The day after my first meeting with the human- when I healed them didn't count because only one of us was conscious enough to do anything (that was me)- Asgore and Toriel finally hauled me out of the lab for a serious discussion.

... I say 'hauled,' but that's not exactly true. Hauled implies there was some difficulty about it. Asgore simply strode in, picked me up, threw me over his shoulder, and walked out. Not that I didn't protest, I protested vehemently, but he ignored me.

They brought me to the castle and sat me down. I crossed my arms over my chest and resolved to look generally irritable throughout the whole of whatever was going on there.

"Gaster," Asgore began, "you must accept that Chara is here, and that they are our family now."

"Your family." I corrected.

"What?"

"Your family." I repeated. "Care for the human if you must. I realize there is little I can do to stop you. But do not expect me to ever care for them. That's simply not going to happen."

They shared a glance. I simply waited.

"Gaster," Toriel began gently, "Do you know how Chara came to be here?"

"No, and, quite frankly, I really don't care."

Despite my response, Toriel answered her question anyway. "There was a hole at the farthest reaches the caves in the Ruins." This I knew. "It reaches all the way to the surface." This I also knew. Unfortunately, the Barrier still somehow blocked this hole from monster escape. I tried to go that way, it didn't work. "Chara fell down this hole."

I shrugged, then paused for a moment. "... So I suppose that means more humans could fall. That's good. It means we can use their Souls to break the Barrier."

"Gaster, no." Toriel admonished sharply. "That fall should have killed Chara. Yet it didn't. Do you know that they were disappointed when they woke up? They didn't want to survive!"

"So you should have let me kill them!" I retorted.

"No! They jumped because they were depressed and hurt! They had lost faith in their own kind, in humanity-"

"So have I." I interjected, and was ignored.

"-and we showed them love and kindness! They are our family, and we are going to take care of them!"

"You are," I clarified yet agains, "I am not."

"Gaster-"

I cut her off with a gesture. "Listen. I have accepted that they are here, and they are here to stay. I won't kill them, I'll stop trying to kill them, and, just for you two since I like you, I'll even stop making comments unprompted about them being better off dead. But I will not accept them as family, I will not care for them, and I will not like them. I can only go so far here; can't you meet me halfway? I'm already making a compromise here that seriously violates my beliefs and morals. Can't you at least recognize that and compromise a little for me?"

As I stopped speaking, they were both silent. Perhaps they had not realized these things before I had brought them to light. Or perhaps they have, yet hoped to convince me otherwise. Nonetheless, they were silent.

I nodded a little. "I think we're done here. Agreed? Good. I'll be leaving, then." And I turned and left.

Several days later, the king and Queen made an announcement to the whole of the Underground.

Well. The whole of the Underground except me. I knew what the speech was about, and refused to go on the premise that I disagreed with its subject matter.

The first part was by Queen Toriel. It was a speech to mark the fiftieth anniversary of monsterkind's inhabitation of the Underground, and the growth that had occurred since then. Apparently, she complimented me most generously in her speech, attributing much of the growth of the Underground to me.

The second part was by King Asgore. He was announcing that the human was officially Chara Dreemur, adopted child of the king and queen, sibling to the prince.

That was why I did not go. The human was officially a higher rank than I. Although I would not be expected to until they were older and wiser, the very idea of submitting to a human authority made me retch. Literally.

When Asgore told me the news in his speech a day or two before, it took me about an hour for the shock to wear off and the true meaning to set in. When that happened, I actually had to run to the nearest trashcan, and I barely got there in time. That's how disgusted and horrified I was.

And I vowed that if that day came that the human assumed the throne, then I would resign my position as Royal Scientist, burn down the lab, and retreat to the Ruins to plot their demise. I didn't care that a "peaceful" union between monsters and a human (just one, I might add, and a child at that,) had happened, and that it brought "hope" to the Underground. I hate humans, and I refused to submit to one.

... Luckily, they died before that happened, however unfortunate it is that they took Asriel with them.

... But I digress. About the speech.

There is only one reason I regret not going. Apparently, as Toriel passed the microphone to Asgore, she did not realize it was still on, and said, audibly enough for the device to pick it up, "Your turn, Fluffybuns."

And apparently, when Asgore had gotten everyone to stop laughing, he stepped up to the front of the stage with the most serious, stern expression on his face. Almost angry, if the reports are to be believed.

And then he began with, "Dear citizens. Thank you for coming here today.

"I, King Fluffybuns, have an important announcement."

And thus, with this speech, his fluffy majesty earned the most accurate nickname I have ever heard him have.

§

A/N

I... forgot what I was going to say. Seems to happen an awful lot to me.

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!