“DAD!” The little skeleton ran up to his father and leapt into his arms. The king laughed and hugged him. “How did your lesson go, Papyrus?”

“I DID EVERYTHING ASGORE GAVE ME IN NO TIME FLAT! EVEN THE WORD SEARCH!” Papyrus waved the paper around. “I ALSO DREW A PICTURE FOR YOU ON IT!”

Gaster turned the paper over. He, Papyrus, and Sans were drawn on it, all smiling. Besides them were the words “KINGS OF AWESOME!”

“This is lovely, Papyrus! I’ll hang this up.” Gaster patted his son’s head, who giggled.

Just then, Asgore came up to them, closely followed by Toriel and Sans. “Please don’t run off so quickly, Papyrus,” Asgore said, wiping some sweat off his brow.

“hey dad, i wanna ask you a question. what do you call crafts made by a skeleton?”

“Hm, I’m afraid I don’t know Sans. What’s the answer?”

“skull-tures.” With that, Sans broke out into a fit of giggles.

“SANS! OH MY GOD!” Papyrus’s eyes bugged out.

“Oh come now, Papyrus, it wasn’t that bad. In fact, I’d say it was,” Gaster winked. “Sans-sational.”

“DAAAAAAAAD!” Papyrus threw his arms into the air. “PUNS ARE SO DUMB!”

“then how come you’re smiling bro?”

“I WANT MY MOUTH TO STOP DOING SO!”

Toriel covered her mouth with her paw and chuckled. “You have to admit, Papyrus, that these puns are quite humerus.”

Papyrus groaned in frustration. “YOU GUYS ARE ALL GIANT DORKS!”

Gaster, Sans, and Toriel all laughed. After they had calmed down, Toriel spoke. “Since dinner will be soon, I thought that I would make some pie for it. And I think I would appreciate some helpers.” She looked down at the skeleton kids. “Would you two like to help?”

Papyrus’s face immediately became excited. “OOO OOO OOO ME! YES! I CAN HELP! I CAN COOK PIES GREAT!”

“yeah, mrs. dreemurr. that sounds great.”

“Splendid!” She took their hands, then looked up at Gaster. “Don’t worry. I’ll make sure the kitchen won’t become too messy.” She reassured him, before heading off to the kitchens with the brothers in tow.

Once they were out of sight, Gaster handed two envelopes to Asgore. “Here are the boys’ letters to Santa. Papyrus very much wants that limited edition Captain Shinester action figure. Sans also wants some trombone polish.”

Asgore took the envelopes and nodded. “Noted.” He looked in the direction his wife and the brothers had went and smiled. “Your boys are very bright. They get that from you.”

Gaster smiled back. “Thank you, old friend. But how they have good tutors is also important. I thank you and Toriel for teaching them well.”

“You’re very welcome,” Asgore said. “They will be very great scholars when they grow up, Sans especially.”

“Yes, though I think Sans would be studying more interesting subjects than the 15 uses of water sausages.”

“You listened to me talk about them for over 2 hours!” Asgore laughed heartily and clapped Gaster on the shoulder.

“It’s not my fault you have such an engrossing voice.”

They both laughed. Asgore wiped a tear from his eye. “You know, seeing you with Sans and Papyrus…me and Tori have been thinking about having children of our own.”

“Oh!” Gaster gasped lightly. “That sounds wonderful! Sans and Papyrus would love to have a new playmate…I’m betting your child would be the cutest bundle of joy as well. I am going to be made godfather, right?”

“Of course, old friend. Who else could I choose?”

“Thank you.” The skeleton said with a warm smile.

“…You know, I kind of miss the times where we would study together. How about we get together and do that again, just for once?”

“I would love to, Asgore. But as king, I have many duties to attend to. I don’t have a lot of free time, even for spending time with my sons…But I will see what I can do. And if we do get the chance to pore over books together, I want to enjoy some of your famous tea then too.”

“I promise I’ll give you some. Now, we should probably check on those mischievous princes now.”

They went down to the kitchens together. Upon seeing them, Papyrus waved at them. “HI DAD! HI MR. DREEMURR! LOOK!” he held out his creation to them. “I STUFFED IT FULL OF SPAGHETTI!”

Gaster looked at it, then at Toriel, who was holding a perfect pie, as usual. “He is getting better,” she mouthed at him. He then glanced at Sans, whose pie was lopsided, but still smelled good. A smile came to the king’s face. Everything was just perfect the way it was.

X

“Please tell me you have good news,”

Curtis shook his head. “I’m afraid not, my king. The humans are muttering dark things…”

Gaster rubbed the space between his eyeholes. “Surely they understand. Surely they understand that poor girl’s death was just an accident…”

“Even so, they are still angry.” The advisor said somberly. “And afraid. They want retribution for her death, and they want to eliminate the possibility that it will happen again.”

“They are insane,” Gaster muttered. “They wish to punish us all for the mistake of one monster?”

“You must remember sir,” Curtis said, “That humans are prone to acting irrationally in the face of fear. They have always feared us, for our magic, for our ability to absorb their SOULs…”

“All these years of peaceful coexistence…Are they really to be undone in a flash, because of one human death?”

“Perhaps not, sir,” Curtis tried to reassure him. “Humans can get very worked up over things, but they can just as quickly forget about them. Humans die all the time, don’t they? Perhaps they will eventually forget about this.”

“We can only hope.”

Just then, shouts came from down from the hall. It led to the throne room, it sounded as though the whole court was in uproar.

Gaster and Curtis rushed down the hall. “What is going on?” The king shouted when they entered.

One monster pointed at the center of the throne room. One of the king’s messengers was there. He looked as though he had just got back from a long run, and he was very distraught.

“Your majesty,” the messenger bowed. “I have grave news. The humans, they attacked Haven. Everyone has been reduced to dust…” He covered his face with his hands and began to weep.

X

A few weeks had passed since the humans had declared war on the monsters, and things were not looking good. The humans had rampaged through more cities, destroying everyone who lived there as though they were a tidal wave.

At the moment, the skeleton king was heading back to his office, piles of scrolls in his arms. Gaster was not relishing the thought of going through them.

The sounds of someone running came from behind him. “Gaster!”

He turned to see who was running up to him. “Toriel? Has something happened?”

Toriel kneeled down. “My king, I wish to join the Royal Guard.”

Gaster blinked, surprised. “Rise, Toriel. I only have one question…Why do you? You’ve never struck me as the combative type before.”

The goat monster stood, looking somber. “Believe me, I don’t relish the thought of killing anybody. But I can see that this war will have many casualties. I can’t just stay here in the castle, safe, knowing that people are dying out there…” She sighed. “I have to protect them. I have to save them.”

“Have…have you spoken to Asgore about this already? And why come to me, instead of Captain Pyron?”

“I have talked to Gorey. He supports my decision,” A slight smile came to her face, but it quickly disappeared. “And Captain Pyron as well. He dismissed me, asking what a royal tutor would contribute to the battlefield. I came to you for a personal appeal.”

“I see,” Gaster nodded. “How about we go talk to him together then, after I drop this paperwork off?”

Toriel chuckled. “Of course.”

X

“Here are those supply reports you wanted.”

Gaster didn’t even look up from the report he was already reading, only grunting in acknowledgment when Asgore added to the growing pile of paperwork he had yet to go through. Yet Asgore did not leave after dropping the reports off.

“You look very stressed, my friend. I think having some tea would do you some good.”

“I appreciate the offer, Asgore,” Gaster said, still not looking up as he picked up a new paper. “But as you can see, I’m very busy.”

“You’re working yourself to the bone, is what you’re doing. Please, take a break, I can tell you desperately need it.”

Gaster finally glanced up at Asgore, and gave him a long look before sighing and taking his glasses off. “Alright, fine. But just this once. Afterwards I’m getting right back to work.”

Gaster got up from his desk and followed Asgore to the balcony. “What would you like, my king,” Asgore asked as they took seats across from each other. “Orange? Sea tea? Golden Flower?”

“Vanilla Oolong please, with some cream.”

“Coming right up.”

Asgore prepared the tea right there, and handed Gaster his cup. He sipped from his cup, and looked out at the view before them. “The sunset is lovely today…”

“It is…”

“Gaster? Your hands are shaking.”

Gaster silently cursed himself, and set his cup down before he could spill his drink. He tried to still his trembling, holding his hands tightly. Asgore reached out and patted him on the shoulder. “Let it out, old friend. Let it out.”

Gaster buried his face in his hands. “Every day. Every day I have to face the fact that we are losing this war badly. I try and I try, and nothing I have done has improved things any. I look out the window, and I wonder, is this the last time monsterkind will ever see the sun? I need help, old friend. No,” he shook his head. “What I need is a miracle.”

Asgore held Gaster as the king’s body shook. When the skeleton had calmed down, Asgore spoke. “You’re doing your best in a bad situation, my friend. It may not seem like it, but your efforts have saved many lives. To be honest, if I was in your place, I’m not sure what I would do.”

“It’s everyone out there who has been doing more to save people. Like your wife, for instance, or even your help handling logistics.”

“You shouldn’t put yourself down, my friend. Though it is true that Tori’s been doing great at the being a hero thing. I’ll pass on your appreciation to her.” Asgore smiled slightly. “And really, logistics is very dull work.”

“I thank you anyway,” Gaster picked his cup up and finished his tea. “And thank you for the tea. I must be going now.”

The king hurried back to his office. Asgore watched him leave and sighed. “No one deserves the weight you’ve been saddled with, my friend… I wish I could lift it from your shoulders…”

X

Gaster watched his sons duel with each other. Because of the war, he had to train them in more offensive magic. As he watched them, he felt both pride and bitterness in his heart. Pride at his sons’ skill and power, bitterness at the necessity of this. If it weren’t for this war, he mused, I’d be giving them etiquette lessons instead of teaching them how to fight.

Sans lost his footing on his last dodge, and Papyrus turned his SOUL blue before he could fall into the array of bones sticking out of the ground. Papyrus gently set Sans down on the ground before making the bones vanish.

“HA HA! THE GREAT PAPYRUS WINS AGAIN!”

“you sure did pap. what does this make it? six out of ten?”

“I’M PRETTY SURE THE RECORD IS EIGHT OUT OF TEN IN MY FAVOR!”

“That was very good, boys,” Gaster said, walking up to them. “You’ve made great progress since I started training you. Now, I think it’s time you learn my most powerful spell.”

“OOO! WHAT IS IT DAD?”

“I’ll show you. Follow me.” Gaster led them over to the training dummies. He concentrated, and his eyes began to glow, one blue, one orange. Giant demonic skulls appeared in the air, and with a flick of a finger, they fired huge beams of energy at a dummy, leaving it severely singed.

“THAT…WAS SO COOL, DAD!”

“yeah, sure was something.”

“I call them Gaster Blasters. As you can see, they can do massive amounts of damage. So keep this in mind; never aim them at anything you’re not willing to kill.”

Papyrus paused. “KILL…? BUT WHY WOULD YOU EVER WANT TO KILL SOMEONE?”

Gaster looked away from him. “If that person had done many bad things…”

“hey dad.” Sans interrupted. “how did you summon them again?”

Gaster showed them how to summon and use the Gaster Blasters. “Well done,” he said when they reduced the training dummies to charred bits of cloth. “Now, I think is the appropriate time for you to be sent out there, instead of sitting here at the castle all day.

“Sans,” he turned to his eldest first. “I want you to join Toriel in defending the eastern borders of the kingdom.”

“AW! I WANTED TO JOIN TORIEL! SHE’S DOING ALL THE COOL STUFF!”

“Papyrus, you don’t have to be so disappointed. I have an equally important job for you in mind.”

“REALLY?”

“Yes. I am sending you to the southern mazes, where you will help create puzzles that will foil human attacks.”

“CREATE PUZZLES…? YES. YES YES YES YES YES!” Papyrus’s eyes bugged out in excitement, and he saluted his father. “I WON’T LET YOU DOWN DAD!”

Unable to stop himself from smiling in the face of his son’s enthusiasm, Gaster hugged his sons. “You’ll be leaving tomorrow. Stay safe, the both of you.”

“we will, dad.”

“YEAH, WE WILL.”

X

“They should be here soon…”

Gaster glanced down at Toriel from his seat on his horse. She had quickly risen through the ranks, and now she was Captain of the Royal Guard. In her armor, and with her trident in hand, she made for an imposing figure.

The king looked back towards the field. The humans had actually agreed to a face-to-face meeting, and they were to discuss an end to the war.

When the monsters had arrived, there was no one waiting for them. They had waited for the humans to show up, and by now the sun was starting to set.

Gaster felt a sudden sense of dread. Was this an ambush? Had he fallen for one of the humans’ tricks? Had he just doomed everyone who had come with him?

“I don’t think they’re coming. We should head back…”

Toriel nodded, and helped everyone start the long march home. But she heard the hiss of the arrow first, and, thinking quickly, roughly shoved Gaster off his mount, who had already turned around. The arrow passed through the spot where the king’s head had been moments before, and soon, a whole hail of arrows followed it.

Toriel began to shout orders to organize the panicking monsters into a retreat. “Abbot! Take the king, bring him somewhere safe,” she handed Gaster off to the guard, then blew away several arrows with a fireball. “Everyone else, surround us so that you can stop any attacks coming at us!”

The guards did as they were told, and despite the chaos of the situation, they ferried everyone to safety. Gaster pulled away from Abbot and approached Toriel, who was currently healing a monster who had gotten injured in the getaway.

“How many dead?”

“Ten,” Toriel said grimly. “And because of the confusion of the ambush, we won’t be able to gather up all their dust to send back to their families…”

“We’ll honor them as best as we can. Toriel, thank you for saving me. My boys would have been left without their father, and Sans is not ready for the responsibility of king, let alone leading the kingdom out of a war…”

“It was only my duty, your majesty, as is everyone else’s. Now, let’s hurry home.”

X

More refugees have arrived, adding to the growing crowds. It is incredibly slow and difficult to process them all. Flip.

Humans still sieging us. Shoot at anyone who so much as sticks their nose out. Supplies running low. Requesting aid to be sent to our position. Flip.

CASUALTY REPORT: KIA: BLUEBELL, DAHLIA, IVORY, BRIAR, WISP, ONYX –

The door to Gaster’s office opened, and the king looked up from the papers he had been reading. There was Papyrus in the doorway, holding a tray of food in his hands. He and Sans had recently returned home, but they would soon be going back to the battlefield.

“HEY DAD,” Papyrus smiled, setting the tray down on the desk. “YOU DIDN’T COME DOWN FOR DINNER, SO I BOUGHT IT TO YOU.”

“Thank you, Papyrus,” Gaster murmured even as he pushed the tray to the side. He massaged his temples; a headache had been throbbing in his skull for several hours now.

The gesture did not go unnoticed. “DAD? YOU’RE LOOKING REALLY TIRED. I THINK YOU NEED TO REST A BIT…”

“No, no,” he waved off his son’s concerns. “I’m fine.” To try and convince Papyrus of this, he took a small bite out of the food he had been brought.

“O…KAY.” The prince turned to leave.

“Wait. I have orders for you to deliver to Captain Grillby’s unit.”

“WHAT ARE THEY?”

“I want him to attack the human city Tol Alnur. I want it burned to the ground.”

“…WHAT?”

“You heard me. I want everything in that city reduced to ash. There will be no mercy for anything.”

“…DAD, DOESN’T THAT SEEM A LITTLE…EXTREME?”

“Papyrus, why are you still standing there? I told you to go do something, and I expect you to do it.”

“BUT DAD, IT’S WRONG! IT’S BRUTAL, IT’S NOT GOING TO HELP-”

“BE QUIET!” Gaster smashed his fist onto the desk, hard enough to knock off the framed picture he kept of his family off it. The sound of the glass shattering made both skeletons look at the remains of the photo. Gaster got out of his chair and picked the picture up from the ground, fingers tracing his sons’ faces.

“It may not be right,” Gaster said softly. “But it is necessary. There is a difference between that and the morally right thing to do. Right now, the humans are taking everything from us. They’ve invaded our lands, they’ve destroyed our cities, they’ve hunted us down. We’ve only been able to retreat in the face of that. But no more! I have drawn the line, this far, no further! I am going to hurt them, make them pay for what they have done!”

He took a deep breath. “This is why I am glad Sans is your older brother, Papyrus. He understands what the difference between necessary things and moral things are. You never would.”

“…RIGHT…” Papyrus turned, so that Gaster wouldn’t be able to see the look on his face. “I’LL PASS ON YOUR ORDERS, D– SIR.”

The prince left the office, closing the door behind him. Gaster put the photo back on his desk, and covered his eyes.

“I can live with it,” he said to himself. “For the sake of everyone, I will learn to live with it.”

Papyrus headed to his brother’s room, and knocked, hoping that he was awake.

“who’s there?”

“SANS, IT’S ME. CAN I ASK YOU SOMETHING?”

“sure.” Sans opened the door to let his brother in. “hey, what’s with that look?”

“IT’S NOTHING,” Papyrus sighed. “I JUST WANTED TO ASK YOU IF YOU COULD READ ME ‘PEEK-A-BOO WITH FLUFFY BUNNY' TONIGHT. YOU KNOW, SINCE DAD’S BUSY AND ALL…”

“sure i can, bro. tell you what, any time dad can’t read your bedtime story, come to me. i’ll read it for you.”

“THANKS BROTHER.”

X

“Everyone single file! We don’t want anyone to get lost!”

Toriel’s shouted order, along with her guards keeping everyone together, managed to keep things relatively calm, even with the palpable fear in the atmosphere.

“DAD!” Papyrus pushed past the crowd, followed closely by Sans. They both hugged their father, tears in their eyes.

“DAD, PLEASE, DON’T STAY OUT HERE! COME WITH US, IT’S SAFE THERE!”

“dad, the humans will kill you! papyrus is right, you need to get in with us! we need you, everyone needs you! we can’t lose you…”

“Sans, Papyrus...” Gaster returned their embraces. “I’m sorry, but the humans need to be held back. But you needn’t worry about me so much. I can handle myself just fine. And besides, I’m not alone.”

He placed his hands on their shoulders. “I have an important job for you two; help Toriel keep everyone calm. The last thing we need is everyone panicking.”

He gently butted foreheads with his sons before stepping back from them. “I’ll be back soon, alright?”

His sons watched him turn to face the advancing humans, reluctant to actually leave. Then, they retreated into the cavern, leaving behind Gaster and the guards who had volunteered to stay behind with him.

The humans charged forth, and Gaster’s eyes started to glow. He waved his hand, turning their SOULs blue. They stumbled, affected by the sudden shift in gravity, and the guards took the opportunity to unleash their magical attacks on them. Gaster then swept his hand up, making bones erupt from the ground, impaling a few unlucky humans.

But some humans had managed to dodge the barrage, and it seemed as though the sight of their fellows’ blood spilled onto the ground inflamed them more. They let out their war cries and attacked, their swords shining with the light of the setting sun. Fuelled by the humans’ rage, the attacks that connected inflicted severe injuries, but the monsters did not give up just yet. Again and again, they sent out waves and waves of bullets, hoping to either force the humans to retreat or kill them outright.

Yet one by one, they fell. First was Talan, stabbed through the chest. Next was Dusk, head sliced cleanly off. Then Venen, slashed in half. Their dust scattered to the wind.

Soon, only the king was left. Gaster swept his hand through the air, changing gravity on the humans and slamming them into walls of bones. He summoned Gaster Blasters and they vaporized more humans. He dodged and blocked their attacks as best as he could, but he knew that he couldn’t keep this up forever.

He heard a scraping noise behind him, and whipped around. A human had crawled behind him while he was occupied with fighting his comrades, and had rose up, swinging his sword. Gaster summoned a bone and parried the blade. But the human then pulled out a knife, and before the skeleton could react, the human stabbed him in the skull.

9999999

The human dragged the blade down into Gaster’s right eye socket before pulling it out. The king fell to his knees, hand covering the wound. He could feel his body threatening to scatter into a million pieces.

But there was a burning feeling in his soul. He couldn’t describe it, but he knew that it wouldn’t let him die just yet. He pushed himself off the ground, and, with thoughts of his family and people, felt the burning feeling get stronger.

The lights in his eyes reignited, shining more brightly than they ever had before. He summoned a Gaster Blaster, and blasted the human who had stabbed him into oblivion.

He threw his hand down, slamming several incoming humans down into the ground. He flung them through the air, sending them into walls of bones, and smacking into each other. Then, for the finale, he summoned a whole horde of Gaster Blasters. They fired their lasers, and as they did so, Gaster felt the bone under his left eye crack open.

That final assault seemed to have finally scared the humans off, as they were retreating. Gaster let his arms drop to his sides, panting hard. The cracks in his head hurt very much as he stumbled into the cavern.

It wasn’t long before he noticed that there seemed to be something obscuring his vision, around his right eye. He touched the spot, and when his fingers came away, he saw that they were covered in white goo. And what was more, there were new droplets forming on his fingers.

Next, he felt the right side of his face starting to droop. His fingers were less distinct now, and with every step he could feel bits of his body dripping off and splashing onto the ground. Before long his legs gave out entirely, and he was forced to crawl along the ground.

Please, he thought desperately. Not yet, not until I see my sons.

Finally he could see lights up ahead. As he stumbled into view, the other monsters broke out into frightened whispers.

“Who is that?!”

“It’s wearing a crown, is that the king?”

“How did he get that way?”

“DAD!”

“oh my god, dad, what happened to you?”

There were his sons, looking absolutely terrified as they ran up to him. In spite of his state, they hugged him, and he returned their embraces, wrapping what was left of his arms around them.

He looked up at them, into their worried faces. “My sons...” He gently touched their faces with what was left of his hands, and despite what was happening to him, he smiled. “I love you. Take care of each other.”

With that, the King of the Monsters finally became dust, only leaving behind a crown and his robes behind.

BONUS:

ENTRY NUMBER 15

It’s been a few weeks since the Determination injections, and now, everyone who was once on the brink of falling down is now walking and talking. They seem healthy, both physically and mentally. It’s a miracle, really, that the injections worked without any negative side effects.

But the results have gotten me thinking. If injecting someone on the brink of death with Determination will bring them back, hale and hearty, could Determination bring back someone who was already dead?

…Sans isn’t handling things very well, ever since his brother left. He’s doing his best to hide it, but I can tell that he’s very stressed out. But, if this works, he won’t have to shoulder the responsibility of being king anymore.

Asgore closed the window on his computer and went to the work table. On it laid a pile of dust, and by it, a flask full of Determination. He slowly poured the Determination over the dust, then waited.

The minutes went by, and the dust just sat there. Asgore waited some more, and still, nothing happened. He sighed. It looked as though as he’d done the equivalent of pouring red water over sand.

“It was a long shot in the first place,” he said to himself. He turned to leave, planning on doing some check-ups on the monsters before discharging them, then bringing the dust back to its proper resting place.

But before he could open the door, he heard something slithering behind him. The slithering stopped right behind him. Something wet landed on his shoulder. Then he heard a familiar voice speak, only it was raspy and broken up by static.

“DON'T YOU KNOW HOW TO GREET AN OLD FRIEND?”