[[ Sorry for the roughness of this chapter, and the way it may seem...rushed and messy. I felt rushed because I wanted to get this done before I go on my 'adult weekend' this weekend. (Lots of drinking (semi-responsibly), floating down the river, camping...the whole schebang). ANYWAY. You get a little peek into some of Lena's mind, someone very special to her. You get to see her own form of Determination, and hey, shit progresses, though not as much as most of you would have liked (probably). Love you guys. Enjoy! ]]

"...-na?"

"... Lena-bug?"

"Ohohoho~! Goodness, lassie, wake up! Ye've been asleep for well near half a day now. We don't want ye join'n the dead." The familiar voice was enough to stir her from her unconsciousness, Irish accent thick and soothing, but she couldn't open her eyes. She didn't dare to, what with the amount of light already filtering through her closed eyelids. It already felt so bright that, should she open her eyes, she'd surely be blinded. "Come now, lassie. Procrastination gets ye nowhere." A pained whimper pulled from Lena's throat, feeling that full-body throb wash over her again, and again, and again. Waves of pain, like she were laying on the shore with the high tide, were washing up over her, lapping at her flesh. It ran even deeper, though, like something so essential and so all-encompassing was hurting, and she didn't have any way of easing the pain.

"I can't, Gran. I-I...I c-can't do it..." The familiar voice sighed and Lena felt a hand reach out to thread through her hair, combing it gently out of her face. She sniffled as another wave of pain wracked her body and she shuddered, curling in more tightly on herself. "It hurts..."

"Yes, lassie, I know. Life oft' does."

"I-I'm scared..."

"We're all fearful, Lena-bug. We just have ta walk past it."

"B-but I... I-I'm going to die. They're g-going to kill m-me!"

"Now, there won't be nobody killin' no lassie o' mine. Worry not, my sweet, sweet girl. Ye've got our ancestors' blood in ye. It flows strong, in yer heart and in yer soul!"

"M-my soul...?"

"Mhmm, aye, yer soul. Yer very kind, lassie. So much so that ye let people take advantage o' ye. Ye let people convince ye that ye aren't as strong as ye actually are." The hand petting her hair moved to grab her face gently, cradling her cheeks in both palms, and she could feel worn pads of thumbs brushing away the constant streams of tears from beneath her closed eyelids. "There's fire in yer soul, child! Stop tryin' ta contain it and let it burn! Yer workin' so hard ta hold yer' self back. Ta hell with that!" The thumbs pressed insistently against her eyelids, trying to get her to open her eyes, and, for a moment, she considered it. The light was glowing brighter and brighter, so bright that her eyelids pressed even tighter together to try and keep from blinding herself. "Let it burn, Lena!" Brighter, brighter, too bright, it was too bright, too hot, and suddenly everything was burning.

"Lig sé sruthán!" ["Let it burn."]

Over and over, the words kept repeating themselves, compounding and multiplying and increasing until it was all she could hear, until it became a blur of noise that was too loud, too much for her to understand. Her ears rang, and even though she tried to cover them with her hands to block out the noise, it still came through, as if the voices were coming from inside of herself. Then, another voice, still so so familiar, but it had been so long since she'd heard it, it felt like decades. It was faded, soft, like a voice coming from a static-filled video tape.

"Stay strong, a thaisce. ...Kill them with kindness." ["...my treasure."]

Finding their way to the building was a struggle. With the darkness of night falling all around them and the stars and moon all but blocked out, covered by the thick blanket of clouds overhead, the rag-tag group of monsters found themselves picking their way carefully along the unbeaten path. "They're in a large warehouse," Muffet had said, "About ten minutes out from town." Toriel had asked the spideress more specifically which town, but the sympathetic smile the other had given the ex-queen apparently did not bode well for them. The law was stated firmly that, outside of Taobh, monsters were not allowed to use their magic. Sure, there were grey-areas dependent on whether or not it was justifiable self-defense, but the law had its ways of tilting in favor of humans more often than not. It was a gamble, and Muffet had chosen her strategy well. There was a very, very critical reason why she had chosen for Sans to enter last. 'He's emotionally compromised,' Grillby had agreed easily, glancing back at the skeleton who, currently, was tapping away at his cracked phone screen, a frown tugging at the corners of his mouth. He was beginning to lag behind, and Toriel and Grillby shared a glance when his phone began to ring loudly.

Sans saw the contact name and wanted to destroy his phone. 'Please, I can't do this right now...' The ringtone quieted and he held his breath, staring at the phone beseechingly, browbones furrowed sharply. 'Don't call back. Don't call back, don't-' It rang again, buzzing loudly against the hard bones of his palm and he heaved a sigh. A quick tap on the screen and he held the phone up to his skull, eyesockets closed tightly as he could already hear the heavy breathing coming from the other line. "Heya, wassup-"

"You!" Brit shouted, her voice already hoarse, and despite the fact that she was obviously crying, there was an anger and fire in her tone that burned him. "What the fuck did you do?! How could you let her go off alone like that?!" She drew in a shuddering breath and continued, yelling until his metaphorical ears bled. He held the phone steady, continuing his calm walking a few paces behind everyone else, the only semblance of privacy he could manage in the situation he found himself in. "If anything happens to her, I-I-" she struggled, her voice breaking as a loud sob ripped through the phone's receiver. "You're fucking dead if you don't get her back, do you hear me?!" He didn't bother to try and defend himself, not only because he already was blaming himself, not only because he agreed with her, but because he knew what she was feeling. He knew what it felt like to fear losing someone you loved so much.

"Kid, if I can't get her back, I'll already be wishin' I was," he said simply, his voice a smooth, even monotone against the chaos.

"You're fucking right you will be. I'll make sure of it. I'll make sure you don't forget. I'll- ... I-I'll fucking k-kill you..." The threat dissolved into loud cries, the kind of sobs that were real, not pretty or composed like they showed in movies. It was painful to hear, and so fucking raw that it made Sans' soul tear at the seams listening to it. He knew she wouldn't actually kill him. The way her voice split into soul-piercing cries, though, kinda made him wish she would.

"We're gonna get her back. No bones about it." There was no laughter at his pun, but he wasn't expecting any. "We're headed to her now, so I gotta go. I give you full permission to kick my ass later, once she's safe." A loud, watery sniff, slightly garbled from the bad connection through his phone, and she muttered something under her breath.

"...Tailbone."

"Heh... Yeah. Kick my tailbone to hell and back, soon as we get her home." Brit drew in a slow, shaky breath, and he could hear more than see her demeanor change.

"I'm counting on you. Bring our girl back." He gave a single dry huff of laughter and buried his face further into the fur lining of his coat, trying to think of what to say when the line went dead. He pulled the phone away and looked at it, thumb brushing across the cracks in its screen. Despite knowing it wouldn't do him any good, he pulled up the last message he'd gotten from her, and the little smiling emoticon brought with it so much dread, despite being something so small.

...His thumbs tapped across the screen quickly, typing out message after message, his eyesockets narrowed as he glared, angrily. Whoever or whatever had her, he was going to make sure they knew exactly what they were getting themselves into.

When Sans finally caught up to the group, the dogs were all growling and barking softly to one another under their breath, Undyne standing over them commandingly while Papyrus continued to glance eagerly between them and her. The language of dogs wasn't one that was commonly known unless you were a dog monster, but, being over them, Undyne had learned enough for her to pick up on. Muffet and Grillby were standing closely to one another in their own conversation, though all of Muffet's eyes continued to shift in Sans' direction. He felt himself stiffen, smile pulling a bit more tensely across his face. Giving a small huff, Undyne folded her arms across her toned chest, scowling out at the open field that they were on the edge of. "Okay, so. There's apparently ten humans patrolling around the building. They're all armed. Guns, semi-automatics, most likely, who knows what else they're carrying..." She grit her teeth together loudly, fangs gnashing together as she glared at the ground. "Apparently they're expecting us. As much as I wanna lay waste to them, though, we need to try and keep casualties to a minimum..." Greater Dog gave a gruff bark, nudging his snout against Doggo's shoulder, who flinched and recoiled slightly.

"Who's- ...Hey, we better hurry. Something's moving, coming this way," he groused, taking a long drag from his dog treat before pausing and holding it out to Sans. The skeleton glanced at it, tempted, but shook his skull. "Captain, what're your orders?" The blue-scaled monster gave a thoughtful frown, looking across the little team of creatures before her. Muffet's advice had already been given, the plans already laid out, and, despite no longer actually being their Captain, she felt a swell of pride in her soul at the eagerness and readiness they had to fight for what was right.

"Papyrus, we're gonna run in." The tall skeleton stood at attention to receive his orders, jaw set rigidly. "You dogs all cover us as we run in, alright? Don't let anyone escape- and I mean anyone. If they're armed, take 'em down peacefully as you can. If they're not then Greater Dog, you keep 'em calm and together so Toriel can look 'em over and heal those who need it."

"PERMISSION TO SET TRAPS, CAPTAIN?" She glanced up and saw an orange spark deep within the skeleton's eyesocket and she grinned, all sharp fangs.

"Permission granted. You take on the north side of the warehouse. Grillby'll take the west, and I'll take the east."

"I am fine with my role to play," Toriel spoke up then, glancing around at the other monsters around her with a small frown. "But what will you be doing, Miss Muffet?" All eyes shifted to the spideress, standing quietly behind the others, and she gave a smile that even unnerved Undyne.

"Oh, I'm sure I'll find something to entertain myself with, worry not...Ahuhuhu~." The former Royal Guard all looked to each other and nodded, a silent word of understanding.

"Sans, you be sure to stick with the plan, alright? If the shit hits the fan, then we'll need you to get people out fast. ...We're counting on you." Sans gave a slow nod, grin slipping slightly under Undyne's intense gaze, but the feel of Papyrus' hand on his shoulder made him feel just a little bit braver.

"Yeah, I can handle that." She nodded, her amber eye flashing dangerously as she trained it just above Dogamy's shoulder. Lesser and Greater Dog immediately began to grow, low and threatening in their throats, lips drawing back to expose their fangs. The light of a flashlight passing between the breaks in the trees illuminated Undyne's face, and it was with an intimidatingly excited grin that she snapped her fingers. Immediately the dogs broke off into a run, Dogamy sticking close to his mate's side, despite how she was the fastest out of all of them.

"Alright, let's go!" A flash of teal light was the prelude to the summon of a magical spear, which Undyne held tightly in both hands, raising it toward the sky as she bellowed out a resounding "NGAHHH!" Papyrus ran ahead, boots moving surprisingly silent across the ground. "Hey, wait for me, punk!" It turned into a race just a few feet from the treeline and, even with the tenseness of the situation, Toriel couldn't help but chuckle at their child-like rivalry and antics.

"Well, Grillby, it seems that they are leaving you behind..." The matronly monster glanced over to the elemental who was straightening his bowtie. A small smile curved up on her muzzle, "I suppose you'll have to ketchup, hm?" The fire monster gave a small crackling laugh, shoving his hands into the pockets of his dress slacks and following the boisterous duo at a more languid pace.

"A fire burns at its own pace, but the damage is all the same."

"Oh Grillby, darling, be a dear and do close up shop quickly. I'd like to be home in time for tea," Muffet cooed, and Sans could've sworn he saw a flash of blue flame flicker across the elemental's features before he nodded. Toriel glanced between the two with a poorly suppressed giggle and leaned down (okay, way down) to elbow Sans in the ribs gently. The skeleton shrugged and gave a huff of a chuckle. "Well, we'd best make our own approach. It seems that the eh...dogs have cleared the perimeter for the moment." The spideress' distaste for the canine monsters was clear and Sans couldn't help the smirk he sent her way.

"It sure is a doggone shame that we can't hang, but I've gotta hightail it outta here." The flash of irritation across her face was so worth the haunting smile she sent his way just before he blipped out of existence. The doorway he opened under his feet swallowed him up whole as he fell into the pitch darkness, the familiar growls soothing. "Nah, not this time. Gotta keep 'em alive..." he told the blasters, reaching out to scritch the large skulls under their jaw. They nuzzled into his palm eagerly. "...then again, I never promised." A small smirk pulled up at the corners of his mouth.

The far-off growls and snarls of dogs broke the otherwise pristine silence. Clouds slowly moved from overhead and revealed the first few stars, glowing brightly and cutting through the harsh darkness. It was the kind of night that would be considered 'peaceful', if the circumstances were any better. If they weren't currently launching an attack onto a poorly known enemy. A warm light came from behind him as Grillby made to follow, casting their own shadows in front of them. His own skeletal shadow stretched out before him on the ground, and it looked far more menacing than he'd like it to be. After all, he wasn't here to hurt humans! He was here to save his good friend, nothing more. Even with that in mind, though, he couldn't help but prepare himself for battle. Not physically, of course; there was no more preparation to be had there. He trained daily, and Undyne had made sure to keep his skills sharp. Mentally, though, he had to be ready.

'Setting up something to trip those who try to run out through the doors would be wise. I'll use blue attacks to cage any who try to use physical force against us. Hopefully none of them will try and draw their weapons on us...' It was troublesome, indeed. He didn't want to hurt anybody, really. But if it came down to that to protect his friends, could he...? Would he?

"Hey, there they are!" A gruff male voice called out, reaching into his jacket, and before Papyrus could even blink, there was a blue spear pierced through the human's coat, keeping them pinned to the wall behind them. "W-what-" Undyne strode forward, already summoned another spear and held its glowing tip to the human's nose, sneering at him.

"You scream and I kill you," she warned, voice surprisingly quiet, and the human gave a single shaky nod in response. "Papyrus, go." She held the door open, and he immediately stepped inside. The room smelled filthy, it was dark, and there was poor ventilation, leaving the air smelling as well as tasting stale and foul. What sickened him even more however were the sheer number of humans. There were at least fifty of them, cramped so closely together that they hardly had room to move, much less try and escape. Many of them were trembling, shaking and dirty, and even more were crying quietly. A pang of pity washed over his soul at the sight, but he had little time to contemplate it before there was even more shouting. A single gunshot rang out, the sound of the metal roof shaking violently at the impact filling the room. Many of the captives screamed and tried to cover their ears, but failed because their hands were bound.

"If the boss finds out we let them in, he'll kill us!" A group of humans scrambled out from a back room, handguns held tightly in their shaking hands as they pointed them at Papyrus.

"GREETINGS, HUMANS! I FEAR THAT WE MAY HAVE A MISUNDERSTANDING HERE. YOU SEE, YOU'VE TAKEN MY FRIEND-" Gunshots rang out, nearly deafening inside the cramped space of the warehouse, and more screams of terror came from the humans. Papyrus stood behind the fully formed wall of bone in front of him, his right eyesocket engulfed with a faint orange glow, and a sigh slipped past his teeth. "...IT IS QUITE RUDE TO INTERRUPT, HUMANS." They all felt a tugging in their chests and, before they knew what was happening, their souls were tugged from their chests, glowing a deep azure color. They fell to one knee as they struggled to stand against the gravity that suddenly seemed to increase upon them. The wall of bones lowered slowly and Papyrus stood there, bone club held firmly in one hand, tapping it against his shoulder. "AS I WAS SAYING, THERE'S BEEN A TERRIBLE MISUNDERSTANDING... YOU'VE TAKEN MY GOOD FRIEND, AND I, ALONG WITH THE REST OF MY FRIENDS, HAVE COME TO RETRIEVE HER." The looks of fear that grew over the humans' faces as he stepped closer, his taller frame looming over them menacingly. "IF YOU'D KINDLY POINT ME IN HER DIRECTION, THEN WE'LL JUST BE ON OUR WAY!"

"N-...n-no way, man! The boss said we gotta keep you freaks off of 'im til he's done-" One human struggled to lift his gun again, firing off an errant shot that Papyrus blocked with a simple swing of the club. The bullet fell uselessly to the ground with a soft clatter.

"OH? DONE WITH WHAT, IF YOU DON'T MIND MY ASKING?" he asked innocently, eyesockets sweeping over the group of captured men until he came across one that was shaking far harder than the most. All it took was a few seconds of staring at they broke, tears and snot spilling down their face as they caved.

"H-he's doin' something with their s-s-souls! I-I don't know what, b-but we didn't do anything, man!" The crying human ignored the looks of betrayal they got and crawled forward on their knees, gun lying useless on the ground. "P-please, let me go! I-I'll tell you anything you want, I sw-swear!" Papyrus practically beamed, lessening the pressure he exerted on their soul and holding a hand out, offering to help them up.

"CERTAINLY, HUMAN! HERE, ALLOW ME TO-" His glove had just barely brushed their hand when another gunshot rang out, blood splattering onto his chestplate and skull. The human he'd just been reaching for fell limp against the ground, their eyes as vacant as the hole that now lied between them, running clear through their skull. The skeleton's soul froze within his chest, gloved hand trembling where it had been extended, eyesockets wide and staring, disbelievingly, at the now dead human. "...why?" They didn't answer his question with words, instead choosing to fight against gravity and raise their weapons again, His extended hand glowed with orange light and bones immediately sprung forth from the ground, knocking the weapons roughly from their hands "Why would you kill your friend?" he asked, browbones furrowed as he slowly got to his feet, gripping the club more tightly. "WHY WOULD YOU DO THAT?!" The blue glow surrounding their souls grew brighter and they cried out as they fell to the ground completely, lying prostrate. "THERE IS NO GOOD REASON FOR YOU TO KILL THEM. THEY WERE...THEY WERE TURNING TO GOOD! YOU STOLE THEIR CHANCE OF BEING GOOD!" The glow around his socket blazed and he swung his bone club in an arc out in front of him, summoning row after row of ethereal blue bones. They rose up from the ground in waves, washing over the humans before they stopped, trapping each one of them in a cage. When he finally lowered his hand Papyrus sighed heavily, turning away from the now captive group with downcast eyes. "I AM NOT ANGRY AT YOU, HUMANS...I'M JUST DISAPPOINTED."

"Hey, Papyrus! Did ya get all the ones in here?!" Undyne burst through the door, a huge, burly man held under her arm effortlessly in a headlock, despite his attempts to kick away. "Woah, nice work! I'm impressed-" She cut herself off seeing the skeleton's forlorn expression and, seeing the dead human, sighed heavily and pulled him in for a one-armed hug. "Hey, don't worry about it, Papyrus. It wasn't your fault. Let's just be thankful it wasn't one of the innocent humans!" Papyrus nodded slowly, glancing up at Undyne with a small smile. "See, there ya go! That's more like it! Now, how about we try and get all these other guys out of here?"

"YES, YOU ARE RIGHT, UNDYNE. WE SHOULD GET THEM OUT OF HARM'S WAY-"

A scream echoed throughout the entire warehouse, its sound so excruciating and fearful that it made their magic run cold. Papyrus looked over to Undyne to see that her ear fins had flattened against the sides of her face, her mouth agape and one uncovered eye wide as she stared, the question on her face the same one burning in his skull.

'Why did that sound familiar?'

"Hey, over there! Did one of you idiots start a fire- AUGH!" Sans ducked as a fireball flew past his skull, narrowly avoiding singeing his jacket as the projectile landed a few yards away from him, scattering into a mass of flames that spread across the dry grass. The human that had been standing there was lying a few feet away, eyes widened with shock and fear, and Sans turned just as Grillby approached, his flames heightened and burning brighter than he'd ever seen them.

"Heh, geez, singe when are you such a hotshot, Grillbz?" A soft hissing sigh, like the sound of escaping steam, and Grillby shook his head dismissively. "Rough crowd, eh? Heheh...'s alright, I wasn't really tryin' with those last few, so I'm coal with it." His hands, which were shoved deep within the pockets of his jacket, clenched and unclenched into nervous fists, the bones of his fingers rubbing together and making a soft grating sound. The elemental tipped his head questioningly to one side, flames flickering softly, and Sans sighed. "Yeah, 'm fine, Grillbz. Just...uneasy. I'll feel better when my girl's back home with me." His eyelights swept over the field which was covered with little groups of humans, their blindfolds and bags covering their heads removed while the dogs went about the slow task of cutting the ropes binding their wrists. Many of them were injured, sick, and fatigued, and though Toriel was doing her best, she wasn't able to heal all of them.

"It is fairly sickening, isn't it? What humans will do to their own kind." Sans gave a small grunt, shrugging his shoulders in a way that was meant to come off as indifferent but felt and looked more stiff and unsure than anything. A warm hand landed on his shoulder and he glanced up at the fire monster, forcing a grin. Grillby gave his shoulder a reassuring squeeze, flames brightening for a moment as he opened his mouth to speak-

Even across the field, above the sounds of dozens of human voices and barking dogs and shouting, above his own voice anxiously jabbering away within his skull, he could hear the scream. Like something out of a goddamn movie, an eerie silence fell over the entire area, everyone looking around in confusion. He stood frozen for all of three seconds, struggling to comprehend what he was hearing, because no, it wasn't possible. It couldn't be possible, that he was hearing what he thought he was hearing.

'...Lena?'

The voices around him all drowned out into static, filling his skull and overflowing, digging deep into the marrow of his bones, fusing with his magic, which was already trying to react without his say. His instincts were screaming at him, to move, to run, do something, but he was frozen...until he heard something else. Beneath the strained voice crying out vocally, even deeper, he could hear- no, he could feel her very soul crying out for him, beating in pain, in fear, and something in him snapped. His eyesockets went dark and he wrenched Grillby's hand off of his shoulder, ignoring the elemental's pleas and cries of his name as he thrust himself into the void. The darkness was all-encompassing, overwhelming, but somewhere ahead of him, there was a small glimmer of green light, soft and familiar. His soul pressed against his ribs, reaching, longing for it, and he allowed his soul to guide him. He closed his eyesockets tightly and fell through the Void, having hope that his soul and magic wouldn't lead him astray.

It was hard to hold things together when everything felt like it was falling apart...even if the person who loved you the most was laughing in the most menacing and un-hinged way. Kathleen held the poor, pain-riddled soul in her hands, struggling to process the emotions and thoughts that were swimming around in her head and heart- feelings that were not entirely her own. Devon grabbed her wrist in a bruising grip, bringing it close to his face. His crimson-stained eyes ran over its surface greedily, mouth parting in a grin so sharp that Kathleen swore it should have cut into his cheeks. "Yes...Yes! She isn't self-destructing!" he raved, another manic giggle spilling past his lips, though he didn't even try to stifle them. "This could be it.. This could be it! If I can succeed here, once I have her soul, I'll be able to move onto the next step. I'll be able to tear that goddamn insufferable comedian into teeny tiny pieces!" The syringe was still deeply embedded within the writhing green soul, its heart-shape rippling along its 'edges' in pain as though it were trying to get away. "Ha! How pathetic! You don't even fight back when your life is in danger!" He grasped Kathleen's hand and forced her to squeeze the soul forcibly, long, manicured nails digging into its surface, and another cry of pain welled up from Lena's lungs. "C'mon, why not just give up no-"

A blinding flash of white filled the room for all but a second before it slowly drew itself inward toward her soul, circling into a spiral at its very center where it had been punctured. The magic was foreign, and the soul tried to reject it but, somehow, refused. A thin green shell began to coat the heart-shaped soul, slowly expanding, growing, moving outwards until it engulfed her entire body. Kathleen and Devon were both forced back by its magic, Chara hissing a curse in pain as the shield burned their darker essence. It was in that same moment that a loud popping sound filled the room, the sound of air being forced into a space it wasn't meant to occupy, and the only warning Chara had was the faintest scent of ozone before they were staring into empty eyesockets. Sans' grin was stretched so widely across his face but, despite that, he looked menacing.

"Wassup, bub...?"

[[ And there you have it. Sorry for yet another cliffhanger, but I'm gonna be working on a long chapter to make up for all these shorter ones, AND it'll be one that explains a lot of things and starts getting into the meat of this confrontation. So, for that reason, I'll be NOT writing this entire weekend (Friday included) because of the 'adult float trip'. I'll start writing again on Sunday evening or Monday, and I'll be planning to have the next chapter up by next weekend at the latest. I'm hoping I can get it up sooner.

Thanks you guys so much for reading! I really, really hope you liked it! Be sure to leave me a comment, stalk the blog (life-sans-sin dot tumblr dot com), send me tons of asks, requests and messages there, or just go to check out all the art. I have awesome submissions from people that I love very much, and I dig it! Love you! ]]