Chapter Text
As soon as Cal's eyes adjusted to the slight darkness she noted how similar the home was to the one the brothers currently shared. Granted this house was very empty in comparison, patches of discoloration on the walls and carpet from where their furniture had been obviously placed for years. She wandered to the middle of the room, noting that where as in the other home there were two doors, closet and bathroom, there were none along the leftmost wall from the door. She had heard that monster food was simply absorbed in to pure energy, explaining the lack of bathroom in a home where they'd never expect a human guest. Her head turned to the side, spying something very tall in the kitchen. Upon inspection it proved to simply be a very tall sink. Despite herself she found a loud laugh escaping from herself in surprise. Seriously why was their sink so damn tall?
Papyrus' voice carried easily from the living room, a slight echo due to the home's empty state, “Are you alright friend? Is there something humorous in the kitchen?”
“No no I just thought of something is all.” Cal chuckled softly and left the kitchen, giving a small reassuring wave to the tall skeleton. There had to be a reason for it so perhaps it was best to not give the impression that she was making fun of it.
After a moment of silence passed a mischievous smile crossed the girl's face. “Can I go look at your old rooms?”
“Why of course! You are more then welcome to! You have already seen my room at our new home, so if you are curious to see our old empty rooms there is no problem!” His grin stretched wider as he began to head towards the stairs, soon followed by Cal herself.
As they reached the top of the stairs Papyrus went to open the door to his own room, only to be sidestepped around by Cal. She very quickly walked down the hall towards the only other room on the upstairs floor. By the time she reached for the door in front of her the skeleton she had abandoned was on his way to join her. Her hand grazed the knob for a moment, feeling as if she was going behind her friend's back to spy in to his room, but she reassured herself that she had gotten an ok and well they hadn't lived here for a good long while. With a small nod herself she grabbed the knob and opened the door, her eyes widening as they took in the sight before her.
It was a tornado. Well, a small one that seemed to be full of trash. As it slowly swept around the room Cal could understand why it was left behind while another part of her wondered if Sans had somehow managed to make another one in his new room. She was pulled from her thoughts as the monster beside her let out a rather large irritated huff, “Really now? I thought I told Sans to pick that thing up before we left and- OH GOD WHAT IS THAT?”
He pointed at a bundle of wadded up papers that seemed to be moving independently from the tornado and seemed to have a tail? No wait there was a little white dog in there! Cal's mouth opened in a cry of disbelief at the poor thing being swirled around before it simply leapt out of the chaos like had leapt off of a bed. Before she could move towards the small thing it had managed to run over to the skeleton beside her and jump up in to his chest. However what Cal was not expecting was Papyrus to begin yelling like he had been hit with mud instead of a cute dog. She couldn't help herself from doubling over with laughter as the two banged around the hallway for a moment before chasing one another down the stairs.
After things quieted down and Cal stopped laughing she wiped her eyes looked at the room once more. It was empty aside from the tornado so with a soft smile she simply shut the door and head back to Papyrus' room. She glanced down the stairs, hearing the skeleton in question's voice carrying inside as he rambled about being attacked by the small dog to someone outside with him. A chuckle passed her lips before she opened the door to her side, stepping inside the final room.
Unsurprisingly it was as empty as all the others, brighter areas standing out from where a multitude of posters must have hung on the sun bleached walls. How did that even work anyways? There was no sun underground. Honestly it was probably through some sort of daytime magic Cal mused to herself. Her eyes traveled across the room before stopping at a difference in color along the wall, about thigh high. She approached it and bent down to examine the lines, discovering that they were merely simple crayon drawings. Despite herself Cal found her eyes welling up with tears at the sight of them.
“You doin' ok there?” The baritone voice came from beside her, echoing off of the walls. Cal gave a small laugh in defeat at being caught crying before she finally stood.
“You guys must have lived here your whole lives huh?” She gave the monster beside her a small smile. He simply mirrored her sad smile and looked away in response. “It must have been… Really hard to move out of this place.”
Cal expected Sans to shrug but found him shaking his head no. “Not really. I mean yeah this is all we knew but...” The lights in his eyes widened ever so slightly as they seemed to sparkle, “There's just so much more up on the surface. Even being able to just look up and see all those stars… That alone makes leaving this place worth it.” He gave her a genuine grin before chuckling to himself for a moment. The girl found herself laughing softly as well, unable to help herself from feeling the happiness radiating off of him. As one of the tears still pooling in the corners of her eyes finally fell across her cheek his hand quickly reached out and wiped it off of the top of her cheek, the motion making Cal's eyes widen in surprise both from the act in general but also how surprisingly warm his fingertips were.
As quickly as his hand was on her face it was pulled away, his eyes shifting uncomfortably as he began to stammer out an apology. “No no oh my gosh you're completely fine don't worry about it.” Cal beamed at him happily, her brow furrowing slightly in confusion as to the warmth rising her in face. “I'm just sorry for getting all emotional and stuff.” She ran a hand through her long brown hair and laughed a bit awkwardly as she attempted to reassure him that nothing wrong was done.
This time a more genuine laugh came from him. “Nah you're the one who's fine here. I guess it's kinda weird for me to not be emotional about this?” He chuckled again. “But hey, why stay in this old place when we can go see what everyone else is up to? I think they were gonna check out this little cafe place that just opened up here?”
Cal perked up almost immediately at the words. “There's a cafe here? Oh man then let's not keep everyone waiting!” She nearly bounded out the room and down the stairs in excitement, leaving Sans' surprised laughter at her enthusiasm echoing in the home behind her.
+
As the group once again came together they found themselves in the newly opened cafe, a small warm place that mostly sold cute magical cinnamon rolls and sweet coffee. After they all paused to partake in the cafe and mingle about everyone gathered up their things and continued to move on to the ruins. Before the group could exit the building though Toriel gave them a sad goodbye, stating that she would wait for their return while she sipped a mellow tea. Outside they paused once more, Asgore taking a moment to explain that it was hard for his former queen to enter the ruins, as it was her former home, and now served mostly as a memorial.
They all progressed solemnly, heading down a rather lengthy hallway on their way to what they were told used to be a small home that belonged to Toriel. Everyone emerged from the long hallway, surprised to see the home had been opened up and expanded in to a library and lounge, finding a multitude of books on monster culture and biology, along with a few about humans. They took their time exploring through the various media, asking questions to their companions about various book's contents when necessary. After a while a few of the humans found themselves wandering further, seeing many areas taped off due to ongoing construction.
Cal and Taylor found themselves wandering off together, following the path farther then most of the others wanted to tread. Little talk passed between them as they took in the sights of the old structures and currently being built homes and buildings. Yes the underground was small compared to all of the world but really it was much larger then either of them had pictured.
The duo came to a pause as they caught a glimpse of what appeared to be figures in the distance. After seeing no movement they approached a cluster of golden flowers, light seeping in from above. With a quick glance Cal noted that there was a rope mesh across the hole in the ceiling, preventing anyone from falling down. As her gaze went back down to what was before them she found herself quickly sucking in a gasp of surprise.
It was a ring of statues, looking like eight stone children playing together, hands linked as they spun around the lush golden flowers. Cal's hand reached out hesitantly to touch the one child that was a monster, goat-like in appearance. “He looks just like-”
“My son. Yes that is him.” The voice rumbled low from behind the two girls, causing them to whirl around in surprise in worry that they had intruded upon something private. Asgore simply gazed at them kindly as he approached them slowly. “Along with my other dear child.” His visually wilted, sadness written plainly across his giant form. “And the other children I so selfishly killed in my grief.”
Taylor spoke first, “Well I mean they weren't all by your hand so-”
The defeated king simply shook his head. “It was by my order. The blame lies on no one but me. I have accepted that, and I will never forget the sacrifices made in my misguided anger. It is important to remember them.” A sad smile tugged at his lips wistfully. “I made sure they were made as close to each child's likeness as possible so everyone can properly know. They deserve so much more but… It is what I can do.”
Cal placed her hand on his arm gently, his size making her feel like she was a child attempting to comfort a parent. It made her feel like her attempts were in vein. “You understand what you did was wrong, and that's very important. I'm sure as long as you're working towards a better future everyone will understand. I mean, they are understanding, right?” Her words grew softer as she continued speaking.
Despite the girl's worries Asgore gave her a knowing grin. “That is all I wish to do now, child. I will do what I can to give every monster the future I had denied them for so, so very long. Even if they hate me for what I have done in the past I will fight for them with everything I have left. That is what I owe my people.” His gaze drifted toward the statues once more. “I only wish there was more I could do for them.”
She moved closer to the forlorn giant in an attempt to look him in the eyes. “It's tragic but… It's still the past. It's more important to focus your strength on those who are still living, those who need your help.” Her words seemed to comfort the man only slightly, his smile spreading ever so slightly to his eyes before he gave a small nod. Before Cal could add anything else to her attempt at a motivation speech he reached his hand out slowly and plucked a single golden flower from the edge of the small patch. He brought it close, twirling it ever so slightly between his large fingertips before moving to lace it behind the girl's ear.
“I understand why the others get along with you so well. We are all haunted by things of the past, but you care for nothing but attempting to quell them.” His hand left her as his attention turned away once more. “You are free to stay but I… I think I'd like to stay here for a moment with my thoughts.”
Cal nodded slowly before turning her attention towards Taylor, who mirrored the nod as she extended an arm out to her friend. The two silently joined hands and left the weary king to mourn by himself.