#proximity to the dreemurrs...

[hoppips]

whoa there's an ant in my documents folder

[musashi]

I very much appreciate your valiant Carol Holiday Defense

Because while I do dislike Carol, due to how Noelle is. Not Doing Great and how Carol is at least in part responsible for that, I also- even more than I dislike Carol- dislike how a lot of people are going about disliking her, so you are actively sparing me from the phenomenon of having to Defend The Thing You Don't Like

Like, I want to discuss how the way that Carol has responded to Dess' disappearance/possible assumed death (because it's not really clear if anyone other than Noelle believes that she's alive which is Cool but also Angst) has affected Noelle and Kris and their ability to heal from that loss, but that's hard when people's perspective on Carol is just "Abusive mother" and not "Grieving mother whose methods of coping with her older daughter's absence and husband's terminal illness is having negative effects on her daughter (And also the close family friend of Kris who may have been in some way involved in the Dess Thing)"

Thank you for helping correct the misunderstandings around her character, because there's so much that could be analyzed that just. Isn't, and can't be, because people refuse to actually engage with her character

fandom's lack of nuance has been hell on earth to exist in proximity to for the past like, half a decade when all the covid normies joined in. what kills me is how often you see this in fandom where the characters and themes of the story encourage deep thinking about that nuance. without fail, every time, it goes right over everyone's heads.

carol holiday's biggest crime is that she is so lost within herself that she cannot see how pushing her daughter is not helping her. she clearly cares about noelle and wants her to succeed and come into herself, but her methods of trying to draw that strength out of noelle are only making her recede into herself more. none of that is because carol is an abusive mother who is cruel to her daughter, all of that is because carol is 1. a grieving victim who probably does not have a good handle on herself, and 2. simply a person who is imperfect, just like anyone else.

will this affect noelle in the long-term? yes! does noelle likely have complicated feelings about her mother? abso-fucking-lutely! but we literally do not know enough about carol to be making such a severe call on who she is as a person like. its driving me crazy. all we know about her is incredibly sympathetic, as well!

paranoid: her daughter is dead/missing

controlling: her daughter is dead/missing

cold and cruel to susie: you mean the strange girl in her house, with the reputation for being a dangerous bully, who is PLAYING HER DEAD DAUGHTER'S GUITAR?

has a favourable opinion on the dreemurrs: uh, yeah, duh.

tends to throw herself into her work at the expense of her relationships: SHE IS GRIEVING. THIS IS A FORM OF COPING. THIS IS LITERALLY WHAT I DO. IT DOESN'T MEAN I DON'T CARE ABOUT MY LOVED ONES AND IT DOESN'T MEAN THAT FOR CAROL EITHER.

she is hurting her daughter. but she can do that without being abusive. people hurt people they love and want to protect/nurture all the time. that's a part of existing. literally an unavoidable part of the human experience. a grieving mother with no social support who is desperately trying to keep her shit together and run a town, who comes home every night to two empty fucking rooms belonging to her dead daughter and sick husband, IS PROBABLY GOING TO FUCK UP A BIT AND MAKE SOME SERIOUS MISTAKES. if she was Normal about any of this she wouldn't be realistic or interesting.

carol holiday resembles my shitty abusive mom in every way shape and form. she looks like her, talks like her, acts like her, saves face like her. but judging the content of her character based on something as fucking stupid as "she acts like my mom i hate" is the most mind-numbingly stupid fucking take on a character i think i could ever have, and i'm 30 years old and pay taxes and my shitty dead mom really doesn't factor into how i engage with Story.

the people saying the end of the weird route "proves" she's the knight is the dumbest shit in the world too. because she called kris. and has a completely unique speech bubble from the mysterious voice that's been calling kris previously. somehow this proves something. don't fucking ask me what.

i am so tired.

[fawnspotholiday]

honestly when Noelle said Kris and hers relationship was forced I immediately knew it was because their older siblings had a thing and so they were "forced" together in a sense bc they were both obsessed with them and shadowed them, and probably bonded over wanting more attention from onii/oneesan haha.

OR it could also be that the dreemurrs and holiday family were friends and thus naturally "forced" their children together by proximity/they were chosen as preferred playmates for the others.

its probably a combination of these things

in either case, Noelle doesn't feel Kris came into her life out of choice. But, it doesn't change the affection that grew from growing up together imo. It's just an easy way to downplay/dismiss what Kris means to her as Susie seems taken aback by it/is probably a bit jealous.

[wherez-my-coffee]

While I'm reading horrortale I am creating a player character with their own story on the side, to explain how the whole Queen Sans AU is gonna happen, I already have a design in mind, so I am making a short list of my first ideas i have for them here. (Spoiler alert, the list became longer than I thought it would be):

They are an AU creator and artist, who loves their creations a lot, they used to spend a lot of time creating AU's while they were younger.

They had to go on a hiatus for a while to focus on studying and stuff, causing error to destroy 2-3 of their AU's while they were gone.

When they came back, they found out about this and it caused them to become paranoid about AU destroyers, causing them to want to become an more active AU protector.

They created an avatar that they could use for combat and to interact with other AU's, they made so that the AU's they create are connected to their avatar, if they go offline their AU's also go offline alongside them, not allowing anyone to go in or out, and you're physically incapable of entering or leaving in any way, shape or form, not even teleporting is allowed.

Thanks to their paranoia they also made a whole team of AU's protectors just in case, they're clones of characters from the player's AU's and each of them have their own names to differ them from each other, all of the clones are: 3 Undynes, 2 Asgores, 2 papyrus' and 1 recent new member, which is the Sans that they created by accident, the names of the Undynes are: "Vitória, Julia and Anabela." The names of the Asgores are "Hugo and Arthur." And the Papyrus' are "Emanuel and Joseph." And the Sans doesn't have a specific name because he asked to keep the Sans name, this will change later on, but not now.

The clone's original names became their surname, so for example the Asgores are named: "Hugo Asgore Dreemurr" and "Arthur Asgore Dreemurr", this goes for everyone in this team except the player of course.

They're able to shape shift, they use this ability to automatically turn into swap Papyrus every time error sans is in near proximity, or using a portal to watch them. They also use this to express themselves, specially their teeth. Can't wait to show the design when it's ready.

This is it for now, I want to make their design some time, I hope it's easy to make at my current level, because it's very cool what I have in mind.

[smile-files]

kris - headcanons, theories, and analysis (a jumbled mess from yours truly)

kris has selective mutism and is semi-verbal: they have the capability of speech, but the extent to which they are willing and eager to speak at any given moment is highly dependent on their current mental state as well as the people around them. generally speaking, kris is not very talkative and infrequently starts or participates in conversation, even when in the presence of people they are comfortable with and when feeling fine; it is noted, though, that kris only ever actively wants to speak and is eager to do so in such situations -- when uncomfortable, kris will not speak unless direly necessary (and even then, their ability to speak is not guaranteed). also worthy of note is how unexpressive kris's face tends to be; they rarely wear anything other than a blank expression. exceptions only occur under extreme, catastrophic distress, or when around friends and family -- kris has been known to laugh, especially since they would like making mischief.

in kris's youth, they had close, warm relationships with their adoptive mother, toriel, their adoptive father, asgore, their adoptive brother, asriel, their next-door neighbor and friend, noelle, and, to a slightly lesser extent, noelle's sister, dess, and father, rudy. while still quiet most of the time, kris would actively want to speak to them on some occasions, and would often be happy to point out things to them (kris is a very observant person, noticing small details in their environment) and play games that had some minor speaking component (such as playing a video game in which comments are often exchanged between players). given their emotional proximity to kris, these individuals knew kris well enough to have a general sense of how they were feeling, even in moments when kris wasn't in the mindspace to speak; asriel and noelle could tell what kris was feeling better than anyone else, asriel especially understanding why kris felt what they did (noelle always knew what kris felt, but often didn't understand why they were feeling it and required an explanation kris wasn't able to provide), and so kris was very attached to them. however, this attachment was wrought with insecurity: asriel was growing up, soon to leave for college, and a well-beloved golden boy; noelle was always leagues better than kris in school, and a darling, endearing girl; kris couldn't help but fixate on asriel and noelle leaving them someday.

unfortunately, a cascade of events eventually pulled the majority of kris's loved ones away from them, including azzy and noelle. dess disappeared, splintering the relationship between kris's family, the dreemurrs, and noelle's family, the holidays; kris and noelle began to grow apart as their families lost touch; asgore was fired from his position as police chief, and toriel divorced him; finally, asriel went off to college. the only close connection kris maintained from their childhood was toriel -- and even if toriel never understood them quite as thoroughly as azzy or noelle, kris was still strongly attached to her and her ability to understand them at all, to the point that, in the absence of anyone else to connect with, kris became very clingy to her. kris has been massively lonely and depressed, fixated on the great time asriel must be having in college and how happy and beloved noelle seemed to be -- while they've been alone, with nobody to truly know how they feel when they're uncomfortable. oh, and how often kris is uncomfortable! basically friendless, constantly sleep-deprived, and harboring a hidden self-loathing stewing in their soul since their childhood… since asriel moved away, kris has been quieter than ever, unable to express the pain festering within. they were never that expressive, but that seemed to have come to a head, with kris becoming almost completely unresponsive to any emotional stimuli. kris seemed completely unfazed by susie's cruel bullying when she joined the class… however, her words seemed to strike a chord deep, deep within them, and they couldn't help but laugh.

since the player has taken control over kris's soul near the beginning of the game, however, kris's verbal "self"-expression has increased. the player can compel kris to speak -- not only in moments where kris would choose to speak themselves, in which the player just directs what it is they are to say (possibly contradicting what kris wants to say), but also in moments where kris would be uncomfortable and wouldn't even be willing to speak at all. the player seems to not have control over kris's facial expression, however -- so, despite having suppressed most show of emotion in recent months, kris now has the chance to take advantage of their ability to communicate their true feelings through their face, and might well seize it… though, why would kris not take the player's manipulation as another sign from above that they will never be understood? why even try? regardless what they think, though, a certain primal desire to be understood overrides any logic or loss of hope: like always, if disturbed enough, kris's face will show it; likewise, if something strikes their funny bone -- or if it strikes a chord deep, deep within them -- kris will laugh.

kris, no matter what, does not like being suppressed, and even if the player isn't hurting them (which can certainly, certainly happen), kris will have some negative opinion of them. they want to be loved and understood for who they truly are, more than anything else in the world, and the player, even if unintentionally, is actively undermining that. if we imagine some alternate timeline, where kris made friends with ralsei and susie all on their own, that friendship having formed at all would imply that kris believes that ralsei and susie either do or will love and understand kris for who they truly are; why would kris become friends with them otherwise? in this hypothetical, kris would learn that they aren't truly alone, and that there are always people to connect and relate to, if they believe they're capable of being understood -- that they don't have to wait forever for people like asriel. however, as the "friendship" kris has with ralsei and susie is entirely manufactured by the player and the game, it is little more than a distant dream. as we control kris's body and words, it's as if kris's self is watching what "they" do from within themselves, looking at the friendships "they" have and wishing they were truly theirs: it is dissociation, a feeling that these relationships aren't real.

at the same time, though, kris desires these relationships as they currently are, even in their apparently empty state, or wants to desire them; kris desires a world in which they aren't constantly craving understanding, in which closeness was taken for granted, in which they were open and talkative, in which, perhaps, they were a different person who isn't such a weird, quiet loser. this is what the player provides; this is what the dark world provides; this is what the game provides. the dark world is a game that kris is playing: it is doubtful that kris summoned the player to control them, but the player's control is what gives kris these relationships, and so, in some strange way, kris might desire the player as much as they hate the player. kris has never been good with people, but now they can be piloted by someone who, via the game (which, notably, is a path ralsei sets for us: the prophecy), follows a relatively stable path in which they must be good with people. chapter 1 always ends with kris being "friends" with ralsei and susie, with kris doing the "right thing", with kris being "happy". perhaps kris can come out of chapter 1, half-satisfied with having lived vicariously through themselves. chapter 2 is largely the same for basically every player, and would perhaps result in noelle genuinely, earnestly reconnecting with kris (kris themselves) through their adventure in the dark world; however, if the player tries hard enough to defy the game's path, they can force kris to do terrible things to people: to emotionally abuse noelle right as she was about to rekindle something with kris, manipulating her into killing someone. this, obviously, would f*ck kris up, the main reason for which need not even be spoken. but there is something more subtly tragic about it all: that the one genuine, non-vicarious, non-player relationship kris might foster through the game -- their faded friendship with noelle -- was forcibly dashed on the rocks with kris's own, puppeted hands. is that not horrible?

no matter what path the player makes kris take in either chapter, kris removes their soul each night (twice during chapter 2) and, shambling like a silent zombie, performs some impulsive, violent act with their knife -- cutting a pie, slashing toriel's car tires, or opening a dark fountain. worthy of note is that the soul the player controls is still kris's soul, and yet they are willing to literally remove their soul, the culmination of their being, to be free of us from a little while. in two of three cases, kris clearly returns the soul to their body; in the third at the end of chapter 2, they hold it up as their handmade dark fountain billows smoke, and it is ambiguous what they do with it. are they gazing at it in awe, or glaring at it in disgust? how much do they need the soul, and how much can they act without it? will they return it to their body? the player, the dark world, and the game are what allow kris to reconnect with noelle -- or break her. in the former case, kris might be opening a dark fountain in the hopes that perhaps more good will come out of this strange system of control at which they are centered; in the latter, they might be opening it to spite the player's attempts at closing dark fountains, in accordance to ralsei and the game's will. true, the path that leads kris to manipulate noelle is one that defies the game's central intent -- but the game still allowed it to happen, tantalizing the observant player with a secret route. or, in both cases, kris just might want to create a dark world where their mother is present, given that the dark world has either brought people closer to them, or left them completely alone…

[quillheel]

@decaysate // x

KRIS HAS NEVER LIKED WINTER. in the weather's shift of changing seasons, the chill sinks in too deep, too quickly; the heat overwhelms too stark, too fraying. it's an imbalance that's been described to them as a ' human thing ' a thousand times over. even if it is, they decided young it's a pretty damn stupid 'human thing', but it's one that's been ever-present through their life with the Dreemurrs & the Holidays, the evergreen and the snow-touched, in parallel.

they wished however, with an abyssal amount of shame, that it was not so; now especially. as they rip off their gloves, december spearing them and body half too cold, half too warm, and only a few fretful yards from noelle after stepping out from school. the air rushed past their still-looping scarf; the time dressing inside enough to make them sweat under their layers, this frostbite-heatwave curse. panting like a dog, they only notice their proximity all too late, & red-faced, rescind away like a rose wilting.

sorry, they don't say, but do try to beam telepathically to noelle's mind, half tempted to go back into school altogether — well. if that wasn't more attention grabbing, anyway. — and settling to edge further away. not running. that'd be weird to do around a friend. ( a friend you haven't spoken to for years. is she still your friend ? )

it's not like it matters, though. you're already weird.

[annaraebananawriter]

I’m Right...Right?

Yellow everyone! Here, have a Nightmare centered oneshot! Yep, that’s right: Nightmare. This is mostly because of @dreemurr-skelememer‘s drawing of an argument between the brothers that just vibed with me so much, I had to write an aftermath type thing from what I think Nightmare would react. Hope you enjoy!

Fandom: Undertale, but specifically Dreamtale

Characters: Nightmare (Who belongs to Joku)

Warnings: Self-hatred, language and I think that’s it? Let me know!

Word Count: 1579

~oOo~

The sound of the portal echoed in his ears. He stared at the last place his brother was, not moving, not blinking as he left. The clearing fell into an uneasy quiet, like it too shared his feelings of surprise and anger over what had just happened. He couldn’t even hear any wind. It was, if he was honest, unreal.

Nightmare stared. He stared and stared, although he had no clue why.

He stood there, chest heaving and yet not hearing his breathing; the static in his head too loud.

He should leave. He had no reason to remain here, so the logical thing to do would be to open up a portal, just like Dream did, and leave, forgetting this ever happened. His boys would distract him from thinking about this further with all their games and chaos they do when they aren’t battling. Soon, he would forget this ever happened, just like Dream would. Soon, they would be back to their regular fights, regular taunting and banter, regular pleas and arguments.

Soon…everything would go back to normal.

…

…

…

However…

“You were everything to me…” Broken voice. Tears running down, never-ending. Desperate for an answer that Nightmare couldn’t give because—

…something tells him that won’t happen.

His legs felt as though they were rooted to the ground or as if they hadn’t moved in hundreds of years, probably like Dream’s did after he broke free of that stone prison—he pushed that thought down into the depths of his mind. It wouldn’t help him now. He begged and strained to move them, to step away, turn away from the spot burning into his mind. It didn’t work. Nothing worked.

Which meant there was nothing keeping his thoughts from pouring out of the dam in his mind. Thoughts he had forced down for years, ever since he ate the first apple. Thoughts of regret, guilt, misery and grief and so much more. Thoughts he had hoped he would never think again.

However, the more he stayed, the more he stared, the larger the cracks grew. They grew and grew until the dam cracked and crumbled away, the stream pouring, flooding his mind.

“EXCUSE ME?!” Angry. (Never angry) Hurt. (Not supposed to be) Disbelief. (Nightmare doesn’t understand) “Everything I DID, I DID FOR YOU! Everything I MADE, I MADE FOR YOU!”

Nightmare twitched.

“I DID NOTHING BUT ASK YOU OVER & OVER WHAT WAS WRONG!” Tears of anger and rage. (Not sadness or happiness, the two from before) Hurt voice. (Like he couldn’t understand what Nightmare was thinking) Broken, just…Broken (Nightmare can’t understand) “BUT YOU KEPT LYING TO ME AND NOW YOU SAY THIS?!”

Liar, his mind whispers. Liar! What does he know about anything? He’s always been and forever will be a naïve, selfish, attention-seeking little goody two shoes. He’d done nothing but ignore us in favour of some strangers! He—

“Do…do you think I don’t feel bad…?” (don’t, not your fault) Quiet. (Not supposed to be.) Wrong. (Wrong, wrong, wrong) Ache. (Don’t understand)

Wrong, his heart shouts and aches in retaliation, buried deep beneath walls of stone. Wrong, wrong, wrong! He’s our brother. He always prioritized our feeling and needs over his own. Yes, he went and helped the village and left us alone, but we never told him a thing of what we went through; otherwise, you know he would’ve stayed and protected us! How would he know to stay behind when he viewed our abusers as friends?

“Do you…do you think I never…cared…?” (no) Breaking. (Not supposed to) Aching. (Don’t, can’t, don’t, can’t) Wrong. (Wrongwrongwrong)

His mind was silent.

“Why…?” (don’t know, sorry)

His heart continued to ache. Ache, ache and ache.

“You were everything to me…” (i know, i’m sorry) Broken voice. (Bad) Tears, so many tears, anger gone from them, replaced by heartbreak. (Bad) Desperate (Bad) for an answer (Bad) that Nightmare (Bad) couldn’t give (Bad) because—

It hurt.

It hurt so much. It stung and burned and ached, ached, ached.

His hand clenched into a fist, the physical pain not working to distract as it usually did.

His eyes narrowed.

Nightmare didn’t like being hurt, any kind of it.

Because—

But…maybe he deserved it…

Dream made some good, good points. He had loved Nightmare with every fibre of his being, very likely more than Nightmare loved him, and Nightmare knew that. He had always known that. Yet, what does he say? That Dream was never there for him? When he had patched up his wounds, played with him the whole day after to help him feel better, reminded him every day that he loved Nightmare, despite anything that might be happening?

Honestly, what was wrong with him?! Dream was right! He had never told him a fucking thing about the bullying and abusing because he didn’t want him to worry, because he knew that he would worry himself sick about Nightmare. And, judging by what he said (or shouted) earlier, it didn’t work; in fact, it probably made him worry more!

How could he ever think that Dream, who cared and loved for someone more than the power of the gods combined, never did anything for him, when it was the exact opposite in that he did everything for him?

Because—

“NO!” Nightmare shouted, roared. Shadows grew and swallowed the blue of the sky. Negativity engulfed the forest he was in. His legs broke free from the spell they had been put under and he ran. He ran, ran and ran, trying to get away from his thoughts, from the truth—

Not truth—

Truth—

Not truth—

He ran. The trees flew by in a blur, birds flew away from the ruckus he was making and the animals all hide from him. Running, running, running…just like he’s been making Dream do, just like he did from the villagers all those years ago. Running, running, running. Always the prey, no matter how much he acts as a predator.

He stopped suddenly in another clearing. His chest heaved for breath. This one was filled with bushes and rocks and flowers and live things. Tings that, in any other time, would make feel relaxed and make him smile.

Not now.

Now, it filled him with uncontrollable rage.

Nightmare screamed. He screamed and shouted and roared. He let go of his powers, his magic and shadows gathered around him, making the world darker and darker. Negativity gathered inside and around him, coming from all over this world, along with a few in close proximity. He screamed and the world knelt before him in submission.

“I’m right, he’s wrong! He’s lying!” He said, over and over, voice filled with power and magic that could make someone instantly panic, trying to burn the words into his brain. He tried to make them true when he knew they weren’t.

He attacked everything around him. He tore, kicked, punched, stabbed, stricked, anything. Anger filled him to the brim. Anger at the world, at the village, at his mother, at Dream, and at himself, always himself.

“You were everything to me…” Desperate for an answer that Nightmare couldn’t give because—

His brother's voice echoed in his head over and over again. It repeated what had been yelled to him earlier, the words that had started this mess. It brought with it echoes of the past; everything Dream had ever said to him, every compliment, argument, insult and declaration of love, overlapping over with each other into an intelligible bunch of sounds.

Because—

Then, all at once, he stopped and dropped to his knees, tentacles going limp against the ground. His chest heaved; his breath gone. His eyes stung and it took a few seconds for him to realize that tears were gathering. He looked down and brought his hands up in eyesight. They were shaking badly in an emotion he couldn’t identify.

It wasn’t fair, his mind and heart cried in unison. It wasn’t fair!

—because he didn’t know one.

He didn’t understand.

The tears began to overflow.

He couldn’t understand.

The little pitter-pattering of rain started up, starting slow and quickly becoming a pour. He didn’t move, instead staying on his knees and staring at his hands. The shaking had escalated. The tears continued down his face, burning upon contact with his goop, slime or whatever you called it. The rain burned as well, but he could hardly feel it.

He stared at his hands, heart still aching despite everything.

It hurt.

Nightmare didn’t like being hurt.

Yet, he did nothing to stop it now.

Because he deserved it. He truly did.

“I’m right.” He whispered to himself. However, despite it being said with such conviction before, it was empty and hollow now. It was devoid of anything except for a faint desperation that it was true.

He squeezed his forearms to try and stop the shaking of his hands.

He slowly looked up to the gray sky, welcoming the burning of the rain on his face.

“I’m right,” He said again, a little louder, but now filled with unsureness. He clung to the hope that it was true, that he wasn’t hurting the dear brother he loved for no reason besides that he became what he had killed. He needed an answer even if he knew he wasn’t going to get one. “…right?”

It was silent.

No, the forest seemed to whisper to him.

Nightmare let out a sob, hanging his head.

He didn’t think so.

[promisedangel]

Fresh Meat: Confinement- Chapter 19

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Chapter 19- Investigation

Chara awoke to noises outside their room. Two voices. Chara was too tired to fully comprehend the conversation at first. However, they were able to discern the two voices; they belonged to Alphys and Gaster. Chara’s eyes widened. They stayed still, they listened. They heard Gaster sigh, “I will call more of the Royal Guard to deal with the scene of the crime. I will have to oversee the selection carefully, due to the proximity to the human.” Chara raised a brow before they heard him muse, “I may have to move the human altogether for the investigation.” Chara’s eyes narrowed. Move them? Where? Could it be another chance to get away?! Their heart skipped a beat for a moment. Was the new room ready?! Chara shook that thought aside; no, they’d be moved there immediately if that was the case. Perhaps even sooner. These thoughts were interrupted by Alphys’s voice, “I better get started…”

Chara stood from their bed and spoke cautiously, “Alphys?” Alphys replied back calmly, “Oh, I’m sorry, Chara. Did we wake you?” Chara made a noise of affirmation, “Is he gone?” Alphys returned the noise of affirmation. Chara continued cautiously, “Why was he here?” “He teleported us here to confirm the intruder’s existence. How much did you hear?” Chara paused at the door, “Only that the Royal Guard will come to investigate and the selection will either be curated or I will be moved temporarily.” Alphys sighed, “So you missed about half of the conversation, then.”

Alphys leaned against the wall, “Um… I should… go make your breakfast. We can talk about the conversation then. Is… that okay?” Chara spoke calmly, “Okay.” Chara settled into their bed to wait for Alphys’s return. They yawned, still tired from the night before. They tried to think of the new situation but found their mind drifted too much to hold their thoughts together. Instead, they jumbled. Curiosity. Caution. Affirmation. These all mixed in their mind until they heard a knock on their door. Chara sat up with a start. Alphys sounded surprised on the other side, “Oh! Sorry. Were you trying to go back to sleep? I… I could come back later if you want.” Chara once more stood from their bed, “No. I am fine. I can sleep anytime. It is not as though I have much else to do.”

The tray slid was under, this time at an angle. The glass of water barely passed under the panel. Chara raised a brow at this. Usually, the tray was simply slid under on the floor. Chara sat down and saw the pile of dust as the panel closed. They frowned. She was trying to avoid the dust. Chara scooped up the tray and dug into their food. They heard Alphys slump against the wall next to the door. She began to speak, “He was really mad when I told him about the intruder…” Her voice perked up in a panic, “Oh! But not at you or me! A-At the situation, of course!” Chara rolled their eyes, “It sounds as though he is angry I was almost torn from his grasp.” Alphys mulled it over aloud, “Well… I mean… the situation is much more complicated than that. But… I mean…” She sighed, “I guess… when you get down to basics… you’re right.” Chara replied smugly, “Although, I would have been torn apart and by the sister or any other monsters the intruder intended to feed me to.” They mused dryly, “But, it is getting harder to say I would not have preferred that.” Horror dawned on Alphys’s face. She nearly gasped, “You’d rather have been killed?!” “It is either I am devoured all at once, or devoured slowly by monsterkind while I am simultaneously tortured. Be honest. Which would you prefer?” Alphys replied quietly, almost chastised, “Well… I wouldn’t want either to be honest…” Chara set down their tray. Their meal finished. They waited a moment for Alphys to continue. Silence. They gave a resigned sigh, “I know. Neither do I. But… at the very least…” Chara pouted and blushed behind the door. They grabbed hold of their locket and muttered out, “Talking with you eases the anguish… somewhat.” Alphys smiled. Her voice relieved, “That’s good to hear.”

Chara opened the unlocked panel, “I am done, do you need help grabbing the tray from this angle?” Alphys turned to see Chara peek under the door. They lied on their stomach with the tray in one hand, and the dishes and silverware barely contained in the other. She carefully reached down, “Yes. Thank you for the help!” Slowly but surely, Chara aided Alphys in collecting the tray and all that was left on it. Alphys sighed and stood with the tray in hand, “I wish I could stay longer, but I have to start with my part of the investigation.” Chara raised a brow, still visible under the panel, “What is he having you do?” Alphys quickly fished out her keycard, “He’s um… ordered me to recount the keycards. They allow monsters to use the elevator down here to the lower lab. The days after you were um… retrieved we-“ Chara sharply cut in with a frown, “Kidnapped.” Alphys returned the keycard to her pocket with a nervous smile, “R-right. Sorry.” Alphys continued normally, “After you were kidnapped, Dr. Gaster ordered all lab workers, well… anyone that had one for one reason or another, to turn in their keycards. I was the only exception… but I um… basically live down here anyway… but just in case. We had counted all keycards confiscated sometime before Serol began work on the soul scanning machine with his team. They’re the only ones allowed in the lower lab besides myself and Dr. Gaster.” Chara snarked, “So he doesn’t trust anyone within an entire floor of me.” Alphys shrugged, “Well… yeah! Basically!” Chara sighed, “Sounds just like-“ Chara’s voice cut out. A thought sprang in Chara’s mind, “Wait." Alphys’s expression turned curious, “What is it?” The whispers returned to Chara’s mind. They questioned Alphys, “The first time I was kidnapped, Mother, Father, and Asriel seemed to rescue me without much issue until after we left the lab. Was I not taken down here?” Alphys shook her head, “No. You were. I think the Dreemurrs had a keycard of their own, too.” She continued nervously, “That one was confiscated when they were um… captured.”

Chara fell silent. Their expression downcast. They closed the panel. Alphys frowned in response. She sighed, “I’ll… be back later. Hopefully before dinner.” Chara responded neutrally, “If I am not moved before then.” Alphys nodded, “R-right. Um… see you later.” “See you later, Alphys.” Alphys left without another word.

———————————————————————————

Gaster’s eye sockets locked onto camera screens intensely. He studied the intruder’s journey throughout the lab via playback. His scowl deepened as he watched the intruder easily run deeper into the lower lab towards where Chara was kept. He grumbled. A quick mental note to speed up Chara’s new room as quickly as possible without sacrificing stability and safety. To the side of the room, he had the printer at the ready. He just had to find the perfect angle to get a clear picture. Anything to identify this monster clearly. After nearly ten minutes of playback, as he needed to carefully study multiple screens, he quickly paused the playback. His eyes focused on an image of the intruder, who stood tall and faced the camera with facial features clear. Perfect. Gaster couldn’t help but smirk as his hands furiously typed on the keyboard. Soon, the printer hummed to life. Five pages printed one by one. As the printer ceased its hums, Gaster carefully took the pages in hand. Five perfect copies of the image in question. This would work. Now, all he had to do was wait for Undyne for further questioning and to confiscate the missing keycard, if Alphys was correct.

Gaster turned back towards the screens. Another way to aid the investigation dawned on him easily. He could trace this intruder’s steps backward with the cameras. Most of the main paths in the Underground from Snowdin to sections of New Home had cameras set up. At least, until feral monsters or mischievous ones broke them. He smirked, he could easily make such brazen destruction a crime now. He began to type on the keyboard. One by one, the screens began to change from playback of inside the lab to playback of outside the lab and surrounding areas. A few more keystrokes before the screens began to rewind. Slowly but surely, the reversed playback showed the intruder came from one place: New Home. Gaster gave himself a satisfied smirk; that would do for the moment.

Gaster turned the screens back to live feeds in and directly around the lab. His hands finally left the keyboard and collected the pictures of the intruder. After he straightened the pictures, his eyes sharply darted back towards the screens. Something moved on them. Not unusual in of itself, but his gaze was still sharp from his quick research. He fully focused on the screens to see someone approach the lab. He relaxed at the sight of the monster; Undyne. His gaze turned serious. It was finally time for this investigation to truly begin.

He teleported out of the room to the front door. Undyne jumped back and readied a spear of magic. All within seconds. She relaxed at recognizing Gaster. She gasped, “Dr. Gaster!” She dismissed her magic before she stood in attention, “It was instinct! I-“ Gaster raised a hand. Undyne silenced herself. An amused smile dawn on Gaster’s skull, “To see one of my Royal Guard ready for any potential danger, yet able to give a second to examine the situation, is a credit to your training. Undyne relaxed. She gave a proud smile, “Thanks!” Gaster held his hands behind his back, “Alphys reported that you have the intruder’s keycard.” Undyne quickly fished it out of her pocket, “Yeah. Here.” Gaster quickly took the keycard from Undyne and stowed it away in one of his coat pockets. He spoke with a firm tone, “Come with me. We need to discuss last night’s events.”

Undyne nodded. She went to step into the lab before Gaster touched her shoulder. In the instant, the two appeared in Gaster’s office just in front of the door. Undyne blinked in confusion, “Wait- What?! How the hell did we?…” Shock filled her voice and expression as Gaster walked behind his desk, “You can teleport?!” Gaster sat down behind his desk and affirmed, “Yes. I would appreciate that this knowledge does not spread further than needed.” Undyne’s expression deflated to befuddlement for a moment. She gave a resigned sigh as she sat down, “Alright. Sure. I’ll keep quiet.” Gaster gave a half smile, “Good.”

He placed the images of the intruder on the table, “Using the lab’s camera system, I was able to produce a clear picture of the intruder.” Undyne took a copy of the image and examined it calmly, “Yep. That’s him alright.” Gaster readied a paper and pen, “It is unlikely, but did this intruder introduce himself?” Undyne shook her head, “No. Not to me at least. Alphys had some interaction with him before she called… I think.” Gaster scribbled something with a nod, “Yes. I saw it on the cameras. I will ask her about it after she is finished recounting the keycards.” Undyne raised a brow, “Oh, you haven’t talked with her yet? Guess it is kinda early.” “Only a short conversation. Enough to alert me to this incident and for me to give her the order to recount the keycards.” Undyne’s expression normalized, “Oh. Ok.”

Gaster continued, “Unfortunately, the room we keep the human is in a hallway without cameras. What happened at the human’s room?” Undyne recounted, “Well, I showed up and he was ramming the door. I threw a spear past him and yelled at him to get away from the door.” She snickered, “He hissed at me! Like he was feral!” Gaster raised a ‘brow’ with an incredulous gaze. Undyne cleared her throat and gave a half smile, “Ok… maybe not a feral hiss. But he did hiss.” Gaster scribbled another note before Undyne continued calmly, “So, I threw another spear that he ducked under. He growled and tried to chuck insults, but I wasn’t having his bullshit. I readied another spear and told him to step away from the door and go to jail or die. Told him it was ordered to not hold back.” Gaster scribbled more notes as he spoke, “Exactly as I instructed. Go on.” Undyne sighed, “Yeah. He didn’t like that. He started shouting. I’m pretty sure he said ‘fuck your orders’ or something like that at some point. Ranted about the distribution of the substitute, too.”

Undyne’s eyes and fins perked up sharply. She stood from her seat and exclaimed, “Oh, yeah! He mentioned something about his sister not getting any substitute!” Gaster looked up from his notes, “Many monsters believe they deserve the substitute. I ordered the distribution of the substitute carefully based on whether someone was soon to turn feral or about to Fall Down. Extreme cases, to put it simply.” Undyne sat back down in her chair, “Yeah. That sounds about right.”

Gaster spoke as he scribbled, “That narrows down the identity of the intruder and his intentions somewhat. And, what next?” Undyne sputtered, “The guy was dumb. He didn’t seem to realize or care that the kid was the source of the substitute. He then figured out we each got some of the substitute, but I said I gave up my supply.” Gaster blinked in confusion, “Did you?” Undyne hesitated. She sighed, “Yeah. I saw a kid Fall Down and gave them some until they became conscious again. Told them and their friend to do the same to anyone else with the couple that were left.” Gaster smiled, “Skilled and selfless.” He frowned, “Or perhaps foolish.” Undyne crossed her arms, “I’m not gonna attack the kid. Hell, I don’t even know when I’ll be near the kid after all this is over.” Gaster resumed his note taking, “Hopefully, you won’t have to. Continue.”

“He didn’t believe me. He said I was lying. That you were lying and not helping anyone.” Gaster rolled his eye sockets and replied dryly, “Just because one particular monster doesn’t receive substitute doesn’t mean I am not helping.” “He attacked the door again, so I threw a spear at him. It hit. So… I threw some more and killed him.” “As you should have. He continued to attack the human after you said he would die if he did so. You did as you were ordered.” “Yeah. Oh. And I interviewed the kid afterwards.”

Fear and anger appeared on Gaster’s skull for a split second before a serious gaze overtook it, “Through the door?” Undyne answered carefully, “I didn’t touch the kid. Alphys opened the door and hugged them. I found the keycard while I gave her a moment to calm the kid down.” “That doesn’t answer my question.” “I’m getting there, just a sec.” Undyne noticed a glare from Gaster before she continued, “I found the keycard and asked Alphys about it. She showed me hers. She then said something about a glass of water for the kid. I had to interview the kid anyway, so I let her go get it. Y’know, questioning witnesses alone and stuff.” Gaster groaned, “Were it any other monster, I would have to punish Alphys for such flagrant disregard of the human’s safety.” “I think it’s cuz I was here before, she probably figured I wouldn’t lay a finger on the kid. And I didn’t. The kid sat on their bed and told me their side of the story.” She snickered, “The intruder tried to pull the kid under the door, but the kid bit him to escape.” Disbelief scrawled on Gaster’s skull before he gave a resigned, “That… somehow does not surprise me.” Undyne continued with a smile, “After that the intruder pretty much tried to talk the kid back to the door. When that didn’t work, he tried to ram it. That’s pretty much when I got there with Alphys.”

Gaster finished his notes silently. He set down his pen next to the paper now filled with notes. He gave Undyne a neutral glance, “That will do for your side of the story, and you saved me the trouble of getting the human’s side of the story. All I will need is Alphys’s.” Undyne stood from her seat, “So, we’re good?” Gaster motioned to the pictures of the intruder, “Just one last task for you. I want you to locate the family of our intruder and question them. I want to be sure this is one monster working alone, and not a group that needs to be taught a lesson.” Undyne gave a nervous look, “Sooo… just question them, right? Don’t need to detain them or anything?” Gaster shook his head lightly, “Not unless it is clear that any member of the family was working with him to take the human. Take special care with this ‘sister’ of his. She could be a coconspirator, or simply motivation. With what you have displayed so far, I trust you will make the correct action.” Undyne relaxed slightly. She gave a proud nod. She lightly bowed towards Gaster and spoke, “I will, sir.”

Gaster walked around the desk and touched her shoulder once again. In an instant, the two reappeared in front of the entrance to the lab. Undyne sighed, “Thank goodness, that lower lab is a maze…” Gaster ignored the comment and spoke, “I’d suggest starting your search in New Home.” Undyne raised a brow, “Any particular reason why?” Gaster gave a smug smirk, “Because that is where most of the population resides.” Undyne gave a surprised look before it evened, “Right. Sorry. Okay. I’ll report back after I interview them.” “I’d expect nothing less.” Gaster teleported away without another word.

An expert from the journal of Dr. W.D Gaster

A frustrating event happened last night while I slept; the human was nearly taken. Not an escape attempt, but an attempt to steal. Undyne from the Royal Guard quickly dealt with the intruder as ordered and found a keycard in the intruder’s dust. This is extremely troubling. It could mean that all cards weren’t confiscated, or that there is a traitor in my midst. Alphys is not a suspect; at least not until all keycards are accounted for. She produced hers and Undyne returned the intruder’s. This shouldn’t have happened in the first place. I will have to place a guard either at the elevator to the lower lab or one at each entrance to the lab itself. I will uncover all who are conspirators in this plot by day’s end. If the intruder is not alone in this plot, his coconspirators will be dealt with in the same fashion.

[ask-the-wrongswap-cast]

What’s Wrongswap? A summary because I’ve realized I don’t have one of those up ATM

Wrongswap is a swap AU as the title suggests. Everyone retains their original personalities, though influenced by wherever they are in life right now. For some, this personality shift is almost entirely negligible. For others, they are almost unrecognizable as themselves. The important pairs are as follows:

Frisk & Patience soul (Vera)

Chara & Bravery soul (Ori)

Asriel & Papyrus

Toriel & Sans

Asgore & Gaster

Mettaton & Alphys

Napstablook & Undyne

Everyone also keeps their original relations to each other, so for example, Asgore & Toriel are still married and Asriel is still their kid, while Gaster is Sans & Papyrus (and Ori’s) father.

Here’s why they are where they are:

-Instead of Asgore’s family line being the royal family, it was Gaster’s. Gaster is still very interested in science and physics, but has no time to pursue it as a career, especially once the war begins.

-When everyone is sealed Underground, Asgore decides to help out his community by using what he’s picked up from Gaster about science. He builds the Core, though it takes him significantly longer than it would’ve taken Gaster.

-When Ori falls Underground, they are taken in by Gaster & his kids, who are 12 & 18 at the time.

-They’re there for less than a year before they realize that a plant very common in the Underground, delphinium, is poisonous by proximity to humans and has zero effect on monsters.

-They surround themself with it, intending for Gaster to take their soul and use it to break the barrier once he collected six more. Unfortunately, due to some pretty bad timing, Papyrus is the one in the room when they die. He, in his now thirteen year old wisdom, decides to go up to the surface and obtain six more souls. Predictably, this does not go great.

-Gaster is talked down from declaring war on humans as Asgore does, but he decides that in any given situation, any solution may be used to obtain a human soul, even and especially violent means. Sans thinks this is stupid and not what Papyrus would’ve wanted at all, and leaves for the ruins, renouncing his title as Prince.

-Perseverance, Integrity, Kindness, and Justice die via murder at the hands of a monster, the fall into the underground, offering their soul, and yet another murder, respectively.

-Chara and Frisk both fall into the Underground at the same time. Chara was attempting the canonically implied unpleasant reason for climbing ebott and Frisk was attempting to stop them. Unfortunately, they both fell down the hole Chara was trying to jump into. Fortunately, it was not as bad of a fall as Chara expected it to be.

-The Dreemurrs take the two in. Asriel immediately decides that they’re both his new siblings, though they never did feel like that about each other. Chara melds into the family soon after they realize that they’re trustworthy, but Frisk takes quite a lot longer.

-Gaster, still a family friend, stops by one day and the conversation happens to wander to the barrier. Chara, upon finding out that they could help get monsters above ground again, spirals back into the depressive hole they were in when they first fell.

-They ‘go missing’ just in time for a bout of horrible weather to hit Snowdin. The whole community go looking for them, and none manage to run themselves ragged moreso than Frisk, who dies soon after they locate Chara, who has died by this point.

-Toriel and Asgore do have a bit of a rough patch in their relationship, but consciously make an effort to get through it together because they don’t want to lose each other as well.

-A year later, Asgore falls into the core and the world forgets about him, save for Toriel & Asriel, because of the boss monster soul connection thing. This also allows the two to remember resets, as the void slowly seeps into Asgore’s soul, and by extension, theirs.

-Toriel and Asriel just have to get on with their lives and pretend no one is missing. Asriel later on applies for an internship at the royal labs so that he can try to figure out how to get Asgore back.

-Shortly before Asgore falls, Mettaton decides that he’s not going to wait around for the perfect body to just be presented to him, he’s going to make it himself. It takes an excessive amount of trial and error, but he eventually comes up with his EX form, bypassing the box step.

-He then decides that Napstablook should be in on this too and makes them a body as well. They are too nervous to say no. They never fully integrate into the robot body, due to personal preference.

-Eventually, Mettaton brings Napstablook along with him when he does more and more things, and as time passes, Napstablook learns that socializing isn’t as scary as they thought it would be. (They also learn how to set healthy boundaries for themself so saying no to metta is less of an issue for them now lmao)

-As Napstablook becomes more confident in themself and more comfortable with being around people, they join the royal guard. They still aren’t totally sure how, but they did.

-They work their way up the ranks, which was not on purpose, and they are offered the position of captain after the old one retires. They take it.

-After Asgore falls, Mettaton’s robotics experiments are noticed by Gaster, who is desperate to fill the position of royal scientist, as the entire team quit in the months following Asgore’s fall, for various reasons that they can’t actually remember having anything to do with Asgore. Mettaton decides this is a great opportunity and if there’s ever going to be a position that will give him the chance to break the barrier and become a star on the surface like he’s always dreamed, it would be this.

-Except being royal scientist is way more work than he bargained for and he realizes he doesn’t actually want the job. When the amalgamates happen, Mettaton confesses to it, hoping that at the very least he’ll get fired. He does not. Everyone is very understanding about this being an accident, and they’re just happy to get their family members back.

-Alphys & Undyne have been friends for a very long time, since they were kids even. However, Alphys has always struggled with her mental health, and has never felt like she’s good enough for Undyne, as a friend or otherwise.

-She meets Mettaton one day and learns how his life has gone and how Napstablook gained confidence through their robot body and she thinks that maybe, just maybe, if it worked for them it could work for her too.

-So she leaves, promising herself that as soon as she puts herself together, she’ll go back to her life. She takes on a false persona inspired by anime, and becomes kind of a social media influencer. Metta obliges her request to have a remotely pilot-able robot body, and allows her to pretend to be another cousin.

-It’s not actually that easy though, and this is not at all what Metta and Blook were going for when they got their robot bodies, so ofc it doesn’t go how she wants it to.

-Vera has never been allowed to explore the mountain on the outskirts of their little town, but one day they’re left unsupervised and they are filled with the power of mild teenage rebellion. They proceed to prove their parents right about the mountain being dangerous and fall down a hole.

[ruetheend]

BITTERBLOSSOMS - CHAPTER 5: SNOWDIN FOREST, IN THE FLESH.

The story so far: Frisk and Flowey have learned that the echo flowers blooming from Frisk’s head can show her memories to any who touch them. Frisk finds out that someone mysterious has been delivering supplies to the Dreemurrs without needing to enter the ruins conventionally. Finally, Frisk and Flowey overcome the Tori fight in a unique way. Now the duo must travel Snowdin Forest...

Click to read the chapter below.

Chapter 5

Author’s Note: Best read on AO3. For original readers of this fic who are wondering where all the chapters have gone, check out my update.

Frisk walked with Flowey along the path to Snowdin Forest. She was lost in her thoughts. First, there was the issue of who the king was around here. How had that happened? It sounded like now he was not the king anymore... Frisk's head hurt just thinking about it, so she tabled the thought for another time. Second, Frisk's last couple of treks to the forest did not go well. Frisk wasn't sure at first, but it was definitely Sans who had killed her the first time. So far, both of her deaths were due to Sans. Then a realization hit her like a ton of bricks. She paused right before the door to Snowdin Forest, where Sans would be waiting. Frisk did not save at all. Sans had not hesitated to kill her before, so it was safe to assume he would kill her outright again. As soon as she reached the bridge, she would turn around and he'd hit her with an attack. How could he manage to do something like that? What about a FIGHT? Would she and Flowey have to replay the same conversation with Tori and Asgore? It had warmed her heart the first time, but each time Frisk revisited a scene, it lost its power.

"What's with that dumb look? We are on a journey to... to do something about this mess!" Flowey grew his stem to block Frisk's view. She stopped walking. "What could possibly be the matter?"

"Well... the last two times I reset was because of Snowdin Forest. A monster killed me, the same one, twice." Frisk grimaced. It was Sans, though he was too tall to really be Sans. Frisk outgrew the short monster quite quickly once she had reached her teenage years. It was strange to think he was about a head or so taller than her now. She wondered, for a moment, if Papyrus would end up being short? She snorted at the thought.

"So you think you might die, and then you giggle," Flowey rolled his eyes. "Look, I think I have a way to solve this problem. Are you worried about resetting and having to deal with my mom again? We can just redo all that talking... but I understand. It isn't really very fun to do the same thing over and over." Flowey seemed to bounce around in his flower pot as he thought. "I guess I could... I've been saving up, but I can put down a save point for you."

"Huh?" Frisk jumped at his suggestion. "What? You can do that!?"

"Uh, yeah," Flowey smirked. "Where do you think all those save points from earlier came from? The stars? No! It was yours truly."

Frisk had to admit she was impressed by this. So that's where save points came from! Maybe that's why they were blue now instead of the familiar yellow? She gave him a defeated smile. "Ok, ok. So, you really will make one?"

"Yup! Leave it to me."

Outside the door, Frisk crouched onto the ground and put Flowey's flower pot down. Flowey seemed to jump into the snowy ground in one swift motion. She saw his head pop up from the hole he made. He seemed to concentrate fairly hard as he closed his eyes tightly. Frisk could sense heat rising into the air as he glowed a deep shade of blue. Afterwards, Flowey hopped back into the flower pot leaving behind a shiny, new save point. Frisk reached out to it and saved. Nothing felt different about using this versus the others.

"What's that face for?" Flowey gave her a sidelong glance.

"Huh?"

"You are making a face, what?" Flowey raised a brow. "Like you just ate a tasty slice of pie, or something."

"Huh, oh, uh," Frisk scratched her cheek. "I guess I just think... it's kind of amazing. I had run through the other Underground so many times... I never really just stopped and thought: Where did these shiny thingies come from?"

"Heh, heh," Flowey then clucked at her with his tongue, "You sweet, summer child. Just runnin' around and never thought about what's really going on."

"Oh hush," the human rolled her eyes as she lifted Flowey up and stood. "I have sometimes thought about it, you know... after we got out. It never really made a lot of sense, you know."

Flowey was about to say something when the world flashes white several times. Each time, Frisk's head hurt more and more. She brought a hand to her forehead, but each white flash seemed to reset her arm position. She felt like she could never reach her head. Finally, after some odd times, the flashing ceased. Flowey looked disturbed, "F-Frisk, y-you!"

The human's hand finally reached her head and felt a flower crown. There were no longer just a duo of posies, but instead at least a dozen flowers poking out from her skin and hair. Flowey frowned, "W-Why did you reset like that?"

"That wasn't me!" Frisk turned around quickly, expecting to see him. The Sans of this world. The one who killed her twice already, and possibly another twelve.

But there was no one behind her.

Frisk's entire body tensed. How could she have died so many times so quickly? He was incredibly powerful, yes... but not that powerful. Something wasn't right... Frisk had nothing else she could do except move forward. She walked along the familiar path. In fact, its familiarity felt eerie to her as she walked. The ruins were different enough, but it seemed like there was nothing off about Snowdin Forest so far aside from the murderous skeleton. Perhaps that was a difference enough.

Frisk whispered to Flowey, "What do you know about the skeleton here?"

"Skeleton? Is that who got you so many times?" Flowey remarked quietly.

"So you don't know him?" Frisk sighed.

"I only know about a few, and none of them would attack you like this..." Flowey said, his tone droll. They passed the stick, but it didn't shatter. Oddly enough, this unnerved Frisk more than if it would have gone ahead and broken. Flowey added, helpfully, "The king is a skeleton! Although, I think you knew that. Probably."

They reached the bridge that leads to the rest of Snowdin Forest. Frisk noticed this bridge still looked pretty shabby; more or less identical to the bridge Papyrus had created in her home timeline. She paused out of habit. "What are you doing!?" Flowey complained, but it was too late. A voice called out from behind them.

"heh. heh. hello, little lady," the voice spoke casually, as if they were all good, old friends. Ironically, Frisk felt it was true even if this wasn't her Sans. "you are a human, right? that's hilarious." Frisk turned to look down at him only to be reminded of his new height. She looked up instead. He was dressed like a grim reaper of sorts, though his robes were gray with navy motifs. Upon closer inspection, he was really just wearing a large hoodie and dark slacks with the delta rune emblem as opposed to a zipper. His face was completely obscured by the hood of said hoodie. She could see his white pinpricks within, glowing. "heh, you checking me out? i'm flattered." The grim-looking monster looked at the flower pot. "well i'll be... if it isn't my favorite little buddy. heh heh heh."

Flowey held completely still. Frisk couldn't see his face, but the flower's voice betrayed him, "You-you're not supposed to be here."

"yet here i am," The dark figure held his hands up and gestured to his chest with both. "in the flesh so to say, heh heh..."

"I guess some things never change," Frisk couldn't help but sigh. The hooded one tilted his head slightly.

"hmm? what do you mean by that, little lady? by the way," It seemed Sans was inspecting Frisk's face. "blue is a nice color on you." He gestured at the flowers on her head.

Frisk shuddered at the 'compliment.' Did he know about the curse? She took a deep breath. Things could be quite easy if she was just upfront with people. Especially Sans. With Sans most of all, in fact. Certainly, he would believe her. "I know who you are. We've met before."

"F-Frisk, don't-" Flowey began, but was interrupted.

"heh, let her chloro-fill me in," The skeleton folded his arms. It seemed to Frisk that he winked at her as a single pinprick went out inside the hood. "what do you have to say for yourself, little lady."

"My name is Frisk, and I know this will sound crazy," Frisk felt her heart thud in her throat. Just talking to Sans so casually felt wrong. After what she did to him, after everything that happened, Frisk felt forgotten feelings resurface. "I'm from another timeline. I came back to right a horrible wrong, and-" Frisk looked away from him and at the ground. Tears started to swell in her eyes. "And I am sorry about everything, Sans. I never meant for this to happen-"

"what. did. you. say?" The voice was measured and calculated.

"S-Sorry, I'm just-" She looked back up, but Sans was towering over both Frisk and Flowey. The human could make out the lower half of his face in his proximity. The smile was there, but seemed to just be a plastered on feature rather than genuine. She couldn't make out pinpricks in the hood anymore.

"did you just say..." Frisk could hear the struggle in his voice. He next uttered words that were completely unintelligible to her. " ?"

"I-I'm sorry, I didn't quite catch that-" Frisk felt her face flush from embarrassment. She didn't know what he said, but more importantly, he drew away from her with a troubled groan. The human was about to say something more, but then he began to laugh.

"heh... heh heh... heh heh heh!" The tall monster laughed, each laugh growing louder and more hectic. "here i thought i finally found something interesting. well, well, that was a good laugh. i always enjoyed dark humor." He turned to face Frisk again suddenly, his hood falling to his shoulders revealing his skeletal head. He still had a round face and his smile was oddly real looking in that moment. Flowey shook in his flower pot at the sight.

"I'm sorry, Sans," Frisk replied softly. She truly meant it, though she felt her heartbreaking knowing that this was not the correct person to apologize to.

Suddenly, the skeleton flew into her face, his eye flashing yellow and blue. "you just said it again! what did you say!? say it again!"He grabbed her by the shoulders, gripping her tightly. The bone of his fingers dug into Frisk's skin, hurting her. She couldn't help but screech.

"Frisk!" Flowey fell to the ground, his flower pot shattering as it hit the snowy ground.

"Flowey!" Frisk winced at the pain and tried to look at her fallen friend, but Sans freed his other hand and grabbed her chin. He directed her attention at his face. "What! What do you want me to say? Sorry again?"

"no. you said... you said," He looked incredibly pained. He looked like he did when Frisk killed him. " ."

Still she couldn't hear that word, yet she had a good guess as to what he was saying. "Sans?"

Frisk felt his grip on her lighten slightly. Sans' expression became wistful and lost. Almost like a memory had overtaken him when she said his name. He wasn't looking at her anymore as his sockets darkened. It seemed more and more like he was about to cry.

That was when his eyes flared into life, yellow pinpricks searching her face. Sans' grip became deathly tight, and Frisk felt every part of her ache with pain. Frisk felt her SOUL pull from her body, but she couldn't look away from Sans' face. "how? how? you are going to tell me everything!"

Sans grabbed Frisk's wrist and dragged her away from the bridge. In that effort, they teleported elsewhere, some secluded spot Frisk didn't recognize. "Stop! You're hurting me!" She shouted at him. To his credit, he let go of her, but Frisk stayed on her guard. She wasn't about to let herself get duped by this guy. "What are you doing... what do you want from me?"

He kept his back turned to her. Frisk wasn't sure if this was an odd sign of trust, confidence in his own abilities, or all of the above. Sans spoke like they were two friends meeting again after a long time, "so, little lady, you know me. you know my name... hell, you can even say it. that is a luxury i don't even have anymore." His put his hands into his hoodie pocket and slouched a little bit. "so... you are from another timeline? that isn't quite right, i bet."

"I-I guess," Frisk slowly started to back away. "I guess you could say I'm from another universe. One like this one, but... a few things are different." As her boot crunched in the ground for the third step, Sans suddenly flung his arm back at her, a few warning shots in the form of magical bones landed right behind her.

"heh. you and i are old friends, right? you and me were best buds in that other universe, right?" Sans turned to face her. His smile looked truly happy, and it disturbed her. She didn't like being near him at all. "why else would you apologize to scum like me? why else would you remember me."

"Look, I'm sorry," Frisk put her hands together and nervously rubbed her palms. "I just want to help everyone go free again."

"'go free'?" He gave her an incredulous look. "what? like... the surface?"

"Yeah," Frisk nodded eagerly. This is where the conversation needed to head. "You see, that's what I was trying to say before... last time we were all on the surface and then something happened-" Frisk searched Sans' face, but couldn't bear to vocalize her thoughts. "Something really bad."

"and?" Sans crossed his arms and waited.

"And I... Okay, this is nuts, but I sometimes can travel through time. Its oddly specific, but I... I went back to erase the bad thing and ended up here." Frisk partially lied. That wasn't true. She had her curiosity sated which culminated into a genocidal hate spiral, but otherwise she couldn't tell Sans that. This one seemed remarkably proactive.

"i don't know if i can believe you," Sans shook his head. "another universe i can buy, but why should i believe your story. you have any evidence? trusting you might prove... frisky. heh..."

"Okay... so the flowers on my head... just touch one, okay?" Frisk blushed a bit and felt stupid for it. "Give me a second to think-"

Before she knew it, Sans crossed the distance and reached out to her head. He put a bony finger on her head.

"AH! THE GREAT OUTDOORS!" A tall, jovial skeleton jogged ahead of an exhausted looking duo. "COME ON, FRISK! I EXPECT THIS FROM MY LAZY BONE OF A BROTHER, BUT NOT YOU! LET'S GO! ONE MORE TIME, WE SHALL SHOUT TO THE SUN ABOUT HOW GREAT WE ARE!" Off he went, shouting excitedly about his greatness.

He left behind Frisk and the shorter skeleton, Sans. Sans wore an ironic tee that simply read "pun" on dark blue cloth. Frisk wore athletic gear, but even she had trouble keeping up with Sans' brother, Papyrus. She wondered aloud where he could get all that energy from. Sans merely shrugs.

"I'm just... so glad we are up here," Frisk smiled down at Sans. It took so long, so many deaths, so much trial and error, but Frisk had done it. Monsters were free and able to journey to the surface.

"heh, it sure is a sunny place up here," Sans replied as he stopped walking. He huffed and heaved a bit. "don't mind me. heh. my lung capacity isn't what it used to be."

"You don't have a lung... do you?" Frisk raised a brow, which prompted another shrug. "Any exciting new material since coming up to the surface?"

"sure. why was the skeleton looking for new friends?" Sans offered.

"Because she was bonely perhaps?" Frisk laughed a bit at how lame that joke was. "Come on, Sans, the surface has been open for a few months now... nothing cool to say about it?"

"hmm... no." Sans looked away from her. "listen kiddo, let's talk about something else. like how cool papyrus looks when he threatens to fight the sun now if he won't let the moon rise soon enough. i don't think he understands the concept of longer days in the summer."

"Sans," Frisk puts a hand on Sans' shoulder. She hated all his deflections. He was always hiding something from her, and it was beginning to piss her off. "What is wrong? We are on the surface! After like a zillion years, everyone is finally-"

"free? free to come hang out sometimes up here as long as no 'normal' people see us?" Sans' sarcasm was thick. Sans looked up at Frisk, "uh, kiddo?"

Frisk was tearing up. It was true that things sucked, but a selfish part of her had hoped that Sans would be one of the people thanking her everyday for opening the surface up to the monsters. Everyone seemed to be having an alright time despite the slow changes happening. Wasn't that to be expected? Monsters suddenly showing up was bound to freak most people out, right? "But... things are different right? At least they are better, right?"

"i'm sorry, frisk. i am not mad at ya," Sans sighed. "nothing has really changed, kiddo. i still wake up in my same bed. i still see snow outside my window. papyrus wakes me up every sunday to greet the sunrise, and i wonder if he realizes how puntastic that is." Frisk nodded slowly, wiping away her tears. Sans looked away from her. "i guess i just wonder... if humans were able to put us down there in the first place... what is gonna stop them from doing it again."

Sans pulled his hand away with a yank. He looked at his hand and back at Frisk.

"I wasn't ready!" Frisk shouted. "I wanted to show you something better-"

"the surface really has no promise, huh?" Sans muttered to himself as he looked back down at the hand that touched her. "it was just like he said it would be. humans oppressing us... huh, you know," Sans looked to Frisk, his expression light and friendly. "you kind of remind me of him. maybe that's why... i won't feel bad about doing this."

"Doing wha-?" Frisk lost her voice as she was suddenly surrounded by strange looking blasters. The human looked from them to Sans. "Why...?"

"i'unno... maybe to make me feel better," Sans shrugged, one of his eyes glowing yellow. They all went off before Frisk could react, killing her instantly.

"This is bad." Flowey immediately said as Frisk reset, holding Flowey once more. "This is really, really, really bad."

"What's wrong with him?" Frisk looked down at him. "You said you didn't know him!"

"I've never seen him without his hood on, okay!? I had no idea he was one of the skeletons down in this star forsaken place!" Flowey shouted back at her. "Look! He's... he seems a little different... a little less unhinged."

"That's less unhinged?" Frisk's face faulted as she turned around. She half expected to see Sans just standing there casually, but instead she saw nothing of the sort. "This is awful. He can instantly kill me... that isn't even fair."

"Okay, so... that guy... the last time I saw him before I just started to hang out in the ruins with my parents, well... I saw him in the CORE area. He was always shouting things, but I didn't really ever understand a word he said. He would randomly kill me a bunch too!" Flowey rubbed his face with a leaf. "Ugh, he killed some random people in the CORE too. I reset a buncha times trying to save them all. It worked..." Flowey hesitated a bit. "For the most part, anyway. He seemed to REALLY hate my freaking guts though."

"This just doesn't make any sense. Why would Sans-"

"Huh?"

"Hmm.. Can you not hear this word: Sans." Frisk tested Flowey.

"Apparently not."

"Wow, that's... really confusing." Frisk tapped her foot for a moment, then it dawned on her. "Okay... I think this should still be true... in my universe that skeleton was related to Papyrus. Er, you know, the king of this place."

"What!?" Flowey's brow raised. "No, no, you must be joking. That's not very funny, Frisk!"

"Why the heck would I joke about this?" Frisk sighed. "Look, that's the truth okay. Do you want to touch a flower to see?"

"No, no, I believe you. Besides, I don't want to see that guy anymore..." Flowey grimaced as he realized that wish would probably not come true at all. "What are we going to do... you saved out here of all places."

"Only one way to go..." They both looked at the trail that led deeper into the forest. They sighed in unison, then Frisk began walking.

The two of them were silent as she moved. Frisk and Flowey were both mentally exhausted from dealing with Sans, so when the heavy branch snapped behind Frisk, her heart started to pound. She moved a little faster, and Flowey looked over Frisk's shoulder. He couldn't make out the figure following them at all. The flower started to tap Frisk's shoulder repeatedly and urgently.

"Frisk, Frisk, it's... it's got tentacles!" Flowey shouted as he shrunk back into his flower pot, when he said that, Frisk was frozen in place.

Tentacles, what the hell? She turned around at the bridge to see what the heck Flowey was talking about. Instead of tentacles, Frisk saw a small figure.

The small figure stood at Sans' height. The height Frisk was used to on the other Sans, but that was where the similarities ended. Whatever it was, it wore a white, bunny mask with long ears that pointed straight up. They wore a red hooded cape of some kind that managed to cover their entire body. The only sign Frisk could make out of what might be behind the mask was tufts of black hair that poked out from behind the mask. Before anyone could say anything, Frisk exclaimed at the top of her lungs:

"Who the hell are you?"

[aenor-llelo]

Where is Mount Ebbot?

hello ya nerds today we are going on a freshtastic radical journey to find mt. Ebott.

Or at least, the closest real life equivalent. With the power of APATHY INDUCED MANIC ANALYSIS. Have a care, spoilers abound.

WHAT COUNTRY IS EBOTT IN

In order to figure out what country mt. Ebott is in, we need to look at some things we know about the humans and monsters in Undertale and what correlates with mythology from different countries.

1. The most obvious thing is that the monsters all live in a mountain.

The front runners due to that fact alone are Ireland and China, which both have- a lot of mountains and mountain ranges- have rich monster lores involving them living in mountains, caves, and underground areas.                But leans more toward Ireland, where the monsters straight up live underground in separate worlds.

2. Humans were able to go to war with them.

The monsters in Undertale can be killed by brute force requiring no magic. Western mythological monsters can be killed through use of particular materials, but the demons of Chinese-based lore require special engravings, spells, or straight up magic.

3. Asgore Dreemurr.

The monsters in Undertale have an official leader. This kicks Chinese-influenced lore to a backseat because their monsters mostly lived in leaderless clusters that vaguely gravitated towards its more magically powerful members. Ireland's mythology, however, has plenty of mentions of fairy courts and sidhe lords.

Given what seen so far, looks like Ireland wins as candidate country.

Yaay 

BUT WHICH MOUNTAIN

If we want to narrow down to a specific mountain, there are some helpful facts already available to keep in mind.

1. A child made it up the mountain.

This means that

-this mountain can be climbed without use of any equipment

-is not very high

2. Its not that far from civilization.

-buildings can be seen on the horizon in the Pacifist ending

-Asriel is able to walk to Chara's village and back when he crosses the barrier

The same picture implies it may be near the ocean.

Onionsan mentions wanting to live in the ocean when he gets to the surface, and he is seen doing so in the end credits of the Pacifist ending. In order to move such a large animal to the ocean, the ocean probably wasn't that far away.The picture also shows proximity to another mountain, allowing the search to potentially extend to mountain ranges.

So in summary, we look for a mountain that

-is near a seaside town

-in proximity to other mountains/ in a mountain range

- is relatively easy to climb without equipment

- has superstition surrounding it

And boy howdy, I diddly darn found one.

Sleive Donard. 

It is nearby Newcastle, and the both the mountain and the town are right next to the ocean. It's also near some forests and a bunch of other mountains.It's climbed relatively often as pilgrimage to honor a certain saint. It's rumored to have a cave in it whose entrance can overlook the ocean and one of the mountain cairns is thought to be a portal to the Celtic Otherworld.

So there it be. Real life Mt. EBOTT.