(37)

Leontius was making his way through Snowdin to Toriel's home, his mind feeling like a storm of worries and self-doubts while he walked on. As he was passing by the town's housing area on his way to the path down the plateau his dark thoughts were interrupted when he noticed the familiar sensation of soul resonance, his attention being pulled by it to somewhere within the grid of homes. He stopped and pondered the sense, figuring that if Asriel was nearby Toriel might be as well, so he decided to investigate by following the resonance to the far corner of the area.

Sure enough, he saw Asriel standing around, keeping warm with his hands in the pockets of his mint-green coat and his face partially covered by his red scarf. While Toriel wasn't anywhere to be seen, the altered Boss Monster boy seemed to have been expecting Leo, already looking in the direction he was coming from and not at all surprised to suddenly see him.

Leo approached, recognizing the house he'd been led to that Asriel was apparently loitering around in front of. "Good evening, Asriel. Are you out alone visiting someone?" He gestured at Charly and Suzy's home. "Do you know the monsters who live there?"

Asriel looked between Leo and the nearby house, hesitantly lowering his scarf from his mouth and seeming rather indecisive about how to answer when asked what he was doing. "Oh, I'm out for a walk, I was just stopping to take a break and… okay no, that was turning into a lie. I do want to visit the monsters who live here, but I don't really know them…" He nervously scratched some of the pure-black fur atop his head, consciously keeping himself from touching his short horns. "…Which is weird, because the flower didn't know them either, and the flower knew everybody."

That was certainly puzzling to Leontius, his thoughts casting back to when he heard Flowey tell Frisk and Characas about how he'd abused forced time resets to toy with the people of the Underground for entertainment. "That is… odd. Perhaps he could have just missed them? They were originally from New Home, quite a large place."

Asriel immediately refuted the possibility with a shake of his head, now just intently staring at the house in question with his arms crossed. "Flowey was grossly obsessed with squeezing as much fun as possible out of everyone he could. He'd go from one person to the next, using their relationships and ties against them, and somehow I don't even know the names of those two, they're a complete blank in my memory. It's, um…" He started to get self-conscious and look anywhere except the home. "...Ugh, now I feel gross, but I'm just really curious you know? I haven't been able to stop thinking about them since I saw them in the safe zone yesterday."

Leo considered the situation. He wanted to take up Charly on his offer to start learning unarmed fighting and was still interested in hearing some of the monster's passed down stories; he supposed it wouldn't hurt to give Asriel a chance to meet them as well, he seemed quite interested in getting to know them. "I got acquainted with them the day before yesterday in Waterfall, I helped them get to their home here while they were moving from the city. Is there still time before the address takes place?"

Asriel gave a quiet "Mhm" in response, both somewhat surprised to learn that Leo knew the two reptilian monsters and curious as to what he was getting at.

"They invited me into their home after I led them here, but I could not take them up on their offer yesterday for obvious reasons. Since we have time to spare, I see no harm in visiting them now. Would you like to meet them?"

Asriel's hesitation came back in part, though it was overpowered by his genuine interest in meeting more new people. "You know what… why not? Let's go for it." He went up to the home's front door with Leo close behind, once again pausing as a thought occurred to him. "Oh, uh, why don't you knock?"

Leo wordlessly obliged once Asriel moved aside, giving the door a couple firm raps with the back of his gauntleted fingers' knuckles. The large man stepped back to have some room at the doorway as they waited for an answer. The clicks of a lock being undone sounded out before the door swung open to reveal Charly, the reptilian monster wearing a warm-looking gray sweatshirt and pants.

Charly's eyebrows shot up as he took in the sight of the visitors, particularly at seeing the human's unhidden face for the first time. "Well hey, if it idn't Leontius finally swinging by! Man oh man, you gotta tell me what happened yesterday, you gave everyone a scare when you ran by while we were all evacuating." He suddenly noticed Asriel standing off to the man's side and gave him a curious look. "And who's this lil' guy? Wait, you're kinda familiar, actually…"

Leo felt Charly may need some help trying to figure it out, so he decided to just introduce them to each other. "...Ah, good evening, Charly. This is Asriel, he heard your family recently moved here and wanted to meet you and your daughter."

Asriel gave a friendly smile as he greeted the monster man. "Howdy, nice to meet you Charly."

Charly still seemed to be attempting to figure out why Asriel was familiar, but he returned the greeting all the same. "Yeah, nice ta meetcha. How about you two come in n' get out of the cold, huh?"

He let Asriel and Leo in and closed the door behind them, the comfortingly warm home a welcome change. Charly's home was one of Snowdin's standard houses, it was bigger than Leo's small cabin and featured many modern amenities, and though it still somewhat lacked in space it made up for it in coziness. Much of the house's left half was dedicated to a dining and living area that had a wide couch, small boxy television, kitchenette, square table and four chairs, and dimensional boxes stacked in a corner with a punching bag setup in front of them. The right half of the house had doors leading to two other separate rooms, one of which was ajar.

Suzy was peeking out from the open doorway, her hair down with her long bangs open around

one visible yellow eye that was wide in interest towards the visitors. She was warmly dressed like her father, wearing a white-and-yellow-striped sweater with black-white-and-blue flannel sleeping pants.

Charly noticed his daughter and beckoned to her. "We got guests, come on out. It's Leontius and his… say, just how do you two know each other?"

Suzy came out of hiding and stood next to her father as Leo tried to think of a way to summarize his and Asriel's rather unusual relation to one another, but before he could come up with anything Asriel spoke up in a proudly declarative tone.

"He's my stepdad."

The boy's answer surprised everyone else, most of all Leo. He certainly hadn't been expecting Asriel to come right out and say something like that, especially considering how Leo and Toriel weren't anywhere near that stage in their relationship. He supposed he would have a talk with Asriel about it some time afterwards, he didn't want to air private matters in someone else's home.

Charly nodded at Leo, seeming impressed. "A stepfather! You know, I had a feeling you were a family man. Haven't been here for a week and you're already putting down roots, good on ya!" He nudged his daughter forward to encourage her. "Suzy, this is Asriel, Leontius' stepson who wanted to meet us. Asriel, this is Suzy, my daughter."

Asriel held a hand out and greeted her, his typical friendly demeanor shining like always. "Howdy, nice to meet you Suzy."

Suzy stared at his hand for a moment before gingerly accepting it to lightly shake. "...Hi, Asriel." After they ended the handshake she sidled back close to her father.

Charly's thoughtful look towards Asriel came back after the two kids finished their introduction and he decided to bring up what was on his mind again. "Isn't he kinda familiar to you, Sooz? It's on the tip of my tongue and I just can't seem to figure it out."

While her father fell short, Suzy had figured it out right away, she recognized Asriel the moment she'd seen him again. "We saw him yesterday, he was in the safe zone and following close behind Undyne when we were all coming home."

Charly snapped a finger and grinned, pleased at her quick response. "Yeah that must'a been it! You got your mother's good memory alright, too much was goin' on for me to remember that. So you were with Captain Undyne huh, Asriel? You must be an important kid. How about you n' Suzy go have a chat while Leontius and I catch up. Oh, and can one of you turn on the news? Don't wanna miss what the King's got to say in this month's address."

Suzy led Asriel to the TV, swiping the remote off the armrest of the couch as she passed it then splaying out on most of the cushions. Asriel politely plopped down next to her on the one cushion left, watching her curiously as she turned on the TV and flipped through the channels.

With the kids now occupied, Charly leaned on the small dining table next to him and turned his attention to Leo. "So, just what was goin' on yesterday? First we all got evacuated out of nowhere, then some weird blinding darkness hit everyone, all the falling-sick monsters somehow got cured and woke up, and then a while later everyone got sent home like nothing happened. You seemed like you were on your way somewhere else in a hurry with all that armor of yours when everything started going down, you have any idea what was happening?"

Leontius supposed he could be a bit more open and honest with Charly, especially considering the address was about to take place soon, though he was quite interested in what he'd said about the falling-sick monsters. "In fact I was actually at the center of yesterday's events. I left through the Barrier and climbed Ebott to handle something, only to spot a hostile force approaching the mountain. I jumped down to fight them off, but things quickly spiraled out of control." He folded his arms before him, deciding to omit the stranger details such as the events of the Eclipse and his death. "I retreated to the Underground and Asgore learned of the danger, thus the evacuation. I suspect he will talk more about that during the address. After that I returned to the surface better equipped and finished dealing with the lingering threats."

Charly's eyebrows furrowed with worry. "Damn, lots of people thought it might be something bad like that. Good thing we had you around to help defend us, huh? But… what about the dark thing that spooked everyone? And the sick monsters?"

Asriel looked over to the adults after hearing that, interested in where their conversation had turned to.

Leontius quietly thought it over, realizing there were likely still effects his dark aura had on monsters he'd yet to see for himself. But outright curing them of a fatal illness? "...Both of those were my doing as well."

Charly stopped leaning on the table, seeming in disbelief. " What? Then… did you mean to do that? Heal our sick? How'd you even do it?"

Leontius didn't want Charly to get his hopes up or have any wrong ideas, he wasn't even sure himself. "I did not know I cured them until you just mentioned it, but it must have been me. Here, look." He got closer to the bewildered monster man, pointing out the barely-visible outline of restrained dark around himself. "Can you see it? This darkness, this is what sent out the wave. It is some sort of power I recently gained, but I do not fully understand or control it. I would demonstrate it, but most of its effects seem negative towards monsters. How did those who were not sick react to the wave?"

Charly squinted to see the aura, a brow raising when he finally got a good look at it. "Uh… everyone freaked out, but only about as long as it was passing over us. Is that what it normally does to monsters? Spook us?"

Leontius held a gauntleted hand up and inspected the scant dark around his fingers as he answered. "It seems so, while other kinds of beings react positively to it. Some have no reaction at all. I am still trying to puzzle out just what it means."

Charly quietly inspected Leo, a resolved yet somewhat sad mood about him once he spoke up. "Well, it ain't all bad at least, it's definitely done a lotta people some good. Families that just got their loved ones back, ya know?"

The two men shared a knowing look between one another. Leontius knew exactly what Charly was feeling and thinking, this time he didn't miss the monster man's familiar expression of pained longing. They let the solemn moment of understanding pass in silence, Asriel going back to paying attention to Suzy and the news.

Charly looked over at the TV, not really listening to the news channel's anchorwoman talking away on the screen as he distractedly scratched at his chin. "I guess that's a load off my mind, here's hopin' the King manages to do that for everyone else during the address." He quietly spaced off into his own thoughts until Leo unfolded his arms and changed his posture, the sound of the man's heavy metal armor articulating breaking the monster out of his funk.

Charly looked Leo up and down, an eyebrow raising and an idea coming to mind as he noticed the grip of the giant sword peeking over the man's shoulder. "Say, now that you're here, how 'bout we go over some boxing techniques and get an idea of how strong you are?"

Leo nodded, figuring this would also be a good chance for both of them to get their minds off things, at least until the address started. "Certainly. I was looking forward to it yesterday, you should tell some of those stories of human strength you mentioned as well."

Charly gave a toothy grin and led Leo over to the punching bag. "Sure thing, though I'm gonna bet on you being really damn strong since you can wear all that steel on ya." He slapped a hand on the top of the hanging punch bag and tested its frame's stability, seeming pleased with it. "Arr'ight. This should stand up to just about anything you do to it, but before we get to punchin', we gotta cover the fundamentals. First things first, stance, everything comes from proper stance n' posture. You fight with swords a lot, right? Show me your basic stance."

Leo obliged, getting into his typical two-handed sword fighting stance, stable yet loose enough to change guards and react to any attack. He was miming his hand positions as if he were holding his claymore, but he could already see how this might be adapted for fighting unarmed.

Charly examined the stance before continuing. "Okay, this might feel pretty natural for you. You're a right-hander aren't you? Just copy what I do." He demonstrated his boxing stance and Leo followed the example, finding that it did indeed seem to come to him easily.

With Leo's stance down, Charly moved on to the next point. "Okay, now for your guard. Keep your arms up so they cover your face and upper body, but leave just enough space to see out of." He waited for Leo to mirror his guard then demonstrated some simple left-handed jabs. "Every punch you throw comes out of the guard and goes right back in, while your other hand stays to keep covering you. Notice how the body moves and the legs n' feet pivot to power the punch, ain't just your arms doing the work. Go ahead and try that straight jab for yourself on the bag, full power, but don't forget to bring your arm back into the guard."

Leo tried the motions slowly at first to get a feel for them before stepping up to the punching bag, then with speed almost too fast for Charly to keep up with, jabbed the bag hard enough for his gauntleted fist to leave a wide and deep concave dent in it. The sudden sound of the punch and Leo's armor and equipment loudly rattling broke Asriel and Suzy out of their quiet conversation, the kids and Charly both surprised at the result.

Charly's eyes boggled at the bag, then at Leo. "Well, at least we know you won't break the punching bag… that was full power, right?"

Leo lowered his guard and assessed the damage he'd done to the bag. 'I had not thought of it before, but this armor is titanite-reinforced, it could serve as an effective weapon all on its own with my strength and speed. A good thing I did not give it close to my all.' He took off his gauntlets and put them down as he answered, getting a confused look from Charly. "No, I held back since my armor's steel is enhanced."

Charly cautiously inched over to the bag and worked the dent out of it. "Yeesh, you probably coulda burst it wide open or snapped the chain if you hit it any harder. You're somethin' else, Leon. Oh, uh, you mind if I call you that? 'Leontius' is just a bit of a mouthful, is all."

Leon, that was a new one to him. 'Is my name truly that long? At least it is in the same vein as my other shortened name. I wonder if Toriel will eventually come up with a new one for me or just use Leo, like Asriel does...' He shrugged before assuming his boxing stance again. "I suppose Leon is fine. What is next?"

With the bag back in shape, Charly likewise got into his stance to showcase another punch, this time a right-handed one. "Up next is a right hook. Try a combo with a left jab leading into the hook, remember though, don't leave your guard open. Give it a shot."

Leo followed Charly's example and suggestion, unleashing the two hits in the combo even faster and stronger than before, though the bag fared much better without his gauntlets amplifying his punching force. Charly pointed out some ways to improve the man's footwork, and with that they fell in tune as student and instructor.

As the two adults started the boxing lesson in earnest Asriel went back to ignoring them, though he could tell right away that Suzy was more than a little interested in what the men were doing. He was content to put a pause on their small talk to let her watch the lesson as it progressed, though after a few minutes he noticed that she'd begun to smile a little.

Asriel analyzed Suzy's expression at first, then caught himself doing something disturbing. Predicting, and not in a healthy way. He was internally playing out scenarios and reasons for her smile in his head, unwittingly trying to mentally map her out and come up with ways to corner and control her. He consciously set aside the Flowey-like tendency with disdain and just decided to ask her a genuine question when Leo eventually stopped hammering the punching bag with loud strikes.

"So your dad's a boxer, huh? Do you want to do that too, when you grow up?"

Suzy's smile quickly gave way to momentary surprise and she looked over at him, one wide yellow eye staring as she processed what he'd asked before she quietly answered him. "Oh… nah. I wanna be strong like my dad, but… he doesn't want me to be a boxer like he was. Thinks I should do something smarter."

Asriel slightly cocked his head to the side at that. "So what do you want to do, then?"

Suzy looked back at her dad and Leo, her smile returning a little. "I wanna be a hero someday. You know, like Undyne. Helping people, solving problems, seems smart enough to me."

Asriel nodded, that was an admirable goal to him. She didn't strike him as overly-violent like Undyne could be at times, nor did she seem to share her idol's contradictory hate-fascination towards humanity either. "Yeah, I'd say that's smart. Though, sometimes it can be hard to really help people the way they need or solve big problems."

Suzy grinned, her sharp yellow teeth poking out. "That's fine, doing things the hard way is more fun anyways, just means it's more worth it."

Asriel lowly hummed, finding himself agreeing with the sentiment. There were more than a few reasons why he actually wanted to fight Leo, after all. "You know… Leo's a hero, and he was able to beat Undyne without even needing to use his sword. Maybe he could train you?"

From her head's slight movement, he could tell Suzy had shifted her focus to Leo as she thought it over. "...Maybe. He was talking about how he was fighting bad guys earlier…"

She looked at Asriel again, her hair's bangs falling so they were parted just enough for him to see both of her eyes as she spoke. "Asriel, you've got a good stepdad. Him and my dad get along pretty great, nice seeing him finally have someone he can talk boxing with." She watched as Charly went at the punching bag himself, her father easily the happiest she'd seen him in a long time. "...You n' me should hang out sometime too, alright?"

Asriel smiled at that, he was glad he accepted Leo's offer to come here. He really felt like he needed a healthy friendship that wasn't tainted by the flower's twisted games and rotten knowledge. "Yeah, sounds good. If you want to come by, there's a path that leads down to my house not far from here."

Just after Asriel gave his offer the adults finished their boxing crash course and went back near the couch and TV, Charly giving Leo an impressed pat on one of his pauldrons as he slid his gauntlets back on. "I'd say that was a good first lesson, you pick up moves like an old pro!"

Leo gave his shoulders a roll and settled his armor so that it was more comfortable while he answered. "I should hope so, I have spent far too much time and effort learning combat techniques to allow myself to struggle with grasping a new discipline's basics. Thank you for teaching me, Charly."

"No problem, feels good to flex my skills again too, y'know? You ever wanna learn more, you're always welcome to swing by for another lesson. And hey, if you end up using what I teach you to help keep you n' us safe, all the better right?"

Leo wanted to agree with that sentiment, but felt he just couldn't. He'd already resigned himself to accepting the reality of his situation, he knew he wouldn't be here to defend any of them for much longer. The best he could manage in response was a non-committal nod.

They walked over to the couch and Charly had a look at the TV as he sat next to Suzy and tousled her hair. "Well, looks like we wrapped up just in time."

Leo stood next to the other side of the couch, but when Asriel moved closer to him and patted its armrest, he realized he couldn't see the television screen very well while standing thanks to his height. He took Atonement off his back and carefully laid it on the floor as he sat down next to Asriel's side of the couch, resting his left arm and side on it for support.

A reindeer anchorwoman sitting at a desk with a projected backdrop of New Home behind her was on the screen, though her time as the focus of the program seemed to be coming to a close. "...And now to our live coverage of the monthly State of the Underground Address with the King."

The program switched over to show the back of an audience of chatting monsters seated in front of the castle's stairs down in New Home proper, a podium with microphones was set up at the top of the steps just in front of the large entry archway of the castle. Asgore walked out of the archway up to the podium, much of the audience's chatter dying down once they saw him. The camera filming the event zoomed in, focusing on Asgore at the podium framed by the dark arch behind him.

Asgore held one of his big fuzzy hands up, silencing the crowd completely. He surveyed his gathered people with a somewhat guarded expression, though all monsters looking upon him noticed he carried himself differently than they were accustomed to, their king standing taller than usual, his armored shoulders straighter as if a heavy burden had been lifted from him. "Dear citizens, thank you for coming here today, or tuning in wherever you may be. As most of you may have been led to believe, I have many important things to discuss in today's address, so more mundane matters will have to be omitted. But before all of that, I would like to assure everyone that we are safe and that the cause of the state of alert yesterday has been thoroughly handled."

The King judged everyone's quiet reactions before stepping closer to the podium and adjusting one of its microphones then continuing. "First, I must confirm a rumor that I'm sure has spread to the whole kingdom by now. Yes, another human has entered the Underground." That got a more noticeable reaction, many monsters in the crowd audibly discussing the confirmation.

The King quieted the audience down by calmly hushing them with a raise of his hand again. "The situation with this human is… different than it has been any of the times before. This human is not a child, but a man. And though he is a powerful warrior, his inclination upon entering our kingdom was not to harm us, not to hate or fear us, but to help us. He is not only a friend to us, but a staunch protector who has already done much in our defense, though most would not have known until now."

The monsters started loudly asking questions, so Asgore pointed someone out in the crowd to have them voice their concerns. "Where is the human now, and what've they been protecting us from?"

Asgore answered unhesitatingly, clearly having prepared for such questions. "The human is living in our midst as a new member of our kingdom. I'm choosing to omit his name and where he lives because I believe he would appreciate the peace and quiet considering all he has been through. As for what he's been protecting us from: other humans and the surface itself."

That last bit of information seemed to confuse the crowd, though one voice was loud and clear enough for everyone to hear. "Were other humans what caused the evacuation yesterday? And what's wrong with the surface?"

"Indeed, it was other humans who caused the alert. As for the surface, it is now home to new and hostile beings, such as 'demons' and 'giants,' among others. Moreover, according to our human friend, the surface itself is a dangerous, corrupted, and evil place now." Asgore paused, visibly putting his words together for a moment. "...And in truth, our friend was not the only human to enter the Underground recently. Two others entered some time after him, and though these ones were dangerous, they appeared before yesterday's events and were not the ones that caused the evacuation. One of them killed the other, and then our friend defeated the remaining human intruder and obtained his soul. As for the ones behind the alert-"

The audience of monsters interrupted Asgore with an outburst of excited questioning, their voices calling out similar enough phrases that they combined together as one.

"Seven human souls?"

"Are we free?"

"Go to war?"

Asgore's brows furrowed and he held both arms up, quelling the uproar. "All of those questions will be addressed in time. The alert yesterday was caused by other dangerous humans on the surface, many of them. Our friend left through the Barrier early that morning to see to a matter on the surface when he noticed a force of humans approaching the mountain as an open threat, so he did his best to fight them off, but he was initially beaten and retreated back through the Barrier. Afterwards the evacuation was issued until he dealt with the threat they posed."

Yet again, more questions. Asgore had to choose another person individually.

"How would the human have left through the Barrier? Isn't it true that to leave through there you need the power of at least a human soul and monster soul together?"

Charly shook a finger at the TV, seeming like he was remembering something. "Say… that's right…" He glanced over at Leontius, seeming curious and partly suspicious.

Leontius saw the look out of the corner of his eye but chose not to answer, only gesturing at the screen to redirect Charly's attention. He believed Asgore would cover it in just a moment.

Asgore's expression started to lose its composure a bit. He was getting to the big reveals now. "Yes, in order to leave, you do need a soul that's at least as powerful as a human and monster's together. Our friend's soul is… far beyond that. I believe he has absorbed the souls of many other beings, including humans, as I have both seen and felt its power. And as we all know, a human cannot take another human's soul, but I learned much from our friend when he finally completed his journey across the Underground to speak to me. He warned that he and the rest of his kind are no longer human. They are in fact something else entirely now, they call themselves Undead, and they are cursed. Their hearts do not beat, their bodies are cold, they hunger for each others' souls… and as all of our other visitors demonstrated, they can be quite hostile and potentially dangerous to all of us."

A stunned silence fell over everyone, Charly and Suzy included. No questions came from the crowd, so Asgore continued.

"What's more, the Undead do not even die like the humans of old. Instead of leaving bodies, they turn to ash in a manner that is oddly similar to how us monsters turn to dust. Unlike us, however, death is not the end for them. They return to existing, forever cursed to wander as immortals in search of souls to take for themselves. And from what I understand, our new friend was once not much different, but he was fortunate enough to meet a certain monster, perhaps the best one he could have possibly met."

Asgore's mood and demeanor started to lift again now that he was finally getting to some of the lighter parts of his address. "In the locked Ruins where he first fell into our world, our new undead friend met your former queen, Toriel."

That revelation finally broke most of the attending monsters out of their shocked state, whispers of wonder working their way through the crowd, and Asgore clearly still shared in the feeling. "Yes, as hard as it may be to believe, the former queen, my ex-wife, has returned from the Ruins. She somehow managed to heal the undead man's mind, saving him from the insanity his kind suffers from. Then together the two of them journeyed across the Underground to warn me of what had become of the surface and mankind."

Asgore settled his expression, a tone of finality in his voice. "And with that knowledge, I can now at last announce: the war between humans and monsters… is over. Neither of our peoples have won, and the surface has become too hostile with the fall of humanity and the rise of the undead and other new dangers for us to even hope of living beyond the Underground. This turn of events has had some other results, as well…"

The crowd was once again absolutely silent, and Leontius noticed that Charly and Suzy were totally still and paying rapt attention to the television, Charly in particular seeming to be in complete disbelief at what he was hearing.

Asriel and Leontius briefly locked eyes, a moment of silent understanding and shared thoughts passing between them through their soul resonance. The age-long state of war monsterkind had lived so many generations under had just ended with almost no warning and their dreams of ever seeing the surface again were declared impossible. There was no need to guess why Charly seemed so overwhelmed with what had been presented thus far.

Asgore, however, had yet to finish. "Not all is lost, in fact, the end of the journey Toriel and our undead friend undertook has actually returned someone to the Underground and, perhaps most undeservedly, me. One of mine and Toriel's sons, Asriel, once thought long-lost after he left through the Barrier and returned with fatal injuries so long ago, had survived all this time in the form of a soulless flower. By temporarily using the six human souls and absorbing all of the monster souls in the Underground, he did what I could never bring myself to do and achieved a godlike form. With that borrowed power and the unbelievably generous donation of a part of our undead friend's own soul, Asriel was able to be brought back to life with his true body."

Charly and Suzy were finally able to break themselves away from the television screen as their king took a pause to judge the attending crowd's reaction. The two reptilian monsters seemed to reassess Asriel and Leontius in an entirely new light, Charly deciding to voice a belated realization after doing so. "I knew there was something else familiar about you, Asriel. I should'a remembered that you're the King's son, no wonder you were sticking close to Undyne. The Prince, alive again and in my house, but you look so different from your father…"

Asgore continued, getting everyone's attention back on him once more. "With his body restored, my son gave up the power he'd taken, letting the souls of the six human children finally go free. Where they have gone or what has become of them, I am unsure, but I hope they are now at peace and can rest after being imprisoned by me for so long."

The king took a pause, the moment of silence going unbroken by any of the other monsters present at the address. "The release of the six souls marks the end of my publicly-stated plans for breaking the Barrier, however, I have long been seeking alternative ways for us to escape the Underground without having to cause more deaths in the pursuit of our freedom. I extended this task to the current Royal Scientist, Doctor Alphys, and she has finally come to a conclusion in her work. She has already presented her results to me, and has chosen to join me in today's address to personally share them with all of you."

Asgore stood aside from the podium and waved a hand towards the castle's front arch, Alphys entering the frame after a brief delay. She approached the podium, though she was mostly hidden behind it with only her top head crests visible thanks to how short she was. She pulled something out from under the podium and hopped up onto it, face now fully visible to the camera and crowd.

Hesitation and nerves from all the attention quickly overwhelmed Alphys and made her falter, the scientist shakily surveying the crowd and fiddling with her script on the podium instead of starting her speech. She sent a look at Asgore, getting a patient nod and supportive smile from him in response. Seeing that, she quietly gulped down the fear and managed to start speaking.

"Hello, I'm Alphys, the Royal Scientist, but, uh… y-you all already knew that." Her voice had a strange pitch and warble to it from some disuse, so she cleared her throat to the side of the microphone quickly before continuing, her voice raised and clearer. "My job was to find a different way to break or cross the Barrier, but I guess that's not really… what most would, um… know me for…"

She quietly stared out over the crowd, eyes scanning while a nervous smile appeared for a moment before she fought it down. "Uh… or know me at all really, because I realize I haven't been a very public or… transparent figure. And for that, I want to apologize, especially to those I am acquainted with, c-close friends or otherwise. B-but my task! What I did, or tried to do."

Alphys took a deep breath and glanced down at the podium, still trying to find her stride with all the stress bearing down on her. "Like Asgore said earlier, to just cross the Barrier you need a soul at least as strong as a human's and monster's combined, but I was trying to find a way to do that without needing anyone to absorb human souls, and that meant figuring out a way to use the only other souls we have ready access to: monster souls."

Hushed whispers started to spread through the crowd, so Alphys kept going before anyone could raise a question and break her flow. "So, uh, that presented three new problems. Problem one, whose souls to use and how to get them, problem two, how do I get their souls to last outside of their bodies, and problem three, how do I combine their power in a vessel without the issue of monsters not being able to absorb monster souls?"

She gestured to and looked over at Asgore. "Well, the King solved the first problem for me, publicly asking families with monsters with the falling sickness if they would volunteer their comatose family members for my experiment. We had many families volunteer, and they were all promised the dust of their loved ones once they passed on and the experiment ended."

Leontius saw Charly's eyes narrow at the television for only a moment after hearing that. He had to wonder if their family had been presented with Asgore's proposition… and whether or not they'd accepted. If they did, Leontius had to wonder if Sally was a part of any of the amalgamates he'd encountered in the lower lab, trapped in a mad, tortured husk of a body.

Alphys continued, finally starting to get into the feel of speaking publicly. "For problem two, I constructed a machine that would be able to extract a kind of… power from the human souls without destroying or weakening them. This power, which I initially named 'Determination,' is known as 'Humanity' to undead like Le-" She caught herself, giving Asgore a quick apologetic look. "- Our friend. Humanity, I theorized, is what lets human souls persist after their bodies die, so I figured giving monster souls that power by injecting it into their comatose bodies would solve that problem for when they eventually passed on and turned to dust."

She was about to continue when someone in the crowd hesitantly asked a question, their three-fingered green hand holding a pen up visible in the camera shot. "Did… did that work?"

Alphys looked like she instantly lost most of her momentum and got uncomfortable at the podium after the rather tame interruption. She did her best to come up with an answer, though she was clearly not at all looking at the monster who asked the question as she did so. "Uh, well, n-no, but nothing bad happened-" She caught her slipup quickly, correcting herself in a bit of a panic. "At first, I mean! At first… nothing bad happened… so…"

She gulped audibly into the microphone then hurriedly kept going. "I moved onto the next problem: creating a vessel that could contain multiple monster souls. Obviously a monster wouldn't work and we didn't really uh… have any humans just lying around at the time, so I tried to make something new, something that wasn't a monster or a human, something soulless with the will to live."

The crowd started to discuss that revelation, equal parts disbelief and curiosity clear in their voices. Alphys did her best to ignore the clamor, not even trying to silence the crowd like Asgore would, instead just talking over them louder to get their attention back. "So! I chose something soulless but living. In the throne room's garden there was a special large flower that grew before all the others after Prince Asriel returned from the surface, died, and spread his dust there."

Asgore, still just in the camera shot next to the podium, was visibly caught off guard by where Alphys' speech had gone. Evidently she hadn't yet told him all the specifics about the vessel she'd made, and he looked to be piecing everything together in his head at that moment. The realization struck him and he seemed to appraise Alphys anew and listen closely as she kept on talking, totally unaware of his scrutinous gaze.

"I secretly took that flower, injected it with Humanity like I'd done with the sick monsters, and waited. This, uh… is where things started to go wrong. None of the comatose monsters were showing any reaction to the doses of Humanity, but they weren't turning to dust like they should've by that point either. The vessel, the flower, also wasn't showing any changes, so I just… injected more Humanity into all of them."

Alphys hesitantly clicked her claws together for only a moment before steeling her expression, looking into the middle distance over the crowd as she spoke. "I… didn't have to wait long after that. At first I noticed one of the sick monsters had opened their eyes, then the next thing I knew all of them had woken up from their comas. They were walking around and talking like normal, like nothing had ever happened to them. I wrote the experiment off as a happy failure after that, put the flower back in the throne room's garden, contacted the subjects' families, then…"

Her readied composure almost broke and Leontius couldn't blame her, knowing what came next. Thankfully the scientist managed to keep it together and continue talking. "Then… all of them started to break down. Their bodies melted and combined together, they lost their minds… and I couldn't do anything to stop it or help them. I didn't know what to do, and even the flower had gone missing from Asgore's garden. From that point on I just shut myself away and stopped talking to almost everyone, even to the families whose changed loved ones I was keeping locked away in my lab."

Concerned whispers could be heard in the crowd, this time Alphys let them speak for a bit, waiting for anyone to ask a question. After no one did she resumed, her expression reflecting just how much the whole ordeal still weighed on her. "Things went on like that for a while, too long. My experiment had failed, I'd failed the families of my test subjects, I'd failed Asgore, failed to find a way to free us. I just couldn't bring myself to do anything, talk to anyone, take responsibility for what I'd done…"

She let that last dour statement hang for a moment, but her spirits seemed to raise a bit for what came next. "Then, our not-so-human friend showed up. A lot's changed in the past few days, mostly for the better thanks to him. Now, you all might be wondering what he has to do with, well, everything I've uh… been telling you. As it all turned out, quite a lot actually. He was the one who told me that I'd kept Prince Asriel's spirit alive by using the flower as the vessel for my experiment, which is what let him give up part of his own soul to the Prince and get his real body back. Of course, it was um… a complete accident on my part and I didn't even know Asriel's spirit was, uh…"

Alphys realized she was starting to let her negativity towards herself leak into her speech, so she steered away from it with a bit of panicked excitement evident for what she had to say next. "But! More than just the already incredible feat of bringing the Prince back, I'm almost certain he was also responsible for sending out that darkness that scared everyone for a bit then revived all of the monsters that had fallen down! How or why he would have done that and if he'd even meant to, I'm not sure yet, but it also actually had positive effects on the sick amalgamated monsters!"

What Alphys just said created a connection Leontius hadn't made himself yet. Humanity, fragments of the Dark Soul, was what initially revived then broke down the sick monsters in the experiment. Likewise, his dark power is what revived all the other sick monsters, and apparently even had some further new effects on the amalgamates.

He yet again found his thoughts taking a turn after making that connection, fearing the worst. 'Is there a breakdown and amalgamation in the future of all the other revived monsters? After all I have done to try to protect them, have I already doomed those monsters by bringing that darkness here, somehow infected them with it? And there is still the question of Asriel…'

Leontius looked over at Asriel, realizing that the altered monster boy had already been looking at him, his concern apparent. No intentionally shared thoughts needed to pass between them for the man's unease and dark mood to be felt by the both of them. They let the moment pass wordlessly and instead refocused on the television, though it was clear Asriel still dwelled on what was bothering Leontius so much.

Alphys had reigned in her emotions again, though she seemed encouraged by the crowd's reaction to what she'd said, the overall mood of the attendees starting to change for the better with some more good news to hear. "Before, the 'amalgamates' were almost totally mindless, sometimes just a little aggressive if they weren't fed exactly on schedule, but otherwise pretty tame. They'd even show signs of the personalities and memories of their constituent monsters from time to time, but now… well, now they're all back to normal! Uh, at least mentally, anyway, it's like their minds are all lucid individual parts making up new 'wholes,' physically they're still all combined together in amalgamated bodies, but the people making them up are all there on the inside."

She couldn't help but get a bit more animated as she continued, finally unclasping her hands and moving them around while she spoke. "And even their bodies have gotten better too, they seem to have settled into new unique forms now that their minds and physicalities have been stabilized by that dark wave. I uh… got quite the scare from the wave myself, even when I saw that it was coming, then got a followup scare when one of the healed amalgamates came up my lab elevator to actually talk to me and figure out what was going on, I've since spoken to all of them and done some preliminary tests to make sure they're actually stable. I've also already gotten back in contact with their families, gave them my best apologies and given them the rundown, after this is over I'll be helping organize the reunions, which… will take some work. It's all a bit confusing now, but thankfully some good came of all my failures."

Leontius managed to relax a bit after hearing more about how the amalgamates had reacted to the dark wave, though he still felt a new nagging worry in the back of his mind in regards to the other fallen monsters awakened by it. He tried to put to rest immediately since he already had enough on his mind as is. 'Perhaps when we meet with Alphys I could suggest that she takes some time to examine those others as well…'

Alphys ran a claw over her head crests and turned her gaze down at the podium again, clearly part abashed and part relieved by finally being able to admit everything publicly. "And it's all thanks to our new undead friend. If he hadn't shown up, the Prince would still be stuck as a soulless flower and those sick monsters I experimented on would still be locked up, but he managed to pull them all back from the brink and get me to own up to my failures as a scientist and face you, the people…"

Asgore took the opportunity to approach the podium when Alphys trailed off and briefly rested a big gentle hand on her shoulder, getting a surprised look from her in response, but she didn't shy away. He readjusted a microphone so he could be heard while standing by her side. "And likewise for me, this'll be the address where I finally come forward with honesty about my own failings as your king, about the truth of the war I declared and the promise of freedom I made so long ago. The truth is… I knew I would never be able to keep that promise."

No shocked gasps came from the crowd, no surprised looks from Charly or Suzy, just a settling air of heavy disappointment that seemed to fall over every monster watching and listening all at once.

Despite the subdued reaction to his statement, Asgore certainly seemed to feel the weight of his people's waning hopes and crushed dreams at that very moment, his shoulders starting to sag tiredly once more. "When I declared war on humanity, I regretted the words the instant they left my mouth, when I saw Toriel's disgust, when I saw your ancestors' thirst for vengeance against the humans. I instilled a hatred in all of you and linked it to a false promise of freedom, a future on the surface, but I could never share in that hate, never actively try to make good on my promise, knowing what I would have to do. For that, I am and will ever be eternally sorry to all of you, and to the human children. It just wasn't in my nature to do such things, I couldn't hate humans, I loved one as my own child."

He tried to keep himself from falling any further into his old depressed mannerisms, to keep up a strong outward appearance for his people in the face of the truth, though his own disappointment with himself was plain for all to see. "But I couldn't take away the hope I'd given everyone either, couldn't just be honest or take back what was said. Instead, I let my life fall apart around me, had innocent children die for a cause I did not believe in, and wasted so much time waiting that humans and the surface as we knew them are long-gone. And only now, after one of the undead had to fall into our world to personally warn me and right so many other wrongs, have I found it in myself to tell the truth to you all…"

Asgore bowed his head and removed his crown, looking down at it contemplatively in his hands as he spoke. "...Which has only contributed to a feeling I've had for quite some time now. I don't dare to ask to be forgiven for all my heinous crimes against humanity, for all my longstanding disservices to you, my people, because I know I am not worthy of your forgiveness, and now I believe that I may no longer be worthy to be your king."

He looked back up over the crowd and held the crown out in a hand in plain view of all before continuing. "A kingdom-wide poll will be conducted, so that all monsters can allow their voices to be heard. If it is the will of the people, I shall resign from being your king and allow you to choose my successor. If that is your choice, then I only hope that whoever you select will serve you better than I have. That concludes this monthly address, perhaps my last as your king. Thank you all once more for your time and attention. Goodbye."

With that, Asgore gestured to a rather shocked-looking Alphys for them to leave. She hesitantly hopped down from the podium and followed him side-by-side into the castle's archway, the king still keeping his crown off as he left the camera shot. The camera feed then switched back to the news station, though the reindeer anchorwoman was completely absent, her desk and chair sitting empty in-frame for only a few moments before the video feed cut off entirely and was replaced with an off-air channel, the television only showing colored vertical bars and making a constant droning tone.

Charly blinked himself back to reality and shook his head as he leaned forward to turn the television off. He stayed forward and rested his head on his knuckles as he looked over at everyone else on the couch to judge reactions, seeming in silent disbelief himself. Suzy was still quietly looking at the television, her eyes totally hidden by her bangs. Asriel didn't seem particularly surprised, though he was clearly deep in thought.

As for Leontius, most of the address wasn't news to him, but there were certainly some unexpected parts to it, particularly Asgore's offer of resignation. His brows furrowed as he thought about that, still worried about the public's reaction to everything else, but now curious what they might choose to do in the light of it. Asriel seemed to key in on his thoughts, giving him an idea by sending him a heavy feeling of being uncertain and hopeless that fit too well with what Leontius was seeing in Charly and Suzy.

He decided to be the one to break the settling silence, some questions on his mind. "Well. What are your thoughts on the address, Charly? Do you think Asgore should step down…?"

Charly only acknowledged his question by giving him a searching look in the eye at first, then looking away to stare off at nothing in particular. "I just… I dunno. It's a lot to take in, a lot to chew on. War's over, can't go to the surface, you're not even a human, Asgore's been lying to us and just sandbaggin' on his promise for hundreds of years…"

He stood up from the couch and aimlessly wandered around his home for a moment before stopping suddenly, a hand atop his bald scaly head as he stared up at the ceiling and answered. "I don't know what I want, how to feel about all of it, or who'd even replace Asgore…" His yellow eyes narrowed slightly and he looked back at Leontius and Asriel. "Feel like I need to think this over, alone. You two mind givin' me and my daughter our privacy? Not tryin' to be rude and kick you out or nothin', just that we gotta lot to talk about now, y'know?"

Leontius figured as much, and judging from the anchorwoman's disappearance and the sudden shutdown of the news channel, he reasoned that most other monsters were likely having the same experience. "No, I do not mind in the least, it is understandable." He got to his feet and hung Atonement from his back once more.

Asriel also got the idea, sliding off the couch and giving Suzy a concerned look since she was still just sitting there and acting catatonic, not reacting to anything happening around her. "Um, it was nice to meet you Suzy, when did you want to hang out next…?"

She gave no response.

Leontius lightly patted Asriel on his back to get his attention off the unresponsive girl. "We must meet with your parents soon, Asriel, let us go. Ah, and Charly, thank you for letting us into your home and allowing Asriel to introduce himself."

Charly responded after a brief delay, seeming only a bit less preoccupied than his daughter was. "Yeah, any time… good talking to you guys…" With that he wandered into his home's kitchen and contemplatively leaned forward onto the counter as the visiting duo let themselves out, leaving the father and daughter to their silence and thoughts.

(37)

A/N: Apologies for the months without updates, but this chapter was originally going to be much, much, longer, so I have decided to split it into two for the sake of readability and time. It was on track to be the longest chapter so far, easily around 18000 words. The other part is close to being done, so expect a followup chapter soon, I'm aiming to complete that before this month is out.

As always, thank you for reading to the end, and I hope to see any responses in the reviews.