The confused canine couldn't comprehend the curiously covered creature creeping out the consciously closed door creaking clumsily.

After a long few seconds of suspended quiet he blinked his eyes and moved his bumped arm slightly to readjust the shifted angle of his axe to be more comfortable again. The white fur on his wrinkled muzzle turned slightly gray from the amount of perplexed shadows cast on it by the wrinkles. "You..." he muttered through his dragged-back lips. "You're the human, right?"

Yes, Cter was.

She didn't say that though.

That would have been stupid of her to do.

With an increasing curiosity to the hooded figure seemingly in the middle of melting, the Royal Guard moved his axe to his other hand and turned around so that he was facing it fully. Cter could see all the movement by just looking at the guard's legs and the wooden handle of his axe moving on the floor. It was quite colder than the floor in the opulent room, so she stood on the loose fabric for warmth. No way was she in any position to run with the large canine blocking her path completely.

"You sure do smell kinda like her," the guard remarked rather innocently after he sniffed a few times. Even with that backing his theory he didn't sound that convinced. Might just be that it was the slight magical aura from her green robe that made him hesitate. She'd have to exploit that somehow if she'd have any chance to escape.

But what? And how?

As the guard went in for a second round of sniffs on the purple hood Cter reached out to touch his Delta-Rune-adorned armor. "You smell like her too," she informed the guard while toucing the metal with her fingers covered by the purple cloth and her left hand's naked heel. "You smell like her here." She made sure to drag the heel of her palm for a bit before lifting it up to another spot. "Here," she informed while touching at the guard's shoulder. Then at another place on his chest which wouldn't be correlated to the first place she touched. "And here too."

"I do?" questioned the guard with pique in his surprised voice. His nose moved to each of the spots the hooded figure had pointed to. "Oh, I do," he concluded with the surprise still present like a backing toot in his tone. "Strange."

"Is it?" Cter retorted in an attempt to further confuse. She gambled on tilting her head up just the slightest so that she could see the dog guard's expression. "Is it really strange?"

To her delight the question struck a thoughtful chord with the guard, who's paw came up to scratch at his chin. Reflexively his tail began to wag as he scratched away. "I guess not?" he had to concede as he leaned his head against the broadside of his axe. Broad indeed… An understatement, if anything. "I mean, I'm used to a human smell with the Monster Mages despite them being actually monsters, but that human mage's smell must've been so different that I'm smelling her everywhere." Instead of turning his head, the guard spun the handle of his axe instead to look down the washed stone of the hallway he and the strange, hooded monster were standing in. "Again strange that there hasn't been raised any alarms from the other guards."

"Maybe they concluded that if they all smell like the human then it must be that we all smell like her?" Cter proposed after shaking the fear off her mind after seeing the sharp, curved-concave shape of the Royal Guards weapon. "Seems like the only logical explanation."

A blatant lie, of course, but one Cter didn't feel any remorse telling. She was an escapee talking to a guard, she'd use every single trick in the book if she had to. In a pinch she knew that she was a human and that he was a monster, and with his rather-relaxed demeanor it wouldn't be any problem for her to get the first strike in. It wouldn't be quiet though.

While she was able to explain away her smell, she wouldn't be able to explain away the scream and subsequent dusting to the guards which surely would come running. Adding murder to her doings would lead her straight back to that prison cell.

If she was lucky.

And she'd much rather use that luck to get away quietly without anyone noticing. Be it human or monster.

On top of not wanting to feel another monster's warm dust on her hands ever again...

Still, even with the pressing matter of her being an escapee and her not knowing exactly in which state Idyll was, there was another thought that rattled inside her mind. Something that the Royal Guard said that stuck with her like a burdock. "What do you mean by the Monster Mages being actually monsters?" She knew that they were politically due to their sworn dedication to monsterkind. Equalizers of sorts. Proof of trust from the human countries that the most powerful mages were with monsterkind. "They're humans."

"You haven't met them?"

The question was bordering on sorrowful, as if the Royal Guard felt immense pity that the half-melted pile of dark-blue clothes and the monster existing somewhere inside it hadn't met the Monster Mages. The long pause both before and after the quivering question reinforced the sense of pity Cter could tell filled the guard's aura even if she couldn't feel it herself.

"Yes and no," she answered truthfully. The sheer concern from the guard just made her speak the truth to him. She had to turn her head away as he squatted down to her level though, which made him hesitate. Out of the corner of her eye she could see him look down in defeat that really weighted heavy onto him. "Sorry."

"You remind me a bit of my little brother," said the Royal Guard...exactly the way a big brother should. Cter didn't have one, but she had a friend in her home village that spoke exactly like that when talking about his younger sibling. With a chuckle in his sigh to let her know that even though things were looking down, quite literally too, the Royal Guard made it know that he'd be there to give advice and to help, no matter what. "He was quite sheltered when we were puppies. Always looked up to me in a way even I couldn't live up to."

A rough and tightened sound echoed gently up and down, side to side throughout the hallway. The Royal Guard's grip steeled on the handle more than the armor he wore. "He thought he'd never be able to be as good as I was, even though he worked doubly as much as I did to become a Royal Guard. I only had time ahead of him, which I tried to explain to him over and over again. All he heard though was me bragging about being further into my training than he was, which didn't have the exact reaction I meant for it do have, now did it?" He scoffed another chuckle with an accompanying shrug that faded away as quickly as it was thrown up on his weighted shoulders, both literally with his ornate armor, and metaphorically with his deepened furrow.

Cter didn't have anything to say. She didn't want to lie any more to the monster bleeding his soul out for her. It reminded her of how much Idyll had trusted with her, and everything that followed…

Followed and was in front of her at the same time. The Royal Guard was talking to her like she was a little sister to him, something she had always half-wished that her friend would have done at least once so that she would know how it would sound. She had gotten that experience from Sarbor within Idyll's soul and memories though.

But not really in the way she wanted.

"You...sorry for assuming, but are you perhaps from Xoff? If you don't know about the Monster Mages actually being monsters then you must be from out of country." The Royal Guard lifted up his palms while his voice descended into a hurried apology. "No offense." His hands then gripped his axe for support. "It's just that...he's stationed there." It pained him to say it. "Once he heard about me getting a position at the castle he immediately began looking for a transfer to a human country. I still don't know if it is because he felt like he wanted to prove himself further or if he just wanted to get away from me. It..." His forehead again came to rest against the axe's broadside, which he bounced hard against his head with his helmet. "I shouldn't ask you." He surrendered his idea with a final sigh which whistled through the concave shape on the blade of his weapon. "Sorry."

"I'm from Xoff," said Cter in response.

It was a lie.

Cter knew it was a lie.

She knew she didn't want to lie further.

But it was a different type of lie.

Not lying for her own sake.

But for his.

She saw a smile from within the bladed curvature which struck her as one of the most innocent she'd ever seen.

"You live near Bonny Sallus' clinic by any chance? He's stationed there." The sorrow had completely shifted into pride at a moment's notice. All the way from his smile to his waggling tail it spread. "He's one of the few Royal Guards that Bonny Sallus himself picked out to refresh the posts at his clinic. Bonny Sallus! Royal Emissary for monsterkind! Approved by King Asgore himself!" The Royal Guard threw his arms out wide. "I'm less than a castle's length away from both King Asgore and Queen Toriel and I've only felt glimpses of them! And my little brother has a scroll with the Monster King's signature on it approving his excellence as a guard by none other than His Excellence himself!"

The guard began laughing, which quickly turned into sobbing. "I'm so happy for him," he coughed. "I'm so happy for my little brother. It's so good for him to not be near me so that he can be his own monster, but at the same time it hurts having him so far away. I...I wanna know if it is because of me or if it was because he thought of me so highly. Please, if you see him." He had to swallow three times to have enough strength to ask the melting, cloaked monster. "And you'll know him if you see him."

He ran his claw against the rim of the concave of his blade. "The hollowed shapes in our weapons create the shape of a monster soul. It's been in the family for generations, from when our great-great grandfather and great-great grandmother met at their Royal Guard posts." He spun it around so that Cter could see it from both sides. "Let him know that his big brother enjoys the cool shade he's casting from atop Mt. Ebott's peak which his big brother could never reach! However, his big brother will still drink him under the table and into the basement so that he can fetch more bottles, and that his big brother is eagerly waiting to prove that whenever he comes home!"

Another monster that gave his life to Cter, just short of literally as Idyll had done. She...smiled. The wide, gentle smile the Royal Guard gave her she returned back with an added nod. It didn't strike her that he wouldn't see it. He'd feel it, that she knew. Even if it wasn't through her non-existing aura it'd be something else. They shared a moment. A wonderful moment of trust between two strangers. From where it came from Cter didn't know. It was a promise though that she'd keep.

And a promise that would help her fulfill it.

She offered her right hand for him to take. "If I ever get the opportunity I promise I'll let him know." When the guard reached out to take it Cter slid her hand out of her dark-blue robe's cloth further up his furry forearm. Through the soft fur her fingers parted rudimentary lines that would allow for the simplest of magic to be imbued on her green robe's sleeve which her hand's movement had the guard grabbing. She would be using her non-dominant hand for the magic, and it would feel weird to her, but it was her only chance to do it. For it to be different so that she could hide her aura better. Her left hand, still hidden within the forest-green fabric the same as her eyes, obscured her naked right hand as she put it on top to both emphasize the shake and hide her hand at the same time.

Cter wouldn't be lying with her promise. She wouldn't be lying when she expanded her magical potential to interact with the small hint of magic among her green robe's threads to then connect with the Royal Guard's soul and ask him for help to uphold her promise. How could she reach Xoff if she was caught and thrown in the castle jail again? All she needed were just the idea and feeling of the promise embroidered on her sleeve by the Royal Guard's want and intent. With that Cter would be able to deliver his message to his little brother.

The promise would be their connection. Cter's need to escape would be the cooperative need. Her need to be able to walk around the castle, to find her friend first. Cter had to! Her friend needed Cter! Cter needed her friend! Afterwards she would go to Xoff. She didn't know how, but in her heart and her soul she gave her everything to that promise.

Just please! He had to help her!

Cter didn't know how much of her intent came through to the Royal Guard, if anything. It was quiet for her, and she was the one that magically spoke it. Spoke with such vigor that she'd overwhelm the poor monster's emotions had she had a functioning sleeve already, but she hadn't. Without one it was like her trying to speak through the length of a lake underwater, perhaps even an ocean!

The Royal Guard's grip on her wrist hardened, holding it steady. It didn't hurt Cter though, even if his fingers wrapped around her arm like hers around a reed. He could snap it off easily if he both felt that she indeed was the human trying to escape and decided to do his duty as a Royal Guard. To live up to the ideal his little brother had set for him.

Perhaps it was unfair for Cter to put the Royal Guard in that situation. To risk a message with a human that he'd been ordered to keep under guard and key to travel to a far-off country to find just one monster. A human that had shaken the foundation of Jarasevo all the way up to the castle was his responsibility, and Cter had asked him to abandon that, even if he was aware of it or not. If it would be found out that he willingly, maybe happily, waved the human along in her escape he'd surely be reprimanded.

Then how good would his message be then if it cost him shattering his little brother's ideal to say that he was proud of his little brother?

It was all in the Royal Guard's hand, both literally and magically. He had to make a choice, and Cter wasn't sure how much he knew about it before he made it. She could only hope that he'd trust her enough to give her a chance to keep her promise. To give her the memory the two had forged together, and let her weave that into magic to help her on her way to Xoff.

"Please, help me."

"Hey," said the guard with a gentle chuckle, "I'm the one that's asking you for help here." He tucked his axe's handle into the bend of his arm, freeing up his hand so that he could put it over Cter's left one. An alternating tower of white and purple stacked four hands high. "I'm guessing you're a bit lost, aren't you? I mean, you bumped out of that door into me. Have you been lost for a long time?"

Cter nodded.

"Guess that room has another form of ingress to it then."

He said it almost as if he was suggesting something, but Cter couldn't hear exactly if it was that he'd gotten wise to her being the human or not.

"You want to get out of this castle, don't you?"

Again…

"See someone you care for?"

And again…

"Then I'll not take up more of your time."

Yet again…

"You'll remember to swing around my little brother's place if you have the chance though?"

"Yes."

"Then thank you for listening to me."

It was then, with the Royal Guard's thankful smile diving its friendliness underneath Cter's hanging hood, that she felt that all-too-distant awareness of two pieces clicking together to form a better whole inside her soul. From her arm came a reactionary feeling that trickled upwards from where the secure grip of the guard was on her wrist. Lines of caressing, magical touch etched themselves upon her robe, their glow warming Cter's arm like softly lit candles marching up the length of her arm towards her shoulder, and into the center of her being.

Her being made whole again by the generosity of the Royal Guard.

"You..." he commented with conflicting emotion readable in his aura. A mixture between a sense of pride, both brotherly and dutiful, a dash of confusion, and just a hint of lamenting nostalgia. "You have an interesting grip," he continued while inspecting his right hand. Even without Cter's returning aura-sensing it was clear that he felt that it tingled strangely to him. Not hurting, or anything like that. It was just very different from what he'd ever felt before. No wonder, really. He'd given Cter some of his magic, and her soul responding to the first magical ignition reverberated back to him. It would fade sooner rather than later due to the connection being rudimentary.

Even if it was rudimentary it was more than enough for Cter to blend in from then on with the other monsters. She had her aura flare up, which made the Royal Guard forget about the strange tingling in his arm. "Ah, there you are," he said in response to Cter letting her thankful fluster reach out to him through her aura made deliberately different as much as she could. "Still got it with my big brother tendencies, it seems."

Cter allowed the Royal Guard to be proud with that. Seemed like the right thing to do in her situation. He'd saved her, after all.

"Now, the quickest way out of this castle." The Royal Guard subdued his overwhelming big-brother-pride for a moment to indulge and bask in it alone later. "Follow this hallway that way and take the third left. After that it's the second right, fourth staircase. Then you'll want to take a bee-line through the gardens towards where side where the flags are the plentiest. It's the easiest way to find out which side is the front. A trick we teach the newly appointed guards so that they don't get lost the first thing they do."

Third left. Second right. Fourth staircase. Through the garden towards where the flags are the plentiest.

Cter could work with that.

Even if plentiest wasn't a word she could work with it.

"Thank you," she said with a bow which the Royal Guard returned.

"I'm here to serve."

In more ways than he could ever think.

The cold of the marble floor brought a slightly uncomfortable gasp from Cter as she began her journey down the hallway to then take the third left, then second right, then the fourth staircase, and lastly through the garden towards where the flags are the plentiest.

It was good that she still remembered it through the mild trauma of the sudden cold underneath her bare feet. She'd have to procure some shoes one way or another. There were none in the hallway she walked through to reach the third left though, unfortunately. She didn't see any in the first left, nor in the second left either. Granted, she didn't do a very detail search as she passed by, but with the amount of guards in each of them she'd rather take a chance with the third left having some shoes.

And no guards?

No, there weren't a single one down the third left. Not a single one, and no lingering aura telling that anyone would've been there earlier. Cter looked back at the Royal Guard, her suspicions that he knew that she was human growing as she observed him standing rigidly as he did when she bumped into him.

"Thank you," she said to him quietly before turning the corner. The last she saw of him was him waving happily to her.

The third left wasn't anything to write home about, even if it was a castle hallway which Cter had promised her family she'd find a way to walk around in. A slightly different context to her visit though than what she had promised.

The presence of a long, purple carpet was much appreciated by Cter's cold feet, to the point that she slowed down to savor the lukewarm sensation as compared to the cold one that potentially was up ahead. The first right didn't have a carpet to it.

But did the seco–

No.

Dammit.

Cter called upon her memories of thoughtlessly throwing herself into the just-unfrozen lake back in her village, summoning up the courage that had come to her so naturally back in those thoughtless days of yore. That the memory didn't prompt a reaction from her sleeve felt very strange to her, even more than the cold did to her feet. Not having Romrom encourage her with her presence inside Cter's sleeve was a mix between uncomfortable and forlorn to the human shivering from the cold of the stone floor.

Halfway down the second right she couldn't take it anymore, and created a hovering fire between her feet. It would make her aura a bit more external and easier to feel, but if she kept it as monster as she could she'd still pass as one. She looked around at the base of her dragging robe to make sure no light was emitting, which none was.

A monster looking like it was melting was common, but melting and additionally glowing? That would have raised some eyebrows.

She had to increase her magical fire's intensity a bit once she entered the whistling and winding fourth staircase. In there the steps were even colder. No wonder there were no guards around!

Up or down though? Which way? Down would be the logical choice since she rationalized herself being locked inside a tower. However the staircase looked a bit too wide for it to be a staircase inside a tower, and she did go through a fair number of hallways. A monster-couple of hallways she additionally saw on her way. Since they looked nice and not like prison hallways she would still be on an upper floor though, right?

Right?

So down it was.

All the way since the guard didn't specify any floors, right?

Once at the bottom floor Cter opened the door inwards as to not bump into another Royal Guard. She peeked outside. To her left were guards, but a fair bit away. To her right were guards, but a fair bit away too. In front of her was a glass door with green seen through it. It was a very large door, and she had to struggle to open it. Cter also had to make sure the struggle wasn't visible lest one of the guards would turn out to be so kind as to help her with it.

She was winded once she got it open.

Cter found herself on a balcony stretching the rim of an inner courtyard filled with greenery stretching both high and wide. Its beauty she led slip past her though, there was no time to enjoy it even as the wonderful concoction of smells danced around her from the subtle wind poking at the limp flags at the top of the castle.

Which side was the plentiest with flags?

It was…

The one opposite her!

Alright!

She knew somewhat where she was! She could navigate herself, even if it was rudimentary.

That was step one!

The second step was finding Idyll!

"Gorgeous day outside, isn't it?"

Yes, yes, whatever.

"Why don't you join me for some tea?"

Nope, Cter didn't have time, whoever that deep-voiced monster was, sorry. She had a friend to save, so she–

The collar of Cter's dark-blue robbed choked her as she took her first step. She tilted backwards, as her entire overflowing attire yanked her back. She stumbled with her arms flailing towards what was holding her robe in place, and fell onto the ground. Through the slit of her hood collapsing together she saw a crimson glow stuck deep into her robe's trail of cloth, possibly even through the floor as well. Three sharp prong of deep-red magic held her in place.

"Please do forgive me for asking you despite you not having a say in the matter."

Cter tilted her head up towards the deep voice.

"And please do also forgive me for not addressing you directly once you entered through the door."

Towards…

"I thought it would come easily to me what to say to you, but a bit too much of Gerson's traning came over me." The large, white hand motioned over towards what Cter realized was a red-glowing trident.

It can't be…

A wide, bushy, and golden beard parted into a sensitive smile.

"Please join me for some tea. I have some things I want to speak to you about."

It was…

"Human."

King Asgore!