Chapter 9: Home

"Okay Darling, tell me today's plan again."

I chewed on my lip, before going over everything again, "I'm going to help you begin the start of the first teleporter, and then I'm going to go get another haircut, I'm gonna pack my stuff, and then... I'll go back to Snowdin."

Crossing his arms, Mettaton raised a brow, "And?"

Digging my nails into my thumbs, I hesitated, "And, and I'll talk to Sans."

Smiling, Mettaton hooked his arm through mine, dragging me with to Alphys' lab, "Fantastic, Darling! Now, we should get to work so you can get home before dinner."

Biting my lip, I followed Mettaton as we quickly made our way through Hotland, "But Mettaton, what if they don't want me back anymore? What if they never wanted me back? I don't think—"

Mettaton glanced at me, his smile slightly faded, "Darling, do tell me you're joking."

I looked up at Mettaton, before quickly glancing to the lava below the walkway, "I dunno, it's just— I feel like a piece of work, and just a heavy burden in general. I didn't really help out much when I lived there, so they probably don't want me to stay."

Mettaton sighed, taking my hand in his reassuringly, "Frisk, what in your right mind makes you think that they would just abandon you like that? Those skeletons don't seem like the type to just leave someone out in the cold. Besides, I thought we went over this; you're becoming family to everyone down here."

I was quiet for a moment, before biting my lip, my voice quiet, "And what if I don't know what family is like?"

Giving my hand a tight squeeze, Mettaton continued walking, making me match his pace, "Then we'll teach you what family is. Now, will you stop fretting?

Chewing on my lip, I paused momentarily, before opening my mouth again, "But—"

Mettaton cut me off, pulling me into Alphys' lab, "There is no room in this lab for any 'but's. The only thing there is room for in here, is genius creativity. Now, let's get started on that machine, shall we?"

A small smile on my lips, I nodded.

"Okay Darling, your hair is cut, you have your things, and we're in Snowdin. Now, get inside that house and make up with that skeleton."

I took a step toward the house, before taking three quick steps back, "I—I—This is a bad idea, we should just go back to the lab and work on that teleporter."

Mettaton put a gentle hand on my shoulder, "Frisk, you can't avoid him forever. He's probably over this silly little fight, and he probably misses you. And the tall one; Papyrus definitely misses you."

I began to bite my lip, but caught myself, trying to break the habit, "Okay. I just— I don't know. I'm just scared, I guess. I've never done anything like this before. All I've ever done is apologize and wait."

Sighing, Mettaton put his hands on my shoulders, his eyes meeting mine, "Frisk, you're life on the Surface was something that you didn't deserve at all. We know that you weren't treated very well. But Darling, you're going to have to let that go sometime. I know it will be hard, but you can overcome this, and you will see that down here, you are loved so very much." After a moment, Mettaton continued on, "And because I know how hard it can be, we can go back to the lab, if you want."

Biting my lip, I shook my head, "No, you're right. I need to make up with Sans and work on moving forward."

A gentle smile working onto his face, Mettaton gave my cheek a small pinch, "That's my little star. Now, I'll let you go on in, and I'll head home. If you need anything, just call, okay?"

Nodding, I watched as Mettaton gave me a bright smile, and began to head back to Hotland.

Taking a deep breath, I went up to the house door, and slowly opened it, my eyes already beginning to scan the rooms for the skeletons.

When I found no one inside of the house, I felt the tension leave my body, quickly shutting the door behind me as I stepped inside.

Feeling Chara's presence, I took a poke at talking to her, since she had been so quiet lately. My voice sounded strange in the silent house, as I talked to seemingly nothing, "What's been bothering you? You've been unusually quiet lately."

Chara's ghostly figure appeared in front of me, her arms crossed and a small frown on her lips, "I dunno."

A small smile playing on my lips, I gave a sort of shrug, "Hey, everyone will think I'm crazy if I say I can talk to ghosts, so I'm here to listen." When Chara didn't respond, I shrugged again, "Okay, it's your decision. If you want to talk at all, I'm gonna be cleaning this place; the skelebros really seem to have let themselves go..."

Beginning to pick Sans' socks up off the ground, I heard Chara take in a breath as if she was going to say something, but then she closed her mouth. Ignoring her, I continued picking up, planning to get the place picked up before I started vacuuming or sweeping and mopping.

After about 15 minutes, when I had finally found the vacuum jammed into a closet in the farthest corner of the kitchen, Chara let out a big sigh.

Turning around to face her, I saw what I thought were tears in her eyes, her voice quiet as she spoke, "When you sleep, and you have those memories come back to you, I see them too, as you know." Tightening her grip on her arms, she turned away from me, "Frisk, I was a monster."

Eyes widening, I left the vacuum over by the closet, crossing over to the girl, "Chara—What—No, you were not a monster. Why would you think something like that?"

Clenching her fists at her side, Chara remained turned away from me, "Those Runs. The Genocide Runs. I did that. I killed everyone down here. 536 times, if I remember correctly."

Biting my lip, I shook my head, "No, Chara—"

The ghost of a girl turned on me, a pain that I knew all too well deep within her soft garnet eyes, "I killed people! I killed the hero that I admired, I killed Sans and Papyrus, I even killed my parents! So look me in the eyes, and tell me that I am not a—"

"If anyone is a monster here, then it's me!" Taking a ragged breath, I ignored Chara's surprised look, "I have done horrible—atrocious, things. Have you not seen those memories by now? The way I relished the feeling of another person's hot blood pouring out of them and onto me? I started a war. I killed people for my own selfish reasons. And you haven't even seen the worst of it, Chara." Letting out a long sigh, I straightened up and got back to cleaning, "Besides, if the other Frisk was right, it really wasn't you who killed everyone. It was just someone using you."

Chara didn't say anything after that, and instead, went over and sat on the couch.

Holding the cord of the vacuum, I started it and began to vacuum the living room, noticing immediately that it had not been vacuumed in quite a long time. Quickly vacuuming the living room, the stairs, and the upstairs hallway. Once I was done doing that, I got a bucket of warm water, a clean rag, and some baking soda.

After sprinkling the baking soda over the dirtier sections of the carpet, I got the rag wet with some warm water and began scrubbing.

Seeing what I was doing, Chara sighed, standing up, "I'll work on the kitchen. Just tell me what to do."

Smiling, I continued scrubbing gently, "Clear any clutter that doesn't belong in there, wipe down the counters and clean the dishes, and then I can help organize after I'm done out here. So before I can help organize, lets clean the fridge and freezer, along with the floors and sink after the dishes are done."

Chara nodded, going into the kitchen and getting started, calling out to me after several minutes, "You know, it doesn't really make sense. How can I interact with items as well as I can?"

Shrugging, I moved on to the stairs, "Dunno, but it sure is helpful!"

After a few more minutes of cleaning, I was done with the stairs and moving on to the upstairs hallway. After that, I went and joined Chara in the kitchen, working quickly and diligently.

When I began work on the fridge, Chara began working on sweeping and mopping, "Frisk, where did you learn to clean so quickly and so good? I can't even sweep without missing a big section of the floor."

Shrugging, I put the bottom drawer back in the fridge, before shutting it, "Years of doing it I guess. Anyways, fridge wasn't so bad. What else did I say to do?"

Chara looked around the kitchen, shrugging, "Organizing, I guess."

Snapping my fingers, I smiled, "Oh yeah, that's it." Kneeling down, I opened the cupboards below the sink, "Okay, so we should start with lower cupboards, like this one with cans."

When I didn't get a response, I just assumed that Chara understood and had just gotten to work.

"Human?"

Jumping, I hit my head on the inside of the cupboard, wincing as I turned around and saw Papyrus standing there.

Giving him a weak smile, I began to speak, "Oh, hey, Papyrus. I didn't think you'd be home so soon. Anyways, I cleaned the—"

Papyrus stepped forward and wrapped his arms around me, lifting me up off of the kitchen floor, "Oh Human Frisk! We missed you so much!"

I hugged Papyrus back, my voice small, "You—You did?"

Papyrus set me back down, beaming after seeing me, "Of course! It was so quiet here without you, and Sans was no fun at all, all he did was mope! He just goes to his room every night after his job of being a sentry."

Giggling, I nodded, "Yeah, he's definitely no fun when he mopes. By the way, where is he?"

At that moment, the door opened, and Sans stepped inside the house, sighing.

Crossing over to the stairs, Sans called over to Papyrus, "sorry paps, i know i said we could have a movie night, but i'm just not feeling good tonight."

Staying where I was, I crossed my arms, raising my voice so he could hear me, "Is that what your excuse has been every night?"

His feet thudding on the floor as he ran, Sans stumbled into the kitchen, and when he saw me, he crossed over and threw his arms around me. Lifting me up off my feet and spinning around, Sans let out a big sigh of relief, "geez kid, took ya long enough."

"Frisk," Sans breathed. He didn't even hesitate before running up to me and lifting me off my feet, spinning me around as he hugged me tight. When he pulled away, he took my face in his hands, white pinpricks taking their time as he studied my face. Then he hugged me tight again, his voice low and full of relief, "you're back. and you're safe."

Shaking the memory out of my head, a blush was steadily taking over my face.

When Sans let go of me, I gave him a small smile, "Yeah. Look, I'm sorry, about everything. I shouldn't have been meddling, and the way I reacted after the argument was inappropriate."

Returning my small smile, Sans shook his head, "it's whatever now, kid. i'm just glad that you're home."

My smile wobbling, I bit my lip, "Home?"

"yeah, home."

Okay guys, this was just a sort of filler chapter for now.

It's like four hours late, but it's here!

Sorry about that, by the way, I've been struggling a little bit lately, and trying to remain inspired.

Next week though, I will for sure have a better chapter up for you guys!

Until Next Time!