In the first few weeks after the Barrier was broken, monsters and humans lived happily and peacefully together. Humans who still feared and hated monsters fled into the margins of society, while the majority built friendships with monsters and invited them into their communities. This peace lasted shortly, however, as human extremists came out of the woodwork with acts of violence.
Anti-monster groups went into areas with high monster population density and opened up fire using tactical rifles. This occurred five times over the course a week before emergency militias were put in place. This week was called the Week of Ash in regards to the material that was shoveled out of the streets and public centers after shootings. Once the dust was settled (pun not intended), emergency legislation was put in place by the human government. The only ambassador that the monsters had, 12-year-old Frisk, was shut out of the legislative meetings because they were a minor and not part of a congressional family.
The bill that came out after the legislative vote was The Human-Monster Segregation Act of 201X. This bill was a nightmare for Frisk, who's goal was to establish friendship and unity between humans and monsters. Instead, the new law offered a regressive and divisive solution to human-on-monster violence.
As ambassador, Frisk had to sign the bill on behalf of all monster kind in order for the act to go into motion. If Frisk didn't sign the document, the situation would have been dramatically different. The emergency militias that were set up to protect monsters were only temporary. The bill drew upon congressional funding to set up permanent border security surrounding Monster Sectors. In turn, monsters agreed to maintain their own Sectors independently in order to avoid as much human contact as possible. If the bill wasn't signed the monsters would have had to create their own defensive strategy, and this would have been the reimplementation of the Royal Guard. Undyne, Sans and Papyrus were eager to reestablish the Guard, but everyone else was wary of this. It was clear that human government was already on edge about independent monster forces; Frisk received several congressional statements that said if monsters built up military forces, they would automatically be viewed as a threat to humankind. The creation of what Asgore creatively called the "New Royal Guard" would have brought monsters closer to warfare with humans. Monsters learned a brutal lesson about what war with humans meant. The alternative was to submit to human legislation.
It broke Frisk's heart to sign the law that they had no say in making. The signing was a media spectacle; I remember seeing it online through a live feed.
…Flashback to the signing…
Frisk and their adoptive family walked into the Congressional Hall wearing a variety of formal clothes. Frisk wore a royal blue vest with navy dress pants, Undyne and Asgore wore tuxedos, Alphys wore a light blue floral dress, and Toriel wore her schoolteacher's uniform- a light royal purple sweater over a purple polka-dotted dress. Sans wore a neon blue bowtie with a black dress shirt and dress pants. Papyrus stuck out the most. He strutted across the hall in a running outfit with the word JOGBOY printed across his t-shirt, and in an attempt to follow some degree of formality, he added a red bowtie around the collar of his shirt. Mettaton's outfit looked similar to that of a congressman's; he sported a navy-blue blazer with grey khakis and polished dress shoes.
The sound of their footsteps rung across the concrete pillars and walls as they approached the podium containing the document. It would be the first-time Frisk and the monsters read the new law before Frisk would sign it and the public would hear it for the first time. Everyone except the skeleton brothers and Mettaton looked exhausted. None of them could get any sleep the night before, they were anticipating what the new law would be, thinking about the best and worst-case scenarios. Hundreds of cameras lining the steps on the opposite wall pointed towards Frisk and their family. Frisk stood on a stool so that their head was above the podium, and they saw the document of the first time. All of the worry that Frisk felt in the pit of their stomach immediately turned into burning dread as Frisk read the title of the document out loud. Toriel saw the title as Frisk spoke, and she could read Frisk's body language. She placed a comforting paw on Frisk's shoulder, and Sans followed along, placing a hand on Frisk's other shoulder. Undyne lifted Alphys onto her shoulder so that she could read the paper, and the monsters braced themselves to look at and listen to what the new law contained.
The cameras focused in on Frisk as they read through the document, occasionally zooming in on the faces of the monsters who stood next to Frisk, attempting to catch every sign of emotion that the group displayed. It was hard enough for the monsters to see what would become of their race, but it was more difficult to watch their best friend and only child break down in front of them. Cameras zoomed into Frisk's face as Frisk wiped away tears. I found the camera attention pathetic, media outlets were making a display out of their pain. When Frisk finished reading the bill they looked at the last page which contained the plethora of Congressional signatures. At the bottom corner of the page was the last blank line, reserved for Frisk's signature. At the top of the polished podium sat a shining brass fountain pen within a penholder. Frisk was left with two decisions. Sign the document and make it an official law, or don't.
Frisk turned around so that they could talk with their family.
"I know we agreed to approve of whatever solution the human government came up with… but…" Alphys sighed and shook her head nervously, "this REALLY doesn't look good."
"Child, it is important that you sign this. This protects both humans and monsters for the time being, and it buys us time for our kind to make peace with those who attacked us." Toriel hated the law with every fiber of her being. It brought relations between humans and monsters backwards. But how she personally felt didn't matter to her, she had other things on her mind at that time. Toriel ran a school that taught both monsters and humans, and she put the lives of her students in front of her. The thought of an armed, violent group walking into her school and opening fire before she could do anything terrified her. Of course, monsters could have created a new Royal Guard which would have protected her students if Frisk refused to sign. But that would have put monsters on very thin ice with humans.
"Don't sign it" Sans said blatantly.
"No, Sans think about…"
"No. Do not sign this." Sans repeated. "We didn't break through the barrier just to be forced into isolation again."
"We don't need their protection," Undyne said. "Let's walk out of here. I dare humans to try attacking us again," Undyne made a light chuckle as she imagined impaling human attackers with her magic.
"I agree with Undyne" Asgore said confidently. "We don't need to take this Frisk. Monsters can protect themselves, and if that makes us a threat, so be it." Although the distinction of Royal authority became ambiguous when monsters reached the surface, Asgore still felt responsible for the monster race. "I still believe we can make peace with humanity without division."
Mettaton spoke last. "We all have our own views about this law, but the choice is up to you in the end. We stand behind every choice you make because so far, your choices have created the best reality for monsters. You wouldn't be our ambassador otherwise."
Frisk turned around and faced the cameras again, making an announcement. "If humans want to defend monsters, that's fine. It would be better without segregation" Frisk took a quick glance at the monsters behind them. "Humans got along well with monsters when the barrier first opened, but the actions of a few have divided us. Now the government has told monsters that they can't defend themselves. We can take this alternative though. We will work through this division, and still show love towards one another. We will lay down our weapons, and let humans have their control. Humans have showed their hatred; now monsters will show their mercy." Frisk grabbed the pen at the top of the podium.
Under the bill, boundary lines were drawn around areas of high monster population density. The areas with high monster populations were called Monster Sectors, and the areas surrounding monster sectors were called Human Sectors. Once the first boundaries were drawn, the remaining members of each race were forced to move out of their opposing Sector. When the population migration period was completed, members of the opposite race could only visit other Sectors if there was written permission from someone within the other Sector. Additionally, the bill ruled that "the amount of property each Sector received would be proportional to its localized population." The statement was annoyingly vague, but not by legislative standards, and this allowed the governors of local provinces to dole out Monster Sectors that were vastly smaller than Human Sectors. The justification for what eventually became known as 'monster packing' was deemed 'localized proportionality'. This was, in reality, pseudo-statistical bullshit made up by monster-phobic provincial leaders to force monsters into overcrowded rural and city slums. The reasoning behind this was that in every city, the population of humans always outnumbered that of monsters. The total human population was much higher than that of monsters, and monsters had spread evenly throughout the cities and provincial lands surrounding Mt. Ebott when the barrier was opened; some even decided to migrate internationally. Unfortunately, the bill didn't detail exactly how ratios of population affected the distribution of land, so leaders took the liberty of cramming monsters into small Sectors within under-developed industrial and rural areas surrounding human cities.
The media attention that Frisk received during the signing of the Segregation Act was large. But it was nothing like the media circus that surrounded the custody battle between Toriel and Frisk's orphanage.
...Flash forward; frisk coming home
The doorbell woke Toriel up from her slumber. She realized she fell asleep reading Modern Magic: A History on Quantum Mechanical Manipulation. She hoped Sans didn't burn the pie while she was asleep.
Toriel walked to the door to let Frisk and Papyrus inside. Toriel kneeled and gave Frisk a hug. As was custom, she asked Frisk how tutoring went.
"Okay," said Frisk. Same response as always. When the Segregation Act went into motion all of the schools were forced to segregate students, and Frisk was moved to a school inside of a Human Sector.
Toriel knew that the change was hard for Frisk. They excelled with all of their subjects and they made many friends with monsters. Most notably was a schoolmate named Monster Kid. After the move, Frisk had some of the human friends that were with them at Toriel's school, but this didn't make the segregation any easier. Toriel was sure that the change was part of why Frisk had started failing their classes at the new school.
"I SMELL FOOD, WHAT DID YOU MAKE TODAY?" Papyrus asked.
"Vegetable pie."
"THAT'S NOT SNAIL OR BUTTERSCOTCH! WHERE DID YOU LEARN TO PUT VEGETABLES INSIDE OF PIE?"
"I bought some cookbooks this week. Vegetable pies are only a slice of the pie recipes that I can make." Toriel said with a wink.
Sans came from the kitchen laughing. "Good one Toriel. Pie's ready, I turned off the oven." San's looked over to Frisk. "Hey kiddo".
"Papyrus, why don't you help make the table while I get dinner ready." Toriel looked at Sans and they exchanged a nod.
"Hey, come here kid." Frisk followed Sans over to the couch while Papyrus and Toriel set up dinner. "you really think this whole magic festival thing is gonna work?"
"It will be some of the first public contact that humans and monsters have made in months. I think sharing magic will help bring us back together" Frisk responded.
"I hope so. Toriel is already taking time off to visit the underground. If she performs at this thing she's just gonna add more work to her busy teaching schedule." Sans added.
"I know that." Frisk agreed.
Frisk Found it touching how considerate Sans was being of Toriel. Sans and Toriel were only roommates. With the school and the custody battles in Human court, Toriel only had so much time to care for Frisk, so Sans agreed to move in and lend a hand. After things settled down, Sans never saw a reason to move back out. It would have been too much work for San's liking to find another place to stay. Toriel was fine with this as long as he occasionally lent his help, provided plenty of puns, and didn't leave his socks around the house.
"Well, this thing is in a few weeks, so Toriel needs to brush up on her flamey spells to show the Humans at the college. This means we need to pick up the slack while she practices."
"I want to help mom out more, but she never lets me do anything. She worries about me having stress at the new school and stuff and wants me to relax all the time." Frisk didn't mention the court battles and legislative conflicts that they were thrown into. Of course Frisk needed time to relax, but they didn't make things easier for themselves when they volunteered Toriel on my show.
"I can convince her to let us wash dishes together kiddo. I can even show you how to be lazy after words, if there's one thing I'm good at, it's that."
"Dinner's Ready." Toriel called out. It was time to eat, and Frisk had just thought about a good topic to bring up at the table.