The Underground's Final Hero
hey.
You.
Don't you have anything better to do then torture people like this?
...
We need to talk.
Face to Face. And I don't mean Frisk.
Meet me at the Final Corridor
You can spare or kill however you please on your way there
Because clearly it doesn't matter to you. I'm not even sure if it ever has.
See you soon.
*click*
Every part of Frisk told themselves that they should not respond to Sans's request. That, by doing so, they would only be giving in to the all consuming power of determination to see every line of dialogue possible. Everything was fine now! The barrier was broken, the monsters, free to enter the surface world...A hope that the relationship between monsters and humans could finally be mended.
And yet...
Frisk remembered what they had done. Who they had become. Making a mistake so disastrous, so wrong, that Frisk was willing to sell their soul to undo it-even for a moment. The guilt Frisk felt was immeasurable and, like a child they had been working desperately to stop that...thing, from destroying everything.
Chara.
That demon would appear every time at the very end...and ruin everything. Again and again Frisk was forced to watch themselves kill these monsters that they had come to love and cherish so deeply. But there was no point now. Chara had cleverly played to Frisk's determination and now trapped them in an endless loop of madness. And Frisk had tried everything. Every time they reset they tried manipulating the world Chara made for them in different ways. Editing the game files to get to different rooms, getting Sans to let Frisk into their room, even the annoying dog's room eventually opened after they tried hard enough.
But there was not an answer in any of the rooms that could change what Frisk had done. It was brutal in how fair it was.
No one is above consequence.
It had been such a dark time. Their time before making it to the underground seemed so painful, so hopeless. The world was terrible and falling apart quickly, its denizens, monsters in disguise, preying on the weak but worst of all was the inner conflict. The day to day thoughts that run through every person's head.
What am I doing?
Who am I?
Why am I saying these stupid things?
Why do I let people do this to me?
Why do people let this happen
Do you even care...?
DO I EVEN CARE!?
HOW COULD YOU KNOW HOW I FEEL!?
Frisk knew the legend of , that when humans climbed its peak they tended not to come back. They had counted on the legend being true. The existential weight of existence and the lack of drive to care about anything would drive any adolescent there when all hope was lost. You could say...before all this Frisk was a person without a trace of determination in their whole body.
But then they fell down here!
The underground was the greatest thing to happen to Frisk! Sure it hurt, and it was scary at first, but when Toriel challenged Frisk to prove that they were worthy, a kind of spark ignited in the child that they had never felt before. Where Frisk could do nothing now, they were able to dodge fire balls and beat boss monsters just like a superhero! Can you imagine? Being lifted from having nothing to having boundless potential? So yes. Frisk killed a Froggit or two. Frisk defeated the gatekeeper of the ruins, Toriel, the legendary knight Undyne and even the great King Asgore himself! Frisk of course felt terrible for ending those lives when they saw the pained expressions and heard the moans of each defeated monster but at the end of the day Frisk was told very early on.
King Asgore would take Frisk's soul and destroy humanity.
A single question would echo through Frisk's mind throughout the entire journey.
Why do I have to die for the good of monsters?
It haunted Frisk, the closer and closer they got to the king the more they realized they would need to find an answer to this question. Sooner or later Frisk would have to determine if this was the legacy Frisk wanted to leave behind. If after this great journey, Frisk would just...let it end.
And then, when Frisk finally beat Flowey and they were given the option to spare him? Frisk didn't even give the flower the time of day before brutally slashing it again and again, pounding it into the ground until it was dust. Something changed in Frisk that day. When they realized that the way to take destiny in their own hands...
Was to kill or be killed.
Frisk reloaded the game in an instant and this time, would spare not a single monster. Selfishly Frisk hoped to themselves that, if they took the EXP and LV from the monsters down here, to grow stronger than they had on the surface then by sheer will Frisk would break through the barrier without Asgore's help. And that when they returned to the surface world, they would be strong enough to face the fear in their own heart as well as the daunting challenge of finding a reason to keep going with the rest of humanity.
It was horrible. Frisk became the very thing that had terrorized them so long ago. It became so easy to skip everything each monster said and turn them into dust. It was intoxicating how easy it was. Determination swelled into a warped sense of hope that things would change and disbelief that they were doing anything wrong.
It grew to such a length that even Sans's words had fallen on deaf ears. Warnings of a bad time, readings of timelines starting and then stopping. The power Frisk was dealing with was the power of a God and was never intended to be used by stupid selfish children like Frisk.
The first time Frisk had seen Sans in that golden hall, it had been a wondrous and thought-provoking moment but that second time...it was one of the scariest times in their lives, rivaled only by their lonely ascension up in the first place. The more times Sans defeated Frisk, the more times they heard every part of their body trying to tell Frisk that what they were doing was wrong. That they should just stop and let the monsters be at peace. That what Frisk was doing was wrong.
But at the very same time, the voice inside their mind seemed smaller and smaller with each reload. Replaced instead with noises Frisk didn't even know they could make, heavy breaths, snarls, and that horrible laughter bouncing off the walls of Frisk's subconscious. It got to the point where Frisk would simply blink and they'd be a little closer to beating Sans each time. Until that last blink.
Watching Sans stumble off to Grillby's wasn't just horrible, it was a deafening experience. The weight of Frisk's sins crawled down Frisk's body and plastered them to the ground. Frisk could just look at the cut they had dealt to Sans and feel it on their own chest. Each time a splotch of blood(ketchup?) hit the ground, was part of Frisk falling out of their body. Until finally...when Sans died...Chara leveled up and Frisk died.
Now in this puppet's body, Frisk had been desperately searching for some kind of answer, some kind of way to take control of their destiny again like they had before. Killing monsters didn't do it. Sparing monsters didn't do it either. There didn't seem to be a route to solve this mess. There was no escaping this hell.
And Frisk was now getting to the point where they were ready to live with that.
So Frisk hit the reset button again. Waking up in those dusty old ruins, and simply waited. Though Frisk walked, it was Chara that directed where they went, Frisk simply zoned out checking back every now and then to see where they were at.
Finally, Frisk opened their eyes to find themselves in that golden chamber once again. They approached with no hesitation to the point Frisk knew Sans would appear and start talking. And he did, and of course Frisk knew it word for word. It was the dialogue for the neutral ending that Frisk was about to get. But...how could this be? Sans had called Frisk at the end of that last route! Surely he hadn't forgotten? In that moment...Frisk finally felt a single heartbeat.
Was this it...?
Frisk quickly interrupted Sans' speech.
*huh? what'd you say?
...
*Well we're talking right now right?
*Anyway...
He then starts his speech over. Frisk began to get worried at this point, this couldn't possibly be where it ends. To dangle that bit of hope in front of Frisk like that? A surge of determination that Frisk had not felt in a long time surged and Frisk stamped their foot, again cutting Sans off.
...
*Perfect.
*Now I know I've got your attention.
Sans eye began glowing that familiar shade of blue and the room began to darken.
*its a beautiful day outside
*birds are singing
*flowers are blooming...
Frisk's felt a cold shiver down their spine upon hearing those lines as a look of terror formed on their face. Sans saw this in Frisk, his expression only becoming more horrific as he stared with sheer hatred at the child.
*kids like you...
*SHOULD BE BURNING IN HELL!
Frisk's legs moved on their own, this first attack was so ingrained in Frisk's memory that it was just sheer instinct to dodge it on queue. As the dust setteled Sans chuckled and spoke coldly.
*huh...That was my strongest attack. You're pretty good!
*Its almost like you've done this before.
It was starting again. This horrible fight was starting once more. How many times would Frisk have to tear themselves apart before this hell would end? Though the fight was out of place, Frisk continued on like it was a normal battle, only this time, instead of attacking Sans, Frisk continually hit the spare button. Sans seemed to ignore this, and attacked using the same patterns they had done before and each time Frisk got farther, more dialouge was presented to them.
*I've been trying to wrap my head around what kind of person you are.
*You act the same every time. You build these connections with all these people
and then go back like you did something wrong.
*Letting Toriel take you in.
*Solving puzzles with Papyrus...
*Making that pasta with Undyne?
*That uh...performance you got going on with Mettaton...
*That duel you have with the King...
*Even fighting that flower...
*Frankly? I find it kind of creepy.
*At first I didn't even notice, but now, with each RESET, I'm remembering more and more.
*You're resetting everything, and making the same choices and even acting the same over and over again.
*Not only that, but the way you acted, when you thought I was just going to say
the same thing...that means you remember everything too right?
*So what are you doing? What do you gain from building my friends up
just to knock them back underground?
*No human should be able to withstand the kind of pain you're giving yourself.
*Just what do you want?
At this point the fight ends and you are immediately presented with two options
- I've done something really bad...
- There's no point in telling you.
(cover image is from post/133068497331/you-hear-a-passing-conversation-one-of-my )