#undertaleink

This reaction of Chara’s would have been perfectly acceptable, had they fought back as the monster attacked. But no! They only tried to calm her down, trying to talk her out of fighting. She became so enraged one of her bullets struck Chara’s arm, raised as an attempted block, though it was no match for the force behind the bullet. Asriel had gone to get help, and when the a few members of the Royal Guard had returned with him, they arrested Chara’s perpetrator on the spot. Asriel then took Chara back to the castle and Toriel tried to heal them as best as she could.

A few days later, the wound hadn’t healed, but thanks to Chara’s and even Asgore’s limited knowledge on human anatomy, they were going to be just fine. However, Toriel demanded that one of them stay with Chara back at the castle to watch them and make sure they weren’t harmed any more and to provide healing magic if necessary, while the other two performed their royal duties for all of them. Chara said that this wasn’t needed and they would be fine, not wanting to stand in the way of their royal obligations, but Toriel had been firm.

This was why Asgore was in the throne room, half bored and half angry, idly watching chara draw pictures with their good arm. Though it was rather difficult for them with only one to use, they were still humming, happy to be doing something.

At this point, if Asgore wasn’t trying to maintain his aura of dignity and might (purely for himself, as they were alone in the large throne room), he would have knelt down with Chara and showed them what little he knew about the arts, from people he had known long ago…

But he didn't, and only stared off into space, his anger slowly steadying as he looked to Chara from time to time.

The silence was starting to get to him.

“Chara.”

They looked up after carefully finishing the shape they were drawing.

“Yeah?”

“Why didn't you fight back when that monster attacked? You had every right to retaliate.”

They looked down at their drawing and replied, “Well, I guess I didn't want to hurt them. I don't have to be mean, right? It's not like FIGHTing is the only solution to every problem. There's more to monsters than that. And the one that attacked me, she probably just had to put up with a lot of stuff earlier that day, or was just really frustrated. Either way, it was my fault the FIGHT started, so I have to accept the consequences.”

Asgore's paws started clenching faster now, anger exploding out of his mouth before he could push it back.

“No! It wasn't your fault! It was the monster who fucking BROKE YOUR ARM, and you just, forgave them! Like that! Talking about how YOU are taking the consequences when SHE is the one who deserves them! It's so gog damn IRRITATING!”

Asgore's vision cleared a few moments later, and he that saw his magic weapon had pierced the red and white tile floor, leaving large cracks around it.

He looked up, and Chara had disappeared. He dissipated his meat cleaver-like weapon and sat back down, burying his face in his hands.

Of-fucking-course he had scared them away. He never should have let his annoyance get to him. He never should have brought it up it the first place.

He froze up when a thought struck him. What if he had injured them in his outburst? Then they would have tried to escape him, going to Toriel or Asriel to be healed, but they weren't there!! Chara would be out there somewhere, dying because HE couldn't contain himself! The thought fill him with fear and shame, and was about to stand up when a voice called from the far Throne Room entrance.

“Dad?”

Chara slipped back into the room, holding something in her sling and gripping something in there good arm.

From years and years of practice, Asgore quickly calculated the stats of the item they had equipped:

Plastic Shovel - Weapon AT 2

Just a toy. Can't even dig up sand, let alone strike a monster.

Asgore was both ashamed that his child had felt the need to bring a weapon in case they had to defend themself, and if not mildly insulted by their weapon choice.

“Dad, check these out!!”

Chara interrupted his thought and watched Chara fish through their sling and draw out a small envelope.

“Look, they’re Violet flower seeds! I bought these a few days back when I was at the market with Asriel. I remembered them when I saw the dirt, so I thought I'd go get them!”

Asgore looked at them, confused, then his gaze fell to the ruined floor.

The old room was already musty and crumbling, and his outburst certainly hadn’t fixed anything. The thin tile had given away to the warm earth it was layered carefully on top of, something he was previously unaware of.

His anger flared up again. He took pride in his throne room, and it made him just furious to see how little care and effort had been put into it, and how easily he'd been fooled into thinking otherwise.

He blinked as Chara obstructed his vision of the crack, carefully prying some of the fake tile off the ground to make room for the shovel. They pried a small piece off, exposing a small spot of dirt, though big enough for their shovel to fit in.

They started to dig -- or, at least they tried. The earth was hard and packed from heavy adult monsters from walking on it, making it very difficult for them to pierce it.

They stopped and pondered for a moment, staring into space. Then they snapped their fingers.

“Oh, I got it!”

They dropped their shovel and scurried back out of the room. His eyes drifted to the shovel and the spot of dry earth.

Against his better judgment, he knelt down in front of the dirt and equipped the shovel, which was very small in his huge hands.

He shoved it forcefully into the dirt, and was met with success. It was half-buried, ready to pry up some of the rock-like earth. But when he tried to dig out the hole, it didn’t budge.

Some of his anger flared up again. How DARE the shovel not move, with his strength behind it!? He stooped so low to do this, he CHOSE to dig the hole, but it only went to waste!

His breathing quickened and passed his clenched fangs, pushing harder and harder.

And then there was a SNAP--

And the Plastic Shovel broke cleanly in two, half of it still buried in the earth.

“Dad?”

Chara was back. Panicked, he whipped his head around, hoping he still had time before anyone could see him in such a position, but it was too late. Chara’s eyes followed Asgore’s arms and saw the Broken Shovel in his hand.

Asgore had never seen Chara get angry, ever. Not even now.

Instead they smiled. Smiled! Why!?

“Dad! You didn’t have to do that for me,” they laughed.

Asgore was perplexed. “Why are you laughing? I broke your shovel!”

Chara trotted over, the water sloshing, and started to pour it on the dry dirt. “I don’t mind. I needed something better to equip anyway.”

“I was going to bring this to water to make the dirt softer, soft enough to dig up by hand. So we don’t need the shovel!” They smiled brightly. Asgore wondered when Chara’s ‘I’ had turned into a ‘we.’

The dirt turned a much darker shade of brown as was thoroughly soaked. Chara set down the watering can and started to dig up the dirt with their good hand, handful after handful. It was slow going. Asgore wasn’t sure what it was that compelled him to, but he started to paw up the dirt too. Chara smiled at him, and his SOUL lightened, if only just a little bit. And he smiled back. Not for long, though, because he realized it might have looked like he was baring his fangs. So instead Chara saw the smile in his eyes and was happy.

The hole just might have gotten a little too deep, so they pushed some of the dirt back in.

Chara carefully dropped a few seeds in, and then both of them covered the hole with the remaining dirt.

They sat down with a heavy oomf! “That was fun!”

Asgore nodded slowly. “…yes, I suppose it was.”

What surprised him even more was that he hadn’t been angry at all, in that short time, planting violet seeds with his child.

And then he shocked himself, words flying out of his mouth before he could stop them. “Maybe we could turn the whole room into a garden, if the tile is just layered on.”

He looked to the door quickly, hoping no one else was here. Chara nodded enthusiastically. “Yeah! I could buy some more types of flower seeds for us to plant, and from those get more, and more, and fill up the entire room with all kinds of flowers! We could get daisies, lilies, carnations, (um) golden flowers, daffodils…”

As his child went on about the flowers they would plant, Asgore couldn’t help but look forward to his next day with them. He made a mental note to get them a new shovel soon.

It had been a long time since then.

Both his children were dead, killed by humans, and his wife was gone, disgusted by his far too strong reaction.

In anger, he had declared the unchangeable, highest law -- created not by him, but by the world -- was to KILL or BE killed.

It threw the whole Underground into chaos, monsters scattering everywhere, afraid of each other and not wanting to be killed.

The Underground had grown very quiet, save the occasional scream that split the air, echoing off the cavern walls.

Asgore's garden had withered, the shriveled flowers frozen in their drooping stances, waiting, hoping for even a drop of water.

Asgore hadn't visited his children's room since they had perished, where he knew the present he got Chara for their birthday, the Pretty Trowel (a shiny, new shovel for gardening with a few pretty jewels placed in the handle), lied in its gift box, next to Toriel’s present.

It was now, when he was staring at his first violets, that he remembered the monster who had harmed Chara.

The walk to the jail was long and silent other that the soft padding of Asgore's paws.

All of New Home didn't dare let out the breath they were holding as they saw him walk past their homes.

Then he reached it: the New Home Jail (be glad you weren't killed). It was a dreary looking structure, gray stone and weak plaster crumbling, the rusting metal revealing the only color on the whole building.

He pushed the door with an ear-splitting CREAAAAAAAAAK, and he padded inside.

It sure was dusty inside.

He wasn’t sure of exactly what kind.

Most of the prison was empty, save a few prisoners still alive thanks to one responsible monster that refused to neglect their job.

That monster wasn’t there when Asgore visited, though. Most of the eyes in the prison raised to watch him stroll down the halls.

Nobody moved when he stopped in front of one of them, not even as he began to speak.

“You were the one…do you know exactly why you are here?”

A single red eye stared at him.

“For hurting your child. …How could I forget?”

The punishment for harming any member of royalty was a choice between the death sentence or being sent to prison for the rest of their life, which some believed to be the worse option.

But Asgore shook his head.

“No. It wasn’t that.”

He took a deep breath, and continued.

“It was because I believed very strongly that you needed to be punished. Your fear from being brought in front of me to be judged, or even after Chara pleaded me not to punish you, it still wasn’t justified in my eyes.

“Chara wanted to forgive you. This punishment wasn’t meant to reassure that you wouldn’t do something like this again, or that Chara wouldn’t be in danger from you either. It was just to reassure myself that I was doing the just thing; it was to make me feel better about myself, I realize that now.”

The red eye watched him apprehensively.

“So you think that, whatever you’re about to do now, this will make up for all these fucking years I spent in this dank hole?” She said evenly.

“No, even I cannot expect something like that after what I’ve done.” Asgore replied.

“I’m sorry. I should never have acted so selfishly, and how devastating it was for you. So, I’m going to personally let you free, and make sure you get a stable occupation.”

Asgore revealed a parchment of paper and began to write on it, signing for the monster’s release, when he paused and looked, really looked at her for the first time. It was a bit difficult to see in the dark, but he took note that she was a fish monster, scrawny from being locked in a prison for so long, with wild red hair and large, a bit bucktooth fangs. Her left eye was squeezed shut with dried ooze and fluids, having been infected from some previous wound.

“I…even after all these years, and your punishment…I don’t even know your name. Tell me, brave one.”

She watched him warily for a long time. Asgore made sure to hold onto his patience while he waited.

“I’d like to be called Undyne, if that’s what you mean. I feel it’s a better name than any I could ever have been given.” She spat out that last bit with a bit of hatred.

Asgore fished a key off his phone and unlocked the cage and held open the door for her.

“Undyne, I, Asgore, King of the Monsters officially pardon you from your unjust punishment. You are now free to live your life as you so choose.”

Her good eye widened as she realized he was being legitimate. She stood up shakily, and bowed as best as she could could. “Th-thank you, Your Majesty. I appreciate this very much, although I do not know exactly where to go from here.”

Asgore reached out a large paw to steady her. “Come, walk with me.”

The two turned and walked out of the New Home Jail, leaving the signed parchment in the empty cage.