Happy Thanksgiving, for all who celebrate thus!

Slightly shorter chapter, since stuff kinda happened. The holiday itself has gone by surprisingly quickly, but it's fun for me and the fam.

Anyway, I won't waste too much time, so let's get to it!

Chapter Start!

If there has been one thing Galen has been feeling this entire time, it was terror. True unending terror for both himself and his people ever since this entire conflict started. and so far it didn't seem to have an end in sight.

His new friends were gravely injured trying to protect him, his Kingdom in desert ruins after the super sandstorm that a monstrous Behemoth conjured that battered them with sand and killed many. The greenery has been greatly weakened, much of their nutrients sapped, the soil having been lost to copious amounts of sand. It would take a long extended period of time for the greenery to be restored to it's former glory. And it'd take even longer for his citizens to recover from the damage, both to their homes and to their lives. It's gotten past the point where he didn't think he'd be able to do anything to ease their suffering, much less end it.

And they didn't expect him to. They would never force him to try. Because for all their troubles, their 'King' was only five, with Danielle serving as his greatest aide throughout his growing him. There was no possible way he could have been prepared to deal with a disaster of this magnitude. As a result, nobody would blame him for breaking down in tears at the sheer helplessness of the situation, despite his immense magical power.

As such, he decided to leave the current crisis to adults for now, because he's acknowledged there simply isn't much he could do on his own. Hence why in this moment, he stood by within Frisk and Faryn's company, with Danielle holding him from behind, as Toriel and Undyne confronted the monstrous Behemoth known as Berry.

"From the looks of it, this guy gave you a serious beatdown, Toriel. You were flat on your face." Undyne muttered while glaring at the monster responsible. She felt a very similar pressure from him that she did when she first met Levi. It was safe to assume that in terms of raw magical power, they were on the same tier. However, it didn't seem like Berry knew how to actually fight beyond simply throwing his massive power around. It was more than enough, as the devastated Gustus could attest to.

"It was utterly shameful. I was completely helpless." Toriel snarled as her flames heated around her paws. "I watched as the children struggled against this beast while I could barely lift my head off of the ground. I hated it. Despise it. I regret it so much."

"Hey, you're dipping into Dreemurr self-loathing again." Undyne snapped her out of it, in which Toriel blinked and shook her head. "Forget about what you couldn't do before and focus on what you can do now. Because right now, we need to deal with what's in front of us."

"You're absolutely right, Undyne." Toriel nodded as she faced Berry with her flames glowing brightly around her. "My flames seem to have an effect, more specifically my ice-fire. It seems to slow him down a bit, but he was able to power through it regardless."

"I see. So he's gonna be an issue if he keeps throwing his raw power around." Undyne narrowed her eye as giant boulders formed above the monster's head and launched themselves towards the duo. "Here he comes!" She shouted as she throws a spear through the boulder, piercing through it and shattering it into pieces, with dozens of smaller spears splitting them up and slicing them into more harmless pieces.

"I can't stand you all just being so persistent about getting in my way about this. So annoying!" Berry glared as another boulder manifested and launched itself towards the duo, while this time being coated with diamond.

Toriel focused intensely on the flames in her paws, and proceeded to launch a compressed bolt of flames towards the diamond coated boulder, which caused it to detonate and explode in various flaming rock pieces that landed harmlessly around them. "I shall not allow you to do as you please past this point. Your complete disregard for the destruction and loss of life you've just caused is reprehensible."

"Yeah. Pretty sure you're the kind of bad guy who doesn't even realize they're being an evil bastard, and won't listen to any disagreements." Undyne narrowed her eye. "They tend to be the worst of the bunch."

"Shut up already!" He struck true once more, and both women were forced to evade yet another ongoing storm of attacks before they struck.

Undyne had a clearer idea of what to expect from him, as many of his magic affinities appeared to be earth based, with sand clearly being the most prominent of them all. A very good thing that she's around with her water magic. Still, the sheer immensity of his magic along with his size definitely made him an intimidating opponent, even if he wasn't all that bright.

What she didn't doubt, however, was the opportunity to become stronger by overcoming this immense obstacle in her way. Besides, he badly hurt her friends. That certainly wasn't going to fly with her.

With her thoughts cleared for the moment and her resolve being even clearer, Undyne twirled her spear and pointed the sharp end towards Berry, as dozens of spears manifested into existence around her, then launched themselves towards the enormous monster at high speeds. All of them hit a hardened crystal shell rather than his skin, which he formed all over himself in order to defend against it.

So he does know how to play the defensive, even if only by a little bit. Still, Undyne has ways of getting by such defenses. Her spears are definitely good for piercing defenses, but she'd need something with a bit more oomf for it to do considerable damage, now that she's gotten a feel for Berry, at least on a general level. She twirled her spear and balanced it on her shoulder.

"Oi, Toriel."

"What is it?"

"You think you can whip up some ice flames?"

"I can do it, why?"

"We gotta use our counters to his magic to the best of our ability, so you keep on using that, and I'll keep hammering away with my own magic." Undyne took a breath as she tied up her hair in a pony tail, before narrowing her eye. "Follow my lead."

Toriel wondered what she was up to, but did not object to the suggestion. "As you wish." After agreeing, her eyes shifted towards Undyne as a critical thought came to her. "How are the other boys? Asriel and Chara? Asgore too, are they alright?"

Undyne huffed as she raised a water wall to deflect several spears of sand that shot towards them while they discussed. "Asriel and Asgore are fine. They're heading to the next Kingdom, Libertas. They might have already made it there by now and are causing all sorts of messes."

Toriel sighed. They were safe, for the most part. "And what of Chara?"

"Still in Legatum, recovering. He's been hurt the worse out of all of us besides maybe you." Undyne saw the Queen's face contort with worry, and decided to rip off the bandage. "Kid's in a coma, Toriel."

...Coma?

Chara was comatose?

One of my babies is deep in a coma?!

To hell with her own severe injuries, she's at least able to force herself to just barely stand. From what she's hearing, knowing how serious Undyne was due to the urgency in both her voice and eyes, Chara can't even wake up!

"A coma?! Chara's in a coma?!" Both women could hear Frisk's greatly distressed reaction to that bit of news, which a solemn Alphys seemed to be giving to him and Faryn as she was filling them in on the finer details of what happened when they were sent away. Toriel honestly couldn't disagree with the reaction, as she was just as distressed if not more so.

Though that distress quickly gave way to burning anger.

And that burning anger manifested itself as a trio of fireballs hovering over Toriel's head, in different variations. A blazing hot red, a chilling cold blue, and an electric yellow/red. They were mostly small, but Undyne could sense that each of them were being greatly compressed in terms of power.

"This day becomes worse by the moment. I wish for it to end so I can tend to my loved ones." Toriel remarked frigidly as she pushed her paw out to launch the various fireballs towards her current target.

Berry raised the sand and earth around him to shield himself from the triple onslaught, but found himself surprised that in short order; the hot fireball blasted his rock defenses to pieces, the cold fireball froze his sand so completely that it shattered like glass, and the electric fireball struck true at his chest, resulting in a intense shock that caused various amounts of lightning bolts to surge off of him, and he grit his teeth from the pain it was causing him.

Undyne blinked slightly, before she grinned in approval. "Yeah. Yeah, exactly like that!"

"I had not recovered enough to do such attacks, nor did I realize his weaknesses. But now that I had assistance in rectifying both obstacles, the fight is now evened." Toriel gently closed her paw, her eyes shifting to icy blue as the flames grew colder around her. "Gustus' retribution begins now."

"Couldn't agree more!"

Undyne's eye blazed with power as dozens of spears came into existence, and she launched them all towards their target in rapid succession. They pierced through the earth wall Berry tried to erect around him and some managed to slightly pierce his skin, though it was enough to make him wince and step back several times.

Even stronger trunks of trees grew from the ground and made to restrain his legs, which made him completely fall on his back after quickly losing balance. The others appeared surprised by the sudden action, and they already knew who was likely responsible for the action..

Faryn had been taking a breath before channeling her plant magic, but it was suffice to say that she was the one responsible for the sprouting trees, alongside Galen and Danielle offering a slight helping hand as well. Though out of the two, only Faryn was standing up and looking very intent on joining the clash. Frisk looked surprised by her action, due to thinking that she'd need a bit more time before being able to get back up and try anything.

"Frisk, we'll all need to work together to take him down and make sure he can't get back up again. He's too sturdy for knocking him down over and over to be of any use." Faryn deduced as she and Danielle tightened their fists, which made the trees restraining Berry to tighten around him as well. "When we really knock him down, we have to make sure that it really for real counts."

Frisk shook his head and slapped his cheeks, before clenching his own fists and nodding. "Right, okay!"

Gerson gazed at the two children, as well as Galen sitting atop of Danielle's shoulders and syncing his magic with hers. Seeing Berry getting up and breaking through the restraints yet again, he sighed and tipped his hat. "Good heavens. Ganging up on a single monster so ruthlessly. Sounds rather mean-spirited." He then clutched his hammer and glared at the Behemoth ahead of him. "Then again, that same monster devastated this Kingdom without a care. Sympathy is unwarranted." With this, Gerson goes on to twirl and toss his hammer straight forward, and watching it slam right into Berry's chest and breaking yet another solid rock barrier he tried to construct, was quite fulfilling.

Alphys had her paws raised towards the sky, her eyes closed as she channeled some of her magic through them. As the others said, it was best to not give Berry any time to retaliate. "I learned this one from playing games with Undyne." As she said this, hard-light projections began manifesting right above the downed Behemoth, taking the form of blades, up to ten. "Have some exploding blades for your troubles!" They were cast down on the Behemoth, and each of them detonated in a series of digital explosions that knocked Berry about and leaving immense bruises all over his body. Though despite this, he eventually rises up again in a swirling vortex of sand. "Tch, no good!"

"The heck, how long is he gonna hide behind all of his stupid sand?!" Danielle shouted over the noise the vortex was making.

"Fuhuhu. Oh no you don't punk. You don't get to hide behind your sand anymore. Not while I'm here." Undyne grinned as she points her finger upwards, as a long spear erupted right in front of Berry within the sandstorm. And with a snap of her fingers, the spear exploded in a burst of water, surprising Berry and dissipating the newest sandstorm via making all of the gathering sand heavy, as well as soaking Berry with water. Not wasting any time, Toriel throws a trio of ice flames towards the currently soaked Berry, burning him with cold flames, with the frostbite burn sensation being even worse due to already being splashed with cold water.

He breaks free from the ice soon enough, and falls to one knee with a huff. "What the heck kind of fire is that cold! Yet it also burns?!"

"Which matches how intensely furious she is on the inside, as she glares at you coldly." Undyne huffed as she she slashed across with her spear, the slash beam slicing across Berry's exposed chest and leaving a deep gash across it. He staggered from the pain, but ultimately remained on his feet as blood dripped from his enlarged wound. He breathed heavily several times, before clenching his fists.

"Alright. Okay. So that's how it's gonna be." Behemoth glared as he raised his paw. In a raw burst of power, numerous amounts of crystalline spikes shot out from the ground where the fighters stood, surprising some of them and forcing them to scatter in different directions. Undyne was grazed by several of them across her face and sides, leaving cuts all over her body. She was undeterred, however, merely grunted as she lands on her feet while smashing apart some incoming crystal shards with dozens of spears launching into them.

"Looks like he's bringing out the big guns." Undyne scoffed while lightly rolling her shoulder.

"Oh dear." Alphys looked troubled as an armor made of crystal slowly coated around Berry, covering his body almost completely, aside from his eye. "An exoskeleton of crystal? That's going to make things a bit more difficult. Looks like he made it extra sturdy."

Berry briefly shot a look at Gerson, and raised his paw. The elder tortoise found himself surprised as a funnel of stand formed around him and restricting his movements, even entrapping him high in the air. "What in the world?!"

"Gerson!" Alphys gasped as the funnel of sand entrapped the tortoise, and she immediately pieced together why: He was their best and most efficient chance at shattering Berry's diamond armor. Berry didn't seem all that bright, but he still recognized the most dangerous person to him at the moment was the war hero himself. She could tell even more, since this brief sandstorm seems more intent on keeping Gerson from doing anything at all, and it had much more focused. He was singled out, as he was currently their most advantageous element.

"We gotta free him!" Undyne shouted as she gathered water in order to dissipate the sand funnel, but was interrupted by a shard of crystal embedding itself in her side, cutting off her concentration. "Damn it, this guy's not giving us an inch anymore!"

"Gettin' sick of you all getting in my way. Just wanted to eat in peace and all of you are being SERUIOUSLY annoying about it!" He rushed forward with a clenched fist, then smashed it into where they all stood. They all attempted to avoid it and jump out of the way, though the impact created an explosion of crystal shards that shot out and littered everyone with cuts and gashes all across their bodies. "I'm gonna kill you, so I can eat in peace!"

"Not gonna happen!" Undyne defied, raising her hand as dozens of spears manifested around her and shot towards the next wave of crystals, shattering most of them and slicing apart others.

She then shot another one right towards his chest, and he scoffed as t harmlessly shattered into droplets against his crystal armor. Irritated, she summoned another spear in her hand and held it out towards the monster in question. Though rather than throw it, she concentrated more magic into it, as it steadily glowed brighter by the moment. Berry didn't want to find out what she was planning, and intended to interrupt her before she could finish, as sand began gathering around her feet. An explosion of freezing cold flames slammed into his back, knocking him off-balance.

He was met with an icy glare from Toriel.

The brief distraction was enough for Undyne, who thrusts her held spear outwards and beheld a beam of water that shot forth and pierced right through Berry's armor and right through his left side, causing a pained shout of agony and for his armor to briefly fail him, bringing him to his knees. He wasn't given any reprieve, as he felt the entire weight of a giant tree slam right on top of him, causing the entire area around him to crumble slightly from the extra weight, and for him to crash his face first into the ground.

"How's that, ya jerk?!" Danielle exclaimed, the attack having drained her quite a bit, even with a helpful hand from Galen, who seemed to nearly pass out from the strain despite his reserves. His body wasn't capable of handling all of the power, just yet.

"Quick, Faryn! While he's distracted!" Frisk quickly called to Faryn, who nodded understandably as they turned towards the sand funnel that was keeping Gerson trapped and unable to help. Both of them began focusing their fire magic to heat the sand and melt it down to easily shattered glass.

Their attempt was briefly stopped, however, as a massive block of crystal shot up from the ground and smashed itself against the side of Frisk's head. Berry was still trying to keep anyone from freeing Gerson.

"FRISK!/KID!/MY CHILD!" Faryn, Undyne and Toriel exclaimed worriedly as Frisk was greatly disoriented by a block of crystal hitting him upside the head. He could have sworn he felt his skull crack slightly from the impact, the world nearly went completely dark, and everything was ringing as he saw doubles, triples, quadruples of nearly everything he could currently see at the moment. He was very nearly knocked out completely from such a hard hitting blow.

But he refused.

Instead, Frisk stood his ground, planting his feet and holding his hands out, channeling his flames while breathing heavily.

"I'm...I'm...I'm fine. Don't stop, Faryn. Keep going!" He breathed, even as copious amounts of blood began dripping down his head from where the crystal hit him. Everything hurt, everything felt agonizing and he simply wanted to lie down and rest for several moments. His thoughts were scattered, and his heart was beating rapidly. But he couldn't afford to pass out, not the way things were right now. Faryn was obviously concerned, but she still nodded and added her own flames to Frisk's own, and both of them spread to and expanded around the sand funnel that kept Gerson trapped. In time, the sand funnel turned to glass, and Gerson smashed is way out of it, landing on his feet with a huff.

"Whew. Thanks kids, don't what I'd do without ya except withdraw into my shell and weather the storm." Gerson coughed, dropping some sand out of his had as he turned towards Berry, who lifted the crashed tree off of him and got back on his feet. Gerson narrowed his eye. "Yer goin' down, Berry. Gettin' sick of all of this sand. Time we've made our own oasis." With this, he slammed his hammer into the ground with a mighty swing. And not only did the sand around him get blown away due to the shockwave, but said shockwave slammed into Berry and completely shattered his crystal armor into pieces, leaving him vulnerable once again.

"You're totally wide open now, chump!" Danielle shouted as she placed her hands on the ground, and soon enough, various amounts of vines, roots, branches, and trunks all wrapped around him and keeping him restrained once more. This time Galen provided his own power to the mix, to make absolutely sure that Berry could not break free again. He certainly tried to. But try as he might, there was no escaping from the restraints this time, having already exhausted himself trying to maintain his crystal armor for so long under constant attacks.

"You're all going this far, even though I already wrecked this place?! Why?! It's as good as gone! Just let me go and let me eat the rest of it, already!" Berry roared as he attempted to no avail to free himself from his restraints. As he struggled in futility to free himself, he got a look at just what was ahead of him while he was rendered unable to move.

Toriel and Undyne were side by side and had their paw/hand in the air, their magic gathering around them as they glared towards their now helpless target. They were going to put as much force as possible into this one while he couldn't defend himself.

"You have troubled these people enough with your callous gluttony." Toriel declared icily, her fangs showing just slightly.

"You're gonna continue goin' hungry, punk." Undyne declared as well, intent on ending this before Berry could do anymore damage.

The intense fire and the surging water gathering atop them took form and condensed until they fit into their paw/hand. When they finished, they held their hand outward towards the struggling Berry Behemoth, who simply glared at them with all the irritation he could muster at the moment. Neither were very affected. The duo returned the sentiment and narrowed their eyes.

"Begone!"

From afar, one could see a brief flash of light, before the area they target was suddenly enveloped in a giant whirlpool of flames and water rising up towards the sky, before both of them dispersed into a burst of embers and sparkling water drops.

Both women still held their arms out, the silence only broken by their heavy breathing. Toriel's right sleeve has been completely burned away, blood running down the right side of her face as the heat decreased to a more tolerable level. Undyne still hand her hand out, her hair having returned to normal as her eye was forced shut from the strain of her magic, and was left bleeding as a result of her Undying mode having timed out. Both of them looked at the results of their combined attack, wondering if they had to force themselves to fight even further than before.

Fortunately, there was no need.

There, lying in a crater of embers and falling rain, lies Berry. Flat on his back, scorch burns all over his body, as well as being soaked beyond belief, the combined attack proved too much for him to handle, and he lies unconscious. Sensing no magic gearing up for an attack, the two women sighed as they confirmed that he was down and wouldn't be getting back up. Both of them sighed deeply, and the others could be heard and sighing from sheer relief.

The battle was finally over.

Galen, for one, had no idea how to feel, as he laid against Danielle while letting the heaviness of the moment weigh on him for a moment. He helped in defeating his parents' killer and keeping his Kingdom from suffering any further. He simply laid against the dryad monster as he pondered the moment. What should he do with the Behemoth now? Imprison him? The roots around him would continue to siphon away his magic, so he wouldn't be able to escape even if he tried to, later.

A tree prison that constantly siphoned away his magic, leaving him unable to escape. And he wouldn't be able to eat anything.

Given what Berry's preferred taste was, without any regards for the people he hurts in the process, the young King doesn't feel the slightest bit bad for him. Countless citizens were dead because of him. Now he couldn't kill any more of them.

Toriel, sighing, turned towards Undyne with a brief smile. "It looks like we were victorious, Undyne."

Undyne also turned towards Toriel, wiping the blood off her eye while grinning. "Damn straight. Not too shabby, Toriel."

Both exchanged a brief bumping of fists, before casually falling over, their friends worried shouts filling their hearing.

The devastation brought upon the Kingdom was undeniably immense.

Many a citizen were killed during Berry's onslaught, hundreds of homes have been completely torn asunder, and their greenery has taken a rather harsh amount of damage as well thanks to the ridiculous amount of sandstorms stacked atop one another, which left the crops barely surviving. The damage wasn't irreversible, but the recovery was not going to be immediate, either. Only an extended amount of time and healing would be able to restore Gustus back to it's original glory, and even then, the scars left behind by today would remain as a reminder of the harsh day.

Especially in regards to Toriel.

"Goodness gracious, these wounds were serious." Alphys breathed worriedly as she looked over Toriel's various wounds to her back, as she had lowered her jacket enough to where her bare back could be seen, as well as many of the scars left behind by Revan, which got intensely agitated by Berry's sandstorm onslaught. They were mostly healing up nicely given the magic medicinal herbs being applied to her back, but it has become clear that the severity of the wounds made it clear that they were never going away completely.

"Sheesh, Toriel. These guys really wrecked your shit." Undyne growled, swiveling around in a chair while keeping an eye on her, with her left one having a white patch on it rather than her usual black eyepatch. Toriel could only sigh, mostly having gotten used to the fish woman's vulgarity. "I wouldn't worry too much about it, though. I'm sure that Asgore will still find your back sexy."

"Goondess, Undyne. Must we really go there right now?" Toriel muttered as she slid her jacket back over her shoulders, though she did briefly wonder if Asgore would still find her back attractive, after the heavy scarring it's received. Maybe after a bit of fussing over her wounds, he most likely would because he's a sweetheart like that. But nevertheless, she had received those scars protecting Frisk. The only thing she regretted about that decision is how much it dreadfully worried him that she got so severely hurt for his sake.

"Behemoth has been safely restrained and locked away, he won't be getting free any time soon." Danielle hummed as Galen sit idly on her lap, having taken rest against her generous bosom. 'We're, like, definitely grateful for your help. If it weren't for you, Gustus would have gotten off a lot worse. If at all. Seriously, this day really sucked."

"Don't mention it, lass." Gerson said, while sheepishly looking away from the full-figured, barely clothed dryad monster. He had almost forgotten that dryad monsters don't exactly have a strong sense of modesty like others do, because of their strong connection with nature and greenery. He found it impolite to stare at the young lady for too long, though made sure he didn't appear rude or to be ignoring her when she's speaking. "So, how long do you think it will take you to recover from all of this?"

"From what I can gather, a full recovery will take a year at best, if we're doing so on our own. Behemoth really did damage to everything." Galen said while lightly snug in Danielle's hug. Toriel noticed that the boy, while still timid amongst the new company, was no longer stuttering.

"I see. So you'll be able to get back on your feet eventually." Toriel deduced, to which Danielle and Galen nodded. The latter looked up towards Danielle for a moment.

"Dani, can you hand me over to Miss Toriel for a moment."

"Sure thing, Galen." Danielle didn't question the request, simply carrying him over to the slightly confused Toriel and placed the five year old on her lap. Galen looked up towards her, meeting her red eyes.

"Is there something wrong, young one?"

"Miss Toriel. You were badly hurt. You were here almost on your own because your phones were destroyed. Even when it looked like Gustus was gonna die, you still didn't give up. You could barely move, but you were really really trying to." Galen lightly shook his head. "You didn't have to do all that. You barely knew us at all, you were just dropped here after having already been badly hurt. And yet, still..."

Toriel briefly hummed. "Well, what kind of person would I be if I did not stand up for those who offered me hospitality?" Toriel then felt something tighten around her, blinking as she noticed the incredibly young king had wrapped himself around her waist in a hug. Smiling gently, Toriel returned the hug to the young king, soothingly caressing the back of his head. He finally released her, asking for Danielle to pick him back up again, which she did so giddily. Toriel clasped her paws and looked around, noticing someone missing from the room. "What if Frisk and Faryn?"

"Oh? Them?" Alphys lightly twiddled her fingers. "They're recovering quite well. Although, I didn't really have the heart to interrupt them."

"Me neither." Undyne casually shrugged. Toriel blinked at this.

Meanwhile, Frisk and Faryn were sitting next to each other on one of the thicker branches of the Great Tree Palace that was able to form a small room. He had several bundles of bandages around his head, particularly around the place where he was whacked hard by the crystal. it was a harsh and devastating blow, yet he powered through it and helped Faryn free Gerson, which helped everyone secure the victory.

Now, he was dealing with the aftermath.

"Gck!" Frisk winced as Faryn gently rewraps a new set of bandages around his head, a set of healing leaves formed from her plant magic.

"There, all done. This will make the healing for your head a lot faster!" Faryn promised with a smile and a nod.

"Thanks, Faryn." Frisk nodded back as they both stared out towards the scenery that their room provided via a medium sized opening. A lot of the Kingdom ahs been assaulted by sand thanks to Berry, and it would definitely take a while for the Kingdom and it's people to recover. Both of them gazed out towards it in complete silence, not feeling the need to fill it with noise just yet. They simply took the time to wind down and relax, as the adrenaline from the conflict they took part in as mostly died down, and the pain left behind from their wounds discouraged moving too much.

Wordlessly, Faryn allowed one of her fluffy tails to gently place itself around Frisk. Frisk lightly takes hold of it and has it rest on his lap, his fingers running through it's fuzzy fur and helped soothe his spirit for the moment. Faryn didn't seem to mind too much, simply continuing to gaze outwards with a look of contemplation and a little bit of irritation.

"Frisk. I really didn't like that Berry guy." Faryn eventually spoke up again.

"Not too surprising."

"I really didn't like him. He kept going on and on about wanting to eat this and that, while he kept on hurting people. That made me mad." Faryn conceded as she lightly tightened her fists. "All he cares about his filling his own belly with whatever he wants without caring about who he hurts in the process. I don't like that at all. I like eating a lot too, but I wanna share my food, too. With my Kingdom, to with my Daddy, and with the friends I make. Food always tastes better when shared with your loved ones." Faryn shook her head. "Someone like him just eats and eats and eats without sharing a thing, and hurts people for the sake of eating even more. I don't like him at all."

Frisk could understand. One of Faryn's favorite says of establishing and nurturing close bonds is through eating food together. Everyone shares food with one another, everyone becomes friends. Someone like Berry, who is gluttonous enough to steal everyone's food for themselves without any regards to who they hurt getting said food, must have really struck a cord with the Fox Princess, and is permanently on her 'do not like' list. And that's paired with how many people he's killed and devoured through his rampage. Gustus is badly hurt in numerous ways because of him.

Frisk reluctantly has no positive feelings towards the monster, either.

"I really hope Gustus can recover super soon." Faryn voiced with a sigh.

"They're not the only ones I hope recover soon." Frisk mumbled as he continued lightly caressing Faryn's fluffy tail, while the other two waved about without a care. Though Faryn immediately knew who he spoke of.

Chara.

Alphys has informed them on what happened while they were sent away, and Frisk was hit with the revelation that Chara was currently comatose. Ever since he heard that, it wasn't hard to assume that Frisk and Toriel were terribly worried about him. They had no idea that he was that badly hurt during the clash over at Legatum. But what further bothered him about this reveal was that Asriel and Asgore were sure to have known about it before any of them.

And certain memories would make this revelation hurt far worse for them than for Frisk and Toriel.

Thinking about it seriously made his head hurt, which was worsened by his already painful headache from his injury. He needed to lie down for a moment. He slowly lies sideways, and he ended up lying his head on Faryn's lap. The Fox Princess didn't mind, simply adjusting herself and taking the moment to gently stroke Frisk's hair, being extra careful of his head injury.

"You're worried about your brothers." It wasn't a question this time.

"Yeah."

"It's alright to worry, just keep your faith in them. Chara will recover, and Asriel will return safely to you."

"It's just, well, we already told you our story. Asriel has been in this position before. The helplessness must be tearing him up inside, as he can't do anything but hope that Chara wakes up by the time he gets back. I certainly hope he's awake by the time we meet him. Not to mention Dad. He must be worried sick about me and Mom. Placing his trust in Undyne and the others while he keeps looking for Terra with Asriel. That must not have been easy for him to agree to."

"I can only imagine, Frisky."

Frisk sighed as he turned over so the back of his lied on her lap, rather than the side. Fortunately it wasn't the side where his healing injury was, so he didn't wince too much. "What about your Dad? How do you think he's feeling right now?"

"Probably worried sick to the point of having a tummy ache. This is the very first time I've been away from him for so long so far away, after all." Faryn hummed while continuing to stroke Frisk's hair, her tails swaying calmly. "I know he said that he'd find a way to me no matter what if I let him know I was in trouble. I appreciate that. But, I want to keep going like this. I don't want to force him to come all the way out here for my sake. I want to reassure him that I'm capable enough to do things like this on my own."

"You really feel that way? You've gone through a heck of a lot of strife ever since you left the safety of your Kingdom for real. You're not having any second thoughts at all after what's happened so far?"

Faryn closed her eyes. "For me to properly understand the world around me, I need to experience it's best side and it's worst, Frisky. Daddy did the same thing, but he experienced more of the worse sides than the better sides, which is a big reason why he is the way he is. I want to uncover as much of the better sides as I can, so that both he and Astus as a whole can form a better opinion of the world we live in." She slowly opened her eyes again. "I want to experience and see the world, and share that experience with everyone back home so that everyone can better understand it and give it another chance. Especially Daddy." She smiled softly. "Even with the pain I've endured so far, that is still my dream. So I'm going to keep trying to reach this dream, so I can further restore Daddy's hope."

Perseverance. It resonated strongly in her words, and she meant every bit of it. Frisk couldn't find it in himself to argue against it.

Hopes that reveal the path to Dreams, and Dreams that revive the vitality of Hope.

He was absolutely behind that idea.

"Frisk? Are you getting sleepy?" Faryn gently questioned, and Frisk nodded a bit while rubbing his eyes slightly. "It's okay to sleep, Frisk. We're out of danger for now, so you can rest easy and regain your strength. We'll watch over you." Faryn reassures him. Frisk wanted to protest a bit, to say that Faryn needed her rest as well, but he already felt slumber take him due to lying comfortably on Faryn's lap, and the fox princess soothingly stroking his hair. He was out before he knew it, the result having Faryn smiling pleasantly as she continued to caress his hair.

Toriel could see the duo resting from behind a corner. Surprised at first, her muzzle tilted upwards into a gentle smile, as she stepped away and left the two young ones be. Clasping her paws, she returned to the room where her friends rested, now seeing their point about not wanting to bother the young duo. Undyne and Alphys greeted her with a wave of their hands each.

"I see your point. I did not disturb them."

"Good on you. The kids need their rest, they've gone through a lotta shit recently. And I have a gut feeling that it ain't over by a long shot." Undyne hummed as her chin rested atop the chair she was sitting in. "So it's probably for the best that we all take this time to breathe while we can. Better to face what's gonna blindside us next while more well rested, than while we're tired as hell."

"Agreed."

"Right, we've been pushing ourselves to the limit. We should relax a little more." Alphys cleared her throat to get Undyne's attention, prompting her wife to turn towards her. Alphys was sitting on a nearby thick branch, patting her lap with both paws while wearing an awkward yet hopeful smile. "U-Undyne? Would you like to? I-I mean, you really put in a lot of work today, so you really should rest like everyone else. S-So, use my lap? I mean, I-If you want?"

Undyne blinked a bit, her fins lowering slightly and maw slightly agape. Toriel wondered if she was actually going to decline, then dismissed the silly thought once Undyne immediately bounced out of her chair and rushed over to where Alphys was. She was already laying the back of her head across Alphys' lap with her arms folded.

"There's absolutely no way I would refuse this offer." Undyne said with a straight face. Alphys began stroking her wife's long crimson hair, running her fingers through it with a more relaxed smile replacing her awkward one, her yellow tail very gently wagging with content. Undyne huffed, but she too relaxed a bit more, finding herself quite comfortable and content in her wife's presence. "Yeah, this is nice. Definitely enjoying the view from here, Fuhu."

"Undyne, come on." Alphys muttered with a small blush, before clearing her throat. "Toriel, I already got started on making new upgraded phones to replace the ones that were destroyed." She commented while contently caressing Undyne's hair. "I should be done in about an hour or so. I didn't make them durable enough it seems, so I'll be rectifying that problem, first. That said, I'll also have to update everyone's phones to make it fair. I'll also let them know that you, Frisk, and Faryn are fine for the most part."

"Much appreciated, Alphys." Toriel nodded to the Royal Scientist, then towards Undyne. "Undyne. I really do appreciate you and the others coming to assist us when you did. I do not know what I would have been able to do without your intervention."

"Don't sweat it, Toriel. Just glad I made it in time to help down the jerk." Undyne briefly tilted her head so she could look towards her. "What do we do now, though? Like I said already, got a feeling in my gut that things are gonna get worse before they get better."

"Currently, we cannot do much of anything until we have recovered more of our strength and rested our bodies, as well as our minds and souls. " Toriel sighed. "This will not be easy for me to do, however. Not with one of my sons comatose and another still out of my sight. I am becoming quite restless with current events right now." Goodness, she missed Asgore. While the both of them could get plenty fired up, he was the one most likely to cool the both of them down and keep them calm. His presence was dearly missed, but she couldn't go moving about recklessly. The only solace she had regarding this was that she knew that Asriel and Asgore would take care of each other. And Legatum, as one of their new allies, would take care of Chara.

So she had to trust them, as she herself and the friends currently with her would protect Frisk.

Alas, she still couldn't not fully reassure herself, as she clasped her paws and gazed aimlessly in front of her.

She had the same feeling as Undyne. She had an unnerving feeling that their true hardships have yet to begin.

(?)

"So, where does this leave Potestas at the moment? Legatum has been badly damaged by a coup, and Gustus was nearly completely destroyed and buried in sandstorms." One voice sounded out as they sounded like they were keeping record of current events.

"It appears that Potestas isn't doing all too well at the moment. If anything, it might very well be on a path of destroying itself from the inside out with all of these chaotic forces acting from within." Another sounded, their tone indicating a bit of annoyance.

"Why the long faces? This is actually pretty fantastic progress, if I do say so myself!" Valantis, their superior, guffawed as he sits upon a grand throne, his presence feeling heavy amongst his subordinates. "That's strike two. The monarchs have been unable to protect their citizens and Kingdoms from disaster so far. At this rate, I will have no choice but to 'step in' and take the reins. It won't be long now." He leaned forward while resting his chin in his hands. "Still, if anything, I'm a patient and sporting man. There's still one Kingdom left. Libertas. Let's see how well they deal with disaster."

"And if they strike out a third time, my lord?" One of his more feminine subordinates cooed, sounding quite hopeful that the scenario would come true.

"Well then, that will be that. My superior said that I could do what I wish, so when the opportunity presents itself, I will." Valantis grinned as he pressed a button on the side of his throne, with a screen popping up. Toxin appeared, waving his paw childishly. "You hear all that, Toxin?"

"Loud and clear! I'll be sure to do my part with flying colors, business partner!"

"Good on you! Although, you do realize if you completely follow through on this, you'd be betraying your own Kingdom to destruction, right?"

"Huh. I would be doing that, huh? Hmmmm. Oh well." Toxin shrugged. Valantis smirked. One of his subordinates seemed shocked.

"Not even an inkling of regret?! You're really going to abandon Libertas without a care once this entire thing kicks off?! You have no emotional ties to it whatsoever? Such as a loved one? Precious memories? A beloved home from your childhood, even?"

Toxin hummed, tilting his head curiously. "Pardon me, my good lady. But all of those things would require having a sense of empathy, and I do believe I surgically removed that from my soul when I was but a young hatchling. Good thing too, because it means I can experiment with all kinds of methods for mass death and destruction of my choosing without having an annoying pang of guilt in my chest. I freed myself from it so I could proceed through these atrocities without the greatest hindrance which is having the ability to care about things or people. Makes sense, doesn't it?"

"T-Then what about Darkness?"

"Oh that's right! Darkness! He was fun for a while! Too bad he's become annoying through his empathy, so now I'll have to kill him. Shame, really. He helped me a bunch in the past. But now I gotta help myself to ending his life."

"I do believe she's gotten her answer." Valantis guffaws at the story, as the woman who asked the question seemed horrified.

"Cool beans! I'll just start making preparations if we're done here." Toxin clapped his paws. "Good thing I'll have a more trusty assistant to help me through it, like my new best buddy!" Toxin briefly turned towards the shadows, where a pair of glowing dark cyan flaring eyes could be seen in the darkness, along with a crooked smile. "Anyway, we'll be leaving now! See you soon!" Finished, the screen shuts down, and Valantis was seen smiling as he got up from his throne, looking quite excited.

It won't be long now. Should Libertas fail, and it will, he can go on and proceed with his machinations in full. The mistress and her friends explicitly said they would not interfere, so he can do so without concern for their annoyance. Much of what he worked for was finally going to bear fruit.

What the hell. He was in a good mood, so he felt like doing a good deed.

He cupped his hands in front of his chest, and he withdrew something from it. A soul. An inverted soul that was dark-green and encased in white.

An absorbed monster soul.

An absorbed Boss Monster soul.

"Remind me again. Asgore and Asriel Dreemurr are currently heading towards Libertas, correct?" He asked one of his servants, who nodded in confirmation. "Ah, very good. This is perfect, even! It's been a while since I've talked to Asgore. He even has a son! It's only fair that I go say hello before we get down to the main event. Once everything is said and done, I'll see for myself if they have what it takes to make the cut in the world I intend to shape." With this, he hops off his throne and proceeds to exit his throne room.

"When will you be back, Lord Valantis?"

"Hopefully not for too long. You can even begin preparations without me." He waved off casually, as his hybrid soul was held in front of him. He smiled malevolently as he exited through the doors. "Don't be so resistant. I'm doing you a favor after you've helped do so much for me. Hell, I'm not even gonna kill them, so you should be more grateful." He spoke to the soul, as the doors closed behind him. He really was a compassionate man.

After all, he was taking the owner of this certain soul to go see it's son and grandson.

With this, we'll be moving onto Libertas at last, where stuff is going to go down, quite violently.

It's where Darkness, Tempest, and Lunar are from after all. And Toxin as well. With the particular place of the last, we can gather that it's not a very happy place despite it's name. And now, there are plans to discard to ruin in progression for a scheme in the making?

Definitely can't be good, since Toxin has no problems with it.

Until next time!