*I don't own Undertale or any of its characters; they all belong to Toby Fox, please support the original release*

Chapter 4: It's done, I ship it!

Frisk and Sans kept making small talk. The skeleton made puns as he drank from his bottle of ketchup and the girl giggled as she tried to make some puns too: the usual. Hearing Sans making puns everyday had improved Frisk's puns as well.

The teen preferred listening to them than making them herself. But when she did she always earned a very proud Sans and a very annoyed Papyrus. When this happened, the taller skeleton would argue with his older brother, the discussion more or less always going the same:

"SANS, LOOK AT WHAT HAVE YOU DONE TO THE HUMAN! I THINK YOU ARE A VERY BAD INFLUENCE ON HER! I THINK HAVING YOU MAKING PUNS ALL DAY IS MORE THAN ENOUGH, WE DON'T NEED ANYONE ELSE!"

"oh, c'mon paps, i wouldn't consider myself as a bad influence..."

"SANS, NO!"

"i would rather say that i'm…"

"DON'T YOU DARE!"

"a rad influence"

"OKAY, THAT'S IT. I'M LEAVING"- After saying that, Papyrus would leave the room until Sans and Frisk stopped laughing. That, depending on the pun, could take a few seconds or several minutes.

When Frisk was with Sans she felt like the time flew, and by the time they decided to leave Grillby'z it was already afternoon.

"hey kiddo', i would like to show you something"- The skeleton said, and started walking down the street.

Frisk looked at him curiously, but followed him anyways. The pair walked at a slow pace, greeting some monsters as they passed by. The snow had already melted and some patches of green grass peeked here and there. They almost didn't speak with each other on their way to wherever Sans was taking the human.

That was something they both enjoyed about spending time with each other: sometimes they could walk or seat next to each other without needing to engage in conversation. There was no need to talk to "fill the silence". They would just enjoy each other's company, without feeling uncomfortable in any way. Some days they talked nonstop for hours and then for no reason they fell silent, sometimes just looking at each other or laying somewhere side by side.

It was some sort of "tacit" friendship. It didn't matter if, for some reason, they didn't meet or talk for days or even weeks: at the very moment they saw each other again they would act like not a single day had passed, joking and chatting like they always did.

After walking several minutes, Sans came to a halt. They were at the vicinity of the city limits, only a few houses were settled there.

"here we are"- The skeleton said as he gestured to the tall house that stood proudly in front of them.

Frisk looked up at the building and then back at Sans as she slowly raised an eyebrow.

"hey, don't give me that look! we arrived to our destination, but this isn't what i wanted to show you…"- his friend pointed at the roof of the house- "what i want to show you is up there"

The girl blinked a few times as she stared at the skeleton. He was joking, wasn't he? The skeleton seemed to understand the girl's look, to which he answered:

"i'm not joking this time, frisk. i hope you are good at climbing"- his ever present smile widening a bit at the sight of the girl's expression.

"But I'm not good at climbing! And isn't climbing someone's house bad? "-Frisk whined.

"don't worry, kiddo. no one lives here. this houses were made just in case someone had a problem and needed to evacuate their own house"- After saying that, Sans walked to the back of the house, without turning back.

"Hey! Wait! Where are you going?!"

Frisk hurried to follow her friend and found that he was in the tiny backyard of the house, already climbing the back of it.

"Wait! Don't leave without me! How am I supposed to get up there?!"

"calm down, frisk. your face looks pale, skull pale"- Sans joked, perched on the ledge of a window.

The tiny human looked up at him and frowned, her cheeks puffing a little. She didn't mind Sans teasing her, but Sans teasing her 9 feet (3 meters) above her head was way too much.

"just follow my lead. it's very easy, you won't fall. and if you do i'll catch you, trust me"- the skeleton assured while winking at her, encouraging the girl to climb.

Frisk drew a deep breath. "Trust me", Sans had said. Well she did indeed trust him. She had no idea how he was planning to catch her if he was way above her and not below her, but she started climbing anyways. The teen fit her hands slowly and carefully in the gaps between the bricks and the ledges of the windows. Her eyes were locked on the wall, watching attentively where to put her hands and feet as not to fall. Also, it prevented her from looking at the floor below her and panicking.

Sans reached the roof way more quickly than she did, so he kept cheering her up from there and giving her some advice, saying things like: "you're doing great kid", "i wouldn't put my hand there if i were you", "you are halfway to the top", "friiiiisk, friiiiiisk, friiiiiiisk ,friiiiisk!", "yes, ladies and gentlemen, this climbing human is my friend, hold up your jealousy" , "just a bit more", "i know i'm pretty humerus but, i would stop giggling if i were you"

After some more inspirational cheers, Frisk reached the top. Sans reached out to her and the teen gladly grabbed his hand. The skeleton gave her a hoist to help her sit on the roof. The girl sprawled next to Sans, relieved and panting because of the effort.

"it seems you worked till your bones, my friend"

Frisk stared at Sans and huffed:

"Don't you dare tell me this was all a prank! If that's so I'll tell Toriel you made me climb private property and I nearly fell on some occasions"

"you don't have to use tori's mother anger to threaten me kiddo'"- The skeleton chuckled- "c'mon, when you finish panting sit up and look"

After a few seconds the girl managed to sit up and her jaw dropped slightly in awe. From there they had a breath-taking view of New Snowdin and its surroundings. Frisk could see every detail on the trees that popped up between the colourful roofs of the houses. She could also see the forest that bordered the city very clearly. The girl looked up and discovered that from that spot she even had a perfect view of Mt. Ebott. Sans's smile widened as he looked at Frisk's tired expression slowly turning into a bewildered one. Her eyes were darting in every direction, taking in the landscape below their feet.

The skeleton took advantage of the distraction and gazed at her, appreciating every single detail: from her outfit- with her distinctive stripped sweater-, to the tiny freckles that sprinkled her cheeks. He was amazed at how the sunset light tinted her features; delicately outlining them and giving her and exotic beauty, it almost looked surreal. Sans couldn't help to wonder why examining Frisk was suddenly so fascinating for him.

He had many strange hobbies, like putting joke books inside quantum physics books, or putting quantum physics books inside joke books. But counting Frisk's freckles was too weird of a hobby, even for him. By the time he was thinking that he actually needed a more traditional pastime- like chasing butterflies or collecting stamps- the girl turned around and smiled softly at him, her brown eyes even brighter than usual.

The skeleton felt like something inside his ribcage was lightly warming up. He could have sworn that, had he tried to move, he would have failed.

"Thank you for bringing me up here, Sans. It's one of the most beautiful things I have ever seen!"

"i knew you were going to like it. seems like the efforts of climbing were worth it, weren't they?"-The skeleton said, trying to play it cool and avoid thinking that maybe something had managed to get into his ribcage again and made him feel this odd sensation.

It wasn't something that happened very usually, but sometimes, as he slept everywhere and very heavily, some insects and little animals considered him as part of the environment itself and climbed over him. In the worst cases they played hide and seek between his ribs and got stuck there. He remembered that day he woke up to find a little bird nest in his ribcage. When he had tried to move the bird on the nest got very angry and started pecking him (He had never felt so glad for having eye-sockets and not eyes per se).

"Okay you win, this is absolutely worth climbing for"- Frisk giggled.

"wait a minute, you said that you weren't good at climbing"

"Yes, what about that?"

"well, how did you climb mount ebott, then? it's way higher than this house."

"Are you thinking it through? Don't you remember what happened when I climbed?"-The girl said holding back her laughter- "The last time I climbed something it ended with me falling right into the bottom of a mountain! I don't even understand how I survived falling from there! I think there's nothing strange about being scared of climbing after that!"

"ok, ok, i get it"-Sans agreed, chuckling-"hey frisk, now that we are talking about that, i've always wanted to ask you something. you knew about all the stories that were told about mount ebott, why did you climb all the same?"

As soon as the skeleton had started talking she already knew what the question was going to be and couldn't help to frown a bit. This was the fourth time this week somebody had asked the same. When Sans saw her expression he quickly apologised:

"oh, sorry kiddo' i didn't know it was something you didn't like talking about! i was just kind of curious and…"

But the skeleton's words were cut off by Frisk's soft laugh:

"That's exactly why I climbed Mount Ebott"- She said, giving Sans a soothing smile.

"wait, what?"

"I climbed Mount Ebott because I was curious"- The girl clarified- "Sorry if I made you worry, I have already talked about this three times this week"- She sighed -"Okay, let me explain…it's kind of a long story, are you sure you want to listen to it?"

"i'm all ears"- The skeleton said, winking at Frisk as he laid down on the roof, getting comfortable. He kindly gestured at Frisk to do the same. The girl laughed and let herself fall next to the skeleton.

"Oh my, you are such a character"- The girl teased him.

"well, you know it, kid. it's in my bones"- The skeleton teased back.

"Okay, okay, let's stop now, please"-Frisk said, trying to hold back a smile. She took a deep breath and organized her ideas a bit before starting with her story- "Mhhh… I guess I should start telling you from the beginning, so you can understand better. Before I fell to the Underground I lived in an orphanage. By your expression, I already know what you are thinking. But no, I actually felt comfortable there. You see, there were mean kids like everywhere else, but I didn't pay attention to them. The caretakers were absolutely sweet and lovable and I had some friends to play with too. You may think that, if I was so happy, then why would I want to get out and do something so dangerous?"

His friend nodded in agreement as he gestured with his hand, encouraging her to keep going.

"In the orphanage they told lots of stories about Mount Ebott, as full of children as it was, imagination was something that flooded the building from its floors to the ceilings. There many versions about what lived there at the mountain: evil creatures that liked chasing little children; others that liked eating them; and there was this theory about some beings that enjoyed wearing children as hats"

"I know, I know, they are absolutely unrealistic, but you have to understand that we were just little kids trying to make out what was hidden up there. And the adults didn't want to tell us anything! If you asked them, they would just say that you had to stay away, that it was dangerous, or that they didn't know. This just made us want to know more about the mysterious Mount Ebott. "

"So, depending on which kid you asked, they had different answers about what was hidden up there: dragons, elves, trolls, ghosts, werewolves, vampires, aliens, dinosaurs; basically whatever you could think of, was believed to live there. There were other children that were a bit more optimistic and thought that the top of the mountain was absolutely beautiful, with waterfalls, fairies, princes, princesses and huge castles"

"As time went by, I was one of the oldest that remained at the orphanage, which meant that I had listened to tons of scary and magical stories about that place. Since I was very young I understood that I was curious, extremely curious, to be honest, and there were just a few things that made me as curious as Mount Ebott. "

"Sometimes I used to take care of children that were younger than me. Not because the caretakers asked me to, I did because I really enjoyed it. I loved making them smile or laugh. They usually trusted me enough to tell me if they were sad and why, so I would find the best way of helping them. And, if his or her issue was too much for me to handle I could discreetly tell a caretaker about it and think about it together"

"One day, we all were taken to a trip to the forest, the one that is here…"-The girl pointed at the forest that bordered the city-"…and I thought that was my opportunity to climb Mount Ebott and discover for my own what was over there. As time went by, my curiosity about that place only grew bigger, to the point I couldn't resist anymore "

"That day I put on my favourite clothes, I grabbed a small backpack packed some food, something to drink and all my savings (it was a very important occasion). I took a cheap camera with me, so, when I reached the top I would be able to take a picture that proved I had achieved my goal. I was planning to tell the children about all the cool things that I had seen up there. Also, I wanted to show my caretakers the picture so they would understand that I could take care of myself. I thought that I was someone intelligent and responsible; there wasn't any reason for the adults to look after me so much, was it? "

"Oh my, how wrong I was!"- Frisk said as she chuckled slightly, burying her face in her hands" – "The first thing I did was forgetting the camera on the seat of the bus!"

"oh, that was something very responsible!"- Sans chuckled- "you can't be serious!"

"I'm afraid I'm completely serious, and that was just the beginning! As I was very little, hiding into the woods and making my way to Mount Ebott wasn't something very difficult. But when I reached its foot I started feeling a bit hungry, so I decided to have a quick snack before starting to climb. That's when I committed my second mistake… I forgot to close my backpack"

Sans couldn't help laughing, Frisk joined him soon after.

"so-sorry, please go on"- Sans said after a few minutes of laughter.

"O-okay"- Frisk replied, trying to keep her composure- "Where was I? Oh yes! I started climbing, I didn't notice my backpack was open till I got thirsty and reached for it to drink some water. I nearly screamed when I realized that it had been unzipped all the way there. My bottle of water was gone and most of what was left of my food. I knew too well that there was no way of getting my things back, so I decided to keep climbing. After all, I was filled with determination"

"On my way up, I started to feel a bit disappointed. Although I had already climbed half way up I couldn't spot anything magical, scary or even strange. Everything seemed normal: just rocks, plants, roots, insects and small animals. I thought that maybe I could find all those magical things at the top, so I kept going. But as I did, I found that the slope I had to climb next was very steep. So, I found a big tree and started climbing it"

"When I was reaching the top, the branches started getting thinner and thinner. I got scared, I knew how high I was, and if I fell from there it wouldn't be something nice…at all. So-oh, the brilliant me-decided to jump from the tree and hold onto some roots that were on the rocks of the slope. Luckily, I managed to hold still. I didn't fall… but when I had jumped my backpack got stuck into the limbs of the tree… and with the jerk of my jump my backpack was literally ripped in half. "

"From where I was I looked as all my money bounced and rolled down the hill. After a few seconds of dangling in the tree, the halves of my backpack fell too. I spent like, five minutes looking down, watching how my belongings slowly disappeared. I remembered that at first I wanted to cry, then I wanted to shout, but finally I decided to keep going"

"When I was finally reaching the top it was very late, I was hungry, thirsty, tired and angry (With myself and with the goddamn mountain). But somehow, I stayed determined. I had already lost everything I had been carrying, with the only exception of my clothes (That would have been way too much). What else could happen to me, then? After so much climbing I was very confident about my skills. I had gotten up there, there was no way I could fall, was it?"

"There was no way I could get one of my feet stuck with a root as thick as my arm. I was careful enough, wasn't I? There was no way I would be so silly to get too close to the enormous hole that appeared to be at the top of Mount Ebbott, was I? There was no frigging way I could literally fall face-first to the bottom of it, was there?"

Frisk made a full stop, and Sans turned to look at her. The girl wasn't looking at him; she was looking straightforward, and didn't seem to be going to continue with her story

"oh my, frisk. you have to be kidding me"- The skeleton said, suddenly understanding what that full stop meant.

"there's no way you could have fallen face-first…"- But before he could finish talking the girl slowly turned to look him. By her expression Sans understood that Frisk had been absolutely serious. She looked completely done.

Sans simply couldn't take it anymore, so he just roared with laughter.

"Hey, inconsiderate! I'm being serious over here!"- Frisk said as she tried to keep a straight-face (which was nearly impossible with Sans howling by her side). He covered his face with his hands, only managing to muffle his laughter a bit.

"Oh, so that's what we got, huh?"- The girl took her sweater off and used it as a soft weapon to smash Sans repeatedly as she joined his laughter.

"no! no! that's not fair!"- The skeleton said, using his arms to shield himself from the girl's "sweater attacks" as he kept laughing-"two can play this game, you know?"

Sans took off his fluffy jacket and countered back. A soft war was unleashed as their combined laughter echoed in the neighbourhood. The couple was so distracted "attacking" each other that they didn't notice when two familiar silhouettes walked down the street below them. Alphys and Undyne were making their way home when they heard their friends' voices.

"He-hey, isn't that Frisk vo-voice?"- Alphys wondered aloud.

"Yeah, I think so… and isn't that Sans laughter?" - Undyne replied, looking up.

Both of them lifted their gazed and saw their friends "fighting" each other as they laughed merrily and carelessly.

"Aaaww, they look kind of cute together, don't you think? - Alphys said.

"Yeah they look like…OH WAIT, WAIT, WAIT A SECOND"- Undyne said, a bit whispering a bit yelling- "You don't think they are having a sort of date without telling anybody, do you?"

"Well… do y-you think so"? - Alphys asked, stuttering a bit as she looked up.

"Think about it Alphys, why would they come to a place so far away from the city centre? Why would they choose a place so high to hang out? OH MY! IT IS SO OBVIOS! HOW DIDN'T WE THINK ABOUT IT BEFORE?!"- Undyne exclaimed as she face-palmed- "Plus, look! They seem to be having a great time up there!"

They stood there for a few moments, letting their "discovery" slowly sink in. Then they turned to look at each other and exclaimed, exactly at the same time:

"I ship it!"

"Oh it makes me remember of that anime scene in which…"

"Yeah! Yeah! I thought the same! It's so romantic!"- Alphys said, already knowing what Undyne was referring to.

"Here, let's hide over there"- Undyne said as she dragged Alphys to a spot the "lovebirds" couldn't see them. Alphys blushed madly because of Undyne holding her hand, but followed as quickly as she could.

"Noooooooooooooo"- Frisk's dramatic wail ringed through the neighbourhood as she watched her loved sweater falling from the roof to the street below- "Hey! That's cheating! It seems that you are not lazy for that, huh?"

In the middle of their "battle" Sans had managed to take Frisk's sweater away and, with a quick swing, he had sent it right to the street below them, leaving her "disarmed".

"you know how it goes: all is fair in love and war"- Sans said, chuckling as he offered to help Frisk stand up.

"Okay, you win this time"- Frisk sighed- "But next time I won't lose"

"that's the spirit, kiddo'"

"Well, to sum up the story"- Frisk said as to finish the topic – "You already know why I climbed, how my journey was, and how I fell down. When I did, Toriel found me and took care of me. She got very upset when I said I wanted to leave the ruins. Trust me you don't want to see mum angry"

"When I left them, the next thing I did was finding you, so you already know what happened after that"- The girl smiled softly- "When we finally reached the surface I went back to the orphanage, Toriel came with me and adopted me. It took some time because everyone freaked out when they first saw her, but at the end they let her take care of me."

"I apologised for being so irresponsible with my caretakers and I promised that I would visit often, which I do (I miss them too much if I don't). At the end I can say that I feel happy: I know climbing Mount Ebott was a mistake, it could have turned out really badly, but I learned so much about it! After all, that's the good part about committing mistakes"

"I learned that being confident is something good, but being overconfident can lead you to lose many things; that I was able to do very big and important things, but that didn't mean I needn't someone to take care of me; that with a bit of patience and sweetness you can soften even the toughest people; and many more things. And the most important of all…I met all of you"- Frisk finished as she smiled at Sans brightly.

"and you can't imagine how grateful we are for your help too, kiddo'"- Sans said, as he ruffled Frisk's hair.

The girl giggled softly and looked up at the sky.

"Hmm, I think I should start going. It's getting a bit late and I promised mum I would arrive early today to help her with dinner"

"ok, let's go. don't forget to pick up your sweater"

Frisk nodded and started climbing down. But as she had descended a few steps the feet on which she was supporting all her weigh slipped. She panicked as she desperately tried to hold herself steady only using her hands. But failed.

The girl cried out as she felt herself falling, she closed her eyes tightly and waited. There was nothing else she could do now. She anticipated the hard and cold impact against the floor… but it never happened.

She fell on something warm, soft and cozy. When she opened her eyes she found out she was looking at Sans, his face very close to her burning one. He had caught her just before she had hit the ground and was holding her bridal-style.

"i told you i would catch you if you fell"- The skeleton said, smiling gently at the blushing, tiny human in his arms.

"THAT'S MORE THAN ENOUGH! I SHIP IT! IT'S DONE, I OFFICIALY SHIP IT! I SHIP IT WITH EVERY SINLE PART OF MY BEING!"-Undyne claimed, full of joy as she jumped from behind a trash can, earning a very confused look from Sans and Frisk.

I decided to make Frisk's reasons for climbing less tragic than most of the stories I have read. I thought that taking a more humorous approach would make it a bit different, I hope you liked it!

I have always considered Undyne and Alphys as incurable shippers, they love talking and sharing their ships with each other, talking for hours about how cool, sweet or lovable they look together. (Alphys usually thinking in a more romantic way and Undyne thinking in a more "they look so cool when they beat each other up!" way) I guess you are willing to know about our (oh, so sweet and adorable) Nick. But don't worry, I won't make you wait so much ;)

Updating soon!