"You can't be serious! I refuse to believe this!"

With a loud, wooden rattle, Kurant's chair fell onto the floor followed shortly by her sleeved palm slamming flat down onto the large table.

"Can't you hear what you're saying? Are you this deaf to what you're suggesting?"

Her rings scraped ugly rifts in the weathered wood, carving streaks of white among the brown sea.

"You can't be–"

The little color she had on her face disappeared, leaving her face paler than the ring-carved wounds she had made in the wood. Harsh white lingered within the wooden wounds, spilled out from her aura held back with all her strength. The barrier magic that seemed to spill out of her magical lines had the surrounding human guards taking a step closer towards the table with more awareness to how they held their weapons. The step they all took in unison sounded similar to how Cter remembers it from the Final Battle through the Hero of Xoff's memories.

"But you are..." trickled out of Kurant with a sharp breath. Thick tears fell from her blinking eyes, sizzling as they landed onto the barrier magic. "Why?"

It was as simple as it was difficult.

The humans were still afraid.

They may have defeated the monsters, but what did that solve for them, really? What did it solve for their fear of the fusions and that they could be taken over by their own souls? The monsters weren't responsible for either of those. They weren't the ones to blame, and deep down the humans knew that.

But…

The same old story reared its head once more, overseeing the large table with delight and with impressed nods that emotion was leading reason. The fear and the unwillingness to face it driving the carriage which the monster were being dragged behind by a rope around their ankle. It was not their fault that the humans could not escape the fear that was nibbling at the back of the carriage. It was not the monsters' fault that the humans have tied them behind like that.

But it was them that had to suffer for it.

"Vesselization is the simplest solution," argued the Xoff king with genuine belief behind his words after he and the Royal Mage of Ice had returned to the large table and laid out the plan. "It is a way for both humanity and monsterkind to live in peace.

The Underground below Mt. Ebott is not suitable for human life, but for monsterkind it will become a place where magic can flourish and be a part of life more than it ever could be with humans around. Without us you will be able to become more. Without humanity you can make life that is spearheaded by magic in every facet."

"It is not a solution," had Sir Gerson retorted with disgust in his eyes and aura. "It is not a solution if you are completely removing monsterkind from the equation." He might have managed to speak, but he was at a loss for words. All he could do was speak against, and not discuss. There wasn't a way for him to say something that would have furthered the conversation. "T...This isn't a solution that should ever have been thought of in the first place. It's..."

Once his loss of words finally took its complete toll on him, his eyes and aura disappeared into a horizon of his own making, leaving Priestess Frioke to try and carry the words in his stead. Her ears under her hood looked as if they were about to burst through the fabric, raised higher than they had ever been before.

"We..." was the only word she could produce for the better part of a minute. "This is a logistical impossibility," came about after the long pause, bringing some wind to her voice. "All the monsters in all three countries? That's not possible. It's an incredible task." Her tongue stumbled. "A-A-As in that it is not credible that it would ever be able to come to f-fruition." She had then shook her head, "It's..." and put her hand over her mouth to stop her from saying something she did not want to. "It's not possible. Not in the slightest."

Cter saw in the Monster Priestess' aura though that it indeed was possible. Frioke knew that it was, and feared that the humans knew as well. Cter had some ideas as to how it would be possible too, but she dared not entertain those thoughts.

For she felt a lingering part of her agreeing with the idea.

It had to be the Hero of Xoff's influence that still was with her though. It would fade with time, so all she had to do was to keep quiet and not say anything.

"The barrier magic developed by Cter would be the best choice for the containment. From what we understand it can not only block physically, but magically as well. This would make sure that humans would not be able to enter, as security. We understand that trust towards humanity is at its lowest right now, and as you can see the majority of this report by the Royal Mage of Ice is that of making sure that no human can get in. This will not be a prison, for those have keys to allow the warden to enter and leave at his pleasure. This will be something more than a prison. It will be a new world for monsterkind free of any humans where you can live without fear. Where you can have a kingdom that can be more than what it has been. No more humans for you to be threatened by."

It was too much for Kurant to keep quiet about though. What she heard the Xoff king explain was different than what Kry and Cter had heard, for otherwise they too would have had their auras turn to freezing ice. The two were too occupied with holding their tongue, but Kurant was not.

"And what do you by this new world being free of any humans, exactly?" she addressed the Xoff king without any respect his title demanded. "What do you mean by no humans?" Her eyes peered narrowly, making even thinner slits than they already were. Still though she could see perfectly. Still though she could see what the Xoff king insinuated. "Will us Monster Mages be allowed to live with our kin? Will we be allowed to join them in this kingdom you are so graciously giving them free of any humans?"

It only took a troubled grimace from the Royal Mage of Ice for Cter to realize, but before she could react, the Xoff king told it clear as day. "Your souls are human, and therefore–"

That was all Kurant needed to hear. It was all she needed to confirm her suspicion. With exploding anger she flew out of her chair with a roar to her aura. Her loud refusals were that of desperation, slicing deep cuts within her with every word she spoke and had to hear her own voice say.

The pleads and begging of someone who was so desperately trying to fool themselves into thinking differently from what they already knew surrounded her, sapping her of both color and the strength in her aura.

In her stupor she stumbled backwards, catching her balance clumsily. Before her footing had become steady she whipped her head up, searching. It did not take long for her to find the eyes of the Monster Queen. "T...Toriel..." Her benefactor who she had been closer with than anyone else in the world. The Monster Royal who had blessed Kurant with the memories to allow her to be the protector of monsterkind. When she needed to protect the most though, that connection Kurant had abandoned. She had done so to help monsterkind in the hopes of the world returning to normal.

But it wouldn't.

"Toriel!"

The shout was wretched with anxious despair as the Second Monster Mage lunged herself into the arms of the Monster Queen, burrowing her head deep into the battle-scorn robe and embracing her arms around the soft, white fur with a forlorn futility.

"P-Please… Please no."

The cries were dampened by the thick fur and the fabric of the damaged robe, but still they were deafening. Kurant's sobs shook her entire body, and her despairing breaths tore at the fur around her head. She looked like a child who's world had shattered around her.

She looked as if her own mother was being taken away from her. Her sobs were violent and angry with the world that was turning itself against her. A world which the humans were set to remove Queen Toriel from and to bring her into a new world where Kurant was not welcome.

For she was a human in the humans' eyes.

She was a human in the eyes of the victors.

"I don't..."

Despite everything, she was only a human.

"Please..."

How could they?

"Please don't..."

How could they take away that from Kurant?

From Kry?

From Cter?

"It is for the safety of the monsters," spoke the Xoff king before Kry finished turning his head and furious eyes towards him. "You Monster Mages exist as vanguards against humanity, but that you won't be able to be without the threat of humanity towards the monsters." He paused to let King Asgore approach the First Monster Mage and embrace the human the same as Queen Toriel embraced the Second Monster Mage.

After that, the Xoff king turned to Cter with a sympathetic look in his eyes. There was no Monster Royal or Royal Councilor to come for her the same as it was for Kry and Kurant. Hers was still in the castle though, but not in the ball room turned political auditorium once more. "I trust you to keep the monsters safe," said the Xoff king to Cter before his head shook with empathy, "but I do not trust your human souls."

"For they have been touched upon by monsters?"

Why?

"For they have a relationship with magic? A positive one which yours do not have?"

Why couldn't she just keep quiet?

"Is it truly fear that you feel, King of Xoff? Is it truly fear that guides you and which has you condemning monsterkind to be removed from green grass, stars, and sunlight?"

Why couldn't Cter just hold her tongue for just a bit more?

"Are you jealous of monsterkind, King of Xoff?"

Her colleagues, her friends, and their respective Monster Royal shared such an intimate moment beside her, perhaps that was why?

"And how long have you been this jealous? Was it due to the Second Fusion, or was it earlier? Ever since you first met King Asgore?!"

Perhaps she was the one feeling jealousy?

"Or is it–"

"Cter."

The direct statement of her name had the Monster Mage's words halting in her throat, creating a coughed choke which was followed by a held silence between her and the Xoff king who had spoken her name. The hazelnut color in his eyes he didn't hide by any blinks, allowing her to see into them until she was satisfied that he was not hiding anything.

His strong brow held her attention despite the myriad of emotions that danced around her from her Monster Mage colleagues as well as the two Monster Royals. Not even when the hair from the Xoff king's low-hanging fringe fell over his eyes like a pair of heavy curtains did Cter's attention loosen.

His soul was still visible within his eyes. Its unsettling implication reflected his memories of the Final Battle like dark dots on the rings of a tree trunk that told of past events. The fear he talked about was real around the dark dots in his eyes. Akin to a drop of oil in water his soul looked to be floating around, not part of the fear around it, but still within the vessel that contained both.

They were both part of him, and like Cter had seen in the Hero of Xoff's eyes, at the Final Battle the oil and the water were inverted. That the Hero of Xoff only saw that there was but a drop of who he considered as himself left in his eyes was the reason he recoiled. It was the reason he stopped dead among the death he had created by his own hand.

"You of all people speaking against this fear, Cter," was said among a disappointed and slow shake of the Xoff king's head. His tanned skin became streaked with wrinkles as his disappointment became more manifest upon his kingly visage.

"You saw the beginning of it all and yet you doubt that it can affect others? Is my fear not comparable to yours? Are my tribulations not applicable? Are those that I have lived through not as real as yours?" He touched at his chest with sharpened fingers. "Not all of us are Monster Mages. Not all of us chose to study magic and to even be aware of it existing inside of us."

Sarbor retreated slightly so that the Xoff king would not be able to point towards him. Similarly did Rasliela retreat behind, however her step back was to nullify Sarbor's attempt at hiding himself. Before he could hide himself further the Xoff king motioned his hand over to the doctor.

"We are all but humans."

He motioned towards Cter immediately afterwards.

"Just like you. You are also but human, Cter. You've proven it just as well by asking me if it was jealousy that drove me instead of my fear for my people and for monsterkind. You don't know emotions, you can only play by them in the way you feel, and just like the human you are you projected them, same as you do your magic through a monster's influence."

The Xoff king's eyes moved briefly down at Cter's left arm, "You're just as scared as we are about the future, Cter," then back up to again meet the forest-green windows. "And while you wear your fear on your sleeve, ours we can not see. Ours is that of something sinister. Something that can take us over without us realizing that it has done so." He shook his head again, this time with a weary tiredness.

"And most of all I fear that it is something that is inherit to being humans. Something inherit that can affect even children." Finally, the Xoff king inhaled steadily through his nose. "It is something we must do something about, and the safest and most simplest way is to exert a decision over something we know for sure that we have control over."

The exhale that followed was calm and collected.

"I do not ask of you to agree, but I ask of you to understand. Not for us humans, but for monsterkind which you hold so dear to you." Whether or not Cter answered did not seem to matter to the Xoff king. If it was not enough for Cter then nothing would be. "It pains me to have to interrupt, but please, King Asgore?"

The Monster King turned his head and heavy ears.

"The sooner we can make a decision about this the better it will be, Monster King."

King Asgore looked down at Kry in his embrace where he was gifted an understanding nod by the First Monster Mage. "Yes," he said as he and Kry parted from their embrace, "I suppose so." The wrinkles on his muzzle changed shape, smoothing out their deep crevices into more focused, shallower ones. The lament in his aura changed along too as if a lever had been pulled within him. It was a shift that the Monster King forced in him.

"However, I can not in good faith make a decision about the disappearance of my people from this world without any guarantees. Even with them it will be a struggle for me to agree and to follow along with the decision, but at the very least I need some guarantees that monsterkind will not be seen as without use for humanity."

The Monster King's large hand on the weathered, wooden surface had the table creak. He did not need to slam it down for his presence to flourish. If anything it brought more of his kingly presence out by knowing that he did not need to.

"You propose for monsterkind to be completely removed from humanity, and thus also the magic that you see as the reason for why your souls threaten to take over you. Locking away an entire race is not a proposition made lightly, and that I understand." His voice and spoken words told differently.

"However, you seem to have forgotten the times where monsters and humans have lived together peacefully. For far, far longer have we lived together and benefited from each other's differences. It is how times forever have been, and the issues of today I do not believe to be issues of forever. The Soul Rainbow which you source as proof is still a mystery to all of us, and using it as support for your proposition is to bend the evidence to suit the theory. History has showed that humans and monsters are meant to live together, and so the same that will be said once today is history as well. This is an ordeal that our two races have never faced before, but the same was true for those that came before us. The same will be true for those that will be here after us."

A few seconds of silence passed as King Asgore allowed for his speech to settle with everyone. He was patient, for that was the best he could be. Each second that passed increased the chance that the humans would come to think about what the proposition really meant. How strange it was and how...absolute it was. Allowing peace and quiet to ruminate dampened fear, and as it was fear that drove the proposition then the more King Asgore could push things into quiet contemplation.

Soon enough though he had to continue.

"Make no mistake about me not taking what happened at the Final Battle lightly though," the Monster King added with a low, deep voice which struggled to hide the blame his tongue wanted to whip. The gentle touch of his queen on his tensing shoulder helped him to slowly ease himself back to the king he needed to be, and not the king he wanted to be in that moment.

"The implications about the human soul are dangerous beyond both thought and belief. I can see it still lingering in your eyes, and I have no doubt that you can feel its presence still within you as well. It is a matter of utmost priority, however your proposition again does not solve the issue as it merely removes, what you believe is, the reason for its existence."

His hand came up to touch at his chest, his fingers spreading out like the petals of a flowering rose as he leaned his large torso forward. "I will not agree to the proposition as you have stated it. I will not let my people be condemned to foregoing everything that their world is without any hope of returning to it." The white hand moved off the engraved Delta Rune on the Monster King's breastplate, slowly falling down at his side. "You might as well let kill all of us now if that's the case."

Red, crackling light formed within his hand, bathing away the harsh light from the wooden wounds and the oppressive gray from outside. Preparedness flourished within his aura, and had he formed his trident there and then his queen, mentors, and Monster Mages would have joined him. He would let monsterkind die proudly had he needed to.

But he didn't.

"So what is it that you want to say then, Monster King?" his Xoffian respective allowed, giving King Asgore a reason good enough to fade his magic from his hand. It was not a threat against the Xoff king to kill him, but to again have him lose himself to his soul. The monsters might not be able to do much harm to the humans while alive, but they could threaten with their death.

That King Asgore even considered it...

"Do tell then." There was both regret and sympathy in the Xoff king's voice, and with the same as King Asgore he struggled with staying as the king that he needed to be, and not the one he wanted to be. Cter did not envy his position, but she did not absolve him of any blame either. "What is it that you believe will keep your people safer, in your eyes?"

King Asgore leaned onto his queen who's fire-glowing hands sought his cheek which she stroked gently, letting her fingers disappear within both the white of his fur and the golden of his beard. The glow of her fire magic, which she had been prepared with the same feeling that he had with his conjured trident, glimmered like embers inside the thick, golden beard. She nodded for him.

And him to her.

"Let humans enter into the Underground, King of Xoff."

A more stunned silence had never been heard before.

"Allow us to bring about our own destiny!"