Chapter Twenty 1
"Frisk… I'm sorry…"
Frisk woke with a jolt up from her bed as she quickly looked around, the feeling of being pulled up into the air instantly fading away. The room she was in was a plain bedroom in Toriel'd home, as she realized that no one was there besides herself. The door opened, as she turned to see Curtain walking in with her hair down and her scarf on her neck but more loosely since it was night.
"Hey, what's up, Frisk? I heard a sound so I thought you fell or something," Curtain asked.
"Oh um… I thought I heard him talk to me," Frisk replied, rubbing the side of her temple.
"Who?" Curtain asked as she fully entered the room.
"...Asriel," Frisk answered in a low voice.
"… What did he say?" Curtain asked, aware of who Asriel is because Frisk told her about him earlier.
"He apologized to me but he sounded... scared. And then I felt like I was flying up really fast and I couldn't breathe..." Frisk admitted.
"... Sounds like a nightmareish dream, huh? But surely it must be just a dream, right?" Curtain asked as she pet Frisk's head which made the pain in her head stop pulsing.
"Y-Yeah, it must be..." Frisk replied but unsure from a feeling deep in her gut.
"Hm... do you want to go back and visit him? Just to see if he's okay?" Curtain asked.
"I know he didn't want me to go back, but... yes, I'd like to see him, especially after that weird dream," Frisk nodded.
"Okay. We'll go first thing in the morning. I'll let Marisol know, and I'll tell Toriel now since she's still awake, okay?" Curtain asked with a smile.
"Thanks Curtain. And let Toriel know I'm sorry our visit has to be cut short. She had plans tomorrow too since we finally came together to stay over..." Frisk said while twidling her thumbs.
"I'll let her know. I'm sure she'll understand, and I'm sure Mari would like to see how the Underground looks too," Curtain said.
"Okay... thanks, Curtain," Frisk smiled as her friend smiled back.
"Nighty night, Frisk," Curtain walked towards the door and softly closed it.
Frisk yawned and then laid back down to sleep.
Within a dream:
Curtain stood above a edge, the place that would have been perfect to test a jump to fly, and even had puffs of snow below to land on that hid a message. Her jean jacket had a purple patch woven into it on her left shoulder of a caretaker she was unable to meet besides the bits of torn clothing left in a dust pile in the Ruins. She carefully watched as the supposed human child passed by the snow message, as if they had already walked by here before. Upon first arriving Underground, Curtain caught the scent of a human and was following their trail, but the scent altered as she exited the Ruins and now she follows the scent of something less human.
She watched them carefully from upon the cliff, with a sadness she couldn't hide as she thought outloud,
"What are they…? What are they doing?"
"they seem to be on a mission..." A voice answered from near her left as she quickly turned to see Sans standing a few feet from her as he examined her and noticed she had no dust on her.
"H-Hey, who are you?" Curtain asked in alarm.
"... i'm sans, sans the skeleton. and you?" Sans asked cooly, which made her relax since he held no hostility towards her.
"I'm Curtain... I was following the scent of a human but... is that kid really human?"
Sans noticed the purple fabric on her left shoulder as his eyes softened, though he wasn't sure why he reacted in this way as if he knew who it belonged to. He looked up at Curtain and noticed her pained expression.
"... how long you've been tailing them?"
"I just came here not too long ago. I passed by that purple place, the Ruins."
"… was any one else there?"
"No. No one came, it was just... dust."
"..." Sans closed his eyes, confirming his suspicions about who the dust she saw most likely belonged to, and feeling a sympathy for Curtain considering by her expression that she was pained by the loss as he was.
"... Maybe if I came here sooner I could have done something about it,"
"... hey… sigh… look just... don't let them see you, and dont engage them. it's better if you dont. and you're not really from here so you don't need to worry about it," Sans said as he looked towards her with a narrow of his eyes at his last sentence.
"But you're my people too..."
Curtain said as she looked towards him, and his eyesockets widened a bit.
"so you're...?"
"Hybrid."
"... i see. i still stand by my word so... just be careful. they seem unhinged and... i just hope my bro will be okay."
"Brother? Does he not know what they're doing?"
"... he believes anyone can change."
"... I hope he is right,"
Curtain said, as she rested her hand on the purple patch on her left shoulder.
"..."
Sans looked ahead as he teleported forward.
:End of dream
She woke up with a gasp, as Frisk felt shocked but seemed to forget most of the dream as it seemed to fade into her memory. As she sat up in the grassy area and looked up at the trees around her, she then realized that she was no longer in the bed that Toriel had given her to stay in the plain room.
"H-Huh? Wait… wasn't I just in Toriel's house? With Curtain and Marisol? Why… Why am I outside?" Frisk thought outloud as she stood up from the ground and looked around.
She noticed there was a few golden flowers under her, as if she had fallen there, and when she looked up she saw that the sky had orange clouds instead of white.
"… Am I seeing things? Where am I?" Frisk wondered as she also took note of the trees and saw a few were black from the underground while others were brown and some were fusions between the two in twisted deformities.
She walked ahead as she looked around to find out if anyone was there, considering she didn't hear any forest ambiance you would naturally hear if other living creatures were present or the wind causing movement. Upon reaching a silent river, she was surprised to see that the river was purple and had dead lilies flowing down it.
"… What even is this place? It's not underground but it's not the surface either…" Frisk thought outloud as she felt a chill up her spine as the wilted flowers drifted along in broken lines.
She heard a branch snap a few feet away as she hurriedly dived within some bushes that were green and covered in various tones of green pokey dots. After waiting a while and not hearing anything more, she rose up and quickly jumped across the river as she walked ahead to see if the branch breaker was there since that was where she heard the sound from. Although she instinctively hid at first, Frisk realized they might not be an enemy and decided to go ahead to investigate.
She walked along for a while, and then stumbled upon a stack of rocks. They were only knee high so she figured she could climb over, but then she noticed a broken stick on the ground. She heard rustling from behind the rocks and then hid in a bush nearby. Whoever was making the rustling came forward and climbed over the rocks as they landed on the stick.
"Hm… I seem to be lost," They said as they looked around.
Frisk slowly rose up as the bush rustled along with her, while the person quickly turned towards her. Frisk couldn't help but stare at this person who looked just like her but slightly worn. The two girls stared at each other in shock to see a look alike, though deep down, they knew it wasn't a coincidence that they looked the same.
"You… Are you, me?" Frisk asked.
"If you are Frisk, then I am too," The other Frisk replied.
"H-How… What… Where even are we? How is this possible?" Frisk quickly asked in surprise.
"I… I don't know. One minute I was sucked up into a vortex with Curtain by Corruption and next… I woke up here," The other Frisk said.
"Huh? Wait… What do you mean? Corruption came back? And where is Curtain if you were with her? I was just at Toriel's house with Curtain and Marisol!" Frisk said.
The other Frisk's eyes widened at her words.
"Y-You became friends with Curtain's friend? Toriel has a house…?" Other Frisk muttered, as Frisk's eyes widened.
"What… What happened to you?" Frisk asked, noticing also that the other Frisk looked pale and her eyes were tired.
".. I think we should sit down for a moment," Other Frisk said, and they both agreed to do so to talk things over.
Sorry for taking a little too long, my work schedule has been odd and I've not been sleeping regularly.