Disclaimer: I do not own Undertale.
Iterations
Stat Boost
Frisk had been scarce lately. Aside from the times where they worked together, he barely saw her at all. It was almost like she did not live with them. There was little evidence of her presence. He knew that she ate– the state of the fridge and the dishes that appeared in the sink attested to that– affording him a small amount of relief. Her blanket was always folded neatly next to the couch when he got up in the morning. He would not admit it, but he had several times woken up earlier hoping to catch a glimpse of her. No such luck. He sincerely hoped she was getting enough sleep. Sans had noticed her increasing absence but had kept his peace, assuming that whatever issue she had she would solve on her own. She was a stubborn little thing and he had never been one to pry. But even Papyrus, lovable oblivious skeleton that he was, had begun to notice. The taller brother had expressed his growing concern multiple times already. Which was how Sans found himself sitting on the empty couch wide awake at five in the morning. This was by far the earliest he had ever woken and, sure enough, Frisk was already gone. Well, he would sit and wait until she came in for breakfast, or brunch, or lunch even. He frowned. He hoped she did not return later than an appropriate time for lunch. She should be eating more than that. Since she had moved in, he had found humans needed food more often than monsters.
His wandering thoughts were cut off as the front door opened, the girl in question stepping into the warm home.
He hopped up. "Frisk–"
She whirled around, surprised. "Oh! Sans, what are you doing up so early?"
She spoke between pants of breath and he took her image in for the first real time in a weeks. Her skin was flushed and shiny. Her hair was plastered to her face and neck with sweat. She was wearing the ever-present black hoodie and a pair of sweatpants that he recognized were his since he had been looking for them for a while. What had she been doing? Apparently, he had stared too long as she suddenly flushed deeper and looked down at herself. She curled in on herself slightly in embarrassment, then turned away.
"Can't talk. Gross and sweaty. Need a shower. Talk to you after. Okay? Cool," she said in a rush as she ducked down the hall into the bathroom.
He stared at the spot she had been standing in for a moment longer. Huh. That was weird. He sat back down on the couch. Knowing that she was not going to disappear, he could easily wait a bit longer. After not seeing her outside of work for weeks, it was incredibly relieving to hear the sound of rushing water and knowing that she was home. While he could not hear clearly, he could faintly make out the sounds of her talking to herself, the tone sounding vaguely flustered. He chuckled. She really was a natural at providing entertainment. When he heard the water shut off, he sat up, knowing she would return soon.
Except for the fact she didn't.
Sans listened more closely, attempting to find out the reason for her delay. With the water off, it was easier to hear her, though he still could not understand the words she was saying. She sounded... frustrated? Finally, she went silent and he could hear the creaking of the bathroom door opening. He heard the soft footsteps padding down the hallway towards him. But just before she stepped into the living room, the footsteps halted with her still out of view. He cocked his head curiously and turned towards the archway she should have emerged from. Another incoherent mumble, a sigh, and she finally stepped into the room.
His face flushed to match her own.
She tried to play off the embarrassment by holding her head up high and not looking at him. Her efforts were mostly ruined by the glances she shot his way as she walked up to the cabinet installed next to the television which housed her clothes. She had forgotten to take some in with her when she took her shower. The white-knuckled grip she had one her towel did not escape either of their notice. She blocked the view of her clothes in the cabinet with her body as she looked through them.
Sans cleared his (non-existent) throat, blue blush still burning bright. "um, kid?"
There was an undeniable wavering in her voice as she replied, "Yeah, Sans?"
"you, uh... you're wearing a towel," he pointed out unnecessarily.
"...yeah," she said softly. "I forgot my clothes."
"yeah," he responded, having nothing else to say.
"Yeah," she parroted back, shifting awkwardly in front of the cabinet as she continued searching for clothes.
Silence.
Finally, she turned, clothes bunched up against her chest, and said, "I'm going to get dressed... I'll, um, be right back."
He definitely did not watch her walk away.
As the click of the bathroom door closing sounded again, Sans allowed himself to sink into the couch, a large whoosh of breath leaving him. That was incredibly awkward. Moments later, a fully-dressed Frisk shuffled back into the room, self-consciously tucking a wet strand of hair behind her ear. She settled down on the couch without looking at him. Sans made the deliberate choice to forget about what had just happened.
"That was... really awkward." Apparently, Frisk had different ideas. Then again, remembering the all the embarrassing stories she had willingly told him after all the inconvenient situations he had left her in last time around, he figured she must have some sort of complete honesty fixation or verbal diarrhea. Whatever her reason, it seemed like they had to talk about this now.
"you aren't kidding. what was that all about?"
"I made a judgment call. I'm not sure I made the right one," she groaned, burying her red face in her hands.
His curiosity got the best of him. "what do you mean?"
She did not raise her head. Her reply was muffled but understandable. "I decided it was somehow less mortifying to come out in a towel and get my clothes myself than to ask you to get them for me."
He made an odd disbelieving sound with his (still non-existent) throat. "how is that less embarrassing?"
She looked up at him as if he was missing something obvious.
"what?"
She gestured towards her body. "You'd have to go through my," she paused before continuing in a whisper. "...underthings."
The blue tint returned to his cheekbones with a vengeance. "oh... i take it back. you were right. what you did was imuch/i less embarrassing... for both of us."
Pink still dusted across her cheeks, Frisk finally decided to move things along. "So, why are you awake?"
He was relieved to return to the reason he was up. "been wanting to talk to you. sup?"
She thought a bit before answering. "I'm more optimistic than I've ever been knowing that I not going at it alone."
"but?"
She pulled her knees up to her chest. "But I also know that things aren't going to magically get better either. Not in a single loop. The resets, they'll keep coming. Some because of me, some not. And hearing iits/i voice at Grillby's, I know there's a bad one coming up. A lot of them maybe. And I hate knowing that. So I thought that maybe if I was stronger I could stop it before hurting anyone. Or get enough control to force a reset before anything could even begin."
"start at the beginning, kid. i don't understand."
She turned to him. "Can you trigger a battle with me?"
He shifted uncomfortably. The very thought of seeing Frisk through a battle screen was repulsive.
She sighed. "I don't like the idea of seeing you in a battle setting either. We aren't going to actually fight, promise. I just need to show you something."
He gave a stiff nod and stood slowly, moving in front of her. "here we go."
Her soul was immediately called forth, the battle screen falling into place around them.
"so what have you got to show me?"
"I'm going to spare you. On your turn, I want you to check my stats."
Frisk → [Spare]
Sans → [Check]
"Frisk"
LV 1
HP 20/20
ATK 2 (0) (1)
DEF 3 (0) (3)
SPEED +3
EXP 0 (NEXT: 10)
Sans did a double take of the girl in front of him. She wasn't wearing anything to boost her stats but he knew that without anything she should be zeroes across the board with the exception of LV (which always started at 1 instead of 0) and HP (which she naturally had 20 of). He ended his turn.
Frisk → [Spare]
The battle setting faded, soul returning to Frisk's body as Sans accepted her Mercy. He returned to his seat next to her on the couch and looked at her with confusion. She had gained no LV or EXP, but her stats had undoubtedly increased. He waved an arm, urging her to explain.
"Whether it helps me fight against its influence or not, I know I will probably have to fight against it eventually. So I figured there had to be a way to bring my stats up without having to hurt anyone. So I tried working out."
"and it works?" He had never really thought about it. Monsters worked in a completely different way from humans.
"It's really slow but yeah. I haven't found a way to get my natural HP up, if there is one, but my ATK and DEF goes up the stronger I get."
He considered the idea. "not a bad idea... but chances are that fight you're anticipating won't be in this loop. that's a lot of work to put yourself through every iteration."
"Not necessarily. I have a theory."
"well?"
"You know how I get to keep my memories? All of them? Through ever single loop?"
He nodded.
"I'm wearing the same clothes at the beginning of each one. We know time resets because nobody else remembers a thing. So if it isn't my body that holds my memory...," she trailed off, turning to him.
"it has to be your soul that does."
"That means even if the loop is restarted and my body set back to its 'basic' state, my soul doesn't. You saw the parentheses around the numbers next to ATK and DEF. The first set we know is the addition of equipped items. The last set though, I think it's my soul's. It has never showed up before. And if I always start with some sort of stats that aren't zero, even if it's just HP..."
Easily following the train of thought to its conclusion, he finished for her. "it implies that your beginning stats are tied to your soul. And if you bring up your natural stats and your soul doesn't change through the resets, you'd get to keep them."
"Exactly! Then I'd be able to fight back better!"
A worrying thought occurred to him. "but wouldn't that affect whatever-it-is's stats too?"
She shook her head. "It shouldn't. I'm still there when its in control. I can see everything it does. The battle scenes, the stats, they are all under its own name."
He let out an inward sigh of relief. An even stronger whatever-it-was was something he did not even want to think about. "well, the idea has merit. keep doing what you're doing. we could use any advantage we can get."
"Right!"
He grinned at her enthusiasm and ruffled her hair.
"Hey! What was that for?"
"it sounds like you're doing a good thing. but don't overdo it, kid."
"What do you mean?"
"Pap's starting to miss his sidekick."
She looked sheepish. "Oh. I guess I may be overdoing it just a bit."
He stomach growled out loud. Sans grinned wider at her flush.
"just a little bit, huh?"
"Shut," she yawned. "up."
He laughed. "humans have needs. eat then sleep. you can give the work a rest for a day."
"But–"
"do you want me to feed you again?"
"No! I'm lucky I didn't choke!"
–
A/N: And another one is finally up. Some awkward housemate moments happened because my shipper heart demanded it. Frisk is hard at work. Let's just hope her little theory is right. They need all the help they can get.
Thanks for reading.
Until next time friendlies,
Dfsemina