Undertale: The Final Choice
Prologue
The air within the Hall of Judgement sat still, lazily even. The dust in the air just sat there, doing nothing as I stood at the far end, looking down to its entrance. As I waited for the monster of different timelines to walk in, I had begun to just take it all in. It felt good to just take it all in for once: to not feel like a judge for a while. Yet…I couldn't relax…I couldn't afford to stop caring anymore…not after Papyrus. I then placed a hand into my pocket and pulled out the tattered remains of his scarf, left behind by that…thing. They were responsible for it, and my nightmares…I couldn't relax and let them go by and kill Asgore. My thoughts, however, were brought back up, and I quickly put the tattered scarf back within my pocket. Looking down the corridor, I could see them, the same perpetually blank, emotionless expression from when they arrived. However, it was clear that there was something very wrong with them…very…very wrong. Their clothes and hands were caked in grey. In one hand, they carried a knife, fingers gripping tightly around its handle. The other was clenched around something that I couldn't see. I waited as they walked ever closer, their footsteps getting louder until they stopped, standing a pool's-length in front of me.
"heya...you've been busy, huh?" I watched the kid's expression turn from emotionless to curl into a small smile, barely noticeable from where I was standing. "so, i've got a question for ya. do you think even the worst person can change? that everyone can be a good person, if they just try?" Immediately after asking this, they stepped forwards, almost like they were tempting me. Putting my hand up, I had to chuckle, the smile plastered on my skull widening a little.
"all right. well, here's a better question." The lights in my eye sockets dimmed as I asked the next question to the kid. "do you wanna have a bad time? cause if you take another step forward...you are REALLY not going to like what happens next." The room stayed silent for a few seconds before they walked forwards again. Their DETERMINATION was absolute. They wouldn't hesitate…I had to fight.
"whelp. sorry old lady. this is why i never make promises..." My mind went back to all of the other monsters that this THING had taken from me. Friends, family, and acquaintances were all gone, just because I decided not to stop them on their murderous streak in the first place and hand their SOUL to Asgore on a silver platter. The room's lighting faded to near pitch blackness, the only colors being seen being the black and white of the kid and the red their SOUL. I had also lost my color, or what little there was to begin with.
"it's a beautiful day outside," I admired, taking in the sounds of the Hall of Judgement for one final time, "birds are singing, flowers are blooming. on days like this, kids like you..." The room had gone eerily silent, and opening my eye sockets, one could see that the dim lights of my pupils were gone once more. I wasn't about to show MERCY just yet…they had to remember what they had done. "should be burning in hell!" Before the kid could react accordingly, I raised my hand and slammed it back down, my left pupil glowing a bright blue as I did. The kid's SOUL followed suite, and they were slammed back to the ground before they could attempt anything. Raising my hand up, a bed of bones rose from the ground. The kid barely jumped out of the way in time, and I set up the next portion: a sidewinding corridor of bones as they began to run at me. Hitting several of the bones along the way, I watched their SOUL waver, and their DETERMINATION falter as they were undoubtedly feeling their sins crawling on their back. After moving in close, I pulled up a wall of bones around the kid. My eye flashing blue and yellow, I watched as the familiar skeletal faces of the gaster blasters manifested around the walls. Around the edges, towards the center, back around the edges, and finally, straight through the middle. As the wall of bones came crashing down, I saw bruises and bags under the kid's eyes.
"huh," I said, pulling my hands out of my pockets and shrugging. "i always wondered why people never use their strongest attack first." The kid merely looked up, their smile now gone, replaced with the same neutral expression they once possessed. Running at me, they began swinging the knife. With each swing, I easily moved out of the way, winking when I teleported out of the way when they made their fifth swing.
"what? you think i'm just gonna stand there and take it?" Before they could attack again, I would put their DETERMINATION to the test, and I did. Pillars upon pillars of bones rose from the ground, and they ran and jumped through the hoops I had set up.
"our reports showed a massive anomaly in the timespace continuum. timelines jumping left and right, stopping and starting..." The kid took another swing, and I effortlessly moved out of the way. At this point, they could definitely feel their sins crawling on their back; I could see it: the karmic retribution that was slowly eating away at their SOUL, showing them the countless lives they had shattered down here.
"until suddenly, everything ends..." Another set of bone-constructed pillars, another set of hoops to jump through, this time with even less success. Taking another swing, their face began to grow more and more irritated as the perpetual smile on my face grew. Chuckling, I closed my eyes and sighed, waiting for them to swing at me again. Another swing, I teleported out of the way, leaving the kid to fume as I appeared behind them, my pupils once again missing their glow as I stared as angrily as a perpetually grinning face could.
"that's your fault, isn't it?" As they swung to try and hit me, they found me behind an approaching obstacle course of platforms and more bones. The kid's eyes widened as they jumped from platform to platform, the last one nearly catching him. However, as they were about to jump down, they were hit, full force, by a surprise pillar that I had sent their way. Getting up, I could clearly see the kid's karmic retribution was kicking in. He now possessed a black eye, and the shattered, dusty echoes of those they had killed were now encircling them, weakening their SOUL by reminding them of their misdeeds. Chuckling, he tried to throw the dagger at me this time. I simply moved out of the way and set up another, harder obstacle course of bone pillars towards them. Narrowly avoiding this one, I sent a surprise of 2 more bone pillars to keep them caged in their karmic retributions. Jumping down from the platform, they MARROW-ly avoided the pair of bone pillars, looking at me with renewed DETERMINATION. Stepping back a little, I waited for them to attack me again. Instead, they took out a glamburger and ate it. Looking at their SOUL, I saw the cracks that were forming reform, strengthening their DETERMINATION yet again. Sighing again, I looked down with closed eye sockets, feeling despondent about not yet breaking through to them.
"you can't understand how this feels," I said, summoning a new set of platforms, this time with bones acting as barricades. This time, the kid actually made it through without their retribution. "— knowing that one day, without any warning...it's all going to be reset." The kid gripped the knife even tighter, then ran and tried to swing down. Grabbing the kid's arm, I took my other hand from my pocket and shrugged, opening my eye sockets again as I did.
"look. i gave up trying to go back a long time ago." Teleporting away from the kid again, this time I set up a set of three platforms, one moving away from me. My eye glowed and the smile I had grew as gaster blasters manifested around them, forcing the kid to move from platform to platform. Watching the kid get closer began to worry me, but one of the blasters got a lucky shot on the kid. Instead of grazing them, the kid was hit full force by the skeletal face's beam of magic, and I heard a brief scream before the light faded. Where they once stood, their soul now stood, the knife and a heart-shaped locket where they once held them. I watched, not with happiness, but with relief as their SOUL cracked and shattered into small pieces, the knife and locket falling to the ground from where they were once held. However, I knew it wasn't over. They'd be back, and more than willing to try and finish the job.
As I stared into the black, colorless void, I couldn't help but look back on what had happened. Sans was clearly going to be tough to beat, but I didn't expect some rhetoric on my choice. My curiosity had enticed me to try genocide.
"It wouldn't hurt to try," I thought back then. "I can reset the timeline if it gets too much." But I didn't…I didn't reset the timeline, and I didn't stop the genocide. Papyrus, Undyne, Mettaton, Napstablook, Toriel, everyone I had gotten to know and understand were now gone…Sans was next, and afterwards, Asgore and the flower. But, did I really want to do this? Did I really want to satiate my own curiosity this way: through murder? To control time was a serious thing, but to do it over and over again to entertain myself…it was exactly what Flowey had done many times before.
"No. I have to see this to the end. I have to finish what I started. I am DETERMINED," I thought to myself as I pressed the CONTINUE option. In a flash of yellow light, I was brought back to the Hall of Judgement, Sans still standing where he was before. His silence, the birds singing, the flowers blooming…it was all perfect for a picnic…and filled me with DETERMINATION. I walked in front of the smiling skeleton, my expression neutral.
"heya. you look frustrated about something...guess i'm pretty good at my job, huh?" The room darkened once more, my SOUL flickering to life in front of me. The sound of perfect weather for a picnic stopped.
"it's a beautiful day outside...birds are singing, flowers are blooming. on days like this, kids like you —" This time, he didn't even bother telling me I was doomed for damnation. He just went straight to the point with the same attack from before: manipulating my soul and pushing me to the ground. Jumping up, I avoided the bed of bones that sprang up. Moving his hand, I was forced through another tunnel of bones. Then, the skulls. Hearing them charge up, I moved out of the way as they fired their lasers. At the corners in a hollow square, at the center in an "x," back again at the corners, and straight through the middle of the cage of bones. As it lowered, Sans spoke again.
"anyways, as i was saying, it's a nice day out. why not relax and take a load off?" He winked at the end of his statement, waiting for me to make my move. Going in for the kill, I started swinging wildly as he backed away, every so often winking and shrugging at me as he usually did; it was beginning to annoy me at how casually he looked dodging the blade. He then teleported out of the way as soon as he was cornered. Turning around, I saw him standing at the opposite end of the room.
"like i was saying kiddo, look. i gave up trying to go back a long time ago." This time, I was ready to dodge the attacks that Sans had set up this time. However, while I was DETERMINED, I was beginning to feel my sins crawl up my back once more. The platforms appeared once more, and the laser skulls appeared to try and hinder my progress. This time, I made it out with a few burns. Panting, I reaffirmed my DETERMINATION and set off to stab him. Moving out of the way of the knife, I fell down and watched the knife slide away.
"and getting to the surface doesn't really appeal anymore either," he said, shrugging as he did. Grabbing the knife, I prepared for whatever else the skeleton had in store. This time, just some simple bones approached. It was nothing needlessly horrendous like the previous attacks, but what threw me off on the first one was it being turquoise in color. Not having enough time to react, I immediately felt the karmic retribution hit me with equal force as the bone. Visions of past friends visited me as I jumped through the rest of Sans' hoops afterwards.
"HOW COULD YOU DO THIS TO ME, DARLING?!" I heard a familiar voice ask. However, turning to the karmic vision, I saw, instead of Mettaton, a ghost with his hair. He was similar in appearance to Nabstablook, and he was alongside other ghosts, one of which was the aforementioned spirit. Flickering in and out of his robotic body, Mettaton clearly had seen better days.
"YOU TOOK AWAY MY FAME AND MY FANS!" the vision screamed at me, "WHAT FRIEND WOULD DO SUCH A THING TO ME, METTATON?!" While I felt bad for taking the happy ending away, I knew that it was just a vision of my sins, and I had to push through it. Sans was chuckling, clearly amused by my karmic retribution. Looking to him, I saw him shrug and wink.
"what's wrong kiddo? you look like you just kissed a ghost." Hearing Sans' poor excuse for a jab at my sense of humor annoyed me, and I swung at him again. Like before, I had missed, but he couldn't dodge forever. I would keep attacking, no matter how heavily my SOUL weighed on me.
"anyways, even if we do...we'll just end up right back here, without any memory of it, right?" This time, a platform rose right up from under me, and Sans looked up as I was thrust in front of a moving wall of bones. Jumping through his hoops, I ended up being hit heavily by the karmic retribution, feeling my sins weigh on my neck and my SOUL began to crack as it did. This time, a vision of Alphys visited me, stuttering as she always did.
"Y-you gave m-me hope, a-and made me feel worthwhile! W-w-why would y-you take that from me F-Frisk?!" Feeling immense nausea, I stumbled for a second before looking to Sans. The skeleton's eye was glowing briefly as I looked, but his pupils returned to normal as soon as I focused on him. Running up to him, I swung again, but he moved out of the way, as usual. It was expected now, but I was beginning to tire him out.
"to be blunt...it makes it kinda hard to give it my all." Wait…so Sans WASN'T giving it his all?! While that worried me considerably for what he had in store, it also renewed my DETERMINATION. Another corridor of bones with platforms came up behind me, similar to his previous attacks. Weaving in and out of the attacks, I slipped on the last platform into the pit of bones below. Yelping in shock and in pain, I felt the karmic retribution immediately, and my SOUL cracked even further. Looking around, I saw another vision, this time of Undyne, who sent me sprawling across the floor with a melted hand. Looking at the vision, I saw Undyne melting as she looked at me with righteous fury. I had never been more terrified of something like this before.
"DAMN IT!" she screamed at me, pointing a melting finger towards me, "You took away everyone's hopes and dreams! Was our happiness not enough for you?! Were the friends you made not enough?! I hope you get what you deserve punk!" As she faded, I realized that I was beginning to feel something. While the LOVE and EXP I had gained did ease the pain a little, her words cut deep like a knife through butter. I stood back up, looking to Sans, hoping to finish this. As I took out the Legendary Hero, I saw Sans chuckling.
"you know, kid, undyne wasn't that far off. did fish-ing for the truth help bring you back, even a little?" Hearing Sans chuckle at the easy pun made me even more DETERMINED to finish the job. Looking at him, I decided not to eat the hero and just keep trying to hit him. I ran at the skeleton, screaming as I swung the knife at him over and over again. None of the blows made contact with him, and he kept backing up, smiling, winking, and shrugging within each swing. I wanted to make him shut up at that point, but as he teleported out of view, I looked up just in time to see a bone moving down towards me. I moved out of the way, only to run straight into a wall of bones. Immediately, I felt my SOUL break and shatter apart, my body falling to the ground. I watched as the Void encased me again, and this time, I didn't feel that DETERMINED to get back up.
"Don't give up," I told myself, sighing as I looked at the CONTINUE and RESET buttons, "I need to stay DETERMINED, and break that comedian's spirit!"
It was clear the kid wouldn't give up. As I woke up from the nightmare of the previous battle, I looked down the corridor to see the kid appearing from their DETERMINATION. Watching them walk down the corridor, my smile grew a little, and my eye flashed for a second to gain their attention.
"hmm. that expression," I pondered aloud to them. The expression, while unresponsive as always, clearly hid back DETERMINATION unbound. "that's the expression of someone who's died twice in a row. suffice to say, you look really...unsatisfied." Shutting my eye sockets, I shrugged a little before continuing on. "all right. how 'bout we make it a third?" The room darkened once more, and I watched as the kid prepared for the beautiful day spiel. Maybe I would surprise them this time.
"it's a beautiful day outside." Instead of continuing, I instead just got straight to the point and started the attack. The same bone-bed, the same tunnel, and the gaster blasters. However, I was surprised to see that they'd avoided it all, now smiling in a smug little way. "ready?"
"Do you remember your brother?" Before they had even attacked, Frisk had decided to bring up something that he shouldn't have.
"sorry, what'd you say kiddo?"
"I said, do you remember your DEAD brother?" The lights in my eye sockets dimmed to nothingness, and I gripped Papyrus' scarf in my coat pocket. The kid smiled at me and chuckled a little. "Oh come on Sans. Show a little 'spine!'" I wasn't going to be antagonized by this little twerp right now.
"how about you come and finish the job, you dirty brother killer!" I growled. The kid then ran at me with the knife, now in hand, and started slashing at me. This time, before I could teleport, he turned me around, and started the other direction. I was already starting to sweat a little before I teleported out of the way after the 20th, maybe 30th swing.
"like i was saying kid, it makes it kind of hard to give it my all when i know that we'll be right back here without any memory of it...or is that just a poor excuse for being lazy?" I said, shrugging as I set up another set of bone pillars for the kid to jump through. "hell if i know..." As the bones moved towards him, one towards them on the ground and one from behind and above, the kid started a dangerous game of jump rope, ending up clipping many of the bones and earning some karmic retribution in return. He looked around at the visions that would swim before them. Kids, grown–ups, guards, normal people, and all in between. It was kind of amusing to watch Frisk get their just rewards, but it was also pretty hard to watch.
"look kid," I said, closing my sockets for a moment as the kid turned their attention to me, "all i know is…seeing what comes next...i can't afford not to care anymore." The kid looked with a tilted head before running at me with the knife. Moving out the way, it was clear I was tiring now. I had to make more of an effort to keep Frisk from going any further, and I did just that.
"guess you like doing things the hard way, huh?" Teleporting out of the way of their next swing, the room went dark for a moment, before the kid was about to collide with two walls of bones. The kid, jumping up, saw the room go black again, with my eye flashing quickly to show this. The next were just pillars of bones. While the kid got through them with ease, the next was a long wall of bones heading straight for him. Jumping up, they tried to remain in the air as long as they could. Nearly hitting the bone-covered ground, my eye flashed again, and they were standing on the floor in front of me. Going in for a stab, I pushed the kid away from me and summoned a multitude of gaster blasters to deal with them.
"sounds strange, but before all this i was secretly hoping we could be friends. i always thought the anomaly was doing this cause they were unhappy, and when they got what they wanted, they would stop all this." The kid went in for another strike, and this time, cut my coat. My expression turned to surprise very quickly before returning to the plastered smile that it always possessed.
"maybe all they needed was...i dunno. some good food, some bad laughs, some nice friends." Watching Frisk run back towards me, my eye flashed again, and they were on top of a platform with one below it. Two pillars of bones were rushing towards them, but they couldn't move out of the way fast enough, and their SOUL was hit with the full force of the pillars. My eye flashed again, and this time, a wall of bones from above and below moved towards him. Playing a dangerous game of jump rope and succeeding again, my eye flashed once more, and this time, they were flying through a tunnel of bones. However, instead of finding their way through it, they were hit full force with multiple bones, their SOUL weakened to the point where a good slap was all it would take.
"but that's ridiculous, right? yeah, you're the type of person who won't EVER be happy," I stated. The kid then tried to run at me with the knife in their hand. Instead of anything complicated, I just grabbed Frisk's arm that was holding the knife and slapped them across the face. Instead of dying quietly though, the kid let out an ear-piercing scream as their SOUL cracked open and shattered. They'd be back, with more DETERMINATION to spare.
That last attack was just insulting now. A slap across the face?! Sans was lazy, but those last few attacks had made me more tired than what Sans looked like. I rubbed my face as I thought on how tough the skeleton actually was to beat. But, I wouldn't quit. I was DETERMINED, and this would be the last time my SOUL would shatter by Sans' hand. Pressing the CONTINUE button, I saw the blinding yellow light of my DETERMINATION bringing me back to the Hall of Judgement. Looking down the hall, Sans was now wearing Papyrus' scarf around his neckbones. His sockets were devoid of light, and he patiently awaited me. Walking to him, I saw him chuckle a little, eyes still devoid of light.
"hmm. that expression...that's the expression of someone who's died thrice in a row." Sans' pupils returned, and he put a finger to his chin in thought. "hey, what comes after 'thrice,' anyway?" His eyes then returned to devoid and empty, and I could practically see the grin underneath the scarf grow. "wanna help me find out?" The room then followed suite, and this time, I would be the first to attack. However, seeing Sans' eye flash quickly, and the same first attack come up told me otherwise. Avoiding the first attack was easy, and I looked at him with a tilted head and an expression that told him that he was becoming too predictable before running at him and swinging. Instead of just dodging, he teleported behind me. Swinging behind me, he teleported to the other side and pushed me away.
"here we go..." His eye then flashed again, and I saw the two walls coming in to collide with me. Jumping up, I just barely clipped the bottom portion of the walls before his eye flashed again. I could feel my sins crawling along my back as I found myself on a platform with one below it. The two bone pillars came towards me, and I jumped down before grabbing the other platform and pulling myself up. The other pillar hit me full-force, however, and I fell down as soon as his eye flashed again. This time, two pairs of the skull lasers looked at me from the sides of a squared bone cage. Moving to the far end of the side, the lasers nearly blinded me before Sans' flashing eye dismissed it all. My sins were now up to my neck, and I saw a vision of the kid who idolized Undyne.
"Yo…why're you doing this? Why didn't Undyne kick your butt? Was she scared of you? Are you just that bad? Jeez…" The kid's face of shock returned, the same one that he had given to me before I had nearly killed him. I felt my SOUL twinge as the karmic image ceased to exist. Sans didn't say a word this time, more intent on showing me my sins than making jests and japes.
"you'll keep consuming timelines over and over," Sans observed. "until...well...hey. take it from me, kid. someday...you gotta learn when to QUIT." Instead of a basic attack, Sans' hand moved quickly to the right, and my SOUL, turning blue in color, immediately followed. Landing on the side of the room, a floor of bones erupted outwards. Jumping a little late, I felt like spikes had been driven into my feet, and my hands began to feel tingly with the sensation of karma. Moving his hand upwards, I then flew upwards to meet the same fate again. He would do this in a variety of directions, the multitude of which I jumped out of the way. Landing back on the ground, however, Sans surprised me with one of his laser skulls right above me. My DETERMINATION faltered and I watched as my spirit left my body as my SOUL shattered. Returning to the Void, I slammed down the CONTINUE option and returned, my expression now showing to be quite frustrated, and frankly, tired of Sans' shit. Walking up to him, he chuckled.
"hmm...that expression. that's the expression of someone who's died quice in a row." Sans' expression then shifted to confusion, then thoughtfulness at what he just said. "quice? fice? whelp, won't have to use it again anyways." The room darkened yet again, and Sans' "strongest" attack began. Afterwards, however, I got straight to the point and went in for a multitude of slashes. As time passed, I grew angrier with each death. Every time my SOUL shattered, my DETERMINATION would both falter and grow. And every time before I died, I'd see another vision of my sins. The last one to be seen was Flowey, who gave me the spiel on how I was no different than him. However, before the apathetic creature could tell me more, I was killed yet again by another of Sans' skull lasers. Every time I'd come back, he'd once again remind me on how many times I had died.
"hmm. that expression...that's the expression of someone who's died five times in a row. convenient, huh? that's one for each finger. but soon..."
"hmm. that expression...that's the expression of someone who's died six times in a row. that's the number of fingers on a mutant hand. but soon..."
"hmm. that expression...that's the expression of someone who's died seven times in a row. hey, that's good. seven's supposed to be a lucky number. who knows? maybe you'll hit the jackpot."
"hmm. that expression...that's the expression of someone who's died seven times in a row. nope, wait, that's definitely nine, sorry. or was it ten?"
"hmm. that expression...that's the expression of someone who's died ten times in a row. hey, congrats! the big one-oh! let's invite all your friends over for a big shindig. we can have pie, and hot dogs, and...hmmm...wait. something's not right. you don't have any friends." Eventually, it had come to a point where I was just trying to beat Sans because I was tired of it all. I wasn't even jesting or japing at him. Instead, it was just trying to stop the endless loop of death and rebirth. However, this time, the 12th time I had come through the loop, Sans was without the scarf, but had his hood over his head. Before I even walked towards him, he put up his hand.
"hey kid, stop...let's get to the point."
As the room darkened around us, I looked up at Frisk, their SOUL showing once again now that it was the 11th, 12th time that I had to beat his sorry ass. I felt bad for kicking the tar out of them now, and I could see that their sins had been wearing them down for much longer than any other human should've had to endure. I was considering MERCY, but I had yet to see if they'd learned.
"look, kid. i think i know you're tired. but...y'see...all this fighting is really tiring me out too." This time, he was the first to strike, and I just barely moved out of the way, only allowing him to catch my coat. "and if you keep pushing me...then i'll be forced to use my special attack." Another swipe, even closer now; they were starting to get faster. This time, I teleported out of the way, not to infuriate or confuse them, but to keep myself from being hit.
"yeah, my special attack. sound familiar? well, get ready. cause after your next move, i'm going to use it. so, if you don't want to see it, now would be a good time to just lie down and die." Another swipe, inching ever closer.
"well, here goes nothing...are you ready? survive THIS and i'll show you my special attack!" Now was the point of no return. Extending my arm outwards, I slammed Frisk around the room, watching as they jumped up from the emerging bones on the walls. However, I stopped with the manipulation of their SOUL and sent in several pillars of bones from above and below them. Each bone hit them with surprise, and I watched as their SOUL began to crack, the karmic retribution stacking on it and weighing them down even more. I then threw them to the other end of the Hall of Judgement and created a tunneling pathway of bones, sending Frisk downwards towards them. The hallway seemed to go on forever now as they desperately tried to avoid hitting the bones. As soon as they hit the other side though, I brought up another floor of bones and watched them jump, my sockets now dimmed. My eye flashed, and they were now in one corner of the room, where walls of bones jutted out. Barely escaping, my eye flashed again, and this time, they were hit full force by the next wall of bones on the opposite corner of the room. I was beginning to get sick of waiting for them to die again, and this time, I summoned a large number of gaster blasters, all in a ring and blasting them in a circle. As they ran around, trying to evade each blast, eventually, I couldn't sustain the gaster blasters anymore, nor could I sustain my own frustrations with them. My eye flashing wildly, I grabbed their SOUL and began slamming Frisk around the room over and over again, hoping that I could shatter it after their immense karmic retribution. However, the longer I did so, the more I tired, and the more I tired, the less intense the blows became. Eventually, they were just taps on the walls of the room, and I gently set Frisk down.
"listen," I said, looking on as Frisk got back up, his SOUL nearly shattered once again. "i know you didn't answer me before, but...somewhere in there, i can feel it. there's a glimmer of a good person inside of you. the memory of someone who once wanted to do the right thing. someone who, in another time, might have even been...a friend? c'mon, buddy. do you remember me? please, if you're listening... let's forget all of this, ok? just lay down your weapon, and...well, my job will be a lot easier." I watched as Frisk stared me down, their expression unmoving and their body most likely aching with pain, both emotional and physical.
As I stared down the skeleton, I began to question why I was even fighting him anymore. It had seemed so long ago that I knew why I wanted to kill him, but now I really didn't know if it was worth it anymore. Sans' words echoed through my head, and reminded me of Papyrus.
"HUMAN! IT IS CLEAR THAT YOU DO NOT WISH TO FIGHT MY BROTHER ANY LONGER." Looking behind me, I saw a karmic vision of Papyrus, who possessed my expressionless face, but held his disembodied head in his hands. However, that changed to an expression of joy as the skeleton nearly dropped his head.
"WOWIE! I KNEW THERE WAS GOOD IN YOU SOMEWHERE, EVEN IF YOU DIDN'T BELIEVE IN IT! BUT...YOUR CONSCIENCE ISN'T CLEARED, HUMAN...YOU STILL KILLED ME, A NEARLY IMPOSSIBLE TASK, I KNOW, AND MADE IT IMPOSSIBLE TO BE FRIENDS, SINCE I AM DEAD...BUT…ALL I, THE GREAT PAPYRUS, ASK IS THAT YOU TAKE MY BROTHER'S ADVICE. I FORGIVE YOU, HUMAN! EVEN WHEN I AM DEAD, I BELIEVE THAT WE CAN BE GREAT FRIENDS, AND THAT YOU ARE NOT A BAD PERSON!" Looking at the skeleton's body turn to dust, with only his head remaining, the vision faded, and I began to realize that I couldn't finish this. I couldn't finish what I had started. Looking at the dust that caked my shirt and the knife, I began to tear up. Looking at the combat menu, I looked to the MERCY button and immediately opened it up. Sans was willing to spare me, after all that I had done! It could finally end, and I could reset afterwards! I could make a happy ending again! Monsters could go to the surface, and I wouldn't have to reset ever again!
"Sans…I'll take your spare," I said, my voice resounding with joy at the offer I was given. Sans looked up from his sleeping state, his eyes alight and his smile widening. He then pulled back his hood and looked at me with an expression that seemed more inviting and friendly than before.
"you're sparing me? finally! buddy, pal!" Dropping the knife and pulling the locket from my neck, I began walking over to my friend, sighing in relief.
"i know how hard it must be...to make that choice. to go back on everything you've worked up to. i want you to know...i won't let it go to waste. c'mere, pal." I watched as Sans opened his arms for a hug, and I started running over to give the bastard a pat on the back and return that hug. I felt that I had gotten closure on what I'd felt was a long, arduous journey, and now I could go back and fix everything that I had done wrong, and truly feel complete with a happy ending. However, just as my hands were about to embrace the skeleton, I saw his eye flash quickly, and bones jut up from the ground beneath me. I had no time to react as I was encased in a cage of bones. I immediately screamed out as I saw my karmic retribution start pulling me back down to despair over my past sins: a final death in my only genocide run.
"You really hated us all this much, didn't you?" I heard a familiar voice say. Looking over, I saw Toriel. Reaching out to the vision instinctively, I tried to plead that I hadn't intended things to go down this way, but one look from the vision told me that she didn't care for it. I watched in despair as she turned away before I felt my SOUL crack and shatter to pieces. As I looked around the Void, I saw something that I didn't think I'd see. It was Sans, and he was staring right at me as he chuckled. I began to walk towards him, still confused on what exactly was happening.
"geeettttttt dunked on!" I heard his voice yell out into the darkness. Looking at him, I walked towards him with an irritated expression. However, he put up a hand and pointed over to the CONTINUE option.
"if we're really friends...you won't come back," he said before I watched him fade back into the timeline. Looking at the buttons, I began to think on what I should do. I was furious for being tricked into dying again, but…I also couldn't necessarily bring myself to go back to him. I didn't have the DETERMINATION for it. Looking at both the CONTINUE and RESET buttons, I just sat down and tried to think. I wasn't in any hurry either way. I had all the time in the world, and that filled me with APPREHENSION.
