"Were you planning on leaving me behind?" the dummy asks jokingly as Finn continues down the tunnel. He'd caught up to them a little after Finn took their leave of Undyne, in an unusually good mood. They're now walking down the path together, toward whatever lies ahead. "I didn't find any more monsters, by the way."
"That's good." Finn is finding it very hard to share his good mood. "I'm sure there are many more up ahead."
The dummy falls silent, watching them.
Finn sighs. "I'm sorry. But all that... what happened, back there..."
"I understand." The dummy is quiet, grave.
They soon pass a large electronic sign stretching across the wall of the tunnel. It looks exactly like the ones Finn used to see back in the city, the ones that flash their names across in neon colors, but it appears to be turned off. The letters are dull and frozen, forming the message 'WELCOME T'. Finn guesses it's supposed to say 'WELCOME TO' somewhere, but the o and the name of the place is out of view.
"This should say 'WELCOME TO HOTLAND'," the dummy mutters, confirming Finn's thoughts. "They must've shut the power down."
"Or maybe they're conserving it to use it for something else," Finn suggests, mind suddenly filled with images of giant electronic cannons and other weapons useful for demolishing small children.
"That's actually probably what's going on," the dummy says. It pauses. "I wonder what they're planning."
Finn shrugs, and together, they and the dummy reach the end of the tunnel and step outside.
It's like being punched in the face, the wave of heat that suddenly assaults them. It warps the air, twisting and curling around itself. The very ground is warm, the heat sinking into Finn's shoes, and they soon find out why. The path stretches out for a few more yards in front of them, then drops off in a sheer cliff. Beyond that is a long, long, very long wooden bridge, stretching over a gigantic pit of lava.
Finn shudders and takes a step back. The path is much too narrow for their liking, especially considering that the sides of it are also cliffs that drop down into lava. The entire cavern is floored in it, tons and tons of glowing, burning magma. That being said, however, the bridge is even narrower than the path, and it looks far more flimsy. It doesn't even have railings. It's just boards of wood, nailed together and stretching over the lava to the very far-off other side, where the path picks up on a cliff of red stone.
"I think I understand why they call it 'Hotland'."
"it's a very creative name, isn't it."
Finn turns, surprised - that's not the dummy's voice - to find that the dummy has disappeared, and that Sans is standing a little ways down the path, next to what appears to be another guard station, placed precariously at the end of the cliff next to the bridge.
"I don't know," Finn admits. "I would've named it Bach."
Sans looks at them, curious. "why?"
Finn cringes. "Because then we could have Bach-lava."
Sans stares.
Then, surprisingly, he laughs. It's a short laugh, tainted with bitterness just like everything else about him, but a laugh all the same.
Finn blinks, looking at him in surprise. Nobody ever laughs at their puns.
"good one, kid."
"I wasn't expecting you to erupt into laughter."
"hopefully i didn't overreact."
"You know what's awesome about igneous rock?"
"it was lava before it was cool."
YOU ARE READING
UnderHappened
FanfictionThe Undertale Genocide Route is happening, but a new card has joined the deck: Finn, a quiet kid with a love for stuffed animals who falls into the Underground soon after Frisk. At first, it doesn't seem like there's much Finn can do, until they dis...
