Chapter 4
Ink floated through the Doodlesphere where he lived, soon finding the door to OceanPatch and finding it sealed with magic. He carefully used his own magic to rest on the magic there, knowing it would alert the guardian of the AU.
A moment later, a skeleton with blonde hair appeared, her eyes widening at seeing him. "Ink?" She asked, making the magic barrier fall and allowing him in, looking worried. "Do you have any idea where Refract and Volcano are?"
"No, and that's why I'm here," he said. "It sounds like Volcano when to attack Frisk from the Classic timeline because Refract gave her the power to heal the AUs."
Tala's eyes widened. "So he did manage to get to the Classic timeline," she said. "Refract had mentioned that he felt Frisk was our best shot to having a happy ending, but he wanted to see if she would help other AUs and not just ours." She looked curious. "How many AUs has she healed so far?"
"She only managed to heal Aftertale before Volcano attacked," Ink said. "He managed to shut the portal to her timeline down and nearly struck her down with a fireball. Error and I were just able to pull her to safety in the nick of time."
Tala looked saddened. "Volcano feels that humans will never accept us or be good," she said.
"Why?" He asked.
She gestured with her hand. "Come see for yourself," she said.
She led Ink to the beach outside the rocky caves that served as the monsters' houses. Opa was nearby with his little brother Papyrus, who was better known as GlassPatch, because though young, he loved to fix things with sea glass art. Both Opa and GlassPatch were cleaning up trash while two others that Ink saw to be the AU's Undyne and Alphys kept watch. "No humans today," the former said.
"Good," the latter said.
GlassPatch looked sad. "Why are humans so cruel?" He asked, picking up a bit of blue seaglass.
Opa looked at his shorter, younger brother. "A lot of them just are, bro," he said sadly to the youngster.
Tala came up to them and both turned to see her and Ink. "Hey, Ink," Opa said.
"Mister Ink!" GlassPatch said excitedly, running up to him and jumping into his arms.
The painter skeleton caught the youngster, who was no bigger than Frisk, and chuckled. "Hey, kiddo," he said. "Did you find a bunch of seaglass?"
"Yeah!" He said before looking shy and pulling out something from his pocket. It was a small clamshell and it was decorated beautifully with blue, green, and white seaglass. "Um...I made that for...for your mate," he admitted bashfully. "Because...Because she was nice to me."
Ink smiled, remembering when he and his mate had visited last time and Charlotte had not only hunted for seaglass with GlassPatch, she also defended him from two humans who had come to harass the monsters there at the beach caves. Tala and Opa had come out with Gaster Blasters ready to fight, which had scared off the two human bullies, relieved that GlassPatch was safe thanks to Charlotte.
The painter looked at the small skeleton. "I'll be sure to give it to her," he said. "And I'll tell her it's from you."
"Do you think she'll like it?" The young skeleton asked shyly.
"She'll love it," Ink reassured him.
Opa stood up. "Something happened, didn't it?" He asked.
The painter skeleton nodded. "Volcano and Refract were in Aftertale, last I knew," he said. "But when I checked the AU after Frisk passed out, they weren't there anymore."
"Frisk?"
"From the Classic timeline."
"But why?" Opa asked. "She's just a kid and she freed the monsters from the Underground. She's a good kid, so why did Volcano go to attack her?"
"Because of her powers, my love," Tala said. "Our dear brother gave Frisk her powers to heal the AUs and I fear Volcano will stop at nothing to stop Frisk."
"Why?"
"From the sounds of it, he fears she will misuse her powers," Ink said.
Opa sighed. "He fears she'll turn evil," he said in realization. "Like the humans we deal with all the time."
"Wait, you guys have no human allies?" Ink asked.
"Not one, save for your mate," Tala said sadly. "Humans came after us and drove us to flee here and make our homes in these caves. We've managed to get by and sometimes what humans throw at us is still usuable. But I do have to sneak into the towns on certain days to get food."
Her mate nodded sadly. "We've even had to steal from the churches that have food for the needy," he said. "We don't like doing so though and we've been leaving them some gold to make up for stealing food, but...it's been a struggle."
Ink felt saddened for them. "I can talk to Frisk and see if she'd be willing to help you guys," he said.
"I don't know, Ink," Tala said. "If Volcano's after her, it might be best not to bring Frisk here."
"Volcano's very protective of us," GlassPatch said softly. "He doesn't like humans."
Ink sighed sadly. "I'm still going to ask her," he said. "But...will he listen if he sees with his own two eyes that Frisk will not abuse her power?"
"Maybe," Opa said. "He's very stubborn."
Tala placed a hand on Ink's arm. "Protect that child, Ink," she said. "We'll talk to Volcano when we see him. Hopefully our brother can bring him back here."
Just then, Refract appeared and he looked hurt, burn marks on his hands and face. "Brother!" GlassPatch cried out, running up to him.
"What happened?!" Opa asked in alarm.
Refract coughed a little, taking some deep breaths and Tala began healing him. "Volcano," he said. "He...He's determined to find the child."
Ink bit his lip before making a decision. "I'll be back when I can," he said. "We may need some help if we're going to get Volcano to listen."
"Good luck, Ink, and be careful," Tala said. "You tell the child to be careful too and to make sure she keeps her promise."
"I will."
Ink headed back home where the other three were. When they saw him, they could tell the news wasn't great. "What did you find out?" Charlotte asked.
"OceanPatch has no human allies besides you, my love," he said. "It's the reason Volcano is determined to get to Frisk. He feels no humans are good and if a human has power...,"
"He's scar-scared," Error said in realization.
"Scared?" Frisk asked.
The dark skeleton nodded and looked at her. "Volcano is react-reacting in fear," he said. "He's judge-jugding you based on the hum-humans in his own AU."
"But...I won't hurt anyone," she said. "I want everyone to have a happy ending, including him."
Ink smiled. "Glad you feel that way, kiddo," he said. "Because we're going to help you."
Charlotte smiled. "I had a feeling you were going to say that," she said, hugging her mate.
"Oh, by the way," he said, giving his mate GlassPatch's gift. "A little skeleton made this for you, my love."
The young woman gasped as she saw it, handling it gently. "It's so beautiful," she said.
Frisk saw it and smiled. "It does look pretty," she said before looking curious. "Who's GlassPatch?"
"He's OceanPatch's Papyrus," Ink explained. "He's actually just around your age."
She nodded and stood up. "I'm going to give their AU a happy ending," she said. "And I'll do the same for all of them. I'll prove to Volcano that I'm not going to misuse my power or hurt anyone. If I can get Undyne to stop fighting me and convince Asgore to end the war, then I can prove to Volcano that we don't have to fight and I'll give his AU the happy ending it deserves."
"Atta girl," Charlotte said, proud of the child.
Error nodded. "So, which AU is next on the list?" He asked.
Looks like Frisk has some allies and is still determined. :)
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GoldGuardian2418
