Chapter Two, Part Five
“It’s quiet,” Frisk commented after she and Chara had spent the past couple hours walking through the snowy woods without another sight or sound of another. “Too quiet.”
“It is rather odd,” Chara replied as he walked alongside Frisk. “Whenever I traveled Snowdin Road when I was alive, there were monsters all over. The woods were populated by teens hanging outside of town and hermits who preferred to live in cabins away from most everyone else. This feels wrong in comparison.”
Frisk crossed her arms to hug herself. “On the one hand, I’m sure I should be grateful that there’s nobody here who wants to kill me, but on the other, the silence is incredibly eerie. Besides, aren’t we supposed to run back into Papyrus and Sans. Where are they?”
Just as Chara was about to respond, he looked ahead and muttered, “Huh. Well, speak of the devil.”
“Hmm?” Looking in the direction Chara was, Frisk saw Sans with another skeleton monster that had to be his brother.
Papyrus, unlike Sans, was tall and gangly. His outfit looked more like a costume than actual going out attire, and it was black with a red cape. He wore red boots and gloves, and Papyrus appeared to have a giant smile on his face.
“So,” Papyrus was telling Sans, and Papyrus had a sheet of paper in hand, “as I was saying about Undyne . . . I drew this for her. Do you think she’ll like it? Hang on the fridge material? Do you ship us, Sans?”
Just then, Papyrus noticed Frisk standing a few feet away. He dropped the sheet of paper he was holding and looked at Sans, who turned to look at Frisk; and when Sans turned back around to look at Papyrus, Papyrus was again looking at Frisk. Soon the two of them were quickly going back and forth between looking at Frisk and at each other. They started to move so fast it was as if they were spinning tops. Frisk felt sick just watching them spin around at such a rapid speed.
When they were done spinning, Papyrus and Sans stood with their backs facing Frisk and began whispering to each other. Or Frisk supposed they were meaning to whisper. Papyrus, in all his excitement, shouted his words.
“Sans, oh my god! Is that . . . a human?!”
Both simultaneously turned around.
“Uhhhhh . . .” Sans looked at Papyrus. “Actually, I think that’s a rock.”
“Hm?” Frisk turned to the left then the right and saw that she was standing next to a rock.
Seeing the rock, Papyrus’s face fell in disappointment. “Oh.”
Sans turned his attention back towards Frisk. “Hey, what’s that next to the rock?”
Papyrus also turned around and appeared to see Frisk for the first time. Leaning close to Sans, Papyrus questioned, “Is that a human?”
“Yes.”
“Oh my god!”
“Does he have to shout so much?” Chara complained. “It is as if his voice echoes in my head.”
“Sans, I finally did it!” Papyrus exclaimed as he practically jumped for joy. “Undyne will—I’m gonna—I’ll be so popular popular popular!”
“Please,” Chara begged, “end my existence.”
Frisk, on the other hand, was ecstatic. She had been waiting for a long time to finally meet Papyrus. Now here he was, a couple of yards in front of her, just as excited to see her as she was to see him.
Clearing his throat – an impressive feat for a skeleton, Papyrus told Frisk, “Human, you shall not pass this area! I, the Great Papyrus, will stop you! I will then capture you! You will be delivered to the Capital! Then! Then . . . I’m not sure what’s next. In any case! Continue, only if you dare. . . . Human, are you okay? You look funny dancing from foot to foot like that.”
“I’m sorry!” Frisk exclaimed as she tried not to jump for joy herself. “It’s just—I’m really—I mean—Oh, what the heck!”
Without any thought put towards her actions, Frisk quickly approached Papyrus. Chara called for her to stop, but she ignored him. Anticipation ruled out all logic and caution for this situation.
“It’s so wonderful to finally meet you!” Frisk shouted as she now stood only a few feet away from Papyrus. “I have heard so much about you, Papyrus! Please, tell me, have you been accepted back into the royal guard yet?”
Papyrus was so taken aback by Frisk’s approach, he was stunned silent. For the first time since he made the scene, there was nothing for Papyrus to say. Chara was quick to realize this.
“Oh, thank goodness he finally shut up!” Chara cried. “Had I known your running up to greet him would have silenced him, Stripes, I would have encouraged you approach him sooner.”
For a moment, nobody said anything. Frisk and Papyrus stared at each other, Frisk trying to get a better hold on her excitement. Chara stood out of view, and Sans stood next to Papyrus, seeming just as confused as his brother.
After a while, Papyrus found the words. “You . . . heard about me . . . ?”
“Of course I heard about you!” Frisk began to count on her fingers. “You work as a sentry here on Snowdin Road. Your favorite thing to make is spaghetti. You were kicked out of the royal guard four years ago, but I don’t know what for. Papyrus, why were you kicked out of the royal guard?”
“We, uh, we don’t talk about that!” Papyrus coughed into his fist and said, “Now, in order to stop you and capture you, human, my brother and I have created some puzzles!”
“That’s right, you love puzzles! I love puzzles too!”
“Right.” Papyrus looked between Sans and Frisk and continued, “Human, prepare yourself! For high jinks! For low jinks! Dangers! Puzzles! Capers! Japers! Being captured! And other sorts of fun activities. Refreshments will be provided!”
“That sounds like it’s going to be so much fun!” Frisk exclaimed. Then realizing everything Papyrus said, she added, “Well, except the being captured part. Any way we can exclude that from the list of activities?”
Papyrus did not immediately respond. He stared at Frisk for a moment, sighed, and pressed his gloved hand against his face. Closing his eye sockets, Papyrus calmly said, “Sans, would you please tell this human to stop being so happy? It’s kind of killing the mood I’m going for.”
“I’m . . . sorry? Would you prefer I quiver in fear?”
“Yes, human, if you wouldn’t mind.”
Knocking her knees against each other, Frisk held her hands up with her palms facing outwards and forcefully stuttered, “No, not being captured! I’ll do anything!”
Briefly dropping the act, Frisk raised a brow and questioned, “Better?”
“Much. Thank you.” Clearing his throat, Papyrus exclaimed, “Solve my puzzles, human, and perhaps you might escape me yet! I’ll be up ahead. Neyhehehehehe!”
Wasting no time, Papyrus bolted forwards, running away with glee. Despite herself, Frisk giggled at his excitement. Papyrus was more fun in person than Flowey had made him sound.
“Well,” Sans said after he and Frisk watched Papyrus’s figure disappear into the distance, “that went better than expected.”
“What were you expecting?”
“I don’t know, but this wasn’t it. Anyway, good idea back there, pretending to be a fan of Papyrus. I’m sure he’s more thrilled that a human knows who he is then he let on.”
Deciding it was perhaps better that Sans did not know that Frisk was already aware of Papyrus, she replied, “It was nothing.”
“I’ll be up ahead as well.” Sans began walking in the opposite direction than which Papyrus went. “See ya there, kid.”
After Sans, too, had gone, Frisk turned to Chara and said, “So far, I don’t think things are as bad as they could be.”
“They could be significantly worse,” Chara agreed, “but I would not get too comfortable. These monsters may not hurt you, but that does not mean you are safe from potential danger.”
“Relax, Chara, I am on high alert at all times. Nothing can surprise me.” With that said, Frisk held her head up high, spun on her heel, and began to march forward. She didn’t make it two steps forward before she tripped on the rock and cried out in surprise as she fell towards the ground.
“Well,” Chara walked closer so that he stood over her as Frisk lied face first in the snow, “at least the Ruins is the only place in which talking rocks live. Otherwise, I would say your chances of surviving are slim to none.”
“You’re just jealous because you can’t make snow angels,” Frisk said as she pushed herself out of the snow and back onto her feet.
“Sure,” Chara replied as Frisk continued her journey, “we will go with that.”
Frisk did not walk too far before she came across spikes in the road blocking the way. Her excitement to finally come across a puzzle quickly died when she read the rules and saw the puzzle needed to be completed. The rules were simple – turn the X’s into O’s by stepping on them – but there were only two on the ground. Solving it took a matter of seconds. However, when Frisk pulled the trigger, a flare shot from the ground and into the sky, exploding high above where she stood.
Seeing and hearing the blast, Frisk stood in place for a moment before asking Chara, “What are the odds that this puzzle was a trap?”
“Keep moving,” was how Chara answered. “You may as well have just signaled to the entire Underground of your presence. The sooner you get away from here, the better.”
As Frisk began to march forwards, she stated, “Whatever comfort I felt from meeting Sans and Papyrus is gone now. I don’t think other monsters will be as friendly.”
“Be careful,” was all Chara said. He didn’t need to say more. Frisk was already aware that his faith in her abilities to survive were nonexistent.
When it came time to rest for the night, Frisk climbed a tree with lots of thick branches. Certain she would be out of sight, Frisk wiggled into a sleeping back and then used a rope to tie herself to the branch high up in the air. It wasn’t the most comfortable position in which to sleep, but it would keep her safe.
As she slept, Frisk had the same dream she always had. She was in a pitch black room, and the only other thing in there with her was what appeared to be a shining star. As she did with every dream, Frisk reached for the star; and when she touched it, a familiar beeping sound echoed all around her.
When she awoke, Frisk felt her body ache from sleeping on a tree branch. She stretched her arms and looked for Chara. He was still sitting on a branch higher up than hers and leaning on the trunk, the exact position in which he sat when Frisk had settled herself in for sleep.
“Good morning, Chara,” Frisk said as she began to untie her rope.
“Is it really?” Chara dryly replied.
“I think today is going to be as good as you decide it’s going to be.”
“I appreciate that you think so positively, but the universe does not care if you plan to have a good day or not.”
Ignoring the pessimism, Frisk finished untying the rope, wiggled out of the sleeping back, and put everything back into her pack. When everything was secure, she climbed down the tree. Her feet hadn’t been on the ground for more than a few seconds when Chara pointed something out.
“Tracks,” Frisk said as she knelt closer to the ground to observe the disruption in the snow. “They look like pawprints, and there’s a lot of them. Someone, or multiple someones, were circling around here last night.”
“Odds are they know that you are here but didn’t think to look up to see if you were hiding in the trees,” Chara replied.
Frisk gulped. “Well, whoever it was or whoever they were, I hope they don’t have plans to come back any time soon.”
Before either Frisk could move forward or Chara could reply, someone from a distance aways shouted, “Hey, you! Stop right there!”
Fear gripped Frisk like a tourniquet. Before she could react, Chara stated, “I think they had plans to come back soon.”