Frisk shifted from side to side, a muffled sound nagging at their ears. It was soft and delicate, barely audible. A low moaning from down the hall. Frisk flips the blanket over themselves, still very sleepy. But the sound becomes clearer, a sharp intake of breath. In stark recognition, Frisk opens their eyes and sits up.

Toriel was crying again.

This wasn't a common thing, it only happened every so often, when Toriel couldn't stand the weight of her sorrows any longer and her happy illusion would shatter. Though she was a strong and poised queen, there were times while Frisk was fast asleep, that Toriel couldn't help but mourn for her family. Her murdered child, her murdered husband… Frisk would catch her in the dead of night, peek through the crack of her door and witness Toriel on her knees, clutching an old family photo, fingers stroking the frame with loving tenderness. Sometimes she would hear her hiccup their names. "Asriel…" "A-asgore."

When Frisk was small, they would quietly creep into the room and wrap their arms around her. Toriel would quickly compose herself, bake something sweet and send Frisk off to bed. Tonight, however, Frisk would not intrude. Knowing how their mother was, they did not want Frisk to see her cry. She clearly needed to get this off her chest. It wouldn't be long, just this one night. Toriel always managed to pick up the pieces somehow...

Not being able to comfort their mother pained Frisk to no end. Frisk wished their presence alone could make Toriel feel better, but the best thing for her was to let her grieve. So they sat on the edge of the bed, too guilty to fall back asleep.

It was their fault.

Toriel had been doing so well, she hadn't broken down like this in at least two or three years- there were regular moments of grief, yes,, but nothing like the hours she would spend sobbing and sniffling until sunrise; where she would dry her tears and bake cinnamon butterscotch pie for breakfast. "I've had a sweet toothache all night." Toriel would always say. But her forced smile could not hide the dark circles underneath her eyes, or the strain in her voice.

What probably tipped the iceberg is the song Frisk was humming when they returned home. It was once the song Toriel would to hum to Asriel as his lullaby. That she also hummed to Frisk when as a child to help them sleep whenever they got nightmares. The very same melody the music box played in the watery caves. But now that Frisk was older, nobody hums the tune anymore.

They didn't mean to make her cry.

Frisk thought about Asriel. And about Asgore. They thought about the nice cream guy, the rabbit shopkeeper, the old turtle, and the many monster children who became orphaned on the day of the purge. How they had failed them.

Toriel ensured Frisk it was not their fault, that it couldn't be helped. But Frisk knew better. Toriel wasn't aware of the power to alter the timeline. When Sans brought Frisk back to the underground, it was the first thing they intended to do. They scoured the land for SAVE POINTS, determined to LOAD their SAVE FILE. Their last SAVE was right before facing Asgore. Frisk would go back, battle him and Flowey (his true form "Asriel Dreemurr") again if they had to, then once the barrier was broken they would warn the monsters of their impending doom.

Alas, not a single, SAVE POINT could be found. Frisk was shocked to see they had vanished after the battle. When Flowey absorbed the souls, and not just the dead children's souls, but everyone's souls, and became a supreme god- he might have destroyed all of the SAVE POINTS in the world. This didn't make any sense, even to Asriel, because all he wanted was to keep RESETTING the timeline. Alas, only he and Frisk had the awareness, and only Asriel had the ability. Naturally he blamed it on himself, perhaps in his guilt -realizing that RESETTING wasn't going to truly make him happy, and that Frisk was not Chara- he did it subconsciously? If he did do it, he no longer had the power to bring them back. Frisk to this day doesn't believe Asriel took away the SAVE POINTS.

Flowey's influence exists inside and outside of the timeline, it was after all, through his actions that Frisk was able to escape purgatory and LOAD their FILE once more. Which led to current predicament. That meant from there onward, all of Frisk's decisions were final. Death wasn't any less real than when the SAVE POINTS were still around, but determination is what allows human souls to linger after death. That wouldn't bring back their physical body, which is what the SAVE POINTS made possible. Frisk would remain dead, only living on as a spirit.

So they had no way of going back in time and preventing everyone's deaths. Worse yet, if anything happened again, it couldn't be reversed. Determination is a blessing, but without a physical body to sustain themselves, Frisk would not be useful stuck as a wandering soul. What would a ghost do? And not a ghost monster like Napstablook, but a human ghost. All Frisk would be able to do is watch if they ever died and chose not to move on to the afterlife.

Frisk sighed and fell back onto the bed. They felt so worthless. So wracked with regret. If only they could LOAD... They laid on their side. Frisk felt sorry for Asgore too. They didn't know him for long, but still, he was a good guy.

Admittedly, Frisk was hesitant to get acquainted with him. Had he not killed six of their own kind? But they soon discovered he really was the pushover, soft-hearted king that everyone adored and loved. He wore dorky, "dad sweaters", they drank tea together and tended his garden. He would play catch with Frisk and ask for advice on how to get back in Toriel's favor. Sadly, Frisk had to agree with their mother on his past being inexcusable.

Undyne took Asgore's death hard.

"Asgore did what Toriel could never do. He put his emotions aside for the kingdom. The King didn't hunt them down, he waited, and he hoped to never encounter a human. They stumbled into our world." Frisk couldn't stomach their spaghetti when having this conversation with Undyne.

"I'll admit, I've never killed a kid. Asgore didn't want to give anyone else that burden. But once we were one soul away from freedom, he hired the skelebros as sentries, and entrusted me, his close friend, with sharing the sin. I was gonna do it Frisk. But you beat me."

Undyne played with her food. "So I respect him, he had strength like no one else. He lost his son, he lost his wife, he ruled the kingdom by himself, he was gonna give us our freedom at his expense. And yeah, I feel sorry for the human kids. They just wanted to go home, ya know? You think I'm heartless?"

Undyne sipped her tea. "I've been getting to know her. Toriel? She's a kickass queen, but she's not Asgore. If it were up to her, we'd live down here forever. She'd rather surrender than fight for her rights." Frisk knew Undyne had a point, about everything. But it was a hard subject to swallow.

Their opinions were both terribly one-sided. Frisk shared Toriel's opinion; they think Asgore should have taken the one soul they had, then crossed the barrier himself and gotten the rest cooperatively. But he was afraid, so he waited many years for unlucky people to fall down the hole. But let's face it... When you broke it down, saw the situation for what it really was... At the end of the day, we're talking about children here. Murdered children... It was incredibly cruel. No child should be killed, and no child should be expected to do any killing. They just wanted go home! Asgore knew his actions were unforgivable, even if they were justifiable. That's why he chose to taint his soul alone, until Undyne offered her services once she discovered his plan.

So thinking about it, would it be right to like Undyne either? She admitted she would do it, even though she proved to not have the heart with Frisk. But she even said that she would wait for a bad human to fall down the hole and kill them instead, and she wasn't going to care if they were a child.

What about Alphys? Her research is what gave Asgore the technology to extract determination from the children's souls. Which they only accomplished by experimenting on their own kind first, and she even created Flowey! Though, she probably didn't know he had the broken soul of Asgore's son inside of him. According to her, the test subjects that became horrendous Amalgamates were dying anyway, and the families handed their bodies over willingly because it was their last chance at life. The results were horrific, but if things didn't conveniently end the way they did, was she supposed to hate Alphys too?

Sans and Papyrus? They took the job, aware of the fact they would be abducting a child to send to their death! Sans turned out to not be interested in it at all, and only kept close watch over his brother, but Papyrus even had a ruddy shed to keep their child-prisoner in! Papyrus too, didn't have the heart or the skill to really handle himself against a hostile human. But Frisk couldn't help but wonder, would things have turned out differently if it wasn't them they crossed paths with that day?

No. They didn't do it in the end. People change.

It wasn't up to Frisk. They knew if they were in Asgore's place, they could never do it. That honestly scared them. And understanding his reasons for it, they decided to forgive him. It wasn't what they would do, but it was already done. Toriel may never forgive him, but even she still loved him.

Maybe this is why their mother still cried for him. If she truly hated him, why would she waste her tears?

It wasn't fair. None of it was fair. Sacrifice six human children, or subject your entire race to an eternity underneath the surface where they may never see the light of day? He was stuck in a lose-lose situation.

Still... What he did was wrong.

But he did it for his people.

Toriel pointed out a better way to do it.

Then why didn't she do it?

...was anybody truly innocent?

Now Frisk was torn with what they would do if they had one last chance to do it again. Would they let it all happen like before and just keep trying until the monsters found a method to coexist with the humans? It was the future they so desperately wanted. Or would they take up Asgore's offer and live together with Toriel, all three of them as a family? It wasn't what the monster race wanted, but they wouldn't be losing anything. They would understand with time. They could be patient and wait for an evil human to be the seventh soul.

Why, oh why did Flowey take that away?

In fact, why did any of this happen at all?! What would be so bad about living with monsters?! They did it for a little while, and it was amazing… Even down to the day of the purge there were human supporters against the execution of The King.

Frisk pulled at their hair. If only their mother would stop crying!

After a restless night, Frisk drags themselves to the kitchen to kiss their mother good morning. As expected, they eat their breakfast of nostalgia pie and decide to give her much-needed personal space. Frisk contemplated buying Toriel a gift to cheer her up too. But first, they needed to see Alphys.

Frisk walks in on the nerdy lizard-dinosaur(?)/scientist having a conversation with her sexy robot creation.

"You sure do spend a lot of time with Papyrus." Alphys recites, holding a script.

"Oh, but how could I resist?" Mettaton confesses.

"D-do you? Like him?"

"Alphys dear. Isn't that obvious? Why, we've only been on a hundred dates."

"O-one hundred dates?!" She blushes incredibly, then returns to the script. "S-s-so, does that mean… You guys are like…"

"What, a couple?" Mettaton winks.

"Canon?!" Alphys blurts excitedly.

Mettaton flips back his hair and does a little pout. "If you're asking about whether or not he's my boyfriend, I'm afraid I do not know."

"Aww… Why not?" She whines out of character.

He looks away, a bit peeved. "That skeleton is elusive! He sends me too many mixed signals, but he never refuses a date." Mettaton struts back and forth, working his thang. "Hmph. He's rash, rude, clumsy, self-absorbed, a total ditz…" The robots counts on his fingers.

His voice changes from irate to affectionate. "…and he's sweet, and funny, and kind, and honest and he's oh-so-tall!" Glitter flutters off of his bashing eyelashes.

"Sooo… You like him. And he likes you, but you're not sure if he's your boyfriend?" Alphys remembers her lines.

"In due time darling, in due time. That tall stack of bones can't resist my beauty forever."

She laughs awkwardly. "H-hehe... heh. I totally ship you two."

Suddenly a light bulb rises from Mettaton's head and flashes.

"OHHHHH ALPHYS!" He drops to his knees and touches his heart, his other arm swept over his forehead. "You live the married life! Tell me, what is your secret? I cannot stand this any longer! How did you reel her in? Oh, when I was but a rectangle I had so many swooning fans constantly asking for my hand. Why has Papyrus not swooped me off my feet and ran with me in his arms towards the sunset? Will I ever get my happily ever after?"

"I-I-I'm sure you will. T-these things just t-take time." She sweats nervously.

Mettaton jumps to his feet and lands with a dramatic high kick. "You heard it folks, how much time will it take for The Great Papyrus to officially date the fabulous, fantastical, forward, frisky Mettaton? Tune in next time, to find out." He waves at nothing, blowing kisses and throwing confetti about, a recorded studio audience can be heard applauding from the sound system in his chest.

It ends abruptly. "So? What do you think? Is it not irresistible? He'll have to date me now!"

Alphys sighs in relief, dabbing her forehead with a hanky. "Are you sure you want to ask him on live television? I mean, you'd really be putting him on the spot…"

"But of course I do! He LOVES my show, and he's guest-starred several times, the audience adores Papyrus!"

"H-haven't you thought about… Asking him yourself? You know... In... Private?"

Mettaton frowns. "…"

A cold breeze blows past them.

"NO."

He quickly turns on his heel and catwalks out of the lab. "Oh dear… He's just… Too proud." Alphys thinks aloud.

Frisk taps her shoulder. "Y-y-yikes! Don't sneak up on me like that!" She jumps.

"Oh. F-frisk. Hi… You didn't… Hear all of that, did you?"

Frisk nods.

"Uhhh." She blushes again.

Frisk pats her on the shoulder.

"A-anyway, what can I do for you?"

Frisk pointed to the viewing monitor.

"You wanna watch anime?"

Frisk shook their head.

"You wanna watch the security footage?"

They shook their head again.

"Oh. You want to see that again. R-right?" Alphys's nervous sweat returns. "Ummm…" She quickly zips lift and right, spinning all around, tapping the ground and scrutinizing the ceiling for any extra ears. "Okay, you know the drill."

They went upstairs to Alphys's private room, which she had under DNA lock and key now that she was married. Would it stop Mettaton? Probably not, but he still respected her privacy. Alphys struggles to make decent conversation.

"So uh. Mettaton, huh?"

Frisk gives her full attention.

"He's changed. Not so much, but, you can really see Papyrus rubbing off on him."

Frisk smiles, knowingly.

"I mean, they're both pretty wild, and uh, narcissistic. And they really, really, really cause a lot of structural damage. But Mettaton has gained a lot more confidence now that his EX form is complete. He doesn't have to walk around as a box on wheels anymore. And… Papyrus, even though he can be a bit clueless, he's really nice. And ever since those two started dating, Mettaton has been kinda nicer! Did you know he sponsors a Papyrus fanclub?"

Frisk is happily surprised.

She rubs her eyes. "Uh. Listen, Frisk. I've been up all night, and I need to head home in about an hour, back to my wife. I'm gonna need plenty of rest for our d-date-night." She admits poking two claws together.

Oh dear. That meant they were both probably going to dress up, or at least wear cute, matching jammies, eat junk food and ramen, while binge-watch anime until they fall asleep. Frisk couldn't be more pressed for time.

"Here ya go, I'll set it up for you now. You don't need me here, right?" She adjusted the cameras and sound system to their preferred settings. She also dimmed the lighting of the room via remote-control which was left besides Frisk as they had their eyes glued to the screen. Alphys locks the door behind her.

Frisk saw their old house, now abandoned and still up for sale. It was in a sorry-state, so Frisk quickly changed the monitor to something else. Now there was Frisk's old school. Their former friends were probably all grown up by now. Frisk wondered if they still attended there. They flipped the channel again. There's the general store, the supermarket, town hall, a few housing complexes, the park…

Alphys had sent Undyne to set up these spy cameras when she and Sans were testing the barrier nine years ago. She still wanted specs on the outside, for data-collecting purposes. They were set up all over Frisk's hometown, which was closest to the mountain. If Frisk ever felt home-sick, or simply curious, Alphys would let them peek at the outside world, completely confidential of course. Toriel would probably not approve.

Frisk flipped through the viewing channels at a rapid pace. Either everyone they knew had moved away or had aged too well to recognize. They could not spot one familiar face. They didn't find any monsters either, which was both a relief and a worry. Frisk and Alphys had spent the years hoping this footage would capture a new glimmer of hope.

But it looks like life went on as usual.

Once again, Frisk felt bad. Yesterday they almost killed Undyne, last night they made their mother cry, and now they can't even find any old neighbors. What became of the town that once housed a traitor? Frisk shuddered to think.

Their mind began to wander... Did their biological mother and father have any more children? Have grandma or grandpa passed away yet? Has their uncle finally gotten his business off the ground? What about their distant aunt? Had she gotten married like she always wanted? Frisk wondered how big their cousin was now. He must be eighteen by now. Probably has a girlfriend too, his driver's license... He was like the cool brother Frisk never had.

The thoughts hurt, but Frisk didn't cry over their family. It's not that they were so numb on the inside that they could easily toss them away. But by the time Frisk returned to the surface all those years ago, they weren't the same person anymore. They had changed too much, and their family couldn't grasp that.

Toriel never bothered Frisk with their reason for climbing the mountain. Sans however, was quite curious. It was a few years back, Frisk was still a kid. They were eating out late at Grillby's. Sans treated Frisk as usual, and they told awful puns while enjoying their personal pizzas:

"so. i gotta question for ya." Sans announced after chugging the rest of his root beer.

Frisk peeked under the table, expecting a spill. Pondering about just where does the soda go when he drinks it?

"remember when i brought you back?"

They lift their head from under the table.

"well, i've been thinkin. you're a good kid- actually you're a great kid. and i've kinda been stumped as to why you were so quick to leave your folks. i mean, down here, you're obviously the type to work things out rather than run away. and i know you had a lousy time, but they weren't cruel to you." He looks straight into Frisk's eyes. "what made you wanna leave?"

Frisk didn't have the words to explain themselves. They poked their chin and thought for a while, until they remembered they had just the thing to answer Sans's question in their pocket. Frisk placed the group photo of the gang on the table.

Sans peered over to check it out. "a picture's worth a thousand words kid. mind narrowing it down for me?"

Frisk pointed to the picture and then to themselves, a sad frown as their finger pointed towards their heart.

Sans blinked a few times. "huh. i think i get it." He leaned back in his seat. "you belong here, with us. i'm guessing you and your fam don't see eye-to-eye."

They sadly nodded.

He nodded back and closed his eyes. "yeah, i feel you. i assumed that's what it was. this is your home, we're your pals, and they just didn't understand."

Frisk agreed.

"gotcha. i won't bother you no more about it."

Frisk resumed drinking their ginger ale until Sans spoke up again.

"turns out i have one more question."

They perked up to listen.

"so i know why you're here now. but…" He pauses. "why did you climb the mountain, kid?"

Frisk didn't have to think long or hard about this one. They shrugged their shoulders and returned to eating their last slice of pizza.

"come again?" Sans requested, confused.

Frisk waved him off.

"uh... that's it? you don't know?" He queried.

Frisk smirked at him.

"what, were you bored or something?"

They nodded in full honesty, a mischievous smile reaching from ear to ear.

As mundane a reason as it was, boredom is what drove Frisk to scale Mt. Ebott. Like many of the schoolchildren, they had heard of the superstition that claimed monsters lived on Mt. Ebott. The legend sprang forth from a string of missing person reports. All kids too, who went missing after heading off to climb the mountain. Many of their elders believed spirits made their homes on that mountain, and the children were abducted into the spirit world for trespassing. The older kids told scary stories insisting that these spirits were actually monsters that ate the kids because they were soft and sweet-tasting. Of course, Frisk's own grandparents had a different tale to tell. One of a time where two different races lived in harmony, but a war broke out, and the humans lived above while the monsters lived below. It was so long ago, that many suspect that is where all stories of demons and ghosts came from- because of the memory of once living with monsters.

Frisk wasn't anyone special before they stumbled into the underground. They were a regular little kid, who lived in a plain little house, with a mother and father. Their grandparents didn't live too far off, only a few blocks down, and their uncle and younger cousin lived in the next town over. Frisk also had a single aunt on their mother's side who lived in the big city. Frisk went to school, got average grades, had friends who were both classmates and neighbors. They enjoyed typical-child activities like kickball, tag, and hide-and-seek. Their mother would often send them off on errands, while their father always made sure they got their chores done. Whenever Frisk was at home they would watch tv or play with their toys and video games. They didn't really have any hobbies besides wandering around aimlessly. Frisk didn't even speak, there was never much to say.

It was a quiet town. Everyone knew each other, and most of them have lived there their whole lives. The town consisted of some houses, a school, a town hall, a library, a supermarket, some shops like general goods and clothing and all that. There was a park, a playground, plenty of empty space... The only interesting thing the town had to offer was its spooky legend.

A few miles off, there waited Mt. Ebott. Most of the townsfolk stayed away from the place because it was isolated and easy to get lost. Others didn't like its reputation for producing missing children. Frisk's mother and father didn't believe in the legend, but they warned Frisk to return home before dark and to not go alone.

Frisk couldn't rally any of their friends to go with them, they were all either too afraid or forbidden from going near the place. Still, Frisk had nothing better to do. They had a phone for emergencies, and there was still plenty of light out, so they donned a stick as their weapon and pressed on. The mountain was pretty enough, it was bright out and warm, but everything looked the same. Their mind began to wander. In that daze, Frisk wasn't watching where they were going and fell down the hole. The rest, as they both knew it, was history.

Sans slapped his boney palm on the table. He was chuckling to himself. "you know what? i respect you." The two shared a bro-fist.