Whenever she disappeared, it was worrying.
Whenever she came back, she was covered in bruises and crying, but always putting on a brave face. A lone human was doing so much as she tried to bridge the gap between humans and monsters, and suffered for it.
And then she didn't come over as planned.
It was a lovely Friday afternoon, one of the best during Summer Vacation, and Toriel was humming to herself as she made a cinnamon-butterscotch pie from scratch. There was water gently boiling on the stove, in which she put a few eggs in and set the timer to boil them properly.
By the time Toriel was able to look at the clock, it was past four. By now, Frisk would be here and trying to help Toriel with the afternoon snack... but she wasn't.
Something was wrong.
Very wrong.
Standing upright, she wiped her hands off on her apron and grabbed her cell phone, dialing in Sans' number. He'd taken a genuine liking to Frisk, as said by the skeleton himself, so it was him Toriel called first.
"hello?" Sans picked up after the second ring, which was amazing. He usually waited until the twelfth ring to pick up.
"Sans! Thank goodness you picked up! Is Frisk with you?"
Sans took a few minutes to respond, in which Toriel checked the pie. He sighed, a rush of static entering the phone earpiece as he did so.
"yeah. but, she's bad. i had to take her to the hospital. i can't tell you what happened, toriel. i promised her i wouldn't," he said. Toriel's heart clenched, and her chest tightened. Frisk was in bad shape?
"Why didn't you call, Sans? Why not tell me?" She asked, her voice low as she tried not to cry. "I would be there with her."
"i had to keep her from hiding from the doctors, toriel. she needed me there. i was about to call when you did, since she's asleep now."
Toriel kept her composure, even though she wanted to cry. First Chara, then Asriel... Was Frisk next? She didn't want to lose Frisk, too. It would hurt more than anything.
"How... is she?"
"bad, toriel. very bad. they say she's in shock."
Frisk... the poor child. She was so sweet, and so kind that she shared her pie with Asgore even when he wanted to murder her... showed compassion to every monster she met... Like a godsend, indeed. One would wonder why she was hurt like she had been.
"she's at the louisville general hospital, room two fourty three. come see her, she'll enjoy it." Sans hung up, and so did Toriel.
She fixed up Frisk's snack and put plastic wrap over it, making sure she didn't forget a thing and took a thermos filled with strawberry milk along with her.
The drive to the hospital was nerve-wracking, and so she was slightly frazzled when she finally arrived in the room. Toriel saw Frisk waiting for her and Sans typing something on his phone. She smiled and put the plate and thermos on the table in front of Frisk.
"Thanks, mom!" Frisk said, tears in her eyes. "Thank you so much..."
"It's no problem, my child," Toriel sat down near her and opened her arms. Frisk gladly hugged her, sobbing into her dress. All Toriel did was hum and rock Frisk to soothe her as she cried. Sans glanced up, before getting up and walking over.
"hey, kid. which one do you like the best?" He asked. Frisk looked over at his phone, which had a lot of names on it.
She sniffled, wiping her eyes and disengaging from the hug to take the phone, scrolling the names before deciding on one.
"Aubrey. I like that name. It sounds pretty," Frisk said.
"alright, kid. once you get out, toriel and i will put in the legal crap to get your name changed," Sans said, ruffling Frisk's hair. Toriel had no idea what they were talking about, but if Frisk wanted a name change, then she'd support it a hundred percent.
"Did you wanna have a bad time?"
The voice echoed in the dark alleyway. Officer Jerome Bradley looked around. A short, portly man with a bowl cut and loose clothes stood at the end of the alley, wearing slippers. Freak.
"You hurt someone that I cared about, who didn't deserve what you did."
Jerome shot at the portly man, but the bullets never reached their target. Instead, a skeleton head appeared in mid air, its mouth opening.
He screamed, and was incinerated.
"Burn in hell."
The next day, it was all over MTT News. Mettaton was being useful and actually reporting the catastrophe instead of talking about himself all the time. Officer Jerome Bradley was dead. No one knew how or why but he was just a pile of ashes. His records showed that he was a pedophile, targeting young girls from ten to twelve. A cute human reporter informed Mettaton that Jerome had wiped his own record and, if he'd been arrested, would have served life... or the death penalty for his horrendous acts.
Frisk sighed in relief. But it would keep happening, no matter what. She missed the Underground. She missed all the unique places that she could call home.
And her decision was made.
"Hey, Sans... once my name is changed, we're gonna go back to the Underground."
Sans looked up from his phone. "kid, you're joking, right?" He asked. Frisk shook her head. A frown creased the skeleton's face. That damned cop did this...
"I miss it. There was no pain, no hurt... it was fun.. It was my home.. I hate the surface! I hate it!"
"easy, kid. none of us will remember this, right? so you'd have to start over... do you want that?"
A nod. She was determined. "I can make friends again. As long as I'm away from this shithole, I'll be happy. It's why I climbed Mount Ebbot in the first place. To get away from it all."
Sans sighed. "if you say so, kid."
The day finally came. It was just Sans and Frisk - no, Aubrey - standing at the beach together. Staring at the endless ocean. It was nighttime, the perfect time to RESET.
"Sans, I'll be waiting for you, alright? Do the whoopie cushion thing again when we meet... that was funny."
"don't worry, kid. i'll be doin' a skele-ton of funny shit for you when we meet again."
Aubrey laughed, and then hugged him. Sans hugged her back, and a white glow emitted from Aubrey's body, before it grew and engulfed the world.
TIME WAS RESET, FOR THE VERY FIRST TIME
Snowdin Forest. Near the door to the Ruins which lead to where Toriel lived. Any moment, the human child would open those doors and walk to the bridge, and he'd surprise them with a whoopie cushion handshake.
When he saw her, he felt an overwhelming urge to protect her. Why? What was so special about her? Besides the promise he made, he shouldn't feel this way towards her. Like she was family, like a sister...
Sans abandoned his idea and approached her, a familiar-sounding name slipping past his teeth.
"aubrey?"
She stopped and turned around. A smile lit up her face, and she ran and hugged him. He hugged her back, and the whoopie cushion sounded. It surprised the both of them, and so laughter filled the air.
"I'm home, Sans," Aubrey said once she calmed down.
"welcome home, kiddo." Sans ruffled her hair, smiling genuinely.
Uh, first Undertale fic and all. I hope it was okay. I'll clear up a bit of confusion:
If you read about Jerome, you know what sick things he did to Frisk/Aubrey. It's dark, and fucked up.
Toriel arrived three hours after Sans' call due to rush hour traffic and those traffic backups that have you touch and go. Very frazzling.
Sans was indeed wearing a disguise, albiet not a good one because he forgot to change his clothes. And yes, he killed Jerome. Bastard deserved it.
Mettaton had an upgrade for news casts only. Thanks Alphys.
I apologize if my writing is crude, rough, not good... whatever. I wrote this on my phone.
Thank you for reading.