2nd March.

We held the new princes naming ceremony today, in the throne room. Its always a welcome place. He's turned it into an indoor garden, with surface flowers whose seeds he brought with him when we came here. I'm very fond of the place. Its good to see so many plants we would otherwise never see again, particularly the white roses growing up around the thrones. A perfect place to name a child, among multicoloured flowers and the smell of roses. Toriel chose the name, much to my silent relief.

Asriel.

A perfect name.

4th March.

I think this must perhaps be the most macabre piece of mathematics I have ever done. I wish to work out how much longer Asgore and Toriel will stay among us now they have a child. From what I have worked out, taking into account the average boss monster child grows at a rate of 1 year for every ten compared to an average human, plus the parents soul power being depleted by the time the child is usually the equivalent of 18...

At most, Asgore and Toriel have around 180 years, perhaps 200 if they are strong.

Gods, even the thought makes me ache. 2 centuries isn't anywhere near enough time to prepare myself for their loss...

16th March

I'm very concerned about Sans. He's approaching the skeleton equivalent of his teen years, but he's barely growing. Papyrus is younger but is already nearly a full head taller. I wonder if the Barrier affected his growth?

4th May

Tsk, I'm very bad at remembering to update my diary. It keeps getting lost or forgotten. I've filled so many work journals with ideas and notes, but my personal one keeps getting lost in the shuffle. Its actually been...six years. Little has changed, really. Papyrus is taller and thats really it. He's...well...he's still lonely. He still over reaches himself trying to get people to like him. I worry. Him and Sans are close, but a boy needs more friends then just his brother...

the prince is doing well. As the royal doctor its my duty to perform his examinations. Currently he's at the grabbing stage, keeps trying to eat my medical equipment.

15th December.

To Snowdin! Ah, I still never tire of these outings. We're planning on camping in Snowdin woods this year, and as I write the children are sprawled on the floor of the Snowed Inn packing our hiking bags in preparation for the hike as they discuss a radio show they heard the other week (brilliant invention, the radio. Too good for those humans, my version is twice as accurate in picking up signals, no crackling or static. Top that, you filthy apes...) Papyrus is insisting at the top of his lungs it was a real event that took place. Papyrus, dear, we have no need for spies in the underground, but it does no harm if you believe that I suppose...

17th December.

...Well blast. We weren't half a mile from the camp site when I slipped on packed ice down an embankment and cracked my tibia. Papyrus had to carry me on his shoulders back to Snowdin, while Sans helpfully kept my mood up with terrible bone puns. I'm not a man who tolerates pain well and it was all I could do not to snap at him, but he's made good progress mentally and the puns help I think. Still, I suppose there are worse ways to spend Christmas then sitting in a warm inn with a healing cast for a few days.

(The entries for the following century have been edited due to what appears to be spaghetti spilled over one of the journals.)

4th April

I awoke this morning with a sudden, brilliant idea in my head.

I remember a while ago wondering if I could build a bigger magic furnace. And last night, I took a shortcut home through hotland, admiring the dangerous yet beautiful expanses of hot magma. And in my dreams, the two collided and mingled.

What kind of energy is the Hotlands most rich in? Thermal energy! Imagine, a furnace, taking in the heat of the magma and converting it into magical electricity, kilowatts and kilowatts of power streaming through the underground, powering everything! We have the things used to make it, the dump is a rich supply of material, and anything it doesn't have, we can mine for easily! I have so many ideas flitting through my brain I can barely focus on one at a time, think if the potential! This could be the hugest project I have ever done. I think this diary will be somewhat neglected.

And I'll need to make sure my child aren't neglected as well. I'll let them help, keep them involved. Sans is good at this kind of thing. He'll enjoy it.

21 June.

It has been...4 years, I think. The project, which has been given the working title of the Core, has been taking longer then anticipated. Every new step needs about 50 things done to get it to where it needs to be. I'm riding my reputation on this, I dread to think what would happen if I fail...

I've been careful to make time for my children as I do this. We've continued the yearly trip to Snowdin, and have decided as a family to take it at Christmas time. Its the best time of the year, just the three of us, and I swear its helping my ideas for the Core work smoother. The boys are much the same as ever. Sans is keenly involving himself in the Core. He's good with building the smaller components, a hard worker when he wants to be. Papyrus hasn't changed, either. A little older, a lot taller (my god will this boy ever stop growing?) but still his innocent and friendly self. The explorer phase has changed ever since those rubbishy comics with humans in capes and tight costumes started falling into the dump. He aspires to be a hero nowadays. A dangerous path...

21st August.

Annual checkup with Asriel today. I really do look forward to those, he's such a pleasant child. Not a cruel or bad tempered bone in his body. Though he did inform me as I took his pulse that he was feeling lonely, waiting until his parents were away preparing refreshments before he opened up. He asked me if I knew where babies came from so he could get a new sibling from there. I...quietly deflected that one back towards his parents. Sadly, there won't be any royal siblings to play with for him, Boss Monsters can only have one child.

15th November

Papyrus returned home very late from school today, raging with a temper I've never seen before. He'd gone down to Snowdin to pick up cinnamon bunnies for dessert and seen a group of other students from his class chasing down and trapping a Glyftrot, forcibly decorating the poor thing. He'd laid about them with his bones and chased them away, but the Glyftrot had run off by this point. I've never seen Papyrus this angry, shaking so hard his bones rattled as his eyes burned with orange fire. People see him and think he's innocent and naïve, but he is not blind to cruelty and injustice. If he can keep that gentleness at the core of his heart, he will make a fine young man. I'm very proud.

16th November

The parents of the teens he punished showed up at my door today, furious at the bruises their children had staggered home with. They are right, such violence should not go unpunished, but its hard to feel sorry for them when they did such a senseless act to begin with. I will wait until Papyrus is home before I discuss a suitable punishment, he's at Snowdin, trying to bait the Glyftrot nearer so he can remove the decorations. I don't think he'll have much luck, that one will be terribly nervous around teenagers.

6th December.

Last visit to the palace for business before we leave for Snowdin. Toriel had called about Asriel complaining of an itchy head. The child was vigorously scratching his head against a wall when I arrived, seemingly unaware of the existence of anyone else. Nothing to be concerned about, his horns are budding. This one only needs time.

2nd January.

A bad night.

A bad nightmare.

I'll need to call someone over to see about fixing the hole in my wall.

I hate new years.

5th February

I've picked up an apprentice, it seems. In my usual weekly scavenge in the dump for useful items, I became aware of soft noises behind me, and a small shadow ducking away every time I turned. I pretended I saw nothing for awhile as I lulled them into a false sense of security, before they finally got too close, and I was able to surprise them by reaching into the pile of trash they were hidden in and drag them out by a horn. Their name is Alphys. I think I've seen her around before. A quiet young thing, barely just out of high school. After I was able to convince her I wasn't mad, she revealed she had a passion for science, and as I am, with no hyperbole, the greatest scientist in the Underground, she'd taken to following me, hoping some of my brilliance would rub off on her. She has a bright look in her eye, so I feel like the internship I offered her will pay off well.

15th June

The Core rushes to completion. Any path you walk in Hotland, you can see it looming overhead. Some strange new items have been found in the dump, items full of small chips of silicon and wires. Alphys is proving to be worth her weight in G when it comes to these "computers". She has a natural talent for working out what they do and how to repurpose them to serve the core. She's been showing me how they work in her spare time. Gods, what I couldn't do with these...

17th June

What are these rumours I'm hearing? Something about...a human? Here, in the underground?

…

We are damned.