Chapter 8: No Happy Endings

In hindsight, Sergio should have known a call from an unknown number didn't bode well. He had left the alleyway where Asriel was holed up in and walked down Times Square, taking in the city lights at night. The news had finally shifted subjects from the monsters to the usual celebrity and disaster fare, but every station had several mentions of the "long-awaited" meeting between Asgore and DeMarco happening the next morning on the rolling ticker.

He got more than a few hellos and waves from passers-by as he strolled through, only responding with rolled eyes. He had enough people speak love and show the complete opposite. He didn't need any of the 15-minutes-of-fame love he was getting from these people.

This is undaground rap, got the game down-He answered his phone. He should have known better than to answer a call from an unknown number.

"Hello?"

"Ser-hyoh...I've got another job tomorrow if you're interested." Manny's voice was the last thing he wanted to hear at that moment.

"Uh, I cain't do it, I'm busy tomorrow."

"Busy? With what? You're not rolling with anyone, are you? Did someone else enlist you?"

"I jest need ta take care a' some bidness, is all."

"It wouldn't involve the monsters I keep hearing about on TV, would it?"

Sergio gulped. "Wouldn't really matta ta you if it was, would it?"

"So it is true. You ARE working with them. How much are they paying you?" His voice rose with suspicion with every sentence.

"I ain't gettin' paid fa this, relax. If I found a bidness oppatunity, y'already know I woulda been toldja."

"If you're not getting paid, why are you working for them?" Manny accused.

The conversation was getting worse with every exchange. Something was driving Manny to inquire further. All these questions caused Sergio to assume Manny knew more than he let on.

However, if he felt he owed something to the monsters, the least he could do was explain the situation to Manny.

"Look, it's real complicated. I cain't explain all of it in a phone call. I'm at Times Square, you close?"

"I'm near Kennedy Park. You need a lift?"

"Yeah. You should come ta Times Square mo' often, man. Get some culture in ya system."

"There's no profit in Times Square. No one goes there to buy hardware."

Sergio sighed. "I hear ya."

Right after he ended that call, he got another call from Alphys.

"Hey, so, uh...I n-n-needed a human's input on the technology we have underground."

"Don't botha showin' 'em Mettaton."

"...Right. Of course." He could hear the sound of scribbling on a notepad. "Maybe it's j-j-just me, but I...kinda don't want to show anybody the weaponized stuff we have?"

"Yeah, might be a good idea. Ya don't wanna flex on us, do ya?"

"Well...that, and half our weapons failed to kill you."

"Don't remind me. How 'bout the Core? That junk power up the whole undaground."

"I, um, suggested that, but Asgore doesn't really w-w-w-want, um, the underground's power source to be exposed for the world to see. Plus...how can we bring the Core into the city hall?"

"Well, I was 'bout ta say you could make some sort a' 3D projection or somethin'. Y'all got tons of thangs that're pretty cool. I rememba the pneumatic jump pads, the lasa security system...I don't know. Pick somethin'. It cain't be that hard."

"B-b-but we only have one chance to make this good impression! If we don't impress City Hall, we're never gonna live on the surface!"

"It shouldn't be about impressin' 'em. Look, the main thang should be ta show that y'all ain't some savages. Jest show 'em that y'all use cell phones, the intanet...heck, y'already showed them those thangs wit the Free the Monstas ad. Ya got nothin' ta worry about. Asgore put you up in this 'cause he knew you'd be able ta handle it. Jest don't get tongue-tied while you standin' up there wit Undyne."

Silence on the other end. If only Alphys could have seen him cheesing up a storm at that moment.

"Ser-hyoh." Manny appeared behind him.

He turned toward Manny, then said, "Ay, I'mma call you back." He ended the call, then looked back at Manny. "I thought you knew betta than ta sneak up on a brotha."

"And I thought you knew better than to keep things from me." His words were straight ice, his eyes zeroing in on Sergio's, his face frowning.

Sergio could feel his heart race a little bit, thinking of ways to get himself out of the corner he was boxed into. "Ay, look-"

"I kid, I kid!" Just as quickly Manny laughed and lightly shoved Sergio on the shoulder. "But I am curious about...everything."

"It'll be safa ta talk in yo' car."

Sergio followed Manny to the edge of Times Square. He hopped into the beat-up green sedan's passenger seat, noticing that the car had a few more bullet holes in it this time around.

As soon as Manny's door closed, Sergio began. "Aight, look, the last month has been on some crazy stuff. You rememba the Sixth Street Clique?" Manny nodded. "Well, there was a shootout off Fernando Road wit the Vipas. We had ta book it outta there 'cause jakes were bustin' at us. We split up, and I ended up goin' waaay far away from the neighborhood.

"Then I tripped on somethin'. I thought I was gon' eat it right then and there, but I kept fallin', and fallin'..."

Sergio explained the story from beginning to end, covering his first encounter with Flowey, his final battle with Asriel, and everything in between. Manny listened silently, absorbing every word.

The drive should have taken only 10 minutes, but when Manny realized that his story was far from over, he took a long detour around Central Park. For once, Manny showed no signs of road rage despite almost getting hit by two buses, seven cyclists, and several homeless people wildly swinging their arms at his windows.

He eventually turned into his home street and parked in his driveway. Both of them remained in the car.

"...and so, 'cause they helped me out, I decided I could help them out too, ya know? So that's why I been doin' all a' this fa them."

Manny remained seated behind the wheel, looking forward in contemplation. "So...it is true. You have superpowers."

A nervous laugh from Sergio. "Afta explainin' all a' that, you focused on my magic? Not the fact that I coulda been killed by a gay robot or a supanatural goat?"

"But you didn't. Because you have superpowers. Do you know what this means, Ser-hyoh? Nobody will be able to touch you-us-as we conduct business!"

"It ain't like I'm tryna use this heat all the time."

"But you admit that you used it when we tagged the Slingers." Whether it was meant to be a question or a statement, Manny couldn't have made his words more pointed.

There was no use in lying. "Yeah."

"And you used it when that Asian chica almost zapped you."

Sergio blinked, frowning. "How you know 'bout that? You been stalkin' me?!"

"Remember who taught you everything you know, Ser-hyoh."

It made perfect sense. Sergio made sure there was nobody within about a quarter mile of the meet-up spot with him and Asriel. Yet with all that checking, he didn't even bother to check the rooftops.

"Why was you followin' me?"

"Because I knew when I first saw you on tele, something was up. You'd never end up on TV unless someone killed you. I see you with a talking goat and a fish with legs and armor. Somehow you got roped into something.

"I knew you were hiding something when I first met you after your run-in with los monstruos. There was no reason you'd be helping anyone unless you got dinero. Or some other reason, apparently." His eyes brightened with a lust for power. "You got superpowers. And then the chica in the alleyway was with the prince, and she got powers! These monsters are the key to getting the superpowers!" His laugh reminded Sergio of a hyena's. "I want in."

"Want in what?"

"I want these superpowers. Where do the monsters live?"

"Uh...I ain't think it work like that, dog."

"Disparates. If you could get them, I could. Did the chica even go to the underground? No. She just talked to the prince. You were fighting the prince when you discovered you had powers of your own. That prince is the key to getting superpowers. And I want in."

"Look, even if you could have powas, what would you even do wit 'em? Don't seem like you'd do nothin' but roam the streets gangbangin' without a gat!"

"And what's wrong with that?" Manny shrugged, his face hardening. "If you weren't so much of a pushover," he shoved Sergio, "you'd be doing the exact same things. You got soft because you never actually had a family before the underground. Some of us are still trying to help out our families."

Sergio balled his fists. "Do NOT bring that up, Manny. That's the one line you don't cross."

"You had the opportunity to know who your mother was. I barely had that! When that door," Manny pointed to his front entrance, "knocked one day, my mom was never found again. Years later, I'm told that she's back in Mexico, still trying to come to this godforsaken country legally! Do you know how hard it is to come to America? Of course not! Your family was American for generations!"

"DID YO' MOM USE TA BEAT YOU 'CAUSE YOU LOOK LIKE YA DAD?!" Sergio belted at the top of his lungs. "WAS YOU EVA AFRAID TA COME HOME 'CAUSE YOU KNEW YOU COULDN'T DO NOTHIN' TA STOP IT?! DID YOU EVA HAVE TA DECIDE WHETHA TA TALK TA COUNSELAS ABOUT THE CRAP AT HOME?!" He turned it down only slightly before continuing. "It's no freakin' wonda I care
'bout the monstas! They the closest thangs I had ta any sort a' family! You can honestly say that you love yo' family, and you workin' for 'em! I'm doin' the same thang!" Sergio took a few deep breaths, glaring at Manny. His gaze softened for a bit before he went on, "I...I ain't eva know 'bout ya mom. That...that sucks, man."

Manny was silent, staring forward, his right arm resting on top of the wheel. He then spoke, "All the time, people have hid things from me. The government hid my mother. My father hid the truth about my mom for a long time. Then the last gang I rolled with tried to get me killed. I had no one for a long time, Ser-hyoh. And when I met you, I thought that was going to change. We were supposed to stick together when everything else crumbled. I just...couldn't bear the thought that you had no need for me after the underground."

"Look, you ain't been replaced by nobody. From yo' stalkin'-" he cut himself off. "I mean, you oughta know that I ain't roll wit nobody else fa bidness or whatnot. This thang I was doin' fa the monstas...it was jest somethin' on the side. That's what it was 'posed ta be, at least. But it jest kept gettin' bigga."

Manny nodded. "I understand." He sighed, leaning back in his chair. "Ser-hyoh, I...I miss her so much. My family left that neighborhood because it was much too peligroso to raise me. Now she's over there by herself trying to make ends meet. Most of my profit goes to her, every single week."

"That's wondaful, Manny. I get why you so dedicated to it now." His tone had completely cooled off.

"Now if I just had these superpowers," he clenched a fist, "I'd never have to use them again after Mamá is safe and sound here. In order to get her here faster, I'd need these powers."

"First off, how much cash do you need? I thought the legal process was the main catch."

"It wouldn't be with the right lawyer, and they cost money. That, and I'm helping to pay the bills on this house we're renting. Papá works so hard but...you know how it is. If I need to bribe everyone up to Congress to make sure she comes here and stays here, so be it."

"I mean, there's gotta be a betta way. The way you plannin' on goin' 'bout it don't seem ta be the path a' least resistance."

"My path is resistance. That's why I need you. In fact…" He reached over to open the glove compartment and pulled out two masks, leaving one on Sergio's lap.

Sergio picked up the mask, staring at it for a second. "Whatchu expect me ta do wit this?"

"Uh, to conceal tu identidad, of course!" Manny laughed. "I didn't think being missing for so long would cause you to forget!"

Sergio tightened his grip on the mask before setting it on the dashboard. "I ain't sure I want this anymore, dog. One thang I done learned is that bad thangs happen ta people all the time. Sometimes it's 'cause we mess up. Sometimes it's jest 'cause whateva bein' up there's got a cruel sense a' huma. I cain't control everythang bad that happened in my life. But I can control this. And so can you."

As Sergio was explaining, Manny slowly shook his head before sighing exasperatedly. "Listen to yourself. Not only did you become a pushover, but you've also become a coward. The underground has changed you. What happened to the Ser-hyoh who didn't care how he got dinero? Where is he?"

"That 'Ser-hyoh' took time ta think about life and realized that he ain't wanna do this fa the rest a' his life. Scarface, The Godfatha, Boyz n the Hood, Juice, ain't none a' those movies had happy endin's, and there's a reason fa that."

"Yes, but none of them had what you have. If you just helped me with two or three jobs, I'd never have to ask you for anything again."

"Don't make that promise wit me, Manny. Whateva plan you have in mind, it ain't gon' work out that way. Somethin's gonna catch, and it'll blow up in yo' face well before you even get close ta seein' ya mom."

"So you won't help me." All the excitement in his face and tone were gone.

"I ain't helpin' wit no illegal stuff."

"Then get the hell out of my car."

"But-" Sergio stopped when Manny pulled a Desert Eagle out and aimed it at his face.

"Get OUT!"

A pair of headlights appeared from one side of the street, the car's tires screeching as it drifted in. Sergio's sixth sense told him that it was anything but a regular member of the neighborhood.

"Manny, behind you!"

Miraculously, Manny believed him. He swore in Spanish and unlocked the car. "Take cover!" He corralled himself and Sergio out of the passenger side door, both hoodlums crouching behind it. The car that seemed to follow them wasn't alone, as two more trucks appeared on the scene.

Manny cocked back his Desert Eagle. "What will it be, Ser-hyoh? Superpowers or death?"

"Which guys you piss off this time?" Sergio hissed. The cars began to surround them, the first car pulling up behind the two hoodlums. The car doors opened up, several Mexican gang members with tattoos all down their arms, strapped with Uzis.

Still crouched, Manny whispered, "Now or never." BOOM! He fired a shot from his Desert Eagle, the driver of the car behind them clutching his chest and collapsing back into the driver's seat. This only left Sergio with one option.

He cast a large, slow-moving fireball at the first car, everyone ducking for cover away from it. The fireball hit the engine, causing the car to explode and taking out the first wave of gangsters.

The noise of the frantic Spanish by the gangsters was overpowered as Manny fired two more shots and hit a second gangster who tried flanking them from the left. A series of gunshots erupted from the other side of the car. Sergio, on the other side of Manny's car, raised his fists as he considered the adrenaline currently going through him. He brought down his fists and caused a large lightning bolt to appear from above. It didn't sound as if it hit anyone, but it gave him the briefest of windows to peek out and cast a stream of fire towards the "caboose" of the gangster caravan. He summoned a wall of bones near the hood of Manny's car to deflect shots coming from in front of them. Two more eses eventually caught fire and fell by the hood rat's hand, the rest spreading out quickly and attempting to flank either side of Manny's car.

All the windows had shattered, some of the glass falling into Sergio's collar and lightly cutting his neck. He winced as he fished the glass shards out of his clothes.

Two more shots from Manny, but they hit the neighbor's window from the sound of it. Sergio recalled one of the attacks Asriel used on him and imagined shooting stars landing in front of Manny's car. He had no idea what it would do to him, Manny, or the car, so he said, "Get down!"

By instinct, he opened his palms up and pushed downward. Unfortunately, there was only one star that fell instead of the barrage he'd hoped for, but there were several hits on two guys who had tried to flank them. They fell, clutching their torsos, heads, and legs from the points of impact. Sergio and Manny saw a large array of small lights flying above them.

Sergio heard another set of footsteps getting closer to them from in front of them. BLAM! CH-CHK. A shotgun blast took out a huge chunk of the car's hood, the metal flying over Sergio's head. Both Sergio and Manny ducked when the shot rang out.

Oldboy was getting closer, and one shot from that thing was gonna take him out quick if he wasn't quicker. He looked under the front of the car and saw a pair of legs approaching them. He summoned one of Undyne's spears and cast it at the attacker's legs. The hit landed, tripping him and causing him to yell in pain, falling forward. He cast another spear at the top of his head to finish him off.

An opposing bullet took out a taillight on Manny's car, a second bullet hitting Manny on the side. The force, more than anything, brought him down temporarily. He raised his gun before Sergio cast a wall of bones in front of himself and Manny, deflecting several more bullets flying their way, the bones slowly deteriorating. He stuck two fingers together and thrust outward, a lightning bolt shooting from his hand and going through the gangster, hitting a light post and causing the lights to explode and the street to go dark. The only light came from the cars' headlights and the fire still burning the other two cars.

The area was silent. Sergio asked, "You aight?"

"Yes, I'm fine," he grunted. "I've got my vest." He patted his chest. "Is that the last of them?"

"I think it is. Ain't nobody drivin' away, at least." Sergio slowly peeked his head out from behind the car, seeing the bodies sprawled across the cul-de-sac and the smoldering remains of two of the cars. The third car on their left remained relatively undamaged. "Dibs on they truck. You still ain't ansa my question, though. Who are these guys, and why they try ta murk ya so randomly?"

"They must have caught me collecting their stock once...after I had to take care of their leader." Manny got up and reached for the bullet hole in his shirt. The bullet just barely penetrated his vest, but the wound he would have received in the flesh was minor.

Sergio scoffed. "That's exactly what I mean, bruh. If it weren't fa straight up luck, both of us woulda died right here. I ain't even do nothin' wit these guys and I almost died. Yo' sorry behind nearly got us deep-sixed!"

Manny got defensive again. "What? It's just business!"

"'Bidness.' Heh." Sergio shook his head. "Listen, my daddy ain't raise no snitch, so I ain't tellin' nobody 'bout what happened here tonight or any otha night. But you," he pointed at Manny, then at his bullet wound. "You need ta get real, get a real job, and get outta this game 'fore you end up like these poor suckas," he gestured to the dead hoodlums surrounding them.

Manny's eye twitched before he laughed. He started collecting the others' weapons and throwing them in the back of his car. "I know you're not telling me to get a real job, Monster Man. The life you live with them is just as dangerous as the one I live."

Sergio wanted to say something in response, but all he could do is groan. The thing was, he was right to a degree. With all that time he spent in the underground, he'd nearly been killed several times. If most of the monsters there just weren't as incompetent as they were, there was no telling how likely he would have been standing there.

Regardless, he had well enough of this guy for the night. Luckily, however, he didn't have to ride anywhere else with him. Sergio headed toward the still-functioning truck, closing the rest of the doors before heading into the driver's seat.

The guy he zapped was somehow still alive, trying to crawl away from the crime scene. Memories of the pre-underground gunfight flashed through his mind, concluding with the time he executed someone who pleaded for mercy.

Then his own words played in his mind. "I cain't control everythang bad that happened in my life, but I can control this."

He only gave the man a look of pity before putting the car in first gear. First gear? Aw, man, a stick? How I'm supposed ta drive this thang?

Sergio slowly took the truck out of the cul-de-sac. A final gunshot to execute the crawling gangster was Manny's only farewell.

. . .

Meanwhile…

Asriel had expected the humans to react with shock at seeing another monster roam free, but most of the shock was received on his end. So many of them had compared him to his father, whom they had seen on the big screens around town. More than a few theorized that there was some relation between him and Asgore. Asriel, nervous, neither confirmed nor denied.

But when you add a wild card like Jenessa, not every plan goes..well, as planned.

"All right, everybody, make way for the royal procession!" she announced as they encountered a wall of people downtown.

Several humans turned their heads and looked directly at Asriel, all smiling at him. Then, just as he feared, they took out their phones and recorded him walking, many whispering, "It's like a mini-King Asgore!" "He looks just like him!" "You reckon he might be the prince of the monsters?"

He was never one for the spotlight, and all this attention caused him to feel uneasy, his palms starting to sweat a little.

"Could you do away with the 'royal announcements?'" he muttered to Jenessa.

"What? It got them out of the way, didn't it?"

"Yes, but nobody needs to know about...my situation. Do you recall anything from the interviews saying where Sergio found the monsters?"

"No, but I can pull it up." Jenessa took out her phone and searched news stories about the monster occurrences in New York. It was difficult to hear the phone what with all the noise in the background: several car engines were running even though it was nighttime. Asriel was convinced the national song for this place was a car horn.

Street performers competed for the attention and loose change of sympathetic onlookers. If Asriel had even a fraction of the money he had back home, he would have gladly donated.

There was no escaping consumerism downtown. In literally every direction there were colorful advertisements of everything from energy drinks to lingerie. It sickened Asriel when he saw human children walking around downtown in such a place that advertised such adult products. Did a different sense of decency rule above the surface?

One thing that he could appreciate, however, was the variety of humans in the area. Different skin shades, different cultural norms, different foods, different languages...it was honestly somewhat overwhelming. But he still had a sense of wonder about everything going on here. It reminded him of the kingdom underground.

He remembered the name of the place: Times Square. With his mom being a teacher, he couldn't help but think of math class when he heard the name.

Jenessa put the phone speaker against her ear, straining to hear anything over the hustle and bustle of the night crowd. Then her face lit up. "Kennedy Park! They were found in Kennedy Park!"

"Great! Where is that?" Asriel cupped a hand under his floppy ear, squeezing through large volumes of people going every which way.

"I'll pull it up on Google Maps!" After a few clicks, Asriel felt a tug on his shirt. "This way!" Jenessa pointed to her right and headed there, the prince following her.

They went to a subway station, the car horns being replaced by metallic whines of the brakes and the sporadic HISS! of the trains stopping at their destinations. After waiting in a long queue, Jenessa purchased two tickets, the ticketmaster hardly giving Asriel a second glance. Perhaps a walking, talking wasn't the weirdest thing he'd seen in the subway. Did Dad take the subways to City Hall?

Inside the train, it was as if Halloween had come early for some humans. One man had tall, green and black-striped socks and what looked like a spiderweb that covered his entire torso. And nothing else. A woman had on a fur coat that appeared normal, but where her right hand would have been was actually the head of a live Chihuahua, eating out of a bag of corn chips. A man literally dressed as the Grim Reaper, complete with a scythe that looked 100 percent real.

And then there was a group of four people in fox or wolf suits on the other end of the car, making animal noises. Asriel didn't know whether to feel amused, confused, or culturally abused.

The two instantly found a spot on the right side of the train car. They squeezed in, the prince apologizing to the man sitting next to him, their shoulders pressed against each other.

An elderly woman with a cane entered the train soon after they did. There wasn't a seat available in the vicinity, so Asriel immediately rose and offered her his seat.

The lady stared at Asriel for a quick second before she swung jabbed at his face. "Devil! Devil!" She landed two clean hits on his face, knocking him on his back before speedily hobbling the opposite direction. A couple of young kids near him laughed at his expense, jeering and taunting the young prince.

"Agh," Asriel clutched his left eye, leaning forward as he lay supine, squinting at Jenessa. "Is this normal for city transit?"

"There is no normal for this place," she replied, smiling as she helped him up. "Come on, we can just hang onto the bars. It's more fun that way."

The doors eventually shut, a few last-minute stragglers slipping in before the train departed. The train jolted forward a bit before steadily accelerating to its next place. The jolt had surprised Asriel, the prince tightening his grip on the horizontal bar above him, Jenessa to his right.

Things were silent between them for a good portion of the ride, Asriel had never ridden in a subway before. In fact, pre-Flowey, he never really ventured too far away from his home palace at the ruins. In several ways, he could understand completely why Jenessa didn't mind too much about leaving her family's "clutches," so to speak. She had a wanderlust just as he did when he was about her age...well, first around her age. It was part of the reason he agreed to take Tobias's soul to the surface. Tobias knew that he wanted to see the surface more than anything. He'd been duped into playing along with his plan.

He ran through several scenarios in his head about how the reunion would take place. He thought he could maintain his composure as the sullen prince that he was accustomed to being in recent times. In reality, though, there were going to be a lot of tears, and a lot of hugs, from all parties involved.

I always was a big pushover...like my dad.

"Do you want the good news or the bad news?" Jenessa broke the silence.

"Uh...let's go with good news?"

"Your black eye will heal up soon."

"What? Give me your phone." He stared at the blank screen and saw a dark mark under his left eye. "Great. Just what I was afraid of."

"Oh, don't feel bad. It really helps with the whole 'tough guy' look. It's actually surprising that it took this long to get one with where you traveled."

"Yeah, well, knowing my mom, she'll never let me hear the end of it. If circumstances weren't so dire, she'd probably ground me until my prince has a prince. 'The surface is too dangerous! Stay here where it's safe!'" Asriel imitated his mother's voice, lightly smiling at his frivolity.

Jenessa chuckled. "That reminds me...did you have any potential princesses in mind before all of this went down?"

Asriel seized up a bit. "Wh-what do you mean?"

"You know exactly what I mean." She faced Asriel. "High school romance, Mr. Prince. Give me all the deets!"

"High school romance?" He clenched his teeth a little. "There wasn't anything like that. You have to understand, I was a real homebody even while Tobias was still with us. I would go to school, come home, do homework, read books, sleep, and repeat. Just like you. I never...well, I never had the guts to ask anyone out."

"Ohhh, so there was someone you had in mind?" As usual, the excitement in her voice was unadulterated, her smile widening, her leaning toward him.

Asriel swallowed. Well, if he could tell her about how he helped in murdering six (almost seven) minors, he could spill the details on this.

"I guess there was this one girl-" Jenessa squealed. The bashful smile returned to Asriel's face. "She was...a deer. She wanted to be an author when she grew up."

"'She was a dear,' oh, stop it, Lover Boy," Jenessa lightly shoved him.

"What? Oh, I meant 'deer,' with two e's."

"Uh-huh."

"...Well, anyway, she was anything but shy, she had tons of friends. She never really noticed me other than the fact that I was…" He was mindful of the people hearing, but the chatter throughout the subway made it so that it didn't matter. "...the prince, but that was it. But looking back on it, she probably found me unapproachable since I was the prince. It would have made sense; what kind of female hangs around the young prince? Such a female would be seen as a groupie.

"And then there's my mom to consider. She's obviously a goat, but you humans have this term…'Mama Bear.' That is her to a T. Dad would always tease me if I had anybody in mind, but the glare she'd give me...she was not ready to face that part of parenthood yet. Anytime anybody other than Tobias wanted to play when I was younger, it wouldn't have surprised me if she conducted some sort of background check before I got the okay."

"But it makes sense, though. I mean, you're her son, and you're the prince, too. There had to be some crazies down there just like up here."

"Indubitably. I mean, I love my mom, but she kept me so sheltered from what felt like everything. Even when I was 15, it felt like more of the same, except learning royal etiquette three times a week.

"So to answer your question," Asriel concluded, "yes, but no."

"What was her name?"

Asriel squinted, looking at the tunnel lights pass by the train, lost in thought. "I can't remember. It was about a hundred years ago."

A garbled voice announced over the P.A. system: "Next stop, Jackson Street and Kennedy Park, next stop Jackson Street and Kennedy Park." Click!

"That's our stop," said Jenessa. They stood up straighter in anticipation of departure.

The train stopped at another subway station, the two leaving in a mass exodus with about the rest of the passengers. Just as many passengers entered the train as the ones who left. Asriel scanned the area. Not too far away, there was a large, open field with overhead lights on. A few people were still left even though the park's closing time was fast approaching.

He got the feeling that this was the place. He was going off of his memories when Tobias initially shared a body with him. His consciousness wasn't complete, yet he imagined the buildings around him looking much more simple, with fewer lights and more buggies cruising down the street.

A low boom sounded in the distance. Asriel's ear twitched. "What was that?"

"Sounded like a gunshot. It seems to have come from up north. Not the most unusual thing around here, sadly."

He for whatever reason kept staring where the sound came from. The gunshot was close enough to be heard, but too far away to pinpoint an exact distance.

Then a faint explosion sounded in the same general area. Whatever was happening, it sounded exciting. Definitely not the kind of excitement he needed right then.

After that, a large lightning bolt formed from the sky and shot down, a slight crackling noise accompanied with it. Instantly, the battle Asriel had with Sergio not two miles away from there flashed in his mind. "Hey, wait a second!"

Jenessa was already in the middle of crossing the street toward the park when she turned back. "What, what's wrong?"

"That's one of my spells! Only in the royal line can anybody produce magic like that!"

"What are you thinking, then? Is it Tobias?"

If he had any doubt in his mind, iit was erased as soon as he saw a shooting star come from the sky. All these phenomena couldn't have happened in such a short time like this, especially since the sky was clear.

Wherever Tobias was, he was causing some major damage, very likely against humans. Whatever was happening there, it couldn't go unpunished.

After Tobias was separated from Asriel, he had shown that he could wield magic just like the prince. He theorized that this was caused from the time spent together as Flowey. He heard his father's original royal scientist talk about gene manipulation as a means of getting past the barrier. Tobias was intrigued about such studies, but all of the scientist's findings were inconclusive.

Perhaps there was some credence to be given to these theories. Tobias had never showcased any powers before they became Flowey. After sharing a body, he now had powers.

But that didn't explain how Sergio, or even Jenessa, for that matter, had powers. He never shared a body with either of them, and yet they could cast fire and lightning as if it was second nature.

Whatever the case was, he was going to be hot on Tobias's trail once more. For a brief moment, he considered how close he actually was to his home, only to turn back and go back to where he came from. A part of him recalled Sergio's words: "Come back ta the undaground and reclaim yo' sanity."

He couldn't...not while Tobias was actively harming other people like this.

"We need to go back." Asriel kept his gaze fixated at where the shooting star fell, then pointed at it, "to that exact same spot. And we'll need to walk it from here."

Jenessa groaned. "Really? But we're so close! You don't want to go home?"

"I know how close we are. But I have to see this for myself, and I don't want to return home empty handed when we know where to go now!" He began walking down the sidewalk towards the potential crime scene.

There was silence for a moment as Jenessa stayed put. Asriel didn't even bother looking back before she said, "If you go, I'll head to the underground myself!"

"You'll never find it without me!"

"Oh, yeah? I'll show you! I'll...I'll get the Royal Guard to find your body! You won't survive New York without me!"

Asriel didn't answer, marching determinedly. He waited for it, waited for it, waited for it…

A quick series of footsteps sounded behind him. Jenessa huffed beside him.

"Only because I didn't want you to get killed. If it was Tobias." She didn't bother looking at him, her mouth twisted in insolent disappointment.

He smiled, still staring forward. "I knew you'd come through."

"Next time, you pay for the subway tickets."

Asriel had seriously determined to get to his next destination with or without Jenessa. He knew she couldn't resist the idea of adventure, even though seeing the underground would have been a real treat for her. But in his mind, it made perfect sense. There were deadbeat dads and sometimes absent moms, but if he was to play the part of the prodigal son, he could at least have something to make up for it.

But a large part of him was glad she was sticking around. But he knew he couldn't push his luck with her much longer.