"Sans? Sans are… are you alright…? Hello…"
He moved his head to the left, slowly opening his eye sockets. The dark, blurry image in front of his eye sockets seemed resistant to sharpen and after a few tries of trying to identify the character in front of him, he gave up and closed his eye sockets again, loudly sighing. He recognized the voice, but he couldn't find the energy to respond. He couldn't feel his body and the pain he was still feeling from before. He figured it was because of the shock the sudden encounter with him caused. After all those years of pursuing a way to find out what it was about the past that kept haunting him and keeping him around the machine for so long, he finally got to remember, to some extension. What he was to him he couldn't tell, but he knew one thing: that person wasn't one to be messing with.
*JUST FORGET ABOUT ME,* were the words that were carved into his mind now, swirling through every part of it, cutting various questions into his skull. Who is he? What's his name? Could he be a friend? A foe, perhaps? Someone that gives life? Or is it rather death…? Can you touch him? Can you kill him…? Could you love him? …Could he love you?
All the times he would spend looking at the picture Papyrus drew when he was just a kid finally made sense now.
It was something important.
Every time he would look at that strange, tall person standing behind them, shivers would run down his spine. His mind would immediately act weirdly as his body would tremble, indicating something terrible happening. And although his body would force him to put the picture away, he would always think about it. Except from fear, the picture was providing him with grief, uncertainty, curiousness, but also warmth and some kind of protection. All those times he would spend looking at his reflection, trying to see something he had unseen a long time ago were making sense too, now. Why he sometimes dreamt in black and white, seeing some strange faces that didn't resemble anyone he knew. Sometimes, there was even a distorted face, a single tear sliding down his cracked cheek.
Someone important.
Sometimes, he'd feel like something, or rather someone, was watching him, but even in his reflection, there was nothing. All those times he felt simply weird that they had those kind of powers, and that they were the only skeletons around. He couldn't even remember where he came from, just like someone erased all of their memories, or existence before itself. Some nights he would spend awake, trying to get whom Papyrus resembled when he wore a black and white outfit one day, leaving his bright and cheerful clothes behind. Sometimes, he'd look at his skeletal hands, knowing he and his brother were not the only ones at one point. But now they were. But he couldn't remember. Although he wrote all over his brother's picture: 'don't forget'.
The skeleton remembered how he trained with Gaster Blasters in each hand. He soon grew attached to them and wanted to research about them to find out what they were and why they existed, but he had never been a scientific genius and couldn't possibly go tell Alphys about it. He found blueprints behind his house one day, leading him into more serious research as he started studying the power called determination. For some reason, he was able to read what the strange inscriptions said without having to decipher them. Night after night he'd go into the small workshop he had, collecting as much data as possible and trying to figure out what it all meant. He teamed up with Alphys as well at one point, so they'd get behind the mystery of the power together. But all they got were strange radio waves emitting from humans whose souls kept coming back again and again. He gave up entirely, eventually, realizing it was not up to them, and left the research to his good, dorky friend. He knew he was only looking at the surface of things while trying to uncover the mystery that lied beneath all of the humans' powers, and not just behind determination. But unfortunately, the person who wrote the blueprints didn't investigate anything else, although Alphys managed to get some pieces together. Most of them were only hypothesizes, though. Would a human really need a monster's soul to pass through the barrier as they predicted, or…?
"Sans…?" the silent, worried voice came again and he muttered something as he moved to sense he was resting his head on her lap. He couldn't care less, though.
"Come on… it was a joke, no need to… to die…" the skeleton managed to smile on that one as he slowly put his hands at his sides, sitting up. He put a hand on his skull and looked in front of himself, the blurry image finally sharpening again. Frisk's wide eyes were right in front of him.
"You awake?" the kid asked.
*oh, yeah. i guess. thanks, kid*, Sans dumbly smiled. Frisk then frowned.
"You had me worried there! I thought I had…"
*you? heh. nah, you wouldn't be able to.
Frisk's frown intensified, but seeing that wide smile on Sans' face, she smiled back. Sans' head suddenly hurt again and he put both of his hands on top of his skull again, so Frisk naturally wanted to reach out to him, but decided to stay away as the skeleton was writhing in pain. He suddenly got his hand in front of his eye sockets and reached for it with his other, shaking hand. He looked scared, but Frisk was just watching. She was scared of him, remembering his enormous, unpredictable power. He took the tip of his glove and slowly pulled it from his hand, revealing a hole in it as his soul stopped for a second. His pupils vanished as he just stared at it for a while, his breath intensifying. Suddenly, his whole body started shaking even harder as Frisk slid further away from him. He soon looked at her as a terrified expression formed on his face.
*Run*, his voice sounded different. Frisk just stared at the skeleton who changed his attitude in a flash. Sans stood up, almost falling over again but holding on to the machine.
*n-no… don't… there's nothing to be afraid of*, he soon said as a smile appeared on him again. Frisk remained sitting on the dusty was sure the person he met would never be able to come to this world without completely glitching it, so he tried to remain calm. He suddenly remembered how the person said he would erase everything from existence by entering their world just to make the humans stop resetting over and over again, but Sans knew there was another way. He was sure not every human was like that. He nervously made his way towards the centre of the small lab to walk in circles, trying to calm down completely.
*YOU SHOULD HAVE FORGOTTEN.
Sans' eye sockets narrowed.
*JUST FORGET… PLEASE…
The skeleton sighed as he completely ignored the child sitting in the corner. He couldn't calm down with the voice in his head keeping telling him to forget even though he knew he made it obvious Sans was going to remember. Frustrated on the inside and relaxed on the outside, he bent over to reach for the picture that was on the floor. He took a quick glance on it and wanted to put it back, but stopped in the middle of doing so. He stopped every movement as well.
The tall man behind them was blurred out. Almost… gone.
Sans' body tensed as he widely smiled to look back at the teen watching him from afar. He was still smiling.
*…don't… follow me, kid*, he said as he concealed something on his face.
With that, the terrified skeleton stormed out of the room, losing his hoodie in the process, to leave her alone in the dark, but little did he know that there was someone else in the room. Frisk heard a weird noise coming from behind the machine. It was scratching and screeching with quick steps walking into every direction. The kid in the oversized sweater slowly stood up and made her way down the dusty path leading towards the machine. She wasn't frightened. In fact, the only thing she felt was curiosity, the thing that made her go down the terrible path she chose at the first place. She couldn't care less if this was yet another bad choice, she knew the 'timeline', as her skeletal friend would call their life, couldn't get any worse. As she managed to squeeze herself behind the machine, she could clearly see something white, slowly changing its position to face the kid. As she leaned forward to touch the creature in front of her, some liquid dripped on the floor as a pant was released from it. She then reached out for it. As she saw what it was, however, she widely opened her eyes that once used to be shut completely, hiding their beauty to prevent them from growing dim, like they were now.
In front of her, there was a little white dog.
He barked at her multiple times, his small fluffy tail wagging as he saw the kid reaching her hand towards him. She looked astounded, so the dog's eyes narrowed as he began chasing his tail. Frisk felt playful again, all of a sudden, and wanted to grab the dog, but he clumsily dodged her attempt to get near to him before leaping at her lap and throwing his whole body to the ground, wallowing in the dust Frisk was afraid of now. She hated it with everything she had. The dog barked for attention, so Frisk stood up and approached it again, only to be ignored by the dog. She frowned at him and suddenly grabbed him, pulling him up, not letting him escape. The dog just kept his funny, smiling face on him as he was wiggling in the teen's arms for about a minute of petting session. He then turned his head towards her, tilting his head and playfully barking.
"Oh… You want to… play with me?"
The dog chased his tail before barking multiple times in a cute way. Frisk giggled as she grabbed a random tool, throwing it into the dog's direction. The dog just remained staring at her with the happy expression he had.
"Seriously. She thought I'd fetch it and bring it back…? Wow. Never expected that to happen", the dog looked aside for a moment of thinking before returning his gaze at Frisk and playfully barking, dancing around as he was picking up the dust from the ground. Occasionally he'd trip and fall over so that his fluffy fur would become one with the ground, picking up dust and dirt and with his playful rolls, it would get smeared all over his whiteness. He'd then fall asleep, quietly snoozing on the ground, apparently trying to find a blanket somewhere near. He'd soon wake up and start chasing its own tail again, but would stop to scratch itself under the collar he wore.
Frisk managed to decipher the word written in chicken scratch. It said 'TOBY'.
"Would you mind me petting you…?" Frisk friendly asked as the dog stared for a while, but stood up on all fours and looked towards the human looking at him white wide eyes. Like he didn't know what she did. He then faced the door to the outside and pointed at it with his tiny, cute paw raised in the air, his tail still swinging from left to right. He barked and happily leaped, so Frisk smiled at him.
"Oh… so you wanna go outside? Sure", she said as she completely forgot what Sans said earlier because of the cuteness the dog was providing. She approached the door and heavily pushed it to open it as the dog happily bounced after her. As he reached the centre of the room, she picked up Sans' hoodie in order to return it to him and put it over her shoulders, while he picked up the picture and slobbered all over it as he carried it in his mouth. He didn't plan on doing it at first, but something seemed to have forced him to in this timeline. He then approached the teen as she was waiting for him to step outside. The dog looked back at winked on seemingly nothing.
"Let's go, doggy", Frisk happily said and got out.
"And the plot thickens…" the dog happily hummed and leaped out of the lab as well.
Frisk didn't like what she saw when she stepped outside as the dog just sneaked by. The monsters that were once around here were gone, but that was the same as when she came back to Snowdin. Since then, more things had disappeared. There were no buildings, no lights hanging from their rooftops as well. The librarby wasn't next to their house. No one would visit the books now, it seemed. She walked further towards emptiness, trying not to look at the ground that didn't make the familiar snow-squishing noise as she was squeezing the hoodie on her back. The tree with presents underneath it was gone. There was no cheerful atmosphere since no one was there, which made her feel guilty, but that wasn't the thing that was disturbing to her. What bothered her much, much more, was that there wasn't a sad atmosphere, or a scary one. There was nothing. She felt nothing as emptiness was making its way to her. The further she walked, the worse the emptiness got as the small snowflakes still falling from the sky disappeared as well. Everything around her would usually be white, when she was here, even without lights. Now it was just gray.
She stopped at the sight of literally nothing. She was looking at the void where once Sans' favorite diner stood. The cheerful laughs behind the heavily lit windows were now silenced. The rooftop that would occasionally drop snow on top of an unfortunate random monster was gone too. The sight of Grillby eagerly awaiting another customer when any monster passed by the bar wasn't there as well. It was weird.
Frisk looked back to find the shocking revelation that Sans' and Papyrus' house was gone too. There was no house which showed brotherly love more than it, even though papyrus wasn't around anymore. Sans would still throw the plates out the window, just to make it seem like papyrus was still there, although everyone knew what happened. Frisk knew Sans did it more for himself than for the others. He couldn't just let go, no matter how hard he tried. Scared, she gasped and ran to the other side again, ignoring the fact that nothing was around her. As there was nothing left of the town, not even the memories and emotions binding everyone together, the kid started sobbing, but tears refused to fall from her eyes. She ran and ran, until she tripped over her own feet and landed on something she didn't even know what it was. Finally, she looked at the floor, realizing there was no actual floor. She couldn't tell if she really fell, or if she just floated in the air since she couldn't even touch what was underneath her. Terrified, she looked up at the sky to see if it was the same color as she remembered it to be. Although dark and seemingly endless as well as empty, it filled her with determination to look at it, dreaming to get to the surface and look at the bright light once again. Sure, not everything was like the monsters imagined it to be, but it surely had a beautiful sky. Unfortunately, there wasn't actually a sky. Just another gray platform stretching far away. Frisk shook her head as she stood at her trembling feet, running ahead again. She was looking around restlessly for something, anything to appear, but there was nothing. Not a single thing except cold reaching beneath her skin. There were no sounds as she was running, just the constant beat of her heart that was once lost. She then stopped. Running seemed pointless at a sight like this. No matter how far she ran, nothing was coming up. Just like everything erased from existence. Her heartbeat soon slowed down, resembling a clock's ticks getting slower and slower. Her breath intensified as she was scared.
"What the heck is happening…?" she finally managed to ask, but got no response. Her eyes hadn't blinked from the time she exited the lab behind the house that was gone now too. She took a deep breath to call out one first, and last time, in hopes he'd hear her.
"SANS!" she yelled.
But nobody came.
Crushed, the girl fell at her knees and covered her face in her small palms as she prepared to dry her face as soon as tears came, but not even tears came. Completely devoid of any hope, she looked ahead of herself to see a figure bent over, staring at the ground in front of himself.
"…Sans…?" she silently asked as she stood up and made her way towards the figure drenching in black goop. The figure's white head freakishly moved as he heard her voice, tilting his head at his left shoulder, his whole body tensing. It was the moment Frisk realized there was no return. She could feel the enormous power radiating from the creature, surpassing Sans' by far. She was childish, easily influenced and clumsy, but she wasn't dumb. The figure in front of her was eating up the universe she was in, the glitchy particles around him proving her thought. he looked back at her to reveal two deep cracks on his skull which were pushing his left and right parietal bones apart, his eye sockets deformed as well. She dreaded at the sight. There were tears sliding down his cheekbones as he slowly stood up, shaking in the process. He was a slender man dressed in a black cloth that covered his whole body like he was hiding what he truly was. Around his neck, there was a cloth which looked much like a white scarf, binding pieces of his neck. He was creepily smiling, and the crack on the left side of his skull which was reaching over his mouth didn't help. He was staring at the blue on her back. The most unsettling parts of him were his long, skeletal hands with holes in them, though. Papyrus and Sans would usually have their hands covered with gloves, so she had never seen a real skeleton's hand before. His fingers were much longer, though.
They stared at each other for a moment, the man who spoke in hands glitching a few times as he clenched his hands together while looking at the child who killed almost everyone already. It made it easier for him now. He wiped the tears off as he glitched again and suddenly vanished, leaving Frisk to stare at the position he was at before. Suddenly, she could feel long, boney fingers touching her shoulder, soon gripping it tightly. She froze for a second, but slowly turned around to see the skeletal man bent over to look into her eyes like he was inspecting her of some sort. His smile wasn't vanishing, but black liquid was dropping out of it. Frisk made a disgusted face despite her best efforts not to. She gulped as she was staring right into his empty eye sockets. He suddenly got closer to her face as she flinched.
"Are you… Sans…?" she silently asked and the figure seemed not to be able to respond to that question. Frisk then reached for his skeletal hand as she tried to calm the trembling monster, ignoring the fact that he made everything disappear. She made everyone on her path disappear too, at one point. He seemed sorry for it too.
He quickly raised his hand and lifted her up, turning her soul blue and thrashing her down at the floor, if you could call it like that. He trembled again as he coughed black liquid out of his mouth before returning his sight to her, his eye sockets glowing. One was blue, the other orange-toned. His hands clenched into fists. He did no real damage to the human, since he knew he shouldn't be wasting time or energy.
Frisk stood up; reaching for the weapon she had earlier. But nothing was there.
The figure's face showed a deep regret for the thing he had done. Still, he widely smiled as he got closer to the teenager as she tried to step back, but could feel bones right behind her, so she stopped. The skeleton raised his hand to summon a Gaster Blaster, much greater in size that Sans' biggest ones were. It fired, but Frisk managed to dodge the attack by rolling to the side. She stood up again, looking at the skeleton with some kind of faint hope. The skeleton's eye sockets narrowed as he lowered his head, swiftly raining his thin hand into the air to make an arena made of bones to appear around them. He then bent forward and a strange noise came from him, coming off as whispers of some sort to the human's ears. For some reason she could understand him.
*No.
The skeleton sent blue and white bones towards her, an attack almost impossible to dodge. Frisk ended up losing half of her HP already and stayed lying on the floor, listening to the skeleton's heavy breath.
"Who are you…?" she asked like she wasn't in the midst of battle and the figure straightened, ignoring the sound his backbone made. His face glitched from a happy expression to a sad one, before his mouth morphed into a menacing smile. She acted like she didn't want to fight. She killed dozens of monsters ruthlessly, even some that weren't supposed to die as early. She killed out of fun and she found pleasure in doing it. He knew everything about her. He had watched her for a long, long time. She didn't need weapon to hurt monster victims.
*I AM SOMEONE THAT NEVER EVEN EXISTED*, he created two blasters with a simple hand gesture, both of them firing at the same time. The bigger blaster missed although it was perfectly aligned with her, while the other hit her although he was further way and had much less chance of hitting her. The figure in front of her seemed to shake in agony for some reason, but Frisk ignored it and got closer. She had no will to fight, it seemed. The creature in front of her knew that as well, but this wasn't just her matter. It was humanity that had to vanish. And if they weren't able to smite humanity, he was certainly capable of destroying his own, beloved world.
*CURIOSITY LED YOU HERE. YOUR WORST ENEMYSINCEYOU WERE BUT A MERE CHILD…* he glitched as he took her soul and turned it green, making a small shield appear in her arms as he fired bones from all sides at her. Unlike the fight with Undyne, his tactic was much more complex since he didn't only fire at more than four sides, but also attacked her from multiple sides at the same time. Frisk was certainly having the worst time as she heard a devilish chuckle from behind her.
*OF COURSE. THERE IS STILL ME. SOMEONE WHO IS ABOUT TO ERADICATE HIS OWN WORLD, JUST FOR THE SAKE OF HUMANITY… NEVER INTERFERING AGAIN*, he said and pointed bones appeared in the air, firing at her. She, luckily, dodged.
She held the shield proudly, bravely, her eyes bravely focused on the figure in front of her. His smile got somewhat smaller as he turned half of her soul blue, smacking her against the wall as he still made her fight the pointed bones that kept flying towards the shield she was holding up.
*YOU HAVEN'T RESTARTED A SINGLE TIME, WHICH IS REMARKABLE FOR A SMALL HUMAN LIKE YOU… THERE WERE BIGGER ONES DOWN TOO, AND THEY HADN'T HAD THE SAME POWER AS YOU… ASTOUNDING. SIMPLY ASTOUNDING. STILL, YOU HAVE PROVOKED ME BY CONSTANTLY SAVING OVER AND OVER… WITHOUT ANY SAVE POINTS. IT IS STRANGE, SEEING SUCH A POWER IN FRONT OF MY VERY OWN EYE SOCKETS. THERE IS STILL THE QUESTION HOW, THOUGH.
Frisk widely smiled as she heard how the weird creature responded to her. The figure chose not to make her life any harder for now, so he removed the shield from her and just smacked her upwards and then bringing her down into a pile of bones. She managed to climb on top of one and just sat there for a moment, looking at him with her huge, hopeful eyes. The monster trembled as he coughed liquid out once again, his breath hardening.
*YOU ARE TRULY AN ANOMALY, JUST LIKE THEY HAVE PREDICTED… I GUESS I SHOULD TREAT YOU LIKE ONE THEN, SHOULDN'T I?
Suddenly, thousands of bones crashed right through her, instantly shattering her soul into pieces. Suddenly, everything went still as he just looked at the shreds of the kid's life peacefully dancing around before falling to ground. He reached out his hand to pick up a piece of it, but clenched his hand as the piece began losing its color as soon as he got closer to it. He didn't know why, but he felt something. He didn't know if it was positive or negative towards the child, but it got him focused on her enough to make himself revive her by just pushing the pieces together as he turned them blue again. Her body reappeared and she almost fell to the floor, but the figure had ensured that wouldn't happen by turning her soul red again to freely roam around. That is, until he sent a wave of bones at her, cutting her HP less than half once again. Frisk was confused of what was going on, but didn't really have time to say anything since the shadowy figure kept attacking ruthlessly.
*YOU THOUGHT IT WAS OVER…? HUH. AFTER KILLING SO MANY MONSTERS… EVEN SOME THAT I…* his orange pupil flashed in a harsher light as the blue one almost faded, *NO. I WILL CONTINUE ESTIMATING YOUR POWER, TO KNOW IF IT IS WORTH… NO. There's no escape now. IN A FEW MOMENTS, THIS WORLD SHALL BE NO LONGER. THERE WAS NO NEED FOR YOU TO REACH OUT TO ME. TO PROVOKE ME AND THE FEW FEELINGS I STILL HAD. I WILL ERASE THIS WORLD, EVEN AGAINST MY OWN WILL! JUST… TO MAKE HUMANS STOP ALREADY.
He moved his hand a few times to make her smack against literal nothing and somehow managed to take her HP anyways. He didn't seem to be losing power anymore. Frisk soon found herself down at the floor. She knew the only logical thing for her to do was fight back so he wouldn't destroy everything, if anything was still left of the world she grew to love again, but she chose to Act instead.
"Why…?" her silent voice came to his skull and he pretended not to care. He hated her curiosity. It reminded him of himself, when he was still capable of feeling it.
*Seeing them die over and over again… SEEING THIS WORLD FALLING APART? NO. YOUR CONTINUED DETERMINATION HAS PLACED THIS WORLD IN RUIN. I'M FORCED TO FIGHT YOU. NOT BECAUSE OF SURVIVAL, OR BECAUSE OF PAYBACK. BUT SIMPLY BECAUSE OF THE INTENTION TO STOP YOU.
Bones pierced through her soul again, but she couldn't even register what happened before he put the pieces back together, before blasting them to shreds again. He couldn't stop his hand from reaching out to her though, turning one of her parts into gray. Soon, she'd be gone too. Soon, she'd be back at her won world, and her experience down here would never exist. Just like he never existed. He made her soul whole again and raised it, throwing it as far away as he could before glitching again. He knew he was using up too much power. He'd need it to destroy every file hidden across the globe that they were part of. But he couldn't stop. It was so much fun.
Frisk slammed to the ground, but remained on her knees, ignoring the few cuts that were bleeding. She stood up, but he immediately blasted her to the ground again, smirking.
*IT IS HIGHLY IMPROBABLE FOR YOU TO STOP ME. EVEN IF SO, I HAVE PREPARED PROPER MEASURES, TO MAKE SURE WE STILL ALL PERISH. YOUR INTENTION WAS ERASING US FROM EXISTANCE, WAS IT NOT? WELL, IF YOU HAD CONTINUED WITH THAT PLAN, I'D MIGHT RECONSIDER FIGHTING YOU. YOU SEE, I DO NOT CARE HOW THE WORLD PERISHES. I JUST WANT IT TO STOP. RESETTING.
Frisk stood at her trembling legs and just stared at him. Admittedly, she had no idea what the skeleton was saying, but she saw that he deeply regretted what he was about to do. So she just stood there.
*HUMANS KEEP FALLING DOWN. CONSTANTLY. AGAIN AND AGAIN. SOMETIMES IT'S NEW ONES; BUT SOMETIMES IT'S JUST THE SAME ONES, TRYING TO FIND OUT WHAT THEY HAD MISSED, OR JUST PLAY WITH OUR EMOTIONS FOR FUN. I CAN UNDERSTAND IF YOU THINK OF MY ACTIONS AS SINFUL AND INCOMPREHENSIBLE. HOW CAN A HUMAN SOUL WITH KINDNESS, JUSTICE, BRAVERY OR INTEGRITY POSSIBLY BE A WRONGDOER? OR YOU MIGHT THINK I'M JUST BEING INSUFFERABLE AT THIS POINT*, he attacked her with a wave of bones, but turned her soul green and she managed to pull out the shield right on time. There was one part of her soul that couldn't dodge the attack, however. He then turned her soul yellow.
*NO. THE PROBLEM ISN'T ONLY HUMANS MURDERING EVERYTHING ON THEIR PATH. THE PROBLEM ISN'T HUGGING RANDOM STRANGERS… IT IS THE LIE WE LIVE IN. FREEDOM CAN THUS NEVER COME, AND ALL OF THE RESEARCH PERFORMED IS A COMPLETE WASTE OF TIME. WE GET THROWN INTO THE PIT AGAIN AND AGAIN. WELL… they. And I can't bear to look at the ones who actually remember, even if just slightly, what happened in the last timeline…
He sent bones towards her and she shot them away as he was still explaining.
*THIS 'GAME' YOU PLAY IS THE REFLECTION OF YOU. YOUR SOUL. AND YOU CORRUPTED IT TO THE POINT YOU HAVE BROUGHT ME FROM THE OTHER WORLD JUST TO MAKE IT STOP. NONE OF THIS SHOULD HAVE HAPPENED. AN ANOMALY THAT BIG CAN CAUSE SERIOUS AND PERMANENT DAMAGE…
"Don't erase this world…"
Suddenly, a pair of hands appeared around her as they started attacking her. He just stood there again, his weakness showing in his slight, but heavy breath and his constant bending.
"…If you don't want to."
At that, he approached her and his cloth started spreading around her, gripping her body and limbs tightly to make sure she'd look at him into his empty eye sockets. Those empty eye sockets were leaking black liquid again as she felt her power slowly being drained.
*IT HAS NEVER BEEN WHAT WE PERSONALLY WANT. AND IT NEVER WILL BE THAT WAY. THE ONLY THING THAT MATTERS IS THAT IT STOPS. MY HOPES FOR THEM DON'T MATTER. THEY WILL SOON BE ERASED FROM EXISTENCE ANYWAYS… AND THUS WON'T HAVE TO SUFFER ANY LONGER.
He was squeezing Frisk's body as the child struggled to break free. But nothing happened. A Gaster Blaster appeared right above her, pointing its sharp teeth at her.
*PHOTON READINGS ARE POSITIVE… THIS NEXT ATTACK WILL MOST CERTAINLY BLOW YOU AWAY*, he said before flinching for a moment as he saw that Frisk realized it was a joke. The shot fired and tore his cloth into shreds, but it kept being endless anyways. She was still getting squeezed by the monster dressed in black, hanging on with 1 HP left. She looked at her small hands wrapped in the cloth that looked like it would consume her any moment, only to see that they were getting grayer with time. Scared, she flinched and tried to pull out of the skeleton's hug, only to be pulled closer to see how he was crying uncontrollably. Frisk stopped moving around and just stared into his empty eye sockets that kept leaking perfectly clean tears.
*…YOU WILL BE FINE, I ASSURE YOU. IT IS US THE WORLD WILL GET RID OFF. YOU'LL SOON BE HOME.
As he said that, Frisk tilted her head. She realized he was scared on his own. He seemed to be reluctant to erase everything after all, and she realized he wasn't as bitter and cold as he firstly seemed. The uncontrollable tears running down his cheekbones showed it all.
"There is another way…" Frisk silently said as she saw her soul getting darker in front of her very own eyes. The skeleton was tilting his head in various directions to observe the soul that was about to get lost.
*NO ONE CAN STOP THE MADNESS WE ARE ALREADY ENGULFED IN. IT IS TOO LATE. THE ONLY WAY TO STOP THIS IS BY ERASING US ALL COMPLETELY, CHILD*, he squeezed the teen's arm, his whole body trembling as he felt her soul slowly extinguishing.
"…Why are you sad…?" Frisk asked as she was ignoring the pain he was inflicting to her. His eye sockets widened, but he growled at her as he got closer to her face.
*NO ONE SHOULD CARE.
She slowly opened her eyes and looked at his eye sockets again, purposefully avoiding looking at the graying, decaying soul. He glitched at her kindness as he saw the black liquid come out of his mouth again, dripping at her sleeve.
"But… I care", she whispered and the skeleton's tight grip loosened. He frowned widely as he widely opened his mouth, resembling Flowey's face when he would try to scare her. She had already seen all of this, so she smiled widely and cutely, making him even more frustrated.
*THERE'S NO NEED TO. I AM PERFECTLY FINE WITHOUT YOUR PITY…
Frisk's eyes remained at the skeleton's eye sockets, her soul brightening up again. He hated the integrity she was showing. He also hated how much his own thoughts would always contradict themselves. His shattered soul got another crack etched into it, making him gasp loudly.
*YOUR PERSEVERANCE IS ASTONISHING, CHILD. BUT DO NOT THINK I WILL LET YOU FREE JUST BECAUSE OF YOUR DESIRE TO NOT HARM ME. EVEN IF I DID, WHAT CHANGE WOULD IT MAKE? EVEN IF I STOPPED THIS BATTLE, THERE WOULDN'T BE ANYTHING LEFT. AND YOU CANNOT RESET… SINCE I CHOSE YOU FOR THE BEARER OF THE WORLD'S DEMISE.
Without even giving her the chance to speak up, he continued, a sadder expression on his fading face. There was white light around it, making him look like he was completely lost. A lost soul.
*YOU LOVED THIS WORLD. I DON'T KNOW WHAT HAPPENED TO YOU TO GET HERE, AND I'M SURE NOBODY DOES. YOU BEFRIENDED EVERYONE YOU CAME ACROSS. MADE YOUR PATH CLEAR WHILE TALKING TO THE LOWER LIFE FORMS, HOW THEY HAD ALWAYS CALLED US. THE TRUTH IS… I DON'T KNOW IF HUMANS ARE THAT BAD. MY RESEARCH IS BASED ON ASSUMPTIONS LEADING TO MERE ERRORS, SOMETIMES. I HAVE SEEN MY MISTAKES, HUMAN CHILD. I HAVE TRIED TO NEGATE THEM. BUT COULDN'T… ONLY HUMANS COULD RESET, I KNEW… BUT I CRAVED THAT POWER. SO I TOOK IT. TO SEE WHAT WOULD HAPPEN IF I JUST RESET EVERYTHING MYSELF. MY INEXISTENCE… TO BE ABLE TO WALK AMONGST MONSTERS ONCE AGAIN. TO BE ABLE TO FEEL LOVE, COMPASSION, LIKE YOU DO… TO BE ABLE TO TAKE CARE OF… Of…
He suddenly tightened his grip again.
*I WANTED TO EXIST!
Frisk wished to be able to do something, but she could barely feel her limbs. She knew that in a few moments, she wouldn't be able to see him anymore, let alone help him.
*BUT I HAVE FAILED YET AGAIN. THE ONLY THING I DID WAS MESS THINGS UP, GLITCHING THE GAME IN A WAY NO ONE WAS ABLE TO BEFORE… CHANGING EVENTS AND… AND TOOK YOUR COMPASSION… WHICH WASN'T SUITABLE FOR MY CRACKING SOUL, AND ONLY RELEASED THE BEAST THAT WOULD FOLLOW HUMANS WHEN THEY'D FALL DOWN THE MOUNTAIN. IT WOULD HAVE NEVER TOUCHED YOU… BECAUSE YOU ARE DESTINED TO SAVE THIS WORLD… WERE.
The person suddenly started crying again.
*IN A DESPERATE ATTEMPT TO CONCEAL WHAT I HAD REALLY DONE, I LIED TO MYSELF AND TO THE ONLY ONE WHO STILL TRIED TO REMEMBER ME, STATING IT WAS TO RID THIS WORLD OF HUMANS ENTIRELY, FOREVER. BUT THE TRUTH IS, THIS WORLD IS COLLAPSING ON ITS OWN, AND WILL CEASE TO EXIST AT ANY MOMENT, DUE TO MY SHARE OF DETERMINATION INJECTED INTO MY DECOMPOSING BODY. I CAME… NOT TO DESTORY EVERYTHING, BUT TO SAVE EVERYTHING THAT I HAD TRIGGERED BY FINDING YOU AND TAKING YOUR SOUL POWER… BUT AS I APPEARED, THE DARK VOID WALKING ALONGSIDE ME PULLED EVERYTHING INTO ITSELF, CORRUPTING ALL THE FILES AND ERASING EVERYTHING LEFT IN THIS TOWN, INCLUDING SANS. I MEANT TO TAKE YOUR SOUL JUST AS A LAST RESORT…
He sighed as Frisk patiently waited for him to finish his talk, her eyes getting wet as well.
*TO SUM IT ALL UP… I WAS THE ONE PULLING THE STRINGS BEHIND EVERYTHING. I WAS THE ONE MANIPULATING THEM ALL, STOPPING THEIR PROGRESSES. SENDING YOUR SKELETON FRIEND TO FIND YOU AND TO GUIDE YOU TOWARDS THIS VERY TOWN. I WAS THE ONE WHO MADE PAPYRUS CRY DAY AFTER DAY, SINCE I MADE THE EVENTS LINE UP SO THAT HE WOULD NEVER BE ABLE TO JOIN THE ROYAL GUARD, EVEN AFTER DEMONSTRATING SOME OF HIS POWER IN THE BATTLE AGAINST YOU. I MADE FLOWEY TALK TO YOU MORE OFTEN THEN HE SHOULD HAVE, JUST TO LET YOU THINK THAT HE WAS THE ONE RESPONSIBLE FOR EVERYTHING HAPPENING, INCLUDING FOR YOUR MOTHER'S DEATH. IN TRUTH, IT WAS ME WHO LURED THE MONSTER TOWARDS YOUR BED AND IT WAS ME WHISPERING WORDS OF GRIEF INTO HER EARS, KNOWING THAT IT WOULD EVENTUALLY KILL HER AND MAKE YOU BREAK DOWN. AT THAT VERY MOMENT WHEN YOU LOST YOUR GRIP OF THE WORLD AND SLID INTO DEPRESSION, I HAD MADE MY WAY TOWARDS YOUR SOUL AND TOOK YOUR POWER... YOU STILL DIDN'T KNOW WHAT HAPPENED. BUT YOU FELT IT, AS YOUR SOULS... WERE CONNECTED, HUMAN.
She stared.
*...SO WHAT IF A FEW MONSTERS DIED…? I COULD REVIVE THEM SOON ENOUGH AS I'D MAKE TIME GO BACK. AND WRONG I WAS YET AGAIN, CHILD. AND WHILST IT IS TRUE THAT I AM BOTHERED BY THE CONSTANT RESETS OF HUMANS… MANY OF THEM STILL SEEM PRETTY HAPPY… I WOULD NEVER WANT TO… MY… MY INTENTIONS WERE SELFISH, AND DOWNRIGHT UNFORGIVEABLE. I SHOULD HAVE KNOWN BETTER, AS A SCIENTIST… THAT ONCE ONE RAINDROP FALLS, THOUSANDS OF THEM GO WITH IT. I SHOULD HAVE LIVED WITH MY MISTAKE, AND JUST STOP SINCE MY BODY'S PARTICLES ARE GLITCHING EVERYTHING AROUND THEM BY THEIR OWN. EVEN IF I HAD RETURNED… NO ONE WOULD HAVE REMEMBERED ME. EVEN IF HE DID, HE WOULDN'T HAVE FORGIVEN ME FOR WHAT I HAD DONE.
Justice was something Frisk had from the very beginning, as her mother did everything to teach her of every trait. Still, she reached out to his eye socket and wiped a tear away, smiling.
*I wanted them to see me so bad…
At this, he made another Gaster Blaster appear in the air and aimed it down at Frisk. She didn't respond, but her soul flashed as it tried to escape the gray colors spreading around it.
"I can help you…"
*HELP? HOW COULD YOU, A SIMPLE CHILD, HELP ME?* he went silent for a moment, like he thought about the things he just said, *…NO. YOU CAN'T HELP ME. I'M HOPELESS. A LOST SOUL… It's too late.
Frisk lowered her eyebrows as the figure squeezing her body heavily gasped.
*I WILL NOW END YOUR JOURNEY HERE. THE ONES SUCKED INTO THE VOID ARE FOREVER BANISHED INTO MY WORLD… A WORLD OF NOTHING. NOT TOGETHER, BUT ALONE, JUST SLIGHTLY FEELING THE PRESENCE OF OTHERS, BUT NEVER ABLE TO SEE THEM. AND TO KILL YOU HERE AND NOW MEANS FOR YOU TO RETURN TO YOUR SURFACE, AND FORGET ABOUT THEM. THERE WILL BE NO MEMORIES OF THEM EXISTING. NO RECORD WE EVER DID. BUT A LIFE OF JOY.
Frisk's tears started sliding down her cheeks faster than before. She knew the person in front of her was terrible and took everything from them, not her. Still, she couldn't look over his regretful face, crying in the presence of the love she felt for others. Monsters really were weird. She braced for impact as that one, final blast came. Pain spread through her body, her soul cracking up slowly and painfully, the attack slowly ripping it in half. As it did, she felt her memories fade, something she assumed happened those times her soul already fell apart. This time, the feeling of losing everyone close to her stuck though, and she knew it was the end.
She remembered the ones she cared most about as her soul was crying out in pain. This was it. The final attack monsters would land on her. Suddenly, memories of those dear monsters came into her head, just like flashing images before death.
You know. I might not always be here to protect you physically, but… I will… always be a fabric of your life, because my thoughts have been taught, my example will have been seen and my love will have been in you for your whole life… so will a part of my Soul. And thus, I will stay with you forever, no matter how far apart we are…* the flower said in a shaking voice while smiling. He soon directed that wide, childish smile towards her, the innocence of his true, eternal youth visible in it.
*I haven't understood up till this point, Chara, but now…! With you, everything makes sense!* he looked genuinely happy.
Frisk had always loved Flowey's mysteriousness. No matter how badly he acted at times, he was still someone who could teach her things about herself she didn't know. He was a real goofball sometimes too, and couldn't always conceal his child-like self. And no matter how emotionless he was, she couldn't help but to love every single time he smiled.
And the king Flowey talked about seemed very wise too.
~Don't you know they all have something special? Something that shines within them? The thing you lost, darling? Not everyone loses that.
At the time, she didn't realize, but now that she remembered the tall, glamorous robot, she saw the clearly hurt expression on his metallic face. There usually wasn't a frown on him, but that particular moment, he looked like he felt sorry for her. She now knew he never meant to say anything bad towards anyone, but he was too incapable of expressing his true feelings because of all the glitter they threw at him every day. She just hoped he learned how to show those feeling while he was still alive, just like she relearned to.
She had always loved Mettaton's show. Not for his looks, not for his commentary, but just because he was such an explosive, outgoing person.
As she thought of Mettaton, she immediately remembered the little monster which created his metal body.
*W-Would you… perhaps… uh, watch it with me, one day… it's called Mew Mew Kissy Cutie… B-but it's not that kind of anime! Not the weird one, I swear…* she nervously tapped her feet as she was walking, *It's a story about love and trust, I assure you! And with ice cream… and friends… and… compassion… and… heh heh… um… N-Never mind… Why would anyone want to…* her voice turned sad as she lowered her head, so Frisk knew the least she could do was smile and agree.
"Sure", Frisk said as Alphys' face lit up, her mouth forming a huge smile which revealed her buckteeth.
*R-Really?! You would want to… Yes! Oh, yes! Yes! L-Let's go watch it, then!* the lizard-like monster happily exclaimed as she closed her eyes from the huge smile on her face. She looked happy.
Frisk never thought a person could get attached to a thing so much that it would practically be in every part of their life, consuming every single piece of free time they'd have. She had always admired Alphys' passion, even if it was for things she didn't really care about.
Undyne smiled. Her smile was big and wide, and was the most appealing trait she had. She was energetic, athletic, strong, confident, brave and funny, but the smile she showed was something special.
*Heh. It's not about what I want… It's about everyone's hopes… and dreams to get out of this hellhole. But that was never enough,* t5he fish lady gazed on the ground for a second, revealing how sad that fact made her. The smile soon reappeared though, as she realized the kid was still looking at her, but in a sweeter style, this time, *someone has to do all the dirty work, human… and that one's me.
Admittedly, Frisk stopped listening at that point. She was looking at Undyne's expression which was showing that she was reluctant to fight, no matter how much she wanted her freedom to finally come. Not just for her sake, but for everyone else's as well. She was aggressive and rude and wasn't scared to throw spears at people who dare cross her path, but that moment made her realize she wasn't doing it for fun, or because it was in her nature. She just wanted for everyone to go Home.
*Frisk.*
Her sudden change of tone made Frisk listen to her again. She was smiling as she was looking at the ground.
*I know the likes of you… All nerds, but… I quite like them. And I see you're not one of the bad guys, but… that still doesn't stop me from doing whatever I have to do. An assignment is an assigment. I WILL kill you, human, even if it's against my nature, or against my heart. Frisk. The only thing I can't go against is my own dignity… and I see you're not ready to fight me,* she widely smiled as Frisk didn't know if she should laugh from happiness or cry from fear.
But then, Undyne widely smiled again.
*At least not with those noodle arms of yours.
Frisk looked down at her arms and couldn't help but to show a faint smile. Her arms really were noodle-like.
Frisk loved the way Undyne was determined and didn't let anything slip past her. She was strong, fierce and would never quit or break a rule, but sometimes, just sometimes, she would bend the law by just a tiny bit, hiding how much she really cared about nice people and how she was actually a bit scared of her own. Undyne's kindness was rarely visible, but Frisk knew it was there, showing itself in her one, glowing yellow eye.
*I see a beautiful, living SOUL. And the Soul is what makes us all the same and different at the same time. My child… you might not understand yet, but we are all connected. Monsters… they are on a strange level. We can feel each other's emotions… we can make our Souls beat all at the same time, if we want to. What binds us is love… You can not feel like monsters do, that is true, but…* she sweetly smiled at her small child, looking at her with bright, beautiful eyes wide open, *Being my little child, I am sure you will learn about compassion more than you will ever want to. And feeling love towards all can be challenging, especially for a being with more matter… but I am sure you will sty determined to find that feeling for all monsters, my sweet, sweet child.*
Frisk just stared for a while, but then she smiled widely, from ear to ear. She remembered promising herself she'd seek out the good in every being that day, even in those who seemed evil.
She loved Toriel with everything she had. The caretaker that had taken her in as she felt down, the mother that healed her wounds, the goat monster that told her stories about life and dreams, the only family she had all these years that smiled for her when she couldn't. There was no one she could love more than Toriel, the monster that lost her life because of the huge amount of love she shared with the child. All those precious moments she spent with her were sending tears down Frisk's face. She was sure that even if she lost all of her memories now, she would always remember her nice, silent voice and her warm, fuzzy hands that would pet her to sleep every night, even as a teen. The thing she loved most on her was the way she talked, calmly and silently, even when telling stupid jokes that immediately fell flat.
"Those are friendship bracelets… I made the same for myself, see?" she raised her hand to show the neatly knit flowery bracelet to the puzzled skeleton who obviously never got such attention from a person that wasn't his brother, "it's… a gift. Because I think you are really nice and…"
*oh, come on, kid. you're making me blush. well, not really, but still.
She put the carefully crafted bracelet on his hand, and he just watched her do that. He didn't look really happy, but he sweetly smiled and looked back at her anyways.
"See? Now we're forever friends", she stated and softly giggled as he blinked a few times, his wide smile getting smaller.
*…friends…?* he asked like he never heard of that word's meaning. She never knew him, so she couldn't tell if that was actually the case.
"Sure," she happily stated and stood up on her trembling legs, ready to leave him, "and we'll always stay like that, right?"
There was uncertainty in Sans' eye sockets, like he was expecting her to suddenly burst into laughter and reveal that she was playing a trick on him the whole time. Frisk stood there, waiting for his response, hoping it would be a 'yes'. A few seconds later, he tilted his head as he sweetly smiled and shyly looked away from her.
*sure.
Sans was someone really special to her. He was someone she didn't know anything about, but knew that she could trust him anyways. Even after murdering his brother, alongside with most of the monsters, he stood there by her side and spared her, reassuring her that everyone could become a hero of their story if they just kept moving on and never give up. He was the one that would always protect her no matter what, and she felt a special bond between them. Unlike at Toriel's jokes, she always had to laugh at his ones. And she still had hope that he did have a crush on Grillby, even if he said otherwise.
She had always admired his sleeping skills, but what meat the most to her was the fact that he'd always smile at her, even though there was nothing to laugh about.
I WON'T LET YOU HARM THE ONE THAT… EVEN THOUGH HE IS MUCH GREATER THAN I AM… STILL BELIEVES IN ME… THE ONLY ONE WHO BELIEVES IN ME…* Papyrus admitted and let her slice his shirt, even though he could have blocked her hit. He realigned his scarf and widely smiled again.
BECAUSE I KNOW YOU CAN DO IT.
Frisk struck him again, but he still just stood there, even though every chance of survival vanished. But he still refused to stop believing. He'd believe to the bitter end.
I BELIEVE IN YOU.
She growled and struck him at the same spot. He didn't lose his hopeful smile.
I STILL BELIEVE IN YOU.
She cut him.
I ALWAYS WILL. AND I ALWAYS DID.
After a few more slices, his innocent smile faded since it hurt too much, it seemed. Still, he managed to make it appear on his childish face again, his smile shining brighter than any star ever will, and Frisks' eyes released tears again as she remembered that. He never gave up, no matter how hard it was.
BECAUSE A FRIEND LIKE YOU IS TRULY UNREPLACEABLE.
He took another blow, closing his small eye sockets as his smile continued shining from his face.
I WANT TO STAY FRIENDS. FOR… NO FRIENDSHIP IS AN ACCIDENT! WE WERE MEANT TO BE BEST OF FRIENDS! FOREVER!* she remembered hesitating to hit him that moment. She remembered how she suddenly felt her Soul clenching, her throat aching. But she had to hit him. The voices in her head forced her to. He fell to his knees as a bone appeared in his hand. He clenched it and Frisk thought he'd finally fight back, but he didn't. In fact, he did the opposite.
Papyrus was someone Frisk had adored from the second she met him. He was goofy, innocent, and simply adorable. He found difficulties in things no one else would and he never tried to hide anything, except from the fact that sometimes, even his happiness would fade. Still, he would never give up. Dedicated to himself as much as he was to others, Papyrus would never cease to make people interested into what he was doing. And although he thought he wasn't popular and that he wasn't appreciated or wanted, everybody liked him in actuality. His obsession with spaghetti and drama, his explosive attitude, his intolerance for Sans' jokes, his immature behavior, his funny voice, his caring nature. There wasn't a thing anybody could dislike on him, and Frisk couldn't as well. Perhaps he wasn't as reasonable and smart like the others, but he surely surpassed all of them in kindness and bravery. He believed all his life. And that was what Frisk loved about him the most.
And he smiled in the darkest of times, without even pretending to.
A FRIEND IS SOMEONE WHO KNOWS WHO YOU ARE AND ACCEPTS WHAT YOU'VE BECOME… AND STILL TRIES TO HELP YOU… BUT ALSO LETS YOU GROW BY YOURSELF.*
Her HP went to zero and everything turned black. She didn't feel anything, couldn't move and didn't feel anything. But there was something keeping her from going away just yet and forgetting about them. Alphys, Mettaton, Undyne, Flowey, Sans, Papyrus, Toriel. They were all smiling at her, waiting for her soul to return home. They wouldn't exist anymore… but maybe those memories would stick with her to the bitter end. Or maybe…?
BUT IT REFUSED.
The person still holding her to prevent her from escaping witnessed her soul rising up, recollecting its lost, graying pieces. It then shone brightly as it went back to the child, the scientist still staring at the soul that turned her body back into color. Suddenly, Frisk reopened her eyes and went straight towards him. The person glitched and braced for impact, but no attack came from her. What did almost shatter his soul was when Frisk wrapped her small, weak arms around the tall skeleton's waist, crying bitter tears into his cloth that suddenly stopped moving around on its own and just drooped down to the floor as he stared ahead of himself. The slender figure soon looked down at her as she was nudging him with her forehead, wiping the tears off her face. As he didn't know what to do or feel, he slowly put his long, boney hand around her small body and pressed her closer, hoping she'd stop whining.
"I… I never knew you… but I know you are not bad."
The shady figure remained looking at her, trying to understand what was going on. He erased the world she loved more than her own and erased everyone she cared about. Not just that, he made herdo most of the dirty work, so he wouldn't have to bear seeing the two other skeletons dying. He couldn't understand why she'd hug him, or why she still tried. Also, why would Sans still try, even if he couldn't remember?
"Even though you made mistakes… you are still living, right? And since you are, you shouldn't give up… You should keep moving forward, no matter how many times you fail to do the right thing," she looked up at him as he still just stared, "I was just like you at one point!"
As she said that, her smile widened. The figure glitched, static noises filling the endless area.
*Y-YOU DO NOT UNDERSTAND. I MADE YOU DO THOSE THINGS. I MADE YOU WEAK AT HEART. I HAD BEEN LYING. YOUR MISTAKES WERE MY MISTAKES ALL ALONG, HUMAN CHILD.
"I could have neglected it all from the start, couldn't I…? I stopped when a friend of mine made me… so why not earlier?"
The figure was silent as he slowly got his long phalanges at the kid's hair, uncertainly petting her soft, small human head. He couldn't bring himself to tell her he broke at the moment she intended to kill the small skeleton as well, releasing most parts of the determination.
*WhY ARe You… so NicE to mE…?* his voice broke.
Frisk smiled.
"Because we are both the same, aren't we?"
*NO, I ALREADY TOLD YOU-
"We both have Souls, don't we? And those bind us together!"
The figure opened his deformed mouth for a moment, before actually sweetly smiling at her and lowering to her height, his petting not stopping. He wanted to, but for some reason, couldn't. He didn't touch anything as soft as her hair was in a long time. He didn't have the heart to tell her it wasn't how it worked. Suddenly, tears rushed down his cheekbones again as he burst into sudden laughter, Frisk just staring at him. Even though he still looked creepy, she smiled at him. There was some unexplainable happiness in her, for some reason. As he stopped laughing, he glitched, revealing a happy, non-cracked face for a moment. She suddenly reached for his hand on her head, so he stopped.
*What is it, child?
"What's your name?"
He went silent for a while. He didn't intend to tell anyone his name, but he soon smiled and decided to say it anyways. The human was obviously not a threat and now he knew he was physically and mentally unable to kill her. Not that he couldn't, with the small piece od determination he had. He didn't want to.
He removed his hand from her and leaned back, kneeling at the floor that wasn't really a floor. He raised his hand into the air and quickly signed something as Frisk just stared blankly at him.
*What…? Don't understand sign language…? What a shame. It is actually pretty handy.
Frisk's eyes widened as she heard the pun that came from his cracked mouth that wasn't moving as he would talk. She looked up to meet his eye sockets, only to see him burst into the same, somewhat annoying laughter as before.
"You… remind me of someone."
He soon stopped and looked back down at her, wiping black goo coming out of his mouth.
*Do I know who you are talking about, and do you know that I might don't know who you're talking about? I know that you know who you think off but I don't think you know that I know something you don't about the person you know but not know at the same time… You know?
Frisk stared blankly at him as he creepily smiled again, but looked happy.
Suddenly, a small ball of light appeared in front of her nose, happily twirling. She remembered seeing lights like the one in front of her some time before. It happily bounced and made its way towards her forehead, smacking into it. Frisk frowned and tried to fend it away from her face, but the light seemed incredibly attached to her, just like it wanted to hug her, if it could. Then, another white light came from above, smacking against the other in an attempt to stop it from twirling around the human. But the light didn't stop.
The figure next to her tried to reach out for the prancing light, only to be attacked by it. He hurtfully smiled as he saw that Frisk smiled as well.
*…He seems to like you*, he stated as Frisk made a confused expression. She tilted her head.
"What is that?" she asked as the person next to her coughed again. She looked up at him, only to realize they were somewhere entirely else. There was nothing gray anymore, now everything was white, with thousands of shining lights playfully looping through the air. She looked back at the small light trying to poke her eye out, putting two hands underneath it as it stopped. She just stared at it for a while, and it seemingly stared back.
*This place seems familiar to you, doesn't it…?* his silent, hoarse voice said as he chuckled, *Those are, indeed, SOULS, Frisk.
"Souls?" she asked, confused. They weren't heart-shaped, so she would never guess.
*Specifically, monster souls after shattering. You see, here they live and are free to roam around. Life never ends for them after turning to dust… since they aren't physical, the void I am dragging with myself didn't absorb it. Instead, they still live here. I figured I'd teleport you over here to reunite you with the ones you lost, human. And this one in particular seemed to have believed you would return t see it afterwards…
Frisk widely opened her eyes, widely smiling as the light looped in the air to smack against her face again. She happily giggled as another light came down to see her, spinning around wildly and restlessly, showing off its agility. It decided not to bother her anymore as soon as another one came, slowly and elegantly approaching the child's face. It then smacked against her face as well, making Frisk smile.
"How many of them are there?"
*I don't know. Monsters can't see them.
"Oh."
The figure beside her smiled.
*Don't worry. I have my own VISION of them.
The first light to have come down to her suddenly started flying into circles rapidly, just like he didn't like the pun the skeleton said. Frisk chuckled as the figure reached out his hand, and she accepted it as they stood up.
*AS MUCH AS YOU WOULD PROBABLY LIKE TO STAY FOR YOUR REUNION, MY MAGIC POWER IS RUNNING LOW. I DON'T HAVE MUCH TIME…* he loudly said and Frisk released his hand and stepped back.
"What do you mean?" Frisk worryingly asked as the lights kept crashing into her.
*MY MAGIC LEVEL IS FALLING DANGEROUSLY LOW. THE GAME IS RUNNING TOO FAST AND WE MIGHT GET STUCK FOREVER AS WELL… EVEN EXPIRIENCING A FATAL ERROR IF WE DON'T DO SOMETHING AGAINST IT. IT'S STILL NOT OVER. THERE'S STILL MUCH TO GO WRONG IF YOU DON'T ACT QUICKLY…
"I don't understand…"
*I AM NOT EXPECTING OF YOU TO UNDERSTAND. NOT EVEN I CAN UNDERSTAND THIS SITUATION FULLY, SO I WON'T BOTHER EXPLAINING IT TO YOU. YOU WILL JUST DO AS I SAY. RELEASE YOUR SOUL SO I CAN RETURN THE DETERMINATION I HAVE STOLEN FROM YOU.
"But…"
*IF YOU VALUE YOUR FRIENDS AND MEMORIES, DO AS I SAY. IN BATTLE, I WAS SOMEWHAT UNCONSCIOUS OF WHAT WAS HAPPENING. AS GREAT AS MY MIND IS, I HAVEN'T THOUGHT OF THE SIMPLE SOLUTION OF RETURNING THE DETERMINATION AND HELPING YOU OUT…* he straightened, *WHEN YOU PUT IT LIKE THAT… IT SEEMS LIKE ALL THIS WAS ACTUALLY UNNECESSARY… I AM SORRY. I WAS NOT BEING MYSELF… FOR A LONG TIME NOBODY SHOWED COMPASSION TOWARDS ME AND SEEMS LIKE I HAVE BEEN… WELL, DEVOID OF EMOTIONS. I TOLD YOU THAT YOU COULDN'T HELP ME BEFORE… BUT… I WAS WRONG ONCE AGAIN.
He smiled as she did.
*Thank you, human.
At that, he released his soul and tore a red piece out of it, magic beginning to burst out of the almost completely destroyed soul. He nodded and Frisk got her soul out as well, absorbing the red light as it was immediately flying towards her upon getting out of the figure standing in front of her. She suddenly looked up at him as he coughed again, his body glitching.
"What will happen to you now…?"
The figure sweetly smiled.
*IT DOES NOT ACTUALLY MATTER… I WILL BE SENT BACK INTO NOTHINGNESS, DOOMED TO LIVE A LIFE WITHOUT A REAL FORM OR A REAL WORLD… BUT DON'T WORRY. I WILL STILL LIVE… ALTHOUGH I WILL CEASE TO EXIST.
"But… all alone…?" Frisk silently said as his soul shattered even more. He got it back to his chest, and so did Frisk with hers. He was shaking uncontrollably, but still smiling.
*ALONE IS AN UNDERSTATEMENT.
She didn't feel any better as he said that.
*SOME PEOPLE CANNOT REDEEM THEMSELVES THAT EASILY, HUMAN. I HAVE MADE MY MISTAKES AND WILL LEARN HOW TO COPE WITH THEM. THERE IS NEVER AN HAPPY ENDING TO EVERYTHING AND EVERYONE… AND YOU WILL SOON LEARN THAT FROM YET ANOTHER PERSON, I'M SURE OF IT. IT IS BETTER FOR ME TO STAY BEHIND, DON'T YOU THINK…? IT IS… A PROPER PUNISHMENT…
He smiled and Frisk felt her determination activating as she wanted to see her friends again and wanted to experience the world all over again, but in a new light. And this time she wouldn't stay, like her mother wanted her to, and she wouldn't hurt anybody. The lights around her suddenly engulfed her and she got scared, but the reassuring look on the skeleton next to her made her fear vanish.
*MAKE SURE YOU TELL THE SKELETONS YOU KNOW TO TAKE CARE OF THEMSELVES, WON'T YOU?
Frisk determinedly nodded, but turned her head towards him before the white light would cover her completely.
"What's your name…?"
The figure smiled as he glitched again, putting his melted arms at his back and leaning forward.
*W. D. GASTER.
"Gaster…" she repeated as he saw her smile widely at him yet again, piecing his soul back together. She soon heard static noises as the lights came closer to her, and she seemed to slowly lose her consciousness. Still, she knew she would turn out well as some of the light happily twirled around her, assuring everything would be just fine. They forgave her, and she would never forget that. Soon, she peacefully closed her eyes and sighed, prepared to leave the realm she was in. And as she fell unconscious, everything around her faded in a mere second, eradicating the white and turning all to black. The former royal scientist was left all alone again. His particles, his matter glitched as he felt the void getting empty. Still, he stayed in the exact same position, sweetly smiling. When the static calmed down and everything went back to normal, he sighed as he slowly moved his decomposing, glitching body. He wished to see them eye socket to eye socket again, but it was better for him to stay in the void, all alone, where he couldn't cause any harm. After all, he wasn't supposed to exist anymore. He was supposed to stay forgotten.
On a pile of beautiful golden flowers which broke her fall, there was a little child with short, brown hair and a long-sleeved, blue shirt with lilac stripes. The shirt was too big. She couldn't open her eyes, but she sat up and sighed. After a few seconds of feeling the softness of the flowers beneath her, she widely smiled. She did it.
Mostly because of bravEry. JusTice. InTegRity. KInDness. PersEveraNce. And pAtIeNce.