Memories

Half a day later.

At the Snowdin inn.

"Ow, that hurts!" Frisk clutched the sheets tightly, her body twitching slightly.

"Bear with it. It'll stop hurting soon." Linde's fingers moved nimbly.

Frisk panted. "But... could you stop for a moment... this is just too..."

"No! I can't stop, not even for a second!" Sweat kept dripping down Linde's face, but he firmly refused.

Frisk gritted her teeth, her whole body tense. Soon, the pain faded, replaced by an indescribable sense of comfort.

But this was the crucial moment! Frisk struggled to keep her body from squirming, while Linde was already drenched in sweat and gasping for breath.

As Linde's movements grew more practiced, Frisk suddenly convulsed for a moment, then felt all her strength drain away.

"Done! It worked!" Linde collapsed onto the bed as though utterly spent. "I've used the power of nothingness to break through your soul's barriers. You should be able to save and load whenever and wherever you want now!"

"Ahh... I can't take any more..." Frisk looked half-dead.

Linde stared blankly at the ceiling. "I'm the exhausted one here, okay? You barely had to do anything, while I had to keep pouring out my soul power the entire time."

Indignant, Frisk reached for the gray heart at Linde's chest that he had yet to withdraw. Linde paid her no mind. His soul was nothingness in essence, so how could she possibly grab it so easi-whoa!

Perhaps because Frisk's soul now possessed void power as well, she actually managed to grab Linde's soul projection. A very strange sensation washed over him.

"You're not getting away either!" In retaliation, Linde endured the strange sensation and grabbed Frisk's soul projection too.

For a while, strange moans and groans from the two of them kept drifting out of the room.

Just then, perhaps by accident, their soul projections bumped into each other as they tussled-

At that instant, Linde's soul merged directly into Frisk's, touching the consciousness protected by her determination. His vision immediately went dark-

When the darkness faded, a little girl around two years old appeared before Linde.

The little girl's hair was not particularly long, just reaching her shoulders. He did not know why, but despite seeing almost nothing in common between them, Linde was certain that the person before him was Frisk.

Little Frisk sat blankly on a bed, her curious eyes fixed on the orphanage director beside her.

"L-Linde..." A startled voice came from behind him. Linde turned and saw ten-year-old Frisk standing there.

It seemed she had been pulled into the memory space as well. Linde was not surprised.

Frisk, however, was mortified. Linde was watching her memories!

She hurriedly sent the power of her determination into her consciousness, trying to reach inside and force Linde out.

"Thank you for looking after her this past month!" Nearby, a woman holding a five-year-old boy's hand bowed to the director.

The woman crouched in front of little Frisk and gently brushed her cheek. "Little one, your aunt will be looking after you from now on..."

The little boy picked Frisk up. "Haha! Now I, Squeezie, have a little sister!"

At the sound of that name, Linde's expression shifted slightly. Squeezie was a character Toby Fox had mentioned in a joke before Undertale's release, and was the protagonist Frisk's cousin.

There were three human character sprites in Undertale's game files. The one named "main character" was Frisk, the one called "true character" was Chara, and the remaining sprite, simply called "character," was Squeezie's.

He also appeared as the second playable character in the two-player Undertale fangame. (His gender was likewise unspecified there; he is only a boy in this story.)

Linde could not help giving Frisk another look, making her terribly embarrassed.

Little Frisk's aunt took her home and raised her like a true member of the family for two years.

Perhaps it was because she had forgotten so much, or perhaps happy days really did pass faster, but those two years went by in the blink of an eye.

Fate always loved playing tricks, and reality was often more surreal than fiction. Disaster struck without warning.

Her aunt's family was suddenly taken to court. The plaintiff claimed they had no right to raise Frisk.

Her aunt's family underwent a DNA test with little Frisk, only to discover that she was not related to them by blood!

Frisk was not her father's biological child.

The plaintiff seized on that point and pressed the attack, and in the end, her aunt lost the case.

Little Frisk was taken to an unscrupulous orphanage. At the time, she was only four.

The director of this orphanage always looked at the children strangely. He would keep coming into the orphanage and gazing at them appreciatively.

Frisk sat to one side, watching the director with mixed feelings. This director... how should I put it... he was a pervert, sure, but...

Little Frisk knew nothing of any of this. She simply lived there.

The orphans were all fed very well there. Perhaps that was because of the director...

At that moment, Frisk's determination finally reached into her consciousness. Linde felt a powerful repulsive force trying to squeeze him out...

"Merge!" Linde covered his entire body in void power. The power of Frisk's determination passed straight through him, unable to drive him away.

"Linde!" Frisk floated swiftly in front of him. "I'm begging you! Please don't watch any more!"

But Linde stood his ground. "You were lying earlier, weren't you?"

"Wha..."

"You said you fell down here while sheltering from the rain. That was a lie, wasn't it?"

"I... yes..."

"Why did you come here? Was it to..."

"No! I wasn't trying to kill myself!" Frisk hurriedly waved her hands. "I was just... trying to... escape..."

Linde stepped forward and hugged Frisk. This time, she did not struggle, merely lowering her head in silence. "Let's go..."

Linde patted Frisk's back. "Yeah. Let's go."

He knew there was no point in stubbornly staying here and reopening old wounds. If she was not ready to face all this, doing so would only create a rift between them.

Holding Frisk, Linde slowly rose, fading out of the space.

(Frisk's storyline isn't over. There will be more to come. Also, the relationship between Linde and Frisk is closer to that of siblings, at least while they're still this young. Don't go getting any funny ideas. Anyone whose mind went into the gutter at the beginning of this chapter, go face the wall and reflect on yourselves!)