Glen was known throughout Ebott, being something of a heroine to the populace, both for her contributions to the town and for protecting Ebott during several wars, not the least of which was the Reaper War. Even she, however, paled in comparison to Frisk, the true hero of Ebott.
Frisk sat in her room, a quilted cloak over her tiny shoulders as she drew on page after page. Her pictures covered the walls of her room, and of the hallway outside: pictures of her friends, of Toriel and Sans, of Papyrus and all her other friends. There were even a few pictures of 'Auntie' Glenda. Some thought her simple, others claimed she had a mental condition that left her forever a child. Those who truly knew her knew better, however; she was a child of light, a rare creature untouched by darkness. Even in Glen's experience, such a person was a rarity.
She looked up as Sans opened the door to her room and stepped inside. A smile crossed her face as she quickly stood up and sprinted toward the skeleton, wrapping her small arms around his legs in a tight hug.
"Hey, kiddo." He said, his skeletal smile loving as he ruffled her hair. "Ya got company."
The little girl peered around Sans to see Toriel and Glen. With squeal of delight, she ran over to Glenda. As she ran, the cloak wrapped around her slid to the ground, revealing a pair of blue and purple butterfly wings. They propelled her into the air and into Glenda's waiting arms.
Glenda hugged the little girl close. "Aww ... I missed you too, Frisk."742Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0Th5BgSNXs
The little girl pulled back slightly, grinning at the Dreamer. Her hands moved quickly, but not so quickly that Glenda couldn't keep up.
"A present?" Glenda said in mock surprise. "What makes you think I'd bring you a present?"
Frisk made a face at her and crawled over Glenda's shoulder. Glenda caught Frisk's legs as the little girl as she slipped her hands into the pockets of Glenda's denim shorts, only to pull out a small silver bauble.
She slid down Glenda's legs and held up the bauble, smiling. Smiling back, Glenda took the bauble and threw it in the air. Imemdiately, it burst into a cloud of butterflies of all colors. Frisk spun around in delight as the butterflies fluttered around her, her own wings flapping as well.
Glenda snapped her fingers. The butterflies immediately flew together, reforming the bauble.
As Frisk picked it up, Glenda said, "I brought a friend too. Jake?"
The robot dog walked into the room. Frisk let out another squeal and immediately flew toward Jake, who seemed surprised but eager of the attention.
Frisk hadn't always had wings of course; once upon a time, she'd been a little human girl. After running away from her abusive parents, the kind-hearted child wandered the caverns beneath the mountain and ultimately helped free the monsters from their prison.
With Toriel and Sans taking her in as their own, she'd been happy. Unfortunately, the sickness had come on without warning. With her temperature rising, her body failing, her chances falling, and little else to lose, Toriel and Sans eventually turned to Glenda for a cure, any cure ... and Glenda had delivered, even if the end result had been ... unexpected.
"So." Glenda said, handing her the drawing of the sad flower. "You drew this, right?"
Frisk nodded enthusiastically. She pointed at the flower with one hand, her other already moving so fast it was nearly a blur.
"Friend in trouble." Glenda said as the little girl spelled it out with one hand. "Your friend needs help?"
Nodding, Frisk suddenly lowered her hands, a sad look on her face.
"What is it, my child?' Toriel asked, putting her hand on Frisk's shoulder. "What is wrong? Who is in trouble?"
Frisk rubbed the hand of the woman who was now, as Sans often put it, her Mom-ster. Her eyes went to Glenda, however. Noting a strange pleading in the little girl's eyes, Glenda said, "Tori, I think a piece of pie may be in order to loosen our little hero's lips."
"Oh! Of course!" Tori gave Frisk a kiss on the forehead and said, "I'll be right back, my child."
Sans started to follow, but Glen quickly stopped him at a look from Frisk. The puzzled look on the skeleton's face almost made her laugh.
Once Tori was gone, Glenda set Frisk on the ground. "Okay, so whoever's in trouble is someone you don't want to mention in front of your mother because ..."
Frisk balled up her hands and rubbed her eyes dramatically.
"Because you don't want to make her sad?" Glen looked at Sans, who shrugged. If anything, he looked even more mystified.
"All right." Glen said, "Who is it?"
Frisk's hands moved slowly, as though she wanted to make sure Glen caught every letter.
"A-S- ... Asgore? Is it Asgore?"
Frisk blew a rasberry at Glen and bonked her on the head before pressing a finger to her mouth and starting over.
Sans and Glen watched in silence as Frisk spelled out a name. Glen didn't recognize it, but from the sharp intake of breath from Sans, the name meant something to him.
"Who is-" Glen stopped; Now Sans's finger was pressed to her mouth. He jerked his head slightly toward the door. After a few moments, Glen noticed the shadow under the door; Toriel was standing outside.
Sans motioned toward the window. At a flick of his wrist, it silently swung open, revealing the beautiful day outside. Frisk was the first to leave, her wings making no sound as she flew through the open window. Glen moved to go next, but as she drew neared the window, she felt her body get extremely light. Some invisible force lifted her and a very confused Jake and carried them silently out the window, but not before Sans signed the name 'Grillby'. Glen nodded in acknowledgement, which he returned before gesturing toward her and Jake, carefully lowering them to the ground.
"Okay, Frisk." Glenda said as the little girl straightened her blue and purple-striped shirt. "Is Grillby's still in the Snowdin Quarter?"
Seeing her nod, Glen said, "Good. Sans will meet with us there; in the meantime, why don't you climb on Jake's back and tell me everything you know about this Asriel."
By the time Sans joined them at the bar in Grillby's, Frisk had explained everything. Glen wasn't sure she understood all of it, but she understood enough. Frisk was munching her way through an order of fries (and occasionally passing a few to Jake, who sat beside her) as Sans took a seat.
"Hey, Fuku." Sans said, waving at the woman of green fire who stood behind the counter. "I'll have the usual."
"Sure thing, Mister Sans." She picked up a red bottle of ketchup and sat it on the counter. "Anything else?"
"Nah, I'm good. Tell your dad I hope he gets to feelin' better, all right? He didn't look so hot the last time I saw him."
If she noticed the pun, she gave no indication of it as she walked away. Shrugging, Sans picked up the bottle of ketchup and took a deep drink before sighing and turning to Glen. "Okay, so Asriel is-"
"Toriel and Asgore's son, right?" Glenda finished. "Which is why Frisk didn't want to mention him in front of Tori. Speaking of, is she okay?"
"She's a little annoyed, but I convinced her you two just needed to take a walk. Mind you, anyone else, and she'd be here throwing fire; you know how protective she is."
"Yeah, I remember." Glenda said, rubbing the back of her head. "All right; so let me see if I've got this right; Asriel was-ow!"
Sans let out a chuckle; Frisk had hit Glenda without looking away from her fries.
"Sorry, Frisk. I of course meant Asriel is the son of Toriel and Asgore. After the human child they adopted died, he absorbed her soul and carried her back to the old village of Ebott way back before even I lived there. The villagers freaked out and attacked, but he stopped himself from retaliating and carried her body back to the Underground before dying."
Glancing at Frisk, Glenda asked, "So far, so good?"
Frisk gave her a thumbs up, but quickly brought her hand down to stop Glenda from sneaking a french fry. Unfortunately for her, Glenda had two hands, and managed to snag one before Frisk could react.
Ignoring the sulking child now moving her fries out of Glenda's reach, Glenda said, "But then Alphys, then the Royal Scientist, accidentally brought him back as a flower named Flowey. Wow; that's a sentence I just said."
Chuckling, Sans said, "Okay, I guess it does sound a bit strange."
"Did I mention I was recently travelling with a krogan chef?" Glenda said, prompting a laugh from Sans. "Strange is life for me, man. So this Flowey was given determination but he couldn't feel anything because he had no soul. Eventually, he tried to stop Frisk, but our little hero helped him realize what he was doing was wrong. He broke the barrier, but without the souls, he was gonna become a flower again."
Frisk nodded. She pushed her fries away, her expression sad.
"He was afraid that he might try and hurt you again, so he stayed behind." Glenda said, patting Frisk on the back.
She nodded and sniffed. Glenda saw the tears in her eyes and patted her on the back again.
"You think that's why somethin' was callin' you here?" Sans asked as Jake quietly tipped the basket of fries into his monitor before nudging it back onto the counter just as Frisk reached for another fry. Not finding any left, she stuck her tongue out at Jake before crossing her arms and pointedly ignoring him.
"Dunno." Glenda said, trying not to smile at Jake and Frisk. "But it's a good place to start. Don't worry, Frisk; if there's a way to save him, I promise you I'll find it."
Frisk beamed at Glen and hugged her arm tightly.
Chuckling, Glen patted her head. "I gotta ask, though; why now? I mean, it's been decades. I know you were in and out of stasis for awhile there while I was looking for your cure, but you had plenty of times to let me or someone else know about Asriel. Why bring it up now?"
Frisk was silent for a long time. Slowly, she picked up the mustard bottle and used it to draw on her now empty basket. Glenda recognized the symbol she was drawing before she even finished.
"The Inverse Harmonius." Glenda breathed. "Where did you see this?"
Frisk pointed to her head.
"In your mind? In your thoughts?" Sans guessed.
An annoyed look fell over Frisk's face. She poked Glenda in the shoulder and looked at her expectantly.
"Me? What about ... oh! In your dreams! You've seen the symbol in your dreams!"
Frisk nodded, a satisfied look on her face.
Sans shook his head before taking a long drink from his ketchup bottle. "Okay, so she's seen this harmonius thing in her Dreams. What's that mean?"
"The Inverse Harmonius was formed from a piece of shattered reality." Glenda said. "It allows travel between dimensions, but it can be hard to control. I don't mind tellin' ya, I've been looking for it for a long time now. Still, if you're seeing it in your dreams, I'm guessing something got to it first.
She nodded. This time, she pulled out a folded piece of paper. Glenda's stomach fell before she even finished unfolding it, as she could see the heavy use of black crayon through the paper. Once it was fully opened, Frisk turned it so that Glenda could see it.
The face that stared back at her was frightening, so much so that both Glenda and Sans recoiled at the sight of it.
"What is that?" Sans said.
Glenda shook her head. "Something bad, no doubt ... and if it's using even a fraction of the Inverse Harmonius, there's no telling where it came from."
She pulled out one final picture and set it on the counter. This one showed Flowey the flower huddled around a small yellow seven-pointed star with the monster looming over them both.
"And what is that?" Sans said, tapping the star.
"No idea." Glen said. "Whatever it is must be important if Asriel is guarding it, however."
Glenda tapped the paper a few times before finally nodding. "Where do you think he is now?"
Frisk pointed to the ground, then to the mountain.
"What, like New Home?" Sans asked.
Frisk shook her head and pointed to the ground again.
"Waterfall? Snowdin? Home?"
After a moment's hesitation, she pointed down once again.
"All the way down." Glenda said. "Fair enough. I'll head into the mountain and keep going down until there's nowhere left to go."
Glenda tossed some money on the table and stood up to leave. Sans quickly rose as well, stopping Glenda before she could leave.
"You ain't thinkin' of headin' down there alone, are ya?"
"Well, yeah, that's kinda what I do." Glen said with a shrug.
"Yeah, well you ain't doin' it alone this time." Sans said. "You've got no idea where you're goin', let alone what you're gonna be facin' down there, especially seeing as you still don't know what was leadin' you back here in the first place. Trust me, pal; you're gonna want some help. Tell ya what; meet me up at the entrance to the mountain in an hour; that'll give me time to make a few calls."
"Perhaps I could use the help." Glen admitted, though she couldn't help but wonder just what kind of team Sans would put together. "All right; I'll see you in an hour, after Jake and I take Frisk home."
Frisk crossed her arms, the annoyed look on her face making her look all the more adorable.
"Oh, no." Glen said, "You are not coming with us. Toriel would fry me alive."
