Chapter 25
Chara sighed as they walked into the room where they had the PTA meetings. They decided that they wanted to get to know a couple of the other kids. As they went to grab some food, they noticed that Jimmy, Anna, and Ashley moved away from them slightly. They felt a little bit of guilt, but shrugged and went to grab some brownies and some of the good lemon bars. They noted that none of the parents commented on their diet choices, although Paul was staring them down. Chara looked up and let their eyes go dark as they stared at him. He stared back. It wasn't until they let that black goop drip from their eyes that he flinched and looked away.
Yeah, you better flinch, bitch. Chara scoffed as they grabbed some fruit for the sake of it. Now, who to get to know...How about Stella? She's always by herself.
"Hi, Stella." Chara smiled, sitting next to the girl.
"Oh, h-hi." Stella replied as Frisk sat on the other side of Chara.
"How are you?" Chara asked.
"Pretty good." Stella said. "How about you?
"Same. Frisk is pretty well, too." Chara nodded to Frisk, who signed in agreement.
"Oh, that's good." Stella had a small smile.
"How is your mother? Still busy with Ben?" Chara asked.
"Oh, that, and other issues." Stella said. "Mama said that mi hermano is in trouble for something."
"Your brother? Ben?" Chara asked.
"Oh, no, my other brother." Stella said.
"An older brother?" Chara realized.
"Yep! I have five siblings!" Stella smiled. "Ben is the youngest, then there's Aintza, then me, then June, then Clarisa, then Adrian!"
"Oh really?" Chara asked.
"Yeah! How many do you have?" Stella asked.
"Just Frisk." Chara explained.
"But you don't look the same. Frisk looks more like me, and you look different." Stella tilted her head.
"Oh, we're both adopted." Chara explained.
"Adopted?" Stella frowned.
"It means that Mom and Dunkle Sans took us in and became our new parents." Chara explained.
"Dunkle?" Stella asked, raising an eyebrow.
"Oh, Frisk came up with that. They still have to explain it." Chara turned towards Frisk.
Dad plus uncle. Dunkle. Frisk signed shrugging. Chara explained this to Stella, who paused to absorb it.
"I still don't get it." She shrugged, smiling.
"I don't either, don't worry about it." Chara reassured the girl while Frisk stared at them.
"Where is your Dada? Mama said that he's normally here." Stella asked.
"Oh, he had to stay home." Chara paused, feeling uneasy. Was Paul staring at them again?
"Oh, why?" Stella asked.
"No reason." Chara retorted, feeling bad. Stella rolled over to whisper to them.
"Is it about Alice?" Stella asked. Chara flinched.
"How do you know?" Chara whispered back.
"Being quiet has its advantages. Like hearing conversations. I overheard Alice's Dada and your Dada talking about her. It sounded like he was at your house." Stella said innocently. "I mentioned it to Mama and she asked me more about what I had heard. She made this." Stella held out the paper.
"I can give it to him." Chara offered.
"Really?" Stella squeaked. She perked up and grabbed the paper from her pocket.
"Thank you-" Chara started to grab it, but Stella pulled it away.
"You have to promise that you'll give it to your Dada!" Stella scolded.
"Okay, I promise." Chara sighed.
"Pinky promise?" Stella held out her pinky.
"Pinky promise." Chara promised, taking Stella's pinky. Stella smiled and obligingly gave them the paper.
I can't believe that's still around…
"So, what were you talking about before you mentioned your family?" Chara asked.
"Oh yeah! Mi hermano got in trouble with Mama." Stella smiled innocently.
"What did he do?" Chara asked.
"He got home late. Mama was so mad!" Stella giggled.
"Sounds like she would!" Chara commented, smiling. They were liking this kid more and more by the minute.
"Yep! I've never seen her so mad, not even when I broke the cookie jar trying to grab a cookie." Stella chuckled.
"Oh no! What happened with the cookie jar?" Chara kept Stella engaged in the conversation.
"Mama made chocolate chip cookies, and I could only eat one. But when she left, I tried to grab another, and I dropped the jar and it broke." Stella's face fell. "Mama's not gonna make cookies for a long time now."
"Aw, I'm sorry." Chara patted the kid on the back.
"It's fine." Stella smiled quietly.
"Achem." Linda coughed.
"It seems like the meeting's about to start." Chara said. "Let's go."
"Alright." Stella clung to Chara's arm as they sat down in their seat next to Toriel.
"So, first thing on the agenda is the play auditions tomorrow. We have a list of the children auditioning right here." Linda held up the list. "Obviously, several of these children will not make it. For whatever reason that may be."
"Right." David nodded. "Are any of the children in here auditioning?"
"Yes." Linda said. "Tommy, Anna, Ashley, Chara, and Frisk." Linda raised an eyebrow, but said nothing. "Alice was also supposed to audition, but seeing her current situation, she cannot." Chara swore they could hear Paul mutter something under his breath.
"The play is Suessical the Musical. The main roles are Cat in the Hat, Joey, and Horton." Linda continued. "We are looking for a boy for Horton, someone masculine for Joey, and someone who is feminine for Cat in the Hat." Linda put down the list. "Any questions?"
"Who's judging?" Toriel asked.
"That will be me, David, Paul, and under insistance from a certain," Linda clenched her fist. "skeleton, Mettaton and Papyrus." Chara frowned.
Why Paul?
"Paul is very qualified to do auditions." Linda said simply.
"Did I say that out loud?" Chara asked.
"Yep." Stella said.
"Darn it." Chara muttered.
"And now, we have the science fair, which is two weeks from this Friday." Linda continued.
"And of course, my daughter is going to win." Diane scoffed.
"How do you know that?" Toriel snapped.
"She always does." Diane retorted.
"At least MY kids do their own projects." Toriel countered. "And they're much more creative then a darn baking soda volcano."
"Excuse you." Diane gasped.
"Hey! Not now." Paul interjected.
"You stay out of this!" Toriel yelled at him.
"Hey!" Linda snapped. Toriel stopped and looked at Linda.
"Do you need to go do something? Or just take a walk or something?" Linda asked. "You're more rigid than normal."
"I'm fine." Toriel said stifly. "It's just that HE bothers me." Toriel sat down without explaining.
"Alright then." Linda was about to continue, but then, Toriel's phone rang.
"Oh, I'm sorry. Hold on a second." Toriel answered the phone. "Hello? Oh, Sans, I-" Toriel paused. Chara tilted their head in confusion at the look of horror that overtook Toriel's face.
"We'll be right there." Toriel replied, hanging up. "Frisk, Chara, we're leaving."
"What? Why?" Chara objected.
"Hey! You can't leave! We need your opinion." Helen said sarcastically. Toriel gave her a look that would have the toughest monster shiver in horror.
"My husband has been accused of some crimes he did not commit. We need to leave. Now." And with that, she picked up Frisk and led Chara out the door. However, just before leaving, Chara laid eyes on Paul.
And they swore that he wore a smirk on his face as they were unceremoniously yanked out of the room.
"Mom, what happened?" Chara asked as Toriel drove up to the detention center.
"I don't know. All I know is that Sans was arrested." Toriel frowned, near on the verge of tears. Frisk was stimming more than normal, and Chara could tell the uneasiness that seemingly oozed out of the child. Chara could only watch as they rubbed their arms and tapped on the seat, a frown on their face.
"I feel like Sans has a lot to tell us. Let's go." Toriel picked up the stimming Frisk, who struggled out of her grasp.
"Do you wish to walk, my child?" Toriel asked. Frisk nodded and ran ahead. "Hey, wait up!" Toriel and Chara caught up to Frisk as they entered the doors.
"Hello, we'd like to meet with my husband, Sans Dreemurr." Toriel said. "He just called us about a half an hour ago."
"Alright." The guard at the clerk stand grunted and reluctantly grabbed his keys. "Only one."
"Excuse you?" Toriel snapped.
"Can't trust them monsters with children." The guard explained.
"I am a MOTHER. These two are MY children, and they are coming with me to see their father. And we will report you for this if you don't let us through." Toriel promised angrily.
"I'm pretty sure monsters can't make human babies." The guard shrugged.
"HOW DARE YOU!" Toriel screeched. Frisk frowned and hugged Chara's arm.
"Mom, you're scaring Frisk." Chara warned her.
"I demand to see my husband with my children! He never told us what was going on!" Toriel ranted. Chara saw her start to summon some of her fire magic. Chara used their magic aura to hold her and keep her from summoning her fire magic.
"I think it's in your best interest to let us through." Chara said quietly, confused at their mother's anger.
Why is she so uncharacteristically angry?
"You see, Frisk here is the ambassador to all of monster kind." Chara explained. "They need to meet with him to discuss what he did."
"Oh. Why didn' ya say so in the firs' place?" The guard asked. "Alright, I guess I'll let y'all through."
"Thank you." Chara said.
"Sans, what happened?" Toriel asked, sitting down in the chair in a huff.
"I'm sorry, Tori. I didn't think it was that important to tell you." Sans explained sadly.
"It clearly is, if it got you arrested." Toriel sniffed. "So, what is it?"
"Well, it was the day after Alice ran. I was teasing Flowey, you know, normal stuff, when suddenly, we heard this banging on the back door." Sans started sweating a bit, remembering. His eyes went dark. "I changed the gravity of whoever it was to put them more towards the ground. When I opened the door, it was Paul." Chara felt their blood run cold and the color fade from Toriel's face.
"I asked why he was there, and he responded that he knew Alice was in the house." Sans continued. "We talked a bit more, and I found out that he didn't care what condition she was in, he just didn't want her dead. We talked more, and, um," Sans looked away awkwardly. "I summoned a Blaster and pointed it at him to get him to talk. He took a picture of it and I didn't think to take his phone."
"Sans!" Toriel said in a scolding tone.
"After that, he confessed to abusing Alice." Sans admitted. "But when I went to call the police, he pointed out that I had no proof that he actualy confessed, and that he had proof that I threatened him. Basically, he told me this; If I went to the police and told them that he was abusing Alice, he would go to the police and tell them I held him against his will and show them the picture." Sans sighed. "He said that as long as I didn't break my part of it, he wouldn't. I had to agree, Tori. I...I didn't want something like this happening." Sans slumped, finishing his story.
"You had no choice." Toriel sighed. "That man...is going to burn in hell."
"Whoa, Tori. Death is too good for him." Sans tried to calm her down.
"Everything is too good for him! You don't hurt a child, and especially not your child." Toriel ranted. "Who knows what else he's done? If you're sadistic enough to hurt your kid, then there's no telling WHAT crimes he could have done!"
"Oh, um, speaking of Alice." Sans said.
"Where is she?" Toriel asked.
"The police took her back to her Dad's. They wouldn't listen to me when I told them that he was abusing her, and that's why she was at our house." Sans winced. "They think I kidnapped her."
"No." Toriel shook. "NO!" Toriel slammed the wall. "Fat load of good they are. They can't tell a criminal if there was one underneath their nose!"
"Tori, calm down." Sans said, looking surprised.
"No! This is an issue I am very passionate about! I care about that girl as if she were my own flesh and blood! I care about you like you're my own flesh and blood! I am NOT going to calm down!" Toriel stomped her feet.
I've literally never seen her like this before. Chara thought.
"Throwing a fit isn't going to solve anything." Sans retorted.
"...You're right. My apologies." Toriel calmed down.
That was fast. Chara blinked in surprise. What's going on with Mom?
"Look, you guys need to get home. My court case is tomorrow." Sans explained. "It seems like Chad is going to try to hire a lawyer for me."
"Chad and Shannon?" Toriel asked.
"Yeah, they just visited." Sans said. "Chad's utterly confused as to why I got arrested. It doesn't seem like there's a way that Paul would have found out that I called CPS, so the only thing I can think of is that he's a scumbag. Or that maybe he found out-" Sans stood up.
"What is it, Sans?" Toriel asked.
"Alice told me something. When you guys were at the rink, there was a lady there who seemed to recognize her with a full face of makeup on." Sans explained.
"Yeah. I can confirm that." Chara said as Frisk nodded.
Do you think she told on Alice? Frisk asked.
"Probably." Sans sighed. "Well, I don't exactly have evidence that Alice was abused, so we'll see how tomorrow goes."
"Wait! Sans, I have something for you. Gloria's daughter gave it to me." Chara handed the letter to Sans.
"...Interesting." Sans read it.
"What is it?" Toriel asked.
"A psychiatric report on both Alice and Paul. It seems like Alice's behavior matches that of an abuse victim, and Paul's matches that of an abuser." Sans smiled. "This is it! I just have to report this, and then I can get Paul on trial. Thank you so much, Chara!"
"No problem, Dunkle Sans." Chara responded happily. "The qustion is, how did Paul know that Alice was at the house? And how did he know that you told?"
"I don't know, Chara." Sans sighed. "I just don't know."
Toriel sighed and leaned her head against the car seat once they had parked in the driveway.
"Kids, we're going to have to get through the next couple of days without Sans." Toriel explained. "Best case senario, he's able to get Paul on trial, and we'll be done in two days. Worst case…" Toriel didn't need to finish the sentence.
"Got it, Mom." Chara said, as Frisk nodded. They opened the door and let Chara out after them. Chara ran to the door and opened it, and then collasped in the kitchen.
"...That's what I thought." Chara looked up at the familiar voice. Suddenly, they sat up, confused at the sight before them. Alice was sitting on the floor, the deconstructed telephone in front of her. She had gloves on and was holding a small, white device in her hand. She quickly put the phone back together, put the device in a plastic bag, and stood up, seeing Chara behind her.
"That's how he knew." Alice held out the device. "He bugged the phone."
"How do you know it's his?" Chara asked. Alice gave them a photo. Chara gasped at the photo.
In it was a drawer filled to the brim with the same exact device.
"He used to bug my phone, that's how I knew how to take it out." Alice explained. Chara pulled the girl into a hug.
"Thank you." Chara choked out as Alice hugged them back.