Chapter 2: Story

"Frisk came to live with us four years ago, as Grandma and Grandpa are foster parents," Lisa explained. "We were thrilled to have a new little sister and when we learned that Frisk hadn't had a good experience with foster homes, we vowed to make her feel welcome and never hurt her."

"It took some time for Frisk to realize she was in a good place, but once she did, she settled in well," Dylan said. "And that Christmas, Grandma and Grandpa said they were going to adopt Frisk into the family."

"I remember that," James said, his voice coming over the loudspeaker. "But...when we told the lawyer...,"

"That's when the trouble started," Lisa said, her voice icy. "The lawyer began to say Frisk couldn't be adopted. We wondered why he was so against it and decided to go to the courts."

"Little did we know that that skunk had a judge on the inside and he made our grandparents seem to be bad people," Dylan said, his hands clenching. "They took Frisk away from us."

"But we weren't giving up," James said. "We convinced Grandma to let us hire a private investigator, one that owed Grandpa a favor."

"When he heard our story, he at once got to work, but every time he got close, the trail went cold until the lawyer that had taken Frisk away got caught accepting payment to look the other way as an orphan he was supposed to see got a good home got sold on the black market," Lisa said. "What he didn't know was the person 'buying' the baby was actually an undercover cop."

"The evidence piled up fast against the lawyer and when his judge pal was revealed to be the head of the operations, you can bet they both got shut down and thrown in jail," Dylan said. "But he had gotten rid of all evidence as to where Frisk was."

"Today was the day we were considering calling the private investigator to tell him that it was time to accept the fact that Frisk was most likely dead when we saw you running down the alleys," James said. "Once we recognized Frisk, we knew we had to help you."

Lisa looked at them. "Thank you all for keeping Frisk safe," she said. "We will return the favor by offering you refuge at our farm."

"That is gracious of you," Toriel said.

"This vehicle seems unique," Asgore said. "May I inquire what it is?"

Dylan smiled. "An eighteen wheeler that Grandpa built himself because we live so far out of town. As a result, we usually only go to the nearby towns twice a year to buy what we need," he explained.

"Only twice a year?" Grillby asked.

Lisa nodded. "We live mostly off our farm, but we do have the means to go underground if we have to," she said. "Like if there was a tornado or something worse, we'd all be safe."

"Grandpa's a war veteran, so he decided an underground place would be the safest bet if anything happened," Dylan said.

"But...h-how do y-you k-keep in t-touch with e-everyone?" Alphys asked.

"We have an untracable sattelite that gives us internet and phone service, with a lot of dead zones around to keep from being found out," James said. "No one comes to the ranch unless Grandma and Grandpa say so or if we know we can trust someone."

"Like we know you can be trusted because you kept our little sister safe," Dylan said, smiling.

"You guys are really about protection, aren't you?" Sans asked.

Lisa nodded. "We have a good reason for that too," she said. "Years ago, when we were little, the three of us got kidnapped by some gang members that were seeking payment from our parents. They held us for three days as hostages and demanded ransom, but our grandparents hired a special ops person to get us out of there. We've lived with our grandparents ever since then."

"Grandpa was afraid the gang would try to find us, so he moved all of us to where we are now," Dylan explained.

"So far, we haven't heard from or seen our parents in nearly fifteen years," James said. "Grandpa's friend keeps us posted though."

"Sounds like you all are ready for another war," Asgore pointed out.

"Not to be in one, but if one does rise up," Dylan said.

"And now not just from our folks," Lisa said. "We'll keep you all safe from the people that want to hurt you or start up another war between humans and monsters."

"You know, you could have just grabbed Frisk and left us behind," Grillby said after a moment.

"Yes," Gaster said in agreement. "Why didn't you?"

"Because we saw you guys keeping her safe," James said. "Not only that, from the way Frisk clung to the skeleton in the blue hoodie, we gathered you guys were important to her."

"So there's no way we could have left you guys behind," Dylan said.

"Not only that, our grandparents raised us to help those in need, no matter what they look like," Lisa said.

As quiet settled over them, Frisk perked up. "Do you still have the horses?" She asked.

"We do," Dylan said. "Especially Moonstar. She misses you."

"Moonstar is Frisk's pony that Grandpa gave her when she celebrated her seventh birthday with us," James said helpfully.

Frisk grinned. "And the kittens?" She asked hopefully.

"All grown up, but still there," Lisa said with a smile. "In fact, some of them are about to have kittens soon."

"And one of our female pigs is going to have a litter of piglets," said Dylan.

"And I think Grandpa said one of the mares was ready to have a foal," James said.

Lisa grinned. "It will be awesome," she said. "Not only do we have our Frisk back, we've gained more family members, and we'll soon have more baby animals on our farm."

"Speaking of family, maybe we should introduce ourselves," Dylan said. "I'm Dylan, the youngest of my siblings."

"I'm James, the oldest," the young man said though the loudspeaker.

"And I'm Lisa, the second oldest," the young woman Frisk first recognized said.

"Sans," the blue hoodie-wearing skeleton said with a nod. "And these are my brothers, Papyrus and Gaster."

He gestured to them and Toriel took over introductions. "I'm Toriel and this is my husband, Asgore, and our other two children, Chara and Asriel," she said before gesturing to the others. "These are Undyne, Muffet, Grillby, and Alphys. And you already know Frisk."

"Toriel adopted me and became my mom when I first fell into Mt. Ebbot," the child explained.

"Welcome," Dylan said warmly. "Though we wish you had gotten a bit of a warmer welcome when you arrived in town."

"I do too," Frisk said sadly.

"Don't worry, we'll make it up to all of you at the farm," Lisa promised. "And Grandma and Grandpa will be thrilled to know that you have two loving parents too, Frisk. They were worried who they could trust to take care of you if something happened to you and the three of us would be unable to adopt you."

"Why?" The child asked.

"Because we're below the age to adopt, according to the state," James said. "I think the age is twenty-five."

"And we're all below that," Dylan said. "I'm only eighteen."

"Nineteen," Lisa said a shrug.

"And twenty," James said before seeing the farm up ahead. "Ah, there's the farm. Get ready, guys."

"That didn't take long," Frisk said.

"When you've got teleportation skills and speed, it can make the journey go pretty fast," Dylan said with a chuckle.

Lisa grinned. "I can't wait to see the looks on our grandparents' faces when they see you and everyone else, Frisk," she said. "They're going to be so happy and surprised."

"I can't wait too," said the child, eager to hug the two people she loved and had been good to her all that time ago.

She only hoped that this time, she and the others could stay.

Quite a story, huh? :)

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GoldGuardian2418