10Chapter 7
Escape
"Uh, guys? There's a blob in the room."
Miki had spoken, drawing the other Arrivals' attention to her. Sitting in the corner, she pointed a finger. Four pairs of eyes followed her gaze to the center of the VOID. Lingering over the floor, a black shape the size of a small puddle rested. A foreign mystery. It hovered a few feet off the floor, slowly churning. No one said anything. There had never been another object in the VOID besides the Arrivals. They looked at each other, uncertain.
"Do we touch it?" Miki asked, drawing a hand forward. Hastily, Demina jumped forward to slap her hand away.
"Bad idea! Without any idea of what is it or where it came from? Have you lost your mind?!"
Demina's shouts aroused the blob into motion. The substance morphed and distorted itself, warping in and out. It seemed agitated with the noise. No one made another sound. Even the VOID held its breath, nervous to disturb the black substance. It swelled upwards, expanding as it churned faster. The Arrivals drew back as a creature formed in front of them. Its face somewhat resembled a skeleton, but the skull had fractured in so many places that the appearance gave a frightening effect. More horrifying than any regular skeleton. Bit by bit the blackness settled, creating the creature's body. It still bubbled and twisted here and there, like the black goo had a mind of its own and was restless. The skeleton's gaze swept over the room, landing on each Arrival.
"Greetings." It addressed them, signing with a holed hand. Their mouth never moved, but the voice was loud and clear inside each Arrivals' head. "My name is Gaster."
No one greeted him back. The hand lowered. "I can see you're all speechless." The hands continued to sign, "Allow me to shed a little light on the situation. You five are trapped here in the fabric of time and space or the "VOID" as you humans call it. Don't let its small size deceive you. This room is only in part a portion of the hundreds of alternate universes stretched throughout. These areas are collectively connected by what one might call shortcuts. Used in the proper manner, shortcuts can take you to any destination that parallels directly with the VOID. Before anyone interrupts," At this point in his speech Gaster raised a hand to silence Hero, who was on the verge of speaking, "There are no shortcuts connected to this room, at least since you've all Arrived. They've been cut off. By me."
With this, none of the humans could hold back their restrained silence. Questions and screams of outrage bombarded Gaster while he stood calmly, lacing his skeletal fingers. The ends of his jacket bubbled slightly. "Please everyone, calm yourselves." He soothed, raising both hands.
"Oh yeah?!" Demina growled, marching forward. Her eyes screamed with a burning desire for murder. "Calm ourselves? For what? We've sat in this stupid room for almost an eternity thanks to you, and only NOW you show yourself?! How long exactly have you been here watching us?"
"Longer then you'd like to know."
She met Gaster in the center of the room. He was taller by two heads but Demina glared upwards with twice the ferocity. "Shortcut us the hell out of here or I personally promise you'll regret it."
Gaster copied her gaze with an equally intense look. And suddenly in the moment, Demina felt that the center of this skeleton's attention was a very bad place to be.
"No." he replied shortly, "Not yet. Allow me to explain myself first." The answer hardly satisfied Demina, but she sniffed and didn't say another word. "You five have found yourself here in the VOID. But for what purpose? It's one of the many questions you've tried, and failed, to explore. Indeed, I have not revealed myself to answer this. Instead, I'm here to explain why I've kept you in the VOID for so long rather than letting you continue on the journey laid out ahead. These bonds you've made, the suffering you've shared locked away here, everything will prove important in the upcoming itinerary. Your limits will be tested, and may fail. Teamwork and unity will be a vital key in your survival. If you survive. Remember that." Gaster's hands paused mid-sign, "I wonder… what sort of outcome will result from your "time" here?"
With those words, his body melted into the floor and vanished. At the same moment, a door shaped rectangle of the VOID swung open, bringing the fresh smell of freedom. The Arrivals looked at one another, part disbelief, part confusion. Gaster's words were still sinking in.
Hero looked to the door. Whatever that creature, Gaster, was trying to hint at, he didn't really understand. Even so, the deformed skeleton was the last thing on his mind when escape was a few mere feet away. He could see the other Arrivals eyes on him, watching, waiting for him to make the first move. Waiting for him to take the lead.
He took a deep breath. "I don't know what's outside that door or what might happen to us if we step outside this room. Honestly, I'm not sure I want to know. But when an opportunity presents itself like this, I think the chance is worth the risk to move forward, no matter where it might lead."
He strode over to the open door and looked back at the Arrivals gathered behind him. One by one, they too walked across the VOID to the exit. He took a small, tentative step into the cavern beyond, alit with a blueish glow.
"Shall we?"
Sitting on the living room floor, you stuffed the salvaged socks into your boots. If exploring outside was going to be an option, you'd need some extra layers. After eating the only food available, the time had come to scavenge around Snowdin. Not for pure pleasure but for survival. Pulling socks over your hands felt ridiculous, but they would help hold heat in. Opening the door proved to be a little difficult with them on, but outside the air didn't seem as bitter as before. Wrapping arms tight around yourself, you ran through the snow to Grillby's.
The blizzard from earlier had vanished. Snow had begun to fall less fiercely, and it dusted your face as you sprinted to the tavern. A small "closed" sign was half buried under snow. Throwing open the bar's door, inside looked less than welcoming. No warm glow greeted you. Instead, silent darkness sat waiting, past the light of the open door. You cursed Grillby for never putting windows in. He probably didn't have need them since he lit the whole room himself. But Grillby was gone now, and you were stuck stumbling through blackness. Tripping over five chairs and stubbing a toe, you managed to find the back kitchen door.
Inside the kitchen, you investigated with more caution, nervously praying that Grillby hadn't left any knives lying around. Still, finding one would be nice to cut through some of the vines obstructing other buildings. So long as it didn't cut through your hand first.
After searching through darkness for a while, you discovered a door handle belonging to the backdoor. This would have been nice to know about before. You grumbled to yourself. Throwing it open the room brightened, giving color and shape to your surroundings. You could finally move around comfortably, without running into unseen objects. Throwing cupboards open, you were pleased to find they did not disappoint. Aside from the bottles of condiments, there were bags upon bags of potatoes. Apparently Grillby owned so many potatoes he had to leave some behind. There looked like enough potatoes to feed a small army. Grinning with delight, you hefted three into your arms. They groaned in protest under the weight.
Something glinted on the counter, catching your eye. Craning your neck around the potatoes to inspect further, you noticed a knife half-hidden behind piles of napkins. Without a second thought, you snatched it. After all, it would be useful.
Arms filled, you walked out the back door, returning to the house to drop off your provisions. Leaving the bags in the living room, you fingered the knife in your hands. Chopping through the vines would be hard with such a small blade but handy for self-defense. You frowned. Except, why would you need a weapon when the Underground was empty? There was no need for defense. Still… you weren't positive there wasn't anyone left down here with you. You were torn. For the time being, you decided to leave the weapon in the skelebro's house, tucked away beneath a couch cushion in case something else came searching.
With your curiosity still itching to do some exploring, you braved the cold, heading towards Grillbyz again. Passing the bar, you continued walking. There was the hotel, dark and vine infested. Further on you found the Snowdin sign, barely visible through green foliage. A smaller sign had been shoddily attached to the bottom. You pushed aside a couple of smaller vines to read: Come visit New Snowdin in the Upper World! Clearly, King Asgore was still lacking in originality.
Past the sign was a jumble of viney mazes, looking near impossible to pass through. You considered turning back, if not only because it was becoming chilly again. However, you stepped over the first vine. Cold or no cold, you wanted to explore as much of this new world as you could.
You hopped back and forth across the tangle of lethal green. In one instance, you misjudged a particular distance and ended up slicing your leg on a large thorn. Thankfully, it wasn't big or too deep but still twinged every time your foot landed on the ground. The warm blood crept steadily down your leg while you progressed.
The further you made your way away from Snowdin, the wilder the vegetation seemed to become. You glanced over at the cliff where a snowman used to sit. Now there was nothing more than a vine, squeezed around an indistinguishable lump of snow. You could see what remained of it, a small carrot peeking out from in-between. Carefully, you made your way to the cliff. While the snowman seemed unresponsive, you took a bit of snow from amid the thorny cage. You pocketed it. A muffled sigh seemed to echo from inside the plant. "Thank you…" Whatever was left of the snowman melted, and slipped from the vine to the ground below. Without a second glance, you left the cliff and the freed snowman behind.
Continuing on your journey, you passed by many familiar structures. Dogamy and Dogaressa's twin shelters. Lesser Dog's smashed snow sculptures. Sans' sentry post. Most were barely recognizable, falling into ruin from the infesting vegetation. Except San's post. It seemed the vines had something against the comedic skeleton interestingly enough as they had left his sentry station well alone. The reason why, you weren't exactly sure. Maybe it had something to do with the fact that he was the most powerful boss monster out there. Maybe the vines were allergic to corny puns that may have tainted his old hangouts. Your guess was as good as any.
The buildings disappeared behind you as you made your way further into the forest. White clouds formed from your breath, lingering in the frozen air. Tall and ominous pines stretched high into the darkness above. Frozen snow crunched beneath your boots, and it suddenly occurred to you how much the silence seemed to press in on you. The woods itself seemed to hold its breath. Like it was waiting. Or maybe watching.
That's when you heard a snap. The sound cracked through the darkness as you whipped your head around. A stick lay on the ground behind you, neatly snapped in two. Had it been there before? You weren't entirely sure. Icy chills raced down your spine. You needed to get out of these woods. You took a step back the way you came when a voice rumbled, "going somewhere?"
You halted. The voice had come from behind you, maybe only a couple of feet away. Snow crunched as the figure stepped closer….closer. Until you could swear they were right behind you. Even then, you didn't dare to look. A dark feeling crawled up your back.
"turn around," The voice growled, "an d."
