Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Asgore took a deep breath as he made his way down the path from the Underground’s exit.

A fair distance away, he could see the outline of… a city? It looked similar to the Underground’s capital, but some of the buildings were far, far taller. And, of course, it stretched far wider.

In that moment, it hit him, and he stopped in his tracks.

He was here, really here, on the surface of the Earth, feeling the sun on his fur and the wind in his hair for the first time in a thousand years… maybe more.

He wondered how much things had changed. Technology had advanced significantly in just the past couple hundred years in the Underground, and it was all built with only the scraps humanity had thrown away. What was humanity’s technology like now, with everything they had always had access to? If the looks of the city from this far away were anything to go by, they were likely much farther along than the monsters.

Asgore wondered what that could mean regarding weapons. The last time he’d been on the surface, the most common weapons had been things like swords and bows. But if he remembered correctly—and he certainly did—his son had been killed by something far different from those. Something far more dangerous.

What could that mean for the monsters? What if Frisk was but a fluke among humans? The city looked peaceful enough from here, and the child had seemed confident enough leading the monsters out of the Underground, but there was no telling what human leadership was like in this day.

Of course, even if humans were peaceful now, who knew what would happen when they found out about the six children.

Asgore put out a paw to lean against the tree next to him. His stomach roiled. He could feel the sweat under his armor.

He’d have to tell them, wouldn’t he?

This should have been a joyful day. And indeed, Asgore had been joyful at first. But now… there was only dread.

“Hey, Asgore!”

Asgore looked up and saw Undyne down the trail, running up to him.

“Hey!” she said breathlessly when she got to him. She looked like she was about to ask him something, but then, she frowned. “You okay? You look like you’re about to be sick.”

“Oh, I’m fine.” Asgore straightened himself and laughed. “I suppose all the excitement is getting to me.” He gazed out where Undyne had come from, but he didn’t see anyone else. “Has anyone tried to go out to the city yet? Or have you seen any humans?”

“No humans yet. Papyrus was all gung-ho to run to the city, but I convinced him it’d be better if you or Toriel went first,” Undyne assured him. “I was thinking, it’s actually getting close to night, right?” She pointed at the setting sun. “So we might not wanna go to the city anyway yet. I thought, there’s a clearing down that way, maybe we can make camp? Us and any monsters who’re brave enough to come up here at this point.”

Asgore clapped a paw on her shoulder. “Undyne, my dear, that is an excellent idea. Why don’t you start gathering up monsters? I’ll inform Toriel and Frisk of your plan.”

“Alright, cool! Lemme get Pap and Sans and Alphys first, maybe they can help get some people going.” Undyne turned and headed back where she’d come from.

Asgore couldn’t help but feel a sense of pride at how quickly Undyne took charge. Strangely, though she was the only monster he knew who was so outwardly hateful toward humans, she didn’t seem apprehensive about this at all. Though, he supposed, she could have just been hiding it well, or she was still excited from the unexpected happening.

Still, it helped to calm Asgore a little. If Undyne wasn’t nervous, what did he have to worry about?

Maybe, just maybe, the surface would be alright and everyone, including himself, would be able to live there peacefully. And just maybe Asgore wouldn’t hate being alive.

He began back up the path, though his stomach turned a bit. Toriel likely wouldn’t be happy that he had come back so quickly. Hopefully, though, Frisk would be a buffer, even the tiniest one.

Sure enough, as soon as he came over the hill and saw Toriel and Frisk in front of the exit to the Underground, Toriel frowned. But Frisk didn’t seem unhappy to see Asgore at all. In fact, they waved at him rather cheerfully.

“Toriel, I need to speak with you on what we are doing next,” he said in his politest, please-don’t-ignore-me voice.

“Have you already decided?” Toriel asked coolly.

Well, at least she wasn’t ignoring him. “Undyne had an idea that I thought was very good. She wants to gather the monsters who feel ready to come to the surface and camp in a clearing down the trail. Would that be… ah… amenable to you?” Asgore asked, cringing slightly at the end.

Toriel glanced away toward the Underground’s exit, then at Frisk.

“She thinks it would be better if we went to the city in daylight,” Asgore added.

At that, Toriel nodded slowly. “I believe she is right. I am not sure how many monsters would be ready to leave so soon, but overall it seems a decent plan.”

Frisk tugged at Toriel’s arm and pulled her toward the cave.

“Frisk, how about we—” Toriel began.

“HUT HUT HUT HUT!” came a loud cry down the path. Undyne and Papyrus came into view, each carrying Alphys and Sans on their backs.

Undyne was barely out of breath when she said, “Hey, you guys are still here? Frisk, you wanna help us get some monsters up here?”

Frisk nodded furiously and looked up to Toriel.

Toriel sighed. “Go on, my child.”

“I CAN… CARRY YOU!” Papyrus gasped.

“I’ve got ‘em, Pap. You’re carrying an actual skeleton and you’re still outta breath. I know you guys aren’t that heavy.” Undyne slung Frisk up on her shoulder beside Alphys. She and Frisk giggled. “Let’s go!”

She and Papyrus (who took a few seconds to catch up) disappeared into the cave, and Toriel and Asgore were left alone on the mountain.

Toriel was gazing out at the city. Asgore wondered if she had the same reservations he’d had earlier.

“Frisk wants to stay with me,” she said unexpectedly.

Asgore started. “With you? But don’t they have a family? Surely there must be someone who takes care of them?”

“Of course I suspect that.” Toriel rolled her eyes. “However, I also suspect that they were not treated well.”

“Why so?”

“Various things,” Toriel sighed. “Have you noticed how skinny they are? They clearly were not eating well before they came here. I have also seen how they react when I raise my hand around them. Me, a parental figure, specifically. Those are not signs of a well-treated child.”

“Do you think the humans will let you…?”

“I do not know. In our day, if there was a need, a child was given over to a willing family and that was that. But if human society today is anything like ours…” Toriel sighed. “I suspect their… bureaucracy will stand in the way.”

Asgore nodded slowly.

“But there is no use dwelling on it for now. I am going to go collect some of my things.” Toriel turned to go, then looked back at him. “You may want to do the same.”

Asgore watched her walk back into the mountain.

↟

Several hours later, well into the night, about thirty or so monsters had set up camp in the clearing Undyne had found. Asgore had made his own little campsite slightly away from everyone else. Currently, he sat with his back to the rest of the camp, gazing into a small fire he’d made, a kettle of water bubbling above it. He felt strangely distant from everything, emotionally. The joy at being free had definitely subsided. In truth, everyone was free except for him.

There were footsteps behind him. Quiet ones. Asgore turned, expecting to see Frisk or Alphys or Sans.

A great smile broke across his face when he saw who it really was. “Mettaton! Come sit. Did you need something? I was just making some tea.”

“Hello, Your Majesty,” Mettaton said, hesitating before sitting down.

“Come now, you’ve always called me by name.” Asgore poured some water into a teacup and dropped a teabag in.

“Oh—yes.” Mettaton accepted the cup of tea.

“I see you’re enjoying your new form. Do you intend to keep it?” Asgore asked as he prepared his own cup of tea.

“Oh, yes, especially now that I’ve—um.” Mettaton sipped his tea.

Asgore gazed at Mettaton curiously. The robot had never acted anywhere near this subdued around him before. “You’ve what?”

“I’ve fused.” Mettaton said into the cup, gazing away from Asgore.

Fused?

Oh! Asgore nearly smacked himself in the head. Alphys had told him, hadn’t she? While Frisk had been unconscious.

He’d spent all this time thinking Mettaton was a robot with an artificially created soul, but Alphys had confessed to him that he was really a ghost possessing the robotic body, who’d wanted a different corporeal form than ghosts normally did. “I-I wouldn’t have been able to a-a-afford to make the body of his dreams, if I hadn’t used him to get you to m-make me the Royal Scientist,” she’d stammered.

Clearly she’d expected him to be angry, or at least disappointed, but in truth, he’d supposed it made more sense than Alphys being able to create an entire artificial soul. And besides, her intentions had been mostly altruistic, so why should he be angry? He’d told her not to worry about it, to her obvious shock and Toriel’s disapproval.

And of course, Mettaton had been in on it. No wonder he seemed so embarrassed now. Likely, he expected the same from him as Alphys had—disappointment at best.

“Mettaton, I understand why you and Alphys did what you did. It wasn’t ethical in the slightest, of course, but I know you’d never have gotten your body otherwise. Though, truthfully, if Alphys had gotten her position honestly at the start, I would have been happy to fund it myself.” Asgore smiled. “And in fact, should you need anything else, I will still be happy to do it.”

“Oh, we don’t need that, thank you. I’ve got more gold than I know what to do with,” Mettaton waved him off. “Um—” He cleared his throat. “I… appreciate it.”

“Of course.”

They sat in silence for a bit. Mettaton shuffled his feet a few times, fingering his now empty cup. Asgore was still sipping his.

Finally, Mettaton sighed. “I wanted to apologize to you.”

“My boy, I already said—”

“Not for that.” Mettaton faced away from Asgore as he spoke. “I mean, I wanted to apologize for not coming to visit anymore. I was… rather caught up in stardom, you see. It’s quite difficult, being on top.” He tossed his hair, and Asgore chuckled.

Mettaton continued, “I also wanted to apologize, because, well… I don’t know if I’ll be able to visit much in the future, either. I won’t be the only star anymore once we join human society, you know. It’s going to be cutthroat. I’m going to have to be vicious and unmerciful to get anywhere. But—” Now he turned to Asgore. “I wanted you to know that I’ll always be thinking of you, though. I really have enjoyed our teatimes and our talks. I, ah, well…” He brushed his hair back. “Anyway.” He stood and wrapped his arms around Asgore. “Thank you.”

He began to walk away, then looked back and waved. “Well… toodles!”

Asgore watched as he sashayed away to a large, very brightly lit pink tent that he could see even from across the camp, then he turned back to the fire. He had no idea what to make of that conversation or how he should feel about it.

Mettaton not visiting had definitely set off his depression before. There was just something about that boy that brightened the whole room when he walked in. Asgore had honestly just been happy that someone wanted to talk to him as an equal, at first, even if he almost never got a word in edgewise. Over time, their conversations had become more organic, more engaging than just Mettaton prattling on about Mettaton the Movie LVII or whatever number movie he was on now. It had gotten to a point where both of them were comfortable expressing genuine upset with each other.

But as Mettaton’s fame had grown, so had the distance between them. The robot visited less and less until Asgore realized one day that he hadn’t seen Mettaton in person for six months. He tried writing to him a few times, but never received a response. After another couple of months, he had given up in the middle of writing a letter, crumpling it up and drowning himself in a cheap white wine afterward.

Given all that, it was kind of a not-very-nice thing for Mettaton to apologize and then say he’d still do what he was apologizing for, wasn’t it? And yet, Asgore couldn’t bring himself to be angry. He knew Mettaton was trying to be nice, in his own strange way. That said, he definitely felt a pit in his stomach that hadn’t been as present before, and he almost wished Mettaton hadn’t said anything at all.

His paw curled into a fist upon his knee. The monsters were free now, things were going to be better for everyone. So why was his world falling apart?

Nearby, he picked up Toriel’s voice reassuring some citizen that she and King Asgore were going to take care of things in the morning.

Though Asgore certainly didn’t want to take care of things in the morning, he realized suddenly that Toriel had said she would be taking care of things, too. She wasn’t going to leave him alone anymore. After all this time, she’d decided—or at the very least, she was telling monsters—she wouldn’t abandon him again.

Despite everything, the thought heartened Asgore, just enough to lift the pit in his stomach a little. He sipped his tea, wondering if he should go ask Toriel if she meant what she had said.

However, at that moment, there was some shouting across the camp. Asgore nearly dropped his teacup, spinning around wildly, wondering if the humans were attacking. He saw Toriel heading toward the pink tent, but she wasn’t moving very fast. Asgore strained to hear what was being shouted—

And then, he realized with relief, Undyne and Mettaton were just having a go at each other.

It was almost funny, how the closest things to a daughter and a son that he currently had hated each other so much. Or at the very least extremely rarely got along for more than five minutes before one of them made a snide remark at the other. Asgore vaguely wondered who had started that rivalry; either of them were equally likely.

The shouting died down, and Asgore heard Toriel’s stern, cold voice, probably telling them to either separate or take it back up the mountain. He nearly laughed. If Asgore was like a father to them, Toriel certainly sounded like a mother scolding her two children right now.

After a minute, the bright lights emanating from Mettaton’s tent dimmed significantly. Asgore didn’t think much of it, figuring he must be going to bed soon. He turned back to his fire just as heavy footsteps rustled the grass behind him.

Undyne plopped herself down next to him. She didn’t say anything, just wrapped her arms around her knees and stared into the fire with him.

Asgore wordlessly poured two more cups of tea and handed one to her.

“Thanks,” she murmured, then proceeded to down nearly half the cup.

“So what was that about?” Asgore asked lightly.

“Ugh.” Undyne rolled her eye. “The tent Al and I are sharing was right next to Mettaton’s and that dumb—uh, robot had his lights set to rival the literal sun. I went and told him to turn them down. But he just has to be difficult. And not even for a good reason! ‘I need to see to do my makeup!’ IT’S LIKE THREE A.M., why are you doing your makeup NOW?! And I KNOW you don’t need that much light to see, just because you have a bad eye! I have a bad eye and I don’t need it!”

Asgore chuckled. “I suppose he didn’t take that well?”

“Well…” Undyne grimaced. “To be completely fair… I didn’t ask very nicely. But still! I know I couldn’t be the only person bothered by all that light! He’s just so selfish.”

Asgore gazed into the fire. He didn’t want to agree with Undyne, but after that conversation earlier…

Undyne continued, “Toriel definitely got steamed at us, though. Said they could probably hear us in the city, yelling like that. She told Mettaton to turn his lights down, but she also told me to quit starting fights. Man, I didn’t mean to. I was just really annoyed.”

“I can understand why.” Asgore nodded.

“I don’t know how—” Undyne reddened. “Well, maybe I shouldn’t say that.”

“Say what?”

“...I don’t know how you could stand having tea with him, back in the Underground.”

“Mettaton is… different, when you get along with him,” Asgore said slowly. “Much quieter, and a better listener than you’d expect.”

“I’ll believe that when hell freezes over,” Undyne snorted. “But whatever. He probably does act different when he likes you. Although in my opinion, I don’t think he even treats the people he likes too well. Look at Alphys, and his cousin, and you.”

Asgore shrugged uneasily.

“But, whatever. Anyway, why are you sitting alone over here? Al was wondering where you were.”

“This day has been… quite exciting, and I’m very tired. I wanted a bit of quiet,” Asgore said, half-truthfully.

Undyne gazed at him; her visible eye seemed to pierce through to his very soul. “You sure you’re doing okay?”

For a moment, Asgore thought about telling her everything he was afraid of, imagining how it might feel for someone to share his burden, to tell him they understood, to say things would be alright. To make him just… feel better.

But as he met Undyne’s eye, he thought, How can I further burden this young woman who’s already carrying so much on her shoulders?

No. He couldn’t do that to her.

“How can I not be fine? We’re free, aren’t we?” Asgore’s eyes welled up.

Undyne must have taken them as tears of happiness. “Aw, come on, Asgore. You’re gonna make me…” she laughed, wiping at her own eye a bit. “Man, it’s true though. We’re free.” She looked up into the sky, which was cloudless and full of stars. “What are you and Toriel planning on doing tomorrow?”

“Toriel wanted to discuss it in the morning, and we would head for the city toward the afternoon,” Asgore said. “She believed we would be too tired to make plans after getting these monsters settled here tonight.”

“Yeah, that’s reasonable.” Undyne nodded. “And, speaking of tired…” She stretched and yawned, the firelight reflecting off her jagged teeth. “We should probably hit the hay.”

“I agree.” Asgore finished off his tea.

Undyne finished hers as well, then stood and patted Asgore on the shoulder. “See ya tomorrow, big guy!”

“Of course. Goodnight, Undyne.” Asgore smiled at her back until she was out of sight.

He realized then that the whole camp was quiet now. Everyone must have gone to sleep. Asgore didn’t really want to, but he supposed he should follow suit, and at least try for some sleep to be ready for what was coming.

He put out the fire, crawled into his tent, and removed his cape and armor. The last thing he did was take off his crown, gazing at it unfeelingly for a few seconds, before putting it down next to his pillow.

He pulled the blankets up over his shoulders and closed his eyes, willing his mind to go blank before he fell into an uneasy sleep.

Chapter Text

Asgore didn’t sleep long. How could he, after all, considering what was going to happen tomorrow? Today, actually. Once he realized it was today, he couldn’t close his eyes without imagining pure disaster—the humans screaming and running at the sight of him, Toriel turning to dust as they attacked and ran her through with a sword, little Frisk getting caught in the crossfire, or even worse, being killed on purpose, as the humans believed the child had betrayed them.

Asgore knew he was catastrophizing, that the absolute worst wasn’t likely to happen. Frisk hadn’t seemed overly anxious at the idea of introducing the monsters to humanity. They, out of all of them, would know best what humans were like now.

And yet.

When he crawled out of his tent, rubbing out a crick in his neck, the sun wasn’t too high. He could just see it over the trees of the forest in the distance. He guessed it must be about seven. He grimaced—he didn’t want to operate on less than four hours of sleep today of all days, but it seemed that was what he was going to have to do.

He got his fire going again and placed a kettle of water above it. Then he went back inside his tent and tried to figure out what he would wear. He considered his armor—it made him appear a very regal figure—but decided against it. He didn’t want the humans to think he had come to wage war.

He settled on his simple but elegant robes with the delta rune, identical to Toriel’s. He didn’t think she’d be particularly pleased with his selection, but to him, it seemed the best way to say we come in peace.

The water was nearly boiling when he emerged again from his tent. He waited a few more minutes, then poured some water in a cup and dropped a tea bag inside. He watched the tea spread through the water, turning it dark and nearly opaque. He took a sip, eyeing the pack of food he’d brought that was untouched so far. He didn’t feel like eating at all, but it really wouldn’t do to collapse from lack of energy in front of the humans… and Toriel. Reluctantly, he pulled the bag toward him and fished out some biscuits.

After a few minutes, he heard heavy footsteps in the grass behind him. He didn’t turn around, but he knew exactly who it was.

“You are awake, I see.” Toriel’s cool voice broke the silence.

“I could not sleep very well,” Asgore admitted. “Would you like some tea?” he asked, turning to her a bit.

She visibly hesitated, then sighed. “Yes, I would appreciate that.” She sat on the log Asgore was on, but left about two feet of space between them.

Asgore made her one and handed it over to her. She accepted it, her paws barely brushing against his. It hit him that it was the first time they had touched since Toriel had left him a hundred years ago. He blinked back tears. Would they ever touch again, he wondered, even as friends?

Toriel didn’t seem to notice anything amiss, or else she was ignoring it, as she sipped her tea. “I suppose now would be as good a time as any to discuss our plans for today.”

Asgore tried to say “Yes,” but the only thing to leave his mouth was something akin to a wheeze. He cleared his throat. “Yes, of course,” he said, much more clearly this time.

Toriel actually turned her gaze to him for a minute, reading his face impassively, then looked back to the fire. “You are frightened,” she said. “Truthfully, I do not blame you. I am… also nervous.”

Asgore blinked. He’d honestly expected her to outright jeer at him at this point, when she noticed his anxiety. Or at least roll her eyes. Certainly not for her to admit to feeling scared as well.

“Frisk explained a bit about the human world to me before we went to sleep,” Toriel continued. “Of course, they are only seven years old, so they do not actually know much. But to summarize what they said, they believe the human government here will be fair to us. Humanity as a whole… that is a different matter.”

Asgore sat with that a minute. “Humanity as a whole…?”

“Some humans… they do not accept what they do not understand. And some of those… they attempt to eradicate what they do not accept.”

Asgore felt a chill run through his body. 

“However, if I understood correctly, the government may protect us. Humanity does not like war, Frisk said. They would rather be at peace with each other. So I believe our worries in that respect are… not unfounded, but we need not worry about it too much,” Toriel finished, and took a sip of tea.

Asgore nodded slowly. It made some sense, though he found it hard to believe humanity didn’t have wars anymore. Or at least didn’t like them.

“Of course…”

Asgore’s eyes snapped to Toriel’s face.

“...I do not know how they will react when you explain what you have done.”

Asgore swallowed as he tried to stop his breakfast from making a reappearance. There it was, the crux of everything. The one thing that could topple monsters back into war with humanity. And there wasn’t much reason to believe humans wouldn’t wipe them out completely, this time.

“Asgore?”

Asgore blinked and sat up. He hadn’t realized he’d started leaning toward the fire. “My apologies,” he murmured. He dared to glance at Toriel. In her eyes, he saw… many things. Disgust. Pity. Perhaps some annoyance. The emotion he saw that confused him was concern. “I… don’t know what I’m going to do about… about that.”

“What do you mean?” Toriel’s brows contracted.

“Well… if it could send us all back into war… would it be wise to tell them?”

Toriel’s eyes widened, then narrowed. “I cannot believe you. Still a coward. But then, perhaps I should have expected that.”

“I’m being honest, Tori!” Asgore cried. “Er, Toriel,” he amended as her eyes narrowed further. “You must admit it’s a possibility.”

“A possibility, yes. But imagine the consequences if you were to hide your murders, only for the humans to find out what truly happened later,” Toriel pointed out. She wasn’t looking at him anymore. She put her now-empty teacup beside her. “My honest opinion is that it is best to come clean now. Humans would have to be deeply uncompassionate to punish anyone but you for your horrible deeds.”

Asgore let out a shaky breath.

Toriel exhaled herself and folded her hands. “Anyhow, I came here to discuss our plans for today. I believe we should go with Frisk to the human government in the morning, rather than the afternoon as we had originally said. It will give everyone more time to adjust to each other, and for the government to find us proper lodging for the night. Do you agree to that?”

“Yes, that sounds… that sounds like a good plan.” Asgore struggled to breathe back in.

“I think it is also best if it is only you and I who accompany Frisk,” continued Toriel. “Frisk wanted to take everyone—that is, us along with Papyrus, Sans, Undyne, and Alphys, but I told them most of them do not have leadership skills, and Undyne would be the most successful in keeping the camp safe while we are gone. They agreed, though…” She let out a chuckle. “They did not seem happy about it.”

Asgore could only imagine how Undyne would react if she were taken along with them. “That also sounds like a good idea.”

“And, of course, when we arrive, the humans in charge will be likely to have questions. I believe we should answer them honestly. For the most part, monsterkind as a whole has nothing to hide.” Toriel looked into his eyes as she said that.

Asgore’s stomach turned. He didn’t say anything.

Toriel sighed and stood, looking over him. “I will allow Frisk to sleep another hour. Then I will get them ready to go to the city. I do not think it will take long. We should leave as soon as we are ready.” She turned to go. “Thank you for having the sense not to wear your armor,” she added.

At that moment, they heard running footsteps in the grass, and Papyrus, looking fresh as a daisy, came right up to them. “Hello, Your Majesty and Lady Asgore!” he practically shouted, saluting.

“Papyrus, dear, hush! The others need their sleep,” Toriel admonished him.

“Oopsie! Sorry.” Papyrus brought his volume down to about half of what it had been—still louder than necessary, but at least not even Mettaton would have been woken up from across the camp loud. He puffed out his chest. “Frisk told me you would be discussing plans.”

“Are they awake?” Toriel asked.

“Yes, but still quite a sleepyhead! They tried to go back to bed as soon as they told me where you were!”

“Let them sleep. They need it. But, dear, did you have something you needed?”

“No, I simply wanted to offer my services!” Papyrus said proudly.

“Your… services?” Asgore repeated, amused. He turned on the log to face him and Toriel.

“Frisk rejected your offer to make them Ambassador, right? So I said I would do it for them! And of course, if I’m going to take on that job, I’m going to have to be included in these discussions! So, what’s the plan?” Papyrus rubbed his hands together, and winced.

Asgore was about to ask about it, but Toriel seemed more concerned with what he’d said. “Papyrus, my child—” She took his hands gently. “I appreciate your enthusiasm, truly. But, ah… if we needed another person to come with us, we would really need someone with political experience. We can discuss the actual position at another time, but right now, I believe it is best that Asgore and I handle this.”

“But I want to help, somehow… Let me show you I can be a good Ambassador! This is the perfect opportunity!” Papyrus begged.

Toriel shook her head. “This is a very crucial point in time, my dear. We want as few chances for things to go wrong as possible. As I said, we can discuss the Ambassador position at a later time. Right now… well, Asgore and I were going to put Undyne in charge of the camp. Would it make you happy if you assisted her?”

Papyrus blinked. Asgore thought he noticed his lower jaw tremble for a split second before the skeleton said, “I suppose that would work.” He smiled. “I guess it’s good to start small, after all!” He sounded so cheery that Asgore wondered if he’d imagined the trembling.

“That is the spirit.” Toriel pulled Papyrus into a hug. “I have not had much opportunity to express to you just how happy I am to meet Sans’s brother. I have heard much about you.” She turned to Asgore. “I am going to see if Frisk is still sleeping. If they are, I will let them sleep until eight-thirty. I think you should be ready to go by then.”

“Of course, I will be sure of that,” Asgore agreed. “Thank you for offering to help, Papyrus. We can certainly talk about that Ambassador position later.”

Papyrus saluted him as he walked backwards away from Asgore, following Toriel. “Thank you, Your Majesty!” He spun around and ran off in a slightly different direction from Toriel—probably to whatever tent he shared with his brother.

Asgore sighed. Truthfully, he wasn’t sure about giving the position to Papyrus; he got the feeling Toriel was against it, and with Papyrus’s… overly trusting disposition, he wasn’t sure he disagreed with her. But they could worry about that later.

Right now, Asgore decided to go rouse his and Toriel’s designated second-in-command.

Standing outside Undyne and Alphys’s tent, he said, “I’m sorry to wake you so early, girls, but I must speak with Undyne as soon as possible.”

He heard an enormous groan from inside, and then, after several seconds, Undyne crawled out. She stood and yawned widely while stretching. Asgore noticed she wasn’t wearing her eyepatch. 

“Wassup, big guy?” Undyne asked.

“I will not dawdle. Toriel and I have decided to accompany Frisk to the human city this morning. We’d like you to—”

“Come along? Sure thing, Asgore!” Undyne looked a little more awake now, and she lightly punched his shoulder. 

“Actually, my dear, I have a far more important job for you,” Asgore said, smiling.

Undyne’s eye widened. “Oh?”

“Toriel and I need you to take charge of the camp while we are gone. All we need is for you to make sure everyone else stays up here, and…” Asgore hesitated; he wasn’t sure if Toriel would approve of what he was about to say, but… “Keep track of how long we’re away. If we… if at least one of us does not return by nightfall… then take everyone back into the mountain, no matter how much they protest. It may be a matter of safety at that point.”

Undyne gazed at him. “You really think our chances are that bad?”

“No, no,” Asgore assured her. “It’s a contingency plan. Just in case it doesn’t go as well as we hope. We would feel much better knowing you were keeping our people safe.”

“Yeah, alright.” Undyne still looked disconcerted for a moment, but then she grinned. “Glad to help.”

“Oh, and I nearly forgot. If you need assistance keeping the camp in order, we’ve told Papyrus he can help you. Otherwise he was insisting on going with us,” Asgore chuckled.

“Oh, boy,” Undyne chuckled too. “Yeah, that works for me. Wouldn’t want anyone but Pap helping me out, honestly. He’s a really good guy.”

“He certainly is something,” Asgore agreed.

He and Undyne exchanged a few more words, then he left her to get ready for the day. He saw Toriel and Frisk emerge from their tent, Frisk’s clothes looking fresh and new. They came up to Asgore and signed, Good morning!

“Good morning, little one,” Asgore replied gently. “Have you eaten?”

Frisk shook their head.

“Would you like to come to my campsite and have some tea and biscuits?”

Frisk nodded and turned to Toriel.

Toriel sighed. “If you must, my child.”

Asgore didn’t bother Frisk as they ate some of his biscuits at his little campsite and drank his tea. When they finished, he asked, “Are you ready to introduce us to humans today?”

Frisk didn’t immediately answer yes, like he expected. Instead, they hesitated, their little fingers curling into loose fists.

It occurred to Asgore then just how small Frisk was. How frightening it must have been for them, traversing through the Underground, where many monsters had at least some negative feelings about humans, if not hatred. They were probably the smallest of any of the humans that had fallen. Asgore thanked whatever deities existed that Frisk had never gotten the opportunity to fight him.

Frisk finally signed, A little scared. Some grown-ups are bad. But I think it will be okay.

If only Asgore could be even that confident.

The child stood and offered a hand to Asgore. He stood also and took it, just as Toriel came up behind them. “If you are finished eating, my child, it is time to go.”

All the monsters who were awake gathered at the camp’s exit closest to the path. Asgore was surprised to see Mettaton was there, wearing a flowing robe with fluffy hems, with no makeup and his hair in curlers, though he had left out his bang to cover one of his eyes. He waved. Asgore waved back and smiled. He hoped for Mettaton’s sake (and all other monsters’, of course) that humanity was as wonderful as he seemed to think it was.

Toriel informed the crowd that Undyne was in charge (Asgore caught Mettaton rolling his eyes at that) and that they expected to be back before nightfall, if not earlier. Asgore said a thank-you to the crowd for their bravery in coming this far down the mountain, and that they hoped to return with good news. The monsters cheered, smiling at their King, their newly reinstated Queen, and the child who had freed them. Asgore couldn’t help but feel a little boost in his confidence.

With that, he and Toriel holding each of Frisk’s hands, they began to walk down the path to the city.

Chapter Text

It took nearly two hours to get from the campsite to an actual road. At least, that was what Asgore assumed it was, when the path they had taken turned from dirt into some kind of densely packed dark rock, with white lines painted on the sides and two yellow lines side by side down the middle. It stretched far off into the distance. The city must be that way, he thought. He stepped off the forest path, intending to walk down the middle of the road, then realized Frisk was trying to hold him back. “What is wrong, young one?” he asked.

Frisk pulled their hands out of his paw and Toriel’s and signed something Asgore couldn’t interpret. He looked to Toriel, but she only shrugged at him, as lost as he was.

Frisk then fingerspelled C-A-R-S. “Cars?” Asgore said. He had a vague idea of what cars were, having caught Sans reading a magazine about them one time when he was supposed to be working (though he had claimed to be on break). He didn’t know much about them, though. “Are they dangerous?”

Can be.

“Hmm. Should we continue along this road, then?”

Frisk shrugged and scratched their head.

“You do know where you are going, Frisk?” Toriel asked gently.

Frisk ducked their head down. Didn’t come this way.

That made sense to Asgore; they’d fallen in on the other side of the mountain, after all. “I don’t think we have much of a choice, then,” he said, turning to Toriel. “This road is the only sign of civilization that we have seen.”

Toriel didn’t say anything, but nodded.

They picked a direction—east, since they were facing toward the horizon where the sun had risen—and walked along the side of the road, which wasn’t easy, as there was little room between it and the trees.

It wasn’t long before Asgore heard a strange noise behind them. A sort of… rumbling?

All three of them turned to look as a large, silver metal vehicle rolled up the road. The front end of it looked bulky, but the back end was only about half the front end’s height, and appeared flat at the top. “Is this a car, Frisk?” Asgore asked.

Sort of. Pickup truck.

The “pickup truck” slowed as it passed them. Asgore saw a human man inside the front end on the opposite side from them. The man was clearly staring at them, eyes widening. Suddenly, he looked forward, sped up slightly, and pulled off to the side of the road in front of them.

Asgore saw Frisk grab Toriel’s paw, and his heart stopped. He started to move his own paw to pull out his trident.

“Do not!” Toriel hissed. “We do not know if he means us any harm.”

Asgore stopped, but his heart had started beating again, rapidly, fluttering in his chest as though it wanted to fly away.

The man got out of the truck and walked toward them slowly, stopping at the very end of the back of the truck. “Hey, there. Can I, uh… help you folks?”

Toriel spoke before Asgore could. “Greetings, sir. Perhaps you can. We are looking for the nearest city.”

“Well, that’d be Auckland, ma’am. You’re not too far from the outskirts, actually. But, uh, can I ask you something?” the man asked.

“You may.”

“Are you two…” The man’s eyes between Toriel and Asgore. “...Monsters?”

“We are,” Toriel said in a guarded tone.

The man looked down at Frisk. “Where’d you find the kid?”

“They found us, actually,” Asgore said, finally finding the courage to speak. He turned to the forest, but couldn’t see the mountain through all the trees. “We come from Mount Ebott.”

The man’s eyes widened. “So it’s true.”

“What is true?” Toriel said sharply.

“Monsters do live under the mountain.” To Asgore’s surprise, the man grinned. “Man, I always knew there must be something to that legend. My sister never wanted to believe it. I always used to tell her as a kid that the monsters would come out one day and prove her wrong. Didn’t believe it as much when I grew up, but I always kept an open mind.”

“Then humans today are aware of the existence of monsters?” Asgore asked. A spark of hope flared in his chest. If humans already knew monsters existed, perhaps it wouldn’t be such a shock for him and Toriel to show up.

“Well, like I said, it’s mostly legend. Most people don’t actively believe it. Some people even… well…” The man scratched the back of his head. “Well, I guess you should know. Some people see monsters as, uh, demons. ‘Cause of the magic they supposedly have.”

Asgore didn’t know how to respond to that. The spark of hope began to die. 

“But, hey, we don’t have anybody like that in office that I know of,” the man continued quickly. “So I wouldn’t worry too much. Mayor Mahuta’s got her head screwed on right, in my opinion. She’ll figure out what to do with y’all.” He looked between Asgore and Toriel again. “I’m assuming there are more of you.”

“Yes, there are,” Toriel confirmed. “They are waiting for us in a safe place. I do not know what your legends say about us, but… we have not had a good history with humans, until now.”

“Yeah, the legends say as much… I always thought what the humans did was a little bull—uh, crap, honestly. Never seemed right. Assuming that part’s true too, of course.” The man nodded.

“Well, we are happy to have found someone so open-minded.” Toriel smiled for the first time. “You say you have a… mayor? I assume that is some kind of leadership position?”

“Yes, ma’am. She leads the city of Auckland along with our council members. Got elected last year.”

“Would you be willing to take us to her?” Toriel requested.

The man’s eyes widened. “Why, I’d be honored, ma’am. Glad I brought my truck out today. You definitely wouldn’t have fit in my SUV.”

The man opened the doors for Asgore, Toriel, and Frisk to sit in the back. Both Toriel and Asgore had to sit a little hunched forward, and Frisk was squished between them pretty thoroughly, but Asgore was honestly just thankful they wouldn’t have to walk anymore.

“Name’s John, by the way. John Averell,” the man said as he got in the driver’s seat.

“It is very nice to meet you, John. I am Toriel, and this is Frisk. They do not speak very much.” Toriel smiled down at Frisk.

John turned in his seat to smile at Frisk. “Hey, kiddo. You found these guys, huh? Lucky you. This is history being made, right here.”

“I am Asgore,” Asgore interjected, without quite meaning to.

John nodded. “Nice to meet y’all. Really nice to meet y’all, actually. Damn, I can’t wait to rub this in Ashley’s face.” He said the last part under his breath.

Asgore looked out the window on his side as John drove. They passed what appeared to be farms, many of which had small corrals in which animals were grazing. He vaguely recognized cows and goats as they went by.

Slowly, the farms turned into lines of smaller houses, then Asgore began to see much larger buildings that he guessed were used for commercial purposes. Woolworths. Pak’nSave. Carters. Other curious names. Asgore hadn’t heard of any of them.

Eventually, they got onto a much larger road that appeared to have multiple lines of cars driving down them. They crossed a bridge over a river, the water a deep blue-green, with what appeared to be boats floating and sailing with the wind. Not long after that, the road ran next to a beach, and Asgore could see out across the bay. And not long after that, they came to a part of the city that Asgore recognized as a downtown area. The buildings were massive and stretched far above the ground. It was just like the downtown area of the Capital in the Underground, and yet nothing like it at all.

John was driving much more slowly now, continuously glancing at his cell phone, which was mounted to his windshield and appeared to be giving him directions. Eventually, he pulled the truck up in front of a large, off-white building with a clock tower and many pillars surrounding the outside. He turned around in his seat. “This is it, folks. Unfortunately I can’t stick around. But good luck in there.”

“We appreciate your help very much, John. We will be certain to mention you to the mayor,” Toriel said as she unbuckled her seat belt with difficulty.

“Aw, shucks, you don’t have to do that. Thanks, though. Glad to help.”

Frisk waved at the man as he drove away, and Asgore and Toriel followed suit.

At that moment, Asgore became aware that there were people on the sidewalk and in the square a short distance away. A lot of people. People who were starting to stare.

A couple of young men (at least, that’s what Asgore thought they were) gave them a thumbs up as they walked by. “Sick fursuits, man!” one of them said.

“Dude, I don’t think that’s a fursuit,” said the other one. They both stopped to stare at Asgore and Toriel more closely.  Then the one that had spoken first began to back away. The other one grabbed his forearm. “C’mon, man, they’re not doing anything.”

“S-sorry,” the first young man directed at Toriel and Asgore, and then both men walked away.

More and more people were looking at them. Asgore was sweating buckets underneath his robes, even though it was fairly cool outside. Glancing over at Toriel, he noticed her fingers curling and uncurling, picking at her claws.

But Frisk only looked up at both of them and took their hands.

Thank god for this small but brave child, Asgore thought as they walked down the street to the entrance of the town hall. People gave them a wide berth as they passed, staring and whispering. Asgore thought he even saw some people taking pictures with their cell phones. Nobody tried to talk to them.

At least, nobody tried to talk to them until they tried to go inside the hall.

A man and a woman wearing thick black vests stopped them right at the door. “Um—” the woman began to say, then seemed to lose her nerve. She tried again. “What, uh… what business do you have here?”

“We must speak to your leader,” Asgore said.

“Yes, this ‘mayor,’” Toriel added.

“Mayor Mahuta is in conference at the moment. And besides that, you can’t see her without an appointment,” the man said.

“But…” Asgore trailed off. He really didn’t want to cause trouble with these people.

“Perhaps you do not understand,” Toriel said coolly. “Do you know what we are?”

The security guards looked at each other. “What would you call yourself?” the woman asked carefully.

“We are monsters,” Toriel said simply. “Our civilization has been living under Mount Ebott for a millennium. We were unfairly banished there after a great war. This child freed us. We have many monsters waiting to see how peacefully we can integrate into your society. I do not believe your mayor will want to wait to see us, and we would rather not wait long to see her. Will you be able to make an exception for us?”

The security guards looked at each other again, then the man spoke into a walkie-talkie, asking someone to inform the mayor of a “situation.” Asgore did not like the way he had put it, but there was nothing to be done at this point.

The guards let the three of them inside (though they side-eyed Frisk) and had them step through some kind of machine, which both monsters were far too tall for and had to duck significantly to get through it. “We’ve notified the mayor. She’s coming down right now,” said another guard.

And so Toriel, Asgore, and Frisk waited in the entrance hall. Soon, they could hear the clack of high heels on the floor, and a woman’s voice, which Asgore could tell was irritated. His stomach churned.

The woman’s voice grew clearer as she approached the entrance. “I swear, Brett, if this is some kind of joke—”

The doors across from the monsters and the child opened and a woman stepped briskly through, stopping dead as she caught sight of Asgore and Toriel. “My god,” she said breathlessly.

Asgore took in the sight of her. The mayor had skin lighter than Frisk’s, but darker than most of the humans’ he’d seen outside. Her hair was dark and pulled tightly back with a clip. Her facial features were sharp, but somewhat attractive, and she had what looked like some kind of bluish-black design tattooed on her chin.

The mayor turned to a man next to her and said, “Run back to the council, and I mean run. Tell them everything else we were going to talk about today is off the table right now, because we’ve suddenly got a major issue.”

Situation. Issue. Asgore didn’t like how these people were referring to them, but he didn’t have the courage at the moment to say anything about it. He did steal a glance at Toriel, though, and her face told him she was thinking similarly.

The mayor turned back to Toriel and Asgore and walked forward cautiously, offering her right hand. “I’m Hana Mahuta, the mayor of this city.”

Toriel and Asgore reached for Mayor Mahuta’s hand at the same time. Asgore pulled his paw back as it bumped Toriel’s wrist. He bit his lip at the touch.

“My name is Toriel Aran,” said Toriel as she shook the mayor’s hand.

Asgore’s heart dropped into his stomach. She isn’t using my name anymore.

The mayor was gazing at him, her hand still out. “Oh, ah, yes, I am Asgore Dreemurr,” he said quickly, shaking her hand perhaps a little too hard.

Mayor Mahuta’s gaze fell between them, and for the first time, she smiled. “And what’s your name, sweetie?”

Frisk fingerspelled out their name.

“Oh, dear, I don’t know sign language. I’ll have to get an interpreter,” Mayor Mahuta said, pursing her lips.

“We could translate for you,” Asgore offered.

“With all due respect, sir, I’d rather have my own people do it. Not that I think you’ll lie to me, but we just haven’t established trust yet,” the mayor explained.

Asgore was stung by her words, but he knew her explanation was reasonable. He nodded.

“I will just ask you what the kid’s name is, though.” Mayor Mahuta smiled.

“This is Frisk,” Toriel said, smiling back.

“Well, he’s very cute.”

Frisk looked down at the floor.

“Oh, they use they/them pronouns,” Toriel corrected her.

“Got it. Sorry, kiddo. I’ll remember that,” the mayor promised Frisk. She looked behind her at the doors to the rest of the building. “The council room is down there. If you’ll follow me?” She started down the hallway.

The monsters and the child quickly followed her. As they were walking down, Asgore asked the mayor quietly, “How many council members are there?”

“Twenty.”

Wow. There had been less than half that many monsters on his King’s Council in the Underground. Then again, this city dwarfed the Underground by a significant amount.

“Luckily, no one called out today,” Mayor Mahuta said under her breath as they reached the doors to the council room. She paused with her hands on the door handles. “Hang back a moment. I don’t want to completely shock anyone.”

The three stayed behind the door as the mayor opened it.

“Mayor Mahuta, what’s going on? Your assistant said there’s a situation going on?” demanded a man’s voice.

“Of a sort. It’s something that needs to be taken care of immediately,” said the mayor. “But I’m really going to need you all to hear me out.”

The chatter in the room instantly died. Asgore could imagine the councilors gazing intently at the mayor.

Mayor Mahuta took a deep breath and said, “I’ll cut straight to the point. I assume everyone’s heard the legends about monsters.”

Asgore could hear some whispering start up in the room, but no one seemed to disagree out loud.

“It would appear they are more than legends. Two monsters have entered our city. They seem peaceful. They are accompanied by a human child.”

Dead silence.

The mayor turned to Asgore and Toriel. “Would you kindly step out here?”

Toriel and Asgore looked at each other, and gripped Frisk’s hands tightly. Then they both nodded and stepped into the light of the room.

The gasps were audible, and there was no mistaking the looks on the councilors’ faces. They were afraid.

One of them was brave enough to ask, “Where did they come from?”

“Hold on a minute.” Mayor Mahuta raised her hand. “We need to handle this professionally. Let’s pull up some extra chairs, and we’ll discuss what we need to.”

A few councilors got chairs for Toriel and Asgore, which were just barely big enough for them to sit comfortably on. Frisk, meanwhile, had their head barely above the table.

Mayor Mahuta took a seat at the head of the table. “These monsters are Toriel Aran and Asgore Dreemurr. The child is Frisk. Please refer to them as they/them.”

Some of the councilors exchanged glances, but said nothing.

“Since we have many councilors, I will allow them to introduce themselves when they speak. Otherwise, I must begin questioning you.” Mayor Mahuta folded her hands and rested them on the table. “Where do you come from?”

Toriel looked at Asgore, clearly expecting him to speak. He cleared his throat. “We hail from Mount Ebott. Er, underneath Mount Ebott, to be more specific.”

“I see. And am I to understand that there is an entire civilization of monsters currently living there?”

“Yes, several hundred, to be precise.”

Mayor Mahuta shifted in her seat. “How did you come to live there, and why have you never shown yourselves before?”

Asgore breathed deeply, and proceeded to explain the history of the war, how monsters were banished to the Underground, and how a spell had kept them trapped there for all this time. “Frisk, here… well, I think they managed to break the barrier somehow. They have, ah… not explained that,” he finished.

“You didn’t see this happen?” said a councilman.

“W-well, no. There was… there was a point in time that it seems none of us can remember. A flower held us captive, said something about stealing all of our souls, and then… it all went black, at least for me,” Asgore said nervously.

Toriel nodded. “I can confirm this.”

Frisk nodded as well.

“Hold on. A flower held you captive?” the same councilor said.

“Councilor, would you care to introduce yourself?” Mayor Mahuta said coolly.

The councilor cleared his throat. “I’m sorry. My name is Noah Singh, and I represent the Albany Ward of Auckland. Can you explain about this… flower?”

“I… I am not sure. I have never seen such a monster before,” admitted Asgore. “I am not sure they were a monster at all, truthfully. But they were certainly… sentient, and seemed to have a plan to take souls.”

“Take souls? How does that work?”

“With all due respect, Councilor Singh, I think we’re straying from the point. We all knew magic exists already, even if it’s rare,” Mayor Mahuta said. “There’s a lot about magic we don’t know. Suffice it to say as magical creatures, monsters know more than we do.” She turned back to the monsters, and looked down at Frisk. “My interpreter should be on the way. I will have some questions for you, too.”

Frisk nodded and squirmed in their seat.

The mayor looked back at Asgore. “So, Frisk here somehow managed to free you all. How—”

Right at that moment, a woman came into the room. “Apologies, Mayor Mahuta, I only just got your summons.”

“That’s alright. This child here uses sign language.” Mayor Mahuta gestured to Frisk.

“Is he deaf?”

“They are not,” Toriel responded. “They do not speak, however.”

“Alright.”

Mayor Mahuta looked at Frisk. “Can you explain what you did to free these monsters?”

To Asgore’s surprise, Frisk seemed uncomfortable. They were silent for so long that the mayor said, “Perhaps they don’t know how to explain it. We’ll move—”

Suddenly, Frisk started signing.

“They say, ‘Six human souls plus the souls of all monsters equals seven human souls,’” the interpreter said.

“Can you explain this?” Mayor Mahuta directed at the monsters.

Toriel explained how the barrier could be broken.

“How did you come by six human souls?” the mayor asked.

Asgore thought he might vomit. Toriel was gazing at him. Actually, everyone in the room was gazing at him. What will they say if I tell the truth? What will they DO? I can’t… I can’t tell the truth.

But I have to.

“Over the past hundred years… we have had… humans… fall into the Underground,” he managed. “Specifically… children.”

“And how did you get their souls?” Councilor Singh narrowed his eyes.

Here it comes.

Asgore heard himself say, “We allowed them to live in the Underground with us, and they all… they all died natural deaths.”

Did I just say that?

Asgore dared to glance at Toriel. Her face betrayed nothing, but her fists were clenching on her lap.

“I see,” said the mayor. She turned back to Frisk. “Then the souls are gone now?”

Asgore didn’t hear anything else that was said regarding Frisk’s mini-interrogation. His ears rang, and he could feel his soul beating as though he’d just run a hundred miles.

He’d lied.

He’d lied. He’d lied about the lives, the deaths of those children. He’d lied about their souls, how he’d gotten them.

How he’d murdered them.

Every single one of them.

“Asgore!” he heard suddenly. As he snapped back to the present, he realized Toriel had hissed it at him.

He cleared his throat. “Ah, I’m sorry, could you repeat that?” he asked the mayor.

“Certainly.” Mayor Mahuta’s face didn’t betray what she thought of Asgore not paying attention. “Frisk has explained how they spent their time underneath Mount Ebott to my satisfaction. They have also explained the state of things there, and it sounds as though your people have suffered terribly.” She shifted in her seat. “What I wanted to tell you was, I’ve come to the conclusion that none of you mean any harm, and as such, there is no reason for the city of Auckland not to welcome you and integrate you into our society. That said, I am going to have to contact Parliament and the Governor-General to inform them of your existence. There are many things that every single one of you are going to have to do to function in and benefit from our society. I can’t speak for this entire country, but I plan to do everything in my power to make the transition as easy as possible—that is, if my fellow council members agree.” She looked out across the table.

Most of the councilors nodded, seeming satisfied as well. A couple of them seemed unsure. The only one who still seemed actively suspicious was the councilor who had questioned Asgore about the flower earlier.

“Before we convene to decide what exactly to do…” the mayor turned back to Toriel and Asgore. “Do you have any questions for us?”

Asgore blinked; he hadn’t expected the humans to offer them a chance to ask anything. Not wanting to miss the opportunity, he began to rack his brains for things to ask.

Toriel apparently already had a few. “You mentioned a… Parla-ment? And a Governor-General? Am I to understand that there are people in a higher position of power than you?”

“Oh, yes—you wouldn’t know. Auckland is only a city in the larger country of Aotearoa,” Mayor Mahuta explained patiently. She went on to explain a bit more about the country and its governing body. “It seems complicated at first, but you get the hang of things fairly quickly,” she finished.

“Will monsters have an opportunity to be represented?”

“Oh, certainly. In fact, I wouldn’t be surprised if they make up some whole new positions to make sure you’re fairly represented,” the mayor said.

As she spoke, Asgore noticed a woman leaning over to speak quietly to Councilor Singh. Councilor Singh’s eyes widened, and as soon as Mayor Mahuta finished speaking, he said. “Mayor, if I may, Councilor Tūwhare has… something interesting to say.”

“Go on,” the mayor said, looking to this Councilor Tūwhare.

The councilwoman didn’t look as suspicious of the monsters as Councilor Singh, but she did seem very curious about something. “My name is Kaia Tūwhare. I represent the Maungakiekie-Tāmaki Ward of Auckland. As you all were speaking, I remembered an… interesting story I’d heard when I was younger. Almost a legend actually, since no one could confirm what anyone saw with pictures or recordings or anything… which was highly unusual for that day and age. All anyone had was a few people claiming to have seen the same thing.”

Seen the same thing…? Asgore had no idea what she was getting at.

Councilor Tūwhare continued, “In April of the year 2016, there were some men hunting not far from Mount Ebott. They claimed to have seen some grotesque, monstrous…” She suddenly stopped talking. “I’m sorry, I don’t—I don’t mean that offensively. This is simply how it was described.”

Toriel nodded slowly, but Asgore could see how tightly her paws were folded.

“Anyhow, this… creature… these men claimed to have seen it walking in the direction of this city. And… it held the body of a human child.”

Asgore couldn’t help but turn his head fully to look at Toriel. It can’t be. It can’t be… Toriel, please tell me it isn’t…

But even Toriel couldn’t hide her dawning horror.

“You seem to know what she’s talking about,” said Councilor Singh.

“We… we do.” Asgore forced the words out.

“I thought you said all the children who fell lived with you and died of natural causes.”

“Those… those six children did.” Asgore swallowed. “But… there was another. Before those six. They…”

Asgore felt tiny hands on his arm, and wetness on his face. He looked down to see Frisk, gazing up at him with knowing eyes.

He took a deep, shuddering breath, Frisk’s presence giving him a strength he hadn’t realized was still in him. “Toriel and I had a son, about a hundred years ago. In the year 2015, he found a human child had fallen. It was the first one we had ever seen come into the mountain. We knew there was no way out, so… so we allowed the child to live with us. My son, Asriel, and the child… they became like siblings. They were never far apart from each other.” Despite himself, Asgore smiled a little. Then another tear fell as he thought of the tragedy that came next. “They were so close, in fact… the child became ill one day. So, so terribly ill. We didn’t know what to do. They begged to see the flowers outside of the place they lived, but obviously, we couldn’t do anything. But Asriel… he must have been so determined to grant the child’s wish…” He couldn’t go on.

To his shock, Toriel placed a hand on his shoulder for a minute, then continued. “We did not see what exactly took place, but we suspect that when… when the child finally succumbed to their illness, our son absorbed their soul so that he could pass through the barrier, and he took the child’s body with him.”

Asgore, who had been staring into his lap, looked up suddenly, pleadingly, at Councilor Tūwhare. “What happened to them after that? We… we never truly understood. Our son died the moment he came back through the barrier, right… right in front of us.”

Councilor Tūwhare’s eyes widened. “I’m… I’m so sorry. I really had no idea… but…” She sighed. “According to hearsay, these hunters thought the… your son had killed the child. They shot at him, multiple times. They claimed to have hit him. They also claimed that, interestingly, he did not fight back. He simply turned away and walked back where he had come from.”

“Shot?” Toriel’s voice was so, so small. “With a bow and arrows?”

“No.” Councilor Tūwhare shook her head. “With guns.”

Toriel and Asgore looked at each other. “We do not…”

“You will find out what they are.” Councilor Singh broke in. Strangely, despite his terse words, he sounded almost sympathetic. Certainly not as suspicious as before.

Mayor Mahuta looked at Toriel and Asgore. “It seems like you’ve had a great shock,” she said. “I think it’s best that we adjourn for now. This council will meet later to discuss our next steps. In the meantime, I’m going to ask my assistant here to find somewhere for you to stay. Don’t worry about paying; we’ll take care of that.”

“That is much too kind,” Toriel said.

The mayor waved her hand. “It’s really nothing.”

The entire council stood, and Toriel and Frisk followed suit. Catching on late, Asgore stood too, almost knocking Frisk over. Toriel glared at him as she caught them, but the child didn’t seem bothered much.

A councilor walked quickly up to Mayor Mahuta, whose eyes widened as he whispered to her. “Oh. My god, I hadn’t even thought of that.” The mayor came back up to Toriel and Asgore. “I’m sorry, there’s so much going on… Councilor Parnwell has kindly reminded me that we will need to find out who Frisk’s parents or guardians are.”

It was not lost on Asgore, the way Frisk suddenly clung to Toriel’s robes. Nor did it seem lost on the mayor, either, as her brows contracted. “I’m sorry, Frisk, but it’s the law,” she said carefully. “Will you tell us who takes care of you?”

Frisk shook their head furiously.

“Frisk…” Toriel looked utterly torn, clearly wanting to respect the laws of this city that they were about to make a home in, yet knowing what Frisk’s behavior could mean about their guardians.

“If they won’t tell us, we’ll just have to look up missing children with the police department,” Mayor Mahuta said. She looked at Toriel and Asgore. “In the meantime, it seems they’re most comfortable with you. It isn’t really my prerogative, but… I’ll let them stay with you, for now.”

“Thank you,” Toriel said.

The monsters and the child were led to some kind of sitting area and told to wait for someone to tell them what hotel to go to. Asgore did not try to talk to Toriel at all, as he could feel a sort of energy coming off her—and not a happy energy.

After a couple of hours, some assistant came and gave them an address for a hotel, and explained they were going to have a police escort there, since there was a crowd outside. Asgore trembled as they approached the exit doors, where a few officers waited. He was surprised Frisk could stand to hold his paw right now; it must be awful sweaty by this point.

As they had been warned, a large crowd awaited them outside. Most of them were taking pictures with their cell phones, and there was lots of shouting. As the police officers surrounded them and parted the crowd, Asgore really wished he weren’t so tall. He wondered if Toriel wished the same thing for herself right now.

They were escorted to a very nice-looking hotel, which had the word Heritage over the entrance doors. They checked in quickly and were sent to their room—their singular room, Asgore realized with a bit of horror, not knowing how Toriel would feel about that.

As it turned out, the room was almost more like a small apartment, with a full kitchen, a dining table and chairs, a couch across from a flat-screen television, two bathrooms, and a bedroom with two king-sized beds, as well as a balcony with a couple of chairs. Frisk immediately jumped onto one of the beds and flopped down, clearly exhausted. How he wished he could do the same thing, Asgore thought, but he’d probably break the bed.

Toriel was looking at some kind of paper by the telephone next to one of the beds. “They have room service. Frisk, would you like something to eat? And perhaps you would like to shower? I suspect it has been a while since you last bathed.” Frisk nodded, and together they looked over the menu. Toriel suggested Frisk shower while they waited, so they closed themself up in one of the bathrooms as Toriel spoke into the phone. 

The minute she finished and both she and Asgore heard the water turn on in the bathroom, Toriel got up and walked straight up to him, her face a mask of fury. “You lied to them.”

“I did,” Asgore said in a small voice.

“You coward! I could just—just—” Toriel raised her hand, then curled it into a fist and forced it down by her side. “I will not do it. I will not. But just know that I want to.”

“Toriel—I really, truly barely knew what I was saying—”

Toriel turned away from him. “Do not make excuses!”

“You saw how that one councilor acted, Toriel! Who’s to say they all wouldn’t have turned on us if I had said the truth?” Asgore argued. “We have to think of our people.”

“I am thinking of our people! I already told you—what if they find out the truth later on? They will never trust us again! Who knows what could happen?” Toriel ran her hands over her face and back over her ears.

“You didn’t stop me when I lied,” Asgore pointed out timidly.

“Because they never would have trusted us after that, either,” Toriel huffed. Her shoulders went rigid, then she sighed. “But what is done is done. I only hope we do not have to suffer because you wanted to save your own skin.”

Asgore’s face went red. “That isn’t why—”

“Do not continue to lie. I have had enough of lies.” Toriel wouldn’t even look at him anymore. She went and shut herself into the other bathroom.

Asgore slowly sat on the bed next to the telephone. Have I really messed up? he thought. I just wanted to protect them…

Trying to distract himself, he looked at the room service menu. He noticed there was a wine section where the meals were listed. It cost extra money, but…

Tears fell onto the menu. Asgore wiped his face furiously, then dialed the room service number, asking for three different bottles of wine, the ones he knew had the most alcohol concentrated in them.

When they arrived, Toriel and Frisk were both still in the bathrooms. He took the bottles out onto the balcony and pulled the large curtain over the glass doors, then sat in one of the chairs and pulled the cork out of one bottle.

As he drank, he could hear Toriel and Frisk moving about in the bedroom. He thought Frisk might have pulled back the curtain at one point, but they didn’t come out.

Good. He didn’t want them to see him like this.

As Asgore poured the wine into his body, tears poured from his eyes.

No matter what he did, he was a failure. A coward. A mistake.

And the thought occurred to him as he went through the second bottle of wine…

…would he ever be anything but?

Chapter Text

Asgore hummed to himself as he tipped his watering can forward, letting water fall over his precious golden flowers. He glanced out the windows, the only source of sunlight in the entire Underground. It looked like a beautiful day outside. There wasn’t a single cloud he could see in the sky, and he could hear birds singing. And, of course, his flowers were blooming.

He was just thinking what a perfect day it would be for a game of catch with his son when he heard footsteps behind him. With the watering can now empty, Asgore turned. “Hello, citizen! What can I—”

A human child stood in front of him.

She couldn’t have been more than eight or ten years old. Her dress was dirty, stained with what looked like blood. Her hair looked knotted, maybe even matted. She didn’t seem to be injured, though.

She seemed frightened, but less so as she took in the sight of him. “You look like my mommy,” she said in a voice that seemed almost relieved.

“Your—?” But the child was human…

And then he realized.

Toriel.

“Can you help me get past the purple doors in the snowy place? I didn’t know they were locked from this side,” the girl said. She played with her fingers, avoiding Asgore’s gaze.

A number of realizations were going through his head now. Number one—Toriel was living in the Ruins (though truthfully, this didn’t surprise him). Number two—she’d adopted this girl, who knows how long ago. And number three…

This was the first human to fall into the Underground since Chara.

Asgore began to shake. He remembered what he himself had declared after the deaths of Asriel and Chara.

Every human who falls down here must die.

He’d declared it in front of all monsterkind. Most of them had cheered, probably happy their king had a plan to free them and defeat humanity.

It hadn’t occurred to him that the humans who fell in the future could also be children.

He gazed at the human. She didn’t appear to have any dust on her. That made Asgore feel even worse. He didn’t even have the excuse that this human was a danger to monsterkind.

“Can you help?” the girl asked again, and Asgore realized he hadn’t responded to her.

“Oh, ah… come this way,” he said almost automatically, gesturing toward the doorway on the opposite side of the throne room from where the girl had come in.

She didn’t even question him. Doubtless, she thought he must have some magic way of getting them back to Snowdin immediately.

As they walked, the girl said, “I’m Iris.”

Asgore stumbled a bit. Irises weren’t his favorite flowers, but they had been one of Toriel’s.

They entered the barrier room. Iris seemed frightened again, confused by the shifting black and white gradient of the space. She grabbed onto Asgore’s cape. “What is this?”

“It is the barrier,” Asgore said heavily.

“Why are we here?” Iris looked back toward the doorway, then at him. “Are you going to help me get back to Mommy?”

Asgore's lower lip trembled. If I don’t do this, my people won’t have any hope, he reminded himself. He clenched his paws.

“I’m afraid I cannot do that, little one.”

“But…”

“Do you know the story of our people, Iris?”

Iris looked back at the doorway again, her hands tightly folded. “Some monsters told me, outside of your house.”

“Then… you understand that I cannot let you go?”

Iris’s eyes flicked back toward the doorway one more time. “I just want to find Mommy again.”

“It was nice to meet you, Iris.” He drew her into battle at that moment. “Goodbye.”

↟

Asgore awoke with a gasp.

He sat up in bed, confused. It was dark in the hotel room; he could barely make out Toriel’s white fur in the other bed, and the small lump next to her that was Frisk.

It was a dream, he thought.

Well, no… it had been real, once.

It wasn’t unusual for Asgore to dream about the six children. Many of those dreams were what-if situations; mainly, what if he hadn’t killed them, but raised them instead? He usually awoke from those dreams with a lot of regret.

They were better than the ones like the one he’d just had, though. He would usually go drink himself into a stupor after those, unable to stomach his guilt.

But even those usually weren’t as detailed as the dream he’d had tonight. It was as if he’d been watching the murder in real time, every detail tattooed into his eyes and ears.

Iris… the cyan soul, the very first human to fall after Chara. The only child besides Chara and Frisk whose name he knew. The one human who’d completely refused to fight back.

He remembered violently vomiting after her death, at the sight of her blood spattered on the ground. It had been quick… but not painless. Not for him.

Asgore shuddered, then glanced at the bedside clock. A little after five in the morning. Surprisingly, he’d actually slept better tonight than he had last night, despite the nightmare. Though, he supposed, based on the headache that was quickly coming on, that might have been due to the alcohol.

Across from him, Toriel shifted in her sleep. Asgore could just barely see the outline of her face. She looked peaceful, like she hadn’t a care in the world, even though Asgore knew that was far from the case. 

He wondered if she ever dreamed about Iris, or any of the other children. He supposed he would never know, not expecting Toriel to ever confide in him about those kinds of things ever again.

His eyes fell upon Frisk, who lay on their side, facing him. It occurred to Asgore again how small they were; if he remembered correctly, their height barely reached Toriel’s waist (though, admittedly, Toriel was far taller than the vast majority of human adults). They were by far the smallest of all the children who had fallen. He wondered how on earth they had managed to get up the mountain by themself, and why they had come. The reaction they’d had to being asked who their guardians were… perhaps that had something to do with it. If they were being treated anything like Toriel suspected, it wouldn’t be shocking for them to run away.

But tomorrow… in a few hours, really… Frisk would most likely be back with whoever cared for them. He couldn’t explain why, but he had a feeling that reunion would not be a sweet one.

Asgore’s head throbbed. He fell back on his pillows, too tired to do anything but wonder what would happen in the next few hours. He hoped for both Frisk and Toriel’s sakes that everything could be straightened out quickly, to everyone’s satisfaction.

That was the last thing on his mind before he fell back asleep.

↟

It seemed only minutes later when the alarm clock went off. Despite how tired he was, Asgore sat up immediately, not wanting to trigger Toriel’s ire. However, it seemed that she was actually having a bit of trouble getting up. Her paw had reached over Frisk to hit the off button on the clock, then she had turned on her back and closed her eyes again.

Asgore was just deciding to give her another couple of minutes before waking her back up, when she sat up slowly and rubbed one of her eyes. She looked blearily down at Frisk, who had covered their head with the comforter as Toriel had reached over them. “Frisk, dear, it is time to get up.”

The child made a movement under the blankets like they were shaking their head.

Asgore picked up the food menu off the bedside table and looked it over, trying to ignore his headache, which had abated just enough that it was more of a nuisance than anything. “Frisk, it looks like we could order food to eat up here, but there is also a ‘continental breakfast’ down by the lobby. They have waffles with syrup, either way. Would you like that?”

Frisk peeked out from under the comforter, then pushed the covers off their head and swung their legs over the side of the bed. Then they jumped down and walked over to the bathroom, where Asgore could see they had left their clothes on the floor. He couldn’t help but smile; Asriel had used to leave his clothes on the bedroom floor after taking them off, too. Asgore remembered constantly having to ask him to pick them up.

Toriel got up and began brushing the wrinkles out of her robes. She and Asgore both had been forced to wear them to bed, as they had not brought any pajamas with them, and they couldn’t find anything in the nearby shops that fit on short notice (they had, thankfully, been able to find some for Frisk). 

Frisk came out of the bathroom, holding a comb. For the first time, Asgore noticed how messy their curls were. The child had evidently been trying to untangle them with the comb, and failed. They held the comb up to Toriel, who took it. She ran a careful paw through Frisk’s hair. “Your curls seem delicate. I assume I must be very careful with this?”

Frisk nodded.

“Would you like me to just order the food, Frisk?” Asgore asked. The child nodded again.

Toriel told him what she wanted, and Asgore had their breakfast sent up to the room. Just as it arrived, Toriel finished with Frisk’s hair, which now looked much bouncier, and much more healthy.

They ate at the table out in the living room area. Asgore couldn’t help but notice how ravenously Frisk ate. He vaguely remembered Toriel saying something about Frisk not eating well the day they had been freed, and he felt uneasy. 

He decided to test something. “Frisk, would you mind if I had a bite of your waffle?” he asked, smiling.

Frisk looked at him blankly, then blinked and put their arms protectively around their plate and shook their head.

Asgore had expected them to refuse, but protecting their plate…

He looked at Toriel, who looked just as concerned, but she didn’t say anything. Asgore decided to bring up the matter again when Frisk couldn’t hear.

Not long after they were all finished eating, the phone rang in the bedroom, and Toriel went to answer it. She came back after several minutes and looked gravely at Asgore, then Frisk. “Frisk… they have located your parents.”

The look of fright on Frisk’s face struck Asgore to the core. Something was very, very wrong.

“Frisk, I know you do not want to leave us, but Asgore and I have no power to keep you right now,” Toriel said gently. “But rest assured, if your parents are bad people, I will do everything I possibly can to get you back.”

The child was trembling. Asgore wasn’t sure if they had been this scared when that flower had attacked them.

“We are to meet your parents and some social workers at the police station. You have been reported as missing for nearly two weeks,” Toriel continued. “As such, the police have paperwork to file, so that is why we must go there. As for the social workers, they are there to discuss why you ran away. I will be sure to tell them how adamant you are about not going back with your parents.”

“I think it will all turn out alright, little one,” Asgore added.

Frisk got up from their seat at the table and hugged Toriel tightly.

Asgore’s heart ached. Truthfully, he wasn’t sure everything would be alright. Even if Frisk didn’t go back with their parents, how likely was it that Toriel would win custody? He wasn’t entirely sure how child custody worked in human society, but it would seem they took it very seriously, from what little he already knew.

“I think we should not dawdle any longer,” Toriel said to Frisk. “Let us get your shoes.”

In the lobby of the hotel, there were officers, who were to escort them to the police station. Once they were outside the station, Asgore looked at Frisk, who looked ready to bolt. However, they only continued to cling to Toriel’s paw the way they had on the entire ride there.

Inside the lobby of the station, four people were sitting, waiting. Three women, one man.

Two of the women were wearing pressed suits; Asgore figured they must be the social workers. One woman was pale-skinned with brown hair in a pixie cut. The other woman was darker-skinned, with longer black hair in many small braids.

The other other woman and the man… Asgore swallowed.

They didn’t look like Frisk at all. This woman was pale-skinned like the first social worker, and blonde, wearing jeans and a simple white button-up blouse. The man was also pale, with brown hair, and he also wore jeans and a dark green T-shirt.

All four people stood up as they came in, and the man and the blonde woman ran forward. “Mason!” the woman cried, throwing her arms out to embrace Frisk.

Mason?

Asgore looked at Toriel, but she was too busy with Frisk, who clung to her paw so tightly, it must have been hurting her.

The woman and the man noticed. “Mason, sweetie, what’s wrong?” the man said.

“I’m sorry,” Asgore said before he could stop himself. “Is their name not Frisk?”

A dark look passed over the woman’s face so quickly, Asgore wasn’t sure he had actually seen anything. But then she rolled her eyes and waved her hand dismissively. “Of course. No, his name isn’t Frisk. It’s Mason. He’s been stuck on this different-name-and-pronouns business for a year now. I don’t know where he got it from. Probably some absent parents not watching their kid well enough.”

“‘Different name and pronouns business’…?” Toriel repeated slowly.

“Oh, you probably wouldn’t know. The police explained to us about you… monsters,” the woman explained. “It’s this… ‘transgender’ trend that started almost a hundred years ago. You’d think people would have dropped it by now.” She rolled her eyes. “Anyway, Mason, come on. We’ve missed you so much, we were so worried about you!” She bent down and held her arms out.

Asgore noticed the man standing behind her. It actually seemed like he was leaning back from them a bit, as if he was afraid to be any closer.

“I apologize, but…” Toriel’s voice sounded more like she was talking to Asgore than to the mother. “Where we come from, if someone wanted to use a different name and pronouns, we allowed them. We have noticed they tend to be happier that way.”

“Oh.” The woman looked up at Toriel, looking significantly less friendly. “Well… that’s not how it works for humans. Mason, what is wrong?” She stood and grabbed Frisk’s hand, pulling them away from Toriel.

“Just a minute!” Toriel did not let go of Frisk’s other hand. She looked at the social workers. “You see this, do you not?”

“We do,” said the social worker with braids.

“Now what’s that supposed to mean?” The man spoke for the first time.

“They clearly do not wish to go with you. Any time I have asked about their parents, they are afraid. You do not respect their wishes, and I have reason to believe you are not feeding them well enough,” Toriel said, eyes flashing.

Asgore had never admired Toriel more than in this moment.

The woman and man looked at each other, shocked. “W—Well, Mason has always been a picky eater. He just won’t eat his vegetables!” the woman laughed nervously, her grip noticeably tightening on Frisk’s wrist as the child struggled to get away.

Asgore tilted his head. “They had no trouble eating the vegetables that came with their meal last night,” he said.

“In fact, they ate every bite, in a remarkably short amount of time,” Toriel added coolly.

Frisk finally succeeded in twisting their wrist out of their mother’s grasp and practically leapt back to Toriel’s side, burying their face in her robes.

“Mason, th—this is ridiculous. Don’t you want to come home? Dad and I are there, and so are all your clothes and toys and books!” their mother coaxed.

“We’ve missed you so much, kiddo,” their father added.

The social worker with the pixie cut stepped forward. “Mr. and Mrs. Decker, I’m afraid that before you take this child home, we need to have a conversation with them about why they ran away.”

“Do you really need to? Isn’t it obvious? He’s just throwing a tantrum because he’s not getting his way. Your name is Mason, Mason. We chose that name for you when you were two days old! Adopting and naming you was the happiest day of our lives. Come on, Mason, do you really want to make Mommy and Daddy upset?” Mrs. Decker crouched down to Frisk’s eye level.

Frisk only turned their face further into Toriel’s robes.

“It’s just procedure, ma’am. We have to investigate when a child runs away from their guardians, especially for this long,” the woman with the pixie cut explained. “If you’ve done nothing wrong, you have nothing to be afraid of, and… the child will be released back into your care.”

“I am sorry, but may I ask, who exactly are you?” Toriel asked, one paw protectively on Frisk’s shoulder.

The woman with the braids spoke. “Of course, you wouldn’t know. I’m Ava O’Brien, and this is Ella Brown.” She gestured to her fellow social worker. “We’re from the Oranga Tamariki Ministry for Children—basically, child protective services. We exist to support any child whose wellbeing may be at risk.”

“As I said, it’s procedure that we investigate cases of children running away.” Ella Brown said. “If the officers give us a room, we will sit with… the child, and we’ll have a chat about why they did what they did. Privately, of course.”

“His name is Mason,” Mrs. Decker grated.

Ava O’Brien leaned forward toward Frisk, who was peeking one eye out in her direction. “I promise you aren’t in trouble,” she said kindly. “Ms. Brown and I would just like to hear about why you ran away. If you tell us the truth, we can make sure you’re safe.”

Asgore glanced at Mr. and Mrs. Decker. Mrs. Decker’s face was visibly paler, and Mr. Decker hugged himself, looking anxious.

“I fail to see why this is necessary,” Mrs. Decker tried to laugh. 

“It’s required by law, ma’am.” Asgore caught just the slightest bit of exasperation in Ms. O’Brien’s voice.

“Well—I—”

“Liza, we don’t have a choice,” Mr. Decker said in a low voice, leaning down by his wife’s ear.

Mrs. Decker looked like she wanted to grab Frisk and bolt, but she stepped back. “Fine. Go ahead and question him. But be warned that he lies for attention and to cause drama. If he says bad things about us, it—it isn’t true. We love Mason. We adopted him after his biological mother died in childbirth. We loved him the second we laid eyes on him. Please…” She clasped her hands. “Don’t take him away from us.”

Ms. Brown and Ms. O’Brien looked at each other, but said nothing.

“Frisk, dear,” Toriel said gently, “These nice ladies want to help. I am sure everything will be alright if you tell them the truth.” She looked to the social workers. “You will need a sign language interpreter.”

“Mrs. Decker told us the child didn’t speak. We’ve had one on standby for a while.” Ms. Brown nodded.

Frisk looked up at Toriel, then at their mother, who was also staring at Toriel, looking like she was about to boil over. Then they looked to the workers, and slowly broke away from Toriel.

Asgore, Toriel, and Frisk’s parents watched as Frisk and the social workers disappeared down a hallway. The second they could no longer be seen, Mrs. Decker rounded on Toriel. “What did you do to my son?!”

Toriel and Asgore both leaned back at her intensity. “What do you mean, what did I do?” Toriel narrowed her eyes.

“You’ve obviously put him under some kind of spell!” Mrs. Decker spat. “I don’t know what you plan on doing with him, but I’m putting a stop to it!”

“That is not how monster magic works at all. I do not have any power to put Frisk magically under my control,” Toriel shot back. “What power I do have, I have used only to ensure Frisk’s safety and wellbeing.”

“It’s MASON!”

“Excuse me, I’m going to have to ask you not to shout,” said the officer behind the lobby counter, glaring at Mrs. Decker, then gazing warily at all four of them.

“His name is Mason,” Mrs. Decker hissed through gritted teeth.

“As long as they do not want to be called that, I will not,” Toriel said firmly.

“Liza, let’s just sit down and wait,” Mr. Decker quietly begged his wife. Mrs. Decker, still glaring at Toriel, finally conceded after a minute, and sat on the bench closest to the hallway next to her husband.

Toriel, meanwhile, stalked over to the opposite side of the lobby and began to pace. Asgore was left standing awkwardly by the front doors.

After a minute, he joined Toriel. “Are you alright?” he muttered to her.

“Of course I am not alright!” Toriel snapped. Then she sighed and put a paw to her head. “I apologize. I simply—you saw how afraid Frisk was, did you not?”

“Certainly. It was appalling. I cannot imagine our—my—a child being that frightened of their parents.”

“She is hiding something. I want to hope that I am wrong, but—I fear the worst. I fear that this human government is going to send Frisk back with them. They would likely have every legal right to keep me from seeing Frisk. I—oh, Asgore, I cannot lose this child. At least, I cannot lose them to them.”  Toriel leaned against the wall, covering her face, and Asgore’s stomach dropped as he realized she was trying not to cry.

“Well, those social workers seem smart,” he tried to console her. “I think they sense something is wrong. Hopefully, they will listen to Frisk, primarily.”

Toriel said nothing, but she was able to wipe her face dry and let it settle into neutrality.

Asgore knew that look, though. She was panicking inside. But he didn’t know what else to say.

They could only wait.

After nearly an hour, the social workers finally emerged from the hallway with Frisk. Asgore studied their face; they didn’t look as frightened as before, but still seemed on edge.

Mr. and Mrs. Decker jumped up at the sight of Frisk. Ms. O’Brien directed her attention to them. “Mr. and Mrs. Decker,” she said gravely, “after speaking with your child, we believe that we have just cause to investigate further. We are asking to make a visit to your place of residence.”

“Wh—why? I told you, he lies! For attention!” Mrs. Decker looked between the social workers frantically.

“The child’s testimony, in addition to some… physical evidence, gives us reason to believe we need to investigate further. We have also deemed it necessary for one of our agency physicians to examine them,” Ms. Brown said.

“Wh—this is—” Mrs. Decker sputtered. Mr. Decker simply stood there, frozen.

“We do, of course, need a warrant to make a home visit, and we plan to get one as soon as possible,” Ms. Brown continued.

“In the meantime, what the child told us combined with the physical evidence gives us reason to believe they may not be safe in your care. As such, we are also planning to get a warrant to temporarily remove them from your care. That warrant, we may get as early as today.” Ms. O’Brien’s face was still grave. “In the meantime, they are in the custody of the agency. We will contact you when they have been placed in a temporary home.”

“You—you can’t do this!” Mrs. Decker looked as though she wanted to scream, or cry, or throw something. Mr. Decker continued to stand like a statue, the color draining from his face.

Toriel came up to the social workers. “Will we be able to see them at all?” she asked.

Ms. O’Brien looked at her sadly. “Unfortunately, since you have no legal claim to the child, we can’t allow that. Nor can we tell you any specific details of the child’s case in the future, unless you become directly involved in it. And we can’t tell you—any of you—what home they will be placed in.”

“I can testify as to what I have noticed about them.” Asgore could hear the desperation in Toriel’s voice. “Please, can you allow me to do that?”

“If the child’s case comes to a trial to permanently remove them from the Deckers’ custody, you will likely be called to testify,” Ms. Brown informed her. “But until you’re called, you won’t be able to have any contact with the child.”

“I—I understand. May I speak to them here, one last time, for now?”

“Since we’re present, that’s acceptable.” Ms. Brown nodded.

Toriel knelt in front of Frisk. “My dear child, I will do whatever it takes to get you into a safe place, alright? Whatever it takes.”

Frisk squared their shoulders and nodded bravely.

Toriel smiled, and Asgore could hear the tears in her voice as she said, “I love you.”

Frisk smiled, and the light of hope in their eyes that Asgore had seen before was strong.

“Frisk, you are so courageous, and bright, and strong. No matter what happens, you will make it through, and we will see you again,” Asgore said.

The child nodded, ignoring their speechless, sputtering mother.

Asgore and Toriel watched as Frisk was led off by the social workers, then they and Frisk’s parents—who looked utterly shocked—were escorted separately from the police station.

Back at their hotel room, the two monsters sat silently, both at the table. Toriel had her head in one paw, leaning her elbow on the table.

After a few minutes, Toriel broke the silence. “I do not know what I will do if they are lost to me.” Her voice wavered significantly.

“They won’t be.” 

Asgore must have sounded completely sure of himself, because Toriel looked at him, for once, not with angry eyes, but with grateful ones. “I hope you are right.”

Asgore hoped he was, too.