26"NYOO HO HO." Papyrus let out a cry of despair as the bones stopped flying at me. "NOT EVEN I, THE GREAT PAPYRUS, COULD SAVE A SINGLE HUMAN." The slender skeleton finally let out a resolute sigh. "NO, I UNDERSTAND. NO MATTER HOW GREAT I AM, THE RUINS ARE STILL QUITE SMALL ONCE YOU GET USED TO THEM. " Papyrus bent down to me and gave me a warm smile, then let out a sigh. "HUMAN, I SHALL ALLOW YOU TO EXIT THE RUINS. HOWEVER, I CANNOT PERMIT YOU TO COME BACK. ONCE YOU LEAVE THE RUINS, KEEP GOING AS FAR AS YOU CAN. EVENTUALLY, YOU'LL REACH THE KING'S CASTLE. HUMAN, PROMISE ME THAT YOU WON'T LET KING SANS REACH HIS GOAL." Nodding firmly and taking his warning to heart, I almost leaped into Papyrus' arms. In truth, my time with Papyrus was the most fun I've had in a long time.
The floating pink ghost beside me looked away from us. Sighing, i gestured for him to join in with an encouraging smile. Mettaton was still invisible to everyone but myself, so I tried my hardest to help him feel like he was still here. At first, the ghost was hesitant, but timidly made his way over to Papyrus and myself and joined in the hug.
Papyrus finally let go and opened the doors for us. Waving goodbye to the skeleton, Mettaton and I walked through the large purple double doors.
xxx
A gust of chilly wind knocked me off my feet as I exited the Ruins. I stared in wonder at the vast snowy taiga forest around me.
"Hey, are you alright?" Mettaton floated over to me, asking with a concerned tone.
"I'm fine, Mettaton. Just wasn't expecting a winter forest in the Underground." I chuckled, getting to my feet and the pink ghost sighed in relief and I pushed forward.
The path of tall barren trees overhead made the forest around us appear more ominous as we made our way down, stepping over a rather large branch in front of us,
I could hear a second pair of footsteps behind us and suddenly an ear-splitting crack! resounded throughout the forest. I whirled around to see that large branch shattered into several pieces.
"Frisk, I don't like this..." Mettaton whimpered, his eyes darting around nervously. "Papyrus did mention that monsters beyond the Ruins would be after your Soul." He said in a small voice as we came across a gated bridge, stopping me in my tracks.
Heavy footfalls thudded behind us, and my entire body froze in apprehension. Mettaton had a point, from this moment on, monsters would be after my Soul.
"Human...don't you know how to greet a new friend?" A deep, yet feminine voice spoke, chilling me to the bone and sending shivers down my spine. "Turn around and take my hand..." In the corner of my eye, I saw a pair of glowing crimson eyes.
Taking a deep breathe, I nervously turned to face the voice, shut my eyes tight, and took the shadow's hand.
-Squish-
...What?
Opening my eyes, I saw a pale hand over mine, our hands stained in red.
Ketchup..?
My gaze followed upwards to see a pale skinned, red eyed girl wearing in a long green jacket. She had rusty red hair and a wide playful grin on her face. "Whoever threw out those ketchup packets sure are missing out big time." She giggled, licking her hands clean of the red sauce and went onto pulling out a napkin to wipe my own hands clean too. I couldn't help but let out a chuckle at the girl's antics
She then turned her attention fulling onto me. "Greetings th-" She paused suddenly, her rosy pink cheeks turning slightly brighter. "Oh, Hello, Pretty Mirror!" She let out a satisfied whistle, inspecting me. "Now, how'd you fall down here without a scratch on you?" She leaned in closer towards me, causing me to blush bright red. I couldn't help but be entranced in those brilliant crimson eyes of hers. "Good thing too, it'd be a shame to see such a pretty face like yours get hurt." The girl in the green sweater gave me a wink, causing me to turn even brighter red.
Wait..did she just...f-flirt with me?!
Well...she is kinda cute...
"I think she likes you, Frisk." Mettaton let out a teasing snicker at the situation before me. "Wait, isn't she a-?"
"My name's Chara." She grinned at me. "Yeah, I'm a human too." She chuckled, pulling away to give me some breathing room.
Wait, she's another human! I'm not alone!
"Yeah, let that soak in for a moment. Shocking, right?" Chara chuckled at my dumbstruck expression. "There's more than one hole in this mountain, ya know." I opened my mouth to say something, but couldn't think of anything to say. This girl has literally left me speechless.
Smirking at my expression a second time, Chara continued. "Listen, I've been waging war with my brother Asriel. Y'know, the war between Monsters and Humans could be tipped in my favor with a Partner." She flashed me another wide playful grin.
Wait...what? War?
I glanced at Mettaton to see if he knew what she was going on about, but he shook his head at this.
"C'mon, you'll be great at it." Chara continued and before I could get a single word in, she grabbed me by the hand and pulled me along with her right through the gated bridge.
xxx
"Quick! Behind that tacky lamp! I have to set of the scene of your entrance for him." Finding no room for protest, Mettaton and I rushed over to hide behind the lamp that Chara pointed to.
Not too long after, a small white furred goat monster child wearing a blue coat and a rainbow colored scarf walked over to Chara.
"There you are, human!" The goat child boomed and gestured dramatically at Chara.
The girl in the green jacket clicked her tongue in false frustration and crossed her arms at the monster. "Tch, you've cornered me once again." Chara sighed, shaking her head at him. "You grow clever everyday, Rei." She said in mock defeat.
"Rei's" ego seemed to swell up at her praise. "Why yes, of cours-" He paused and glared at Chara in annoyance. "Chaaarraaaa! I told you not to call me that!" He whined at her.
"It seems like they've done this song and dance several times before." Mettaton said, a faint hint of nostalgia in his voice.
"Oops." Chara shrugged. "Slipped my mind." She said dismissively.
Rei's brow narrowed at the human. "That's a lie and you know it!"
"Guilty" She smirked at him and sighed. "Once again, the God of Hyperdeath outwits me..." She shook her head, getting their little scene back on track.
"Yes, exactly!" Asriel bolstered. "I am the absolute deity after all, Defender of all Monsters!" He shouted in triumph. "...in Snowdin.." His tone lowered, sounding a bit defeated. "But that's only for now!" He said, regaining his spirits. "Anyways, you're hopeless to defeat me alone!" He grinned at Chara victoriously.
Chara only chuckled at this, shaking her head.
"Uh...you ARE alone out here, right?" Asriel tilted his head at her.
Chara turned to the lamp that Mettaton and I hid behind and flashed a wide grin. "Hey Mirror, let's show Asriel how wrong he is!" She declared.
"Guess that's your cue, Frisk. Knock 'em dead, darling" Mettaton encouraged, giving me an excited grin. Seems like Chara and Asriel's energy got him going.
Giving Mettaton a grin, I stepped out from the lamp and went to Chara's side.
Asriel's eyes widened in shock and surprise, causing him to take a step backwards. "W-what?! How'd you-?!"
Chara's grin widened and she threw an arm around my neck. "Alone no longer!"
Asriel suddenly grinned and ran to his sister, pulling Chara to him. "This is great! We HAVE to tell the Captain about him!" He whispered to her, but since I was already in close proximity, I heard anyways.
The...Captain?
Chara sighed and puffed her cheek up, crossing her arms. "You don't have to call her the Captain." She shot back at her brother.
"I do if I want to be in the Royal Guard." He retorted with a huff. Asriel then got back into place and faced the two of us, pointing to us with a grin. "Very well, let's see the power of two humans, against the might of Asriel Dreemurr! Urahahaha!" He let out a booming laugh before running off ahead.
xxx
Chara chuckled and let her arm down, releasing me from her embrace. "Wow, you took that pretty well. You even got the cue right." She chuckled, flashing me another one of her wide slitted grins. "Guess it takes a lot more than this to catch you off guard." She giggled and I motioned to continue on ahead.
"Hey, wait. Mind if I trouble you a bit longer?" She suddenly called out, causing me to halt and turn to the girl. "My brother and I keep watch over the entire area of Snowdin Forest, right up to Snowdin Town. It gets a bit boring after awhile, so we'll be popping up and roleplaying every now and then like we did just now. If you could join in and play along, I'm sure we'd have a lot more fun with you around."
I flashed Chara a wide grin and nodded. "You can count on me, Partner. I'd be glad to play with you two." I finally say, finding my voice after so long.
Chara's grin grew even wider at this. "Thanks a bunch, Mirror. I'll see you up ahead." She waved and walked in the opposite direction with a brisk and very pleased walk.
"Cute, ain't she, darling?" Mettaton said as we watched Chara vanish into the shadows.
"Yeah, she kinda is..." I caught myself a bit too late, causing Mettaton to let out a teasing giggle.
"Oh? Does Frisk have a little crush on the human?" Mettaton continued to poke more fun at me with a grin.
"C'mere you!" Flushing dark red, I began to chase Mettaton down the path, the pink ghost laughing the whole way.
A/N: So recently I was introduced to the Storyshift AU and I absolutely love it!
I also wanted to try a hand in writing AUs also.
So depending on everyone's feedback, this will be a one-shot or otherwise.
Now if this ends up being more than a one-shot, then i won't write a novelization of the Storyshift Pacifist run, but a series of one-shots. (with Charisk of course)
Tell me how I did, since I do have something big planned regarding an AU after I finish "My Soul to Take".
I look forward to what everyone thinks about this.
~Kit out