Chapter 3

Seeing the girls were still a bit afraid, but calming down, Gaster smiled. "Why don't you girls tell us your names?" He suggested.

"Why?" Frisk asked.

He smiled patiently. "I'm sure you'd rather be called by your names than just 'girls'," he said gently.

Chara's mouth twitched as she tried not to giggle, but Ava's sharp hearing picked up that the child found Gaster's explanation amusing.

"I agree with my brother," Papyrus said before kneeling down in front of the two to be at their level, though he did still tower over them a little. "Please tell us? I'm sure you both have lovely names."

Frisk smiled. "I'm Frisk," she said.

"And I'm Chara," Chara said. "We're both ten years old."

"Twins?" Ava asked gently.

The girls shook their heads. "We had different Moms," Frisk said before looking away. "Our daddy...he wasn't very nice."

"Ava and I saw that when we saw him chasing you two with a gun," Sans said.

The rest of the morning passed quietly and that afternoon, a knock came at the door. Ava went to open it and she gasped in happiness. "Grillby!" She said, a smile on her face as she welcomed the fire elemental in.

Frisk and Chara backed up in surprise at seeing a tall person made of fire come in. He carried a box that looked familiar, setting it aside before turning to Ava and smiling. "Ava, my love," he said, pulling her into a hug and kissing her. She kissed him back as two hearts suddenly came into view. One was yellow and had an old-time scale on it with blue flames on both sides of the scale and the other was a orange heart outlined with yellow and had a blue flame on it.

"What's that?" Chara asked curiously.

"I don't know," Frisk said, cocking her head to the side puzzledly.

Ava and Grillby parted and the young woman smiled as she turned to the children. "Those hearts represent our innermost selves," she explained. "And the marks show if someone is intended or under someone's protection."

Seeing they looked more confused, Grillby chuckled. "Marked means there is something that others can see," he said. "What do you see on these two?"

"This one has a blue flame," Chara said, indicating to the orange heart.

"The yellow one has something with fire," Frisk said.

"Scales," Ava said gently. "That's my mark and the blue fire is for the love between Grillby and I."

"The blue flame is my mark on Ava," Grillby said gently. "She is my intended."

"Intended?" Frisk asked.

"Like as in...you guys are married?" Chara asked.

Ava chuckled. "Not yet, but someday," she said gently before she thought of something and turned to the girls. "Girls, hold still a moment, please."

They did and she closed her eyes, two red hearts appearing in front of her and she opened her eyes, eyes widening as she realized what she was looking at. "Sans! Can you come in here, please?" The young woman called out.

Sans was there in an instant. "What's up?" He asked before seeing the red hearts and what was on them. "Oh, snap," he said, looking a bit worried.

"What?" Frisk asked.

Ava sighed. "Girls, Sans and I have something to tell you," she said. "You two are marked as well."

She turned the hearts to face them. A picture of a gavel and scales was on both hearts and the girl looked at Ava curiously. She nodded. "The scales are my mark, as you know, but the gavel is Sans' mark," she explained. "Whenever we use our judge and jury powers, marks appear on the person's innermost self."

"These are called protection marks," Sans explained. "You two are under both Ava's and mine protection. Anyone who will see these won't dare hurt you for fear of incurring mine and Ava's wrath."

Seeing the girls looked a bit scared, Grillby spoke up. "It's not a bad thing, girls," he said gently. "And none of the other monsters will hurt you."

Chara looked thoughtful. "But...what if all monsters aren't as nice as you guys?" She asked.

Ava smiled gently, knowing the child was bringing up a valid point. "Then they'll be in big trouble," she said. "Because Sans and I would come at once to your aid."

Frisk bit her lip, looking unsure. Seeing this, Grillby held his arms out and open in the gesture of asking if the child wanted a hug. She looked surprised and cautiously came forward. Chara was right behind her and watching closely as Frisk looked uncertain, but bravely kept moving forward. When Grillby's arms gently surrounded the two, he felt them both relax instantly and he looked surprised. "You two have never been hugged before?" He asked gently.

Both girls looked up at him. "Not in a long time," Chara admitted.

"Our dad wasn't really...friendly that way," Frisk said.

Grillby smiled gently. "Well lucky for you two, the skeleton brothers, Ava, and myself are huggers," he said.

The girls giggled, feeling less uncertain about the fire elemental. Gaster then came in and he smiled. "I thought I smelled pizza," he said. "Hello, Grillby."

"Hello, Gaster," the fire monster said before looking at his intended and the girls. "Well, shall we have lunch?"

That was met with agreement and as they were enjoying lunch, Frisk thought of someone and looked at Ava. "Miss Ava, can I ask you something?" She asked.

"Of course, hon," the young woman said. "What's on your mind?"

The child took a deep breath. "Amelia," she said. "She's my best friend and...I think her dad isn't nice to her."

Ava nodded. "Do you know where she lives?" She asked.

"A road away from the school to the right," the child said. "I don't know the name of it, but it's got three mailboxes at the end."

The young woman nodded. "I'll go check on her for you," she promised.

After lunch...

Thanks to her being half-human, it was easy for Ava to blend in with the other humans and walk among them without causing panic. She easily found the school, having passed by there many times. She found the road with three mailboxes Frisk was talking about. She went down the road before coming up to three houses that looked very pristine on the outside. She saw kids' toys in two of the yards, so she ruled those homes out as the one where Frisk's friend lived. Not only that, her sharp hearing picked up laughter of the children inside and the loving voices of the parents gently telling the kids to settle down in one house. Another house had a father reading his children a story, which made her smile.

The third house, however, she could feel something was off. Granted, it looked fine, but she noted no kids' toys and the atmosphere seemed much too quiet for the middle of the day. Suddenly, her sharp hearing picked up on the sound of a door opening and she looked, but the front door was closed and the noise of the door opening sounded much softer than it should. On a hunch, Ava moved quietly around to the back part of the house, seeing a young girl who looked to be the same age as Frisk and Chara leaving the house quietly, glancing around as if afraid of being caught. Just as the child shut the door, a man appeared on the balcony above the door. "There you are, you little brat!" He snarled, making the child jump and scream in shock and fear. When the man jumped the balcony and pulled out a jack knife, Ava decided that she had seen enough and sent Sans a text, to which he came to her right away, his left eye lighting up blue as he caught the man who had just raised the knife and the child was cowering on the ground.

Quickly, the young woman went up to the child, picking her up and wrapping her dark-purple cloak around her. "Shh," she soothed the child.

Sans did a check on the man. "HP: 300, Attack: 90, Defense: 120, LV: 15," he said, his voice echoing. "Abuses his daughter for no reason."

"Verdict of the accused," Ava said, her voice echoing too. "Guilty."

The skeleton then turned to the trembling child in his friend's arms and did a check on her. "HP: 20, Attack: 1, Defense: 5, LV: 1. Wants to escape from her father."

"Verdict of the child: innocent."

A small purple heart appeared in front of them and the gavel and scales mark appeared on it. Ava looked at the man. "This child is under our protection. You come near her again, you will answer to us."

The man was too startled to answer, especially when some dragon skulls appeared. He passed out from the shock while Ava gave the child to Sans and quickly went into the house, finding the child's pretty much sparse room and grabbing the few belongings the little one had. She then had an idea and went outside to the child. "Is your name Amelia?" She asked gently.

The child nodded. "Where does your friend Frisk live?" The young woman asked.

The child pointed out the way and Ava slipped inside, grabbing the girls' belongings too, finding their room to be sparse too. "We've got to fix up a room for them," she said to herself before meeting Sans outside. "Let's go before someone spots us."

Nodding, the skeleton teleported them all back to the forest and they headed in, the child clinging to Sans as she whimpered. "Shh, it's okay, kiddo," he said. "That man will never hurt you again."

The child looked at them with wide, fearful eyes. "Shh," Ava said soothingly. "We won't hurt you, sweetie. We're going to keep you safe."

"Do you have any family besides your father?" Sans asked.

Amelia shook her head. "Then you'll stay with us until we can find you, Chara, and Frisk a good home," Ava said gently as they arrived and went into the house. Grillby greeted them as they came in and his eyes fell upon the frightened child in his friend's arms.

"Ah, you must be Amelia," he said, smiling at the girl. "Frisk was telling us about you."

She looked at him unsurely, tears still falling down her face. Sans rubbed her back and then gently lifted the child up to Grillby, who accepted her and began rocking her. "Shh, don't cry, sweet one," the fire elemental cooed to her, gently wiping away her tears as she went limp with fear against him. "You're safe here."

"It's going to take some time, Grillby," Ava said gently.

Frisk came into the room and her face lit up at seeing her friend. "Amelia!" She said happily.

The child perked up and looked to see her best friend there. "Frisk?" She asked, speaking for the first time, reaching out for her friend, who came up and took her hand, squeezing it gently.

"It's okay," the child said. "They may look a bit scary, but they're nice."

The monsters didn't take offense as they knew to someone who had never seen them before, they could be frightening to look at. Amelia began to calm down, especially when she saw Chara, who was giggling as Gaster tickled her playfully as they came into the room. "Ah, there she is," said the skeleton with a smile.

Chara giggled. "Hi, Amelia!" She said happily.

"Hi," Amelia said shyly.

Grillby chuckled before noticing that the child in his arms had the same protection marks from Ava and Sans. "Ava. Sans. Would you two be alright with me putting the children under my protection as well?" He asked.

Sans nodded. "No one would dare mess with them then," he said.

The fire elemental kneeled down, gesturing for Frisk and Chara to come closer. "You three know you bear both Sans' and Ava's protection marks," he said. "I will now add mine."

"Will it hurt?" Chara asked, looking a bit unsure.

"No," Grillby soothed. "I promise it won't."

A ring of fire surrounded the four of them, but it was a warm, gentle fire. Three hearts, two red and one purple, came into view and the flames drew closer, not burning as they surrounded the three hearts. The gentle warmth filled the three girls and they felt safe. An orange flame appeared on all three hearts before they went back to the three children. Grillby smiled. "You three are also under my protection too," he said.

"Does that mean...our mean daddies can...never get us?" Frisk asked.

"Yes," Sans said. "They'll never get you or hurt you again."

"We'll make sure of it," Ava promised before she remembered something. "Oh, by the way, we got your stuff."

She held up three backpacks that had the kids' things and all three kids looked happy to have those. "Thank you," Chara said.

"Oooh! Does this mean we can set up a room for them?" Papyrus asked excitedly.

Gaster looked at the girls. "Would you three be okay sharing a room?" He asked.

They looked surprised. "For...real?" Frisk asked, looking hopeful.

"For real," Sans said with a smile, ruffling her hair.

Ava smiled, seeing the kids were more relaxed now and Amelia seemed to be alright being held by Grillby. He looked at her and nodded and she nodded back.

We're going to keep these kids safe, she thought to herself. No matter what.

Looks like the kids have three protectors now. :)

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GoldGuardian2418