“Holy fuck.” I gasped, interrupting him. “He said he would let the Shadow Realm fall, if it was a choice between that world and me.” My eyes met Gaster’s. “He said that to me when we were in the realm, but it’s just an expression, right? A super sexy, hot-as-hell expression that made me feel all the things. But no one literally destroys worlds when the person they care about is hurt…”

A sad chuckle emerged from the goblin. “You don’t understand. Shadow didn’t just sever all the connections to the worlds and then hole up in his lair. Since you were taken from him, he has struck a path of destruction through the ten worlds. With enough force that I’m not sure all of them can recover.”

Well, okay then. The beast was literal, a good point to remember.

“We can still fix it all,” I said with more confidence than I felt. “I’ll give him a few hours to calm down because he’s a wee bit angry at the moment. But tomorrow morning, first thing, I’m going to be on his ass like a goddamn barnacle until he learns to love me again. If there’s one thing I’m good at, it’s wearing people down.”

I repeated this in English for Sam, and she smiled. “Embrace your strengths, right?”

That almost got a laugh from me. “You’re handling this fairly well,” I said, impressed with her calm demeanor. “Are you saving up your freak-outs for later? I often do that.”

She shrugged. “I’m trying this new thing where I just go with the flow. Sometimes it works; other times I fail miserably. Today I’m somewhere between the two.”

I patted her on the arm. “Stick with me. You’ll be adjusted to the randomness of life in no time.”

My words didn’t seem to be reassuring for her, but she didn’t argue either.

“If you’re going back into the lair, I think it’s best if we get some food and rest,” Gaster said, falling into his concierge role.

“Is the dining hall gone too?” I asked sadly.

He paused, and it was clear he had no idea. “We should find out.”

Stepping through the library, we finally managed to maneuver our way into the dining hall, which, surprisingly, was completely untouched. Robot servers intact and everything. They rushed straight up to us when we walked through the door, like waitstaff desperately waiting for their first customers to arrive.

“Hmm,” Gaster said, seeming confused. “I thought the master had destroyed all the magic of the library, but it’s still quite strong here.”

“I can understand you!” Sam said with a shout before she lowered her voice. “Oh, wow, it’s nice to talk after resorting to sign language.”