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The humans in the nearby town called the spot Traitor's Hill.
Back when... before the war, it was just a hill. Tenna remembered- him and Spamton had packed a basket full of bread and cheese and meat and snuck off to enjoy a picnic. They both knew that it was risky, something they shouldn't have been doing, but at the time, it didn't matter. All that mattered was *them*.
Tenna, walking on shaking legs, could finally make out the carving on the tree that twisted out from the ground on top of the peak, the one he'd come to visit. He loathed calling it Traitor's Hill- he... *Spamton*, didn't deserve to be remembered that way. Tenna gripped his chest as pain tore through him, the memory of Spamton falling to the ground, red gushing from his stomach, swimming across his vision. Something he could never forget.
Shaking his head to try and rid the bloody images that painted the underside of his screen, Tenna placed a hesitant hand on the mark carved into the tree.
It felt like just yesterday they'd huddled together and used Spamton's blade to carve their symbols into the bark. A bittersweet memory that had Tenna's knees go weak with yearning to be with his lover one more time.
He felt like he could still feel him. The phantom touch of smaller hands caressing across his chitin, whispered promises from a voice he'd forgotten the sound of, the press of his lips to the face he'd forgotten but never stopped loving. Tenna took a shaking breath and dug a claw into the marks on the wood, carving them deeper to cement it. He was glad this hadn't faded. A small piece of Spamton, too small but all he really had left anymore, that would be left behind even when Tenna turned to dust.
If he did. He couldn't imagine it happening. Even 100 years after the war, 100 years after he had lost the love of his life, Tenna couldn't imagine ever moving on from him. Finding someone new, having a family. The idea made something vile twist in his stomach. Spamton had been his *mate*, and even if they had never taken that official step and bound their souls together, Tenna would always consider his to belong to the human.
He wished he knew where Spamton was buried. Or just... what had happened to his remains. He can barely remember what happened after... Angel, he hated thinking about this. Hated thinking about the copper smell of Spamton's blood, so suddenly overwhelming, spilling out onto the ground. Of the screaming of angry humans, of frightened monsters. Of his own cries as Asgore dragged him away to stop him from getting himself killed. To stop him from saving him. Or at least trying.
Their friendship had never been the same after that. There were some things even decades of friendship couldn't come back from. There were some things Tenna couldn't come back from himself. He'd changed too. After Spamton, life felt so... flat. The little human who had spoken so vividly of freedom and running away to somewhere they could live together free had had his light snuffed out. And with it went every bit of joy Tenna felt. He had needed the mail man.
Trying to pull himself together, Tenna wiped at his eyes. "I'm sorry, Spammy. I didn't come here to cry at you, I promise. I just... I wanted to see you again."
The monster kneeled, ancient joints clicking in protest as he lowered himself to a sit, reclining against the bark. It had really been a hundred years...
"Do you remember the night we met, my love?" Tenna asked the open air, as if it may decide to break its silence and bring back his lover's voice, "I suppose it wasn't fate that brought you to that tavern. But it felt like it to me."
The memory was bittersweet, with everything that had happened between them, but Tenna couldn't help but think fondly of the first time he had set eyes upon Spamton G. Spamton. Dark hair, and even darker eyes. A pipe in hand and pressed up against the bar, focus solely on the stage. On *him*, on his performance.
"You were so beautiful, Spammy. I don't think I told you that enough." Tenna sighed, reaching into his pack and pulling out an old smoking pipe, placing the end into his mouth. He lit the chamber and inhaled a deep drag. "I don't smoke anymore. Except for when I'm missing you."