the new asriel dialogue about missing their dead sibling, "it cant have been a year already. it cant have been 5 years already. it cant have been 10 years already. it cant have been... i dont want to keep growing up... not without you" is fucking me up. as someone. whos sibling died 10 years ago only 4 months before undertale came out.
(hey y'all. It's been uh-- a year and a half. Since the last transcript. But with the recent news and the doc sitting 4 sentences away from being done, I figured I'd finally post the final transcript and complete the whole season on tumblr! Help, as before, from @queen0fm0nsterz)
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
------------------------
[CLICK]
[Otto breathes heavily, distraught. There’s a few clicks and his voice comes through another tape.]
OTTO, on the tape: “If only I could sink… sink lower and lower. All the way down, until I wake up again.”
[CLICK]
[Intro plays]
[CLICK]
[Electrical sounds can be heard as well as shuffling and objects being set down.]
OTTO: [Sigh] I repaired what I could of the apparatus, and though the monitor remains broken, I dare say it’s as close to completion as it will get.
OTTO: I installed feedback resistors to maintain signal fidelity between host and guest. Though who knows if it can hold off that leering horror from the other side... However, the most critical component is the least reliable. [Typing] The oniric medium to carry the frequency… Noone.
[Click, the machine boots up. Ticking, humming comes from the screen]
OTTO: [shifts] Two nights prior, I feared she was lost permanently. Another transposition which lasted longer than any previous episode. Only as the sun rose did her body return, manifesting in the South-Wing courtyard. Ever since, Noone’s been confined to her room under continuous observation.
[Beeping, click, the machine quiets down]
OTTO: He must’ve let her go. Why? [Shifting, click]
OTTO: Hah. To toy with me. So that I might feel powerless.
[Inhale and sigh. Otto quietly gasps, he gets up]
OTTO: The Zahir’s Gaze… the moonlight hits the painting, recalling our first session.
[Pause]
OTTO: Yeeess… [fingers drumming] The image is clearer than ever. She will be my astrolabe, my guiding instrument, to locate distant shores across an ethereal ocean. If I cannot get to the Ferryman, she [more drumming] will bring him to me.
[Audio cuts.]
[Audio starts, footsteps]
OTTO: Take your leave, with my thanks.
[Keys jingling, a door opens]
NOONE, far away, annoyed: Now what? …Oh. It's you.
OTTO, cheerfully: How are we this evening?
NOONE: …
OTTO: That’s a first! You’ve got nothing to say?
NOONE: Don’t feel like talking.
OTTO: To anyone or to me?
NOONE: Do you see anyone else?!
OTTO: (Exasperated) That’s your prerogative. Nonetheless I came to listen.
NOONE, raising her voice: No you never really listen. [Steps] Oh – no flower or cake this time? To buy me over?
[Creaking]
OTTO: I shouldn’t have told you.
NOONE: You don’t believe that. I know your lies well enough by now. …Mum once said that keeping the truth from others can’t change it.
OTTO: Even if it spares unnecessary pain? The growth is likely benign, harmless –
NOONE: No! No, not knowing, hurt me more! I didn’t know a tumor was growing in my brain, but I felt it this whole time! …You’re fibbing again! It’s not be-nine at all, is it?!
OTTO: I don’t know. What I do know, is that the body often knows something’s wrong before the mind. The key is learning how to tune into its station to listen.
NOONE: That’s your specialty… Counselor.
OTTO: And now is the time to open our eyes and ears to your body. The time to let me in.
NOONE: I’m rather done with machines, with tests and with you.
OTTO: It will work, this apparatus! Finishing it has stretched the bounds of my knowledge, which I vowed from day one: it holds the capacity to connect our brains so that I may see through you into the Nowhere! I can help you like I’ve always promised but only if I can speak to the Ferryman!
NOONE: Who?
OTTO: The Candleman.
NOONE: N-No, you said Ferryman! Why did you call him Ferryman?! …It’s what she called him, isn’t it? Cici. She saw him too!
OTTO: That’s why he’s the only one who can help me understand –
[Something is knocked over]
NOONE, yelling: Understand what?!
OTTO, also raising his voice: Everything!
NOONE, voice shaking, yelling: I’ve been poked at, studied, talked at and- hooked up to medical machines and for what?! For – [groan] My head! A fire burns in there, and I want to sleep! But I’m afraid at the same time and that nurse is always interrupting!!!
OTTO: My machine requires you to be asleep, Noone! [Noone breathing hard] The dormant brain generates theta waves, patterns which the device uses to align neural pathways through a computer interface. Once our brain waves are tuned – well! Do you remember when we considered mutual dreaming? This facilitates that experience!
NOONE: I don’t understand anything you just said!
OTTO: We can face your monsters together!
[Noone breathes]
NOONE: This machine… it means I get to sleep?
OTTO: …Deeper than ever before.
[Shifting, audio cuts]
[Audio starts, Otto setting up the device]
NOONE: Metal spiderwebs…
OTTO, distant: What? Oh. These are resonator caps, one for each of us. [He gets closer] The makeshift filaments transmit electrical pulses between our brains via the interface. Noninvasive, harmless. I’ll put mine on first to show you.
[Shifting, clunk, the machine boots up]
NOONE, nervous: … I’ve changed my mind I want to go.
OTTO, angry: There’s no going back. [Glass clink] Some sweets, [wrappers] to put yourself at ease. Take them.
NOONE: Three?! I-I don’t want any, my stomach feels so ill…
OTTO, demanding: Take! them!
NOONE: [Sigh] … Alright.
[Crinkling wrappers]
OTTO: As you drift off, let’s start as we always have. Where did you travel the other night. Last time you slept.
[Noone takes the candies out of the paper and munches on them. She breathes in… breathes out. She takes a deep breath.]
NOONE, narrating: …As soon as I closed my eyes, I drifted through an endless dark. After what felt like… hours, I found myself in a musty, cluttered room. Mountains of- patterned fabrics piled against the walls.
NOONE: A long wooden table was covered in scraps and tools, and a machine whirred behind the closed door across from me. [Sewing machine whirring] A familiar, faint smell… candy apples, and… enchanting sad music.
[Violin music is distant in the background, something is being sewn together with a sewing machine]
[Scraping]
NOONE: (slightly quiet) Against one wall was a rack, packed with clothes. Too big for me, but, just right for the armless, faceless mannequins around the room. They even wore outfits already. A white wedding dress splashed with dark stains… a purple suit and… red bowtie… on the third mannequin, a black velvet cloak.
[Wrapper crinkling, Noone eating another candy]
NOONE: At the foot of a table, I discovered a wooden chest, and lifted the lid to see it stuffed with smaller outfits. A doctor’s coat… a pink tutu and shoes… and a yellow raincoat.
OTTO, interrupting, sounding far away: Yellow? Was anyone else around?
NOONE, narrating: On the table among spools of thread and needles, and bits of ribbon, rusty shears stuck through his torso, pinning him down. I could… almost feel the blades myself.
[Crunch]
NOONE: (starting to sound tired) He had a… wide face, painted with… a wide downturned mouth. Sagging cheeks, glimmering- black eyes… twine with frayed edges dangled from his arm. …The only one he had.
NOONE: [Yawn] His clothes were… rough-worn, dressed like… like one of those- carnival people at Rusty’s show. I leaned in to get a closer look, and it jolted to life, [The Puppet awakens, Dream!Noone gasps] grabbing my leg.
[Dream!Noone struggles, the Puppet rattles]
NOONE: He yanked until… [Thump] Until I fell and struggled to break free, [Dream!Noone grunts, rattling stops] kicking at him, but he held tight to my ankle. [Dream!Noone pants] Reaching for a nearby bottle, [Dream!Noone lifts, breaking glass] I smashed it into his head. He let go, and, when he stopped moving, [music halts] So did the music.
[Creaking, mechanical clicking, a door opens. Dream!Noone gasps]
NOONE: (more tired) I jumped off the table, [Dream!Noone grunts] into the wooden chest from before. [Clanking] With the lid shut… I spied through… the keyhole. A new kind of… of mannequin in a… beautiful dress, stood in the doorframe. H-Her back… to me.
OTTO, interrupting, far away: Shhh… Sleep your distinctive sleep.
[Creaking and clicking]
NOONE, on the verge of sleep: …Her little movements were stiff. Mechanical. [Mechanical movements, rattling] Her body was still while… her neck began to… twist. Her hair was… too shimmery. Her lips… too wet. And, her eyes… too glassy. All… too elegant to… be real… or fully fake. [rattling pauses] When her neck turned… all the way, she… saw the… Puppet, on the table. The- broken bottle. She started tittering [rattling starts again]. I burrowed, into the costumes, trying to make myself… invisible.
[Chest opens, Dream!Noone gasps, grunts]
NOONE: She opened the chest… [mechanical clicking] …removed a… tan trench coat, [sewing machine starts] sewing closed a tear… along one seam. [Noone hums] Like… like the Nowhere… had been sewing the pieces of me… back together. Strong again. Pain-free.
[Doll Girl clicking, Noone starts to audibly breathe deeply]
OTTO: (distant, echoey) She’s fading out!
NOONE: ‘N tucked away, she… took out a gunny sack. One slit… I would be next. No escape.
OTTO: Harmonizing the frequencies, then I can put myself to sleep.
[Repeated clicks, Otto typing]
[Noone sleeping, Otto falling asleep]
[Long pause as Otto breathes deeply]
[Thump, Dream!Noone gasps, creaking]
Dream!NOONE: Someone’s opening the chest. Right now.
OTTO, distant: What? She can’t be there yet, it’s too soon. I can’t see-!
Dream!NOONE: There’s nothing to see.
[Distant beeps]
Dream!NOONE: The Perfect Lady’s gone. [Echoing] Only the dark. All around. I can’t even see my hand in front of me.
[Otto’s machine quietly clicks]
Dream!NOONE: Asleep and awake. Both at once.
OTTO, distant: It… it appears so. Normally this occurs only under certain conditions. Yet somehow that’s happened now. It’s better than I’d hoped for, don’t do anything yet!
[Machine continues clicking]
NOONE: …Huh… I was wrong. It’s not darkness. It’s a kind of mist. A mist so black and thin it- it only half-exists.
[Distant, echoey typing and beeping]
NOONE: Oh. That’s where I am… the Halfway Place.
OTTO, still distant: [unintelligible]... Wait for me Noone, wait.
NOONE: I’ve been here before…! With the Candleman.
OTTO: Close your eyes… don’t move-
NOONE: I can’t. …I’m sinking and floating. There’s no floor… only the mist, spreading its fingers, so I can see myself. As if… rebuilding me piece by piece. And above me, or… below, the brightest stars you’ve ever seen, twinkling as- [short exhale] as a million million islands would.
NOONE: I feel like I’m going for ages, yet, I’m not tired at all. [short laugh]
NOONE: [Gasp] A shape in the distance. An outline of… a door? Do you see it?
OTTO: Noone, listen. You must wait for me, I’ll be there soon! Do not go towards that door without me! …I’m so close…
NOONE: Whichever way I turn, the door is straight ahead. And getting nearer.
[Quiet beep]
NOONE: It’s ancient. [Beep] The color of… twilight. Made of knotted wood. …Oh. N-no, it- it’s a liquid. Or- both at the same time. And the frame… it squirms all about. And there’s no doorknob. Only… a shape at the center. The shape of…
OTTO, quieter: I can almost hear his presence. Almost.
NOONE: …Can you tell me yet? Why me?-
OTTO, echoey: Who are you? Did you take my Cici?!
FERRYMAN: Only youth blooms, petals pure, but uprooted, spoils white within.
NOONE: …In the door? Where are we going?
OTTO: No, stop! Is she in there?! Where is my sister!?
FERRYMAN and NOONE, in sync: A world as wide as the deep, and narrow as the well.
NOONE, no longer echoing: I’m stepping through.
OTTO, more distant and echoey: No, no no, don’t do it! I need her!!
FERRYMAN: Sink. Sink into these tideless waters.
NOONE: He’s taken my hand… welcoming me to the other side of the door. The stairs here… go every direction at once. Otto… Otto, if only you could see it! More stars! Constellations and rings around the- pulsing red moon!
[Pause]
NOONE: …No. Not a moon. Not stars either. They’re all.. eyes too. Every size and shape you could imagine. Watchful… shimmering… blinking… their light dripping down into the dark mist. I feel them [another voice joins] looking at me. Into me. [one voice, Noone] …And they like what they see.
OTTO, more distant: Don’t let the door close! Leave the girl- please, leave her with me!
NOONE: The Counselor. He wants to come.
FERRYMAN: Too long in the tooth. I feed the spectrum’s other end.
NOONE: I-I don’t understand.
NOONE: …Oh. He’s been talking to you this whole time!
OTTO, even more distant: I know this! ALL my life I’ve wanted it! Let me cross, Ferryman, you hear me?! Invite me too or I’ll-
NOONE: Otto says-
FERRYMAN: [Low chuckle] Otto did*, but to plunge you must be pushed.
NOONE: [quiet gasp] …The door’s changing now. Thumping. No… it’s the image in the frame, that’s changing. A blur of faces. Children. And… I’m sorry Counselor, the door’s [other voice joins] drifting away from us.
OTTO: How do I enter?! I NEED TO KNOW!! Tell me how to cross fully!
FERRYMAN: A quarter will be granted, the toll set in torments, not yet paid.
OTTO: I-I- I’ve nothing more to give, WHAT ELSE DO YOU WANT?!
FERRYMAN: Sleep. Sleep now, Ruth. Sleep into Nowhere.
NOONE/RUTH: Take my hand again.
OTTO: [Unintelligible]
RUTH: Not you, the Candleman. I’ll be lost without him.
OTTO, extremely distant: WAIT! Where are you?! Please!! I need to see my Cici again!!!
[Ambience swelling]
RUTH: Smokey fingers are mixing with the blinking eyes, and the moon is opening up, [other voice] swirling all around. I feel like… me again.
OTTO: GIVE HER BACK!! GIVE HER BACK, DO NOT- DO NOT GO!!!! WITHOUT ME– …GIVE HER BACK, DAMN YOU, NO—!!!
[Ambience rises, then cuts]
[Pause]
RUTH: But it’s still there. Why is it still here? That darkness…
RUTH: …That’s the secret.
RUTH: It hides in this place.
RUTH: …My body knew all along.
[Door creaks, ambience rises suddenly and then cuts again]
-
[Ambience and music starts]
[Machine whirring in the background]
OTTO: Wh… Where are you?! [Things being knocked over] Noone! Please!!
[Machine beeps as the room seems to be getting upturned]
OTTO, despair: Not again…
[Otto yells in rage and loudly knocks something down. Shattering, alarmed beeps, audio cuts]
-
[Machine seems to be broken as multiple rapid beeps sound, Otto is pacing]
OTTO: She abandoned me. She wanted to get away. From me. Oh… Cici… [swipe] did you abandon me too? …No, ‘course not. You wouldn’t have. …You wouldn’t have! How could you leave your little brother behind?!
[Clunking. Possibly Otto opening something?]
OTTO, teary: Oh… No, you wouldn’t have.
[Audio cuts]
-
[Different room. Otto sighs, much calmer]
OTTO: I swear I could hear what she was hearing. Couldn’t I? …The Ferryman. He said, “A quarter will be granted”? For whom? And a “toll” is to be paid?? To enter the Nowhere… is that right? It could’ve been meaningless drivel, another trick.
[Otto takes multiple deep breaths]
OTTO: If only I could sink… sink lower and lower. All the way down, until I wake up again.
[Click]
-
[Clicks of a tape recorder starting and stopping]
[Otto is sifting through something metal/glass]
OTTO: What a terrifying burden this is, knowing the laws of space and time are blithe to themselves. [Sifting stops] Her dream still lingers within me, [deep breath] descended upon my being and into the Counties. I’ve done nothing but weigh his words over and over.
[Otto looking through a desk]
OTTO: If the Ferryman spoke some arcane truth… there’s another way to cross the threshold. [increasing energy] And when I do, the path will have been paved, with bricks of fear! …I will review every tape, uncover every secret, the answers lie therein! [Heavy breaths] So nearly… S- So nearly, was I swept away int-!
[Door creaks open]
OTTO: [gasp] Ethan! You shouldn’t be out of your room!
ETHAN: …
OTTO: …Huh. Somnambulism. Your dreams have led you to me, then.
ETHAN: [Quiet mumbling]
OTTO: You’re sleepwalking, that’s all. A common parasomnia in children. …But if it’s a new symptom, that could indicate something has changed.
[Otto looks through papers]
ETHAN: [continued mumbling]
OTTO, not listening: What?
OTTO: …Oh. The mess! Heh, I was looking for something I lost. …But I think I’ve just found it.
[Otto walks over to Ethan]
OTTO: Lets get you back to sleep now. And tomorrow, together, we’ll dream… and dream… and dream. Until we sleep again anew.
[Footsteps walking away]
OTTO: Hold on– before you go…
[Otto walks somewhere in the room. Glass clinking. Otto walks back over, sets the glass down]
