#undertale 2021

You only looked back a couple times, as you were walking further away from the gate that led to Toriel’s house and the ruins. What she forgot to tell you was that from the other side of the gate was like a whole new world. If the ruins were comfy and warmish, this side of the gate was the opposite. 

Around you were tall spruce trees that were covered in snow. You were walking on a snowy path that had foot prints of others on it as well. They were not easy to see, since the constant snowing, but you were walking at such a slow speed that it was easy to make them out. The sides of the path were just piles of snow. Mostly all you could see for miles on end was snow, too much of it. 

As you were running your palms up and down on your upper arms for warmth, you started to see a little bridge. You smiled a little at this, knowing Sans would show up soon. Even though it was cold, you took short steps and soon you were in front of the bridge where you were supposed to meet Sans. After waiting a little for him to appear and nothing happening, you turned around just to see no one. Only the cold wind filled with snow hit your back and froze your skin even more. Had he forgotten he was supposed to be here? 

You had a moment for thinking what you could do. The only idea that came to you at that moment was to simply walk to Snowdin town and just hope you’d at least be able to walk to a shop or something. 

And that is exactly what you did. Even though the cold and the wind, you kept on walking forward. Papyrus didn’t seem to be there either, but that wasn’t a surprise since Sans wasn’t at the bridge either. But even without Papyrus, the puzzles were still there, and you had to solve them. Somehow one by one you did all of them. This was only possible because you had some kind of a memory of how to solve them fastly. 

Now it wasn’t long until you were in Snowdin. You only had to cross the long bridge and there it was. The ends of your hair were completely frozen together and you could feel how heavy your eyelashes had become since they were frozen white as well. The fabric of your shirt felt almost like plastic, since it had frozen as well. You couldn’t feel your feet at all at this point, and every step hurt. Your fingers were frozen as well. and moving them hurt even more. Step by step you made it to the other side. You took your last step off the ridge, back on the freezing snow. You knew that by now you probably had frost bites on both of your cheeks and hands, and that wasn’t going to be fun in the future.

Your half open eyes scanned the Snowdin town sign that was in the snow as you collapsed on your knees. You were able to pull a small smile on your face before it hit the cold snow. Now if you got lucky someone would be able to find you. Your body curled into a small ball to keep the last bits of warmth from escaping from your body.

A little after this Grillby happened to be walking near the area. Everyone today seemed to be in the wrong place for some reason… But this time it was a good thing, because he saw you and tilted his head. That's when he noticed that it was a child, and rushed to you. He didn’t touch the snow, but he picked you up seeing that you were clearly freezing. He felt how your chest and head were still warm, so you were still alive. His whole body being flames, he pressed you against his chest, as he started to walk towards his pub. The warmth of his body helped to start warming you up as well. 

Grillby opened the door to his pub, and walked to the backroom. It was getting late so nearly no one was in the pub, so Grillby had plenty of time to help you get better. He put you down on a couch, and covered you with a couple blankets. Knowing that this was all he could do, he walked away to make you a warm drink. 

Around an hour later you started to wake up. The soft and warm blankets had warmed you up enough. Turning your head you saw a cup filled with something warm. The room smelled like lemon tea, so that is what you assumed it was. You sat up and took the warm cup in your hands. You could still feel how much your fingers hurt and moving them was even worse, but the warmth from the mug felt nice. 

The door near the couch opened, this made you jump a little. After all, you had no idea where you were, because Grillby hardly ever talked and never let you in the backroom, so you could have been anywhere. You were slowly drinking the tea to restore your health, while looking at who was going to walk in the room. As the door opened a lot of warm air came in and hit your face in waves. It was Grillby! As always he was wearing a white collar shirt and a black vest with a bow tie. He took a few steps closer, and kneeled down. It was always hard to tell what he was feeling since he is missing almost every facial future. He only has glasses on that move when he furrows his brows or moves his eyes that can't really be seen. His deep and quiet voice asked, “Are you feeling better?” You drank the rest of the tea, it maxed out your HP! As you put the mug down you nodded a few times. “I am, thank you for saving me…” You wanted to complain how Sans wasn’t where he was supposed to be, but Grillby wouldn’t understand that. “You should rest more, tell me if you need something.” He said before he left. His flames brightened the whole room so much that it was a surprise to you how dark it got after Grillby left. The darkness indicated to you that it must have been night time, so you better get some sleep. You pressed your head to the pillow that was on the couch and curled up under the blankets.

You woke up quite early in the morning because Grillby opened the door swiftly. “Oh, I'm sorry if I woke you up, but Sans is here and he was looking for you?” He informed you before walking away. Before you had time to think, Sans walked in the room and closed the door. “Are you okay?” He asked, not quite perfectly hiding the worry he felt internally. “I’m fine now, Grillby helped me.” You answered as you sat up. “I’m sorry I wasn’t there, I’m not sure what happened but I was completely in the wrong place..” The skeleton murmured. “Well I guess this means I'll have to pay for Grillby for saving you. That will go to my tab.” Sans hummed as he offered his hand to you. “We should get going now before this gets messed up even more.” Without saying anything you took his hand and got up. Before exiting the bar, you looked at Grillby and nodded at him as if to say thank you to him one last time.