Destinie Calling - Chapter 2

## *House of Secrets (Chapter 2)*

\*\*Destinie's POV\*\*

Here I am, sitting in an old pink house in the area they call Waterfall. Undyne says that Hapstablook, the previous owner, had moved in with Alphys, so he no longer needed the house. There are diaries all over the place, but I leave them be; it would be rude to have read them. I knew Napstablook, the world's ghost, lived right next door. A few ways down the lane lived Undyne, in her fish looking house. I am just hanging out on the bed when I decide that I want to go explore. As quietly as I can muster, I tiptoe past Napstablook's house, where I can clearly hear him, Undyne, and his good friend Shyren in the middle of some sort of music lesson; I only say "some sort" becaue I can hear someone singing well, but someone else practically banging on a piano, probably smashing the life out of it. Dummy sits in front of the house, but I am not worried about him. He doesn't move anyway.

Waterfall is actually quite pretty. I visited their shop, where I meet Gerson the old turtle. He had a lot of eccentric trinkets inside. He had a lot of wisdom on the Underground and all of its history! I might have guessed.

The actual waterfall that streamed right out to the dump was fascinating. There was so much stuff from the Surface that other humans had lost floating around at the bottom.

I also saw Echo Flowers, which repeat the last thing that was said to or around them. I laughed at some of the things that people had actually said before! Although, it was weird when I got closer to the boat area. I listened carefully to the few I encountered, and it sounded like two messages were playing over one another at once! Curious to see if one of my powers had come back, I took my eyepatch and put it over my ethereal eye again, to see if my theory was correct.

And sure enough, I can hear the voices of other monsters, expressing their wishes. It seems so sad, but I am happy that it sounds as if most of them have come true since the Barrier is broken. And then suddenly, I take my eyepatch and switch it to cover my rainbow eye instead, and as soon as I do I wish I can take it back.

Someone's laughing. Evilly. Right in my ears. They hurt too badly, and then they are monologing. Talking about how she will replace them, whoever she is. How they will be abandoned again, so they shouldn't even try. And then my Surface past flashes in my eyes as I tear off my eyepatch, but the happy wishes of the monsters are long gone, only the reminder of how alone I was suddenly ringing in ALL of the flower patches across the ground.

Immediately I drop to my knees and scream, "STOP IT!" Then I start crying. It's completely uncontrollable and I'm unable to control myself despite all efforts made to try. The laughing keeps echoing right in my ears, and I wonder who's doing it. The poor tortured soul. So broken. So lost. So... alone. That thought alone would have brought me to tears. My rainbow eye begins to spin and flash all the colors vivdly, while my ethereal eye's flame pupil became a whole lot more animated. I can tell I am panicking, because I suddenly start to hyperventilate. I clutch at the area where my heart is... and then pass out.

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The moment I come to, I am hit by a small spray of water. I squint, realizing I am staring up at the ceiling of Waterfall. But it seemed that the temperature was dropping, which is NOT good for me, because Rainquesters can't stand being in the cold. Having spent all my time with them, we typically stayed in very hot areas. And in our nature, if you stay longer than a year in a certain temperature, then the other becomes very dangerous to stay in. I begin to shiver violently, but it doesn't last very long; a large blanket is thrown over me, and the violent shakes have stopped. I look up to my savior, and all I can see is a long dark cloth rowing the boat we are on. They turn to face me, and all I can see are a pair of glowing white eyes in the dark hood.

"Tra-la-la! I see you're awake," they say to me. I sit up and stare in fascination. "Who are you?" I ask.

They keep staring at me. "Everyone just calls me the Riverperson." And with that, they have turned back to face the direction they were rowing in.

It stays silent for a few moments before I decide to ask another question. "Where are we going?" I ask, hoping I can solve the mystery of the dropping temperature. I pull the blanket all around me.

"Snowdin," RP answers without looking back. "It's a fairly cold place. It snows there all the time. We have to use the large cubes that float in the river to cool off the CORE, which is down below."

The CORE?! I think in horror. That's where Gaster stayed, since he is the one who had it built in the first place. I couldn't see how he could stand to live in it - monsters everywhere, the layout changes every time, not to mention it seems extremely hot down there (which wouldn't bother me at all)! But I didn't like to think about the experiments he pulled on me, let alone the one he did to my sister Rei all that while back. He'd killed her. I was so angry that day. I zapped him with all my might into the void hole he'd left open. He quickly dissipated into the area, and when the followers spawned a few days later, they started saying things like "he got lost in his experiments" or "he messed with time and space", probably so the rest of the Underground wouldn't get the *real* story.

"Why are we going to Snowdin?" I can't help but ask. I'd remembered passing out from the laughing ringing all in my ears because I hadn't been able to stand it... the thought of that made me feel like I was going to start hyperventilating again.

"They called for you. Sensed you were in danger. I kind of owe them a favor, so they asked me to bring you to them." They row a little quicker.

I am completely confused. "What?! Who called for me?!"

And just as they pull up on the Snowdin bank, two figures stand there in the slight mist. One of them is Papyrus; the other is Sans. Papyrus reaches down with both hands and lifts me out of the boat. As he does so, the blanket slips off, and I immediately start shivering violently again. Papyrus tries everything he can to steady me, to no avail. So he asks RP for the blanket, who hands it to Sans, then hands it off to Papyrus to put on me. As Papyrus carries me away from the bank to their house with Sans following behind, I suddenly get a cryptic message: "*Beware of the man who speaks in hands.*" Shocked, I stare back at RP over Papyrus's shoulder, who gives me a slight nod.

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Soon we have arrived at a quaint little wood house in Snowdin between Grillby's, the local restaurant, and the Librarby, which is just a library with a misspelled name. Sans turns the knob on the door, and then pulls it open, so Papyrus can enter first. Once Papyrus sets me down on the couch, Sans shuts the door, then comes over to examine me. I still feel intimidated having to look him in the eye, but I know if I don't he will just be suspicious of me agai -

I cut my thoughts short when I catch a gleam from Sans's right jacket pocket. His left hand is on my forehead, trying to heal me to best of this ability (his left eye glows light blue as he does so), but his right hand, which is shoved in his pocket like always, seems to have a metal piece inside of it. Discreetly, I try to move it with my telekinesis, but Sans's hand seemed to try and come out with it, as if it was attached to the metal, so I stop risking it. *Is that what I think it is?!* I think in horror. *A... handplate???!*

Right then, Sans takes his hand away from my forehead. "yeah, she'll be fine," he says to Papyrus. "she just had a panic attack. it wasn't lethal or anything."

"How did you even know I was in trouble?" I ask. I was fairly sure that Sans's powers did not involve reading minds. Could he just... sense the danger?

Sans shrugs. "call it a hunch." Then Papyrus adds, "I HOPE YOU'RE OKAY! WHEN SANS TOLD ME YOU WERE IN DANGER AT THE WATERFALL, I KNEW YOU HAD TO COME HERE RIGHT AWAY FOR SKELETON HEALING EXPERTISE!"

"I'm okay, Papyrus," I say, rubbing my head. "Just a little shaken. But why did you bring me here? Why didn't you just come to Waterfall and heal me?"

"are you kidding?! do you know how long of a walk that is?" Sans snaps. I cringe. Not only can Sans telepprt, making that statement if hus redundant, it's a reasonable question, so I don't understand why Sans decides to lash out at me that way.

"SANS! THAT IS NOT IT!" Papyrus says, shaking his head in frustration. "HONESTLY, SANS, WHY ARE YOU BEING SO HOSTILE TOWARDS HER?" He looks at me. "I THOUGHT IT WOULD BE SAFER FOR YOUR WELL-BEING IF YOU STAYED WITH US HERE IN SNOWDIN!"

Safer?! Sans is trying to bite my head off! And Snowdin is completely frozen cold. So why would he think this is better than me staying in Waterfall??

As if Papyrus reads my mind, he continues, "DON'T WORRY! I WILL MAKE SURE THAT YOU ARE NEVER FREEZING DOWN HERE! AND SANS WILL WARM UP TO YOU EVENTUALLY. HE DID WITH FRISK, SO YOU WILL PROBABLY BE AS LUCKY! AND NOW YOU HAVE HEALERS NEARBY IN CASE YOU START BREATHING ALL WEIRD AGAIN!"

Wow. Papyrus just summed up all the problems in a nutshell - and solutions to each one. Sans just glares at me, like it's *my* fault that Papyrus wants me to stay over. Obviously the thing to do would be to tell Papyrus that I didn't want to stay, but I can't bring myself to tell him that. From what I know, Papyrus seems to be a very sensitive type. So I just give in. "Okay, Papyrus! I'll stay."

His eyes light up (literally, they glow a bright green). "WOWIE! THIS WILL BE SO MUCH FUN! YOU WON'T REGRET THIS, DESTINIE!"

And with that, Papyrus goes bounmding up the stairs to his room.

As *soon* as he is out of sight, Sans grabs a hold on my jumper and yanks me up so that I am staring him right in the eye sockets. "listen, you little brat. you may have papyrus fooled, but i'm not quick to accept like he is. you know how long it took me to warm up to frisk? don't answer that," he adds before I can say anything. "if you're keeping *any dirty secrets* - " he begins to go into a fighting stance " - you'd better tell me."

I am more annoyed than scared by his threat. "Why should I tell you my story if I don't know what *your* game is?!" I demand, wrestling out of his grip and jumping off the couch. Annoyed by this, Sans moves forward to strike me, but I throw my hand in front to block it. And something invisible-like, maybe a gust of wind, comes blasting out of my hand, and Sans is blown away into the wall before he can even react. He is unscathed, but furious by that time. But I am more shocked at what I have just done. *My defense attacks! They're back???!*

"what was that?! are you insane?!" Sans starts yelling at me. There's no way to explain what just happened to Sans - not without some backstory that I didn't want to have to resort or be forced to tell him. I don't even want to hear any more of this, so I sprint for the front door. But Sans teleports in front of me before I can even reach for the knob. "and where do you think *you're* going?"

"*OUT*," I snap, before teleporting away myself, leaving Sans in surprise.

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\*Sans's POV\*

Not sure what to say right now. I mean, she just teleports away right in front of me?! This girl's stronger than I orginally remembered. And I know that if I don't do something right now, the underground may be in danger. So as quickly as I can, I teleport myself to where she may have gone. Suddenly, I find myself in Hotland. *why on earth would she come here of all places?! doesn't she realize how hot it is?*Then I remember that it is the cold that she is extremely sensitive to. So that means she must really like the heat.

Ducking behind a rock nearby, with utmost care not to touch it, I see her leaning against Alphys's lab, contemplating to herself. *i need to get closer to hear what she is saying!* I think with conviction.

I teleport to another section outside alphys's lab to see if I can hear her talking. Sure enough, she is muttering something to herself. I can clearly hear her say the words, "*What would they think of me if they found out about my past? If I told them... and the skeletons! They would never believe it! They'd probably never forgive me..."*  She is actually near tears as she talks to herself. For some reason, I can't even feel sorry for her right now. Unable to grasp what i hear right then, I teleport myself away back to snowdin.

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\*\*Destinie's POV\*\*

Leaning back against the building of Alphys's lab, I can't shake the feeling that someone was watching me. I feel as if my sensors are slightly off, so I am not sure who it is. *I can't even believe I'm HERE again.* I begin to tremble. Never did I think I would find myself here back in a few short weeks - or a few short years in VOID time. *Rumor has it that the True Lab is in this very building, but... are the rumors true?!*

I can't think about it any longer. I stealthily open the door and jump into Alphys's lab. I see the door a ways across the room to get there. I was hiding behind Alphys's camera monitor, which seems to be a good way to just bolt across the room and get down there, right?!

WRONG!! For as I glanced up into the monitor's screen from my position, I see that it had been originally used to monitor Frisk, which it still seemed to be doing... but it appears that she is actually in the room! The room is a large mess of noise and mostly dark except for a spotlight in the middle of it, illuminating two podiums. Frisk is on one while Alphys is on the other. And standing in front yet equidistantly between them is a gray metal box. On a wheel. With... HANDS?! And these hands have gloves attached to the segmented arms and a microphone in one of them. But the weirdest part was that Alphys and Frisk were speaking to it. And it spoke back to them?? Like, what the heck?!

"Mettaton, you GOT to tell us when you're going to host these game shows!" Frisk says, putting her head in her hands in defeat. "And you need way more diverse topics! You can't pick anime for every other show! Alphys is going to kick my butt every time!"

Alphys snickers. "I told you, you should watch it me more often, then you'd know your stuff!"

The gray box known as Mettaton rolls up between the podiums. The M on his front, in red lights upon a yellow lighted background he had been sporting, changes to a question mark almost immediately. "DARLING, IF THERE WERE MORE INTERESTING THING TO REPORT ON, I'D DO IT IN A HEARTBEAT! YOU KNOW THAT, RIGHT?" Then he motions to his backside, which had a very obvious on/off switch back there. "MAYBE I'D EVEN SWITCH FORMS NEXT TIME WE DID ONE. THAT TELLS YOU HOW REPETITVE THE UNDERWORLD IS GETTING AGAIN."

I guess I should try to search for the True Lab another time when they are gone. Not wanting to draw any more attention to myself, I immediately turn to leave.

And trip right over the cables to the large monitoring cord! It immediately turns off, and I groan in pain as I fall flat on the floor. Alphys, Mettaton, and Frisk have caught sight of me then, and come rushing over.

"Are you okay?!" Frisk asks me when she finally reaches me. She sticks out a hand to me, and I take it and pull myself to my feet. Rubbing my head, I dizzily glance over at Alphys and Mettaton, who both just watch me.

"W-what are you doing here, anyway?" Alphys asks, and Mettaton crosses his arms, saying, "YOU TOTALLY INTERRUPTED OUR GAME SHOW, DARLING!"

"Sorry," I say, still shaking my head. "Wait - why *were* you playing a game show just now?"

Had he had eyes right now, Mettaton will have just rolled at me right here and now. "IT'S WHAT WE DO, DEAR. I'M A GAME SHOW ROBOT, FOR HEAVEN'S SAKE!" he says, clearly annoyed.

"Sorry," I say again, shrugging my shoulders. Then I turn to leave. "I'm about to head out. I have somewhere else I need to be right now."

"Wait! Where are you going?" asks Frisk, who has followed me a ways to the door.

"I'll probably just explore here, maybe head on over to the CORE? I don't know yet, I don't have a specific place in mind right now."

"WHY ON EARTH WOULD THE CORE COME TO YOUR MIND, DARLING?" Mettaton asks, and when I turn to respond I see that he has changed forms already. In his box form, he is 2 heads lower than me, but now he's about 3 heads higher in his humanoid form! I can't help but look him over from bottom to top as he asks the question. However, I am unsure how to answer it.

"The CORE seems pretty random, dont you think?" adds Frisk. "I mean, no one's been there for weeks now; the last ones in there were Mettaton and me."

"AND I THOUGHT YOU HAD NO SPECIFIC PLACE IN MIND..." Mettaton says, shrugging his shoulders.

I look down so none of them can see me blushing. It's times like this I wished I could just flash out of existence. "Guess I did," I mutter, immediately turning for the door out. "Well, I'll be on my way then..." And with that, I bolt for the door.

"Wait!" Frisk calls after me. "Do you even know where you're going?!"

I don't turn. I can't bear to look back.

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\*\*Papyrus's POV\*\*

I am in my room, busily tidying up inside. If Destinie ever chose to stop by, I don't want her thinking the Great Papyrus lives in a pigsty! It simply would not do! As I struggle to shove everything known to skeleton into my closet as neatly as possible, Sans enters my room.

"SANS?!" I yell in surprise as he suddenly appears in my face. "WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE?! EVER HEARD OF KNOCKING? YOU DON'T SEE ME BARGING INTO YOUR ROOM!"

Sans snickers. Of course he gets a kick out of this.

"WHAT IS IT, SANS?" I snap as I turn around, away from him. "CAN'T YOU SEE I'M IN THE MIDDLE OF SOMETHING?"

Sans's grin fades as he turns serious. Behind his back he reveals some black rectangular objects. "you know what these are?"

I scratch my head. "VIDEO TAPES?"

He nods. "they're her video tapes. if they're any way we're going to get any confirmation on whether or not she was down here or hiding any dark secrets, these are it."

"HOW'D YOU KNOW THEY WERE HERS? AND WHERE DID YOU EVEN FIND THOSE?" I ask, tilting my head. "I NEVER SAW THEM IN THE HOUSE."

"that's because they weren't. they were at the true lab, buried under some old stuff of gaster's before he disappeared." He grabs my arm and pulls me out to the living room (it's a MIRACLE he didn't break it off). He then proceeds to summon a black box with a slot in it in front of the TV.

"WHAT'S THAT?" I ask him.

Sans turns from me to it. "it's a cassette player, papyrus. it's the only way we can watch those tapes."

He's about to put one in when I suddenly reach out and stop him. "what are you doing?!"

"IT'S JUST..." - I feel nervous trying to spit this part out - "WHAT IF WE CAN'T HANDLE THE TRUTH? THAT WE'RE NOT MEANT TO SEE WHAT'S INSIDE?!"

Sans rolls his eye sockets at me. "we're not the same skeletons we were then. if we could survive all of that, we can certainly survive some tape. now come on." He shoves a tape into the player. "we deserve to know the truth, don't we?"

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\*\*Destinie's POV\*\*

*Way to go, Destinie. You made them even more suspicious of you. How do you expect to stay alive if you can't keep your cool?!*

I lean back against Sans's empty sentry station in Hotland (surprise, surprise), with an impending feeling of doom in my stomach. And not just because all of the Royal Guard are headed this way either. I duck behind the station as Lesser Dog, Greater Dog, Doggo, Dogamy, and Dogaressa all come marching through to meet some of the other guards, further down the path.

As soon as they are gone, I still don't dare come out. For some reason I still can't shake the impending doom alert.

*"You're going to get it now..."*

My head shoots up and I glance around, trying to find out where the sound comes from.

*"They'll hate you, you never told them..."*

If it was Chara or Flowey, who I know are both still down here, I was going to get super pissed off.

*"Yo! You'd better skip town if you know what's good for ya!"*

*That* was enough to get me screaming. "Monster Kid?!"

Something comes up in my view... it *looks* like Monster Kid, but the color scheme tells me it's not him.

"Goner Kid!" The words escape my mouth like forbidden fruit. Just as they do, the other followers of Gaster come out from behind him, staring me down.

"Why are you here?" No fight in my voice whatsoever; only defeat. I know that these things exist solely because of me, and they only come around to haunt me in my nightmares. If they ever showed up around the bros, things would get ugly with Papyrus *and* Sans, and I don't want that.

All they can do is stare at me sadly. As if... they know something.

"W.... what do you know?"

Goner Kid moves forward as if to answer my question. He gives me a quite cryptic answer: "Your tapes."

*That's* when it hits me. My playback tapes are the only proof I have of my being down here before. I give them all a pleading look: "You won't tell them... will you?"

They continue to stare until they finally shake heads in defeat. In unison, they whisper the two dreaded words:

*"They know."*

The doom bomb has just dropped.... 500000 times over. And the only remains? Three cryptic followers and a hybrid who will probably be as dead outside as she feels inside right now.

And a scream.

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