There's more stuff to happen. And my gosh, I keep promising fluff and then it turns into something completely different. I don't do it on purpose.
Asgore: Unable to help himself at the moment.
Toriel: I'm sure the author will adjust soon!~
Yeah...hopefully...but for now...!
Chapter Start!
Adam was making his way up to the City Hall, up to the Mayor's Office. Or to be more specific: The office of his sister, Alvina.
It's been a while since the aggressive attacks against her city, after all. And she wasn't using the time to grieve for her dead family members at all.
Adam would usually find it quite troubling that someone was actually happy that their parents were dead if said parents-and grandparents-literally jumped across the point of no return simply for an attempt at power and what they perceive as 'order'. They weren't the first ones. They won't be the last. It didn't matter to monsters; they'd protect Ebott no matter what, that intention was made clear. And the humans here were very grateful for it. Adam wondered just how kind the people of Ebott were to trust the monsters so much, even with them constantly coming to their defense. They've suffered quite a lot before the monsters of Ebott moved to the Surface, so it might have softened their overall attitudes a great deal. Not that EVERY human in Ebott was particularly nice...but the civilians as a whole were much nicer than he expected.
He supposed that misery from multiple predecessors of mayors that treated them like utter garbage or simply didn't care for them would induce that kind of thing. Having a mayor that actually treated them kindly and was always watching out for them and their interest, fair and just, and was overall the most compassionate mayor they've ever had...it might not be that bit of a surprise. That's not even taking into account that the previous mayors knowingly put their citizens on the chopping block to cover their own hides from the opposing outside world without their knowledge. Generations of cruelty/apathy towards the citizens ended with Alvina's entry, and the entirety of Ebott became kinder as a whole for it.
Adam was a bit proud of her for this. He was going to see her to see what she was doing. Indeed, what did Alvina do within her office? Probably doing what mayors usually do, like the intelligent, mature, and reliable adult that she was.
"Come on...come ooooonnnn...don't do that route, girl! Don't be shy! Tell her your true feelings!" Alvina said with an intense expression as she, along with Alphys, were staring at the portable mini-TV in her hands.
Adam blinked in astonishment. It sounded like they were watching...anime? In her office? During work hours? Without a single care in the world aside from what was going on on that small portable TV?
...how does no one in the building have a problem with this?
Alvina's eyes brightened up. "Kiss...yes! They did it! VICTORY!~" Alvina shouted with her hands pumped in the air. Alphys also cheered, but she panicked a bit as the portable TV was thrown up in the air, leaving her to barely catch her after a bit of struggle. She blinked as she noticed Adam in the doorway, with Axel hanging on his shoulder and Temmie being the one to let him in. Alvina cleared her throat as she nonchalantly sits back in her chair, while Alphys hides the portable behind her back, whistling and looking away. Alvina clasped her hands. "Ah, Adam. Fancy seeing you here. What can I do for you?"
She's seriously gonna pretend that I didn't see that...? Adam thought in exasperation. "Are you really allowed to do stuff like this?" Adam said while closing the door behind him.
Alvina shifts back a bit and opened her arms. Almost immediately, Axel hopped of his master's shoulder and walks over on the desk, then hops again onto Alvina's lap. He curls up and purrs as she begins to scratch his head. "It's not like I haven't been doing any work at all. I've finished up on a couple things before I went straight to goofing off to my heart's content." She shrugged while turning towards the window. "Had to personally calm down some of my co-workers when they thought I was stressed. I wasn't, but I appreciated the concern. I gave some of them a few days off when it looked like they were the ones who were seriously stressed, though some insisted on staying by my side. Again, appreciated. Then I signed a few things here and there, including an approval to rebuild and improve Toriel's school as soon as possible. Plenty of schools around, but that one was hers, and I don't intend to keep her robbed from it for long."
"Me and Mettaton provided the blueprints for the building. It's going to be new and improved, have much more space, more endurance, escape routes, safe rooms, snack rooms, gyms...it's gonna be quite an accomplishment." Alphys said while adjusted her glasses. "It'll take a while, but it'll be done with the proper work ethic and dedication towards it. And Toriel has plenty of dedication."
"Very true." Alvina nodded as Axel stretched slightly in her lap, before returning to lying down. Paying for it is surprisingly easy...monsters treated gold as normal currency, for goodness' sake. And they had a lot of gold."
"So I've heard..." Adam leaned against the wall while shaking his head. "Judging how you're nonchalantly doing what you please so long as you get certain duties out of the way, I'm guessing that you've been in this position for a while."
"It's had it's ups and downs, but I've managed just fine." Alvina nodded. "Sad thing. Having such a long trend of either incompetent and/or cruel mayors, I was a vast improvement from them, even more now that I know more of the truth. Probably because I actually care about how good or bad their lives are, and did my best to help them. That might have something to do with the multiple re-elections ending with me winning."
"Really?" Adam knew that Alvina was a definite step up from her predecessors, but that was somewhat ridiculous. That sounded much like desperation. Were things really that bad here? His parents might not have let him notice...
"Generations of cruddy mayor's seriously embittered this city, even without knowing what they were pulling behind the scenes. A single kind one sparked up their hopes, and since then, they really began to love me. And I love them right back." Alvina sighed. "Many didn't believe that I was up for it. Said I was inexperienced, naive, and that I was working for a hopeless cause. They were right about the first two, but I proved them utterly wrong on the third. I, with a lot of help of course, brought this entire city back from the brink of tearing itself apart from despair. Though it took a few more years before a vast majority of the population really began to chill and be more open-minded and friendly, which made the monsters move up here much easier. And as a result, we're able to become more prosperous by working together. And since the monsters have been bailing humans out of a few rough jams before, it's only bringing us closer together. Sure things have been hard, but we never expected this to be easy, ya know...?"
Adam lowered his eyes as he gazes at her in surprise. "Wow...there was absolutely no one from the outside world willing to help you...some that did know of you tried to sabotage you and your entire city...yet you still pushed on regardless. Even without their help, Ebott has become completely self-efficient. You proved that as much as you might have wanted it, you didn't need it. That's...that's quite an amazing achievement..."
"I had a lot of time on my hands. Used it to get people's act together as best I could. It's finally paying off." Alvina shrugged.
He sighed softly while shaking his head. "...I really should have been here..."
Alvina got up, setting Axel down as she moved up to Adam and patted his shoulder. "Don't worry about it. I realized that staying pissed off about you leaving isn't going to do either of us any favors. So let's simply let bygones be bygones and do our best to patch things up. Kay?~"
Realizing that he was truly trying to make up for lost time between them must have reached out to her, and she dropped a majority of her animosity towards him because of it. She was really giving him a chance, even though she has many justifications to not to give it to him.
...You really were too good for us all. Least of all me. He was now sure of one thing; Alvina was glad that at least one family member wasn't beyond salvation. And luckily for him, he was that member.
Alvina shrugged as she slipped on a sweater hanging on a rack. "Welp. I'm gonna go out for a bit. Toriel invited me to hang out and I've got twenty minutes to get there on time."
Adam blinked."W-Wait, you're just gonna leave your office so casually?!"
"Yeah. I do it all the time." Alvina didn't really see it as a big deal. "Alphys, feel like coming along?"
"Sure!" Alphys nodded as she hurriedly followed Alvina out the office door.
"H-Hold on! You're really just gonna leave your office unattended?!"
"Of course not. Well, I usually do, but not this time." Alvina huffed. She then patted Adam's shoulder with a cheeky smile. "Because you're gonna keep it warm for me!"
"Wait wh-"
"Thanks for being a sport! Temmie's an absolute sweetheart by the way, she'll provide anything you might need. See-ya!~"
Adam was flabbergasted as his sister simply leaves he office without a care in the world. He looked outside towards the other staff members with an expression of complete befuddlement. "Is she really allowed to do all of this...?"
"When she wants to go out, she goes out. We've told her many times she couldn't just do that whenever she pleases, but they always fall on deaf ears. She doesn't cause any lasting damage with her free-roaming, so we stopped complaining as much and simply let her be." He heard one of them explain without sounding the slightest bit worried.
"TeM reporTeM 4 dUTy, dOoDZ!~" Temmie said while saluting Adam while slightly sticking out her tongue and vibrating intensely.
Adam blinked at the smaller monster in question, having a difficult time believing she defeated Axel, then slowly turned to the cat in question, who quietly meows as he lays on the desk, making himself at home. Adam sighed as he face palmed.
If she's really grown up like this...darn it all...
"Ah, there we go. Should be right on time!" Alvina beamed as she and Alphys were heading closer to their destination. "Not that MTT Resort is a bad place, but I did think that we needed a bit of change in scenery, at least a bit. I'm betting you recognize this little number here?" She asked as she gestured to said building, which did serve to surprise Alphys quite a bit.
"'Nice Cream Parlor'...oh my goodness, Nice Cream Guy!~" Alphys beamed proudly. She had no idea that he managed to officially get his own shop; she felt so happy for him! "He actually managed to power through and get a place of business for himself!"
"Yeah he did. He remains in good spirits with his friendly competitors, Muffet and Grillby. Though let's be honest; at this point, there's not really much to compete about. They're simply making people happy."
"...Muffet DOES do it for the money as well, though."
"Yeah. Greedy little spider girl, right?"
The both of them soon moved into the building, and sure enough, they could see plenty of people, humans and monsters alike, occupying the space with various flavors of Nice Cream. It wasn't too big in space, but not to small; there were six booths close to the walls, and six round tables with three chairs at the least. And there were also six stools at the counter. It wasn't big and warm like Grillby's Bar, or cute and spider-themed like Muffet's Parlor, but it was just...nice and cool. Windows along the sides and a pretty sizable ceiling fan, Alvina noticed that the counter was see-through, revealing the variety of flavors of Nice Cream, and the even broader variety of tops, sprinkles, and even fruits.
Alphys noticed a few familiar monsters surrounding them: 01 and 02 looked like they were enjoying their time together in the corner. Doggo and especially Ice Wolf were enjoying their Nice Cream, with the latter having a rather large bowl for himself, able to handle the cold. She noticed Mettaton in another corner, looking on rather happily towards a certain direction. Alphys turned to notice Madjick and Knight Knight also hanging out alone in another corner. Alphys noticed that they looked much happier than usual, and her mind instantly went in a certain direction, but she turned it down. She wouldn't make assumptions so drastic unless she had more evidence...but she'll hope that it's true anyway. She can't help it.
"Alvina, Alphys. How good of you to come." The two noticed that they also had the company of Asgore, Toriel, and Gerson. Toriel was the one who greeted the two of them with a warm smile, reaching her paw out towards them. "To be quite honest, I didn't expect you to attend at first...then I remembered that you pretty much walk out of your office whenever you please with no one to hinder you...but what also surprises me is that you didn't bring Temmie this time."
"I left her with my brother. I'm pretty sure that they'll both be fine. Temmie is super competent." Alvina stretched casually while yawning. "Now, what's the occasion this time?~"
"They're walking in right now." Gerson pointed with his cane towards the doors beginning to open, gaining Alvin's attention. Her eyes lowered and her cheer deflated when she realized who the company was. Linda, Gloria, and Diana walked through. They seated themselves in a booth a bit away from them, while the other five seated in tables close to them. Ten minutes later, Helen also walked through, slightly unsure of what's going on, until she saw many people she was familiar with. Especially her...friends. She sighed softly as she takes her seat...right next to Alvina. After a moment, the latter understood.
Toriel, Asgore, and Gerson were on one side. Linda, Gloria, and Diana were on the other side. Alphys, Helen, and Alvina were the middle ground looking over the whole thing. They ordered their own Nice Cream; this was bound to stir up some kind of passionate emotions.
Toriel clasped her paws and lowered her eyes. "I told you we would eventually continue our discussion. That time has come, now that things have calmed down a bit."
"...So they have." Linda said quietly.
"And this can go two ways depending on our moods: Deeply long or short and sweet. Speaking of sweet, would you like to order some Nice Cream? I'll gladly pay."
"...Not yet. Something that makes you feel nice ought to be saved after a heavy talk, right?" Linda reasoned. Toriel hummed and nodded in agreement. "Alright. I just have to know...why?"
"Hm?"
"You obviously know about how hostile I've been to you. I've eventually even outright admitted it to you. And while they weren't as vocal about it, they agreed with me. We've been incredibly hateful towards you for reasons so petty, and you have every right to hate me in return. Yet...you don't." Linda began, while Toriel listened intently. Asgore and Gerson were doing the same. "So why...? I know you get irritated with my pettiness, and yet you don't do anything too harshly. Light reprimanding and punishments, maybe. But never anything that can really amount to payback..."
"Petty revenge is usually Muffet's thing." Gerson shrugged.
"Yes, I've noticed. And on top of that, you actually protected me from those other magic guys...fully guarding after my life and theirs. Why would you do something like that?"
"...Is it not obvious? We wanted to protect you all. There's no underlying motive or anything like that. We simply wanted to protect all of you from serious harm." Asgore said, taking over for a small bit. "All of you have so graciously allowed us to integrate into your home, and we've all become rather fond of you after we've managed to wipe away our propaganda thanks to Frisk. An in following, we've taken our part in protecting you from anyone that tried to do you all harm. We are indebted to you all."
"Oh stop it.~" Alvina snickered, though she immediately silenced herself with a brief cough.
"Linda. We tolerated your hostility because we figured there must have been a reason behind it. And it turns out we were right about that, though not in the way we expected. And it's definitely not in the way we preferred."
"What do you mean by that...?" Helen asked nervously.
Toriel lowered her eyes. "You all...aside from Helen...all of you hated us. And now we know why. All of you are grieving mother's who lost their children to circumstances far out of their realm of control. I know what that feels like." She shook her head. "I've lost my first two children due to my own carelessness. And what Asgore did afterwards during that time, gave me the opportunity to shift that anger towards him and spare myself any guilt I felt and any blame I festered. And yet, I had an opportunity to save six other children...and I left them all to die because they wouldn't stay and fill the void in my heart. I only came to my senses when Frisk convinced me to face my sins. I refused to share any blame and that was wrong of me. It was time I finally decided to act like an actual mother again, and to try to actually, truly make up for my mistakes, and my sins..."
"...I didn't know..." Linda shook her head. Toriel was just dreadfully lonely, but pride kept her from actually leaving the isolation she placed herself in. Pride in her own beliefs left her alone in the Ruins for so many years. Frisk was the only one to convince her to break free of that, while others helped to see how wrong she was, and how much she needed Asgore. They missed each other for so long, and Frisk had a major hand in bring them back together, and monsters of Ebott were all the better because of it.
Toriel wiped growing tears away from her eyes. "By the time me and Asgore actually reunited, my pride has been challenged, crumpled, stomped, shredded, and burned to cinders. I was quite prepared to throw myself at his feet and beg him for forgiveness...but the dummy wouldn't let me." Toriel rolled her eyes while Asgore laughed sheepishly. "He said there was no need for me to apologize to him, that all was forgiven. I insist otherwise, even to this day. And to this day...he treats it like it's nothing to squabble over, when he really should be."
"Nobody is perfect, my dear. We've both had our share of mistakes, we're both willing to do our best to redeem ourselves. I'm satisfied with that." Asgore smiled as he reached out and caressed her cheek with a smile. "I'll tell you this as many times as I must so you can feel reassured as well."
"Hmph. You're such a pushover." Toriel puffed her cheeks, which only caused Asgore to laugh.
"Tori. I think it should be very obvious by now that he doesn't mind being pushed around by you. You wear the pants in the family and he's perfectly okay with that!~" Gerson chuckled jovially. Linda blinked owlishly at this. Asgore was happily henpecked by his wife. She really should have guessed this sooner, as she's never seen the two seriously argue; Asgore is usually very quick to relent to her. "But let's not get too far off-topic. The bottom line is that Toriel's had it tough, and so have many others. What she had to realize that her own problems aren't the only ones that have any sort of weight. Others have their problems too. Suppose that Toriel remembering a bit of compassion helped her come to her senses and realize what a fool she's been. Her pride has blinded her to everyone's suffering but her own...and I reckon that she saw the same thing happening to Linda, and wanted to find a way to disarm it before it became too toxic, and severed all of your bonds. By the looks of how things have been going, we've managed to barely stop your friendships from being decimated completely. Perhaps now, you can all focus on repairing them."
All of them paused from these revelations, while Alphys and Alvina watched from the sidelines. Linda looked to Diana, to Gloria, and finally, hesitantly, to Helen, who shyly looked away from her. The trio each pulled each other into a huddle as they whispered to one another for a few moments. They soon nodded in agreement, as they all turned towards Helen, with Linda placing her hands on her shoulders. She flinched a bit, and while she didn't resist, the hardened look on her face made it clear she would break away from her if something happened outside of her liking.
"Helen...I'm sorry. I've been rather unfair to you. Greatly unfair to you, as well as monsters. I've had you placed under my heel when you clearly didn't deserve to be treated like that. And the monsters certainly don't, given how they stood up for us multiple times without even asking fox anything in return. Any further toxic hostility at this point is only going to undermine myself as well as you, Diana and Gloria. I don't...I can't do that to any of you..."
"...?"
"So from here on out, we're going to try and go back to the way things used to be. Maybe we can't fully recover from the pain, but not moving from it has been damaging us more than helping us. We need to start healing. I'm not sure that I'm gonna be able to do as well as you...but I'm gonna give it a shot." Linda nodded. "Can you give us that chance, Helen...? To make up for all of the trouble we've caused you for all those years...?"
"...Yes. Of course." Helen gently said with a soft smile, "That's all I ever wanted...for us to be friends like we used to, or to at least try. And now it's finally happening...I'm so glad...!~" She said excitedly as she leaped forth and hugged Linda. It didn't take very long before Gloria and Diana eventually joined them on said hug, softly embracing one another.
"Hmm...they're finally together again, truly." Asgore acknowledged with a gentle nod and wide smile. Gerson and Toriel were in total agreement. This was a friendship that outside forces managed to nearly ruin beyond repair, and yet it managed to hold on until it could truly restore itself, with a bit of a push for extra measure. Maybe now, they can properly begin healing together. They were able to enjoy their Nice Cream in peace, since their conversation appeared to be over. Toriel was mostly happy that Linda and the others were finding genuine happiness again, instead of antagonizing others simply because she could.
"I feel so amazing right now..." Alvina said slowly while eating her own bowl of Nice Cream.
"Nice Cream definitely lives up to it's name.~" Helen said happily while eating a spoonful of ice cream of her own. And after a few moments of simply enjoying her frozen treat, she lifted her head to meet Toriel's eyes. "Um...Toriel?" She asked quietly. They weren't at work right now for obvious reasons, so she felt comfortable calling her by her first name. And even then, Toriel would have been alright with it regardless. She was approachable that way.
"Yes, dear child? I mean, Helena?" Toriel smiled towards her.
Helena blushed as she considered the subject she'd bring up to be quite embarrassing, yet it would still be a somewhat welcoming change to their previous conversation. "Well...I was just wondering...about your marriage with Asgore? Is...is it nice?"
"Eh?" Toriel blinked while awkwardly scratching her cheek. "W-Well obviously we've been happily for quite a while during our marriage. Even when I outright left, we technically never officially divorced. I didn't consider it worth my effort. I just up and left like an ungrateful, non-supportive coward-ow!" Toriel whined as Asgore poked her cheek, causing her to rub it slightly. "What was that for?!"
"I shall not have you putting yourself down in front of our friends, Tori. You are wonderful, and there's no way around it." Asgore said with a cheeky smile, which flustered Toriel slightly.
"But-"
"No buts! Baaaaaaad Tori, baaaaaaad!~"
"Don't 'Baaaaaaad Tori' me, Dreemurr!" Toriel eventually retorted, though her puffed cheeks of annoyance took away any sort of seriousness it might have carried.
"Bahahaha!~" Asgore chuckled as he lightly cupped her cheeks and nuzzled her nose. Toriel still pouted at him, though she sighed and returned the nuzzle in kind.
Diana rubbed her neck slightly. "Well...nice to know that they have their own spouts like everyone else...though outright leaving him on his own was a bit mess-OW!" Alvina promptly slapped her upside the head. "Sorry. That was uncalled for..."
"That's an understatement..." Gloria agreed nervously. "And actually...isn't all that different from us."
"Our husbands...didn't exactly stick around after our children died. Mine didn't like me much at all." Helena sighed while shaking her head. "I heard that he was killed at some point from Shamir by some feline monster named Parvos...I do feel a bit bad that I didn't feel bad about that. Though everyone else had their own problems...so I stayed quiet about mine. They were stressed and angry and dismissive enough as it is..."
"Helen...you know you can come to us when something bothers you..." Linda said softly while lowering her eyes. "I haven't been the best friend towards you or the others. But I do plan on changing that soon enough. I promise."
"Linda...you don't need to promise me anything. I really am just glad that we have a chance to truly be friends again." Helen said while waving off her words, though the appreciative blush on her face definitely gave away how she truly felt about those words. And she could tell that Linda meant it, even though she'll have to relearn how to be a true and supportive friend.
"Yeah...me too." Linda nodded.
After some more friendly banter and kindhearted encouragement, the group eventually finishes their frozen treats and began leaving the store in a much better mood. With the human women casually speaking about certain plans in the future, Asgore and Toriel were tenderly holding paws while nuzzling noses. Alvina grinned while folding her arms with an approving nod. "Gotta say, it sometimes baffles me that Toriel used to hate Asgore so much. Sure he's screwed up, but so did she. And since they both acknowledged their parts in their mess and resolved it together, they're sweeter than ever."
"Yeah." Alphys nodded with a small smile.
"Both fortunately and unfortunately." Gerson snarks with a shake of his head.
"Oh come on, Gerson. They're cute!"
"Never said that they weren't. But by golly, you can understand why Asriel and Chara might be embarrassed by it. Though Asriel seems to have grown more tolerant of it as he matures and learns to just roll with it. Chara...not so much."
"Well, whatever." Alvina shrugged while folding her arms. "In any case, the girls are all truly friends again and can begin healing properly. Especially Helen, who had the worst luck with her husband, to the point that she's not bothered about him being dead."
"Maybe someday, Helen can find her true significant other..." Alphys mumbled while twiddling her fingers. "And maybe she'll treat her nicely..."
"Yeah! She'll totally treat her nicely!" Alvina supported wholeheartedly.
Linda blinked as she turned towards Helen, who heard bits of the conversation and began blushing profusely. "Hey, Helen. Are you alright...?"
"...I'm fine...completely fine..." She mumbled sheepishly.
Alvina sighed as she stared at the skies, tilting her head. ...I wonder if there will ever be a time that we can all just chill out and have fun together, humans and monsters as a whole? I sure hope so...
Adam's eye was twitching irritably as he was listening to the City Hall council members as they all calmly gathered in the break room many of them were casually sipping their coffee. Temmie was simply drinking tea from a small cup, vibrating much less intensely than before. Adam began massaging his forehead as he was being told numerous stories.
"...So her very first words when she took office was...'I'm the mayor now, ya'll gotta deal with it!' Those were her exact words...?"
"We even recorded it, because there was no way we could have saw that coming. Do you wish to see?"
"No. I believe you. In fact that does exactly like her, to say something ike that..." Adam waved off with a slight sigh, gazing out the window while lowering his eyes. "Say...she's been at this mayor thing for a pretty decent amount of time, right? is...is she happy with her position? Has she always been happy with making it this far. I know she tends to speak her mind sometimes...though I'm also aware that she tends to put on a brave face whenever she need to."
"That's because she IS brave like that. Sometimes to the point of being utterly boneheaded. But what never changes is that she does always mean well for everyone." One of them said while sipping coffee. "There's a reason why that Temmie girl seemed pretty excited to be her secretary. She already understood how good a person she is."
"TeM iz gLad sHe meT mAYor hooMaN.~" Temmie exclaimed happily, tilting her head side to side.
Adam sighed softly as he first turned to his cat Alex who was quietly sleeping away on the desk. He then looked towards a picture showing Alvina first accepting her position with a bright smile. He soon closed his eyes and nodded quietly. He made his decision, even though he hasn't worked out all of the details.
I'll find a way to make it up to her...I just have to find out how...
Toriel and Linda. They're on their way to becoming friends. While she and her human friends are becoming close once again and are working to restore their tattered friendship. And once their school is fixed and improved, they'll be more friendly work partners. Toriel will greatly appreciate that.
Also Alvina. Ebott would rather have her multiple times than risk a repeat of the other mayors that either made their lives harder or didn't care for them at all. It was that bad for them. Luckily she's actually pretty competent, despite her maturity levels not being very high.
Also...my college semester ended quite nicely. A and B in both classes that I had. Christmas Break, here I come!~
Asgore: Until the next chapter, our dear readers. We have much to do and much to go through.~
Toriel: More to come. Loved ones growing ever closer. Do look forward to that okay.~