Chapter 48: Grillby
Later that same afternoon, Frisk dropped by Grillbys to take her mind off the conversation that she had with Sans.
She hoped Barby was around as she really needed to unwind.
Once inside, she saw the place was desolate. Was everyone gone?
Grillby appeared from the back with Cal who wore a frilly apron over a black dress.
"Wow, she looks kinda cute," Chara said.
"Cal? What are you doing here?"
Cal looked up at Frisk with surprise before a red glow slowly appeared on her cheeks.
She avoided her eyes.
"I-I um, am just doing some volunteer work for Grillby since Barby's out."
"Why's Barby out?" Frisk asked.
Grillby spoke.
"My daughter is not interested in the family business. At least not since her mother died."
"Oh, I've been wondering about that," Cal said.
"I was told a human had killed her after they tried to attack my daughter."
Cal's eyes widened.
"I see. Not a big fan of humans then," she muttered.
Grillby grunted.
"Why did that human attack your daughter in the first place?" Frisk asked.
This prompted Cal to give her a stern look.
He shrugged.
"Don't know but from what I heard, it wasn't an accident."
"Speaking of accidents, why are you here anyway?" Cal asked. "It doesn't seem like you came here by coincidence."
"I had to get my mind off of some things."
"What's bothering you?" Grillby asked.
Frisk glanced at Grillby curiously.
There was no judgement in his gaze.
"You seem to know Sans pretty well."
"While at times I feel we used to know each other very well, I've only really known him for about a year or two."
"Does he have the habit of helping every person he meets? Yesterday he dropped by the inn where I was staying and offered me a place to stay."
Grillby stroked his chin.
"Well that does seem a little out of character for him."
"I knew it. So any idea why he would do it?"
"I thought the reason was obvious," Chara said. "He said it himself. You owe him and he's trying to prevent you from running."
'Then why bother with the threats if he's incapable of stopping me. He hasn't confined me to his house or anything.'
Grillby spoke.
"Outside the fact you owe him a lump sum, not really."
'I see. So it isn't his typical behavior then.'
"From what he was telling me the other day, he doesn't seem like the type to make friends so quickly especially on the first meeting."
"Did something happen?" he asked.
"Not really. Just got into a fight."
"What?!" Cal asked. "No one got hurt did they?"
Frisk chuckled.
"It wasn't that kind of fight. We were just having a heated discussion about morality. You know about your typical everyday questions about whether or not accidental murder is still murder. I especially love the discussion about how murder in all counts should be justified because no one literally has morals anymore."
"Are you serious? Why are you even laughing about this?" Cal asked.
"Well it might has well have been a conversation about justifying murder. I'm not a bible guru but typically if murder is a sin I'd think that would make every instance of murder a sin but what do I know?"
She shrugged.
"That's not the reason why I'm here though. At least not entirely. Our conversation brought up alot of bad memories. So I came here to get my mind off of it."
"Oh, you mentioned something about that before. Did something bad happen before you came here?"
"Yeah, I was involved with some bad people who were after my best friend."
Frisk took out her lighter from her pocket. It had a green flame sticker on the metallic part of it.
"This lighter used to belong to my best friend before he disappeared. He taught me everything I know from pickpocketing to basic hand to hand combat."
"Makes sense," Grillby said.
"I was always wondering how you did it but the way you said it makes complete sense. So what happened after that? It got better didn't it?"
'Yeah, I was taking care of Zara for my best friend after his friend died. Sounds a little complicated to explain. Best keep it simple.'
"Yeah, I was taking care of Zara. He's my best friend's brother."
'I had to leave him with those people to protect him and his happiness.'
At one particular time in her life she had been staying with Bill and Melody who had taken in Frisk as one of their own.
"You must be Frisk," Bill said upon first meeting her.
There was no handshake or unwelcome touching of any kind.
"My name is Bill," he said when she didn't speak. She wasn't used to talking to people she didn't know. "Melody, come in here."
His wife with long wavy red hair and blue eyes walked up to meet her.
"Don't you think his hair is a little long? He looks like a rebel."
Bill chuckled.
"Sure looks that way doesn't it but Frisk was born 100 percent female."
Melody curled her lower lip in great distaste. Whether it was because she didn't believe her husband or just disliked her, Frisk didn't know at the time but if it was the latter she was gonna clear it up right away.
"Are you blonde? I may not be a scientist but he's not wrong I am biologically born a girl."
Bill chuckled.
Melody's face was torn between a glare and laughter. She pinched Frisk's cheek.
"You're just an adorable little cinnamon roll aren't ya."
By the end of the first week it was becoming obvious that they were a nice couple.
Melody was a beautician. Her husband much to her surprise was a science teacher at a local high school.
They were kind and generous.
Bill had gave her a chemist kit to place with during her spare time and he'd often play with her while Melody was working.
One day Melody had spoke to her in the kitchen while she was cooking spaghetti.
"Why is your hair so short?" she asked. "Do you like it that way?"
"I guess. I mean do you like your hair? I mean you dyed it red right? Did you not like being a blonde?"
"Nah, sometime I just feel that it's good to experiment outside your comfort zone," she said. "Why do you like it short?"
"It was an accident. I had to cut my hair after some bully got gum in it but I kind of like it. It makes me feel powerful and mysterious. I mean you thought I was a boy and boys are strong."
"Would you like me to cut it shorter? I think it would be adorable."
Frisk grinned.
"Yeah."
At some point after that, Frisk brought Zara to their home.
After school Frisk would drop by to pick up Zara and take him to the park before the couple had got home.
"Frisk, can you push me on the swing?" he asked her whilst he was playing on the playground at a park.
"Sure," she said pushing him on the swing. "This is the last time though. We gotta get back before they see us or they'll take you away from me."
Once they had headed home, Frisk snuck him into her room through her window before heading through the front door.
The moment Frisk walked inside Bill greeted her from his armchair.
"So how was school?"
"Same old, same old."
"Is that one teacher giving you a bad time again?"
"You mean my English teacher? No, not any more than usual."
"Great. There's food in back when you're ready to eat dinner."
"Okay."
Frisk headed to her room opening it before closing it, locking it behind her.
"Zara? You can come out now."
Zara carefully crawled out from underneath the bed.
"You can't keep hiding me like this. They're gonna find out about me."
"That may be true but you have to hide. If they find you they will separate us and I can't let that happen," she told him.
So he was silent.
One day while Frisk was at school however he had to go to the bathroom.
It was while he had snuck to the bathroom to take a whiz that Melody had come home early from work.
She had passed by the bathroom only to find a light under the door.
When the door opened she let out a loud shriek at the sight of the boy.
"What are you doing here in my house?" she asked.
Later that day, Frisk returned home in high spirits. Her happiness had immediately became horror once she saw Zara eating at the table with Bill and Melody.
"Um..."
"Frisk, I'm sorry," Zara said.
"Wait Frisk, do you know this boy?" Melody asked.
Frisk frowned avoiding their eyes and shrugged her shoulders.
"It's alright, we're not mad at you or anything."
"Yeah, I know him. I promised my best friend I'd take care of him."
"Why was he here? Does his family know he's here?" Bill asked.
"He has no family. I'm the only family he has. Please don't take him away. He has nowhere else to stay."
"Don't worry dear. We won't," Melody said. "We'll find a way to keep you two together."
Nearly a year had passed when one day, she overheard a conversation between her adopted parents.
"So when are you gonna legally adopt him?" Melody said.
"I'm tryin' to leave him room to adjust."
She sighed.
"Don't you think she'd interpret it another way. She might start to think you don't love him."
"I do. I just thought it might be better to surprise them with the news."
Frisk left before they could finish speaking not wanting to hear whether or not the things he said were true.
Once she headed to her room, Frisk began packing her things.
"Frisk, where are you going?"
"I'm leaving Zara."
"But why?"
"You don't understand. I'm a burden to them. They deserve someone so much better than me."
"That's not true."
"Listen, you need to stay here. Promise me you won't follow me. It's too dangerous."
"But Frisk."
"Promise me."
Zara frowned.
"Fine, I promise."
"Be good alright?"
Zara nodded solemnly.
She was certain they could never love them together the same way. If they couldn't keep them together then what was the point in staying.
"Why did you leave him? He was your best friend's brother," Cal said.
"It's obvious. He left to keep him safe," Grillby said.
'My reasons aren't quite that pure.'
"Were you hoping to avenge your friend?" she asked.
"No."
"Why?" Cal asked.
"I could understand if you were trying to avenge him but why didn't you kill the men who killed him? Did you just not care about his sacrifice?"
Grillby glanced at her expectantly.
"I care. I still do but what happens after you kill them? There are people who care about those people. I would be considered the killer in their eyes. It doesn't matter whether or not my actions are justified. Do you really think it's worth throwing my life away for a murderer? It would do injustice to his sacrifice when I could do alot more when I'm alive."
Just then Barby came in. She immediately caught sight of Frisk sitting in one of the barstools with Cal and Grillby standing behind the front counter.
"What is he doing here?" she asked pointing at Frisk.
"Chillaxing," Frisk said lounging lazily in her chair.
Barby glanced around noting the boxes in her father's hands.
"You don't even look like you started anything," she said.
"I guess we got preoccupied," Cal said.
Barby groaned.
"Fine, I'm borrowing your friend for a while," she said sneering at Cal. "After all you can't afford to get distracted."
With that she ushered Frisk outside.
"So what were you really doing in there?" she asked.
Frisk sighed before shrugging.
"Just talking. Your father says you're not interested in helping him run his business."
"Yeah, so."
"He told me he thinks it's related to the fact that your mother died."
Barby felt heated.
Frisk looked at her with amusement.
"Oh dear, it looks like you're smoking up."
"Ugh, he's so embarrassing."
"He says a human killed her."
Barby folded her arms defiantly.
"Yeah, and we're friends. What's the point?"
"That really happened?"
Barby frowned.
"Yeah, can't say I didn't deserve it though. I kinda pissed her off."
"What'd you do?" Frisk asked.
Snowy fluttered towards them.
"What are you talking about?" he asked.
"Snowy, do you remember that human who was staying with you?"
"Yeah, why?"
"Was that the human who killed your mother?" Frisk asked Barby.
"That's right," Snowy said. "She did kill your mother didn't she?"
"Why though?"
"Back at that time, Barby was pretty nasty. Most of us used to know her as the neighborhood bully. Barby had been very nasty to me calling me names."
Barby smirked.
"I remember you used to be quite the kiss up."
"Anyway, the human was one of the first to stand up to her. She used to hate the way Barby treated everyone especially me. I guess Barby pushed her too far and the human retaliated."
"Just like-
Suddenly Frisk clutched her head in agony as it throbbed painfully.
"What's wrong?" Barby asked.
Suddenly everything faded only to be replaced by a vision of blue sand and luminiscent light blue flowers. A green fire elemental monster stood next to her with a white knit sweater and a black skirt.
"What?!"
Just then Frisk heard an animalistic cry as a human with long blonde hair lunged for her with a fist covered in blue flame.
Was she seeing things or did this human know how to use magic too?
"Look out!"
When she opened her eyes, Frisk saw a hand poking out of the fire elemental abdomen.
"What the-"
"I'm sorry."
Frisk tried to close her right eye but the vision was still there. Once she closed the other eye however the vision faded revealing Snowy and Barby looking at her with concern.
She tried to open her left eye only to see white particles scattered throughout the blue paradise.
"What happened?" Snowy asked.
'What was that all about?'
"What did you see?" Chara asked.
'I had a vision. You didn't see it?'
"No."
'That human punched right through her body like a knife slicing through butter.'
"Well?" Barby asked.
"Nothing, my head was just throbbing a little bit. Say did that human possess magic by chance?"
Snowy shrugged.
"Not that I know of."
So she had been the only one to see that then?
"Still killing someone like that just because they are angry seems a little extreme even for a human. Humans don't usually get angry that fast over something so mediocre. I can see how that would make you two less trusting of humans though."
"That may be her reason but the king has warned monsters about humans coming down here before you even fell down here. We were told to avoid humans if we saw white dust on their hands."
"Oh."
"Well I should probably be getting back. They should be done by now. Are you coming too?" Barby asked.
Frisk shrugged.
"I'm coming too," Snowy said before fluttering behind them.
Suddenly Frisk's head was struck with pain.
"Ugh," she groaned clutching her head.
"Are you alright?" Snowy asked.
"I'm fine."
The moment the three stepped inside Grillbys, the pain intensified.
Frisk fell to her knees.
Every thing became blurry and black was filling the corners of her vision.
A fiery hand reached out for her.
She flinched.
"No!" she cried out pushing at the hands before everything faded away.
The next time, Frisk awoke it was inside a house. A picture frame that held the picture of her mother embracing her stood on her old white dresser in front of her.
She turned and her bed was still there as well as the pink comforter and sheets.
Slowly flames began to tear through the corners of her room burning up the walls.
This place was faintly familiar. It was the last place she had seen her mo-.
"Mom?!"
Frisk opened the door before becoming bombarded with smoke.
"MOM!"
She coughed and sputtered, her throat burning from inhaling the toxic fumes.
Frisk stumbled to her knees trying to catch her breath faintly making out the unconscious form of her mother.
She carefully crawled to her trying to shake her awake.
"Mom, wake up."
The woman however didn't stir.
"Please, wake up. Mom!"
Frisk woke up in a cold sweat. Something wet clung to her forehead.
She glanced around seeing light shine dimly where a candle was lit on a wooden bedside table.
Grillby was sitting in a chair whilst Barby was standing next to the bed.
"What happened?" Frisk asked.
"Neither of us are good at healing but we're both decent at soul magic," Barby said. "When something like this happens it usually pertains to the soul. Luckily I was able to extract your soul to observe the damage."
"It was just a headache. You're making it seem worse than it actually is."
"Not at all. It isn't a typical headache. Your soul has expended alot of magic so much to the point that it didn't have any time to replenish itself entirely. When a soul does not contain enough magic it uses other means to produce it. In this case, your body suffered the brunt of the damage."
'Magic, huh?'
"I don't even know much magic to begin with. What would have caused me to burn so much magic to begin with?" Frisk asked.
"It could be those dreams and visions you were having," Chara said. "You are the only one who sees them."
Barby shrugged.
"Don't know. You don't seem to be using so much intentionally so it might be accidental. It often happens with young monsters who start with limited control of their magic."
"I see."
'So I have to find a way to control it then?'
"Are you feeling better?" Grillby asked.
"I can't really say for sure."
"You were calling for your mother in your sleep," Grillby said.
Frisk felt her face heat up.
"Was I?"
"Yeah, you were. Was it a nightmare or something?" Chara asked.
'No, it was nothing important. Just a memory.'
"So are you going to thank me or what?" Barby asked.
"Thank you for what?"
"For taking care of you," she said.
"Oh yeah, I completely forgot about that."
Barby sighed with exasperation.
"Just forget it," she said before running off leaving Frisk with Grillby's company.
"By the way, what time is it?"
"It's morning. You stayed here overnight," Grillby said.
"Great!"
'Hopefully those skeletons weren't too worried.'
"Sans stopped by yesterday asking about you and I already told him you were staying with us so you shouldn't worry yourself too much."
"Oh thank you."
"Don't mention it. You should be alright now if you wanted to head back."
"Alright."
Frisk got up and headed out.
Once she managed to get up, she headed out through the back door before meeting up with Cal.
"Hi."
"Hey, you're looking better," Cal said.
"You volunteering at Grillbys again?" Frisk asked.
"Yeah, I've never cooked as a little girl but I think I actually might be enjoying it."
"I'm glad to hear it."
"hey!"
"I should be heading out," Cal said. "See ya."
Frisk whirled around as she saw Sans approach her.
"are you headin' to grillbys?"
"Actually I was planning on heading back to your place."
Sans grinned smugly.
"you can't."
"Why?"
"the door's locked so i guess you're stuck with me bub."
"So you're headin' to Grillbys then?"
"yeah, i usually stop by for breakfast. i missed dinner so i have to make up for it somehow."
"Did Papyrus not cook?"
"no, he doesn't cook when he's stressed. he was pretty worried about ya when ya didn't show up yesterday. still ya seem to be doing alright."
'Best not to tell him about how I used too much magic.'
"Yeah, I'm feeling better than I did yesterday."
"since we're heading in that direction anyway, are you thinking about talking to grillby about that job?"
"Oh yeah, I completely forgot about it."
Sans chuckled.
"i guess now is as perfect a time as any."
The two stepped into Grillbys.
Sans ushered her to the stools at the front of the pub where Grillby stood behind the counter.
"Oh I see you two ran into each other then."
"something like that."
"I forgot to ask you about it but I was meaning to ask about the job."
Grillby grinned.
A duck monster who was sitting beside Sans spoke.
"Grillbz said you could have the job," he said. "He also said your uniform is in the back if you need it."
Frisk headed in the back and opened the door.
Inside was a place full of yellow flames, a real inferno.
"Wouldn't want to be caught burning dead in here," Chara said.
'Leave the jokes to Sans.'
"walk in. don't stop and you'll be fine," Sans said from behind her.
Bracing herself, Frisk walked inside and opened a door that lead to a room in the back. It had rows of lockers on both sides.
A short red flame monster bustled in.
"Whatcha looking for?" it asked.
"I'm tryin' to find a spare uniform."
"Oh, you're workin' for my father then?"
"Who are you?" Frisk asked.
"Heat Flamesman, the greatest cook alive. Monsters and humans will ravish my banquet begging me to cook all this world has to offer."
"My uniform please," Frisk asked.
Heat opened a green locked and took out a black and white uniform hung on a hanger.
"The tie must be worn too for proper etticate."
"I'll keep that in mind," Frisk said and Heat left without a word. Right as she took off her sweatshirt and put on the white shirt, Barby came bustling in.
"Gee whiz, who's the lameos making all the racket?"
Frisk turned and saw Barby wearing pink bunny pajamas.
"Oh it's you. What are you doing here?"
"Workin'," she said.
"I hope you're not intending on going out there just like that or you'll be fired on the spot. No pun intended.
Chara chuckled but Frisk just stared at her.
Frisk fiddled with the tie some more before Barby snapped.
"Give it here."
She yanked it out of Frisk's hands and helped her get it situated.
"There," she said, looking very satisfied with her work.
"Uh, thanks," Frisk said avoiding her eyes. Her face was flush.
"It's nothin' to get flustered about. Now you should be ready to go."
Barby headed out. Frisk spotted a mirror from the back of the room.
Glancing at her reflection, she looked quite nice. Nice enough to steal the heart of a woman if she was interested in the prospect.
She headed out.
Grillby motioned for her to join him in the back.
He showed her how to operate the nozzles and where the drinks were. The drinks were unlike any on the surface. Instead they were created as aids towards health, status effects, magic and strength.
Manilla was a drink used for boosting the drinker's magic, while Firini, Aquini, Thundini were all drinks that caused immunity to elemental magic when drunk but inflicted elemental damage when tossed. Firini was a red drink, Aquini was blue while Thundini was yellow.
Antine was a drink that cured poison ailment and inflicted poison ailments when tossed at someone. That drink was purple.
Stamilla was a drink that heightened strength and stamina. Somnila was a drink that invoked sleepiness on it's drinker. It however had the appearance of regular drinking water and was odorless much like the other drinks.
Mixing the drinks was okay as long as none of them were elemental drinks. If the first drink was an elemental drink, adding the second elemental drink would cancel the first drink's effects entirely.
"Of course these are only the basic drinks," he told her. "It's dangerous to handle the more dangerous drinks."
He also taught her how to write down the customer's order and to hand it to him when she was done.
As Frisk was about to set off to work, Sans tugged her sleeve.
"are you gonna leave before i introduce you to everyone?"
Sans motioned to the duck monster who was translating Grillby's speech.
"you already know honky and the one next to him is mr fishy. sulking by the jukebox is peter, the bunny sitting in the first stall is dizzy and venus that monster that looks like a venus flytrap always sits in the stall behind them. i'd avoid venus if you don't wanna be bone chow."
"I'll keep that in mind," Frisk said as she set out.
"Er, you might want to fix your tie," Honky said. "It's a little crooked."
Suddenly Frisk felt someone tug at her tie.
She turned and saw Sans fiddle with her tie.
"What are you doing?" she asked uncomfortable with his proximity.
"fixing your tie. looks good now."
Frisk noticed that he was still holding her tie.
"Um, aren't you finished?"
His gaze lingered on her.
"huh?"
It seemed he hadn't noticed at all.
"You're still clutching my tie."
Sans let go as if it burned him.
Frisk headed back to work.
"Never seen ya looking so speechless, Sans. Are you alright?"
Honky waved his wing in front of Sans' face.
"oh it's nothin."