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β’β’β’β’β’
Frisk blinked, their eyes adjusting to the brightness of the sun they hadn't seen for days.
In all honesty, Frisk still wasn't sure what to do now. The barrier had been taken down and everyone thought it was their doing... Only Frisk knew of what ASRIEL had done for them all. Of his sacrifice. All that credit went to the undeserving human child whose only asset was their human SOUL and the mercy they had shown to others.
When ASGORE asked if Frisk would be the ambassador for monsters, they agreed. It was left unsaid, but they both knew it wouldn't be as simple as sending a diplomat to discuss some terms. Creating a stable peace after such a brutal history between the two races would be hardβvery hard.
But, Frisk thought optimistically, not impossible.
Frisk looked up at TORIEL, their brows furrowing over their squinted eyes, once the others had left and she did not. Hesitantly, they asked if she was alright.
They looked away, trying very hard to forget the countless times they'd seen her die. Messing with the timeline... I should never have done that.
ASRIEL had done the same, and it had brought him to... Well, death. In various different timelines. And Sans... Well, Frisk wasn't sure what exactly Sans knew, but they were sure it was more than he let on.
TORIEL sighed. "I am afraid," she said quietly. The sun had almost completely hidden behind the horizon by now, its last rays painting the forest below a golden colour. "...Pathetic, is it not? At last, our people have hope. And I can't help but feel fear... My child." She looked down at Frisk and put a paw on their shoulder. "You have proven far braver than me. But I still fear what might happen to you... In this world."
"It's my world," Frisk stated simple-mindedly. "It's where I came from."
TORIEL smiled sadly. "I know, little one. But... Could you indulge me and explain to me... You never told me what was it that drove you to Mount Ebott that day. Were you running away from something? Or... just running away?"
Frisk looked up at her, then again at the horizon. Only one word was a plausible enough answer in their opinion.
TORIEL nodded her head. "Curiosity," she repeated softly. She closed her eyes with an indulgent smile. "Of course, innocent one."
Innocent. Frisk thought of the countless SAVE files, of the worlds where ASRIEL or FLOWEY or even Frisk themselves had killed her. They thought of the blood on their hands after their knife cut through a monster's body. Of every time they hadn't managed to save a monster. Every time they had caused pain.
Innocent.
Yes... In this timeline, Frisk was truly innocent. Much more than that: they were a hero.
Did Frisk want to be a hero? No, they didn't. It did feel nice to have people look up to you, to be recognised by strangers... But the real hero had been ASRIEL and no one else. Because in the end, he was the one who saved them allβby saving himself.
TORIEL sat down on the ground, taking the child's silence for something different than what it actually was.
"What will you do now?" she asked. "You're welcome to stay with usβmy husband and I will take good care of you. We can be a family... But if you have places to go, I will understand. I have places to go, too."
Frisk looked at the sea of green that covered the ground below. To think they had been afraid of meeting a wolf in that forest... A wolf! It sounded like such a ridiculous notion now.
"I do have places to go," they said slowly, "but I wanna do fair by King ASGORE. I'm gonna be the ambassador you need."
TORIEL nodded her head slowly. "So the prophecy has been fulfilled, too... It's funny. It's not at all like I had imagined. I thought everyone would come running outside the moment the barrier was taken down... But it's been only shown to a select few so far."
Frisk furrowed their brows. Something about what TORIEL had said made them feel uneasy.
Everyone would come running outside... Not all monsters were responsible enough to make a rational decision when faced with this wide open world. Some should probably stay in the underground until the humans were informed... Frisk could name quite a number of monsters who would not fare well against hostility. And among them...
"Oh, no," they said, covering their mouth with a hand. "Papyrus."
"Papyrus? The nervous little skeleton?"
"No, that's Sans. Papyrus is the mind-numbingly irresponsible one." Frisk looked down the path that led down the volcano's slope, towards the forest below. It seemed like just yesterday they had climbed up that very same path, curious about the folk legends about this place... They shook their head. "Papyrus took off not long after we surfaced."
"I thought his brother followed," TORIEL said, trying to calm them down. "Surely he'll keep him out of trouble."
"Sans?" Frisk put a hand on their forehead. "You're giving me Sans?! The guy who practiced knock-knock jokes with you for months instead of doing his job?!" They were close to banging their head against a treeβexcept there weren't many trees atop Mt Ebott. "The guy who tried to sell me fried snow?!"
"Frisk..." It was probably the first time TORIEL ever called Frisk by their name. They looked up at her, hesitant. "They should be all right. If you're any indication, humans aren't dangerous."
"But they've never seen a skeleton, have they? And fear pushes people to the limits! Don't you remember what happened to the last monster to cross the barrier?!"
The flash of hurt that shone in TORIEL's eyes made Frisk immediately regret bringing up ASRIEL and CHARA.
"Still! We have to find both of them before they get into something ugly!" Frisk stepped around impatiently. They looked up at TORIEL, who was easily thrice their height now that she stood up. "You should warn ASGORE. Who knows what consequences could this all have?"
Not waiting for an answer from the queen, Frisk adjusted their Temmie armor on their shoulders and prepared to set off.
"...No."
Slowly, Frisk turned around to face TORIEL. She was staring at the ground, her paws clenched into fists in silent anger.
"No," she repeated. "I have had enough of letting children fight the battles that should have been mine. Perhaps if I had had more courage, I... I should have confronted ASGORE centuries ago. The six humans wouldn't have died in vain then. Because it's all... my fault..." She looked up at them, tears in her eyes. "My child... I will not idly stand by and watch you get hurt. No more."
Frisk nodded simply, accepting her company almost as if it were a given. They weren't used to having someone by their side, not after all those days of traveling the underground completely alone, but it was a comforting thought.
It turned out the search the two of them had to face wasn't that long. The nearest human village - Frisk's villageβand, as Frisk was starting to realize, CHARA's village tooβwasn't that far from the mountain. The soil was fertile here, thanks to the volcanic activity from Ebott, so farming was a prosperous business in these parts.
Frisk hadn't noticed it earlier, but the yellow flowers that grew here were the same as the ones ASGORE grew in his throne room. The same ones CHARA nad been buried beneath and the same ones Frisk had fallen onto.
But the flowers were the least of Frisk's worries at the moment. There was a crowdβa mobβright by the town line, not that far from the path they were on. Frisk could easily spot Sans and Papyrus, approached by the humans, many of whom were wielding various weapons.
The last time humans had seen a monster had been after CHARA's death. They had attacked ASRIEL with all they had. It was only because of his innate kindness that ASRIEL hadn't fought back. But while they weren't bad people, Frisk knew that neither Sans nor Papyrus had that kind of restraint. If they were attacked, they would probably fight back. And if they did...
Well, some of those people would be in for a bad time.
Not thinking about what they were doing, Frisk threw themselves between the humans and the monsters, shielding the latter with the whole of their small body.
"Stop!" Frisk exclaimed. "They're not dangerous! Please! Don't hurt them!"
The humans were shocked by this new arrival, many of them lowering their weapons at the sight of a child.
"It's a kid..."
"What is it doing...?"
"Get away from these monsters, boy...? ...Gβgirl?"
"Lower your guns, it's just a child!"
"Stay back, kid..."
Frisk stood their ground, not moving despite all these comments. Only a glance at his friends confirmed that while Sans seemed ticked off, they were both alright. That filled Frisk with new determination to protect them. They would not step down.
TORIEL smiled, looking at the scene from afar. The child was more than she had ever expected: a hope for humans and monsters alike. In a strange way, Frisk reminded her of CHARA. But in the end, Frisk had done the right thing... She was so proud of them. Her child.
"Frisk?!" a woman's voice rose above the whole commotion and it was filled with so much despair that almost all other conversations died down.
The woman pushed her way through the crowd to eventually run towards Frisk and embrace them tightly.
"...Mom?"