Frisk and Sans found Frisk and Sans fighting by the edge of the city. However, it wasn't the kind of fighting that they were expecting to see.
Frisk walked in on Red Frisk and Red Sans arguing instead, weapons put away and no magic attacks flying through the immediate vicinity. And as soon as they spotted her, it was over with. Which was a good thing, since her Sans had collapsed in the middle of the street some while back. After returning from Mt. Ebott, all they had to do was follow the line of destruction to where the forest began, and as Sans said he wasn't in a very followy mood. He told her he would catch up.
Well, everything was unfolding directly in his line of vision so maybe it would work out okay that way.
There was some kind of terror of both Reds' faces when she called out to them; immediately putting their argument to an end, Red Sans faced the child and Red Frisk made a dodge hiding behind him.
Taking a second to catch her breath, she took them both in. "Did you guys stop... fighting already...?"
"yeah!" Said Red Sans immediately, winking at her. "i won."
"No you didn't," Red Frisk hissed venomously from behind him, and he sharply exhaled. The fake cheery look on his face dropped.
Frisk scratched at the flakes of blood in her hair and tried to think of a place to go to from there. It did look like someone had won, at any rate. "Well what happens now? Are you going to try to throw Sans back wherever you came from?"
"... nah." And he put his hands in his pockets, not quite looking at the child. "'m not gonna do that. ...haha, the twerp over here won't let me," and he started to gesture towards Red Frisk, or rather where he thought that she was, before realizing that they weren't there. "the hell? twerp?"
He sidestepped, and the other kid came into view again before ducking again to his back. "No."
"ya gotta be kidding me."
While Red Sans tried to shake them off Frisk tapped her fingers together, a faint smile playing on her lips, and she began walking towards them. "Hi!" We haven't properly met. Except for when you bashed me and my friend in the face with a frying pan. Smiling more brightly, she held out her hand.
Staring with squinted eyes the other Frisk hid away from her hand. Frisk herself was starting to get worried that she was going to have to chase this other kid all the way around her skeleton friend. That is, until Red Sans gave a cruel chuckle and vanished from where he was standing entirely, leaving the two children relatively alone with each other.
Red Frisk - LV 1, HP 20, ATK 20 DF 20
You, from a worse world. Their sweater reminds you a little bit of a pumpkin.
And for a second time she extended a hand to Red Frisk, waiting patiently for reciprocation. Standing exposed, Red Frisk stood in place trembling, their head lowered so that Frisk couldn't even see their eyes. Their arms they held awkwardly, stiffly, at their sides, fingers curling with the tension. It was if they were afraid that she was going to bite. Frisk wondered if she should say something...
But finally Red Frisk said, shaking and speaking quickly, "I-I'msorryaboutyourhead."
Feeling her cranium, Frisk murmured, "Well it healed already. So..."
"-I don't-" spoke the other, cutting her off. They made a noise like they had just swallowed something bad, and then lifted their eyes to meet hers. Those eyes had so much more distrust, a gaze that was so much more unpleasant. But at that moment, too, they looked like her own. "I don't make friends with handshakes."
Frisk dropped her hand. "Oh! ...Uh, what do you make friends with, then?"
"... ..."
Red Frisk tries to think of an answer, before realizing that they have no friends.
Feeling uncomfortable, Frisk did what came naturally to her and winked at Red Frisk. "Well, either way, I just wanted to tell you that you look really cute!"
You flirt with... yourself?-?
At that, Red Frisk's jaw dropped. This was of course an unusual case, because the child looked like she had been dragged across a couple hundred gravel driveways before talking to her, so "cute" definitely did not mean "clean" or "neat." But Red Frisk was still Frisk, after all. And right now they were sputtering, before putting their face in their hands. "-That was dumb," they finally choked out.
"You're dumb," Frisk said back, sticking out her tongue.
With flushed cheeks, Red Frisk picked at a twig that had become entangled in the shoulder of their sweater, saying quietly, "Well fuck you, then."
It shocked her, just like it shocked her back when she was fighting, and Frisk put a hand to her mouth to smother her little gasp. She knew by now that it was a word that only adults were allowed to say, so for this Frisk, someone who was as young and small as she herself was, to say it as though it were only natural, as though she wouldn't get in trouble...
Without really meaning to, Frisk began to laugh.
Red Frisk jerked up in alarm and their face turned even redder, quickly hiding their face again. "Stop!"
Feeling a hint of doubt, Frisk stifled her giggles and smiled at her, showing teeth. "What?"
"Th-that-that's my laugh!" They sputtered, hands curling into fists.
After a beat, though, that only made Frisk laugh harder. "That's so funny!"
The other child watched them, flustered and fighting embarrassment, until she said that- their eyes widened when she said that. Frisk was almost afraid it was going to end in her being hit again. But then Red Frisk, rubbing their nose and eyes quickly, sniffled and grinned.
It was a crooked grin. It didn't look like something they did normally.
She was about to comment on that too, but they two of them were interrupted a moment later by Red Sans reappearing closer in proximity to the two Frisks. His eyes were small and he was sweating, panicked. "you guys are making me nauseous and all, but please hide me."
"Why-" Red Frisk began, only for a loud screeching to bring the children up to speed immediately. Frisk would have her chance to "talk to herself" properly later, but at that moment there was someone else who had business with the Reds. Business that was evidently far more urgent, or at least far more loud.
"SANS!" Said the voice, "DON'T YOU THINK THAT YOU CAN HIDE FROM ME! I SEE YOU!"
A Papyrus wearing black, and with really spiky fangs, was marching up to them with a disgusted grimace on his skull- the kind of expression that she had never seen on her Papyrus' face, not even once. At the sight of him, Red Sans was a sweaty wheezy mess, his red eye flaring and trying ineffectually to hide between both of the children. But this Papyrus just reached over them once he got close enough, letting out a loud snarl as he pulled Red Sans close by the lapels of his coat. Red Sans had started to whimper.
"Red Papyrus, I presume?" Frisk said. Red Frisk glared at her.
Red Papyrus' eyebrow rose and he squinted the other eyesocket at the new child. "WHAT?"
"more like dead papyrus amiri-" Red Sans began, and then shrieked when his enraged brother began shaking him back and forth, "i'msorryi'msorryi'msorryi'msorry-"
Honestly, Frisk wouldn't be surprised if she saw smoke or flames pouring out of Red Papyrus' skull, to hear him going on at Red Sans- she had to cover her ears, it was so loud. "TO HAVE THE GALL TO MAKE A HORRIBLE PUN WHEN YOU KNOW I AM ALREADY GOING TO KILL YOU! WHAT THE HELL WERE YOU THINKING!? YOU REPROBATE GOOD-FOR-NOTHING SACK OF SHIT!"
"-i'msorryi'msorryi'msorry-"
"DON'T YOU UNDERSTAND WHAT YOU'VE DONE!? WHAT HAPPENED BECAUSE OF YOU!? AND YOU DIDN'T ANSWER EVEN A SINGLE ONE OF MY PHONE CALLS?! WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH YOU!?" Red Papyrus continued to screech, shaking Red Sans until he was starting to look dizzy.
"-sorrysorrysorrysorry-"
"WERE YOU SERIOUSLY GOING TO JUST RUN AWAY FROM HOME AND THINK THERE WERE NOT GOING TO BE ANY CONSEQUENCES FOR IT!? DO YOU THINK JUST BECAUSE WE ARE BOTH IN PUBLIC I'LL HESITATE TO TEACH YOU A LESSON YOU VERY OBVIOUSLY DESERVE!?"
"-sorryi'msorryi'msaaaaaaugh-"
"LOOK AT ME WHEN I'M LECTURING YOU!"
Releasing one hand momentarily, gripping his brother with the other, Red Papyrus smacked Red Sans' skull hard and Frisk let out a gasp, covering her mouth. And she might have intervened, but standing still and watching personal drama unfold was what she did best sometimes. Besides, that Papyrus looked like he wasn't going to be so friendly to her if she did interrupt.
It was Red Frisk who did something, in the end. They whipped out their pan and hit the tree with it, with a resounding crack. "No!"
Red Papyrus hesitated, looking up from his current target. "NYAH?" Going limp in his grasp, Red Sans let out a continuous sound that was halfway between a whine and a whimper, until his brother gave him another hard shake. Then he just hung there, shaking like he had just gotten off of a ride in a state fair. Red Papyrus ignored it. "OH, I DIDN'T SEE YOU THERE, HUMAN."
Red Frisk's eyes shot from their Sans to their Papyrus, expression set. "Don't do that."
Bewildered, Red Papyrus only sputtered, "WHAT?"
"Don't hit him," they said.
"...THIS IS NONE OF YOUR BUSINESS, HUMAN."
And, with another loud crack, she struck the tree- everyone flinched, that time. "You hit him and I hit you."
"..." Red Papyrus twitched, turning back to his brother- who was still as of yet shaking and gasping and unaware of what his friend was even doing for him. He looked at Red Frisk, and Frisk could have sworn that she saw a hurt expression on his features, before it quickly passed and hardened. "... FINE. BUT HE REALLY REALLY DESERVES IT."
Red Frisk blinked, as if they had been expecting to get into a fight with Papyrus instead- maybe, judging by their apprehension, one fight of many others. But then they sighed. "Also, I'm sorry I got you fired."
The effect that had was extraordinary. Contrary to what Frisk was expecting, Red Papyrus dropped Sans and his eye-sockets filled up, appearing to be on the verge of tears as he stared off into a memory. Sleepily, just coming back to reality on the ground, Red Sans murmured, "y... you got fired, boss?"
Struggling for dear life not to actually cry, Red Papyrus didn't have a chance to answer anyway.
"We both were."
It was Undyne who said that, dragging with her an as of yet sleepy Sans by the hood of his coat. But it wasn't an Undyne that Frisk was familiar with. No, for one thing she had too little clothing on, exposing her arms and midriff. Her scales were a paler and greyer color; the red of her hair, lips, gloves and boots was the red of blood, striking a chill in the child's heart.
But she didn't seem interested in attacking. The aptly named Red Undyne deposited Sans on the grass and said, "The underground you left is in chaos, Sans." She nudged the normal Sans with her boot, and he didn't seem to feel like responding except to wave over at Frisk. "Thanks to this guy?"
Red Sans blinked slowly at Sans. "eh?"
"He defeated King Asgore in battle," she said, and both Red Frisk's and Red Sans' eyes opened wide. "Snowdin's in an uproar... by now, the news probably has reached Waterfall, Hotland, and New Home. We don't have a king anymore."
"asgore is... dead?" Red Sans pushed further, getting to his feet.
Undyne shook her head. "No. No one knows where he is. He disappeared out of thin air."
Red Sans blinked again. And then his skull features became twisted with pure rage as he turned to Sans. "you didn't finish him off? YOU DIDN'T FINISH HIM OFF?!"
"eyyyy, LV 1 all the way," said Sans with a lazy smile.
That seemed to enrage Red Sans further. "You fucking piece of shit you had one job you had one fucking-"
He yelped as Red Papyrus pulled him away by the back of his coat, albeit he continued to shout at Sans until his brother overtook his voice with his own, "I'VE HAD ENOUGH OF LISTENING TO YOU FOR ONE EVENING, SANS. DO ME A FAVOR AND SHUT UP BEFORE YOU EMBARRASS ME FURTHER."
Although silenced, Frisk could see everything in the shine of that red eye of his, the small skeleton breathing hard through his teeth in a way different from his wheezes. When Red Papyrus put him down, he continued to glare with it.
She didn't understand. Mercy was a good thing. Why was he so mad?
Ignoring him for the moment; beside her, Red Frisk looked like they were about to fight again, their weapon out. Frisk put a hand on their shoulder, and was immeasurably happy when the other child didn't pull away from her. She just spoke to Red Undyne, "What are you doing here? Just to tell us that?"
The fish woman sneered, giving a little cackle of a laugh. "Don't worry, kid. I'm not interested in killing you anymore. I'm no longer part of Asgore's Royal Guard, so why should I do anything to service that bastard?"
Red Frisk began to mumble, "Or maybe it's that you're scared of losing to a k-" but Frisk covered their mouth before the entire insult could come out. Red Undyne didn't notice; she was already taking in the view of this undoubtedly more pleasant world, grinning with razor-sharp teeth.
"So this is the surface, huh?" She said, licking her fangs. "I didn't think it'd be this hot."
"It's summer," Frisk offered, smiling at her.
Scratching her nearly bald head, Red Undyne turned to look back at the peaceful, slightly torn up streets of New New Home. "...Well, it's not unbearable, anyway. I think I'll take a look around this place. I'm interested to see what the strength of these monsters is..."
"PLEASE DO NOT HURT ANYONE," said Red Papyrus.
"I wooooon't geeze!" Summoning a red spear into her hands, she held it behind her head with her arms looped loosely around the painful looking magic. "Don't talk to your former superior that way."
Red Papyrus folded his arms, looking away uncomfortably. "I'M JUST SAYING, YOU HAVE A HABIT OF DOING THAT."
"See you later, loser," the monster said as she strolled off.
Red Sans still looked angry from where he was standing. Frisk ultimately was more worried about hers, of course, as she offered him a hand to stand up with. He took it with a weak smile; she had a hard time believing this guy could defeat anybody in battle, much less Red Asgore.
Red Frisk approached her own Sans in the meantime, and she softly said behind Frisk's back, "You should tell me a joke."
He sputtered, "what, right now?"
"Yeah."
"forget it kid," he was saying, "i'm not some kind of coin-operated-"
"Oh!" Frisk knew she had to turn around for this. Red Frisk dug into her pocket and pulled out 1G; smiling huge, she chucked it into Sans' eyesocket, exclaiming, "One joke, please!"
Red Sans' eye twitched and both sockets went black. "y-you little shit," he said.
Frisk put her hand up to hide her smile.
And while Red Sans told a disgusting joke about "baby dip," Frisk touched her fingers together, surveying the three Red people. She said to Sans, who looked a little dazed himself, "These guys caused a lot of trouble, huh? I bet that Toriel will help sort it out, if we ask her."
Scratching his head, Sans followed her gaze. "That's a lot to put on her plate, kiddo."
"Toriel's great with plates!"
"i have no problem with this plan," piped up Red Sans, who was currently leaning forward trying to extract the coin from the inside of his skull.
Frisk gestured to him, and Sans looked a little less cheerful. "should we really be bringing them to her? can't we just chuck them back through the machine's door or..." But something happened as he spoke, and it went against Frisk's expectations to. He exchanged a look with Red Frisk, who was no longer smiling or frowning. Red Frisk glanced away, and Sans closed his eyesockets. "...well, i guess a stop at her house wouldn't hurt. don't expect me to take part in the 'sorting things out' process."
"WHO'S TORIEL?" Red Papyrus hissed in what could only be described as a screaming stage whisper.
"i'll tell you on the way, boss," Red Sans said- he finally, finally took his hand out of his eye with the 1G tightly pinched between his fingers.
Frisk, ecstatic, volunteered to show them all the way.
Before they went, though, Red Frisk lagged behind; a small flower popped out of the dirt by their feet, and they bent to speak to it with an anxious expression.
Frisk didn't hear their conversation, but it looked like it went well. The flower came out of the dirt and climbed up the child before coming to rest on their shoulder, and Red Frisk ran to catch up with them all.
As expected, the battle between himself and Frisk attracted a lot of attention, and the city was in a state of confusion. Not a whole lot of people knew what was going on; the most consistent story was that Frisk had snapped and was trying to kill Sans, with Sans in his own defense tearing up the neighborhoods and local eatery establishments. But of course, not everyone here believed that such a nice child like Frisk would be capable of such violence.
Well, Jerry thought that they were. But Jerry was a douche even in Sans' own world, just a douche in goth makeup.
Answering questions after a crime wasn't Sans' favorite thing to do. Like always, he lagged behind his brother and let him take care of all of it, explaining a very rudimentary understanding of who they were in relation to these weaker monsters, and how Sans was a useless thug who would soon be going home with him. Every time Papyrus said something like that, Sans would get a tightening in his chest.
It didn't stop when they got to Toriel's house, either. If anything, the thought of having to explain everything to the lady made it ten times worse. He refused to go inside, and waited on the sidewalk while this world's Frisk knocked on the door, realized that Toriel had already left, and called her to say she was already home. He tried to duck discreetly behind Papyrus when she drew closer, and his blasted brother took a moment to whack him on the head, not interested in being his hiding place.
Thank God that before Toriel arrived, his other self had the foresight to clean off the blood that was still in that "Blue" Frisk's hair.
When she arrived, it was a blessing and a curse that there was nothing to be done for the state of his kid. They were the first thing that Toriel noticed, instead of the suspicious and guilty looking Sans who had been beating up kids all day.
But he tensed, all the same, when she ran to Frisk with that worried expression. He could see Frisk reaching for their weapon before they even did it, and he gave their SOUL a gentle tug as if to remind them of where they all were.
"Oh my heavens, what- who- where did-" Toriel tried to ask, racing as fast as she could in that robe. She came to stand close to the more beat-up of the Frisk's kneeling down at their level. The child began to shiver, sucking in a breath to restrain themselves and their face pale. "Are you alright, little one? What has happened?" She raised her hand, her aim to caress Frisk's face, but Frisk took a wary step back and glared like a particularly aggressive animal. "Oh!"
Bewildered, Toriel next looked to both Sanses, both Frisks, and a very obviously different Papyrus from the one she was used to. "I... I do not... I don't understand." She glanced first at the Sans in the blue coat, who started to sweat, and then to the one currently wearing his dark coat. "Sans?"
"what?" They both said.
"This is why the Red Sans and Blue Sans thing works!" The other Frisk yelped, cutting everyone else off. Maybe they had a point.
Toriel stood and she frowned deeply, looking at her child. "Frisk, would you mind explaining to me what's going on? And where were you? I was worried sick!"
Under her glare, Blue Frisk smiled sheepishly, anxiously, and played with their fingers. "I..." they looked to their Sans for support, but he just shrugged. Their smile became bigger, showing off teeth, and they finally settled on one reply. "I. I made some new friends."
Toriel didn't look convinced, but she sighed. "...Fine, fine. We can discuss this over something to eat. It's getting late, and I'm sure you must be starving." From how Sans saw it, they weren't the only one. At the mention of food, his Frisk's eyes widened considerably and they looked like they were going to start drooling at any minute. Noticing out of the corner of her eye, Toriel smiled gently. "And your friend, as well."
He wasn't just anxious for the moment that this Toriel turned murderous towards him, now- Sans also wondered just how terribly everything was soon going to go with his Frisk. Excitement to eat aside, they appeared nervous at just the sight of Toriel. They hadn't exactly had the best experience with boss monsters.
Uneasily, they followed her into the house, with Blue Frisk grabbing hold of their hand. Sans noticed that neither child pulled away.
It was alright as soon as the food hit the table, at least as far as Frisk was concerned. Toriel only had time to put a bowl of reheated soup on the table before the kid started to slurp it up, no utensils or anything, putting to shame the Blue Frisk who was just watching her eat.
Raising her head from the bowl, the messy child exclaimed, "It's fucking real!"
Sans was only willing to watch from the doorway- he still wanted a chance to make a quick getaway, and even Papyrus expressed no interest in entering a "civilian" home- had he already forgotten that he was fired? At Frisk's outburst he stifled a laugh. He couldn't help himself; little kids cursing still cracked him up, it was the whole reason he taught them all those nasty words in the first place.
Toriel, on the other hand, was not amused, particularly once she noticed the admiration in Blue Frisk's eyes. "Young one, do not use such language at the dinner table."
An evil grin made its way to Frisk's face, and Sans almost groaned. He knew what that expression meant. She took a deep breath, stood, and began, "Fuck, bastard, shit, whore, hell, damn, cunt, prick, ass, co-"
Their list cut off in a yelp, Toriel holding their hair in her hands. The no-nonsense look she had in her eyes made Sans' heart flutter. "Child, if you do not wish me to take away your supper then you will not say those words again."
Trembling, Frisk squeaked, "Yes ma'am." Released the next moment, and turning bright red with embarrassment, they ducked their head down into their bowl and continued slurping. Sans was again fighting chortles, putting a hand over his sharp grin. The rest of the room was silent.
Of course, Toriel pulled out a plate of chicken and then Frisk forgot herself in the food, forgoing the soup and instead ripping off a leg to gnaw on. So the moment passed. Toriel let out a breath and relaxed, as well.
"...Honestly," she said, looking to the other Sans that was munching slowly on a microwaved hot dog. "Where did this new Frisk even come from?"
So while Sans watched, the lazier other version of himself began to tell the whole story to her, just out of earshot. Frisk continued eating all that was put in front of them as if they had not eaten in months, and occasionally Blue Frisk would chime in to softly add something to the tale.
Occasionally, while listening to the story, Toriel would shoot the Sans in the doorway a dark look. Giving her a tremulous, anxious smile each time, he simply wished he could disappear into his coat. The glares were getting more intense the farther along the story got, and he was cursing Blue Frisk inside for apparently not censoring any of it. Sans let out a sigh, coming to the realization that he had been holding his breath in all this time.
That was how it tended to feel almost every time he exhaled, really. Was he always going to be this way? They return back to his version of the Underground would have more of the same. He turned around and looked out beyond the door frame, clouds passing by the house far above, far far above. An hour hadn't gone by that he wasn't pausing to look at it, but he hadn't seen enough of this endless sky. i don't want to go.
Another pent up sigh, and Sans leaned against the door frame back in the house, his eyes flickering out. Oh, well, these people could badmouth him all they wanted, he didn't need to ever talk to them again.
His Frisk was still ignoring it all, and the only words that they would say were "more" and "more please," once corrected. He smirked; at least they were having a good time. They hadn't even hit dessert yet; poor kid, at this rate they were going to get sick, and Toriel hadn't even presented the tiny cake she bought for dessert yet. It was just like all the times back in Snowdin when they greedily, hungrily ate as if starving to death.
Maybe, for a human, monster food didn't cut it sometimes. Maybe they should bring more human food back with them.
Sans was getting a bit hungry himself. He took out his bottle of mustard and squeezed it into his mouth, sloshing it around in his skull until it dissolved. Even the stinging from Papyrus' smacks were fading away into nothing. He didn't exactly relax, but he felt better.
Frisk shoved the last piece of store-bought cake in their mouth before slumping over on the table, defeated and groaning into their food coma. The story was finished by then, and Toriel smiled at the sight while Blue Frisk poked their counterpart's head.
"Goodness, you finished everything on your plate... even the vegetables." the boss monster mused; she tried to stroke the child's head as she did, but even with their head down Frisk scooted out of reach. It made Sans feel a twinge, if only because he was certain for a fact that their treatment of Toriel was entirely undeserved, but there wasn't much he could say when he was trying to be inconspicuous. "I think that my child could learn a lesson from that."
"Vegetables are good," moaned Frisk. "Meat is good. Cake is good."
Toriel beamed. "I am glad you liked it all."
"it looks like you have a bit of a stomachcake, though," mused the other Sans. Frisk let out a screaming groan. Sans scoffed where he stood; he would have made that joke too, but it was a little on the nose.
Blue Frisk, then, wiping their mouth of their own dinner, poked Frisk on the arm. "Does your stomach hurt too much? Do you wanna go out and play before it gets too dark?"
"Play?" Frisk rose their head to stare.
Hell, did this kid even know what playing was, anymore? The closest they came in Snowdin was Sans telling them the most disgusting and cruel jokes he could think of, and them laughing like an idiot at each one. Or maybe it counted when they beat the stuffing out of some monster until they were able to go on their way unharassed- that looked like fun, at least to him.
"Just so long as you stay in the backyard. I'd rather not search the whole neighborhood again," Toriel said. If it weren't for the fact that every time she looked at him she looked at him like he was scum, Sans might have offered to keep an eye on them both.
His other self just said, "have fun, kiddo."
So Frisk finally, and turning red again, said, "Uh-um-okay."
And Sans blinked.
Against all expectations to the contrary, that tough and filthy-mouthed kid ended up blushing so easily.
He had honestly been mentally preparing himself for someone more impressive or even more of a threat, remembering their conversation on the phone. But this pointier version of himself was honestly pretty transparent.
He'd fled outside as soon as the two Frisks did, and a few minutes later Sans saw him standing by the side of the house, watching the children playing.
Sans took out a jar of relish and began scooping some up in his fingers to eat, standing next to him so quietly as to not alert him yet. When he spoke, he saw his other self jump a mile, "how's it hanging?"
There wasn't a response initially except for wheezy breathing. It was laughable that he could be intimidating to himself, and Sans shut one eye while downing a little leftover ketchup from his hot dog lunch. "you sounded so much scarier on the phone."
His other self sunk into his fluffy coat, eyeing him with that exhausting looking red point of energy. Sans was halfway wondering when they were going to switch, although even that blue winter jacket wasn't really his thing. Especially not in summer. As if reading his mind, the toothy other him murmured, "you can keep that. and i paid for this."
"'kay." He couldn't squeeze any more out of the bottle, so he put it away.
They both watched Frisk for a while- his and the other. They seemed to have no trouble keeping up with each other on games, quickly growing bored of tag at the same rate and progressing to pretend. The Frisk in an orange sweater pawed at the ground and began to talk at a surprising rate, glancing once or twice their way. His Frisk remained oblivious as they listened.
He finally heard, next to him. "so... uh. do you like... uh... earthbound?"
"i might have spent a few nights on it," he said back, smirking. It was a clever game. "would have thought it was a bit too soft for you."
"that game was cruel," said his other self, grinning with those sharp teeth. "i liked it."
"you can't be all bad, then," Sans mused.
The other exhaled, and began in a faintly tremulous voice, "...i didn't mean you any harm or anything like that, y'know? it was just..." He looked to the two Frisks. Sans' own was charging like a bull, and the Frisk in an orange sweater was using their overstretched sleeve like a matador cape. His other self shook his head. "it's that damn kid's fault, really."
"how so?"
He hesitated, as if unsure how to phrase, and then began again slowly. "i make... lots of promises, but i never seem to keep any of 'em. a long time ago, this friend of mine told me to promise her something. to, i guess to put it in her terms, 'bring the human home as soon as possible.' i," he chuckled, "didn't know at the time that she meant for me to kill 'em straight out, but that's neither here nor there really."
Sans thought back to his own conversation with that world's Toriel, and feeling a weight on his shoulders he repressed his shudder.
The other Sans continued his story, eye burning dully. "i wasn't going to keep that promise either, cuz i don't give two shits about some human. but... uh..." he scratched his skull. "this kid, it's hard not to give a shit about them after a while. i knew they would make it all the way to the end. and i knew what happened next," he took a deeper breath, "and then it gets hard to breathe, y'see. i wanted to leave for all these, i'm sure, obvious reasons, but leaving them alone with that would... only make me miserable wherever i was. i figured if it were someone else, someone stronger than i was...
"so, in summary, it's the damn kid's fault."
Watching that Frisk, clothes still banged up from their earlier battle with their friend, Sans snorted. "you care an awful lot for someone you attacked so viciously earlier."
"hah!" His other self grinned big at him. "you think ours is the kind of story that rewards you for being good in the end? ...it's not." And then he sighed, heavily. "and because you didn't fucking kill asgore, i'm back where i started."
"not completely. have a little faith in that kid. mine had impossible odds too." He shrugged. "even though i didn't end up trying to kill them in our corridor."
"no, i'm sure you wouldn't hurt your kid for anything," his other self grumbled bitterly.
But Sans thought, and he said, "no. i would kill them for something. it just hasn't happened yet." The Sans who preferred spiky black jackets was surprised, and he laughed. His Frisk was tired out of bull charging and had taken to whispering things into the other's ear. The two were glancing at them and giggling together, their laughter identical. "...kidding."
"you don't look like you are, but whatever dude," his other self muttered, before turning his attention to the two Frisks. "okay what the hell is so funny!?"
"You!" Shouted his Frisk, although the other kept motioning for them not to do it. "Frisk said you look a little like a boo!"
"... what the hellis a boo!?"
"Oh my god," said his Frisk, putting their hands over their mouth. "Remember all the boo puns? 'Little Boo Peep,' 'Peekaboo'-"
"'Combooter'!" Snickered the other.
"If he had a tongue he'd be exactly like a boo!"
He could have sworn that he saw his other self's coat fluff flare as he shouted back at the giggling children, "the fuck? don't make me come over there!"
His Frisk blew him a raspberry, "Try it, shithead!"
"i really wish you hadn't taught that kid how to swear," Sans said, while the other was growling low in his not-throat.
"too late for that," he said, grinning dementedly big at him. "it's time for a rematch."
Not only wheezy, but his other self was certainly very different in personality. In a way, Sans envied him his energy, since he seemed to have so much of it. It was only a shame, the kind of story he and his kid came from.
A little time later, Sans was napping against the side of the house while the kids played.
It was very late, and everyone was very tired.
Blue Frisk suggested that the intruders into this world could sleep at their house, and even if Toriel appeared uneasy with the suggestion she ended up agreeing. At least, for the sake of the other Frisk, anyway, whom she commented could do with a bath and a good night's sleep.
But Frisk didn't want a bath, or sleep. The bath itself was excruciating, when Blue Frisk had finally convinced her to go along with it- Frisk's only condition was ultimately for the other child to be in the room with her, in case Toriel tried to drown her in the bath. Blue Frisk insisted she wouldn't, but agreed; like a baby, she stood in the corner not looking when Frisk undressed, as if she hadn't seen herself naked before.
Flowey did the same thing, fleeing the room, but since he was a flower she was more confused than anything, that he of all people would be embarrassed.
Frisk just about cried when Toriel took her sweater away to be "repaired"; she knew it was adult code for throwing it out and getting a crappy replacement. When the monster saw all the blood stains and tears on her shirt underneath, she put a gigantic paw to her face and looked sick to her stomach. Frisk was uncomfortable with such an expression, and she shouted at her to stop staring- it was rude.
Toriel took her shirt too, for "repairs". Only Blue Frisk being around kept the child from crying outright, in a show of strength.
Her shoes that were days from falling apart, she took too. Her pants almost went for "repairs" as well, but she was just barely able to convince Toriel to let her keep them- after all, all her stuff was in them.
It was strange, being mothered again.
It made her more anxious than anything else. Toriel's touch was gentle, and she didn't flinch whenever Frisk shoved her away for no reason, didn't scold her. Nor did she ever grab her, or hold her down under the water like Frisk expected in the back of her heart. Just patiently helping her clean and, in particular pulling all the junk out of her hair that had accumulated for so long. She was only firm once to scrub the backs of Frisk's ears, finding lots of dirt and dried blood there. She was quiet and didn't keep trying to make conversation, as if she had done this kind of thing before.
Still, Toriel had been gentle in her world too.
Her stomach was sick the entire time, and she couldn't enjoy the sensation of being clean.
After the bath, Frisk was given a new starry pajama shirt to put on with new underwear, new socks, and her old pants (she refused to wear pajama bottoms.) As soon as she could, she slipped the Temmie Armor back on underneath.
Looking at herself in the mirror, with these new clothes and finally combed hair, she almost didn't recognize the person staring at her with such bloodshot eyes. She almost wanted to ask, what's the point of being clean when she was going to get dirty again? But Toriel hadn't asked about her going home yet, and Frisk didn't want to bring it up. She didn't want Toriel to know she wanted to leave, or else...
Bed time came after a while of this inspection of herself. There were a few guest rooms that they could sleep in, although Papyrus marched off to an inn, dragging Sans behind him, on the grounds that they couldn't possibly embarrass themselves by imposing on Toriel's hospitality any longer.
So it was Frisk and Flowey alone who would be guests in this house. She wished Sans had stayed; either one, really, since Blue Sans had his own house and his own Papyrus to carry him back to it (they sure seemed to get along great.) But Frisk wasn't going to ask them to stay like a baby.
Toriel asked her if she had anything that she needed, anything at all, and she didn't understand- so she, yet again, shoved her big paw away and said there was nothing. She could sleep on anything.
...Except a bed.
Half an hour later, she opened her eyes alone in the dark and realized she still hadn't fallen asleep. She felt as if she was drowning in the mattress and in these sheets, and no amount of waiting could make this pass. With a soft groan, she turned over and found Flowey snoozing from his perch on the dresser.
Feeling queasy, Frisk rolled over to face the door- it hadn't been cracked open when she left it.
There was a pie on the floor beside her bed.
Frisk jumped out of bed, reached for the pan in her inventory, and kicked the plate across the room- the plate just fell harmlessly back onto the ground, but pie hit the wall next to the doorway and made a slick squish when it caved in, sliding down the blue wallpaper. Frisk knelt to examine it, not daring to taste it; cinnamon butterscotch.
Look what you did.
The pie. The pie.
Her heart was pounding. Frisk ran out of her room, still holding her weapon tightly. She knew which room was her counterpart's; Blue Frisk at first wanted them to share the same room, until Toriel pointed out there was no bed there. She dashed to that room now, shivering and watching the walls while her pulse echoed over her ears.
The setting was different, the Toriel was different, the Frisk was different, and yet everything looked more and more like the suffocating dark Ruins that she had entered once. It was so, so similar. It was too similar. How did that not occur to her? Frisk was already berating herself, already wide awake.
There was a soft whimpering, a gasping, a sobbing sound- all of it coming from Frisk's room.
And like that, it was as if her worst fears were realized.
Her hand was just about to touch the knob. But...
"Hush little baby, don't say a word..." Toriel's voice reached her, singing a soft song. "Mama's gonna buy you a mockingbird... you're safe now, and-er- and mama's here... mama's going to let it sing in your ear..."
The pan went limp, and Frisk breathed. The whimpering from the other side went on, but so did the singing. "If that mockingbird won't sing... mama's going to buy you a diamond ring... shh, shh, it's alright. If that diamond ring won't shine..."
It was a song she knew, even. And her singing was so sweet, despite the small tremors, the small stammers that she could hear from the other side of the door interrupting her song. The tiny sobs were turning to hiccups.
Frisk's fingertips grazed the door and she listened. She listened for the sound of her other self being killed. She listened for the crackling of hot blue flames. She listened for the agonized cackling, the pleading, and the hisses that it was for her own good. The "Because I'm your mother and I said so"s
"Mama's gonna give you a-" She stumbled, stuttered, and then said, "-rocking chair?"
There was a breathless laugh among the hiccups.
And like that it was as if her worst fears melted. As they melted Frisk screwed up her face, wringing her pajama shirt in her hands. "Dammit," she said, face turning red, throat restricted and words quiet, "dammit, dammit, dammit."
She tried to go back to bed, but with the pie splattered in her room she eventually walked downstairs instead.
...
This whole house was fucking blue, it really hammered things in. It was creepy at night.
Frisk chose the couch in the living room to sit at, lying back on it and turning her eyes to the dark ceiling. From the bottom floor, the house seemed still. She couldn't seem to close her eyes, though. It suddenly felt too warm.
Her eyes hurt, feeling heavy and strained. To keep from crying, she reached into her pocket and pulled out the big fluffy rabbit that Sans bought(?) her, hugging it tight to her chest so that the ears framed her face like a pair of scissors. It was soft, and squished under her grasping fingers. But the sensation just caused more tears to threaten the edges of her vision. So she curled up, pulling the bunny over her face entirely as she choked down weak sobs.
Slow, trickling tears soaked her pajama shirt, soaked the bunny.
By the time she pulled away, her head hurt and there was little for her to do. She wasn't going to go to sleep like this either. She took the fluffy bunny by both its arms, tried to pull it apart, and then smoothed down the fur on its chest. "Mmm..."
Something pushed apart the floorboards by her toes, and Flowey was looking her way. "Frisk?" He whispered. But she didn't say anything to him. He slunk up with his vines to be on the couch beside her, eyeing the stuffed plush. "Can't you sleep?"
Frisk shook her head.
"Oh. Hah, me neither," he said, with a hopeful smile.
She didn't reply.
So he added, smile falling, "Are you sure... that you're not mad at me?"
"Yeah," she whispered. "You were trying to help." What he hadn't understood was simply that there was no way she could stay in this world. She had to go back. Now, more than ever, this was true. She gave him a weak smile, and he smiled back, before returning to the bunny.
Flowey seemed content with that, at least. He relaxed his stalk, "sitting" with her in the dark while she did nothing. Finally, though, she held her bunny out and, a bored smirk on her face, she started to twist it back and forth in a dance. With a voice hardly above a croak, she sang, "Little bunny Foo-Foo, hopping through the forest. Scooping up the field mice and bopping them on the head." Flowey was staring, curious, and she said in a hiss, "One day the good mother said, 'I'll give you ~three chances~. And when the ~three chances~ are up, I'll turn you into a goon."
"please tell me you didn't name the bunny 'foo-foo.'"
Frisk gasped, a chill going up her spine- but it was just Sans, in his usual breaking and entering style. At some point he must have broken out of Papyrus' grasp; he still had the customary sweat on his skull for disobeying his "boss". Flowey grunted with displeasure near her. She, however, simply squirmed up farther on the couch, clutching the bunny close, and nodded. "Yeah it's Foo-Foo now."
He laughed, and she put a finger to her lips. Sans looked up, "oh. everyone else asleep, huh? figured."
Too many people were crowding in her sulking time. She regarded Sans suspiciously from the corner of her eye. "...How come you came back?"
"oh. uh." He shrugged, murmuring, "just wanted to check on ya. it's weird... sleeping in a different house from your own. and, haha, you don't even have one, right?" He sweat a little more. "i guess you're, uh, staying up instead?"
"Can I ask you a question?" Frisk asked, slowly but at the same time too suddenly.
Anxious, shifting, he nonetheless said, "y-yeah, sure, kid."
"Did you have a mom and dad?"
He didn't reply to her right away, closing his eyes for a second and heaving an irritated-sounding sigh. But he also didn't tell her it was none of her business, either, and so she had hope that he was just griping because of how late it was to be asking something like that.
Soon enough, he opened his eyes again and smiled. "nope. never had any."
"Not even a skeleton mom and dad?"
"well," he scratched his skull, squinting. "i mean, we did have them, i guess. everyone does. never met 'em, though, i guess they're dead or somethin', being skeletons and all," he sniggered, shrugging again. Frisk held on tight to the bunny, and seeing that the child wasn't amused he tried again. "uh, we had a grandpa, back when we lived in new home. but i wish we didn't. he was smelly and pushy and liked to beat us a little too much."
"Oh." Frisk hugged her knees, with the stuffed toy between them.
"i always figure, if our parents were still around, they would be the same way. so i'm not too broken up about not meeting them." He didn't seem very affected, and in fact maybe he wasn't, about his own words. But Frisk was trying hard not to resort to more tears. He looked at her sideways with that big great eye, like he was looking through her, and she flinched. "why d'you ask?"
The child looked back up above. "... That other Frisk... sure seems happy with their mom."
"huh," Sans coughed. "didn't notice."
Liar. "... I want one too." She just played quietly with the bunny Foo-Foo, ignoring the stares that Flowey and Sans surely were giving her. Her eyes fluttered close to closing, looking through her eyelashes. "I'm jealous of 'me.'"
Sans didn't know how to reply to that, so those words hung there for a while. He just stood in place, getting sweaty, unsure of what to say to her next- and Flowey was of course not going to venture anything with Sans around.
Finally, as if realizing it was going to be his turn to break the silence whether he liked it or not, he shifted in place. He gave a small chuckle and began. "ugh, uh, look, kid," were the first words that slid through his teeth, and Frisk tensed, wondering if he was going to book it for now. But that wasn't it. "this isn't something i usually do... never had a reason to before..." He coughed. "uhm. ummmmm. yeah. right." He shoved his hands in his pockets. "so, actually, i came to say. uh. thanks, for what you said with papyrus. no one's..." He scratched his skull, looking away. "... ever... stood up for me before?"
"Thanks". The words felt alien coming from him. Frisk pursed her lips and then quickly hid behind the bunny. "Aw jeez."
"!" Sans walked up to her and she squeaked. "don't you 'aw jeez' me, ya little twerp. i'm not getting mushy! i'm just sayin'- ugh- i really appreciated it-!"
The bunny flopped in her hands. "Aw jeeezus."
"oh my god," he said, flicking her forehead, "see if i ever thank you again."
Peeking from under the rabbit, Frisk smiled at him. "I didn't even think he would listen to me."
"no?" Sans shrugged, flashing his red eye at her. "i'm not surprised. he'll probably listen to a lot of things you say, from now on. he's crazy about you, brat."
"What?"
With her eyes wide with incredulous shock, Sans grinned huge at Frisk. "yeah, he's been going on about you whenever it's just the two of us. apparently you're best buddies now? said something about how you saved his life and all, so clearly now you're friends."
"I'm not friends with him!" Frisk sputtered, face pale with horror. Feeling a spike of worry for how loud she was becoming, she added in more of a hush, "He's a jerk! He hates me!"
Sans was laughing, and she had to again shush him, his eye shining with a light of schadenfreude. "c'mon brat, this is a good thing. you made friends with my bro. friends don't steal friends' SOULS, y'know?"
"But he hates me!"
"clearly he doesn't anymore," mused the skeleton, grasping and pinching her nose between his thumb and forefinger. While she struggled for freedom he continued, "he's funny that way. and by funny, i mean fucking irritating."
Frisk rubbed her aching nose and looked at Flowey, who was beaming back at her. "...I didn't think making friends was so easy."
Sans grinned. "turns out you just have to not attack them."
"... Weird."
"yeah it is."
But when all was said on that front, Frisk didn't have anything left to say, so tired as she was. She could feel her thoughts wandering back to that other version of herself. That other Toriel. She was still jealous. Even this world's Papyrus seemed to be... seemed like... someone that wouldn't even try to kill her. Her face melted into a bitter, sad frown.
It must have been terribly easy for him to read. Rolling back on his feet Sans laughed, a weak and anxious laugh. "... we could always take this one. u-uh, this toriel. i-i mean, i wouldn't mind. h-ha ha."
"That's your solution to everything," she said, closing her eyes, and he snorted at her. Frisk pressed the fake fur into her cheek and she murmured, "No. I decided that when we go back, I'm going to..." She opened her eyes again, before she could nod off. "I'm gonna go... all the way to the barrier. I'm gonna go back... back home."
She glanced Sans' way while she spoke, and she saw his grimace again- eye sockets empty. So she took a deep breath and kept going, "I'm gonna go... find my own mom. Or... my own dad. Just, someone. Until I'm... not jealous anymore." Another deep breath. "I know I can do it. I. I'll get better. I'll be nicer. I'll act like this world's Frisk. I won't hit anyone or steal anything or yell at anyone-" The deep breath she took next became a sob, and it broke both her concentration and her speech. Ashamed, she curled up and again hid, hugging her knees close.
There wasn't any word from the two others. It didn't surprise her they had nothing to say. Sans, indeed, was beginning to breathe raspily in front of her. Finally though, he said, "i think you're nice."
Frisk looked up, peering over her arms. "You're just saying that because you're worse."
"hey now, you're not a serial killer and you eat your vegetables. that's really all a mom or dad can ask for in a kid," he countered, winking at her.
And again she flushed. "Thanks, Sans."
"aw jeez," he grumbled, and she smacked him with the bunny.
She and Toriel snuck up on Red Frisk while they were sleeping still, face pressed down into the pillow. They woke the moment that the two of them approached the bed, and their eyes widened to see what Frisk was holding in their arms: the orange sweater, free of tears and free of abuse, even the stretched sleeve and neck returned to their proper size.
They started crying, and quickly wiped their eyes while Frisk and Toriel pretended not to notice the display. Their full eyes threatened to overflow again when Toriel handed them their shirt and shoes as well, which had been given the same treatment, and they hugged all these precious, yet trivial items to their small body for dear life. They looked up at Toriel in confusion, and Frisk was glad that this time, when Toriel reached a hand to Red Frisk's head, Red Frisk didn't dodge away- only giving the merest flinch.
"I did tell you I would be repairing them, did I not?" Her adoptive mother said. "I did not want to keep you waiting."
To be honest, Frisk didn't know when she found the time to do that- perhaps sometime during the night, while both children were asleep, she rushed out somewhere to get the spiders to do it. As she put it once, they owed her a lot of favors.
Red Frisk looked down at the clothes and sniffed, before wiping their face again. "Thanks."
"You are welcome," Toriel said. Then the smile she wore turned sad, as she said, "It would not be proper for you to return to your world in pajamas, after all."
Red Frisk's face fell, and then they looked away. "Yeah."
They were leaving? Frisk bit her lip, looking with increasing distress towards the two of them. Red Frisk was pulling off their shirt to change right in front of them, pressing the fabric of their sweater to their face repeatedly as if in love with the texture. It was probably ten times cleaner now. Were they leaving... today? Her heart sank, and she tugged on Toriel's sleeve, whispering as if Red Frisk couldn't hear, "Can't they stay?"
Red Frisk tensed, and Toriel sighed. The next words, she spoke with difficulty. "Only if it is what they want."
"I can't stay," Red Frisk said suddenly, just barely keeping from cutting her off. "I have to leave."
"But do you have to leave right now? I just met you," Frisk protested.
Red Frisk jumped off the bed, keeping their hands behind their back. "No," they said, and Frisk heard their voice waver. "I have to go as soon as possible."
Toriel put a hand on Frisk's head, and the child silenced herself. "I understand. Where should we take you?"
Her other self took a breath, and slowly they said, "The way back is in Sans' room."
And they went after a quick breakfast, Toriel not so much as arguing. Red Frisk called Red Papyrus and Sans, who said they would call Red Undyne and, evidently, Red Alphys? They would meet them at Sans' house for their final goodbyes. Frisk could feel her own heart break, thinking of it.
Evidently, Sans had been too uncomfortable sleeping in the same room as an inter-dimensional hole, and the trio found him passed out on the couch when they came inside.
Leo was already there talking to Papyrus in the kitchen, which surprised Frisk. Red Frisk was tentatively poking Sans, which Frisk already knew was not going to work in waking him up, so she ran to the kitchen to immediately interrupt their conversation. "Yo!"
"Yoo!" Leo and the child butted heads, and Frisk laughed in spite of her gloomy moods. "You missed that creepy other Alphys!"
"NOW LEO, IT'S NOT POLITE TO CALL CREEPY PEOPLE CREEPY," said Papyrus, and the boy smiled sheepishly. "EVEN THOUGH I STILL CAN'T STOP THINKING IF THAT WAS BLOOD ON HER SHIRT..."
"You guys are talking about Red Alphys?" Frisk asked. Now she really felt bad for missing her; she had been interested in seeing what the eviller version of her friend looked like. "I didn't even know that she came over here! What was she doing?"
Leo puffed out his chest proudly. "I'll tell you what she was doing, since I'm the messenger! She was really keeping Alphys busy, that's what she was doing! Apparently yesterday she barged in asking all kinds of questions."
"Questions?" Frisk wondered how Alphys could even handle something like that; she wasn't very articulate under pressure, that was for sure. "Questions about this world?"
Leo shook his head, and then thought better of it. "Sort of. I guess it was more than she kept asking about... Alphys's relationship with Undyne? Like, Alphys said they she asked stuff like, 'how did you guys get together' or 'how did you get the courage to talk to her' or 'do you think she'll like All-Star Grey Ghost and other stuff like that. Alphys said it was pretty flattering, after it stopped being terrifying. Hehe! No one has ever gone to her for relationship advice before, even if it's herself from another world."
Thinking back on Red Undyne, Frisk wasn't sure why anybody would want to date her in the first place. She seemed pretty scary... But maybe that was attractive to somebody who liked such a trash comic as All-Star Grey Ghost. "Uhh, so did she answer all those questions?"
"Yep! She said then they watched a movie together, although that other Alphys fell asleep halfway through. After she woke up, that's when Alphys called me so I could bring the- the other Alphys back here, so she could go home- cause I guess after yesterday Alphys came down with a bug or something and wasn't feeling well." Leo beamed. "I've been pretty helpful this morning!"
Frisk giggled, "Awesome Monster, you've preformed admirably!"
"AWESOME SKELETON HAS PREFORMED ADMIRABLY TOO! I'M HELPING THE OTHER SANS AND OTHER ME REFORM INTO MODEL CITIZENS!"
"Really?"
As if to disprove his point, the three of them heard the loudest trumpeting sound from the living room that any of them had ever heard, accompanied by someone screaming, "WAKE UP!"
Red Sans and Red Frisk had become a duo, the former holding a trombone in his hands and the other with their hands cupped around their mouth. Their attempts to wake Sans, so it seemed, did a lot to startle everyone else in the house but didn't do anything to stir the sleeping skeleton. He just continued to nap on the couch, not so much as affected by anything going on around him. Of course, as had been the case occasionally in the past, he could just be faking it. Red Frisk seemed to think so, grumbling a curse word at him before giving up.
"ayy, that's it? i don't get to play this thing that often," the disappointed Red Sans said.
"HONESTLY, SANS, YOU'RE SO EMBARRASSING," Red Papyrus snapped at them both, stepping into the house after them. "YOU CAN'T JUST BLOW THAT DUMB THING IN PEOPLE'S FACES!"
"We should have told Papyrus to shout at him; that would have woken him up," murmured Red Frisk.
The taller skeleton folded his arms, pouting, "ABSOLUTELY NOT!"
"i don't think we even have to ask, he's doing it right now," snickered his brother, and it looked as though Red Papyrus only resisted swatting him on the head because the other Frisk was in the room, giving him a pointed look.
They were followed by Red Undyne, who looked very bored when she stepped inside. Perhaps her exploration of this world had not yielded the results she'd been hoping for? "Let's get the show on the road already, I've still got a huge mess to clean up when I get back home."
"yeah but where's your hurry?"
With all of these darker counterparts to his friends standing in one room, Leo seemed to become uncomfortable. "I think I'm gonna head home. U-uh, my parents are probably worried about me."
"OH! TRAVEL HOME SAFELY, LEO! - I MEAN AWESOME MONSTER," cried Papyrus, and Leo jumped with joy at being called yet again by his title, before scurrying to the door of the house.
"Oh, also!" Leo suddenly spoke, turning from the doorway and glancing back at Frisk. "I almost forgot, but I ran into Asgore and he told me to pass you a message too! Since he's been trying to call you and you don't really have a phone..."
Red Frisk and Red Sans shared a look, and Frisk scratched her cheek. "Is it about this next Saturday?"
"No, actually-" Leo frowned as he remembered. "He said he ran into you yesterday and you looked really freaked out and weird. He was afraid that he scared you somehow, so he just wanted to make sure you're okay."
"I didn't see Asgore at all yesterday," Frisk said, squinting in thought.
Leo's eye-line went a little bit to the left, at the silent Red Frisk, and he laughed, "Oh! Then it must have been you! I'll tell him that everything's fine."
"Stay out of trouble, dear," Toriel said, closing the door on the monster child's way out.
Papyrus and Red Papyrus had somehow gotten to talking on their impending departure. It seemed Red Papyrus was going to try and help clean up the mess that had occurred from King Asgore's defeat as well, and for some reason Papyrus believed that technical puzzle manuals concealed the answer- and that his counterpart simply had to take all of them back with him.
Odder was that Red Papyrus was accepting each one that Papyrus handed over, looking over each manual with scrutinizing eyes.
"Alright, are we going now or what?" Red Undyne snapped, cutting off the child's observations.
"you can go on ahead," Red Sans murmured, tugging on Red Frisk's sleeve. "i wanna talk to you alone for a second, brat."
"-Okay," Red Frisk just managed to get out as he dragged her over and out the door to the house. Undyne shook her head and walked in the opposite direction, up the stairs to Sans' room. Frisk let out a breath and felt some tension let out of her shoulders when that woman was gone.
There was still some tension, though. Toriel was frowning at the door when it closed on Red Sans and Red Frisk, muttering to herself, "What could he want now? And I do wish he would not call them a brat."
"I don't think he means it, T-mm, mom," Frisk said, picking at the sleeve of her robe. "I can check on them, if you want."
"Alright," Toriel said, patting her on the head. "But do not eavesdrop, it is rude."
Frisk nodded and crept silently out the door, listening for the sounds of discussion. The two were not standing on the main step when she did, but they were definitely talking. She found them standing at the side of Papyrus' house, Red Sans and Red Frisk, and Red Flowey clinging to his apparent master too. It was a perfect place for her to eavesdrop, not quite peeking around the side but able to hear what was being said.
Red Sans was the one talking, with more feeling in his thug voice than she had heard before. "that's not how these things happen. look, i- uh ha, it's not an easy thing to say, but there's a reason that more of the humans haven't escaped from our world, and it isn't just because my brother or Undyne or anyone else killed 'em first. i mean you're the boss' first human encounter, so uh that should be obvious. one human SOUL on its own can't get through the barrier. has to be a monster and a human SOUL."
When sneaking a glimpse or two, Red Frisk's face was inscrutable. "What does that mean?"
"it means that mercy isn't always going to be an option. it means that, asgore and toriel are the only people in the whole underground whose SOULs won't instantly disappear when they die." Sneaking another glimpse, Red Sans' eyesockets were empty again. "it means you have to kill one of them to get out of here."
Red Frisk spoke out, nearly cutting him off, speech tremulous. "I don't want to kill someone, there has to be some other-"
"there's not," Red Sans actually did cut her off. "trust me, there's not. listen kid, if i could kill someone for you i would, but i'm useless against monsters like the dreemurrs." His voice turned soft, then, as he continued, "i mean, when it comes to killing people, i think everyone would agree there's few who have it coming more than asgore."
Red Frisk didn't say anything.
"hey, uh, frisk, twerp, i saw that pie you're carrying around with you. our toriel made it for you, right?"
Pie? Is that why they didn't eat the one that had been made for them last night? Frisk sneaked another look, but there was no pie out at the moment. Just Red Frisk standing with their back leaning against the wall, hands stuck in their pockets and looking down at their feet.
And with white light pupils in his sockets, Red Sans was saying, "when you get to the end, when you have all of the underground under your thumb, i want you to promise me something. promise me you'll find asgore, and when you do use this pie. he'll eat it. you won't even have a scratch..."
Red Frisk didn't say anything.
And there was a harsher edge to Red Sans' words, "trust me when i say he will find you and not show you that same hesitation. promise me you'll do it. ...at least... that you'll take someone's SOUL."
Frisk ducked back away before she could be spotted, holding a hand to her mouth. Back in the conversation, she heard the quiet, hiding, and stammering Red Flowey whisper, "D-d-don't promise that."
And finally Red Frisk said, "... This Frisk got up... without killing-"
"you think that their story is like ours?" Red Sans wheezed. "it's not the same, kid. mercy doesn't work in our world. you knew that, you fought every single monster you came across. there is no other way." He wheezed again, coughed, "either asgore or toriel dies, or you die. that's the only option."
"Frisk..." whispered Red Flowey, and for a moment they were just quiet. "You don't need t-to promise him anything..."
"stay out of this, weed."
"I promise."
Frisk covered her mouth again, this time with both hands. Although it wasn't her who said it, hearing a voice so much like hers actually say it- actually promise-
Red Sans breathed in and out in a rasp. "good."
Now Red Flowey didn't say anything, but then Frisk didn't stick around to hear it. As quietly as she could, she crept back inside the house. Inside Sans was finally sitting upright on the couch, yawning and rubbing his tired looking eye-sockets. "is it morning?" He mumbled.
And when the Reds all stepped back inside, Frisk well away from the door, it was evidently- and too soon- time for them to go. With their anxieties and promises and dark expressions, they went to the door in Sans' room. Frisk followed them, as did Sans, although it quickly became too crowded for anyone else. Sans' room was just not that big.
So the most Toriel did was hug the orange-striped child tightly before they went inside, which ultimately and unfortunately it only seemed to make them a little more nervous that something bad was going to happen. Frisk hoped she never met Red Toriel.
The grey door just stood there, closed but there, and Red Frisk and their Sans stared at it, both with uneasy expressions. One more step and it would be over, they would be back in their horrible other world.
Frisk held her locket in both hands, seeking peace from the upset that was twisting her insides. Red Sans at least, could always come back if he kept his machine working- even if he wouldn't be exactly welcome among everyone.
I just met you, Frisk thought, watching Red Frisk. Why can't you stay a little longer?
But she already knew why. She couldn't stay in place for even another moment when she was trapped underground. Even though things were surely harder over there, it was probably the same way for them now, now that they had made up their mind.
Red Papyrus came inside after a goodbye to the Papyrus of this world, shouting in his growlier tone, "-YOU WERE VERY INFORMATIVE. AND IF YOU LOSE MY PHONE NUMBER I'M GOING TO BE VERY PISSED AT YOU SO MAKE SURE YOU KEEP IT!" When he turned to look at the occupants of the room, he noticed his brother and the other Frisk hadn't moved towards the door yet. "WHAT? WHY IS NO ONE MOVING?"
No one spoke for a second- after all, Frisk didn't speak when watching such personal issues unfold, and Sans was probably still too tired to do much of anything. Red Sans didn't say anything either, though, although it was probably obvious why he wasn't eager to go back.
Meeting Red Papyrus' gaze and then discarding it, her counterpart self finally answered, "I'm just thinking. I have a lot of people left in my way."
Red Papyrus scoffed and folded his arms. "SO? IS YOUR OBJECTIVE NOT TO GO BACK TO THE SURFACE?"
"Yeah," the child muttered, eyes darting at Red Sans, who began to sweat, "But I guess I- just don't know if I'll be able to-"
"NO!"
Something changed on Red Papyrus' face, and the outburst startled everyone- even Sans, who had started to fall asleep again, opened his bony lids halfway. Red Papyrus' eye sockets flung open wider than usual, even with that crack on his skull, and he had swooped down before anyone realized it. Kneeling down closer to their level he grabbed Red Frisk by the arms, his giant gloved hands and clawlike fingers almost wrapping around their entire midsection. "YOU ABSOLUTELY CAN NOT TALK LIKE THAT!"
White as a sheet, Red Frisk sputtered, "-Huh?"
"HUMAN! AS YOUR NEW BEST FRIEND I ABSOLUTELY FORBID ANY KIND OF SELF-DOUBTING BEHAVIOR, DO YOU UNDERSTAND ME!?"
"boss-"
The child trembled. "Um-"
So Red Papyrus kept going, "PROMISE ME YOU WILL NOT EVER TALK LIKE THAT AGAIN! PROMISE ME!"
"But-"
He shook her, with a violent jerk, "PROMISE ME!"
"Ipromise-"
"GOOD!" But unfortunately for that Frisk, he wasn't done. From where he'd taken cover in the corner, Red Sans rolled his eyes. "FROM THIS DAY FORTH, REMEMBER THAT YOU ARE FRIENDS WITH PAPYRUS THE TERRIBLE! DO NOT LET YOURSELF HAVE ANY DOUBTS THAT YOU ARE MAKING THE RIGHT DECISION! DO NOT HESITATE! GO THROUGH HOTLAND KNOWING THAT YOU ARE NOT GOING TO TAKE ANYONE'S SHIT EVER AGAIN! FACE YOUR ENEMY AND SAY 'YOU ARE NOT TREATING ME LIKE THIS ANYMORE SANS'-" A beat. "-OR METTATON. OR ASGORE. WOSHUA. WHICHEVER. IT'S UP TO YOU."
"gee," said Red Sans, and scowling Papyrus threw a bone at him.
There was a small moment of silence from everyone; even though Red Frisk's face was normally noticeably tanned in color, like Frisk's own, right now it was the color of pancake batter.
Clearing his throat uncomfortably, and straightening back up, Red Papyrus didn't look at the child he had probably just turned deaf as he reached to grab his Sans by the back of his coat again. "UM. I THINK WE SHOULD LEAVE NOW."
Red Sans made a face, but he didn't resist. "ghhhhh-"
"DON'T WHINE IT IS VERY ANNOYING," his Papyrus snapped. He looked to the two children, and then the other Sans, and be bowed curtly. "GOODBYE OTHER HUMAN, OTHER SANS. OUR HUMAN, I WILL BE WAITING FOR YOU BACK IN SNOWDIN."
Red Frisk waved, still frazzled, and before wasting another moment the two pointy skeletons disappeared through the grey door.
Now it was their turn, and they'd disappear too. The child turned their head a fraction, looking back at Sans and Frisk. They scratched their nose, and then rubbed it, trying to lift the corners of their lips. "Maybe he's got a point."
Remembering the other promise that they made, Frisk said nothing. But Sans, still yawning, took a step forward and offered his hand. "i guess this is it for now, huh? you take care of yourself. i think you have more friends than you've been counting."
Red Frisk didn't raise their hand in turn, though. Their eyes became shiny, and they croaked, "I don't do handshakes sorry" before jumping forward and grabbing Sans in a hug, instead. That, even more than Papyrus' yelling, woke him up from his stupor. Red Frisk's face pressed into his shirt, Frisk hearing the tears they were fighting against.
"Thanks for staying with me. And for being so nice," they sniffed, careful not to hug too tight. "Even though I'm such a rotten kid."
Having this shivering little orange body clinging to his midsection, the look on Sans' face was one of shock, although it was harder to tell with him sometimes. After a moment of it, whatever it was, he ruffled the child's hair and smiled as he always did, giving them a lazy wink when they looked back up. "you're on the right track, kiddo. cut out the cursing and you're not that bad."
They smiled weakly back. "U-uh- I like cursing though."
"heheheh, then what are you worried about?"
Red Frisk stood upright and blushed, wiping their face furiously. "Nothinnnng." They took a big breath, and with a glance in Frisk's direction turned. "Okay, now I'm-"
No, you're not.
Before she even thought about it, Frisk grabbed her other self by the arm and pulled her back around, grabbing them tight in a hug of her own. The shoulder of their sweater was soft on her face, and then they grabbed her tight back.
Without saying anything, in the next second they let go. And...
You put the Dull Knife in Red Frisk's hand.
The other child shocked, in the next moment she felt it passed back.
Frisk tried again, adding with quiet words, "He might not eat the pie..."
"I don't need it," Red Frisk said back just as quietly, although their face was taken by confusion. From their shoulder, Flowey was peeking out of the neck hole of their sweater.
Frisk frowned. "But.."
There was a smirk, now, as they understood. "I did make a couple weird-ass promises just now, didn't I?" They mused. "But, um, I don't really think I'm going to keep them."
As Frisk held a question in her eyes, her other self answered, "I really like Sans. And maybe I'll even really like Papyrus. But they're confused. They don't know what kind of story they're in either. ...I'm not sure yet, but... I feel like I'll find a way, without doing something terrible like... like killing someone. Because... if I do... all the times I haven't killed anyone wouldn't be worth anything. All those tally marks... would be for nothing."
The tally marks. Suddenly embarrassed for thinking any differently, Frisk put the knife away before Sans could so much as see what they were whispering about. "Ah-r-right."
"Thank you," they added quickly, a little louder. They looked like they were going to cry again. For all the cursing and fighting, they sure did that a lot, Frisk remarked to herself. "I'm glad I met you. I actually don't hate you at all."
Uh. "I don't hate you either, I guess," Frisk replied with a blink.
"And, um," Red Frisk said, as they wiped their face. "You probably won't know what I mean when I say it. But... um... the song that's playing in my head..." Frisk watched them patiently, as they rubbed their eyes clean of tears yet again. "...I never knew how much more there was to it until today."
Frisk just smiled at them. She had a feeling that she knew. It was the song that was playing in her head too, that had played on those occasions where someone who loved her was by her side.
One of a fast heartbeat, and of faith that's rewarded. It was a song she was familiar with. It was hers.
Both of theirs, perhaps. As the two eighth children who had "fallen down."
"I don't know if you understand," murmured Red Frisk, as their counterpart went several seconds without speaking. "I'll show you what I mean someday," they said, turning over to her a trembling smile. "When I get an ending like yours."
Frisk beamed at her, and Red Frisk beamed back, with a face unused to beaming. They did, in that instant, almost look identical. "And you'll come right back then?"
"Fuck yeah, I'll come right back."
That was what she said, and as before when she swore Frisk thought that she sounded so cool. Red Flowey, with a far more relaxed expression, sank down beneath Red Frisk's sweater and the child turned to the grey door once again. They said, taking hold of the knob. "...But now I have to go."
Frisk did not see how their eyes brimmed again, and their smile became a screwed up grimace again, once they stepped through into the other world. She did not see the pain they would have to endure, the deaths and suffering yet to come.
But she could guess all of that. Because, although she told no one, her story hadn't been the happy kind either. Even if it did end that way.
Once the other child was gone, Frisk's smile drifted down, and she twisted the ends of her sweater with an anxious expression. As the only one left in the room was Sans, she found herself murmuring, "Hey... how are they going to do that?"
"mm?" The skeleton said sleepily.
"How are they going to get our ending? If Flowey is friends with them, and most of the other monsters still hate them...?" Frisk wrung her sweater even tighter. "How are they going to break the barrier? Should they even do that?"
Sans just shrugged. "beats me." After the child exhaled sharply, he paused and said, "but i didn't think you'd be able to do better than leave, too. and, uh," he laughed a little, although without much humor. "when you're a reality warper, i bet you don't really need to worry about those tiny details."
Frisk looked at Sans, and then back at the door. "Mmmmm..."
Reality warper or not, they were just a kid like her.
Little by little, before their eyes, the door disappeared. Upset again by the disturbance, the sky burst into a sudden pouring rain as it had been doing lately.
But soon after, as before, the sun reemerged on New New Home.
Author's Note: That's almost it for this story, I'm sorry to say. We've reached the final chapter. It was a doozy to write, wrapping everything up is always my least favorite part. I still feel there are things I didn't quite explore enough, but that might be what sequels are for or something. 0 o0
Last up is a little epilogue of sorts, which is where I'll put all my other concluding comments for this fic. It won't be so long so I probably will have it out soon, at least sooner than this chapter.
Bye for now!
Next Chapter: The Child Named Alice and the Child Named Anna
