Wholehearted Saga: Origins

First Day: 4.2

 Frisk snoozes on the couch with the television running. As snores gently fly out of his mouth, the doorbell rings. He stirs and awakens, with the slobber from his mouth dropping to the floor. Rubbing his messy brown hair, he saunters to the door. (I really hope that's Mom and Azzy...I'm hungry...)

As Frisk opens the door, Asriel bursts through and tightly hugs him. "Woah, hey," Frisk says. "Are you feeling alright? How was counseling?"

Asriel releases Frisk and cheerfully bleats. "It was good! And we're going back in a few days. Mr. Alvin's nice, too. I like him."

Toriel smiles and pats Frisk on the head. "Hello, my child. I hope we haven't worried you by being away for so long."

Frisk shrugs and smirks. "Nah, no problem. I held down the fort with the power of DETERMINATION," he says while flexing.

Toriel smiles and prepares dinner while Frisk and Asriel head to the living room. The ambassador tilts his head. "Are you sure you're doing ok, Azzy?"

"I'll be ok..." Asriel beams, holding his hands over his chest. "I'll still hurt, but...things will be alright. I feel...like new. Yeah...like new."

Frisk hugs Asriel. "Love you, bro. Please let me know if you need anything, ok?"

Asriel smiles. "Love you too, Frisk."

The goat child gets up from the couch and walks into the hallway. "I'm gonna go get a shower. I'll be back out for dinner soon."

Asriel grabs a towel from underneath his bed and heads to the bathroom. Turning on the shower and entering, he grins joyfully and closes his eyes as the warm, refreshing water runs down his fluffy scalp. Despite some regret over his past still lingering, he was finally beginning to feel at ease with his past, thanks to accepting the gift Alvin had mentioned earlier.

Asriel was finally clean, like he both wanted and needed to be. 

Good timezone, friends! I hope you all enjoyed reading the final chapter of "First Day." Please remember to leave comments and press the star buttons on each chapter part. 

This origin story in the Wholehearted series was to show why Wholehearted Asriel converted to Christianity in Wholehearted Half-Souls, but also to show how he met his counselor, Alvin. A big challenge for me with this plot was, "how can I make this *not* preachy while still showing such a topic clearly?" The solution I found was 1.) borrow elements from Deltarune and translate them for an Undertale context (like with Alvin being the minister Asriel talks to, along with remembering that Asriel is a religious ska enjoying kid in Deltarune), 2.) have Toriel *not* convert like Asriel did and instead express skepticism, at least at first (this allows for characters to disagree in the narrative without backlash, cutting out preachiness) and 3.) have Asriel's faith be very personal to him, as a way of feeling free from his past and no longer living in shame. Such is a relatable struggle for many, I'm sure.

These three elements hopefully mitigated any preachiness and "on the nose" elements with the messaging while still being genuine and coming across clearly. Perhaps this goal is also achieved by the fact that there are more signs of the Dreemurrs being a religious and faithful family in Deltarune, along with how Wholehearted Frisk isn't a believer to this day. 

This may cause someone to ask, though, "how can Christianity work in an Undertale story when we see a religion centered around the monster's 'Angel' in Deltarune? How can Asriel and Alvin be Christians in this work, then?" Good question, so here's the answer to that: Christianity works in Undertale because it is on an entirely different timeline from Deltarune. This gives me the liberty to write the characters more freely when it comes to religious beliefs. Secondly, while we see an entire organized church system in Deltarune when it comes to the monster religion, we see *no* church system in Undertale. The only reference we have is that one prophecy related to the 'Angel who will break the barrier.' Thus, there isn't an organized monster religion in UT like there is in DR. This gives me more liberty to write Christianity in a UT-related story. If it were DR-related, on the other hand, things would be different.

This story is slightly inspired by another Undertale fanfic, "Depths of the Sea", written by CoramDeo. He's a friend of mine and happens to be Christian like myself. Reading over that helped remind me how I could share a personal piece of myself in the world of fanfiction, which was an enriching time. The link to his story, if you desire to read it, is here: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19949206/chapters/47238052

I hope you enjoyed reading! The third story in the Origins series will be a silly little comedy, while the fourth story will return to a counseling setting. Story number 4 will be heavy, however, so I will be leaving trigger warnings in the author's notes and descriptions when that time comes. 

Until I see you all again, take care. Stay DETERMINED.