Chapter Text
"Hey kid."
Those were the words that woke them. The words came from a complete stranger.
They slowly got up, stretching out to lessen the soreness that seemed to have taken up residence in their very bones. It was well into the night, and the bus stop bench was definately not the best place sleep, really anywhere else would have been good. Home would have been good. If they still had a home to go to.
"Mind if I take a seat?" They looked at the person talking to them. It was a man, fairly young looking, but still a little older than most of the men they remember seeing around the house. He was dressed in a white collared shirt, covered with a black leather jacket, with what seemed to be a chain wrapped around his neck. A pair of denim jeans and leather slacks completed the casual look, and they allowed themselves a second to think before deciding on their course of action.
The child blinked once, then scooted over, allowing the man enough space to sit comfortabley, which he promptly did so, sighing as he sat down. There was silence for a moment, then the bench creaked lightly as her turned, looking at the child sitting next to him.
"Its pretty cold out, eh?" He began, then stopped for a moment. When no response came, he tried again.
"You got a name?"
They looked at him a moment, then began moving their fingers. The man looked uncomprehendingly for a couple seconds, then recognized. Sign language.
'F-R-I-S-K'
He grunted in response.
"Frisk, huh? Thats a pretty unique name you got there." He extended his hand to them. "Name's Arlington. Albert Arlington."
'Nice to meet you' Frisk signed. He waved it off. "Pleasures all mine."
He sat in silence for a moment. Took a look at the moon. Noticed how it was nearing its full diskiness inthe notably clear sky. Couple more days, it would be full, shining at its brightest. That'd be nice for a walk. He felt a tap on his shoulder, and turned.
"Yeah kid?" They hesitated a moment. Then 'Were you taking a walk?'
He nodded. "Decided to check out the neighborhood. I, ah... found myself here after a falling out with my previous employers. Wanted so see what this part of the world had to offer." He shrugged. "Haven't been too dissapointed with what I found so far." He leaned back.
He glanced over at Frisk. "What about you?"
'I'm waiting for a bus to take me... home.' Hesitating slightly as they signed the word.
"You dont look very sure about that." He observed, and took a look around. "And it doesnt look like any buses are going to be coming by anytime soon."
Another glance towards Frisk, he watched, guaging their reaction. " If I didnt know better, I would think that you're counting on that."
Frisk looked at him, then looked away.
Silence again.
...
Albert rose from his seat, turning towards the kid.
"Look. I'm hungry, and I dont feel right leaving a kid alone in the middle of the night." They looked up. "What do you say to getting some grub real fast, maybe a couple of blankets to get you through the night?"
Frisk looked uncertain for a moment, then nodded and stood up.
"Alright then. Lets go."
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They only place that was open anywhere close to the busstop was a family run McDonalds with a half asleep cashier, but it was food, and it was cheap, and Albert found himself unwilling to care about anything but that. He bought a couple of Double Cheeseburgers to go and went to wait as Frisk went to use the bathroom.
Six Years. That was how long it had been since he had shown up in this time. So long ago, yet he could remember each of the experiences as clearly as the moment they happened. He rubbed his wrist absentmindedly. Another leftover from being cursed he supposed. The symbol for his afterlife burned into the palm of his right hand, the same deep electric blue as the spiritual body he inhabited while in it.
A reminder that his sins were not completely forgotten.
He'd won though, in the end. He'd fought through cycle, after cycle, after cycle. it was repetitive. It was frustrating. It was literally soul rending.
It was also very, very, predictable.
He'd tried convincing them that it wasn't his fault, that they had to work together. He had shown them that working together was the best way to achieve escape. Over and over again they reached the bridge, tried to get past it, couldn't.
It was the last timeline that he finally realized the truth. It wasnt that they didnt want to leave the hell they were trapped in.
They were trying to leave without him.
Without any usefullness left, he was nothing more than a loose end to them.
Even dead, the rules of the mob rang true.
NO LOOSE ENDS
Billy was the one who let it slip, unsurprisingly. He'd been the one gunning against Arlington the most, even before Alcatraz.
'The Mob was a place for the dogs and the rats,' He had said once.
No one needed a sneak. No one needed a coward.
No one needed a Weasel.
They had thought him weak. They had thought him naive. They had thought him expendable.
They hadn't thought anything at all after they were dead.
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All it took was one shot.
Sal was dead, hit in the legs by Arlingtons Blundergat, torn apart by the undead.
Billy was down, hit by both copies of Brutus as he attempted to aid him.
Finn, dead killed by his own Mustang and Sally rounds after firing them into a horde of undead that got too close.
And then there was one.
Albert Weasel Arlington, the victor stood above the corpses of his former cellmates like some great and powerful god.
In truth? He was so, so, tired.
He had won. He had finally beaten the cycle. He was alive.
It began to rain.
"You won Al. Congrats." He whipped around so fast, the world span for a moment before focusing on the figure in front of him. Wait...
Was that...
"Ferguson? Stanley Ferguson?"
"In the flesh. Well... in the spirit anyway. Although I suppose that would pass for this dimensions version of flesh." He grinned, adjusting the cap of his guard uniform, as Arlington attempted to reel in his utter confusion at the situation.
"Your confused cause im not supposed to be here right?" Albert nodded "Where do you think you are?"
"Hell." A chuckle.
"Close. This is purgatory. A little different from hell, but not too much." Ferguson began walking towards Albert. "The difference is that Hell doesnt have an out. Purgatory does. Purgatory is where the problems of the souls that arent completely lost are worked out." He stopped and stood watching Alrington try to make sense of it. "There are those who try to cheat the system, thus there are gaurds who deal with those who do."
He pointed to the electric chairs. "Thats your way out. Where you'll end up when you get there, well," He shrugged. "Thats above my paygrade, so to speak."
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Stanley had dissapeared shortly afterwards, and taking the electric chairs had transported Albert into some highly advanced version of San Francisco, 50 something years into the future.
Fine by him.
His number rang up on the screen above the register, and he walked up to the bleary eyed cashier to get his burgers, grabbing Frisk as they exited the bathroom, and handing them theirs.
The walk to his small, one bedroom apartment was quiet, the silence broken only by the sounds of eating, as the small child next to him devoured the burger like it was the only thing they had eaten in a long time.
Upon closer inspection, that might be true.
At the bus station he hadnt been able to get a very good look at the kid, it being so dark, but inside the McDonalds it had been painfully clear that they weren't in the best shape. Dark circles surrounded their eyes, and he wasnt exactly sure if the bruising was from sleep deprivation or something else.
It was also obvious that underneath that purple and blue sweater they wore was not much more than skin and bones. He ended up giving them his cheeseburger as well.
He took the keys out of his pocket and opened the door, thanking whatever deity that was out there that his apartment was on the first floor, and walked inside. There wasnt much.
A small couch took up one of the walls of the living room, and there was a bookshelf with several comics lined up inside it. An endtable with a lamp finished the room off. Arlington went to go get blankets, letting them know the couch was all theirs for the night. Upon returning, he noticed that Frisk had fallen asleep almost immediately,and draped the blankets over them, before returning to his own bedroom. He resolved to figure out more tomorrow, but right now, he was tired, they were tired, and the both of them would benifit from a rest.