:):

Happy Halloween and thank you for all of the wonderful reviews!

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Here it is. Time for some answers! :)

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The King of Monsters

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Wading through the sea of golden flowers, Fearia finally reached the throne where the King of the Underground sat. Lifting her gaze, she stared in nervous amazement at the giant monster. He was huge! Not only that, but the golden armor and dark purple cape somehow made him look even more impressive. Even so, there was something awfully familiar about him. Tilting her head slightly, the little girl studied the monster's face.

In turn, King Asgore also took this time to stare quietly down at the small child. Now that she stood before him, he could truly see how exceptionally minuscule this tiny human was. If he had to take a guess, he would say that she was only around five or six years old. What was such a young child doing in the Underground? Surely she wasn't yet old enough to be left unattended. Vaguely, Asgore couldn't help but wonder where her guardians were.

Unconcerned by such things, the tiny human finally had a revelation. It was the beard, Fearia realized. Without it, he would look very much like the kind goat lady in the Ruins. So, did this mean- was- was he a? "Are you a goat?"

Whatever Asgore had been thinking at that very moment came to a screeching halt at the innocent question. Completely caught off guard, the King made a show of coughing into his hand. "Ahem-her-her!"

From across the room, Sans felt as if he'd nearly died. "kid!" he hissed. "you can't just ask something like that!"

"I can't?" Confused, Fearia looked over to the distressed skeleton and frowned. "Why not?"

"It's alright, Sans." Asgore reassured as he held up a big furry hand. "It was only a bit of childish curiosity." Leaning over slightly, the King smiled good-naturedly down at the little girl. "Tell me, young one, do I really resemble a goat?"

"Uh huh... a little." Fearia nodded before taking a quick glance at his furry white feet. Creasing her brow, she looked back up at the bearded king. "But you don't have goat feet."

Subconsciously, Asgore, too, looked down at his furry feet. It was odd, though he was indeed a goat type monster, he had never once considered this particular aspect of his being. "No, I suppose I don't." He responded thoughtfully.

"Don't worry." Fearia said as she gave the King a smile. "Mom didn't have goat feet either, so it's not that weird."

Leaning back into his throne, Asgore gave a deep chuckle. What a strange thing to say. "Of course she didn't, child, your mother was a human."

"No, not my mother." Fearia corrected as she tried to explain. "I mean the nice lady in the Ruins. She said I could call her Mom."

Asgore silently studied the tiny human for a moment before releasing a sigh. "So, I see you've met Toriel." He said with more than a hint of sadness. It had been years upon years since his wife had left, locking him out of her life, both figuratively and literally. "I hope she is doing well."

Catching the look of uncertainty that flashed across the child's face, Asgore felt a stab of worry. His wife was okay, wasn't she? What if she was sick? Had she gotten hurt somehow? Struggling to contain his growing feeling of unease, the King addressed the human by name. "Fearia," He started, getting her attention. "is Toriel alright?"

Looking away as she relived the unpleasant memories, the small child reached up and grabbed a handful of fabric from her borrowed shirt. "She's okay..." Fearia began slowly. "but she's really sad and lonely. I didn't want to leave her all alone in the Ruins, but I couldn't stay either. ...I still feel bad about it."

Feeling the tension leave his body, Asgore drooped slightly. He was glad that his wife was okay but hearing how unhappy she was didn't make him feel any better. If only he could see her, but he knew that she would never allow it. He'd lost that privilege long ago when he had allowed himself to become consumed with his own grief and anger. He had no right to see her after all of the sins he had committed.

"I know, we should all go see her." Fearia suggested, a hopeful smile now present of her face. "She'll be so happy!"

"Now, child," Asgore started as he lifted his furry hands as if to somehow quell the little girl's enthusiasm. "I know your heart's in the right place, but perhaps we should save that for another day."

"You're right." Fearia agreed as she gave a small nod. "I have to rescue Frisk first. Then we can go."

"Frisk?" After all of this talk about his estranged wife, Asgore had almost completely forgotten the strange circumstances supposedly revolving around this child. Was it actually possible that she was from the past? Was this Frisk she spoke of truly the one he remembered from so long ago? "That is the name of your sister, am I correct?"

"Yes." Fearia confirmed happily as she clasped her hands in front of her chest. "She's my big sister."

"What, may I ask, is her family name?" Asgore inquired, trying to garner more details.

"Uh..." The little girl faltered slightly, a look of confusion on her face. "What's a family name?"

"A family name is a special name usually shared by members of a family." Asgore explained calmly. Perhaps this child was so young that she had yet to be taught this type of thing. "My official name is King Asgore Dreemurr." He said as he used his own name as an example. "Asgore," the King said as he gestured to himself. "is my given name and Dreemurr is my family name."

"Oh." Fearia gave a small nod in understanding. "I think I understand."

"So then," Asgore asked again. "what is Frisk's family name and do you share it as well?"

Fearia furrowed her brow slightly before giving a confused shrug. "I don't think either of us have a family name. Do you have to do something special to get one? Is it like a title?"

"No, it's..." Asgore trailed off as he stared down at the strange child. Somehow she still didn't quite seem to understand what he was trying to ask. Maybe a different approach would yield more clues. "You are from the Kingdom of Magic, are you not?"

"Mh mm." The little girl shook her head. "I'm from Fauna."

"Fauna...?" The bearded king asked as he searched his memories for such a place.

"It's a small village near the old kingdom." Fearia explained. "Paxon said that it was started just after the war had ended, so it's kind of new."

The war? Now they were getting somewhere. "Tell me about the war, young one." Asgore urged as he lifted a hand that had been resting on the arm of his golden throne and leaned the side of his face into an open palm. Though it was a rather undignified posture for a king, Asgore felt much more relaxed speaking with a child.

"I was born after the war, so I don't really know that much about it." Fearia answered honestly. "All I know is that it ended right before the Bane. Frisk won't talk about the war at all, but I heard some of the elders talking about it once. They said it was something like an 'ethnic cleansing' and that that is why there are no more monsters left. They called it the Great Purge."

From across the room, Sans felt himself tense slightly as his eye lights flicked to the King. This was probably one of the worst subjects she could be talking about right now but it wasn't like she knew any better. The kid was just answering honestly for once. Figures she'd choose now not to be evasive with the truth.

Asgore slowly narrowed his eyes as he listened. He'd always wondered how the humans would label their barbaric actions. A purge? It was indeed fitting. After living through the war firsthand, he could think of no better word for it.

"The elders said that the gods were angry at humans for what we did and that's why they had sent the Bane as punishment." Fearia finished uncertainly as she looked to the side. "Frisk said that wasn't true, though..."

"What is this "Bane" you speak of?" Asgore asked as he gave the human a curious look. He'd never heard of such a thing, but from how she spoke of it, it sounded quite serious.

"I don't really know what it is, but everyone is afraid of getting it." The little girl replied as she tugged slightly on the soft fabric of her borrowed shirt.

"So, is it like a disease?"

"Not really..." Fearia shook her head as she gave the goat king a small frown. "It's more like a curse. I saw it happen once when I was younger. Father was introducing a new rune operator he'd just bought to Frisk. I don't remember how it happened, but that lady shattered right in front of us. ...Father was furious..."

Sans felt his grin lessen considerably as he quietly listened. The more he heard of this man, the more there was to dislike about him. Also, he really didn't want to know how he had taken out his anger - or on whom.

Asgore watched as the little girl's complexion paled ever so slightly and a look of poorly concealed terror flashed across her face. He could understand how traumatic it must've been to witness a death happen at such a young age, but somehow he felt that that wasn't what had scared her. Putting the Bane aside for now, he had a different question. "Your father, you said that he bought a rune operator. Does he buy humans often?"

"No." Fearia shook her head. "But he does sell humans. Sometimes though, when Father visits Nautilus - that's the slave market by the sea - he comes back with a rune operator. He says that they're really rare, so they're worth buying."

The King was quiet as he mulled over this new information. The act of buying and selling humans as well as monsters had been outlawed years before the war had even started. When had that changed? And why? Also, why were humans who could operate runes a rarity? As far as he could remember, the use of runes was fairly commonplace. There were actually far fewer humans who couldn't use the stones. At least, that's how it had been when he was last on the Surface.

If this child was telling the truth, and he was starting to believe that, despite the impracticality of it all, she actually was, then that would mean that on the Surface the war had ended only a decade prior. However, the world she was describing was so very different than how he remembered it. How could things have changed so much in such a short amount of time? Whatever had happened must have been something absolutely catastrophic - something that would have changed how the entire world operated. A mass casualty event, perhaps? Was this 'Bane' curse responsible?

Asgore was almost nervous to ask, but he knew he had to. "Child, when the Bane happened, how many people 'shattered'?"

Fearia was quiet for a moment or two as she thought about how to answer that question. It was impossible to know the exact number. All she really knew is what Frisk had told her. With a small shrug, the little girl finally spoke. "A lot? I don't really know how many people shattered, but Frisk said that the Bane only hurt magic users. That's why no one can use magic anymore. ...well, except for..." Her sentence trailed off unfinished as she looked away again. She wasn't supposed to talk about that.

Asgore felt a heavy weight settle over him as he leaned back into his throne. Tilting his head, he stared up through the sunlit cracks in the cavern ceiling to something he had, for so long, yearned to see. "So, that's why..." He murmured quietly to himself. For centuries, he had suspected that the Kingdom of Magic had betrayed them and left the monster race to rot down here in these stagnant caverns. But now, he understood. There was never any ill intent behind their imprisonment. The doors had remained sealed because there was no longer anyone alive who possessed the power to open them.

However... maybe that wasn't entirely true.

Lowering his gaze, the King turned his attention back to the tiny human. If this little girl was indeed related to Frisk, then maybe she had the ability to wield magic as well. Freya's daughter had had an almost uncanny talent when it came to even the most arcane forms of magic. If this child was also a Celestine, then she should easily be able to prove it.

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I hope this chapter was able to answer some questions. :)

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In the next chapter we'll finally find out what a Celestine is. Probably.

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Thanks for reading!

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Sheii Bae~