I was supposed to post this around christmas. I guess I forgot, oopsie! x) I hope you'll enjoy anyways!

The news had probably spread like wildfire because Snowdin Town's central square was packed when Papyrus and Frisk arrived, although Santa Claus should only arrive in the late morning. Children were running in the snow, fooling around, screaming, laughing under the gaze of chattering adults in little clusters here and there. Some would go seek comfort in their parents' arms after a rough fall, cheered up by huge amounts of hugs. There was, in the middle of the square, a large Christmas tree under which presents were placed. A polar bear was there, telling stories to the younger ones. A few feet away, a blue bunny was trying to sell nice creams.

Sitting on Papyrus's shoulders, steady at the back of his skull, Frisk was ecstatic about the pretty decorations and the joy in the air, babbling happily. Several monsters who had taken a liking to the little girl and her mother greeted them as they passed. Papyrus was very glad because "IT'S THE FIRST TIME PEOPLE NOTICE ME SO MUCH!" which amused Frisk greatly.

Hoppy and Inny were at the edge of the square, near the trees separating town center from the river, along with their children. They were both in the middle of a discussion with a leafy green scaled wyvern. The wyvern was wearing a large brown poncho protecting the thin skin of their wings at the end of which were their small hands and claws against the cold. When she saw the two sisters' familiar faces, Frisk waved happily at them as Papyrus closed in. They noticed them and their faces lit up with huge smiles. "Hi, Frisk! Hello, Papyrus!" Inny exclaimed

"Tori isn't with you?" Hoppy asked.

"No, I am the one taking care of Frisk, today!"

"Oh, shucks…"

"No offense, Papyrus!" Inny assured. "But we were hoping she could meet Nederic."

The wyvern waved his arms apologetically. "No, no, really it's fine, we'll meet another time!"

"But you're always busy, Ned," Hoppy whined. "Who knows when there'll be another time!"

Nederic looked sheepish, and the green glow of his magic shone through the scales of his cheeks. He looked down and smiled shyly. "I know, I'm sorry, but I'll be able to go out more now that my babies hatched."

"Oh, oh! That's right!" Inny exclaimed, turning to her sister, who then turned to Papyrus.

"Let Frisk down, would you? She has people to meet too!"

"Uh, okay?" Papyrus said, confused. He picked Frisk up from his shoulders and gently sat her down in the snow, between his feet. The little girl immediately used her mittens to try and grab some snow to eat, but she stopped when she noticed two tiny monsters she had not seen before, snuggled between their father's big scaly paws like two baby penguins.

The baby wyverns wore boots and striped ponchos that matched their scales. The smaller one was grey, with very light pupils that didn't look anywhere. The second one was larger and had yellow scales and vivid, curious, nervous eyes. Frisk waved at them. Only the yellow wyvern answered with a small cry, then looked down at the space where their own arms should have been and suddenly looked very upset at this great injustice. The scene made Nederic laugh. "Hello, Frisk," he cooed (and take it from me, hearing a wyvern coo is magical). "These are Child and Kid. Say hello?"

"He'yoooo!" Kid exclaimed.

"Aye," Child pronounced with difficulties.

Frisk had a small cry of joy and started crawling quickly through the snow to go hug her two new friends.

"So cute!" the Keeper sisters said as one.

"Look at how great friends they are already!" Papyrus added.

Hearing her closing in, Child panicked and tried to hide behind their father's leg, but slipped and fell over like a weeble. The grey wyvern ended up literally on their head, stomach naked because their poncho slipped onto their face, their feet wiggling about, unable to stand.

Frisk stopped, uncertain, and hear a familiar fit of laughter. She turned to see, next to her, the ten years old she'd often see around her. She smiled, as she always did when her friend came back. "They don't have arms!" Chara exclaimed, laughing out loud, pointing at the crying baby wyvern's naked sides. "And they're blind on top of that! This is Nature's scapegoat!" Frisk could only understand the two first sentences and looked at her friend inquisitively. Chara calmed down a little and explained: "They can't see. They lucked out."

Frisk felt sorry for Child. Thankfully, Nederic had already noticed the state his child had put themself into and picked them up to comfort them, leaving Frisk alone with Kid who had watched the whole scene with large, perplexed eyes. Frisk, afraid of scaring them too, wasn't sure if she should move so she just stayed put, on all fours in the snow. But Kid was very curious and left their father's leg-shelter to try and take a few steps towards the disguised human.

Emphasis on "try". Kid fell over as well and ended up faceplanting the snow, under Frisk's horrified gaze and Chara's uncontrolled laughter. But unlike their sibling, Kid didn't give up and their legs soon found a grip on the ground. They started pushing, their face still down, and moved this way until they were next to Frisk, digging a deep trench in the snow. Then, they turned around and managed to sit up using their tail. They proudly smiled at Frisk who cheered enthusiastically, impressed.

"Eh, tough one," Chara admitted, all smiles.

Frisk nodded quickly and would have probably tried to hug her new friend if Brook and Zoey, Hoppy's children, hadn't hopped from a close-by bund, chasing each other and screaming like the devil was on their tail. This immediately caught the two infants' attention. Kid and Frisk shared a look and, as if they both agreed, tried to join the kits to play with them as the adults went back to talking.

Although they had hatched a month ago, Kid soon found out how to keep their balance, despite their lack of arms and their huge head that pulled them down. There was a few more trenches in the snow before they were able to stay upright long enough to walk, but once they understood how to rise up quickly, they became a dangerous opponent at tag. Even a kit can't do much when a wyvern battering rams their skull into them with the confidence of someone who's not scared of getting hurt anymore.

Frisk had more trouble following. She was the youngest in the group, except for Kid, which didn't count because wyverns, like other dragons, grow up very fast from birth. Even Light, Inny's youngest, could already jump. Frisk, comparatively, could only run on all fours in the snow like a little mountain goat, which, admittedly, matched her disguise perfectly.

She could stand, sometimes, by holding onto something. So Loky, the oldest kit, thought of pairing her with Kid. The two little ones could hold onto each other to avoid falling, and as they were more steady on their four feet, could almost run fast enough to compete with the other children.

As they played, time went by quickly, to the point where it was a total surprise when the crowd started moving around the human and the baby monster. The kits disappeared among the feet, paws, talons, hooves and other kinds of appendages. Kid panicked and tried to follow them. Frisk wanted to stay put. The children let go of each other and Kid disappeared too, lost in the crowd. Frisk, disoriented, looked for a familiar face, but the monsters were blocking her view. Chara appeared next to her. "Santa Claus is here, that's why everybody's moving. Try not to get stepped on."

But how? Without Kid, she could only walk on all fours, hoping people would notice her. When the crowd slowed down, she decided to stand up to try and see better. Maybe Kid was still there?

Meanwhile, Papyrus was looking for her, along with Inny and Hoppy after they had scolded their children for letting the two youngest alone. Still holding Child, Nederic was also looking for his second kid, slowly making his way through the crowd, scanning the ground as best as he could. Papyrus, right behind him, was calling Frisk, hoping the human would answer, when a strange scene had them both turn around.

Santa Claus, or rather Asgore, had calmly settled down on a chair by the Christmas tree, his sack full of small toys right by his side, after he had greeted the monsters, big and small, as he did every year. The adults stood at a respectful distance around him, but a flock of fur balls in striped shirts was already surrounding him, trying to climb onto his knees; and like every year, he was trying to calm everyone down, laughing softly.

That's when a child, a tiny yellow wyvern, had jumped out of the crowd and ran on a few feet before falling over and faceplanting the snow. The worried king had immediately stood up to pick up the kid into his arms. "Are you alright, child?"

The baby's only response was a mesh of small cries, incomprehensible but clearly worried, their face turned to the crowd. Then they went silent for a moment and a large smile sprouted on their face. So the king followed their gaze and froze from surprise.

Frisk, holding onto the monsters legs, had walked to the first clearing she could see. There, a tall monster clad in red and white, with a long blond beard and a friendly face, was holding Kid in comfort. She wanted to join them but there were no more legs to hold onto. The adults were staying back.

The big monster gave her a surprised look. Chara stood next to him, staring with unfathomable eyes.

"That's Santa," they told Frisk. She smiled at them. Scanning the space separating her from Santa, she imagined herself walking up to him, like Kid had, and felt filled with the will to succeed. Chara chuckled at her when she filled her tiny lungs and took a step forward. "You are filled with determination."

Frisk nodded and let go of the leg she was still holding. Her foot sunk into the snow but she managed to keep standing. Her face lit up. She took another step. Then another. She still wasn't falling.

Watching her go, Santa kneeled down and opened his arms. Kid, sitting in the pit of his elbow, beheld with astonishment their friend walking all by herself. Frisk felt proud of that attention and tried her best to put a foot in front of the other, arms opened to steady herself.

Asgore didn't move, waiting for the child to come to him. The tiny human he could recognize despite the costume. The other monsters watched the scene with fond smiles, oblivious to the real stakes of that moment. Asgore waited, and when the child fell into his arm, proud they could walk up to him, he stood, holding the human and wyvern effortlessly. A pained smile stretched his lips. "Are you lost, children?"

Frisk shook her head. Chara laughed, right by her side, and advised that she pulled on his beard. Frisk thought that was a weird way of saying hi, but still grabbed a small handful of hair and pulled. Asgore started laughing and gently pried her little hand open. "Now, now…" he said with a shaky voice despite his smile. "How about we found your parents…?" He looked up and his smile turned into a wince for a moment.

Standing in the crowd, not far from him, Toriel's face was staring at him, filled with disdain, watching for the slightest gesture out of place. Asgore wondered why she hadn't stepped in yet, then noticed the short skeleton holding her arm, holding her back.

The two boss-monsters stared at each other, still, silent, unable to fill the few feet separating them. One look, one moment in her presence, and Asgore wanted to kneel in front of her, to beg for her forgiveness. To do what he should have done decades ago. But this was here, and this was now, and it was neither the right place nor the right time. Instead, all he could do was whisper, so quiet only Kid and Frisk could hear: "Tori…"

The kids started to grow impatient, and Asgore remembered his part. He forced a smile, and stepped towards the crowd. "Pardon me, friends, has someone lost two small children around here?"

"Ah, Santa! Santa!" Papyrus waved from the crowd as Nederic walked up to him calmly to take his offspring back. Asgore handed him Kid who whined loudly when they were separated from Frisk. She waved him goodbye. Papyrus ended up there eventually too. "Ah, you found her, thank you Santa!" he exclaimed as he took the child back. Frisk let out a cry of joy as she was reunited with the skeleton and immediately tried to hug him. "I was very worried, Frisk! Why would you leave like that, it was very irresponsible of you! Good thing Santa was here!"

"I think she managed very well," Asgore chuckled. "You have a very resourceful child."

Papyrus gasped. "Frisk did you hear that?! Santa complimented you! What do you say?"

Frisk let out a small cry that sounded like laughter and clapped her hands.

"She'll know how to say thanks by next year," Papyrus assured, and Asgore laughed again.

"I'm sure of it."

After this, the children who still hadn't gotten their turn brought him back to his duties, and Papyrus noticed Toriel and Sans in the crowd. They all went home as he told them how Frisk had made their first proud steps into adversity and was definitely worthy of being the next best royal guard ever's niece.

Toriel had smiled, a little disappointed that she hadn't been the best placed to see Frisk's first steps, and very disappointed that Asgore had been. Sans told her jokes to make her feel better, but she couldn't forget the mix of fear and hope that had assaulted her when she had seen her precious Frisk walking in all innocence towards the monster who had the blood of six children on his hands. Strangely enough, hope was what hurt her the most; hope she didn't want, born when she had met the depressed gaze of that man she had loved. Hope she refused to admit.

Once they were home, Papyrus realized something horrible. "WE FORGOT TO GIVE HIM THE PRESENT LIST! NYOHOHOHOOOOO!"

Sans took a moment to comfort him and tell him that no, Santa was not going to forget him just because he hadn't told him what he wanted.

And indeed, on Christmas night, there were presents under the tree. There was even a small package, left in front of the door, from "Santa". Toriel, founding the box full of toys, of baby treats and, along with the rest, a small golden flower bouquet, thought of throwing it all away.

Thought.

Then she wrapped up what wasn't and put the presents under the tree with the rest. She hung the flowers by the window to let them dry.

No, she refused to hold onto her hope.

But it was Christmas after all.

A big thanks to Dragonna for her suggestions, a great source of inspiration for this fanfiction! I'm borrowing part of her headcanon stating that dragons (and consequently wyverns, drakes and other flying snakes) get a totally random name at birth, and choose a new name and gender once they've come of age.

Bonus info: Rabbit monsters are culturally libertines. Hoppy isn't married but has two kids: Zoey, 3 years old; and Brook, 5. Inny is married and has three kids : Light, 2; Parky, 4; and Loky, 6. Each name in that family is a word play on "keeper".