UnderAsriel

21 - The Resistance

A hand clasped over her mouth.

It all happened so fast, Kel didn't have time to think, and before she could even try to struggle, more hands had wrapped around her arms, squeezing them to her chest, and she was being whisked away. Buildings flew past in a blur - she barely managed to catch another glimpse of the alleyway before the dark frame of a door enveloped her, and she was dragged backwards into a shack.

So I was followed, she thought dizzily as the door snapped shut in front of her, sealing her in empty darkness. The thought didn't give her any sort of satisfaction.

She was wrestled quickly away from the door, then spun around to face the inside of the shack. Kel heard a bolt click behind her as she stared blindly into the murky dark. Flowey pulsed bright on her shoulder, but it hardly made a difference: the darkness was absolute. And she couldn't see any way of escaping it. The hands held her fast. There seemed to be hundreds of them.

So this is what it's like to be kidnapped. 

Kel felt oddly calm. Was it the shock? Or maybe the fact that she'd been anticipating this since before she entered the alley? She wondered dully what they were going to do to her. Kill her, like everybody else had failed to do so far?

Then, surprisingly, the hands let her go.

Kel froze for a moment. The ghost of their touch lingered on her, imprinted on her skin. Oddly, it was even more terrifying not to be held by the creepy kidnapper than it was to be held. She had no idea where it was anymore, and her eyes flicked frantically from one dark corner to the next, straining for any hint of movement or oncoming attack.

Then, suddenly, a lamp clicked on. Kel flinched as bright yellow light flooded her pupils, blinking rapidly and squinting as her eyes struggled to adjust.

Flowey almost instantly let out a startled gasp, but it seemed like an eternity before Kel was able to see more than a few fuzzy shapes swimming in front of her. The dim alley lighting had done a number on her eyes.

But then her vision finally cleared, and she felt like letting out a good old startled gasp herself.

 The shack was full of monsters.

But not just any monsters. These weren't the dirty, grungy, scowling thugs Kel had been expecting. Not at all. Instead, she found herself looking into the beaming faces of eight friendly people who were gazing at her like they were Robin Hood's merry men and she was Robin Hood back from the dead. Like they were orphans who hadn't gotten presents in years and she was the world's jolliest version of Santa Claus. Like... they really, really cared about her.

And that wasn't all. Three of those faces belonged to monsters she recognized. Loox, still as Mike Wazowski-like as ever. The armless kid from Snowdin Forest. The motherly rabbit who'd called her 'hun' and asked if she'd had anywhere to go.

It was quite a few moments before Kel realized her mouth was agape. Her surprise was so tremendous, she reckoned it had the capacity to become Monsters, Incorporated's strongest power source yet.

"What the actual heck," said Flowey blankly.

The words seemed to break the monsters out of some magic spell. Several of them looked instantly sheepish, and they shuffled their feet, glancing awkwardly to the side. The kid, however, continued to beam steadfastly at Kel, and the rabbit smiled, carefully stepping forward to speak.

"Terribly sorry for the start, hun," she said gently, her amber eyes alight in sympathy. "But we didn't know how else to get you here safely."

Kel was too shocked to see her to even register what she was saying. The last time she'd seen this rabbit, the rabbit had thought she was a poor monster orphan. She'd gotten Kel out of the cold, into the inn. Kel owed her life to her. She'd thought she'd never see her again, that she'd never get a chance to thank her. Certainly not after the whole guard episode, for she'd thought the rabbit would've known after that... would've known she was really... a human...