Chapter 2: Shattered (Revised)

"My child! We were starting to grow worried!" Great, had they really been gone that long? As Toriel took them into a warm hug, Frisk could feel her eyes analyzing them, looking for any slight sign that they may be hurt.

The motherly monster had no luck finding even one mark on them from any possible attackers. As Toriel still insisted on wondering where they were, Frisk shook their head, "Mom, really, I'm fine."

"OH! HUMAN! IT SEEMS YOU HAVEN'T RETURNED WITHOUT ANOTHER FRIEND!" Papyrus's loud voice echoed through the cavern. The skeleton which had opposed them once on this journey. However, they couldn't say that they hadn't grown to enjoy the goofy skeleton.

The "friend" in question was Flowey, grumpily slouching in his pot. "And he seems as enthusiastic as always…" A shorter skeleton remarked, casually leaning up against the wall.

Frisk gave a huff towards the skeleton, otherwise known as Sans. "Sans… Don't be mean…"

"U-Um, I hate to inquire about this my child, but…" Toriel seemed a tad worried, which would be expected from her. She worried a tad too much in Frisk's opinion. "Didn't that flower try to harm you in the Ruins?"

If only she knew this was her own child. Frisk thought, their hands grasping the flower pot tighter. However, before they could respond, Flowey inched up slightly with a more sinister grin on his face. "Oh please, get off your high horses!" His high pitched voice was eerily friendly, but also terribly wrong. "I mean… don't tell me that all of you have never touched a hair on Frisk's head!"

A chill came across everyone's souls at the statement. Of course, Flowey was telling the truth. Even Sans, who hated it when Flowey was correct, had to agree with him. "Fine, I guess you have a point, weed."

Mistake number one…

"Wait, but Sans, I don't believe you ever tried to directly fight Frisk, did you?" Asgore asked as Sans stiffened. "Didn't you make a promise to Tori...el… that you wouldn't hurt them?"

"Uh… yeah…" Daggers flying… blasters firing… "I didn't mean physically hurtin' them. I had to talk with them before they faced off with ya, and I may have scared them a bit…" Sans and Frisk both exchanged uneasy glances to each other. That was a casual slip-up.

Luckily, that seemed fine enough of an answer. Toriel seemed a bit worried about what may have transpired, but she did not question it fast enough before a loud groan came from Undyne. "Ugh, how about we make a decision and go? The surface is waiting for us!"

"LET FLOWEY COME WITH US!" Papyrus exclaimed, making Frisk jump at the sudden change of volume in the room. "I DON'T THINK OUR FLOWER FRIEND WILL CAUSE MUCH TROUBLE!"

If only he remembered what had happened nearly an hour prior when they were all trapped. Frisk thought to themself, silently rejoicing that no one did really remember that moment, or Flowey would be out of the picture. There was a chance.

"Well, my child, are you ready?" Toriel asked, reaching out her hand to hold Frisk's. Taking it gladly, Frisk walked with all of their friends met on their journey, and walked through the tunnel leading outside of the barrier.

As they began walking, everything seemed the same as before. The normal routine took place as they walked outside the cave…

That would have been true, had Sans not felt something nearby. He'd experienced this feeling before as well. It was one of LOVE radiating from something nearby. Granted, it wasn't much of the vile substance, but enough that there could be some serious damage.

Keeping a watchful eye out, Sans decided to let the normal events transpire.


How long had it been since that loud crash? I had been hiding for at most half an hour. I dared not move, lest something actually came out of that place.

Magic was always a strange thing. Whenever danger was sensed, or the slightest entity of hostility could be coming, if you were on edge, you'd know when it's there. I had felt like something was about to happen when the strange glassy shards flew past me, but nothing came.

Well, since nothing was happening, maybe it was just my imagination? Oh well, I had been known to hallucinate. That's what everyone had said when I had tried to speak to people about a strange, powerful, animal like being which had come three years ago…

At least, that's what I had believed at this time.

The… the attack was a terrifying one. I cannot remember all of it, as I was sent into a blind rage when I saw that the thing was holding someone close to me when it came to my town. I don't remember what caused me to lash out… but all I can distinctly remember was when blood flew through the air, coming from someone who I had just attacked in rage…

And something within me increased...

I acted too quickly when I saw my friend, limp in that monster's grasp. A monster is the only thing I knew how to describe it with. It looked like the personification of a demon. Yet, no matter how much I try to recall some evil in what it was trying to do, I could not do so. The monster seemed so… lost. It seemed as if it wasn't trying to hurt anyone.

It never fought back…

At least, that's all I knew before magic overtook me…

Now, three years later, and everyone acts like it never happened… Something like that would have stuck for a long time in history, yet not a faint record of the event could be recalled. Maybe I had gone mad…

Well, there was no use of pondering on it now. I was just delaying the inevitable, and I knew I had to do what I had come here to accomplish. Suddenly, that prick of magic came back, forcing me to dive back into my hiding place in the bushes.

I was right to do so, when I heard footsteps coming out from the massive cave the shards had flung out from. It took every ounce of me to contain myself as I watched beasts, along with a human, walking out of the cavern. They… they were so… familiar. Why did I see a resemblance somewhere in there?

Why did they exist? Why were they here? What did they want?

"Stay put… and don't move an inch." I told myself… Or, I thought I told myself that.

They all stood on the edge of the cliff, gazing off at the sunset I had scene awhile ago. "Isn't it beautiful, everyone?" A low voice came from the largest of all of the… monsters? It resembled more of a goat in appearance, but had fur… Dear god was I just dreaming, or was everyone right about me being insane?

"Wow… I-It's e-even better than on T-TV!" A scientist responded. The only thing that tipped me off to that was her lab coat, but she seemed to have that nerdy attitude from the sound of her voice. But… why was she just acting like this was the first time she had seen a sunset?

With a loud yell, a taller piranha-looking monster turned to the human, who seemed more at ease than confined… "Frisk, you live with this?" Who doesn't see a sunset? "The sunlight is so nice, and the air is so fresh! I feel so alive!"

"HEY SANS!" A taller skeleton spoke, despite all logic on how that works. "WHAT IS THAT GIANT BALL?" All right, this was getting confusing. So they obviously had never seen the sun, but who hadn't seen it? That's just… confusing…

"We call that "the sun" my friend." A smaller skeleton stated smugly, slouching over as he watched the sunset with them.

With a leap of excitement, the taller skeleton exclaimed, "WOWIE! I CAN'T BELIEVE I'M FINALLY MEETING THE SUN!" I would say that the taller skeleton's antics amused me, but I was too busy panicking to try and make sense of what the hell was going on.

"I could sit here and watch this for hours…" The king wistfully muttered, dazed by the spectacular reflection of the sunlight across the sky.

"Yes, it is beautiful. Is it not?" The second monster that looked similar to the other goat-type monster asked, interrupting the moment. "But we should really think about what comes next." Her voice… that motherly voice…

They're gone, you can't change that… I told myself, barely noticing that my eye had reignited. Silently cursing, I covered it with one hand, trying to shield it from their view. Thank god, the other one hadn't ignited in flame yet.

I continued watching as the monsters talked a bit more, mainly the king making an offer to the human. It was strange how the human seemed to be at home amongst the monsters. Not once did they flinch at the intimidating stature or appearances. They just looked… joyful.

Paying attention, I realized something the king had said. "An era of peace between humans and monsters." Bells went off in my head as something clicked. Last time a monster had come here… it was slain in cold blood… How would this be any different?

Some of the monsters began walking off in different directions. The stocky skeleton comically walked the opposite direction of his brother who was heading to civilization, much to the dismay of the fish monster. Hopefully, she would be able to stop the skeleton before he got himself hurt…

It wasn't like I could do anything about it.

Eventually, it was just the motherly monster and the human, whose name had turned out to be Frisk, according to multiple monsters. The woman seemed to hesitate, drawing out a long sigh before slowly kneeling down next to the human. "Frisk… you come from this place… do you not? Does that mean you have somewhere to be?"

Frisk did not give a direct response, but instead, wrapped their arms around the motherly monster, surprising her greatly. I could have sworn she was crying a bit… If… if only I still could feel that way. "I will take care of you for as long as you like…"

They walked off in tow with the other monsters, running out to join them. When they were out of sight, I crept out of the bushes, making a dash for the treeline before anyone else could get near.

Only stopping once, I turned back, seeing hundreds of monsters pour out of the cavern.

"Follow them, and don't fall behind." A voice told me, my mind instinctively registering it as my own thoughts. Without a second thought, I crept along after them, wanting to know if they would make it or not.

If this was meant to happen, maybe I could learn something from them.