Cinematale | Ongoing

Prelude

Agate slowly opened her eyes, her memories of the time before she was unconscious incredibly foggy, and surveyed the area around her with narrowed eyes.

"Oh, good!"

An almost motherly voice came from her right, and she nearly choked at the sight of not one, but three monsters in front of her. "You're awake."

Normally, she would have reached for her spear and attempted to battle her way out of this situation, but then a searing pain decided to make itself known in the side of her head. And so she put her hand down by her side, letting out a tired groan as she did so.

"What...why...?"

"I apologise if I may have scared you beforehand," Toriel sighed, wanting to make things right between the two after the woman's screaming fit in the kitchen earlier. "You...you were yelling so loud, and your brother was trying to hold you back...some more humans came, and he knocked you out before we could stop him."

For a while, the human said nothing, before trying to keep her voice even; speaking in almost monotone apart from the occasional waver.

"My brother? Copper's...really here?"

"Yes," The monster replied, and Agate's eyes became even wider. "We all introduced ourselves shortly after - you must be Agate, are you not?"

The woman could only nod, memories from the past coming back in rapid succession - she remembered discovering that spell, a fierce duel, the sight of crimson fading to grey...

"I win," those words from long ago echoed in her mind, shaking her to the core.

He wasn't supposed to be here at all - and neither was she...at least, not like this.

Though before she could utter another word, she heard an exhausted groan from behind Toriel - the youngest of the three monsters, who had been unconscious up until now was waking up. Everyone was silent as he opened his eyes, staring down at his body like it wasn't his - and then he clutched his chest tightly, tears beginning to spill out of his eyes and he didn't know why.

"Asriel..." was all Asgore could say, wanting to comfort his son and hold him in his arms again, but not having the nerve to do anything - for now he was smiling.

"Mom...Dad..." His voice was surprisingly calm for someone who had been brought back from what was essentially a point of no return. "I can feel again...I actually care, I have a soul..."

"...Asriel, what are you talking about?" His mother questioned, not understanding what the experience of being unable to feel compassion for so long had been like for him. "You can feel again? It...it's okay to cry sometimes."

"I-I know," The young monster only wrapped his arms around her, and the others could only watch in shock because something about him was off...like he had grown up, in a way. "I was just so tired of being a flower..."
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After their meeting with Betty, Frisk and Copper had wasted no time in alerting the others of her appearance, and they all gladly introduced themselves for the second time that day. She seemed overwhelmed by the amount of monsters there, which was understandable since she had come from the Surface and never seen anything like them before.

And what was stranger was her pet that had made himself known in a few seconds - Akumu, or 'Kumu' for short, as Betty had informed them. The child seemed to have been afraid that Kumu wouldn't take their new surroundings well, but after a few moments of letting him be around the others occupying this mysterious place, it was clear that no harm could possibly be done.