A/N- This chapter is part of a multi-chapter arc that discusses mental and emotional trauma and the effects of them.

"There you are, my child!" Toriel spread her arms at the sight of Frisk coming into the kitchen. She was relieved to see Frisk looking far better rested; sleeping for a decent amount of the day before, and then last night at Alphys', combined with the walk through the fresh air, had clearly done them good... Even if they did look a mess now. Their hair needed a good brush and their clothes were wrinkled from being slept in. But the fact that they no longer looked unwell was reassuring.
Alphys had called her while they were on their way home, to tell her some of what Frisk had said and of their nightmares, and to say she would do some research on humans to see if she could find anything that would help. Toriel was grateful- albeit concerned about some of Alphys' prior ideas about what humanity was like, and quietly determined to double check anything brought to her attention.

For now, though, she swept Frisk up in a hug. The human responded in kind, wrapping their arms around her neck- they were getting more and more physically affectionate by the day, regularly leaning on their friends when sat next to them and preferring to stay close. It had seemed likely they were making up for lost time in that regard, but from what Alphys had said it could go deeper, be a need for a reminder that it wasn't a dream.
Toriel let the hug go on a few seconds longer, before giving Frisk an extra squeeze and letting go. "How are you feeling, dear one?" She smoothed their hair as best she could. "You look better."
"Mm." Frisk nodded. "Yeah."
"Do you want some breakfast? There is some pie left- did you like it? Or there are beans, if you would prefer something savoury?"
"Um. Pie is okay, it was nice."
"I will warm it for you- you should go and shower and put some clean clothes on, okay?"

A hot shower and a change of clothes did Frisk a lot of good; and when they came back into the kitchen, they looked a lot more like their normal self than they had for a few days. Toriel sat with them at the table- the same one from her old house in the ruins, but with a stack of chairs nearby to accommodate for their regular visitors. They both sat down at one corner- Toriel on one side, Frisk on the other- so she could watch them closely. They ate the pie like they were starving- which, Toriel remembered, probably wasn't too far from the truth, given how poor their appetite had been before now.
"How are you feeling?" she asked tenderly as they finished.
"Um. Better. I'm sorry for worrying everyone."
"You have no reason to be sorry." She placed her large hand over Frisk's small one, swallowing it in soft white fur. "Do you wish to discuss it?"
They paused. "It's... lots of things. All piled together into one, like a... a snowball or something."
"Well, can you talk to me about any of those things?"

Frisk chewed on their lip, staring at their empty plate. "Well... Part of it is... I guess I feel scared that you might... change your mind. Decide that I'm too much of a burden."
"Oh... Oh Frisk, dear, no. That will not ever happen, I promise you that." She squeezed their hand. "Do you feel that way because of what happened to you before you fell?"
Frisk nodded. "You... never asked, but... My parents abandoned me, because I wasn't... born right. They, they left me at an orphanage. It was horrible there. I ran away, a couple of years ago now I guess, and I just... managed to get by. I stole, sometimes, and there were some... Some good people, who helped, but nobody wanted me. Why would they?"
Toriel felt her heart ache for the child, who seemed much smaller and younger than usual. "Why would- oh, my dear child, do you truly believe that? There are so many reasons why someone would want you, want to protect and guide you. You are a sweet child, so full of love and compassion, so determined to help others- and very strong, too, to have carried that burden, and all the burdens of those you want to help."
"M'not strong," Frisk muttered. "Undyne is strong."
"I meant here," Toriel said, gently tapping at Frisk's chest with one finger. "In your heart and your soul. You may not feel it, but you are. We all see it. That is but one part of why we all love you so, dearest."

Frisk snuffled, blinking hard. They didn't say anything, and Toriel didn't push it for the moment, just remained holding their hand for a little while longer.
"Thanks," they finally said. She squeezed their hand.
"Did this- these nightmares, these fears- get worse because we moved to the surface?"
Frisk shook their head, then paused to think. "Well... Maybe a bit? But, I... I try not to think about stuff, but it suddenly all came out. Like, like a bursting dam, I guess?" They peered up at Toriel; she nodded to show she understood. They looked back down at her hand, covering their own. "I don't want to be alone and afraid any more. But I don't know how not to be."

She picked their hand up, holding it between both of hers. "We will teach you."
They finally looked up at her properly, giving her a small smile. "Okay."

Frisk was in their room, doing what little schoolwork Toriel had decided to give them, when Alphys sent her a message, asking to come over. Although Alphys' manner of texting tended to confuse her, this time she had no problems with understanding the urgency.
When Alphys arrived, she had printed sheets of paper in her arms, which she put down on the table.
"Um. So." She started to rummage through them. "I guess, um... Well, human minds work different to monster minds, right?"
Toriel nodded, pulling out a chair for Alphys, who ignored it. The short scientist hadn't even said hello, just bustled in in her lab coat and begun.
"I mean, we're mostly made up of magic, they're not, we know that, but they're more like... A machine." Alphys found what she was looking for, and pulled it out- a diagram of what appeared to be a cross section of a human head, showing a skull and an internal organ. "This is the brain, it's like, it's the part of a machine that does all the thinking, the body just reacts to the brain, okay? But- but like a machine, sometimes things... go wrong, or, or the brain wasn't prepared for, um... certain variables? And it causes them to break down?"

She shuffled through the papers again, pulling out other sheets- sheets on mental illness, on trauma in children and the development of the brain. Toriel finally sat down, recognising the sheer depth of research that Alphys had done. This was going to take a while.

The result of Alphys' research amounted to, 'we don't know'. She pointed to certain possibilities that made a lot of sense, with Frisk's behaviour and what was known about their past; but as she pointed out, this was so far outside of her field of expertise that she was borderline guessing about a lot of it.
They could not ignore Frisk's humanness. They weren't a monster, and they functioned in ways that they didn't fully understand; they couldn't say what were quirks and what were problems to worry over. The fact that all homes that Frisk was likely to visit had to be built with... extra bathroom facilities should have tipped them off, Toriel thought; but things went a lot further than she could have guessed. She sighed, feeling saddened by the knowledge that she couldn't give Frisk what they needed without turning to outside help. She remembered the sickness of her first human child; how utterly unable to help they had all been. She remembered wanting to keep Frisk in the ruins- where she would have been completely unaware that humans could even get illnesses of their minds. How close she had come to repeating history; even with all the years she had lived she still made mistakes she never saw coming.

Frisk had been wary at the idea of seeing a human doctor; but she promised to be there with them, and they had agreed. As she lay in bed that night, Frisk asleep next to her, recovering from their first bout of nightmares, she made them that promise again, silently; no matter how many mistakes she made, she would never stop trying. She would be there for them.

I'm not a fan of this chapter- it's a necessary transitory chapter, but it feels like that's all it is. Sorry!

One thing in particular that bothers me is the way it feels like I'm trying to suggest that monsters can't get mental illnesses. That was not my intention. I do know, however, that depression, anxiety and PTSD can have a long-term, potentially permanent effect on the way the brain physically functions- and frankly, that is not something the monsters are capable of handling. To their minds, love, support and care would be the treatment from someone who is suffering from trauma- I leave it up to you to decide if that's enough for them, but while that's all incredibly helpful, it's not enough for a human.

There was no way for me to say all of this in the story without basically forcing it in; but isn't that why people leave author notes?

I do want to reiterate what's been said to Frisk, though- if you're suffering from any mental illness, you are not alone.

-Ren