Your Perspective

You're sitting down at a kitchen table, a steaming piece of Butterscotch-Cinnamon pie on the table before you. Or, it had been steaming—it took so long for Frisk to tell her story that it's completely cool now. Not that it really matters to you. You're still trying to wrap your head around everything your little sister has just told you. And, according to her, it was just the abridged version.

"So, let me get this straight," you sigh, resting your elbows on the kitchen table. "After you fell down here, a talking flower—"

"F-l-o-w-e-y."

"—Flowey, tried to kill you, but you were saved by Toriel."

When you bring up her name, the motherly monster nods. Now that you can see her clearly, she doesn't look nearly as threatening. In fact, she's downright cuddly—almost like a giant rabbit that had been crossed with a goat.

"That's right, my child," she says.

"Then you crossed the entire Underground, trying to get back to the surface," you continue, "Which is riddled with puzzles and occupied with monsters."

"Mmmhmm."

"These monsters tried to kill you at first, as they needed your soul to escape the Underground, but you managed to make friends with them and get them to stop fighting before anything too dangerous happened."

"Mmmhmm."

"And when you eventually reached Asgore's castle, you realized that you needed a monster's soul to cross the Barrier. However, you didn't want to hurt anyone, so after beating Asgore, you decided that it was for the best that you stay down here."

"...Mmmhmm." This time, your sister's murmur of affirmation sounds a little bit guilty. You try to get her to meet your eye, but she refuses to look at you.

"Oh, don't be like that," you say, poking her on the nose. "I don't blame you, Frisk."

She looks up at you, a questioning look on her face. You smile, hoping that it doesn't look as fake as it feels.

"I understand. I mean... it sounds as if you've made a lot of really good friends down here. And if it meant you had to kill someone to get back to me... well, I wouldn't want you to become a murderer for my sake."

Frisk cheers up at that, but it feels as if your heart is sinking. You know that everything you said is true, but the fact remains that Frisk... Frisk still chose these two-day-old friends over you, her own sister. The selfishness of your own feelings disgust you, but you can't help how you feel. Frisk is the only family you have left. If you hadn't fallen down here... chances are you'd have lived out the rest of your life on that mountain. Alone.

"Anyway," you say, picking the story back up. "Then this Flowey person took the power of the six souls that the monsters have already collected, and tried to kill you in order to take your soul, so he could become a god of sorts."

"Mmmhmm."

"You somehow managed to defeat Flowey. You then retrieved the six souls and gave them back to Asgore, who you had previously saved from Flowey's assassination attempt."

"Mmmhmm."

"You spared Flowey."

"Mmmhmm."

She didn't even hesitate in affirming your statement. You sigh slightly, marveling at your sister's resilience. But if your sister decided that the murderous flower deserved mercy, then that was good enough for you. Well... so long as it doesn't try anything else.

"Then you came back to the ruins, where Toriel opened her home to you and, in effect, became your adoptive mother."

"Mmmhmm."

"Asgore changed his policy on humans, so now none of the monsters have any interest in possessing our souls."

"Mmmhmm."

"All of this in two days."

"Mmmhmm."

"Good god, sis," you sigh. "That's a bit much, even for you."

"It is something of a wonder, is it not?" Toriel asks, beaming at Frisk. "This single child has done more good in two days than my ex-husband has in his entire reign as king."

You have to agree. You know that your sister can do anything she sets her mind to (you've seen how she works on those 10,000 piece puzzles), but this is ridiculous.

"...Wait. Asgore is your ex?" you ask, bewildered. "Then that makes you..."

"Ex-queen, yes."

Huh.

You shake your head slightly. This is too much to take in at once. Your head had started to hurt the moment you'd first learned that monsters actually exist, but now, to find out that your sister is some kind of hero? You sigh, opting to try a bite of your pie instead on dwell on it any further. It's really good. You're normally not a fan of butterscotch, but the cinnamon more than makes up for it. While you take your little time out, Toriel picks up the conversation.

"So you are my child's sister, are you not?" she asks. You suddenly realize that you had completely forgotten to introduce yourself.

"Oh! Yes. Yes I am," you say, embarrassed. "Sorry, I haven't introduced myself. I'm (Y/N)."

"Well, it is very nice to meet you, (Y/N)," she says. "It seems my child has already introduced me, but I feel the need to do it myself as well. I am Toriel, caretaker of the ruins."

"Nice to meet you," you echo, somewhat sheepishly. There's something about Toriel's smile that makes you feel so... so... secure. It's been a long time since anyone has looked after you like this. A long time since... since your parents... no. You refuse to dwell on that.

Desperate to think of something else, your mind latches on to the first thing it comes up with. Throughout the entire conversation, you haven't heard Toriel once call your sister by her name. You look quizzically over at Frisk, who glances over at you when she feels your gaze on her.

"Why doesn't goat mom call you by your name?" you ask. It seems like the kind of topic that could be potentially awkward to discuss out loud, so you revert to sign language.

"I couldn't tell her," she signs indignantly. "No one here understands sign language."

"You've got to be kidding me," you say aloud, pinching the bridge of your nose. "You mean to tell me... that you had no way of talking to anyone this entire time?"

Frisk nods.

"Actually, I have been curious about that," Toriel says. "At first, I thought my child was simply shy, but it seems that is not the case. Why can she not speak?"

"My sister here," you say, shooting Frisk a look, "is mute. And, apparently, completely forgot that she can write."

Frisk stares at you incredulously, as if you are the smartest person known to mankind. Or... monsterkind? Man-and-monster kind? You push the irrelevant thought away and reach for your backpack. You'd totally seen this coming. She may be determined, but your sister isn't exactly a stickler for details. You pull out a small whiteboard and a dry erase marker. You always keep them on hand, exactly for this kind of situation. Frisk facepalms.

The moment she gets her hands on them, she starts writing furiously. When she finishes, she turns the board around to face Toriel. It reads "I'm Frisk."

"Well, it is nice to finally know your name, Frisk," Toriel says. "And it is good that the two of us can finally talk, is it not?"

Frisk nods enthusiastically, furiously writing a new message. You smile. Maybe this is a good thing, being trapped down here. Frisk seems genuinely happy, and... and it can get really lonely on Mt. Ebott, with only your sister and your trusty piano for company. You yawn enormously. Now that you've found Frisk, the physical and mental strain of the day is finally starting to catch up to you.

"My child, you must have had a long day," Toriel says sympathetically. "And it is getting late. Perhaps you should get some rest."

You nod absentmindedly. You could almost fall asleep right here at the table.

"Come, I will show you to your room."

You leave Frisk with a quick 'see you later' and follow Toriel out of the living room.

"Well," Toriel starts to ramble, "it is actually Frisk's room, but you may share it if you would like. Or, there is another room that I could give you—it is currently under renovations, but I would be happy to finish it for you. You are practically an adult; I am sure you would appreciate a room to yourself."

You're sure that there was an allusion to something dirty in that last statement, but you elect to give Toriel the benefit of the doubt. Suddenly, she stops, causing you to almost run into her.

"Oh dear..." she murmurs. "I... It seems I forgot to ask you something. Something very important."

A sense of foreboding fills you as she slowly turns to face you, an unreadable expression on her face.

"You... You do want to stay here, do you not? You... You do not want to leave?"

"Do I want to stay here?" you repeat.

Everything has been moving so quickly that you hadn't even considered the question.

It's not as if I have much to go back to... you reason. And even if I wanted to, Frisk's already tried, and failed, to cross the Barrier. Why would it be any different for me?

Remembering how happy your sister looked as she talked to 'goat mom,' you make your decision.

"Yeah. Yeah... I think I do."

Author's Note

So, I'm new to writing on Wattpad. (I think that much is pretty clear, huh?) Well, anyway, I originally wanted to put in indentations before each paragraph (because I'm a little bit of a perfectionist). Then I noticed that the tab button doesn't work. So, I just pressed the space bar a bunch of times. That worked for the first few chapters, but now Wattpad is being difficult, and it's not saving my story very well. So, I frustrated, and now, there are no indentations, because I'm being lazy. If you wanted them, I'm sorry. (If you absolutely NEED them, head on over to Quotev--the tab button works on that site, and so the story has them.) 

--Zana