Broken Souls

Chapter 5 - Final Straw

Not many monsters would have wanted to return Underground, even if it was just for a quick visit. It had been a prison to most monsters, even the children who had never seen the surface were taught to believe in freedom. It was only natural that the Underground had that sort of reputation nowadays. But some still managed to find the beauty in their prison and these few monsters took some time out of their week to wander through the Underground just to admire it.

One of these monsters was King Asgore. Sure he didn't like being trapped underground without being able to see the sun but he'd accepted their fate - at least for the time being-. Freedom wouldn't come instantly, so Asgore had also advised the monsters to be grateful for what they had. Their former prison was undeniably beautiful, from the pristine forests of Snowdin to the crystal-lit caverns of Waterfall. So now, Asgore found himself wandering through New Home, quietly taking in his surroundings with a smile. There was nothing to fear down here, no monster would want to attack their king and no human dared go near monsters for fear of them. Peaceful... despite the dark shadows that seemed to be following him.

It was a nice break from his duties as King, Asgore decided, especially since coming to the surface where he'd had twice the amount of work to do. As it turned out, humans still managed to hold a grudge against monsters, despite having not a single person left who remembered the war. As such, the mayor of the nearby human town was a particularly difficult woman to negotiate with, resulting in Asgore having to call in Toriel and Alphys to help him. Thankfully, under the Queen's fierce scrutiny, the mayor had finally relented and gave the monsters permission to build on and around Mt Ebott. In the four years of living on the surface, Asgore was so proud of how much the city had developed and although building permissions were no longer an issue, there was still the problem of integrating monsters into the human world.

For the most part, business within the Monster City and the neighbouring human town went uninterrupted, with the monsters acting exactly as they had underground and the humans steadfastly ignoring the new arrivals. It wasn't until matters such as power and alliances had to be arranged that any problems came up. Although it had been four years since Frisk fell down and subsequently freed everyone, monster kind  was still wary of most humans. It was only natural seeing as they had been brought up to believe that humanity was a murderous race bent on destruction, but it did get in the way of negotiations. For the time being, Alphys and a few other scientists had re-wired the CORE to power the new city, but the long distance made it very ineffiencient, calling upon the need for a new power source. 

Unfortunately, the no longer Royal Scientist apparently had no notes on the construction of the CORE, nor either did anyone remember who built it. And this was one of the reasons, besides leisure, that Asgore found himself nearing the elevator that connected the outskirts of New Home to the CORE.

===

Asgore was close to the CORE entrance, he noticed. If any place would spark a memory of him it would be in his own creation, not his greatest but most definitely the best that Asgore knew of. Although, he thought, maybe some extra help would be useful. Help from those who sometimes appeared as grey figures in the world as they spoke about the fate of someone who never existed. He gathered some of his already minimal strength to summon the three figures, his three followers who'd disappeared even more entirely than he had. Then, he turned to watch and wait.

===

Asgore entered the CORE with a slight sense of forgetting something. He pushed it aside, assuring himself that nothing about this place had been forgotten. He continued to meander through long, twisting corridors and across dangerously narrow catwalks, letting the gentle hum of machinery wash over him.

Suddenly he stopped. There was a person standing in front of him, blocking the corridor. They seemed to be a monster, with cat-like ears and a nervous smile, a small face rested in the palm of one hand. The rest of the cat monster's face seemed to be obscured by shadows but that didn't faze the King. He stepped forward with a smile, ready to offer a friendly greeting but the cat monster cut him off,

"The old Royal Scientist, Dr WD Gaster.... He vanished without a trace, shattering across time and space..." the figure mumbled, it stared almost in horror at the small face in it's hands before talking again,

"Hehe... How can I say so without fear? I'm holding a piece of him right here."

And then the cat monster disappeared.

Utterly confused and concerned for the safety of whatever monster he'd just encountered, Asgore moved onwards down the corridor to see if the strange person had gone further down. At the next turning, Asgore was met with another grey figure. This one was not like the cat monster from before, instead it seemed to just be a head sprouting from the ground. Once again, Asgore stepped forward to greet it and was yet again cut off.

"I understand why you took so long to hire a new Royal Scientist. The previous one, Dr Gaster. His brilliance was irreplaceable."

This time Asgore interrupted,

"I'm sorry but who is this old Royal Scientist?" he asked. The head's mouth cracked open with a large smile,

"I needn't gossip. After all, it's rude to talk about someone who's listening."

Once again, the monster vanished before Asgore could respond. But now the King was seriously confused and wanted an answer to whoever this "Dr Gaster" was more than ever. He walked further into the depths of the CORE, hoping to find a trace of the two grey monsters. After a while he came across a third figure. This one was a short, stocky monster with wide blank eyes and a double cross on it's chest. This time, Asgore just waited for it to speak, knowing that any attempt he made at a greeting would be ignored.

"It makes sense why you took so long to hire a new Royal Scientist. The old one... Doctor Gaster. They say he created the CORE. But one day... he fell into his creation..."

The figure disappeared, just like all the rest. Deciding that three vanishing monsters were enough for one day, Asgore gave up on his trip in favour of going home, as quickly as he could. As he turned around, however, one last figure appeared. This one was unlike the others, it was tall, dressed all in black with a white skull and hands. It appeared to be a skeleton, with two large cracks in its skull and holes punched through either hand. This figure did not speak like the others, its voice was not a soft mumble but loud and static-y. Its hands moved with its words, signing along in a long forgotten language.

"Aaaahhhhsssssgooorrreee..." It hissed. Asgore hesitated, this figure was a lot more menacing than the other grey monsters he'd encountered and he wasn't sure how safe it was to approach. But curiosity got the better of the King and he reached out to shake the skeleton's hand. The skeleton looked at Asgore, its eye sockets widening.

"My friend, are you alright-"

The skeleton disappeared with a cry.

===

He'd moved away from the shadows for as long as he could manage. It had been hard to maintain a form that physical for so long. Sure, as soon as Asgore had reached out, his power had faltered and he'd returned to the nothingness. And sure, sending his followers might have done more to startle the old goat than jog old memories. But the end result was the same either way: Asgore had seen him, heard his name. Surely, surely something would be done. That had to have been the final straw.