Tyrantale

Chapter 12.

Ladies and Gentlemen...it is time.

Let's go!

Two hours had passed since Toriel has started working her healing magic on Dr. Gaster, yet, by this point, she had hardly made any progress. Even as she was putting all of her strength into it, the deformed doctor was barely showing any signs of restoration. He was definitely in less pain than before, but, he still could not utter coherent words or move without falling over; though, despite the lack of progress, the former queen was not ready to give up just yet.

As she was doing that, Sans was watching from afar, having taken a moment to see how she was coming along, before going back to help Alphys finish up the Soul Extractor.

"95 percent complete," Alphys sighed, "so close."

"No stopping now." Sans stated.

Out in another part of the ruins, Undyne watched Frisk taking more practice swings with the bone he was given to use as a weapon, though, his swings were less forceful than usual.

"What are you doing, Frisk?" the fish woman asked.

"Preparing." the human boy stated.

He then started slowly swinging his weapon up and down.

"Mentally or physically?" Undyne wondered.

"Both...I guess." Frisk replied.

After a few more swings the child stopped.

"Undyne..." he inquired, "do you...like fighting?"

"How do you mean?" she replied.

"Like...battles and stuff," Frisk elaborated, "do you enjoy doing that?"

"I'd be lying if I said there was no thrill of it," the fish woman voiced, "but, whether I can enjoy it or not depends on the situation...why do you ask?"

Frisk rotated the weapon in his hand.

"Well, it's just that...I've never fought anyone before," he explained, "not simply because I've never been in a situation where I had to, but, more so because...I never wanted to...I hate fighting."

Undyne listened closely.

"I hate seeing people fight and I hate the idea of having to hurt someone...even if I know that they need to be punished," the human boy continued, "I don't like the thought of being the one doing the punishing. I mean, don't get me wrong, I do still wanna help you guys, I have to help you guys, I just...wish there was another way."

The fish woman nodded solemnly.

"I get it," she replied soberly, "well, believe me, kid, we're not happy about dragging you into this, putting all of this on you at once, we wish there was another way as well, but...we've gone through so many options already, by this point...we're just desperate, plain and simple."

Frisk looked on thoughtfully.

"Are you scared?" he wondered.

"Of Chara?" Undyne affirmed, "Not in the slightest, but, if we're talking about what all could possibly go wrong and the results that would follow...then, honestly, yeah...a little bit."

She then watched the kid waved the bone around in his hands a little more.

"Hey, you know what?" the fish woman spoke.

Frisk looked at her curiously.

"You've been doing well with that thing," Undyne offered, "but...if we're sending you into combat, you're gonna need something that'll pack a little more of a punch."

She then took the bone from the child's hand, conjured one of her energy spears, and handed it over in return.

"That will probably do you better." she stated.

Frisk looked the spear up and down, astounded.

"It's so...big," he said, "and warm."

"Don't worry about breaking it," Undyne said, "there's plenty to go around."

Meanwhile, out in Snowdin forest, unbeknownst to everyone, a very pissed off, very powered-up Chara was plowing through the woods, making trees disintegrate on contact. Now that he was putting his full power to use, he had been able to pick up a trail from a familiar source that led him in the direction of an all too familiar place...Home...the Ruins.

"I should've known," the child tyrant hissed, "where else would monsters go to stay hidden?"

He knew that the door to the Ruins normally could only be opened from the inside, but, given his abundance of power, he would have no problem getting.

"I wouldn't be surprised if they hid them personally, or even helped break them out," Chara grumbled, "damn Toriel, Asriel, I should've killed them a long time ago."

Inside the Ruins, Toriel was making progress with healing Dr. Gaster, albeit still rather slowly, though, her efforts proved to be quite tiring. However, as much as she wanted, or even needed, to take a break, now that she was getting good results, she did not want to stop yet.

In the living room, some of the monsters that had escaped the castle were still hanging out, when some little spiders dropped down beside Muffet and whispered something in her ear.

"What?" Muffet mumbled.

Then she gasped as she realized what the spiders had told her.

"A-Are you sure?" she responded tensely.

The spiders affirmed it once more.

"Chara's is coming," she uttered frantically, "everyone, Chara is approaching the Ruins!"

"What!?" Papyrus responded, "Are you sure?"

"Yes," Muffet attested, "the spiders told me, he's closing in!"

"Goddammit!" Maddy uttered.

He then rose up into the air.

"All right," he announced, "everyone here who came from the castle needs to run far into the Ruins, as far as you can go, and stay hidden until further notice!"

"That's right," Doggo said, "let's go everyone."

"Ahh," Papyrus said anxiously, "I have to tell Sans, I just hope they've finished the Soul Extractor already."

Sans and Alphys were still hard at work on the Soul Extracting device, when Papyrus came running into their area.

"Sans!" the tall skeleton yelled, "SANS!"

"What's wrong?" Sans responded.

"CHARA!" Papyrus uttered, "Chara's coming for us, now, like, right now, coming at the Ruins!"

Sans quickly stood up, while Alphys hugged the Soul Extractor tightly.

"But...but," Alphys said tensely, "98% complete, we're so close, I just need a little more time."

"We're taking the residents further into the Ruins to hide," Papyrus told her, "you should go, too."

"Does Toriel know?" Sans asked.

"I don't know," his brother answered, "I came straight to you two first."

"I'll get her, if no one else has yet," the short skeleton replied, "just get to hiding."

At that time, Toriel was still working on the formal royal scientist, just now starting to see signs of legitimate progress. However, it was at that very moment that Sans ran up to her.

"Emergency," the short skeleton said urgently, "emergency!"

"What's going on?" the former queen responded tensely.

"Chara is approaching the Ruins," Sans explained, "like, right now, probably already at the door."

"No, not now," Toriel said anxiously, "nobody here is in any shape to put up a fight of any degree!"

"Which is why the others have had everyone who escaped from the castle go further into the Ruins to hide." her skeletal friend affirmed.

"Good call," the goat woman responded, "have Asgore and Asriel already gone down there?"

"I...don't know," Sans replied, "until moments ago I was helping Alphys with the Soul Extractor, as soon as Papyrus told me what was going on, I came to get you."

"Okay," Toriel said trying to hold herself together, "I have just begun to make headway on your father's condition, I will take him down into the inner Ruins at once."

"No, I'll take him and make sure everyone gets there safely, I can do it no time with my powers," Sans said, "you get to the house and make sure everyone is prepared."

Toriel nodded quickly and hurried back down the corridor towards her house, while Sans took his father from the area via his teleportation power.

Finally, Chara made it to the door of the Ruins that survived as a one way exit to the rest of the underground, which could only be opened from the inside, unless you were a biological member of the Dreemurr family...or had access to the right magic.

The first thing Chara did was pound on the door with his empowered, mutated hand.

"Oh, Toriel...Mom..." the demonic child called out in a thunderous, distorted voice, "I know you're in there, I know you can hear me, and given the sudden vacancy of my castle, I have an idea of who else is in there with you!"

Inside the house within the Ruins, Frisk and the Resisters were standing silently in the living room, braced for the worst and ready to defend themselves at any cost. Frisk was standing next to Toriel, the spear Undyne had given him still at hand, the goat woman holding him firmly at her side.

"Hello? I know you're in there," Chara continued, everyone tensing as his voice shook the rundown remnants of the old castle, "if you continue to ignore me you'll make this worse for yourselves."

"We cannot let him get into the Ruins," Toriel uttered, "not after coming so far, I am going out there!"

"No, you can't!" Papyrus said, "We have to hold out until Alphys finishes the Soul Extractor!"

"And how much longer will that take?" the former queen questioned.

"Ten minutes," Undyne confirmed, looking at his phone, indicating that he was reading from a text, "if she continues to go uninterrupted."

The entire house then shook as Chara struck it harder, indicating that he was done waiting.

"There is no way we can keep him out for another ten minutes," Toriel asserted, "I feel we do not even have ten seconds!"

"Well, what else can we-" Papyrus started.

"I'm on it." his brother suddenly interjected, before promptly teleporting out of the room.

"Wh-SANS!" the tall skeleton gasped.

"Reckless a-hole!" Maddy yelled.

"Dammit!" Undyne growled.

She was the first one to make a run for the stairs leading to the passage that led to the exit of the Ruins.

"That's it, this game ends now!" Outside, Chara was just about to use his full power to obliterate the door to the Ruins and finally get inside.

"Hey!" he suddenly heard, "Looks like someones throwing a bit of a tantrum, might be time for a time out."

The wrongful child king slowly turned around and saw the skeleton, barely taller than him, standing there casually, as if waiting for a friend.

"Wassup?" Sans spoke dryly.

"You..." Chara growled, his eyes glowing like a solar flare.

"Ah, so you recognize me," Sans replied coolly, "honestly, I didn't think you would."

The tyrannical child looked on furiously, before degenerating into arrogance.

"Well, how can I forget you, Sans, after what I did to your daddy?" he remarked.

Sans looked on flatly, of course he was annoyed, but, it didn't matter, by this point, there was nothing Chara could say that could get to him.

"Boy by the time I was done with him, he was all bent and twisted up like a big ol' soft pretzel," Chara giggled, "oh man, the look on you and your stupid brother's faces when you finally saw it for yourselves."

"At least he wasn't a coward." Sans replied simply.

"Was that an implication?" the savage human boy responded.

"Well, what else are we supposed to think as you take things by force, stay in that castle all day, modifying it every other week despite having all the power you've stolen from us?" Sans inquired.

Chara then disappeared from sight and reappeared right next to Sans.

"Hey, I went through a whole lot of effort to get all this power," the demonic child attested, "so, by God, was I going to enjoy every bit of it."

Sans moved away from him.

"And besides, I'm obviously not too awful worried about it," Chara continued, "seeing as I allowed your constant visits with that spider thing."

The short skeleton looked at him.

"Oh, what, you thought I didn't notice?" Chara remarked, "I'll be honest, I wasn't sure what to think of it at first, not sure what you two see in each other, of course, with her, I guess I could see it, her baking is top-notch, as for her actual cooking, well...expect a passable at best future together."

With that, Sans summoned a Gaster Blaster that promptly took a shot at the pint-sized tyrant, who was merely blown back several feet as he absorbed the hit like it was nothing.

"There it is!" Chara snickered proudly.

"We have had it with you!" Sans growled.

"Come at me," the ungodly human boy challenged, "I'll petrify you and all your buddies and use you all for target practice!"

Sans dodged Chara's violent energy attacks using his teleportation power, of course, just as their fight had started, Undyne burst through the Ruins exit.

"Do I have to do everything!?" she shouted.

She threw one of her energy spears to get Chara's attention.

"All right," Undyne huffed, "let's go you hellish little parasite!"

Chara turned his aim towards her as she threw more spears at him, then, when he started firing at her, Undyne turned herself invisible and continued hurling her spears. Frustrated, Chara tried charging in the direction the spears were coming from, but, could not find the fish woman, then, as he was distracted, Sans sicced his Gaster Blasters on the mutated child, which did little damage outside of annoying him. But, the goal was not necessarily to overpower the child tyrant at that moment, it was just to distract him.

After a moment of enduring Sans and Undyne's barrage, Chara tried once again to go for the Ruins door, only to be hit in the face by Maddy's metal stand.

"I don't think so you little shit!" the hot-tempered dummy yelled.

After whacking the raging human child with his stand once more, Maddy started firing his own magic bullets, which, like the attacks of his comrades, had little effect.

"Is this all?" Chara scoffed.

He was then hit in the side of the head with another bone, this time from Papyrus, who had come out the door behind Maddy.

"Sans," Papyrus yelled, "never do that again, please!"

"Sorry, Bro," Sans responded, "had to do something!"

Right then, Doggo charged from the Ruins with a dagger in each hand, taking furious swings at Chara, landing few hits, though he was not deterred. Of course, he was soon followed by Dogaressa, who came out swinging...a very large axe.

For a good while, the lot continued to take shots and swings at the demonic boy, who was virtually unfazed outside of being quite frustrated.

Inside the Ruins, Toriel and Frisk were still in the house, feeling the Ruins shake with every hit Chara exchanged.

"I hope they're all okay." Frisk mumbled.

"Frisk," Toriel finally said, "stay here, text Alphys and ask her how close she is to completing that extractor."

"Are you really going out there?" the armed human boy inquired tensely.

"I have to," the goat woman attested, "this involves me far more than it involves anyone else, I have to take responsibility."

With that, she went for the stairway, while Frisk quickly went on to text Alphys.

Out in the forest of Snowdin, the Resistors were still quarreling with Chara, though the worst damage they dealt was to the surrounding trees, but it did not matter so long as Chara was occupied away from the Ruins.

It was working out fine, until Chara suddenly lost interest and once again rushed for the door to Ruins, however, just as he was about to make contact with it, it opened. Toriel walked through the doorway spamming a barrage of fire balls at the abomination she once called her child, though they did not hurt him much, the force of them was enough to drive him back a ways.

"Look who finally came to die." Chara chortled gladly.

"I will not stand for this any longer," Toriel cried, "you will not take anything from me or anyone else ever again!"

Chara then laughed hysterically as he shot himself upward, then vigorously slammed himself to the ground, causing a violent shockwave that flung the Resisters off of there feet and a good ways backwards. The force of the impact also shook the Ruins, the terrified Monster inhabitants feeling it as they huddled in the remains of their kind's old homeland.

All alone in the living room, Frisk pulled himself up off the floor, after the force of Chara's strike made him fall over.

"Oh God," the human boy mumbled, "I don't like this."

The impact had him imagining the worst for his monster friends.

His thoughts were interrupted, though, when his cellphone suddenly went off; Frisk took out his cellphone to read the text he had just received, which turned out to be from Alphys. The short, but satisfying, text simply read:

"Just 1 more minute."

With that, Frisk put his cellphone away and tightly gripped the spear that Undyne had given him.

"Okay," he said, "no more waiting."

Outside, the Resisters were still dealing with Chara, whom by this point was beginning to feel bored.

"Ya know," the demonic child sighed, holding an electrified barrier around himself, the Resisters continuously striking it with their attacks, despite the futility of the effort, "by this point, I'm pretty much just burning calories."

"Just stop already, Chara!" Toriel yelled desperately, "What is it that you want?"

"I think you know full well what I came here for." Chara stated flatly.

"No, I do not, I really do not know!" the goat woman responded emotionally, as she continued her fire attacks, "You took everything, everything, all those years ago when you turned on us! What is there left for you to take!?"

Chara did not answer verbally, his whipped his tentacle-like, mutated hand at his former foster mother, flinging her roughly against a tree.

"STOP IT!" Chara suddenly heard, an unfamiliar voice.

He glanced back to the door of the ruins and saw an unfamiliar face...a human one at that.

"Don't hurt her!" the human child cried.

"Frisk, no!" Toriel gasped quietly.

Chara stared intently at Frisk, his eyes turning a glowing yellow-orange, appearing almost like the sun hanging low in the sky.

"Ah...a human?" the demonic, mutated child voiced, in an eerily distorted tone, "I see...so that's what you were trying so hard to hide from me."

"That's right..." Frisk said falteringly, "I'm what was in the Ruins, now...here I am...you don't have to go any further."

Just then, Sans received a text message from Alphys:

"100%!"

"Golden." Sans mumbled boldly.

"Timeout." Chara said suddenly, crossing his monstrous hands in an X formation.

He snatched the other human child by the back of his shirt,causing him to drop the spear in his hands, then proceeded to make his body grow to a great height, when he finally stopped, Frisk found himself so high up he could see the top of the Underground.

"I should've known," Chara sighed, "I told everyone long ago that any new human to fall down here be promptly handed over to me, yet, here they chose to hide you instead. Why do I even bother making demands?"

Frisk was nervous, but, he kept himself together, feeling the Determination deep inside.

"So..." the demonic boy said, looking the human child over with a fixated gaze, "you're name is Frisk? Interesting, that's a new one for me."

"They...they told me everything...about you." Frisk stated.

"Ah, so then you know in full how I became king." the tyrannical child responded coolly.

Frisk glanced downward, barely able to see the ground because of how high up he was.

"They really took care of you, didn't they, Toriel and Asgore?" the pacifist human boy voiced, "They treated you like one of their own...as did Asriel?"

"Ugh, honestly," Chara replied coldly, "it amazes me how easily those three just let their guard down, I still can't believe that this was the Royal Family prior to my takeover."

Frisk looked up angrily.

"Why, then!?" he questioned desperately, "If all they did was love you, why would you do this to them? To their entire race?"

"What?" Chara answered simply, "As soon as I heard the capabilities of Soul Power, I knew that I'd be able to get all that I had ever wanted."

Frisk looked on in disbelief.

"And...the perfect family wasn't enough?" he inquired meekly.

Chara did not respond immediately, presumably scanning Frisk's mind, body, and Soul even further.

"Oh, Frisk," the mutated child expressed callously, "you need to understand, not everyone wants the same thing, not everyone wants a nice, happy, cozy home, surrounded by friends and family. I didn't want that before I fell off the Mountain, I didn't want it when the Dreemurrs took me in, and I don't want it now, all I want...all I've ever wanted ...was to have all the power in the world, no, to be the most powerful being to ever exist."

Chara's expression then turned even more devious.

"And once I have your Soul, my final seventh Soul, I'll be just that." he giggled darkly.

Frisk closed his eyes, looking deep inside of himself, channeling the Determination he had accumulated throughout his stay in the Underground, the Determination to protect the Monsters he already cared about so much, the Monsters that had tried so hard to keep him safe, the Monsters that he wanted to repay in full for their unconditional kindness.

"You..." the human boy's small body was now glowing intensely, the Red Soul inside of him pulsating erratically, visible from the outside of his body, "YOU WON'T HURT ANYONE ELSE!"

Without another though, Frisk lunged forward and suddenly found himself in darkness, then there in front of him, he saw another human child, a boy about his age and height, with dark-brown hair and crimson red eyes, wearing a green shirt with a single yellow stripe, and black pants, floating in front of him, looking at him furiously. It did not take long for Frisk to realize what he was looking at, this was Chara's true form, the young human boy he had started out as.

"So it seems that we share the same power, the same Soul color," Chara scoffed, "Determination."

"It doesn't matter how Determined you are, Chara," Frisk said, less afraid now that he was facing the real Chara, "you won't get any further than you are now, in fact...I'd say you'll be going backwards very soon."

"You forget, I have more than Determination on my side," the red-eyed boy replied, "I still have five other Human Souls, plus my own, an a few Monster souls, but...you don't get far with those alone." He snapped his fingers and the aforementioned Human Souls appeared, swirling above his head. "Now, enough of this," Chara asserted, reaching out his hand, "time to add your Soul to my collection."

However, before he could do anything, a flash of light surged through the darkness and Chara flinched.

"What the-" he snarled, looking down at himself.

Then, the entire area began to quake violently, various colored lights flashing in the dark, Frisk looked around frantically, then at Chara, who was screaming in agony, he then fell over convulsing severely as the Human Souls above him disappeared one by one.

"No!" Chara cried wracked with pain, anger, and anxiety, the sclera in his eyes tinted red from being so horribly bloodshot, "COME BACK! YOU'RE. SUPPOSED. TO. OBEY MEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!"

Frisk covered his eyes as everything went white and soon, Chara anguished screams died away and the horrible quaking stopped, leaving everything still and silent. Frisk remained completely still for the longest time, nervously contemplating where he was now, though, it did not last too long. He found himself promptly picked up off the ground by a pair of warm, fuzzy arms.

"Frisk, you can open your eyes now," he heard, "you are safe."

Frisk finally opened his eyes and found himself being held by Asgore, with every monster who had been inside the Ruins now outside in Snowdin Forest with them.

"Thank God you ended up somewhere close." the goat man said with relief.

"What happened?" Frisk asked.

"We did it," Sans said, "that's what happened."

Alphys held up the Soul Extractor, which now contained the five Human Souls.

"We finally got the Souls back," she said gladly, "by the skin of our teeth, but, we still did it."

Frisk looked around again.

"What...happened to Chara?" he wondered warily.

"We haven't seen the little demon," Undyne said, "it's like he just disappeared as soon as we took the Souls from him."

"No matter," Papyrus added, "he's no threat now that we've liberated the Souls from him."

"FREE AT LAST!" Maddy hollered.

The Monsters all cried out joyously, thrilled to finally be free of King Chara.

"Chara is gone and we are free to return to our own homes," Papyrus voiced, "and Asgore can finally go back to being king!"

"Yes, that is true, but..." Toriel said, "we have quite a bit of cleaning up to do around here...to put it simply, plus..."

She looked at Frisk.

"Right," Sans said, "Chara's gone, but...the barrier's still up, we still only have five Human Souls, so we're still trapped Underground...as is Frisk."

"Well, Frisk," Asgore affirmed, "it seems that you will have to stay here a while."

"He can stay with us!" Asriel uttered, clinging to his father's hip, "We already decided that didn't we, that Frisk could stay with us?"

"Well, I did say we would have to discuss it with your mother." Asgore replied.

"Of course I would invite Frisk to stay with us," Toriel said, "if he wanted to."

"Right," Asgore added, "we also said that it was up to Frisk to decide."

Frisk tapped his hands together tentatively.

"I would love nothing more than to stay with you," the human boy voiced, "but...I'm surprised you're so inviting...after what Chara did."

"Chara was...a different case," Asgore sighed, "but, we cannot lump all humans in with Chara, especially not you, Frisk."

"Excuse me," Undyne called out, "can we continue this discussion somewhere warmer!?"

"How about we go back into the Ruins for now," Toriel said, "until we have settled on what we will do from here."

Many of the monsters went back to their own homes Frisk, the Dreemurr family, the skeleton brother, Undyne, and Alphys went back into the Ruins.

With everything that had happened over the last several days finally catching up to him, Frisk found himself more tired than ever, so tired that he actually fell asleep by the time they had gotten him back to Home. Toriel laid the human child down in Asriel's bed, at the goat child's insistence, so he could get some well needed rest, while Asriel was placed in his mother's bed, with both children asleep and the others going further into the Ruins, Asgore and Toriel were free to continue discussing what to do about their new addition.

The former, now returned, king and queen were now seated across from each other at the dining table in their old living room.

"Ah...free at last." Toriel sighed.

"Free at last." Asgore chuckled softly.

"I must say though, this is not the end I expected," the queen voiced, "our family was split apart, but...now it has grown once again."

"That it has and what an addition we have gotten," the king replied, "that child...I have known him for only a short while, but...I do not think even now he realizes how strong he really is."

Toriel locked her fingers together.

"Strong enough to leave home...and climb a mountain," she expressed flatly, "when I get to the surface, I pray I do not run in to his real parents...otherwise...I do not know what I will say...or do..."

"Well, do not worry," her husband offer, "I already asked Frisk and...I am pretty sure he has no desire to track them down."

They were both silent for a moment.

"Well, one thing is for sure," Toriel said, "if we are going to make room for Frisk, we will have to undo all of Chara's...work...on the castle."

"I will get the others on that in the morning," Asgore assured her, "until then, we can relax here, now that we have access to everything that is ours again, we can also get also restore Asriel's health."

Toriel looked on thoughtfully.

"It might take a little while," Asgore proclaimed, "but, we will get things back in proper order, everything is going to be okay."

Out in the Ruins, Sans had set himself down against a wall, where he was texting Muffet on his phone, making sure she had gotten home safe. Just as he had brought his phone conversation to an end, he found a shadow looming over him, he looked up and immediately dropped his phone, as he found the fully restored Dr. Gaster looking down at him.

"Ah...D...D-" Sans faltered trying to speak.

Before he could get any words out, however, the scientist dropped down to his son's level and hugged him, finally able to move on his own again.

"DADDDDYYYYYYYYYY!" they both heard as Papyrus came running up from another area to join them.

Meanwhile, Asriel snuck out of his mother's room, seeing that his parents were still in the living room, and slunk silently into his own room where Frisk was still sleeping. The goat child walked quietly over to his dresser and grabbed the picture frame that was still there.

"Don't mind me," he whispered, "just need to make some room."

He very carefully he popped out a corner of the protective glass and removed the old family photo of him, his parents, and Chara. He then snapped the glass back into the frame and set it back on the dresser, then he promptly tore the photo in his hands to shreds.

"Free at last." Asriel said contently.

There, finally, done, free at last.

I am so sorry this was not a better ending, I wanted it to be, but, I had put it off for so long upon many distractions off and on the internet, I knew I just had to get it done already, I knew it would be pretty underwhelming no matter what ending I gave readers, but, it's done now. Hopefully the next thing I bring the readers will be satisfactory.