Chapter 2: A Little Frisky
. . .
But it refused
Asriel was wrong before, there was something that was worse than the word earlier, and it was that collection of words was it.
He heard a muffled yell, sounding to be coming from Michelle
"ASRIEL!" Michelle called. "What's wrong? You've been staring at it for almost two minutes!"
"The Barrier won't budge!"
"What? That can't be right"
"I think something is wrong with it, it used to be transparent, not like this" I said, examining the slight pink hue that had clouded the barrier. It now seemed to be a red as the "There has to be some way to get it to budge"
"Asriel, it's getting late, I understand that this is very important to you, but I need to take care of my children and put them to bed. Goodbye Asriel, I'll come back to see if you're here tomorrow, and bring you something to eat. If you need it, though, I can bring you to my orphanage for tonight. We could try again tonight."
"Michelle, I don't think there's a point in trying."
"What do you mean?" Michelle, turned to the child, and noticed that Asriel was following her back towards town.
"If it doesn't work now, it's not going to work tomorrow, or the day after that. I'm here Michelle, and only here. The underground is in the past for me."
"Asriel, this is a really quick change in your perspective."
"I'm stuck on the surface, I'm living every monster's dream right about now." Asriel said, though it seemed he was using it to convince not only Michelle but also himself that this was the right decision. 'I'll come back with you to the orphanage."
"If that's what you want Asriel, then OK." Michelle motioned for the child to follow behind her, and they made the trek back down the mountain.
Two Years Later (The Town of Ebbot Modern Day)
BEEP BEEP BEEP
Asriel groggily opened his eyes, laying in his bed. He looked at the bright red light of the alarm clock, it, along with the annoying blaring, was assaulting his senses and begging him to get up. He sighed, and slammed his paw onto the clock, and slowly got out of his bed.
Asriel was now 14, It was surprising how fast he had grown. The little stubs on his head had extended into small, straight, and dull horns, and his voice was no longer as squeaky as it was when he first came to the surface. He didn't look that different from when he had combined with Chara. He also had grown quite a lot, and he was still growing. Almost as tall as most of the adults in the city.
He had lived in Ebbot for a couple years now, ever since the incident. He had to admit, if it wasn't for being away from his family, he would have loved it here, not that he didn't like it, he just did miss his parents. Michelle had shown him around town the first week, and while some citizens were skeptical, after helping the orphanage for a week, most had seen that he wasn't there to kill anyone.
The orphanage was a lot smaller than he expected, now having as low as four or five children at a time. He had at first just had a similar situation to the rest of the orphans, sleeping with them and being taken care of by Michelle, once he had reached High School a few months ago, he had gotten a room of his own, and was now helping take care of the children. It made sense to him, it wasn't like he was trying to be adopted, quite the opposite actually, multiple families, after hearing news of Asriel living there, had attempted to adopt him, even trying to bribe Michelle. Of course, she refused, and not only that, got mad at them for not even trying to see if they were interested in any of the other kids.
Michelle had sort of become a mother away from home in a sense, she was caring, just like Toriel, and she seemed to love every kid that came through her little orphanage. Asriel had to admit, he did like helping her with the children. It was always fun to see the wowed faces of the young ones when they showed up there for the first time, though Michelle had always said that he was extremely lucky he was a cute monster. Asriel often told stories of what the underground was like, but would always avoid the question of how he got here from children.
Michelle had also enrolled him in the local school. It had been strange to adjust to, but he was now friends with a few of his peers, and while he couldn't participate on the school's sports team, after rival schools had accused them of cheating by having someone with magical abilities. Not that there was much of a likelihood he would have played anyways, as his weight was another major problem. What he could participate in, though, was something that Asriel had discovered on the surface.
Asriel had always been interested in the human stuff that had fallen down into the underground, and one thing that he had often used was a "Game Boy" as it was labeled, he wouldn't use it to often, as he would need batteries that happened to work that also fell down, but he had found two games after finding it, and he became interested in what was called video games. It turned out, to Asriel's delight, that video games were not only popular on the surface, but they were much more advanced than his old system.
For Christmas the previous year, he had saved up money from various odd jobs he had done in the summer and fall using his unique abilities. He decided to use it to get everyone in the orphanage a gift, so after opening a present or two for each of them from Michelle, they were surprised with a gift to open all together. A Nintendo Switch, which was bundled with two games, as well as an extra set of JoyCons.
Asriel had to admit, it had sort of been a gift for himself too, and he played just more than anyone else, though one child did often play with him. But after getting into it, Asriel found out something exciting. Asriel's High School, along with other schools in the region had introduced an Esports team, which Asriel promptly joined, along with a couple of his friends. He considered himself pretty good, but nowhere near the best.
"Asriel!" Michelle called "It's time for school!"
Realising that he had spaced out, Asriel quickly put on his clothing, a custom made outfit that was a button up striped shirt with a similar color pallete to what he wore on the day that he came to the surface, as well as a small patch embroidered on the right side of his chest, which was of hist family's crest, the Delta Rune. After changing, Asriel grabbed his backpack, and headed downstairs.
Downstairs, Asriel was greeted by the rowdy group of kids that her had come to expect.
"Hey guys"
"Hey, Azzy" echoed most of the kids as Asriel continued into the kitchen to grab breakfast.
"Hello Asriel, Good Morning" Michelle said to the young monster, though she did not look away from her cooking.
"Good Morning, Michelle" Asriel said, as he made his way to the front door, quickly grabbing an apple that was already ready for him on the table, he chomped down on the juicy fruit and spoke again "Gotta run, see you tonight"
"Alright, I'm going to need help with dinner tonight though, so make sure that you don't stay out too late if you decide to hang out with any of your friends" Michelle knew she didn't actually have to say that. Asriel was quite punctual with his timing, in fact he had never been late for any time she had set for him, but still, she worried for the young goat, a bit too much according to him, but she felt like she had to, just like she had to with everyone she took care of.
But it was more than that for Asriel specifically. She had always felt like that even though she had had dozens of kids come in and out of the orphanage, Asriel felt different, and not in the way of well duh he's a monster kind of different. She felt like he was like a son to her. She loved the other kids, and she was sure that she could never replace Toriel, Asriel's true mother, but she sometimes did wish that he had felt that same connection with her. She looked at the child as he opened the front door, and he turned back.
"Love you." Asriel said, shocking Michelle and himself, it was the first time he had ever said anything like that to her. Both people in the exchange blushed, and Asriel darted out the door, cheeks as bright as the ones of his sister.
Michelle smiled "Love you too." she said quietly
Later that Day, Lunch Period at Ebbot High School
"And then I just choked up, and I said I loved her!" Asriel was laying out the events that had happened earlier that day to a few of his friends during lunch.
"Do you have a crush on her" Caleb, one of Asriel's friends, teased. He was the generic 'cool one' of the group, and was the one Asriel spent the least amount of time with, but he was fine, at least kinda. He really just kinda inserted himself into the friend group, and everyone else was too kind to actually push him away, though Asriel had a suspicion there was a certain he hung out here, and her name started with an E
"What?! No! Why would I want to date the person who's taken care of me for three years, I mean family love."
"I really don't understand the big deal. It's not like she's replacing your real mother. The more people you love, the better, right?" reasoned Samuel, probably who Asriel would consider his best friend on the surface. He was smart, almost as nerdy as Asriel found out he himself was, and quite the caring person, he was the person to approach Asriel first on his first day of middle school on the surface.
"Yeah, I mean she can't replace your blood and bones, err, magic and dust. you know what I mean." chimed in Emiko, a girl who had moved to Ebbot the same year Asriel started school. She was quite the geek, and wanted to know everything there is to know about anything related to monsters and monster culture. She was also known, at least by Caleb, as Azzy's Waifu, even though they both agree they are just good friends, and plan on keeping it that way, and honestly, Asriel thought he was just jealous that he could get so close to her.
"Thanks guys" Asriel said, now feeling very slightly better about his slip up in words. "I just hope Michelle doesn't bring it up as soon as I get home, or anytime soon for that matter. I just wanna think about what I did."
"Asriel, you're talking like you did something terrible, or that you killed your real mom, look" Samuel placed his hand on Asriel's shoulder, and was quiet for a second, though Asriel thought he could hear him mumble "What was her name again." before he started talking again.
"From the way you talk about Toriel, she seems like the last person that would be mad that, when her son was trapped in what is basically a whole different world, he looked to a person besides her to take care of him until he gets back."
"If I get back" Asriel mumbled.
"Really, this again?" Now Caleb was the one that was trying to talk Asriel out of his slump. "Either monsters are going to find a way to break that barrier or we are. It shouldn't be that hard right?"
Asriel sighed and then mumbled "Seven years"
"What?" Samuel questioned.
"It's been seven years since Chara fell down into the underground, but it feels like it's been forever since I've seen her, or seen anyone I loved down there, I know it's only been two years, but it feels like it's been decades"
"Which is why you should go back." Emiko said "I mean, when was the last time you checked the portal, spells weaken over time don't they? If it was magic that was stopping you its probably a lot weaker, and your SOUL is probably a lot stronger."
"But" Asriel began
"No buts!" Eniko seemed to be putting her foot down "After school, I don't care if I have to climb up it with you being dragged behind me, we're going to check that barrier. I'm sick of you just moping around about this and not doing anything about it. Azzy, your my friend, and my goal is not only to help you get home, but break that dumb barrier too."
Asriel was shocked, in the matter of only a few minutes, the usually shy and awkward Eniko had suddenly seemed to have grown quite the backbone. He didn't know what to say, so he stayed silent and just nodded, as the bell rang signaling the end of the lunch period.
Mt Ebbot, After School
"Come on! We're almost there Asriel." Eniko called, her voice echoing near the top of the mountain.
"I'm coming, just because I cant run out of breath doesn't mean I can't get tired."
The duo was approaching the barrier, and while Asriel didn't notice anything different, he thought he might as well try, he walked up to the forcefield, and pushed his paw into it, parts of him hoping for different outcomes.
Wait, What? Asriel thought, realizing something he hadn't thought of. If he did go back through the barrier, it was a permanent one way trip, at least until it was broken, and while he missed his family. He would miss everyone here too, Michelle, Eniko, Samuel, heck maybe even Caleb.
He pushed his paw in, and, just like years before, it wouldn't let him through, and while the barrier's previous pink hue was gone, it seemed that the effect of it did not.
"It didn't work, thankfully." Asriel said
"Oh, I'm sorry it didn-'' Eniko took a double take "Did you say thankfully?"
"Yeah" Asriel said as he already began to make his way back down the mountain. "Think about it, I'd just be leaving one world that I love for another, and once I settled in, I would miss you guys, I wish I could see my family again, but if it happens, its happening out here, not in there."
"I guess" Eniko didn't seem convinced. She contemplated what he had said as they began to reenter the town.
"Alright Eniko, I've gotta get home to do a few things"
"Okay Asriel, See ya tomorrow."
Asriel entered the front door to the orphanage, hearing the normal after school mix of giggling and some people attempting to do homework, Michelle seemed to be in the Kitchen, just beginning to prep dinner.
"Michelle, Im home."
"There you are" she said, as she turned away from the mixing bowl currently filled with batter for some sort of dessert. "Today was a lot busier than I expected, Charlotte came down with a fever, and a new child arrived."
That was a surprise to Asriel, technically speaking, he was the last one to do that. "Who is it?"
"It's the girl in the living room playing with Evan in the striped shirt"
"What's her name?"
"Her name is Frisk"
AN: And that is the end of Chapter 2! I hope you enjoyed the world building I tried to do, but now with our little determined girl (Yes I know they are gender neutral in the game I just wanted to write them as a girl for this story) things will be getting a little more interesting. Relating to the human OCs, they most likely wont play too big of a role, besides maybe Eniko (Who is NOT going to have a romantic relationship with Asriel) they were really just to show that Asriel had settled into the surface and it wasnt like he was lonely, though I may change my mind with that.
Anyways, I'll see you next time reader, and if you could, please send a review my way, it helps me get feedback so I can make a better story. Thanks!
