Chapter Text
“just take this to alphys, kid.”
Sans held out a package about the size of a textbook. The chilly air rushed past him in an overly dramatic fashion. He had been talking with Frisk for a few minutes, and knowing him, the package was probably a prank. Frisk silently took the suspicious box with skepticism and started to turn around when Sans spoke up.
“one more thing, Frisk”
(...)
“...thanks again for breaking the barrier. i can tell you worked really hard to get here, so just know we’re with you if you need anything. after all, it’s not every day that a human saves the world without dying once. see ya.”
Sans did his signature wink before heading to a random part of the forest. A second later, he was gone in the piles of snow, probably having used a “shortcut”. Frisk was now standing alone in the center of Snowdin. Very few monsters were roaming about, and those who were were simply admiring the scenery. The fastest way to Hotland was by boat, so Frisk headed north to the shore. As Frisk arrived at the edge of the river, they saw a wooden raft gliding down the water. A hooded figure stood atop the boat, and even though their face was obscured, they radiated a pleasant energy.
“Tra la la! Hello, Frisk! Where are we headed today?”
[ (Waterfall) >(Hotland) ]
“Very well then. Come aboard!”
As the boat floated down the stream, Frisk got a chance to look back at their adventure. Just 2 days ago, Asriel absorbed everyone’s souls and shattered the barrier. Since then, Sans, Alphys, and Toriel had been working with the royal guard to help everyone with moving out. Everything had been moving so fast, but this boat ride with the river person was nice and slow.
(Knowing that your adventure is over and it’s time to rest... it fills you with determination )
“Tra la la. Remember to take a break every-so-often..”
Frisk observed the cold blues of Waterfall turn to the burning oranges of Hotland in the distance as they arrived at their destination. The river person slowed down the boat as they arrived at the port. Compared to Snowdin, Hotland felt almost abandoned. There was not a monster in sight, and the only sounds were the quiet flowing water, the soft gurgling of lava, and a distant roar of heavy machinery.
As Frisk approached the lab, the whirrs of technology became more and more chaotic. They entered the building and were shocked to see what could only be described as a smorgasboard. Papers and files were spread across every surface, with various gizmos hastily shoved aside to make more room for the ever growing mountains of paperwork. In the chaos, Frisk almost didn’t see Alphys buried in her work. They went over to help Alphys out of the pile of bureaucracy, and the doctor tried to start some banter.
“H-hello Frisk. Thanks for the help. I was just organizing all of the documents needed for that meeting with the human leaders we are going to in a few days. W-why did you come here, anyhow?”
Frisk silently gestured towards her with the package in hand. Alphys’ face showed a combination of confusion and humor as she took the box.
“T-this is from Sans, isn’t it? I wonder what he got me...”
The package was wrapped in traditional wrapping paper, so no heavy machinery or chainsaws were required to open it. She set it down on the nearest desk and made due with her claws rather quickly. The wrapping gave way and revealed what was in the package. It was... a joke book? Frisk recognized that the book used to be in Sans and Papyrus’ home, and the contents were very much not that of a joke book.
“W-why did he give me this? Is he trying to tell me something? F-frisk, are my jokes bad?”
[ (They’re bad) >(Open the book) ]
Alphys opened the book in front of her. Inside were pages of dense, esoteric studies regarding quantum physics. The doctor’s expression quickly flipped from concern to concentration as she flipped through the pages, seemingly looking for something specific. After around 30 seconds, she realized that she was having a conversation with Frisk, who was standing next to her with confusion.
“O-oh Frisk, you can leave if you don’t need anything else…”
Alphys returned to perusing the book, indicating to Frisk that they weren’t needed anymore. They took the hint and left her to do whatever she needed to do. As they exited the lab, they pondered where to go next. They thought about calling Papyrus to see how he was doing, but when they checked their phone, they found a voice message from Papyrus.
[ >(Listen) (No) ]
“HELLO FRISK, I WANTED TO CALL YOU, BUT MY BROTHER SAID YOU WERE BUSY, SO I AM LEAVING YOU A MESSAGE. I LEFT MY SPAGHETTI EXTRACT AT UNDYNE’S HOUSE, AND I NEED YOU TO GET IT BACK TO ME! THE GRRREAT PAPYRUS APPRECIATES IT!”
Well, Frisk had something to do now. They went down to the river, where the river person was already there.
“Where are we going next, Frisk?”
[ (Snowdin) >(Waterfall) ]
Frisk let their hand brush against the water as the boat ran through the river. The glacialstones in the water made the river refreshingly cool, and the heat from Hotland created a strong current. In a place as cramped as the Underground, the little things like this gave monsters determination for centuries.
“Tra la la. The waters are wild today. That’s good luck...”
As the boat came to a stop, Frisk felt the cool mist of Waterfall flowing through the air. They waved goodbye to the river person before setting foot on the rocky surface. There were no monsters here either, besides Shyren and a Temmie. Frisk took some time to sing a song and eat Temmie Flakes with them before continuing on their way to Undyne’s home. Her house was just up ahead. They turned the last corner and found...
... that the house was completely charred. They had completely forgotten about their attempt at making spaghetti with Undyne. The front door of what remained of the house was completely dislodged from the frame. Inside, most of the furniture was burnt to a crisp and unsalvageable, but the cabinets at the kitchen were still holding their ingredients. Frisk decided to take what they could from the cabinets.
[Frisk got TEA LEAVES, SPAGHETTI EXTRACT, BUTTERFLIES, and SODA]
They felt like they got everything worth taking, so they left to go meet Papyrus. Waterfall was nice and relaxing, so Frisk decided that they should walk to Snowdin instead of taking a boat ride. As they headed west, they made time to look around. The bioluminescence of the water made it glow a vibrant cyan, and the echo flowers shedded light onto past conversations. They were like a gateway to the lives of dozens of monsters over years. The flowers revealed monsters’ wishes, wants, and desires; Their hopes and their dreams kept in a time capsule until someone comes along and puts part of their life into the flower.
Frisk found an echo flower far off the beaten path, and it only echoed the soft rushing of water. They leaned into the flower and...
(... I wish that peace comes to the monsters.)
They wanted to stay longer, but Papyrus was probably getting impatient, so they continued onward. Even without the flowers and water, Waterfall was still beautiful, with the gemstones creating intricate shining murals on the walls. Suddenly, Frisk felt a sudden wave of unease as they entered a corridor. Further along, they saw something they didn’t remember being there. They saw-
( You notice a gray door in the side of the corridor. You don’t recognize it, and you feel paranoid. You slowly make your way to the door. It looks... wrong, like someone put it there without any consideration of aesthetics or physics. The hinges are in the wall, which would make the door impossible to open, but you turn the doorknob and the door opens just fine. Darkness creeps out of the door as if it were taking away the light. You feel like running away, but your legs refuse to do anything except walk inside. Behind the door is pitch black, and you get the feeling of weightlessness. Out of nowhere, white hands appear and take a hold of you. They start pulling on you and your SOUL is aching and there are eyes everywhere and it burns your world is shaking and YOU FEEL YOUR SOUL BREAKING AND IT- )
“Tra la la. Remember to take a break every-so-often. Are you okay, Frisk? You look pale.”
(You are back on the boat with the river person on the way to Hotland. You are back at your “save point”, as Flowey called it. You would ponder where he's been the past couple days if you didn't have more pressing matters. You need time to process what happened, but the river person looks worried, so you regain your composure-)
Frisk picked themself up and told the river person that they were fine. The river person didn’t seem fully convinced, but they just reinforced the importance of taking breaks to Frisk. They once again arrived at hotland and Frisk walked to the lab instinctively. They felt that they needed to find out more about the door to prevent it from becoming a bigger issue.
Frisk entered the lab and quickly found Alphys buried in paperwork. They were still intimidated by the mess around themself, but the shock factor was gone.
“H-hello Frisk, thanks for the help. Do you need something? Y-you look pale…”
Frisk gave Alphys the package from Sans and told her that it was a quantum physics book. She took the package and quickly opened it with her claws. She started looking through the pages like before, but Frisk still wanted to question her.
(Do you know anything about a gray door in Waterfall?)
“A-a gray door? Nothing comes to mind, why are you asking?”
(I saw it on the way here. Inside it was really dark and creepy. It might be dangerous.)
“O-oh... we might need to check it out, then. It might be a consequence of breaking the barrier. I'll get ready to head over there.”
She pulled out a white duffel bag and filled it with a few portable measuring devices, along with Sans’ book. She seemed a bit worried. After making sure the lab was safe not being attended to, Alphys and Frisk left. They went to the river, and the river person greeted the both of them.
“Tra la la. I see you brought a friend, Frisk! Where are we going today?”
“C-could you take us to Waterfall?”
“Very well then. Come aboard Ms... what is your name?”
“Oh, i-it’s Alphys, Dr. Alphys.”
Frisk and Alphys joined the river person and they started to travel across the river. Alphys seemed nervous, and she commented that she’d never traveled this way before. After some time, she started to feel more relaxed. She had her eyes closed, listening to the sounds of Waterfall. Frisk and the river person joined in, listening to the rushing water hitting the boat. It felt quiet, almost eerily so.
“Tra la la. Beware of the man who speaks in hands.”
Alphys seemed to lose her focus for a moment, her face scrunching up slightly. Once they arrived at their destination, Alphys tentatively said goodbye to the river person. They waved back as they floated down the river and out of view. On the way to the creepy corridor, Frisk made sure to stop by Undyne’s house and get all of the items available. As they approached the house, Alphys was shocked at how much of a mess the rubble was.
“O-oh! Undyne told me about a house fire, but I d-didn’t know it was this bad! I’m sure I could find some use for a 8 meter long burnt fish, though. I’ll wait out here while you do whatever you need to do.”
It was only a minute or two before they were off again. As they passed by the glowing water and echo flowers, Alphys stopped to take in the scenery for a moment. Frisk joined in. Alphys really enjoyed the beauty, but Frisk felt that the novelty had worn off. Time capsules like the echo flowers start to lose their appeal when one has the power to rewind time. When they kept moving forward, Alphys looked unsatisfied.
“Y-you know, I’ve always wanted to wish into an echo flower, b-but I don’t want to ‘override’ someone else’s wish.”
Frisk thought about this for a moment before leading Alphys to an offshoot in the path. This was the way to the echo flower they had found before, and it didn’t have a wish, if they remembered correctly. As they approached the lone flower, Frisk heard something strange coming from it.
“... I wish that peace comes to the monsters ...”
Alphys tried to hide her disappointment and failed, while Frisk tried to hide their surprise and succeeded.
“Y-you wished into this one? How cute... we should move on, we might not have a lot of time to waste.”
Frisk tried to brush off the reality defying echo flower as they trekked through the last part of their journey. When they arrived at the corridor, Frisk was confronted by the clear lack of a gray door. Before they could think about this, they heard a familiar voice from the other end.
“FRISK! ARE YOU OKAY? DID YOU NOT GET MY MESSAGE?”
“You better not have ignored Papyrus, punk!”
“oh hey al, whatcha doing with frisk?”
Papyrus rushed over to check on Frisk, with Undyne close behind. Sans struck a conversation with Alphys. Frisk assured the skeleton that they were okay, and they got the message. Frisk told Papyrus to kneel down and they pretended to knight him with the spaghetti extract.
“THANK YOU, HUMAN. I WILL BE FOREVER GRATEFUL FOR YOUR ACTIONS!”
“Nice job, Frisk. What are you and Alphys doing here? Rock collecting? Nyahaha!”
Alphys was talking with Sans near where the door was. She was very deep into the conversation until she heard Undyne call her name.
“Frisk thought they saw something weird here, s-so I’m here to check it out. I found this crack in the wall, so it might just be a gas leak. I-it might’ve given you hallucinations, Frisk.”
Although they were still on edge, Frisk felt at least a bit more comfortable with no sign of danger and their friends beside them. The 4 monsters started bantering while Frisk analyzed the crack Alphys mentioned. It was pretty small, about an inch thick and a foot tall, but the inside was pitch black. They couldn’t take their eyes away from the crevice as their heartbeat quick-
( as your heartbeat quickens. Then, you see it. The eyes are in the crack, the hands making signs as if it is taunting you. Whatever thing is in there, it is dangerous. You can’t let it ruin your happy ending. )
“F-frisk?! What are you doing with a knife?!”
( You need to strike it, you need to end this, you need to stop this chaos, you NEED TO MAKE PEACE YOU NEED TO STAY
DETERMINED
YOU-)
“Hey punk! Better not do anything stupi-!”
(You stab the crack using the Worn Dagger... Everything comes to a standstill in this slice of eternity. Until-)
Suddenly, darkness spewed out of the crack, quickly filling the corridor. Frisk could vaguely sense muffled yells and blurry faces of panic, but they couldn’t do anything. They couldn’t move at all. As the dark consumed their vision, it felt like they were going into a bad dream. Frisk tried to wake up, but nothing happened as the darkness inevitably crept in and everything faded to black.
For millennia, LIGHT and DARK have been separated