Chapter Text
The sun's rays woke up Ella from her sleep...
After yawning, she looked out the window onto the kingdom outside...
Things had changed over the last few years...
Their village had transformed into a beautiful city...
Some buildings near the square were made of metal and concrete instead of wood and bricks...
Parts of the city closer to the palace had lights that you didn't have to use fire for, but electricity instead...
But not her aunt's estate...
No...
Lady Tremaine preferred the more old-fashioned way of living...
No electricity, no plumbing, no nothing!
Other than going to seamstresses who use electric looms of course!
The Tremaines dresses were the best the world had to offer...
Ella didn't wear hers as often as her sisters did...
Ever since her father died, she cooked and cleaned for her family...
She enjoyed it most of the time...
She loved helping others...
She loved Anastasia...
Despite Pearl and her aunt being difficult...
She rolled her eyes as she changed out of her sleeping gown and into her work clothes...
She knew how to sew and such…
She had gotten rather good at it...
So rather than sending off her work dress that got tears in it frequently to the seamstresses, she fixed it herself...
She went outside to the well to collect the water for her and her household's washes in the morning...
After boiling the water, she used some to wash herself...
While using a towel to dry off, she looked at it...
Yeah, it needed to be washed today with everything else...
She sighed and brought it into the laundry room...
Which she had to do by hand...
She wished she could convince her aunt to at least get a washer and dryer...
But Lady Tremaine was just too stubborn...
Her daughters...
Pearl and Anastasia...
Pearl was too loyal, and Anastasia was too timid for either to do anything...
Ella was the oldest of the young women in the house...
Only by barely, but Pearl, who was only a few weeks younger than her, no matter how much she hated to admit it...
She intimidated Ella...
Ella kept the rest of the hot water in a closed pot in the heat of the fire...
She would bring the hot water upstairs for her family's baths when they were awake...
But for now, it was time to make breakfast...
Back outside to feed the chickens and collect fresh eggs...
This was one good thing about being old-fashioned...
Fresh eggs were the best!
She hummed while she cooked...
A sweet tune she heard in the city the other day...
There was this female monster fish who would sing for the crowds...
While she loved it, Ella couldn't stay because she had work to do...
That's the last of the bread...
She would need to go into the city to get more after breakfast...
Once the cooking was done, she plated everything up onto four platters and covered the three that would be going upstairs...
She started to quickly eat...
Hearing the bell of the clock tower ring...
Looking outside briefly, she knew her sisters and aunt would be up soon...
8 o'clock was the normal time for them...
She had almost finished eating when she heard, "Ella! Is breakfast ready yet?"
She smiled as she called back upstairs to Anastasia after finishing her last bite of food,
"Yes, are the others up yet?"
Her full name was Eleanor but...
Everyone who respected her always called her Ella...
Pearl had made that colorful nickname of Cinderella after Ella had fallen into the burnout fireplace once when they were children...
Their father scalded Pearl for calling Ella that but...
After he passed...
No one could stop Pearl or her mother from calling Ella that anymore...
Ella always tried to tell herself that it was their way of grieving but...
While Anastasia was too timid to stand up to them, she had told Ella in private her sister and mom were just being mean...
She would wash her plate when she washed the others...
Ella gladly walked upstairs with Anastasia's breakfast and a pitcher of hot water for her bath...
Even though Ella and Pearl hadn't inherited it, Anastasia had their father's gorgeous red hair...
Lady Tremaine unfortunately was doing everything possible to marry her youngest daughter off as soon as she could...
To marry rich and Ella knew how much some men would pay for the ability to marry someone with such rare hair like that...
The rest of Anastasia's features were very modest but still beautiful...
Everything went together very well in Ella's opinion...
Ella didn't look too bad herself...
Both her and Pearl had blonde hair...
Like their twin mothers...
"Would you like me to set up your bath, Ana?"
She would always call her baby sister that...
Because she knew her sister loved that nickname, despite the others always ignoring it...
"That would be wonderful, Mother is going to have me practicing again after breakfast..."
Ella knew Anastasia despised singing unlike herself...
She always preferred the flute, but she had to practice today...
She always looked happy when she ate though...
Especially the bread...
Anastasia loved fresh bread...
Ella efficiently set up Anastasia's bath for her...
Making sure the oat scented soap she loved was ready for Anastasia to use...
Ella wished she could introduce Anastasia to Lathyn someday...
The attractive baker who Ella always got the bread from...
But unless things changed...
Her aunt would never approve of the match...
Pearl was always ignored though...
She was the one who actually wanted to marry rich...
She had the ambition, and she was pretty enough to make for a fine trophy wife...
Ella hoped for everyone's sake that Pearl would find a rich enough husband her mother wouldn't care who her younger sister married anymore...
Now...
Ella herself wanted to marry someday too...
But the problem was despite there being plenty of good attractive guys in the city...
She never really fully connected with any of them she had met up to this point...
There was never that...
Feeling, that love poems, songs, and stories always spoke about...
She wanted to find that for herself someday...
But who knows when she would?
She had brought Anastasia's empty platter downstairs and put it with her own when she heard a different, louder, unpleasant voice call downstairs to her...
"Cinderella!
Bring up my breakfast and hot water, will you?!"
And there goes Pearl...
Her voice always felt like spiders crawling up Ella's back...
Ever since they were little...
Without even saying anything to her, Ella brought up another pitcher of hot water with Pearl's meal...
She knew she had to do it quickly because once Pearl was up...
She was only giving pearl her meal when Lady Tremaine ordered,
"Cinderella!!! Bring my food to me!"
"Yes Auntie!"
After setting up Pearl's hot bath as soon as possible, Ella went downstairs for her aunt's.
She hastened to collect hot water and her aunt's food...
Then back up to the master bedroom...
Ella opened the door to see her aunt who looked like she was having a bad morning...
It was obvious Lady Tremaine had brushed her hair...
Her silver curls were unnaturally straight for once...
That only happened right after it was brushed out...
"What took so long?!"
Ella had done nothing wrong...
Yet her aunt was mad at her...
"I had to set up Pearl's bath before going downstairs for your food and hot water."
"You need to be more efficient."
Lady Tremaine said matter of factly.
"Bringing up our food for all of us at once with our hot water would be suitable."
That sounded like tomorrow's punishment for ticking her off...
Ella opened her aunt's platter and Lady Tremaine started to enjoy her meal...
"Set up my bath and I've been thinking...
This place always looks so dull...
After cleaning up breakfast could you go into town and get flowers for decoration?
Oh, and you may also purchase any food we've ran out of, but be back with time to make lunch, will you?"
"Yes Auntie."
Ella left her aunt's room and started the last bath of the morning...
After which she went back into Pearl's room to pick up her platter to bring it downstairs...
She had been 'efficient' as her aunt said in the past, but then the hot water & breakfast would get cold which none of Ella's family liked...
There was no winning with her aunt.
As she went back upstairs again, Ella saw Anastasia out of her bath which meant it was time to help her little sister into her corset...
But Ella needed to bring her aunt's platter downstairs before she got out of the bath...
Because Ella knew how much worse that woman's fury would be if she saw the dirty dish left in her bedroom...
Sorry for making you wait, Ana.
So, she collected her aunt's dish before hurrying it downstairs so she could go back up and help Anastasia into her corset...
Anastasia nor Ella liked the corsets, but Lady Tremaine required them whenever any of them wore fancy dresses...
And poor Anastasia had to wear them every day...
It was times like this that Ella was thankful for her more comfortable work dress...
The corsets only happened for her when the family went to formal events...
When she was almost done with Anastasia's corset, she heard a distinct snapping of fingers that she only knew Pearl to ever do...
"Cinderella!
I need help getting into my dress for the day!"
Pearl was insufferable...
How was she always so chipper, but cruel at the same time!?!
Ella accidentally pulled Anastasia's corset a little bit too tight...
"Aaaaaah!"
"Sorry Ana!"
She loosened it so Anastasia could breathe.
The two looked in Anastasia's full length mirror...
"You do look beautiful at least..."
"I know... I'll go to the music room to wait for Pearl...
Have a good day, Ella..."
"You too, Ana."
They both had their duties to attend to...
Ana with her wife training and Ella with her housework...
Ella went into Pearl’s room to help her…
Ella was a little too quick for Pearl's comfort with her corset...
One large pull, then some loosening so her older sister could breathe...
"Owwww!"
Pearl slapped Ella in the face...
"I can take what I deal, but can you sister?"
Ella looked away from Pearl...
She had been hurt too many times to know how to de-escalate a situation...
"Your mom wouldn't be happy with me if I damaged your face, so not today."
"Okay loser."
She waved and glided towards the music room.
That was normal behavior for Pearl...
But she was never punished for her misconduct by her mother...
Lady Tremaine's perfect Pearl could do nothing wrong in Ella's aunt's eyes.
Lady Tremaine would be out of her bath at any moment...
So, Ella started walking towards her room...
Lady Tremaine came out with her hair already dried from the bath...
It was getting fluffy almost right away...
That was a trait the four living Tremaines shared...
Varying degrees of curliness...
That would go fluff right after it was dried...
Ella followed Lady Tremaine into the master bedroom where a striking purple dress was chosen...
Ella had no doubt it would have been gorgeous in Lady Tremaine's youth...
And while it was still beautiful on the middle-aged widow, it gave off an energy that would probably scare off any men who would want her...
"Make it nice and tight today, I want to shine like the moon..."
Ella would never say anything, but Lady Tremaine looked more like a villainous goddess than anything else at night...
Ella made it so there was just barely enough room to breathe.
"Off you go now and remember not to take too long...
I don't want you going off wondering the town like you sometimes do..."
Ella wasn't planning to anyway today...
It was laundry day, which meant the sooner she started, the sooner she could rest...
Ella quickly cleaned the dishes before getting ready to leave…
Ella threw on her comfortable baby blue cotton jacket with the buttons...
She also almost forgot to swap out her work shoes for her walking shoes...
She had strong calluses on her feet but...
Those shoes would have hurt if she went long distances with them...
So off to the city she walked...
~
The estate was more suburban...
Mostly older family homes given by the king...
Except for one new home that was built about five years ago...
It was a tall mansion owned by the former queen of monsters...
Lady Toriel...
While it was also land given by the king...
That house held multiple families...
They were friendly, but unfortunately Ella's aunt didn't like them...
The Man of the House, a skeleton by the name of Sans, had the ability to allow the residents to leave without even going outside the house...
Powers like that really scared Lady Tremaine...
So, she told her daughters to stay away....
It was understandable but… kind of rude...
They were good people who just wanted to live their lives...
Ella felt bad about what had happened to this very day...
It was first the proclamations from the king...
After almost one hundred years Monsterkind had returned to civilization...
Peaceful and willing to integrate into society...
A lot of things happened all at once...
The barrier that was cast by human wizards to end the human/monster war had shattered on top of the dormant volcano mount Ebott...
Around two thousand monsters returned to the surface, which was reportedly even less than their population at the end of the war...
Monsters were officially made citizens of the kingdom...
Then the dark days came...
An unfortunate word had to be coined due to discrimination...
Monsterphobia...
A lot of shops put up signs like 'humans only'...
Humans were jerks to their own species...
So how they treated others...
It was bad but it made sense...
A law had to go into effect, criminalizing violent Monsterphobia...
But over time...
Homes for monsters were built in the kingdom...
And all the monster's advanced technology was integrated into society as well...
Even the palace got upgrades...
Integrated water and electricity...
Next door to the Tremaines where there had been an open field during Ella's childhood, one of the monster homes was built...
It was elegant, but the style was vastly different from everything else around it...
When the day came that the three monster families moved in...
It was requested by the king that they would be welcomed into the area with open arms...
So, all four Tremaines got into formal dress and patiently waited to meet their new neighbors...
Lady Tremaine told all three of the ladies not to speak unless spoken to...
Because they were meeting monster nobles...
The new queen, the old queen, the Savior of the Underground, the Royal Scientist, the Ambassador, and the Executioner...
Once there was a knock on the door, the Tremaines walked outside with the young women keeping their heads down.
Their new neighbors were in various forms of semi-formal attire...
A large female goat monster in a long purple dress with the Royal Crest of the monsters spoke to them, "I am lady Toriel, former queen of monsters and it is good to meet you all...
Let me introduce you to my friends and family who will be your neighbors from now on."
Toriel had a sweet, gentle voice...
She gestured first to a preteen human child in a comfortable sweater, bright pink tutu, and matching ballet shoes next to her...
"This is Frisk, they are my adopted child and the Savior of the Underground..."
"It's good to meet you!"
Ella genuinely couldn't tell whether they were female or male...
She learned later on Frisk had been the one to shatter the barrier and free Monsterkind...
Toriel then gestured to a fish-like woman to her left...
Her blood red scaly hair was tied up into a ponytail and she wore a very nice suit.
"This is our new queen, Undyne."
"Yep! After we moved to the surface a decision was made that we needed a new leader for this new era...
I had already become the leader of monsters anyways in everything but the title.
Toriel is the elder of the house, however."
Undyne had a rough feminine voice.
"I am."
Toriel gestured to a short yellow lizard woman in a bright pink dress who was leaning on Undyne.
"This is our Royal Scientist, Alphys."
"I-it's nice to meet you..."
With both that stutter and the way she sweated after speaking, the poor lady had some severe social anxiety...
"You're okay Al, you don't have to worry about anything alright?"
Alphys nodded as a brighter yellow crossed her face...
Ella was surprised to find out later Alphys and Undyne were girlfriends and later wives...
Toriel continued to introduce everyone...
She gestured to the taller and slenderer of two skeletons...
"This is our Ambassador, Papyrus."
Papyrus wore a similar suit to Undyne's and had a warm red scarf wrapped around his neck even though it was the middle of summer...
"IT IS AN HONOR TO MEET YOU ALL, I LOOK FORWARD TO FORMING GREAT FRIENDSHIPS WITH ALL OF YOU!"
All four Tremaines were startled by how loud he was...
"sorry about my little brother, he may be loud but is very kind once you get used to his voice...
i'm sans by the way."
Sans was super chill...
He was short and bulky in a more casual suit than the others wearing suits...
But since none of them had said who the Executioner was yet...
It must have been Sans...
He didn't seem intimidating in the slightest at first glance...
But because of how unassuming he was, maybe he was the type to put on an act until something bad happened?
"Sans, can you?"
Toriel was asking for something but none of the Tremaines knew what...
"of course, tori. anything for you."
Sans softened as he looked at Toriel...
A tin full of a sweet smelling pie appeared in his hands with a flash of blue...
"here ya go, tori."
Toriel was handed the pie.
"I baked this for your family, It's my specialty.
I frequently make pies for everyone I know in my free time."
"Thank you, Lady Toriel."
Lady Tremaine took the pie and handed it to Ella...
It smelled of cinnamon... And something else she couldn't quite place...
Lady Tremaine began.
"Allow me to introduce myself and my daughters,
I am Lady Rapunzel Tramaine, and this is Pearl Tramaine, Eleanor Tremaine, & Anastasia Tremaine."
All at once, Ella and her sisters spoke,
"It is good to meet all of you!"
They had practiced over the years to speak in unison...
Anastasia and Ella didn't like it, but Pearl loved it...
Lady Tremaine did everything to make her oldest, at least in her eyes anyways, happy.
"We should go meet the other neighbors!"
"THAT'S A GREAT IDEA, UNDYNE!"
Papyrus and Undyne rushed off, like they were racing to the next estate...
The Queen and the Ambassador seemed to be good friends...
The rest of the monsters quickly followed behind their energy filled leaders...
Sans was the last one to walk off...
In the last moment that he was there he gave off an energy that was...
The most intimidating thing Ella had ever felt...
It was like he was mentally telling them...
'hurt any of us, and you will feel the wrath of Monsterkind.'
The Tremaines went inside, and Pearl started ranting...
"I wanted to throw that pie at that short skeleton's head for that creepy look he gave us right before he left!"
"That's a crime dear, don't you remember that new law?"
"It's the only reason why I didn't!
I would never be able to marry a noble if I were to attack a new ally of the kingdom!"
"I'm pretty sure he was their executioner...
It was probably just a scare tactic so we wouldn't try anything..."
"Shut up, nerd!"
"Girls, you need to be more lady-like and not fight."
An uncomfortable silence filled the entrance of the Tremaine estate that evening...
"Can Ana help me out of my corset so I can cook dinner for us?"
Lady Tremaine sighed,
"Yes, we don't want that pretty dress of yours to be covered in cinders, do we?"
"No, Auntie... We do not..."
The corset was slowly loosened so Ella could swap into her work clothes and cook dinner that night...
For dessert, they all ate shared slices of the gift pie...
It was...
Like a squash pie...
Delicious soft and gooey center with perfectly golden brown crust...
Ella was drooling thinking about that pie...
Thankfully no other people noticed her doing so...
She needed to get herself a sweet pastry at the bakery...
At first, other than Sans upsetting Pearl...
There was no bad blood between the monster nobles and the Tremaines...
Sometimes when Ella was doing outside housework, she would see her neighbors hanging out in their large yard...
There ended up being one more monster who lived on that property...
A flower monster by the name of Flowey...
Apparently, he was Lady Toriel's son...
He was pretty childish but clearly cared for his family...
Ella wondered why he wasn't there originally...
She had asked Lady Toriel and apparently Flowey hadn't been up on the surface at the time of the house being built...
Apparently, he was severely traumatized when he was a lot younger and stopped mentally aging for a very long time...
One day Pearl happened to be outside when Flowey was...
And the interaction was unpleasant to say the least...
"Aaaaaaaah! What the fuck are you?!"
Pearl freaked out at seeing Flowey...
Sans covered Frisk's ears because of the coarse language...
"I should be saying the same thing, but Mom doesn't want me to swear anymore!
Why are you saying language like that in front of kids?!"
"You don't look like a kid!"
"I can't help it if I'm not a boss monster anymore!"
Flowey started wailing...
Sans scooped up Frisk & Flowey and they all disappeared in a flash of blue magic...
A few hours later...
Sans came back...
And he told Pearl to stay away from their house...
Then Pearl had the bright idea to dump salt all over the outside of the monster property in the middle of the night...
Which made Flowey extremely sick...
He had to go stay with his dad for a while after that...
Sans was furious...
Ella couldn't really do anything to stop Pearl from antagonizing the monsters even further...
She wanted to defend the monsters but...
She didn't want to get into a situation where she couldn't walk for a week again because Pearl attacked her...
It was an impossible situation...
Ella was almost at the bakery...
She would pick up some more bread for the house and whatever fresh pastries the baker had that day...
~
The store bell rang as Ella walked inside the bakery.
The smells of the place filled Ella's nose and mind...
She remembered a vague memory of fresh bread being made at home...
She knew without fully remembering it that her father liked baking in his free time...
It was the reason Ana loved the smell so much...
Ella was pulled out of her thoughts by a familiar voice,
"Good morning, Ella, how can I help you today?"
It was Laththyn, Ella's favourite baker in the city.
His shop was not humans only, which was not something that could be said about all the bakeries in the city...
Ella hated the rampant Monsterphobia in her city...
But some people didn't want to understand...
Ella hoped things could change...
But wishing wouldn't mean anything unless you fight for what you believe in...
"Good morning, Laththyn.
I need three loafs of bread and what are you holding there?"
He was holding a tray of a type of cookie Ella had never seen before...
"These are chocolate chip cookies with monster spider cider extract, would you like to get some?"
"Yes! I will get two, Ana would love this too!"
Ella had told Laththyn about Anastasia before, but she was worried that they would never get to meet...
Laththyn cheerfully put the two cookies and the three loaves of Bread into Ella's basket she had with her...
As he did, she remembered...
"Laththyn, my aunt wants me to get flowers for the house...
Where would you recommend?"
Laththyn thought for a second as Ella handed him the Gold for his baked goods.
"Flower King is the only safe flower shop in the city now...
The others well...
You know."
Places with more luxury items like flowers tended to be more...
Monsterphobic...
"I've never heard of it, where is it located?"
"The monster district. It's run by this older monster named Asgore."
That name sounded familiar to Ella, but she just couldn't place it...
It didn't matter...
She would meet him soon enough...
"Thank you for telling me about the place, Laththyn! I wouldn't have known where to go if you hadn't told me...
I really don't like supporting Monsterphobic establishments if I can help it..."
"Me neither. It's harder when you're talking about farms though...
I only use ingredients from farms who support them...
Other than like one ingredient and I don't use it much..."
He pointed up at the ginger snaps...
There wasn't much he could do about that one...
There was a dangerous monopoly on ginger root farming...
It always became a bigger problem near the end of the year...
Some smaller farmers had tried to grow ginger root but...
Every time they tried their crops were sabotaged and eventually, they all gave up...
The human royal family famously loved gingerbread...
So being the only supplier was very profitable...
Ella nodded as she left...
~
"Thank you, Sans, for bringing me back here."
"anytime. flowey really misses you."
Sans disappeared with a flash of blue magic.
It was time to open shop for the day, so Asgore did the usual things...
Lights on, watering the plants, giving the ones that needed it fertilizer, & he flipped the closed sign to open.
There were three competitor flower shops that were all run by humans...
The only thing his shop had was he was friendly to monsters...
Well, that and unlike human gardeners he was able to grow magical plants...
They needed a magical touch to survive on the surface...
Asgore double checked every single plant in the shop had their proper maintenance...
The monster regulars came to his shop in the afternoon...
But maybe today he would get new human customers...
He tried to advertise...
But every time he put up posters in any other district Monsterphobic graffiti covered them...
Some would come but normally in the afternoon with the monster regulars...
The bell of the front door rang as a young human woman walked in...
She looked like she was in her twenties with fair skin, long curly blonde hair, and sparkling blue eyes...
A baby blue jacket covered her casual brown dress, and a pair of magical walking boots were on her small feet...
For an adult, her feet were tiny...
Asgore was sure he could scoop her up into his arms without trouble...
Stop thinking about that!
Be professional.
"Welcome to Flower King!
How can I help you today?
We have any plant you may desire, and our specialty is magical flowers.
What do you need from here today?"
"I'm looking for decorations for my family's estate...
My aunt who is the lady of the house requested it."
"First I must ask, are there any plant allergies in your household?
I've noticed a lot of humans have flower allergies and sometimes don't notify me before purchase."
Asgore had some complaints from disgruntled humans who didn't tell him in the past...
"My little sister Anastasia is allergic to rose pollen."
Asgore grabbed a quill & ink and made a note in his allergy book...
While it wasn't nearly as common among monsters...
For humans it was quite common...
"May I know your family name for my notes?"
The beautiful young woman hesitated...
"It's... Tremaine."
He had been told about the middle daughter who had poisoned Flowey...
A girl by the name of Pearl...
Her description was remarkably like the way this woman looked...
Except... She had hazel brown eyes...
"What's your name?"
"Eleanor Tremaine, but most people call me Ella."
Both Flowey and Frisk had spoken at length about someone named Ella...
Asgore was told she was kind and did everything to help her family...
Even if...
Asgore noticed a bruise on her face...
"Would you like me to get you some ice for that bruise while you browse?"
Her cheek was swollen and purple...
Frisk had gotten things like that before...
The kids at school weren't the nicest to them...
Bullied them for being different...
Everyone treated them just like monsters...
In most people's eyes, Frisk was a monster...
Ella touched her swollen cheek, "Thank you for offering, my older sister Pearl is constantly like this...
But she hurts me a lot worse if I fight back..."
"Of course, It is good to meet you.
I'm Asgore."
She seemed like the type who didn't like to fight but would if necessary...
In that way, Asgore knew the feeling...
Asgore fetched some ice he had bought from the ice monsters...
There were so many reasons to have ice: food storage, minor injury, and even for a cooking ingredient...
He wasn't as good as Toriel, but He could manage...
Asgore was determined to be a good father and a good man even if...
Toriel didn't love him anymore...
She had moved on...
With Sans...
Sans had brought her smile & laughter back...
Something Asgore could never do again...
Asgore wanted to be able to do the same...
Find someone...
Like this Ella...
She was beautiful...
There was something about her...
Asgore walked back with the ice wrapped in a thin cloth...
Ella was looking at a patch of Underground Buttercups...
Asgore had found out the flowers had become a distinct species due to the exposure of magic underground...
"Here you go."
Asgore handed Ella the ice...
They touched for about a moment...
But Asgore felt something he hadn't felt in an exceptionally long time...
She blushed but changed the subject...
Had she felt it too?
"Are these Buttercups? They look similar but the color...
It's somehow brighter!"
"They are Underground Buttercups, ninety-five years ago a lot of Buttercup seeds ended up underground...
Due to the exposure from magic the flowers changed and differentiated from their surface counterparts...
The flowers cover the Underground...
They are my best sellers."
It was true, monsters loved them because they were nostalgic of home & humans loved them because of how simple but beautiful they were...
"I would like to purchase two dozen please."
Asgore's eyes grew wide...
No one had ever bought that many at once other than Mettaton for his concerts...
He would get 42 dozen for every single concert...
The next one being for the freedom celebration...
There was a reason Asgore had an ample collection in the back of the shop...
As Asgore collected the twenty-four flowers and put them into two bouquets he could feel how warm his face was...
"How much for the flowers?"
"20 G."
Ella thought about it for a second, then pulled out twenty gold and handed it to him...
Was she not used to monster slang?
Their hands brushed together again for a moment...
There was no doubting it now...
Asgore had fallen for a human...
And from the way she blushed, it was the same for Ella...
Asgore placed the two bouquets in the basket she was carrying...
There were already three baguettes of bread and two what smelled like spider cider cookies... But they weren't from Muffet's...
She didn't add chocolate chips to her cookies...
Was a human bakery making monster baked goods?
"Thank you, Asgore."
Ella put down the ice on an empty counter...
Her face wasn't swollen anymore...
"I'll be going now..."
She waved and Asgore could see a pleasant smile on her face as she left...
~
As Ella walked back home, she felt as light as air...
Was this what love felt like?
A sweet older guy who was so kind to her...
And when they touched...
She could feel that feeling she had always heard about...
That spark...
Asgore.
She was in love with a guy named Asgore...
But what would her family say?
She had a feeling Ana would be okay with it but...
Pearl and Lady Tremaine...
She would probably be attacked for being with a monster not only by them but by much of the kingdom as well...
But...
If this feeling she felt wasn't a one-time thing...
She would fight for it...
She would finally stand up to everyone and fight for love...
She got back and made lunch...
It wasn't time for it yet, but she slipped the spider cider chocolate chip cookie on Ana's platter... So, the others wouldn't notice.
She would enjoy her cookie too when she had her lunch...
But it was time for Ella to do the laundry...
Over a large bucket of water Ella started to scrub each piece of laundry by hand...
While most cleaning was relaxing, this wasn't...
But as she scrubbed, her mind went back to Asgore again...
She wondered what stories he could tell...
She didn't really get to talk to the monsters much...
She wondered what the Underground was like...
While monsters could go back whenever they pleased, humans were not allowed in the Underground due to worry of any historical monument destruction by Monsterphobes...
She didn't blame them; monsters were constantly harassed whenever they left their district...
Despite it being a colder day, Ella started to sweat from the sun above...
In the distance she saw Frisk with Flowey who was in a flower pot...
The pot looked extremely similar to all the pots from Flower King...
Maybe monsters got pottery things from the same place?
Sans wasn't with them like he normally was...
Instead, it was Queen Undyne who was filling out paperwork on her lap while she watched the two children play...
The behavior monsters exhibited was vastly different to the way Ella and her sisters were raised...
They were never watched as they played...
They would just take care of each other...
Pearl may have been mean but...
Despite her being her, she still cared about Ella a little bit...
She couldn't help the fact that her, Ella, and Ana were raised together...
The queen rarely wore dresses...
While Ella heard about it happening a few times...
She only ever saw it once...
Most of the time, she wore suits or a casual pair of pants and a blouse like she was right now...
She walked over to Ella.
"Good morning, Eleanor."
The fish woman sniffed the air...
"Why do I smell Boss Monster over here? Toriel has been gone for the past few days in preparation for the festival..."
Ella had noticed monsters had a stronger sense of smell no matter what subspecies they were...
It was a trait they all shared.
...
Was Asgore a Boss Monster?
Ella chose to shrug.
Best not to mention that Ella had gone to Flower King today...
Undyne thought for a second...
"Wait... Flowey!
Did you and your father go on a walk today?"
Frisk walked over with Flowey in his pot...
The flower shook its pedals.
"Dad just came to the house to give me mulch...
He left right after with Sans so they could both start work..."
"Maybe my nose is just playing tricks on me...
See you later, Eleanor!"
The three went back into the monster estate...
Ella had no idea what they were talking about...
Even though he had been mentioned many times, Ella had never met Flowey's father...
Toriel's ex-husband...
The former king of monsters had murdered six humans in the past, which Toriel to this day had a lot of trouble forgiving...
There was a lot of drama in the old monster royal family...
Ella wasn't much for politics...
Ella wondered what Asgore's relationship with his family was like...
From what little Ella knew about monster aging he likely had at least one kid...
Ella's hands were almost raw from all the damn scrubbing when she was done with the week's laundry...
They hurt...
But she needed to start dinner...
Just some chopping vegetables and prepping that roast so it could slow cook for a while...
Other than helping her sisters and aunt get ready for bed...
Fuck!
Ella had forgotten about the flowers...
It had been over two hours and...
How did they not wilt in the slightest?
They were magical Buttercups as Asgore said...
But she was unsure what to do with them...
After a moment of thought, Ella put the twenty-four of them in different places throughout the house...
Hopefully, they were in enough varied spots that Lady Tremaine would like it...
Ella prepped the roast and sat down to rest her hands...
They were in a lot of pain...
It was always like this on Saturdays when she washed the laundry...
Ella hummed to herself to try to ignore how uncomfortable she was...
They would be better by the end of the night...
But right now, she was just uncomfortable...
Ella slowly stretched her hand muscles trying not to groan in pain...
This was worse than normal...
But she couldn't complain...
Because if she did...
Lady Tremaine would get out the whip...
Ella shuttered thinking about it...
It was better to suffer in silence rather than have more pain inflicted upon her...
Ella silently cried until 12:30pm when she heard from upstairs...
"Cinderella!
Bring us up our lunch!"
Ella put on a brave face as she brought her family's lunches to them...
While the others didn't care in the slightest, Anastasia noticed the twitches of pain as Ella moved her hands...
She was the only one to thank Ella...
"Thank you for the lunch, Ella!"
While the others ate, Ella went to have her food...
She left the cookie until after her family had finished their food...
She just wanted to enjoy it in peace...
After getting the others' empty food platters downstairs again...
Ella sat and tried the cookie...
Monster cooking was always interesting but...
Other than that, one time she had one of Lady Toriel’s pies five years ago...
She'd never tried any other baked goods...
Almost matching Laththyn's delicious chocolate chip cookie recipe, it was like adding magical apple cider...
It tasted just right for the time of year...
It just so happened it was Hollow's Eve when the monsters came back to the surface...
So, the old human traditions were quite humorous...
Especially with the freedom festival happening during the last week of October...