:):

Thank you for all of the wonderful reviews!

It is true that Alphys, Undyne, and many other monsters greatly overestimate humans and their capabilities. Where it is possible that a human has the potential to be dangerously violent, it has unfortunately become a common belief in the Underground that ALL humans are inherently violent.

That belief simply isn't true, but it's hard for hearts and minds to be changed when that is what they've always known to be the truth.

Hopefully, in time, Fearia and eventually Frisk will be able to sway those beliefs! :)

xxx

Mysterious Font

xxx

The next morning, Papyrus was delighted to find that the tiny human hadn't wandered off again in the middle of the night and was instead still sound asleep curled up in his bed. Who knew all she needed was a nightlight? The tall skeleton smiled fondly down at the child. He had a feeling today was going to be a good day.

What could go wrong?

Sans was currently in his secret workshop trying to decide what he could use to prove his case to the King. He had his notes he'd been taking for the past few days tucked safely in his old journal. But that wasn't quite enough. He still needed something visual and for that he had gathered all of the coins he had found. The large golden coin from the Kingdom of Magic had been recovered from the lumpy green couch along with around 20G.

He had thought about also bringing the strange runic stone but decided against it. Whatever it really was, he didn't know, but he was aware that it was precious to the kid. He would respect that.

After gathering everything he could use as evidence to prove that this particular human was special and worth keeping around, Sans left his workshop and headed for the house. It was still really early in his opinion, but they were probably awake by now. Morning people had a bad habit of being awake too early...

"Now You Try, Miss Fearia." Papyrus instructed loudly as Sans wandered into the kitchen. "Remember To Try And Keep The Letters Level And To The Line This Time."

Concentrating, Fearia pressed her orange crayon hard onto the paper, making the letters as bold as she could. Whether it was out of frustration or intent only she really knew. "Like this?" She asked as she held up her work.

"You're Below The Line Now But It's Starting To Look Better. "Papyrus nodded, satisfied with her progress.

After getting some coffee, Sans finally made his way back to the kitchen table to see for himself what they were up to. "writing lessons, huh?" He took a guess as he stared down at the the mess of papers spread everywhere. Many of them had practice letters written on them, others however, simply held doodles.

"Sans, look what I just wrote." Fearia smiled as she held up the paper that she had just been complimented on.

The sleepy skeleton looked at the paper as he took a sip of coffee. "Snowdin is cold." was written sloppily in orange and the word cold had sunk beneath the provided line. To be honest, it looked like a kindergartner had done this but he couldn't deny he was impressed. This kid didn't even know how to read a simple book yesterday, but she was learning the language very fast.

"looks good, kid." Sans praised. "keep practicing and i might teach you how to do crosswords."

"Right After I Introduce Her To Junior Jumble." Papyrus said as he finished writing down a new phrase for the kid to copy.

Fearia giggled to herself as she watched the two skeletons engage themselves in a hot/cold discussion on which was better again. She had heard this argument before but it still didn't make much sense to her. Learning how to read and write was enough of a challenge right now anyway.

"Fine." Papyrus relented slightly. "We'll Just Have To Teach Her Both And Then She Can Discover For Herself The Monotonies Of Crossword Puzzles."

"heh." Usual grin in place, Sans gave a lazy shrug as he took another sip of coffee. Something scribbled on a half covered piece of paper caught his attention. Reaching over, he pulled it from the pile of discarded scrap sheets. "you tryin' to teach her wingdings too, paps?"

"Actually, She Did That One On Her Own." Papyrus replied, a look of perplexion on his skull. "She Said She Saw It In A Book Somewhere."

A book? Sans looked back to the symbols that had been sloppily written. "Another failure... DT insufficient..." That was about what he could make of it. The words were badly misspelled but they were the only ones he could read. This didn't make sense. There was nobody other than himself and his brother that knew this language, so where could she have seen it?

"hey, kid." Sans started, getting the child's attention. She looked up from her half written attempt at the word "Underground", the blue crayon gripped tightly in her hand. "where did you see this?" He asked as he held up the paper.

"In your book." Fearia replied simply. "The one you were reading the other night."

Confused, Sans retrieved his old journal from inside his winter coat. "you mean this?" She couldn't possibly mean this. It was just an old beat up journal he had found when they had first moved into the house. Since it was empty he had decided to use it to record things that he thought were important enough to remember. It was kind of like a scientific diary of sorts.

"Uh huh." The small child nodded before going back to making the "g" in Underground extra dark for some reason.

Okay, if he was being honest, it was possible he could have accidentally switched to WingDings somewhere in this book. However, he knew with absolute certainty that he had never written those words before.

Interrupting the tiny human once more, Sans bent down to her level and placed the book next to her paper. "can you show me where you saw this?" He asked as he put the symbols next to it. "do you remember in what part of the book you might have seen these symbols?"

Fearia frowned as she set down her crayon. Why was he so interested? Should she not have written them down? Did they mean something bad? How could she have known that? With a sigh, the small child picked up the book and opened it. Squinting, she tried to skim through the crowded pages but to no avail. "I don't remember where those exact pictures are." She conceded. "There are just too many."

"what do you mean?" Sans asked as he stared down at the pages littered with his own writing. "do you see more of these symbols?" Scanning the page, Sans didn't see a single WingDing.

"They're everywhere." Fearia revealed. "But they're hard to make out because someone wrote over them in pencil."

What?

Flipping the pages, the small child finally came to the part of the journal near the end where the pictures became clearer now that they were free of pencil marks. "I can see them easier here. What do they mean?"

Sans stared down at the blank pages as questions swirled around in his skull. Could this kid see invisible WingDings? He wasn't about to doubt her on this. She'd proven time and time again that she was telling the truth about the invisible healing stars. However, the biggest question by far was, if there really was actual writing here, then who wrote it?

Scribbling down a few symbols just for the fun of it, Fearia smiled as she handed the taller skeleton the paper. "This is more fun to write. Can we learn this next, Pappy?"

Jaw slightly unaligned, Papyrus stared down at the paper, confused. "I Don't Understand Where You're Getting This From." He admitted as he looked from the paper then down to the blank pages of the book. "Also, Why Are You Writing About The Core?"

"Huh?" Fearia cocked her head in confusion. "What's a core?"

Taking the paper from his brother, Sans looked down at what the kid had just written. "Core nearing completion. Should last ...self sustaining... hydro coolant..." It looked like she had just given up at the end, but it was obvious that she couldn't have simply come up with this. The kid had literally just transcribed invisible scientific notes from this old journal. This book had belong to a scientist. One that had worked on the creation of the core. That was over a hundred years ago.

"huh..." Folding the paper, Sans placed it inside the journal before tucking it back into his coat. "looks like you're a real natural at wingdings, kid." He gave the kid a smile as he affectionately ruffled her hair. "i'll be back later today. keep practicing and you might be able to read them eventually."

"Okay." Fearia beamed.

Sans grinned as he headed out the door. The kid had just furthered her own case and she didn't even know it. Who knew what other things were down here that only she could see? From a scientific standpoint, this tiny child was a wealth of knowledge just waiting to be discovered. She was priceless.

But to him, she was so much more than that.

...

A few hours had gone by and the writing lessons had devolved into doodle time again. This time Papyrus had joined in. He was currently working on a masterpiece of his own design. A new Battle Body now equipped with the proper armaments of a real Royal Guard. It was perfect!

Fearia, on the other hand, was drawing a snail. She was so hungry right now, she couldn't rid herself of the delicious memory of snail casserole. Maybe next, she'd draw a hamburger or maybe a pie! The very thought made her stomach growl with hunger. Slouching over the table, the small child gave her lanky friend a disparaging look. She wouldn't dare tell him she was hungry. He'd only make spaghetti again and she knew it. So gross!

Before her stomach could protest some more and try to crack her resolve, a cheerful tune rang out from somewhere.

Setting down his pencil, Papyrus smiled as he retrieved his cellphone from inside his chest armor. "Good Morning, Undyne." He greeted jovially. "What? Where Was I Yesterday? Well, I Was At Home, Of Course." His smile dropped as he listened to the reply. "Was That Yesterday?! And I Missed It!"

Fearia was slightly startled as her friend quickly stood up. He looked really upset about something. Who was he talking to on his cellphone? She didn't even know he had a cellphone. On another note, where was her cellphone? She had all but forgotten about the small device. Pushing her trivial worries aside for now, the little girl continued to listen in on the one-sided conversation.

"This Is Bad. I've Been So Busy Lately I Forgot All About My Own Training!" The tall skeleton paused for a moment as he listened. Tilting his skull pointlessly, he replied with slight confusion. "You Need To Talk To Me About Something? We Are Already Talking. ... In Person?" Papyrus spared the curious child a glance. "Can It Wait? I'm A Little Occupied At The Moment."

The reply from the handheld object was so loud that even Fearia could hear her. Whoever she was, she really sounded demanding.

Papyrus cringed as he put the phone back to his skull. "That Does Sound Important. I'll Be Right Over."

After tucking his cellphone away again, the apologetic skeleton turned to the little girl. "Miss Fearia, I Need To Step Out For A Little While. I Shouldn't Be Gone For Very Long, So Please Stay Here Until I Get Back."

"You're leaving too?" Fearia couldn't help but feel the slight sting of abandonment. Why was he leaving?

"Only For A Little While." Papyrus reassured as he gave the child a toothy smile, trying to placate her. "I'll Be Right Back. Then We Can Play Something!"

"Okay..." Fearia frowned but begrudgingly accepted this. She watched as Papyrus nodded thankfully before striding out of the kitchen. The front door was opened and then shut again a moment later. Sighing quietly, the small child looked back to her drawing. She wasn't in the mood to draw anymore she decided as she slid it away and stood up.

...

To her credit, Fearia did stay inside for nearly an hour. But after pacing restlessly throughout the empty house, she had finally reached her limit. This was so boring! She was hungry and lonely and miserable!

Climbing onto the couch, the tiny human smushed her face to the icy window and gazed out at the snow. She wanted to go outside. It looked so inviting out there. But she had been told to stay put inside. Couldn't she just step out for a bit? Would they be mad?

Creeping over to the front door, the small child cracked it open for a moment to peer outside. It was quiet. Pushing the door open all the way, Fearia stared out at the fresh snow-covered wonderland. Feeling a slight chill run up her spine, she shivered as she pulled up her bunny eared hood. Much better.

"Yip!"

Amber eyes widened as she spotted a familiar white ball of fur. It was Poff! She hadn't seen him ever since Papyrus had put him outside. To be honest, she was still upset about that, but Sans had reassured her that he'd be back. And he was!

"Poff!" Fearia greeted excitedly as she dashed out into the snow. The small dog rushed over to her and easily knocked the little girl over in his exuberance, licking at her face happily. "Where have you been?"

The furry white monster barked in response as he ran circles around the tiny human. Once she had finally gotten back to her feet, he bounced ahead, wagging his tail encouragingly as he led her into town.

Walking past the Elder Librarian's house, Fearia finally came upon Grillby's. Her stomach growled loudly as she peeked into the window. It was darker inside and it was difficult to see everything. But from the looks of it, the diner was packed. Letting her shyness get to her, the little girl frowned slightly and stepped away. She didn't have any G anyway and begging for free handouts felt wrong. She'd just wait for now and beg Sans to buy her yummy food later. That was different, right?

"Yo!"

Startled, Fearia spun around only to be greeted by a small yellow lizard monster. He was a bit taller than she was and for some reason he didn't seem to have any arms.

"You're a kid too, right?" He asked as he looked her up and down "You gotta be, you're so tiny. Haha."

Fearia felt her face flush in embarrassment. Why must everyone point this out? "Yeh? Well you're ...yellow!"

"I know, right?" He grinned, completely unfazed by the attempted insult. "But, I kind of wish I was blue. Like Undyne. Wouldn't that be cool? She's so awesome!"

"Undyne?" The tiny human tilted her head, her floppy pink ears following the motion. Wasn't that the person Pappy was talking to? She didn't sound so great, she just sounded angry.

"You haven't heard of Undyne?" The kid looked personally affronted. "There's no way you haven't heard of her. She's the Head of the Royal Guard!"

"She is?" Fearia vaguely recalled hearing this from someone somewhere so it must be true. "Have you seen her before?"

"Only like a million times." The lizard boy bragged. "She's like a celebrity in the Underground. She uses her spears of justice to defeat evil."

Watching the boy, Fearia felt he might have been trying to strike a pose, but with no arms he wasn't pulling it off that well. Either way, an idea was beginning to form inside her head. If Undyne really was Head of the Royal Guard and she was the one teaching Pappy, then maybe she might also teach her as well. Learning how to be a Royal Guard directly from the Captain herself would get her a Delta Rune twice as fast! "Do you know where I can find Undyne?"

"She lives in Waterfall." The lizard boy replied. He was delighted that the new kid also shared his obses- interests. "It's that way." He nodded in the direction of the skeleton's house back the way she had come. "Are you thinking about going there to see if you can see her in action?"

"Mhm." Fearia smiled before turning and walking off, the small white dog loyally following her. She was just going to see if she could find this Undyne lady. Then she would hurry back home before Sans or Papyrus even knew she was missing. There was no way this plan could go wrong!

"Whoa whoa whoa." The yellow lizard boy said as he hurried after the strange bunny kit. "You're kidding, right? You're actually sneaking out to go see Undyne?"

"Uh huh." Fearia nodded with determination.

The boy slowly came to a stop as he stared at the little girl in wonder. "I- I'll come with you!" He smiled as he rushed after her. This was going to be to so cool!

xxx

What could go wrong?

...

In the next chapter, Fearia and her new friend venture into the confusing cave system known as Waterfall.

xxx

Thanks for reading!

If you are enjoying this story, why not take the time to leave me a friendly review?

Sheii Bae~