The story of Underdrop ~Complete~

Chapter 17

Without a whisper of warning...

Alphys was the only one left with me.

Then, she too was gone.

Are my powers broken?

Am I... broken?

Perhaps it was decided that I wasn't worthy of the Turquoise magic as I had been thinking for the longest time?

Waking in the trashed throne room was one of the worst experiences yet. I had spent most of the night flinging things in frustration and anger. The last delicate piece, the scepter, had broken upon the floor before I passed out, the river of tears not ebbing until I had done so.

The blue magic hums as I set the room right. I left the cracks in the scepter's large blue gem. It seemed more appropriate that way, broken king that I was.

The lab was my first stop of the morning rounds. Any hint, any small clue of where everyone had gone would have me excited, only to have the hope dashed. It was in Snowdin that I found it. Footprints!

The snow was fresh, yet there stood the prints, clear as day. A sweep of the cloak and I'm off. They head deeper and deeper into Snowdin. Suspicions spike, but I have to find out who is still alive. I someone, anyone, could still be alive. I had to find them.

The footprints were deliberate. I could see that. Carefully placed by someone who wanted them to be followed. Perhaps I should have turned back, ignored the signs. But the taste of fear and the desire was just too much.

The clearing in the woods. The same one where Grillby had died was where they stopped. A silent figure stood just beyond the trees. My voice calling out to them sounds unnatural in the eerie silence.

One step, two steps, three closer and the black cloaked figure stood before me. Reaching out a hand that would never reach the figure before the cloak burned to cinders and a face I thought I would never see again stood there.

No. It wasn't him. The flames too dim, the wrong color. But that face... surely it was the same one I had known a million years before? I broke the spell of silence first.

"Grillby?"

A nod of affirmation, the sharp green suit crinkling slightly. He didn't speak. Instead, he flashed images across my head. How, I'm not sure, but he did.