Tall grass swayed back and forth peacefully in the soft breeze. Splashes of warm sunshine peeked through a spattering of light and fluffy clouds onto the plain. Frisk was laying underneath the only tree that dared to stand on its own in the flat landscape. They opened their eyes slowly to see brilliant green leaves above them. Knowing that they needed to get up sometime soon, they lifted themselves off of their side, and stood up slowly. There was nothing but tall grass for miles.
Frisk instinctively started to run in a random direction. They started to sprint, feeling the incoming air stinging their eyes. They felt their heart beat faster, their lungs trying to suck in more air. The feel of pure adrenaline streamed through their veins, making them feel as if cold water was splashed onto their body.
Why were they running? Frisk could barely form a cohesive thought, and wanted to only run faster and faster into the grass. It felt so free, so nice to be away from the bonds of worry. Their body started to feel fatigue, but Frisk kept running. It was getting a little harder to pick their legs off of the ground, like it was made of mushy moss. Frisk took a moment to look at where they were stepping, and nearly lost control of their sprint. A black, gooey substance was coating the grass at the roots, and started to get thicker the farther Frisk ran. The human started to regain their train of thought and decided it was a good time to look back. Out of sheer fright, Frisk tripped face first into the black substance, tumbling a few feet and getting coated in muck.
A giant figure of a skinny, dark man in a black cloak stared at the tiny human. It had the smile of the Cheshire cat, and soulless eyes that bore holes into Frisk's soul. The man stood there, haunting, looming. Thick, dark smoke emanated from the bottom of the creature's cloak, coating all of the grass with the same goop at the roots. Frisk's heart almost ceased beating, but they quickly got back up with trembling limbs and stood to stare at the man. He swiftly shook his head side to side, as if to say that Frisk shouldn't have gotten up.
Suddenly, thin, white arms burst out from the opening in the cloak, with massive, black claws pointing downwards. The man knelt down and slammed his hands into the sticky ground, shaking the entire field with a deafening roar, like the very plates of the Earth had shifted. Frisk lost their balance and landed onto their hands and knees. The earthquake produced by the man's action shattered the ground, bringing forth more of the dingy liquid that had immobilized Frisk. The human had never felt anything like it before.
Frisk found themselves surrounded by an ocean of the stuff, only surviving on a small piece of turf that dared to stay afloat. They decided to remain on their hands and knees, staring at the man's dark, black eyes. He rose back up, black liquid dripping from his equally black claws, and placed a finger up to his lipless smile.
"Shhh… I hear that you have a little person inside. Is that true?" The man hissed at Frisk with a snake-like voice. It was deep and foreboding, and left Frisk with their hairs standing on end. The human was paralyzed with fear, glued to the spot.
"Ah hah. So you do have a little person inside. I can hear them. They really want to come out and play. I won't let that happen just yet. Need more time. More time to deplete it. More time to make it go away." The figure tapped his finger against the corner of its open smile, making a sharp clicking noise. Frisk flinched with every clack, which only seemed to amuse the dark man in front of them. "Then I'm done here, for now. Don't tell anyone about our little secret. If you do, I'll make sure you can't get rid of it. I'll make sure you keep it for the rest of your insignificant life. Goodbye." He said the last part in a sing-song way, lingering on the last syllable. When his short speech ended, his body plunged straight into the ground, dipping the black liquid into a downward spiral where he descended. The last sound Frisk heard was an eerie, maniacal laughter that echoed into their ears as they were pulled in by the strong current of the whirlpool.
It almost resonated into their soul, plaguing them with vivid visions of them being murdered brutally. Frisk and their piece of land spun around the center of the whirlpool, getting dragged further down into darkness. They threw up yellow bile on the earth beneath them, seeing the images of blood and gore in their mind. Their guts were being pulled out by white hands, then feed to the man who ate them greedily with a black tongue darting out of his mouth. Frisk's imagination went wild, and they threw up more, heaving and coughing. They almost felt that the brief visions were real, feeling their innards pulled out in bloody segments, fed into the man's black mouth.
Frisk started hearing voices, "frisk, get up!" The human ignored the demand and was rooted to the spot. They were at the middle of the pool, spinning in wild circles, and finallysucked into the mass of black goop. Frisk was suffocating, trying desperately to breathe, squeezing their eyes tightly. Liquid entered their lungs and Frisk tried to hack it out, desperately clawing their way up to the surface above. The feeling of being drowned made them panic, and their limbs started to feel detached from their body. Frisk grabbed their chest and squeezed the flesh harshly, rocking their head back and forth, telling their mind not to breathe anymore. They only dropped deeper and deeper into the blackness, with no hope in sight.
"frisk, please wake up!" A voice called out again. Frisk felt hands reaching out and shaking their body in the thick ocean. The human gasped again to breathe, but simply couldn't find any air to live on. They were doomed to die.
"frisk, wake the fuck up!" A hard object hit Frisk's face. They opened their eyes to see what it was, and started to see a light coming from the depths of the ocean. It was small, faded, but still there. Another hard object seemed to hit the other side of their face. The light became bigger, and Frisk immediately started to swim towards it. The liquid in the ocean started to thin out, and they could finally move faster. They swam fiercely, tugging their arms and legs to reach the seemingly safe haven…
With a final gasp, Frisk broke the ocean's surface, and awoke outside their dream, eyes open in the real world, gasping for actual air. They were covered in a sticky film of sweat on their skin, and beads of it ran down their face. Frisk was greeted with the sight of sans standing over the bed, the skeleton's left hand raised in the air. His grin was turned into a grimace, brow bones knit into worry. Once sans saw Frisk was awake, he lowered his hand quickly to place it on Frisk's shoulder.
"hey, buddy, what happened? you started to twitch like crazy, are you okay?" The concerned skeleton's eyes darted to scan Frisk's face for any signs of distress.
Frisk was still breathing heavily, but they pushed themselves to a sitting position. They felt a sharp stinging on their cheeks from when sans had slapped them. The jacket they had on insulated their body heat, which had made them sweat profusely. They unzipped the jacket and took it off, placing it near them on the bed. The shirt stuck to their moist skin, and itched in various places on their back. sans sat by the human, trying to ignore the way his friend's shirt left little to the imagination, and rubbed their sweaty, tense back.
Frisk couldn't remember what happened. They tried their hardest to recount the dream, but their mind came up empty. "I don't know. All I remember is swimming… Then a bright light. That's it." Frisk bowed their head with their eyes closed. 'What happened...?'
sans sighed. "it's alright. you're awake, i guess that's all that matters now." He stopped rubbing Frisk's back and grabbed his jacket. The fur on the inside was moist with Frisk's sweat, but he put it on anyways, leaving the front unzipped. sans jumped off of the bed, and walked over to his phone on the dresser. The time was 9:03 in the morning. He assumed that the others back in the village would probably be waking up soon, which meant there was going to be breakfast. The skeleton unhooked the phone charger, and stuffed the phone into his pocket. Before they went to the village, sans wanted to have a very important discussion with the human.
…No more waiting; that subject just had to be talked about.
"hey, frisk. i know this might be a bad time, but i need to talk to you about something." sans' back was facing the human, and he had his hands in his pockets. The pupils in his eyes were no longer visible. Frisk was still in shaky over their dream, but turned their attention to sans anyways. No point in over-thinking something they couldn't even remember.
"Listen." Frisk couldn't put their hands on it, but sans' voice sounded…off. Different. Alien, even. "You probably know by now that I can remember what you did. I remember when you killed everyone… I even remember when you killed me and my brother." sans' arms started trembling in anger at the last word. "Funny how that works, huh?" The skeleton's short laugh at the end was anything but humorous. It was as empty as the monster's eye sockets.
Frisk felt guilt wash over them immediately, followed by cold flashes of alarm. sans remembered! This wasn't going well, this was very bad. They stared at sans' back, trying to come up with the words to explain themselves.
"sans, I wasn't myself, I couldn't do anything! You don't understa-!" Frisk tried to explain quickly, but sans's glare cut them off.
"…understand what?" sans angrily spun around to face Frisk. His voice was calm, too calm. "understand that i could remember when you reset?" His voice was turning raspy. "understand that you killed everyone in cold blood?!" He started to shout, losing himself to his emotional rage. Tears spilled from the corner of his eyes, the left pupil blazing blue and yellow. WHAT DO I NOT UNDERSTAND, FRISK?" The skeleton pointed an accusing finger at Frisk. This was probably not going as he planned, but the words spilled out like an overflowing glass of water, "NOW, I'M STUCK WITH THESE MEMORIES, FRISK. I CAN'T GO BACK, AND I CAN'T FORGET." Spatters of tears dripped on the fur-lined hood of his jacket. His raised hand fell, and he started to calm down a little bit. The outburst had let out some of the steam, but he wasn't done yet. He heavily sighed, bowed his head, and continued his rant. "NOT THAT IT MATTERS ANYWAY. IT CAN ALL BE RESET. and there is nothing I can do to stop you."
Eventually, Sans looked up to the human. Frisk had tried to make themselves as small as possible, small hands clutching his sweat-soaked shirt in fear and shame.
That didn't make sans feel any better about his outburst. Frankly, it made him feel even worse. Goddammit it.
The skeleton took a deep breath. The glow on his one eye dissipated. "Frisk. listen," he began, as his voice slowly shifted to sans' usual tone. "i've been studying these timelines. i couldn't do anything to stop you from resetting, and …i eventually gave up. but in this timeline, you're different. i don't know what happened, maybe you thought about your actions and decided to help us out. or maybe you just wanna be a little shit and take it all away, again. it's a mystery." The skeleton shrugged and returned his hand to his pocket, "whatever your reason is, i guess you'll tell me on your own. i just want you to promise something. i want you to promise me you're not going to reset again." sans looked up at Frisk, who just sat there, listening. "i don't want to go back again, frisk. we're all finally free, i've seen the overworld for the first time. don't take this away from everyone." He ended with a final shake of his head. Frisk had to understand this time that everyone was finally happy.
The human looked down at the carpet. They knew their friend was right; if they reset, they would make all of the sacrifices made by others a waste. "…sans, I promise. I won't do it again, I swear." They stared back up at sans' eyes, "I promise to everyone that I won't reset again, okay?" They gripped the edge of the bed, turning their knuckles white. Frisk's promise felt genuine, and sans nodded his head in approval.
"…alright. if you end up breaking that promise, i'll make sure to break something off of you." sans' pupils disappeared for an instant, before coming back and giving the human a nonchalant shrug. "i can't stop you from resetting, but I can give you a pretty convincing reason not to. capiche?"
Frisk slowly nodded.
So, it was finally done. Probably. Frisk had promised not to reset. Maybe it wasn't genuine, but fuck it, sans had stopped caring long ago. Might as well go along for now. At least he had gotten the human to admitting about the resets. That was something that has been bugging him for a while. Frisk absentmindedly nodded to the statement again. It seemed fair, and breaking promises was a pretty nasty offence. They sighed, and jumped off of the bed to go over to sans.
The skeleton observed the human's movements, and saw them raise their hands to ask for a hug in attempt at an apology. sans grinned and hugged the human tightly. "i forgive you, but you need to tell me what happened. we can talk about that later, though. i'm pretty sure pap is gonna call me here in a bit." sans let go of the human and placed his hands back in his pocket.
As if on cue, sans' pocket started vibrating with a snazzy chiptune ringtone. sans reached for his phone, and looked at the screen to see who was calling. It was Papyrus, as sans had guessed. He tapped the screen to answer the call.
"hey bro, what's up?" He answered
"Hi! Funny Bones told me to call you!" A little girl's voice screeched at the other end of the line. sans was very confused.
"uh, hi? where's papyrus?" he asked the little girl who had his brother's phone. He heard giggling in the background, then the girl replied back.
"Funny Bones is right here, you wanna talk to him?" She giggled in the skeleton's ear through the speaker.
"yeah." sans really didn't know what was going on, but he figured it was a nice change of pace. He heard shuffling from the speaker.
"HI SANS! WHERE ARE YOU? ARE YOU WITH FRISK? TELL THEM I SAID HI!" Papyrus finally was at the phone.
sans looked at the human and covered the microphone, "pap says hi." Frisk waved their hand silently. "frisk says hi back. anyways, i'm here at our house in snowdin. who's that girl?"
"THAT'S JOANNA! SHE'S MY FRIEND! I GOTTA GO, WE'RE GOING TO PLAY A VIDEO GAME!" Papyrus hung up the phone.
sans heard a tone on his phone that signaled the end of the call. 'well, that was sudden.' He assumed that the two of them should be heading to the village. "okay, frisk, ready to go?" He put his cellphone back in his pocket.
"Yeah, I'm hungry." Frisk felt their stomach growl. They couldn't wait to eat the food at the mayor's house again!
"hi hungry, i'm sans." The skeleton's grin widened. Frisk puffed out their cheeks and played along.
"sans! My name is not hungry!" They crossed their arms in mock anger.
"oh, sorry. my mistake. hello, not hungry." sans chuckled at his joke.
Frisk made a raspberry sound at sans. They were glad he was back to his old self again.
At the mayor's house, Asgore's room
Light streamed in through two white curtained windows onto Asgore's face. The sleeping king twitched a little before opening his eyes to look up at the white ceiling. The bed was so comfortable, he hardly wanted to get up. The crisp, white sheets and soft, down comforter felt nice against his fur.
After staring at the ceiling for a while, the king decided to sit up and stretch his massive arms. He yawned loudly, and scooted himself to sit at the edge of the bed, placing his feet on a plush mat. Asgore had removed his cape and armor the previous night, leaving him in a white long sleeved shirt, and stretchy, black pants.
The king stood up and went to the window, drawing the curtain back. The mayor's house was two storied, and Asgore and his companions had slept on the second floor. The monster king's room had a gorgeous view of the mountain, with some of the village's houses planted out in front. The rising sun beamed down on the rooftops, and the village was already bustling with activity. Children were playing carefree in the plaza, and merchants had set up shop on the edges. Asgore decided it would be perfect to live here. He smiled, and let go of the edge of the curtain. It was time to wake the others and tell the monsters in the Underground the good news.
Asgore walked out of his room, and down the hallway to Toriel's room. It had been a long time since they were alone. He knocked on the white washed door, and heard shuffling feet. The door opened slowly, and revealed Toriel's burgundy eyes. Asgore had to catch his breath for a moment, seeing his ex-wife's sparkling eyes had brought back old memories.
"H-Hello, Toriel! I was wondering if you were awake!" The king stammered out. He unconsciously had stood straight up, arms at his sides. Toriel opened the door all the way, smiling at her old husband's antics. She was already dressed in her robe.
"Good morning, Asgore. Did you sleep well?" She cocked her head slightly.
Asgore found himself fumbling over his words. "Yes! I ah, I mean I slept well! How did you sleep?" Why was he so nervous? He mentally rolled his eyes, 'I feel like when we first met. This is ridiculous.'
Toriel giggled, "I guess you could say I slept so well, I did it with my eyes closed!" She started to laugh, but covered her mouth right away in case she woke someone up. Toriel looked around the hallway, and pulled Asgore in her room. He almost fell backwards.
"Woah, Toriel! Hold your horses there!" The king steadied himself, and Toriel closed the door softly.
"Neigh, Asgore! I'm a goat, not a horse!" The queen laughed again, this time without covering her mouth.
The king couldn't help it, and laughed along with her. He wiped a tear from his eye. Toriel was in very high spirits today, and the king became infatuated with it. He tried to tell a joke of his own.
"Oh, my b-a-a-a-a-d, I didn't mean to be rude!" He laughed gleefully, holding his gut.
Toriel snorted with giddiness, and ended up falling to the floor on her behind, arms grasping her stomach. Asgore flinched back and tried to help her up, extending an arm out to help her.
"Oh! Toriel, are you okay! Let me give you a hand- OOF!" He was pulled down by Toriel to the ground.
"Why only a hand, when I can have you?" Toriel burst out. She gasped and her paws shot up to cover her mouth again, a blush building on her face. The king had fallen right in front of the queen on his hands and knees. He saw her reaction, and took a moment to process what she said. His ears flattened back, and his face flushed red. They locked eyes for a moment.
"Hah… I guess our jokes goat out of hand, hah…" The king threw out a last pun, breaking contact with Toriel's eyes to sit up from his previous position. Toriel's face was blazing red, paws still on her mouth. She began to giggle a little bit. Her fits started to become laughs which evolved to howls of laughter.
"Oh, Asgore! I miss this." She stifled little bouts of laughed in between words, "I cannot believe we came apart all those years ago." Toriel wiped tears from her eyes. She sighed happily, and gazed at Asgore's emerald green eyes. The king was blushing, and made a bold move to grasp Toriel's hand that was still raised to her mouth. He brought it close to his chest, and let her feel his heart beat erratically. She widened her eyes at the feat.
"I missed you so much, Tori… I felt alone when we were apart. I tried to replicate your butterscotch pie so many times, but I could never get it right." Asgore curled his lip into a sulk. Toriel was holding her breath, it was unimaginable that this was happening right now. Her own heart beat along with Asgore's, wild and fluttering.
"Asgore… I…" Toriel couldn't find the words to say for once. Asgore leaned forward until they were inches apart from each other's face. The paw in Asgore's own shook with anticipation. Green eyes met her red ones, and the two gazed at each other for a moment before closing and…
A loud bang came from the door.
"TORIEL! HAVE YOU SEEN ASGORE? HE'S NOT IN HIS ROOM!" The voice of Papyrus came through the wood. The two goats jumped, breaking the moment, and scrambled to get up off the floor. Toriel was the first one on her feet, and she fled to the door, grabbing the doorknob firmly.
"Ah, Papyrus! No, I haven't seen Asgore! Maybe he's with the mayor?" She flipped her head back to Asgore, and twitched her head to a closet in the room. Asgore whipped his head to where she indicated. It was a fairly large, yellow armoire, easily capable of fitting the king. He sped to it, and shoved himself into it, closing the panels in a rush, resulting in a loud bang. Surprisingly, there were no clothes inside, only a bar on top with a few hangers on it.
Toriel blew a puff of air, and opened the door to reveal Papyrus holding Joanna's hand. The child waved a hand sloppily at the queen,. Papyrus looked around the room in suspicion.
"Hiya, goat lady! The big goat isn't with daddy!"
"WHAT WAS THAT NOISE? IT SOUNDED LIKE A DOOR CLOSING!" The skeleton peeked his head in further. It wasn't like the queen to lie, so he dismissed the sound for something else. "ANYWAYS, IF YOU SEE ASGORE, TELL HIM THE MAYOR IS LOOKING FOR HIM."
Toriel shook her head up and down nervously, "Yes, yes. I will be sure to inform Asgore. Now, Papyrus, if you don't mind, I have to, ah, brush my fur." She grinned toothily at the tall skeleton. She was such a bad liar.
Luckily, Papyrus bought it. He shrugged and walked off with Joanna down the hallway, knocking on another door.
Toriel slammed her own door shut, and paced over to the armoire. She grabbed the handles and thrust the doors open. Asgore nearly tumbled out, but caught himself on his feet. Toriel let go of the doors and crossed an arm over her chest, putting a paw up to her forehead.
"Ah, I cannot believe I just lied to dear Papyrus! Why did I do that?" She shook her head and turned away from Asgore. "No matter, it cannot be helped now." She wrung her hands and walked to the bed to plop down with her head hung in shame.
Asgore followed her to the bed, and knelt by her, "Don't be so hard on yourself, Tori." He placed a paw on her shoulder. She remained unmoved, head in her hands. "…Well, I guess I should go find Roscoe. I wonder what he needs me for."
Asgore rose up and went to the door. He looked back at Toriel. She was still sitting placidly on the bed. With a light huff, he opened the door and excused himself from the room.
Toriel flopped to her back on the bed. 'What just happened? Was Asgore going to…Kiss me?' She placed a backwards paw on her forehead. She still felt her heart fluttering like a school girl's. 'Ridiculous, what am I thinking? I left him long ago…but yet, I find myself at his mercy again.' She smiled to herself. 'I guess… Whatever happens, will happen! Who am I to decide fate?' She chuckled to herself, and hoisted herself off of the mattress with determination. She suddenly heard angry shouting down the hallway.
"PAPYRUS, WHAT THE HECK DO YOU WANT?!" Undyne yelled at the tall skeleton posted outside her door. She had actually slept in Alphys' room, and awoke in a bad mood from the knocking outside the door. The fish monster was only dressed in her black tank top, with black spandex underwear. She was fuming, and had unintentionally ripped the door off of the hinges. She held it in a very solid grip above her head, looking like her fingers had fused with the doorknob.
Joanna screamed, running away in fear down the hallway, tiny arms flailing. Papyrus reached a hand out to her, but it was too late.
"HEY, YOU DIDN'T HAVE TO SCARE HER!" The skeleton reprimanded his friend for once, crossing his bony arms in front of him, tapping the ground with his boot. Undyne didn't take it. She slammed the door to the hard, wooden floor, and growled loudly, reaching out to strangle the skeleton's neck!
"U-Undyne, stop!" Alphys reached out to grab Undyne's arms to stop her. She found herself being flung along with Undyne's actions.
"AARRGGHH, PAPYRUS, I'M GOING TO SLAM YOUR FACE INTO THE WALL!" The fish monster felt a small weight on her arms, and tried to shake it off. When the weight didn't disappear, she looked at her limbs and found a dizzy dinosaur.
"Oh, Alphys! What are you doing?" Undyne stopped and let Alphys off of her arms. The dinosaur's eyes were spiraling, and she held her head to stop the room from spinning.
"Undyne… D-Don't hurt Papyrus." Alphys managed to sputter out. She calmed her dizziness off, and looked at Undyne with pleading eyes. Her glasses were askew, and Undyne couldn't help but falter. Alphys' pink 'Mew Mew Kissy Cutie' undershirt and turquoise boy shorts were too adorable to resist.
"Fine. But only for you, Alphys." Blue hands reached out to straighten Alphys' glasses. It seemed that the fish monster forgot all about Papyrus to tend to her to-be girlfriend. Papyrus decided to edge away from the couple to pursue his human friend.
"JOANNA, COME BACK! SHE DIDN'T MEAN IT!" He started to run off in a sprint to catch up to the wailing child. No doubt she was probably scared out of her mind.
Toriel had just happened to witness the entire scene, "Oh my. I guess we will have to pay for that…"
Asgore ignored the shouts from down the hallway, but then felt the turbulence of a screaming child speeding past him. He stopped in his tracks to turn around and see Papyrus gunning it towards him with a worried face. Asgore rose a hand in greeting, "Good morning, Papyru-" He was cut off as soon as Papyrus sprinted by him.
"SORRY SIRE, I CAN'T TALK!" The skeleton's voice faded as he followed his friend.
Asgore was left with a friendly face and hand still raised. What in the world was going on this morning? Had everyone gone insane? He dropped his hand, and looked back to where the two ran off. He shrugged and felt a presence at his back.
"Well, it seems everyone is a little crazy today, wouldn't you say?" Toriel was behind Asgore, hands folded into her large sleeves. She was looking at Asgore's incredulous face, her eyebrow raised with a smirk on her face.
The king pouted a little, still facing the same direction, "I suppose it looks that way."
Toriel shook her head and rolled her eyes. "Come now, and let us go see what Mayor Roscoe requested you for." She headed down the hallway, with the king following her like a lost lamb. The two walked down the corridor, and came upon a large den.
The den area had a large flat screen television mounted onto the wall, and a large, beige sofa; it looked like it could easily seat twelve people. An ample, blue recliner held the mayor, who was focusing on a newspaper article. When he heard footsteps coming into the room, he put down the newspaper to look up at his guests.
"There you are! I sent the skeleton and my daughter to go get you, but they ended up running back here! What do you suppose got into them?" Roscoe set the paper aside on a coffee table beside the chair and stood up, placing his hands on his sides. His face held an unyielding smile, and continued on without an explanation from the two monsters. "Oh well. I wanted to know what you would like for breakfast! It would be an honor to send you off to your kingdom well fed. I know it's going to be a long day for all of you, and it's important to have a good breakfast to set your mind on the right track."
Asgore bowed deeply. "We are all very humbled by your kindness, Mayor Roscoe. You and your villagers have been so friendly to us, and we are sure to return the favor."
The mayor threw his head back in laughter. "Ho! Any time, Asgore! And please, just call me Roscoe, don't be so formal! Come, come, let's go to the kitchen! The villagers are waiting to know what you want to eat! Oh, I almost forgot! Tell Alphys and Undyne to come too!" He waved his hand and left the room.
"Oh, that's right," Asgore turned around to walk back. "I will go tell them." He was about to leave, but Toriel placed a hand on his arm.
"I will go instead. You should go with Roscoe, he seems to really like your company." She left in the direction of the rooms without another word. Asgore took her advice and followed the Mayor.
Once the men reached the dining room, the mayor suddenly stopped. "Hm, Asgore, where is Frisk? Toriel told me last night that they had left with another friend in the Underground. Are they coming to breakfast as well?"
Asgore stroked his blonde beard in thought, "I'm not sure. I will ask Toriel to call them once she and the others come here." They decided to have a seat and wait for the others.
A few minutes later, the women arrived at the dining room. The mayor and the king were having a discussion about building houses in the village of Crystallea. Undyne sat on one of the chairs with Alphys right by her. Toriel sat by Asgore to listen to the arrangements.
"Are you sure it will be okay to build homes in the village, Roscoe? We have not talked to the officials of the state yet. I'm not entirely sure that humans are ready to accept us Monsters." Asgore leaned back in the chair.
The mayor pondered the consequences. "Yes, I see. But Asgore, this isn't merely a housing issue, or an acceptance issue. This is more of a political one. Every being on the planet has rights of one type or another, and I know that the Government can't pass your whole race off as some circus. We live in a more progressive time where everyone has become more cooperative… or at least, most people. That doesn't mean that you won't gain some publicity, but it does mean that you will be recognized as creatures with a conscience. That does mean that you will have to live up on the surface whether they like it, or not." The man took a deep breath. "And, to be honest, it is best if you get recognition early. As you may know, not everyone will look forward to such a dramatic change. But, people are inspired by actions such as this. It is imperative you get a leg up early." Roscoe finished his debate.
The king thought about the problem. What Roscoe said had made perfect sense; the humans couldn't keep the monsters down in a cavern forever. Besides, they had all of their memories erased, and it seemed like there were no records to recount a monster-human war.
Asgore looked at the mayor in the eye, "Do you really think so, Roscoe? My people have been awaiting the day when they could finally see the outside world. If there are issues, I am sure that we could all wait just a little longer, until everything is perfect."
"Nothing will be perfect. There will be crashes, and there will be rebirths, Asgore. The best you can do as a leader will depend on how well you handle the highs and lows." Mayor Roscoe stood up and reached a hand out to Asgore. "Now, as the mayor of the village of Crystallea, I give you and your people permission to settle here. With Toriel, Undyne, and Alphys as my witnesses."
Asgore flew out of his seat and grasped the mayor's hand tightly. "I accept." That was all the closure the king needed to tell the monsters. Now, the mayor and the king were in full agreement, and ready to tackle the problems that would surely come later.
"Well then! Now that the more serious matter is out of the way, Toriel, the king told me you would call Frisk and his friend for us. I would like to know if they will be joining us for breakfast!" Roscoe was beaming again.
Toriel bowed her head, "Yes, of course." She left the room politely, going into the entryway of the home. She grabbed the cellphone from her pocket, and dialed Frisk's number.
A few minutes earlier, in Snowdin.
Frisk and sans were about to exit the door when they heard a large commotion outside. The two glanced at each other before sans finally opened the door. Outside, monsters were shouting at the entrance to Grillby's, and the mob reached all the way to the corner of the "librarby." Monster kid was there too, but then he saw Frisk and sans exiting the cabin and ran up to the human.
"Hey! Did ya hear? Someone said the barrier was destroyed! Is it true? What did you hear?!" The Monster Kid pounded Frisk with questions, and the human smiled nervously. Then they pointed at sans. The skeleton was staring at the crowd in amusement.
"worked like a charm. hey kid, go get grillby for me, i'm pretty sure he's fired up about this." sans closed his eyes to slits and started to chuckle to himself. Monster kid scurried away to go find Grillby. Frisk rose an eyebrow in question, but sans waved his hand in dismissal. "asgore will tell everyone later. for now, i wanna mess with grillbz for a little bit."
The crowd at the tavern started to part, and out came the fire elementals following Monster Kid. Grillby was burning so bright, the edges of his flames were blue. The duo went to where sans and Frisk were standing, and the large crowd loomed after them.
Grillby stomped over to sans. "See what you did?!" He flailed his arms in the direction of the mass of monsters, "They're all asking me the same thing! Make it stop!" Grillby straightened his glasses, and then placed a hand on his hip expectantly.
sans started to giggle, "hey grillby, if you couldn't stand the heat, why didn't you tell them it was a lie?"
The fire from Grillby started to burn brighter in response, causing smoke to emanate from his tuxedo. The skeleton's grin grew insanely huge.
"grillbz, is something burning? oh wait, that's just you. you really shouldn't smoke, i heard it's bad for you." sans egged the fire being on. It worked very well.
"Stop. It. sans." The crowd behind Grillby started to fall back due to the flares bouncing off of him. Frisk hid behind sans like a shield.
"hey grillbz, it's not too bright when you decide to set everything on fire. no, wait, yes it is!" sans slapped his kneecap and laughed loudly, almost keeling over in the process.
Grillby yelled in frustration and melted the snow around him in a flash of heat. He threw his hands up in the air and stomped off, flipping the bird to sans as he parted the crowd once again. Frisk cautiously came out from behind their friend. They saw sans' face lit up with a deviant smile, covered in a dust of fine soot.
"he he, okay, that's enough for now. let's get out of here before we get mobbed." sans shoved his hands in his pockets.. A ringtone sounded in Frisk's pocket, and they answered. It was Toriel.
"Hey Mom." Frisk answered casually.
"Good morning, my child. Did you sleep well?" Toriel sounded delighted, reveling in Frisk calling her "mom."
"Good morning, and yes, I slept okay. How is everyone?" Frisk asked.
"Everyone is doing fine. I was going to ask you and sans if the both of you were going to come for breakfast."
Frisk nodded their head, even though Toriel couldn't see it, "Yeah, we're on our way now."
"Oh, good! We will all wait for you here. Goodbye, my child!" Toriel smiled to herself.
"Bye mom." Frisk hung up the phone. sans was already heading towards the outskirts of Snowdin. The human put their phone in pocket, and ran after the skeleton.
sans waited until they got out of view before stopping to face Frisk.
"you don't think we're going to walk all the way over there, do you?" He grabbed Frisk's hand quickly, and once again teleported before Frisk could think.
Frisk shut their eyes during the transition, and opened them back up to see that they were in a forest clearing. They looked around to see the village downhill from where they were at. The mayor's huge house could be seen easily. Frisk started to head in the direction of the abode, but felt their hand still grasped with sans'. They turned to see sans hesitating, looking at the village below.
The skeleton looked almost worried. He tightened his grip, and for once Frisk took notice of the warmth of his hand. The bones were so smooth, they felt almost like silken cloth. The human stroked the digits with their thumb, feeling the absence of texture. sans realized that he was still holding the human's hand, and a cyan hue covered the bridge of his nose.
"heh, sorry. i feel a little nervous, that's all. the only human i've seen is you, even though i'm basically your skeletal structure." sans accidently went off on a scientific note, revealing his anxiousness even further to Frisk. They squeezed san's hand reassuringly.
"Don't worry. We can walk slow, if you want." Frisk smiled at the skeleton, and sans saw the color of Frisk's eyes light up. He noticed the beautiful golden-honey color of their eyes, the way they sparkled in the glints of sunshine. He almost lost himself, but realized quickly that he was staring. His blush spread across his cheeks unintentionally.
"uh-uh yeah. let's walk slowly." sans found himself stuttering over his words for the first time. 'what the heck is wrong with me? last night was an accident, but this is different. i feel so... warm.' He swam in his thoughts. Frisk observed the blush across the skeleton's face. They wondered if that area was warmer, and unthinkingly reached out a hand to brush across sans' cheeks.
It was surely warmer than his hands. Frisk locked their eyes onto san's pupils, which were now staring back in shock. Frisk held their breath and found themselves paralyzed, one hand on the cheekbone, and the other holding sans' own hand. Their heartrate skyrocketed, and they felt an uneasy fluttering in their stomach.
'Crap, what the hell am I doing?' Frisk wanted to die. They felt extreme embarrassment crawl onto their face as a deep blush. Staring into the depths of sans' pupils, they finally saw that they were a light blue color.
"frisk… what… what are you doing?" sans wanted to look away, but also stay in the moment forever. He felt blood rush through the veins in his bones, and his legs went weak.
"I uh… nothing." Frisk let go of the skeleton's hand harshly, and broke the eye contact with him. They briskly walked to the village with a massive redness on their face. sans was left behind, frozen still to the ground. He watched the human walk away, then looked down at the hand that Frisk was holding. His other hand went up to touch the area where Frisk had touched.
"frisk…" He shook his head to clear it. Today was going to be an off day for him.
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Edited Lovingly By Miss Luck and Miss Sleep
Woo! Took me a while. Thanks for the support, you guys! Also, in response to Pep, I do long chapters for continuity really. Makes it flow nicer! Thank you!