A Different Tale

Chapter 2

"Sup."

"Sans, why must you always sneak up on me?"

"I dunno. I have to entertain myself somehow."

"I guess. You do have a very boring job compared to your brother."

"Yeah, he has a lot of fun hangin' out with the royal guard."

"How's your dad doing?"

"He's very busy building the core and all that."

"Hmm. Well, take care, Sans."

"You too, Azzy." Sans winked.

"It's king to you," replied Azzy.

"Meh." Sans teased.

Asriel went and ate lunch for half an hour, and decided to check on Mettaton and Alphys in Hotland. He wandered through the Core and bumped into Gaster.

"Dr. Gaster! I see you've been working hard on the Core." Asriel rattled the safety rails to test their strength.

"Yes, well, we only installed that after 'the incident', which the safety inspector would not let us continue until we added them."

"I see. What else have you been doing?"

"Well, our main focus has been trying to find out why human souls are so different from monster souls. And while we were at it, we have found a way to bring back the dead, although it is highly experimental."

Chara...

Asriel looked down at his locket. Maybe... No. It's highly experimental. When was Gaster ever wrong? Now was not the time to prove him wrong.

"We need to shut this down. I don't want any amalgamates to deal with. Why don't you work on the Core instead? Or something... less experimental."

"Understood. But... are you sure?" Asriel hesitated.

"I said yes. And I mean yes. Why can't you do something else that will benefit us all? Like finding a way to break the barrier?"

"I've told you countless times, Asriel, it can only be broken by 7 human souls. How hard can it be to kill a human child?"

Kill...

That word... It was so... hurtful. Yet he said it so easily, like it was normal for the underground to... kill. How could people kill so easily? Asriel was kind of relieved to be the king instead of someone else. To prevent lives to be taken, all for greed. If only dad didn't start the war with the humans.

"I've had enough of this." Ariel spat, bitterly. He left in such a rush for Hotland, that he forgot to check if Alphys was there as well. Didn't matter. He just wanted to be alone...