The rest of the day passed in a blur. They all ate Toriel's pie, and then sat around the table, playing board games and laughing. Frisk had expected to be unhappy, but instead... They were having one of the best days they ever remembered.
There was only one niggle. After stuffing themselves with pie, dinner was to be later than usual; but before that... Frisk pulled Papyrus to one side, whispering something to him. He left while Frisk went up to his brother, who had been watching without comment.
"Um. Hey." They didn't look him in the eyes. "I want to go back to the ruins."
"You want to take that thing a slice of pie?" There was no humour in Sans' expression. They hadn't expected him to like the idea. "And where does Papyrus come into this?"
They hadn't tried to hide his brother's involvement. They'd considered being more discreet- partly out of respect for Papyrus' feelings- but in the end, it seemed pointless. They couldn't have hidden this from Sans- they couldn't hide anything from him with any measure of success, but they knew the moment they involved Papyrus he'd be paying even more attention.

Frisk sighed, double-checking that nobody was paying attention. Toriel was in the kitchen, and Undyne and Alphys were talking, heads close. "Remember that flower he mentioned to you?"
"Yeah, I did figure out that it was the same one."
"He... You know how well he thinks of everyone. He's been... writing letters to him. When I found out... I said... I might be able to drop them off, but that he can't come. He... didn't like that, but." Frisk swallowed hard as they met Sans' gaze. "I don't want to tell him the truth. I can't. But... I do want to go down there."
Sans shook his head. "Don't get it, kid, but if you want to go, you'll go. And, hey, someone's gotta keep you outta trouble."
"You'll come with me?"
"Yeah, yeah. Go tell Tori though, she'll kill me if I let you sneak off today."

Toriel didn't like what little Frisk told her; but she seemed to see that they really felt the need for their "walk in the fresh air". She promised not to make a big deal of it in front of the others (Frisk hadn't forgotten what people had thought about their feelings for Sans), and made them promise to wrap up warm.
Once they had done so, and piled a couple of books into their bag, they joined Sans. He was stood by the front door, holding a thick envelope. Frisk could hear Papyrus in the living room.
"Is that them?"
"Yeah. Come on, kid, let's get this over with."

He took them "through a shortcut", bringing them to the far end of the ruins. He handed Frisk the envelope.
"Aren't you coming?"
"I'll be close, bucko," Sans replied. Frisk bit their lip. He wasn't happy about this- he didn't get it. Should they tell him? They took a deep breath.
"Sans?" He looked at them. "I- I'll explain. As soon as I'm done. Okay?"
He seemed a little surprised. "Didn't know there was more to explain, but okay, Frisk. Go do your thing. But if your little friend-"
"He's not my friend."
"Well, whatever. I'll be there, in case."

Frisk nodded and headed into the passage, going along it until they found themself in the cavern. The sun felt too weak to warm the stone; it was cold, and damp. There was a faint sound of revelry from far above and away, but it only served to make the place feel more desolate. They knelt and opened their backpack, pulling out the books they'd brought.

"Hey." They spoke to the flower bed, not knowing where else to look. "Um, I don't even know if... you're here. Maybe you're not. Maybe you'll come back and find all this, and it'll be weird and you won't know why I bothered." Frisk paused.
"I'm not sure I know why I'm here. I mean... I know what you are. And I have my memories of him. But it isn't fair, you know? It's like you said before... If I did everything right, why did it still end like that? It's mostly good, but... The one person who had it worst doesn't get a happy ending. I don't know how you feel about that. But it isn't fair."

There was a long pause. "Today's a holiday, you know," Frisk finally continued. They felt like they could feel Sans' gaze on their back and tried to ignore it. "We bought each other gifts. I thought I was going to be unhappy, and feel lonely. But I didn't. I was happy- really, really happy. I wish you could have been happy, too. So... I got you something. A few things, actually."
They opened the large envelope and poured out all of Papyrus' letters next to the patch of flowers. Each one was folded neatly. "These are... They're from Papyrus. I don't know why you talked to him. Maybe it was just so you could use him to manipulate me, so you could steal the souls. I don't know. It doesn't matter. You can read them, or don't. I also brought you a book. It's on human legends and myths. I don't know if you can- well, anyway. I thought it might stop you from being bored for a little while. And this-" Frisk placed the final book next to the letters and the other book. "It's a sketchbook. I filled it full of things on the surface."

There was a long pause. He wasn't coming. They weren't sure that was a bad thing; who knew what he was like, now, months later. Maybe everything that had happened had changed him; maybe he was nothing like they remembered. Maybe he had moved on; maybe they should too. Frisk tried to think of something to say; but nothing came, so they just stood up and left. They weren't surprised to find Sans walking next to them, hands in his pockets, like he'd been there all along.
"Better, kid?"
Frisk shrugged as they entered the ruins. "I don't know. Maybe."
Sans glanced at them and Frisk remembered what they had said. He probably wouldn't accept it if they tried to back out now- at least, not gracefully. He was becoming more motivated by the day, and they didn't want to know how he would act if he was determined to get answers- or anything else.
"Um... We should go somewhere... he's not likely to eavesdrop. If he's around. Which he might not be," they admitted. "Maybe, um, Toriel's old house, or the castle."

Wordlessly, Sans took them back to "Home". It was sad, quiet and dusty. Frisk went into their old room. It used to be Asriel's; they couldn't imagine him coming here. They sat on the floor and Sans sat opposite them, quiet and waiting.
"Okay. So. Um." Frisk played with their new scarf as they thought. "You know Alphys did experiments with what she called 'determination'."
"Yup."
"Wee-ell... Okay, before I tell you, you have to promise me something. I know you don't like promises, but you can't tell... Actually, I think you can't tell anyone else about this. Definitely not anyone who might tell m- Toriel, or Asgore, or Alphys. Or Papyrus. But, uh, you... probably shouldn't tell anyone. Okay?"
Sans groaned. "Alright, kid, fine."
"Okay. Okay. I'm guessing you, uh, know the story, of Chara, and Asriel, and how he died?" Sans nodded, his glowing eyes fixed steadily on them. They glanced away again. "Well, he brought in all these seeds with him, from the surface. And the first one that grew, Alphys took it, to use in her experiments. She wanted to make something that could hold souls, to become strong enough to break the barrier. But... Injecting it with determination made it aware. Gave it a will to live, but no soul."

"So that's what it is." Sans didn't seem entirely surprised; Frisk met his eyes again.
"Y-yes, but... Sans. It was the flower that grew where Asriel died. Where his dust scattered." Sans stared, his expression unreadable. "It... was Asriel. Without a soul. He- when he... absorbed all the souls, he became himself again, and that's why he broke the barrier. And then he gave them all back, and he turned back into Flowey. He... He was manipulated, and killed, and then forced to exist like that. And that's how he's stuck."

There was a long pause before Sans spoke.
"Shit." Frisk stared at him, startled. "That, uh. That's some heavy stuff. Every time you tell me this stuff, I wonder how the hell you've managed to keep going, carrying it."
Frisk shrugged. "I thought... Well. I thought you should know. You knew the rest. And you brought me down here, even though I never gave you a good reason to."
"You still haven't. He's not... Asriel any more, is he?"
"Well... No, but I don't think he's who he was before, either." Frisk suddenly remembered what Flowey had said the last time they'd seen him, about Sans.
"Do you know what he meant last time, about 'resets'?"
"Got a theory."
"Which is?"
"That I killed him. Several times." Sans shrugged. "Feels about right. Can't say I'm too broken up about it. I remember him telling you not to trust me, too."
Frisk snorted. "Well, yeah, if you killed him, I can see why. He was wrong, though."

Sans stared at them. "Thanks, kiddo," he finally said. "We should get back."

Thanks to Sans' "shortcuts", they hadn't been gone for too long. The company and good food managed to perk both of them up; and when Frisk went to bed that night, it was with a full stomach, a singing heart, a strong feeling of having done the right thing, regardless of how it turned out, and optimism for the future.

They had a family. They had friends. They had a best friend, who knew everything- even the bits they thought they had to hide, even the bits they never thought they could bring themself to discuss.

They had a future.

I wanted this to be Frisk's closure without being too "down" after their fantastic day.
I also wanted a chance to say goodbye to Flowey in-story. He almost certainly won't be back. He's not the Flowey Frisk met when they fell- he's the Flowey that the player gets to see after a Pacifist ending, when he pleads with them not to reset. That's who he is; without love, yes, but with awareness that "kill or be killed" was a toxic mindset, that it was wrong, and that there's a lot of good in the world. I don't know what becomes of him, but I think he finds a way to define his own life. Maybe he's touring the world on the surface, who knows?

Anyway, this is the end of the first "part" of my story! Don't worry- I'm not done. My plan is to have time skips every few chapters after here- ranging from several months to possibly years. We will see Frisk grow up, see their relationships and life change and grow. If you don't want to follow in that, this is probably a nice place to stop- it ends their first six months or so with the monsters, and I feel provides them with nice closure.

If you do want to stick with it, feel free to let me know what you think so far; if you have anything you'd particularly like to see me cover (no promises, but I'll think about it) or just to tell me what you've enjoyed so far. Actually, especially that last one. Nothing motivates me more than knowing I'm touching other people with my story! And big thanks to the people who've sent me lovely messages to date.

Anyway, if you've read this far, thank you so much. I hope you've enjoyed this as much as I've enjoyed working on it.

-Ren