Author's Note: I had to write a descriptive story for a class, and I couldn't get Undertale out of my head, so I wrote this Undertale human AU story. There's a few things to note. First, everyone's human. There are no monsters or magic here. Second, the viewpoint character, Frisk, is just a child who fell into a hole in the ground and found this atrocity of captured humans who had been kept imprisoned for a long time. I have left the full circumstances intentionally vague so that you could easily read into what you will: captives of war, political prisoners, slave trade, or anything else. Third, everyone has more humanized names, though it should be fairly apparent as to who's who, since I've kept the names as similar as possible to the originals. If I happen to have used a humanized name that someone else has used, I'm sorry. I swear I didn't intentionally steal someone else's idea. Fourth, Rigel and Felix (Asriel and Flowey) are twins, since I can't use magic or SOULs to make them the same person very easily. Fifth, Frisk is the only human outside of the captive group to have fallen down.

With all that out of the way, I hope that you enjoy!

Under Sunlight and Starlight

An Undertale Human AU story

I made my way forward out of the cavern. I didn't even know how long I had been in there. Days, weeks, it didn't really matter. I breathed in the fresh air that smelled of freedom, and I felt the warm sunlight on my skin. A light breeze ruffled my hair as I walked forward, holding the warm hand of my self-appointed guardian, Tora. Her voice was filled with gratitude as she said, "Thank you, my dear. We are free."

I nodded, but I also quietly said, "I didn't do it alone."

I didn't even have to look at Tora to tell that she was smiling, for it came through her voice as she said, "That's true, but we really do have to thank you for freeing us. It's been too long."

The others were close behind us. I felt the hand of another of my new friends, Sam, come to rest on my shoulder. "Thanks, kid," he said softly before he ruffled my hair.

"I had nearly forgotten what the sun looked like," Ashwin, the leader of the small band of trapped people, said in a quiet voice that spoke volumes of sadness.

Rigel, one of the two sons of Ashwin and Tora, took my hand and brought it to his cheek. I could feel his smile as he said, "Thank you so, so much… for everything." I felt a tear roll over the back of my hand, and I nearly started crying myself.

From behind me, I heard Felix clear his throat. "Uh, yeah, it's nice out here," he said awkwardly. Rigel removed his hand from mine, and I heard Felix give a tiny yelp as his brother poked him. "And uh… yeah, thanks," Felix continued, unused to showing gratitude, or any emotion, really.

"Punk!" a gruff female voice called, and I instantly recognized it as Una. She picked me up in a tight grip and spun around with me in her arms. I felt the air rush past me as I spun, and I felt a little dizzy by the time she put me down. "Punk, this is great! We owe ya a lot."

"Y-yeah," Allie said. "I… I s-still can't believe that it's f-finally over." Allie pulled me in for a much gentler hug.

"Sam," the loud voice of Sam's brother, Patrick, said. "Is this really…?"

"This is freedom, bro," Sam said proudly, yet sadly. Patrick had been pretty little when they had all been trapped down there, and now he was almost an adult. He had lived more of his life in captivity than not. The only ones who were younger than him were Rigel and Felix, who had been little older than babies when they had all been taken. I didn't know how long, exactly, they had been trapped in that prison, but it had been at least ten years, judging by the way the now-former captives talked about their time trapped and their lives before.

I focused on the feel of the sun and its incredibly comforting warmth. It had only been a little while for me, and yet, I had missed this. How much more so did they? As I stood there, musing this, I heard Tora say, "While we are all glad to finally be free from that unfair captivity, we really must think about what comes next. It has been too long since any of us have been free, and I'm sure that we have all been assumed dead. We have no property to speak of, and it will take a long while for us all to get back on our feet again."

"Yes, that is true," Ashwin agreed. "We can all assume that we were legally declared dead, and it will be difficult, if not impossible, to regain our property. Until we can each find a way to stand on our own, I suggest that we stay together. We can share a residence until we can each afford our own."

"A-and we r-really must f-figure out how we're g-going to talk to the a-authorities about this," Allie agreed. "W-we will have a hard time j-just going up and saying, 'H-hey, we're not d-dead.'"

"I'm sure technology will be difficult to navigate, too," Sam said. He placed his hand on top of my head. "We'll probably need you to be our guide."

"Wouldn't that be the blind leading the blind?" I asked jokingly. "I'm still a kid. I don't exactly know how all that stuff works."

"Well, I guess we'll just have to see our way out of our little predicament here, then," Sam replied, playing off of what I'd said.

"Sam, that was rude!" Patrick said.

I giggled. "I'll try to show you the way then."

"Well, eye think it's a good idea," Tora said with a tone that made it clear that she was playing along, and I heard Patrick groan at the jokes.

"In any case, shall we head into town?" Ashwin asked, redirecting everyone's attention back to the task at hand.

Once everyone else agreed, he led them out. I heard their footsteps against the rocks of the mountain as they walked away. I was about to follow, but I felt Tora gently take my hand. She softly asked, "When we get there, do you know how you will get back in contact with your family?"

"I'm not going to," I said.

Her surprise came through her voice as she asked, "Do you not have a home?"

"I want to stay with you," I insisted.

She kneeled down and pulled me close, and I felt her smile as our cheeks touched. "If you are certain, my dear," she said in a very quiet yet contented voice. She took my hand again, and her comforting warmth was the only guide I needed as we walked along to catch up with the others.

I lied back on the cool grass and felt it tickle my skin and make it itch a little bit. The summer night air was pleasantly cold after a long day out in the hot sunshine. I heard the sounds of frogs and crickets a distance off, making a light rhythm in the background. As I breathed in, I could smell the grass and nearby flowers.

"The stars are especially pretty tonight," Rigel said to me. "I can't even find the constellations! There are so many stars."

"There are a lot," Felix agreed. "Thanks for suggesting that we get away from the city to stargaze."

I smiled at them. "I remember when I came out here to stargaze a long time ago," I told them.

The cool night air got a little too cold, and I started shivering before I heard the rustle of clothing. Sam said, "Hey, kiddo, put this on," and I was suddenly 'attacked' by his warm hoodie, which I put on gratefully.

"Thanks, Sam," I told him.

I could hear the smile in his voice as he replied, "You're welcome."

"What constellations have you found?" I asked him.

I heard him scoot closer to me, and he took my left hand in his right and directed it up to the sky. "Orion is over there," he told me. He then moved my hand over a bit so that it was directed at another area of the sky. "There's the Big Dipper, and there's the Little Dipper." His grip on my hand was strong enough that I didn't have to work too hard to keep my arm up, but light enough that it didn't hurt; it felt very familial, like a father taking a toddler's hand to help them to walk. He continued to direct my hand to constellations for a little while, and I listened to his low, even tone as he described the stars to me. When he was finished, he gently lowered my hand to the ground, but he stayed by my side.

"Thanks, Sam," I said, smiling at him.

"Anything for you, kiddo," he said.

I sat back silently for a while, listening to Tora as she helped Rigel and Felix find the constellations that they'd been learning about in astronomy. Allie got Sam's attention, and the two nerds started discussing astrophysics, which was one of the few things they'd had a book for in their captivity, so the two of them had both memorized the whole thing. Now that they were free, they were both learning lots of science, but astrophysics was something that they both enjoyed. I let the scientific words flow over me like water without absorbing any of their meaning. Meanwhile, Una and Patrick had apparently decided to get their blood flowing with a little sparring match a ways off, and I heard Una laugh victoriously as Patrick grunted in mild frustration, though he seemed to be enjoying himself. I wondered where Ashwin was, but when I listened hard, I heard slow, even breathing that must have been his a little off to my right.

The cold air, cool grass, and comforting sounds of my friends' conversations combined with the natural sounds of the early night relaxed me, and it made the 'stargazing' worthwhile, even if I couldn't see the stars, or anything, anymore.

A/N: Yes, Frisk was blind the entire time. If you reread it carefully, you'll see that even at the beginning, none of the descriptions are actually visual. Frisk hasn't always been blind, so they can think of things visually (such as smiles, the sun, and stars) and describe them visually based on what they imagine, but they can't actually see anything. If you review (please review and let me know what you think), let me know when you figured out that Frisk is blind. Was it before the part with Sam and the stars, during that part, or at the end when I said that they were blind?

In case anyone couldn't tell who was who, the cast list is: Tora=Toriel, Sam=Sans, Patrick=Papyrus, Una=Undyne, Allie=Alphys, Ashwin=Asgore, Rigel=Asriel, Felix=Flowey

The picture is of a sunset over Mt. Ebott (actually Mt. Rainier, but, surprisingly, pretty pictures of the sunset over Mt. Ebott didn't come up on the search engine :P J/K).

Edit: I have now posted a semi-sequel to this titled 'Water' You Talking About? It's a short, dialogue-heavy one-shot of a single conversation between Sam and Patrick, and it takes place roughly a few years after this, after all of the characters have settled down and are living fairly normal lives. It's basically a little piece of fluff with a bit of feelings, and I'd love to hear your input on it if you'd like to go read it.