Oh writer's block. Damn you. Thank you all for being patient and sticking with this story despite the lack of updates. But now, April Vacation is here, and updates will be much more frequent than normal this week, and hopefully the weeks to come. I'll try to stock up a good amount of chapters this week and put them out as I write more. This chapter is mostly filler, just like all the chapters that lead up to boss fights. Enjoy!

(PS, this story is now being cross-posted on AO3! For those of you who don't know what that stands for, it is Archive Of Our Own.)

(PPS, Possible Trigger Warning for Blood.)

In the next clearing, you spot Sans waiting for you. He turns to acknowledge you. "heya kid. i got something important to tell ya. my brother has a very special attack-" Flowey cuts him off before he can finish.

"If you're talking about blue attacks, then you're a little too late. We just ran into Doggo." Sans raises an eyebrow, *(It's more like an eye bone.) but says nothing. You stand there in awkward silence until Flowey breaks it. "Which way to Snowdin Town? We need to get there soon." Sans laughs.

"why do you want to go to snowdin? that place is a mess with all of the royal bullies running around! and, my brother lives there. didn't i just tell you to steer clear of him?" Flowey sighs.

"We don't really have any other options if we want to get to Asgore. Aren't you supposed to be guiding us? There's not really anything to worry about. Fighting Papyrus is inevitable."

You nod your head in agreement. As much as you don't want to, you're certain that encountering Papyrus is bound to happen at some point. Sans rolls his eye. "if you don't want my advice, you coulda just left. don't say i didn't warn you." With that, Sans took the opportunity to walk in the wrong direction and disappear to… somewhere. You're not really sure how Sans is able to get ahead of you.

At this point, you're shaking so badly from the cold, that you'll probably drop Flowey again. You opt to place his pot on top of your head. It's a lot easier to carry him this way. Flowey shrieks in surprise. "Hey! Let me down from here!" You shake your head and giggle as Flowey grips the edges of his pot for dear life.

In front of you, there's a patch of ice with a sign in the middle of it. You slide your way to the middle in order to read the sign.

North: Ice

South: Ice

West: Ice

East: Snowdin Town… and Ice

That's... a lot of ice. You're really not looking forward to it. You head north and encounter a snowman in a clearing. The snowman is frowning at you.

"Let me guess, you've come to mock me because you're able to travel and I'm stuck here! Well guess what? I don't care anymore!" You feel pretty bad for the immobile snowman. You suddenly get a great idea.

You ask the snowman if he would like for you to bring a piece of him and bring it along on your journey. The snowman looks thoughtful. "How do I know that you won't just take more pieces of me and eat them?" You promise the snowman that you will do no such thing. The snowman gives in. "Alright, fine. Here you go."

You get the Snowman Piece. You bid farewell to the snowman. Out of the the corner of your eye, you see that the Snowman's permanent frown is now a small smile.

The second that you leave the clearing, you encounter another monster.

Icecap blocks the way!

The teenager in front of you has a very imposing hat on its head. Normally, you would feel threatened, but with Flowey on top of your head, you feel that you are equally matched. Speaking of Flowey, the flower groans in frustration. "Why are the teenagers in this place so annoying?!" You roll your eyes and begin the battle.

FRISK: LV 1-HP 19/19

*Icecap

[FIGHT] [*ACT] [ITEM] [MERCY]

[ACT]: *Check Compliment Ignore Steal

9 ATK, 4 DEF. This miserable teen's arms are too short to remove its atrociously tacky hat.

"I hate this stupid thing!"

You find yourself being forced to dodge giant spiky hats that are aimed at your soul. These battles are getting more ridiculous by the minute. At least, Flowey seems to think so, with all of the ranting he's doing. Eventually, he gives you some advice.

"Frisk, just ignore them! They don't like their hat right? So don't point it out." It sounds like solid advice, so you try to listen to your friend for once.

FRISK: LV 1-HP 19/19

*Icecap

[FIGHT] [*ACT] [ITEM] [MERCY]

[ACT]: Check Compliment *Ignore Steal

You ignore Icecap's hat. Icecap seems downtrodden.

"Even you're ignoring me! All because of my stupid hat!"

Well, at least Flowey tried to be helpful. Unfortunately, his advice doesn't work for Icecaps. This time, you have to navigate through a maze of icicles. They are so unexpected, that you take a hit for the first time since entering Snowdin. Flowey screams in terror and you notice for the first time that your health bar was a light blue color. Not like the blue of Doggo's knife, but the same shade of blue as the ice that you had slid across earlier. Even more worrisome was the fact that you only had a maximum of 19 HP. You don't know why this is, but it just means you'll have to be extra careful when fighting monsters.

FRISK: LV 1-HP 16/19

*Icecap

[FIGHT] [*ACT] [ITEM] [MERCY]

[ACT]: Check *Compliment Ignore Steal

You compliment Icecap's hat. It looks at you, confused.

"You like it?"

Before you can nod your head for confirmation, Icecap is attacking you with hats again. They are much easier to dodge than the maze of icicles. You think that you know how to convince Icecap to stop fighting you.

FRISK: LV 1-HP 16/19

*Icecap

[FIGHT] [*ACT] [ITEM] [MERCY]

[ACT]: Check *Compliment Ignore Steal

You inform Icecap that its hat looks awesome. Icecap takes your compliment in stride.

"Thanks!"

Icecap looks much happier. They attack you again, excited. You don't want to dampen their mood so as you dodge you keep complimenting them. Flowey is perched atop your head, and mumbles about you being a suck up. You tug one of Flowey's leaves in retaliation. You can practically feel his pouting. Icecap eagerly awaits your next move, so you turn your attention to the monster in front of you.

FRISK: LV 1-HP 16/19

*Icecap

[FIGHT] [ACT] [ITEM] [*MERCY]

[MERCY]: *Spare Flee

You WON! You earned 0 XP and 57 gold.

An uncomfortable silence settles upon you and Flowey as you exit the battle. Until Flowey breaks it with an unholy screech. "WHAT! YOU ONLY HAVE 19 HP!" You hear Flowey starting to hyperventilate and mutter to himself. You can't make out what he's saying, but you catch something about you dying. You try to soothe him with calming murmurs. You sigh and choose to continue.

As you move to the next space, dread replaces whatever was left of your determination. In front of you are Sans and Papyrus, a wicked smile upon the latter's skeletal face. They had been waiting for you to show up. Sans turns away from you, and you can't see his face. You imagine that his expression is apologetic. Papyrus begins to shout at you.

"NYEH HEH HEH! WELCOME HUMAN AND FLOWER TO YOUR FIRST TEST! IN ORDER TO STOP YOU, MY… BROTHER AND I HAVE CREATED SOME TRAPS! FIRST UP, THE INVISIBLE… ELECTRICITY MAZE!" Says the tall skeleton as he gestures to the space that separates you from the skeleton brothers. You gaze fearfully at the empty space. Flowey has gone silent, clearly in deep thought. Papyrus chuckles softly. "AFRAID HUMAN? YOU SHOULD BE! NYEH HEH HEH!" The skeletal monster pulls an object from his pocket.

"WHEN YOU COLLIDE WITH THE WALLS OF THE MAZE, THIS ORB WILL ADMINISTER A HEARTY ZAP!" He rolls the blue orb towards you. "I, THE GREAT PAPYRUS, AM 100% CERTAIN THAT YOU CANNOT PASS THIS TEST! HUMANS SIMPLY AREN'T COMPETENT ENOUGH TO UNDERSTAND THE LOGISTICS OF MY CLEVERLY COOKED TRAPS!" You're insulted. You choose not to respond. Instead, you tug one of Flowey's leaves and ask if he has a plan. Flowey hums in thought for a minute.

"We need to be careful about this, you only have a max HP of 19… wait a minute! The taller one said that the orb zaps you?" You nod in confirmation. Flowey's whole face lights up with mischief. "Well, I have the perfect plan!" He proceeds to whisper into your ear and you slowly nod. If Papyrus wasn't going to play fair, then neither would you!

You call out to Papyrus. He glares at you. "WHY HAVEN'T YOU STEPPED INTO THE TRAP YET?" You throw the orb at him as hard as you can. He catches it, confused. Sans looks up for the first time since you stepped in. With Papyrus distracted, you run into the invisible maze, making sure to hit at least a couple walls. The orb shocks Papyrus so badly that he's preoccupied enough for you to hastily back out of the maze and go around it. You speedily run past the two brothers and into the next room.

Behind you, you can hear Papyrus screeching and cursing and shouting at his brother to follow you as he regains his bearings. You hear Sans laughing hysterically at the escape you just pulled, and then the sharp 'smack' of bone hitting bone. Sans' laughter stops abruptly. You tune out the rest, afraid of what you might hear. "Poor Sans." you think to yourself. You really want to help Sans in his situation, but you aren't sure how.

You shake away your thoughts about the shorter skeleton, and take some time to examine your new location. The first thing you notice is a bright blue bunny monster at an ice cream stand. The poor guy looks depressed and mad. "Why the hell aren't there any customers! It's the perfect weather for something cold!" He laughs a little to himself, then shakes his head in despair. You walk up to the blue bunny man and he looks up to glare at you.

He's wearing a pinstriped red shirt, with yellow stripes. His fur is messy and matted and dirty. You fish out some gold coins from your pockets, then point to the ice cream stand. His expression shifts from anger to curiosity. "You… you want to buy my Nice Cream?" he looks dubious. You nod and hold the gold out to him. He shakes off his surprise and smirks at you. "Hahaha! Well kid, you're the first to ever want to buy the most delicious frozen treat this side of the Underground! You deserve a discount. One Nice Cream, for 1,000 gold!" Your face falls and your eyes sting. You don't have enough money…

The Nice Cream man continues to laugh, but Flowey interrupts him. "Excuse me! That's a discount?! Only Temmies have that kind of cash!" Flowey gestures to you as you sniffle and conjure up the most adorable puppy dog face you can muster, catching on to Flowey's bargaining idea. Satisfied with your cuteness, Flowey looks back up at the Nice Cream guy. "How could you do that to a child who only wants to help you out?"

The Nice Cream Vendor tries to avoid your gaze, but to no avail. Nobody can resist that face. He sighs, his head sinking and he shuffles his feet. "Sorry kid, it's just that no one wants to buy my Nice Cream, ever! Hell, I've gotten death threats for trying to spread a little positivity in this dark, miserable hole," You feel for the poor guy. You wonder how long he's had to put up with the monsters that live here. He continues. "I just, kinda need the money, or else I'm gonna lose my house..." The Nice Cream guy trails off. You reach up and pat his shoulder sympathetically. You register that you don't feel cold anymore, but you're too tired to really care. You're too occupied with the Nice Cream man to give your worsening health any attention.

"Wait a minute, attention!" What this guy really needs is some publicity. Maybe, during monster encounters you can advertise Nice Cream, and see if that works. You tell Flowey to tell your business plan to the Nice Cream guy, and the blue bunny rabbit in question seems excited. He smiles at you truly, for the first time. "That's a great idea kid! If you can get that to work, I can promise you free Nice Cream for life!" He stops awkwardly, and then scratches the back of his neck nervously. "But for now, Nice Cream is 15 gold apiece. Pay up." You smile and fork over the required gold for your treat.

The fuzzy monster hands you an ice cream cup. You take one small lick, and instantly fall in love with it. You store the rest away in your inventory for later. You shakily thank the Nice Cream man and wave goodbye as you continue your trek through the brutal cold of Snowdin Forest.

You cross a short, wooden bridge. You're increasingly fuzzy vision is clear enough for you to notice a very large snowball on the ground. You walk towards the menacing ball of snow and push it with all your might, trying to muster enough determination to move it. You can feel Flowey's eyes gazing at you as you weakly attempt to push the ball through the snowy area. As you push, you hear a dark chuckle not too far from you. Your head snaps up and you see Sans the skeleton standing at the edge of the clearing, chuckling at your failure. You duly note the darkened section of bone where his cheek would be.

You try to glare at him, and for some reason, your weak stare makes him shut up and look away. Unbeknownst to you, Flowey had flashed one of his signature creepy faces at the short skeleton while you had glared at him. That alone was enough to get Sans to quiet down.

You continue to push the snowball, never letting it go. Even with your crumbling DETERMINATION, you manage to somehow get it all the way to the end of the course and push it into the hole. A shimmering red flag pops out of the hole. A voice in your head begins to speak.

*(Bravery. Justice. Integrity. Kindness. Perseverance. Patience. Using these, you were able to win at "Ball Game". You are awarded 50G!)

You feel victorious. Flowey is clapping his leaves as loud as he can. Sans is completely and utterly stunned. You go up to him and show off your prize. He chooses to ignore your outstanding triumph, and nods his head towards the Nice Cream Guy. "i've been thinking about selling treats too." The skeleton grins maliciously. You are filled with dread. "want some fried snow? it's only 50 g?" He winks and you hear Flowey mutter to you, "Don't even think about it Frisk!"

You're thinking about it.

It's fried snow, which means it'll be warm.

You fork over your winnings from the ball game and demand fried snow. You can hear Flowey slapping a leaf to his face and groaning in disappointment. "I thought I taught you better than this!" Flowey moans. Nevertheless, Sans stares at your money, surprised. "seriously kid?" You nod and make some grabby motions with your hands. Sans shrugs, and gives you a mug of some steaming drink and takes your money. You almost start crying with relief. You profusely thank Sans, who looks confused as hell, and walk away as you examine your drink.

You peer into the mug as you enter the room next to Sans.

*(It's literally boiled water!) Snaps the voice. You honestly couldn't care less. It was a warm drink, so it would have to do. You take a sip, and sigh as some feeling returns back to your face. Before you know it, the glorious water is gone, leaving only lingering steam in its wake. Oh well. Maybe you could get some more. You discard the plastic mug and look up to observe your surroundings. You spot two nearly identical sentry stations. The only difference between the two is the sign on it. The first one says, *(His.)" The second one states, *(Hers.) Both stations appear to have scratches and bite marks all over them. You wonder what that's all about. Flowey seems to recognize the two stations.

"Aw man! I forgot all about the Dogi!" Flowey rubs the spots where his temples would be if he had them. "Those two have the most dysfunctional marriage in the entire Underground. We're probably going to run into them later, so be prepared for lots or arguing and axes." You file away that information for later. The cold's starting to get to you again, so you leave the area and ask Sans if he has anymore "fried snow". He blinks at you a couple times.

"kid, you sure you ain't joking with me? 'cuz if this is a joke, i'm gettin' real tired of it." You shake your head and hold up another 50 gold. Sans looks almost sorry, but it's hard to tell. "well sorry kid, but i don't have any more." If not for the fact that it was so cold your tear ducts were frozen, you would be crying. As it is, all you can do is sniffle and feel disappointed. You glumly walk away, and Flowey shoots the skeleton a glare behind your back.

Flowey tries to comfort you. "Hey Frisk, it'll be alright! Soon we'll be in Snowdin, and we can get you someplace warm! So, don't be sad okay?" You don't respond. You move past the ball game that you won and see a little ball of snow up ahead.

*(It looks like a snowball…

Actually, it's snowdecahedron.)

In the next room, Papyrus and Sans are waiting for you again. Papyrus turns you, angrier than he was last time.

"AH! SO THE DEVIOUS HUMAN AND YOUR FLOWER FRIEND ARRIVE AGAIN, AFTER TRICKING ME SO UNFAIRLY AT THE LAST TEST! BECAUSE YOU CHEATED, IF YOU ATTEMPT TO CHEAT YOUR WAY OUT OF THIS CHALLENGE," The tall skeleton pauses for dramatic effect. Sans looks away from you again.

"YOU WILL BE IMMEDIATELY DISQUALIFIED, AND SENTENCED TO AN INSTANTANEOUS DEMISE!" *(Well doesn't that sound fun?) The voice, that you're probably hallucinating from the cold, says sarcastically. You look at Papyrus and gesture for him to continue. He forges ahead with his monologue, even more mad. "MY BROTHER SANS CREATED THIS NEXT CHALLENGE FOR YOU AND YOUR YELLOW COMPANION TO SOLVE. HOPEFULLY," he says, looking pointedly at his brother with a glare, "IT WILL CONFOUND YOU!"

You walk forward and notice a word search on the ground. You glance at it, and realize you don't have anything to solve the puzzle with. You look up, and quietly ask Papyrus if he has a pen. He smiles cruelly. "NYEH HEH HEH! AND NOW YOU HAVE COME TO THE TRUE CHALLENGE OF THIS PUZZLE! YOU WILL NEED TO FIND YOUR OWN WRITING UTENSIL… WITHOUT LEAVING THIS AREA! NYEH HEH HEH!" Papyrus seems very pleased with himself, despite not being the one to even set up the puzzle.

You're not sure what to do. You ask Flowey for ideas. Flowey mulls this over. "I don't know Frisk! I mean, if we used some water, we'd have to do it really precisely, and even then we'd need a sharp object…" You suggest one of Flowey's attacks. He considers this. "That might work… Okay! Let's try that!" Flowey summons a sharp, white pellet. As opposed to the green "Friendliness Pellets" that healed you in the fight with Toriel, this one is like the ones that you dodged in your first encounter with Flowey.

"Now we need water…" says Flowey. You gather up some snow in your numb hands. Flowey looks at it and uses the attack to swirl it around and liquify it. The skeleton brothers watch you closely as Flowey dips one end of the bullet into the wet slush. The pellet then travels to the word search. You bend down and begin to search for words. When you mark down the first one, Papyrus interrupts.

"HUMAN! I'M AFRAID THAT I CANNOT ALLOW YOU TO CONTINUE THIS WAY! IF YOU MARK ALL OF THE WORDS WITH WATER, THEY'LL DRY UP AND THEN I WON'T BE ABLE TO SEE THEM! YOU HAVE TO EITHER FIND ANOTHER SUBSTANCE TO COMPLETE THE PUZZLE WITH, OR FORFEIT YOUR SOUL THIS INSTANT!" You slam your frozen face into your cold hands and let out a small frustrated noise. Flowey groans angrily.

Papyrus laughs again, confident that you'll surrender. And you almost do, but then realize that you're a human. You tug at one of Flowey's petals and whisper the idea to him. He gasps, and immediately shoots it down, but you are persistent and DETERMINED. You don't want to have to give up your SOUL to a creepy skeleton dude because of some seemingly impossible puzzle. After a lot of whispered arguing, Flowey finally relents.

You grab the bullet out of the air. Because your SOUL hasn't been called out, the little white pellet doesn't do any damage to you. You decide to change that. Flowey cringes and you wince as you prick the tip of your pointer finger with the bullet's sharp end. Slowly but surely, blood leaks out of your finger, some dripping onto the snow below. The small drop turns the snow it drips on pink. Your hand trembling, you slowly complete the wordsearch with your blood. It takes you a while, and you have to keep slicing your finger to make the blood continue dripping out.

When you finish, you feel disoriented at the sight of your own blood on the paper. Regardless of your dizziness, you show the finished puzzle to Sans and Papyrus. The brothers had been silent as you worked on the puzzle, staring at you in horrified fascination. Papyrus scans the puzzle quickly, working hard to avoid touching the wet blood.

"I… I SUPPOSE THAT THIS IS ACCEPTABLE. I, THE GREAT PAPYRUS, ALLOW YOU ACCESS TO THE NEXT PUZZLE! NYEH! HEH! … HEH?" The creeped out skeleton quickly hurried away. That leaves you and Flowey at the mercy of Sans. The shorter skeleton turns to you and points at your finger.

"i gotta say kiddo, that was a pretty intense way to solve a little ol' wordsearch. are you… you alright?" You nod your head. You're fairly sure that you didn't suffer any loss of HP, because your SOUL isn't damaged, and neither were any of your vitals. Sans accepts your answer skeptically. "alright kid, stay safe out there 'kay? as much as i hate to admit it, i did promise to keep you safe out here. i'd hate to break a promise now." You hold back from rolling your eyes. Sans really does care about you, somewhere, in the deepest parts of his SOUL.

You nod again and move past him to the next room. You spot a plate of spaghetti with an assisting fork on a very out of place table. You move forward to take a closer look. Upon closer inspection, the voice describes the spaghetti.

*(It's a plate of frozen spaghetti. It's so cold, it's stuck to the table.)

Well that's slightly disappointing. You're feeling kind of peckish right now. You then examine the microwave to see if you can heat it up somehow.

*(It's an unplugged microwave.) Oh well. You wonder who put the food out here in the first place. You then realize that you skipped over a small piece of parchment that was on the ground. You pick it up and do a quick once over of the very… demanding, font. Flowey reads it aloud in his best impression of the note's writer. He clears his throat. *(Can flowers have throats?) He begins to read,

HUMAN! THIS IS A PLATE OF AN EXQUISITE DISH KNOWN AS, SPAGHETTI. I DEMAND THAT YOU TRY SOME.

At the bottom, written in the same font but not as bolded, reads, (LITTLE DO YOU KNOW, THIS SPAGHETTI IS A TRAP! DESIGNED TO ENTICE YOU! YOU'LL BE SO BUSY EATING IT, THAT YOU WON'T NOTICE THE POISON SETTING IN! THEN YOU'LL FINALLY BE THWARTED BY THE GREAT PAPYRUS!)

*(How fucking stupid is this guy?)

You almost chide the voice, but you aren't quite ready to fully accept your madness just yet. You look behind the tables and see a cute little mouse hole. You hear a faint squeaking noise and smile a bit.

*(Knowing that the mouse is intelligent enough to avoid such an obvious trap… should fill you with DETERMINATION…)

But for some reason, it doesn't. You cannot find it within yourself to SAVE. Flowey seems to notice from atop your head. "Hey Frisk… you'll be ok! The sooner we get out of Snowdin, the sooner you get your DETERMINATION back! You just have to use what you have and keep moving, got it?"

You nod, and forge ahead, with a yellow flower on your head, and a sarcastic voice in your ears.

You're never going to make it out of here, are you?

¯\_(ツ)_/¯ Who knows! Oh wait… I do!

Also, is anyone interested in beta reading this story? If you are, contact me through PM or my Tumblr, lea - valdez . tumblr .com !