"Are we all accounted for?" Asgore asked mildly, though he looked anything but jovial. They sat together at the back of the school, now calmed and full of students running around or huddled in groups, either eating, playing, or talking about what had just happened. Close to the doors sat their group, finally able to relax - mostly. sans stood a bit away like a sentry, occasionally sipping from a bottle of relish, his eyes alert.
Nicky sat in Asriel's lap, huddled close and eating from her bento. Asriel held her close, his appetite rather minute, though he did try. Nicky was famished and barely hesitated in eating, which oddly comforted him. Frisk sat beside them, smiling every time Nicky clapped at a food she was about to eat.
Undyne was holding Basket as she ate, and Alphys rested her head on her shoulder, her eyes closed, as she did the same. Papyrus sat on Undyne's other side, a plate of spaghetti before him, as he tried to get Basket to eat some - and failing; she kept glaring and hiding her face each time. Toriel and Asgore sat close together, sharing snail pie, but far slower than usual, as if having to remind themselves that they were even hungry.
"We're good," Undyne agreed, meaning it. There had only been some damage to the school, and luckily no injuries. It was an incredibly lucky result, despite how hard those monsters had tried otherwise.
"Good. Then can someone please tell me why monsters attacked the school?" Asgore added, his voice harder, now.
"I WISH I KNEW," Papyrus admitted sadly. "I'VE NEVER SEEN ANYTHING LIKE IT."
"Traitors," Undyne snarled. "Absolute fricking traitors."
Nicky eyed Undyne closely. "Monsters attacked the school?" she repeated.
Frisk sighed, then added. "Yes," she agreed softly. "And apparently they had planned to for quite a while."
"Are they talking?" Alphys wondered, her eyes open now and on Frisk.
"No," Frisk muttered. "Not yet, though I know Darian's friends are trying."
Toriel lowered her mug of tea, looking very serious. "I truly hope this is the last time we see something like this," she admitted.
"And all over a small kid," Asriel grumbled darkly, hugging Nicky closer.
Alphys looked down. "I-if you want..." she murmured, sounding doubtful. "I-I could... tutor her from h-home."
"Alphy!" Undyne protested. "We're not running away!"
Alphys blushed. "I-I know. I just w-wanted to... suggest it. Just in case."
"Thank you," Frisk said sincerely, "but we can't give up just yet."
Asgore nodded to her with a smile, but Toriel looked troubled. "Perhaps a back-up plan would be best, though," she said gently. "Alphys may have a point."
"It's not running away," Alphys added, her voice stronger. "It's knowing your strengths and using them to win." Undyne looked at her, biting her lip and looking sorry, and Alphys put a hand on her knee with a gentle smile.
"I don't want to, Auntie!" Nicky broke in, her face serious, despite the rice stuck around her mouth. "I like it here! Mami, Papi, I want to stay!"
Frisk and Asriel exchanged a glance, then turned to their daughter. "And we do, too," Asriel agreed. "We're just talking about other plans in case this one doesn't work."
"BUT WHY MONSTERS?" Papyrus asked suddenly. He looked truly disturbed by this. "WHY WERE MONSTERS THE ONES TO ATTACK? BEFORE, IT WAS ALWAYS HUMANS."
From his sentry place, sans said, "or has it? maybe we're only seeing them now. maybe they've gotten desperate."
"Desperate, how?" asked Frisk.
"only monsters can use magic, frisk," was all he said to that.
"Can I use magic?" Nicky asked. "I'm a monster!"
"That's what we'll find out as you get older," Toriel replied, grabbing a napkin and wiping the rice from her face, causing Nicky to scrunch it up and protest.
Basket had crawled from Undyne's lap to Alphys's, giving her a meaningful look and sound, her hands pulling at the front of Alphys's shirt. With a blush, she sat up and said, "Uh... is it...?" Before she could finish, everyone was nodding - even sans - and she was scarlet. To hide it, she turned a bit to feed Basket, and Undyne was laughing so hard she was crying.
Asgore looked sombre when he spoke next. "They were quite young, were they not? Did you notice?"
"yep," sans agreed. "i'd say they were babies - at most - when the barrier broke, if they weren't born on the surface."
"So why attack the school they probably went to?" Alphys frowned. "It doesn't make any sense."
Frisk was quiet, eating her food without tasting it. She was thinking about it, really thinking hard about it. Could children be angry with their fate on the surface? Could they actually want the barrier back, their families back Underground? Or was it just coincidence?
No one had recognised those children, not even Toriel, which was even stranger. The majority of the monster population Aboveground stuck together, thus strangers were almost unheard of. Where had these kids come from, and why? And were there more like them, lying in wait, looking for any chance to continue their attacks?
Carlson had been the human champion for the anti-monster sentiment. Was there a monster champion for anti-human sentiment as well? If so, why? And for how long?
What was it they were truly after?
Nicky's mouth was full when she said, "Maybe they just don't like the school. Or maybe they don't like humans?"
Everyone - save Basket - stared at her in surprise. She blushed and hid her face into Asriel's chest, taking an onigiri with her before she did.
Toriel was blinking. "What if they're children of monsters who didn't want the barrier down? What if, as Nicky says, they hate the school for what it represents?"
"And therefore Nicky, being both human and monster, representing that united ideology as a living person?" Alphys added with a nod.
Undyne's hand was over her mouth, her eye wide. "Nicky, then, is just an excuse, and not the main reason!"
sans looked over his shoulder, his smile twitching. "not good, no matter how you spin it."
"So what do we do, then?" Asriel demanded, holding Nicky closer (and getting rice on his shirt as a result). "Go with her every day, like today, and make sure she makes it out alive?"
Asgore sighed. "That's not very logical," he admitted.
"Is it logical to attack a school?" Undyne snapped. "To hurt kids? To want to kill a kid? To be racist, bigoted, prejudiced, and-,"
Alphys placed a hand on hers, and she calmed down, just a little.
"ONE THING IS CERTAIN," Papyrus said, his voice very sombre. "WE CAN'T GIVE UP."
"Oh, no question on that," Toriel agreed, her eyes flashing and her chin rising in defiance. "No one will scare me away from my school, or its children." She looked at Nicky. "But, my dear Nicky, how do you feel?"
Nicky turned back to her, her face serious, actually thinking about it. "I love school," she admitted. "But I don't want to get anyone hurt."
Frisk gave her a kiss on her nose, which made her wrinkle it and giggle. "I agree," said Frisk. "Nicky, would you prefer to stay here, or learn at home?"
"Stay here!" Nicky said at once, clapping, with a bright smile.
Asriel bit his lip, his eyes meeting Frisk's. He was clearly conflicted, wanting to protect Nicky, but also wanting what was best for her. He knew school was the best thing, but if these attacks only got worse, would it be worth that?"
"My boy," Toriel said to him suddenly, placing a hand on his shoulder. "I do wish you'd reconsider coming back to work with your father."
He stared at his mother in shock. Her face was friendly, but her eyes were serious - entreating, really. Asgore looked over and nodded, looking the same way. "I... can come back?" Asriel wondered.
Nicky looked up at him with a grin. "Papi! You can work here?!"
He nodded. "I used to help with the gardening," he admitted slowly.
"POORLY," Papyrus sighed. "MY HEDGE-SELVES WERE NEVER AS GOOD AS I'D HOPED."
"To be fair," Undyne smirked at him, "at least he remained realistic with them. Unlike Asgore."
Asgore smiled and shrugged. "It's not my face. I don't mind altering them to suit the owner of that face."
"But, Asriel," Toriel broke in again. "You're more than welcome to come back-,'
"Yes," he answered quickly, holding Nicky closer. Frisk grinned up at him, her relief also obvious. "Yes, I'd love to, Mom, Dad. If it's okay."
Asgore grinned, his delight obvious. "I could use your help!" he admitted cheerfully. "You have quite a hand with flowers!"
sans snorted, but said nothing. Asriel glared at his back, but also said nothing.
"And with you here," Alphys added, holding Basket close to burp her. "It's safer for Nicky, for when Frisk can't be here."
"I'd feel better with you here, too," Frisk admitted gently, her voice closer to a whisper.
"but that just gets back to the problem," sans spoke up. "who is doing this, why, and how do we stop them?"
A small silence fell at this, broken only by Basket's abrupt burp.
Nicky slid from Asriel's lap once she finished eating, her eyes on the field before her. Suddenly, her face lit up and she waved, then turned back and shyly asked, "C-can I go play?"
Everyone stared at her, before Frisk grinned and ruffled her hair. "Get gone," she teased, and with an excited scream, Nicky ran off, joining her new friends in a game of tag. Her family watched her in silence for a moment, varying thoughts of hope and love flitting through worried, busy minds.
Then Frisk said, regretfully, "After lunch, I have to go Underground. Will... will you be okay?" She was asking Asriel, who reached forward and cupped a hand to her cheek gently.
"I plan to be," he said softly. "But I'll call you the second anything changes."
Forgetting everyone else, Frisk grabbed him into a hug and shut her eyes tight. She was trying not to cry, and Asriel could tell.
"She'll be okay, Frisk," Undyne said gently, placing a hand on her shoulder. "She's not alone, okay?"
Frisk looked up at her family and smiled sadly. "Thank you," she said softly.
"Oh, my dear child." Toriel moved closer and hugged both of her children close, and Asgore, unable to help it, did the same. Soon, even Undyne and Papyrus hugged them. Only Alphys, her arms full of Basket, hung back, as did sans, who looked like he wanted to join in but was holding himself back, for reasons known only to him.
Frisk couldn't help it, now: she cried softly, hoping Nicky wouldn't see or hear, holding onto Asriel tight. it was the worst feeling, knowingly leaving when you could very well be needed, fearing that the moment you were gone is the moment you were needed the most. Frisk didn't want to be gone when she was needed, but she also knew that staying would only delay her - and possibly Nicky. She wanted the best for her daughter, and she knew she was as safe as possible here at the school. But Frisk was still terrified.
Her terror was justified, judging by the morning. She just hoped she was wrong for the rest of the day. It was all she wanted, really. Yet even she knew: you don't always get what's owed to you, even if you've earned it more than you can even count.