[[ Look at this, spoiling you guys with two chapters in one day. I'm so nice to you guys. (Because I love you.) I hope you all are getting pumped, because things are going to start picking up plot-wise from here on out. Enjoy! ]]
It was unusual for the bar to be closed before six o'clock in the evening and, even though the lights were turned out and the doors were locked, it was still very much occupied. After Sans had finally given enough information to Grillby (in other words, telling him that something bad had happened to Lena, and that her life was in danger), it had taken him less than thirty seconds to get the bar closed and cleared. The only ones who remained were the pack of dogs who, at that particular moment, were still playing poker against each other. He'd tried to persuade them to leave, but Doggo had apparently overheard everything easily, despite the murmur of patrons, and they were insistent upon staying and helping out as much as they could. "She's a nice human who knows how to give a good scratch behind the ear..." the dog groused aloud, lighting up a dog treat and moving to stand by an open window when Grillby shot him a 'look'. (Because, as ironic as it was, Grillby didn't allow smoking inside the bar.) Dogamy glanced over to his wife, snuffing noisily as he gave a shrug of his shoulders.
"Yeah, well...She's also put up with us and Lesser Dog asking for pets. And she congratulated us before anyone else did," he mused, his glance casting downward, where Dogaressa was rubbing her swollen stomach, a sorrowful and pensive expression on her muzzle. Despite the arguments everyone else had put up she had insisted on staying as well, refusing to let the others handle it without her. She knew as well as anyone else that her mate was useless without her (and she thought that in a loving way, of course). Dogamy wasn't able to keep being stern with her when she gave him those big, pleading eyes.
"Yes, she did. She is...a strange human, but a kind one. I rather like her, Dogamy." The pregnant dog monster laid down her cards, pulling a groan of defeat from the other dogs at the table. She cast her eyes to the bar where a certain skeleton still sat, hunched on his stool, his eyesockets empty and staring into nothingness. She didn't know why, but it...pissed her off. With a soft growl she pushed herself up from her chair, only taking a second to assure her balance before stalking over to the bar. Grillby, seeing the dog's approach, quickly sidestepped and went into the back room. "Sans!" The skeleton didn't so much as flinch, and she almost thought he might've fallen asleep at the bar again. He swiveled on his bar stool slowly to look at her, his grin strained and etched painfully onto his skull, sockets dark. "Are you going to just sit there and wait for your mate to return?" The word 'mate' brought the slightest reaction from him, his shoulders twitching upward, and she pressed onward. "She has been taken and you are just...just sitting here, looking like you're feeling sorry for yourself!" His skull drooped further and she growled low in her throat, lips pulling back to expose her fangs. "If someone had taken my mate, I would trudge through hell and high water until I got them back. Or, at least...until I got revenge." Dogamy pushed himself up from the table as well, paws extended out toward her in a placating gesture.
"Dear, you should sit down and rest... He's dealing with this the best way he can. Calm down-"
"I most certainly will not calm down!" Fire blazed in her eyes as she turned to glare at her mate, who quickly whimpered and lowered his ears. "Sans, it's already done. So now you need to get off your ass and go get her!"
"I know that, Ressa... It's not like I'm plannin' on letting her go or anything." Sans glanced over to his cracked phone which still sat on the bar, where Grillby had left it. "I just...dunno how..." Dogaressa sighed heavily and folded her arms over her chest.
"Well, good thing you're not alone, then. We can all think of a way to get her back." Startled the skeleton looked up, the lights in his eyes returning momentarily, though they were dim. "You're not alone, Sans. Lean on us. We can help." The faint sound of clicking bone filled the room for a moment before Sans sagged even more heavily against the bar, his skull tilting in a small nod. Aggrivated, Dogaressa turned on her heel and went to sit back at the table, plopping heavily down in her seat and ignoring the warnings to 'be careful' from her worrisome mate.
'She's got no idea what we're up against. They don't stand a chance...' Images from memories of a couple's dust scattering across the snowy forests of Snowdin filled his mind, and he struggled to cast them away. He couldn't possibly let them get involved. They were on the surface, they were happy. They had pups on the way. He'd be a selfish bastard to ever even think of asking for their help. ...Unfortunately, it seemed like they were going to give it, regardless of if he wanted it or not. He sighed and reached for the fresh bottle of ketchup Grillby had placed in front of him, flicking the cap off roughly with his thumb and bringing it to his mouth to take a long drink. 'What am I gonna do...?'
The door to the bar burst open suddenly, startling everyone badly enough that their fur stood on end (if they had it). Grillby poked his head out from the back and, upon seeing who it was, gave a head-tilt in greeting. Sans didn't even have a chance to turn and see who it was when he found himself lifted effortlessly from his barstool, hard arms wrapped around him and squeezing him in a hug. "I am so sorry, Sans..." The abnormally soft voice shook him, and Sans tilted his skull up to see Papyrus, his eyesockets full, near overflowing, with orange-tinted tears. "I let her leave the apartment... I- I should have stopped her." Sans sat silent for a long moment, struggling to comprehend what was being said, and- oh, Papyrus blamed himself for Lena being kidnapped, and that thought alone sent a painful ache through his soul.
"'s not your fault, bro," he said earnestly, reaching up to grab the taller skeleton's skull and leaned forward to bump their foreheads together with a soft 'clank'.
"If..." Papyrus sniffled loudly, bringing a gloved hand up to wipe at the tears wetting his cheekbones. "IF YOU SAY THAT IT IS NOT MY FAULT, THEN YOU CANNOT SAY IT IS YOUR FAULT." The knowing glance his younger brother gave him made Sans avert his gaze, releasing a hissing sigh from between his teeth.
"Yeah...sure, bro." He pat the other skeleton's shoulder guards and gave a small questioning noise. "What're you doin' here anyway?"
"OH! WELL, I WAS ASKED TO COME HERE!" Frowning slightly, Sans glanced from Grillby, who had retaken his place behind the bar, and Papyrus.
"...By who-"
"WHO THE FUCK'S ASS DO I GOTTA KICK?!" The bellowing voice stormed into the restaurant with a blaze of anger, blue scales and fiery red hair looking incredibly bright despite the lack of light in the room. Undyne glared around the room, getting a few whimpers from the dogs, but Papyrus simply smiled and waved.
"UNDYNE, WATCH YOUR LANGUAGE, PLEASE!" The ex Captain of the Royal Guard scowled, lowering her summoned energy spear and appearing to try and calm down...some.
"Yeah, yeah... Seriously, what the heck are we doing standing around here?! Shouldn't we be out getting your girl back, bonehead?!" The question was directed at Sans who gave a weak shrug, smile faltering slightly. "Don't tell me you've given up already..." The way her yellow eye narrowed into a sharp slit promised hell to anyone who would dare do such a thing, but before Sans could even respond, the door (which was still hanging open) closed with an audible click, Toriel standing just inside the doorway.
"Goodness, such a ruckus in here! No need to get all fired up just yet!" Undyne, Papyrus, Grillby, and the dogs all groaned at her pun while she giggled delightedly at herself, raising a paw to cover her mouth politely. Papyrus sat Sans back down as Undyne pulled him in for a rough noogie, shouting about making battle plans. The matronly goat monster's eyes fell on Sans and he immediately felt himself stiffen, guilt worming its way into his soul. The last time they'd spoken, he'd yelled at her. Stars, what the hell was wrong with him? He's surely lost his best friend, and now-
His thoughts were interrupted by a pair of warm arms wrapping around his shoulders, and he stood stock still for a few long seconds, eyesockets widened impossibly. "Sans. Are you alright, my friend?" He felt his non-existent throat tighten and he choked on a laugh, leaning into the embrace and resting his forehead against her shoulder. "I suppose that is a silly question... Do not worry, Sans. We will get her back." She slowly released him and stood upright, looking down at him with a smile.
"We, huh?" he asked, voice rough with emotion that he tried to keep in check.
"We." She nodded and swept her arm outward in a gesture toward all the others in the room. "We are all here for you, and for Lena-" The name alone sent his soul shuddering in pain and fear, and she seemed to sense this, as she reached a paw out to rest on top of his skull. "-and we will stop at nothing until our family is back together again." He fought against the few tears that tried to gather in his sockets and nodded, too afraid to say anything lest his voice break. When she seemed satisfied of his understanding, she withdrew her hand and turned to the two noisy monsters bickering about battle strategies. "Undyne, my dear, is Alphys not with you?" Undyne's ear fins perked up at the mention of the small lizard monster, mouth twisting into a thoughtful frown.
"Nah, she got a phone call from someone and had rushed off to her lab... Then I got a call that told me to come here."
"YOU GOT A CALL TELLING YOU TO COME TO GRILLBY'S, AS WELL? HOW STRANGE!"
"Yes, it is quite strange..." A frown pulled down on the ex-queen's muzzle, and she tapped her claws against her chin as she pondered the correlation. "Who on earth would know to call us all together in such a dire time?"
The door to the establishment swung open, the cold gust of breeze from outside making the bartender's flames flicker wildly, and a familiar monster strode gracefully in.
"Ahuhuhu~! That, my dears, would be my doing." Muffet strode right up to the bar, taking the damaged cell phone and looking it over. Her lips were pulled into a knowing smile, her eyes all alight with purpose and curiosity. Dogaressa glanced between the spider monster and the ex-Queen, frowning deeply.
"What are you talking about, Muffet?" The spideress turned to the dog with a look of disinterest, though her smile was still politely in place.
"Oh, you see, my little darlings and I have been keeping track of a few...pests as of late. You see, Papyrus told me of a human that had come in looking for dear Lena, and ever since then...well, perhaps before then, as well...I've been keeping track of everyone's movements." She raised a hand and snapped her fingers, and almost instantly there were tiny little spider monsters crawling and jumping off of everyone's shoulders. Doggo whined, not being able to have felt their presence without them moving stressing him out, and Greater Dog reached out and pat him sloppily on the head in a calming gesture. "Once there were a little crowd of the spiders at her feet, Muffet looked up to everyone with a small smirk. "I know exactly what's going on, and...hmm, there are a few things that some people need to talk about, yes?" She gave a pointed look in Sans' direction and he tensed, sockets narrowing slightly. He didn't appreciate being called out. She clapped her hands together, "Regardless! That is for another time. For now, we should go and retrieve Lena."
"Sure, no problem...except we don't know where she is!" Undyne grumbled, and Papyrus gestured over to the table of dogs.
"PERHAPS THEY COULD SNIFF HER OUT?"
"That will not be necessary, dearies," Muffet cooed, reaching down to pet the little spiders now climbing up her body to rest on her shoulders. "I have her exact location as of ten minutes ago. ...They killed my dear little one, so that's the last I was able to discern." The flash of anger that crossed her eyes made even the blind Doggo shiver, but it was quickly covered by a confident smile. "I've called you all together here so that we can rescue her. We need to work quickly, and, once we begin our attack, we'll have very little time to assure her safety."
They all gathered around the largest table, Undyne and Papyrus opting to stand as Grillby stood over the table, allowing his light to cast across the documents spread out. Sans clenched his jaw tightly as he saw everything laid out so easily in front of him, the picture of a familiar woman with ice-blue eyes standing out. He glared at it hatefully, grinding his teeth. "Now," Muffet began, pointing effortlessly to three different documents with her multiple arms, while her forth held a cup of tea up to her lips. "This organization 'N.A.M.E.,' short for the 'National Anti-Monster Embassy,' has been overly active over the last several weeks. They change hideouts frequently; however, I've been able to track them down to this one location." She pointed at the circled spot on a map and Sans was already thinking about whether or not he could take a 'shortcut' there. "There are several humans, and they are armed with firearms. The one in charge..." she paused, shuffling a few papers out of the way to expose a photo. "This man. Devon Stark, along with his sister, Kathleen, are apparently in control of the whole operation. They've been marking and kidnapping humans for unknown purposes..."
"...Sounds a lot like those purposes aren't as 'unknown' as you say. Wanna share with the class?" Sans piped up, browbones furrowing in frustration as the spideress merely giggled.
"I have seen some things...but I did not know what their true purpose was until a short while ago. My little darling was able to sneak in on Kathleen's person and...let's just say that Devon was being very liberal with information when he was talking to Lena." She narrowed her eyes in a knowing glance towards Sans, her smile widening slightly. "They seem to have a personal vendetta against Sans, for...whatever reason." The click of bone as Sans clenched his fists pulled Greater Dog's attention, and the towering beast leaned down to nuzzle/headbutt the top of the skeleton's skull. "Now! As for plans... Papyrus, you are least vulnerable to their attacks, seeing as how you don't have flesh. You'll need to be careful, but your strengths will come into play quite nicely for us. You will go in first and attempt to trap the violent humans." The tall skeletons chest puffed with pride and he nodded eagerly. "Undyne, you will go in with him. We're going to be attempting to incapacitate as many humans as we can, so do be a dear and try not to kill them, hm?"
"Tch, you can count on us!" Undyne threw an arm around Papyrus' shoulders and tugged him in for a hug, receiving a hearty "NYEH HEH HEH".
"Lady Toriel, I would like for you to stand by and heal those who are injured." The royal monster nodded, and Muffet gave a small glance over to the pack of dogs. "As for you all, you'll be helping to get the non-violent captured humans out of the way. We can only assume that they'll know we're coming now, so we'll need to try and lessen the number of casualties."
"What about me?" Muffet glanced over at the tense skeleton monster, her expression thoughtful and pensive, but only for a second, before a smirk broke out across her lips.
"You will be our last man in." Immediately Sans looked like he wanted to argue, but she cut him off. "Lena is our target. After we get the violent humans taken care of, you'll go in, find your...partner," she said, smile widening in that knowing way and stars, Sans fucking hated it. "Then you'll teleport her out. Alphys is already taking care of surveillance, along with myself and my little dearies." The tiny spider monsters all purred and gave a 'kree' of assent, and she reached up to pet each one on top of their little heads lovingly. "Grillby, dear, the rain has stopped...which means I'll be needing you to go in with Papyrus and Undyne as part of the 'first wave' of attack." The fire elemental nodded silently and Undyne gave him a skeptical once-over.
"You sure you'll be able to keep up with an ex-Captain?" Muffet immediately fell into a fit of giggles, absolutely delighted, though by what, Undyne had no clue. Toriel even seemed to be holding back a bit of laughter, herself. "What's so funny?!"
"Undyne, my child," Toriel offered, gesturing a paw towards Grillby. "He was in the War on the front lines..." The look of realization that washed over Undyne's face was priceless, and a hissing crackle of a chuckle came from the elemental as he rolled up his sleeves, arms flexing slightly as he curled his fingers into a fist. The way his lips parted into a bright, sharply glowing smirk made the spiders on Muffet's shoulders shiver in fear, but she quietly shushed them.
"I'll try not to slow you down," Grillby said softly, and Undyne had the grace to look slightly embarrassed by her blunder. "We should hurry, then, before the rain picks up." He had a closed umbrella tucked under one arm, and the sight made Sans want to laugh, but the stress of the situation prompted him not to.
"Excellent!" Muffet practically sang, clapping her hands together. "Then, if there's nothing else..." Undyne whooped loudly and slammed her fist onto the table, leaving a heavy crack running across the wood.
"LET'S GO AND GET OUR HUMAN!" The dogs and Papyrus all cheered along loudly, already leading the way out of the bar, axes and spears in hand. Muffet gave a small giggle and followed, giving Sans a lingering glance as her eyes flit toward Toriel, and he wanted to glare at her, but she'd already turned on her delicate heel and gracefully stepped out. A warm hand landed on one bony shoulder, and a soft paw on the other, and Sans glanced up between his two best friends, feeling his soul give a mighty tug.
"We can talk later. After your human is with you." Toriel nodded with a smile, and Sans drew in a steadying breath, his smile widening into more of a grimace as he gave a slow nod. 'Hang on, babe. We're comin' for ya.' They walked out of the building together, hurrying to catch up to the others, who were already far ahead.
Operation Rescue Lena: GO!
[[ Annnnnd there you have it! The rescue mission has begun! Let me know what you all think. Spam me on tumblr (life-sans-sin) with your thoughts and feels! I wanna hear from you guys! ]]