Well... it's not completely filled with dust. There's only four separate piles that Finn can see, and it's a pretty large room. Still, if Finn's guesses are correct, that's four more magic frogs, when before they'd assumed there would be none. (Who would've expected there to be magic frogs down here, honestly?)
"Ribbit," the frog says, and Finn is startled by the agony in its voice.
"What's wrong?" they ask, crouching down next to the animal - they don't have to go very far down at all - so they can better see its face. "Don't... don't you guys do this on purpose?"
The frog turns and blinks in surprise. "Ribbit, ribbit?"
Finn frowns. "I thought you guys were shapeshifters or something."
The frog snorts - actually snorts - then hops slowly over to the closest pile of dust, looking very mournful indeed.
Finn stands up, confused. They'd thought that the frogs were magic and transformed themselves into dust as a way of camouflage. They suppose that doesn't really make sense, the more they think about it - why would you un-camouflage when someone twice as big as you poked you with their finger? Wouldn't you stay in camouflage, so they wouldn't eat you? But if that wasn't the case... if the frogs weren't doing it on purpose... then what was doing it to them?
They suppose it really doesn't matter, considering the frogs are perfectly fine and could be awakened easily with the touch of a finger.
They return to the long hallway to grab Mr. Dummy, then lug him into the next room and prop him up against a wall so he can watch them do their mAgIc - for of course they're going to awaken all the frogs, they're the hero after all. (Finn really likes that train of thought.) While in the process of doing that, however, they get distracted by a small room to the left that they hadn't noticed before, and skip inside to check it out.
The room isn't quite "small" - it's about the size of their bedroom back at home - but there's a pool of water running down each side of it that significantly condenses the walking area, and splat in the center of it is another white pillar, this one only half the size of Finn. There's some red leaves, too, but they appear to be set up in a special pattern around the pillar, so Finn takes care not to step on them as they move closer. They're surprised to find a chipped stone bowl on the floor, surrounded by what appears to be candy. There's also a slightly ripped note stuck on to it. Finn picks it up.
"Monster Candy - Take One," they read aloud, then look back at the candy bowl on the ground and frown. "Well, that's just rude. Some monster was just trying to be nice, and now it's all on the floor."
They pick up the stone bowl and carefully put every piece of candy back into it, dusting it off on their sweater. It's all wrapped, so Finn sees nothing wrong with it. They place the bowl back on top of the pillar and set the note up in front of it. Then, considering, they take a piece of candy and walk off.
Five seconds later they return, put the candy back, and walk away. They're not supposed to take candy from strangers.
The frog is waiting for them back at the first pile of dust, looking up at them with big sad eyes. Finn pats it gently on the head - it's soft, for some reason, not at all cold and slimy like they'd been expecting - then reaches out a finger and touches the dust. They step back as the dust begins to swirl up, and the frog jumps back in awe.
I wonder if this frog will look any different, Finn muses, imagining a paler green or bright yellow spots.
But instead of forming into the shape of a frog, the dust forms into the shape of a... a.... well, the best word Finn has for it is butterfly, but it's like no butterfly they've seen before. It condenses to reveal a body sort of like the white sheet Finn used for a ghost costume one year, with two little arms and two little legs, two drooping antennae, a pair of tiny blue see-through wings, and the saddest and most adorable face Finn's ever seen in their life. It hovers in the air with seemingly no need to flap its wings whatsoever, a creature slightly larger than the frog and more different from it than Finn could've dreamed.
"Awwwwwww," is all Finn can say.
Apparently that's the wrong thing to say, because the beautiful creature's eyes suddenly widen in terror, and it gives the most pathetic scream Finn's ever heard before zipping off much faster than Finn would've thought possible and vanishing from their sight.
Finn blinks, somewhat stunned. Not even wild animals react to them like that, and these animals are magic.
They kind of want to cry.
Instead, they pull themselves together and quickly touch each of the three remaining dust piles, then settle back against the wall and cuddle with the dummy, watching three more creatures come to life. There's another butterfly creature, and two more frogs, and they all look slightly different from each other - this butterfly has pink wings, and the frogs are both different shades of green - but one by one they all catch sight of Finn in the corner, emit varying ejaculations of horror, and flee.
Finn blinks rapidly, feeling an immense sadness, and buries their face in the dummy's fabric. All they wanted to do was make friends. Was Finn really that scary? Those screams just... those screams just tore their heart out.
They're distracted by something soft suddenly wrapping around them, and they look up to find that the frog - their frog, the first frog - has hopped over to them and given them a hug.
"Am I a monster?" Finn asks it, suddenly extremely worried. "Is that why that candy's called 'Monster Candy'? It's put out for monsters, like me?" It made sense. Humans were pretty terrible to the environment, and these creatures could well be mystical embodiments of nature.
The frog hops back - its head is level with Finn's at this level - and looks them straight in the eye. "Hop, hop."
"That's new," Finn remarks, studying them.
You're not a monster, Finn. But monsters do exist.
"Is that what the frog said?" Finn asks, exhaustion suddenly hitting them like a waterfront. The frog frowns in confusion.
Kind of. It's what I say.
Finn breaks out into a yawn, and their head droops down onto the dummy. The frog watches, concerned. "I think... I think I should just take a little nap, clear my head..."
Everything goes dark.
YOU ARE READING
UnderHappened
FanfictionThe Undertale Genocide Route is happening, but a new card has joined the deck: Finn, a quiet kid with a love for stuffed animals who falls into the Underground soon after Frisk. At first, it doesn't seem like there's much Finn can do, until they dis...
