Under Water 2: The Red Harren [completed]

XXIV

The car fully pulled up and was put into park mode and the person driving it carefully came out of it.

I bit my lower lip gently and tried to keep my cool. It was Grillby. After moving out from the Underground, he had seemingly disappeared. At least, disappeared from everyone's lives, until a few months ago he reappeared and reappeared much more different than before.

Even though he would never admit it, I could still smell the alcohol on him. Hopefully, it wasn't that recent, though. 

"Greetings, Frisk, Mettaton--" He cut himself off once he spotted Elaine, "I'm sorry, I do not think we have met before. I am Grillby."

"I'm Elaine," They smiled gently at the fire monster.

"It's a pleasure to meet you, Elaine," He replied softly.

The unease that Elaine had felt had apparently eased, but mine still had not.

I didn't trust him anymore. There was no way to tell who he was anymore, and that was terrifying since I would have get to know him again when he wasn't himself.

"I can take you to the hospital if that is what is needed." He guessed.

"Yes, that would be marvelous if you could do that for us," Mettaton dramatically replied, grinning at the end.

Grillby nodded and walked back towards the car, "Hop in." He called.

The two immediately started following him, and I did a few seconds later, though I was quite stiff.

Once we were all into the car, which was surprisingly neat and tidy, the opposite of what I thought it would be, we headed off.

Elaine was leaning against the window, her wounds starting to subdue themselves, and Mettaton was fine since he had self-repair systems that had run their course over the conversation.

I kind of glanced at Grillby every once and a while, and we caught each other's gaze once. I think that after losing the restaurant, a few friends due to the vast expanse of the surface, and then myself "dying" for a few years; it all took its toll on him.

I no longer knew him, and he no longer knew me. And neither of us would be able to get past that roadblock, as the last few years had pointed out.

I looked back to Elaine and noticed she had fallen asleep. I smiled a small smile; there was something about her that was a lot like me. There was something about her. . . I just couldn't place it.

"So, your self-driving limo crashed?" He asked mainly Mettaton.

Mettaton nodded, "Yes, it did. It's strange since Alphys built it and created the computer that drove the limo. Then again, the timeline disturbance might have messed it up a little bit."

"Timeline disturbance?"

Elaine was still asleep, so I answered for her, "Elaine isn't from this universe. She just. . . kind of suddenly appeared, in front of the car, which is why we swerved and ended up in the ditch."

"Oh," Grillby sounded concerned and surprised at the same time.

Elaine suddenly woke with a start, but calmed down instantaneously, despite the tears that I could just barely see welling up in her eyes.

I leaned over to her, "Are you alright?"

"Fine," Her voice was a pitch higher, meaning that she wasn't.

I tilted away, taking a mental note to ask later.

"Sounds like an interesting day," Grillby commented, trying to keep the stale conversation going.

"Yeah," I laughed lightly, even thought it was very forced.

We pulled up to the hospital and all four of us got out, Mettaton and Grillby taking the lead as I let Elaine lean against me a little bit for support, myself ignoring my own wounds.

As soon as we entered the building I felt a rush of familiarity, and I knew why, for once. Chara had told me before she was snatched away from all of us. She had told me about the time before with Error when we had to rush here so that her leg could be treated.

It felt so familiar, yet I had to be told why.

"Frisk?" She said in a questioning tone, snapping me out of my thoughts, "We got a room. We just have to walk there."

"O-Oh! Yeah, heh, let's go, heh." I nervously snapped back into reality, limping the direction Mettaton and Grillby were walking.

Elaine glanced around for a few seconds, but then turned her gaze back to me, "You've seemed distracted. For a while. Do you want to talk about it?"

I looked over at her, making eye contact for a few seconds, but then looking away, "There wouldn't be much to talk about."

"I have all day," She put on a micro-smile.

I felt my expression sadden, "No, really. I. . . Something happened to me, only a short while ago, and it left me with amnesia. . . or fragmented memory, at this point, since I'm slowly starting to remember or am being reminded. Which can sometimes trigger the memory, but sometimes doesn't. I-It's all really confusing. . ." 

"Oh. . ." I don't think she was looking for that explanation, "I'm sorry that happened. And I'm sorry I pushed you to tell. . . Gosh, I'm such an idiot sometimes," She laughed tensely.

I shook my head, "No, people in this town know. In fact, anyone who followed me before would have known, since dying for a period of time then, pretty much coming back to life, with no memory, tends to make it to the media. It doesn't really do anything to me, anymore."

Elaine nodded but still seemed like she was sorry.

We made it to the room, and I helped Elaine sit down, sitting on the bed next to hers. A doctor came in and checked us both, giving Elaine a few painkillers and a few stitches, along with some instruction on what to do help her heal.

He moved over to me and helped me out, and my wounds appeared less traumatic than Elaine's, which was good for me.

"Thank you," I spoke a little quiet as he left.

He glanced over his shoulder and nodded at me, walking out of the room a few seconds before Sans, Papyrus, and Toriel walked in.

"Are you okay?" Sans asked as he rushed over, gently hugging me.

"Yeah, I'm okay, thanks," I smiled warmly.

"That's good!" Papyrus eagerly shouted, hugging me a little rougher than Sans had.

I glanced over to Toriel, smiling a small smile and saying hello.

"Hello, my child," She smiled back.

Mettaton was smirking to himself, proud that he had ignited this reunion.

Sans turned to talk to Grillby, and the room went quiet, the tension growing louder between everyone, but especially the odd couple.

"Heya, Grillbs," He tried to talk like it was still old times, back in the Underground, before everything had gone bad.

"Hello, Sans," He replied, also trying to act like everything was normal.

I exchanged a look with Toriel, and took note of how Elaine was looking at the group, like. . . something that I couldn't quite place. But I had never seen someone more fascinated with a group of strangers before.