*Climbs slowly up the side of a sinkhole with rope, manages to climb out right next to a sign labeling the sinkhole "The Fate Franchise"* I need blindfolds when I'm browsing online apparently. Like, seriously, all I was doing was reading some crossover fanfics, I decided to look up what one of the characters looked like (*coughgilgameshcough*) out of curiosity and then suddenly BOOM I wanna watch Fate/Zero. I haven't yet but that's because I know the instant I start watching everything else will be put on hold until I'm done with ALL of the animes and I'm not gonna do that to you guys.
"OH HELL NO!" The last traces of drowsiness following a restless night in the conference room were driven out of Frisk's brain by the sheer force of Undyne's enraged shout.
"Undyne," Frisk groaned.
"HELL TO THE FUCKING NO, FRISK!" The fish-lady roared. "I DON'T –"
"Might wanna keep it down, 'dyne," Sans muttered. "Don't know who's listening in, 'ya know?"
"I don't trust those damn fairies as far as I could throw them," Undyne hissed, at a much lower volume.
"UNDYNE, YOU ONCE SUPLEXED THE ENTIRE K-9 DIVISION. SIMULTANEOUSLY." Papyrus pointed out reasonably. "AND THE FAIRIES ARE VERY SMALL –"
Frisk sighed, already feeling a headache coming on as the scaled monster continued her impassioned protests at a fraction of her preferred volume, not backing down an inch even as Papyrus tried to talk her down. To be honest, they'd expected this – Undyne clearly had it out for the fairies at this point – but it would have been nice to have their expectations dashed for once.
Still, better they were getting this over with now instead of waiting when there were more people in the station that might accidentally overhear them. Frisk had barely been able to sleep a wink the night before, and as such had been up very early in the morning – when they'd seen Undyne texting people in their shared chat to see if anyone was awake, and eventually everybody had ended up chatting back (even Sans was apparently to on edge after what happened at the hotel to stay asleep for long, which showed just how worried he actually was. Indifferent as he acted sometimes, it was nice to know he still cared even after everything they'd done), and Frisk had figured it was best to get this discussion done and over with before people in the city started to wake up in earnest.
They were mildly regretting that now, if only because their temples were throbbing because of listening to something at such high volume after having gotten so little sleep.
"Undyne," they said, as patiently as they could while ignoring their own headache and Chara's grumbled complaints in the back of their mind. "I know you don't trust the fairies, but isn't it better to go with the lesser of two evils here?"
"Lesser of two evils?!" Undyne demanded, incredulous. "Frisk, they messed with your mind! They've been messing with people's minds for centuries and they don't see anything wrong with it! They skulk around in the shadows doing god knows what just because they can!"
"Because they're scared," Frisk corrected immediately. "They're scared of humans, Undyne, and not everyone goes charging after what they're afraid of to beat it up!"
"Why are you defending them?!" the monster snapped. "They don't deserve the kind of mercy you want to show them, Frisk!"
Frisk took a deep breath and rubbed at their temples, hoping to clear up the ache there. Then they lifted their head and looked their friend in the eye. They loved their friends, really, they did, but sometimes…
No, don't go down that route. Don't think it. You can't joke about that sort of thing, even in your own head.
"Didn't you used to say that sort of thing about humans, though?" They pointed out, hoping to get the monster to at least calm down and listen for a few minutes. "Until we burned your house down together," there was a disapproving noise from Toriel at this but otherwise nobody interrupted, "you thought that humans didn't deserve mercy, either, just because of things you heard about us growing up."
*Not to mention the whole "anime is real" thing.
"But you still gave humans a chance because of me," Frisk continued without pause. "Because one human showed you we weren't all bad. And the fairies helped defuse those bombs. They saved lives. They saved the lives of humans they're scared of and they saved me and Mom. That's a lot more than I'd done by the time we became friends."
Undyne paused, her mouth open in preparation to shout again. Then she gritted her teeth and crossed her arms, clearly unhappy.
"Look, you don't have to trust them if you don't feel like you can," Frisk cajoled her. "I know they haven't completely earned it yet, and I… don't really trust them either at this point. But they've had a lot of chances where they could just sit by and do nothing that could expose themselves, and they helped us, and humans they didn't even know, anyway."
"T-that's true," Alphys, who'd been worriedly biting her claws in silence up until now watching the argument go down, finally spoke up. "Um… s-sorry Undyne, I know you don't l-like them all that much, but a-at least hear Frisk out, okay?"
The fish lady grunted disparagingly, but, after a moment, sighed and nodded. "Fine," she grumbled, if somewhat reluctantly.
Frisk felt a lot of tension leave their shoulders like that, and they sagged in relief for a moment. "Thanks Undyne. Okay..." They straightened up again. "Okay. So, the Fowls offered us their manor as a safe place to get out of the public eye. It should be safer than any hotel that me or Mom stayed at, and there's enough room for all of us here to stay there at once."
"Can't we just stay here in the police station or something?" Undyne grumbled.
"It's too public, and some of the officers have already been mesmerized," Frisk reminded her carefully, and when the fish monster grimaced again they continued. "Fowl Manor should be a lot safer, especially if we get there without anybody noticing us."
"There's no way some piddly manor's gonna stand up to terrorists!"
"It's a lot safer than here, though," Frisk pointed out. They began counting out their points – they'd spent a lot of their time lying awake last night thinking over the pros and cons of the offer, since they hadn't been able to do much else – "It's pretty secluded – it takes at least a couple of hours on horseback to get there and there's no other buildings around save for the ones on the manor grounds. It's fortified – those walls aren't just for decoration, they're very thick and are well maintained. The manor's up on a hill, so the fairies patrolling there have a clear line of sight around the walls to pick up on intruders from the air. They've got a hefty security detail there, I'm guessing, or at least they've got an invisible one that nobody else knows about, since the fairies keep an eye on them. On top of that, the Fowl parents and the twins are definitely pro-monster, and certainly wouldn't want to hurt us."
"But the fairies are there all the time!" Undyne hissed in protest. "They could stab us in the back at any point and we wouldn't stand a chance!"
"B-but they d-don't know that," Alphys said. As people glanced her way in surprise, the yellow dinosaur-like monster flushed and hunched her shoulders in embarrassment. "It's just… this is part of the reason why Frisk wanted us to h-hide information a-about monster souls, isn't it? I-In case something like this happened. T-they don't know they'd have an advantage over us."
"And the idiots are too scared of me to try sneaking up on us now!" Flowey said cheerfully, arching his stem in a way that made it seem like he was puffing up a nonexistent chest in pride.
"Well, t-that too I guess," Alphys mumbled.
"But – " Undyne was clearly still very much set on considering the fairies her enemies. However, there was at least an element of uncertainty there now, and Frisk hoped she was at least thinking over their points.
"Undyne," they pleaded. "Think about it. We're technically beset on all sides by enemies while we're in Dublin. HuRg – O'Reilly – wants us dead. The fairies won't try to hurt us because they're scared of us. Apparently, monsters have more magic than they do, remember? I don't think they were lying about that. And I don't think they want to get on the Fowls' bad sides, either. So we'd be a lot safer with them then we would be out here, where literally anybody could be one of O'Reilly's goons."
"But what about our jobs?"
"Can't you take a few weeks off just to make sure they don't try anything personally?" Frisk wheedled. "And after that, as long as Papyrus and Sans are willing, we could use their shortcuts to get where we want to go."
The amphibious monster opened her mouth to argue again… and then slowly closed it, apparently not able to think of a response to this. Frisk finally went for broke.
"Please, Undyne," they pleaded, a touch desperately. "I just… I want to be able to sleep in a bed and not have goons try to shoot me in my sleep or something."
Finally, finally, Undyne's expression softened a fraction, and Frisk tried not to feel too guilty about what they'd just done. They'd just guilt-tripped one of their own friends to get her to agree, or at least get her to stop arguing, and it made them feel like the scum of the earth, but… they weren't even lying about wanting to be safe for once. And in a way, that almost made them feel worse.
"Fine," Undyne grumbled. "Fine. But I am not trusting any of them!"
"You don't have to," Frisk promised her immediately – they weren't about to be a hypocrite. "Just… trust they're less than a threat at this point than HuRg." They looked around at the others questioningly, heart pounding. Undyne may have agreed, but that wasn't any guarantee that the others would.
After a few moments, though, everybody stated their agreement with the decision. Papyrus gave them an enthusiastic thumbs-up, his brother a less enthusiastic one, Alphys nodded and so did Flowey after rolling his eyes. And when Frisk looked up at Toriel, their adoptive mother did the same.
With agreement having been obtained, Frisk let some more tension seep out of them, silently thanking any gods listening, and then pulled out their phone and dialed a number they honestly hadn't ever thought they were ever going to need.
"Mister Fowl? Sorry, I know it's early, but we've decided. We're taking you up on your offer."
That night, after packing everything they'd need up and meeting back up at the station, the monsters set out as the sun set, their wagon unnoticeable thanks to the covered wagons and horses of the afternoon shift of police officers leaving and making room for the night shift. The police chief had been quick to agree to Frisk's plan when they suggested it – since many of the officers lived all over the city, only people that had been to the police station often enough to have memorized the comings and goings of all of them might, just might realize there was a single extra wagon in the crowd. With the wagon itself covered and thus hiding the monsters from view, and Undyne actually knowing how to drive the cart herself from underneath their cloth roof, nobody would even know they were in the wagon unless they made an effort to run out in front of it to get a peek inside.
Frisk had to admit, considering their luck so far they'd been pretty sure they'd end up with their cover blown anyway, especially since the single large cart moved so slowly with so many people riding in it, but there wasn't so much as a peep of a single terrorist as they trotted leisurely through the suburbs, and then out onto the highway that lead to the Fowl Estate. Still, despite being out of the city with no problems, Frisk and the monsters stayed quiet and covered up in case of a countryside ambush until, after a couple of hours of slow progress, they finally reached the driveway leading up to the Fowl Estate and the horses trotted them up to the gates. Then, and only then, did Frisk let out a sigh of relief and they and the monsters poked their heads out of the wagon for some fresher air.
"HELLO THERE!" Papyrus called up to the walls, even though nobody was up there. "WE ARE HERE, FRIENDS!"
There was a faint shimmer, and atop one of the towers on the wall a small black-suited figure appeared. The fairy briefly nodded to them, with some hesitation, and then reached up to touch something on the side of their helmet. After a moment or two, the gates swung open as someone activated the mechanism for them, and the fairy waved them through.
In a parody of their second visit to the manor, the man named Butler, Juliet, and the twins were waiting on the doorstep. There was not, however, any sign of Artemis Fowl the Second or his parents.
"Hi, Frisk!" Beckett called as they stopped. He was waving, and when the horses finally stopped, he rushed up to the cart with his brother almost on his heels. Frisk blinked as they found both of the boys offering a hand to help them down, and managed a faint smile as they gingerly accepted both.
"You still doing okay?" Beckett asked.
"Y-yeah," they managed. "We're still fine."
Myles gave them a scrutinizing look, and Frisk tried not to squirm under that all-too-knowing stare. Thankfully, though, it seemed that Myles accepted that, at least for now, because the boy nodded seriously and turned his attention upwards to the monsters starting to slowly dismount from the cart as well. "Will you need assistance with your luggage? Beckett and I both know where your rooms are."
Undyne narrowed her eyes at the two of them suspiciously. Frisk quickly stopped her from saying anything too rash by nodding. "I w-wouldn't mind the help."
"Alright!" Beckett looked up at Toriel, who was retrieving their luggage from the cart. "Toss them down please, Your Majesty!"
Toriel, who could have probably carried all the bags in the cart on her own, gave him a faint, thankful smile regardless of the fact, and let him take one of Frisk's bags, dropping the other down to Myles.
"Where are your parents, young ones? And your brother?"
Myles shrugged. "Father needs to keep his prosthetic leg in good shape, and he usually does it in the evenings. Mother helps him. As for Artemis… I think the Council decided to call him for a progress report on the situation with you and the monsters, actually. They haven't been told about the arrangement that you and the team here have, and I think he plans to keep it that way for now."
Frisk gulped. "Will he be able to?"
Beckett suddenly broke out into giggles, like that was the funniest thing he'd ever heard. Myles started grinning too, though a bit reluctantly.
"Frisk, our brother is Artemis Fowl the Second," Beckett snickered. "He's gonna talk circles around them, guaranteed!"
"He's good at keeping secrets," Myles agreed, more quietly. "As you well know by now, I'd imagine."
Frisk grimaced. Right. They shouldn't have expected any other response, really.
"Anyway, let's get your stuff to your rooms!" Beckett said cheerfully. He slung the duffel bag he was carrying over his shoulder and grabbed Frisk's hand, tugging them after him even as Myles huffed and followed them with their other bag held awkwardly in both arms. "You guys are getting the entire guest wing to yourselves, and the beds in all the guest bedrooms are big enough for a couple of people to sleep in at once – though, uh, the one in the peach room at the end of the hall might have broken springs? I mean, Myles definitely didn't buy those springs from his last experiment himself, he would have told me if he did and he got all shifty-eyed when I asked him where he got them, and he hates that guest room because pink's not really his color…"
Beckett's chatter and his brother's occasional miffed protest ("I do not hate pink, Beckett, and that would hardly be a good reason to take springs from a mattress") were strangely soothing despite knowing what they did about the Fowl family now. Even Chara, who had been oddly quiet for most of the day as they kept an eye out for HuRg ambushes, started easing up, snickering a little at the sibling bickering. As they did, the headache that had persisted throughout the day actually lessened up a little, and Frisk blinked as they realized that some of the ache had been coming from the ghost's stress and not their own. By the time they got to their room (one with a definite oceanic theme, painted with delicate sea greens and blues and whites and seashell-shaped pillows on the bed), they'd actually managed to calm down from the remaining stress of the day, and managed to temporarily forget the events of the last couple of the days even as they talked with the twins and carefully unpacked their belongings.
Then everything was unpacked, and the twins promised to talk to them some more tomorrow. But, before they left, Myles suddenly paused at the door, and glanced back at them.
"Frisk," he said. "My brother wanted me to pass on a message for you, from him. He wants to know if you'd be amenable to talking to him in private tomorrow morning after breakfast, assuming that no emergencies prevent him from making it here."
And just like that, the stress was back. Frisk swallowed. "In private as in…"
"As in, if you are comfortable with it, with only him, Butler, and possibly a fairy or two," Myles told them frankly.
Their heart sank, and the ambassador took a deep breath, trying to force themselves to calm again. They had a pretty good idea exactly why Artemis Fowl wanted to speak to them in private like that… and really, they'd been expecting it for a while.
I guess they've got questions to ask… I just… I'm not sure I'm ready.
*We've got until tomorrow, partner. Worst comes to worst, we sic Flowey on them.
Frisk's lips twitched up in spite of themselves. No, Chara. No violence. Out loud, though, they addressed Myles softly, so Toriel wouldn't hear them. "Thank you. Tell him… I'd rather bring at least Flowey with me, or Sans, but I'm willing to talk to him."
Myles studied them for a second, probably putting his psychology doctorate into good use by determining how close they were to fainting from stress. Then he nodded, apparently accepting their answer, at least for now. "Alright. I'll tell him. Goodnight, Frisk."
Then he was gone, leaving Frisk just as nervous as they'd been just a few hours ago when leaving Dublin… and with another restless night to look forward to.
Frisky-bits is getting majorly stressed out what with all the terrorist attacks, near death experiences, and general distrust of fairies. Poor kiddo, don't worry, after the next couple of chapters or so you'll have some time to relax a little bit, the twins and Artemis both will make sure of it.
Also I honestly forgot how much fun it is to write the twins. Forgetting that is honestly a travesty and I feel like I need to apologize to the world now for doing so.