Chapter 10: Catharsis

"I knew this would happen! The one time we let a human in our kingdom, and it ends in disaster!"

"You had no reason to assume it would. None of us did."

"The humans killed our son, Toriel. They killed a child. They are just the same as when our ancestors fought with them long ago. They will never change!"

"If humans were as evil as you thought they were, what did the last eight years mean to you?! Tobias showed us that there is hope yet for humanity."

"Where is he now? He's dead, while other humans live on to kill anything that moves!" His shoulders rose and fell with his heavy breathing. He extended his arm. WHOOSH! His trident appeared in his hand.

Urgent worry spread across Toriel's face. "What are you doing?"

"They're savages, Tori, the lot of them. Perhaps that's why Tobias wanted to leave their world. Honorable kids like ours...They don't deserve to die in vain."

"You can't be serious. You're not going to the surface to avenge them. You'll never get through the barrier without a human soul!"

"I will get to the surface, barrier be damned! And when I do...I will kill the first seven humans I see."

"Do you really think this is what either Tobias or Asriel would have wanted?! To kill relentlessly over a war that happened millennia ago?!"

"The war's still going on. We may have been dormant, but don't think that everything we've done for our kingdom wasn't in preparation for the humans' day of reckoning. Gaster's studies on the soul, technological advances, the re-emergence of the Royal Guard...those were all your suggestions."

"If I had known you only wanted to kill humans, I never would have proposed such concepts." Toriel crossed her arms. "Put the trident away, Asgore."

"My goal wasn't just to kill humans...not before this. Not before the humans so blatantly tried to end the royal bloodline!" He stormed out of the throne room. Toriel followed after him.

Asgore stopped at the barrier, trident still in hand, facing the bright, clear wall in front of him. The light ebbed and flowed, moving in all directions around the passage to the surface.

"Don't try it," said Toriel.

"I have to, Toriel. Please...join me."

"What, join your blood-soaked crusade? If you even try to break the barrier to kill humans, the royal bloodline won't end with Asriel. It will end with you."

Asgore stopped and slowly turned toward Toriel. "Are you threatening ME?" he questioned, his brows furrowed, pointing to himself. "I'm not the enemy here!"

"I would never stoop to your level, Asgore. My plan isn't regicide. The throne room will only house you if you continue down this path."

Shock etched into the king's countenance. He opened his mouth to speak, then closed it and shook his head. "I thought you would want to help honor our sons."

"I told you, none of them would want this."

"Nobody wanted this." He turned back toward the barrier. "But as I said, we're at war. And war is all about making sacrifices." He extended a hand toward the barrier, the sound of rushing wind coming in as he jerked his hand back as if he'd been burned. He repeated the process, wincing this time. He then jabbed his trident in the barrier, bouncing back as if hitting a brick wall. His desperation increased with every strike, slowly starting to lose his breath. "Break! Break! BREAK!" His screams got louder and less comprehensible as he continued his fruitless barrage against the barrier. He then cast fire and lightning spells against it, draining his energy.

He went on like this for five minutes, his vision no doubt blurred by the tears forming in his eyes. The floral onlooker was almost certain that the king's screams were heard all across the underground. Asgore's knees buckled slightly before he collapsed in front of the barrier, now on all fours. Tears fell to the ground between his hands. A few pitiful sniffles echoed across the room.

It may not have been the first time he'd broken down in his royal appointment. However, it was likely be his first time breaking down alone. A broken crown lay where his former wife once stood.

. . .

Jenessa's talk about her parental situation reminded Asriel about his own parents' divorce. It was certainly more dramatic and more unceremonious than other divorces, or so he'd heard. Asgore's determination to seek revenge for his sons had driven his only family away from him. The fact that they had parted ways without so much as saying goodbye was chilling.

It made him think about how he abandoned them. Neither the king nor the former queen knew about the future of the royal bloodline's current status. As far as they knew, they would be left with their own devices and possibly perish without seeing him again.

Not anymore.

"Team AJ" waited half an hour before their bus finally came in. They were on their way back to the underground, no delays, no distractions keeping them from their goal this time. No matter what he could have seen or heard that could have led to Tobias, Asriel wasn't diverting his course for anything now.

HSSS! The bus opened its doors. Asriel and Jenessa rose from the bus stop bench and headed inside. The portly bus driver eyed Jenessa, then flitted his eyes toward Asriel, getting up and pushing Asriel back a little. "No animals on board," he huffed, pointing to a sign above the entrance.

Asriel frowned. "I'm a person just like you."

"You're a goat! I don't need you crapping in the bus or eating someone's clothes. Now get lost!"

"Okay, you know what?" Jenessa balled her fist, a brief flash of lightning around it.

"The hell?" The bus driver stared at Jenessa's hands.

Asriel silently gasped and put a hand on her shoulder. "Come on, we'll take the subway." If solidarity were to exist between humans and monsters, a gruff but innocent bus driver getting zapped was far from what they needed.

Jenessa's shoulders lowered as she let out a breath, then followed Asriel out of the bus. Her scowl persisted long after they walked away from the bus stop. He could assume a good portion of her grievances; it was likely the latest she stayed up in a long time. All their waiting around turned out to be fruitless, and they were back hitting the pavement when they were expecting to take a load off until they reached their destination.

"It's just not fair," Jenessa finally said. "You're walking on two legs, you're speaking perfect English, you have hands and eyes and ears like...okay, maybe not ears." She playfully tugged one of Asriel's ears, which prompted a small protest from the prince. "You said it yourself; you're a person. I thought people would accept that."

"A lot are, but you have to expect resistance. I mean, almost all of our human visitors ended up dead somehow."

"Yeah, but nobody knows that." She paused for a second. "If you became king tomorrow, what would you do?"

"I...I don't know. I honestly haven't thought about it. I grew up thinking that the biggest threat to my dad was humans. Then Tobias fell and changed my mind. To be honest, I don't think I ever even wanted to be king."

"Well, somebody has to do it when your dad can't anymore. When he's gone, who'll take over?"

"Heh. I'm sure Sergio wouldn't mind taking the crown." Jenessa's scowl turned into a confused stare. "Kidding."

"But what would you do? Would you be the strong, silent type who'd command respect just by walking in the room? Would you rule with an iron fist? Would you prepare for war?"

"Well, my dad taught me to respect people, but don't let them disrespect me. My mom told me to do everything in my power to make other people's lives better. So I suppose I'd employ both philosophies."

"But you were gonna let the bus driver disrespect you?"

"I figured I'd prove a point. He only saw me as an animal, less than a person. Underground, one is more free to traverse the land, but the surface has its own laws. I could show that I was a person by complying with the law already established. It's my hope that examples like that could show that monsters are indeed people and prompt changes in the law."

"That's a really good philosophy to have...but it might not be the best one. You think it's just bad between different species? Humans can't even get over different skin colors within their own species."

"I can believe that." There was separation and mistreatment among the monster population as well, whether it was magic ability or differences in subspecies. "How do you humans deal with such a problem?"

"We're learning about the Civil Rights Movement in school. Half a century ago, the country was mistreating black people..."

She went on to explain several human figures in the Civil Rights Movement, highlighting Martin Luther King, Jr., Rosa Parks, and the like. The stories resonated within Asriel, teaching about how civil disobedience could have really enacted change. A part of him wished he did take a stand and sat down. Jenessa had enough to pay for both seats. If he'd just stuck it out a bit longer they may have been on the road.

Hearing about some of man's inhumanity to man in a past era also put things in perspective. Yes, Asriel had it difficult being homeless for the past weeks, scrounging for food in dumpsters, exposed to the elements and whatnot. Yet even after shedding his robe and exposing his identity to New Yorkers within the last 24 hours, the reaction he got from the humans was...mixed. Some took pictures of him in curious wonder, while there were other experiences like the bus driver, Mr. Liu, and the old lady thinking he was a demon. It didn't hold a candle to what people back then did to each other around 50 years ago.

It looked as if Jenessa was dragging her feet by the time they arrived at the subway station, perking up when she saw the subway logo. She powerwalked inside, going down the steps two at a time, Asriel matching her pace. They were so close to the underground now. Two tickets, a roughly 30 minute ride, and a quarter mile away from home, running towards his parents' arms, reuniting with those he never should have left.

Jenessa purchased the tickets, and Team AJ boarded the subway. With it being late, they were able to find some actual seats this time around, Asriel stretching out his aching feet. He never really needed to wear shoes, but after being out for so long, he might have reconsidered.

The rhythmic thum-thum-thum-thum of the train was almost hypnotic, tempting Asriel to enter dreamland. He shook his head briefly to wake himself up, just like at Mr. Liu's while waiting for Jenessa. He needed to be awake for their stop at Kennedy Park.

Of course, only one of them needed to be awake. Five minutes into the ride, Jenessa was nodding off, Asriel only watching with amusement. Her head then stayed still, her eyes shutting before slowly falling toward him, resting her head on his shoulder.

Any normal day, he would have felt embarrassed or flustered by the whole thing, but all the prince could do was let out a small chuckle. They had undergone a long journey so far, perhaps the longest undertaking Jenessa ever embarked on outside of school. He peeked at her pink, heart-shaped wristwatch. 2:44 A.M. The girl had more than earned her rest.

Forty-five minutes in the ride, the train stopped before they reached their destination. Several passengers boarded and left the train, and amidst the passengers on his right was a black teenager in a grey hoodie, khakis, and basketball shoes.

His first instinct was to get up and confront him, but Jenessa's head on his shoulder brought about another instinct, one of defense rather than aggression. Not only did he intend to defend himself, but he would ascertain that Tobias didn't lay a finger on her.

Strangely, he just didn't want to wake Jenessa during her brief, peaceful slumber. He opened up a hand, his fingers twitching as he nixed casting a spell to incapacitate him.

His two priorities were before him simultaneously; he could have done nothing and continued his journey to the underground, or he could have arrested Tobias and brought him to the Royal Guard for trial. The initial shock had worn off about seeing his long lost brother still alive, so he'd stand more of a chance fighting him, even with Tobias's newfound abilities.

The human would have put up quite the fight, and it seemed as if the only way to stop him at this point in time would be to kill him. That was completely off the table.

He could have also enlisted the help of Jenessa, tipping the odds more in his favor against Tobias. However, there would have been several human witnesses, and fear of the monsters and their ability to summon magic would have spread like a virus. Jenessa's involvement would have raised even more eyebrows in the process.

The risk was too great for an open attack, and when Tobias locked eyes with the prince, the human smiled as if he just came to that realization as well. He stayed a good 30 feet away, sitting by himself on the opposite side of the train car.

Asriel could feel the magic coursing through his veins, eager to cast a spell to end the whole fiasco right then and there. He thought of a hundred different ways the battle could have proceeded. Grimly, the only times he saw victory also involved Tobias's, and often Jenessa's, death. If it truly came down to it, Asriel wondered if he could even make the finishing blow to ensure any sort of peace between his kingdom and the world of humans.

He kept his eyes locked on Tobias, while Tobias intently stared at his phone, scrolling through something. No doubt he was reviewing current events or his plans to continue his rampage against the humans.

Then Tobias took a picture of Team AJ, setting off another red flag in the prince's mind. Sure, one picture didn't seem like much compared to the attention he'd been garnering earlier, but what need did Tobias have for one of his own? It was likely he was working with other people to undertake his goal.

Yet, Asriel remained still.

After 10 minutes of tension, the P.A. system announced, "Next stop: Kennedy Park." Asriel looked around for a train stop signal before Tobias pushed one himself. Another red flag. Was Tobias going to the underground at the same time Asriel was?

When the train stopped, Tobias immediately rose from his seat and approached Asriel and Jenessa, his self-assured smile still on his face. His eyes flitted to Jenessa. "She's a pretty one." He moved a lock of her hair, Asriel immediately clamping onto Tobias's wrist.

"Don't. Touch. Her. Murderer." His eyes started to light up white, electricity building up in him. He blinked twice, using every fiber of his being to restrain the magic within him.

Tobias raised an eyebrow, then slowly moved his hand away from Jenessa's face. "Bold words, but it's unwise to forget your own malicious intent a short time ago. Need I remind you what you told Sergio, when you thought he was me?" He blinked, still smiling. "You've made this very interesting, Asriel. I appreciate your dedication." He condescendingly rustled Asriel's head fur before walking away.

Asriel made sure he was a safe distance away before waking Jenessa up. She groaned and slowly raised her head. "Are we there yet?"

"We're here. Come on, they're about to head to their next stop."

The prince turned his head around periodically, straining his ears for any sign of Tobias around them when they left the subway stop. This prompted Jenessa to ask, "Everything okay?"

Asriel was silent, his breathing slightly faster. The one thought racing through his mind was, Get home. Get home. Get home. Get home. The hustle and bustle on the streets was muted, and it was as if his vision zoomed in on the path towards Kennedy Park.

No doubt a bit perturbed by his silence, Jenessa continued, "Who were you talking to before you woke me up?"

He snapped out of it briefly to answer, "Nobody. Just a curious passenger." It wasn't exactly a lie.

There was nobody at the park aside from some sleeping homeless-looking people on the benches. After doing another visual sweep of the surrounding area, Asriel determined it was safe to enter.

He led her to a more densely wooded area of Kennedy Park, somewhat safe from prying eyes. Originally, the alternative entrance to the underground was a small, but deep cavity in the ground that most humans would have been rightfully fearful to descend. However, no such cavity was visible to them now. The ground beneath them was a solid dirt patch contrasting with the grassy green field everywhere else in the park, but there were no other abnormalities in the ground.

"Are you sure this is it?" Jenessa turned on her phone light to investigate the area around them.

"I'm positive. This has got to be the right place." He knelt down and felt the dirt, taking in a faint magical essence that caused his skin to tingle slightly. "Earth magic...Dad must have put this in recently to safeguard the underground." He didn't know if Sergio could use earth magic, so he wondered how the human could go in and out of the underground whenever he pleased.

He closed his eyes to remember what his father may have said about an earth magic barrier long ago...

"My sons, I believe with every fiber of my being that the barrier will be broken within your lifetimes. Whether or not it'll be in my lifetime, that's a different story. But once the barrier's broken, we'll need protection so that no 'varmints' get inside." Asgore had dug a hole in the family garden, Asriel and Tobias covered in dirt after a long day of lawn work. "Observe." He swept his hand above the hole in the ground, the top of the hole getting covered up. "Tobias, why don't you try reopening that hole I dug?"

Tobias grabbed his shovel and jabbed at the closed-up hole, the shovel recoiling back as if the earth parried his tool. He tried a few more times before conceding, "I can't open it."

"Precisely. Now that there spell will keep anyone we don't want outside of the underground. You'll have to remember that once you become king, Asriel. The humans likely forgot where our kingdom lies, but in case they start digging to find gold, or us, they won't be able to get through."

Tobias's brows furrowed in concern. "What if I wanted to visit? How would I be able to get in?"

Asgore took a small shovel from his back pocket and crouched down. "Watch this. Now this here is top secret. You don't show this to anyone, you hear?"

"I promise." Tobias drew a cross over his heart.

The king carved two triangles and an upside down triangle underneath them. The carvings lit up white, and the hole opened up once more. It was the delta rune, the Dreemurr family crest since the Great War.

"Never forget the delta rune, my sons. Never forget what it stands for. In time, all the world will know this symbol. What they remember it for will be up to you, Asriel."

Back to the present, the prince called to Jenessa, "Shine the light over here." When the ground was illuminated, he used a claw to draw the delta rune symbol in the ground. Just as he expected, the symbols started glowing, and a cavity slowly formed under them, Asriel backing away from the entrance a little.

"Okay...that's pretty cool," Jenessa commented.

"Watch your step. The path is steep." Asriel headed inside the entrance, Jenessa following along. The prince summoned a flame to illuminate the path ahead. He slowly stepped downward on the inclining stone path.

"It's not that steep," Jenessa answered. Soon after, she lost her footing, yelping as she grabbed Asriel's shoulder to stabilize herself. Asriel caught her by her sides, releasing her when she rebalanced herself. She kept her hand on his shoulder until they were on level ground deep down.

There was light coming at the far end of the path. Asriel could now see the edge of his new home. His gait accelerated, the flame over his hand burning brighter.

"Thank goodness, I thought the whole underground was dark and gloomy," Jenessa said. "What's going through your mind, Asriel?"

"It's just...surreal. I'm here again, albeit empty-handed. I wanted to come back triumphant, bringing in Tobias for his crimes to show that my absence wasn't for nothing."

"You didn't come in empty handed. You came with me. And you know how much of a handful I can be," she smirked.

"Your words, not mine."

Before actually entering his new home, however, they encountered a line of Royal Guard soldiers standing between them and the palace. Upon seeing the two strangers, the guardsmen tensed up, aiming their weapons at them. "Halt! How did you get here?" one of them demanded.

Asriel raised his hands in submission, Jenessa following his lead. He spoke, "I used the delta rune, like my father intended."

"Father?" A few guardsmen lowered their weapons while others remained suspicious. "What is she doing here?" one asked, pointing to Jenessa.

"She escorted me through the surface world. I'm the fugitive you saw some time ago." Asriel summoned his magical blades, prompting some of the guardsmen to keep their axes and swords trained on them.

One of the guardsmen up front pressed a button in a sort of earpiece. "Captain, we've got one monster and one human just outside the palace. It's...it's him."

Whispers such as, "Is that the king's son?" "Should we bow?" "Are we gonna get executed for threatening the prince?" passed among the guardsmen, the monsters shuffling uncertainly as they awaited future orders. It appeared many of them recognized who he was, but couldn't determine if he was the real deal. Asriel could also understand the security risk involved with another human knowing how to find the Dreemurr kingdom. Whereas Sergio had gotten here accidentally, yet proved to be relatively low-risk, they couldn't assume that about Jenessa.

"Are they usually this jumpy?" Jenessa whispered to Asriel, the two still holding their hands up.

"From what I've seen, yes."

Clonk-clonk-clonk-clonk. A soldier with long, cherry-red hair approached them, walking through the ranks of soldiers. She took off her helmet, revealing the same blue, fishlike face he'd been used to seeing in his latter years as Flowey. Her eye flitted back and forth between him and Jenessa. "So you're the punk who decided to lead a great escape!" Undyne scowled.

Asriel didn't answer, only giving her a look that illustrated his sole desire to see his family again. Undyne's expression softened, the fish crossing her arms. "The prince comes with me. The human stays here."

"Hold on," Asriel protested before Jenessa cut in.

"Go."

"But—"

"Go!" She shoved him forward. "I'll be okay here."

Undyne stared daggers at Jenessa. "If you run, it will be seen as an act of aggression. We will use lethal force."

"Whatever," Jenessa rolled her eyes, sitting down to rest her feet.

Asriel followed Undyne through the ranks of soldiers and towards the palace. He could feel blood pounding all the way to his fingertips, and the metal clonk of Undyne's sabatons were muted. He then rehearsed what he'd say in his mind. Dad? You haven't aged a day! Or, I'm here. What are your other two wishes? He thought something witty would be able to dispel the river of tears that was sure to flow inside.

Undyne opened the door to the main palace. "Welcome back, my prince."

Asriel froze when he saw the throne room. Much of it was unchanged from how he remembered it: flowers all over the floor, golden flowers adorning the throne and around it, green near the borders of the room. The throne was purple and gold, with the delta rune sign below the Angel symbol on the back.

He was behind the throne, but he could see Asgore's arms on the table in front of him, with Sergio standing to Asgore's left. His mind flashed back to him coming to the throne room about a century ago. Where Sergio was standing in the present, Tobias was sitting down, his napkin tucked inside his collar, holding his fork in his left hand and a knife on his right hand. Toriel, still wearing her crown, set down her signature butterscotch-cinnamon pie. All of them looked at Asriel, and Toriel said, "My stars, you look like you haven't eaten in ages!" The queen pulled a chair from the table and beckoned Asriel to join them for the meal.

Back to reality, Asgore asked Sergio, "Any update on the fugitive?"

The human shook his head. "Nah, I ain't seen 'im around. I toldja, Asgore, it's a big city."

"I don't want to appear impatient, Sergio, but seeing those pictures had sparked something in me that I haven't felt in a long time. If the fugitive truly is my son, I have to know. Everything else is diminished in importance. Seeing Asriel is almost more important than our emancipation."

Sergio had his head turned toward Asgore, then flicked his eyes toward Asriel as the king spoke. The human's expression shifted from neutral to the nigh permanent scowl he always wore when around the prince. The king noticed this and asked, "What's wrong?" When left with no answer, he leaned to his right and turned to see the visitor.

Time stopped as father and son locked eyes like this for the first time since Asriel's death. The king gasped and dropped a cell phone, its impact with the floor echoing throughout the room as it hit the wood. Asgore shot up from his seat, wide-eyed, his breathing shallow, his hands trembling. "A-Asriel? Is...it can't be..."

Asriel, in shock and awe, didn't respond at first. He struggled to find any words to speak on his own behalf. His throat dry, he answered, "It's me, Dad."

His expression hardening a little, Asgore spread his feet shoulder-width apart, almost as if assuming battle stance. "Prove it to me. Prove to me that you really are my son!" he demanded desperately.

Asriel took a step back in surprise, his heart racing a mile a minute now. There were several things he could have said to prove his sonship, but the recent security measures had brought his mind to that teaching moment long ago.

"You used earth magic to seal the entrance to the underground. I was there with Tobias long ago when you first showed us the delta rune as a means of entry in your garden. You knew that we...or I, would come back for you. It's me, Dad." His voice broke, his face getting warmer, his eyes watering. "It's really me."

Asgore's breath got shaky, his eyes watering now as well. "M-my son..." Without giving so much as a signal, king and prince rushed to one another and eagerly wrapped their arms around each other. Asriel could feel his father's body shuddering with a sort of cathartic sadness and joy. It was the warmest he'd ever been after being a soulless, loveless creature for 100 years.

It was just Asriel and his dad, reconnecting after so long when both likely felt that they'd never see each other again.

And there went the waterworks, tears staining each other's clothes. Asgore rubbed Asriel's back, placing a kiss on the top of his son's head. "You're actually here..." the king said, his voice wobbly. "You have no idea how much I missed you..."

Unknown to both of them, Sergio's fists were balled up in anger, and he stormed out of the throne room through the other door, tipping over his chair in his haste and slamming the door behind him. He went through Asgore's main house and snuck through Alphys's lab, the scientist snoring on her desk with a bunch of new inventions to show City Hall at dawn.

He needed to be away from the palace for an indefinite amount of time. Him being in the same room as Asriel was only going to provide problems. It was bad enough with just the two of them, but throwing Asgore in the mix? Such volatile components would have led to a lot of regrettable words and actions. No matter how it went, it was likely that staying there would have led to Sergio's exile.

Staying up until about 3 A.M. didn't help his mood in the slightest, either. He needed to find a different place to sleep; no doubt Flower Boy would get his old room back after a much-needed shower. Alphys's lab probably only had one bed, and Undyne likely occupied whatever lodging space was left. Plus, Hotland was too close to the palace if they "needed" him for something.

That left Snowdin and the Ruins. He initially ruled out the Ruins; could he bear to look at Toriel right after Asriel came back home? Surely she didn't know about Asriel yet, but it was only a matter of time before she did.

Snowdin had a few opportunities. He could always crash at Papyrus and Sans's place...but after everything that went down that night, Sans was definitely gonna question him about the "strange, LV-like sense" that likely emanated from Sergio's soul. And with Sergio unable to hide his feelings right then, Papyrus likely would have tried cheering him up with a below-average spaghetti recipe.

After thinking about it, Sergio didn't want to see anyone who knew him. Of course, that was impossible in the underground. As he passed through Hotland, no fewer than 20 monsters said hi, or said something along the lines of, "That's Sergio!" Sure, it beat the heck out of having one out of every 10 monsters try to kill him, but not by much right then.

That left the hotel he once slept in the first time he fell here. It cost gold that he didn't have to sleep there originally, but the receptionist pitied him once. Now he wondered if he had the clout to pull the same trick again. If he didn't, it'd likely lead to the fattest L he'd take all week.

It wasn't as if he could go back to the surface. He'd have to see the nauseating display of affection with the king and the prince, and he'd be forced to explain why he seethed at the sight of Asriel. Once that was finished, where would he go? He had neither the money, the ID, or the age requirement to go to a surface hotel. Manny's place was a fairly adequate spot to crash, but the place was likely swarming with cops, and he didn't want to talk to Manny again for a while. His fellow gang members were either shot or locked up. That left his "home" with his mom...that was never happening.

The more he thought about Asriel reuniting with his father, the harder it was to keep his own eyes from watering. He blinked quickly to dispel any tears forming, then went to a dock in Hotland, ringing the bell. While he waited for the River Person to show up, he got a call from Undyne. He rejected it within the first ring. He then got a voicemail from her 10 seconds later. He opened it to make sure it was important.

"NGAAAH! Don't ignore me, punk! Call me back!" Sergio could see her face scrunching up in exasperation in his mind's eye. It wasn't gonna work. This was likely her attempt at understanding what was wrong. Nobody here could understand.

She tried calling three more times, Sergio rejecting them all. She then sent him a direct message on UnderNet, which he read from the notification bar instead of the app: "Where did u go? Answer my calls, dammit!" Needless to say, he swiped the notification away.

A minute later, he got a call from Papyrus, which got the same treatment. He turned his phone off and stuck it in his pocket.

Finally, the River Person showed up to the dock. "Tra la la," the hooded figure began.

Sergio stepped on board before the figure finished. "Snowdin, and fast," he said gruffly. He sat down in the River Person's boat, hugging his knees, the frown still prevalent in his expression.

"Snowdin it is, then." The Person's boat shot forward with a jolt, Sergio grabbing the sides. The River Person seemed to notice this and chuckled.

Boat rides with the River Person usually instilled a small sense of wonder in Sergio, but this ride was an exception. It was all Sergio could do to keep in his angry tears...and the flames forming around his knuckles.

Why the hell HE of all people get a happy endin'? This dude ain't do nothin' but prance around New York chasin' afta a fairy tale! I broke the barria! I was the last soul they needed! I'm the one bustin' myass ta make sure this go smooth! And yet they rollin' out the friggin' red carpet fa him? The dude I had ta fight?!

That last thought sparked full flames around his hands. He tried to close his hands to stop the flames, but it didn't work. Needing to act fast, Sergio dunked his fists in the water, steam and smoke now coming from his hands. He'd hit something with his right hand, and a frog came up nursing a burning goose egg on its head. "Ow..."

Sergio disregarded the monster and shook his hands dry.

"Tra la la. One is never a winner if they lose their head," the River Person said in a singsong tone. It was all Sergio could do not to cuss out the person's mama.

As if the prince's return wasn't enough, Sans was waiting for him at the Snowdin dock. Sergio swore in his mind, his muscles tensing up. What lies would he have to tell to maintain appearances this time? Well, if he was silent, he wouldn't have to lie.

As soon as the boat stopped, Sergio hopped out without saying anything to the River Person or Sans. He briefly looked at the skeleton before walking past him.

"What, no hello for an old friend?" Sans joked. Sergio stuck his hands in his pockets and kept walking. His feet made the snow crunch under him, the human zipping up his grey hoodie in response to the cold. "Serge, what's wrong?" The human remained silent, clenching his jaw.

Sergio was just about to turn onto the main street of Snowdin when he noticed the snow falling around him stopped moving, a sudden, muted whoosh sound causing him to stop in his tracks. Sans had stopped time. Whatever the skeleton wanted to talk to him about ought to have been serious.

"What, what, what is it this time?!" he snapped at Sans, turning to face him.

Sans had his palm pointed toward Sergio, a multi-colored aura in front of his palm vanishing. His usually cheerful expression darkened to one of concern. "Kid, I'm worried about you. Everyone is."

"Look, whateva you worried about, drop it. It ain't yo' concern."

"Not my concern? Hasn't anyone told you what a friend is supposed to do?" Sans took two steps closer to Sergio, his left eye flashing blue and yellow briefly before both eyes returned to normal. "You did it again."

"Did what?" Sergio crossed his arms.

"That strange, LV-like sense I got from you before you faced Asgore...it's stronger. Whatever you were doing before you came down here, you did it again. As far as I can tell, you don't have a trace of actual LV in you, but something is there."

"Look, we already been through this. I ain't kill nobody down here, so we cool. What's LV supposed ta feel like, anyway?"

"I told you, having a Level Of ViolencE causes you to distance yourself from others. You ran off after Asriel got back, you ignored my brother's and Undyne's calls, and you were just gonna walk right past me. Something's wrong, Sergio, and I wanna know what it is. I'm trying to help you. As a friend."

"Thanks fa the help, Sans," Sergio said with a straight face, "but if you really wanna help me, get me outta this time portal or whateva."

Sans closed his eyesockets. "Kid...I know you haven't killed anyone down here in the underground...but did you kill on the surface?"

Sergio hesitated for a split second. "What difference it make if I did?"

Sans took a few steps to Sergio's left, beginning to circle him. "Why?"

"Why what?" Sergio walked to keep Sans in the center of his view.

"Why did you kill people, Sergio?"

"I never said I did!"

"But if you didn't, you would have just said no outright. I just wanna know why."

"I'm not admittin' ta nothin'."

"You've killed before, which would have made it easier for you to kill here, but you didn't. Something kept you from killing down here. What was it?"

The conversation was getting really probing really fast. Sans knew all along that Sergio had bodies on the surface, and now he was demanding to know why.

"What, you got some sudden authority ta interrogate fellas now?"

"I'll let you in on a little secret, Serge. I know a thing or two about different dimensions, alternate timelines. I've seen tons of realities where the monsters killed all the humans and vice versa. I've seen realities where you killed a few people down here, killed everyone in the underground, or just Asgore and 'Flowey.' I've seen tons of ways you died as well. In fact, the only reality I'm unsure about is this one, where you killed no one. But the one constant in all of those realities was that LV feeling I got from you."

That partially explained how Sans was able to stop time and teleport; he was going through several dimensions. Now that Sergio thought about it, he wondered if he traveled to different dimensions as well. The shortcut Sans took him through Sergio's first time underground could have changed the entire world for all he knew. Of course, New Yorkers were exactly the same as Sergio remembered, but maybe...

"If that LV-like sense was gone," Sans continued, "that was because it wasn't you. It was someone different. And the reason I'm asking you about all of this is 'cause I want to make sure everyone stays safe. Including you."

"Look, whateva bidness I got goin' on in the surface, that's mine. It's got nothin' ta do wit anyone else down here."

Sans sighed. "Has anyone told you about the Angel Prophecy?"

"I'm not tryna hear that mystical bull, Sans."

"You should, because it's about you. Monsters long ago foretold that someone they called the Angel, the One Who Has Seen the Surface, would come by and make the underground go empty. And in the realities I've seen involving you, the only times the underground has gone empty were where you killed everyone. The prophecy could also mean that the underground will go empty because the barrier's broken. This is the only reality where the barrier was broken." Sans stepped even closer to Sergio, now three feet away from him. The skeleton's expression wasn't as threatening as his words implied to be at first. "I mean, you've come this far. You wouldn't want to botch it all up now, would you?"

It was Sergio's first time hearing that prophecy, and it put in perspective what so many of the monsters thought of him before and now. They had no idea whether Sergio would be an angel of hope or an angel of death. They prepared for the latter, but he ended up being more of the former. Even so, the underground was far from empty. Objectively, assuming how the underground would be emptied was still a toss-up at this point.

"Sans...I got this." There was more annoyance than assurance in Sergio's voice. "Look, it's late, and I'm tryna get some sleep 'fore...'fore tomorrow." He thought about his tasks at hand for a second. He was originally going to accompany Asgore and company to City Hall for the council meeting, but with all the running around Asriel did, Sergio was sure the prince could take his place. Seeing Asriel had sparked a fire within him, no doubt a fire of rage, but it was possible inspiration for what the human could do in his own life.

All the tough talk coming from Sergio about how Asriel needed to come back home also came back to mind. Sergio had essentially forced Asriel's hand to return home before his identity was compromised. Sergio just couldn't believe he actually did so. With the ball in his court, what did Sergio have to do about Tobias now?

"Yeah, that's right, you got a big day ahead of you. But why'd you come to Snowdin when you've been bunking at the palace?"

"What, sleepin' in Asriel's bedroom when the dude came back? The hell I look like doin' somethin' like that?"

"Hehe, you still don't like the guy, do you?" Sans teased.

"Hell nah I ain't like 'im."

"Well, you could always bunk with me and Pap. Our couch is pretty comfy."

"Nah, I'll find somewhere else ta crash." For one, it was more private, and fewer people personally knew him there. Two, it enabled him to sleep in; he decided he wouldn't accompany Asgore to city hall the next morning. No, what he would do would be far more personal.

Sans shrugged. "Suit yourself." He yawned. "Now that you mention it, I'm ready to hit the hay, too. You know where you can find me." He took a few steps toward the dock instead of the main road, then stopped. "The friends you've made here love you more than you know, Serge. Remember that." The skeleton vanished, and the snow around Sergio started falling like normal.

It was a lot to take in. Knowing that there was a prophecy about him made him feel more proud of himself, despite the fact that he was going about all of this clumsily with little tact or grace. The monsters down here looked up to him, more than what he could say of anyone on the surface. It reminded him that the underground was truly the first home he had since he was seven. Even though Asriel's appearance complicated things, that didn't change his standing with everyone else, did it?

Perhaps part of his rage stemmed from a feeling of replacement. Sergio was a key catalyst in the monsters' progress into the surface, but with Asriel showing up, what need did Asgore have for Sergio? Perhaps it was even deeper than that. Against all odds, Sergio had befriended Asgore, the one monster Sergio likely would have needed to kill in order to escape the underground. With all the errands he was doing for Asgore, Sergio never felt as if he was some sort of lackey or "subject" to the king. He felt the things he was doing made the king proud of him. Could it have been a sort of paternal connection he secretly longed for?

Nah, thought Sergio. If the human said he'd get something done, he'd get it done, no questions asked.

But that also likely would have made their next meeting even more awkward. Asgore gave Sergio the assignment to find "the fugitive." He'd found the prince tons of times, but never told Asgore. Did Asriel tell Asgore that Sergio simultaneously failed and completed his task? At the same time, what would Asgore have said after hearing that his son was the fugitive? The king doubted he was still alive when he literally showed up to his throne room! No way he would have believed Sergio!

He marched over to the Snowed Inn. Just as he expected, the receptionist allowed him to stay in the same room as he did before. The same guests who were next door the last time seemed to be there this time, only this time snoring in a different tune. He took his wet shoes off as well as his hoodie, lying in bed supine. He calculated his plan for the next day. For so long, he'd despised and run away from his past, and he hoped that he never had to face it.

But if Asriel could do it, Sergio was more than capable of doing so.

If only he knew what the price would be.

I wanted to try a smooth transition for this one.

What could Sergio plan on doing that's more important than meeting with the mayor? What will he do or say about Tobias? What role will Asriel play now that he's reunited with his father?

Find out in the next chapter of New York State of Mind!