Tale of Frisk

The ordinary world, The call to adventure

Refusal of the call, Meeting with the mentor

Frisk had forgotten what it was like to fear for her life. It was crippling. It was like drowning in a sea of cold. And no matter what she did, she couldn't find a way out.
There was a knock on the door.
“My child? Are you awake? Breakfast is ready.”
The human never skipped meals. She loved food. But at that moment nothing else could fit into her stomach beside the tight knot which was already occupying it.
“I'm not hungry,” she said truthfully.
“…Are you alright?”
Mum was worried. Frisk didn't want her worried. If she was worried, she would ask questions, like any good mother would. And if she asked too much, Frisk might tell her something. Something bad. Something that Toriel was not supposed to know. It was better to play it safe.
“I went to sleep late,” the human said, rising from her bed to open the door. “I finished the leftover cake at 3 AM, so...” She gave her mum a sheepish smile. It wasn't so hard. She wasn't even lying about those things.
“I noticed,” Toriel huffed. “It's not good for you to...”
“I know mum. I know.” Frisk waved it away, stifling a yawn. She went for another smile. It felt foreign on her face.
“You seem gloomy,” her mum observed. “Is there a problem?”
“I'm just having mood swings. My period's coming up.”
“Ah.” Toriel averted her eyes and asked no more. It was a dirty excuse to use, but a good one. “Oh!” the goat mum clapped her hands. “I know something that will definitely cheer you up.”
“What is it?” the human asked, praying that it would not be pie. A pie was good at any time, but not now.
“Well…” her mum drawled. “Normally I wouldn't let you come but~ since you're grown-up now, I think it will be alright. How would you like to come and see my skeleton friend with me?”
Frisk perked up. She had heard so much about that person from Toriel. Hilarious jokes. Great company. The only thing that her mum never spoke of was where they met.
“I'd love that!” Frisk exclaimed.
“Then it's settled,” Toriel smiled. “I'll meet you at the stairs in fifteen minutes. Bring something to drink, your throat will get scratchy from laughing. I'll pack your breakfast in case you get hungry.”
The human returned to her room to fetch a backpack. Now that she was alone again, the air felt oppressive. Her thoughts darted to and fro as she emptied its current contents. She would meet him. After all this time. After so many years, she would meet him again.
Toriel also seemed nervous while they were walking through the long corridor. Maybe she was expecting the human to finally ask: Why was I never allowed down here? But Frisk wouldn't ask. Knowing what would happen if she ever asked, she kept silent.
They rounded a corner before, in the distance, the human finally saw the Door. The door that separated her sweet life from the never-ending winter outside. The one thing that could separate Toriel and her. As they walked toward it, the door seemed larger and larger until it towered over them, ancient and dusty and firmly closed.
Toriel set down her handbag and motioned Frisk to come closer. They both placed their ears against the cold door and the goat mum said: “Knock knock.”
“Who's there?” came from the other side. Frisk jumped up. Her mum gave her a grin and replied:
“Honey comb.”
“Honey comb who?”
“Honey comb your hair.”
A burst of laughter vibrated through the stone. The human's heart lifted; it was such a nice laugh. She hadn't heard a man speak, let alone laugh for a long time. She snickered.
“Now there,” the man said in surprise. “Unless you've grown a second head, I'd say that there's someone else with you.”
“There is,” Toriel replied. “Consider yourself lucky. You finally get to meet my daughter.”
“How are you,” the man said, knocking on the door three times.
“How do you do,” Frisk answered timidly.
“So you're the fallen human, huh? Your mum talks about you a lot. Enjoying life in the Ruins?”
“Yeah.” The human smiled to herself. “It's all I ever wanted.”
“Huh… weird. I always thought human kids were a restless bunch, but apparently you've never left the Ruins.”
“I'm not a kid.”
“Re~ally. How old are you, human?”
“I turned twenty yesterday.”
“Twenty. Nice, round number. You make your mum very happy, you know.”
Frisk knew this. She knew that having a healthy, sweet child was all Toriel ever wanted. She knew her dream of being a teacher, of having someone to nurture and care for. Her dream of being the best mother. It was part of the reason why she had stayed with Toriel.
But she didn't want to think about it, so she changed the subject.
“What about your family? Do they make you happy?”
The man laughed. “My brother makes me very happy. Recently he's been admitted into the Royal Guard, you know. He's so excited about it. It's like a dream come true. He's been in the training for an awful lot of years. But some time ago, the head of the Royal Guard finally caved in. She said that he was too determined to stay in the training forever. So there was a ceremony and now my brother's officially a knight! He still serves as a sentry in the Snowdin forest though.”
Frisk overheard the last few sentences. Her mind was turning around one particular word that the skeleton had used. “Say, Sans…” she began slowly, “does your brother take apprentices?” She ignored the quizzical look from her mum and waited for the man to speak.
“Uh…” He seemed to be as taken aback as Toriel was. “No? Maybe? He's never talked about it, so I don't know. Why do you ask?”
The human took a deep breath. She could do this. She had to do this. She desperately needed somebody who could help her regain her determination before Flowey got tired of playing with her.
“I'd like your brother to teach me.”
Beside her Toriel gasped, placing her hand on Frisk's shoulder.
“My child… what are you saying? I thought that… I even offered to train you myself… Do you want to leave me?”
This was it. This was the question that Frisk had been carefully avoiding for twelve years.
“I don't want to leave you,” she said, looking her mum straight in the eye. “I've been very happy with you. Happier than I ever was before I fell down here. But… I'm twenty now. Don't you think that it's a bit strange to be living with my mum at this age? Don't you think that I could go and explore the world by now?”
Toriel shifted her weight. “I admit that I thought it strange. But you always seemed so content to live in the Ruins with me. I hoped that we could live here together forever. I hoped that another child may fall, so that you'd have friends...”
A sudden chill ran down the human's spine. Nobody else was going to fall down. The entire mountain had been made off-limits to the public after Frisk's disappearance. She was the eighth and last human who would ever fall into the underground.
“My child?”
Shaking her head Frisk snapped back into reality. Her mum was watching her, obviously close to tears. The human took a shaky breath and repeated the speech that she had always been avoiding.
“You know mum, most human children aren't as lucky as me. Their parents shout at them, and beat them, and take their anger out at them because they can't solve their own issues. Everybody would want you as their mum. But we both know that I stopped being a kid some time ago. I need to get a life of my own. It doesn't mean that I'll stop loving you. Just that you'll let me grow.”
The goat mum sniffed and nodded. “I understand. Just… just…”
Frisk was holding her before she broke into crying. It was beyond weird to be comforting her own mum. But it had to be done. Frisk was a little afraid of fire.
“Hey, if it helps...” the skeleton behind the door said, “I'll keep an eye socket out for the kid after they leave the Ruins. A promise is a promise, right?”
“Thank you, my friend,” Toriel sniffled. Her arms around her child tightened, then let loose. She wiped her tears into her sleeve. “This old lady is being dramatic. I will open the Door for you. But you will come and visit me sometime, okay?”
The human promised this without hesitation.

Crossing the threshold

A curious mixture of excitement, sadness and fear overtook the Ruins. Toriel was darting around, finding items and discarding them again, trying to pack Frisk's belongings in a way that wouldn't make the backpack bigger than her. Frisk was pacing. She heard Flowey laugh on several occasions; this did not improve her mood.
At last they all stood in front of the Door: Frisk and Toriel on one side, the skeleton on the other.
“I wish you a good journey, my child,” Toriel said. “Stay strong. Don't pick fights. Remember that you can talk your way out of nearly anything.”
“I will.”
“And get some warm clothes as soon as possible. I'll put a warmth spell on you but it won't last more than several days. You have to be prepared for the cold by then.”
“I will.”
“Good. And… and…” Having run out of advice, the goat mum sighed. “Be a good child, won't you?”
“I will,” Frisk repeated, hugging her.
Chuckling into her embrace, Toriel mumbled: “I never asked about this but…”
The human paled. Was this about the bone in the sock drawer?
Whispering into the human's ear, Toriel asked: “What's your name?”
The human swallowed a lump in her throat. “Frisk,” she whispered back.
“Thank you, Frisk, for staying with me for so long. You've made an old lady very happy.”
Frisk nodded, unsure whether the heat spilling into her body was the warmth spell being cast or something else. She wiped her eyes and, leaning her weight against the stone, she pushed the Door open.
White, white, piercing white everywhere. The human covered her watering eyes, blinking the glare away. Her mum, whose condition was no better, peeked over her shoulder. There was nobody outside.
“Ah,” Toriel said with a great deal of disappointment. “I guess he had to go somewhere… Well, Frisk, my child… off you go.” Smiling she pushed the human out of the door gently and let its great wings fall closed.
Frisk touched the door. From this side its surface was smooth and polished. There was no leverage to pull it open again. She sighed.
“Aww, missing your mum already?”
The human startled. Flowey was watching her from the snow.
“How pathetic. You aren't giving me a very good show. I'm considering killing you to have some fun. Don't worry – I'll load afterwards.” He winked at her. “Or maybe I won't, hee… It's up to you, really. I'll be seeing you. Even if you won't be seeing me.”
Frisk's knees were still shaking when Sans appeared out of nowhere.
“Sorry I'm late,” he excused himself. “Are you ready to go?”
Composing herself quickly, the human gave the skeleton a scrutinising look over. He was shorter than she remembered, but the grin was the same as always. She noticed that he was inspecting her, too.
“...Yeah,” she said finally.
“Swell. Then let's g-” He stopped mid-word. He stood motionless for a few seconds. “Then let's go,” he finished as if nothing had happened and began walking down the snowy path.
“What was that about?” Frisk asked.
The skeleton smacked his forehead. “I forgot to introduce myself.” He extended his hand toward the human. “I'm Sans. Sans the skeleton.”
An indistinct sense of déjà vu pricked the human's mind. She switched the walking stick to her left hand and took Sans's right. Its bony grip was strong and…
Pfffffft.
...padded with a whoopee cushion. Frisk couldn't help a grin.
“Never gets old,” Sans remarked. “Now let's go meet my brother.”
They trod the forest path for a good while. Abruptly the skeleton stopped. Frisk nearly barrelled into him. She looked around, assuming Papyrus was approaching, but aside from Flowey's ominous presence she saw nothing extraordinary.
His back turned to the human, Sans asked almost casually: “Do you know that there's somebody following you?”
Frisk froze. A few seconds of tense silence ticked by.
“Hm. Never mind, it's gone.” The skeleton resumed walking. Frisk stood still for a few seconds before she moved to catch up with him. And as she walked, a wonderful realisation washed over her: She no longer felt a pair of eyes on her back. Flowey was gone.
“Do you need help getting through those bars?” Sans asked when they reached the gate bridge. “I always thought that my brother made them too wide to stop anyone. But seeing you, well, I stand corrected.”
Frisk hated when her figure was made fun of but she decided to let it slide. She settled for returning the compliment. “He obviously made them to stop someone of his own size.”
Sans chuckled and did not seem offended at all. “You need help with that?” he pointed at her backpack.
“No,” Frisk refused, tugging the thing off and dragging it behind her through the bars.
“Good,” Sans dusted off his hands. “I was too lazy to help anyway. Ah, there goes my brother.”
The human stopped bothering to heave the backpack back onto her shoulders. Instead she leaned against it and watched the approaching figure.
“He's got a nice cape,” she remarked.
“Tell that to him,” Sans winked at her. “He'll be happy to hear it.”
The huge piece of red cloth was billowing as Papyrus walked briskly toward them. Similar to Sans, he looked the same as in Frisk's memories, only he didn't tower over her so much. Which didn't mean he didn't tower over her anymore. He was still half a head taller.
“Human!” Papyrus addressed Frisk's backpack. “My brother has told me of your wish that I, the great Papyrus, accept you as my apprentice in the Royal Guard! Because that is who I am, a member of the Royal Guard.”
The backpack seemed impressed, though it said nothing in response.
“I see!” Papyrus wasn't thrown off at all. “You are shy. That is understandable, for you are meeting the great Papyrus for the first time. But human! I must disappoint you. As a member of the Royal Guard, it is my priority to capture you, rather than take you as my apprentice. You will face a series of puzzles so great that even the greatest minds are boggled by them. That is – sometimes I am boggled by them! Who would have thought I would become so good at making puzzles that I would have trouble solving them!”
Frisk's ears were starting to ring from the loud monologue.
“Your flabbergasted silence flatters me.” Papyrus smiled at her backpack. “Come human, and meet your fate in the field of puzzles.” He waved energetically and cackling “Nyeh heh heh” he made his leave.
Sans snorted. “That went well.”
The human hefted her doppelgänger-backpack and picked up her walking stick, trying to recall the solutions to the numerous puzzles Papyrus had put her through. She failed because she was too distracted by musing if the taller skeleton had always been this handsome. It didn't matter anyway – in twelve years a lot must have changed. The puzzles were certainly a lot more devilish now.

Tests, allies and enemies

Approach, The ordeal

Huddled in the snow against a log house wasn't Frisk's idea of a good night's sleep. Nevertheless, it was worth waking up to see a certain short skeleton staring at her with an incredulous grin.
“Have you been here all night?” Sans asked.
“Uh-huh,” Frisk confirmed, rubbing her eyes.
“Jeez.” The skeleton scratched the back of his skull. “Way to make a guy feel inhospitable.”
The human arched an eyebrow at him. “You suggested that I sleep in the snow.”
Sans grinned uneasily. “It snow big deal, right?”
Frisk rolled her eyes and began peeling off her woollen quilt. She shuddered when cool air met her skin. “Warmth spells don't last forever, you know,” she told the skeleton. When she looked up, he was gone. Rude.
With what gold she had, Frisk bought three cinnamon bunnies at the shop and washed them down with her remaining spider cider. On the shopkeeper's recommendation she left her baggage at the inn next door and went sightseeing. Even in the middle of a group of monsters, her stomach was fluttering nervously. Flowey was watching again. Not to mention that it was haunting how every face she recognised was so much older.
Walking past the library toward the misty end of Snowdin, the human felt acutely that there was now nobody between her and the bloodthirsty golden flower. She quickened her pace.
A sharp crack.
The human whipped around, raising her walking stick. Nobody.
“I know you're there!” she cried out in frustration. “If you want to have some fun and kill me, go ahead and give it a try!” She searched her frustration for anger, but the spark was nowhere to be found. She was still simply scared.
“Whoa,” someone said to Frisk's other side. The human nearly strained her neck turning around. It was Sans. Frisk's stomach relaxed, then dropped. What had she said? “I was just gonna watch the fight and invite you on a breakfast afterwards, since… you're out of cash.” The carefully questioning tone told her that he'd seen her buy the cinnamon bunnies. Twice damn. “Why did you think I'd want to kill you?” Damn three times.
Racking her brain the human looked for an excuse. “I didn't know it was you. Sorry.”
Sans gave her a searching look. She hadn't answered his question and she wasn't going to. He sighed. “Enjoy the fight,” he said with false cheer.
Nodding the human walked past him as quickly as possible. He was suspicious of her. In situations like these, she used to load. Now she had to bear the consequences. The thickening fog clung to her, damped her hair, condensed on her skin. It was getting hard to breathe, and it wasn't just her panic.
“Human.”
She stopped.
“So you have come. Let the greatest battle in history begin!”
Magically the mist cleared away and the human saw Papyrus. He was in all of his glory: red cape billowing, polished armour shining, a cocky and confident smile on his face. A matching grin tugged on Frisk's mouth. Just the sight of him was enough to lift half her worries from her mind.
The skeleton beckoned to her, passing her the first turn. The human considered her options, weighed the walking stick in her hand, and decided to start by attempting to spare her opponent.
“I don't want to fight you,” she said. “Let's discuss this over a cup of tea.”
Unpredictably Papyrus blushed and stuttered: “A-are you inviting me on a date?”
“I would if I could,” Frisk replied, flashing a smile. She hoped that this would soften the skeleton and make the battle quicker. As expected, Papyrus blushed deeper and squealed, a sound that didn't really match his imposing appearance. Then he cleared his throat.
“The battle comes first!” he announced. “Prepare for my attack!” Well, that didn't work.
An array of bones materialised around the skeleton and darted toward the human. The onslaught was a lot harder to avoid than she remembered. It wasn't surprising, really. Sans had said that his brother had spent the years training. But even when the human used her vast HP to plough through some of the bones, she got smacked by numerous attacks without ever meaning to. Being older, she seemed to be slower and a bigger target. Or maybe back then she had higher stats? At any rate, after a short while she was gasping for breath. There was an ominous feeling in her gut. Something was coming.
The last bone flew by. Papyrus raised his arm high into the air. When he let it drop, in gracious slow-motion, the red glow from Frisk's chest turned blue and she remembered. She barely had time to brace herself on her walking stick before double gravity kicked it.
“Nyeh heh heh! I see that my attack has made you quite blue,” Papyrus remarked in delight.
“No kidding,” the human muttered through clenched teeth. Sweat beaded on her forehead as she exerted all her muscles to stay upright. Now this was a reason for losing weight! Blue attacks! Too bad she hadn't thought of it before. Now it was all she could do to stand. From the distance she saw a tiny bone approaching, aimed at her ankles.
Summoning all her strength she jumped, pushing herself off the earth. The bone passed harmlessly under her. Frisk experienced a short jolt of joy before her feet connected with the ground.
Crunch. Crunch.
“Fuck!” the human screamed as she went down. Tears sprang to her eyes freely as her HP leaped into single digits. Her knees had broken under her weight! If she hadn't been in so much pain, she would have laughed like a madman at the irony. This way she was only sobbing harshly.
“Human?” Papyrus asked, unsure. “What has happened? My attack wasn't this strong.”
Frisk rolled onto her back, sprawling in the snow. Her crying subsided as the pain dulled, a much appreciated feature of monster battles. She had known that her opponent was strong, but she still couldn't believe that she had lost so quickly. “I broke my knees,” she sniffled. “I should have seen that coming, God…”
“You broke your knees?” Papyrus repeated, a terrified note in his voice. “Oh God, human… I'm so sorry! I didn't mean to hurt you that badly!” He took a step forward, then halted as he realised they were still in a battle. “I… I broke my elbow once,” he said uneasily. “I had to wear a cast for months until the doctor allowed me to take it off. Bones take a long time to mend.”
“Maybe it won't take that long,” Frisk said, thinking of monster food and its magical healing properties. She tried to give Papyrus a smile. She failed. “C-can I spare you now? I can't put up any more fight, so you can go ahead and capture me.”
“Of course,” Papyrus nodded quickly, accepting her mercy. He paused as the meaning of the surrender dawned on him, and laughed almost in surprise. “Nyeh heh heh heh heh! I, the great Papyrus, have fulfilled my duty as a member of the Royal Guard! I have captured a human!”
“Good for you,” Frisk mumbled, searching for any kind of food in her pockets. She was startled when Papyrus jammed his hands under her and swept her up. “Whoaa!” She flung her arms around his neck, expecting him to sway under her weight and drop her. But when the world steadied Papyrus was standing upright, as solid as a rock.
A blush rose to Frisk's cheeks. It was true that she was in no condition to walk, but she had never been carried bridal style. She was too heavy for any boy to try his luck. This skeleton sure was something. Something… uncomfortable as hell. His bones dug into her bruised flesh with every stride he made. Frisk hissed with pain, holding onto his neck tighter in an attempt to lift some of her weight off his arms.
Making his way back to Snowdin, Papyrus was chattering happily about the honours he would get now that he had captured a human. The said human was considering how to tell her captor that he could never tell Undyne about his achievement, lest his captured human be slain in cold blood and her Soul taken. Engrossed in such cheerful thoughts the human didn't notice that they were not headed for the couch at all.
“Wait, are you going to leave me here?” she called out from behind the bars of the shed.
“I must consult with my brother,” Papyrus told her. “Wait here, human.” And he was gone.
Lovely. Just lovely. Frisk had been looking forward to lying on their lumpy couch in the warmth of their home. And here she was, on the cold hard ground of their shed. There was even some dog food in a bowl in the corner.
After a while of self-respect the human crawled to the bowl and ate one of the brown pellets. It was fresh and crunchy and it restored 2 HP of her decimated health. Frisk decided that it was worth it.
When the bowl was empty, the human's knees could carry her weight again. Silently she thanked the strange physics of the monster world and she squeezed through the bars.

The reward

When Frisk entered the skeleton household, Papyrus gave her a stunned once-over.
“Human, how did you escape the shed?” he asked in shock.
“Magic,” Frisk smiled, closing the door behind her. Her smile fell when she realised the inside of the house wasn't any warmer than the outside. “I'm mostly healed,” she announced, rocking on her heels to show her point. “We can finally get to business. Papyrus, have you decided yet? Fancy yourself an apprentice?”
“We were just talking about it!” Papyrus nodded. “My brother thinks that it's dangerous to take you in. But! As far as apprenticeship goes, I have tonnes of experience!”
“Skeletons,” Sans corrected. Papyrus gave him a stern look.
“Anyway! I've been in the training under Undyne since I was nineteen! That means I am very qualified when it comes to training someone!” He hesitated. “Speaking of Undyne…” He rubbed the back of his head gently, a gesture that didn't go unnoticed. “As my brother reminded me, it is my duty as a member of the Royal Guard to bring you before the king.”
“You haven't uh…” the human's throat was suddenly dry, “told anyone about me yet, have you?” If she died as things stood, loading back would fail. Her death would be permanent.
“I… haven't told anyone that you've been captured,” the skeleton avoided the question, looking anywhere but at the human. Before Frisk had time to be properly horrified, Papyrus burst out: “I'm sorry – I didn't know you would be so… easy to defeat! Undyne has been dying to get her hands on a human. If I hadn't begged-… asked her to let me capture you myself, she would have stomped over here and… and brought you straight before the king.” The hesitation made it obvious that Papyrus had a fairly good idea of what would happen from that point on. Why couldn't he have shown this sentiment before he'd given away Frisk's presence? “But I knew that humans were tough, and Sans has told me that you were strong, so I thought that it would be alright!” He cupped the back of his head, grimacing. Sans took a step forward, raising his hand. Papyrus noticed, quickly lowering his hand to his side. “Excuse me,” he blurted out and he all but ran up the stairs to his room. After the door slammed shut behind him, Sans and Frisk were left in the living room, gazing after him in concern. The human glanced at the other monster nervously.
“So,” Sans said. He dragged his eyes away from Papyrus's room. “You did lose pretty quickly.”
“It was the blue attack!” Frisk bristled, then calmed herself down by the power of habit instilled into her by the peace-loving Toriel. “If Undyne can't use gravity against me, I should be fine.” She paused. “She can't use the blue attack, right? Papyrus might have learned the green attack from her, but she didn't learn the blue from him… did she?”
Sans shook his head. “Blue attacks are innate to skeletons. My brother is nothing short of a genius to be able to master a second kind of magic. I'm really proud of him.”
Frisk nodded. “His cooking is great, too,” she observed enthusiastically, thinking back on the ravioli.
Sans grinned wider. “Right? When he started under Undyne, all she would teach him was cooking. I had to eat out for years. I still haven't paid my tab at Grillby's. You know the place?” The human caught herself before nodding and she shook her head instead. “Wanna go grab a late breakfast there? It's the best junk food around.”
“I um… I've already eaten,” the human said, embarrassed. “I ate the kibbles at the shed.” Thankfully she didn't have to lie this time.
“Grillby has those, too,” Sans assured her. The human grew red. She grew redder when she realised that Sans was joking. The short skeleton snorted in amusement. “Anyway. After my brother learned to cook so well that Undyne's lessons made him worse instead of better, she offered to teach him the green attack. Everybody thought that she was cracked in the head. They said that she had gone stir-crazy while waiting for a human to appear. But Papyrus, he proved everybody wrong. He actually learned to use green magic. If it were up to me, I'd guess this was the main reason why he was admitted into the Royal Guard. There hasn't been a dual caster in ages. It would be downright insulting not to have him in the Royal Guard. Though, of course. Papyrus doesn't think of it that way.”
“Wow,” the human said when Sans waited for a reaction. “I didn't know monsters couldn't use more than one sort of magic.”
Sans seemed surprised. “You've been living with the lady for years. Hasn't she taught you about monster magic?”
Frisk shook her head. “She didn't teach me anything related to fighting.”
“Why not?”
“I uh… I used to be a hothead. When a monster hurt me in a fight, sometimes I'd flip my lid and…” Frisk ground to a stop. Sans's expression was scaring her. “I-I was forbidden to fight after she took me in.”
Frightening seconds ticked by. Sans's eyes were boring into her. After a while Frisk remembered the sensation. The last corridor. He was reading her EXP.
Frisk's EXP was zero. She couldn't go to her mum with her hands dusty. Even when she'd killed a monster in a fit of temper, she'd always loaded back. “Well,” Sans smiled. Like a curtain the heavy atmosphere was lifted. “If you haven't been in a battle for twelve years, it's no wonder that you went down so easily.”
“Hey! I told you, if it wasn't for the blue attack-”
A door swung open with such force that it slammed against the wall.
“The great Papyrus is back!” the skeleton announced, climbing down the stairs in a dignified fashion. “What have I missed?”
“Nothing,” the human answered before Sans could report anything. “We're still waiting for your decision about my training.”
“Haven't we decided that already?” Papyrus asked, puzzled. “I, the great Papyrus, member of the Royal Guard, will take you in as my apprentice and teach you everything I know. It's obvious that you are in desperate need of training.” He looked from Frisk to Sans. “Are there any objections?”
The short skeleton shrugged. A welcome change from his earlier opinions about her being dangerous.
“Good!” Papyrus beamed. “Let us begin, human! First, you must find accommodation. Where is your luggage? Bring it here. The couch is free, so you can sleep on it. As long as you put away the cushions in the morning, of course.”
Feeling like she was in Toriel's lecture again, the human raised her hand.
“You may speak, human,” Papyrus prompted her kindly. It made Frisk warm inside.
“I'll need some spare clothes. These don't really cut it in the winter,” she tugged at her shorts.
“Hmm. Yeees,” Papyrus drawled, appearing pensive. “I have heard that since humans have skin, they can be prone to cold. Come with me, human. I must have some clothes that fit you…”
Opening his room, the tall skeleton went straight for the closet. Frisk looked around curiously.
“What… is that?” she pointed at a plastic skeleton wearing a set of badly battered clothing.
“Huh?” Papyrus looked over his shoulder. “Ohh, my old battle body! Sans made it for me to wear at a costume party. Isn't it grand? I had to stop wearing it after it started falling apart, unfortunately. Buuut...” His voice bubbled with excitement as he knocked on his suit of polished silver armour. He was so full of pride that Frisk understood at once.
“Your armour is modelled after it,” she filled in. It was great to see Papyrus fulfil his lifelong dream of becoming a royal guardsman. She was so happy for him that she was taken aback by the strength of the sentiment. She wasn't crushing on him, was she?
Papyrus gave Frisk a stunned look. “Human! How did you know? Did you read my thoughts?”
The girl shook her head, grinning. “The new version is so much better. I love the red cape!”
As Sans had predicted, Papyrus lit up like a Christmas tree.
The human left her mentor's room with a stack of clothing that would probably fit her if she rolled the sleeves up half a mile. Tucked safely into the heap there was a single humerus, Frisk's guilty pleasure. Papyrus had no idea why she'd asked to take it from the box. Truth be told, Frisk couldn't believe that she had missed it in the array of Papyrus's attacks. She had never seen an object that looked so much like a man's penis. (Not that she had ever seen a live man's penis.) She thought of her mum, and the bone in her sock drawer, and she couldn't stop herself from giggling.
Thus, Frisk's apprenticeship under Papyrus began.

The road back

The 26th day of Frisk's apprenticeship under Papyrus began poorly, and it only got worse. In the morning Sans tried to sit on Frisk's couch before she cleaned up. She heard his yelp just as she was getting into the shower and she nearly slipped, barely saving herself on a rack of towels. Which collapsed. Among the wreckage Sans appeared, waving Frisk's bone dildo in front of her face.
“What the hell is-” Seeing the human's naked body, he screamed. The human screamed. In the kitchen Papyrus screamed. Sans teleported away and Frisk didn't see him for the rest of the morning. He did not return the bone.
As hours went by, the human descended deeper into her dark mood. When she spilled the milk meant for her coffee, she wiped at it so angrily that she knocked over her coffee mug, too. Her boots were freezing cold because she had forgotten to put a pair of warmers inside. The snow was tacky, the light pinched at her eyes, and the great Papyrus was not helpful at all.
“I just do not understand, human,” he told her unhappily as they headed toward their sparring ground, Frisk stomping ahead, the skeleton trying to keep up. “Lately you have been so moody! I thought that you were having problems with your aunt, but that only lasts a week, doesn't it?”
“You are a genius Papyrus,” the girl grumbled. Indeed, her period had passed a week ago. But she was enjoying this. It was so easy to just be angry, to complain instead of trying to fix things. That she was unfair and hurtful toward Papyrus, she successfully glossed over. He was so optimistic, he would get over it. The important thing was that in each of the jabs, Frisk felt a spark of anger, a tiny bit of that red flame that used to burn so bright inside her. If she carried on this way, she would get her determination back. She was so close, she couldn't stop now.
“Perhaps it would be better to postpone the sparring and stick to cooking lessons today...” Papyrus offered uneasily.
“No,” Frisk spat, glaring at him. “I want to spar now.” Their surroundings dimmed a little as she picked a fight. Frisk had become familiar with the magic that governed monster battles. She raised her walking stick and grinned.
If she hadn't kept tabs on her kill count (which was zero!), she would have sworn that her stats were rising. It was so much easier to attack now, to swing her stick at the skeleton's legs, chest, head. Four weeks ago just the thought of hurting someone had made her sick. Toriel's principles had held her fast in their grasp. But old ways never go away completely. And so Frisk attacked. And attacked. Papyrus was saying something, telling her to stop and have a rest, he'd make her a plate of ravioli just how she liked it, but she did not listen. There was the noise of static in her ears and a hot buzz in her Soul as she avoided and attacked, avoided and attacked, until suddenly Papyrus was kneeling in the snow, reaching out with a shaking hand.
“Mercy,” she could hear him say. It was then that the hot buzz finally coalesced. It became a single, panic-stricken thought: I am disgusting. I am a murderer.
Frisk had never run so fast in her fat life.
When she reached the skeleton house, her breath was wheezing in her sore throat, her legs ached like hell and she felt sick. All the anger that she had been pampering was turning to fear. What would she have done if she hadn't come to her senses? Would she have killed Papyrus in her frenzied quest for determination? She couldn't load yet! She would be a murderer, she would have to face the consequences, the faces of everyone and… and Sans, what would Sans do to her? Oh God…
Her throat was so tight with wanting to cry that she couldn't even gasp for air. She had to calm down. Fumbling for the key she unlocked the door and barged inside. She slammed the door closed, locked it, and sagged against the wood, hiding her face behind her folded forearms.
It was minutes later, when she was just about ready to stop sobbing, that a voice hissed:
“Why did you do that?”
She jerked upright so fast that she hit the back of her head against the door. Sans was looking down at her unsympathetically.
“Why did you hurt my brother?” he repeated. He appeared rather unimpressive, hands tucked deep into his pockets, a short frail skeleton. It gave Frisk goosebumps of apprehension all over her body.
“I'm sorry.” She couldn't apologise enough. “I was stupid. I thought-”
...that I would gain something. She wanted to say something along those lines. Sans, however, beat her to it.
“That you could set it back and make it like it never happened?”
Frisk stared at the skeleton, mouth ajar. “What?” she breathed out.
“Determination,” Sans said, and he said it with such disgust in his voice that Frisk's stomach turned, “the willpower to make things your way. To change fate. Your bone was full of it.”
“What bone… what?”
“Look pal, don't play dumb.” Sans smiled. It was a very discomforting smile. “Not now and not with me. Do you know just how many signs you've dropped? I've spent a better part of my life looking for your kind. I know what to look for.”
“What?” She did sound dumb, but she couldn't help it. How could he know all that? She'd been so careful!
“Since it's you, I'll spell it out for you. Let's see.” Falling back into laid-back demeanour, Sans tapped his chin. “I've got lots of small things, like how you were familiar with everything, or how scared you were of Undyne… But there's one hard fact that remains, and that ticked me off right at the beginning. You see – you called me by my name behind that door. I've never told my name to the lady, and she hasn't told me hers. Yet you, who had never left the Ruins, knew who I was.” He grinned and rocked on his heels. “You made that mistake at the very start, human. I had barely heard your voice and I already had a solid proof that you were that time traveller. You are the one who messed up the time-space continuum.”
“...Messed up the what?” Frisk echoed.
“Come now,” Sans dipped his head to the side. “Haven't I explained it to you already?”
“No, you haven't explained anything to me!” Frisk frowned. “It would be nice if you did.”
Sans looked at her curiously. “You know… You take yourself for a good liar. I hate to break it to you, but you aren't. I can see right through you. But right now, it doesn't seem like you're lying. But...” he continued, thinking aloud, “if you have reset as many times as the time monitor has recorded, I must have let my tongue loose at least once. Unless-” his eyes locked with hers, “there was another time traveller. A more powerful one. An older one. The one that's been trying to kill you ever since you left the Ruins, and who's only been hanging back because Papyrus is with you all the time.”
Frisk wanted to say something, to object, to deny everything. However, she could only watch Sans as he uncovered all of her secrets with this morbid fascination in his voice. It didn't seem like he was able to stop either. The words all but poured out of him.
“You know, a part of me really wants to kill you. You bring back everything bad in my life, the things that happened after they kicked me out of the lab.” At Frisk's confused expression, he laughed. “You don't know that either? I used to be a scientist, human! A damn good one at that. I thought so highly of myself that I got into this enormous fight with our boss, the Royal Scientist, and he fired me! Oh God, I was so furious that I stole his most important documents and ran away with them. The schema for his perfect machine, the one that would enable him to travel into the past and stop us from ever getting locked down here in the first place. I wanted to be the one to get that honour.”
Again the skeleton laughed, and it was self-ridiculing and empty. “God I was an oaf. I couldn't make the machine work by myself. And by the time I got over my stupid pride… it was too late. He was gone, the team was gone, my career was gone and all I had left was a barely functioning time monitor.” He sighed. “I would have picked up another career just to get Papyrus off my case. But then I noticed something strange.
“The machine started recording loops. It looked like time had jumped back, then carried on again. At first I thought the poor thing was broken. But it wasn't. You know, every monster gets a sense of déjà vu here and then. It's a common thing. But when you notice that your déjà vus match perfectly with the time loops on your genius boss's machine… That's where the going gets tough. I won't bother you with the details, I've already said too much… but…”
For the first time in this timeline, all light faded from Sans's eyes, leaving them dead and empty.
“Knowing that whatever you do, it might as well go to waste and be rewritten… that can destroy a better man than me.”
The light-pupils flickered back to life, and Sans was looking at her… with a pleading expression?
“Please, human. You of all people have got to understand. Twelve years ago you saw me at my worst. I spent hours lazing in my stations, brooding over all the implications of time travel. But… it's been better since then. For ten years there hasn't been a single loop, a single hitch in the timeline. It's all straight and wonderful, and I've got better. Papyrus can tell you I'm not as lazy as I used to be, sometimes I do the dishes and I don't eat out all the time. I taught myself to care again, for his sake. But… with you here… doing that?” He gestured toward the door, to the sparring ground. “I can't… Please. I can't go back. I can't go back to that time and die inside all over again. What I'm trying to say...”
He took Frisk by the shoulders.
“Is it you who's been keeping the other guy from messing with the timeline?”
“Yeah,” the human croaked.
“Then promise me. Promise me that you'll keep it that way. I'll help you out with the other guy, just please. Keep him from going back in time. Keep this timeline clean.”
Frisk kept silent.
“Can you do that?” Sans asked, hopeful, hanging on by a thread.
“I can,” the human affirmed, a warm feeling in her chest. There had to be a way. She would make a way. She would get her determination back and stop Flowey once and for all.

The resurrection

Return with the elixir

Back to the main Undertale page