Hm, guess I get why you like it so much, that tea was pretty good.
Alright, where were we... ah, yes, jump ahead to six years later. I guess this means it's almost serious time huh.
Twenty-two years old and finished growing, I had lived in the underground for what felt like forever but I had long since stopped caring about that, I had met and befriended a lot of monsters, I'd been able to see and catalog the growth of the city as other monsters grew old enough to move out, I was even invited to the wedding of Asgore and his now-queen, Toriel.
Life was pretty great.
It was a week after the wedding, I was sitting on the roof of Gorel's house, which may as well have been mine too after all the years. I admit it felt weird given that I was an adult now, but the old man had grown into a father figure for me.
Anyway, back to the roof. Some of the mountain had caved in at the top of the dome, affording us rare glimpses of sunlight at certain times of the day, I was laying on my back staring at the false sky, watching as the sun beams retreated and the glow of the crystal stars replaced it.
I yawned, ready to fall asleep then and there, when I heard a heavy form climbing the ladder to get up to the roof, "Hey Ral, how's it going?" Gorel and his son sounded a lot alike, but I was around the two of them long enough to be able to tell them apart, even without Asgore's childish tics.
"Hey Asgore." I responded, not bothering to take my gaze off the roof or even sit up, "Watching the sunbeams again?" He said, walking over, "Yeah, it's nice to be able to see the sun again, isn't it? For at least a little while."
If Gorel became like my father, Asgore was definitely my big brother at this point, even if I did hassle him for talking like a five-year old, what kind of king says golly, anyway?
He nodded, taking a seat and looking up, "You want to go back there, don't you?" His voice was casual, but his words made me stop moving entirely.
A few seconds passed before I started moving again, crossing my legs, but still not bothering to get up, "So... you knew." I said.
"Boss Monsters come in a lot of shapes and sizes, but even still, you're too small to be an adult, I figured it out about two years ago when you said you were done growing." I pursed my lips at that, "I could have fallen for it if you said you weren't getting bigger because you lost your parents young, but you said you were still aging." He continued.
In retrospect I shouldn't have been surprised, he's sensitive and nice, but you don't hold onto a crown without being at least a little perceptive of things happening around you.
"And nothing changed." I said lowly to myself, I didn't have to look at him, I could feel the smile on his face, "Of course not, dad trusted you, he had since that first day, and you'd never done anything to hurt anyone, you fit in perfectly." I smiled at that. "You're making me blush." I said, chuckling.
"How's the missus?" I asked casually, changing the conversation, "Oh! Tori's doing wonderfully, at first I was wondering how she'd handle being queen, but she's really taken charge of..." "Of everything?" I finished his sentence, then laughed, "Hey now... I mean you're not wrong but." He reached back and scratched the back of his neck, eliciting more laughter from me, soon enough he joined in too.
"Hey... Ral, I have a question." He said, his tone getting somewhat sad, "What's that?" I said, finally sitting up to look at him. "If you could have one wish, one wish out of anything in this world, what would it be? To go back to the surface?" He was looking at the holes in the sky.
"That would be the obvious answer, huh? You should know I'm not an obvious person." I responded, smiling, "If I had one wish, one wish that didn't follow any rules, it would be to become a Boss Monster like you guys, so I could live down here without having to hide my face."
He turned towards me and blinked, the raw shock on his face almost made me laugh, he looked like a cat that had just been spooked by a loud noise.
"Really? I thought for sure you'd want to go home." I took off my mask, letting him see my face and the smile I was wearing, "This is my home." I asserted, "Back in the surface world I didn't really have a place to stay, I would wander around and gather information on whatever came to mind, village history, war stories, folklore." I sighed as I looked back on those days, "But it was my destiny to wander around forever, always gathering stories, never finding a home or settling down."
"I was scared out of my mind at first, always feeling like a misstep would kill me, or I'd stumble into a monster. But now that I'm settled down and comfortable, I realize that I wouldn't trade this for anything. You and Gorel and Colon and Toriel, and all the monsters down in the city... this isn't just Home, it's home." I was trying my best to not let my emotions get to me, but I think he saw a few errant tears as he reached over and patted me on the back, tearing up a bit himself.
I smiled as Asgore patted me, I decided the mood I made didn't suit me, so I killed it immediately with four words: "Wow that was sappy." It caused both of us to explode into laughter.
…
Ah, sorry, I'm uh, I'm good, let me continue.
"So, what's your real name then?" Asgore said as he looked at me, I just sat there for a bit, "Uh... huh, what is my real name? You know it's been so long that I think I've forgotten." I started laughing about it, Asgore seemed shock but I didn't care at all, "Ralochs, what an awful name, it's just scholar backwards."
"But I wouldn't want to be called anything else." I added after a few seconds.
The two of us sat on the roof staring at the false stars for a bit, "So." I broke the silence, "When are we going to be getting a prince?"
Asgore immediately sputtered at that, "Wh-wh-whaaaaat?!" I just looked at him with a smile, "You are way too easy to fluster, Gorey." I laughed. He finally calmed down enough to answer after taking a big outward breath, "Golly Ral, give me some warning before you ask a question like that. Well, I mean not in the foreseeable future, we want to make sure things stay stable, not to mention it's hard for our species to have kids."
I nodded, "Yeah, I should have remembered reading about that, a lot of the library's books have turned into one big jumble in my head. Oh well, I was just wondering, I'd like to see what my adopted nephew would look like before I die." I smiled over to him.
He closed his eyes and sighed, "Hey... don't say that please." He said sadly, my face turned into a frown, realizing just how callous my last sentence sounded.
That's right, he'd live far beyond what I would, even assuming I lived to be old enough to be an elder and didn't die sooner, my life would be a pebble in a lake compared to his.
Immortality sucks, huh?
"You know, there is another wish I'd have." I said, "I'd like to become long-lived like some of these monsters, just so I could be here for the passing of ages, see where our inventions go, what we become capable of... maybe one day, even see the barrier destroyed. Though, I guess wish one would accomplish wish two, hm?"
I knew he was listening, I felt like I was probably making Asgore's sadness over my lifespan worse, but rather, he pet me on the shoulder just once as he stood. "Hey, Ral." He said, same tone as when he came up, same tone when he left, I looked at him to see that big smile, "Don't worry about it, okay?" He said before leaving, I just smiled somewhat wistfully, "Curious, very curious."
Looking back, it was pretty obvious why he was asking that.
I sat there for a little while before laying back down to look at the crystal stars, eventually dozing off.
The next day I was walking down the hallway in the palace on the way to the royal library, minding my own business and reading a book when I heard the most ear breaking noise getting closer and closer, I turn around to see Colonna running towards me at full speed.
I know what you're thinking, how fast can a skeleton in armor run? The answer is pretty freaking fast. I had to slam myself against the wall to prevent being ran over, "Apologies human! Oops, I mean Ralochs, but the misses sent a missive, the little one is iiiiiiincomiiiiing." He screamed as he charged through the stone wall, leaving me completely flabbergasted.
"Four years, I still don't know how that biologically works. Skeletons are weird." I said to myself, then turned to go let someone know that there needed to be some repairs, usually all I had to say was Colon's name and location and they'd sigh and acknowledge it without any further question.
I went back to reading as I walked, not noticing when I rounded the corner that I nearly bumped into someone, I gave a slight yelp as I backed up, "Oh! S-sorry, I wasn't looking where I walked and- oh, Lady Toriel." I gave an internal sigh as I realized I almost slammed into the queen, "Evening Ralochs, looking at your book instead of the location again I see." She said jokingly.
I cringed, yep, some things don't change, you'd think I'd have learned my lesson after reading and walking got me stuck here to start with. "Don't worry about it, dear, why are you going this way though?" She asked.
"Colon." I said without any further words, she just sighed and shook her head, "I should have known, he took off the second he got that letter."
"Given what he screamed at me before he left a him-shaped silhouette in the stone wall, I think his wife's finally having the baby." I smiled under the mask, she gave a slight gasp, "Oh my, really?! That's wonderful, I'll have to be sure to send them a letter of congratulations."
I nodded and smiled. I spent a few minutes talking with her before the subject went to Asgore, "Oh, that's right, have you seen him? He's been... down recently." She said, her expression turning into a frown.
"Down?" I asked, "He's been spending a lot of time at his father's, and when he comes back he acts like he doesn't have any joy to him, have you noticed anything strange?" she responded to me.
Anything strange...
"Ah!" I said, realizing, "Well, no." She looked at me, narrowing her eyes. I had grown used to Gorel and Asgore glaring at me when I avoiding conversation, when Toriel does it I feel like I'm about to be sent screaming into the abyss. She still causes that whenever she does it.
"Well, okay, I've noticed Gorel getting... slower recently, he's still talking like nothing's going on, but I've seen him moving with a limp, sometimes he doesn't wake up until late in the day." I looked up at Toriel, she didn't look happy, not angry though, just sad, "I see, that... it makes sense, he's approaching the end of his life."
My eyes widened, my mouth gaped, and I dropped my book, "What? How old will he be this year?" Toriel looked at me, closing her eyes, "Physically, a hundred and fifty-two." The age that he expects to pass away at, I felt my muscles tense at that.
"Lady Toriel I apologize but I need to-" She cut me off with an understanding smile, "Go."
I thanked her in silence and started running full force towards Gorel's home, I needed to ask him, I needed to know.
His life was ending, I wanted to know how long he has.
"Dear Diary: I'm not happy with the situation as it's developed.
Asgore's lost his happiness.
Toriel is worried sick.
Gorel is dying."
I charged onwards towards his house, thinking of all the times we'd shared, I couldn't stop nature, I knew that, but I at least wanted to be there with him when he left.
My steps hastened, and I was filled with determination.