Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

It’s not a good feeling, waiting for news to come. Ceroba leans against the wall of the Steamworks, slumped next to Starlo. It’d been exhausting, evacuating everyone.

“EVERYONE HAS BEEN ACCOUNTED FOR,” Axis says as he wheels over to them. “THE STEAMWORKS HAS BEEN SEALED OFF. THERE WILL BE NO ENTRANCE FROM THE OUTSIDE.”

“Thank you, Axis,” Ceroba says.

She knows, if it comes to that, Axis could keep them safe. She saw Chujin’s tape on the subject. And as much as the prospect horrifies her of how brutally that human must have been killed…it is a reassurance now to know Axis is capable of ending the rampage if this human chose to approach them. She knows they’re fairly far from the center of the action…but the Steamworks is only an elevator ride away, even with the facility sealed to the best of their ability.

“I AM HAPPY TO BE OF SERVICE,” he answers before wheeling somewhere else.

“Do you think everything will be alright?” Starlo asks quietly.

“Shouldn’t I be the one asking you that?” she answers.

“I just…I keep thinkin’ back to Clover. They wouldn’t have liked this.”

“I know.” Ceroba thinks to the little memorial they made to mount the bell in the Wild East. “It doesn’t look like this human is going to give in easily. And with how many they’ve killed…I certainly don’t want the king dead, despite my criticisms.”

“Me neither.”

Ceroba rests her head on Starlo’s shoulder. “We’ll survive this. I hope.”

A few hours later, though, a message comes in.

Ceroba looks at the announcement on her CELL with disbelief. All clear. But not without loss. King Asgore is gone. So are the human SOULs. It’s up to them now to declare a new ruler.

“Starlo, you and the others gather everyone. I’m sure they’ll have received the message if they have their CELLs as well. Meet me by the elevator. I’m going to find Axis.”

He nods.

Ceroba makes way for the elevator to Hotland. She finds Axis in the furnace. Right where he confronted Clover.

“We just got the all-clear,” Ceroba says. “You can relax now.”

“VERY GOOD. DO YOU STILL REQUIRE MY AID?”

“The Feisty Five are rounding up everyone. We’re going to be heading up in groups, as many as the elevator can handle. Do you mind watching the queue?”

“OF COURSE. ANYTHING FOR YOU, MRS. KETSUKANE.”

Ceroba feels bad about pulling at the threads of Axis's loyalty to Chujin, but…what else can she do?

“Thank you,” she says, stepping out.

She takes the elevator up first, along with Starlo and most of the Feisty Five. Ed wouldn’t fit in the elevator.

Hotland feels bleak. Even more bleak than when Mettaton had taken over it.

“To New Home,” Ceroba says with a sigh.

The others follow her, taking the elevator directly to New Home and walking to the largest empty space in New Home. Even with so many dead…it will be difficult to fit the remaining population of the Underground here.

At the head of the crowd is Dr. Alphys. Several monsters Ceroba doesn’t recognize stay at the front. And…

And…

No. It couldn’t be.

Ceroba’s mouth goes dry.

“Um…hello, everyone?”

Dr. Alphys speaks into a megaphone that someone’s given her. It looks like the skeleton next to her probably did.

She straightens up. “I-I apologize to be, um, the bearer of bad news. Our king is dead, just like…just like so many of us are. But, um, I believe we can rebuild. Carry on. The human SOULs are, uh, gone as well. But we haven’t lost everything. We are still here. It is important to, to recognize that. And…and I have to thank you all, too. For your forgiveness. I…I know the suffering of your families.” She pauses, a moment of silence. “I— I will do my best going forwards to be open with everyone. I do not intend to hide anything anymore. I do not wish to be afraid of everything anymore. In her…dying moments…Captain Undyne taught me the meaning of courage. I refuse to waste her…sacrifice for our kind. My first step will be to ensure that each of the amalgamates that I had been keeping are, erm, reunited with the families that have been waiting for them. Again, I…really want to thank you. Your…support through all of this means more to me than you’ll ever know.”

Alphys steps away.

Kanako…

Starlo places a hand on her shoulder. She turns to look at him. “I— I have to talk to her,” Ceroba says. “She had Kanako. And if she’s…she’s one of these…” She shakes her head. “I have to see her.”

“I know.” His hand slips down to take her paw. “Just worried.”

“It’ll be fine.” Ceroba looks up. “I don’t care what’s changed. I just want my daughter.” She removes her paw from his gentle hold and steps forward.

“Dr. Alphys.” She crosses her arms.

“H-Hello, Ms. Ketsukane. I-I’m glad you’re safe.”

“Where is my daughter?”

“I— we’re working on that, Ms. Ketsukane. You’ll, um, definitely be reunited with her soon.”

“And what did you do to her to keep her there for so long?”

Years. Years with no word, just Mettaton’s stupid shows and her occasional guest appearances and nothing about the fate of her daughter—

Ceroba takes a deep breath.

“I don’t, erm…”

“hey.”

It’s the skeleton.

“i dunno who you are, lady, but we’re all under a lotta stress right now. especially alphys.”

“I led the evacuation for my community alongside my best friend. I know. She had my daughter. And if she’s alive…I need to see her.”

“you’re not the only one who’s lost. be glad you have something to gain.”

The absolute nerve of him. The absolute nerve of them both.

But Ceroba knows when she’s fighting a losing battle. Public opinion is on Alphys’s side after everything she’s done. And Ceroba can’t deny she’s done a lot to protect the rest of the monsters out there from that human.

So she steps away, glaring at Alphys as she waits in the crowd.

But one of them is moving towards her. And she knows, instinctively—

“Kanako!” she calls.

“Mama,” multiple voices cry, weakly.

Ceroba can feel tears welling up as she hugs her daughter. Back in her arms. Not dead. Not gone. Just…different.

She can still pick her daughter up. She does so, carrying her back over to where Starlo and the others are.

“I’ve got her,” Ceroba says. “Let’s go home.”

Starlo nods.

“Uh…Ceroba?” Ed asks. “She’s…”

Ceroba looks down. Her daughter has changed form in her hands. Not as solid, not as…Kanako-like.

It’s fine. Ceroba will figure it out. Everything will be okay, so long as she has Kanako.

“It doesn’t matter. Let’s go.”

Chapter Text

There’s a petition going around the Underground. Permit Alphys to be the new queen. Ceroba passes on signing it. She may have shown a lot of courage during the evacuation, but some things Ceroba can’t forgive. It’s a grudge she’ll never let go of. And at the same time…she can’t help but be grateful. Kanako’s not dead.

It’s a miracle in and of itself.

She still doesn’t sign it. More than enough monsters have agreed to it. Alphys will ascend to that throne and see nothing but forgiveness for all the suffering she caused. Ceroba can continue her grudge — because certainly no one else would dare in the wake of a tragedy like this. But Ceroba owes Alphys nothing. She was the head of their evacuation. All she did was broadcast the evacuation notice — and anyone could have done that.

And her daughter. Ceroba can’t forget.

She despises the idea that she might owe Alphys something. She despises even more that Alphys was the one to fix Ceroba’s mistakes.

She doesn’t know what else she could have done. Besides not making the mistake in the first place, but—

She can’t go back and make things un-happen.

Maybe being back in the manor has brought the worst out of her. But the house wouldn’t hold all of them. And she always knew if something managed to happen, if something changed, she’d move back in. With Kanako still.

And Kanako is different, but that’s not entirely unexpected. She’d have to be, after so long. She’s more distant. More introverted. More prone to talking to herself.

Years and years cooped up in that lab. It might drive Ceroba insane, too.

Starlo ends up dragging her to the coronation. Once again, he is the rock.

“Mama?” Kanako tugs on her sleeve. She doesn’t need to. Sometimes, depending on the shape she wants to take, she can be taller than Ceroba. But she’s still her daughter, and Ceroba lost so much of her childhood. “We need to talk to her. Something happened. She should know.”

“Come back home when you're done, alright?” Ceroba squeezes her daughter's paw, or what passes for it now.

(Sometimes, she thinks, her daughter has what looks like a human hand. And she remembers Clover, taking hers.)

Kanako nods and moves towards the newly-crowned queen. She doesn’t want to let her go, but it wouldn’t be good to stifle Kanako, either.

Ceroba has been doing nothing but letting go, over and over and over. When will she be able to hold?

But instead of Kanako returning later, she gets a phone call.

“Hello?”

“Ms. Ketsukane.”

“Your Highness?”

“You can, uh, drop the formalities,” Alphys answers. “There’s really no need for all that. I was calling to…to tell you about your daughter. She…may have more significance than we could have accounted for. She could…she could represent the only hope we have now.”

“What?”

But that means…could it be? That something, something between the two of them and Chujin had gone right for Kanako?

“I’d like them to be kept closer for observation,” Alphys says, “but I understand as her mother you want to be close with Kanako. If— if you’d like, I could offer you an apartment in New Home…I’m thinking of converting Mettaton’s hotel back to the apartment complex…”

“I don’t care about any of that,” Ceroba admits. “As long as I get to stay with her.”

“I-I can do that.”

“I’m moving to New Home,” Ceroba says. “The queen wants to have Kanako under her observation. I don’t know what that entails, but she agreed that I could move there to be close to her.”

She seems like she's genuinely making an attempt to fix the errors of her ways.

Ceroba sighs. She drinks some more of her iced tea.

“Do you need me to be there?” Starlo asks.

She knows he means it. That if she said yes, he would move in to New Home with her.

But she knows just as much that he wouldn’t be happy. He’d hate the oppressive atmosphere of the city. Hell, she hates the idea of moving to New Home. But she’ll do it for Kanako.

“You shouldn’t,” she answers.

“Not the question I asked.”

“You’d hate it there. I’m not going to ask you to go.” She takes his hand. “I’m going to be okay. And I want you to be happy, too. So that means you shouldn’t come with me.”

“I’d be happy anywhere as long as I was with you,” he confesses. “You know that.”

“I don’t want to take advantage of that.”

“You wouldn’t be.”

“Star, I…”

She’s only so strong.

“I don’t need you to follow me,” she answers. “New Home is safe. No stragglers were killed there. And besides…Alphys is just one monster, queen or not.”

“Do you…want me there, then?”

“It would be selfish,” she admits. “You and your friends are here. Wasn’t the last time you fought because you abandoned them for something shiny and new?”

“You’re not new.”

Ceroba looks away. “Weren’t you the one telling me that I shouldn’t waste my life dedicating it just to one person?”

“I’ll help you get settled in,” he says. “And then…and then we’ll see.”

“Okay,” she says.

He never actually answered her question.

It isn’t too difficult to pack up and move. It wasn’t too difficult the first time, either, when she’d left the manor and moved to the Wild East’s center. She doesn’t have much worth keeping. She keeps a few more things, though, this time. For Kanako’s happiness. Various toys and craft materials that were there before. Ceroba doesn’t need much, but her child needs more. Her life fits into a single box. Kanako takes more work to pack up. But she has to think through what will fit in an apartment in New Home, too.

“…there’s still corn chowder in your fridge?”

Starlo cracks open the container. Both of them cringe at the sight of mold…but it never comes.

“When was the last time I made chowder?” Ceroba wonders, mostly to herself. “In this house, too…”

Both of them exchange a look. It’s almost certainly not safe to eat. Starlo dumps it in the trash.

But when she opens back up the fridge again, another container has taken its place. She shrugs. He shrugs back. They close the fridge.

“Well, I guess that’s it. Again. You ready to head up there?”

“Yes.”

Slowly, they get the boxes to the edge of the Steamworks. Only four boxes, but it’s a heavy load. Ceroba will be glad when they manage to get Axis — Axis has some limited capacity outside the Steamworks; he’ll be helpful in the move.

“HELLO, MS. KETSUKANE.” Axis pauses when he sees the boxes. “WOULD YOU LIKE ME TO CARRY THOSE FOR YOU?”

“Yes,” she says. “I’m moving to New Home. Kanako is being kept under the queen’s direct observation. I have to be there for her.”

“I UNDERSTAND. I WISH YOU LUCK AT NEW HOME.” Axis picks up two of the boxes, leaving her and Starlo with one each.

Together, they navigate through Hotland up to New Home. Alphys had given her an address. Ceroba guides them over to the place.

“I just want to thank you both,” Ceroba says. “Not just for helping me move. But for everything else, too.”

“IT IS ALWAYS AN HONOR TO SERVE, MS. KETSUKANE.” Axis bows. “NOW, IF YOU WILL EXCUSE ME, I MUST HEAD BACK TO THE STEAMWORKS. YOU REMEMBER WHAT I AM LIKE WHEN MY BATTERY IS LOW.”

Ceroba smiles. “Of course. I think we can handle things from here. Have a good day, Axis.”

“OF COURSE.”

And with that, it’s just her and Starlo once more.

“You want me to help you unpack?” he asks.

“Please,” Ceroba answers, even though she doesn’t strictly need it. He’s asked the right question, this time.

So he helps her hang up her clothes and unpack Kanako’s items into her bedroom.

Ceroba puts a photo frame on her nightstand. She sighs.

“You should go.”

“You’re going to be okay?”

She nods. “I promise.”

“You know where to find me, then. Don’t be a stranger!”

Chapter Text

Kanako comes in later that night. Ceroba’s already bought ingredients to make dinner. It’s been a while since she last cooked, but tonight’s meal will be simple. Ceroba will go get groceries tomorrow, and then she’ll be able to prepare a meal Kanako really deserves.

She sets the bowl in front of Kanako, and sits next to her with her own.

“Mama?” Kanako croaks. “We have…something to say. Something to tell. The…reason Dr. Alphys wants us to stay.”

“Eat first,” Ceroba says gently. “We can talk after dinner.”

“Okay.”

Kanako eats quickly. Ceroba wonders how long it's been since she had real food instead of whatever slop was in the lab.

Ceroba wordlessly clears the dishes. Kanako stays sitting at the table, something she would never have done before.

“Mama, we’re…it isn’t just me anymore.”

Ceroba frowns. “What do you mean?”

Kanako’s form wobbles and warps. When it stops shifting, it no longer resembles her daughter.

“We’re more than one person,” they say, voices blending together. “You put our SOULs together. The doctor made sure we stuck. I only had part of my SOUL. But now I have all of it.”

“You’re the human that wanted to hurt my daughter.”

“I was.”

She understands now why Kanako might have asked to stay. A single SOUL remaining…it reminds her of one of those human myths Starlo used to love before he discovered westerns. That one with the box or something.

“Our name is Kashou. We would appreciate if you used it,” they say.

Her daughter, at the center of it all.

What have they gotten themselves into?

She calls Starlo that night. The darkness in New Home is strange. She’s not used to the outside world being dark when she goes to sleep.

“Tell me a story,” she says. “The one from when we were kids. About the box.”

“Shouldn’t you be the one telling bedtime stories?” he teases, fond.

“Humor me,” she says. “You know I don’t ask for much.”

She rarely asks. He still provides.

“Sure thing,” he answers. “So there were these gods, right? And they made all life. And one of them was named Prometheus, and he made humans. Problem was, he got attached to the little guys.”

Ceroba hums, indicating that she’s still paying attention.

“So the humans were freezing, right? So Prometheus moseys on over to the godly fire and gives them some of it.”

“So that’s where they think it came from?” she asks.

“I suppose,” he answers. “The other gods didn’t take too kindly to him doing that stuff. So they chained Prometheus to this rock and tortured him, and made the first woman and gave her this box.”

“Pandora, right?”

“It’s coming back to you, huh? Yeah. So anyways, she gets hitched to Prometheus’s brother, and they tell the newlyweds not to open that box up at any cost. But not what was inside the box. So they got curious, and she opened up the box.”

“What was inside?” she prompts, even though she remembers now.

“Every bad thing and sin in the world,” he answers, “and hope, left in the bottom of the box, stayed when everything else escaped.”

Kanako is the Underground’s hope now. What remains when everything else is gone. Of this, Ceroba is certain.

Chujin would be proud, she thinks. Conflicted over the human’s presence, but proud their little girl is the Underground’s hope.

“I know why Alphys wanted to keep Kanako now,” she says. “The human SOULs were released when the other human passed through the barrier. Except…except the one Chujin used in his experiments. I guess there must have been more of the SOUL than I thought in the serum, because when the SOULs were released…the part of the SOUL in Asgore’s care rejoined the portion that was lodged inside Kanako.”

“So…what?”

“So it means she needs Kanako. It means Kanako’s the only hope the Underground has left. It means we’re not starting from zero.” Ceroba turns over, smothering her developing tears in her pillow. “But it means they have to do more research. That she’s going to keep being that damn scientist’s pet test subject, and I can’t do anything about it without being a traitor, because she’s the goddamn queen, and I’m one monster who never liked her in the first place!” She lets out a yell into her pillow.

“It’s going to be okay, Ceroba,” Starlo tells her.

“I don’t believe that,” she confesses in response, voice wavering. “I can’t believe it. Not as long as she has my daughter.”

“She doesn’t own Kanako,” Starlo says. “You’re still her mother.”

“Even if you don’t deserve it, that doesn’t mean you can stop.”

“How could you even say that? Of course I won’t quit,” she snaps. “I may not deserve Kanako, but that doesn’t mean I can just stand by and let that bitch use her for experiments.”

“Ceroba…”

She sighs. She’s exhausted of it all. Not just from the day’s events, but from her whole life. “Yeah. I’ll get some rest. Good night, Star.”

“Good night,” he says. It sounds like he's smiling. It’s reassuring to hear. Her friend will always be on her side.

Ceroba sees Chujin.

Oh. She’s dreaming. She wonders which version of Chujin her brain will show her tonight. Is this a nightmare or a dream?

“Ceroba, darling,” Chujin begins, “what have you done?”

And Ceroba can’t help how she falls apart.

“Please forgive me.”

She’s always asking for it. Even in the dreams where he embraces her instead of chastising her for breaking things.

She grips his legs, cries into him. She can’t help her weakness.

Chujin strokes her hair. Undoes her ponytail. Treats her with care. Waits for her to stop crying before tilting her head towards him with a paw.

“For what?”

“You know what I did to Kanako.” Ceroba closes her eyes. Swallows. “I disobeyed your wishes.” It was never what she was meant to do. If she’d been a better wife, they wouldn’t be here.

“Kanako is alive,” he says. “It makes you more successful than I was.”

“I’m not the reason she’s alive,” she confesses. “Dr. Alphys is. I know you hated her, but…”

Ceroba knows now. Chujin wouldn’t have succeeded as the Royal Scientist. Alphys might not be the right person for the job, but Chujin certainly wasn’t, either.

“I owe her everything,” Ceroba admits. “I hate it. I hate her. I don’t want to owe her. But she’s the reason that Kanako exists at all. And now…”

And now Kanako is partially Alphys’s, too. Because she’d been away from Ceroba for so long. Ceroba hates herself for doing it. Hates Alphys for fixing it. Wishes it never happened in the first place.

Ceroba can’t let go. Maybe that’s the worst part.

Chujin is still looking at her, holding her up. But he’s not saying anything. She can only feel the weight of his judgment.

She wakes up.

Chapter Text

Ceroba makes breakfast for them. It’s strange. She hasn’t cooked for anyone else in a long time. She hasn’t cooked by herself since…since she sent Kanako to the lab. She sighs. But it’s her job to provide for the family. Just as it always has been. She’d forgotten herself, in the years Kanako spent in the lab. She needs to remember how to be herself again.

“Here,” Ceroba says, sliding her daughter a plate.

She doesn’t respond. She just picks at it for a bit, before unhinging her jaw and sliding the whole portion into her mouth. Ceroba shudders. Is that really how Alphys let her eat? Impolite. She supposes it isn’t as though Alphys expected to take care of a child. But even still, there are standards to maintain. Ceroba shudders to imagine the state of Kanako’s education after so long.

“Are you going to the lab today?” Ceroba asks.

Kanako nods. “We are.”

“I’d like to come with you,” she says. She needs to know what exactly Alphys is going to do to her daughter. She won’t stand for Kanako being harmed anymore. Not by her, and not by anyone else. Future of monsterkind or not. Kanako deserves the chance to be a normal kid, that chance that was robbed from her by her and Alphys in the first place.

She’s being given the chance to make up for her sins. She won’t fail Kanako now.

“Um…” Kanako seems to deliberate on that for a moment. “…if you insist.”

Her voice sounds a bit different. Ceroba doesn’t want to think about it — think about the human SOUL pulsing in her daughter’s heart, the part she put in there. No amount of shifts will change this simple fact: Kanako is her daughter.

“Did Dr. Alphys specify a time for you to report?” Ceroba asks. Kanako doesn’t fit into any of her old clothes anymore, not unless she changes her form, but it seems her preferred form won’t fit. She’ll have to find new clothes for her.

“Uh, no,” Kanako answers. “She asked me to come in the morning, but…I…don’t think she’s a morning person. It was hard to tell time.”

Ceroba snorts. It’s about what she’d anticipated from someone like her. That laziness is just another reason she was never fit to be Royal Scientist.

“Alright,” she says. It’s a lot shorter to travel to Hotland from New Home. She wonders if, now that Alphys is queen, she’ll move the lab to New Home. “We’ll take the long way around, then.”

The CORE is much quieter without many of the usual monsters working to maintain it around. Kanako walks at her side in total silence. They take the elevator down to Hotland, pass through the former hotel, and end up at the lab's front door.

Ceroba takes a deep breath and knocks on the door.

The door slides open a moment later. “G-good morning, Ms. Ketsukane. And K-Kashou.”

“Good morning,” Ceroba says, maintaining her guard.

“Morning!” Kanako chirps.

“Follow me,” Alphys says, clearly summoning some kind of bravado. She leads them through the upper level of the lab, down the elevator. Kanako looks down at her feet as she enters the elevator.

It’s where she’d been trapped for all those years. Of course she feels apprehensive about coming back. Ceroba puts a paw on her shoulder, trying to reassure her. Everything is going to be alright, as long as they’re together. Ceroba won’t let them be separated again, even if it means dealing with Alphys.

For Kanako, Ceroba would suffer anything.

“I-if you would come this way,” Alphys says. She directs them towards a machine shaped like a giant skull. “Th-this is the Determination extractor.”

“Explain.” Ceroba crosses her arms.

“D-determination is a substance present in…in all of our SOULs. Human SOULs have it in a greater amount than monster SOULs. It’s…I don’t fully understand its power, but it allows for people to live beyond death.”

“It’s why we’re alive, then,” Kanako says.

“E-exactly,” Alphys answers, caught off-guard. “But each SOUL only has a…certain capacity for determination. And the capacity of a monster’s SOUL for Determination isn’t very high. It resulted in…in the fusion of the monsters together. But because Kashou has…a higher capacity for Determination, they turned out a bit different.”

“You said it was a…Determination extractor,” Ceroba says.

“Yeah.” Alphys turns towards the machine. “I-I used this to get the Determination from the human SOULs. The SOULs naturally regenerate the Determination extracted from them, so it won’t have any permanent effects on Kashou’s Determination.”

Ceroba frowns. She’d never heard of Determination, listening to Chujin’s research and reading the handwritten notes he’d left. But their goals were different.

“And what do you intend to do with that Determination?”

“I believe it is Determination that makes the difference — and why the Underground’s SOULs, all together, can combine to form the power of a single human SOUL. If…if I can extract enough Determination from Kashou, who is in theory an infinite source of Determination…then eventually, I can gather enough Determination to break the barrier.”

So that’s what she means when she says that Kanako is the Underground’s last hope. Because of the research, because of that bit of human SOUL inside of Kashou — they have a way of possibly breaking the barrier.

“I had to modify the machine to fit a monster instead of a SOUL,” Alphys continues. “Kashou…if you would?”

“Alright,” she says. Kanako approaches the machine. Ceroba tries to pay attention to the process, but Alphys moves too fast for her to follow.

“P-please stand back, Ms. K-Ketsukane,” Alphys says.

Ceroba takes two steps away from the machine.

Alphys flips the switch.

Kanako screams. Screams more than she did back in that basement, in two voices at once, and—

“Shut it off! NOW!” Ceroba yells. “Shut it down!”

Alphys doesn’t move. Ceroba shoves her aside and makes a beeline to the machine, flipping the switch.

“Mama!”

Ceroba runs over to the part where Kanako went into the machine.

“Kanako!”

She runs over to her daughter.

“Mama…”

She clings to her. Kanako clings back just as hard. Ceroba buries her face in Kanako’s shoulder.

“I won’t let her hurt you again,” Ceroba says. “I won’t.”

She can hear Kanako’s breathing start to even out. She picks her up again.

“We’re leaving,” she tells Alphys.

Alphys doesn’t respond. She just stays there, lying on the ground. Pathetic to the end, it seems. She lacks the spine to even do a damn thing about it.

“Mama…”

“You’re not staying here,” Ceroba says. “I don’t care if you’re the only one who can do it. It’s hurting you.”

We’re not meant to be heroes.

Where has trying to be heroes gotten any of them? It’d killed Chujin, gotten Kanako into this state, and drove her to try to kill Clover herself. There’s no hero coming to save them and free them from the Underground. It’s only become more clear in the wake of the next human passing through. Clover gave up their SOUL for nothing in the end, because it all fell apart. They don’t get to be a hero, either. Not anymore.

Ceroba carries Kanako through Hotland to the elevator in the old hotel that goes directly to New Home. She doesn’t want to waste any time.

Ceroba places Kanako in her bed. She leaves her and picks up her CELL from the table.

A couple texts from Alphys. She very nearly smashes her phone at the sight of them. Instead, she takes a deep breath, and deletes them from her phone. It’s not worth it.

She should’ve known better than to believe her greatest sin could wind up being the key to monsterkind’s freedom despite the failure. She should’ve known better than to believe anyone that called Kanako the future of monsterkind, especially someone like Alphys. She’d seen another chance to atone for her sins, and had taken it without thinking.

Maybe science is just cursed.

Chapter Text

That afternoon, Ceroba sits in her room and calls Martlet on her CELL. She knows Martlet isn’t a fan of the things either, but Snowdin is too far to go with Kanako at home.

“Ceroba?”

“Hello, Martlet,” she says. “How are you?”

“Things are pretty busy in Snowdin,” Martlet says. “The Royal Guard was wiped out, but some people aren’t happy with that. They’ve been asking me to train them. Me! Like I didn’t quit because I couldn’t handle actually fighting a human.” She sighs. “Sorry. Didn’t mean to unload all that on you. You were probably just trying to be polite, and I screwed things all up again.”

“It’s alright.” Martlet’s rambling is familiar, after this time, and almost (but not quite) a comfort. “Speaking of your time in the Royal Guard, I…I’d like to ask you a question.”

“What is it?” Martlet asks. Her chirpy tone seems more fake now.

“You…worked at the lab. Have you ever been inside its basement?”

Martlet takes a moment to respond. Almost long enough to cause Ceroba to think something had interrupted them on her end.

“Yes,” Martlet finally answers. “Dr. Alphys — um, should I be calling her Queen Alphys now?”

“Doctor is fine for our sake,” Ceroba answers.

“Dr. Alphys never let anyone else in that place,” Martlet says. “Even before the Fallen Down started reporting in. Just her and sometimes Mettaton. But…I did go down there, once. It’s why I got put on probation in the first place.”

“What…did you find down there?” Ceroba asks.

“There was this giant machine shaped like a big skull,” Martlet answers. “I dunno what exactly it does, but it extracted some kind of liquid. I think. I took some of it once.”

“You…what?”

Martlet found the Determination extractor…and she took a syringe of Determination?

“Something Chujin said—” She cuts herself off.

“What is it?” Ceroba asks. Martlet never danced around the subject before. Ceroba knows what Chujin believed, and he’s wrong that humans are inherently violent, but they’re certainly capable of it.

“It just— it got to me. I knew he didn’t really like Dr. Alphys, so I was expecting that, but…he just kinda snapped when I was talking about becoming a guard. In the end, he was kinda right, though. He said I shouldn’t be a guard, basically. He told me humans were dangerous and couldn’t be trusted. And…I couldn’t get it out of my head. So that’s why I went down there. I wanted to see if there was anything…anything that might help me, if I ever faced a human. And that machine is what I found. Uh, I read some of her lab entries about it, but I don’t remember much about it now, it’s been too long. Something about Determination…?”

“Right,” Ceroba says. “Yes. I saw that machine today. I took Kanako to the lab.”

“Huh? Kanako? How is she? She’s back?”

“She’s…fine,” Ceroba answers. “Doing better now, I think. It exhausted her. Alphys thought…Alphys thought she could use that contraption on my daughter and get away with it. She went through excruciating pain.” She sighs. “Even more than the pain I already put her through.”

“Right,” Martlet says. “Well…I guess it would make sense. From what I remember, she was using the machine to extract Determination from the SOULs. She was…trying to extract some from Kanako?”

“She thinks Kanako is an infinite source of the stuff, because she’s— she fused with a human SOUL, as a result of…what I did to her. So she tried hooking Kanako up to that machine, and she…”

“Oh.”

For a moment, neither of them speak.

“I’m sorry I can’t tell you more,” Martlet says. “I wish I still remembered. But it’s been so long since then…I almost forgot about that entirely, because of Clover. And then I never encountered that other human…they never even entered lower Snowdin.”

“Do you regret that we let it happen?”

“Every day,” Martlet answers. “Do you?”

“I…”

Ceroba knows intimately how it feels, to have one’s death be more valuable than one’s life. It’d been that mindset that let her agree to Clover’s sacrifice in the first place.

“Even though it turned out to be a waste in the end, that doesn’t mean it never mattered,” she says. “It gave us the hope we needed to carry on.”

“And now there’s no hope left,” Martlet answers, bitter. “I guess I shouldn’t have expected you to say anything else. You and Chujin really were perfect for each other. Always looking at the big picture, always looking at the whole Underground. And you never bother to consider anyone outside of your big plan.”

Ceroba hangs up. She doesn’t know what to say to that. What’s so bad about the bigger picture? She doesn’t despise Alphys for wanting to help everyone. She despises Alphys for using her daughter to do it — for hurting her daughter in the name of monsterkind. Their goals aren’t completely unaligned; the means are the problem.

(And maybe, it’s a problem that can be solved.)

Ceroba knocks on the door. “Kanako?”

“Go away.”

It doesn’t sound like her daughter.

“Does it still hurt?” Ceroba asks.

“What does it matter?”

“Kanako, I—”

“I’m not Kanako!” they yell. “I’m just not. I’m not your fucking daughter.”

Ceroba sighs. “Kanako…”

“Sorry about that.”

Huh?”

“I’m feeling better now, so you don’t need to worry, Mama,” Kanako says.

So what the hell was that all about?

“But you…really need to stop treating both of us like Kanako,” she says. “I’m Kanako. Melody isn’t. And they’re…um, they really don’t like being treated like we’re the same. She tends to lash out when she feels like someone’s trying to control her.”

Ceroba doesn’t like hearing the reminder that the human who tried to kill her daughter is trapped alongside her without any way to separate them without killing Kanako.

“Are you feeling better? Does…it still hurt from earlier?”

“I’m doing well now,” Kanako answers. “It doesn’t hurt as badly anymore. We just need some more rest. It’s fine.”

“If you say so,” Ceroba says. “Would you like me to bring something back for you for dinner?”

“Okay,” Kanako says. Her voice sounds small, like she’s a kid again.

She heads to the restaurant in the former hotel. She scowls at the Mettaton statue. It’s likely that it’ll stay up, considering Mettaton died trying to stop the human. Hopefully, they fix the leak.

On her way in, however, she spots that skeleton again. What is he doing here? Isn’t he Alphys’s…advisor, or something?

“oh. hey. i’ve been looking for you.”

“Hm?” Ceroba tilts her head and turns to him. “What do you want?”

“just a little chat. it won’t take long.”

“Okay, you have my attention. Is this about Alphys?”

“yeah. she wanted me to go find you. looks like you didn’t read her texts. she wants to apologize to kashou. didn’t really get to hear from her what happened…”

“She used that machine on my daughter,” Ceroba answers. “It hurt her. She’s still recovering now.”

“gotcha.”

“I’ll pass on the apology. Do you have anything else to say to me?”

“nah, not today. but…go easy on alphys. she’s had it pretty rough, too.”

Ceroba doesn’t respond. In a flash, he’s gone.

She orders dinner for herself and Kanako, something strange settled in her stomach.

Chapter Text

“I’m home,” she calls.

Kanako doesn’t answer. Ceroba refuses to jump to conclusions. Kanako is fine. Kanako is fine. She has to be. Ceroba won’t accept anything else, not after Kanako came home. It’s no reason to worry.

Ceroba sets dinner down, unpacking her order from the restaurant. She waits for Kanako, at first.

She doesn’t come until the food’s gone cold.

“Are you feeling better?” Ceroba asks.

“Yeah,” she answers.

Ceroba places her hands around Kanako’s bowl and reheats the contents with fire magic. “Eat.”

Kanako does, slowly, mechanically. Like she doesn’t actually enjoy the food, and — this was one of her favorites before, reserved for special occasions, but she’s barely enjoying it now.

Ceroba eats her own meal cold. She watches Kanako eat the rest of her food, making sure she finishes the whole meal.

Ceroba knows it’s more important than ever to take care of her. Kanako is everything — to her, and as unfortunate as it is, to the Underground.

“Dr. Alphys wants to tell you that she’s sorry,” Ceroba says, gently.

“I don’t need the apology,” Kanako answers. “She doesn’t need to be sorry.” And Ceroba knows, knows those words are Kanako’s, always kind, always forgiving. “If it’s what we have to do to help everyone…if it’s what we have to do for freedom…”

“No.” Ceroba can already tell where Kanako wants to take this. “Your safety matters more. I don’t give a damn about the Underground. Everyone else can rot, as long as you’re still here. And I…I didn’t treat you like you were as important to me as you are.”

“Mama,” Kanako says. “But…”

“It’s not good enough anymore,” Ceroba says. “I hurt you. It’s my fault you’re like this, because I was foolish enough to listen to you.”

“It’s my own fault!” She springs up. “It’s our— it’s what we can do, to make up for what we did.”

“Kanako…” Kanako didn’t do anything. Ceroba’s the one who failed her, over and over and over.

“No,” she says, and Ceroba knows she isn’t talking to Kanako. “I…I did so much. Not as much as the other kid, but if I didn’t die then, I might have gone further. After everything they did…I don’t know how I can make up for it.”

“…Melody,” Ceroba says. She kneels down to look at them. “You’re not responsible for all of humanity. I…used to see you that way, before I met Clover. But…no one is responsible for any actions besides their own.”

“It’s our fault he’s dead,” they say — both of them, now. “Can you really forgive us for that?”

“Kanako, it’s not— what happened to your father was never your fault,” Ceroba declares. “And…Melody.”

Can she truly find it in her heart to forgive again? Forgive the human who took her husband and her daughter from her (the human who gave her her daughter back) and took so many other lives along the way?

“No one is responsible for any actions besides their own,” Ceroba says. “And that…includes him, too. And me.”

She can’t pass off the guilt to someone else, something else. Everything she did was her choice.

“So you aren’t responsible for what that human did to everyone,” she continues, “and it— it shouldn’t be up to you to do everything to fix it. You aren’t guilty for what someone else did, but that means no one else should be held responsible for what you did. Just you.”

Chujin’s actions weren’t this child’s fault, and it’s not Ceroba’s duty to hold her accountable for Snowdin.

“It’s still what I deserve,” Melody says, and — they truly do sound like a child, in that moment.

Ceroba approaches the lab alone.

Alphys answers the door by herself, too.

“You won’t do that again,” Ceroba says. “You will not hurt my daughter again.”

“I don’t want to,” Alphys says. “I-I didn’t think— I’ve never— I only used it on the SOULs before. It was…the first time it’s…ever been used on a, uh, live test subject.”

A test subject. An object. Is that all Kanako represents to her? A way to redeem herself for her failures?

(Is that Ceroba, too? Is that all she’s doing?)

“So you used it on her without knowing what it would do,” Ceroba says.

“I-I’m sorry!” Alphys backs away from the door. “I’m sorry. I should’ve known better.”

Ceroba turns away. She should’ve, too. But neither of them managed to, and they’re still here.

It’s too late for regrets.

“I forgive you,” she lies.

Ceroba’s almost tempted to go back to the desert, sometimes. She wants to take Kanako and run, probably to the old mansion she used to live in. Where they used to call home, as a family.

But she can’t take off and run. Kanako has the weight of the Underground’s hopes bearing down on her, and Ceroba can’t…she doesn’t know. She shouldn’t; that matters more. She’s only here in New Home on Alphys’s kindness, as much as she doesn’t like it. Ceroba didn’t have to be included. If she runs, Kanako will be taken from her. Because the Underground is more important. Because monsterkind matters more.

Maybe Ceroba can understand that impulse to destroy it all. She would, for Kanako’s happiness.

A few days later, they’re asked to go to the palace instead. It’s a bit unusual. She’s never been asked to go there — it’s always the lab, because it’s about Kanako.

With the distance between her last encounter with Alphys…Ceroba is more inclined to truly forgive now, to let it go. She clearly isn’t planning to do anything like that to Kanako again — and that was the problem. She’s trying something new. Ceroba can at least try to meet her in the middle.

As they walk there, Ceroba takes in the memorials — the portraits hung on the wall between the stained glass windows, commemorating all the Royal Guards who died in the name of stopping the human. At the end of the hall is a work in progress, what looks like a mosaic.

Kanako tugs on her sleeve. “Mama?”

“What is it?” she asks, keeping her voice down.

“I…think we should move on,” she says. “Melody doesn’t like it here.”

Ceroba nods, taking her daughter’s paw in hers. She leads her out of the line of memorials.

The throne room is still more of a garden than a throne room, but it’s clear that whoever is taking care of these flowers now doesn’t care for them as much as Asgore. The garden isn’t as perfect as it was before.

“I’m glad you came here,” Alphys says. “F-follow me.”

Ceroba follows first.

“Here it is,” Alphys says.

“It’s…the Barrier.” Ceroba looks at it.

Alphys nods. “Kashou, what do you sense when you look at it?”

“Me?” Kanako asks. “I don’t really…feel anything. I could keep going forwards. It just…stretches out. I can’t see the exit or the Surface or anything. Just the Barrier.”

“What do you intend to do?” Ceroba asks. “What do you intend for her to do?”

“I-I don’t— I don’t have a plan right now,” Alphys answers. “I just…wanted to know. It…it takes the mix of a Boss Monster and a human SOUL to pass the barrier. Kashou…they should be able to now. A-and it sounds like they can! I just…I don’t know.”

“You’re not sending her up there,” Ceroba says. “I won’t let her do it alone. They’re just kids. I’m not— I won’t let you do it.”

“I-I never said that,” Alphys says. “I’d like you to…to leave now. I need some time to myself.”

Ceroba ushers Kanako out of the room, before any of them can make a mistake.

Chapter Text

He appears in her dream again.

“What are you thinking?” he demands.

Oh. It’s the kind of dream where her subconscious decides she needs to be lectured again. It’s not as though she’s never done anything to deserve it.

“Can you really forgive her?” he continues. “Are you willing to let it all go?”

“I hurt her more than she did,” Ceroba says. “It’s not about her. It’s about me.”

“She locked our daughter in her basement while refusing to talk to you about it,” Chujin says.

“How different is that from the secret lab you built in our house?” she argues.

“I refused to involve our daughter in it,” he says. “It’s where I drew the line. You couldn’t.”

“I couldn’t,” she agrees. “We both did what we thought was right for everyone. But I don’t give a damn anymore about making it right for everyone anymore. Kanako is what matters to me.”

All of these years monsterkind was working to be free — all rendered a waste in one fell swoop. She can’t dream of it anymore. Not like Chujin. Not like Alphys. Not…like Kanako.

“It’s too far,” Chujin says.

“She’s more important,” Ceroba insists. “I wish I’d realized that sooner. I put— I chose you over her. But you’re dead. You’re dead, and she wasn’t. She’s still here. So I have to put her first this time.”

Like she should’ve from the start.

“But I’m not gone,” he says. “Haven't you seen it yet?”

He transforms, and—

Ceroba gasps for breath. She can’t shake the vision from her brain. She reaches for her phone. She hopes he picks up.

“Ceroba?”

He sounds tired, but concerned.

“Star,” she breathes in return. “Star.”

“I’m here.” His voice anchors her, draws her into the present, away from the dream. “Are you okay?”

“I’m…” She sighs. “I…had a nightmare last night.”

“How bad has it been since you moved?”

“I’ve been dreaming about him more often,” she admits. “I don’t know what it is. Maybe it’s the science. Maybe it’s just Kanako being back.” Maybe it’s Alphys, she doesn’t say. She can’t give it form. She can’t make it real.

“Maybe it’s just because a lot of people lost other people,” Starlo answers. “Making you think of what you lost.”

“I don’t know about all that,” she says. “I just…I always feel like he’s judging me, for everything I’ve done.” And she wishes she could have been something else, could have done anything else. But she didn’t, and all she’s left with are her regrets. She’s failed to be his wife; failed to uphold his legacy.

“Do you want me to tell ya what I really think?” he asks.

She hesitates. Really, she just called to hear him; he’s always done his best to reassure her, tried to make her feel better. Even if he didn’t always do it very well.

“What do you think?” she asks.

“Well, I think becoming the kind of woman he’d judge wouldn’t be such a bad thing for you,” he answers. “As long as you’re still you. When you were with him, and afterwards…that wasn’t the real you.”

Who even is the real Ceroba Ketsukane? She feels like she might have figured it out, once, after Clover’s death. But now — now she doesn’t know again. She’s been uprooted from it all. What she has left is Kanako, and she might not even have her.

“I…”

“It’s gonna be okay,” he says, and that’s what she really wanted to hear him say, so—

“Thank you,” she says. She feels like she’s using his care for her selfishly. But isn’t this what best friends are supposed to do? She’s the one who needs support, and he’s the one providing it. “For everything.”

“Anytime,” he says. “I’ll always pick up when you call.”

She hangs up there. She can’t stand hearing something like that. She doesn’t know why it strikes such a dissonant chord to hear that he cares about her.

She can’t look Alphys in the eyes when they approach the lab again. But she can’t bear to leave Kanako alone in Alphys’s hands, either. So she stays.

“I want to go,” she tells them. “No — we want to go.”

“No,” Ceroba says. “You’re not going. It’s too dangerous.”

“I-I agree with your mother,” Alphys says. “You aren’t going to the surface.”

“It would be easy.” And the tone of her voice has shifted. Melody’s talking now. “It’s not like…it’s not like I haven’t killed before.”

“Kashou…” Alphys twists her claws together. “Melody, you don’t— we’re not going to punish you for the things you did before you died.”

“It’s not that,” Melody insists. “It’s just the truth. I’ve heard it told to me before, what it means that I killed. It would be easier for someone like me.”

“Just because you’re the only one that can do it doesn’t mean that you should,” Ceroba says. “I learned that after what I did to you.”

Just because Kanako was the only one who could’ve doesn’t mean that Ceroba should have done it to her.

“Grandmother told me about the surface.” Kanako, now, for certain. “I want to see it. And I want everyone else to be able to see it, too. You, Uncle Star, everyone. I…we’re not asking for permission. We’re letting you know that we’re doing this.”

“Wait.”

Alphys grabs Kanako’s wrist by the claws. Ceroba’s never seen her show this much confidence a day in her life.

“Just…listen to this story, first,” Alphys says. “I’d like to tell you about the Prince of the Underground.”

They sit down. Alphys lets go of them.

“A long time ago, a human fell into the Underground,” she says. Ceroba wonders how many times Alphys has told this story — if she’s ever had to tell it at all. “They were found at Old Home, by the Prince. Asgore and the Queen decided to adopt the human, and they all lived together for a while. But then…the human got really sick. So they had one last request — they asked their brother to take their SOUL up to the surface, and to kill six humans, so that monsterkind could be free. As…I’m sure you can guess, they didn’t succeed. The Prince was unwilling to attack, and so…he was slaughtered by the humans.”

“But we’re not like that,” they say. “You know what happened when you tried to hurt us. We’re not a normal fusion. You changed us. Us and the other amalgamates — we’re not easy to kill. We’re not happy that we have to kill, but it’s six people or all of us.”

It’s what it’s always been. It’s the sort of pragmatism she’d told herself when she’d tried to kill Clover. Because Clover had to die. And then they’d died anyways, and then it was all rendered pointless by the efforts of a single child.

“I can’t lose you again,” Ceroba pleads. She doesn’t know how she’d take it if Kanako died again. She’d fall deeper down, and no one would be able to pluck her from rock bottom.

“We’re not asking.” Kanako stretches a paw, and slams the two of them at once against the wall of the lab.

Everything goes black.

Chapter Text

Ceroba comes to lying on a bed. She’s still in the lab, based on the ceiling, and she’s—

This must be Alphys’s bed. She gets up swiftly. Where is she? Where did Kanako go?

She rushes downstairs.

“Y-you’re awake, thank goodness,” Alphys says. “I called Sans. He— he’s able to get to the throne room quickly. I asked him to stop them.”

“Can he?” Ceroba asks. “I never got that impression from him.”

“And you didn’t see me as the kind of person to become queen of the Underground either, did you?” Alphys asks, something hard in her gaze, probably the same sort of strength she mustered to coordinate the evacuation of much of the Underground.

“You’re right. I didn’t.” But that doesn’t mean she trusts her daughter in the hands of a man who doesn’t like her. “I’m going.”

Alphys takes her paws and closes her eyes, casting a healing spell. “I-I understand.”

“You’re not coming?” Ceroba grabs her staff.

Alphys hesitates.

Ceroba doesn’t have time. She runs.

And, thankfully, she makes it in time. It’s clear that Sans is starting to flag.

She points her staff, and Kanako freezes in place.

“Mama…”

“Is she okay?” she asks Sans.

“had to knock ‘em around a little,” he answers. “alphys just told me to make sure they didn’t get to the barrier. they’ll live. hell, i don’t even think i can kill ‘em if i tried.”

Boss Monsters are immortal unless directly killed, and a human SOUL can exist forever. If that means her daughter is immortal…no, she still doesn’t trust human attacks. Weaponry is different there. Immunity to magic doesn’t mean immunity to physical harm.

“Thank you,” Ceroba tells him, and rushes over to her daughter.

“Let us go,” they say.

“I already told you,” Ceroba says. “I can’t lose you again. Your father’s already gone. I can’t lose you, too. Not when he asked me to keep you safe. Not when it was my duty as your mother to keep you safe, and I’ve failed every step of the way up to now.”

“Is it really about Kanako, as a monster? Or is it just because without us, you can’t be a mom anymore?”

“So that’s what’s going on here,” Ceroba says. “You’ve entered your rebellious phase. I see how it is.” She releases Kanako and takes her by the scruff. “We’re leaving this damn city and going home. Coming here was a mistake.”

“Mama!”

Ceroba steels her nerves and ignores her. She can feel Sans’s gaze boring into them as she leaves, judging her.

He’s never had to deal with anything like this, she’s certain. No parent would fault her for what she’s doing.

She wrests open the padlock and the gates swing open. She only realizes after she steps into the main entrance that she should’ve called someone before she came back here — just to let them know she was coming.

“This is for your own good,” she tells them. “I refuse to let a child throw their life away again.”

She is selfish. She’s always been selfish. But the choice to be selfless has been worthless. Choosing to be selfless is how Clover died, and their sacrifice was pointless. So it was a mistake to be selfless. It’s not a mistake she can afford to make again — and it’s not a mistake she can afford to make with Kanako, especially.

She locks Kanako in the estate. Even if she leaves the house, she can’t leave the grounds. It’s not far to the Wild East. She walks into Dina’s bar — a few monsters are muddling around, as usual. It looks like this place is relatively back to normal — the mourning period didn’t hit as hard here as it did for other towns.

“Ceroba!” Starlo beams at her from the balcony. “You’re home!”

She walks up the stairs. “Can we talk? In private.”

“Sure thing,” he says. He pauses, looks over her. “Is…something wrong?”

She sighs and closes her eyes. “You could say that.”

He hears her out completely, in the basement of Sunnyside Farm.

“Ceroba…”

“What the hell is that supposed to mean?” she asks.

“I— Look, I know you. And that’s the only reason I’m still talking to you. If you weren’t my best friend, I would’ve turned my back on you. You’re not doing well.”

“Do you think I don’t know that?” she asks. “I haven’t been doing well for years, Star. And you’re only now calling me out?”

“It’s hurting Kanako,” he says. “It’s hurting both of those kids.”

“I can’t— I can’t let them hurt themselves. I can’t let them die. I let Kanako do that to herself. I let Clover die for nothing. It’s my responsibility, as Kanako’s mother, to keep her safe.”

“You mean well,” he says. “But just ‘cause you want to keep her safe doesn’t mean you’re not hurting her, too. You are.” He folds her paws between his hands. “When I was in a rut, when I was doing my worst, when I hurt the others — you helped pull me out. It’s only fair that I return the favor, don’t I?”

Ceroba yanks her paws away. “You’ve done enough for me, haven’t you? You always…you’re always the one supporting me. You always have been. But…Star, I’m not going to be a burden to you anymore. It’s clear you…” She swallows. “You’re trying to do what you think is right.”

“You’re never a burden to me. Ceroba, I—” He cuts himself off. “Please…don’t leave me. I just want to help you.”

“Leave me alone, then,” she says. “It’s a family matter. It doesn’t involve you.”

It feels mean. But she has to be mean. If she wants to keep Kanako, she has to let go of her best friend. And it’s her duty to keep Kanako. No matter what.

“You know this isn’t right,” he says.

“I don’t give a damn about what’s right anymore. Doing what’s right is what would kill them. I’ll do whatever it takes to keep Kanako safe. Screw the Underground, screw the Barrier, screw everything. As long as I have her and she has me…we’ll be fine.”

“I don’t want her to go to the surface, either,” Starlo says. “But there’s gotta be another way. You can’t just keep them prisoner.”

“I’m Kanako’s mother. I can do whatever I want.”

“Kanako’s a person, too.” He looks at her like she’s dangerous. She can only remember one other time, up on that rooftop, when he’d looked at her like that. “You can’t treat her like some thing.”

“You don’t understand,” she says. “You’ll never understand. You’ve refused to tie yourself to anything. You will never understand what it’s like to have a child.”

“No, I won’t,” he says. “Doesn’t mean I can’t understand what’s just. And what’s right for Kanako isn’t this.”

“Enough,” Ceroba says. “I don’t want to fight you. You’ve been the only person I could rely on in all this. But I can’t trust you anymore to be on my side.”

“It’s not just about Kanako. It’s about you, too.”

“I think you can forgive me for not believing you when you say that,” she answers. “Don’t follow me. And don’t talk to me again.”

He doesn’t try to stop her from leaving. He lets her go, and she walks away.

In the clear light of the Swelterstone, she regrets it.

Chapter Text

Ceroba returns home alone. But she’s not alone. She still has Kanako. She’s not alone.

She’ll never be alone, as long as she has Kanako. She could never be alone.

She hears Kanako, upstairs in her room, the sound of the video game console Chujin made for her. It sounds nostalgic — like any moment, Chujin will walk back into the manor. Ceroba would step up to him and brush sawdust out of his hair, and tell him about Kanako, about her day, perhaps how the shift at Cafe Dune went if she had one that day.

Instead, she hears a knock on her door.

“Alphys?” She furrows her brows. “Why are you here?”

“I-I wanted to check up on you.” Alphys looks down. “After everything that happened…I was worried. About you, and about Kashou, too. I stopped by your apartment first, but Sans told me you said you…you left New Home. S-so I asked around a bit, and some people at the Wild East told me you lived here.”

“We’re doing better now. But I think…it’s still for the best to keep her here,” Ceroba says. “It’s easier to keep her safe here, and it’s further from New Home. So if she tries to do a stunt like that again, it won’t take up until the last moment to stop her.”

“I…actually have a proposition for you,” Alphys says.

Ceroba blinks. “What?”

“I want you and Kashou to move into the palace with me,” Alphys says. “I…know where we can keep Kashou, so she won’t be able to escape without it warning one of us. And…we can…we can continue trying to find a way to free everyone, without making Kashou leave and kill six humans. I-I still believe there’s a way. Please.”

“I…”

Can she really trust Alphys? But she’s been trusting Alphys all this time. And in the end, they both want the same thing. Neither of them want to hurt Kanako. Both of them want to keep her safe, keep her from doing something reckless.

Is it really a question, then? Alphys is the one person she can trust. Someone ultimately aligned with her goals, that agrees with her, that sees her as right.

“Yes,” Ceroba says. “I’ll go with you. It’s not like I really planned this…we packed up everything either after Clover’s death or when I was moving to New Home.”

“I-I’ll talk to Kashou about this, then,” Alphys says. “I’m…not sure if you’re the one to speak to her…”

Ceroba sighs. She understands. She’s made herself their enemy trying to protect them. Someday, Kanako will understand — Ceroba did this all for her.

“I’ll be outside, then.” Ceroba brushes Alphys’s hand. “Thank you.”

She waits. She can’t do anything besides wait.

After a few minutes, Alphys emerges, leading Kanako by the hand. Her expression is dark, but — Kanako’s agreed to come along, at the very least.

Alphys stops short of a large house. On entrance, Ceroba knows exactly whose house it is — the house belonged to Asgore, once.

“The property is connected to the palace, so…it’s mine as well,” Alphys explains. “I just— I lived at the Lab. Because I always had. It— it was my home. I couldn’t just move into Asgore’s house, you know?” She lets out a little laugh. “It just felt like I was failing his memory. But…letting you in here…it feels right. For another family to be here.”

“You told that story about the prince,” Ceroba says. “Did you learn that from him?”

“It’s a story that’s been passed on by the monsters around here,” Alphys answers. “I-I did try asking Asgore about it, but…he never stopped grieving his children, I think. I know the flowers are here because of them. It’s why I’m still trying my best to take care of them.”

“Chujin was a gardener, too,” Ceroba says. “I don’t think you’d be able to tell based on the current state of the estate, though. After the desertification of the Meadows, it became harder to get the water necessary to keep it up. Now the greenest area’s the part around…around his grave.”

“What was he like?” Alphys asks, quietly. “I’d heard about him before. Not much good.”

“He was…” Ceroba ponders how best to summarize Chujin. How she can put into words the reasons she loved him. “…a lot like you.”

“R-really?” Alphys’s face goes red.

Ceroba nods. “I think…it’ll be good for us to be here,” she says. “Like a true family. Chujin built a house that was too big for us. He was always planning for the future, I think.” She smiles. “But I prefer this. It’s…smaller. No expectation of anything else. It can be just us.”

“Just us,” Alphys says. “That…sounds nice.” She smiles up at Ceroba.

“It does, doesn’t it?” Ceroba answers. She’s not sure when exactly it shifted, when she became willing to accept Alphys into her life, as someone who took care of Kanako…but they want the same thing. Keeping Kanako safe. No matter what it takes.

“You remind me a little of him, too,” Alphys admits. “Of Asgore.”

From anyone else, Ceroba would take that as an insult. But it’s clear that Alphys cared a great deal for the king, once, and so she lets it pass.

“What are we going to do now?” Ceroba asks.

“I-I haven’t figured that out yet.” Alphys looks up at her. “But…I really hope we’re doing the right thing.”

“I think we are doing the right thing.” She takes a deep breath. It’s the right thing for Kanako, at least, just to hold on, to try something new. It seems like Alphys has realized it, too. The freedom of the Underground won’t matter if it costs Kanako’s life to do it. “No — not just think. I know we’re doing the right thing.”

Alphys’s claws squeeze her paw. Ceroba freezes at the gesture.

“We…we have to believe that, at least.”

Ceroba takes a deep breath, and relaxes into the grasp.

Everything is going to be alright. She has Kanako — Kanako, alive, back with her — and she’s not letting go. And she has Alphys, the one person who understands just how critical Kanako truly is. Just how much Kanako matters.

She doesn’t need anyone else. She doesn’t need anything else. She has everything she needs in this home.