Guys, I had the urge to write this since I completed the game. I loved the characters and holy hell. I wanted to do something after they reached the surface. Just some fun while also touching base on some sensitive topics. I will say please be cautious since there is mention of depression and suicide in the story. I wanted to give a fair warning in advance. Part of me wanted to use this story as a way to kind of vent also. I've gone through a lot mentally in the past, so I just thought about working it in with writing. Anyways, enjoy the tale ;)
Cassandra sighed as she finally dragged herself out of bed. She ignored the clock reading one o'clock P.M. and made her way to the bathroom to take care of her routine. She usually wasn't one for laying in bed, but that changed as the years passed; she no longer had the energy to do much of anything, and even when she had to work, she found it harder and harder to drag herself out of bed. She just didn't see the point of it all. She tried to seek out counselors to help with her growing depression, but they never helped; hell, she recalled sending once counselor into counseling when asked about her nightmares or thoughts. She knew that she had at least tried to seek help, but she knew that no one could. Her friends tried their hardest to help her, but she felt like she was holding them back. A dry laugh escaped her as she stared at her reflection; who was she to anyone, really? One day she would die, and then what? Everyone would go on with their lives and forget her, like they always did. Shaking her head, she got dressed and managed to convince herself to head outside to clear her head before her thoughts could get worse. Pulling out her iPod, she stuck her headphones in and hit shuffle as she ignored those passing her by. She felt the Autumn breeze brush across her face as she trekked on unsure of her own destination; all she knew was that her head was getting to loud for her and she needed some kind of distraction. She didn't particularly mind the month of September, but she didn't really like the winter months, or the fact that her depression became unbearable during that time. She shook her head and fidgeted with her long sleeve shirt to be sure that her arms were covered completely.
She took in the city as she walked, focusing on her music that calmed her mind and at least make her feel numb instead of the clawing anxiety and depression that threatened to climb at any given moment. Music was the one thing that she felt would help calm her when nothing else would; she secretly thanked her aunt had paid for her dance lessons when she was younger since dancing was sometimes an outlet when the music took over her. It was the only thing that kept her from losing her sanity, well, most days at least. Today was already proving to be one of her bad depression swings, and she was doing what she could to help delay her thoughts from swamping her already fragile mind. A sigh escaped as she stared at the ground, that was until the mountain's shadow loomed over her causing her to look at it. 'Mt. Ebott...' she thought as she slowed to a stop. 'The monsters' home before they came here... I wonder what it was like...'
The brunette stared as the music continued to play on. The mountain itself was rather beautiful, but there was also an air of mystery about it, especially with the rumors of the disappearing children years before the monsters emerged. She chuckled darkly to herself as a particularly nasty thought bombarded her mind; it would be so easy to climb that mountain and disappear from this life. Shaking her head once again she continued onward, the shadow of the thought staying in the back of her mind. She ignored the people she passed until she made it to the nearby park. Pulling out a book she brought with her, she sat against a tree and began focusing on her book, the music drowning out the sounds of others around her. The book she pulled out was well worn as it was one of her favorites, a book called And Then there were None by Agatha Christie. Reading was another hobby of hers that made her feel content when the world around her seemed grim; she sometimes wanted nothing more than to escape into the world of the books she read, with a few obvious exceptions. To keep the wind from blowing into her face, she pulled her hair into a ponytail, which she hated to do. She hated the scar that adorned it that reached from her forehead to her chin at an angle. It was another reminder of her past that she wanted to sweep under the rug. Her blue eyes danced across the pages as she continued to read her book.
Unknowing to her, she had caught the attention of a child around the age of ten. Children have a natural talent of sensing emotions from others, and Cassandra's loneliness wasn't an exception. The child was at the park playing frisbee with their monster friends when he noticed the young woman sit by a tree away from others, her eyes downcast as she pulled out a book. The kid blinked as they watched, something telling them that she could use a friend. "Is something the matter my child?" a soft voice spoke from a white goat-like monster.
The child shook their head before pointing at the oblivious twenty-seven year old. This caught the attention of the other monsters who were now all staring at the brunette, wondering why she of all people caught the attention of Frisk. However, Cassandra was getting the feeling of being watched and glanced up to see the monsters and the human child looking at her. The brunette froze before she quickly let her hair down and tried to cover the scar; quickly putting her book away she made to stand up only to find the child smiling at her. This caused the young woman to become perplexed and kind of curious. "Um, h-hello..." Cassandra said with uncertainty. The monsters slowly approaching didn't go unnoticed by her though.
"Hi," the child responded softly before handing holding the frisbee out to her. "Would you like to play?"
This caused Cassandra to blink, unsure how to answer as she removed the headphones from her ears. "it would be a real 'catch' if you did' a voice said from one of the monsters which caused a few snickers.
The brunette stood up and took in the scene before her. On the right behind the child was a goat-like monster with very feminine features who was smiling patiently at her, next to her was a yellow lizard or dinosaur monster who seemed just as anxious as she was which was more relaxing to the young adult. Right by the dinosaur was a very muscular blue fish with fiery red hair that had a huge air of confidence about her that was also kind of unsettling. Next to the intimidating monster were two skeletons; one about a good five inches taller than the other. "I-I don't want to intrude on anything..." Cassandra stuttered out feeling more self-conscious than every before.
"Nonsense!" the taller skeleton shouted which caused the young woman to jump.
"My name is Frisk," the child spoke softly before pointing to the monsters. "That one is Toriel, my mother, next to her is Alphys, Undyne, Papyrus, and Sans."
"It's nice to meet you, my name is Cassandra," the young woman responded quietly. Her head began screaming at her to just leave since she didn't deserve new friends.
Frisk held out the frisbee once again and smiled expectantly. Chewing on her lip, Cassandra shyly took the frisbee causing Frisk to smile with delight which resulted in the young woman's lips to twitch with a small smile. "It's been a few years, so don't expect me to play that well," she said quietly before sloppily throwing it towards Toriel who caught it.
"tibia honest, that kinda sucked,' the skeleton known as Sans said with a wink.
Cassandra smirked a bit, a little confidence coming to her; she loved to make others laugh, so puns were usually her go to. She felt that if she were to have a purpose, it was to make those around her happy at her own expense. "Gee, I guess I'm kind of a bonehead," she chuckled.
"No! Not another corrupt person!" Papyrus exclaimed.
The day turned out better than Cassandra had expected, and eventually it was time to say her goodbyes before waving goodbye. She secretly thanked meeting Frisk and the others when she did, since it was sometimes hard for her to control her thoughts. As she continued to walk, however, her smile began to fall. She new she more than likely never run into them again, which was probably for their benefit. She was a burden after all. Shaking her head, she rubbed her arms as the chill started to get to her. She then grimaced as she remembered that she needed to work tomorrow. As she continued to walk, she peaked once again at Mt. Ebott as she walked passed it. 'Maybe I should...' she thought darkly.
Once she was home, she went ahead and took a hot shower before making herself dinner and falling back into routine so she didn't stress herself out before work the following day. She turned on her TV before putting on Star Wars, a movie she has seen about a thousand times and never got tired of. It was a sense of stability in her life when she had none. She continued to make herself a dinner as the movie played in the background. Eventually she sat on the couch with her food and ate as she focused on the classic. Her enjoyment, however, was drowned out by arguing above her in her apartment. She gave a look of distaste at the ceiling as the screaming match continued yet again. Uneasiness set in as her anxiety and panic spiked, even though she knew she was safe.
The day shortly came to an end as she finally laid down and curled into the comforts of her blanket; she grabbed hold of a stuffed dragon that was on her bed immediately began to calm down. She knew it was childish to sleep with a stuffed animal, but it was her comfort blanket, and it brought her a sense of familiarity and it calmed her enough to relax and sleep on most nights. It even sometimes fought off the night terrors she still had, so if it helped, she would be childish. No dream came to her that night, but the following morning, she felt more hollow than ever, she frowned as she stared at her phone before sighing loudly. She needed to go to work, and she knew she couldn't call out. She sat up only for her shoulders to sag as she stared at the blankets; she had no energy for people today.
Despite her brain's protests, she forced herself to get ready for the day and stepped out into the cold morning air. She kept her head down and she made her way to work; she worked at a nearby animal shelter, so that helped her a bit and she sometimes enjoyed her job. Today would not be one of those good days though. It started with a rude male shoving her out of the way on his way to work which caused her to land in a puddle; with a glare and a grumble she stood up and continued on her way. Much to her annoyance she got a few cat calls from people in their cars, and a scowl was on her face as she got some insults from people that she recognized from high school. Her bullies who she knew all too well. She scoffed as she continued on. When she got to work, she winced at the newest addition to the shelter: a starved and severely dehydrated puppy who also had a broken jaw.
Her work day continued on, but she couldn't get the dog out of her mind. Humanity was truly cruel, and she hated it. She sighed as she clocked out before walking to a nearby restaurant called Grillby's. She stared at it momentarily before making her way inside; needless to say she wasn't expecting what she saw. It was a monster bar from the looks of it. She sat down in one of the booths before looking outside momentarily. Someone walked up to the booth and she looked to see a fire monster looking at her. 'He must work her,' she thought to herself.
"What would you like?" he asked; she could barely make it out through the crackling of his fire? Face? Person? It honestly was kind of fascinating to her.
"Um, I haven't been here before, so surprise me," Cassandra answered with a small smile.
He nodded before going in the back to make the order. The twenty-seven year old sighed as she stared out the window, paying no attention to the customers coming and going. She instead focused on the leaves falling before the mountain once again got her attention. 'Heh...go figure.. maybe it's fate's way of saying I should...' she pondered.
"isn't this place kinda hot," she heard a familiar voice ask.
She turned her head to see none other than Sans standing there. She smiled slightly and nodded before looking back out the window; she wasn't in the mood to deal with anyone, and talking to strangers was definitely not on her priority list at the moment.
Sans just seemed to watch her for a moment before shrugging and walking away. Cassandra watched him leave out of the corner of her eye and let out a breath she didn't know she was holding. Grillby soon returned with her meal in hand and she ate it quietly, before a sudden feeling of dread overcame her. She froze mid bite before setting the burger down as the voices in her head grew louder and louder. 'Why bother eating? What's the point? You're just wasted space, don't make other's waste their energy on you,' her thoughts screamed at her.
She swallowed before different thoughts came up 'Finish a bit more before paying and leaving. No need to take up more space, but you shouldn't be rude. Don't just be selfish as always.'
Cassandra continued to eat until she had her fill before placing two twenties on the table and leaving without making contact with anyone. She knew she way overpaid, but he was nice, so she didn't mind. She held her forearms and scratched as the thoughts continued to bombard her; her feet were moving on their own accord as she began chewing on her lip. As she walked the occasional insult was thrown her way causing her mind to recluse further into the darkness until her feet stopped. She looked up and chuckled sollumnely to see the mountain before her. 'Go figure...' she thought before clenching her fists.
She began to climb, unsure of why her body was telling her to, but she did so willingly. Maybe, if she were lucky, her brain and body would agree and she would have another chance at death. Maybe this time death would accept her. She shoved those thoughts aside as she continued to climb the mountainside. It was well into the night before she made it to the top, and she was not expecting what she saw. The stars seemed to shine so brightly which caused her to smile softly as she sat down on the ground to contemplate. Why was she here? She never knew her purpose, and she sure as hell didn't want to know what person made her to be some kind of cruel joke. She was agnostic, and she was bitter at the thought of a god that would send her here only to go through was she did. Maybe she didn't have a purpose. Sure, she had an aunt that loved her until she moved, and she did have friends, but other than that... what?
She wiped away tears that she didn't know she had from her cheeks before letting out a bitter laugh. She was selfish. She kept everyone around her for her own sanity and troubled them with her presense. Standing up shakily, she looked over the edge and noticed how far of a drop it was to the bottom. Definitely a one way stop if she were to jump. She heard footsteps and turned around to see Frisk, Papyrus, and Sans emerge from the trees. She silently cursed her luck before looking back at the sky. "Hello, human! What brings you here?!" Papyrus greeted loudly.
Cassandra shrugged as she continued to stare at the stars. "What brings you?" she asked in return; she mentally scoulded herself for allowing her voice to come out as empty as it did.
"We enjoy looking at the stars when we can! Tonight they were said to be brighter since it is in the fall!" Papyrus replied.
"we just needed to lighten things up" sans joked causing Frisk to snicker and Papyrus to groan.
"I'll leave you alone then, I didn't mean to take your spot," the brunette said before starting to walk off without looking at them.
"You can stay," Frisk chimed in which caused the young woman to pause and look in their direction without making eye contact.
"if you stay you can hear more of my humerus jokes,' sans chimed in.
Cassandra paused before looking at them quizzically. Why did they want to her to stay? All she could do was nod before sitting back down on the ground only to be joined by the others. She didn't notice how Sans seemed to study her as she was occupied with listening to Frisk tell her the story of the Underground and why they enjoyed looking at the stars. Papyrus would occasionally chime in with his own part of events and sans would occasionally throw in a joke.
The brunette smiled to herself before standing up once again. "I should get going, it's getting relatively late," she said quietly. "Thank you."
"Why don't you come over and I'll make you some friendship spaghetti?!" Papyrus exclaimed in excitement.
This caused Cassandra to freeze and stare. Friends? She slowly nodded and before she knew it the taller skeleton threw her his phone and practically demanded her to enter her number. She did so robotically as confusing continued to take hold. Why did he want to be friends? After returning the phone and waving goodbye, she began making her way back down the mountain, her thoughts scolding her for being selfish, but other thoughts wondering if fate was really as twisted as it seemed.
The day started out pretty nice, and Sans had the wonderful opportunity to sleep in since his brother had gone to drive in his car; Papyrus loved his car and it made him happy. Sans got out of his room and teleported over to Toriel's house since today everyone was going to be spending time with Frisk since they all had the day free. It was one of those rare moments. Amusement in his eyes, he knocked twice on the door. "Who's there?" Toriel asked from the other side of the door.
"orange," Sans answered.
"Orange who?"
"orange you gonna let me in?" Sans responded only to be greeted with laughter from the other side of the door.
It opened up to reveal Toriel wiping a tear from her eye. Frisk smiled and waved from inside the house before picking up a frisbee and running over to hug the skeleton. "You ready to head out?" Toriel asked.
"ready as I can be fore a sansational time," sans through in.
After another round of laughter, the three made their way to the park to meet up with the other monsters. Papyrus was happily chatting with Undyne and Alphys as the trio walked up. "Brother! You are late!" the taller skeleton scolded.
"i guess I need a time out," sans winked causing both Papyrus and Undyne to groan.
Frisk and Toriel laughed at the pun and soon the game of frisbee commenced. They were all having a good time. "Catch this one, punk!" Undyne shouted as aggressively through the frisby towards Papyrus.
The taller skeleton successfully caught it while letting out at triumphant 'Nyehehehe!' and tossed it back to Frisk who caught it before feeling something weird. It felt as though someone needed help. Scanning the park, their eyes landed on a young woman who sat down by a tree and pulled out a book. Frisk blinked as she removed the hair from her face; the kid only barely noticed the scar that sat angrily on her features, and she looked like she was a war with something, but what they didn't know.
"Is something the matter my child?" Frisk heard Toriel ask.
Frisk shook their head before pointing at the young girl who hadn't seemed to notice them yet.
This caught Sans' attention, however. What was it about this human that made Frisk notice her? The scar didn't go unnoticed by him, and it made him wonder more. Then he decided to look at her soul; he wasn't expecting what he saw. Her soul was a very dull green and purple; it was so dim in fact it almost looked gray, and that wasn't including the dark spots and scars that littered her soul. Sans' eyes narrowed ever so slightly. He didn't trust a dark soul since his run in with Chara, but he was also quite curious. In previous timelines, this girl had never appeared in any of them. That was definitely something to look into at some point. Sans spaced back in, however, when he noticed the girl look back at them, and shock was evident on her features; he also noticed how she quickly recovered her face to try to hide the scar as fear flooded her soul as she started to put a worn book away.
'another human afraid of us,' Sans thought bitterly.
Frisk, however, didn't hesitate to approach the stranger which Sans found odd. He was more surprised when Frisk asked her to join them and began introducing everyone to the stranger. Her soul went from afraid to confused and unsure, but not about them as he then noticed self doubt as they approached. Sans concluded that he would need to keep a close eye on her in case she tried to hurt anyone. He watched a small smile pulled at her lips as she took the frisbee. "It's been a few years, so don't expect me to play well," she said softly before throwing it rather horribly towards Toriel. He noticed a little color return to her soul at this.
"tibia honest, that kinda sucked," Sans stated.
She smirked as a spark of a challenge shined ever so slightly in her eyes. "Gee, I guess I'm kind of a bonehead," she joked back.
'huh, kid knows puns,' Sans mused as Papyrus voiced his disdain.
As the day progressed, he noticed her soul coloring getting brighter, but the scars remained there. Sans had seen scars on souls before, but this was a bit different and he wasn't quite sure what to make of it. When she said goodbye, Sans approached Toriel and Frisk. "hey kid, why'd you invite her?" Sans questioned. There was no venom behind it, but he was curious.
Frisk shrugged and thought for a moment. "Something was telling me she needed a friend," they finally replied.
"A new friend?! Wowie!" Papyrus exclaimed.
Toriel thought quietly before looking at Sans. "Did you see?" She asked him.
Sans only nodded before winking, "don't worry, i'll keep an eyesocket out for her."
And like that he teleported back home.
The following day he was a bit surprised to see Cassandra enter Grillby's, but his eyes narrowed as her soul seemed to be void of color completely, almost as if it were a gray shield of sorts blocking anyone from noticing it. He waited a moment before entering behind her; he noticed the female sitting in a booth as she stared at Mt. Ebott. He approached. "isn't this place kinda hot," Sans said throwing in his signature wink.
He watched as she looked over at him, she nodded as she smiled, though it did not reach her eyes. His eyes narrowed as she went back to staring out the window. He shrugged it off though, giving her the benefit of the doubt of just not being chatty before heading to his usual seat, though he kept an eye on her as Grillby brought a burger over that she ate. Sans ordered only to freeze moments later at the sudden change of atmosphere; the skeleton looked over and his eye lights left his skull as her soul went a dark gray, slowly turning black as a sense of dread took over her soul. His eye lights reappeared moments later as she ate half of the burger, left money on the table, before making her way out of the bar.
Sans immediately got up to follow and watched as some humans spit out a few insults to her before she stopped at the base of the mountain. He didn't like the bitter laugh that escaped her as she started her climb. Deciding on what to do, he teleported back home in front of his brother. "sup bro?" he winked. "feel like doing some star gazing?"
Papyrus paused in his reading before looking at his brother curiously. After convincing him to tag along, the two went to Toriel's to get Frisk and the trio made their way to Mt. Ebott. At the top, Sans saw Cassandra standing at the edge of the top, looking below. Thankfully, it was Papyrus who spoke first. Sans noticed her puffy eyes and a few tear stains on her cheeks as she stared back up at the sky. The skeleton knew what she had been thinking about, and maybe that was why Frisk had the urge to befriend her. Eventually the four sat down and all looked at the stars before Cassandra got roped into Friendship Spaghetti by Papyrus which confused her. After saying goodbye, Sans couldn't help but notice the smile on Frisk's face. What did the kiddo know?