Chapter 4: Refuge

Asgore looked over at Sierra, who was holding Esther while the child was looking at Muffet a bit warily, but the spider smiled at her gently before saying something that made the child smile and the young woman looked a bit relieved before commenting on the spider's daughters were adorable, and the mother beamed proudly, thanking the woman for the compliment. "Hmm, though she is nervous, she seems to be keeping an open mind," he said.

"I noticed that," Grillby said. "She wanted to approach me earlier to check on her niece, but was worried about how her actions would be received."

Sans looked at his sister-in-law. "Becca, what do you think?" He asked, calling her by her nickname.

She sat up straighter. "One thing I do know is that Sierra is a good person," she said. "I had often seen her with her niece at the functions my parents made me go to with the other evil mages, but Sierra would also come to my teachers' home to ask for home remedies and to learn how to make them too."

"You didn't know then that she had Monster DNA in her?" Asgore asked.

She shook her head. "No, not at all," she said. "Strangely enough, while the evil mages loved to boast about how powerful they were, they didn't like to discuss how they became so powerful or what they did to make others follow them without question."

"Odd, unless they didn't want the good mages knocking on their door," Sans said.

Rebecca shrugged. "I have no clue," she said. "But like I said, I thought it was only rumor that they had injected Monster DNA into people. Back then, I didn't know how to check someone's stats like you guys can."

They were all quiet for a bit. "She did tell us that the evil mages planned to break the barrier and storm the mountain," Grillby said. "But that child was being truthful about not wanting to use magic."

"That's another thing," Asgore said. "For the barrier to fall, the ones to break it must be willing to do so."

Rebecca blinked. "In other words, they can't be forced to break it?" She asked.

He nodded. "Which means her parents would have to make her do it because there would be a consequence," Sans said before looking over at Sierra. The others followed his line of sight to see that Esther was sitting by Chara and the red-eyed girl was teaching her how to play Go Fish while Sierra was looking at Harmony, who was leaning on the young woman's leg and reaching both arms up to her, wanting to be picked up. Sierra looked at Muffet, who was surprised, but nodded her consent. The young woman picked up the child, holding her gently and smiling.

Grillby watched his daughter's actions closely and relaxed at seeing Harmony be at ease with the human, snuggling up to her and closing her eyes, making Muffet smile and Sierra looked surprised, but smiled too. Gaster was watching them too and smiled before seeing Esther come up to him and she seemed curious about the holes in his hands and she said something that made a surprised look come to the older skeleton's face before he smiled and placed a hand gently on the left side of her face, his thumb rubbing her cheek soothingly and she smiled up at him.

"Huh, wonder what she said to my bro," Sans said.

Papyrus came over and he was smiling. "Sorry to bother, but I noticed you hadn't touched your food," he said.

Rebecca chuckled. "We were a bit deep in conversation," she admitted.

Asgore chuckled. "We should eat before our food gets cold," he said. "It would be a shame after Grillby made the food for us."

Grillby smiled. "No worries," he said before his fire surrounded the food on their plates, warming it back up again, making them all smile.

"By the way, bro, what did Esther say to Gaster just now?" Sans asked.

Papyrus chuckled. "The sweet girl noticed our brother's hands and she said if she could do magic, she'd wish for healing magic to heal his hands," he said.

"Aww," Rebecca cooed with a smile.

"What an unselfish child," Asgore said with a smile.

"Guess she's warming up to us," Grillby said before looking at Sans. "And don't you dare say I just made a pun, Sans."

He said this without heat, to which the skeleton smiled. "No need to get all fired up, Grillbz," he said.

The fire monster smirked. "You're asking for it," he said playfully.

"Oh? What are you gonna do, Grillbz?" Sans asked cheekily.

Moments later, he was squealing as Grillby shot his hands forward, tickling the skeleton's ribs. Rebecca and Asgore tried and failed to hold back their laughter while Papyrus grinned and gently caught Sans' wrists in his hands, lifting them up to make it harder for the shorter skeleton to protect his ribs while giving Grillby full access to his friend's number one tickle spot.

Esther looked over at that and giggled. "He's ticklish?" She asked.

"Oh, yeah," Frisk said, laughing as he watched too.

Julie giggled. "They're silly," she said.

"That's how they make us laugh," David said, smiling.

"Remember when we first met Uncle Grillby?" Thomas asked.

"Oh, yeah," Sarah said. "We were nervous around him, but he proved to be just as gentle as Mom and Uncle Sans."

Sierra looked over at them. "They didn't once hurt any of you?" She asked.

The children shook their heads. "No," Carmen said, smiling. "They helped us."

"We were scared of them at first," Nathan admitted. "But that was due to our lives on the Surface not being good."

"Dad ended up chasing Chara after she had woken up from falling down here because she freaked out at seeing him," Asriel said with a chuckle.

The red-eyed girl turned red. "Well, can you blame me?" She countered without heat. "I wake up to find a furry face hovering over mine and it's one I don't recognize, of course I'm going to freak out."

Sierra chuckled gently. "If you haven't been around them, I suppose suddenly meeting one would be a bit startling," she admitted. "I know I was shocked at seeing River Person."

"And I was shocked when I met you," he admitted before chuckling. "But your actions proved you didn't mean harm."

She smiled. "Still, sorry about freaking out," she said.

"I forgive you," he said.

Muffet smiled at that, seeing Harmony was still sleeping. "And we can tell you're a good person if Harmony trusts you enough to fall asleep in your arms," she said.

"I'm actually surprised about that," Sierra admitted. "I am a complete stranger after all and yet she wanted me to hold her."

"Just like human babies, monster babies can sense when a person is good or bad," Toriel said with a smile.

The woman smiled at that, giving the Queen a nod of gratitude.

Seeing this, Rebecca smiled and looked to see Grillby had stopped tickling Sans and Papyrus was holding his brother to help him recover. "I highly doubt Sierra and Esther are looking to cause trouble," she said. "You saw how they reacted to us and the child really sounded afraid of even mentioning magic until River Person showed her that not all magic is bad."

"Still, if what Sierra is saying about the others storming the mountain is right, I believe it's better to be safe than sorry," Asgore said. "They should be watched or have a guardian at all times."

"I agree," Grillby said.

Rebecca looked at Sans. "I think you should be that guardian, Sans," she said.

"Oh? Me? The lazybones?" He asked jokingly.

She smiled. "Joking aside, I'm serious, Sans," she said. "I've noticed how you've been watching them."

"You got me," he said before looking serious. "I am worried because Esther has all seven traits and she's human."

"But she's also just a child," Grillby pointed out gently. "And we vowed to never harm a child, be it human or monster, after the war."

Asgore nodded in agreement. "All in favor of Sierra and Esther staying with us and Sans keeping an eye on them?" He asked.

"Aye," Rebecca said.

"Aye," Sans said.

"Aye," Papyrus said.

"Aye," Grillby said.

The king nodded. "It's settled then," he said.

Sans nodded. "I'll keep an eye on them," he promised them.

For all their sakes, he wasn't going to break that promise.

Looks like the Underground has two more inhabitants now. :)

Next up: Esther learns that she can trust the monsters.

Please leave a review, but no flames!

GoldGuardian2418