Chapter 7: Losing Control

Asgore kept his word and spoke to the families and the Royal Guard and it wasn't long before he had an answer, one that left him feeling very sorrowful as he returned to the castle where the others were waiting. "I do have some bad news," he said.

"What is it?" Rebecca asked, fear filling her.

"When the war broke out, some families were separated as the monster children were kidnapped," he said. "Some were killed and others just vanished, but were later found to have fallen down."

Hannah looked horrified. "That's horrible," she said. "What those humans did makes me ashamed to be human."

Gaster placed a hand gently on her shoulder, giving it a gentle squeeze. "Not all humans are horrible," he said. "You, Rebecca, and the royal children are proof of that."

"True," Toriel said.

Chara looked up at the king, seeing he still looked sorrowful. "Daddy? What is it?" She asked.

Asgore sighed. "There is one monster unaccounted for," he said. "Though I do not know which monster, I do know that at least twenty monster children were taken and only nineteen of them were later found having passed on."

"Which means there is still one more out there?" Carmen asked.

"And it's possible it could be the monster the evil mages are using to try and turn the towns against the good mages, if Hannah's dream is true about the monster being one of our own," Rebecca said.

"Is there any way to find out?" Hannah asked.

"Not without going to the surface," Gaster said solemnly.

Frisk looked worried. "But...if the barrier is broken now, we'll have no defense against the evil mages if they storm the mountain," he said.

"He's right," David said, agreeing with his brother.

"Breaking the barrier now would not be good," Toriel said, holding Capricorn and Andromeda protectively to her.

"What do we do then?" Julie asked in worry.

Rebecca looked thoughtful and took a deep breath. "Either Hannah or myself will have to cross the barrier and go see if we can find the monster and find out who it is," she said.

Hannah looked worried, to which Gaster noticed. "Are you sure that would be wise, Becca?" The skeleton asked.

"It's our only choice," she replied softly. "I can't ask Hannah to do it so soon after her father's passing and I'm not going to risk one of the children's lives." She stood straighter, her face solemn. "Which leaves me."

"Rebecca, I'm not sure I can allow this," Asgore said. "We can't lose you."

"You won't, Your Majesty," she replied. "But I won't head out right away. I'll need a few days to prepare as I don't know how long I'll be gone."

Toriel looked saddened. "As much I as don't want to agree, I'm afraid Rebecca's right," she said. "We have no other option."

Asgore let out a weary sigh. "Very well," he said. "But I insist that myself and Hannah be there to see you off, Rebecca, when the time comes."

She nodded. "Understood," she said.

Alphys suddenly came running in with Undyne behind her and both looked worried. "Our troubles just got a whole lot worse," the fish woman said. "Look at this video."

They gathered around to see the video that the drone had taken, frowning at seeing the evil mages let the monster loose again. But this time, something happened that even made the two good mages gasp in alarm.

The monster seemed to grow in size and it turned on the evil mages as it went on a rampage, spewing steam and fire out of its mouth as it attacked the town, leveling buildings and tearing up the streets. Thankfully, it looked like everyone had been quick to evacuate, so there were no injuries to the townspeople.

But then the monster began attacking the evil mages, who were trying to control it, but it was hopeless as it reared up and went to charge, yet before it did, they all saw a white, upside-down heart appear before the monster, confirming what they had suspected. "Looks like we have our answer about if the monster is truly one of us," Gaster said.

"Then Hannah's dream wasn't just a dream," Rebecca said.

Asgore and Toriel both looked crushed at this and the royal children looked horrified. "Aunt Rebecca, can you save that monster?" Thomas asked. "It's not doing this because it wants to, right?"

"It was being controlled, yes," the dark-haired mage said. "But I don't know if this one can be rescued. Depending on how long the monster has been a prisoner of the evil mages and what they've done to it, there may not be much hope for it, which I hate to admit."

"Promise you'll at least try?" Sarah asked, looking up at her aunt pleadingly.

Rebecca nodded. "I'll do my best," she promised before looking at Asgore and Toriel. "But if the monster is too far gone and in pain once they are free...,"

They nodded, realizing what she was saying. "If it does come down to that, then you have our permission to do the monster a mercy death," Asgore said, though his tone was sad.

"What's a mercy death?" Nathan asked.

"It's where a monster who is too hurt to be healed or too far gone is put out of their misery," Toriel explained gently, tears in her eyes. "Very rarely is it ever done. It's only been done twice in the long history of monsters and both times, it was monsters that were very old and sick and the sickness was slowly killing them. The King, your father's great-great grandfather, did a mercy death for them. This not only allowed the dying monsters to finally be out of pain, but also brought some comfort to the families that their loves ones were not suffering anymore."

Gaster felt tears sting his eyes as he recalled the story while Rebecca and Hannah shed tears before the dark-haired mage took a deep breath. "A mercy death will be the very last resort," she promised, indicating that she really hoped it wouldn't come down to that.

Asgore nodded, also hoping it wouldn't come down to that, but if the monster they saw was indeed one of the children the evil mages had kidnapped long ago, it would be more merciful to put it out of its misery than try to undo the many years of damage the evil mages had done to the child monster.

Hannah suddenly gasped as she felt a small surge of magic. "We have company at the barrier," she said.

Rebecca went still and relaxed as she sensed the magic and noticed it felt familiar. "It's one of the good mages from the town to the south of the mountain," she said. "Maybe he has some good news for us."

Gaster teleported them both to the barrier, where they saw an adult male in his 30s look relieved they were there. "The evil mages cannot control their monster anymore," he said. "It's destroyed everything."

"Was anyone hurt?" Hannah asked.

"Thankfully, no," he said.

"The evil mages are going to try to get the monster back under their control," Rebecca said.

"They've failed so far."

Gaster looked worried. "How long will you need to be ready, Rebecca?" He asked.

"At least three days," she said. "I may be gone longer than a day once I start this quest to find the monster and try to help it."

"If I may offer some advice?" The male mage said.

"Of course," Hannah said.

He nodded. "Hate can be powerful, but just as love can build up walls, it can bring them down too and chase away hate."

He then turned to leave. "Good luck," he said. "And let love and mercy guide your actions."

Rebecca and Hannah looked at each other. "He's left us some sort of clue," the latter said.

"And it's something very important," the former said before pulling her cloak around her more. "Come, we need to get back and tell everyone what's going on because like I said, once I start this quest, I may not be back right away."

Gaster and Hannah nodded before they all headed back to the castle, anxious as they knew that this wasn't going to be easy.

Looks like a hard task ahead, yes?

Next up: we get a light-hearted chapter. :)

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