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Chapter Text

     Dark, Darker, Yet Darker

      The Darkness Keeps Growing

     The Shadows Cutting Deeper

     Each World A Reflection Of One's Actions

     Yet These Actions...

     These Changes, Something I've Never Seen Before

     Each Chance I Get To See This New Output

     It Seems To Clear The Darkness

     Shedding Light To Newer Worlds.....

     I Want To Know More.....

     This May Be A Very Interesting Expirement.....

     What Do You Think.....Stranger?

     "This just in! Monsters have begun to integrate themselves into human society, they've already began making peace, and sending representatives for monster kind, hoping to negotiate with politicians in America. Experts say this will be a difficult change, and may have either a greatly positive or greatly negative effect on today's economy. We have"- The news went on and on, with Anthony tuning in and out of what they said. So, it's true? Monsterkind and humankind in one? I mean, I know it's been like a month since their barrier has been broken...but it's all so sudden....AND ALL SO PERFECT! Anthony's thoughts ran wild. Ever since he was little, he's always dreamed of seeing the underground, of exploring, of adventuring, his CURIOSITY grew stronger and stronger each day he was away from that mountain. After all these years, with the barrier gone, he would finally be able to see it all. He had heard many rumors over the years of what the underground was like, either getting really cool and magical rumors, from gorey and scary rumors, either way, he was curious, and besides, all of the rumors came from humans who'd never been down there. Anthony stood from his couch, shutting his TV off, and getting ready.

     It was early in the Sunday morning, with the birds still singing their sweet melodies beyond his window. His mind was filled with images and possibilities of what he could find as he got ready. He slung on his clothes in a flash, grabbing his old adventuring backpack from his closet. Anthony enjoyed the outdoors, especially since he didn't need to talk to many people to do so, just him and the sweet smell of the air beyond the city was all he desired and needed to be happy. Sure, his job was ok, running a quaint little bakery for cakes and desserts wasn't the best job, but it was normally quite enjoyable, and hey, it paid the bills (especially around birthday's). He threw his equipment in a bag, flashlights, snacks, drinks, tactical knife, matches, taser (just in case), among other things. He stepped in the bathroom, looking over to see if there was anything he needed, before he caught himself in the mirror. 

     His olive skin stood out against his black t-shirt and grey sweats that complimented his figure. He looked pretty ok, sure, he had some undereye bags, unkept wavy hair that he pushed back, and a slight beard from not shaving, but he was pretty happy with himself. After all, despite everything, it is still him. Was he the happiest with himself? No, not really, but did he at least understand that nobody was perfect? Abso-freaking-lutley. He pushed his glasses back up on his face, before heading back to his room to go over all of the things he had in his backpack, making sure he wasn't forgetting anything. After triple checking all of his supplies, he decided to head out, making sure his gray parrot was fed and out of his cage. He trusted monochromatic bird not to make much of a mess around the house. Scratching his chin and getting a couple of clicks of appreciation, he finally left his house. It wasn't the biggest, nor the smallest, but he called it home. At least the neighborhood was pretty ok, with a couple monster actually just moving in recently. He slung his backpack and made his way into town. 

     The town was average, it was to small to be considered a city, but to big to be considered a village, so it was just a quaint little town that was the closest place to Mount. Ebott. Normally he wouldn't go into town, but town was the only way he would be able to get to the main path of the mountain. Anthony said hi to a couple of the people as he walked down the sidewalk, anybody who ever had a birthday or wedding knew him since he and his staff made all the cakes and pies and anything that they needed for any event. Many acquaintances asked where he was headed, but he just replied with 'just adventuring out, nothing to big' which was kind of a lie. Many people, even with the monsters out of the mountain, didn't dare go there, many saying stories of dead people and misfortune, but that only enticed Anthony more...Which was probably why his sister always made clear of the fact that 'if you were ever in a horror movie, you'd probably die first.' Honestly, she wasn't wrong, but it was still funny to him. Eventually he made it to the stop of the town, seeing a dirt path at the edge of the mountain. He took a deep breath and carried on, ignoring the strange looks he got from people behind his back. As he made his way up and up the mountain, he had seen some monsters had made campsites up here, with many even making small living arrangements. Many monsters waved as he trekked up, waving back and continuing on his way. Many of these monsters were really nice, with big smiles on their faces. There was an entire variety of monsters, rabbit looking monsters, ones that looked like they were on fire or were fire, some that looked fish like, and many others he would have never guessed in a million years. It was almost exciting seeing a variety of monsters. And even more exciting now remembering that these monsters had magic of some kind. It had been discussed on the news a bit in the past, even before they had been released from the mountain. Everything was so new, so exciting to Anthony. His life was often filled with repeats of the same day, with little variety and excitement, but this whole ordeal of monsters integrating into human society, made things alot more interesting. Eventually, he could see the top of the mountain, with a small looking cave nestled at the top. 

     He entered the cave, it was dry and rocky, with stalagmites and other rock formations on the celling, and in the middle of it all, a deep, large hole. 

     "it'll be five g ta look at the pit" A voice startled Anthony. He spun around to see where the voice came from, seeing a short yet large skeleton with a blue jacket peer at him as he leaned against the cave wall.

     "Excuse me?" Anthony was a little taken aback by this information. He didn't know this pit was some sort of paid attraction or whatever this skeleton made it out to be. 

     "tell ya what, how's bout i give ya a discount, only ten g" .....That wasn't a discount at all. The skeleton wore a grin on his face, winking at his words. He walked over to Anthony. 

     "I'm sorry, but I don't have any gold nor money on me at the moment, I didn't know I had to pay." 

     "tell ya what, how's bout ya give me ya name, and i'll let ya look at the hole, free of charge." Ok, that sounded like a better deal, the skeleton put his hand out for a handshake. 

     "Arlight, I'm Anthony, Anthony Gwen." Anthony held out his hand and shook the skeleton's gloved hand.....only to realize he squeezed a woopie cushion, letting out a fart noise that echoed the cave walls. Anthony honstly would have busted out laughing if not for the sudden confusion. 

     "heh, ol' woopie cushion in the hand trick, it's always funny. name's sans, sans the skeleton." Sans? Like the funky font on Gogle Docs? Anthony questioned. 

     "Well, it's very nice to meet you." Anthony decided to ignore the strange stunt the skeleton tried to pull and looked back down at the pit. The pit was dark and deep, with barley anything showing, except for what Anthony could see, being a bed of yellow flowers at the bottom. 

     "so, why'd ya wanna come see the pit?" Sans asked, raising an eyebrow bone. How'd he even? How does that work?  

     "Well, I actually want to go down there." Anthony answered, no filter, just straight to the point. Sans seemed to give a small chuckle at this. 

     "heh, i've heard'a humans who'd wanna see the mountain, or atleast the cave, but i ain't ever heard of one who'd wanna actually go into the underground on purpose." Sans remarked, looking down at the bottom of the hole before looking back up at the human. "so, what's got you wantin' ta go down there?" 

     "I've always wondered what it's like down there. So, now that the barriers been broken, why not, you know?" Sans shrugged. 

     "yeah, i guess so, not really my business anyway." He looked back down. "so, what's ya plan?"

     "Hm?" 

     "ya know, pretty sure ya don't wanna drop down into the abyss, so, how do ya plan on getting down there?" 

     .....

     .....

     .....

     Shit.

     Anthony mentally face palmed. God, of course he forgot about this. In his defense, though, this was the first time he's ever been this close to the mountain, he didn't even know there was a cave up at the top. Sans seemed to take notice of this and winked. 

     "hey, don't worry bout it, i got a short cut to get down there." Anthony perked up at this new information. 

     "Wait, really?" 

     "yeah, i'll let ya use it, fer a price." 

     "Oh, I don't have any money, sorry." 

     "nah, i don't want'cha money. just, when ya get down there, can ya say hi to the river person fer me?" 

     "The River Person?" 

     "trust me, you'll know when you see them, now, you want the shortcut?" Anthony shrugged.

     "Yeah, sure." 

     "k, first, ya gotta take my hand." Anthony was skeptical but did so anyways. Sans and Anthony walked away from hole and towards a corner of the cave that was so dark, he couldn't tell if it was a continuation of the cave, or just a really dark corner. Sans kept walking. In a flash, the two were standing on a bed of the flowers, and looking up, Anthony could tell they were down in the underground. Anthony had a dorky grin on his face. 

     "Thank you so much Sans!" 

     "anytime, human. anway, i gotta go on ahead, i gotta get back home before my brotha starts to worry. see ya." Sans took off, going in front of Anthony to leave through the big purple gateway, and disappearing into the darkness. Anthony waved goodbye before taking photos of the Underground world around him. Looking at the big pilers and stalactites that hung from the ceiling. Even the golden flowers impressed him. taking a deep breath in, he immediately felt a sense of adrenaline, the good kind, he was finally in the Underground, his lifelong dream of being down here finally realized, and it was only just beginning. 

     Anthony began to walk around a place he later found out to be the Ruins due to signs. Many of the signs were in some sort of monster language, but a couple of them were in English, translating each sign. He felt calm from the shades of purple around him. He even saw a couple of monsters who had decided to stay in the Underground even after their release. This place really was like home to them. He entered a room with red leaves on the ground, crunching through them made him feel like a young boy again. In the dark corner, he saw something shine. Stepping towards it looked like.....a star? Entranced by its familiar glow, he walked towards it. Upon getting closer, the star began to fade away, going from a bright golden glow, to a darkened ember, then to nothingness. Huh, must be a magic thing, I guess. He shrugged and continued on his way, grabbing some monster candy he found in a nearby bowl. He took a small piece and popped it in his mouth. It was the right amount of sweet, not overly sweet to make him sick, but not to unsweet to make him bored of the treat. Upon chewing the small candy, he felt strange, a good kind of strange. It was like he felt. Healthier? The candy made him feel warm and fuzzy too. He decided to take a couple more pieces, even though the sign said, 'take one'. and stuffed it in his pocket. He continued on, greeting some frog like creatures (He later learned are called Froggits) and eventually found a cozy little house with a dead tree in the front. He knocked on the door, but the door was unlocked and open. 

     "Uh, hello? Anyone home?" He looked in, the house looked deserted, with dust collecting in some spots along the walls, with some electric lights still on. He let himself in, not closing the door behind him. He walked down to the living room. It was baren, no books on a shelf that had seem to previously hold books, no decorations, there wasn't even a dining table. Seems whoever living in the house moved out to the surface. He eventually came back and went to the basement, cause that's obviously what you do when you go into an abandoned house. Anthony noticed the basement was cold, his boots echoing as he took a step. At the end of the long hallway, he was a door, creaked open. Saying goodbye to the worn house, he stepped out, being met with a bright white. 

     He stepped out into the snow, and looked around, if stars could be in his eyes, he'd have a whole galaxy in them. How does an underground world even have weather? He thought as he continued his way down the snowy way. He shoved his hands in his pocket, hoping to protect them from the chilling cold. Damn, should have packed a sweater. He continued on, looking at old puzzles and moving past them. They're complex make up failing due to ice freezing everything in place. After a couple minutes of walking, he found a small little town, with a banner reading "Welcome to Snowdin." 

     He saw the town was slightly abandoned, with only a couple monsters greeting Anthony with a wave and smile as they walked to and fro from their respective places. As he waved to a young bunny girl walking her pet bun-bun, Anthony felt a chill go down his spine, he looked back and forth, front and back, trying to see if there were a particular reason as to why he felt like he was being watched. Eventually, he spotted movement near the icy trees, something white and dark, but within a mere blink, it was gone. Huh, strange, I should probably get going. As much as he wanted to check out this area more, play in the snow, and chat with the townsfolk, he knew that it would be best to continue on. He ran a hand through his light golden-brown hair, pushing back how he likes it, and moved on. Soon, he found a cave like place with water droplets and shiny stones coating the celling's and floors, glistening and twinkling depending how he looked at it. Yep, this is my favorite spot so far. He thought as he splashed in one of the puddles, giggling as he did so. Hell, he didn't care if he was 32, you're never to old to do anything, that's what he always said. The air there was crisp, slightly cold, yet nice. As he continued on, his stomach growled, reminding him of his lack of food. He eventually found an open place, with a nice dry spot to sit. He lugged his bag over his shoulder and set it on the ground. He crouched down to see what all he packed, eventually finding a big bag of jerky, a wrapped premade sandwich, and a bottle of water. Hey, it wasn't a gourmet feast, but it was enough for him. Sitting down, he began to eat his sandwich, taking in the beautiful make-up of the mountain. Were the gems put there before or were they growing here? Did the water come from the dirt of the mountain and soak through the cracks, or was it condensation? All of these thoughts ran through his head as he listened to the soft pitter patter of droplets, dropping from the ceiling, like a soft melody without a conductor. Along with the glitched feedback he heard, that was relaxing too...

.....

.....

.....

...Wait, what?

     Noise feedback? Was there a radio down here? Where's it coming from? His thoughts ran wild as he finished his sandwich, not bothering to open the jerky just yet. He stood up and followed the noise, if it were nearby, he could just leave his stuff there for now. He followed it into a dark hall that he didn't see before when he entered. The hallways seemed long, but at the end of it, he could see a faint glow, like what he saw in the Ruins. He began to make his way towards the light source, ignoring the common sense his brain screamed at him about how this wasn't a good idea at all. When he got closer to the shining star, it faded, like last time, Anthony tried to touch it, feeling a warmth from it before it disappeared. In it's place a lone gray door stay. The door seemed old, worn, like it had been used in the past, but no longer provided a use. It was strange, to say the least, He hadn't seen any houses yet in this new cave area, so...maybe this was a cool way they made their houses in this region? Anthony wasn't sure, but when he got to the door, the feedback seemed to grow, indicating that the radio must be in this house. Anthony brought a hand up, feeling a sense of dread hit his stomach, why was he so nervous? It was just a door, nothing to be worried about. Just a friendly chat with whoever had the radio. He took a deep breath, feeling a sense of CURIOSITY hit his stomach as it let him knock on the door. When he did, the radio sound increased, until it was so bad, to high pitched and fast to handle it.....everything went black.....

     When Anthony awoken, he felt a knot on his head from where his head hit the floor. That's gonna hurt later. He turned his head back up to look up at the.....door? The door was gone, as if it were never there. Just gone, no trace, no nothing. Anthony stood up and touched the wall were the strange door had appeared, but to no avail.....gone. Even the hallway he was in was different, it was much smaller, connecting to a different room he didn't see before. Anthony felt a strange tug at his heart.....

.....

.....

.....

Weird.....

Chapter Text

     Anthony scootched back a bit, his head still slightly swollen from the fall he took. He knew standing up would hurt like hell, so, scooting would have to do. He simply stared at the space in front of him. He knew there was a door there before, he just knew it. He saw it, as white as it could be! Or.....was it gray? His own brain started to play tricks on itself, confusing made up memory with actual memory. Everything made his head spin. He took some deep breaths, bringing a hand to rub the soon to be knot that would probably form by the time he got home. Oh! Right, I should probably get home, it's probably getting late.....Let's just hope the Underground is small and the exit is close. Anthony used the nearby wall for support, bringing his swaying figure to a standing position, with his weight leaning more against the wall.

     That's when he saw it. At first, he though his mind was playing tricks on him once more, but adjusting his glasses, he could see, this was unfortunately reality. On his palm there were magenta cracks. No not like actually cracks, it was like they were painted on, under the skin, like veins almost, except if veins looked like cracks.....and were magenta. The colorful cracks started at his left ring finger and advanced down to the inside of his arm. It traveled further than what he thought, Anthony pulled his shirt sleeve to the side, revealing more cracks that travelled further up his bicep and even further down to his shoulder. Oh......Oh god, what is this???......It's all so.....COOL! Anthony knew deep down inside he should be worried for his physical body, but man, it looked fucking rad. He touched it, the cracks didn't hurt, but they did feel warm, and he felt a tingly feeling when he touched it. So, like any person with common sense, he kept touching, relishing in the fuzzy feeling that travelled to his heart, he knew he's felt this kind of warmth and fuzz before.....but where? He knew he'd have to check out more of the cracks when he got home. Which was now his main goal, getting home. 

     He stood up fully, leaning off the wall, the pain subsided a bit, but his head still needed a Tylenol, or worse, a doctor's visit, but he probably already needed once because of his new rad fucking cracks he got. As he slowly walked out of the mystery hallway, he tried to think on how severe he hit his head. He could still think straight, kind of, which was good. He could still walk, that was good. Ee concluded that he probably just needed to ice his head when he got home. Anthoney went back to his bag, putting the beef jerky back into it. He'll just snack on it later if he gets hungry. And with that, he took off, looking for a way to advance in getting back out. After a couple minutes of wandering, he found a river, and on that river, stood a person draped in a purple cloak on a wooden boat. Ohhhh, this is the RiverPerson Sans told me about. He walked towards the RiverPerson, they slowly moved their head to face Anthony, their face still shadowed by the cloak.

     "Tra la la~, hello there stranger, lovely weather." But the Underground didn't have weather? Except for whatever the fuck was going on with Snowdin. He thought to himself.

     "Hey! Do you know of any way to get out of here? I need to get home quickly, if you don't mind." The RiverPerson nodded. 

     "My boat can take you on up to Hotlands, then you'll have to pass through The Core, then make your way past New Home, and you should be there in due time, Tra la le~." Their voice was calm and androgynous, something Anthony could probably listen to hours if he wanted. He checked his pockets, reminded of the fact he had no gold (which was apparently monster currency, he learned) and no money.

     "Aw man, I don't have any money to pay you for a ride." 

     "The rivers need no money, you are free to take a ride if you would like, Tre le la~" Anthony thanked the stranger for their hospitality, and took a step on the boat. It was nice and sturdy, considering it kind of just looked like a carven wood piece. As the boat person stood there for a second, it began to rise, revealing some sort of dog or cat head at the front, with wooden legs and paws as it took off. This place could not get any cooler. Anthony knew he probably should be shitting bricks at the sight of everything that was happening around him, but something about it just filled him with.....CURIOSITY. He wanted to know more; he was just amazed about how much more different everything was here then it was on the Surface. Now with the monsters going above the Surface, maybe they would integrate their culture with human culture! That would make things so much more interesting for their tiny town off Mount. Ebott. The RiverPerson's singing and words broke Anthony out of his thoughts. 

     "Tra la la~ beware the man that speaks in hands. Tra le la~" Man that speaks in hands huh? The first thing he thought of was sign language. He knew alot of sign language, he had a stepfather who was hard of hearing to the point of relying on sign language. So he took classes and did his research to learn so he could talk with him as he would if he could hear. Man, was he info-dumping in his own mind? He really needed to stop that. Eventually the boat came to a halt, and he could immediately feel the change in heat. It was thankfully a dry heat, and not a humid heat. 

     "Thank you again RiverPerson." Anthony stepped off the boat, almost walking away before he remembered. "Oh! And, Sans says hello!" The RiverPerson nodded and seemed happy. 

     "Tra la la~ You're very welcome, I'll have to write him back soon. Very well, safe journey, Tra la la~." And with that, the RiverPerson was gone in a flash on the boat. They seemed nice. Anthony thought genuinely.

     Anthony began to walk, Ok, so, I just gotta make it past here, then the...Co? No! The Core! Then something about a Home? I'll figure it out. As he began to walk, he took notice of the lava fire type theme, with many of the other monsters matching said theme. It was almost kind of cute how each monster type fit perfectly within each environment. As much as he wasn't too worried about the lava bellow, the steam pipes that shot him in different directions kinda freaked him out a bit. Eventually, he found himself at some sort of hotel. It seemed fancy, ranging about three to four stories. Going inside was even more of a treat, the hot air and sweat that was falling down his back was immediately cooled as he stepped in. There was a fountain that was shaped like some sort of squared robot that got water all on a carpet, but the water amount never seemed to increase or decrease. More magic, he guessed. Gold was everywhere on the walls, and if it wasn't gold, it was a nice shade of yellow or orange that complimented the gold. It seemed semi deserted, with a hand receptionist running the front, looking bored. Anthony waved and continued on, as much as he would like to explore around, he knew he didn't have enough money or time before it would get dark outside. He had already been in the Underground for hours; he would probably explore another time. He must have been passed out for a longer time than he thought, because it was around three p.m., and he had work tomorrow morning. As he made it out of the hotel, he stumbled upon a type of lab, known as The Core. He looked at the elevator that laid Infront of him. Thankfully, it was working. He stood in the elevator for a bit, humming to the catchy tune it was playing, it felt super old and retro.

     After a strangely long amount of time, he made it out, and into a plethora of gray walkways that had whole views of the city. It was breathtaking, and even then, that was an understatement. He took out his phone and took multiple selfies and pictures, he wasn't going to post them anywhere, but maybe he could have them developed, for memories. As he took his last photo, he saw something.....No.....someONE, in the back of his photo. It was a strange face he only saw for a second, when he blinked, the new figure was gone, he even looked behind him to see if it was behind him like in the photo, it still wasn't there. It had the same black and white monochromatic outfit as the person he saw in Snowdin, and maybe the same height. He felt his left arm heat up, tingling. He looked down at his magenta cracks, they seemed to glow in color, he could even see a bit of glow from under his shirt, all the way to his heart. His heartbeat was more prominent against his ribcage, the sudtle thumping soothing Anthony. He felt the fuzzy feeling, like from before when he was touching his marks, except the feeling was stronger, and not only rested in his heart, it travelled all the way to his stomach, it even made the hairs on his neck stand up. Is this stalker the reason for the marks. Are they related to the door? Anthony's thoughts ran as they usually do, he was filled with.....CURIOSITY.

     He continued on, looking over the monochromatic city. Eventually, he made it to a familiar house. Like the one in the ruins, except it was the same monochromatic colors as the rest of the city. With pops of golden flowers giving accents to the garden around. The door was creaked open, like in the Ruins house. Anthony called out. 

     "Hello? Anyone home?" He called out in a sing songy voice. He waited for a reasponse.....nothing. He walked into the deserted house. Many of the household items were gone. One of the only item that remained, was a sitting chair, it looks like it had collected dust, and was still somewhat firm, like they had bought the chair, but never bothered to sit down in it. He eventually grew bored of the dimly colored house and went down the stairs. If it's like the other house, the exit must be through the basement. Anthony thought as he trudged down the gray stairs. Indeed, he was right. At the end of the corridor, led him to a large door, which then took him to more hallways. Many branched off from he main path, but he needed to get home. His internal clock was already telling him that it was getting late. As he continued, he was led to a surprising pop of color! A corridor, yet it was different from the ones he was previously in. Gold and orange painted the room, with checkered tiles, large pale pillars, and detailed windows. The sounds of soft chirping came from outside the windows, as the windows gave a nice soft warmth to the room. Something inside, deep down in his conscious, told him his journey was about to end. Was it upsetting? Yeah, a little, he wished he could have explored more! Was it the end of the world? Absolutely not! There were always other days where he could just come back down and reexplore areas he never went to. Maybe he would even see the strange door again, who knows! His boots echoed as he walked down the hall. It was peaceful, he almost wished hallway were longer so he could soak up the sun!.....Wait a minute. If it's dark outside.....how is there sunlight coming through the windows??? He thought to himself, he turned his attention to the windows, but source of the light was nowhere to be found. Huh, guess it was magic or something. Anthony liked that about the underground, sometimes the magic was silly, sometimes it was whimsical, and sometimes it was just ingenious! The RiverPerson's boat? Silly. The Waterfall cave place? Whimsical! The fact that some of the houses and places had running electricity? Genius! He made it to the end of the hall, stepping back into the gray colored halls once more. Minutes later, he found the noise of birds chirping greeting his ears once more. He found a lovely little garden. This time, he was re-greeted with the goldish walls. but instead of tiles on the floor, there was an abundance of grass, and flowers. The golden petals popped against the dark green grass. Some of the flowers looked a little dry, the person who probably watered them long gone and on the surface. He spotted a small watering can to the side of a dusty throne. He walked over and picked up the can. Huh, still a little water left, maybe if I.....Anthony walked to the thirsty plants and drizzled some water over each of them. He felt a wave of deja vu wash over him. Not deja vu as in something like this has happened before to him. More like this has happened to someone else, being in this garden, watering plants. He pushed past the feeling and set the watering can down. He knew this task was useless, and they probably would never get watered again past this one time. But he felt like it was the nice thing to do.

     As he made his way out of the room, and down yet another set of gray corridors (Man, how many colorless corridors and halls does a monster civilization need???) He eventually walked through a big arch way and found himself at the top of the mountain once again, standing on rock as the moon and stars gave light to the dry rock and green grass of the mountain. He was out of the mountain. His adventure was complete. Anthony took in a breath of fresh air. He was right, it looked pretty late at night. He decided to run on home, if he wanted to come home to a non-cranky pet bird, and be a non-cranky man in the morning for his shift at work tomorrow, he was gonna have to hurry. He looked back at the exit to the mountain one last time, snapping a photo of it, before heading down the mountain, and back home.