A/N: Hello hello, Undertale fandom! So this is my first Undertale fic that's not a one shot but a multi-chapter story. Chapter 1 is short and doesn't have that much action. It starts out with Frisk reflecting on life and is rather tell-y, but I felt it was necessary to establish where she is in her life currently at the start of the story, of course.

This is based on what I would say is a combo of the neutral/pacifist endings. Everyone lives, but Frisk ends up escaping alone right after the Flowey battle. Whether she chose to spare Flowey or kill him in this story is yet to be revealed :)

In this story I'm probably going to focus a lot on Frisk and Sans because they are my two favorites. I'm also going to try to expand on their relationship because after doing some of my own research, it seemed to me like Frisk and Sans' friendship was a little vague. Obviously there were some friendly moments in the pacifist and neutral run, but personally I think it could use some expansion. Frisk is also a girl in this story because that's my personal interpretation of Frisk.

Anyway, thanks for checking this story out. I'm excited to actually attempt a real story instead of just the one shots I've written in the past. I'd greatly appreciate it if you left a review telling me how it starts out and such since this is my first time writing a full-scale Undertale story. I love reviews. Haha, what author doesn't?

Thanks again! Cheers!

Chapter 1: Bittersweet Memories

On the top of a large hill stood a lone, feminine figure. Clad in a blue winter coat, black pants, and a pink hat, she stared at what appeared to be the ruins of an arch: the former barrier. Around the figure blew wind and flakes of snow. Cold bit into the girl's bare face, causing her to shiver and bury her face in the top of her coat. The girl's ideal day would have been bright, warm, and sunny, but it was winter. There was hardly ever a warm, bright sunniness in winter.

Tears pooled in Frisk's eyes, but did not fall. She wasn't sad enough to cry, but not happy enough to smile. A playful thought flashed through her mind: if she were to cry out in this cold weather, would her tears turn to tiny frozen ice drops? She shook her head. That's silly, she reprimanded herself sternly.

Sometimes one feels a hole in one's heart, often a hole that loved ones used to occupy. If lost, sadness and depression will often cloud the person's mind. Then the hole is filled with melancholy emotions. However, if those sad emotions run out, the chasm grows wider and the person with the hole feels empty. Not necessarily sad nor depressed, just empty.

Frisk was all too familiar with that gaping hole. She remembered several sleepless nights of tears over the years. Nightmares occasionally affected her, too; her insecurities. Did her friends still care? Did they miss her? Did they even remember her? Her friends were all alive, but could not be reached.

After some time it actually became easy for Frisk to distract herself from the bittersweet memories. School and life got in the way. She hung out with her peers, studied for exams, watched anime, and laughed over silly internet memes. Now sixteen and a junior in high school, it was bitterly easy for life to prevent her from thinking of those back in the Underground. She had friendly acquaintances up on the Surface, but never any true friends like the ones she'd known under the earth.

At times guilt would crowd her mind if she became too busy. Her phone had been destroyed in the battle against Flowey. She had obtained a new one and of course she tried desperately to contact her friends again, but whatever network they used must only work in the Underground. Over the vast internet she was unable to locate any of them.

And so the deep, lonely chasm inside her grew to a gaping size. Metaphorically it had been filled with her tears so many times that now all it contained was emptiness itself.

Still, Frisk didn't lose determination. On returning to the Surface one of her first acts was to go back to Mt. Ebbott, the first place she had fallen down.

(Flashback)

"Auntie, look!" cried Frisk. "I can see the top of the mountain! Oh, I can't wait to see my friends again." She raced forward, dragging her aunt behind her.

Mary smiled, thinking of how much Frisk looked like her mother and father. If only that stupid drunk driver hadn't hit their car… Shaking her head, she pushed that horrid memory from her mind. That day was too clearly burned into her mind. Not one night later Frisk, the heartbroken young ten-year-old she was, ran off and went missing.

Mary had searched for days, refusing to give up hope at finding her sister's child, but after many days Frisk was just another unsolved missing person's case shoved onto a detective's back shelf. But then… she returned just months later with a bittersweet smile, telling strange tales of friendly monsters. At first Mary had just dismissed them as imaginary tales of the child's overactive imagination, but after some investigation they discovered the monsters were, in fact, real.

Frisk and her aunt rushed toward the mountain. The little girl was certainly living up to her name, frisking about like a hyperactive ball of energy.

They soon reached the bottom of the mountain, but stopped short in horror. In the front stood two policemen in front of barbed wire. "What's all this about?" demanded Mary, gesturing to the barbed wire fence.

The policemen's heads turned to survey the two figures. "The top of this mountain was blown up after several kids went missing," answered the officer on the left, whose metallic badge read 'Johnson' in black letters. "There was a cave with a vertical cavern that led into the Underground. To protect everyone from the monsters underground, government authorities decided to take action and seal the hole. As a result of the explosions, the mountain is now unstable with possible avalanches. We can't allow anyone through or else they could get hurt in the avalanches of this unstable mountain."

Mary stood staring at the man with a confused expression. Frisk's hand in her own trembled. Glancing down at her niece, Mary saw the little girl's eyes were wet. "My friends..." she mumbled before lowering her voice, saying another name that Mary could not make out, though it may have started with the letter S.

Suddenly the little girl burst into sobs and buried her face within her aunt's jacket. Mary wrapped her arms around the child, squeezing her gently. The two officers stared dumbfounded. "What's wrong?" asked Johnson with wide eyes and raised brows.

Mary lifted her brunette head and met the man's eyes. "She was the most recent to fall into the Underground," she explained slowly. "At first I thought I'd never see her again, but then she showed up again, saying that the monsters were her friends. She was hoping to go back there to see them again."

Johnson raised one eyebrow. "Ma'am, are you sure she wasn't just making things up?" he questioned. "Those underground monsters were evil. That's why our ancestors locked them up, after all. Besides, no one to my knowledge has ever fallen down the cavern and ever returned."

Shooting Mr. Johnson a glare, Mary retorted, "Actually, you're wrong. My niece here did, in fact, go to the Underground and come back. If there's anything I know about my niece, it's that to me she's honest." She bent down and placed her hands on the girl's shoulders. "Let's go, Frisk," she said softly.

Frisk allowed herself to be gently led away from the barbed wire now separating her last bit of hope of ever seeing her friends again. With a tearstained face she watched the top of the disfigured mountain get smaller and smaller until finally it disappeared completely. Mary settled her into the car. "Hey, Frisk, don't lose hope," she said with a fake smile. "Perhaps you'll see them again. You just need to find another way."

Frisk nodded, but noted how her aunt had said "you" and not "we." Mary was a good woman who tried her best to take care of her niece, but Frisk knew she was rather wary of the idea of monsters. Mary had supported Frisk when the girl told her about her friends, but Frisk knew her aunt didn't really want to meet them.

Frisk blinked and continued her staring contest with the rubble. Sighing, her mind flitted to Sans. He was like an older brother and best friend to her, but doubts still clouded her mind. The closest person she considered to be a best friend... I wonder what he's doing now and what he thinks of my absence. Did he actually care about me? she wondered silently. He did say he would have killed me had he not made Toriel a promise… She shivered, unsure whether it was her thoughts or the cold that made her do so.

Snapping herself out of her thoughts, she turned and began to venture away, pulling her hat further over her ears. Even through her doubts, she found herself filled with determination. "I will find you again, friends," she promised. "Even if it takes me all my life."