VOXISTALE: Novel Edition

Chapter 140

The journey back to the hospital, now with the assurance that Raptor and Magnum were well, allowed her to pay attention to the city. Voxis City might have claimed it was the "biggest city in the world", but Unitropolis had stolen that title years ago. Its age of prosperity had long since ended since its construction in the early 70's. As massive as the city was, it was strangely . . . homey. Simple people living simple lives, day by day. The city itself would turn in for the night, and yawn in the morning. Who could have guessed some massive cult had been living under their feet all this time?

Now the streets were messy. Broken cars, cracked sidewalks, and trash littered what the city usually took care of. It looked dreary. Bleak, even. Frisk felt she often took this city for granted, but it had always been her home, overlooked by and shrouded in the shadow of Mt. Ebott.

So both Ebott and Voxis had contained secrets beneath them. Made her wonder how many more places had giant secrets buried beneath. It was just . . . funny to think about.

The saddest part about Voxis City right now was the fact that, just a few weeks ago, everything was completely normal. People had been going about their lives, none of them realizing what had been coming. And now, suddenly, people had lost their cars, jobs, money, family, friends . . . and yet, with time, the city would eventually become normal again, and most people would probably try to forget what had happened. They would never be able to, but they would certainly try. And with that mentality, surely another threat would eventually arise. As for Frisk, the night the Messiah fell would be ingrained deep in her mind forever.

Upon returning to the hospital, Frisk found Papyrus and Truck outside, helping to unload boxes from a van, setting them on dollys, which CNA's would wheel away into the building. She realized she hadn't really interacted with Truck much, even after he'd joined them. He was always helping out, and she'd been . . . focused on other things. The pair simultaneously noticed her approach, set down their boxes with little grace, their eyes widening in unison, before they raised their arms in waves. "Hey!" Truck grinned brightly. "Red Heart Girl!"

Seems he'd forgotten her name.

"THAT'S NOT HER NAME!"

Papyrus to the rescue.

"IT'S ALWAYS BEEN "THE HUMAN", SILLY!"

Ah.

"Hey, The Human!" Truck waved enthusiastically, almost knocking out a nearby CNA just trying to do his job.

"Looks like you two turned out alright," Frisk commented, earning a shrill laugh from the tall skeletal monster, who took the opportunity to strike a pose, his cape blowing in the non-existent wind, which didn't match his attire of scrubs in the slightest, which both were wearing.

"NYEH HEH HEH! BUT OF COURSE! THE GREAT PAPYRUS WILL NEVER BE TRULY DEFEATED!" he boasted. "I WAS VERY WORRIED ABOUT YOU, HUMAN! YOU SHOULD HAVE WOKEN UP MORE QUICKLY!"

"I did the best I could," Frisk shrugged, smiling, amused by Papyrus's sense of humor, or maybe he just didn't fully understand how humans worked yet. Either way, it was hard not to have her mood boosted by the good natured skeleton's antics, and seeing Truck helping out the community was also nice. Really one-eighty from where he'd been just a few weeks ago.

"Have you talked to Sans lately?" Frisk asked, to which the skeleton shook his head.

"HE'S BEEN WEIRDLY MOODY LATELY, ALWAYS KEEPING TO HIMSELF. I'M HONESTLY A LITTLE WORRIED ABOUT HIM—BUT DON'T TELL HIM I SAID THAT! DON'T WANT HIM GETTING CRAZY IDEAS!"

"I won't," Frisk assured with a chuckle, though couldn't help but worry at least a little about Sans. He seemed fine for the most part last she'd seen, but Papyrus would probably know better. He might come off as a bit of a doofus but Papyrus was one of the best people Frisk knew at reading people.

"Have you see Mag and Rappy?" Truck asked, grinning. "I always never see them look so happy. 'Specially Rappy, he always look sad, but not no more!"

"I just talked to them at Alphys' place," Frisk responded. Though Truck wasn't the brightest bulb in the box either, it was clear that he did really care about other people. The smile on his face as he talked about seeing his fellow ex-lieutenants so happy was heartwarming, to say the least, although she doubted Raptor would approve of that nickname, it made him sound like a bad musician.

"Pap say I get job moving boxes," Truck continued, "cuz I carry so many!"

"NYEH, THAT WASN'T WHAT I SAID! I SAID I CAN CARRY SO MANY AT ONCE!" Papyrus scoffed, strutting over with pride in his step as he picked up a box and lifted it high over his head with one hand. "LOOK AT THESE MUSCLES!"

Truck looked over at Papyrus' request, and quickly frowned. "Where the muscles?" He asked in an accusatory tone.

"WHA - RIGHT HERE!" Papyrus pointed to his humerus.

Truck squinted, leaning in. "In bone?" he asked.

"NO, IT'S METAPHORICAL!" Papyrus stated proudly. "I'M JUST REALLY STRONG!"

"Well, I want be meta four . . . uh . . . I want be that too!" Truck replied, pulling up his sleeve to flex his own bicep, at which Papyrus seemed to take as a competition.

"OH, YOU HAVEN'T EVEN SEEN MY SNOW SCULPTURING YET!"

"Oh? Make one now!" Truck pointed at the snow on the ground, and Papyrus took it to heart, immediately dropping down to the ground and sliding a bunch of snow toward himself to begin his sculpture.

Everything seemed to always be changing around Frisk. It sure was nice to see that some things always stayed the same. "I'd love to judge the snow sculpting competition, but I have a few more people to go see," Frisk told the two of them. "Do either of you know where Ms. Favian's room is? Greg would probably be there."

"UHHH . . . WELL . . . I THINK I SAW THE GLASSES HUMAN GETTING INTO THE ELEVATOR!" Papyrus noted. Not the most helpful thing, but it was a start. She'd just have to ask the desk lady, or Leah if she saw her.