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Why Children Climb Mountains

(but you're the type who won't ever be happy)

The next day was Monday. It was weird not going to school, but at least Frisk wouldn't have to deal with unwanted attention from their classmates. They were much happier to wake up late and take their time eating breakfast; even if breakfast was just the usual leftover spaghetti. As they ate, they thought about Toriel and her delicious hot chocolate. Then they thought about their birth mother—the woman they'd dreamt of the previous night. Frisk didn't have many memories of their mother, as she'd passed away when they were very young, but maybe, somewhere out there, she was still watching over them. Perhaps it was her who had led Frisk to their new family. Frisk could feel her in the gentle way Toriel led them by the hand and in Papyrus' optimism and Sans' patience. There seemed to be a little piece of her in all of their friends and maybe that was why Frisk hadn't dreamt of her lately.

Thinking about their mother caused Frisk to think about the other children who had climbed or fled to or otherwise become lost on Mt. Ebott. They recalled the interview with Inspector Müller and the various circumstances that had brought those children to the mountain. Some appeared to have just been unlucky, but a few, like Frisk, could very well have gone with the intention of disappearing. Frisk felt especially sad for those kids, knowing what it was like to be pushed until you felt like you had no more options left.

The child that Frisk was most curious about, though, was the first one. The one before them. The one nobody had known about who'd disappeared quietly and left no mark; no proof at all of that he'd ever existed. Frisk thought that was the saddest thing of all. They wanted to go back and find him; to put him to rest properly.

The idea took root as Frisk went about their morning routine until finally, just before noon, they approached Sans.

"I want to go back," they told him decisively, fisting their hand in the sleeve of his jacket.

Sans cocked his head curiously. "back where, kid?"

"To the underground."

Sans stared at them oddly. "you know it's pretty dangerous down there right now, right? you'd be in a lot of trouble if the search team found you."

Frisk nodded. "I know. I don't need to go far. Just to the entrance to the ruins."

Sans was silent for a moment and Frisk wondered if he was going to refuse, but then he said, "alright. i think i know a shortcut."

Frisk smiled at him in thanks and he just shrugged helplessly and took their hand. "ready?"

They nodded. Sans squeezed their hand and suddenly they were no longer in the living room of his and Papyrus' house but back in the underground, standing in a patch of buttercups with sunlight streaming down from the hole in the cavern ceiling far above.

Frisk took a deep breath, feeling the latent magic in the air. It filled them with a sense of peace. Despite everything, a part of them was glad to be back.

Their serenity was broken, however, when beside them Sans suddenly doubled over, clutching his chest. Startled, Frisk hurriedly braced their hands against his shoulders to keep him from pitching forward. "Sans?" they questioned worriedly.

Sans grunted and winced but stayed upright. "sorry, kid. i'll be fine in a minute," he assured them. "that jump took a lot out of me."

Frisk nodded but continued to regard their friend with worry. They had never seen Sans have a negative reaction from using a shortcut before. Soon enough, though, Sans' breathing returned to normal and he straightened, good as new.

He winked at them. "see?"

Frisk nodded again, though they were still slightly concerned. Perhaps it was just the distance they'd had to travel. It was a pretty long way between the city and Mt. Ebott. Reluctantly, they turned away from him to inspect the flowers at their feet.

If anything of the first child still remained, it would be around here somewhere. Luckily, Flowey didn't appear to be in at the moment.

Nothing looked out of the usual. The golden flowers were just as they'd always been, somehow blooming despite it being entirely the wrong season for them. Frisk squatted down and inserted a hand into the patch to feel for anything hidden beneath the blooms. They were careful to mind the delicate petals as they sifted around in the soil. When all they felt was earth, they moved to a new location and tried again. And again. And again.

Sans watched them with interest, standing off to the side with his hands in his pockets. Finally, his curiosity got the better of him and he asked, "what are you looking for, buddy?"

Frisk hummed thoughtfully but didn't look up from their task. "A skeleton, maybe?"

Sans seemed amused by this. "another one? haven't you got plenty already?"

Frisk laughed lightly and shook their head. "Not a monster. There was a kid who fell here a long time ago. I'm looking for him."

Sans didn't say anything for a drawn out moment and Frisk thought he'd lost interest in the conversation until he softly said, "that kid, huh."

This time, Frisk did look at him. Something in the way he said that kid made Frisk feel like he knew something. Well, it was Sans, they reasoned. If anyone was going to somehow have knowledge that no one else did, it would be him. "Did you know him?" they asked, now wondering if the boy had survived the fall after all and managed to leave the ruins.

Sans shrugged, but the gesture was different than normal. It seemed more conscious. "yeah, i knew him. why the sudden interest?"

Despite Sans' propensity for knowing everything, Frisk was still surprised by his admission. So Sans had known all along that there was another child but never felt the need to mentioned it. How very Sans. Frisk lowered their eyes and spoke meekly. "I guess I was just curious. Nobody ever told me about him and Mom didn't know who he was when I asked her. I thought maybe he was all alone and forgotten down here and I wanted to find him."

Sans sighed and shoved his hands deeper into his pockets. "ah. well, you're not completely wrong." he told them, his eyes traveling to the sunlit buttercup patch. "he was a pretty messed up kid. couldn't decide if he wanted to live or die. didn't really have anything he cared about. no will to do good or evil." He paused and turned his head to off at the entrance to the ruins. "he came here by choice but he was the kind of human who could never be happy no matter where he went. he spent a while trying to find a way back through the barrier but he gave up pretty quickly. he didn't have the determination you do."

Frisk listened to Sans' description and tried to picture the kid in their head; the boy who set fire to a clinic before escaping to the mountain, apparently only to decide that he wanted to go back. They were curious to know his story. "What happened to him?" they questioned. "Why wasn't his soul with the other kids'?"

Sans turned back around and shrugged again, this time more naturally. "he got recruited by the royal scientist and disappeared. nobody ever saw him again after that."

Frisk considered this. "So then…he might still be alive?" they asked slowly, working it out in their head. But where could a forty year old human hide that Frisk had never crossed his path? Perhaps the house in Snowdin belonging to the resident who liked listening to Frisk's knock? But Frisk was sure that voice belonged to a woman. One of the rooms in the MTT resort, maybe? But staying there for any extended period of time would rack up quite a bill. Unless the guy could conjure his own money, that didn't seem like a viable option. Frisk was pretty sure humans didn't come equipped with that skill. Perhaps he hadn't survived after all.

"let me ask you something," Sans said by way of answer. "if a guy hides himself away for his whole life—is never seen by anyone, never leaves any marks on anyone or makes any lasting changes—can you really call him alive?"

Frisk thought about that. They could see where Sans was coming from but they didn't quite agree. "A person who hides can still choose to come back," they answered, looking up at Sans confidently. "Death is forever."

Sans stared at them wordlessly for a long moment and then threw his head back and laughed. "you beat me, kid," he said, winking down at them. "you're his foil in every way, you know that? he could've really used a friend like you."

Frisk blinked up at Sans uncomprehendingly.

"don't worry about him, buddy. there's no use in chasing after ghosts." Sans held out his hand to them. "c'mon. if that's all you came for there's no point in sticking around. better we get out before those humans find us, eh?"

Frisk took his hand without protest. Privately, they thought there was a use in finding the boy. He would be one more human who could vouch for the goodness of monsters, not to mention they could show everyone that they'd found one of the missing kids. But Sans was right; there was nothing they could do without more information. Thanks to their conversation, though, Frisk now knew who to go to in order to get that information.

The next day, Frisk asked to pay Alphys and Undyne a visit.

They always enjoyed visiting Alphys and Undyne's place. It was something of a cavern of wonders, full of cool sciency gizmos, wicked looking weapons, and anime figurines. Usually when Frisk came over Alphys would treat them to a few episodes of whatever cool new anime she'd discovered and then Undyne would steal them for a cooking lesson. Today, though, Frisk was on a mission.

"A-a human child besides the six whose souls we c-collected?" Alphys repeated, scrunching her brow in thought. Frisk took a sip of golden flower tea, courtesy of Undyne, while they waited for Alphys' response. "I-I'm afraid I don't know anything about any other children. You s-said he was recruited by the royal scientist?"

Frisk nodded, already feeling their hopes falling. If Alphys didn't know anything then they were out of their only lead.

"Hmm," she hummed, tapping a finger on the tabletop. "Well, that d-definitely wasn't me. It must have been the royal scientist before me. I k-know he'd been experimenting with DETERMINATION too…"

Frisk perked up. "Before you?" they questioned hopefully.

Alphys hunched her shoulders and fiddled with her cup self-consciously. "T-there was another royal scientist before… I'm afraid I, um, don't know very much about him. He was a brilliant man, though. They say he built the Core. I-it was a pretty difficult to follow an act like that, to be honest." She seemed to realize she was rambling and let out a nervous chuckle. "A-anyway, it wouldn't surprise me if he thought to recruit a human for DT extraction. Unfortunately, most of his research data was lost when he…disappeared. If there was a child, he didn't stick around."

"Another kid, huh?" Undyne chimed in, taking a seat at the table with them. "Did you try asking Sans?" Turning to Alphys, she asked, "Didn't he used to work with the guy?"

Frisk looked back and forth between the two of them. Was that true? Sans had never mentioned such a thing to them.

Alphys looked even more uncomfortable at Undyne's question. "I-I really don't…I mean, I know Gaster had two assistants…" She cleared her throat. "Sans did occasionally help me out with…um… D-did he really?"

Undyne leaned back in her chair and looked up at the ceiling in thought. "I used to spend a lot of time at the palace back then," she explained. "It was pretty rare, but every now and then Gaster would come to report his research to Asgore. For a long time, he came alone, but a few years before he vanished he began bringing an assistant with him. It was around that time that I started seeing Sans around." She crossed her arms and regarded Alphys oddly. "You're saying Sans would help you out in the lab but he never told you he used to work with the previous royal scientist?"

Alphys looked down into her tea. "N-no?" She squeezed the cup nervously. "Actually, Sans always k-kind of intimidated me, so I never really tried to find out anything about him. N-not that he's a scary person or anything," she amended quickly. "It's just that, you know how he likes to keep to himself… Back then, he was even more like that. I didn't want to pry too much."

Frisk frowned. Sans had said the first child was recruited by the royal scientist and nobody ever saw him again after that, but if Sans himself had worked for that same royal scientist, then wouldn't he have to know what happened to him? Was Sans intentionally hiding the truth from them? It wouldn't be the first time he had kept them in the dark. Knowing that the boy had volunteered to become an experimental subject made them wonder if perhaps something horrible had happened and Sans was trying to spare them from learning about it. It seemed like the sort of thing Sans would do.

But Frisk wouldn't give up just yet. If there was any chance at all that the first child could be found and persuaded to argue a positive case for monsters, they would continue to search for him. The hope for a true, lasting peace for monsters and humans filled them with determination.

"In any case, you should talk to him," Undyne reiterated, smacking a forearm onto the table and leaning over it self-assuredly. "I'm almost positive he'll know something. That guy always does."

That night, the news aired an update on the search team's progress. According to reports, the team had made it most of the way through the Waterfall region and would be moving on to Hotland very soon. So far, no contact had been made with any of the children, however the investigation had discovered several items thought to have belonged to one or more of them, including a toy knife, a ribbon, a glove, and a bandana. Frisk immediately recognized these items as ones they'd thrown away before they discovered they could sell their excess belongings at the Temmie Shop. At the time, Frisk never could have known that leaving those items behind could cause trouble later on, but now they were mentally kicking themself for being so careless.

Finding proof of the children's visit to the underground immediately sparked a new wave of anti-monster sentiment in the twenty-four hours following the update. Where are our children? angry moms demanded in prime-time television interviews, appealing to their fellow parents. Footage of angry protesters rallying outside the doors of Toriel's school played the following evening; a growing crowd of incensed citizens crying out for her to close the school. We don't want child killers teaching our kids! they shouted, pounding their signs on the ground. One bold cameraman managed to get footage of Toriel crying in her office through the window and seeing it caused Frisk's blood to boil. 'Don't pick on my mom!' they wanted to shout and chase off the mob, but they were helpless, stuck hiding away in Sans and Papyrus' house.

"WHY, THOSE—THOSE BULLIES!" Papyrus exclaimed, fisting his right hand at the television. "HOW DARE THEY TREAT THE QUEEN SO UNGENTLEMANLY!"

The tall skeleton chewed on the end of his scarf as he glared at the TV angrily. Sans had yet to make a peep and Frisk turned to see what his deal was only to find him gone. They blinked in confusion. He'd been right there a second ago.

Suddenly, a hush fell over the crowd of protesters and Frisk turned back to the TV to see what was happening. There, standing between the mob and the school, was Sans. His grin was still firmly in place but his eye sockets were dark. Protesters were scooting away from him in terror, vocalizing their confusion at the skeleton's sudden appearance.

"hey, friends," Sans spoke, his calm voice, sending a visible chill through the crowd. "don't you know it's rude to bully people?" He took a step forward and the crowd shrank back. "i'm going to have to ask you all to leave now."

Before anyone could say or do anything, he raised a booted foot and stomped it into the ground and all at once a giant wall of bones shot up from the earth, blocking off the entrance to the school. There was a moment of stunned silence and then protesters were screaming and pushing over each other trying to get away from the crazy skeleton monster who could somehow summon ten-foot-tall bones straight from hell. Instead of looking at the protesters, though, Frisk watched Sans as he followed the mob with his empty gaze for a few seconds before vanishing as suddenly as he'd come.

When Sans didn't immediately rejoin them in the living room, Frisk's first thought was that he'd gone to comfort Toriel. And yet, a nagging suspicion had them jumping from the couch and leaving Papyrus to climb up the stairs up to the brothers' rooms. Call it intuition, but something told them Sans would be found in his bedroom.

Their intuition was right on the mark. Frisk pushed open the door just in time to see Sans crumple to the floor in a heap. Letting out a small cry of alarm, they ran to him and fell to their knees at his side. Sans was breathing hard and his hands were clutching at his chest tightly enough to wrinkle the fabric of his shirt. A shudder went through his whole body and he groaned before turning his head to look at them out of one eye. "hey…frisk… wow…this is…embarrassing, eh?"

Frisk shook their head and shot him a look that was meant to be full of disapproval but probably just came off as worried.

Sans winced. His brow was covered in sweat and he was curled in on himself. He looked to be in a great deal of pain. "sorry, buddy. you…weren't supposed to…see this."

"What's wrong, Sans," they demanded gently, placing a hand on his back. They wished they knew how to help him but all they could do was watch as Sans continued to pant and clutch at his chest.

"nothing, kiddo," he ground out, managing a wink. "this is just my punishment for going a little overboard."

Frisk didn't understand. From what they'd seen, Sans hadn't gone overboard in the slightest. They knew what he was capable of, and it was much, much more than just summoning few bones.

Sans unclenched his hand and placed it over theirs. When he spoke again his breathing was a bit less labored. "it's different up here, kid. the underground is full of magic. it's a bastion of near limitless energy for a guy like me. but here on the surface i'm just dry bones. this body can only store so much, y'know?"

"But you're a monster. You're made of magic," they protested. "Do you mean that monsters will dry up if they continue to live up here?" Their mind summoned up the faces of all their monster friends. Were they all quietly suffering like Sans with Frisk and the other humans none the wiser? If that was the case, then why had they been so eager to return here? Had the surface changed since the era of monster-human cohabitation?

"nah, they're fine," he reassured, giving their hand a squeeze. "i'm…a bit of a special case."

"Are you going to dry up?" they asked in a small voice, gripping his hand as if to anchor him to the world.

Sans hesitated and Frisk tightened their hold, drawing his hand into their lap. They couldn't imagine a world without Sans. He was a constant; someone they could always rely on to be there; to always pop up at the most unexpected times. And it wasn't just them; everyone relied on him in one way or another. He was an essential piece in their odd, unconventional, wonderful family.

"maybe someday, kid," he said finally, giving them a look full of uncharacteristic gentleness. With effort, he managed to push himself up into a sitting position. "but i'm still planning to stick around for a while yet." He winked and used his free hand to ruffle Frisk's hair.

Frisk felt a lump rise in their throat and they freed their hand from Sans' grip so that they could throw their arms around him. Sans started but he allowed the embrace and Frisk pressed their cheek against his and held him tightly, comforted by his solidness and warmth.

Sans returned the embrace and they stayed that way for a few moments. When Frisk finally let go, they looked seriously into Sans' eyes and said, "I don't want you to go. Ever."

Sans chuckled and shook his head, amused despite the earnestness of their declaration. "nothing's forever, kid. not even me."

Frisk looked down at their hands and swallowed the lump that still persisted in their throat. "Is that what happened to Gaster?" they asked, recalling their conversation with Alphys and Undyne. "Did he dry up?"

All at once, Sans jerked away as if burned and his eye sockets darkened. "Who told you that name?" he demanded in a tone Frisk had only heard a few times. All his usual goofiness was gone.

Frisk took a hesitant step back, startled by his sudden shift in attitude. Sans only used that tone when he was deadly serious. "A-Alphys said it yesterday," they told him honestly. "Wasn't that the name of the last royal scientist? The one before her?"

Sans continued to stare blankly at them for a drawn out moment in which Frisk wondered if they'd unknowingly crossed a line. Then he closed his eyes and sighed and when he opened them again they had returned to normal. "alphys, huh? yeah, i guess she would know." His voice as well had returned to its usual goofy pitch and Frisk let out a breath of relief.

"You worked with him, right?" they asked boldly, deciding to push their luck in the hope of getting some answers from the ever-mysterious skeleton.

"now, i know alphys didn't tell you that," he said, thankfully not showing signs of reverting to his scary persona.

Frisk shook their head.

"undyne, huh?" he surmised, shoving his hands in his pockets. "yeah, i did. for a bit." He scratched the back of his skull uncomfortably. "jeez, i never expected to get grilled about him of all people. usually people have more sense than to go asking questions about that old coot."

Frisk tilted their head and frowned uncomprehendingly. "Why?"

The glow of Sans' pupils dimmed slightly. "because it's rude to talk about people who are listening."

A shiver ran up Frisk's back and they cast their eyes around the room instinctively. Of course, they found nothing out of the ordinary. Well, for Sans' room, anyway. They couldn't tell if Sans was being serious or just messing with them. They hoped it was the latter.

Sans pushed up from the floor and got to his feet. Wiping his hands on his pants, he motioned toward the door with his shoulder. "c'mon, buddy. i'm fine now so let's go back downstairs. pap is probably missing us."

He made to exit, but Frisk stopped him with a soft appeal. "Wait."

Sans turned back around and cocked his head.

Summoning up their determination, Frisk asked, "What happened to the first child? You know, don't you?"

Sans stood still, his eyes downcast. He didn't make any motion to leave but he didn't answer either. Frisk took a step toward him and tried again. "If he's still alive, he can help us," they reasoned, trying to get Sans to budge. "If people find out that another child survived and has been living underground all this time, they'd have to realize that the monsters weren't just stealing kids all those years. He could tell everyone his story and make them see that monsters aren't bad."

Despite their plea, Sans maintained his silence, his eyes still firmly fixed on the floor. Frisk continued to wait, determined not to let him leave until he told them what he knew, and finally Sans sighed and looked up at them. "oliver winterlance," he said simply, sounding suddenly tired, as if the world were on his shoulders. "try researching that name and you'll see why getting that kid to vouch for monsters would just be a waste of time."

With that, Sans walked out, leaving Frisk to contemplate his words.

oO0Oo

Hey, all! Hope you enjoyed chapter 4. We're officially halfway finished now. Thanks again to Liliana Dragonshard and also to BadDRUMMERboy15 for your reviews. I really appreciate the support.

See you next time!