(32)
Only the sounds of the pulsating Barrier could be heard, as almost everyone present had gone deathly silent and still. The moment the group entered the barrier corridor to investigate the strange sounds they'd been hearing echoing through the halls, they laid eyes upon the supine, bloodied undead and an air of shock at the sight fell immediately. What's more, his ominously black-outlined form caught everyone's attention and looking at it gave all present the same deeply unsettled feeling, though none related this aloud. Toriel pushed through the heavy feeling to help the man while Alphys, Undyne, Asgore, and Asriel all looked on.
Toriel was kneeling, holding Leontius' unmoving form close to herself, propped up on her lap. His silver armor was completely trashed, it was scorched, dented, mangled, pierced, cut, and bloodied. The parts of the man's skin that were visible to the group looked horribly burned, and they could only imagine what Toriel was seeing from so close. She was quietly trying to get the undead to respond and checking his wounds over in a frenzy when something seemed to catch her by surprise. She immediately went to heal him, a glowing, blood-stained hand moving to the row of grievous stab wounds in his chest, but a sudden slight convulsion in his body made her cease the attempt.
She gently moved his helmeted head so that it was facing her. "Leontius…?" Immediately after, everyone present could see that the man's body began to go rigid, Toriel herself feeling it. A look of horrified realization came to her and Leontius began to quickly disintegrate into ash. His sword and even the blood covering the floor and staining Toriel went as well. In mere moments, he was utterly gone.
Toriel was unmoving, staring down at where Leontius had been only moments ago, the hand that had been supporting his head falling to the floor to prop her up instead. A faint green glowing orb began to form where he'd died, illuminating Toriel's face in its strange light. The glow had a black mass within, seemingly flitting about the confines of it. She slowly raised her other hand to the glow, but upon feeling what was within she recoiled from it, quickly standing and backing away.
Toriel looked to Asgore, desperation clear in her face. "Asgore! The soul containers! Quickly!"
Asgore just blinked for a moment before he got the idea, wordlessly rushing behind the group and summoning up the seven empty jars from the floor. Everyone watched as he retrieved one and hastily walked back, the rest of the jars returning to being flush with the floor after. He unsealed the jar and crouched a bit, holding the opening towards the green orb. The glowing mass was sucked into the jar and he quickly resealed it.
Asgore held the contained mass up and inspected it for a moment, coming to a sound conclusion based on experience with the unfortunately familiar process. "This is… not a soul."
Toriel walked over to him and looked at the green orb as well, her worry still just as strong. "No, but it is some of his soul power…" Asgore offered her the jar and she carefully took it into her hands, turning it about to closely examine the power within. "Rather a considerable amount of it as well…"
Asriel, seeming rather distressed, looked between the jar and his now-quiet parents, an ever-increasing number of questions driving him to voice them. "I don't… Leo is… gone? Humans don't die like that, what happened to him?"
Undyne softened her grim look and addressed Asriel, an amount of uncertainty evident as she spoke. "What, did no one ever tell you? He wasn't human, he was an 'undead,' something humans turned into or something. I've seen another one die before, and he also turned into ash just like that…" She looked back to the jar in Toriel's hands, slight disbelief evident. "...But for something to be able to kill him…" Her expression regained its edge and she summoned up a spear, attention now on the Barrier's exit. "Asgore, there's something dangerous out there, we need to get ready for it, it could come through any second!"
Asgore looked between the Royal Guard captain and the distant end of the barrier, nodding in agreement, his crimson trident appearing in his hand within an instant. "You are right, but we should take extra precautions." He cast a glance at Alphys, the small reptilian scientist looking a bit overwhelmed by the whole situation. "Alphys." Asgore's atypically commanding tone got her attention without issue. "We need to make sure whatever it was that defeated Leontius doesn't have a chance to get to the people. I want you to issue an emergency evacuation order and get everyone into the safe zone. Once this has... blown over... we can continue our talk on tomorrow's address."
Alphys was silently thinking, hands kneading in front of her. Asgore looked to her once more and she was able to finally find words. "I-I'll get it done, Asgore." She nervously glanced at the Barrier's exit one last time before hurrying off, phone already out as she went.
Asgore turned his attention to Undyne next, the fish woman still in a readied stance as she waited for anything to charge through the barrier. "Undyne." She tore her intent gaze away from the Barrier's end to acknowledge her king. "I need you to mobilize the Royal Guard and sentries then lead them in escorting people to the safe zone, Toriel and I should be able to keep the Barrier covered. Take Asriel with you as well and keep him safe, if something comes through I don't want him in danger."
Undyne was somewhat hesitant to leave Asgore's side, but she let out a sigh and dispelled her spear, walking over to Asriel as she did so. "Come on, you heard him. This place could get dangerous at any minute."
Asriel looked even more unwilling to leave, seeming dissatisfied with the whole situation. "But what about Leo? He's so strong, and I'd know because I-" He managed to just catch himself at that, Undyne's look gaining a slight tinge of confusion. "...He can't just be gone like this…"
Toriel was the one to assuage his concerns, gingerly setting down the soul jar as she did so. "He is not gone. That man has died hundreds of times, he will be back. Trust me, my child. He cannot… will not… fail us. Now please, follow Undyne as your father said."
Asriel was unable to retort, the idea of Leo dying at all seeming unthinkable to him, let alone hundreds of times. He kept it to himself and followed Undyne as she left the Barrier, a torrent of unanswered questions weighing on him.
Toriel didn't watch as they left, instead standing beside Asgore and waiting for any disturbances at the end of the Barrier. "...He was alive."
Asgore shot a confused look in her direction. "What? What do you mean?"
Toriel elaborated, still looking forward. "Leontius typically lacks any signs of life, but… he was breathing, his heart was beating, and he was done in by bleeding. Some of the signs were faint, but they were there. He has changed."
Asgore was unsure what that meant for the man, but he came to one possible conclusion. "Do you think he may not return?"
That question seemed to affect Toriel in a way Asgore wasn't expecting to see, her demeanor having some of its resolve replaced by sadness as she looked to the faintly glowing jar beside her. "I dearly hope that is not the case."
vvv
Darkness, this time familiar, oh so familiar. It was all around Leontius, and he knew all too well what this was. After all, he'd experienced it so many times, though his latest death was quite abnormal. For undead, death is always an on or off situation, with it being a sudden thing, not a slow, creeping demise that could be dragged out agonizingly long. It rather reminded him of his first death, blood loss and organ damage were dangers once more.
'I suppose being alive has its drawbacks then...' He continued to search about the distant darkness, spotting what he needed to find. A tiny speck of orange light. Weak, but there. He needed to get to it and to do so he would need the resolve of his purpose and reasons to continue on.
'My purpose… is to defend the Underground.' The light grew considerably or came much closer. As for which was the case, he was still unsure, even after all the times he'd experienced this.
'I must return to keep the people of the Underground safe, they are the last civilization in this world.' Again, the light increased in intensity.
'I cannot fade, I still wish to be with Tori-'
A loud growl came from behind him, opposite to the light. It was the very same as the one he'd heard atop the hill, and it made that terrible primal fear well up within him once again. He tried his best to ignore it and focus on stating another purpose, but the fear won out and overwhelmed him. Leontius ever so slowly looked away from the light until he could see what was in the darkness behind him, spotting it just on the edge of his vision, for he was unable to bring himself to fully look at it.
Even with such an incomplete view of the thing, he felt terror rise within him, and it only worsened as the beast slowly and soundlessly stalked forward. It was massive, easily dwarfing the beasts he'd seen in the valley. Dark gray shaggy fur covered its long quadrupedal form that he wasn't quite able to fully make out. Innumerable bared teeth all as long as rondel daggers and as white as sun-bleached bone framed the huge mouth of its long V-shaped snout that was pointed right at him. The top half of its head and snout were covered in a smooth black material and had two pairs of brightly glowing orange eyes set into it that bored into him, one pair set wider apart and further back on its head. Atop the rear part of its head was the outline of a barely visible pair of gigantic gnarled antlers that seemed to be made of the same black material covering its head, angling backward and out with numerous twisting extensions.
The beast finally came to a stop in a threatening stance directly behind Leontius, now far too close for comfort. It lowered its head and let out a long snarl, occasionally intaking breath in harsh rasps, its horrific maw parting just enough to reveal the doubled rows of interlocking serrated teeth within. At this distance, Leontius was able to see that the thick black material covering the top of its head had the texture of bone, with tell-tale fissures and small cracks running across it.
Its snarl ramped up into a deafening roar, mouth wide open. Leontius immediately turned away, no longer frozen in place just staring at it. The light ahead of him rapidly grew and brightened until the darkness eventually fell away completely, the sensation of all-encompassing heat being the last thing he felt.
vvv
Leontius' eyes flew open in a panic and he involuntarily tried to suck in air, briefly feeling like he was choking as he struggled to breathe correctly. After the heart-pounding episode was over and he was able to breathe, he simply laid there as he calmed down, the image of the beast's hateful orange gaze slowly fading from his mind and sight.
He tried to sit up but was unable to muster the strength, his whole body feeling awfully weak. He rolled his helmeted head from side to side as he looked about, hearing snow crunching and packing underneath it as he did so.
He was right beside his bonfire in front of Toriel's house. Of course, he'd left the bonfire unlit and was facing the repercussions of that. He was just barely alive, but he was no longer going to bleed out. He awkwardly inched closer to his bonfire and rolled onto his front, feeling the sharp steel of his broken armor stabbing into him all over as he did so. After repositioning himself, he retrieved an Ember from his box and relit the bonfire, feeling its healing effect immediately.
Once he was fully healed he stood, sheathed his nearby fallen claymore, then examined himself. He was still alive, and oddly enough, still had his human form. Typically, he'd have reverted to his true hollow form after death and rebirth, but that wasn't the case. Additionally, that strange pure-black shadowy outline was gone and he no longer heard the unintelligible whispering voices, or voice, as it were. Despite all that though, he still felt wrong.
On the negative side of things, he still felt like there was something foreign within him. Considering what he saw happening to the hollows-turned-humans-turned-beasts earlier and what was stalking him in the darkness of death, he was certain there was indeed something amiss.
'This whole situation has been even stranger than yesterday, and could get worse if the surface somehow manages to degrade more…'
Another stab in his side reminded Leontius of the currently pressing matter at hand and he started taking off the ruined Silver Knight armor, Snowdin's cold beginning to nip at him the whole while. Once out of the plate armor and its equally ruined arming doublet, he was back to just his plain clothes once more, those too unfortunately quite damaged as well.
Now that he was out of the magically negating armor, Leontius powered up the Dark Hand and slowly plunged it into his chest, seeking to find out if there was something wrong with him on the inside. He searched about his soul for anything out of place, at first finding nothing out of the ordinary, but once he went deeper to its core, he found something that did not belong in the slightest.
Another soul. This one was totally distinct from him, he could feel it. It was deep within him, resting in the hollowed out core of his soul. Worse yet, it was seemingly nestled around his Humanity, the vital mass tightly held within the coils of the foreign soul. Leontius made to grasp at the invading soul but found that he simply could not. The soul was reacting to his efforts, twisting and contorting about his Humanity until it fully covered it, and then his hand acted against his will and moved away from the soul and his hostage Humanity.
Leontius was shocked at the soul's display of self-preservation and carefully eased his hand out of his chest then dispelled the power coating it. If the soul could control him, then there was no telling what it would do if he attempted that again. Even if he could grab onto it and extract it from himself, it might potentially take his Humanity with it and permanently kill him. He ran a hand through his hair, thoughts going through his head as to what he could do about it. He ultimately came up with nothing, he was lost.
He just stood there for a bit after coming to that conclusion, and he felt helpless. There was something within him that did not belong, and it could take control of him. He strongly suspected it was why he was alive, why he felt that primal terror, and why that horrific black beast appeared and forced him out of death.
'But if this soul and that beast were placed inside me by that strange moonlight, why did I not transform with all the others…? Kirk did not either, he was still able to send a phantom to assist me…' That was quite shocking as well. He didn't question it at the time, but Kirk had indeed helped him escape the pursuing beasts.
'Pursuing beasts that would have kept searching for me after they got through with him… hopefully, this soul business can wait until later, there are still threats above, threats I must deal with.'
Leontius set his box down, tossed the ruined armor inside, and searched about for a set to replace it.
When he was readying to leave for the surface earlier, he allowed himself to get complacent, eschewing proper preparation and equipment in favor of speed and convenience. Had he been wearing properly reinforced armor, the battles would have favored him. Just one more dose of Estus, and he would have survived the whole ordeal. But he got sloppy and slipped up on both, and death was his reward.
'Mistakes I shall not make twice. I should have known better to begin with, after all these years...'
He pulled out the Vanguard armor from his box and began putting it on, starting with the undersuit of mail first, as usual.
vvv
Now clad in his typical set of steel armor and wearing the Mask of The Child, Leontius was once again going through Snowdin, this time at a full sprint. Unlike last time, however, there were plenty of people about. Adults, children, guards, all of them making their way out of town in an orderly manner… and giving Leontius confused and occasionally scared looks as he ran by.
Within the crowd, he also saw the familiar tall and stocky build of Charly easily standing out, and Suzy was, of course, close by and holding his hand to not get lost within the bustling crowd. Like the others, they seemed unsure about him as he passed by, but both seemed to recognize him when they caught sight of his trademark weapon sheathed at his side.
Leontius only gave the two a brief look with his masked face in acknowledgment and did his best to ignore the procession's stares, continuing on to the River Person's jetty. He found that the enigmatic cloaked figure was there, just as always.
He wordlessly stepped onto the person's boat, and with a curt utterance of "Hotland" they were off, boat speeding down the river to their destination. The two were silent for most of the trip, Leontius impatiently shifting his weight about from one steel-plated foot to the other. About halfway through, the person finally spoke.
"Tra la- oh my." They turned just enough to look at Leontius over their shoulder, face still totally hidden. "A bit too late for that, now isn't it? My condolences." They then turned back around, quiet again.
Leontius said nothing, leveling a suspicious glare at the back of their hooded head through his mask. He wasn't totally sure, but he was willing to bet there was something they were about to say that would have been useful a little while ago. He could only wonder why they felt the need to rattle off nonsense about eating mushrooms earlier instead of telling him more important things then, but he figured it mattered little anyway. He had already forgone proper preparations by then and would have likely met a similar fate even if he did know to suspect something.
He put it out of his mind and just settled with waiting for the trip on the river to end, and he didn't have to wait long. The boat stopped at Hotland's jetty and Leontius stepped off, still rushing and not bothering to address the River Person. They called out "Come again some time" as he went, seeming entirely unbothered by his silence.
He set off at a dead sprint through Hotland, gear clanking and rattling the whole way. He took the shortest route he could, but even so, the whole area seemed entirely deserted. Beyond the lack of monsters, he also noticed he was able to run for much longer than he was typically able to, but his recovery was much slower and harsher. Hotland's characteristic heat wasn't making it any better either, often at times he'd slow from his sprint to a jog or walk, chest heaving as he tried to catch his breath in the dry, hot air.
Cold and heat were affecting him like normal again and wearing a hooded mask and massive suit of armor wasn't helping it. It was uncomfortable and unfamiliar, but he worked through it and was eventually walking up the steps of the MTT Resort, the whole area seeming just deserted as the rest of Hotland at first. When he walked into the large building, he saw that was not the case.
The moment he opened the doors, three monsters standing by the far elevator door immediately looked over to him. One was a lanky green-scaled reptile with blond hair and the second was a somewhat chubby looking cat with purple fur and black hair. The third was another cat, though one of normal orange-ish color and shorter in stature compared to the other two, looking quite awkward as he stood away from them in front of the elevator.
Leontius briskly stomped through the resort's lobby, intent on just ignoring the three monsters and continuing on to the Core. One of the monsters calling out to him made him slow and halt though, silently staring.
The first one to try to get his attention was the reptilian, her voice having a strange accent. "Hey! So are you, like…"
The purple cat finished the reptile's question for her, voice similarly accented. "...A Royal Guard, or something?"
Leontius briefly looked away from them to the seemingly beckoning doorway to the Core, but looked back to them and decided to at least see what they wanted. "No, I am not. Why do you ask?"
The two shared an uneasy look between themselves at his answer while the orange cat slinked over to the elevator in the background, pressing the open button repeatedly while trying to make himself as small as possible.
The reptile woman spoke first once more. "Well, we got a text from Alphys that we needed to, like…"
Again, the purple cat finished the sentence. "...Get to the safe zone super quick, but the elevator up to New Home is totally busted or turned off or something."
Leontius shot a look at the elevator door and the orange cat still furiously pressing its open button, the monster speeding up his efforts when he realized he was being looked at by the masked man. He diverted his attention away from the spooked cat and back to the two women, unsure who to look at thanks to their odd way of addressing him. "Well I apologize, I cannot help you with that. You said Alphys told you to get to this 'safe zone,' did she tell you why?"
The two shared another look and whispered in hushed tones, shooting glances at Leontius now and then. He was beginning to get impatient and considered just leaving, but the reptilian finally answered him. "Well, she said something really dangerous could be coming through the barrier, but I guess she just didn't feel like telling us what, so…"
Once more the cat finished for her, voice having an undertone of fear. "Are you like… one of the dangerous things?"
Leontius thought quietly for a bit, his silence seeming to unnerve the three monsters. He was more considering what they said about threats potentially coming through the Barrier, recalling that he did indeed see an Alphys-sized yellow shape through his blurred vision when he was dying.
'Quite judicious of her to organize an evacuation effort so quickly… my death seems to have put them on high alert, reasonable, considering what they have witnessed me fight before…' The monsters were becoming increasingly unsettled at his silence, and he supposed it would be quite off-putting to have some huge armored figure in a mask ignore a question of being friend or foe.
"No, I am not one of the threats from the surface. I am, however, one who handles them." He shifted his attention to the orange cat monster, once again sending him into a miniature panic attack. "I believe you lot should just give up on that elevator, they can be quite problematic at times. If you cannot make it to the safe zone, then hide somewhere not out in the open… or in other words, not here."
With that, Leontius set off jogging through to the Core, leaving the three monsters behind. As he left, he just barely heard the women talking to the orange cat, and then there came a yell of "For the last time, my name isn't Burgerpants, it's-" but the ending of the outburst coming from who he could only identify as 'Burgerpants' was drowned out by the sound of his own heavy metallic footfalls.
The Core was just as straightforward as ever, and before long Leontius was walking the castle walls overlooking New Home. The city was eerily dark, the vast majority of its lights were off and he didn't see a single soul out and about from his vantage point. Quite an effective evacuation effort indeed.
Passing through Asgore's home revealed that it too was empty, as was the orange hall after that. Walking through the hall gave Leontius odd feelings of unease, like the small area itself was hostile or perhaps concealing something from him. He'd ignored it when he walked through earlier, but this time around he slowed as he neared the hall's end and looked back towards the middle where he'd encountered Frisk in the other timeline.
Standing in that spot brought back his concern on what exactly had become of the boy, but he set it aside once more and continued on to the throne room, he had more immediate things that required his attention.
He was so rushed and absorbed in his thoughts that he entirely failed to hear the patter of much lighter feet than his darting out from behind a pillar and quickly going the other way.
vvv
Toriel and Asgore stood quietly, still watching the far end of the Barrier for any possible signs that something could come through. The king still had his trident in hand, its tines pointed up as he leaned into it for support. The ex-queen's hands were folded before her, ready to spring magical fire to life at any moment.
Neither had spoken in quite a while, but both had concerns on their minds that went unvoiced. For Asgore, it was whether or not the kingdom would survive if something did come through that far foggy wall. For Toriel, it was questions about Leontius, hopes that he would return, and worries about what everyone both felt and saw; that strange, unnatural looking darkness that seemed to frame him. What that was, Toriel hadn't the foggiest of ideas, but it was deeply unsettling in a manner she just couldn't quite place.
She cast a worried glance to the jar still on the ground next to her, catching a glimpse of the dark mass within the contained green orb. She'd been doing this on and off for a bit now, and each time she half-expected the strange soul mass within the jar to change or vanish entirely, but it had not done so, much to her relief.
Toriel let out a tired sigh and dropped her hands to her sides. Asgore gave her a brief look but still didn't comment, remaining vigilant.
The sound of metal clanking coming from behind the pair of Boss Monsters shattered the long-settled silence, and they both looked to see what it was. Leontius ducked through the archway into the Barrier, walking at a brisk pace.
At first, Asgore didn't recognize the man thanks to his armor but caught sight of his identifying greatsword quickly enough. Toriel shouting his name and running over to him solidified that it was indeed Leontius, the warrior coming to a halt as she ran up to him.
Toriel made to give Leontius a quick check over but gave up when she found nothing but his undamaged steely shell. He seemed rather quiet, and Toriel tentatively reached a hand up to his masked face, its rough, cold edges granting her little in the way of connection to him. "Leontius… are you well? You are not hurt anymore, are you?"
The man seemed to gaze about the Barrier, taking a moment before responding. "...No, I am fine." He looked to Toriel, her concerned expression clashing harshly with his mask's happy countenance. "I need to return to the surface, there are still threats…" He tried to sidestep Toriel to continue on, intent on heading towards the Barrier's exit, but her hand softly landing on his breastplate easily stopped him.
Her concern deepened and she looked at him in a way that seemed to solidly hold his attention, and as her hand rested upon his chest she could just feel that it was rising and falling with breath. "What happened up there, Leontius? And what threats are there? Did they…?" She looked behind herself to the soul jar, and Leontius took note of it as well, understanding her implication.
Leontius' posture seemed to relax considerably, and he let out a sigh as he backed away from Toriel and ran a hand across the top of his hooded head. "Far too much took place, clearly more than I was prepared to handle. The same goes for the threats." He walked around her to the soul jar in an almost tired manner and scooped it up, Asgore dispelling his trident as he neared.
Leontius looked down at the contained soul mass in his hands, continuing his answer once Toriel stood beside him. "...And yes, the threats managed to do me in, though it was I that allowed myself to get sloppy in my preparations, and I paid for it." He cast a look at the two Boss Monsters before attempting to open the soul jar. "I see you took cautions in handling my soul mass after my death, likely for the best, there is no telling what would happen if someone accidentally absorbed it…" He finally managed to pop the lid off the jar and pulled the orb from within it, carefully setting the jar and lid back where it was after.
Toriel's concerned expression eased up a bit at that. "Yes, well… I may have panicked a little when I saw that appear after you turned to ash, I was unsure if it would persist like a whole human soul would."
Leontius gave his soul mass a curious turn as it floated above his hand, masked head inquisitively looking down at it. "I am not so certain about that myself, loose souls are typically snatched up quite quickly on the surface." He brought the lost power closer to his chest and it absorbed into him easily enough at first, but something strange took place shortly after. His armored form began to darken rapidly until it was pure black, and then a similarly colored wave issued out from him, blinding all three of them in a flash of darkness.
vvv
The safe zone was well and truly crowded, just about every citizen of the kingdom was there. It was a large complex hidden away a good distance away from New Home, just about in the middle of all the currently populated areas of the Underground. There was enough space and supplies to temporarily house everyone, but no such preparations were made to quell the people's unrest and confusion, both of which were thoroughly expressed in the low drone of everyone's voices.
And there Asriel was right on the edge of it all, just outside of the group in the main room, sitting on a low cot and staring into the mass of people, trying to distract himself from focusing on what he'd seen earlier in the Barrier. Undyne stood close beside him, helmet off and under an arm as she scanned about.
Voices, so many of them, all of them distantly familiar if Asriel strained his hearing enough to focus on any single one at a time. This was the most people he'd ever seen in one place in the Underground, and it wasn't for anything good. Though it was quite the experience, looking into a crowd and being able to recall exhaustively interacting with each and every one of the people in it, though the memories weren't truly his. At least, that was what he liked to tell himself, now that he actually was himself again.
Though, that wasn't to say his form was exactly as he remembered it. He was still getting bigger and growing his horns, and most recently, his fur had begun to shift in color. When he woke up in his old bed, he found that his fur had gone from its normal pure white to a slightly grayer hue mottled with various blots of inky black.
It was an odd change, one of many, and he still felt happy about finally being able to grow up, but such changes were unheard of in his species. He'd met all of the other Boss Monsters present in the Underground beside his parents, and they too had the same white fur and horns as his family.
He reached a hand up to his head to feel at his horns, a habit he'd developed quite quickly when he first felt them coming in. They were still small, but they were getting there.
The sound of the main bulkhead to the complex opening up grabbed everyone's attention, most quieting down as they looked over to the door. A group of citizens, guards, and sentries came in, and Asriel recognized all of them as the people from Snowdin. Undyne gave Asriel a quick glance before setting her helmet down on the cot and wandering over to direct the newcomers, leaving him alone. He watched as the people filed in and joined the main group, looking from one person to the next, recalling who they were as they passed by.
'Grillby, Tiny, Dogamy and Dogaressa, Icecap, Faun, Ice Wolf- er, Jimmy Hotpants, Sans and Papyrus, and finally...'
The last two people at the back of the line were a pair of purple reptiles… and Asriel drew a blank when he saw them, entirely unable to recognize them. One was a young girl, and the other looked like he was her dad. The two were about as confused and lost looking as everyone else in the complex, just following Undyne's instructions.
The safe zone's bulkhead loudly closed just as the two unfamiliar people passed by him and his cot, the girl seeming to notice his stares, quickly shooting a look back at him from under her winter jacket's hood as she went by. The two made their way over to the crowd of people, just milling about and trying to mind themselves from the looks of things.
Asriel still found himself unable to tear his attention away from them, only briefly glancing about to see if there was anyone else present in the main room who he didn't recognize. Finding that to not be the case, he got off the cot and slowly began making his way over to them, trying to blend in and not make it obvious he was headed in their direction.
He was about to start weaving into the main group to better hide his intentions when a sudden feeling made him stop dead in his tracks. He couldn't quite put his finger on what it was, and it didn't feel like there was something wrong with him, but by that same token, it seemed like there was something happening to a part of him that was elsewhere.
Asriel turned just in time to see a massive wave of darkness as it quickly passed through the wall of the safe zone and engulfed everyone, including him. His vision went totally dark when it passed over him and for a few moments, he could only hear the panicked cries of the people around him as he rubbed at his closed eyes. From the sounds of it, they too had been blinded.
The blinding darkness passed and Asriel's confusion went with it, understanding taking its place. When the wave hit him, he felt that same soul resonance he experienced whenever Leo was around, and his mind was drawn elsewhere, looking off into the corner of the building as if he could see straight through it.
'Something is definitely happening to Leo, but what…?'
His attention was brought back to the safe zone and its occupants when he heard voices shouting above the scared and confused drone of everyone trying to figure out what had just happened, coming from an area in the corner. The massive group's attention was drawn there as well, and Asriel tried to beat the moving crowd to see what was going on.
Just managing to squeeze his way into the front row forming around the corner, Asriel saw what had caused the uproar. The corner had been serving as a makeshift medical center, with any who were infirm being watched over by New Home's doctors and nurses, including anyone with the falling sickness.
And it was those comatose monsters that had got everyone to come over, rather, the previously comatose monsters, as they were all awake, some even sitting up on their cots as they looked around in confusion. Families from within the crowd were already filtering in to be with their loved ones while the medical staff did their best to ensure the safety and stability of the disoriented patients.
Overall the scene quieted everyone down a significant amount after the strange wave incident, awe at the sight alone contributing much to it. Asriel stood alongside everyone else and just watched as well, in all his years as Flowey, he never found a way to help the fallen. Yet… there they were, up and about.
Asriel's mind wandered to the previous oddity that had so handily caught his attention, that being the two reptilian monsters. He looked away from the medical corner and instead swept his gaze around the crowd surrounding it, hoping to spot the duo somewhere in it.
From what he saw, they didn't seem to be visible from where he was, so he decided on just heading back to his cot and keeping an eye out. Like Leo, they were something new, he knew that for a fact. As for just what all this meant though, that was something he wasn't so sure about.
vvv
Toriel and Asgore's vision briefly went dark during the flash and they felt the Barrier violently shudder, but it all passed quickly enough and once their vision returned they both saw- and felt- that the strange black outline was once again surrounding Leontius, the man looking down at himself as well.
Asgore inched away from Leontius anxiously as the Barrier calmed. "That is not normal… is it?"
Leontius looked away from himself to a seemingly random point of the wall for a moment before raising a hand up to look at the outline around it. "No, not in the slightest. Then again, lately I have been questioning what 'normal' even means…" He lowered his hand and took note of Toriel and Asgore's rather uneasy demeanors. "...Is something the matter?"
The two Boss Monsters shared a momentary look, and it was Toriel who answered his seemingly self-evident query, sounding quite unsure of herself as she did so. "No, well… it is just that, you have changed, obviously. You are still alive, even after coming back, and that is good… but that darkness around you is…" She struggled with what to say next. How could she describe how she felt just being near him? Unsettled? Unnerved? Anxious? Scared? That last thought seemed the most accurate and that made her feel guilty, and it showed. "...Concerning. Both times we have seen that I think everyone felt something off about it, but I just do not know quite how to put it into words."
Leontius was quiet at that, masked face only slightly moving from side to side in an indication that he was looking between them, and his stance shifted in slight discomfort as he did so. It made Toriel feel like he saw right through her words and knew it was more than just 'concerning,' that she actually felt fear of all things while she was near him, a man she'd come to feel for. That thought only worsened the guilty feeling developing in the pit of her gut, and she could find nothing to say that would make it any better.
Leontius lowered his head somewhat, still quiet. When he finally spoke, Toriel found herself feeling even worse at how he sounded less purposeful and quieter than he usually was. "...I will return to the surface, handle the threats, and come back. After that, you should be able to lift the emergency evacuation order without fear." At that, he slowly walked away from the duo to the far end of the corridor, even his typical way of walking seeming to lose an amount of its purpose.
Neither Toriel nor Asgore moved from their spots as he went, and the further he got, the less and less they felt the effects of the dark aura. By the time he was at the fog wall, it was barely present, and when he passed through, it vanished completely.
Asgore let out a breath at the sight, while Toriel couldn't help but still feel a bit bad about the whole situation, even without the seemingly overbearing dark atmosphere pressing down on her.
Asgore gave her a relieved look, seeming a bit fatigued at keeping watch over the barrier. "I think I will be heading home for a tea break now, I'm sure he has it handled…" He picked up the empty soul jar, and his relief turned to hopefulness… "Um, would you like to join me, Toriel?"
She gave him a sidelong look at that, still looking quite down and guilty. "Sorry, Asgore, but I… I think I will just wait here, at least for a little while."
He looked between her and the barrier's end, his hopefulness falling as he began to understand. "Oh... well, if you change your mind, I could always make some more if you do stop by." He too left the Barrier, only stopping to replace the soul jar back in its place in the floor.
With both Asgore and Leontius having left in opposite directions, Toriel was left alone in the middle of the Barrier, with only her thoughts and feelings of guilt for company.
(32)
