The sun shone down on the back of the house from where it was disappearing behind Mt. Ebott. It had reached that golden time of the afternoon that directly preceded sunset. It filled everywhere it touched with a honey-coloured light. It dyed the white bones of Papyrus, standing on the back porch while Toriel finished cooking dinner, an almost creamy hue. It did little to Frisk's skin tone, since their heritage had given them an even richer honey-olive glow that couldn't be tamed.
"SO, TO RECAP, I HAD HORRIBLE PARENTS WHO LITERALLY TIED ME TO A CHAIR BECAUSE I COULDN'T SIT STILL. I HONESTLY WOULDN'T BE SURPRISED IF MY DAD DID TRY TO KILL US. HE'S HIGHLY UNSTABLE AND VERY VINDICTIVE. MOM HAS ALWAYS BEEN THE SMART ONE, APART FROM THAT TIME SHE DROPPED SANS ON HIS HEAD. I HONESTLY HAVE NO IDEA HOW THEY COULD HAVE PRODUCED US. GRILLBY REALLY IS MORE OF A PARENT TO US THAN THEY EVER WERE. AND-"
Papyrus froze when he heard the sound. It was a familiar sound, in that he had heard it before, but it was unfamiliar in that he had never heard it here. To be honest, he had never thought he would hear it again. After all, the cause of that sound had sworn he wasn't going to leave the Underground for anything. Yes, he had technically broken that promise when he'd come up to drop off Papyrus' present, but that didn't really count. Could he really be here again?
When the yellow petals poked their way out of the dirt, Papyrus smiled. Flowey was here! He had no idea why his friend had come, but it was nice to see him again. Well, sort of. Flowey was facing Frisk with his back to Papyrus, but still!
Papyrus opened his mouth to say hi, but it was Flowey who spoke. "Howdy, Frisk. Why the heck do you keep LOADing? You haven't been this trigger happy since you were Underground! What'd you do, lose track of the smiley trashbag? I'm starting to get a headache!"
"FLOWEY, WHAT HAVE I TOLD YOU ABOUT CALLING MY BROTHER THAT? IT'S NOT NICE! I KNOW YOU CAN DO BETTER THAN THAT."
The flower froze. Then he slowly, ever so slowly, turned around to face Papyrus. He looked incredibly nervous. Frisk had slipped into their usual deadpan look. He was starting to dislike it as much as he did Sans' fake smile. "Oh. Uh, hey Papyrus…? When did you get here?"
Papyrus frowned. "I WAS HERE BEFORE YOU WERE, FLOWEY, AND I HAVE SOME QUESTIONS ABOUT WHAT YOU JUST SAID. WHAT DO YOU MEAN WHEN YOU SAY FRISK IS LOADING? YOU DON'T SOUND LIKE YOU MEAN LOADING THE DISHWASHER, AND, ANYWAY, I HAVEN'T SEEN THEM DO THAT. SO, WHAT DO YOU MEAN?"
Flowey, very rudely, turned to Frisk instead of answering him. "Okay, Frisk, now would be a really good time to LOAD. You don't want to know what happens if-"
Frisk interrupted him. Their face was still deadpan, but their eyes were determined. [No, Flowey. I'm going to tell him. He just shared his big secret with all of us. We should share this with him. And you should stay up here with us. There's a big thing coming soon, and you can get to be mean to someone without getting told off. You like that, right?]
The flower sighed. "There's no way I can convince you, is there? You're going to tell him whether I agree or not. Fine then. Tell him for all I care, but I'm not… you'll let me be mean to someone? Really? But you never let me be mean!"
Frisk grinned and Papyrus smiled. One, Frisk was emoting again, which was good. Two, Frisk was so clever to have used that trick on Flowey. And three, Flowey was going to stay! Yay!
[Yep! Papyrus and Sans get to join the Bad Parents Club, and you get to mess with their parents. They did lots of not-nice things, but every time one of my monster friends tries to confront them the dad kills them. But I know you're clever enough not to get caught. You can do whatever you want to them as long as it isn't permanent. Okay?] Frisk signed.
"Okay," Flowey said reluctantly as Papyrus' eyes bugged out. Frisk had just said that those were dreams! Were they more than that, or was his friend confusing them with reality?
Frisk noticed his reaction and smiled at him. [I'll explain it in a minute, Papyrus. I just want to tell Flowey who he needs to annoy.] Then they turned to Flowey. [Their parents live in a big mansion in the snobby part of town. Their names are T.N. Roman and Coursiva Revenant.]
"I know them!" Flowey said with a creepy smile. "And I know what drives them nuts. Just leave this to me."
With that, Flowey disappeared beneath the soil once again. Papyrus stared at the hole for a moment before moving his gaze to Frisk. "WELL, FRISK? WHAT IS THIS LOADING HE WAS SPEAKING OF?"
Frisk sighed and moved over to the bench on the edge of the deck. Papyrus followed them. [LOADing is… well, you know videogames?]
Papyrus nodded. "I DO, IN FACT, KNOW OF WHAT YOU SPEAK."
[Well, imagine for a minute that this world is a video game. There would be certain Save Points that you could use to SAVE, right? And then there would be times where you died or messed up, so you'd LOAD back to the last time you SAVEd. Then, sometimes, if you messed up badly enough, you could RESET back to the very beginning of the game.]
"YES, I UNDERSTAND. WHAT DOES THIS HAVE TO DO WITH REAL LIFE?" Papyrus asked.
Frisk gulped. [Well… it is real life for me. I can do all of those things. I have done all of those things. Flowey knows because he used to be able to do those things before I came along, and he still remembers when I do them.]
At first, Papyrus didn't really know what to think. This sounded so outlandish, so far fetched, that he couldn't believe it was real. Then he thought back, remembering all the times Frisk had warned him about danger or steered him away from doing something. He remembered their face when that happened. He also remembered those times in the Underground when Flowey would predict things with pinpoint accuracy.
"O… KAY. THAT… SORT OF MAKES SENSE. YOU BOTH HAVE DONE THINGS THAT DIDN'T MAKE A WHOLE LOT OF SENSE. ARE YOU TWO THE ONLY ONES WHO REMEMBER?"
Frisk shook their head. [Sometimes everyone remembers a little bit from the last timeline. Do you remember the vision Toriel had of Sans being hurt? That was actually a memory from the other timeline. Sans got really badly hurt and ended up in the hospital. As in he broke a lot of bones and was probably going to die. I had to LOAD to save him.]
Papyrus gasped. "AND YOU WERE HANDLING THIS ALL BY YOURSELF?! FRISK, THAT'S WAY TOO MUCH FOR JUST ONE PERSON. IS THIS WHY YOU SOMETIMES GET SO DEPRESSED? BECAUSE YOU FEEL GUILTY THAT YOU HAD TO LOAD, AND BECAUSE YOU HAD TO CHANGE PEOPLE TO SAVE THEM?" Frisk's wince told him that he was right on the money. "FRISK, IT'S OKAY TO FEEL LIKE THAT, BUT YOU NEED TO KNOW THIS ISN'T YOUR FAULT. TAKING ON THIS MUCH RESPONSIBILITY BY YOURSELF IS BOUND TO HURT. THINK OF IT LIKE A HEAVY BURDEN. IT'S REALLY HARD TO CARRY IT BY YOURSELF, BUT IF YOU HAVE LOTS OF PEOPLE TO HELP YOU CARRY IT, IT FEELS LESS HEAVY. DOES THAT MAKE SENSE?"
He held out his hands for a hug. Frisk dove into his arms and hugged him tightly. He could feel their tears leaking into his clothes, but he didn't care. Frisk needed this right now.
When they eventually pulled back, they were smiling. They signed, [But now I have you! You can help me carry it better, right? I'll just tell you and Flowey why I have to LOAD and you'll help me fix it, right?]
Papyrus nodded. "I'LL HELP YOU, FRISK, BUT I THINK THAT YOU SHOULD TELL EVERYONE ELSE. THAT WAY WE CAN ALL HELP YOU! AND WE CAN HELP YOU PREVENT YOURSELF FROM HAVING TO RESET. THAT SOUNDS LIKE A THING WE SHOULD AVOID. WHERE DO YOU RESET TO, ANYWAY? HAVE YOU EVER HAD TO RESET BEFORE?"
Frisk nodded. [Just once. My RESET point is when I first fell down into the Underground. When I first fell down I was really scared. I thought you guys were going to hurt me because, well, everyone on the Surface tried to hurt me. So… I fought back in a lot of those battles. I… I killed some of you. I killed Toriel, Undyne, Mettaton, and Asgore. Oh, and Jerry. Then I made it up to the Surface and… nothing had changed. The humans still ignored me, refused to serve me, and actually beat me up, all because I was homeless.]
[Then one of them went too far and I died. Char... I had the option to go back. I remembered how nice you were. Not everyone at first, just you. I wanted to come back and live with you. When I came back I couldn't help but notice how everyone was really nice. They had hopes and dreams and I really rooted for them. So I did everything I could to bring you to the Surface.]
[It seems to have worked so far… with a few bumps and bruises,] Frisk concluded, [but, hey! We made it this far, right?]
Papyrus smiled at them and gave them a thumbs up. "YES, THAT'S THE SPIRIT, HUMAN! WE CAN DO ANYTHING IF WE TRY! NOW, LETS GO TELL EVERYONE ELSE ABOUT THIS. UM… YOU MIGHT NOT WANT TO TELL UNDYNE THAT YOU KILLED HER. SHE MIGHT TAKE THAT AS A PERSONAL CHALLENGE."
Frisk giggled. [I know. Flowey told me that he did that once and she creamed him.]
"AS IT SHOULD BE! UM… DID FLOWEY DO THIS KIND OF STUFF, TOO?" Papyrus asked. He wasn't sure if he wanted to hear the answer, but he felt he needed to.
[He kinda did… and he kinda did a lot worse. You should ask him. But! Now he's not like that anymore, and I have a plan to make him even better! Or I will. Soon. I hope. Anyway, let's go tell everyone about this and eat some pie!]
