Jett grumbled deep in her throat as she found herself coming out of sleep, feeling a foreign warmth present on either side of her resting body. Her lightly crusted eyes slowly opened to the blurry sight of dark looming clouds in the night sky outside of her closed bedroom window before her gaze traveled down to the two figures that were cuddled up next to her under the comfort of her cozy comforter.
She smiled silently and rolled her eyes to herself when she saw Frisk and Asriel curled up at either side of her, their small arms wrapping around her waist and chest in a protective manner. If it weren't for the uncomfortable dryness she felt in her mouth she would have probably just let her brothers stay there for the rest of the night cuddling up next to her, but the oncoming headache that she sometimes got from being dehydrated was enough warning for her to give her body what it needs.
Jett carefully unlatched the clasping appendages from her body, Asriel mumbling something in his sleep before rolling over to continue to snooze and Frisk staying in his dead sleep being the sign of her successful escape as she pulled her legs up and wiggled her way out of the bed, re-covering the two in the thick blanket before standing up straight and stretching her arms out up high with a almost silent yawn.
She turned her head to look over at her mirror for a brief moment, brushing her fingers through her messy bed head, thinking to herself that she needed to go get her hair trimmed pretty soon. She kind of favored the shorter hairstyle at this point, a lot less to work with when getting ready for the day.
The feeling of the cold floor against her bare feet caused a shiver to run up her spine, and in that moment Jett deemed that her long, spaghetti strapped light blue silk nightgown wasn't enough for her trip into the kitchen. As quietly as she could, she opened the second to last dresser drawer and grabbed on to her old purple hoodie that had somehow managed to still survive after everything it's been through, throwing the the zip up on and shivering once more before adjusting to the more welcoming warmth that she felt second after putting the extra garment on.
With her feet lightly patting against the wooden flooring, Jett groggily made her way out of her room and down the dark hallway of the quiet home. The house wasn't as silent as Jett had originally thought it to be however, the sound of delicate shuffling and typing coming into ear shot and becoming louder with each step closer to the living room of the home. Jett opened her eyes up a little more from it's tired squint and noticed a dim bluish light coming from the same room that the noise resided from.
She raised an eyebrow as she passed the doorway to the dining room and turned the corner of the hallway, standing under the next open doorway closest to the front door that lead into the living room, her sights landing on a very tired and focused Oliver looking between his open laptop and his video camera that he had sitting on the coffee table in front of the couch he sat on.
He looked exhausted, the bags under his eyes noticeable enough even in the low light of his laptop and his slouched sitting position being an indicator that his body was probably begging him for rest. He brushed his longer bits of brown hair back out of his face with sloppy hast to try to get it out of his eyes, the strands staying momentarily before slowly cascading back down the sides of this head and off to the side of his face once more where they would be forgotten about for another few minutes or so before being brushed back once more.
His right leg moved up and down as though impatient, probably something that he did to keep himself from falling asleep face first in to his laptop, the heel of his bare foot silently slapping against the large red area rug that perfectly filled in the space between the sofa and two matching recliners that sat on either side of the couch. A low grumble followed by a sigh left his lips as he clicked away some more on his laptop, the man completely oblivious to Jett approaching him directly from in front of him. A smirk spread across her face while she crossed her arms as she stood nearly a foot away from the coffee table, still unnoticed by Oliver.
"Boo."
"GUHFUCK!" Oliver grabbed his camera without even thinking and jumped straight up in his seat, only for his face to drop from it's terrified expression to one of annoyance when his now alert eyes locked in on Jett. He plopped back down on to the couch back into his slouched position and turned back towards his laptop to click out of some things as he scolded Jett in a whispered shout. "Why the hell would you do that to me?! I'm already on edge enough with almost being an ice kebab today!"
"I think you mean yesterday. And to answer your question, because I could. Besides, you'd do the same exact thing back to me if you had the chance to."
Oliver grumbled some words under his breath that she couldn't quite catch and closed his laptop's screen slightly, enough to still have some light shining through but leaving the screen not visible to Jett as she made her way next to him to take a seat on the couch, her body being accepted into the cushions comfortably.
"What are you still doing up so late?" Jett's joints popped as she stretched her arms and legs out, making herself comfortable next to her friend. He looked at her as though she had said something insane, his brows furrowing in confusion under the strands of messy hair.
"Are you kidding? How could you even sleep after what happened less than twelve hours ago?" He shook his head and turned his body towards Jett to look at her more directly. "I can't relax at all with all of this going on. It feels like my head is full of roaches, and they're just picking at and crawling all around my brain nonstop."
"Ew. That's a really freaking gross visual, dude."
"Juliet, I'm serious." Oliver's serious tone faded the smile that lingered on her face from her remark, Jett slowly pushing herself upright as she looked over him with concern. He looked down at the ground with his hands clasped at his head, his fingers running through his hair as his leg started to shake up and down once again. "I... I really hate to admit it but... I'm scared. Juliet, I really, truly am scared. I'm scared for my life, I'm completely fucking confused about everything around this place that I've made the stupid mistake to sneak my way in to, and..."
He paused for a few seconds, his leg suddenly ceasing it's movement before a sigh fell from his lips. He lifted himself back up from his lean and starred Jett straight in her eyes with worry.
"-And I'm scared for you and Frisk too, Juliet."
"Oliver..."
"I was hoping that after I had left that god damned orphanage that I would get to see you again, but never in my entire existence would I have expected us to meet up again in this kind of situation. Being stuck behind a wall in a town full of Monsters... Which I should mention I thought were just myths until now... Oh!-"
Oliver lifted the screen of his laptop back up and turned it towards Jett, his video editing program sitting on a paused clip of Jett's last fight with the assassin moments before she clocked the girl in the face with her overpowered punch.
"-And you never told me what was up with the white hair and these weird fucking magical powers that you're able to use out of no where? And that thing-" He pointed at the screen right where Jett's soul was in sight. "-the heart that came out of your chest!"
"Oliver, shh, you're getting louder. I know you're confused but you need to lower your voice, people are still sleeping." This seemed to just frustrate Oliver even more, an irritated growl coming out before he started to shout out almost as though he wanted to rebel against her request.
"No, Juliet! I won't lowe-" WHAP! Jett slammed her hand over his mouth a little harder than intended, stunning him and leaving him with wide eyes as she lowered her lids with her own irritation and stared into his restricted pupils.
"I'll give you the basic run down on everything that's happened if you just shut up, alright?" She talked to him in a low voice, her intimidation gaze lingering for a few seconds before he nodded his head in agreement to her. She let go of his mouth, internally cringing at the stinging red mark she left behind on his face before sitting back into a more comfortable position again.
"Okay... So, you know the story about the Human and Monster war that broke out a long time ago? About how the Monsters were trapped Underground by the humans using a magical barrier?"
"...I'm assuming at this point that it was true."
"It was true." She looked at the ground and nodded, another one of Oliver's sighs falling to her ears as he also laid back to get a little more cozy for their talk. "The Monsters needed seven human souls to break through the barrier, freeing themselves and getting back to the surface. They already had six, and there were two more humans stuck down there. Frisk and I."
"Go figure." Oliver scoffed out, shaking his head slightly from side to side. "How did you and your brother even find yourselves in that kind of situation?"
"Frisk ran away into the forest right by the orphanage when I told him that I had to leave since I had turned 18."
"The entrance to the 'Underground' was that close by?!"
"Mhm. I was eventually lucky enough to fall down the same hole that he fell through that lead to the Underground." However many resets it did take Jett to actually find the infinity hole in the ground. She left this little detail out and pushed the thought of it to the back of her head with the help of Oliver's next question.
"Sooo... if the story about the Monster's being sealed Underground was true, about the seven magicians using magic to seal them in, does that also technically mean that you're a magician..?"
"Well, uh..." Jett patted her index finger against her cheek in thought at the question that she never bothered to really think about. "Maybe. I never really compared myself to them before."
"Well, if you are a magician, do you know if it's a hereditary thing?"
"What do you mean?"
"Like, do you maybe remember if any family members may have been magicians as well?"
"Ah... uh, if you remember from when I told you before, I don't know of any other family other than Frisk, my parents and I. Both of my parents were an only child, and with both grandparents on either end, I never remembered them because they were either already dead or were deceased before I even had the ability to actually remember things."
Jett looked down at the ground in front of her at her wiggling toes that were nestled in between the carpets fabric. She saw Oliver nodded his head to her side, accepting her answer before looking down at the ground in his own thoughts as well, whatever they may be.
Oliver's question was actually something that Jett really was curious about now. Was there maybe some mystical, magical grandfather that she never knew about? Was her mom or dad keeping some kind of secrets from her maybe? Or they possibly just never had a chance to actually tell her about her dormant abilities...
"That little white heart thing that I saw come out of you yesterday, is that what a soul, your soul, looks like?"
Oliver's question once again saved her from the danger of her deepening thoughts, Jett staring back up at his curious green eyes and nodding her head gently up and down, the strands of her hair tickling her cheeks.
"Yeah, it is."
"...Can I... uh, s-see it again?" His voice cracked with the question and red tint appeared across his cheeks, Jett raising her brow at him from his awkward composure when inquiring on her soul.
"If you're gonna be a weirdo about it then no."
"Sorry, sorry! I just don't really know much about this stuff." Oliver's face turned more noticeably red in embarrassment while he laughed weirdly. "I wasn't sure if asking you to see it is too personal or something..."
Jett quietly laughs in her throat and shakes her head, trying her best to disregard his odd reactions.
"Aha... Sure, just as long as you aren't going to steal it away from me, then I don't have any reason not to show you."
Jett smiled to herself when Oliver's sleepy eyes widened in excitement with her agreement while she felt that oh-so familiar build up of warmth accumulate in her chest. Merely seconds later, as promised, her soul comes out from her chest, filling the room with it's bright white light almost instantly as her hands came up to protectively cup the little heart, as if just in case it might just accidentally fall to the ground and shatter while it hovered inches above her palms.
"Wow... It's even brighter than it looks on film."
"That sounds so weird, you creep, aha." Jett leaned in to nudge Oliver with her elbow playfully before looking back down on the piece of herself that she was presenting. "It's super warm too. Feels kinda nice when I feel it leave and enter my body."
"It's warm?"
"Mmmhm."
"...Can I touch it?"
"Uh... I don't know actually. I've never really touched it before..." Jett looked between Oliver and her soul with shared curiosity now. She was always to protective of her soul in, both in general and in battle, so she wasn't even sure herself if she could really FEEL anything with it. She slowly lifted a finger up from her cupped hand and made her way towards the side of the heart "Hold on, lemme try it fIRST-"
The same hand that had so daringly touched her soul shot up to her mouth to stop the weird gasping noise she had made while starring with wide eyes down at the heart that throbbed at her touch for a second before returning to normal. What she had felt wasn't painful, yet it wasn't really too pleasant either. With just the lightest touch of her soul a chill was sent all the way down through her body and back up in to her chest where it felt like a mini firework had gone off, leaving behind a lingering feeling that felt uncomfortable for her.
Oliver cleared his throat out, trying to get Jett's shocked brain back on track with real life. She blushed and shook her head, the embarrassment of her reaction and noise made settling in as she nervously laughed it off, her soul very quickly receding back into her body as she regained her composure.
"Okay, don't touch the soul. Got it."
"Yeaaah, aha... So, uh, how did you all get out of the Underground then?" Oliver changed the subject back to what it was originally, Jett mentally thanking him for doing so. "Obviously your friends didn't have to take Frisk's or your soul away, assuming that doing so would have probably hurt or killed you. Especially judging by that reaction you had there..."
"Shut up." Jett glared at him and lightly slapped him with the back of her hand, her blush returning for the moment as she pouted and crossed her arms out in front of her. "Getting out wasn't easy. I'll tell you that. I was trained by Undyne on how to utilize my soul's power to it's furthest extent, and according to Alphys, my soul's power was extremely high in comparison to a normal human soul. Once I was able to fully control my magic use, I was able to break away the magic barrier that kept everyone locked away in the Underground."
"What do you mean that your power 'was' high?"
"O-oh, um, well..." Jett's jaw hung open as she rubbed the back of her head. "Yeah, you're not going to believe me, but I kind of gave part of my soul to Asriel so that he could come back to life."
Oliver just starred at Jett for a few seconds before closing his eyes and inhaling deeply, lacing his fingers together while he hunched back over to rest his elbows on the tops of his thighs.
"You resurrected a dead Monster kid by giving him your soul and also broke the barrier that trapped monsters in the Underground."
"Aha, yup!" Jett raised her left arm and flexed it inwards jokingly, patting it with her right hand with a silly grin placed on her face before speaking out once again with a more sarcastic tone through her chuckles. "I mean, I am pretty great and all that."
"...I mean, yeah, kind of."
"...Oh, uh." Oliver's sincere tone and serious facial expression caught Jett off guard, the girl lowering her arm that she still had flexing in the air and allowing it to drop back down to her side. "What... no sarcastic joke back? I'm surprised, aha..."
"No, cause I'm serious. I mean, listen to yourself." Oliver turned his body towards Jett once more, keeping his elbows resting against the tops of his thighs in the same slouched position as he talked with her, Jett starring at him and listening without interruption. "This species of 'Monster people' or whatever that had been trapped down in the dirt for years were finally able to leave because of you single-handedly. And the cherry on top is the fact that you brought a kid back from the dead. I'm not really too sure if it was really the best course of action to let the Monsters free based off this whole military ordeal, but I do have to say that it's kind of incredible, Little Jay."
"Hm. Thanks, I guess." Jett lowered her head and looked away from Oliver as she rubbed the back of her skull nervously, the earnest praise from her friend making her feel flustered. Oliver noticed this and cleared his throat out, sitting back up straight and rubbing the back of his neck with Jett's reaction to his words. His voice cut back in to the thick silence that had lasted a good 5 seconds, changing the subject once again.
"If you and Frisk could go back in time before you two had fallen down the rabbit hole in to Wonderland, would you?"
"Absolutely not!" Jett's response was more overdone than intended, the question catching her off guard as she snapped her head over to her friend. Oliver gave her a funny look, Jett clearing her throat out now and regaining her composure. "Sorry, that was a little over dramatic... but my answer would be no, I wouldn't change a single thing even if I had the chance to. It was hard getting to where we are today, and I know there are going to be a lot more hardships in the near future, but the hope that I helped restore in this group of people and the friends that I made along the way makes every little thing that I have to do completely worth it."
Jett ponders on her words for a second before chuckling to herself. "I guess I should correct myself actually. I shouldn't say 'friends', I should say 'family'."
"Family, huh?" Oliver repeated her last word, looking down to the ground in thought for a second before asking Jett another question. "So, then is there anything that you miss about the life that you left behind?"
"Not at all." Jett didn't even hesitate in her answer, smiling to herself as she did so. "The only real thing that I miss if I had to choose something though would probably be some of my things that I left behind at the orphanage, but that's about all."
"Some things? Like what?"
"Well, for starters, I really miss my old guitar that I got for my 11th birthday, but I mainly miss my old photo album. I had packed away in my suitcase before running out to find Frisk in those woods that day." The smile that Jett had lingering on her face slowly fell, the remembrance of her personal, irreplaceable items that had not being on her mind at all up until now. She felt the overwhelming need to see and interact with these things once again." I'd do anything for those two things back, at least..."
Her slow breathing completely ceased and her entire body tensed up when she felt Oliver place his hand on top of her's which was resting at her side on the sofa, her eyes shooting up to stare Oliver's face with confusion. When did he get this close to her? He seemed to be two feet away from her moments ago and now he's within reach of her.
"Don't worry, Little Jay. I'm sure we'll be able to get your stuff back someday soon."
"Yeah..." Normally this kind of thing would make Jett feel a little better, but the mood in the room seemed to change, and it made Jett feel extremely uncomfortable. She easily tore her gaze away from him and stood up from her seat, pulling her hand away from his grip awkwardly in the process as she did so. "Hopefully one day..."
She took a few steps towards the hallway, clenching her fists gently as she felt the curious thought that had been brought up before buzzing around in the back of her head. It couldn't be true, right? She pursed her lips and stopped right before the hallway, turning around back towards Oliver with his attention already drawn on her.
"Um, hey. Before I get back to bed here, I just want to make something clear between us." Oliver sat up a little straighter, Jett raising her hands up in front of her to fidget with her hands as she felt the awkwardness of what she was planning on saying forming in her head. "I don't want to give you the wrong idea here or anything, and uh, I'm sorry if I'm just reading you wrong, but... I'm in a relationship with someone right now. So, uh. Yeah."
"Oh! Oh... uh." Jett could tell that the grin that Oliver put on his face was entirely forced as he raised a hand up in the air, waving it side to side in defense to her statement. "No, no! Not at all, aha... Sorry if it felt like I was coming on to you or anything like that, or whatever..."
Jett felt a huge wave of relief by his words, even though he seemed weird about it and somewhat defeated in his response. Oliver's hand flopped back down in his lap as he hunched over on the couch, his head starring down at the carpet for a few quick seconds before looking back up towards Jett with a overly happy smile on his face.
"Well? How'd you and your lucky guy meet?"
"It's, um, kind of funny actually. When I first met him I didn't really like him much at all, but he kinda grew on me pretty fast. Him and I had met pretty recently due to certain circumstances, and we've been together for a few months now..." Oliver's eyes grew wide with the immediate realization of whom she may be talking about, making Jett blush with embarrassment at his reaction.
"Juliet... Are you dating a Monster..?"
Jett nods, the response from Oliver being what she had expected but still kind of hurting her feelings a little regardless.
"I'm dating Sans right now." Oliver just starred at Jett with a shocked expression for a few solid seconds before his face warped into a look of frustration, catching her off guard as he sat up straight in his seat now. THIS kind of reaction wasn't something the anticipated.
"Why the hell would you be with a Monster? Why him and not a human like you?" His tone was extremely rude, causing any nervousness from Jett to drain out as she felt her internal defense system to his insensitive question rapidly grow, her brows furrowing inwards towards Oliver.
"For someone who says they're not interested in me, you really seem to be peeved off by this little insignificant piece of informatio-"
"-That's cause I kinda am peeved off!" Oliver cut Jett off and snapped back at her, his fists clenching in front of him as his voice started to grow in volume. Why the hell was he getting so upset?! "Don't you think that it's a little weird to have a intimate relationship with a fucking Monster?"
"You better watch yourself." Jett clenched her fists at this point now as well, the outright disrespect that Oliver was showing right now fueling Jett's anger. "These people are more human to me than any other actual human being that I've come across in a long god damn time. They have huge hearts and more compassion than one could ask for, and they're my family."
"You call them your family, Juliet, but what if they're just using you for your power, just like a tool? What if once they get out of here, they just leave you and Frisk behind?"
"What the hell is your problem right now!?" Jett took a loud step forward, her tone now growing to overcast Oliver's. "Where do you get off insulting the intentions of my family and friends?! You were fine with them before I mentioned..." Jett paused mid sentence, her jaw hanging wide open for a moment as her fists unlatched at her sides.
"Before you mentioned your relationship with Sans, right? And you fucking know why I was okay until that little detail, but you don't want to fucking accept it!" Oliver stood up from his seat on the couch with his teeth clenched and fists still in a ball, his leg hitting the coffee table adding more noise to the early morning yelling fight as he shouted out at Jett."Because god dammit, I'm in love with you, Juliet!"
Jett's narrowed eyes grew wide and her throat felt as though it swelled up, making it feel like it was harder to breath as her face turned beet red. Was she still dreaming right now..? He looked at her, not showing any regret with his straight forward confession as the two stood there starring each other down in the dim light. If anything his expression was determined, yet frustrated, his brows angled inwards and his sharp green eyes starring her down as he dared to open his mouth one last time.
"I've been in love with you the moment I met you, Little Jay."
"Oliver..." Jett said his name under her breath, unsure of what to even say. She wasn't even sure if he even heard her, but it didn't matter either way, the sounds of opening doors down the hallway along with Toriel's tired voice broke the heavy cloud of tension Jett felt welling up in her.
"What is going on, is everyone OK?!" Jett turned to look over her shoulder at a concerned looking Toriel and a very sleepy Asgore following behind her, his hand reaching out to turn the light switch on so that everyone wasn't standing all together in the dark. "I heard shouting and was worried that there was an intruder or that someone was hurt."
"Yeah, everything is fine." Jett gave Toriel's arm a reassuring pat as she smiled up at her. "Oliver just hurt himself on the coffee table is all."
"Oh, well. It is good to hear that all is still well."
"That was quiet a bit of shouting for a bump to the shin, my boy." Asgore piped in, his voice sounding some-what gravely as he held in a yawn. "You sure you're alright?"
"Yeah. Just peachy." Oliver grumbled as he plopped back on to the couch, lifting his laptop's screen up and continuing whatever he had been doing previously as though nothing had happened just moments ago.
"Oh, alright then... What are the two of you doing up so early in the morning anyways?" Asgore looked down at Jett now since Oliver made it apparent that he wasn't much in a talking mood. Jett glanced over at him briefly before answering Asgore's question with a smile.
"I was just going to the kitchen for some water, but I ended up getting distracted. I'm pretty awake now though, so I think I'm going to go take a walk. I'll be back before breakfast..." Jett brushed past Asgore and Toriel, throwing one last forced grin on her face before making her way back down towards the bedroom to get herself together, her fists that she didn't realize were clenched shaking uncontrollably at her sides.
Jett starred down at her phone's screen, her tired eyes squinting at the text that Undyne had sent her earlier telling her to 'get her butt down to the guard's station in town'. She let in a deep breath as the pitter-patter of rain hit the top of her large black umbrella that she had shielding her from the chilly weather.
She flipped her phone shut and shoved the device in to her new tan winter coat with a white fake fur collar that Toriel had purchased for her the other day to help with the oncoming winter. It did a hell of a job protecting her from November's cold winds so far, and with the scarf that Jett had wrapped securely around her neck, she hardly even noticed the chilly and damp weather that took over the town for the day.
The puddle that she stepped in splashed up on her usual boots that she wore as passed by a Monster that looked like a weird walking plant or some kind, smiling at her and her child politely only to receive a dirty look from the mother as she pulled her child in closer. That's kind of... weird. It's been a long time since a Monster had given her a look like that before. She just shrugged it off for the time as she turned the street corner to stare at the building that she was headed towards.
The guard's station was a fairly normal looking building from the outside, just a little more dull than the rest of the town if anything. It's strong looking brown stone walls stood tall, letting all know that entry from other than the front door wasn't an option. Windows were fairly limited, only a few randomly placed here and there where office's probably were.
Jett slowed her pace in front of the matching stone steps that lead up to the double set of large wooden doors, coming to a full stop when a few new papers on the message board that appeared to be new caught her attention. She took a step back to get a better look, confirming that there were in fact some new papers posted up on the board. She frowned as her grip on the umbrella's handle tightened up, her eyes dancing over the same words that were printed on all three posts.
"Missing children?" She spoke quietly to herself, her brows furrowing as she looked at each one of the pictures. "... These were all posted this morning, too." She let out a long sigh and then pursed her lips back together. Things just seem to keep getting worse and worse. She'll have to ask Undyne about this before she leaves.
She let in a deep breath before pushing forward towards the front doors once again, taking the five short steps up and pushing open the doors easily. She closed her umbrella and gave it a few shakes outside before walking in to the modest sized room, her sights ignoring the minor décor and seats and focusing in on the bulky, armor clad gentleman that sat a long desk in the back center of the room.
His generic looking silver armor was shiny and clean from head to toe, his face being completely covered with a full mask, the only opening being for his eyes which Jett couldn't see very clearly in this lighting anyways. A set of rabbit ears were the only really defining feature about him, the white ears going up slightly before flopping off to the side. He didn't seem to notice that Jett was even in the room.
She walked right up to the front desk and cleared her throat to catch his attention, the guard nonchalantly looking up from his paperwork in hand to be greeted with a friendly smile and shy wave from Jett.
"Hi, my name is Jett and I'm here to see Undyne." The guard didn't say anything for a moment and just kept starring at her, Jett feeling a nervous sweat creep up on her as her kind smile started to turn slightly more askew the longer she held it. "She, uh, did tell you that someone was dropping by to see her, right?"
"Hmm, Undyne huh? Hold up a sec, dudette, let me check something out here." Jett did not expect the guard to have such a 'surfer' voice, his bro attitude not matching his intimidating armored body. He held a finger up to his chin and raised a clipboard up to his face, tapping on the outside of his helmet with his gauntlet covered fingertip as he looked between Jett and his paper.
"Alright, so Undyne left this description of the person that she told me to let in, so I'm just gonna make that that it matches up with you." He cleared his throat and slowly read what was written out loud. "Is a short human girl with 'badass' white hair and blue eyes... Hmmmm." Jett could swear that he was looking at her with suspicious eyes, despite not being able to even see them clearly. He let out a few more dragged out 'hmmmm's as he looked between her and the clipboard for a few more seconds, Jett wondering if he was really serious right now.
"...Hmmm, alright! I think this matches up!" The guard pressed what Jett presumed to be a button that was out of sight under the table, a loud buzzing noise ringing out through the room as a light on a large metal door to the right of Jett lit up. "Go right through that door there, my bro will take you to where Undyne is waiting for ya."
Jett nodded her head and thanked the guard as she made her way towards the doorway past the desk, the door opening up to reveal another guard dressed exactly like the first behind the desk. The only difference between this Monster however was that his helmet was a little longer than his 'bros' helmet, his armor a little more dirty and worn, and in place of ears on top of his head, instead a set of deep green fins much like Undyne's came out of the slits in his head wear.
Jett smiled up at him as she walked past him, waiting a second for him to close the door behind them before he stepped ahead to lead her to where she needed to go. The long, clean hallway that the two walked down was extremely quiet, the only sound echoing being the guards loud thumping footsteps and Jett's fast paced patters that she heard every so often over the larger Monster's sounds. She even wondered if there was really anyone being held behind the closed, locked metal doors that they had passed by one by one. The small windows that were barred up with metal poles and glass were too high up for Jett to really see through, so she could only assume that a few cells here and there had some Monster's hiding beyond them.
The walk was a very easy one, the two not needing to go down any of the few other halls that they had passed by every so often when reaching the very end of the main hallway. The guard halted right in front of the locked door that looked much like the first door she entered through, his large hand raising up to enter a code on the keypad that was sitting besides it. Seconds later, a clicking noise rang out and the guard pulled open the door, standing to the side and gesturing Jett to enter.
"Thank you." Jett smiled at him one last time, the silent guard nodding his head as he let the door shut behind her. The loud clank of the door slamming behind her caught the attention of a certain fish Monster that was standing in front of a large window within the room, the noise snapping her out of whatever daydream she was in.
"JETT!" Undyne gave a huge toothy grin and launched towards Jett, taking her in a sudden head lock.
"Ack! Jesus, Undyne!"
"What? I know you can handle a little rough housing! Pap's told me all about yesterday!" Undyne let go of Jett and wiped away a fake tear from the corner of her eye. "I've never been so proud. It seems like just a week ago you were a sad little weakling, and now you're throwing people through brick walls. They grow up so fast."
"Yeah, you're telling me. I feel like I shouldn't be that strong by any means..." Jett rubbed her neck, the sore feeling of Undyne's mild assault fading away quickly as she studied her surroundings some more.
The two were in relatively small room, a simple, small desk sitting towards the back corner of the room with a computer screen and office chair neatly tucked in underneath the table. There was a large fern in the opposite corner of the room from the desk, to the immediate right of the entrance way that Jett had stumbled in from. Other than these few things items that occupied this dimly lit space, another addition to the room was a separate heavy duty door, firmly locked with a giant padlock and keypad sitting next to the window furthest away from her. The door was even more so secured than the other cells that she had just previously seen. Jett raised an eyebrow, but didn't question it.
"Anywho, what did you want me here for?"
"Oh, I wanted you here because of this little trouble maker in here." Undyne pointed her thumb over towards the window to the left that she was starring through a few moments ago, Jett now realizing that the window didn't lead outside, but to a separate holding cell. She took a few steps deeper in to the room to look at the room's contents more clearly, Jett's sights meeting with a pair of fierce eyes glaring in her direction.
It caught her off guard, Jett feeling a chill run up her spine as she kept her eyes locked on the same human girl that she had fought off yesterday. She looked like a hot mess as she sat in a simple wooden chair, her hands resting on top of the matching table with her fingers crossed neatly in front of her. Her hair, which was in a nice braid before, was now down and messy, strands going over her bruised face. Jett winced at the mark that was left from, what she presumed to be, her punch that she landed on her, the area underneath her left eye displaying nasty blue and purple bruise.
Jett tore her eyes away from the death glare that she was receiving, and examined the rest of the cell. Other than a bed with a hidden bedpan, the extra chair that sat adjacent to the one that was occupied, and a sink with a mirror above it, the room was a bare white from the ground up.
"Has she been giving you the death stare this entire time too? Aha." Jett turned back towards Undyne with a skewed grin, Undyne just starring at her with confusion.
"What do you mean? This is a two-way mirror, she can't see us from where she's at."
"...Wait, really?" Jett looked back into the room once again, the woman sitting with her eyes shut and hands still folded in front of her. She could have sworn that she was eyeing her...
"Hey now, Jett. Don't be going crazy on me here." Undyne gave her a solid pat on the back, Jett surprisingly enough not being affected by it at all as she continued starring in at the unmoving woman on the other side of the window. "Anyways, back on track. I called you here cause I need to ask a huge favor of you."
"And it's going to involve her, isn't it?" Jett knew the answer well enough at this point, but her weariness with dealing with this mystery woman still hadn't fully gone away since yesterday's fight, but of course she was called here to deal with something with this human girl.
"Yup!" Undyne nodded her head and turned to look at the woman along with Jett. "We need to get information out of her, and I figured, who would be best to get a human to talk than another human?"
"Undyne, you realize that she was trying to kill me yesterday, right?"
"I understand that completely, but with you being human, it makes you harder to kill for her. So if she were to snap and go nuts in there, she would probably only do so much as scratch you before she was restrained even further than she already is."
"Restrained?" Jett carefully studied the woman once more in confusion. "I don't see any cuffs on her of anything like that..."
"Oh! You don't know about this cell, huh?" Undyne patted the window lightly and placed her free hand on her hip. "Alphys designed this holding cell specially for holding strong magic wielding Monsters. There is this insulation type of material lined within the wall of this cell that nulls the magical powers of whoever is unlucky enough to make their way in this room. Along with that, there is a control mechanism over on that computer that controls how weak or strong the insulation affects a person's magic capabilities. If you go too low however, it can immobilize and even seriously harm a Monster to the point of near-death."
"Holy crap, that's kind of brutal."
"And it's really handy in case someone were to be attacked in there by the cellmate. It's you or them in there. But, Alphys said that she is still unsure on the effects that it will have on a magic wielding human, considering you guys aren't made of mainly magic like Monsters are. It seems so far that she's been contained just fine at a regular setting, so I'm going to assume that it is working on her too!"
"Well, if her magic level is low enough, why still send me in there? Why not someone else who might be a little better at, you know, talking with people?" Jett rubbed the back of her head sheepishly and turned back towards Undyne, Undyne turning away from the window and towards her as well. "Not that I'm not going to back out or anything, I just want to get a better understanding on why me."
"Jett, are you aware of how Monster and human fights work?" The question was a little odd and out of place, and she wasn't quite sure what Undyne meant, but the raised brow that Undyne was giving her doubted Jett on her Monster-Human knowledge.
"Maybe not? I mean, I've fought Monsters previously when I needed to back in the Underground... but, uh, tell me just in case I don't know what I'm talking about." Undyne looked down at the ground and then back up towards the woman in the cell room, staying silent for a few dragged out seconds while she crossed her arms out in front of her.
"Okay. So, when a Monster enters a battle with a Human, they can deal however much damage that they are able to based on their skill and abilities, how much training that they've had, all that fun stuff. Humans are the same way of course, but there is one major difference between a Human's magic and Monster's magic that is extremely dangerous for Monsters, and that difference is that if I Human's 'will to kill' is strong enough, their attacks will grow stronger as well."
"Wait, seriously?" Jett was wholly surprised with this little some-what important detail that was never mentioned to her before. "How come you've never told this to me before?"
"Eh, didn't seem like it was really anything that was on a need-to-know basis. Until now, of course." Undyne shrugged her shoulder and let her arms fall back to her sides, turning her body towards Jett as she did so. "But you get it now, right? Even though our little friend here has a low magic level, if I, for example, were to just waltz in there to talk with her, she might be able to kill me in one hit if her will to kill was high enough. And judging by her current situation, I'm pretty sure she's pissed at us."
Jett took in this new information, letting out a long sigh after a few moments alone in her thoughts.
"...Now, if I do go in there to speak with her, won't the magic draining insulation affect me too? She was a pretty strong person, so if she were to attack me if I went in there, I'm pretty sure I would be easily taken down."
"Glad you asked!" Undyne grabbed Jett's wrist and lifted it up, placing a small item in the palm of Jett's hand before pulling away. Jett opened her hand wide and brought the new item closer in view. Laying in her hand was a simple white beaded bracelet, the only odd thing about it was the low vibration it emitted that she felt tickling her palm. "If you wear that bracelet, you won't be affected by the insulation in cell at all."
"Alphys created all of this?" Jett asked as she eyed the bracelet some more. Undyne nodded her head with a proud grin on her face.
"Yup! My gal is one smart cookie, after all. But yeah, now that I've filled you in here, do you think you'd be down to go get beat some info out of this chick?" Jett chuckled at this as her eyes moved up from the bracelet to the woman in the holding cell once more. The woman, still, was sitting there with her hands out in front of her, but as the seconds passed by with Jett's starring, her closed eyes soon opened back up slowly.
Jett's breathing paused a moment, the woman's glance landing right back into Jett's own eyes once again. The woman's eyes seemed to speak for her, like she could hear their conversation and she were daring Jett to go in there. The two held their stares for a few moments before Jett lowered her lids slightly, glaring back at the woman behind the glass. She closed her fist, clenching the bracelet in her hand with a determined look across her face.
"Alright. Take my coat, Undyne, I'm going in."
The woman smirked and closed her eyes again.
Authors Note
Holy fucking crap I didn't not expect to be behind for that long. I'm sorry peeps, but lots of garbage life stuff kind of pilled up on me all at once and I lost my motivation to continue writing my story for a long while there. I think that since I've now gotten back in to the whole 'story-telling' mindset though, I'm probably going to be able to update a lot sooner than 4-5 months apart... Anywho, hope you all enjoyed this long awaited chapter, and once again, I appreciate you all for your patience and support of my story.
Thanks!
-White Cosmo