Chapter 9: Bonds Grow Stronger

"Lana, why don't you go outside with Justin and play for a bit?" Grillby suggested. "The dinner rush won't start for a little while."

"Okay, Dad," she said, giving him a hug that he warmly returned and watched her get into her winter jacket and helping her tie her scarf securely around her neck before she put on her hat and gloves and carefully made her way to the door of the restaurant. While she was blind, she had practiced for the past week on how many steps it was to the door from the bar and how many steps to each side before she bumped into a table, along with feeling with her hands to find things. Grillby helped her out over that week and was pleased to see she was confident about finding her way around, despite being blind.

Justin was outside the door and grinned when Lana came out. "Hey, Lana, I was going to build a snow fort," he said. "Wanna help?"

"Sure," she said with a smile. "But you're going to have to guide me on what to do."

"No problem," he said. The young boy had taken to the older girl as if she was his older sister and loved helping her out. She accepted the help in stride and caught on fast to many things. Undyne, who was on patrol, paused when she saw the two and stopped to watch them.

They reminded her of Rose in many ways and she sighed, missing the girl who had proven that like Chara, some humans would accept them. She hadn't really gotten to know Justin since he had fallen and hadn't yet met Lana, although Papyrus had told her all about the blind girl. She set her spear down nearby and went up to them. "Hey, kids," she said.

Justin looked up, recognizing the fish woman from Papyrus' description of her. "You must be Undyne," he said. "Uncle Papyrus has told me a lot about you."

She smiled at that, kneeling down beside them. "And you're Justin, the king and queen's son, right?" She asked and he nodded.

Lana, hearing the woman's voice, turned to her right where Undyne had kneeled down and gently pulled off her gloves. Justin took them as the older girl began running her hands gently over the armor on Undyne's shoulders before moving up to get a mental picture of her facial features. "What are you doing, kid?" The fish woman asked.

"She can't see you, Undyne," Justin explained. "She uses her hands to 'see' for her."

Understanding dawned on the warrior's face. "You're…blind, kid?" She asked gently.

Lana nodded before noting Undyne had long hair. "Your hair is long," she said with a smile. "Justin, what color is Undyne's hair?"

"It's red, like hot pepper," he answered.

She smiled. "I've heard she's a warrior," she said.

"That's right, kid," Undyne said. "What's your name?"

"I'm Lana," the eleven-year-old girl answered.

The fish woman recognized the name. "You're Grillby's daughter," she said, seeing the girl nod. "Asgore told me he had adopted a girl who had fallen down here a week ago."

She then smiled. "What were you guys doing before I came up?" She asked.

"We're building a snow fort," Justin answered. "I was showing Lana how to make it and it's coming along pretty good."

"How about an extra set of hands?" Undyne offered.

"Sure," Lana said with a smile. "We want it to be tall and you're tall like Papyrus, right?"

The fish woman chuckled. "He's got a few inches on me, but other than that, yeah, we're close in height."

"Cool!" Justin said. "We're trying to hollow it out a bit and use that snow to build up the fort and give us a place to hide if someone comes up."

Undyne grinned. "And I know exactly what I want to do when the fort's ready," she said.

"What?" Lana asked.

The warrior leaned closer to them. "Get Sans and Papyrus with snowballs," she whispered in a low voice.

The kids giggled at that and the three of them began working on the fort double time, finishing it soon and quickly getting a stash of snowballs ready, making it a large stash and Undyne even constructed a back door for them in the fort for one of them to go get more snowballs if they ran out of ammo. Justin suddenly spotted the skeleton brothers and ducked down. "Here they come," he whispered and the three of them giggled and hunkered down, Lana listening very carefully before she grinned.

"Now," she said softly.

With a warrior cry, Undyne launched two snowballs, hitting her targets right on and causing them both to jump in surprise before Justin pelted them with two more snowballs and Lana also successfully did so, the three of them laughing heartily.

Sans brushed the snow off himself as did Papyrus before the tall skeleton leaned down to make a snowball and Sans collected a little bit of snow nearby that was fluffy and not firmed down into packing snow yet and levitated it over the fort before letting it drop down on the three inside and they let out cries of surprise. "Sans! You cheated!" Undyne exclaimed, her laugh taking the heat out of her words as she threw another snowball at him, but he turned it around and made it hit her instead, making her let out a sound of mock surprise.

Justin and Lana were laughing as they threw a few more snowballs, but Papyrus' snowball landed a hit on Justin, making him laugh before Lana squealed as a Gaster Blaster gently grabbed the back of her jacket and lifted her out of the fort and brought her over to Sans, who grinned and he began tickling her sides, which made her squeal. Despite having her winter jacket on, Sans could easily tickle her with it on and she squirmed until the blaster put her down and she ran for the restaurant with the skeleton hot on her heels.

Going inside the warm restaurant, Lana slipped off her jacket at the door, making Grillby smile as he saw her face was getting rosy and jumped slightly when she squeaked and fell over as Sans tickled her again, catching her so that she didn't get hurt. "Gotcha, kid," he said.

"AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!" She laughed out. "SAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHANS!"

He chuckled. "Nope, gotta hear that cute laugh," he said.

Lana had confided that she wasn't overly happy about being tickled because she had a laugh that embarrassed her, so the joke-loving skeleton took it upon himself to prove that she had a cute laugh and even Grillby agreed when he heard his daughter laugh. Although, she still had some uncertainty about her laugh, she now didn't really mind if one of the monsters tickled her.

Justin came running in before Papyrus scooped him up and began tickling him, making him laugh as Undyne came in, looking a bit too cold, but laughing. "Oh, man, that was fun," she said.

Grillby motioned to the counter. "I've got hot chocolate for you all," he said. "On the house."

"Awesome!" Justin said, managing to get away from Papyrus. "Thanks, Uncle Grillby!"

"Just what we needed to take the chill out of our bones," Sans said.

Papyrus made a face at his brother, making the others laugh as Undyne thanked Grillby too. "It was getting a little cold out there," she said.

"But we had fun," Lana said, hugging her father. "Thanks, Dad."

Mettaton then came in. "Oh, Lana, there you are, darling," he said. "The new season of my cooking and singing show is coming up soon and I was wondering if you'd be interested in starring in them again."

The eleven-year-old's eyes lit up. The robot star had allowed her to join in as a guest earlier in the week, mindful of her blindness and working with her as if they had practiced it earlier. She had enjoyed it and turned to Grillby. "Dad, can I?" She asked hopefully.

He nodded. "Just keep in mind her disability," he said to Mettaton.

"Of course, Grillby," the star said. "I've already worked out on many things and will be helping her with verbal cues and such. Far be it from me to leave her stumbling around and unable to find her lines and that. That would be too cruel."

One thing Lana liked is that the monsters were willing to work with her and her lack of sight, not making fun of her at all. Even Grillby worked with her every day on it, being a doting and understanding father to her.

After Mettaton and Undyne left, Sans reached into his pocket. "Hey, Lana, Gaster and Alphys made this for you," he said, pulling out something that looked like a peppermint stick, gently placing it in her hands.

"What is it?" She asked, trying to understand what it was by feel.

"It's a cane for you to help you while walking," he explained. "So that you'll know where things like trees and tables are when you're walking."

"So I don't bump into them," she said with a smile.

"Right," he said. "Can you feel the two buttons on it?"

She nodded. "Yes?"

"Press the bottom one near the end farthest from you."

At the instruction, she did so and the can unfolded to the proper length and she tested it out, getting the hang of it quickly and she smiled, going over to Sans and hugging him. "Please tell Gaster and Alphys I said 'thank you'," she said.

"I will," he promised with a smile.

To Lana, the cane was not only a gift, but a sign of the monsters' kindness too. They showed her more kindness than the surface world ever had and for that, she was thankful and happy to be among those who took the time to understand and help her, accepting her into their homes without hesitation as if she was one of their own, something she would always be grateful for.


So Lana's fitting right into the Underground. Next up, many more years pass and another child falls into the Underground. Who is it? Stay tuned to find out! :)

And please leave a review, but no flames!

GoldGuardian2418