Glenda jogged through the main corridor of Dremurr Castle, Jake following close at her heels until she came to a halt near a crossing of hallways. Jake started whining the moment they stopped, constantly looking from Glen to passage behind them.
"What's wrong, boy?" Glen said, rubbing his top sensor. "You sensing something?"
He let out a plaintive bark, looking at the passage again.
"I don't get it. Is it Asgore? You're bothered by Asgore?" When the KEI-9 unit nodded, Glen sighed and said, "Well, don't be; the guy's a big fuzzy pushover. He wouldn't hurt a fly."
Jake barked again, this time nudging Glen's arm.
"What, Headache? Phhb. It's fine; I'm tellin' ya, Asgore's a good guy. Hell, he's one of the few people I've authorized to use my gear. That's how much I trust him. Mind you, that's the first time I've seen him running around in his Lord of the Underground outfit." Glen paused a moment considering the mental image. "Not sure what that's about. Or why he's here, for that matter. Or why there's a barrier and Alphys is freaking out about some human. This whole situation's strange."
Jake rose suddenly to his hind legs and started barking at something behind Glen. She turned to see the small figure of a child staring back at him. Appearance wise, she looked a good bit like Frisk, only with fairer skin. Her eyes with blood red, though Glen knew it wasn't from illness or injury; Glen saw red eyes occasionally among the human children of Ebott. Glen found it a little disquieting, even more so when she learned that citizens of Ebott hundreds of years in the past would kill such children for being 'demon-spawn'.
"Hey there." Glen said, smiling as she crouched down and held out a hand. "Are you stuck down here too? Did you get separated from your parents?"
"Help him."
Glen blinked. Though her face was pleading, the little girl's lips hadn't moved. "I'm sorry?"
"Help him, Glenda. Please."
Glen's brow furrowed, but before she could ask the little girl how she knew Glenda's name, a loud crash resonated through the passage ahead. Glen glanced in the direction of the sound for only a moment, but when she turned back to look at the little girl, she was gone.
Another crash rang through the corridor, this one accompanied by the sound of crumbling stone and a slight layer of dust that fell from the ceiling.
"Never a dull moment." Glen muttered. "Come on, Jake!"
They continued running down the corridor to another set of embossed door bearing the same symbols as Asgore's kingly attire. The effect was undercut somewhat by one of the doors hanging off its hinges, revealing the chapel beyond.
It was a grand affair, more like a cathedral than a chapel in Glen's opinion, lined on one side with massive windows, tall and stately ivory pillars, and clean tiles that made every footstep echo across the chapel. The sunlight enchantment of the windows gave the impression of sunset, lending the area a somber mood even with several of the pillars now lying flat across the floor with dozens of bones protruding from the sides.
Glenda slipped through the doors, but before she could turn to get Jake, she spotted him in the rear of the chappel, partially obscured by a pillar: Blue coat with a fur-lined hood, black track shorts, and the ever-tasteless combo of socks and slipper coupled with an ever present smile; Glen would always remember the first monster she ever met.
Smiling, she said, "Sans! I shoulda known you'd find a way past that barrier!"
Sans looked her way, his ever-present smile twisted in an unmistakable frown and his left eye blazing blue. Glen stopped in her tracks, surprised and disturbed to see her friend looking so unfriendly.
She started towards him, concerned. "What's wrong, Sa-"
He waved his hand sharply in Glen's direction, a dozen or more bones materializing in front of him before flying toward Glen at a frightening speed. Glen dove aside moments before the first of the bones shot through the air she'd just occupied. The rest trailed behind her as she scrambled to cover.
"Oy!" She shouted, not quite ready to peek around the side of the pillar. "What's the big idea, bone-brain? You nearly got me!"
There was no reply, though Glen did hear the sounds of struggling. She cautiously peered around the pillar just enough to make out Sans leaping backwards as though dodging something. The something swung into view a moment later: the shiny blade of a knife.
Sans was quick, but even he couldn't dodge forever. Sure enough, after a few swings, Sans backed right into the wall. There was no shock, no anger, not even any fear; if anything, San's face seemed almost accepting of his fate.
Glen reacted without thinking, thrusting her rune hand forward and sending a glowing stream of dream energy shooting through the air to wrap around the blade of the knife. With a hard tug, she yanked the weapon from the hands of Sans's assailant. Glen started forward as the knife embedded itself in the wall behind her. She quickly closed the distance, catching the figure before it could fully rise and slamming it against the wall.
"All right, just what the hell-" Glen stopped, squinting at the figure in disbelief. "Frisk?"
The child Glen was currently holding against the wall by her small shoulders indeed looked like Frisk, with one key difference; she had no wings.
Glen looked to Sans, thoroughly confused. "Sans, what the hell's going on here?"
She suddenly gasped as a sharp pain flashed across her arm. Frisk had another knife; it looked like a toy, but still had enough of an edge to break her skin with the force the kid put behind it. Glen dropped Frisk, who quickly scurried behind a pillar.
"What the hell, Frisk?" Glen said, looking at the bleeding gash on her arm. It was already healing itself, but that didn't stop it from hurting. Once it was just a red welt, she started toward Frisk, only to find her already on the other side of the room
She started to close the distance only to jerk back as a bone embedded itself in the pillar she was passing.
"Don't move!" Sans said, one hand pointed at the pillar where Frisk hid and the other straight at Glen. Glen quickly raised her hands on impulse as Sans's gaze shifted rapidly between the two humans, as though unwilling to ignore either for too long.
"I know I'm a bit of a numb-skull," Sans said, his gaze lingering on Glen for a moment, "But I'm pretty sure I'd remember if I'd laid my eye-sockets on you before. Who are you?
Glen stared at him for a moment, shocked. "Sans, it's me: Glenda. Glenda Adams. Your old landlady." Glancing at Frisk's pillar, Glen said, "Is this some kind of joke? Are you and Frisk pulling a prank on me?"
"Frisk?" Sans repeated, one of his eye-ridges rising.
"Yes, Frisk; the kid. Your kid. You and Toriel adopted her. What, you throwing your voice or something? Trying to confuse the heck outta me? If so, congrats; I'm thoroughly confused."
"Me and Toriel? Who's Toriel?"
Now Glen really was shocked. "Toriel, your wife! Jesus, Sans, what the hell's the matter with you?"
Sans's eye-sockets went wide. "My wife? So I'm married now?"
"No, you were married on September the fifteenth. I remember because Toriel wanted the wedding when the flowers were still blooming and the trees were changing color."
Sans stared at Glen for a few moments before abruptly sending another bone flying dead center in the pillar where Frisk was hiding. Her blue and purple-striped shirt was faintly visible as she ducked behind the next pillar.
"Whoa, easy there, Tex!" Glen said, taking a step forward only to put her hands up as a bone materialized inches from her face.
"Have you been helping her?" Sans asked, his tone accusing.
"Yes, Sans." Glen said, "We all came here to help her find Asriel. You me, Papyrus, Undyne ..."
The look Sans gave her made the truth of the situation finally click in Glen's head. The barrier, Alphys's panicked communication, Asgore's presence in the Underground when Glen was sure the bosson was on Vinta, and now the one monster who knew Glen better than anyone didn't remember her, Frisk, or Toriel: these all painted an image that was all too clear.
"You have no idea what I'm talking about, do you?" Glen said, unable to keep the astonishment out of her voice. " You ... you really don't know who I am. This isn't a prank; something's very wrong here."
Sans swung a hand high in the air. A giant skull that looked somewhat reptilian to Glen's eyes materialized in mid-air, energy streaming into its mouth. Glen had only seen Sans's Gaster Blaster once before, and the resulting blast ended up taking out an entire Reaper. Nevertheless, Glen held her ground as Sans fixed his gaze on her.
"I'm tryin' to be patient here," Sans said with a forced chuckle. "But I've had a pretty lousy day. You're acting like we're pals, and I wanna believe that, I really do. Lately, though, I guess I haven't been too good a judge of character and ... and my brother's one of of 'em who paid the price."
Glen's mouth fell open before she caught herself. "Papyrus is dead?"
After a few moments of silence, Sans pulled a familiar red scarf from within his jacket.
Glen closed her eyes; the thought of the cheery spaghetti-loving skeleton having been killed filled her with a deep sadness, even if she had the feeling that it wasn't the same Papyrus who proudly marched around Ebott.
""Whether or not you know me, Sans, I do know you. I know I've never been able to lie to you." Glen lowered her arms and looked Sans in his eye-sockets. "I'm not your enemy. If anything, I consider you to be one of my best friends ... even if you are a bit of a numb-skull. I don't know what's going on here, but Papyrus was my friend too. I wanna help if I can."
Sans stared at her for a long moment before slowly lowering his hand, the skull closing its mouth. Before Glen could respond, however, Sans's eyes focused on something behind Glen, his sockets widening.
"Look out!" He said, raising his hand again, the massive skull letting out a blast of energy that sheared right through one of the pillars. Glen flung herself out of the way reflexively before she realized that Sans had not been aiming for her, but for Frisk, who had snuck across the rows of pillars and had been moments away from stabbing Glen in the back.
The little girl dodged the blast with surprising skill before rushing at Glen. There was no time to stand; Frisk was on top of Glen in seconds, gripping her knife with both hands and stabbing at Glen's chest.
Glen caught the little girl's wrists. The two wrestled with the blade for a few moments before Glen managed to tear it from her grasp and slammed it into the floor, shattering the toy knife into harmless plastic shards. To Glen's surprise, however, Frisk wrapped her small hands around Glen's throat and choked her with surprising strength for a child.
"You ruined everything!" Frisk said, her voice filled with frustration.
Glen couldn't respond; not only was her windpipe being effectively cut off, she was in shock to hear Frisk actually speak. She'd known the kid for years, and as far as she knew, Frisk was completely mute. Glen tried to pry the little girl's hands free, but Frisk had an amazingly strong grip. Even more alarming was the fact that her Dreamer abilities didn't seem to be working; reality around Frisk seemed unusually fixed.
Then her face changed; Frisk's face shifted into a horrifying mask with wide sunken pits where her eyes should be and a sinister and unnatural smile. A strange black liquid seemed to be trailing from her eyes and mouth, the black liquid burning where it touched Glenda's skin.
That was when Glenda felt it: the same dark sensation she'd felt when her friend Xyn was possessed back on the Suncruncher. It wasn't nearly as strong now as it was when she first noticed the neukaraan woman acting strangely, but the sense of repressed anger and malevolence was unmistakable.
Just as spots swam in front of Glen's eyes, the Dreamer heard the crash of wood, followed by a loud bark. A blast of electricity caught Frisk in the shoulder, knocking her clear off of Glen as the robot dog rushed to help her. Frisk looked daggers at the two of them before rushing toward the nearest pillar. Another flurry of bones flew her way, but she nimbly dodged it, taking cover behind the pillar as Glen had done moments before.
Sans approached, his hand held out warily at the remaining pillars as Glen coughed and struggled to rise.
"That's not Frisk." Glen said, her voice hoarse. "Her face ..."
"Yeah, I saw it." For the first time since their encounter, Sans gave Glen a slight smile. "Spine-tingling, wasn't it?"
Glen stared at him for a moment before letting out a laugh. "Somethin' like that."
She staggered to her feet and used the tail of her shirt to wipe the remaining black gunk off her skin. The sound of rapidly retreating footfalls made her look up; Frisk was making a run for the door at the far side of the chapel.
Glen shot another thread of dream energy at Frisk, Sans following it up with a barrage of bones. The thread seemed to veer away at the last second as though deflected. The bones didn't seem to encounter the same problem, but Frisk avoided them with a nimbleness Glen couldn't help but envy. In a matter of moments, she was through the door at the far side of the chapel. She wasn't alone, however; Jake was out the door only seconds later, barking like mad.
"Jake! Son of a ..." Still swearing beneath her breath, Glen ran after the child and the robot dog, leaving Sans behind her.
She stopped at the door and looked back at Sans. He looked so sad, standing there in the middle of the chapel with Papyrus's scarf in his hand.
"Hey, bone-brain!" Glen called out with a smile. "You comin'?"
He stared at her for a few moments before the grin she was so familiar with appeared on his face. "Right behind ya, landlady."
