Journey of the Sanses

Chapter 32: Little Noko

Sera almost immediately rushed to help the young woman, while her acquaintances were petrified with absolute shock and horror what they had discovered. The pink Draconian wasted no time whatsoever as she used her acid to melt the chains - of course, being careful not to get the substance on the prisoner herself.

All the while, the unfamiliar skeleton monster looked absolutely thankful for their arrival - making it apparent that he had also been imprisoned in the hidden chamber. When the young woman was released from her chains, she was silent for a few moments before quietly thanking Sera for her assistance.

The young woman had very dark brown hair, tired eyes, pale skin, and was wearing a thin sweater of some sort. The unfamiliar skeleton was wearing fancy beige clothing that had been torn in a few places, not unlike what the young woman was wearing. It was obvious that the two of them had not only been trapped down here for a long time, but they had also been considerably abused by whoever it was who had imprisoned them here.

"Who... are you?" The young woman asked. "The better question is... who are you?" Classic Sans asked. A few moments of silence passed before the young woman spoke up. "I'm... Little Noko, the ruler of the UnderDecay Universe," she said. "Or at least, I used to be." "I am Encre, a former resident of the Vampire-Verse," the unfamiliar skeleton said. Upon those words, both Suave and Decans' eyes widened with recognition.

"Encre... is that really you?" Suave asked. "If so... then would you happen to know about what happened to Jasper?" Encre nodded in confirmation before answering the servant's question. "Although I do not know how he is doing," Encre said. "I do know that he is safe in the Crayon Kingdom under the protection of the Crayon Queen herself."

"After Fallacy became the Lord of the Vampire-Verse, Encre escaped from his empire and took Jasper with him," Little Noko explained. "Wanting to make sure that Fallacy never found them, he gave Jasper to the Crayon Queen and went in an entirely different direction from him." "That seems reasonable," Swap Papyrus said. "Who did this to you?"

"It was Fell Papyrus," Little Noko answered. "Fallacy apparently chose him to take over the UnderDecay Universe so that I wouldn't 'get in his way'. Encre was simply in the wrong place at the wrong time when Fell Papyrus did this to my kingdom." "I knew that he'd do something like this," Fell Sans said with tears emerging in his eye sockets. "The moment that he joined Fallacy's forces, I knew that he would do something terrible." The other caretakers nodded in understanding, indicating that Fell Sans had told them about what his brother had done.

"What happened to everyone else?" Velvetine asked. "Why is this place... such a ghost town?" "As soon as Fell Papyrus took over, everybody tried desperately to get out as soon as they could," Encre replied. "Unfortunately... some of them weren't lucky enough to survive," he paused before continuing. "Needless to say... we are desperately in need of help." "Well, that's what we're here to do," Swap Papyrus said. "Well, besides save the Multiverse from Fallacy, that is."

"You... wouldn't happen to be the prophesied children and their caretakers, now would you?" Little Noko asked. "If so, then," she said while lovingly glancing at Decans. "Then a reunion with my son is long overdue." "Mom," Decans said while proceeding to embrace his mother. "I missed you so much." "I missed you, too, my little Cyano." Little Noko replied whilst returning her son's hug. "Cyano?" Decans inquired. "Who's that?"

"It was the name that I was going to give you, because of your yellow-and-blue eyes and soul," she said. "But... whatever your caretakers named you is fine with me." "My name is Decans," the diminutive skeleton said. "It's so nice to finally get to meet you." "I feel the same," his mother responded. "Despite all of these years in this prison... I never forgot about you, my dear son."

They continued on with their familial embrace for a few moments before eventually separating themselves, but they still lovingly gazed into each other's eyes upon doing so. This lasted for yet another few moments before Little Noko spoke up again. "Thank you so much for taking care of my son," she said to the caretakers before turning around to face the other children. "And... whoever you young ones are... thank you."

The caretakers and other children nodded in understanding of her gratitude. A few moments passed before Classic Sans spoke up. "Well, now that we've found you," he said to Little Noko. "I think that it's time to go get your kingdom back." "I'm afraid that it's not that simple," she said. "Since Fell Papyrus has complete control over the UnderDecay Universe, we have no choice but to enforce a coup d'etat... which means that Fell Papyrus has to die."

They all went silent upon hearing those words, for they had never once thought that someone would have to die in order to liberate an Alternate Universe. A few moments passed before Fell Sans spoke up. "I'll do it," he said. "I allowed him to do this to you, so it's only fair if I put my life on the line to kill him." "We both know that you tried your best to stop him," Swap Papyrus reassured while Classic Sans nodded in agreement. "You didn't allow him to do it, so stop blaming yourself for this."

"We'll help you defeat him," Classic Sans added. "But for right now though, we need to focus on getting out of here." "Don't worry about that," Little Noko said. "I know my way out of this place. Just follow me." And with that, the caretakers, children, Velvetine, and Encre followed Little Noko as she quickly opened the door and sprinted in the direction of the stairwell that led to the hallway that they had been in.

Little Noko then placed one of her hands on a seemingly unimportant large stone template and used her magic to make the surrounding sand fall to the ground, making an entrance in the sandy wall. The others followed her through the opening and stopped when she halted. Little Noko, despite all of her years of being in her underground prison, immediately recognized the area as her throne room.

Standing in that very room was a tall mean-looking skeleton with spiky red-and-black armor, red spiked gloves and boots, a red ragged cape, sharp teeth, red eyes, and a few scratches on his left eye socket - and he was glaring at the newcomers with vehement malevolence. They all knew right away that they were now face-to-face with Fell Papyrus.