Chapter 35
"We have to go back!" Alice exclaimed after Papyrus had teleported Mon, Temmie, and her away from their prison, which turned out to be a dank room in the Core that somehow was slower to heat up than the rest of the Underground. Alice assumed it was a freezer once upon a time, before the temperature began to rise.
"Sans and Undyne gave me very specific orders to take you girls home," Papyrus said. The four sat by a river in Waterfall. After teleporting himself and three others for miles, the skeleton monster was exhausted.
"Probably should have started with Temmie," Mon muttered as the small cat-dog monster pat a cloth on Papyrus's sweaty forehead. "We passed Tem Village miles ago."
"Tem fine!" Temmie shouted. "Tem in no dager. Other monsters too big to be scared of smol Tem. They leave Tem alone if Tem don't act scary."
"I would love to see a Tem act scary," Mon challenged while Alice knelt beside Papyrus and placed a hand on his shoulder.
"We can't just leave our friends in danger," Alice said, lips wobbling. "I know you didn't want to leave them any more than we did, so why are we running away? Aren't you crazy strong? If we formulate a plan, I think we can help everyone!"
Face buried in his hands, Papyrus muttered. Alice had to ask twice for Papyrus to repeat himself before his words made sense. "I can't fight. Not in a real battle, anyway. Being strong means nothing when you refuse to hurt anyone, even as they try to hurt you. That's why Sans and Undyne are always trying to protect me. They know I would never protect myself."
Instead of replying, Alice frowned and sat next to Papyrus. Mon sat across from Alice, and Temmie crawled onto Papyrus's lap. For a long minute, nobody said anything.
"I don't want to hurt anybody either," Alice muttered, head tilted to the side so she could stare at her reflection in the water.
"You're very good at helping people," Papyrus said, but it only made Alice's ears droop more. "There's a beauty in healing magic that no other magic has."
"Yeah," Alice softly agreed, "except I don't have healing magic."
Without being asked, Alice explained, "I have dissection magic. I can use it to repair damaged bones and tissue and so on . . . , or I can use it to destroy the body. With a single touch, I can obliterate everything that keeps a person living."
Eyes now trained on her paws, Alice added, "However, there is a price to pay in destruction. I can't hurt another without hurting myself. Healing others heals me, even if my pain is nothing compared to the other's. If I destroy someone else, I'll slowly destroy myself in the process, and the effects of that magic are irreversible. Makes it easy to not be tempted, but it's still scary knowing what you are capable of."
Alice didn't know she was crying until a blurry blue gloved hand entered her vision and held her paws. When she blinked, sending a tear trailing down her cheek, Alice turned her attention towards Papyrus. Her eyes burned more at the simple contact. Despite knowing what she could do, Papyrus still touched her. Whether it was because of trust or blind faith, it warmed Alice to know he wouldn't let her powers scare him away.
"Don't be afraid of what makes you special," he said. "The power you have doesn't matter as much as what you do with it."
"And you do good things with your power," Mon added, grinning. Alice smiled at Mon, the only other person outside her family who knew about her abilities but didn't seem to care. "Besides, we're heroes! Everyone knows the heroes don't hurt people. Only villains do that."
"But that's the problem, isn't it?" Alice questioned. "If we're going to save our friends, won't we have to risk hurting people? Nobody is going to let Frisk, Sans, or Undyne go just because we ask."
"Worth a shot," Temmie suggested.
"Yeah, I think the pipsqueak is right." Mon jumped to her feet. "I have an idea!"
"Uh oh." Alice sat up straighter. "You said so yourself that you either have good ideas or 'it seemed like a good idea at the time' ideas."
"Well," Mon bit her lower lip, "for the sake of our friends, I really hope this time is the former."
"Okay, then, what do we do?"
"The last thing we want to do. We listen to Undyne and Sans and let Papyrus take us home."
Frisk had no words for Chara. He had no words for her. Instead of asking where they were, he looked around the room and shrugged as if uninterested.
Huffing, Frisk sat at the vanity and looked through the drawers. There was a hairbrush, hairclips, and makeup pallets tucked away. Curious, Frisk walked across the room to check the closet and wasn't surprised to see it packed full of dresses, blouses, and trousers.
How did they know my size? Frisk felt her stomach drop as she held one of the dresses up to her. The dress looked as if it would fit perfectly if Frisk wore it.
Chara muttered something, so Frisk turned around and asked him to repeat himself. He bounced a shoulder up and down and said, "Beauty and the Beast. That is what this room brings to mind."
"Is that a good thing or bad?"
"Are you not familiar with the fairytale?"
"Can't say I am." Frisk put the dress away, closed the closet door, and moved to sit on the bed. With a sigh, she rested her chin on her palms and her elbows on her knees.
Chara lingered in the corner. "Is there any reason you chose to wear my company? Last we talked, you seemed eager to never speak with me again."
"Sans gave me the locket before we were separated," Frisk said, "and I want to think he had a good reason to. Oh, I should explain what happened."
"No need," Chara replied, nothing in his tone and expression giving anything away. "I witnessed the whole thing."
Frisk frowned. "But Sans wasn't wearing the locket."
"He wore it under his sweater, so you could not see it."
Hugging herself, Frisk asked, "How long did he wear the locket?"
"Every moment after his first errand."
"What errand was that?"
"That is not my place to say," Chara answered. Now he looked at the floor. "Your favorite childhood memory is pleasant, by the way."
Cheeks burning, Frisk shouted, "That was a private conversation!"
"I'm sorry, I guess Sans did not know." Although Chara kept his tone low and even, he narrowed his eyes at her. "Next time you two chat, I will know to walk as far away as the locket will allow."
"Why did Sans give me the locket back?" Frisk growled. "Why am I wearing the stupid thing? I must really hate myself if I can't play your game but keep trying anyway."
Brows furrowed, Chara questioned, "What game?"
"Don't play dumb. You were trying to be my friend so I would trust you again, then it wouldn't be hard to kill me like before. I know you always got a kick out of that."
Chara threw his hands in the air. "That is absurd! Did it ever cross your mind that there was a slight chance I was actually trying to be your friend?"
"You said so yourself you killed one of your only friends."
For a moment, Chara stalled. Frisk kept glaring at the boy, watching as he tried to find a response. When he found it, he made direct eye contact and spoke through gritted teeth.
"Her death is one I regret almost as much as Asriel's. Do you not think for every night the few days I had left in my life, I saw the look of betrayal she gave me every time I closed my eyes? I lost her and Asriel the same day, and I can assure you dying for my sins has done nothing to lighten the burden I have carried since. Of course, you would not think that. Not when your history book puts my unforgivable crimes on display."
Blinking, Frisk questioned, "Wait, my history book?"
"I saw the chapter," Chara replied, now back to looking at the floor. "I know that history book you took from the librarby covers my life. By now, you should know everything I did, everything I ineffectuality try to forget."
It was her turn to look at the floor. Frisk took a deep breath. "I didn't read the chapter."
"I beg your pardon. I must have misheard. Did you just admit that you know there is a whole chapter dedicated to my life, and you did not read it?"
"Yeah." Frisk looked up, and Chara was again making eye contact with her. "It felt too much like talking about someone behind their back. I stopped reading shortly after your adoption by the Dreemurrs."
It was true. The more Frisk read about Chara, the guiltier she felt. Before she got too deep into his history, Frisk closed the book without intending to ever pick it up again. Chara, she decided, would always remain a mystery to her. Only now he was talking with her again, and she saw how he weighed his response before speaking it.
"Look," he said, "I get you do not like me. After all, I gave you every reason in the Underground to not like me. However, as nice as this room is, I know this itself is not a nice situation. If there's anything I can do to help—"
"I'm not playing your game!" Frisk spat.
"What game?!" Chara demanded. "Do you really think I am incapable of wanting to help you just for the sake of helping you?"
"People don't change."
Chara clenched his jaw, curled his fingers into fists, and trembled where he stood. When he spoke, his words escaped through a clenched jaw. "Do you truly not realize what nonsense words you are saying? I know you believe the worst person can't be good if they really tried, but you seem to be selective to which people fall into that category.
"Undyne killed you multiple times, yet you showed her mercy, fought to save her life, and now look up to her to train you. Sans both betrayed you and killed you, but I don't see you holding those things against him. If people truly don't change, then why aren't you holding them at arm's length so it hurts less the next time they harm you?
"Or do you only mean humans can't change? Is that it, Stripes? I can't change because I'm human? Or maybe because I'm dead?"
Heart accelerating, Frisk swallowed as Chara approached her, posture stiff.
He can't hurt me, she reminded herself. Not physically, anyway.
"If that's the case," Chara continued, never once raising his voice, "I have to say it's very hypocritical of you. Are you truly so blind to how much you have changed ever since we left the Ruins?
"You're not the pacifist who left, but someone who wants to kill for vengeance. Killing doesn't make you a murderer, you know. Just hating someone else that strongly is enough. Or how about you went from this scared girl running away because her mother told her to someone who wants to fight for something, even if she doesn't know what that something is yet? For crying out loud, Stripes! You even cut your hair to signify that you're no longer the person you were before Snowdin Two was attacked. You insist people don't change, but the only person you're applying that belief to is me. Are you really so selective in who's the exception and who isn't?"
Frisk didn't realize she was crying until she blinked and hot tears fell down her cheeks. Bringing her hand up, she intended to yank off the locket. She stopped when Chara scoffed.
"Sure, do what you always do when things get difficult between us," he said. "Run away from the conversation and go on as if it never happened. It's not as if I have any thoughts or feelings on the matter. It's not as if I can make mistakes and have regrets and want to change. After all, I'm nothing more than a ghost trapped within a child's locket."
Hesitating, Frisk stared at Chara. If she removed the locket, she wouldn't have to think about what he said. Or maybe that's what she wanted to believe.
"Ms. Fox!" Just then Mettaton burst through the door and showed her a charming smile. "So good to see you're awake now, darling!"
"What do you plan to do to me?" Frisk asked, shoving her conversation with Chara in the back of her mind. She wiped at her eyes, erasing the evidence of her tears.
"A lot, actually, but no need to cry," Mettaton answered as he rushed to her closet and began searching through its contents. "But first, you really need to change. Can't have you going on air in those old, ratty clothes."
Suddenly, Frisk remembered the camera Muffet held when she and her friends were captured. "On air?"
"Yes, darling, you're going to be on TV. Please, keep up." Mettaton pulled out a pink blouse and brown trousers. "Yes, yes, this should do. Here, try these on!"
Frisk caught the outfit Mettaton hurled at her before it touched the ground. "How did you know what size I am?"
"We don't." Mettaton now stalked to the vanity and began pulling out the hair and makeup tools. "Using the security feed, we tried to estimate your height and size, but odds are we're a little off. That's why I'm having you try on the outfit hours before the show: if we need to make alterations, my tailors should have time to make the necessary changes. Now, what are you waiting for? Try on the clothes!"
"With you in the room?"
Mettaton waved Frisk away. "Change in the closet if you must, darling. It's a walk in, after all."
Looking at Chara, Frisk tried to figure out what he thought about the whole thing. Yet his crossed arms and sharp glare told her enough. With a sigh, Frisk stepped into the closet to change.
After putting on the outfit Mettaton picked out and switching the ring from her shorts pocket to her trousers', Frisk stepped out to see the vanity prepared for her hair and makeup. Mettaton waltzed over the second he saw she had changed and inspected her attire. Humming, Mettaton ordered Frisk to turn around or raise her arms as he leaned in and pulled at her clothes. It took all of Frisk's self-control to not flinch away from the contact.
"They're a little big," Mettaton finally declared, "but it will do well enough for this outfit. I'll have my tailors focus on fitting the dresses instead."
"What do you plan to do with me?" Frisk repeated as Mettaton dragged her towards the vanity and forced her into the chair.
"Your hair and makeup, darling. The monster assigned to do the task won't be in until tomorrow morning, so I'm doing those for you for tonight's show in her place."
"I meant beyond that. What are your plans?"
"Tonight will just be a simple interview to let all the monsters Underground know that you are indeed real and not a result of fancy special effects." Mettaton picked up the brush and began running it through Frisk's hair. "During the interview – oh, I shouldn't be telling you this, but I'm too excited to keep to myself any longer! Please, darling, act surprised when I 'reveal' my plans during the interview tonight – I will tell you about the three trials I have planned for you to participate in during this extravaganza."
The way Mettaton said "participate" sounded as if Frisk was willingly volunteering to host a bake sale. "Why three trials?"
"Aren't you familiar with the rule of three? Every great story has it!"
"Okay. . . . What kind of trials?"
"Deadly trials!" Mettaton exclaimed. "Baking, acting, dancing – all the things my audience eats right up!"
Frisk expected some witty comment from Chara, but he didn't speak. Shifting her gaze, she saw him staring out the window. It was unknown to her if he was listening or tuning her and Mettaton out altogether.
There has to be a catch. "What makes these trials deadly?"
"You'll be competing against me, of course!"
There it is. "And if I succeed?"
Laughing so hard he doubled over, Mettaton had to take a minute or two to recover. "Oh, darling, you think you can beat me in any of these challenges? Ms. Fox, darling, I do these things for a living!"
"Entertain me for a moment, since that appears to be what you love to do." Unable to make direct eye contact with Mettaton, Frisk looked at him through the mirror and said, "Suppose on the off chance I pass any one of these trials. What will I get?"
Mettaton resumed brushing her hair, trying with little success to get a stray piece to stay down.
"If you win one trial," Mettaton said, "I will give you a wish. You can have one thing you want."
"Anything?"
"Within reason, darling. I'm still giving you to King Asgore. You can't wish your way out of that."
"I wasn't planning to." It was the truth. Taking a deep breath, Frisk tried, "If I pass two trials?"
"Two wishes, but it's not like you'll pass one in the first place."
"Of course, but it is amusing to imagine I have a fraction of a chance." Here was the big one. Steeling herself, Frisk asked, "Entertain me once more. If, and of course I say if because it's so unimaginable I can't believe I'm even suggesting it, but if I defy all the odds and overcome all three trials, what then? What shall be my prize?"
"Oh, Ms. Fox, you darling you." Mettaton set down the hairbrush and picked up a makeup pallet. Wiping some sort of foundation on Frisk's face, he said, "If you somehow beat me in all three trials, I'll give you a fighting chance for your life."
"A fighting chance." Odds are he means a literal fight. Better than nothing, I suppose.
"Not like you will even pass one of these trials, of course." Mettaton laughed.
Forcing herself to laugh as lightly, Frisk echoed, "Of course."
Instead of teleporting everyone across the lake to The Island, as he was so drained he didn't know if he could even manage the feat, Papyrus called the river person to ferry them across. Alice and Temmie slept in a corner of the boat, and Papyrus and Mon fiddled with a small television set. With Frisk in Mettaton's custody, they knew the best way to keep tabs on their human friend was to watch Mettaton's show.
It was how Mon justified stealing the television set from a closed shop in the first place, but Papyrus left enough gold behind to pay for the tech as well as window repair costs for the shop owner when he returned from lunch.
"Perhaps if we move the red wire there," Mon muttered, directing Papyrus.
"No, no, no." Papyrus shook his head. "Let's move the green wire instead."
"Tra la la, what are you two doing?" the river person asked.
"Trying to rewire this TV to connect to the Undernet of Papyrus's phone so we can stream Mettaton's show on the big screen," Mon answered. "Pretty clever idea, huh?"
"Tra la la, are you interested in that special Mettaton has been promoting? I heard he's going to have a human on the show. Supposedly he introduced the human before capturing it."
"Supposedly?"
"I was at work, and nobody I know taped the show. My friends who saw it insist the human is only special effect, so I don't think I'm going to waste my time watching the show. But you kids do what you want."
"I always do what I want," Mon snorted. With the conversation at its end, she turned her attention to Alice. The rabbit monster remained fast asleep. "Yo, Papyrus . . . , you think Alice's adjustment of my plan is a good one?"
Papyrus misplaced a wire and yanked his hand back when the action slightly electrocuted him. Shaking his hand, Papyrus said, "It's the best way to gather help, isn't it?"
"I mean, yeah, but . . . ," Mon chewed her lower lip, "this isn't something we can take back. It won't just go out to the Blues, but to the Reds as well. Even worse, we don't know how everyone on both sides is going to react."
"Do you doubt your friend?"
"Alice? Never! One of her crazy ideas? That I can and will doubt."
"She based her idea on your idea."
"But my idea wasn't this extreme." Mon shook her head. "Never mind. Let's just get this TV put back together. The interview is tonight, and I don't want to miss a second of it."
Papyrus wouldn't have said he had grand expectations for his return to The Island. Cries of "Welcome home!" were a given. Perhaps a congratulations or two for returning Alice and Mon in one piece, even if it meant leaving the others behind. Showers of kisses of good luck for his part of the plan to save Sans, Undyne, and Frisk wouldn't have been unwelcomed. Nothing too crazy.
Yet the welcome home Papyrus received as he and the others walked into Honey's shop was a frying pan to the face.
"How could you!" Beatrix shouted, pan held at ready in case she chose to swing it again. "How dare you take my daughter and leave with those criminals!"
"Mom," Alice said, Temmie in her arms, "don't be mad at Papyrus. It was all my idea!"
"It was," Papyrus confirmed, earning another whack from the frying pan.
"Man, word of our arrival traveled fast if Alice's mom was prepared for this," Mon mumbled. Fortunately she had the revised television set in her bag, lest it might have been damaged during one of the three times Beatrix had a go at the cooler skeleton monster.
"That's enough, Mom!" Alice yanked the frying pan from her mother's grip and threw it on the floor. Beatrix glared at her daughter, and Honey, Peter, and Doge watched silently from the background.
"Do you have any idea how worried sick I've been since I realized you disappeared!" Beatrix cried, now appearing more exhausted than angry. "I go to your room to ask what you want for dinner, and all I see is a note from you telling me you're leaving to find Frisk. With Sans and Undyne, no less! And now you return not only without Frisk, but without Sans and Undyne as well! What am I supposed to think, Alice?"
"I promise I'll explain everything," Alice held her paws up as if offering Beatrix something, "but while I do that, we need to let Papyrus and Mon set up the TV we brought. There's going to be a very important interview tonight we can't miss."
"I don't give a hop about some interview!" Beatrix snapped. "After everything I went through while you were missing—"
"Yeah, we're going to set up while this goes down," Mon said. "Papyrus, your head okay?"
"Nothing to worry about," Papyrus said, hand on his forehead. "It will take a lot more to hurt the Great Papyrus! Nyeh-heh-ow."
"Don't think I didn't already call your parents to let them know to come over," Beatrix said, looking at Mon now. "When they get done with you—"
"ENOUGH!" Alice yelled, earning surprised looks from everyone in the room. "Mom, I'll tell you and the others everything, okay? But while I do that, we need to let Mon and Papyrus set up the TV. The special interview tonight is for Frisk."
Now everyone was stunned silent. It was Doge who ended the quiet. "How can this be?"
"As I said, I'll explain while the others get the TV going." To Temmie, "You want to help me explain or help the others?"
"Tem don't care!" the Tem exclaimed. "Tem jus wanna know what smell so good!"
"Chocolate chip muffins, from the smell of it! I bet they must be delicious." Papyrus offered an awkward smile when Beatrix glared at him.
"Set up your TV," she finally said, "while my daughter here tells us what's going on."
While Papyrus and Mon hooked up the TV to the kitchen for electricity and Papyrus's phone for Undernet, Alice told the others her plan to search for Frisks and to take Sans, Undyne, and Papyrus for protection. Temmie munched on a muffin, supervising the television set up. Papyrus tried to not show his disappointment in the lack of welcome home kisses.
"So Mon had this plan," Alice finished, indicating Mon, who Papyrus noticed tensed at the sound of her name. "If we could get some sort of connection on The Island, we could call the show and tell everyone what a great friend Frisk is and how there's no justice in killing her. With how long this show is meant to go on, we can't doubt some monsters would become attached to her and not like the idea of killing her.
"Then I had a better plan!"
"Better is debatable," Papyrus heard Mon mutter.
"With that kind of exposure, we can do a lot more," Alice said.
"And what, pray tell, did you have in mind?" Doge asked, and Papyrus turned his attention from the TV to watch everyone's reactions.
Grinning, Alice answered, "We're going to call all the Blues out of hiding and start fighting back against the Reds."
