FurtherDown

Chapter 6, Pages 99-122

Chapter 6

Frisk was huddled under layers of blankets that wrapped her like a burrito. A soft, fluffy, burrito. Her face was scrunched up into a panicked look, a look that showed uneasiness. Worry. She started to toss and turn, restless in her sleep as she fought an invisible force. In her mind, a vast, dark and empty place. "Mmmh," Frisk moaned as she got to her feet, within her dream. Rubbing away the slight ache her head, she opened her eyes to look around as to where she was exactly. For she was in her dream, asleep in reality, but that wasn't of her knowledge at the time. As Frisk pressed her fingers to her temples, she spun around to look and get her bearings. Confused, she called out to see if anyone was with her, maybe even keeping her hostage. As she continued to look around even more, all she saw was red, endless red. "Hello?!" She called out once more.

Suddenly, a shaky, skeletal, hand reached out from within the redness towards Frisk. It grabbed onto her shoulder, digging it's fingers into her pectoral muscles. "F-Frisk," A familiar voice said. Frisk whipped around with a terrified look on her face, her eyes meeting Sans's pain filled eye sockets. He grabbed her sweater with both of his hands, now leaning over her and tugging her closer to his pale, white, face desperately. "P-Please-!" He pleaded. Frisk placed her hands on Sans's forearms, with a concerned look masking her fear. "H-Help! F-Frisk, p-please! Help us!" Sans rasped with urgency in his shaky voice as he gripped her sweater, his gaze, intense and focused on the small child. He shook violently within his clothes as Frisk shrunk away from him slightly. "ARGH-!" Sans yelped as his head flung backwards as if he'd been punched from below. His grip was interrupted by the pain that consumed him as he jolted backwards from Frisk's hold; his weak, pastel, soul appearing before Frisk's eyes.

"What? What's going on?!" Frisk asked frantically as Sans knelt down before her, clutching his chest in agony. "N-No, Frisk," Sans mumbled under his breath as Frisk fell to her knees by his side. "H-Help, stop," Sans beseeched. "Ungh!" Sans bayed. CRACK! The sound of glass shattering echoed within the red area, Sans's soul had an ever growing crack in it. The crack getting deeper as blood started to leak from the cracks. Frisk clasped her hands over her mouth as she gasped at the alarming sight. Sans, still hunched over, wheezed into himself as Frisk watched, wide eyed, tears stinging her eyes. "Please, p-please," Sans whispered, his raspy voice coming from all directions. She raised her hand to his wounded soul,extending her index finger out to touch it. Her index finger was about an inch from touching the blood that oozed from the cracks, with all her focus on the monster's soul, Frisk didn't notice that Sans was standing now. He wasn't shaking anymore when he grabbed her wrist, tightly, with his left hand. His hand steady as it was suspended by his arm as his fingers caressed his festering magic again in his right hand.

Sans stared down at Frisk, eye ablaze, smiling widely, with intent, and tension. Frisk recalled that same magic in the same hand that she had seen and felt last night. Intense. Suffocating. A gaster blaster was then summoned by the skeleton right behind him. It's powerful blaster powering up, consuming energy, and intensifying by the millisecond. Frisk looked into the blaster's blue eyes with red pupils, the laser within its mouth illuminating her face as her face faded into a pale color. Raw, unstable, fear collected up inside of her throat and stomach; the noise of the blaster's laser growing louder and more deafening. "It has begun." A deep, sharp voice said out of nowhere that sounded nothing like Sans's. The light from the laser became blinding and its energy became uncontrollable as the blaster released the energy onto Frisk and Sans. Her soul, collapsing and shattering into a million pieces. Glass breaking. Numbness. Silence. Nothing. "Ungh!"

Frisk shrieked, jumping up from under her pile of blankets. Grasping her shirt where her chest was under, she panted softly. Toriel still snoozed on off to her left, undisturbed by her panic. When her breathing evened out, Frisk closed her eyes in her solitude, focusing on her breathing and heart rate. "Mm." She murmured. Still in the wake of her nightmare, -that she just couldn't seem to get off of her mind- Frisk let an exhausted sigh slip from between her lips. She torpidly looked over at Toriel, watching her smooth, slow, breathing. A grin then creeped it's way across her lips as she got a mischievous idea. She then got up and leapt on top of the sleeping goat monster, waking her instantly. Worry sent a shock through Toriel's nerves, motivating her to shoot up from her relaxed position into an alert, sitting position.

"Frisk, dear! What is the matter? Are you hurt? Are you-" Toriel paused as she took a second look over Frisk, seeing that she was fine and only playing. "Oohoho, I see how it is." Toriel chuckled, playing along as Frisk beamed up at her with her arms wrapped around her mother. Toriel gathered the small child up into her arms. "Well then, do not expect me to spare you, my child. For one who is ambassador to the humans, you certainly are an instigator!" Toriel laughed, tickling Frisk who giggled with joy. She let Frisk go and shooed her out of the tent. "Now shoo! Go and play until breakfast. But do not go too far!" Toriel called after her as Frisk ran out of the tent and into the light of the morning.

Standing in the replenishing sunlight, Frisk inhaled a deep breath of the cool, grassy, air. The air smelled of dew, and rain, and was damp with the incoming rain. "Hey! Frisk!" A young voice called from a distance. Frisk looked over to see Monster Kid, Temmie, and a few other monster children stood in the distance, waving her over. "Come on!" Monster Kid beckoned. Frisk trotted up to them and greeted them; they took off running past tents and other rising monsters. "Good Morning." Asgore saluted, pouring himself a cup of tea by the ashes of the fire that he and his friends had gathered around the previous night. "Good Morning!" One of the other two monster children responded as they whipped past the old king. Meanwhile, Undyne was helping Alphys pack. "Hey, Alphys, what is this?" Undyne asked, holding a vile of a green chemical. "C-Careful! That's one of m-my test tubes. D-Don't drop it, o-okay? Put it in the b-box with the others. G-Gently." Alphys directed. "Got it." Undyne responded. 

"Sans! The sun has peeked over the mountain. It's getting late!" Papyrus scolded. "Okay." Sans said. "Sans! I am counting to three and then I'm coming in there to come and get you up myself!" Papyrus warned. "Okay." Sans said from inside the tent. Papyrus waited a few seconds, waiting for a reaction. When nothing stirred from inside the tent, Papyrus put on a scowl and started his dramatic count to three. "One!" He yelled, holding up one finger towards the tent, like a weapon. "Two!" He yelled again, raising a second finger dramatically. "Thr-" He started, but was cut off as Frisk and her friends ran into the tent without hesitating. "Frisk, Frisk! He's in here!" Called a small mouse-like monster with a dark green and green striped sweater, hat and scarf that covered his nose and mouth. He waved Frisk and the other children into the tent. "Oop! Hey- wait!" Sans protested as the children ran in. "Oof!" Sans yelped. Frisk stayed behind in the doorway, looking in the tent with a worried look on her face. "Aw, ya gotta be kidding me." Sans complained sarcastically. Hearing him joke around, put a smile on Frisk's face. "Good Morning, Mr. Sans!" The mouse-like monster greeted, sitting on top of Sans proudly."G'Morning, squirt. How'd you manage to squeak in here?" Sans asked, getting up to lean into his elbows. "It's time to get up now!" The child replied happily. "Says who?" Sans taunted. "Everyone. Everybody is packing up. They said we're leaving to go live somewhere else. Is that true?" The young monster asked eagerly. "Yup, pretty much. Ugh, now let me up." Sans said, the weight of the small monster adding pressure to his ribcage made him a bit sore. The monster slid off of him and took a step back by the rest of the group of children. Sans rose up, leaning forward and resting his elbows on his platellas. "By noon today we'll be outta here. Hopefully." Sans muttered to himself. "How far are we going?" Monster Kid piped up. Sans looked down at the ground longingly. "As far as we have to." Sans said glumly. There was an awkward silence as the four children looked amongst each other while Sans frowned at his feet.

After about thirty seconds, Sans chuckled and tried to distract the children with breakfast. "Whatchya say we go get some breakfast, huh?" Sans offered, his typical grin returning towards the children. They all grinned, about to speak but they were cut off by someone else's glee. "YES!" Papyrus cried, pushing his arms into the air, hands in fists and a wide smile on his face. Silence. The children turned around to look at Papyrus, who was obviously ready to eat breakfast. More silence. "U-Um, I mean, sure!" Papyrus said calmly, putting his arms down and behind his back, smiling nervously. The children laughed and the tension eased as Sans finally got up to his feet. They all started to walk towards where Grillby had made breakfast with the help of Muffet and some volunteers, the Sun reflecting the joy and radiance of their faces.