Please call him Frisk

Frisky opened her eyes when she felt something happening to her leg. Papyrus was undoing the shackles? "What's going on?" 

Frisk was getting his own shackle taken off too. 

"You were right last night. It was unbelievable to us, but it did happen. You convinced Undyne," Papyrus said. "You're free!" 

"Uh, hi?" Alphys was by the door. "Hey, Frisky." 

Alphys was there too? She moved out of the bed with Chance. 

"I worked out almost everything for the transporter." Alphys smiled nervously. "I wanted to surprise you." 

"That's wonderful." Not shocking, Alphys was a shy Monster but so smart. It looks like she figured out the technology after all. 

"A couple of kinks, but it's almost ready. Then, you'll be back to your full size this time," Alphys promised. She looked strangely toward Sans and Papyrus. "Sans said there was a second way, but it wouldn't fix your size? So, you'd rather wait, right?" 

Yeah, by the Ruins. "I think we can wait for a few kinks," Frisky agreed. "Would it still be today?" 

"Yes. An hour so. Maybe three or four, tops?" Alphys laughed nervously. "Um, so, I . . . wanted to hang out. Enjoy some Hotlands? An MTT burger? Is that okay?" 

"Oh. Oh, the dinosaur lady!" Chance pulled on her harder. "Mom, the dinosaur lady! You promised!" 

Oh yeah. They did have a conversation about that recently last time they had some private time. Still, something wasn't clinking right. "Well, we aren't exactly the same anymore. Getting that close to Hotlands isn't an option." 

"Oh, I know! I made this for you two." Alphys pulled out a cream for her pocket. "Just keep replenishing it when your skin feels bad. Once we get into the lab, you should feel just fine. The kids haven't had a problem so far." 

"Hm?" 

"Oh? Oh! I mean, um. My . . . you! I mean you didn't have a problem. I mean you wouldn't have had a problem." Alphys wasn't acting right at all. "I mean, I have had kids in the past visit. Um, relation? Not my own, of course, you know, relation." 

"Okay." That's right, that is what was bugging me. I never met Alphys in this timeline. Sans had taken her before they met, yet, Alphys still seemed to know her. She was watching the cameras. Well, and Sans had to have shared a lot to get Alphys to work on the teleporter. Still, something is very wrong. It's obvious. Then again, Alphys would never seriously hurt her. The only time she did put her in peril, Alphys was always in control. Well, until Mettaton. But, Frisk was staring her down. "I guess. I suppose you are ready, huh?" 

"Yes!" Frisk pulled his arm backward in victory. "I can finally meet him." 

"Uh?" Alphys shrugged. "I'm the only one there? What's he talking about?" 

"The lower levels," Frisky added. 

"I still don't understand," Alphys asked again. 

"My dad is down there," her son answered. 

Sans, Papyrus and Alphys all shared a look at the same time. That wasn't surprising. 

"Well, what's left of them," her son added. "I just . . . want to see." 

"I'll explain when we get there?" Frisky offered. 

"Uhhh . . . kay?" Alphys looked back towards Sans and Papyrus. "Then, are you ready?" 

"Alright, I am going to see Hotlands!" Chance darted out the room, with Frisky on his tail. 

"Uhh . . ." Alphys looked back toward Sans. "Uh?" 

Sans shared a look with Papyrus. "I don't know." He closed his eye sockets. "Probably lied to them. Nothing else new. Just, entertain them. Ready, Papyrus?" 

"Got it. I will head out in just a sec for all the materials. You?" 

"Got the papers, getting Undyne, and then heading to King Asgore's. Alphys, don't forget to keep your cell on," Sans warned her. "When I tell King Asgore, I am going to need the transparency taken off." 

"Yep, and um, there's something else? Chara is apparently, um, is extremely active. Extremely," Alphys said again. "As in she can go anywhere in the Underground now. She can't touch, you know? But everyone can see and hear her now." 

Whoah. "That's some power." 

"Yep. Uh, and apparently the human's barriers may have had a little more inside too? Like, she can use . . . lasers? But, she hasn't done anything but. Just something to keep in mind." 

"As long as she doesn't get too rambunctious." 

"And, um, and . . . apparently we can never, ever bring the barrier down. She said not even a second," Alphys warned him. "She was really adamant about it. She said that they are already watching it and looking for weaknesses above." 

"Of course, but they aren't gonna find it. Not with DETERMINATION behind it," Sans said. "Chance is a dangerous weapon. You haven't seen what he can do, and that was without magic. No one's getting him, no matter what. Better get going. Frisky's bound to have caught the kid by now. Probably waiting on you." 

"Right. No time to lose." 

---------------------------------------- 

"Do you know which one it is?" Chance asked as he jumped up to try and push the buttons. He was a little too short now, so Alphys pushed it, knowing the floor they wanted. 

"Not exactly. I think, a combination," Frisky answered him. She looked toward Alphys. "I know what you're thinking, but he's always wanted to see where he came from." 

"Y-yeah. Um." Alphys watched the doors open as they approached. Chance darted forward to the rarely seen Gaster experiment. "All conduits come from . . . these?" 

"Yeah. Pretty much," Frisky confessed. "Thousands of years ago they were secretly dragged to the surface. Experimented on." She closed her eyes. "There was more to them than what you see now, and humanity was scared Gaster would unlock the truth. Of course, once humanity gets it's hands on something . . . experimentation always happens and the re-resets and conduits were created. Mankind never knows when to stop." She sighed and looked toward her son as the creature told him about Gaster. "Bits and pieces, here and there. That's all that's left. It keeps a conduit safe though because they aren't technically Monsters." 

"Oh. Uh." Alphys darted her eyes to the left. "That's. All of them?" 

"Mmhm." 

"Never . . . thought Chance was maybe a little more special?" 

"Alphys." Frisky looked straight toward her. "I know that everyone has taken to calling Frisk something different but me. There's a reason though, and . . ." She bit her lip. "I would really appreciate it if you stopped that. Please?" 

"Why?" Alphys pried. 

"Because she's going to get struck for every time someone used a different name than instructed down here," Chara's voice whispered in the air.  

"What?!" 

"Um?" Frisky stood up straight. "I would just really appreciate it if you would continue to call him Frisk. If you would like to call him something else, he can also be called 95451. That is his legal authentic identity while Frisk is his mission name." 

"Um. Sans never said-" 

"It made Frisk happy, and Sans wouldn't listen anyway." Frisky met her eyes. "He made it clear he didn't want to follow rules. Just, please? Will you please follow rules?" 

"Every offense?" 

"What?" Frisky moved slightly away from her. "I don't know what you are talking about." 

"Is . . ." Alphys cleared her throat. "Is it really worth leaving the Underground for that other world? It doesn't sound good, Frisky." 

"Good has nothing to do with it. I don't belong here, hence, I could never stay. I am only here on my mission orders," Frisky reminded her. "Besides, after some . . . additional mission mishaps are corrected, we will be freed." She smiled. "Free to live and pursue a normal civilian life." 

"She means when they've whipped her butt a thousand times for screwing with Itty Bitty's name and any other offenses they didn't think were required. They can't hear me though, so I can get away with it. Still, it's waaaaay better than what would have happened if she had failed without that little emergency that popped up." 

"What would have happened if you failed without a little emergency?" Alphys asked her. Frisky stiffed up completely. 

"None of that matters," Frisky said quickly. "Please stop being so intrusive." 

"Yeah. Even I don't want to go into the details of that one." 

Alphys eyes shot open. Chara had no problem saying anything. Frisky couldn't even hear her whispering in her ear. So, oh. It had to have been very terrible. Very, very terrible if Chara wouldn't go into it deeply. "Don't need really fine details. Just, general?" 

"Please stop being intrusive," Frisky answered back. 

"Frisky?" 

"What?!" For a moment, Frisky had an outburst. She stood straight up, taking her soldier position again. "Forgive me for my outburst. Once 95451 is done, we can continue on with the departure of Underground." 

"O-okay!" Alphys held her hands up. The more she pushed, the more Frisky started going into soldier mode. "I'm sorry. Forget I said anything at all." She still watched Frisky though. Her soldier instinct completely took over. Maybe . . . maybe a commitment with Sans and Papyrus won't actually go as bad as we all think after all? Maybe. Maybe it doesn't even need to be hostile. "Just a quick question. Completely hypothetical. But, let's say that for some reason, Undyne had never let you go. And you had to stay in Snowdin for the rest of your life. Pretty much. I mean, what would you have done? Would it . . . would you have thought it to be bad?" 

Frisky gave her an odd look. "Alphys, are you okay?" 

"Yeah, just, you know. Just curious. Scientific brain, never stops working. Sorry, forget I said anything." Alphys looked around her. Tried to hear any whisper on the wind. Chara really wasn't going to talk at all. Or she was watching the human kids for her very intently, but there almost was no reason to. They never got into anything. They never did anything and seemed overjoyed with the few toys she could afford. They were clearly raised to be very, very obedient. 

If only she could feel comfortable enough letting Undyne meet them. Then, maybe Undyne could babysit sometime. Or, maybe they could watch them together. 

Frisk had stayed with the experiments for some time, going from room to room, and trying to get them to say something different, or to touch them without them disappearing. But, it didn't work. Finally, the little boy gave up. Frisk sighed as he walked up to his mom. "Okay. I guess, I met him. Technically." 

"As technical as you can get," Frisky said coming over toward him. "It's alright. We are always happy as two. Aren't we?" 

"Yeah." He smiled at his mom and grabbed her hand. "You should tell Conner that more. He's such a jerk." 

"Uh, well?" Conner was a complete jerk, but there were far worse things. "Are you ready?" 

"Will they reappear again?" 

"On and off." 

"Okay. I guess . . ." He shrugged. "I'm done." 

"Hey, I know? When we get back on the ship, why don't I buy you a great, big, gigantic sundae?" Frisky said as she bent down toward him. "With a cherry?" 

"And cream?" 

"And cream. And nuts. And chocolate chips." She tugged on his sweater a little. "You'll feel better when you have something that fits too." 

"Are we going to have sandwiches for supper then?" he groaned. "Can we have maybe . . . enchiladas?" 

"Hmm. Maybe. We'll see, okay? Haven't been back in at least a few months. I need to do a lot of ordering. But, we can get that on the list, okay?" Still, he didn't look very happy. "I'm sorry that your biological father is . . . not really there. I've told you many times, but I knew you wanted to see for yourself one day. This was as safe as it was going to get for you." 

Frisk was quiet. "I . . . I still want to stay with Sans and Papyrus though." 

Oh, not this again. She tried to muster her best smile. "Frisk. You made me a promise." 

Frisk groaned. "I know. A PACIFIST doesn't break promises." He kicked the ground. "I won't throw a fit." 

"And we are going to be free too. That extra battle, an emergency battle is worth more than you know." She ruffled his head. "Come on. Let's go home." 

"A promise?" Alphys asked. "What promise was that?" 

"Oh, nothing big." Frisky held her son's hand as they all went back to the elevator. "Frisk was getting very attached to the Underground, so, I promised if he was a good boy when we had to leave that I would let him see what biologically made him." 

Then, Alphys felt her phone vibrate. She checked it and saw Sans message. He was ready to talk. "Oh. Okay. Can you give me just a few seconds to check on something too? Five minutes, tops. Just don't move?" 

Frisky nodded. "We'll try not to move." 

Alphys snuck over farther to a corner, away from view before she called. "Um. I guess all conduits and re-resets are derived of the Gaster experiments." 

"Well. Humanity should have known better than to mess with that. It was their own fault." 

"Yeah, it really serves them right," Alphys agreed with Sans. "Um. Uh, except should I keep talking like that when I became friends with one? At least, okay, not all of them are evil. But, for the most of the rest, serves them right. So, are we ready?" 

"Almost. Waiting on you. You're getting your own today too, right?" 

"Yep. Especially now. Okay. Uh, Sans? There's something . . . Uh. N-nevermind. I'll bring them to your area and I'll treat them to a burger like a-a last time kind of thing." Alphys hung up and headed back to the elevator near them. "Okay, so, Grillby's now?" She almost swore she saw a bit of resentment in Frisky for that. "Or not? A glamburger?" 

"Grillby's!" the boy said happily. "I still have to say bye to Sans and Papyrus and MK! But, I won't . . . make a fuss." He bit his lip. "I'll try to keep my promise. I promise." He held up his hand. "A PACIFIST always keeps a promise." 

------------------------------ 

This. Was. Weird. Frisky looked around herself. Everyone was staring at her again, but differently this time. They were being . . . welcomed. All around town, instead of just getting a polite smile at most, they were truly being greeted. Now that they were inside Grillby's, the welcoming atmosphere became even stronger. 

"Hello!" 

"Hey there, welcome to Snowdin." 

Alphys wasn't meeting her gaze. "Alphys? Are the kinks worked out yet?" Frisky asked. She looked down and saw a Monster slap Frisk in a playful manner on his hand. "Why is everyone being so nice? Extra nice?" 

"Oh, um, just a minute." Alphys answered her phone. "Oh, hey, Sans. We are . . . just going over by the bustling place in your town, Grillby's. Um, and people are kind of greeting Frisk a lot. Oh. Oh, yeah, news travels fast it seems." She looked over toward Frisky and spoke to her. "I'm going outside just a few minutes. Promise, almost ready to go, okay?" 

What news?  Okay, Frisky was used to being in the dark. Sometimes. But, this was getting ridiculous. The entire town seemed to know a secret that Alphys was trying to keep covered up. She was doubting more and more that she was going home. Why can't I go home? Before she could even consider the possibilities though, she jerked her head straight as well as Frisk's. 

No. They never came down. Ever. How? Why? She held her breath. A Balancer. 

"That's . . . disgusting," she heard one of the locals say as they approached him. Frisky glanced out of the corner of her eye. He was carrying a human head. How in the-?! 

"Hey. What's up with this place?" The monster asked as he sat down next to Frisky. He slammed the human head on the counter. "Hmm. Two choices, that's it? Fine, I guess fries?" 

Grillby was usually quick, but it took a matter of seconds for the fries to be scooted toward him. 

"Hey," a Monster spoke up to him. "I've never seen you in Snowdin before." 

"Huh? What the fuck is a Snowdin?" 

"Ugh. Language, please!" One of the Monsters complained to him. 

"Hm. You." 

Frisky didn't move her head, just her eyes. Nothing to entice him. 

"Hmmm." He breathed in her hair. "You're human but short. Real short. Little unique. Little cute." 

Frisky nodded, acknowledging him, knowing she would be in more trouble just ignoring him. 

"Is that your young?" 

"Yes." She moved Frisk's head to stare straight forward again. "May I be of any assistance to you, Sir?" 

"Hm. Why would a mother be stupid enough to bring her young out?" Frisky watched his hand almost touch the top of Frisk's head. "Small bones, tender meat. You're lucky I already ate. If you care for it, you better keep it indoors from now on." 

"Yes, Sir," she answered back quickly. "Thank you for your extreme graciousness, Sir." Screw Alphys, I have to get out of here. Now. She moved away from her chair, making sure Frisk was not facing him as they moved up. How is a Balancer here? How? How?!  

"Hang on, there." The monster grabbed her arm. "I didn't say you could leave little cutie. I just said I wasn't hungry. Sit back down." 

Frisky moved into the seat the same way, making sure Frisk's face was forward. "Of course, how rude of me. I am sorry, I am a very stupid human." 

"Yeah, I know, you things can't help your stupidity. Hm." He popped a fry in his mouth. "Still can't believe this. Never met a human stupid enough to put their young out here, in the open, on their own fucking lap." He reached toward Frisk's head. "I'm not hungry, but, I could still kill it. What would you do to keep me from snapping its neck?" 

"Hey, d-don't talk like that to her!" A local Monster moved on the other side of Frisky. "You can't talk to others like that." 

 "Hey," another local Monster said, coming over by the other one. "I agree. You can't talk like that. Monsters shouldn't kill each other." 

"What do you mean?" The Balancer stood up. "I don't get this. I go to work this way every day. Never even seen this place, and you're all starting to freak me the fuck out." He pushed a card toward Grillby, not understanding the GOLD system. 

Grillby just held his hand up and passed the card back. 

Frisky took a deep breath while the Monsters patted her shoulders, trying to comfort her. 

"Um, so, really close. I have to leave though with Papyrus for something. I'll be right back in an hour or so?" Alphys said as she came back in, but Frisky had had enough. "Frisky? Where are you going?" 

There was a Balancer and she could have lost her son. This was not safe. "I am going to the Inn," Frisky insisted, "and I will not leave it until we are absolutely ready. A Balancer almost killed Frisk, and I refuse to let that happen again. I will not come out until it is time to go." She picked up Frisk, got up and headed out. 

"Oh, really? I'm so sorry. Uh, here." Alphys handed her a spare cellphone. "Here, just in case then. I promise, it won't be long. Okay?" Frisky accepted it with a sigh and continued on her way. 

Walking towards the Inn though, Frisk started to moan in her arms. "Hm?" She looked toward him and felt his head. "Oh no, you're burning up." I better go back toward the Ruins. Sans or Undyne has my MP, but it should sense I'm human after awhile. "Don't worry, Frisk," she said trying to comfort him. "In a few minutes, we'll get you some medicine." 

"Momma, where are you?" 

"Hm?"