.
Why Children Climb Mountains
(and where will you go?)
The next morning, Frisk was woken as expected by Papyrus and sat down to a nutritious breakfast of last night's leftover spaghetti. Somehow, it was still crunchy despite being in the fridge overnight. Frisk privately thought this feature was potentially marketable but they held their tongue for the sakes of taste buds everywhere. After taking a quick shower and changing into some spare clothes that the skeleton brothers kept around for them in the event of a surprise sleepover such as last night's, Frisk and Sans set off for school.
The morning was an unexpectedly nice one. Frisk recalled the forecast predicting more snow in the A.M. but the sky was clear and the sun was warm on their backs as they crunched through day-old snowfall on their way to the junior high school. It wasn't until a lady pushing a stroller gave their companion a guarded look and promptly about-faced to walk in the opposite direction that Frisk remembered they hadn't checked the paper that morning.
"welp, i'd wager the cat's out of the bag," Sans remarked, looking off after the woman.
Frisk sucked in a breath and grabbed Sans' hand protectively. They refused to let anyone think he was a danger to children. After all, weren't they living proof that monsters meant humans no harm? They had traversed the whole of the underground and come out better for it. And sure, they'd died a few times, but that didn't…that wasn't…
Frisk's head drooped as realization hit them like a ton of bricks. The fact of the matter was that many of the monsters had meant harm. They weren't bad people—Frisk knew that better than anyone—but they had taken human lives. If there had to be one golden rule in the human world, it's that violence always begets more violence, and that meant the monsters would have to be punished for the lives they'd snuffed out. Even though it was unfair; even though monsters had suffered so much worse at the hands of humans throughout history; the humans would make sure they paid.
"frisk, listen," Sans said, and Frisk knew he was about to say something serious by the rare usage of their name. "i told you yesterday, we'll take care of it. tori's a good diplomat. she'll argue a good case for old fluffybuns. and there are plenty of people who don't want to see this peace we've all worked so hard for get torn apart."
Frisk just tightened their grip on his hand. They were nearing the school now and students were stopping to stare at them. Frisk could see the mistrust in their expressions. As they got closer, they could hear the students muttering to each other and pointing.
"Is that one of them?" a girl who looked to be in the grade above Frisk was saying to her friends beneath a tree a few meters away. She was looking right at Sans.
"Holy shit, is that a skeleton? Dude, I think that's a skeleton!" Off to Frisk's right, a boy from their own grade was tugging on his buddy's shoulder to get him to look over at the pair.
"Should someone call a teacher?" one of the girls under the tree said, looking apprehensive. "Like, didn't they just find out the monsters have been eating children?"
Sans said nothing. He just kept walking as though he couldn't hear the kids gossiping all around them. Frisk couldn't tell if his lack of reaction was due to his extraordinary poker face or if the comments really just didn't bother him. When they got to the gate, he stopped and turned to Frisk. "be good today, kiddo," he said simply and gave them a pat on the head. The gesture was reassuring in its normalcy. "you have your phone, right? call if you need me."
Frisk nodded and reluctantly released his hand. They stood at the gate and watched him walk away until he was out of sight before sighing forlornly and going inside. They prayed with everything they had that everything would turn out okay.
Things got worse.
That afternoon, Frisk walked through the door to the home they shared with Toriel just in time to catch a live interview with the mayor of Balting that was apparently being aired across every major news network.
"It's what we've been saying all along," the balding man was saying as Frisk took a seat on the couch next to their adoptive mother. "The monsters are dangerous! We already have proof they murdered one child. What do you think are the chances that the seven who are still missing were spared? They have families who are still waiting, still hoping for their return. They come to me every day asking about their missing sons and daughters but the monsters have all moved out of those cursed caves and so far only one child has turned up. Well, I'm tired of waiting and wishing! I say we organize a team and go down there to find them ourselves."
The interview continued in that same vein, the host posing questions about the missing children and Balting's mayor vehemently spewing mistrust toward monsterkind and calling for a search of the underground. Frisk turned to Toriel questioningly. "There were only six other children. Besides me and…" Frisk trailed off. They still couldn't bring themself to speak the first child's name. A part of them feared that saying their name would call them back.
Toriel also looked confused. "Yes, my child. I am quite sure there were only six others," she confirmed. She looked uneasy. Her hands were folded uncertainly in her lap and her eyebrows were furrowed.
That night, Frisk slept poorly. Their mind couldn't rest with the threat of the humans sending a search party underground hanging over them. It was only a matter of time until the authorities found out what had become of the missing children. There were still seven child sized coffins lying in the castle's dungeon, after all. They were empty, of course, but it would still be enough to raise questions. More than that, if asked directly, Frisk knew that Asgore would be unable to lie. It simply wasn't his nature to be dishonest.
The rest of the week passed uneasily. Frisk saw fewer monsters on the streets and the news stations continued to broadcast updates on the case. So far, Toriel had been able to evade making a definite statement about the fates of the children, but she was on thin ice and it was apparent. Even Mettaton had put his show on hiatus to avoid questioning.
At school, Frisk had become more popular than ever and not in a good way. They had declined Sans and their other friends' offers to accompany them to school since the day word got out, but Frisk's classmates hadn't forgotten. They bombarded Frisk with questions at every opportunity and it didn't take long for rumors to start circulating.
So, like, did you see the other kids when you were down there?
Is it true their king thought drinking human blood would let him live forever?
Are you and that skeleton, like, a thing?
Frisk did their best to not let the questions bother them too much, but as the days passed they became more and more creepy and invasive.
Why did only you make it out?
Are you performing favors for them or something?
Are you and that skeleton fucking?
It got to the point where Frisk started hiding in the bathroom between classes to avoid their questions. At lunch, they got permission to eat in the science room, well away from their peers in the crowded cafeteria. Frisk's science teacher was sympathetic to their plight and turned away any students who asked after them, but after school was fair game and Frisk hurried home every day promptly as the bell marking the end of their last class rang.
School, which had once been a safe haven, was now a place Frisk dreaded going to every day. They longed for the return of their peaceful anonymity but they knew those days were gone for good now. They'd been labeled; socially banded. They were a hot topic. There was no fading back into obscurity after one became a hot topic.
When Friday afternoon finally came, Frisk couldn't have been more relieved. When the final bell rang, they hefted their backpack over their shoulders and fled the school grounds faster than Undyne could throw a spear. The walk back to their house was quiet—they'd beaten the majority of the students out of the school and the few that had come out with them were too busy rushing off to their own engagements to pay Frisk any mind. They entered their house quickly and closed the door behind them with a heavy sigh. Every day had followed the same pattern: Frisk would come home, do their homework, eat dinner and watch the news with Toriel, and then go upstairs and attempt—but largely fail—to sleep. Then they would get up the next morning dead tired and repeat. Day after day after day of this vicious pattern had run Frisk ragged. All they wanted now was to sleep the weekend away and forget about their problems.
"hey, buddy. you been shopping? you've got some pretty serious bags, there."
Frisk nearly jumped out of their skin. They thought they'd been alone, but there was Sans, leaning against the wall by the entrance to the kitchen with his hands in his pockets watching them with his usual grin. He freed a hand to point to an eye socket demonstratively.
Frisk forced a smile and shook their head, dismissing his concern. Instead, they gave him a questioning look, hoping he would explain why he'd come. Frisk didn't see any sign of Toriel being home.
The skeleton gestured behind him to the kitchen with his thumb. "tori went out to get ingredients for dinner. i'm watching the pie."
Now that he mentioned it, Frisk was just starting to make out the smell of cinnamon from that general direction. They thought it odd that Sans would come over just to watch the oven while Toriel was out, but then, it wouldn't be Sans if he acted in line with anyone's expectations.
"so, how was school?" Sans had yet to take his eyes off them and it seemed to Frisk that he was looking for something, though they hadn't the foggiest idea what. Every now and then, when Sans stared at them like this, Frisk could imagine a flash of blue and gold in his left eye and a shiver would run up their spine. It was like he was daring them to lie with that stare.
Frisk swallowed their uneasiness and shrugged noncommittally. Aside from the pestering of their peers, school was the same as ever, after all. Sans and the others had enough on their plates right now without worrying about them. Frisk mentally steeled themself and resolved to keep quiet about school.
Luckily, Sans didn't press them for details. He simply accepted their nonverbal answer and left them to check on the pie. Frisk was relieved and took advantage of his occupation in the kitchen to go put their bag in their room. Maybe Sans would help them with their homework later, they thought, feeling more cheerful. He always was pretty good at science and math.
The rest of the evening passed in peace. Toriel came home and prepared a lovely, snail-free meal of steak and roasted turnips. Sans joined them but declined the food, saying he'd already eaten. Toriel packed some up for him anyway, saying he needed to eat more than just Papyrus' spaghetti, to which Sans simply shrugged and took the container without complaint.
After dinner, Frisk was able to charm Sans into helping with their homework and by their powers combined the homework was completed in half the time it would've taken Frisk to do it on their own.
"you ever think about your future?" Sans asked as Frisk packed up their bag for Monday. "you know, what you wanna do with yourself after school?"
Frisk paused and looked over at him questioningly. Honestly, they hadn't given it much thought. Adulthood was still a long way off and they didn't see much point in worrying about it now. They wondered why Sans would ask such a thing.
"i know you've still got a lot of time until you'll need to start thinking about that," he said, reading their mind as usual, "but it's not a bad idea to get a bit of a head start. when things get tough, sometimes we need a dream to keep us going. when you can't see a future for yourself…that's when you start to lose sight of what's important. becomes easier to make bad decisions, y'know?"
Frisk cocked their head to the side, regarding their friend with puzzlement. It was always jarring when Sans suddenly became serious like this. He seemed to be doing it more and more often these days. What was most odd to Frisk was that they didn't think he ever acted like this around any of their other friends. He seemed to reserve this side of himself for them and them alone.
Sans lay back on their bed and crossed his legs. His head rested comfortably on his arms as he stared up at the ceiling. "not that i worry too much about you," he continued, bouncing his socked foot lazily. "you've always been full of determination. you'll do great no matter what you pick. me, though…i've never had much in the way of determination. i'm pathetic and i give up easily." He turned his head to look at them and winked. "maybe it's fate that i met you."
Frisk frowned. They wanted to tell Sans that they didn't think he was like that at all. After all, he was the one who'd beaten them down over and over and over. He was the most powerful monster they'd ever faced. He was on a level of his own. Before they could find the words, though, Sans sat up and said, "anyway, i think it's about time i got home to pap. he should be back from alphys and undyne's by now." He hopped off the bed and walked leisurely to the door. "get some rest tonight, kiddo."
Before Frisk could stop him, he was gone.
On Saturday, an official search party for the missing children was announced.
Fourteen officers from the city had been selected to join seven more from Balting to conduct a sweep of the underground. Frisk watched, full of trepidation, as the news aired a pre-mission interview with the head of the search team.
"Tell me, do you feel apprehensive at all about entering the underground?" the interviewer asked, drumming his fingers on the armrest of his chair. "This will be the first time a group will be sent down unguided. Are you concerned about possibly encountering resistance from the monsters still living there?"
The head of the search team, a woman in her mid-thirties with bushy blonde hair tied back in a ponytail met the interviewer's question with a neutral expression. "We've already been granted full permission to search freely. The former queen assured us that the monsters below will not attempt to hinder us in any way. I have no reason to doubt her word."
Frisk turned their gaze from the screen to share a look with their adoptive mother. Toriel had said before that the woman being interviewed, Inspector Margaret Müller, had worked with monsters in the past and was a strong advocate for peace between the two races. Unsurprisingly, the officers from Balting were less than pleased to receive her as their leader.
"I hear you've worked closely with monsters during these past eleven months. In your opinion, how likely is it that your team will find the seven missing children alive and well?" the interviewer posed, leaning forward over his knees.
Inspector Müller's expression didn't change. "Of course, we're all hoping for the safe return of the missing children, but we also recognize that if they haven't turned up already, the likelihood of finding them in perfect health is regrettably not very high. The underground's climates are harsh and unforgiving; not well suited for human habitation. It's unlikely that a human child would last very long on their own, and that's assuming they survived the fall that brought them there in the first place. We also have to consider that the first reported disappearance was over thirty years ago. That would put our Johnny Alpha at forty-two years old now. We need to keep in mind that some of these children aren't children anymore."
The interviewer looked genuinely intrigued by this apparently previously unknown bit of information. "I think most of us were under the impression that all the disappearances had happened within the past few years. You're saying that some of these cases are upwards of thirty years old?"
The inspector nodded seriously. "Yes. The first case was reported back in the 1980s. A twelve-year-old boy being treated as an in-patient at a small clinic in Balting set his room on fire and ran off into the woods at the base of the mountain. He was never found. Fifteen years later, another child from Balting went missing after wandering off during a picnic in those same woods. The report stated the child had been having issues both at home and at school and had possibly run off as a show of rebellion. They were the only other child to be seen again. The third child was from the city; a ten-year-old who had come to Mt. Ebott on a camping trip with her parents. The fourth and fifth were twins on a field trip. The sixth was a thirteen-year-old boy who ran away from home after an argument with his grandfather. The seventh and eighth were siblings who'd been visiting their grandparents in Balting for the summer and didn't come home one evening after playing near the mountain. Finally, as we all know, the ninth child made it back to the surface safely and is now living with the former queen."
Now Frisk understood why Toriel hadn't known about the extra child. He'd gone missing before she had left Asgore to go live in the ruins. From the sounds of it, the poor boy probably hadn't survived the fall. It saddened Frisk that his remains were likely never found. Perhaps they were even still there when they fell. It wouldn't surprise them if destroying the body of a long forgotten child had been their first act after landing in the underground.
The interviewer nodded. "Yes, young Frisk has been a huge help in establishing trust between us and the monsters. And speaking of trust, I know this next question is a bit of a touchy subject, but many people are dying to know—what action will be taken if it's discovered that monsters did in fact have a hand in the disappearance and possible demise of the children?"
Finally, the inspector's poker face cracked and she frowned. It was a moment before she answered. "If we find evidence of any monster's knowing involvement in the luring, holding, maiming, or otherwise harming of any of the children," she started, looking grave, "then the monsters responsible will be brought in front of a court of law to be tried for their crimes. If it is discovered that taking human children was part of a grander plot on the part of the collective underground citizenry, the penalty will be much more severe. Personally, I pray it doesn't come to that."
The interview ended soon after that sobering statement and Toriel turned off the TV with a click that sounded like a death sentence. "It will be alright," the large monster-woman assured, turning on the couch to face Frisk. "The humans will see how hard we have been working to promote peace and they will know we mean them no harm. We may be punished a bit, but this will blow over."
Frisk knew, though, that it wouldn't be alright. They could see the glimmer of fear in their adoptive mother's eyes and the way her large hands trembled just slightly. She knew better than anyone what humans could do if provoked. She'd been there, after all, when monsters were first banished to the underground. It was possible they could be banished again. Or worse, they could lose their rights as citizens and be forced to work for the humans. Perhaps they would even be deemed too dangerous to be allowed to live and exterminated like wild animals. Humans rallied through fear were dangerous and unpredictable.
It was the following day, a cold, overcast Sunday, that the knock came. Toriel had left to deliver some things to her school in preparation for Monday and Frisk was minding the house when a sharp rap sounded from the front door. It was unlike the knocks of any of their friends, so when Frisk answered the door it was with a good helping of wariness. The door opened to reveal a woman and a man dressed too smartly to be selling magazine subscriptions.
The woman saw Frisk and smiled sweetly. "Good afternoon. You must be Frisk."
Frisk said nothing, just waited for them to state their business.
"My name is Megan Campbell," the woman held out a badge hanging from a lanyard around her neck, "from child protective services. I came here today to talk to you."
Frisk's stomach dropped. If they'd thought things couldn't get any worse, the cosmos was proving them wrong. They should've anticipated this.
"Listen, Frisk, I don't mean to startle you, but I have a few questions that I hope you can answer for me. I promise you're not in trouble, I just need to verify some things about your living situation. Is that okay?"
Feeling it would cause more trouble to refuse, Frisk pursed their lips and nodded.
"Thank you, sweetie. Now, I need you to answer me honestly, alright? Can you do that?"
Again, Frisk nodded but they mentally wished this Megan Campbell would just turn around and go home.
"Great, then my first few questions are about your guardian. To start with, how long have you been living together with Ms. Toriel Dreemurr?"
After just a moment's hesitation, Frisk opened their mouth and said quietly, "Eleven months."
Megan Campbell nodded and the man next to her scribbled something on a clipboard. "And in that time, have you ever felt threatened by your guardian?"
Frisk hurriedly shook their head. The last thing they wanted was to give this woman any reason to believe that Toriel was unfit to be their parent.
Another scribble from John Doe. "Does your guardian ever touch you, speak to you, or otherwise act in a way you feel is inappropriate?"
Again, Frisk shook their head adamantly.
Campbell smiled. "Alright, Frisk, the next few questions are about you. Again, please answer honestly. Firstly, how would you rate your current level of stress? Low, moderate, or severe?"
This time Frisk hesitated. If they answered 'low', that would probably look suspicious. There was no way they wouldn't be stressed given the current climate between monsters and humans. If they told the truth, though, these people could choose to attribute their answer to living with Toriel. Frisk didn't know what to do. They'd never been very good at expressing themself verbally and the longer they stood there silently the more suspicious any answer they gave would look. Feeling their anxiety rising fast, they forced their jaw to move and managed to utter, "Low."
They knew they'd made a mistake the moment John Doe exchanged a meaningful look with Campbell before frowning and scribbling something lengthy on his clipboard. Frisk felt a sense of dread settle in their stomach.
Campbell gave Frisk what she must have thought was a kind smile, but all it did was churn Frisk's gut. "Alright, Frisk, I just have one more question for you. I'm sure you know already that there's an investigation going on at the moment into the whereabouts of several missing children. Right now, the state has reason to believe that a number of monsters close to you may be involved. For your safety, we'd like to have you moved temporarily into foster care until the situation is resolved. Would you be willing to cooperate with us on this?"
And there it was. They wanted to take Frisk away. Frisk tried to swallow but their throat felt like sandpaper.
"I understand how difficult this must be for you," Campbell continued when it became apparent that Frisk was too upset to answer. "I'd like the transition to be a smooth and non-disruptive as possible, which is why I came to talk to you today. Rest assured that should the investigation find Ms. Dreemurr innocent, you will be returned promptly to her care."
Frisk barely heard her. Their head was filled with thoughts about what would happen when the investigation inevitably tied the children's deaths back to Asgore and then to Toriel by extension. They would never be returned home. They would stay in foster care and watch their friends get hunted down and not be able to do a thing about it. They clenched their fists at their sides. They had to get away. They couldn't let these people take them away from their family. Already, a plan was forming in their mind.
"Please, come in," they invited in a small voice, moving aside so that the pair could enter. Startled but clearly pleased, Campbell and her partner followed Frisk inside and allowed themselves to be led to the living room. "I'll fetch you some tea," Frisk offered politely and quickly retreated to the kitchen.
Once they were out of sight of the living room, Frisk walked through the kitchen, past the stove and cupboards, to the sink. Instead of preparing water for the kettle, however, they reached over the sink and smoothly unlatched the window behind it. It only took a handful of seconds to climb onto the counter and hoist their small body out the window.
By the time Megan Campbell and John Doe realized they'd been duped, Frisk was already long gone.