Loki, Sans, Undyne, and the king sat comfortably around a table, as Asgore poured each of them a cup of tea.
"I do wish we could have a normal, friendly visit, today." He sighed. "But, from what I've heard, this would seem to be more like a counsel of war than anything else."
Loki liked Asgore already. "War, and not execution?"
"Of course!" Asgore seemed surprised. "I do not wish to hurt anybody if I can help it. Undyne, have you been being overzealous, again?"
Undyne shrugged innocently. "We can't say we won't kill Thor, since we need to be prepared to. We ought to be willing to do anything to stop him, even if that comes to killing him."
Loki flinched, and Sans patted his shoulder comfortingly.
"Undyne, you need to stop thinking only of doing things by force." Asgore shook his head. "My father always taught me that a wise king must never seek out war…"
"Yet must always be ready for it." Loki finished, a surprised smile on his face. "It seems our fathers had the same sayings. But, she's right. I can't let my brother get in the way of all monsters' lives. If it comes down to it, I ought to be able to let my brother die in favor of the thousands of lives in the Underground."
Asgore sighed in agreement. "I suppose so. Anyway, I must ask you a question, Loki."
Loki nodded for him to continue.
"Now, this may sound strange, but… have you been seeing stars, since you fell down?" Asgore asked sincerely.
"Stars?" Loki was confused for a second, before he remembered the little orbs of light all over the Ruins. "Actually… yes."
"And touching them gives you bursts of Determination?" Sans guessed. "And heals you?"
Loki nodded. "How did you know? I thought I was going mad, if Thor hadn't been seeing them, too."
"Let me explain something to you." Asgore leaned forward. "Those stars are called 'save points'. Only the person with the highest amount of determination can see and use them. People who can use them are unable to die. If they get killed, they'll wake up next to the last one they touched, at the same moment they touched it, before. It's a way to cheat death, in a way."
Loki's eyes were very wide.
"For a while, I was the one with the most Determination." Sans volunteered. "I still know where all the save points are, I just haven't been able to see or use them in a really long time. Not since… well, that's another story."
"I have time." Loki eagerly encouraged, being a fond lover of stories.
"Some other time." Asgore looked sad for a few seconds, before brightening, again. "Are you still able to see them? The stars, that is?"
Loki shook his head mutely. "I haven't seen any since I was outside Snowdin."
Undyne jumped up from her seat. "That means you're not the most determined, anymore!" She deduced.
"What's wrong with that?" Loki shrugged.
Undyne looked at him as if he'd sprouted a head. "It means he's surpassed you in DT! He's more Determined than you are! So, he can't die, and you can!"
"Oh." Loki gulped nervously. "Well… we could both see them in the Ruins."
Asgore nodded. "Because your Determination levels were equal. Now that they're not, it will be a battle to have more Determination, especially because of his LV."
"You can do it, kid." Sans assured. "I believe in you."
Loki smiled softly. "Thanks, but… Thor's always been better at everything than I. If it comes to a contest, he's sure to win."
"Listen up, punk." Undyne huffed, sitting back down in her chair. "With that attitude, you're never gonna win. You have to think you can, or you're not going to be able to. See, if I didn't think I could bench-press nine children, I would never even try. If you don't think you can win, the battle's already lost. We're all rooting for you, all that's left for you to do is go out and prove us right!"
She punched him heartily on the shoulder, and, for some reason, Loki felt just a bit braver about this whole thing. Undyne believed in him, so maybe he could work up the determination to carry through with this. Suddenly embarrassed, he blushed, staring down at his hands. Undyne didn't seem to notice.
"Who knew, Undyne's good at motivational speeches." Sans grinned, raising his eyebrows at Loki.
Undyne rolled her eyes, and shoved the skeleton playfully. "He's got potential, anyway. Human SOULs can handle way more DT than Monsters'."
"That is actually true." Asgore agreed. "Although, unless I'm mistaken, my child, you're not a human."
"No, I'm not." Loki admitted. "I'm Jotun."
Asgore furrowed his brow in confusion. "Does that mean you have more or less Determination than a human?"
Loki shrugged. "I have no idea. In fact, I'd never heard of all this 'SOUL' stuff before I fell down, so this is all new to me."
"Alphys could examine your SOUL." Undyne offered. "See how much DT it can take."
Loki nodded in agreement, and was about to say something, when Sans cut him off. "Hey kid, hate to interrupt, but you did promise a particular robot that you'd be on his cooking show, tonight. If you want to get there on time, you'll have to hustle."
Asgore looked rather impressed. "You're a brave person, Loki. I can't go within three rooms of that robot. He gives me the willies."
Loki snorted in agreement, and followed the skeleton out of the room. "I'm not exactly sure where I'm going, so you'll have to lead the way."
"Sure thing." Sans agreed. "Hey, kid, I know this is really hard for you, but you're putting a really brave face on it." He patted Loki's shoulder. "I'm proud of you."
Loki's eyes lit up. "Proud? Of me?" He couldn't remember the last time someone had said that. In fact, he couldn't remember any time anyone had said they were proud of him.
"Yeah, of course." Sans smiled. "I got your back, okay?"
On the way to the Core, where Mettaton was shooting the show, Sans told him the story he'd mentioned earlier.
"When we were first banished to the Underground, King Asgore had a wife and a son. They were happy, together, and one day, a human fell down into the Ruins. The prince found her, and took her back to the palace. The king and queen raised her like their own child, until, one day, the child fell sick. Very sick. Her only wish was to see the flowers from her garden. Soon, the child died. The prince was heartbroken, of course, and picked up her body, absorbed her SOUL, and used the combined Determination to cross the barrier. He carried her body to the village, and laid her down on a golden flowerbed. The villagers saw the prince, and chased after him, beating him with sticks and rocks and all sorts of things. He could have killed them all with a wave of his hand, with the amount of DT he had in his body, but he simply smiled, and turned away. He returned to the palace, and collapsed. He died soon after that, his SOUL dissipating throughout the Underground. King Asgore, enraged with grief at having lost two children in one day, issued a decree: every human that falls into the Underground must be killed, and their SOUL used to break the barrier. The queen was furious at her husband's senseless violent decree, and left. Nobody's heard from her, since."
Loki was silent for a moment, pondering this carefully. "So… if I was a human…"
Sans stared at him soberly, his pupils disappearing. "Kid… you'd be dead where you stand."
Loki felt chills go down his spine. "H-How many SOULs do you have, already?" He asked, trying to hide how intimidated he was.
"Six." Sans admitted, his pupils returning. "We only need one more…"
"I'm sorry to not be a human, then." He smiled softly.
Sans tilted his head in confusion. "You'd rather die than have us wait for another human?"
"At least it's for a noble cause." Loki shrugged. "There are worse ways to go."
Sans grinned. "Yeah, I guess. That's real sweet of you, kid."
Loki sighed. "At least it's better than Death by Homicidal Brother Who Used to Care About You."
Sans stopped outside a door with bright flashing lights and upbeat music drifting out from under it, and a sign that read "MTT Studios".
"Or Death by Glamour." The skeleton shuddered. "Listen, Loki." The Trickster raised an eyebrow. It wasn't often Sans actually called him by name. "You're going to beat him. He's not going to kill you, because the good guys always win. If they don't, they get Avenged. Stop second-guessing yourself, okay?"
Loki squared his shoulders. "Okay."
"Great." Sans nodded, pushing towards the door. "Now break a leg."
Asgore = Good version of Odin. In my opinion.
TheOnlyHuman.