Chapter Text

The void was glowing.

It was like the sparkling stones on the ceiling of the caverns in Waterfall, but instead of being embedded in stone the lights were spread around the void. There was also a noise like static, faint but recognizable. If Asriel focused, he swore he could hear the echoes of voices resonating in the void.

Asriel wasn’t sure what was going on, all he knew was that he was scared. In a sudden burst of static some of the shapes gathered, forming a hand, floating in the air while incomprehensible murmurs sounded from somewhere in the void. If he could have moved, Asriel would have ran away, but the void had no direction to run. Everything was disorienting, and the only landmark was that seemingly endless golden thread glowing way over his head. The hand shook, as if it was trying very hard to keep the shape, and gently pushed Asriel backwards. The contact produced a weird reaction; it was as if something was pulling from Asriel to some direction of the void.

It was too much for him to understand, the monster prince fainted out of fright. He didn’t see the hand dissolving, the specks falling into the void, nor the static fading into silence. Asriel would never find out how exactly he got out of the void.

It was better that way.

-ooooo-

Five days remained.

The first day was a day like any other. There was nothing special, no big thunder or a sudden earthquake or anything, and for most of the world that would remain like just another day in their lives. There was one single exception, though.

That exception strolled into their kitchen, sleepily going through the normal morning routine. There was nothing special that day to do, no plans or deadlines to meet. Just a day to do nothing of importance, lazing around and having nothing else to do other than waiting for it to end. Breakfast was simple, mostly a sandwich of random ingredients found around. The smell of warm cocoa filled the house, and once breakfast was ready the human took it all to the dining table, sipping the cocoa.

Without any thought in mind they sat and stretched their legs, finally noticing the one change in their house. The human froze, feeling more awake now. There was something under the dining table, and with some caution they peered underneath to see if they had left something there the night before. They stared for a few seconds before straightening and slowly standing up and walking to a window.

“...there’s a goat under the table”

They said that to the glass, mostly to confirm how absurd that sounded, and despite the completely strange situation they said that in the most dull and unsurprised tone they could manage. That was how they usually talked, that is how it had been for years. Their house could have burned to the ground and the only comment would have been ‘well that’s a bummer’.

Still, there was a creature underneath the table, so they focused back onto the situation. There were no horns but that was the first animal that came to their mind. After making sure they hadn’t added some abnormally strong liquor to their cocoa the human returned to the table, ready to find out what was going on. “Hey. H-Hey, you. Wake up...?” What does one say when one morning you suddenly find a weird creature in the house?

There was no answer. The goat was unconscious, maybe? The human timidly prodded it, once again no reaction. But it felt so...alive. Grabbing its clothes they dragged it from under the table until it was in plain sight.

It was the strangest thing they had ever seen in their life, but the human couldn’t avoid feeling some pity for it. It had the size of a child, it seemed pretty young. Anthropomorphic infant goats appearing out of nowhere, this was going to be a day to remember. Carefully the human lifted it, looking around to see where to put them. The floor was no place to rest, of course. The only option around was an armchair; since they lived alone there was no couch or large furniture in the living room.

It was an awkward sight. At least it was alive, so the situation wasn’t really that bad. Surely once it woke up everything would be alright, wouldn’t it? Telling that to themselves over and over they ate their breakfast, watching intently for any signs of the goat waking up.

It took a while but the goat child started to twitch, like it was slowly waking up from a bad dream. The human held their breath and froze, unsure of what would happen now. What reaction will it have when it sees it’s in an unknown place? They aren’t prepared to deal with a scared creature.

“...what...happened?” it said. Definitely a child, the voice confirmed it. The human started breathing again, it was better to calm it...him...calm him down before he panicked.

“You somehow got into my house. Don’t be afraid, I’m not mad at you” the human said, trying to look as non-accusing and harmless as possible. It didn’t matter; the surprise of hearing another voice startled him. The child got off the armchair in a hurry, clearly scared.

“I’m sorry! I don’t know how I got here!” he quickly apologized. The human shrugged and offered a patient smile. There were a couple more important questions to ask other than ‘how the heck did you get into my home?’, although that still was something they really wanted to know.

“Are you hurt or tired? You were unconscious when I found you” The question alarmed the child. He quickly looked around, not finding any wounds or problems.

“I’m fine, I think I’m fine. Where am I?” the unknown location was starting to be noticed. The child looked around in wonder. The living room wasn’t anything special; in fact it was pretty simple, but for some reason he looked...amazed.

“My home! Which I repeat, you kind of...snuck into, apparently” That sounded kind of rough.

He didn’t reply to that. Instead he walked to the window, looking outside at the sky. It was a beautiful day outside, very few clouds and overall seemed peaceful, but the child was staring like it was the most wonderful thing he had ever seen. Curious about what caused such reaction the human approached with their cup of cocoa and stood to his side, not finding anything really special outside. “What are you looking at?”

“The sunlight, it feels...it feels so warm...” he murmured, enthralled by the view “I never thought I’d see the sky...”



Now I know what he meant. I lost count how many times I have wished to see the sky again, I mean in person.

The human raised their eyebrows, intrigued, but didn’t comment about the clear amazement the child had. Instead they chalked it up to a quirk. He didn’t seem like he meant any harm. Sure, he was not human and therefore the human had no idea how to react or what to expect, but they felt relaxed. Like they knew the child wouldn’t dare to do any harm. Could he even do that?

They took another sip of the cocoa, both in silence for a while, just looking outside. “My name is Patta”

“I’m Asriel” he replied.

-ooooo-

It took quite a while for Asriel to finally stop looking at the sky. Patta had gotten bored and sat around, waiting for Asriel to be done with that, but once it was clear they were going to have to wait they retreated back into the kitchen. It was better to get onto the routine for the day while their unwanted guest observed the world outside.

They were busy trying to clean the stove when they heard a noise. Turning their head around they noticed Asriel had finally taken his eyes off the view, retreating onto the armchair again. He seemed pretty lost on what was going on.

Since he was in their home Patta felt responsible for Asriel...at least for the moment. They intended to get some answers and afterwards...get him out of their house? Or...something? They didn’t know yet. To try to encourage a relaxed atmosphere so he wouldn’t hesitate answering anything Patta took a mug of cocoa to his guest and bringing a chair for themselves. “Here. I got some questions, if you don’t mind”

Asriel took the mug, looking at the content with a dose of wariness. “S-Sure, what is it?”

“Okay, first than all: why did you get into my house?” To Patta that was the most important question right now. ‘How’ didn’t matter, what mattered was ‘why’. Just to faint under the table? Patta didn’t know much, but in his opinion Asriel seemed pretty healthy. Asriel shuddered, remembering the few minutes before he fell unconscious.

“...I don’t know. I don’t remember much” It was more like he didn’t want to remember much. It was all confusing and weird.

“Tell me what you remember, that could help”

“I...I don’t even know why I’m here over the surface. I remember I was in a black empty place, shortly after entering the CORE. There were two people...one was the Royal Scientist. The other one...I hadn’t met them before. They were using a lab coat and I never saw their face” Asriel experimentally tried a bit the warm cocoa, starting to relax “The scientist disappeared after a while, he was there and then he wasn’t, the one I didn’t know was standing there...I don’t know what happened to him, but after he was gone the void started to shine like it had many stars. The other one, the one with the coat...they started panicking. Like they were very afraid of something”

“Did any of them try to hurt you?”

“...I think the second one did. They tried to reach me but I ran away. The more I ran the more they panicked, until they started screaming that they...that they didn’t want to die, they started choking and...”

I didn’t want to die but attacking you wasn’t my intention at any point. Not that it matters now. I’m not alive or dead.

Patta mulled Asriel’s tale so far. It hadn’t explained absolutely anything; in fact it gave more questions than answers. Asriel took a moment to remember before continuing. “I wanted to help them; I really did...so I approached, but before I could get closer they died! I saw them explode, their dust just...floated around!”

Asriel seemed like he was going to break down in that moment, the hands gripping the mug trembled enough to spill some of the contents. Patta, invaded by a sudden feeling of compassion, slowly got nearer to him. It seemed like the right thing to do, show support. “Um, I’m sorry to hear that. Maybe you couldn’t save them either way...” How Asriel got into their house didn’t matter anymore. There were more important matters now.

“If I had approached sooner maybe I could have done something” Asriel started sobbing, Patta’s compassion increased.

“Or maybe they would have hurt you. It’s okay to feel compassion of somebody, but even then one needs to learn when to stop. You did nothing wrong” Patta hesitantly put their hand on the monster prince’s shoulder, not knowing how he’d react, and held until Asriel stopped sobbing.

When Asriel calmed down enough to continue, which needed more warm beverages and support, he was ready to continue his tale. “Somehow the dust kept the vague, um...the vague form of that person? I could only hear static, and the dust...formed images. I don’t know what they were; it seemed like a very grainy video. I don’t remember much other than that”

Patta had to admit it: they didn’t understand most of that. It sounded so strange and didn’t answer anything, they had no idea what happened. To them it sounded like Asriel had a very intense nightmare, but a nightmare didn’t explain his presence in their house. Something had happened in some sort of void and the result was that Asriel was sitting there on their armchair, trying to tell something that obviously had rattled him quite a bit. “I still think you did nothing wrong. Take a moment to calm down then we’ll continue talking if you want, okay?”

“No” Asriel said softly, shaking his head to give emphasis “I’m okay. Ask me anything”

“Okay, so...there were a few details from the beginning of all that you said. Stuff like ‘over the surface’ and ‘Dad’s castle’. And um, there’s also the detail of...” How does one ask that without offending people? “...of what you are? Because I don’t know” That was kind of blunt but Patta had no idea how else to ask it.

What followed was one of the most amazing things Patta had ever heard in their life. When Asriel said he was a monster Patta had to resist saying something sarcastic, but not soon after that it was clear there was something more than the definition of the word. It was a whole world trapped by a barrier created by human sorcerers; at least that’s what he understood. A barrier where anything can enter but nothing can come out.

Asriel seemed to be happier talking about his world. He described his parents, the King and Queen of All Monsters, and it was clear he loved them greatly. He noted that he’d love to have a sibling but it wasn’t easy for his species to procreate, although he didn’t know the exact details of why. He talked about New Home; Patta taking the chance to actually make a mildly sarcastic remark on the lack of originality of the name, Asriel laughing and admitting his father was terrible with names.

The war between humans and monsters was briefly touched because Asriel didn’t know a lot of details about that either. Patta hadn’t even heard a word of such thing, but what mattered is that right now there was peace, although monsters weren’t happy with their situation. If a human fell underground, somehow, nobody knew for sure what would happen.

Asriel was now much more relaxed. If it hadn’t been for what just half an hour ago he had been telling it would have been a pretty peaceful scene. “It’s amazing! A whole world of monsters living underground...I never thought such thing was possible!” Patta exclaimed, smiling widely. It had been nice to hear what Asriel had to say.

“I thought there were legends about monsters. Dad said the wars happened hundreds of years ago”

“Hundreds of years? No wonder I hadn’t heard a word about that. What did you say the mountain was called?”

“Mount Ebott” Asriel replied, leaving the empty mug aside. Patta looked through the window, thinking.

“I have never heard about that mountain either. Maybe its name got changed or it’s simply not nearby” Patta stood up “Now I understand why you were looking at the sky like that. It must have been a beautiful sight for somebody who has been underground for their whole life”

“Patta? Thank you for listening to me” Asriel said, very grateful. Patta nodded.

“It’s the right thing to do. Asriel, for as long as you’re here over the surface you can count on my help. I promise you that. In fact...” Patta tried to look as serious as possible “...maybe I could try to help you return home. It’s not a promise, but I could see what I could do”

“Really? I don’t know if I should walk outside between all the humans. It makes me a bit nervous”

“I don’t think you should, it’d be hard to explain. It’s already difficult to believe you’re sitting right here in front of me. But I’ll think of something, you’ll see” and they did intend to do that. Of course the first thing to do would be to find out where Mt. Ebott was. With some luck it wouldn’t be far from their house. To find out they’d need to check a good source of information. The nearby library would be their objective.

While Patta was looking around the kitchen for their keys Asriel’s natural child curiosity got the best of him, going around the house and looking at everything. There was not really a lot to see, Patta wasn’t somebody who decorated their home excessively. “Patta?

“What is it, kid?” they called while rummaging through a cabinet.

“Is this calendar correct?” The question made Patta go to the hallway, where a large calendar was. Asriel was looking at it intently and somehow seemed to be worried. The calendar was of impractical design, having to tear a piece of paper per day.

9th

“Oh, it’s not, kid” The negative answer brought Asriel some ease but it didn’t last long. Patta tore off the incorrect date, revealing the correct one.

10th

“There!” Patta made a ball with the discarded paper and threw it on the bin, but when they noticed Asriel was bothered by something they decided to ask what happened “Is there something wrong?”

“That’s not today’s date. I remember that it was the 15th”

“Really?” Patta shrugged “Doesn’t seem something to lose your sleep for”

“What time is it?” Asriel didn’t pay attention to Patta’s indifferent response, instead going further in his musing. Patta, still not knowing what the point of this was, looked at the kitchen clock.

“It’s almost 9:00 AM. What about that?”

“There’s something wrong here. I had lunch like two hours ago. It shouldn’t be this early”

“Do you even have mornings or afternoons underground? Those tend to rely on the sun” Patta asked quite discourteously. The only response was a confused shrug, but as this was nothing Patta could really understand they returned to what they were doing, finding their keys.

I think neither Asriel nor I ever understood the significance of the mystery regarding Asriel’s recollection of the date. But now...comparing this timeline to everything I know now, I can see there were several details that hint why this timeline is now an anomaly.

First, Asriel’s existence at this point. He should have existed a long time ago, but here he is displaced. Somehow he was born just ten years before these events. Second, Asriel never mentioned the SOULs. Asgore’s plan never existed. And days later more flaws became obvious...

“Kid, I’ll have to go out for a moment. I’ll find out where Mt. Ebott is, with some luck it’ll be nearby and not in, say, Australia”

“What’s an australia?” Asriel asked. Patta looked to a side, having forgotten they couldn’t expect a monster to know about human countries.

“I’ll explain later. Listen; feel free to go outside if you want. The back yard is safe, nobody will see you, but it’d be good if you don’t step onto the front yard. I won’t take long, alright?”

After making sure Asriel was fine with being left alone, as Patta wasn’t really willing to drag Asriel to come with them, having him to hide behind walls and trees as if he were taking part in a very bad stealth game, Patta exited their house. They looked around, finding the street empty.

The town was pretty friendly but Patta didn’t have a lot of hopes about Asriel going unnoticed. Sure, the kid was polite and likable, but it was likely some people would be reticent to accept him? It was better to help him get home. The surface wasn’t place for a single monster to live in, much less such a young one.

Humanity was good, Patta believed that, but even then...it wasn’t right for Asriel to live away of his family if there was a chance of returning to them. And Patta had decided they were going to take him home. That was the right thing to do.

With such thoughts they walked towards the town library, a few streets away.