Chapter 34: Level Of Violence

"See you soon, Gabe."

It had been over a month since I had last seen Gabriel.

While Alexandra had not found out about the incident with Gabe, she refused to let me see him at all during his sessions. And though Aaron tried and tried and tried, he just couldn't seem to be able to persuade Alexandra to give me privileges to leave the facility. In fact, she was deliberately doing everything she could to get to me and make me paranoid.

Recently, she showed me several news clips of events that had taken place outside of the facility. Most of them were about tensions being high between monsters and humans, and how the anti-monsters activists were getting more and more violent with monsters. There was one clip of an interview between Chara and Asgore, and the Human's Ambassadors. The clip of the interview consisted of reporters shooting question after question to both the Monster's Ambassadors and Human's Ambassadors. You could tell that Chara and Asgore were getting flustered and irritated as the reporters went on, while Ms. Grey and Mr. Cohen remained calm and professional. Because of the questions that were asked, and Chara and Asgore's reactions, humans had come to the conclusion that they had really murdered me. The clip ended with Chara and Asgore being rushed out and away from the humans who had become violent after assuming that I had been murdered.

I was currently laying on my bed, watching Selena do small practice with her magic. Though, my mind was stuck on those clips.

Selena soon stopped her magic, coming over to sit on my bed. Her voice was gentle, "Frisk, you need to stop thinking about those clips and all of the bad possibilities. You can't do anything right now. You just need to be patient and-"

"Let's go train. You have that session tomorrow, and I won't be there. So we should train, and prepare you for that session." I got up from my bed and threw my hair up into a ponytail. I don't want to talk about this right now, Selena.

Selena read my mind once more and got up, "You're right, I should train. Should we ask Liam if he wants to come?"

I smiled. They were getting closer and closer lately. "Sure. Now c'mon, we should hurry and get in as much training as we can." As soon as we began walking, I asked Selena something that had just come to mind. "Selena, that day when I woke up, and rushed to get Gabriel, I gave you a questioning look about Liam's actions. You said you'd explain later, but… you never have told me that story."

Selena gave me a small smile, "Oh, yeah. I forgot about that." Selena seemed to think for a moment, before speaking, "When we found you, we immediately rushed you to that room, right? And Aaron had Liam heal you, correct? Okay, so because Aaron pushed Liam to heal you all at once without a break, Liam was exhausted and drained when he finally finished with healing you. He ended up falling asleep by your bedside, and Aaron had me stay to keep an eye on the both of you. I thought that Liam would sleep peacefully since he was so tired and fell asleep so quickly. When I finally started drifting off, I immediately woke up to Liam having a night terror. Instinctively, I just... helped him through it. When he came to, we talked. I guess we bonded and got closer that night. And when it happened the next night, I did the same thing as before."

I totally shipped them. "So… I have a question." Selena gave me that look she gave me when she knew I was shipping them, "No, not about that. It's about your mind reading. When Liam was having the night terror, were you able to read his mind then? Or like, were you able to see what the night terror was?"

Selena seemed to pale when I finished speaking. "Um…. Okay, so Liam doesn't know this yet, because I haven't asked him about it. But… yes, I was able to see the night terror."

She seemed reluctant to share more, so I didn't push further.

"Come on Selena, you can do this. Just concentrate," Liam said, trying to encourage Selena.

I was a bit more harsher with my magical attacks, forcing Selena to go beyond her limits. "Come on girly, you have to beat me. You have to use something other than a shield, try throwing an attack my way."

Selena let her shield falter, just as I threw another attack, her hands beginning to glow with her sapphire magic.

"Selena!" Liam's panicked voice came from beside me; she wasn't forming any attack or shield quickly enough.

My attacks hit her straight on.

Liam was by Selena's side immediately, while I stood back.

"Selena? Blue? Little Bluebird?! Look at me, how low is your- Hey, hey, stay awake. Can you-?" A frustrated and panicked sound left Liam, and he whirled to me as he tried to keep Selena's eyes open. "Frisk! Can your lazy ass stop standing around, and help me?! I mean, I know I'm the healer and everything, but I can't do everything all on my own, I need someone to keep her awake and alert!"

I didn't hear a thing that Liam had said. I was preoccupied with something else.

My LV.

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"Hellooooo, Frisk!" Liam threw a harmless wave of energy my way, shaking me out of my daze.

I immediately shoved my thoughts aside and ran over to Liam and Selena, ready to help. "Sorry, I'm sorry, it's just…. Never mind, it's nothing important." I did as Liam had instructed me to do before: keep Selena awake and alert, while he healed her. Though, he really didn't need me. If someone wasn't too far gone, or had very recently died, he could heal them, or bring them back from death. The only reason Liam "needed" me to keep Selena conscious, was because he was worried about her. He cared for her.

When Selena was all healed up, she looked eagerly towards me. "Did- did I do it? Was I able to create an attack?"

I gave the girl a small smile, shaking my head. "No, not this time. But hey, I did see the magic start to emanate from your hands. That's progress!"

Selena collapsed backward, her head landing back in Liam's lap. She rubbed her face tiredly with her hands and let out a frustrated groan. "Why can't I do this one thing. It's just one thing. One small, simple thing, and I can't even do it!….. There's something wrong with me, isn't there. That's why I can't do this."

Liam began speaking before I could, "Hey, little bluebird, you know that's not true. When you first came here, you couldn't do an ounce of magic, besides your special ability of telepathy. And hey, you've even advanced in that area!"

Selena peeked out from beneath her fingers, looking up at Liam. "You're wrong. I can't do anything that you guys can do. I'm useless."

Liam playfully smacked Selena on her head, earning a small yelp from her. "You are not useless, and I am not wrong. When you came to the compound, you could only read minds, correct? And now, not only can you read minds, but you can communicate with us, and you can link with other minds. It won't be long before you're… throwing people across the room with your mind!" That last bit was just light teasing and playing around, which earned giggles from Selena, making Liam smile.

But that last thing Liam said, made me think… "You guys, maybe we're doing this all wrong." I got questioning looks from the pair, and quickly continued, "We've been trying to get Selena to do more physical things with magic, more… material things, like attacks. What if we tried it the other way around? What if she just used her mind?"

Selena slowly sat up, "Wouldn't that be more difficult to do?"

I shook my head excitedly, "No, not if you're a telepath!" The two were all ears now, deeply interested in what I had to say. "I've done a lot of reading in the past month, and I found this journal about different psychic abilities, but the main focus was on telepaths. You see, being a telepath is completely different from being a mage. You have to be extremely strong-minded to even do some of the things that Selena's done so far! And- well, I won't go deeply into it, but Selena is already so much stronger than most telepaths. It takes a majority of telepaths about six months to even develop communication skills with other telepaths, let alone non-telepathic people. That means that Selena is stronger than the average telepath! So, if we try to get her to use her telepathy for attacks…."

"It'll probably work a lot better, and come a lot easier for her to form attacks!" Liam exclaimed, smiling.

Mine and Liam's excitement was contagious, so Selena couldn't help but smile. "Okay… if there's even a remote chance of this working, I want to try it. Right away."

Liam got to his feet, helping Selena up as well. "Okay, then let's get to it! We'll do the same thing as last time girls, erm, with no damage done this time."

I nodded my head, jogging back to the opposite end of the room, waiting for Selena. Selena was up and ready, preparing herself for one last round of attacks. When she was ready to go, Selena made eye contact with me, and nodded slightly. So I started off with my weaker attacks, seeing if she could effectively repel them.

Selena did splendidly. She was able to effectively repel the weaker attacks, with ease.

The corners of my lips stretched upward and into a smile, "See? I told you that she'd be able to do this with ease telepathically rather than physically. You ready for some stronger attacks girly?"

Selena smirked, now more confident with her abilities. "Who you calling 'girly', Frisk? I can take any attack you throw at me!…. maybe…. Bring it on!"

Liam got a quick word in, his smile a bit uneasy, but pretty relaxed. "Just don't 'bring it on' too much."

I put on my poker face, and snapped my fingers. A gaster blaster, engulfed in rose pink flames, appeared immediately. Selena winced, now seeming to regret what she had said moments ago. I lifted my arm, my hand in clear sight, going painfully slow as I got ready to snap my fingers once more to unleash the gaster blaster on Selena. And then I felt a painful pull on my right ear.

I quickly hooked my right leg around someone else's leg, pulling hard and taking them down, and immediately pinned their hands down, holding the blade that I had just summoned to their carotid.

I blinked a few times as I realized that I had just taken down Aaron, "What the hell, Aaron." I jumped up and dismissed my weapon, helping Aaron up as well. "You know that I spook easily. All you have to do is voice your presence and ask for me, y'know, like a normal human being."

Aaron rubbed the back of his head where he hit it on the floor, warily eyeing me. "Well you never attacked me before. That's something new."

My thoughts immediately flitted back to my LV…. "Well, I'm sorry. Um, what did you want from me anyhow?"

Aaron motioned for me to follow him out to the hall, and quickly left the room.

I turned back to look at Selena and Liam, "Sorry you guys, I'm guessing this is something important though. We can train after though, okay?"

Selena gave me a small smile and nodded, "Of course. Until you get back though, I'll have Liam help me with multitasking with my magic."

I gave a thumbs up and jogged out of the room, meeting Aaron outside. "So, what's up?"

"Alexandra wants to see you," Aaron's voice was grim. He saw my questioning look and answered what I was thinking, "I don't know Frisk. I honestly don't know what you may have done to get a meeting with her. But we should just get to her as quickly as possible, okay?"

I nodded, fiddling with my fingers. "….Can we just teleport then? It'll be quicker."

Aaron gave me a disbelieving look, "You want to do magic right now, when you might be punished for doing exactly that?"

"Well first off, we don't know if I'm in trouble yet, so… And second, if anything it's really your fault that I want to teleport. You made me anxious." I watched as Aaron shook his head in disbelief. When he looked up at me again, he gave me a slight nod. "Okay. So her office is on the other side of the compound, right? I've only been there once, so can you imagine the location, please?" Aaron nodded in response, and when I closed my eyes, I was able to get a faint image of what he was imagining. "Okay, the image is faint, but it came through pretty well."

Looks like Selena and Liam were right about my ability.

I grabbed Aaron's hand, "Make sure to always make contact with someone when teleporting, or you'll be left behind." I felt my magic flare, and the two of us were engulfed in my rose pink aura, and just like that, we were in front of Alexandra's office.

The door whipped open, revealing a business-like Alexandra. I turned to Aaron, my voice low. "Welp, wish me luck."

Alexandra cleared her throat, her eyebrow twitching slightly in annoyance. "Actually, Mr. Saunders will be joining you today." Aaron and I looked at each other apprehensively, before joining Alexandra in the office. Her heels clicked as she made her way to her desk, sitting down and looking at us, seeming greatly agitated. "Sit. I don't have much time today, and I want to get this over with as soon as possible."

I sat in the chair directly in front of Alexandra, Aaron standing right behind me with his hands on my chair. I looked to Alexandra, my brows furrowing in confusion. "And what 'business' do you need to take care of?"

"If you would let me speak, I would tell you that this meeting is about your outside privileges. You know, the privileges that would allow you to leave the compound and go to wherever your heart desires…. besides that idiotic 'family' of yours," Alexandra responded, her malicious eyes narrowed at me. Alexandra crossed her arms, looking suspiciously to me. "Now, Frisk, answer me a question. Just why do you want these privileges."

I forced tears into my eyes, my lip quivering for effect. "You really don't know?" Alexandra simply waited for my response, so I gave her one. "Kody Arthur Davis. He died from your failed assassination attempt a little over a month ago. He was my boyfriend. My person. And you killed him."

Alexandra looked me over for a moment, scanning me from top to bottom. "….My answer is: Fine."

I jumped to my feet, furrowing my brows. "Of course, I knew you'd say that. Come on Aaron, let's- Wait." I turned to look at Alexandra, actually stunned. "Wait, you mean- you're- you're actually letting me go?" I stepped forward, actually feeling a bit happy, ready to hug Alexandra. But I came to my senses, reminding myself that Alexandra tried to kill Melody, and actually did kill Kody. I wiped the small smile off of my face, clearing my throat, ignoring Alexandra's surprised look. "So what are the rules. If you're allowing me to go out, you're surely going to have some strict rules."

Alexandra shook her head slightly, as if to clear a thought, "Yes, you are correct. There will be supremely strict rules. The first being that you will have to wear a tracker whenever you go out, absolutely 100% of the time. The tracker will obviously send me detailed updates and give me information of every slight detail of your whereabouts. The second rule being that you're strictly limited to certain places. You may make requests, and we can act accordingly to get you to those places. But you know that you may never go anywhere near where your other… living, loved ones are." Alexandra took a breath before continuing, "Of course you'll have to disguise yourself, we can't risk having you be seen and reported as found to the authorities. With your…. endless, abilities, I'm sure you will find a way to magically change your appearance. And the last thing for now, shall be that you'll have a guard with you at all times. They obviously won't look like a guard, but you'll be followed by them everywhere, and they will send me detailed reports on your actions and such. Any questions?"

I nodded, a small smile starting to play on my lips. "Just a few, sorry. So, when's the soonest I can leave?"

Alexandra typed something up on her computer, replying in just a minute, "Tomorrow, 5:00 AM. The latest you can be out is 8:00 AM."

"And how many locations can I go to per day? Can I get longer hours depending on the day?" I asked eagerly, trying to be quick.

Alexandra tapped a pen onto her desk, "Tomorrow you can only go to one location. We'll see how you do each time you go out, and adjust your hours accordingly. You'll most likely get more time outside on your free days. Anyways, just give me your location for tomorrow, I want to get out of here and to an appointment."

"Okay, I'll go to…." Alexandra looked at me expectantly, irritated at my hesitance.

"Spring Grove Cemetery."

The crisp summer air filled my lungs as I breathed in deeply. June was here again.

I lay on the grassy ground, looking up at the sky as sunlight slowly started to light the world. "Almost one year ago today, I ran away from my parents with Melody. Crazy, huh?" I tried to make shapes of the clouds forming above me, failing to do so. "If I hadn't ran away, we wouldn't be here right now. I wouldn't have fallen into the Underground, I wouldn't have met the monsters… I wouldn't have met you."

I rolled onto my stomach before sitting up. I looked at the tombstone in front of me: Kody Arthur Davis, 1996-2018. "I found her. She's the one. It's Frisk, I'm sure of it."

My hands shook as I traced those words, "…. I didn't deserve you." I felt a lump in my throat, but there were no tears in my eyes. I had already cried myself out, "God, I wonder what you must think of me now. Probably that I'm pathetic. And a horrible person. And…. oh, you deserved so much better than me." I pulled my hand back, standing up and looking down sorrowfully at the tombstone. "If I hadn't run away one year ago today…. you would still be alive."

I looked at the tombstone for a moment longer, before joining my guard under the shade of a tree. I thought I saw her wipe at her eyes as I approached, "Okay Frisk, since you finished up early, you can go to one other location. I'll tell Alexandra now that we'll be going to…."

My heart was pounding, "Undercover Books, please Emma. It's one of my favorite bookstores." If I could shake my guard, maybe I could get Tabatha to leave a message for the others. I didn't want to do anything too risky though, since this is my first outing.

Emma nodded in agreement, "Okay, sounds good. None of your friends or loved ones visit it often though, right?"

I gave Emma a sad smile, eyes wistful for effect. "Not on Fridays. Melody will be in school and the others have jobs to attend to. Besides, Fridays are movie nights."

Emma teared up a little bit, before giving a shake of her head. "Okay, Undercover Books it is."

The walk to the bookstore was quite uneventful, especially since I had managed to change me appearance with my magic. My hair was now a fiery red that reached to my shoulders, and my eyes were a sparkling brown. Those were the only things I changed, hoping that it was good enough to hide who I actually was. It really seemed that my magic had no end to it's abilities.

We ended up getting to the bookstore just as it opened, earning a small smile from Tabatha.

Tabatha seemed a bit suspicious of me though, eyeing me up and down. "Welcome to Undercover Books, is there anything I can do for you two?"

And her eyes widened fractionally, before going back to normal as I spoke. "Hello! And no, we're just looking today. Um, do you have any book suggestions though?"

Emma spoke up quickly, "Are there any seats that I could sit in? I'm just accompanying my friend Ariana here."

Tabatha looked the guard up and down quickly, glanced back at me, and then took the guard by the arm. "Actually, we have quite the cozy little area just upstairs, if you want to head up there?"

Emma looked at Tabatha hopefully, "On a scale of 1-10, how cozy is it?"

Tabatha smiled, "On a scale of 1-10, it's a twelve. We have bean bags that you could sit on, or if you plan on staying for a while, we have beds built in behind the bookshelves, making it a comfy and homey read. And if you get thirsty, we have beverages upstairs, along with a tea station and a cappuccino station. And there's even-"

"You had me at the built in beds. Okay, just keep an eye on Fr- Ariana for me, she tends to wander off," Emma glanced back at me, before dashing for the stairs.

I watched as my guard disappeared from sight, and immediately whirled around to Tabatha. My voice was low as I spoke, "I'm pretty sure you know, but in case you don't-"

Tabatha put a smile on her face, "Frisk, I know. Give me a moment, please." Tabatha quickly went to the counter, her mouse clicking away at the computer, before she joined me again. "Sorry, I put a fake screen and audio on the surveillance cameras. Y'know, in case someone's watching you. Now, you should join me in the back room. You're 'friend' will be a while, and I'm assuming you want to talk."

I gave Tabatha a grateful look, before following her to a back room.

My eyes quickly took in the room, and I realized that this 'back room' was actually just her living space. It was quite large with a small kitchenette, a work area, and her bed and bedside tables. But it was also decorated with fairy lights, vinyls, paintings, drawings, and polaroid photos of Papyrus and her adorning her walls.

As Tabatha shut the door, she ushered me over to her bed, making me sit as she went to the kitchenette. "So, Frisk, I take it that you're just now being given privileges, but with those privileges you can't talk to people you know or go to places that people you know may frequent, and that you have to be disguised and have a guard while you're out."

I let out a relieved sigh, glad that she understood what had happened. "Yes, precisely…. And I take it that you only know this due to…"

"Books. Writing prompts. Different scenarios that seem fictional, but could actually happen in real life. Take now as an example," Tabatha quietly said back as she approached with glasses of tea. "And now… you must have a message, or something like that."

I dropped my small smile, my concerns now rushing to the front of my mind, "Yes, I do have a message. It's to Sans, Papyrus' brother." I took a deep breath, "I need you to tell him that I have deep concerns about my… my-my LV."

Tabatha grabbed a pen and notepad, a small frown on her lips, "LV? Papyrus told me about that. It's Level Of Violence, isn't it?"

I nodded, "Yeah, that's what it is. Well can you tell Sans that my LV is…. concerningly high. And can you tell him that I want to know what some… effects, may be because of it?"

Tabatha jotted down the rest of what I said, "Of course…. You know, if you want to see him and the others, I can get two or three of them to come each time you visit. Then I won't have to be the messenger, and you won't have to wait anxiously for a response."

I imagined running to Melody and giving her a spine-crushing hug, or running into Sans' arms and feeling safe… "No. We can't do that, it's way too risky."

Tabatha's frown deepened, "But-"

"No. My answer is final," I exhaled. I looked at Tabatha's hurt eyes, "Look, it isn't that I don't want to see them; because believe me, I think about seeing all of them every single second of the day. But if Emma, my guard, starts to catch on to what we're doing right now at this very moment, then she's obligated to tell Alexandra. And then… people could get hurt. Let's just…. wait, okay? Let's give this a few months or so, and then we'll see about bringing two or three of them in at a time. Alright?"

Tabatha slowly nodded, "You're right. Looking back at the books I've read, it's best we give this some time. But you also know that when they find out that they have the chance to see you, they'll be here the next time you visit this bookstore."

"Well the solution to that is simple: Don't give Sans that note until you have my say-so." But he needs to see that note. He needs to know about my LV. I need his help. "So you just won't give him that note, until it's been three months at least."

Tabatha nodded in understanding, "Okay. I'll try to have some answers about LV and it's side effects, for the next time that you come here. If you want the best answers though, come back in three days. I should have more information by then."

I nodded in understanding, "Sounds good. But anyways, I need to get going. It's almost 7:50 now, and I have to get back by 8:00. So my guard is probably gonna come looking for me soon."

Tabatha gave me a small smile, "Okay." As I began to walk away, she called after me, "Oh, Frisk, there's something I forgot!" I turned back to her as she continued, "Sans told me something, something I think you need to hear. It's about how he fee-"

"Stop. Don't tell me," I said softly, before grabbing the door handle.

Tabatha ran over to me, "Frisk, he lov-"

"I don't care," I harshly exclaimed, earning a small 'huh?' from Tabatha. My voice was quiet, "I don't care. He shouldn't feel that way about me anyways. I'm not good for him. So he should forget about it, and stay with Pandora."

Tabatha crossed her arms, eyebrows crinkled in frustration. "But Frisk, how can he just forget about it? He's in lov-"

I whirled on Tabatha, voice echoing in the room, "SHUT UP!" A small gasp came from the girl as she stared at me in disbelief. I felt something shift in me and winced, "Tabatha… I'm so sorry. It's just… Oh God…. Look, it's not that I don't return those feelings, it's just- Right now is a dangerous time to- ugh, I don't know." I put a hand to my head, as if that could stop the oncoming headache. "Can you forgive me for my outburst? And can we discuss this next time? Please?"

Tabatha looked at me with shamrock green eyes full of concern, "….Just how high is your LV, Frisk?

I opened the door, starting to step out, "I need to go, before my guard comes looking for me. I'll see you on Monday, Tabatha."

I had gotten back to the compound a few minutes before 8:00 AM. While Emma, my guard, went to report back to Alexandra, I had gone back to mine and Selena's room. Selena had gone to her session, while Liam slept in. So I took this opportunity of being alone, to fully check my stats.

I took a deep breath, before pulling up my stats.

Name: Frisk Breanna Saunders

Gender: Female

Age: 18 years, 7 months, and 15 days old

HP: 76/76

ATK: 100

DF: 100

EXP: 7,000

LV: 15

This girl is not the same girl who fell into the Underground all of those months ago. Although she has not killed, her Execution Points, and Level Of Violence, have gone up. Frisk still keeps a certain tenderness in her heart, or at least tries to. Although she'll soon find it difficult to keep that tenderness. And this young girl, although only 18, will feel centuries old and feel that she has the weight of the world resting on her shoulders. This girl is treading dangerous waters indeed, her path starting to shift to another.

I stared at my stats in mute horror. When had this happened? How did my LV-? My EXP-?

My stats disappeared after 10 minutes of my staring. My voice was barely a whisper because of how hard it was to breathe, "This is bad. This is very very bad." I put my head in my hands, thoughts racing wildly, heart pounding. How did this happen? I haven't- "…Oh no. The training, the sessions, anything that I've said that could even slightly hurt someone, everything. My stats have changed because of all of that." I need to figure this out. I need to fix my stats, I need to prevent this from happening again.

I need Sans.

I am so so so so sorry for the late update! I meant to post the day after the last chapter, but there was a tornado that went through and did a lot of damage to my hometown (Marshalltown, Iowa) and I have been extremely busy trying to help out everywhere as much as I can, especially in the part of town that was extremely damaged since the people there are poorer and have no insurance.

Because of the tornado, I'll update whenever I can, but I can't make any promises. The damage and such will take a long time to completely clear up. But I hope you understand, and:

Until Next Time Lovelies~