"I've succeeded, haven't I?"
The morning haze pours down from the tall mountain between the two camps positioned at its wide foot. The human camp becomes hidden from view, and with a wide arc of his arm, the Leader of the Royal Guard motions grandly towards the gray separation between the humans and the monsters.
"I have made sure that the monsters are forever protected. My duty as the Leader of the Royal Guard is soon to be finished, and soon enough I can retire."
There is not a lot of joy in his voice. None, in fact. There is only the grim realization that what he has done his all for is at an end that he did not plan for, but instead an end that was forced upon him out of his control. With a puff of tired air he bends the steam rising from his cup nestled in a clasp that's on the verge of shattering it.
"I guess I did good?" he asks into the air to no one in particular, not even himself. Just a question for the world to ponder upon, because he sure does not want to. "When all is said and done?" The taste of his tea is bitter whereas usually he prefers it sweet and somber. A choice that he made for it, or the only taste that he can sample on his tongue? "A tactical retreat for the betterment of monsterkind. A tactical retreat...from the world that we know."
Cter settles in for a little while longer behind the opposite side of the quaint, functional tent that Sir Gerson sits outside of talking to himself. She had woken up earlier that day, the fifth day after the exodus had concluded within the shadow of Mt. Ebott, to be able to speak to him before his breakfast, hopefully. She had been just a tad too late and had hesitated to approach him as he was talking to no one in particular.
And having missed her chance, all she can do is wait until he is done.
Well...not really.
Of course she could walk up to him and interrupt him and take on the embarrassment that the interaction would impose. In the grand scheme of things, especially compared to what she is planning to do, it is less than a drop in lake, but it was not the fear of awkwardness that had her stop and not approach him. She needs the third piece to her puzzle, and that she can sense is about to happen.
"Wa ha ha ha! But what does that mean in the face of you humans?" A small percussion of drops follows the sudden shout towards the gray, hazy wall which rolls into the crevice between the human and monster camps.
"What does our accomplishments mean against the fears that you harbor only because of something you were born with, and did not achieve?!" Cter half-expects the sound of a shattering cup and a falling chair to follow shortly after, but to her half-surprise there instead is the quiet clink of porcelain against porcelain.
"I was not born into this roll. I achieved it! Through cunning and the fire in my soul I garnered the respect of your human royals! They entrusted me and my knowledge that I so fiercely sought to train their armies so that they might feel secure! I did that! Me! A monster!"
Wooden creaks ring out.
"A monster that will never forget that you came to me for help! That humans came to us monsters to ask for what you could not! You need monsters because you do not trust yourself! You do not know yourselves like we do, and so you point suspicion at your fellow humans because you know they can't be trusted, for you can not trust yourselves!"
Heavy footsteps splash slightly against the morning dew caught by the grass on the small hill.
"And when you finally realize it will be too late! It will be too late when you realize that all that is left on the Surface are those that you distrust because they are the same! Us, the we that are the different from you, will be long gone! Locked inside this mountain of yours because you would rather ignore your true nature rather than make efforts to combat it! Take it from us, would you please, for how long have we lived under the threat of you humans while pushing that fear aside?! Generation upon generation that have looked the other way since we knew that our two races are meant to cooperate! We are what you need, but you can not see it!"
Because of the fog.
Both the one descending down Mt. Ebott and the red one that their human souls descended over them.
And the thickest one to come which Cter will descend over all.
"A nice show, isn't it?" comes after a deflating sigh and a small chuckle. "Front row seats to the laments of the Royal Councilor at the end of his rope that he has tethered to the cause of monsterkind. An oath sworn, and stayed sworn, no matter what. Kept loyal and brave, despite everything. An oath sworn forever on the Castle Hill in the marble-white halls of Jarasevo Castle." A deep and long inhale takes in the rolling breeze finally reaching the small hill from Mt. Ebott. "Eavesdropping is not a common pastime of yours, so why don't you join me instead?"
The Fourth Monster Mage did not move from her careful lean against the opposite side of the tent. She did not heed the turtle monster's call. With all due respect that she had built up for him during the many years he has helped her with his wisdom, she stood still. She does not face him, nor announce that she is there listening in.
"Oh, Sir Gerson."
For it is not her that the Leader of the Royal Guard addresses. It was not Cter that had let her aura shine just the slightest to announce that she was there in the most careful way possible. It is not Cter that wants to face the faux pas she had indulged herself in.
"I wasn't always the Monster Priestess, you know?"
It is not Cter that has been at Sir Gerson's side since the very beginning.
"Oh that I know for certain," quips the turtle monster in return to the soft steps that squish where Sir Gerson's steps had splashed against the morning dew. "But like many other things you hung up that habit of yours when you took on your currently non-applicable role, didn't you?"
"Or I got better at it?" comes an even snappier reply from Frioke. She pauses to sit, evident by the conjuration magic she summons up. "Don't think that I'm surprised hearing you throw your feelings into the horizon so that you don't have to deal with them where your feet stand."
It...wasn't the first time Sir Gerson had done that? Cter had...no idea. Singe her soul, so that was how he managed to be so stoic all the time in face of...well...everything. Cter almost feels lightheaded, it explains so much! For him to have hidden it so well too.
All to keep up the image of him as the one holding up Jarasevo Castle more than the cornerstones of the entire marble complex. All for him to be the monster that could never be broken. To be the monster that could not only face the humans face to face, but also garner enough respect from them to entrust him with their military might.
Golly…
"That so?" There is slight reservation in the turtle monster's voice. Not about being caught, but if he's actually been caught or is just being toyed with. "How many times have–"
"Two hundred and seventy two times."
Cter almost has to cup her hand over her eyes to prevent them from falling out of her skull, they widen so much.
"Well..." Sir Gerson clears his throat of the immediate awe following the immediate answer. "I haven't been keeping count so I have no idea if that number is accurate or not."
"It is," interjects Frioke with unbridled confidence.
"Well if you say it with that amount of confidence I guess that is true." The sound of pouring tea is rather pleasant after the hoarse screaming the turtle monster was throwing into the horizon for minutes on end. Although perhaps this time it was against Mt. Ebott, to be truthful. A quirk of the placement of his tent, or...? "Is that including the one I just did?"
"Two hundred and seventy three times."
Gerson's chuckle is tired, but appreciative. "I guess that it is comforting in a way to know that I have had someone by my side during those times when things became too tough even for me." His sip of his tea is long overdue. "Setting aside the eavesdropping and all that."
"I am the Monster Priestess," says Frioke in a way that has Cter completely sure that she said it into her cup. The blend of tired calmness that still tries to retain some casualty to it is just too familiar to her ears. "Is it not my duty to make sure that those in the Castle are in good care?"
Frioke is much better at pronouncing it differently than Cter, that's for sure. Even from behind a tent and with the morning breeze around her Cter could still hear clearly that Frioke meant the Castle and not the castle. A bit further down her throat when pronouncing it, perhaps?
"So your reasons for not approaching me and asking me if I was fine during all those two hundred and seventy two times? Why suddenly the two hundred and twenty third time?" The pause he makes is just long enough for him to have time to motion widely with his hand. With Cter closing her eyes, she can so easily picture all of it in her head. "Besides the change in scenery, that is?"
"Actually it is just only the change in scenery," Frioke replies immediately with a loose, yet confident tone. Her long, blue ears definitely falls down as she says it. "But as you put it so lightly it is heavy enough that you still do not feel that it is adequate enough. You can not throw it all away into the air, for you are throwing those feelings of yours towards Mt. Ebott where we are to live in just a few days."
Slightly perturbed porcelain pings gently.
"And worse, if you're not feeling strong enough to reach Mt. Ebott those feelings will land on either the monsters you are still sworn to protect, or onto the humans who's souls are ignited by just the type of emotions that you are discarding into the wind." A pause for a sip follows. "So that is why I am here, Gerson."
A tense silence emerges, taut enough for Cter to feel it all the way from the other side of the tent at the small hill's edge. She hears more perturbed porcelain, louder than before. A deep inhale breathes in all of the rolling morning breeze.
And roars out a bursting laughter.
"Wa ha ha ha!" echoes Sir Gerson's voice throughout the camp loud enough for all of those awake to hear, and all of those asleep to wake up. "Can't get past anything by you, can I? Even after all these years I am still an open book to you."
"It's precisely that though, isn't it?" Frioke counters with an explanatory tone. "The more we've worked together the more I've learned of you. You're still the impenetrable Leader of the Royal Guard, but those few times that you've let your own guard down I've managed to catch a glimpse of the dedication that no mere monster should be capable of."
She turns to the turtle monster with a friendly smile that she lets shine in her aura for him to feel. It shines bright enough for Cter to sense too. "And I would not have managed my position as well as I have had I not a monster with a dedication that he should not be capable of to look up to."
The priestess must be overtaken with emotion for her to express herself so...clumsily. All in one breath too which she must be regretting afterwards. In a way it sounds like she's talking to him as if she would never come to see him again. Saying goodbye to him like Cter would.
Maybe Frioke can in Cter's stead then?
"Well, I'm not one to brag, but who else could have?" There is a tragic undertone in Sir Gerson bragging. He had to be the one because no one else could. Same with Cter, somewhat.
Difference being that Sir Gerson will manage through the very end whereas Cter will not.
"You've been there by my side though, Frioke. In a way you're the reason that Toriel ascended to the purple. Who you were when you first came to the castle is not who you are now. You've only changed by gaining though. Only changed by becoming better and someone that I could not imagine to not have by my side throughout those young'uns' reign." Sir Gerson's exhale is deep and nostalgic. "However would they have done without us, I wonder? Wa ha ha ha. Probably just as well, to be honest."
Cter steps slightly aside deeper behind the tent to not risk Sir Gerson' gaze through the fabric of his tent towards that of the largest one in the middle of the small hill.
"Although what surprises me the most is that the novice monster priestess that entered the castle for the first time with her ears defyingly flat became the one not only to discover human magic, but also the one to keep it safe from all of us monsters." Had Sir Gerson said it there would have been a different tone to it, but Frioke's soft, almost self-teasing voice has Cter turning herself to look through the tent fabric at the slight shadow of the Monster Priestess hunched over with a quiet shake to her head. "As best as she could, that is."
The slight shadow of a hand lands onto the Monster Priestess' shoulder. "We would not be sitting here had it not been for the Cooperative Connection, Frioke. It would have been much, much sooner, and worse to boot," reminds Sir Gerson with empathy and utmost respect. "You kept the humans in check for as long as possible. We could keep control of their magical potential because of you. If not, well, then checkmate."
A small, chuckled scoff has the shadowy ears rise up. "Finally managed to play a game face to face with Leraull, ey?" The ears turn forward towards the previously lonely mountain. "Glad that he made it here."
"I'll let you have the first round with him in the Underground, if you want?" The offer is genuine, but everything around it is farcical.
Enough to have the chuckle from the Monster Priestess evolve into a full laugh. "Oh, Gerson..." she exhales after humoring the laugh for a few moments. "So much that we have done, you and I. But I wonder, how much more did we have to do to prevent all of this?"
The turtle monster's answer is confident. "Two hundred and seventy two times more." It is farcical though, and purposely so. He had already thrown off all that he could, so for him there was no point in dwelling on it. There was work to be done, and he had to do it. Frioke needed to help as well, both with her own duties, and also to keep an eye on him.
"Two hundred and seventy three times, you mean?" the Monster Priestess reminds after her chuckle and annoyed shake to her head.
"Nope,"dismisses Sir Gerson without pause. "We have already done everything we can, so that counts for one." He adjusts himself and his shell in his chair. "I don't know what else we could have done different. Plenty of what-ifs though. There is no end to them. They keep popping up in my head even as I sit here talking to you. So much I could have done different, but none where I can be sure that I know that it would be better. Nothing I can know, and nothing I can feel would have been better either. It's all..."
"It's all too much even for you." Frioke nods with empathy coursing out her aura. "Too much even for you to do." She motions before her. "Two hundred and seventy three times."
A few minutes pass by with the two old monsters embracing some quiet between them. Some time to reflect with someone who has been with by their side for years and years on end. The years between them are thicker than the fog between the human and monster encampments, but the years are completely transparent. There's no worrying opaqueness between them.
Only around them.
"I wonder," voices Sir Gerson with a tiredness to his voice that borders having giving up on it all. Not surrendered, but giving up on trying to fight the inevitable. Maybe that is what he wants to scream out into the wind? "Will I even be able to make a two hundred and twenty fourth time in the Underground?" He rests all of him onto the transparent denseness between him and Frioke, slumping his head against it like it is a soft pillow. It almost has him falling out of his chair, but he stays within.
"It won't be carried away, will it? It will just stay inside even if I throw it into the deepest, darkest depths were we won't dare explore. There won't be any wind carrying it away. There won't be any horizon for me to throw it away towards and see it bend behind to disappear forever."
"If anything it will be us that disappear forever, won't it?" quips Frioke with a defeated sigh. "Maybe not for us, but for the humans surely." Porcelain clinks carefully. "I know for sure that Manny is going to miss me, and I him." A silent beat for tea passes by. "He'll be strong enough to do his part for the Barrier though."
"You say that with a lot of confidence, Frioke." A silent beat for tension passes by. "You sound like you've met him."
And the third piece of Cter's puzzle begins to emerge. She sharpens both her aura and ears to listen carefully. It's not something she dares mishear.
"He still argues for him to join with in with us into the Underground. He's suspecting, and that does not surprise me." Frioke shrugs loosely. "He knows already, but accepting it? Well, I want to leave behind something with him for him to remember me by. He already has a human grandmother he's adopted as his own, but through the years he's been at Jarasevo Castle now lately he has wanted a monster one too." Her second shrug is more tensed. "Maybe because he knew even then that what he asked for would be impossible to arrange?"
So why did he and Sarbor then come to Cter to ask for her help with having them two follow the monsters into the Underground? Their last, desperate attempt for someone of the Royal Councilors to be in favor of it happening? By golly, did they pick the most wrong one to ask then. Even without her legacy for her to leave behind it was still so, so wrong to ask her of it. She would not let him know that though.
She would relieve him of that worry.
"Well, whatever the reason, the answer is the same." Sir Gerson exhaled longingly through his nose. "And you are not the only monster meeting humans in quote, unquote, secret. If the Monster King does it with one of the human ones, then it is a quote, unquote, secret, to everyone that it is okay."
His hand flips towards the foggy wall.
"It is the last time for them to say their final goodbyes, after all. Depriving them of that, both from the human and or monster side, will just raise tension. It is all melancholy at best, and that we can't ask for better." It flips up in the air. "Same with me having shouted out my emotions for the last time."
Cter stands up from her lean fully. She has gotten what she wanted, and while she does not have the third piece of her puzzle in place, she knows how to get to it. It will have to wait for another day though, it seems. Wait until the days creep closer to the day of the Barrier. She has other pieces to fit until then though.
Many, many more.
The last question she hears from the two Royal Councilors is both leisurely and depressing at the same time.
"So what will you do then when you can't shout them out no more, Gerson?"
As it forms a crack in an otherwise-impenetrable shell.
"Guess I'll just become insane then. Wa ha ha ha!"