Haunting a reaper in training

Bickering is also a sign of closeness, or so Goth has been told

The deep chill seeping in his bones combined with the snowy landscape in Underfell was bitterly familiar to Glitch, far more so than it had any right to be for Glitch. It was run down, but still distinctly Snowdin, that it made his skull ache. He had seen many iterations of the same town across multiple AUs, much like Goth at his side had, but there was something about knowing where the traps were and how to exactly disarm them that Glitch couldn’t explain.

Those changed between AUs, almost never the same unless they were exactly like the original Undertale’s, which wasn’t the case in their current location. It was jarring, as Glitch had only come in person here once before when he did so with Goth. Glimpses through glitchy portals didn’t explain that depth of knowledge Glitch seemed to have, but he brushed it once again in favor of more pressing matters.

Goth was cheery enough, as they made their way to Red’s house. The little godling seemed to be taking his time, much to Glitch’s nerves, even waving a greeting to some teens in the forest that returned it, if somewhat mockingly.

How the Underfell brothers managed to keep the Multiverse a secret to the rest of the inhabitants of their AU was a wonder, since the usual visitors weren’t exactly subtle, nor did they blend in with the rest unless they were the Bad Sanses or another rogue alternate. And even then, it was a 50/50 chance. Killer, for one, was too energetic and eager to kill to blend in. Maybe Dust could, though.

Huh.

Resets likely had a lot to do with the Underfell skeleton brother’s success thus far. The memories of any eventuality in the Underground would be wiped from their minds with the next reset, and as long as they didn’t happen to mention it, the human didn’t even bother asking most of their runs.

Glitch wondered if they already knew the answers they would get by heart and stopped asking at a certain point. It made Glitch want to laugh at this Frisk’s obliviousness, since they hadn’t caught up yet. Obviously, magic worked better than the brains the humans had if this was the result.

‘Are we there yet?’

Looking around, there was nothing out of place from the usual, and he would forever rue the day that Goth’s father had decided Goth’s teleportation skills were good enough as they were. If only that Death God had bothered a bit more, maybe they could have saved time instead of having to walk through the woods.

“Glitch, you’ve asked the same thing like ten times already. I ask you, please, stop. You know as well as me how much is left until we reach my uncles’ house” was the answer, long suffering and frustrated.

So amusing.

‘Hm.’

The kid did have a point though. The path didn’t change much in terms of trekking distance. The layout towards the skeleton brothers’ house was mostly the same in all AUs located in the Underground. There was this itch Glitch had to keep getting reactions out of Goth, however.

They were so funny (familiar).

So, after some seconds had passed, he just repeated himself in an increasingly whining tone he knew drove people mad.

‘Are we there yet?’

The muffled scream Goth let out in his red scarf was deeply satisfying. The only thing that would have been even funnier was if Goth stomped in the ground in frustration (Paps used to do that a lot when Sans pulled this kind of stuff).

“It’s. Right. THERE!” Goth raged, pointing towards the familiar building past the plaza, Giftmas decorations twinkling past the bleak town proudly and shining. The tree in the middle of the plaza had no such luck, some lights cracked and other having been obviously cut off. The presents underneath, too, were in a poor state, smashed and vandalized with graffiti. “You can literally see it, we’re not even five minutes away!”