A Friend's Comfort

Trigger warning in this chapter for emotional abuse.

...

Two weeks passed and Ralsei found he loved living with Frisk more and more. She was so friendly and sweet and always knew the best games to play. But there was one thing that detracted from his happiness, and it was a big thing, because it hurt the best friend he had ever remembered having.

Frisk's parents were NOTHING like their daughter.

They were barely around, leaving Frisk to fend for herself much of the time, and when they WERE around, they were apathetic and uncaring, mostly ignoring their small daughter, who wanted nothing more than to please them. Like she had mentioned that first day, she made most of her meals herself, and one morning when she had made them all bowls of cereal, they had just eaten it without saying thank you. When she tried to tell them about her day, she was met with one- or two-word responses, or told to go play, which she would, but Ralsei noticed it hurt her, and did his best to cheer her up.

And it all came to a head one afternoon, an afternoon that had started out really happy for Frisk. She came running home from school and up to her room with a bounce in her step and sparkles in her eyes. "Ralsei! Ralsei! I got all my letters written down right and Mr. Williams gave me a gold star sticker!"

Ralsei grinned and hugged her. "That's amazing, Frisk! I'm so proud of you!"

Frisk wriggled happily, bouncing even more. "And he said I did so good this week that I got to choose a prize from the treasure chest!" She pulled a little book out of her backpack and held it up proudly for Ralsei to see. The book was titled The Magic Castle and had a beautifully illustrated castle on the front, a happy little boy and girl standing in front of it proudly. "Isn't it great?! I can't wait to read it with you!"

Ralsei nodded happily. "It looks awesome!"

Just then, they heard the front door open. Frisk opened her door and cautiously went to the stairs, checking to see who it was. Her eyes lit up when she saw her mother come in, the brown-haired woman shuffling towards the couch tiredly.

"Mommy's home!" Frisk cheered, grabbing Ralsei's hand. "Let's go tell her about my test and show her my new book!" She grinned from ear to ear. "Maybe she'll read it to us!"

Ralsei followed her as she hurried down the stairs, but part of him, while he wanted to believe that Frisk's mother would do exactly that for Frisk's sake, was worried, remembering how little Frisk's mommy and daddy seemed to care about the things she told them before. He was scared they were, once again, going to hurt her feelings. But he couldn't bring himself to tell Frisk that. She was so happy right now, and his worries might be for nothing.

Frisk ran over to her mother, who was lying on the couch, burying her head in a pillow. "Mommy! Mr. Williams said I did extra good on writing my letters, so he gave me a gold star!" She held out her test happily. "See?"

"That's nice, Frisk," her mother mumbled, making no effort to look at the test or even move her head.

Ralsei frowned, not that Frisk's mother could see it, but Frisk was too excited to be dissuaded by her mother's lack of interest. "And he also said that I did so good this week that I got to pick a prize from the treasure chest! So I picked this book!" She put the test paper back and held out her book proudly. "It's called The Magic Castle, and it's about a little boy and girl who get a set of magic blocks from the boy's grandma that can bring anything they build to life! Can you read it to me and Ralsei? Please?"

Her mother groaned. "Frisk, I have a horrible headache, and I'm exhausted. You're perfectly capable of reading to yourself. Take your stuffed toy and go play or something so I can sleep."

Ralsei's heart ached as he saw Frisk's smile fall. She shuffled her feet a bit and looked down. "Oh. I'm sorry you're not feeling well, Mommy," she apologized, looking worried. She then smiled again. "But don't worry! I'll take care of you and make you feel all better!" She set her book down on the couch, then ran off, quickly returning with a glass of water in her hands, which she set down on the coffee table in front of her mom, who didn't seem to notice or care. Still, Frisk didn't give up. "And I know what to do to make you feel even better! Mr. Williams always reads us a story before we take a nap at school, so Ralsei and I can read to you!" She plopped down on the couch at her mother's feet, jostling the couch slightly, shifting closer to her mother and bumping her slightly as she made room for Ralsei to join them, which he did. She opened her book, spreading it across her and Ralsei's laps so he could see the pictures too and began to read. "Once upon a time, there was a little boy named Oliver and a little girl named Lily. They were the best of friends and loved to play together. One day, Oliver's grandmother gave them a sp-spee cell?"

Ralsei looked over the book, taking a minute himself to remember what the word was. "Special," he told her with a smile.

Frisk's eyes lit up. "Special! Thanks, Ralsei!" she said happily before continuing the story. "Oliver's grandmother gave them a special set of magic blocks. "These are no ord-ord-" She struggled a bit with the word, then slowly sounded it out. "Or-din-ary... Ordinary!" she cheered. "These are no ordinary blocks," Oliver's grandmother said. "If you..."

"Damn it, Frisk, will you stop talking?!" Frisk's mother yelled, causing Frisk and Ralsei to jump and turn towards the woman, whose cold blue eyes glared at her daughter. "I TOLD you I had a headache and to leave me alone! Why can't you ever listen?! You're so annoying sometimes I can't stand it!"

Ralsei could only stare in horror and anger as Frisk's own mother shouted such cruel words at his best friend. "How-How could you just..." He turned to look at Frisk, who sank lower and lower at each word, her eyes filling with tears as her tiny body shook. He touched her shoulder. "Frisk..."

Before he could say any more, Frisk leapt off the couch, her book falling to the floor. A soft sob escaping her, she fled the room.

"Frisk!" Ralsei called after her, but she was already gone. He glared at Frisk's mother, who was now sitting on the couch, watching her daughter run off with a complicated expression. He shook with rage. "You were mean to her! You go say sorry!" he screamed at her, forgetting for a moment that she couldn't see his Dark World form.

And of course, she couldn't hear him either. Instead she shook her head and sighed softly, wincing and running her fingers through her short brown hair before making herself comfortable on the couch again. "...She's tough. She'll get over it," she muttered to herself before closing her eyes.

Ralsei knew Frisk wouldn't.

Giving his best friend's mother one last glare, he picked up Frisk's book and ran upstairs after her.

...

"Frisk?" Ralsei asked softly as he walked into the room, his heart breaking as he saw her sobbing brokenly on the bed. He climbed up on the bed, wrapping his arms around her. "Oh, Frisk..."

Frisk turned and clung to him, sobbing. "Why'd Mommy yell at me, Ralsei?" she whispered, her tears soaking his fur. "Why don't Mommy or Daddy like me or want to play with me? Am I bad?"

Ralsei held her closer, tears running down his face too. "No, Frisk, you're not bad! You're the kindest person I've ever met." Anger filled him. "They're the ones that are bad! You're always so nice to them and they're mean to you. That's not okay."

"I was noisy and being annoying when Mommy had a headache," Frisk mumbled. "That's why she was mad. It's my fault."

"No, it's not your fault! You were trying to help her feel better. You're not annoying in the slightest, and even if you were, she shouldn't have been so mean," Ralsei insisted. "I-I don't remember my parents, but I remember the parents in the store I used to be in, and Bradley's parents, and they weren't mean to their children! They loved them, and you don't treat people you love the way your mommy and daddy treat you."

"Then-Then why don't Mommy and Daddy love me?" Frisk asked softly, and Ralsei's heart broke even further as he tried to figure out what to say to make her feel better. What could he say?

"I...I don't think it's that. ...Maybe...Maybe their heads and souls are too messed up to know how to love anyone correctly," he said softly. "Maybe they don't know how to be good. But no matter what it is, it's not your fault, only theirs. You're the kindest, sweetest, most wonderful person I've ever met, and I love you, Frisk." He nuzzled her softly. "You're my best friend in the whole entire world."

She hugged him back. "You're my best friend too. I love you, Ralsei."

He smiled with tears in his eyes, holding her closer. After a little while, he smiled softly, having an idea that might cheer her up a little. "I brought your book upstairs. Why don't I read it to you?"

She smiled for the first time since coming up here. "I'd like that."

...

Together, Frisk and Ralsei read through Oliver and Lily's adventures in the magic castle, admiring the pictures. At the end of the story, Oliver's grandmother came to take them home.

"As they walked away, Oliver and Lily turned back and looked at the magic castle. It was still there, standing tall and proud," Ralsei read. "They knew that as long as they had their imaginations, they could always return to the magic castle and have new adventures."

Frisk's eyes shone. "That was amazing! I wish we had a set of blocks like that!" she said. "Then we could have a big castle to live in and have lots of adventures every day!"

Ralsei smiled, taking both her hands in his. "When I get big and strong enough to use magic and find my old home, wherever that is, I'll take you with me and build you a really big castle just like the one in this book! I promise!"

"Really?" Frisk asked in wonder.

"Yeah! And we can even build a whole town along with it! We'll call it Castletown, and it'll have lots of shops and places to play, and we'll make lots of friends and we can all live together and be happy!" Ralsei said excitedly. "We won't have to ever be alone again!"

Frisk's eyes lit up. "That'd be so great!"

The two best friends curled together under the blankets, happily discussing what their castle and town would look like and what they'd do in it.

Creating a world that one day would become real, one that Frisk's parents would never be allowed to touch.

...

For those who wanted to know, Lola(Frisk's) mother, was going through drug withdrawal(not that Frisk and Ralsei knew that at the time) and really did have a horrible headache, though what she said to Frisk was nowhere near okay. She did feel guilty for what she said, though she came from an abusive environment herself and didn't know what to do afterwards or how to handle the tears, so like many times throughout her and Frisk's dysfunctional relationship, she pushed the guilt aside and ignored it.

Also, the few lines from The Magic Castle aren't from a real book but based, not exactly, on an AI generated story I had an AI I was beta testing, though I made changes to it. None of the rest of this fic has been anywhere near an AI generator.