A soft crunch of grass alerted the monstrous man to his new visitor. A nervous smile eroded over his face as he realized who had just entered his gardens. No one dared venture this far out of the rest of the Underground; these were the outskirts where only those who had nowhere else to go, went. Castle or not, they were barren, empty, and lonely.
Asgore knelt upon the soft bed of golden flowers and he picked one off of its stem. Spinning it between his fingers, he watched its petals flicker about in the gentle wind he was creating with the rotation.
"Oh? Is someone there?" the goat-man said, trying to play off the fact that he was well aware of the answer. "Just a moment!" he called out with his back still turned. "I have almost finished watering these flowers." He took his time finishing the meaningless chore, attempting to delay the inevitable.
A few minutes passed before he finally straightened his back and stood to his full height.
"Here we are!" Asgore slowly shuffled around to face his visitor.
"Howdy! How can I…" he couldn't even finish the sentence as the charade became too difficult to maintain. "Oh…" he stammered out, trying to avoid the gaze of the child in his garden. He stumbled backwards a few steps, unsure how he was going to progress the encounter. Scanning his mind for the right words, he let out a deep sigh and looked solemnly at the child.
"I so badly want to say 'would you like a cup of tea?' But… You know how it is…" He slowly shuffled to the edge of his bed of flowers, both being careful not to squish them under his feet and dreading the confrontation to come.
"Nice day today huh?" He was doing all of the talking, and he knew it. The child was not interested in the false friendliness. "Birds are singing… Flowers are blooming… Perfect weather for a game of catch." His heart saddened at the thought, and he remembered his lost son and how much fun they used to have playing catch across the garden. He shook the thoughts out of his head and finally dropped the act.
"You know what we must do. When you are ready, come into the next room," he stammered out before turning and walking away. His eyes were mostly closed and the only thing he could see was the all too familiar pathway entering and leaving his view beneath his feet. He waited a few minutes in the next room until he heard the child's footsteps enter.
"How tense…" he stated, in a poor attempt to weaken the tension. "Just think of it like… a visit to the dentist." He knew that it was a terrible analogy. Children hated the dentist and he probably just made things worse.
Once at the end of the hallway, he spoke to the empty door before him."Are you ready?" he asked. "If you are not, I understand," he said with a heavy sigh. "I am not ready either," he finally confessed. The two then shuffled inside the next room.
"This is the barrier. This is what keeps us all trapped underground." He felt a tear swell in his eye but did not show it to the child. "If… If by chance you have any unfinished business, please do what you must.
"I am ready," the child, Frisk, said. The lack of hesitation was almost startling.
"I… I see… This is it… then. Ready?" Asgore prepared his container before him, that was to house the seventh and final soul. A strange light filled the room. Twilight shone through the barrier. It seemed Frisk's journey was finally over, and the child was filled with determination.
"Human…" Asgore choked out. "It…" he looked up with watery eyes and a sorry-filled expression. "It was nice to meet you." A pause ensued before he coughed out the last words he had left. "Goodbye."
Without any further hesitation, he bowed his head and threw his cloak out to the side. He drew a trident from beneath it and hurled it across the room behind Frisk. It barred his only exit to the room, forcing a fight to the death, for the ability to leave the Underground through the barrier.