Broken Souls

Chapter 25 - Bringing Home the Goat

Gaster, Papyrus, C and Asgore were all eating dinner at the Royal Palace when the group arrived back from the Underground. Sans came first, appearing in a flash of darkness and pulling Toriel and Frisk through the shortcut after him. The diners didn't know how to react until the world flashed black again, clearing only to reveal a dazed Asriel sitting on the table. He shook his head, making his ears flap and then noticed the people staring at him. Papyrus looked confused, C and Gaster were quietly observing and Asgore looked beyond shocked. The surprise on the old king's face soon became joy however, and much like Toriel, Asgore wasted no time in scooping up his son into a fatherly hug.

Asriel let out a squeal of surprise, which quickly became a gentle chuckle. He happily embraced his father, once more relishing the feelings of love and happiness in his Soul.

"Asgore..." Toriel reminded, her tone demanding of attention. The King quickly set down Asriel and looked over sheepishly. Toriel indicated to where the skeleton family and human girl were standing awkwardly, having stood up from the table.

"Oh yes! Asriel, perhaps we should introduce you to the others eh?" Asgore quickly picked up. Toriel rolled her eyes, but a kind smile quickly settled itself on her face. Looking quite nervous, Asriel stepped up to Papyrus and held out his hand.

"Hello! Sans told me you were his brother, Papyrus right?" he greeted. His voice shook as if Asriel was scared of the kind skeleton, but Papyrus didn't seem to notice, or if he did, he didn't mention it.

"Why yes! I am the Great Papyrus. It is nice to have you back little Prince, even if I've never seen you before." Papyrus replied, shaking Asriel's hand rather enthusiastically. Asriel glanced over at Frisk for help, the human only laughing.

"Papyrus, let Asriel greet Gaster and C!" they said. Then, with a wink at Asriel himself, "He needs to go say thank you after all."

The Prince quickly let go of Papyrus' hand and looked between the last two people in the room he had yet to greet. Leaving C to stand by herself, Gaster grinned and stepped forward, sweeping into a deep bow.

"My prince, it is wonderful to see you again." the scientist said, "You probably don't remember me, but I am-"

"Dr Gaster." Asriel interrupted, "The Royal Scientist before Alphys. You built the CORE."

Gaster looked stupefied, blinking his one working socket as Asriel smiled sheepishly. There was silence around the room, as even Asgore and Toriel knew by now that no one had been able to remember Gaster's name after he was erased.

"When I was a flower." Asriel began to explain, noticing the general confusion "I found these grey monsters that no one else noticed. They talked about a Dr Gaster and how he'd been shattered across time and space. Then, earlier on, Sans mentioned that the person who'd built my Soul had also brought someone back to existence. I... kinda just guessed."

"Well then prince. There is no need for introductions." Gaster chuckled, patting Asriel's head affectionately. As the Scientist stepped away, Frisk came up behind Asriel and looked over at where C was leaning against one wall and inspecting her hand.

"That's C, she built your Soul and saved Gaster a while ago." they said, pointing to the ginger haired girl. C raised an eyebrow, holding out one hand absent-mindedly. Asriel shook it, noticing the grin spreading on C's face.

"It's cool to finally see ya, Mr Hyperdeath." she muttered so only Asriel could hear, "I'll take the boneheads away so you can have some family time."
And just like that, C had walked off, dragging all three skeletons with her. Asriel stared after her, a small knot of worry forming in his stomach. How had C known?

Asriel felt Frisk's hand on his shoulder comfortingly, they must have sensed his unease. Pushing his worry aside, he turned and smiled at his parents.
They had a lot to talk about after all.

===

Looking back on it, Asriel would have to admit that the past two hours had been the most emotional time of his entire life, both as Flowey and before he died. And yet, despite how many tears had been shed, by Toriel, by Asgore and even by Frisk; Asriel wouldn't have had it any other way. They were tears of joy and they were tears of sadness. There had been so much time lost for the Dreemurr family as it spent years torn apart. Even though Toriel and Asgore still had some differences and resentment to work out, Asriel was confident that in time, with Frisk's help, their family could be whole again.

Right now, the Dreemurr family were sitting in Asgore's living room, cups of tea sitting in front of each of them as they quietly talked about the future. There were many things to work out, especially with the arrival of Asriel. Unlike when Gaster was brought back after being forgotten by everyone, the dead Prince being resurrected would raise more than a few questions. Although, Asgore was confident that most monsters would be happy enough to just know Asriel was back rather than to question where he'd been. That particular subject was one Asriel wanted to avoid for now if he could.

And of course, true to their straight-forward and forward thinking nature, Frisk put forward the issue of schooling, because they were very concerned about their brother's education. This was the problem the Dreemurrs were now trying to discuss.

"Of course Asriel must go to school!" Toriel admonished, after hearing Asgore's meek suggestion that he was privately tutored. Asgore shrugged, sitting back in his chair and looking over at Asriel, who was currently watching his parents bicker. Frisk sighed, deciding to step in with their carefully thought out proposal.

"What if Asriel went to the human school with me?" They asked, "I was already thinking of bringing a few monsters over anyway, but this would help to boost my plan."

Both King and Queen looked impressed with this, although the answer wasn't an easy "what a great idea lets do it".

"Whilst that is an excellent way of bringing humans and monsters together, we must consider how the human officials will react. Despite being on the surface now, monster haven't exactly interacted all that much." Asgore said. Frisk frowned, then their face lit up with a new idea. They weren't going to give up on this plan until they were certain of one fact.

"But Dad. The humans think I'm the only human who is okay with monsters, but they're wrong!"

"In what sense my child?" Toriel asked, "There's being okay and there's indifference."

"C!" Frisk exclaimed, "C basically lives with the Gaster family now. The officials might like the only evidence being me, but C is a new face to them."

Asgore turned to look a Toriel, both Bossmonsters exchanging a hushed discussion before turning back around to Frisk and Asriel. Both had serious faces, although it was hard to cover up their general joy from the day's events.

"I think, knowing what I do about C, that would be a good plan." Asgore decided. Frisk cheered, pulling Asriel into a big hug before dragging the Prince around the room in some sort of excited victory dance. For the first time in a very long while, there was hope that humans might all start to learn how to accept monsters.