The moment he was out the door, Asriel paused and said quietly, barely above a whisper, "Walk and talk with me, bastard." From somewhere behind the crowed, sans emerged, looking tired but otherwise fine. With a bit of a glare, he stood beside Asriel, and together, they walked past Darian's friends and back onto the sidewalk.
The crowds had mostly dispersed by now, having either been scared off by the magic attacks or the boredom that came soon after. A few neighbours recognised Asriel, but when they saw his company decided not to bother him. By now, sans was a pretty well-known and easily recognised monster, after all.
"Well," Asriel said shortly, not looking at sans. "How many?"
sans sighed. "when did i start to take orders from plants?" he muttered, earning him a dark scowl. "including that last one? seven."
"I only heard five."
"then get the leaves out of your ears, weed," sans replied. "i grabbed seven."
"Okay, okay," Asriel said. He then hesitated, went scarlet, and coughed, before muttering. "Thank you. I'm sorry." sans stopped in mid-stride, shocked, and Asriel scowled and turned back to him. "Could you not?!" he snapped.
"can't help it," sans admitted. "i've never heard you apologise before, least of all to me."
"And I'm never doing it again!" he answered. "Walk!" When sans did, Asriel went on. "Anyway! I'm just a little..." He sighed, shrugging one shoulder.
"tense, maybe?" sans offered.
Asriel's eye twitched. "Yeah," he agreed. "To say the least."
"well, does it help you any that...?" sans started, then trailed off, his eyes going to the side, before he sighed. He stopped again, forcing Asriel to do the same, and with a long-suffering look, he muttered, "that's eight, by the way." He then walked - rather quickly - towards the closest tree, only to vanish behind it. Shortly, Asriel could hear sounds of another fight, from a distance away. He stared, his mouth going dry; sometimes, it was easy to forget who sans really was.
Asriel waited, unsure of how else to react, until sans came back, taking his time walking back as he did, looking even more tired, now. When he was back at Asriel's side, he looked up at him and gave him a thumbs-up.
"Yes," said Asriel, without any preamble. "I hate to say it, but yes, it does help that you're here, bastard." He rolled his eyes. "It does help. But if you tell anyone I said that..."
sans smirked, which just got him angrier. "good," he replied. "i'll see you at lunch, then. i'm going to grillby's." With another wave, he again vanished behind the same tree.
"He's going to tell everyone," Asriel muttered, before resuming his walk. "Bastard."
Nicky decided, quite early, that she liked school. She didn't like the way they'd gotten there, but once there, she liked it almost immediately.
The first few hours were spent getting to meet new people - something Nicky loved doing. Toriel and Frisk did their best not to fuss over her, and it showed; many of the other children either didn't remember or care who Nicky was - at least not for long. There was something diplomatic about Nicky, something innately so, and she always found ways to make friends - even if they were antagonists at first. It was a marvel to watch.
Frisk watched with a warm heart, unable to hide a smile when she saw Nicky laugh with another student. Seeing it, she knew she could leave for the day with confidence, let Asriel come back, but something within her hesitated. She didn't know why, but she also knew how to trust her instincts - so she hesitated, and stayed in the classroom.
Toriel treated Nicky like every other student, and Nicky only called her 'ehmma' twice, which was impressive, considering. Nicky seemed really taken with Toriel's teaching, and always paid close attention whenever Toriel taught something.
Nicky was fine. So why did Frisk hesitate?
Asriel did stay with Alphys - who hugged him - and Basket - who grabbed his ears and screamed. He sat with them and watched over Basket when Alphys needed a break, but he kept his attention on his phone, as if worried that if he didn't watch it, he'd miss something important. By the time it was lunch, he was convinced he actually had missed something, and he even texted both Toriel and Frisk to double-check.
"Relax," Alphys advised gently. "Everything is fine!"
So why did he feel the opposite? He wished he could ask, and get a real answer. He wondered if there even was an answer that wasn't just a father's paranoia.
Instead, though, Asriel nodded, and helped her pack their lunch.
Undyne was already hovering at the door - now wearing regular clothes - when the lunch bell rang, her grin wide. Nicky saw her and gave her a hug, something she returned with a happy laugh. "Good job! You made it to lunch!" she said, and Nicky made a face.
From behind her came a sudden, sharp call of, "UNDYNE! I NEED YOUR HELP WITH..." Papyrus stopped when he saw Nicky, who shrieked and ran to hug him. Seeing his expression, however, Undyne grabbed her and pulled her back into the classroom, then abruptly shoved her back in and closed the door. Nicky stumbled but tried to follow - only to have the door remain closed. "Hey! No fair!" she shouted.
By this time, both Frisk and Toriel had moved to her side, Toriel locking the door and Frisk grabbing onto Nicky and holding her close. "Uh, Nicky," Frisk said, trying not to sound tense and failing. "Nicky, did you show Ehmma your lunch?"
Nicky blinked, then nodded. "It's a bento today," she told Toriel. "Wanna see it?"
Toriel had her ear to the door, her eyes narrowed in concentration. "I'd love to, my dear, when we have a chance to," she said softly, without looking at her.
Nicky wasn't a fool; even six-year-olds have instincts, sharp ones, and even they know when trouble is afoot, no matter how hard one tries to shelter them from it. She didn't move to get her lunch, but instead turned to Frisk and demanded, "Mami, what's going on?"
That's when they heard it: a distance-shattering, low thud of a noise, one more felt than heard. It reverberated through the school, and Frisk pulled Nicky closer, even as Toriel moved to her side and called on her fire to shield herself, her daughter, and her granddaughter. Toriel's firewalls tended to be small and a touch weak, but she put all she had into this one, and it blazed bright.
"Mami?" Nicky murmured against Frisk's chest, now hungry and scared.
"Don't worry," Frisk said immediately, offering her a shaky smile. "Just stay close to us, okay?"
Nicky obeyed, but her eyes stayed open.
Toriel wasn't the only one who summoned up protection. Many of her students did as well, bunching close to those who could not to provide pockets of safety. At the back of the school, Asgore was doing the same, offering both students and staff use of it.
Outside the pockets stood Undyne, Papyrus, and Sans. Sans had thrown up a tall, closed-in wall of long bones, and Undyne lined the outside of it with bright blue spears. Papyrus stood waiting, holding one of his long blue bones, a look of concentration on his face.
The source of this was due to three monsters, all three of them no one recognised, arms linked and together summoning up wave after wave of sheet magic, aiming them both around and at the school.
"Are they crazy?!" Undyne shouted, enraged at seeing anyone there, let alone monsters. "They'll kill someone!"
"That's the idea," answered Sans grimly, his left hand shaking. "They just don't care who."
"THEY'RE NOT MONSTERS," said Papyrus, his tone cold. "THEY'RE NOT EVEN CLOSE. NO REAL MONSTER WOULD DO SOMETHING SO COLD."
"Is there anything we can do?!" Undyne demanded. "I can't do this all day!"
"They don't expect you to," Sans answered darkly.
Both Asriel and Alphys felt it before they saw or heard it. It stopped them in their tracks, Alphys going pale and Asriel's eyes widening in shock. Alphys paused, then swallowed and turned to Asriel, carefully pulling Basket's sling off. "Asriel," she said, her eyes wide with panic. She held her daughter out to him, shaking, and he took her. As soon as she knew Basket was safe with him, she turned and started running towards the school, a staff of pure light already in her hands.
Asriel was tempted to run after her, fire blazing, but his new cargo stopped him - especially when she noticed Alphys was gone and began to cry. Asriel instead hung back, one word away from bringing up a ward of his own, his eyes on the school and his heart racing in fear, holding Basket close.
"They know we can't move," Undyne growled, her eye dark. "In fact, they're making sure we can't move. We need to get to them!"
"ANY IDEAS ARE WELCOME, UNDYNE," Papyrus said dryly.
"I could lower the wall just long enough for one of you to slip through," Sans offered.
"BUT WE RISK A HIT TO THE SCHOOL," Papyrus protested. He was right.
"And we can't risk that!" Undyne agreed, baring her teeth.
"We have to," Sans said, sounding furious by the very idea.
Undyne paused, then yelped out, "No, we don't!"
There was a shout, one rarely heard, before the three monsters were suddenly attacked by a flash of orange-yellow light. It crashed into them and knocked all three down, their onslaught on the school stopping at once. Alphys stood over them, holding a staff before her, the ground slowly filling with small, yellow pinpoints in a circle around them. To their credit, the spellcasters froze and held up their hands in surrender, but Alphys was still furious; she slammed her heel down, and the pinpoints grew into a long, thinly-barred wall - just strong enough for three tired monsters.
"Go!" Sans snapped, and Undyne lunged forward, already shifting her magic to where Alphys stood. Soon, a chain of spears rose up and circled her staffs, closing any gaps left by Alphys. Not even slowing, Undyne crashed into Alphys, and Alphys stumbled a bit but pulled her close. Sans ran over and raised his left hand, and his wall moved to replace Alphys and Undyne's. Now, they were truly trapped.
Sans glanced at the three, angry at them not only for attacking, but for existing at all. He didn't recognise them, but on the surface, that was becoming more the norm. They did, however, look oddly young.
"You punks!" Undyne snarled at them, spear in hand. "What the hell is wrong with you?!"
They glared at her, but none offered an explanation. She wasn't expecting one, anyway. Instead, she walked over to a few of Darian's cop buddies to take them into custody - something they gladly did.
Asgore was already gone, running back into the school to check for damage or injuries. Alphys hugged Undyne again, then circled back to Asriel and Basket, who stood huddled behind one of the larger trees out of sight. She hugged them both, then said, "Come on. We have plans, remember?" When she smiled at her daughter. Basket calmed almost immediately, and Asriel handed her back.
"What the hell was that?!" he exploded. "Is everyone okay?!"
Alphys nodded. "Come on," she advised. "Let's go and find out."