Down To Ebott Lake

17 ~ Of Monsters and Men

~ ❀Asriel❀ ~

"Why're we meeting all of these people, again?" Kris whispered, pressing his chin against my head as I took up a position in front of the check-out counter. Clover, Seraphina, Frisk, and Chara all filtered in after us, the latter two keeping a small distance between themselves and the former. Frisk set her now-beat up box of cupcakes (I think that's what they are, anyway), on an empty display table before awkwardly situating herself on Chara's left, nearest Clover. I swear Chara rolled his eyes, but he looked away before I could see.

I scratched a spot under my ear, trying to appear as casual as possible despite essentially standing on enemy territory. "Your guess is as good as mine, Krisp. You know who they are, right?"

"Well, yeah, you guys were literally just talking about it," Kris pointed out, absentmindedly swaying back and forth on my shoulders. I increased my grip on his ankles. "They're the 'fallens'—as dumb a name as that is. They helped break the barrier-thingy or whatever. But why do we gotta talk to them? I thought they didn't like you."

It's a little more complicated than that, but... yeah. I guess they don't. Not that I blame them, but... Ouch.

"I wouldn't say we 'helped', kid," a dark-skinned boy declared, casually pulling open a bag of Fritos as he followed the other four humans through various displays of the surface's flowers. "We just got tossed from one goat tyrant to the next without getting a word in edgewise."

Ah yes. Everett. Otherwise known as the bravery SOUL and Sans' bestest friend. Believe me, those two go way back. Way back to the time Sans trapped him in an item box in Snowdin Forest and let him freeze to death, apparently too lazy to finish the job—unsurprisingly. I wonder if Everett ever managed to 'square up' with Sans like the kid furiously declared he would back then.

"I doubt they even saw us as people anymore," a redheaded boy muttered, nervously adjusting his glasses once he and his cohorts had formed a little oval with the rest of us. "To them, we were just tiny magic-filled cores capable of destroying their barrier and..." his eyes flicked over to briefly appraise me. "Capable of turning them into a lesser god."

I give you Charley—perseverance. As the trait suggests, he's pretty darn stubborn. Enough that he convinced Alphys to let him start under her and Dr. Gaster as an intern—assuming he doesn't stick his nose in Dr. Gaster's business. Which, from what I remember of his untimely death, is unlikely. I think it had something to do with a relative of Muffet's. They poisoned him for invading their nest under the name of 'scientific research'. I think he's insane, but Dr. Gaster apparently loves his 'moxie'. I'm glad they didn't involve him in the Determination discussions we had a few weeks back. Who knows where we'd be today.

"Only a lesser god?" A dirty-blonde-haired boy furrowed his brows, currently in the process of folding up a worn, patched apron. "Hyperdeath probably could have fought Zeus if he wanted to. Which—if it actually happened—would be the coolest use of our SOUL's magic ever."

Joseph—kindness. I don't really know much about this one, admittedly. From what I heard, he was pretty popular during his time in the Underground. At some point, he might have fallen from a higher Hotland platform and snapped his neck on the next one down. That's what some random Pyrope claimed, anyway. It's also a possibility that he, like Clover, managed to reach Asgore. Either way, I was 'haunting' the hell out of Alphys during those days and can't say one way or the other.

"Zeus?" I forced myself to ask, figuring it's better to engage with them than just awkwardly stare.

Everett stuffed a hand inside his Fritos bag, pink fingerless glove and all, before tossing a small frito chip into the air. He tried (and failed) to catch it in his mouth. "Greek God. I thought y'all knew about the Greeks 'n stuff. Weren't your relatives still on the surface during that time period?"