisk's shirt. She was on the ground before she knew what had happened. The sounds of clanging metal and growling echoed around her as stars danced in front of her vision and a sharp pain shot through her skull. Not knowing which way was where, Frisk groped aimlessly. When she was able to determine which way was up, Frisk pushed herself into a sitting position and tried to shake the dark spots from her eyes.
"Bastard!" she heard Suzy snap.
Frisk regained her bearings in time to see Suzy squarely plant her foot against another monster's chest and kick him away. The other monster stumbled backwards, his grip on his comically giant knife loosening enough for the weapon to clatter to the ground. With the monster down, Frisk was able to get a good look at him.
The monster was an anthropomorphic wolf dressed in torn shorts and an open red plaid shirt. His structure was largely muscular with biceps bigger than Frisk's head. When his head snapped upright and Frisk was able to see his face, she saw that his eyes were eerily humanlike.
"I told you I would be back," he snarled to Frisk, and although she couldn't place it, Frisk knew his voice.
"Great, can you go away again?" Suzy pointed her ax at the wolf. "Or would you prefer I chop you into tiny, little pieces?"
"I'm still getting used to this body, otherwise you would be the one getting chopped into tiny pieces." The wolf pushed himself to his feet and picked up his ax. "I struggled to bond with my previous body, but I feel a lot more connected to this one."
All the air was sucked from Frisk's lungs. He's a ghost!
The wolf must have been able to tell what Frisk was thinking, because he laughed and questioned, "Do you remember me now, human?"
The Mad Dummy from the Ruins!
Before Frisk could respond, Suzy charged forward, ax in hand. She swung her weapon downwards, but Francis's reaction time was just enough. With his knife raised above his head, he was able to deflect Suzy's downward swing.
"It is so good to have limbs!" he exclaimed before using his free arm to push Suzy away.
Suzy stumbled but quickly regained her footing. Looking over her shoulder slightly, Suzy ordered Frisk, "Now would be an excellent time to jump in and help!"
"Right!" All her senses now back to her, Frisk quickly stood to her feet and drew her weapon. She too charged in and tried to attack Francis, but even with Suzy's attacks combined with her, Francis had incredible strength and reflexes to deflect the blows.
"I used to train with Captain of the Royal Guard, Mistress Undyne!" Francis proudly declared as he blocked blow after blow. "If only she could see me now! I can't wait to show her this new body!"
"You trained with Undyne?" Frisk questioned, her mind already racing.
"Well, more like I was her training dummy than an actual student," Francis muttered.
Without having time to stop and explain, Frisk shouted at Suzy to run before turning around and sprinting in the other direction.
Frisk could hear Suzy protesting, and at first it sounded as if Suzy stayed behind to keep fighting their opponent. After a while, Suzy groaned loud enough for Frisk to hear it after she had turned a couple of corners and entered another room. Not knowing if Suzy eventually listened, Frisk could only quickly take inventory of her surroundings and figure out her next step from there.
Old camera equipment had been left behind in what Frisk recognized as backstage for the play trial. There were even broken set pieces and costume and makeup abandoned on the tables and vanities. It was more than Frisk needed.
Working quickly, Frisk gathered a few of the set pieces and threw them to the side on the floor. She snagged a compacter, slammed it against the table a couple of times, and slipped it into her pocket. Lastly, she picked up a rope.
As she heard someone charge in, Frisk's heart leapt in her throat. Spinning around, Frisk saw that it was Suzy who had now entered. Without stopping to explain, Frisk handed Suzy one end of the rope and rushed to one side of the entrance.
Suzy didn't need Frisk to tell her the plan. Moving to the other side of the entrance, Suzy dropped to her knees. The girls kept their gazed locked on the doorway as the growing footsteps rushed down the hall.
The girls simultaneously tugged on the rope just as Francis ran into the room. He tripped over the rope and fell face first to the floor. Frisk didn't waste a second and snatched a couple props from off the ground.
Kicking his weapon across the floor, Frisk dropped one of the props in its place. She ran back behind Francis just as he pushed himself upright and reached for his weapon. Frisk pressed against Suzy, who surprisingly did not push Frisk away, and watched as Francis turned around to face them.
"Oh, real mature!" he spat. "Let's see how you like it when I hack your limbs off!"
Yet when he raised his arm, Suzy started to laugh. The action confused Francis into freezing in place. Pointing at what Francis believed was his knife, Suzy snickered, "I don't think that parasol is going to be very effective for limb hacking."
Brows furrowed, Francis looked at his hand to see that he was indeed holding a pink parasol. Grunting, he threw it onto the ground. Frisk saw this as the opportunity to take the compact from her pocket and throw it at Francis's head. The compact of face powder exploded upon impact, and the makeup covered the top half of the wolf's face and got into his eyes. Crying out, Francis pressed both hands into his face.
While Francis was blinded, Frisk began to snatch the other props from where she put them on the floor and began to hurl them at Francis. Blind and under attack, Francis tried to get away, but he kept bumping into the tables and stumbling over his own feet. He fell a second time, and he knocked his head against the corner of a table as he went down.
Now's my chance.
Without stopping to consider if such an action would result in a torn arm, Frisk grabbed Suzy by the wrist and began to drag her away. If Suzy wanted to stay behind and challenge the now humiliated monster, she didn't show it. As if she truly did trust Frisk, Suzy ran alongside the human as they escaped the wolf monster.
"We need to find the others, let them know that we're not alone!" Frisk shouted as they rounded the corner.
Sounds of what sounded to be a battle came from the other side, prompting Suzy to grumble, "I think it's too late for that."
Upon rounding the last corner and entering the foyer, Frisk and Suzy came to a halt when they saw Mew Mew single handedly fighting off oncoming attackers. Only three of the Blues were fighting Mew Mew, and she shouldn't have stood a chance with the odds stacked against her that way. Yet Mew Mew quickly dodged most of the oncoming attacks and viciously struck blow after blow. With her torn dress and unkempt hair, she appeared almost unhinged. It was as if Mew Mew had little left to lose she fought so aggressively.
For a split second, Frisk and Mew Mew locked eyes. Frisk's heart stopped. Her mother's killer and the one person whose life Frisk sought was right there, yet there was nothing Frisk could do about it. Even if she was prepared for such a dual, there was no way the Blues were going to ignore Frisk killing Mew Mew regardless of the reason.
After Mew Mew took note of Frisk, she jumped high enough into the air to avoid the monsters charging after her. Two of them collided into each other, and Mew Mew dropped onto the third. In a matter of seconds, Mew Mew had knocked all three of the Blues out.
Eye twitching, Mew Mew looked at Frisk, smirked, and said, "Well, well, well. Look what the rat dragged in. Fancy seeing you here."
Frisk fought to find her voice, but Suzy had no hesitation using hers. "What are you doing here?"
"I needed to pick up something." As if to taunt them, Mew Mew held up a keyring hooked around her finger. "I'm sorry, did you want this?"
"Hand it over!" Frisk tried to sound stern and threatening, but her voice cracked.
"No, I don't think I will." All too quickly, Mew Mew twirled the keyring around her finger, and it disappeared from sight. Then, pointing a magical girl wand Frisk didn't know she had at the human, Mew Mew snarled, "Now, why don't you stop pretending to be so harmless and innocent. My best friend is heartbroken because of you."
Before Frisk could respond and before Suzy could act, Mew Mew fired a pink, sparkly beam at them. Frozen in place, Frisk could only watch as it came towards her. Suzy was able to get away, but she didn't seem to realize that Frisk was glued to the floor and only shouted her name.
Yet before the beam could hit Frisk, a skeleton appeared before her and summoned a shield. The blast from the beam exploded from the contact, and fragments of the attack rushed past Frisk and the skeleton as river water runs past a stone. When the light faded, Frisk saw that it was Sans who teleported in front of her.
"Oh, not you again!" Mew Mew complained. "Whatever! I got what I came here for. Francis!"
Quickly, Sans turned towards Frisk. "We should get out of here sooner rather than later."
Before Frisk could respond, Sans grabbed her by the waist. Everything happened too fast for Frisk to process. When the distortion passed after Sans teleported them outside of the castle, Frisk noticed only the two of them were out of the dangerous situation.
Chara remained nowhere within sight, and Suzy was still inside.