Seeing the Griffon Commander stood tall with his head high for his ribbons to be clearly visible on his chest brought an air of importance that breezed Cter by as she opened the glass door leading into the Royal Garden. She caught his eyes for a moment which he nodded to as acknowledgment of seeing her and appreciating that he was seeing her. A small, befuddled furrow made a brief appearance on his feathery forehead as his eyes sank down onto Cter's soup-stained leg for a moment.

She shrugged at it, and that seemed to be enough of an explanation for Aajja who instead directed Cter's attention over to one of his subordinates, and more precisely at the two Monster Royals embracing each other in a wide, loving hug. Their smiling muzzles danced around each other, and Cter came into hearing distance as Queen Toriel finished her welcome to her king. "It is good to have you back, King Asgore."

"It is good to be back, Tori," he replied with a bow of his head. "Thank you for meeting me here."

Seems like her friend that Idyll had brought the soup for had left already which was a bit of a shame. Cter would have at least wanted to see who it was. If not to greet and talk with then at least apologize for ruining the soup that was meant for her and Queen Toriel.

"Of course, Gorey," said the Monster Queen in return with a love-felt peck on his bearded cheek. "You will be needing me for what you're about to say to your Royal Councilors, don't you?" She stood herself next to her king ready to share the weight with him from what he was to tell his closest advisors. "Whatever it is you have decided is best I will stand by you with."

It was no wonder that she too noticed the trouble inside the Monster King's aura. Noticed it in more detail too than what Cter could too, and Kry and Kurant as well, most likely. Otherwise they would not have been standing as anxiously abiding as they did at the edge of the clearing in the Royal Garden where Aajja and his two subordinates had landed in. Cter joined in with her two colleagues, folding over a large leaf over her soup-stained legs before anyone noticed it.

"And now we're all here," commented Sir Gerson from close to a bush with the same green color to it as he was. Had he been closer Cter would not have noticed him, and probably would have jumped out of her skin too hearing and seeing a nearby bush talk in a low, authoritative tone.

"I was told that King Asgore would arrive later," defended Cter while being conscious of her eyes not looking up at the roof where she and Idyll had eaten at. It had taken a bit longer with Idyll returning the cast-iron pot back to the castle kitchen where she had borrowed it from earlier as the Woshuas had been very insisting on cleaning Cter's robe leg too. She should have just dismissed the offer immediately instead of thinking it over, for in the end it only had her being late to the gathering and her robe leg still stained with the earlier soup. "I had some business that needed concluding."

Sir Gerson's eyebrow rose up as he passed by a rose bush. "Business more important than greeting the Monster King back from his travels into hostile territory bringing with him a proposal for the end of this war?" It sank down with one of his neutral hums while his hand slipped into his chest pocket. Seeing that, Aajja reached into his pouch to retrieve his monocle which he placed on his eye preemptively. Why he didn't need to inversely gag to bring up the monocle before Sir Gerson, Cter was at a loss for. Perhaps he already had coughed it up pre-preemptively? "Your new orders."

Cter's initial reaction was a bit mixed seeing Sir Gerson give Aajja new orders before King Asgore could share with him what he and the Xoff king had come to terms with. Although thinking about it, why wouldn't he? Regardless of what news King Asgore had brought with him it would not be anything immediate enough that whatever new orders Sir Gerson had wouldn't be relevant.

A war wasn't something that could be changed in a day even if the decision for that change was made in a day. However the war was progressing before King Asgore's arrival it would still continue to progress that way unless–

"We are to fight the humans in one decisive battle."

Un...le...ss…

The eyes of the Leader of the Royal Guard exploded open, folding his forehead into something that resembled liquid which drooped back down over his eyes. What hair he had left drowned in the deep, sudden wrinkles like the sail of a capsizing boat disappearing behind high, green waves. His breathing stopped, and the folded orders that he were handing over to the Griffon Commander didn't move in the slightest as a curious breeze passed through the Royal Garden.

It stopped at Sir Gerson, sneaking away as if caught red-handed eavesdropping on something it shouldn't have. Despite him not breathing, Sir Gerson sucked away all the air around him as he turned his neck slowly towards the Monster King. Even the sections on his shell seemed to tighten up, and more so his lips once he faced King Asgore with a gaze that was impossible to tell what it meant. His aura equally so, with it rumbling with emotions compact enough to be stronger than steel.

"Pardon?"

The question was impossible to be deaf towards.

"We are to fight in one last, decisive battle with the humans," repeated King Asgore after a strengthening look at his queen who still stood at his side without having flinched or reacted in the slightest. She was there for him, and her calming aura and presence was most likely the reason Sir Gerson wasn't reacting in any more...animated manner.

He would never lay or even raise a finger against the Monster Royals, but he sure would share with them his opinion as their military advisor. From how he still wasn't breathing as a means to keep himself composed and his more representative opinion in his throat, his respect for the Monster Royals seemed to still be winning in his soul.

But only barely.

"By giving the humans a way for them to feel like they have won on their terms they will harbor less intent to further kill any more monsters after the fact," the Monster King continued while one of his long, heavy ears slowly slid off his shoulder due to his slight turn of his large head to find strength with his queen.

"Monster casualties have been on the rise lately with no real slowing down which we were hoping for. The fear brought upon the humans due to the Second Fusion has not faded like we predicted. I felt that in my friend's soul." His other ear was saved from falling down his other, sinking shoulders by a soft, white hand grabbing it gingerly and dragging it up some more. "I felt my friend's soul to begin with which I in my life thought I would, and as I did, I wish that I hadn't."

It sounded awfully close to Sarbor's worries about how Idyll would react. So close that Cter found herself wishing that she would have pushed for Sarbor to have revealed his soul to his monster sister. If she had then perhaps she would have been able to talk with King Asgore about it so that he wouldn't have…

No, stop!

If Sir Gerson could still believe in the Monster Royals then Cter could as well! She had to! What she felt and thought about when she heard King Asgore and the king of Xoff discuss through the night and into the foggy morning on that hill was heard when her mind was that of the prisoner at Soul's School! She was a Monster Mage again, back at Jarasevo Castle where she belonged. It was different!

She had to listen to what the Monster King had to say! He saved her! He brought her back to Jarasevo! Had it not been for him risking his life to travel through the parts of Monster Country that were in the humans' control then she would still be stuck in the two-storied house with the two Royal Mages!

So why did she have to convince herself to trust in him?

"The fear which he spoke of I could feel as if it was a monster's. The words he spoke he could never have lied with how naked he displayed his emotions for me, and the fact that he could only made his words even truer to me." King Asgore placed his hand over his queen's resting on his shoulder.

"He had never spoken about it to anyone else. He couldn't. He was the king of Xoff. He needed, and still needs, to show that he still has the strength to lead. Any weakness, be it even a distant hint, is multiple for him after what happened with the Princess of the Lineage. This I could feel too. This I could feel was the curse of the Fusion within him. A closeness that he was given fully formed and which presence was at times a stronger representation of who he was than he could ever make."

With a gentle hand the Monster King touched at his ornate chestplate.

"There was a stranger within him that spoke with his words and felt the same as he did, and stronger. There still is that stranger within him, and all humans who were affected by the Second Fusion, be it their first encounter with it," King Asgore looked at Cter, "or second."

Sarbor?

Or...Manny? The Hero of Xoff? Surely he didn't mean Cter.

No, it had to be Sarbor.

"There have been efforts made to come to terms with the curse, the king of Xoff assured me. They had been close once with the help of Priestess Frioke, but they only managed to suppress, not cure. Sarbor Fech has been leading the efforts, even going so far as to return to Clinic Hill to find a cure for the Fusion's Curse."

"We got news yesterday from our scouts that he is preparing to take the road past Mt. Ebott when heading to Clinic Hill from where the Second Fusion appeared," added Sir Gerson while King Asgore took a breath while he still wasn't taking any. "They have spotted a small contingency of human soldiers moving ahead west rather than south from the Second Fusion's birthplace with sparse provisions and only lightly armored as to be able to travel quick and easy. They're riding ahead to prepare for a larger expedition to follow, so I am confident that it is the intended route for the doctor."

To Mt. Ebott?

Cter could feel that her reaction was shared with her colleagues. Why Mt. Ebott of all places? True, the leading theory back then about where human magic would be found first at was at Mt. Ebott and Mt. Ymmet with their long history of religious importance for the Xoff people. Perhaps Cter would have found something substantial about the Soul Rainbow had she been able to visit, but still though.

Returning to Clinic Hill she would not want to do in either her lifetime or whatever came afterwards, and she did not have any prior history with it besides the First Fusion. For Sarbor to return there, for him to willingly go back there for the sake of monsterkind? Going there to find a cure for the Fusion's Curse would have benefitted monsterkind far, far more than it would have humankind, for curing the Fusion's Curse would bring about the end of the war.

But then why was it necessary to have one last decisive battle to decide the end of the war? Wouldn't the Xoff king have told King Asgore to hold out just a little bit longer and to have hope and trust in that Sarbor would find a cure and the end of the war would come that way instead? Even if the mountain passage between Xoff and Hjearta had been built in the midst of a war it would still have been a detour to pass by Mt. Ebott on the way to Clinic Hill.

It didn't make sense.

Something was amiss.

Again, Cter's first thought was to question the Monster King's faith in the human king. It wouldn't be a big lie to tell which would easily slip past as true. It wouldn't be a lie at all, but instead only an omission of information. The Xoff king was capable of that, surely. King Asgore was being–

She had to bite her tongue to dismiss the thought and instead have trust in the Monster King. She had to! With the coppery stench of blood filling her nose from her mouth, she managed do think past her distrust of the Xoff king.

So if she went on with the assumption that the Xoff king was telling the truth about Sarbor heading only to Clinic Hill, what did that mean?

It meant that Sarbor had gotten new information after the fact. That he had received something new that was important enough that he had to change his plans. Information that was not from the Xoff king.

So from whom then?

"My duty as Monster King is to look after monsterkind. It is my duty to make sure that my people are safe, alive, and prosperous." King Asgore spoke as if chastising himself. "A final, decisive battle is a choice that will result in the death of many monsters. It is a choice that goes against everything we have prepared for. It goes against the only way we can wage a war against the humans, but we could only prepare for so much."

Sir Gerson's brow sunk some more.

"As we only have one way of fighting the humans there is only a matter of time before they learn how to counter the only choice we have at our disposal. We have gained enough of an advantage to predict what the humans will do, and from that we have slowed down their progress. It has only slowed down though. We have never been able to stop them fully at any point. We can outmaneuver and be keen on their tactics, but while droplets on a rock might one day wear it down, we aren't an ocean. Neither are we a lake. A bucket at most, a glass realistically."

King Asgore met the Griffon Commander's eyes with his. There was pride and reverence in the Monster King's aura. "Valiantly is not enough to describe what each and every one of you have done in service to monsterkind. Because of you there have been far, far less death than this war would have otherwise produced. I thank you from the bottom of my soul for saving the lives of my people, and from the same bottom I regret to ask you to please help me save more."

How he said it froze Cter to her very soul. The desperation in the king's voice knew no bounds. The plead he had no right to ask of anyone else, even as king. He…

He…

He couldn't.

He couldn't ask it of them.

Even with his queen's aura and hand on him he wasn't strong enough to ask what should never be asked.

"Gorey."

So she would.

"Tori..."

In his stead, she would.

The Monster Queen stepped forth before the Griffon Commander with her hands softly clasped and her eyes calm and collected. With a soft, gentle bow of her head, she did not need to say anything. Her somber posture was all that was needed to convey what she was asking of the Griffon Commander, and of all the Royal Guard.

"For monsterkind," she punctuated like a prayer. "Forever."

"And always," finished Aajja with his long neck far down in respect and trust of the Monster Queen. The feathers on his large wings were flat, completely calm. There was no raise in the fur on his body, nor any in his aura. He was content with what was asked of him. He accepted it.

"Asgore..."

But his superior did not.

Sir Gerson looked past Queen Toriel towards the Monster King stood with a drained pair of shoulders that were barely enough to hold him upright. "Is this how you want to be remembered?" As Queen Toriel stepped between the two, Sir Gerson looked through her. "As the Monster King who let monsterkind lose against the humans?"

Wild, crackling magic whirled together inside his hand, with his curled fingers painting shadowy slashes over his wrinkled visage grinning hard. "You'd ask out loud for your Royal Guard to lay their souls bare for you? For them to give their dust as tithe for the humans? To stand against them as equals despite your Royal Guard fully knowing that they ain't? They know that even a single human child can be the end of all of them, yet you ask them to stand before thousands of soldiers armed with not only the weapons, but also the intent to spill the hope of the monsters thickly across the battlefield?"

Finally, Sir Gerson took a breath. His inhale was challenging, and as his aura filled with air, a magical hammer formed through the teal, crackling magic that had concentrated in his hand. The hammer's dense head sank into the soil of the Royal Garden, and deeper so as the turtle monster placed a foot and his weight onto it. "What kind of Monster King would ask of that from his Royal Guard?"

The magical hammer shone with whipping cracks of teal as the Leader of the Royal Guard's hand gripped hard around the handle, wringing the grip tighter as if extracting the last drop of patience. "What Monster King would ask his Royal Guard to walk into certain death against the humans?"

The last drop was wrung out with a fierce growl.

"Answer me!"

And with a quick lunge past the Monster Queen, Sir Gerson swung his hammer over his head, arcing with it dark soil and a single flower that his half-buried hammer dug up in his wild lunge towards the Monster King.

"Answer me, Monster King!"

A loud, roaring thunder exploded within the Royal Garden, shaking loose ripe fruit from the many trees and bushes that thudded against the ground in rhythm to the rattle of the glass panels that surrounded the Royal Garden.

Those unripe fruits did not stay on their branches though, as a low, deep growl rumbled throughout the entire castle. "Sir Gerson." The king's words were solid as mountain rock, and as their presence flowed out like the heat from an opened forge, the strained balance between the two collided weapons of the Monster King and his most trusted advisor began to break.

King Asgore's knelt defense against Sir Gerson's attack only permitted him to form half of his red trident which had blocked the full force of the turtle monster's hammer swing.

He had put his all into the swing, including the weight of his shell, and as the face of his magical hammer collided with the hastily formed prongs of the Monster King's trident, the magical smolder and embers that had exploded from the impact had illuminated the Monster King's rugged muzzle and expression that bared determined teeth underneath focused, narrowed eyes. His trident's prongs had formed similar shadowy slashes on his face which had been on the turtle monster's face just earlier.

But darker.

"I will not ask them to go into battle with the humans for me."

For the Monster King's worries were even deeper than those of the Leader of the Royal Guard.

"I will not ask them to lose for monsterkind."

Worries that had him pushing back the Leader of the Royal Guard's hammer with his extending trident. Worries that had his shoulder steeling and becoming strong once more.

"They will not walk into battle for me."

Worries that he had to face.

"They will walk into battle with me."

Worries that he had to overcome.

"I will be their vanguard. The horns of my trident will be the first to face the humans, as will the horns on my head."

Drops of sweat bounced off the turtle monster's cheeks as a growing smile surprised him the most. "Is that so, King Asgore?"

With a quick, precise, and regal swipe of his trident, Sir Gerson was disarmed of his hammer which slid to a stop in the dark, rich soil of the Royal Garden, digging a square hole as it halted. "That is so, Sir Gerson." King Asgore's trident dissipated with a faint, red glow, and his arm folded back into his wide mantle. "We will meet in your office first thing tomorrow after I've gotten some sleep." The Monster King knelt down with a careful scoop of his hand towards the flower which Sir Gerson's hammer swing had dug up violently. "I will see you then."

The Leader of the Royal Guard folded his hands behind his back. "Until then, my king." He bid farewell with a bow of his head before walking first onto the stone path and then back to the three Monster Mages stood frozen and stunned.

As he passed by his magical hammer its features diffused into a teal haze, leaving just the square hole it had dug out. Once at the Monster Mages, he cocked his head subtly over his shell. "It's good that there is still a king underneath all of that soft, white fur of his," said Sir Gerson with a bemused snicker as he observed how King Asgore gently replanted the flower into the square hole with love and care. He gave the griffon monsters nearby a nod, and the three took off into the late afternoon sky.

Cter only managed to look at them for a few seconds before the turtle monster passed her and her colleagues by. He motioned for them to follow him, and they did without a word between them.

"I gotta remind him in times like these who he really is."