Winter on the Aboveground

An Undertale Fanfiction

Frisk stood on the tips of their toes, staring intensely at the freshly-baked batch of chocolate-mint cookies sitting on the kitchen counter. They took a deep breath. Smells like Christmas, the child thought. They reached out their hand; surely, Toriel wouldn't mind if they had one, to see if they tasted as good as they smelled.

"Ah, ah, ah," a gentle voice said behind them. Frisk looked back to see Toriel giving them a stern look. "My child, those cookies are for dinner. You cannot eat them yet."

Frisk gave the goat-woman a begging look, their eyes shimmering and their lower lip trembling. Toriel was not fazed.

"Nice try, my child," she said, her arms crossed. "But that won't work on me."

Frisk didn't stop, the desire to have a cookie filling them with determination. Toriel struggled to keep a straight face, but in the end, she couldn't help but smile.

"Oh, alright. You may have one."

The child didn't need to be told twice, gobbling down a cookie before Toriel could blink twice. Frisk made a face, one of amazement. The cookie was one of the most delicious things they had ever tasted. The goat monster chuckled.

"I am glad you like it, small one," she cooed. "But now, you must pay for it."

Frisk blinked, before pulling ten gold pieces out of their pocket.

"Not with money, silly child," Toriel laughed. "I need you to help me with my pies. They need to be sugared."

Frisk was handed a sifter and a bag of powdered sugar. They sat at the dinner table as Toriel placed some butterscotch-cinnamon pies in front of them. As the child got to work coating the pies with sugar, they watched their adopted mother tend to the main courses. Many intoxicating smells filled the air, making Frisk's mouth water. They could almost taste the roast ham, the buttery biscuits, the stuffing…Frisk's cheeks reddened when their stomach began to growl. Toriel laughed.

"I know you are hungry, my child," she said. "But do not worry; dinnertime is very soon. But for now, you should go outside and play. It may make the time go faster."

Frisk nodded, exiting the kitchen. Putting on their coat, mittens, and scarf, Frisk went outside. They found themselves standing up to their ankles in the cold, powdery snow. Slowly, Frisk trekked through their front yard, making their way to the house next door. This was Sans and Papyrus' new home on the Aboveground. It looked very similar to the one they had in Snowdin. Frisk knocked on the door, and in a few seconds, Papyrus answered.

"GREETINGS, HUMAN!" the tall skeleton greeted. "COME IN! YOU'RE JUST IN TIME TO TRY OUT MY SPECIAL CHRISTMAS SPAGHETTI!"

Frisk was both terrified and intrigued. They entered the house. The interior of the house matched the old house perfectly, right down to the dirty sock covered in notes next to the TV. The only thing that was different was the Christmas tree that had been set up. There were a few presents under it, which made Frisk rather curious. Papyrus noticed this.

"NYEH HEH HEH!" he laughed. "FEAR NOT, HUMAN! I, THE GREAT PAPYRUS, MADE SURE TO PICK OUT A PRESENT FOR YOU, ONE I KNOW YOU'LL ABSOLUTELY LOVE!"

The child smiled thankfully. The skeleton then handed them a plate of spaghetti. It looked normal enough, so Frisk decided to be optimistic. They took a bite. Aside from having a gummy texture and the tiniest taste of peppermint, it seemed to be normal enough…that was until they tasted the green "herbs" that peppered the top of it. Frisk gave Papyrus a curious look, pointing to them.

"AH! YOU MUST'VE TASTED MY SECRET INGREDIENT: FINELY CHOPPED CHRISTMAS TREE LEAVES!"

Frisk felt as if they'd made a horrible mistake. Still, they wanted to be polite, so they gave Papyrus a thumbs up. The proud smile on the skeleton's face made eating the Christmas spaghetti almost worth it. Almost.

"hehe, here, kid, wash it down with this," a voice whispered to them. Frisk turned to see Sans holding a mug of hot chocolate. They took it and drank it, not noticing the smile on Sans' face appearing to double in size. Huh…odd…Frisk was sure hot chocolate wasn't this hot…Their eyes then widened. No…this hot chocolate wasn't hot…it was spicy! Frisk fanned their mouth; it felt like their tongue was on fire! The child rushed outside as fast as they could, diving face-first into the snow. Sans stood at the door of his and Papyrus' house, his bones shaking as he laughed.

"you should know better than to accept a drink from me, buddy," he called.

"OH MY GOD!" Papyrus exclaimed, poking his head outside. "IS THE HUMAN ALRIGHT!?"

Frisk slowly lifted their hand, giving a thumbs up. Papyrus sighed in relief. The child stood up, making a ball of snow in their hands. Suddenly, they turned and threw it as hard as they could. It hit Sans' chest, catching the big-boned skeleton off guard. There was a silence. Sans continued to stare at the spot where he had been hit. Slowly, he lifted his head. The white pinpricks in his eye-sockets had vanished, leaving nothing but two empty, black voids.

"kid…" he began. "you've just earned yourself a bad time."

With a snap of his fingers, four snowballs lifted themselves from the snow-covered ground, each of them having a blue aura. They suddenly shot themselves at Frisk, slamming into them and knocking him onto his back. Frisk laid there in the snow, shivering lightly.

"SANS!" snapped Papyrus. "WHAT WAS THAT FOR!? YOU'VE MADE THE HUMAN CRY!"

"no worries, bro," Sans reassured, his pinpricks returning. "check it out."

Frisk sat up, a huge grin on their face. Papyrus now realized that the child wasn't crying, but was, instead, laughing. They picked up another snowball and threw it at Sans. Sans repeated his magic attack as Frisk returned fire. Before long, there was a snowball fight between the two.

"HOLD ON! I WISH TO JOIN!"

And with that, Papyrus was also a part of the snowball fight. It continued for a while, before suddenly, a massive snowball about the size of a boulder slammed into the ground between the three. Sans, Papyrus and Frisk, surprised by the sudden attack, looked to see where it came from. Standing on the sidewalk was Undyne and Alphys. The fish-woman stood with her hands on her hips, her shoulders bouncing as she laughed proudly. Alphys gave her friends a shy wave.

"That's how you make a snowball, dorks!" She cried triumphantly. She jumped into the air, and landed on the snowball she had thrown, towering over her friends. "So, who started this snowball fight and didn't think to invite me? I'll clobber 'em!"

"OOH! OOH! UNDYNE!" called Papyrus, waving excitedly at her. "JOIN ME! WE'LL CLOBBER THE HUMAN AND MY LAZYBONES BROTHER TOGETHER!"

"Sounds like a great idea!" said Undyne, punching right through a nearby tree (just to show that she could). "What about you, "Alphie"? Wanna partner up with Frisk and join us?"

"Um, b-but," the dinosaur monster stammered. "I-It'll be two teams of two verses Sans. That seems a little unfair."

"nah, don't worry about me," said Sans, conjuring at least 30 snowballs with his magic. "i'll be fine."

"W-Well, in that case…"

Alphys suddenly rushed to join Frisk behind their snow wall. The battle continued for what seemed like hours. Frisk and Papyrus managed to land good hits. Alphys, try as she might, just didn't have the arm strength, and her snowballs merely hit the ground. Still, the praise and encouragement from her friends kept her from feeling too bad about it. Undyne was an absolute beast, continuing to throw boulder-sized snowballs that were very hard to dodge. Sans sat near the door of the house, taking and throwing hits without a care in the world.

About an hour passed; the sky was turning darker as evening fast approached. Back at Frisk's house, Toriel opened the door and peeked outside. She saw her adopted child and her dear friends still engaged in a snowball fight. She chuckled gently, walking over to the gate that separated her home from the skeleton brothers' home.

"Frisk!" she called. "Dinner's ready! Time to come in!"

The snowball fight came to an abrupt stop, the participants letting out disappointed groans. Frisk stared at Toriel with eyes that seemed to say, "Can't we play for a bit longer?" Toriel couldn't help but smirk.

"Now, Frisk," she began. "I thought you were hungry and wanted dinner to be ready. Now you are telling me that you want to keep playing?"

Frisk nodded. Toriel put a hand to her chin, thinking it over.

"Oh, alright," she said. "You can play for…five more minutes, then you have to come inside. Is that better?"

Frisk beamed, throwing their adopted mother a thumbs up. The snowball immediately continued. Toriel laughed and shook her head. What a child she had.