They walked, a slow and steady march pocketed with scavenging and patrols and nervous backward glances. They wove their way south through rolling hills and turning forests, the green leaves shifting slowly into golds and reds. The air was beginning to chill as well, especially in the forest where the sunlight couldn't always reach down it's amber fingers to grasp at and warm the world. It tried it's hardest though, and in a few scattered clearings and glens the crowd of monsters trudged their way through the air was bright and warm. The world was dying in spectacular fashion, the entire countryside a smothering blaze. It was beautiful and dismal, like dust dancing through dappled sunlight. It was the perfect mix of melancholy and hopeful, somber and brave.

Amathea had been right - it felt good to be moving again. Every step away from their defeat was like a breath of fresh air, a weight lifted off the soul. There wasn't a human in sight, and for every passing moment this held true, Grillby heaved a sigh of relief. This stained-glass peacefulness wouldn't last long he knew. At some point humans would catch up to them, or they'd be sent off towards another engagement. But for now, isolated from the scattered battles and carnage that hid in the landscape, Grillby could pretend he was safe.

Gaster seemed to have lightened up a bit since their departure. He talked more, arms flailing with vibrant energy with every word. He did a good job of keeping Grillby and Amathea entertained on the long walk back to the nearest encampment, peppering thoughtful silences with facts about plants and animals they passed, and occasionally rippling the air with some eccentric idea for magic or travel. The 'all monsters should have wings' topic was brought up a few times, much to Amathea's exaggerated dismay. Every night he stayed awake working on his magic, but when asked how it was going he answered with a little more optimism than he had before. Soon, he said, soon it would be fixed again. He just needed to keep working.

Amathea herself couldn't seem to get enough of Grillby and Gaster. She stayed close beside them - sometimes huddling a little closer to Grillby when the temperature dropped in the evening and the biting chill wormed it's way through the air. Honestly, Grillby didn't mind all that much. He remembered a time when he would have minded, and thinking back on it made him feel foolish, but also happy. If Amathea noticed, she didn't let on about it. Though she wasn't shy in regaling the two monsters - and any others that walked close by enough to hear - with stories from before her time in the war. She spoke about brazen, legendary feats, filled with infectious laughter and zeal, about bandits and renegades, near-death experiences and pride and camaraderie. Her enthusiasm was contagious, carrying to the rest of the monsters as they walked, or huddled close around a fire, and listened.

And if anyone called her out, told her the stories were too fantastic to be real? She'd simply flash them that dangerous grin, ear frills twitching with the challenge, fist planted firmly on her hip.

"I'm many things, you snoutbrand ragabrash, but a liar isn't one of them!"

Even Brigg seemed impressed as he sat back and listened, occasionally giving a skeptical snort when Amathea's stories seemed a little too far-fetched. But he smiled and he chuckled, and sometimes joined in with a story of his own, his cold gaze and snarling maw softening as he remembered fondly times when the taste of dust wasn't so heavy in the air. Grillby found himself feeling young and small when he listened to them swap stories. He was content to just listen as they spoke, silently admiring them and their tales - and gently wishing he'd been able to meet Amathea's brothers while they were still alive. From the way she talked about them, they must have been interesting monsters to know, all bawdy hellfire and zeal just like Amathea was.

After a week of walking south they finally arrived at the encampment they'd been sent to take refuge in, though to call it an encampment was a disservice to what it actually was. In reality it was more like a small fort, chipped out of one of the rockier hillsides where the trees grew thinner and gave way to a large clearing. There was a wall, short and made of a staggered mix of wood and stone, with a single gate in it's center. The wall was studded in short intervals with vicious-looking spears, snarling outward like hungry teeth so any enemy foolish enough to try and scale it would be poked and pricked by the jagged points. The inner court had several tents, another army had settled there in transit across the country as well. There was a tower near the back of the complex, nestled comfortably against the rocky hillside. Inside it, Grillby knew, the fort extended into the hill itself, cavernous and empty and ready to shelter a bulk of troops if an attack was launched against it. That was where the more permanent troops of the encampment would be, sprawling out in stone barracks that honeycombed the inside of the hill.

The gate was opened, a few quick words exchanged with the guards inside, and the ramshackle army crowded inside, thankful for the safety that came with the wall. Once inside, they were given the eastern courtyard to set up tents and fires and make themselves comfortable. It was the first camp in what seemed like months where comfort was actually extended to them. Monsters were given bedding, broken tents and shelters were replaced with newer-woven ones that the fort could afford to spare. Fresh food was passed around - well, fresher food than they'd been surviving on for the past few weeks at least. It felt like Grillby had been yanked out of the war and thrown into the lap of luxury. It was hard for him to believe that just a month or so prior he had lived in this kind of comfort for months and been bored by it. Now, kneeling beside a cooking fire with fresh ingredients and warm stew brewing, his little box of spices finally coming back into use after so long being neglected, Grillby felt like he was in heaven.

"Oh man," Gaster groaned, slumping to the ground beside the elemental, "I missed this. I missed this so much."

Amathea chuckled at him from where she sat on the other side of the campfire, leaning back on her arm as she warmed her feet on the stones that circled the small blaze, "Aye, it's nice to have walls around us. And something worth eating besides half-spoiled jerky."

Grillby flickered a smirk, "Yeah… it really makes me miss home."

The elemental shook his head, "Well - supper will be ready in a few more minutes so -"

Grillby caught a glimpse of movement in the corner of his eye and trailed off mid-sentence. He looked up in time to see a shadow suddenly loom itself over Amathea. The commander's ear frills gave a nervous twitch and she frowned at Grillby, his flame was already pitching into surprised colors.

With a loud shriek the shadow tumbled into Amathea, and the two of them were suddenly a tangle of wrestling limbs sprawled in the dirt. Grillby leaped to his feet, just in time to catch the dinner pot as one of the two brawling forms almost knocked it over. With a snarl of a laugh Amathea managed to wriggle herself free of the other's grip and stagger to her feet. She threw her hand forward -!

There were two identical pings! as both monsters threw forward green magic. And then both of them were on the ground, the crushing power of intent and the weight of the green shields both monsters now bore slamming them off their feet. A few seconds of shocked silence passed where Grillby blinked in bewilderment at the two monsters now sprawled across the ground. One looked at the other, vicious grins splitting both their faces as their magic flickered out of existence. Then Amathea snorted, and both of them were roaring with laughter.

Gaster peeked out from where he had taken shelter behind the elemental, a bright smile weaving across his teeth, "Oh… well that's definitely Thetis. Hi Thetis!"

Thetis was already pulling herself to her feet. She beamed brilliantly at Gaster, lunging for him across the fire, "Ha! If it isn't twig legs! Get over here!"

Gaster let out a startled yelp as the fish monster suddenly swept him up in a crushing bear hug, somehow managing to lift him off the ground even though she was even shorter than Amathea was to him. The skeleton writhed around in her grasp, desperately trying to pry her arms away from their grip around his waist.

"Hey hey hey! Don't crush the skeleton!" he shrieked, "I break way easier than your sister does!"

"Oh don't be such a kill joy!" Thetis growled with a smile, giving Gaster one last squeeze before finally dropping him back on his feet, "It's been ages since I've seen you guys!"

Her tattered ear frills fanned out in surprise when she noticed Grillby, a pair of silver earrings shimmering subtly in the elemental's light as the frills twitched thoughtfully. Her smile wavered for a second before splitting wider than it had been before.

"And you must be Grillby," Thetis beamed, offering Grillby a hand to shake, "Thanks for keeping these scalawags out of trouble while I've been out saving the world! Gods know somebody had to."

Grillby flickered a nervous smile and took her hand in his - immediately Thetis yanked him towards her, wrapping her arms around him in a hug. With a rough yank he was lifted off his feet and spun around before she plopped him back down again - Grillby barely managed to stay on his feet when she dropped him.

Amathea laughed all the while, "Thetis you beastie, don't terrorize them too much! They're not used to your manhandling!"

"Train a pair of softies, did you?" Thetis spat back at her, finally making her way back to Amathea to wrap her up in a hug as well, "You're losing your touch commander."

"Oh I'll not take any sass from you, ya fustylugs of a lass," Amathea chuckled back, breaking their embrace after a pause, "Where in the whole wide world have you been?"

She looked her sister up and down before flashing a mischievous grin, "You look like you took a ride in a barrel full of knives!"

Thetis snorted, barely containing another outburst of laughter, "Me?! What about you, you old hag? Is that grey hair?!"

Amathea chuckled, reaching up to yank at her sister's short red ponytail, "Aye sure, tease my hair when you've gone and lopped all of yours off! Fool girl, that was the only pretty thing about you, wasn't it?"

Thetis growled a laugh at this and gave Amathea a playful punch in the shoulder, jeering some joking response about Amathea not getting any prettier either. The two giggled at each other once more, each drinking the other in as if they'd forgotten what the other looked like. Grillby couldn't really blame them though - how long had it been since they'd last met? It had been since before Amathea had taken on Grillby as a charge at least, and who knew for how long beforehand that they'd been apart?

Grillby served out food while the two chattered back and forth, each asking the other a thousand questions about what had happened, what glorious things they'd accomplished in the other's absence. Amathea pointed out a brand new scar Thetis had on display, a wicked looking mark that twisted along the side of her throat, and launched the younger sister into a harrowing story about an ambush and how she'd single-handedly dispatched this thing or another. Grillby had to wonder at how Amathea had even noticed the scar - Thetis was almost as covered and criss-crossed with the pale marks as her sister was. Though Grillby did notice most of Thetis's looked fresher, harsh and bright against her pale turquoise scales, while most of Amathea's had faded with time.

When given the chance Amathea bragged heartily on her own exploits, some of which were from before she'd even taken on Grillby as a charge. Thetis soaked in her stories with the kind of hungry curiosity that Grillby had only ever seen in Gaster's eyes, and he couldn't help but flicker a smile at it. At length Amathea offered for her two charges to share their adventures as well, and with a grin and a laugh Gaster plunged into their stories, his arms signing in grand gestures the things that had happened to them. Grillby sat quietly and let Gaster talk, only occasionally adding something here or there that the skeleton missed.

The campfire was burning low when Thetis finally sat back, sharp-toothed smile resting contentedly across her features, "Heavens alive it's good to see you again."

She glanced back over to her sister, her smile turning sad, "I'll be honest Am, I was thinking for awhile there that I might be getting a letter from you."

"Losing faith in me, are you?" Amathea laughed lightheartedly.

"Not at all," Thetis replied, a smirk on her teeth, "But you've started looking pretty mortal lately. Scared me half to dust when you lost your arm, you know. And with the news I got on how your battle down south went..."

She sighed, and Amathea frowned at her, "It's getting scary out there Am."

"It's always been scary," Amathea's voice was gentle and comforting, "But we can fight through it. We'll figure a way of winning this Thetis, you watch, it'll be okay."

A silence fell across them. Thetis chewed her bottom lip thoughtfully, ragged ear frills giving a few thoughtful twitches as she blinked at her sister. Finally she mumbled, "You've a fine amount of optimism given the losses we've taken recently."

Amathea shrugged, "Well given the alternative is falling in despair, I'll take dumb optimism. Without hope, we might as well be dust."

The commander frowned then, "I mean… nothing we do at this point is going to be pretty or glorious. But the point of surviving this mess isn't to be anything like that. Surviving is just… hanging on until we find a way out. We're going to do a lot of losing before we finally win anything. But with so many hearts and minds focused on living - well that has to mean something. I'm not sure this world is worth living in if something like that can mean nothing."

Grillby flickered in thoughtful silence at this, wondering quietly about whether or not Amathea could be right. Thetis had a point - the battle they'd just been through, the loss of the entire western front, it was almost too much. What would happen if they lost? At the rates the humans were going… they might kill all of them, every monster they came across might be reduced to dust. Grillby was starting to seriously doubt the monsters had a chance of winning this war. If Amathea was right, and so many hearts banded together meant something powerful, wouldn't that just make their situation all the more dismal? After all, so many humans had only one intent left in them now - destroy the monsters. He just couldn't understand -

" - why is this even happening?" Grillby mused his thoughts outloud, and all eyes around the campfire turned to him, "Why do we even have to fight? I just… I don't understand."

Amathea and Thetis exchanged a concerned glance, and Gaster mimed out some confused sentence to himself with his hands.

"No one ever talk to you about this when they summoned you?" Thetis finally asked, brow wrinkling a bit in an indignant frown, "That's a shit thing to do if they didn't."

Grillby flickered in dull colors, suddenly feeling foolish. He remembered when he and Gaster had first met when the skeleton had brought up something similar. He remembered such a short time ago how Grillby had been content to just follow what he figured was his purpose. But if this was his purpose, to fight and die in this war… slowly he was beginning to wonder why it had to be that way.

"I guess I never really thought it was important before," Grillby sighed after a pause, smoke curling out with the breath, "But now… I guess… I'm starting to figure out I might die because of this. If that's going to happen… I want to know what I'm dying for."

"I wish you wouldn't talk like that, tinderbox. Isn't a fun thought to think you might wind up dust you now," Amathea said with a sad, gentle sort of smile, her ear frills dipping a bit in dismay, "But it's a good reason to want to know."

Amathea cast another look to her sister before saying finally, "Well I guess it'll be because of monsters like us, that all this got this way between monsters and humans, isn't it?"

Thetis gave a rueful smile, "That'd be about right, wouldn't it?"

Grillby gave a confused flicker, looking between the sisters, "How?"

"Aye well, there's two types of boss monsters in the world aren't there?" Amathea began, a somber smile twisting across her teeth, "There's the beasties that are born powerful, made to lead and give hope and keep peace. Monsters like Toriel, or the King and his children. And then there's monsters me and my family that decided this world was too cruel to the weak, and the only way for you to survive was if you were that strong. You start thinking this world is kill or be killed, and then suddenly you're getting thirsty after that blood and battle."

Amathea shrugged, "It's not a popular idea now. Most monsters have figured out that kind of power comes with consequences. But years ago before we were even thought of? The world was a little darker even than it is now. Famines, plagues, forces of nature, wars - it was all pushing monsters and humans alike to be a bit more cruel. And monsters were starting to kill because they thought they had to, and then because they liked the feeling of being strong, and then because they'd killed too much and they were starting to turn into something a little less like a monster and a little more like a demon."

Amathea paused, running her tongue across her teeth as she gathered her thoughts for a moment, "We had legends up north about them - dragons like Brigg who turned into boss monsters, and suddenly they were taller than trees and spitting poison and smoke that could dust an army. There were ghosts who could steal your soul while you slept and turn the air like ice, who'd call out their victims by screamin'. Terrible monsters, that did terrible things. They didn't think they were monsters anymore. They thought they were gods."

The commander snorted and rolled her eyes, "Course thinkin' like that is dangerous. You start forgetting you can still get dusted, and most of them were, over petty and stupid things they should've seen coming. But even after they were gone, the fear still stuck around. Fear that got worse when we figured out we could absorb human souls. After a while the humans decided we were too dangerous to live side-by-side anymore. This war has been ragin' ever since."

"So… we started this?" Grillby asked, flickering dismally. Thetis shook her head.

"Hardly!" she barked, crossing her arms indignantly, "For every mass murdering boss monster there ever were, I'd bet my soul there's been another ten human warlords that have done the same. But humans are forgetful beasties, and stupidly forgiving of the horrors their own kind can make. And if they can't forgive something their kind has done? Their kind stops being human. They make stories up about them, how they made pacts with demons or were possessed by spirits, or born from some evil thing."

"The point is though," Gaster interjected, finally speaking up, "We're not innocent, and we never have been. This war was going to happen eventually. It was just a matter of who was going to start it, and who was going to win."

A somber quiet settled over the four of them, thoughtful and dark. Grillby watched the little fire, now mostly embers and charcoal, as it cast pale white and pink hues about the world. Well, it hadn't exactly been the explanation Grillby had expected - well… he supposed he hadn't expected much. What still baffled him though was Amathea and her family, and how in spite of all they knew about boss monsters, they had still wanted to be something like that. Why would any monster want that kind of blood on their hands just to be strong? It wasn't all that great a thing to have… and at the end of the day you were still just as fallible as before. Grillby knew this. But once again he had to wonder if the only reason he thought that way was because he was born strong. And… he had to quietly wonder if any of the monsters around him might resent him for that. It was a paranoid thought that was starting to echo a little more frequently.

Finally it was Amathea who spoke up, a reassuring smile resting across her features, "Well, now that all the serious talk is out of the way… I think it's time we had a little fun. I'm sick and tired of seeing every monster around this place looking so discouraged."

Thetis chuckled, "I mean, they have a good reason to be."

"Aye they do!" Amathea said grandly, getting to her feet, "But they also need to remember we haven't lost yet. Including this one, it would seem."

She ushered to Grillby, and he flickered a smirk at her.

"Thetis, feel like singin' with me tomorrow?"

"What?" Gaster was suddenly beaming. He grinned across the fire at Thetis, whose face had twisted into an annoyed scowl, "Thetis! You sing?!"

"Aye yes, I sing," the fish monster said with a dismissive wave of her hand, "Not well. But I can."

"Oooooh yes!" Gaster laughed, pumping a fist in the air. With a grin he started chanting, "Bon-fire! Bon-fire! Bon-fire!"

"Would you shut up," Thetis hissed, managing to take her boot off and hurl it at the skeleton, who artfully dodged it, "You'll wake up the whole damn camp."

She rolled her eyes when the skeleton grinned back at her, his hands still working in the same motion they had been when he was chanting. Grillby crackled a laugh as the skeleton signed over and over bonfire bonfire bonfire bonfire!

Amathea chuckled, "Don't worry over it too much Thetis. If you don't want to sing I won't make you."

Gaster beamed, eye sockets narrowing mischievously, "Yeah Thetis. If you're too scared to sing in front of a bunch of monsters-"

"Who said I was scared?!" Thetis cut him off abruptly, a daring snarl twisting across her teeth, "I'm never scared! I just don't wanna embarrass Am by out singin' her is all!"

"Excuse me?" Amathea's smile turned vicious and challenging as she rounded on her sister, ear frills flaring, "I'm sorry I must've heard you wrong there for a second. I thought for sure you just said you can sing better than me!"

Grillby busied himself with putting out the rest of the fire - and concealing his laughter as he did so. Obviously he didn't do it well enough, because both Amathea and Thetis started glaring daggers in his direction.

"What's so funny?!" Thetis demanded, and in spite of himself Grillby found himself wanting to laugh harder.

"N-nothing," Grillby muttered as best he could, stamping down the need to giggle, "I just - eheh - can't wait to see how this turns out."

"Oh you watch!" Thetis snarled indignantly, "I'll knock your damn boots off with my voice!"

Gaster draped an arm around Grillby's shoulder then, leaning against the elemental as he raised the ridge above his unbroken eye, "Oh, we totally believe you. Don't we, firefly?"

Amathea's uproarious laughter cut them off then, and gave her sister a hearty pat on the back as she did so - he was surprised the hit didn't knock Thetis over. Grillby knew it would've knocked him off balance, but of course Thetis was probably used to Amathea's enthusiasm.

"Well that settles it then!" Amathea declared, "Tomorrow night we'll show these boys how it's done."

"Aye of course we will!" the annoyance in Thetis's voice had already been replaced by a zealous thrill, and the younger sister crossed her arms proudly, "You're on at sundown, sis!"

The two monsters faded into scattered laughter and talks back and forth as Amathea turned to walk Thetis home. Though Grillby noticed before they walked too far away, Amathea shot Gaster a wink over her shoulder. The skeleton gave her a thumbs-up back, smiling proudly as she disappeared from sight.

"This is gonna be awesome!" Gaster grinned, "I've never heard Thetis sing before - but Ammy has some cool stories about the magic she uses when she does."

Grillby chuckled, "Well if it's anything like Ammy's, we'll probably all be dust before the night's over. Still… it'll be a nice distraction."

The two monsters exchanged tired smiles, Grillby's fire flickering a bit lower. Gaster sighed and signed to him comfortingly.

"We're going to be okay, firefly," Gaster hummed, "I mean, if you don't believe me, you can at least believe Ammy right?"

The elemental nodded, but stayed wisely silent. Honestly… he was really beginning to wonder if they were going to make it out of this alive. The hoped they did but… the world was starting to look dark. Even still, he supposed he should be grateful. For once, it was raining somewhere else.

Author's Notes:

First of all, I wanted to thank you guys for your support. Honestly, it means a lot to me. And thank you even more for being understanding of me wanting to go down to once a week updates. You guys are amazing people.

Secondly: Thetis joins the party

And boy-oh-boy has her entire entry been edited to death :'D I've rewritten this scene several times. All of the end dialogue has changed, along with the tone of the chapter as a whole. But I really like the way it ended up, I think.

The good news though is finally, the thing I've been wanting to write for the last few chapters, gets to happen. It is another one of those scenes that's been planned out since pretty early in the story's life - though not nearly as early as some scenes we've already seen and some scenes yet to come. Next chapter is gonna be fun (like actual fun though, not the bad 'oh god someone's gonna die' fun that writers tend to uh... have fun... with...)

On that note though! I'm going to take suggestions I think?

Anybody got any medieval songs they'd like to see sung in the next chapter? I can't make any guarentees on what will make it in or not, but I can say I'll at least try to reference what you send me. I know I already have one that someone sent me on Deviantart (that I need to find again whoops).