Stranger Danger? Chapter 42
Goblin Grotto was about a half-hour up the path, and didn't look much like a grotto at all despite the welcome sign with the name scrawled on it that was nailed to the stone wall rimming the place. There was a large, open archway the with pointy tips of a portcullis stored up above, and within a couple metres of it, the spear Zapf had carried slung over his back disappeared in a glimmer of pink magic, and Vera's sword did similarly. The taller skeleton's shield, though, remained.
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Standing before the wall was a squat monster like Frisk had never seen before— presumably a goblin. He had red, scaly skin, and a face sort of like a toad's with thick, pointy, conical teeth jutting up and down like an alligator. He also had long rabbit-like ears and big, bulging yellow eyes. He wore a simple brown gambeson with a chest plate overtop, emblazoned with a symbol that looked a lot like a rudimentary Delta Rune: a circle sitting atop three triangles.
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The monster raised a hand when the two skeletons and the kid got within a few feet, but then his eyes bugged out and he recoiled up against the wall, clinging tight to a long spear with thick, clawed fingers. "I-Is that a human there w-with you?"
"Yeah, but she's nice and stuff," Vera said. "S'okay? If we vouch for her?"
"Well, I mean—? I mean! Yes, but! Human!" The goblin stood up straight and puffed out his chest. "Before you can enter, you have to let me feel your soul."
"But that's difficult for them," Zapf said worriedly.
"Oh! N-No, no, that's f-fine," Frisk assured them. She cupped her hand over her soul and let it shine until the red magic carried bright in her bandaged palm. She offered it. "Is that okay?"
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All the monsters stared, gawking. Frisk wondered if maybe she'd made a mistake, and the guard let out a shuddering gasp.
"Red," he said.
"Oh, wow, that's… really really red," Vera said.
"It's safe," Frisk said quickly. "I-I mean, it shouldn't hurt or anything."
The guard's gaze darted between the two skeletons, and he leaned down towards the kid. He hesitantly extended his hand and brushed the energy. His eyes glazed for a moment; he drew back in a hurry, nodding, the red in his cheeks shifting to blushing brown. "Okay. Come on in."
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The skeletons deflated as the guard moved aside, and they quickly ushered Frisk in past the gate. Before the shivering kid could get her bearings, they pulled her over against the wall and out of the main path. Both of them squatted down and Zapf held her hands, eyes wide. She only noticed then that he was missing a finger on his left hand.
"Red?" he said disbelievingly.
"Yeah?" she said cautiously. "Why, is that super weird?"
"You're a wizard?!" Vera asked under her breath. "You're actually a good wizard?!"
"Um. W-Well, I wouldn't say wizard, exactly," she said bashfully.
"But you have powers, don't you?" he asked gently.
The kid nodded. "Yeah, um… Yeah. I can do a little bit of stuff."
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Vera's eyes lit up and she clapped her hands together, beaming. "Eeeeee! Oh man, now the Boss is really gonna love t'meet you for sure!"
Zapf gently squeezed the kid's hands. He was a lot more restrained, but there was a spark of pink in his eyes. "That's amazing. May I?"
"Oh! Yeah." She slipped her hands from his and lit up with red again as Vera began to squeal excitedly. "No problem."
The tall skeleton cupped both hands around the red energy she held and closed his eyes for a moment. His magic began to bristle and Frisk heard the faint echo of a musical note in the air around him. When he opened his eyes, they blazed with magic. He opened his mouth but couldn't seem to find words.
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"Pfffft, cuz, you should see your face," Vera said.
"I don't believe it," he breathed.
"It's kinda weird, huh?" Frisk asked.
He nodded.
"What? Why? How weird can it be?" the other skeleton asked.
"It is stronger than anything I've ever felt. And yet she's never even gained a single execution point in her soul."
"Jeez, of course not," Frisk said shrilly.
"Whaaaat? You're pullin' my leg off," Vera said, but when her cousin's expression didn't change, she put a hand on her head. "What the hell, shortie?! That's… amazing! How'd y'get like that?"
"I'm, um… It's a long story," she said apologetically.
"You're full of long stories, huh?" The skeleton winked in jest. Her grin brightened. "Oh man, a good wizard, I can't even…! I literally thought it wasn't possible. Seriously though, how?!"
"Well, um, I'm still not great at magic," Frisk admitted. She concentrated and a red bubble came to her hand, floating up just a few inches. "I'm still learning."
"No, but I mean, like, how are you good, though?" Vera pushed.
"Cousin, you can't just ask someone why they're good," Zapf chided quietly. "How would she even answer such a question?"
"Okay, yeah, I get it, but usually: wizard." She held out one hand. "Good." She held out the other and moved them up and down as if her hands were the ends of a balancing scale. "They don't exactly match up, is all I'm sayin'!"
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Frisk wasn't sure how to answer. "I… I try my best," she said tepidly. "I don't really know anything about wizards except that, um, there aren't any where I live."
The skeletons shared a look. Vera took off her warming cloak and put it around the kid's shoulders, pulling up the hood and patting her head. She held her arm and then nodded towards the rest of the town.
"Let's get y'something dry," she said. "And, uh, maybe… keep it a little quiet, alright?"
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Goblin Grotto was a walled town about twice the size of Snowdin and its burbs. The streets were dirt and stone, laid out in waves and spirals, lined with cottages and stores with signs dangling off the side to advertise their wares. Monsters bustled about the streets, seeming content in the chilly weather. None gave Frisk a second look.
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Vera and Zapf took the kid into a store off the main street, a few rough blocks from the gate, that had a simple image of a ball of yarn and knitting needles on the sign. Inside was lit by magic firelight in sconces and a spiral of energy in glass ball on the ceiling. There were tables laid out with clothes in disorganized stacks, and lengths of cloth were festooned from nails on the walls. A set of crates near the door were filled almost to the brim with balls of colourful yarn, and there were more strewn about the floor on top of fishbone patterned rugs.
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Vera gently took her cloak back from Frisk and then strode up to the wooden counter and knocked on it hard. "Hey, hello? Anyone home?"
A high-pitched raowling sound came from upstairs, followed by a loud thumping. A large, blue ball rolled down the stairs across the room only to unfurl into a tabby cat monster in a fancy frock. "Custmeowers!" she said loudly, grinning big pointy teeth. She pulled up glasses on a chain that made her grey eyes look massive. "How can I help you, my boney frie…?" She froze, catching sight of Frisk. "Oh dearie me-ow."
"Um. Hi?" Frisk said bashfully. "The front guard said it was okay?"
"She's with us. I mean. Obviously, right, since we brought her in here," Vera said. "Um, she needs some new clothes, can y'do that?"
"Well, umm…" The cat monster snuck a bit closer to Frisk, looking her up and down.
"She's a safe one, her father is a skeleton," Zapf said.
"Oh?! Well then! She's quite small. I'm sure I have something. Umm…" The cat bustled up beside the kid and measured her with the length of her striped tail. Nodding to herself, she hurried into her tables of clothes and began to sort through them quickly.
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Frisk shivered a little and then quickly checked her pockets. She found her phone and shook some water out of it. The screen displayed a cartoon fish blubbing along under a translucent ocean lock screen.
"You guys use gold?" she asked.
"Sure do," Vera said. "Oh! I gotcha covered."
"Nah, don't worry," Frisk said. She poked some buttons on her phone to knock it out of lock. Force of habit had her check her messages, but of course, there was nothing. Then her inventory, just in case— she'd left most of her one change of clothing back where the fanged Papyrus had built her a bed, but she had plenty of gold. "I got it."
"What is that?" Zapf asked curiously.
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Frisk wasn't sure how much to say, exactly, but she quickly explained it as a storage and photo device. The skeletons, however, weren't sure what photos were. She took a selfie with them to demonstrate and, once more, Frisk let friendly strangers swipe through her pictures to try to explain what it was. Vera was gobsmacked and Zapf's eyes lit with pink again as he navigated between images of what was now three fully different universes.
"I see. It's like an advanced pictobox," Zapf said. "I have seen something similar but—"
"You have?!" Vera asked.
"The Boss has one. Though it is small and makes little pictosheets instead of bright and detailed like this does. What an interesting invention." Zapf smiled gently. "Your home is quite different from here, hm?"
Frisk nodded. The paw of a cat closed down on her shoulder. She turned and the monster shopkeep smiled at her.
"I've found something your size, kitten," she said.
"Oh! Thank you so much," Frisk said.
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The cat showed her to a little alcove closed off by a curtain. Inside, there was already a small pile of clothing. It was stuff fit for a toddler, probably. She found a simple tunic with sleeves down to the elbows. It was deep blueish grey with a lighter shade at the neck, hem, and ends of the sleeves. There was also brown pants that were her size. There was even some new boots, though they were just a little too big. She changed and loosely belted the tunic at the waist. It felt so nice to not be cold and damp anymore.
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She took a seat on the little wooden bench in there for a moment to catch her breath in the relative quiet. She wished she could tell when and where she was. Was it the past of the last world? Her own? Somewhere entirely new? Was it even really real? These skeletons felt real enough. And those blue flowers— now that she thought about it, she was sure she'd seen them when she'd travelled through one of the rips in the world to a place far afield from Mount Ebott, where her father used to live.
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Maybe if she could find a book or something, she could determine if it was a dreamscape or not. But, if this was really the past of a place, maybe she'd already screwed up by interacting at all. She wished that grey Sans had given her more info than what little he'd said. Hopefully he would have warned her if she was on track to completely screw some place's past up, right? She sighed. Stress pressure was already building behind her eyes.
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When she emerged, the two skeletons were still engrossed in her phone. Vera squawked and grinned wide, bouncing up her toes. She caught sight of Frisk and dashed over, grabbing her arm.
"There's so much!" she said. "Come on! I got your payment covered, by the way."
"Oh! But I said I could—"
"Nah, we brought y'here, so…" She smiled. "Not expensive, don't worry. Since you're so small."
"Th-Thank you," Frisk said.
"Hey, uh, something happen t'your arms?" she asked, pointing out the bandage wrapping.
"Um! N-No, not really, just was doing some, um, training with some friends before I got sent here," she said. "I wasn't really expecting it."
"Ah. Can y'punch pretty hard?"
Frisk scoffed and snickered. "No."
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Zapf finally shook himself free of the phone. He passed it back to her, but only then did she realize she didn't really have much in the way of pockets. He patted her on the head gently, his eyes still glowing faintly.
"What a place you've come from," he said. "It's a little farther than you implied, isn't it?"
"Y-Yeah," she said.
He put his hand on her shoulder and nodded towards the door. "Let's be on our way for now. The market is close by."
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Outside, the cold bristled against Frisk's ears. She stashed her wet clothes in her phone. Vera bounced around her and then grinned proudly.
"Hey, y'look good!" she said. She pointed at Frisk's phone. "Y'don't have to hold that stuff, just put it in your mallet space."
"Mallet space?" Frisk asked.
"Yeah, look." Vera reached behind her back and was suddenly holding a large sack. "I kinda cheat, I like t'keep a bag there." She hid it again and it vanished. "See? Comes with the clothes."
Frisk had never heard of such a thing, but she wasn't shocked. She reached behind her as if there were a pocket on her back, like Vera had. The phone slipped off to nowhere.
"Oh! That's cool!" Frisk said. "We don't have that back home."
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"I really enjoyed looking through the pictures of your family and friends," Zapf said. "It's nice to have many people who care for you around you. Which brother is sick?"
"The short one," she said sheepishly.
"And which is lost?"
"The goat one."
"You're very close to them all," he said.
She nodded. Vera cooed at her and put her arm around her shoulders.
"Buck up, shortie, I'm sure we can get y'some help," she said. "Monster Lords are real good at this kinda thing, I promise. And the Boss is one of the best Monster Lords ever."
"Thank you," Frisk said. She slipped some coins into Vera's pocket as she moved away.
Zapf noticed but simply smiled to himself.
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As they went down towards the market square, Frisk couldn't help notice her hands were still shaking. She rubbed her fingers over her palms. This was crazy, wasn't it? Here she was, a strange world, third time in a week. Her head hurt. Vera was talking but she couldn't process it. She scrunched her eyes shut and rubbed them with her hands as her legs began to feel weighted and her head spun. She had to stop and she pulled out the turquoise potion again. The tremble was much more noticeable as she tried to pop the cap off it. She poured out a little of the liquid onto her fingertips and patted it against her forehead. Some of the pressure began to subside.
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"Hey, shortie, y'alright?" Vera got in her face, eyeing her up and down. She held her shaking hands and tilted her head. "You're gonna drop this if y'ain't careful, huh?"
"Yeah, um. Sorry," she said, stashing it away in her phone again. "You're right." She tried to focus.
"D'you need a healer?" she asked.
"I'm fine. Thanks, though," Frisk said.
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Ahead of them was an area of market stalls, bustling with monsters and all kinds of disparate tunes of magic. Wafts of spice and cooking stew billowed through the air. Zapf was already at one of the stalls, loading up a bag with vegetables. Vera beckoned Frisk along, and the kid hurried to keep up. It was a lot to process.
"So, um, you guys said you were Knights?" Frisk asked curiously.
"Yep! Or, I mean, we're gonna be real soon," Vera said as she slid up to a collection of shiny trinkets. "We were guards at our old village before it got stomped. And then started training with the guys at Loch Lune before that got stomped. We fell in with the Boss a couple years back and we're set to get full Knight honours and everythin' real soon!" She grinned bright. "We're even gonna get some new bound weapons!"
Frisk nodded, perked by her enthusiasm. "What's a bound weapon?"
"Like, uh… Somethin' y'can build and then kinda tie to your magic and soul. So y'can summon it whenever, it's real useful!" she said. "Hard to do, though. A lotta people actually gotta have a Lord make it for 'em."
"Ooh, okay," Frisk said. "My brothers have these big skull blaster things that I think might be those." She wondered, maybe Asriel's swords were, too? "That's cool, I hope it goes well."
"Thanks! I'm real glad the Boss took us in, t'be honest," Vera said as she plucked up a couple shimmering crystals and eyes them over. "We were thinkin' of joinin' the Order of Lune before that, but then y'gotta go all the way to the Capital. Meetin' the royals sounds pretty great, but it's super far from here and I kinda like this area, y'know? And, uh, don't tell Zapf I said this but he's kinda a homebones."
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Frisk nodded as if she understood everything that had been said, and filed the terms away in her head. "Have you met any of the, um, royals before?"
"I met a Duke once," she said. "But they're the same kind. These real ancient, uh… I dunno what y'call 'em, really? Same kind as in your pics, though, right? Y'know a few?"
"My mom and brother are that," she said.
"Yeah! That's nuts," she said. "What are they actually called; you gotta know, right?! I've heard a ton, is it, uh, baphosomething? Or are they luck dragons? Or is it khnumian or capripan?! Nobody ever gives a straight answer."
"Um." Frisk tilted her head. "I always just kinda went between goat and a dragon goat, nobody ever corrected me." She laughed. "That's funny, actually, I'll ask Az when I find him."
"Your missin' brother? I hope y'find him soon, I wanna know," she said.
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Vera paid for some of the crystals and hurriedly moved on, pulling the kid with her as other monsters began to get closer in the crowded market.
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Frisk could feel eyes on her. Could see them, too— monsters leaning over or doing a double-take as she passed. She stuck close to the skeleton.
"Um, it's okay if I'm here, right?"
"Sure, guard let y'in, yeah? Don't worry," Vera said. "No rule says no humans. Some come through sometimes. Think one or two live here, even."
"R-Right. Okay." The hair prickling on the back of her neck advised her otherwise. Her headache was seeping back in. She took a deep breath. As long as she didn't start seeing other times, she was okay. "Um! So, what else do you need, can I help?"
"Um, groceries, mostly." Vera pulled a list out of her belt, though it was ripped and soggy. She winced and crumpled it up, tossing it over her shoulder. "Well, um. How 'bout just stick close t'me for now."
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A couple more stalls explored, and Frisk began to relax a little. Nobody found issue enough to confront her or shoot looks that were anything more than curious. A lizard monster did ask to settle a bet over whether human hair felt more like fur or feathers, and pranced away, satisfied, after she let him pat her on the head. She was also given a free pastry by a short, squat, squinting purple bat that Vera was buying bread from. Frisk gladly broke it into three and shared a piece with the skeleton.
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One of the monsters was selling used books. Frisk hurriedly checked the pages of one. The text inside was mostly too complicated for her, but definitely wasn't gibberish.
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When they met back up with Zapf, he was mulling over chunks of false meat at the stall of a big, muscly orc.
"Got everything?" Vera asked.
"Hm… Almost." He picked a piece and traded some gold for it, slipping it into a sack with the rest of his buys. "You?"
"Yep!" she said.
Frisk offered the tall skeleton the last piece of the pastry. He looked a little puzzled, but he took it.
"Oh. Thank you," he said.
"Are you guys making something specific?" she asked.
"Oh, all kinds of stuff! Mostly Zapf. He's a great cook," Vera said brightly.
"I'm an average cook," he said quietly.
"He's great," she repeated with a proud grin.
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"Oh? What do you like to cook?" Frisk said, though his cheekbones flushed and he hesitated. "I, um, r-really love to cook! I cook all the time with my brother, Papyrus, mostly, and my, um, big sister, Undyne. Also my mom's a great cook, too. She showed me how to do pies. My brother, though, he's really into noodles and sauce."
"Noodles?" Vera repeated. "What's a noodle?"
"I…" It had never once occurred to Frisk in her entire life that she would run into someone who didn't know what a noodle was. "I dunno how to… Um. Well. You make a dough. But not a bread dough."
"Uh-huh."
"And you roll it real thin and cut it into a bunch of, like, lines or shapes."
"Uh-huh, uh-huh."
"And then you boil it until it's kinda soft and then you put, like, butter or sauce on it, or put it in a soup."
"Ooh!" Vera's face lit right up. "Okay, okay, I get it! Zapf, we gotta try that!" She grinned bright. "He loves soup. Soup's his thing."
"Oh yeah?" Frisk asked with a smile. "I made soup only one time! But it was pretty fun."
A little glimmer shone in the large skeleton's eyes. "I enjoy it. I still have a lot to learn."
"He's trying t'learn a special recipe for the Boss!" Vera said proudly.
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Zapf looked bashful. Frisk perked up.
"What's special about it?" she asked
"It's… well…" His guarded posture slumped a little. "The Boss has some strange powers that sometimes make her a little sick. I heard the Queen makes her a special soup to help, but Burgstede is so far away, and I thought maybe I— if I practiced enough— might be able to craft a stand-in."
"Oh! That's really cool. I bet you can," Frisk said.
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The sounds of the market were cut by a deep, melodic horn, and the monsters went unusually quiet. Both skeletons perked up and Vera grabbed onto Frisk's arm. All attention turned down the road. A knight obscured in full armour rode by on a shaggy horse, and was followed by a much smaller creature shrouded in a robe and flanked protectively on either side by more mounted knights, though these ones could be seen to be a silvery bird and a one-eyed grimm. The former carried a white banner with a gold sun marked upon it. The crowd only began to murmur and get back to what they were doing a moment after the final horse hoof had passed out of sight.
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"Oh wow," Vera breathed. "Hey, cuz, y'think that's a DB?"
"Must be," he said softly.
"A what?" Frisk asked, keeping her voice down like they did.
"A Divine Beast," Zapf explained.
"What's that?" Frisk asked.
"I've never seen one for real," Vera said.
"They're very mysterious." Zapf looked concerned. "You haven't heard of them?"
"Um. No. They're monsters, though, right?" Frisk asked.
"They are made of magic like us," he said. "But nobody knows where they came from. Just that they are… Divine Beasts. Some think they came from the sun itself."
"And that was kinda… weird, right? Everyone went quiet. They don't come through often?" Frisk asked. "Where d'you think they were going?"
"Sun Temple," Vera said. "Always are, right, cuz?"
"Some special Knights usually escort them in that case, but I've asked before, and even they don't really know much about them," he said. "And it is definitely unusual."
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Frisk frowned thoughtfully. The Sun Temple perked her interest. One of the three clues she'd received was something she was sure was a blazing red sun. Maybe that's why she'd been sent here right at this moment. She looked up at them curiously.
"Think I could go there?"
"Wh-What?!" Vera yelped. "Go there?! What for?!"
"I think I'm looking for something to do with the sun," she said.
Zapf gulped. "I'm… not sure if it's wise?"
"Shortie, we don't know anything about DBs," Vera said quickly. "I got no clue how they'd be around us. Or you! All I know is they're really, really powerful."
"Were there any other clues that you had?" Zapf asked.
"Um. The flow of the void." Frisk counted on her fingers. "A red sun. And a weird space cube."
The skeletons looked at each other, at a loss. Frisk sighed. She smiled apologetically.
"It's okay if you don't wanna come. Thanks so much for bringing me here, but I gotta go check it out," she said.
"Do you?!" Vera asked shrilly.
Frisk nodded. "If it might help my brother, I gotta go look." She definitely hadn't wanted to part with these two so soon, but she could see the hesitation all over their faces. "Look, um… I really appreciate you guys. If you're not in a big rush, maybe I could meet you back here somewhere? I-If you can't wait, I totally understand." For some reason, that hurt more than she thought it would. "But, um! I'm super grateful for you guys bringing me this far."
"Wait, wait wait." Vera put her hands up. "But where would y'go?!"
Frisk shrugged tepidly. The short skeleton looked up at her taller counterpart worriedly. He winced. Frisk smiled sideways and raised a hand to wave.
"I-I hope I'll see you again."
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Her small stature let her easily slip away between distracted monsters and she peeked around the corner of the buildings edging the road. The horses were already out of sight, but some of their muddy hoof prints were not. She followed them down the stone road to a small incline where there were trees planted alongside it. She paused to look up, only to feel a drop of rain hit her on the head. There looked to be some sort of structure up the incline— probably the highest point in town, now that she thought about it. She noticed the shaking in her hands again and gripped them together tightly.
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The hair on the kid's neck stood on end and a faint blue warning had her step back and turn around with confusion. Her heart was instantly pounding at a big, dark shape blocking her view, arm extended, intending to grab hers. She jerked back quickly and tried to figure out what she was looking at. The face that peered back down at her was half-wooden— a mask that looked like some sort of beast covering the eyes and nose of a bearded someone under a dark, well-worn traveller's cloak.
"You are a human," he said with a sense of vindication in his very-human-sounding voice.
Frisk bristled. She felt like she might be sick and took a step backwards. "No I'm not."
"What's a child like you doing here?" he asked.
"Nnnnope." She didn't want to take her eyes from him, but she wasn't staying near the stranger for a second longer. "Nope, not answering, leave me alone," Frisk said quickly, backing away down the road.
When the man started after her, she turned and sprinted towards the shops.
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The mostly empty street provided little cover but a few scattered monsters. Her heart pounding in her ears, Frisk raced down the slope as fast as she could, darting behind two large, robed elk women, and ran into the closest alleyway. There was an old cart and another passageway there that lead into a shadowy, narrow gap between yet more buildings. She beelined for it, only to run straight into a gang of three monsters with the aura of ne'er-do-wells bumming it against the wall and smoking cinnamon sticks. A big, grey panther shot her a glare from a bright orange eye.
"Looks like you took a wrong turn, cub," she said with a low growl.
Frisk gulped but she stayed right where she was. "Is there anything back here? I need to hide."
"Huh. That usually works…" the cat mused.
The kid snuck into the shadows. She could hear bootsteps closer than she'd like. "There's some weird human following me. I don't know him. Can I hide here? I'll pay."
A massive bear sat up from where he was crouched and beckoned to her. "My ears like that jingle of gold, but my eyes aren't so good, catch my drift?"
Frisk perked right up and rushed in behind him. "Thank you so much."
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There wasn't much back there. Some old crates and a door that was slightly ajar, with the smell of fire and cooking food wafting from it. The third monster, some sort of blue ooga booga with a lot of tentacles, eyes on stalks, and teeth like a shark, gently grabbed the kid and pulled her aside.
"You in some kinda trouble, hun?" she asked.
"I literally don't know what he wants. He just started chasing me," Frisk said quietly. "Oh! Um, if he tries to fight, don't, I'll… I'll deal with it."
"Don't worry 'bout it, cub," the panther said. She readjusted herself casually, folding her arms, and the bear took up much of the rest of the alleyway with the bulk of his shoulders.
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Frisk took a deep breath. She braced herself. The blue monster blew out a cloud that smelled like apple pie. The human man hurried by and then, inevitably, doubled back.
"Have you seen a child come down here?" he asked.
"Plenty o' kids." The cat tilted her head towards the outer alley. "That way."
"I'm looking for my daughter. Wearing grey. Very small."
Frisk felt sick; incredulous. She shook her head vigorously when the blue monster's eye stalks bent towards her.
"Name?" the bear asked, puffing himself up.
"What does it matter, have you seen a child like that or not?"
"Fella forgot his own kid's name," the panther said with a sly grin.
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The man bristled. His hand rested at his waste. "She is dangerous to you. She has a red soul. She could be a wizard."
Frisk gulped. What was this guy's problem? Again, the blue monster looked at her. She clenched her fists and frowned, and then carefully held the monster's closest tentacle. She let her magic warm through to her, trying to convey as best she could that she meant no harm.
"Uh-huh. Red soul wizard, just out and about. Sure," the panther said.
"I am deadly serious. If you see anyone like that…"
The butt of a spear thumped the ground. The cat's ears pinned back as pink eyes glowed and a large, horned skeleton loomed behind the human man.
"Back. Away," Zapf said.
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Frisk perked up instantly, her eyes brightening. The blue monster gave her hand a little squeeze. The human turned and froze in place, looking up at the tall skeleton. A chill passed over the group. Zapf stared the man down, a tight grip on his spear and an authoritative air around him.
"Stop bothering these people."
The man bristled. "You were at the gate, you had the child with—"
"You have no claim on the child," he said stiffly.
With the eyes of so many monsters on him, the man backed up and edged around Zapf, almost bumping right into Vera. She glared at him, folding her arms, and he scoffed and relented.
"You'd be better off turning her over to me," he said.
Nobody budged. The panther grinned sideways and let a smokey cloud of spice drift out between her sharp teeth.
"Can't hand over what we ain't got and ain't yours, human."
The man shrugged. "Well. Your funeral." He pulled his cloak close and shouldered off past Zapf and down the alley back towards the street.
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Frisk wanted nothing more but to race to the skeletons, but the blue monster gently pulled her back and pointed to the open door. She nodded and followed, hesitating at the steps and peeking around the bear. His ear twitched towards them and he leaned in towards Zapf.
"Go in the front," he said.
Vera shot Zapf a worried look, but he nodded and his spear vanished from his hand.
"Thank you."
.
Just inside the door was a kitchen manned by a black and orange salamander with a flaming tail-tip and a five-spined headcrest, much like Alphys's. He looked them up and down with barely a hint of surprise. Frisk scooted aside as the big brown bear and the panther joined them, too. She instantly went for her phone and started pouring a ton of gold coins out on top of a nearby chair.
"Whoa, cub," the panther said, wide-eyed, "you didn't actually have to—"
"No, nope, that was super dangerous, and I said I would," she said quickly. "Thank you guys so much."
The three monsters looked at each other. The panther raised her brows high.
"I mean, we could use it to fix the roof," the bear said quietly.
"Yeah! Yeah, do that, do whatever you want," Frisk said. She winked. "If you don't take my money I'm gonna be super offended."
"Can't have that," the bear chortled, scooping up a pawful of coins.
"Where did you get all this?" the blue monster asked, her eyes bugging out.
"Um. Where I come from, we do, um… play battles? And if you win, you get gold," Frisk said.
"You must be great!"
Frisk shrugged and smile. "I'm okay. Oh!" She offered her hand. "I'm Frisk, by the way."
.
Before the monsters could answer, two skeletons unceremoniously burst into the kitchen, and Frisk found herself grabbed up in Vera's arms.
"Aaah, shortie, I'm sorry!" she whined. "We never shouldda waited, we sh-shouldda…"
"We were just a minute behind you. We thought maybe that man knew you, until you ran from him," Zapf said apologetically.
"I-It's okay! It's okay," Frisk assured them. "I-I'm glad I didn't have to say goodbye so soon!"
"Great reunion, can you have it outta my kitchen?" the salamander asked, tapping a ladle into his palm impatiently.
Vera's cheeks flushed green. "S-Sorry, we'll go, we'll, uh… Actually, can we get a table?"
The monster nodded and gestured for them to go, and the skeletons scrambled out, taking Frisk with them.
.
Beyond the kitchen was a dim, crowded tavern. Long, worn wooden tables and benches hewn from logs were packed with rough-looking monsters and exactly one other human, an older, grey-haired woman who looked like she could bench press the big grizzled snapping turtle she was chatting at the bar with.
.
When Frisk first met Papyrus, he'd claimed that skeletons were the most warm and cuddly of monsters. Vera proved the rule, hugging the kid to her chest and glowing reassuringly warm as if they'd known each other for years. Frisk was grateful and returned the gesture. She patted the skeleton's shoulder and was carefully released to the table they'd picked, situated between some workers napping heavily and a rowdy group of what was presumably adventurers or mercenaries.
.
Zapf took a long, deep breath and rubbed his face. "Frisk, I'm sorry."
"Don't be sorry, you were super cool," she said.
He shook his head. "I hesitated when you asked for help on your quest. That wasn't very knightly."
"It's okay, it's not really fair of me to ask you to do stuff you don't wanna do. And I definitely don't want you guys to get into any trouble 'cause of me," Frisk said. Her face fell and she rubbed her head. "I shouldda listened to you. I'm sorry, I dunno what I was thinking: of course you guys would know better than me. I shouldda been patient and waited for that DB thing to leave."
"We were just… We were just kinda nervous," Vera admitted. "Like I said, we don't know much about them at all; people get in trouble for going into those temples on a normal day sometimes, so with a DB there, and you bein' a human, I just dunno…"
.
"You guys talking about DBs?" The panther slid up to join them, placing herself beside Frisk and Vera. "Ixel, by the way. I, uh, do the shopping, mostly."
"Vera and Zapf. And Frisk," Vera said with a smile. "Knights in training. Thanks for helpin' the kid out."
She nodded and then lowered her voice. "So, there's one in town, huh?"
"Do you know what they are?" Frisk asked.
"Most folks haven't seen 'em. They wear those long robes all the time," she said. "And any description I've heard don't really match up too good against each other. But I've heard stories."
"They're representatives of the sun, in some way," Zapf said. "And they are exceedingly powerful."
"Yeah, they say they have crazy luck, too," Vera said. "I heard a rumour that touchin' one's either the best or worst luck ever. But they get to choose? Nuts, right?"
"I heard they could dust a monster just by looking at 'em," Ixel said.
"I heard," a short, buff pigeon from the next table said, leaning over, "that they like to eat little human kids for breakfast!"
"Get outta here, Weepy Jon!" the cat snarled, giving him a solid whack on the noggin.
The pigeon looked rather offended before pulling back to his laughing companions. "That was one time!"
.
Frisk put her cheek on her fist and looked thoughtful, drumming her fingers on the table. "This is a lot," she said.
"Hey, can I ask?" Ixel said. "What was up with that human?"
"No clue," Frisk said. "…From the junk he was saying, I think he wanted me to go somewhere with him. Which, um, I'm not doing, by the way."
"Is it true, though?" The panther dropped her voice down to a whisper. "Are you a wizard?"
"I w-wouldn't go that far," she said. "…It's red, though, yeah."
"Scorch me," Ixel breathed. She turned her wide, worried eyes on the skeletons.
Zapf reached across the table and put his hands on Frisk's. "He must've seen us at the gate. I'm sorry. I should have been paying more attention."
"So you can make it glow, then?" Ixel insisted. "And you don't…? You don't hate us?!"
"Of course I don't," Frisk said shrilly.
"She has a skeleton name that matches her soul," Vera said. "She might as well be one of us."
The panther smiled sideways. "A human with a skele-name, who runs from her own, huh? You do crimes or something?"
Frisk shook her head— which was a lie, but it'd do no good to explain her unrelated string of food thefts back before she'd gone to Mount Ebott. "No, it's just, almost every time I'm near humans, either I get attacked or I get treated like I'm… not a person. So." It had been the same with monsters at first, too, if she were honest, but they had more than made up for it in her eyes.
"And now they see you're a red one and suddenly people come calling, huh?" Ixel frowned. "That's a rough lot, cub."
.
"Less rough with some lunch." The massive bear joined them, plunking down a huge wooden tray of food before sitting in beside Zapf so heavily that it bounced him up into the air.
The panther laughed. She slid over to make room for the blue, tentacled monster as she joined them as well. She waved at Frisk and the kid smiled and waved back.
.
Frisk wasn't very hungry, but she tried a small bowl of soup to be polite and, to be fair, it was very good. She avoided a basket of buns they'd brought, however. None of the monsters were eating them, and one touch told her they weren't magic.
.
Vera was a chatterbox. She seemed to be aquatinted with the blue monster, Oolin, and was easily befriending Burr the bear, too, with her stories of the wilds outside the town. Zapf was quiet, though. Uncomfortable wasn't the right word, but he certainly looked like something was bothering him.
.
Frisk was stuck in her head. Worried about that tall skeleton across the table. Wondering about the Sun Temple. About home; about the world she'd left. About Sans. Asriel. Papyrus. Her parents. She gulped to fight the tightening in her throat. She wanted leave and run down the road again, but she stayed firmly put. Be patient, she told herself. Look what happened last time.
.
When they finished, Frisk paid for the meal as Ixel gave the street a thorough once-over for the masked man. She found nothing, and the two groups parted on cheerful terms.
.
It was raining large, cold droplets. The skeletons were cautious going up the hill towards the Sun Temple, though any of Frisk's nerves were more from anticipation. The structure there looked like a cottage, but with a very large, arched doorway and a round, stained glass window above the doors. At the peak of its tall roof, it had a crystal, a lot like the one Frisk had seen just a few hours before crowning the temple in Queen Undyne's castle.
.
There were no horses at the Temple, nor any other sign of activity. The front doors were shuttered and locked. Frisk knocked, but nobody came. She could open it herself, but bursting in the front didn't seem very smart. Another set of smaller doors around the back were also sealed shut. Someone had opened it that morning to sweep out some dirt, though— Frisk could see by touching it. The complexity of the lock didn't matter; the door was open with the faintest glimmer of red.
.
Inside was a simple store room. The instant Frisk crossed the threshold, her soul surged bright on its own. She jolted with surprise, but it did nothing more. Didn't feel particularly strange either. She looked back at the skeletons lurking behind her and shrugged.
"Maybe it's a safety precaution," Zapf suggested.
"Should we wait here? O-Or d'you want us t'follow along?" Vera asked, a nervous warble in her words.
"We will follow," Zapf said quietly.
"Right! Right, yeah, of course."
.
With the cousins behind her, Frisk snuck through the storeroom. She leaned her ear against the door and listened carefully. Vera crept up beside her and copied her curiously. With a very light touch, Frisk pushed the door open.
.
The chamber before them was wide and open, supported by wooden columns, but dark all around the outer rim. Statues of robed figures lurked there, cradling the sun and moon in their hands. Candles lit the inner ring and light beamed down into its centre from high above, even though outside was gloomy and dark. It set a simple pedestal below it glowing faintly.
.
"So, uh. Shortie. Y'know what you're lookin' for?" Vera asked.
"Some sorta sun stuff, I guess," she said. She peeked around at the statues and she felt a ping of déjà vu. They reminded her of sculptures she'd seen in Archwizard Alphys's library, and in a couple other places in the last world she'd been in. "Sorry, the vision didn't have much else in it."
.
The pedestal seemed like an obvious place to start but Frisk couldn't see over the top of it. Zapf carefully grabbed her under her arms and lifted her up high enough. The light glittered off a gold inlay that looked like a stylized design of the solar system, with a sun glowing gently white in the centre.
"Is this familiar to you?" Zapf asked.
"Yeah, but I'm not sure if it's helpful," she said. "Thanks though."
"Maybe… Maybe they have some artefacts or something, y'know? Something we could take a look at," Vera said. "Or a book? Like some Hymns or something."
"What's a Hymn?" Frisk asked.
"Temple spells," Zapf said. "Inspiration school, primarily. They're mostly for art, as far as I'm aware."
"Ooh. Do they have, like, a Sun Priest or something?" Frisk asked. "The last place I was at, their temple building had a big priest lady."
"I mean, they might?" Vera said.
"Maybe if we could find them, I could ask to borrow a—"
.
With a bang and a burst of light, a shrouded door across from the group was kicked in and a heroic trumpet of magic blasted through the room as a big monster in silver armour charged in. Frisk felt her soul connect and knew the battle was for her. Vera recoiled and Zapf clung to the kid, but she gestured for him to put her down.
"Intruders!" the guard bellowed. "How dare you trespass in this sunlit place!"
"Aaah, we didn't mean anything by it!" Vera shouted.
"I-I apologize, the back way was open and our curiosity got the better of us," Zapf said.
"You two… And you brought a human here. How foolish must you be?!" The guard leaned forward, peering down at Frisk with beaming yellow eyes. "You, human. What have you to say for yourself?!"
Frisk's heart pounded, but she could do little more than shrug weakly. "Um. Well. I-I'm sorry. But I was wondering if I could meet the Sun Priest?"
"WHAT?!" The guard's eyes blazed like flame. "You thought you could…!?"
.
A white-gloved hand gently touched on the guard's arm. He stalled and froze utterly as a robed figure slid up beside him. Both skeletons recoiled, bones flushed with colour. It was the same Divine Beast who had rode in on the horse earlier. Zapf quickly knelt and, stumbling, Vera did as well. The guard looked at the creature for a moment, and as quickly as it had started, his battle resonance faded away. He thumped his fist over his soul spot with a metal clunk and then took a step back.
.
The Divine Beast crossed the room and stared down at Frisk. Its face was shrouded in a white scarf, except for a little bit of dark fur around its equally dark, shiny eyes. Frisk gulped. She cautiously raised a hand to greet the creature.
"Um, h-hi there, I'm Frisk," she said.
The Divine Beast knelt down and tilted its head. The kid smiled sheepishly as the guard gasped and knelt down as well. Despite this, the robed creature's focus was firmly on the kid.
"I'm sorry to sneak in. I'm really glad to meet you, though! I just, um…"
The creature tilted its head the other way.
"I had a weird vision of a red sun and I thought maybe I could find an answer here. I'm sorry if I caused any trouble."
.
The Divine Beast stared at her silently for a few moments. It smelled, somehow, familiar. It put a hand on her shoulder and the guard swooned and clunked to the floor. Frisk winced and Vera let out a sympathetic oof. The robed creature didn't seem to notice, and touched carefully on the kid's shining soul. It lifted her up as it stood and gently sat her on the pedestal. The guard was on his feet again, and the skeletons cautiously straightened up as well. They shared a confused, anxious look between them.
.
The Divine Beast rested both thumbs on the kid's forehead. A sparkle of light swirled around her, though it didn't feel like much at all. It nodded to itself. It clapped its hands together and the sound shot out more sharply than logic would dictate. The beam of light warmed Frisk' skin and made her blinks heavy. For a moment, her vision washed out white. Then, she was alone.
.
She turned in place and looked around, baffled. Her whole form glowed with the red of her soul. White light stretched out before her with nothing to break the disorienting uniformity of it.
"Oh great," she muttered. "Hello?" Her voice echoed to nowhere, but in its reply, she could have sworn she heard a note of magic. She took a deep breath and tried to think it through.
The glow probably meant this wasn't entirely real. Another vision maybe?
.
A whisper called to her without a voice. She whipped around and, to her shock, saw a stark, red orb floating in the air. Excitement jolted in her chest and she ran for it and reached out to grab in. The second she did, though, a shining face seared across her vision and she yelped and stumbled back, her heart an aching drumbeat against her ribs.
"Jeez!" she exclaimed shrilly. She took a deep breath and, though her pulse pounded in her ears, she touched the red orb again.
.
The apparition unveiled itself before her. Frisk froze. A skeleton, with bones glowing gold and eyes beaming light, a white mark like a sun gleaming on his forehead, and yet she'd know that face anywhere in the universe. He held the same red orb. Somehow, she was floating at his height.
"P-Papyrus?!" she yelped.
He blinked back at her. "Y-Yes?!" It sounded just like him. Every note of magic correct.
.
Frisk buckled and threw her arms around his shoulders, and he let out a surprised squeak. Carefully, he reached up to hold her and she whimpered, trying to hold back a wheezing sob.
"P-Papyrus…"
"Oh! Red little friend! What's…?! What's wrong?!" he asked.
"I m-miss youuu," she whined. "I'm a messss."
"Shhh, shh shh, I've got you," he said quietly. "It's alright, it's… Wait. Wait wait. Why can't I…?" He gasped. He held her back and cupped her face, eyes wide and bright. "L-Little sister?!"
.
Big, shiny tears rolled down her cheeks and she nodded. He, on the other hand, beamed and pressed his brow to hers.
"I knew it! I knew it was helpful! Nyeh heh! Oh, I'm so glad to see you, you don't even know! I mean, I guess I can't really see you, but! It's close enough." He snuggled her warmly. "Oh, you poor thing. Please don't be upset. Why are you upset?"
"I wanna come home," she said quietly.
"Then please come home!" he said.
"I c-can't yet."
.
Papyrus looked puzzled, but he nodded. "Can I help you? I'd like to! I…" He perked up. He showed her the orb again. "This brought me here. It must be important, right? Maybe it can help you, too?"
Frisk sniffled. She reached out cautiously and touched it. It seeped a little of the red glow from her fingertips. Papyrus's eyes followed suit, beaming with the red colour of determination. Before the kid could ask a thing, the crimson pulse overwhelmed her and the grip of the skeleton melted away.
Everything was dark. Blurry. Voices were growling at each other. Thunder rumbled, shuddering the world above her.
.
"She's just a kid! Don't be a jerk!"
"A wizard can't be left just to roam!"
"She ain't roamin', she's with us!"
"And she hardly knew what a wizard was until we told her…"
"Hmph! You two are lucky you're still walking! And that nobody tried to claim her soul already. I swear, this foolishness…! And the danger—!"
"Hey, the DB seemed t'like her enough."
"Do not call them that, you rude little—!"
.
Frisk's vision settled back in, though so too did a headache. Vera was holding her upright, and the fire-eyed guard was grumbling before them. The Divine Beast held his arm again as Zapf stood between them and the kid. The armoured monster relented.
"You're lucky," he said again. "She's awake."
The skeletons instantly whirled on Frisk. Zapf dropped to one knee and put a warming hand against her head.
"Shortie, y'alright?" Vera asked.
"Y… Yeah," she said quietly. She looked at the Divine Beast. "I… I don't understand, I… Papyrus, is he okay?!"
The robed creature dipped its head, and then reached into its robe. It pulled out a book and handed it over, then waved and wandered away. The guard snorted and followed it.
.
Frisk looked at the book, confused. It was a tome of Hymns.
"Th-Thank you!" she called, though the Divine Beast and its guard were already gone. "…What the heck was that?"
"You're okay, yeah?" Vera asked.
Frisk nodded. "Y… Yeah."
"We should go," Zapf said quietly. "Quickly. Before the storm builds."