DarkFoxKit: *Is looking around* Hmm… wait a second… is this what I think it is? Why it is, this is the Undertale fandom! Now how did I get here? Oh right, a particular little individual sucked me into the fandom and now I can't escape. Fyyyyyyre, why don't you introduce yourself? :3 *Has a giant robotic claw going backstage*
Donfyre: Zzzzz… zzz- er… huh? What is- WAH! *the robotic claw picked me up by the tail and brought me in front of the camera* What the…? Fox? What're you doing? It's the middle of the night!
DarkFoxKit: *Has the little Wooper by the tail* Hey Fyre, remember that time when you told me to play Undertale? Yeeeeah, you've infected me. And now I'm going to get you back, little by little, chapter by chapter. *Opens the claw and Fyre landed in front of me. I stroke his chin gently with my own claw* After all, I've gotta pay you back, don't I?
Donfyre: E-er… *slooowly crawls away from the fox kit* W-well, that was a long time ago! I showed the game to you pretty much when it first came out, so I don't think you have to, u-um… "pay me back". Besides, you invited me onto this great story here (even if I was sleeping when you decided to do the AN…) s-so I think that's a good enough payment! ^^;
DarkFoxKit: Oh, this story here? Heh, suuuuure. You inspired this story, you know? So I still need to pay you back. *grabs Fyre's antenna* We're going to have lots of fun together. Hee, hee, hee. Now I just gotta call up Me- I mean someone special to get the future ANs… ready. In the meantime, readers, I hope you enjoy the first chapter. Fyre and I, this cute little Wooper, have worked on it since our passion for Undertale's been up with the craze. Do you have something to say about this, little Fyre? After all it was you who got me into this fandom.
Donfyre: *is trying to tug my antenna out of Fox's paw before looking at the camera* O-oh, me? Yeah, I helped Fox get into the fandom since I fell in love with the game before the big Undertale craze. I'm kinda glad me and Fox played the game before the big craze too, since nowadays the Internet's chock FULL of Undertale spoilers. This story's no exception though, so… keep that in mind. If you haven't played the game yet and has had the absolute bliss of somehow avoiding spoilers, then LEAVE THE FACE OF THE INTERNET UNTIL YOU PLAY THE GAME. Though that shouldn't be a problem. I doubt there's anyone left like that anyways. ^^;
DarkFoxKit: Chances are, if they clicked on this story, they probably already know about Undertale anyways. *Plays with Fyre's tail* Anyways, I was there when fanfiction only had about two Undertale stories, and had been watching it grow and grow. So I'm proud to finally announce we're a part of it now! Isn't that right, Fyre? *pounces on Fyre's back, sending him on the floor*
Donfyre: WAH! *is pounced to the floor and pinned under Fox* W-what's with you tonight!? DX And yeah, we've finally become a part of this fandom. I haven't really been watching the Undertale category on FFN though. Last I remember checking, fanfics for Undertale didn't even exist- …. O_O' *is looking at a computer that was conveniently in front of him* Jeebus. There's more than a thousand Undertale fanfics now!?
DarkFoxKit: You should've been paying attention~ *pushes a button on the computer, and Fyre was now drowning in the fanfics of Undertale* Well then readers, we hope you'll enjoy and please leave a review on what you think! Don't worry about the Wooper, he's a Water type after all. ;)
Donfyre: DOES THIS LOOK LIKE WATER TO YOU-!? GLRBDRIBDRIB! *sinks in the flow of fanfics* DX
DarkFoxKit: *Is smiling with red eyes* Don't worry Fyre, this is only the beginning of a fun time~
Memories of a Soul
Chapter 1: My Life
My name is Frisk, and I live in a modern home. I'm just an average child, with no real special talent. People often forget I exist because of how quiet I am. My parents mean well, but I know they don't see a lot in me. I go to a school like any normal child my age, but the kids there don't really seem to like me, or they ignore me. I used to hate how I couldn't make a friend, but now I just don't care. I'm not good with people, so I rather live in a fantasy world.
At school I have trouble paying attention. I would draw pictures on a blank sheet of paper than listen to the teacher drone on. Mom would always yell at me to pay attention or that I'm too stupid to figure something out on my own. I've grown used to her insults, but they still hurt. I'm stupid, I'll never learn, I'll be sent back to Kindergarten when I get to high school. Dad just never seemed to care either, he never stops her from calling me that, so he must agree with her. I had trouble understanding the teachers, so I'm not exactly anyone's favorite. The other students usually ignore me, but when they do interact with me, they act like they're talking to someone who can't comprehend them. It's condescending.
One day, the teachers introduced a new student to the school. I looked up from my doodling to see a girl about my age with blonde hair.
"Class, I want you to meet Jessica. She is a new student here today, and I want you all to treat her well."
Everyone greeted Jessica with open arms. The teacher told us to stand up from our seats and introduce ourselves to her. When it got to my turn, I just stood up quietly and spoke my name.
"My name is Frisk… and I like to draw," I said before sitting back down.
As it turned out, Jessica wasn't an ordinary kid.
"It's very nice to meet all of you. As you just heard from this lovely young woman here…" Jessica gestured to our teacher, making her blush. "My name is Jessica, and I don't want everyone to make a big deal or anything, but I'm just here to observe. I've already graduated and got quite a few college degrees. I just skipped so many classes that I missed out on hanging with others my own age."
She was a very gifted genius. She's also very nice from what I could tell, though I never interacted with her much.
Everyone admired her, including myself. She was so smart that our teacher even let her teach class a few times, though I still didn't understand much. I was too shy to raise my hand and ask any questions, even though my mom always pushed me to raise my hand and try to ask. No, I never wanted any attention on me, but sometimes, even I get called on.
"Alright, so who hasn't answered a problem yet?" Jessica asked, and nobody raised their hands.
"Really? Everyone already answered?" She asked, looking around the room.
"Well Frisk hasn't answered one yet," one of the boys pointed at me, and I wished I wasn't here.
"Oh, Frisk, why don't you come up here and see if you can solve this?" Jessica asked me sweetly.
I didn't want to. I couldn't even understand the question. My stupid brain couldn't even process it, let alone come up with an answer. Still, I stood up and forced myself up to the front of the class. Everyone was looking at me as I took the black marker for the white board. I didn't know what to do, and I felt like such an idiot standing there, looking at the question over and over again, as if hoping to magically just understand what it wanted me to do.
After a minute of standing there and not doing anything, Jessica spoke up, "Frisk… do you understand this?"
I felt my face heating up from embarrassment. I wanted to just disappear, crawl under a rock and cry my eyes out.
My lack of a verbal response must've been enough of an answer for little Miss Perfect. "If you don't understand it, Frisk, then I could help you through it. Maybe I could tutor you after class."
I wanted to scream. The fact that I needed a tutor meant that I couldn't learn like everyone else, it meant I needed extra help, it meant I was truly stupid, that I couldn't ever be as smart as an average person, let alone a genius like Jessica that my mom wanted me to be. But I stayed quiet and just nodded to her.
Jessica helped me through the problem, but I was so embarrassed that I didn't retain anything of what she said. She gave me a proud smile when I, somehow, managed to answer the question after about half an hour.
"See? I knew you could do it, Frisk," she said kindly.
I didn't want her to see how upset I was about this, so I just nodded to her and hurried back to my seat, laying my head down on my desk, hoping that everyone would forget I even existed. I don't know what's wrong with me… why can't I do anything right? Why is everyone else able to do it so easily? Was I just born to be stupid?
For the rest of the school year, everyone wanted to be Jessica's best friend. They wanted her help for their homework, they wanted her to talk to them, to invite her to parties and ask her how she became so smart.
"I was just born this way. My parents said I was someone with a lot of talent," was her answer to that.
I later heard that Jessica volunteered to help the school staff with clean up and after school care. She also tutored a few students who needed it. But I never stayed, nor did I want her help. I always just wait until my parents pick me up so I can get homework out of the way and watch TV. Video games and television is my only escape from this unwanted reality.
"Frisk, why can't you understand this simple equation?" Mom demanded from me when she tried to help work with me on my homework.
"I just don't…" I answered.
"What don't you understand? Why are you so stupid? Why can't you be more like Jessica?"
Ever since Mom heard about little Miss Perfect from our school, she's been using her to compare me a lot.
"I don't know…"
"Jessica's parents must be really proud of her," Mom said. "I'll bet she could get this done in under a minute. It's been two hours, and you're still stuck on this question."
Mom was never very patient with me. Although I didn't remember it much, Jessica was a lot easier to work with, while Mom kinda told me what to do in her own way and just expects me to get it. If I asked her a question, I'll be insulted since I couldn't figure it out.
"But I'm not Jessica…"
"No, you're not. You're just a stupid child who's too busy daydreaming to even try," Mom snapped at me as I cringed away.
I don't have a problem with Jessica herself, but it's hard not to have some kind of resentment for her, especially with the comparison. Why couldn't I have what she had? Why couldn't I be like her? Why couldn't I be smart like her and make my parents proud? Why couldn't I have been born with a genius mind and understand things by just simply looking at them? A photographic memory would've made tests a breeze, a super smart brain would make understanding teachers be as easy as eating delicious pie, and being outgoing and popular would've made asking questions a lot easier, and maybe the other students wouldn't mind helping me when I needed it. I want to make friends with everyone, but… I'm… too scared. They don't like me too much.
"Frisk, are you paying attention?" Mom said to me, snapping me out of my musings.
"U-uh…"
"What did I just say?"
"Something about Jessica?"
Mom glared at me and I looked away. "Frisk… at this point, you'll be forced to go back to Kindergarten."
"I-I'm sorry…"
"Why did my child have to be you? Why couldn't I have a smart kid, like Jessica?" Mom said angrily and sadly.
I knew I was always a disappointment to her, but it still hurts to hear her say that. Saying that I was a mistake… that I shouldn't have existed, maybe she would've been better off with a genius child like Jessica.
After I, somehow, made it past homework, I would go to my dad and ask him why doesn't he say something to mom about calling me stupid.
"She just doesn't think before opening her mouth," Dad told me with a shrug. "And well, you do need to work a little harder. Your grades haven't been anything to be proud of."
I didn't argue with him. Dad could be scarier than Mom when he loses his temper. And it's true that my grades are nowhere near stellar. I'd be lucky to get a B minus or a C. Rarely do I ever get an A.
This is my life. It's not exactly glamorous but it's not bad either, I do have a home, I get fed and have entertainment. I'm not an athlete, a genius, popular or the best at anything, but I am content with what I have. I felt like things will stay this way for the rest of my life, grow up and live with my parents without a job, constantly being the useless human being that I am.
And then, one day… the school board decided to take our school, not just our class, but our entire school on a field trip. We were going to a place called Mt. Ebott.
In our history books, one of the few times I had paid attention, they talked about how two creatures dominated the Earth. It wasn't just humans, but also monsters. Humans and monsters co-lived together. It was odd since monsters were known to be big, scary creatures that would kill or eat us, why would humans live with them? But eventually a war broke out between them, and in the end the humans won and banished the monsters underground, under Mt. Ebott, and created a barrier that monsters couldn't escape from. Of course it was mostly just a legend. It also stated anyone who climbs up Mt. Ebott would never be seen again.
It makes me wonder why they're taking the whole school to Mt. Ebott if there's a danger of disappearing up there. But the teachers assured us that we weren't going to climb up the mountain, just explore the base of it, which should be safe.
A field trip was always nice for me. I was nervous about exploring unfamiliar places, but it was also good to see what's out there. On the school bus, I would, of course, sit alone. Jessica would sit in the front, probably to keep the bus driver from getting lost or taking a wrong turn.
I tuned everything out while I played on my handheld game, something I thought to bring with me for this long trip.
That is until I heard some of my peers began talking about Mt. Ebott.
"Did you hear? Some people climbed up Mt. Ebott before, and they were never seen again."
"Yeah, that's what the legend says."
"But did you know that the first human to climb that mountain was around our age? They said that the person was really mean and hated people."
"You don't think that the people who climbed Mt. Ebott died up there, do you?"
"Who knows? I'm just glad we're not going up there. But I'll bet that if someone does climb that mountain and manage to return, as well as discovering something awesome, then they'd be a legend!"
I stopped listening at that. Climbing up Mt. Ebott and discovering something up there that nobody else had… I could make my parents proud of me if I did that. I'm sure I won't disappear, I mean it's just a myth, right? Maybe the people who went up there before committed suicide. A dark thought… a very disturbing thought really… but… I still want to be the first who came back. I may not be smart or athletic, but maybe I could do something worthy in my lifetime.
To be honest, I was scared of the idea I had. It was dangerous, I mean climbing a mountain by myself with no adults around? It was intimidating and daunting to say the least. But I decided to squash down that fear and instead replace it with determination. I want to show everyone that I can be someone useful, I can be good for something. All I have to do is climb Mt. Ebott, take a quick look around at the top and hurry back down before anything happens… yeah, that sounds like a good plan. I just have to make sure nobody sees me sneaking away.
With that thought in mind, I stayed determined to go through with it for the rest of the bus ride. I was scared, but I wanted to do this, I needed to do this.
"Park over here, we don't want to be too close to the mountain just in case something's there," Jessica said to the bus driver.
"You got it, Jessica," I was annoyed that the bus driver just did whatever this girl wanted him to do.
So we were parked just on the outskirts of Mt. Ebott. There were several school buses since the entire school came out here instead of just a class. We had to be in a single file line for each class under our own teacher. I left my handheld game on my seat so I wouldn't lose it, and I was last in line so it'll be easier for me to sneak away.
"Okay, now everyone is to stick with their classes and near their teacher. Everyone must also choose a buddy and stick with them. Nobody is allowed to climb Mt. Ebott," Our teacher announced.
"Jessica!" Almost everyone in our class yelled.
"Sorry, but I can't take everyone!" Jessica chuckled.
While everyone was ogling Jessica, again, I decided to sneak off into the woods. It wasn't hard, admittedly, to sneak away. I stayed hidden in the bushes while everyone finally got their buddies figured out, and moved on. Although it was easy… I couldn't help but frown. Nobody even noticed I was gone. Heh… I guess that's expected, I never really made my presence known. I went in deeper into the woods, trying to get to the mountain before my school did. I was going to climb to the top, no matter what.
As I was pushing the bushes and trees out of my face, I decided to pick up a stick, for self defense purposes in case there really are monsters there. I hissed as I cut my knee on a bigger branch. I took out a bandage I kept in my pocket… huh… only one left. I sometimes keep a few bandages on me in case I get cuts, as it seems to happen a little too often for my liking. I applied my bandage on my leg before continuing my way out of the woods.
I think I almost reached the foot of the mountain. But as soon as I touched the last remaining bush in my face… everything grew fuzzy. I groaned and held my head. Was I getting tired? But I hadn't even started climbing yet. Everything went black.
DarkFoxKit: You guys are probably not all that interested in the first chapter, but everyone's always making Frisk either an orphan or someone who's been physically abused. I wanted to make it a little less tragic than that. Frisk's parents care about her, but they also have high expectations. And the mother is more or less kind of like a soccer mom. The father just doesn't really care unless Frisk does something he considers 'worthwhile'. It's similar to my life actually, and I figured I could implement it into this story for later chapters. Oh and I decided to make Frisk a female since I'm a female, it's easier to step into Frisk's shoes if we're the same gender and all. Anyways, I hope you guys enjoyed the first chapter enough to leave a review. Let me know if you want to see more.