Fanfic / Undertale: The Surface

Current cover photo for both the main, second, and current books

Notice: the author of this series has since decided to distance this work from Undertale as they are no longer active in the fandom and feel as if the once-fanfic series is driven completely by their OCs. The first two books of the series have been taken down completely, and the third, current book has had the term "Undertale" removed from everything. This page will remain outdated until their new, original fiction book(s?) have come out, after which it will be updated to apply to those. This is out of respect for the author, who seems to want to slice off all affiliation the series has with Undertale.

Undertale: the Surface is an Undertale fanfiction written by Sam Pines-Dreemurr on Quotev. Currently, it is split into two books, a main book and a second book, since the website has a chapter limit which the fanfiction exceeds. The fanfiction centers around Frisk, Chara, and Azzy as they have anime-like adventures, making friends and getting traumatized along the way. Filled to brim with fandom references and plot twists, the author almost seems to go out of their way to stay unique. Untagged spoilers ahead.

The first two books of the story were unfortunately taken down completely for a rewrite. The third book will not be linked here in order to respect the author's wishes of having no new readers of the series until the first two books are back up.

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Undertale: the Surface contains examples of:

• Aborted Arc: It seemed like the author was going somewhere when they brought the six fallen humans back to life...but if they were, they've clearly forgotten about it, seeing as that was over 250 chapters ago and they have yet to be brought up again.
• Accidental Public Confession: Linda accidentally spills in a fit of rage that she really is an evil witch. Fortunately for her, she's got a memory-erasing spell that makes all the adults forget it.
• Adaptational Heroism: Chara was ambiguously evil in Undertale, but in this fanfiction they seem to be one of the main characters if not the main character (and also the author's admitted favorite).
• Adaptational Villainy: Gaster wasn't specifically stated to be a villain in Undertale, but here he's outright evil.
• Adaptation Personality Change: In Undertale, Chara's personality was fairly...concerning, to say the least. Yet this fic turned them into a sweet, precious cinnamon roll. Not that anyone's complaining...
• Affectionate Nickname: At the beginning, Chara is the only one who calls Asriel "Azzy", which turns out to be the name that Azzy chooses when she transitions from male to female.
• An Aesop: Chapter 210 is all about why making triggered jokes isn't okay.
  • Chapters 277 through 279 have a very important message about how you become what you see yourself as.
  Sans: Frisk is a pacifist, so by their logic, all killing is bad. That made 'em label themselves a quote unquote 'deranged killer'. And lemme tell you something that you might not realize about psychology. Once you label yourself as something, especially as good or bad, that's kinda what you turn yourself into, whether you realize it or not.
• Armor-Piercing Question: Oddly played for laughs when Chara is asked how old they are. Between time travel and dying, they are somewhere between 4 and 106 years old, but they just settle with 8.
• Bad Liar: In chapter 67, Linda asks where Chara is. Since Frisk can't exactly explain that Chara gave themselves up to an evil clone (or at least pretended to, but they didn't know that then) and is now living with him, they panic and say that Chara is on the planet Neptune. Linda believes them.
• Big Bad: Gaster and his clone, though one could argue Miyuki is a bigger threat considering she's the one that has actually traumatized people.
• Big Brother Instinct: Do not hurt Azzy. Chara will stab your eyes out.
• Boomerang Bigot: Chara hates humans and humanity, believing that humans don't deserve to live with very few exceptions. Unfortunately, they are not one of their exceptions.
  Chara: But I don't want her help! She's a human! If humans didn't exist, I wouldn't have half the problems I have now!
  Toriel: Calm down, my child. If humans did not exist, you would not exist.
  Chara: Yeah, so...things would be better.
• Brainwashed and Crazy: Happens a lot, most notably to poor Chara, who winds up with PTSD from it!
  • Every villain seems to have demonstrated some sort of mind control powers, with their methods ranging from kisses to lemon bars.
• Calling Out for Not Calling: When Azzy is close to melting from having an excess of DETERMINATION, Chara takes her to Sans in a panic, leaving Frisk pretty much alone at the PTA meeting. Frisk is not happy about this.
  Frisk: Where the hell did you two go? Nothing like waking up from lemon bar mind control to see that the two people who were supposed to be with you ditched you without so much as leaving a text!
  Chara: Sorry, Frisk...Azzy was having some issues, so we had to go.
  Frisk: What issues?
  Azzy: I was trying to beat up Linda for you guys, but I got more determined than monsters' bodies are able to handle and I started melting. Chara took me to Sans so he could keep me from becoming a puddle of goat child.
  Frisk: Still! You couldn't have texted me or something?
  Chara: It was an emergency, neither of us were thinking that clearly...I'm sorry...
• Cannot Keep a Secret: Sans spills the truth on Gaster on the basis of being too lazy to keep a secret.
  Frisk: Wait! You're not concerned with keeping it a secret?
  Sans: Eh. I'm too lazy to worry 'bout keeping secrets.
• Collective Groan: This, or a collective sigh, is usually the reaction to Gaster's clone appearing.
• Change the Uncomfortable Subject:
  Papyrus: IS IT JUST ME, OR DID UNDYNE START ACTING WEIRD WHEN MEW MEW KISSY CUTIE WAS MENTIONED? LIKE THERE'S SOMETHING GOING ON AND SHE'S HIDING IT?
  Sans: Dunno. Though, I will say that I've been getting a bunch of texts from Tori lately...apparently Chara's been acting the exact same way. Whenever anyone asks them anything about Mew Mew Kissy Cutie or the creator of it, they start getting weird like this.
  Undyne: NON-SPECIFIC-YET-OMINOUS SUBJECT CHANGE! Papyrus, we gotta get you caught up on Steven Universe first!
• Cheerful Child: Despite Frisk's depression, they typically act cheerful.
• Chekhov's Gunman: Miyuki is mentioned for the first time in chapter 32, but doesn't formally attack until chapter 51.
• Conveniently Coherent Thoughts: The author sometimes will have entire chapters just focusing on a character and their thoughts, to the extent where a single character's thoughts can last paragraphs.
• Deadpan Snarker: Chara, for sure. Even in the most dangerous situations, all they do is make remarks.
  Chara: You just had to shatter all the windows? Sure, I've seen bad guys break a window and come through it, but was there a reason for breaking every window in the entire house? With a baseball bat? Why not just break the window by jumping through it? Your villain aesthetic is really confusing and kind of pointless. It would've been way more startling if we had just had to get scared by the sound of glass suddenly breaking once. After about two or three times it really seemed anticlimactic, and it was less "AAAAAH! SOMEONE'S BREAKING IN!" and more "ugh is she done yet?".
• Demonic Possession: Gaster and his clone both seem to have the ability to possess people, though the reason for this is currently unexplained. In both of their cases, the victim's eyes turn green, and the victim will also feel weak afterwards.
• Disproportionate Retribution: In chapter 119, Chara realizes that Azzy has fallen victim to Linda's lemon-bar mind control. After snapping her out of it with a Cooldown Hug, Chara...stabs Linda's eyes out.
• Driven to Suicide: Chara attempts suicide at one point. It fails.
  • Unfortunately, Alphys successfully kills herself later on, becoming the one character to actually stay dead.
• Duck Season, Rabbit Season: Linda and Miyuki do this to each other at one point in chapter 284, even going so far as to reference these cartoons.
  Miyuki: Why are we talking about this in front of our enemies?!
  Linda: You started it!
  Miyuki: No, you started it!
  Linda: I didn't start it, you totally fucking did!
  Miyuki: No, you did!
  Linda: You did!
  Miyuki: No, you did!
  Linda: You did!
  Miyuki: You did!
  Linda: I didn't!
  Miyuki: I didn't!
  Linda: I did!
  Miyuki: No, I fucking did! I fucking did, and that's final!
  Linda: See? You just admitted it, you idiot!
  Miyuki: ...Did you just use those stupid Bugs Bunny and Daffy Duck cartoons against me? Those dumb, unrealistic ones where Bugs keeps arguing with Daffy until Bugs turns it around and makes Daffy accidentally say it's duck season because he's more concerned about arguing with Bugs than with thinking about what he's saying?
  Linda: Congratulations, Daffy Duck. They're no longer unrealistic, because you just fell for it.
  Miyuki: Don't call me Daffy Duck!
  Linda: Okay, Daffy Duck. Whatever you say.
• Easily Forgiven: No one ever seems to hold having been Flowey against Azzy.
  • To be fair, Azzy's time as Flowey got glossed over almost completely, it may just be the fault of the writer not covering it.
• Easy Sex Change: Linda is a trans woman...who somehow completely transitioned physically as a toddler and had no idea she was born male until she found out accidentally when she was middle-aged...^note  Not even artistic license can help with that one
• Elective Mute: There have been a couple cases in which Chara stops talking for a while after their PTSD is severely triggered.
• Even Evil Has Loved Ones: Despite Gaster's clone getting enjoyment out of being evil, he has a cat that he loves dearly.
  • There's also Frisk's mother and Linda, who are engaged as of recent chapters.
• Even Evil Has Standards: Gaster's clone rebels against the real Gaster and he explains that while he wishes to be evil, he does not wish to be this evil.
  • There's also the time that Gaster's clone saved Frisk from their mother.
  Frisk: You're saving me...?
  Gaster's clone: Just because I enjoy annoying you doesn't mean I stand for child abuse. It's one thing to be a kid's arch nemesis, but it becomes a whole other problem when the kid's own parent is the enemy they are terrified of.
• Evil All Along: It turns out that Gaster's clone was less evil than Gaster himself was, while Gaster had previously been thought to be good.
• Evil Laugh: Miyuki is said to have one of these at a couple points.
• Evil Versus Evil: There's a fight between Gaster's clone and Miyuki at one point, the former winning by a landslide simply for being smarter.
• Face–Heel Turn: Chara briefly fakes one of these in order to try and gain information regarding Gaster's clone in an attempt to destroy him from the inside.
• The Fighting Narcissist: A rare female example, Linda enjoys proving that she's the absolute best out of anyone and everyone. While it's Played for Laughs at the beginning, once she starts with her lemon bars it's suddenly a lot less funny.
• For the Evulz: Gaster seems to have no real motivation other than being evil for the sake of being evil.
• From Nobody to Nightmare: Frisk's mother started off as just a normal, innocent human. But suddenly, she's become horribly feared over time.
• The Fundamentalist: Linda, Miyuki, and Frisk's mother all seem to fit this to varying degrees.
• God Is Evil: Played for laughs. When the creator of Mew Mew Kissy Cutie, the anime that everyone loved, is found to be evil, Undyne laments that "God" is evil. In fact, Undyne literally says "God is evil, Alphys is broken, ^note  Alphys had fainted upon seeing that her idol was evil and we're all going to die".
• Happily Adopted: Frisk and Chara were both adopted by Toriel. In Chara's case, even when they find out that their biological mother was really alive the entire time, they choose to stay with Toriel instead.
• Heroic Self-Deprecation: Frisk seems to have depression that stems from the fact that they feel worthless...never mind the fact that they saved all of monsterkind!
• Homosexual Reproduction: Somehow, Alphys and Undyne are able to have biological children.
• How Dad Met Mom: Chapter 130. When Toriel and Asgore kiss for the first time since their split, they do it in front of Chara, who they didn't realize was awake. This prompts Chara to ask how they met out of curiosity, and the chapter is spent telling the story of Toriel and Asgore meeting. ^note And Asgore had a mullet!
• I Control My Minions Though: It was revealed that Gaster was secretly the one controlling his clone the entire time.
  • Though it does get subverted in that it turns out Gaster's clone knew and allowed Gaster to control him.
• ...In That Order: Chapter 4 has this played for laughs when Sans is talking to Frisk who's being possessed by Chara who's being possessed by Gaster's clone who's being controlled by Gaster.

  Sans: And once I do, you're Cinnamon Toast Crunch. In that order.
  Frisk: What does that even mean?
  Sans: That I'll burn 'ya, kill 'ya, and destroy 'ya.
  Frisk: That's morbid. ^note  For those who don't get the very complex joke: cinnamon burns are a thing, toast is a euphemism for dead, and crunch refers to the crunch of their bones as their corpse is being crushed.

• Laser-Guided Amnesia: When Frisk's mother comes back after dying the first time, she has seemingly no memory of having ever been evil with so far no explanation.

• Luke, I Am Your Father: Strangely, neither Shien nor Chara had any idea that they were biologically mother and child until Chara started talking about their "dead" mother and Shien started talking about her "dead daughter", and the two realized that their memories matched up - though as the chapter title implies, ^note  Chapter 60: I Mean This Won't Really Be Much of a Twist For Y'all Since 100% of You Guessed It I Think But Still ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ most of the readers figured it out long before the characters did.
• Mama Bear: Typically speaking, Toriel prefers to stay out of trouble and danger. But hurt one of her children in front of her and you're dead.
  • This is being shown more recently, as Toriel is making more and more of an effort to stand up for the kids.
• Mind-Control Eyes: When someone is kissed by Miyuki, their eyes turn pink.
• Misery Builds Character: Happens to...honestly, everyone.
• Mistreatment-Induced Betrayal: Gaster's clone turns his back on Gaster when he realizes that Gaster doesn't really value him or see him as intelligent.
• Moment of Weakness: When Frisk has to kill their biological mother the second time, ^note  this time it was intentional, the first time it wasn't the grief causes them to snap and lose control of their LOVE, becoming murderous. No one was killed or hurt as a result of the snap, but the author's note at the end of the chapter implied that it may not be the last time it happens...
• Mood Whiplash: Chapter 37: Well &$%# That Escalated Quickly
• Music/Age Dissonance: Frisk and Chara are mentioned listening to a song by Evanescence. We're not going to talk about the fact that Evanescence has several songs that aren't meant for children.
  • They are also mentioned at one point to be listening to Blackbriar. While the song they were listening to in that scene is fine, that band has several songs about killing. ^note  Seriously, how does Toriel let them listen to things like this?
• #1 Dime: Chara has a doll named Charie. Does the doll have some magical purpose? Nope. It's...just a doll. Chara doesn't seem to know or at the very least care that Charie isn't actually sentient, and as such they insist that everyone refer to Charie as if "they" were a person, feeling sad or even panicked if their doll is damaged or insulted in any way.
  • Recent chapters reveal that Chara became so attached to their doll, that they're soulbound to them, which made the "doll" gain a soul!
• O.O.C. Is Serious Business: How do you know when something's wrong with Papyrus? When he's not talking in caps lock!
• Politically Incorrect Villain: Linda, and later Frisk's mother as well.
• Precision F-Strike: Toriel, who usually never swears, says "fuck" when she sees that Chara has been kissed by Miyuki yet again.
• Rape Is a Special Kind of Evil: It was revealed that the reason why Shien hates Miyuki so much is because Miyuki raped her at the age of 16.
• Royals Who Actually Do Something: The fact that Frisk, Chara, and Azzy are the children of the Queen of Monsters stops nothing.
  • Toriel can also become a badass in times of desperate need.
• Running Gag: Chara says "Christ" and Gaster/Gaster's clone say "interesting". A lot.
• Sir Swears-a-Lot: Frisk and Azzy sometimes swear, but Chara takes the cake for this trope by a landslide.
• Stacy's Mom: Chapter 96 has Undyne showing off her wedding dress to Chara...who likes it maybe a bit too much, to the point of becoming a stuttering mess, expressing how "gay" they are.
  • This winds up becoming something of a running gag.
  Undyne: Glad you like it. It means a lot to me knowing that you think it’s a pretty dress, even if I did accidentally turn you ten times gayer.
  Chara: You could turn the entire world ten times gayer in that!
  Undyne: Huh. I’ll keep that in mind.
  Chara: Please don’t. Please never take that off, wear it for the rest of your life. I love you- I mean, I love it, I mean...oh my god I’m a gay mess.
• Stupid Sacrifice: One could argue that when Gaster's clone died the second time, it was this. If Frisk had gotten hurt, they could have just RESET and gotten away, and he knows this, and yet he still decided to fling himself in front of Frisk for protection.
• Successful Sibling Syndrome: At one point, Linda alludes to this.
  Chara: You have an older sister? Yikes. I don't envy her.
  Linda: You're the first person I've ever heard say that...most people do. Why can't I just ever get the glory for once?
• Tame His Anger: Chapter 274 is a comical chapter in which Frisk tries various ways to calm their anger after they begin to worry that the amount of LOVE they have could soon be problematic.
  Frisk (with their eyes closed): One...two...three...four...five...six...seven...eight...nine...ten. There. I counted to ten.
  Chara: And how do you feel?
  Frisk: Like a pissed off person that just counted to ten and also can't see.
  Chara: Try doing it with your eyes open, then?
  Frisk: One...two...three...four...five...six...seven...eight...nine...ten. Sorry Chara, but I still just feel like a pissed off person that just counted to ten. The only difference was that this time I could see.
• Thou Shall Not Kill: Frisk was like this in the beginning, but the more LOVE they started getting, the more inclined they were to kill people. Chara, who has severely wounded but never actually ^note at least willingly, but that was all RESET killed anyone, is actually more pacifistic than Frisk these days, which is pretty much the "literal opposite", in the author's words, of most fanfictions.
  Author's Note: Y'know, normal Undertale fanfiction authors write stories where Chara is struggling with their LOVE and Frisk is the innocent one who's never killed anyone in their life...
  — Opening author's note for chapter 278
• Troubling Unchildlike Behavior: Between Frisk literally killing people and Chara's constant swearing...

• Would Hurt a Child: Despite Frisk, Chara, and Azzy being young children, none of the villains seem to have any qualms about harming them.
• You Have Failed Me: Gaster temporarily kills his clone when he realizes that his clone has become (relatively) friendly towards Frisk, Chara, and Azzy.

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