SAVE

"Frisk... Don't you have anything better to do?"

Frisk collapsed upon the cold, smoothed out bedrock of the ruins. She did not breathe, nor move. Her body was now home to countless scars, some inflicted by her own hand. She had been through hell and back again and again, reset after reset and yet, she still couldn't save him.

She sat there for what felt like hours – and was. Her friends were probably worried sick about her b-y now, but she didn't care. They could fret all they wanted, they wouldn't remember this anyway. Frisk would inevitably end up resetting and trying again. There had to be a way... there just had to be..

...Though she had tried everything before. Searching for answers pulled up nothing. Talking to Toriel and Asgore about it distanced herself with them both. Talking to, of all the people, Flowey himself about it only earned either insults or worse yet, death. He was back to his old, murderous self.

Frisk had even gone through something she never thought she would have been capable of. She had killed everyone in the entire underground in a meaningless search for clues and answers. That too pulled up nothing and only drove her into emotional outrage.

Not only that, but now she had a soulless spirit following her around, nagging her ever onwards. Apparently they were Asriel's old sibling, Chara Dreemurr, but there was no way to be sure. Her experience with soulless beings had been less than inviting, and she'd only ever met one before.

Now, Frisk was exhausted, beaten and broken. Even she was beginning to believe her mission was a misguided one. That perhaps, there was no way to save him and there never was. He had died almost a century ago now, on his own quest to free monsterkind. They were both similar, though naive.

Chara floated before them, lost in their own thought. After a moments hesitation, they spoke up...

"I... I may have an idea, but you're not going to like it."

Frisk involuntarily shook their head in dismissal. "I told you. I'm not killing any more monsters."

Chara would have facepalmed if they could. Unfortunately, they were incorporeal, so their hand would just go right through themselves. They often did it anyway, if only because it looked creepy.

"I remember but, it's not that."

"Then what is it?" Frisk sighed heavily, "I've tried literally everything else."

Chara shook their head. "Not everything, not yet. I may have an.. acquaintance that could help you."

"You have friends?" Frisk snapped back sarcastically. Her sense of humor was beginning to form – to take shape. Chara just glared coldly at her, so she continued. "You're only telling me this.. now?"

"That.. was cold, and I'm a ghost." Chara groaned in protest of her 'abuse', "Yeah, I have friends, but I didn't tell you about this one because there's usually a cost to his help. An awfully one-sided cost."

Frisk pondered for a moment. On one hand, she could take this mystery associates help and pay the fee, on the other she could continue aimlessly searching the underground for answers that weren't there in the first place. The decision was obviously clear. How bad could the fee be, anyway? 100G?

Frisk spent no time hesitating with her decision and spoke up with renewed vigor. "I'll do it."

Her tag-along soulless spirit friend sighed. "Alright... but don't say I didn't warn you."

Chara clapped her hands together, and by together I mean she lightly connected her ghostly palms together. A short moment of silence passed and nothing happened. Was something supposed to happen or was that just an awkward carnival trick gone wrong...

Frisk's questions were shortly answered as the world around her collapsed away into nothing at all, leaving an empty, cold void in its wake, though strangely it felt as though she had been here before.

An uneasy tension moved down Frisk's spine as a pair of beady white eyes glared at her from across the abyss. The figure walked out of the shady abyss and into what little light was visible within it.

It was a man, or rather a monster. He was skeletal, like Sans and Papyrus, but he had cracks forming in two sides of his skull. He had massive gaping holes within the center of both his hands and he wore a turtleneck sweater underneath a black lab or trench coat. He was no doubt a doctor or scientist.

"Tell me, subject one... why have you called me here this time?" The skeletal man spoke.

His tone of voice was low, cold and croaky, as though he had been smoking his entire life, but as far as she knew, monsters didn't smoke, so that was entirely out of the question.

Chara sighed heavily. "I told you to stop calling me that, G. I have a name, you know." she returned.

The skeletal man, 'G', chuckled. "You had a name, child. Then you died. The dead do stay dead."

Chara actually facepalmed this time, throwing her palm right through her transparent face. "I hate this guy more than the comedian. Frisk, you do the talking before I lose what sanity I have left..."

Frisk nodded and looked way up to meet the skeletal man's face. He must have been at least eight feet tall, taller than even King Asgore and he was huge.

"uh... H-hi... I'm Fr-Frisk..." she hesitantly introduced herself. His aura screamed 'mysterious'.

"Subject eight, a pleasure to meet you. I am Doctor W.D Gaster and I was the previous royal scientist." Gaster introduced himself, "What may I do for you,

child?" he questioned back.

His tone was far more calm with her than it was with Chara. Perhaps they didn't get along too well in the past...

"I... I want to help a friend of mine."

"Ah..." Gaster tapped the 'chin' of his skull as he pondered, "Prince Asriel Dreemurr, the embodiment of unluckiness." he paused now, "I believe I have an answer for this, but it will cost you dearly."

"Name your fee." Frisk replied without a moments thought or hesitation.

Gaster chuckled to himself. Her willingness to do the right thing was admirable, to say the least.

"No more resets. I will take your ability to reset away from you in return for a chance to rescue the lost princes' soul. A change of fate, if you will. Do you accept these terms?" Gaster questioned her.

Frisk nodded. The power of resets meant little if she had her best friend back. The only issues it brought up were ones involving self-sustained injuries or the death of another. However, with her undying determination, she would protect her loved ones no matter the cost.

This would finally be their happy ending. The one they had longed for, for almost a year now.

Gaster smiled widely and stretched his hands outwards. With a mere click of his hand, a wide portal opened up to her left. Through the portal was the throne room, though no flowers were blooming.

"This portal will take you to a time just before little prince Asriel's unfortunate demise. Once you have obtained his soul, I will bring you back. This is your only chance to set this right." Gaster said.

Frisk bowed her head in thanks and walked through the portal, Chara forcefully following her. They didn't exactly have a say in the matter, though they too wanted their old brother to live again.

She landed on a wide patch of grass. The strangely small sized throne, for the King and Queen's size, sat before her and as seen through the portal, no flowers were blooming. She was currently in the past, before everything went wrong in the underground.

Sobbing could just be made out through the extended halls, connected to the throne room.

Queen Toriel and King Asgore were no doubt pained to find their son and adopted human child were both missing. Asriel had already absorbed Chara's soul and had crossed the barrier to the surface world in a misguided plan to obtain six more.

Frisk and to some extent Chara, sat in silence for a time. Frisk pulled out a book on snails she had 'borrowed' from Toriel while Chara did cartwheels in mid-air, a perk of being a spirit. Asriel, in all his dying glory, would likely appear soon. There was nowhere to hide, so she had to be at the ready.

...

What felt like an hour, and was, passed by before Asriel collapsed in the throne room with Chara's lifeless body in tow. He looked identical to his Absolute God of Hyperdeath form. The black markings, eyes and wide curving horns and the black delta robe – it was all there.

Swords, arrows and other makeshift weaponry were plunged through his flesh. It looked more painful than it actually was, but he would still pass away from the wounds.

Frisk began wondering if she had time to run to Toriel so she could prepare healing magic, but that would require a lot of explaining after the fact. "Oh yeah, I'm a time traveller and came to tell you that your son is dying in your throne room." ... Not a good look, at all.

Asriel began wailing and crying out. "Mommy... Daddy!" his breathing was slow and labored, "So-meone... anyone... help me, please!" he choked out. Tears formed in and around Frisk's eyes as she looked on at her dying, future best friend. This would be a scene she would never forget ever again.

Frisk approached the dying prince without a moments hesitation. His soul was already floating outs-ide his body and was shaking violently, nearing shattering. Frisk cupped both her hands around his soul and forced it inside herself for safe keeping.

"Don't worry. Everything will be okay now." Frisk said to the dying prince, "I'll keep it safe, I prom-ise." she choked out amidst her own river of tears.

"Th-thank... you." Asriel returned as the pain fully washed over him. His body began to fade, turning to dust. He didn't want to let go, but he had no choice or say in the matter. He was gone... for now.

Footsteps echoed down the hallways, likely Queen Toriel and King Asgore rushing to the throne room after hearing their son's cries for help. Little too late, unfortunately – he was already gone.

A wide portal opened up, just like before, and sucked Frisk back into the empty, cold void. She now had Asriel's soul within her. A way to finally save the one that deserved saving the most, beyond all of the others. A way to finally receive her happy ending as well as his own.

"Do you have his soul, child?" Gaster questioned, his tone somewhat desperate. It seems he had pai-d a fee, too. Another crack had formed near the top of his skull, which ran directly into his left eye.

Frisk nodded. "I do."

"Then you are both done here. You may reset one final time, after which I will take away that power. It is safer if no one at all controls time itself, so I shall erase it completely." Gaster returned.

Frisk nodded in thanks again before turning to Chara, who was wiping their transparent eyes with their transparent sleeve. It seemed that, somehow, even a soulless spirit could cry.

She had seen Flowey cry once before, but he atleast had a physical form to hold on to, unlike Chara.

"I'm sorry, Frisk. I'm gonna' take the back seat. My brother is, whether he knows it or not, waiting for you – his true best friend." Chara started, "You shouldn't keep him waiting. Talk to ya' later, ok?"

Frisk nodded again before tapping the Reset button one last time. It shattered away after its last use, just as Gaster said it would.

As Frisk fell back into the underground for the last time... she was filled with Determination.

This is only the beginning.

Authors Notes: So after playing through the Undertale Pacifist Route countless times, reading fanfictions about everyones favorite goat(bro) several times over and so on so forth, I decided it was high time I attempted to write one myself.

I took a lot of inspiration from several amazing writers across both major fanfiction websites, and ao3. Chances are I've already favorited quite the bunch of them already.

This will be a Frisk x Asriel (Friskriel) story, but no smut will be involved. I'm just beginning to write fanfictions and have no idea what I'm doing. Updates will likely be slow, but they will come out as soon as I have a finished product that I am happy with.

Thanks for reading.

Until next time, Ciao.