The next few months went by in a blur. Frisk spent most of their day at school, hanging out with their friends. Berdly was still insufferable but he was slowly becoming more tolerable. Frisk also partnered up with Noelle so Berdly couldn't and when a project required three, MK would join their group. Undyne also showed up on occasion as a gym teacher.
On weekends that weren't filled with homework, Frisk played with their two friends. At least, most of the time. Other times, they hung out with the others, going to see Sans and Papyrus and even introducing their friends to the skeletons.
Alphys was still hard at work in her lab, though no one was sure what exactly she was doing as her projects for the Royal Guard were all classified.
Asgore also showed up on occasion, though Toriel still did not want to see him around Frisk. He said his visits were to ensure that Toriel and Frisk were alright and that both were adjusting fairly well.
Asriel was always silent during those times. For reasons Frisk didn't know, he never showed up when Asgore was around, nor did he even speak. He still narrated what Frisk did, though he was showing more independence as time went by capable of going further from Frisk.
Frisk was still growing and Alphys estimated they were physically between eight and nine. Frisk was also trying to practice speaking, Asriel giving them tips on how to do it. While whole conversations were still hard, they were getting better.
Frisk was sitting on the living room floor, reading a book with Asriel right next to them. Toriel was currently out shopping for baking supplies.
As they lay there, they heard a knock at the door. Frisk got up and opened it to see Asgore standing on the porch.
"Howdy," he greeted.
'Hi,' they greeted back. They could see Asriel's astral form walking away out of the corner of their eye.
"May I come in?"
'Sure.' Frisk stepped to the side to allow Asgore to walk in. 'Mom's out shopping so it's just me.'
"Then I hope you don't mind if I stay for a while. Perhaps we could practice speech while I'm here."
"I am getting better," Frisk spoke. "Still… hard."
"That's no problem. It's what practice is for." Asgore sat down on the couch, which sagged under his weight. "So, what do you want to talk about?"
Frisk walked over and sat next to Asgore. "Hmm… maybe about… you and mom?"
Asgore looked down sadly. "I suppose. What would you like to know?"
"You two were… what's the word?"
"Married. Yes, we were."
"What happened that… split you? Why did you… make war?"
Asgore sighed. "Has Toriel not told you that tale?" Frisk shook their head. "It's… not a happy story, Frisk."
"Please tell. I can take it."
Asgore sighed. "Very well." He adjusted himself so he could face Frisk. "Do you remember the day you first came back? I gave you a gift."
"You gave lots of gifts," Frisk pointed out.
"Yes, but do you remember what I said about one in particular?"
Frisk tried to pull that memory up. Like all their memories from those days, it was fuzzy. But they could remember something. "The bear. You said it was… your son's." Frisk looked at Asgore in confusion. "You have a son?"
"Had," Asgore emphasized. "He died a long time ago."
Frisk felt sad for him, when they made a connection. "Wait… your son… mom's you're… partner… was he… was she…" They tried to get the words out of their mouth, but it was too hard, so they signed instead. 'Was he her son as well?'
"Yes," Asgore confirmed. "Our first child. He was a delight to us both. We had both been alone for so long. Boss Monsters only age as their children do, so when our parents were killed in the original war, we had been immortal for so long. But then we decided to have a baby and he brought light to our lives."
"What happened to him?"
"A long time ago, a human fell into the Ruins," Asgore began. "They were injured by their fall and called out. My son found them and brought them home. We took them in and cherished them. With them, the Underground was full of hope."
"You cared for a human? What about war?"
"That didn't happen until later," Asgore explained.
Frisk decided to remain silent. They could remember what Asgore had told them about a human child from a while ago and they were able to guess what had happened to them.
"One day, the human fell ill. We tried everything we could to save them, but there was nothing we could do. They had only one wish; to see the flowers of their home. But the Barrier made that impossible. The next day… they died." Asgore took a sharp intake of breath to steady himself. Frisk laid a hand on his to comfort him. "My son, wracked with grief, absorbed their Soul. He transformed into a being of incredible power. With their Soul, he crossed the barrier, carrying their body to the village and laid them in a bed of flowers."
Frisk smiled when they heard that. Though they could guess this story ended in tragedy, it was still nice to hear.
"But then, screams rang out. The humans saw him carrying the body of the child. They thought he had killed them, so they attacked him. Though he had the power to destroy them, he did not. Instead, clutching the body of his friend, he returned home. But when he did, he turned to dust, right before mine and my wife's eyes. His dust spread throughout the garden."
Frisk cried a few tears. That was very sad to hear.
"When he did, the entire Underground fell into despair. In a fit of anger, I declared war. I said that any human that fell down here was to die. Toriel, however, became disgusted with my actions. She left and I didn't see her again for years."
Frisk pat Asgore's hand. "I'm sorry."
Asgore wiped a few tears from his face. "It is alright. It's not your fault. You weren't even born when it happened."
"Still, I'm sorry what happened to him," Frisk apologized. "He didn't deserve that."
"I just wish you could have met him."
"Um… do you have a picture of him?" Frisk asked. "I wanna see him."
Asgore hummed and looked at the bookcase. "It seems your mother might have it." He stood up and walked to the shelves, pulling out a binder. "I'm surprised she still has this old photo album." He flipped through a few pages, until he found the picture he was looking for. He returned to the couch, sitting back down. "Here. Both my son and the human we adopted are here."
"You adopted the human?" Frisk asked, surprised. They had yet to see the picture, as that last line was still surprising.
"Yes. Over time, my son and them became like siblings and they did stay with us. I think you would have been happy to meet them, though I'm not sure how happy they would have been to meet you."
"Why?"
"Chara… did not like humans much. They never said why, but my wife and I could see that they had suffered great harm."
"Poor kid," Frisk muttered, finally looking at the picture. They only looked at it for a moment before their eyes went wide.
At first, they weren't sure what they were seeing. The two kids in the picture, Asgore claimed were his son and the human he found. The human's face was covered by flowers, but the son, his smile was clear and Frisk found they recognized him. It couldn't be and yet, that was a dead ringer for Asriel.
Then a thought occurred to them and later, they would chastise themself for not realizing it sooner. Asriel looked like a smaller version of Asgore, he even talked like the king on occasion and he was dead, just like the king's son. Could Asriel… be the son in the story? Why didn't they see that sooner and if Asriel knew, why didn't he say anything?
"W-what was his name?" Frisk asked.
"Asriel," Asgore answered.
Frisk looked away from Asgore. He didn't notice, too wrapped up in his own thoughts. It was true. The Asriel Frisk knew was Asgore's son. But… how? How could Asriel be… well, not alive, since he was just a voice in Frisk's head capable of making himself visible to them now. But how did Asriel's consciousness come back?
Then Frisk wondered if Asriel already knew this. Many things he said about his parents lined up with Asgore and Toriel, but he just brushed them off as familiarity or associating his parents with the figures that took care of Frisk. They needed to find out.
"You okay, Frisk?" Asgore asked when they were silent for too long.
Frisk shook their head to collect their thoughts. They didn't trust their voice right now, so they signed instead. 'I'm fine. It's just a lot to take in.' They grabbed the photo of Asriel and Chara. 'Do you mind if I take this? I'd kind of like to sketch it, if I can.'
Asgore thought on it for a moment. "I suppose," he decided.
Frisk took the photo and headed up the stairs to their room. 'I'll be a while,' they signed.
"I'll be here until Toriel comes back," Asgore informed.
Frisk entered their room, closing the door behind them. Asriel was lying on the bed. While he was incorporeal, for some reason, he could interact with the floor or ground as if it was solid.
"That ended fast," he remarked, looking up from the bed. "What is it?" he asked when he saw their expression.
'We need to talk. It's important.'
"Okay." Asriel sat up on the bed as Frisk came over. They were still holding the old photo in their hand.
'Have more of your memories returned in recent months?' they asked.
"Not really," Asriel answered. "Why?"
Frisk held up the photo, presenting it to Asriel. The young Monster's eyes widened when he saw it.
'This is a photo of the king's son,' Frisk signed. 'He died when he was very young. And his name… was Asriel.' They saw the moment Asriel's face fell. 'You already knew.'
"Since the tour in the CORE," he explained. "I don't know how, but the memories just… came back, almost all at once."
'Is that why you were so silent that day?'
"Yeah."
'You lied. You said you didn't remember more.'
"I'm sorry. I just… couldn't believe it. You don't know how much it overwhelmed me to find out that your mom used to be mine. And that my dad is the king."
Frisk wasn't sure what to say to that. But they did have a rather important question to ask. 'I want a real answer this time. How much of your past do you remember now?'
Asriel sighed, or as close to a sigh as he could manage. "Almost everything. There are still some gaps in my memory, but I can remember almost my whole life, right up to the day I died."
Frisk felt bad for Asriel. They sat down on the bed next to him. 'You do remember how you died? You went to that village, they attacked you and you didn't fight back? Why?' Asriel looked at them with a puzzled expression. 'You had a lot of power. Why didn't you at least defend yourself? Why not… fight back? Or explain what you were doing, that you were simply laying your friend to rest?'
"It's not that simple," Asriel said sadly.
'What do you mean?'
"I can see you already know most of the story, but you don't know all of it," Asriel explained. "You don't know what really happened at the village, do you?"
'I don't understand.'
Asriel sighed again. "I… I'm not sure I want to talk about this."
'Why? How bad could it be?' When Asriel didn't answer, they pressed. 'Asriel, come on, you can tell me. You're my friend, aren't you?'
"It's not a very good story," Asriel said, hoping that stopped them from prying. It didn't.
'I already know that.'
"It's worse than you think."
'I fail to see how.'
"Frisk, please, drop this. I don't want you to-"
"Asriel."
That shut Asriel up. Hearing Frisk's tone, it told the spirit that they weren't taking 'no' for an answer.
'Normally, I would, but whatever it is, it's tearing you up. So, talk to me. Like MK said, it's easier if you tell, so you don't have to know alone.'
Asriel slid a paw down his face. He could see that Frisk wasn't going to concede. "Fine." He looked at the photo, Frisk giving him a better view of it. "How much do you know of Chara, the human in that photo?"
'Only that they fell into the Underground, were rescued by you and taken in by your family, they hated humans and one day, they fell ill and died.'
"Most of that is true. Chara and I were best friends, getting into so much mischief together," Asriel said fondly. "Sure, they weren't the greatest person, but they were the first friend I had. And they did hate humans. Why, they never said. But they loved Monsters and they wanted us to go free."
Frisk could see Asriel starting to shake. Which was strange, as he was just an apparition, that shouldn't be possible.
"One day, while we were playing, Chara reminded me of the time we made Butterscotch pie for dad. But rather than putting in cups of butter, we put in buttercups instead."
Frisk had a sinking feeling in their gut.
"Those flowers got dad really sick. It was a mistake, but Chara laughed it off. After, they told me they had a plan to free everyone. A Monster with a human Soul is strong enough to cross the barrier. So, they ate those flowers and killed themself, so I could absorb their Soul."
Frisk felt their heart do a loop in their chest. Why would Chara do such a thing? Why kill themself? Why go to such extremes?
"But… something happened when I absorbed Chara's Soul."
Frisk felt confused for only a second, but then they took a guess what happened. 'Let me guess, they woke up in your body. Just like I woke up in this one.'
Asriel nodded. "It was more than that, though. The control of the body was actually split between us. They're the one who picked up their own body. And when we got to the village, they had wanted to… to…" Asriel started to cry. Frisk wished they could comfort him, but they weren't able to touch him. "They wanted to use our full power to kill everyone. But… I fought them. And as we fought, the humans struck us, which is what killed us. And the last thing I remember, we had stumbled into dad's garden and then everything went black."
Now Asriel was fully crying. Frisk felt horrible. They wanted to help him, at least hug him, but that wasn't possible.
'Asriel,' they signed, but he didn't see. "Asriel," they spoke and he looked at them. 'It wasn't your fault.' They weren't sure what to say other than that.
"But it is. It is my fault. If… if I hadn't fought Chara, we wouldn't have died. Mom wouldn't hate dad and he wouldn't have had to declare war," he wept. "I… I should have killed them! I should have killed those humans before they…"
"Stop," Frisk said firmly, getting his attention. "Stop talking like that." They looked at Asriel and put all their effort into speech. "You did the right thing. If you had fought, if you had killed, you would have gone to war anyway and then you all would be dead, before everyone else died. Then I wouldn't be here and neither would you."
"But… if I had done something, fought the humans, then Chara and I wouldn't have…"
"You don't know that," Frisk said decisively. "If you had given Chara even an inch, war would still have happened. I know it's easy, to think that the world is 'kill or be killed', but it's not. This world down here proved that to me. It doesn't have to be you or them. Not all the time."
Asriel sniffed, wiping tears from his eyes. "I… I guess that's true. But… it's still my fault, isn't it?"
"No, it's not," they denied. "It's Chara's. They were the one who pushed you to do that. They were the one who wanted to kill people. Killing… is wrong."
Asriel looked down. "They just wanted to free everyone. And… they were my friend."
Frisk shook their head. "Real friends don't ask to kill. Freedom shouldn't come at the price of lives. Maybe Chara wanted to help you, but if they were really a friend, then they would know that you wouldn't want to kill. And if they really wanted to free everyone, then they would find another way. A better way."
Asriel sighed again. "I… I guess you're right," he decided. "They were my friend, but they weren't the best person, either."
Frisk reached over to pat Asriel's back, only remembering at the last moment they couldn't touch him. 'It wasn't your fault, so don't blame yourself for what happened. I don't want to speak ill of the dead, or accuse Chara of anything, but it was their fault.'
"I guess. I feel horrible for thinking that, but I guess it's true."
Frisk sighed. 'Man. That's a lot to take in. Mom's going to flip when she hears it.'
"What?! No! You can't tell her!" Asriel shouted.
'Why? She should know, as should your dad.'
"No, they can't know," Asriel begged. "Please Frisk, you can't tell my parents what happened, or what's become of me. I… I think it would just hurt them more if they learned."
'Asriel…'
"Please, Frisk, don't tell them. If they knew what me and Chara did… it would just break their hearts. I… I don't want to do that to them. Please."
Frisk swung their legs in thought. 'Can I at least tell them you're here?'
"No. Never that. It would just hurt them. Let them mourn me, let them heal. Knowing I'm here would just break their hearts."
'It won't bother you? I mean, in a sense, they have replaced you with me.'
Asriel steeled himself, making his expression neutral. "No. It won't. It doesn't."
Frisk wasn't sure they believed that. 'Okay, if you think so. But… can I at least tell my friends?'
"Why? They don't know me."
'I don't want to keep things secret from them. You saw how well that worked out last time,' Frisk signed, referring to the surface. 'Can I at least tell them about you?'
Asriel debated on that for a while, weighing the consequences in his mind. They have proven trustworthy so far, as neither one had breathed a word of Frisk's secret. "If you can make them promise to tell no one, then sure. Provided you can make them believe you."
'I'll try,' Frisk signed. A thought occurred to them just then. 'Hey, I just realized. Since your mom adopted me, that makes you my brother.'
Asriel looked surprised to hear that, then thought on it for a moment. "Huh. I guess you're right. Technically, you are my brother."
'Cool. I've always wanted a sibling,' Frisk signed excitedly.
Asriel chuckled. "Well, I'm not really here, though. Just a spirit that can talk to you. I'm not even sure if I have a Soul."
'Well, you seem to be using mine,' Frisk pointed out. Another thought occurred to them. 'Wait. You said that you and Chara were able to control your body. Can… can you control mine?'
Asriel tensed up, which gave Frisk the answer they needed.
'You can! That explains what mom said that morning. You were controlling me?'
"Yeah. I'm not entirely sure how it works, or how much I can control, or when. But when I want to, I can control your body like its mine."
Frisk shuffled on the bed. 'Well, just don't do it without asking me first, okay? It's my body and I don't want you controlling me like a puppet.'
"Okay, I promise. Not without your permission."
End of Chapter 17
7
