Oneshot | An Underground Reborn
-AUR-
A/N:
Everyone wants to SAVE Asriel. Lots of people want to SAVE Gaster, Goner, and others. Some people even want to SAVE Chara.
SAVing any one of these people costs Frisk their SOUL, (in most headcannons) right?
One thing about the Chara boss battle in the Dreamer Reborn AU threw me for a loop: SOULs. Thousands of SOULs. All freely given (and ripe for a monster possession ala Asriel and Frisk.) It's literally PERFECT.
… So why did Frisk and Asriel just cower in fear and fight for their own SOUL? This is my AAU of that:
-AUR-
Reading instructions: Familiarize yourself with the "A Dreamer Reborn" AU, at least a little. You should know why we're able to have an Asriel Vs Chara fight.
Watch "Undertale Fan Boss Fight: Chara" up until Chara reveals their Special Attack.
Enjoy:
-AUR-
"What do you think? Looks familiar, does it not?"
Asriel steps closer, somehow knowing Chara won't attack him during this exposition.
Suddenly afraid, he stumbles away.
"That's right. You know exactly what this is. A SOUL. FRISK'S SOUL."
*You feel confused.
Asriel backs up against a wall, terrified.
"And before you ask, no. This is not the only one. I have many, many more. Thousands even. From the Frisks of the countless timelines that came before you."
Asriel shrinks away, edging along the wall as Chara's hand is surrounded by a circle of SOULs.
*You are awed and terrified simultaneously.
*You feel… hope.
"But they were not stolen. No no. They were GIVEN to me. Given to me by murderers who found pleasure in GENOCIDE."
*Your hope blossoms into a dream.
*You see the problem of hundreds of timelines.
*You see the solution.
"... But… Even with all of these SOULs… I always felt… Empty."
Asriel is whimpering.
"But now? Now I know the reason why."
Chara lifts their head, exposing their face to the sunlight. "I need you, Asriel. I need my best friend…"
Asriel looks at Chara, hopefully.
*You think maybe you won't need to intervene.
"So once I take your new SOUL, Asriel… We'll finally be together again."
Asriel's hopes are crushed.
Chara's face falls back into shadow. "And I'll destroy every SOUL I have to keep you."
*You need to intervene.
*You take control of Asriel.
*You tell Chara they don't need to be alone anymore.
Chara pauses, her fingers wrapped around one SOUL. She looks up at Asriel. "What do you mean?"
*You tell Chara that they're holding the answer.
"... Oh. Frisk. You're still in there."
*You tell Chara no one has to die.
"I know. I sat and watched you make your silly friendships. Always the same jokes. Always the same conversations."
*You tell Chara they can SAVE everyone.
"I know Frisks found paths other than genocide. I know you're one of them. The pacifists."
*You ask Chara to help you SAVE everyone.
"You already did your saving. But I need Asriel."
*You pause in confusion, wondering what Chara means.
"Now get out of my way... and give him to me"
Chara crushes a SOUL. Its power strikes Asriel, knocking you from control. Asriel cries out.
The circle of SOULs shudders. Asriel screams.
*. . .
A happy memory comforts Asriel. 1 HP restored!
*You hold on to dreams of SAVing people with the SOULs of wayward Frisks.
*You are filled… with DETERMINATION. HP maxed out!
"I don't understand. You're unscathed. Is that Frisk… really THAT powerful?"
*You feel Asriel push you into control.
*You tell Chara that destroying the Frisks is not the right thing to do.
"...Ah. Yes, I see now. You cannot bear to see anyone perish, and you are DETERMINED to keep Asriel."
*You shake Asriel's head.
*You ask why she doesn't understand.
"What is there to understand? You want to preserve life. I don't care."
". . ."
"That's fine. To get Asriel, I'm willing to give up… EVERYTHING."
The cavern roof begins raining SOULs.
Asriel panics. He takes back control of the body. He pleads with Chara to stop.
"... Why are you attached to this Frisk, Asriel? They change after every RESET. Like a new Frisk takes the place of the old."
SOULs detonate around Asriel. It is all he can do to avoid their blasts.
"Some tall, some small. Some older, some younger. Some boys, some girls, and everything in between. And while many were content with saving all monsters, some were not satisfied."
Asriel says that's why he believes in you.
"... You prefer the Frisks that don't see us as friends? That see us as amusements? That want to see how we'd break?"
Asriel tries to refute the claim. Chara attacks. Asriel escapes, but not unscathed.
*You hold on to the dream of using the SOULs to truly save everyone. HP restored!
"They killed everyone. Mom. Papyrus. Undyne. Muffet. Mettaton. Sans. Dad."
Chara throws a handful of SOULs. Asriel barely avoids them.
"And when I lost all hope that they would change, I finished the job. Every time."
Asriel is backed into a corner. Chara throws out SOUL after SOUL. Asriel takes hit after hit. His HP drops staggeringly.
A comforting memory comes to Asriel. He holds on, barely.
"I don't understand. I have thrown nearly every SOUL I have at you. Yet you refuse to die. … Why? Why are you resisting so much?"
Chara summons a handgun magic attack. Asriel readies himself, until he sees the first "bullet."
*You throw Asriel's body at the SOUL.
Asriel grabs it, absorbing it. One, two, three SOULs join you as part of Asriel.
Chara pauses. "Your Frisk is even more broken than I thought. They cannot bear to see the death of even a single SOUL... Even the SOUL of a murderer."
Asriel says that's not what you meant. He says that isn't why he's taking the SOULs.
"It doesn't matter. I'll still take you, Asriel… No matter how much you or your Frisk get in my way."
Chara attacks with the handgun and another attack at once. Asriel is sent reeling, missing three more SOULs.
"Can't you see? A Frisk this broken will never be happy with any ending. They'll keep trying to SAVE that one person more. And they'll start killing anyone in their way to do it."
Chara threw a frying pan's worth of SOULs at Asriel. He collected two, before the third exploded in his face.
*You imagined the ways these SOULs could SAVE others. Having five SOULs, your dreams are sure to come true! HP maxed out!
"Asriel, I don't want to be alone anymore. I don't want to kill anymore. I just want this to end. I want to be with you again."
Asriel dares to hope they'll stop. He runs up and hugs Chara.
They struggle free.
"Asriel… I love you so much. So please… D I E."
Chara throws Asriel up into the rain of SOULs. He reaches out, catches one, two… a third explodes in his face.
*You take over.
*You grasp a SOUL. It explodes in your hand. You aren't a monster. You can't absorb human SOULs.
Asriel hits the ground. Chara plunges their knife into his limp body again and again. "PLEASE! PLEASE DIE!"
*You show Asriel the SOULs he collected.
*You show Asriel your hopes and dreams for who else you could SAVE.
Asriel holds on.
Chara pauses. "I…"
"I…"
"I can't…"
Chara drops the knife. They fall to their knees.
"I gave you everything I had… and still… I couldn't finish the job. Not with you working together with that Frisk like that."
Asriel gasps in pain. He pats their hand with his paw.
"Ha… You big dork… I… I've been stuck here. Just like you were as a flower… Trapped in a nightmare I can't escape from…" Their head fell. "I don't know what keeps me here. Is this my punishment?"
They look down at Asriel as he struggles to sit up. "I know I can't stop you. Not anymore. Without my SOULs, I will lose control of this body."
*You help Asriel up.
*You tell him to SAVE Chara.
Asriel offers Chara a SOUL.
"What…? After everything you went through to SAVE those few from me?"
Asriel tells Chara that this is the ending his Frisk was looking for: using SOULs to save as many people as they could.
"You're trying to SAVE me?"
Asriel nods.
"You… You monsters and your compassion. It's so… strange. I…"
Asriel tells Chara it's time to go home.
Chara takes the SOUL.
Asriel hugs Chara.
"... So that's what it's like to Spare someone."
Asriel and Chara stand up.
"What now? I assume your Frisk has ideas. They probably know the Underground's people better than we do."
*You tell Asriel to head to the Surface. There will be plenty of time to SAVE people in the years to come.
Asriel relays the message.
"They… They really said years? They're not going to RESET?"
*Of course, you say.
"Asriel and I can be siblings again?"
*Well, yeah, you say.
"I…" Chara pauses, unsure.
*You hug Chara, with Asriel's body.
"... Thank you."
*You tell them they needed SAVing.
"... I did."
*You release Chara and Asriel
Asriel dares Chara to race him through the Underground.
*You think about W.D. Gaster, and Goner, and the amalgamates.
*You're glad it's finally-
*?!
Asriel is screaming.
"Asriel! Your paw!"
Asriel's left paw is melting.
*You realize it's the paw with which you tried to grab a SOUL, when you were in control.
*You realize surviving the injury must have flooded Asriel with DETERMINATION. Your DETERMINATION.
*You remember what happens to monsters under the effect of DETERMINATION.
*You tell Chara to use the phone in one of your- well… her pockets to call Toriel.
Chara fumbles for the phone.
"Mom, help! Asriel's. . . No, mom, it's me, Chara!. . . Asriel's back too. . . It's a long story and we don't have time! Asriel's melting!"
Asriel's paw is gone.
"Mom, what do I do?! I… I can't lose him again…"
"hey."
Chara shrieks, dropping the phone.
"what did you two do to frisk?" Sans is standing in the doorway to the next room.
*You wave Asriel's melting arm, and tell him you're here.
Asriel looks green.
"oh. well… dang kid. that's quite the situation. chara, i assume? carry him."
Chara picks up Asriel.
Sans takes her shoulder and pulls her through the doorway.
They step out into a dark laboratory, next to a giant, skull-shaped machine.
Alphys is standing by some controls. "S- S- Sans, h- how d- did you-?"
"no time, alphys. asriel has DETERMINATION poisoning. we've gotta use the extractor." Sans walks out through a door, then returns dragging a table.
*You vaguely recognize the table from Sans' and Papyrus' living room.
Sans sets the table in front of the skull-shaped machine. "chara, put him here."
Chara does so.
"alphys?"
"O- Okay… EEK! Th- The machine shows s- seven human SOULs and no m- monster S- SOUL inside A- Asriel."
Sans looks at Asriel, his eye sockets wide.
Asriel groans out that it's complicated.
"I- I can't focus o- on any s- specific D- DETERMINATION reservoir. I'll n- need to drain all o- of Asriel's D- DETERMINATION."
Chara's eyes fell into shadow.
Sans gave Asriel (you) a nervous glance. "uhh… you ready to be without RESETs, kid?"
*You nod Asriel's head. It's time.
"you're sure?"
*You use Asriel's voice to say you're sure.
Asriel's breathing is labored.
Chara lifts her gaze, surprised.
"alphys, punch it."
The machine hums to life. A golden substance floats out of Asriel and into the machine, like liquid spraying in reverse.
Asriel's breathing gets easier. His arm solidifies, down to the wrist.
The machine stops. There's nothing left to drain.
Asriel's paw is still missing.
"Th- That's it."
"Asriel, are you okay?" Chara rushes over and helps him sit up.
Asriel says he feels a lot better now, but… He shows the others his paw, or lack thereof.
Alphys looks crestfallen. "I- I- I t- tried t- to g- get the DETERMINATION o- out i- in t- time b- but I- I w- was t- too-"
Asriel interrupts her, telling her that she's the only reason he's still alive.
She looks a little less sad.
Chara hugs Asriel. "Thank you… Frisk."
The three monsters and one human hear voices approaching.
"I really think Alphys would prefer it if we weren't down here, darlings. Could we, perhaps, go back up to the other lab and play one of my quizzes? I'm sure-"
"SHUT IT TIN MAN! We've got friends to meet! AZZY! YOU DOWN HERE?"
Alphys' face drops several shades into a much lighter yellow, hearing her friends' voices from the hallway. "O- Oh no! W- what i- if they r- run into a- an-"
"Oh, hello there strange dog. What kind of monster are you? I'm sorry, I cannot tell." The king's voice was genuinely confused.
Alphys eeped and covered her face with her hands.
"I'm sure that dog ama- animal is nothing to be worried about!" Mettaton clanged loudly as he ran into a wall. "Maybe we should turn around and head back up- OH THE DOG IS LICKING ME!"
"HEY, IS IT JUST ME, OR DOES THAT REFRIGERATOR LOOK LIKE THAT AMATURE COMEDIAN, SNOWDRAKE?"
Alphys was crying. "N- No No no please no don't look don't s- see all the-"
"HELLO VEGIDRAKE! HOW DID YOU END UP SO DEEP IN THE LABORATORY?"
"Sno… wy…"
"WHY YES! IT IS VERY SNOWY WHERE I'M FROM. WHY DO YOU ASK?"
"Papyrus, I'm not certain that-"
Alphys runs out of the DETERMINATION Extractor room. "I- I- I'm s- s- sorry! Th- the DETERMINATION d- d… the m- monsters that had f- fallen d- down… I- I d- didn't r- realize… I- I'm s- sorry I d- didn't come f- forward s- sooner…"
"welp, i'm getting popcorn. you kids want any?"
Asriel gapes incredulously as Sans disappears out another doorway, not waiting for a reply.
-AUR-
Two years and some months later…
"Asriel."
Asriel is sleeping.
"Asriel, it's time to go to school! Pap's driving us and he's already outside!"
Asriel ignores the voice.
"C'mon, mom left an hour and a half ago! Winter break is over!"
Asriel rolls over, away from the voice.
"Asriel!"
. . .
"ASRIEL!"
Asriel bolts out of bed, flopping onto the floor. He stammers out Chara's name.
"C'mon, we're going to be late! You don't want to miss English class, do you?"
Asriel throws a striped shirt and long pants on over his PJs, commenting that he wouldn't really mind missing English and not bothering to change out of any piece of his sleepwear.
"Yeah, well, I don't want to be held back in math AGAIN. The time I got held back for living under a rock was bad enough!"
Asriel points out that they had been teaching them math under Mt. Ebott, back before they both died and the barrier came down. He follows them out of the room.
"Yeah, but monsters had never invented fractions."
Asriel complains that decimals were good enough for the royal scientists, as both Gaster's and Alphys' advancements demonstrated.
"Whatever. C'mon, let's get going!"
Asriel asks about breakfast.
"No time!" Chara drags him for the door.
Asriel just manages to snag his backpack as they go.
A glint of metal flies out of Chara's pocket, floating through the air and toward a couch in the living room. "Hey!" Chara growls.
"yeah, kid, no. tori told me she couldn't catch you with a knife at school again. that includes your pocketknife."
"But Sans-!"
"do you want tori to catch you?"
"... No."
"then get goin'. my bro might get excited and drive off without you if you don't get going soon."
Asriel takes a few steps toward the kitchen. Chara grabs him and starts dragging him toward the door and the hot red convertible outside.
"CHARA! ASRIEL! IT IS EXACTLY ONE MINUTE PAST THE TIME WE ARE SUPPOSED TO DEPART! WE MUST PROCEED QUICKLY!"
-AUR-
'Tom Sawyer was bad at handling social situations. Rather than trying to talk his dad out of his ways, he instead'
Asriel paused mid-sentence as his left paw started drumming his fingers on the sheet of paper next to where he was writing. He shushed himself preemptively, but it was no use.
*You tell Asriel that the second his in the sentence was am-big-u-ous. Ambiguous.
Asriel complains under his breath that the meaning is clear to anyone who did the reading. He says you need to stop being so excited about learning that word.
*You tell Asriel that his denial was ambiguous.
Asriel threatens to take off his paw if you don't stop drumming his fingers.
*You don't stop.
Asriel sets down the pencil, reaches over his work and grabs his left paw's wrist. With a twist and a tug, he pulls off the furry limb revealing the robotic attachment point beneath. He asks if you're happy now.
*You laugh to yourself inside his head, but let him get back to work.
From the teachers' desk, Toriel gives you both a disapproving look as several students glance over.
*You can feel Asriel's embarrassment and laugh a little harder.
-AUR-
Asriel walks down the hallway, leaving English for his next class: Magic. He spotts Monster Kid standing in the hall. "Goner! Yo! Where are you going? Magic is in the gym today! Miss Toriel talked Dr. Gaster into teaching today 'cause of the new semester!"
"I was going to start lunch early," the identical, somber-looking, arm-less monster child says.
"Yo… why dude? I mean, W.D. Gaster! He built the CORE! He's almost as cool as Alphys!"
Asriel wonders when MK's idol changed to Alphys as he continues to listen in.
Goner sighs. "It's complicated. I can't really explain it…"
MK looks defeated. "O- Okay. If you say so. See you later today, dude."
MK runs off in the direction of the gym. Asriel walks up to Goner. He asks Goner if he's alright.
"Oh, yo Asriel. Are you skipping G's magic class too?"
Asriel says he wasn't planning to.
"Oh, well, y'know, be careful."
Asriel asks what he means.
"Monsters with human SOULs are really powerful, right? I don't want anyone to get hurt."
Asriel says Goner was too… (he struggled to find a word) nice to hurt anyone. He suggest Goner come to class.
"I'm not the only one I'm worried about." Goner ran off, stumbling but catching himself gracefully before he fell.
Asriel wonders what that was about.
-AUR-
Asriel walks into the gymnasium a minute late, finding all the other monster children enrolled in Magic sitting on the floor before the skeleton himself and a blackboard.
The skeleton stands straighter, adjusting the collar of his shirt. "Friskri- er... Asriel. I was hoping you would make it for this class. Please, come stand by me."
Asriel wonders why Gaster wants him at the front of the class. Nonetheless, he obeys.
"Now, I'm sure all of you are aware of Asriel, and what he's done since the barrier came down."
Asriel gives the abnormally tall skeleton an uneasy sideways glance.
Monster Kid shot to his feet, in lieu of having a hand to raise. He began talking immediately. "Yo! Yeah! He brought you and Goner back from the void, and his human sister back from the dead and-"
"Right, yes, please sit." Gaster waves one holed hand in MK's direction and the monster found himself once again seated firmly on the floor, without having intended to move. "Now, how was Asriel able to do those things?"
The monster children stared blankly at Gaster. Asriel shifted awkwardly from foot to foot.
Gaster sighed. The skeleton placed a hand over his own chest, then drew out a small glowing heart, seemingly with some effort. It shimmered in the air, its center white and its edges thick red.
"This is a SOUL. I recall Miss Toriel saying Dr. Alphys guest lectured on these before the break. Can anyone tell me what is wrong with this SOUL, for a monster?"
A flame lifts into the air, wafting smoke. Gaster points one skeletal finger at the pure-fire monster sitting at the front, and Grillby's daughter says, "It's a human SOUL… hosting a monster."
"Percisely. Thank you." Grillby's daughter drops her hand. "Now, Asriel was able to SAVE me, Goner, Chara, and himself because of one incredible human: Frisk. I'm sure many of you have heard the stories of the Underground's eighth human. One of her last gifts was giving not only their own SOUL, but also the SOULs of seven Frisks from other timelines, to Asriel."
The class listens with rapt attention. Asriel fidgets uncomfortably, his left paw doing the same.
*You wonder what Gaster is getting at.
The skeleton returns his SOUL to the interior of his clothing, seemingly with some relief. "Asriel, if the laws of simple arithmetic still hold, then one plus seven minus four is still four, yes?"
Asriel stammers out an affirmative, embarrassed by his own apprehension.
"Then you are in possession of four human SOULs, making you the strongest monster on the planet."
Asriel shifts from foot to foot.
*You feel upset and confused that Gaster is putting Asriel on the spot like this.
"Since you have the most raw magical power of the class, I would like for you to demonstrate what powerful magic looks like. Please, show us one of your God of Hyperdeath attacks."
Asriel flinches at the name of his childhood fantasy. The fact that it had briefly been reality and had nearly destroyed reality wasn't helping him relax at all.
*You bunch up Asriel's left paw against his pants leg, a clear suggestion that he shouldn't.
Asriel raises his free paw, focusing on a clear section of the gym far from his classmates. He pauses, thinks, lowers his paw again.
He refuses.
"You're refusing to demonstrate your power?" Gaster asked.
*You feel a flash of irritation. That's what he just said!
Asriel says that just because he has power doesn't mean he should use it. He states that someone might get hurt.
He refuses again.
Gaster claps, the sound clacking and hollow without palms to shape the air. "Excellent speech Asriel. You are exactly right."
Asriel blinks, confused.
"I was expecting your attack to cause some sort of accident you or I would have to resolve, but this is much cleaner, yes. This is the first and most important lesson in Magic: Just because you have power does not mean you should use it. Remember that when meeting humans and monsters."
*You feel concern bubbling up, then a bit of happiness. Gaster had expected an accident? But, then, of course you and Asriel wouldn't let that happen!
The other monster kids pout. They expected to see something flashy and amazing.
"Now then, Asriel, the fact that you thought you could do attacks from your God of Hyperdeath state is exactly the reason I suggested to Miss Toriel that you skip basic magic and move straight into training with the guard. I suggest you meet Goner in her office and ask about moving up; It should be her lunch break."
Asriel doesn't move, still trying to wrap his head around the lesson.
A bony hand tapped his shoulder, and he found himself standing at the door of the gymnasium, nowhere near Gaster or the other children.
"Now we can begin this lesson. First, it is important to understand the role of the SOUL in combat…"
Haltingly, Asriel leaves the gym and heads for the principal's office.
*You tell Asriel to suggest to mom that Gaster never lecture kids on magic again.
-AUR-
. . .
Sans guffaws. "he seriously tried the 'it's your mess, you fix it, and don't do it again' tactic on you? with your classmates?!"
Asriel shifts uncomfortably. He says it wasn't very funny when someone might've gotten hurt.
Chara grins evilly from where she lay on the couch next to Sans."I think it's hilarious!"
"No, Gaster, there won't be any discussion on this." Toriel's voice wafts from outside, where she was talking to W.D. on her cell phone. "Endangering my students intentionally is in not acceptable, under any circumstances. . . It doesn't matter if that's the best way to teach the lesson, you can't put them in harm's way!"
Chara snickers. "Harm's way is the best way to learn any lesson.
". . . No, you aren't coming back in May and no, I'm not letting you do the Finals battle tournament you had Sans propose for you! I expected better of you!"
"uh, wait what? she was actually considering that?" Sans scratches his skull. "that was my idea, but i proposed it as g's 'cause i thought she'd be pissed. whoops."
"Ooh, you're in trouble!" Chara's grin grows.
"SANS!" Toriel doesn't sound happy.
"welp, gotta run. you two try to calm her down."
. . .
-AUR-
. . .
Asriel sits on the roof of Alphys' new Surface Lab, watching the stars slowly rotate overhead.
*You contemplate the experiments going on downstairs.
Asriel tells you not to think about it.
*You say that you didn't get enough. You couldn't SAVE every last monster.
Asriel says it's okay. He says Snowdrake's mom decided to stay an amalgamate of her own free will, given she was the only sentient amalgamate. The dogs, Lemon Bread, and Reaper Bird will be fine.
*But maybe if you'd grabbed one more SOUL…
Asriel disconnects his left paw, holding it up in front of himself. Alphys' work looks real, exactly like the original thing. The only problem is that it connected to the SOUL rather than the nervous system for control, so you'd often affect it without intending to.
Asriel tells you that your grabbed every SOUL you could, and more.
*You apologize.
Asriel shrugs it off as a small price to pay for having a body again. He apologizes to you, for needing your SOUL.
*You say nothing.
*You remember hugging him.
Asriel reattaches his left paw and pats it - his only physical link to you. He says you both should probably go down to Alphys to meet the amalgamates' constituents.
*Not for the first time since giving up your SOUL and your DETERMINATION, you wish for the ability to RESET.
*... You wonder if Chara was right about you.
*You feel glad that you cannot.
-AUR-
A/N:
Just a silly idea I had. Doubt it really counts as a full AU of Dreemurr Reborn, but… ehh. Also, cool! I can write awkward family/school drabbles! Neato!
Also, wow, I really suck at present tense. I'll keep that in mind, a lot. Just wow. Let me know if you spot any tense mistakes.
Aaaand that's about it. Enjoy!
A/N 2 EDIT:
Quick update to fix two tense mistakes. Kudos to Guest.