LOAD STATE THREE
A/N: I was in the mood to write something crazy, so here's something crazy. Also, this story does depend on you knowing Undertale's story, so please don't read further if you don't want spoilers or don't want to be even more confused. I used very little of the game's actual script because it's excellent on its own. Due to the fractured nature of this piece, I simply skipped around canon scenes.
Chapter 1: Fractured Minds
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Well thanks for that mess. Coward.
S-sorry! I…
You don't have time.
I couldn't…
We could have had the power to change the world. Now you're turning to dust and I… I…
You'll?
I'll find a way.
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"What a lovely knife." It was in a neatly wrapped present box, blood red ribbon tied around a smooth white paper slightly tinted with pink. A child with ragged black hair plucked it out of the box, smiling like another child might on getting a desired toy. However, this knife was no mere toy.
The child was no mere child anymore. Something has to be done, and soon. The pair have gone beyond redemption as the silent fearful underworld attests to. They radiate coldness, sharpness, mercilessness, and hatred. Much like the knife that was not innocent itself.
If this continues, there is no hope for the world. There will be blood and pain, repeatedly, until boredom sets in and everything
every possibility
everything ends.
Or perhaps
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…?
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"DON'T LEAVE ME ALONE AGAIN! Please."
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Face to face, soul vs soul, dream vs dream. What right did he have to judge? The deep eye sockets took on a gleam of power, glittering in darkness. "No, we can tell a weed from a flower," he said, a serene light air to his words until they condensed to a darker determination. "You, on the other hand, pretend to be a flower when you come to destroy the whole garden."
"Hmph, what can you do?" he said, although he felt a chill as though facing a freshly sharpened knife. He readied a ring of energy bullets and closed them in tight as a noose.
Then the lazy skeleton wasn't there and before he knew it, he had to pick back up from his last save, twelve hours ago. But the skeleton's voice lingered in his mind, dismissing his question. "I think you should reconsider things. What are you even doing this for?"
He shrieked in rage. "At least take me seriously!"
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Ah, that's the situation. The monsters have been sealed underground since losing a war against humanity, behind a barrier that you can go in, but not out. That's history, but now there's a hole in the earth and a few humans have gotten in to never get out. More worrisome than that, the timelines seem to be growing ever darker, snuffing out hope for the whole world. It's spiraling around an anomalous entity capable of restarting. Save scummer.
You don't know what kind of angel you're getting. But you need to do something before this entity reaches completion. Furthermore, I don't have any connection to your world. You have nothing to offer. Things have just gotten that desperate for you.
Show me more.
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At one point, there were two of them in the underground. They seemed to be friends of a sort, at least allies. "Don't be a ninny," the girl said. She wore a ballet costume of pink and sequins, like nothing the monsters around here had ever seen. She was graceful, twirling and weaving with her red hair streaking around behind her motions... then kicking with those powerful legs of hers to turn many innocent monsters to dust.
"But it's dark and there's sure to be deep holes just like..." the boy shuddered. He wore odd glasses that clouded with a magical effect on them; humans hadn't lost their magical ability then. While she was aggressive, he held back, copying down what he read, saw, and observed in a tidy notebook. Like many times before, he had been sitting here watching quietly, not bothering anyone.
"Well if you'd just practice some, you'd get stronger so you won't be afraid even of that," she said, confident. "Like me. They're the monsters." Her tone was if she thought them no better than discarded gum. "Besides, didn't you hear their plan? They're out to get us, so we better get them first."
"B-but surely the ones who made the seal would have made it so humans could get out if they ended up here," the boy said, fearful. "Couldn't we just, um, sneak past?"
"What, you think they're just going to let us waltz on into their royal castle to get to the barrier?" the girl asked, turning about in annoyance. Fine dust came off her tutu like mist, a taint of death. "Get real."
They were teenagers, not quite innocent children and not quite mature adults. He'd been uneasy about the plan when it got announced. But, it was for the good of all monsters. There was hope now among many that they could get to the surface. Yet, the cost, was it worth it? Or would that taint them all with death? He could rationalize killing the girl since she had killed so many herself. But the boy? Had he killed, at all? He just seemed curious, meek. Bullied by his partner.
All of a sudden, an odd voice squealed. A flash of white bounded into the air, towards the humans. "HUNAN! Sio kyuuuuuteeee!" A misfit Temmie bowled the boy over to land on his chest; causing a hard thump when his head hit the rock floor. She pawed at his face, curling her tail. "Hoi hunan! Ai'm Temmye!"
The girl, who had been briefly shocked at the arrival of the feline-canine, narrowed her eyes at the Temmie and kicked her into the wall. "Leave my minion be, rat!"
The Temmie hissed. "Temmye niot a stinky rats!"
As weird as they were, the Temmies were still neighbors. He came out of the shadows, gripping his war hammer once more. "Hold it..."
crack
The Temmie stared, shivering at the sight. It disgusted him too, but... that was the dangerous one down. Another soul to save monsterkind. As for the boy...
It would have been better if the Temmie's initial tackle had killed him. His cheek was swelling further from where the Temmie had pawed at it and he gasped for breath. In the boy's spirit, there was fear and disorientation. It unsettled him and he had been through the great war. Although, that had been a long time ago.
While it made him feel sick, the only thing that he could think of to do was give him mercy.
That was two souls for Asgore's plan and by god, he did not want to further that cause any more.
The lesson here is that kindness only makes your death more agonizing. I prefer making death to others agonizing.
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Cooking with a Killer Robot. So many had watched it. So many TVs, so many conversations, so many rooms, so many hopes… that it wouldn't end in bloodshed?
"...a HUMAN SOUL!" The blocky hunk of metal on a wheel pulled out a chainsaw from a cabinet that had no door. It wasn't even turned on, didn't even have gas to run. Still, he edged closer as if he would turn it on.
Hundreds of hearts beat quicker, hoping something would save the girl.
She had to use a stepstool to work on the counter, she was that small. But she didn't move. Silently, she watched the robot without fear. You won't do it.
DO IT! I'm sick of this timeline, get it over with!
N-no… no! Don't do it.
A phone rang.
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I'm not heartless. Far from it. I simply need to see things for myself before I can commit to something like this.
Right, determination will be key. They have determination, so whoever I choose must have equal or greater. The king has six, so we need to get your last guardian of that timeline to convince the anomaly to wait for the seventh. There's only two possible ways to get in, through the crevice and through the barrier itself. Once time is allowed to pass, we can work on which human enters as the seventh.
But I'm not forcing them. Please understand, it's not really my place to do so. I will help them.
Of course, your anomaly will be watching closely as I become another anomaly. It will be the seventh human soul; I will be a threat to it. We just have to hope that it doesn't expect what you did in calling for help.
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Love never meant anything to me; it was a convenient way to use others. All that's happened has convinced me that growing more distant is the best way. You see, there's nothing like the thrill of taking control of someone else's life. But you've got to keep things interesting. Even murder loses some of the thrill unless interesting things happen. I need more control.
But love means you're safe. Love means that someone cares about you, and you have someone to care about. Love makes even simple things wonderful. Love is butterscotch. I want to feel love again. I don't want to hurt people anymore. I don't want to watch this!
Love makes you weak. LOVE makes you strong. Don't you get it?
Don't you love me? And Mom and Dad too?
I'm getting bored. It's time to up the ante.
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"Leave me alone!" She flailed wildly with her shining weapon. But, it was a mere toy, made of weak materials and dull edges. It was wielded in fear, not in a killing intent. She even lost one of her flip-flops in her wild actions.
Even if it had been with killing intent, she was out of luck. "You'd get nowhere out there. But you're getting nowhere sticking around here either. You're weak, you'll starve if you just hide in this dusty old place. But if you do manage to leave, the only way to go is through the snowy road."
"Poppa will come for me, I know," she said, faithful and fearful. "Get away from me, both of you!"
The spirit chuckled. "Aren't you confident? Don't worry. The king has just announced something very interesting. Even you could be worthwhile. Here." It took advantage of a moment of her weariness to grab her nose and enter her body through there.
The girl screamed and yanked at her own hair, pulling out her ribbon and letting it fall to the ground. "Get out of me!"
"Chill, chill, you'll just hurt both of us. Probably you more than me."
"What's going on over here?" a woman's voice called in concern.
"Whoa, that's," the spirit seemed worried at that.
"Help me!" the girl screamed, dropping her toy knife on accident.
"We ain't hanging around for this one," the spirit said, using all of its power to lift the girl's body up and fly away towards the exit of the ruins. And just in time as none other than the queen of monsters came into sight then. If she'd been here a moment later, this could have been disastrous.
They couldn't go far like that, especially not with the girl struggling. The spirit had to drop her into a pile of snow and get out of her to recover. However, the cold would not bother him. She was barefoot, dressed for summer, and weakened in staying in the ruins so long. All he had to do was wait.
And probably find some stronger monster to help carry her all the way to the castle. That would help.
If she'd just fought, she'd have been strong enough to defend herself.
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I'll get you.
LOAD STATE ONE
I'll get you.
LOAD STATE ONE
I'll get you.
LOAD STATE ONE
You know what I'm doing, don't you?
LOAD STATE ONE
You're going to suffer over and over again.
LOAD STATE ONE
I do not offer Mercy.
LOAD STATE ONE
I can do this to the end of time.
LOAD STATE ONE
How long can your determination hold out?
LOAD STATE ONE
Heh heh heh.
LOAD STATE ONE
I'll get you.
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"That kid seemed pretty desperate when he said you were the only one who understood him."
Heh. You understand why I like him so much?
Smile. "Yes. I never had anybody like that. If we wanted to draw this out, I could have fun messing with somebody like that. Maybe that spunky first grader."
I'm just waiting on him to connect the dots and get really desperate. When he pleads that he'd do anything for me, that's when he gets the knife.
"That's beautiful, just like I imagine you."
If anyone understands me, it's you. It would be so nice if I had my own body again. You might the one other human I could tolerate.
"I agree so much. Chara?"
Yes Chara?
"We're taking this all the way, aren't we?"
Well you are a novelty for the moment, but it's got to end on our terms. But we've got to tolerate him in order to do this.
"At least he's fun."
Right… wait… something's happening.
"Is that… someone else who can SAVE?"
This timeline was totally solid! What's going on?!
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It was a lovely morning in Snowdin. For a relative view of morning, since there was no way the real sun could be seen at this depth. But there was a steady magical light that allowed the enduring pine trees down here to grow profusely. It made a heavenly perfume of snow and evergreen that one got used to until one left and realized how beautiful it was. Colorful twinkling lights were wrapped around the dark green trees, giving the area a magical feel. In the traditions of this town, the lights and decorations were changed out every month. This month, the lights were all green and decorations were green leaves with holly berries and pinecones. Some had thought it wouldn't work at first, but it made the forest soul look powerful.
The library was dark as it was not yet open. By the pine wood door, an unusual flower with golden petals waited. He had a face, even a voice. He had arrived early, but spent that time in thought with his petals drawn over his face. There had to be a reason.
Crunches in the snow made the flower open up his blossom. The librarian was a creature that was not quite a dog person and not quite a mole, with shaggy brown fur. "Hello there," the librarian said kindly, looking down at the flower. "You're an unusual monster."
"I'm not from around here," he said in a voice like a young boy. "My name is Flowey. I wanted to read something, but I can only move myself through the ground and can't easily pick up a book. I can turn the pages myself, though. So, would you help me get a book to read?"
"Sure thing, lad, come right in," the librarian said.
The flower bobbed his head in a nod and burrowed in the ground to get into the wood flooring of the library. At least it wasn't rock, that took a lot more energy to get through. He got in a spot he'd picked out before figuring out the difficulty of plucking out just one book with his vines, then waited on the librarian to be done with kicking snow off her feet and turning the lights on so she could come over.
SAVE STATE 2
"What kind of book do you want?" the librarian asked.
"Do you have anything about souls?" Flowey asked back. "I was trying to figure something out."
She rubbed her chin at that. "Souls… I know there's plenty of books on the subject. The best book on the subject we have is 'Science on the Spiritual', but that's a hefty text for a little flower like you."
"That's hard to understand," he said. "But I can work my way up, right? Where's a good basic book to start?"
Impressed by his spirit, the librarian smiled. "You could do that. It'd be a lot of books, but here, we could start you on 'A Youth's Manual of Science'." Once he agreed, the librarian went to the children's section to bring over a worn but well illustrated book.
Flowey carefully used a non-thorny vine to shift through the pages, reminding himself of basic scientific principles. In the back, it had some suggestions for where to go from there. He asked the librarian for a matching youth manual on magic since that would eventually figure into his study on souls. Getting through both books took the whole day, but there were still more books to read.
LOAD STATE 2
"What kind of book do you want?" the librarian asked, believing they'd only met a couple minutes ago.
"Do you have the textbook series 'Magical Matters?" Flowey asked.
She nodded. "Yes, but it's reserved for students of this town. Although there aren't many children around in the program right now."
"Well could I register as a student here?" he asked.
"Normally we'd need a student's parents to register them," the librarian said. "Are you serious about studying?"
"Yes, very much." Studying could be boring, but that was if he wasn't interested in the subject. But this was for information he had to know. Something was wrong with him and he had to know what. And understanding this new power would help greatly.
"I don't see how it could hurt," she said, then went to get a clipboard to write down his name as a student.
And since this would take a lot of time…
SAVE STATE 2
There were twenty-three books in the Magical Matters series meant to teach magic to young monsters. Flowey started with the first. Every time it gave him a review assignment suggestion, he stopped to think it through. Some of it he already knew but some of it he had to read carefully through.
LOAD STATE 2
A soul was comprised of many qualities. Most people excelled in one or two qualities and were poor in one or two others. In some, there might even be a missing quality due to mental conditions. There was even a difference between monster and human souls, although since monsters had been sealed underground for so long, there wasn't a lot of knowledge on what made the difference between the two. A few differences were known, including that human souls could persist after death for quite some time while monster souls couldn't. Although, the souls of boss monsters could persist a very short time after death. And if the fallen monster's dust was spread over something they loved, something of their essence would be imbued in the item.
While the textbooks claimed it was mostly superstition, that explained a little of what was going on. But not everything. Flowey kept reloading this day in the library and kept reading. His search spread out on tangents that seemed interesting, such as a lengthy study on plants. Eventually…
LOAD STATE 2
"Could you get me 'Science on the Spiritual'?" Flowey asked the librarian.
She paused on that, still believing they'd only met a couple minutes ago. "Are you sure on that?" she asked, raising a furry eyebrow. "That's a very advanced text, most than most students could attempt."
"I'm sure I got it now," he said. Although he was worried that he'd already found the answers.
"I see. You now, somehow I feel like you could, though I'm not sure how I feel it of you," the librarian said.
Could she sense the LOAD magic? "It's the look in my eyes, ain't it?" Flowey asked. "I know things, like how you keep a jar of hidden candies in the desk over there and buy from different merchants so that people don't realize how much of it you eat."
The librarian's short dog-like tail went still. "Ah, ahem, you do seem sharp enough for a book like that. Okay, I'll get that for you. Erm, and do you want a piece of candy too? Only if you'll keep it quiet."
"I will, I promise," Flowey said, silently adding to himself that the promise only held until he next loaded. Or went back to one of his earlier files. "It'd be nice if I had a chocolate candy, actually."
Nodding, the librarian went to get him the book and a chewy chocolate candy. It took a few reloads to get through the whole book, meaning he got a few other pieces of chocolate candy too. But that was about the only nice thing. This book had more in-depth knowledge but the core of it was the same. Monster souls were known for holding the traits of joy, compassion, mercy, and love. While there were other traits, love was most important of all. Love was an important part of the soul.
But flowers had no traits. Flowers had no souls. All he had was what he remembered and what he had been given. That being determination. That was why he remembered the happiness that came with being with people he loved but could not feel it again. He couldn't feel it ever again.
He screamed in rage, startling the others in the library. Of course, that upset the librarian and made her come over. "Please be..." she paused, shuddering as a murderous intent erupted out of Flowey.
"SHUT UP!" Flowey shouted, casting a spell that summoned a ring of fire around him. He snapped out a thorny flaming vine at the librarian and knocked her clear through her desk. As the books started to go up in flames, he threw other bursts of fire at the doors and windows. "You will burn with me."
With the magic he'd learned over this study, the library turned into an inferno in seconds. Burning pages, burning fur, burning flesh, screaming… harsh hot light of pain enlightened these people who had seen him as just some strange little golden flower that could talk and read. He briefly took control of their lives and ended them.
It was so satisfying.
LOAD STATE 2
Of course, the death hurt. But the death didn't last. The library was back to the quiet peaceful morning where it was just him and the librarian. Tilting his blossom downward, Flowey took a deep breath in his whole body. He shouldn't be doing things like that. But there was something that felt nice about it, more than trying to feel love again.
The librarian thought she'd just finished up registering Flowey as a student, but she went still again. "What was that chill just now?" she mumbled.
Calm down. "Just a draft, I'd imagine," Flowey said. "Could you get me 'Science on the Spiritual'? I haven't finished it yet."
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A child hero is a tricky one to work with. They're quick to learn and impressionable. When guiding them, even out of their notice like this, they will pick up on your intentions and methods. Given what we're working against, this could be very bad if the other spirits involved gain too much influence. They'd be hurt more easily than an adult.
Then again, they'll adapt more easily than an adult. The right child would accept such a big change more readily. Then there's the fact that the anomaly has been drawing children and teenagers to the underground already. Even the genocidal one you're worried about is a child corrupted to believe in power more than love. Even the anomaly is young.
I watched the humans too, yes. And I've seen a child around the same town that the genocidal one came from who I think can be guided on a better path. They are very determined. In seeing the genocidal one, I don't think they will easily do what's needed. They're lacking something from the start: empathy. Just like the anomaly. The other child fits our needs better.
Of course, we're dealing with the power of SAVE/LOAD. The timeline you're worried about is pretty strong, enough so that the two timelines will compete directly. Our child hero might have a hard time dealing with the genocidal one. But I've got an idea for you.
I know it's a risk. I'm sorry. But then, you called me in because lots of timelines are ending violently. You do want a better resolution to overtake the violence?
Are we agreed then?
I do care now. I want to save your world too.
Good.
NEW GAME START
Is this a test? Or perhaps their influence is that strong. Let's hope...
NAME THE FALLEN CHILD
Chara
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