A/N: This is a mirror/cross-post from Ao3. It's updated there first, and I can do things like change fonts and include links to artwork (like the cover image to this story, for example), so feel free to go check it out there! I'll try to keep this up-to-date too, though.

Warnings (skip for fewer spoilers): this story starts out fluffy for now, but is going to get darker a bit later on. It's a bit light for a T rating, honestly, but if you're squicked easily, feel free to message me for more specific warnings. (The main warning for this story is kind of a spoiler, so...) Also, if you're not a fan of character death, this story might be upsetting. Seems only be fair to give a warning ahead of time.


You, Toriel, Asgore, Sans, Papyrus, Alphys, and Undyne are the first ones to go to the surface, just to make sure you can really get there, but when you've established that there's a path to the surface, Sans volunteers to go put a few words in the right ears—or flames, in this case, you suspect—to get everyone moving. By the time you're halfway back the way you came, you're being overtaken by the first monsters headed out of the underground. They're so excited and moving so fast that you're a little worried you're going to be bowled over, but Undyne takes her job as the head of the Royal Guard very seriously. She herds the rest of you into a tight knot and points you back towards the surface, since, as she puts it, that's where Asgore's subjects will need their king the most.

(She doesn't look at Toriel. You're pretty sure she just doesn't know what to do with her, but the whole "chewing out the king in front of third parties" thing has thrown her off a bit. She might even be a little bit scared. Fair enough—you'd thought Toriel in guardian mode was scary, but angry ex-wife Toriel scares you in an entirely different way.)

So you end up back outside. It's late at night, and there are stars everywhere. Sans, who reappeared at some point on your way back up without anyone noticing, takes Papyrus's forearm and gently drags him a short distance away from the rest of the group to on an outcropping and look at the scenery. Neither brother can keep their eyes off the sky, and indeed, you see several of the other monsters who are scattered on the mountainside bumping gently into one another as they look upwards. For thousands of years, all they had were shiny rocks embedded in a too-close ceiling in some of the dimmer rooms in Waterfall; now, there's a whole expanse of the starlight over their heads. It always looked lonely to you, all those tiny pinpricks that looked so close together but were so impossibly far apart; but now, seeing it in their eyes, it's like a field of wishes that are suddenly within their reach.

It's cold out on the mountain, though, and windy. The inhabitants of Snowdin are holding up fine, but the wind's off-putting for Waterfall's residents, and the monsters who live in Hotland are already starting to huddle together for warmth. Undyne and Alphys, especially, were unprepared for the cold, and are leaning against each other. Undyne's always blue, but Alphys looks a bit too close to her shade for comfort. She looks utterly fascinated by what she's seeing around her, so you're not entirely sure she's noticed.

Papyrus drags his eyes away from the sky long enough to offer his scarf to the two of them, and Undyne bundles it around both of them, kneeling down so she's close to Alphys's level and drawing her close. You're pretty sure that was smooth as heck, but you don't really know all that much about that sort of thing and aren't sure you really want to just yet, so you give them some privacy for a bit and look around elsewhere instead.

A flicker of orange makes you look over to a clearing near the opening leading out of the mountain, and you see Grillby directing some others who appear to be making some sort of...tent? Pavilion? A temporary shelter of some kind. You see other monsters carrying large stones, and someone is using magic to dig a hole in the ground. Other monsters are starting to notice what he's doing and drift over in twos and threes, speaking to each other in hushed voices.

By the time most of them have gathered, there's a magical fire burning in the newly made fire-pit, courtesy of Grillby. Other monsters are bringing loads of food to the surface, and secondary grills are being set up. Soon enough, you're all watching a fire-monster show off his prowess as a master of his element—hot dogs, burgers, cheese sandwiches, snails and dozens of delicacies you have no name for, all being grilled in parallel before being flipped into waiting buns or straight onto plates. The smell of it all is incredible, and despite the late hour you feel your stomach rumble demandingly. You start looking for the line to get a hot dog.

Papyrus looks less than thrilled, and stands upwind of the little impromptu restaurant with his brother, arms crossed. Sans just looks...tired, you think. Not unhappy, though. He keeps one hand on Papyrus like he can't quite believe they're both there, out in the cold of the mountainside in the wee hours of the morning, watching their little world begin to celebrate their newfound freedom.

You decide to help him out, given the division in interest, and ask if he wants you to get him anything.

"nah, i'm good here," he says, and winks at you. "you should go get something, though. knock yourself out, kid. you've earned it."

It sounds like he actually means it. You feel warm inside already as you hurry towards the grills. You get your dog after less of a wait than you were expected, and chow down as you wander the area around the pavilion, looking for familiar faces.

Asgore, as usual, is in the middle of everything, standing head and shoulders above the huge knot of monsters surrounding him. They're peppering him with question after question about what will happen now that everyone is on the surface. He seems to have gotten across that he's not planning to wage any war, but that's about it—the questions are coming at him so fast that he can't finish answering one before another takes its place, and he keeps interrupting himself as a result.

A sharp cough cuts through the noise, though, and suddenly Toriel is there. She seems to be in full-fledged Queen Mode, and all of a sudden the mass of monsters is taking several steps back and organizing into something more like a press conference. She wordlessly points to one monster at a time, and suddenly the king's audience has a lot more order. Toriel and Asgore don't look at each other, but it's clear that they've done this before, even if it's been centuries.

You like both of them, you think, watching as Asgore sketches out a plan for life on the surface and Toriel occasionally closes her eyes in frustration (though she doesn't say anything, and Asgore's trying not to look at her so you're not sure if he's noticed). You remember, dimly, Asgore promising to raise you as their own child. You remember the videos you saw—or heard, really—of Asgore and Toriel preparing for Asriel's birth, and their two near-identical houses, each with the other's room shut tight. You don't know whether a happy family life was something Asgore could promise, not with the pain present in every interaction between him and Toriel, or the anger she was making very clear now. But you like both of them, and they both like you, and you think that's a start.

There's a lot of people that like you, now. It's a little strange.

Most of the monsters have been giving you a bit of a wide berth, but Kid finds you among the crowd as you're thinking this. They can't talk too well while trying to eat a hot dog at the same time, but that doesn't stop them from trying, and you listen to their excited mumbling as you walk around the edges of the pavilion together.

You soon figure out why Undyne wasn't there keeping Asgore's subjects in order; she's next to one of the secondary fire pits, still unabashedly cuddling with Alphys. When the two of you come upon them, Kid gets just a little quieter, looking at Undyne with wide eyes and munching thoughtfully. Undyne looks up at you and blushes slightly; she's sweating, and you think she probably put herself a bit too close to the fire, sacrificing her comfort in an effort to keep Alphys warm.

You decide you want to help with that, and approach cautiously, looking for a sign that it's okay to go in for a hug.

There's a very awkward stand-off as Alphys tries to read your intentions, but she gets there in the end, opening her arms with a nervous little twitch. You dive in, hugging her tightly. It's been a very hard couple of days for her, and now she's surrounded by a bunch of the monsters that she's been hiding from for a while—and on top of all of that, you're pretty sure she's cold-blooded. She says something grateful about endothermic mammalian systems as you wrap your arms around her sturdy little shoulders. You feel the fabric of Papyrus's scarf against your cheek, layered over the lapels of Alphys's lab coat. Her talons on your back are oddly comforting. It's nice and cozy in your little knot of human and monster, and you start to doze off. It's been a very, very long day.

You wake up to Alphys fussing over what to do about you, and discover that the area around the pavilion has been transformed into what looks like the biggest slumber party you've ever seen. You have no idea where all those blankets and pillows come from, much less the sleeping bags or the handful of full-fledged tents. Did monsters camp in the Underground? You were always closest to the city, so you suppose you just never saw them at it.

Undyne's retrieved a huge mass of blankets and three pillows, and Alphys, who'd been fretting about waking you up, falls nervously silent as you sit up some and rub your eyes. You're too sleepy to talk, so you just take each of them by the hand and pull towards one of the huddled masses of monster bodies. You end up finding Toriel before you find Asgore; she's sitting at the edge of a small crowd of cuddling monsters from Snowdin.

Nearby are Sans and Papyrus. Sans is snoozing happily lying half in Papyrus's lap, and Papyrus seems slightly perturbed at the sight of so many monsters who are all apparently planning to "sleep" instead of just napping for a few hours. You kneel down beside them and pat at him absently, and when he looks down at you, you think he looks tired—he's got faint creases under his eye-sockets that you're only used to seeing on Sans.

You'd been planning on sleeping next to Toriel, but you're not sure if she's planning to sleep tonight, and you think that Sans might've decided to sleep where he did on purpose. So you pull at Papyrus and at Undyne until they're in positions where you can curl up between them, with your pillow atop Papyrus's femur and one of your ankles hooked around Undyne's. (Alphys curls up against her other side, huddled tight against her with Greater Dog, out of armor, curled up against her back; you're pleased they seemed to have come up with a good sleeping arrangement.) Papyrus sighs at you, obviously a bit put out, but doesn't say anything and even leans back till he's on the ground himself, hands behind his head as he stares up at the sky.

You raise a hand to wave at Toriel, and to your surprise she comes over, reaching between the tops of their heads to place a soft, warm hand (paw? What does she call them? You realize you don't really know, but it's got five fingers, clawlike nails, and soft fur between the padding on her fingers and palms) on your shoulder. You reach up, curl your hand around a couple of her fingers, and close your eyes.

You're surrounded by friends and warm despite the chill breeze coming down the mountain. Dawn will probably come too soon for most of you, but you can't think of better people to wake up beside.

Incredibly, it really does seem like everything's going to be okay.