The news of the death of my family was met with a strange detachedness.

I don't remember a whole lot of the days surrounding- I guess was in some sort of shock?- so I can only give you a brief generalization of what happened.

Apparently, with the brutality of human attacks on the rise, my family had decided, like thousands of other monsters, that the Capital City would be safer than where they were. So, they had packed up and began the journey to my own location, with a number of other monsters.

But, of course, the party was attacked on the way. They were nearly all civilians, and what few of them were combat-ready were horrendously outnumbered by the humans. Only a handful of the more-than-three-thousand monsters survived, none of which were skeletons, much less my family.

I had never been too close to my family. Even as a child, I had distanced myself from my parents, aunts and uncles, my cousins.

Still, they were my family, and they were decent people.

I said the days around the news of their deaths I couldn't remember. That's not strictly true; there's one moment that I remember with painful clarity.

Only days after the news, I got a letter, in the mail. It had been sent by a niece of mine, Aierbazzi, a bright young girl whom I had never met. She had sent it just before they left town to go to their deaths.

Aierbazzi had written that she had seen me- "Doctor Uncle WingDings"- in the newspaper after my flying stunt, and that the was excited to meet me in person. She wrote that she was very interested in science- biology, particularly- and was wondering if I could help teach her "lots of cool sciencey things!" She had asked a lot of questions, about me, her unknown relative. She asked if I knew "Dr. Wyngblaise," because she knew a lot about his work, and thought he was very cool. She asked if I had ever met the king, living in the Capital, but also noted that she would rather meet Firhaur, since he was a scientist. She asked me questions about my work, about how some of my inventions worked, and listed a few ideas that "you should try to do! But, wait until I get there, because I want to help!"

She finished with the lines, "Mom says it'll only be a few days until we get there, but I want it to be only a few minutes! I can't wait to meet you, Uncle WingDings! I'm so excited to see the lab!

"With lots of love, Aierbazzi Gaster"

I got the letter four days after I learned she, and all the rest of my relatives, had died. Had been killed.

I remember that I had been standing in one of the lab rooms while I read the letter. By the time I finished it, the noise of the other lab employees working was barely audible to me. I was trembling with barely-contained fury.

And then my fury wasn't contained.

I remember letting out a savage roar and sweeping everything off the table in front of me with a single wide gesture. I remember, immediately after that, flipping the steel table, throwing it halfway across the room with a show of furious strength. I remember turning and picking something up off the table to my side, and throwing it with a scream.

I don't know if anyone tried to stop my rampage. Perhaps, if they did, it would have been better if they didn't. I have no doubt that I would have severely injured anyone to get in my way.

I remember, vaguely, coming back to my senses. Collapsing to my knees, holding my head in my hands, still shaking. Room in shambles around me, and none of the other scientists to be seen. Firhaur later told me that he had the room evacuated and the door locked to let me vent my rage without endangering anyone else.

I remember kneeling on the floor, breathing hard.

And Firhaur's voice, from somewhere behind me. Are you finished?

I think I said something to him. I don't remember what.

I remember him sitting down next to me. I remember thinking it was strange. He didn't tell me to calm down. He didn't ask me what was wrong. He didn't tell me things would be okay.

What's hurt you, brother?

I think I could hear my own anger reflected in his voice. Like I was a schoolchild who had been bullied, and my brother was asking me whom he needed to beat the crap out of.

I remember it was with shaking hands that I pulled Aierbazzi's letter, thoroughly crumpled by now, out of my pocket and held it out to Firhaur, still not looking up. He took it carefully. Read it.

She's dead, I remember telling him, I never even met her, and she's dead. They killed her. They killed all my family.

I remember hearing Firhaur let out a heavy, grieved sigh, and moments later, I felt his tight grip on my shoulder.

I remember I looked up at him, almost... desperate? Something like that.

You are all my family.

And he just nodded, and hugged me. Held tight to me.

I didn't cry, or mourn any more than the rage, really. Really, much of that anger had already been there since the start of the war, and this was just the final straw.

I hadn't known my family that well. I hadn't been close to them. They were little more than long-forgotten acquaintances.

I wish I had known them better. They were good people. I wish I had known them.

But after the rage abated, there were a few more days of numbness, and... and I think I was mostly okay. I was working, but... fragile, I suppose you could say. I still acted the same, but weaker. Toned down. I had lost a bit of HOPE.

Somehow, this ended up with me talking, and eventually befriending, Prince Asgore. I don't know if Firhaur arranged the meeting because he thought I needed it, or if Prince Asgore somehow heard what had happened, but one day he came to me and we started talking, and...

I will tell you this: for as much as Asgore's protectiveness annoys me at times, his kindness is truly a blessing.

That monster is good for your Soul.

... Seriously. He's like a cross between a therapy dog and a sentient pillow. It doesn't matter what your problem is, he will do his best to make sure you know that people love you, and everything will be okay. And you will feel a thousand times better after he hugs you.

Don't ever tell him I said that.

... Regardless, after that, I met up with Asgore often, enough that he eventually requested that I drop the formality when speaking to him.

And a while after that, things were okay again.

But for me, the war had become something more than the distant idea it had seemed up until then. It had finally become cold reality.

§

A/N

Welp, seems like I'm finally getting back into the swing of things! Another super-fast update!

Anyway, thanks for reading, and I hope you enjoyed it! Comments and votes are my Favorite Things, and every notification I get makes my day!