And of course I didn't get this done quickly at all because I don't even have time to write for like half the week. Man I'm tired of saying sorry all the time for being slow.
"Then stop saying sorry."
BUT I FEEL BAD IF I DON'T.
I hope you enjoy this one chapter break from crazy. (Warning: The definition of 'crazy' may vary from person to person)
ProtectorTale, Life Above Ch.21
The kind soul's attention was pulled away from the TV by the sound of a door unlocking. He turned his head and soon smiled when Frisk reentered and locked the door behind her.
"You're back! Finally!" He cheered lightly.
"I'm back! Finally!" She cheered before running over and jumping to him.
"Oof!" He said reflexively as the child landed on him before hugging him tightly. He smiled and soon hugged her back just as strongly. "Did you have fun?"
"Yep! Oh, and Kid said to say hi!" Frisk remembered.
"Is he doing alright?" AJ asked.
"Yeah! The other kids are actually being pretty nice to him now." She answered.
"They better be." The boy said in response.
"Did you do alright while I was gone?" The girl asked with a worried look.
"Of course, Frisk, you know me." He responded with a smile.
"Exactly, that's why I worry." She commented. Her eyes lit up with an idea. "One more hug to make sure you're okay!" She exclaimed before tightly wrapping her arms around his neck again. He chuckled and didn't hesitate to hug her back. "Again, I'm really sorry for leaving, but they hadn't asked for me to come over in awhile."
"I know, it's fine." He said understandingly. "It was actually kind of nice to be alone for a bit and be able to do what I want."
"Really? Being alone is… nice?" Frisk asked, confused.
He answered with a nod. "Yeah. There's a difference between being alone, and being lonely, and like I said, sometimes being alone is a good thing. You get some privacy."
She finally got off of him and stood up. "Sooo do you want some more privacy, or do you wanna get back to our worlds?" The girl asked.
"Neither, actually. As crazy as it sounds, I actually would like to go out and visit a certain place." AJ said cryptically.
"Really? You actually want to go somewhere?" Frisk asked with a smirk.
"Yes, I still intend to spend every day like it's my last until the mages come along. With that said, there's a place I want to check out while I still have the freedom to do so." The teen explained.
"What is it?" She asked.
"No spoilers. I'll tell you when we get there." He responded, and he smirked when she pouted at him.
"And here we are!" AJ exclaimed as they stood at the corner of a busy four way intersection. Specifically they were standing before a store at this particular corner of the intersecting roads.
The child caught a whiff of something in the air. "Wait… I know that smell!" She realized.
"Yep! Smells great even from out here!" The boy noted with a smile.
Some other people that were walking by were clearly interested in the store. You could tell that a few were debating what to do. There were monsters in there, you could tell just looking through the large windows, but whatever was being made in there smelled amazing.
Our two humans had no problem entering the large corner store.
(sans. – Undertale OST)
"Hi everyone!" Frisk greeted cheerfully.
All occupants of the store turned to the duo, and the monsters were quick to greet them back and wave to them. The few humans in the store watched with varied expressions. Some were excited to see them, some were curious, a few pretended not to care. A familiar purple bunny wearing an apron noticed the newcomers and waved to them from behind the large counter at the back.
AJ blushed and sighed in annoyance as he pulled his hood further down to hide himself. "Why do you do this to me?..." He complained.
The inside of the store was as wide as Grillby's, though not quite as long. Despite that, the sides of the store are lined with more tables and seats then you'll find at Grillby's. Just like in her shop, the lighting of the store was purely orange, giving a very unique vibe to the place.
The younger human giggled in amusement before the two walked towards the front counter. Recognizing the humans were doing other things, the monsters went back to their own conversations and the café's friendly, but not exactly quiet, atmosphere came out front and center.
"Hey there, humans!" The rabbit monster greeted. "Nice to see you finally visit!"
"Nice to see you finally set up shop up here!" The teen said in response.
"Yeah, well, it took a bit of convincing to get the guy selling the place to hand it over. He didn't have much of a problem with monsters, but he didn't think a monster could run a place up here. I made him a cinna-bun, and he said 'Man! These are so good, no one in their right mind would turn down a place cooking these up! You got a deal, lady!', and here I am." The monster woman explained, resting an arm on the counter with a smile.
"Exactly what I thought." The boy said, agreeing with the man.
"It smells amazing in here!" Frisk exclaimed.
"It's no wonder everyone caught on to the place so quick." AJ commented with a chuckle.
The shopkeeper chuckled as well. "I've already noticed a few people just sitting around and talking, even though they finished eating awhile ago."
"Well who would want to leave a place that smells this good!?" The child exclaimed.
The rabbit monster chuckled again. "I'm guessing you two didn't come here just to see me, though, right?"
"Well why would you come to a new café like this if you aren't gonna see what they have to offer?" The boy asked rhetorically before checking his pocket. "I made sure to bring money, so we will take two cinnamon buns, please."
"Alright then." The woman said before heading into a back room. "I'll handle these next few. You watch the front, alright?"
"Will do!" Someone said before they stepped from the back room and up to the counter. Their eyes widened at the sight of the two. "O-Oh my gosh! I-It's really you! Frisk and AJ, right!?" Said the thinner female rabbit monster.
"Oh! Hi there!" Frisk greeted.
"Um… yeah." AJ answered with an embarrassed chuckle. They'd both been through this plenty of times with other monsters, and he could tell where this was going.
"Thank you so much for freeing us! It is a shame that humans don't seem to care much for an inn, but I'm alright with helping my sister run this place instead! I'm sure you've probably heard this before, but I've never been able to say it myself, so… thank you, both of you." The monster said with a light smile.
"You're welcome!" The younger human responded cheerfully.
The taller one nodded. "You deserved it."
Since they would have to wait a few minutes for their food, the two humans found an empty table to the left from when you walk in and sat down. Almost immediately, the boy found his hood pulled down by someone seated behind him. He looked up and found someone resting their head on the back of the boundary between the tables and staring down at him.
"Hey there, humans!" Bratty greeted.
"Catty and Bratty in the house! Remember us!?" Catty asked, appearing next to her friend.
"Um… yeah, vaguely." AJ answered.
"What!? Oh come on! We were such an important part of your adventure!" Catty whined.
"Not… really." The boy pointed out hesitantly.
"Aww…" The feline monster deflated.
"So, like, what are you two doing here?" Bratty asked casually.
"Well doing the same thing you guys are doing, right?" Frisk asked.
Bratty laughed a bit at that. "Oh that's cute. Frisk, you must have us confused with some other amazing duo. We sell stuff! We don't time to buy anything!"
"We're still trying to find the right creepy alley to set up shop!" Catty spoke.
"Still!?" The younger human asked, surprised.
"Yeah! Even after two months it's, like, really hard to find a nice creepy alley on the surface!" Catty answered.
"None of them have the right smell." Bratty commented with a look of slight disgust.
Catty nodded in agreement. "Yeah, and if your alley doesn't have the right smell, you do not want to set up shop there!"
"Yeah." Bratty agreed. "Definitely."
"Never!" Catty stressed.
"You gotta have the right smell." Bratty added.
"It brings good luck!" Catty said with finality.
The two humans were silent for a few seconds as they didn't really know how to respond to that. They both eventually settled for nodding and agreeing with them.
"Mhm." Frisk hummed.
"Sure, makes sense." AJ said.
Their rescue from weird came in the form of none other than Papyrus, walking into the shop with a large batch of human children clustered around him. The kids looked around with mostly curiosity at the place they were now in and the people that were in it. A few were a bit scared, but it seemed to be because they were shy, not that they were afraid of all the monsters. Meanwhile, the parents of nearly all those children were standing outside the store, shocked at the sudden detour into the unfamiliar place.
The tall skeleton scanned the area with a curious look. "HMM… INTERESTING. THIS PLACE SEEMS SIMILAR TO GRILLBY'S… AND YET IT IS MUCH BETTER! WONDERFUL! THIS STORE MEETS MY STANDARDS!" Papyrus exclaimed and gave a thumbs up to the lady at the counter on the other side of the room.
The rabbit monster gave a bit of an awkward smile. "Well… that's great! I'm sure my sister will be glad to hear that!" She said back.
"Hi, Papyrus!" Frisk greeted and waved to their friend.
The skeleton turned and gasped in surprise before smiling brightly and waving back. "HELLO THERE, FRISK!" He approached their table and the young ones around him followed excitedly when they realized who he was talking to. "HELLO TO YOU AS WELL, AJ!"
Two parents were leaning into the store and desperately whispering for their children to come back while they looked around at the monsters fearfully. Their kids were too excited and curious to hear them.
"Heyo. See you still have loyal fans following you around." AJ pointed out with an amused smile.
One adult snuck in and picked up their kid before running away. The child could be heard complaining as they left.
"THESE HUMAN CHILDREN ARE JUST SUCH A JOY TO BE AROUND! I AM SO GLAD THAT THEIR PARENTS ALLOW US TO GO ON OUR ADVENTURES!" Papyrus said in response.
The teen glanced out the windows of the café. "Well uh, those parents look pretty worried about you being in here, so you might wanna get going." He pointed out.
"THEY HAVE NOTHING TO WORRY ABOUT! I PROMISED THEM THAT I WOULD KEEP THEIR CHILDREN SAFE!" The skeleton said as he struck a dramatic pose. "BESIDES, LOOK AT ALL THESE MONSTERS AROUND US!? WE ARE PERFECTLY SAFE HERE!"
"Papyrus, that's not the point." AJ pointed out.
"Pap, you know that a lot of humans don't trust monsters, right?" Frisk asked hesitantly.
The skeleton let out a sad sigh, somehow. "YES, SANS EXPLAINED THAT TO ME. BUT! THAT IS PART OF WHY I DO THIS, YOU SEE!? I'M SHOWING EVERYONE THAT MONSTERS CAN BE TRUSTED, EVEN WITH CHILDREN! I WILL MAKE SURE THAT NO ONE IS HURT HERE!"
On cue, the boy that had climbed up Papyrus's back fell and landed on another kid.
"OH DEAR…" Papyrus said as he turned around and saw a boy and girl on the floor, writhing in pain. The boy was clutching the back of his head, and the girl had her hands against her forehead. "ARE YOU TWO ALRIGHT?"
"Uh… h-hey, maybe I can help." The teen hesitantly spoke up. He held up both his hands and used his magic to make them start producing green mist. "Here, bring them over here."
"CAN YOU WALK, HUMAN?" The skeleton asked the girl, to which she nodded hesitantly. He pulled her up and helped her the few steps over to the tall human.
A few other kids had actually helped the boy walk over, which impressed the teen.
"Alright, just hold still." AJ said as he held one hand to the girl's forehead and the other to the back of the boy's head. He held his hand there for a few moments before speaking. "Does that feel any better?"
"Y-yeah, a little…" The girl answered hesitantly.
"Mhm." The boy hummed and affirmative.
The teen smiled a bit and let out a small sigh of relief. "Good." The parents of these children had come in to watch what was happening, and after a short while, the kids no longer felt any pain.
"Did that… actually help them?" One of the adults asked, surprised.
The boy turned and nodded. "Yeah, it… it doesn't hurt anymore." He said before turning to the girl shyly. "Sorry for falling on you."
"It's okay." The girl said before holding out a hand for the boy. After they shook hands, the girl turned to AJ with a bright smile. "I hope I get green magic like you did! I want to help people, too!"
The teen let out a light chuckle. "Well, I hope you do too then!"
The smell of cinnamon from heaven became particularly strong all of the sudden, and the group turned to see the owner of the shop/café approaching with a tray holding a pair of cinnamon buns.
"Hello there, Papyrus!" The rabbit monster greeted. "Good to see you, as well as all of your little… friends here." She gained an amused smile at the looks of wonder and curiosity on the kids' faces as they stared up at her.
"You look really soft!" One of the kids exclaimed.
"Can I touch your fur!?" Another asked excitedly, and most of the other kids exclaimed the same wish.
She chuckled. "Sorry, kids, but we'd have to make sure you're parents are okay with that, first." She responded as she turned and took the last few steps over to the table that the Dreemurr's were seated at. "Here you go."
"Thank you!"" They both said as they eagerly grabbed their food.
The monster woman looked at them with a smirk and a raised eyebrow.
AJ noticed her look. "What?" He asked with an annoyed tone and a smile he couldn't hold back.
"You two keep saying you aren't siblings, and I just have a hard time believing that." She answered.
"We aren't. How many times do I have to say it?" He responded before taking a bite out of his food and getting the same taste of heaven that he expects from these by now.
"I KNEW I WASN'T THE ONLY ONE TO NOTICE IT! THEY ARE CLEARLY MUCH ALIKE!" Papyrus said.
"We have brown hair, that's it." The teen pointed out.
"Mhm." The monster woman hummed, clearly seeing more than he does. She finally turned to acknowledge the upset children who were still begging to touch her fur, despite the skeleton's attempts to make them quiet down.
"Our parents are right there! Go ask them!" One of the kids said, and all the other agreed.
Those very parents were all finally coming in to take their children away, both so they were out of danger, and so they would stop bothering everyone. Now that the kids had spoken, the adult humans were now on the spot.
"Well? Do you mind?" The rabbit monster asked.
"N-Not really." One man spoke after a moment. "That is, if you don't mind."
"I don't mind." A woman answered.
"No problem for me." Another man spoke.
"Honey!" The woman next to him whispered angrily. "You can't let him touch that thing!" The woman turned back with a shocked look and saw the humanoid rabbit standing in front of them with an arm extended to her.
"Hi, there. I'm Sarah." The monster greeted.
The woman continued to stare with wide eyes. "Well?" Her husband spoke with a grin as he pat her on the back. She hesitantly extended her hand out and grasped the hand of the monster.
"…I-I'm… M-Madison." The human said.
"Well, Madison, how'd you like some food? You look like you could use some." Sarah suggested.
"I am pretty hungry, actually." The husband said with a smile.
"Um, w-" Madison shook her head. "What do you serve here?" She asked.
The monster pointed outside casually. "Did you miss the sign outside? 'Sarah's Cinnamon Buns'." She answered. "Oh, right! By the way everyone, I changed my name to Sarah awhile after we came up to the surface! Just in case you didn't know." She said to the entire café.
"What!?"
"Really!?"
A few monsters expressed how surprised they were by this news, while others were just now noticing that they didn't know her name anyway.
"WHAT WAS YOUR NAME BEFORE, THEN?" Papyrus asked.
Sarah started sweating. "Not important." She answered before turning to the two adults she was talking to previously. "Just sit down somewhere. I'll get to making some cinna-buns for you in a few." She then turned back to the anxious children. "Alright, I know how to deal with all of you. Line up so I can shake your hands."
The children cheered and began fumbling around as they attempted to form a line. Once they did they eagerly stepped forward in order to shake hands with the rabbit woman. They all politely said "Hi" or "Hello" as they did so.
"I didn't expect this from you." AJ commented, a bit surprised.
"I'm no fool. If we want the humans to like us and trust us, we can't just sit around for months waiting for it to happen." Sarah responded to him while continuing to greet each kid.
He nodded. "Fair enough."
Once the shopkeep had shook hands with the kids, she turned to their parents. "Sorry, but there isn't enough seats left for all of you, so you'll have to just come by another time."
"YES, IT IS ABOUT TIME FOR US TO TAKE TODAY'S ADVENTURE ELSEWHERE. THIS WAS DEFINITELY A WORTHWHILE DETOUR THOUGH!" Papyrus said. "EVERYONE, SAY GOODBYE TO MISS SARAH!"
"Bye Miss Sarah!" The children all said and waved goodbye.
The skeleton quickly leaned over to the seated humans and whispered to them. "I CAN SEE WHY SHE NEVER TOLD US HER ORIGINAL NAME. WHAT KIND OF CRUEL PARENTS WOULD NAME THEIR CHILD 'NOT IMPORTANT'?"
The teen sighed while Frisk laughed and facepalmed. "Papyrus, that isn't what she… nevermind."
"WELL, FAREWELL HUMANS! HAVE A GOOD DAY!" Papy said before turning to walk away.
"You too." AJ said.
"Bye, Papyrus!" The younger Dreemurr said with a wave as Papyrus's party exited the café.
A human at the opposite end of the shop hit the record button on his phone. "Did you get all that?" The girl seated across from him asked.
"Yep." He answered.
"Good! If that lady is gonna make everyone such good food, she deserves to have people see how nice she is!" She exclaimed.
"Oh come on. People post every little video and picture they get of the monsters. No one would see this even if I did post it." He said with certainty.
"Oh you come on! I bet you ten bucks you'll go viral!" She said.
"Ten, huh? Deal." He said with a smirk.
…
I just woke up tired and angry so I honestly don't have much to say right now, sorry.
Hope you all enjoyed the chapter and I hope you're having a better day than I am.
(I can't predict the future, but the next few chapters will likely have one clear, AU focused topic. They might be shorter because of that, but as usual, I really have no clue what I'm going to do…)