Kit - More cute fluff and happiness! And of course more of The Great Papyrus!

Kasena - And everyone is so happy! Always happy! Never sad!


Chapter Eight

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Seeing a box nearby, Frisk rushed over to it and threw the lid open. She reached into it and pulled out a pink leather glove, giving a squeal as she held it close, slipping it on. Sans was walking up behind her, looking at what she was doing before giving a tiny 'aw', because, really...this kid was far too adorable. It was ridiculous.

"The color suits you well, my child," Toriel chuckled, ruffling the girl's hair with amusement. That pink leather glove, though...it almost seemed familiar- No, no, she was mostly imagining things. She had to be.

Frisk leaned into the touch a small amount as she looked up at Toriel with a wide grin. "Can I keep it?" Toriel hummed, looking at the glove a bit before glancing back to the box, reading over the note that was beside it.

"I suppose you may. It seems as if it has not been worn in a long time, as well." Sans made a small noise, lightly nudging Frisk's hand to see the glove better, the barest tinge of blue in his eyes.

"A very long time, I'd say..." Frisk gave a squeal, holding her hand closer to her chest and bouncing on her toes, looking delighted. Sans couldn't help but give a bit of a smile, ruffling her hair. "Alright, alright, kid, you can keep the glove. Who knows, might just end up being handy for you." Giggling, Frisk threw her arms around Sans before she was running off to explore more of the forest. San's only blinked before looking to Toriel, a bit...nervous looking. "I thought you weren't ever going to come out of the Ruins? I mean, pretty sure that was a thing said, or something."

She gave a small nod, watching Frisk with a fond smile. "I wasn't." Sans followed her gaze to where Frisk was playing, running around the forest and towards the river - Sans keeping a closer eye on her so she wouldn't fall in.

"I'm guessing something changed, then? Is she...trying to go back through the Barrier?" Because damn if he didn't have some depressing news on that front.

"She is. I...haven't gotten the full story from her, yet. It has something to do with her family." Huh...for once, something he didn't know. Sure he had seen his fair share of Resets and Frisks but...there was never much heard about the family the children had come from. And the last one...had left and never returned.

Or so he thought. "Makes sense. She's kind of...little, isn't she?"

"A bit. I'm assuming she's five. She's about the right size for it, and she speaks as though she is." Toriel was near smirking, looking as though she knew something Sans didn't. Which was actually possible, for once. Sans only looked at her confusingly, because, no...no. He didn't like being in the dark.

"Why...are you smirking? Tori, come on, you can't do that to me. I'm your caring punny friend. Show some Mercy."

"Maybe you should ACT like you deserve some, then." She gave a huff, looking pleased with herself as she followed after Frisk, Sans giving a quiet snicker, already heading off to catch up with Papyrus. "What is it you've found, little one?"

"I dunno. There's a note on the hook." Frisk was tugging on the fishing rod, having already reeled it in. Toriel easily read over the note, which said 'Call Me! Here's my number!' There was also a picture attached of a monster. Toriel only tore it off the hook and let it drop into the river.

"It was nothing, my child. Merely some pieces of trash." Frisk held her arms out to Toriel silently, tilting her head up at her. It was only a moment before she was being picked up and carried back towards the path. It was a few seconds of walking before Toriel was falling still and silent and looking back from the direction of the Ruins.

Frisk tilted her head at Toriel, tugging on her sleeve. "What is it?" Toriel only tucked her closer for a moment, eyes narrowing at the forest.

"...I suppose I merely thought I had seen something out of the ordinary in the forest... Frisk, why not go ahead after Sans? I will join you shortly in a moment." With that, she was setting the child down, giving her an affectionate ruffle of the hair. Frisk gave a grin, hugging Toriel's legs for a moment before rushing off after Sans.

"So, as I was saying about Undyne-" Sans and Papyrus were seen talking to each other a few feet away, the taller skeleton suddenly going very quiet before twisting between her, and Sans, and eventually around in small circles. Sans seemed to be very amused as he started doing the same, trying not to laugh. Frisk looked behind her, then back at the two skeletons, then behind her again until she was spinning in circles, herself. "SANS! OH MY GOD! Is that... A human?!"

Sans rose an eyebrow, making a show of looking around Frisk. "Uhhh... Actually, bro? I think that's a rock." Frisk looked behind her, nodding and giving a small pat to the rock that was indeed there.

"Oh." Papyrus clearly sounded disappointed at the thought of there being no human. And maybe even drooped a little bit.

"Hey, what's that in front of the rock?" Sans pointed to Frisk, Toriel standing behind her and raising an unamused eyebrow at Sans. Papyrus had perked up, voice back to being rather loud.

"OH MY GOD!" He turned to Sans, voice lowered to a 'whisper'. "Is...is that a human?!"

Sans nodded, whispering just as quietly. "Yes."

"OH MY GOD!" Papyrus was back to shouting, looking and sounding very excited. "Sans! I finally did it! Undyne will- I'm gonna- I'll be so... Popular, popular, POPULAR!" At the words, Frisk was tilting her head and humming a tune to herself. Sans seemed rather amused at how adorable the child was being, Toriel smiling and patting the girl's head. Papyrus, on the other hand, looked a bit pouty at being interrupted. "Ahem." Blushing a bit, Frisk ducked her head and let him continue speaking. "Human!"

Papyrus made a grand gesture of pointing towards Frisk, cape flapping in the breeze behind him. " You shall not pass this area! I, The Great Papyrus, will stop you! I will then capture you! You will be delivered to the capital! Then- Then... I'm not sure what's next- In any case! Continue...but only if you dare! Nyeh heh heh heh heh!" A rather enthusiastic laugh and Papyrus was running off, looking ecstatic and full of energy.

"Well, that went well," Sans grinned, looking rather amused. And maybe slightly ignoring Toriel's glaring. Most likely for drawing attention to her child.

Frisk wrinkled her nose as he left, tilting her head. "He's silly."

"Yeah, he's a bit silly," Sans snickered, ruffling the girl's hair almost absently. "Don't sweat it, kid. I'll keep an eye socket out for ya." With that, he was following after Papyrus.

Left alone with Toriel, the child tugged on her robe, looking up at her with a frown. "How come you were acting weird, earlier?"

"Hm? Oh, I merely saw something that did not belong here. It was my mind playing tricks on me, in the end." Toriel gently picked Frisk up, nuzzling against her and trying to warm her up from the cold.

"What'd ya see?" Frisk easily relaxed in the hold, tucking herself closer.

"A silly little flower, or some such nonsense." The moment the word was out of her mouth, Frisk was freezing up and curling a bit closer. "When I checked the area, there proved to be nothing, so I merely suppose I was seeing things."

"Oh... Okay..." Just nothing. She was safe with Toriel. She was safe, right here. No golden flowers, no talking flowers, it wasn't- She was fine. Toriel frowned at the child's reaction, tucking her closer and rubbing soothingly at her back.

"Let us continue on our path, my child. We shall arrive shortly enough, I presume, at the pace we are going."

"How long is shortly?" The girl relaxed again, leaning against Toriel as the woman carried her down the path.

"We shall reach the town by nightfall, at the latest. Afternoon at the earliest. I am certain we will find a way to entertain ourselves until we continue the journey tomorrow morning."

"Mmkay-"

"STOP!" Sans was in front of them, pointing to the sign. "Don't. Move." Toriel raised an eyebrow at Sans, looking rather startled as she stopped at once. "Seriously. Moving is a thing you should. Not. Do." It was an effort to hide his shit-eating grin.

"Why should we not be moving, Sans?" Toriel asked confusedly, glancing at the sign and reading it over. "...The sign does not make the situation clearer." Using Toriel's startlement to her advantage, Frisk slipped down from her arms and ran ahead of the two of them, sticking her tongue out at Sans. Signs weren't the boss of her. Her brother said so.

Sans had obviously not expected that reaction because he looked rather startled and a touch concerned. Especially the moment her soul appeared in front of her, and there was the sound of shifting from the booth in front of Frisk. Frisk squeaked at seeing her soul, scrambling back to land on her bottom. "I'm sorry, I don't wanna fight, Mommy help." Frisk was looking up at Toriel, shaking and trying to keep as still as possible.

Before Toriel could move or speak, something was speaking for her. "Did something move?" A fuzzy...dog-like creature peered out from the booth, eyes narrowed. "Was it my imagination? If something was moving...for example, a human..." The monster jumped out, dual swords in hand as he squinted. "I'll make sure it never moves again-!"

He didn't even get to finish before he was punched in the face by a very angry Toriel who did not appreciate having her child threatened. The monster was then blasted away with quite a bit of fire magic, Toriel huffing in the direction and picking Frisk up, the fight having ended. Her soul disappearing, Frisk clung tightly to Toriel, her hands clutching at the robe as the child shook, still looking terrified.

Sans was rather silent. And may have been looking at Toriel in a bit of love stricken adoration because...wow. What a woman... He snapped out of it when he heard a small sniffle from Frisk and oh, right. "Jeez, kid, are you alright?" He was walking over, digging in his pockets before he found an old lollipop, cautiously tempting the child with it. "That's why the whole not moving thing." Frisk half-heartedly grabbed for it, not wanting to let go of Toriel.

"If we could not move, how were we supposed to get to the other side of the station, then?" Toriel looked entirely unamused, narrowing her eyes at Sans. Said skeleton was decidedly not scared, just...startled. And fearing for his life.

"Ah- Blue. Blue attacks. He used blue attacks. So small spaces for an opening where you can move. Yes. That. Yes. Blue." A pause, Sans unwrapping the candy and gently sticking it in Frisk's mouth. Frisk accepted the candy, curling up and looking to have calmed down.

Toriel rose an eyebrow, looking to have calmed a bit, herself. "Perhaps you should explain about blue attacks, then."

"Ah, right. Yes. So, basically blue attacks are where they only hurt if you move. So if you keep your soul still when they hit, they don't hurt. Move, and they do. After they pass you, you have a window of opportunity to move and do some damage if you need to, or whatever it is you do when you Fight." Sans patted Frisk's head, thinking about it for a moment. "Stop signs are red. So imagine a blue stop sign instead." Frisk gave a small nod, remaining cuddled up to Toriel. She glanced around, frowning at the dog treats on the ground.

She tugged on Toriel's sleeve, opening her mouth to speak before remembering it was bad to talk with food in your mouth. She only pointed to the dog treats, tilting her head. Toriel looked to where she was pointing, nose wrinkling in distaste. "There are some dangerous and addicting habits you must never do, young one. This is but one of many."

With that, she was continuing on her way, stepping on a near unconscious Doggo's back for daring to expose her child to such filth. Sans only stared after them for a moment, giving a little sigh. "Isn't she amazing?" Doggo only gave a pained groan of disagreement. "Yeah, you're right. She's more than amazing."

And, whoops, Sans might have used his own power to pick Doggo up and throw him back into his little station. And, yes, that was taken care of- ...He was getting in deep. When he caught up to the two, however, he saw Frisk petting a Lesser Dog and nope nope nope. That was not a good thing.

He might have rushed over to pull her away before things could get too out of hand. Or, heh, out of head, in this case. "Let's maybe not pat the dog right now. He's a very excitable one." When Frisk tried to pet the dog again anyways, Sans rolled his eyes and picked her up with his energy, looking a bit amused because, really...tiny cute child- He had never seen one this small! Frisk looked a bit startled before squirming around, blowing a raspberry at Sans. Finally, she slowly rotated until she was upside down, her arms crossed as her hair fell to the ground, the girl showing her 'defiance' towards him.

Sans only gave a few giggles. "Aw man, kid. You're the most adorable thing next to Papyrus in the whole Underground." He was gently moving his hand to rotate her back up (blood rush was a thing for humans too, right?), still looking amused.

"Sans? Maybe not do that directly above the ice?" Toriel was at his side, looking just a little panicked at seeing Frisk so at ease with being in the air. Sans blinked, nothing but a bright blue eye showing before he was nodding and flicking his fingers, Frisk moving harmlessly to flop down into a pile of fresh snow, the flakes scattering into the air around her. Frisk giggled at the soft landing, shooting up and running around on the ice, letting herself slip and slide every which way.

"So, you know you're gonna have to get through Undyne and even Asgore to get to the Barrier, right? With a human in tow...and, you being you..." Wait, was he supposed to know Toriel was Queen at this time? He was pretty sure he was alright with knowing that...possibly- There was a lot to keep track of.

"And what do you mean by me being me?" She rose an eyebrow, taking her eye off Frisk to 'talk' to Sans. Frisk slid off towards the north, using her momentum to continue that way. Sans, meanwhile, was mentally repeating a very nasty word in his head.

"A-Ah, simply that you're very unique, Tori. You stand out wherever you go. Bound to attract attention, and all that. Heh." Shit. He wasn't supposed to know she was Queen, then- No, no. Definitely wasn't supposed to- Shit.

Frisk walked up to a snowman. Staring at him for a moment, and satisfied when nothing happened, she gave a nod and waved at him. "Hi."

"Hello." The snowman didn't seem to move, but the voice was deep and soothing, soft around the edges like the snow that fell around them. "I am a snowman. I want to see the world...but I cannot move." A pause between them. "If you would be so kind, traveller, please... Take a piece of me and bring it very far away."

Frisk gave a nod, taking a small part of the snowman down near the base, where he had plenty of snow to spare. "Alright. I'll take good care of it." She put the piece of snow in her backpack with a nod.

"Thank you... Good luck!" A sudden gust of wind made it seem as if the snowman was almost waving at her. Frisk turned back and headed to Toriel and Sans, the former holding the latter by the ankle above the snow.

"Tooorrriiiii! I swear I'm not hiding anything that's a danger!" Sans wasn't even bothering to squirm away, merely looking resigned to his fate of snow death. "Come on, Tori, you're really breaking me down to the bone, here." Toriel rolled her eyes, dropping Sans to turn to Frisk and scoop her up.

"And where did you go exploring off to?"

Frisk smiled, showing off the snow in her backpack. "I found a snowman, and he said he wanted to see the world."

"That is very nice of you to help him like that, young one," Toriel smiled, continuing on their way. When Frisk looked back to see if Sans was following, it was to see that he was already gone. Frisk tugged on Toriel's sleeve, staring into her backpack. "Yes, my child?"

"Is the snow gonna melt?" Frisk sounded incredibly concerned by the possibility. Toriel was blinking before picking up the piece, inspecting it a bit before nodding and setting it back.

"No, it will not melt. It is of an enchanted quality, and will last quite a long time." Frisk nodded, closing up her backpack and putting it over her back before tucking herself under Toriel's chin to warm up.

"Okay." And, yes, so far this journey of theirs...was going pretty good. It was enough to make her feel...

DETERMINED.