To SAVE a Demon

Chapter 7

  "what about undyne? she hates puzzles?"

  "SHE HATES PUZZLES. BUT SHE LOVES JAPES."

  "that makes sense."

  Turning to look at Frisk again Papyrus asked, "HUMAN!! WHAT DO YOU THINK!? PUZZLES OR JAPES?"

  Frisk said nothing as she stood in the middle of the board.

  "...OKAY, THIS IS NORMALLY THE PART, WHERE YOU AGREE OR DISAGREE." Papyrus said anxiously. "AND DEPENDING ON YOUR ANSWER, WE SAY SOMETHING GREAT IN RESPONSE."

  Frisk stayed silent as Papyrus began to look a little desperate.

  "HERE, WHY DON'T YOU DO THIS PUZZLE YOURSELF." he said as he left a piece of paper next to the machine before walking further into the forest.

  "hey... puzzles might be fun. if you try them." Sans said to Frisk as she walked toward him.

  While Sans spoke to Frisk, Chara curiously looked at the paper Papyrus had left. Unfortunately it was completely illegible chicken-scratch.

  The next area had an empty sentry station and a large pile of snow, as well as another save point. After saving Frisk got into several more FIGHTs. However in the last one, she got cornered by the monsters bullets and her soul took a hit, opening a small gash on her right leg.

  "Frisk! Are you alright?" Chara asked alarmed as blood started running down Frisk's leg, staining the snow red. Chara knew Frisk wasn't the greatest person, but she still didn't like seeing people get hurt, whether human or monster.

  "I'm fine Chara, just leave me alone." Frisk said flatly as she opened her menu and ate one of the monster candies, restoring her HP to full and closing the wound.

  "I'm sorry." Chara said, looking down. "I just wanted to make sure you were okay."

  Frisk sighed and walked into the next area with Chara close behind her.

  Still, all the FIGHTs she's been in and she's only taken damage twice. Chara thought as she and Frisk entered the new area. She must be really good at dodging, as if she knows everybody's attack patterns.

  The new area had a large patch of ice with several X's placed randomly on a large patch of ice, and another button. It was clear to Chara that the objective was to slide onto all the X's and then slide onto the button to continue, but the puzzle had already been solved, as the bridge at the end was already extended.

  Frisk wordlessly slid across the ice toward the bridge. She and Chara moved into the next area, where Frisk fought and killed three more monsters, including a very large, heavily armored royal guardsman. The next area had a very long rope bridge, below which one could see the rest of Snowdin forest stretching out as far as the eye could see, as well as an enormous frozen lake, and at the end of the bridge stood the two skeleton brothers.

  "HUMAN!" Papyrus said in his usual excited voice. "THIS IS YOUR FINAL AND MOST DANGEROUS CHALLENGE! BEHOLD! THE GAUNTLET OF DEADLY TERROR!"

  Papyrus pressed a button on a remote he had in his hand. Chara's jaw dropped as below the bridge a cannon, a large spear, and a flamethrower appeared. Above the bridge appeared a spiky ball on a chain, another large spear, and for some reason a small white dog  that looked confused but happy nonetheless. Chara had no idea how Frisk was supposed to get past this unscathed.

  "WHEN I SAY THE WORD, IT WILL FULLY ACTIVATE!!!" Papyrus said with gusto. "CANNONS WILL FIRE! SPIKES WILL SWING! BLADES WILL SLICE! EACH PART WILL SWING VIOLENTLY UP AND DOWN! ONLY THE TINIEST CHANCE OF VICTORY WILL REMAIN!!! ARE YOU READY!? BECAUSE! I! AM! ABOUT! TO DO IT!"

  Everyone held their breath as they waited for Papyrus to activate the puzzle. But, after a few seconds nothing happened.

  Finally, Sans broke the silence and said, "well? what's the holdup?"

  "HOLDUP!? WHAT HOLDUP?" Papyrus said. "I'M... I'M ABOUT TO ACTIVATE IT NOW!"

  After several more seconds passed, still nothing happened.

  "that, uh, doesn't look very activated."

  "WELL!!! ...THEY'RE PROBABLY GOING TO WALK THROUGH IT, AND IT WON'T BE ANY FUN AT ALL."

  "hmmm... so this human thing was a bust, huh?"

  "WELL. I MEAN. I'M EXCITED TO CAPTURE THEM. SO I'LL BECOME A FAMOUS ROYAL GUARDSMAN!!! BUT ALL THE TIME I PUT INTO THESE PUZZLES... IT'S KIND OF LIKE THROWING A BIRTHDAY PARTY..."

  "without traps and fire?" Sans finished with a wink.

  "EXACTLY!! IT'S POINTLESS!!! MAYBE YOU WERE RIGHT TO BE LAZY ABOUT PUZZLES."

  "me? right about something? really?"

  After giving it some thought Papyrus said, "YEAH!! WHAT AM I SAYING! YOU'RE STILL COMPLETELY WRONG! I JUST HAVE THE WRONG AUDIENCE! THINK ABOUT HOW MUCH FUN UNDYNE WOULD HAVE HERE! FLAMES, VIOLENCE. IT'S RIGHT UP HER ALLEY!"

  Looking at Frisk he said, "SO I WON'T WASTE THIS PUZZLE ON YOU! I JUST HAVE TO APPRECIATE THE FRIEND I ALREADY HAVE!!!

  Papyrus pressed the button on the remote again and the puzzle retracted back into its hidden compartments.

  "PHEW. A VALUABLE LIFE LESSON!!! NYEH HEH HEH!!!" Papyrus said before running off toward Snowdin Town.

  As Frisk and Chara finished crossing the bridge Sans stepped in front of them and said, "hmmm... guess we didn't need your help to have a good time after all."

  After a brief pause he continued, "say, i've been thinking. seems like you're gonna fight my brother pretty soon. here's some friendly advice."

  As Sans closed his eyes he said, "if you keep going the way you are now..."

  Sans opened his eyes and Chara saw that the small white dots that were his pupils were completely gone, leaving nothing but two dark bottomless pits.

  "...you're gonna have a bad time." he finished in an ice cold voice.

  Chara felt a chill go down her spine, Sans' smile hadn't faltered a single time. As she blinked her red eyes, he disappeared into thin air.

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