Underearth/Book 5/Chapter 2

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Calibri's eyes slid open; a bitter-cold wind wailing against the sides of the house as snow fell from the chimney. Calibri let his eyes slide closed again, though shot them open upon remembering the events of the last World.

Immediately, he shot upwards, focusing magical energy into his hand as his feet touched the wooden floor of the cabin. In the center of his palm, a small glowing white orb appeared. Calibri then closed his eyes again, though the room around him was still in his sights, albeit monochromatic, his vision now heavily obscured by his hand and his face.

Rising upwards, the orb began to fly around the room, Calibri's vision keeping pace. As it continued to fly, he opened his eyes; his vision now mixed with what lay in front of him, and what the orb obtained. Once calibrations were complete, the orb shot up the chimney and towards the Citadel, specifically the closest tower.

With the orb away, Calibri pulled a diaphone stone—a small ornamented rock attached to a string—from his pocket and poured more magical energy into it. Receiving the energy, it began to glow light blue. A few seconds later, the blue darkened to a more modest blue.

"Sans." Calibri said.

"What? What's going on?" a voice came from the stone.

"I need to talk to you, in person. It shouldn't take long."

The stone went dark.

"What is it?" Sans asked after appearing in the center of the cabin.

"A RESET has just happened."

"A RESET!? But I still remember everything you told me last time."

"That's because the power to RESET has moved on to somebody else, setting a new point as its basis. Everything I told you a couple weeks ago still holds true, except for the part regarding Flowey and time of RESET."

Sans sat down at a nearby table, pulling a hotdog out of his pocket. "Alright, so who has it now?" he asked, taking a bite.

"A Human."

Sans choked upon hearing these words. "A Human? Here?"

"Yup. Don't rush yourself too hard, I'm currently searching the Royal Watchtower for them now."

Sans swallowed, then looked down at the ground. "How long have they been here?" he asked. "What have they done? Are they... as bad as Flowey?"

Calibri took a deep, thoughtful breath. "No." he said. "No, they're alright. As for how long they've been here, I wanna say... seven Runs, maybe. This one would probably make the eighth and, hopefully, final."

"Sounds like you two got to know each-other in one of the previous Runs. Anything I should know?"

Calibri gave Sans a reprehensive look. "No, nothing too important." he said. "You two did become close friends in a previous Run, though."

Sans chuckled at that statement.

"I'm serious." Calibri reinforced. "This Human even went out of their way to befriend our brother, Papyrus, and even Undyne."

"They befriended Undyne? No, that's impossible. Undyne hates Humans more than anything else in this world. I can't think of a single thing that could possibly change this."

"What about Papyrus establishing the befriending of a Human as a great challenge?"

Sans looked back at Calibri. "You're kidding."

"Nope. It was actually quite entertaining to watch. Especially when Undyne actually took him up on that challenge and ended up blowing her house up again."

Sans began laughing. "Wow, that *definitely* sounds like Undyne."

"Indeed." Calibri said, his smile dropping as soon as an anthropomorphic goat climbed through an opening in a purple wall. "I've found them." he said, shifting the tone of the room again. Flying through the hole, Calibri found a Human standing distracted, staring at a nearby wall. He was unarmed, even lacking the leather gauntlets Calibri had last seen him in. Shooting past his face, the Human began looking around for the orb of light that had passed but moved on when nothing came from his brief search.

"Alright, it looks like we may be in the clear." Calibri said, his vision orb keeping close watch from a distance on the Human.

Calibri, focusing back on where he was, looked over to Sans. "While we wait for more information, could you tell me the story of the Prince and the Human? It's been some time since I last heard it."

Sans was taken aback by this strange request. Despite not knowing his brother's mind, he didn't raise question.

"A long time ago," Sans began, "a Human fell into the Citadel. Injured by its fall, the Human called out for help. Asriel, the King's son, heard the Human's call. He brought the Human back to the castle. Over time, Asriel and the Human became like siblings. The King and Queen treated the Human child as their own. The Underground was full of hope. Then... one day... the Human became very ill. The sick Human had only one request. To see the flowers from Ochyro, their village. But there was nothing we could do. The next day, the Human died. Asriel, wracked with grief, absorbed the Human's SOUL. He transformed into a being with incredible power. With the Human SOUL, Asriel crossed through the Barrier. He carried the Human's body into the sunset, back to Ochyro. Asriel reached the center of the village. There, he found a bed of golden flowers. He carried the Human onto it. Suddenly, screams rang out. The townspeople saw Asriel holding the Human's body. They thought that he had killed the child. The Humans attacked him with everything they had. He was struck with blow after blow. Asriel had the power to destroy them all. But... Asriel did not fight back. Clutching the Human... Asriel smiled and walked away. Wounded, Asriel stumbled home. He entered the palace and collapsed. His dust spread across the garden. The Kingdom fell into despair. The King and Queen had lost two children in one night. The Humans had once again taken everything from us. The King decided it was time to end our suffering. Every Human who falls down here must die. With enough SOULs, we can shatter the Barrier forever."

"I see..." Calibri said, a hand stroking his chin. "Thank you..."

Sans watched Calibri with interest throughout the story. "You look troubled." he said.

"Yeah... just a little bit."

Calibri then stood up, approaching a bookcase in the corner. From the bookcase, he pulled out an old patchwork book and brought it over to the table which Sans sat at, and sat down himself, opening it up.

"Anything you wanna tell me about? Maybe I could help."

"Gimme a few seconds, Sans." Calibri flipped through the pages.

The two sat in silence for a time, the only sounds were that of the wind outside, and the flipping of paper. After a bit, Calibri closed the book and placed it flat against the table.

"Do you know when that story was written, and by who?" Calibri asked.

"Uh... sometime after the heirs died, by Asgore I think."

"Right. So then that begs the question; how trustworthy is it?"

"What do you mean?"

"According to this personal account of those times," Calibri pointed to the old book, "things don't exactly add up all that well. Simply thinking about it brings up some holes as well. Firstly, how the use of 'castle' and 'palace' are used as they are, though this could just be the difference in timeframe between when Chara fell and when she died. Another problem that arises from this, though, is the fact that the Palace wasn't right next to the exit at this time. It was where the Oldtown Palace is right now, which is far from any exit, or entrance for that matter."

"You're saying that people should have seen Asriel leaving and returning, right? What makes you so sure they didn't?"

"The journals from the time only mention Asriel leaving, but not returning. This one," Calibri pointed at the old book again, "is from... Wing."

Sans twitched at the mention of that name. Calibri, understanding why, simply continued.

"Seeing as he was alive at the time, and even helped Asriel leave in the first place—according to his own account, it's a good resource to work from. Asriel just left one day, and next thing everyone knew, Asgore was saying that he too was dead. Being close friends with the King, Wing even got to visit where Asriel died, though the descriptions he gives are more poetic than helpful—as though he could actually feel sorrow. All I can tell is that it's most definitely *not* in the palace. My best guess is somewhere in Waterfall, but those caves are dark, and most haven't even been explored."

"Shame." Sans said, the lights in his eyes gone.

Calibri delved back deep into thought.

"Wait a second..." he eventually said.

"Figure something out?"

"Maybe... Do you remember the rainy area in Waterfall?"

"Kinda hard to forget. The area around Asriel Lake, right?"

"Yup." Calibri stood up. "Let's go there."

"What? Now?"

"Yeah now."

"What about the Human?"

Calibri closed his eyes. The purple hallways of the Citadel came back into focus. The Human was talking peacefully with a Froggit.

"They're good, don't worry about them." Calibri said, stretching his hand out to Sans.

Sighing, Sans took Calibri's hand and focused on Asriel Lake within Waterfall. Like the opening of a door, he sent himself through, pulling Calibri along with. Once on the other side, they both found themselves in the last bit of shelter from the rain surrounding and feeding the lake.

"Excellent!" Calibri said as he turned around and started making his way towards a rain-drenched statue. Sans simply followed after.

Once in front of the statue, Calibri kneeled down and stared at it. The upper surfaces of the statue had weathered away from centuries of rainfall.

"You don't think—" Sans started saying before Calibri shushed him.

Still staring at the statue, Calibri slowly brought his hand up over its chest, his eyes glowing red soon after. The statue, Calibri felt, was not regular stone. It felt as though it had been alive at some point before, though the only life within now seemed to be... asleep.

Calibri pulled his hand away.

"So... this was your fate, huh..." Calibri mumbled to the statue."But what of Chara...?"

Sans simply watched with interest, making sure to not distract.

Calibri clapped his hands together, a red pulse of energy erupting from his compressed palms out into the surrounding caves. After a few seconds, he felt a presence—familiar, yet novel. Standing up, Calibri followed the thread of familiarity, which led him to a dead-end room with a piano in the corner.

"Sans." Calibri said. "What's beyond here?"

"A 'treasure room' for a puzzle Undyne set up, I think."

"Where'd she find the treasure?"

Sans shrugged his shoulders. "Nearby? She's not really the type to put a lot of effort into puzzles or their rewards."

"I see..." Calibri turned to face Sans again. "We need to go to the primary access corridor of the Royal Watchtower."

"Inside the Citadel? Why?"

"To pick up the Human, of course."

"Wha! Seriously?"

"Don't really have much time, Sans. He's getting ready to move on."

Sans grabbed Calibri's outstretched hand and opened a tunnel to within the Citadel, exiting into a long hallway with many pale-grey pillars lining the walls.

Once within, Calibri saw a rather unremarkable Human standing nearby—one who wore a blue sweater with two pink stripes running around its middle, and dark blue jeans.

Immediately, Calibri brought his white orb into the Human's view, summoning more to accompany the first. Once his attention had been captured, Calibri drew the orbs back to him, having them circle around Sans before dispelling them near his own hand.