Underville
17th April 1664
3rd person POV
Azure
Azure was going to Encre's house when he noticed a small paper presumably left by him.
He picked the note and read it.
'𝚆𝚑𝚊𝚝 𝚊𝚛𝚎 𝚢𝚘𝚞 𝚍𝚘𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝙴𝚗𝚌𝚛𝚎?' He thought but quickly shrugged it as he knew that Encre could take care of himself by himself.
'𝚈𝚎𝚜𝚝𝚎𝚛𝚍𝚊𝚢 𝙸 𝚝𝚘𝚕𝚍 𝚑𝚒𝚖 𝚑𝚒𝚜 𝚖𝚊𝚓𝚎𝚜𝚝𝚢 𝚠𝚊𝚗𝚝𝚎𝚍 𝚝𝚘 𝚜𝚎𝚎 𝚑𝚒𝚖, 𝚖𝚊𝚢𝚋𝚎 𝚑𝚎 𝚔𝚗𝚘𝚠𝚜 𝚜𝚘𝚖𝚎𝚝𝚑𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚊𝚋𝚘𝚞𝚝 𝚝𝚑𝚒𝚜?' He remembered, however, the note left by Encre said he wouldn't be back for a while nothing told him how long he was going to be away.
Azure started to get uneasy, he couldn't do much about the situation and so decided to wait for him for a day or two.
~Time Skip~
While patrolling the city's frontier with the forest, Azure noticed some guys, most likely, hunters, talking about something. He couldn't quite hear their words to each other as he was far away from them but as he managed to get closer he heard the words vampire and artist, in a crystal clear way, gaining his attention.
He got even closer as to hear them completely and hide on the side of a house nearby, making a loose position as to not alarm any people around the place.
"We were so close." One of them sort of yelled, "Yeah no shit, you weren't the one who had to talk to the artist freak!"
His blood was boiling at this statement '𝚃𝚑𝚎𝚢'𝚛𝚎 𝚝𝚊𝚕𝚔𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚋𝚊𝚍 𝚘𝚏 𝙴𝚗𝚌𝚛𝚎 𝚊𝚐𝚊𝚒𝚗.' He looked up as he let the rage he felt slowly dissipate, getting him to turn back to normal all this while he was hearing a humming tone, although low almost as a whisper every sound that got to his ear was soothing.
'𝚆𝚑𝚘'𝚜 𝚑𝚞𝚖𝚖𝚒𝚗𝚐? 𝙲𝚘𝚞𝚕𝚍 𝚒𝚝 𝚋𝚎 𝚏𝚛𝚘𝚖 𝚝𝚑𝚎𝚜𝚎 𝚐𝚞𝚢𝚜?', he was confused nonetheless, '𝙽𝚘 𝚒𝚝 𝚖𝚞𝚜𝚝 𝚗𝚘𝚝 𝚋𝚎 𝚝𝚑𝚎𝚖' he thought, the hunters were still shouting at each other it wasn't possible to be coming from them '𝚃𝚑𝚊𝚝 𝚟𝚘𝚒𝚌𝚎... 𝙸𝚝'𝚜 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚜𝚊𝚖𝚎 𝚘𝚗𝚎. It 𝚊𝚕𝚠𝚊𝚢𝚜 𝚜𝚎𝚎𝚖𝚜 𝚝𝚘 𝚌𝚊𝚕𝚖 𝚖𝚎 𝚍𝚘𝚠𝚗. 𝚆𝚑𝚘'𝚜 𝚜𝚒𝚗𝚐𝚒𝚗𝚐?'
He snapped out of his thoughts when the argument those guys were having got worse '𝚁𝚒𝚐𝚑𝚝, 𝚝𝚑𝚎𝚜𝚎 𝚐𝚞𝚢𝚜.' Azure kept hearing them shout at each other when he realized that he should get back to work. After all, the only thing he got from their talk was that Encre had a broken arm.
'𝙱𝚞𝚕𝚕𝚒𝚎𝚜 𝚊𝚐𝚊𝚒𝚗, 𝚑𝚞𝚑? 𝙰𝚛𝚎 𝚢𝚘𝚞 𝚝𝚛𝚢𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚝𝚘 𝚝𝚊𝚔𝚎 𝚊 𝚋𝚛𝚎𝚊𝚔? 𝙽𝚘, 𝚢𝚘𝚞'𝚛𝚎 𝚗𝚘𝚝 𝚝𝚑𝚊𝚝 𝚔𝚒𝚗𝚍 𝚘𝚏 𝚙𝚎𝚛𝚜𝚘𝚗, 𝚢𝚘𝚞 𝚠𝚘𝚞𝚕𝚍 𝚙𝚛𝚘𝚋𝚊𝚋𝚕𝚢 𝚏𝚊𝚌𝚎 𝚝𝚑𝚎𝚖 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝚛𝚎𝚙𝚎𝚊𝚝 𝚠𝚑𝚊𝚝 𝚑𝚊𝚙𝚙𝚎𝚗 𝚕𝚊𝚜𝚝 𝚝𝚒𝚖𝚎.'
Azure kept walking while all those thoughts flooded his mind.
At some point of the day, he felt tempted to ask the king for some information, the king's relationship with Encre, although far from the best, had just enough "respect" for him to tell the king when and where he was leaving to.
Often Encre would approach Azure after speaking with the king to repeat his words, never missed once since they became friends and that's why his sudden disappearance was frightening.
'𝙳𝚒𝚍 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚔𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚍𝚘 𝚜𝚘𝚖𝚎𝚝𝚑𝚒𝚗𝚐? 𝙷𝚎 𝚠𝚘𝚞𝚕𝚍𝚗'𝚝, 𝚛𝚒𝚐𝚑𝚝?' Thinking of the king didn't help, Azure knew the fundament of their "respect" based relationship. Encre tried to show respect but got none in response, the king was basically forcing Encre to respect him.
That attitude the king had towards Encre always made Azure uncomfortable, but what could he do? He's trusted by the king and if he slipped even a little his position could be revoked. King Asgore is in a superior rank and thus he should be respectful towards him.
~Time Skip~
Azure kept walking around for a bit more when he noticed a stain of blood in an alley, not far from the village centre and right there and then his thoughts resolved to Encre yet again.
'𝙸𝚏 𝚝𝚑𝚒𝚗𝚐𝚜 𝚔𝚎𝚎𝚙 𝚞𝚙 𝚕𝚒𝚔𝚎 𝚝𝚑𝚒𝚜 𝙸 𝚠𝚘𝚗'𝚝 𝚋𝚎 𝚊𝚋𝚕𝚎 𝚝𝚘 𝚏𝚞𝚗𝚌𝚝𝚒𝚘𝚗 𝚞𝚗𝚝𝚒𝚕 𝙴𝚗𝚌𝚛𝚎'𝚜 𝚋𝚊𝚌𝚔.'
Then a realization hit him and made him stop dead in my tracks. 'Wait. What if it was a vampire attack?' He turned around and run trying to find Eterna.
Azure could seem to find her anywhere, he even went to Dr Lofty's place to find her but nothing about her whereabouts.
Defeated he went to 'Sir Rufous blacksmith' to see if he at least could hear his worries.
"Sir Rufous?" He spoke softly, he was so tired that he couldn't even raise his voice, he needed someone to talk to. To take the weight of not knowing about what was happening and Encre's disappearance especially since he had a broken arm.
Azure then saw Rufous getting closer and gave out a sigh of relief, but quickly tensed up when he saw Eterna talking to him, thankfully they didn't notice him nor have they heard him so he quickly hide behind the wall and listened to their conversation, although he was looking for Eterna he wasn't ready to face her.
"Hah? Give me a reason that should concern me?" The blacksmith wasn't in the mood to respond to the hunter.
"Indeed it doesn't but since it affects your precious little crush's friend, a hand wouldn't make you look bad." Rufous scoffed and Azure seemed to noticed that Eterna sounded a bit different in his non-existent ears as if she wasn't who she apparated to be, but shrugged it as the footsteps were growing closer '𝚃𝚑𝚒𝚜 𝚒𝚜 𝚋𝚊𝚍, 𝙸 𝚑𝚊𝚟𝚎 𝚝𝚘 𝚐𝚎𝚝 𝚘𝚞𝚝 𝚋𝚎𝚏𝚘𝚛𝚎 𝚝𝚑𝚎𝚢 𝚛𝚎𝚊𝚕𝚒𝚣𝚎 𝙸'𝚖 𝚑𝚎𝚛𝚎.'
He then searched for something he could use to get out unnoticed '𝙲𝚘𝚖𝚎 𝚘𝚗 𝙰𝚣𝚞𝚛𝚎 𝚝𝚑𝚒𝚗𝚔 𝚏𝚘𝚛 𝚊 𝚋𝚒𝚝' he was frenetic looking for a way out when he noticed an open window and jump through it.
'𝚃𝚑𝚊𝚝 𝚠𝚊𝚜 𝚌𝚕𝚘𝚜𝚎' The eyes of the passerby were on him, lucky for him it was getting dark and so there were few people on the streets, he quickly adopted an apologetic stand and leave '𝚂𝚘 𝚞𝚗𝚏𝚊𝚒𝚛 T~T. 𝙴𝚗𝚌𝚛𝚎 𝚠𝚑𝚎𝚗 𝚢𝚘𝚞 𝚌𝚘𝚖𝚎 𝚋𝚊𝚌𝚔 𝙸'𝚖 𝚋𝚎𝚊𝚝𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚢𝚘𝚞 𝚞𝚙 𝚏𝚘𝚛 𝚠𝚘𝚛𝚛𝚢𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚖𝚎.'
Azure didn't care anymore so he walked home trying to process what Eterna was speaking about. Upon reaching his home he decided that he would get his thoughts collected and after that go to sleep the next day he would speak to 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒎.
Underville
19th April 1664
Azure woke up early that day, earlier than he normally would, and might I say that he was a morning person.
He got ready and went to his kitchen preparing some eggs he got from a human that lived near him, they have a self-help relationship, Azure would protect their family and in return, he would receive some food from their animals.
He finished breakfast, went to the knight's training camp starting to do his routine, practising some swings and overall keep himself in shape, in case a war broke loose.
After 30 minutes he decided to have a break, he sat on a bench finally having time to organize his thoughts of the talk he had with 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒎.
~Flashback~
Underville
18th April 1664
Azure was already finished for the day and he didn't have to patrol the town for the next seven days, it was the perfect opportunity to talk with Simon and Orion.
He walked there and knocked on their door, the house in front of him was way different from the rest, it looked more stable in his eyes, but he thought it was only natural since it was the multitasking Simon and his assistant Orion's house.
5 minutes had passed and he knocked again.
This time Orion opened the door.
"Yes?" The assistant looked out to see Azure "Dr Simon is busy is it really important?".
Azure thought for a bit '𝚆𝚊𝚜 𝚒𝚝?' He thought about it for a bit before responding "𝚈𝚎𝚜, 𝚙𝚕𝚎𝚊𝚜𝚎 𝚕𝚎𝚝 𝚖𝚎 𝚝𝚊𝚕𝚔 𝚝𝚘 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚋𝚘𝚝𝚑 𝚘𝚏 𝚢𝚘𝚞, 𝚘𝚞𝚛 𝚔𝚒𝚗𝚐𝚍𝚘𝚖 𝚖𝚒𝚐𝚑𝚝 𝚍𝚎𝚙𝚎𝚗𝚍 𝚘𝚗 𝚑𝚘𝚠 𝚚𝚞𝚒𝚌𝚔𝚕𝚢 𝚢𝚘𝚞 𝚏𝚒𝚐𝚞𝚛𝚎 𝚒𝚝 𝚘𝚞𝚝."
Azure was serious and so Orion adopted a correspondent attitude "Come in."
He followed Orion until they stopped in an open area with only a couch and a chair.
"Please sit on the couch, I'll be back with Dr Simon." Orion made a hand movement pointing to the couch and leave after he finished saying that.
A few minutes later two skeletons came in, they were Simon and Orion, Simon had a journal and a pencil, this thing was a great innovation, made in 1662, for those who wrote a lot.
"So you wanted to talk to us?" Azure looked at him before nodding yes, "𝚃𝚑𝚒𝚜 𝚖𝚊𝚢 𝚝𝚊𝚔𝚎 𝚊 𝚠𝚑𝚒𝚕𝚎, 𝚋𝚞𝚝 𝚙𝚕𝚎𝚊𝚜𝚎, 𝙸 𝚝𝚛𝚞𝚕𝚢 𝚗𝚎𝚎𝚍 𝚢𝚘𝚞𝚛 𝚑𝚎𝚕𝚙 𝚠𝚒𝚝𝚑 𝚝𝚑𝚒𝚜." and then started to try to explain what happened, while Simon took notes and Orion made some tea, with enough focus to hear everything Azure was saying.
After the explanation, the questions began.
"When was the last time that you spoke to Eterna?" Orion asked handing Azure a cup of tea "𝚃𝚑𝚊𝚗𝚔 𝚢𝚘𝚞! 𝚃𝚘 𝚊𝚗𝚜𝚠𝚎𝚛 𝚢𝚘𝚞𝚛 𝚚𝚞𝚎𝚜𝚝𝚒𝚘𝚗, 𝙸 𝚝𝚑𝚒𝚗𝚔 𝚊𝚋𝚘𝚞𝚝 2 𝚍𝚊𝚢𝚜 𝚊𝚐𝚘, 𝚋𝚞𝚝 𝚎𝚟𝚎𝚗 𝚝𝚑𝚎𝚗 𝚜𝚘𝚖𝚎𝚝𝚑𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚊𝚋𝚘𝚞𝚝 𝚑𝚎𝚛 𝚠𝚊𝚜 𝚘𝚏𝚏." as Azure reminded how she was behaving that night, it hit him that she could have been weird for weeks and he had just noticed her behaviour.
"I see." Simon said while taking notes "This may be worse than I anticipated, Eterna is on the front line along with you protecting our people this kind of change can cause terrible results."
"Then you'll help me?" I said hope flooding through me.
"We will." Orion said looking at Azure calmly and in a reassuring way.
The talk continued this was important.
~End of Flashback~
Azure sighted but had now made up his mind, he had to wait for Encre as he knew that he could be the answer to all his questions.
_______________________________________
Author Notes:
First of all, I'm sorry for the long wait, I had other things to focus on but I'm giving you a filler and hopefully update another one soon.
Second, you wanted to know who was following them? Sorry, but I'm evil so you got to wait for yet another chapter and this one brings yet another question, what happened last time someone bullied Encre? Who knows?
:3
Anyway hope you liked the chapter as always none of the images nor characters is mine, credits belong to the respective owners
Total word count: 1716