An ominous red glow radiated from the oceans of magma in the distance. Chaotic, spiked rock formations jutted out all along the horizon, obscuring all of Hotland from view except the core energy generators that composed its skyline, towering high enough to reach the ceiling of its Underground prison. Wind howling in my ears, I stood atop a spire of stone, above the entrance to a tunnel through the forest of jagged rock.

On the ground near my perch, near the tunnel that stood between it and its ultimate goal, was the Human.

The seventh and final.

I'd encountered all six that came before, traversing the claustrophobic crystalline caverns of Waterfall on their path to the Barrier, on a mission to return to their home. Some had fled my wrath, some had stood their ground against me. All, however, through malice or through cowardice, had traces of a fine gray powder on its hands. Guilty. Murderers. In the end, I was able to claim the souls of four. The other two had met their ends later in their journeys.

"Six human souls.

That's how many we have collected thus far.

Seven human souls,

and King Asgore will become a god."

I explain to the human below, and to myself, why its death is neccesary for our cause. Taking life is never easy, but my cause is noble and just. With its seventh and final soul, we can finally escape this prison in which its nefarious race had banished our kind.

But this child... was different, somehow. its hands were clean. Innocent. Alphys had been watching over this one closely, and she had never seen a single one of us harmed by this strange human.

I wondered what sick plan it had for us.

Play us for fools, pretend to befriend all of us, and stab us all in the back when our guard was down.

For all his power, Asgore was such a fuzzy pushover... He'd fall for it. He'd fall for it, and he'd die.

Heh. That punk thought I was just going to let it get away with this? Who did it think I was?

The human stepped forward, and I leapt from my perch, ready to strike. "You're standing in the way of everybody's hopes and dreams! You know what would be more valuable to everyone? IF YOU WERE DEAD! Let's end this! Right here, right now!"


Its soul, at first glowing a brilliant red, turned a radiant green as it became fixed in one spot. The expression on the human's face was... contemplative. It looked like it was lost in thought, not even paying attention to my actions. I let out a valiant cry and struck directly at its soul, but it parried the strike with some sort of magic shield. I attacked from the side, and the soul didn't move its shield to deflect this attack; instead, the human flinched as a fresh wound began to open.

The sudden pain had woken it from its trance, somewhat; it looked up at my face, still with an expression as if it were pondering something. It looked somewhat sad, but didn't show any signs of being in pain even as its soul cracked slightly down the middle.

"... My soul..."

It spoke up. I hesitated. Despite the rush of adrenaline and determination flowing through me, urging me to keep attacking, this human was very strange, and I was a bit curious.

"...With my soul... you can save this world?" It took a deep breath, and paused. It looked like it was having trouble forcing out its words. "Undyne..." I flinched a bit. To hear my name violated by a human's voice... I struck again, a flurry of light attacks from all sides. Its soul's shield still didn't move.

It didn't even flinch, this time. It showed no sign of being hurt, even with its cracked soul's two halves holding onto eachother by only a thread.

"Undyne... You're right." I froze in my tracks. It took another heavy, deep breath. "It would be better for you all if I was... if you had my soul, wouldn't it?" It sighed. "Monsterkind... is quite different from the people I'm used to. Everyone's filled with so much kindness and compassion... I think... I think that you all... deserve to escape."

Was this some kind of sick joke? Was it trying to trick me? What did it think it would accomplish with this?

"And... I'm not going to get in your way."

The human lowered its soul's shield, with another heavy sigh.

Was it... offering its soul to me?

I stood and stared for a moment, shocked. Then, the implications of the offer started to sink in. This was it. It was over. We were finally free. We had the seventh soul.

With a wide, jovial grin, and a slightly demented laugh, I struck decisively, one final time. The soul escaped its dying body, and I grabbed it, holding it above my head and screaming in triumph, vivid daydreams of the wondrous new life that was ahead of us flashing through my mind.

Victory, at long, long last.


My triumphant shouting and celebration was broken by my phone's ringtone. Snapped out of my euphoric trance and back into reality, I reached to pull my phone out of a pocket in my armor.

In the corner of my eye, I saw the aftermath of my victory.

When humans died... it was always so much messier than a monster dying.

a deep gash was left in their body where I had struck, and it was oozing a deep red liquid all over the dusty, cold ground. Their last expression was blank. Not peaceful, not pained. Determined. Strong. It was then that it started to sink in, that this human, who had never harmed a single monster in their entire journey, wasn't putting up an act. They did it out of kindness, genuine mercy. And for the same reasons, they gave up their life to help the monsters' cause.

I had taken the life of an innocent. I had taken the life of someone as determined to see their dreams become real as I was. Staring down at the pathetic, bleeding corpse, I realized that, maybe, if things had gone differently, we could've been great friends.

The sound of my cellphone ringing echoed through the caverns, periodically breaking the chilling, deafening silence.

Filled with a new feeling of determination... I wouldn't let this human's sacrifice go to waste.

-click-

"...Alphy? ... Yeah. ... I know. Hahaha... -sigh- It's going to be wonderful, isn't it. ...Listen, can you do me a favor?

Make sure this kid gets a proper burial.

I'm going to see Asgore. We're getting out of here."

Author's Note: first thing I've written in ages, so please leave some constructive criticism and such

also the 'It' pronouns used in reference to Frisk are in no way meant to insult gender-neutral people, Undyne just uses 'It' because she looks down on humanity and doesn't respect them at all. Pls don't sjw me ;w;