The Tables Have Turned - Undertale Fanfiction

13 - Hotland

~ Frisk's P.O.V. ~

I'd managed to catch Austin, but I lost my grip as he was heavier than me and he fell backwards, almost hitting his head on the blue wall behind him. I'd attempted to keep him from falling but that resulted in me almost falling face-first into the floor beneath Austin. Luckily, he caught me and I thanked him. Boy, that was awkward. And when I thought it couldn't have gotten any worse, Austin lost his conciousness.

Now, not in an offensive way of course, Austin was way heavier than I expected and more than I easily could carry. He did look pretty skinny, perhaps even underweight, but he was not lightweight despite him appearing to be so. I couldn't just leave him in an abandoned Temmie Village either, he could've been injured or sick, too, so I had to attempt to carry him to Alphys' lab. If carrying is even the right word. It was more of a very depressing crawl of some sort. Austin was off the world entirely and didn't react to anything, and I must admit that I did fall over or bump into a wall every now and then and even that led to no response. It is pretty darn difficult to see when a bunch of crystals are you only source of light, alright? In any case, I did feel his heartbeat, which indicated he was out of his senses but still alive, and I hated myself for not being able to heal - using magic - like Papyrus and Toriel could.

~ Austin's P.O.V. ~

My body had basically been separated from my soul, but for some reason my physical body did remain in tact to a certain degree. (I was sure I'd gotten quite some fractures and bruises thanks to Frisk.) I wandered around the Void, completely baffled by the fact that Frisk was actually still carrying my physical body and taking it somewhere. I knew it was being moved by a live force - I assumed it was Frisk - but I couldn't see through the eyes of my body. All I could do was wait, stuck in the Void. And although I was pretty lucky that I hadn't been forced back into my shadow form, it would've saved Frisk so much effort if I had become a shadow instead.

~~~

The Void was all darkness, that's why I call it the Void after all, but after what felt like forever I the black nothingness surrounding me slowly faded to a lighter shade of black - or "gray" as most would call it - and, after what felt like forever, I seemed to be regaining my consciousness again.

I could feel something warm applying a light pressure to my legs. I was disoriented as I woke up and was immediately blinded by the bright lights around me. A hot pink blanket fell to the ground as I kicked into thin air out of reflex. I thought I was hearing voices in my head - was I back in the True Lab? Had things been reset that far back? - When I looked to my left, I saw two vague figures approaching me. I stood up, taking a fighting stance while struggling to keep my balance. The right figure was much taller than the other one walking on their left. They wore something which appeared to be a white trench coat. The taller figure was wearing several colors of clothing. As they approached, my eyes focused and I figured out the two figures were Frisk, with a slightly worried expression on her face, and Alphys, wearing her classic white lab coat.

Although I felt slightly more at ease, guessing I was probably in Alphys' lab, my muscles didn't relax yet and I kept standing in a defensive position, adrenaline rushing through my veins, in case my eyes were deceiving me and it turned out they were someone else. Luckily, the two figures actually were Frisk and Alphys. My muscles finally relaxed and my heartbeat slowed down as I threw myself onto the couch I'd waken up on. Frisk greeted me.

"Look who's awake," Frisk grinned, "you had me scared for a second, even. How are you doing now?"

Me, being as hilarious as I am, thought of a pun. Several, even. "Kind of blue your mind when I blued out, out if the blue. Didn't it?" My god, three terrible puns were three too much. Frisk, and even Alphys, both gave me blank stares.
I shrugged it off. "Hey don't look at me like that. I just woke up from my coma, cut me some slack."

Frisk, being the sassy teenager that she was, said "You've had enough slack. And that went at the cost of my spine."

"Ah, sorry kid. I didn't break your funny bone, did I?" Admit it, you laughed. I know I did. Frisk sighed.

"Alphys, I can't do this. Good luck to you, I'll be downstairs." She said as she walked away. I decided to spare Alphys my horrible puns and I told her what I knew instead.

~ Frisk's P.O.V. ~

Somehow, I'd managed to get me and Austin to Alphys' lab. One of her hidden cameras had seen us long before mister Puns had lost his conciousness so Alphys knew we were on our way to her lab.

Once I set foot on Hotland's scorching red ground, I saw Alphys hurrying towards us. She used one of her older robots - Mettaton prototypes, I assumed - to carry Austin and she performed a quick medical check on him as we went.

When we finally arrived at Alphys' lab, she ran upstairs and came back with a rather small matress, just not long enough for Austin, and a hot-pink blanket. We laid Austin down on the matress and put the blanket over him as he was undercooled, despite Hotland's high temperatures. Alphys hadn't been able to notice anything too shocking from the results of her quick medical check, she simply concluded that Austin had fainted and had possibly gotten the flu or a related virus thanks to being on the move constantly.

She repositioned some of her cameras - they were now focused on Austin - and handed me an older phone while she charged my other one. She'd notify me once he woke up and I was free to wander around the area for a bit. I didn't feel like going anywhere, so I went to Alphys' "true lab" in the basement. I hoped to actually find something about Austin there. He had a mysterious aura surrounding him which I didn't like it too much and thus I wanted to know more about him. I went through some old - perhaps even worth calling antique - books and archives and I found what I had somewhat been looking for. I didn't have time to read everything, since Alphys called me when I opened a rather small book about Austin's so-called family. They indeed did have some affiliations with the Dreemurr family.. but not quite in the way I had expected.. In any case, I put the dusty book back in the shelf and headed upstairs. Austin was awake and while I was relieved that he was okay, I had.. a bone to pick with him. But being the hilarious guy that he was, he started making puns immediately after regaining conciousness.

~~~

"Look who's awake," I grinned, relieved that he seemed fine, "you had me scared for a second, even." I said before I asked him how he was doing.

"Kind of blue your mind when I blued out, out if the blue. Didn't it?" he laughed. When both Alphys and I didn't respond, he said "Hey don't look at me like that. I just woke up from my coma, cut me some slack."

"You've had enough slack." I said, slightly irritated. I'd carried him all the way until Hotland and let me tell you, it was not pleasant. "And that went at the cost of my spine."

But oh my, the guy shrugged it off with another pun. "Ah, sorry kid," he mumbled. I honestly was expecting him to apologise properly but of course that didn't happen. "I didn't break your funny bone, did I?" he laughed again. I sighed until there was no more air in my lungs.

"Alphys, I can't do this." I said, maybe in a tone just a little too angry and irritated. I turned around as I said "Good luck to you, I'll be downstairs." as I headed downstairs to continue with my research on Austin and his relatives. He indeed had a lot more than him than I thought. Who would've known?