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Bravery - Chapter Five

Aaand the fight goes on, over and over again. Sometimes Chara makes me sound insane, sometimes like an idiot, but Asriel still fights for me, and Chara just keeps on resetting. And the King and Queen always look unsure. It’s all so… boring… I decide to sit by the dogs on the stairs while everyone else, mostly Chara and Asriel, are arguing together about my future. I know I should be more interested, and I was at first, but after a while it becomes the same conversation over and over again.

During one really long rant where Chara’s saying that I’ve never cared for monsters and that I’m just using Asriel for my own ‘malicious and devious purposes’, the dog guards come over to me. They’re sniffing around me. What are they doing…? Dogamy licks his lips. Oh right, they can smell my emergency supply. I had to keep a supply of (dog) food in my pockets in case Chara forgot to feed me/took the food away. It happened a lot. Just as well she never found out about my secret stash. I smile at Dogamy and put my hand in my pockets. “You hungry?” I pull out some dog food. He sniffs it suspiciously. “Hey, it’s alright.” I eat one of the dried bones. Tastes like meaty cardboard, just like usual. It’s really bland after the burger I ate in Snowdin. I offer the food to Dogamy. He carefully eats one, his eyes widen, then he gobbles up the rest. He licks the dust from the dog food off my hand. I laugh. It really tickles! Dogaressa nudges me with her head and I give her food too. Before I know it, I’m petting them both. They both really feel like next-door’s Labrador. And they both love getting scratched behind the ears. And being patted. And slobbering everywhere. Guess dogs are the same, wherever you are. I grin at them. “You’re such good dogs! Who are good dogs?” “I am!” They both bark. And they do both bark it. It kinda hurt my ears. “Yes you are!” They both lick my face. “Haha, gross!”

It takes me a while to realise that the arguing’s stopped. I look up. Asriel and Asgore are looking at me like I’m the cutest thing they’ve ever seen. Toriel’s smiling softly. Reminds me of Mum’s smile whenever I showed off something new I learnt from school. Chara’s looking at me with hatred and… confusion? Asriel turns to her. “You were saying?” Chara’s eyes glow gold, but then it fades. Nothing’s changed. That’s… surprising. She sighs and looks at me like I’m something she found on the bottom of her shoe. “Human… it no longer matters to me what you choose to do. You may spend your meaningless existence here however you wish to, but remember that there is no escape from here. If you ever harm another monster, I will not be so merciful.”

With that she storms up the steps again. Now it’s just me and the royal family. I think they call themselves the Dreemurrs. Oh, and the crowd that gathered and watched everything happen. This whole thing wasn’t exactly private. I sigh in relief but then immediately tense up again. Oh wait, I could still go back to that room with Chara again if this goes badly. And it could. I have a bad track record with monsters. Just don’t punch anything or anyone… Be brave.

I take a deep breath, stroke the guard dogs one last time, then approach the royal family. My legs are shaking now. Asriel’s still smiling at me, but Asgore and Toriel Dreemurr have a more serious expression. It’s the same scary look that Asriel gave me, back in the old room. Asriel gets his red eyes from his Dad. It’ll take more than dog petting to get the King and Queen of the underground to let me stay here. Never thought I’d think that sentence. Toriel clears her throat. “Child, you have shown that your nature is not as malevolent as we were led to believe. However, before we grant you access, we must know… why did you kill those monsters when you first fell into the Underground?”

I tell them my story. My whole story from start to finish. My family, my brother’s friends, the dare, what I did and why… everything except Chara’s murders. If Asriel didn’t believe me, I don’t think they would, either. I apologise to them, just like how I apologised to him – saying exactly what I’m sorry for. Asriel tells them everything that happened after he found me. He leaves out the murder bit too. There’s silence. Oh god, they’re thinking about what to do with me. Please don’t send me back… don’t leave me with that psycho again… Then the King speaks. “This is a very unusual situation for us, Ashlin.“ “It’s Ash.” I pause, “Well it’s actually Aisling O’Neill, but everyone calls me Ash. But, uh… you can call me Aisling if you want. I don’t mind, I just… yeah…” “Oh okay. My name is Asgore and you can call me… Asgore.” We all laugh. “My name is Toriel. Nice to meet you.” “Nice to meet you guys too. I kinda… already know your names, but it really is nice meeting you.” I pause. Wait a second… Asgore and Toriel… Asriel… I turn to him. “Wait, is your name just your parents’ names joined up?!” Asriel freezes in shock. “Oh my god it is… I never realised!” “Who does that?!” Toriel looks at Asgore. I can’t really see through the fur, but I think he’s blushing. And he’s fidgeting with his ear. “Someone who cannot name for beans. He is also responsible for the names of the cities of Home, New Home and he also named Hotland.” “I-in my defence it is really hot there. No one complained about the names at the time!” Toriel hugs Asgore. “That is because everyone thinks you’re adorable, King Fluffybuns.” They nuzzle noses. It’s so sweet I think I’m going to throw up. Me and Asriel both look away. After a while they realise that we’re still there, in front of the crowd with them. Asgore coughs. “Anyhoo… what were we talking about again?” “You were… deciding my future…?” I say to him. “What? Oh yes, you can stay.” Really? Just like that? “What? Like, not in a dungeon or anything?” “Of course not! We don’t even have a dungeon!” “And I can go in and leave my room whenever I want?” “Yes, of course.” “And I won’t have to eat dog food anymore? I can have real food?” “… We will definitely have a word with Chara about all of this. But no, we will not give you dog food unless you really want it. I don’t believe I have ever said that sentence before. You will stay here and we will treat you as one of our own… on the condition that you never, ever, hurt a monster again.” There’s that look again. I nod my head. “I promise.”

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