Wilted

    Frisk and Asgore knelt side by side in the grass of the school grounds. Asgore had promised to give a lesson on gardening and he was ever a monster beholden to his word. He listed off the necessary items to begin and Frisk nodded in reply. “We need our watering can, gloves, some clippers, and good old fashioned sunlight.” He looked up to the sky and squinted. “Oh there we go. Right where it’s supposed to be.” Frisk laughed with giddy eagerness. “Now let us begin.”

    The odd pair snipped and trimmed, moving sod and seed. Frisk was happy to give up some recess time to spend it with Asgore. He seemed to appreciate the company. After all, there was no point in making it to the surface if not for human and monster to appreciate each other. The day was cool but the work was hard. Good work always is. Frisk had begun to work up quite a sweat when Asgore’s mind turned to reminiscence. Asriel and his adopted sibling often tired of gardening with their father and began to play before any real work would get done. Asgore could never force his children to do something so he let them have their fun. With Frisk however, he knew they would finish any job, no matter what.

    Frisk looked with dismay at one of the tulips whose stem had turned brown and begun to sag to the ground. Asgore did not like the look of that furrowed brow and so offered a bit of his limited wisdom. “Oh do not worry, my child. Hard work is important but there are some things that must be done on their own. We have given this flower all we can, and for now we must let it be. All we can offer from now on is love. Even in the most barren of soils and harshest of climates, a flower given love can bloom into something beautiful. Would you agree?”

    “I believe I would, yes”, replied Toriel. She knelt down beside Frisk and offered some lemonade to her hard working little gardener and stroked their hair.

“Howdy, Toriel! You must be here to make sure Frisk doesn’t get to class late. Well you run along now once you finish your drink, okay?” Frisk nodded and gulped down the sweet drink. They did as instructed and hurriedly joined their classmates beyond the school doors.

Toriel looked on with pride. Asgore rose to his feet and began to collect the tools Frisk had left behind. He did not mind to clean up, after all Frisk had done for him. “You know Asgore, that speech seems awfully familiar.” He looked at her quizzically, a look she knew well. “It is the same one you gave to Asriel when he tried taking care of his first flower.”

Asgore scratched his hairy chin “Golly, so it is. Well I should be getting back to work too. Take care, Toriel.” She gave her goodbye as well and pondered his words.

“Love… Maybe...” Toriel shook her head and went inside too.