The waves of the sea broke gently on the shores of New Zealand. A soft breeze tickled the leaves of the nikau palms on the islands. The June sun shone warmly, unusually so for winter, on the quiet, expansive countryside and the closely confined, bustling cities. A single lonely, forbidding mountain cast a shadow over one such city—the lively yet charming metropolis of Auckland.

In the middle of the city, bells rang and happy screams and yells began to sound across the streets as children were let out of school for the day. Most of them would either walk home or run around the playground as they waited for their parents to pick them up.

Normally, Frisk Dreemurr would play while they waited for their adoptive mother, Toriel, to finish grading papers, attend staff meetings, and gather up her things to go home. But today they were getting picked up right away by a couple of their good friends.

Because today was special.

Today marked one year since Frisk had fallen into the Underground. One year since they had met the monsters. One year since they had made friends and family that they would never forget.

Because of that, there was going to be a special celebration at the Town Hall tonight. As the Monsters’ Ambassador to the Humans, Frisk was slated to give a speech along with Asgore, the former King of the Underground. Then there would be a parade over to the Auckland Domain, a large park to the southeast of the Town Hall, where the monsters and humans would share food and talk together.

Frisk was excited as they exited the school building that day. They took a minute to enjoy the warmth of the sun. They thought of how much fun they were going to have tonight. They wanted only to think positive today.

Unfortunately, there was one thing on their mind that threatened to spoil the whole thing for them.

All of their wonderful friends were going to be there…

…except for a few.

“Hey, Frisk, are you gonna talk at the parade tonight, or you gonna hand-sign like you usually do?” A voice startled the child out of their thoughts. They turned to see one of their classmates, a young boy named Marama, standing by excitedly.

Frisk smiled. Sign. Mom talk, they spelled with their fingers.

“Oh, okay, that’s cool! My mom says we can go tonight. I’m gonna wave at you if I see you!”

“Hey, Frisk! We gotta get goin’ now if you wanna rest a little bit before getting ready,” a rough but friendly voice called out.

“Okay, bye, Frisk!” Marama ran off.

Frisk turned toward the other voice. Their face broke out into a big smile as two skeletons exited a red convertible. The child shot off like a rocket toward them and barreled into the taller one.

“Geez, Frisk, what are you tryin’ to do, knock Papyrus into another dimension?” the shorter one chuckled.

“Of course they aren’t, Sans, they’re just happy to see us!” Papyrus ruffled Frisk’s hair. “Come on, Frisk, give Sans a hug and then let’s get going. Toriel said she wanted you home for at least an hour so you could have a snack, take a shower, change your clothes, and go over your speech before everyone comes over and we all leave for the parade!”

Frisk tried to hop in the front passenger seat, only for Sans to lift them with blue magic to the back. “Sorry, kiddo. You’re not big enough to be up here.”

“Sans, you’re barely two inches taller than they are. Why don’t you sit with them so they won’t be lonely?” Papyrus suggested as he started the car.

Frisk grinned as Sans climbed defeatedly into the back. “Guess you all got me there.”

Frisk stared out over the side of the car as Papyrus drove through the streets of Auckland. Now that the excitement of having the skeleton brothers pick them up from school was over, they were back to thinking about the friends who wouldn’t be there tonight. They bounced their leg uncomfortably, then pulled a fidget cube out of their pocket and started to play with it.

Sans noticed. “You nervous for your speech?”

Frisk shrugged. They weren’t overly fond of being up in front of a lot of people, but when you were an ambassador, you had to get used to it. Besides, they always had Toriel or Asgore speaking for them; they only needed to sign with their hands as the words were read.

“You’ll do great, kid. You always do.”

Frisk didn’t respond.

“…I’m guessing that’s not the issue.”

Frisk finally shook their head. They put their fidget cube back in their pocket, but before they could start signing, Papyrus piped up.

“I think I know what the matter is! You’re sad that Mettaton and his cousin are going to miss the celebration tonight!”

Frisk gave a tight smile and nodded.

“Oh, Frisk. Do not worry about them! I’m sure they’re having a lot of fun, wherever they are! Though maybe not as much fun as we’ll have here.” He glanced in the rearview mirror and recognized that Frisk wasn’t convinced. “I, too, miss them, although I’ve never actually met Mettaton and I think I only talked to that little white ghost once or twice…”

“Napstablook.”

“Yes, Sans, Napstablook, thank you. Anyway, I bet they miss you and wish they could be here. But they’re not. So they’ll have to live with that.”

Despite their worries, Frisk couldn’t help but giggle at Papyrus’s blunt and precise way of speaking. They knew he was right.

Mettaton, Napstablook, and their crew were currently finishing up a four-month world tour. Mettaton had jam-packed the trip with as many music concerts, fashion shows, and dramas as he could fit. And that was besides the time they spent sightseeing.

A few people had expressed concern upon seeing Mettaton’s itinerary, saying it wasn’t healthy to go to so many places and do so many things in so little time. But he hadn’t listened. Mettaton never really listened to anyone or anything but his own heart. And while his heart was in the right place in certain respects, it was often too passionate and excitable and it pushed aside the needs of others, resulting in half-baked ideas, convoluted plans, and wonky execution.

The tour seemed to be going well, though. Every few days the monsters back in New Zealand would get reports—where Mettaton’s crew was, what they were doing, which celebrity they were partying with that night. Mettaton always made sure the monsters at home knew they were remembered. He’d even tried to call Frisk’s home the other night—unfortunately he’d forgotten about time zones and called at two in the morning on a school day. But Frisk hadn’t minded. They missed the excitement the robot would bring to their life when he was at home.

The tour was supposed to end right about this time of year. The itinerary had left a little opening—probably at the insistence of Mettaton’s trip advisors—at the end of it in case they had to put off an event or two. Frisk had hoped they would come home before the one year anniversary of their freedom, but apparently it wasn’t to be. Mettaton had left a short but heartfelt message with Toriel expressing his team’s regret at not being able to be there, and that he would make up for it when he got back, and that they all couldn’t wait to watch the videos of Frisk’s speech when they had time.

Although Frisk had appreciated the sincerity of the message, they were bitterly disappointed, and had shed a few tears over it. Fortunately, everyone else had been there to help get Frisk back on their feet and keep them going. Frisk had kept their feelings inside after that, but now that the day was here, they were revealing themselves once more.

Frisk kicked the back of the front passenger seat unhappily as the car crossed into Port Chevalier. They’d wanted everyone to be present for such a happy celebration, but two of their favorite people and several of their other friends were stuck in Paris or Tokyo or Cairo or wherever they were now.

“Hey, kiddo. I know you’re disappointed. But this is what’s happenin’ now. Pap is right; they have to live with their decision, and so do we,” Sans comforted them awkwardly as Papyrus pulled into the sloped driveway of Frisk’s house. “Uh, Pap? I thought we were gonna take ‘em to our place.”

“They don’t have any of their clothes at our house, silly. And don’t worry, Toriel gave me a key.” Papyrus held it up. “Okay, Frisk, don’t forget your instructions. Snack, shower, clothes, speech. Let’s see how fast we can get all that done!”

Frisk put on a determined face, hopped out of the car, and bounded up to the porch of their stone-front brown split level house.

“Hey, Frisk. Hey, Papyrus. Hey, Trashbag.” Flowey the flower waved at them from the front garden. Frisk stopped to give him a little kiss on the head before skipping up the porch steps and slamming into the front door.

“Geez, Frisk, you know you can’t phase through that door, right?” Papyrus scolded them, helping them up and brushing them off.

“Yeah, you sure got excited in a hurry. And hey, you. Knock it off with the trashbag stuff or I’ll bring out the sprinkler,” Sans joked to Flowey.

“Okay, Shorty.”

“Quit it, you two. We can’t get distracted.” Papyrus swung the door open. “Get in there, Frisk, we don’t have all day! Sans, come on.”

This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

“Actually, bro, I’m gonna get back home and change myself. You probably don’t want me wearing pink slippers downtown. Wanna drive me back?”

“Sans, we’re literally down the street. You can walk. Or use one of your godforsaken lazy shortcuts. Good idea, though. You should wear those new sneakers I bought for you the other day! And maybe one of your science T-shirts. Not the one with the rude word on it, though.”

“Yeah, okay, Pap. See ya in a few minutes.” Sans teleported without another word.

“What rude word?”

“Never you mind, Flowey!”

Frisk had raided the pantry and was eating handfuls of cheesy corn chips when Papyrus walked into the large, brightly lit kitchen. “Come on, now, Frisk, you should’ve gotten something healthy! Why don’t I cut you up an apple?”

Frisk pushed aside the bag of chips and rushed to the refrigerator before Papyrus could. They pulled out a container of strawberries and ran to the sink to rinse them off. “Or, I… guess that works too.”

Papyrus closed the refrigerator door and picked up the bag of chips. Then he went and ate a couple of strawberries with Frisk. “These are really big and juicy, where does Toriel get these?” he murmured as Frisk shot off toward the staircase to the second floor. “Wha—hey! You left the berries out! And you left the tops on the counter! Am I going to have to clean this up?! And you still have to take your—!”

Frisk barely heard him; they were already in their room. They climbed the ladder to their loft bed and collapsed on it, glancing around the place. It was a lovely cornflower blue, with a soft carpet and a big window. The walls were covered with drawings and photographs of Frisk’s family and friends, as well as posters for cartoons. Their bed was made with Disney’s The Princess and the Frog sheets. Frisk rolled themselves up in the comforter, suddenly exhausted from their huge burst of energy.

Within a few minutes, Papyrus came in, looking around at books thrown haphazardly on the shelves, papers on a desk, and clothes and toys strewn all over the floor before realizing that Frisk was in their bed. “Good heavens, you’re a messy kid,” he marveled with some exasperation. “Good thing you live with Toriel, otherwise the whole house would look like an extension of Sans’s bedroom. This place is messy enough as it is. I should come by and clean sometime.” He stared at Frisk, who was still cocooned in their blankets. “Finally tire yourself out, did you? Well, we don’t have time to waste. First, you need to take this.” He held out a cup of berry juice he’d brought up with him in front of Frisk’s face. “It’s got your anxiety medication in it. Toriel said you might want it. Come on now, get out of there!” He set the cup down on the desk under Frisk’s bed and extricated the child from the comforter with difficulty. Once they were out, Frisk willingly jumped down from the loft, took the cup, and drank it down. “Good. Have you picked out any clothes for today?”

Frisk pointed toward their dresser. On it lay an exact replica of the clothes in which they fallen into the Underground—a blue shirt with purple stripes, blue jeans, and little brown sneakers. The original clothing had been too torn and beaten up to wear in public again, so at Frisk’s insistence, Toriel had scrounged every shop and searched online as much as she could to find the clothes, right down to the brand name. The old outfit lay on a shelf at the top of Frisk’s closet, forever a reminder of their difficult but fruitful journey.

“Well, come on, then, take them to the bathroom and get cleaned up! I’m not going to do it for you,” Papyrus chuckled. “Oh, Toriel instructed me to time you while you’re in the shower because you take forever. You have ten minutes and then I’ll knock on the door,” he added as Frisk took the clothes and disappeared into the bathroom.

Within that amount of time, Frisk cleaned up and came downstairs to the living room to allow Papyrus to comb their hair. Then Papyrus read Frisk’s speech out loud as the child signed along with the phrases.

“I think you’ll do very well, Frisk!” Papyrus praised them when they were done. “It’s nicely written and your signing is very clear and accurate. Anyway,” he checked the clock, “it’s only about 4:30. Toriel should be here about now if her staff meeting didn’t run over, and everyone else should arrive soon, too. How about we find something quiet and not-messy to do?”

In response, Frisk flopped onto the soft couch. Papyrus sat down and bounced awkwardly. “Are you going to take a nap? Do you want a story? I love hearing stories before I go to sleep.”

Frisk shook their head, patted their own chest and pointed to Papyrus.

“You want to tell me a story? Well…” He put his hand to his chin and thought for a minute. “I always love hearing about how you met and performed with Mettaton, but you probably don’t want to think about him right now…”

Frisk shrugged. Even if they did miss Mettaton now, thinking of their meeting was kind of fun in a weird way. Sitting up, they began the story.

Papyrus watched with rapturous attention. He didn’t look away once until the sound of the garage door opening startled him out of his focus. “That must be Toriel, finally! I was wondering where she got to.”

Toriel hurriedly dropped her school bag on the kitchen table. “I’m so sorry I’m late! The staff meeting went way over, unfortunately, because the end of the term is soon. How are you, sweetheart?” She opened her arms for a hug as Frisk sprang toward her. “I’m glad to see you look ready. Did you have time to go over your speech?”

Frisk nodded.

“Good. I’m going to go clean up myself. Lulu is going to be here in a few minutes. Papyrus, would you mind getting Flowey into his pot?” Toriel asked as she headed for the upstairs. “I’d do it myself but there’s hardly any time. Oh dear, where is everyone else? I thought at least a few other people would be here by now…”

“Don’t you worry, Toriel! The Great Papyrus has everything under control,” the skeleton assured her, striking a heroic pose. Then he frowned. “Wait a second—what the heck—where’s Sans? He went back to our house almost an hour ago, surely it couldn’t have taken him that long to change his clothes?”

Frisk shrugged. Sometimes it could take that long for Sans to get something done, but usually those were days where time wasn’t of the essence.

“He’d better not have fallen asleep,” Papyrus grumbled under his breath. “I’ll put Flowey in the kitchen and then I need to get Sans,” he called up to Toriel, who nodded before disappearing into her bedroom.

Soon enough she had come back down, looking lovely in her old Ruins robes. She recombed Frisk’s hair and helped them tie a yellow ribbon around Flowey’s pot. Then she nervously started cleaning dirty dishes and fussing with her outfit, murmuring to herself the whole time. Within another few minutes they all heard the front door slam and she rushed to the short staircase to the entrance, hoping it was Lulu or Undyne or someone else they hadn’t seen yet today. But it was just a very grumpy-looking Papyrus and a very sheepish-looking Sans.

“You fell asleep?” Toriel asked Sans, completely unsurprised.

“I fell asleep,” he admitted.

“You fell asleep on the front porch, Sans! You hadn’t even gotten into the house yet! I’ll never understand how you do that,” Papyrus grouched as they all headed back up to the kitchen.

“Well, it doesn’t really matter that much. We’re still the only people here. I thought I told everyone to come at 5?” Toriel worried, wringing her paws. Just then the doorbell rang. “It’s open!” she called.

A rabbit monster with lilac fur rushed up. “Hey, Tori. Sorry I’m late, my sister had a small emergency with Clementine. They’re alright, though, don’t worry,” she added as she saw Toriel’s look of concern. “Hey, there, Frisk! Yeah, I’ll take a hug, you give such nice ones. Say, where is everyone? I thought for sure I’d be the last one here.”

“No, Lulu, you’re early compared to almost everyone else. Only Papyrus has been here a while, he just had to go back and wake up Sans,” Toriel sighed. She gave her girlfriend a peck on the cheek, trying to steel herself. “I have no idea where anyone else is! I know Mettaton and Napstablook can’t come, but everyone else said they wouldn’t miss it for the world.”

The front door opened again as she finished speaking. “I certainly wouldn’t want to miss this,” a deep voice replied. Asgore had arrived just behind Lulu. “I’m sorry, Toriel. I would have been here much earlier, but someone vandalized the rosebushes at the school and the board wanted me to fix them before I left,” the former king apologized as he joined everyone else, accepted a hug from Frisk, and adjusted his old royal tunic. “Undyne called, by the way, she had to go pick up Alphys at work because Alphys’s car wouldn’t start.”

“Oh, good heavens, this is turning out to be such a disaster.” Toriel sat at the kitchen table and put her head in her paws.

“Hey, it’ll be okay, Mom,” Flowey tried to soothe her.

“Yeah, he’s right,” Sans agreed, patting her shoulder. “We know where everyone is but Grillby now. And nobody’s gonna mind if we’re a few minutes late to the celebration. A lot of people are gonna show up and it’s gonna take a while for them all to get settled.” Another door slam. Sans squinted at the newcomer. “And… that’s Grillbz.”

Grillby waved and signed an apology to Toriel as he came up. Then he leaned down and placed his forehead against Sans’s, a way that fire monsters traditionally greeted their lovers.

Frisk hugged Grillby carefully but excitedly. Now they just had to wait for two of their best friends to come.

Fortunately, that wait wasn’t long. “WHAT’S UP, WEIRDOS?!” Undyne bellowed as she threw the door closed and strode up the stairs, followed by a rather red-faced Alphys. She tried to explain.

“I-I’m so sorry about being late, everyone! I tried to l-leave work early, really I did, but my car wouldn’t start. I had to call a tow truck and then Undyne and then we had to wait for the tow truck to show up—”

“It’s alright, everyone else only showed up a few minutes ago themselves,” Toriel brushed off her apology. “We all just need to get going, we’re supposed to be there at 5:30 and it’s already after 5:20 and it takes 15 minutes to get there. Frisk, you’ve got your papers?”

Frisk displayed them.

“Good. Go get in the car—” Just then, her cell phone began ringing. “What now?” she almost wailed, scanning the screen rapidly. It was a FaceTime call. She froze as she saw the caller ID. “Well—we really don’t have the time—but it’s—oh, what the hell,” she muttered and handed Frisk the phone. “Frisk, sweetie, it’s for you.”

Frisk pressed the green button to accept the call.

“Helloooooooo, darling!”

Frisk began grinning from ear to ear. They waved at the phone screen furiously.

The fabulous robot Mettaton gave a dazzling smile and wagged his fingers back. “Frisk, dear, I’m so happy to have caught you! I felt terrible about not being at the celebration, so I thought I’d call and give you some encouragement beforehand! I just can’t wait to watch you on video when we get home. I’m sure you’ll do beautifully. You always were quite the little star—”

“This is so kind of you, Mettaton, but we’re really running late,” Toriel interrupted, placing a paw on Frisk’s shoulder.

“Oh, dear!” Mettaton turned and beckoned someone over. “Blooky! Blooky! Come here and say hi quickly before they have to leave!”

“Oh… hello, Frisk…” the forlorn voice of Napstablook came through. “Oh… you have to go… am I wasting your time…?”

“Of course not, Blooky, they love hearing from you. Anyway. I’m so sorry we have to cut this short, beauty. But before you go, I just want to give you a bit of happy news to keep in your heart while you wait! The crew and I should be home sometime next week!”

A disapproving noise from Undyne vaguely registered in Frisk’s mind, but they didn’t dwell on it. They started flapping their hands gleefully. This was happy news—they would finally see their friends again after four months! While they were still pretty disappointed about Mettaton and Napstablook not being there now, they felt much better knowing they’d be able to talk to them soon.

“That’s so good to hear, Mettaton. Thank you so much for calling. Let’s say goodbye, Frisk.” Toriel started to take the phone.

Frisk waved at the phone again. Mettaton blew a kiss. “Goodbye, darling! Knock ‘em dead!” Then the call ended.

“Well, that’s a nice bit of news. Now, for heaven’s sake, let’s go!” Toriel practically bleated with impatience.

As everyone filed out to their cars, Frisk overheard Undyne muttering something to Alphys. “He really couldn’t have cut his trip a week short so he could be here for Frisk?” Alphys shushed her quickly, saying something about it not being the right time to discuss it.

Frisk’s stomach dropped, but they shook off the feeling and followed Papyrus to his car. “You want to ride with me?” he asked, looking to Toriel for approval. She nodded. “Alright, then! Get in the back with Sans again, we’re taking Grillby too so we won’t have as many cars to park.”

Papyrus pulled out behind Toriel and Lulu. “I can’t believe you got a face-to-face call with Mettaton! Lucky you, I really wanted to say hi too…” he pouted a little.

Sans winked at Frisk. “You feeling okay now?”

 Frisk nodded and smiled. They’d already forgotten Undyne’s remark and were hardly nervous at all now, though that was probably due to the medication they’d taken earlier. But Mettaton’s news certainly helped as well. They knew he and his crew were rooting for them. And they’d all be together again soon.

Right now, Frisk had Toriel and Papyrus and Sans and their other friends. And that was enough.