Solo or Compromise?

Frisky continued to rock Chance. All the Monsters had returned home. Sans so far, had not done an irrational thing or made any kind of attempt at talking to her about the issue yet. Maybe it was just all Monster instinct. Maybe he even forgot about it?

Although, Chance's change was tough, she had to admit. He really wasn't that bad. For being a tiny Skeleton he was . . . he was kind of cute.

"Hey?" Sans came over toward her closer. "Listen. Why don't you take some time to go see the other two Frisks? I'm going to have to hang out with Farrisk, but I promise I won't kill him." He gestured back toward Papyrus who waved eagerly. "Pap's going to watch Chance for a little while. Say, an hour?"

Seemed absolutely normal now. Even better actually. She could see the Frisks? "Sure, an hour. That would be great. Are you sure though?"

"Yeah. I really don't want you to feel stuck here. You've got your little MP thing. Go ahead, go have fun. I'll see you in an hour. That fine?"

"That's great. Thank you." She got up and gently handed Chance over to Papyrus. "I'll be back soon. Be careful, okay?"

"The most careful ever. I understand just how delicate he is. Which is very!" Papyrus said. "I, The Great Uncle Papyrus, will make the best babysitter ever!"

"Great. Won't be long." Sans wiggled his fingers at Papyrus and waited outside.

Really did seem fine. It must have been some kind of Monster instinct. I was just overreacting. Maybe.

Outside in the Backyard of Sans' House . . .

Sans stood by the flower. "Okay. How do I do this?"

"Close your eyes and open your mouth," Flowey teased. "Just kidding! Role reversal with Frisky sounded kind of fun, huh?"

"Flowey," Sans warned. "How do I do this?"

"Okay, okay." Flowey held his stems out. "Imagine all of your power being sucked into you at once. Not into an arm. Not into a leg. Not into some kind of muscle. You have to do it all at once."

"Oh. That kind of makes sense." He always tried to concentrate on one part, and then move onto the next.

"So yeah, the close your eyes thing, I meant that part," Flowey said. "Close your eyes. Bring all your magic into your bones."

"All?"

"All."

"That's." Did he understand what he was saying? "Flowey, that's a lot of power."

"It takes a lot of power. Now. All. Don't do it slow either. Bring it all in at once, Sansy. Immediate vacuum. Whatever you can summon in one go. Don't spare any of it."

"I could blow something up."

"Nothing external. All internal. Trust me, Sansy. Have I lied to you?" Flowey looked at the ground, then back at him. "Have I lied today?"

All my power. Into me. Sans closed his eyes. No build-up. Just all or nothing. Maybe I should go away further, I don't want to blow up the house or hurt anyone. "We should go away further."

"Look. When you have a body, your . . . not going to be able to take shortcuts as well. Trust me. Go out a little farther from Snowdin if you want, but don't go too far."

Sans took that advice and just went a little ways past his house. Where he probably wouldn't do too much damage if he messed it up. Probably. Maybe. Try and keep it all in. He kept his eyes closed and did it. He released all of the power that he could pull in an instant.

And he felt cold. He felt cold all over. He opened his eye sockets and looked at his bony hands. They weren't bony anymore. There was flesh on them. He touched his skull. No smoothness. Tender skin. He felt the side of his head. Ears, and something else. He pulled at it gently. "That's weird."

"That's hair your touching," Flowey explained. "You did it. Told you. Not too hard."

Sans looked down at himself. "I'm cold, but I have my coat on."

"Coats don't stop the cold, just helps it," Flowey reminded him. "It's really cold in Snowdin. Now you know how I feel!"

"Yeah, no kidding." He looked at his bony legs. Now fragile flesh. He touched his eye socket. "Ow!"

"You poked yourself in the eye," Flowey laughed. "You have eyes now, Smiley Trashbag. Don't do that."

"Oh. I thought the world looked a little different." He repeatedly blinked his eyes. He closed and opened his mouth, feeling the front of his mouth. "Lips." He started to pucker them in and out as he touched the front of his face. Tender flesh everywhere, with something jutting out. "Oh, that's the nose. The nose knows I guess." He shoved his weird fleshy hands in his coat. "Great. How do I look?"

"Like a chubby short human with freakish silver hair with blue highlights. Your eyes match Frisky and Chance's too. All in all, you're probably only slightly better looking than a Skeleton to Frisky." Flowey chuckled. "Good thing she's not here! Now, try something."

"Try what?"

"Do some magic."

"Oh." Sans tried to lift a nearby stick. He managed it, but not very well. At all. "It lifted like three feet off the ground?"

"Yeah. All your magic is being used to retain your body form," Flowey reminded him. "And you've got a whole body."

"And . . . becoming a very, very weak Monster is supposed to help me how?" Sans questioned him.

"Because. It's in your very, very weak contained magic body shell that you gain more power. You already had plenty, Sansy! You had a ton! There was no way for you to ever get more. Ever need more. But guess what? You need more now, and to get more, you need a container." Flowey bopped his head all around. "That's your container."

"It feels weird." He picked one of his feet off of the ground, looking at it. "Should have worn more than slippers."

"Yeah, that snow is probably freezing your skin. Well, let's get started!" Flowey laughed. "Where's Farrisk supposed to meet you?"

Right outside in the back of Sans Home . . .

Farrisk raised an eyebrow toward Sans. "I don't know. I mean, are you sure about this? I know we'll probably eventually get killed down here, but pierced to death isn't the way I wanted to go."

"You'll be fine," Flowey said from the sidelines. "In fact, just to make sure you don't get a cocky head? Even as weak as Sans may seem, he's got a lot more than you know, and I already showed him how to come back, so he can instantly become his old self and kill you." He smiled wide. "Let's begin."

"But, why are we doing this?" Farrisk asked Sans. "And why is Sans . . . human?"

"Flesh body," Sans corrected him. "I have a strong opponent to fight."

"Wait. Does Frisky know about this?" Farrisk asked. "Where is she?"

"She's hanging out with the other Frisks. Can we get started already?" Sans asked. He still wasn't thrilled about the idea of fighting a Frisk in his state. "I agreed to use the boards."

"So no cheating?"

"No cheating." Sans pulled him into an encounter.

"Great!" Flowey cheered from the sideline. "Now, try and dodge Farrisk. And Farrisk, don't try and kill him unless you can do it one shot or he'll come back on you. Oh, and FYI Silly human! Don't listen to the boards. He's got more than one hit point now."

Farrisk didn't reply.

FARRISK: FIGHT

Farrisk came at him with a stick, knowing much better than to even pull a knife on him. Sans managed to dodge, but it was much rougher, and the landing wasn't half as good. He used to be able to just dodge and pull himself back. Instead, he looked like he was taking a dirty snow nap.

He pulled himself back up and dusted himself off.

"Great job!" Flowey cheered again from the sideline. "Now just do that for about forty-five more minutes and you can both call it a day."

Waterfalls . . .

"Well, hey, it's nice to see you again," Friskarino smiled at Frisky. "It was cool to hang out again."

"Yeah. Her new warden let her out. Yippee," Friskay complained.

"At least I'm here," Frisky said back. "Chance changed. He's a Skeleton now."

"So he did go through the change?" Friskarino asked. "How'd he do? Is he getting used to it?"

"He can only move a hand." Frisky scratched her eyebrow. "He was . . . reborn into a Skeleton. He's like a baby Skeleton. Not very big at all."

"Oh. My. Gaw." Friskay covered her head. "That poor kid. Reborn into a Monster."

"Oh. Wow, geez. I'm sorry, Frisky," Friskarino apologized. "Damn. Poor Chance."

"I know. He gets a new beginning, a new mindwipe, and I am trying to be happy about that," Frisky confessed. "Everyone else around me was happy. It was like they didn't think they'd miss the old Chance at all."

"Bastards," Friskay groaned. "All bastards. Chance was a sweet kid! This is a travesty. Another Frisk lost."

"He's not dead," Friskarino said. "We should be happy about that. He won't remember anything about the cells or experiments. We should feel good about that at least."

"Stop looking at things half full already," Friskay said pointing to Friskarino. "Just admit it. This sucked."

"I don't know." He looked toward Frisky. "I really don't know. I'm sorry."

"It's okay. Um, just another thing for a Frisk to deal with." She shrugged. "At least Sans is doing a good job with him. He seems to bond easier now."

"Great. The Monster sex guy makes dad of the year." Friskay glanced at her, almost like she was trying to judge her reaction. "So he hasn't touched you yet?"

"No, and for your information, he won't." Frisky stood up. "We don't have to have another baby anymore because Chance was reborn. But, even then, you were wrong. He promised not to touch me until he actually had flesh like a human."

"That's . . ." Friskarino raised an eyebrow? "What?"

"Royalty would give it to him one time. After that, he would have just split us into separate bedrooms and everything." She flaunted it a little too hard in Friskay's face. "I told you."

"Well." Friskay shrugged. "Okay. I guess I admit I'm sorry about that one then. But, I still think you shouldn't trust him. I still think he likes you."

Frisky twitched slightly. "Um. He might? I don't know."

"Wait, what?" Friskay stuck out her tongue. "Oh, gross! Are you kidding me?"

"I don't know. I mean, he said he 'liked me, liked me' today, but I think it might have been Monster instinct?" Friskay said looking at them both. "It is, right? Does, does a bonding father instinct, um, go that way too?"

"I don't know the books. Still, that's creepy," Friskay said leaning backward onto an echo flower. "A Monster actually liking you. I mean, really wanting to be with you? Oh, wow. I thought sex would be bad."

"Well. I mean? You're married," Friskarino tried. "Sans is a good guy. Why not?"

"Hey, Friskarino. I think there's a dead woman's skeleton a few feet away. Why don't you go fall in love with that, huh?" Friskay teased him as she sat back up. "Oh, gaw, I wish Farrisk was here. He had a more stable view of everything. Where is he?"

Outside of Sans and Papyrus' House a ways . . .

"Oh shoot, I'm sorry Sans!" Farrisk said, wincing. "Don't kill me, I didn't mean it! It was just a stick too, I-!"

"Fine." Sans pulled himself up again. Flesh. Bodies. Sucked. They were heavier and real breathing made it harder to talk out of real vocal chords. What was the worst though was that they hurt. Bodies felt pain. Scratches, bruises, wounds. Every little dent on the body triggered a pained response.

"Well, that's pretty good." Flowey pushed his stems together and clapped. "Good job, Smiley Trashbag! Forty minutes against a Frisk. Not bad. You should have him come back every night at 7:00. Frisky can have her little powwows with her friends. Everybody's happy."

"Yeah. Real. Happy." Sans coughed as he grabbed at his stomach. He closed his eyes and released his magic back out. So much easier. "Oohhh, that's much better." He looked at his bony hands again. "Back to normal." No more pain. He looked toward Farrisk. "Great going, kid. Thanks for not trying to kill me."

"Well. I don't want to die either," Farrisk said. "So. This flesh thing?"

"It's a secret between just us three," Flowey said bopping his head back and forth. "Sansy wants Frisky to fall in love with him as a Monster, so don't complicate things by telling her he can get flesh too."

"Spill everything?" Sans complained to him.

"Oh, don't worry. I'm good at secrets. But now?" His face turned dark. "Can we go home already? I am freezing and it makes me bitter!"

"Yep." Sans trotted over and picked the flower up. "I'll see you tomorrow, Farrisk."

"Um. Sure." Farrisk hit some buttons on his teleporter and took off.

"So." Sans looked down at Flowey. "That somehow made me stronger?"

"No. Mostly you got your butt kicked, Sansy," Flowey teased, "but, you are on your way."

Inside Sans' Home . . .

Chance was down in his safety skeleton crib. It was tough to find, but Papyrus easily found one out of Snowdout and got it for him. He also picked up a few clothes for it too. They were cheaper and easier to find in Snowdout.

Frisky was relaxing at the table, probably taking in everything while Papyrus was working on his next set of puzzles. Everyone was just relaxing, but he just read a text that was unrelaxing. All day he'd gotten texts of congratulations, but it wasn't one of those.

Alphys: Mettaton wants us all to watch the TV.King Asgore has something really big he needs to tell everyone. He was yelling about it. I know Mettaton yells, but he was seriously, really YELLING about it.

"Hm?" Sans went over and turned on the TV. "Mettaton has something on he wants us to watch."

"Huh?" Frisky came over along with Papyrus. They all gathered around the TV.

On the TV, Mettaton waved from the corner, finishing his own quick speech. Then, he shot the news straight to King Asgore. The King did not look happy. At all. "It has come to my attention," he addressed everyone, "that the Underground being freed now has . . . a new responsibility. It must integrate into a world that it does not really know." He was pausing a lot. "There are three choices of integration, and none of them are pleasant."

"Oh no," Frisky said. "I don't like the sound of that."

"Do you know anything, Sister?" Papyrus asked.

"Uh?" Frisky wasn't used to him getting the addressal right. "No. I don't know much about anything except soldier things."

"If any of you do not like the choice I make," King Asgore continued, "then you have twenty four hours after my decision is final to relocate to Snowdout, a small territory on the other side of Snowdin. If you are too small and cannot make the trip, help will be provided. But. Know this. It is . . . it is not easy to make this choice. I do not want to make this choice. However, there are billions of Monsters out there who would do battle with us if we don't make a choice. They are allies upon each other, and this is instant suicide upon the Kingdom."

King Asgore took a deep breath. "I had three choices. I struggled between two. This Kingdom will however never be a Barbarian District. Although humans are trapped inside of it, and I do know that many of us do not appreciate humanity, this District is clearly not for us. It is a system of Anarchy and I will not use it. Not only that, we do have Conduits, and they must stay protected. So, this Kingdom may either be a Solo District or a Compromising District. To be a Compromising District, the humans inside will have to be murdered, somehow removed, or enslaved."

"No. No, no, no."

"It's okay." Sans patted her hand. "We'll all be okay."

"His other choice?" Papyrus questioned. "He's stalling. What is it?"

"The last choice that I can consider . . ." King Asgore took a moment on the TV. "Is a Solo District. The Underground will run as it has always run. I will remain King, and nothing will change. No new laws brought in by outsiders, no battles drawn, no enslavement, nothing. However. I must. Refuse any residents from leaving The Underground Area." He closed his eyes and hung his head. "We can see the sun, stars, moons and skies. But we will be unable to leave the barrier. If an individual does, they are drawing themselves into a battle with too many Monsters to fathom, ready to kill. We would be provided a few services, but . . . overall. It would be like never leaving the illusion of Mt. Ebott."

"Never leaving? Never?!" Papyrus shouted. "Enslave and kill all the humans, or stay forever? Is that the only choices we have?"

Frisky just shook her head. Balancers. If only she'd been more than a soldier. Had more education about so much else. But, that wasn't her world. Or she could have warned them. Known to be more prepared herself.

"Now," King Asgore continued on the TV. "I know that many of you do not wish to have that happen again, and I do not blame you if you want to leave, if I make this choice. Snowdout has enough housing and financial help to get any Monster on track in a new life." He raised his head. "At this time, I do not know which way to go. There are a few other arrangements that have recently been decided upon dealing with humans, that I need to personally see to according to some official papers I have."

He took a deep breath and folded his paws. "It is not easy. There are sacrifices required for either option. For a Solo District, the sacrifice to roam. And for the Compromising District . . ."

"They are going to try and kill Chance." Sans folded his arms and his eye sockets stared only darkness at the TV.

"Chance and all humans? Or enslavement?" Papyrus looked toward Frisky. "What about marriage, human, does that count?"

Frisky just shrugged. "I don't. I don't know anything." She darted her eyes back and forth. "I don't. There's no ACT for this. I don't know what to do."

"Sans? Brother? W-What're we going to do?" Papyrus questioned.

Sans approached Frisky and hugged her. "Hey?" She looked toward him. He laid his skull against her forehead. "It's okay. I promise, no one's going to hurt you two. No matter what. The King is going to make the right decision."

"But he . . . but for the . . ." Frisky blinked. "I'm sorry, I can't be biased or blind. He has taken out six human children in the past, Sans. To get freedom-"

"He's not going to." Sans pulled her closer, stroking his bony fingers through her hair.

"How do you know?"

"Because he's not going to want to go against his own daughter."