IMPORTANT MESSAGE: This story is NOT related to any of my other Undertale story/stories; this is an alternate universe where no children had ever fallen down, and Asriel – who is now an adult – looks like his 'god of Hyperdeath' version.

A Guardian

Asriel Dreemurr let out a tired sigh as he read the many messages he had received that day, looking through them as his eyes threatened to close from exhaustion.

Seeing the huge stack of letters that had been delivered to him had already tired him out before he had begun reading. It wasn't an unusual thing for him to get that much mail, though: since he was the king, everyone sent their complaints about pretty much everything to him, after which they only had to hope that he'd do something about it.

The main reason why he was so tired however, was that it was late: the quiet atmosphere, the darkness outside, his general knowledge of the time and the fact that his day had mostly consisted of meetings and such hadn't given him the chance to read the messages early. The result was a mentally exhausted Asriel being forced to read them in the evening.

He sighed again and closed his eyes. How could Dad ever keep this up?

When Asriel became king, his parents moved to the Ruins, where they'd keep a lookout for any Humans that would fall down. Asriel did the same at the other entrance to the Underground, which was located next to the castle's garden/throne room. Asriel's father was loved among the people, even now that he was no longer their leader. The current king had also made a good impression, but he himself highly doubted he'd ever be as popular as his old man.

He didn't mind that specifically: he thought Asgore fully deserved the title of best king in the history of the Underground. It was just a little…disheartening to know that he'd never be able to serve the people as good as his parents had done.

Asriel reopened his eyes and groggily stood up. I can read these another time, I suppose he thought, immediately realizing that it would probably lead to an accumulation of messages from today and tomorrow, which in turn would lead to more stress. But at the moment, he didn't care.

He walked out of the room and was just about to head for his bedroom when a Royal Guardsman suddenly appeared at the stairs in the corridor.

"Your Majesty!" the Guardsman – an anthropomorphic dog with a suit of armor, whose duty it was to guard the entrance to the Underground in the castle's garden when Asriel was absent – called. "I'm sorry to disturb you at this hour, but there is something I must inform you of!"

The king yawned. "Can it wait?" he asked a bit more curtly than intended. "I was just about to go to sleep."

"Again, I apologize," the Guardsman said, "but a Human has been caught passing the Barrier."

That made Asriel's eyes go wide. "A Human?"

"A child, your Majesty. It appears to be very frightened. My men are currently guarding it downstairs."

"In the throne room?"

"Yes."

With a fast pace and a suddenly energized mind, the king entered the throne room (which also happened to be the garden) to see two more Royal Guardsmen (which looked like dogs as well) stand at the sides of a petrified Human child, who lay on the ground with tears in her eyes. Once Asriel entered her view, she flinched and whimpered in fear before subconsciously moving backwards.

Asriel didn't really blame her: he could understand if the modern Humans weren't used to seeing a being like him. That, combined with his impressive height and majestic but scary appearance, likely served as a recipe for fear.

Knowing this, the king carefully took a few steps in her direction. As a response, the Human backed up against the throne, her tearful face still looking at him.

Asriel looked at the Royal Guardsmen. "You can go," he ordered. "I'll sort this out."

The three dog men nodded and left. Asriel turned back to the small child – who was frozen once more – before taking another step in her direction and carefully kneeling down to her eye level.

"It's okay," he softly assured. The child didn't budge.

"You're safe," the king continued. "I won't hurt you."

The child whimpered once again. Asriel estimated her age to be somewhere around six years old, give or take, but he couldn't be certain given his somewhat limited knowledge of Humans. In any case, this one was still scared, and calming her down probably wasn't going to be easy.

Not sure what to do, Asriel slowly held out his hand towards the Human in a calming manner to see if she would take it. He didn't know if it was a good idea, but it was worth a try.

His suspicions were confirmed, however, when the child backed away more against the throne, looking at the hand in fear.

The king sighed and put it down before another idea popped up in his head. He looked at the child and smiled. "You hungry? I think I got some butterscotch-cinnamon pie left upstairs…"

It wasn't completely ineffective: the child's eyes lighted up briefly before turning back to their fearful versions, albeit with a very minor hint of doubt. The kind of doubt one sees when someone is unsure as to whether they should trust you or not. It wasn't much, but it was progress.

Asriel suddenly realized that the Human was looking at his teeth, which had made themselves visible when he smiled and talked. He had completely forgotten about how sharp some of them were: probably another thing he had to be careful about if he didn't want to scare this child more than he already did.

"You look tired, too," he said upon noticing the dark bags under the Human's eyes. "You can take a nap here if you like. I've got some spare beds you could use."

He held out his hand again. The child flinched again, but not much. "Please. I promise I won't hurt you."

The Human blinked, and Asriel decided to give her some time to think about the situation. He patiently waited for her to come to a decision, which took close to a minute to make before she hesitantly grabbed onto the king's hand.

Asriel smiled again.

Knowing his constant gaze would unsettle her, the king didn't look straight at the child while she ate the butterscotch-cinnamon pie in silence. She had definitely been hungry, and even though Asriel wasn't looking at her, he could tell that she liked it. And yet, despite those two conclusions, the Human definitely took her time and was careful not to leave any crumbs on the plate or the table.

Once she was done, Asriel looked at her as he took her plate.

"Can you tell me your name?" he asked.

The child looked up at him slightly, like a slave looking up at their master. She was obviously still scared, but not as scared as she was in the throne room. The only thing Asriel could do to fully gain her trust was wait, though giving her a place to sleep would probably help.

She looked down again and mumbled something in a tiny voice.

"What's that?" Asriel asked.

The child swallowed before repeating what she said in a barely audible voice. "F…Frisk…"

"Frisk…" the king repeated. He then smiled again. "I like that name. It's a nice name."

Frisk blushed and she looked further down upon hearing that compliment. She was obviously shy, afraid or both. His smile vanished and he stood up, Frisk's plate in his hand.

"You look tired," he said. "You can sleep here for a while. Just…" he hesitated. "Eventually, we'll be able to get you back through the Barrier. You must have someone to return to, right?"

The child didn't respond, causing Asriel to assume she either didn't want or dare to talk about it. Either way, he decided that she had to sleep.

He put the plate back down and walked over to her seat, gently putting his hand on her shoulder. At first she didn't react aside from a minor flinch, but when Asriel knelt down slightly, she grabbed his hand with both her arms and held it close.

"Thank you, sir…" she murmured.

The king blinked, and then smiled again. "You're welcome," he said. "My name is Asriel, by the way. I'm the king."

"Thank you, king Asriel…" Frisk corrected, her eyes closed.

They stayed like that for a few seconds, before Asriel gently picked the Human up from her chair and carried her over to what used to be his bedroom when he himself was a kid.

So…yeah. This just appeared in my head after seeing some fan art where Asriel is depicted as a parental figure for a young Frisk. It had to happen. I can't be the first writer to get an idea like this, can I?

Alright, please read this, because this can be considered important: I'm not sure if I'll continue this: I can leave this like a one-shot, or write more. Please tell me what you want me to do.

~F