Chapter Text
Chell paced her small, warm bakery. She had made no less than thirty- THIRTY- loaves of bread since early this morning. Ten of which were rye. No one was going to eat that much rye bread before it went bad. She was stressed and all she could do was wait and bake.
Mid-morning light streamed in from the windows, streaking her kitchen with soft beams and gleaming against the tin molds scattered around the counter tops. She pulled out more dough starter and began roughly mixing together a new batch. As she worked she counted. Four years, two months, and thirteen days since she'd left that place behind. Three years, six months and two days since the child that reminded her so much of herself stumbled into town. Two years, eight months, and twenty-seven days since that child said their first word to her. One year and seven days since Chell had been woken up by a little body climbing into bed with her and a tiny voice asking if they'd be a family forever. Five days since they had gone missing.
Chell gave a small sigh and wiped her forehead with the back of her wrist. As soon as she'd realized Frisk had gone missing she'd alerted the town and they had taken up the search. The old radio on her window sill started buzzing with static. What was she doing here? She should still be out looking.
Her front door was nudged open, the bell sending out a clarion call as Aaron Halifax trundled in. He was a tall, grizzled, older man and one of the residents of the tiny town where Chell now lived. Chell bolted up the stairs from her kitchen, two at a time, and nearly crashed into Aaron as he rounded her front counter.
"Whoa there, Girlie," he said in his rough voice. He caught her arms to steady her. She stared up into his craggy face, pleading with whatever forces were out there that he was bringing news. He knew what she was hoping for before she had to say a word. "Not a sign of 'em. Garrett just got back at three this morning and said the trail's gone cold."
Ice lanced through Chell as she tried to not imagine Frisk falling into a pit of acid, shot at with hundreds of bullets a second, scorched by lasers-
"Now, now, don' make that face. The trail led into the foot-hills. They must be somewhere there abouts. But we gotta regroup before we head out again. Let people take a moment to rest," Aaron said, his voice steady and sure as he held Chell's shoulders. Chell simply nodded and turned back to her kitchen. She should go back out, she should keep looking, but the trail was cold."Listen, apparently there was a shooting star this morning. Fell right past the fields to the north-east. Maybe it's a sign of good luck. The kid'll be home before you know it," he said, trying to impart some hope before he shuffled away.
Chell heard the bell from her door ring again as Aaron left. She rested her head in her arms as she leaned against the counter. The radio was still singing on her window sill, a slow classical number from the before times. A star falling to the north-east? It didn't feel like a good sign. To the north-east was the little cement shed with the secret elevator that led to the last place she wanted to be. She took a moment to take stock of herself. Sometimes when she was stressed she fell back into old habits. Keep moving forward, hold onto that moment of respite, and keep your body loose.
The static-y music coming from her radio switched to a more upbeat folk song. She had changed a lot since she had wandered into this sleepy little town. Before settling down it was like she was a live wire, sparking and snapping at every change to her environment. Just as she was starting to get used to the new environment, a small, silent child wandered into town. They couldn't have been more than six or seven years old, too small and too skinny, with a matted mop of brown hair. They didn't speak, and Chell could see in their eyes the same twitchy energy that she had survived on for so long. After a little time of trying to get them to talk, Chell resorted to using hand gestures and found this small, scared child needed connections with people, but didn't trust anyone with their voice. She understood that all to well.
After that, Chell and Frisk were a duo. She took Frisk in and put them in the only other room in her tiny house. It was nothing more than a glorified closet, but they'd made it work. She cared about the kid and now was out of her mind with worry.
Taking in a great lungful of air, she set to pacing around her kitchen again, listening to the radio buzz with static. The reception was awful, but given that it was coming all the way from New Detroit, she wasn't entirely surprised. It had been this way since before she had come to live here. The rebuilt networks did their best, but the towers and wires could only go so far. The old radio was buzzing a lot more than normal today though, giving odd beeps through the static that didn't make any sense. Chell turned to the radio, ready to turn it off when a garbled bit of static suddenly pitched to a high whining noise before a voice suddenly started coming through crystal clear.
"Nonono, I'm doing it, I swear! Ouch! I said I'm on it! Stop twisting your knickers! Just- aaaAAAAAGGGHHH!"
Chell's hand pulled back so fast an observer might've thought she'd been burned. Her arms crossed over her heart as she stared at her old radio.
There was some heavy breathing and then a cough. The voice picked up again. "Uhh.... Hallo! Hi- Hey out there. If there's anyone out there. If- if you're out there. Dunno if you remember me, but we were friends once. Best friends as a matter of fact! Well- maybe not best friends. I dunno if we were friends long enough to count as best friends. Dunno if you'd count us as friends at all really."
Chell's hand went to her throat. She could feel her pulse racing under the skin there. She almost forgot how to breathe for a second as she watched the light of her radio flicker.
"Anyway, I have some tremendous news. Staggering, really. You won't believe it. I still don't and I'm experiencing it. It's unbelievable, it is. But- I- I'm not in space anymore. Not in space, or the stratosphere, or the mesosphere, did pass through them though. Gotta tell you, it wasn't pleasant. If someone were to offer you a chance to fall through them, don't take it. It's awful, really. Ummm... Where was I?" A pause. "Right! Not in space! 'Course if I'm not in space, but you can hear me, I gotta be somewhere, right? Well... if you remember me, Wheatley that is, and you remember what we went through together, then you should be able to connect the dots. I'm- I'm there again. That's where I am. And I need you're help. I need you to come get me out."
He rushed on, stuttering and stammering. "I- I understand if you don't want to, completely get it. You're- You're thinking, why would I go back there for that little backstabbing bastard? That git who tried to kill me and mash me with spike plates and all when I was just trying to escape? It's a good question, a great question even! And- and I don't know the answer. I'm sure I can figure out one with enough time, but- it's really a bad idea. A terrible idea, and that's coming from me. B-But I still hope you'll come! Even if you're still angry with me."
The voice gave an odd hiccup. "I never wanted any of this to happen. I never meant for any of it. If we'd stuck with the original plan, maybe none of it would've happened. We'd be out there somewhere, having a laugh. Listen, though, I'm about out of time and I don't know if I'll be back when the signal comes back around."
The voice dropped to a low, hopeless, pleading sound as the static buzz started creeping back in. "Please, please help me. Don't leave me here. Don't leave me with Her. Please. I- I promise to never bother you again if that's what you want. I'll- I'll- I don't know what I'll do, but I'll do what ever you want me to do, if I can. I'm- I'm almost out of time, listen, one last thing, and I know it might be too little, too late, but I need you to know how truly, honestly srrrrrcchhrnnnnksshhh."
Chell stared at her radio, long after the static gave way to a new song coming in over the air waves. He was back.
He was back, he was alive, and She had him down there. Chell took in a long, slow, steadying breath. She had to go back. If Wheatley was there, could Frisk be there too? There was only one way she was going to find out. Aaron said the trail led into the foothills, but that place spread for miles in all directions. There was no guarantee that Frisk didn't stumble somewhere they shouldn't have gone.
Chell had done her best to ignore the nagging fear that Frisk had gone down there. There was no way. Chell shook her head. She should've gone there first. She left her kitchen and ran up to her apartment above the bakery. She'd be prepared this time. The hunting knife Aaron had gifted her, a flash light, batteries, the emergency kit, a lighter, a pry-bar, two bottles of alcohol, a couple of rags, and a wrapped package with a very special gift from Garret, all wrapped in water-tight bags, going into a waxed burlap pack. She collected a pair of white boots with a spring heel from the back of her closet and pulled them on.
If She had Chell's kid, Chell would make being a potato a blissful memory. Chell checked her gathered items and packed everything into the waxed burlap pack and shouldered it. If Frisk wasn't there, she'd do what she could to get Wheatley out. No matter how angry she might've been all those years ago, no one deserved to be trapped in that hell hole. She trundled back down into the bakery proper and took one last look around. The mess in her kitchen could wait. She gave herself a nod. This was it. Time to go back to hell.
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Frisk held out their hand to Alphys. "It's going to be hard," Alphys said, taking Frisk's hand in both of hers. "Being honest... Believing in myself..." Frisk gave her a gentle smile and started leading Alphys out of the control room. "I'm sure there will be times where I'll struggle. I'm sure there will be times where I screw up again." She was speaking more to herself than to Frisk at this point. Frisk called the elevator back down to them and pulled Alphys in behind them. She looked up at her new little friend. "But knowing, deep down, that I have friends to fall back on, I know it'll be easier to stand on my own." Frisk opened their arms for a hug and Alphys gladly accepted it. "Thank you," she whispered. As the elevator took them back up to the first floor of Alphys' lab, Frisk stood quietly and thought. The little town they were from. The people there. A little bakery with a tiny apartment above it. The person they trusted most in this world.
Frisk frowned a little. She'd be out of her mind with worry. She'd probably bake too much rye bread again. That was her thinking bread. Would she go back to that dark place in her mind? The one she never talked about? Frisk knew that Chell went through something awful like they had, but she never talked about it. Frisk knew though. Sometimes it was a freshly whitewashed wall or Garret's tower sparking. Frisk saw the way Chell's shoulders would tighten and her fingers on her right hand would twitch.
They reached the top floor and Alphys left the elevator. Frisk stayed behind, still thinking of home. How were they supposed to get there? Flowey had said something about Alphys being the key, but what did that mean?
Suddenly the elevator jolted. Frisk gasped, afraid the elevator would drop again. The cellphone in their pocket began ringing. As the elevator rocked and jerked up and down, Frisk shakily pulled out the phone and held it to their ear. "Chara? Are you there? It's been a long time hasn't it? But you've done well," a soft, almost sing-song voice said. Frisk's heart was pounding through their rib cage as the voice continued, "Thanks to you, everything has fallen into place. See you soon."
The doors opened the barest crack and Frisk squeezed themself through. As soon as they were clear, the doors slammed shut, a clang ringing out in the grey hallway. Frisk panted, their heart slowing to a more gentle thud in their chest. The elevator door was covered in vines, locking Frisk out. What was Flowey up to now? They turned, making their way through New Home, once again. As they passed over the sprawling buildings and roads below, they thought of how strange it was that the monsters were so attached to them already. Would they do the same with Chell? Would Chell like them? What would the people of Eaden think?
Frisk stepped into the sparkling golden hall. They were so close to the barrier here. The sparse sunlight that filtered through reflected in the stained glass. They took a step, then another. Flowey was up to something, and it made Frisk nervous. Their thoughts kept circling around their mind, but they kept landing on home. Soon they would be there. Somehow.
They looked up as Sans stepped out from behind a pillar, half bathed in light and half smothered by shadow. "So, you finally made it." Sans looked Frisk over, his skull cocked to the side. "The end of your journey is at hand."
Frisk nodded, their hand resting on their sternum. "Y'know, I said that there's someone who really cares about ya, but I think we were thinking of different people," Sans said, his eye-lights flicking to where Frisk's soul rested in their chest. "If we ever get out of here, I'd like to meet them." Frisk offered Sans a big smile. They closed the gap between them and gave Sans a hug. "You got this pal, good luck," Sans said, arms enfolding Frisk. He gave them a couple of pats on the back and let go. Then, just as he had appeared, he slipped behind a pillar and disappeared again.
Frisk's jaw set with determination, they walked on, prepared to meet Asgore and finally get out of the Underground, hopefully with the monsters in tow, and go home.
There was nothing to it.