Arc 1: The story begins
Nowadays, the Surface world lived in peace: in the country of Ebott, which took its name from the great mountain range and the highest of all, Mt Ebott, where the people of monsters had long lived locked up after a terrible war.
It had not been easy but, after more than a millennium and thanks to everyone's work, monster-human relations were currently in good shape. A week after the speech given at the Ebott Assembly, where the child ambassador of the monsters had been invited to speak, all we were talking about was the future preparations to come. Many were eager to hear the spokesperson for the nation of monsters speak on this subject, that is to say Frisk, and many requests for interviews had been solicited at the Ebott embassy or in the capital of New Home.
However, the next day, the journalists who rushed to meet him were stunned to learn that the young child Frisk was resting at Second House. The embassy team, represented by Secretary Grace Houston, had been designated to fulfill all of its obligations for an indefinite period. Under Mt Ebott, the king announced that he would temporarily take over most of the functions of his proxy, but he made sure to ease the concerns of the population who did not understand such a change of heart.
Over the past days, monsters and humans alike had wondered; most newspapers were speculating, while no one really knew the reason behind such a replacement. This had surprised the curious more than when they discovered, two years previously, that the ambassador was such a young, anonymous child.
Very little had been said to explain this decision; even the king of the Monsters, Asgore Dreemurr, was vague on this subject in the face of the increasingly insistent questions he was asked - however, the majority of the monsters had decided to trust the decision of their sovereign.
However, the story was different on the human side, much to Asgore's misfortune.
All week that had passed, the monster had not stopped looking for a way to return to the embassy, but he could not escape his pursuers, who awaited him each time he visited the human city. Wherever he went and whenever, we managed to flush him out before Asgore managed to take the slightest step quietly.
As a result, the monarch had appeared little over the past week. These secrecies and shenanigans could be poorly received and lead to questions - everyone was aware of this - but none of them wanted anyone, other than themselves, to know about the incident that had occurred, and the adults had all agreed to keep the secret: the same instructions had been applied to Asriel and Frisk, to which Toriel had been intransigent. This could be too problematic to handle, and their progress could be jeopardized if this information was misused.
During his rare visits, a few courageous reporters - mainly those who were the least impressed by the big goat Boss Monster, tried to question him at each of his visits which had now become secret and set up regular ambushes that he had until - there managed to avoid... barely.
Today, however, Asgore actually thought he would have a chance.
"Let's hope they finally got tired of it." Skeptical, Asgore checked the deserted surroundings of the embassy again, the building being right in front of him.
After so much difficulty getting there, this time, no one intercepted him. He had made sure to come by hidden paths and routes, out of sight: a feat with his build. Outside, no one had waited for him; discreetly, he entered the embassy building. Still nothing: the king of the Underground sighed with relief at having finally managed to come.
Perfect, we can go, he decided, looking down the empty embassy corridor. Confident, the monster walked through the front door and took a step inside.
Then, out of nowhere, a whole wave of microphones and cameras blocked him, capturing his stunned expression:
"King Dreemurr, why such a replacement? Would you have decided to change ambassador? Is your decision linked to the speech to the Assembly?" The human journalists kept asking questions, not allowing Asgore to escape or respond.
Reflexively, the big monster raised his hands in front of him, as if to protect himself from his attackers, and backed away slightly.
"Oh, golly. I, uh..."
Cornered, Asgore opened and closed his mouth under his thick yellow beard, and the human eyes were eager to hear his explanations, their pens in hand on their notebooks ready to take notes. He tried, but the words did not come naturally to him: lost, Asgore did not know what to do to get out of it, when a familiar growl behind his back rose:
"We're tired of this nonsense, we're not going to spend the day there!"
An irritated Undyne appeared from behind her lord's back, facing the annoying crowd. The blue fish woman glared at those who were bothering them; Most of the men present took a step back from the visibly upset monster soldier.
"Listen up, you leech: we're here for important business, not to chat, and none of us have time for your stupid interrogation. So I'll let you choose: either you leave in ten seconds max, or I'll have the pleasure of reducing your equipment to pieces."
Before Asgore stopped her, a cyan spear appeared in Undyne's hand to support her words, causing a chorus of gasps from the annoyancers: the message was clear. In any case, this is enough for the journalists, heads down and sheepish, to abandon the blockade of the corridor to go out. When the last of them left, Asgore frowned in what he wanted to be a reproachful way, but it didn't work well. The monster barely outlined his lips: defeated, he gave up, not knowing how to go about it correctly. Useless, I can't do it like Toriel: I never knew how to do it, Asgore admitted, his heart too soft to appear angry, even while pretending.
However, although he knew that Undyne had not acted with the aim of harming him, he saw fit to call his former student to order.
"Undyne, I know you wanted to help me – and I'm grateful too – but we can't use our magic to intimidate humans like that."
"Yeah, yeah..." she grumbled at his admonishment, reluctantly putting away her magical weapon which disappeared in a flash. "But because of them, we have never been able to return to the embassy peacefully until now. We still risk attracting attention; they will surely return, and with more of them."
"So, let's take this opportunity to go to the room where Frisk was locked up." Asgore decided, knowing their time was running out. That was the purpose of their visit: to go there and find out what had happened here earlier this week.
Right after his speech, Frisk was imprisoned and attacked here, inside the embassy. Papyrus and Undyne who were supposed to bring him back had finally noticed the problem and had done everything they could to get him out of it. But, unfortunately, none of them had been able to open the door that separated them from the child, until Asgore joined them after his own confrontation with Senator Jordan Krim – a horrible and horrible man. anti-monster who had held him back all the time Frisk was imprisoned. But that night, while trying to get him out of this trap, the king discovered that a strange magic had been worked by an unknown force.
Asgore blamed himself terribly for what had happened to Frisk, and although the child held it against him in no way - the next day, when the big goat had apologized to him, Frisk had rushed to assuring that everything was fine with a huge smile - the monster king felt as if he had failed in his role as guardian.
Everyone was counting on the results of their investigation; in addition to Undyne, two members of the Dog Guard accompanied them – Doggo who cautiously spied the surroundings with his narrowed eyes, and the Greater Dog more excited than ever at the idea of "play". They were the best bloodhounds in the kingdom: their highly developed sense of smell was a great asset for sniffing out the slightest clue, even a strange smell. They had to look for the slightest determining element to understand what had happened; Undyne already suspected the senator of deceiving them, but no one could be sure. Accusing him without evidence other than a simple coincidence would not be wise. And, if there were other culprits, they had to find out who they were.
Determined to get answers, Asgore took charge of the group.
"Let's go."
His heavy footsteps echoing and the sound of his cloak fluttering behind his back, as well as his face taking on a rare expression of severity - it was in reality his apprehension that he was trying to hide. That, and with his troop following him, the monster seemed ready to go into battle even without his armor. Despite the absence of his crown on his hair today, Asgore looked more regal than ever. Behind him, Undyne gave the signal to the monsters who were waiting quietly outside.
Let us hurry to this place. I'm sure we'll find something there, Asgore hoped, his troops following him to the location they should be inspecting. Then a little thought about Frisk and Asriel, who they still knew at Toriel's, came to him and he wondered absently: I haven't seen them since I left Tori's house. I wonder how these two are doing now?
-oOo-
Toriel's House:
"Come on, Frisk! It's no fun if you don't fight back!"
"Hmmhmm"
To tell the truth, Frisk was absolutely not focused on the television and the game that was broadcasting the fight, turning against him. The noises broadcast the sound of the characters and their actions, as well as that of the kid next to him who was much more invested than him. The character of Frisk, a little samurai cat, barely avoided the attacks and was mercilessly atomized by the opponent in front; a sort of angel armed with a double saber – it was Asriel's.
Finally, the young monster pressed an action button and, after a final attack of light which ejected the feline warrior out of the arena, the word "YOU LOSE" was displayed on his side of the screen, while " YOU WIN" appeared on the other side.
It was a humiliating and complete defeat, but Frisk was far too distracted to even care. The lack of reaction from him was significant; understanding that there was no point in continuing, Asriel decided to stop the game he had started with his human brother a few hours ago.
After the little prince asked her when they were really bored, Toriel allowed them to play on the home console. Lately, it was one of their few distractions. Because of all these journalists who wanted to meet them, their mother had decided to limit their trips to the house and its surroundings until everything calmed down a little. It didn't offer much opportunity for fun. People had gradually stopped bothering them, especially after Toriel, very irritated, had ordered them to stop bothering them before they regretted it - her angry face had been enough to convince the visitors to limit their movements.
At the moment, Toriel was not there, going away to look for some things and, not being able to leave the house without her with all these indiscreet people, Asriel had decided to have fun with Frisk on one of the games that they had at home.
But today, the human didn't seem very motivated. In fact, ever since they woke up, he had been looking at him very strangely, regularly giving him disconcerted side glances.
Like now.
His friend had never acted in this way, it was quite disturbing.
A little embarrassed by this attention, Asriel placed his joystick on the ground and, facing Frisk, he smiled nervously. "Wh-What is it, Frisk? Don't you want to play anymore?"
"Nothing serious" replied the child who, this time, studied him from top to bottom without hiding his curiosity. "But I would like you to explain something to me that has been bothering me for a while."
"What is ?"
"Look, I definitely don't know much about monsters or your development, but I'm trying to figure something out and I definitely don't want to be rude." Frisk looked deadly serious, rubbing his chin and his face very focused on him, as if facing the biggest question of his life.
About monsters? Now, Asriel was very intrigued and leaned closer to him. "What would you like to know about us? I can try to answer you as best I can."
The child took a deep breath and, deciding to go for it, he formulated the question that had been bothering him for a while: "Is it normal for monsters to have big growth spurts, or is it just a Boss Monster thing?"
Faced with this request, to say the least... surprising, Asriel didn't know what to answer immediately. Then his mouth formed into an understanding "o", the realization dawning on him: "Right. I sometimes forget that you humans don't develop like us, monsters."
"No... Definitely not" Frisk confirmed without hesitation, looking back at the young goat monster.
Since his fall from Mt Ebott and his encounter with the monster people, the human child had discovered his fair share of strangeness and he discovered lots of things, like an entire sealed civilization and magic. But he never would have thought that a monster could grow suddenly, in the space of one night. It was even more astonishing that the rest of this house was considered normal – was it?
Just yesterday, he and Asriel were about the same height. When they awoke, however, the kid got up from his bed with a strange surprise: his clothes had shrunk - or rather, he had suddenly become too big for them - and the young monster had grown by at least four inches. Above his head, his tuft of hair had grown even longer - the roots were even beginning to tinge with gold here and there. Under his snout, the small fangs had lengthened a little, and the claws on his hands and feet were thickening. His childish figure had lost its baby goat curves, to appear a little older.
Asriel was relieved that it wasn't more important. "Phew, you reassure me: I thought I had a leftover salad between my teeth. And, to answer your question: yes. Monsters have a sudden growth phase before becoming older."
Frisk was a little more enlightened about the situation now. "It's like our puberty thing. I understand better, but it was really a surprise that I saw you like that this morning. You and Mom acted so normally that I thought I looked an idiot for asking you. Talk about a big change."
"Still, my horns are really in no hurry to get out of there." Asriel grimaced, one of his paws brushing the hair on his head which remained free of the slightest bump. He sighed, a little dejected: "It's starting to worry me: normally, they should appear around my push, but it doesn't seem to be coming."
Frisk avoided making fun of his worry, while the young prince seemed really concerned by his absence. He thinks: We should ask Asgore if he, too, had to wait a long time to get his horns.
But, and he admitted with a slight sadness, no one had really been there since the laboratory disaster: everyone seemed very busy with different tasks. And since what happened, Frisk had to stay home to rest; Toriel and Asgore had insisted on this, explaining to him that it was more prudent and for his safety. This meant that he could no longer directly fulfill his role as ambassador, which was "temporarily and partially" withdrawn from him - Asgore had clarified this point, seeing to his crestfallen face. Once everything was settled, if he wanted, Frisk could return to his old duties. Even though he understood that the adults were trying to protect him, Frisk had been hit hard by this loss of his title that he had worn proudly.
Because of that, he felt... left out. Fortunately, Asriel kept him company and made sure to distract him; however, Frisk sometimes got caught up in his thoughts. About his Soul, that weird place where the creature had attacked him. This voice, too, which had not reappeared for several days.
Yet, Frisk knew it was still there: he felt its presence, cold and disturbing, in his head every time he thought about it. As if it was spying on him, hidden in the shadows: this feeling had never left him, even now.
But he refused to let it bother him more than necessary, and the child had made sure that no one suspected that anything was bothering him. No one of them should be worried about it: everyone had something to do. Frisk would have to fend for themselves to get rid of this unwanted guest.
As Asriel continued to lament on his missing horns, Frisk listened to him with a small compassionate smile, when a flash of fatigue hit him suddenly. Involuntarily, a large yawn escaped him, to the point that the child thought his jaw was dropping.
"Waaah~"
The little Boss Monster next to him noticed his sudden drop in energy, and stopped whining to ask him, "Hey, are you okay? I find you quite tired."
"Possibly..." Frisk admitted, rubbing an exhausted eye. That wasn't the only strange thing that had happened to him: ever since the whole affair, he felt like he was much less awake and alert than usual. This worried him more than he let it be known, not knowing if it had to do with his Soul. Maybe I should talk to Alphys about it, at least?
But she wasn't there, and Frisk didn't know when he would be able to see her again, the scientist having returned to her laboratory in the Hotlands. The child tried to make a better look in front of Asriel, forgetting his exhaustion, and handed him the joystick that his friend had left behind. "Do you want to play a new game? This time, victory is for me!"
"Huh... If you want, Frisk" Asriel tried to focus on the television, while his friend chose his game character; However, he couldn't help but believe that Frisk was pretending to appear normal.
As Asriel selected his own warrior and the fight began; this time, however, he was the one who was distracted. The little monster couldn't help but briefly spy on Frisk - too busy beating him up to notice - and, beyond that, his Soul which he knew lay there. Holding her the last time, Asriel had sensed this dark spot deep inside him. The one that the young human hid under all this light and that, upon contact with the ethereal heart, the young monster had discovered. He didn't know if Frisk was aware of it themselves, and Asriel preferred not to talk about it.
Everyone had their secrets; the human child had the right to possess them and keep them silent. But Asriel had thought about it a lot, more than he would have liked. The child monster only hoped that it wouldn't haunt Frisk. Sometimes I wonder about Frisk's past, Asriel thought to himself as the game continued in reality, while his mind drifted away. He was very concerned, and for fair fear. Chara went to Mt Ebott, and it wasn't for a happy reason; Frisk never talked about it, and none of us asked. Maybe we're afraid to know, and maybe he isn't himself. However, I wonder why...
"Children, I'm home!" Toriel's clear voice rang out at the entrance to the house, as she returned from her run which had lasted longer than expected. It's much nicer to come home now that those annoying journalists have learned their lesson, she thought as the Boss Monster took off her outdoor jacket.
As soon as they heard it, Frisk and Asriel got up, forgetting the match in progress, then joined their mother to welcome her. Still near the door on the doormat, Toriel picked them up in her arms to kiss them lovingly one after the other.
Frisk held onto her neck and buried his head there, enjoying her comforting warmth; above, her throat vibrated a little, when the mother goat leaned to speak to her child: "Frisk, dear, Alphys called me during my trip about you: she would like you to join her today to take some exams – it's nothing scary, I reassure you – in order to push the checks on your Soul. She made sure that this happened in the best possible conditions, and she would like to take stock as quickly as possible."
"Oh okay. I'll go, of course" Frisk didn't expect Alphys to want to see him so quickly. However, it relieved him that they would still be trying to figure out what was happening to his Soul. Hopefully everything would be clearer afterwards; he trusted the lizard monster to find an explanation.
"Wonderful," Toriel smiled, before continuing, this time for her two children who listened attentively: "Asriel, now that you have had your growth spurt, you also need new clothes. Frisk too. So, today I decided that we will go to New Home together for a little shopping trip."
