Author's Note: If you've made it this far, congratulations! You've stuck it out until the bitter end and made it to the final chapter! (Or, I guess you could have cheated a bit and just skipped ahead… =/ ) Welp, no matter the case, welcome to the final chapter of my fanfic! ^o^

I just wanted to give a quick shout-out to the people that put this fanfic on their "favorites" lists, Gem Rose and Dragon7597. Another shout-out goes to Dragon7597 and Ethhar for liking the story enough to want to be alerted. You guys have no idea how much it means to know you liked the story enough to bother with either. ^_^ For all its faults and weaknesses, I've enjoyed writing this fanfic. If you did indeed read it from start to finish, or even if you didn't, all I can say is "Thank you!" Thanks for coming on this journey with me. ^_^

I've been writing a follow-up story to this… However, I'm not entirely certain I'll post it. I might, but I might just write it for my own personal entertainment. That's how this fic started, honestly, but it just seemed like such a waste for the files to just sit there on my tablet, with nobody but each other and me to keep them company. Granted, that's pretty much what they're doing NOW, here on the site, but that's life, I guess. X_X

Anyway, I've rambled for long enough. On with the show! ^o^

Chapter Fifteen: Reunited

I looked through the glass, into a hospital room. I felt that it was strange to know what I was looking at, because only half of my mind could recall the names. Modern hospitals didn't exist on the surface in "my" world… but they did in "Francine's".

Francine was lying still in a bed. She had a respirator inserted into her throat, below the ugly bruising that showed why she needed the machine to breathe for her. I remembered the pain, could feel it as my own throat threatened to swell shut in sympathy.

The incident that led to Francine's current state was what began my journey. Her uncle had, indeed, attempted to end her life, caught in a waking nightmare made worse with alcohol. Even as her consciousness slipped away, her very last coherent thought had been "I can use this in my story…"

Maybe not the most thought-provoking sentiment to have upon death's door, but Francine was only thirteen years old. She was just lonely child that had been deeply touched by a simple video game.

It had been hard for Francine to make friends. Crippling shyness kept her from reaching out and just trying, even online. It made her subject to bullying, which only further prevented her from trying. If given a choice, she would rather curl up in one corner of her local library and read every book in there. Or she would just stay at home and play video games. But there was one video game that reached something inside of her. Even though it had been "just" a game, it still made Francine think.

Though the monsters attacked her, just trying to understand them a little better let her befriend them. As she learned more and more of their story she grew more and more attached to them, especially one skeletal comedian cloaked in mystery and his pure-hearted brother. Even the biggest bullies in the game could be won over, just by trying and never giving up. By the time she "beat" the game, she had fallen in love with its narrative.

She learned of the mysteries buried in the game, and also saw what other fans of the game were doing, online. She learned of "alternate universes" and started to wonder… Could she write one? But what to call it…? When looking through a dictionary for ideas, she looked up the definition of "fantasy." One of them struck her, in particular.

"An imagined event or sequence of mental images usually fulfilling a wish or psychological need."

And so she started from there. She tried to build a world like from one of her favorite science fiction novels, where human civilization had been rocked back on its heels. Technology on the surface would have to go, leaving monsters with the best tech. A pessimistic girl, at least where humans were concerned, Francine felt she needed to give monsters every chance she could so they could live in peace.

She took the whole story as a lesson in "Frisk-building." What kind of human wanted to risk going to a place where they could disappear forever? What were they looking for? What were they running from, if anything? What kind of fantasy-come-true would they need to make them happy?

Francine took ideas from her life. While she hadn't been mistreated by her parents, there was still a sense of distance. They never asked her how her day was, for example, or ever encouraged her to go outside and play with other kids. Or encouraged her at all, really. They hardly ever looked at her. She had overheard them fighting, one night, and they'd both called her a "burden". It had hurt… but she finally knew why a human would want to go somewhere -anywhere- else.

She started writing. She had never written a story before and didn't feel like she was doing a very good job of making it "original." She was using too much of the game as a crutch, but couldn't figure out how else to write it without completely excising what she loved about the original world. She didn't know if she would ever have the courage to post it online anywhere… but just writing it was helping to ease the feelings of loneliness she kept inside.

One day, she sat in the school library during lunch and tried drawing the characters in her story. Taking ideas from illustrated fantasy stories… she failed miserably. Just when she was about to give up somebody passing by recognized the characters, despite the horrible way she had botched them. That was how Francine met her very first friend, the person that would become her best friend.

Manuela Sanchez loved the game, too. They were in the same grade, although they didn't share any classes. It turned out "Manny" had been wanting to make an AU, as well. But since it had been a couple of years since the game had been released, all the good ideas seemed to have been taken. So Francine told her of her idea and the two of them started collaborating in something like a round robin.

After a while Manny started calling Francine "Frisk" as a nickname, because her initials were simply too perfect. She even went as far as to suggest using it in the story. Although Francine was reluctant to lock-in "Frisk's" gender in such a way, it actually make a good deal of sense for the kind of story she'd been writing. Eventually, she went along with her friend's suggestion.

Manny would write portions of the story from a monster's point of view and Francine would write Frisk's and that of an original character she had made. They disagreed on whether or not to include their favorite ships (which they also slightly disagreed upon), but agreed to try and leave it open enough to where they could write their own ships for after the end of the "dream."

It was a game about timelines. Of course they would want to explore each branch, each "possibility." Except the genocide route! Francine was firmly against writing such a thing.

Manny was the better artist so she was in charge of all illustration. Francine asked that the credit for their creation be shared, which her friend was more than happy to do. Things were going well, but then something happened in Francine's life that changed everything.

Her uncle moved in to live with her and her parents.

He was a veteran fresh from the fighting, unemployed and homeless. It was only supposed to be a temporary arrangement, but as the months dragged on Francine began to doubt that. He'd been too scarred by his experiences and simply couldn't stop fighting, even if it was all just in his own head. Francine had been told to just stay out of his way when he was like that… but the house wasn't big enough.

He struck her on a number of occasions. He always apologized afterward, saying he wasn't striking at her but something only he could see, but it didn't stop him from repeating his actions. Even though she knew it wasn't intentional, Francine came to fear the shared areas of her parents' home. She started locking herself in her room whenever she had to be there.

Her story started taking on a darker tone. Instead of simply running away from cold, aloof parents she filled Frisk's backstory with tragedy. Although Francine's uncle felt remorse for his actions Frisk's uncle didn't. He would embody everything Francine feared would come to pass and be the horrible being Frisk would run from, the being that would awaken something inside her.

He would awaken her will to live… and her hatred.

As though life was trying to imitate art Francine's uncle got drunk on a night he was supposed to be babysitting her and had a particularly bad flashback. She had been sitting at her desk, trying to draw because Manny had encouraged her to practice, when all hell broke loose. He burst through her door, just like he'd been trained to do, and "neutralized the threat". She was knocked to the floor and her colored pencils flew everywhere. She tried to call out to him, tried to snap him out of his nightmare as the smell of alcohol overwhelmed her, but her voice was dampened with pain until he took away her ability to speak. He wasn't waking up…

In a desperate bid to live she felt around for something and found a pencil. She tried to stab him in the arm, trying to make him let go, but all of her strength left her before she could.

Francine faded from her world… and then I fell into the Underground that we had written for ourselves.

"Do you remember everything, yet?" The sudden voice from the dark made me jump. I turned to face the newcomer behind me.

It was Francine! Well… no, that wasn't quite right. It was what was left of Francine's will to live, just as I was her soul. "Francine" was the one that stayed behind with our body, watching over it and the dream as it progressed. She had been the one to overwrite the first human's name with mine, to keep me "in-character" for as long as possible. It had fallen apart at the end, but she had done her best. I nodded in response to her question.

Francine huffed. "Good, because we're out of time." She gestured to the window and said, "It's been less than two days but the doctor's about to pull the plug in a little while. We need to decide whether we stay here, or go out there and see if we can't pull off a 'miracle' and regain all of our brain function. It's why I was trying to hurry you up, in there, with those reminders."

She must have meant the head-detachment and making me hear the heart monitor. Still, I frowned. "Are we braindead?"

My counterpart nodded. "Just about the only things working are the heart and lungs. Everything else is gone. Vision, hearing, motor control… Our dear, sweet uncle took his frigging time snapping out of his flashback before calling for an ambulance, so the damage from lack of oxygen is pretty severe. Everybody's given up on us having a 'normal' life, ever again."

I frowned harder. "Then what's there to debate? There's no point in going back to our body if it's not going to work at all."

Francine nodded, acknowledging the point. "Even if we can't use our body, we can't stay here, either. Deluding ourselves into being a part of that world isn't going to help us. Even if we're just going to be a ghost, it needs to be done out there."

I crossed my arms. "What's so bad about staying here? What's wrong with wanting to stay as 'Frisk'?"

Francine threw her hands in the air, saying "Because it's all in our heads! You've had your fun. You know what's coming next, so there's no point in staying. If we go back now, we'll forget the world out there ever existed. We'll basically brainwash ourselves into our roles, and we'll never remember that they're just that. We'll forget who we're supposed to be. Not even 'Asriel', the part of us that wants to stay in the dream, will remember. He'll be stuck on the script forever."

"Will we?" At Francine's confused look, I continued. "Will we really forget? Think about it. We poured our heart and soul into that dream. We poured them into 'Frisk'. Our love, hope and compassion… Our desires, our fears, and even our hate. We're not just Francine's creation and determination, we are her. And we always will be."

We both looked out the window, at the body in the bed. We listened to the heart monitor beeping until someone entered the room. We had been expecting a doctor, or a nurse, but it was neither.

It was Manny. She still had her backpack, but she'd been sliding it off her shoulders when she came in. It fell onto the floor as she stared at our body, as though trying to comprehend what she was seeing.

Our friend called out to us, softly and uncertainly. "Frisk? A-are you…?" She didn't get a response of any sort, so she walked closer. Manny held one of our hands, shaking it a little as though hoping something would happen, but it didn't.

"Oh my god, you're really… I heard Mama saying you were, but I… I'm so sorry…!" She started crying, lifting the hand she was holding so she could press the back of it to her forehead as she bent forward. She was sobbing softly and it broke our hearts. No matter what we decided, leaving our best friend behind would be the one regret we'd both share. Then a nurse came into the room and it turned out to be Manny's mother. She was mildly alarmed.

"¡Mija! What are you doing in here?! You should not be here!"

Manny rounded on her mother, still holding our hand. "Why!? Why can't I be here? She's my friend, Mama, and I'm hers! She was so alone, so very alone. She was so scared, but she trusted me. She shared a story written from her soul with me. I noticed how her story was changing because she was hurting and I still didn't do a thing to help her!" Manny was sobbing again, and her mother tried to comfort her. She said that nothing could have been done since we had been too scared to say anything. Since our own parents didn't bother to notice. Manny was having none of it.

"SO WHAT!? I still should have done something! I should have made her tell me what was going on! I… I should have been a better friend… And now she's going to die." Manny sobbed into her mother's shoulder, all while she continued to hold our hand.

I wished we could do something to tell her she'd been the best friend ever, but we couldn't. If we left this… void we stood in, we'd never be able to go back to the world we had built. Before we could think of something, Mrs. Sanchez started speaking softly to her daughter.

"Do not think of it as simply 'dying.' She is being set free. Francine is trapped in there, in a body she can never move. We are letting her go to Heaven, where she will never be hurt or afraid, again."

Manny let out a small hiccup. "C-can't I at least say goodbye?" Mrs. Sanchez said she could, and left the room to give her as much privacy as possible.

Our friend scrubbed at her eyes, trying to pull herself together. She probably didn't have a lot of time to say what she wanted. Still, she didn't let go of our hand. Even though we couldn't feel it the physicality of it we could still feel the warmth from our friend's soul, kind and gentle and caring.

Manny dredged up a heartbroken smile. "H-heya, Frisk…" Her smile fell, but she brought it back as she said, "I couldn't figure out where to fit Undyne or Alphys, but I wrote up a bunch of new Sans POVs to sandwich into your story. I was hoping you'd get to read them, but…" She paused, her face crumpling, but she didn't cry. "I-I… I tried to make him the kind of champion you needed, that Frisk needed. The laziest knight-in-shining-armor ever that just wants you to laugh…

"I… I'll try to write the timeline you wanted. I have copies of the notes on what you wanted to do, and I'll do my best to stay true to your dream, s-so don't… Don't w-worry about your story. I'll take care of it, I promise. I p-promise…!" Manny started sobbing again, falling to her knees beside the bed.

I wanted to tell her to take care of herself, first, but I didn't think she'd be able to hear me. Then Mrs. Sanchez came back into the room, followed by a doctor and more nurses. Mrs. Sanchez gathered up her backpack and coaxed her up off the floor. She tried to herd Manny out the door, but our friend stood firm.

"No! I don't want to go! Unless her parents or someone else is coming to see her off I'm all the family she has."

None of the adults said anything. None of our family members were in sight, and it didn't seem like they'd be here, any time soon. Manny snorted, unsurprised, and took her backpack from her mother. She turned back to our body and said, "You're going to do great, Frisk. Just… stay determined, okay?"

She walked toward us but I don't think she could see us. Our window was probably just a wall, to her. Clutching her backpack to her chest, she stayed out of the doctor's way as he went about ending our mortal life. She was crying again, but she didn't look away.

To Francine, I said, "You know, a dream where you repeatedly defy death probably isn't the best coping mechanism."

She snorted. "You're telling ME that? But it's the only one we had. It was the only dream we ever wanted to have…"

"Maybe… but maybe accepting death isn't what the dream was for." Francine gave me a strange look, but said nothing.

Our body was being unhooked from all the machines. I would have thought we would have felt something… but I guess we had long since broken away. Manny turned away at last, burying her chin into her backpack and holding it tight. She looked at the wall, right at me… and stared. Her eyes were huge, letting me see how red they'd gotten from her tears. She looked like she was seeing a ghost.

If she could see me, she kind of was. Then she looked over at Francine and her jaw dropped. Francine gave her a rueful little smile and a wave, and our friend looked back at me. In her eyes, I probably looked just like her drawing come to life. I opened the eyes she had envisioned for me and smiled at her. I held my hands in front of me, making a little heart and winked with my left eye.

She smiled a tiny smile and her shoulders shook in an incredulous laugh. She darted a glance at the adults who were still attending to our empty body, then looked back at us. She placed a hand to the glass and we did the same, Francine's hand over mine. My soul glowed… and so did Manny's.

We let her know she was the best friend we'd ever asked for. We thanked her for being there, and for believing in our story. We told her we didn't blame her for anything and to forgive herself. Then we said goodbye.

We could feel that Manny would miss us… but she wished us happiness all the same. She was crying again but she was smiling, too.

Francine and I stepped back. The window faded from existence, leaving us in the dark. My counterpart sighed and said, "Well, I guess we're staying. Now what?"

I almost said to go to the surface with our friends… but I didn't. I could feel someone else nearby. Someone in a great deal of pain. I said, "I think it's time we had a talk with our uncle."

Francine bared her teeth in a parody of a smile. "Maybe I don't want to talk to that d-bag."

I frowned at her. "I know you can feel him, because I do. He knows what he did and he feels miserable about it. You wrote 'Frisk's' uncle to be an animal, but at least ours didn't want to hurt us. He needs to know we knew that, before he… does something very cowardly." My words must have had some effect, because Francine didn't argue. She let me lead her through the dark, to our uncle's soul. It was just a glowing blue heart and I could tell it was still connected to him, but I could feel what was within it.

He had once been somebody who only wanted to do the right thing. But after serving the country, sacrificing so much and taking the lives of so many others, he didn't know what was "right" anymore. And now he'd killed a member of his own family because he couldn't contain his own pain. I could feel the need to end his own existence as penance for what he'd done… but I knew that wouldn't help him.

I held his soul close to mine. I scolded him for not seeking out the sort of help he needed, but let him know I'd be okay. I said that I would forgive him, even though he had hurt me, and said that he should try to forgive himself. I knew it would be hard, but I believed he could do it. I believed that he was strong enough to move forward and one day be free from all his pain. He would be free to live for the future, no longer stuck in the past. I don't know if my words reached him, at all, but something inside his soul eased. Just a little bit. I sent one last wave of forgiveness before stepping back from him. I turned back to Francine and was a little shocked to find who had taken her place.

It was someone dressed similarly to me, except their sweater was dark green with pale yellow stripes. The gold locket they wore was an upside-down heart, like a monster's soul. We had similar britches and boots, and their light brown hair was cut short, too, but our faces were different. The shape and color of the eyes, in particular, stood out. Their eyes were bigger… and cherry red.

They looked down at themselves and smiled wryly. The will to live that used to think of themselves as Francine said, "I guess it's already started." To me, they said, "We'd better get going, partner. We've got to end this dream right."

I shook my head and said, "No. It's only just beginning." I held out my hand and they took it. My soul pulsed and they were gone in a flash.

They were still there, I could feel it. For the moment, at least. Once I went back "in-character" I wouldn't, but for now I could feel their determination to go "home."

I shared the sentiment and started walking.

I stood with my friends upon the precipice of a bright new future as the sunset bathed everything in its light. Papyrus asked what the "big bright ball" was, and Sans said it was the sun. I cautioned everyone not to look directly into it, so they didn't harm their vision. Undyne liked how warm the sunlight felt, and how fresh the air was. Alphys said it was even prettier than her movies.

Mother said that, while the view was beautiful, we should think about what would come next. Asgore agreed and asked me if I would be the ambassador to the humans… but I told him there was something he needed to know first. He didn't press the issue.

Papyrus said he wanted to go make a good first impression on the humans. He dashed off before I could tell him they didn't live nearby. Sans left to keep him out of trouble… but went in the wrong direction. Undyne chased after our friend, with Alphys soon trailing after her. Asgore left, too, after receiving another glare from Mother.

She asked me if I was going to go back to where I'd come from. I told her I wanted to stay with her. I told her that I never wanted to leave the Underground, I just wanted her out of the Ruins. But now that everyone was free I pretty much had nowhere else to go. She said she would do her best to care for me, and took my hand as we walked down the mountain. She promised to make a butterscotch pie as soon as she could…

I smiled as I said, "That sounds positively heavenly."

It was a beautiful day. The birds were singing, the flowers were blooming…

On a day like this, a kid like me had to bury her best friend.

It was a simple ceremony. Closed-coffin, outdoors and near where she'd be put to rest. More people in her family than I thought would come came, but they'd said hardly anything. It was like they barely knew her. Given how much she had kept to herself, it wasn't very surprising. But it wasn't like any of them had tried to understand her, the jerks…

I tried not to feel that way, but it was hard. It was hard not to resent the people that should have loved her, but didn't. Not nearly enough to matter, anyway.

I tried to remember how she had looked in that… vision I had. I still didn't know if I had been hallucinating, or what, but seeing Frisk and "Frisk" smile like that… I didn't know why they'd both been there, but there was no mistaking that soul for any other but my friend's.

I'd always known she was more determined than her meek and timid appearance let on.

It was finally my turn to speak. I walked up to stand beside Frisk's coffin, clutching the notecards for my speech and the little heart-shaped wreath I had made. I had wanted to give these people a piece of my mind… but Mama talked me out of it. So, instead, I talked about my friend.

"I only knew Francine for about a year, but the time we spent together will be some of the most cherished memories I'll have for the rest of my life.

"We were brought together by a video game. You might think that's silly, but it spoke to something deep in both our souls. It taught us to help others and to never give up trying. It taught us that you can find friends in the unlikeliest of places. And it taught us that mercy and forgiveness can be the hardest things to choose… but they will always reward you, in the end.

"I don't know what Heaven will be like for her, but I know she'll get in. She never really believed that whole 'people in white robes, kicking back in clouds' image most people think of. It always sounded so boring to her. She always thought, 'If God knows what's going on in my heart and mind, why can't He let my soul live in a place that would actually make me happy, after I die?'

"I'm praying that He heard her. If He loves her half as much as I do, He'll have listened. Wherever she is, I know she's finally happy…" I sniffled. Tears were flowing down my face, but I had one last thing to say.

"I know… I know that, wherever she is, she'll stay determined. She'll always try do the right thing, and keep doing right by others. I'm going to do the same. It'll be the hardest thing I'll ever do, but I know it will be worth it. If I ever see her again, I'll be able to look her in the eyes and say, 'I did my best.' I hope that will make her smile. That's… all I ever wanted for her, really."

I turned to lay my wreath on top of Frisk's coffin and said goodbye. The red roses were almost gleaming compared to the matte finish on the wood. As I walked back to my mother I noticed nobody else was crying. It turned my stomach to know these people were so heartless, but at least I knew Frisk and her uncle weren't.

I had met him, briefly, before the… incident. He'd clearly been in pain, but I could tell he was a nice guy, normally. I had a letter to deliver to him, and a video Frisk had made "just in case." I didn't know what was in the letter, but she had mailed the DVD with her recording on it to me and it had arrived yesterday. She had wanted people to know that she didn't blame him for whatever happened to make the video necessary. Basically, it was a plea for mercy for the person that had hurt her.

Maybe now he would finally get the help he needed. It royally sucked that this had to happen first, but I knew my best friend would want me to forgive him.

Somehow, I knew she had, already. The least I could do was try.