Archive of Our Own

Chapter Text

“Oh it’s a few blocks down and then a left at the fountain. Get the Spider Kaiser with Spider Panchetta, really nice combo.”

Cter nods to the friendly ghost monster she asked for directions. “Thanks.” It nods back with a transparent smile, and then disappears into a nearby wall. Its legally demanded hardhat falls off its head with a clonk, but Cter’s learned enough from this strange future she’s found himself in to just let things be. She’s already embarrassed herself once already today by handing back a free sample since she wasn’t feeling peckish for that fangled soda thingy.

As she turns to leave towards the few blocks she has in front of her, a ghostly arm emerges from the nearby scaffolding, raising the fallen-off hardhat until there a big enough gap for it to fit through.

“Spider Kaiser with Spider Panchetta,” mutters the Boss Monster to herself as she replaces her crystal-made glasses onto her muzzle. The crystal is darkened slightly as to shield from the bright sun above. A nice summer day, but her eyes are a bit strained from yesterday, dried-up almost.

She got a lot out of her system yesterday, so taking a nice walk today will do her good.

Not everyday one gets to visit the place they’ve been buried, and frankly Cter’s not gonna make it a habit to be everyday.

A week of closing the book on what remained for the human Cter. An entire week of pouring salt into the wounds still left open, but it had to be done so that they do not fester. One week of tearing down the human that remains so that there can be fully monster left to continue. A line in the sand, never to walk back over. The march of time stops for naught, not even for those that slept through it for years uncomfortable to count.

It’s all around her, the passing of time. Raised high above her head, solid under her paws, moving past beside her faster than she could imagine. She’s becoming less and less a stranger in this new world with each passing day, using time to understand what time’s done. Among humans and monsters she walks, same as she did before, but it’s different.

A long felt-coat for the encroaching autumn drapes over her new body. With a new life, a new body, comes a new wardrobe, and although the jacket feels somewhat similar in weight and sway to what the human Cter wore, it’s of the day the monster Cter lives in.

Such a blend of the familiar and the unning of, and the crowning example of that, to her, is the Underground.

“So this is the history I helped create.”

Cter had been rather quiet during the tour of the Underground with her accompanying Monster Royal telling her about the different places and how they came to be after the vesselization of Monster Country. Them two enjoying the sunset in quiet gave Cter enough calm to manage the tour.

Seeing how far the monsters pushed into the dark, cavernous space was both inspiring and horrifying at the same time. They had to walk into a world darker, yet darker, because Cter failed to protect them. Yet they did face that darkness, and that’s why Cter didn’t give up on them.

Looking out over it all at the top of the castle in New Home brought a perspective that wasn’t new just because Cter had different eyes to see through or another type of soul to feel with. It gave her the sense that even though she had done something wrong, it still became right, in the end. Someone else believed in the monster too, just as much as she did.

Perhaps even more.

A mere child, saving an entire race. A mere child, undoing everything Cter had prepared for. A mere child, stronger than all of the humans of the past.

A mere child, making history of what Cter had accomplished.

“Were they truly just a mere child if they managed to defeat a god?” King Asriel had countered with a raised eyebrow. “A hypergod, to boot? And, yes, of course Frisk holds that over my head even to this day. After all they’ve done though, I think they deserve to.”

The Monster King’s words were wise, even if self-deprecating. He could laugh at it, which is something Cter should strive to do as well about her past too. She’s not there just yet though, but she’ll be, that she can feel. Not in the immediate future though, as the distant past she went to say goodbye to shortly after her visit to the Underground.

While the farewells were solemn, and tore at Cter’s heart and soul in ways she had never experienced before, it did her good. The pain wasn’t bad. The hurt didn’t scar. Old blood had to be let so that new blood could refill.

Or new dust, in Cter’s case.

“King Asgore, Queen Toriel,” said Cter as she knelt in front of the humble memorial to the Monster Royals that saw monsterkind through two different Surfaces and an Underground. “It’s me, Cter, your Fourth Monster Mage.” The memorial’s splendor was something magnificent, almost beyond words to describe. Still though it was humble in comparison to what the two Monster Royals had accomplished. Cter owed them everything, and she was going to pay that back.

“I am once again in the service of The Castle. Now I will serve monsterkind in ways I could not as a Monster Mage. I was not with you in the dark, and for that I apologize. I am here now, for the monsters. Always, and forever.”

A lone aspen tree rustled its leaves as she pledged herself to the Monster Royals of yore the same she had done to the Monster Royal stood behind her with his hands clasped in respect. Cter felt them in the wind, same as she had Sund. Their dust may be gone, but they weren’t, not truly. Their impact upon the world was too big for the world to forget. They lived on in the world around them, just like that old human view of death.

The wind was warm around Cter, touching gently at her Boss Monster form.

“Yes, I do look like you two now. The Monster Mage that didn’t have the influence of the Monster Royals upon her ended up the one most like the Monster Royals. I’m...getting used to it. Your son is helping me, and doing so quite well. It’s easy to tell that he is your son.”

The wind then moved past Cter, towards the Monster King stood in silent respect. He smiled at the wind, but didn’t speak. It was Cter’s visit, his would be afterwards.

“I...I am sorry for my failures as part of your Royal Council. I failed to protect the monsters. I can not apologize for what my failures lead to though, for I am of the memories and magic of Cter before she created the Barrier. While I will not apologize for it as to make sure this new life of mine stays new, I will express my utter remorse for my part leading up to it. This I will make right for the monsters, even if they will not know who I was. It will not be a burden upon me, rather a chance for me to further explore my studies in magic. It’s what drove me to become a Monster Mage, and now as a monster mage, I will continue to make sure that human magic is used for the good of monsterkind.”

Despite Cter’s prefacing that it was entirely her own choice to continue in the service of monsterkind, the warm wind still careened around her, rustling the aspen leaves even harder and sharper.

“I will be more careful this time around, I vow. I have been burned once, and I will make sure no one gets burned again. There was a cycle of human magic before your time, and there will be one once again. My contingency plan to make sure our cycle doesn’t repeat again didn’t go as I had written it to be, but I will make better of this situation I’ve found myself in. All that I truly ask of you are the best ways to brush my fur so that it straightens out the best. The rest, I’ll take care of.”

Cter pats at the fur on her cheek, unruly and puffy despite her best attempts with an iron comb. She could use magic to hold the fur down, but that feels to her like giving up on that fight. Learning how to be a monster means when and when not to use magic to solve her problems. Being a Monster Mage meant that her goals were to find as many solutions with magic as possible, but with changing times comes changing priorities.

Like replacing worn-out headstones with new ones as the previous humans became fallen down.

“I’m afraid our records don’t go that far back, my dear. Those were turbulent times as the kingdoms at the time were in disarray following the collapse of their peace treaty considering their disputed borders. While what you’ve shown me points to that this Kry was indeed buried here, his grave is surely to have been replaced with another one many times over. My apologies if that comes as a surprise to you, as a monster, but it is how our human customs are.”

It had always been word-for-word at the location where Cter’s search had led her to Kurant’s grave, previously. Like with that previous place she had thanked the holy man for his time and then asked if she could say a prayer in her own belief for the fallen down.

“That is an old belief, that of fallen down, but if it will bring you peace then I will not stop you. I am curious as to why a monster is searching for a long-ago buried human, but considering the amount of research you’ve done to find this quiet place at road’s end, I will not pry further. It pleases me that our cultures have commonality this deep-rooted, and I will treasure your visit greatly. While my believes may be different from yours or the one you seek, I will still pray for their peaceful rest.”

Cter appreciated the thought, but it still felt a bit awkward to her being called a monster directly. She had no problems being called that when she was a Monster Mage, but being one in soul too kinda put a bit of a finger on her situation. Still though, she appreciated the thought.

Unlike where she had looked for Kurant, Kry’s supposed burial site had a corner in the graveyard adorned with a stone plaque on a fountain of still water. Old, hardened wax stiffened-over made it difficult to read the plaque’s inscription, but with some fire magic she managed to melt away enough to read what the fountain was.

A small memorial to remember those that weren’t in the graveyard.

Next to the stone fountain, on a chair which Cter could’ve probably sat in as a human, was a small box of candles along with a coin box. Three candles amount of coins she deposited, adding for a fourth one after some thought.

The first three ones she arranged around the fountain, pinching their bases securely by melting them slightly with her magic. A quick snap later the candles’ wicks flickered alight, and she knelt down the same she did before the memorial for the Monster Royals.

“It’s me, my friends. It’s Cter. It’s…”

Those were all the words she could speak before her head crashed down into her hands. Tears which she had never felt before flowed between her fingers, dampening the cream-colored fur and dotting her clothes with dark spots. She didn’t know how to hold her new face, but it fell into her hands as if it had always done so. For an hour she wept, and the way her soul tore inside of her still pulsated within her even days later.

She pauses for a moment to collect herself as the green monster on the traffic light indicates for her to walk, and she has to jog slightly to make it over the zebra crossing before the traffic starts around her again. Again she pauses as she reaches the other side of the road, catching her unsteady breath.

“The green monster means we can go and the cars have to stop,” advises a monster child innocently as it walks past Cter. She’s a bit surprised by the friendly child, but she manages to smile back at them, and the same to their human father that apologizes with an amused shrug.

It’s funny, it’s not the first time a green monster has set Cter’s path right. Days before though it was a human that helped her onto the right path.

As she was laid distraught at the fountain memorial, the one that comforted her was the caretaker of the graveyard. The one that had allowed her to pray with her own beliefs came to her as she wrought her mourning loud and uncontrollable. He kept his distance, at first, but as her energy began to melt away from her, he approached with some water for her.

“You’ve held it in for a long while, haven’t you?”

She only had the strength to nod weakly.

“While I am not too familiar with how you monsters grief, I can tell that what fuels yours is that you blame yourself for it. It might not be what made it this powerful within you, but it is the tinder from which it has flared. I’m not one to tell you how to grief, no one is, but I’ve seen this before. I’ve felt it too, before. You might not think that you blame yourself, but that is how you feel, isn’t it, lady monster? I tell you to make you aware of it, so that you may process it better. Drink as much water as you want, I recommend too. You can refill it inside if you need to, as well.”

After a few, long minutes, she did just so. Walked with heavy legs and paws up to the human smiling warmly. He handed her a handkerchief which she ruined beyond saving, sighing as she used magic to move a nearby box of napkins over to her. It took almost the entire box for her to dry away the snot and sticky tears in her fur, balling them up into a big, greasy clump which she then ignited with a careful flame. The ashes from which she collected in the almost-empty napkin box.

“Feeling better?” asked the human with the refilled jug of water handed over to Cter. “Drink some more, please.”

She did, and emptied the jug once more in one, long gulp. Her quenched exhale echoed within the mostly empty building, bouncing against the old stone walls. In her time those walls would’ve been for the houses of the somewhat well-off monsters, plenty of which Donial had complained about regarding their demands for his designs.

He’d be mighty impressed with the buildings Cter walks past on her way to the Spider Café, that’s for sure.

“You’ve still others to grieve for, monster?” did the human ask as Cter had finished the refilled jug of water. He held out his hand to fill it once more, and again Cter handed it over. He didn’t go immediately though, he waited for her answer to his question. “You’ve got two more candles poking out of your pockets there. They’re not the same as the three you lit out at the fountain?”

No, they weren’t.

One of them Cter still has on her, in fact. Kept solid with a slight, slight application of ice magic around it. It was autumn, but summer still clung on in the sun.

Inside the stone walls though the temperature was cool and gentle. It did dry out her snotty fur rather quickly though, making it itch slightly. She wasn’t gonna scratch at it, as the last what she wanted was to make snot dandruff in front of the nice human saying the words she needed to hear.

“Yes,” she answered with her head low. “They’re different. I...don’t want to light these candles at the fountain.”

“Don’t want to remember them?”

Cter didn’t answer, but it was enough of one for the human. He nodded with understanding, flattening his bright robe against his stomach before leaning over the wooden pew in front of the one Cter sat herself in as she entered.

“Yet still you wish to pay your respects to them? Leave them behind?”

“I can’t have them with me no more. Those at the fountain I wish to still remember, but these,” says Cter while squeezing the two candles together in her pocket, “are ones I have to leave behind so that I can continue. One of them I’ve already accepted, but the other I’ve…”

How could she ever forget though? How could she leave someone behind who was her best friend?

Up until the end…

“She…” Cter had to pause to collect herself. It wasn’t a similar wrought of emotion like at the fountain, but more a void-full hollowness that squeezed at her soul from within. Another kind of pain, not the longing of something that could never be again, but that of something so bright in her life having turned the darkest of dark. So close in what they were in definition, yet so widely apart in how they wrought at her soul from two different angles. “She trusted in me enough to break our friendship.”

The human had hummed, deep in thought. His finger tapped on his upper lip, scratching at the groove underneath his tempered nose. Cter remembers it in detail, as she held her breath to hear what the human would say. She was still weak from the fountain, and had there been any monsters nearby they would’ve felt her aura oppressing theirs with how much uncontrolled emotion washed out from her.

“Then you have to trust her enough that she’ll accept you leaving her behind, if you need to. Trust goes both ways, and while you might not be friends no longer, you respected her trust when she needed you to. The same has to go for her with what you want to do now, otherwise she misplaced hers in you, which evidently she didn’t.”

Would Idyll be able to see Cter as a monster with her being one? Would Idyll still see Cter as a human even with cream-colored fur, long, heavy ears, and horns poking out at an angle out the top of her head? With what Cter did do to the Cter who’s name she took away, even if it was something Idyll asked directly, it was still an act so heinous and unforgivable.

Idyll trusted Cter to do it though.

Maybe she knew what Cter was planning? Maybe she could tell that Cter wouldn’t be able to join the monsters in the Underground? It’s what Cter wants to believe, but perhaps that’s another proof of her blaming herself for it all. That Idyll would go so far as to force her first child through such a dangerous and traumatizing experience as a favor to Cter doesn’t make sense. If she did, then Cter would feel even more terrible about it all. It’s all something Cter wants to leave behind in the past.

“Am I a bad person for wanting to forget her? Forget my best friend? Forget what she did to me?”

“Ultimately that is up to you to judge, lady monster. No one else can leave it behind. It’s something you carry within you, so only you should reach for it. You can ask for others to give their thoughts on the matter, but you yourself have the final judgment. It’s something that comes to one quick, however accepting it is what takes time. You’ve bought the candle though, monster. You’ve made the decision already. A ball in motion stays in motion unless acted upon by outside forces, so I will not act upon your decision. Look within yourself, and accept what you’ve already decided to do.”

With his hand flat on his chest for his robe’s sake, the human stood up from the pew and offered to refill Cter some more water again. An excuse for her to be alone, which she took. When the wooden door to the back of the old building closed behind the human, Cter stood up from the antique pew. She fished out one of the pair of candles in her pocket, letting it roll to a stop in her furred palm.

She rolls the last one in her pocket between her fingers as she waits for the another green monster to let her cross the street. To honor the decision she made, Cter thinks ahead to what happened after the human joined her after waiting another hour for her to feel like she was done. He again handed her the bottle of water, which she drank from. No questions she had for her of what she did, or what her judgment towards herself was. It was for her to have, and only her.

“I can sense in your aura that you’ve come to consensus, of which I am happy for you. I am honored that you found peace within this place which I care for. Feel free to stay for longer, but if you feel that you’ve done enough here, then I only ask that you take this day with you into your future. Should you find yourself nearby in said future, please come and visit again. I can tell that you have an air of importance, lady monster.”

Thankfully she finally got her new set of clothes shortly afterwards. Being recognized as important just because of the clothes she wore she might’ve appreciated when she was a Monster Mage, but as a monster she hasn’t really done anything yet. What she has now is unmistakably from that of the current times, but she just could not help herself with adorning the coat with the Delta Rune. Not boastful, but more as a design choice.

Her new position is not as outgoing and boastful as her previous one as a Monster Mage, after all.

There was something else that the human said that rubbed her the wrong way though, and that was when he mentioned that he could feel her aura. Now, that could just have been a figure of speech for the humans in this time, but it still had her taking notice. She didn’t feel anything other than inert from his soul, and in fact struggled to even sense one to begin with. Could be a consequence of hers being weaker than before though.

Cter caught herself feeling a bit...off-put by the notion of the human sensing her aura. Not in a sense that another cycle of human magic might spell disaster if it springs up this early into the humans and the monsters’ rekindled friendship, but more in a...personal sense?

Like there was a slight fear in her that a human would be able to wield the one thing she might be more powerful than him in.

Same as how it was in her human time by some monsters. A fear of humanity, already beyond more powerful than any monster could ever be, wielding the very essence of monsterkind. She was born into an age where that fear had been calmed by the Cooperative Connection, but from what she saw in Frioke’s memories, it was a legitimate fear that the monsters had. Controlling human magic by shackling it with a lie that it could only be achieved via friendship with monster was a brilliant idea.

It wasn’t the correct one though. It might have taken several human generations for the idea’s brilliance to start showing signs of rust and fraying at its edges, and perhaps it was the one idea that could’ve kept the peace for as long as it afforded monsterkind, but in the end it failed. In the end it did not protect the monsters.

Which means that Cter has to figure out an idea that’s even more brilliant in the hopes that she picks the correct idea this time around.

No pressure at all.

“No pressure at all…”

She has something that Frioke, Sir Gerson, and the Monster Royals of yore didn’t have though. She has time to plan for the eventual cycle of human magic to repeat again. She has two humans that she’ll be able to...well study has bad connotations to it, but in principle it is exactly what she’ll do. It will not be how human magic develops naturally, for that would be… Oh, singe her soul...

Cter’s not even gonna entertain the thought.

Having two humans who have monster parts of their souls, and a Monster King who has a human part in his, will give Cter something to start with though. Something to measure against, and something to compare to.

And perhaps the best way for her to start that off is to refer to them as someones, not somethings.

She sighs into the wind from the passing cars. In the distance is the fountain the ghost monster talked about. Perhaps there will be a family of aquatic monsters living in it like those in the fountain in Jarasevo? She’ll give it a quick check, since she is already heading towards it.

Frisk, and Aofil.

One, theadopted human child of the previous Monster Royals, sibling to the Monster King, and the savior of monsterkind.

That Cter hasn’t met them despite being at King Asriel’s side for weeks on end is a bit strange. Considering how important Frisk is to human and monster relations, it’s peculiar that Cter hasn’t been introduced earlier. She too was an ambassador of human and monster relations, but though since Cter is meant to be a normal monster to the world, that is an understandable choice.

Putting Frisk and Cter together in the world’s mind might cause people to start connecting some dots. It’s already been a whirl of a time conjuring up a Boss Monster’s previous life of monster normality. Records that Cter was in the Underground were easy enough to forge for humanity’s sake, but for the monsters it’s been a bit more difficult.

She’s had questions about why she hasn’t been known before, why she hasn’t been seen with King Asgore and Queen Toriel. Why she didn’t attend the funeral of Prince Asriel and the Fallen Human, and why she didn’t join in with King Asgore’s war against the humans.

Family feud.

That’s what they’re going with.

A family feud between Cter’s supposed branch of the Boss Monster tree and Queen Toriel’s. It was the correct one of the two’s branch to choose, and had Queen Toriel still been alive she would have poured on some juicy details, for sure. Royal drama for her to play around with?

That sounds like the Queen Toriel that Cter knew.

It’s not the first time an incredible credibility was pulled from the hat of wild explanations though, for the Monster Royals had already rummaged through it plenty to explain the state of Frisk and Aofil’s souls, and more importantly, how their monster-infused souls have expressed themselves on their bodies. Boss Monster fur on Aofil’s arm, and Boss Monster horns on Frisk’s head.

A side effect of Frisk being in the direct vicinity when the Barrier broke with the power of the human souls as well as all the monster in the Underground. An explanation that is a one-time ordeal, unrepeatable, banking on the legitimacy and trustworthiness of the ones telling it.

Which was gained from the truth of how Aofil’s soul came to possess a monster part. Theirs broke when the Underground Fusion between Asriel and the Fallen Human killed them, only barely managing to cling to life with a shattered soul. That a number of people could attest to, even if it was a long while after the fact that their testimonies were brought forth. Returning to the place, the residual magic from the Underground Fusion’s spilled dust came into contact with Aofil’s, filling up the cracks in their soul.

A truth for a lie, similar to how King Asriel’s return was described.

White lies to protect monsterkind from the dangers of humans, told by King Asgore and Queen Toriel.

Now when has Cter heard that before, ey?

Never would Cter have guessed that doing so would become a habit for the Monster Royals. Seems to be part of the job, and with Cter’s return it seems like Asriel has reached that part of his reign now. A true Monster Royal, choosing the calculated lie for the greater good of peace between humans and monsters.

Cter will make sure it stays peaceful this time around!

The fountain takes a few more minute to get to, but once at it, Cter peers over the edge to the water within. It’s about as big as the one up at Clinic Hill, but with no plaque dedicating it to discovering the human soul. Instead it is dedicated to one Flames Heatsman, vowing to never let his name be forgotten. Cter smiles at the dedication to a fire monster being that of a fountain.

Unfortunately there are no monsters making a living within the fountain, only coins and strange machinery, to her. She could ask the humans sitting at the fountain’s rim, but it would be strange even for a monster to ask about something so mundane, so she doesn’t as to not raise suspicion.

She’s been surprisingly adept at adjusting to modern life, King Asriel has praised. Cter doesn’t show it, but there is much more confusing that understandable around her each day. It’s getting better, but it’ll be a while until she can feel fully relaxed in this world.

Taking a stroll down the road does help, as it did with her getting more used to living in Jarasevo when she first moved there. All the strange buildings and the stranger goings-on around her she has experience with, and if she contextualizes the things that confuse her the most as magic, it does help her to get a footing in trying to understand it.

Electricity, for example, is a thing.

However, at its foundation and usage, it’s moving energy around according to rules. It’s basically magic, albeit that of the planet rather than that of individuals, be it either human or monster. Instead of flicking a wrist, she instead has to flick a lever or a button on a wall. She can even turn a knob to change the brightness of the electrical light.

Neat, if nothing else.

And, lucky for her, monsters taking classes to learn human science is a tradition that has reappeared on its own in this time too. A joint effort between humans and monsters to provide curriculum for monsters to better get used to the Surface. Classes available both on the Surface and in the Underground for a slower pace.

Cter’s got a whole other life, and a longer one to boot, so why would she hurry?

Gives her an excuse to see more of the Underground besides the quick tour she took with King Asriel to help distance herself from the human Cter. Going back there with eyes and soul that are more accustomed to being that of a monster is something Cter is excited about. After all, if she’s gonna have a supposed backstory, embracing it is just a good idea, isn’t it?

“And then a left,” informs Cter to no one but herself. With a quick brush of her ear behind her shoulder, she looks down the road flanked by brick buildings. Their warm, natural colors brings a comforting nostalgia to her, as do the trees planted a planned distance between each other down the length of the road. They do cover visibility a bit with their hanging, healthy crowns, so she can’t tell where the Spider Cafe is from where she’s standing at the fountain.

Poking up her crystal glasses and squinting doesn’t help either, but oh well. The glasses land back on her muzzle, and she walks along with trust in the ghost monster’s instructions. Spider Kaiser with Spider Panchetta, soon in her grasp.

Perhaps she’ll ask for a similar sandwich to the ones the Spider Butcher delivered to her in Jarasevo Castle. Who knows, maybe Sir Gerson’s already asked for them at the Spider Cafe? He sure enjoyed the taste of those sandwiches, while maybe not so much their method of delivery. Would’ve been nice to share another sandwich with him, but even a hammer dulls with time, and his was already plenty ahead at human Cter’s time. He did get to see the monsters return to the Surface though, to which Cter is very happy for.

Frioke’s time ended a bit earlier, in the Underground. Once Cter gets back there she’ll definitely make the effort to find where the priestess’s dust were spread. To close the book on everyone that human Cter knew.

Really, it’s only one left that she hasn’t made plans to visit the grave of, the one who’s ornate candle she still has in her pocket chilled with a smidgen of ice magic.

“This is the place. This is where I died.”

The Monster King’s face was surprisingly neutral when he showed Cter the Golden Flowers on their quick tour of the Underground.

“I know that might seem a bit...casual, saying it out loud just like that.”

He had more emotion when he showed Cter the part of the Undergound where he had picked out the crystal for her new brooch. That he was giddy about, talking about their differences in composition and how their properties changed due to their structures within and how it made some brittle in one way and strong in another and that cutting ones were easier but polishing others gave more luster and so on and so on.

“I’ve been here many times before, albeit mostly as Flowey. It’s where he came to talk with Chara about if what he did was the right thing to do by them. I too came to talk to them at times, although it was when I finally got the courage to visit their human grave that I felt that I had moved past them. I won’t forget them, for they were my best friend when I had none, however I did realize that to live up to dying, I have to give my time to those still alive. They hated humanity, but I don’t. Would love for them to come back to so that I can show them how much things have changed, but if I start wishing them back I’ll start wishing everyone back, and be stuck in the past.”

It was wild and overgrown, the patch of Golden Flowers where Asriel died. Artificially wild, strangely enough. Letting it be wild for the sake of keeping it unkempt, for everything around it was kept. A dedicated spot that’s been organized for the patch specifically to be untouched. Something cared for to not seem cared for.

“Might be a bit of a privileged position I speak of not wanting people coming back to life, having myself done just so, and also brought you to this current time, Cter. I don’t say that I of all people was the one that deserved to come back to life, but I’m glad I did, looking at it from the outside. It’s...what I needed. I needed to die and come back to life to realize who I truly was, to grow into a Monster King that feels that he can carry the mantle. Had I not, I would’ve still been that crybaby prince. A crybaby prince that I love with all my soul, but who is someone who never could’ve done what I’ve done.”

Cter certainly felt more incline to be in kind to the Monster King after that. She followed King Asgore and Queen Toriel for their presence and their goals for monsterkind. Their legends she had also heard of for years beforehand, and read and studied too during her time at Soul’s School.

It was when she met them though, for the first time, that their legends came to life right before her.

King Asgore’s presence that was somehow even larger than himself, yet still with such a humble streak that he offered a dangerous prisoner tea when he met them on the run from captivity within his own castle. A Monster King meant to be one from the day he was born, and given everything needed for that.

Queen Toriel’s gentleness and comfort towards those that her mantle swept over for protection, yet with a roughness to her knowledge that came from her simple life before she became the Monster Queen. She wasn’t born into royalty, so she had no qualms about fraying its fancy edges when needed.

Asriel though, Cter didn’t have anything prior to meeting him. No preconception of who he was or what his legend was. A monster that cushioned her fall when she poofed back into life again, that was everything she knew about him before she came to learn who he was. She met the Monster King before learning about him.

“Sometimes you gotta die to appreciate life, y’know?”

And she will follow him just the same the human Cter did his parents.

Cter brushes her finger against her new brooch in her hair. Her old one she still has adorned on her chest, for she still needs the past close to heart, but not in it. One day she will leave that brooch behind though when she feels enough like a monster to not need it. The brooch that’s made from magic being the one she needs to leave behind one day to fully be a creature of magic is not an irony lost on her, however it is one she embraces with a smile and a chuckle.

Although embracing regularly visiting her own grave to better come to terms with everything that’s happened to her?

That’s where the Monster King and his newest Royal Councilor will have to agree to disagree. That it worked for him, Cter is ever-so happy for him for. Her though? Finding out where the human Cter was buried when her time came?

No.

King Asriel was always a monster, even when he was a flower. He did what Flowey did. Cter didn’t do what the human Cter did. The human Cter did things the monster Cter doesn’t remember for far too many years than they have in common. The human Cter created the Barrier, for starters. Then she lived a life without magic. Cter wishes that it was a calm and peaceful one for her previous human self, but she does not intend to learn anything about it.

To her it’ll be like learning about some other human that lived back then. The human Cter that the monster Cter had in common with died when the last magical ink was written into the old tome, of which Cter has closed, both metaphorically and physically. Luckily her being formed from the magical memories didn’t disturb the ink, otherwise she would’ve most likely been asked to rewrite it.

It’s important information that only a few are allowed to read and know about, but it’s no longer Cter’s decision who may or may not read it. Hers was for the first one to read it. The second, third, or who many has read it afterwards, she has no idea about. It’s the Monster King’s decision now, and she trusts him to choose wisely. In a way it is nice to be on a lower rung in the ladder. No longer the one responsible for the entirety of the future of monsterkind, but instead one to help others make those decisions.

She’s done that once already, decided the fate of monsterkind with the weight of the world on her shoulders. It’s one time too many for just one person to make such a decision. The warm wind was right, as the Monster Royals of yore always were, and while she won’t retire completely, a desk, and nothing more, will be enough for her.

At least, for now.

She felt comfortable being a mage to the monsters in Jarasevo, once. She had pushed her abilities further than she could’ve imagined, and she was fine with what she had, until something more was presented to her. If that’s nurture or nature she’ll have to find out in due time, as neither of which are the same for her now. In due time though, and not a moment before.

“Excuse me, the Spider Cafe, where is it?”

The monster Cter stopped for her question points over one of its shoulders on its forked neck, half a street from where she asked. The monster’s other head nods towards the web-like sign with cursive text of silk hanging over its mundane entrance.

“Ah, thanks.”

The monster heads on its dual-headed, merry way, leaving Cter to sigh at her being so lost in thought that she missed where she was going. Oh well, she’s done worse when lost in thought before, like that one time she had to pretend to be using the armors she knocked over in Jarasevo castle as marionette dolls with her magic.

She did it almost too good, barely dodging making it an actual show for the Monster Royals and--

Cter catches herself in thought, stopping just before the Spider Cafe. A handful of round tables with slim, cast-iron chairs are placed about, some filled and some not. A few groups of spiders carry filled and emptied plates and cups between the tables and a hole in the wall with a hand-drawn sign above it of a queue of spiders waiting to place dishes into a water-filled sink. There is a wheelbarrow perched rather auspiciously against the wall next to the door.

It smells pleasant from inside and from the tree crowns providing a comfortable dance of shadows across the street and plaid-covered tables. The conversations among the table reminds her of the small taverns she used to pass by when on her rounds in Jarasevo when she was but a mage for the monsters. None of them wave to her in recognition though, with only one nodding a smile to her out of courtesy. She nods back, and enters the cafe underneath a melodic clang of a brass bell.

Inside is not as busy at outside, in fact it’s rather sleepy with customers. It is between meals, and it is a work day, but surely there outta be more here from how excitingly the ghost monster talked about the place. The tables have the same plaid covering as outside, however the chairs are a bit wider. The floor underneath clinks and clanks at her claws as she walks up to the blackboard menu and its hand-written items. A similar style is the cursive to the sign outside, very swirly.

The sleepy seems to extend to the service as well, with no one behind the wooden counter to take her order. It gives her some time to look through the items on display though. A variety of spider-themed slices of cakes and other pastries, as well as an arrange of sandwiches. Some of them do look a bit like the ones the Spider Butcher liked to serve her, funnily enough. None of the items shown look to be the recommendation from the ghost monster though.

Muffled commotion catches Cter’s ears, and she lifts up the one closest to the kitchen door to hear better. The sound comes from another hole above the door, with another painted sign of a queue of spiders waiting to jump off the building’s rooftop and glide in the wind with silk balloons carrying wrapped packages.

Seems like this Spider Cafe does similar deliveries as the Spider Butcher did.

Hopefully to ones that actually order first.

Quick footsteps slap hurriedly from behind the kitchen door which then explodes open just a few seconds after with a heavy bang. Cter’s fur bounces on edge at the startling noise, and but a moment after comes three small spider monsters rushing out, with one being a bit younger than the other two.

“You take the wheelbarrow with you for your little sister, yes?” is shouted from inside the kitchen, with no answer from the spider children.

Another melodic, yet a bit harsher, clang fills the empty cafe, however the main door seems to fair a bit better from one of the spider children holding it open for its siblings. The first one out the door grabs at the wheelbarrow’s handles, putting it down and jumping into it. With three hands it helps the smallest into it, waiting for the third.

Once all three are in the wheelbarrow, to the amused, yet perplexed audience around the outdoor tables, there emerges a pair of metallic, pink legs from the back of the green wagon. Before Cter face can distort in bafflement, the legs reach the ground, push up, and waltz with long steps away down the road, and out of sight.

Maybe…

Maybe this is all a dream, after all? So many things she’s seen in this future. So much new and exotic.

But this?

By golly...

“Ah, you must be Cter.”

It takes a few seconds for the words to reach the Boss Monster, and an additional few for her to parse them. She shakes her head, with the slap of her ears against her cheeks being what brings her back to this new, ever-strange reality. “Y-Yes,” she answers with a series of blinks that manage to bring her raised brow back down again. “That’s me.”

The human chuckling to themselves is on the paler side, with cheeks rosy, and hair hanging over their eyes. A cloth in their hands, rubbing between, briefly shows a fur-covered hand, similar to Cter’s, combed down into the long-armed sleeve of their jeans shirt. Their eyes glimpses red between their hanging bangs.

A hue of brighter red Cter sees glow behind the counter, moving back and forth. More so, there is another hue that wisps from behind the counter where the human is standing. A magical hue, similar in most ways, but different yet in plenty. It has Cter’s muzzle and brow tighten with focus, taking in what she feels. It’s not too similar, true, but it is unmistakable. Her soul sinks for a brief moment as it dawns on her. She knew before she came here, Asriel told her, but feeling it, even if it’s different from how she remembered it?

It brings a slight chill to her soul.

“It’s my magic, isn’t it?”

Human magic that’s not in her control.

“Well, I gotta say that whatever happened to make you a monster, it seems to have done just as well a job as when Azzy came back.” A warm smile pushes aside the flush cheeks. “Welcome to both the Spider Cafe and the future, I guess.”

Cter looks over her shoulders, her ears following along with each turn of her head.

“The spiders will tell us if someone is about to come inside, don’t worry,” assures the human before offering their non-furred hand for Cter to take. “I’m Aofil.”

She takes it, “Cter,” and linger for a moment to feel at the human’s aura and soul. Her eyes are drawn to the fur on Aofil’s left arm though, which they notice.

“Why don’t we have a seat and something to eat and drink?” they offer with their furred arm motioning towards the empty seating in the cafe. “It’ll be on the house, so pick whatever.”

Awfully generous for a spider establishment, Cter feels. However, since it’s a human that’s offering, maybe there won’t be too many strings attached?

“I heard something about a Spider Kaiser with Spider Panchetta?” she says while rubbing in the feeling of Aofil’s soul into her fingers. It’s considerably weak considering the magical tail that they have. It’s enough to support their weight, as they lean back on it to check the sandwiches on display. Red glow on a half-opaque form, with specks floating within it. Like clumps in mashed potatoes because it’s not been prepared properly.

“Think I have one of those here somewhere.” Aofil scratches at their cheek with one of their claws. “Tell you what, I’ll make a new one for you. You take tea or coffee with it?”

The Boss Monster cranes her neck towards the multiple bags of tea behind the counter. “Tea, please. Do you have…”

No, of course they wouldn’t.

“Something from your time?” Aofil guesses with sympathy. They click their tongue as an apology. “Maybe if you can describe the taste I’ll find you something similar?”

The human Cter would’ve at this point put her hand on Aofil’s arm to make a temporary Cooperative Connection to share the taste with them. However, as a monster, Cter will have to explain the taste with words. She could conjure up an air of the aroma, she supposes, but that might be different since she’ll filter her human memories through her monster soul. She was used to eating eggs with shells as a Monster Mage, but doing so with her monster mouth actually has her enjoying the taste, rather than tolerating it.

“Fruity taste, somewhat towards the berry kingdom, with a hint of elderflower towards the end.”

“Berry kingdom as in berry taste, or was there a kingdom that—”

Cter shakes her head at the embarrassing question for Aofil to ask. “Berry taste, sorry.” No, there weren’t any kingdoms named or inhabited by mostly berries. A corner of the garden in Jarasevo Castle could’ve been described as that during King Asgore and Queen Toriel’s time tending to it, but still. “Any seat is good to take?”

“Yes, yes, choose whatever,” waves Aofil friendly before filling a pot with water to boil. “I’ll come to you once everything is ready. Just ask the spiders if you want something else.” They step towards the kitchen door. “Muffet, dear, do we still have some Spider Panchetta at the ready to carve, or is there more in the basement?”

With Cter’s claws clinking at the floor and the kitchen door swinging open she doesn’t hear the answer. She finds some comfortable seating at a sofa next to a large window looking out towards the street life. There are a few new guests, a monster and human couple, who seem to be regulars, judging by how casually they take to the group of spiders scuttling up the table legs. With some quick pointers at the menu the spiders bring with them, the arachnid group head towards the hole in the wall, leaving the menus in a wooden pocket hanging on the wall.

No spider comes to take Cter’s order though, so alone she sits for a few minutes, touching and rubbing some more at her fingers that took Aofil’s hand. She didn’t feel much magic in it, but there was some in their soul. Maybe she’ll have better luck taking their furred hand instead. It’s interesting in how weak their magic seems to be and how well their tail seems to be. Maybe it’s all that they can do, which would explain a bit. It didn’t move as if they had conscious control of it, more that it was a part of their body.

Cter tries to replicate the feeling with her magic, but its not the same. The Fourth Monster Mage would’ve done it easily, but with only a monster’s soul and no knowledge of the specifics of Aofil’s magic, all Cter can do is make a similar red glow in her hand. Half-opaque, and with clumps within it, showing that it isn’t a refined type of magic. Like a human mage in the Monster Mage time having their fire magic crackling like a wild hearth.

All in all, her first investigation of human magic in this time seems to have yielded comforting results. It’s not even to the point where Prince Soulay was when his magical aura was first discovered. The only evidence of Aofil’s magic is their tail, not something in their aura.

Cter still remembers the countless time the Fourth Monster Mage felt at someone else’s aura in a deeply investigative way, both human and monster, so she still sensed something. Not something enough for her to actually make anything from though.

She’s comforted by that.

A pleasant whistle lets the empty cafe know that the water has started to boil properly. It is a strangely similar tune to the teapot that Idyll used when she and the human Cter lived together. A simpler time, that was.

And one that Cter seems to have found herself in, again.

Her smile grows on her face, and she delights in how nostalgic it feels.

“Squeeze of lemon?”

The nostalgia feels so homely Cter doesn’t even realize Aofil approaching with a large tray between their outstretched arms, carrying a pleasant variety of sandwiches and smaller biscuits. How nice it is that it isn’t just in her mind that she had that comforting aroma of tea and bread. “One, yes.” There are three cups on the tray that Aofil brings over though, so perhaps their dear Muffet will join them soon?

“Sugar?”

“No. No milk either.”

While Cter takes her tea differently than she remembers for her human palette, she does so to hit the same spot on her new tongue and nose. She inhales the newly made tea, letting it settle within her before breathing out. “It’s similar to what I remember.” Same is the taste. “Thank you.” Looking at Aofil hooking their furred fingers into the teapot, one could forgive Cter for thinking it was one of the Monster Royals’ serving her the tea, it’s all so similar.

In the best of ways.

“I’m sure Azzy has told you about how he came back to life, yes?” asks Aofil to Cter’s eyes landing on their left hand and arm. She didn’t mean it to, at least not in an inquisitive way. “The sliver of a human soul inside his is mine.” Aofil’s cup steams as they sit down behind it, opposite the sofa Cter sits on. The upholstery is that of old, red leather, and it cracks audibly as Aofil shifts their weight to better look out the window. “And in return, to fill up that sliver, I have a part of a monster soul within me.”

“I could tell,” replies Cter with her cup of tea before her lips. “When we shook hands.” She sips some more, pausing for the warmth of its taste. “I could only tell because I remember doing it thousands of times, so I do not believe that it’ll be noticed by others that don’t know about it, be it monster or human. I’m assuming you have an explanation for your tail and left arm already, yes?”

The truth offered up so that the lie for Frisk could go through.

“Exposure to the fusion’s magic that broke my soul when it almost killed me in the village at Mt. Ebott’s foot, only showing up later when things transpired to bring the Monster Prince back to life. Same that caused Frisk’s horns to grow too.” Aofil drinks some tea themselves. “It’s close enough to the truth that no one can tell that it’s a lie, in particular as to how Azzy came back to life. The official story is one thing, but the truth is another.”

Cter knows that to both heart and soul, yeah.

“I pushed his face into the cold dirt but a minute after he came back to being himself, for one.” The human taps a thumb on the spiderweb graphic on their porcelain cup, sighing. “I had to make sure that it was Asriel that would be back to life. If it wasn’t Asriel, then he’d have to pretend to be Asriel for the rest of his life. It’s not something I’m proud of.”

The human sighs tiredly. “I couldn’t carry the weight of the world, saving it from itself and all that. It had to be done, but instead of feeling happiness that whatever magical occurrence was happening with everyone’s souls that weren’t part of the only reset here on the Surface finally solved itself, my first feeling was anger. So much had been done to bring him back, so he damn sure had to make up for it.”

Cter’s reaction is involuntary. “Oh?” she almost bleats.

“Yeah,” comes a shamed admittance from across the table through two stacks of steam visibly gray in the bright sun from outside. “I didn’t really help his inner struggle to live up to dying with putting all of that on him the first thing that happened to him coming back to being himself. I ran away afterwards. It was too much for me. I was never supposed to be a hero, and it shows.” Aofil raises their left arm just enough to drive home the point. “They helped me come to terms with it, though. I owe a lot to the monsters.”

The Boss Monster’s left hand clenches, and a cold tickle runs of to her shoulder. “Yeah…” she nods, slowly.

A quiet minute passes by, with the two settling their emotions down within themselves before continuing. Aofil makes the courtesy of sliding over a platter with Cter’s asked-for sandwich. “You said you could feel my magic when you took my right hand, yes?”

She nods.

“Would you feel it more if you took my left arm?”

She would, “I would,” and she accepts the slid-over platter with the Spider Kaiser and Spider Panchetta on it. There’s some sauce and salad on it too. Nice. “Since it’s born out of magic it’ll provide a closer connection to your soul. It looks to be not-magic, per se. However, it was still magic that created it, so it should be more informative.” The bread feels very nice to hold, warm and crispy. “What would you like to know about it?”

The taste is even better.

A turning, twisting shadow covers the steam from Aofil’s cup of tea as they look at their arm. They tick their claws together, scraping at their palm to remove a speck of buried bread. “I don’t know, to be perfectly honest.” They lay it down underside-up on the table, keeping their elbow off it. “I thought, when I heard who you were and that you were visiting, that I’d like to know more about it, but now that you’re offering I…”

Cter finishes her bite quicker than expected to catch the silent beat Aofil leaves hanging. “You’re used to it,” she says through her half-chewed bit, covering her mouth with the palm of her hand. A few, more deliberate chews, and then she can speak normally. “You’ve built your life around having it, and revealing more of it will at best not give you anything, and at worst, well, make it worse, no?”

Aofil nods with an impressed frown. “Put it in better words that I could.” They return to their left arm. “You can still touch at it if it’ll help you understand more about my magic, but there’s no need for you to tell me anything about it.” Their hand clutches. “It’s all above me now. I’ve done my part for the monsters, and I’ve been promised that I don’t have to do another. I’m not the right one to, not even for the one time I did.”

They sigh through loose lips. “Although, who of us were really the right one for the monsters?”

A fluffy eyebrow quirks. “Us?” Cter’s not sure exactly what Aofil means by that. “As in…” Her hand rests on her sandwich on its serving platter, a claw tapping on its freshly baked crust.

“Oh, sorry,” says Aofil as they shake their head, fringe, and their mind back to reality. Their cup clinks twice as it’s returned to its seat. “It’s a...well I’m not a theory is the correct thing to call it? An observation, I guess.” The porcelain friction cuts Cter’s ears slightly as Aofil turns it around in thought.

“Each era of the monsters have been brought to an end by the actions of a human.” Aofil looks to Cter through their hair. Between the strands of brown hair their red-hued eyes are sincere. “In the Underground there was my twin, Chara, who fell into the locked-in world of the monsters. There they made a new family, and wanted to protect it against humanity who had wronged them. Their sacrifice meant the end of the peace that the monsters had in the Underground.”

Like the hands of a clock, Aofil pushes the ear of their cup with a claw. “Then fell Frisk into the Underground, proving to them all that peace could still be possible through everything they did while turning their other cheek.” They touch gently at their flush one. “Saving them all by breaking the Barrier, Frisk ended the era of war in the Underground, by making the monsters free.”

Aofil then drags the cup’s ear back almost a full rotation. “Cter, the human, created the Barrier, ending the monster’s life on the Surface and bringing the to the Underground.” They don’t have to say much more, since Cter knows much, much more than they do.

Finally, the cup is brought back to where it started, then pushed ahead a bit more. “And me, I guess. My era was that of the monsters finding their footing back on the Surface? I’m not one to want to make it a big deal, but I do also want this sudo-theory of mine to be something. Only to help the monsters, and nothing more. I’ve accepted that I am important to the monsters, away from being Chara’s twin.”

They hook a claw through the cup ear, ending their thesis. “Each new era needs its new human. It can’t have the same one, for if that was the case then Frisk would’ve been the one that brought Asriel back. Twice it’s been war in the past, and now twice it’s been peace. Is it a pattern? Hopefully not.” Aofil’s shrug has a slight reluctance to it. “What I can say for sure though is that I can’t be the human for this next era. Neither can Frisk.” They smile to Cter. “And evidently, neither can you.”

Cter scratches a claw against one of her horns. “You got a point there, if anything.”

“Perhaps it was this fate that made you a monster? Can’t come back to be the human to help the monsters through this era, so you had to be a monster instead?” Aofil’s next shrug is more friendly. “I’ve been through stranger things, if you can believe that. I’m sure you’ve been too, in your previous time. Now though you’ll have to be one to be taken into a new era by a human. A twist of fate, in the most applicable sense there’s ever been.”

It’s a...something, alright. Cter might not be fully convinced, but this Aofil seems genuine enough when speaking. “You’ve been through stranger things,” says Cter after chewing another piece of her sandwich. “Is that why you’re the one with the least questions about my appearance?”

They lift up their left arm. “That it is.” Their tail curls around to find a new angle to rest at. “Been through more good than bad though, in the end.” From behind the curtain of hair, the red eyes glance over to the kitchen door. They come back to Cter after a longing sigh. “There were a time when I shaved my arm to keep its nature away from others. I moved away from the monsters to try and escape what it took out of me to bring Azzy back. I belong with them though, which they luckily finally managed to get through with me. Took a while though.”

Cter wouldn’t know about that. For her it’s been the complete opposite, after all. Never did she want to leave the monsters, but in the end she was forced to, in part by her own hand. “If what I’ve heard is true then you were the only one that could play the part you did, and not just because you were the twin of the Fallen Human.”

“I’m not gonna deny what I did,” replies Aofil with a long nod. “Thing is though that I’m not gonna brag about it either. It did a lot of good, that I’m fully aware of, but like I said, it took a lot out of me. Even if it technically added to me, what with my soul and all, but still. My cape is hung up because it was made out of lead for me, and I’ve hung it in a place I can never reach again. I won’t answer if there ever is a call again, and they know that.”

“Partly what inspired this theory of yours that each new era needs a new human?” It’s not a subtle part of Aofil’s theory, far from it. Cter can sympathize with them focusing on that though, if anything then as proof that what they’ve said about it weighing heavy on them being truthful.

“Partly, yes,” nods Aofil again. “Not fully though, and hearing about you, or at least what I need to know, and not anything more, is what made things click for me. It might not help us find the next human destined to be the one to herald a new era in human and monster relations, but maybe it’ll help us put things into context, or something. Only two that I can talk about this with, and it’s a step up from just one. You’re more distant to these last few eras, so it made sense to bring it up to you before I did it to Frisk, and then others.”

Fair enough.

It’s been a rather short time, considering all that’s been said, but Cter doesn’t feel overwhelmed. There is kinship between her and Aofil, so perhaps she does believe in that theory of theirs more than she admits to. Maybe it’s the sandwich and tea being such a fantastic combination that Aofil could ask Cter to rob a bank and she’d accept it too?

However, there was something that Asriel said about Aofil and Frisk that lingers with her. He told her that their souls have this warm, trusting aura to them. The red of their soul, their hope, which monsters find a strange liking to. Did that mean that Cter’s human soul was red too? Is red the only color meant to be for the era’s human? That warmth that attracts monsters’ to them?

Might also explain why Cter doesn’t feel alienated by Aofil going into the deep end quicker than most would. Monster rules apply to her now, after all.

“If I can go back a bit?” is asked with a thought behind it from the human. “When I told you not to tell me anything about my soul?” Seems like Aofil could see that Cter was thinking. “There is one thing I have been thinking about it.”

“That hope of yours and Frisk’s?”

Aofil pauses for a second before smacking their tongue. “There are two things I have been thinking about my soul.”

Oh?

“The first one is that is there an explanation other than just it being magic that I’ve a longer life than other humans?” Aofil scratches at a few gray streaks in their hair. Suddenly as they smile, Cter sees more wrinkles than she noticed before. “I’m not complaining, definitely not, but thinking back on everything, it occurred to me just how long time it’s been since I first met monsterkind. I don’t know, it’s… I guess it’s just that I’m not supposed to be this old yet this...spry?”

That Cter can answer without taking Aofil’s left arm. She does so, still, but not to read their aura. “It was a topic of debate in my time before, as human mages tended to live longer than those without magical inclinations.” She’ll do this for them first, as a show of good faith before she goes rooting inside their aura and soul. “From what we understood, since your soul is the culmination of your entire being, it being more sensitive to magic makes it more active, like a muscle being trained to grow bigger and stronger.” The human mage Cter wouldn’t have done something before rooting around.

Another step in being her own person for Cter.

“Oh, I see.” The quick explanation seems to have settled nicely with Aofil, judging from what Cter can sense without digging deeper into their soul. “Thank you, Cter. It’s nice of you to tell me.”

“You’re younger than the oldest human I knew.”

Aofil’s not entirely sure how to take that. “Thanks,” they still say, leaning more of their left arm’s weight into Cter’s arm to let her know that she can proceed with what she want to do.

The arm is not lighter, as was Cter’s when the fusion carved itself upon it. Seems like with Aofil’s soul the monster part was added rather than replacing what was human. Bone, flesh, skin, are all still there underneath the fur, and their weight to boot. The White Flesh was as hollow as could be, despite being that of almost liquid. Cter’s happy that the White Flesh is not the case for Aofil, for everyone’s sake.

“Will it hurt?”

With eyes closed, Cter shakes her head gently. “It will not.” She will not do a Cooperative Connection, only sense at it with her heightened magical intuition now that she’s a monster. Human skill applied with a monster’s touch, quite literally. Parting away some fur on Aofil’s arm, Cter digs her thumb down to their pale skin. With a focused inhale she projects her being, her magic, to feel at Aofil’s aura.

In function it’s the same as what the Fourth Monster Mage did, but with no need for a Cooperative Connection on Cter’s part. Her memories and her magic can already travel outside of her body. She still uses a similar memory to that of what she wants to do though in hopes to elicit a response from Aofil’s soul. A starting memory to bridge a connection, a handshake of magic.

The memory of realizing that you’re the human monsterkind’s future depends on.

A still lake, but no world underneath to explore. It’s warm, comforting. Just a calm, flat, wide body of magical potential, but no stone to throw in and disturb. Untapped, but with nothing to tap with. It’s just there, existing with purpose, yet with no way to realize that purpose. Aofil would most likely have been a human mage in Cter’s time from what she can feel within their soul. She reminds herself though that the magic is not theirs to begin with. It was implanted into them, holding together like plaster, filling the cracks made when they almost died.

With training they can still improve their use of their magic, and Cter would be able to teach them how. Cter does not want to teach though, and Aofil does not want to learn. From this, Cter has gained more insight as to the nature of Aofil’s magic, into the new type of human magic that’s been discovered in this cycle. Might be what becomes the de facto usage of magic for humans, might not, and currently it’s leaning heavily on the might being very not.

Unless there are a multitude of Undergrounds spread out around the world.

“You alright? What happened? What did you sense?”

Cter shakes off the cold tinge that rushed up her spine. “Nothing,” she replies, letting Aofil have back their arm, which they grab the wrist of with their human hand, clutching. “Just a thought, irrelevant to this.”

Not technically a lie.

Aofil’s not fully convinced. “If you say so.” They look like they’re gonna rub at the spot Cter touched at, but stops just before doing so. “So, um, Frisk and I?”

Well Cter can’t really tell fully with just Aofil’s soul, however there was a nice warmth within it. Like Aajja’s large, soft feather dress when he and the human Cter slept under the stars during their mission to gather up all of the monsters to Monster Country. Not a safe warmth like that of the fire Cter created with her magic, but a warmth of companionship. Safe in that there’s someone there with you, whenever, and wherever.

“I’m with you in the dark.”

The words fall of Cter’s tongue without her knowledge. It’s only when Aofil’s fringe shakes with the angled quirk of their head that Cter realizes. “What do you mean?” asks the human with their head still at the perplexed angle.

“It feels nice and warm,” answers Cter with a slight shrug. “It’s all I can tell for sure right now. Maybe if I can take a look at Frisk’s one day I’ll be able to tell more.”

“Right, right, fair,” Aofil nods while sipping some of their that’s now stopped steaming. Cter’s kept hers warm with some magic. “Really, I’m asking because, well, the Resets. I know Frisk was able to, even on the Surface, but since we have similar souls, at least in how the monsters feel about them, I’m still worried about me too being able to do them. I can’t, although I’ve never tried, although I never will, but while it’s been years upon years upon years, I’m still afraid that one day it’ll happen out of accident.”

Hang on, wait.

“Resets?”

The word feels the same in Aofil’s aura as the Fusion did in those in the Fourth Monster Mage’s time. “What are Resets?” Cter asks with a heavy lean forward as a shadow passes by outside the window. She follows Aofil’s eyes as they crane their head to follow the shadow as it moves towards the door of the Spider Cafe.

A pleasant clang emerges, and for a split second, it looks like Aofil has horns from the small pair on the new guest’s head matching up with Aofil’s behind them. They turn back to Cter as the guest makes their way to the sofa Aofil’s sitting in. “Might be better if you hear it from the source.” They jump in, giving room to the Sund-skinned human sitting down.

A pair of Boss Monster horns, not too unlike Cter’s, angle back from a marsh of dark-brown hair. Their aura is very similar to Aofil’s, but there is a difference within. Their lake within is not calm. It has waves, wind, dynamism.

Could it be?

“Cter, may I introduce you to the savior of the monsters.”

Yes, yes it can be.

“The breaker of the Barrier, setting monsterkind free once more.”

The three, humans of their respective eras for the monsters, together.

“The only human that can actually control magic.”

Cter, in one relaxed motion, brings up the candle from her pocket, placing it into an empty holder on the window sill.

“A human that actually enjoys eating eggs with the shell on.”

She ignites it with a snap of her finger.

“Someone who actually deserves being partly monster.”

For the protection for monsterkind.

“The ambassador to the humans for the monsters.”

Always.

“And someone who both has killed me and saved my life within the span of a minute.”

And forever.

“Frisk Dreemurr.”