Three: Dissolving Like The Setting Sun

Asgore did manage to get Frisk the press conference, set the exact date as her "Fallday", which actually made everyone but him and her unhappy; they had all wanted to spend the day celebrating Frisk, not in a stuffy room full of reporters and annoyed onlookers. Frisk, however, stood firm, and nothing changed. It was done.

Toriel couldn't go, nor could Papyrus; both were stuck at the school filling in for those who could go. It was a sore point for them both, but no matter how hard they'd tried, neither could get out of it. Undyne, Alphys, Asgore and sans ended up being Frisk and Asriel's team. Undyne was there to protect, Alphys to field any complicated questions (as well as to protect Undyne), Asgore to support Frisk and also please the mayor, and sans for reasons he didn't mention but refused to have his mind changed away from.

It turned out to almost not be enough, but they thought it was almost too much.

Once everyone had settled and the quiet fell through the crowded, brightly-lit room, Frisk stood at a podium, her speech before her, staring at the dozens of cameras and myriad faces with a pounding - but determined - heart. With a deep breath - and a squeeze of her hand from Asriel, who stood at her side - she began.

"Thank you all for coming. Today marks ten years to the day when the barrier was opened and our worlds were brought back together. I've called you all together to propose a treaty." She paused, taking a shaky breath, before going on. "This treaty, called the Ten Year Treaty, would mark true union between our races. It would finally dissolve the social barriers that still stand between us, despite the physical barrier being gone for this decade. It would bring true peace to all of us, especially to those of us still suffering from walls that shouldn't be up, but were built after monsters were freed. Ten years have given us much improvement, but what we need - what we need at last - is true freedom."

She paused again, closing her eyes briefly, before she went on. "I of course mean the rights of our two races to finally have our full rights, to marry and have children-,"

That's when the first gunshot rang out, an eerie silence greeting it, especially from Frisk. It became obvious why, when suddenly she staggered, her breath going short with a cry, and she fell backwards from the podium hard, her hands at her chest, slowing being stained with red, the words she had so carefully chosen dying upon her lips.

When the second shot rang out, Undyne was already running to protect Asgore, and it was she that got hit; she staggered with a shout, then skidded to the ground like a stone on her side, her eye going wide and black, her hands scrabbling at her right side as she growled out in pain.

Then, the silence was replaced with screams, from the onlookers mostly, but also from those upon the platform. Asriel screamed out Frisk's name and knelt at her side, grabbing her into his arms as close as he dared. She held her hands to her chest, her face pale and her eyes wide in panic and pain, her breaths bubbling up as if she were gargling water. She'd been shot close to the sternum, to the left, and was having trouble breathing, losing her hold on consciousness fast.

Alphys shouted, her fingers sparking, before she ripped off her own shirt and wrapped it around one of her hands, rushing to Undyne's side quickly. Undyne lay on her side, her eye black but focussed on Alphys, her teeth gritted and stained with red. Alphys pulled Undyne's hands away from her side and pushed her own shirt-covered hands in their place, her shirt now soaking up her wife's blood as she applied pressure to the wound. She pressed down hard to staunch the flow, and Undyne growled out again in her pain, her eye shutting. She coughed, hard, blood running down her chin, her hands going to Alphys's and holding tight.

Asgore saw that Undyne was in good hands, and went to Frisk's side at once, his face panicked. Around them, the cacophony was immense, people screaming, running away, filming from their phones, or simply hiding, cowering in fear.

"Don't die," Asriel was pleading, holding Frisk tight, his hands covering hers in hopes of stopping the blood. "Don't you dare die on me, you idiot! Don't you dare!" Asgore knelt at his side, and Asriel was sobbing, looking at Asgore briefly to say, "Dad! Dad, she's dying! Please, do something!"

"As... gore?" Undyne managed to say, her nails digging into Alphys's hand hard, her black eye on Alphys's eyes and holding her gaze. It was the only thing keeping her awake: her wife's face.

"S-safe, he's safe, Undyne," Alphys choked out.

"Fr-Frisk...?"

Alphys bit her lip and shook her head, her tears flowing free, and Undyne shut her eye again for a moment, sobbing out a strangled, "Dammit!" Alphys carefully placed a bloodied hand on her cheek to calm her. "Alphy..." she whispered, then said, stronger, angrier, "Alphy... I... am not... gonna die," she gasped out, reaching up with one trembling hand to place over Alphys's. Alphys nodded, and Undyne stared into her eyes, her own growing dimmer and dimmer as her blood ran hot.

Frisk was trying to stay awake. She could hear Asriel screaming at her, could hear Asgore gently telling her to hold on, but the pain in her chest and the weird wet feeling she felt in her throat each time she tried to get a deep breath was distracting her, and she found it hard to concentrate. Soon, their voices were drowned out by something familiar and terrifying: the agonised struggle of her own dying heart.

It was a nightmare. It wasn't supposed to be this way. And now, two of them lay dying, and there wasn't anything anyone could do - save one person: Sans.

The moment the shots rang out, Sans held up his left hand, his left eye bursting into flame and his face turning sinister. Suddenly, someone in the crowd froze, their hands still on the gun, and he held them in place, his fury so potent it actually hurt the shooter. It took everything Sans had not to kill and devour the shooter then, to the point that he was almost about to - until he thought of Frisk and regained control. But he didn't let the shooter go.

"No!" Asriel screamed suddenly, shaking Frisk. "No! Frisk, NO!" Her eyes, already so dim, had rolled up, showing only white, now, and she went limp in his arms as soon as they closed. Asgore gently pulled Frisk from Asriel, lying her onto the ground on her back, his mind going through what Toriel had taught him at least four times before she hired him as Groundskeeper. It clicked in seconds, and he at once began CPR. He listened, heard no change, then tried again, and again, himself struggling not to sob, hearing his son lose control of his own tears with every compression of Frisk's bloody chest.

It seemed like forever, but help did come. Undyne was almost unconscious by the time the monster paramedics reached her and Alphys. Alphys held her the whole time, begging Undyne to hold on as they worked to replace Alphys's shirt with actual bandages - and Undyne did hold on, the only thing keeping her there was her determination - and Alphys, herself. When the paramedics had them surrounded, using both magic and non-magic means to stabilise Undyne, which worked, though she was still on a precipice when they had managed to take her safely away, with Alphys right beside her.

Frisk was different. No matter how hard Asgore tried, there was no change for her. Her eyes remained slits of white, her face pale and her blood flowing freely, and when the human paramedics managed to pull her from Asgore, they looked grim. To the horror of both Asgore and Asriel, they immediately cut open her shirt and applied a defibrillator to her chest and an oxygen mask and tank to her face. They shocked her once, the mask breathing in for her, but a strange gurgling sound accompanied it, and still her heart wouldn't beat. When they shocked her again, Asriel hid his face in his father's shoulder, shaking.

"Save her," Asriel was begging from Asgore's arms. "Please, save my wife!" Asgore held him close as they shocked Frisk a third time, himself looking away, too, until-

"Got it," one paramedic said tersely, their fingers to her throat. They kept compression bandages over her wound, her pallour almost grey by now, her body so limp it terrified both Asgore and Asriel to see. Her heart beat on its own, now, but weakly, and they immediately began hooking her up to a series of IVs. Carefully, they moved her to a stretcher, and Asgore and Asriel followed, Asriel clutching Frisk's cold hand tight.

Two ambulances left the press conference, their precious cargo barely holding on. Soon, following, a high-security police van followed, carrying both Sans and his victim into the opposite direction.


Frisk flatlined twice on the way. Each time, Asgore begged her to stay determined, as Asriel held her hand to his forehead and pleaded incoherently. When they managed to bring her back both times, Asriel sobbed in relief, and Asgore held him close, pulling him gently away whenever the paramedics needed him to for space to work.

Undyne stayed partially awake almost the entire time, though her eye was closed tight and her hand was limp and cold within Alphys's. She kept whispering, "Alphy, I won't die," and Alphys held her hand to her cheek, nodding each time so she felt it. When magic couldn't remove the bullet from her side - lodged between the bottom of her ribcage and her hip - they had to use human methods, which involved cutting in and extracting it. Undyne managed to stay awake through most of it, until one of their tools seemed to get caught and pulled too hard, causing pain unlike anything she'd ever felt before, and she blacked out without making a sound from shock, pale at once. Alphys recognised the reaction but still felt panic, and had to be reassured that Undyne was probably better off unconscious for now, as the pain was likely indescribable. She stayed that way as they finished the job, and Alphys stroked her hair hoping - somehow - Undyne could feel it, and take comfort from it in her nightmare.


"Mr Dreemurr?" A pause. "Both of you? And Mrs Dreemurr?"

Asgore, Asriel and Toriel stood up at once. Asriel rushed forward to the human doctor, which would have made any other doctor nervous - but this one knew the Dreemurrs rather well by now, having served them before, and instead smiled at Asriel kindly. "It was close, but we saved them both, Mr Asriel," the doctor said gently.

Both Asgore and Toriel jolted at once in shock, but Asriel looked confused. "Frisk... Frisk is okay? She's okay?"

The doctor blinked at him slowly, the smile changing to something warmer, now. Gently, she placed a hand on Asriel's shoulder, calming his stutters. By now, Asgore and Toriel knew, Asgore already in shocked tears, Toriel beaming with her hands to her mouth. "Yes, Frisk is okay," the doctor replied. "She needs to stay here for a while, at least a week, as the bullet hit her lung and caused it to collapse, which almost killed her. She lost a lot of blood, but again, despite it all, we saved them both."

Asriel again looked confused, now mingled with relief. "Both? You mean Undyne, too, right?"

"Doctor," Asgore broke in carefully, his voice thick. "Please explain what you mean by 'both'. I don't think my son understands."

Asriel looked at his father, then Toriel, before looking back to the doctor. "Wait, so you don't mean Undyne?"

The doctor smiled kindly. "Not in this instance, though I have had word that Undyne is also fine. I mean Frisk and your baby."

Asriel froze, his eyes widening so much they seemed to take over his entire face. "B-baby...?" he echoed, his voice tiny.

"Did you not know Frisk was pregnant, Asriel?"

When Asriel fainted - and Asgore caught him, ready for it - she got her answer.