Undertale - Coda Part 1

Frisk leaned against the wall, looking out into the darkness, panting heavily. Was it too late?

This was Frisk’s last chance. If it was already over…

Far off in the distance, a single light came on. Asriel. He was looking down, motionless.

Then, he held a microphone up to his mouth.

“You guys have been incredible!”

A thousand voices called out, screaming and cheering. The stage lights came back up, flooding Asriel and his band in shimmering white light. Frisk could see that the entire venue was packed solid.

“Seriously, you’ve been an amazing audience! Thank you all so much for coming out to see us tonight!”

Someone in the crowd started to chant, the rest of them picking it up in moments.

“Prince Az! Prince Az! Prince Az!”

Even from all the way at the back, Frisk could see Asriel blush, rubbing the back of his neck awkwardly. “Ah… you guys! Don’t forget, we’re all Star Blazing!” Asriel gestured to his backing, and then pointed up at the control booth above the audience. “And shoutouts to the incredible Napstablook for running front of house! He’s on loan from MTT Tonight, so let him know you appreciate it!”

The crowd roared. Up on the stage, Asriel was confident, charismatic, as though he had been born for this. Frisk couldn’t help but smile at his goofy grin.

“Alright! We’re gonna see you all off! Everybody have a safe trip home, and remember, stay determined! And now, our last song of the set! Hopes and Dreams, Save the World!”

Asriel practically skipped over to his guitar stand as the crowd started to go completely nuts. The other guitarist plucked out a familiar riff as Asriel slipped the guitar strap carefully over his horns and adjusted himself, walking back onto center stage. The drummer picked up the beat, the crowd died down in anticipation, and Asriel flashed his winning smile as he strummed the lead-in to the big start. Right on cue, the stage lights exploded into a rainbow of colour. The notes rang out over the screaming crowd.

***

An hour later and Frisk had managed to sneak backstage. There wasn’t a monster on the surface who didn’t know who they were, so all Frisk had to do to get past security at a given event was usually just ask. Turns out, gigantic monsters made for good bouncers. Mostly because they looked intimidating, even if they were mostly gentle giants.

Besides, they were family. Kind of.

There was also those… rumours. Hmm. Maybe that was why the guard had given Frisk a sly wink as they went past.

Regardless, Frisk had set up shop on the couch in Asriel’s room. He was taking a while to make it back here after the show, unsurprisingly. To pass the time, Frisk was checking out some overnet posts about the show. Asriel, and his band, Star Blazing, were really starting to take off. Everyone was raving about them, sharing photos and blurry videos of the performance.

Frisk stirred as they heard some kind of commotion outside.

“Yeah, yeah that sounds great. Gimme like… two hours, ok? I’ll catch up. Hello? You still there?” The door creaked open, and Asriel backed in, phone tucked between his head and shoulder, gesturing at someone on the other side of the door before closing it gently. “Mmmhmm. Yeah. I can’t wait to see the footage, it’s going to be great. Okay, listen, I gotta go, so what I want you to do is email me the whole thing, and I’ll go over it tomorrow morning and let you know what I think, okay? Okay. Alright, thanks. Bye.”

Asriel tossed the phone down onto a bench and took a deep, calming breath, leaning against it for a moment, before he straightened up and peeled off his shirt, carefully maneuvering it around his horns and dropping it on the floor. He immediately slipped off his shorts, kicking them aside, revealing white briefs that blended almost seamlessly with his fur. He shook himself, stretched, bounced on his toes, and then turned around and spotted Frisk.

Frisk waved.

“Uh…!?” Asriel went bright red. “Y-You’re… Aren’t you supposed to be in like, Russia or s-something?” He bent down, fumbling for his discarded shorts. He picked up his shirt, looked from it to his horns, and huffed, tossing it back down on the ground. Frisk stifled a giggle and sat up on the couch, putting their own phone away.

“Well, I was, but when I heard you were playing a secret show, I had to come and see!”

“Could have given me some warning or something. Or said something when I came in!” Asriel grumbled, fumbling with the button on his shorts before leaning back on the bench with a huff, still blushing.

They stared at one another for a moment.

Frisk broke the silence first, snorting and breaking into a laugh. They scrambling off of the couch and met Asriel halfway, Asriel sweeping them into a slightly crushing bear hug, causing Frisk to give a small squeak.

“Woah! Be careful with those guns, sheesh!” Frisk teased.

“Uh, s-sorry. I guess I still don’t know my own strength.” Asriel placed Frisk back down on the ground gently. “I suppose I’ve been lifting a lot of stuff, getting all the gear on and off the bus.”

“Yeah, an hour of carrying stuff, the new workout sweeping the nation.” Frisk said, voice dripping with sarcasm. “Or maybe it’s because you’re a boss monster and Dad’s the size of a minivan.”

“That might have helped, yeah.”

“Well, it’s good to see you. You looked like you were having a great time up on stage.”

“It was a good show, great vibe from the crowd. For whatever reason, they seem to like us.”

“They like you, ‘Prince’.”

Asriel rolled his eyes. “Ugh, not you too! I don’t know why everyone insists on calling me that!”

“It’s half of why your band is so popular. You catch the attention of the monster lovers, the royal family enthusiasts, and the rockstar junkies all in one. It doesn’t hurt that you look cute, either.”

“Great. I’m taller than you, I’ve got these huge unwieldy horns, I’m strong enough to pick up one human with each arm, and I look ‘cute’.” Asriel flopped down onto the couch, puffing his cheeks.

“Ah, you love it.” Frisk sat down next to him and poked him gently on his fuzzy sides.

“You can’t prove anything.” He said, his cheeky grin betraying him. “So what, you flew all the way here to come see me perform?”

“Private jet! It’s the only way to travel.”

“Isn’t that like, crazy expensive?”

“Being the Ambassador for Monsterkind with the Royal Family’s Official Sponsorship has a few perks to go with the mountains of paperwork. Plus, I missed you.”

“You mean, you were worried about me.”

“It can be both! I’d heard from Mum that you weren’t sleeping so well, these days.”

Asriel groaned and leant forward, cradling his face with his hands. “Mum! ...You can’t just drop everything and come running every time I have a bad dream, Frisk. You’ve got actually important stuff to do.”

“This is important, Az. When was the last time you got a solid eight hours of sleep?”

“Uh…” He looked guilty. Now that Frisk looked closer, he looked very tired, particularly now that the adrenaline of the stage was starting to wear off. “I… Don’t remember?”

“Too long. When’s the next performance?”

“We’re going interstate the day after tomorrow, heading down to the bay.”

“Cancel everything for tomorrow then. You’re having a mental health day.”

“What? I can’t! I have like, a dozen things that need doing. We’re in the middle of shooting a documentary about the tour, and I gotta meet with the producer, and I need to make sure that-”

“You have like, a hundred people to take care of these things for you! You’re no good to anyone if you collapse, you idiot.” Frisk playfully punched Asriel on the shoulder. “You have to take care of yourself. I won’t take no for an answer.”

Asriel crossed his arms and frowned at Frisk, but it was obvious that he couldn’t win this fight. “You’re a real pain when you wanna be, you know that?”

***

It was a reasonably nice hotel. The clerk had raised an eyebrow when Frisk had insisted on a single queen bed instead of two singles, but Frisk was used to raised eyebrows. After Frisk had relieved the clerk of their key, they also relieved Asriel of his carry bag. He attempted to protest, and then thought better of it, instead sheepishly following Frisk across the lobby.

Frisk resisted the urge to bodily kick the hotel door open. As much fun as it was to boss everyone around, there were limits, and those limits were usually around the point scuff marks started appearing on doors. So, instead, Frisk let Asriel get the door and gently shepherded him into the room.

When Asriel emerged from the shower, gently steaming and matted, he took a look at himself in the mirror. Frisk was somewhere in the main room, so for the first time since he’d been up on stage, he finally had a second to himself.

Asriel checked out his eyes, looked for stuff in his teeth, gingerly felt the tips of his horns to make sure they weren’t too sharp. Frisk was probably right to call all of his appointments for tomorrow off, he kinda looked like hell. He grinned tiredly at himself in the mirror. Frisk was right about a lot of things, and he was glad that they were here. As embarrassing as it was, he missed them when they were gone, and that was before you factored in the nightmares.

Ugh, the nightmares. Asriel squeezed some toothpaste onto his toothbrush and started to brush, letting his mind wander.

Asriel honestly didn’t know how long he’d spent in that unending hell as Flowey. The time was hazy, unfocused. Perhaps it was best that it stayed that way. But when he was asleep, that barrier of dissociation tended to… leak. Most nights, he’d wake up in a cold sweat every hour or so, frantically trying to wipe blood off of his hands, or worse. The only thing that had ever helped stave off the nightmares was Frisk. The one person in the world who made him feel truly safe.

Frisk still teased him about it, sure, but even though they had ended up with separate beds eventually, they had slept in the same bed until their late teens, and only really stopped once Frisk had started travelling the world. He could tell that Frisk missed it too.

Spit, rinse, underpants. He was still a little damp, but he was too exhausted to care. By the time he made it out back into the main room, he was yawning.

“The prince emerges from his chambers, finally.” Frisk closed the lid on a small laptop and placed a notebook on top of it neatly. “Some of us need to pee occasionally, you know.”

“Yeah, yeah. Sorry. It’s all yours.” He gestured at the bathroom vaguely. “You sleep on the right hand side still, right?”

“Yeah, of course.”

“Right, welp, enjoy the bathroom. I have a very important meeting with a mattress. Royal business, can’t be interrupted until at least… 7 am.”

“8. And I’ll organise breakfast.”

Asriel wasn’t about to argue. He was too tired to worry about being embarrassed about wearing just his undies, so he just waved as Frisk walked past and flopped heavily on the bed.

By the time Frisk emerged from the bathroom, Asriel was fast asleep and snoring lightly, spread eagled over the top of the sheets.

“Typical.” Frisk tried to be annoyed, but he just looked so peaceful and innocent when he was asleep.

Somehow, Frisk knew it would be a long night.