Chapter 6

Frisk sat on the couch while Papyrus was in the kitchen. He sat and remembered the past he had not thought of in a long time. He remembered the night he left.

His parents were in the army on the surface. His father, Franc, and his mother, Necese, were each descendants of the original line of wizards who used their determination to banish the monsters to the Underground. They met in the orphanage they grew up in and used their determination to earn their place in the army. They supported each other as friends, and later, as husband and wife. Then after years of trying, they finally had a son.

The three of them had a happy life. That is, until, his parents had to fight monsters that had escaped and were taking out their vengeance on humans. Franc and Necese were merciful in that fight. They fought until the monsters were too weak to fight back, and then, they spared their lives. They were always merciful. They were pacifists. The monsters weren't. They fatally wounded them. His parents only lived long enough to see Frisk one last time at the hospital.

Frisk remembered that day well. Up until recently, it was the worst day of his life.

His parents' mutual friend, a nun from their orphanage name Ally who had been looking after him while his parents were away, picked him up from school, told him everything, and brought him to the hospital. Remembering it still felt like a dream.

Ally opened the door, and Frisk saw his parents barely hanging onto life lying in their beds covered in bloody bandages. They were holding each other's hands.

"Mom! Dad!" Frisk yelled dropping his backpack on the ground. "Ally told me what happened. Why didn't you kill them first? Why did you let them hurt you?"

They both smiled at him weakly and gave him their hands. He grabbed onto them immediately.

"Frisk," his mother said. "We did the right thing. We showed mercy."

"But…" Frisk said.

"We knew the risk, son," his father said. "But we did it because it was the right thing to do. They were young monsters who were angry and stupid, like me and your mother were when we were younger. We wanted to give them a chance, like we were given. Even if we have to go now, it was worth the risk. One day, we hope you'll understand."

"No, don't say that," Frisk said starting to cry. "You have determination. You don't have to die now! You can fight it! Please! If you die, I'll be by myself!"

"We're trying, Frisk," Necese said trying to hold back her tears. "But it's no use…"

"Why?" Frisk asked with tears falling freely this time. "Why can't you fight it?"

"The monsters cast a poison spell," Franc said more weakly this time. "It's destroying our bodies from the inside. We're about to be with our Maker, but you'll see us again, Frisk. You don't have to be scared. Until then, Ally will look after you at the orphanage. I'm so sorry. We love you so much. We'd give anything to stay…"

Franc started to cry so his wife spoke for him, "We're so proud of the young man you are. We'll always be proud of you, and we'll always be with you, Frisk. Until you see us again, we need you to be strong and determined. We also need you to be good. This world can be a hellish place, but it can also be so beautiful. Mercy is part of what makes it beautiful. Please be merciful for us."

"I'll love him as my own," Ally said holding onto her friend's free hand.

"We know you will," Necese replied through her own tears. "Thank you for being a mother to us. You've been the closest thing to family we've ever had. You've been so sweet and so wise. Please do the same thing for Frisk since we can't…"

Her voice trailed off, but Ally knew what she wanted to say.

"You'll be free from the pain soon," Ally said being as strong as she could. "You'll be in a better place. We will see each other again. Thanks for being a friend to me, too."

"It was our pleasure, Ally," Franc said.

"No," Frisk cried. "Don't go! I love you."

"I still remember when you were born," Franc said through the tears. "We had waited for years to have a child."

"We prayed and prayed and did everything else we could," Necese said. "The doctors told us it might not be possible, but we stayed determined and didn't give up."

"Then, the day your mother told me that she was pregnant with you was the happiest day of our lives," Franc said slowly.

"The day you were born was even better," Necese said even more slowly. "You were our miracle child and every day we got with you was another miracle. It has been so wonderful, Frisk."

"We're so proud to have you as our son, Frisk," Franc said closing his eyes. "We love you and know you'll do us proud…"

"Go be someone else's miracle child…" Necese said also closing her eyes.

They breathed their last. The monitors flatlined, and Frisk felt the life go out of their hands.

"No…" Frisk said quietly letting go of their hands and turning his head towards the floor.

He heard an odd noise and looked back up. It was his parents' souls rising from their bodies. They were both red.

"Mom? Dad?" Frisk asked in awestruck bewilderment.

The souls flew towards him and nuzzled up to his cheeks as if they were each giving him a kiss.

"We love you," he heard them both say. "Stay determined. We will see each other again."

The souls then flew towards Ally who was on her knees praying. She whispered something quietly while holding out her hands. When the souls reached her hands, her hands glowed. The souls glowed too until they disappeared. While Ally continued praying, Frisk grabbed his backpack and ran out of the room and down the hall until he ran out of the hospital's entrance.

It was pouring down rain, but Frisk didn't stop running. His eyes were blinded by the rain and by his tears, but he didn't stop. He didn't stop until he reached his home, which was thankfully not far from the base or its hospital.

Frisk unlocked the door with the key he wore around his neck and ran inside. He dumped the contents of his backpack out on the kitchen table and prepared to run. Frisk refused to go to an orphanage. He didn't want to be near there or anywhere that reminded him of them ever again.

His parents had taught him how to pack for long journeys and emergencies. He knew what he had to get. He got plastic bags and filled them with water bottles and some snacks from his cupboard. Frisk then ran to his room, grabbed some underwear and several pairs of socks, some toiletries from his bathroom, the mp3 player with the charger his father let him use, a few books and maps, all the money he had saved, and a small bear his mother had given him.

Frisk then changed out of his wet clothes into some dry ones and looked out the window. The rain had finally stopped falling. He turned to his bedside table and saw a photo of him and his parents from happier days. After hesitating for a few seconds, Frisk took the photo out of its frame and quickly put it in one of the plastic bags he had stuffed into his backpack. A few more tears started falling, so he ran into his bathroom to grab some more toilet paper. Then, he left.

The last thing Frisk remembered of that night was shutting the door of his house, looking back one more time, and running away as fast as he could to catch the first bus out of town.

The next thing he remembered was the next morning when he woke up on that bus with the headphones of the mp3 player still in his ears. He was very far away from home, and he didn't know or care where he was.

"Frisk!" Papyrus yelled waking Frisk up from his flashback. "Your food's ready! Come on!"

Frisk hopped off the couch and walked gingerly to the kitchen smelling the worst food he had ever smelled in his life, which said something because he had eaten out of dumpsters.