"yea," he relented, making his way to the door, "but listen," he turned around to face Toriel and said sternly, "make sure the kid goes to our lab tomorrow. don't care how, but we need to do some tests. will give everyone else a peace of mind at least."
Toriel sighed, "I will take her there myself if I have to," she said with certainty.
"ok. good. well. cya tomorrow, tori," he murmured, before closing the door. Toriel released a heavy sigh, her head in her hands in exasperation.
Finally, something was being done.
"Frisk?" Toriel called from the bottom of the stairs, "It's time to wake up!"
During the past few weeks Frisk wasn't exactly one to answer or even speak much anymore, but alas, Toriel did not want to keep having to hunt the child down if she could help it.
"Frisk! You're going to be late!" she shouted again, but once more her demands were only met with silence.
Sighing in resignation, Toriel plodded up the stairwell. She was slightly annoyed her child was ignoring her, albeit she understood why. She had overheard her and Sans talking the night before and it took hours to get them to sleep.
But today she wouldn't take no for an answer. Everyone needs to know the true extent of what was wrong with Frisk, and clearly she had been declining. If it wasn't for her odd behaviour, then Sans storming into the house last night and nearly engaging in a fight with Frisk would have settled the fact they needed to get help.
Peering into the dark bedroom, Toriel whispered, "Frisk?"
But there was no-one there.
"…Oh dear…Not again," she muttered, eying the open window. Seems she had ran away during the night. In trepidation, Toriel pulled out her phone and swiftly called her friend's number.
Sans picked up almost immediately with a chuckle, "hey tori, lemme guess, you lost the kid?"
"Sans, I do apologise, I—wait," she narrowed her eyes, "How did you know?" perhaps he had kidnapped her or something.
"eh, she paid my bro a visit last night. apologised and fell asleep round ours. they're all good now."
"…Right," Toriel was suspicious, "Isn't she supposed to be at the lab now?"
"eeyup, will do right after she wakes up. i have my eye on them."
"Oh do be careful, Sans, I managed to lose them and I am their guardian…"
"tori," Sans' voice emphasised through the phone, "i have my eye on them."
She blinked in realisation. Oh. "Of course. Silly me."
"Sans!" a distant voice yelled through the speaker, "Get over here!"
"heh, sorry tori, gotta go,"
She sighed, "It's fine, Sans. I'll talk to you later."
The phone clicked off.
A thought lingered in her head. Self-doubt clawing at her mind.
Was she really this bad at being a parent…? Why, of course she was. She had lost children before. Chara, Asriel. Frisk was ill and kept escaping through the night.
I'm such a bad parent…I am bound to lose yet another child…because of my incompetence.
Alone in their room, Frisk was standing against the burgundy wall, maintaining a fighting stance over something that wasn't there. There was an empty plate of spaghetti and cutlery lose around the room. In front of her was a mirror on the wall, and in the reflection was not herself, but someone else.
It was a mess of black and red mist, the figure was obviously human but the body looked corrupted, covered in a vicious vaper of dark colours that left them unidentifiable.
She had been staring at it for ten minutes, but all it did was stare back and smile.
Eventually, Frisk decided to speak to it.
"What are you…" she murmured, trying to get a glimpse at the figure but it wouldn't settle, "I feel like I should know you but I don't…if I could just…"
The figure in the mirror didn't reply, craning their head to the side and continuing to smile.
"I've been seeing you ever since…ever since I changed the timeline."
"Oh man, you are stupid."
Frisk's heart jumped in her throat as the figure replied, eerily distorted but continuing to stare her down. It was the first time she had heard it speak out loud, and not in her head.
"It's only been a week, what, you forgot what happened already?"
Frisk shook her head, "No, no I remember what happened. But I don't know why that's any business of yours."
The figure chuckled hysterically, although quiet. Two red irises began to glow through the mist, squinting together as if smiling.
"If you had actually gone with them then this wouldn't have happened," the creature taunted, "Although, I did tell you not to tell anyone. Remember?"
Frisk grasped her shirt in panic and vivaciously shook her head, "Oh god, no! You can't be…"
It laughed again.
"You think I wanted to trade half your soul just to have as a nice accessory? That I just let you live to be nice? Oh, Frisk. You remind me of Asriel. So naïve, thinking the impossible isn't possible. But we're different. You should know it is."
"I-I thought I was going crazy," Frisk stuttered, staring wide-eyed at the creature, "But it was you. The entire time."
"Seriously?" the creature's laughing was getting louder, making Frisk wince, "You give half your soul to me and then you start getting visions and a desire to hurt and you seriously wonder what it was?"
Frisk swallowed, "I didn't think it was you. I-I had assumed it was the aftereffects of giving half my soul to you and it would go away, or they would fix it. I didn't think…you were in my head…"
It smiled, "Well I was. I am. I'm getting stronger than you. I don't need your determination anymore. I have half of your soul. And, hopefully, I'll have the body too, but that's a work in progress."
"You're the reason why I lost my temper at Papyrus," Frisk gaped, "But Sans nearly attacked me! With only half a soul I'd be dead!"
"We would be dead!" the creature shouted, "So thank god mo—your mom saved us."
Frisk pressed a hand to her chest as her breathing became erratic, "But why? What's the point? Can't you…I don't know…wait for another human to fall? Or just…let go?"
The creature was silent for a moment, as if pondering why it was really here.
"I've said this before. Your determination awoke me when you became genocidal. But once you used your determination to get to the surface…I was in the void. I fear I won't be able to 'let go' until you die or I come back."
Frisk pursed her lips, "So this entire thing is because you want to come back?"
The creature screamed "Do you know what it's like?! To be stuck in an endless void. To have no being, no world, nothing but you! Well…except…perhaps another soul."
Frisk blinked, "…Another lost soul?"
The creature sighed, surprising Frisk that the creature could feel anything at all.
Well…they do have a soul now…
"Keep up, Frisk. That guy is the reason I was able to meet you and convince you to give me half your soul."
Frisk glared, "Yeah, you threatened to kill me if I didn't. Being stuck in the void with you? No thanks."
"You're getting cocky, Frisk."
She grinned, a feeling of confidence overwhelming her, "And now you have a soul you're starting to feel again. I can tell."
"I wasn't always a genocidal maniac. That was your fault," it growled, red irises glowing again.
"Well invading my body isn't the way to do it. I could speak to the science-y people. Like Gaster or Sans or Alphys."
It chuckled, "I'm corrupted now, thanks to you. I want to kill. My existence is to kill. There is no other point of me being here. You tainted me. YOU! Do you think they'd let me back!? Do you think Sans would let me back!? If…if you hadn't gone genocidal, if you had just…just gone to the surface all pacifist and no…sins…maybe…maybe I would have had a chance! But I hate! Everyone and everything! And it's YOUR FAULT!"
"IT'S NOT MY FAULT!" Frisk screamed into the mirror, "I didn't know that would happen…"
"I'm coming back to kill everyone and it will be your fault."
"IT'S NOT MY FAULT!" Frisk roared so harshly her voice shook—and at that moment the door flew open—she didn't even notice how hard she was hyperventilating and panting. The two brothers stepped into the room—she quickly glanced at the mirror to see the figure in her imagination fading away with a smile, before gazing back to the brothers.
"jeez, kiddo, i can hear you screaming from downstairs," Sans groused, kneeling down beside them, "who were you talking to?"
"No-one!" Frisk cried, slamming their head against the wall, tears in their eyes with frustration, "No-one…"
"It certainly sounded like you were talking to someone!" Papyrus chortled, pacing in a circle, "You were having a full conversation! Well…sounded like incoherent mumbling to me but it was still a conversation!"
"c'mon, kid, we need to get to the lab."
Frisk pushed him away, "I'm staying here!"
"nope, i've had enough of this. you're coming to the lab."
"I have never known you to be so defiant, human!" Papyrus tittered, head tilted in surprise.
"Shut up!" she roared, slapping a hand over her mouth in surprise, "Oh god…"
I cant control it. I can't control it. I can't control it.
To her surprise, Sans was being strangely patient at her outburst, "will you come if you have a few minutes to calm down?"
Frisk was silenced at his oddly reasonable request, but just wanted them to get away, "Yes! Just…just leave me alone…" If anyone did tests, they would find out about the demon living in her head. Then the demon was lash out and kill. But for now…
Sans watched her for a moment before, sighing, "kid, you're giving me a real workout, going up and down these stairs," he said jokingly, before shrugging and standing up, "ok, you got 5 minutes. let's go pap."
Papyrus stopped staring at the two with his hands on his hips and followed Sans out the room, before pausing again, and whispering to him. "Actually, brother, I think it would be good if I stayed…maybe if I showed her that I forgive her for what happened she'll stop being upset!"
Sans, too tired to care at this point just shrugged, "yeah, fine. just make sure she's downstairs in 5 minutes. and i mean it."
"Of course!" Papyrus shut the door when Sans left and knelt down beside the quivering child. "Human, I would like to express my deepest sympathies for what you are going through, and would like to offer my official forgiveness, for shouting at me today! And yesterday! But that's okay! Because I know you're upset!"
Frisk rubbed her wrist on her knees and nodded, "I know, Papyrus, you aren't the problem," she said quietly, "I'm sorry, I…I don't know how I'm going to fix it, but…I can't go to the lab."
It was never going to work, asking Papyrus to not do something that Sans wanted him to do. But it was worth a try. The creature in her head had threatened to kill her if she didn't. And if she died while in the void…the creature could have taken her soul.
But now, finding out now they were coming back with a vengeance anyway…
"I…I messed up real bad, Papyrus," Frisk whimpered, leaning into the tall skeleton, "I don't wanna go to the lab, I just can't…" she repeated.
Papyrus sighed, pulling the human in a little too tightly. Frisk squeaked as she struggled to breath. "I can't disobey my brother, Frisk. But more importantly, I do know they are doing it for you. For you to become better. I know you can get better, you just have to believe you can, just try…"
Frisk sharply inhaled for another breath, "Don't make me go, please…we can find another way…"
Papyrus mercifully released his tight squeeze, "If it helps, I will stay there with you! I know I'm pretty useless and haven't got a clue what I'm doing, unlike my amazingly smart brother, at least I can help you."
"I'm not going."
"Human…Frisk…please…"
"I am not going."
"I'm afraid at this point you don't really have much of a choice, unless you ask Sans—"
"No, I don't think you understand," Frisk suddenly leapt out of Papyrus' grasp and pinned him down, eyes glowing as red as the crimson blood running through her veins, "I am not going."
Papyrus chuckled nervously, noticing the knife was missing from the empty spaghetti plate, "Aha…I think I understand…you're making a joke…saying that I'm going to go instead, because…"
"Remember the last time I told you not to get in my way?" she hissed, bringing a knife to his throat again, just like before, "I would kill you if you do."
"Frisk, this isn't you, it's happening again…just…just focus…okay, you won't have to go, will that be enough to calm you down?"
"You're not exactly trustworthy, Papyrus," Frisk hissed, scraping the knife across his neck, dust daintily falling out, "You'll spill every little secret to your brother and use us against ourselves…you…manipulative little…"
SLASH.
Papyrus jumped back in shock, a clear cut grazed across his ribs.
Frisk didn't even take a second to stop and look at it before continuing her outburst. "I'm not going!" she grabbed the nearest beside table and whacked it around Papyrus' head with a SMASH with almost superhuman strength, the smell of wood and dust filling the air.
As Frisk picked up the other beside table, blue bones sprouted from the ground around Papyrus, as he protected himself from the next attack.
"I'M NOT GOING!" she lobbed it at him, the beige wood hitting and splitting into two as it collided with the bones.
"Frisk, please calm down…" Papyrus pleaded, sprouting more bones around the room.
Frisk reached into her pocket and pulled out her knife, hurling it at his chest—another blue bone sprout up and hit it, sending it off in another direction just in time, scraping the side of his right leg. She ran and grabbed it, while Papyrus just watched her solemnly.
"I won't hurt you, Frisk, just, calm down please! I've already said we don't have to go!"
"YOU'RE A LIAR!" Frisk shrieked, performing a running jump with an attempt to stab him again, before the door suddenly flew open and threw her off guard.
Before she had a chance to react, she squealed as her soul immediately turned blue, then was being throttled across the room at high speeds and smacked into a wall.
WHOOSH.
SMACK.
WHOOSH.
SMACK.
WHOOSH.
"SANS!"
SMACK.
WHOOSH.
"SAAANS!"
SMACK.
"BROTHER! STOP IT!"
WHOOSH.
SMACK.
WHOOSH.
SMACK.
CRACK…
Frisk's red eyes faded back to brown.
Blissfully, everything went black.
Awakening was probably the most unexpected painful things Frisk had ever experienced to date. Every bone in her body was aching, it hurt to breathe, her brain was foggy, she couldn't remember why. It felt as if a forty-pound ton of bricks was weighing down on her chest, and she struggled to inhale, doing so with a wheeze.
Cracking open her eyelids, she was first confused where she was, or what was happening. There were various blurry figures of people everywhere, but they didn't seem to notice her. Bright searing lights burned at every corner of her vision, and her breath was somehow disappearing and reappearing like fog. Oh wait, no, that was a mask.
A mask.
That signified she was injured, or unwell. But why…?
She tried to speak, a noise at least, but nothing came out more than a gurgle. This, however, seemed to have sparked their attention, as the blurry faces reappeared over her face, mouths moving as if they were saying something but she couldn't hear.
Couldn't hear.
What could she hear? It was just white noise.
A skeletal gapped hand appeared over her face—too close—and beamed a portable searing light into one of her eyes. She shrieked, immediately tensing up to get away from what was probably someone evil that had captured her, like the creature.
The creature.
Oh.
Oh god.
She remembered now.
She attacked Papyrus and Sans had sent her flying around the room with only half a heart.
But…there was no reset. There was no SAVE. This time she was truly dying.
Oh…
She panicked more, weakly trying to move her legs to roll away, but it was feeble and ridiculous and they were all probably standing there laughing at her.
Something grasped her legs, keeping her still, the faces above her demanding something—demanding her attention, but what? She couldn't hear.
She tried to kick away from the hands but her captors easily overpowered her. She began to notice the sound of her own breathing, her wheezing, her panicked gasping, which sounded like someone drowning.
A yellow blur reached across her, a sudden sharp pain in her left arm, before suddenly the world began to fade away.
She wanted to kick, to scream, to grasp to life with every fibre of being but she couldn't. It was finally ebbing away. At last.
Some peace.
The next time she awoke was more graceful. The pain was still there, but she didn't feel as confused or foggy.
Peeking an eye open, she was relieved to see that the figures were now identifiable, albeit still a bit blurry.
The one sitting closest to her, of all people, was Papyrus. She choked back a sob at the realisation, and couldn't stop the onset of ridiculous tears as the skeleton turned around to face her.
"Ah, Frisk, you're awake," echoed a voice from the left of her. It sounded like Gaster.
So, they finally got her in the lab then. And…she wasn't dead. Not by the injuries and not by the creature. Had the creature given her…mercy…?
"I was so worried about you, human!" Papyrus exclaimed, grasping Frisk's arm but immediately retracted it when she shrieked out in pain. "Oh…sorry."
Gaster's voice reappeared, "So, you have broken bones in 26 places of your body. Quite an achievement."
Frisk didn't want to pay attention to him, but instead was desperate to get two words out to Papyrus.
"S-sorry," she gurgled at him, her voice hoarse and dry.
Papyrus shook his head, "Don't try to speak! You're not allowed yet!" he exclaimed, turning away to someone as if for reassurance and then turned back to Frisk again. "But…I guess it's okay. That I forgive you, I mean!"
"Yes, do not try to speak. When you are a little stronger, we can try healing magic. But for now your body needs to try to heal naturally," Gaster explained, and just like Papyrus, seemed to gaze over at someone else.
Frisk turned to see who it was, but, of course, it was none other than Sans. Standing away from everyone at a distance, hands behind his back, remorse plastered all over his face.
Sans seemed to notice and surprisingly decided to talk, "so." he started, and took a better part of a minute trying to conjure up what to say next, "we know there's another…being, in your head. or your body. i dunno, i don't quite understand it myself yet."
Frisk felt her stomach twist on the inside. She awaited an inevitable outburst of the demon living in her mind at the reveal that everyone now knew, but nothing came. It was quite possible it was as weak as Frisk was, perhaps even worse.
"unfortunately we can't do much about it right now. as in we don't know anything about it. it isn't a physical being, it doesn't consist of matter. i guess the easiest way to say it is it's a corruption, and i'm presuming this is what you did when you messed with this timeline."
Frisk could only nod in agreement.
"but, obviously it's not just your imagination because it's clearly getting through. changing your behaviour. your physical appearance."
Frisk glanced up at him at that.
"yeah, i saw your eye turn from red to brown again when i dropped you."
Crap.
"plus, pap recalls you wearing a green jumper a few days ago, within seconds of leaving the room, your normal one was nowhere to be seen, until you changed back again. this again was when you apparently lashed out the first time."
Frisk swallowed.
"yeah, he finally told me about that too."
"It is an extraordinary occurrence. There are so many theories to investigate. However, we must wait until you are well enough to explain yourself. Only then can we discover real answers." Gaster explained from the other side of Frisk.
Papyrus piped up, "There is no solution right now…but…! I have complete and full confidence that in the future, there will be!"
"we're gonna keep constantly monitoring you. see if there's any changes in brainwaves or something when you're gonna…lash out. then we can do something before someone gets hurt."
"What Sans is saying is, we're all here for you now! Whenever you feel angry for no reason or feel like hurting someone again, we'll know! And we'll know why!"
Frisk, inhaled sharply as she tried to speak for the first time in what was probably hours, or even days. "So what you're saying is…you're protecting everyone from me…"
Gaster cleared his throat, "Yes."
"Gaster!"
"c'mon, g, that was harsh,"
"It is the truth."
Frisk felt her blood run cold. But it wasn't because of the creature. It was pure dread.
"I…so…what are you gonna do? Do you have to lock me up or something?"
It brought Frisk much needed relief to hear Sans chuckle to himself again. "nah, you're you most of the time. we're gonna figure out why it's happening, then fix it. but until then, just gotta keep an eye socket out for ya."
Frisk still wasn't entirely comfortable with this. Just letting them go, despite the fact she could turn any time…?
"besides, you're stuck here now, so, now you can't run from our tests," Sans winked, before walking out of Frisk's line of sight. She sighed.
This was going to be a very annoying few days.
To be continued...
yay. hope you all enjoyed. my motivation for this is waning and i'm tired as heck. but im probably just fed up with this virus. i hope you're all coping okay :)