Out of Reach. An Undertale fanfiction

Reload

Frisk opened her eyes to see a dark room, one completely devoid of both color and hope.

"Hello?" Frisk called out to the empty room. Her voice echoed through the nonexistent corridors. A chill went down her spine as she decided to start walking forward, hoping to find something noteworthy. Frisk walked for what felt like hours, barely being able to see her own two feet in front of her. Suddenly, a light turned on aways ahead of her. Frisk ran towards the light excitedly, yet stopped right before she was in the center of it. She knew where this was going.

On cue, a golden flower sprouted out of the dirt in the center of the light, staring blankly at the human. "* Hi." It said simply, unusual for him to not use his normal greeting. Frisk didn't answer the flower. She believed that if what you have to say isn't anything good, then simply don't say it. And what she thought of this flower wasn't exactly polite. So instead, she kept quiet, letting the buttercup continue speaking.

"* So," The flower began. "* Ever since our fight, it's been pretty... confusing, to say the least. Honestly, I didn't even think you'd survive!" Flowey said cheerfully, Frisk glared at the flower in response, which he picked up on. Flowey cleared his throat and continued. "* But now.... something's happened. I can't reload my last save. And to my knowledge, you can't either." Frisk's eyes widened as she thought of the possibility. "* Which means," the flower started again. "* That we're stuck in this wasted space of a timeline." Flowey said, getting more aggressive than before. The hazardous flower stared up at Frisk with anger in it's eyes. "* Why'd you have to let the big guy die, huh? Why couldn't you have stopped me like you do everyone else that gets in your way?" Flowey asked, practically poking a caged animal. Frisk clenched her fists as she looked at her 'best friend' with newfound hate.

"* Aw, forget it. It doesn't REALLY matter anyway. I've been trapped in timelines before, so I don't see how this is any different." Flowey stated, while rubbing where normal people's temples are with vines he grew from the ground. Frisk was put off by the plant's surprising acceptance to being essentially trapped, but as she thought the situation over, her brows furrowed and she took a step closer to the weed. Flowey looked up at her, prior to letting out a groan of disgust and turning away.

"* I don't have time for this." He muttered, then looked back at Frisk one last time. "* Just, try not to get yourself killed... I guess." The flower remarked, before returning to the dirt from whence he came.

Frisk gasped a little from the suddenness of his disappearance, then continued to spin around in nervousness. She had a very bad feeling about this.

Frisk's eyes darted open, causing her to throw herself into a sitting position. Frisk breathed heavily in and out as she began to look around and assess the situation. It appears she had been sleeping on Sans and Papyrus' couch. She must've gone with Sans back home after their trip to Grillby's, yet been too drowsy to remember. If that was the case, where were her friends? This WAS their home after all. Frisk stood up from the couch, and began to walk around. She walked towards the door first and found a note stuck to it. Frisk walked closer and read it aloud.

"Human! Do not be alarmed by my disappearance. I merely have gone to see Undyne about this whole 'soul business.' I should not be long, for I am exceptionally skilled at being fast in any and all things! Nyeh heh heh! There is spaghetti in the fridge if you get hungry, and Sans will be there to keep you entertained. Best of luck on your endeavors, human!"
Sincerely, Papyrus.

There is a sticky note stuck to the bottom of the previous one.

"* hey kid. went out, be back later. spaghetti leftovers are in the fridge. don't burn the house down." -sans

Frisk let out a small sigh. This shouldn't surprise her. She put on her shoes and walked outside to the rest of Snowdin. With the gold she had left, Frisk bought herself a cinnamon bunny for breakfast, then headed out towards waterfall, taking the scenic route.

_______________________________

Sans walked up to the large building that loomed in front of him and knocked on the door. The skeleton waited a bit before the door opened and he was greeted with a bleary eyed scientist, still in their pajamas.

"* Sans?" She muttered sleepily. "* hey al. i uh, hope i didn't wake you." Sans said while rubbing the back of his cranium. "* No no, you're fine. Umm. Come in, I-I guess?" Alphys said while rubbing her eyes. "* are you sure?" Sans asked. "* you're lookin a little bone tired." "* I can still close this door." Alphys noted. "* good point." Sans said in response, then stepped inside.

"* A-are you hungry? I can make some noodles." Alphys offered. "* that'd be great, thanks. i haven't had breakfast yet, so anything you have would be good." Sans said as he sat down on a nearby chair. "* So, uhh. Why are you here?" Alphys asked, putting the noodles in the pot. "* I-if you don't mind my asking!" "* heh, it's fine. uhh, i actually wanted to talk to you about the human souls." Sans explained. Alphys shook the pot she was holding in surprise, then steadied herself. "* O-oh. W-well, you can look at the r-research I have, i-if you want." She said nervously, cups of noodles in hand. "* thanks, alphys." Sans said, taking the noodles from his friend.

"* since we don't have the human souls anymore. i thought about the possibility of, i don't know, a substitute? but, i'd need to look at the soul's base functions before i could think of any serious solutions." Sans said expressively. The way he explained this to Alphys made something on her face light up. "* Th-that's a great idea, Sans! I could use some help, what with so much ground to cover and all. Um, the n-notes are upstairs, so I can go get them for you to look over." Alphys said with more energy than before. "* sounds good, but uh. i was kinda hoping we could look them over in your lab." Sans uttered, poking his noodles anxiously. "* W-what are you talking about? This is my..." Alphys cut herself off as Sans' words clicked in her head. Her hand movements stopped, and she replied a simple "* Oh..." while  looking down. "* you ok alph? you're lookin a little 'rattled,' heh." Sans said, chuckling at his own joke."* y'know, we don't have to do this if you don't want to." Sans explained.

"* Yeah, yeah I'm fine." Alphys looked up and turned towards the pile of bones. "* You really think this will help?" She asked. Sans returned her gaze, looking significantly more serious than before. "* yeah. yeah i really do." Sans answered honestly. Alphys nodded her head before sighing. "* Okay, let's go." She breathed as she got up and headed for the elevator, leaving the meal behind. Sans followed suit.

Alphys swiftly grabbed and wrapped her lab coat around her as she walked in the elevator and pressed the appropriate button. Sans walked in the knockoff escalator and stood next to Alphys. Slowly, the doors closed, and the elevator descended. The two of them were silent the whole way down, for once having nothing to say to each other. Eventually, the elevator stopped and it's doors opened, letting the two friends step inside the 'true lab.'

There was a strange mist that seemed to be everywhere, but Sans got used to it after a bit. Alphys guided Sans into the main tech room. With the majority of the research being in it, she thought it would be best to start there first. "* I've w-written a bit about what makes up human souls if you'd like to take a look at that. O-otherwise, there's more work that talks about human and monster soul similarities, t-too." Alphys said, struggling to get out her words. Sans walked straight to a desk covered in sheets of paper and illustrations of souls. "* got anything on 'constructing fractured souls?'" Sans asked in an oddly specific way. "* Uhh. I m-might. I'll go check." Alphys said as she walked away. Sans continued to shuffle through the papers, glancing over each of them, not knowing that something was approaching him from behind.

The creature shuffled closer to Sans, and once close enough, it extended it's arm. It continued to reach for the skeleton, until it was a couple inches from his hood. "* how do skeletons call their friends?" Sans asked. The creature stopped moving, confused by the query. "* they use the tele-bone." Sans answered, continuing to stand still. The creature was silent for a bit, then it started vibrating rapidly, as if with joy, and slowly retracted it's arm. Sans smiled to himself as the creature continued to 'laugh.'

"* No! Get away from him!" Alphys exclaimed, running towards the spoon contour, causing it to disappear. "* Sans! Are you okay?" Alphys asked worriedly. "* i'm fine." Sans said calmly. "* you got the 'prints?" He asked. Alphys looked at Sans disbelievingly, then answered. "* I couldn't find it exactly, but I do have something on artificial monster souls." She explained. "* that works. c'mon. as much as it pains me to say it, we've got work to do." Sans said as he walked out of the room with a bundle of paper in hand. Alphys stood still a for a bit, then followed the comedian out of the room, shutting the door behind her.