Chapter Text
Kris feels a little vindicated as they burst through the front door with Susie and Frisk in tow, all three of them covered in dirt. Frisk stumbles forward and runs into the table by the couch, knocking a stack of books to the floor and effectively startling Toriel and Sans out of their revelry.
Toriel takes one look at the three of them, and whatever she finds in their faces has her shutting off the music and giving Sans an apologetic look.
He shrugs in reply, eyes landing on Frisk for a second too long in confusion before he leaves the house.
"What is going on here?" She looks at Kris and Susie, expecting an explanation, but the two of them just glance at Frisk, used to them taking the lead when weird things happen. Frisk frowns, grabbing the hem of their sweater as Toriel looks at them. Kris notices they're avoiding eye contact with her as they get ready to speak.
"Hello, mo-ma'am." Toriel glances at the clock, and Frisk pales a bit. "I'm Susie's friend, from out of town. I called Susie for help because I, well, I'm really far from home. And I can't go back."
Susie nods vehemently, "I called Kris to come and walk with me to find them, because walking alone this time of night is dangerous in other places I've lived."
Toriel looks at Kris, who shrugs, "I snuck out because I didn't want to interrupt."
Between the three of them, the story seems completely impenetrable although they'd just made it up on the walk home. However, beneath Toriel's scrutinizing eyes, it feels as though they all must be terrible liars.
"I see," she says, finally, and dips her head to catch Frisk's eyes. Her efforts make their hands shake, and it worsens when they finally do look at her, their breathing beginning to pick up speed. "Well, in that case, you are welcome to stay here. Both of you."
She smiles warmly and Frisk suddenly crumbles right then and there, knees giving out beneath them so abruptly that no one can catch them before they hit the floor, catching themself with their palms.
All three of them look down at them in alarm, but they rasp "sorry. Tired."
Toriel hovers worriedly, looking up at Kris and Susie, who glance at each other before shaking their heads.
"Can the two of you take Frisk upstairs? I'll bring extra blankets up."
Kris and Susie help them up, guiding them up the stairs while they shake like a piece of paper on a windy day. They're totally silent the whole way up, even as Susie tries to ask what happened.
When Toriel brings up the blankets, she knocks and leaves them at the door, along with a glass of water.
"Do you not like my mom or something?" Kris asks, a little bit annoyed as they and Susie wrap Frisk in blankets.
Frisk looks up, with big, wet eyes, expression pained. "Please don't ask me that. I've only been alive for an hour."
Susie barks out a laugh and Kris glares at her lightheartedly. "If you're going to stay here, you have to like my mom."
"I do!" Frisk argues, pulling the blankets around themself tighter, "I promise I do. I just… I need some time to adjust."
Their voice is starting to sound clearer, and Kris passes them the water again at the thought. They drink it gladly as Susie flops down on the floor beside them.
"Adjust to what?"
Frisk hesitates, looking away, before carefully replying. "To not being her kid anymore."
Kris raises an eyebrow at how upset they sound, scowling. "You were never their kid. I was."
They let out a laugh, settling backwards. "I guess you're right. I'll be fine."
The rest of the night is more or less more normal than Kris is expecting. They talk to Susie over Frisk's head as Frisk nods off in a pile of blankets, looking more exhausted than Kris has ever been in their entire life, answering questions about how it felt to be possessed (bad), if they were the one who played the organ that got them out of the Dark World in the church after Frisk hesitated (yes), and what times which soul had been in charge.
It's weird and a little uncomfortable, being so candid with Susie. Especially with the Knight still hanging as a secret between them. Kris resolves to tell her that, too, because Susie has been nothing if not understanding so far.
In the morning, Toriel is off helping with preparations for the festival, but she leaves behind pancakes for breakfast. Kris and Susie both watch as Frisk polishes off four in a row all on their own, looking overwhelmed the entire time but refusing to slow down. It's sort of horrifying.
"We should go to Castle Town before the festival," Susie suggests, watching Frisk pause on their sixth pancake to look at her. "Ralsei will probably be thrilled to meet you."
Frisk frowns, pulling at their fingers. "Okay."
Susie gives Frisk an encouraging smile, standing up and pulling them along with her, "I'm serious, he's gonna love you."
A hum is the only reply she gets, but she just pats their back, pushing them towards the door.
"C'mon, Kris. I can't wait to watch Ralsei lose his shit."
The whole walk there, Frisk looks as though they're being marched to their own execution. Their shoulders draw further and further inwards, eyes on the floor when they get into the building. They start mumbling their responses, dragging their feet, and by the time they get to the closet door, they're hidden behind Susie, looking somehow even smaller than before.
When they jump in, Kris isn't surprised to see Frisk almost seems to match all of their colors. In fact, now that they think about it, Frisk looks uncannily similar to them in the Light World. It's a fact that makes them uncomfortable to dwell on, especially considering Frisk told them that it was made in the image of whoever they had been prior to… whatever happened to them.
Abruptly, they realize Frisk never explained how they ended up here, in Kris's body.
Their armor seems to be much lighter than Kris's, chain-mail rather than clunky steel, and with a looser shirt and shorts and little ankle boots. Kris doesn't realize why until they see the dagger hanging at Frisk's hip, which surprises them more than it should. They were expecting a sword.
Frisk breaks out into a cold sweat when they see it, making an aborted motion for it before they deliberately look away.
"Sick weapon, Frisk!" They give Susie a laugh, ducking their face.
"I never liked violence, but I guess it is."
Three more times, Frisk reaches for the hilt of the knife and squeezes, as if to check if it's soft. Each time, they recoil as if in disgust.
Kris thinks about the fact that they've only used their own blade in two fights since the first Dark World opened.
"I can take it from you," Kris says before they can think about it, watching Frisk's face carefully as they do. "I'll hold onto it until you need it."
Frisk nods slowly, going to pull it from their hip before shuddering, and Kris takes pity on them, unclipping the hilt and putting it around their own waist instead.
The way Frisk's shoulders sag with relief makes their chest warm a little with pride, before they turn to walk into Castle Town. Frisk seems to visibly deflate at the sight of the gates.
As the three of them walk through town, Susie stops to introduce Frisk to everyone, and they begin to perk up as they greet more and more people and are received with general kindness and understanding. A few comment on their familiarity as they speak and Frisk finds that hilarious before insisting there's no way they've ever met because Frisk has only been alive for 12 hours.
The joke doesn't land with a single person, yet Frisk continues to make it over and over again with increasing levity. By the eighth one, Susie and Kris are actually beginning to find it funny, which unfortunately only spurs them on further.
"Kris, Susie! I just passed Tenna, and he told me you were out here." Frisk stops short, and Kris rolls their eyes, pulling the other human up in front of them.
"Look what we dug up," they joke, and Susie snickers from behind them.
Ralsei is in front of them, seeming completely speechless. Frisk fidgets. "Hi, I'm-"
"-I know who you are. This is unexpected."
Frisk laughs a little, glancing away. As the moment stretches on and Ralsei doesn't speak again, Frisk begins to remind Kris of Tenna shrinking down smaller and smaller, their shoulders hunching.
"Ha, this is awkward, isn't it? I always got the feeling you didn't like me very much, to be honest, but I'd hoped I was wrong."
Ralsei continues staring at them quietly while they await a response of some kind, seeming to wilt under his gaze.
"…You're a lot younger than I expected you to be." Ralsei seems troubled as he studies and then re-studies their face. "How old are you?"
They hesitate, face turning a little red. "Next week would've been my 15th birthday. Is my 15th birthday."
Fingers start fidgeting even more, and they try to avoid looking at anyone at all. "It would've been my 3rd birthday with my mom."
Something seems to crack a little bit then, their entire face turning an even brighter shade of red.
"I know what you think of me. And I guess you're kind of right. But I didn't know this would happen. I didn't want it. I had a life."
Kris looks at Ralsei, finding him looking a little stricken as they stand there, looking off to the side.
"Do you want to tell us about it?" Ralsei asks gently, and Frisk flicks their gaze up to look at him, eyes red-rimmed. "Your life?"
Frisk looks back down, seeming reluctant. Ralsei tries his best to look encouraging.
"I almost died when I was 12. I fell down the center of a mountain, into the middle of hundreds of years of history that had been hidden from humans in my world. The monsters lived down there, because war had driven them underground and they couldn't get out."
They slump down to sit on the ground, and Ralsei sits down across from them, his entire face soft.
"I don't really know what happened exactly, but I know a lot of them died at the hands of the Humans. It left them resentful against us, so when I got down there, I wasn't welcomed with open arms. Everything was out to kill me, but I saw through it to who they were, and gave them all mercy one-by-one. And then, when they were giving their all to destroy me, I freed them." They don't sound all too proud of it. Pleased, yes, but not with themself.
"All of it was with the help of someone I didn't know was with me until the very end. If not for them, I wouldn't have known what to do. I would've died."
Frisk pauses, hands digging into the ground. "I would've done the same thing again if not for Kris finding the vessel for me. Like a parasite."
It's quiet for a second, before Frisk looks up. "Everyone in Hometown is someone I knew in another life. Toriel adopted me when we came up to the surface. I'm surrounded by my friends and family, the people I love most in my life, and I'm a stranger to them all. Not a single one knows who I am anymore. I probably died here because they didn't need me."
They laugh and it sounds more like a cough. "I've been a diplomat since I was 12 years old for the new Monster Nation. I didn't even know that word before I fell. But life was good. I was happy. Next week, I was going to have a huge party with all of my favorite people in the world, and now I have to save another world, and this time, I don't have anyone to tell me if I'm doing the right thing. I have no idea how I'm going to get home."
"You have us to tell you," Ralsei says, voice soft. "We're all in this together, you know."
Frisk cringes apologetically, "sorry, I meant– well, Kris knows what I meant."
Kris nods almost robotically, turning over all of their words.
"All those messages you'd give me. Every time I failed. Was that what they would do when it happened to you?"
"Every time. They always told me to stay determined."
Kris smiles. "I've never heard that one."
"I never claimed to be quoting them verbatim. It's because our soul color is the color of determination. They wanted me to remember that."
They didn't know that. They'd assumed every human soul was the same color, even if not the same shape. Frisk frowns a little, more thoughtful than upset.
"I've seen seven other colors, and each meant something different," they falter a bit, grief coloring their tone briefly, "they saved me so many times. I wish I could've helped them."
"I don't think you're a parasite, Frisk," Kris says, and it surprises them how much they mean it. "And neither do Ralsei or Susie."
Frisk hunches forward, pulling at their fingers none-too-gently, "everything I've ever done, I've done with someone else's sacrifice."
"But it was still you."
A small smile crosses their face at the words, eyes brightening. "Despite everything." They exhale slowly, finally meeting their eyes. "I'm gonna get home. I know it. But until then, I'm here with you guys."
"Hell yeah!" Susie crows, throwing her arms up, and Frisk follows suit, laughing brightly.
"Four heroes are better than three," Ralsei says, doing the same, and Kris does it too, grinning at the three of them.
Maybe it won't be so bad, having Frisk around. As long as they have their own body, of course.