Asriel and Anon look at the stars [12/29/19]

Human and monster stood, feet half-planted in the snow, on a small outlook near the top of Mt. Ebott. It was a calm and wintry night on the mountain - utterly picturesque. The human boy had his hands in his pockets, teeth chattering from the cold, as he looked out over the miles of snow-capped trees below them. The monster - Asriel Dreemurr, former prince of the Underground - stared up into the inky black sky and sighed, his breath visible as a plume of fast-dissipating smoke.

Neither said a word for what seemed a very, very long time, and there was no sound to be heard but the light blowing of the icy wind.

Suddenly, the human boy broke the silence.

"Why did you want to come back here?"

Asriel slowly turned to him, a faraway look on his face. "What do you mean?"

"I mean... you know what's right below us, right? It's where... it's where Chara died. Where you died. And it's where you were trapped, for an eternity, as..."

The human boy noticed the crestfallen look coming over the monster's face and trailed off, unable to finish his sentence. Asriel said nothing in response. He merely turned his head back towards the infinite expanse of gently-twinkling stars above them.

For a moment, the human was worried that he had offended his companion. He was seconds away from stuttering an apology when the prince of the Underground finally spoke.

"When I was young, back in the Underground... sometimes, I would stand among the golden flowers, and crane my neck to get a view through the hole in the mountain. If... if I squinted really hard, I might be able to make out the faint glow of a star or two."

The human boy turned to his companion, and noticed for the first time that there were tears in his eyes.

The prince continued. "I... I had no idea there were so many."

The wind picked up, and human and monster again fell silent.