Chapter 4

Dragging his paw over his face, Asgore tried to not sigh yet again. A human. A child, yes, but still a human. Asgore had not seen one for nearly fifty years. He had begun to forget what humans looked like.

Then Asriel comes back to the castle one day with a human—

"Sire!"

"Huh?" Asgore's head snapped upright. Gerson sat across from him, the turtle monster's folded hands resting on the table.

"You all right there, King Fluffybuns?" Gerson asked, using that silly nickname the kingdom started using to refer to Asgore shortly after Asriel was born.

"I'm not sure how to be all right," Asgore replied, pinching the bridge of his nose. "What on earth am I supposed to do with this human?"

Gerson shrugged as if he did not care. "A child, huh? Practically harmless."

"You know as well as I do that any human, even a young child, could easily kill us all if they were determined enough."

"Yes, but does the child know that?"

Asgore dropped his paw and gave Gerson his full attention.

"Think about it," Gerson casually began, "this child has never seen a monster. Their grandparents did, and possibly their parents, but not this child. Just as our kids and grandkids today have not seen a human.

"For all this kid knows, we were nothing more than fairytales until your boy came along and frightened the human. If lil' Asriel can scare the human, then I don't doubt the rest of us terrify them. They're severely outnumbered down here, and if the kid's got any brains, they won't do anything to make an enemy out of us. 'Sides, even if the kid started to kill us, they can't go far before someone powerful comes along and strikes them down. Not unless they can't die for some reason."

"Ideally, the child won't want to kill anyone in the first place," Asgore replied, not as comforted by Gerson's words as he would prefer.

The turtle monster merely shrugged again. "Then don't give the kid reasons to kill. Only a sicko would kill someone who has been nothing but nice to them. Speaking of this kid . . . Are they a boy or a girl? I don't feel right calling the kid 'them,' but I suppose that's much better than calling the kid 'it.'"

"I, erm, don't know," Asgore confessed, rubbing the back of his neck. "Remember, I have already begun to forget what humans look like. Men and women are easy, but children are a little tricky."

"You mean to tell me you don't know if that kid is a boy or a girl?"

"Umm, yes?"

"So we're calling the kid 'they' and 'them' because we don't want to ask the kid what they are?"

"I mean, wouldn't that be rude?"

Before Gerson could respond, monster began to enter the room. The rest of the council was here. Asgore's heart sank as he mentally prepared to tell the rest of them the news.

A monster with a pink, heart-shaped face and the body of an upside-down wisteria vine flower walked in and asked Gerson if had found a place in Waterfall to move. Behind her was a black and brown rabbit monster wearing black slacks and a white vest for a shirt. Lastly was a monster that was skeletal in appearance, dressed in all black, and was so quiet even his footsteps did not make a sound.

"Howdy, howdy," Asgore said, trying halfheartedly to get everyone's attention. Part of him did not want to reveal this news. One way or another, the knowledge of a human Underground was going to cause drama.

"Hey, shaddup!" Gerson exclaimed after Asgore spent the past minute trying and failing to get the others to stop talking and start listening. When they finally were quiet, Gerson added, "King Fluffybuns here has something very important to tell us."

"It better be important," Bleeding, the flower monster, replied as she crossed her green, vine-like arms. "I had to leave Petunia's recital early just to make it here on time."

"You live half an hour away from the castle," Jack, the rabbit, said without sympathy. "King Asgore traveled about a week to get here, and you spent all that time knowing that we were meeting today."

"Either way, the matter still stands."

"Look, Bleeding," Asgore began, calmly getting the flower monster to listen, "I apologize for the inconvenience this has caused you and your family. However, you know I would never call the council together so suddenly if it wasn't important."

"Which begs the question," Jack said, "what's so important that you called this meeting?"

"Well . . ." Asgore licked his lips and wiped his sweaty paws on his thighs. He caught Gerson staring at him as if to shout Spit it out! So, that's exactly what Asgore did.

"There's a human in Home!"

Bleeding's face paled to white, and Jack's long ears dropped. Gerson put his face in his palms and shook his head. Perhaps spitting it out wasn't the best idea after all.

Jack was the first to recover. "A . . . a human? A-a real hu-human?!"

Leaping up so quickly his chair toppled over, Jack slammed his paws onto the table and shouted, "And you left it in Home, with your wife and son?! Asgore, what are you thinking?! Humans are our greatest enemy. You should have killed it on sight!"

"And absorbed its soul!" Bleeding jumped in. "Asgore, you remember what Renart told us about soul power, right? He knows the kind of magic the humans used to seal us Underground. Only a combination of a human and monster soul is powerful enough to pass through the barrier, and seven human souls are required to break it. With this human's soul, you can cross the barrier and return with six more to set us free!"

"What would be the point?" Jack argued. "The humans will just chase us all back Underground. No, they might just annihilate us instead! Kill the human, yes. Absorb its soul, sure. But what would breaking the barrier accomplish aside from getting us killed?! My father fought alongside you, Asgore. He told me all the terrible things humans did to monsters. We are safer down here than we could ever be up there. Sealing us Underground was a mercy!"

"You speak as a coward!" Bleeding snapped. "Don't you care to experience sunshine and the wind for yourself?"

"Yeah, why not? It will be the last thing I ever experience. Why not die seeing the sun?"

"You will die with that attitude regardless if you leave the Underground or not."

"Not as if you or I will ever see the sun in our lifetime. Don't count your ducks before they hatch."

"And abandon hope? Why, I can't imagine living life with the pessimism you have."

"You call me a pessimist. I call myself a realist."

"Enough!" Asgore exclaimed, raising his voice just enough to silence Bleeding and Jack. They looked at Asgore, looked back at each other, glared, and sat back down without another word. Now that the arguing had ceased, Asgore said, "I have no intentions to hurt the child."

"Wait," Jack interrupted, "this is a human child?"

"Can't be much older than Asriel."

"Well," Bleeding pursed her lips, "this complicates things."

"Unwilling to hurt a child to see the sun, Bleeding?" Jack sneered.

Before Bleeding could reply, Gerson spoke up. "Look, if we kill an innocent child for their soul, how are we any better than the humans who attacked our villages during the war and slaughtered our elderly and children? They had nothing to do with the battles, yet the humans turned them all to dust anyway."

Nobody had a response to that. Asgore swallowed, remembering when news of the attack reached his ears. Gerson's wife and children lived in one of those villages, and the others knew it.

"This child is just as innocent as those in the villages," Gerson continued. "Why should we kill a child for the sins of their grandfathers?"

"Then what else are we supposed to do with the human?" Bleeding countered. "Keep it as a pet? It can't leave the Underground any more than we can. When the humans created the barrier, I doubt they considered that they would one day be trapping their own with their greatest enemy."

Silence lingered over the table for a moment. Recalling that there was another person in the room, Asgore turned his attention to the quiet monster sitting in the corner instead of around the table. Asgore was never sure where this monster came from. He just . . . inserted himself in the Capital. However, this monster's knowledge and wisdom earned him a seat in the king's council, and Asgore wanted him to use it.

"What do you think about all of this, Gaster?"

Tapping his fingers against his arms, Gaster asked, "Tell me, Asgore, why did you call us here? I can see killing the human is not an option for you. What else would you want us to discuss?"

Asgore scratched his chin and thought about Gaster's question. The skeleton monster was right – killing Chara was never an option. If not what to do after harvesting the human soul, there had to be something else Asgore wanted; and by calling the meeting here, Asgore was looking for approval of what he already considered.

"I suppose I wanted your opinion on the possible outcomes if I take this child in as my own," he finally answered.

Gerson blinked as if unsurprised. Bleeding and Jack bolted to their feet as if to argue. Gaster stopped the two with a glare before prompting Asgore, "Why do you want to take in this human? What do you hope to accomplish by raising it alongside your own son?"

Shrugging, Asgore replied, "The human, as Bleeding already said, cannot leave the Underground. They are trapped here, with no hope of ever returning to their own family. There is nothing to be done for them save make sure they are safe and secure as they grow up Underground."

"A terrible idea if you ask me." Bleeding shook her head. "If this human doesn't die as a child, it will grow up and cover its hands with dust. It is human nature to murder. I say kill it before it losses it innocence."

"No," Jack disagreed, "I think Asgore has a good idea. A human raised by monsters can't hate monsters, right? If this human can learn to love monsters, then perhaps it's possible not all humans will hate monsters?"

"You won't be saying that when this human gets Asriel killed," Bleeding muttered.

"Bleeding!" Gerson explained while the others were stunned silent. "That is uncalled for!"

"Well, what do you expect to happen if Asgore raises a human alongside his son?!" she argued. To Jack, "And don't try to pretend you think this is a good idea. I know you don't believe your own words. You will do whatever it takes to keep the barrier from being broken, including agreeing with Asgore so nobody will use the human's soul as a means of freeing us from this prison."

"Then what should I suggest?" Jack countered. "If a child can find their way Underground, then so can a full-grown human! If this is something we have to worry about, then kill the child now and absorb its soul so that when a more dangerous human falls, there's a monster powerful enough to kill it."

"Enough!" Unlike before, when Asgore only slightly raised his voice, Asgore shouted as he, too, jumped up from his chair. With Bleeding and Jack shocked silent, Asgore lowered his voice and said firmly, "There is no harm that will come to the child. Not from me, and most certainly not from any of you. If I ever hear that anyone so much as thinks about hurting Chara, they will have me to deal with, and I promise I will not be so merciful to that person. Are we understood?"

Jack and Bleeding cowered in on themselves and nodded as they avoided eye contact. Only Gerson and Gaster remained calm as Asgore shouted and rose to his feet. Perhaps they had opinions worth hearing.

Recomposing himself, Asgore sat back down and said, "What do you two think?"

"Does it matter what I think?" Gaster questioned. "You clearly have already set your mind to raising the child."

"With the kid stuck here with us, someone has to raise them," Gerson said. "Since your boy found the human, I think that makes you responsible for them. I say talk it over with Tori. If neither of you see a problem with raising that kid with your boy, then by all means take the kid in. It's not like they have anywhere else to go."

"Besides," Gaster added, "think of the new hope this could bring. A human raised alongside the prince of monsters. Those two can become the symbol of the future between humans and monsters."

"If I may," Bleeding slowly and softly said. When no opposition arose, she continued, "How can we hope for a future between humans and monster if there is only one human here and we're not killing it for the sake of breaking the barrier?"

"Call it a gut feeling," Gaster replied, "but somehow, I know that child is going to put into motion the events leading the barrier to be broken. Killing him now will serve us less purpose then letting him live."

"Him?" Gerson questioned, which prompted Gaster to say, "Or her. I'm all about gender equality."

Asgore had not considered Chara's arrival leading to the breaking of the barrier. Perhaps there was a peaceful way to be freed from the Underground after all. There were no accidents, including Chara's falling Underground and being found by Asriel. Chara was in their lives for a reason. Chara was the hope between humans and monsters, and Asgore would be sure everyone knew it.

"Meeting adjourned," he then announced. "I have decided to raise Chara alongside Asriel, assuming Tori has no opposition."

Instead of asking if anyone had any questions, Asgore narrowed his eyes and added, "And what I said is true: You are all forbidden from hurting the human. If I find out that anyone has deliberately disobeyed me, I have unpleasant things planned for those who dare defy me and lay hands on the child."


After a few days in bed, Toriel had deemed Chara well enough to get up out of bed and out of the house. The overly excited Asriel suggested they go bug hunting. Wanting to do something now that he was no longer bedridden, Chara eagerly agreed to the opportunity.

Only to quickly find out bug hunting wasn't as fun as he thought it would be.

"There aren't a lot of bugs underground," Asriel sadly explained as he and Chara hunted for bugs in the front yard of the house – Chara had a hard time calling Asriel's home a castle, even if that's what everyone else called it. The two had spent the past half hour catching the same three bugs.

Growing bored, Chara set his bug net aside and watched Asriel. It was odd how this monster was hardly any different from him. Other than his outward appearance, Asriel was just as much a kid as Chara was. Every day since he fell Underground, Asriel sat with Chara to talk and play with him. Before long, they had become friends.

Chara didn't know what it was like to have friends before Asriel.

"Hey, Asriel," Chara called after he watched Asriel catch the same bug for the seventeenth time. When Asriel responded by turning his attention to Chara, the human asked, "Why do you and Ms. Toriel keep calling me 'they'? I don't mean to eavesdrop, but it's kind of hard to not listen when you overhear someone talk about you."

"Oh, um," Asriel swung his net around as he searched for the words to say, "we're not sure if you're a boy or a girl."

For a moment, Chara stared at Asriel. Then he began to laugh. "You can't tell?"

"To be fair, you're the only human I have ever met."

"And you did not think to ask?"

"Wouldn't that be rude?"

Laughing harder, Chara said, "I'm a boy. Like you."

"Oh. Haha, I guess that's good to know." Thinking a moment, Asriel asked, "Should we tell Mom?"

Chara snickered as he answered, "No, I don't think we should tell anyone. I want to see how long it takes for someone to ask."