WARNING- Mentions of suicide and suicidal thoughts.

Turtle Side Note: Hiya guys, turtle here. This story is very short compared to what you usually get from me, but I wanted to do something to give you guys an idea of what happened to my interpretation of Grillby. I hope you enjoy! ^w^

"I... I was abused."

A small voice said into the school's microphone. The auditorium was filled with every student and every teacher from grade six to twelve. Rows and rows of monsters with different faces, different magic, and different stories.

But, today was the day 'that one quiet kid' had his chance to tell his tale.

He was elected by his teachers to give one of the speeches for his graduating class, and today was the big day.

Grillby stood in front of the microphone, facing his greatest fear head on...

Speaking.

Just, talking.

He didn't care about the audience as much as he cared about the fact that he was using his voice to communicate years of pent up thoughts.

He took in a breath, thinking about his few friends. Undyne's encouraging, but slightly terrifying, words blaring in his mind to 'take down his fear like the not-wimpy-loser he was.' Alphys telling him that he was going to be fine. And, Sans, who was probably the only person he had ever said more that three words to, simply said, 'just pretend you're talkin' to me.'

He closed his eyes, keeping that thought in mind. "I am the quiet kid. You all know me. I'm the one who always eats lunch by myself. The one you threw food at and splashed with water to see what would happen if two opposing elements touched. The one you called a whore, because you didn't have the time to ask what was really going on." His eyes scanned the audience, his lips drawing a thin line across his face.

"That was me."

He spotted Undyne in the audience, looking towards her, trying to not think too much about what he was saying, "When I say 'abused', I don't know what you think of... but I can tell you, you're most likely right for my case." He let out a shaky breath, "My mother... wasn't the best person... but, she's paid for what she's done now. She's paid for what she did to me and my father." His brows knitted together, "That child that you've all seen my mother parade around the streets before she was turned in, claiming it to be mine, which led to you all making assumptions that I've slept with fifty people." He paused, "Well, I can tell you that the child does belong to me, but in no way did I want that to happen. In no way did I control that. In no way did I have a choice. That was all her, my mother, and her alcohol."

Grillby's voice popped, crackling a few words to himself in his native language before he quickly figured out the translation. He looked back up towards the audience and found Alphys, his voice somehow managing to become even softer, "I'm not saying that I'm innocent to all the crimes that went on in my household... but, I still saw what abuse was first hand, and I saw it justified." He gulped, "But, that's not all the 'abuse' that I received. The majority of it... the abuse that hurt me the most, happened in these halls," He pointed at the ground, "and I can guarantee you..."

"It was never justified."

He looked away from the Alphys, and towards the audience, "But, the reason it was never justified, wasn't because of the physical damage done, for I know you all got detentions for that; that is if you can even call that punishment." A bit of annoyance fell into his tone, but he quickly recovered to his smoother tone, "The reason it was never justified, was because of what happened inside of me... never once did I hear the word 'sorry'... not once. Never did I hear the words 'I shouldn't have done that' or 'that wasn't cool of me to do'. Never did I even receive an understanding glance from a single person who threw acid on me with not only water, but words."

He smiled, but it wasn't one of gratitude, quite the opposite actually, "And now... here we are... I bet this is the first time any of you have heard me speak. Yes?" He continued, not even paying time to his own question, "And I bet you're wondering why I was sent up here to spread school spirit when all I'm doing currently is bashing it over the head with my pathetic sob story. No?" Grillby sensed the venom in his own words, but it gave him an odd satisfaction.

"Well... I'm here to tell you... we can all be better. We can all be better to each other. We can all take the time to listen to someone before you judge them... and I know this, because some of you- three in particular, did. And, if they could do it, so can you. So can all of you."

"Now, I'm not expecting you to shower me in affection during this last month of school, in fact, if you did, I'd probably laugh in your face. Because, I know it wouldn't be real, it would just be all of you trying to prove 'that you're such a great person.' But, you don't understand, the truly 'great people' are the people who listened and cared on their own will. They weren't forced to care about me... they weren't forced to listen to me... they weren't forced to stop me from throwing myself into a river and letting my dust ride all the way to the Core. But... they did it... because they had good hearts. And by God, I'm glad they did, or else I would just be another number added to the amount of teen suicides we have experienced... and I don't want to be just a number."

Grillby re-found Undyne in the audience, his smile becoming genuine, "I would like to take the time to thank these three people. They helped me through everything, and I wouldn't be standing if it weren't for them." He laughed awkwardly in the microphone, rubbing at one of his eyes, almost expecting someone to scream 'crybaby' from the audience.

But no one spoke.

"These first two have been my friends for as long as I can remember."

"Thank you, Undyne, you all know her as head of pretty much every sport we have... except golf... But, it just goes to show you that even those we accuse of being meatheads can be the kindest and most aggressively loving people in the world." He laughed, watching Undyne beam at him, "Very... very aggressive... aggressive in a good way. She helped me stay head-strong throughout all of this, and helped a lot with the more physical bullying issues... and I can't thank her enough for that."

Polite clapping erupted throughout the audience.

Grillby waited for them to cease, before continuing. He looked towards Alphys, who was curled up in her chair from embarrassment, not expecting to be getting a personal thank you, "Thank you, Alphys. I met you through Undyne, and I'm glad I did. I cherish the conversations we had together, as I know we were both in the same boat as far as bullying went. It helped to have someone there to understand me on a personal level, even if you did most of the talking. Don't forget to stay strong, I know for a fact that I care about you, and so do a lot more people." He smiled coyly, seeing her face turn beat red as she sat in her seat, trying to hid behind her tail.

The audience applauded again.

Grillby paused for a couple of seconds after the clapping had ceased. The audience began to become restless, murmuring to one another as the teachers tried to settle them down. Grillby found the last person out of the corner of his eye, sitting in the front row with a very confused expression on his face.

It was Sans.

He must of caught Grillby's eye as he mouthed, "what are you doing?" His brow raising in confusion.

Grillby just gave him an expression that was completely unreadable, before looking away from him and speaking into the microphone, "The third person who deserves to be thanked, had requested to remain nameless and unmentioned before this. I'm sorry to say I will only listen to the nameless request, because if I learned anything from them, it was how to be stubborn as a damn mule and do what you believe is right ." He suppressed a laugh, seeing Sans shake his head at him from the corner of his eye before continuing.

"But, in seriousness, I don't understand why they asked me to not name or mention them, when they deserve all the praise in the world..." His tone softened, "They're the kind of person who seems like they came straight out of a movie to be the hero of the story. They already had too much on their shoulders, yet they decided to talk to me one day when they saw me walking home alone from school. They didn't have to do that. Especially not with everything else they had to worry about; and still have to worry about. But, they did. Yes, I knew of them before they talked to me that day, but it had been nearly a year in between those two times."

Grillby looked at some random spot at the back of the auditorium, "They said that they did it because they thought I looked lonely." He looked back towards the audience, "Now, if everyone was like them, then I wouldn't have been lonely to start with, because if everyone thought like that, no one would ever be alone." He took in a breath, "It's funny how we all go around on our high horses, thinking that we are the best and know everything, yet, people like them are out there and usually their kindness goes unnoticed."

He pursed his lips together, "As simple as that gesture was, it doesn't deserve to be forgotten. He doesn't know this, but that night, I was planning on doing something horrible, because I couldn't take it anymore. But, that one act of kindness deterred me from doing something that I would have regretted."

"And, after that, they just kept coming back everyday until it became a routine. The next thing I knew, they were catching me in the halls, not even aware that their presence was what was stopping others from trying to dunk my head into the water fountains."

"Soon, they went from someone I knew, to a friend, to someone I could trust with anything... they're the reason my mother is where she should be right now. They were always my crutch, someone I could talk to, someone who had patience with me, someone who didn't judge me for being who I was; a dumb kid with low grades and even lower self-esteem. This. This is the type of person teens should strive to be. Someone who doesn't follow the gossip, and shows kindness to a complete stranger, for the innocent reason of 'they looked lonely.' "

He smiled bitter sweetly, "I don't know what deterred them to add me onto their already over-weighing and over-demanding sack on their shoulders, but I'm forever in their debt." He looked towards Sans, who was giving him the strangest smile he had ever seen.

Grillby felt his voice shake as he quietly murmured...

"Thank you."

...

...

...

Beep-

Beep-

Beep-

The haunting beeps from the hospital monitor filled the room.

Wide, exhausted eye-sockets stared at the elemental in the hospital bed. The teenage skeleton sat in the chair besides his friend, his eyes glued on him as if he was afraid if he looked away he would collapse into dust.

The elemental, Grillby, laid in the bed. All of his flames snuffed out, leaving nothing but a coal body and what little sparks of life remained.

He had jumped into the river about a week ago now, and was showing no signs of waking up. Sans had blamed himself for not being able to get him out fast enough, cursing himself for not turning the corner to Waterfall five seconds sooner.

The skeleton continued staring at him. It looked like he was dreaming something nice. He wished he knew for sure. Who knows, maybe Grillby was having a dream of conquering his fears, or getting revenge for what the world had thrown onto him?

Sans jumped, feeling a paw on his shoulder as he looked up to see a gray bear monster staring down at him. Her lips were pulled into a tight smile, her old, green eyes looked at him sympathetically, "How are you holding up, honey?"

"fine, thank you." Sans murmured, looking back down at Grillby.

The bear watched his eyes, squeezing his shoulders, "You did the right thing back there, hon. If you hadn't found 'im when you did, he woulda been long gone."

Sans didn't make an effort to respond, his mind too clouded from the lack of sleep he had been suffering through this past week. Insomnia was a bitch.

The gray furred monster looked at Sans wearily before she looked up at the clock to see it was twelve in the morning, "Honey, I am sure he'll wake up soon. These things take time. But right now, you needa get home and sleep."

Sans didn't budge for a good minute, before sighing. His head dropped as he lifted himself from the chair and put his hands on the sides of his friends hospital bed. "i'll.. be out in a minute..." He spoke quietly, staring at the white hospital sheets.

The bear nodded, "Take your time, honey." She then left the room, waiting for the skeleton to meet her outside.

Sans looked down at Grillby, watching his chest move up and down under the bed's sheets. The normally warm fire elemental was now giving off virtually no heat.

Sans felt his pained smile stretch across his face, his eyes narrowing in plead as he looked at Grillby's now closed eyes, "please... wake up..." His voice sounded choked, as if someone was ridding him of his last breath of air.

He rubbed his eye-sockets, knowing he was losing hope of ever hearing Grillby's voice again, "i'm sorry i wasn't there... i'm so fucking sorry..." He felt his voice shaking, "don't give up... i'm still rootin' for you..." His smile strained more as he looked over Grillby's relaxed features.

He forced himself to pull away from the bedside, walking towards the exit. He stopped in the door way, looking at Grillby one last time before leaving. The last words he muttered under his breath before he left being...

"sweet dreams..."

*****

The soul monitor continued to count his pulsating beats...

...

Beep-

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...

Beep-

...

...

...

Beep-

...

...

...

. . .

Beeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeep--

Then, there was silence.

Turtle End Note: I hope that was a nice quick read for all of you. Also, you should all be proud of me for how quickly I put this up. I usually take forever to write.

In case you didn't understand the beginning, what was going on was: that was all just a coma dream that Grillby was having. That whole speech never really happened (at least not in this universe ;3), hence why Grillby seemed a bit out of character during the speech. The speech is more of a "what could have happened, but didn't" scenario. Anyways, enough with clarifying, I hope you all have a wonderful day, and thank you for reading! Turtle, out!