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Undertale: Training Wheels

by Tempo

~ ~ ~

A new world rolled by the car window. It looked like the old one, just with the Underground spread on top like weird peanut butter. You'd looked at plenty of store windows, but never with a merhorse flexing at his own reflection. You'd seen plenty of sidewalks, but never with jelly creatures jiggling down them. You'd ridden in plenty of cars, but never with a purple-robed goat monster steering. You'd sat next to plenty of other kids, but never with an actual goat kid, his fluffy paws tapping through a Tetris game.

Nothing crazy had happened in the last few months, which was nice. Normal life used to float between boring and gloomy. Now, you had a pretty cool normal. Propping your chin on your hand, you stared out the window.

At a stop light, Toriel glanced to you. "My child, I have noticed that you frequently squint. Is it possible you need glasses?"

You blinked, then shrugged. "I dunno. I've always seen this way, so it's hard to tell."

She nodded and returned her eyes to the road. "I believe there is a test."

With an amused snicker, Asriel rolled his eyes. "Mom, don't assign Frisk tests when we're not even at school."

Her ears rose a little as she tried to see him in the rear-view mirror. "My child, it is not that kind of-- Oh, you are joking."

With a musical giggle, he stuck out his little pink tongue.

The corners of your mouth twitched toward a smile. "Well, he's making puns. I guess he really is your kid."

"I had always suspected he was." She turned a corner toward the school. "I am lucky to have such amusing children." Her large, fluffy hand tipped back through the gap between the two front seats.

Asriel flopped his hand onto hers.

After hesitating for half a second, you realized they were waiting for you to join in whatever this dorky maneuver was called. The little goat guy's eyebrows strained to point you in the direction of joining in. Your mom just waited, in no hurry to get her hand back. You reached and touched their silk-furred paws, which meant everybody could go back to sitting normally. Belonging shone somewhere deep in your chest, heating your cheeks up into a blush. Having two goats want to give a slow-mo high-five filled you with determination.

Toriel's mom-mobile puttered into the school parking lot. You and Asriel waited until she turned off the car to unbuckle your seatbelts, then hopped out.

The sun glowed behind one of the few clouds in the sky. The lawn shimmered jade green. Construction-paper art projects shaded the school's windows with a whirl of colorful shapes.

Asriel latched onto your sleeve to wait for Toriel, but she waved you onward. She rounded the car to open the back hatch. So the two of you headed around the building to the shining glass structure behind it.

Asgore straightened at the entrance and waved to you. He was wearing a pink floral-print shirt with only a small amount of dirt on it.

With a happy bleat, the young monster trotted over and hopped up to hug his dad around the chest.

"Oof." Asgore grunted at the impact, but caught the flying goat in his arms. He looked the kid over with exaggerated curiosity. "How strange. I do not remember planting any fluffy, white jumping beans..."

"Hey!" The little goat guy snickered as he clung to his dad.

"Hmm." He flopped the small monster onto his shoulder. "Looks to be a climbing variety."

Asriel squeaked in upside-down surprise, his ears dangling like tube socks hung out to dry.

You smirked. They were kinda dorks, but you liked them. You hugged the blonde-bearded goat too, but without any gymnastics.

Holding your bro up with one arm, the larger monster's hand tousled your hair with gentle affection. "And now a flourishing Frisk has cropped up. Howdy." He always said the word a little like a question, like he was waiting for an answer.

"Hi, Dad." You latched onto his arm. "So how come you say 'howdy'?"

"Do humans no longer say 'howdy'?"

"Not unless they're a cowboy."

"A cow boy?" Asgore tilted his head.

"You're always saying he's a Goat Dad." A floppy green sleeve flailed out from behind the king of the monsters. "Isn't that almost the same?"

Your dad bounced the squirming small goat kid on his shoulder, summoning a giant squeak. "I could go back to saying the full 'How do ye?' instead."

You snickered. "That's even more old-timey."

"Is it?" He set Asriel down. One of the boy's ears stayed flipped over and the larger monster flipped it back to its default setting. "What would you say?"

You shrugged. "Yo."

Straightening his shirt, your best friend looked at you like you were trying to play a prank on Dad instead of helping him sound cooler. "Kings and queens can't say 'yo!'"

Your hand swept out in a royal sort of way. "'Sup, my subjects?"

Before you could finish updating Goat Dad, Asriel pointed at the mysterious power tool you'd seen from the car. "What's that thing?"

"Oh." He picked up a contraption that looked halfway between a chainsaw and a sawfish. "Alphys took me to investigate the hardwares store--" He pronounced the new vocab word very clearly, as if he didn't want you to miss it. "--and we purchased this clever device."

You snickered to your best friend. "Guess we know how Dad cuts his beard."

The large goat monster smiled and shook his head at you. "It is a hedge-trimmer. I will be using it on the bushes around the school. It is much faster than garden shears. You might say it is...cutting-hedge technology." His eyebrows waggled, subtle as an "applause" sign.

Asriel snorted.

Groaning, you pressed a hand to your face. It was best not to encourage this kind of behavior in parents.

Leading you into the misty indoor jungle of the greenhouse, Asgore showed you how to tell if the pea pods were ready, then headed back to the front door. You helped Asriel pick some peas, but you couldn't find a bag and had to use the front of his shirt. This exposed his fluffy, white tummy, which you only resisted tickling with a lot of determination. Besides, it would have made him drop all the peas.

With the whir of the fans and the rows of leafy plants, you didn't notice right away that Toriel and Asgore had both ended up at the front of the greenhouse. And they were actually talking to each other.

Without a word, you took Asriel by both nub horns and rotated his small goat frame to look at your parents.

His snowy white eyebrows went up. "What'd you think they're talking about?"

"I dunno." Still using his horns like tiny joysticks, you steered him out of the walkway and behind a row of planters. "But they'll probably stop talking about it if they see us watching."

Crouched to about stem-height, the two of you spied on the Goat Parents from behind the peas.

You couldn't hear what they were saying, but the conversation sounded friendly. Asgore pointed at the hedge-trimmer. Toriel's quiet chuckle echoed through the greenhouse.

"Wow, she's actually laughing." Leaf-green eyes widened in mild disbelief. "I wonder what he said."

A suspicion snuck up on you. You sighed and shook your head. "I think he told her that same 'cutting-hedge' joke."

"You think so?" He glanced at you. "I thought you were never supposed to tell the same joke twice in a row."

You shook your head. "Dad jokes don't follow the rules."

He gave you a serious nod, standing there with a shirt full of peas, then went back to spying.

You did the same. You still couldn't hear them, but you could see their fuzzy muzzles nodding at each other, as if they knew the rhythm of how the other talked. While Toriel didn't laugh again, she did hide her mouth with her paw a couple times, the same way she did when she tried to hide a smile. For his part, Asgore mostly just brushed dirt off his gardening clothes, or tried to anyway.

Seeing your mom willing to talk with your dad felt encouraging. Maybe everybody had been right about letting them solve their problems. Well, not everyone. Undyne had suggested you fight them in a duel where if they lost they had to get married, but you were pretty sure they'd never agree to that. Maybe they just needed to take forever to get back together, like two fluffy continents smashing into each other over a zillion years. You hoped your species didn't go extinct by then. You wanted to see. They were so nice to you that you really wanted to see what it was like when they were nice to each other. It'd be like some kind of niceness combo attack.

As cover for your spying, you and Asriel had to keep picking the pea pods. You soon had an abnormal number of them. Finally, he made you stop because he was worried about stretching his shirt.

Soon, the adults finished talking. After finding you a cardboard box to hold all the peas, Asgore took everyone on a tour of the greenhouse.

The monster prince studied a green pumpkin as round and small as his muzzle. "The pumpkins are looking good."

Toriel folded her hands before her and nodded. "Before long, we will be able to make pumpkin rings."

Asriel's tail twitched in excitement. "Nice."

"What are those?" You imagined a monster fair with a very sticky ring-toss booth.

All three monsters blinked at you.

The small goat lifted a paw, palm up. "The surface world doesn't have pumpkin rings? How is that even possible."

Toriel switched to teacher mode. "You slice a pumpkin into rings, dredge them in flour and spices like cloves, ginger, and nutmeg, then coat them in batter and fry them in oil. I like to serve them with my cinnamon-butterscotch dipping sauce."

That actually sounded pretty good. Snails hadn't even snuck into the recipe.

Your dad's ears popped up. He looked like he wished he'd taken notes.

Asriel crossed his arms. "Wait. Frisk, how do humans eat pumpkins?"

"In pies, mostly." You knew people ate it other ways, but couldn't think of any on the spot.

Your mom nodded in approval.

Azzie gripped the edge of the table the pumpkin plants were potted on, bouncing up a little for a better view. Then he spun and looked up to his parents with excitement. "When can we have them?"

Her soft white eyebrows rose with a patient look. "All in good time, my child."

The tour continued. Over the past several months, Asgore had been working hard on his grafted prune tree. Now, it stood tall at the heart of the school greenhouse, at least twice as tall as you. The trunk and branches grew in inky squiggles. A blizzard of tiny blossoms bloomed. Flowers grew in splashes of color, each branch a different combination of white, purple, and red.

"Oh my." Toriel put a paw to her cheek. "That is certainly...unique." She looked to her ex-husband. "What kind of magic is it?"

"It is not magic." He rubbed blunt claws together. "Well, I helped it grow with magic. But it is just an ordinary tree with branches of other ordinary trees grafted on." His hand brushed along a branch. They had all been installed just above horn height.

Asriel peered up at the branches. "I can't really tell where they end and start."

The king of all monsterkind looked up from trying to dust the bark from his finger fur, then down at his son. "Would you like to see up close?"

The goat kid gripped his little fluffy hands together and nodded.

Bending over, Asgore scooped him up and plopped him on his broad shoulders.

Toriel smiled down at you. Her voice rang like soothing music. "Would you also like to be picked up, Frisk?"

A blush warmed your cheeks. Out of habit, you tried to get your expression to chill out, even though you knew she wouldn't tease you for feeling shy. "Uh, sure."

The queen of the monsters crouched beside you. Her hands took steady hold of your hips. In one smooth motion, she lifted you easily, like you weighed nothing, but gently, like you were worth everything.

You watched as your sneakers left the floor. A giddy rush followed you up. You tried your best to keep your body relaxed, so you'd be easier to lift. Not that she seemed to have any trouble. Toriel and Asgore were such polite goat monsters that, even living with them, you sometimes forgot they were way bigger than you.

She placed you on her shoulders. Her hands dropped down to hold your ankles, for safety.

You wiggled to keep from sitting on her ears. This high off the floor, everything looked different. Instead of a forest of stems, the plants formed a leafy canopy. You reached up and traced a finger along the rubber hoses of the water sprinklers, which were normally distant mint-green lines vining through the rafters. You wouldn't want to actually be this tall because you could never fit through a door again, but it was cool to try out.

An equally-high-up Goat Bro grinned at you, stubby fangs sparkling like a toothpaste commercial. "Hey look, Frisk." His arm stuck out, level with your shoulder. "We're still the same height."

You rolled your eyes, but he seemed happy you had copied something he did. That made you sit up a little straighter on Toriel's shoulders. Your hands adjusted their grip on her horns. Warm and smooth, they were just long enough to be good handles, without being so long that they'd easily poke you. When you first started living with the Dreemurrs, you'd worried that their horns would hurt if they got pulled, like your hair, but after some encouragement you'd verified they were pretty sturdy.

Asgore led everybody in a wide circle around the tree and started giving the two of you a tour of all its different parts. He pointed out which blossoms were which, even the ones that looked basically the same to you: almond (barely pink), cherry (pretty pink), peach (super pink), and so on.

Meanwhile, you watched the Dreemurrs as much as the flowers. Their velvety noses wiggled if they got too strong of a sniff. It was pretty cute.

Once you'd all made a lap, the adults deposited you and your bro on the floor. Toriel had been very careful with you, but you still felt all bubbly inside, like a shaken-up soda. You got lots of those fizzy sorts of feelings since the Dreemurrs adopted you. You liked the feelings; you just didn't always know what to do with them. It took some getting used to. Just like how seeing the greenhouse from a normal height seemed strange for a moment, until you got used to it. You were glad you didn't transform; it had to be like that all the time.

Still checking out the tree, your mom huffed a little sigh of appreciation, like she did when the whole class had read the assignment. "I think it's very lovely."

"Thank you." At the complement, the blonde-bearded monster seemed to get even taller. "I have even thought of a name."

Toriel, Asriel, and you exchanged a concerned glance.

The monster king stepped forward, too busy gesturing at the tree to notice your concern. His broad chest puffed with pride. "I call it: the Multiple-Fruits Tree."

You groaned. "Dad..."

He turned, curious. "What is wrong, my child?"

Asriel rubbed small white paws together, then placed one on his dad's arm. "Frisk and I were talking, and we think from now on you should ask us when you want to name things."

"Oh? It seemed a very apt name to me." He blinked, apparently surprised the tree could have any other name. "I suppose we could call it something different, if you had a better idea someday."

"Tree of a Hundred Fruits." You answered almost before he asked.

He stroked his beard and contemplated the plant. "But it only has a dozen so far..."

Asriel entered the conversation with a little hop of excitement. "The Crafty-Grafty Prune Tree?"

"Oh." He tipped a wide, fuzzy had at the colorful creation. "Well, only the plums can be prunes, and even then only if they are dried."

"Infini-fruit Tree. Fruit-Salad Tree." You counted on your fingers. "Variety-Pack Tree. Variety-Snack Tree. Ultra-Fruit Tree. Everlasting Fruit-Blast Tree."

Your bro nodded at your excellent suggestions. "Bouquet Tree. Rainbow Tree. Cornucopia Tree. Paradise Tree. Absolute God of Hyper-Fruit Tree."

"Oh!" Toriel's paw popped up, like a student's in class. "The Jam-Packed Tree."

The king of the Underground stood silent for a moment, stunned by your bountiful harvest of really good names.

You cleared your throat. Probably best to change the subject and give him time to recover. "I like the tree, though. Maybe you could put bananas on it next." You always liked bananas. They were a considerate fruit, since they went through the trouble of growing a wrapper and didn't drip juice all over.

Your dad cleared his throat. "Alas, I am afraid that wouldn't work. Bananas plants are very large herbs, not trees. And the fruits on this tree are all what are called 'stone fruits' because they have a large seed in the middle. Bananas would not attach properly. They are too different."

Asriel shrugged. "That's too bad."

You felt bad for the banana branch, even though it didn't exist. You almost got erased from existence lots of times, so you couldn't really hold not existing against it.

Once the greenhouse had been toured, Asgore offered to make some tea, as usual. Your mom hesitated, and you braced for her to make an excuse to leave, as usual. After trying on a few different facial expressions, she settled on awkward. Then she nodded. "We do have time, I suppose."

Your dad, as surprised as anyone, stood there like a big awkward goat for a second. Clearly, he hadn't planned this far.

With your parents now stuck staring at each other, you shrugged at Asriel, hoping he'd know how to restart them.

The little goat guy stopped looking back and forth between his parents and shrugged back at you. "C'mon, Frisk. We'll go fill up the kettle."

You didn't see why that would be a two-person job, but you let him lead you inside. Once a warm, fluffy goat hand grabbed onto yours, it was tough to let go.

Several seconds later, the Goat Parents followed so they could be awkward in Asgore's cottage instead of in his greenhouse.

Everybody hopped into the usual chairs, except for Toriel, who had no usual chair and stood around considering which of the potted plants to move. She set her tote bag on the table. The bag had a cartoon snail whose shell was a shipping box, with the word "escargot" printed on it.

Asgore measured scoops of tea. Between each spoonful, he glanced at Toriel, as if she were an alien mom who might teleport back to the mothership at any time.

Somewhere deep in a pocket, her phone beeped and blooped a chipper tune. "Oh!" After a second or so of searching her robes, she located the old, blocky mobile phone. She almost sounded relieved. "Please excuse me." She flipped it open with two careful claws. "Yes, this is Queen Toriel. Oh, for the documentary? I suppose I do have a moment."

You always thought a queen would talk on a phone covered in diamonds or something, but hers just had a scratch-and-sniff cupcake sticker on the back. You figured that was even better.

Her voice went into teacher mode. "Well, for the first eight hundred years, most of our fabric was made from spider silk..." She ducked out the door.

Watching her go, Asgore handed you a cup of tea. It smelled like dried peaches and had about as much milk as hot chocolate did.

You had recommended Toriel as the monster to talk to human historians for most of their questions. She seemed the least likely to challenge them to a game show contest or get distracted talking about anime.

Toriel wandered by the window, still explaining the history of monsterkind. You liked watching your family talk on the phone because they had to flop their floppy ears over them, like that painting of the melting clocks.

Late summer sun streamed into the little cottage and shimmered in your teacup. You sat back, careful not to squish the vines growing around the window.

Beside you, a little goat guy plunked a sugar cube into his tea. Leaf-green eyes peered down into the cup as the shape dissolved into a lump, then disappeared. Sunlight caught in his head-fluff and glowed as he passed you the sugar bowl, which was shaped like a blossom.

Asgore poured himself a cup and sat down in his extra-large chair. "I have heard of the surface-world tradition of parents teaching their children to ride a velocipede."

"Velocipede?" The little goat guy looked at you with a confused smile.

"I've never heard of that." You shrugged. Monsters got all sorts of funny ideas about the human world. You weren't sure where to start unraveling this one. "Maybe it's like a velociraptor?"

Asriel's delicate white eyebrows shot up. He clattered down his tea, then his arms went up in an X, like a soccer ref saying a goal was no good. "Uh-uh. No way."

"Now, don't be hasty." The larger monster set down his floral-patterned teapot. "You haven't even ridden it yet."

"Dad!" The small goat flung his arms out to the sides. "It'll eat me!"

"What?" The king of all monsterkind tilted his head in confusion, snowy ears dangling.

You stuck out one hand in a sort of velociraptor gesture and then had the other one hop on like a rider. "As long as you're sitting on the raptor, it can't eat you. Probably." You weren't sure how you'd never heard of riding on dinosaurs, but it sounded amazing. "Unless it has lots of legs, like a centipede." You knew what you were drawing next for art class.

With a small squeak of panic, the smaller goat's green eyes darted around the room, already on the lookout for the deadly velocipede.

Your dad put a hand on the kid's shoulder "Asriel, please calm down. A velocipede cannot eat you. It's a machine."

In your mind, the hundred-legged dinosaur became a hundred-legged dinosaur robot. This creature was sounding cooler all the time. "I'll ride on it, if you won't. You can ride my bike."

"Ah yes. That's what you call them nowadays." He snapped his fingers. "The velocipede is a 'bike.'"

The ferocious robot in your imagination transformed into a bicycle. "Oh." You turned to your bro. "Azzie, I was actually the one who told him that." You hadn't recognized the idea because it'd mutated so much. "I've been saying how you need to ride a bike because it's how kids get around the surface of the Earth."

"I already have legs." He bounced them one at a time. "Can't I just walk?"

"If everybody just walked everywhere, we'd never get anywhere." You hesitated, not sure that was totally true. "Or, at least, we'd never get very far from home before we had to turn around. That's why we invented the wheel." Your hands made a large, round gesture in front of him. "Wheels are the future, Asriel."

He rolled his eyes at you. "I know what wheels are, Frisk. Mom drove us here in a car."

Asgore tilted his horns in the direction of the window, where a muffled phone conversation could be heard. "Your mother is a busy monster. And I think you're grown-up enough to handle going where you want." A fond smile spread across his bearded muzzle.

Expression brightening a few shades, Asriel considered the idea. "Huh."

You bumped him with your elbow. "And I want to go on cool bike adventures with you because you're my best friend."

Your best friend's muzzle tipped down under the weight of the praise. His floppy ears swung forward and hid his face a little. "Okay, maybe."

Brushing your bangs out of your face, you reached over and squeezed his hand. "It'll be fun."

He squeezed yours back. "It does sound kinda fun..."

~ ~ ~

Half an hour later, you stood in the school parking lot. Asriel had made a bunch of laps around, to the point that your parents had decided to watch by the car, so as not to crowd him.

The young monster wobbled to a stop on his brand-new bicycle, looking concerned that it might zoom away without permission. Training wheels sprouted out of its sides, the size, shape, and color of some lemon tarts you'd seen Toriel make once. "Umm, Frisk? Maybe I've had enough 'fun' for now."

You sighed, still holding his bike by the seat. "Azzie, you're doing fine."

His fingers wiggled on the rubber grips, like he was casting some kind of nervous spell. Toriel had strapped him into wrist guards, knee pads, elbow pads, and a rainbow-swirled helmet, so he looked like some kind of plastic-armored goat knight. "Maybe we should try quilting instead?"

"Only if you're going to quilt up a magic carpet." You were 99% sure flying carpets weren't real. "Look, you're already on the bike." You looked him over. "And you're wearing every kind of safety gear."

"I'm just saying it's really nice quilting weather." He gripped the handlebars, then looked down at the mysterious vehicle. "Don't these blow up on TV all the time? Or start on fire?"

"What? I think you're thinking of motorcycles? They're different."

Glancing at you, he lifted his eyebrows. "How different?"

"Well, this doesn't have a motor, for one..." You looked the bike over, but none of the parts looked very explosive. "Or anything that could even start on fire." He didn't look very reassured, so you decided to change the topic to one that didn't involve explosions and fire. "How are the shoes working out?"

Asriel cast a glum look down at them. "Fine, I suppose. I like that they light up." He bounced his foot on the pedal, making the LEDs twinkle. He'd been unsure about the whole concept of shoes, but after putting them on, he'd done a stompy sort of dance to keep activating them, which you had tried very hard not to laugh at. You were pretty sure it was the least sneaky thing someone had ever done in sneakers. "Is it even safe to ride a bike with ones like yours?"

At first, you figured he meant the LEDs. Toriel had agreed the light-up sneakers were the best because she thought the lights were a safety feature. After thinking about it, you figured they basically were. Then you realized what he meant. "Oh, the laces? Yeah, people do it all the time."

"People with weird human hands, you mean." A fluffy paw spread toward you.

"I can't help it that everything on the surface is human-compatible." Still holding onto the back of the bike seat, you pressed your free hand to his. His was about the same size as yours, but his fingers were a lot thicker and way too silky to grip shoelaces. "I didn't think you'd ever get the yellow sparkles off your toes."

"You didn't tell me that streets get painted!" He'd only agreed to shop for shoes in the first place because of the Great Sparkly Goat Bro incident.

You shrugged. "The lines have to come from somewhere."

"You're the ambassador. You should tell them to use magic, like normal people." He panted, his little pink tongue lolling down over blunt fangs. "Whew. I kinda want a drink of water."

"I'll get it."

The little goat guy moved to follow you, then realized he was trapped on the two-wheeled contraption. He hadn't figured out how to get off yet. "What do I do?"

"Stay on the bike. I'm coming right back."

His foot bounced on the ground like a nervous bunny. The light-up lights twinkled green.

You rolled your eyes. "You'll be fine."

You hustled to the car and grabbed the water bottle. On the other side, you heard the Goat Parents having an actual conversation. You didn't mean to listen in, but hearing the two of them talk was new and exciting, even if they still sounded a little uncomfortable. You couldn't really see their faces because of the car roof, but you could make out what they were saying pretty well.

Toriel had the windows of her car tinted to keep you from straining your eyes, but her robes were bright enough purple to shine through anyway. "The history humans wanted to know about Mount Ebott. Did you know their legends said those who climbed the mountain would never return? To think that we had such a fearsome reputation while we were so scared of the humans."

Asgore hummed in agreement. "Old grudges, like old cactuses, eventually hurt all who carry them." He stroked his beard in a thinking sort of way. "Still... I often wonder what Frisk was doing on the mountain at all."

A musical little chuckle rang from her muzzle. "You may have noticed the child is both curious and headstrong."

"And not one to break a promise. If I knew of a very dangerous place, I would make my children promise not to go there."

"Children do not always listen." Sadness touched her tone. "Even when we have their best interests at heart."

A long pause drifted between them. He raised a question in one heavy paw. "But why would Frisk go to a place from which no one returns?"

Even only seeing the bottoms of her ears wobbling, you could tell she was shaking her head in disapproval. "The same reason no parents have appeared and objected to our adoption. Even in a world of sunshine, not every childhood is happy."

"I know." He drummed blunt claws on the metal of the car door. "I just wish to know if we have more to watch for."

Your mom sighed. "We each have quite enough of the past haunting us. We have no need to visit those ghosts on each other."

Asgore sighed. "You are right, of course."

"The surface world did not properly appreciate Frisk. Our kingdom likewise lost track of Asriel all those years he was suffering. Both are in dire need of spoiling." She propped her paws on her hips. "And I am just the monster for the task."

Hearing them talk left you feeling all jumbled up inside. Sure, your life before making all these monster friends hadn't been great, but you didn't like being reminded of its non-greatness. At the same time, Toriel was a super good mom. You summoned up all your determination and resolved to be a good kid.

You locked down your expression and lifted the handle as you shut the car door, so it would stay quiet. Then, like some kind of forgetful ninja, you had to silently open it again to get the water bottle.

As you walked back over, Asriel was adjusting the straps of his helmet to allow his ears to flop free in the breeze. The rainbow streamers on his handlebars danced in the breeze. The whole bike seemed to be mostly made of glitter, which Toriel thought was a safety feature and Asgore thought was fashionable enough for a young prince.

You handed him the water bottle.

A quick white claw popped it open. He squirted a sparkling stream of water into his round muzzle, like some kind of adorable fountain statue. A few glugs later, he took a breathing break. "What took you so long?"

You tried to think of how to explain the mix of feelings you'd just felt, but hadn't come up with any way to explain by the time your shoulders shrugged. "Why? Are you melting?"

"Probably. And you left me here on this dangerous machine." He handed you back the bottle.

You stuck it into the water bottle holder, which made his fuzzy white eyebrows pop up. "You'll be fine." You gripped the back of the seat again. "Ready?"

"I guess..." His nervous cotton-tail twitched against your wrist.

"Okay." Pushing him forward to start again, you snickered. "And stop wiggling your tail. You're tickling me."

Together, you took a few more laps around the parking lot. His fluffy ears flapped in the soft breeze.

In spite of freaking out, your best friend was doing pretty well. His big problem was just that he kept freezing up, but he seemed to be improving. Sometimes, you could even let go for a second or two. The only time he really had trouble was going up the slight incline of the parking lot.

As you jogged with the bike in the same orbit in the parking lot, your mind wandered. Life was pretty great now. It had taken a lot of hard work (and also falling into a secret world of monsters), but you'd managed to piece together a really cool family. The Dreemurrs, being warm and fuzzy creatures, were good at making you feel all warm and fuzzy. You wanted to keep that going.

Lost in thought, you were surprised by a particularly bad bike-wobble. A training wheel zoomed right under your next step. Your leg shot backward. You tripped forward. With your hand still on the seat of the bike, this meant you gave it a hard shove before you could let go.

Asriel rocketed forward. "Hey!" He looked back, saw you more than a few steps behind and froze even stiffer than before.

Already out of reach, you tried to scramble after him. No luck. The lesson was going downhill fast--and the bike even faster.

The hapless goat hurtled toward a row of hedges. "Aaah!" The front wheel of his bike smacked into the curb and the back bounced up, hard. With a bleat of panic, he got launched over the handlebars.

You watched in horror as a defenseless Goat Bro was catapulted into a shrub. Twigs and branches clattered against his helmet. He stuck into it really far, with just his tail and legs poking out.

The bike, still upright, bounced back and rolled lazily away. Those training wheels were doing their job.

You spirited past the bike and jumped the curb. In less than a second, you were by the exposed half of the struggling Goat Bro.

Sneakers blinking like green ambulance lights, he kicked his legs in the air in ineffective panic. A fearful voice rang from somewhere under layers of leaves. "Frisk, help!"

"Hold on. I've got you." Okay, good. You hadn't killed your brother with a shrub. Ignoring as you got kicked by light-up shoes, you grabbed him around the waist and pulled.

"Ow-ow-ow-ow!" Asriel struggled against your efforts. "Quit it!"

Your dad had done too good of a job growing these bushes. They were really sturdy. "You're stuck."

"I know!" A few more kicks did nothing to help him, since the angle he was at meant only the toes of his shoes could jab the ground, leaving little dents in the grass. "Get me unstuck!"

"I will. Just...stay there." You turned to shout for help, but goat monster reinforcements were already on the way.

A worried Toriel bustled across the parking lot. She also tried to pull him out the way he'd gone in. He wiggled so much that she set him back down.

You thought for a second. Maybe it'd be easier to get him out if you cut out a big cube of shrub around him. That would be a good start. At least then he could sit down. "Hold on. I'll get Dad's new chainsaw." You turned to head back to the greenhouse.

"What?!"

Toriel stopped you with a gentle paw on your shoulder. "My child, we will not need a chainsaw."

"Oh." You tried to think of non-chainsaw ways of freeing Asriel. "Are you going to burn him loose?" You didn't think Goat Bros were especially flammable, but you didn't want to find out.

Looking up from examining the foliage, your mom shook her head at you. "My child, please."

The entire bush shook as the nougat of goat inside struggled. His voice held a mix of fear and frustration. "Frisk, don't help anymore!"

The double-dose of Dreemurr disapproval shorted out your plans. You found yourself stuck in place, not wanting to mess up worse. Toriel poked around in the branches, but it all played out in front of you like a movie.

Finally, Asgore arrived. He took a quick look from above. "The branches are just stuck on his helmet." His gaze met your mom's. "Lift him out slowly."

She nodded, then grabbed the small goat around the middle and started picking him up.

You reached out to help, then remembered you weren't supposed to get in the way. You balled up your fists and yanked them back.

Asgore stuck his hands into the bushes from the top. You could hear twigs snapping and scratching on plastic. Working as a team, the king and queen extracted their son from the tangle of shrubbery.

They set him down on the ground. He could stand, but he looked about as wobbly now as he had on the bike. Otherwise, he looked okay. A bit leafy, but you'd seen him leafier. All that plastic armor must have protected him.

The Goat Parents brushed him off, looked him over, and, not finding anything broken or missing, hugged him.

You really wanted to hug him too, to say you were sorry, but you stayed right where you were.

Asriel squeezed his eyes shut tight, as if really trying not to cry. Judging by the tear stains on his mom's robe, he wasn't having much luck.

The Dreemurrs were distracted trying to comfort him and analyze the bike wreckage. Asgore explained that this was to be expected when trying something new. Toriel reassured the young monster that she could find even more safety gear. You kept your mouth shut, not knowing what to say.

For the first time in months, and without really thinking, you reached into your SAVE. Of course, it didn't work. You found only the faintest hint of old TV static, and now it wasn't a world you could reach for, just a thin layer. Barely enough to make your fingertips tingle. You didn't try to load the SAVE. It probably wouldn't work anyway, but Asriel had made you promise you'd only try in an emergency. This wasn't an emergency. You just felt bad. You'd told him he'd be okay, but then messed up and let him down. You wanted him to trust you. You wanted them all to trust you. No big deal. You'd just have to make it up to him. To everybody. Even if you had to save all of reality again, you'd do it.

~ ~ ~

In the dim living room, you stared at the bandage on Asriel's snoot. And not because it had glow-in-the-dark stars on it. He looked like he'd mostly recovered from being stuffed into a shrub, but you couldn't be sure. Monster biology was weird. For all you knew, his magic could go flying out the scratch on his nose. Since you couldn't SAVE anymore, you'd have to keep him safe with pure determination. That meant careful observation.

Meanwhile, the young monster watched cartoons with a thoughtful expression. "Okay, so if humans didn't know much about monsters before you broke the barrier, how come this show has a monster as the hero?"

You turned to the TV. "The hero? You mean Ms. Frizzle? She's a human, I think." The two of you had started watching The Magic School Bus lately. Toriel had discovered the show while making a lesson plan about the science of pies. You liked that it was a show that for sure wouldn't make Asriel cry.

He shook his head. Bright colors from the screen painted his fur subtle shades. "No, the bus."

"The Magic School Bus..." You pointed at the animated automobile. "...is a monster?"

"Well, yeah. The bus is obviously alive and uses magic and transforms." His fluffy fingers tipped toward the TV. "Totally a monster."

You considered the idea that Magic School Buses might be zooming around the Underground, discovering all sorts of science facts. "...Are Magic School Buses real?"

He blinked and sat up straighter, then turned to you. "I don't think so?" His narrow shoulder shrugged. "I've never met one."

From what you knew about monsters, it was possible. You wondered if you should text your Assistant Special Envoy for Monsters. She'd probably want them to wear license plates. You hadn't seen any, though, so it could probably wait until your next meeting. You scribbled a quick note in your notebook, along with a sketch in case someone at the United Nations hadn't watched The Magic School Bus.

You turned your attention back to your Goat Bro. "Do you need another ice pack?"

"No, I'm okay." Ice clattered together in the bag on the knee that had whacked on the handlebars on his way into the bush.

"Do you want another glass of water?"

"I still have this one." He pointed to the half-full plastic cup on the coffee table.

"Is there anything else you need?"

"Not really." He shook his head, ears wobbling.

You leaned over the armrest to observe him from a few inches closer. "Are you sure you're okay?"

A giant groan escaped the small monster. "Frisk, I'm fine."

"I'm just being careful." Your hands did the slow, double karate-chop that sometimes convinced people how serious you were. "You have a bad habit of dying."

He flung his arms to the sofa cushions. "You die just as much!"

"Okay, that's true." Nodding, you kept watching him for signs of disintegration. "But I'm just making sure because we're out of extra lives."

"Ugh." He pressed a hand to his goaty face. "I'm just trying to watch this show. If you don't want to watch it, maybe you should see if Mom needs help?"

You'd already dusted the snail figurines and taken out the trash, but you didn't want to keep bothering him. You headed into the kitchen.

Toriel bustled around at the counter, a royal-purple apron tied above her fluffy white tail. She hummed a song you didn't know. She knew lots of those.

Trying not to get in the way, you walked up to her. "Hey Mom."

"Greetings, sweetie pie." Seeing you, she set down a bowl of fuzzy yellow Underground mushrooms, which looked like trumpets and only honked occasionally. A large, fluffy paw smoothed your hair. Her fond smile shone down at you.

You squirmed. Sometimes all this goat affection happened so suddenly that you weren't sure what to do with it. "Do you need help?"

A hand rose to her heart. "What a thoughtful child I have. Let us see..." She glanced from the chicken sizzling in a pan to the knife sitting by the veggies on the cutting board. "Hmm." The way her lips pressed together made it clear helping with either of those would be far too deadly for a kid. "Perhaps you could shell some peas?" Peas were well-known for not being very lethal.

"Okay." The peas in question were in a cardboard box in the middle of the counter, which was just far enough to be out of kid-reach. You had to climb on a chair a bit, but you managed to grab it.

Toriel returned to cutting up carrots and celery. "Your father mentioned he is now growing something called a 'snap pea.' I am not sure I want him growing something that snaps so near the school."

Getting a bowl from the cupboard, you set it on the table with the peas and got a plastic grocery bag to put the shells in. You'd recently taught the Goat Family about how plastic grocery bags were an important resource on the Earth's surface. One pod at a time, you plunked the peas into the bowl. "Snap peas don't actually snap at you. They're just crunchy."

"Ah. That does sound safer." Chuckling, she shook her head. "You children these days and your fancy new peas."

One of the peas shot out of the pod and sailed over toward the front door. You went on a side-quest to track it down. Once you found the rogue pea, though, you had no idea what to do with it, since it had been on the floor. You thought about throwing it away, but you wouldn't throw out an apple if it fell on the floor. Figuring you'd already committed, you walked to the sink and washed it before putting it in the bowl with the rest.

Her claws poked a pastry circle down into each cup of the muffin tin. "This pan for making a dozen little pies is so darling. You humans invent such marvelous things."

You decided not to tell her it was technically for cupcakes. It did make good micro-pies. Maybe muffin tins had been micro-pie tins all this time and it took monsters to unlock the secret. "You're making chicken pot pie?"

"After the day we have all had, I thought something old-fashioned would suit us." She held her breath for a moment, then tiny balls of fire appeared above her hand. The fireballs twirled down to the pan and zipped around at incredible speed. Chicken and onion sizzled. "I find a bit of fire magic helps ensure the chicken is fully cooked."

You thought it was a little weird to cook chicken just so you could put it in the oven and cook it again, but you couldn't argue with the results. You shelled more peas instead.

She tapped a wooden spoon on the rim of the pan. The tiny fireballs vanished with a fizzle. With each bob of the pan, the cooked contents dumped neatly into each of the crusts. "You do not think they have too much crust compared to filling?"

"No, they're good." From your previous encounters with it, the crust was mostly butter, so it basically disintegrated into deliciousness.

"Perhaps I could use them to teach the students about ratios..." Her face got a very mathematical look as she poured chicken broth into the still-hot pan. It hissed and made the kitchen smell even tastier.

You shelled more peas. Like the stray pea from many pods ago, a thought flew out into the room. "I feel bad that Asriel crashed."

Her quick whisking in the pan slowed. Cinnamon-red eyes flicked to you over a gentle muzzle. Her voice switched from teacher mode to mom mode. "Accidents happen, my child. You do not need to feel badly."

You nodded. "I still do, though."

"That is often the nature of feelings." Rolling out the last of the crust, she used a cookie cutter to punch out little pie lids. They formed a neat stack of flour Frisbees. "Caring is not always easy, but I have found it is worthwhile."

Feeling glum, you studied the threads that made up the tablecloth. "I told him he'd be fine."

"And he will be." She padded over. She squeezed your shoulders and kissed the top of your head. Then she took the bowl of shelled peas. "As will you."

It was probably good that she stopped you or you would've just shelled the entire box of peas. You watched her assemble the rest of the chicken pot pies. Inside, you didn't feel quite put back together.

"I am proud that you care so much about everyone, and about my son in particular." She loaded the last of the veggies into the tiny pies. "Perhaps you will feel better after some dinner."

You nodded, though you weren't really sure. Maybe you, like the pies, just needed to be filled with gravy. "Anything else you need me to do?"

"I believe I have matters well in hand." One of the weird mushrooms blew a bubbly note as she covered it in sauce. "Could you check on your brother?"

Being bounced between two goat monsters wasn't exactly what you'd hoped for, but then you weren't sure what you were hoping for exactly.

You walked back into the living room as the ending music to the cartoon played.

Asriel was fiddling with his ice pack, trying to get it to balance it on his knee. This was complicated by monsters not being able to fold completely in half.

You bent down and did it for him. "Do you need anything?"

Watching you adjust the ice pack with a tired look, he lay back on the couch. "I don't think so. I do have a surface-world question, though."

"Sure." You climbed onto the couch. Answering monster questions usually made you feel better. As an ambassador, you'd learned that even small misunderstandings could lead to pretty big mix-ups. Monsters and humans had a lot to misunderstand. One time, you'd asked for "hot cocoa" instead of "hot chocolate" and Toriel had cooked some shredded-up coconut in milk to flavor it, but that actually turned out pretty good. But for every "hot coco," you encountered about ten snail tarts.

"So, if humans have pajamas, why don't they just wear them all the time?"

You shrugged. "Sometimes, you need special clothes. Like for a fancy party."

"Pretty sure I've seen pajamas that look like a dress. And someone could make tuxedo ones. Papyrus and Sans have those tuxedo t-shirts."

"You can't explore the bottom of the ocean in pajamas, though."

He lifted both fluffy hands. "Maybe if they were scuba pajamas?"

"Nice." You picked up your notebook to sketch that important new technology.

He hit play on the TV remote. Now that monsters could check out movies from the library instead of waiting for VHS tapes to fall into the Underground from the dump, you'd been trying to get them interested in some new anime. Asriel had liked My Neighbor Totoro, so now you'd stepped it up to The Cat Returns. You figured it would be a long time before he could watch Spirited Away without getting scared, but you remained determined.

Still doodling, you had another idea. "I could put pegs on my bike and you could ride on those." Asriel was pretty light. You could totally pedal with him hanging on the back of the bike.

"Pegs?"

"They stick out from the sides and you stand on them."

"So I'd be even less attached than on a regular bike?" His white velvet nose wiggled with concern.

"Okay, how about this?" Grabbing your notebook, you sketched out a quick design for encasing an entire Goat Bro in bubble wrap. You showed it to the goat to be encased.

He studied the diagram. "Wouldn't I still fall off?"

"If you look here, you'd actually be duct-taped to the bike." You poked the pencil at that part of the plan. "It's like a seatbelt, but sticky."

His paw settled on the notebook, soft as a cotton ball, then slowly pushed it down. "Frisk, this is starting to sound like one of Mom's ideas."

A few minutes passed. Words built up inside you until they came flying out. "We don't have to ride bikes. I could teach you to rollerblade."

His gaze flicked to you for a second, then back to the TV. "Maybe?"

"Or skateboard. I don't know how, but we could learn together."

"I dunno. Can we figure it out later?"

You drew another sketch, this time of an Asriel inside a large sphere. "So you know how a hamster ball works? If we get one that's big enough, we can put you inside it."

"Ugh, Frisk. Can we just watch the movie?"

In spite of having several other suggestions for goat bro transportation, you shut your mouth and nodded. The two of you kept watching. The movie got to the part where the main character turned into a cat. You sat up. You could probably get the hang of having whiskers.

From the corner of your eye, you noticed that a small goat monster was watching you instead of the movie.

You blinked. "What?"

His green eyes narrowed. "You have that look like you're planning something."

"What look?" You touched your face, trying to feel if anything was different. "People keep telling me my face always looks the same."

"Well, they're not your bro."

You winced. You were new to having a brother, but you were pretty sure you weren't supposed to launch him into hedges.

Asriel paused the anime. His eyes stayed locked on you, not even looking away as he set down the remote. Or when it fell on the floor. He could be pretty determined too. "What are you thinking so hard about?"

You slumped back against the sofa. No point in lying to him. "I was just wondering if a human can get turned into a monster."

"Oh." He tilted his head. His ears dangled. "I'm...pretty sure that's impossible. Why would you want to be a monster anyway?" Wiggling his fingers, he used magic to float the remote off the floor. "Humans can just buy clothes and wear them. Mom has to sew a tail hole in all my pants. Remember the time Monster Kid came to school wearing a pillowcase and we had to tell him it wasn't just an armless shirt?"

You nodded. That had been one of those important monster prince duties. And monsters did have their own kinds of problems, you supposed.

"Wait." He crossed his arms. "Do you want to be a monster?"

"I dunno. I guess?"

"How come?"

"I just thought it might make it easier for you guys."

"Easier?"

"Yeah. So I'd fit in." Your hand waved in the direction of the school. "It's like Dad's tree." You waited for him to realize the same big dramatic thing as you. When he didn't, you clarified, more slowly. "The Absolute God of Hyper-Fruit Tree."

"I remember the tree." He reached out to touch your arm, then started to drop his ice pack and had to scramble to catch it. "I'm trying to figure out how this is like the tree."

"What if I'm too different to attach to you guys?" You hugged a throw pillow. "What if I'm the banana branch?"

The small goat blinked. "I don't think you're...a banana branch?"

Well, you'd said something stupid and weird. Awkwardness built up until it pushed you off the couch. The Dreemurrs were super nice and you kept causing them trouble. First you fired their adorable goat child into a bush and now you were talking like you were the one everybody should feel sorry for. "Umm... Look, never mind. I don't think I know what I'm talking about. Just take it easy out here and let me know if you need anything. I'll be in our room."

Asriel tried a couple times to say something, but trailed off both times.

You headed back to your bedroom and flopped, face-down, onto the bed.

Several minutes of laying later, Toriel padded down the hallway and paused at the door. Her claws tapped the door frame in a quiet knock. "Frisk? May I come in?"

Looking up from where you had flopped face-down on the bed, you shrugged. "Sure."

"Asriel said you were upset. Something about a banana?"

"Ugh." Unsure what to say, you buried your face in a pillow.

She strode across the room and sat next to you on the bed. Her warm hand brushed over your hair. "Do you think you could tell me what is the matter?"

If another human had touched you like that, it would have felt weird, but boss monsters looked and felt enough like giant plush toys to make it a comfortable kind of weird. "I dunno. It's silly, I guess."

"We are all silly sometimes." Her patient paw rested on your shoulder, as if you could take all the time in the world to answer.

"I just..." You sat up, though you still felt wobbly like a jelly. "I really like living with you and Asriel. I don't want to mess up."

"Have you felt that you have...messed up?" The goat tried her best to copy how you said it.

"Sometimes, yeah." You shrugged. "Like when I got distracted and let Asriel crash his bike."

"I see." A distant sadness entered her voice. "We all make mistakes, my child."

Your mouth flattened into a stubborn line. You didn't mind making mistakes, so long as you could unmake them. You sure missed having a SAVE. "I've been trying to make it easy to have me here."

"I have noticed you trying very hard to help around the house." Her cinnamon-hued eyes flicked to the living room as her tone lowered. "Though I am unsure how much more 'help' Asriel can handle."

You tried to laugh, but it came out as a weak chuckle. The effort made you slump against her. It still felt strange, being allowed to just melt into a goo against someone.

With a gentle squeeze, she pulled you into a hug. She felt warm and soft and extremely fluffy.

Faced with such extreme fluffiness, you couldn't help feeling a little better. Before you realized, you were hugging her too. Toriel's hugs had a sort of gravitational pull like that.

A contented sigh breezed from her, sounding funny with your ear pressed against her chest. "My child, do you remember the day we met?"

You nodded. The smooth fabric of her robe bunched up under your chin.

Her hand patted on your back, really carefully, like you were breakable. "And how I asked you to stay with me, even then?"

"But I refused." A twinge of guilt twanged in your chest. You still felt kinda bad about leaving even though it hurt her feelings. It had worked out, but still.

"Yes. You are a most...tenacious child." Toriel placed a warm paw on your shoulder. "Have you thought about why you didn't stay then?"

"A little." Okay, more than a little. A lot. You just hadn't made a lot of progress. "I talked with the therapist about it..."

Her silky-soft thumb brushed the hair from your eyes as she looked down into them. "You can tell me. I promise I shan't be offended."

You shrugged. "It was just too weird. Why would somebody want me who just met me?"

A chuckle hummed in her throat, like a two-note lullaby. "I have never been able to ignore someone who needed help. It is a feeling I'm sure you understand."

"Yeah." You were a sucker for people who were in trouble.

"It was very good of you to save the world, Frisk. But you do not have to save the world to deserve a place in it. That would be very unfair. The world only needs so much saving. And, usually, any one person isn't in a position to save it. We have to work together, just like we work together in our home."

You nodded. It made sense, in that sort of interesting science fact way. Like when you learned that a blue whale weighed as much as a hundred cars. But your brain couldn't really picture something that big. Your brain had the same sort of trouble with an idea this different.

Her chin rested on top of your head. "May I tell you something I've learned about families?"

"Okay." You couldn't remember someone ever specifically explaining them, but Toriel was a teacher and a mom, so she was twice as likely to explain things as anybody else.

"A family is not a puzzle." Affection softened her words, even as they rang with surety. "You do not need to solve problems to belong."

You buried your face in her robes. The subtle scent of baked goods greeted you. Having her talk about this family stuff tugged the tangle of feelings in your chest in about a hundred directions.

"We help each other, but you are not in our family so you can work." Her embrace felt steady, but gentle, a perfect match for her tone. "You are here so we can love you and so you can love us."

Normally, breathing was something you could be trusted to figure out, but right now whenever you tried you made a sort of choking hiccup sound into your mom's robe. All this love talk was getting to you.

Her breath stirred your hair. "So, my dear Frisk, please remember that when you feel you are messing up." Her hand rubbed between your shoulders as she totally pretended not to notice all the crying you were doing. "And if you need to hear it again, I will tell you as often as you need. Asgore will also." A moment passed by, leaving a hint of mischief in her voice. "And Asriel can repeat all this word for word, I am certain, because he has been hiding by the door."

A quick bleat of surprise arose just outside the bedroom. From the corner of your eye, you saw a fuzzy white shape squirm.

Toriel sat up a bit and turned her head to the door with a soft sigh. Still holding you, she kept her tone mild, even if it was a bit amused. "My child, the prince of all monsterkind does not need to listen from a hallway."

A few quick steps brought a sheepish Goat Bro into the room, tail tucked down. "Sorry."

"It's okay." Your voice came out froggy and groggy, so you cleared your throat. A cool wetness on your cheek reminded you how much you'd been crying. You wiped your eyes with your sleeve. "You just heard us saying a bunch of corny stuff, that's all."

"That's not so bad, Frisk." His paw settled on your shoulder. "Lots of things are way worse than corn."

You looked up at him. Sometimes, even you had trouble telling a monster joke from monster confusion. This was one of those times.

Before you could wipe your eyes again for a good look at his expression, Asriel got pulled into Toriel's hug-gravity like a small, fluffy moon. He climbed on the edge of the bed beside you and latched onto you with both arms. That velvet nose pressed to the back of your neck with a happy squeak. Classic Goat Bro: he never could pass up an excuse for snuggles. He had a lot of cuddle time he missed, you supposed, being dead and a plant, so really he was just making up for that.

"Sorry for being a pain." You tried to find a way to wiggle that let you turn toward him without leaving the hug or falling on the floor. "I was just trying to make up for crashing you into a bush."

"Frisk, that's basically the least bad way we've messed up." A little snicker twitched his nose. "We didn't even make any doom holes this time."

A chuckle left your throat, sounding weird because of all the other feelings piled on top of you. Toriel and Asriel didn't seem to mind. Wrapped in Dreemurr hugs from either side, you felt warm and safe and wanted. Those feelings might be new, but they were getting more comfortable, sort of like how you'd been building up your smiling muscles the last few months. They were getting a workout right now, even. Knowing you were home filled you with determination.

~ ~ ~

A couple weeks later, Asriel had learned to ride a bike. Mostly. He still wobbled, but at least now he wobbled in the direction he wanted to go. For your first cool bicycle adventure, you and Asriel biked to Mount Ebott. Toriel called it a bug-hunting trip, but Asriel always felt too bad for the bugs you captured, so really it was just a wandering-around trip.

The landfill had been on the opposite side of Mount Ebott. This had always seemed like a good idea for stink reasons.

After half an hour of hiking up the slope, Asriel stopped to appreciate the view. Sunlight sprinkled through the gaps in the trees, dancing in his white fur. "The surface world is so amazing."

You looked out over the landfill. "If you think this is cool, just wait until we get to a view that isn't egg cartons and burger wrappers and other old junk."

He shrugged. "Even old junk can be pretty with all this sunlight."

You looked out over the dump and tried to appreciate it. Talking to monsters made you see the world differently, which was nice. You liked being their ambassador because then you could help the world get weird monster ideas too. "What did the Underground do with its trash?"

"We tried to reuse a lot of it, but most of it would eventually fall into the Abyss."

"And into the Under-Underground."

His fuzzy white eyebrows rose. "I don't think that's a real thing."

You stroked your chin. "I didn't think monsters were under my town either."

His green eyes narrowed at you. "Frisk, if you're thinking of falling in that hole, you should tell me so I can tie a rope to you."

You smiled. Being one of the Dreemurrs gave you enough reasons to smile that your face could hardly keep up. Every day, a little more of their affection stuck with you, building you up inside from the heart outward. Knowing you were only ever a phone call away from your fluffy family filled you with determination.

Further down the mountain, Ice Wolf had stopped loading big cubes of recycling into a truck and was sniffing at someone's dog on a leash. You snickered.

Asriel looked up from smoothing the fur of his ears, where it had been mussed by the bike helmet. He turned to you. "What?"

You pointed at the recycling center. "The monster dogs seem like they're figuring out life on the surface."

His snowy white eyebrows rose. "Why do humans have pets anyway?"

"To pet them. It's in the name."

He turned to you, floppy ears swinging. "That's it?"

"Yeah. Humans like to pet fluffy creatures. It keeps us from going crazy."

"Wait a minute." He propped small fists on his hips. "Is that why you like me and Mom and Dad?"

You shrugged. "It's more like a bonus..."

Reaching up, he stroked your shaggy brown hair.

You let the goat monster pet you. Fair was fair, after all.

"Hm." The blunt points of his fangs showed in his smile. "I think it works the other direction too."

You rolled your eyes and sat down on a patch of soft grass.

He sat down beside you. His chest rose, then fell with a sigh that was pretty big compared to the sigher. "I'm really happy to not be Flowey anymore."

You rested your arms on your knees and smirked at him. "Because you'd rather have Mom's pies than Dad's fertilizers?"

He stuck out his tongue past his blunt fangs, like he'd just tasted mulch. "Yuck! No. Well, yes. But I meant because I can feel stuff. Feelings."

"Feelings are pretty cool, most of the time." Thoughts bubbled around inside you like a soda, until you had to let off the pressure. "You know what stinks, though?"

Asriel blinked and swiveled his head left and right, nose wiggling as he checked for unusual smells. "No? What?"

"That I feel bad about mistakes I didn't even make in this reality."

"Oh." He nodded, pulling his knees to his chest. "Yeah..." His arms wrapped around his legs and curled into a small monster ball. "I feel bad about the stuff I said...and did as Flowey. Some of it was even in this timeline."

You thought about it for a moment, then sat beside him. "But it wasn't like an entire Asriel did that stuff."

His fluffy white eyebrows went up, as if that was a really weird thing to say. "What's that mean?"

A shrug rolled your shoulders. "Well, you didn't have a SOUL."

"Yeah, I remember that part..." His hands rose, uncertain, to his chest.

"It's in there." You poked him in the ribs. "I smooshed it back into you myself."

He giggled and swatted your hand away. "Hey! C'mon. You know I'm ticklish."

You lifted your hands. "I'm just showing you that it worked, since you can feel stuff now."

"I believe you." He rolled his eyes. "What was your point?"

You sat and thought for a few seconds. A while ago, you'd realized that goat monsters wouldn't interrupt you when you did that, which was nice. It gave you time to properly cram thoughts and feelings into words, like packing a suitcase without the clothes exploding out. "Remember how, in science class, Alphys said dreaming stops you from making some of your brain chemicals?"

"You mean the day we were supposed to be talking about the water cycle? Yeah, I remember." His lips pouted out a little. You'd both failed the quiz that day and had to retake it.

"And how that's why you do stuff in a dream you'd never do in real life?"

"It's not like it was a dream, Frisk."

"I know." You nodded. "But you weren't, like, an entire you."

"I guess." A small sigh puffed from his muzzle, then he gave you a tired smile. "I just don't wanna be like that ever again."

"Then just keep being nice to people. And leave your SOUL where it's at." You poked his ribs again. "I volunteer to tickle you every day to make sure."

"What? No!" He bleated a laugh, squirming.

You could have kept tickling him, but you showed him mercy.

Once he recovered, your best friend wrapped you up in a hug. His soft, round muzzle pressed to your shirt collar. Warm breath traced along it. "Thanks, Frisk. I feel a little better."

"Sure thing." You gave the fluffy monster a squeeze. He was a good size for hugging, since you could get your arms all the way around him, but he wasn't so small that you worried about accidentally hurting him. And he didn't have any sharp spines or other hazards to watch out for.

After the hug ended, he brushed his floppy ears back onto his shoulders and looked shyly at you. "Does talking about this stuff make you feel better too?"

You blinked, surprised to be talking about yourself. "I think so? Yeah." Again, you took a second to sort out how you felt, thankful that you didn't have to dodge magic bullets at the same time. "Having somebody else understand all this timeline stuff makes me feel less nuts."

"Okay, good." He curled his pinky finger around yours. It felt fuzzy and warm. "I promised to take care of you, remember."

Of course the kid who used to be a plant would find a sappy new way to hold hands. Still, you curled your pinky to hold onto his. A comfy feeling glowed in your chest. "Yeah, I remember."

~ ~ ~

After seeing how much Coram Deo's kids enjoyed his reading of my previous two stories in the series, I knew I had to write another one. You can check the audio version of this series out here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LirdaNWIB90&list=PLMk38sAdEKL19NvGGOUmIRbyEDQs1jegu&index=1

Editors: SillyNekoRobin, Kohaku Nightfang

Art: Sam Pipes

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https://www.patreon.com/Tempo

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