A/N: So I posted this to my DeviantArt, but I thought I should post it here as well. Enjoy!

The antiseptic smell of the hospital filled Toriel's nose as she tightened her grip on Frisk's hand. She could feel herself shaking, her stomach twisting, her eyes prickling with tears she refused to shed.

She had already lost two children. She could not bear to lose a third.

The small form on the bed looked so miniscule, so diminished. Frisk's brown hair lay tangled over their eyes, and Toriel took a moment to brush it aside, behind the child's ears.

"They're going to be okay, Toriel," Sans, sitting beside her, promised in a quiet voice, but nonetheless, its suddenness in the silence made her jump a little. "Frisk has dealt with worse than this."

Toriel smiled, a weak, stiff smile that did not feel all that right on her features. This was certainly true. Frisk had done incredible things, for one so young. They had saved the world, not to put too fine a point on it.

It really wasn't so surprising that they were here now, Toriel reflected. After all of the trouble Frisk had gotten into in the Underground, it really wasn't so surprising that they got into just as much trouble on the surface. And for the same reasons.

Of course, the children responsible were being reprimanded harshly. Bullying a child to the point of rendering them unconscious was… Toriel sighed. It was savage. There was no other word for it. Human beings, even children, could be so cruel.

And yet, she reflected as she brushed Frisk's hair aside some more, they could be so kind. Frisk had seen these children bullying another child, one weaker than Frisk, and of course they had stepped in. It was in their nature. Frisk had taken the beating while the other child slipped away.

And they hadn't even thought of fighting back.

But then, fighting wasn't really Frisk's style now, was it?

"Unn," a quiet, stirring sound came from the small form on the bed, and immediately Toriel and Sans turned to look at Frisk's face. Their eyes were screwing up, and slowly, they blinked, looking around.

"Frisk!" Toriel gasped, immediately leaning forward and sweeping the child into a warm, furry hug. "You're awake!"

"Ow." Was Frisk's only response. Immediately, Toriel released them. Sans grinned.

"You scared the life outta us, kid," he said, reaching forward to ruffle Frisk's hair. They winced a little, but otherwise looked happy for the affection. They gave Sans a quizzical look, which was all he needed. "You're in the hospital- I think that's what it's called. You got beat up pretty bad."

Frisk hesitated for a moment, and Sans knew that they were assessing themselves, taking in the damage. After a moment, they seemed satisfied that there was no lasting problem, and looked to Toriel. "I'm okay, mom."

Sans noticed then that Toriel was wiping tears from her eyes. Smiling softly, the former queen of the Underground kissed her adopted child on the forehead. "I know, my child. I know."

Sans, however, looked a bit more serious. "So what happened, kid? What happened to your amazing dodging skills?"

Frisk hesitated again, and though both Sans and Toriel were studying them carefully, only Sans noticed the look on Frisk's face. It was gone in a flash, though, as Frisk replied, "Wasn't enough, I guess. Not this time."

There was silence for a moment, which was filled when Frisk's stomach began to growl. Frisk giggled as Sans smirked, and Toriel stood. "Oh! You must be hungry, you've been asleep for so long… I'll go see if I can find you some food." And before Frisk could explain the concept of a 'cafeteria' to their adoptive mother, she was out the door and down the hallway.

Sans watched Toriel go, then turned to Frisk, who had taken to humming quietly, smiling a little to themselves.

"So, kid," Sans said, his eyesockets abruptly looking hollow, empty. Blank. "What really happened back there?"

Frisk looked to him, innocence on their face. One look at Sans' empty sockets, and they turned away, knowing that he wasn't buying it. Shrugging and ducking their head, Frisk replied, "It was just… a fight, y'know? They were picking on some other kid, and… I got in the way."

"But you could've gotten out of the way afterwards." Sans' empty sockets still showed no mercy. "Couldn't you?"

Frisk looked down at the tiled floor. It was all the answer that Sans needed.

"C'mon, kiddo. Why'd you let those little jerks get the best of you? I've seen you go toe-to-toe with literally every soul in the Underground. You can handle some stupid kids."

"It's different up here, Sans," Frisk replied, still avoiding the skeleton's gaze, looking everywhere in the room but at their friend. They poked at a bruise on their arm and flinched. "Up here… mercy doesn't always work. And if it doesn't…"

"Then you're still not gonna fight," Sans filled in. Frisk nodded, and the skeleton sighed heavily.

"The other kid got away, right?" Frisk asked, turning to Sans suddenly, a hint of desperation in their eyes. "The kid they were picking on, he got away?"

"Yeah, kid. He got away."

Frisk sighed in relief, but Sans cut in, "But that doesn't mean that you have any excuse for what you did."

Frisk immediately whipped their head towards Sans, mouth open in protest, but Sans stopped them with one hand held up. "Not saving that kid, that was the right thing. That was brave. That was just like you. But jumping in, sacrificing yourself… sacrificing yourself without any regard to what it would do to Toriel… to Papyrus.. to Undyne and Alphys and Mettaton and… and me?" His eyesockets narrowed. "Do you have any idea what this has been like? How scared everyone was for you?"

Frisk looked away.

"What if it had been more serious, huh?" Sans pressed on. "What if you had been really hurt? What if you had died? Do you know what we would do without you? Because I sure don't."

Frisk mumbled something, something so quiet, something so terrible, that Sans had to stare for a long moment, to be sure he had heard it correctly. Hands clenching into fists at his side, eyesockets hollow again, he said in slow, deliberate words, "Say that again, Frisk? I didn't quite catch that."

Face flushed, Frisk turned on their friend. "I said," they repeated, louder this time, with clear resolution, "That I'm not that important."

Sans started to speak, but Frisk cut him off. "You know how I was able to save the Underground, Sans? How we all got to the surface? It's because I put everyone else first. Everyone else always comes first. And I come last. That's how things work. It's how I was able to help everyone. It's how I was able to spare everyone. Because even when everyone was trying to fight me, even when everyone was trying to hurt me, I put them first. Because I don't care what happens to me. I care about what happens to everyone around me. I'm not that important, Sans. I don't matter as much as everyone else does."

Crash!

Both sets of eyes turned to the doorway, where Toriel stood, her eyes wide with shock. A tray of food lay scattered on the floor from where she had dropped it, and she made no move to pick it up. For a long moment, no one moved. No one dared to even breathe.

"Is… Is that what you really think?" Toriel whispered, her voice quivering. "You think… that you don't matter?"

"Mom…" Frisk whispered… but then they turned their head away. Tears poured down Toriel's face, but Sans merely stood, reaching out to take Frisk's hand.

"Come on, kid. Get up. There's something you need to see."

Frisk paused, confused, but did as asked. Sans gently patted Toriel on the arm, winking at her, as though to reassure her that everything would be okay. The three of them walked out of the room, down the hall. If Frisk was supposed to stay in their room, no one called them out on it, and they made their way down twisting hallways, towards a small waiting room.

A very small waiting room.

A very small, very crowded waiting room.

Frisk stopped in front of the room, staring.

"HUMAN!" A joyful voice shouted, and immediately all eyes turned to Frisk. Papyrus leapt out of his seat, his arms around Frisk in a heartbeat, but Frisk was still staring at the waiting room, which was filled to the brim with monsters.

"Darling!" Mettaton exclaimed. "You're awake!"

"I told you they would pull through!" Papyrus said happily, turning to the others. But Frisk could see the tears brimming in his eye sockets. "I never doubted it for one second!"

"Y-You're okay!" Alphys beamed, to which Undyne cried, "Of course they're okay! Nothing can keep that kid down!"

Frisk kept staring as Sans explained, "They only let two people into your room at one time. It was Toriel's and my turn. Everyone else… had to wait here."

Frisk stared, breathless. Asgore smiled a genuine, large smile at them, the Loox nodded and the Tsunderplane blushed, muttering about how they 'weren't really worried or anything'. And there, perched in a small pot filled with dirt, was Flowey.

He looked away the second Frisk's eyes landed on him.

"We told ya, kid," Sans whispered, his hand clasped on Frisk's shoulder. "We believe in you."

Frisk wiped their eyes with their sleeves, not surprised by the moisture there.

"You are important," Sans went on. "Look around you, kid. We care. And if something ever happens to you… these are all the people that will be absolutely devastated." He gripped Frisk's shoulder tighter. "So don't you dare say that you're not important again, you hear me?"

Frisk wiped their eyes again. "Yeah, Sans." They replied, smiling at all of the monsters. All of those who were here for their friend. And, feeling suddenly like the most important person in the world, they said, "I hear you."