A/N: Well, here it is. The collection of one-shots discussing the year and four months that the monsters and Frisk spent in the camp on the surface before being released into the human world. (For those of you who are confused and don't know what I'm talking about, that's probably because you don't know that this is part of the "Beyond Forgiveness" arc, and you'll probably need to read both Beyond Forgiveness and its sequel In At the Death, or at least what I have of it at the time I'm writing this.)

Also, I should warn you: The one-shots contained here may contain some implied shipping.

With that out of the way, let's get right into this.

EXPOSITION: OCTOBER 20TH, 2014

Frisk squinted into the face of the sun. After so much time in the near-darkness of the Underground, it was an anomaly to her. More than nine hundred resets added up to almost three years in which she hadn't seen the sun.

The monsters around her had never seen it, though, with the exception of Asriel, but despite this he was still gazing up at it from the mountainside.

"You should stop looking at the sun, Asriel." Frisk advised her adopted brother. "You can burn your retinas out, if... monsters have those." Her voice trailed off as she thought back to what she'd learned many resets ago: that monster bodies were mostly made from magic, and thusly their bodies were constructed differently.

Asriel looked down at the ground. "Now that you mention it, I was starting to see blurry little spots. Th-that's normal, right?" he asked, head snapping up, voice suddenly panicky.

Frisk couldn't help but laugh. "That's perfectly normal... at least, for humans. I guess that's how it is for monsters too? You should ask Alphys."

Asriel shrugged. "I don't know. I don't think she'd want to talk to me... she probably still has some guilt issues from making me into a soulless flower in the first place... But all the suffering was worth it!" he added hastily as he caught Frisk's eye. "I mean, I'm back to normal with my old soul, and I even have a cool new sister."

"Aw, thanks." Frisk smiled. "You're great too."

Asriel turned away from her to look out over the landscape, although not quite quickly enough to hide his slight blush. His ears fluttered in the wind. "I wonder what our house on the surface will be like?" he asked, changing the subject.

Frisk decided to answer his question instead of teasing him. "Well, you're royalty, so of course you're going to have a nice home-"

"Hey!" Asriel cut her off. "You're staying with us, so you're living in the same house we get! I guess this also means you're royalty by adoption..." Asriel pondered in a thoughtful voice. "I wonder if they have any castles on the surface that we can stay in. That would be awesome."

Sans appeared next to them. "don't jump the gun, kid. i don't think the humans are going to be very welcoming."

"What do you mean by that?" Frisk asked, turning to the skeleton. With a shock, she realized that his typical grin didn't adorn his face like usual. Right now, he was wearing an expression she'd only seen once on the only time she'd gone and killed every monster, right before she'd been through the worst experience of her life.

"i mean, there's a lot of humans down there."

"Maybe it's a welcoming committee?" asked Asriel in a hopeful voice.

"they're all wearing uniforms."

"So what? All kinds of people wear uniforms."

"they're carrying guns."

"Probably not the welcoming committee, then." Asriel sighed and covered his face. "Please don't tell me they're going to kill all of us..."

Frisk started to reassure him that she could just reload from her last SAVE, but then she remembered that she had given up that power in order to recover Asriel's original soul. She settled for giving her brother a reassuring hug instead. "Relax." she soothed. "Humans might not all be good people, but they're not just going to shoot a crowd of unarmed civilians."

"Undyne's armed!" Asriel pointed out with a sniffle. "Besides, they probably know about our offensive magic..."

Sans's trademark grin snapped right back on. "technically, EVERYONE'S armed except that kid from Snowdin, Napstablook, and a few others I'm forgetting."

"See, that's my point, Frisk, we-" Asriel finally registered what Sans had said, and he broke away from the hug. Glaring at Sans with murder in his eyes, he snarled, "One of these days, I am going to end up killing you in your sleep."

"nah, frisk won't let you."

Frisk tapped her chin thoughtfully. "Considering that you just ruined our emotional moment here, I might..."

Before the situation descended into an all-out on both sides rematch, Toriel hurried over to the two children. "Frisk, Asriel, one of the humans has come out to attempt to negotiate. He claims to be part of the leader of the nation's cabinet, but I do not see how he would fit in one..."

Frisk stifled laughter. "It's just a term that means he's one of the president's assistants and advisers." I think that's how it works... "So why are you telling us this? Isn't the negotiation stuff for adults?"

"You are my child, even if I have not formally adopted you yet, and I believe you said you wanted to be the ambassador..." Toriel frowned.

"What?" Frisk asked, before following her glace to see Asgore coming.

"Tori...el," Asgore added quickly so she didn't shout at him for using the old pet name.

Toriel turned around. "Yes, Asgore? What is it?"

"The helicopter is here. Are you ready?"

"Yes, I suppose so." Toriel cast a glance at her children. "Let us go."

After a short flight in a helicopter, Frisk, Asriel, Toriel, and Asgore had been escorted into Sacramento inside of a car with blacked-out windows. They were currently sitting at a round table with a middle-aged man who said he was the Secretary of State. Despite his initial shock at seeing three real monsters, along with a twelve-year-old human who claimed to also be part of their family, he had adjusted remarkably quickly after the introductions and was laying out the terms to them as reasonably as he could put it. Frisk knew he was trying to be kind and also knew that he was only telling them the truth, but that didn't mean she had to like it.

"Here is the thing, King Asgore," he stated in a friendly voice, "The human population simply isn't ready for the introduction of an entire new sentient species to the world. Frisk," he continued, "you probably remember from your history classes how minorities have always been persecuted."

Frisk nodded, face stony.

"Imagine how monsters, a completely different species, will be treated by humans."

"But won't there be at least some humans who won't hate us?" Asgore asked.

"Possibly, but there will always be that one human who decides that monsters are inferior and either decides to exploit your magical abilities or simply embark on a genocidal crusade." The Secretary of State sighed, worry etched on his brow. "For your safety, you will have to be kept isolated from humans until we are able to get the truth out in a way that should minimize antagonistic sentiments."

"That sounds reasonable to me." Toriel managed a faint smile.

"Very well then, since we've agreed on that." The man stood up. "We'll take you three back to Mount Ebott and-"

"Three?" Frisk interjected.

"Yes, three." the Secretary of State sighed. "Frisk, we're going to take you back to your real parents-"

"No." Frisk snarled. "I will NOT go back. As far as I am concerned," she said, waving her hand at Toriel and Asriel, "they are my real family now."

"Frisk, I'm sorry, but I'm afraid you don't have a choice." The Secretary of State really did look as though he felt sorry for her as he went on. "Legally, you must be returned to your biological parents."

"How about this, then?" Frisk asked. "I'll give you their phone number, and you can call them and ask if they want me back."

"I doubt such a thing needs to be done, Frisk, of course your parents would want you back-"

"Clearly you have never met them." Frisk scanned the table and found a pen and a piece of scrap paper. She grabbed them, scribbled her biological parents' phone number on it, and handed it to the Secretary of State. "Please just get somebody to call them and..."

Taking the piece of paper, the Secretary of State turned to face the door. "I will do my best, Frisk."

He was back in less than a minute. "They don't give a... darn what happens to you, apparently." Shrugging, the Secretary of State continued, "Alright then, Frisk, you can stay with the monsters. I just feel that I should warn you that there's probably going to be somebody who tries to take you back to the human world and place you with any set of human parents at some point, and almost definitely more than one."

"You will not need to worry about that, Frisk." Toriel put a comforting hand on her shoulder. "I will not let such a thing happen, and I doubt your new brother would be willing to let you go either."

"Yeah!" Asriel agreed enthusiastically.

"I will protect you too, Frisk." Asgore added. "You have my word."

Frisk noticed that the Secretary of State was smiling. Did he intend for this to happen? "Very well, then. I'll arrange for a helicopter to take you back."

By the time they got back, most of the monsters were in the process of erecting tents around the base of the mountain. The humans around weren't helping with this; rather, they were erecting a rather large wall around the area, presumably for the purposes of keeping the monsters from leaving.

Undyne raced up to them as the helicopter departed. "King Asgore! How did the negotiation go?"

"Not how I had hoped." Asgore frowned. "We are going to be kept in here until the humans have figured out a way to reintroduce us to the world."

"What?" Undyne frowned. "Why can't we just go out there and integrate into their society?"

"uh, do you hear yourself?" Sans asked. Frisk flinched, she hadn't heard him coming. "the last time a monster tried to enter the human world temporarily he was killed, as I recall." Everyone looked at Asriel, some less subtly than others. "how do you think they'd react to thousands of us coming up out of the ground and asking to become part of their world?"

"True, but..." Undyne shrugged, seeming to give up. "I'm going to go find Alphys and tell her about this."

"Children, you should find something to do." Toriel stated. "It is a waste of time if you just stand here doing nothing, and I doubt that you want to engage in political conversation with the elder monsters..."

Both Frisk and Asriel raced off across the grass.

"That is what I thought," sighed Toriel, watching her children depart.

The rest of the day was almost boring. I've forgotten what boredom feels like, Frisk realized as she sat next to Asriel at the foot of Mount Ebott. Each time I tried to save Asriel, I was constantly trying new ways every time. I had to think on my feet, but now? There's nothing left to do. I can't reset, and even if I could I wouldn't want to.

"What're you thinking about?" Asriel asked.

"Nothing really." Frisk responded, gazing up at the clear blue sky. "Not much to do, is there?"

"I'm actually bored." Asriel admitted with a laugh. "Didn't think that was possible."

"I didn't think it was possible to save you, but I kept trying and I managed." Frisk pointed out.

"Yeah..." Asriel trailed off.

Nothing else remained to be said.

Not now, when so little had happened and so much was to happen.

But that would come later. Right now, there was comfort in their boredom, and that was all they needed.

A/N: I may or may not find myself needing ideas for future one-shots, so should you have any ideas you think would suit the purpose of this arc, please tell me.