A/N – Fluffy hurt/comfort one-shot, because yes. Slight AU where Frisk is able to visit friends before fighting Asgore, but after doing the quest in Alphys's lab. Gender neutral Frisk, please let me know if I screw it up anywhere!
Frisk had been sleeping on their couch for a few days since Undyne had moved in with Alphys at the lab. They had so much fun hanging out with the skeleton brothers; sentry duty, playing with the dog guards, wandering around the Underground. But they weren't ready to face Asgore. They just couldn't do it.
Frisk kept getting phone calls with a mysterious voice on the other end after helping Alphys gain the courage to send the Amalgams home. Phone calls turned into visits from Flowey, who would say a few words when Frisk was alone and then disappear again. The child was afraid of telling their friends about it, unsure if any of them even knew about SAVEs and RESETs. Even they didn't understand it entirely.
Frisk had started dozing off while sitting with Sans at his sentry station in Waterfall. They rubbed their eyes to see Sans drinking a bottle of ketchup, and waving to some monsters passing by.
"Hey Sans…" they said weakly.
"Yeah, buddy?" He said, taking another gulp.
"Do you…think I'm a coward?"
Sans thought about it for a moment, "That's not how I would describe you, no. You're shy, but you never ran away from a situation that you could fix by talking... I guess except for that one time with Undyne," he laughed a little to himself. "She was LIVID, kid, it was hilarious."
Frisk set their head back down on the table in the station. "But… Asgore is still waiting for me to confront him at the barrier."
"Listen kid…" Sans's voice dropped, and he placed a bony hand on their shoulder. "From the way it sounds right now, it's either you or Asgore. You know none of us want you to face that, that's why we're all still making a plan of how to approach him. It'd be easier if we had the queen to talk to him." Frisk paused for a second, something clicking in their mind. They slapped their face, and then grabbed Sans by the hand as they got up abruptly. "Woah, easy there, where are we off to?"
"That door… that door that you heard jokes from…the lady you told me about at the MTT Resort…" they continued to drag Sans, but looked behind at him. "When was the last time you talked to her?"
"Ummm… not since you got here, buddy." Sans pulled the kids arm back a little, stopping their fast pace. "I have a quicker idea." He grabbed Frisk's wrist, and in a flash of darkness, which made Frisk feel like they were falling, they had appeared in front of the large door.
Frisk shyly stepped up to the door, knock knock. They knocked, and knocked again, and then sat in the snow in front of the door. They stared at the door…hoping…waiting.
"She hasn't come to the door in a long time, kiddo." He waited with them for a few minutes, and then turned around to head back. "I gotta finish my shift, you know the way home, right?"
Frisk turned around as he started to walk away, "No!" They said, frightened. They didn't want to be alone.
"Don't worry, I'm off in an hour, I'll meet you at home." Sans winked, waved, and was gone in a flash.
Frisk sat in the snow… they were nervous. It was terrifying being alone, because that meant..
"Howdy." A voice said coldly behind them. "So…trying to do things YOUR way…huh?" the small yellow flower sounded sickeningly cruel in tone. Frisk remained facing the door, they couldn't bring themself to look behind. Flowey scoffed, "all right, you try your little stunt. It won't do you any good in the end." The flower cackled before disappearing under the snow.
Frisk felt their eyes well up with tears, What else can I do? What else can I try?
Frisk walked back to the little town of Snowdin; they had stayed out for a few hours, longer than they originally planned. They were shivering from the cold, and stomped the snow off of their shoes before stepping inside the cottage at the far end of the village. They rubbed their shoulders to warm up, and placed their coat on one of the hooks.
"GREETINGS HUMAN! WELCOME BACK! DID YOU HAVE A PLEASANT DAY?" Papyrus was busily making spaghetti in the kitchen.
Frisk nodded and smiled before retreating under the blanket they had been using when the slept on the couch the past few nights.
"SANS! THE HUMAN HAS RETURNED! GET YOUR LAZY BONES DOWNSTAIRS."
Frisk heard Sans's door open, and the sound of his slippers as her came down the stairs. They felt Sans pat the top of their head through the blanket. "Look Papyrus, our blanket has become corporeal, what do you know?"
"ARE YOU SURE IT ISN'T THE HUMAN?"
Frisk lifted the blanket off of their head and around their shoulders like a cape. Frisk looked up, a little surprised, and then smiled faintly. "Hey, buddy… what's going on?"
They turned their gaze away from the worried skeleton, rubbing their fingers nervously. They couldn't bring themself to admit their plan had failed or even that there was more happening than they had let on. The shook their head, they didn't want to talk if they didn't have to.
They had a very quiet dinner, except for Papyrus, who was pretty much the only one who talked at all. The taller skeleton rambled on about training with Undyne and being on guard duty in the forests of Snowdin. Papyrus offered to clean up the dishes and then tucked in Frisk on the bed before returning to his room. Sans stayed next to Frisk on the couch, letting the flashing television lull them to sleep. Once Sans was sure the kid was asleep, he flipped off the television and looked at Frisk for a moment before turning to go to his own room.
Frisk was a small kid, it didn't take much blanket to cover them. Frisk was curled up, Sans thought their posture must've been uncomfortable, and yet they were sound asleep. They mumbled and twitched in their sleep; Sans wondered how they ever got any sleepy at all.
Sans knew; he knew about everything. But since he never asked, he didn't know how much the kid knew about RESETs or LOADs. They would have to die for either to occur.
"Mmmm…Sans?" He couldn't tell if the kid was awake or not, but sat back down anyway, and fluffed their hair out of their face.
"Evening, kiddo. Dreaming some sweet dreams in there?"
"I don't…wanna.. hurt you…Sans…" Even in their sleep, they were terrified how everyone around them.
"You won't kid, I promise."
One of their arms started falling to their side, but they ended up rolling off the bed and landed on the back on the floor. They woke immediately; holding their palms out in front of their face to shield themself. The hands slowly folded inward as their eyes started to open, panting heavily as they realized where they were.
"Hey kid." Sans said calmly, only causing them to back away a couple of feet, staring at him nervously. They took some deep, hasty breaths, and tried to calm down. "I'm not gonna hurt you… I just wanna talk."
Frisk nodded, it's Sans…he would never hurt me. They shifted around so they were leaning up against the edge of the sofa.
"So… seems like you've been having a bad time lately, huh?" Sans knew not to tip-toe around the subject. At this point, the kid could handle his blunt demeanor.
Frisk lost control; crossing their arms violently, they started shaking and sobbing. They weren't sure what had triggered it…like a distant, foggy memory that they couldn't comprehend. "I'm…scared…"
Sans slid himself next to them, placed a hand on their far shoulder and drew them in towards him. "H-hey… it's all right." He lied, almost a little too blatantly for his normal charade.
Frisk clutched him by his sweatshirt, letting their tears spill onto it uncontrollably. "I just fix everything… everything they did… why isn't it working?"
Sans was startled; this kid… wasn't the same as the other timelines? The ones where they…kill… "I got you, kid. No one's getting hurt." He held them a little closer, encouraging them to cry. It was better than a murderous rampage…but it made him feel guilty. They obviously weren't controlling their own actions, and he had killed them countless times to avenge his brother. "You just gonna hang in there… we're right behind you."