They sat around the fire that night, as the fire's sparks slowly flickered up into the dark quilt of clouds above. Tiny flecks of snow were beginning to descend down, but the snow didn't really stick much to the green grass. No, instead, a light dusting of frost was all that seemed to linger on the world around them, as a chilling Irish wind bit at them all. They huddled even closer to the fire as Gaster began to draw a circle in the ground below them, Leopold adding in a few symbols as well, he and Gaster murmuring to one another.
"What're you making?" Eri inquired, taking note of the fascinating symbology that went into alchemy. It really was impressive, the swirls, the pictograms, the symmetry on display was an art into itself. Hadiya, meanwhile, knew that Eri was going to be super hungry and would want to eat a big dinner tonight so they could eat something small in the morning before racing off to the battlefield. Besides, Eri didn't like big breakfasts anyway, she knew that too, so Hadiya was now roasting some thick cuts of steak from cows the army had brought to the camp over the fire.
"I'm going to make…well, WE'RE going to make a fiddle." Gaster explained. "I'm pretty good with flute instruments but I really want to get better at these stringed things!" He admitted as Leopold put down a large block of wood in the center of the circle, along with some strings and a few other pieces. There was a flash of light, and then, right before their eyes, SHA-BOOM! A fiddle, created solely by alchemy now faintly floated in midair, Gaster catching it as his eyes faintly glowed.
"Oh!"
He hadn't caught it with his OWN hands. Or rather, he had, but…not with "normal" hands. They all gazed on in awe, Gaster blushing a bit as Leopold rubbed over the top of his skeletal head, feeling over the faint skeletal "skin" he had, with the teeny-tiny little "hairs" that skin had. Skeleton monster skin felt so nice! It had a faintly dry, soft texture to it, it reminded him of when he'd picked up a toad, expecting it to feel all warty and gross, only to be pleasantly surprised at how soft and silky it was. Plus, Leopold just liked patting Gaster's head…
"I didn't know you could make more hands." Tobias admitted as he examined the floating, faintly glowing skeletal hands that held the fiddle. Hadiya began to take the steak pieces off the kebab she'd begun roasting them over, giving two to Eri, who began to hungrily wolf them down, though they both still kept an eye on the strange, floating skeletal hands. "That some kind of…blue magic?"
"Its my own personal touch. I combine it with blue magic." Gaster admitted. "I began to craft the beginnings of this spell when we were imprisoned by the dragons, I was intended to use them to help us break free. Watch!"
He focused, biting his skeletal "lip"…or lack thereof…and he closed his eyes. It seemed like he was sweating, and then, two MORE skeletal hands manifested in midair, up above his head, and there came a SHUDDA-THOW noise that rang through the air, like a cannon going off! A beam of pure white magical energy briefly shot forth from those hands as the shot went off, the beam shooting off, high through the air, actually parting the blanket of clouds above! They all wooped and hollered, the mages clearly impressed as Elisud began to pass around wine for them to drink, Cu Chulainn taking a deep, long swig. Perhaps too long…
"That IS impressive. It's not that big yet, but…I think it'll turn into an amazing weapon one day, Gaster." Cu Chulainn admitted as Gaster nodded, and then spoke up.
"Mr. Cu Chulainn…I just want you to know I know it was hard for you to work with monsters. You hated my kind for so long. But I wanted to thank you for fighting alongside me, and…and for not killing my brothers when you had the chance. I know you could have easily done that, and…well, you're not known for your restraint, so you showing that was quite the boon." Gaster confessed.
Cu Chulainn gave a simple nod. "I'm glad I didn't either." He told Gaster before he looked around. "Where's Seiichi?"
"He said he and Sakamoto were tending more to the very badly wounded." Tobias remarked. "And he also was calling on some birds to do some scouting for them. Crows." He added.
"Good idea! He's not nearly as dumb as he thinks he is." Leopold insisted.
"Come! Come, let us think up a merry song to sing to relax us all before we head to our well-deserved slumber. We'll have a long day ahead of us!" Cu Chulainn proclaimed as they all nodded, looking around at each other. Hmm. What to sing? They all scratched their heads, or rubbed their chins, Leopold gently taking Gaster's normal hands as he demonstrated the different chords on the fiddle whilst Elisud got out his own lute.
"Hmm…I know!" Elisud smiled over at Cu Chulainn. "How about the Jolly Butcher?" He asked, as Cu Chulainn's eyes lit up, and a broad smile came over his face.
"Oh, my son Connla LOVED that type of song…" He sighed wistfully. "Wonderful idea, Eli! The Jolly Butcher's a fine piece!"
"Jolly Butcher?" Eri sounded a bit confused as Hadiya got out a few pipes for her and Eri to play, whilst Tobias got out a drum. Soon everyone had an instrument to play!
"I know that one!" Tobias confessed. "Here, I'll sing out the tune, you'll be able to pick up on it if I sing a few bars?"
"Of course." Hadiya said with a rather smug grin. "Eri? You up for the challenge?"
Eri held up her pipe. "At the ready! Go ahead, sing away!"
Tobias took in a deep, long breath, Cu Chulainn watching eagerly and then, he began to belt out a rather boisterous, loud, but distinctly jolly and FUN song, the words sweeping through the air like birds, a sort of bounce in every single sentence!
Oh, won't you come along with me, love,
Come along with me!
Come for the night, and be my wife,
yeah, come along with me!
The tale's of a jolly butcher, as you might plainly see,
As he rode on out one morning, in search of company.
He went into a tavern, and a fair girl he did see,
Aw, come for the night. Be my wife!
Just come along with me!
He called for liquor, all the best,
And he made such fortune plain…
"Come have a drink, and I'll make us think
That it is our wedding day!"
Won't you come along with me, love,
Come along with me!
Come for the night, and be my wife,
yeah, come along with me!
Well, Eri and Hadiya had quickly picked up on the tune. Now that they knew what the basic sound of the song was, they could happily play it, and began a-toot-toot-tooting on the flutes they'd brought as the stringed instruments and drums were played to the happy singing of Tobias, Cu Chulainn now joining in for the second part of the silly little tale!
Well, he called for a candle, to light their way to bed.
And when he had her in the room, these words to her he said:
"A sovereign I will give to you, for to embrace your charms!"
And all that night that fair young maid, lied in the butcher's arms!
Oh, won't you come along with me, love,
Come along with me!
Come for the night, and be my wife,
yeah, come along with me.
Ah, early the nest morning, the butcher went his way
He looked unto that fair young maid, and unto her did say:
"That sovereign that I gave to you, do not think me strange,
But that sovereign that I gave to you,
Will you give me back me back me change?"
Hadiya almost laughed so hard she choked, Gaster sniggering madly even as he continued to play on the fiddle. He wasn't quite as good as Elisud with his lute, but he was a quick learner indeed! Cu Chulainn had a distinctly broad grin as he kept singing.
"We're about to have a fiddle solo, get ready for it!" He told Gaster. "Eli?"
"Don't worry, I'll back him up. Follow my lead, Gaster!" Eli said as he and Gaster rose up, tapping their feet as Cu Chulainn finished up his stanza.
Oh, won't you come along with me, love,
Come along with me!
Come for the night, and be my wife,
yeah, come along with me, HAVE A DANCE!
Now the two of them began to play their merry stringed solo…or rather, duet. They swept about the fire, Elisud laughing merrily, a blush on his cheeks, hair flopping about as Gaster followed after him on his fiddle. He'd quickly picked up the tune and was now in almost perfect synch with Elis on the merry little melody. The others all clapped their hands in rhythm to the song as Elisud and Gaster finished up, all of the others now singing out the chorus!
Oh, won't you come along with me, love,
Come along with me!
Come for the night, and be my wife,
yeah, come along with me! Hey!
"Now it's time for the final part of the song!" Elisud said with a grin. "My favorite part. Here's how it goes…" He took in a deep breath before he began to belt out the lyrics.
Well, about a twelve months later,
He rode on out once more,
And he went into the tavern, that he'd often been before!
He wasn't in there very long, when his fair maid he did see
She brought forth a baby, three months old, and placed it on his knee!
Aw, when he saw the baby,
He began to curse and swear
And he said unto that fair young maid:
"Why did you bring him here!?"
"Well, he's your own, kind sir!" she said!
"Do not think me strange! Well, that sovereign that you gave to me…
I GIVES YOU BACK YOUR CHANGE!"
The rest of the group began to howl with laughter, guffawing, chortling and snorting, it became hard to play the instruments they'd had with the constant laughing and sniggering as Elisud finished up the song with Cu Chulainn, both of them belting out a perfect, harmonic finish to the tune.
Oh, won't you come along with me, love,
Come along with me!
Come for the night, and be my wife,
yeah, come along with me!
Oh, won't you come along with me, love,
Come along with me!
Come for the night, and be my wife,
yeah, come along with me!
At last, with the song finished, all of them flopped onto where they'd been sitting before, people wiping their eyes, Gaster grinning toothily. "That was a wonderful song to practice with…and quite a delightful little ditty at that."
"Indeed, that song was very funny!" Hadiya confessed. "That's a good one! I'll be sure to remember it for when Eri and I head home when this is over."
"Yeah, when…when this is over." Elisud remarked, as a sad look came to his eyes, and he slowly bit his lip, looking down at the ground. "…you know, we haven't exactly talked about what'll happen when we do beat King Maecoal. We…we really should get that out of the way." He murmured.
"Well, can't Asgore just take over for the monsters?" Tobias inquired, sounding confused.
"I don't think having a nice guy as the new king alone will do it." Leopold murmured. "Don't you remember how furious people were at the dragons for keeping them prisoner in that underground city?" He admitted as he nervously twirled a lock of his long white hair, his tone subdued and nervous. "I mean…think about it. King Maecoal's been going around Ireland burning city after city to the ground. People aren't gonna be like "Oh, his son's in charge now? That's just dandy then, we'll stop calling for monsters heads"."
A very oppressive silence hung over the fire, only the faint crackling of embers flickering into the air left. The faint snapping of little branches dissolving into ashes hissed in their ears as they all gazed into the fire. The reality of the situation was slowly pressing in on them like a gigantic weight set down on a man accused of witchcraft, their bones being slowly broken beneath the giant stone.
"If we'd just gotten that cure sooner…if he hadn't gotten the dragons to work for him…" Cu Chulainn began to growl, his fingers digging into his legs, beginning to grind his teeth. "It all went wrong that day. Just when it looked like we had hope…"
"Are the people really that mad?" Elisud quietly asked. "…truly?"
"Have you spoken to your friends about what'll happen after Asgore's taken his father's place? What have your friends Iolo and Gawain and Bowen and the like said?" Tobias asked nervously of him. Elisud hesitated.
"Um…well, truthfully, I broached the subject before I came over here and they…well…they were very tight-lipped. They didn't really seem that happy." Elisud murmured.
"As long as monsters are the primarily magic users in the world, this'll happen again and again and again. There's plenty of King Maecoals in the world." A voice rang out. "And plenty who are like my Father, too." They all looked up, seeing Sakamoto approaching with Seiichi, both of them looking like someone had run over their family with a chariot, then gone back and stomped on the remains.
"Tobias, they're willing to go along with the plan to get rid of King Maecoal, but they want more than that. We spent hours tending to the wounded and listening to the men back at camp, the humans are beyond furious. They're barely holding it in. They want the monsters to pay for the campaign Maecoal waged against humans. They want the dragons to pay. They want all monsters in some way, to pay." Seiichi admitted.
Tobias held his head in his hands, sighing deeply, closing his eyes. He took in deep, long, breaths, and then…he spoke.
"What do you think would have happened if…if that day hadn't happened? If there was no war? What would we have done if the cure was found sooner? Or if the dragons hadn't sided with King Maecoal? Or if we'd managed to beat them there instead of being forced into being their prisoners?"
"…I would have gone after my son." Cu Chulainn murmured. "I'd say goodbye to everyone and then try to find Connla and Aífe. I dream about them every night, I can't help it. I keep thinking about what I could have said to keep them with me."
"I would have gone back home. WE…would have gone back home." Gaster held Leopold's shoulder, nodding at him. "I want to be a doctor, you know. I'd set up a little place with Leopold and we could use our magic to tend to the sick and the hurt and the needy."
"I'd take you across the world!" Eri gave Hadiya a kiss on the cheek. "I'd want you to see so much more than just Ireland. Hey, Sakamoto, would you be willing to take Seiichi and I along with you wherever you'd go?"
"I was thinking of finally visiting those charming New World dragons, yes…" Sakamoto admitted. "I'd love to take you fine ladies with us."
"Fine ladies?" Hadiya raised an eyebrow. "I thought you and Seiichi were…"
"I appreciate beauty, regardless of gender." The dragon told them with a smile and a deep bow, Gaster nodding.
"Indeed, you do have very lovely bodies and you're both utterly charming." Gaster confessed. "I just find Leo more charming." He added as he and Leopold nuzzled up against one another, Elisud looking up at the cloudy sky above, as a soft snowflake fluttered down onto his nose.
"I did always want to see the world myself!" Seiichi admitted with a big grin. "And Toby? How about you?" He turned to Tobias.
"I'd be going back home. I'd have a town to rule over." Tobias admitted to them all with a nod. "I won't lie that all of this has been…I've really loved being here, with all of you. You're amazing friends, and wonderful comrades. I want to carry these memories in my heart for all eternity. But I'm homesick. Real homesick. I want to go back where its simpler, when…where…all I have to worry about is ONE town and its people, one tiny little kingdom, not…not being responsible for an entire race. And I am. We ALL are, with what's happening. If we're not careful, we'll doom all monsters. I'll see this through to the end, but I won't lie…I want to go back home. I…I have places to be, y'know…?" He sighed as he looked out across the long stretch of plains coated in frost as the others glanced at Elisud, then each other.
"Eli?" Cu Chulainn inquired.
"…I love my magic. I love being able to heal people. If…if things had worked out on that day, I'd probably have said goodbye to all of you too and just gone from town to town, healing people as a traveling monk." Elisud admitted. "But truth be told, though I love being a monk, I've kind of…well, I've sort of always wanted to write songs." He told them all. "The words just slide into my head, almost every hour, the more I see, the more I hear. It's as if the whole world is one big orchestra, my every movement synchronized to the music."
"Have you been working on a song?" Cu Chulainn inquired, sounding intrigued as Elisud nodded softly as he cleared his throat.
"You want to hear?" He asked of them all as they all nodded in agreement, Elisud taking in a long, deep breath, beginning to sing softly but passionately, his voice ringing with a kind of quiet, intense power.
All of the leeeeaaaaves are green…
All of the leaves are greeeeen, ohhh…
On every forget-me-not!
On every forget-me-noooot!
But all that we miiiight have beeeen…
All that we might have been…
Is covered in…
Covered in…
Covered in!
Covered in frooooost!
Covered in…
Covered in!
Covered in froooooooooost!
Silence hung in the air, heavy and hard, as they let the words echo through the air, quietly staring at Eli.
"…there's a lot of pain in that song." Eri spoke up at last, giving a quiet, sad nod.
"There is." Eli admitted with a soft nod. "It's the…well, climax of the song, basically. I've not quite thought up the rest of it, but…it keeps repeating in my head, the more I think about how things have gone…and how they could have gone. SHOULD have gone."
"Any scripture you know that could comfort you?" Eri asked.
"I might know a little?" Hadiya confessed. "To your tents, O Israel!" Eli, in turn, stared at her.
"…Kings?" He asked.
"Yeah. The tribes of Israel went to Rehoboam, they asked if he'd be an improvement on his harsh father. He said "My father chastised you with whips. I shall chastise you with SCORPIONS." So they decided, if he wouldn't listen…they had no choice. They had to fight. And he'd come to regret his poor choice." Hadiya intoned. "I remember that story VERY well. Rehoboam brags about the size of his penis."
"Yeah, I remember that!" Sakamoto laughed, as Seiichi began to chuckle and chortle too, Elisud finding himself smiling. "Yes, 1 Kings 12! His little finger's thicker than his father's loins!"
"Yeah, Toriel joked about that…I remember that…" Leopold said with a hearty grin as they all began to guffaw and laugh and chortle.
"Ohh, OH it feels good to laugh…" Cu Chulainn said with a smile. "But I'm dead tired…I think I'll head to bed now. I'll see you all in the morning." He told them, waving goodbye, heading off for his own tent to rest. He'd fallen asleep as soon as his head hit his makeshift "pillow"…
And he found himself facing that THING. The demonic future self he'd seen so often.
"Hello."
"NO." Cu Chulainn turned away from his Future Self, shaking his head, arms folded over his chest. "I'm not listening to a word you've got to say."
"You need to tap into my power fully for the fight tomorrow. If you don't, you won't be able to defeat King Maecoal. And your friends WILL die. Elisud especially…and painfully." Cu Chulainn's Future Self told him as Cu Chulainn stiffened.
"…wh-what? I…no. NO. We'll find another way past that."
"Even with your fancy plan it won't be enough." Cu Chulainn's Future Self insisted. "Because King Maecoal has been claiming human souls. He's not been able to hold onto ALL of them in his little genocidal tyrannical campaign against the land of Ireland, but…enough. Enough to be a real danger. Do you know what a monster with just one or two human souls can do?"
"…what?" Cu Chulainn asked.
"They can't be hurt. Its as though their injuries are reversed by time itself before your eyes." His Future Self said. "Only someone with that level of raw power can hurt them when they're like that. And you don't have that…unless you willingly tap into me. Fully."
Cu Chulainn glanced back over his shoulder at his Future Self, scowling. "…you're everything I hate about myself. You don't even look human at all. And you expect me to just become you."
"You do this, you WILL see Connla again."
Cu Chulainn's face turned pale. He slowly turned to fully face his Future Self, then grabbed their shoulders. "No tricks! No…fooling me! They'll be a corpse, won't they? Or enslaved?! Or-"
"No. They won't be dead when you see them again. Or enslaved. Perfectly healthy. Fine. Alive. Grown up, but alive." His Future Self said. "You'll have a chance to have him back in your life if you play your cards right. So…how about it?"
He held out his hand, Cu Chulainn stepping back a bit, looking down at the three-digited, red, scaly-skinned clawed appendage.
"…deal?"
"…how do I know you won't hurt the others once this is over?" Cu Chulainn asked. "…I don't…I don't want to be the monster I could become back then. I hate what the dragons did to us, but…but Eli's right. I know it. I don't want to just…to just slaughter them all."
"I won't. I've never lied to you, you know. Everything you asked, I've answered honestly. So…deal?"
Cu Chulainn hesitated…and then, sighing…he shook his hand.
"Now…imagine me not as a person. Or a voice in your head. Imagine that you're staring at…water." His Future Self told him, as Cu Chulainn closed his eyes, and began to picture a big, gigantic lake before him. "Look at me now. What do you see?"
"I…see…myself." Cu Chulainn murmured, as the image in the water became not the horned thing he'd seen but…his own face he'd seen so often.
"So…step into yourself. No more hurting yourself. Once you go in, you won't just be "you" anymore. But I won't be "me" either. We will be "us"."
Cu Chulainn took in a deep, long breath, and then, at last, he opened his eyes. He was back in his tent…and it was early morning. He slowly rose up, feeling over his chest, his face, blinking. He didn't physically feel different, but he felt…so strange. It was as if he'd been missing a limb, and it had finally been attached again. But even though the limb was working smoothly, he could still faintly feel the aches and pains from it. Cu Chulainn rose up, taking in deep, long breaths…and then began to put his armor on.
He had a battle to prepare for…and friends he had to help.
And a king to meet with.
"I'll be seeing you very soon…King Nothing…"
Author's Note: Merry Christmas, everyone! Happy Holidays to all of you! :D