A Good Father 7
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I won't bother with a lengthy AN here, because no one reads my work on Tumblr. I just keep reposting my fics here out of habit.
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As soon as the school building came into view, Asgore shot through the doors and tore down the halls towards the headmaster’s office. WingDings had to run to keep up with him, despite his long legs.
When the pair reached their destination, Asgore burst through the doors without pausing to knock.
His eyes immediately started darting around the room, flitting over each of its occupants. He distantly took note of the owl monster practically falling asleep at his desk, the stressed-looking blue bird monster who appeared to be engaged in a heated argument with a clearly furious Papyrus, and a quietly seething Sans, who was glaring daggers at a young fish monster.
Asgore’s breath caught in his throat when his gaze finally landed on the only human in the room.
Frisk stood in between the two Gaster children, huddled close to Sans, as if seeking comfort from his presence. Her head was bowed low, and her back was hunched over; her posture making clear her desire to curl herself into a ball. Her hands were gripping something, cradling it protectively to her chest.
Without a second thought, Asgore rushed to his daughter’s side, arms and Soul already reaching out for her, his magic washing over her and Checking her for any injuries.
At this, Frisk’s head shot up, eyes immediately snapping towards her father.
Asgore almost stumbled upon catching sight of the miserable look on his child’s face, the wet tear streaks, and the red blotches marring her youthful visage. His Soul squeezed painfully.
He opened his mouth to question his daughter on her sorry state, but Frisk beat him to it.
“Daddyyyyyy!!” Her desperate cry was punctuated by a fresh round of tears, as the young child took her father’s arrival as her cue to express her upset to her fullest abilities.
Asgore wasted no time in sweeping his daughter up into his arms. He tried to pull her close, but Frisk pushed back against his chest and lifted her hands up to her father’s face, showing him the object she’d been holding.
“Daddy look!”
It was her little red headband. However, one of its horns had broken off, and was now limply hanging off the side, barely holding on by only a thread. Asgore’s heart sank at seeing his daughter’s most prized possession so badly damaged.
“Oh no! What happened?” he asked.
At his question, one of Frisk’s hands shot out, pointing towards the fish monster.
“She broke it!” Frisk cried out in an indignant whine. “The mean girl broke my horns!”
The ‘mean girl’ in question instantly bristled. She crossed her arms defensively and gave the other girl her most fearsome glare through her messy, red bangs, though the effect was marred by the sulky pout on her lips.
“I’m not mean! I’m Undyne, and I’m gonna be a hero!” she announced with all the confidence of a young child. “And heroes always beat up bad guys!”
Papyrus instantly leapt to his friend’s defence. “FRISK IS NOT A BAD GUY!! OR A BAD GIRL!! SHE’S NOT A BAD ANYTHING!!”
“and heroes,” Sans added, intense stare still fixed unerringly on the fish monster, “don’t make little kids cry.”
Undyne flinched at his words. Her fire seemed to extinguish, the ten-year-old skeleton monster’s words having clearly hit a sore spot for her. She averted her gaze, frowning down at the floor in lieu of having to look at anyone else.
“I didn’t mean to break her stupid headband,” she grumbled, the slightest trace of remorse leaking into her voice. “I was trying to break her! But her dumb loser friends got in my way. If it wasn’t for the nerd brothers, the human’s Soul would be mine, and we’d all be free!”
The resulting explosion of noise from the others in the room - particularly Papyrus - was lost to the ringing in Asgore’s ears.
Red filled his vision.
This monster had tried to hurt his daughter.
This monster had tried to kill his only living child.
His magic began heating up in response to his rising temper.
For one terrible moment, rage filled his Soul.
He needed to protect his child. He needed to get rid of this threat to his precious daughter. He needed to eliminate this abhorrent, intolerable danger, before it took away the most important thing in his life.
He’d already lost so much. He could not bear to lose anyone else. He would do anything to prevent that.
His Soul was already tainted by violence, his hands already stained by blood.
What more was a little Dust?
Thankfully, that terrible moment was ended by a swift and powerful whack to his head.
“Yowch!” Asgore clutched his aching head, hands massaging over the spot where he’d been struck. His watery eyes went to the culprit.
WingDings twirled a large bone in his hands, looking entirely unrepentant. He raised a browbone at his friend. “YOU WERE SPIRALLING, ASGORE.”
His senses now returning to him, Asgore realised where his previous train of thoughts had been leading him.
Immediately, he was flooded with guilt.
He couldn’t believe that he had considered, even for a moment, hurting- no, killing a child. While it was unfortunately true - much to his everlasting shame - that he’d killed innocent human children before, that was only for the sake of his people! As king, he’d felt like he had no choice. But this… this was inexcusable.
He really was a miserable creature.
He was utterly irredeemable.
He should just-
“Oowww!!”
Yet another blow to the head put an end to his internal self-condemnation.
WingDings gave the king a sharp look. “YOU WERE SPIRALLING AGAIN.” He lifted up his bone club threateningly. “STOP THAT.”
Asgore cowered away from his friend, hands held up in a gesture of surrender. “Alright, alright. I understand. I will stop,” he promised. “And, uh… Thank you, old friend.”
A weak, but no less grateful smile rose to his lips. He truly was thankful to have a friend he could trust, to pull him back from his darker moments. Even if said friend’s methods were a little… extreme. They were certainly effective, at least.
Wings eyed him suspiciously, weighing the truth of the goat monster’s words. Seeming to accept Asgore’s sincerity, he relaxed. He casually tossed his bone club over his shoulder, letting it dematerialise in his shadow.
“YOU ARE WELCOME, ASGORE.” He smirked. “I AM ALWAYS HAPPY TO KNOCK SOME SENSE INTO YOU.”
Asgore gave a nervous chuckle, before shaking off the lingering sting in his skull.
When WingDings stepped forward, the king wordlessly backed away to allow his friend to kneel down beside Frisk, as he took out a pack of wet wipes from his Inventory.
The scientist then set about cleaning up the little girl’s face, with all the speed and efficiency of a single parent to two messy children. Frisk patiently endured the action without fuss, and when Wings was done, he waved off Asgore’s thanks, and moved on to his own children, who bore his efforts with far less grace than their human friend did.
Asgore gave the skeleton family a fond look, before turning back to Frisk. Taking his daughter into his arms once more, the king asked her to explain what had happened.
The little human eagerly launched into an explanation of the events of that morning, accompanied by the other children all chiming in to give their input on the unfortunate series of events. Everyone had something to say, and they all kept interrupting each other, and frequently went off on tangents, often devolving into petty insults and childish name-calling. Keeping the conversation on topic was no easy task.
It was more than a little difficult to put together what everyone was saying, but Asgore thought that he’d gotten the gist of what had occurred.
From what he’d understood, it had all started during the morning break, when all the children had been let out onto the playground.
Frisk had been approached by the young fish monster - who was apparently in the same class as Sans, despite being a year older than him. The stranger had, suddenly and without provocation, launched into a fight with Frisk, out of what the older girl had claimed was a desire to take the human’s Soul to free monsterkind. And because “humans are the enemies of everyone’s hopes and dreams, so they should all die!” according to the child.
What happened next was difficult to ascertain from the children’s chaotic arguments, but it seemed that Frisk had managed to dodge the other kid’s attacks surprisingly well - especially for a five-year-old. Asgore couldn’t help the spark of fatherly pride that ignited in his Soul at hearing that. His daughter was truly talented.
But despite her impressive agility, Frisk’s poor headband had gotten caught in the onslaught and had been knocked to the ground, resulting in one of its horns breaking off.
That had then caused Frisk to break down in tears.
“It was an accident,” the fish monster mumbled, looking genuinely contrite, her previous bluster and combativeness gone from her demeanour. “I didn’t mean to make her cry.”
Asgore could tell that she was being honest. The child had clearly not expected such a reaction from what she had believed to be nothing more than a heartless, “evil” human.
“I was gonna say sorry,” the child, Undyne, admitted, somewhat reluctantly. “But then he showed up!” A glare and a pointed finger were then aimed at Papyrus. “And he started attacking me!”
The skeleton monster in question immediately fired back with his own glare. “OF COURSE!! YOU HURT MY FRIEND!! YOU MADE FRISK CRY!!” Papyrus stomped his foot. The force of his anger caused his bones to rattle. “I HAD TO PROTECT MY FRIEND!! ‘CAUSE THAT’S WHAT GOOD FRIENDS DO!! AND I!! AM A GREAT FRIEND!!”
“The greatest,” Frisk agreed, nodding her head, a small smile playing on her lips for the first time that afternoon.
Asgore wasn’t sure how much of the skeleton child’s following boasting he should believe, but it was clear that Papyrus had fought bravely, managing to hold his own against the older monster, and meeting her energy spears head-on with his own bone attacks.
“He was pretty tough,” the fish monster conceded, grudging admiration shining in her eyes. Or at least, the one eye Asgore could see through the mess of red hair falling across the child’s face. “Heh, I never thought baby bones could be that strong.”
Papyrus visibly and audibly preened at her words.
“But his brother is way stronger!” The other child continued, causing Papyrus to deflate dramatically.
All eyes turned to Sans, who tensed and shrunk back underneath all the attention. He mumbled something too low for anyone to hear. It fell to the other children to explain, in their own ways, his part in the situation.
Apparently, at some point during the altercation, Sans had jumped in, completely out of the blue and seemingly from out of nowhere, in defence of his brother and his best friend. The two skeleton brothers had fought side by side, showing truly impressive coordination in their attacks, if the children were to be believed.
The poor fish monster had been completely out of her depth against her two opponents, and had been on the defensive the entire time. That explained her scuffed and dishevelled appearance. By comparison, Sans didn’t look to have a single scratch on him. Undyne had clearly gotten out of that fight the worst of them all.
Asgore didn’t miss the fiercely proud look in his best friend’s eye sockets. Indeed, WingDings hadn’t looked this proud even when he’d unveiled his newly-constructed CORE, though he was trying his best to not be too obvious about it. It wouldn’t do to encourage violence in the children, after all.
Especially not in the face of the deputy headmistress’s displeased scowl.
“Fighting is not allowed on school premises!” she screeched, blue feathers ruffling so badly, it left her glasses crooked atop her beak. “Not only could you have injured the other children, but you also made an absolute mess of the school grounds!”
The bird monster waved a wing towards the windows. A quick peek outside revealed a landscape littered with magical bullets that had yet to fade away. Tiny, glowing blue spears were stuck on various surfaces, and a near forest of bones of varying sizes jutted out from the ground.
Asgore blinked, taken aback by the destruction before his eyes. He shuddered to think of his tiny daughter amidst all that carnage. It was a miracle that she hadn’t been hit by a stray attack.
WingDings frowned as he observed the scene outside.
“THAT CERTAINLY IS… A LOT OF BONES,” he noted, mouth flattening into a thin line, his displeasure evident on his face. “AND ALL FOR JUST ONE OPPONENT.”
His stern gaze fell on his oldest son.
Sans cringed at his father’s accusing look. “hey, that girl’s the toughest in our class,” Undyne’s smug look was duly ignored, “we had to give it our all to protect frisk. we couldn’t take no chances.”
WingDings appeared unconvinced by his son’s words. “I KNOW WHAT YOU ARE CAPABLE OF, SANS.” He folded his arms, his frown deepening. “YOUR RESPONSE WAS EXCESSIVE. YOU DID NOT NEED TO LAUNCH SO MANY ATTACKS.”
Sans lowered his skull, but before he could say anything in response to his father’s scolding, Papyrus spoke up.
“HEY!! MOST OF THOSE BONE ATTACKS ARE MINE!! NYEH HEH HEH!!”
Both his tone and demeanour were filled with pride, and devoid of any awareness of the present situation.
Sans shot his younger brother a look of panic, as their father shifted his stern gaze over to Papyrus.
“IS THAT SO?” The eldest Gaster’s voice was deceptively soft, incongruent with the hard look in his eye sockets.
Papyrus remained blissfully ignorant of the danger he was walking into.
“IT IS SO!” he bragged, hands on his hips and rib cage puffing out. “I LAUNCHED WAY MORE BONES THAN SANS DID!”
His older brother rushed to intervene, stepping in between Papyrus and WingDings, as if he could physically protect his younger brother from their father’s ire.
“nah, he’s exaggeratin’, dad!” he tried to insist.
But his efforts were immediately thwarted.
“I AM NOT!!” Papyrus glared at his older brother, who tried desperately to shush him. But the seven-year-old would not be silenced. “I FOUGHT THE MOST!! I ATTACKED THE HARDEST!! I PROTECTED THE BEST!!”
So determined was he to declare his greatness, that Papyrus completely failed to register the storm brewing in his father’s expression, nor the growing alarm in his brother’s.
Thankfully for the youngest Gaster, he was saved from whatever punishment his father was planning, by his human friend.
“He did protect the best!” Frisk beamed at her friend, whose face lit up in response. She looked between Dr. Gaster and her father. “Papy was so cool! He- He was like… like a.. a knight from my books! Yeah! Papy was just like those super cool knights who fight scary bad guys to protect the princess and save the kingdom!”
Papyrus’s eye sockets glittered, both literally and figuratively, as wonder filled his expression. “WOWIE!! ME!! A KNIGHT!! THAT’S SO COOL!!”
The young monster appeared genuinely enchanted by the idea, his gaze lost in images of knightly valour and fairy tale chivalry.
WingDings’s face softened. “WELL. IT IS TRUE THAT YOU ACTED ONLY TO PROTECT YOUR FRIEND.” He let out a sigh. The corners of his mouth lifted up in a fond smile. “I SUPPOSE I CANNOT FAULT YOU FOR YOUR ACTIONS.” His gaze sharpened. “THIS TIME.”
Sans exhaled in relief, his shoulders slumping. Crisis averted and scolding avoided. He offered Frisk a grateful smile. His friend blinked at him cluelessly, but returned his smile nonetheless.
Meanwhile, the deputy headmistress looked like she had some choice words to say to all that. However, she was distracted when she noticed that, at some point, the owl monster had apparently given up on staying awake. Her feathers ruffled as she tutted at her sleeping colleague.
Undyne gave Frisk a disgusted look. “You like books? What are you, a nerd?”
The human tilted her head to the side in curiosity. “What’s a… n-nerd?”
The fish monster curled her lip at the question. “A lame loser who likes reading books and doing boring nerd stuff.” She shot Sans a mocking sneer. “Sans is the biggest nerd I know!”
The skeleton in question returned her sneer with a glare.
“maybe if you actually did ‘boring nerd stuff’ for once, ya wouldn’t’ve had to repeat a grade.” He lowered his voice and flashed Undyne a condescending grin. “who’s the real loser, eh?”
The fish monster bristled in offence. She bared her sharp fangs at the other child in a vicious snarl.
But before she could do anything rash in front of four disapproving adults, she was interrupted by Frisk’s excited gasp.
“So being a nerd is a good thing?” Awe filled her expression, as she beamed up at her father. “Daddy, Daddy! Did you hear that? I’m a nerd! Like Sans! I won’t have to repeat a grade!”
Asgore wasn’t sure how to feel about that. The other child had clearly meant that as an insult. But, in Asgore’s opinion, nerds were undeniably cool, as WingDings had proved, time and time again.
In the end, the king decided to just be happy that his daughter was happy and smiling again. “That is indeed, uh… good!”
Frisk giggled, the sound drowning out Undyne’s disdainful scoff.
All of a sudden, the harsh clearing of a throat cut through the atmosphere.
“Excuse me! Can we please get back to the topic at hand!?” The deputy headmistress glared at everyone in the room, and gestured furiously at the outside devastation. “There is still the matter of the wilful destruction of school property and the reckless endangerment of your peers!”
The two fathers and four children all shrunk back as they remembered their present situation. No one was sure what to say in the face of the bird monster’s wrath.
The deputy headmistress glowered at them all, before turning her blazing eyes onto the owl monster sleeping at his desk.
“Headmaster!”
Her shout successfully awoke the headmaster, who shot up with a startled hoot.
“Y-Yes! I’m awake! I’m awake! I-” He cut himself off with a yawn. His feathers puffed out briefly, before settling down. He rubbed his face, his large, round eyes blinking dazedly around him. “Hm? Yes? What is it, Miss Berdette?”
The deputy headmistress scowled at him.
“We were discussing this morning’s incident.” At the owl’s blank stare, the blue bird monster huffed in exasperation. “The fight on the playground involving four children.”
The headmaster’s face lit up in recognition. “Ah yes! That. Yes, I remember now.”
He cleared his throat, and folded his wings atop his desk. His primary feathers linked together like entwining fingers. His huge eyes fell steadily on the children. There was a surprising weight to his gaze, for a monster who’d been fast asleep mere moments ago.
“I hope you children understand what a serious situation this is.” He waited for them to murmur their acknowledgement of his words, before continuing at the same measured pace. There was an almost hypnotic quality to his soft, mellow voice, and his large eyes were arresting. “Fighting is forbidden on school grounds. You all know this. Do you all understand why? Do you all realise how dangerous reckless fighting and throwing around uncontrolled bullets are? What if you’d gotten hurt? What if you’d hurt someone else?”
The gravity in the headmaster’s voice bore down on the children like a physical weight. They all bowed their heads in shame. Even Frisk, who hadn’t actually done anything, got caught up in the regretful mood, and wore a look of contrition on her face, for acts she hadn’t even done.
As one, the children all apologised to the headmaster, voices low, heads and spirits even lower.
The owl monster stared at them solemnly for a few moments, before nodding his head. “Very well. As long as you’re sorry.”
At that, the serious air immediately dissipated.
The deputy headmistress spluttered in outrage. “It is not ‘very well’! A mere ‘sorry’ will simply not suffice!”
The headmaster was unruffled by her protest. He smiled affably at his colleague. “Now, now, Berdie. Don’t get yourself worked up over every little issue. You’ll give yourself a migraine again.”
The blue feathers on the bird monster’s face took on a red hue, but she seemed to bite her tongue at whatever she wanted to say. She exhaled harshly, then squeezed her eyes shut, as she started massaging her temples.
The headmaster gave the children a kind smile. “Do you all promise to never get into another fight inside the school ever again?”
The kids all dutifully nodded their heads and voiced their collective compliance.
The owl monster clapped his wings in delight. “Wonderful! Then I guess we’re all done here. Off you go, then.” He gave the others a genial wave of his wing, his feathers fluttering with the motion. “Night, night!”
And then his head fell down onto his desk. Loud snores began escaping his beak.
The deputy headmistress sighed. Her gaze rested on the owl’s sleeping figure, a calm entering her expression that had been absent all afternoon. She shook her head gently, then turned back to the others.
“Well, you heard the headmaster. The matter has been settled.” She gestured to the door. “You may all leave now and go home. No point remaining here at this time.”
Asgore stepped forward, wringing his hands. “Um. I deeply apologise for the trouble the children have caused.” He bowed his head. “I will see to it that the playground is fully restored to its previous state.”
The bird monster chuckled and waved off the king’s offer. “No need, Mr. Dreemurr. The school has a repair team on hand for just such an occasion.” The corners of her beak turned up into a wry smile. “Roughhousing is to be expected between young monsters still getting used to their magic. This wouldn’t be the first time the playground has gotten destroyed by a fight that got out of hand.” A hint of humour leaked into her voice. “Believe me, excited, young puppies have done far more damage than any stray bones or spears could hope to do!”
Asgore still appeared hesitant about letting the matter go, but WingDings stepped in before his friend could push the issue.
“THANK YOU FOR YOUR KINDNESS AND UNDERSTANDING.” He grabbed hold of the king’s arm and began dragging him out of the room. He waved for the children to follow them. “WE WILL BE LEAVING THEN. GOOD DAY. AND GOOD LUCK.”
Without another word from anybody, the group exited the office. The door shut behind them with a resounding clack, cutting off the sound of the headmaster’s snores.
The group let out a collective sigh.
Undyne was the first to recover. She eyed the human with a conflicted look on her face, before her expression steeled itself with determination. She squared her shoulders and marched towards the human with resolute steps.
Instantly, the other monsters tensed.
Sans and Papyrus stepped in front of their friend, but the fish monster forcefully pushed past them without a word.
Frisk looked up as the older girl stopped in front of her.
Undyne was quietly impressed that the little human showed not even a hint of fear, despite their earlier fight, but she wasn’t about to admit that to the human’s face. No, instead the young fish monster had something else to say to the girl she’d attacked.
“Look, human,” she began gruffly, discomfort etched into her features, “I, uh… I didn’t mean to break your headband, or-... or make you cry. That-...” She let out a huff, and ran a hand through her messy hair, her frustration almost palpable. She then fixed Frisk with a dark glare, though it was clear her anger wasn’t truly aimed at the human. “Look, I’m sorry, okay?!”
She crossed her arms and glared even harder, silently daring the human to rub her apology in her face and humiliate her further. She tried to ignore the blush creeping up her cheeks. She’d never apologised to anyone before. Not willingly, at least.
Frisk quietly took in the older girl’s apology. She blinked. “Okay.”
Undyne looked away and kicked at the ground. “I don’t expect you to forgive me or anything. I don’t need-!”
“I forgive you,” Frisk stated plainly, no trace of hesitation in her voice.
Undyne spluttered. “W-What?” She stared incredulously at the human, not believing her ears.
“I said I forgive you,” Frisk repeated. Her gaze was steady, and her eyes were clear, and devoid of any falsehoods.
The fish monster blinked at the human, struggling to process the other girl’s words. After a few seconds, Undyne averted her gaze, scratching at the back of her head.
“Oh, uh, that’s… um…” Her voice was shaky and uncertain. “...Thanks…”
She went quiet.
Undyne hadn’t expected the human to forgive her so easily, not after what she’d done.
A slow smile rose to her lips.
This human kept managing to surprise her.
Maybe… just maybe… this kid wasn’t all that bad, after all…
“Hey, um. Undyne, right?” Frisk’s voice broke her out of her thoughts.
The fish monster looked back. She raised her eyebrow. “Yeah? What about it?”
Frisk gave her a bright, hopeful look. “Does this mean we can be friends now?”
Undyne gave a start. “What?! Us?! Friends?!” She let out a snort and then laughed mockingly in the other girl’s face. “Yeah, right! As if I would ever be friends with a human! Don’t be stupid, punk! Fuhuhuhu!!”
Frisk’s face fell into a disappointed pout.
The other monsters all bristled angrily, looking ready to fight her, but Papyrus beat them to it.
“YOU’RE JUST SCARED!” He pointed an accusing finger at Undyne. He tried to mimic the mocking look his older brother had given her earlier, when Sans had so easily managed to rile the girl up. “YOU KNOW SOMEONE WHO LOST TO ME (AND MY BROTHER) WOULD NEVER BE ABLE TO MAKE FRIENDS WITH SOMEONE AS COOL AS FRISK! YOU’RE JUST NOT UP TO THE CH-CHALLENGE!!”
He stumbled a bit on the last word, clearly still a little unfamiliar with it. But Undyne took no notice, her whole attention consumed by the younger monster’s taunt.
“WHAT!?” She seethed, looking more furious than ever. “I’m NOT scared!! And I’m up to any challenge!! Ngaaahhh!!”
She turned her blazing gaze on Frisk. Stepping closer, the older girl leaned into the human’s space to poke a finger at her chest.
“He thinks I can’t be friends with you!?”
She threw her head back in a laugh. “Fuhuhu! What a joke! I could make friends with a wimpy loser like you any day!”
She turned her head to shoot a glare at Papyrus and yell at him, “I’ll show you!”, before turning back to Frisk.
“Listen up, human.” She smirked at Frisk, her single visible eye lighting up with excitement at the prospect of a challenge. “We’re not just going to be friends. We’re going to be… BESTIES.”
Her grin widened, eye narrowing, as devious thoughts ran through her head. “I’ll make you like me so much, you won’t be able to think of anyone else!! Fuhuhuhu! It’s the perfect revenge!!”
Frisk stared blankly as the other girl laughed to herself. She wasn’t sure what was going on with Undyne, but the one thing that was clear to her was that the fish monster did want to be her friend after all.
Frisk’s face brightened, a wide smile forming on her lips.
She’d made another friend! And on her very first day of kindergarten!
The human startled slightly when Undyne reached forward and grasped both of her shoulders.
“You better prepare yourself, punk,” the older girl told her, eye narrowed at Frisk with a determined look on her face. “‘Cause starting tomorrow, we’re going to become closer than you can ever imagine!! Fuhuhu!!”
And after having had, quite literally, the last laugh, Undyne slapped Frisk roughly on the back, before departing with a wave and a, “see ya, dorks!” thrown over her shoulder.
Everyone stared after the fish girl, their faces a mix of different emotions.
Asgore furrowed his brows. He wasn’t sure what to make of that child. She wasn’t a bad monster, certainly, just a little… hot-headed. And more than a little brash. But beyond that, something about her was achingly familiar to him, though he couldn’t quite put his finger on what.
He left out a sigh.
At least the young girl was no longer interested in attacking his daughter. Speaking of…
The monster king looked down as he felt a tug on his hand.
His daughter’s brilliant smile met his gaze.
“Daddy, did you see that?! I made a new friend! And on my first day of school, too!”
Asgore gave his child a strained smile. “Indeed, Frisk. Isn’t that swell? Good for you, my dear!”
Frisk giggled, before turning her beaming smile on Papyrus. “Thank you, Papy! You’re the one who made Undyne wanna be my friend! You’re the greatest!”
Papyrus preened at his friend’s words. A prominent blush stained his bones, as a grin almost split his face in two. “NYEH HEH HEH HEH!! YOU’RE WELCOME, FRISK!! YET ANOTHER WIN FOR THE GREAT AND CLEVER PAPYRUS!!”
WingDings gazed warmly down at his youngest son, affection shining in his eye sockets. “YOU ARE DEFINITELY VERY CUNNING, PAPYRUS.” The edge of his mouth twisted upwards. “AND MANIPULATIVE. HEH. I AM IMPRESSED.”
While Papyrus was busy soaking up everyone’s praise, Sans hoped that no one had noticed him quietly sneaking away.
He took a shortcut and ended up in front of a certain fish monster.
Undyne let out an embarrassingly loud yelp at the skeleton monster’s sudden appearance.
“Wh-what do you want, nerd?”
Her attempt to act tough went ignored by Sans, as he stepped in closer. There was a dangerous edge to his grin.
“i just wanna make sure we’re on the same page.” He tilted his skull down, angling it so that a shadow fell across his face, making his eyelights stand out all the more. “make sure ya know where i’m standin’.”
His eyelights twinkled ominously. Undyne gulped against her will, but resisted the urge to back away.
“see, i’m not like my little bro and my best friend.” The skeleton monster’s voice lowered. “i don’t trust you. not at all. i’d say ‘not as far as i can throw you’, but…” his grin sharpened, “we both know i can throw you very far, heh heh heh.”
Undyne tense, her spine straightening in response to the clear threat. She bared her fangs at the boy.
“Ya wanna go, punk!? Finish our fight, now that the grown-ups aren’t here to get in our way!? NGAAAHHHH!!”
Despite her bravado, the young girl knew that she was outmatched. She’d seen the guy move. There was no way she would be able to keep up with him, not given how exhausted and achy she still felt from their previous tussle.
Not that she’d let that stop her.
Magic started gathering in Undyne’s hand.
She’d give it her all, no matter who her opponent was. She would never give up or back down from a fight!
But Sans only smirked and let out a few chuckles.
“nah, i’m not here to fight. unlike you, i don’t go pickin’ fights with those weaker than me.”
Undyne snarled at the barbed insult and swiped her spear at Sans’s skull. She was itching to wipe that obnoxious grin off of his dumb face!
Sans easily dodged her jab.
“nah, what i’m here for is to make sure you understand one simple thing.”
Before Undyne could blink, Sans lifted his hand and sent out his magic.
Instantly, Undyne’s Soul turned blue and an unnatural gravity forced her to the ground before she could react.
She hissed at the impact, her earlier bruises stinging painfully.
She fought back against the offending magic enough to lift herself up on her elbows and raise her head to glare at her opponent.
A shiver ran down her spine as she stared directly into Sans’s eye sockets.
One of the skeleton’s sockets was empty, nothing but a dark, chilling void.
The other was alight with flashing yellow and light blue.
“If you try to hurt my brother or my friend…” Sans’s voice was different, an odd quality to his tone and words which made them sound… wrong somehow. “Then buddy… Well…”
The pressure surrounding Undyne’s Soul disappeared all of a sudden, as Sans’s eye sockets went completely dark.
“You’re gonna have a bad time.”
Then, without warning, the entire world seemed to blink, as if time and space had momentarily split apart.
Sans vanished without a trace.
Undyne scrambled to her feet, head swiveling around to see if the other monster was still around, ready to strike again. Her magical spear was held in front of her defensively.
Once she had assured herself that she was truly alone once more, Undyne let out a deep breath.
She brushed the dirt off her clothes, as she remarked to herself,
“Geez. That guy is such a weirdo.”
__________
When Sans arrived back with the group, he was relieved to find that his disappearance seemed to have gone unnoticed.
Until he caught his father’s eyelight.
WingDings stared quietly at his eldest son for a moment, before giving him a subtle nod of his head. Unmistakable approval glimmered in his eye sockets. There was a slight, proud edge to the shallow quirk at the corner of the older monster’s mouth.
Sans felt his Soul thrum with relief.
It appeared that he wasn’t about to get grounded after all.
He stealthily made his way to his father’s side, and was welcomed with a hand stroking his skull and familiar magic washing over his form. He couldn’t help closing his eyes to savour the pleasant sensation.
“what’d i miss?” he whispered.
Before his father could answer, Frisk’s voice rang out.
“Please, Daddy! Please, please, please!”
Papyrus added his own pleading. “PLEASE!! PLEASE LET ME BE A ROYAL KNIGHT, UNCLE FLUFFYBUN!! I PROMISE TO BE THE GREATEST KNIGHT EVER!! AND PROTECT THE PRINCESS SUPER DUPER FLUPER GOOD!!”
Sans bit back a snicker.
It seemed his little bro had gotten it into his skull to become a knight. He guessed that Papyrus had been more taken with the idea than Sans had initially expected, back in the headmaster’s office. And of course their human friend was in full support. It had been her who’d put the thought into Papyrus’s head to begin with, after all.
Poor Asgore looked overwhelmed by the children’s pleas. “But there is no such position of Royal Knight.”
Instead of being deterred, Papyrus looked even more adamant. “THEN I WILL BE THE VERY FIRST!! AS WELL AS THE GREATEST!! NYEH HEH HEH!!”
Frisk nodded her head excitedly. “Yeah! Papy can be the first Royal Knight! That’ll make him extra special!”
Papyrus looked completely starstruck by the idea. Sans could practically see the sparkles twinkling around his eye sockets.
Asgore stared helplessly down at the children, unsure what to do. In desperation, he glanced towards his dearest friend, silently beseeching him for assistance.
Wings gave him a considering look. His gaze moved to the children.
“HMMM.” He crossed his arms, and drummed his skeletal fingers against his humerus.
Sensing a new target, the children turned their pleading gazes on the eldest Gaster instead.
His fingers stilled.
“I SEE NO ISSUE WITH THEIR REQUEST, GOREY. I THINK PAPYRUS WILL MAKE A FINE KNIGHT.”
Asgore stared at him in disbelief.
Papyrus and Frisk cheered and rushed towards Wings.
Two pairs of arms encircled his legs. Two very different - but equally dear to his Soul - faces beamed up at him.
“YAY!! THANK YOU, DADDY!!”
“Yeah, thank you, Uncle Wingsy! I love you!”
“I LOVE YOU TOO, DADDY!!”
WingDings felt his Soul melt. He reached down to caress the children’s heads, taking extra care to not get any of Frisk’s hair tangled in between his phalanges.
“I LOVE YOU BOTH AS WELL.” He bent down to press a kiss to each of their foreheads. “YOU THREE,” his gaze flickered to Sans, before returning to the two kids in front of him, smiling up at him with such bright and earnest adoration, “ARE THE LIGHT INSIDE MY SOUL.”
Papyrus and Frisk hugged him harder, their tiny faces aglow with joy. Sans ducked his head, an embarrassed blush spreading across his skull. However, he couldn’t conceal his happy smile.
Asgore gazed at the four of them with tender eyes, his Soul feeling as fuzzy as he was. A contented sigh slipped past his lips.
When his daughter and her friend looked up at him with such naked hope on their faces, all the king could do was shrug his shoulders in defeat. He could never deny the children anything.
“Very well then, young ones.” He tried to inject some solemnity into his voice, to make it feel like a royal proclamation, for the kids’ benefit. “If it is truly your wish, then when Papyrus is older, he may become our very first Royal Knight, whose duty it is to safeguard and protect my daughter, Princess Frisk Dreemurr.”
Papyrus and Frisk both whooped in delight, fist bumping the air. They gave each other a high five, before running over to Asgore and launching themselves at him.
“THANK YOU, UNCLE FLUFFYBUN!!!”
“Thank you, Daddy!! You’re the best!!”
“AND THE FLUFFIEST!!”
The king chuckled, returning their hug with equal enthusiasm.
“You are welcome, young ones.” He held them close for a moment, before leaning away, to look them both in the eyes (sockets). “Just… Please… Promise me that you will not be reckless. Do not pick fights with anyone. And do your best to stay out of danger.”
Papyrus and Frisk were quick to agree.
“I PROMISE I WILL!! ERR, I WON’T!! ERRR-”
“Whatever you say, Daddy!”
“THAT’S RIGHT! WHAT SHE SAID! I MEAN, WHAT YOU SAID! I WILL DO AS YOU SAID, BECAUSE I’M SUCH A GOOD LISTENER!!”
Asgore gave them both a warm smile. He reached a hand to each of their heads to stroke them, sending them his most affectionate Intent through his magic.
“And Papyrus.” Said child stood straight at the king’s address. “If you ever change your mind-”
“I WON’T!” Papyrus interjected, a determined look on his face. “NEVER!! I WILL BECOME A KNIGHT!! I PROMISE!! WHEN I GROW UP, I’M GONNA BECOME THE. GREATEST. ROYAL. KNIGHT. EVER!!! NYEH HEH HEH HEH HEH!!!”
Asgore could see that the young monster had his mind set on achieving his dream, and would not be dissuaded any time soon. The old king let out a resigned sigh, fondness curling his lips upwards.
“Golly! I have no doubt that you will, Papyrus.”
Papyrus puffed out his rib cage, a proud grin stretching wide across his skull.
“NYEH HEH HEH! THAT’S RIGHT! I WILL BE A GREAT KNIGHT!” he declared, eye sockets sparkling as he imagined his future heroic deeds and noble exploits. “I’LL GO ON ADVENTURES! AND QUESTS! I’LL SOLVE PUZZLES! FIND TREASURES! FIGHT OFF BAD GUYS! AND SAVE THE PRINCESS (THAT’S FRISK)! AND THE KINGDOM! AND- AND- ERR…”
He paused, struggling to think of what other brave acts a great knight was expected to perform.
He looked to Frisk for help.
The human furrowed her brow in thought, trying to recall what her story books had to say about a knight’s duties.
“Well… in my books, after the brave knight saves the kingdom,” she pursed her lips, “he marries the princess.”
Asgore gave a jolt, feeling his fur stand on end.
Papyrus didn’t look too pleased, either, about what his friend had told him. “BUT- BUT… I DON’T THINK I WANNA MARRY YOU, FRISK! I DON’T LIKE YOU LIKE THAT.”
Frisk nodded her head in agreement. “I don’t like you like that either, Papy. And I’m not gonna marry you.” Her gaze then landed on Sans. Her face was set with determination. “When I grow up, I’m gonna marry Sans.”
Colour exploded across Sans’s skull in the fiercest blush Frisk had ever seen. He made a strange choking sound, before grabbing the edge of his hood and forcefully yanking it down his skull. He pulled on the strings until only a glimpse of his teeth remained. His bones were rattling.
Frisk stared at her best friend with wide eyes.
His reaction captivated her. She’d never seen him like that before, so… flustered. It was funny. And cute. And utterly delightful.
Frisk decided that she wanted to see him like that more often.
Her father’s reaction was far less entertaining, however.
Asgore fluttered around her in a panic, giving her desperate, pleading looks.
“Please, Frisk,” he begged his daughter. “You are far too young to think of such things! Please forget about thoughts of marriage, and just enjoy being a child!”
Frisk gave him a confused frown. “But it’s fun to imagine what I’m gonna do when I grow up. And Uncle Wingsy says it’s smart to ‘plan for the future’.”
Asgore shot his Royal Scientist a betrayed look.
WingDings coughed nervously into his hand. He avoided his king’s gaze.
Asgore returned his attention to his daughter, hoping that a different tactic might prove more fruitful.
“But why do you want to marry Sans?” He wrung his hands, unable to keep them still. “It cannot be just because he gave you a nice present!”
Frisk looked offended at the suggestion. “‘Course not! It’s ‘cause I want a happily ever after.”
Asgore blinked. “What?”
Frisk sighed dramatically, as if her father was being deliberately slow.
“A happily ever after. Like in the stories you read to me.” At her father’s blank look, Frisk explained, with all the patience a five-year-old could muster. “At the end of the story, the heroes get married and live happily ever after. I want that too! And Sans always knows how to make me happy. So, when we get married,” another choking sound came from the vicinity of Sans’s hood, which went ignored by all, “he’ll know how to get us a happily ever after!”
Well, then.
Asgore’s shoulders slumped.
He couldn’t fault his daughter for her logic, as simplistic and childish as it was. It did make a certain kind of sense, he supposed. To a young child, at least.
“Also!” Frisk continued, blissfully ignorant of the dark cloud hanging over her father’s head. “When I marry Sans, Papy will be my brother, and I really, really, really want Papy as my brother. I know he’ll be the coolest brother ever!”
The smile her words brought to Papyrus’s face was a stark contrast to Asgore’s dour mien.
“WOWIE!!” The young skeleton monster clasped the sides of his skull, as a blush rose to his cheekbones. “YOU’RE RIGHT, FRISK!! WE CAN BE BROTHER AND SISTER!! NYEH HEH HEH!! I KNOW YOU’LL BE THE COOLEST SISTER EVER!!”
Their exchange finally managed to get Sans to peek his (still blushing) face out from within the confines of his hoodie.
Coherent speech remained beyond his reach, however, as he could only grunt in agreement.
“And, and!” Frisk could barely contain her excitement, as thoughts of her perfect future danced across her mind’s eye. “Uncle Wingsy will be my second daddy!” WingDings gave a start, his eye sockets widening. “We’ll be one big family! The best family ever!!”
Asgore couldn’t help but smile at that, albeit weakly. “Golly. That sounds neato.”
Frisk giggled, bouncing on the balls of her feet.
Asgore gave a deep sigh, resignation settling heavy on his Soul.
Oh well. At least his daughter was happy.
_____
The group decided to walk back to Asgore's Castle.
A lot had happened that day, and they’d all silently agreed that the walk back home would help them all process the events of the day.
The children had also begged their parents for a sleepover - none of them were eager to be separated from each other after their earlier fight with the fearsome Undyne. Both fathers had agreed without hesitation.
It hadn’t taken long for the day’s excitement - and her prior distress - to catch up to Frisk. When she’d started yawning, her father had offered to carry her, and she’d quickly fallen asleep in his arms.
Feeling rather exhausted himself after all that had happened, Asgore held Frisk close, letting her head rest on his shoulder, her peaceful face tucked into the crook of his neck. He had a large hand on her back, to make sure she wouldn’t slip. The king could feel his child’s Soul beneath his fingers, still as strong as ever.
The goat monster allowed his daughter’s warmth and the sound of her soft snores to wash over his tired Soul like a balm.
When he felt WingDings fall into step beside him, Asgore glanced over.
The skeleton monster was looking ahead of him, eyelights fixed on the forms of his two sons.
Papyrus was talking animatedly to Sans, slowly coaxing his older brother out of hood town.
Asgore fought back his instinctive frown at the sight of the monster who would one day steal his daughter away from him. He reminded himself that it wasn’t the child’s fault that Frisk’s hopes and dreams involved a future with Sans.
Asgore would just have to get used to the idea.
He grimaced.
That didn’t mean he had to like it, though.
The king’s ears perked up when his old friend finally chose to speak.
“I ADMIT THAT I MAY HAVE BEEN… WRONG,” Wings’s face twisted unpleasantly as he uttered that last word, “ABOUT FRISK EVENTUALLY CHANGING HER MIND ABOUT SANS, AND FORGETTING ALL ABOUT HER PLANS. I KNOW HER WELL ENOUGH TO RECOGNISE THAT THIS IS NOT SIMPLY A CHILDISH WHIM. THOUGH I SUPPOSE THAT THERE IS STILL A CHANCE THAT SHE MAY CHANGE HER MIND IN THE FUTURE.” He looked doubtful about that possibility, however.
Asgore wasn’t in the slightest bit happy about his friend’s admission.
His Soul instinctively reached out to his daughter’s, and wrapped it in his magic, his Intent both protective and possessive.
He would need to learn to let go in time.
But not today.
Not yet.
He would hold his little girl close for as long as he could.
“HOWEVER,” WingDings continued, “I WAS RIGHT THAT FRISK WOULD BE FINE.”
Asgore shot his friend an incredulous look.
WingDings smirked back at him.
“FRISK IS UNHARMED,” the old skeleton monster pointed out. “MY SONS DID A FINE JOB PROTECTING HER. GRANTED, HER HEADBAND DID GET DAMAGED. HOWEVER! THAT IS AN EASY FIX. I WILL HAVE IT REPAIRED BY TOMORROW MORNING. AND! BEST OF ALL! FRISK MADE A NEW… FRIEND.” A dark look flashed across his face, but it was gone before Asgore could be certain of what he’d seen. The scientist’s self-satisfied grin soon returned to his face. “ALL IN ALL... EVERYTHING TURNED OUT JUST FINE!”
Asgore gave Wings a long, hard stare, before he actually started to consider his friend’s words.
Frisk had managed to avoid being hurt when she’d been attacked. She’d evaded the other girl’s bullets for long enough for her friends to come to her aid. The Gaster children had then successfully kept his daughter safe during their entire fight, despite the damage wrought to their environment. And in the end, Frisk had even managed to befriend her attacker!
A smile slowly dawned across Asgore’s face.
His little girl had made a new friend on her very first day of school! That was marvellous! He was so proud of her.
Asgore felt his daughter shift slightly in his arms. A small hand reached out to grab hold of his beard, and tiny fingers tangled themselves in the long, golden strands. Frisk’s soft snores continued to echo in his ears.
Warmth curled in his Soul, a blissful contentment that made it glow, unseen in his chest.
Asgore hummed a quiet tune to himself.
WingDings was right.
Everything had turned out just fine.
______________________________________
TLDR from AO3: Undyne's in this fic now. Headmaster has name and lore, but they didn't matter to the story so were omitted. Deltarune and fangames won't be prominently referenced, because this is an Undertale fic. If no one motivates me to keep writing, then I'm going at my own pace and having fun with Fields of Mistria, until the urge to write ambushes me again.
