The Smile Has Left Your Eyes 5/8?
Previous | Master Post
Chapter 4
Frisk and Chara
“Alphys checked all the camera feeds and didn’t find anything,” Sam reported as the two pairs of brothers left Grillby’s. “The few shots of Frisk she did find out of the ordinary could have been passed off as sleepwalking. But I called Walsh, and he said there’d been a few complaints of small animal mutilation outside of town in November and December-that’s the county’s jurisdiction, but because the damage looked like it had been caused by a knife, the reports got forwarded to Angela. And get this: the last one before New Year’s was a black cat apparently killed on the solstice.”
Dean hissed. “Wouldn’t have thought someone could get away with that level of mojo this close to a Seelie court.”
“For this stuff to be found, it’d have to be outside the glamour field. Walsh said he’d map the incidents for us to be sure. But of course, since it’s a question of magic... we do have a couple of experts we could ask.”
The Winchesters turned as one to the skeletons.
“this sounds like work,” Sans objected.
“SANS!” Papyrus chided. “THE SAFETY OF ALL MONSTERKIND DEPENDS ON IT!”
“Dude, all you have to do is look at a map,” Dean said. “We’ll drive.”
Papyrus gasped, and Dean could almost have sworn he got literal stars in his eyes. “A RIDE IN A REAL MUSCLE CAR?! WOWIE!!!”
Sans’ smile turned fond. “heh. paps loves cars. and we don’t have any up here-the tuatha de conjured up some vans for the halloween shopping trip, but we’d probably have to go to salmon or someplace even farther afield to get to a car dealership.”
“WILL YOU COME WITH US, THEN?”
“eh, all right. just for you, bro.”
“YAY! THANK YOU, SANS!”
“we’ll need disguises, though.”
“Groucho glasses do not count,” Sam stated.
“aw, c’mon!”
“You have no appreciation for the classics, Sam,” Dean agreed.
Sam snorted. “No. I’ve got a better idea.”
So it was that ten minutes later, two ersatz Feds walked into the Ebott Police Department followed by two figures whose hands were hidden by gloves and whose faces were covered by ski masks and mirrored goggles. When the latter didn’t remove even their goggles once they were inside, the desk officer, a lady with a nametag that read O’Brien, raised a questioning eyebrow.
“Skin condition,” Dean deadpanned.
Sans coughed loudly to warn Papyrus not to groan.
Sam held up a hand. “These gentlemen have agreed to help us on condition of anonymity. They’re not suspects, but... well, let’s just say it’s a very insular community.”
“Oh, right, the preppers!” O’Brien replied. “How’d you even find them?”
Sam smiled and shook his head. “That’s classified.”
“Really? Wow. Okay, well, here’s Jerry’s report from this morning, and here’s the map Tom said you’d be coming for.” O’Brien handed a folder and a map to Sam. “Did you want to go over them here?”
“If you don’t mind, yeah. Did the crime scene team find anything else at Mrs. Sullivan’s house?”
“Not that I know of, but we probably won’t get their report until Monday. I’d ask the guys if they’ve heard, but Jerry’s out doing the press circuit, and Tom’s gone to check on Angela. No idea when they’ll be back.”
Dean nodded. “Gotcha. You guys have a conference room or something?”
“No, but you can use the break room. It’s-”
“We know where it is, thanks.”
“Oh, okay. Did you... need me to call Tom or anything?”
“No, thank you,” Sam replied. “We probably won’t be here for more than a few minutes. Just need to make sure the evidence supports our current theory before we go out to the mine to chase down our best lead.”
O’Brien paled. “The mine?!”
“Can you think of a better place for a killer to hide?” Dean asked.
“Well, no, but... but... it’s dangerous out there!”
“All the more reason for us to get out there before the kid falls down a shaft or gets caught in a cave-in, right?”
“FEAR NOT, OFFICER O’BRIEN!” Papyrus chimed in. “WE HAVE PROMISED THESE AGENTS ALL THE ASSISTANCE THEY MAY REQUIRE. NEITHER THEY NOR THE CHILD SHALL COME TO HARM, OR MY NAME-”
“is mud,” Sans interrupted pointedly. “but ’ey. as long as we’ve lived underground, what’s a little spelunking?”
Papyrus confined himself to a groan, which was really more to give the impression that Sans had made a pun.
“Er, right, okay,” said O’Brien, eyeing Sans skeptically before turning back to Dean. “If you’re sure....”
Dean nodded. “We trust ’em. We have experience of our own. And we’ve got your number if we discover we’ll need backup.”
“Thanks for your concern, though,” Sam added and turned to the skeletons. “Gentlemen, shall we?”
“break room, huh?” Sans murmured as they reached the room in question. “smells more like heartbreak.”
“Yeah,” Dean replied and closed the door behind them. “The last victim was the mother of the police chief-that’s the Angela we were talking about.”
“OH NO!” cried Papyrus. “IS SHE OKAY?”
“No, but the best way for us to help her is to make sure this ghost won’t kill anyone else.” Sans had signaled earlier that they shouldn’t mention Chara’s name around Papyrus, so Dean was following suit.
Sam, who had started skimming the report as they walked, suddenly whistled. “They forgot to mention that earlier.”
“What?”
“Mrs. Sullivan still had a landline and no cell phone, but the line into the house was cut-less than a minute after she placed a call to Angela about the window breaking. Looks like Angela wasn’t up to filling out her own report, but Hennessy got a witness statement from her; she was just about to tell her mom not to go downstairs when the line went dead. She was first on the scene five minutes later, but by then it was too late.”
Papyrus gasped deeply. “BUT... WHY WOULD ANYONE DO SOMETHING SO... SO CRUEL?”
“Lots of reasons, and all of them bad,” Dean replied. “Let’s see that map, Sammy.”
Still reading, Sam handed the map to Dean, who spread it out on the table while the skeletons pushed back their goggles. The marks appeared in seemingly random places ranging from southeast of town to near the Salmon River west of town; the only pattern clear on the surface was that the later incidents were further from the mountain. But Sans confirmed that even the closest ones were all outside the glamour field, and Papyrus noticed that they were also well away from paths the Tuatha De used and areas where they reveled.
“That can’t be a coincidence,” Dean concluded. “So now I’m really wondering about that black cat. What’s she calling-Unseelie, goddess, demon?”
Papyrus shivered audibly at that last.
“What?”
“I DON’T KNOW,” Papyrus confessed. “IT’S JUST... WHEN HIS MAJESTY WAS TELLING US ABOUT THE CREATURES IN THIS WORLD AND MENTIONED DEMONS....”
“it gave us both the creeps,” Sans finished. “makes me think the ghost was listening in and already thinks of itself as a demon.”
“THE DEMON THAT COMES WHEN PEOPLE CALL ITS NAME.” Papyrus paused, somehow managing to look disturbed despite the mask. “NOW, WHERE DID THAT PHRASE COME FROM?”
“i’m not sure, but... it sounds like the sort of thing i hear in my nightmares.”
“Not sure it matters in the long run what she’s calling,” Sam answered Dean’s question. “The main thing is, she’s after power, and she’s trying to start a war. And Frisk is trapped in the middle of it all.”
Dean hummed in agreement. “Yeah, poor Frisk. Possession’s bad enough anyway, but now the kid won’t ever be able to come into town without a serious disguise.”
Papyrus let out a rib-rattling sigh. “AND FRISK WAS SUPPOSED TO BE OUR AMBASSADOR TO HUMANS.”
Sans raised a brow ridge. “what, is ‘evil twin’ not a valid excuse?”
Sam shrugged. “We could suggest it to Angela. No one in town knows that Frisk doesn’t have an evil twin; it might fly better here than most places.”
“But first,” said Dean, folding up the map, “we gotta get rid of that ghost.”
Sam nodded once and opened the door. “Y’know, there’s one thing I don’t get,” he said, his voice pitched to carry down the hall. “Hennessy said there was no neopagan activity in the area, nothing out of the ordinary happening before the first murder. But he had to know about those animal mutilations, especially the cat. Is he trying to cover for someone?”
“Ooh, I can answer that question!” O’Brien called and came around the corner just as Dean ushered the skeletons, goggles back in place, out of the room. “Jerry’s folks own the best hotel in town, and they’re always worried about attracting the wrong kind of tourist. Plus, the old-timers say the Hennessys have had dealings with the Sidhe, even back in Ireland-in fact, there’s one legend that says the Hennessys brought the Gentry with them when they moved here.” She paused, then huffed with a smile. “Probably sounds pretty weird to an outsider, but I don’t think he was, like, deliberately trying to impede your investigation or anything.”
“Not that weird,” Dean admitted.
“Speaking of the hotel,” Sam continued, “where is it? We should get a room before we head up to the mine.”
“Yeah, as much as this suit cost, there’s no way I’m gonna go searching through caves in it.” It hadn’t really-they’d scrounged enough to fund a trip to a more upscale resale shop that was having a great sale-but it had still cost more than the cheapo suits they’d been getting from Goodwill since Dean had been old enough to pass for a Fed.
“Good idea,” O’Brien agreed. “No telling what’s up there.” She gave them directions, and they thanked her, returned the map and all the files, and left.
Papyrus managed to wait until they were outside to say, “YOU WOULD BE VERY WELCOME TO STAY WITH US, YOU KNOW.”
Dean shook his head. “Thanks, but it’ll look better for us to stay here in town. Plus, if this goes the way we think it will, Frisk’s gonna need your undivided attention. We’d only be in the way.”
“IT WON’T HURT FRISK, WILL IT?!”
“It shouldn’t, not physically. But if the kid has any idea what’s been going on... well, like I said, possession’s pretty traumatic on its own.”
“Even if Frisk wasn’t aware during the murders, just knowing what happened will be bad enough,” Sam added. “It takes a lot of love and support to recover from something like that.” He looked at Dean, who dreaded what was about to come next. But Sam suddenly smiled a little, and his eyes went soft. “I wouldn’t have made it without my family.”
Dean smiled back. “And family don’t end with blood.”
“AH, OF COURSE!” Papyrus cried. “AND FRISK HAS NOT ONLY HER MAJESTY, UNDYNE AND ALPHYS, AND THE GREAT PAPYRUS, BUT ALSO THE WORLD’S BEST DUNKLE! NYEH-HEH-HEH!”
Sans ducked his head and somehow managed to blush bright blue through the mask. “ah, c’mon, paps.”
“YOU’RE THE BEST BROTHER EVER, SANS, AND DON’T YOU FORGET IT! IT’S ONLY NATURAL THAT YOU’D BE A GREAT DUNKLE TO FRISK, TOO.”
“Well, I’d have to dispute that,” Sam declared, face straight but eyes sparkling. “But I don’t know whether I should fight you or Dean should fight Sans.”
“Nobody’s fighting anybody right now,” Dean stated with mock seriousness. “C’mon, let’s get out of here.” As he opened the Impala’s back door for Sans, however, he had to ask: “Dunkle?”
“frisk’s term,” Sans replied. “i’d explain, but i figure you’d kill me if i got your suit wet.”
“In this weather?”
“good point.”
And suddenly Dean found himself on the receiving end of a miniature avalanche, as if half the snow on the station’s roof were being dumped on him at once.
“get dunked on, winchester!” Sans crowed as Sam and Papyrus howled with laughter-loud enough, hopefully, that O’Brien hadn’t heard Sans’ slip.
Dean made a show of shaking off the snow and grumbling all the way to the hotel just to disguise the fact that the prank had suddenly made him miss a certain Trickster archangel who was currently presumed dead.
The skeletons mostly stayed out of the way as the Winchesters got checked in and changed out of their Fed suits into their normal hunting clothes. But Dean was still in the bathroom when an unfamiliar ringtone sounded, and he could barely make out Sans’ voice answering.
“no, that’s fine,” Sans was saying as Dean came out. “we’re running some errands right now, but we’ll be home in a few minutes. ... okay, great. thanks, undyne.”
“IS SOMETHING WRONG, BROTHER?” Papyrus asked as Sans hung up.
“i dunno. asgore asked tori to meet him at grillby’s. and whatever it’s about is urgent enough that tori’s canceled the club meeting and asked undyne to bring frisk to our place.”
“WE’D BETTER HEAD BACK, THEN. SCHOOL SHOULD BE LETTING OUT IN A FEW MINUTES.”
“We’re ready,” Sam agreed. “Let’s go.”
Dean put in a Blue Öyster Cult tape for the drive back to East Ebott, and “(Don’t Fear) The Reaper” ended just as they drove up to the skeletons’ cabin. It was more of a log house, really, with two bedrooms and a sleeping loft for guests, a spacious living room, and what looked like a good-sized kitchen. The Winchesters brought in a bag of salt and two sawed-off shotguns loaded with salt shells; Sam took his with him into the kitchen to help Papyrus start the spaghetti, and Dean hid his in the console for the skeletons’ flat-screen TV before putting the salt bag where it would be hidden when the front door opened. Then Sans looked at the clock and saw that they still had a few minutes to kill, so Dean decided to ask him about monster music.
Sans had just played Dean a minute or so of a metal-esque song called “Megalovania” when they heard a brash female voice talking loudly outside, though the stout walls prevented them from hearing what she was saying. Dean looked out to see the fish woman-Undyne?-circling the car and talking to Frisk. Evidently, the eye patch Undyne had worn over her left eye in the Walmart picture wasn’t for show; she was wearing it now, the black striking against her bright blue scales and neon red hair and eye-shadow-like markings. She was just as tall as the pictures had made her seem, too, probably a good foot taller than Papyrus; the Impala looked almost like a go-kart next to her.
For some reason Dean couldn’t discern, Frisk turned to look in the window. And suddenly the kid’s eyes widened and turned bright red from corner to corner, accompanied by Chara’s chilling smile. Just as suddenly, the moment passed, and Frisk was left blinking at the house in confusion.
“Hey, Sans?” Dean called quietly, not taking his eyes off the kid. “I think Frisk needs some chicken soup from that diner in town-extra salty.”
“right.” There was a slight shift in the atmosphere, though without the flutter of wings with which Cas often announced his departure.
Undyne apparently ordered Frisk to stay with her, then pulled out her phone to call someone. Whoever it was seemed to be trying to reassure her, given the way she argued and gestured toward the car for a good two minutes. For his part, Dean edged toward the TV console but didn’t actually go for the shotgun.
Just as Undyne hung up with a visible huff, however, Sans reappeared, stripped off his mask and goggles, and went to the door with a Styrofoam container of soup and a plastic spoon in his hand. “hey, undyne!” he called as he opened the door. “what are you trying to do, turn the kid into a frisksicle?”
Frisk giggled.
“COME INSIDE, FRISK!” Papyrus called from the kitchen. “YOUR FACE IS NEARLY AS BLUE AS UNDYNE’S!”
Frisk giggled again and started for the door.
Undyne’s scowl eased some at hearing Papyrus’ voice, and she followed Frisk, catching the kid’s backpack as Frisk shrugged out of it. “Sans, do you have any idea-”
“lots of ’em,” Sans interrupted. “hey, kiddo. paps just started supper, but i figured you could use a snack.”
Thank you, Frisk signed and accepted the soup from him, barely waiting two steps before prying off the lid and taking a long drink straight from the bowl.
Then Frisk choked on the salty broth and started coughing hard, dislodging both Chara-who looked a lot like Frisk, aside from being clearly Caucasian-and the murder weapon, which clattered out of Frisk’s pocket. Before Undyne or Dean could react, the knife (a dagger?) was enveloped in blue light and vanished. Chara shrieked but was pulled away to wherever the dagger had gone. The blue light caught the soup before it could tumble to the floor, too, and guided it carefully to the coffee table in front of the beat-up green couch.
Dean turned to see Sans’ left eye and hand glowing with the same blue light. “Where’d you send it?” he asked.
“i don’t know and i don’t care,” Sans retorted and extinguished his magic. “what matters is that i’ve bought us some time.”
Frisk stopped coughing with a deep gasp, then cried “Sans!” and ran sobbing to hug the skeleton.
“hey, hey, frisk,” Sans replied soothingly as he returned the hug. “it’s okay. everything’s going tibia-ll right.”
“FRISK!!” Papyrus jogged out of the kitchen just then and knelt to put his long arms around both his brother and their friend, bowing his head to touch theirs.
Sam followed but went straight to Dean. “Well?”
“Dagger,” Dean reported. “Sans disappeared it somewhere. Kid’s safe for now, though.”
“We’d better set salt lines before she comes back.”
“Right.”
“Will someone tell me what the... hockey sticks is going on here?!” Undyne demanded, finally coming in far enough to close the door.
Dean waved her over to the couch so Sam could get to the salt bag. “That ghost you just saw was Chara,” he explained quietly as she dropped Frisk’s backpack by the coffee table and sat down.
“Ch-” Undyne’s good eye widened. “The Chara?!”
Dean nodded. “She’s been using Frisk to commit murders in Ebott. We think she’s trying to provoke a hunter to come in here and wipe you guys out, or else start a war between monsters and humans. We’re here to stop her.”
Undyne frowned at him. “How can I believe you? I know who you are.”
“Look, we’ve been here since lunchtime. If we were going to shoot the place up like our Leviathan doubles did in St. Louis, you’d all be dead by now.”
“And we definitely wouldn’t have let Woshua wash the car,” Sam added as he passed on his way to the next window.
Undyne turned her frown on him. “And what are you doing?”
“Salt’s a spirit deterrent.” Sam reached the window and started pouring a line of salt along its sill. “Once we line the doors and windows with salt, the ghost won’t be able to get back in.”
“If she can even find her way back here,” Dean noted. “Ghosts can’t usually carry the object they’re tied to over long distances, hence the possession.”
“How sure are we that she’s only tied to the dagger, though?”
“good question,” replied Sans’ muffled voice, and Papyrus and Frisk finally let go of him. “got anything else she might try to use, kiddo?”
Frisk signed something Dean couldn’t make out.
Sans hummed thoughtfully. “a locket, huh? what’d you do with it?” After more signs, he echoed, “gave it to flowey. heh, well, if anyone deserves to be haunted, it’s that-”
“SANS!” Papyrus chided. “JUST BECAUSE FLOWEY CALLS YOU NAMES....”
“been called worse than ‘smiley trashbag,’ bro. but you don’t know what he got up to before frisk showed up. that flower’s a real daisy.”
Papyrus groaned, and Frisk managed a half-hearted chuckle.
“here.” Sans produced a second container of soup and presented it to Frisk. “lower sodium this time.” When Frisk hesitated, he pressed, “c’mon, don’t think i don’t see how you’re shaking. this won’t be enough to ruin your appetite, but you need something to warm your bones.”
Frisk sniffled, accepted both soup and spoon, and went to the couch to sit next to Undyne, skirting past the coffee table as if it might bite and not making eye contact with anyone, least of all Dean. Papyrus took the remaining space on the couch, and Frisk visibly relaxed.
“dean?” Sans nodded toward the kitchen, and Dean followed him into a part of the room that was out of Frisk’s line of sight. Sans made sure the stove was off, looked back to make sure Frisk couldn’t overhear, then began, “again, don’t ask how i know this.”
“This about the flower?” Dean asked, picking up a salt canister to protect the kitchen windows.
“yeah. it’s a little complicated, though. human souls, at least in our universe, are characterized by seven different traits; most people have all seven, but in varying proportions, and one usually dominates. the most important one for this discussion is determination. frisk has it in spades. so did chara.”
“Hm. Angela did say the perp would have to be extremely determined to get past the security system in the one house.”
“the thing about determination, though, is that we’ve learned to extract it. or at least alphys has. asgore wanted her to find a way to help the monsters who were falling down, see if they could be saved or brought back somehow. so she injected ’em with determination. most of ’em... melted.”
Dean grimaced.
“asriel was already dust by then, but he’d died in asgore’s garden. when the first flower bloomed there after his death, alphys tried injecting it with determination to see if asriel could be revived that way. his consciousness did come back... but not his soul. and he had enough determination to reset the timeline.”
Dean swore under his breath as he finished the last window. Sam had returned from Hell without his soul, and it had taken Dean six months to find a way to get it back. He had no trouble imagining what someone with no soul and the power to mess with time could do.
“yeah. exactly. he swears he’s reformed now, and frisk and paps believe him, but....”
“We’re gonna have to make sure Chara’s not tied to the locket. Even if she can’t possess him, she could convince him to help her.” Dean set down the salt and picked up the shotgun Sam had left on the kitchen table. “First, though, we need to talk to Frisk.”
Sans’ smile turned threatening. “you’re not-”
“I said talk. I’ll put this down before I say a word. We just need it out there in case of surprises.” With that, Dean walked out and set the shotgun on a shelf near the door, then went to Frisk’s backpack. “It’s Frisk, right?” he asked the kid as he knelt next to the table. “I’m Dean. The other guy’s my brother Sam,” he added, nodding up toward the sleeping loft, where Sam was working on the last of the windows.
Frisk looked at Dean warily over the container of soup and didn’t stop eating.
“You got a notebook in here we can use?”
A slow nod.
“And a pencil, maybe, or a pen?”
Another nod.
“Awesome. Thanks.” Dean opened the backpack and kept talking as he looked for the requested materials. “See, me and my brother, we’re here to make sure Chara can’t hurt you or your friends anymore. But we need more information about what she’s up to, why she’s been killing people, what she’ll do now that we’ve forced her to leave you.”
Somehow Frisk managed to look even more troubled. Papyrus and Undyne each put an arm around the kid’s shoulders at the same time.
“Now, I understand if you don’t wanna say anything,” Dean continued, noticing Sans standing in the kitchen doorway at the edge of his peripheral vision. “See, when I was little, younger than you are, I saw something real bad. Didn’t feel like talking for a long time. So I get it, I do.” He pulled out the notebook and pencil. “You wanna write or draw or whatever, that’s cool. But you’re the best source of information we have. And whatever it is, even if you don’t think we’ll believe you... I want you to know that I will.”
Frisk looked down at the soup and took a few more hesitant bites, then took a deep breath, set down the soup, and held out a hand for the notebook.
Dean smiled and handed it over. “Thanks, Frisk.”
“YOU SEE?!” Papyrus crowed as Frisk started flipping to a blank page and the tension in the room eased. “SO MUCH UNPLEASANTNESS CAN BE AVOIDED WHEN PEOPLE TALK TO EACH OTHER AND LISTEN TO EACH OTHER! EVEN IF ONE PERSON ISN’T ACTUALLY SPEAKING! NYEH-HEH!”
“Ahhh, kid just knows it’s cool to be the strong, silent type, right?”
Frisk giggled a little. Sans, whose smile was back to looking genuine, wandered over toward the coffee table.
“How would you know, Dean?” Sam asked, climbing down from the loft. “You’ve never been cool in your entire life.”
“Excuse me? I am a Zeppelin fan. I’m cool by default.”
“REALLY?” Papyrus asked, wide-eyed, at the same time Undyne asked, “Zeppelin? Is that a wrestling move?”
“Ah, man-Frisk, haven’t you taught these guys about metal yet?” Met with another slight giggle and a head shake, Dean made an exaggerated shocked face. “Seriously? And Led Zeppelin has the perfect song for these dudes, too-‘We come from the land of the ice and snow....’”
Before Sam could even wince in jest at Dean’s butchering of “Immigrant Song,” Sans’ phone rang. He took it out of his pocket and frowned at the screen before answering. “grillby? how did you-” He broke off suddenly and nearly stopped smiling. “what?! ... we’ll be right there.” He hung up and turned to Dean. “she’s at grillby’s.”
“You and Undyne with me,” Dean replied as he jumped up and started for the nearer shotgun. “Sam, Paps, stay with Frisk.”
Sans snagged the shotgun with his power and sent it straight into Dean’s left hand.
Undyne was already on her feet. “How fast is your car?”
“Not fast enough. Sans?”
Sans grabbed Dean’s right hand and Undyne’s left. “i know a shortcut.”
And they were at Grillby’s.
The place was busier now, though probably not as busy as it would be later in the evening. Some of the regulars were still there-most notably the rabbit head-but one of the large tables was occupied by a group of dogs and another by the two goat-monsters... er, Asgore and Toriel. And the air was far cooler than it had been before, which might not have been so noticeable had they not appeared right in front of the bar. Dean could feel the heat of Grillby’s presence behind him, but it wasn’t doing much to dispel the malicious cold around them. That must have been the reason Grillby called.
Everyone, except for one of the dogs that was wearing a muscle shirt and camo pants, turned to stare at the new arrivals. Dean tensed.
So did Asgore. “What is the meaning of this?”
“We’ve got a problem, sire,” Undyne replied.
“You dare bring this man here? Armed?!”
Unearthly laughter suddenly began echoing through the room-a child’s laugh, but with an evil, psychotic edge that reminded Dean of the Joker. He let go of Sans in order to have both hands on the shotgun.
“What are you gonna do about it, huh?” taunted a girl’s voice. “You crack me up, you really do. You’re a weak, pathetic has-been... Mr. Dad Guy!” And Chara appeared by Asgore’s chair, fritzed briefly, and reappeared.
Asgore and Toriel both gasped loudly. “Chara!”
Dean raised the shotgun, but Undyne reached across Sans and put a hand on Dean’s arm to stop him from firing. “Let’s hear this,” she stage-whispered.
“You’re only here because of Frisk,” Chara went on. “You know that, right? If I’d had my way, you’d all be dead by now. But no. Little freak went all soft and decided to save everyone, just like stupid baby Asriel. Just like you! You just needed one more soul to break the Barrier, but you couldn’t go through with it!”
Asgore snarled. “Impudent child! How dare you speak so to your father?”
Chara laughed. “You’re not my father! You’re not even the king! Call yourself a boss monster? You couldn’t even save your own son!”
“But Chara, we loved you!” cried Toriel.
Chara outright cackled. “Love! What is love? Weak, stupid, blind! But I’ve got the other kind-the kind that means I’m in control. I killed seven humans all on my own... and now everyone in town knows dear little Frisk is a multiple murderer. And I summoned the Winchesters here, so they know what kind of freaks have invaded their universe! You may have magic, Dad, but I’m more powerful now than you can ever hope to be.”
“buddy,” Sans spoke up in a more dangerous tone than Dean had heard him use yet. “pal. you sound like you wanna have a bad time.”
And the jukebox played “Megalovania.”
“Oh, look,” Chara sneered. “The Dynamic Duo, Sans and Undyne. Do you really think I don’t know how to kill you?” The temperature dropped even further, causing Grillby to crackle in dismay, and every knife in the room rose into the air.
Sans stepped forward, left hand glowing, and the knives froze. A split second later, Undyne hurled a spear made of blue light toward Chara, who dodged as Asgore and Toriel flung themselves in opposite directions. The spear put a smoking hole in the floor right where Chara had stood. But the dodge broke her concentration enough that Dean could catch her with a blast of rock salt, dissipating her spectral form.
“Where’s the dagger?” he demanded.
“got it!” Sans replied, and every knife but one embedded itself in the floor.
Chara reappeared with a shriek. “No, no, no! I’ll-I’ll kill her!” She tried to grab a knife and pull it out of the floor, but even if she’d been strong enough to get it out of the wood, Sans was holding them all in place.
“Grillby!” Dean bellowed and dropped just before a jet of fire arced overhead and enveloped the dagger.
“NO! STOP! NOOOO!” Chara screamed and went up in flames as Grillby reduced the dagger to slag.
The temperature returned to normal, but a shocked silence fell over the room. Even the jukebox stopped playing. Then Sans extinguished his magic, and Undyne bent down and held a webbed hand out to Dean, who took it and pulled himself to his feet.
“Hey, nice move with the music,” Dean said to Sans. “How’d you do that?”
Sans shook his head. “wasn’t me.”
“The jukebox was broken for a long time,” Undyne explained, “but Alphys fixed it when Grillby moved out here. It detects the magical signatures in the room and plays appropriate music.”
“Oh. Awesome.” And apparently ‘appropriate music’ included the soundtrack of a human’s life, given the general reaction to Kansas earlier.
Undyne grinned. “I’ll tell her you said so. She’s my girlfriend!”
Of the other monsters, Toriel recovered first. “What... why... why did you do that?” she asked as she and Asgore got up. “Surely there was some reason Chara was behaving this way.”
“Some people just want to watch the world burn,” Dean replied.
“But we could have talked to her, helped her to change!”
“Due respect, ma’am, but it wouldn’t have worked. She’d gone vengeful. No matter how good you were in life, you don’t come back from that.”
“How do you know?”
“One of the best men I ever knew, closest thing Sam and I had to a father for a long time, died with information he knew we needed. Ducked his Reaper to try to help us, but... something happened. I dunno what. He went vengeful. Damn near killed Sam before he came to his senses. But even then he couldn’t shake the rage. He begged us to burn him before he could hurt anyone else.”
Toriel huffed, sending smoke through her nostrils. “Due respect to you, Mr. Winchester, but I do not think you understand our feelings in this matter.”
“Yeah, actually, I do.”
“How can you possibly-”
“Because my daughter tried to kill me.”
Toriel’s mouth fell open in shock. “What?!”
“Long story. She was an Amazon; that was her last rite of passage. And I damn near let her do it, too. If Sam hadn’t been there to stop her-”
A strangled noise near the door drew everyone’s attention, and Dean was stunned to see Angela standing with her back against the wall, wide-eyed and nearly hyperventilating.
“Angela!” Dean put his shotgun on the bar and ran to her as Grillby reached for a bottle. “What the hell are you doin’ here?”
It took several tries for Angela to actually say anything. “I-I-I... G-Grace called and s-said you were c-c-coming up to the mine....”
“Here, c’mon, sit down.” Dean put an arm around Angela’s shoulders and gently pulled her away from the wall. “Guys, this is Angela Sullivan, Ebott’s chief of police. Chara killed her mom this morning.”
“Oh, my dear!” Toriel gasped at the same time Asgore offered a chair with, “My sincere condolences, Chief Sullivan.”
“Thank you?” Angela squeaked as Dean guided her into the chair and Grillby set a double Irish in front of her. “Y-you’re not fairies. What-who-what....”
“Perhaps explanations should wait for a better time,” Asgore answered with a kind smile. “But please, drink. I prefer tea, but this may be a case when something stronger is called for.”
Angela reached for her glass but hesitated and looked up at Dean.
Dean nodded once. “It’s safe. They’re not fairies.”
Angela nodded back and tossed the whiskey back so fast, she probably didn’t even taste it.
Then Asgore turned to Dean. “It seems your reputation does you an injustice, Mr. Winchester. I owe you an apology.”
Dean sighed. “Time was, we might have done what Chara wanted. I grew up thinking anything that wasn’t human was evil, and if it was evil, it had to die. But I’ve... I’ve seen a lot since then. I know better now. Here, Chara was the real threat. You guys... you’re okay.”
“So are you,” said Undyne. “What was that you shot her with, rock salt?”
“Yeah. Works pretty well on humans, too-hurts like hell, but it won’t kill you. And hey, thanks. You, Sans, Grillby-couldn’t have done it without you.”
“Where is Frisk?” Toriel asked.
“back at the house with sam and papyrus, behind salt lines,” Sans answered. “they’re safe. speaking of, we should get back, tell paps to set another place or two for supper. you like spaghetti, chief sullivan?”
Angela blinked at him for a moment, then giggled, chortled, laughed hysterically, and started sobbing uncontrollably. Asgore sat down and put a massive paw on her shoulder in a gesture of comfort, but when Dean looked up at him, the former king was crying, too.
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