"NGGAAAAAAAAHHHH! STOP RUNNING, YOU COWARDLY MIDGETS!"
"How about no!?"
"C'MERE AND FACE ME LIKE A MAN!"
"About half of us a girls, dummy!"
"Sat, Sati, shut your trap! You are only making the lizard angrier!"
"I'm merely stating the facts, Lizzy!"
"Can we please just focus of running and dodging instead of sassing her!?"
"Like keeping our mouths shut will make her stop chasing us!"
". . . How did I survive ten years living under the same roof as all of you?"
"You're questioning that now, Just?!"
"GOTTA GO FAST, GUYS! GOTTA GO FAST!"
"Now is not the time for memes, Gerard!"
"C, there is always a time for memes–!"
"AXE TO THE RIGHT!"
At Jaede's shriek of terror, Gerard sidestepped, narrowly avoiding said weapon. It dispersed in an instant after crashing on the rocky path. The fallen children are running for quite some time now, being pursued by a relentless, hot-blooded reptilian monster who kept on throwing golden axes at them.
They already sprinted past a variety of landmarks and infrastructure, including but not limited to: a wide river with floating blocks of ice on its surface; a statue that resembles a human in a cloak surrounded by glowing crystals shaped like flowers; a quartz dome with a sign that says "bucket ham palace" hanging above its entrance; a gigantic chessboard using carpets as modified chess pieces; a ridiculously tall cobblestone tower with horizontal pink stripes at its base; boulders spelling the words LOVE and FEAR in the background with the latter word crossed out by red paint; and a shop with colossal fireworks protruding on its rooftop. Still, Alphys remained hot on their trail like a lone wolf on a hunt, as if the battle earlier didn't exhaust her as much as they thought.
Then again, the kids seem to be just fine with speedrunning the route that connects the Waterfall to the Hotlands even after all that dodging they did during their encounter with the Royal Guard's Captain.
Whilst dashing past an obnoxious neon sign hammered on a cliffside that says "WELCOME TO THE WATERFALL", Viorel's phone suddenly rang. The blunette yelped and nearly tripped in surprise, while his siblings looked at him in varying degrees of confusion and curiosity.
"Answer it." A certain red eyes brunette said.
"We're on the run, Chara." Justin countered, looking over his shoulder as he shot an axe hurling towards Alice and another about to crash onto him.
Chas shrugged, leaning left to avoid one of the golden weapons. "Could be Dad."
"All the more reason why we should not answer it." Alice deadpanned. The other kids nodded collectively.
"Could be Sans then." Chara said.
"And why should we answer it if it is indeed Sans?" Alice arched a brow, dodging an axe that nearly slashed her ponytail. Again.
". . . Because he's a friend?" Jaede spoke.
"Because he might give us a tip that may, or may not, save our skins?" Gerard chirped.
"Because he's going to tell us to hang out with the lizard who wants to murder us in cold blood?" Saturn giggled.
Viorel stared at her. "The heck, Sati?"
"Because the ringing is getting really annoying now?" Justin grumbled, shooting another incoming axe.
"Because it's impolite not to answer a call, especially if someone you know is calling?" Chara stated like it's a fact or a rule to be followed.
With an exasperated sigh, Viorel pulled the phone out of his inventory. "I'll just answer the call regardless of why." He signed swiftly, avoiding another blade aiming for at his leg. Pressing the answer button without looking at the caller's ID, he probably jumped a few feet in the air when a certain chubby skeleton's voice hollered from the other side of the line.
"HEY!! WASSUP!?"
"DA CEILING!" Gerard screeched. His siblings actually laughed at that, and, despite himself, Viorel allowed himself to grin at his older brother's remark.
"VERY FUNNY." Sans snorted. The kids can imagine him rolling his starry pinpricks in amusement. "ANYWAYS, I WAS JUST THINKING. . . YOU GUYS, ME AND ALPHYS SHOULD ALL HANG OUT SOMETIME!"
Viorel nearly dropped his phone. Justin looked at the said gadget like it has committed and gotten away with several heinous atrocities.
"I THINK YOU WOULD MAKE GREAT PALS!" Sans continued in a gleeful tone.
"No we will not!" Alice objected.
"LET'S MEET UP AT HER HOUSE LATER!" The skeleton concluded, ignoring her protest.
"But she's–!" Jaede started. Before she can finish her sentence, Sans ended the call. ". . . chasing us. . ." The green eyed brunette trailed off. She yelped when an axe brushed her shoulder by inches.
"Told you so!" Saturn chimed.
Justin groaned in exasperation. "Sati, zip your mouth."
Passing by a ravine underneath a small dirt shack and a hotdog van that sells "drugs" on brewing stands, the group finally arrived at the entrance of the Hotlands. The sudden shift in temperature made some of the kids wince, especially those whose clothes were meant to withstand the cold and not the heat. Their steps faltered ever so slightly the moment sweltering steam from the boiling lava below replaced the once moist and cool air of the Waterfall.
"C'mon guys! Metal conducts heat, remember!?" Chara urged, running even quicker than the rest despite the fact that he's wearing something black while traversing a volcanic biome. It's as if the heat rejuvenated the brunette instead of exhausting him to the point of having a heatstroke.
"You do know that her armour could have been enchanted to protect it's wearer from the heat or cold, right?" Alice spoke.
"What's it enchanted with then? FIRE PROTECTION?" Gerard exclaimed, summoning his spear to bat away an axe soaring towards his head.
"But this AU ain't Minecraft." Saturn said.
"That, or a similar kind of reinforcement." Alice replied, ignoring Saturn's comment. "Considering her choice of clothing, the lizard should be sweating buckets like us at this very moment. But, it seems like the heat doesn't bother her at all, which can only lead to the conclusion that yes, her armor was enchanted to protect whoever wears it from the smoldering temperature of this place."
"So the bucket she's wearing is not a normal bucket but a magic bucket?" Gerard asked. "Yah think she can swim in lava with that outfit?"
"Yes! And I don't know! Enough exposition, she's gaining on us!" Justin shouted, shooting another axe.
At his peripheral vision, Chara noticed an empty sentry station. A certain cigarette-smoking, honey-loving skeleton in an orange hoodie who was assigned to guard it and the surrounding area is nowhere to be found. Alphys seemed to notice that as well, for she paused by the station to briefly scan the place for the eldest skele-sibling. When she didn't spot the guy, the Captain stomped her feet in irritation before she continued to chase the kids.
Whilst traversing a particularly narrow route flanked on both sides by flowing rivers of lava, the children were forced to run in a single file with Saturn and Chara at the helm and Gerard and Justin at the back. The two eldest boys kept on shooting and batting away any axe that hurtled too close to their line, while the youngest two, the ones with the highest agility and speed stats in the group, led the way across the Mustafar-esque section of the Underground.
The land Viorel stepped on suddenly broke and plummeted towards the sea of molted rock below, and the blunette would've followed in an instant if it weren't for a certain blonde running behind him. Alice caught her younger brother by the shoulders and pushed him back on track. The INTEGRITY boy shot her a grateful glance before he sprinted even faster, giving the PATIENCE girl enough space to quicken her pace.
The land Alphys stomped on also cracked and fell; however, unlike the kids who have each other's backs, she is but a wolf without a pack to rely on. When she made that misstep, no one would dare pull her up. After all, none of her loved ones are here right now, ready to lend their unconditional support. It's just her and her alone against the possible descendants of the very people who sealed away Monsterkind thousands of years ago. They wouldn't help an enemy. Alphys knows she won't. At least, that's what she thought.
She only registered the feeling of nimble digits wrapped around her arm when the said limb was suddenly tugged, suspending her in midair. Her feet dangled meters above the lava river, the enchanted plates of her salvations protecting her feet from the scorching heat. It took her brain a while to process that no, she's probably not going to be swimming in molten rock anytime soon, and yes, one of the humans probably helped her.
"Guys! A little help here!?"
Alphys' line of sight trailed upwards, zeroing on the boy's dark brown hair and crimson red irises. So it's the one with the red Soul. Scratch that, one of the humans definitely helped her.
"What the hell, Chara!?" The child with the yellow Soul exclaimed in disbelief.
"She's going to fall! Help me pull her up!" Chara said, tightening his grip around the Captain's arms lest she slip from his grasp and plummet into the searing river below.
"Alright!" The girl with the green Soul, who greatly resembles the boy bearing the yellow one, nodded in affirmation before nearing the edge. She knelt beside Chara and extended her arms. "Please reach out your other hand." She spoke in a polite tone despite the obvious fear that lingered behind her emerald orbs.
"Jaede!" Justin yelled.
"She tried to kill us!" Viorel signed furiously.
"That doesn't mean we should do the same!" Jaede shot back as Alphys reluctantly reached out her free limb towards the female brunette.
"That was her mistake! Its not like we pushed her or anything!" Justin hissed.
"Still, it'd be wrong to leave her to that kind of fate when we can do something!" His twin argued.
"Well, I choose not to do anything about it. With her out of the picture, the less problems we'd have." Viorel scoffed.
"Vi!" Jaede gasped while Chara gawked at him, mildly horrified of the blunette's suggestion. Saturn and Alice arched a brow, the former due to mild amusement and the latter out of surprise. Gerard's jaw dropped as his eyes widened, a look that would've been comical if it weren't for the context of the situation. Justin blinked in shock, despite agreeing with what Viorel had said the younger was never the vicious type.
"I'll help." Saturn immediately spoke up. "But if she tries anything funny, she's dust." With that, the dark haired girl strode towards Jaede and Chara. She plopped between the two. . . and squashed Alphys' face between her hands. Everyone, even the Captain of the Royal Guard, stared at her in silent incredulity.
"What?" Saturn shrugged.
"C'mon Just, Vi, Liz, let's help them." Gerard urged.
"Don't wanna." Viorel signed.
"Eye for an eye, Jerry." Justin said.
Alice merely crossed her arms.
"Stubborn oafs I swear. . ." The orange head grumbled, forcing the rusty gears in his head to turn.
"OI GERARD! You're the one with the super strength here! Help us!" Chara whined.
"Ssssshhhhhh! He's thinking, C. Let him exercise his brain for once." Saturn mock-whispered, glancing at the eldest child's general direction.
"Just pull guys!" Jaede encouraged, wondering how she managed to hold onto Alphys for so long on her own. Absentmindedly, Chara wondered the same thing before he realized that the Captain never fell off a cliff in the original Pacifist Timelines. Rather, a rogue stalagmite fell from the ceiling and knocked her out cold. Then Papyrus appeared out of nowhere and teleported them to Alphys' house. After a series of unfortunate events following the reptilian monster's return to consciousness, Chara became friends with her.
"God, why is she sooooo heavy?" Saturn complained, not bothering to even lower the volume of her voice.
Alphys hissed at her. "Are you calling me fat?!"
"Yeah."
"Sati!" Jaede shot her a scolding glance.
"For your information, I AM PURE MUSCLE!"
"Whatever helps you sleep at night."
"NGAAAAHH! ONCE MY HANDS FIND THEIR WAY AROUND YOUR NECK–!"
A light bulb pinged over Gerard's head. He suddenly grabbed Justin's shoulders and started shaking the yellow eyed brunette with the force of a magnitude 7 earthquake.
"She'd owe us!" Gerard screeched. "She'd owe us if we help her! Remember the Oath of the Guard Dad told us back then?!"
The Oath of the Guard. A list of ten solemn declarations a member of the Royal Guard must memorize by heart and swear to live by for as long as they are in service. It is recited during the final phase of a new recruit's inauguration, the last step they needed to take in order to become an official member of the order serving directly under the Royal Family's command. In the days of old, these oaths are much closer to a set of imposing rules rather than just a queue of virtues. Breaking one or two are even punishable by death in certain circumstances. But with time comes change, and eventually the punishments became less and less severe until the Oath of the Guard was reduced to being a mere ceremonial right. For most monsters, that is.
"Not everyone follows letters on paper Jerry." Justin grumbled, shoving the orange head off of him.
"Goatfather said that they actually wrote it on a clay tablet, buuuuuuut I see your point." Gerard tattled. "The thing is, one of those oaths says 'return kindness with gratitude' or something like that riiiiiiight? And if my deduction of rustbucket's personality is correct–"
Alice's brow arched. "You know the word deduction?"
"You mean whatever Sati had whispered to you." Justin scoffed.
"AND IF MY DEDUCTION OF RUSTBUCKET'S PERSONALITY IS CORRECT," Gerard shrieked to emphasize his statement, "then she's an avid follower of the oath and if we managed to successfully help her–"
"She would owe us." Alice deadpanned.
"Yep!" The elder nodded vigorously.
Silence.
"Fine!" Alice exclaimed.
"Whatever." Viorel signed.
"If she attempts to attack us, I'm shooting her and I don't care if the puppeteer doesn't want that!" Justin seethed.
Gerard blinked, and Chara slowly turned his head to state at the yellow eyed brunette. ". . . Wha?? Oi, Justus, who are you talking about?"
"No one, let's go and get this over with." With that, Justin stormed towards the cliff and grabbed the arm being held by Jaede.
"Heh heh, you're getting influenced by Sati." Gerard teased, positioning himself beside Chara with a reluctant Alice. Viorel took the side of the twins, making it even three by three with Saturn in the middle.
Because Gerard mildly channelled his magic as they pulled, his side ended up lifting Alphys earlier than the others. The Captain took advantage of this, raising her right leg to dig her heel on the edge of the cliff which allowed the kids to pull her up faster and much easier.
Once they were sure that Alphys wouldn't just roll down below or anything similar, the group instantly scrambled backwards, hiding behind the safety of Jaede's layered shield. Saturn whipped out his scythe and Justin loaded his revolver despite the warning glance from their green eyed sister. Alice's cyan irises glowed threateningly, while Viorel's countenance contorted into a snarl not unlike that of a cornered wild animal. Chara and Gerard just stared at the Captain, neither relaxed nor wary of her uncomfortably close proximity to their group. The human children watched Alphys like a hawk, their unblinking gazes meeting her own. After what seems to be an eternity of complete stillness, the reptilian monster left without a word. She owes them, and she doesn't need to ask the kids what kind of favor they wanted to cash in. Its pretty obvious.
The moment they are certain that Alphys wouldn't suddenly whirl around and turn them into living pin cushions for her axes, the group breathed out sighs of relief they didn't know they've been holding. Jaede's shield and Saturn's scythe vanished into thin air while Justin sheathed his gun, yelping in surprise when his twin suddenly pulled him into a tight hug. Alice buried her face in her hands as the glow of her eyes subsided. Viorel plopped on the group next to her, tremors racking his figure as he tried to get a hold of himself.
"What now?" Gerard questioned, patting Alice on the head before he sat beside Viorel. The blunette leaned against him, fluffy hair tickling the orange head's neck as the younger rested his head on his shoulder. Saturn sat and leaned against Gerard's other side with a huff, her purple orbs meeting Chara's crimson ones.
The brunette chuckled nervously. "Well, we still gotta hang out with Sans and Alphys, remember?"
✨ • ✨ • ✨
A/N I finally resurfaced from the depths of paperwork and procrastination I have descended into.
. . . Then I'mma gonna go back into said depths of paperwork and procrastination.