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Despite exiting Grillby's only moments after him, Leontius didn't see a single trace of Sans outside. He wasn't exactly surprised about it, he was merely curious as to where the skeleton had teleported off to in such a hurry.

Besides a distinct lack of Sans anywhere nearby, Leontius also noticed that Snowdin was certainly waking up in force. People were out and about now, mostly centered around the decorated and lit up tree between Grillby's and the Inn. Small groups of adults were meandering about just chatting over warm drinks, and children were running excitedly out of the housing area and past Leontius to join them near the tree.

Leontius was rather confused as to what the gathering was for, and while he was curious about the odd public event, he desperately wanted to know the condition of the Ruins. He gave the group and tree a wide berth to not attract any attention, but once he was a good distance away he heard joyous, high pitched yells coming from the gathering that grabbed his attention once more. The children were now surrounding the tree, opening the colorful boxes arrayed about its base. Leo couldn't quite tell what they were getting out of the boxes, and he also saw many of the adults who were simply supervising passing smaller things among themselves. The overall mood of the whole scene was bright and happy.

It was very odd to Leontius, considering that only a handful of hours before these very people could have fallen victim to not one, but two intruders from the surface… and not one of them knew. They were blissfully unaware of just how close death had come, and here they were, celebrating merrily. With how happy everyone seemed, he also had to wonder if Asgore had told them of the surface yet, and that they were never going to be able to return there. News such as that would most certainly have dampened their spirits.

Leo tore his attention away from the gathering and continued on out of town. After walking across the bridge, he was immediately faced with the aftermath of last night's battle. The place looked all the part of the battlefield it had been, the Pursuer certainly didn't worry if Atonement impacted a hard surface or ten. He passed through the ruined sentry area, and into the forest proper.

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Much of Snowdin's plateau forest was an absolute mess. Anything even remotely close to the path- be it trees, sentry posts, or the odd gate thing- was demolished. The Pursuer had done a number on the whole area, and as Leontius drew closer to the Ruins his nagging suspicions from earlier proved to be true.

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Leontius had seen it the moment he passed by Sans' miraculously untouched sentry post and began the long walk to the Ruins exit.

The door had been completely destroyed.

Once he was closer, Leontius saw that both sections of the large double door had been reduced to nothing more than purple stone rubble. From the looks of it, the Pursuer had little difficulty getting through them. Though his suspicions about the door were confirmed, he still needed to check the condition of the rest of the Ruins.

He passed through the now empty doorframe of the Ruins exit and was once again in the end of the hall beneath Toriel's house. Just inside, he could see a small pile of ash collected in a corner…

'Those must be Kirk's remains…' He spotted something small and spherical, two things in fact, among the ashes. Leaning down, he picked one up and dusted it off revealing it to be a Red Eye Orb, its eye closed. Examining it sent that familiar buzz through his mind, and he dredged up memories from a past cycle.

In said cycle, Leontius had made a covenant with an intelligent Demon and wielded a Red Eye Orb of his own. He recalled that using the orb was simple: when the eye was open one could gaze into it to see nearby undead, send an expendable phantom avatar close to a targeted undead's vicinity, then attack them with impunity. That cycle was also the one Leontius had learned the Dark Hand technique in, the power being taught to him by his Demonic patron after he'd presented enough Humanity to it. Why the Demons desired Humanity was beyond him, but he had taken advantage of it then, just as Kirk and all the other Invaders did.

After pocketing the Red Eye Orb, Leontius picked up the other ash covered orb and brushed it off as well. It was an Eye Orb some kind, exactly the same in proportions as the red variant, except it was blue. In all his years, he had never seen or heard of a thing such as a Blue Eye Orb. Additionally, the eye was doing something strange. It seemed to be in a half-closed state, something the red variant never did. He momentarily refrained from looking directly into the eye since he was entirely uncertain what it would do, but before long the prospect of something entirely new got the better of him.

After wiping some remaining ash from the orb's eyelids (causing it to twitch somewhat disturbingly), Leontius slowly turned it around in his hand and stared deeply into the half-lidded eye.

Leontius was granted the strange vision of the eye, similar to its red counterpart, but what he saw completely baffled him. The image he looked upon looked not unlike the roots of some huge plant, or the fibers of a frayed rope. There were lines running off into infinity in two directions, splitting here and there, some terminating while others went on, many of them running in parallel, and in total they were innumerable.

Leontius didn't even have the slightest clue as to what he was looking at or how he was supposed to interact with it. Trying to simply target one of the individual strands at random did nothing of note, and finding anything specific among the tangle was impossible, let alone remembering his place after looking elsewhere. After a few more attempts to figure out the orb's function, he decided to get himself out of the vision, the half-lidded eye lazily breaking its gaze away from his when he willed it.

After a few more moments of just contemplating the oddity in his hand and trying to figure out what he'd seen, Leontius simply dropped the orb into the pouch with its red counterpart and let Kirk's ashen remains be. He still needed to check the rest of the Ruins.

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The first thing that Leontius saw was Toriel's old home, or at least what was left of it. The stairway down to the exit had been damaged severely. The floorboards had been ripped out, smashed, and seemingly squeezed through by the huge form of the Pursuer, leaving a gaping hole. The rest of the home wasn't in much better condition, it seemed that the Pursuer barely fit through the front door even after he demolished much of it and its surrounding wall. The halls were scuffed, scratched, and in the case of the floorboards, splintered where the Pursuer had to walk.

It was quite the scene. Toriel sending Leontius to retrieve her things was a stroke of luck on her part, there likely wouldn't have been much of anything salvageable left if she hadn't.

Continuing on outside the ruined home, Leo saw that, of course, the Pursuer had lopped the front yard's tree down instead of just going around it. After the area outside her home, Leontius saw that there was, in fact, a side path to the left he'd never been down, thanks to the fact that he only ever followed Toriel when they were here. He'd seen it passing through here, but he didn't have the chance to explore it before. The short offshoot path lead to a doorway and passing through that presented Leontius with a rather surprising view from an overlooking balcony.

A city lay sprawled out below Leontius, much of it built out of the same purple bricks as the rest of the Ruins by the looks of things. It was almost completely dark, and in the center sat a huge domed building that dominated much of the city's skyline. It was incredible to think there were two entire cities in this strange subterranean world, and this one appeared to be entirely abandoned by the looks of things.

After he'd had his fill of the view of the deserted city, Leontius noticed there was an item laying on the ground off to the side of the balcony. It looked to be a kitchen knife at first, but upon further inspection, he realized it was merely a wooden toy painted to appear more realistic. Another odd trifle, like that apron left in the middle of Hotland. He wondered who exactly was just leaving their things about, and left the toy knife where he'd found it before continuing with his task.

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The rest of the Ruins were mostly untouched, barring any door, archway, or wall that would have been too tight for the Pursuer to have fit through. By the looks of it, anything that even remotely restricted his movement was simply smashed through with Atonement until he could get through comfortably.

The end result was, of course, the complete and utter lack of any doorways the whole way through the Ruins. There was nothing to shut and seal, it was all rubble. If anything or anyone else fell down, there would be nothing to stop them from simply walking on through to Snowdin and the rest of the Underground.

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Leontius was now back to the very first room he'd fallen into in the Underground. Like every other part of the Ruins, the arches leading to this room had been completely busted apart by the Pursuer. The pillar of light still shone just as bright as ever, however, the bed of flowers it fell upon most definitely had seen better days.

After Leo, Kirk, and finally the Pursuer had fallen on them the flowers looked well and truly abused. Leo could still make out that splayed out faceplant outline he'd made in the flowerbed if he looked hard enough. And to think Characas was buried under there, having surfacers dropping onto his grave…

Leo turned his attention away from the damaged flowers and the light shining upon them, instead focusing on room's broken archway, his thoughts shifting to the rest of the damage done to the Ruins in kind.

'This could prove to be problematic. Either I will have to consistently patrol this area for any possible intruders, or some solution to keep the Ruins sealed up must be found. Perhaps a message to Asgore is in order, he may be able to dispatch builders to repair the damage or seal all these doorways for good. Sealing up that hole may be a good idea as well, but how to do so is an issue...'

With his task in the Ruins complete, Leontius began the long trek back to Snowdin once more.

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The trip back through the forest to Snowdin went without incident, and Leontius once again saw no one on the path or in the surrounding woods. That was likely for the best, monsters being caught in the woods with any possible intruders from the surface would be a very one-sided encounter. His walk through Snowdin was, thankfully, uninterrupted. The people of the town seemed to be getting used to the sight of him being out and about, and word spreading around about him likely put them at ease.

Hopefully. He knew just how out of place he was here... aside from him being an undead human. These people were civilized. They wore bright new clothing, gathered together and chatted, were approachable, didn't walk around armed to the teeth… all things Leontius couldn't say about himself. He had very few people he was actually comfortable around and felt as though he would likely never really fit in.

In all honesty, he was completely fine with that. His alternative option of returning to the surface was considerably worse.

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Leontius found that walking through the Waterfall area again was certainly a treat, especially now that Undyne wasn't constantly chasing him about. Interestingly enough, the small yellow bird made another appearance once he passed by the area Sans had been waiting in his first time through the area. It seemed just as determined to pull Leontius about by his hood, so he decided to humor the chick and let it guide him. As it turns out, it was attempting to lift him across yet another small gap in the middle of a long, much straighter path that led straight to the area with the fish-like and oblong houses.

He decided to keep the shortcut in mind, but he wanted to see some of the area's sights once more so he planned to visit them on his way back towards Snowdin.

Just after the house area, Leontius again stood at the small intersection area with the River Person's landing to the South and the small room where the turtle monster had been to the North.

He was curious and no longer on a desperate mission, so he decided to see just what the monster was so enthralled with that he wouldn't have noticed Leontius of all people being behind him. Walking through the wooden frame into the crystal filled room revealed that the monster was still there. By the looks of it, Leontius had walked in while he was enjoying a tea break. Now that Leo actually saw the turtle's face, he could see he had the telltale signs of an incredibly old individual.

He had rather wrinkly green skin, a white and wispy beard, and only one squinting eye open that was focused right on Leo as he walked in.

The old turtle stood from his seated position on a rock, taking a tin cup off a small cooking set as he did so. "Woah there! A visitor! Don't think I've seen you before, I'd have recognized an outfit like that." The shorter elderly monster shuffled up to Leontius, trying to get a good look at the undead's face past his hood, adjusting his tan pith helmet on his head as he did so. "Say… what's your name sonny?"

While Leontius wasn't too comfortable with the old monster being so close to him, he put up with it. At least he wasn't intoxicated and rambling incoherencies. "I am Leontius. I was-"

The old monster seemed like he was proud, or at least that's what Leontius thought as he was interrupted. "Yep, I knew it. You're that human, aren't you? Heard about what you did, ol' Fluffybuns sent word out that you'd helped save us monsters. Real kind of you, not sure what you saved us from exactly, but kind anyways!" He took a sip from his cup, and slowly shuffled back towards his sitting spot by the cooking set.

Leontius addressed him as he went, confused as to who this 'Fluffybuns' character was. "Erm… yes. Anyways, I was curious about what you are doing here. You see, I passed through here a few days ago and saw you inspecting something, and now that I am not pressed for time I am curious about it."

The monster looked like he was trying to recall something for a moment as he sat back down when it struck him. "Oh, you must have been that person who dropped by when I was busy, but just up and left before I got done! I heard you stomp on in alright, but I was just too taken by a find I'd made in here." Another sip from his cup…

Leontius made a motion for the monster to continue, but it went unnoticed so he spoke up instead. "And… that find was?"

The turtle looked like he was mid-thought when Leontius interrupted him. "Oh! Yeah, I actually found three things…" He reached into a knapsack sitting beside the rock and pulled out a pair of items. One looked to be an old scroll, the other was a pair of clouded glasses. "I found these two old human relics in here, and a good ol' piece of prehistory too. What did you wanna know about?"

Leontius was certainly interested in the prehistoric find, but the relics in the turtle's hands caught his immediate attention. "You said those are human relics? How do you know they are human-made?"

The elderly monster turned the pair of glasses around, inspecting them. "Well… I'm not actually too sure about the glasses, but I found them stuffed into the scroll. Now, I know the scroll is human 'cause it doesn't have the royal symbol on it anywhere. Back when we still used 'em, all scrolls had the royal Delta Rune on them somewhere. I'd know, I was there when we decided to figure out something better, reading scrolls is a real pain!" He let out a hearty laugh, then set the glasses aside to better look at the scroll. "Well, reading this one would be a pain too, if any of the words on it made a lick of sense." The old monster seemed to get an idea, then beckoned and Leontius came over to his spot. "Hey, you're a human, maybe it's just written in human-speak or somefin'?"

As the old monster held the scroll out for Leontius to take, he dropped the glasses back into the knapsack. Leontius carefully handled the scroll and unrolled it. It was incredible, amazing…

...That it was still intact. The thing looked like it had suffered water damage, and had a considerable tear in it. The writing in it had fared no better, Leontius could make neither heads nor tails of what was written upon the damaged parchment. He handed the scroll back to the old monster- whose name he still didn't know- and told him what he knew, which amounted to… "Nothing. I cannot read a thing on that scroll. By the way, I still have not gotten your name…?"

While he was putting the scroll back in the knapsack with the glasses, the old turtle realized had had indeed forgotten to introduce himself. "Oh, you're right! Sorry 'bout that, youngster. I'm Gerson, Gerson Boom. Historian, archaeologist, and veteran of the Human-Monster War. Been around a long time, so the historian part sure is easy!" Another hearty laugh punctuated the end of his introduction.

Leontius had suspected Gerson to be old, but not that old. "You fought in the Human-Monster War? That puts you up there with Toriel and Asgore in age, then…"

Gerson looked proud at that, giving Leo a toothy and crooked smile. "Yep, I'm old alright. Lived a good long life, but not as long as those two. They're Boss Monsters so they only age when they have kids, but since theirs passed on they'll outlive even my old self. A real shame about the kids too, I'm probably one of the few monsters left who still remembers them and Toriel even bein' around…"

By the sounds of it, Gerson- and likely the rest of the Underground- hadn't heard the whole story from Asgore… "Actually, Toriel left the Ruins to accompany me throughout much of my journey to save the Underground, she was the whole reason I set out to do so in the first place. The kids, specifically Asriel, are another matter as well. Keeping it short, my journey also included me bringing Asriel back. He and his mother live in Snowdin now."

That information put Gerson in a completely different mood altogether. He seemed almost in disbelief, but still excited. "Really? Toriel's outta the Ruins and Asriel's back? Now how in the world did you manage that…? Actually, I've seen plenty of crazy things in my time, I'm sure it's not all that out there. I'll have to pay em' a visit sometime, it'd be nice to catch up with the queen after all this time…"

Once again, Leontius was simply standing awkwardly while the old-timer was again lost in thought. He again had to speak up to get his attention. "You… mentioned another find, did you not?"

Gerson was reaching for his tea once more when Leontius pulled him from his reverie. "Hmm? Oh, yeah! That other find... funny, I mentioned it while we were on about scrolls earlier, but this example predates written history!" The ancient monster picked up his tea and shuffled towards a far wall of the room. "C'mon, just over here."

Leontius followed behind Gerson, his attention shifting to a wall the old turtle pointed out. He saw a familiar symbol that, up until now, he'd not had a name to put to. It was the same one featured on Toriel's robes, the Ruins door, and the odd-necked sentry dog's shield.

Gerson stood next to the symbol, a shaky hand lightly tracing about the edges of one of the black wings carved into the surface of the wall. "This here is the Delta Rune, the emblem of our kingdom. Now, with any emblem or flag, it's got some symbolism in it." He made a circle about the three triangle shapes with his finger. "The downward triangle represents us monsters, and the two upwards ones above it represents the mountain n' barrier keeping us trapped down here."

Gerson turned his gaze to the man standing behind him, an inquisitive look about him. "You've been through the whole Waterfall area, right? Did ya happen to read those ol' wall writings all over the place?"

With a confirming nod from Leo, Gerson continued.

"Then you know about the prophecy…" Gerson turned back to the ancient Delta Rune, a finger pointing out the wings and circle above the triangles. "The wings and circle represent 'The Angel, The One Who Has Seen The Surface.' That angel, supposedly, is going to return to free us… some think that means freedom from the Underground, others recently started sayin' it was an 'Angel of Death,' comin' to 'free' us from this mortal realm…" Gerson got rather quiet for a few moments, before turning back to Leontius, excited and toothily smiling again. " 'Course, this is all jus' modern interpretation and symbolism! We actually don't know squat about what it originally stood for!" One of his trademark laughs punctuated the end of his speech.

After letting Gerson's laugh peter out, Leontius got a word in. "If it is 'modern' as you put it, then it was surprisingly accurate. The whole prophecy involving the Angel, that was referring to Asriel. He saw the surface, returned to life after absorbing everyone's souls, became some deific entity… and I saved him."

Gerson looked like a bit thoughtful at that. "Makes sense, there was that crazy flash and pulling feeling I felt a few days ago... then I was right back here not a few seconds later, if my phone is working right. And that was Asriel, doin' that? Huh… but what about the last part of the prophecy? We aren't freed or anythin' now, are we?"

Leontius gave a stiff shake of his head at that. "No, no you are not... thank you for sharing your finds with me, Gerson. It was nice meeting you, but I must be on my way..." He was silent for a couple of seconds before continuing, seemingly unsure of himself. "I do not know if I should tell you or not, considering it is up to Asgore… but I will tell you this. The surface is dangerous. Up there... it is kill or be killed." He took one last look around the small room, his gaze falling upon the Delta Rune momentarily before he turned away to go. "Goodbye."

As the human left, Gerson noticed something on his person he'd glossed over before, that being the huge blade sheathed at his left side. As he gazed upon the weapon attached to the man's retreating form, memories from the old war between their kind came back, if only for a moment.

His demeanor fell considerably, Leontius hadn't said much, but Gerson got the idea well enough. He went back to his spot with his tea, taking a sip from the tin cup while thinking on things. A sudden positive note came to him, and his spirits lifted again.

"Well hey, three outta four ain't half-bad for an ol' prophecy!" His laughter echoed about the room once more, the sounds of the River Person's distant singing mixing with it subtly in the hallway as Leontius walked on to Alphys' lab in Hotland.

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