"-ey... Hey!"

Kris startled awake as someone touched their shoulder, but only barely. They were in a deep sleep, and reluctant to leave it.

However, the person ignored their muffled complaints, in fact, that seemed to make them bother Kris even more. As Kris was roused to consciousness, they groaned, and the person finally left them alone, moving onto Mabel, who was forced awake, too.

Mabel was a lot easier to wake than Kris had been, and within a minute, Kris could hear her sitting up beside them and happily chatting with the person that woke them.

"Oh, hey!" Mabel called up to him. She sounded tired, but seemed to be getting more awake with every word. "Why are you in here? Are you allowed in here?"

It seemed to take a couple seconds for the other person to respond. "Er... yes, I am. I am the priest of the church, actually."

"Oh," Mabel sounded surprised. "This is a church?"

"...Yes."

Well, they obviously weren't going to get back to sleep, so Kris forced their eyes open. Slowly, the church came into focus, looking a lot different now that it wasn't dark out. The white snow outside, and the white of the church made the light seemed to bounce of each other, making everything look brighter than it probably was. It gave Kris a headache.

There was a person dressed in a nice suit standing over Kris and Mabel, but he was mostly focused on Mabel. In different circumstances, Kris would probably try and sneak away and let Mabel take all the blame, but they doubted they'd get very far. Not with that weather, at least.

The man, the priest, Kris remembered, looked between the two of them, seemingly unsure of what to do. That was good. If Mabel and Kris played their cards exactly right, they'd get out of this scot-free.

The priest glanced out the window. "Huh, I don't think I've seen you two before. Were you hiding from the cold?"

Kris nodded. That was good. Yes, they were camping out from the weather.

For some reason, the priest seemed to startle at that, staring down at Kris. Kris stared back. What was that all about?

"Yeah!" Mabel replied enthusiastically. The priest turned to her, but Kris could tell that he was keeping an eye on them. "We came from the big city, Glittertopia! We're the inspectors."

"I-Inspectors?" the priest spluttered. "Glittertopia? What on earth are you talking about? What on earth is 'Glittertopia'?"

"It's the big city, just like I said," Mabel said, and somehow, she said it with so much confidence that the priest stepped back, shaking his head as he seemed to accept it.

"You... could just say that you are tourists, you know," he told them. Mabel shook her head.

"No, no," she insisted. "We're inspectors. See we have ID's!"

Mabel reached into her pocket, and Kris didn't know what she was looking for, but she brought out the sparkly directions that she'd had before. As Mabel showed the priest proudly, she didn't seem to notice.

The priest sighed.

"Lying is a not a good habit, young lady," the priest told Mabel firmly, before shaking his head. "I'll be in here all day, so you can stay here if you need to. As you can see, it's well heated, and I can give you food and water if you want it. But if I may ask, how long are you planning to stay? What is your business in Iglis?"

"But I told you, we're-," Mabel started, but Kris shook their head at her. Mabel got the message. "Alright, alright. In all honesty, we're TREASURE HUNTERS, and-."

"Young lady, please do not start that again," the priest interrupted quickly, before Mabel could really get going. He glanced to the side, out the window. "Ah. I must get ready for the day. We can talk later. I certainly hope you rethink your tendencies towards lying, children. I'll tell you this: if I can, I'll help you, but I can't if you don't tell me the truth."

Mabel and Kris exchanged looks with each other as the priest moved away to the front of the church, doing just as he said. Still, Kris could tell that he was watching them closely, so when Mabel leaned in to whisper to them, Kris turned them both away so the priest couldn't see them.

"Should we tell the truth?" Mabel asked. "I dunno if we can trust that guy, he seems suspicious."

Kris shrugged. Telling the truth would probably be easier, but Kris liked where Mabel was heading with this whole lying thing. It seemed fun.

"I thought you'd like it!" Mabel said, beaming. "But now he isn't believing us. We'll have to trick him really good. Like... Oh! How about we're fairies-!"

They should try and pretend their thieves, actually.

"T-Thieves?" Mabel frowned, thinking it over, but it wasn't long before she was nodding, albeit hesitantly. "I don't know, that sounds kind of mean, I was thinking more along the lines of playing pretend...? Like undercover spies or something?"

...Kris thought they saw a cute boy outside who liked thieves-.

"Really! I'll do it!" Mabel cried immediately. She threw her arms up, suddenly determined. "Finally, my chance for a summer romance!"

Kris gave her a confused looked. Summer romance?

"It's still summer," Mabel told them. "It's always summer until it's schooltime, so..."

Kris hummed, before shrugging. Maybe they would should use that logic the next time Toriel tries to get them to go back to school on September 2nd.

"Anyway, what are we stealing?" Mabel asked them, and they turned around, surveying the church. As Mabel and Kris had been talking, the church had slowly filled up with people. The priest seemed to have stopped paying them much attention, as now he was talking quietly with another person. The conversation seemed intense, and the both the priest and the man he was talking to seemed worried.

"Kris?" Mabel asked, and Kris jumped, wondering how long they'd been distracted. They shook their head and got back to work.

The church was filled with the usual religious stuff, stuff that Kris' eyes passed right over because they weren't very interesting. Stained glass windows depicting various religious figures and scenes, creepy statues on both sides of the walls, staring at the people gathered in the church. At the front, there was a stage and a podium stood beside the priest, and behind it was a painting depicting some sort of event that Kris didn't know or care about. The podium was on the left side of the stage, and on the right, there was another statue of what looked like a completely random person. Kris frowned at it. It looked out of place in this town.

The man looked completely normal, even wearing a modern-day business suit when everyone else in the church was wearing old fashioned clothes.

Kris shook their head again. Whatever. What was more important was the flowers sitting underneath the statue. That looked stealable. Kris shook Mabel's arm as they pointed it out.

"Ooh, those are pretty," Mabel noted, before she grinned. "Hey, do you think that boy will like them...? Oh, hey, aren't those the flowers that Kipo needs?"

Were they? Kris peered closer at the red flowers, carefully laid underneath the man. Huh, guess they were.

"You're right, Kris!" Mabel decided. "Let's get them! We have a plan, right?"

Kris shrugged. Mabel waited, but as Kris didn't say or do anything else, she frowned.

"Uh... okay," Mabel said. She hit her fist determinedly. "Then I'll come up with the pla-!"

"Hello, everyone!" the priest called out from the front. Kris and Mabel both jumped before looking to the front. The priest seemed to be finished with his conversation and was now addressing the gathered people. No trace of his earlier worry could be found in his face as he smiled at everyone from behind the podium. "If we can all sit down please...? I think we are ready to begin the service."

Kris and Mabel exchanged a look before sitting down together on a pew. The rest of the folks around them did, too, and Kris looked around, trying to find someone who could be a 'cute boy' if Mabel so asked them to point one out. As they looked, they wondered how many people were here. There weren't a ton, maybe fifty or sixty, but that was also kind of a lot for Church. Was this the whole town? Seemed pretty small, and most seemed like young adults who looked like they'd much rather be asleep. Mabel and Kris seemed to be two of only eight kids that Kris could see, and those other six kids looked a lot older than them, and they, like most of the young adults in the pews were wearing work close.

The priest seemed like the oldest one here, and even he was hardly older than Asgore.

Strange. What kind of town was this? Kris continued to wonder while the priest got started on his sermon.

He started on useless things that neither Mabel nor Kris cared about (they schemed in the back while he talked), and then lead the entire church in prayer. Kris and Mabel didn't listen to that either, instead watching as the people around them bent their heads respectfully before nearly half of them nearly fell over, instantly falling asleep. It was kinda funny.

Soon enough, though, (perhaps way too soon), the priest raised his head again.

"Ah, perfect, now that prayer is over with it's time to move on to the trial," the priest announced, and Kris and Mabel's head snapped up.

Trail?

"What does he mean 'trial'?" Mabel whispered to Kris. "Is that a church thing?"

How should Kris know? Also, not usually.

Mabel blinked. "Huh."

Kris and Mabel didn't seem to be the any ones confused. Around them, people were whispering to each other, and they seemed agitated.

"I'm sorry you all won't get to work as early as you might want to, but I promise, you will all be compensated fairly," the priest said, and though his words did seem to calm the crowd down somewhat, they still looked worried.

"I'm sorry for the trouble, everyone, but it's our responsibility to our God to judge this boy fairly," the priest told them. "Mr Grier and Mr Fraser have investigated this boy thoroughly and are ready to present it to you all so you can judge him. I ask that you judge fairly, but keep your wits about you! We have no idea how this... 'boy' will use his powers against us."

Mabel leaned in closer to Kris. "I think we interrupted something important. Also, do you think this 'boy' is a witch? Do you think he'll be cute?"

Kris shrugged. From how they were describing him, this boy sounded evil. But it's not actually like Kris trusted this church, so maybe the boy is going to be really nice.

Either way, it didn't really matter. So far, the two hadn't been given any chance to sneak away and steal those flowers. In fact, a trail might give them less chances.

How annoying. Kris sighed; the urge to cause trouble was rising in them.

"Father Arlen, why must we all stay for this?" A voice spoke up, and a young woman stood up at the front. She was one of those kids Kris had noticed earlier. "All you are doing is stopping us from working! We're wasting our time, you know what our answer is gonna be, is the same as always! Besides, the last time you 'compensated' us was when you gave us not even half of our usually meager pay!"

Father Arlen looked taken aback, and as agreeing whispers filled the church, a worrying look crossed his face.

"I...I..." Father Arlen shook his head, trying to gather his thoughts. "Miss Ricki, I understand you are new here, and rather young, too, but we cannot afford to do this any other way here. Iglis is a place that commonly attracts monsters and demons in human skin..."

For some reason, Father Arlen's eyes seemed to pass over Mabel and Kris when he said that.

"...But not all newcomers are evil," he continued. "So how do we tell what is a blessing from our God and what is an adversary sent by the devil? It's simple, we put them on trial."

"But Father Arlen, EVERY newcomer we put on trial turns out to be evil," Ricki argued. "And it sounds like you think this one is, too. So what's the point-?"

"Yes, the town of Iglis is going through a tough time right now," Father Arlen interrupted, barely able to keep his annoyance at bay. "The Devil sends more and more evil by the day. But that's why Iglis must stay strong and vigilant. We will NOT turn away a blessing, and we will NOT let a demon slip between the cracks. Do you understand, Miss Ricki?"

"But-!"

By now, it seemed Father Arlen lost him patience. "Sit down, Miss Ricki. The only person holding us up now is you!"

Ricki opened her mouth, perhaps to argue further, bust as the whispers around her turned against her, she faltered, losing confidence until she finally closed her mouth, and sat down again quietly. But when Kris tilted their head and peered at her, she still looked enraged.

If Father Arlen noticed this, he didn't dwell on it. In fact, he seemed eager to move on.

"Now, we all met this boy before, when he collapsed into our village out of nowhere with a monster in tow," Father Arlen continued. "He asked for shelter in our village, and we gave him it, in William Grier's in. However, since then, Mr Grier has come to me with worries about this boy, and how he is concerned about his origins. And so, he is presenting this boy, and his allegations, to you, the people, so that you can judge."

Mabel leaned over to Kris, probably to whisper something yet again, but the words died in her throat. Kris couldn't blame her. Both of them were staring at the stage where the man Father Arlen had been talking about earlier was marching in, prodding the aforementioned boy in front of him. Kris and Mabel couldn't stop staring at him, shocked.

Apparently, the boy that was on trial for somesort of crime was their friend Norman, from the town.