Underearth/Book 2/Chapter 5

A</span

**Want to read this elsewhere?**

Entering Helios Station, Frisk proceeded through just as he did before; passing through the traps set by Mettaton, hitting the switch at the back of the hall guarded by the Elysian Guards, then facing Mettaton off in a one-on-one. Instead of attacking him and destroying his body like he did before, Frisk attracted the attention of the viewers by dancing. While he was completely awful at it, Mettaton had noticed their ratings rising, and so rolled with it by dancing along-side the Human.

If you read the events of the previous World, you know what happens. When Mettaton finally powered down, Frisk opened the door to let Alphys in, then walked to the Elysian elevator at the end of the next room's hall. Alphys follows, and Frisk tells her off for lying to him (having renewed hatred for Alphys when the story was retold to him by Mettaton). He then rose to Elysium, leaving Alphys behind in a crying mess.

The elevator ride was long and boring. Eventually, however, it finally reached the top, and Frisk exited the elevator onto Elysium. Following the linear walkway, he eventually made it to Asgore's home.

Upon seeing Asgore's home, a great sorrow suddenly weighed down on Frisk's chest for seemingly no reason. Yet, despite the sorrow, it felt as if something was drawing him inside. Heeding the call, Frisk entered.

Upon entering, he heard distant, echoey childish laughter. Looking around, he saw what looked like two faded shadows run out of the nearest door in the hall, into the foyer, and running past Frisk to the outside. One of the shadows spoke as they ran past, their voice sounding very child-like, but distant, like a far-gone memory.

"Wait up, Chara!" the shadow shouted.

Frisk's eyes began to water. Seeing that his vision was beginning to become impaired, he brought his hand up to find tears forming in his eyes.

*Are these... tears? But... why?* Frisk thought.

Upon asking these questions in his mind, Frisk was immediately drawn deeper into the house. Though he knew he needed to collect keys from the kitchen and hall to see Asgore, he himself seemed drawn into an extremely dusty room, strikingly similar to the room Toriel had given him back in the Citadel. This room, however, had two beds, one on each side.

Being drawn to the minimalist side of the room, Frisk once again looked around, just as he'd done in the previous World.

Unlike before, Frisk felt compelled to pick it up and look within. Doing so, Frisk found a sepia photograph of a young goat-like Monster alongside a Human who had their face obscured by a bouquet of flowers. Upon seeing the photograph, Frisk dropped to his knees, sobbing up a storm.

*Wh... Why am I crying...?* He thought to himself, the tears continuing to flow. *I... don't understand.*

Frisk continued to sit on the ground for some time, crying while holding the locket close to his chest. Eventually, though, the tears stopped, and Frisk stood back up. Though he had no idea why he started crying, he put the locket around his neck. Leaving the dagger behind (as he didn't want to even be tempted to hurt anybody), Frisk exited the room, back in search for the keys.

After collecting one key, an Elysian Guard had appeared behind Frisk, though showing no hostility. It told him that it had been sent to tell him the tragic tale of the Monsters, being the eventual death of both heirs to the throne. The Elysian Guard finished telling him the story and had flown off just as Frisk had made it to the Judgement Hall.

Frisk started shaking in his boots. When he last passed through here, Sans had sentenced him to death in the public records and told him to never return.

*I've done nothing this time, though.* Frisk thought to himself. *I made sure that nobody died from my actions.*

Frisk took a deep breath, then entered the hall.

The Judgement Hall was a long, heavily ornamented hallway. Pillars decorated both sides, and large stained-glass windows filled the area with what seemed like sunlight.

Walking about half-way through, a curtain of dark-green energy suddenly appeared, completely surrounding him.

"So, you finally made it." a mysterious voice pierced the curtain. "The end of your journey is at hand. In a few moments, you will meet the king. Together... You will determine the future of this world. That is then. Now. You will be judged. You will be judged for every action. You will be judged for every EXP you have earned."

"What's EXP?" Frisk asked, already knowing the answer.

"It's an acronym. It stands for 'execution points'. A way of quantifying the pain you have inflicted on others. When you kill someone, your EXP increases. When you have enough EXP, your LOVE increases. LOVE, too, is an acronym. It stands for 'Level of Violence'. A way of measuring someone's capacity to hurt. The more you kill, the easier it becomes to distance yourself. The more you distance yourself, the less you will hurt. The less you will hurt, the more easily you can bring yourself to hurt others."

There was a moment of silence. Suddenly, however, the curtain dropped.

"... but you. You never gained any LOVE. 'course, that doesn't mean you're completely innocent or naive. Just that you kept a certain tenderness in your heart. No matter the struggles or hardships you faced... you strived to do the right thing. You refused to hurt anyone. You never gained LOVE, but you gained love. Does that make sense?"

Frisk nodded.

"... Now. You're about to face the greatest challenge of your entire journey. Your actions here will determine the fate of the entire world. If you refuse to fight, Asgore will take your SOUL and destroy Humanity. But if you kill Asgore and go home... Monsters will remain trapped underground. What will you do?"

*What should I do?* Frisk asked himself. *I came back into the Underground to free the Monsters, but I don't want to die to do it...*

"Well, if I were you, I would have thrown in the towel by now." Sans said. "But you didn't get this far by giving up, did you?"

"No, I didn't." Frisk said.

"That's right. You have something called 'determination.' So long as you hold on... So long as you do what's in your heart... I believe you can do the right thing."

"The right thing..." Frisk mumbled to himself.

"Oh, by the way, Papyrus wanted to tell you that Undyne has something to give you before you leave. Good luck." And with that, Sans suddenly disappeared.

*Undyne wants to give me something?* Frisk thought.

Thinking on that note for a minute, Frisk eventually turned around and left the Judgement Hall. Right outside the Judgement Hall was the door to an elevator. Frisk walked up to it and the doors automatically opened. The inside cabin looked extremely high-tech. When Frisk walked inside, the doors automatically closed, and Frisk felt a sudden downward lurch that stopped soon after. Suddenly, the elevator felt as though it shot at high speed sideways. After about a minute, it stopped, then rose. The doors then re-opened.

Exiting the elevator, Frisk found that he was now where he began after coming up from Helios Station.

Heading to the elevator, Frisk returned to Helios Station. Alphys and Mettaton were nowhere to be found. Uncaring, Frisk entered the transporter located just outside the Control Room and, soon after, found himself in the first room. He then exited Helios Station.

Soon after exiting Helios Station, Frisk's phone began ringing. Surprised, he answered the call.

"Hey...! Uh, this is Undyne..." Undyne said.

"Hey Undyne, what do you need?" Frisk replied.

Undyne didn't seem to hear him, though he could hear Undyne and Papyrus bickering in the background.

"Shut up, Papyrus! This was your idea!" Undyne said away from the phone. She then turned back to the phone. "HUMAN!" She shouted. "You have to deliver something for me! Uh, please? I'm at Snowdin in front of Papyrus's. See ya, punk!"

The phone then hung up.

*Is this what Sans was talking about?* Frisk thought to himself, staring at the phone.

Frisk stashed the phone back in his pocket and continued on course, through the MTT Resort, and down to the R3 elevator. From within, he pressed the bottom-left-most button and waited. Once it arrived at its destination, the doors opened. The outside was dark.

Stepping out of the elevator, Frisk turned around to look at it.

"L1" Frisk read. He then turned back around and followed the path just outside it.

Walking down the path, Frisk eventually came to an opening that light, and intense heat, poured through. Outside the opening stood Alphys's laboratory.

*So I was right.* Frisk thought. *The L1 elevator was blocked off by the guards.*

Frisk then walked down to the river, where he found the Riverperson docked at the port.

"Hello." Frisk said.

The Riverperson looked over at Frisk. "Tra la la. Care for a ride?"

"Yes please, I'd like to go to Snowdin."

"Then we're off..."

Frisk stepped onto the boat. As he sat down, the boat suddenly lurched forward.

The ride wasn't all that long. Twisting every-which-way, but not long. Soon, they both arrived in Snowdin, and Frisk disembarked.

"Come again some time. Tra la la."

"Thanks." Frisk said, advancing into the town.

It didn't take him long to find Papyrus's house, as it was a building that stood out, from a jolly roger being flown above it, to a tall skeleton and amphibian messing around out front, it wasn't hard to find at all. When Frisk approached the building, they both stopped what they were doing.

"Hey Papyrus, Undyne, what do you need?"

"Um, so, I have a favor to ask you." Undyne said.

"Being to deliver something, I presume. It's what you said on the phone." Frisk replied.

"Uuuuh, I... Yeah. It's... to Doctor Alphys."

Frisk, though it was cold, felt himself heat up from hearing her name. "Alright, why don't you just do it yourself?" he asked.

Undyne seemed to be caught off guard from the question. "... um. W-well..." Her face started to develop a very subtle red hue. "I-it's kind of personal, but we're friends... so... I'll t-tell you..." she went quiet, then suddenly burst out "Hotland SUUUUCKS!!! I don't wanna have to go over there!!! So here you go."

Undyne thrust the letter into Frisk's chest, knocking him backward a bit.

Frisk looked down at the letter. The envelope was completely blank.

"Oh, and if you read it..." Undyne said. "I'll *kill* you."

Frisk looked up at Undyne, giving her a disbelieving look.

"Fine. I'll deliver it."

"Thanks so much! You're the best!!"

Frisk walked off, back to the Acheron River. The Riverperson was still there.

"Hey river guy, I'd like to go back to Hotland." Frisk said once he got close.

The Riverperson looked up at Frisk, then patiently waved a hand over to an empty seat. "Then climb aboard." he said.

Frisk sat down on the boat, followed by it suddenly lurching forward. Though something seemed a bit off. Instead of heading back the direction they'd come from, the boat continued upstream, toward the Citadel.

"Excuse me." Frisk said.

The Riverperson looked back at Frisk, his dark blue eyes shining. "Tra la la, what is the matter?"

"I don't mean to come across like I know the area, but aren't we supposed to be going to Mount Hot?"

The Riverperson turned his head back forward. "Tra la la, we are going to Mount Hot." he said.

"But isn't this the way to the Citadel?"

The Riverperson went completely silent, including his usual singing. After a second, he replied "Many roads lead to the same place." He then started singing again.

"I... guess so. Sorry for doubting."

The boat progressed upstream some more. Eventually, they reached a tunnel.

"Tra la la, the end of this tunnel lies Mount Hot." the Riverperson said to Frisk.

Some distance into the tunnel, Frisk started hearing the distant turning of a water wheel. Looking around, Frisk saw nothing. As they both progressed down the tunnel, the sound grew louder and louder, until eventually Frisk saw... something.

It was a water wheel...? Seemingly both there and not, as though heavily obscured in shadow on a bright, sunny day. Just beyond the water wheel, however, is what caught Frisk's attention the most. A sight that looked to be... Toriel's front yard. But, like the water wheel, it seemed to be heavily obscured in shadow, yet light shined from the house like it had before.

"Stop the boat!" Frisk said to the boatman.

The Riverperson snapped back, having stopped singing completely. "What!?" he asked, slightly alarmed.

Frisk looked at the Riverperson, his deep blue eyes, with a hint of grey, shining bright in the darkness. "I said stop the boat!" He shouted.

The boat then came to a sudden stop, so sudden in fact that Frisk fell onto the deck of it.

*If I'm not just seeing things, I could say hello to Toriel! Tell her all the good I've done!* He thought excitedly.

Frisk got up, but everything was gone. Even the sound of the water wheel. All replaced by the dark, damp rock of the tunnel wall.

"What did you see?" The Riverperson said.

Frisk turned to face the Riverperson, who was now holding a very wide spear, like a sharp paddle. The Riverperson's eyes were no longer shining blue but were instead glowing a magnificent dark grey.

"I... I thought I saw..." Frisk started.

"Trust nothing you see in this tunnel." The Riverperson said. "Things within will show you things to lure you in and spell your doom. It would be best if you simply closed your eyes and ignored all sounds until we arrive."

Frisk looked around. They were bobbing up and down in the slow current of the river, deep in the darkness of the cavern. The distant light from Helios Station was nowhere to be found. Just darkness.

"Alright." Frisk said, sitting back down and closing his eyes.

Frisk could feel the boat start to move again. Just as it did, the distant sound of the water wheel resumed, as if taunting him.

The rest of the voyage was not as eventful, as they eventually arrived at the base of Mount Hot. Frisk thanked the Riverperson for the safe transport and ascended the stairs that led to Alphys's laboratory.