Chapter Text
Frisk woke with the sun, blinking blearily as the delighted cries of monsterkind penetrated the thin sheets of their tent. This is their first sunrise, they realised. This was the first time that any of these wonderful, kind creatures had ever seen the rising of the eternal symbol of hope in the watercolour sky. Any frustration they might have felt at their early awakening quickly dissipated and they stumbled out into the light among the trees, making the trek to the top of the mountain. Monster silhouettes littered the precipice. They trod sleepily over to the soft and comforting figure at the head of it all and gently tapped her arm.
“Oh! My child, you have joined us! I had wished to let you regain your strength, but I am glad you are with us to enjoy the rising of your sun.” Frisk leaned into the warm woollen embrace of the goat monster.
“BROTHER! YOU ARE LATE! YOU HAVE ALMOST MISSED THE WAKING OF THE SUN!” Papyrus’ eternally enthusiastic voice rose above the gasps and wonderment of the crowd.
“nah bro, i was just letting you see it first. yknow, i was wondering when the sun would rise… then it dawned on me.” Papyrus’ aggravated screams shattered the peace as he stormed over to greet Undyne and Alphys, who were making their way over to where Frisk stood in their mother’s embrace.
“Sup nerds!” Somehow, even Undyne managed to maintain some level of vigour at this early hour. Frisk was impressed. Alphys, however, looked to be even worse off than they were- her glasses were perched crookedly on her nose, and her faded plaid pyjama sleeves were drooped in a very kawaii fashion over her gnawed-on claws. Frisk shot the scientist a sympathetic glance and plopped down into the grass, letting their eyelids slip shut as the voices of their friends lulled them into a half-awake stupor.
“hey, kid.” Their eyes shot open, startled, until they noticed the comforting presence of their friendly neighborhood skeleton at their side. “you seem… bone tired.” They let out a breathy approximation of a laugh, slowly coming back out of their exhausted haze. They glanced uneasily around at the ever-growing crowd of monsters. “c'mon. you look like you’d rather not be here, and i can’t blame ya.” He extended a bony hand and gently heaved them to their feet. To his mild surprise, their grip tightened slightly around his fingers and they gently swung their conjoined hands. They hummed as they walked down the winding path, passing by the tents and other such makeshift shelters that littered the sparsely forested mountainside. Sans glanced down at the small, quiet human beside him- were all humans this small and quiet? he didn’t think so- and asked “what’re you singing, kid?”
They blinked owlishly up at him before responding (he couldn’t help but feel a flicker of pride that the kid was talking more. in the beginning, they'd barely spoken at all, but after making new friends in the underground he’d noticed they had started to open up a bit more) “do you remember the statue in the rain in waterfall?" "yeah- why?"
"If you give it an umbrella, a music box starts to play.” Sans thought back to the weathered stone figure, enduring the perpetual downfall that plagued Waterfall. Somehow, in all his aimless meanderings, trying to find new life in the underground hell, he’d never thought to give it an umbrella. This kid was something else, he knew that much. Something else entirely.
“maybe when we go back to get Pap’s stuff, you can show me.” Their eyes brightened a bit and they nodded, tugging him along as they wandered on the face the new adventure.
The rest of the day was comprised mainly of exploring the mountainside and surrounding forests, and rigging up an abundance of tents with the enormous sheets that Asgore had brought up from New Home. Frisk, of course, delighted in repurposing a particularly satiny sheet into a cape. This was marvelous fun until they managed to get Papyrus tangled in the other end of it and sent him tumbling down the slope. They apologised profusely and decided that perhaps taking the sheet-cape off would be a good idea.
"REALLY, HUMAN! I AM FINE! I, THE GREAT PAPYRUS, AM MUCH TOO STRONG TO BE INJURED BY A SILLY FALL!" Frisk still hovered anxiously over him, following him around until Toriel eventually called them back to their shared tent for dinner and a bedtime story. At this, Papyrus dashed off to find Sans for his bedtime story, and Frisk soon drifted off, nestled snugly in their blankets and listening to the quiet hum of Toriel's storytelling. As they sunk deeper into their dreamland, they felt a loving paw brush their bangs away from their forehead.
"Goodnight, my child."
And then they were asleep.