Chapter 65

In the bathroom of the empty dressing room, Frisk was hiding in the cupboard under the sink. He had attempted to make a rope out of the bathtub curtain to use to climb out the window, but to his dismay, he had realized it was too short. So, he tied one end of the curtain around the faucet in the tub and hung the rest outside the open window to mislead whoever found him.

Frisk was shaking as he texted the latest developments to Sans. He was frightened and wished more than anything that Sans knew where the studio was, so he could simply shortcut there and take him away.

Frisk sent the message and waited. Thankfully, Sans was quick to reply.

He said, "You're doing well, squirt. The show was supposed to start about five minutes ago, and it hasn't. You're not half bad at stalling. Keep it up and he might have to call the whole thing off."

Frisk smiled until Sans sent another reply.

"I also saw the prose you sent," Sans said. "It was quite insightful."

"Is that bad?" Frisk replied.

"Nah, but it makes me worry 'bout ya. Be honest. Do ya still wanna die?" Sans texted back.

Frisk's eyes filled up with tears and he replied, "I don't know. I love being your brother, but I hate what I put you through. Your lives would be better off if I wasn't in it causing you problems. Wouldn't it? I mean, He says I have a purpose and that is why I'm still here, but I don't know what it could possibly be. I'm not useful to anybody."

Sans was silent for a minute, but then he said, "Two things. First, you need to know this wasn't your fault, Frisk. That robot tricked you like Flowey did. Second, kid, I haven't been completely honest with ya. You wanna know something? I can't completely explain how, but you've been raising my HP. It was at 1, but now, it's at 8."

"What? How? Why was it so low?"

"Well, you know how I've been depressed for a while? That problem took down my HP until it was practically nothing, but ever since you came along, things have been getting better for me. Pap and I see more eye to eye. I know I can trust him and Undyne with stuff. You've brought us closer together. It's been great, and that's not all. You've been giving me hope too, kiddo. I have felt my hope rising the more I've gotten to know ya. I never imagined that you and I would get on so well. We have a lot in common. We understand each other, and well, there's no other way to put it. You make me happy, squirt. You give me another reason to live. Hell, you've even given me a reason to have faith again. Like I said last night, I love ya, kiddo, and I'm sorry for ever making ya feel unwanted and useless."

Frisk's eyes filled with happy tears, and he replied, "I'm sorry for what I did to make you feel hopeless, too. I love you, too."

Frisk and Sans' HP's went up by one point at the same time.

"Hey!" Frisk texted. "My HP just went up. It's 15 now!"

"And mine's at 9, kiddo," Sans said. "Good work."

"But, what do I do now? What am I supposed to do? I can't climb out the back window, but I don't think going back in the hallway's a good idea either."

"Watch Mettaton's show on the live stream like I am. Help me keep Papyrus and Undyne updated and stay hidden. When that bucket of bolts finally decides to give up on the show, make your move. Pray and run like the prophet who outran the chariot!"

Frisk smiled and replied, "I remember that story. But I thought you and the Almighty weren't on good terms."

"What can I say? You've inspired me to look into that, too. If you keep this up, I might be looking for a place of worship before too long, blood brother, ?" Sans texted back.

Frisk was a bit confused by his last remark, so he said, "Sans, I'm not biologically your…" before he finally understood the pun.

Frisk chuckled a little to himself and replied, "I see what you did there."

Sans' only reply was a winking emoji.

Unfortunately, at that moment, Frisk heard someone trying to open the dressing room door. He quickly told Sans who in turn told him to stay calm and be as quiet as he could until they left, or he could run away.

Frisk heard them talking. It was two people. Then, he heard them inside the room. They had to have teleported. The voices were familiar ones, Burgerpants and River.

"I don't see any sign of him, River," Burgerpants said. "I guess a janitor must have left this room locked by mistake. For his sake, I hope he's not in here."

"I hope so, too," River said. "What do you plan on doing if you found him?"

Frisk's breathing slowed down. The two of them were coming closer to the bathroom where he was hiding.

"I don't know," Burgerpants replied trying the handle on the bathroom door. "I'll figure out something…This one's locked, too. That's weird."

Frisk heard River and Burgerpants teleport into the bathroom. His heart all but stopped.

"What the -?" Burgerpants asked incredulously while examining the curtain going out the window. "What the hell? How did he escape from this floor?! There aren't even any flowers down there to break his fall."

"Burgerpants," River said. "We need to check outside. He might be injured and in need of help."

"Yeah," Burgerpants replied.

Frisk smiled. Now, his diversion had worked. He exited the cupboard, twisted open the bathroom door, and…his heart stopped. River and Burgerpants were waiting in the dressing room on the other side.

"I told you he was in here," River said to Burgerpants while Frisk backed away slowly toward the window.

He managed to sit on the window sill while they were distracted.

Burgerpants looked up, saw what Frisk was doing, and yelled, "KID, WAIT!"

Frisk didn't wait to hear what he had to say. In a panic, he started climbing down the magenta curtain. He didn't even notice that it was straining under his weight.

Burgerpants ran to the window and looked down at him with desperate tears in his eyes. That caught Frisk off-guard and made him slow down long enough to listen.

"Frisk, please…" Burgerpants began. "We don't want to turn you in to Mettaton. We wanna help get you home."

"What?" Frisk asked skeptically. "Are you telling me the truth? I've been lied to enough today. I don't feel like hearing it from anyone else."

"He's telling the truth, child," River said. "You can trust us. I know it feels hard to believe right now, but it's true. I swear it. If you come back up here with us before you get hurt, we will do everything we can to take you home."

Frisk hesitated for a moment. He didn't want to believe them, but he knew well the expression on Burgerpants' face. It was a pleading look. It was a look he once saw in the eyes of the monsters and a look that he had given many times in the face of his enemies. Frisk couldn't see River's face, but he could hear that expression through his voice.

"Okay," Frisk conceded. "I'm going to climb up, but if you try anything funny, I'll run away again."

"No, don't climb up," Burgerpants said as calmly as he could muster. "Let me lower you to the ground. We'll follow you once we've put you on stable ground."

"Alright," Frisk replied nervously.

"Just relax, kid," Burgerpants said moving Frisk telekinetically away from the curtain and wishing he was a better actor than he was. "I won't drop ya. You're nothin' compared to the meat patties I gotta haul around every shift."

River put a hand on Burgerpants' shoulder to calm him down while Frisk was slowly and carefully lowered to the ground.

Unfortunately, just as Frisk was about seven feet from the ground, a trapdoor opened and Mettaton flew out. Before Frisk could even blink, he was being held in Mettaton's arms as he posed dramatically on the sand.

Frisk struggled furiously against Mettaton's hold, but just like before, it did little good.

"BOSS?!" Burgerpants yelled from the window.

"Burgie!" Mettaton exclaimed happily. "Thank you so much for catching my runaway child for me. You're a lifesaver, and you've won your bonus!"

"That's great, boss," Burgerpants said meekly.

"How do you keep finding me?!" Frisk yelled out in frustration.

"I have my ways, dear, but I like to call it fatherly intuition," Mettaton said rubbing Frisk's hair and creating another trapdoor a few steps away. "Anyways, Burgie, I gotta go…"

"Wait, boss..." Burgerpants said nervously. "Uh…Can we stay for the show? River really wanted to stay and watch…"

Frisk stopped struggling and exchanged looks with Burgerpants.

"Why, of course," Mettaton said dissolving one trapdoor and creating another one so he could enter the bathroom. "It's the least I could do for all your help, Burgie."

Once he jumped through the trapdoor and landed dramatically in the bathroom with Frisk in his arms, Mettaton stood up and said, "There are two empty seats where Undyne and Papyrus were sitting anyway. Look alive, gentlemen!"

Mettaton created another trapdoor underneath their feet which immediately caused them to fall into the studio.

Mettaton landed in a dramatic pose on the stage with Frisk still in his arms while Burgerpants used his teleportation to get him and River to their seats so they could come up with another plan.