Chapter Text
They had finally made it out of the Underground, and after a little while of enjoying the sunset their new friends had drifted off to pursue activities of their own. All except Toriel, that is. She had remained there with Frisk, staring off towards the horizon and looking like she was hesitating to initiate a conversation. Frisk stood there, waiting for Toriel to either say something or leave. They didn’t want their friends to know where they were going to disappear to. It’s for the best Frisk reasoned. No one had really asked about what was waiting for them in the human world, and Frisk hadn’t volunteered any information. They didn’t want anyone to know their secret. It felt bad to decline Asgore’s request to be ambassador, but they were pretty sure that someone else would be more qualified. Papyrus had immediately proclaimed himself to be ambassador, and despite Frisk’s initial misgivings they decided that no one would be able to hate the skeleton with his warm nature and caring heart. He would do well, and Sans would be there to have his back.
Finally Toriel seemed to make her decision. “Child, what are your plans now? Do you have a family here on the surface? I wondered because I wasn’t sure why someone of your age would be allowed to wander on the mountain by themselves. If…if you do not have a place to go, you could come stay with me. Asgore is going to come with me too because I don’t trust him to take care of himself. We could be your family if you wish?” Frisk froze in place, realizing that Toriel had just asked the one question they were the most worried about.
Frisk composed themselves quickly. She can’t know. None of them can. If they found out that I didn’t have a family, that I was homeless? Frisk shook their head. “I...have somewhere to go” they said. It isn’t technically a lie; I didn’t say that I had a family. “I’m sure I’ll see you around sometime.” Maybe. Toriel looked at Frisk with brow furrowed, obviously bewildered at their choice of words. Frisk began to back away, forcing a fake smile on their face. This is why I rarely talk. I always seem to say something that upsets someone. They waved goodbye as Toriel continued to look at them, confusion written on her face. Frisk continued to back up until they were about 20 yards away, then quickly turned around and left.
Toriel called out “Frisk, you don’t have to leave right now. Why not wait until morning when it is light? I don’t want you to get lost on this mountain.”
Frisk waved again without even looking back, dismissing the notion. They didn’t want to see the look on Toriel’s face again. They knew if they had stayed overnight, Toriel would have told the others about what was said and someone would figure it out. They didn’t want to see Asgore’s tears, hear Mettaton’s dramatic monologue, watch Alphys start stammering, unsure what to say. They definitely didn’t want to hear Undyne call them punk and ask why they hadn’t said anything, listen as Papyrus would shout about how HE would take care of the human, or look Sans in the eyes. Sans might act like he rarely cares all that much, but Frisk had gotten to know him a bit while navigating the underground. He had helped them out a couple of times and kept them on the right path. Frisk was pretty sure that despite what was said, that he is the easiest person to defeat, they would have died several times over in that hall of judgment if they had not kept on the moral path. Sans was intense, and Frisk didn’t want that intensity focused on them. They were sure Sans would be the first to figure it out.
As soon as they were sure that Toriel was out of sight, Frisk began running down the mountain. They did technically have a home to go to, if you could consider a ledge under a bridge a home. It took them over 2 hours to get there, partly because they kept hiding whenever they heard a noise, just in case someone had tried to follow them. Eventually Frisk reached their bridge. They had found the spot a couple of months ago when seeking shelter from a storm. There was a support ledge that would not fit an adult but was the perfect size for a child. Frisk was not even tall enough to reach the ledge but they had figured out a way to climb up the corner to get there. It had just enough room to store a couple of items and to sleep. Frisk quickly checked the area to make sure that no humans, or now also monsters, were watching before they disappeared underneath. Even though it was dark they knew where everything was. Or at least as long as no one else has found this place.
They were in luck it seemed. Nothing in their little nest was disturbed. They had a cup for getting water from the stream below, a couple bars of soap they found in a hotel dumpster, a sharp rock that could be used to cut things if they needed it, and a picture of a goldfish they had found in a magazine in the trash one day. They knew other kids had pets and while they couldn’t have an actual pet, this was the next best thing. Frisk was pretty sure they couldn’t even afford a pet rock like Sans and Papyrus had. Sprinkles cost money, and that was something that was very hard to come by for a 10 year old.
They placed the cell phone next to their other belongings. It was dead, but it still reminded Frisk of their adventure and all of their new friends. They sighed. I don’t know that I’ll be able to go visit them. Each time I go they will only ask more questions. Maybe they’ll forget about me now that they’ve made it to the surface. I don’t want to cause anyone to worry or to make them care about me. I’ll just have to be careful when I go to scavenge for food. Speaking of food, they checked to see if they had any berries left. They would go into the forest when possible and pick berries they knew were safe to eat so they could try to dry them out to have a little extra food in the winter. Of course their belly would be full of berries by the end of each trip as well. They were always careful not to take too much from each bush so that animals could have some too and so that anyone passing by might not get too suspicious. They doubted people would actually care enough to pay attention to something like that, but they preferred to be cautious.
Frisk thought back on how they had first learned what berries were safe for them to consume. They had been on a class field trip to the local state park. A nice park ranger had met them and taken them on a hike.
Begin Flashback
“Okay kids, now I’m going to show you something very important! This could save your life if you get lost in the woods.” The ranger gestured to the berry bushes that surrounded the class. “These are the Ebbot berries, named so because they only grow on this mountain. They are one of the few berries in this forest that are safe to eat and…” the park ranger paused to pop a couple of berries into their mouth. “-they are delicious! Everyone go ahead a pick a handful and put them in the paper bags. Don’t eat them yet though! First there is a special place on this mountain I would like to show you.”
They wound a little further up the mountain before coming to another stop. The ranger had led them into a glade in the woods. “If you look around, you can see marks on all the trees. We have found out that they were left here a few hundred years ago. Whoever did this carved into the tree trunk itself and then made a sort of ink to fill in the scrapes in the bark. Much of it has faded, but we have done our best to preserve this bit of history. Berries like the ones you are holding would have been a staple in these individual’s diets. They would have eaten them particularly in the winter, when little other food is to be found around here.”
Frisk raised their hand. “How did the berries last that long without going rotten?”
The ranger smiled and said “Great question! The indigenous people would boil foods like this and then lay them out in the sun to dry.”
Well, I guess that part won’t work for now.
Two months later they left when the group home closed.
End Flashback
Frisk checked the box they had found to hold any leftover food. It even had a lid and they always put a rock on top to keep animals out. Looking inside, they groaned. That’s right, this is why I ventured up the mountain. I was looking for more berries to eat, they are getting harder and harder to find with winter approaching. Frisk almost decided they could wait until morning to scavenge some food, but they realized that most of the monsters were still in the process of packing up their belongings to move to the surface. This would be the last night they would have before they would need to look over their shoulder even more. Humans usually didn’t even pay attention that much; most were too wrapped up in their own world to notice anything. Frisk knew how to carry themselves in public so that no one would take too much notice. They were small for their age from the malnutrition, but they just pretended they always had someplace to be and avoided all cops and anyone who looked like they were staring.
Frisk jumped down from the ledge, bruising their knee. They grinned ruefully, remembering how concerned Toriel had been when they found them at first. Everyone seemed so focused on HP down there, but up here, I’m used to getting banged up a lot. This is nothing. Still, they couldn’t afford to be too careless. If they broke something they would either have to try and live with it or finally turn themselves in. When the children’s group home had made plans to close down 8 months ago due to budget issues Frisk had been a little worried at first. But when they realized that they would be able to make it on their own (they had practically raised themselves in the home), they decided to leave quietly. There was so much fuss going on, no one noticed that the longest resident had slipped away.
Wandering into town, they quickly went to the nearest dumpster outside a fast food place. It had been emptied recently but they still found 2 half-eaten burgers and some nuggets, along with some wilted lettuce. Deciding it was enough to last them for a day or two, they returned to their “home.” Luckily they had eaten fairly well underground, so they shouldn’t even get too hungry tomorrow and could save most of the food for the day after. That would give them 2 days to figure out how to get around without being noticed. But first, it was time to sleep. Frisk crawled onto the holey towel they used as a bed with pine straw under it for cushioning, and pulled their thin, worn blanket on top. They would have to find another soon before it got even colder. The mountain kept a lot of the cool winds away, and sheltered under the bridge they had a pocket of warmer air, but that wouldn’t be enough once winter actually arrived. They made a plan to go find to hotel dumpster before the sun rose so that no one would see them digging in there. There should be at least another towel or blanket with holes by now. They could retrieve it and get back to the bridge before the monsters made it down the mountain and met with the humans.