To say that monsters instantly left the Underground for the world above would be a lie.

Ever since Frisk broke the barrier, the whole Underground from Hotland to the Ruins was in a flurry to leave. Unfortunately much like packing away for a vacation, it was taking an unnecessarily long time.

People from New Home were the first to go, mostly due to Asgore all but evacuating the palace staff so to begin negotiations with the human leaders. The king was fairly successful when speaking to the human politicians but with how the media swarmed and harassed him for the first few weeks he had to call up the remnants of the royal guard to scare them off.

They were closely followed by the inhabitants of the MTT Resort, and as human-mad as Mettaton was, he stayed behind a while longer so to gather himself and repair the relationship he had with his dear Blook cousins. Burgerpants was dismayed to learn that in the Aboveground his job was considered "normal" for somebody his age.

The rest of Hotland emptied out quickly, although it would take Dr Alphys many runs to and from her lab to move all of her equipment and anime memorabilia.

Waterfall trickled upwards, mostly because it took a while for the news to get around. Onion-San almost burst into tears when a human sea-life company helped relocate her to the coast by the town of Mount Ebott. Gerson grumbled a bit but was finally convinced to leave due to the sheer amount of archaeological texts that humans lacked.

The Temmies were holding on, apparently they were waiting for everyone else to leave so they could surprise humanity at the last second. Napstablook was hurriedly trying to relocate his snail farm, he was surprised to learn that snail farming (albeit the caviar instead of the animals) was actually a profitable industry aboveground. Monster Kid and his family were among the first to actually leave.

Snowdin was rather uneasy. The monsters there were so used to the cold dense forest that they were concerned of how well they would adapt to the Aboveground. Many of the rabbit and ursine families quickly bought and moved into a collection of small suburbs close to the mountain.

Grillby was quick to buy an empty store in Mount Ebott Town and was busy putting his finances together to open a new bar and get a small house for him and his daughter. The Riverperson was delighted to learn that the area had multiple rivers they could use to continue their trade.

Even Sans and Papyrus were delayed in moving, mostly because a combination of laziness and debates over what furniture to bring.

The dogs found homes the moment the humans laid eyes on them.

The Ruins however, were abandoned in an instant. Save for two souls.

/X\

Toriel hummed happily to herself, clutching a stack of textbooks.

The peace talks had gone well.

Asgore had explained their situation (after Papyrus had burst into the town centre to proclaim eternal friendship between humans and monsters) and very quickly he and Toriel were whisked away to a white palace many miles from Mount Ebott. The American leaders (of which there were quite a lot of) were quick to call them "costumed freaks" but when Asgore and his entourage demonstrated magic in front of congress, they had to bite their tongues.

When it became clear through Frisk (with Sans as their interpretor) that monsters were non-violent, the Aboveground governments were at a loss of what to do. For some reason they had expected monsters to come through guns a-blazing.

Many monsters were notably peeved that humanity didn't seem to recall or even know of the War. Human history could tell you exactly how a man lived an died ten thousand years ago, but anything regarding a war between monsters and humans was locked into various myths and legends. It was soon discovered by Gerson and other human archaeologists that the few survivors of the War had deliberately destroyed almost all accounts pre-dating and recording the War, likely in the attempts to hide the existence of monsters from the world.

And it had worked.

At least until a small child fell down a hole.

Now back in the Ruins, Toriel was packing away every book and cranny she owned. Mount Ebott Town was small, but the people there were amazed by her capacity and passion to teach others and had offered her a place in the local elementary school. She couldn't hide her joy even if she wanted.

It was going to be a long road from here but the new life that awaited was worth it.

A soft crying noise broke her from her daydreaming.

It sounded familiar.

It started with a slight wheeze and carried upwards into a trembling sob, like it's owner was in pain or confused.

"Oh no." She gasped, abandoning her packing to investigate the noise. "It can't be..."

She listened in closely and again the sound reverberated through the Ruins, reaching her ears. There was no mistaking, it was the cry of a wounded child.

"I thought it was over. But I guess children will still fall down here. I must tell Asgore about this." She muttered to herself, following the noise.

It became louder as she reached the courtyard outside of her Home, the sound was heartbreaking to her. The poor child, lost, alone and likely wouldn't have been found if she'd finished packing a day earlier. When she reached the hallway, her fears were confirmed when she saw the figure of a short, skinny female child with long black hair, covered in cuts and bruises. Her face was buried into the skirt of her sky blue dress.

"Oh no. My child, are you wounded? Do you need any help?" She drew an inch closer, not wanting to frighten the poor thing. The child peeked up from their sitting position and continued sobbing, like they had been separated from their parents. "I am Toriel, the guardian of these Ruins. I hope you aren't hurt-"

The girl slammed into her, wrapping her arms around her waist and cried even louder.

The Queen's heart broke. Placing a hand on the girl's back she soothed. "There there, it's fine now, I'll help you get out and get you back to your family. What is your name little one?"

The child gasped in between sobs and cried out. "It's Jade!"

"Jade? That's a lovely name! I haven't heard that name since... the first child that came to me..."

Toriel's train of thought came to a halt. "The first child?" She thought. Impossible, that poor child had passed on shortly after arriving in the Underground, the first victim of the cruel new law. Her SOUL had been a light blue and was taken away by a misstep in the Snowdin Forest and her body collected and given a royal burial shortly afterwards. Being the first time it had happened, Toriel had fallen into despair. Feeling as though she had lost one of her own flesh and blood, endlessly mourning her until the next child arrived bruised and crying at her doorstep. Allowing the process to be repeated.

"And yet..."

She took another look at the child's face. Her skin was an earthy brown, her eyes were the colour of her name, and she had the frightened look of a newborn foal. Her SOUL was beating a distinct cyan colour. The only thing missing was...

"Jade..."

The child looked upwards at the sound of her name, seeing the kind motherly face of the Underground's Queen. The goat-like monster was still holding her close and was trying her best to hold back tears. Toriel knelt down and patted the side of the girl's head.

"Jade... Sweetie what happened to your beautiful ribbon?"

The girl lit up at the question and said through strained cords. "I lost it when I was trying to leave the Ruins, Mother." Toriel's heart skipped a beat. This couldn't be her. It just couldn't. "I got lost when I was outside, then I fell..."

Oh gods above. It was her.

"Sweetie... do you remember anything else?" The woman was all but sobbing herself, one of her children had come back to her!

"It was dark. There wasn't any sound. And then some others were there. Then..." She croaked out the words and began trembling as she continued. "Then it hurt! It hurt a lot Mother! It hurt so much! Then... it stopped. Then it started again. Again and again and again!" She covered her eyes with her long sleeves, all but yelling out her last sentence. "I thought it would never stop! Then... it did... for real this time. And now I'm here and-"

The girl was cut off by a hug to end all hugs. Toriel was letting her tears run freely now, holding as tight as she could to the child.

"I know baby, I know. But you're okay now. We can go aboveground now. You don't have to hurt anymore" She soothed, her hold becoming softer.

They stayed like that for a solid minute before the human child named Jade spoke again.

"They're still here Mother."

"Who my child?"

"The others. They want to come home too."

Toriel's mind collapsed. Shaking, she steadied herself upright. "All... of them? All of you are back?"

"Yes Mother. All of us."

"Jade, please go into the house and wait for a few minutes, I need to do something." The child nodded and reluctantly walked up the steps into the Home. Once out of sight the woman pulled out her phone and dialed the most reliable person she knew.

"hey Tori, what's happening? need help moving a couch?" The joking drawl of a certain skeleton wafted through the speaker.

"No Sans, it is something very very important."

"a fridge then."

"Sans, I'm afraid I am in no mood for jokes at this very moment."

"...it must be serious." He said grimly, his voice deepening. "anything happen?"

"Have you or your brother left Snowdin yet?"

"uhh no. me and Paps are still putting away my sock collection. why?"

"Sans..." She hesitated, lowering her voice to a worried whisper. "The human souls didn't disappear."

"whoa, that's... weird. what happened to them then?" He replied, sounding very confused.

"They came back."

She could hear the phone being dropped on the other side.

/X\

"jesus Tori. i thought you were pulling my leg bone." Sans exclaimed, watching as the goat monster braided a new ribbon into a young girl's hair. The child had calmed down considerably and was surprisingly placid when a skeleton entered the Home.

"She came back Sans. All of them have come back. After the barrier was destroyed the six souls must have broken free and reformed themselves." The woman sounded so overjoyed and worried at same time, a million thoughts running through her head.

"jesus..." Sans could only marvel as the light-blue soul of the girl continued to beat at a steady pace. He figured that this timeline had gone on longer than usual but he'd never thought it would lead to this. "so the others are still out there?"

"That's why I'm worried. Many of them got so far away from the Ruins that I don't even know where they could be." She looked down sadly, focusing on brushing Jade's loose hairs. "I need you to gather the others and help me find them. Imagine how scared they must be!"

"Tori." He sighed and said. "i'm not even sure where to look, we might be better off getting the guards to help us."

"Please Sans." Toriel pleaded, looking straight through him with sad eyes. "The guards have known nothing but to harm and kill these poor children. I need somebody who won't scare them to death."

"i well..." the skeleton was feeling very unsure of himself, he knew how to survive timeline after timeline, he knew how to avoid Flowey at all costs, he knew how to dodge Chara whenever they took over a timeline. But saving a bunch of wayward kids? A little out of his area of expertise.

"Mr Skeleton please help."

His eyes flickered to the figure on the floor. She was looking up at him with even sadder eyes and was close to crying any second. She got up from her place on the floor, undoing her braid in the process, and whispered desperately into the man's non-existent ear.

"Please, or it's going to repeat again."

Sans gasped and forced himself not to cover his mouth in shock. This kid knew about the timelines? He supposed he couldn't argue, human souls were weird and these poor kids have had theirs pulled like silly putty through each of the timelines. Dear gods how much do they remember?

"i'll do it." He says decisively, his attitude doing a complete 180 degree turn. "i'll call Papyrus and get the gang together. you keep an eye on this one." Sans waved frantically as he ran out the door, phone already out and ringing.

"Goodness." Toriel looked surprised at the sudden change in demeanour. "What did you say to him?"

Jade shrugged innocently. "I told him a punny joke."

Toriel giggled shamelessly.

Notes: Wow first time posting an Undertale story. I always wondered what would've happened if the Fallen children came back and suddenly Sans, Toriel and Asgore got like six additional kids running around in the post-pacifist. Hope this is a decent starting chapter because there's more where that comes from! Please leave a review and give me ideas of how things could down in the next couple of chapters. :D