A/N: This is my first Undertale fic, so please don't be too critical.
A golden flower sat in front of the Barrier. It was an ordinary flower, and yet, there was something about it...
Should one look beneath it, they would see a trickle of a red liquid. The thin trail of blood led to the body lying in front of the pulsing gateway between the Underground and the human world. A dropped knife lay by the body's hand. Beside the pocket of the pants lay the cell phone which had fallen out.
The phone rung.
"heya. is anyone there...? well... just calling to say. you made a snowman really happy."
If the body heard, or even lived, it gave no indication, asides from a finger twitching.
"guess i should say something else, too."
Did the fingers of the left hand tighten into a fist, or was it just a trick of the light?
Twilight at the Barrier is strange.
"so.. it's been a while. since you left... things have gotten really strange. overnight, a bunch of people mysteriously disappeared. as well as the human souls."
Did the eyes flicker for a moment, or was it a shadow, helped by the blood trickling from beneath?
"people were heart-broken. everyone they looked up to... everything they were relying on, in one night, disappeared. everyone clamored to elect a new ruler as fast as possible. so, uh... by process of elimination... papyrus became the ruler?"
Did a whisper of breath escape, carrying the word, "Yes," or was it just the wind blowing through the Barrier?
"why doesn't he talk to you about this... "
And then a new voice cut through, louder.
"HELLO! HUMAN! IT'S STRANGE. ASGORE, ALPHYS, METTATON, AND UNDYNE WENT AWAY."
Did a voice whisper, "Fool," affectionately, or was it more wind?
"SANS SAYS THEY WENT ON VACATION. I HOPE THEY'RE HAVING FUN! OH YEAH. I'M THE RULER OF THE UNDERGROUND NOW! EVERYTHING IS IMPROVING A LOT HERE. PRODUCTIVITY IS UP! BECAUSE I TELL EVERYONE TO KEEP WORKING. AND, NO ONE GOES HUNGRY!"
A voice whispered, "Good." This was definitely a human voice, not wind, choked by blood though it was...
"BECAUSE I COOK EVERYONE SPAGHETTI. MEANWHILE, MY BROTHER HANDLES THE PAPERWORK. STRANGELY... HE SEEMS TO BE WORKING HARD? THIS SOUNDS MESSED UP... BUT... I'M PROUD... OF HIM? OH NO!"
"Heh." the voice chuckled.
"AS FOR OUR HUMAN POLICY... WE'VE DECIDED, UM. SANS, WHAT WAS IT?"
"we can't judge humans to be all good or all bad." replied the other voice.
"RIGHT! SO IT'S CASE-BY-CASE! IF THEY'RE EVIL... WE GIVE THEM PUZZLES! IF THEY'RE GOOD... WE ALSO GIVE THEM PUZZLES!"
"But that makes no difference, does it?"
"THAT SEEMS TO BE THE BEST WAY! ... ... IS SANS GONE? YOU KNOW... DON'T TELL MY BROTHER, BUT... DESPITE THE IMPROVEMENTS WE'VE MADE... SOMETIMES THIS JOB IS KIND OF HARD. SINCE THE KING WENT AWAY... LOTS OF PEOPLE JUST WANT TO GIVE UP. SOMETIMES, EVEN MY BEST ENCOURAGEMENT... DOESN'T WORK. AND, AND, I MISS UNDYNE, TOO. SHE NEVER ANSWERS MY PHONE CALLS... SHE MUST BE HAVING A LOT OF FUN ON VACATION. I JUST WISH SHE'D SEND A POSTCARD..."
"BUT HEY! I WON'T GIVE UP! I CAN'T GIVE UP! I HAVE TO MAKE EVERYONE GIVE UP GIVING UP! WE'LL GET OUT OF HERE, SLOWLY! THEN WE CAN ALL HANG OUT AGAIN! ANYWAYS, I THINK SANS WANTED TO TALK TO YOU, SO..."
And then the first voice was back again. "you know, i know what you did. everybody except papyrus does. and... i can't keep him innocent forever. eventually... he's got to know what you've done. everybody you've killed. if you want to make things right again..."
"i know what you are. what you can do. it's been obvious all these times. residual memories hanging over, the sense of déjà vu i have whenever i see you or talk to you... if you want to make things right, then you've got one last chance."
Click...
"What option do I have?"
Nobody needs to die.
I've played with the timelines just because I could. I was curious what would happen... just like Asriel. But now... maybe it's time to stop playing with the timelines... and give everybody a happy ending.
He stood, leaving the phone and knife on the ground. Blood coated him, but he ignored that.
There were two options.
Yet, really, there was only one.
The light grew brighter, and then everything went black.