I focused ahead, stopping as I entered the next room. At the end of the room there was an elevated doorway decorated with ivy and a sign hanging above it, although it looked pretty faded. There were two stairways on each side that led up to the high doorway and red leaves decorated the floor in front of me, even forming a square.
'How do they have leaves down here, let alone ivy.... I guess magic but....' I thought to myself before noticing the golden star twinkling near the red leaves.
"A save star!" I gasped delighted rushing over to it and reaching out to hold it, feeling its warm heat on my skin. I paused. Frisk had to have saved while they were in the underground. Would I save over her? Or would I have a save all my own? The glowing objects seemed to glow brighter for a second, beckoning me to save but I lower my hands to the ground. "I can hold out for a little longer....." I told myself before heading up the left stairway. I looked up at the sign again trying to read the words that had been carved into the metal sign but vines were starting to grow over them and the metal was rusting. I was able to make out one word in the sign.
"Ruins"
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Frisk panted, regaining her breath as she laid on the couch finally out of Papyrus' clutches. Papyrus had a proud look on his face as he wrapped on his scarf.
"I'm heading to the Capital to check on the progress with the barrier. Do you wish to come with me human?" He asked glancing back at her. Frisk shook their head slightly.
"I'll..... come by.......later." She said in between breaths.
"Alright, be safe." Paps nodded opening the door. "Oh and there is some left over spaghetti in the fridge if you get hungry!" He added with a smile before closing the door. She shivered at the brief exposure to the cold, snowdin breeze. Frisk sat up, starting to breath normally now before looking up at Sans' door. They hopped off the couch and silently headed up the stairs, her hand barely reaching the railing made with the skeleton brothers in mind. Frisk crept towards Sans' room and leaned closer to see if she could hear anything.......
It was dead quiet.
Frisk raised her hand to knock on the door before pausing. He's nightmares were about her. They were her fault. Frisk sighed turning to leave before they heard the door click. They froze, staring at the ground as they heard the door creak open (Sans was too lazy to ever fix it despite his brother's constant nagging).
".......Frisk?......." Sans said after a minute. "How come you aren't at the capital? I heard Papyrus leave....."
"I.... I wanted to make sure you were ok....." Frisk said quietly. The pause that followed seemed to drag out for hours, the only sound the thumping of her heart that echoed through her ears.
"Come on, you know I'll be fine. Nothing can keep this funny bone down." Sans said with his usually smile as Frisk glanced ever so slightly over at him.
"The nightmares were about me weren't they..." Frisk whispered closing her eyes. Again there was a dreaded silent pause.
"Babybones...." Sans said gently scooping her up into a hug. Frisk help onto him, hiding her face in his sweater. "My nightmares aren't always about Chara, and they are never about you."
"B...but..." Frisk stammered going to glance up at him.
"Shhhh....." Sans whispered calmly, gently laying his chin on top of Frisk's head. Frisk relaxed, letting out a content sigh. "Come on, let's go take a cat nap."
"That sounds like a meow-velous idea." Frisk said. A half surprised laugh came out of Sans' mouth.
"See no bad person would make such a purr-fect pun."
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I looked over what seemed to be the first puzzle. There were six buttons to my right and a switch on the wall in front of them. To my left there was a sign which read"Only the fearless may proceed. Brave one, foolish ones. Both not walk the middle road." upon further investigation. "Don't walk the middle road huh?" I repeated to myself looking at the buttons again, they were arranged in what seemed to be 3 rows, a left most row, a middle row, and a right most row. I hopped onto the bottom left button, letting it sink into the ground before repeating with the top left button and both right buttons then pulled the partially rusted lever down hoping it didn't snap in half. There was a pause before the doors slid open with a creak and I smiled slightly to myself before heading into the next room, immediately noticing the sign on the opposite wall. "Stay on the path." This sign directed. I walked across the first bridge onto the middle part of the room where a switch sat on the left wall, arrows and a faded message were beside it. "Please..... switch" were all I could make out of what remained from the yellow chalk. I sighed rubbing the back of my head and looking towards the end of the room where spikes blocked me from simply continuing on.
"Why not!" I shrugged yanking the lever down until it clicked into place. I looked back over and the spikes seemed to still be in place. "Well, that didn't seem to do the trick." I muttered before continuing on the bridge to the last section of the room, noticing two levers on the same wall. One had the same yellow chalk by it and the other had nothing. " .....press this .....too" I could make out of the smudged writing, at least this one seemed to have clearer directions. As I pushed it into place the metal spikes slid into the ground and I smirked taking a glance at the last lever. "I wonder what it does....." I asked myself pulling on it. It was stuck. I yanked on it harder until it snapped in half letting me fall onto my back. "....guess I'm never know then...." I said holding up the broken switch.
...........................................
"Brother!" Papyrus yelled as he returned home to find both Sans and Frisk sleeping on the couch. "Wake up this instance!"
"Five more minutes..." Sans muttered rolling over slightly.
"Absolutely not!" Papyrus boomed picking up him brother as Frisk stretched with a yawn. "Alphys has asked for all of us to meet her at the Capital for something important and you will be awake for it. Now go get changed!" He instructed setting the shorter skeleton on his feet. Sans sighed but nodded heading over to the stairs. "Mettaton made this outfit for you and seems very eager for you to try it on human." Papyrus said bending down some to offer Frisk the bag.
"Oh, thank you." Frisk said peeking inside the bag. Papyrus smiled before loud snoring emanated from the stairs where Sans laid on the first couple steps.
"Brother I swear!" Papyrus huffed as he grabbed Sans and dragged him up the stairs and into Sans' room, shutting the door behind them. Frisk giggled, going to change herself so they could head out to meet the others.
................................
I munched on the candy I had found in a side room as I passed the save star, it glowed slightly brighter when I went by. I put the 3 other pieces of candy in my inventory looking at the path in front of me, the floor looked rather unstable by the cracks that filled it. I glanced at the two vents on the wall, one on either side of the room. They seemed large enough that I could fit inside but there was no telling where they went so I'd try my luck with the floor for now. I edge my way across the floor, minding how I shifted my weight. It seemed like I was doing ok until the cracks under my widened.
"Oh no." I muttered before the floor beneath me broke and I fell landing face first on a pile of surprisingly large red leaves.
I sat up shaking the remaining leaves off me and sighing as I rubbed my stinging arms which, although taking most of the fall, weren't broken. "Thanks for weird leaves." I said picking one up. Despite being shockingly red they were pretty beautiful and I had seen them decorate most of the Ruins. I looked up and there was a doorway close by. I took a breath before I stood up and headed to what I assumed to be the exit, the giant leaves crunching under each step. It didn't seem to actually be a hallway or room but a tunnel with a small rectangular opening at the top. I reached up, grabbing onto it and pulling myself up, rolling through that rectangular opening. I looked to my right, there was the broken floor I had tried to cross and looking behind me, I had climbed up one of the vents from earlier.
"What do you know, that's where the vents leads..." I said before I chuckled a bit. I continued on to a room with a rock, a button, and a row of spikes. "Oh yay, more spikes........"
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Notes:
Sorry this chapter took a bit longer than I wanted inktober, school, and novel writing month prep has gotten me pretty swamped. I want to have a picture for every chapter too so that makes then take a bit longer bit I think it'll be worth the wait. ;)
Hope the next chapter will be out soon and things will start getting more exciting.
What could Alphys want to talk about? Will Jade get past all the puzzles that are scattered in the now falling apart ruins? What does the outfit Frisk got look like? :0