#alisk

You clench your fists, and you hear a loud wind fly past you, whispering dialogue in reverse.  The wind stops and you open your eyes to find Chesans in front of you.  You groan as he bats a bony paw at you.  “Back, huh?”  He winks and gets up.  

Before he can stretch, you close your eyes again.  You have to go before this.  You feel a brush of wind and find yourself again at the savepoint.  Chesans looks a little startled.  “Frustrated, huh?”  You ignore him and concentrate.  You can feel a wall blocking your mind from travelling farther into the past.  You press as hard as you can against it, gritting your teeth.  Suddenly, it gives way, and you feel yourself go flying back in time.  The screams of battle and the scattered conversations blast past you before you can stop.  You feel your sense of reality renew itself, and the soreness of your muscles dissapear.  Too late, you open your eyes.  Looking around, you find yourself in the dim spotlight of a dark room.  The floor beneath you is made of tile, with grass sprouting between the cracks.  To clarify, you look up.  You see a long tunnel with a speck of light at the top.  Tears spring to your eyes as you realize you had returned to where you had fallen.  Do you really have to do all of that again?  You look up again and stare at what little light comes from the sun.  This reminder of home pushes you forward with the want to get back.

You don’t even bother to talk to Gersnob, who is looking at you with surprise, and instead head straight to the door that leads to the rest of Underland.  You just keep walking through the tunnel, not looking right or left, and you storm through the flower fields.

“Hi! I’m Flowey, Flo- wait, stop!”  The yellow flower turns its head to look at you, but you keep walking anyway.  You hear a ssshhhhooop behind you as you push forward.  All the blue flowers are screaming “stop” at you, and the tears spring up again.  You know that you aren’t emotionally stable right now.

You obey the flowers’ screeches when you’re startled by Flowey springing up a few feet in front of you.  He looks rather cross.  You shake your head and take another step forward.  “Look at me!  Just because this is your second time doesn’t mean you get to ignore me.”  Those last few words morphed from his usual squeaky voice to static.  You stop short in your tracks as you realize that he knows.  You feel a little paranoia as you wonder if anyone else remembers you.

“Yeah, I know you went back.  You better look at me.”  You turn your head to towards the flower, who is baring his fangs at you.  His eyes are as hard as flint and shining with anger.  “You really want to do this all again, then fine.  I’ll do it with you.  But, this time, I’ll make it harder.  I’ll make sure you absorb the madness of this place, until you don’t have a drop of sanity left in you.  You’ll be trapped here, with me, and all these mental monsters.  I’ll make you forget who you are.”

You feel a little freaked out from his threats, and you force yourself to run.  A knot forms in your throat as you lay your eyes on the “forest” made of towering red teeth.  Your heart pounds as you remember how much insanity is embedded in this place.  But, as you keep running, you wonder if it was worth going back, if everyone still remembers you.  You have to check.  You run as fast as you can between the teeth.  The veins on the ground pulse, as if the cavern is alive.  That would explain the dripping eyeballs on the roof.

“Hey, kid!  It’s not very smart to go rushing into places you’ve never been before.”  You hear a slight panting behind you and the clicking of claws against bone branches.  An out-of-breath Chesans comes to a stop on a branch to your left, and you stop and turn to him curiously.  “So, you’re a human, huh?  The name’s Chesans, but you can call me Sans if you want.  What're you doing down here in Underland?”

He seems to not remember you, and you let out a sigh of relief.  Your voice deceives you with a few voice cracks as you try to pretend you’ve never been here before.  You tell him that you want to go home, almost like how you had told him before.  His slit pupils seem to survey you carefully, making you feel a little uncomfortable.

“Anyways, I should let you go on your way, I’ve got some stuff to do.  See you, human.”  The little skeleton cat winks.  You jump a little in surprise when you see Chesans fading before your eyes.  His grin lingers, until that fades too and he’s gone.

You give yourself a shake as you strain to keep a grip on the reality of the world above.  You continue to race through the forest, trying to rerun the memories of your home in your head.  Even if you’ve only been down here a day, the overworld feels like years ago.  You stumble to a stop at the clearing of Mad Hatterton and the March Alphare.  The robot sits peacefully with his sexy legs on the table.  He turns his head to look at you.

“Why, hello there, darling.  I’d invite you to tea, but all of the seats are taken.”  He gestures to the twelve empty chairs around the dining table.  You can’t help but roll your eyes and smile a little.  Even though Underland is almost incomprehensible to the eye, the people here were still funny and charming.

You nod at him and tell him that’s fine, and you walk past the clearing and back into the forest.  The ground switches from a fleshy red to patches of green and blue.  You laugh when you find those tiny cats from before at your feet.  They all squeak at you, ““Hoi!  I’m Temmie!  And deez are my friends, Temmie!”

Your mood is gradually lightening as you begin to enjoy and appreciate Underland.  Soon you come across Toriel’s house, and, remembering how much closer to reality it is, you approach the door.  Goat mom opens the door and looks down at you with concern.  “Hello there, little one.  Will you come in?”

Entering that house is like reaching the surface of the ocean and being able to breathe.  You hadn’t realized my mind had already been drifting from reality, and this soothing home hooks it back in place.  Toriel guides you to a bed, and you let her.  You take a short nap, and wake up to the sound of talking, muffled by the walls of the bedroom.  You get out of your twin-sized bed and walk down the golden hall until you reach the front door.  The aroma of cinnamon butterscotch pie entices you, but you ignore when you find Toriel sitting on the doorstep with Chesans, cracking jokes at each other.

Chesans turns his head and looks at you with a little surprise.  His grin, having seemed genuine when laughing with Toriel, loses its happiness and merely sits there on his face.  Toriel turns to look at you too, and smiles.  “Hello, my child.  You feel better?”  You nod.  “Good.  Can you tell me your name?”  You reply by telling her that it’s Alisk.  “Ah, that’s pretty.”  Deja vu, even though it had been gently prodding you before, feels a bit stronger now.

“Yes, it is pretty,” Chesans said thoughtfully, looking at you carefully.  You gulp quietly and cross your fingers as you tell them you want to get to the Queen’s castle.  You know Chesans can get you there instantly, and you hope he still will, even if he’s acting different from before.

“Why do you want to go there?”  You tell her that you want to go home.

“It’s true.  That is the only way back.  But, is it really so bad down here?” You nod, because from one glance past the doorway your mind already feels a little rocked.  

Chesans is still staring at you when Toriel sighs.  “I know.  I’ve seen it all before.  Every human that’s found my little home has said the same thing.  All of them were killed.  Our queen, Queen Asgore, is set on killing every human that comes down here to take their soul.  He claims he just wants to break the barrier, but that much power…” Her voice drifts away and tears brim her eyes.  “Don’t go, Alisk.  Please.  He’ll kill you.”  Deja vu is coming on you in waves as you shake your head and tell her you can’t stay.  Toriel sniffs, smiling slightly.  “You probably wouldn't be happy down here.  I… I won’t hold you back.  For your sake.  Just, please promise me you won’t let him kill you.  You’re the thirteenth soul, and if that happens…”

You go up and hug the goat mom, just like last time.  You hope that Chesans, if he has any memory of the past runthrough, realizes that you’re not a bad person.  “Be careful.”  You tell her you will be.  “Don’t… Don’t kill Asgore.  He may be bad, but I do not think he deserves to die.  Okay?”

You nod and tell her that you would never kill anyone.  Chesans looks a little startled from the emphasis on those last words.  You squeeze between the two monsters to get out of the peaceful house.  The fictional appearance of Underland thumps against your mind as you begin to walk between the teeth.

Chesans calls after you.  “Wait!”  You turn to find the poor cat looking down at his paws uncertainly.  You can tell he’s having an internal argument from the way his slit pupils are flickering.  “I’ll… I’ll help you.”  Toriel gives a look of surprise as she watches the skeleton cat jump down from the doorstep and climb up the tree next to me.  The trunk of the tooth slices open, revealing a doorway to the royal castle.  You thank Chesans as earnestly as you can.  “Yeah, just go through,” he grunts, and his countenance looks strained from the effort of keeping the tooth open.  You walk through the doorway, filled with determination at the prospect that you might actually make it home this time.

“I'll get you for that!” Asrielocky’s voice had changed into sounding like static.  His black eyes fill with hatred.  His wings expand, and his lower jaw opens until it's almost unhinged.  He breathes fire at you.  You squeak and jump away from it.  A small burn appears on your hand.  It stings terribly, so you focus your energy on resetting back to where you were last determined.  You feel time rushing past your face, whispering in your ears.  You reappear back at the beginning of the fight.  You smile, pulling out your knife and running at Asrielocky before he has a chance to react.  This time, you jab at his neck.  You puncture the skin, or scales, or stem, or whatever it is.

Flowey looks under him to find you.  He locks eyes with you and growls.  The growl sounds like leaves violently rustling in the wind.  “This time, you're gonna stay dead!”  He takes a breath, and his mouth begins to glow, but you're faster this time.  You leap towards one of his hind legs, smiling tauntingly.  He breathes fire at you with all the fury he can muster.  You hop to one side, and he ends up breathing fire on his own leg.  The flower dragon howls in pain as his leg catches fire.  You're reminded that this creature is a plant as he expands his leafy wings and cries out.  You feel a pang of sympathy as he's almost engulfed by the flames.

The dragon shrinks down, back to a flower.  The fire vanishes.  The flower’s stem is leaking red blood.  Flowey grits his fangs at you, and his face shines under the black light.  “I'll get you yet, just wait until I get those human souls!  You'll be sorry you ever came down to Underland!”  The flower sucks down, back into the dirt.  All that's left is a little mound of earth.

You look around you.  The black light lights up the white stripes on your dress, or, really, Chara’s dress.  You realize that all those glowing eyeballs on the cavern roof are looking at you.  Looking further into the cavern, you see an even more twisted version of the forest from the mortal realm.  It looks especially sinister in the black light.

You feel your faint grip on reality slipping.  Your home, your memory of it is becoming fainter.  Fear taps at your heart.  You gulp, slightly intimidated by what you have to do.  You shake your head and tell yourself you can do this.  You've made it this far.  You're filled with determination.

But, you've screwed up.  You released Chara into the mortal realm.  You made Flowey mad at you, somehow, and then you tried to kill him!  You angered the queen into wanting your head chopped off, even though you hadn't done anything wrong.  What if you mess up again?  No, you have to continue forward.  It's the only way home.

Home.

You enter the new “forest”, which seems more like a swamp, considering all the water everywhere.  Trash lumps clutter the ground.  The whole place stinks of that plasticky trash smell.  Slightly disgusted, you tread carefully through the bayou.  After walking for some time, you reach a giant pile of trash.  Two strange looking creatures, that distantly resemble a cat and an alligator, are sitting on the pile.  The cat thing looks up from rummaging in the garbage and spots you.

“Brattydee!  We have a visitor!” she meows excitedly.

“Woah, Cattydum, isn't she that girl who keeps disorganizing our trash?  I mean, come on, we have a system!  Soo not cool.”

“Yeah, go away, you creepy child!  You're so uncool!”  Cattydum glares at you.  You shrink a little, but then you yell towards them that you aren't that girl.

“Oh, really?  Well, I don't believe you!  Go away!” Brattydee snaps.

Cattydum looks at her with big eyes.  “I think she's telling the truth.  Hey, girl!  You're okay!”

You thank the cat thing and ask her if she knows anything about the mortal realm.

“Oh, isn't that the place on the other side of that weird mirror?”  Brattydee taps her painted nails against her long snout.  

“Yeah, who would want to go there?  It looks so normal.”

You'd argue with Cattydum but you need these girls on your side.  You ask them if they know how to get through the mirror.

“There isn't a way,” Brattydee replies.  “I mean, unless your soul is really powerful.  If it is, you can switch bodies with someone on the other side.  But, that's crazy!  Only two humans could do that, and that'd be so rare if two humans met at the same time.”

“Besides, who would want to go over there?  It looks totally lame!  The warped realm is great!”  Cattydum’s tail swishes.

“Catty, we're literally living among garbage.  It's not that great.”  They both burst out giggling.

You laugh a bit too, and then thank them for their help.  You continue on your way, feeling uncertain.  How are you supposed to somehow bring Charice back to the mirror and trade bodies with her?  She's probably deep in the mortal realm by now…

Maybe she’s back at the mirror by now.  You could check.  Hopeful, you turn around and start heading back to the tunnel.

“Yo!”

You jump at the voice.  You turn to find an armless lizard monster kid.  He opens his mouth eagerly and wags his big tail.

“You're a kid too, right?”  

You nod.  

“Can I join you on your adventures?”  

You tell him uhh, sure?

“Great!  I'll follow you!”  He hops forward a little too excitedly, and falls on his face. The kid arches his back and jumps back up.  “Let's go.”

As you walk back through the forest, you find it’s kind of nice to have a companion.  Along the way, the lizard kid fills the silence with him talking about school and how boring it is.

After saying hi to the spider and going into the tunnel with the mirror at the end of it, you can see Alisk at the other side of the mirror, walking towards it the same way you are.  It's weird seeing yourself on the other side.  The kid watches you with intense fascination as you approach the girl in the looking glass.

“I knew you'd come.  I knew you'd want to switch back.  I'm fine with it now.  You ready?”  Even in your body, Charice somehow manages to stretch your face into her terrifying smile.

You're ready.  You press your palms to the glass, and Charice does the same, her pupils flashing red.  The kid continues to watch with amazement.

A gigantic spider emerges from the center of the web, cackling politely about the situation you’ve gotten yourself into.  She wears a purple dress made of webbing.  Her eight eyes glitter at you and her small pigtails bob up and down.

“You’re from the mortal realm, aren't you, dearie?  Ahuhu, your soul will taste especially delicious in our muffins.  We'll be sure to get enough sales!”  The spider rubs her forefeet together.

She reaches a leg out and plucks you off your feet, placing you high above the ground.  You struggle to balance on the fine strands.  Spiders race along the strings towards you, forcing you to jump between them.  Your heart leaps into your throat and you can hear it throbbing.

The spider laughs at you and throws some donuts at you with a playful style.  Her fangs poke out of her smile.  

“Oh, pardon me for not introducing myself!  I'm Muffet, the queen of this warped world.  I should introduce you to my pet.  After all, it's breakfast time.”  The glowworm jumps down from the ceiling and balances itself on the web.  

On closer inspection, you find it's not a glowworm at all.  You had only thought it was a glowworm out of desperation for something normal.  It's some type of glowing mutant spider, and by mutant you mean that it seems to have been smashed into a giant cupcake.  It hurts your eyes to look at it because it's so bright.

The “pet” roars at you and begins to chase you along the strands.  It's surprisingly nimble for its size.  You run as fast as you can from it, dodging spiders as you go.  You look ahead, to find tunnel leading out of this cavern.  You're filled with hope, but it's immediately crushed when you trip on one of the strings.  Your shoe stays stuck to the web and you find yourself hanging upside down, with only your foot keeping you from plummeting to the ground below.

Muffet laughs at how silly you look.  “How ironic, the spider killer about to be killed by the spider!”

Taken by surprise, you protest that you've never hurt a spider, and you never would.  Muffet stops short.

“Wait, what?  You're joking, right?  Aren't you that demented girl who keeps running in here and mashing spiders, only to leave before I can catch her?”

You cry for mercy, telling her that you aren't that girl.  You tell her you believe violence is wrong unless it's for self-defense.  You stop talking because the blood rushing to your head is becoming overwhelming.

“You… you look exactly like her.  You sure sound a lot saner though.”  Muffet thinks for a moment, while you start freaking out.  Do you really look like Charice?  Do you have rosy cheeks and malevolent eyes?  You look upward at your falling dress, to find that it's green.  You are Charice.  But… how?  Did you and Charice switch bodies when you swapped realms?

“Fine.  I'll let you go, but only if you promise not to hurt any of my spiders.”. Muffet grabs your leg and holds you upright.  You notice she had ordered her pet back up to the ceiling.  You look back at her to find her dark purple eyes stare into yours.  In her eyes, you see the face of Charice reflected back at you.  You let in a small gasp.  “Do you promise?”

You promise Muffet, and thank her slightly sarcastically for her hospitality.  “Oh, anytime, dearie!”  She lets go of you, and you turn around and enter the new tunnel.

You laugh a little, trying to lighten the gripping coldness inside of you.  If you look like Charice, then that means she looks like you.  Whatever she's doing on the other side of the mirror, you'll be blamed for it if you go back.  But, you have to go back!  Home's over there, and you have to save all those monsters from Charice’s menace and merciless killings.

You walk down the rocky tunnel that's lit by smaller versions of Muffet’s pet.  Your determination wavers a little bit at the enormity of the task in front of you.  You start to doubt the strength of your sense of reality, especially because it's constantly being beaten by this insane world.  You take a deep breath and imagine a clear picture of your home.  You're filled with determination.

You make it to the end of the tunnel, only this time it's the real end.  This cavern is about the size of the cavern in the original Underland.  The glowing eyeballs on the roof emmit black light instead of white light, making random patches of the ground glow.  There are no echo flowers.  In front of you is a meadow, of sorts.  Golden flowers sprout between stalks of red grass.  They look eerily similar to Flowey, except they're faceless.  You're filled with a sense of forboding, but also determination.  You can do this.

“You idiot.”

No, you can't do this!  The echo of Flowey’s voice almost brings tears to your eyes, but you push them back.  You tell Flowey to show himself.

“Did you really think you could escape me by coming here, to the warped realm?”  You walk among the flowers, trying to find the source of the voice.  “I'm more powerful in this realm than you could ever imagine.”

A flower pops up a few feet away.  It smiles at you, but the smile turns into a distorted grin.  The flower grows, bigger and bigger, until its back touches the ceiling.

In the black light, you see a pale dragon-like face, with yellow petals fanning out from his neck.  Giant wings with leaves instead of feathers clutch the ground.  He has two powerful hind legs and a sweeping tail.  He opens his two mouths to laugh at you with a high pitched cackle.  The cold beady eyes that were on the flower are the same on this creature.

“In this realm, I'm known as Asrielokey.”

“Why are you painting the flowers?” he asks crossly.

One of the guards scutters up to him meekly.  “We accidentally planted white roses.”

He looks as if he's about to reassure the guard when his eyes flick over to me.

“It's the human.  Howdy!” the queen says cheerily.  The sound of that word sends shivers down your spine.  “I'd offer you a cup of tea, but you know how it is.”. His eyes sparkle with sorrow as he says gloomily, “Off with her head.”

A guard that appears to be greater than the rest runs into the room. A scruffy woman’s voice comes from the guard’s helmet.  “Yes, your majesty!”

A glowing red spear appears in her hand, and the guard charges at you.  You start running for the door that the queen had come out of.  As you pass through the doorway, you realize you're running in a hall of mirrors.  You see your dress billowing around the girls of your reflections as you run faster.  You can hear the clinking of armor a few feet behind you.

“Get back here and face me, you little punk!” the guard grunts.  You glance back to find her spear inches from you.

You turn a few corners and eventually lose her, but not for long.  As you run through the maze of mirrors, you can hear clinking from the guard grow closer and farther from you.  Suddenly, you reach a dead end.  A huge mirror stands in front of you, but you find that it's not you on the other side.  You glance over at the other mirrors, and find your purple-blue dress.  But, in this mirror, there's a girl in a green dress staring back at you.  She has wilder hair and reddish brown eyes.  She still mimics your movements perfectly, until she smiles at you.

“Hello there, Alisk.  I hear you're being chased down.  I could fend her off for you, if you only let me.” Her eyes search yours hopefully.

You ask her what she means.

“Trade places with me.  It's quite easy.  If we trade, I could fight the guard while you run further into the looking glass.”

You ask who she is.  She laughs.  It’s a harsher laugh than yours.

“I'm you, silly!  Just let me out, and I'll solve your problem.”. Her eyes widen as she looks behind you.  “You've got company.  Hurry up!”

You look over your shoulder to find the guard running towards you.  Looking back at the mirror, you find the guard’s reflection isn't in there.  You really could escape.

The girl on the other side presses her hand to the glass, urging you to do the same.  You decide to trust her.  If this girl really is you, she'd never try to hurt you, right?  You take a tense breath and press your hand against the glass where hers is.  The glass ripples like water, and suddenly your body falls through it, swinging around as you grip the girl’s hand in your own.  When your eyes can focus again, you find yourself on the other side.  The girl smiles back at you, and then turns to face the baffled guard.

You look around.  There are many more cobwebs on this side of the mirror.  This place has a more sinister atmosphere to it.  You look back at the mirror, only to let out a scream.  The girl has weakened the knight terribly.  The knight kneels on the floor heaving, while the girl grins down at her menacingly.  She catches your eye, and you find that her pupils are glowing red.  You moan quietly.  You never wanted her to hurt the guard.  After all, she had just been following orders!  There's no need to hurt others if their intentions aren't bad.

You glare at the girl, wiping away a tear that had been forming on your cheek.  Charice grins at you creepily.  “Hey, don't get mad.  You agreed to this.  I can do what I want!”  She laughs evilly.

The guard removes her mask weakly, revealing a scaly, fish-like face.  Her yellow teeth clench together in pain as she grunts at the girl.  “You… Who are you?”

“Oh, pardon me.  I'm Charice!”  She lifts a knife out of her pocket and stabs at the fish guard.  The guard summons an energy spear and blocks it.

“You're not getting me that easily,” she huffs, standing up.  She walks away in a defeated fashion.  You want to hug her and reassure her, but you can't.

Charice stares at you despicably.  “I'll kill everyone, you'll see.  Everyone you've met, everyone you've ever loved.  I will erase this world.”  She smiles and walks away, her blue dress rippling behind her.

It's not just about you anymore.  You can't go home now.  You have to save this world.  Thinking of Chesans, Hatteron, Alphare, Toriel, and all of the monsters down here with good intentions and good hearts fills you with determination.

You walk forward and accidentally step on a bone branch.  The crack reaches Sans, who stands up immediately.  His tail bones swish side to side as he bounds away from you and into the forest.

“Hello?  Are you still there?”  The person behind the door sighs.  Curious you walk up to the house and knock.  There’s no doorbell to ring.  Suddenly, you realize that this house is normal.  The whole structure resembles your own house, and the color scheme is a bit more sane.  Your mind relaxes a little from the struggle of keeping your wits.

A tall furry lady with a kind face opens the door.  She resembles a goat, although she has paws instead of hooves.  She wears a purple long sleeve shirt and loose jeans.  The shirt has little gold swirling patterns all over it, with sprinklings of golden hearts.  Her eyes look so warm and welcoming.  “Hello there, little one.  Will you come in?”

You enter the house.  Lamps with normal light escaping them line the walls.  Wood panels line the floor and a popcorn roof soars above your head.  In the next room you can see a homey dining table and a comfortable-looking reading chair.  The smell of butterscotch pie fills your nose.

“You have come a long way.  My name is Toriel.  I am the caretaker of the forest.  I would be happy to show you a room.  You must be very tired.”  You nod in agreement.  You feel her soft paw take your hand as she guides you through the house.  She shows you a room that has a couple of beds and some toys.  As soon as she leaves you fall asleep in a bed.

You wake up to find a piece of butterscotch pie on the ground.  You grin and pick it up.  After eating it, you leave the room.  In the room with the armchair, you find Toriel reading peacefully.

“You feel better now?”  You nod and she smiles.  “I am glad.  What’s your name?”  You tell her that it’s Alisk.  “Ah, that’s pretty.”

Looking around, you see much resemblance of your home in this place.  Reminded of your mission, you ask Toriel if she knows how to get to the Queen’s castle from here.  Her happiness quickly melts away.  She looks at you down heartedly.  “Why do you want to go there?”  You tell her that you want to go home.

“It’s true.  That is the only way back.  But, is it really so bad down here?”  If the whole Underland were as orderly as this little haven, then you probably would be willing to stay.  But it’s not.  You tell her that this place is simply too overwhelmingly chaotic.

“I know.  I’ve seen it all before.  Every human that’s found my little home has said the same thing.  All of them were killed.  Our queen, Queen Asgore, is set on killing every human that comes down here to take their soul.  He claims he just wants to break the barrier, but that much power…” Her voice drifts away and tears brim her eyes.  “Don’t go, Alisk.  Please.  He’ll kill you.”  You give her a look.  She sniffs, giving a small smile.  “You probably wouldn't be happy down here.  I… I won’t hold you back.  For your sake.  Just, please promise me you won’t let him kill you.  You’re the thirteenth soul, and if that happens…”

You go up and hug the goat mom.  She lets out a little cry and wraps her arms around you tightly.  “Be careful.”  You tell her you will be.  “Don’t… Don’t kill Asgore.  He may be bad, but I do not think he deserves to die.  Okay?”

She lets go of you.  You wave goodbye and walk out through the doorway.  The fictional aura of the land crashes on you like a wave.  You struggle to breathe mentally as you walk back into the forest.  You go in the direction of where Chesans had run off to.  You call out to him half-heartedly.

“Hey, kid.”  You look up to find him lazily lying on one of the bone branches.  His tail hangs off, swishing slowly.  “Did you want something?”

You ask him how to get to the castle.  You’ve been doing a lot of asking for directions, you realize.

“You sure seem like you know where you want to go.  I just let myself go anywhere, because no matter which way I go, I’ll get there.”  You raise an eyebrow, and the cat skeleton sighs.  “Okay.  Just go through here.  It’ll take you there.”  Sans looks slightly regretful, despite his permanent smile, as the trunk of the tooth tree he’s on slices open.  The side facing you vanishes, revealing a doorway to a bright sunny garden.  “It’s easier than coming to your rescue every time you get lost on your way there.”  You open your mouth to protest when he cuts you off.  “You would’ve gotten lost.  These trees aren’t exactly immobile.”  You stare at him with a slight fear trickling into your veins.  The cat just looks tired as he flicks his tail.  “Are you gonna go through or not?  I can’t hold this forever.”

You thank him and duck as you walk through the doorway.  Light fills your eyes and the twitter of songbirds fill your ears as you realize you're standing in a grassy garden.  It’s filled with golden flowers that look a lot like Flowey.  Looking up, you find the roof of the cavern has glowing yellow orbs that almost perfectly mimic sunlight.  A white palace looms above you, slender and carefully built.  Grey towers spiral out from each side, acting as reminders that this land is not normal.  A beautiful silver door stands in front of you, looking welcoming but sturdy.  You put your hand on the lifeless doorknob, wondering what you’ll find on the other side.

Adrenalin and determination pump through you as you race from chair to chair blowing out each fuse.  Meanwhile Hatterton keeps shouting in a semi-seductive manner about how much time is left.  You somehow manage to blow out all of the fuses in time, and Mad Hatterton congratulates you with his typical sarcastic TV-show host voice.

“Well done, darling!  you've deactivated all the bombs!  If you didn't deactivate them, the big bomb would have exploded in two minutes.”  During Hatterton’s monologuing, you hear a bit of rustling behind you, but you ignore it.  “Now it won't explode in two minutes!  instead it'll explode in two seconds!”  Hatterton lets out a robotic laugh.  “Goodbye, darling!”  He looks over at the bomb, smiling.  His metallic countenance quickly shifts.  You glance over to find the bomb in shambles, with wires sticking out.  Alphare grins awkwardly, holding a pair of tweezers.

“While you were talking, I, I, um…”. Her fluffy feet shift awkwardly under her oversized white tuxedo vest.

“You deactivated the bomb!” Hatterton declares in mock dismay.

“Y-yes!  I did!  I didn’t want my house blown up.”  Alphare glares at her robot with a timid smile.

“How about we just have some tea.  What do you think, beautiful?”  Hatterton looks down at you charmingly.

Your tummy rumbles with hunger, and you agree.  You’re rather tired from today’s chaos.  The robot pulls out the red chair and you take a seat.  He offers you a half-cup of tea.  It’s literally a half-cup.  The cup was cut vertically in half and is somehow holding the tea.  You thank Hatterton uncertainly and take a sip.  The tea is burning, but, otherwise, it’s pretty good.  Alphare takes the seat across from you, a dark blue chair with skeletal patterns on it.  Hatterton sits in the yellow chair next to her.  It has scales painted on it.

“What do you want, gorgeous?”  The robot rests his chin on his interlaced fingers.

You turn to the March Alphare and repeat your question.

“Home?  Th-that depends on what you define home as.”  You can tell she’s buying time, and you give her a look.  The rabbit sighs.  “I'm sorry.  The only way out of Underland is to go through the Barrier of Stability.  That is the bridge between your world of the sane and our world of the insane.  O-of course, the only way to get there is through the queen’s castle.”  She rubs her ear.  Only someone with a soul that has a powerful sense of reality, like yours, can handle crossing the barrier.  We can't.”

“You're avoiding something,” Hatterton remarks.

Alphare's eyes widen with sudden fear.  “A-and what's that?”

“Asgore will probably kill the human.”

“Oh! Yes, I forgot.”  Her eyes have a brief flash of relief pass over them as she smiles awkwardly.  “See, if a monster absorbs thirteen human souls, he or she has the power to break the barrier.  Then, finally, monsters and chaos will be free to roam the orderly overworld. We have twelve human souls right now, and Queen Asgore needs only one more.  That's you, Alisk.”

You ask her why it's thirteen souls, of all numbers.

“I'm sure you'll find out why,” Alphare sighed.  “Whether or not we get to go free is up to you.  I… I hope you do the right thing.”

You thank her and stand up.  You're about to leave when you realize something.  You ask Alphare where the castle is.

“Oh, well, I'm sure Chesans would be happy to guide you.  He’s so bored all the time.”  Alphare laughs softly.  “Well, you should go.”

“Tell Sansyboy I said hi,” Hatterton says playfully.  “Have fun dying, gorgeous!”

You smile and walk away from the table.  The forest looms in front of you with an ominous appearance.  You hadn't allowed yourself to see it before, but the forest isn't made of trees.  It’s made of red teeth, or something like teeth.  Now that you look around, you realize that everything is different than how you first saw it.  The roof of the cavern doesn’t have glowing crystals, but glowing eyes.  Certain patches of eyes drip white goop, making some of the cavern look like it's raining.  Alphare's house isn't made of bricks, and it doesn't even look like a house.  Most of the things in the underground are so beyond description that it tightens your throat.  The flowers back in the meadow must look different from what you made them look like, but you can't seem to un-filter your memories.  Flowey must be flower though, because he said it himself.  At least one thing makes sense.  If a talking flower counts as logical.

You've been putting the entire underground into denial to keep yourself from breaking.  You've been trying to protect your mind from realizing how insane Underland really is.  Fear throbs through you as you strive to hold on to your sense of reality.  You must hold on to your sense of reality.  Without that, you can't go home.

Home.

The thought of your peaceful, orderly home fills you with determination.  You have to stay determined.  Taking a deep breath, you walk bravely into the dark tooth forest.

Being normal height again fills you with determination.  You let yourself giggle and jump for a little bit.  But, as the flowers echo your laughter, you're reminded that you need to go home.  You start walking towards the forest, wanting to get out of the blue meadow as quickly as possible.  The sparkling white stones shine on the ceiling, mimicking the night sky that's somewhere up there.  You stand at the edge of the dark forest, observing all of the invisible forest paths.  You feel fear begin to grip you.  There could be much worse things than Flowey in there.

“You look lost.”

You whip your head around until you find the source of the rough New Yorker voice.  A cat skeleton, wrapped in clothing that clings to where the body should be, looks down at you with amusement.  He's sitting quite contently on a tree branch.  His blue jacket and baggy black shorts give him the form his body lacks.

“The name’s Chesans, but you can call me Sans if you want.  What're you doing down here in Underland?”  

His laid back expression tells you that this cat is probably not wanting to fight you.  He has a gigantic grin that doesn't move when he talks, and you look at it curiously.  You tell him that you fell down the rabbit hole.  You're about to explain more when he cuts you off.

“You're a human, aren't you?”  The white slit pupils floating in his empty eye sockets flicker.

You tell him that you are, and that you want to go home.

“That's not exactly an easy task,” he grunts.  “I don't feel like explaining.  You should go ask the March Alphare.  She'll probably be up to it.”  He yawns and nods in a direction.  Follow me.”  He starts bounding from tree to tree, not looking to see if you’re following.  You find yourself trusting him and running after him.  His long tailbone bobs behind him as you both race through the forest. He comes to a stop and, slightly out of breath, points his boney paw towards a clearing.

“She's over there.  Good luck, kid.”  His clothes fade away, followed by his body.  His smile remains for a few seconds before vanishing with the rest of him.  You look at the clearing.  There's a brick house with a smoking chimney.  A table is set up outside of it, with tea pots and cups scattered on it.  Each of the thirteen chairs is uniquely different from the others.  A person occupies one of them, wearing a large top hat.  The thought of this person knowing the way home fills you with determination.

You walk towards the table and stand by one of the chairs.  You ask politely if you could sit down.  The person, who, upon inspection, appears rather metallic, moves his head sharply to look at you.  His black hair covers half his face, which is made of actual metal.  His black-and-pink coat slims his curving body.  His left hand moves to point at you, and his robotic pupil shrinks.

“There's not enough room, darling.”

This immediately annoys you.  You exaggeratedly gesture to all the empty chairs surrounding the table.

“All taken, sweetie.  Come again some other time.”

You ask doubtingly if he's the March Alphare.

“No, she’s inside.  Shoo, I’m trying to concentrate.”  He looks down at his hands, which are trying to glue a shattered teacup together using pastry dough.

You thank him and go over to the door of the brick house.  You knock on the door, and, to your surprise, hear a yelp.

“What kind of monster goes around punching people's doors?  That's rather inconsiderate of you.”  The doorknob glares up at you with indignity.  You apologize and explain that you only wanted to talk to the March Alphare.

“Well, use the doorbell!  Honestly,” it groans.

You're slightly ticked off at this point, but you push the doorbell anyway.  You recognize the theme song of an old anime show as it plays inside the house. The sound of pots and pans hitting tile fills your ears, along with the scurrying of furry feet.  The door opens to an apologetic rabbit.

“I-I'm so sorry to keep you… oh.”