FRISK

LV 1

HP 50/40

G 10

Frisk hadn't slept like this in a long, long time. Dreamlessly. Like a rock- and she knew that this was how rocks slept because some of them had told her so when she asked. It was very, very nice- she had long given up on having good dreams, and preferred times like this when she saw nothing at all.

At some point, she felt something new in her sleep; a warm glowing spread throughout her body, soothing every part of her that it touched and bringing her closer to consciousness. That feeling almost woke her up, seeing green on the back of her eyelids, but when she stirred she heard voices overhead that she wasn't interested in engaging. Wanting to prolong her nap, she decided against waking up; the voices disappeared as she fell away from it all. The glowing also disappeared in time, but she didn't mind. Maybe it would come back soon.

Eventually, though, she knew she had to open her eyes again.

When she did, it took her a long time to understand that she was not in her normal bed. She was not in the MTT Hotel, either, and she wasn't in some part of Hotland that she'd picked to be her resting place.

She was deep within a golden flowerbed, accompanied by the gentle weight of something covering her body. It was calm, but it was also far too familiar. Her eyes opened wide and she sat straight up, half throwing off the white thing covering her as she glanced left and right. She hadn't- she hadn't- ?

But then her terrified gaze latched on to Undyne, sitting right next to her in a black tank top. The monster smiled big at her and said, "Woah, you okay?"

Frisk's neck ached; she raised a hand and found that the skin, however, was not painful to the touch and she couldn't feel any red welts. Her limbs were doing fine, not throbbing or feeling like they were about to fall off. She was breathing normally, and even couldn't tell where Flowey had dug right into her with his thorny vines - although she had plenty of rips in her sweater. In fact, she felt better than she'd felt in a long time. She could smell the flowers that crowded around her body, all very sweet.

So taking a deep breath, Frisk nodded at Undyne.

Afterwards Undyne held out a big mug for her; Frisk tasted water inside, which she had expected to be tea, and so coughed up when it hit her tongue. Unexpectedly for how good the rest of her felt, her throat was completely dry. She finished the water in only a few gulps; when she set the mug down, there was another one already being held out for her.

"Ain't this a kick?" Undyne said. "This time I'm the one giving you water."

Frisk snorted and sipped, rubbing her eyes with one free hand. Now that she was calming down, she recognized this place as the king's throne room, or rather the old throne room. It was without the thrones now, of course, but the distant chirping of birds on the surface of the mountain was so familiar she couldn't not recognize this place. But what was she doing here? She put her question to Undyne with an inclination of her head.

"Dude, finish that, you were seriously dehydrated," she replied instead of answering. "I mean, I know Papyurs healed you, but damn. Those idiots didn't even realize it at first."

Those idiots? Frisk looked around the throne room again, while dutifully drinking the rest of the liquid. Where were the others, anyway?

Dr. Gaster was sitting away from them, against the far wall and no longer wearing his lab coat. Looking down, Frisk saw it still covering up her legs.

Aww... She folded it up.

But Undyne was handing out another mug to her, which she accepted with a sigh. This would be the last one; without any food, she might throw up otherwise. Giving the coat back would have to wait. Dr. Gaster wasn't looking at them, anyway; his hands were over his face.

His hands didn't have holes in them.

"Aah..." Frisk looked back to Undyne. "... What... happened?"

"I seriously don't know?-?-?" Undyne threw up her hands, even squatting as she was, and Frisk coughed up more water. "I just woke up on the ground and went looking for you guys, and I ran into Papyrus on the way over to meet the chucklehead and- well, he and the doc were both carrying you, and we all just kinda regrouped up here." She shrugged, "Sans is calling everyone we know to make sure we haven't worried them. Papyrus would have done it, but his phone's screen has a huge honking crack in it, so he can't open anything else up."

Frisk swallowed down some of the water hard, smiling nervously. Oops.

"Whaaaaat's that look?" Undyne gave her a knowing smirk. "You know something about that?"

"Um..."

The fish monster nodded and slapped her on the back, as if she knew the answer already. "You little squirt! Break your own stuff!" But, in the next second, the smile faded, "Oh, hey... Sans says you scared the crap out of him."

Her smile also vanishing, a lump forming in her throat, Frisk thought back to her last moments before passing out. Sans' tiny eyes. It was true. ...She'd never seen him look scared before. That was another first. Well... she hadn't meant to scare him, whatever it was that did it. Everything had just been such a big rush, from start to finish. She still felt worn out, even if her body was refreshed.

Undyne was saying, "So you should let him know you're okay when he gets back. Papyrus, too. Oh my god was he bawling his eyes out, he thought you were dead at first!"

From a distance, Dr. Gaster was cringing. Frisk didn't see any sign of Papyrus here. "Is he with Sans?"

"Nah," Undyne handed her another mug, which the child just held. "He went to go get something, he said. Should be back soon."

From that point where she passed out backwards, everything from before was slowly coming back to her. As she looked at Undyne, sitting so close and protectively, her eyes filled up and the child leaped forward, taking her by surprise. She wrapped her arms around her friend's shoulders and squeezed tight, smiling. "You saved my life, back there. Thank you."

Seeing a red blush from the corner of her eye, Frisk heard Undyne sputter, "So that dream wasn't-...? Y-yeah, well, no problem! All in a day's work! ...Even if I can't really remember most of that. But I'm sure whatever I did, it was badass!"

Frisk laughed, and the two smiled big at each other.

But now without any more water to hold her back, Frisk folded up the lab coat and looked back in Dr. Gaster's direction. "So... what's wrong with him?"

"Let me say it again!" Undyne yelled, and Frisk started to grin from where she was sitting. "I seriously don't know?-?-?" She huffed and continued, in a slightly quieter tone, "He looked like he was losing it for a while, though. Even now, he hasn't moved at all from where he's sitting. Do you know what's up with him?"

She had an idea, but it was only an idea. Furrowing her brows and setting her mouth in a line, Frisk picked up the folded coat and walked over to where Dr. Gaster was sitting alone. He wasn't looking at her at first, so she rustled the coat in her arms to get his attention. When she looked up, she couldn't read his expression at all- it was so much harder on skeletons, normally.

But she wasn't looking at his face so much as she was his hands, which were intact and unlike how they were in the dark world. But she remembered reading in his notes that he had punched holes in them to get the material for cloning Sans and Papyrus. It had sounded horribly painful. So the fact that they were intact again, here... Like in Chara's memory of him...

A memory of him that was nicer, even if not by much. A Gaster that didn't have the impossibly high LV. The more you distance yourself, the less you will hurt. That was what Sans said. Frisk wondered what would happen if someone who had distanced themselves from a lot of things suddenly had that distance closed again. She wondered if he was in hell right now.

So quietly she asked, "Are you okay?"

He looked at her as if she'd just babbled nonsense, not saying anything or signing anything- she wouldn't understand it, but that had never stopped him before. He just looked away from her.

Ah, was she again going to have to carry on the conversation herself? Maybe so, since she didn't see Papyrus' phone (broken or otherwise) anywhere nearby. So the child stood thinking of something to say, while Dr. Gaster waited. Was "thank you for the help" enough, would it be a good thing to say to him? Or would it only draw attention to what he did?

"✋ ✡ 👎 💧✋ ✋❄📪 💣✌✡ ✋ ✌✞ ✋❄ 👌✌👍😐✍"

She jumped at attention with his speech. He was holding out his hand for the lab coat. In response, almost automatic, she stuck her tongue out at him and ran back to Undyne. "!?" She heard him make a sound of surprise, and then his footsteps were following after her.

But she already sat right back down next to Undyne, holding the coat tight in her arms.

He stood in front of her in moments. Beside him, his psychic hands began to sign, " ✡ ✌ ✡ 👎✋ 💣✡ 👍 ✌❄ 💧❄✌ ✍"

Undyne looked from the doctor to Frisk. "Dude, he wants his coat back."

Frisk shook her head.

"✋ ✡ 👎 ❄ ✋✞ ✋❄ 👌✌👍😐 ✋ ✌💣 ❄✌😐✋ ✋❄ 💣 ✡ "

She didn't need Undyne to tell her what he was saying next; his vexed expression told her enough. Suddenly, Frisk smiled and held the coat out like she'd never refused. Puzzled, Dr. Gaster put it back on as though expecting she would try to snatch it back if it weren't being worn, while the child then used both hands the pat the ground near them. There was no need for him to sit by himself, and Undyne was probably not going to start throwing spears if she hadn't been already.

He didn't sit down at her invitation, not immediately. There seemed to be a tension keeping him standing. After a moment he sighed, though, and with Frisk looking at him expectantly he finally agreed to her silent request, sitting down on in the bed of golden flowers.

As he did, he uttered and signed something with a dark expression on his face. "✡ ✋ 👎 ❄ 💣 📬 ✡ 💣✋💧 👎 ✡ 👎 ❄ ❄✌😐 💣 👌✌👍😐 ✋❄ ✡ 📬"

Frisk paused, looking to Undyne. Undyne said, leaning back on her hands, "He says you lied about not taking him back. Woah, did you actually promise that?-?"

Now she remembered that promise, which had faded with the memory of her nightmare. Wincing, the child looked guilty for a moment before smiling and picking at a blade of grass. "... I did. But... I had my fingers crossed."

Although she meant that as a joke, he simply looked exasperated and tired with it. So sheepishly Frisk added, "Sorry, though."

Sighing roughly, Dr. Gaster covered his face with his hands again and his body shook the slightest amount, before he regained his composure. Frisk couldn't tell if he was angry or anything else, but when he spoke again his speech was softer, "👎 ❄📬📬📬 ❄ 💣 📬 ❄ ✌ 😐 ✡ 📪 ✌❄ ✋❄ ✋💧 ❄ 📬 👌 ❄📬📬📬"

"He says thanks," Undyne said with a wry grin.

Dr. Gaster looked to them both and fell silent for a second, staring at the ground with his hand to support his head. He moved his face up just a little, glancing in Frisk's direction. "📬📬📬 ✌💧 ✋❄✍"

Undyne said, "He wants to know how 'it' was?"

Frisk paused, lying back in the flowers as she thought back to that moment in the Core. "Mmm..." She sat back up and laughed, pulling a leaf from her hair "Ummm that dog head blasting thing? That? That hurt less."

"📬📬📬 💧 ✡📬"

As Undyne said, "He says he's sorry," Frisk looked from her to Dr. Gaster and hurriedly shook her head. "No, it's okay."

" 📪 ✋❄ ✋💧 ❄📬"

"And besides," she went on, smiling big, "you can make it up to me by teaching me sign language!"

As if he had expected it and yet not seen it coming at the same time, the skeleton sighed heavily and put his hands over his face. It made her want to laugh, since she'd seen that coming too, out of the other times he refused. ...Although from where she sat, she didn't see him say no. Grumbling in short syllables, he signed something with a psychic hand, and she wasn't completely sure but she didn't think that was a "no" either. Her excitement grew.

"Okay-" Undyne raised her voice before the child could say anything more, though, straightening up from where she sat. "What exactly happened with you two when I was passed out?"

Frisk's heart skipped. "Uh."

"..."

The child and the monster both looked to Undyne, expecting the other to start talking.

Luckily, they wouldn't have had a chance to say much even if they started to explain just what exactly Dr. Gaster did.

"FRISK YOU'RE OKAY!"

Frisk hardly had time to cry out before Papyrus had tackled her in a hug, and she gasped sharply while he lifted her off her feet.

It wasn't because it hurt, though. It was just that she had taken a lot of nastier surprises recently. But as Papyrus babbled loudly in her ear, the child let out her breath in a whoosh and started to smile huge. "YOU WERE NOT WAKING UP AND I THE GREAT PAPYRUS GOT SLIGHTLY CONCERNED HEH-NYEH I WAS NOT CRYING NO MATTER WHAT UNDYNE TOLD YOU BUT I SEE THAT MY HEALING DID THE TRICK?"

Frisk squirmed in his grip, "Papyrus!"

"EH?" As the child broke free, she turned around and rammed into him with a hug of her own. "OH! YES I AM SURE THAT IT MUST HAVE BEEN TERRIBLE TO NOT HAVE ME THERE! FEAR NOT, I-" He stopped, looking to Dr. Gaster. "AH! YOU'RE FINALLY RESPONDING AGAIN- DAD?-?-?"

The effect of that word was immediate; Dr. Gaster sank lower and almost seemed to claw at his own face. "👎 ❄ 👍✌ 💣 ❄ ✌❄✏" he yelled, hoarsely, in his unintelligible speech.

For a moment Papyrus looked concerned, but dauntlessly continued, "WELL YOU DIDN'T SEEM TO LIKE IT WHEN I CALLED YOU FATHER EITHER AND I THOUGHT IT WOULD CONFUSE SOME PEOPLE IF I CALLED YOU PAPA?-? BECAUSE MY NAME IS PAPYRUS WHICH HAS THE SAME FIRST THREE LETTERS?-? AND SOMETIMES SANS CALLS ME PAPS WHICH MAKES IT EVEN MORE SIMILAR, AND EVEN IF IT'S SLIGHTLY DIFFERENT SOUNDING I DIDN'T WANT TO RISK IT! AND ANYWAY YOU DON'T LOOK LIKE A-"

"💧 👌 📫 ✌ ✡ 💧✏ 💧❄ 📬"

Now Papyrus stopped talking, halted by whatever it was that he said. There were no signing blue hands for Undyne to translate as Frisk watched. She looked to Papyrus, and noticed that there was something small under one of his arms. The thing that he'd left to get, perhaps? She wanted a closer look.

But before she could sneak it out of Papyrus' arms, Dr. Gaster was speaking, a little quieter and strained, as he stood up, "💣 💧❄ 💣✡ ✋ 👎💧📫 💧❄ 👍✌ 💣 ✌💧❄ 📬"

Papyrus squealed, startling them all. "DOES THAT MEAN YOU WANT ME TO CALL YOU GASTER TOO BECAUSE WE'RE FRIENDS?"

Frozen in his tracks, shaken as though not aware of what he had done until he did it, all that the other could do was faintly nod.

Frisk suddenly became alarmed that Papyrus was going to hug Gaster, and the scientist would turn to dust as a result. If skeletons could look pale when they were already white, then he would surely be bleached by now. Maybe what he needed right now was space to take in some air.

Hoping that she could give him that room to breathe, Frisk tapped Papyrus on the hand and, when he looked over, pointed to the object under his arm. "NYEH? YOU WISH TO KNOW WHAT I WAS LOOKING FOR?"

Frisk nodded. "HOLD THIS FOR ME!" As Papyrus brought the object out, he handed over to the child a phone with a broken screen. "!" She checked it; it was still running, and still open to the translator app. But nothing moved when she tapped the screen experimentally. Papyrus was going to have to buy a new one, and this one hadn't been that old to begin with. She cringed.

But Papyrus was already holding out something for her to see; when she actually took a better look at it, she finally understood. It was a little cube with alternating colors, like tiles. The colors weren't scrambled completely, but with some kind of pattern to them; it was an obvious kitchen-tile pattern on one or two sides, but the others were trickier for her to guess. Was this a fancy paperweight? She looked at it for a bit, trying to figure out what the point was, before finally shrugging at Papyrus with a helpless smile. "... What is this?"

"IT'S MY OLD COLOR CUBE! WHEN I WAS GROWING UP IN TRUE LAB, I TOOK IT BACK TO MY CELL ONCE! GASTER WAS PRETTY MAD, BUT HE GAVE IT BACK TO ME FOR BEING GOOD! HE DIDN'T HAVE TO, BUT HE DID! IT'S HOW I KNEW THAT..."

Unbidden, as Papyrus spoke, one of the notes she'd read on the computer came back to her: "Having something to work on could at least aid in the development of his mental faculties, if nothing else will."

"Really?" She studied the pattern on the sides curiously. "So it's a puzzle?"

"YES! YOU SLIDE IT AROUND LIKE THIS, AND TURN THE X'S INTO O'S!"

"Turn the X's into-! Ah!" Now she understood, and she bounced in place, clapping her hands in front of her mouth. "Oh, I like it! What do you get if you win?"

Papyrus scowled at her. "THE SATISFACTION OF SOLVING THE PUZZLE!"

"That's kind of boring..." Frisk murmured.

"NONSENSE!" Suddenly Papyrus was holding the cube out to Frisk, and she set the phone down on the grass before accepting it. "HERE, HUMAN, I INSIST THAT YOU TRY AND SOLVE IT!"

"-I." Frisk looked over the pattern again. "Ah, it looks kind of hard."

"DON'T BE SILLY! IF I COULD DO IT, YOU COULD DO IT!"

She shrugged; if there wasn't going to be a reward in it, she wasn't sure it was worth the risk. "I think I've broken enough of your stuff already, Paps."

The skeleton thoughtfully reached to take the cube back. "WELLLLL I SUPPOSE THERE IS NO HARM IN QUITTING-"

Before either of them knew she had done it, Frisk jerked the color cube back, away from Papyrus' hands. "Uh!" She held her teeth together, looking at the thing. "I'm not quitting. I can solve it." She then hesitated, rubbing her eyes, and finally handed it back. "But... maybe I should do it later."

Papyrus patted her on the head. "GOOD! I AM ALREADY VERY PROUD OF YOU!"

The child giggled, smiling back at him. But it didn't stick; for a moment she looked at her surroundings, and noticed that at some point Dr. Gaster had stopped facing the group, staring at the ground again with his back to them both. To an extent, she could understand what he was feeling- she'd felt that kind of thing a few times over the time she spent in the colorless world. When it's so physically difficult just to look at someone, what's a person to do? The answer to that wasn't in words of any kind.

Frisk looked back at Papyrus. She also remembered; he wasn't wearing a smile like that in her nightmare. The expression he wore there was haunting her. "Um..." She brushed back some hair from her eyes. "Hey Papyrus, are you doing alright?"

"Nyeh...?"

For a moment, the moment when he understood what she meant, the expression on his face was unrecognizable. But then he gave a smile that was also unrecognizable. "It's going to get better," he said, in a quieter voice she also didn't recognize.

Then it was back to the regular old Papyrus shout, "AFTER ALL, IT'S MUCH BETTER TO REMEMBER WHAT HAPPENED THAN TO KNOW I'VE FORGOTTEN IT. I THINK... SANS WILL COME AROUND TO THAT TOO. SO NO WORRIES, HUMAN! I'M GLAD WE DID THIS!"

Frisk nodded at him, picking up his broken phone again. Was that really true?

It felt like so many lies had been told to her and told by her already...

But at least, she knew Papyrus wasn't very good at lying.

"yo, wingnut."

Speaking of Sans... From beyond the throne room he shuffled inside, looking weary and with a cellphone in one hand and a mostly empty jar of relish in the other. Frisk smiled his way and he smiled back, before walking up to Dr. Gaster, who again wasn't looking at him. "finally finished. had a long talk with alphys. she wants you to call her back."

Undyne bolted forward, "Hey! If anyone's going to talk to Alphys, it's going to be me!"

"well she asked for ding-dong over here," Sans shrugged.

Dr. Gaster stuck his hands in his pockets. "She's not going to understand me anyway," Frisk heard out of the phone, "Undyne might as well."

As Undyne snatched the phone away, Frisk heard Papyrus say, "IF YOU NEED SOMEONE TO TRANSLATE WHAT YOU'RE SAYING I CAN DO IT!"

"Uh..."

"oh, by the way paps," Sans said, fishing out relish, "can't make any stops on the way back to frisk's house. tori's kind of worried."

Dr. Gaster glanced up, bemused, as Papyrus gave his disappointed assent. "Tori?"

"oh yeah, queen toriel," Sans said, glancing casually over at him as he went rigid. "she's cool. we're buds. she's taking care of frisk, bein' a mom and all. huh," he mused as he grinned a bit wider at him, "i wonder if that will, uh, effect your sentencing or whatever."

To that, Dr. Gaster made no response. When Undyne was finished with the phone, she handed it off to him and he moved silently out of earshot, Papyrus hurrying after him. Frisk was just staring at the brother that was still standing there, scooping the last of the relish out of the jar with his bony fingers. She could just see the light hitting on the cold metal handplate under his sleeve.

"?" From where he was standing, Frisk's prolonged look eventually caught Sans' attention out of the corner of his eye. Turning, his little light pupils moved back and forth over her face and he nodded approvingly, "you look a lot better, kiddo. well rested."

Frisk smiled at him, although it was tentative, "You still look really tired."

Sans shrugged, absently peering into the relish jar as if hoping there would be some left, and Frisk's stomach growled again. "well, y'know how it is. it's all been a bit too much. too much excitement for sans. i'm gonna sleep like the dead on the ride home, kid, just watch me."

It was like how he was usually, as if nothing bad had even happened. Unable to think of anything to say, the child just nodded at him.

"oh, hey, in case there were doubts," he looked back over at her when he heard nothing. His voice was low, a little lower than usual, as if expecting someone to overhear them. "i got your text messages. there were, uh, multiple spelling errors."

She hadn't doubted he got them for a moment. Embarrassed, Frisk swallowed and nodded again, sheepishly. She couldn't even remember all the things that she'd been firing off from Papyrus' phone. She just wanted him there, wanted someone to come rescue her. Of course, no one had, and that was for the best. She scuffed the dirt with her shoe, wanting to say "I'm sorry" but unsure how to do it out loud.

As usual, her words were obvious even unspoken. "heh heh heh. welp." He patted her on the head. "when i realized i was too late, i kinda thought that you weren't coming back. no joke, i was gonna kill him. there wouldn't have been a point to even doing that, but hey." And as Frisk looked back up, eyes wider, he added a bit more quickly, "but, well, he seems kind of different from before he threw you in there, huh?

"i took a good look at him after you came back and took your nap. his LV is high, but not astronomical. he almost seemed like a person, if that makes sense."

Sans hesitated. Frisk wished that he would stop doing that; she didn't know what he was expecting her to say in the silence. There were so many things she hadn't told him.

Finally he said, as if prompting, "that's your doing, isn't it?"

She let out a breath she'd been holding in.

You consider telling Sans everything.

...You tell him a condensed version.

All of the pain, all of the nightmares, she left out. Everything with Flowey, and everything with Alice-turned-Chara, she left out. She only told him of what she could do. Of the way that having all that power inside her hurt but also felt so amazing... of all the things that she would be able to do if she just knew how to do it. SAVING was probably all she could do now, again. She told him of how she'd SAVED them, using a... memory of Gaster that wasn't hers.

He seemed to keep up with it all, nodding. Or he was already phasing out, she couldn't tell which. When she mentioned the memory-that-wasn't-hers he looked utterly confused, but didn't say anything.

So she kept talking. "... And it's been fading away, I guess, but I figure if something like that ever happens to me again, I could do something even more-"

"aaaahhhhh." Suddenly he did speak out, cutting her off. "that's great."

It was her turn to hesitate. Sans shifted, the lights in his eye-sockets searching her face. "you... have no idea how glad it makes me that you," he inclined his head, and she unconsciously did the same. "an eleven year old child, had complete control over time and space and other people's lives, all just because you wanted to have it. that's, uh, good stuff. not terrifying at all."

The next instant, as her smile fell, he ruffled her hair and said, "nah i'm yanking yer chain. ... ...so, you reloaded up an older him? i would call that cheating, but. pretty clever, kiddo."

Frisk looked back over at Dr. Gaster, who was awkwardly communicating with Alphys with Papyrus' help, probably not saying everything while he was in earshot. He looked extremely uncomfortable, but Papyrus was absolutely ecstatic. She smoothed down her bangs and tried to forget Chara's nightmarish face, clasping her hands together with some semblance of pride in herself. "Yeah. Maybe now he can be a good person."

"... ... ..."

There was no response from Sans. Frisk looked back. He had the same tired smile on his face. "...Don't you think?"

The skeleton just shrugged. "it's not what i think that's important. you're the one who brought him back, bud. so it's what you believe that matters."

Not sure what he was expecting, Frisk put her hands in her pockets and looked thoughtfully at her feet. It was true, an opinion had already formed well before she asked Sans. Maybe that also didn't make her a very good friend. She looked up and squared her shoulders, though, saying, "W-well I... I believe that he's going to try harder this time."

At first there was nothing. He closed his eyes and seemed to be thinking that reply over, sighing quietly, while Frisk stood by and watched from foot to foot. When he opened up his eyes again, there was only one blue one, glowing softly in her direction. "that's really all there is to it, then, huh? so stop with the gloomy expression, kiddo." He shifted. "...on a not-related note, uh, call toriel once you get your hands on a phone. because when i said she was kind of worried i meant really worried. and now you have to see a dentist."

Startled, she looked back at Dr. Gaster. "Why can't I just use yours when he's done with it?"

"hehehe are you joking do you think i'm stupid enough to give you my phone? you've been breaking phones left and right."

"Neither of those times were my-"

"I said noooooo." His pupils disappeared and he smiled really wide at her. "my phone is not your personal projectile."

Sputtering, the child in the end stuck her tongue out at Sans. "Jerk."

"eheheh, stay classy, Frisk."

The phone feels so heavy and solid, for the moment that I'm holding on to it. I'm not used to holding things without that hole in my palms. I'd gotten used to gripping them tightly even though, even with the holes, it wasn't often something just fell out of my hands.

I understand a child wanting to help, but knowing this human willingly broke their promise is infuriating. Even more so when I have the phone so close by. Knowing that Alphys was already waiting to speak to me for God knows what reason. Having to speak through a third party, and this third party in particular... and not knowing what I should say that he should hear, or even what to say at all. If I had my own cellphone back, which is impossible now, it would only solve a part of this problem.

I want to hide. I want to tell Papyrus to turn the phone off. I wish he wasn't staring at me with those eager eyes as I struggle to think. Even saying "I'm sorry," to her, even admitting it... as simple as it was to say to a human that I've only begun to know, right now it's too hard.

Every reminder of what I'd done just makes me want to not exist.

What happened between Alphys and I is only part of that, but now it's the most pressing thing, when I hear her voice on the other end of the line.

How foolish. I used to be stronger than this. Although thinking that, I can't forget now where that "strength" came from. I can't forget the way that it got easier and easier and now... I couldn't go through it all again, even if there was a reason or desire to.

Ah. I waited too long and she started talking without me. Now I can hear her saying it. "I'm sorry." Typical, Alphys. You're not the one who should be doing that.

The only thing I can do, particularly with Papyrus listening to every word, is... tell her that nothing more is going to come of it. Everything's going to be resolved. If she was worried, if she was afraid of me, she shouldn't be anymore. I'm certainly not going to be bothering her, or anyone else I've hurt, again. Not if things go as I hope them to when I get back to New New Home.

Though... things haven't exactly been unfolding to my desires lately. I need to remember to tell Asgore, in addition to everything else, that rebuilding the Core in New New Home might not be the best idea.

Regardless of if they're sincere or simply wearing a facade like Alice's, that human is very dangerous. Of that I'm sure.

I hope to god they never become as "strong" as I was.

It turned out that everything had already been decided while she was asleep. Frisk would go down the mountain with Sans and Papyrus, and Papyrus could drive her back home. He was the only one that knew how to drive, after all. When she asked who would be driving Undyne and Dr. Gaster home, they looked at her at first in confusion. It hadn't occurred to her that he didn't really have a home on the surface.

Embarrassed, she listened as it was explained that the dust of the ...dead monsters she brought back would need to be gathered up and brought to their families for a proper funeral, now that they had all remembered the existence of their relatives. After that Undyne was, in a sense, escorting Dr. Gaster to Asgore's castle. Making sure he did no slipping away from whatever justice the king saw fit to dole out, once he'd made a full confession of what he'd done.

"But before all that we have a lot of dust to clean up! So let's get to it old man! I want to get back to the city by sundown!" Undyne yelled, marching out of the throne room.

Dr. Gaster looked to her vanishing form and then back at Frisk, Sans, and Papyrus. "This is going to be a long day," Papyrus' phone caught him murmuring to nobody, as he reluctantly followed the fish monster.

Frisk felt Sans tugging on her sleeve and she turned to look at him, tearing her eyes away from the other exit. "c'mon kid. let's follow their example and leaf this establishment."

She nodded, and between them both she stepped out of that sunny old room, finding herself in the familiar hall where the site of the Barrier stood to the right. From there, she was looking forward to seeing the sun again. But as she thought of that, something else occurred to her and she stopped, Papyrus and Sans walking a few steps ahead before realizing Frisk wasn't walking with them.

"Actually," When they turned to check, she scratched her head. "I should SAVE, before we leave." The throne room was always so peaceful, she could almost SAVE in there without thinking about it. "I'll be right back."

Papyrus was eager to get back to his beautiful car. "AH, RIGHT! BUT DO HURRY, HUMAN! IT'D BE RUDE TO KEEP QUEEN TORIEL WAITING!"

The child smiled and nodded, rushing back into the field of flowers. But there would be no time to SAVE.

That was exactly where he was waiting. For a second Frisk didn't even realize he was there, and had just been about to sit down when she spotted him. The one golden flower with a face amidst a crowd of them, watching her. He twisted his face into a skull-like smile when she finally saw him, straightening right back up, and then laughing he disappeared right into the ground again.

"Flowey!" Frisk ran after him- or at least, so she was guessing. She didn't really understand the logistics of how Flowey moved, but when she ran out of the throne room and into the grey hallway of Asgore's castle she saw him there too, pushing up out of the crumbling stone floor. He hadn't been looking at her, but when their eyes met again he seemed more bored, than anything, to find that she'd followed him.

They stood, Frisk staring, not knowing what to say.

"Hey you doofus," Flowey said, summoning back up his cheerful, goofy grin. "What are you still doing here? Don't you have somewhere you have to be?"

She did, actually. But for some reason, she was trying to talk to a deranged buttercup instead. Although talking wasn't a good way of putting it, on her side.

A long time ago Frisk had promised Asriel, in the first and last time she'd ever spoken to him, that she'd be careful and not try to play nice with people who wouldn't, or couldn't, play nice back. She had lied, a little bit.

She'd also promised him that when she saw Flowey again- if she ever saw him again- she would see him as a different person entirely, and only think of Asriel as that sweet kid.

The nightmare she'd experienced less than an hour ago turned that promise, too, into another lie.

"...What? Why are you staring at me like that? What do you want, a thank you?" Flowey was saying as she thought, bobbing back and forth. When Frisk shook her head, started to speak, and then stopped, he burst out laughing. "Ohh, I get it! Now that you've seen what a coward I am, you think that means that we can be friends!"

"... I..."

"Well tough!" He said, his rasping voice echoing loudly across the walls. "I don't want to be friends with you. I don't want to be friends with anyone. Not even them... and since I know they're listening too, I hope they get this message loud and clear! We are not friends."

Frisk clutched the air before her chest. "Flowey..."

"What?" He snarled. "Do you feel pity for me? 'Poor little flower, he doesn't have anybody and is terrified of leaving this mountain,' is that what you're thinking? 'Poor little Asriel, he can't experience love ever, ever again,' is that it?"

The child in front of him started to shake her head, despite the answer already being clear.

Flowey looked enraged, but then started to laugh.

"...There is just one thing I regret," he said when he'd stopped, straightening up, "And that's remembering again how it feels to feel something. Knowing that, and then going back to feeling nothing... There's no way I'm putting myself through that a third time." He snarled at Frisk. "So you can buzz off."

She gave him a sympathetic smile, despite the fear she felt. "But if you were to feel that way again, and then never go back to this... that would be better, right?"

In response he sneered, sharp teeth forming in a row on his mouth. "I know that you know that will never happen."

"I won't give up on you."

Flowey's face appeared inches from her, cruel, rising up from the ground on a longer and longer stalk. This was new. Frisk's neutral face turned into a grimace, but she stood her ground. "No, you won't, will you? I know you well enough by now." The girl's mouth regained that hard line before him. "If I tell you that the odds are against you, that makes you all the more convinced that you can beat them. If I tell you that it's impossible, that just confirms for you that you can do it. So you do it. Because if you 'can,' then you 'have to,' right?"

His awful laughter rang out in the little hall and he showed her his teeth. Out of the corner of her eye, Frisk saw the vines rising alongside his lengthening stalk.

"Of course," he said, petals drooping. "I just think you're an idiot for this." He gave another, bitter chuckle. "That means by your logic that he does too. Maybe one day you'll understand that you're wasting your time, and you'll give up. ...And then, when your DETERMINATION has run out, I'll take over again, hahahahahahaha!"

With nothing to say to such accusations, Frisk tightened her hands into fists and swallowed.

Flowey bobbed his head from side to side. "...That day could be today, couldn't it?"

The girl's breath caught as the vines that had slowly been circling her tightened, pinning her arms to her sides. "Say, Frisk," the flower hissed, and his dark eyes filled her vision. "I've got a question for you.

"When was the last time you SAVED your game?"

A long second passed, with Frisk's heart hammering in her mouth, just feeling the sharp thorns scraping the skin of her arms through the numerous tears Flowey had made previously. She could see little white bullets at the corner of her vision, floating around them both to pierce her through and lower her HP bit by bit, as had happened numerous times before.

Flowey squeezed her tighter, and out of her mouth a little whimper escaped.

Then the vines around her relaxed, the bullets disappeared, and Flowey inched back down to the floor. He winked stupidly up at her and stuck out his tongue. "Scared ya... silly."

And then the face scowled at her, showing a row of sharp teeth, before sinking below the dirt. "That's what I thought."

Flowey ran away...

" 📪 ❄ ✌❄ ✌💧 💧❄ ✋👎 ✡ 👎✌ 💧 ✡ 📬"

Frisk looked up, unaware until then that she'd just been staring at the dirt

"Oh." She looked back down again. It seemed that Dr. Gaster hadn't left the former castle yet. She wondered how much of that he'd overheard. "... It's rude to listen in on other people's conversations."

While he waited, she took out Papyrus' phone and handed it to the skeleton, for him to speak deliberately into; it was clear that the machine was struggling to still work despite the abuse it had suffered, but in time it obediently relayed the strange speech into English. "Are you alright?"

Wiping her face, Frisk nodded. It was just some cuts.

"... ... So, that flower really is Asriel."

Surprised, she looked up, wondering how long he had known and yet not forming the question with her lips. Dr. Gaster simply shrugged. ...Maybe to someone smart like him, who had all the pieces already in place, it had been easy to put it all together. She was stupid about it back then and hadn't realized the truth right up until she had to fight Asriel as himself. She wiped her face again and nodded.

She heard him sigh heavily, "That's a shame. I liked him."

Not looking Dr. Gaster in the eye, she murmured, "I liked him too. He was nice."

What she appreciated the most in that moment was that he didn't ask her, then, on what possible occasion she could have met Asriel before his becoming a flower. He just nodded and said, "Boss monsters are very nice people." Slowly, he added, "...Perhaps too nice, sometimes. But I'm hoping that Asgore will make the right choice when I meet him next, in spite of that."

"I hope so too," Frisk said. "But not in spite of anything." If he had eyes, she was sure he would roll them. She didn't care; he could remain in the hell of his heart for as long as he wanted, she wasn't going to rush him out of it any more than she would if it were Sans or Papyrus. ...That was supposed to be a thought of patience, but for a single moment, thinking about Flowey it became exhaustion on her part. It was like there was a weight on her neck; suddenly she didn't care what he did.

Dr. Gaster studied the child's expression and said, tentatively, "Nonetheless... Flowey, or Asriel, is clearly no longer a boss monster. Why waste your energy?"

The last thing she expected was for him to say that. Was he trying to make her feel better? If so, the effort alone brought her head back up. "I don't..." No. She stopped, and smiled. "No... what a stupid question."

The skeleton stuck his hands in his coat pockets, meeting her dark eyes.

He was still waiting for her response, and finally she gave him one. "Because I wanted..." she stopped, and started again more quietly, "Because I know if that were my fate, I'd like there to be someone who wouldn't give up on me. And... Asriel is all alone here, so... I..." Her voice dropped off as she kept glancing at him, and she coughed. "Is that a bad answer?"

"It's a typical answer for a child."

There wasn't anything else said between them, Frisk just scuffing dirt with a snort. She should SAVE, about now. But she didn't really want to with someone looking at her, especially not someone like Dr. Gaster. Finally, to break the awkward silence, Dr. Gaster said, "...Well. I have. Dust that needs to be gathered up. And you should go, before those two worry about you."

Frisk looked back at him suddenly, and he stopped and stared as she did. There was something else that suddenly she couldn't say out loud; it would sound too silly with her voice. But she didn't want... well. When she left Asriel behind, he'd collapsed into Flowey again. With all her heart, she'd wished that it wouldn't happen, until she avoided Flowey for years after seeing that her wish didn't come true. Wishing didn't really do anything.

Yet she was making another silent wish. Looking at Dr. Gaster, from his head to his intact hands, thinking back to all the times that he'd hesitated and then gone forward with something terrible anyway... she hoped this time his change of attitude would stick. Don't disappear, like Asriel did. If not for her sake, then for those two who were like family to her. And for anyone that, maybe, still missed him.

"Stop staring at me like that. It's rude."

"Oh!" Finally she croaked, as annoyed impatience flickered on the scientist's face, "I was just thinking. You go should meet Alphys in person when you get back. Before anything else happens."

He made a big sigh, as if she were lecturing him. "I will try."

"You better. And... before I go..." He inclined his head curiously. Frisk brushed her bangs out of her eyes and untwisted her sweater. "What happened to Asriel, I've kept it a secret until now. I figured it'd only cause the other monsters to be unhappy if they found out. So I'd really, really appreciate it," she said, breathing deeply. "If you'd keep it a secret too?"

"Ah. I can do that," he said.

Nodding, even looking the slightest bit relieved, Frisk turned to walk back to where the brothers were waiting. She heard Gaster clear his throat behind her, and remembered. "Oh!" Dutifully she ran back to collect Papyrus' abused phone; as she took it, she said, "See you later, Dr. Gaster."

"..." He said nothing, only waving as she walked away, the phone already turned off.

Leaving him behind, Frisk entered the throne room again and took a deep breath, smelling the familiar scent of the golden flowers around her. They'd only been gone for about a day, huh? A lot of stressful things had happened in that day, that was for sure. There were so many things, so many images, that she didn't want to remember, and yet she was sure that she would be remembering them in her dreams for a long, long time.

The child let out a sigh and slowly walked to the exit, stopping at the spot where Toriel's throne was once put aside. With Flowey's words echoing in her head, and the faces of Sans, Papyrus, and Gaster in her mind's eye, she was starting to consider that this wasn't the "best ending". That it wasn't the "happy" one, as she would have put it when she was younger.

It was the only one she knew how to get, though.

Her hands became fists; she again felt the burning in her that she felt many times before. Okay, so she didn't know "how", and she didn't know "when" things would get better- that was okay because she never had, she just kept trying until something changed. After all, "how, when," those words didn't really matter compared to "will".

She had hope.

People, too, can change.

But all that aside, Frisk knew she couldn't keep Papyrus and Sans waiting any longer. Taking a deep breath, she closed her eyes and took a picture in her mind. The air in front of her sparkled with energy.

The fact that Flowey, unbelievably, spared you...

The chance that you'll actually get your tutorial...

Fills you with determination.

Your game has been saved.

Author's Note: This took me a while and I am still unsure orz. But so ends the fanfic, with the longest chapter that I've written for this thing. For the first and last time, here's some Gaster translations!

1. "IF YOU'RE DONE USING IT, MAY I HAVE IT BACK?"

2. "WHY ARE YOU HOLDING MY COAT HOSTAGE?"

3. "IF YOU DON'T GIVE IT BACK I AM TAKING IT FROM YOU."

4. "YOU LIED TO ME. YOU PROMISED YOU WOULDN'T TAKE ME BACK WITH YOU."

5. "DON'T... GET ME WRONG. THANK YOU, FOR WHAT IT IS WORTH. BUT..."

6. "... HOW WAS IT?"

7. "... SORRY."

8. "NO, IT ISN'T."

9. "DO NOT CALL ME THAT!"

10. "SUBJ- PAPYRUS! STOP."

11. "MOST OF MY FRIENDS- JUST CALL ME GASTER."

12. "WELL, THAT WAS STUPIDLY DANGEROUS OF YOU."

On to other matters,

First and foremost I'd like to revise my earlier explanation of how I put in the Wingdings for Gaster's speech. Previously I said that the translator I used only uses the all-caps wingdings, but I've since realized there is actually a toggle at the top of the screen for whether you want all caps or not. I might try to go back and fix the capitalization for some parts based on this, although there's no guarantee FF will support it.

Thank you all for your reviews and your views as you followed me through this story- this is the first time I've ever written anything and had it followed by so many people, and it was a lot of fun! (I'd like to apologize if any of you left reviews that the website ate up, I believe that's happened once or twice.)

I got one person asking me if there was going to be a sequel to this. To that I'm gonna say no, I think if I do more Undertale fanfictions that are more than a chapter long they'll be focusing on my own verse(s?) of Undertale, rather than the verse-of-a-verse that ASL is to Handplates.

I did like the stuff I did here, though, and I love the Handplates AU, so I might make one-shots in my "Mount Ebott Dare" series (which you can see on my profile) elaborating on the aftermath of this story. In those cases, like any time I write a one-shot of an AU, I'll clarify somewhere that it takes place in the ASL verse. So if you're really interested, feel free to check that out from time to time. :o

Anyway, thanks again for reading! I hope you enjoyed the story!

The End