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“What would you like for breakfast?” Toriel asks, and the question is directed towards Frisk, Chara, and Flowey, but it seems River is awake enough to have heard it as well.
Waffles! Waffles! Waffles
You’re not even going to taste them
I don’t think they know that
Waffles
“Waffles would be nice,” Chara says.
“Pancakes are better,” Flowey says.
Chara glares at him, definitely on River’s behalf. Definitely.
-
Frisk and Chara have been aware of Susanna following them around for the past few minutes, but she’s been quiet, so they aren’t really sure whether or not she’s lucid. They kinda hope she isn’t, because they’re at Asgore’s house for the week and from what they heard she… really didn’t like him.
They’re at the kitchen table. Chara’s working on a drawing of their favorite character from their favorite book series, and Frisk is trying to figure out what to do for their next creative writing assignment, a short story.
Asgore comes down the stairs, a button up work shirt on and some shorts. This usually means he’s gonna go work in the garden. Sure enough, he greets the pair at the table and then heads towards the back door, where his supplies are.
There’s a scar on his left forearm. Neither Chara or Frisk had ever paid it much attention, aside from a stray comment once from Chara, saying that it hadn’t been there when they were alive.
A memory flashes through their head, one that distinctly isn’t theirs, but they’re viewing it as if it was. They’re in battle with Asgore, world greyscale save for his trident. A noise sounds and echoes through the room, bouncing off the barrier and around the walls. They’re holding a gun, and suddenly there’s a gash in Asgore’s arm, slicing through his armor.
Chara’s pencil drops to the table and they push back their chair abruptly, caught in a perspective that isn’t their own and trying to get away. The chair, which was perfectly fine sitting right where it was, starts to tip over. This does not help.
It’s a credit to Asgore’s reflexes that he’s able to catch Chara just before they hit the ground. They still get the wind knocked out of them but it doesn’t hurt.
“Are you alright?” Asgore asks.
“She shot you,” Chara says, after catching their breath.
They then find their hands signing the same thing, just a little bit after them. Frisk signs Susanna’s name too, afterwards. The statement probably wouldn’t make much sense otherwise.
“.. Yes. She did,” Asgore says.
He rights the chair and sits down at another one.
“But I did much worse,” Asgore says. “I don’t blame her.”
“Are you okay?” Frisk asks.
“I’m perfectly fine, it happened quite a while ago. Are you?” Asgore asks.
For a second they’re confused as to what he’s talking about, but then they remember that yea, they nearly just fell off a chair. Gravity doesn’t seem to like them much.
“Yes,” Chara says. “Did any of the others hurt you?”
Asgore sighs. “Chara, there really isn’t a good answer to that.”
“It’s a yes or no question,” Chara says.
“I cannot answer that fairly.”
“Dad.”
“…”
Chara crosses their arms. They can guess what the answer is, just by the way he’s acting, but they don’t get why he’s refusing to say it. They know, but they don’t get it.
He looks like he’s struggling to pick out the right words to say, but he eventually settles on, “What I did wasn’t right, or good. I know this, and I know you do too. I live with that, knowing that I took away these children’s lives. And yes, there were some that did fight back, and were well within their right to do so. And with that said, I can’t complain about them having hurt me.”
Susanna listens in on the conversation quietly. She didn’t mean to show that memory to them. She can’t even remember which memory it was anymore… But.
I wanted him to remember me
Chara doesn’t translate that. Frisk doesn’t either.
“I’m sorry,” Asgore says. “To all of you. I don’t know if there are any others present right now, but I will say it anyway. I’m sorry. And I will do everything in my power to make your second chance at life the best it can be, whatever form that takes.”
Chara isn’t a very touchy person, but considers hugging their father anyway. Frisk is, and they do it without a second thought.
Susanna drifts back off into the darkness of the sleep stasis she’s been in for a very long time. She’ll only be there for a little longer.
-
He’s doing that wrong
Oh how very helpful. What’s the right way then?
Lio doesn’t answer, but they didn’t expect them to. They might not have even recognized that Chara had spoken to them.
… Or maybe they did. Frisk and Chara now know more about Lio’s homemade pasta recipe than they had ever wanted to.
Frisk taps on the table a couple times to get Papyrus’ attention. But he looks up at them soon enough.
“YES, FRIEND?”
“Lio says you should add olive oil, and a little more salt,” Frisk signs.
“AH! YES, THAT MAKES SENSE. TELL LIO I SAY THANK YOU,” Papyrus says.
Lio’s already gone though.
-
Where are my glasses
Frisk just about jumps out of their skin when they hear Elliot’s voice in their head. They’re trying to copy notes from the whiteboard down onto their paper, and the room is quiet. Not silent, it’s never silent with 20 something 15 year olds whispering about their crushes or some drama going down or what they did over winter break, but quiet enough that the teacher is allowing them to work independently.
I can’t see it
Are you even supposed to be able to see that far away?
Yes????
Lost them again mom and dad won’t be happy
Frisk feels Elliot begin to worry, which is making them worry by proxy, and they really don’t need that in the middle of math class. They try to give Elliot the memory of them taking off his glasses and storing them in their phone’s dimensional box, back when they were in the underground. They aren’t sure where the glasses went after they left, but he doesn’t need to know that.
Not lost, just at home
Home
Home.
Elliot fades back into the background, leaving just Frisk and Chara.
…… I think you need glasses.
-
It’s the music that wakes Jada up. She memorized this piece, when their mother made them take piano lessons. She supplies Frisk with perfect memory of the song, and even the sheet music to go along with it. Frisk wouldn’t be able to play it themself, but they have no doubt that if Jada were able to play it, they could follow along.
Where’s it coming from?
The music?
Yea
Frisk stops for a moment. They’re in a shopping mall with Alphys, so it could be playing over the intercom, but it doesn’t seem like it’s coming from a speaker.
“F-Frisk? Are you okay?” Alphys asks after she notices they’re not by her side anymore.
They give her a thumbs up, and continue searching for the source of the music.
“Jada recognizes this song,” Frisk signs, catching up with Alphys.
“O-oh! That’s good to hear,” Alphys says.
Frisk tilts their head questioningly.
“W-well, if um, if the six of them can recognize and remember things from before they- uh. Before. When they’re not c-cognitive, properly, then they’ll have an easier time being able to, when they are,” Alphys explains.
Frisk nods. That makes sense. They spot, out of the corner of their eye, a piano in the center of a sitting area. Someone in a dark hoodie sits at the bench, playing some old classical song. Frisk can feel the keys under their fingers, despite the fact they’ve never touched a piano before in their life.
Maybe you can try to play through me
There is no response but the knowledge of what notes will come next.
-
“Yo, do you think I can come over to your place tomorrow? Human history is kicking my butt,” MK says.
The two of them are sitting in the bleachers of the gym room, talking about whatever they find interesting in the moment. It’s too cold out for the school to allow them outside for breaks, so there are plenty of people grouped together on the bleachers or around the outside of the gym floor. The inside is where people are playing various active games, there’s a group playing basketball, and Frisk thinks there’s also a group playing tag, completely ignoring the fact that most of their classmates thought that was totally uncool.
“Are you sure it’s that and not that you never got over your hero thing about Undyne?” Frisk teases.
“H-w- It’s not my fault she’s cool! And, I did!” MK says.
Frisk snickers and crosses their arms. They give them a disbelieving look.
“What’s that look for? Dude!” MK complains.
Frisk’s snickers turn into giggles, then laughs, and soon MK is laughing with them.
“Watch out!” someone yells.
Frisk turns in the direction of the yell and finds a stray basketball flying towards their face. There isn’t time to dodge, so they’re going to-
Catch it!
It’s not them moving to catch the basketball, but they do it anyway. Kat holds it for a second and then tosses it back to the boy who yelled.
“Thanks!” he yells again.
His name is Jordan. He’s nice, but has no volume control whatsoever.
“Yoooo! That was so cool!!” MK says.
“That wasn’t me,” Frisk signs.
“Chara?” MK asks.
Frisk shakes their head. “One of the others.”
MK has known about the project for a while, and they’ve known about the extra six souls accompanying Frisk until they can get to their own bodies, but they’ve never actually met any of them.
“Ohhhhh, cool! Man, I really gotta meet that one!” MK says.
“I’m sure he would love that,” Frisk signs.