#also around the time Sara and Norman started dating | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

southcoasting · 5 years

Photo

Every year I make a compilation of some of my favourite tracks from the last 12 months, one song per artist. This year’s compilation is called ‘There Is Nothing Left To Hide’ and you can listen to it on mixcloud or download mp3s (click the links). Here’s the run down - no particular order of significance, although there’s quite a lot of California in there, the majority of the tracks are female-led and four out of five are from albums released this year. But it’s all good. Why not listen while you read?

ALDOUS HARDING - Zoo Eyes Aldous Harding continued to amaze this year with an extrordinary album ‘Designer’, which scored 88% on Metacritic. Words like ‘idiosyncratic’, ‘awkward’, ‘intimate’ and ‘alien’ might come to mind, but the Independent got it right, saying “Harding sounds delightfully free.” A true original. M. BUTTERFLY - Diamond Mist Diamond Mist from M Butterfly’s Sophomore album, recorded live on tape in hometown Brighton. A fine performance of a gorgeous song. THE IDA - Banana Boxes Blomst are the best Norwegian band at the moment, so it was great that their first UK gig was in a local cafe/bar in Brighton and they blew the audience away as I knew they would. Lead-singer Ida also records songs in English under the name ‘The Ida’ and this is from her first EP in that guise. HANYA - Trust Fund Baby Hanya (or Post Heather as they used to be known) have been playing occasional gigs for a few years now, but Heather finished her studies this year so they’ve been able to record and play more. This is from the first of their two recent EPs ‘I used to love you but now I don’t’. JENNY LEWIS - Hollywood Lawn New albums from Jenny Lewis doesn’t come around often but when they do it’s like your favourite big sister coming home, and 4th solo album ‘On The Line’ was no exception. HEATHER WOODS BRODERICK - I Try A talented multi-instrumentalist, a player in others’ bands, like Sharon Van Etten’s, and sister to Peter, Broderick finally got to release her own record, and it was a beauty. KEVIN MORBY - OMG Rock n Roll The Woods’ Morby has released a series of fine solo albums over the last few years but his latest ‘Oh My God’ is a step above most things he’s done before and almost everything released this year. A stunning record.

STELLA DONNELLY - Beware of the Dogs Australian Stella Donnelly released her solo album and it provided amongst other things a soundtrack for the Me-Too gen. This is the title-track. BILL CALLAHAN - 747 One musical highlight this year was seeing Bill play live in London. This track is from his 17th album Shepherd in a Sheepskin Vest, his first for five years, a time in which he has grown a family and become more domesticated, happenings reflected in a beautiful new collection of songs. NATIVE HARROW - How You Do Things Third album ‘Happier Now’ is a stunner, and seeing Devin and Stephen play a cooler-than-cool self-promoted set in a tiny local Brighton venue, the Village, was another musical highlight this year. SARA MELSON - Feel It Coming Came across the unsigned Sara Melson on Soundcloud and this song blew me away. It somehow manages to combine intimacy with power-balladry, without at any time cracking into corn. You’ll love it. An EP is coming soon, NANCY PRIDDY - You’ve Come This Way Before Nancy Priddy was an actress who appeared in the Waltons and Bewitched, dated Stephen Stills and is Christina Applegate’s mum. In 1968 she released an album that is a minor psychedelic classic and this is the title track. ANA EGGE - Teacake and Janey After last year’s excellent White Tiger, Egge came straight back this year with a new album ‘Is It The Kiss’ that is even better. This track is from that. NICOLETTE MACLEOD - Father Father I put on a gig featuring Nicolette Corcoran Macleod as a support act ten years ago but incredibly she only got around to releasing an album this year. It is a little bit special. RED RIVER DIALECT - Snowdon From Cornwall via Brighton and London, on their latest album this wonderful folk-rock band managed to create an anthem for Wales. DAMIEN JURADO - Lincoln His 14th album ‘The Shape Of A Storm’ was a stripped-down affair, revealing the beauty of Jurado’s songwriting in its simplest starkest form. DAVID McWILLIAMS - Livin’s Just A State Of Mind David McWilliams (1945-2002) was one of David Bowie’s favourite songwriters, and touted as Northern Ireland’s answer to Dylan, a not unreasonable comparison given the quality of McWilliams’ songs. He is best known for ‘the Days of Pearly Spencer’ (1967) but this is the title track from a 1974 album. LANA DEL REY - Doin’ Time I didn’t think I liked Lana Del Rey but she just gets better and better and this year’s ‘Norman Fucking Rockwell’ (6th album in 9 years) is undeniably a superb achievement, so much so that the Guardian deservedly made it its album of the year. PORRIDGE RADIO - Lilac Anyone who heard Brighton-London band Porridge Radio play one of their five or six gigs at the Great Escape festival this year came away singing the (at that time) unreleased new song ‘Lilac’. Now they are signed to Secretly Canadian and ‘Lilac’ has at last got a release. It’s stunning:

“I don’t want us to be bitter I want us to get better I want us to be kinder to ourselves and to each other…”

[Bonus Track] THE FAMILY GRAVE - The Children (demo) The Family Grave (f.k.a. Hiawatha Telephone Company) released an album ‘Everybody is Flawed’ at the start of the year. They only wrote one new song this year, The Children, which was released on Soundcloud. We like it. A lot. That’s it folks! Listen to the whole compilation on mixcloud or download the mp3s

3 notes · View notes

advocatewrites-blog · 6 years

Text

Into the Unknown Part 4 Chapter 1

Into the Unknown

Fandom: Undertale, Coraline (book), Over the Garden Wall, Paranorman, Gravity Falls (season 2)

Characters: Frisk, Norman B., Dipper P., Mabel P., Coraline J., Wirt, Greg, the Cat, the Frog; Sans, Toriel, Papyrus, Undyne, Alphys, Asgore,; the Other Mother, the Beast, Agatha P., Bill Cipher, Asriel D., Chara D.,

Pairings: Not the focus. Alphys/Undyne, with mentions of Papyrus/Mettaton, sans/Toriel/Asgore, and Wirt/Sara. Due to the nature of Undertale and the dating segments, there is also interpretable Papyrus/Wirt, Undyne/Mabel, Alphys/Dipper, Napstablook/Norman, Mettaton/Norman, Mettaton/Mabel, Sans/Dipper, Sans/Norman, and Sans/Greg.

Rated a high +K for violence, mild language, horrific elements that may be disturbing to younger readers, mentions of child abuse and bullying, character death that is sometimes permanent, and mentions of suicide that may be triggering. These elements remain relatively unchanged from their source material, which most all are for children, but discretion is advised nonetheless.

Disclaimer: Undertale was created and owned by Toby Fox. Coraline was created by Neil Gaiman and owned by Bloomsbury and Laika. Over the Garden Wall was created by Patrick McHale and owned by Cartoon Network. Paranorman was created by Sam Fell and Chris Butler and owned by Laika. Gravity Falls was created by Alex Hirsch and owned by Disney. Any other work mentioned or homage are property of their respective owners. This is a fan-made, nonprofit work that only seeks to entertain. Please support the original franchises.

“so I’m a sentry in snowdin forest, right? I sit out there and I watch for humans. it’s kind of boring. fortunately, in the forest, there’s this HUGE locked door. and it’s perfect for practicing knock-knock jokes. so one day, I’m knocking ‘em out, like usual. I knock on the door and say ‘knock knock’. and suddenly, from the other side…I hear a woman’s voice.

“‘who is there?’ so, naturally, I respond. ‘dishes.’ ‘dishes who?’ ‘dishes is a very bad joke.’ Then she just howls with laughter. like it’s the best joke she’s heard in a hundred years. so I keep ‘em coming, and she keeps laughing. she’s the best audience I’ve ever had. then, after a dozen of ‘em, SHE knocks and says ‘Knock knock!’ I say, ‘whos there?’ ‘old lady!’ ‘old lady who?’ ‘Oh! I did not know you could yodel!’

“wow. needless to say, this woman was extremely good. we kept telling each other jokes for hours. eventually, I had to leave. Papyrus gets kind of cranky without his bedtime story. but she told me to come by again, and so I did. then I did again. it’s kind of a thing now.”

The human is still listening, eyes wide and mouth full of burg. Its LV is at 5, meaning it’s still definitely a murderer. But it’s hard to remember that after seeing it pass through the puzzles his bro set up with a smile on its face, watch it engage with them. Watch it Spare.

“one day, though, I notice she wasn’t laughing as much. I asked her what was up. then she told me something strange. ‘if a human ever comes through this door…could you please, please promise me something? watch over them, and protect them, will you not?’ now, I hate making promises. and this woman, I don’t even know her name. but, someone who sincerely loves bad jokes…has an integrity you can’t say no to.”

He doesn’t know what he’s thinking. He can’t shake the boat in a meaningful way; everything is on a schedule, and nothing he does changes. But he has to know.

“do you get what I’m saying? That promise I made to her…do you know what would have happened if she hadn’t said anything? buddy…

You’d be dead where you stand.”

He didn’t mean to speak so forcefully; slip out of his font and use the tone he uses when he Judges. But the effect is immediate. The human’s eyes widen in fear and it runs still.

In a way, that’s all the answer he needs.

But then it starts crying. The other occupants of Grillby’s start to look at them, and he squirms under the attention. It raises its hands and starts to move them. It’s crude Hands, not helped by how much it’s trembling. He manages to get most of it.

Didn’t mean—accident—thought she would stop—didn’t know—not me—not myself--

How old was this kid anyway? It’s shorter than he is, and that’s saying something. Their hands shake too much and there are bruises on their legs and under their sweater. Old enough to kill? You don’t commit genocide on accident, but if they were half as upset about it then as they were now…

What did they mean by not myself?

I’ll fix, they sign. I’ll go back and save her. I promise.

*RESET

He sees it that time. The world stops. He watches it move backwards, like someone were rewinding a tape.

sans wakes up in his bed, like he always does. Usually, it takes him a long time to gather up the energy to restart the timeline again. He’ll lie in bed until Papyrus wakes him up and demands he go to work, and sometimes after that. This time, however, he jumps out of bed and makes some corrections to his notebook.

don’t trust them

Four are the Stars An Undertale/Gravity Falls crossover By the Poor Sap Advocate

Chapter 1

“How’d you think we ended up down here?” Dipper asked as he looked around.

“We fell, of course,” said Mabel, who was in the middle of making herself a daisy chain out of the more squished golden flowers. She gestured upwards, where just the faintest glint of blue skies and sunlight could be seen.

“Do you remember falling down somewhere?”

“Nope!”

“I don’t remember Gravity Falls having any mountains big enough for…this,” said Dipper.

He tried thinking back to what happened. He remembered Mabel was planning a party for the reopening of the Mystery Shack, they were hanging out in the gift shop…flashes of red and blue…then nothing.

“And how are these flowers growing, anyway? There’s like no sunlight down here!”

Mabel looked back down at her daisy chain in confusion.

“Do you still have your grappling hook?” Dipper asked. “Maybe we can—”

Mabel was in the air before he could even finish that sentence. She loved using the grappling hook, especially when she had a legitimate reason to use it.

Mabel scaled upward towards the highest ridge of the cliff. She grabbed onto the ridge with one hand, then jumped as she tried to grab the ledge above. Her hand stop on the sky. There was a loud booming noise, as though someone has struck a gong. The sky began to ripple like waves in a lake.

Mabel tumbled back down onto the golden flowers.

“MABEL!”

“What was that?” Mabel said as she sat back up, as though nothing had happened. “It feels like I just ran into a wall.”

Dipper’s mind started racing. There was something at the top of the mountain, something not normal. More Gravity Falls weirdness to investigate.

He took another look at Mabel and the distance she fell, and decided he would investigate it once they were looking down at it again.

“There’s a cave this way,” said Dipper. “We can probably hike our way down from here and see if there’s another entrance that’s not blocked by paranormal entities.”

Mabel pulled herself off the ground and dusted herself off. “You lead the way, bro!”

She had a new sweater on, a blue and violet striped design with a red heart in the middle. And for some reason, it felt very familiar to Dipper.

Frisk found themselves in the woods once again.

It was not the Unknown again, they put together quickly. It felt too…different. In fact, if it weren’t for the heat and the sun above, they could have thought they had made it back to the forests in Snowdin. It felt like magic was in the air.

Another thing different from the Unknown was how quickly they were able to find humans. And how many there were in one place. The sounds of crowds and traffic were audible within seconds, and they wandered towards its source.

It was hard to describe what they found. It was less of a house and more of a hovel.

“Alright, step right this way! The first tour of the new and improved Mystery Shack!”

The Cat wouldn’t be able to find them for a while. They could kill time, at least. Frisk wandered into the group and hid behind legs.

They were actually surprised that they were found so quickly. The Mystery Man leaned close to them, one eye inspecting them closely.

“Don’t think I didn’t see ya sneak in, kid,” he said. “Your parents in this group?”

They shook their head and shrugged.

“You gonna pay your way in yourself?”

They had to dig through their pockets a bit, but they managed to find a gold coin from the Underground and handed it to him. What shock he had that a child was carrying gold wore off on him quickly. He inspected it carefully, even going so far as to biting on it, before deciding he was satisfied and turned back to them.

“I don’t see too many kids with solid gold on them,” said the Mystery Man.

Frisk responded by giving him another gold coin.

“Good answer! Right this way, kid!”

Dipper took a step, and fell through the floor.

This was about the fourth time he had done that, and frankly it stopped being funny after the second. Mabel propped herself up on the pedestal and waited for him to come back.

“Hey, Froggit, you’re looking good today!” She called.

The Froggit in question gave an embarrassed burble, dropped a few gold coins, and hopped on its way.

“Why do they have so many puzzles leading up to their house?” Dipper asked as he emerged from the vent system.

“Maybe it’s a monster thing,” said Mabel. “Did the journal have anything about a kingdom of monsters?”

“Not that I remember,” said Dipper. “I just wish Grunkle Stan had given the journal back before all this happened.”

He took another step, and fell through.

Mabel took a bite out of the spider doughnut.

“Ew…crunchy…”

Dipper tumbled back upstairs.

“No journal’s gonna make you good at puzzles, bro,” said Mabel.

“The answer’s down there,” said Dipper. “I just can’t remember it all the way. Here’s another question: why would monsters have puzzles that are so easy to solve?”

“Maybe they’re just waiting for a stupid enough human to solve them,”

“They wouldn’t be waiting for human down here.”

“Toriel was.”

“And you trust her?”

“What?” Mabel asked. “She’s a delightful goat mother, how suspicious can you be of her?”

“I’m just saying,” said Dipper. “We’re stuck in the land of monsters, you were literally bounced off a shield preventing us from escaping, I almost got killed by a flower, and there’s this nice old goat woman who wants us to be her children.”

“You’re just being over-suspicious. She’s perfectly fine!”

“There is something I must do,” said Toriel. “Please stay here.”

She put her book down and made a beeline for the staircase. Dipper’s blood ran cold.

“…perfectly fine….” Said Mabel.

“We’re going,” said Dipper, already running to catch up with Toriel.

“That was a pretty cool snail fact though!”

It was hard to describe the Mystery Shack. If Frisk had to, they would say it was not worth the 2G. The decorations were fake; some insulting so, and some just insulting. The real mystery of the mystery shack was how readily everyone bought it.

They exited through the gift shop, fitting considering the rest of the tour, bought a map of the area with what gold they had left, and returned to the woods.

They had hiked through the forest long enough that they were decently hidden when it started to get dark. The Mystery Man may have taken their gold, but it was unlikely that anyone else would.

There was still no sign of the Cat.

Once they found a clearing far enough away that they wouldn’t be spotted, they curled in on themselves and fell asleep.

They were only asleep for about an hour when they woke up to the sounds of the Cat’s low growl.

He stood in front of them, ready to pounce. His eyes were focused on the bush in front of him, so much so that Frisk wondered if he could even see them. When they shifted and waved at him, he jumped into the bushes.

A very human-sounding voice screamed out.

It took Frisk a few tries of trying to grab him and pulling his tail to get the Cat to withdraw from the bush. Something was in its mouth. No...someone. They were humanoid, barely the length of Frisk’s arm. Most of their hair was tucked under a red cone of a hat.

It was some kind of monster, Frisk realized. A gnome, if they had to guess.

Frisk looked to the Cat disapprovingly. The Cat rolled its eyes, but put the gnome down all the same.

The gnome didn’t respond. It ran past before Frisk could ask it any more questions.

The Cat said something, complaining about the gnomes trying to capture him and ride him into battle, but Frisk was only half paying attention. There was magic in these woods.

Author’s Note:

#fic #Into the Unknown #Undertale #Gravity Falls #sans #Frisk #Dipper Pines #Mabel Pines #Stan Pines #toriel #the Cat #featured

5 notes · View notes

2dudesgethitched · 7 years

Photo

Spelling Dad from ADD.

“How do you feel about children?” he asked me on that magical Christmas Eve in 2008. We are at too large of a table for two people on a patio of ribbons, decked halls and twinkle lights. Ooooh, pretty lights sparkle so. We waited for our coffee drinks under trimmed trees, gay apparel donned. The crowd at Aroma Café was heavy with packages, burdens from the shopping that is a draw to the Tujunga Village part of Studio City. I love the idea of a hamlet in the land of hams. I need more irony in my diet. People banged about like cattle down a chute. Calling Temple Grandin.

My ADD is self-diagnosed and provides me ample amusement; sometimes others get to share in the joy that is my rambling. The stream of consciousness that I surf regularly makes me a fine Improv actor but an ineffective bureaucrat. Years later someone would shout “Squirrel” and I completely understood a cartoon dog’s pov.

Christ, he just asked me something. Focus, Hubble, focus. If my self-narration annoys feel free to substitute Neil Patrick Harris voice or Sara Jessica Parker’s. My patter might be more palatable. How do I feel about children?

Michael’s bright blue eyes, red cheeks and pale pallor defined the ‘Richie Cunningham’ description our mutual friend Rob had promised. Ha. Red, white and blue. He’s pretty cute, shivering in his p-coat. The lyrics to “American Boy” popped up. Stifle, silly ADD, stifle. Listen to the cute boy who is saying all the right things. I had arrived early to the date. I had armed myself viewing all the pictures he had posted on his MySpace. He had a butt-load of friends and loved the beach. I knew we had at least that, Tom & Rob as common denominators. He was tall, handsome and quirky. Our previous phone conversation confirmed quirky.

“Hello, Villa Cosa Nostra, Michael speaking, how may I help you?”

“Is this Michael Vinton?”

“Tis I” Tis I. Tis I? I’m calling a boutique timeshare and got transferred to a Renaissance Faire Restaurant?

“This is Tony Spatafora, Rob Hahn’s friend.” Beat. Beat.

“Oh. Hi..”

“I know you’re at work, is this an okay time to talk?”

“Let me put you on hold for a second? Thanks.” Boom. Gone.

He is so Googling me now. I think. Or he’s shuttering his work-hag so he can come back to the call a little more centered. I can’t wait to hear what comes back on the line.

“Heeeeyy, “ a much cooler cat returns. “How ya doing?”

“Fine. “ Eyeroll. Stop Spats, don’t be such an egotistical putz. “Rob Hahn said to give you a call and that we should probably get together.”

“Yeah. He said.” Ice, ice baby. Who sang that, I wondered “So, what’s up….”?

Saints preserve me.

“Listen, I know you’re at work. Why don’t you give me a call when it’s convenient and we can set something up?”

“Cool, man.” Oh, this kid is killing me. Did I mention that my angel is 14 years my junior? Yeah. Apply considerable mockery here, I deserve it.

“I’ll just get your cell, and get back to you.”

“Fine, ” I’m not finished playing with my food, “but let me ask you three things: Dog or cat?”

“Dog.” He’s confident.

“Boston or New York?”

“…New York.” He vacillated.

“And finally, like garlic or love garlic.”

“LOVE garlic.” He wins. I spit game like no other. Who sang that damn song??

“Okay. You may call me back.”

Laughter.

I thrive on acid tests and omens. I believe The Universe will give you signs when you are falling behind in it’s choreography. You are encouraged to free style only so often. Don’t waste your moment to jump in the abyss. Your pants can only get wet one of two ways when you dance. Go big or go home, I think I’d read that on some ones Friendster. I am so full of myself I should hang Charmin off my belt.

I had seen him heading to the café from a quaint store in the Village. In fact he had stopped in the window in front of my to check his hair. The afternoon was windy. Norman Rockwell snow falling lightly would have completed the picture. Oh, my. He is a cutie. Those eyes were so blue. I stalked him down the sidewalk praying there would be more preening to mock later to my besty Sue. He walked like a man, firm and grounded while sporting an angel’s face. These omens are good. I couldn’t wait to hear from ‘Tis I’ what made this guy tick.

Michael turned around in front of Aroma to find me, hot on his heels. He laughed and I gave him the big loving hug I like to share with my nearest and dearest. I wanted to warm his heart on this holiday night before we both had to race back to work. I would learn later that he really welcomed that hug as it was to be his first Christmas away from his wonderful family in Charlotte, NC. He was a little sad and in need of some familiar love. The guy has the big heart of a softie I would learn. Tick tick tick, boom goes the heart.

I thought he was shivering. He kept squirming over his shoulder then craning his neck back to me. Does he have a tic? He kept exhaling over his shoulder. I was intrigued; did I step in something while hunting my prey down the mean streets of the San Fernando Valley? He finally calls out the chair dancing he’s doing as being gassy today & also he is from a very gassy family. I got a fuzzy image of the holidays with the family. He was trying to subtly burp. I got that. Cool.

“How do I feel about children? You mean as a family or laborers in my families sweatshop in New Haven?” More Charmin, senator? Truth was I did want a family. More than anything else I have ever wanted. I wanted to focus all that I am into people who would hopefully, one day, go out and use their powers for good. I have the biological family, the chosen family, the work family, and the Partridge family. I had a lock on “Back-up singers” and caregivers that all had a special place in my heart. I was finally ready at 40 to have a family unit. Children, progeny attendants whatever you want to call them. I was ready to raise.

I hoped that in raising children, I would raise myself. I had always been a selfish impulsive prick. I could leave disaster in my wake better and brighter then most boobs my age. I’d been there, done that and brought back the t-shirt in two sizes (for my fat + fit days) Glib is an understatement to describe me, Crazed is another. Children would allow me to put all the attention I had put into myself to a positive end. My epic life experiences and families would help lift the children up; it takes a village I have been told.

I had always seen myself with a large family. That was how we grew up in CT and I wanted to create something similar. Economics and Biology being what it may, it was going to take extra work and love but above all it would take the right mate to accomplish this with. Michael told me he had seen a similar vision but did the typical blanch one does when finding out there might be five more just like me out there in the world. Silly man, he has no idea.

All of my wonderful family had paired up and reproduced. There are thirteen amazing nephews and nieces with birthdays to remember and events to celebrate. Being as far away as I am in Los Angeles can fray the nerves. The day to day growth of the kids gets away from you when updates aren’t delivered regularly. It is much easier to share around a family dinner table or a get together in state. Time flies and raising kids seemed to occupy and awful lot of it. Notes for later, I would record. I wished for a village that can act locally and think globally I guess. I have a Village People cd I haven’t played in a while.

And sometimes it takes a Village Idiot. Burpie and me made nice and I dropped a few more witty pearls of banter. We clicked on many levels. We had both thought we would have been priests, except for that annoying celibacy thing. We loved music. Our families were the most important things in our lives. Our dreams were huge. We wanted to see the world but above all wanted children. Oh, and grandchildren too.

Well this was going to be tough, being two men and no little lady. We appear to be Biologically Adjacent to speak Angeleno, in the act of conception. There were to be a few extra steps to get our family unit to the amazing holiday card ready cast that my friends had biologically created ad nauseum. We would have to decide about Adoption; Domestic or International? Foster to Adoption; how old the child will we go? Surrogacy; who’s friend to raise a turkey baster to in this above generous gift they were providing? Surrogacy when not related in love or blood; do we find these people on Craigslist, Angie’s List, Facebook? There was to be much to learn but I had a feeling that Michael was the one to make the journey with.

Real it in Spats, I chanted. Let’s not put the station wagon in front of the horse. If this really was a ‘traditional valued’ gay man I couldn’t rush the situation and would have to let this unfold. Guys like this were few and far between. Chill baby, baby, chill baby baby. Really ADD? Vanilla Ice? I’m hipper than that.

Actually, I’m not getting any younger as people would tell me and FYI get a move on when they stop telling you this. It might be the Universe giving you a reality check to start listening and fall into line. Tick Tock, Tick Tock goes the biological clock. Wait, what? I was forty but determined. Many great people I knew personally had started their families late in life. I have energy to boot and an inner monologue that wouldn’t shut up. I am going to rock this fatherhood thing into the next stage of my life and hum show tunes for lullabies.

I held his hand as we walked out of the café. It was in part a thank you for sharing so much of his sweet soul as he had his time on a crazy Christmas Eve. His eyes are illuminating. There was a sense of promise in one so gassy. I saw a fuzzy family unit off in the future, a pin prick of light, each day growing closer and larger. It came into frame and I saw the tall person in the image was wearing a p-coat and an enormous, toothy smile.

OH, SNAP! It wasn’t Vanilla Ice, it was C & C Music Factory. Mmmmm. Things that make you go Mmm mmm mmm mmm mmm. I am too old for ‘oh, snap’ I remind myself. Yet I’m not too old to learn. Papa, Dad, Daddy; I like it. I wonder what I’ll be when I grow up.

Cue the music.

#gay men #adoption #gay dads #love wins

0 notes

advocatewrites-blog · 7 years

Text

Into the Unknown Part 3 Chapter 4

Into the Unknown

Fandom: Undertale, Coraline (book), Over the Garden Wall, Paranorman, Gravity Falls (season 2)

Start from beginning / Previous chapter / Next chapter

Chapter 4

More people came outside. They stared at the zombies. The zombies stared back.

Finally one woman moved and pulled a shotgun from behind her back. “KILL ‘EM IN THE HEAD!”

Frisk rushed out between them. They started to sign.

“THEY HAVE A HOSTAGE!”

“SOMEBODY SAVE THAT CHILD!”

Frisk tried to say something else. They were shoved back before they could get their hands up, past the crowd of the zombies.

Judge Hopkins took them by the shoulders and steadied them. With one hand, he gave them back the book of fairy tales and the notebook. With the other, he took his hand of Frisk’s shoulder and pointed into the forest.

Frisk nodded in understanding.

A gunshot rang through the increasingly large crowd. Judge Hopkins nearly fell over as it collided with his stomach. Instantly, Frisk opened up their FIGHT menu and ran a Check.

Judge Hopkins 80 ATK 80 DEF

He fell down a long time ago. He let his fear control him.

“Are you serious?” said Norman and Alphys at the same time.

“OHHHHHH YESSS!!!” said Mettaton. “GOOD EVENING, BEAUTIES AND GENTLEBEAUTIES! THIS IS METTATON, REPORTING LIVE FROM MTT NEWS!

“AN INTERESTING SITUATION HAS ARISEN IN EASTERN HOTLAND! FORTUNATELY, OR CORRESPONDENT IS OUT THERE, REPORTING LIVE! BRAVE CORRESPONDENT! PLEASE FIND SOMETHING NEWSWORTHY TO REPORT! OUR TEN WONDERFUL VIEWERS ARE WAITING FOR YOU!!”

It was a bit hard to see clearly with the sets Mettaton had put up, but there were objects that looked out of place scattered across the platform. A basketball that looked more plush that rubber, a binder, a CD case…

“A dog?” Norman asked aloud.

The dog barked and wagged its tail at him.

“WHAT A SENSATIONAL OPPORTUNITY FOR A STORY!” said Mettaton. “A DOG EXISTS SOMEWHERE. FRANKLY, I’M BLOWN AWAN.”

The dog continued to wag its tail. A glint of black and orange at the end made Norman’s head turn.

“MY COULD THAT BE…IT IS! IT’S A BOMB!”

The backdrops fell apart. Mettaton hovered closer to Norman.

“OH MY!” said Mettaton. “IT APPEARS EVERYTHING IN THIS ROOM IS A BOMB! THAT PRESENT’S A BOMB! THAT BASKETBALL’S A BOMB! EVEN MY WORDS ARE—!”

Boom!

“BRAVE CORRESPONDENT,” Mettaton continued. “IF YOU DO NOT DEFUSE ALL OF THESE BOMBS, THS BIG BOMB WILL BLOW YOU TO SMITHEREENS IN TWO MINUTES! THEN YOU WON’T BE REPORTING ‘LIVE’ ANY LONGER! HOW TERRIBLE! HOW DISTURBING! OUR NINE VIEWERS ARE GOING TO LOVE WATCHING THIS! GOOD LUCK DARLING!!”

Panic swelled in Norman. Was he being serious?

The phone rang.

“Is now really the time?” Norman asked as he answered.

Alphys squeaked. “S-sorry, but don’t worry! I installed a bomb-defusing program on your phone!”

That one took Norman aback.

“Why would you have thought of that?” Norman asked.

“u-uh, I—“

“YOU’RE RUNNING OUT OF TIME, DARLING!!” Mettaton spoke up.

He was right. Norman would just have to ask about that later.

The riots did not stop even after Frisk got away. They wondered if there was anything that could make them stop. They dove inside a nearby alley and hid. Occasionally, they would poke their head behind the corner and watch as things got progressively worse.

There was fire now. The smoke blended in with the rest of the storm.

It took longer for the Cat to find them. The townspeople were probably superstitious of him, too. He gave Frisk a quick glance over to see they weren’t seriously hurt. His eyes narrowed at the book in their hands.

The Witch was watching them. The swirling clouds above began to take shape, and two glowing eyes stared down at them.

Frisk opened up the book and opened their mouth. Their voice seized up.

The cloud’s mouth opened. The sounds of cackling collided with the sounds of thunder. Lighting struck down, and as Frisk faded into unconsciousness, they heard something.

“I’m not listening to that story anymore.”

NAPSTABLOOK22 sent you a friend request. Accept?

The notification vanished before Norman could even tap it.

Seems like it rejected itself… said the Undernet.

Norman sighed as he put the phone away. He would have to find a way to talk to Napstablook later. Right now, he had more pressing concerns.

Behind this door must be the elevator to the King’s Castle. If he could get through it, and then get past the king, he would be home. Something swelled in him that he could not quite place as he stepped inside.

The room was surprisingly empty. Only a few lights were overhead, as dim as they could get. A chill ran down Norman’s spine as he took a few more steps forward. He wasn’t sure if he should be surprised when he saw Mettaton waiting.

“OH YES,” said Mettaon. “THERE YOU ARE, DARLING. IT’S TIME TO HAVE OUR LITTLE SHOWDOWN. IT’S TIME TO FINALLY STOP THE ‘MALFUNCTIONING’ ROBOT. …NOT!!!

“MALFUNCTIONING? REPROGRAMMING? GET REAL. THIS WAS ALL JUST A BIG SHOW. AN ACT. ALPHYS HAS BEEN PLAYING YOU A FOOL THE WHOLE TIME. AND NOW, IT’S TIME FOR HER FINEST HOUR. AT THIS VERY MOMENT, ALPHYS IS WAITING OUTSIDE THE ROOM. DURING OUR ‘BATTLE’, SHE WILL INTERRUPT. SHE WILL PRETEND TO ‘DEACTIVATE’ ME, ‘SAVING’ YOU ONE FINAL TIME. FINALLY. SHE’LL BE THE HERO OF YOUR ADVENTURE. YOU’LL REGARD HER SO HIGHLY SHE’LL EVEN BE ABLE TO CONVINCE YOU NOT TO LEAVE. …OR NOT. YOU SEE, I’VE HAD ENOUGH OF THIS PREDICTABLE CHARADE. I HAVE NO DESIRE TO HARM HUMANS. FAR FROM IT, ACTUALLY. MY ONLY DESIRE IS TO ENTERTAIN. AFTER ALL, THE AUDIENCE DESERVES A GOOD SHOW, DON’T THEY? AND WHAT’S A GOOD SHOW…WITHOUT A PLOT TWIST?”

“h-Hey? What’s going on?” Alphys’ voice echoed from behind the door.

“SORRY, FOLKS! THE OLD PROGRAM’S BEEN CANCELLED!!!” Mettaton continued. “BUT WE’VE GOT A FINALE THAT WILL DRIVE YOU WILD!!”

The platform lit up in magenta stage lights. It shot itself up into the air, Norman and Mettaton still on it.

“REAL DRAMA!! REAL ACTION!! REAL BLOODSHED!! ON OUR NEW SHOW…ATTACK OF THE KILLER ROBOT!”

Norman’s Soul jumped from his body. Instinctively, he reached for the phone and pressed the yellow button.

“THAT WORTHLESS PEA-SHOOTER WON’T WORK ON ME,” said Mettaton. “DON’T YOU KNOW WHAT ACTING IS?”

The phone started to ring. He answered.

“U..uh…I can’t see what’s going on in there, but…” said Alphys on the other end. “Don’t give up! Th…there’s o-one l-l-last way to beat Mettaton. It’s…um…it’s…This is a work in progress, so don’t judge it too hard…if you can turn him around and press the switch on his backside, he’ll…he’ll become…vulnerable. G-gotta go!”

She hung up before Norman could get a word in edgewise.

Mettaton was still monologuing about something. He probably did not even see him on the phone.

If he was right, Norman realized, then there was no reason to trust Alphys. And if he was right, Norman realized, he was out of options anyway.

“H-hey Mettaton,” Norman spoke up. “There’s a mirror behind you, if you want to get ready for your big show?”

“OH???”

Mettaton turned.

The switch was huge, nearly taking up half the back panel. Someone had even taken time to hastily write “SWITCH” with an arrow over it. Norman decided not to waste any time. He jumped forward and flipped it.

Mettaton froze.

“DID YOU. JUST FLIP. MY SWITCH?”

Norman did not get the chance the answer. Mettaton spun. The lights on his face lit on and off randomly. The mechanical bits of him screamed. Puffs of smoke and fumes seeped from his joints, nearly blinding Norman.

And then it stopped.

“OHHH YES…”

“…on this day, you have been charged for the horrible crimes of witchcraft…witnessed by those whose testimonies have been heard…”

They were somewhere dark. Eyes watched them from every corner. Out of the shadows stood the judge.

“…you have been found by this court to be guilty…”

But this was not their judgement.

“I was only playing,” said a weak voice beside them.

There was a girl beside them, only a little older than Frisk. The eyes focused onto her, and she shrank under their gaze.

“Aye,” said the Judge. “Playing with fire! And it is passed on you, according to your grievous crimes, execution!”

The shadows with eyes came out of the shadows and approached them, taking up the space.

“No! I didn’t do anything wrong!” said the girl. “Leave me alone, or I’ll make you sorry! I’ll make you all sorry!”

The girl’s skin lit up with yellow magic, and the bright lights broke apart the darkness.

When Frisk came back around, they were on the floor in an unfamiliar room.

“You know,” said the Cat, his mouth full of their sleeve as he dragged them along. “One of these days you’re going to have to accept that you can’t fix everything.”

It took them a moment to figure out what he was talking about. The storm outside still raged, and the voices of the mob were muffled through the building’s walls.

“OOH, LOOK AT THESE RATINGS! WE’VE REACHED OUR VIEWER CALL IN MILESTONE! ONE LUCKY VIEWER WILL HAVE THE CHANCE TO TALK TO ME…BEFORE I LEAVE THE UNDERGROUND FOREVER! LET’S SEE WHO CALLS IN FIRST!”

The phone started to ring. Norman took a look at the caller ID and his eyebrows shot up. Not knowing what else to do, he put it on speaker.

“HI, YOU’RE ON TV! WHAT DO YOU HAVE TO SAY ON THIS, OUR FINAL SHOW?”

“oh…hi Mettaton…” said Napstablook.

And just like that, Mettaton’s demeanor dropped. His wild expressions vanished, now replaced with a thin expression that looked like it was holding back a lot. His eyes drifted from the floor to the phone.

“I really liked watching your show…” said Napstablook. “my life is pretty boring... but…seeing you on the screen…brought excitement to my life…vicariously…”

Mettaton’s expression cracked again, and this time it became clear he was holding back tears.

And then Norman put it together.

“I can’t tell, but…I guess this is the last episode…? I’ll miss you…Mettaton…oh…i didn’t mean to talk for so long…oh……………………”

“NO, WAIT! WAIT, BL—” Mettaton stopped as the dial tone became louder than him. “h—They already hung up...”

“You left him behind,” said Norman.

“I THOUGHT…” said Mettaton. “IT WAS THE ONLY WAY TO GET THE BODY I WANTED. THE LIFE I WANTED.”

“And what did you do to the person who got you that life!” Norman said. “You’ve left Alphys behind, too!”

“I DIDN’T MEAN—” Mettaton stopped himself. “HERE, JUST HAND ME MY LEG SO I CAN SLAP MYSELF.”

“What would happen if you took my Soul and crossed the Barrier?” Norman asked. “Would you leave them behind too?”

More and more messages poured from the viewer call in.

“Mettaton, I don’t know what I’ll watch without you!”

“Mettaton, your show made us so happy!”

“Mettaton, there’s a Mettaton-shaped hole in my Mettaton-shaped heart!”

With every new caller, Mettaton’s eyes fell just a little more.

The fight was over. Norman’s Soul retreated back into his body. There wasn’t any point to sticking around. Norman walked past him and went towards the door.

“WAIT, DARLING…” Mettaton spoke up.

Norman stopped, but did not turn back.

“THIS BODY’S ENERGY FORM IS…INSUFFICIENT. IN A FEW MOMENTS, I’LL RUN OUT OF POWER AND…WELL, I’LL BE OKAY. BUT…WOULD IT BE TOO MUCH TROUBLE TO ASK YOU TO TAKE ME TO THE TRANQUIL AREA OF THE WATERFALL? THERE’S…A FEW PEOPLE I NEED TO MAKE UP TO.”

#fic #Into the Unknown #Undertale #Paranorman #Frisk #the Cat #Norman Babcock #Alphys #Mettaton #featured

1 note · View note

advocatewrites-blog · 7 years

Text

Into the Unknown Part 3 Chapter 3

Into the Unknown

Fandom: Undertale, Coraline (book), Over the Garden Wall, Paranorman, Gravity Falls (season 2)

Start from beginning / Previous chapter / Next chapter

Chapter 3

Undyne was right behind him.

Norman ran along the piers in the Waterfall. Energy spears shot up from the ground, never quite hitting him but always getting closer than he wanted them to be. The floor was splitting below him.

He reached a dead end. Undyne’s footsteps, loud metal clacking on wood, slowed. She knew it was a dead end too.

He turned and saw her take one more step, right where her spears had splintered the wood already. There was a sickening cracking noise as the bridge collapsed. He fell.

“It sounded like it came from over here…Oh! You’ve fallen down, haven’t you? Are you okay? Here, get up…Chara, huh? That’s a nice name. My name is—”

He was awake before he could hear the last part of that.

It took Norman a minute to regain his bearings. He had landed on a patch of golden flowers, the same kind that were in the Ruins. Above head, he could make out just the faintest rays of the sun. He was still in the Underground.

What was that? It was too vivid to be a dream, he realized, and he did not think he had fallen asleep anyway. It was more like a vision. He did not recall having visions, but for some reason, the idea felt right in his head. If he could see ghosts, anything was possible, he supposed.

There was no point of worrying about it now. If it was a vision, it had not told him enough to make sense of it. Norman picked himself up and continued forward.

There was no better way to describe the things that emerged from the ground: they were zombies. They looked as ever bit grotesque as the art in Norman’s room depicted them; pale green skin that should have rotted, skeletal limbs and organs that should be spilling out.

The FIGHT began.

The Cat ran in-between Frisk and the zombies, hair sticking on ends and a hiss in his throat. He stood ready to pounce at the first sign of conflict. Without thinking about it, Frisk ran a CHECK on the closest one.

????? 80 ATK 80 DEF

He’s been asleep for a long time. It’s not his fault.

The zombie lurched forward, but did not otherwise attack. He would not attack them straight out, Frisk realized. So they decided to ACT.

*CHECK *TALK

*CONSOLE *CRITISIZE

*STEAL WIG

Hi! I’m F-R-I-S-K! They signed quickly, ending with a little wave.

The zombies gave her a confused look. Maybe they didn’t understand signing. Frisk reached for their notebook and wrote it down during the zombie’s turn.

The zombie with the wig leaned into it, old eyes struggling to read it. He reached for the notebook and pen.

JUDGE HOPKINS 80 ATK 80 DEF

He’s been asleep for a long time. He did what he had to do.

The place Norman had landed in was a Dump. Most of the garbage had been kept in bins and bags, but quite a bit was flowing through the pond freely. Norman could make out some things that were clearly monster-made, like gloves for six-fingered folk and a jar of construction paper labelled “Temmy Flaeks.” Most of it, however, looked like it came from above; coolers, desktop computers with empty contents, DVD cases with desperate claw marks covering the surface.

Norman was so absorbed in looking for the human-made things that he hardly noticed when the Training Dummy jumped in front of him.

“HAHAHAHA…Too intimidated to fight me, huh!?” said the Dummy. “I am a ghost that lives inside a DUMMY. My cousin used to live inside a dummy, too. Until…YOU CAME ALONG!”

He barely remembered the Dummy, all the way back in the Ruins. Toriel had just told him to talk to it. It did not even answer back.

“What did I do?” Norman asked.

“When you talked to them, they thought they were in for a nice chat,” Said the Dummy. “But the things you SAID…! Horrible. Shocking! UNBELIEVABLE!”

Norman may not have remembered the Dummy very well, but he knew that all he did was ask him how the weather was before Toriel said that was good enough.

“It spooked them right out of their dummy! HUMAN! I’ll scare your Soul out of your body!”

Mad Dummy blocks the way.

“Listen, I didn’t mean—“ Norman started.

He stopped as a series of dummy-shaped bullets were fired his way. He jumped out of the way. He jumped back as they spun around like boomerangs and rushed back to him.

“OWWWW, you DUMMIES!! Watch where you’re aiming you MAGIC attacks!” the dummy cried. “Wait…forget I said that!”

Another set of bullets fired towards him, but Norman easily dodged them and watched them fire back at the Mad Dummy.

“HEY GUYS!” The Mad Dummy shouted as he summoned his next round of bullets. “Dummies. Dummies! DUMMIES! YOU’RE FIRED! YOU’RE ALL BEING REPLACED!!!”

The dummy bullets faded out of existence with sheepish expressions,

“Now you’ll see my real power,” said the Mad Dummy. “Relying on people that aren’t garbage!”

Mechanical whirs filled the room. Norman tried to talk him down again. He didn’t seem much for conversation. Nobody was happy with this.

The next set of bullets appeared, bulkier and boxier than the others. Norman jumped out of the way like the others, only to turn around and find they were still chasing him down. He ran forward, coming face to nuzzle with the Mad Dummy as they lost course and plowed into it.

“DUMMY BOTS! You’re awful???” the Mad Dummy cried.

More missiles were launched towards Norman, and he found himself running in circles. A few more hit the Mad Dummy.

“Who cares. Who cares! WHO CARES!!! I DON’T NEED FRIENDS!”

The dummy bots vanished, and were replaced with a single large bullet.

“I GOT KNIVES!!!”

The knife landed by Norman’s feet.

“I’m…out of knives.”

More bullets filled the field, but not the ones the Mad Dummy used. Most of them faded out before they got close to Norman, instead landing on the Mad Dummy and sizzling.

“Wh-what the heck is this? Acid rain?” said the Mad Dummy. “Oh FORGET IT! I’m outta here!”

The Mad Dummy slipped past Norman and back out into the fields of worthless garbage.

“…sorry, I interrupted you, didn’t I? as soon as I came over, your friend immediately left…oh no, it looked like you guys were having fun…oh no………………………………………………………………………………..”

There was a storm brewing in Blithe’s Hollow. As soon as the sun set and the dead rose, there was a chill in the air. Storm clouds hung in the air, crackling with thunder. Frisk could just make out the shapes that formed as they swirled. But it was not just a storm; that much was obvious. There was a type of pressure on their Soul, the same they usually felt as a Fight started. Something else was going on.

After a long back and forth conversation between two people that could not talk and two games of tic-tac-toe, Frisk understood better. The witch was not buried with the judges. They would have to find her grave, and start from there. Judge Hopkins was the only one, possibly ever, who knew where she was buried, so he led the way.

The town was deathly still. What was once packed with ghosts and people now only held a few cars and bystanders. The only sign that there was still life were the neon signs and traffic lights.

For some reason, that scared the zombies the most.

I know, gas prices have gone too high, Frisk wrote down in the notebook, because it seemed like a smart thing to say.

Jude Hopkins snatched the notebook from them and began writing furiously. He had filled nearly a page when they first heard the screams.

“well…I’m gonna go head home now…” said Napstablook. “oh…feel free to ‘come with’ if you want…but no pressure…”

“I don’t want to impose,” said Norman.

“neither do I…” said Napstablook.

They didn’t seem much for conversation. Nobody was happy with this.

“I live up just this way, in case you want to join me…” said Napstablook. “or, in case, you don’t…”

The neighborhood that sat just above the dump was small. There were only a handful of houses but they were all uniquely shaped. No one house looked the same, and no one house looked like a real house. Even Napstablook’s house was built into its neighbors, forming a perfectly symmetrical image.

The interior was much more what Norman would have expected. There were no chairs, but he remembered how his grandmother liked to phase in and out of furniture and figured most ghosts didn’t invest in things they could not touch. Yet there was a desk with a working computer, a small TV, even a refrigerator. And on the other side of the house were piles and piles of CDs.

“uh…do you wanna…listen to some tunes, or something…?” Napstablook asked.

#fic #Into the Unknown #Undertale #Paranorman #Frisk #the Cat #Norman Babcock #Napstablook #Undyne #featured

1 note · View note

advocatewrites-blog · 7 years

Text

Into the Unknown Part 2 Chapter 4

Into the Unknown

Fandom: Undertale, Coraline (book), Over the Garden Wall, Paranorman, Gravity Falls (season 2)

Start from beginning / Previous chapter / Next chapter (soon)

Chapter 4

“I didn’t expect a laboratory in a place like this,” said Greg.

“What?”

Wirt was pulled out of his thoughts as he looked up. A building sat in front of them, plain except for the words “LAB” printed on its side.

“Oh,” said Wirt. “Well, maybe we should go around then.”

“I’m not sure if we can,” said Greg. He pointed to the rest of the road, barely a cliff left from where the lab ended.

“Then we’ll run in,” said Wirt. “And we’ll be very polite and we won’t stick around long enough for them to figure out we’re human.”

“Sounds like a plan. Lead the way, Spuds McKenzie!”

The frog croaked and hopped towards the lab. Two automatic doors slid open and the three walked in.

There was only one light source in the lab, a monitor that filled the room with an eerie blue glow. There was no one around, Wirt realized. The light hum of machinery felt a lot louder than it really was.

“It’s you!” Greg said, and pointed to the monitor.

Wirt turned. His reflection stared back.

“We’re going,” said Wirt as he pushed his brother through.

They were not halfway through the hallway when the lights snapped on, startling Wirt to a stop. A door opened beside him as a small dinosaur monster walked out. Its eyes instantly fell onto the two.

“Hello!” said Greg.

“Oh. My God.” It breathed. “I didn’t expect you to show up so soon! I haven’t showered, I’m barely dressed, it’s all messy and…”

It stopped its pacing and took a deep breath.

“Uh…h-h-hiya! I’m Dr. Alphys, King ASGORE’s royal scientist,” it said. “B-b-b-but I’m not one of the bad guys! Actually, since you stepped out of the Ruins, I’ve been, uh, been ‘observing’ your journey through my console.”

“We noticed,” said Wirt.

“I-I was originally going to stop you,” said Dr. Alphys “But there’s something about watching people on a screen that really makes you root for them. So I want to help you.”

“I think we’ll be fine,” said Wirt.

“But Wirt!” said Greg. “We could be famous!”

“She’s the only one watching us!” said Wirt. “And that’s weird!”

“A-a-actually, uh…” said Dr. Alphys. “T-t-there is a problem of…that. A long time ago, I made a robot named Mettaton. Originally, I built him to be an entertainment robot. Uh, you know, like a robotic TV star or something. Anyway, recently I decided to make him more useful. You know, just some small practical adjustments. Like…uh…anti…anti-human combat features? And, uh…now he’s an unstoppable killing machine with a thirst for human blood?”

Wirt’s blood ran cold. A set of heavy thuds filled the room and echoed about.

“So what you’re saying is,” said Greg. “We’re going to be on TV?”

“OH YES!” A highly processed voice rang out through the lab.

The child was not there when the Cat awoke. Neither was Beatrice. The Cat could not help but think these two were related.

“ �|ҁ�w6 ,” said the man who spoke in hands.

“I believe they mentioned they can do that,” said the Cat. “Is that why you want me to follow them?”

“ �|ҁ�w6 ?”

“Hardly,” said the Cat.

“e �|?” said the man, a tease in his voice that the Cat could not quite figure out. “ st-font-�|ҟ� ҏ� �|Ҏ RESETTING� w6 ?”

The Cat said nothing. He was right of course, and he did not want to admit it out loud.

“, bri"," MERCY�|Ҍ� w6 ,” said the man. “eigh�|Ҏ �w6. MERCY , reast-theme3|�v�w6 .”

Frisk was the first true visitor to Aunti Whispers’ cottage in a long time. Most visitors just got eaten.

“There’d be no point to eating you, of course,” said Aunti Whispers in a tone that was probably supposed to be jokingly. “You would always just come back. It’d be a waste of perfectly good spices.”

The tea was served by a young woman who was more dust than skin. It was made of golden flowers. Aunti Whispers ordered it especially for them. It was a rare plant in the Unknown, but Frisk recognized the bright colors and sharp fragrance of that in the Underground. It felt familiar, and not just because of that. It smelled like the Mr. Dad Guy that the Other Toriel had created. It reminded them of the flowers that had broken their fall when they first fell down, and again in the Dump.

“Now go rearrange the bones of the past visitors,” Aunti Whispers said to the servant girl.

“I already have, Aunti Whispers,” the girl said, her voice barely above a whisper.

“Then clean the floor. Our guests have tracked in quite a bit of mud.”

Frisk couldn’t help but feel a wash of shame as the servant girl’s shoulders slumped and she resumed to her chores. They cocked their head to the side, a quiet indication of confusion.

“It is best that Lorna keeps to her chores,” said Aunti Whispers. “Working will keep the beast within her at bay. Now then, child, what brings you to the Unknown?”

Frisk started to sign.

“I’m afraid I do not know the language of hands,” said Aunti Whispers. She did not say it cruelly, but it was still disappointing. Frisk fetched the paper pad and pen.

How did you know I could Save?

“You are not the first person to enter the Unknown and use the powers of your Soul.” said Aunti Whispers. “A few of them are downstairs now.”

I didn’t know I could do it, wrote down Frisk. They don’t write down the part where they found out they could do it.

Aunti Whispers hummed in thought. “Lorna! Fetch me a book from my bookshelf. Mysteries of the Soul, Volume One. Think it’s by some fellow named Faux.”

“Oh no…” Alphys said.

“OH YES!” Mettaton announced as he popped over the kitchen counter. “WELCOME BEAUTIES AND GENTLEBEAUTIES TO THE UNDERGROUND’S PREMIERE COOKING SHOW! COOKING WITH A KILLER ROBOT!!! PREHEAT YOUR OVENS, BECASE WE’VE GOT A VERY SPECIAL RECIPE FOR YOU!”

“A cake?” Greg asked.

“RIGHT YOU ARE, MY LOVELY ASSISTANT!!!” Mettaton said. “GO AHEAD AND GATHER THE INGREDIENTS. THEY’RE RIGHT ON THE COUNTER BEHIND YOU!!!”

“We’re not going to be a part of any cooking show,” said Wirt.

“It’s just a cake, Wirt,” said Greg. “And the audience is counting on us.”

“LET’S GIVE THEM A HAND FOR ENCOURAGEMENT!!! Mettaton said.

A confetti cannon exploded from behind the kitchen set, covering Wirt. Greg clapped along before getting to work. He dropped off the eggs on the counter, dropped the sugar on the eggs, and the milk in the sugar.

“PERFECT!!! GREAT JOB BEAUTIFUL!!” Mettaton said. “NOW WE JUST NEED OUR SECRET INGREDIENT!!”

“Love?” Greg asked.

Mettaton held up a chainsaw.

“A HUMAN SOUL!!!”

“Wait, wait, wait!” Wirt said. “Don’t you have a substitution or something?”

“WHY WOULD I EVER NEED ONE WHEN THE REAL THING’S RIGHT HERE?” Mettaton asked.

“Well, what if someone’s….vegan?”

“VEGAN?”

“Well—”

“THAT’S A GREAT IDEA, SWEETHEART!!!” Mettaton said. “ACTUALLY, WE DO HAVE AN OPTION ON SET!! MTT BRAND COMVENIENT HUMAN SOUL SUBSTITUTE!!!”

Mettaton pointed off the kitchen set and out of the room. A wooden cabinet with a jar sat in the corner.

“That looks suspicious,” Wirt said.

“YOUR IDEA, BEAUTIFUL.” Mettaton said.

“I’ll get it! I’m a lovely assistant!” Greg said.

Greg ran off the set. The cameras followed him. No sooner did he lay a hand on the counter did it shoot up into the sky, taking Greg with him.

Wirt let out a series of panicked noises he could not quite form into words.

“OH DEAR. WHAT A TRAGEDY,” said Mettaton. “WELL, WE’RE ON A SCHEDULE, SWEETHEART. IF YOU CAN’T GET THEM BACK IN ONE MINUTE, WE’LL HAVE TO MOVE ONTO THE ORIGINAL PLAN!!!”

The phone rang.

“I know this looks bad,” said Alphys. “B-but I think I have an idea. S-see that button on your phone that says JET PACK?”

Wirt looked down at the phone.

“Press it,” said Alphys.

Wirt knew exactly where this was going.

“TIME’S RUNNING OUT, SWEETHEART!” Mettaton reminded.

Wirt swallowed, looked up to Greg so he wouldn’t have to look at the phone, and pressed the button.

He was a good twenty feet in the air before he could process his feet left the ground. He was not much higher when Mettaton began to throw things at him. The sense of vertigo faded as his attention shifted to dodging puffs of flour, eggs, and cups of sugar.

He had passed Greg by the time he was actually able to get his bearings. He looked just in time to see the jar that Greg had tossed it start to fall. Neither of them could catch it in time. It collided to the ground in a mess of glass and red goo.

“HUH,” said Mettaton. “HOW ABOUT WE GO TO A WORD FROM OUR SPONSORS, AND WE’LL FINISH UP WITH THE CAKE WE MADE AHEAD OF TIME!”

Mettaton flew off closer to the real set. Wirt managed to catch himself and fly down as the dresser coiled back into himself.

“That was fun!” said Greg.

“That was terrifying!” said Wirt.

He pulled Greg closer to him, stopping him from going back to the set. Mettaton was talking to his cameramen, and wouldn’t see if they left.

“How about we leave before he notices we’re gone?” Wirt asked.

“But I wanted to try the cake,” said Greg.

It took Lorna a minute to find the book. It was old and musty, with binding falling apart at the seams and pages nearly yellow with age. It was big enough that it hit the table with a thud, regardless of how carefully Lorna put it down. Aunti Whispers turned the page carefully, leaning in as she read. Frisk tried their best to read over her head. They could only make out vague shapes; heats in different colors with pigment that faded over time, and carefully sketched triangle patterns.

“Souls hold a type of power,” read Aunti Whispers. “It holds their owner together and shapes their personality, no matter what they may go through in life. Bravery, Justice, Kindness, Patience, Perseverance, Integrity…the strongest of these, Determination. The power is rare, but its powers are innate. The ability to persist after death, or rewind time. To fix what went wrong, or what went right.”

I thought it was like a video game, wrote down Frisk. Every time I felt determined, it was like I was saving the game.

Aunti Whispers made a face of confusion. Frisk supposed she did not understand what a video game was.

“I will admit my knowledge of how Souls work is lacking,” she said. “That was not the kind of magic I work with. If you truly want to find the powers of your Soul, you should try to look within the Kingdom of Monsters.”

Frisk perked up.

That’s what I want to do! They wrote. Do you know how to get there?

“There is a way,” said Aunti Whispers. “But I do not know it. How did you end up in the Unknown in the first place?”

Another wash of shame overcame Frisk as they started writing. I reset.

Aunti Whispers studied them carefully, eyes cold with something Frisk could not read. “Were you here before?”

Frisk shook their head. They started to write things down, that they were in the Underground at first and then the Other World, but Aunti Whispers spoke again.

“The other ones that used Determination were much older than you, you realize. They were much more in control of what they could do. If you came about the power recently, you may not be well-equipped to use it. One small slip, and you may have traded places with someone.”

Frisk nodded.

I know I have, they sign. That’s why I want to go back. But not before I fix things.

Aunti Whispers did not understand.

Lorna did not fall asleep until well into the night, as her body finally collapsed from exhaustion. Frisk did not fall asleep until after that. Though Aunti Whispers had proven she had no ill will towards them, her house was not exactly comfortable sleeping in.

When they woke up, Lorna made them a small breakfast of things they couldn’t quite eat and more tea. Aunti Whispers only emerged to give Lorna more orders and give a final warning to Frisk.

“Beware my sister, Adelaide. She lives in the pasture. She must not be trusted.”

The Cat was waiting for them outside the house, curled up in a tree.

“I was wondering when you’d step out,” said the Cat. He sounded like he did not care. “I take it that little trick was how you ended up in the Other World, yes?”

Frisk nodded.

Didn’t mean to, they signed. You were in danger.

The Cat watches them carefully, as if looking for a sign they were lying. His sign reading was not too good, but he could ready body language.

“I don’t believe Beatrice will be joining us again,” said the Cat. “Do you know the cause of that?”

Frisk nodded. They didn’t want to say, and the Cat probably would not understand them anyway.

The two of them head off into the unknown.

Author’s Note: I am so sorry for the late update! I drank too much eggnog and lost track of time! Hopefully this should be the last of it, and the good news is I’ll post the next chapter tomorrow since it is rather short.

#fic #Into the Unknown #Undertale #Over the Garden Wall #Frisk #Wirt #Greg #the Frog #the Cat #Alphys #Mettaton #Gaster #featured

2 notes · View notes

advocatewrites-blog · 7 years

Text

Into the Unknown Part 2 Chapter 3

Into the Unknown

Fandom: Undertale, Coraline (book), Over the Garden Wall, Paranorman, Gravity Falls (season 2)

Start from beginning / Previous chapter / Next chapter

Chapter 3

Wirt held his breath as he fought to hold still. Even Greg, for once, froze in place, the frog clutched around his torso tightly.

Undyne moved closer. The grass rustled as she approached. Wirt held his breath as he waited for the inevitable.

He jumped when the hand reached down, and for a moment, he dared not look. He only did when he heard the hand reach back down and something hit the ground.

Wirt opened his eyes and looked around frantically. It wasn’t until he heard the rustling grass and hard armor footsteps drift away did he feel safe enough to run out of the patch of grass.

Greg followed right behind him, looking somewhat confused but no worse for wear. The frog followed. Someone else followed.

“Yo, did you see that?!”

It was a monster kid. Wirt recognized him somewhat from Snowdin. It looked something like a dinosaur, only taller than Greg because of a few spikes that ran along its back.

“Undyne just…TOUCHED ME!” They exclaimed. “I’m never gonna wash my face again!”

“Congratulations!” said Greg.

The frog ribbited in agreement.

“Man, were you unlucky,” said the monster kid. “If you guys were standing just a LITTLE BIT to the left…yo, don’t worry! I’m sure we’ll see her again!”

That was what Wirt was afraid of.

The monster kid ran off, faster than little legs could take them. They toppled over and fell, colliding face first onto the hard ground. They were back up before Wirt could even try to help.

“I like his resolve,” said Greg.

The frog ribbited again.

The panic faded. Wirt refocused. Undyne wasn’t like Papyrus. They would have to get away from her fast. And Papyrus…

“Come on, Greg. We’re leaving.”

“Do you think we should call Papyrus?” Greg asked.

“No! You saw him; he just sold us out!”

“I guess you’re right,” Greg sighed. “And he even went on a date with you…”

“That was not a date! I don’t even think he knows what a date is!” Wirt said.

“Better to have loved and lost than to never love at all,” said Greg. “That’s what the old people say!”

It was not worth arguing with Greg. He walked forward, and tuned out the sounds of Greg chattering.

He shouldn’t have trusted anyone.

It was the Cat who first discovered that Beatrice was missing. It was Frisk who decided to look for her. The Cat did most of the searching, mostly because he was faster and because he could rely on smell.

The Cat stopped by a building, more shack than house. The lights were still on. Voices were still audible through the glass. Frisk knocked and opened the door.

“Close that door, child! I’ll catch by death with this night air!”

Frisk jumped and scrambled to follow the instructions. The Cat barely had time to slide in. Their heart was lodged in their throat even before they were caught in the trap.

“Welcome home, child…” The voice was old and raspy, with a saccharine tone to it that Frisk recognized all too well.

Frisk’s Soul seized. They could only watch as the Cat untangled himself from the web of yarn and launched himself towards the speaker. They met Beatrice’s eyes, and saw all the hurt and guilt though they couldn’t quite tell who it was directed at. They watched as Beatrice flew away, behind them towards the window.

The room filled with dust and screams, and they panicked.

*RESET

“Yo! You got an umbrella?”

It was that monster kid again. They were crouched under the cliff, waiting out the rain. Wirt fought the urge to scowl, and avoided looking their way. There were umbrellas not even ten feet away, why wouldn’t they grab one?

A sickening feeling hit Wirt’s stomach as he realized. The monster kid did not have arms. It probably would not be easy for him to cross, Wirt realized. They already had to scale one cliff to get ahead.

“Wanna come with?” Greg asked.

“Sure!”

“Hey, Wirt, can you take Doctor Cucumber so we have room?”

“Oh, sure…” Wirt was too upset by the revelation to really think about it.

The frog hopped to under his umbrella.

Their party became four.

“So, this one time, we had a school project where we had to take care of a flower,” said the Monster Kid. “The king—we had to call him ‘Mr. Dreemurr’—”

Wirt tried to tune them out. He had no idea what he was going to do next. Undyne was going to find them, or there’d be some other threat that tried to kill them. And they would have to make it past the barrier.

Papyrus said that the king was a good guy. Papyrus also thought wearing clothes was a sign of affection.

They would have to find a way to get past Undyne. That was what Wirt needed to figure out next. There was no way she would give up the fight like Papyrus or Toriel. They might actually fight back against her. The only weapon worth its weight that they had found were a pair of ballet slippers, but if it was what separated them from dying and going home again…

Something tugged at his heart, or Soul, or whatever organ was in his chest now. It tightened.

Tree roots. Something about tree roots. Tree roots covering his entire body and fusing into his skin—

The world flashed red, then yellow.

Wirt snapped back to attention. What was that?

“So, this one time, we had a school project where we had to take care of a flower. The king—we had to call him ‘Mr. Dreemurr’—”

“Didn’t you already finish that story?” Wirt asked.

The monster kid and Greg stared back at him.

“I haven’t heard it yet!” said Greg.

“What?” Wirt asked.

Wirt looked around. They weren’t in the same area they were a second ago. But they had been in that area, just before Wirt got lost in his thoughts.

He looked down at the frog. The frog stopped his hopping long enough to stand up and shrug at him.

The Underground was weird, Wirt decided.

They were back at the campsite. Beatrice was not with them. The cat was still asleep. There was no LOVE in their Soul, they realized, and they clung to it like a lifeline.

“It’s been a long time since I’ve seen a Soul User in these woods…”

The voice was old and raspy, with a malevolent tone to it that Frisk recognized all too well. Frisk looked up to the source, and saw a monster. “Tell me, how did you end up over the garden wall?”

“Behind you.”

Wirt tensed up at the Echo Flower’s message. The sound of metal footsteps grows closer.

“Don’t tell me she’s right behind us,” said Wirt.

“Okay,” said Greg.

“Seven,” said Undyne. “Seven human souls. With the power of seven human souls, our king, King Asgore Dreemurr, will become a god. With that power, Asgore can finally shatter the Barrier. He will finally take the surface back from humanity, and give them back the suffering and pain we have endured. I suppose…he will have a use for two.”

Wirt turned in time to see a flash of blue magic form into a solid spear. He closed his eyes as Undyne charged towards them.

“YO! UNDYNE!!! I’LL HELP YOU FIGHT!!!”

The monster kid rushed out from the reeds. They stood between them, looking back and forth until they settle on Wirt and Greg.

“Hey!!! You did it!!! You got front stage views to Undyne’s fight!!”

Wirt is sure the look he gave the monster kid is what gave the whole situation away.

“…wait. Who’s she fighting?” The monster kid asked.

Undyne moved first, surprisingly not to fight. Her spear vanished as she grabbed the monster kid’s spikes, a gesture that looks no more painful than grabbing someone by the ear. She walked away, the monster kid dragged behind her.

“That was too close,” said Wirt. “We’re not going to be able to outrun her forever.”

“I guess,” said Greg. His attention was on what Undyne had been saying.

Seven human souls, and the monsters would go free.

Author’s Note: Happy holidays, merry Christmas, prosperous Hannukkah, cheerful Kwanza, spiritually-fulfilling Yule, whatever it is you celebrate, I’m just happy that I’m not at school anymore. Seriously, I barely remember this chapter and I wrote the dang thing.

#fic #Into the Unknown #Undertale #Over the Garden Wall #Frisk #Wirt #Greg #the Frog #the Cat #Beatrice #Undyne #featured

2 notes · View notes

advocatewrites-blog · 7 years

Text

Into the Unknown Part 1 Chapter 3

Into the Unknown

Fandom: Undertale, Coraline (book), Over the Garden Wall, Paranorman, Gravity Falls (season 2)

Start from beginning / Previous chapter / Next chapter

Chapter 3

“NYOO HOO HOO…” Papyrus cried. “I CAN’T EVEN STOP SOMEONE AS WEAK AS YOU…UNDYNE’S GOING TO BE DISAPPOINTED IN ME. I’LL NEVER JOIN THE ROYAL GUARD…AND…MY FRIEND QUANTITY WILL REMAIN STAGNANT!”

Coraline watched the skeleton, unsure of what to do. Papyurs had been a much harder fight than she had anticipated, even with sans’ warning. If she lost, she may have never been able to see home again. Yet she couldn’t help but feel a stir of pity for Papyrus. It was the same kind of pity that stirred in her soul when she thought of Toriel. Toriel deserved a second chance. Maybe Papyrus did too.

“You know,” Coraline said. “When I get back to the Surface, I won’t be going back home.”

Papyrus stopped crying long enough to listen.

“I haven’t been to my real home in a long time,” said Coraline. “My family and I moved to a new home, the Pink Palace.”

“IS THAT NEAR THE KING’S HOUSE?” Papyrus asked.

“No. It’s like a set of houses,” said Coraline. “My family isn’t the only ones who live there. There’s Miss Forcible and Miss Spink, and Mr. Bobinski and the mice he’s training to sing.”

“ARE THEY ANY GOOD?”

“I’ve never heard them. But so far, they’re the only ones who’ve gotten my name right.” Coraline said. “I haven’t been able to make a single friend since I moved to the Pink Palace. Maybe…you would like to be my first?”

Papyrus turned back to her.

“REALLY!? YOU WOULD LIKE TO BE FRIENDS WITH ME???” He asked. “WELL…I GUESS I CAN MAKE AN ALLOWANCE JUST FOR YOU! WOWIE! WHO KNEW THAT ALL I NEEDED TO MAKE PALS…WAS TO GIVE PEOPLE AWFUL PUZZLES AND THEN FIGHT THEM??”

Something cold moved against Frisk’s cheeks, as gentle as moth’s wings. A voice, barely a whisper, spoke.

“Art thou—art thou alive?”

Frisk nodded.

“You poor child,” said another voice.

Frisk tilted their head in confusion.

“She left us here,” said yet another voice. “She stole our hearts and stole our souls. But she forgot about us in the dark. She has worked so hard to find a place to keep you that she has forgotten a place to keep us.”

“I walked through the scullery door,” said the first voice. “And I found myself in the parlor. But she was waiting for me. She called herself my other mamma, but I never saw my real mamma again.”

Frisk took a shaky breath as they realized what they were saying.

“It is the eyes that go first,” said the third voice. “She will steal your soul and she will take your life and all you cares’t for, and leave you in the mist and fog.”

“Flee!” said the second voice. “Flee, while there’s still air in your lungs and blood in your veins and warmth in your heart!”

The nothingness stopped. Hard stone began to form under Frisk’s feet, and Echo Flowers sprouted in the cracks. Lights, not quite stars, formed in the ceiling. A wooden bench formed in front of them. It almost looked like a room in Waterfall. Frisk wondered if it was supposed to be a room out of Waterfall that they never found.

“We must stay in the darkness,” said the first voice, their voice growing fainter than ever. “Flee while you can, but peradventure, you can find our souls…”

Frisk was alone again. They took a seat on the park bench that had formed, ignoring the rush of memories that came with it.

The Other Toriel was going to hurt them. There was no reason to doubt it.

So why did Frisk feel like the real monster?

Their foot collided with something. Frisk was shaken out of their reverie long enough to investigate. It was some kind of food, something like a quiche, somewhat burned and wrapped in foil.

“I just couldn’t handle the responsibility,” said the Echo Flower.

Frisk understood.

The shift from Snowdin Town to the Waterfall was abrupt. It was almost like Coraline had stepped into a different room. The snow quickly melted off and faded into cold earth beneath them. The cold air grew damp, and for the first time Coraline really felt like they were in the underground.

There was one thing familiar about the Waterfall, however. There was a wooden sentry station, the same kind sans had manned. It even smelled like sans’, Coraline realized, ketchup and grills.

Her stomach rumbled, and she realized the last thing she had to eat was some of Papyrus’ spaghetti. Maybe sans’ food was halfway edible.

She moved into the sentry station. True to her suspicious, it was filled with bottles of ketchup and boxes of buns. The hot dog itself, however, was…water sausage? Not something edible, at least.

The only other thing inside was a small journal, worn with use. Coraline flipped through it absently. The pages were filled, either in a language she couldn’t read or with formulas that made her head spin. She settled on one page. A drawing of a human child, detailed rather well for someone as lazy as sans. Underneath was scrawled don’t trust them, the don’t cross out heavily and the trust them underlined several times.

“heya kid.”

Coraline nearly jumped at sans’ voice. She hadn’t heard him approach again.

“though you might like your raincoat back. you won’t have much use for that sweater through waterfall.”

Coraline had nearly forgotten about the sweater. “Thanks for letting me use it. I think one of Papyrus’ attacks may have cut it a bit.”

“oh? you fought my bro?”

There was a tenseness in his voice, Coraline noticed. The kind that sounded like he didn’t know what to think. She looked up at him, and noticed his smile stretch ever so slightly.

“He challenged me so he could capture me,” Coraline said. “I convinced him that we could be friends.”

“ah,” sans said. “yeah. my bro’s pretty cool like that. hope he didn’t give you a bad time.”

Coraline grew silent for a minute as she watched sans. He un-tensed, but only slightly. His eyesockets were still firmly focused on Coraline, in a way that she could not read. She felt her sins crawling on her back.

“Say, sans, am I the first human in the Underground?” Coraline asked.

The lights in sans’ eyes flickered for only a moment.

“nah. not that many that i’ve heard of, though,” said sans. “not sure what happened to the others.”

“Did your brother capture them?” Coraline asked.

“no. paps was a baby bones the last time a human came through here,” said sans. “hey, humans get hungry, right? care to pry me from my work and go to Grillby’s with me?

“I think I ought to get going,” said Coraline.

“alright. just let me know if you change your mind,” said sans. “i’ll be slaving away here at my checkpoint.”

“I thought your checkpoint was in front of the Ruins?” Coraline asked.

“what? you’ve never seen a guy with two jobs before?” sans asked.

Coraline waited until he had sat down at his checkpoint before waving to him and leaving. She did not feel the eye sockets leave her until she was far away.

If sans had never seen another human before, then who had he drawn in the journal? Did Papyrus not being old enough to capture a human make him not old enough to capture a human? Had the other human been captured, and if so, what became of them?

Coraline was so lost in her thoughts that she hardly noticed herself wander into the thick grass until it encompassed her vision. Every blade was at least as tall as she was, and it was impossible to see around it. She took another step forward.

“HELLO UNDYNE. I’M HERE WITH MY DAILY REPORT,” said Papyrus.

Coraline froze. She could not hear who he was talking to, but it was impossible to mistake his voice.

“UHHH…REGARDING THAT HUMAN I INFORMED YOU ABOUT EARLIER…HUH? DID I FIGHT THEM? Y-YES! OF COURSE I DID! I FOUGHT THEM VERY VALIANTLY! …WHAT? DID I CAPTURE THEM…W-WELL, NO…I TRIED VERY HARD, UNDYNE, BUT IN THE END…I FAILED. W-WHAT? YOU’RE GOING TO FIND THEM? BUT UNDYNE! YOU DON’T HAVE TO DESTRYO THEM! YOU SEE…I SEE. I WILL HELP YOU OUT IN ANY WAY I CAN.”

Papyrus hadn’t helped her at all. She was still going to be captured. That is, unless she did something about it first.

Coraline dared not to move until she heard a set of footsteps fade off into the distance. Then she ran, as fast as she could. She did not slow down even as she heard a set of footsteps behind her.

“o�H<_�2�?"

Frisk jumped. ‘Voice’ was not quite the right word for it. It was a set of sounds, vaguely in a patter that sounded like human speech.

All of a sudden, Frisk was not alone. The new person towered over them, even taller than Toriel was. Its body was covered in a heavy black cloak, the inside in a constant state of motion that made Frisk’s head spin. His face looked more like a worn mask, with two holes pouring into an eye and mouth.

Somehow, the figure managed to convey an expression of mild embarrassment. It raised its hands, nothing but bone and with two holes coming out of its palms.

It moved its hands closer, and Frisk flinched away from it. It took them a minute to realize how the hands moved.

Child? It signed. Are you all right?

Frisk didn’t know what to say. They raised their hands to sign. To wipe away the tears that were threatening to burst from their eyes. To do anything.

How did you come about here, child? The monster asked.

Frisk didn’t know what to say. They settled for making a gesture that looked as if they dropped something.

Lost? The monster asked. How did you end up lost in this world?

Lost me, Frisk said.

The monster looked like they didn’t know what to say to that. Their hands trembled slightly as they signed again.

I am here for much the same reasons, they said.

Their face did not show expression, but somehow Frisk could tell they were stepping in sensitive territory. They decided to change the subject.

What’s your name? Frisk asked.

It has been a long time since I have needed a name. The monster answered.

Everyone needs a name, even if you have to make one up yourself, said Frisk. My name’s F-R-I-S-K, but I haven’t been using that one for very long.

The monster let out a set of noises that almost, almost, sounded like a chuckle.

In life, I was known as W-D G-A-S-T-E-R. You may call me that, if you wish, They signed.

Are you a skeleton monster, WD? They asked.

Gaster nodded.

I’ve met a few skeleton monsters. P-A-P-Y-R-U-S and S-A-N-S, Frisk said. You remind me a lot of S-A-N-S.

Gaster stopped his walking. He signed something, so quick and with so many unfamiliar signs that Frisk couldn’t catch it. He caught on to their confusion, and asked again.

You have met S-A-N-S? He asked, his movements slow and fluid.

Frisk’s hands were shaking too much to sign back, so they nodded.

He is well?

kids like you…should be burning in hell.

I think I hurt him, Frisk said, once they managed to get their hands to stop shaking.

I believe I have too, Gaster let out a noise like a sigh.

Coraline ran through the Waterfall. She ran past the waterfall carrying rocks she had to dodge, ran through the puzzles that were supposed to be solved with bridge flowers, and ran over the boarded piers that connected areas of Waterfall to others. She only stopped running when she caught a ferry ride on a monster’s face. She got three gold in return.

Undyne continued to chase her.

Waterfall grew dark, but Coraline continued to run. More piers awaited her in complex patterns, making makeshift walkways for the citizens of Waterfall to get from house to house. Spears shot from the ground under her.

Undyne was getting closer.

Coraline dodged the spears that blocked her path. She ran until she could not run anymore.

Undyne was right behind her.

Coraline hardly noticed the bridge stop until it broke, already far worn from the effect of dozens of spears. Then she fell.

I understand you are hurt, said Gaster, but this place is not safe. There are many things here that will not hesitate to hurt you.

I know, Frisk admitted. But I don’t know what else I can do anymore.

Gaster did not say anything after that.

WD? What do you do when you hurt someone, but want to fix it? Frisk asked.

Gaster thought for a long time.

You do everything you can to prove you are better than that, I suppose, said Gaster.

Coraline woke up to the sounds of the phone Toriel gave her. She answered, not thinking about who would be trying to contact.

“HELLO!!! THIS IS PAPYRUS!!!”

Coraline remembered what happened the last time she saw Papyrus. “How did you get this number?”

“WELL, I DIALED EVERY NUMBER SEQUENTIALLY UNTIL I GOT YOURS!!! BUT THAT IS NOT IMPORTANT RIGHT NOW! I HAVE A VERY IMPORTANT QUESTION!”

“Does it have anything to do with Undyne?” Coraline asked.

“YES!!!” Papyrus said. “YOU ARE QUITE ASTUTE FOR A HUMAN!!! HAVE YOU MET YET!?”

“No. But I did hear you talking to her about me,” said Coraline. “I thought you didn’t want to capture me anymore!”

“I DON’T! BUT YOU SEE…” said Papyrus. “UNDYNE’S OPINION OF YOU IS QUITE…MURDERY. I THOUGHT I MIGHT BE ABLE TO LEAD UNDYNE OFF YOUR TRAIL BY WORKING AGAINST HER!!! THAT WAY, YOU CAN STILL MAKE IT TO THE BARRIER WITHOUT DYING AND I WILL STILL HAVE MY FRIENDS!”

The anger in Coraline’s soul faded away. She couldn’t be mad at someone who was genuinely trying their best.

“It’s a little late for that,” said Coraline. “Undyne’s already spotted me.”

“DRAT. BEING FRIENDS WITH EVERYONE IS HARD!” Papyrus said. “BUT DO NOT WORRY, HUMAN! THE GREAT PAPYRUS SHALL ENDEAVOR TO COOK UP A PLAN TO GET YOU TWO ON BETTER TERMS! THAT WAY, MY FRIEND QUANTITY WILL CONTINUE TO FLOURISH!!! NYEH HEH HEH!!!”

He hung up before Coraline could answer back.

They found themself back in the Judgement Hall. A figure lay before them. The bells chimed.

So you finally made it.

If we were really friends, you wouldn’t come back.

Frisk shook away the bad feelings. They weren’t going to be judged. They were going to make everything better.

“heya kid. wow, you got tossed pretty far, didn’t ya?” the other sans asked. “you won’t tell your mother about this, would ya?”

Frisk shook their head and joined the other sans.

“yeah. let’s get home kiddo,” said the other sans. “say, let ya wear my jacket back for 5 gold.”

Frisk decided to decline. They didn’t say anything until they were firmly out of the New Home area of the Other World.

s-a-n-s, what do you think of other T-o-r-i-a-l? They asked.

The other sans slowed down. Sweat began to form on his skull.

“well, she’s great, y’know?” said the other sans. “she made all of this, just for you, after all.”

I think I need to go back to the Underground for a bit, and I want to know how to ask her, Frisk said.

“oh, is that all?” said the other sans. He didn’t sound relieved. “well, the best way to get her to do anything is to challenge her to a game. she won’t turn ya down.”

What kind of game? Frisk asked.

“well, you could always have a finding game,” said the other sans. “there are a lot of things here she kept hidden. just make sure you know what to look for. if you ever need a hint, i’ll be willing to give you some advice, on the house. think there are a few other monsters that’ll be willing to give you a hand if you can find them. say…past the Judgement Hall?”

Isn’t that cheating? Frisk asked.

“she ain’t above it,” said the other sans. Phalanges tapped on femur nervously. More sweat dripped from the top of his skull.

He was nervous, Frisk realized.

Thank you sans, they signed.

“no problem kiddo,” the other sans said. “i’m rooting for ya.”

They reached the home. The other sans kept his distance as Frisk entered the house, and didn’t turn to leave until they appeared in the window to sign thank you to him again.

Now came the hard part.

They found the Other Toriel in the kitchen again.

“Hello, my child. You were out for longer than I had anticipated,” said the Beldam. “Would you like to talk about it?”

How do I exit the Ruins?

#fic #Into the Unknown #undertale #coraline #Frisk #Coraline Jones #sans #Papyrus #Undyne #the Other Mother #Gaster #featured

1 note · View note

advocatewrites-blog · 7 years

Text

Into the Unknown Part 1 Chapter 2

Into the Unknown

Fandom: Undertale, Coraline (book), Over the Garden Wall, Paranorman, Gravity Falls (season 2)

Start from the beginning / Next Chapter

Chapter 2

It took Coraline a moment to realize what lay outside the Ruins as the door closed behind her. The air was thick and cold, and as she stepped forward, her rainboots filled with snow. How did it snow underground?

She would have to go through the Underground alone, she realized, and at some point she would have to face whoever ASGORE was. It was going to be a lot more dangerous here on out. The adventure was over.

She tried to turn her attention to somewhere else.

“When I was a little girl,” Coraline started. “When we lived in our old house, my dad took me for a walk in the wastelands between the houses and shops. It wasn’t the best place to go for a walk, really. There were all these things that people had thrown away back there—old cookers and broken dishes and dolls with no arms and legs. Mom and Dad made me promise not to go exploring back there, because there were so many sharp things, and tetanus and such.”

A branch snapped behind her. Coraline continued anyway.

“But I kept telling them I really wanted to explore it. So my dad pulled on his big brown boots and gloves and put on my boots on me, and we went for a walk. We must have walked for about twenty minutes. We went down the hill, down the bottom of a gully where the stream was, when my dad said ‘Coraline, you have to get out of here. Right now!’ He said it in a tight urgent way, so I did. I ran up to the top of the hill when I heard him thundering behind me. He scooped me up into his arms and swept me over the hill.”

“really? what did he do then?”

Coraline nearly jumped as she heard the voice. Seeing who was addressing her didn’t exactly help. A human skeleton her size, looking at her with empty eye sockets.

“woah. you okay there, kid?” The skeleton asked. “i mean, i can’t say i know what ‘jumping out of your skin’ looks like…”

“You’re a skeleton!” Coraline managed to exclaim.

“and you’re not who I was looking for,” said the skeleton. “the name’s sans. sans the skeleton. you're a human, aren’t ya?”

Coraline watched the skeleton carefully. The human skeleton in any form looked more than a little intimidating on principle, yet curiosity quickly overcame that feeling. He was dressed peculiarly; blue sweatshirt and turtleneck to fight off the cold, yet shorts and slippers to make him comfortable. His mouth was stretched thin in a smile, but it hardly moved as he spoke. A thin layer of sweat formed on his brow, impressive considering he didn’t have any skin cells. He looked harmless enough, Coraline decided.

“I’m Coraline.”

“hilarious,” said sans. “listen, kid, we’re on the lookout for humans right now, so you better—”

“SANS!”

“oh geeze…hey, why don’t hide behind that lamp over there?”

Coraline barely had time to process that there was just a lamp on the outskirts of the forest before she dove behind it. Whoever that voice belong to, it did not sound friendly.

“relax, it’ll be fine, just let me—“

Sans stopped. Coraline heard the sound of snow crunching under boots as someone approached.

“sup bro?” sans asked.

“YOU KNOW WHAT’S SUP BROTHER!” The newcomer said. “IT’S BEEN EIGHT DAYS AND YOU STILL HAVEN’T RECALIBRATED YOUR PUZZLES! WHAT DO YOU EVEN DO OUT HERE?”

“look at this lamp,” said sans. “pretty cool, ain’t it?”

“YES, IT IS VERY…SANS, WHAT IS THAT?”

Coraline froze.

“what? it’s just a lamp, isn’t it?”

“SOMETHING WAS MOVING BEHIND THAT LAMP! “ said the newcomer. “SANS, ARE YOU HIDING A HUMAN FROM ME?”

“uh…yeah.”

“GREAT!” The other person cleared their throat before continuing. “ATTENTION, HUMAN! YOU SHALL NOT PASS THIS AREA! I, THE GREAT PAPYRUS, WILL STOP YOU! I WILL THEN CAPTURE YOU! YOU WILL BE DELIVERED TO THE CAPITAL! AFTER THAT! I’M NOT SURE WHAT HAPPENS! IN ANY CASE, CONTINUE…ONLY IF YOU DARE! NYEH HEH HEH!”

The sounds of crunching snow grew fainter and fainter. Coraline only removed herself once it stopped completely.

“sorry about that,” sans said. “my brother can get a bit excited.”

“He said he was going to kidnap me!” said Coraline.

“relax. my bro won’t hurt anyone,” said sans. “i'll keep an eyesocket out for you.”

“You promise?” Coraline asked.

“cross my heart and hope to die,” said sans. “c’mon kid, if i were lying, you’d see right through me.”

Coraline made a face.

“what? no good? c’mon kid, you gotta work with me. i’ve been working hard to make up some puns. you could say I’ve been working myself…

Frisk woke up in the room in Toriel’s house again. They did not remember spending as much time in her house. Once they had tried to crawl back into bed and sleep everything off, but they were never able to fall asleep with Toriel’s dust on their hands.

But this wasn’t the same Toriel. It was the Other Toriel. It was a whole other world they could start to explore. Maybe this could be the start of a whole other Frisk.

At the thought, they jumped out of bed and raced into the living room. The Other Toriel was in the kitchen again, this time making a breakfast as extravagant as dinner was the night before.

“Good morning my child,” said the Other Toriel. “Did you sleep well?”

Frisk nodded as they grabbed a Spider Donut off the table. It didn’t heal and it was more crunchy than usual, but it was good all the same.

“I was thinking today you might like to explore around the house,” said the other Toriel. “Or maybe you could help your father in the garden.”

Frisk did not know how to sign explore, so they gestured for the first one.

“I thought so,” said the Other Toriel. “Make sure to eat enough, my child. I’ve invited someone special to show you around.”

The second Frisk finished their meal, there was a knock on the door. The other Toriel excused herself for just a minute to let them in. Frisk froze as they saw the white skull and blue hoodie. Their sins crawled along their back.

“hey, relax kid, it’s just me.”

The voice was sans’, but not. It did not have that…thing, that sans’ voice always had even at his scariest. Frisk allowed themselves to look up, and saw two black buttons where eye sockets should be.

“sans has offered to show you around,” said the other Toriel.

“yeah. my bro’s got some cool puzzles he wants to show ya,” said the sans.

It took Frisk a moment to get their heart or soul or whatever to stop racing. It was the other sans. Not that sans. Even if it were that sans, he wasn’t the one they should be afraid of.

Frisk decided to follow the other sans.

ABSOLUTELY NO MOVING

Coraline continued anyway.

“Did somebody move?” A voice asked.

Coraline froze.

A figure popped out from behind the station. It was as much dog as Toriel was goat, with a dog treat dangling out of its mouth. It moved closer to Coraline on hind legs, and looked closely. Its eyes were dull with age, the same way Miss Spink and Miss Forcible’s were, and when it looked, it looked through Coraline.

Doggo blocks the way. Coraline didn’t move.

“Could’ve sworn I saw something move,” said the dog. It grabbed one of the swords off its back and spun it in its hands experimentally.

Coraline didn’t dare to move. Even as the sword glowed a light blue and the dog monster ran it through her.

She didn’t move even as she realized she wasn’t hurt after that. The dog monster removed his gaze from her, and instead looked at his sword.

“Guess it’s just my imagination,” said the dog. “Swear I don’t get paid enough for this…”

It turned, and Coraline found it in herself to move. She reached out for it, barely scratching its thick fur.

“WHAT!” It exclaimed. “I’VE BEEN PET! BY SOMETHING THAT ISN’T MOVING! …I’M GONNA NEED MORE DOG TREATS FOR THIS!”

It scrambled back into the sentry station, and as soon as Coraline knew she was alone, she let herself laugh.

“heya kiddo.”

sans stood in front of her. Coraline knew for a fact he was not there a second ago.

“here’s something important to remember,” said sans. “next time you see someone attack with a blue attack, don’t move and it won’t hurt you.”

“I think I’ve figured that out,” said Coraline.

“oh? Doggo give you a bad time?” sans asked.

“To be honest, I probably gave him a worse time,” said Coraline.

“yeah. Doggo’s great, but his eyes aren’t what they used to be,” said sans. “thinking of getting him a seeing eye dog.”

Coraline laughed at the idea, before realizing sans was serious. Or at least, he was as serious as he usually was.

“Say, why didn’t you try and tell me this before I got to Doggo?” She asked.

“oh?”

Sans looked her way. The lights in his eyes flickered.

“i wanted to see what you would do,” he said.

Coraline didn’t know what to say to that. This time, she really could not tell whether he was joking or not.

“don’t let it get to your head, kid,” said sans. “just think blue stop signs. it’ll come in handy if you ever try to fight my brother. though, uh, let me give you a word of advice about fighting my brother…Don’t.”

Sans left as quickly as he arrived, and Coraline didn’t know what to think.

The division between the other world’s Ruins and the other world’s Snowdin was firm and sudden, as purple floor tiles and flowers divided with snow and puzzle tiles in an even line. Frisk tried not to pay it any mind. It was much like that in the real Underground, anyway.

What Frisk was more curious about were the puzzle tiles. They lay across the snow haphazardly, as if whoever was setting them up had no idea how puzzles were supposed to work. At the center of it stood a skeleton with a bright orange scarf and black button eyes.

“sup bro?”

“YOU KNOW WHAT’S SUP BROTHER! I CAN’T SEEM TO RECALIBRATE THESE PUZZLES PROPERLY.” The other Papyrus’ attention turned to Frisk. “HELLO SMALL HUMAN. PERHAPS YOU HAVE SOME ADVICE ON WHAT TO DO WITH THESE PUZZLES?”

Frisk had not read Advanced Puzzle Construction for Developing Minds, so they shrugged.

“WHAT? YOU DON’T KNOW EITHER?” said the other Papyrus. “THEN WHO IS GOING TO SET UP THESE PUZZLES?”

“don’t sweat it, bro,” The other sans said. “not like we need to set these puzzles for humans anymore.”

“YOU’RE RIGHT! THE HUMAN IS RIGHT HERE!” said the other Papyrus. “AND THERE’S NO REASON TO HOLD THEM AGAINST THEIR WILL. ANYMORE.”

“right. thinking bout taking the kid to Undyne’s for lunch,” said the other sans. “could you get to work on that project we were talking about?”

“OH. YES. THAT THING,” said the other Papyrus. “I WILL GET RIGHT TO WORK ON THAT, WHILE THE HUMAN IS AWAY. WINK.”

The black button eyesocket of the Other Papyrus twitched, as if he were actually trying to wink. He ruffled Frisk’s hair before he ran through the snow in the other direction.

“so, ready to go meet Undyne kid?” the other sans asked.

Frisk made a face. No matter what they did, they never recalled Undyne being friendly with them. At a point where she wouldn’t throw a spear at them, maybe, but never friendly.

“hey, relax kid. this is the Other Undyne,” said the other sans. “she won’t hurt ya if she knows what’s good for her. she was actually looking forward to teaching you how to cook.”

Frisk gave the other sans a curious look.

“what, you didn’t know that?” the other sans asked. “Undyne’s taught my brother nearly everything he knows, even in this world.”

That didn’t exactly comfort Frisk.

“if you want, we can just drop in and play it by ear,” said the other sans. “i imagine you know how to do that better than me.”

Frisk giggled at the pun, and allowed the other sans to lead them.

The trip through the other Snowdin Town was as easy and abrupt as the trip through the Ruins. Before Frisk knew it, they were standing in front of a house from Waterfall that they recognized but never stepped in. Piano music poured from the open windows. Frisk didn’t remember that. sans gave a few raps on the door. It swung open before he could finish the third.

The Undyne that stood in the doorway looked a lot different than what Frisk remembered. Even beyond the button eye, they couldn’t recall ever seeing Undyne outside of her heavy armor.

“Heya punks! Ready for your cooking lesson?” The other Undyne asked, her button eye narrowed down at the child in a way that looked more intimidating than it felt.

“nah. think i’ll sit this one out. kid's raring to go, though,” said the other sans. “is Alphys around?”

“She headed out with Mettaton and his cousin,” said the other Undyne. “They’re trying to find out the perfect scientific strategy to playing Thundersnail so they can play it with the human later.”

For a house that supposedly belonged to Undyne, it was rather cozy. It was well kept, with only a table full of tea pots and cups a sign that it had been used at all. The piano continued to play itself, two mechanical hands reaching around to hit the keys.

“Now then, let’s start with your warrior training!”

It’s the Greater Dog.

Sure, with the suit of armor, the Greater Dog towered over Coraline and was nearly double her width. Without it, however, it was just a dog. Dogs were easy to handle, Coraline realized.

“Come here boy!” She beckoned.

The Greater Dog raced towards her, flicking slobber into her face. Coraline reached down to make a snowball. She tossed it as far as she could. It splattered on the ground. The Greater Dog responded by bringing all of the snow he could catch in his mouth and bringing it to her.

Now dog is tired…the Greater Dog jumped from its armor and rested its head on her. Coraline reached out to pet it. Unlike the other dogs, the Greater Dog relaxed under Coraline’s hand, and sunk its weight into her. It fired a few magic bullets into the air as it flopped on its back.

The Greater Dog is contented. It jumped back to its feet and gave Coraline a long lick across her face before jumping back into its armor. It walked away, its tail sticking out through the headhole.

It took Coraline a minute to stop laughing. As she did, she saw what lay ahead. A small town, visible only through house lights, connected to her with a bridge. Awaiting on the other side were two familiar skeletons.

“BEHOLD, HUMAN!” said Papyrus. “THE GAUNTLET OF DEADLY TERROR!”

A series of traps suddenly surrounded Coraline as the gauntlet activated.

“WHEN I SAY THE WORD,” said Papyrus “IT WILL FULLY ACTIVATE!!! CANNONS WILL FIRE! SPIKES WILL SWING! BLADES WILL SLICE! EACH PART WILL SWING VIOLENTLY UP AND DOWN!”

“What will the dog do?” Coraline asked.

“YOU KNOW?? I’M NOT SURE! !” said Papyrus. “BUT ONLY THE TINIEST CHANCE OF VICTORY WILL REMAIN!! NOW BRACE YOURSELF HUMAN!!! BECAUSE I!”

Coraline looked around wildly for anything she could use to save herself. Even sans looked like he wasn’t sure what to do. Perhaps she could grab onto the other side of the bridge and swing to safety…

“AM! ABOUT!”

But if she did that, she would have to scale the rest of the mountain…

“TO DO IT!”

Nothing happened.

“well?” asked sans. “what’s the holdup?”

“HOLDUP!? WHAT HOLDUP!? I’M…”

Papyrus looked unsure.

“WELL, IT SEEMS THIS CHALLENGE MAY BE TOO EASY TO DEFEAT THE HUMAN WITH,” said Papyrus. “YEAH!!! I AM A SKELETON WITH VERY HIGH STANDARDS, AND MY PUZZLES ARE ALWAYS EXPERTLY COOKED! THIS ONE SIMPLY WON’T DO!”

The Gauntlet of Deadly Terror was removed.

“WHAT ARE YOU LOOKING AT?” Papyrus asked. “ANOTHER DECISIVE VICTORY FOR PAPYRUS! NYEH! HEH! …Heh?”

He was gone before Coraline could ask any more questions.

Undye’s cooking, surprisingly, turned out to be edible. In fact, much like everything Frisk had found in the otherworld, it was the most delicious thing they had ever tasted. What made it even better was that Frisk got to make it themselves. Undyne had been surprisingly patient with teaching them how to cook. Though her method involved throwing a lot of spears, far less things caught on fire than Frisk had anticipated.

The other sans lead them back to the Snowdin area, where the snow had grown so high that the other sans had to pick them up so they wouldn’t sink right through. He helped carry them up one of the taller snow poffs, where the Other Papyrus awaited with his racecar bed.

“SO THE HUMAN ARRIVES,” said the other Papyrus. “ARE YOU READY FOR YOUR TOTALLY COOL TOUR PRESENTED BY YOURS TRULY?”

Frisk jumped in the bed as fast as they could. The bed shook under the added weight, and dipped down the hill.

The wind kicked up around Frisk’s face as the racecar bed cruised down the hillside. The bed jumped into the air after hitting a snow poff, and a sail mechanism sprung up by their feet to keep the bed hovering. They sailed over luminescent flowers and tranquil waters of the Waterfall. They sailed over the lava pools in the Hotlands and the mechanics of the Core. The racecar kept sailing.

Frisk’s interested piqued. They had never seen what lay beyond the hallways connecting Hotlands to New Home. They could make out a few buildings against the backdrop and the golden tiles of the Judgement Hall.

The sled fell, and there was nothing. The world that was began to fade away, as if someone had taken an eraser to a drawing. Gold floor panels faded into yellow flecks, and then into dots on a screen, and then nothing.

And Frisk was alone.

They called for help.

“Hush! And shush! Say nothing, for the Beldam may be listening…”

The fog grew deep. Coraline swallowed hard and fought through it. Even as her vision got covered in white, she could make something out in the distance.

Something blocks the way.

“HUMAN. ALLOW ME TO TELL YOU ABOUT SOME COMPLEX FEELINGS.”

Author’s Note: Fun fact: I actually went through the trouble of marking all of sans’ and Papyrus’ dialogue in their respective fonts. The reason the other sans is weird is because he doesn’t speak in sans’ font. Obviously, it didn’t come through. I’m not even mad; I still hate comic sans with a passion.

#fic #Into the Unknown #Undertale #Coraline #Frisk #Coraline Jones #sans #Papyrus #the Other Mother #featured

1 note · View note

advocatewrites-blog · 7 years

Text

Into the Unknown Part 1 Chapter 1

Into the Unknown

Genre: Fantasy, Hurt/Comfort, Adventure, Horror

Fandom: Undertale, Coraline (book), Over the Garden Wall, Paranorman, Gravity Falls (season 2)

Played as: Straight

Style: Adaptation Divergence

Synopsis: 7 human souls to break the barrier. 7 humans who travel through the wood. And perhaps all of them are necessary this time.

Next Chapter

“it's a beautiful day outside. birds are singing, flowers are blooming...on days like this, kids like you…

Should be burning in hell.”

In the back of their mind—because that was all they really could do at the moment—Frisk wondered if sans rehearsed that speech. Either way, he said it the same way nearly every time. It was only when he tried to catch them off guard did he stop halfway, fire a Gaster-Blaster at them before they would expect it. Back before this happened, back when they could go to Grillby's and be friends, sans mentioned that he didn't actually have much memory of the timeloops. His knowledge came from notebooks and journals meticulously kept for someone so lazy. What memories he had came through nightmares.

In a way, Frisk envied him.

The battle started. Frisk felt their sins crawling along their back. The body moved forward, the soul dodging every attack as best it could, all without Frisk's thought or input. Neither had been Frisk's for a very long time.

sans had stopped his attack. He still dodged theirs, but didn't move otherwise. Sweat poured from his forehead, especially surprising since he didn't have skin cells.

“uh. hey. you really like swinging that thing around, huh?” The skeleton said. The attack stopped, if only for a second. “listen. friendship. it's really great, huh? let's quit fighting.”

sans was sparing them.

And Frisk so desperately wanted to accept it. Find a way to restart everything from the beginning and be especially good. Their body, however, wasn't listening.

After all that, you still think you're in control?

Something wet was moving on their face. Blood, Frisk reckoned. It couldn't have been their tears if their body wasn't theirs anymore.

sans dodged the slash of the knife.

“well. it was worth a shot, anyway.”

Their soul collided with another attack, and ripped in half.

Game Over

“if we're really friends, you won't come back.”

He was probably right.

* Reset

One is a Bird An Undertale/Coraline crossover fanfiction By the Poor Sap Advocate

Chapter 1

When Coraline woke up, she had no idea where she was.

It took her a minute to pull herself off of the cold earth and think back. She had been exploring the new apartments, she remembered that much. Her Dousing Staff had only led her to an old empty well…

She then realized just how dark it was. Her eyes ran to the only source of sunlight in the room: above. She had fallen, she realized. She had fallen down that well, and still survived. A pang of worry echoed in the back of her mind, but she couldn’t quite figure out why. This would be a much better place to explore! Perhaps down here she could find something actual of worth, like mice that actually sang and danced, or a talking cat, or…

A golden flower, looking at her with a very confused expression.

“Huh.” The flower said. “I honestly wasn’t expecting that.”

“Wasn’t expecting what?” Coraline asked, equal parts confused and offended.

The flower’s expression changed, as if it thought of something. “Oh, nothing. You’re new to the Underground, aren’t ya? Well, how about I teach you how things work around here?”

“How do you mean?”

“Well, let me show ya!”

The world flickered, like a candle. Coraline’s attention fell to the orange heart hovering in front of her.

“That’s your SOUL!” The flower said. “It’s the very culmination of your being. It can grow strong if you gain a lot of LV.”

“LV?” Coraline repeated.

“Love!” The flower said, as if he weren’t quite sure himself.

A group of white seeds hovered around the flower. “Monsters can share love with you with these…little white friendliness pellets! So go ahead! Catch as many as you can!”

“Wow. You’re just as dumb as they were.” The flower spoke again.

More pellets surrounded Coraline’s SOUL.

“DIE.”

The flower’s laughter stopped abruptly. Coraline looked up from her Soul, no longer surrounded in white. She looked up further, where she saw a figure.

“My, what a loathsome creature, torturing a poor, innocent youth…”

When Frisk woke up, they had no idea where they were.

It took them a minute to realize that their body was theirs, and they could get up whenever they wanted. When they did, they noticed the room wasn’t one they recognized. It wasn’t the Judgement Hall, like they had feared. It wasn’t the entrance to the Underground, like they had hoped. It was a bedroom, and it looked a lot like Toriel’s.

Remembering what happened to Toriel the last time they had met sent a wave of nausea over Frisk. They reached for a SAVE file.

Nothing happened.

Had they ever Saved in Toriel’s house? They couldn’t quite remember. Frisk had never stayed around in Toriel’s house long enough.

This wasn’t Toriel’s house. It looked a lot like it, but it wasn’t quite right. There was no basket full of shoes that had not been worn for ages. The toys lacked the layer of dust, like they had been used recently. Smells of butterscotch and cinnamon and fire magic didn’t hover in the air.

Something was wrong.

Frisk bolted from the room and rushed to where they knew Toriel would be. Her reading chair. She was always in her reading chair, no matter what timeline Frisk found themselves in.

They found Toriel in the kitchen.

It was Toriel, unmistakably. The same white fur, if a little brighter, the same purple tunic, if a bit nicer-kept, and the same motherly aura about her. Yet she was different. Her Soul, Frisk realized, was different. They didn’t quite know how, or even how they knew; the first time they had ever analyzed a Soul was when they first entered the Underground, and things haven’t changed much since then.

When she turned around from the stove, Frisk realized the biggest different. Two, black button eyes.

“Hello my child,” She spoke. “Did you sleep okay?”

Frisk fought to keep a straight face. Their hands shook as they signed, though that was often the case. They weren’t sure if they had signed that correctly, or even if it was spelled correctly. They had never thought of a nickname for Toriel that was easier to sign, and now they weren’t sure if they were allowed to.

The thing that was not Toriel’s face contorted, for just a second, into confusion. Frisk recognized the face easily. Few people they spoke to knew sign language. Even less would sign back to them. Toriel was the first, and one of the only.

“Oh. I’m the Other Toriel, my child.” She said. She didn’t sign back. Once Toriel figured it out, they would always sign as they spoke.

“Everyone has an other mother,” the Other Toriel continued. “I thought this form would be more…acceptable to you.”

That one was true, at least. Frisk may have never thought of Toriel as their mother (only once. They wouldn’t let themselves do it again.), but even Jerry was preferable to their real mother. If this other Toriel had thought that far ahead, then perhaps they were nice?

“Now then, why don’t you go wash up and find your other father, so we can have dinner?” the Other Toriel said as she worked on carving the pie. “It’s been a long time since you’ve had a proper meal, hasn’t it?”

Toriel was married? This Toriel was married? Frisk had never seen another person in the house…or really anyone Toriel interacted that wasn’t sans. But the idea of a proper meal, especially one that wasn’t made of dust and magic, was too pleasing for Frisk to turn down.

Frisk poked their head over the Other Toriel’s shoulder, just quick enough to see what the pie was made of.

Butterscotch-Cinnamon Pie

At least it isn’t snails. Does not heal, but is part of a balanced breakfast.

Even when they were at their worst, Toriel’s pie always healed. They wondered if the Other Toriel just didn’t get the recipe right

The figure in front of Coraline looked equal parts goat and equal parts human, standing on two feet yet covered in white fur. Despite her rather impressive size, the sharpness of her teeth, and the two horns on her head, she seemed to be doing everything in her power to appear non-threatening.

“Do not be afraid, child. I am Toriel, the caretaker of these Ruins.” She spoke.

Toriel bent down and offered Coraline a hand. Coraline took it, if only to pull herself back up.

“I come through these Ruins every day to see if anyone has fallen down.” Toriel continued. “You are the first human to come down here in a long time. Allow me to guide you through the catacombs.”

If she held onto Toriel’s hand a little longer, she didn’t realize. And Toriel didn’t let go until Coraline did.

Frisk found the Other Toriel’s husband outside the house. He was a large goat-like monster like she was, with bigger horns on his head, a wilder mane, and a rather well-kept beard. He even wore a similar tunic to Toriel’s, but for some reason Frisk couldn’t understand, it looked out of place on him. Like the Other Toriel, his eyes were big black buttons, carefully sewn in.

But what Frisk noticed first was the garden. Outside of Toriel’s house was rather dry, with only one old tree where the leaves fell off the second they could grow. Here, the ground was nearly covered in lush greens, with only a walkway of stone to interrupt it. Flowers blossomed from every corner of the yard; bright blues and deep reds. The tree was ripe with flowers of all sorts, yet there were still plenty of fall leaves around it that Frisk could jump into if they choose to. And there was sky, dark and covered in stars.

No golden flowers were in the garden, although the real Underground was full of them. Frisk wondered if that was intentional.

“Is someone there?” The other monster asked. “Just a moment. I have to finish watering these flowers…Here we are!”

He stood and turned to them. He towered over the child, but they weren’t intimidated. Rather, they were curious. He looked familiar, in a way that Frisk couldn’t describe. They had seen him before, but not in a Reset. And if it wasn’t a Reset, they had no idea where else he could have come from. The phrase “Mr. Dad Guy” entered their mind, but they had no idea why.

“Howdy!” Mr. Dad Guy said. “How may I help you, little one?”

Frisk signed to tell him breakfast was ready. A similar strain of confusion entered the other’s face as he interpreted the signs, but it passed just as quickly as it had with the Other Toriel.

“Let us not keep her waiting then, shall we?” said Mr. Dad Guy.

Mr. Dad Guy walked Frisk back through the house and to a dinner table that Frisk was sure was never in Toriel’s house. Toriel rarely had other people she could eat with, they realized. They had never eaten with Toriel. Pie had always been left in the room when they slept but that was not a meal and it was not eaten with her.

Maybe the Other Toriel realized this, and that’s why the table was piled with more food than Frisk thought one could make. A golden-roasted chicken, fried potatoes, tiny green peas. Spaghetti covered in a sauce of finely smashed tomatoes, greasy burgers and fries that smelled like Grillby’s, instant noodles, a three-tier cake with Welcome Home! written in icing cursive. Small cars moved along the table, depositing gravy for the meats and ketchup for the burgs. A butterscotch-cinnamon pie sitting at the center of it.

“Aren’t you going to eat, young one?” Mr. Dad Guy asked.

With all the Resets, Frisk had forgotten the last time they had a meal of human food. They had forgotten a long time ago what it was like when that food was freely given. They shoveled as much food as they could into their mouth.

“We have been waiting for you for a long time,” the Other Toriel said. “It wasn’t the same without you. But we knew you would come home one day. Perhaps tomorrow you can help your father in the garden. Or I can show you my favorite bug-hunting spot. I can even prepare a curriculum for your education.”

In the end, Toriel didn’t guide Coraline through the entirety of the Ruins. She left her someplace safe, where she could wait while she ran errands. Coraline, however, decided to explore herself. She met Vegetoids and Migosps and a whole variety of creatures she could have never thought of. She bought donuts from a bake sale run by spiders. She would talk to Froggits and Moldsmals, and though they rarely moved beyond hip-wiggling and ribbiting, they were quite meaningful.

She explored the Ruins until she came across a tree where leaves dried off as soon as they grew, and behind that, a house. Seeing such a cute, tidy house in the middle of the Ruins filled Coraline with something, but she wasn’t sure quite was.

She didn’t think of getting closer until she saw Toriel exit, a bag of groceries in her paws.

“My child!” said Toriel. “Did you walk all the way here?”

“It wasn’t too bad,” said Coraline. “I had to do battle with a ghost, but it was okay because I complimented their hat and they let me go.”

The best part of saying that was that Coraline was not making any of that up. The second best part was, though she looked annoyed for just a second at the prospect of anyone fighting Coraline, Toriel laughed and smiled and believed her. Her mother never did any of that no matter what kind of story Coraline told. She usually just shrugged her off and told her to do chores.

It was the first time in her time in the Underground that Coraline thought of her mother.

Toriel lead Coraline through the house. She showed her a room she could stay the night in. They had butterscotch cinnamon pie for dinner. Coraline read through old books of monster history until she realized all textbooks were rather dry.

But then Coraline had to think realistically. She had to get back to the Pink Palace.

“Thank you for everything, Miss Toriel, but I really need to get back home,” Coraline said. “How do I leave the Ruins?”

Toriel grew quiet. With her paws shaking, she removed her reading glasses and rose from her chair.

“I’m afraid there is something I must do, little one. Please wait here.”

She left, and then Coraline grew nervous. She followed Toriel, down the stairs of the house and into a dark corridor that didn’t look at all like the tidy home. When she found Toriel, it was in front of a large door.

“You truly wish to return home, do you not?” Toriel asked. “Ahead of us is the exit to the Ruins. And I am going to destroy it. No one will be able to leave again. Now run upstairs.”

“I have to get home! To my real mom and dad!” said Coraline.

“You are just like the others. You come. You leave. You’ll die. He…ASGORE…will find you. I am only doing this to protect you.”

“I can defend myself. I want to get home.”

“Then prove it. Prove you’re strong enough to survive.”

A FIGHT broke out. Toriel blocks the way.

Coraline grew used to the feeling of her Soul leaving her body. However, she was not used to the feeling of monster bullets hurdling towards her. It did not help that Toriel’s bullets were flames, raging with heat as they passed and singing her jacket and Soul as they hit.

Yet Coraline stayed determined. She was perhaps not the best at dodging, but the FIGHTS with the other monsters of the Ruins had prepared her well. It was no different than her father moving around the hornets. She ran through the flames, letting her jacket take what she couldn’t allow her Soul to hit.

“Why are you fighting me?” Coraline asked. “I thought you wanted me to stay safe!”

“I do,” said Toriel. “This is what’s best for you!”

“You think trying to kill me is what’s best for me? How is that different than those monsters you want to protect me from! How is that different than Asgore!”

The flames returned, tenfold. Coraline couldn’t dodge them all.

As she pulled herself off the floor, she looked through Toriel. She looked shocked at her own power, eyes wide and paw covering her mouth.

“Do not compare me to him,” said Toriel. “Just fight already.”

Coraline stood up, but did not move.

“I know you want to go home…but you must understand. I cannot lose another.”

Toriel went down to the entrance of the Underground every day. How many children, Coraline realized, has she seen fall down? How many of them could she not save? How long was it before the last one left?

“Stop looking at me like that,” Toriel said.

She couldn’t.

“Pathetic, is it not? I cannot save even a single child.”

“Their deaths aren’t your fault,” said Coraline. “And keeping me here won’t solve anything.”

“I understand. The Ruins are very small, once you get used to them,” said Toriel. “My expectations, my loneliness, my fear…for you, I shall put them aside.”

The FIGHT ended.

“If you truly wish to leave the Ruins, I will not stop you,” Toriel continued. “But please, do not come back. I hope you understand.”

Coraline had no idea what to say about any of this. About the mother in mourning, about respecting someone who attacked her, about having to travel through the world of monsters alone. So she settled for “I did mean it. Thank you for everything you’ve done.” and walked through the door.

Author’s Note: So there are about 3 games that I trust any let’s player to play well, and I watch a lot of let’s players. Until Dawn, Pony Island…and Undertale. I’ve watched a lot of Undertale playthoughs. I really enjoy this game, or at least most of it. I wanted to write an Undertale crossover fic, and then I realized I wanted to write a lot of them. And then I realized that any Undertale crossover is inherently the same, or at least the way I wanted to write it, so I decided to make all of them into one mega-fic.

This is a bit of an unusual experience for me, considering that at the time of this posting, I am not finished with the complete fic yet. I do not do this, usually. Everything you see has been ordered, signed in triplicate, sent in, sent back, queried, lost, found, subjected to public enquiry, lost again, and finally buried in soft peat for three months and recycled as firelighters. But I decided that I wanted to post more. Hopefully this pays out and I won’t have to skip a few weeks.

So welcome to Into the Unknown.

#fic #Into the Unknown #Undertale #Coraline #Frisk #Coraline Jones #Toriel #sans #featured

1 note · View note

advocatewrites-blog · 6 years

Text

Into the Unknown Part 4 Chapter 3

Into the Unknown

Fandom: Undertale, Coraline (book), Over the Garden Wall, Paranorman, Gravity Falls (season 2)

Chapter 3

“Behind you.”

Dipper tensed up at the Echo Flower’s message. The sound of metal footsteps grows closer.

“Don’t tell me she’s right behind us,” said Dipper.

“Okay,” said Mabel.

“You know what? SCREW IT! WHY SHOULD I TELL YOU THAT STORY?? WHEN YOU’RE ABOUT TO DIE?? NGHAAAAHH!!!!!”

In a fluid motion, Undyne ripped off her helmet. One eye glinted in the low lights of the Waterfall.

“You two!” said Undyne. “You’re standing in the way of everybody’s hopes and dreams! Alphys’s history books made me think humans were cool…with their giant robots and flowery swordswomen. But you? You’re just cowards. Your life is all that stands between us and our freedom! Right now, I feel everyone’s hearts pounding together! Everyone’s been waiting their whole lives for this moment! When everyone puts their hearts together, they can’t lose! I’ll show you how determined monsters can be!”

Undyne summoned her spear. Dipper’s Soul leaped out of his chest, and turned a bright green color.

“Wait, what does the green do?” Dipper asked.

“Unless you learn to face danger head-on, you won’t last a second against me!!” said Undyne.

Undyne attacks.

A set of bullets in the shape of arrows fly past Dipper. A few break apart as they collide with Dipper’s Soul, bouncing off some sort of shield. Most don’t.

“When I said face danger head-on, I MEANT DODGE THE BULLETS!!!”

“The Kingdom of Monsters resides in these mountains, within the caverns of Mount Ebott,” said one of the heads of the Multibear. “There is a path in this cavern that connects this cavern from this one, but know this: there is no way to exit once you enter.”

With everything else that had been going on, Frisk had nearly forgotten about the Barrier. It was just going to be something else that they did, they decided.

“We will find a way around that,” said the Cat.

“You are determined, then,” said the Multibear. “It will serve you well. We creatures of the forest have long forgotten about Mt. Ebott. The Barrier has shielded us from our brethren for centuries. It would be relieving to be reunited, don’t you agree?”

Frisk nodded again. The Cat squirmed, but they could not tell why.

“I can take you as far as the Barrier, but no farther,” said the Multibear. “And I suggest you prepare in advance.”

“It is quite late,” said the Cat. “If nothing else, I would like the chance to rest.”

“Then I await your return,” said the Multibear.

She disappeared into the shadows again. After a few moments, Frisk heard the sound of an Icelandic pop song in the distance.

They hardly paid attention to the Manutaur’s chorus of boos as they left the cavern. The Cat climbed up onto their shoulders.

“We should head back into town,” said the Cat. “We both need food and rest, and it would not hurt for you to find something you can defend yourself with.”

Frisk nodded. To be honest, the humans scared them more than the Multibear.

“HEY! WHAT’S UP?! I WAS JUST THINKING…YOU, ME, THE OTHER HUMAN, AND UNDYNE SHOULD ALL HANG OUT SOMETIME!! I THINK YOU WOULD MAKE GREAT PALS!!!

“Papyrus this is not a good time for that!” Mabel shouted into the phone as she dodged arrow bullets flying towards it.

“COME BACK HERE YOU LITTLE PUNKS!!” Undyne shouted. She was right behind them.

“OKAY! LET’S MEET UP AT HER HOUSE LATER!”

The Waterfall area ended, as suddenly as if Mabel had stepped into another room. The new area was hot and dry, and the dark cave walls became a heavy shade of red. Mabel looked just below her the cliff sides and saw pools of magma.

Undyne was still behind her.

Mabel looked back up and fought the sudden urge or vertigo. She ducked around the corner, and came face to face with a familiar skeleton.

“SANS!” Mabel cried. “sans, help us out!”

sans did not stir from his sleep.

“Come on!” Dipper shouted as he caught up with her.

Undyne was right behind them.

Mabel ran, and the sounds of metal footsteps became more distant. The sounds of Undyne screaming at sans replaced it. There was a sound of a rimshot from…somewhere, and then the metal footsteps increased.

Undyne was right behind them.

Mabel and Dipper spun around and faced her. Mabel looked at Dipper for any indication he had a plan. It was clear he did not.

Undyne took one step towards them. Then another. Then she fell over.

“Oh,” said Dipper. “Well that was anticlimactic.”

The smell of sushi wafted in the air, reminding Mabel of Mermando. And then she realized.

“Wait, she’s a fish! She’s drying out in her armor!” Mabel turned to Dipper. “We have to help her! Do your reverse CPR!”

Dipper glared at her.

“I’M SERIOUS THIS TIME!”

“Okay, fine, I’ll…” Dipper trailed off as he looked for his plan. He settled on a water cooler tucked into the corner. “Fine!”

The water cooler was naturally rather slow, but that was the only part of the plan that was. Dipper raced to and fro as he filled his cup and propped Undyne up in a position needed for CPR. He threw the water into his mouth, and sealed his lips with Undyne.

Once Undyne regained consciousness, she was not very happy about the situation. But she did not say anything. She did not attack them again. She took one long look at them, and left.

“That was awkward,” said Dipper. “Promise me you won’t hold that against me.”

“Of course not!” said Mabel. “But what should I tell Papyrus when we go on our date with Undyne?”

Dipper froze.

“You did not.”

“It was Papyrus’s idea!”

There was a pie sitting out on the windowsill by the diner. Frisk vaguely recalled that was a good way to cool it. The only person she had ever seen bake was Toriel, but she never put her pies out because there was no wind that could have cooled it.

The thought of stealing made their stomach flip. They remembered the monster candy in the Ruins, and how they never stopped feeling bad about it until the bad runs. But the flipping in their stomach would be much worse if they didn’t steal.

The gnomes beat them to it.

“Hey, kid, this is our stash!” said one of the gnomes. Frisk vaguely recalled them as the one the Cat had chased.

The Cat hissed. Most of the gnomes stiffened, but did not otherwise move. The leader reached for another gnome by the beard, and held the sharp point of their hat out like a knife.

Frisk made a motion for the Cat to stand down. It was not worth a fight.

“Good,” said the gnome as he put the other gnome down. “And while we’re at it, can you…um…”

He made a few vague motions for Frisk to grab the pie. They obliged, and handed it down to them.

“Thanks kid!” He called as the gnomes scampered off.

“Really?” said the Cat. “We’re going to have to find our own food now.”

Frisk shrugged.

“Hey kid!”

The Mystery Man stood behind them. He shifted uncomfortably as Frisk looked at him, and avoided eye contact.

“You uh…wouldn’t happen to be looking for someplace to eat, are you?”

Frisk nodded.

The Mystery Man folded his arms over his chest. “Don’t suppose you would want to come with me then?”

Frisk nodded again, this time more enthusiastically.

“Fine. But you’re paying!”

Frisk stuck their tongue out playfully. It reminded them of sans, and of good times.

The diner was small and cozy. It looked to be on the verge of closing, and only one waitress was still out.

“Hey Stan!” She greeted. “Care for a late night snack?”

“Hey Susan. Split me a quarter of the Number 7, and a side of ketchup for the kid,” said

“You got it!”

The waitress left, and they were alone.

“So, uh…” said Stan. “Your parents around here, anywhere?”

Frisk shook their head no.

“So, summer camp or somethin’?”

Frisk shook their head no again.

“You’re on your own then?”

Frisk shrugged.

Stan fell silent for a moment. He was still avoiding eye contact.

“Don’t talk much, do ya?”

Frisk shrugged again. They could feel the Cat’s tail flicking back and forth against their leg. He probably was not sure whether he should speak up or not.

“Well,” said Stan. “Do you at least have a safe place to stay for the night?”

Frisk was not sure. The clones had offered them a camping spot, and they did have the clearing where they spent the night before. But with the Manutaurs against them, it might not be the safest place to stay.

“Well, you know where the Shack is. You might have to compete for a bed with the goat…or with Soos…but it’s better than nothing, believe me,” said Stan. “We were supposed to be having a party tonight, but…guess that ain’t happenin’. It’d be nice to have some kind of company.”

The waitress came back with the food. Stan started to stand from the table.

“Go ahead and put it on my tab, Suze,” said Stan. “I gotta get goin’. Make sure Soos closes down right, and see if the kids haven’t come back yet. You take care, kid.”

Stan walked out, and then it was just Frisk and the Cat.

The ketchup healed quite a bit. Frisk was actually rather surprised. They guessed that was why sans drank it all the time.

“OHO! THE HUMANS ARRIVE!” said Papyrus. “READY TO BECOME TOTALLY BEST FRIENDS WITH UNDYNE??!”

“Yeah, Papyrus, I don’t think—” Dipper started.

“You bet!” Mabel said.

“GREAT!!! WE ARE GOING TO BE THE BEST OF FRIENDS!!!”

“I don’t think she’s going to want to be friends with us,” said Dipper, to nobody but himself.

“Hey Papyrus,” said Undyne as the door opened. “Ready for your extra special one-on-one training?”

Undyne looked differently than when they had last seen her. She was out of her armor, and into a casual outfit of sweat pants and a tank top. Her scales were much more visible than before, as were the muscles they covered. Her hair was still tied back, but it was much looser than before. She did not look like the kind of person that would have chased two kids to their death.

“YOU BET I AM!!! AND I BROUGHT SOME FRIENDS!!”

“Hi, I don’t think we’ve—” Undyne stopped as she got a good look at her guests. She spoke through gritted teeth. “Why don’t. You come. Inside?”

Papyrus gave the twins a look, danced on the welcome mat as he tried to clean his boots, and walked inside. Mabel gave him a look and followed suit.

Undyne’s house was ordinary as well. In fact, it was rather cute for someone who was the head of the Royal Guard. Yet the air was thick with tension.

Papyrus did not seem to notice.

“OH, WOULD YOU LOOK AT THAT?!?” Papyrus said “I HAVE TO UM…USE THE BATHROOM! I’LL BE RIGHT BACK!!!”

With that, Papyrus promptly flung himself out the window. It was a while until Dipper heard the landing thud outside.

“I hate it when he does that,” said Undyne. Her attention turned towards them. “So why are you here?”

“We’re here to become friends!” said Mabel.

“Really?” Undyne asked. “How delightful!! I accept! Let’s all frolick in the fields of friendship! …NOT!”

The light that was in Mabel’s eyes quickly extinguished.

“Why would I ever be friends with you?” said Undyne. “If you weren’t my houseguests, I’d beat you up right now! You’re the enemy of everyone’s hopes and dreams! I WILL NEVER BE YOUR FRIEND. Now get out of my house!”

Papyrus’ head poked back in to what was supposed to be the window.

“DANG. WHAT A SHAME. I THOUGHT YOU TWO COULD BE REALLY GOOD FRIENDS WITH UNDYNE. BUT I GUESS…I OVERESTIMATED HER. SHE’S JUST NOT UP TO THE CHALLENGE!!!”

He was gone as quickly as he arrived.

“CHALLENGE?” Undyne roared. “He thinks I can’t be friends with you? Fuhuhu!! What a joke! Listen up humans!! We’re not just going to become friends. We’re gonna be BESTIES. Now why don’t you two have a seat?”

There was no one at the Mystery Shack when Stan returned. So he did what he usually did on a late Thursday night. It was what he did most nights, and it was what he was planning on doing before the kids talked him into a party. It just so happened that tonight was a more involved process.

It won’t be long now.

The vat of radioactive waste collided with Stan’s toe.

“HOT BELGIAN WAFFLES!” He shouted. “Wait, if no one’s here, then I can swear for real! SON OF A—”

“Excuse me,” a new voice spoke up.

The vat shook more as Stan jumped towards the source. A black cat, the same one that hung around the strange kid, sat on the counter. He had seen the Cat talk before, when he had spotted the kid trying to steal Lazy Susan’s pie. At that point, however, he was doing his best to forget the gnomes that had followed them. The fact that the Cat had spoken was shocking, but it was just more Gravity Falls weirdness.

It won’t be long now.

The Cat eyed the vat.

“Oh, just go ahead and ignore that,” He said, feeling just a bit foolish.“The kid here too?”

“Yes,” said the Cat. “And they are asleep. I would appreciate if you don’t wake them up. We have a long day tomorrow.”

“Think the town’s gonna form an angry mob to chase you out?”

“No,”

“Then it’s not my problem,” said Stan. “TV’s in the other room, if you make off with the cash register I’ll be very impressed but I’ll still hunt you down.”

“Noted,” said the Cat. “Pleasant dreams.”

It’s been a long time since he’s had any pleasant dreams, but it won’t be long now.

With Undyne on a mission to befriend them, it was surprisingly easy to talk to her. They talked about the Underground, whether or not Papyrus would ever join the Royal Guard and how Undyne met Asgore. They talked about Gravity Falls and the Surface, what kind of weaponry humans wielded and whether or not ice cream men are preludes to terror.

(It took Dipper a while to realize that, despite everything, they have yet to have a problem with the ice cream man. This was probably a good thing.)

It was only when Undyne stood to get them more tea when the atmosphere turned tense again.

“Wait a second,” said Undyne. “Papyrus’ cooking lesson…he was supposed to have that right now!! And if he’s not here to have it...THEN YOU TWO WILL HAVE TO DO!”

Undyne jumped onto the kitchen counter. The containers of tea and hot chocolate collided to the ground.

“NOTHING has brought Papyrus and I closer than cooking!” said Undyne. “So if I give you the lesson, WE’LL BECOME CLOSER THAN YOU CAN EVER IMAGINE!!!”

She jumped again, and landed on the broken kitchen table. She seized the twins up by their hair and bounded towards the stovetop.

“FIRST WE’LL MAKE THE SAUCE!” said Undyne.

Mabel and Dipper were dropped onto the stovetop. She stomped on the ground, and a set of vegetables fell from the ceiling and onto the counter.

“Envision these vegetables as your greatest enemy,” said Undyne. “Now!! Pound them to dust with your fist!!”

“I didn’t think cooking was such an involved sport,” said Dipper.

Mabel, however, couldn’t be more excited. She swung her fish down and squashed the solanum.

“THERE YOU GO! NGHAAAH!!!” said Undyne.

She swung her spear down. The vegetables exploded.

“We’ll just scrape that in a bowl later,” said Undyne. “Now, we add the noodles!”

She stomped again, and two pots fell perfectly onto the stovetop. With another passionate cry, she flung something towards the twins. Mable fumbled for a second before she caught it.

“Just go ahead and put them in the pot,” said Undyne.

“You got it, boss!”

Mabel ripped open the box and threw it in. It collided with the empty bottom.

“As a general rule of thumb, the more you stir the pasta, THE BETTER IT BECOMES!!” said Undyne. “Ready?”

“Don’t you need to add water?” Dipper asked.

“LET’S DO IT!”

Mabel stirred as fast as her arms would let her. Undyne summoned another spear and beat it until the pot was collapsing in on itself.

“Now for the final step: TURN UP THE HEAT!!” said Undyne. “Let the stovetop symbolize your passion! Let your hopes and dreams turn into a burning fire! Don’t hold anything back!!!”

Mabel turned the dial, and turned it, and turned it more. She only stopped when she noticed the pot catch on fire.

“Okay, maybe that’s--”

“HOTTER, DAMNIT!!” Undyne cried as she reached over the stovetop.

The flames rose.

“Man,” said Undyne. “No wonder Papyrus sucks at cooking.”

Dipper was too busy trying to not catch on fire to notice.

“So what’s next?” Undyne asked. “Scrapbooking? Friendship bracelets?”

“Yeah!” said Mabel. “Let’s do it!”

“Oh who are we kidding? I’ve been defeated. My house is in shambles. And I failed to make you two my friends,” said Undyne. “I guess some people aren’t meant to get along. But that’s okay. Because if we can’t be friends…THEN I CAN DESTROY YOU WITHOUT REGRET!!!”

Undyne summoned her spear again.

“Wait, wait don’t!” said Dipper. “We still want to be your friends! Really!”

“AN ALL OUT REMATCH ON BOTH SIDES! IT’S THE ONLY WAY FOR ME TO REGAIN MY LOST PRIDE!!” said Undyne.

Mabel looked at Dipper, and the twins hatched a plan.

They lightly shoved Undyne into the counter.

“What?” said Undnye. “That’s the best you can manage?”

“We still want to be your friends,” said Mabel. “And friends generally don’t destroy other friends!”

Undyne looked lost for a minute. Eventually, she closed her eyes and sighed. Her spear faded before it could fall to the ground.

“I don’t want to hurt you, either,” said Undyne. “You two remind me of someone I used to train with.”

Author’s Note: Originally I had this great scene planned that the Cat had to enlist Stan into helping him save Frisk from the Blind Eye...but it didn’t pan out the way I wanted it to. So instead have a feelings chapter.

#Fic #Into the Unknown #undertale #Gravity Falls #Dipper Pines #Mabel Pines #Undyne #Frisk #the Cat #Stan Pines #Papyrus #sans #featured

0 notes

advocatewrites-blog · 7 years

Text

Into the Unknown Part 2 Chapter 2

Into the Unknown

Fandom: Undertale, Coraline (book), Over the Garden Wall, Paranorman, Gravity Falls (season 2)

Start from beginning / Previous chapter / Next chapter

Chapter 2

It was clear that the world outside the door was far different than the Ruins. Cold winds rushed to them as soon as the door was opened, causing Wirt to try and bundle closer into his cloak. A blanket of snow covered the land and ended just at the edge of the door.

“Hooray! Snow day!” said Greg as he bounded towards the snow.

Wirt sighed and tried his best to ignore his brother. Leave it to Greg to forget they just had to fight the only friendly face they’ve met down here.

Greg did not fight back, actually. Once Toriel saw that Greg wouldn’t fight back, she turned her attention to Wirt. Once Greg convinced Wirt not to fight back, she ended the fight. She had allowed them to leave, and asked that they try not to contact her again. That didn’t change the fact that Greg had tried to call her every five seconds as they left the Ruins.

The sounds of snapping branches behind him shook Wirt out of his thoughts.

“Greg, come on, we’re leaving,” said Wirt.

“I know!” said Greg, from right in front of him.

Wirt’s head snapped from Greg to behind him again. No one was there.

“Wow, that was a pretty big branch,” said Greg. “Someone really strong must have snapped it.”

Wirt pulled Greg up. Greg scrambled to grab his frog.

“Come on Greg, we’re getting out of here as soon as possible.”

Whether he liked it or not, Greg was his responsibility, and Wirt was going to make sure he got home safe.

“Kay,” said Greg. “Are you sure we can’t go talk to the guy following us first?”

Wirt started to run. He only slowed down as they reached a large gate.

“Hello, humans. Two of you, huh?”

“Hiya mister!” Greg squirmed under Wirt’s arm as he put down the frog and held out his hand.

“hey kid. sorry, no handshakes today. left my whoopee cushions back at my checkpoint.”

“Whoopee!”

Wirt spun around. Behind him was a skeleton. It was not a particularly scary skeleton, Wirt realized. He was short and round, wearing a hodgepodge of clothing that put what Wirt was wearing to shame. His teeth were stretched into a wide grin that hardly moved as he spoke.

“My name’s Greg, and this is Wirt, and this is my frog Alexander Hamilton, but I’m thinking of changing it,” said Greg.

“the name’s sans, nice to meet ya,” said sans. “now, we were on the lookout for humans, so you better—“

“SANS!”

“already?” sans asked. “okay, go ahead and go through that gate. i’ll think of…something.”

“You’ll think of something?” Wirt asked.

“yeah, relax. i have some nice lamps you can hide behind.”

The gate bars weren’t big enough to block the four of them out. Without any other choice, Wirt ran through them.

There was a lamp out there. And even more surprisingly, it was human shaped. Not Wirt shaped, it was too short for that. Not Greg shaped, it was too thin for that.

sans muttered under his breath before he turned back to the others. “alright, maybe you can hide in my checkpoint?”

Wirt didn’t even get the chance. Before he could move, something was behind him.

“sup bro?” sans asked.

“YOU KNOW WHAT’S SUP BROTHER!” The newcomer snapped. “YOU STILL HAVEN’T RECALIBRATED YOUR PUZ—“

The newcomer’s eyes fell onto the three and he jumped back.

It was another skeleton. Much taller and angled than sans was, yet Wirt still didn’t feel bone-chilling terror at the sight of him. He was dressed in some strange armor, topped with an orange scarf that hovered behind him like cape.

“SANS!” The newcomer snapped. “ARE THOSE HUMANS?”

“uh…i think that’s a froggit, actually.”

The frog croaked.

“I’m a human!” Greg spoke up. “My name’s Greg and that’s Wirt and that’s my frog Thomas Jefferson but I’m thinking of changing it—”

“SANS! YOU FINALLY CAUGHT A HUMAN! AND TWO OF THEM! I’M SO PROUD OF YOU!” The newcomer said.

“uh…sure…”

The newcomer cleared his throat. Wirt wondered if he had one. “ATTENTION, HUMANS! YOU SHALL NOT PASS THIS AREA! I, THE GREAT PAPYRUS, WILL STOP YOU! I WILL THEN CAPTURE YOU! YOU WILL BE DELIVERED TO THE CAPITAL! AFTER THAT! I’M NOT SURE WHAT HAPPENS! IN ANY CASE, CONTINUE…ONLY IF YOU DARE! NYEH HEH HEH!”

They reached the next town by sunset. It was a tiny thing that is more farmland than houses, but that was not what intrigued Frisk.

There were skeleton monsters. Hundreds of them, really, disguised in costumes of pumpkin held together by straw. Frisk recognized them by the occasional gap that reveals bone, but more by their speech patterns.

They called for help, and were passed from one skeleton to the next until they reach the Pottsville Town City Commissioner, the biggest and meanest-looking of the group. He took a long look at Frisk, a longer look at the Cat, and welcomed them both to the party.

They also found the bluebird again. She kept her distance from the whole thing until Frisk invited her over. Even then, she was noticeably uncomfortable.

“Why are you even here? These guys are giving me the creeps,” said the bluebird.

Frisk shrugged.

Their a bit weird, but their really nice! They add in the notebook and show to her.

The bluebird made a face.

“Oh. You can’t talk, huh.”

There was a hint of disappointment in her tone, but Frisk is used to it, so they shrugged.

“I assure you, I am more than capable of speaking for the both of us,” said the Cat. There was a hint of something they did not recognize in his tone.

“Listen,” said the bluebird. “You’re still lost, right? I’m on my way to find Adelaide, the Good Witch of the Pasture. Maybe you can come with me, and maybe she could help you out too?”

The Cat made a noise as he starts to clean behind his ears dismissively.

“Forgive me for not being entirely trusting of women who say they have magic,” said the Cat.

Maybe she can help us find the beast, Frisk wrote down and showed to the both of them.

“What, you’re looking for that thing?” The bluebird asked.

Think he’s lost, like us, Frisk wrote.

The bluebird was silent for a minute.

“Well, you’re free to follow me, if you want,” she said quietly.

Great! Frisk wrote. My name’s Frisk, and the Cat doesn’t really have a name. What’s your name?

“Beatrice.”

The Snowdin Forest turned out to be easily navigable, even with the two skeletons trying to capture them. Greg handled the monsters, un-decorating the Gryphon and pretending to laugh at Snowdrake’s jokes.

Or maybe that was legitimate laughter. There were too many puns in the Underground for Wirt’s taste.

Wirt, meanwhile, worked on the puzzles. It was a generosity to call them puzzles, really. He was pretty sure the hardest one was the junior jumble. With puzzles like that, and with the fact that sans was never too far behind in case they needed some warmer clothes or help running away from the Jerry, it was hard to think of the skeleton brothers as anything but distractions.

Except for the fact that they were trying to kidnap them.

Toriel had tried to kidnap them, in a way. The ones that did not fight them would kidnap them in the end.

Wirt really hated the Underground.

Despite his bitter feelings, he was rather surprised to see Snowdin Town. It was a pleasant-looking town, with small buildings and Christmas decorations that lit the narrow streets. It looked too nice for a place in the Underground.

There was an inn. He didn’t quite know how time passed in the Underground, but it had been a long time since they had slept. The Snowed Inn—

Wirt rolled his eyes. It would have to do.

“Come on, Greg,” said Wirt. “We’ll stay here for the night and think about what to do in the morning.”

“It’s noon,” said Greg, but he still followed Wirt in. He was asleep before he was.

Frisk, on a general principle, did not like schools. They had too many bad memories of school, from the students that teased them to the teachers that let them get away with it. But when they saw the schoolhouse, and figured out that it was surprisingly easy to get in, they decided it was not a bad place to stay for the night. The Cat and Beatrice had not been happy about it, but they learned to deal with it when Ms. Langtree served the lunch meal.

Potatoes and molasses healed a surprising amount.

There were animal monsters. They made up most of the student population. They are more animal-like than the animal monsters in the Underground, the only thing that makes them look different from just an animal being their clothes.

They were silent when they speak. Frisk didn’t mind; so are they. Ms. Langtree did mind; she can teach and go on about without interruption.

When they do speak, it is with music. The music is not perfect, as inexperienced paws and claws play instruments that were not designed for them. But when they perform together it is a celebration. Even Beatrice recognized it. It does not take much work for Frisk to show them that everyone would recognize it.

They never figured out what happened to the gorilla monster that was running around, or that no good two-timing Jimmy. They school stays open.

Greg woke up before Wirt. This was not hard, considering they were only asleep for about an hour. The bunny lady made a point of paying him back for the room considering they barely used it. Greg spent the money on Nice Cream across the street.

“Come on, Lucinda,” said Greg to the frog, but mostly to himself. He would have to find a better name for the frog later. “Let’s go find Papyrus.”

The frog croaked in support.

It’s not hard to find Papyrus. He’s right at the end of the town, as the road becomes covered in fog. He was not hard to find, but he was hard to see. Greg wondered if that was intentional.

“HUMAN,” Papyrus took in a deep breath before he continued. “ALLOW ME TO TELL YOU ABOUT SOME COMPELX FEELINGS. FEELINGS LIKE…THE JOY OF FINDING ANOTHER PASTA LOVER. THE ADMIRATION FOR ANOTHER’S PUZZLE SOLVING SKILLS. THE DESIRE TO HAVE A COOL, SMART PERSON THINK YOU ARE COOL. THESE FELLINGS…THEY MUST BE WHAT YOU ARE FEELING RIGHT NOW.”

“You’re not wrong!” said Greg. And, because he wasn’t quite sure what Papyrus wanted but recalled that it was the same way Wirt would talk about Sara, “Does that mean you wanna go on a date with me?”

“WHAT!!? F-FLIRTING?!! SO YOU FINALLY REVEAL YOUR ULTIMATE FEELINGS!!! WELL, I AM A SKELETON WITH VERY HIGH STANDARDS!!”

“Well, I think Lucinda and I could make spaghetti if we really tried,” said Greg. The frog ribbited in agreement.

“OH NO!!! YOU’RE MEETING ALL OF MY STANDARDS!!! L-LET’S DATE LATER! AFTER I CAPTURE YOU!”

The fight began.

It was easy to dodge Papyrus’ attacks. Very easy. Most times, Greg did not have to try. However, he quickly ran out of things he could do to escalate the battle. He would have to rely on his mercy.

Papyrus noticed that.

“SO, YOU WON’T FIGHT BACK?” Papyrus asked. “THEN LET’S SEE IF YOU CAN’T HANDLE MY FABLED BLUE ATTACK!!!”

The Blue Attack also wasn’t hard to dodge. Greg learned from the cute Doggo with the bad eyesight how to remember blue stopsigns, and that’s all Papyrus is throwing at him. He doesn’t even have to move.

Until his Soul sinks to the ground.

“YOU’RE BLUE NOW. THAT’S MY ATTACK. NYEH HEH HEH!”

When Wirt woke up, he couldn’t find Greg. It was only about ten minutes after Greg had left, but he did not realize that at the time. He rushed out of the inn, ignoring whatever the bunny monster was saying about payment. He ran through the streets of Snowdin wildly, trying to look for any sign of Greg…

And he found him casually leaving a rather large shed, the frog in the kettle he used for a hat.

“Greg, where were you?”

“I lost against Papyrus, so he kidnapped me,” said Greg. “But he made the bars too big and he forgot to lock the door so I broke out. I’m a jailbird now, Wirt!”

Wirt wasn’t sure if he should feel relieved or annoyed. He settles for focusing on the one thing he knows: Papyrus was going to capture them. He may not be very effective at it, but he could.

“Alright, fine. I’ll fight him.”

Wirt didn’t realize he was wandering so deep into the fog it was already too late. He was ready to turn around when he saw a figure in front of him.

“HELLO BIGGER HUMAN! ARE YOU HERE TO FIGHT ME TOO?”

“You bet!” Greg said. “He’s way stronger than I am!”

“WHAT?!!! SMALLER HUMAN?!! YOU BROKE OUT OF MY PRISON?!!” Papyrus asked. “NEVER MIND! LET ME PROVE TO YOU JUST HOW STRONG AND POPULAR I AM!”

Papyrus blocks the path.

“Try flirting with him, Wirt!” Greg said.

“YOU TOO?! WHY DO HUMANS FLIRT SO MUCH?!!”

“No, I don’t—” Wirt starts.

WELL, I SUPOSE IT IS VERY PROBABLE THAT THE GREAT PAPYRUS HAS MANY ADMIRERS! BUT LET’S DATE LATER! AFTER I KIDNAP YOU!”

Wirt felt a sinking feeling in his chest. His Soul dropped to the ground.

“YOU’RE BLUE NOW. THAT’S MY ATTACK! NYEH HEH HEH!!!”

Wirt willed himself to pull his Soul off the ground. The next wave of bone attacks started up. A few collided into Wirt’s side before he could adequately dodge them.

“Jump, Wirt, jump!” said Greg from the sidelines.

Wirt jumped. His Soul followed him. He landed just as a slow moving bone crossed under his feet.

“HMM…I WONDER WHAT I SHOULD WEAR…” said Papyrus. “THE DATING RULEBOOK DOES EMPHASIZE THE IMPORTANCE OF CLOTHING…”

Another wave on bone attacks rushed towards Wirt. He jumped over it.

“DO I HAVE ANY MTT ANIME POWDER BACK AT HOME I CAN RUB BEHIND MY EARS?? DO I HAVE EARS???”

“Hey Papyrus!” Wirt said. “You still wanna go on that date? Because I imagine I can’t go if you kidnap me!”

“I DO SEE THAT, HUMAN!!!” said Papyrus. “BUT IMAGINE HOW MUCH MY POPULARITY WILL SKYROCKET IF I DO CAPTURE YOU!! UNDYNE WILL BE REALLY PROUD OF ME!! THE KING WILL TRIM A HEDGE IN THE SHAPE OF MY SMILE!!! MY BROTHER WILL….WELL, HE WON’T CHANGE THAT MUCH.”

Wirt only caught some of that. More bones launched themselves towards him with every thought.

“I WILL HAVE MANY ADMIRERS!! BUT…WILL ANYONE LIKE ME AS MUCH AS YOU DO??”

“I will!” said Greg.

Bones as tall as Wirt filled the area. Wirt jumped, and found himself sailing in the air. He soared over them, and landed back in the snow. His Soul landed with a thud.

“I really like you, Papyrus,” said Wirt. “So maybe we can just forget about this human capturing nonsense and go on a date?”

Papyrus hesitated. He looked down at the ground as he weighed his options.

“SORRY HUMAN…BUT SURRENDER OR FACE MY SPECIAL ATTACK!!!”

Papyrus stepped back as he unveiled his attack.

The dog looked back up at him.

“WHAT THE HECK! THAT’S MY SPECIAL ATTACK!”

Papyrus threw a few of the smaller bones towards the dog in annoyance. It scampered off, special attack in mouth and tail wagging wildly.

“Wirt! Wirt, Wirt!” said Greg. “Here, eat one of these, it’ll make you feel better!”

Greg ran out into the battlefield and took something out of his teapot hat. Wirt only had a second to really look at it. It looked like some kind of cinnamon roll, carefully pressed into the shape of a rabbit.

“SIGH…HERE’S AN ABSOLUTELY NORMAL ATTACK.”

More bones emerged from the ground, forming a forest around them. Wirt shoved the cinnamon bunny in his mouth, grabbed a hold of Greg, and jumped.

There was a horse monster. His name is Fred. He thinks he’s a lot meaner than he actually is. He does have a tendency to steal, however.

There were other humans. Frisk was less interested in them. They were very interested in Frisk, however. There were the customers of the tavern, who scrambled to label Frisk as something they weren’t. They settled on the young pilgrim, and Frisk decides to keep it because it does not assume what gender they are. There’s Mr. Quincy and Miss Margueritte and Frisk is disappointed to find out that they aren’t ghost monsters. They send Frisk away with some gold coins and some tea. The tea feels familiar for reasons that Frisk can’t quite place.

There were frog monsters. They are far better dressed than the Froggits of the Ruins. Frisk, the Cat, and Beatrice hop aboard their ship and are carried to the pasture. The band was nice.

They saw the Woodsman once more. They don’t know if the Woodsman saw them, however. He seemed very distracted.

None of them, however, seem to know if they are monsters. If they did slow down enough to see what Frisk was saying, they would usually interpret monster to mean a very bad thing, get offended, and wouldn’t wait for Frisk to explain what they meant. It was mostly the older not-quite-monsters who did this.

“I don’t know what you expect,” said the Cat while they were on the boat. “If you asked if I were a monster I wouldn’t have an answer for you.”

Frisk asked if the Cat was a monster. The Cat gave Frisk a lazy glare but did not say much else.

Frisk asked if Beatrice were a monster.

“What?” Beatrice was distracted when they asked. She had been distracted the entire boat ride. “No, I….I used to be human you know.”

Frisk hadn’t. They turned their head to the side, to indicate how they want to hear more.

“Well, that’s why I’m going to Adelaide’s. Not much else to say about it,” said Beatrice. “Listen, kid…are you sure you can’t just leave this Beast business behind you and try and find your way home on your own?”

Frisk tried to answer. They try to write down that they don’t know where home is to begin with, and they need to get back to the Underground. They try to write that if the Beast really is a monster, or if there are any monsters in this place at all, they could help.

But Beatrice notices that they’re writing stuff down and answers before they can even finish a word.

“Great, then we’re skipping Adelaide’s, maybe we can go back to Pottsfield, you like skeletons, right?”

She flew closer in to the crowd before they could answer back. The Cat gave Beatrice a steady glare, but did not say anything.

“Wow,” said Greg. “Nice shortcut.”

“thanks.”

The area where sans had taken him looked like a place that his dad had said he shouldn’t go into. However, it was so cozy and warm that Greg not think of a reason why he couldn’t go in. Even the monsters looked friendly. Even the man on fire at the front looked friendly.

sans guided him up to the bar in the front. He had to help pull him up on the high barstool.

“what sounds good, bucko?”

“Hmm...potatoes!”

“we got fries, kid.”

“That’ll do!”

“you heard it grillbz. double order of fry.”

The bartender gave as steady a glare as one without a face could give towards sans, but left to the kitchen. The three sat in silence. Even Ross Valory the frog was silent.

“so kid. been meaning to ask you something,” said sans.

The atmosphere suddenly grew very heavy. Ross Valory ribbited, but with something Greg didn’t understand.

But he liked sans, so he decided to give him the benefit of the doubt. “What’s up?”

“well, there’s been something i’m worried about,” said sans. “Papyrus told me something interesting the other day. when no one’s around, a talking flower likes to show up and talk to him. offer him things; flattery, advice…predictions. think someone might be using one of them echo flowers in the Waterfall to play a trick on him. and if i’m being real honest…i think it might be a human.”

Greg thought hard, and hummed as he did.

“Well, it can’t be either of us, because we just got here,” said Greg. “Were there any other humans in the Underground before us?”

sans sighed before he answered.

He grabbed the ketchup bottle off of the bar and drank it whole. Greg always wanted to do that. But Dad said that there was too much sugar in ketchup and it didn’t taste sweet anyway.

“Well, I don’t know about any Echo Flowers, but I’ll keep an eye out for that one Golden Flower that likes to play pranks on people,” said Greg. “Thanks for the eats, sans.”

Sans was silent when Greg walked away. The frog croaked and tugged on his overalls. Greg looked behind him just in time to see the absolutely bewildered expression on sans’ face.

Somehow, he didn’t find that funny.

#fic #Into the Unknown #Undertale #Over the Garden Wall #Frisk #Wirt #Greg #sans #Papyrus #the Frog #the Cat #Beatrice #featured

0 notes

advocatewrites-blog · 7 years

Text

Into the Unknown Part 2 Chapter 1

Into the Unknown

Fandom: Undertale, Coraline (book), Over the Garden Wall, Paranorman, Gravity Falls (season 2)

Start from beginning / Previous chapter / Next chapter

“WOWIE! YOU DID IT! YOU DIDN'T DO A VIOLENCE! TO BE HONEST, I WAS A LITTLE AFRAID. BUT YOU'RE ALREADY BECOMING A GREAT PERSON! I'M SO PROUD I COULD CRY. WAIT, WASN'T I SUPPOSED TO CAPTURE YOU...WELL FORGET IT! I JUST WANT YOU TO BE THE BEST PERSON YOU COULD BE. SO LET'S LET BYBONES BE BYBONES.”

Their hands are shaking as Papyrus leaves. It's hard to breathe, like she had just gotten out of the fiercest battles. They stand there for a long time after Papyrus leaves but they don't know why. Her knife clatters to the ground.

She doesn't know why she's done anything she has. She shouldn't have spared him. She should have killed him like the rest. In this world, it's kill or be killed. It's hurt or get hurt. She shouldn't have accepted his mercy, because he's going to hurt her just like the others. They all hurt her in the end never let them get close never show them mercy no mercy no mercy no mercy she calls for help

* But nobody came.

They wipe at their eyes, trying to remove tears they aren't crying. More Dust gets in them than before but it's a good feeling. It was just a mistake. They can go back and fix it.

They call for help.

She wonders how much longer they're going to keep this up. It shouldn't be much longer now, she thinks.

The end will be here soon. She will erase this world.

* Reset

Two are the Trees An Undertale/Over the Garden Wall crossover fanfiction By the Poor Sap Advocate

Chapter 1

“Antelope, Guggenheim, Albert, Salami, Giggly, Jumpy, Tom, Thomas, Tambourine, Leg Face McCullen, Artichoke, Penguin, Pete, …Steve…but I think the worst name for this frog is—“

“Wait, wait a second.”

Their surroundings were just becoming clear to him. It was dark, barely bright enough to see his brother in front of him. The only light came from above, and it looked miles away.

“Uh, Greg,” said Wirt. “Where are we?”

“Underground?” Greg offered.

“Weren’t we in the woods a few moments ago?” Wirt asked.

Greg hummed and thought, and turned to his frog for a second opinion. The frog let out a slightly confused croak.

“Nevermind,” said Wirt. “Let’s just…keep going the way we were.”

“I don’t think we can climb that high,” said Greg.

“No, Greg, I meant forward.”

And forward they went. The light in the caves grew as they travelled down the corridor, though Wirt couldn’t figure out why. It was becoming increasingly clear they were somewhere in a cave or underground or both, and the light source above was fading. Wirt could see almost everything in his way now, from the cave walls to the beds of flowers to the…

A golden flower, looking at them with a very confused expression.

“Hello Mr. Flower,” said Greg.

The flower made a face that Wirt couldn’t quite read.

“More of you? Really?” the flower asked. “Alright. Let’s get started then.”

It was dark, wherever Frisk ended up. It was also cold; not quite as cold as Snowdin, but cold enough that they tugged their sweater closer to them. The moon shone above them, so it’s not the Underground, and it was a quarter moon uneclipsed so it wasn’t the Other Toriel’s world. They are in a forest, so thick with trees that it’s hard to see if there was supposed to be a road. It’s something completely new to them.

Yet they still felt determined.

*File SAVED

They did not know how long they walk in the woods alone. It was hard to measure time when the only repeating pattern is stepping on twigs. Eventually, the repetitive sounds came from something hard smacking against wood. Frisk decided to follow that.

More sounds became audible as they walked closer. Sounds of breaking branches. Sounds of one moving around the ground. Sounds of humming, not so much a song as it was a march. Frisk only got close enough to see something humanoid walking away from the sight, the sounds carrying after them.

“Hey kid? What’re you doing out here?”

That sound came from behind the scene. Frisk had to turn around and crane their neck to see their addresser--a small bluebird perched on one of the higher branches.

“You’re not lost, are ya?” the bluebird asked.

Frisk shrugged. They had no idea where they were supposed to be heading anyway.

The bluebird groaned, and buried her face in her wing. “Well, do you need—?”

“WHAT ARE YOU DOING OUT HERE?”

Frisk froze at the voice. They stayed frozen as the light shines in their eyes. The bluebird murmured something and flies off but they did not quite hear it over the pounding of their heart. They did not unfreeze until the light of the lantern grew enough that they could make out the holder’s face. Just the woodsman from before. Frisk let themself wave a bit to be friendly.

The woodsman gives them a steady glare. “These woods are no place for a child like you. Don’t you know the Beast is afoot here?”

Flowers did not have faces. Goats were not bipedal and matronly. And there certainly wasn’t an entire society of monsters living under a mountain. Wirt was fairly certain of these things. At least, he had been up until fifteen minutes ago. He concluded that, in order for him to be seeing the flowers with faces and motherly goats, he must either be dreaming or going crazy. Possibly both.

Greg, however, had no problem accepting any of the things in his way. This did not surprise Wirt as much as it should. This whole Ruins area looked like it was something Greg had dreamed up.

This was all Greg’s stupid dream, Wirt decided, and he just had to get him through it.

“Come on Wirt!” said Greg. “They’re not too bad once you get to know them!”

The frog gave a croak in agreement.

“Greg, you just got out of a fight with a carrot!” said Wirt.

“Vegetoid was nice,” said Greg. “I don’t know what he wants me to do with all these vegetables though.”

The frog croaked again. This time Wirt wasn’t sure what it meant.

“It’s still a carrot,” said Wirt. “A-and a monster! You shouldn’t be anywhere near those things.”

“Okay. Why don’t you try then?”

Before Wirt could figure out what Greg meant with that, he found himself being pushed ahead. A Froggit blocked the way.

Wirt tensed up as the battle began and his Soul left his chest. The Froggit unleashed a few bullets that flew around like flies, but otherwise seemed uninterested.

“Pst,” said Greg in a way that was not actually meant to be quiet. “Trying complimenting her!”

It was worth a shot, Wirt decided.

“Listen,” said Wirt. “You look like a frog of decent logic, and we are but two lost souls in the Underground. Would you consider letting us pass?”

The Froggit seemed to think for moment. Wirt was pretty sure it was because it had no idea what he had said. It hopped away, leaving behind two coins.

“Uh, excuse me, you forgot your—“ Wirt started. Greg stepped in and grabbed the coins before he could finish.

“Greg, those aren’t ours,” Said Wirt.

“Sure they are!” said Greg. “It’s just like in a video game when you defeat an enemy!”

“Greg, this isn’t a game!”

“Why can’t it be?”

“Because it’s dangerous down here,” said Wirt.

“All the more reason to think of it like a video game!” said Greg. “Now come on, I think I’ve saved up for the Spider Cider.”

It took the Woodsman a while to figure out Frisk was just a lost kid in the woods. It took him even longer to realize they could not talk to him. It was easy to tell when he did. His tone grew softer, yet it was still full of worry. He asked if they knew where they were going, and when they answered no, offered them a place to stay at his house.

Well, it was not his house. It was the house that he used when he needed a roof over his head while he worked. Before him, the house had not been touched in a long time. Yet it was nice to be in a house Frisk did not recognize, so they ignored the smell of must and feathers.

“You may stay here for the night if you wish,” the Woodsman said. “But beware if you leave in the night. There is a Beast that lurks in these woods. Ever singing his mournful melody in search of lost souls such as yourself.”

Frisk wasn’t very good with words, but they knew what Beast meant. It was something like a monster…a monster! Was there a Monster out here? Could they know how to get back to the Underground?

“I’ve work to attend to in the mill,” the Woodsman said. “Do what you wish. You may find me in there.”

He threw another log on the fire for them, grabbed his lantern and left.

The frog did not have a name. Most frogs don’t, naturally. Names are things given to distinguish between humans. Frogs, especially frogs on the Surface, did not need them.

This frog, on the other hand, was no longer on the Surface. Yet he was still not given a name. Greg had yet to decide on one, and the frog was not in any hurry to have one.

He was quite curious about where he had ended up, however, so while the two brothers negotiated for baked goods at the spider bake sale, the frog decided to explore some more.

There were frogs in the Underground. Not real frogs; frogs of flesh and blood and grew from tadpoles. It was frog that was held together with magic.

“Hello traveler,” said the Froggit. Or, rather, the thing that lived under the Froggit.

The frog croaked a greeting.

“I do not wish to fight you,” said the Froggit. “Nor do I think any of the creatures in the Ruins anymore. You and your humans have been quite kind. However, I wish to ask you a question.

“Before you there was another human in the Underground. They were the first in a long time. They were usually quite kind to us, but something changed the last time they were here. I do not think they were quite themselves. I am not sure if they were safe. Have you any idea where they might have gone?”

The frog did not, and told him as much.

“I see,” said the Froggit. “Thank you. And if I may impart some advice, traveler of the Surface, be cautious of the old queen. She has lost a lot, and she is not always aware that she hurts because she is hurting.”

“Kitty!” Greg called. “Kitty! Now where is that frog named Kitty?”

The frog croaked to grab his attention.

“Oh there you are Kitty!”

Greg ran up and scooped the frog into his kettle.

“Hiya Froggit!” said Greg. “You’re looking fantastic today!”

The Froggit did not understand what he said, but blushed anyway. They dropped a little more gold than most Froggits do when they left.

Frisk spent the night. They left early in the morning, as the sun was beginning to rise. They did not see the Woodsman again.

They wondered if he ever left the mill after that, if he ever got sleep or if he went back out into the forest. They would have to find a way to thank him later. But most people, they realized, would come back when they needed them.

They stopped thinking as they heard something move in the woods. It was too big to be the bluebird, or even the Cat from the Otherworld. They braced themselves.

The fight started.

The thing that emerged was not a monster, or at least a monster they could recognize. It walked on all fours and towered above Frisk. It looked like a dog, but the way its fur stood up from all sides made the shape hard to distinguish. And its eyes…

The creature attacked first, lunging towards Frisk. They dodged. Their turn opened up, but all Frisk could think to do was compliment their eyes.

The creature was not flattered. It lunged again, swiping at Frisk. They dodged and jumped back. They tumbled in the creek.

The creek was not deep in the slightest. It did not hurt them too much to tumble into it, nor did it take them very long to pull themselves back up. But in the process, they left the fight.

Something else was fighting the creature. Something small and black that crawled over the creature and forced it back into the creek with them.

The creatures tumbled into the creek. A black turtle emerged, followed by a normal-looking dog.

Next out the creek came the Cat. He leaped out of the water in a blur of black. He shook himself dry the same way the dog did, and started to lick the rest of himself clean.

“There are few creatures I like,” said the Cat. “But dogs have a special place in hell for them.”

The dog noticed Frisk for the first time and rushed over. This time, its intentions were far more friendly. Frisk gave it a few decisive pats before it disappeared into the woods once again.

The Cat didn’t speak up until the dog was out of sight. Frisk watched him carefully.

“There are few creatures I like, but perhaps I was too quick to judge you.” said the Cat. “This world is…new, to me. Perhaps I would be willing to walk part of the way with you.”

He avoided making eye contact with Frisk. However, when Frisk extended a hand, he leaned into it and let himself get pat.

Wirt had not really meant to get into Toriel’s bedroom. He was looking for a way out. He had tried to find a way outside of the house, but the Ruins ended with Toriel’s house.

He wondered if that was deliberate.

Toriel’s room was ordinary. It was incredibly well kept, thought that did not surprise Wirt. It had been decorated with bookshelves and typhae, but it all looked so old and out of place that it was hard to believe Toriel put it in.

Wirt looked through everything. Through the sock drawer, the pots of plants, under the mattress. And he felt bad about it but what else was he supposed to do?

His eyes fell onto the diary on her desk. It was thick and full, but it was already turned today’s date. Something on the page had been circled in bright red ink.

Wirt swallowed as he leaned in closer to read it.

Why did the skeleton need a friend? Because she was feeling bone-ly!

“You know, perhaps I overestimated her abilities.” said Wirt to nobody.

Greg’s calls shook him out of his thoughts. The younger brother rushed into the room, the frog trailing behind him.

“Toriel’s gone!” Greg exclaimed.

“Gone?” said Wirt. “What do you mean, gone?”

“Well, she was sitting in Chariel and I asked her—“

“What, the chair? Why did you name her armchair and not your frog?”

“I didn’t name it!” said Greg. “But I asked her how do we leave the Ruins and she got up and said she had something to do but she’s been gone for five minutes now and I really wanted some of the butts pie!”

Toriel would know how to leave the Ruins. Why would she get so defensive the second Greg asked?

“Come on, we need to go find her.”

Author’s Note: Fall this year lasted about 2 minutes, so I’m really sad I didn’t get to watch Over the Garden Wall. I could watch it now, but it’s like watching Halloweentown during Christmastime; it loses some of the magic. But after this, I feel like I’ve watched it enough.

#fic #Into the Unknown #Undertale #Over the Garden Wall #Frisk #Wirt #Greg #the Cat #the Frog #Beatrice #Toriel #the Woodsman #featured

0 notes

advocatewrites-blog · 7 years

Text

Into the Unknown Part 1 Chapter 4

Into the Unknown

Fandom: Undertale, Coraline (book), Over the Garden Wall, Paranorman, Gravity Falls (season 2)

Start from beginning / Previous chapter / Next chapter

Chapter 4

“Why child,” said the Other Toriel. “Whatever do you mean?”

I need to go back to the Ruins, Frisk signed again. How do I leave?

The Other Toriel took too long to interpret Frisk’s signs. It was easy to tell when she was done. Her face became unreadable. Her body leaned into the counter. Fingers rapped rhythmically against the counter.

“I see,” said the Other Toriel in a way that showed that she did see but did not like it.

How about we play a game, Frisk signed, and see if I can’t find it?

“That, perhaps, would be too easy,” said the Other Toriel. “So how about this? I will hide three objects in the treasures I created for you. If you can find it before time runs out, I’ll let you leave.”

If I lose? Frisk asked.

“Then you stay here,” said the Other Toriel. “That sounds fair, doesn’t it?”

I won’t leave? At all? asked Frisk.

The Other Toriel didn’t say anything. That was answer enough. And if what the other sans said was any indication, then staying with her wouldn’t be safe. But Frisk was determined to fix things.

*File SAVED

Frisk nodded. They waited for the other Toriel to say something else, but when they looked up at her, she was gone. The sounds of tapping fingers were replaced by the sounds of a dripping faucet.

It was time that Frisk got ready. The other Toriel had created the whole other world, but she mentioned three treasures. That meant something here was different, beyond the people. Frisk had gone through the Underground enough to memorize it—it wouldn’t be that hard to find something different.

But the other sans had said that she wouldn’t play nice. That was what Frisk had to prepare for.

They reequipped their Stick and Bandage, added some of the leftover food in the house to their inventory, and left the house.

The chase with Coraline had not ended when Papyrus called them. That was hardly the beginning. The chase continued through the Waterfall and into a new area called Hotland.

And Undyne continued to chase her until she got to the new area Hotland. Until she stopped.

Coraline hardly noticed the end of the chase until she heard the sound of heavy armor meeting with the ground. She turned back to Undyne, who was now against the ground.

In that moment, any ill will she had against Undyne faded away. Coraline’s mind raced to think of anything she could do to help. Out of the corner of her eye, she spotted a water cooler. Before she could even think on why there was a water cooler present, it occurred to her. Undyne was a fish monster. She probably couldn’t breathe in Hotland. The mass of heavy armor wasn’t exactly helping.

Coraline raced over to the water cooler, filled up a cup as fast as she could, and tossed it onto Undyne’s face.

At first, Coraline wasn’t sure if it had helped at all. However, as the water hit Undyne’s gills, she began to stir again. She pulled herself back up and glanced directly at Coraline. A world of emotions passed through Undyne’s eyes, not all that Coraline read. Just as Coraline thought she had to run away again, Undyne turned around and walked away.

The first treasure was easy enough to figure out. The Other World was very much like the Underground, but the Other Toriel mentioned specifically three treasures—things that would be different. The very first one Frisk saw was right outside the door, in the expansive garden that Mr. Dad Guy worked on.

They raced through the flower field, ignoring the snapdragons and tiger lilies that snapped at their feet and tried to catch them in their vines. Frisk had dealt with enough mean flowers to know how to manage them.

The flower beds produced nothing. Nor did the fields of water sausage that surrounded the house on the edge of the garden. Just as Frisk was starting to get worried, they felt their soul grow heavy.

A blue attack.

“HELLO HUMAN!” The other Papyrus said. “I’M HERE TO CAPTURE YOU AGAIN!”

The other Papyrus blocks the way.

Fights were never easy, but Frisk had learned. It was not any different than a video game. They just had to know their target, and know their moves.

The menu they imagined came into view. Something else caught their eye. A flash of white, towards the tree.

The blue attack faded on their Soul, and they ran towards the tree. They reached their fingers into the knot hole. Inside was something small and round, and when held against the colors of the flower bed, looks like it was sketched in with a pencil.

“Papyrus, have you caught the human yet!?” Undyne’s voice called.

It wasn’t an item, they realized. It was a target?

“NO!” The Other Papyrus said. “THEY’RE QUITE CUNNING! I CAN SEE WHY MY OTHER SELF WOULD HAVE A PROBLEM FIGHTING THEM!”

There was a Soul inside.

“WHAT? Then let me handle the twerp!”

Spears replaced the bones. The tree shattered as they pierced, and Frisk scrambled to get out of the way in time.

The tree wasn’t the only thing in the garden falling apart. The flowers lost their colors and wilted. Water sausages fell to the ground and crumbled to ash. Frisk found the dirt they stood on form into the uneven tile of the Ruins.

Undyne’s turn ended, and Frisk fled.

“HEY! GET BACK HERE, YOU PUNK!” Undyne called.

Hotland was difficult to navigate through, for a number of reasons. Even with her raincoat off, the heat was unbearable. The puzzles were much more difficult than what Papyrus had created, as low as bar as that might be. It actually helped out Coraline a lot, since few monsters were willing to attack her once they realized she was there to fix the puzzles.

There was also a killer robot chasing her.

The phone vibrated, and Coraline pulled it out of her pocket.

Alphys posted a picture: Dinner with the girlfriend ;)

It was a picture of a catgirl figurine next to a bowl of instant noodles.

Dr. Alphys also wouldn’t stop texting her. It wasn’t that Coraline wasn’t unappreciative of what Alphys was doing to help her. It was nice to have someone else in the Underground that just wanted to help

COOLSKELETON95 posted a picture: ARE WE POSTING HOT “PICS???” HERE IS ME AND MY COOL FRIEND!

It was a picture of Papyrus flexing in front of a mirror. He is wearing sunglasses. Giant, muscular biceps were pasted on to his arms. They were also wearing sunglasses.

Coraline slowed down as she realized Hotland was starting to cool down. She had walked away from the lava pits that filled the Core and into a new area, and for the first time in the Underground, she had to crane her neck to see what was above her. A hotel building, nearly double of what her house was. A logo of two Metattons with wings decorated the front.

sans stood in the doorway.

“hey there kid,” said sans. “thought i’d catch up with you here. heard you’re going the core. care to catch dinner with me first?”

Coraline looked over the building again.

“In there?” Coraline asked, pointing specifically to the logo.

“ah, don’t worry about him. for a killer robot, he’s all bark and no bite.” Said sans. “i perform in here all the time. that’s how i was able to get reservations.”

Coraline wanted to question him further, but her growling stomach betrayed her on this one. She hadn’t had a proper meal since she left Toriel’s house. Papyrus’ friendship spaghetti didn’t count.

“Sure,” said Coraline.

“great, thanks for treating me,” said sans. “over here, i know a shortcut.”

Frisk didn’t stop running until they found their next hiding spot. The closest building they could freely enter was Undyne’s house. They threw themselves in and slammed the door behind them.

It would be safe. But not forever. They had to think of something else.

Frisk pulled the treasure out of their sweater pocket and quickly checked it.

“You did it,” a voice whispered in her ear. “There’s still two more of us, and the other one is close by. Hurry!”

Spears skewered through the front door. Frisk locked it. They would just have to be quick, then.

They rummaged through the various drawers in the kitchen. They knocked over the pots and pans and fruit basket and overturned every container of tea they could find. Their attention turned to the piano, the last thing they expected Undyne to have in her house, and found it supporting the stool.

As soon as they pulled it out, the stool and the piano collapsed. Frisk dodged as broken keys and piano wire erupted from the device. The pots and pans clattered against the counter and flung themselves at Frisk.

Just another bullet pattern. It passed too fast for them to think of the command menu, but it was easy enough that they didn’t need to.

Out of the corner of their eye, Frisk saw something else. The stove was moving. The oven was preheating. The dials on the stove began to turn, and turn even faster.

Frisk decided it was time to leave.

They ran out of the house just as it caught on fire.

They didn’t have long to watch the house burn down. No sooner had they found a safe place to stand away from the fire, the flames died as the house turned to dust and ash. The cave walls of the fake Waterfall crumbled and fell onto a ground that wasn’t there anymore.

Their relief of their escape was short lived. Frisk looked around, trying to find the other Papyrus and Undyne.

The area grew dark.

Darker.

Yet darker still.

They stood in the distance, but something was off. Frisk took a turn to check them and found their health depleting rapidly.

“Goodbye human!” called the Other Papyrus, in a voice that hardly resembled the real Papyrus, as he fell into the ground.

Frisk waited for a moment until they weren’t moving to get closer. Plastic bones, yarn, ripped fabric and buttons filled the places where the Other Undyne and the Other Papyrus had stood.

Fake, Frisk realized. They were just toys that the Other Toriel was done with now, and so she had broken them. The whole world was fake. All the reason to get out of here quicker.

The sky grew dark overhead. Frisk looked up, and saw a shadow move over the moon.

“so, your journey’s almost over, huh? you must really wanna go home.”

“Wouldn’t be heading home,” Coraline mumbled to her vegetables. It was still monster food and it still turned to dust in her mouth, but somehow it was still filling. Somehow, it was better than whatever her dad decided to experiment with.

“no?” asked sans. “then why go through all this trouble, buddo?”

“I’m heading back to where I live now, but it isn’t home,” said Coraline. “I moved to a place called the Pink Palace about a week ago. I’m going back to see my mom and dad.”

Sans nodded, although it looked like he didn’t quite understand. Moving to a faraway place probably wasn’t common in the Underground, Coraline realized.

“that makes it sound even worse,” said sans. “c’mon kid, down here you already got food, friends, drink…is what you gotta do even worth it?”

“If it were Papyrus, would you do it?” Coraline asked.

“I would do anything if it meant Papyrus was safe,” said sans. It came off unusually serious, so he added “ah, forget about it. i’m rooting for ya, kid.”

Silence fell between them. Sans shifted his gaze ever so slightly, as if he were lost in thought. Coraline decided to break the silence.

“Hey sans,” said Coraline. “What ever happened to the last human that fell down here?”

“told ya. never met ‘em. too young.”

“You said Papyrus was too young,” said Coraline. “So did you see them or not?”

Sans looked away again. Coraline was prepared to ask him again, but stopped when he turned back.

“I made some poor judgements. Don’t intent to do that again.” sans said. “sorry, kid, that’s just a sore subject.”

“Don’t you think you should give them another chance?” Coraline asked.

Sans stared at her, the pinpricks of light in his eye flickering.

“I mean, if Papyrus hadn’t given me a second chance and decided not to capture me, I wouldn’t be here,” said Coraline. “And if I hadn’t decided to give Papyrus a second chance, we wouldn’t be friends.”

“heh. guess that’s true,” said sans. “but you know, some things aren’t worth forgiving.”

“When I first came to the Underground,” said Coraline. “I was in a place called the Ruins. And there was a woman there who helped guide me through the Ruins and taught me how puzzles worked and made sure I wouldn’t attack another monster. And she took me to her house and gave me a place to sleep and food to eat. But she didn’t want to let me go. She was willing to destroy the door to the Ruins before she let me go home.

“And we fought. I won and I spared her, but I realized after the fight that she didn’t want me to stay because she wanted to hurt me. She wanted me to stay because nobody had ever made it through the Underground safe. Because she was lonely, and tired of losing children in her life. So before I left, I told her that I wasn’t mad at her and I forgave her, but I still had to go back home to my real family. So maybe sometimes someone does something bad, but they have good intentions behind it.”

Sans watched Coraline as she finished her story. The pinpricks in his eyes returned to normal, and his smile drooped ever so slightly. He took a sip from his drink, and Coraline watched as it fell out of his ribs.

“you said this woman’s safe, right?” asked sans.

“Yes,” said Coraline.

“and what did you say her name was?”

“Toriel.” Coraline said. It sounded more like a question. That was the last thing she expected him to say.

A light blue shade appeared on sans’ cheek bones. Was he blushing?

“well, i’ll keep that in mind,” said sans. “take care of yourself, kid. cause someone really cares about you.”

The treasure wasn’t part of the sled. It wasn’t that Frisk was expecting it to, anyway. If the treasure wasn’t on the sled, however, then it meant that it was somewhere on the route that Frisk had taken. Even with a crumbling world, that would take forever to find.

But they were already winning. They would have plenty of time to look. They were determined to win.

*File SAVED

It was harder to climb up the high hills of Snowdin without the other Papyrus carrying them, or the other sans lending them their jacket. It didn’t help that the snow was hardly snow anymore, so much as it was a cottony substance that felt dry on their skin and turned to dust as the stepped on it. Yet they managed to climb it, and it was only once they were safely on the sled and ready to launch themselves did the hill collapse and crumble.

It was even harder to steer the sled as it fell apart. Frisk once again found themself thrown in the air…

…and once again landed on hard tile.

They pulled themselves up. They were back in the Judgement Hall. And someone was in front of them.

“Heya kid.” The other sans said in a voice that did not sound like sans. “Thought you might show back up here.”

The other sans was in a sorry state, though not as bad as his brother. Yarn ran through his entire body, holding limbs in place and keeping his smile wide. Only his button eyes seemed to be movable by his own will, and they did not look happy.

“Sorry kid,” said the other sans. “Just following orders.”

The other sans blocks the way. Frisk felt themself grow stiff, though not by blue magic.

A wave of bones raced towards them.

*Game over

*Load SAVE file

The other sans does not want to fight you

*Game over

*Load SAVE File

The other sans is sorry.

*Game over

*Load SAVE file

The other sans is so so sorry.

*Game over

*Load SAVE File

The other sans wishes you would stop this

*Game over.

*Load SAVE File

The other sans does not want to fight you

*Game over

*Load SAVE File

The shadow of a button was nearly covering the moon.

I won’t fight you anymore, Frisk signed.

“You gotta do something kid,” said the other sans. “What else was this all for, then?”

Frisk didn’t know how to answer. A new wave of bones came their way.

“ in;mso-b !”

The attack was interrupted. Something now blocked Frisk’s path.

idi-fon�|҃�w6 enters the fight.

The soul is in this room, Gaster signed. Now hurry.

It took Frisk a minute to figure out what he was talking about, and another to get their feet to move properly. They ran a quick check around the room, and found it in the back corner where they kept their Save Point.

“You know he doesn’t blame you, right?” said the other sans.

“ fon�|҃ ,“ said Gaster.

There was a rush of bones, and the battle was over.

The other sans’ body did not turn to dust, as sans’ might. It fell apart much like the other Papyrus’ did, and yarn and bones scattered the room that was no longer a room.

And Frisk watched in horror.

I am sorry, Frisk. Gaster signed.

That wasn’t what Frisk was afraid of.

Author’s Note: Sorry for the late update. Believe it or not, I had to do my fair share of the cooking last night and didn’t finish up until after midnight. If you’re stateside, enjoy your Thanksgiving. If you’re anywhere else in the world, have a good day!

#fic #Into the Unknown #Undertale #Coraline #Frisk #Coraline Jones #the Other Mother #Undyne #sans #Gaster #Alphys #Papyrus #featured

1 note · View note