Ebott's Embassy:

"So ? Did you find anything, Doggo?" asked Asgore to the black and white dog.

This one, a bone biscuit that he had lit in the corner of his lips, shook his head. He wasn't very happy, growling slightly in annoyance, and his paw scratched madly at one of his ears: "Nothing I sniffed was out of the ordinary, sire. But all my instincts tell me that something abnormal has happened. The hairs on my body stand up because it itches so much." To support his words, he showed one of his arms: his fur was bristling like a porcupine.

Although disheartened by this result, the King of the Underground sincerely thanked him for his services, and the dog soldier headed outside to enjoy his pleasure. The small team, led by Asgore, had been searching the place where Frisk had been held for hours. Asgore was devastated, after they had spent all morning researching, that none of them had discovered anything.

In all likelihood, only Frisk had been in the room, and no other person besides him. This makes no sense: someone must have cast this spell, Asgore thought, as he placed his paw again against the door where he had detected this magic. Today, however, the Boss Monster no longer felt anything; giving up, he moved away to think better.

Doggo went to relax, only Greater Dog continued to inspect the place; On all fours and with his nose on the ground, the immense white dog was looking for the slightest thing of interest. But the hope of finding a clue was very low.

Like Asgore, Undyne had moved away to grumble in her corner, very frustrated; she too, with the others, had searched every corner of the room in the hope of finding any clue incriminating Senator Jordan. Now she stood upset, with her back against the wall and mulling over the facts. But the fish monster had to face the facts: there was nothing here. And that irritated her furiously.

What a devious man: how could he have managed to hide the obvious? Her eye was narrowed in displeasure, arms crossed as a finger impatiently tapped her blue bicep. None of her men had any leads, and their powerful noses would not have missed the scent of any human other than their own. She rubbed her red hair violently and sighed in exhaustion when nothing came to mind. They had looked absolutely everywhere, to no avail.

She wondered, also asking her king: "What do we do now, Asgore? It's a waste of time: I doubt we'll be able to find anything from now on. And seeing this guy running in endless circles makes me dizzy," she admitted, pointing to The Greater Dog which always turned.

Sadly, that's the truth, Asgore agreed reluctantly, taking a deep breath as a wave of disappointment rose within him. He wrinkled his thick beard, repulsed by the idea of going back instead of continuing the search. But the goat monster had to accept the truth : Undyne was right. They should probably stop for lack of promising results.

And the idea of having to announce their failure to Toriel, disappointing her once again despite his promise that he would find something, crushed his conscience.

While the king was thinking about making a decision, Greater Dog began to circle the room again for the twentieth time in a row. His mind was focused on only one thing: looking for a clue.

And that was exactly what he had been doing, tirelessly, sniffing for hours now.

When he arrived in front of the mirror, the armored dog monster stopped briefly: the back of his neck was itching. He sat on his hindquarters, raising a hind leg to soothe the ticklish area. Tongue hanging out, his gaze rested on the reflective surface of his reflection, which showed him taking a brief rest. Suddenly, it began to undulate, causing him to stop. In his mind, multiple question marks appeared, and his head fell to the side in confusion. What could it be? In his curiosity, Greater Dog lumbered towards the desk; As he approached, a flash of light under the desk caught his attention, and he poked his head under to see a glistening object on the floor: Frisk's winged heart brooch.

I have to bring back! decided the monster, delicately grabbing the precious object in its mouth, eager to bring it back.

With his tail wagging and the beautiful heart jewel, he prepared to join his group, when the dog raised his head towards the mirror. His smile turned terrified, and a puppy yelp escaped him. We looked at him through the glass: a human face, partially hidden in the darkness. It smiled unnaturally and had horrible red eyes, before suddenly disappearing. The mirror returned to normal, showing nothing but Greater Dog's traumatized expression.

Distraught, he rocketed out of the room, and his large body jumped on the first monster within his reach: Undyne. She, waiting for her king's order, was surprised to hear Greater Dog's unusually high-pitched yap, and turned her head towards him. What was his astonishment, then his dismay when the monster threw itself into his arms, crushing him in its grasp while his captain tried to regain his balance by holding him.

"Gr-Greater Dog...what...are you...doing?" Undyne stammered, crushed by the weight of the monster who refused to let go of her.

"Huh... Reflection. Wicked. Not nice human. In the mirror" he moaned confusedly, showing Asgore and Undyne what had scared him so much.

Both of them saw only a perfectly ordinary and harmless mirror, which reflected their own skeptical expressions. Asgore didn't understand what the poor, frightened monster meant, as he calmly tried to reassure him to release his friend, and Undyne was downright lost and upset. Damn, Doggo, did you give him one of your treats or something? the merfolk monster said angrily, as her muscles began to burn and her back began to twist.

It was in this very humiliating posture that she saw an old cleaning lady appear from the corridor, and she easily recognized her as being the one who had prevented her and Papyrus from doing further damage to the door.

An idea crossed her mind : This human might be able to help us! she hoped, thinking that the employee would have seen something of the evening. As the Greater Dog began to descend from her, flash of intuition caused her to call out: "Hey, you, human! Stop right now!"

The human froze when she heard Undyne call her, hands nervously held her broom as the fish woman strode towards her.

"Tell me, were you working here the day of the brat's speech?" she asked him in a hoarse and deep voice - from exhaustion after almost being crushed by her timid soldier.

It wasn't his attention, but to the woman it was even more intimidating. His voice trembled: "Y-Yes, I was there all day, until late at night."

At this response, Undyne smiled delightedly – and terrifyingly for the housewife, who trembled even more at the sight of the sharp yellow fangs - as the monster held her further for more interrogation. "Great, you'll be able to help us. That day, did you see anything unusual ? Hmmm... I don't really know, like a shady human hanging around or anything?"

Further back, Asgore finished reassuring Greater Dog, stroking the poor doggie's chin and saying reassuring words to him. Much calmer than before, the dog soldier was so relaxed that his jaw opened in contentment and dropped the now drool-covered jewel into Asgore's open palm. The Boss Monster recognized it at first glance as belonging to Frisk and was surprised at Greater Dog's discovery.

"Where did you find this, my friend?" the sovereign asked him, not understanding how they had not seen him until now.

"Under the desk. On the ground. There are two smells on it: that of the nice little human, the other is strange, not human or monster," Greater Dog described to him, proud that his find interested his king.

Asgore became more troubled by what he heard: on the one hand, Frisk had always made sure to put away this gift that had been given to him. When they found him, the little human had changed. So the pin would have been put away, logically. How did it end up hanging around? But maybe that didn't matter.

This thing about smells, however, the big goat wondered, wondering what Greater Dog meant.

An exasperated grumble from Undyne brought him out of his thoughts; he still saw her in front of the former maid, who was growing less comfortable by the second as Undyne fidgeted.

"So let's say a big suspicious-looking man, a racist asshole of monsters, like 'gnagna monsters are bad and all that,' bald from head to toe, with a dirty snake look, that doesn't mean anything to you ? Nothing ?" Undyne asked her for the fifth time in a row, playing on her personal descriptions of Senator Jordan to goad the human.

But her attempts only made the woman even more disturbed: "I... I don't know. I don't think so...I-"

"Please excuse us, ma'am," Asgore intervened, approaching the duo in turn.

Faced with this new monster that had just appeared, larger and more intimidating than Undyne, the housewife seemed on the verge of fainting. The King of the Underground saw this clearly, and noticed that she was currently holding her broom as a weapon to defend herself. However, Asgore's tone remained soft and his expression pleading, as he continued:

"We need your assistance and your memory of this date. You have known this place longer than us, and those who go there frequently. What I am going to tell you must remain secret: the evening my ambassador returned here, something serious happened and he was terribly injured. This is the real reason for its replacement. I'm telling you this because I trust you and your help could help us find out what happened. Please, this is extremely important."

Watching her king and friend share this confidential information with a human civilian, Undyne couldn't help but raise a worried eyebrow. But it was her sovereign's decision, so she decided to remain discreet and believe in him. Asgore knows what he's doing: the big guy may be a clumsy, but he's not dumb, she thought, as the fish monster woman watched the scene carefully.

And he was not: faced with this human who stared at him in disbelief, Asgore could feel deep in her Soul that she was trustworthy and honest. Most of them gave off that impression, and her was a lot like Frisk's. It was this conviction that pushed him to place his trust in her, in order to unravel the mystery that overwhelmed them.

Asgore's plea bore fruit: even if the old woman did not fully understand what was happening, she knew from listening to him how much this group of monsters needed her. And, above all, she recognized that what motivated them was linked to the charming little child, this adorable cutie who often spoke to her and the other employees of the embassy, while helping them in their household with great enthusiasm. She liked him, and the others too enjoyed his company with them.

Learning that something bad had happened to him truly broke his heart. Her expression turned compassionate, replacing her previous apprehension as she shared Asgore's pain. "I'm sorry to hear this, I was completely unaware of this. I sincerely hope that things work out for this little treasure: for my part, tell him get well soon from his friend Dotty from the embassy."

Asgore smiled warmly at these sweet words, appreciating that a friend of Frisk cared about him. In a good mood, he replied with a big smile: "It will be done, Dotty. Frisk will be delighted."

This little exchange dissipated the heavy atmosphere that reigned, and the housewife released her grip on the broom handle, much more at ease. Then a cough from Undyne brought the pair back to reality, as the soldier resumed the conversation :

"Coming back to that, we are convinced that something, or someone, caused the kid to fall into a trap," Undyne explained, trying hard to convey how serious and bad the situation was for the human. "Since this morning, we have been trying to find a clue, but nothing. That's why we're asking you : have you seen something strange after the speech ?"

Pondering her words, Dotty made a thoughtful noise as she tried to remember the evening. Finally, she admitted: "Well, after all the years of working and seeing important people come, I and my colleagues were surprised that this senator had earlier in the evening. Yes, now that I think about it, he hasn't been to this place for a long time: after all, the mayor comes here regularly to transact important business, and it is not unknown to anyone in Ebott that he and Jordan Krim have been bitter political rivals since the city's mayoral elections. Blessed be the Angel that Mr. Stevens is the one chosen."

"This dumb Jordan as mayor? What a nightmare, you mean," Undyne replied with a shiver of disgust that shook her scales, quite agreeing with her. She was sickened just imagining this despicable human ruling the city.

Meanwhile, Asgore had not missed a thing of what their interlocutor had said and repeated what he had understood: "So it is not common for Senator Jordan to come here." And that day, strangely, Frisk was trapped by this occult magic. This is not a trivial detail, he thought discreetly, preferring to keep this reflection to himself.

At least, this discussion had solidified his student's argument: this man must have done something during his visit. And he absolutely had to know what: "Tell me, are you absolutely sure you didn't see anything in this corridor?" the big monster insisted, and Dotty shook her head sadly.

"Alas no, but I was not alone at that time in taking care of the embassy," she revealed to the two monsters who listened attentively. Dotty continued: "I remember the staff list, and the area each worked in. One of my colleagues was there and also took care of this room. She is not here today, but I could bring her to you, so you can question her. And I'll come too, in case something comes to mind."

Asgore was infinitely grateful to her, and thanked profusely the human who helped them so much. He squeezed her hand warmly, and Undyne did the same as they prepared to leave.

Before, the big goat spoke to the human one last time, while the others were leaving, and handed her a small square card which Dotty retrieved: on it, the king's place of residence and his personal number were noted : "Come to my house, in Second Home. Here is my address and phone number. When you and your friend come, I will make us some nice tea so we can chat." Asgore promised her, thanking her again for her generous help and bowed deeply, before leaving the embassy.

Eventually, we might get closer to the truth soon. Asgore was confident. The monster only had to discuss the details with Toriel and future steps.

-oOo-

Underground, New Home:

"I guess it's here," said Toriel, who looked judgingly at the small stall in front of them.

Above, the sign clearly read Seam's Shop. A logo of a spool of thread and a needle represented the profession of the famous monster. The place was located in the heart of New Home: thanks to Hortensia's directions and those of the locals, the little family ended up finding this famous place.

In front of the store, Asriel and Frisk looked at this building which made them feel contradictory emotions: the little monster couldn't help but not like this story, while the human hoped that this new monster would be pleasant company.

He turned to Toriel, asking with anticipation: "Can I knock, Mom?" At her positive nod, Frisk walked to the door. He knocked, three times and distinctly, then all three waited a few moments.

First, there was silence. Then a creaking of wood and, soon, the door opened a little. A purple, clawed, feline paw appeared from the opening. It seemed artificial, made of cotton, where you could see the seam which had come loose a little and revealed the padding.

"Who is here ?" A muffled voice questioned them, while its owner remained in the shelter of his shop.

Such reluctance to show themself, thought Toriel. This is a strange individual, as this little one warned us, the former queen recognized. But could she judge that? Not really, if we judged her own exile. Toriel opened her mouth, ready to introduce herself and her children.

But Frisk, still so enthusiastic, took the initiative and did it for them. He approached: "We are Frisk, Asriel, and our mother, Toriel. Nice to meet you, Mr. Seam."

"How do you know my name?"

"Your friend, Hortensia, told us to come to you. She advised us to meet you, to fix my sweater." Frisk revealed to him, eagerly holding out his own clothing towards the space.

From the gap, a button of clothing observed with attention the small human child, then the rest of the monsters behind. After a some seconds, they heard a sigh, then the monster walked away, muttering, "Still sending people at me, can never be at peace...", as the door opened wide.

The two goat monsters and the young human discover the mysterious weaver: it was a big purple cat, wrapped in a white coat.

Frisk was surprised to realize that his entire body was a living stuffed animal. Is he like Mad Dummy? he wondered, as the child observed the details of the strange monster.

Above his head, a black square had been sewn, like a piece of fabric used to patch a missing piece. Two wires had been connected from a smiling mouth to the thick beard, and a left eye was missing where only a disturbing abyssal black remained. Even their one remaining button, which rolled as he watched the strangers at their doorstep, seemed ready to come off because of the scar beneath it.

Their pointed ears, stained yellow, twitched and their crooked muzzle wrinkled. "All right, come in, fellow," the old stuffed cat invited them, waving a paw to usher the family into their Seam's Shop.

Only Asriel was slow to come, staying outside longer. He was as if frozen, petrified on the spot. And it was this Seam who was responsible. This monster, the young Boss Monster realized, without understanding what he had seen just now. When I was Flowey, I encountered every creature in the Underground at least once. But him... I had never met him before.

What did this mean?