(24)

After he finished reveling in the echoes of Toriel's warmth, Leontius let out a low sigh and approached the waning bonfire in front of her home, still alight from the first ember he'd fed it earlier. He sat at it in his typical sitting position, then decided to let his ancient body- especially his somewhat creaking bones- rest for a few minutes.

His earlier thoughts about his true age resurfaced. He wasn't totally sure what effects the resets had on his body, mind, and soul, but just thinking about what it could mean for him made him feel older than dirt. It also made him feel uneasy, so he decided to put it out of his mind and focus on the now.

'I do have something to keep myself occupied with, at least before I return to my home, that soul I just acquired…'

Leo removed his bottomless box from his belt, popped the lid open, then stuffed his hand in it, searching for a relic he hadn't used since defeating the Altered King. The object in question, which was soon joined by the soul of the Pursuer, was a Transposing Kiln. A curious item that interacted with strong or twisted souls. It had the ability to tap into their soul memory, and use their power to recreate things the soul had closely imprinted upon.

As Leontius held the odd crystal and scale encrusted bowl, he pondered more on the mystery of the soul. 'I recall first learning how to use this… that odd little man never did tell me his name, but he told me plenty about the soul, how it attaches itself to objects, makes them part of its memory. Of course, he also taught me how to exploit that.'

Leontius set the stitched-hide bowl in the snowy ground before him, then examined the soul of the recently-slain dark knight. It was an odd feeling, to hold the culmination of a foe's being in one's hand. The knowledge that it was essentially at his mercy was not lost upon him. For a second, he felt it necessary to look around himself, to be sure no monster saw him holding such a powerful thing in plain view.

'Souls like these are strong, to simply crush and absorb them and pawn their energy off for irrelevant trifles or self-empowerment is a shame, really.' Leo knew a better use for such things, and with that in mind, he gently placed the vaguely heart-shaped soul into the crystalline innards of the transposing kiln, then placed his hands about the sides of the bowl.

Leontius began the process of transposition by feeding an amount of his contained free soul energy into the kiln to 'ignite' it, and in his mind, he could picture the things the soul had attuned itself to.

The Pursuer's equipment. Like Leontius, The Pursuer was greatly attached to his weapons and armor. Understandable, considering protecting one's self and defeating any foe that comes before you is of great value in the world above. The Pursuer's gear was a suit of dark-imbued Vanguard armor, a curse-warding great roundshield, and a hulking greatsword that could steal the energy of foes to empower itself and its wielder.

Leontius would have these items, and the soul in the kiln would grant them to him. After a few more seconds of keeping up the transposition process, Leontius plunged his hands into the kiln in a similar manner to pulling objects from his box, and the first thing to exit the kiln was the Pursuer's Ultra-Greatsword, the name "Atonement" coming to the forefront of Leo's mind as he pulled the blade out by its handle. He then set it aside and grasped the next item, that being the Curse Ward Greatshield. It didn't seem to have a unique name, but it was a powerful item nonetheless. He set it in the snow next to the greatsword.

The last thing he pulled from the kiln before it extinguished itself was the Pursuer's dark Vanguard armor. Unlike the greatsword and shield, it was slightly smaller than the original. Leontius' body had imposed itself on the suit in order to make it his size during the transposition process, thus it was the same scale as his own normal set of vanguard armor.

Resizing aside, it certainly retained all the hallmarks of dark imbuement. Some of the steel had curled and blackened, and what looked to be screaming faces seemed like they were trying to burst from the inside of the cuirass to the outside world.

Once the transposing kiln stopped emitting energy, Leo placed it, the armor, and greatshield into his box and stood from the bonfire with Atonement in his hands as he examined it. The "ultra-greatsword" certainly earned the title, it was a head and a half taller than he was, and had an incredibly broad blade. It wasn't quite as large as some other weapons he recalled having somewhere in his bottomless box, but it was certainly on the larger end of the spectrum.

He backed away from Toriel's house and gave the weapon a few test swings, thrusts, and parry motions. He was more of a normal-sized greatsword user, hulking slabs of steel like this were too slow and cumbersome in his opinion.

'I am strong enough to use it, but it is just not quite like using a claymore or bastard sword. Carrying it anywhere would also be a pain. Perhaps I will get some use out of it sometime in the future, but for now, into the box with it.' Atonement joined the rest of the red-eyed knight's equipment in the box next to the bonfire.

Leo's next order of business involved the quickly fading bonfire. Recalling that he'd dropped the Ember from earlier into a pouch on his belt, he fed the bonfire with it and sat down once more, pulling his smithing gear out of his box and setting it close to the reinvigorated magical flame. Next, he got a small bag of repair powder from a pouch on his belt, then poured it into the mortar and pestle of his smithing set's repairbox. It was a good few minutes of refining the powder into a fine, dusty consistency.

Repairing his equipment was a simple matter after that, a healthy sprinkling of the refined powder next to the lit bonfire had a powerful 'reversal' effect on damaged gear, the massive tears in his armor vanished as if they never existed to begin with, and the scratches and edge damage on his claymore no longer marred the surface of his favorite blade. In short, his equipment was as good as new.

'Next matter of business, now that I have a true home, how does the Homeward miracle work now? I recall its original intention being used to take its caster home, but for undead, it typically takes them to their attuned bonfire…'

To sate his curiosity, Leontius collected his items then left the bonfire and stood beside Toriel's home, his gaze set on his cabin in the distance. With his claymore's talisman gripped in his left hand, he recalled the aspects of the Homeward miracle and cast it with his eyes closed.

Leontius felt no motion, as was typical of the miracle, and when he opened his eyes he found that he was standing in front of his cabin. 'That will certainly make trips home far easier, but the walk out of this field is still definitely an issue, unless Homeward Bones still link to bonfires...' He put the slight inconvenience and possible solution aside for later and entered his cabin, his things exactly where he left them a few hours before.

After picking up and setting the fallen Greataxe next to his other axes and removing and storing his gear, Leo sat at the edge of his bed and looked about his cabin. It was modest, but it was good enough for him, so it was home. He laid down on his bed for the first time, then tried to calm his mind and get some semblance of rest. He found it difficult, his mind mostly stuck on the possible condition of the Ruins and their doorway, considering that the Pursuer had likely forced his way through them.

After a while, he was able to suppress his nagging mind and managed to at least peacefully lay under the covers for a few hours. Like his rest in the Inn, he found that it actually did him some good.

vvv

Restlessness came to Leontius eventually, and he found that he couldn't stave it off by just remaining still in bed anymore. He slid out of bed and decided to figure out some clothing to wear once Toriel took his- now thoroughly trashed- set in for mending.

His box revealed a set of clothes somewhat similar to his old semi-armored coat and overclothes, though it completely lacked any kind of armor or reinforcing. It seemed to serve as a full outfit without any need for extra layers. He figured it was likely an imported set of clothing, considering it was a design not in the fashion found among the commoners of his kingdom's people, as well as the fact that he found it abandoned in a smashed crate on the side of the road with other similar looking, but far worse off, sets of clothes.

He cared little about the style of the clothing, it had a hood similar to his coat's and was in better condition than his other clothes, so it would suffice.

After setting aside the clothes he'd have Toriel mend for him, Leo took a cursory glance outside his cabin at Snowdin, finding that the town's lights were mostly still out, so he figured he still had time to get some firewood chopped before he needed to leave to meet Undyne and Sans at Grillby's.

The axe he decided to use for the task was the simple, no-nonsense single-edged Greataxe he'd dropped when Toriel came knocking. He recalled finding the weapon in a sewer, how such a weapon came to be there was unknown to him, but he figured the most likely answer was some undead abandoned it at some point, or lost it while traversing the sewers. The rest of the prospective axes were placed back in his box, and he made for the treeline.

vvv

If Leontius ever became a lumberjack by profession, he would likely be able to deforest much of the expansive woods surrounding Snowdin in a matter of a couple days. The hulking Greataxe, combined with his inhuman strength, made chopping a tree down as simple as hitting it two or three times in the same spot. Processing the tree after it was felled was the most time-consuming part, and constituted the bulk of the time he spent in the woods.

When Leo decided to call the job done, he'd felled, stripped, and processed six fairly large trees, ensuring he'd have firewood and kindling for quite some time. After transporting all the wood to the backside of his cabin, Leontius again looked to Snowdin, seeing lights on in most homes, including Toriel's. He got his usual gear and the bundle of clothing needing repairs from inside his home and left the Greataxe out for later use.

As he stood before his cabin and looked at the long walk to Toriel's home, he recalled wanting to attempt to use a Homeward Bone to skip the walk altogether. He was uncertain if his bonfire was still lit or not, but even unlit bonfires could serve as anchors, only lacking most functions and not being able to be attuned to by others until relit.

He decided to just see what would happen, reaching into a pouch on his belt to get one of the Bones he had on hand. As he crushed the old finger bone in his hand, he could feel the effects of Homeward, and the next moment he was next to the unlit bonfire in front of Toriel's home.

He was certainly glad he had some way of shortening the trip to and from his cabin, but he kept in mind he only had a limited supply of the Bones, and that they had far more utility than just convenience. After deciding he'd save the Bones for emergencies, he walked up to the large house's front door and knocked on it, reasoning that it would be rather rude to just barge in this early in the morning.

After waiting for a good thirty seconds with no response, he was about to knock again when his trained ears detected footsteps a bit of a way behind himself. When he looked, he saw it was Toriel and Asriel, both bundled up in warm clothes and carrying what looked to be bags.

Leo's earlier troubles and nagging thoughts seemed to vanish when he saw them, and he greeted them as they got closer. "Good morning Toriel, Asriel. I was beginning to wonder if you were home, you left your lights on."

While somewhat struggling with the amount of bags in and on her arms, as well as a few levitating behind her, Toriel responded. "Good morning Leontius-"- a bag handle slipped from her hand, but Asriel managed to shoulder it up enough in time to stop any spillage- "we were just coming back from some shopping we needed to do, need to fill up our fridge and pantry of course! Um, could you be a dear and…" She pointed her nose at the door, getting a grip on the slipped bag while Asriel held it up for her.

Leontius felt a little silly for being a bit slow on the uptake. "Oh, of course." He opened the door and held it open for the two Boss Monsters to pass through, following behind once the trailing floating bags were in.

Once inside, the two rather exhausted looking monsters disgorged their cargo onto the table in the kitchen, Asriel letting out a sigh of relief as he set some of his on the floor next to it once it was full.

What was in some of Asriel's bags caught Leontius' eye. "You purchased clothing as well?"

Asriel was the one to answer. "Yeah, before we went to bed last night, I noticed I was growing a little bit and told mom about it. She said we'd have to go shopping for some new clothes while we were getting groceries." He then put a finger to a spot on his head and rubbed it. "I feel like my horns are also kinda growing in too, actually…"

Leontius examined Asriel a little closer, he wasn't quite certain, but he supposed the boy was indeed slightly taller. "Ah, I see... Toriel, I recall you saying your species ages as your children grow, have you noticed anything like that…?"

Still stretching her arms after the stress of carrying the majority of the bags, Toriel gave the man a somewhat sideways look. "Like what? Like I am feeling older?" She paused for a second, thinking about it, then lowered her arms as she answered. "No, I cannot say I have, I am sure you know aging and growing are typically imperceptible, but…"

She gazed at her son, who was still messing with the spots where his horns would be.

"With Boss Monsters, it is the soul power of the parents flowing into the children which ages us. Considering he now has a part of you serving as his soul, I am entirely uncertain how it is functioning… he also seems to be growing much faster than usual, he complained of feeling his clothing tighten on him, his legs having growing pains, and now the horns."

Asriel corroborated his mother's feelings. "Mhm, I don't think I'm getting stronger or anything, but I can definitely tell I'm growing though."

For a couple of silent moments, Leontius tried to focus on himself to see if he felt any kind of weakening, but felt no such sensation. "Hmm. Puzzling. Well, I have your belongings from your old home, as well as my clothes that are in need of repair." He removed his box from his belt and opened the lid before pausing as Asriel began putting groceries away. "Would you like help with putting things where you want them or…?"

Toriel gave the man a thankful smile for the offer. "Oh certainly, I would very much appreciate the help. It would just be absolutely exhausting to move things around alone all day."

Leontius nodded in agreement, despite his lack of concern in regards to exhaustion. "Then let us get started."

vvv

If one were to say Toriel was meticulous when it came to interior design, it would be a woeful understatement. She was an absolute perfectionist. Leontius spent a little more time than he was comfortable with just moving furniture about until Toriel deemed it to be in the perfect spot, often after much delineation.

Had it been anyone else, Leontius would have eventually left to deal with his other matters and the nagging feeling of dread about the Ruins door, but it was Toriel he was assisting, so he made sure to keep his reservations to himself and help her to the fullest. It wasn't difficult or straining on his part, just a bit more time-consuming than he would have preferred.

Of course, Toriel handled her share of the work with her magic, moving the finer, smaller object and decorations about while Leontius handled the heavy lifting. Asriel helped a little as well when he wasn't distracted with rubbing his head for any sign of his horns.

The end result was a home set up with exacting attention to detail, it was certainly something to behold when it was all said and done.

vvv

As she set her potted plant in its proper place in the middle of the dining table, Toriel practically radiated an aura of satisfaction, with a grin to match. "I daresay we have done it. I cannot thank you enough for helping me with this Leontius, handling all of that with just myself and Asriel would have simply taken far too long."

From his spot leaning against the wall, Leontius' head perked up. He'd finished off the large furnishings and was waiting for Toriel to finish her part. "Ah, think nothing of it Toriel. If you ever need anything else, just ask. I am always just one short walk away from you."

Toriel approached the man with a grin and poked him in the chest, immediately ruining his cool, in more ways than one. "Well look at you, the model neighbor. Now that you have done a favor for me, it would just be downright rude of me to not return it. Have you brought the clothes you need me to fix?"

After regaining his composure while muttering "yes" under his breath, Leontius pulled the bundle of clothes from his box and handed it to Toriel. "There. I hope it is not too much to ask, but I also included my old coat and traveling clothes. It has some old wounds I would like patched up as well."

Toriel held the bundle of thoroughly worn and abused clothing and turned it about in her hands for a few moments to inspect it, responding as she did so. "Do not be silly Leontius, of course I will mend those for you." She fiddled with one of the armored bits still attached to his coat. "As for these, you will-"

Asriel bursting out of the bathroom and running into the living room at high speed interrupted her words and train of thought entirely. He stood before the two adults, shuffling excitedly. "Mom! Leo! Look!" The young Boss Monster angled his head such that the two could see the top of his head as he parted some of his fur for them to better see. "My horns grew in, I knew it!"

Atop the boy's head was, indeed, a pair of small and pointy horn tips that had revealed themselves. Their coloration was odd, from what could be seen they appeared to be a marbled coloration of varying blacks, whites, and overlapping grays in some places.

Leo felt he had to comment on that, seeing as neither Toriel or Asgore's horns looked like that. "Is that coloration normal…?"

Somewhat puzzled, Toriel tucked the bundle of clothing under her arm and ran a paw through her son's fur to get a better look at his small horns. "No, I cannot say it is, I have never heard of a Boss Monster having horns like this."

Something was definitely going on with Asriel, and Leontius was almost certain it involved his donated soul fragment. "This is an odd development. I have things to attend to, but… hrm." He was beginning to worry about Asriel, a monster with a human soul as his only anchor to the world, he was an entirely unique case.

Unforeseen consequences could be on the horizon for the boy, and that made Leontius rather anxious. "Once I am done with my errands and the like, I will return to see how he is progressing. Are you certain you feel fine, Asriel?"

Asriel answered after his mother stopped examining him to go set aside Leo's clothes for later. "Yeah, other than the growing pains, I'm pretty sure I'm okay. I'm actually really excited to finally be able to grow up, you know? After all that time, stuck as a flower..."

Toriel returned to the living room just in time to hear Asriel's comment on being a flower, and she once more recalled the meeting the three of them had at the entry the day before. "Oh, that incident… my child, I intended to talk to you about that, specifically how I, um… hurled a fireball at you."

Asriel seemed honestly unphased by the issue. "Oh that? Don't worry about that, mom. Not like you could have known it was me. You get used to it anyways…"

That last bit certainly puzzled Toriel. "You… get used to it? What do you mean by that, my child?"

Asriel realized his mistake, panic setting in internally. Leontius understood what he meant well enough, and assumed he'd experienced being attacked by his mother plenty of times before. It made sense if he just sat at that same spot in the entry waiting for people to wander in.

The young Boss Monster quickly tried to divert away from the issue, thinking of a way to escape the conversation. "Uh, nothing? Oh, um… I need to go change, these clothes are really getting tight on me!" He quickly walked out of the room, yelling "Bye Leo!" as he vanished down the hallway.

Toriel only stared after her son, wondering what his odd behavior was about. She glanced at Leo, noticing he didn't seem too phased by the oddity. "...Leontius, do you have any idea what he was talking about?"

Leontius knew the topic of timelines was sensitive information, so he, unfortunately, had to lie to Toriel in order to keep it secret. He shrugged, and simply stated "Not a clue, Toriel."

She seemed hung up on the issue for a few moments, then gave up on it, seeming somewhat confused. "Well then." Her demeanor brightened quickly afterward, however. "I suppose you have things to attend to Leontius, unless you would like to have a homemade breakfast here. I did just go grocery shopping, and I doubt you have any food out there in that small cabin."

Leontius found the idea of a good homemade meal rather enticing, especially one made by Toriel, but he was meeting up with Sans and Undyne soon, and Sans had already promised him food. Regrettably, he had to decline. "As much as I would love to take you up on that offer, Sans and Undyne are likely waiting for me in town, so I must be on my way."

Toriel didn't seem offended by him turning down her offer in the slightest, in fact… "Ah, it must be something important. Perhaps you would like to have dinner here once you finish your errands and come pick your clothing up?"

This offer, however, was one Leo had no reason to decline. He was utterly swayed, and Toriel seemed to know it before he even answered. "I see no reason why I cannot… yes, I will have dinner here with you then."

Toriel seemed pleased to hear it from him if her smile was anything to go on. "Wonderful! Do you have anything in particular you would like me to make for you?"

Leo wasn't totally sure what he wanted considering he had no clue what Toriel could make in the first place, barring one dish. He also had no taste in food, considering how long he went without eating. He just went with what he knew. "I suppose any main course will work for me, but I would like a pie for dessert."

"I will figure something out then, pie for dessert is a good choice though! I am certain you will enjoy what I have in mind for that."

Leo couldn't help but return Toriel's bright disposition, one of his rare smiles peeking out from his hood as he flipped it up. "I have no doubt about that. I will return tonight." His smile fell a bit, a darker thought snaking into the forefront of his mind, but he didn't voice it since he didn't want to ruin the mood. 'Hopefully nothing like yesterday occurs.'

Toriel folded her hands together in front of her, still smiling. Asriel popped his head around the hallway's corner just enough for Leontius to see as well, but he didn't make a sound. "I will see you tonight then, Leontius."

With a nod, Leontius was out the door and headed for Snowdin proper.

vvv

Before long, the undead stood before Grillby's, the cozy building's windows giving off a warm orange glow. Non-distinct shapes of the patrons inside occasionally shifted around enough to catch Leo's attention as he looked at the establishment. He was still feeling rather anxious about being around so many strangers, especially in such a small space…

The old warrior tried to brush off the discomfort. 'I have put myself in much worse situations than this…' Despite his rationalization, he subconsciously tugged his hood a little further forward, hiding more of his face. He pulled open the building's door, stepped inside…

...And was immediately the subject of everyone's attention. He saw a rather inebriated looking rabbit monster, a plant-like monster who had a head that was essentially a toothy mouth, the absolutely massive sentry dog, a red duck monster, and a man made entirely of fire behind the bar.

Leo had to momentarily survey where exactly he could go, the two side booths were occupied by the toothy and rabbit, the sentry dog was literally lying atop the only free-standing table, and the duck monster was already sitting at the only two-person table. His only real option was the bar and stools.

Pushing through the force of everyone staring at him, Leo made his way to the bar and sat on the stool closest to the corner with the jukebox in it.

The fire elemental- who he assumed to be the establishment owner Grillby- put away a glass he was cleaning and stood in front of Leo behind the bar. The fire monster silently stood there, seemingly waiting for Leontius to say or do something.

The duck monster sitting alone at the two-person table noticed this and piped up. "He wants to know if he can get you anything."

While he was confused why she said something and Grillby himself didn't, Leo felt rather silly for just ignoring him as he'd done. "Ah, I see. Erm… I am just waiting for Sans and Undyne, they said they were going to be meeting me here."

Grillby seemed to understand the situation, giving the awkward undead some space. Leo was rather thankful about that, but he could still feel everyone else's eyes on him. He was certain the majority of monsters knew about him by now, Asgore had to have told his guards and sentries that he wasn't a threat by now, and word likely spread quickly after that.

Leontius was brought crashing out of his thoughts when he felt someone tap him on the shoulder. Turning in his stool just enough to see, he saw that it was the rather drunk looking rabbit. Now that she wasn't just face-down on a table, he saw that she was a bit shorter than most of the rabbit people he'd seen in town, and seemed to have a hard time standing up straight.

The rabbit woman decided to break the ice. "Hey, are you… that human everyone has been talking about? I heard from a friend who knows a guy who knows Undyne that you saved the Underground or something, that true?"

Her speech was somewhat slurred and a little hard to understand, but Leo got the gist of it. His thoughts were correct, word had spread around. "Yes, I am, and I did my part to keep this place safe. What of it?"

A mischievous grin worked its way onto the drunk rabbit's face, her eyes lidding somewhat. "Hey, I wanna know something…" She prodded at his thick clothing with a finger. "Are you a hot guy, under all that?"

Leo was unsure what her question meant, but he did know he was entirely uncomfortable with her touching him. "Am I a 'hot guy?' What do you mean by that?"

Her grin seemed to get a little wider. "You know, are you hot?"

Restating the question didn't help Leo figure out what she was saying any better. "I am sorry, but I do not understand. Do you mean to ask if I am warm with all my clothing…?"

She seemed to be getting a bit frustrated with Leo's lack of understanding, her grin dropping a bit. "No, I mean like…" Alarmingly for Leo, she began reaching towards his hood to try and move it away or pull it down. He was about to stop her, but the front door violently slamming open grabbed everyone's attention and stopped her for him.

In marched Undyne, wearing what seemed to be a casual outfit with a jacket, her hair down as well. Everyone remained quiet as she made her way to the bar and sat on one of the front stools near Leontius, but that silence was broken the moment Sans appeared in the doorway shortly after. The people of the bar- except Leo, Undyne, and Grillby- began welcoming Sans from their various spots in the cozy building, the massive sentry dog rolling off the table as he did so. The skeleton lazily waved as he walked in and joined Leo and Undyne at the bar.

Thankfully, the drunk rabbit seemed to forget why she was pestering Leontius and went back to her booth, leaving the bar all to Sans, Leo, and Undyne.

Sans was the first to say something after getting comfortable on his stool. "heya leo. so, about that big knight guy. was he a buddy of yours or something, dropping in to say hi? armor looked kinda like what you had on when you were fighting him."

Undyne also voiced her opinion on that. "Yeah… I was busy making sure neither of you got across the bridge and took the fight into the town, but now that I think about it that guy's armor was kind of like yours. Huge sword, too."

While Leontius wasn't quite sure Undyne's recollection of the events was wholly accurate, the presence of similarities between the Pursuer's gear and his own was not lost on him. "About that, he and I actually have, or in his case had, the same set of armor. His was fit to his larger frame and dark-imbued to give it greater magical resistance. My set is also reinforced by a good degree, but it is nothing that drastic. As for who he was? He was an old foe of mine on the surface. He would hunt down undead, dropping from the sky in bloody, typically quick assaults."

Undyne's expression and demeanor got a bit more intense towards Leontius with her next question. "How did he get down here?"

Leontius wasn't too intimidated by Undyne, without her armor she seemed oddly slim. The same could be said about him when he wasn't wearing the Vanguard armor though, a bulky suit of metal certainly does wonders for one's intimidation factor. "I am not totally certain on that. He was not the only intruder, however. Another enemy, Kirk, also made his way through the Ruins and began sending proxies of himself to attack me. I managed to deal with him, but the Pursuer made his appearance shortly after. Seeing as Toriel sealed the Ruins up, how Kirk got through them is a mystery to me, but the Pursuer would have easily smashed his way through if he needed to."

Bringing up Toriel also reminded Leontius of something… "Speaking of Toriel, Undyne."

Undyne's intimidating air faded with the change of topics, Leo's answer being satisfactory enough for her. "What…? Oh, yeah the former queen. What about her?"

Leontius couldn't help but give her a deadpan look. He was certain she couldn't see much of it thanks to his hood, but it was definitely there. "Really? Have you already forgotten about how you chased us through Waterfall? You had no regard for her being in the way of your attacks, and you injured her. You did not even attempt to see if she was just a bystander or not."

Leontius' tone was most definitely 'pissed to the extreme' in Undyne's professional opinion. She could tell he was absolutely livid at the memory of the event alone. Even so, she wouldn't just let him give her that kind of attitude without defending herself. "Hey, I was just doing my job. I thought you were a threat to everyone, so I had to take action! If someone was in the way, that was their fault, not mine!"

Leontius' eyebrows furrowed, anger bubbling. He turned in his stool to face Undyne more squarely, he was certain she was fully capable of seeing his face now. "And yet you managed to halt yourself just fine when that child put himself between us. You called Toriel a traitor when I confronted you with it before I fled from you to Hotland, and you did not even address me pointing out you had hurt her then. You have holes in your argument, Undyne."

When Undyne got a good look at the irate undead's face, she began to falter. "Tch… alright dammit! Papyrus told me you had someone else with you. I figured if they were helping you I wouldn't bother watching my fire too much. What does it matter anyway, not like anything I can say to you will make it any better, what's done is done."

Leontius' sour expression softened somewhat. "No, nothing you could say to me will do any good, because I am not the one you harmed. You talk to Toriel about it, she is the innocent you injured. You are the leader of the Royal Guard, it is your duty to protect monsters, not hurt them."

At that Undyne began to understand her folly. She all but deflated at the realization. "...Alright. I get it, I messed up." She folded her arms in front of herself on the table and leaned forward, breaking eye contact with Leontius. "She lives close to the fields right? I'll go talk to her after this."

Leontius completely relaxed, turning himself once more to hide his face. He was about to say something encouraging to Undyne, but a plate of food being set in front of her and himself by Grillby interrupted him. Before Leontius could say anything, the fire elemental was already gone through the backroom door.

Sans leaned back in his chair a bit, looking over at Undyne and Leontius. "i was kinda hoping the food would get here faster, that chat really messed up the mood guys."

Leontius looked down to the plate in front of him, then back to Sans. "Apologies, I allowed myself to get worked up." He examined the food for a few moments, totally unsure as to what it was, beyond the fact that it was some kind of meat between bread buns. He also noticed a distinct lack of eating utensils to go with it... "So, what is this dish exactly?"

Undyne was the one to answer as she picked up what looked to be the main item of the meal. "It's a burger and fries, you just pick 'em up, and-" She took a monstrous chomp out of the burger, then with some considerable difficulty, spoke with her mouth completely full. "-just go for it."

Leontius got the gist of it. "That would explain the absence of cutlery, then…" He pulled his hood back enough to be able to eat without it getting in the way, then followed Undyne's example, albeit with a much smaller bite.

Monster food never ceased to amaze the ancient undead. He was starting to get the picture about why people disparaged Papyrus' spaghetti now, in comparison to what he'd just tasted, it was actually pretty bad. Toriel's snail pie was somewhere in the middle with the few sample breakfast items he'd eaten at the inn. He'd need a few more comparisons to get an idea where those really fell.

For a good few minutes, the group sat in relative silence, with Undyne and Leo just enjoying their food. Undyne finished hers and was already using a toothpick on her teeth and grinning at Leo as if she had beaten him in a race, but the undead didn't seem to notice and tried to enjoy the food as much as possible.

Once he was mostly done and just down to the remaining fries on his plate, Leo relaxed, enjoying the feeling of the magical food doing its thing on him. "That was the best food I have had thus far. Thank you for that, Sans."

Sans waved a hand dismissively. "no problem. really though, you're the reason some crazy floating knight guy isn't rampaging around right now, so it's the least i can do for ya." His demeanor changed a little, his curiosity driving him to ask something that had been bothering him about the encounter with the knight. "i had one more question about that guy, well… actually about something you did after you beat him, what was that weird black thing you pulled out of him?"

Undyne stopped idly picking at her teeth to pay attention but didn't say anything as Leontius answered Sans' question. "That? It was his Humanity, it serves to allow undead like him and myself to persist after death. When an undead falls, it works to retain our soul in a reborn form at a bonfire. Without that, you either become a soul-starved husk or cease to exist altogether, as he did."

Leo reached down to his side and put his bottomless box on the table. After reaching in (and getting a rather confused look from Undyne) he pulled out a single Humanity sprite and showed it to them.

He turned it around as it floated above his hand, gently shifting in shape. "From what I know, they are supposedly the fragments of man's collective soul, the 'Dark Soul.' They do not quite serve the same purpose as souls like mine or yours, but they are valuable nonetheless."

After letting the two monsters get a good enough look at it, Leontius dropped it back into his bottomless box and replaced it at his belt. "The Pursuer had a rather considerable amount of Humanity contained within himself, had I not pulled it out all at once he would have been able to come back numerous times."

Undyne finally decided to comment. "I don't know why, but looking at that stuff really puts something on the tip of my tongue, I'm not sure what exactly." A few silent moments passed with Undyne looking like she was struggling with her memory. "Actually, I sort of remember Alphys telling me about something like what you were saying, but I wasn't really paying too much attention to it. You should go tell her about that 'humanity' stuff, see if she's interested in it." Despite saying this, she still seemed rather bothered for a few moments afterward.

Leontius found that Undyne's suggestion seemed reasonable, Alphys was a scientist and would likely be interested in the topic. He was also curious about what Alphys had told Undyne about, and he had to speak to her in regards to her odd behavior with Mettaton anyways. "I will be certain to visit her at some point then, perhaps today if I can fit it in my schedule. At any rate, do either of you have anything else you would like to talk about?"

Undyne silently shook her head, she seemed to have enough on her mind as is, and Sans answered after thinking on it a bit. "nah, can't say i got anything else for ya leo. not right now, anyways."

At that, Leontius re-adjusted his hood and stood from his stool. "If that is the case, I will be going then. The possible condition of the Ruins and their door has been bothering me for some time, and I wish to survey the damage done."

Sans hopped off his own stool as well, his hands shooting back to their usual spots in his pockets the moment he was down. "cool. i'm out too, you guys know how i am, got a real busy day ahead myself.' With a wink, he was off and out the door.

Before Leontius followed suit he bid farewell to Undyne, getting some grumbling in response. He reasoned she wasn't exactly on good terms with him after their argument, but it bothered him little. He was not new to people disliking him, though he expected Undyne wouldn't be as hostile as some of the surfacers who weren't too fond of him.

After the undead left, Undyne sat by herself with her thoughts, eating Leontius' leftover fries. More and more regulars filtered in as she just sat and contemplated.

No one felt confident enough to take a seat at the bar with Undyne dominating it.

(24)