JUSTICE FOR THE UNDERGROUND

CHAPTER 2:

THE MONSTER QUEEN AND THE MAGUS KILLER

The moment Kiritsugu Emiya had woken up, he looked around for what he needed. He needed to find Illya, he needed his weapons…and he needed to know where he was. But as he tried to sit up, the room span, and he collapsed back onto the bed he was lying on with a groan. He was in some kind of bedroom, he realised, a rather normal one, too.

"Oh, you're awake. Please, don't sit up so suddenly. I cured you of a rather nasty head injury."

The voice was gentle, feminine and maternal. His eyes flickered over to the source…and stopped. And stared. He fought down a surge of panic when he saw what had spoken, an instinctive urge to flee for his life, or fight. Whatever it was, it was certainly not human.

It looked like for all the world like an anthropomorphic goat, dressed in a purple and lilac tabard with a distinctive, apparently mystical symbol on the front. After a moment, Kiritsugu decided that if he was this monster's prisoner, there was little he could do about it until he shook off what had to be a concussion. Actually, was this goat-person a hallucination brought about by brain damage? And, of course, Kiritsugu, for all his paranoia and assuming the worst of people, did think that, whatever this being was, it was probably benign.

"Where's Illya?" he groaned.

"Your daughter's safe. She was eager to read our history, and I gave her a book to entertain herself with," the goat-person said. He realised that it had a rather feminine voice and physique. After a moment, Kiritsugu decided to stop calling the goat-person an it, and decided to call it a she. "She said your name was Kiritsugu Emiya, and you are a human Magus. I am Toriel."

"Well, forgive me for not getting up, but I'm a bit concussed."

Toriel chuckled. "Well, head injuries require heady medicine." She chuckled again at her bad pun. But after a while, she became pensive. "You are the first adult human to fall into Mount Ebott since we were sealed here. And while Illya seemed rather recalcitrant to talk to me, she said she was running away from home, that her family had lied to her about you. Her greatest concern seemed to be for your wellbeing. Thankfully, I am versed in the healing arts. All you need now is some rest. But I wanted to know what Illya wasn't telling us. Could you shed some light on the matter, please?"

Kiritsugu was wary. While Toriel's attitude seemed genuinely benign, he wasn't sure what he could say. He was, after all, in an unknown situation. And to tell the truth, he couldn't quite remember what actually happened, only that he was pursuing Illya up Mount Ebott. He had heard of the legend of the war between the monsters and the local humans from his wife…and he knew the von Einzberns had a hand in sealing them away.

After a moment's consideration, Kiritsugu made his decision. Some degree of frankness was needed here, lest it come out later and complicate things. "Can I have your word that you won't do us any harm if we do not harm you?"

"Of course."

"Very well. My name is Kiritsugu Emiya, but I am known in Magi circles as the Magus Killer. I'm an assassin, a mercenary for hire…or I used to be."

"An assassin?" Toriel asked, her brows furrowing. "You're a hired killer?"

Kiritsugu nodded. "I was frequently hired by the Magus Association to deal with problematic Magi, those who crossed the line. I also did mercenary work with more mundane humans. Then, eleven years ago, I was retained by the von Einzbern family."

He didn't fail to notice the shock on her face, the way her eyes widened, and then narrowed. "For what purpose?"

"To win the Holy Grail War…"

It had the air of a confession. Kiritsugu told Toriel the salient facts of the Fuyuki Holy Grail War he had participated in. He nearly omitted the fact that Irisviel was the Lesser Grail, until he decided that, if he wanted them to help, he should tell her, if only to emphasise that he wanted to save Illya from the same fate.

After he finished, Toriel sat there in silence, contemplating what he told her. The silent contemplation could be good or bad. At least she was considering things.

"Mr Emiya," she finally said, "I thank you for being so frank. I don't consider you or your daughter a threat, though. You stumbled into our world through happenstance, and you have the air of a man who considers himself carefully before engaging in conflict."

"With all due respect, you don't know me well enough to say that, Toriel," Kiritsugu said with a bitter smile. "I have killed people who haven't been a direct threat to me personally. The creed I lived by…it was a false one, redressing the scales of justice. Kill the few to safeguard the many…"

"I cannot condone your actions. But your ideal for peace was laudable enough. And I know you hated doing this. You tried to retrieve Illya partly because she was your daughter, but also to save her from the same fate as her mother. I too know what it is like to lose loved ones."

"What do you mean?"

After a moment, Toriel admitted, "I used to be Queen of the Underground. And one day, my former husband Asgore and I were blessed with a beautiful son, Asriel. Some years afterwards, a human boy called Chara fell into the Underground. We later learned that he was an orphan, taken in by the von Einzberns as part of magecraft experiments. But such things happening to him made Chara somewhat misanthropic. However, he became part of the family. But then, tragedy struck. Chara fell ill, and we could do nothing to stop him from dying. His last wish was to be able to see the flowers of his village one last time. And then, it happened. Asriel absorbed Chara's soul. Certain monsters, known as 'boss monsters', can absorb human souls. And Asriel, being my progeny and that of Asgore…was able to absorb Chara's soul. He transformed, made his way through the Barrier carrying Chara's body…but when he brought the body back…"

"I think I can guess. The villagers attacked him, thinking he murdered Chara."

"That is probably what happened. Asriel didn't fight back. Instead, he managed to get back here, along with Chara's corpse. He collapsed in the middle of a flower garden he loved…told us what had happened, and then dissolved into dust."

Kiritsugu had to admit, he was horrified. To lose one's children, one of blood, the other by adoption…he had come across many horrors and examples of man's inhumanity to man, but this still chilled him. "I'm sorry for your loss," he said, sincerely.

"It happened decades ago," Toriel said quietly. "But what happened next only compounded things. It's why you and Illya are in very grave danger. Asgore, in his dubious wisdom, declared war on humanity. Any humans who fell down here were to be either killed on sight, or else delivered to him. He intended to use the souls of the humans in order to escape the Underground, to free us. But I thought that too high a price to pay. I knew my former husband regretted his words once he said them, but because they had given our people hope after so long, he was forced to abide by them. Even if it was false hope based on the lives of innocents."

"You didn't take kindly to that," Kiritsugu pointed out. "I mean, if you were still living with him…we'd be dead already."

Toriel nodded. "I had an argument, a bad one. I hated what he was doing. He didn't even have the wherewithal to take a human soul for himself, pass the Barrier, and harvest the remaining souls from there. Not that I'd agree with such a line of action. To fight in self-defence is one thing, when all other options are exhausted. But to commit murder out of misplaced revenge…I couldn't countenance it." Toriel chuckled ruefully. "I don't know who's the bigger coward. Asgore, for not retracting his declaration, or myself."

"You? But…"

"Mr Emiya, I was their Queen. I abdicated at a time when my people needed guidance, when I could have mitigated Asgore's declaration. There are ways we could have obtained the souls without murder. But no. I couldn't stand to be anywhere near Asgore, and those who supported him. I have lived with the shame and guilt ever since. Especially as, before this point, six children have passed through this house…into the Underground proper…and to their deaths. Asgore only needs a single soul to break the Barrier now."

"He killed six children," Kiritsugu said quietly. The sad thing was, he had done worse in his time as the Magus Killer.

"Indeed. Which is why I want you to stay here with Illya," Toriel said quietly.

"Toriel…can I ask you something?" Kiritsugu asked. "How long do you reckon it would be before the von Einzberns came after Illya? I told you what she is to them. They would do anything to get her back, and if they suspect we fell into the Underground…"

Toriel blinked when she realised what he meant. The von Einzberns would tear her people apart if they weren't warned. "Oh. But if you leave the Ruins…"

"Toriel, I can look after myself. I can look after you and Illya. I may be dying, but I'm not wholly useless yet. I can't use magic much anymore. But I can aim and fire a gun."

"Then I should send out a warning. We'll leave if necessary. But I have…a friend of sorts. I made him promise that, should any humans pass through into Snowdin, he should help them. But I believe he is a sentry involved in security around Snowdin, albeit one who does not hold the same anti-human views as the rest of the Underground. Though to be fair, most monsters wouldn't know what a human looks like."

"You trust him?"

"More than I trust you, Mr Emiya. You have been frank with me, but you are a self-confessed assassin and mercenary who has worked for the very same family that kept us imprisoned."

Kiritsugu chuckled bitterly. "I understand. I'm not exactly the most trustworthy person."

"I know. I am doing this more for your daughter's sake." She stood, and made for the door. "I'll let Illya know that you're up. And then, I'll go and see if my friend is there."

A few minutes after Toriel left the room, Illya poked her head in. "Daddy?" she asked.

Kiritsugu gave a shaky smile to his daughter. "Hello, Illya. Are you all right?"

"…I don't know. Grandpa Acht told me…all sorts of things about you and mother. I just want to know…what happened? Why didn't you come back until now? And what's with the boy you adopted in Fuyuki?"

Kiritsugu closed his eyes and gathered himself. His daughter may be young and acted that way, but she was also frighteningly intelligent for her age, and she had some of the attitude of a Magus, too much for her age. She could handle a summary of what happened. He told her, in brief, what had happened to Irisviel, to her mother, to his wife. Why he had to destroy the Grail. He didn't tell her the gory details, especially about how Angra Mainyu had manifested itself as Irisviel, how, in order to reject Angra Mainyu, he had shot a dream version of Illya and throttled his wife, taken over by Angra Mainyu, to death.

What shook him most wasn't an angry outburst, but a quiet acceptance. Illya was actually weeping, trails of tears running from her eyes. "So that's what Mum meant when she said…" She swallowed. After a moment, she said, "You've come to take me back to Fuyuki?"

"Yes. You've got a little brother now, Illya. He was never meant to replace you. I just needed to save someone, anyone, from that mess. He was the only survivor I could find in the fire."

Illya looked pensive, biting her lip as tears trickled down her face. "So, what they said about you being an assassin…it's true?"

Kiritsugu nodded. "I tried to shield you from that, Illya. I tried to obtain the Grail so that you could grow up in a world forever peaceful. And so that you didn't go through what your mother did. When you were born, your mother tried to have me hold you. I told her I had no right to hold you, because of what I did as the Magus Killer."

Illya, after a moment, said, "I need some time to think." She left the room. Kiritsugu sighed. It was almost as bad as if she had thrown an outright tantrum, if not worse. He couldn't tell how badly she had taken the news of her true nature, and that of her mother.

Another few minutes passed, before he heard a conversation distantly. Toriel speaking to someone. "…A face to a name, even if it's only a bare-bones friendship."

A chuckle, and then, a deep, gentle, lazy drawl came from someone else. "Not gonna fibula, but it's good to meet you too, Toriel."

Toriel laughed, a bit too much at the bad pun. She then said, "Oh, Illya's outside. I'll go talk to her, and you can talk to Mr Emiya, Sans. Try not to rib him too much."

"Okay. Tibia honest, it'd be interesting to talk to a human," the now-named Sans said. The door opened, and Kiritsugu tensed, just in case Toriel was fooled and Sans turned out to be an enemy. A squat shape waddled in, dressed in a blue hoodie, what looked like tracksuit pants, his body language a strange combination of laziness and alertness.

However, it was, for all the world, an ambulatory skeleton. A bit cartoonish, with a perpetual lazy grin that seemed to make him endearing rather than sinister, with a pair of glowing lights in the eyesockets for eyes, but a skeleton.

"Huh, and here I was thinking all those boneheaded puns were being done for no reason," Kiritsugu said.

Sans chuckled. "Yeah, well, Toriel and I love that sort of thing. So, you're some magical assassin, huh? I can tell, at least about the assassin part."

"You can?"

Sans tapped the edge of an eyesocket. "Most who know me think I don't have any real talents beyond lazing around and making bad puns. I can discern a being's LOVE, or Level Of Violence. Think of it as a measure of how much killing you've done. Of course, I can also tell whether you have gained LOVE in the Underground. You have pretty high LOVE, higher than I've ever seen, but it's all outside here, and from what Toriel said, you're here to help your daughter. Now, I don't give out trust that easily, and while I think Toriel's a good judge of character, and you did well in confessing what you did to her, I'll put it to you bluntly. Hurt her, or anyone I care about, and, well…" He closed his eyesockets, as if they were eyelids, before they reopened, revealing a dark abyss. "You're gonna have a bad time…"

Kiritsugu had made threats and received them. But never had he been so intimidated by a threat than that delivered by Sans. He could all but feel the power radiating from Sans. And he knew that Sans would be capable of following through on his threat. He just had to hope that Sans was as much an ally as Toriel claimed, or else he and Illya were in trouble…

CHAPTER 2 ANNOTATIONS:

So, there you have it. Kiritsugu has met both Toriel and Sans. For those of you wondering where Flowey is, well, he'll turn up soon enough…

No numbered annotations this time.