A lot of time passed since he saw the child last, and in spite of himself he was getting anxious. With the king gone as well it wasn't hard to guess what had happened and to reassure himself with that, but all the same he couldn't help thinking about it as the days passed, one after the next, without a word of news. Everyone else around him was moving, scrambling even, but he was only vaguely taking in the changes. Perhaps that was easy when not a lot of the changes were good. Too much anarchy, the population's rapid instability, the queen's return and the decrees she made that thankfully not many were listening to. The Royal Guard disbanded. Something something his brother was heartbroken, at least until Sans reminded him that he and Undyne had already gotten fired earlier.
It wasn't safe to go outside anymore. So he just stayed in his room all day, looking up crap on the Undernet and waiting for the power to be inevitably cut off from Snowdin town and shut off. He sent a letter to Alphys, but she never replied back. She wasn't posting on her Undernet account anymore. He blocked it, and picked on his brother's account instead. Listening to his shrieks from the room next to his, when Papyrus logged in every night, turned his permanent smile crooked.
When not surfing their minuscule web, Papyrus seemed to prefer speaking to his other self over th phone. That was, at least, how it sounded whenever his booming, affected growl rose up to Sans' room from the kitchen. He didn't pay much mind to the conversation-his heart was constantly racing too much.
At some point, when it was early in the morning and his brother's furious snarling faded away into the artificial sunlight, he couldn't take it anymore. Sans shut his laptop and stared at his bedroom wall in the dark, blinking slowly as his eyes adjusted. The child had slept in this room before, and while staying here had marked tallies on the wall with a faded marker. He could have washed them off, but could never find the energy. The name "Undyne" was written over the marks, and he tried to scratch them out with his fingers only to fail miserably. Oh, well. They would get fainter with time and dirt.
His chest felt tight; Sans pulled out his phone, scrolling through his tiny contact list. He called one number in particular, putting the phone to his sweaty skull and listening to that ring. He hoped that it would ring forever. don't pick up... he thought, staring at the wall. i'll just leave a message.
Click.
The ringing stopped and with it, Sans stopped breathing. "oh. you picked up," he squeaked out with the last of his available breath, wheezing as he heard a yawn from the other side of the line. Come to think of it, it must be a little early in the morning for a kid. He wondered if he should tell them he'll call back later- later, when they were sure to be totally asleep. That would be nicer, easier to talk into than with the voice on the other end.
It murmured, "Hey," in a rough tone.
Another soft wheeze, Sans covered the phone to hide the sound. "hiya. what's up, pipsqueak?"
"..."
The long pause made him sweat, and he uttered a noise from behind his teeth like clearing a nonexistent throat. "it's been a while, hasn't it? ...just wondering how you're doing. if, uh, you got home safe and all."
To that, there was no reply. It was as if he'd just gotten an answering machine, after all, save for the soft breathing that just passed through the receiver. For a moment he was frozen, unable to think of something more to venture, not sure if he was even going to get an answer or not. Well, the child had replied, hadn't they? The simple act of picking up the phone was proof that they were still alive.
"guess that's a maybe..." he said finally, sighing. "well uh, stuff has been happening down here since you left. like... for one thing, the queen came back." His voice trailed off even as he spoke, the sounds of his brother shouting at his own phone rising into his room suddenly. He must have gotten up while Sans was sweating over the call.
The phone crackled a little. "Sans?"
"oh, uhh..." he wheezed again, even quieter. "seems she's trying to make some changes. everyone's been, well, doing their own thing since the king died, y'know?"
"..."
Goddamn this quiet child to hell. "maybe alphys is... busy now, working for her. she's a lot more likely to check in on her now and then. haven't seen her around that much lately. and paps and undyne, they're doing what they can to keep the peace around here, since the royal guard's fallen apart recently."
"Sans?"
"it's been weird, uh, is what i'm saying," he cut in, feeling his non-heart ache as it beat harder. "don't worry about it, kid. at least, don't worry about me. if it gets too bad, i don't have to stay."
He was already thinking of his machine in the shed before their voice came again, "I thought you'd be gone already." It gave him a long pause, that whisper, as he sat on his greasy bed.
There wasn't really a good response he could give, for one thing. Lamely, all he could do was utter, "well, just got some stuff i still need to do here, to do first, y'know?"
"..."
A sigh escaped him. "you've been through a lot, kid. met people, got in fights... i'm sure you'll be a lot happier up there, but, uh, i hope you had some fun too while you were here. hard as it was."
No response, not even breathing.
"well, anyway, i'm gonna miss you pipsqueak. heheheh. i'll see ya later."
And not giving himself time to question his own words, he hung up.
He could feel and hear it as the child hung up the phone, placing it on the bench beside them both.
Suddenly it was quiet above and below, the world washed a cool color while grey clouds rolled overhead in a herd. Neither of them could speak to break that quiet it seemed, not in the wake of the phone call. But that was only to be expected between them by now. It was the quiet, the absence of voices, that they were more comfortable with than anything else, and even that just barely.
That was why even in all this time, in all these days, Frisk hadn't gone back to what he was sure would be her home.
Instead of commenting on the unexpected call he only looked through her eyes a moment. At the empty village where she had been creeping into houses, eating and sleeping as she saw fit. This village existed even in his time, before the barrier was erected- although there had been quite a few modern conveniences added to it since then, including utility poles and paved parts of the road. But modernized or not, it was abandoned now. Abandoned, perhaps, recently.
Thinking about why that may be made him broil. Seeing leaves scatter in the wind, he made like them instead and rode along the wave of Frisk's thoughts, what few he was actually privy to.
The surface was chilly today. He had forgotten how the weather changes on the surface, for it had been so much warmer the day before, and so rainy even before that. What fitting weather the sky decided to visit upon them, for this very moment. Unlike anything that monsters experienced underground, where the static weather only went from extreme to extreme and had no room for this grey.
In the gloom and chill he was even beginning to get drowsy, and the idea of slumbering in the child's heart was again appealing to him. He was often tired, so very tired, nowadays. Not having a body only helped him to realize it sooner. In some ways this stirred his anger again, but there was nothing he could do about it.
Well, there was perhaps something he could do. And now was as good a time as any. "You wish to go back."
Her quiet voice dropped down from between her dry lips, as she leaned back to watch the sky. "He knows I want to go back." She reached for her own arm, plucking at her sleeve, which had become damp in the weather and clung uncomfortably to her skin. "They're all doing really badly back there, aren't they?"
"There is no more hope," said he, matter-of-factly. "There was little to begin with, and now you have taken the rest."
"I didn't mean to," she said. In the distance a gold flower waved, the kind clustered thickly around the edges of the village and painted on the fronts of ancient houses. More quietly she whispered, "It wasn't my fault."
"It doesn't mean that it did not happen." They both yawned, at once, and their respective breaths halted and shuddered within Frisk's chest until ending in the sound of a sob.
In a moment the girl had regained her composure, and rubbing her nose on her damp sleeve she murmured, "I want to go back."
"Why have you not?"
"Lotsa reasons."
Through her eyes they both looked back up at the grey sky. Those reasons were not truly so hard to guess. Asgore only moved restlessly within again, like a pacing tiger, and she breathed in deeper. Could she feel his discontent? "I'm outside."
Had it been so long since she had seen the sky? Trace memories in her head spoke of weeks underground, but for him a few weeks were a blink. Still, though, the memories gave him shame. Such as he did not feel these days.
"And," she continued, reaching into her inventory. "I don't want all this to go away."
For a moment not even her open thoughts elaborated. She had in her hands a big bunny plush which took her attention, sweet and white with an orange chest. Easily soiled by dirt, but it looked new.
Impatiently, he rumbled, "This?"
"...If I go back, I mean, you won't remember," she whispered back, hugging the toy to her chest. For all her violence, she was quite childlike. "You'll fight me again."
"I may not."
"You might."
The dampness of air threatened to turn into an actual drizzle, but Frisk merely blew a hot breath of smoke out of her parched mouth and onto her sweater, soothing herself. Asgore considered speaking further, but she only went on, "And if I do go back, I won't know what to do. Flowey's gone, probably won't talk to me. ...And the barrier will still be there." Another hot breath, and then she was silent.
"Have you no one to call on?"
Faces flashed in her mind, some he knew and some he did not.
"Are you prepared to leave your friends behind because you are at a loss?"
He would have said more, perhaps prompted even more faces, but here Frisk exhaled sharply and held the stuffed rabbit in front of her face, summoning a full memory. Sans, whom Asgore knew well enough, gives it to her in an unfamiliar environment, smiling as if begging without words. The memory faded fast, leaving only the little toy's face.
Quietly the child put the rabbit on her lap and warbled, in a steady simple tune, "Little Bunny Foo-Foo, hopping through the forest, scooping up the field mice and bopping them on the head."
"What is this."
"Shh!" She hissed, and her cheeks grew warm. "...Along came the good mother, and she said, 'I'm going to give you ~two chances~. And when those ~two chances~ are up, I'll turn you into a goon!'"
The bunny only sagged, and reluctantly Frisk put it back in her inventory. She took a deep breath, looking for a final time at the sky.
"..." The king searched for words, but found only sorrow. He too might not see the sky again. The wind blowing on the human's skin would be the only thing left that would be available to him. And unlike the human, he wouldn't have any extra chances or memories left. Without lungs, he sighed.
"See you later, Asgore. It would be nice if you'd remember this," Frisk yawned. She closed her eyes.
For a moment, everything in his mind ground to a complete halt.
Author's Notes: You might consider this a bit of a halfway point? 0 0
Next Chapter: All You Have To Do Is...
