Author's Note: Hello, everyone! I hope you're doing well! Well, I hope you're doing better than a certain someone, anyway...
I hope you enjoy this chapter, and please take a moment to leave a review. Thanks! (^.^)

"And that's a common cooking substitution among humans," Toriel asked. She was just as confused as her son when Chara told her about how buttercups could serve as a substitution for butter.

"Well, maybe not common," they admitted, not wanting to give up the idea of doing something for Asgore, "but some people do. And imagine how special it would be! You'd probably be the first monster to ever make a pie like this!"

"But this obviously means a lot to you," she said, her eyes wide with excitement and potential bragging rights of being the first monster ever with this new recipe. "I can, however, help you and give you a hand. Do you have any ideas of what you want to make for him?"

"Chara and I talked for a while by the flowers in one of the greenhouses," Asriel began. Toriel gave a look of surprise and anticipation until he rolled his eyes, shook his head, and continued. "We talked for a while about what to do for father-" the queen gave a sharp breath of exasperation, "-and we thought that some sort of pie would be good."

"Yeah," Chara chimed in, surprised and grateful that he made it sound like that's all they talked about. "What pie does the king really like?"

"Oh, he always has room for one of my butterscotch-cinnamon pies! One pie can split well between the four of us."

"Actually," they said, "can we make a pie just for him? I want to do something just for the king, to say thanks for everything he's done for me."

"That sounds like a wonderful idea," she said, smiling. "But you need to practice something while you do that."

"What?"

"He's not just our king," she said, brushing some of Chara's hair behind one ear, "he's your father now, too. Practice remembering that, okay?"

"Okay," they nodded, smiling as a few tears fell. This was still so confusing for them, but maybe showing a little emotion could distract the queen from seeing their true motives, that the gift of gratitude was really a gift of apology which would be followed by other apologies to the other two members of the family. It seemed to work as she wiped a tear from her own eye and led her fluffy child and not-so-fluffy child into the kitchen to begin cooking Chara's special gift for Asgore.

Chara couldn't make their hands stop shaking. The emotions were too much. The stirring made their arms hurt. And when they forgot why they were doing it, their foray into cooking was actually a little fun. Sometimes, they wanted to just stop and do something else, but Toriel continued to encourage them with plenty of comments of "you're doing great" and "yes, just like that" and "your father's going to love it."

Chara's hands trembled as they served the pie to Asgore. As he smiled, taking the pie with great enthusiasm, they knew that they wanted to spend the rest of their life atoning for what they had tried to do before this fantastic fluffy fool of a father decided to adopt them.

"What a unique texture," he said, mouth still half-full with the first bite of pie.

"It's a special recipe," Toriel explained. "You know those golden flowers in the greenhouse?"

"In Waterfall?"

"Yes. The humans apparently call them 'buttercups,' and some humans use them in place of butter when they cook."

"Butter from plants instead of milk," he exclaimed. "Next you know, Chara will tell us that chocolate comes from plants!"

Chara couldn't help giggling at how shocked he would be to find out about cocoa beans. He took another bite, looked at them, and gave his head a shake.

"You couldn't have made this yourself," he laughed. "It's too delicious! You're too tiny to have such a big knack for cooking! Tori, you can tell me. They made you do all the work, didn't they?"

"No, dear," she chuckled, "I just taught them the recipe."

"Do you really like it," Chara asked, taking a step forward after he ate another bite.

"Mm-hmm," he answered softly, almost as if he were half-asleep.

"Honey," Toriel said in a sing-song voice, "you're going to ruin your appetite if you eat the whole thing before dinner." They didn't have to turn around; they could guess how she looked. They followed the instructions, they made everything under the supervision of one of the best cooks they ever knew, but they knew something was wrong.

Asriel stared at his mother as she added, "Why don't I save that in the refrigerator for later?" He had heard his mother frequently try to curb his father's snack habit, but he had never seen her do so while wearing such a worried expression. It bordered on panic.

"Nonsense," Asgore whispered, panting. "This is the special treat Chara made. They worked so hard on it." He turned his face up to Chara, his slight swaying indicating that it took all of his energy to stay sitting up. He tried to smile, but his eyes went wide. He had just barely covered the remainder of the pie with his hands before vomiting on the table.

Chara hadn't meant to laugh. Or maybe they did. How stupid did they have to be to forget the signs of poisoning? One of the buttercup petals could be made out in the bile and they stared at it. Laughing. They weren't sure how hard they were laughing. They weren't sure who came and helped Asgore to another room. They weren't sure who came and escorted them out of the room. It was kind of hilarious. The Caretakers would criticize them on their battle tactics and assassination practice without realizing they bred the perfect killer. Even when they tried to do something to help, they were still trying to carry out their mission. It was pretty funny. They thought they could change. But they couldn't stop who they were. They were just too good at lying and deceit and death.

They weren't sure how they got into the room they shared with Asriel, or how their bed ended up propped against the door as they sat in the corner. They just laughed louder and louder and louder.