A Certain Sacrifice

Frisk couldn't believe it.

As they marched from Snowdin, a small flame of hope they had not felt for many resets burned fiercely. The answer had fallen into their lap because they had finally tried something different. The icy wind had no effect on them as their companion accompanied them with perfect stoicism.

To save the last denizen of the underground, they had tried so many things. Telling everyone, telling certain people, days spent in the True Lab, one stretch where they went years on the surface looking into the problem, but there had been little headway, and checking on him found he had moved on to places unknown. It had to be now. Stabilizing his current form was so much easier than changing it again after he reverted. But Frisk's options for that seemed to include options he would have found unacceptable, and betraying that was not worth the price. They couldn't even look at Sans these days. Even though they were confident he knew nothing, there was something about whenever they met for the "first" time that made it FEEL like he knew.  They had become Flowey at his worst, and they were running out of ways to justify yanking everyone back Underground.

It was their dreams of Sans, and their running out of ideas, that had been haunting them as they headed back to visit him again. They hadn't watched where they were going, and bumped straight into him. To be fair he hadn't been paying attention to his surroundings either, but something about his tone made Frisk spontaneously tell the whole story to him. They hadn't seen much of him in the last few resets. Truthfully they hadn't given him much thought at all after the first few. But when their story was finished, he volunteered without hesitation. Frisk was shocked. Not that getting another soul hadn't crossed their mind, but he'd have never accepted it. They tried to explain this to him, but he had responded with a surprisingly eloquent explanation for why he was fine with the sacrifice, and Frisk was moved to tears. So they accepted, hoping that he would accept the same argument.

The Ruins had long felt claustrophobic, even for the underground. Toriel had been right that they feel very small once you know them. But on this particular journey it felt warm and cosy. The few monsters they encountered were packing, and waving – or wiggling – at the two as they made their way. Frisk practically danced through the fake spikes while their companion had paid no attention to his surroundings again.

And finally, they arrived. Where Frisk had fallen so long ago, even though to most people it had been maybe a day or two. And there he was, regarding the flowers that received most of the faint sunlight from above. Even though both of his guests had been utterly silent as they approached, he lifted his head, like he was expecting them. Perhaps after so many resets some things are far too deeply ingrained to be forgotten. And they had indeed visited him nearly every time. It would also explain Sans. He turned around to greet Frisk for what Frisk hoped was the last time.

"Frisk? You came back to see me? I appreciate it, but- wait, who's that with you?"

****

Why did the skeleton buy polish for his legs? Because he wanted them nice and SHIN-y!!! XD

Beep.

"heh. good one."

As the six of them sat in the cavern, Toriel had been forced to retreat to her newly gained ability to text to share the jokes she could not stop coming up with. She could tell her and Sans' back and forth had been irritating Papyrus, and she felt bad about it. Papyrus had walked over to the door of the cavern that once held the barrier, sitting next to Alphys and Undyne, arms wrapped around each other, who stared at the exit awaiting them. But none of them felt right actually going outside without the one who had freed them. Asgore sat quietly on his own, staring neither at the three at the exit or the two texting furiously. He had briefly gone to his house, and returned with a large pot of tea. Undyne took a cup, but she was the only one to accept. So now he sat, looking at a hole in the cavern, one of his few sources of sunlight before this day, and Toriel could tell he was forcing himself not to look at her, to respect her wishes. That was just like him.

She caught the stray thought, and scrutinized it fiercely. She thought she had known him, but then he had embarked on that abhorrent path. How could he? How did he think that would have honoured their memory? And perhaps even worse than doing it at all was the cowardly way he had done it, inflicting torment not just on his family but everyone else. And then he had the temerity not even to fight back when she had confronted him. What was wrong with him? Undyne had looked like she wanted to argue with her about it, but felt it was inappropriate to speak to the Queen like that. Queen. She once never gave it a second thought, but now it was such a strange word to associate with herself. And it sounded like people would try to call her that even if she did not want to. So much had changed in the last day.

Fighting down her bubbling emotions at the thought of him, she looked over at Asgore while she was writing out her joke about the tailbone. She had an urge to see how he had changed. And indeed he had. It was the eyes. They lacked something they had when last they met. No doubt that was a result of the cruelty he had cultivated as he committed six unspeakable acts. But then why was his face so sad? Hadn't he proven he was willing to do terrible things, and prolong the suffering of everyone? Why should he feel bad about it? Unless...

"hey lady, i don't get it. what's a cobbyx?"

"Hmm? Oh, my apologies, it should be coccyx."

"oh. heh-heh, that's pretty clever."

She smiled at his appreciation, and it distracted her from contemplating Asgore for a while. However it didn't take very long before another distraction soon materialised. Frisk had been gone a long time. They hadn't looked particularly happy when they woke up to hear the barrier had gone, and the six's praise for them didn't lift their spirits at all. In fact it made it worse. Toriel had actually texted them half an hour ago, but had yet to receive a reply. Another fifteen minutes, and she was contemplating interrupting the jokes to outright call them, maybe even set out through the Underground to find them.

Before she could dwell on this for long however, her phone beeped, and it wasn't Sans' number.

Coming now. Bringing a surprise!

"Oh, everyone! Frisk is on their way."

Everybody looked at her with interest. Even Asgore briefly, before remembering and focusing on pouring a new cup of tea.

"And they're bringing a surprise?"

"A SURPRISE? I LOVE SURPRISES! LIKE WHEN SANTA GOT ME AN ACTION FIGURE I NEVER EVEN ASKED FOR!"

"Oh did he?" asked Asgore, a smile on his face for the first time. "That was very thoughtful of him."

Sans looked over at him, his grin unchanging.

"Whadya think they're bringin'?" asked Undyne. "What is there in the Underground we don't know about?"

"Maybe s-something just fell in the garbage." Offered Alphys. "L-like more anime!"

"WHO IS ANNIE MAY?"

"...Tell ya later, Pap."

"Oh!" gasped Toriel. "I think I know. My most recent pie. I left it at Home when I set out on my journey. Perhaps they wish to share it with us to celebrate the barrier breaking."

Everyone looked thoughtful. Asgore had allowed a smile to actually stay on his face. And Toriel was forced to concede she would allow Frisk to share it with whomever they wished. They had earned that right, and Frisk did seem to react positively to him in what little time they had spent together. But her dwelling on her ex-husband was interrupted by footsteps.

"Oh! Frisk?"

Sure enough, the small human emerged from the shadowy staircase from the throne room, looking much happier than they had when they left. The strange thing was that they didn't seem to be carrying anything at all.

"WELCOME BACK, HUMAN! I MEAN FRISK!"

"'sup, pal?"

"Hey there, kid!"

"Hello, F-Frisk!"

"Welcome back."

"It is good to see you, my child."

They looked around at the six of them, their happiness radiating from them.

"You said you had a surprise, Frisk. May I ask what it is?"

Frisk looked up at Toriel and Asgore in particular. Even through their renewed determination, there was a palpable excitement.

"This may be... A bit of a shock. Try not to freak out. We'll explain everything."

The King and Queen looked briefly at each other, trying to see if either was aware of what the child was talking about. Frisk turned around.

"You can come in now!"

"Ugh, finally."

The voice was young, and something resonated within Toriel's memory. It didn't get very far, because the tone of the voice was so utterly different from what she remembered. It was like the speaker would rather get this over with, and she couldn't make the connection as a result.

Another set of footsteps came from the stairs. They sounded much lighter, though the shadowed figure was maybe the same height as Frisk. But the head did not look human. It did look familiar however.

The white paw emerging into the sunlight froze her with a jolt.

The second child stepped into the light proper. He was wearing the same clothes as that night. The ears and the tuft of fur on his head were the same. His face seemed a little different though. He had large black eyes, and a slack, bored expression on his mouth as his muzzle was buried in a phone, fuzzy thumbs jabbing like crazy. There was a tinkling noise. Asgore had dropped his cup in shock. It seemed to pull the child from his phone.

"Huh?" He didn't sound interested in the situation. "Oh. Hey Mom. Hey Dad."

They both gave strangled cries, and descended on him, Frisk barely able to leap out of the way. They were hugging him tightly, and while he returned the gesture, his phone was still in one hand now resting on Asgore's shoulder, and he continued to manipulate it quite adeptly despite how constricted he was.

"WOWIE!" bellowed Papyrus. "IT'S PRINCE ASRIEL DREEMURR, THE SON OF THE KING WE ALL THOUGHT DEAD!"

Everybody looked at him.

"WHAT? JUST BECAUSE I MISTOOK THE QUEEN FOR A CLONE DOES NOT MEAN I HAVE NOT STUDIED THE ROYAL FAMILY. HOW ELSE WOULD I UNDERSTAND WHAT IT IS THE ROYAL GUARD IS MEANT TO PROTECT?"

"huh. you must've read a lot of books bro. really worked yourself to the-"

"DO NOT INTERRUPT THIS MIRACLE WITH YOUR VERBAL JAPERY!"

Asgore and Toriel finally released their son, still looking resolutely at his phone. One hand withdrew to scratch his butt however. Frisk had everybody sit down, and they painstakingly recounted everything they had learned over all their resets. Asriel's whole story. Everything they had done in their attempts to help him. Apologies to Sans in particular. And finally the noble sacrifice from an unlikely monster. As they talked, Asriel finally put the phone down, took out some popato chisps and started eating them.

"huh. think that guy owed me some money."

"Hope you don't think I'm paying you." said Asriel harshly, absently picking his nose.

"nah, cap. you got a clean bill with me."

"Cool." Asriel noted his now messy hands, and wiped them on his jumper. "Frisk wanted to bring Mom's pie here, but I got hungry at Snowdin. And Waterfall. And the Core."

Sure enough there was a small brown streak on his mouth, and a few crumbs. And then he burped loudly. Asriel's decay of etiquette was lost on his parents.

"My... My Son..." muttered Asgore, finding it hard to speak. "Such a sacrifice. That monster shall enter our histories forever. I cannot believe..."

He broke down into silent tears. Frisk patted him on the elbow.

"Frisk... Thank you, my child."

Frisk beamed with pride. It was interrupted by Asriel sneezing loudly. Everyone looked over to him as he surveyed his hands in disgust.

"Well," said Asgore, recovering from his being overwhelmed, "shall we view the sun together? My, it feels like it was only yesterday. Part of me can't believe you haven't seen it."

"YES! THIS SHALL BE AMAZING!"

"Is it far? I walked all the way from the Ruins and my paws hurt."

"We took the boat, Asriel."

"Yeah, for like two minutes."

Everyone got to their feet and began to shuffle towards the barrier cavern. Asriel followed behind his parents, surreptitiously wiping his hands on Toriel's robes.

"Hey, is the sun really bright? I hope not, sunglasses suck."

****

"Asriel..."

He raised a fuzzy finger. "Ab-bup-bup-bup-bup!"

"Fine. King Asriel."

"That's better. What is it, Frisk?"

Frisk beheld His Majesty, slouched in the throne, one leg over the arm rest, lazily looking at Frisk as he scratched between those legs. His horns were short and conical, barely longer than Toriel's. His black eyes had gotten more prominent as he grew up. There was something about his lips, flanked by his fangs, that was oddly pronounced in a way his parents' hadn't.

"You know the summit's next week, right? Did you read that letter from the Human Ambassador? I think they said something about the dress code."

He rolled his eyes. "Ugh, I was just gonna do that, gimme a minute."

Reluctantly he got up and over to a pile of unopened letters. He fished out a letter from the middle and opened it, reading it with a bored look.

"Do I have to put on a suit? I hate ties."

"It's how they expect a king to look. If ties are that painful then maybe you could put on Dad's cloak? Go with a classic look."

"Nah, it's uncomfortable. I never got round to getting it fitted for me when he retired. Fine, suit it is. What else do you wanna bug me about?"

"Bob the Third's opening their new store. You might want a suit for cutting the ribbon too."

"Nah. Monsters don't care. They know it's me, don't they?"

Frisk sighed a little. "If you insist. And speaking of knowing you, I've heard a lot of chatter. People are worried they haven't seen much of you lately."

"I've been busy, you know that!"

Frisk eyed the large TV with two game consoles hooked up.

"Well maybe you should visit them more often. It makes them feel better."

"Again with this? Don't you have anything better to do?" Scratching his belly, he looked down at his phone.

"I just thought you wanted to be their friends? I mean they liked when you funded that wifi upgrade project, but the money for that dried up after it got hooked up here. Maybe you should get back into that?"

"Wow, Vulkin said that? Awkwaaaard. Huh? Oh sure, whatever. Hey, what do you think if I upgrade the house with a swimming pool?"

Frisk sighed patiently. "Only if you keep it open to the public."

"Of course. Nothing but the best for the people. They'll like me for it. Hey, I'm gonna go make a sandwich and then see if I can get a ride into town with Burgerpants. Do you want one? No? Okay."

He hadn't really waited for an answer. Asriel shuffled his feet towards the exit, but paused when he reached Frisk. Suddenly he launched into a massive hug. Frisk couldn't help but return it as they felt a couple of suppressed sobs of relief.

"Thank you. Thank you for everything. I know I said it last week and the week before and like forever but I have to say it. I love you."

The hug lasted a long time, maybe two seconds longer than was strictly comfortable. Then he abruptly broke it and continued to the kitchen. Frisk watched the dirty t-shirt he wore half tucked into his trousers. Sure, he may be rough around the edges, but he still had that tender heart at his core. In spite of everything it was still him.

Nobody else had minded that he came off as crass sometimes. They knew he'd go to bat for them when it came down to it. He'd demonstrated that when some human kids were teasing the Drake family, and Asriel had talked to them and gotten them to apologise after he stopped laughing.

Or the time he had opened his private arcade to other human kids as a display of friendship from monsters, and everyone had enjoyed themselves even after he had taken the time to tell them how they sucked every time he beat them.

Or perhaps his greatest diplomatic achievement, shortly after leaving the underground, at a formal dinner to greet monsters, he had shoved a human girl out of the way of a falling chandelier. That move had done more in a second than all the long-winded speeches of the day. Only Frisk knew that he had really been running to where the chocolate fountain was and she had been in the way, but he healed her afterwards, didn't he?

He was good for it. Everyone knew Asriel.