In that exact moment, the Earth was still turning around its axis. Somewhere, there were people worryingly watching the news, concerned about the monsters that had suddenly appeared, wondering if one day they would invade their countries too. Somewhere – somewhere else – time was moving forward.
But for Frisk, nothing about that mattered. His world came into a sudden halt. There were noises around him, the siren still sounded, but he didn't care. It was like his soul had left his body, and he had become an empty shell.
His heart ached. His head contorted, trying to assimilate what had just happened. He could hear someone calling for him, but it sounded distant. He kept staring at the white powder all over the ground, really wanting to look away, but not finding any strength to do so.
Not powder. Dust.
During that state, his hearing was mostly muffled, but sometimes it would clear up, like his brain was an old radio tuning in and out. He heard Toriel's voice telling him to be careful. He saw Asgore's shocked expression when they were killed by that murderous flower. He smelled Mrs. Magda's spilled blood when she died. Everything was coming back at him, and it was too much. He couldn't handle it. He'd go insane.
He saw the scene right before his eyes – they were open, of course – but it was like the images didn't manage to be processed by his brain. He couldn't tell what was going on, or if he was in danger. And honestly, it didn't matter. Not anymore.
"Frisk!"
He blinked a few times, and Earth began to move again. His hearing cleared up. He snapped out of it, and looked to the one who had called him – MK, who was still kneeled down by his side.
"T-thank god!", he said, sounding relieved. "You... you were..."
Frisk shook his head, as if to clear his thoughts. He looked at Sans' dust spread across the ground, an unbelievable amount of sorrow inside him, and still growing. However, that time he knew he couldn't stay there. The shorter skeleton was no longer with them, but that was no excuse for them to just stay there and get captured – or most likely, killed.
"I know.", the human replied, his voice failing. He hacked to clear his throat. "Sorry."
Along with the everlasting siren, he could hear the running footsteps of the militia's members getting closer to the room they were in. They had little time if they wanted to escape – and the "shortcut" option was out for good.
"We need to go!", said MK with a sense of urgency on his voice, standing up.
Frisk stood up too, but then looked at Papyrus, who remained in the same position. They didn't say a word, and that filled the human with a bad feeling. He walked around their brother's remains and crouched down by their side. The taller skeleton was staring catatonically at the dust, their mouth half-open with a silent scream that never came out.
"Papyrus.", he called, his voice low.
As expected, there was no reaction. The skeleton didn't move an inch, as if they hadn't heard him at all. Frisk noticed that was probably the way he was a few moments prior, too.
"Papyrus.", he called again, his voice louder. "We have to leave."
Still no reaction. In the distance, Frisk could hear the militia getting closer. They had seconds to leave that room.
"Papyrus, I'm really... really sorry. You're hurt. I'm hurt too. But we can't keep in here!"
"It's no use!", said MK, glancing at the door they came through, panicking. "Oh god, what do we do!?"
And Papyrus kept still. The easy solution: leave the skeleton there. But Frisk was fed up with easy solutions. No – he'd bring them back even if it was the last thing he'd do.
They would stick together.
"Papyrus!", he called once more, sounding loud and clear. "C'mon!"
That time, Frisk saw, perhaps, the skeleton's eye socket twitching for a second, but they still didn't move at all. The human closed his hands, knowing he was running out of options.
"They're almost here..!"
"I'm sorry, Papyrus..."
He closed his eyes for a brief moment before grabbing Papyrus' shoulders and turning them so they would face him. Although they weren't looking at their brother's dust anymore, their expression didn't change. They weren't aware of their surroundings at all.
With a quick and precise movement, Frisk threw his arm back and slapped Papyrus in the face with force, making a hollow sound. The tough surface of the skull hurt his hand in return. He flinched, grabbing his hand in an act of reflex.
However, the shock was enough to bring the skeleton back. He looked at Frisk, putting his hand where the human had hit. He looked utterly miserable, but at least he was out of his hypnotic state.
"We have to leave.", stated Frisk, looking Papyrus' in the eyes decisively.
The skeleton nodded and stood up as the human did so. MK rapidly approached them.
"Let's go!", he said, turning around and starting to run to the door on the opposite side of the room.
Papyrus didn't say a word and merely followed the yellow monster. Frisk gave a step forward, but then stopped and looked at Sans' dust. It was so weird to think just an hour before they were still alive and well. Then, just like that, they left, no longer belonging to this world.
Frisk felt a heaviness in his heart that almost plucked him to the ground. He glanced at the other two monsters who were waiting by the door. Papyrus looked down, while MK stared at the human, confused as to why he wasn't rushing.
The footsteps of the militia were really close.
He made a snap decision. Crouching down, he opened his backpack and took an empty plastic water bottle.
"Frisk!", called MK. "We don't have time!"
But he wasn't listening. With his hands shaking a little, he poured some of the skeleton's dust – the part which wasn't stained red – inside the bottle. Getting in contact with the powder made him slightly sick, but he didn't back down.
"Whoa, what the hell, dude!?", exclaimed MK, scandalized.
Frisk quickly shoved the bottle inside his backpack, and before standing up once again he picked Sans' backpack too. There were probably useful supplies that couldn't go to waste there. He wore it on his front, his body sandwiched by the two bags.
As he ran towards the monsters, Papyrus opened the door, and just before they got into the adjacent corridor he heard someone kicking the door they had came through open.
"Found them!"
They started shooting, but missed. The trio ran at full speed, but for some reason Frisk's thoughts were clear, as he managed to keep his panic under control – perhaps because of the emotional shock he just went. He had a clear objective in his mind: to get out of the facility.
He knew they would have to get back to the first floor if they wanted to do that, but it was hard finding their way in the mazy corridors. Sometimes they would go through the offices, but it often felt they were running in circles. It was hard to come up with a plan when they were being chased.
It seemed, however, that luck decided to be on their side once again. As they were running across a corridor, Frisk spotted a huge paper hanging on the wall just a little ahead, and noticed it was a map of the factory.
Now that was just what they needed.
"Stop!", he yelled, and the two other monsters obeyed. "MK! Map! Exit!"
It wasn't necessary to say anything else, the yellow monster nodded and started to study the map intensively, trying to spot an exit. Papyrus kept looking to the ground, placing his right hand on his left elbow, as if half embracing himself. Frisk turned around. They were still being chased – that much was obvious – so he drew the handgun from his pocket and pointed forward.
"I'll... I'll hold them off!", stated Frisk, trying to sound reassuring.
In that moment, a couple of militia members entered the corridor, and Frisk instinctively pulled the trigger. The loud bang from the gun startled him, but he shot a couple more times. He missed – but their pursuers were caught in surprise as they didn't expect the human to fight back. They retreated back from where they came from, but Frisk kept shooting. He didn't know if they had gone for good or if they were just waiting for an opening to shoot back.
MK was busy reading the map, and Papyrus wasn't in any conditions to help him. Frisk was well aware that once the magazine ran out of bullets they would start shooting if they were waiting, and the trio would stand no chance. The rest of the ammo was inside his backpack, and by the time it would take for him to open it and reload they would already be dead.
"Ok, done!", stated MK as Frisk pulled the trigger one more time, only to find out he had run out of bullets.
He turned around and started to run, the other two monsters following him closely. He heard shooting and screaming behind him, but they had already gained a good advantage.
"Left!", commanded MK, and they turned into the left corner of a corridor.
They were still playing that dangerous game of cat and mouse – only this time they knew what they were doing, and if anything, that increased their chances of survival.
"Right!"
That filled the human with determination.
"Stairs on the right!"
They did as the reptilian monster commanded and went down the stairs back to the ground floor, all of them skipping some of the steps for more speed.
"Left!"
The alarm sounded closer, which meant they were near its source. The piercing noise made Frisk's ear hurt.
"Left!"
They got into a particularly long corridor, and sped up. Long corridors meant they could easily be shot from behind if they weren't quick enough. By the end, there was an iron double door.
"Keep going! We're almost there!"
That gave Frisk the motivation he needed for that last boost of speed he wanted to do. Just a little longer and they would get out of that hellish place. They would be free.
"Just one more room..!"
The human kicked the door open.
They were in a large room where Frisk reckoned was used to actually mount and customize firearms. There were large tables surrounded by all sorts of machinery. The room itself was composed by shades of gray and white, and it looked like it once was a rather depressing working environment. Still, that wasn't what caught the human's attention.
It was all the militia inside the room, pointing their guns at the trio. Frisk immediately raised both of his arms, still holding his handgun on his left hand. Papyrus did the same. If fear wasn't the predominant feeling in the moment, the human would have felt frustrated – they were so close, yet so far from their freedom.
"Drop the weapon!", commanded a woman directly in front of them. She was the only one not holding a gun.
Frisk immediately opened his hand, letting the gun fall to the ground. They were severely outnumbered – any kind of resistance would be futile and would only get them killed. His eyes were fixed on the exit on the other side of the room. What could they do? Make a run for it? They have been lucky so far, but the human thought that would be asking for too much.
Everyone pointed their guns at them, and tension filled the air. One wrong movement and the trio would be as good as dead. Frisk's mind raced, trying to find a solution. Glancing at their faces, he noticed they were unprepared for the situation that had presented. Perhaps they didn't have to deal with intruders since they took control of the town? In any case, that was hardly a good thing – on their eyes, Frisk and the monsters were a threat that needed to be dealt with, one way or another.
He heard the iron door behind him being opened once again, followed by a set of steps. He didn't dare to look behind – the situation was so volatile someone could start shooting if he did – but despite that he knew they were surrounded.
Was that it? Would it end there? What could they do? Fighting was not an option – not a reasonable one, at least, but there had to be something else they could do. Frisk had no idea what it was, but of one thing he was certain – he needed to get his group out of the factory safely.
He sighed. Fighting would only make things worse, and running away wasn't even possible. That meant there was only one thing left to do.
Act.
"We mean no harm.", said Frisk, trying to keep his voice steady.
Some people shivered and pointed their guns in a more aggressive manner at the human, but fortunately nobody shot. He held his breath, and had the feeling MK and Papyrus were doing the same.
"Who are you? What are you doing with those monsters?", said the same woman who commanded Frisk to drop his weapon earlier.
The way she said the last question – with a hint of shock and disgust – bothered him, but that was the opening he needed. If he answered the questions and said the right things, they could get out unharmed. He knew it was possible – he'd done it before.
"They aren't fighting.", replied the human. He could feel all the eyes on the room were fully focused on him. "I... I was alone when I found them, and we've been traveling together ever since. We're just trying to survive. We don't want any trouble."
There. Easy, simple, direct. He didn't tell the whole truth, but he didn't lie either, which was probably a good thing to do.
"If you don't want any trouble, then why did you break into here?", inquired the woman, imposing.
Frisk had a ready answer to that.
"We're running short on supplies. We had no other choice but steal what you had here."
"What did you take?"
"Just some handgun ammo and a suppressor."
The woman broke the eye contact with Frisk for a moment, pondering on what to do.
"Adam.", she called. "Check their bags and see if they are telling the truth."
He didn't turn around to look, but he felt someone unzipping his backpack on his back and checking the contents. They did the same thing with Sans' backpack, which the human was wearing on the front. Finally, they walked to Papyrus and checked their bag. The whole affair lasted a few minutes which were filled with tension.
"He says the truth, ma'am.", said the man called Adam, and Frisk held himself from sighing with relief, as that would most likely be interpreted the wrong way.
"What did they take?"
"Nine beretta magazines with 15 bullets each, and a suppressor.", replied the man. "They have some other stuff, mostly food and first-aid, but they are not the type we have here, so they must have taken it from another place."
The woman nodded, looking down for a while, deep in thought. Then, she looked fiercely into Frisk's eyes once again, and suddenly the human felt very tiny.
"What made you think it was a good idea to come here to steal our ammunition?", she asked.
What really made everyone agree to go there was because of the vehicles, but they didn't need to know that. Frisk held his breath, carefully choosing what to say next. He noticed he was probably talking to the leader of the group, which just added to his nervousness.
"I was the only one from us who didn't have any means of self defense.", he replied. "We came here to fix that problem. Monsters can do magic, but we humans can't, as you must be aware by now."
"I see...", she said in return.
It was clear she was in doubt of whether she should or not let them walk away. Silence filled the room. Their freedom was no more than a possibility at the moment, but Frisk had to hold onto that hope. There was nothing else to do.
"Ma'am?", called a man next to the woman. "Forgive me if I'm wrong, but you can't be possibly thinking of letting them go, right?"
"And why not, Richard?", she asked.
The man looked at the trio, full of suspicion.
"We don't know if they are telling the truth.", he started, looking back to the woman. "I mean, he looks like a human, sure, but a human walking around with monsters sounds a bit fishy to me. Who's to say they are not gonna come back with reinforcements? I say we kill them to prevent that. Their supplies are gonna be useful, too."
For the first time, people started to talk over what the man had said. To Frisk's horror, most of them were agreeing with him. That wasn't good, but it wasn't like they didn't have a point. What could the human reply?
"I don't know if you're more human... or monster.", Bonnie's words echoed in his head.
"It's true.", said Frisk, and everybody looked at him again.
He could feel MK staring at him, probably thinking he had gone insane. The man, Richard, and the militia leader both looked at him with inquisitive looks.
"You don't know if I'm lying.", continued the human. "And I can't prove what I'm saying. I can just plead... no, beg of you... to believe in me. I can only give you my word that we won't come back if you let us go."
Cold sweat was all over Frisk's forehead. He knew he was threading on very thin ice, and one wrong sentence, or even one wrong word could mean their doom. He wasn't even sure he had done the right thing.
The woman kept eye contact with him, and Frisk used all his might not to look away. Richard, however, pointed at him.
"I remember now.", he said, angry. "You were in four, right? One is missing! Where is he!?"
Frisk didn't even know how it was possible, but it seemed as if even more guns were pointed at them as people understood what the man was saying. The human felt his mouth dry. He wanted to look at Papyrus, but couldn't do it.
"H-he...", babbled Frisk in response. "He's..."
The look on the militia leader's expression changed. It was no longer inquisitive, imposing and mistrustful, but sorrowful. Pitiful, even. She closed her eyes, taking a deep breath.
"Leave.", she said, opening them again.
There was a small commotion from the people around her, not believing what she had just said. Richard looked at her, confused.
"Ma'am?", he asked. "We... we can't just leave them be!"
"Silence!", she commanded, and everyone stopped talking all at once. She looked at Frisk, her eyes fierce again. "You can keep your things. Go. Get far away from here."
The human felt something stuck in his throat. He actually did it? Were they saved? It was too good to be true.
"Thank you.", he said, nodding.
Richard, on the other hand, looked hysterical.
"What!? Are you actually doing it!? What about our ammo!? What about what I said earlier!?"
"I know the risks, Richard, thank you very much.", she replied sarcastically. "But we can't afford to spill innocent blood. If we stop caring and just kill everyone who crosses our paths, we'll lose what little humanity we've been able to keep so far."
"But... but..!"
"I've made my mind.", she stated firmly. "Open the door. Let them leave."
The militia members seemed to be reluctant in obeying their leader, but in the end they didn't have any other choice. One by one, they all put their guns down and walked around to make space so Frisk and the monsters could pass.
With his hands still shaking a little, he picked up the handgun from the ground and pocketed it. He turned around to face MK and Papyrus. The former looked in awe at the human, not believing what had just happened. The latter, however, looked uncharacteristically indifferent to the whole situation, and that broke Frisk's heart. In normal circumstances, the taller skeleton would be the first to cheerfully compliment the human.
But the circumstances weren't normal, and perhaps they'd never be.
"I have a warning to give you.", said the leader, and Frisk turned around to look at her. "I'm letting you leave, so don't take this for granted. If we see you in this town again, we won't show any mercy. Understood?"
Frisk nodded energetically, and the woman made a motion with her head – a sign for them to leave. He motioned for MK and Papyrus to follow him, and they walked across the room, fully aware everyone was staring at them. Richard looked at them extremely angry, but the human payed it no mind. Soon enough, they were outside once again, the door closing behind their backs.
It was still night and the temperature had dropped by several degrees. Frisk had lost sense of time, though it felt like decades had passed. All he wanted to do was to lay down anywhere and sleep until morning, but they couldn't do that. They had to get the farthest they could from that town first. Against all odds, they were shown mercy, but that would hardly happen again – the militia leader's warning was clear.
Deep inside, Frisk knew what he had just done was amazing. He saved his, MK and Papyrus' lives by simply talking. Yet – he couldn't feel happy, nor proud, because something was missing. And now that he wasn't in immediate danger anymore, he could feel it growing in his chest – a dark, black void that would never be filled again. Not really.
He felt incomplete. They all did.
It wasn't the first time they felt like they were walking aimlessly without any purpose or objective, but that never hurt as bad as it did in the moment. Three lost souls wandering in the dark woods, guided by nothing but the will to survive.
Frisk didn't want to think – if he did, he would suffer. He didn't want to think about the war, or how he was supposed to "end" it. He didn't want to think about Undyne. He just pressed forward, guiding MK and Papyrus through the dark with a small flashlight.
Sans' backpack was heavy, and having to carry it alongside his own was starting to make his shoulders hurt. However, he wasn't going to ask to take turns with Papyrus to do it. He could only imagine what the skeleton was going through. Sans' death was affecting the human deeply, and he wasn't even a relative to them. He felt fearful about what would happen to Papyrus. What if they became so broken they'd never smile again? What if they stopped believing? What if they stopped being Papyrus altogether?
The trio walked in the forest for quite some time, not exchanging a word in the way. Frisk figured they must have made some distance from the town, and as they were all tired, he decided they could rest there.
"I think this is a good spot.", stated the human, turning around to face the two monsters. "I'll... I'll start the watch. Sunrise must not be far, anyway."
And that was all that was needed. Papyrus dropped on his knees and grabbed his face, his shoulders shaking. Frisk knew what was happening even before the skeleton started giving loud sobs and hiccups. He felt as if someone was squeezing his heart.
"S-SANS... SANS...", they cried, desolated. "SANS... WHY... SANS..."
"Papyrus...", said MK, sounding heartbroken.
What Frisk really wanted to do was sit and cry with the skeleton. Instead, he approached the reptilian monster and made a sign for them to give Papyrus some space. They understood and followed the human, who stopped after they both made some distance.
"Just... leave him be, for now.", said Frisk, and MK nodded.
Despite being some feet away, he could still hear Papyrus' breakdown, and it made him feel miserable. With nothing else to do, he sat on the ground, taking off both backpacks. If his shoulders could sigh with relief, they would. MK sat next to him. From the faint light of the flashlight, they didn't look any better than the human did. He wanted to say something – anything so he didn't have to hear the skeleton crying – but couldn't come up with anything. So they just sat in silence for a moment.
"It's my fault.", said MK, his voice full of guilt. "Sans, he... he saved me. Man, if I hadn't been so stupid... if I had cast a shield spell, he would still be with us."
"You can't blame yourself for this.", replied Frisk. "Nobody asked for this to happen, it just... did."
And that was what hurt the most. How sudden it was. How unnecessary. One second, Sans was with them, and in the other, they had vanished permanently from the world.
"I just don't get it.", continued the yellow monster. "I... I never thought that he'd... he'd save me, of all of us. I know we had made peace with each other a couple months ago, but..."
"Sans... he... he was a good monster.", said Frisk, his voice trembling. "H-he had a... a good soul."
"Yeah... he was.", agreed MK, full of emotion.
Frisk embraced his own legs in an attempt to make his body stop shaking. Silence filled the air once again as Papyrus' sobs started to slow down. The human wasn't sure if that was a good or a bad sign.
"What are we gonna do, Frisk?"
"I don't know.", he replied. "We can't take on Undyne... not like this."
"So we're running away?"
And they were back to running away. Frisk's whole life had been an eternal runaway – from the orphanage to the current war. What else could he do? He wasn't ready for that. He had never been ready for that.
"I don't like this.", stated the human.
"Me neither."
Papyrus' sobs had completely stopped. Frisk could see their silhouette in the dark, and they hadn't moved from their spot. It filled his heart with a creepling dread.
"Frisk?", called MK. "I'm... I'm scared."
He looked to the yellow monster, and their expression confirmed their statement, indeed. They were in such a hellish situation, with no idea of what to do and nowhere to go. "Scared" was a way to put it mildly.
"I'm scared too..."
"He's not okay, is he?"
Frisk discreetly looked back at Papyrus. They were sat by a tree, looking uninterested to a white flower next to them with a sorrowful expression that really made the human's heart hurt. And as he had been looking at them pretty often, it felt like he was always in pain.
"Of course not.", stated Frisk, sighing. "It's been three days only."
Three days that felt more like three centuries. The hours passed by sluggishly, and to make matters worse Frisk felt they weren't going anywhere – as far as he knew, they could be walking in circles. However, they had to start doing something. If they weren't going after Undyne anymore, they had to at least find a way to get supplies – the ones they had wouldn't last forever.
It was the middle of the afternoon, but they decided to rest on a clearing for a little while. Papyrus immediately picked a tree far from MK and Frisk and sat by it – he had been doing that for the last few days, and for the moment the two boys decided to leave it at that.
Frisk sat on the ground, and MK did the same as the human tossed the two backpacks he had been carrying. Their combined weight made his shoulders feel sore. He stretched his back in an attempt to make it feel better.
"What are you gonna do about Sans' backpack?", asked MK, looking at Frisk rotating his shoulders. "It would be easier if you just picked up its contents and put it in yours."
Frisk looked at the bag. He hadn't opened it or checked its contents yet – there was something holding him back, so he just took it along with his own. Not a practical solution, but...
"I'm...", babbled the human. "I'm not sure I should... I..."
"Frisk, you can't sanctuarize the backpack.", replied MK rationally. "I mean, come on, I can see you're tired from carrying two backpacks all day long, and as much as I'd like to help, you know... I can't."
They looked down, as if disappointed with themselves. Frisk knew how the lack of arms affected MK. Some simple tasks like eating or drinking were difficult for them, although they had never complained about it. More often than not, the human thought that being as skilled in magic as they were, not having arms would be nothing to worry about, but that didn't seem to be the case.
He looked once again at the backpack. Should he check it there? What if Sans put something personal in there? Unlike Frisk's and Papyrus' bags, Sans' had kept the same one he got from a department store four months before. It wouldn't be a surprise if he kept some things of his own among the supplies. Besides, how would the taller skeleton react if he saw Frisk fiddling with the it?
Before he could dwell on the matter much longer, a shadow covered him from the front, blocking the sunlight. He looked up and was surprised to see Papyrus there, looking at the human straight in the eyes with a strange – but somehow, not unfamiliar – expression. MK seemed to be just as surprised with the skeleton's approach.
"H-hey, Papyrus.", greeted the human, feeling a bit uneasy. "Are you o-"
"WE NEED TO GO."
That was the first time Papyrus talked directly to him in three days, but Frisk wasn't sure if he was relieved or even more uncomfortable. Go? Go where?
"Uh... what?", asked the human, confused.
"WE MUST FIND UNDYNE.", stated the skeleton, his expression not changing for one second. "WE HAVE NO TIME TO LOSE."
Frisk clenched his fists and looked to the ground. Why did Papyrus, of all people, was telling him that? Nevertheless, the statement wasn't the reason the human avoided eye contact. It was because he realized what their expression represented.
Determination.
He looked at MK, who seemed to be nervous with the situation. However, they stood up, even though the skeleton was much higher than them.
"We... uh...", said the yellow monster, unsure. "We decided to stop going after Undyne. At least for now."
Papyrus blinked and looked at the reptilian monster, confused.
"WHAT!? NO! WE HAVE TO FIND UNDYNE! WE CAN'T LET THIS WAR GO ON ANY LONGER! WE CAN'T ALLOW ANYMORE LIVES TO BE... TO BE..!"
They couldn't complete the sentence, and Frisk understood. Of course that was it. He stood up and placed a hand on Papyrus' shoulder, trying to comfort them.
"Papyrus...", he said. "I get it, ok? You don't want... what happened... to happen again, but we can't-"
"NO, YOU DON'T GET IT!", exclaimed Papyrus suddenly, and Frisk flinched, taking his hand from their shoulder. "YOU DON'T! IF YOU DID, WE'D BE ON OUR WAY TO UNDYNE! HOW COULD YOU!? YOU DIDN'T EVEN TELL ME YOU HAD GIVEN UP!"
"It's... it's not that we gave up!", replied Frisk, defensive. "It's just... we have to rethink what we've been doing. Listen, we would only be able to defeat Undyne, or whatever, because of Sans, and... well, now he's-"
"NO! IT'S NOT BECAUSE OF SANS!", said the skeleton, cutting the human's sentence once more. He felt deeply bothered – it was like they weren't even listening. "WE COULD DEFEAT UNDYNE BECAUSE OF YOUR HUMAN SOUL! AND YOU'RE STILL HERE, SO WE HAVE NOTHING TO LOSE!"
"Nothing to lose? Excuse me!?", exclaimed MK, joining in. "So you're willing to leave Frisk for dead now!?"
"I DIDN'T SAY THAT!", replied Papyrus. "BUT SANS DIED FOR THIS! AND I'M WILLING TO DIE FOR THIS, TOO, IF NECESSARY! YOU SHOULD BE READY! THIS ISN'T A GAME, THIS ISN'T A PLAY! THIS IS REAL!"
A billion thoughts were crossing Frisk's head, and none of them were able to make it to his mouth for him to speak up. He never saw Papyrus like that – he never thought he would ever see them like that. It was like he was facing an entirely different skeleton.
"If we face Undyne as we are, we'll only be killed!", said the yellow monster. "This is not brave, this is dumb!"
"IT'S NOT DUMB IF IT'S HONORABLE!", said Papyrus, exasperated.
"Well, excuse me if I have no intention of following your dear brother's footsteps...", stated MK, rolling his eyes.
"SANS KNEW WHAT HE WAS DOING!"
"Oh, did he?", replied the reptilian monster, sarcasm in every word. "Come on, Papyrus! He didn't have any more of an idea of what to do as we did!"
"HE WAS STILL THE ONE WHO GUIDED US UP UNTIL NOW!"
"Yeah, and look at where that got him! I don't know if you realized, but HE'S DEAD! HE'S MURDERED!"
"SHUT UP!"
Papyrus raised his right hand, and Frisk watched, paralyzed in horror as a sharp bone was projected at MK. It scratched the yellow monster's face, opening a cut that started to bleed a green liquid.
It felt like the temperature had sharply dropped. MK looked with a mix of anger and shock to the skeleton, who in turn looked enraged. For some seconds, they all stood there in silence, tensed up and defensive. Frisk's brain was having a hard time accepting what had just happened. Did Papyrus really..?
The skeleton clenched his fist and brought it close to his torso, grasping it with his other hand and closing his eyes for a moment. His whole body was shaking. MK kept their mouth half-open, dumbfounded by his sudden attack. Frisk was well aware that if that bone had been thrown a bit to the left, the consequences would have been dire.
"IF YOU ARE NOT GOING TO FOLLOW THE PLAN ANYMORE...", said Papyrus, his voice filled with a restrained anger. "I'LL HAVE NOTHING TO DO WITH YOU."
He looked utterly miserable – sorrow and anger showing in every line of his face, making Frisk want to apologize for everything. For his dumb decisions that started that war. For Sans' death, even if he was aware that hadn't been directly his fault.
Then, Papyrus turned around and started walking away.
It took Frisk a second for the meaning of the skeleton's words to actually hit him. Suddenly, all emotions drained from him and were replaced by deep fear and anguish.
"No... Papyrus!", pleaded Frisk, following them, but they started to run.
Despair installed within every cell of his body – he wanted to scream, but it felt like there was a golf ball stuck in his throat. He ran, trying to make it to the skeleton, following them out of the clearing and into the woods.
"P-papyrus!", he stuttered, struggling to keep the skeleton on his line of sight. "Please!"
And there was a familiar whooshing sound, and Frisk stopped hearing the fast-paced footsteps from the skeleton running. He felt tears forming on his eyes. That sound... but Papyrus couldn't... he never...
"P-papyrus?", he called, his voice shaking badly. He was on the brink of a breakdown. "No... no... please..."
But nobody came.
His vision was getting blurred from the tears that were involuntarily forming. He never knew Papyrus could teleport like Sans did, but he was sure that was what happened. That whooshing sound gave no room for any doubts.
Frisk heard soft footsteps behind him and eagerly turned around, holding onto the futile hope it was the skeleton – but it was only MK. The green "blood" on their cheek had dried, but they had a sad and guilty look that showed that Papyrus' attack hadn't hurt him only on the outside. But even with that, the human could feel nothing but anger towards the yellow monster.
"ARE YOU HAPPY!?", he yelled, and MK flinched.
Deep inside, he knew it wasn't their fault – none of that had been their fault, but things were getting unbearable. Frisk fell to his knees, grabbing his head and letting out a loud sob, crying like he had never cried before. He let it all go while MK stood there, not sure of what to do.
"want you... to... stick together... until... the end... promise?"
God, he couldn't even keep that promise for mere three days. He felt miserable, and had the infantile wish that he was just in a bad dream – that he would one day wake up and find himself anywhere but in the middle of that war. He'd rather find himself back at the orphanage, the place he hated the most, if that would mean that war would stop. That all that pain would stop.
Why couldn't it just end right there? Why couldn't a lightning come from the sky and hit him, pulverizing him into tiny bits? Why couldn't a monster – or a human – appear and just kill him? Death was the biggest mercy he could get – although he didn't deserve such mercy. After all he did, he didn't deserve to be happy. He didn't deserve to laugh or have a good time. He was destined to suffer until his very last breath.
Frisk wasn't sure for how long he kept crying in a desolated, hopeless state, slightly aware that MK was there looking. Eventually, he calmed himself down – the tears stopped falling, and the loud hiccups reduced to short sobs. He felt a little better, like he had just been disintoxicated from something poisonous, but he felt tired, sad and fed up with everything. What was he supposed to do? Where should he go?
He slowly stood up, wiping up the tears from his face. MK was a few feet away, and glanced nervously to the ground when the human looked at them. They had been watching him – that much was certain. He walked past them, sensing they were upset but still not even looking at their face, more because of shame than actual anger. He got back into the clearing and walked decisively to where his and Sans' backpacks were tossed.
Sitting down next to it, Frisk picked Sans' bag and pulled it closer, hesitating a little. Suddenly, a burning anger installed within his heart. That situation – everything – was all Sans' fault. How could they have died just like that? How could they have left him, Papyrus and MK all alone? How did he dare to give the human hope – hope that one day things would get better – and then just turn into dust? He wanted to throw the backpack away and kick it until it ripped, and all its contents were left there to be forgotten.
But then, the anger passed, leaving only an icy sorrow behind. He was being ridiculous – he knew Sans didn't ask for that. They died protecting the group. They died so that the others could live. He felt tears threatening to fall once again, and closed his eyes. There was so much he wanted to say. He wanted to apologize for calling the skeleton a "selfish trashbag" all those months ago. He wanted to say he enjoyed (some of) their puns and jokes. He wanted to ask more about their work as a scientist, and about Dr. Gaster. He wanted to make the skeleton sure he considered them a brother – a part of a family he never had.
He wanted to say he missed them.
"Uh... you okay?"
Frisk opened his eyes once again and looked up. MK was there glancing at him with a mix of concern and guilt. He didn't feel angry at the reptilian monster anymore. It seemed it would only be the two of them from that point onward, and the prospective filled the human with an increasing anxiety.
"Ok, I guess that was a stupid question.", they said as Frisk didn't reply.
He simply looked back at the backpack he was holding and opened it. The first thing he saw were some food cans, which he immediately started to pick up from the bag and leave next to him, counting.
"S-so... you finally let go of the backpack?", asked MK.
From their behavior, it was clear they thought Frisk was still mad at them, but the truth was simply the human wasn't in mood to talk. He picked up Sans' water bottle and flashlight, taking out the batteries.
"It's like you said.", replied Frisk, and the yellow monster held his breath. "I can't sanctuarize the backpack. I have to let go... and move on."
MK nodded way too energetically, indicating he was still nervous. However, Frisk's response was the confirmation he needed to keep pressing forward, checking if the human wanted him around.
"There is something that's been bothering me.", he said, shifting his weight on his feet. "When Sans... you know... he bled... red."
For a moment, Frisk stopped what he was doing. Actually, that had been nagging his mind for a while. It was a shock when he saw the red liquid that looked like blood pouring out from the skeleton's wounds.
"As weird as it sounds, maybe it's just that skeletons bleed?", the human suggested.
"That's the problem. Skeletons can't bleed.", stated MK. "And... well... monsters don't have red blood as humans do. Like, some species have blood-like fluid, like me, but it's never the color red."
Frisk frowned. If monsters couldn't bleed red, then what was it that poured from Sans' body on the night they died?
"Where are you getting at?", he asked.
"I don't know...", they replied, looking down. "It's just really bugging me."
The yellow monster was right to be bugged – if what they said was right that didn't make any sense. It seemed that would be yet another thing to be added to the mysteries shrouding Sans. When he first saw them in the Underground, Frisk never thought there was such a complex enigma under that everlasting grin.
"I guess we'll never know, now.", the human said simplistically, going back to searching the skeleton's backpack. MK seemed to settle for that in the moment.
He had already taken most of the things from the bag. He was happy to notice Sans had looted lots of food from the last town they "visited" – it would be more than enough for them until they reached the next city – if it wasn't overrun by humans, that was.
He then ended up picking up a piece of paper – and not any ordinary piece of paper. It was folded like an envelope. Frisk turned it around, confused, and found the words "To Papyrus" written in what he presumed to be Sans' handwriting. The human felt his heart sinking. It was a letter to Papyrus, and although Frisk didn't read it, he knew exactly what were its contents. But now, the taller skeleton was gone, and it was possible they'd never read it.
"Are you gonna open it?", asked MK, a bit curious.
"No.", replied Frisk firmly. "It's to Papyrus. I'll just hold it for him, in case he... comes back. Anyway, reading letters from dead people never leads to anything good."
"If you say so..."
The human grabbed his own backpack and placed the letter neatly inside one of its pockets, in a way it wouldn't screw up. In the end, he was still holding on to the hope the taller skeleton would return, even though the possibilities were slim, after all, MK and he had to keep moving. But then again, he was also doing it to comfort himself – carrying the letter made it feel like Sans was a bit closer.
Then, he remembered there was another thing in his backpack that belonged to the shorter skeleton, and MK seemed to be thinking about it too.
"Frisk, I hate to bring it up but... why on earth did you bottle Sans' dust up back at the factory?"
In all honesty, the human wasn't sure either. He was well aware there was a bottle full of monster dust in his backpack, and had a vague impression MK found it kind of creepy. Well, he was carrying someone's remains in a water bottle inside his bag – he had to admit that was at least a little peculiar.
"I...", Frisk attempted to reply, his voice failing a little. "I think... I mean... couldn't... when I thought about Sans there... in the factory... all alone and forgotten, I..."
MK looked sorrowfully at the human. They looked each other in the eyes, and Frisk knew the reptilian monster understood.
"Hey... I get it.", they said, looking down. Frisk noticed they weren't looking at the ground, but at their own chest, and remembered that MK kept a pendant with a small vial that held their mother's dust underneath their sweater. "Maybe we could... you know, do as monsters do in times like these? We could sprinkle his dust over things he liked."
Frisk gave a dry laugh. Of course the idea itself was good, but...
"There's nothing in this rotten land that's worth of Sans.", he replied pessimistically.
The reptilian monster opened his mouth in an attempt to reply, but changed his mind, sitting down next to the human instead. Frisk simply shrugged and resumed searching Sans' backpack, slowly taking the last few supplies out. When the bag seemed empty, he picked it up and shook it upside down to be sure he left nothing behind. Another piece of paper fell to the ground. Curious, he picked it up. From the paper type, it looked like it was a photograph.
What the hell was that?
As soon as he saw what the picture was, his hands started shaking violently. That was impossible. That had to be some kind of sick joke.
He screamed and let the photo fall to the ground again as a sharp pain bolted through his skull, grabbing his head in his hands.
He remembered.
He remembered everything.
It felt like his brain was going to explode.
A swirl of memories that had been long forgotten got back to him all in once, and they carried all sorts of feelings with them. Anger, hope, fear, joy, sadness... it was too much. He could hear MK talking to him, scared, but the voice sounded distant, muffled down by the billion of other noises and voices that screamed inside his head.
Eventually, it stopped, but Frisk kept holding his head, as if it would fall down from his neck if he let it go. His heart was pounding and he felt like he was about to throw up.
Breath in. Breath out.
"Frisk..?", asked MK with hesitation. "W-what happened?"
The human looked at the reptilian monster, and they seemed scared with what had just happened. Frisk couldn't blame them, but then, there was their question. How could he explain them what had happened? With his hands still shaking, he reached out for the photo carefully – like he was about to touch a bomb – and raised it up their eyes so that they could see it. MK looked at the photo and blinked a few times, their expression quickly turning into a confused one.
"Uh...", they said, astonished. "This is edited, right?"
"No.", replied Frisk, with a sour taste in his mouth. "It's the real deal."
And how did Sans was in possession of it? That should have been impossible.
"But that doesn't make any sense!", exclaimed the yellow monster, shaking their head dismissively.
Frisk lowered the photo and hesitantly looked at it again. MK was right, that didn't make any sense. Or at least, it shouldn't.
The photograph showed signs of time, but was well preserved regardless. A ten-year-old Frisk was in the middle, beaming. Sans was by his right with an arm around his shoulders and winking at the camera. Papyrus was next to them, smiling joyfully.
And then, there was the rest of the picture. Alphys was by Frisk's left, half-covering her face with her hands, shyly. Undyne was next to her, with a confident smile and fist-pumping the air. She had her long hair in a ponytail, and was wearing casual clothes. She looked strikingly different from how Frisk remembered her – her posture was much more friendly and relaxed.
And then, to top it off, Toriel and Asgore were behind them, both smiling kindly. They were all on the surface – as proved by the imposing Mt. Ebott in the background. Everyone – they looked so happy. So full of hope. It filled the human's heart with a bittersweet feeling. It was sweet because it remembered him of better times. Of better days. And it was bitter because he knew that they didn't have a happy ending.
If they had, he wouldn't be in the middle of a war.
"Frisk... when was this photo taken?", inquired MK.
The human was still shaken up about it, so he didn't notice what the yellow monster really wanted to know with that question.
"Six years ago..."
MK rolled his eyes.
"Oh, come on! You escaped Underground alone. How's everyone up there with you? Look, even Undyne is there, smiling, and she despises you more than anything!"
Frisk embraced himself in the height of his belly, feeling his stomach contorting. He didn't want to confront MK about the photograph, but they weren't going to let that subject drop. How would he explain it when he could barely do it to himself?
"This was taken six years ago...", attempted Frisk. "In another... well... life."
He saw immediately that wasn't the answer the reptilian monster was expecting. They frowned and shook their head, looking at Frisk as if he had gone crazy. He hated that look, even though he wished he had gone indeed crazy. That would have made things easier.
"Man, are y-"
"No, you didn't get it. This life we live here... is just one of many.", he interrupted, and MK stopped talking. "While we speak, there are other timelines playing, and the people in them are living their lives, not knowing about any of this. The people in this timeline too are, in general, unaware about it."
MK glanced a look to the photo that was now laying on the ground, starting to fit the puzzle pieces in their places.
"So basically, you're saying this photo is from another life? Another... um... 'timeline'?", they inquired, trying to understand what the human was saying. "But then, how did Sans have it? Actually, how is this even here?"
That was what Frisk couldn't understand. Still, there was something else to be told about that story – a small detail that changed everything. The very reason for all the sins he committed.
"Life goes on throughout all timelines. Normally that's what happens.", continued the human. "But six years ago... something happened. Timelines began to end and to mend with each other. To be entirely rewritten, or even destroyed. The cause... was an anomaly. Me."
MK's reaction was just as he expected – the reptilian monster looked at him with a mix of shock, confusion and curiosity. He sensed they were still skeptical about all that, but Frisk needed to keep talking. He had to get that – probably his darkest secret – out of his chest.
"You..?"
"My life here in the surface was... well, it was bad. So when I first fell into the Underground, and I met all those monsters who became my friends, I was the happiest I had ever been.", said Frisk, feeling a bit weird to be reminiscing about a life that technically never existed. "Then, I reached Asgore, and I managed to get past him and the barrier, but... monsters were still trapped Underground. And I... I wished to do something to help and... I found myself back at the Ruins. But nobody remembered me. But more than that: everyone was acting the same way they did when I first met them. Except... well..."
Except that sociopathic flower – they were well aware that hadn't been the first time Frisk had fallen down. They even mocked him for it, asking if they didn't have anything better to do. How they managed to retain their memories was something the human couldn't quite explain. Then again, he just learned there was someone else who kept their memories. It sent shivers down his spine.
"Anyway... that was how I learned... I could turn back time. I could reset things, and start them all over again. And when I realized that, I decided to use that power for the good. It took me a couple tries until I did everything that was necessary to break the barrier and free the monsters from the Underground. That was when this photo was taken."
He pointed to the photo on the ground. MK had a pensive expression instead of a skeptical one, which Frisk took as a good sign. Why would he go through the trouble of elaborating such a crazy lie, anyway?
"That makes sense. I guess.", said the reptilian monster after a while. "But there's one thing. If we are right here right now, that means..."
He looked nervously at Frisk, who in turn looked down, ashamed – after all, the human knew where that logic would lead them.
"Yeah.", he replied, nodding, with a sad look in his eyes. "I reset again... even after I had saved everybody. But don't bother asking why, because... I honestly can't remember. Something must have gone wrong, because when I reset that time, I lost all my memories from the previous timelines."
Frisk glanced at his palms, the white scars across them still visible.
"And now... we're here.", he completed. "I didn't start all over yet again because I didn't remember about it. I just... crossed the Underground, and never came back. And I made some horrible mistakes and poor decisions then. That's why things are the way they are now."
And that was just another thing he could add to his ever growing "guilt pile". All that pain and suffering, all those deaths from humans and monsters... it was all his fault. Why did he reset after things were perfect? Was it possible for him to ever get redemption?
"Sans... you knew about all this, didn't you?", Frisk mumbled to himself, picking the photo up and looking at the shorter skeleton. "Why didn't you tell me? God, you must have hated me."
Frisk would likely never know that. Sans could have forgiven him, despised him, or something in between. He looked at MK, thinking it wouldn't be surprising if they despised him too after learning all that. Their parents were dead because of him, after all.
But MK was looking back at Frisk with a soft, understanding expression that made them look a little older than they actually were.
"Dude, I don't know if I understand all this... but there's no use in blaming yourself for it now.", they said, slowly shaking their head. "Remember what you told me, about four months ago? We can't change our past, but we can change our future, and try to be better. You should focus on that. We can only move forward, now."
Frisk didn't think he deserved any form of forgiveness, but was deeply grateful for the yellow monster's support – then again, maybe it was because they didn't understand the gravity of the human's actions. Still, they had a point: they could only move forward – forward was the only way to go.
Or was it?
Frisk bolted upwards like a sudden shock had gotten through his body, as an idea quickly formed in his head. How could he have taken so long to realize it?
There was a way for him to fix his mistakes.
"MK!", he said, looking at the yellow monster with his eyes lighting up. "MK, that's it!"
They looked up, confused.
"Uh... what's 'it'?"
"We've been talking about resets and going back in time!", explained Frisk, excited. "Which means forward is not the only way to go. In fact... we can do the exact opposite. We can go backwards!"
It took a second, but MK realized what Frisk was saying, quickly standing up with a spooked expression.
"No... n-no way!", they said, stuttering a little. "You are actually thinking..."
But Frisk was so excited he started walking from one side of the clearing to the other, deep in thought.
"Exactly. We've been worried about stopping Undyne, and bringing this war to an end. But what if we make it so the war never started in the first place? What if we make one last reset to fix everything?"
"But how do you intend to that?", inquired the yellow monster.
Frisk stopped walking, and put a hand on his chin, thinking. He didn't have a rational explanation for that, but somehow he had a feeling the answer lied where he first got his "power".
"I need to go back six years ago, when I first fell to the Underground.", he explained. "And for that... I have to return to where it all started. To Mt. Ebott. To the Underground."
"Whoa, whoa! Hold it, man!", exclaimed MK, cautiously. "There's a lot of 'what ifs' in this plan. If we make it back to Mt. Ebott, and if you actually manage to do a reset to six years ago... what guarantees you're not going to lose all your memories again, and do the same thing? We'd be stuck in this loop forever! What if... what if this is actually not the first time we're doing this?"
The human frowned. They did have a point there. There were a bit too many holes in that plan for it to work as he intended. Still...
"I'll... have to work on that.", he replied, and MK looked disappointed. "Listen, I know for sure there's a way for me to reset and keep my memories... I just don't know it yet, but I'll figure something out."
"That's hardly reassuring, Frisk."
"Maybe so, but I have no other choice.", the human said. "Listen, I got a chance of saving everyone. And that includes the king and the queen, Sans and your parents – all those deaths were, in some degree, my fault. But I wanna make it right. I wanna fix it. And I'm sure as hell I'm doing it, no matter what."
He turned his back to MK, putting his hands on his hips and sighing. He always knew that, if he had a chance – no matter how small it was – to fix his mistakes, he would take it. That chance had finally presented itself, but he was aware he couldn't drag the reptilian monster with him. They didn't have anything to do with that, after all.
"I'll understand if you don't wanna come with me. I mean, the way back to Ebott will be dangerous, and I see you're not convinced this will work. That's why... that's why you can leave if you want. There won't... be any hard feelings, okay?"
Frisk managed to keep his voice steady, but deep down he had never been more scared. He was about to venture into the unknown, following a plan with dubious chances of success – if that wasn't frightening, he had no idea of what else would be. There was a moment of silence, long enough for Frisk to understand. He looked down.
So that was it, huh?
"Wow, you really are an idiot."
Frisk turned around, surprised with MK's response, and got even more surprised when he noticed they were giving a confident smile.
"I mean, how can you even think for one second I'll let you do this alone?", they continued, their smile not faltering. "You already told me you'd never leave me behind. Guess what, genius, this works both ways, even if you are the king of crappy plans. I'm never leaving you behind, Frisk. Like it or not, I'm coming along, and we'll do this together. Until the very end."
The reptilian monster smiled kindly, and Frisk couldn't help but smile back – and it felt like millennia had passed since he had last smiled. Of course, how could he have been so dumb? They've been together in this for too long to simply part ways. He felt tears coming to his eyes, but he held them back. He still had a little pride to hold onto – but he was really happy regardless.
"Thank you, MK."
The yellow monster nodded, and Frisk looked up to the sky tinted with an orange tone. On the bare minimum, he had an objective, and he would fight – or act – with all his strength to complete it. It wouldn't be easy, but knowing MK would be right there with him gave him even more motivation.
That time, in a strange twist of fate, backward was the only way to go.
And that filled him with determination.
END OF PART II
