The Party

And the final chapter of Happy Birthday, Frisk! is here!

...

After hugging and thanking everyone for coming, it was time for the buffet. Frisk put a tiny bit of everything on her plate, wanting to sample as many of the delicious dishes Mettaton had catered for her as possible without overstuffing herself and making herself sick. After filling her plate, she headed back to sit at the head table with her family, Papyrus, and Sans.

One bite of a chicken empanada and she was in love.

"Good, darling?" Mettaton asked as he passed by with his own plate.

"Incredible. Thanks, Mettaton!" Frisk said gratefully once she chewed and swallowed.

"You're welcome. I'm always happy to spoil my friends." Mettaton said proudly, then left her to eat.

Papyrus soon joined her and Frisk snuggled into his side as they both ate. "Thanks for this. The party's already incredible and it's just started." she told him happily.

"YOU'RE WELCOME, BUT EVERYONE CONTRIBUTED, NOT JUST ME." Papyrus told her with a smile.

"I know, but I have the feeling you were one of the main conspirators." Frisk grinned.

"WELL OF COURSE! I'D BE A TERRIBLE BOYFRIEND IF I DIDN'T MAKE SURE MY LOVELY GIRLFRIEND HAD AN AMAZING BIRTHDAY." Papyrus said proudly.

"And like you do with everything, you made it as great as you are." Frisk told him, kissing his cheek, though she turned and gave a smile when she saw the rest of her family approaching.

"You two are going to be mushy the whole party, aren't you?" Chara teased as she sat down next to Frisk.

"Hey, it's my party, I can do what I want." Frisk said with a grin. She then spotted something strange on Chara's plate; what looked like two brownies stacked together with some sort of thick, sugary spread between them and on the top of the first one. On top of that, right in the center, was a milk chocolate truffle drizzled in white and dark chocolate. "Okay, I'll bite. What in the world is that monstrosity?" she asked, raising an eyebrow.

"THIS is another Chara Super Special. A decadent brownie sandwich with a cookie dough dip center and topping, garnished with a chocolate truffle." Chara said proudly.

"Ooh, I wanna try!" Tina cheered, plopping down next to Chara.

"Me too!" Felicity begged.

"See? SOME of our siblings have taste." Chara grinned, giving Felicity and Tina a bit of her dessert.

"Well, some of your siblings don't want to develop sugar boils in our stomach." Asriel said dryly as he sat between Felicity and their parents.

"Oh, just because you have a tender tummy..." Chara teased.

"My tummy's not tender!" Asriel protested.

"Oh yeah? Name one spice you like!" Chara challenged playfully.

"...Pepper counts, right?"

Toriel shook her head, though not without hiding a smile. "Chara, don't tease your brother."

"Fine." Chara pretended to sulk and took a bite of her concoction.

" 'Sup, guys?" Sans asked, coming over with his own plate, piled high with various foods. All were covered in ketchup.

"I FEEL YOUR PAIN." Papyrus told Asriel with a dramatic groan.

Frisk just chuckled and dug into her meal, and the group ate and chatted for a little while. After Frisk finished her last bite, Papyrus turned to her.

"I... WANT TO GIVE YOU YOUR BIRTHDAY GIFT NOW." he told her shyly. He opened his inventory and pulled out a small, jewelry sized box wrapped in shiny gold paper, tied with a bright red ribbon.

"Wow... You didn't have to do all this..." Frisk started, looking at the gift in awe as she held it like a priceless treasure.

"BUT I WANT TO! IT'S YOUR BIRTHDAY! OPEN IT!" Papyrus told her eagerly.

Frisk opened it slowly, savoring the moment and trying not to tear the delicate paper as she unwrapped the small white box. She gasped happily as she opened it.

Inside was a beautiful charm bracelet, silvery and dangling with several charms. There were three heart gems, one red, one orange, and one cyan. Next to them were three goat shaped charms, two big and one small, and a chocolate bar charm rested next to those. Last but not least, there were two tiny bones, a white one next to the chocolate bar charm and a golden one next to the red heart charm. They didn't have a backing like the others and felt almost magical to the touch as Frisk caressed the bracelet in awe. "Papyrus, it's beautiful..." Frisk breathed, tears in her eyes.

"THE CHARMS ARE MADE TO REPRESENT EACH ONE OF US!" Papyrus said proudly. "SANS AND I EVEN MADE THE BONES OURSELVES. HIS IS THE WHITE ONE AND MINE'S THE GOLDEN!"

Frisk smiled, happy tears in her eyes again. "I love it, Papyrus. It's perfect!" She threw her arms around him and kissed him happily.

Papyrus's sockets practically glowed. "I'M SO GLAD YOU LIKE IT, FRISK!" he told her, picking up the bracelet. "MAY I?"

"Of course." Frisk held out her wrist and Papyrus put the bracelet on her. Frisk held it up, admiring it and listening to the charms jingle together.

"Hey, don't hog the birthday girl all to yourself." Frisk heard a voice tease and looked up to see Aaron grinning at them. "Shy and I want to give her our gift too!"

"Me too!" little Christopher called out. Frisk noticed he had gotten bigger in the few months they had been on the surface, and that his body was shifting to look more humanoid.

"I want to too!" another monster called.

"Me too!"

"Looks like it's present time, darlings!" Mettaton called out smoothly. He pulled up a chair next to the gifts table. "Come sit in the seat of honor, sweetheart, and open all your lovely gifts. Felicity, Tina, I could use some little helpers to hand our star her gifts!"

Tina and Felicity eagerly got up and ran over to Mettaton, and Frisk went over and took her seat, blushing a bit at all the eyes on her.

"Gift givers, as I pick out the presents, I'll call out your names." Mettaton announced. "As I do, come over to Frisk, so you get front row view of her opening your gift and she can thank you personally. Aaron, Shyren, you two are first!"

The gift box was a bit heavy for Felicity and Tina, so Mettaton himself placed it in her lap. Thinking of what little party etiquette she knew, Frisk opened the card first, reading the message inside and revealing two tickets to Shyren and Napstablook's next concert. She exclaimed over them and thanked the blushing singer gratefully, though refrained from hugging her as she knew it would make her uncomfortable. She then opened the present, finding a game inside.

"Dance Dance Revolution! This looks like fun!" Frisk said happily. She hugged the centaur, who happily hugged back. "Thanks, Aaron."

He winked. "You're welcome, Brown Eyes."

The gift giving continued, with her getting various dog toys from the dog guard and Endogeny. The one from Greater Dog got every dog's attention. It was a large ball, so bright red it almost glowed.

"It's the Legendary Ball Of Throwing And Fetching!" Dogaressa exclaimed, her tail wagging. "Greater Dog, how'd you find this?!" Greater Dog barked happily in response. "A secret puzzle behind a piano in Waterfall?! Amazing!"

"It's an awesome gift, Greater Dog." Frisk told him, holding it up. At that moment, every dog stood at attention, wagging their tails, silently begging her to throw it, so she did. After a few moments of fetch, Mettaton finally got everyone's attention, ready to resume the gift giving.

They worked their way through the pile of gifts and cards. She got dozens of cards with various things inside including certificates from the Nice Cream Guy and Grillby for free meals and desserts. Several Froggits gave her jars of flies. She had no clue what to do with those but thanked them anyway.

When Mettaton got to Christopher's gift, the little spider cheered and scurried over with Muffet right behind him as Frisk opened the large package. It was a beautiful framed drawing of Frisk, Tina and Muffet, Christopher standing on Tina's shoulder and Frisk and Tina holding hands. At the bottom it read, "Friends Forever."

Frisk smiled widely. "I love it. I'll treasure it always." she told the happy little spider, already planning on hanging it above her bed so she could see it every morning.

"And this is from Muffet." Tina said, handing her a thick card. Frisk thanked Muffet and opened it. Inside was a gift certificate for The Parlor, Muffet's new restaurant. But it was the gift underneath the certificate that was really special. A sheet of paper, with "FOR YOUR EYES ONLY," written on the top, containing the recipe for Frisk's favorite chocolate strawberry doughnuts. Frisk was touched, knowing Muffet likely didn't give recipes out much, if ever. "Thank you." she told the spider woman gratefully. Muffet smiled and nodded before she and Christopher headed back to their seats.

Justin and David were next, and they gave Frisk a lovely western style handbag and wallet, which Frisk of course loved. Violet and her family gave Frisk a certificate for ballet lessons, with Violet also giving Frisk her own set of ballet shoes, as Frisk had returned Violet's when she realized who they belonged to. Andrea gave Frisk a beautiful journal with lovely handwritten notes inside from her and her family. Frisk hugged and thanked them all.

From the members of the police force and search and rescue that had come looking for Frisk and Tina when they found out they were missing, Frisk got gift cards and a giant framed photo that had been taken of Frisk, Tina, and the monsters with all of the rescuers. Her police officer friends, Dan Emerson and Jessie Spring, each gave her a dinner and a movie card she could use for a future date with Papyrus. Marianne, Professor Williams's daughter and Dan's wife, gave her a beautiful scrapbook she had made of pictures and newspaper articles that had been made since they came up here as well as pictures she had taken herself. Tina's teacher Miss Brown gave her a lovely collection of fairy tales, remembering Tina saying they liked to read them together, and Professor Williams gave her a windowsill garden kit, as she had been talking about growing her own spices.

And then Undyne, Alphys, and Benji's names were called. Benji was bouncing excitedly, wanting Frisk to open his gift first and Frisk did. She gasped happily at what was inside. It was a plushie of Ralsei, the Darkner goat prince from her new favorite book series, The Heroes Of Light saga. Ralsei was her absolute favorite character from the series, mostly because he reminded her of Papyrus.

She hugged the plushie, then Benji. "Thank you so much!"

Benji hugged back happily. "Mama Undyne said you loved the Heroes Of Light saga just like we do! And she and Mama Alphys made you something special from it too! It's so cool! It's..."

"Hey, you're not supposed to tell her before she opens the gift!" Undyne laughed, ruffling her son's wild green hair as Mettaton handed Frisk a long, thin package.

Frisk found herself unwrapping a beautiful and lightweight pink bladed sword, an exact replica of the one the human hero Kris used. It felt like it fit in her hand perfectly.

"This is awesome!" she told them. "Thank you!"

"It shifts into a shield too, just like the ones in the story." Alphys told her, showing her a button on the hilt. Frisk hit it and the sword slowly transformed into a pink shield.

Frisk's eyes went wide. "Wow..."

Undyne grinned. "I'll teach you how to actually use a sword if if you like. A spear too."

Frisk grinned back. "I think I'll take you up on that."

Napstablook was up next, looking nervous at all the attention, but giving Frisk a set of CD tracks they created, all signed as Mettaton told them they were more valuable that way. They were nervous about whether Frisk would like the gift or not, and Frisk wanted to hug them, but knew it would only make them more nervous, so she simply told them that she loved the gift and couldn't wait to play the tracks.

The praise was still enough to make them blush and go invisible.

Sans gave Frisk a giant pranking kit and a few joke books, and Gaster's gifts were also true to form. He gave her a set of science books on zoology and biology, the fields she was interested in. But the next two books he gave her came as a wonderful surprise. She now was the proud owner of two books Gaster had written himself. The first was The Complete History and Physiology of Skeletons, with an added addendum about their discovery that human souls could become skeleton monsters too.

The second book was The Physiology Of Souls, and as she looked at the book in interest, she found something else out. Along with her fellow fallen humans, Frisk herself was listed as a main contributor. She looked up at Gaster in shock. "Me? But I'm no scientist."

Gaster smiled and as Frisk was still learning sign, he picked up a notebook and wrote his answer down. "Frisk, you were the one who discovered how to restore Asriel's soul using the soul traits, simply deducing it from what others told you. You also contributed valuable research by allowing us to study your soul. You were just as big a help as Alphys and I were, and your contribution deserved to be shared." At this, Frisk teared up and hugged Gaster, and he hugged her back. Mettaton gave them a few minutes before continuing the gift giving.

Then, and she suspected Mettaton had done it on purpose, the gifts from her family were the last ones.

Felicity and Tina were eager to go first. Tina could barely carry the one she made for Frisk. When Frisk opened it, she discovered a painting Tina had done on a large canvas board, one of all the members of their family standing hand in hand. On the top of it read a quote from Lilo and Stitch, which they had all recently watched. "Ohana means family. Family means no one gets left behind."

Needless to say, Frisk ended up crying in happiness yet again and hugging her little sister tightly.

Felicity was next and her gift was smaller in size, though no less precious. She had picked out a black T-shirt that read, "This is what an awesome big sister looks like." Frisk hugged Felicity and told her how much she loved the T-shirt, then immediately ran into the bathroom and changed into it. The sight of Felicity's beaming smile when Frisk came back wearing her gift filled her soul with joy.

Asgore gave her a digital camera, some photo albums and a scrapbooking kit. "I have found it's a fun way to capture and share good memories, and a good way to relax. I thought we could do it together." he said shyly.

Frisk grinned and hugged him. "I'd love that, Dad."

Her gift from Toriel was a Nintendo Switch, just like the one Chara had gotten for her birthday last month. Frisk grinned widely. "Thanks, Mom!"

Toriel kissed her head. "You are welcome, sweetheart."

Chara and Asriel's presents went with Toriel's and were games for the Switch. Chara had gotten Frisk the Heroes Of Light video game, and Asriel got her Pokemon Legends Arceus.

"It's got a pretty open world format and a game play that isn't based on gyms." Asriel told her. "The game play feels more real than the previous games."

"Thanks. I can't wait to play them both." Frisk said excitedly. "After the party though." She looked up at Mettaton. "That's everything, right?"

"Yes, darling." he told her.

But someone else decided it wasn't over yet. A bark filled the air, and the thing Frisk knew, the Annoying Dog was trotting up the aisles, an envelope in his mouth. He came up to her and dropped it on her lap. Though a bit surprised and confused, she thanked him and opened it. She found a Switch game card, but it was blank, with no writing or logo on it. Seeing her look of confusion and curiosity, the Annoying Dog winked and pointed his paw towards her Switch.

Then he darted off.

"Well. Well, well, welly well. That was a little...strange." Mettaton said, summing up what Frisk felt before changing the subject. "So now that the gifts are unwrapped, how about opening that Dance Dance Revolution game of yours and having a little tournament?"

...

The rest of the party passed in a whirlwind of fun. Frisk got to the finals of the Dance Dance tournament, playing to a draw against Papyrus, though they were sadly both defeated by Mettaton. She wasn't disappointed though. Mettaton deserved the win.

Plus she'd practice, get better, and kick his butt the next time.

After the tournament, she, Papyrus, Justin and Andrea played the bean bag game with the younger kids, and then it was time for cake. Muffet's sponge cake was big enough to feed everyone at least twice and tasted like heaven on a plate, so much so that for once Frisk actually took a second slice.

After the cake came music and dancing, and Frisk switched between dancing with her siblings and dancing in Papyrus's arms for the rest of the evening. Needless to say, she forgot about the strange game the Annoying Dog had given her until after the party, later at night when everything was cleaned up and the gifts put away, and she was setting up her new Switch. She reached for the Heroes Of Light game and found her hand landing on the strange envelope. She opened it again and took the game card out. Then she noticed some writing on the inside of the envelope.

Undertale- Beta Tester's Copy

Remember, in this world, much like in our own, your choices DO matter.

Please keep this game to yourself for now, but if you have any questions, feel free to ask Gaster.

-AD

Curiosity overcoming her, she put the game card in her switch and turned it on. A logo, simple and black, with the word "Undertale" in white appeared on the Home Screen and she hit it, ready to play.

A cut scene started playing, and she jolted as she recognized it. The war between humans and monsters, told in illustrations and dialogue. After it was explained, there were the words, "Those who climb Mt. Ebott are said to never return." and scene after scene played, showing a girl, one she recognized to be a young Chara, as she ran up the mountain and into a cave before approaching a large hole. Her foot hit a root and she tripped and fell in.

Shaken, she continued, going to the home screen and typing in her name. When it said she'd enter "Hard Mode," she decided against it as she was still fairly new to video games, and decided to just go as "Risk."

And then, as the game opened, she saw...herself.

Though even more unnerved now, she guided herself towards the Ruins, coming upon a pixelated version of Flowey. Cheery, bouncy music played, somehow perfectly reminiscent of him.

When his dialogue started, exactly how she remembered it, it really started to freak her out.

"How the hell did you see this, Annoying Dog?" she muttered to herself.

And then there was a knock on her door. "Frisk?" Asriel's voice called.

"Come in!" Frisk called before turning the volume off and shoving the Switch under her pillow. Asriel felt guilty enough about his actions as Flowey; he did NOT need to see it all over again in video game form.

Asriel stepped in, carrying a small white box in his hands. "I...have another birthday gift for you." he said shyly. "But...I didn't want to give it to you in front of everyone. I didn't want to make you uncomfortable, especially if it was something you wouldn't want."

"Az, you'd never make me uncomfortable." Frisk reassured him, taking the box gently from his hands. Holding it like treasure, she opened it.

It was a beautiful silver locket. A Dreemurr locket, one with the words, "Best friends forever," on the front. "It's beautiful, Asriel." she breathed, carefully opening it.

Inside were two pictures. One of the whole group together, which Gaster had taken on the mountain, and another picture Toriel had taken of the five siblings together. Chara had a slightly weird smile on her face, as she hated being photographed, but she still had her arms wrapped around Frisk and Asriel, while Tina and Felicity stood in front of them, Frisk's hand on Tina's shoulder and Asriel's on Felicity's.

"It's got protective runes on the back as well. The same ones that are on Chara's and mine. And I got ones for Tina and Felicity too. They're already asleep, so I figured I'd give them to them tomorrow morning when they wake up."

Frisk couldn't stop smiling as she put the locket around her neck. She hugged Asriel. "I love it." she told him happily before something occurred to her. "Why would you think I wouldn't like it? It's perfect."

Asriel looked down. "Because I already forced one locket around your neck. I..I don't want you to ever feel the way I made you feel again, like I was forcing someone else's identity on you." He looked into her eyes. "But you're my sister and I love you, and I wanted to show you how important you are to me. You, and Felicity and Tina, are my family every bit as much as Chara is. So I wanted to give you guys Dreemurr lockets too."

Frisk smiled, tears in her eyes. "You're my family too, Asriel. And I'm proud to accept this locket as a symbol that I have the most awesome brother ever."

She gave him another hug, and Asriel hugged back. "Geez, Frisk, you're gonna make me cry again." he mumbled, but he was smiling.

...

Once Asriel left, Frisk took the Switch out from under her pillow and turned it off. She'd take the game to Gaster tomorrow and see if he knew what the Annoying Dog was up to. Putting the switch away, she found her new Ralsei plush, flopping back on the bed and cuddling it in her arms. She'd just had the best birthday of her life with all the people who cared about her. And no matter what was in the crazy game she received, she knew one thing.

She would never give up this reality for anything.