Nightmares
"FLOWER! HOW ARE THEY FEELING?" Papyrus ordered. A breath of chilly air tailed the skeleton's entrance.
"They're asleep," Flowey answered. "They're feeling much better. They haven't coughed or sneezed in a long time. They fell asleep a few minutes after you left- just about straight after finishing their soup."
Frisk opened their eyes. "Hmm…? Flowey?"
Flowey turned back to them. "You're awake! Are you better?"
Frisk nodded and sat up. "Yeah. I still have a headache… and tired… but I'm good."
"YOU JUST SLEPT! WHY ARE YOU TIRED? DOES THAT HAPPEN TO ALL HUMANS?" Papyrus prompted.
Flowey nodded. "Yeah. But only if they're not feeling well."
"funny how that seems to happen to them and only them." Sans' scathing voice appeared beside Papyrus. "the road's clear, boss. we're ready to leave when you are."
Flowey rolled his eyes. "Yeah. Funny how they're also the only blind human down here, too. And the only human their age. And the only sick human."
Papyrus sighed heavily at Sans' and Flowey's sarcasm. "UGH. WELL, WE'LL BE BACK LATER. WE'RE GOING TO TALK WITH CAPTAIN UNDYNE. IF YOU'RE AWAKE, WE'LL GET YOU SOMETHING TO EAT," Papyrus swept out the door, cape fluttering in the snow-laden breeze as he went. Sans, with one last glare at Flowey, followed him.
Frisk watched the door for a few moments before laying down and looking at Flowey. "You really shouldn't have made Sans mad at you. He… doesn't seem like the forgiving sort."
Flowey watched Frisk with a morose gaze. "You are too kind, Frisk." He leaned down, picked up the lip of the blanket in his teeth, and pulled it over Frisk. "This place does not deserve you."
"Of course, it does." Frisk closed their eyes. "This place is magical. I've always wanted to be in a magical place. When I was younger, my sisters and I would build forts from the pillows and cushions and make castles. We pretended to have magic and be fairies, I think? No, my little sister, Emma, was a fairy. Cammy and I were both wizards. So, it's really nice to be in a place of magic."
"Well then… I'm sorry that this is your introduction into magic, Frisk," Flowey mumbled.
"That's okay. I like this place, actually. It reminds me a lot of home."
"Home?" Flowey echoed.
Frisk nodded. "Yep! I grew up most of my life in a big city. Everyone there was pretty… unforgiving. You know, lots of bad things happened. People were mean to each other. Sometimes, when on the road, people would get out of their cars to hit other cars. Sometimes, people with guns would run into a place and steal stuff. Then people also said very unkind things to one another. The kids at my school started off nice. As they got older, they got mean, too. There were even people who captured other people. Sometimes it was noble, like a policeman–that's a type of human guard–catching a bad guy. Sometimes, bad guys would catch good guys. I was never captured, which is good."
"But you just got captured," Flowey pointed out.
"I know. But Papyrus and Sans are good people," Frisk pointed out. "I'm not a bad person. However, I am a human. So, that's reason enough. Humans are a threat, I think? Anyway, the humans on the surface that capture people, the bad ones, do really bad things to people they catch. So, I'm glad it Papyrus and Sans who caught me instead of someone from the surface."
Flowey wheezed, "What can be- what? They let you freeze to death so many times. They put you in a metal cage. You died from sickness and cold six times. Sans was trying to get back at you for something you didn't do by making you feel even worse! That's not to say how Papyrus 'caught you.' You were nearly killed by him. What could a human do that's even worse than that?"
"Lots of things," Frisk answered. "My parents wouldn't tell me most of them. But I do know that lots of the bad people kill who they have. Or they send them off somewhere and take them away from their families. But since Papyrus and Sans didn't do either of those, willingly of course, they're good."
"They're taking you to the capital to die."
"Well, yes. But that doesn't make them bad. They're not doing it to be evil. They're doing it for the good of their people. So, that makes them okay. Plus, look at Sans! He's never physically attacked you. And he does everything Papyrus tells him to. Papyrus probably does everything he has to do, too. Now, I know that he can be very mean. But honestly, I think he's a good person on the inside but has suffered so much, that he makes this terrible shell. My sister did the same thing."
Flowey chuckled. "Frisk, you have the biggest heart that I've ever seen."
Frisk smiled and curled up into a ball. "You're the nicest friend I've ever had, Flowey."
Frisk woke up as the door opened. Papyrus strode inside, Sans at his heel. Papyrus went straight to his room. Sans, glaring daggers at Flowey, set down another bowl of soup and stalked back to his room. Flowey bit the wrapping on the soup and pulled it back to reveal the same broth they had earlier.
"Frisk?" Flowey prompted as he guided Frisk's hand to the spoon. "You… I mean, I know you're blind. But you used to be able to do this stuff. Why not now?"
Frisk sighed and shook their head. "It's just… I mean it's worse. It used to be bad but ever since I woke up in that cage I just can't see anymore. At all. It used to be that I could see colors. I mean, I knew Papyrus was some sort of black and red shape. Sans was black, red, and gold. You're yellow and white. Mom was red and pink. But now I just can't see anything."
Papyrus walked back down the stairs, then. "HUMAN?"
Frisk jumped and turned their head toward the direction of the noise. "Huh? Oh! Hello, Papyrus!"
"YOU ARE BLIND?"
"Er- yes."
"…DID YOU BECOME BLIND AFTER OUR BATTLE?" Papyrus prompted.
Frisk shook their head and then hesitated. "W-well… I was legally blind before. That means I could only see colors. Like, blobs of color. Nothing too close, though. But, yeah. Ever since I woke up that sick, I haven't been able to see even that. I'm sure it was just me getting sick or something. Nothing to do with you. It'll come back soon."
"SO, THIS HAS HAPPENED BEFORE?" he took on a tone of surprise.
"…yeah. I've just never been so sick before. Normally, I just get headaches and I can't really understand what I'm seeing. But it always gets better," Frisk reassured him.
The taller skeleton hesitated and gave them a brisk nod. "…GOOD. WELL, IF YOU DID NOT KNOW, IT IS NEARLY NIGHT. THEREFOR SANS AND I WILL BE HERE."
Frisk sat up straighter. "Oh cool! Who are the night guard?"
"ER, SOME PEOPLE FROM WATERFALL AND A FEW PEOPLE HERE," Papyrus answered. "YES. THEY'RE QUITE WELL TRAINED, TOO."
"Does it ever get darker here? Like, it's light in the day and dark at night?"
"LIKE THE SURFACE? NO." Papyrus shook his head. "WELL, WE'LL TEST YOU IN THE MORNING AND LEAVE PROMPTLY AFTER. SO, BE READY."
"Yes, sir. Thank you, again!" Frisk purred. "You've been very nice to us while we stayed here." Flowey scoffed. Frisk pouted at him. "Flowey! He just let us stay inside and gave us something to eat. I'd call that nice."
"WELL… LIKE YOUR FLOWER SAID, SICK HUMANS DON'T TRAVEL THAT WELL." Papyrus strolled into the kitchen, fixed something, walked back out, and then went to his room.
Sans, one elbow on the railing of the second story, huffed, "wow. he's antsy. what'd you two do?"
Frisk shrugged. "I don't know. Hey, Sans? Can I ask a question?"
"ask all you want," Sans replied with a wave of his hand. "i won't guarantee an answer."
"Okay. What does the barrier look like?" Frisk inquired.
"the barrier?" Sans echoed.
Frisk nodded. "The thing keeping everyone locked up in here. There is a barrier, right?"
"yeah. course there is. the damn thing's been here since forever. but it isn't that amazing. it's a black and white wall, kinda. why do you want to know?"
"I was curious," Frisk replied with a shrug. "I've never seen any type of barrier or whatever from outside."
"i hardly think you saw anything, anyway," Sans pointed out.
Frisk giggled. "You have a point there!"
The skeleton narrowed his eyes at the failed insult. "well, the king might let you see it. after all, he's going to use your soul to break it."
Frisk perked up. "If you break the barrier, everyone can go outside?"
"well, duh."
"What does it take to break the barrier?"
"seven human souls," Sans answered. "which is why my boss is going to get the best promotion after this. you're the very last human we need, kid."
"Oh. That makes sense. I've never been first in anything." Frisk chuckled. Sans didn't laugh. "Anyway, thank you! I was curious as to why I was here is all and why everyone's stuck here. But it must be nice."
"what?"
"I mean, leaving," Frisk answered. "It must be nice knowing that you'll be able to leave very soon. I can understand if you're impatient. I am, too." They chuckled.
"you realize you're going to die, right?" Sans inquired, "or do you not know what that means?"
"I know perfectly well what it means," Frisk answered. "But I'm going to enjoy being outside, too. I know I'll probably die to do it, but at least I won't be… well… anywhere!"
Flowey looked at them in concern. "Um… what do you mean, Frisk? Y-you don't want to die, right?"
Frisk looked at him in shock and hesitated. "Flowey, if I wanted to die, I'd have killed myself by now. It doesn't matter if I want to die. I'm going to either way. I just need to make peace with it. If they bring me to castle, I'll die. If I go to the castle myself, I'll die. Both options are bad for me but good for them- especially for Papyrus and Sans because after capturing and delivering me, they'll be honored!"
Flowey's gaze turned sad. "You're too kind, Frisk. Go to sleep; you need your rest."
"…yeah. you do," Sans agreed, eyes narrowed in suspicion.
Frisk lay down and pulled their blanket over themselves so that their nose touched the wooly black-and-red blanket.
Before they could go to sleep, there was a hard knock on the door. Sans started to walk downstairs but Papyrus cut him off. When Papyrus opened the door, they found five dogs. Dogamy and Dogarressa bowed their heads and knelt on the porch before him. Doggo, head tipped, knelt between Greater Dog and Lesser Dog. "DOGS? WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE?"
Dogarressa piped up, "We heard that someone of your household is sick. So, we brought a gift." She rocked back on her heels and looked up at him. She offered a covered bowl. "This is medicine. My husband and I make it for people who have gotten sick from the cold."
"WHO TOLD YOU THERE WAS SOMEONE SICK HERE?" Papyrus prompted, eyes narrowed in suspicion.
"We smelled it," Dogarressa answered in a plain voice. "We have very good senses of smell. We couldn't help but smell the sickness. I apologize if we are intruding. We both understand the time of day it is."
Papyrus hesitated before taking the bowl from them. "…WHY ARE YOU GIVING US THIS?"
This time, both dogs looked up. Dogamy answered, "It is tradition to heal a sick one. When someone gets sick, everyone else gives gifts to them." He turned his head back to look at the other dogs. Doggo stood up. In his hand was a bag of dog treats. Greater Dog held a relatively new looking stuffed bunny. Lesser Dog wielded a thermos. Papyrus, too confused to be suspicious any longer, took the gifts offered to him.
Dogarressa spoke up again. "We wish your ill one a speedy recovery. The medicine should help them greatly. If you require more, we will be more than happy to make more. The stuffed toy should give them a bit more comfort and the treats should make them happier. The drink is hot; it'll keep them warm. It's cinnamon bark tea." Her gaze flicked to the side to see Frisk. Her ears perked up before returning to Papyrus.
"YES. WELL, THIS SEEMS TO BE APPROPRIATE. YOU SHOULD GO TO SLEEP. TOMORROW WILL BE BUSY."
"Yes, sir," the Dogi answered in unison. "We wish your household to be cleansed of illness soon." They got up and turned around. Lesser Dog, tail wagging, held Dogarressa's paw. Greater Dog bounded beside him. Dogamy waved his hand to give Doggo a constant moving object to see. The door shut.
Papyrus set down the medicine, thermos, treats, and toy on the table beside Frisk. Papyrus turned to Flowey. "ARE THESE GOOD ENOUGH FOR THE HUMAN?"
Flowey bit the lid of the bowl and popped it off. Multiple pieces of round food pellets were in it. "Oh wow. This is a really, really, really old recipe. I wouldn't doubt it, actually. This medicine is really good for people with colds. I remember it being used. They got well very soon. But it, uh, doesn't work on people who got poisoned. Anyway, this should do the trick." Flowey pulled out a paper from the bottom of the bowl. "Yep. Instructions on how to use it."
Papyrus inspected the paper. "WELL… GOOD. HUMAN! EAT ONE OF THESE NOW. YOU CAN HAVE THE TEA WITH IT IF YOU W- NEED TO. OF THESE TREATS?"
"They're… uh… treats," Flowey replied. He opened the bag completely. "Yep. In the shape of bones. I'm sure they're fine. Here you go, Frisk."
"Thanks!" Frisk tapped the table with one of their fingers until their found the bowl on medicine. They plucked out one of the hard, dry balls of medicine. It was just about the size of a golf ball, had a rough, nearly flaky texture, and was quite dry. Although it felt hard and well put together, it took no effort to bite a chunk off. Frisk's nose scrunched up at the taste. "It tastes like dog food! Not the good kind, either."
Flowey chuckled. "Yep. It does. It's a dog's recipe."
"Well, I've never had medicine made by dogs before. So hopefully it'll help." Frisk finished off the chunk of medicine before reaching for the thermos. It, too, was quite hot. It had a very strong cinnamon flavor, though the odd hint of bark from other types of trees was in it as well.
"WELL, WE WILL SEE YOU IN MORNING. HOPEFULLY THAT MEDICINE HAD HELPED YOU." With that, the skeleton turned and walked back up the stairs.
Frisk drank a bit more before capping the thermos and laying back down. "Good night, Flowey."
"Good night, Frisk."
Frisk woke up a blur. They couldn't recognize anything. They still couldn't see a thing; their vision had gone completely dark. They whimpered and rubbed their eyes. They found dampness on their cheeks. Had they been crying?
"Frisk?" Flowey's voice appeared beside them. "Hey, can you hear me?"
Frisk nodded. "Y-yeah. Yes. Why?"
"You don't look too well," Flowey stated. "Did you have a bad dream?"
"I…" Frisk bit their tongue and nodded. "Yeah. But it was… it wasn't anything important. You know me; I just get scared over the little things. Haha. It wasn't too bad. I'm fine. Really; I'm fine."
"If you say so…" Flowey muttered.
"…IS THIS A SIDE EFFECT OF BEING SICK? DO HUMANS THINK LIKE THAT?"
"Not really," Flowey answered. "I mean, maybe? Er, you did this before, right? In the inn?"
Frisk nodded. "Yeah. Funny how dreams work. I forgot I was here. Hehe. What's up?"
"I CAME TO CHECK ON YOU TO MAKE SURE YOU WERE HEALING," Papyrus answered in a brisk tone. "TO MAKE SURE YOU WERE ALRIGHT. ARE YOU SURE? DILLUSIONAL WHIMPERING ISN'T 'HEALTHY' TO ANYONE."
Frisk shrugged. "I just got a bit antsy. Dreams do that sometimes- especially when you don't expect it! But thanks for the concern. I'm doing much better."
Papyrus gave them a brisk nod. "IF YOU SAY SO. IT IS MORNING. TAKE ANOTHER ONE OF THOSE PELLETS. SANS IS GETTING YOUR SOUP. THEN WE WILL BE OUT PATROLLING. STAY HERE, HUMAN."
"Yes, sir!" Frisk yipped. "Good luck! I hope everything turns out well!"
Papyrus hesitated part way through the door. However, he did not answer. He left. Sans popped by and dropped off their meal before leaving again.
Flowey took off the covering on the cinnamon-tasting broth. "Are you sure you're fine? You looked really distressed there…"
"I'm fine, Flowey. I'm not hurt."
"Are you afraid of your dad?" Flowey inquired.
The young human gasped and then took a deep breath. "What gave you that idea?"
"You were panicking," the flower explained and took out a bit of medicine out for them. "You were saying something about your father."
Tears glimmered in Frisk's eyes. "I-I'm okay. Really. I'll be fine." They sniffled and took bite out of the medicine. "I'm fine. Nothing's wrong. Everything's okay." Nothing's wrong. Everything's okay. The two simple statements swirled about in their head. They repeated themselves over and over and over again. "Nothing's wrong. Everything's okay." Like muck in a stream, the words collected at the edge of their mind. "Nothing's wrong. Everything's okay." "He loves us. You just don't see it." "See? He wore black so that you can see him." "You're okay, Sweet-heart. It's just a little bruise." "Everything's fine." "Just believe me, okay?" "We love you, Sweet-heart." "Don't do that again, okay? He gets really mad when you do." "Don't touch his things, baby girl. Alright?" "Let's go get some ice cream."
"Frisk?" Flowey's voice brought them back to the present. Frisk looked up at him. "You can tell me anything, Frisk. Really! You can trust me. I won't hurt you. I'm your best friend, remember?"
Frisk nodded. They finished off the medicine and ate their soup. "I know. But you don't have to worry. I'm fine."
"You're crying."
"I'm not." They wiped away the tears from their eyes. They were very soon replaced. "I'm just… I'm okay. You don't have to keep asking."
Flowey pouted. "Frisk…"
"I said I'm fine." Frisk's voice took a harder tone. They took a deep breath and smiled. "I feel a bit sleepy." They downed the rest of their soup and set it on the counter. "Good ni- er, talk to you later, Flowey." Frisk lay back down and pulled the covers up to their cheek again.