This is a sequel to "Protectortale", so you should probably definitely read that before this.
Once again, I have no idea what to do with the name. Life Above is okay but also kind of meh. I want a better name but I'm so not coming up with anything right now. I suck at naming things…
Anyway, this first chapter is still story focused, but chapters after this will settle into the slice of life stuff. Consistency will be nonexistent, as per the usual with me. Also, I wrote these first chapters like forever ago.
Enjoy!
Disclaimer: I don't own or claim to own anything I may use or reference in this fic, including video games, like Undertale, Minecraft, Terraria, or music as well. All things I reference are owned by who or whatever owns them.
ProtectorTale, Life Above Ch.1
Long ago, two races rules over Earth, humans and monsters. One day, war broke out between the two races. After a long battle, the humans were victorious. They sealed the monsters underground with a magic spell.
Many years later…
Mount Ebott, 201X.
Legends say that those who climb the mountain never return.
But… one day…
*CRACK* *SHATTER*
…Two did return… and they brought a lot of friends.
Mayor Johnson never knew what would come with each day, but he woke up with as much passion as he could muster nonetheless. Any day could pass normally, or it might be a bit more… eventful, but he would be ready to react no matter what. He was a man who was prepared to react to events, but he still liked to plan ahead for as many events as he could.
He could never have prepared for what happened today though.
He was a man who reacted to things, but he was also a man who liked to deal with things head on and with his own hands. So, when his secretary called him and told him that she was being threatened by some people who demanded to speak to him, he told her to let them up. Whoever they were, he was going to deal with them personally. They were going to get an earful from him if what they had to say was anything less than world-changing.
AJ had to stop the others, the monsters. He told them to wait and that the other monsters should wait as well. Sans would bring Papyrus back, but they had to stay. They of course asked why. Quite simply, he wanted to make a plan to introduce Monster-kind to the world. He couldn't move and think at the same time, not when he needed to focus as much as he could on this. The human sat down in the dirt and tried to ignore everyone else as he thought.
Bringing them all in at once was a bad idea, that would scare people. Bringing just the few before him was still not the best idea in his opinion. He thought the best way to do this was bring the idea up to someone important. Monsters are coming back whether people like it or not, but if an authority figure told them first, then maybe the idea of Monsters could be introduced a bit more… smoothly. Some people will panic, sure, but less will panic this way.
That's why Frisk, AJ, and a third party were walking through the bustling city on this early morning, heading towards the Town Hall. The third party was hidden under a hooded cloak and was told "Keep your head down and don't make a sound or else we are so dead" by AJ, so they stayed down. Thankfully, people in the large city are too busy going about their own thing to care about someone in a cloak. The humans had gotten used to the cloaks they had been wearing, but three people in cloaks probably would have attracted attention, so they left their cloaks with the monsters.
"Well, being back here sure is interesting." The taller human commented, staring up at the skyscrapers around them. 'I never liked this part of town, actually.' He thought.
"Yeah, it's been awhile since we've seen so many humans, huh?" The younger human asked jokingly. She still held onto his hand. It was just habit at this point.
They were surrounded by sound, and the third party with them was quite a bit nervous hearing so much noise. There were people walking all around them. Some were talking on their phones, and others were talking to each other. Cars drove back and forth down the streets, occasionally honking. Honestly, neither of the two humans really liked it that much. It was something to see after being in the Underground for awhile, but they both preferred having at least a few less people around them.
AJ's grip tightened on the shoulder of the one in front of them. "Stop." He requested. The three of them stood and watched as the vehicles stopped and drove by in front of them. "Come on… come on…" He mumbled, pressing the button repeatedly in the hopes that it would make the lights change sooner. He was worried, every second they were standing around meant that someone would notice that one of them wasn't exactly human. A couple other people walked up beside them and waited to cross the street as well, which only increased his levels of stress.
Eventually the electric sign signaled they could cross, and everyone walked on. Frisk and AJ tried to act as casually as they could, and the one under the hood simply walked forward as the boy requested, partly with words, and partly with pushing or pulling on their shoulder. Thankfully, the crowd dispersed as everyone went their own ways after crossing the busy street, allowing the older human to relax just a bit.
Eventually, they made it to the City Hall and walked around to the front of it. "Alright, we're doing good so far." Frisk commented with a smile.
"Yeah." Her fellow human agreed. "I'm surprised we made it this far." 'Knock on wood.' "You're doing good." He said, patting the monster's shoulder slightly, so they would know that he was complimenting them. "We're almost done, so just stay quiet a little longer and we might just make it."
Once inside the large and pretty building, they approached a young woman sitting behind a desk. She looked up from her computer at the people approaching her and greeted them with a smile. "Hello. What can I do for you?" She asked.
"Well um…" Now faced with the fact that he was about to do this, he could hardly believe it. His life certainly didn't stay boring like he thought it would if he stayed alive. "We really need to see the mayor." He didn't really know any other way to say it, so he just said it. He wasn't one to break rules, but he had to for this.
"Well, do you have an appointment to see Mr. Johnson?" The lady asked.
"Yeah…" The boy started hesitantly. "You see, something serious came up and we really need to get up there and tell the mayor." He said, pointing at the stairs to their left.
"Well, he isn't exactly in a meeting or anything, but he's still a busy man, you can't just walk up whenever you feel like it." The woman explained, remaining professional.
"Yeah, I know." AJ said, showing with his facial expression that he didn't like what he was doing. "And I would never waste his time if it wasn't for something important, but this is seriously important and we really need to see him right, now." He stressed the importance of this as best as he could, hoping this woman would just trust him.
Trust some teen that marches in and asks to see the mayor without an appointment? He did his best to not seem like he owns the place or something, but there simply isn't any reason for her to trust him, and he realizes that. "I'm sorry, but I'm really not supposed to let you go up. It's probably best for you to just lea-"
"I know you're not supposed to, I know we need an appointment, but we really do not have time for that." The boy said, his expression shifting to a frustrated one as he put both his hands on her desk and leaned towards her. "What I have to tell the mayor is world changing s**t, okay? I need to get up there!"
The woman's face made it clear her patience was running out and she didn't appreciate his rudeness. "What could possibly be world changing, yet has only just come up?" She asked. "And if it's so world changing, why does our mayor of all people need to know about it first?"
He lowered his face and glared at her. "Are you going to let us see him or not?"
"That depends, are you threatening me?" She asked, unamused.
AJ glanced around to make sure no one was watching and held his hand close to his body, at an angle where no one else could see his hand glow with green flame. Suddenly, her expression shifted dramatically. She had no idea what that was or how he was doing it, but it looked very real to her and she didn't want to find out. She quickly got a hold of the mayor. "S-sir? There's someone h-here that is requesting to see you… No, they don't… No, I can't turn them away. Sir they're demanding to see you and one of them is glowing, please!... O-okay, alright." She put down the phone. "M-Mr. Johnson will see you now." She said, looking up at him fearfully.
He quickly dissolved his threatening vibe as much as he could and took a step back. "Thank you. I really didn't want to do that. Sorry for scaring you." He said honestly as they walked away and went up the stairs while the woman sat there, scared and confused.
They walked down the hall until they found the mayor's office and knocked. "Come in." The three entered, and saw a man who looked to be in his 70s. He had a large squared head that was bald at the top, and what hair he had was grey or white. He wore a brown suit and brown suit pants. The man was sitting in his chair, behind his desk at the other end of the room, and was glaring at them. "Are you the ones I was just told about?"
"Yes." AJ said with a nod. He knew that saying sorry would likely only cause him to rant, so he didn't bother. "We have something very important to tell you."
"It better be important." Johnson said threateningly, pointing at them. "Take a seat." He requested, and the three walked up to the two chairs and sat down. The monster stood between the chairs. "Who's this?" He asked, gesturing at the cloaked individual.
"Well um, that's what we're here to talk about." The boy started hesitantly, before remembering something that he rarely thought about and gestured to himself. "Oh, I'm Anthony, and this is Frisk by the way." Frisk gave him a look because she had honestly forgotten that was his real name. "Anyway, we're here because-"
"Wait a minute…" The man said slowly, cutting him off. "Have I seen you before?"
The taller human was confused. "Um, no. I've never been this close to you before. I've never talked to you before." He answered.
"Then why do I recognize your face?..." He asked himself as much as he asked them. "And you, too! I know your face from somewhere!" He said, pointing at the girl.
"Um… I've never talked to you either." Frisk said hesitantly.
The old man continued to stare at them, and his facial expressions showed he was close to a revelation. "Wait a minute!" He shouted. "You're both missing! I saw your faces on the news because you both were missing!" He realized. "Where have you two been!? Do your parents know that you're alive!?"
The man was going to keep asking questions, but AJ slammed his fists against the armrests of his chair and cut him off. "That's not important!"
The mayor was clearly pissed. "What could be more important than letting your parents know that-"
"SHUT UP AND LISTEN!" AJ demanded. He realized he had yelled and slapped his hands onto his face. "Ugh. I'm sorry, give me a moment." He took a few deep breaths and soon relaxed. "As I was saying…" He started slowly. "Something has happened, just recently. A world changing event just happened in the mountains nearby, and you need to know about it. An authority figure like you needs to know about this before word gets out.
The man gave him a perplexed look. "Word about what?" He asked.
The humans glanced at each other and felt their anticipation start to build up in their chests again. "Okay, I'm going to show you something. Try to remain calm, okay?" The teen requested. The man gained a confused and curious look as he leaned back in his chair and waited. AJ leaned over and slowly pulled the hood off the monster, who hesitantly looked up at the man.
"Uh, y-yo! Hey!" Monster Kid greeted a bit shyly.
The man's eyes widened. "W-what the hell!?" He asked, shocked.
"Please don't freak out." AJ accidentally said out loud. He realized he had said that and tried to just pretend he didn't. "Were you ever told those stories about an ancient war between humans and monsters?"
Johnson looked at the boy and his eyes got even wider. "Those!?" The humans nodded. "Are you kidding me!? I told those stories to my kids when they were little! Hell, I told those stories to my grandkids!" He said with a smile. "But I… I thought they were just stories…"
"I think most all of us did." AJ agreed.
"They're not stories though!" Frisk chirped in. "They're all real and they're all really nice!"
The teen smiled. "That's for sure. Sir, they've been trapped under Mount Ebott for all that time. They and all the magic in the world were trapped by a human spell back when humans still had magic."
The man smiled and leaned back in his chair as he stroked his chin. "You're not about to tell me that those monsters have been freed, right?"
The teen couldn't suppress an awkward chuckle. "There's no other way to say it. While Frisk and I were down in the monster world, surrounded by all that magic, we were able to meet these monsters, make friends with them all, and use magic to break the barrier that had trapped them."
There was no way around it, they were going to have to lie about things. It was the only way monsters would be accepted, and they made sure to tell the others what the lies would be before leaving. Toriel and the others were going to tell every other monster that before they left the Underground.
"Oooh no. People are not going to take that well." The mayor realized.
The boy frowned. "Yeah, I know. We took a big risk coming here, but we were hoping to tell you first. I think if you were told first, maybe the Monsters could be introduced a bit easier. Fact is, they've been down there for a very long time, and they are not staying down there any longer. They want to be free and explore the rest of the world that they were denied because of that pointless war. People are going to find out about them soon and if you tell them first, well, maybe things will go over a bit better."
The mayor thought about a lot of different things in a few seconds, and it started to sink in. "Oh god. The world really is going to change from this. Monsters amongst humans?" They nodded, and he facepalmed. "Oh no… you're expecting me specifically to help with that, aren't you? There are going to have to be new laws, the news will go crazy trying to film them and learn about them… oh there is so much that's about to happen." He realized. "I have a lot of work ahead of me, don't I?"
"A whole lot is about to happen and, unfortunately, the things we do may very well decide if monsters can be moved in peacefully, or if they will be killed by paranoid, racist humans." The teen said.
The mayor sighed. "Why are you being so brutally honest?" He complained, before shaking his head. "No! None of that right now! A lot is going to happen soon, and the world has no idea it's coming. I need to work fast! In order to do that though, I need to meet the other monsters."
The humans were surprised by this. "Wait, really?" AJ asked.
"Yes!" He answered strongly. "I need to meet the people I'm going to try and bring equality to! There will inevitably have to be laws made specifically for monsters after all. These people that you said are so nice are about to have to deal with a lot of racism and cruelty while simultaneously getting far too much attention from the media and other people who don't know what privacy is. Show me these monsters and I'll go from there." He ordered.
"Yo! Awesome!" Kid cheered.
"Alright, let's go!" Frisk said excitedly.
"Whoa, slow down, Kid." AJ requested so he could pull his hood back up. "Once we get out of the city, you can take the hood off."
There was hardly time to celebrate, they had to tell the mayor as much as they could on the way while they drove towards the mountain. The roads ended quickly though, and they had to walk the rest of the way, which at least gave them a bit more time.
"So, my secretary said someone was glowing." The mayor started as they walked up a secret side path up the mountain. "Did you two learn magic while you were down there?"
"Oh, yeah, that would be me." AJ spoke up, embarrassed. "After being down there for so long, we've sort of got some magic inside of us. I can feel that there's less now that the barrier is gone, but quite a bit of magic has stayed inside of us. I kind of built up some energy inside of me into my hand and, well…" He trailed off and decided to just show it. His right hand glowed green before green flames sprouted out from his skin and surrounded his hand.
"Whoa." The old man took in the sight before him. "So, this magic is starting to spread across the world now?"
"I think so." AJ answered.
"Sooo will other people randomly start using magic soon?" Johnson asked.
"I guess that might happen." The teen answered with a shrug. "Though from what little I understand about magic, it will probably take awhile. I'm kind of just guessing how magic works, but it will probably spread from the mountain, and so it will slowly build up in people until they're able to use the energy within them for magic. The first panicking people who discover their magic abilities will likely be in your city or the smaller one nearby."
"You two have opened Pandora's box." The mayor commented.
"Yeah, and I can only imagine Frisk and I will have to teach people how to control their magic at first." The teen figured, not looking forward to that.
"Well that sounds fun to me." Frisk commented.
"We're going to need to figure out how to control our own magic first though." AJ said.
"You don't know how to use your own magic yet?" The man asked.
"No, we just barely started to figure out how to do it when we broke the barrier." The teen answered.
"So I'm guessing that doesn't hurt since you've had your hand on fire this whole time?" The mayor guessed.
The boy looked at his hand. It was in fact still on fire. "No, it really doesn't. In fact, it feels kind of nice, and warm." He noted with a small smile. They walked by a small plant sticking out of a crack in the dirt path, and the boy decided to crouch down and touch it. It didn't catch on fire, and when he let go of it, there wasn't even a burn mark.
"Huh. Anything you can do, kid?" The mayor asked, and both kids looked at him.
"I don't know how to use my magic yet. I'm not old enough." Monster Kid answered.
"Actually uh, I meant her." The man said apologetically.
"Oh! Well, I don't actually know what I can do yet." Frisk answered hesitantly.
"Well, I can only imagine magic is a dangerous thing. It will take time for people to get used to it, and there will surely be people who try to abuse their powers." Johnson noted.
"That's for sure." The teen agreed. He couldn't help but wonder how mankind survived back when they had magic. 'Maybe people weren't ***holes that would destroy each other with their powers back then.'
At one point along the path, they noticed a familiar lizard staring out at the city in the distance. She turned her head right and noticed the people approaching. "O-oh! You're back!" Alphys realized, and approached them.
"Hello there!" The mayor greeted with a friendly smile. "I am Mayor Johnson, but just call me Mr. Johnson for now."
"I-I-I'm A-Alphys, sir." The monster greeted and shyly shook the man's hand, which was quite a bit larger than hers.
"Alphys here is the Royal Scientist." AJ said. "She knows a lot about magic and magic technologies I think, so she's gonna be pretty helpful for everything coming up soon."
"I keep realizing how much the world is about to change, and I have a feeling I'm going to keep finding more reasons why." Johnson said. Technology and magic combined? He could only imagine what they would accomplish. Already he could see that treating these monsters fairly would be of benefit to the whole world.
"Yeah, hopefully she'll be able to explain how I can do this." AJ commented and set his left hand on fire.
The scientist's eyes widened in surprise and wonder. "Whoa! You- you're using your Soul Energy! Amazing! I've never seen Soul Magic before!"
The boy chuckled. "I figured you would know something. You're going to have to help Frisk and I learn how to use our magic."
"Of course! I'll do everything I can!" The monster said, her stutter thrown away in the face of such an interesting subject. "I'm honestly surprised you didn't start using magic sooner!"
"So you're the Royal Scientist, correct?" The man asked for confirmation, and Alphys nodded. "So does that mean that there is a King or Queen in the monster world?"
Alphys's eyes widened. "Oh! Right! The King and Queen of the Underground! I have to go get them so they can meet you!" She realized before running off further up the mountain. "Asgore! Toriel!"
"Well, looks like I'm about to meet royalty." The mayor realized before straightening his tie and walking onward, the others following. Kid ran ahead of them and went to see the other monsters, leaving the three humans to walk on to the top and admire the view of the city. "So, kids?" He started before looking away from the city and at the two humans that have freed monster kind. "What are we going to tell your parents?"
Both of them looked away from the man and frowned. "I left because I didn't want to be with my parents anymore." Frisk said. "I don't want to see them again." She answered.
"Yeah." The boy said with a nod. "My parents would just annoy me while I'm trying to deal with everything with the monsters and such."
"So… what? We just don't tell them their kids are alive and well?" The mayor asked.
"Like I said, my parents would find me and annoy me if they knew." AJ said. "The last thing I want to do is deal with them." He crossed his arms. "They kicked me out, so I don't have to talk to them anyway. I'm living my own life now." The hate in his voice was just barely noticeable, but it was there. "They don't want me in their lives anymore..."
"I don't care what you tell my parents, I'm not going back to them." Frisk said with quite an angry tone.
"Then where are you going to live?" Johnson asked.
The humans turned to each other and smiled before turning back to the man. "We're living with the monsters." AJ answered.
"Seriously!?" The man asked, shocked. "You trust them that much?"
"Yep!" Frisk answered. "Toriel is a wonderful mom for us!"
"She is the nicest of all the monsters by far, and very motherly." The teen explained. "We agreed we'd stay with her."
The man nodded before turning around to observe the massive hole in the mountain. "So, what makes you like the monsters so much?" He asked, curious.
"They're literally made out of love and magic, so most of them are far nicer than any human." The boy answered.
"Most of them?" Johnson repeated questioningly.
"Well, they're just like people. Some of them have attitudes or don't like others very much, and one in particular is a warrior, so she likes fighting." The teen explained.
The man nodded before turning around to face them. "Alright, I need you to be honest with me. Did any of them hurt you?" He asked seriously.
Suddenly the boy was terrified about him learning the truth. He thought the man would surely hate monsters if he knew about the other humans that had fallen. "Well… yes, they did try to hurt us. They were afraid we were going to kill them like we had done in the war, so nearly every monster we saw attacked us out of fear." He explained hesitantly.
"And? What did you do?" Johnson asked.
"We made friends with them all." Frisk answered.
"…You made friends with them when they tried to kill you two?" The mayor asked in disbelief.
"Yeah, she wouldn't let me kill a single monster no matter how hard they tried to hurt us. I didn't want to kill them anyway, but still, some of them fought pretty hard. This kid though, she insisted on being friends with everyone. Every time a monster tried to hurt us, she tried to find a peaceful way to make them stop fighting. Somehow, she always did." The girl smiled when they looked at her. "They all were scared, and they just wanted to be free, so we decided to free them."
"And then you dropped the whole problem on my plate." Johnson finished. He saw the teen go to explain, but he raised a hand to stop him. "I'm joking. I know I'm not the only one who will have to deal with… issues. Really, it was smart of you to do this. And you're lucky the authority figure you found was me and not someone who was… less open-minded about the idea of monsters."
The teen smiled at his praise before noticing the people behind the mayor. "You might want to turn around."
The man turned around to see a group of strange creatures. A large figure in the center, with a smaller but similar looking one to the left, further left was a figure in armor, to the left of them was the scientist he had met, and to the right of them all were two walking skeletons. So many different creatures were in front of him, but they were all humanoid and most were even smiling at him. The largest one with massive horns walked forward and stuck his furry arm out.
"Howdy! I'm King Asgore Dreemur." Asgore greeted with a friendly smile.
Asgore was large, but his smile made it much easier to be so close to him. "Hello. I'm Theodore Johnson, the mayor of the town you see down there." He greeted and shook the monster's hand as well as he could. "I'm hardly that important in the grand scheme of things, but I'm probably the best you'll get for announcing that monster kind is not only real, but now back on the surface."
Asgore nodded before turning to the ones on his right. "This here is the Captain of my Royal Guard, Undyne." The fish woman kept a serious and professional vibe and nodded at the man. "I believe you've already met my Royal Scientist." Alphys waved shyly.
"I am Toriel." Goat Mom greeted with her usual smile as she shook the man's hand. "I… am not actually the queen anymore, but I should be there for any important meetings you want to have."
"Understood." Johnson said with a nod. Asgore was saddened by this, but tried not to show it.
"Hey, Papyrus!" Frisk waved.
"Did he get in any trouble?" AJ asked sans.
The shorter skeleton smiled. "He was just about to jump out and greet a group of humans, but I stopped him."
"I'M TELLING YOU, SANS, THEY WOULD HAVE LOVED ME!" Papyrus argued.
"Are these two important?" Johnson asked as he took in the sight of walking, talking, skeletons that somehow could form various facial expressions, and even open their mouths to speak, despite lacking any muscles.
"They're just good friends of ours." Toriel said with a chuckle.
Sans heard this and walked up to them. "Hey, I'm no bonehead. I actually know more than you might think."
"Do you mean that you're a scientist?" Johnson asked.
"Not exactly, but I can help Alphys with various things in her lab." Sans answered.
"You can?" Alphys asked before she could stop herself, and the skeleton pretended to be offended.
"You wound me."
"There are countless more monsters down in the Underground. They're waiting to be able to come out, so we should get past the greetings soon." AJ suggested once he stopped laughing.
"Right." Johnson nodded in agreement. "The world is about to get the biggest revelation in recent history. Not only that, but you all need a place to live."
"Unless you've got, like, a spare mansion, or several, that we could use, we're going to need many house to live in." The teen pointed out.
"A-and I'm going to n-need a lab." Alphys spoke up. "W-well, at least one nearby."
The man slowly looked over everyone before looking at the humans behind him. He smiled at them before walking to the edge of the cliff and looking out to the right of the city. "How about there?" Everyone walked over and tried to look where he was pointing without falling. "Not too far away from my city is the suburban area that might as well be a separate town. There would be less people, and…" He glanced at Frisk and AJ. "you would be able to avoid certain people as well." He said with a smile. "Not only that, but last I checked there was actually a large amount of houses for sale as people had moved out to cheaper cities far away from here."
"Does that sound nice, everyone?" Asgore asked, and everyone agreed.
"Good. Now, for the hard part." The mayor said, and everyone looked at him with worry. "We're going to have to just do it quickly, rip it off like a bandaid. It's time for the world to learn that monsters are real."
"What are you gonna do?" The teen asked.
"I'm going to call a news crew up here." Johnson answered before pulling out his phone.
The humans looked at each other with worry. This was the part they weren't looking forward to. This and everything following was not going to be pleasant. Monsters were going to be discriminated against, there was no doubt about that in their minds, but Frisk still hoped for the best.
"Alright, they're on their way. I'm going to meet them at the bottom of the mountain and walk them up here. Try to look presentable when they get here, because the cameras will likely be rolling. Everyone in town, everyone in the county, hell the whole state is going to know about you all pretty soon!" Johnson said as he started to walk back down the path.
The monsters themselves were excited, they had no idea what was coming and didn't know about the bad times they were going to have. They would be getting a lot of attention, and most of it would either be overwhelming, or just plain bad. The two humans, however, were this close to finally having their home, and they were both determined to keep it, no matter what discrimination awaited them.
I think this chapter's gone on long enough.
Have a great week, everyone!