Prologue
There was a rat-tat-tat at the door. Undyne gasped. "There's no way!" She shouted. Toriel smiled and nodded her head to the door, and Undyne sprinted for it, nearly knocking over the Christmas tree Papyrus had so carefully set up. She nearly pulled the door off its hinges to see if it was him. It was.
"Mister Gerson!" She shouted, nearly crushing the old turtle Monster in a hug. "I thought you'd never make it!" Gerson had his magnifying glass in his belt and his right eye was still closed like it always was. He wasn't wearing the same adventurer's outfit he was wearing back underground; he wore a pleasant green shirt and some white sweatpants.
He laughed. "You kiddin'? And miss you gettin' all excited? Not a chance, fish lips! Besides, I wouldn't miss ol' Queen Fluffybuns's cookin' for the world!" He said, his voice high and cheerful. Frisk and Asriel took their turns to hug Gerson, and Sans shook his hand happily. Asgore gave his old friend a hug and Alphys waved excitedly, still smiling wide at Undyne's excitement. Mettaton was in the kitchen as well, helping Toriel cook dinner. Though Mettaton barely knew Gerson, he hugged Gerson like he was his brother. Toriel also gave him a tight squeeze.
"It's so good to see you again, old friend," Asgore said happily.
"Always great to see your face too, Fluffybuns," Gerson replied, "and of course, Merry Christmas to all o' you!"
"I'm afraid you're a bit early, Sir Gerson," Toriel called once she and Mettaton reentered the kitchen, "dinner won't be ready for another two hours." Gerson shrugged.
"I thought I'd be fashionably late," he muttered, "but that don't matter. If y'all wanna hear a story to pass the time, I still got plenty. I know ol' Undyne loves a good story, don't ya, girl?" Undyne sat down on the floor in front of him as soon as she heard the word "story". Gerson smiled. Sans slid over a bit to the left so he could sit down, Frisk leaning on his shoulder.
The thing with Gerson's stories was that no matter who you were, you'd love every story he could tell. He had such a way of telling them and such a pace at which he told them that it was impossible not to enjoy them. He could even make Papyrus silent when he told one. Gerson had been alive the longest out of everybody in the room, older than even Asgore himself, so he knew quite a lot of tales, real or fantasy.
Undyne sat, her back slouched, her hands in her lap, eyes glued to Gerson for whatever story he was about to tell. Even Undyne could get giddy and excited when Gerson told a tale. Once he was comfortable, Gerson began, everybody silent to hear the story he was about to tell, though, unbeknownst to Asgore, Toriel and even Undyne, they knew this story very well.
"Tonight I got a really good story; one even Undyne hasn't heard me tell yet. 'Course, she already knows it." Undyne's eyes widened.
"I do?" She asked in awe. Gerson nodded.
"Now, I'm sure you folks know how us Monsters got sealed underground," he began, "and lil' Undyne here's been hearing my stories since she was still wet behind the ears, and that was when we were still up here!" Undyne's eyes seemed ready to pop out of her head. "But the story I'm about to tell is more'n Beowulf choppin' off Grendel's arm, or a boy learnin' to train the world's most terrifyin' Dragon. We're gonna go back to a time before the War of Humans and Monsters even happened!"
Asgore nodded, seeming to know what Gerson was going to say.
"Lemme tell you… about the day Asgore and I first met Toriel, and go on from there."