Chapter 13

Piper found it very odd how Frisk kept staring at Grillby so intently over breakfast after they got up the next morning. They looked so accusatory, even while they ate the pancakes he made. It was really disconcerting. Even Undyne and Alphys were weirded out by it.

“Can I help you with something…?” Grillby asked.

They glared at him as they ate a bite of pancakes, chewing thoroughly and slowly. “What are your intentions with Piper?”

Everyone stopped eating and looked at them oddly.

“Ex… excuse me…?”

“You heard me. What are your intentions with my Piper?” They took another bite.

“...your Piper?”

“Yes. My Piper.”

“...Are you… trying to grill me…?”

“Answer my question. What are your intentions?”

Grillby stared at the child as Undyne and Alphys giggled. The fish monster took a few pictures and started to post play-by-play updates of the situation.

“I…” He glanced at Piper, who shrugged. “I wish to go on a date with her when the barrier is down…”

“A friend date or a date date?”

“Whichever she chooses… I wouldn't make her go on the latter if she didn’t want to…”

“Hm.” They took another bite. “What if we can't get the barrier down?”

He frowned. “What do you mean…?”

“If we can't get the barrier down, what will you do?” Frisk pointed their fork at him as they spoke. “Would you make her stay down here?”

“I'm honestly a bit offended that you would think that…”

“Would you want her to?”

Grillby paused. “...yes, I would want her to…”

“But you wouldn’t stop her from going.”

“Never… if she wants to live on the surface, who am I to stop her…?”

Piper grabbed Frisk and covered their mouth before they could ask anything else. The blush on her cheeks was more than obvious. “Okay, knock it off. This is breakfast, not a show down.”

“Aww, c’mon!” Undyne whined from her spot at the table. “I'm getting all these new followers for recordin’ this!”

She frowned at her.

“Fiiiiine…” She added a new post and put her phone down.

Piper nodded in approval and let Frisk go. “And what was that about?”

The child huffed. “He's gonna take you from me.”

“Aya…” she groaned, running her fingers through her hair. “…será la muerte de mí…”

“You know I don't speak Spanish.”

“Like I care right now.” Piper frowned at Frisk in exasperation. “He ain't takin’ me from you. And you ain't keepin’ me from him.”

“But-”

“No buts. There's enough o’ me to go around. Ya don’t gotta hog me all to yerself. Understood?”

The sighed and nodded.

“Good. Now eat yer breakfast before I do.”

“Yes, Piper…”

Once everything had calmed down and everyone had eaten, they tried to come up with a plan of action.

“Frisk and I can lead the two of you through Hotland,” Undyne said as she leaned back in her chair. “Then, you three find your way to the king. I can't fight him. He's like my dad or whatever. I couldn't do that to him.”

Grillby nodded. “We understand… it's nice that you are helping us anyway…”

“We wouldn't ask ya to fight him,” Piper added. “Frisk, have ya made it to New Home?”

“Yeah,” they said softly. “I can lead us through. Asgore will be tough, though…”

She smiled at the child. “Leave him to me and Grillby. Ya know, if reason don't work.”

“We're not going to kill him, are we…?”

“Course not. Just beat him ‘til he let's us help take down the barrier.” She grinned and flexed her arms to show off her muscles. “With these guns, it won’t be too hard.”

The fire monster hid his blush by adjusting his glasses. “I see… and  just how will your ‘guns’ help…?"

“I could punch him or challenge him to an arm wrestling contest.”

“You just want to avoid a boss fight, don’t you…?”

“...yeah…”

He pat her shoulder. “It’s understandable… You haven’t been in one before…”

Frisk held her hand. “I can show you what to do. I’ve been in a few.”

Piper stared at them with a raised eyebrow. “... a few?”

“Yeah. It’s not to hard as long as you know how to dodge.” They smiled at them reassuringly. “If we fail, I’ll just RESET to a certain point until we succeed.”

“Alright, I guess…” She sighed. “I just wanna limit the times we gotta go around, ya know? Anyone know anything that can get him to stop?”

Undyne thought it over. “Anything that’ll remind him of his wife, I suppose… She left him when he issued the decree to take human SOULS to break the barrier.”

“... is she a goat lady who likes to bake?”

“Uh… y-yeah, I think so…”

Piper grinned. “She made me some pie a while back. I got it in one of those save boxes.”

Frisk nodded. “That might work. Asgore might not fight us if he knows she’s alive.”

“Then we should leave soon… I trust that Dr. Alphys will make sure the path ahead is safe…”

Alphys nodded sheepishly. “O-Of course, Mr. Grillby.”

“We’ll head out in a few hours,” Piper stated. “Everyone get ready. We need this to go as smoothly as possible.”