Hey, everyone. It's a little early, but Shakespeare's death anniversary is in two days. So hooray and all that. I take a Shakespeare class at school, so the excitement gets real. Everyone helped pay for a cake to give to our teacher and she cried a bit. Good times. So, in honor of the Bard's passing, please enjoy this story.


Happy 400th Death Anniversary

When the monsters were trapped in the underground, they became something of a time capsule. All of their technology, books, and buildings were based off of what had been considered the norm before the barrier was created. The only access monsters had to the material evolution of humans was whatever fell into the dump, which was usually the least optimal of human creations. Still, the monsters made do with what they had and what little they could learn.

Toriel, like almost all of the monsters, had a love of books and reading. While she was mostly known for reading joke books and snail fact books, there was one human authoring in particular that she had a fondness for. Naturally, since the books came underground via the dump, she had never managed to read one of this writer's works in its entirety, but she loved each word nonetheless.

When the monsters were freed from the underground, she had learned with delight that many humans shared mutual feelings about this playwright, and had millions of copies of nearly all of his works. She bought one of all. Since Toriel had surrounded herself with people who understood her passion, she was quiet surprised at the response she received when she proposed putting on one of these plays to the PTA.

"Absolutely not!" Linda stated.

Toriel blinked. "Why not?"

"Because that's much too difficult for the children," Linda replied. Helen nodded next to her.

"Besides, I heard that Shakespeare didn't even write his own plays," Linda crossed her arms and smirked. "He stole them from the nobleman who wrote them and claimed them as his own."

Toriel stood from her chair and set her palms on the table. "That simply isn't true," she said indignantly. "There is no proof that anyone else wrote Shakespeare's works. And saying that Shakespeare is too hard to learn is just going to hurt the children in the long run."

"Just because there isn't proof of something doesn't mean it's not true," Linda replied, "like the fact that monsters would eat people when they fell underground—"

BEEP! BEEP! BEEP!

"Hey, HEY, order in the cafeteria!" Flowey shouted, smacking the horn on his toy wagon with a tiny hammer like a gavel. "There will be no smack talking in my meeting!" Linda tusked and flipped her blonde hair over her shoulder. Flowey drove between Toriel and Linda and shifted his gaze at them, His eyes dark and fanged mouth turned in a frown.

Toriel sighed and slowly sat down. "I apologize, Flowey," she said.

Flowey nodded curtly and turned to Linda, who remained silent. "You too, Linda."

"Fine," she said. "I'm sorry… that you're a monster." Flowey growled and summoned siome friendliness pellets.

Helen quickly raised her hand. "Perhaps we should put it to a vote. All in favor of making our children recite a difficult, boring play full of violence, raise your hand." No one raised their hand. "Alright, and those in favor of giving our children a much easier, happier play that they will have fun with, raise your hand." Nearly everyone's hand went up. Helen smirked at Toriel. "We have a majority."

"That was clearly a biased vote!" Toriel protested.

"Oh, sorry, dear, sometimes monsters don't get their way. That's life," Linda smiled as sweetly as vinegar. "And look at the time; it's time for the meeting to be over."

"Hold it!" Flowey beeped his horn. "The meeting is over when I say it's over!"

"You can't keep us here!" Helen said loudly. "We have places to be!"

"I have to make dinner!" A father shouted.

"I have a date!"

"I have to pay the babysitter!

"My project needs to get done!"

"My watermelon!"

"ALRIGHT!" Flowey shouted angrily. "MEETING DISMISSED! EVERYONE GET OUT!" Flowey sighed as everyone exited. "Sorry you didn't get your play, Mom."

"It's alright," Toriel sighed and picked Flowey up in his wagon, "and I'm not your mother."

"Mom, can we have watermelon after dinner?"

"Very well."

Lalala~ Time Skip!

"What's wrong, Tori?" Sans asked. He and Papyrus had come over to Toriel's house for dinner that evening. Toriel was moving her dinner around her plate quietly. Flowey, now out of his wagon and simply in a pot on the table, spoke up.

"She's sad because the PTA didn't vote to do a dumb play that she liked. They picked one that was even dumber." Frisk batted lightly at Flowey's petals and wagged their finger in a scolding way.

"Oh, really?" Sans asked. "What was the play?"

"William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet. I thought it would be an excellent play for the children to perform for the school fundraiser, but, clearly, I was alone in that thought." Frisk patted her arm.

"Gee, that's too bad," Papyrus said as he got a second helping of pasta. "Mettaton would have liked that. He played a damsel in distress once when Frisk was underground, and he did magnificently."

Frisk suddenly lay one hand open upwards and smacked their palm with their other fist.

"What's up, kid?" Sans asked. Frisk raised their hands to sign, then paused to look at Toriel.

"Do you want me to leave the room, my child?" she asked. Frisk nodded.

"Well, I suppose…" She got up to leave. "Just don't make a mess."

Yadada~ Another Time Skip~

"Thanks for having us over! Nyeh heh heh!" Papyrus skipped out the door to his bright red car.

"Thanks, Tori," Sans said with a wave.

"Anytime, Sans. You and Papyrus are always welcome. Oh, by the way, what did Frisk say when I left?"

Sans winked. "That's a secret. But don't worry, I promise that you won't be quaking with… Shakes-fear."

"SANS!" Papyrus yelled as Toriel burst out laughing.

Yadapop~ Month Long Time Skip!~

"May I open my eyes now, my child?" Toriel asked as Frisk pulled her along by her arm. Toriel was covering her eyes with the other arm. "It was starting to get dark when we left the house, and it has been nearly five minutes…" She stopped talking when she bumped into Frisk, who was now pulling at her sleeve. "Open my eyes now? Alright…" She removed her arm and looked around, gasping when she saw the sign.

They were both standing outside A Nearby Theater, local theater with a dumb name. A sign hanging above the two sets of doors leading inside read: A Nearby Theater proudly presents Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet, staring the students of Ebott Elementary, and featuring Mettaton! All proceeds go to Ebott Elementary! The line to buy a ticket was a mix of monsters and humans, talking excitedly to each other.

Toriel wiped her eye and knelt to hug the human child. "I love it, my child. How on Earth did you manage this?" Frisk pointed behind her at the approaching Sans.

"Heya, Tori. Hey, kiddo. This whole thing looks like a success, no tears about it."

Toriel quickly scrubbed at eyes and chuckled softly. "Sans! I didn't know you liked Shakespeare."

"Eh, I didn't think much about him, but then Frisk here showed me some of his comedies. I've got to love a guy who can make so many puns in ten lines."

Toriel clapped her hands. "Well, I certainly cannot wait to see what the students—"

"What is THIS?!" A shout made them jump suddenly and turn to see Linda stomping towards them. Her car window was rolled down, and her son, dressed like a lamb, could be seen inside looking mortified.

"Linda," Sans said with a broad grin. "Didn't expect you to come."

"Why is there another play? You can't have two plays for the school! The school can't afford this!" She glared at Toriel. "You did this, didn't you? You and that flower put this on without telling anyone. The school board won't allow! I'll tell on you both and you'll get kicked out of the school!"

"Actually, the school didn't fund this. This was entirely paid for by Mettaton and his troupe, and they'll be donating all the money earned to the school. So, yeah." Sans' grin got even bigger.

Linda sputtered, "You can't have a rival school play!"

"Shouldn't have talked smack, Linda."

Linda shouted in frustration and stormed back to the car.

"You might want to hurry," Sans called after her, "your kid's starting to look a little sheepish."

Linda screamed.


Head canon I don't actually think #6: Toriel has a huge passion for Shakespeare. She mostly teaches monster history, but she's been hoping to start a Shakespeare club at the school someday.

So, what did you think? Pretty cool, right? In case you're wondering, the actual, PTA approved school play was Little Bo Peep. Not that I actually know the story of Bo Peep or anything. All I know is that she lost her sheep, and that's about it. Anyone know the story? Tell me in a review.

Maybe, if enough people want it, I'll write a bit about what happened in the Shakespeare play. Or you could write it yourself. Just be sure to credit me!

Also, serious;ly, please review. I don't know what happened the last two chapters, but no one reviewed. Did you not like it? Or you just couldn't be bothered? Come on, throw me a bone or something. I know not everyone reviews, I know I don't, but even one makes me feel better.