UnderHappened

8 - Snow

The world outside of the Ruins is cold.

It is also completely covered in snow.

"This is amazing," Finn gasps happily, taking a few steps into the crunchy wetness.

If you say so,  grumbles the dummy in their head. Despite not agreeing with them at all, it had insisted on coming along. Froggit had remained behind, intent on maintaining the safety of the ruins (and of Toriel, who was still in a pretty bad state of shock).

Finn has to resist the urge to fall on their back and make a snow angel. They're back in their mask, gloves, and cloak, and the green-and-yellow sweater Toriel loaned them is extremely thick, so they aren't at all cold, but they know that could change if they got themself all wet.

So... where to?

"I think... forward?" It's pretty much the only way to go. Behind them is the closed door to the Ruins and a couple of bushes; in front of them is a long, straight, snowy pathway, fenced in by hundreds of extremely tall, leafless trees that stretch up into the air farther than Finn can see. Finn begins walking, holding the dummy tight. Their backpack got all burnt up by Toriel, so they now have one of Toriel's satchels, which is much more comfortable to wear with a cloak. It's filled with the essentials: Finn's sewing supplies, two notebooks and a couple pencils, the rest of that spider doughnut, four carrots, and another slice of Toriel's pie, wrapped up in what Finn can only assume to be some strange kind of aluminum foil.

Wait, the dummy says suddenly, causing Finn to jump slightly. What's in that bush?

Finn whirls around and stares at the perfectly innocent-seeming bush. They can't see anything, so they pace back over to it, then look behind it.

There's a camera, hidden behind the bush. And, if the blinking red light is any indication, it's on.

I don't like that at ALL, the dummy says flatly.

"Hi!" says Finn cheerily, waving.

Did you just WAVE TO IT?!

"Well, they're already recording me, I might as well be nice," Finn objects.

The dummy audibly sighs, and Finn continues on, trying not to think too much about the camera.

There isn't much to see, just snow and trees and the darkness in between the trees. A few paces down the path, Finn finds a giant branch that has been completely crushed to pieces (Finn, come on, you may have fixed me but you can't fix that) and hauls all the biggest pieces over to the side of the road so nobody can trip on them and hurt themselves, apologizing to Mr. Stick for disturbing him. The dummy begins complaining about the delay, but suddenly stops.

"Are you okay?" Finn asks it as they continue down the path.

Do... do you hear that?

"I don't think so," Finn replies sadly.

Right, you're human, you can't...

"Why? What is it?"

It's... well... You can't understand if you don't hear it. The dummy sounds extremely shaken. It must've been happening in the Ruins, too, but here... it's so much louder...

Now rather worried, Finn picks up the pace, crossing a lovely little bridge over a bottomless chasm before emerging into a little clearing containing - of all things - an extremely large lamp and what appears to be some sort of odd cross between a check-in booth at an old campsite and a hot dog stand.

Nobody here, the dummy notes. There should be guards at the station...

Is that what that is? Finn wonders. As they found out earlier, the dummy cannot hear thoughts in their head. They wonder why a guard station would have such obvious stores of ketchup, mustard, and relish. But all those wonderings vanish from their mind as they progress into the next area and find the pathway littered with no less than five large piles of dust.

Dear Asgore, the dummy groans softly.

Finn braces themselves. "Well, it's what we were expecting, right? Anyway, there's an easy fix." They make sure their mask is on correctly, then quickly go around and tap each of the dust piles, stepping back to watch the transformation happen.

Three of the piles transform into strange creatures whose bodies seem to be completely made up of snowballs and whose heads sport giant hats made of ice. One transforms into a strange bird-like creature covered in snow and ice. And the fifth transforms into the biggest, fluffiest dog Finn has ever seen, standing on its hind legs, wearing full shiny guard armor, carrying a sword and a shield, and reaching taller than Finn themself.

The largest snowball monster is the first to speak.

"Thank goodness, MY HAT IS OKAY."

"Snow  joke, I was just murdered in cold  blood," the bird sniggers.

"Shuttup, Drake, you'll never be funny," another snowball monster snaps. "And you're taking attention away from my hat."

"Your hat isn't nearly as cool as my  hat," the third snowball monster growls. "You guys completely stole the idea from me."

"Did not!!" the other two argue.

"Haha, cool, funny," the bird sniggers.

They all launch into a giant argument involving hats and what the heck just happened, sounding for all the world like a group of normal teenagers. None of them take any notice of Finn and the dummy, except for the dog, which hops over and sniffs at them slightly. Finn giggles, then, after a moment of hesitation, carefully reaches up and pets the dog gently on the top of its massive fluffy head.

The dog's neck starts growing, and its head shoots off into the air.

"Uhhhh..." Finn stammers, staring at the sudden expanse of cream-colored fluffy dog neck reaching up toward the sky.

"Don't worry dude, that's chill, he does it all the time," the bird explains. It takes a moment for Finn to realize that he's talking to them.

"Oh. Thanks," says Finn awkwardly. The rest of the monsters have stopped arguing as well and are looking curiously at her.

"You new around here?" one of the snowball monsters asks suspiciously.

"They haven't seen my hat yet!!!" the other two gasp excitedly, moving closer.

"Shut it," the first snowball monster growls, shoving them aside. It appears to be the eldest of the trio.

"Hey, look, man, it's all cool," the bird says genially. "I'm Drake, and these are Icy, Caps, and IC."

"My name is Icecap," the snowball monsters all object in unison, then glare at each other.

"I'm Finn," Finn offers.

"Ice to meet you," Drake says, causing all the icecaps to groan. Finn laughs, and Drake looks rather pleased. "Nothing like a good pun to break  the ice... anyways, uh, sorry if this is kinda abrupt, but we all just kinda, y'know, bit the snow, and now we're back, and you're here... you wouldn't happen to what's going on, would you?"

All four monsters look at them expectantly.

"Well... actually... um... " What on earth do I say? Do I even know what's really going on?

Finn opens their mouth, and...

... suddenly they're back at the door to the Ruins, staring at the camera hidden behind the bushes.

With one, sudden difference.

They can hear music.