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4 Years Ago...
"Hey."
Frisk smiled as she crested the hill, coming to a stop near the mouth of a cave, which led to the sunken ruins of what was once the underground city of monsters, now collapsed due to the eruption of Mt. Ebott.
Two others were there already. A skeleton monster, several inches taller than her, and a flower donning a face beside him. Both held serious expressions, but tried to appear friendly as she arrived.
"heya." Sans replied with his usual greeting. "thanks for comin'."
Frisk's smile faltered. Sans and Flowey could never stand to be near one another, yet here they were... not to mention they were the only two with knowledge of her abilities. That meant this secret conversation Sans had called her to had something to do with her powers of determination. "What did you guys need me for?"
Flowey scoffed lightly, rolling his eyes. "You already figured that one out. We don't need to spell it out for you "
"look, we just..." Sans paused. "we've sacrificed a helluva lot to get here. this is the truest happy ending we've ever achieved, and..."
Frisk gulped. "And you think I might reset." She finished for him. "Might!? Ha!" Flowey laughed, before popping into the ground and reappearing at her feet, rising up to get eye-level with her. "You've always reset. Why is this time any different?"
She stared back at him, expression blank for several moments before she formulated her reply. "Because... even if I wanted to... I can't."
"can't? what do you mean you 'can't'?" Sans inquired curiously, frowning- or at least the grinning equivalent. "I mean what I said. My powers stopped working after we broke the barrier. I can't SAVE, or LOAD, and I definitely can't reset. This is the last timeline, whether we like it or not."
Silence befell the trio for several long moments, Flowey and Sans clearly processing this information.
"Maybe... someone else has a stronger determination now?" Flowey suggested, raising a brow. "Same thing happened to me shortly before you fell underground."
Sans shoved his hands into his pockets with a shrug. "nope." He stated. "only one of her souls can exist at a time. until she's gone, this is it." He paused, eyeing her. "you sure you can't access your save file?"
She gave him a nod, holding out her palm. A black, transparent, two-dimensional box appeared in front of her as Flowey slunk back to Sans.
The options SAVE and LOAD were present in the box, yet both were dull in color, and when she pressed on 'SAVE', simply nothing happened.
This seemed to satisfy the skeleton, who grinned widely. "cool. then that's that."
"Just like that?" Flowey spat. "There's something wrong here! It's not supposed to do that!"
"not my problem. the longer it doesn't work, the better." With that, he turned around and walked away.
…
Present Day
She felt... cold.
Numb.
Afraid.
Alone...
...
Why did she feel this way? Frisk had slaughtered her dear friends hundreds upon hundreds of times over in another life. In countless other lives. She'd turned Toriel to dust so many times without a thought, and now here...
It hurt.
More than she'd ever hurt before.
Perhaps it was the knowledge of her inability to RESET. Toriel wouldn't be coming back. Ever. No more experiments, no more non-lasting consequences. This was the final timeline and now Toriel was gone from it.
It had been a week since that night. Things had calmed down since then, but emotionally, Frisk just got worse. She'd been staying with Asgore, but neither could help each other out. They avoided each other sometimes, though that was mainly Frisk. Asgore was clearly trying his best to make her feel better, but every time he tried to talk to her, both of them wound up crying.
Now, here she was, standing in a black dress, Asgore to her right, Sans to her left. Asgore was dressed in a pressed black suit with a red tie. Meanwhile Sans, who was now nearly a foot shorter than her, wore a clean black jacket over a black t-shirt. Even his slippers were black.
Nobody spoke a word. The only sounds were breathing, sobs, and the occasional cough.
Other friends of Toriel stood or sat in silence around the room. Papyrus and Mettaton, who’d cancelled their show to attend, Undyne, Alphys who’d flown in from Clearasia once she’d heard the news, Grillby, Fuku, Muffet, Terrence, Gregory, among many other monsters, as well as humans whose lives Toriel had touched. Namely coworkers and parents of children that she’d taught.
Nobody had been invited to give a speech- perhaps everyone had assumed that Asgore or Frisk or maybe even Sans would give a speech about Toriel. But Asgore and Frisk were obviously far too emotional, and Sans simply wasn’t in the mood. Not that anybody could blame them.
Sans was likely the only person who knew what Frisk knew. He knew about RESETs, and while unclear, there was quite a bit of evidence that he retained his knowledge of certain timelines. He knew Frisk had killed Toriel before. But he’d never let it get to him all too much- the kid would always reset eventually, right?
Now however, things were far different. RESETs were off the table. With Toriel mysteriously killed, the monsters had become reserved the last week. A feeling of unease was among them all, even Sans.
Nobody was sure what would come next, but there was something obvious. Toriel's murder hadn't been random. With whatever she was involved in, as well as her influence with monsterkind, this blow was decisive and articulate.
Nobody had really felt like talking about the murder. Investigators and police had thoroughly talked to Frisk and all her friends already, but the simple truth was that they had little to no information on what had happened. Even Frisk was completely clueless. She didn’t know where, when, why, or how Toriel had been killed. And every time she thought about it... well, she cried a small river.
It’s funny, having done the things she’d done, to have once been heartless and cruel… now to be as emotionally vulnerable as she was. Frisk could only assume it was because she’d finally chosen the life she wanted, and she’d never messed with timelines after that. Not like she could anymore, anyway.
She'd run the scenario through her head a million times. Toriel was coming home from the grocery store, and something for some reason attracted her to an alley. She wandered down it and a group of men attacked her. Beat her. Killed her...
That's how Frisk thought it went down, at least.
Asgore, on the other hand, thought it was something far more sinister. He’d never speak of it aloud, but he suspected that Toriel’s murder had been an elaborate scheme by some horrible person who wasn’t fond of monsters. All he knew was that Toriel had been killed in an alleyway. They hadn’t given him- or anyone -any more detail than that.
The VCPD didn’t seem all that interested in investigating it, leaving Undyne to lead the investigation, but even after a week she’d turned up nothing. Nothing except a hard drive. One that both she and Asgore had recovered when they’d returned to Toriel’s house, and were attacked by that vicious… thing… in the dark. The drive had been the only thing left, hidden deep within the floor, and their attacker wanted it greatly, though had failed to retrieve it. Barely.
Before the call about Toriel’s fate had arrived, Asgore had Undyne promise him to keep the drive safe and hidden until they were both ready to view it. She had agreed.
He knew that Toriel was involved with something dark. His and Undyne's encounter with the strange being last week made that much known. That thing wasn't the killer, however. Toriel had been on the other side of town when she'd been killed. The timing didn’t match.
Eventually, the service ended on a solemn note. Asgore led Frisk out of the church, the same church Toriel had been attending with Frisk for the last four years. Asgore usually tried to come as well, but with his line of work, that made it a bit hard.
Most of the people left, but the majority of Frisk’s close friends stuck around a bit longer. She appreciated their company, even if nobody was talking.
The last week, despite her pain, Frisk had found herself leaning more and more on Terrence for support, who seemed happy to help. Gregory was quickly becoming a third wheel to their party, much like a couple years ago when Frisk and Terrence had briefly dated before mutually breaking it off.
Gregory didn’t have any problems with Terrence and Frisk being close. Heck, his two friends being like that was actually pretty cool. But it was what happened as a result that kind of bothered him. They were his only friends, and if they started hanging out without him, he... didn’t have anyone. He tried not to feel too awkward about it.
Asgore led Frisk to his truck, Terrence and Gregory saying a quiet goodbye to the girl before departing. She only nodded in reply, climbing into the passenger seat as Asgore started the engine.
"...I need to return to work tomorrow." He told her.
Frisk gave a quiet nod, swallowing dryly. She could understand that, but it was going to be rather difficult being home alone. Not to mention, this reminded her that she’d have to return to school soon, something she was not looking forward to in the slightest.
"Is there anything you need?" Asgore asked her, his voice a bit hoarse. She could tell he was trying his best to remain strong and supportive, for her sake. Despite everything he'd done, Asgore was one of the best people she'd ever met. Why had Toriel never allowed him back in? He clearly loved her, even after death. Why had she been so selfish?
Frisk felt a pang of guilt at the thought. Of being angry at her adopted mother.
It wasn’t fun to think about, but Toriel had done a really good job at holding a grudge against Asgore over the years. Over one foolish mistake he’d made many years ago. It made her think- if she’d given him another chance, and let him back into the home... would things be different today? Would she be alive, maybe? It was wishful thinking, and she was certain Asgore had probably wondered the same thing. He'd tried so desperately the last four years to regain her affection, and for what?
"I love you, dad." Frisk told Asgore, her voice quiet.
Asgore paused, eyes widening in surprise as she said that. He’d called her dad before, but that sentence felt so... sincere. In that moment, he felt a closeness to her that he hadn’t felt since Chara and Asriel.
“I love you too, Frisk,” Asgore said shakily as he relaxed a bit.
They rode in silence all the way back to Asgore's home, which doubled as a greenhouse, as about half the home was just chalk full of various flowers. Despite not having much free time, Asgore certainly took his hobby seriously. Even the past week he never failed to take care of them.
Neither of them spoke a word as they vacated the car, Frisk making her way inside while Asgore decided to stay outside and tend to his flowers for a while. Frisk’s new bedroom was... subject to change, needless to say. It wasn’t fully decorated just yet. Not that she had time for decorating. The walls were decorated with old posters she’d put up years ago. She hadn’t stayed over here very often, but Asgore had always insisted she personalize her room as much as she liked. It wasn’t as unique as her room at Toriel’s, but it was still a piece of home for her. The posters adorning her walls mostly consisted of Mettaton, but some were of movies that she’d taken a liking to over the years, like ‘The Eradicator’ starring Arvold Schwarzegebber. It was old, but a classic.
Lately however, for obvious reasons, Frisk didn’t feel much like updating her decorations. This week felt so long, yet so fast, it was hard to decipher it down the middle. Everything was a blur, but at such a slow pace.
All she really wanted to do was lie down and get some sleep.
Frisk looked over at her bed. Asgore had given her some spare bedsheets, as she’d always normally just bring her bedding from Toriel’s, but these ones were far too heavy and uncomfortable. She missed her old bed- but this one would have to do, for now. She climbed under the covers, closing her eyes.
It felt like no time had passed at all when she heard the rap of knuckles lightly against her door. "Frisk?" Asgore's deep voice called quietly to her. "I've made dinner. I know you may not feel like it, but you've barely eaten all week. You need something, dear."
Frisk took a deep breath. She wasn’t in the mood to eat- lately, everything tasted bland, and it was hard to swallow anything. She wasn’t trying to starve herself or anything, but she seldom felt the need to eat.
“I’ll be out in a few minutes,” she assured Asgore, who seemed satisfied with that, and returned to the kitchen.
The girl laid there for another minute or so, staring blankly at the ceiling, her mind wandering. She wondered what Asgore and Undyne had done with that hard drive... Toriel had left it for her, but why? And why couldn't Frisk get it? She'd asked Asgore about it, but he avoided the topic. All she knew about it was that the two monsters had recovered it before being attacked.
She decided to slide out of bed and head toward the kitchen before Asgore came back. The last thing she wanted was to stress him out more than he already was. When she arrived in the kitchen, she found a plate consisting of chicken nuggets, sourdough bread, cherry tomatoes, and some sliced cucumbers. Asgore was washing some dishes when she arrived.
He noticed her, and gave her a gentle smile. "Good evening, my child. How did you rest?" He asked, drying off his hands.
“Pretty well,” Frisk lied. Under normal circumstances, a three hour nap would have felt great, but right now, she barely felt rested. She silently wondered whether this constant state of exhaustion, depression, and emptiness would ever leave as she bit into a cucumber.
Asgore seemed to see right through her lie, but didn't press as he joined her at the table, sitting down in a reinforced metal chair. "You know, Frisk... I've done some thinking lately. About how to cope with this."
Frisk continued chewing for what seemed like forever, until she finally let the food go down her throat. It seemed to take its time getting down, and she looked up at him.
“What do you mean?”
"I just thought... about what Tori would want." He told her. "She wouldn't want us moping about like lost puppies, she would want us to stay our feet, remain headstrong, and do the best by her memory." He smiled. "I hate seeing you like this Frisk. I know she would too. Why don't you come with me to work tomorrow? I have volunteer work helping people that I think you may enjoy."
Frisk blinked. That wasn’t what she’d been expecting, but... it actually didn’t sound too terrible. Having a reason to get out of bed in the morning- other than sitting at a desk zoning out- might be a refreshing change of pace. Slowly, she replied with a nod, making Asgore smile brightly. "Thank you, Frisk. You'll enjoy yourself, I'm sure of it." Finished, he stood, and returned to the dishes.
“Yeah... maybe,” Frisk shrugged, being more optimistic than usual, but that wasn’t saying much. She continued to eat, slowly, managing to get down about three quarters of the food before feeling full...ish.
Recognizing this, Asgore took her plate and excused her from the table. She trudged her way back up to her room, and got back into bed when she felt a vibration under her pillow. A text message, probably from Terrence.
Frisk had been using the phone a lot more than usual, lately, which was ironic, considering she was also the most introverted she’d ever been the past week. It was mostly just her texting Terrence and receiving the occasional supportive message from one of her other friends. She checked the message.
It was from Terrence.
'Hey Frisk. Just checking up to see how you're doing. Missin' you!'
She stared at the message for a little while, before tapping in a reply.
’Hey. I’m doing okay, just took a short nap. Thanks for checking, how are you?’
’You know. The usual. Not a lot going on at school.’
’Have you been paying attention?’
’I’ve been trying, but it’s boring. I think even Greg nearly fell asleep after a few of the recent lectures.’
Frisk sighed, and leaned back. 'I'm helping at Obatech tomorrow. Asgore wanted me to. Come see me?'
’Yeah, sure, I’ll be there. Want me to bring you anything?’
She thought for a moment, but nothing came to mind. She considered Gregory for a moment, but vetoed this as well. 'No.'
’Alright, I’ll see you tomorrow, then. Wish I could chat longer, but there’s some stuff going on that I’m not allowed to skip.’
'See ya.' Frisk typed.
'See ya.' Was the response. She typed in something else. 'I love y' But stopped, staring at the unfinished message, before deleting it and sliding the phone back under her pillow.
It was somewhat late now, about 8 PM. Frisk groaned, knowing that after her nap, it would be difficult to fall asleep. Or, so she thought. Apparently, her depressed drowsiness was stronger than she thought, and she already felt her eyelids growing heavy.
------
"Frisk? Are you up yet? We need to go soon."
She was stirred awake by her adopted father once again, softly rapping his knuckles on the door. Frisk blinked groggily, looking over at her alarm clock and sitting up. It was now 7:50 AM- she was shocked. Nearly twelve hours of sleep, plus her nap yesterday, and she still felt groggy. Silently hoping her sleep schedule would return to normal soon, she got out of bed. “Morning.” She greeted Asgore through the door as she sat up, her hair a frizzy tangled mess.
Asgore let out a satisfied grunt. "Good morning. I'll be down in the kitchen if you need me!"
“What time do we leave?” Frisk called down as she stripped down, having forgotten to change into her sleepwear the previous night.
“8:30!” Asgore called back as Frisk selected a new sweater from her wardrobe. Her clothing options here at Asgore’s weren't exactly new. Most of her stuff still sat over at Toriel’s, though they were assured by Undyne they’d be allowed to get it soon. So most of her options were in a similar style to what she used to wear. Striped sweaters. Frisk sorted through the options of sweaters that would barely fit her, flitting past several. Purple and pink, blue and purple, green and yellow, red and blue… she came to a stop at an orange one with blue stripes, deciding it was good enough. She slid the sweater over her head, accidentally almost putting her face through one of the armholes- a mistake even the greatest of sweater enthusiasts suffered now and again. After putting on a pair of shorts and her shoes, she was ready to go, and went downstairs to meet Asgore.
As per usual, he'd cooked breakfast, which now sat on the table waiting for Frisk. Bacon, hashbrowns and eggs, all still steaming hot as Asgore hummed pleasantly. It seemed he'd gotten better after his revelation last night. He'd been given motivation. That motivation being living the best he could in memory and honor of Toriel. It was a sweet sentiment, and displayed just how deeply Asgore still loved her despite everything.
“Thank you for making breakfast,” Frisk said as she sat down in front of her plate. Asgore gave a nod as he continued to hum, reading a newspaper article about the stock markets and car battery prices. Frisk began to eat, trying not to rush too much, but she felt hurried due to how long she’d slept.
Asgore was dressed in his work clothes, which happened to be a very fancy black business suit. The ex-king was doing mightily well for himself, but despite all the wealth, he didn't opt to live in a bigger home, or drive fancy cars. Frisk had a feeling he was saving up a large sum of money for her college and whatnot. “Once you finish, we’ll be ready to go. Say, we might even get there early. Do you drink coffee?” Asgore asked. Frisk shrugged. “Sometimes.”
Asgore shrugged back. “If you’d like, we can get you some on the way. Something tells me you’re still a bit tired.”
Frisk let a small smile tug at the corners of her lips. "Thanks." She replied as she began to eat, and for once this past week, she managed to gulp it all down.
After Frisk cleared her plate, Asgore stood up, fiddling with his car keys a bit before he managed to get a good grip. He had yet to get a pair that was better suited for his massive hands. “Well, it’s time to go!” He announced, bouncing over to the door and opening it for Frisk.
"Hey."
Frisk smiled as she crested the hill, coming to a stop near the mouth of a cave, which led to the sunken ruins of what was once the underground city of monsters, now collapsed due to the eruption of Mt. Ebott.
Two others were there already. A skeleton monster, several inches taller than her, and a flower donning a face beside him. Both held serious expressions, but tried to appear friendly as she arrived.
"heya." Sans replied with his usual greeting. "thanks for comin'."
Frisk's smile faltered. Sans and Flowey could never stand to be near one another, yet here they were... not to mention they were the only two with knowledge of her abilities. That meant this secret conversation Sans had called her to had something to do with her powers of determination. "What did you guys need me for?"
Flowey scoffed lightly, rolling his eyes. "You already figured that one out. We don't need to spell it out for you "
"look, we just..." Sans paused. "we've sacrificed a helluva lot to get here. this is the truest happy ending we've ever achieved, and..."
Frisk gulped. "And you think I might reset." She finished for him. "Might!? Ha!" Flowey laughed, before popping into the ground and reappearing at her feet, rising up to get eye-level with her. "You've always reset. Why is this time any different?"
She stared back at him, expression blank for several moments before she formulated her reply. "Because... even if I wanted to... I can't."
"can't? what do you mean you 'can't'?" Sans inquired curiously, frowning- or at least the grinning equivalent. "I mean what I said. My powers stopped working after we broke the barrier. I can't SAVE, or LOAD, and I definitely can't reset. This is the last timeline, whether we like it or not."
Silence befell the trio for several long moments, Flowey and Sans clearly processing this information.
"Maybe... someone else has a stronger determination now?" Flowey suggested, raising a brow. "Same thing happened to me shortly before you fell underground."
Sans shoved his hands into his pockets with a shrug. "nope." He stated. "only one of her souls can exist at a time. until she's gone, this is it." He paused, eyeing her. "you sure you can't access your save file?"
She gave him a nod, holding out her palm. A black, transparent, two-dimensional box appeared in front of her as Flowey slunk back to Sans.
The options SAVE and LOAD were present in the box, yet both were dull in color, and when she pressed on 'SAVE', simply nothing happened.
This seemed to satisfy the skeleton, who grinned widely. "cool. then that's that."
"Just like that?" Flowey spat. "There's something wrong here! It's not supposed to do that!"
"not my problem. the longer it doesn't work, the better." With that, he turned around and walked away.
…
Present Day
She felt... cold.
Numb.
Afraid.
Alone...
...
Why did she feel this way? Frisk had slaughtered her dear friends hundreds upon hundreds of times over in another life. In countless other lives. She'd turned Toriel to dust so many times without a thought, and now here...
It hurt.
More than she'd ever hurt before.
Perhaps it was the knowledge of her inability to RESET. Toriel wouldn't be coming back. Ever. No more experiments, no more non-lasting consequences. This was the final timeline and now Toriel was gone from it.
It had been a week since that night. Things had calmed down since then, but emotionally, Frisk just got worse. She'd been staying with Asgore, but neither could help each other out. They avoided each other sometimes, though that was mainly Frisk. Asgore was clearly trying his best to make her feel better, but every time he tried to talk to her, both of them wound up crying.
Now, here she was, standing in a black dress, Asgore to her right, Sans to her left. Asgore was dressed in a pressed black suit with a red tie. Meanwhile Sans, who was now nearly a foot shorter than her, wore a clean black jacket over a black t-shirt. Even his slippers were black.
Nobody spoke a word. The only sounds were breathing, sobs, and the occasional cough.
Other friends of Toriel stood or sat in silence around the room. Papyrus and Mettaton, who’d cancelled their show to attend, Undyne, Alphys who’d flown in from Clearasia once she’d heard the news, Grillby, Fuku, Muffet, Terrence, Gregory, among many other monsters, as well as humans whose lives Toriel had touched. Namely coworkers and parents of children that she’d taught.
Nobody had been invited to give a speech- perhaps everyone had assumed that Asgore or Frisk or maybe even Sans would give a speech about Toriel. But Asgore and Frisk were obviously far too emotional, and Sans simply wasn’t in the mood. Not that anybody could blame them.
Sans was likely the only person who knew what Frisk knew. He knew about RESETs, and while unclear, there was quite a bit of evidence that he retained his knowledge of certain timelines. He knew Frisk had killed Toriel before. But he’d never let it get to him all too much- the kid would always reset eventually, right?
Now however, things were far different. RESETs were off the table. With Toriel mysteriously killed, the monsters had become reserved the last week. A feeling of unease was among them all, even Sans.
Nobody was sure what would come next, but there was something obvious. Toriel's murder hadn't been random. With whatever she was involved in, as well as her influence with monsterkind, this blow was decisive and articulate.
Nobody had really felt like talking about the murder. Investigators and police had thoroughly talked to Frisk and all her friends already, but the simple truth was that they had little to no information on what had happened. Even Frisk was completely clueless. She didn’t know where, when, why, or how Toriel had been killed. And every time she thought about it... well, she cried a small river.
It’s funny, having done the things she’d done, to have once been heartless and cruel… now to be as emotionally vulnerable as she was. Frisk could only assume it was because she’d finally chosen the life she wanted, and she’d never messed with timelines after that. Not like she could anymore, anyway.
She'd run the scenario through her head a million times. Toriel was coming home from the grocery store, and something for some reason attracted her to an alley. She wandered down it and a group of men attacked her. Beat her. Killed her...
That's how Frisk thought it went down, at least.
Asgore, on the other hand, thought it was something far more sinister. He’d never speak of it aloud, but he suspected that Toriel’s murder had been an elaborate scheme by some horrible person who wasn’t fond of monsters. All he knew was that Toriel had been killed in an alleyway. They hadn’t given him- or anyone -any more detail than that.
The VCPD didn’t seem all that interested in investigating it, leaving Undyne to lead the investigation, but even after a week she’d turned up nothing. Nothing except a hard drive. One that both she and Asgore had recovered when they’d returned to Toriel’s house, and were attacked by that vicious… thing… in the dark. The drive had been the only thing left, hidden deep within the floor, and their attacker wanted it greatly, though had failed to retrieve it. Barely.
Before the call about Toriel’s fate had arrived, Asgore had Undyne promise him to keep the drive safe and hidden until they were both ready to view it. She had agreed.
He knew that Toriel was involved with something dark. His and Undyne's encounter with the strange being last week made that much known. That thing wasn't the killer, however. Toriel had been on the other side of town when she'd been killed. The timing didn’t match.
Eventually, the service ended on a solemn note. Asgore led Frisk out of the church, the same church Toriel had been attending with Frisk for the last four years. Asgore usually tried to come as well, but with his line of work, that made it a bit hard.
Most of the people left, but the majority of Frisk’s close friends stuck around a bit longer. She appreciated their company, even if nobody was talking.
The last week, despite her pain, Frisk had found herself leaning more and more on Terrence for support, who seemed happy to help. Gregory was quickly becoming a third wheel to their party, much like a couple years ago when Frisk and Terrence had briefly dated before mutually breaking it off.
Gregory didn’t have any problems with Terrence and Frisk being close. Heck, his two friends being like that was actually pretty cool. But it was what happened as a result that kind of bothered him. They were his only friends, and if they started hanging out without him, he... didn’t have anyone. He tried not to feel too awkward about it.
Asgore led Frisk to his truck, Terrence and Gregory saying a quiet goodbye to the girl before departing. She only nodded in reply, climbing into the passenger seat as Asgore started the engine.
"...I need to return to work tomorrow." He told her.
Frisk gave a quiet nod, swallowing dryly. She could understand that, but it was going to be rather difficult being home alone. Not to mention, this reminded her that she’d have to return to school soon, something she was not looking forward to in the slightest.
"Is there anything you need?" Asgore asked her, his voice a bit hoarse. She could tell he was trying his best to remain strong and supportive, for her sake. Despite everything he'd done, Asgore was one of the best people she'd ever met. Why had Toriel never allowed him back in? He clearly loved her, even after death. Why had she been so selfish?
Frisk felt a pang of guilt at the thought. Of being angry at her adopted mother.
It wasn’t fun to think about, but Toriel had done a really good job at holding a grudge against Asgore over the years. Over one foolish mistake he’d made many years ago. It made her think- if she’d given him another chance, and let him back into the home... would things be different today? Would she be alive, maybe? It was wishful thinking, and she was certain Asgore had probably wondered the same thing. He'd tried so desperately the last four years to regain her affection, and for what?
"I love you, dad." Frisk told Asgore, her voice quiet.
Asgore paused, eyes widening in surprise as she said that. He’d called her dad before, but that sentence felt so... sincere. In that moment, he felt a closeness to her that he hadn’t felt since Chara and Asriel.
“I love you too, Frisk,” Asgore said shakily as he relaxed a bit.
They rode in silence all the way back to Asgore's home, which doubled as a greenhouse, as about half the home was just chalk full of various flowers. Despite not having much free time, Asgore certainly took his hobby seriously. Even the past week he never failed to take care of them.
Neither of them spoke a word as they vacated the car, Frisk making her way inside while Asgore decided to stay outside and tend to his flowers for a while. Frisk’s new bedroom was... subject to change, needless to say. It wasn’t fully decorated just yet. Not that she had time for decorating. The walls were decorated with old posters she’d put up years ago. She hadn’t stayed over here very often, but Asgore had always insisted she personalize her room as much as she liked. It wasn’t as unique as her room at Toriel’s, but it was still a piece of home for her. The posters adorning her walls mostly consisted of Mettaton, but some were of movies that she’d taken a liking to over the years, like ‘The Eradicator’ starring Arvold Schwarzegebber. It was old, but a classic.
Lately however, for obvious reasons, Frisk didn’t feel much like updating her decorations. This week felt so long, yet so fast, it was hard to decipher it down the middle. Everything was a blur, but at such a slow pace.
All she really wanted to do was lie down and get some sleep.
Frisk looked over at her bed. Asgore had given her some spare bedsheets, as she’d always normally just bring her bedding from Toriel’s, but these ones were far too heavy and uncomfortable. She missed her old bed- but this one would have to do, for now. She climbed under the covers, closing her eyes.
It felt like no time had passed at all when she heard the rap of knuckles lightly against her door. "Frisk?" Asgore's deep voice called quietly to her. "I've made dinner. I know you may not feel like it, but you've barely eaten all week. You need something, dear."
Frisk took a deep breath. She wasn’t in the mood to eat- lately, everything tasted bland, and it was hard to swallow anything. She wasn’t trying to starve herself or anything, but she seldom felt the need to eat.
“I’ll be out in a few minutes,” she assured Asgore, who seemed satisfied with that, and returned to the kitchen.
The girl laid there for another minute or so, staring blankly at the ceiling, her mind wandering. She wondered what Asgore and Undyne had done with that hard drive... Toriel had left it for her, but why? And why couldn't Frisk get it? She'd asked Asgore about it, but he avoided the topic. All she knew about it was that the two monsters had recovered it before being attacked.
She decided to slide out of bed and head toward the kitchen before Asgore came back. The last thing she wanted was to stress him out more than he already was. When she arrived in the kitchen, she found a plate consisting of chicken nuggets, sourdough bread, cherry tomatoes, and some sliced cucumbers. Asgore was washing some dishes when she arrived.
He noticed her, and gave her a gentle smile. "Good evening, my child. How did you rest?" He asked, drying off his hands.
“Pretty well,” Frisk lied. Under normal circumstances, a three hour nap would have felt great, but right now, she barely felt rested. She silently wondered whether this constant state of exhaustion, depression, and emptiness would ever leave as she bit into a cucumber.
Asgore seemed to see right through her lie, but didn't press as he joined her at the table, sitting down in a reinforced metal chair. "You know, Frisk... I've done some thinking lately. About how to cope with this."
Frisk continued chewing for what seemed like forever, until she finally let the food go down her throat. It seemed to take its time getting down, and she looked up at him.
“What do you mean?”
"I just thought... about what Tori would want." He told her. "She wouldn't want us moping about like lost puppies, she would want us to stay our feet, remain headstrong, and do the best by her memory." He smiled. "I hate seeing you like this Frisk. I know she would too. Why don't you come with me to work tomorrow? I have volunteer work helping people that I think you may enjoy."
Frisk blinked. That wasn’t what she’d been expecting, but... it actually didn’t sound too terrible. Having a reason to get out of bed in the morning- other than sitting at a desk zoning out- might be a refreshing change of pace. Slowly, she replied with a nod, making Asgore smile brightly. "Thank you, Frisk. You'll enjoy yourself, I'm sure of it." Finished, he stood, and returned to the dishes.
“Yeah... maybe,” Frisk shrugged, being more optimistic than usual, but that wasn’t saying much. She continued to eat, slowly, managing to get down about three quarters of the food before feeling full...ish.
Recognizing this, Asgore took her plate and excused her from the table. She trudged her way back up to her room, and got back into bed when she felt a vibration under her pillow. A text message, probably from Terrence.
Frisk had been using the phone a lot more than usual, lately, which was ironic, considering she was also the most introverted she’d ever been the past week. It was mostly just her texting Terrence and receiving the occasional supportive message from one of her other friends. She checked the message.
It was from Terrence.
'Hey Frisk. Just checking up to see how you're doing. Missin' you!'
She stared at the message for a little while, before tapping in a reply.
’Hey. I’m doing okay, just took a short nap. Thanks for checking, how are you?’
’You know. The usual. Not a lot going on at school.’
’Have you been paying attention?’
’I’ve been trying, but it’s boring. I think even Greg nearly fell asleep after a few of the recent lectures.’
Frisk sighed, and leaned back. 'I'm helping at Obatech tomorrow. Asgore wanted me to. Come see me?'
’Yeah, sure, I’ll be there. Want me to bring you anything?’
She thought for a moment, but nothing came to mind. She considered Gregory for a moment, but vetoed this as well. 'No.'
’Alright, I’ll see you tomorrow, then. Wish I could chat longer, but there’s some stuff going on that I’m not allowed to skip.’
'See ya.' Frisk typed.
'See ya.' Was the response. She typed in something else. 'I love y' But stopped, staring at the unfinished message, before deleting it and sliding the phone back under her pillow.
It was somewhat late now, about 8 PM. Frisk groaned, knowing that after her nap, it would be difficult to fall asleep. Or, so she thought. Apparently, her depressed drowsiness was stronger than she thought, and she already felt her eyelids growing heavy.
------
"Frisk? Are you up yet? We need to go soon."
She was stirred awake by her adopted father once again, softly rapping his knuckles on the door. Frisk blinked groggily, looking over at her alarm clock and sitting up. It was now 7:50 AM- she was shocked. Nearly twelve hours of sleep, plus her nap yesterday, and she still felt groggy. Silently hoping her sleep schedule would return to normal soon, she got out of bed. “Morning.” She greeted Asgore through the door as she sat up, her hair a frizzy tangled mess.
Asgore let out a satisfied grunt. "Good morning. I'll be down in the kitchen if you need me!"
“What time do we leave?” Frisk called down as she stripped down, having forgotten to change into her sleepwear the previous night.
“8:30!” Asgore called back as Frisk selected a new sweater from her wardrobe. Her clothing options here at Asgore’s weren't exactly new. Most of her stuff still sat over at Toriel’s, though they were assured by Undyne they’d be allowed to get it soon. So most of her options were in a similar style to what she used to wear. Striped sweaters. Frisk sorted through the options of sweaters that would barely fit her, flitting past several. Purple and pink, blue and purple, green and yellow, red and blue… she came to a stop at an orange one with blue stripes, deciding it was good enough. She slid the sweater over her head, accidentally almost putting her face through one of the armholes- a mistake even the greatest of sweater enthusiasts suffered now and again. After putting on a pair of shorts and her shoes, she was ready to go, and went downstairs to meet Asgore.
As per usual, he'd cooked breakfast, which now sat on the table waiting for Frisk. Bacon, hashbrowns and eggs, all still steaming hot as Asgore hummed pleasantly. It seemed he'd gotten better after his revelation last night. He'd been given motivation. That motivation being living the best he could in memory and honor of Toriel. It was a sweet sentiment, and displayed just how deeply Asgore still loved her despite everything.
“Thank you for making breakfast,” Frisk said as she sat down in front of her plate. Asgore gave a nod as he continued to hum, reading a newspaper article about the stock markets and car battery prices. Frisk began to eat, trying not to rush too much, but she felt hurried due to how long she’d slept.
Asgore was dressed in his work clothes, which happened to be a very fancy black business suit. The ex-king was doing mightily well for himself, but despite all the wealth, he didn't opt to live in a bigger home, or drive fancy cars. Frisk had a feeling he was saving up a large sum of money for her college and whatnot. “Once you finish, we’ll be ready to go. Say, we might even get there early. Do you drink coffee?” Asgore asked. Frisk shrugged. “Sometimes.”
Asgore shrugged back. “If you’d like, we can get you some on the way. Something tells me you’re still a bit tired.”
Frisk let a small smile tug at the corners of her lips. "Thanks." She replied as she began to eat, and for once this past week, she managed to gulp it all down.
After Frisk cleared her plate, Asgore stood up, fiddling with his car keys a bit before he managed to get a good grip. He had yet to get a pair that was better suited for his massive hands. “Well, it’s time to go!” He announced, bouncing over to the door and opening it for Frisk.