Underground Castle . . .
"Cute boys." Asgore's eyes didn't leave hers. "I intended to get you killed today in a decent battle. I didn't think Papyrus had the heart to use his true powers just to save you, but feelings are apparently stronger there, and I'd rather no monster get hurt. However, you almost wiped out all of monster kind. Now, I have felt the power and calling of LOVE too when I was young. Being human, afraid, and the LOVE. It all adds up. True resets aren't looked upon lightly in your society either, are they?"
"No," she said.
"Fine. Since you still live, what happened? And can you explain how anyone even knew?"
"Humans don't have natural magic," Frisk began, "but when we do certain things, it can be felt across many human souls. Although they couldn't see what I was doing, they could feel enough to know I was using the barrier space with my soul. After that, plug in some loyalty torture soul devising and they knew every detail."
"How did humanity feel knowing you almost wiped us out?"
"Proud, Sir." She'd be honest. "It didn't understand, and doesn't understand, how much we really are alike."
"But you know."
"It took awhile, but yes, I know."
"Every monster you killed has that data now," Asgore said, "I have hid nothing. I will eventually still kill you, but will you give information to me in the face of knowing what I will do?"
Frisk nodded. "If you promise to take care of my sons, and not let them be dragged back to the surface, I will tell you whatever you want to know. If you let them go back to the surface they will be enslaved in place of me. You know they are part monster. It would be wrong to let them be enslaved."
"Fine then, they will have a spot and be safe." Yes, he clearly knew. "What happened to you afterwards?"
"I was found." Frisk tried to keep it together. She knew this day would come. Somehow, she would pay for her actions. "I knew I'd be found, with all the distortions humans felt at the barrier. It was less than an hour later while I tried to run away. Resetting and continuing is not illegal in my society, but true resets are. I knew what I'd have to face when I made that decision."
"And if you could remake the decision?" Asgore asked.
"I would still do the same thing. When I first fell, my soul was scared. Everything I knew about monsters was just manipulated and wrong, none of it was true. You aren't lower than animals. Killing you isn't as painless as swatting a fly. I followed what I knew, and it only became scarier and lonelier. I felt myself getting lost, like I wasn't even myself anymore." Asgore nodded, wanting her to continue. "I continued, my thoughts of self-preservation into thoughts of power. Shameful, regretful thoughts. As I moved down the path, I knew I lost myself. I was performing certain actions without even thinking. My LOVE was strong, and I was on my way to kill you."
"You don't sugarcoat, do you?" he asked. "That shot really does what it was supposed to."
"I lived with my guilt for sixteen years anyhow. Whether you kill me or not will not depend on what I have to say," Frisk said. "You just live your life with honesty and truth each day as much as possible."
"Well. That's how you got the mentality we all strived for." Asgore moved around her. "How were you punished by the humans?"
"I never saw my family again," Frisk said. "There was no trial, no need for one. Once they opened up my soul, they saw everything. I was sentenced to life in a prison area, Colony 248. I am watched each day by armed guards. I cannot vote. Groceries and supplies are brought to me. I cannot leave my house unless it is to and from a research facility, or for another legal reason involving approved social matters." Frisk placed her arms to her sides.
"A research facility? What do they do there?"
"They test my soul against different elements. Different projects. Different barriers. I have a used soul, which means it will react like a normal one," Frisk said, "except it's used. Harmless. Can't do anything, and if somehow I die, it's no big deal to them."
"Test subject."
"Yes. I just call it 'work'."
She felt Asgore pull her soul into an encounter. He didn't fire back. Instead he simply walked toward it. He was watching it for some reason. Then, he rubbed it. Frisk's eyes winced involuntarily. Asgore walked back away, and ended the encounter.
"I can literally touch your soul without magic," Asgore said. "Why is that?"
"You can't inject or work with something you can't touch."
"Well. The pain you have endured will now end." Asgore pointed his trident at her. "With this action, I instill forgiveness into it for every life you once stole."
Frisk closed her eyes.
"No, Asgore!"
Toriel. Not Toriel. Frisk watched as Toriel interrupted the fight, shooting Asgore out of the way. She approached her. And did something Frisk was not prepared for.
"Your sins are forgiven by me," Toriel said to her, "Don't listen to Asgore. He mowed down a thousand monsters when he was ten because of LOVE. It's very powerful."
"Toriel. This was a private session," Asgore said to her.
"The human literally, literally, has her soul tortured almost every day of her life since she went back and performed a true reset," Toriel said to him. She looked toward Frisk. "You should have felt complete relief when you performed a true reset. No one should have ever known differently. I'm sorry."
"Guilt," Frisk said, "eats at you one way or another."
"A new soul to the Underground had no chance, simply no chance of getting it right the first time. That's why you were the miracle child," Toriel said. "But you didn't perform a miracle."
Frisk shook her head. "I am . . . nothing but another clueless human," she admitted.
"That's not true," Toriel said. "You came to understand something most humans will never understand. How strange, fragile and wonderful monsters are. Unfortunately, I was not the one who taught you that. I put you in a corner you were not ready for, and I'm sorry." Frisk felt her gentle paw touch her face. "You. Are. Forgiven. By me."
Frisk just stared at her. Forgiven? For killing her? "That's not possible. I killed you. How can you forgive someone killing you?" Papyrus, now Toriel? Why?
Toriel touched her head. "I have lived many a great year, dear human. You've no idea what I've experienced in my long lifetime."
Forgiveness. At the end of her life. Frisk kept herself together for Papyrus, he was already enough of a mess, and her children were with her. But the motherly warmth Toriel always exuded? Frisk felt her eyes get watery. "You were fighting me not to leave, but I had to leave. You weren't changing your mind, and I just-"
"You gave a true reset, knowing full well that your society would punish you. If you made it through all the turmoil of the Underground, you would still have a prison to face, and you knew that."
Frisk nodded as she wiped away a single tear that got away. "Only right."
"Many a monster have not felt the lure of LOVE in their soul," Asgore said to Toriel. "They won't understand."
"Why did you insist on bringing her back down?" Toriel questioned him. "You promised me you wouldn't kill her."
"I have to talk to her. I am still talking to her."
"You're trying to kill her and I won't stand for it. Two wrongs don't make anything right, Asgore."
"I will be done soon with her. Relax. Go see Papyrus."
"It's okay," Frisk encouraged her. "Please go check on my kids. I'm fine."
Toriel stared at her, then back at Asgore a moment. "Do not kill her. I will never speak to you again if you kill her."
"I will not kill her while you are gone, I swear it." Asgore held his paw up toward her, closing his eyes. "Knowing you wish her alive this much, I won't do it. Go and see them, I know you want to." Toriel left the room.
Frisk watched Asgore pull her into another encounter. Of course he did. Even when Toriel was his wife, he didn't respect her decisions about killing the humans. She expected it. She closed her eyes. She would take his full dose of forgiveness, whatever it might be . . . and then tell him her secret.
This time, he struck. Not with full force, but with more than her soul would allow. More than he did when he first fought her all those years ago.
Asgore hit her with much more power than he did back then. There was no shame in what he did, so he casually attacked. No holding back of any kind. He watched her whole heart's red zap into black as she hit the floor.
20.
But her soul didn't break into pieces. Her whole body seemed to get zapped again.
40?
She tried to crawl as it hit again.
60?
"I don't understand-" Before Asgore even finished she was writhing in pain again.
80?
Another yell as her whole body bent backward.
100
Crawling on her back.
120
"Less, I should have used less," Asgore said watching her get zapped twice more. 140. 160 worth of damage to a 20 hit point soul? The whole time she writhed in pain on and off as her soul instantly refilled from the hit.
Asgore walked over to her. She didn't move, but she was back at 20. "You became immortal. Did you really know they would do this to you when you first came here as a child if you performed a true reset?"
She moved a finger, and started to move again. "Yes."
"Are you able to die?"
"Oh yes." Frisk turned and showed her arm willingly. "Just, that? That little red heart right there at the base of my wrist." She held it toward him. "Sever that and it's done."
Asgore helped her up instead. "Can you explain how this is happening?"
"A used soul reflects back into the body before the end lash," Frisk said. "The soul endures 19 hit points, but my body gets hit with the last 1. When the human body switches over and takes the pain, the soul is fully recharged." She was still recuperating from the pain.
"It's almost a form of invincibility, except for the spot on your wrist." Still. "You endure the entire pain. Over and over. Without food, without rest. Just, endless pain until it stops?" Asgore sounded strange. "What do they test with you again?"
"Various barriers against humans," she repeated, "and the power of new weapons." She grabbed at her wrist again. "Please just aim for my wrist to kill me. It's tiny, but if you concentrate just right-"
"Are you begging for your own death?"
"No, but I'd rather not delay," Frisk told him. "Al knows you are going to kill me, he always tends to know important things others try to hide, so stop dragging out the torture. I just ask you to make sure my sons are well taken care of. They've done nothing wrong. Please don't lie to me about this as you lied to Toriel once more about what you would do with a human. They truly did nothing wrong except have me as a mother."
A human soul. The constant lashing. The constant torture. Hmm.
Asgore bowed his head. "I've decided not to kill you yet." Asgore placed his paw on her head. "As Toriel did, I do too. I forgive you. This forgiveness is only from me." Not the Underground. However, this new punishment, it might help. Somehow.
Now was not the time to kill her yet.
He placed his hand on her shoulder but noticed a light tremor. He pulled up the sleeve on her shirt. "Thousands of avoided deaths do not leave one unmarked." Thousands upon thousands of tiny cuts lined her arm. Healed, but visible. Scars of all her pain. He checked her other arm. Same thing. Asgore placed his hand on her back, feeling the same tremble. "We have one more thing to discuss. When and why did you quit?"
"Asgore." Toriel came toward him. "Has she been okay?"
"I didn't kill her." Asgore gestured to Frisk. "Her soul endures 19 hit points, then it switches to hitting her human body. After that pain, it recharges all over again. When she is hit with a great amount of power, she has no choice but to endure every shred of it."
Toriel looked toward Frisk. "Is this true?"
"Yes."
Toriel glared at him. "What did you hit her with?"
"160. You can see the pain flood through her through each recharge."
"Asgore!" Toriel yelled at him. "You did try to kill her!"
"Yes. I suppose I lied." A hit to the soul was like a sunburn, but physical damage to the body? It didn't happen often anymore because of the brutal pain inflicted against monster to monster. It was why they fought with souls now, taking all body pain out of it. Only in extreme cases, usually toward the end of a life, would even a scratch across the body appear before death.
And yet, Frisk's body would not allow damage past nineteen without inflicting body damage. Even defeating their magic system. Incredible. "She has scars all over of each time it happened. Be careful when touching her."
"Barbaric. Just because her soul was used?" Toriel moved toward Frisk and checked her arms in the same manner. Tears started to fill her eyes. "So, so many. Uncountable."
"It is as it must be. This is the humans doing, not ours. Now, human," Asgore said. "When did you stop and why?"
"Have they done anything to your children?" Toriel asked.
"Toriel, I am asking questions first," Asgore insisted.
"Al and Juleyard are different," Frisk admitted, freely wanting to talk to Toriel. "They are not like regular children. They have doctors that administer to their health."
"Do you watch the doctors with them?"
"I am 'working' during that time," Frisk said.
"Do you think the doctors do anything to them?"
"They have friends. They seem happy. They seem fine."
"Frisk? Do you think the doctors do anything to them?"
"I can't question," Frisk answered more directly. "I'm a used soul and I have children. I have witnessed a mother watching her own child's death, because she questioned a simple shot it was given. I am fortunate they haven't killed them. I cannot give them an excuse." She watched Toriel feeling around her. She tried not to respond, but Toriel felt it. She lifted the collar off the side of the neck and looked down.
"Asgore did this to you." Toriel put her hands over the fresh wounds. They weren't small and meaningless yet, blending in. It looked like a tiger's claw ripping at her tender flesh. It would remain for days, unless she got into another fight, then it would heal quickly, but Toriel was trying to heal it anyhow.
Toriel couldn't help the physical wound, but the action of helping lit Frisk's heart up. As Toriel tried harder, pouring more into it, Frisk actually started to feel physical relief. Wow. Toriel really had some healing power.
"It appears all over except on your face and neck," Toriel noticed.
"My colony has criminals of varying degrees. No one wants to highlight why anyone is in there," Frisk responded. "No one wants to know."
Toriel moved away as she helped heal the wound. "That's a start."
She moved further away and let Asgore ask his question. "Now. When did you stop and why?"
"Judgment Hall."
"Judgment Hall?"
"Yes," Frisk admitted.
Asgore looked toward Toriel. It was simply a hall. No encounters of any sort should have happened there. "What happened?"
/There's a glimmer of a good person inside of you. The memory of someone who once
wanted to do the right thing. Someone who, in another time, might have even been . . .
a friend? C'mon, buddy? Do you remember me?/
"I fought and died, and fought and died, and fought and died countless times . . . all that mattered was killing him to me," Frisk said. "He couldn't stop me. That just circled in my head over and over. That's what was always in my head." She closed her eyes. "LOVE. LOVE is so powerful." She sucked on her bottom lip. "The way he spoke and talked. I barely understood what he meant, but I had time to work it out. When I figured out I was the reason timelines were ending, I knew I had to end myself before I did that."
"Who?" Asgore asked.
"Sans the Skeleton," Frisk revealed. "Whether it was the tireless fighting, or he really reached me, I performed a true reset with the intentions of not escaping the barrier, but shattering it. If I was going to imprison myself for all time, I was going to make it count."
"Oh." Toriel looked toward Asgore. "Oh dear."
"And the humans, you told them about the monster you had trouble fighting?" Asgore asked.
"Yes, of course," Frisk said back.
"Loyalty." Asgore hit his head. "Oh, of course you did. Aah! I just want to charge into something! What have they been doing? How can I just let everyone have their families but not know what the humans are doing?"
Toriel herself had lifted her head up high. "I agree. It's not time for peace with them yet. We must discover what happened."
Asgore stared at Frisk. "What is your favorite color?"
"Blue."
"Soul color?"
"Red."
"Can you lie about anything at all with the shot?"
"No," Frisk admitted. "If you aren't going to kill me yet, then I need to get back to my flower, it's his changing pot time. I snuck back to the Underground and took Flowey with me so he wouldn't cause any more trouble."
"Ah?" Asgore was confused. "Flowey?"
"He is your son without a soul and filled with determination. He killed you once, and then he killed me several times, and then he stole souls, and then he was a goat and better again and broke the barrier, and then he turned into an evil flower again. He's been through a lot, so I just take care of him now. It's time to change his pot, he'll want his fresh vermiculite."
"Asriel?!"
"Yes, but he's not him anymore. He's just evil determination now."
Toriel closed her eyes. "No more truth, human. I can't take anymore!"
King Asgore said to Toriel, "Soon, they will all be here, and we will begin. Toriel, please fetch Papyrus." When Papyrus came, he had him take Frisk back to where they first came in.
As everyone left though, King Asgore received a call he expected. "Hello?"
"Hello, King Asgore. This is Mister Implas from Colony 284. My men reported a strange incident, and during that incident a prisoner and her sons had escaped."
"Oh? Well, how terrible," King Asgore said. "How can I help?"
"Please, Sir, let's be reasonable? She is the human that at one time almost wiped out your kind. I'm sure you took her to kill, however, one death for her crime is not enough. If you don't punish her right, her sons will, in accordance to law, pay her debt. Half monsters or not. We will retrieve them."
"The young boys."
"Ah. So, you have seen them. Don't worry, we understand the necessary need for revenge but simply killing a 20 hit point human and expecting that to really satisfy every monster is going to leave your kingdom feeling unfulfilled, and the desire for the humans and monsters to find a peace amid each other is not worth that."
Well, why hide it? He certainly already knew. "What do you suggest?"
"I have something special for you. Now, it only works for twenty minutes on humans. No idea how long it will last for monsters. But. It should suffice for your need. It will also help with all the hurt humanity has caused too, so consider it our . . . gift to the cause of peace. Our gift to even out our dispute. I will have a representative come to you in about fifteen minutes. He'll explain how it works."