Second Time Around
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"How did she break out?!"
"How do I know? I think she flirted with the guard or something!" Conner shouted.
"Special Dog wouldn't fall for that!"
"Well, then she probably petted it, gave it advice, made friends, I don't know, it's Frisky!" Conner yelled back at his team. He got on the microphone. "All NEUTRALIST soldiers, capture the evading 95452, I repeat, 95452, PACIFIST status!"
"This isn't right and you know it," Friska said looking toward Conner. "Frisky hasn't done anything." She gestured to the N on her chest. "Capturing her and having to put an N on myself. I feel so dirty."
"We have to have her. Worst case scenario, we can make something work when the guardian reboots." Conner got on the microphone and spewed out the information again.
"Do you know how sick that is?" Friska said in disgust.
"Look, I don't like it anymore than you do," Conner said. "I like 95452. Hell, I love the conduit too, and I would have taken good care of it with her if she'd just let me. But. This is bigger than petty stuff, this is freedom. Freedom to go home. Freedom to let humans live the way we are supposed to. And, that's bigger than love."
"Number one, Frisky never could even stand a hug from you, so don't even try with me," Friska glared at him. "For two, if you did think of the boy like family, you wouldn't call him it."
"Whatever. It's not gonna die."
"He'll be driven insane, and his mom won't be there!" Friska grabbed her head. "This is so wrong. Ugh. I could so go for a Glamburger right now. Something to calm me down." She looked toward Conner, getting a hell of a look that warned her she was going into bad territory. "S-sorry. I know, it's my job. If I don't. I'm dead." Friska took a deep breath. "Frisky never takes the direct route. She always likes to scan around a whole area and find its weak points. She won't go too far, she'll be trying to find a great place to hide."
"Are you sure about that?" Conner warned her. "Her signature is bouncing farther away."
"She'll go right back." Friska cleared her throat. "I can't believe I have to do this. Um, trust me. When we were FRISK, she always liked going backward. Seeing how things changed. Looking for new items, searching for new allies. She will conquer the area."
"Good. You move up ahead, I'll assemble a squad."
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Ridiculous. My own team. Frisky hung onto the top bars on the ceiling of the training hall. There weren't many places she could go, anyone could pinpoint her and bring her right back, but she needed to get her son back. If she could get back to the Underground then she could get a hidden teleport ride with a direct location to a safe place instead. But why did they want her son so bad?
"Frisky? I know you are up there in the darkness. You can't hide, you know that."
Friska. It had to be big if even Friska betrayed her. "I don't understand. For how long were we together as FRISK? We know each other so well. If there was one person I could trust on this whole ship, it'd been you."
"Frisky." Friska grunted. "I know it looks bad, but . . . I'm sorry?" She rubbed her eyes. "I'm sorry, I just, I don't want to die. If I let you go, they'll kill me."
"Why do they want 95451? What are they planning?" Frisky asked her. "Please, Friska. How many times did we smile with the Temmies? Enjoy Cinnamon Butterscotch? Toriel's trapped you know."
"Toriel?!" Friska's jaw dropped. "No, not Toriel. She was, oh, so nice. Ooh."
Frisky knew that comment would get her. Friska's conscious arose the most around Toriel. Soldiers weren't allowed to remember their civilian life, but Frisky was brought in around 15. Friska was adopted as a soldier. There was nothing waiting for her in the future, just endless missions. There was nothing soothing she'd ever remember. Toriel brought out a more sensitive side to Friska. "Goat momma. She's trapped in a re-reset, and she's never going to get out. No one will ever reboot."
"Don't." Friska held up her hand toward Frisky. "Don't try and find something to avoid a fight with me, Frisky. He is just too important, and I really . . . I don't want to die."
"I don't want you to die either." Frisky moved along the top. "I never want anyone to die, and neither do you. Even though you wear an N on your chest, you're a PACIFIST soldier at heart."
"The primary mission." Friska's voice was breaking down and tears sparkled in her big, round eyes. "The primary mission always comes first, above everything. That's what . . . w-"
Frisky heard a sniffle and some choking. Friska was breaking down. "Pretend you can't find me. Enough time to get to a teleporter. Just a little while, please? Use this time to break into the re-resets and save Toriel. Goat momma? You know you want to free your goat momma."
"Frisky, don't. I'm not going to listen," Friska said loudly. "We have to do this. I have to do this. I'm sorry. I know you love your boy, but . . ."
"But what? Please, Friska? If you're going to turn me in, then you might as well tell me?" Frisky encouraged her. "What?"
"I'm sorry!" She shouted. "Frisky, they are going to release all the memories upon him in one blow so that he'll go crazy! While he screams from insanity, seven souls will take him over and destroy the Balancers!"
"What?!" Frisky shouted. "He can't do that, he can't handle it!"
"He is special!" Friska yelled. "And I'm sorry. I-I didn't know until you were brought on board. And . . . what are you doing? Frisky?" Friska came over closer to the corner where she could see Frisky's signature on her own MP. "They'll be coming soon, please. You'll be fine. Maybe they can wipe his mind afterwards. It'll mean freedom."
"My child," Frisky answered her. "I knew someone that once said that."
"Stop."
"All the Underground wanted little FRISK'S soul, for freedom. She said no. She battled us to keep us away, even though just taking us, to her, would have saved the world. She didn't care. She was willing to take us under her care forever."
"Frisky!"
"And when we reached the surface, she always invited us to stay with her," Frisky reminded her. "A child's soul could save them, and she said-"
"Frisky!"
"-no."
Friska fell to the ground in tears. "Oh, Toriel. I'm so sorry. She would so disappointed in me!" Friska threw her MP up at Frisk as backup started to come. "Save Frisk. Be a good momma!"
"Thank you, Friska." Frisky held onto the MP as she heard the sounds of weapons take Friska out from behind. The cruelty of war. She would mourn her friend's loss soon, but first, she needed to save her son. And there was only one thing on the entire planet that could save her son.
An unfeeling flower.
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"Alphys." Chance opened his eyes at the dinosaur. "You like Anime."
"Oh, so you do remember me?" Alphys smiled at him. "That's nice."
"Yeah, and, um, there was also . . . a robot. He had weird legs. And-and-he was hard to beat." He started to tremble, making Sans take more notice of him.
"We've almost got your mom," Sans said, trying to take his mind in another direction. How was he starting to remember that?
Then the computer went off.
"Got her!" Alphys slammed a button down as Frisky appeared inside a tube Alphys had made to isolate it for the teleportation. "She should be in there. Sans, the clothes?"
Sans handed her Papyrus clothes and watched Alphys take off to the teleportation area. It was roughly made, and it wasn't fancy enough to accept anything but organic matter. But, it should have eliminated some external factors and brought her down safer than the explosion last time. When Alphys came back out, she grinned. "We got her!"
Frisky came out adjusting the Cool Dude top. "Did I get upgraded?" she chuckled as she saw Sans and her son. "Frisk, is he okay still?"
"He's fine." Sans approached, noticing how tall she had been again. He had seen her that tall during the conduit fight when she was stalling. As tall as Papyrus now. Great. He gestured toward his back as she came over. "He's sleeping again. He was starting to remember though." He stood on his tippy toes, getting him up high enough for her to take easier from his back.
"No, evil robot. No, no not that again! I don't want to get hit, it hurts!"
"It's okay, calm down. Center yourself, it's alright," Sans tried to cheer him up. "Hey! Remember Grillby's? That was fun. Great fun. What about Monster Kid? He's fun to play with."
"Oh I knew it!" Frisky grabbed her son quickly. "Sans, we have to get to Flowey. They did something to him from above, and I think-"
"I don't want to die! I don't want to die! I don't want to die!" Frisk started to yell from the top of his lungs.
Frisky quickly reached down and grabbed Sans' bony hand.
"I need you to take us to Flowey, quickly, or Frisk is going to go insane!"
"Insane?"
"They are going to make him remember every timeline. Please, we need Flowey's help!"
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"FLooooooweeeeeeeyyyyy!" Frisky shouted wildly. "FLooooooooweeeeeeyyyy!"
"Frisky, hang on, what's going on?" Sans asked her.
"Sans." Frisky tried to still her breath. "You have about thirty to forty resets in your head that you have a memory of. How does that feel to you?"
"There are no more resets."
"Exactly, that's how bad it is, isn't it? You don't even want to think about them." Frisky held her son extra tight against her. "They are reversing the process. He will remember them all. They pushed me to eighty one time, but . . . it's just too much."
"How . . . how many?"
"Including full resets, part saves, and continues, or just reeeeeeeesets?" A familiar voice came from the ground.
"Flowey!" Frisky shouted into one of the grassy holes he often stayed around. "Please?"
"Full resets . . . part saves . . . continues . . ." Flowey popped his head up finally. "Howdy, Frisk! You're not new to the Underground at all, are ya? But, you don't know all of it!" He cackled. "Why do I hate hate hate hate hate haaaaaaaaate . . . resets? Continues? The games? The game. Because . . . I have said something similar to that phrase nearly 3,952 times!!!!" He lightly laughed. "That was before your FRISK mission though . . . no, you're just a meager 892 times. Still, pretty heavy for a little six year old's mind, isn't it?"
"892?!" Frisky could barely believe it. It should have been a few months. Maybe a year, at most. 892?
"Can you help him or not?" Sans demanded.
"Mmmm . . . not without a little incentive?" Flowey smiled. "I need to be Guardian again. Give me it, and I'll give you Frisk's little innocent wiped mind baaaack." He giggled and then his face turned dark. "Or he can just remember how many different ways you beat him around with your hate and anger, ricocheting him off of massive piles of bones. Whoa, it took awhile for even momma to forget that, huh? At almost 900, he'd never trust you again." In a second stem that shot up from the ground was an MP player being flipped in the air as Flowey changed back to a happy face. "I'll even add a couple bonuses, just for you. I can give you a chance to save his life."
"His life?" Frisky looked toward Sans. "What's happening?"
"You better not be kidding."
"Yep. Oh but I said two bonuses, didn't I? How about . . . why is he sooooo important? Oh, you two, you don't want to miss out on that exciting one. It's life-changing."
"He's right, Sans," Frisky agreed. "They want him to go crazy and shove seven souls in him so that he'll take out the Balancers."
"What?" Sans looked toward her. "Couldn't any conduit do that? How's he special?"
"He's got a lot brewing up in the miii-iiiind already," Flowey reminded Sans. "Give it to me." He giggled. "If you don't, you're killing his sanity. I'm insane enough, but I suppose two is better than oooone? At least until he dies from horrific pain."
Trusting Flowey wasn't something Sans wanted to do. Flowey killed for entertainment. He could save lives, but he didn't care to. He could out the Frisks with that power. He could take out anyone. Sans grabbed the MP.
"Clock is ticking." Flower bopped his petal head around. "Tick. Tock. Tick. Tock."
"You could erase the world," Sans said, trying to think.
"Not full control," Flowey informed him. "I'm considered the backup Guardian now. I could only hold it for three hours, and . . . I don't get that kind of fun."
"He's right," Frisky confirmed. "It's a failsafe, just in case the Guardian is a little . . . crazy. Only three hours, and that includes any resets and motion shift. No erasing, no killing, and no hurting."
"It's already where it needs to be on it's little menu," Flowey said to Sans. "See? Temporary. You can't turn over the whole thing to me unfortunately." He cringed. "Just press the button. Just say yes. Just give me the power for three hours. I can't do anything without the power."
"Papyrus, no, I don't want to kill Papyyyyruuuussss! Moooooove!"
Sans instinctively hit the button. For good or bad, it was done. "Three hours."
"Yes! Good. Now, hee hee hee hee hee hee." Flowey rubbed his stems together as he cleared his throat and uttered the phrase Frisky once did. "Um . . . I don't really know what to say, except that . . . I-I'm sorry about crashing everything you've ever believed in." He giggled evilly. "Then again, you above everyone else should probably know the truth. He he hee hee!" He looked toward Frisky. "Good night, Frisks, I'm wiping your memory back to the event. But, Sans? Not you. Don't worry though, a certain dinosaur is going to get to remember too! So say hello and goooood mornniiiiiing!"
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"What?" Frisky looked around herself next to the little sign. One minutes, Frisk was in her arms, and the next minute, he was gone? "Frisk?!" She left the little teleporting area and looked around desperately. Where was he? Who took him? She watched as several teleportation lights were surrounding her. "No way." Was she getting arrested?
The first to land in front of her was Conner.
"Frisky has been located, Sir. She is in the same place as last time," Conner said into his MP. "We will bag and secure her promptly."
"Bag me?" Frisky looked at his uniform. The P for PACIFIST they wore was now an N. She tried to back away from all the soldiers coming at her, but that wasn't a great place to be. There was nowhere to get away in that vicinity. "What's going on? Conner?"
"Sorry, Frisky, our division changed," Conner admitted. "Someone else is in charge, and we have to follow the big shots. You know how it is. Besides, this is still somewhat pacifism. We aren't hurting Monsters, are we? We aren't going to hurt you, and we are not going to hurt your little conduit. We are just peacefully trying to collect what is ours."
"I am not yours and neither is my son. Why do you want him so much?"
"Doesn't matter, just come peacefully, and will somebody stop this weird flower thing already! Hold her down!"
"Can't Sir, this flower is really filled with DETERMINATION, it won't, let, up!"
Frisky watched as Flowey was trying to pull her up from the soldiers trying to nab her. "Huh?!"
"Hi again!" Flowey chuckled. "Need a little hand? Stem. Whatever. You have to survive this next part on your own, 'cause I have somewhere else to go." He flung her away onto one of the thin walls. "A nice jog will do you some good!"
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"Looookyyyy what the stoooork brooought!" Flowey laughed as he showed up behind Sans post. Sans stood up immediately. "Long time no see? Maybe?" He tossed Chance into Alphys arms. "Good catch!"
"Chance?" Sans looked around. Flowey took them into motion shift? He said Frisky and Chance wouldn't remember but Alphys and I would, why?
"NEUTRAL, formerly PACIFIST, soldiers are chasing Frisky down. Funny, huh? Shouldn't be the type." Flowey giggled. "Type, that's funny, isn't it? Oh, come on. Why the sour and confused little skeleton face? That's what I get for bringing him back to you? He's not really meaningful to you . . . yet. But, here you go. Here's my something special I promised last time." Flowey's face turned dark as he threw something in the snow and cackled before he left.
The MP that Flowey gained control back as Guardian with. Sans picked it up.
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A wall, a mere wall. Still, it kept the soldiers from overtaking her. Frisk. Where are you? What's going on? She was running alongside the area where she always picked up umbrellas. It would be raining ahead, which meant the walls would run out. Soldiers were following from below on all sides, knowing that she'd eventually run out of room. Home. We were just supposed to go home.
More soldiers were getting on the wall, figuring out how to stand on each other's shoulders. She was running out of room. Come on, Frisky, figure it out. At that time, she needed to be FRISK, but it was impossible without her son. As much DETERMINATION as she kept, she wouldn't make it. Still, even if she had to jump off the wall and run through the water and mud, she'd never just surrender.
Then, she saw blue light surrounding her while she was running. Her legs moved around, trying to touch the ground. Instinctively, she tried to escape. She knew this light! But, then, it wasn't hurting her, just lifting her up out of danger.
Below her, she watched her team start to scatter as blue light came at them. It wasn't gentle. At all.
Sans? But, he never sticks around, how would he know we were in trouble? On those horrible playthroughs where she wasn't in control, he didn't even stay in place to die. He just moved away. When they reached the surface, he was just gone after a couple words.
She felt herself getting pulled toward him. When she reached the ground, he moved in front of her.
"Don't. Move."
Huh? Frisky watched as energy waves started heading their way, but Sans blocked every single one. When it came to fighting, he was always a hard opponent. "Sans, what's going on? My team flipped on me and Flowey took-"
He held his arm up. "Don't. Move."
The blue light was getting heavy on her again. Why? Then, as a wave of energy tried to smack them, she felt herself moving just as fast out of the way as Sans moved.
"Sir, i-it's the Guardian itself! W-what'd we do?! Aahhh!"
Frisky watched as several teleportation lights were set off at once. Ouch. That would probably cause some malformations. "Did Alphys do that?" But before she got an answer . . .
. . . she found herself teleported into a house. A house she didn't recognize. Looking out the window, it was clearly in Snowdin though.
"Did I get it in time?" Alphys asked. She was holding some kind of MP that wasn't Frisky's. "Good. Okay, everything's fine."
Sans didn't say anything, just went into the next room over where a strange mother with tiny arms came out of.
"Okay." She cleaned her hands off with a towel, like she just finished doing dishes. "This procedure is a bit expensive, and I am going to need GOLD up front."
"Procedure?" Frisky couldn't keep the worry out of her voice. "What happened?"
"Oh, I'm sure he'll be fine. Once I get that payment?" She looked toward Alphys.
"Yeah, we are getting there." Alphys looked toward Frisky. "Someone's coming, and I don't want you to be afraid. She understands, um, the gist? At least? She won't hurt you, I promise." Alphys looked out the window. "She'll be here soon. A-and don't worry about those soldiers. We've got a temporary shield keeping them out of here. Oh, and Chance is fine. You can see him in just a bit." Alphys sighed as she stared out the window. "Um, okay, I know this doesn't make much sense. Your son is in a little trouble, and we are going to fix him up."
"In trouble? Is it why the soldiers are after him?"
"Sort of. Let's go with that?" Alphys nervously laughed. "Just as soon as she gets here. Right . . . now." Alphys opened the door of the home. "Undyne, thank you for coming as quick as you could."
Hm? Frisky watched as Undyne came into the house.
"I promise, not very long. Sans and I have to do something. Just keep a quick eye on her. Remember, don't kill her, just keep an eye on her?" Alphys said again before she headed to the back room.
Undyne stared at Frisky. Frisky just waved slightly. "Don't get nervous, I promised Alphys I wouldn't kill you."
A good promise. Hopefully she kept it. "Do you . . ."
"No, I don't know what's going on, I just know that Alphys gets real hysterical when she really needs help with something. When your friends with a mad scientist, it kind of comes with the territory. Just, be good." Undyne pointed her spear at her. "I am still allowed to injure you if I have too."
Frisky decided now was a good time to just sit on the couch and stay perfectly still.
The Monster from before with tiny arms came back into the room. "Okay. Um, you are the mommy, right?" She gestured toward Frisky. "Stand against that far wall over there, okay? Just stay there, and if you feel a little squeeze on your soul, it's natural. Don't worry about it." She headed to the next room.
Frisky moved to the corner of the wall the woman indicated, but turned her head to look at Undyne.
"Don't even bother asking," Undyne stated. "Seriously, I don't know. Just do what she says."
Alphys stopped a moment to see Chance in the healer's room, waved hesitantly, and then continued on past that room to where Sans remained. "Hey. No waiting period. Got the GOLD paid up for you. Um, glad you got her in time. Not a very good place to do a motion shift, soldiers going after Frisky again. I guess, Flowey did that on purpose though. Um." He still hadn't said anything. "Are you sure about this? If they investigate this later-"
"He needs healed," Sans finally spoke. "Go wait with Frisky."
Alphys nodded and went back to Frisky and Undyne. "Everything's ready soon. Just stay against the wall."
Frisky moved over toward the wall, but was still confused. She would eventually get the answer, she had to remember that. She felt a small squeeze inside her stomach, and that squeeze increased. She tightened her hands up against the wall, watching her soul in front of her, bright and big. It was like finding herself in an encounter, but there was no enemy.
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Sans listened closely through the door.
"Okay, Chance. I am just helping out your soul. It's sick in a unique way, and we are going to make it better, okay?"
"Okay, I guess?"
"Alright, I am going to put my hands right by your chest. You'll feel a little squeeze."
Sans felt the squeeze on his soul. He couldn't ignore the radiant blue in his room, along with his grey soul in front of him.
"Ah, that feels weird!"
"I know, no worries. Your parents are on the other side, helping you out with their souls."
"Huh?"
"It's a subconscious calling, only the souls that helped create you can do that. It's a lovely connection."
"Mom's soul is helping me?"
"Yep. Goodness is helping to stabilize your sick soul. There we go. Well, that's a . . . a unique soul color. Oh, colors. It's pretty."
"What is it? Black still?"
"It's black, with a beautiful burst of blue all around. Do you feel better?"
"I guess. Yeah, I'm fine."
"Good! Here's some Monster candy for you for being such a good little Monster."
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"So, I am going to go talk to the healer," Alphys said to Frisky, "but I'll get Chance back out for you. A-and don't worry about anyone coming after you two, completely blocked now. Completely, a hundred percent, absolutely blocked. Sent them up really, really fast. They might be a little wrongly proportionate, but they maybe sort of deserved it. So, uh, be right back." She quickly scooted out of the room back to Chance's area. "Uh?" Alphys closed the door behind her, but Frisky could still hear the conversation. "Just . . . two seconds? Maybe? Uh. Yummy Monster candy, huh? Oh. Oh, I hope that's that. This way, Chance."
Alphys. Why are you starting to call him that name too? Neither of them understood that she would suffer for the repercussions. Then again, right now wasn't the time to think about such a small detail. Her ship betrayed her. Frisk was in some kind of trouble that required a healer. Please be okay.
She saw him move from his room toward her. "Hi, momma."
"Frisk. You okay?"
He shrugged. "Besides being flung around by a flower? Guess I'm okay," he chuckled as he hugged his mom. "What was that for? What happened?"
"I really have no clue, but I'm glad you are okay." She picked him back up. "I don't know the details, but I think I owe Flowey some thanks."
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"Okay, he's alright," Alphys said as she came in on the other side of the healer's room. Sans was still against the side of the wall. "The healer said it's um, black, not grey, and it's got really, really strong edges of blue? It can't be changed, that's . . . that's what he is. But, he's, um, better. He . . . healed." She knew what that meant, and she knew he already knew too. The room probably lit up with his own soul reacting. "Uh . . . when I went into see him, he was kind of doing that blue thing again, but just with his arm. Then it cleared up."
Sans didn't say anything. He moved away from the wall slowly and looked outside. There was a small, tiny spot, devoid of snow. Only a hole. "I'll be back." Finding a way to a back door, Sans moved over to the spot in the snow with the moved soil.
He waited.
Eventually Flowey poked his head out. "Don't get me wrong, I don't care about you or anything." Puffs of cold air came from his mouth. "But now you know," he hissed. "You know what needs to happen." Then, he shot back into the ground.