Underearth/Book 1/Chapter 13

A</span

**Want to read this elsewhere?**

The inside of the cavern was rather dark, at least in comparison to out there. The pathway of the cave ran along the river at the entrance. Frisk noted that the large blocks of ice that that one wolf Monster was throwing into the river were floating by, carried by the current. Just a little further in, the river and the path went their separate ways. Some ways down the path, Frisk found numerous Monsters in a room, one of the notable ones was that Monster Kid from earlier. When the Monster Kid caught sight of Frisk, he turned around to talk to him.

"Yo! Are you sneaking out to see her, too?"

Frisk just gave a blank stare to the Monster Kid, unsure of what to say.

"Um... yeah, yeah I'm sneaking out too." He finally said.

"Awesome! She's the coolest, right!? I wanna be just like her when I grow up."

*Coolest, huh? I know someone that would be willing to debate that any time.*

"Oh, um, hey, don't tell my parents I'm here. Ha ha.

"Sure." *Not like I know who they are anyway.*

A bit further into the room, Frisk spotted Sans relaxing behind a sentry station.

"Sans?" Frisk said in slight surprise.

He opened one of his eyes and saw Frisk.

"What? Haven't you seen a guy with two jobs before?" Sans said in his typical non-serious tone.

"No, not really."

"Heh, fortunately, two jobs means twice as many legally-required breaks. I'm going to Grillby's, wanna come?"

Frisk took a quick look around. *I guess it wouldn't hurt to go.*

"Yeah, sure."

"Well, if you insist... I'll pry myself away from my work..." he said sarcastically.

He stood up and walked around the sentry station over to where Frisk was standing, then gestured forward.

"Over here, I know a shortcut." Sans said with an outstretched arm, offering a hand to Frisk.

Frisk took his hand. Just then, Sans's eyes began glowing a very dark green color and Frisk suddenly felt uneasy. He closed his eyes and when he reopened them, they were in Grillby's.

"Fast shortcut, huh?" Sans said when they arrived.

"Uh... yeah."

Sans turned towards the counter. "Hey, everyone."

"Greetings Sans" said a rather large-mouthed Monster in one of the booths.

"Hiya, Sansy~" said a very drunk bunny in another booth.

They both walked towards the counter a bit before a fish-Monster started talking to Sans.

"Hey Sans, weren't you in here for breakfast a few minutes ago?"

"Nah, I haven't had breakfast in at least half an hour. You must be thinking of brunch."

Everyone laughed, but Frisk didn't understand the joke, if there was one.

"Here, get comfy." Sans said to Frisk, gesturing to one of the stools in front of the counter.

Frisk sat down on the stool. As he sat down, there was a farting noise coming from the seat.

"Whoops, watch where you sit down. Sometimes weirdos put whoopee cushions on the seats."

Frisk just glared at Sans.

"Anyway, lets order. Whaddya want?"

"What is there to get?"

Just then, a red bird-Monster chimed it. "Well, there's some fries, then you've got a burger. Beyond that, no idea. That's just what I always order."

Frisk contemplated between the two options given. "I think I'll take fries."

"Hey, that sounds pretty good. Grillby, we'll have a double order of fries."

The fire-Monster behind the counter, Grillby, walked off into the back room.

Sans then turned towards Frisk.

"So, what do you think of my brother?" Sans asked Frisk.

"Well, to be honest, he's kind of annoying." Frisk answered.

Sans suddenly got a bit defensive.

"Hey, pal. Sarcasm isn't funny, okay? My brother's a real star. He's the one who pushed me to get this sentry job. Maybe he's a little strange, but sometimes it's nice to have someone call you out on being lazy. Even though nothing could be farther from the truth."

When Sans finished his sentence, Grillby came out of the back room with two plates of fries.

"Here comes the grub." said Sans.

Sans then pulled out a full bottle of ketchup from his blue jacket. "Want some ketchup?"

Frisk looked at the bottle. "No thanks, I don't like ketchup."

"More for me."

Sans then proceeded to chug the entire bottle of ketchup without even pausing. Once finished, he put the cap back on and stashed it in his jacket before facing the fries.

"Anyway, cool or not, you have to agree Papyrus tries real hard, like how he keeps trying to be part of the Royal Guard."

Frisk nodded at Sans's statement.

"One day, he went to the house of the Head of the Royal Guard and begged her to let him be in it. Of course, she shut the door on him because it was midnight. But the next day, she woke up and saw him still waiting there. Seeing his dedication, she decided to give him warrior training. It's, uh, still a work in progress." Sans then paused for a second. "Oh yeah, I wanted to ask you something."

"What is it?" Frisk responded.

Just then, it seemed as though the entire world except for where Frisk and Sans sat faded away until it was only them.

Sans asked his question, eyes completely closed. "Have you heard of a talking flower?"

Frisk just gave Sans a blank stare, his thought drifting to Flowey. "Y-y-yeah."

"So you know all about it. The Echo Flower."

Frisk almost choked on one of the fries. That wasn't what he was thinking at all.

"They're all over the marsh. Say something to them, and they'll repeat it over and over."

"What about it?"

"Well, Papyrus told me something interesting the other day. Sometimes, when no one else is around, a flower appears and whispers things to him. Flattery, advice, encouragement... predictions. Weird, huh?"

"Yeah, it is." Frisk said, thoughts drifting back to Flowey.

"Someone must be using an echo flower to play a trick on him. Keep an eye out, ok?"

"Most definitely."

"Thanks."

As Sans finished saying thanks, the world began to fade back in until it seemed as though nothing was wrong. Sans then got up from the stool, eyes now open.

"Welp, that was a long break. I can't believe I let ya pull me away from work for that long." he snickered a slight bit. "Oh, by the way. I'm flat broke. Can you foot the bill? It's just 10,000G."

"What? Are you serious? I don't have any money at all!"

"Heh, just kidding. Grillby, put it on my tab."

He then walked towards the door before turning back towards Frisk.

"By the way, I was going to say something, but I forgot."

*Then why say anything at all?* Frisk thought as Sans left Grillby's, leaving him behind.

Frisk looked around Grillby's. On the left side from where he was looking, there were two booths with one occupant each. On the right side was this large table. Nobody was sitting at it, but there were cards all over it.

"Sansyyyy.... come back and sit with me..." The drunk bunny said, apparently now noticing Sans had left. "Everything's so fun when you're around!!! Especially today when everything's s-s-so quiet!" The bunny then fell on the table and passed out.

"Huh, she's right." the bird-Monster said "Where are those canines? They're usually here by now. Something feels really off."

Frisk then hurried out of the building.

*They aren't talking about those dogs I killed, right? They were trying to kill me, I was fully justified.*

Frisk began walking back towards the cave he was in. Eventually, he reached it and made it back to Sans's second sentry station.

"Hey, kid, let's hang out again sometime." Sans said when he saw Frisk.

Frisk looked over at Sans. "Yeah, lets." he said before walking past, deeper into the cavern.