AN: We still have a long way to go. This story is a sequel to Snippets from the Aboveground, it is very much recommended that you do not read this without having read the rest of the series!
Frisk took off running away from the bed of golden flowers and towards the Ruins, grinning widely at seeing Flowey there. "Guess you didn't plant for this, huh?"
"Literally go jump into the Core," Flowey snapped, although he couldn't stop his grin. "You are ridiculous. You are horribly ridiculous- What is even the point of this!"
"Well, cause, I can try to fix things, now!" That got a curious look, Flowey tilting his head in confusion.
"Like what? You Saved everyone last time, so why go through it again? You almost died last time, too. Multiple times."
"I didn't Save everyone, though. That's the whole point. Trust me, things are gonna be better. It just...might take a couple tries."
"...You already have 80 years of human memories, Frisk, and you're in a five-year-old body... I know you're DETERMINED, but you can't handle that many Runs." Flowey sounded honestly concerned, looking very worried about the tiny human in front of him. "...I totally forgot I was almost as tall as you when this started."
Frisk only leaned down a bit, pressing a kiss to one of his petals. "I'm gonna try my best, at least."
"Weird human," Flowey huffed, wapping her on the cheek. "Fine, just find that irritating punny skeleton. At least he can keep you out of the worst of trouble." A pause, and a sudden shudder of horror. "Ugh, just had the thought of him teaching you magic..."
"Do you think he can?" Frisk paused, sitting down on the ground and looking like a tiny, innocent toddler.
"That sounds horrifying and why...are you acting all- Aw, shit." A flash and Flowey was disappearing into the ground, hiding in the shadowed corner a few feet away.
"Oh dear...how did you get here, my child?" A familiar figure was standing in the doorway, sounding confused and worried before warm, fuzzy hands were picking the small child up. There was a small gasp, and a hitch in the voice. "O-Oh, forgive me, child, I was just...overtaken by a bout of nostalgia, for some reason."
Frisk gave a small sniffle, looking helpless and okay she forgot how tiny she was when she was this old. "Where am I?"
"Ssh, it is alright, my child. I am Toriel, caretaker of the Ruins. You have fallen, it seems, from a very long way..." Toriel was easily tucking the child close to her, rubbing at her back soothingly.
Frisk paused, staring at Toriel. What was it she said, last time? "...Are you a goat?" Nailed it.
Toriel blinked at that, looking a little startled before she laughed. "No, my child. I am a monster of the Underground. We all look quite different, this is merely how I look."
"How come?" And this was nice. She forgot how nice Toriel hugs were, when she was so itty bitty.
"I am not quite sure myself, to be honest," Toriel chuckled, shifting her grip on the child as she started walking the way she had come from. "Let us continue this conversation later, my child, yes? I have much to teach your about the place you shall be staying in."
"...Have you seen my mom and dad, or maybe my brother?" Ow. That hurt. She forgot it hurt to bring that up.
"N...No, my child, I have not." Toriel, instead of setting the child down like she had been planning, instead cuddled her closer, tucking her under her chin as if trying to protect her. "I am very sorry, Frisk."
"...How do you know my name?" There was only supposed to be nostalgia at most, not- What?! Toriel only blinked down at her, head tilting.
"You told it to me, did you not?"
"No." Although...there was that saying about a mother never forgetting her children.
"Nonsense, I am sure you have merely forgotten," Toriel smiled, ruffling Frisk's hair. "How else would I have known your name, after all?"
Frisk wrinkled her nose, giving a small laugh. "Cause you're smart and nice and the besteriest." Toriel only chuckled, pecking the child on the forehead before entering a room with a familiar puzzle.
"Come, my child, I will show you how these puzzles work."
"Wait wait wait." Frisk hummed, wriggling down from Toriel's arms and going over to read the panel. 'Only the fearless may go beyond this point. Fools and the brave walk the middle road.' Oh, that made a lot more sense. She went over and hopped on the tiles, pulling the lever.
The door opened easily, Toriel blinking in surprise before she was looking from Frisk, to the panel, to the door. "...I...was not expecting that to happen, I must admit, little one..."
Frisk smiled up at her. "I really like puzzles."
"Fair enough, I suppose."
::
"You wish to know how to return 'home', do you not?" Frisk had followed the path of the first Run marvelously - besides the occasional moment of being a little shit - before it ended up here. Her and Toriel in damp, darkened halls, the monster ready to seal the door to the Ruins so none would ever leave. "Ahead of us lies the end of the Ruins. A one-way exit to the rest of the Underground. I am going to destroy it. No one will ever be able to leave again. Now be a good child and go upstairs."
Okay, she got Toriel to go with her last time by acting like a baby and crying. So if she did that again... Frisk ran forward to catch onto her robe, giving a small sniff. "But- What about Mommy and Daddy and Josh?"
Toriel seemed to physically waver, shaking her head for a second. "I am sorry, my child, but if you leave this place, they... Asgore will you. I am only protecting you as best I know how." Even if something inside her screamed that there was another way...this was the only thing she knew that could be done. There was a quiet hiccup from behind her, Frisk stopping in her tracks as she clung to Toriel's robe.
The girl muttered, "I just wanna go home..." Toriel seemed to falter much more than before, looking at the crying child and...she had made a child cry. How much better was she than those she scorned?
"I wish the same, sometimes, my child..." Sighing, Toriel picked the girl up carefully, rubbing a soft palm over her cheeks to clear away the tears. Wow. Okay. She hadn't been held like this in ages. That may have made more tears come, because golly. Frisk really missed this. She leaned against Toriel, feeling so much more safe and comforted than her teenaged self would admit. "This...this is your home now, Frisk. You will be safe here, and well protected. I will take good care of you, and I am sure we will have great fun together. As long as you stay here, I can protect you. You can be happy here! Do you...do you not want to be happy?"
"I just want my family," she quietly whispered. Because...this wasn't her family. At the moment, half of them didn't even know her. There was a moment of pause before a quiet, broken sigh echoed throughout the cold, drafty hallway they were in.
"...I am so sorry, my child...I am so very sorry." Could she really do this, to such a small child? She was hardly older than- Than her... Maybe...maybe there was a way- ...Yes. Maybe there was a way... "Perhaps...there is a way we can get you to your family, young one." Because holding this small child, and knowing that she had a family she needed to see, well... It was filling her with quite the sense of DETERMINATION.
Frisk rubbed at her cheeks, giving a sniff. "How?" Toriel gave her a reassuring smile, heading back to the small house they had been in.
"There is something called the Barrier that keeps monsters trapped here, but...not humans. If we can get you to it, you will be able to return home. Of course, it will require a bit of preparation."
The girl leaned against Toriel, looking up at her. "...Can we?" Because yes. This was going wonderfully.
"Yes. Yes, we shall. I am certain that you shall make it home." Even as she said, Toriel knew it was true. She didn't know how, but she knew...the same she knew this child was hers. After all.
A mother /never/ forgot her children. As the two walked back to the house, Frisk looked over Toriel's shoulder, smiling as she gave a wave to the happy yellow flower.
Said happy yellow flower stuck his tongue out before vanishing, and...maybe this would be alright.
After all, Frisk was filled with DETERMINATION.