Chapter 7: Have Mercy
Frisk
*You stand in front of the Barrier. The whole room is pulsating, with waves of white and black running through the walls, the ceiling, even the floor.
"Ooh, trippy." Your analyzing part sounds amused. They've been in high spirits for quite some time now. *You look ahead.
*The king looks really sad. But you've seen the coffins in the backroom. All seven of them, neatly placed side by side. One of them is still empty. It has been prepared for you. It makes you angry. What have you ever done to him to deserve this?
"Let's fight him then. Attack back. He's not going to spare us. He won't react to you sparing him."
*You grip the handle of the frying pan you had found earlier. It's not a great weapon, but better than nothing. And the king is pretty slow. He's holding a giant trident, which looks pretty heavy. With his other hand, he can conjure up fire, just like Toriel. But even with this arsenal, as soon as he throws a fire blast in your direction, you notice how he's not going after you full-heartedly. It's relatively easy to dodge. The voice assumes the role as your tactician.
"Use your size to your benefit. He's slower than you. Stay close to the ground, it'll make him exhausted faster. The trident makes it hard to come closer. Make him lose that first. Break his fingers, so he can't hold it anymore. … What? It's the best way to go at this, don't look so horrified."
*You skid to Asgore's side, turn swiftly and slam the pan against the hand that holds the trident with all the force you can muster up. Asgore grunts in pain, his grip on the trident loosens. You let yourself fall down on your hands and feet to avoid a fireball, roll to the side, push yourself back up and deflect another fireball with the back of the pan. You launch yourself against the giant goat-man again, dodge his free hand and whack the handle of the pan between the knuckles of the king's hand in full force. It doesn't crack, but Asgore yelps out anyway. The trident falls to the side, clattering on the ground.
"Good. Now it'll be easier to get close without becoming a shish kebab."
*You jump back again, thinking about what to do next. Your heart is racing, bumping hard against your chest. This is exciting. This is horrifying.
*The king still looks sorrowful. He summons a row of fireballs and flings them at you. You duck the first few, and jump out of the way of the rest.
"Watch out!"
*You feel something scorching hot hit your back. You stagger forward, crying out in agony. You whirl around, tightening your grip on the pan handle. This fire is different. It's following you. You bolt away, trying to find a way to lose them. You jump and slide over the ground, passing Asgore and using him as a shield against the fire. Asgore has them disappear before they can damage him, but you use his moment of distraction and kick into his popliteal.
*Asgore grunts again, turns around and gets a hold of your ankle. He pulls you up, you dangle in front of his face. He raises his free hand to hit you with another fire blast, but he hesitates. You do not. With a desperate shout, you swing forward and place the pan squarely into his face. You let go of the pan, and grab Asgore by the horns instead, pulling your ankle out of his grip. With another shout, you use the momentum you have to slam your feet at Asgore's nape. You slide down his back and tear at his cape, strangling him. Asgore tumbles back and you barely evade him when he falls to the ground. You scrap by and retrieve your pan.
*You're trembling all over your body. Adrenalin is pumping through your veins. This is taking all the strength you have.
*Asgore is coughing loudly. He fiddles with the buckle of his cape, trying to open it.
"Run in there while he's still on the ground. Bash his face in!"
*Your skin runs cold. What?
"You're not gonna make a second round. Do it now, or we'll have to reset this."
*You hesitate. He's defenseless. You can't just do that.
"… Are you serious?"
*You are. You won't do it. Not like this.
*Asgore has gone back up, but he's down on one knee, the one you didn't kick in. He doesn't attack.
*His eyes are full of sorrow when he starts talking.
"Ah… So that is how it is."
*He pauses for a while, looking down. "I remember the day after my son died."
*The voice tsks, unsatisfied. "What's this all of a sudden? Is he stalling for time now? Or does he want your pity so you won't kill him?"
*You recall the story of Asgore's son, Prince Asriel. Other monsters had told it to you on the way to the castle. Asriel had found the first human to ever fall into the Underground after the seal had been created. He had helped the human child, who must have been around your own age, and brought them to the castle. Over time, the two of them had grown to be as close as siblings, with King Asgore and the Queen treating the human child as their own.
*But then the human fell ill. They were dying. The child wished to see the flowers of their human village on the surface one last time, but there was nothing the monsters could do to help them. Soon after, the human died, leaving the young prince to grieve. In his sorrow, Asriel absorbed the human soul and transformed into an extremely strong being. With this power, Asriel could cross the Barrier. He took the corpse of his sibling and tried to carry it to the human village. Mistaken as the murderer of the human child, Asriel was attacked by the humans. He didn't defend himself even once, and as a result he succumbed to his injuries when he arrived back at the castle gardens.
*Just like that, the king and the queen had lost two children in one night.
"The entire underground was devoid of hope," Asgore muttered. "The future had once again been taken from us by the humans. In a fit of anger, I declared war."
"What a wise king," the voice comments coldly.
*You tell it to stop.
*The king continues speaking. "I said that I would destroy any human that came here."
*The voice laughs dryly. „Ha. Haha. So basically punish poor lost people for something they didn't do. What a great guy."
*You tell it to be quiet.
*The king grits his teeth in shame. „I would use their souls to become strong enough, and free us from this terrible prison. Then, I would destroy humanity, and let monsters rule the surface. In peace."
*The voice sneers. "Great plan. Also: rule the surface in peace. Sure, easy to keep peace if all of your enemies are dead. Flawless logic, right there. Shame we're not going to play along with his genocidal rage issues."
*You tell the voice to shut it. Asgore doesn't notice your internal dispute. "Soon, the people's hopes returned. My wife, however, became disgusted with my actions. She left this place, never to be seen again."
"At least one of them has a brain, good to know. Yes, I know, I know. I'll keep quiet, don't be so grumpy."
*The king looks up at you in despair. "Truthfully... I do not want power. I do not want to hurt anyone. I just wanted everyone to have hope... I cannot take this any longer."
*His voice starts cracking. "I just want to see my wife. I just want to see my child. Please... Young one..."
*He gestures you to come nearer. You step closer to him. He's no longer a threat, you can feel it. Asgore grasps your free hand with his giant paws. "This war has gone on long enough. You have the power... Take my soul, and leave this cursed place."
"Now he's asking you to mercy-kill him. Funny how that goes."
*You take a step back. You let go of the frying pan. It makes a loud 'clang' when it hits the ground. You stretch out both of your arms to your sides, showing the open palms of your hands.
*You spare Asgore.
"… say what now?"
*The king looks up at you in disbelief. "After everything I have done to hurt you... you choose to spare me?"
"… you do you, I guess," the voice mutters.
*You continue to spare Asgore.
*The king manages to smile at you. "Human, I promise you. For as long as you remain here, my wife and I will take care of you as best we can. We can sit in the living room, telling stories... Eating butterscotch pie... We could be like... Like a family..."
*He's crying. You reach out to pat him on the shoulder, not sure what to do.
*But before you can touch him, a row of plant-seeds appear and cut into the king's neck, one by one, deeper and deeper. The king stares at you, wide-eyed, in shock. Then he bursts into countless specks of dust. His soul is floating in front of you, a glowing white light.
*Another seed tears through it, making the soul shatter into a million pieces. The light is gone. And Flowey emerges from the ground.
*The flower sneers at you.
"You idiot. You haven't learned a thing."
*An array of six colorful lights approach you both. You recognize them as souls. Are those the souls the king had extracted from the previous humans?
"Uh… maybe run now," the voice suggests. "I don't see this going well for us."
*Flowey's face starts melting. "In this world… it's kill or be killed." He cackles, completely insane.
"Reset! Quickly!"
*Flowey absorbs the human souls. Everything goes black.
*When you come to, there's nothing there. Nobody. Nothing. Just a wide, empty, black void. You call for help. But nobody comes.
*You close your eyes and search frantically for the gap to let you reset.
*It isn't there anymore.
*Instead, Flowey's face appears in your mental image. You shriek and open your eyes. But he's there as well.
"Howdy! It's me, Flowey. Flowey the Flower!"
*You back away. But the distance to the face stays the same.
"I owe you a huge thanks. You really did a number on that old fool. Without you, I never could have gotten past him."
*The flower changes its face to Asgore's. "But now, with your help… He's dead."
*His face changes again, into a grim visage. "And I've got the human souls!"
*He switches back to his regular face. "Boy! I've been empty for so long… it feels great to have a soul inside me again." He grins at you sinisterly. "Aww, are you feeling left out? Don't worry. You'll join them soon enough. Then… I'll become like a god. And show everyone… what the real meaning of this world is!"
*He cackles maniacally. And forth comes a monstrosity that almost makes you wet yourself.
*First of all, it is huge. Several times bigger than you. Second, it's not a flower anymore, that's for sure. It has a computer screen in the middle, displaying a face. The computer has multiple tubes coming out of it and leading back to it, forming the flower petals. At the sides are thick vines with thorns, multiple times bigger than you, as its arms. And then there's… no. You don't have the words to describe it.
*You turn around and try to run. You can't fight this… thing! You can't reset! You don't want to die!
*But you can't seem to get away from this… this horror thing! It feels like a nightmare.
*Slowly but surely, your legs give out. You fall to your knees and look behind you, tears running over your face. The nightmare is still there, grinning at you. You haven't made an inch of progress.
"Aww, look at you. Scared stiff. But still holding onto your soul, I see. Let's change that, shall we?"
*It opens its horrid maw and a laser beam shoots out of it, decimating you on the spot. It burns you away, bit by bit. You scream. You cry. But nobody comes. There's nobody to help you. You feel your body being blown away. But your conscious still stays.
*Flowey laughs. "Come now, don't bore me. I won't let you go that easily. Give me a fight! Until you see how pointless it all is."
*Flowey resets. You are standing in front of the nightmarish creature once again. You cry out in anguish. You can't think clearly. The nightmare kills you again.
*This is hell.
*At some point, you can't quite remember how many times you've been killed and brought back to Flowey's amusement. Your body is sore. Your mind is numb. The only thing left is… anger. This twisted, callous thing is playing around with you.
*Flowey wants a fight?
*He can get it.
*Again, you stand before the nightmarish creature. It starts to look a little bored. But then it notices your expression.
"Ooooh. So can we finally get started? You done curling up and dying over and over again?" It chuckles. "Took you long enough."
*You call out in frustration and charge at the ex-flower like a maniac. There's not much left of you, other than sheer fury and the will to survive. You are determined to break this nightmare down, right in the middle, stomp it to the ground and burn its remains. Just like it has done with you. It will not have its way with you.
*It absolutely has its way with you. Even though you are able to detect some sort of pattern to its attacks, it just resets to any given point in time it wants to, setting you right in front of its laser beams, or other range of attacks.
*You cry out again.
*You get a reply. One of the souls Flowey has absorbed wriggles its way out of the nightmarish monster and flies over to you. Is it reacting to your soul?
*The soul-light heals your wounds and forms a shield around you. New hope flickers up in you. You call out again. And again.
"What are you doing?! Stop it! Stop it now!" Flowey screeches. One by one, the human souls escape from him, joining your side.
"No! NO! This can't be happening!" The nightmare squirms around. "You… YOU…"
*All of a sudden, it stops. And grins at you again. And just resets.
"You idiot. Did you really think you could defeat me?! I am a GOD of this world now! Call for help, I dare you! 'Mommy! Daddy! Somebody, help!'"
*It sounds bitter. "See what good it does you."
*You call for help. But nobody comes.
*Flowey snickers. "Boy! What a shame! Nobody else is gonna get to see you die!"
*He surrounds you with the seeds, sharp as razorblades. They whirl around you like a hurricane and close in on you while you hear the cackling of the mad flower. You close your eyes and prepare to die.
*But the pain doesn't come. You peek at your surroundings. The seed-bullets are gone.
*Flowey looks irritated. "What?! How'd you… Well, I'll just…"
*Its voice grows anxious. "Wh-where are my powers? The souls? What are they doing?!"
*The lights tear out of the body once again, circling Flowey, bonding together, building up a field of pulsing energy.
*The mad flower's voice turns ear-numbingly loud. "No! NO! You can't do that! You're supposed to obey me! Stop! STOP IT!"
*The souls reduce the place among them, and the energy waves throw you down to your knees. Little sparks of lightning jump from one to another, the bonds between the single souls emit heat, turning the air white.
*You close your eyes as the light grows and consumes the grotesque flower-mutant. For a second, everything is so bright that it hurts to see. Then, the light subsides. You blink a few times, trying to get used to the recurring dimness of the place.
*In front of you is Flowey, in his original, small buttercup flower form. His head is bent, he's beaten.
*You step closer, imagining how to tear the disgusting weed apart, fiber by fiber. Paying back everything he's done to you, every single ounce of pain. You reach for the flower, planning to rip it out of the ground – when suddenly your anger starts dying down.
*Kill him? What for? He's lost already.
*But wouldn't it be so refreshing?
*You stare at the kinked plant.
*No. Not really.
*You feel your emotions returning. The despair from earlier turns into relief. The fear into calm. You're… tired. Really tired. You want to go back to the Ruins, back to Toriel, sleep through the week and then hang out at the house of the skeleton brothers in Snowdin Town.
*You crouch down in front of Flowey. He doesn't react to you. He's completely crushed.
*Your anger turns into a mix of disgust and… pity. You groan reluctantly, stretching out both of your arms to your sides, showing the open palms of your hands.
*You spare Flowey. He glances at you resentfully.
"What are you doing?" He smirks. "Do you really think I've learned anything from this? Just kill me already."
*You continue sparing the annoying mad plant.
*It's irritated. "If you let me go, I'll come back. I'll kill you. I'll kill everyone you love."
*The souls are gone. The flower is weak. You realize he's just trying to prove his point, that it always comes down to killing or being killed. You hold back a sneer. Oh no. No. He won't get his way.
*You keep a straight face and keep sparing him. For a while, the flower just stares at you in disbelief.
"Why?" He sounds so broken. It strikes you somewhere in your heart. The gloating feeling from before makes way for a sort of hesitant empathy.
*Flowey's voice cracks. "Why are you being so nice to me? I can't understand. I… I can't understand!"
*You try to smile at him, genuinely. The flower jerks away, and slips into the ground. He has run away.
"You're such a softie."
*You jump up, and look around, startled. Only to realize that it's the voice in your head again.
"Where were you? I needed you against Flowey," you grumble.
"Hey, I was there. I mean, where else could I even be? You were just so panicky that nothing I said came through to you. You completely shut off. Turned out well in the end anyways, right?"
"But what do we do now? The king is dead. The human souls are gone. The Barrier is still up." You feel anxiety grip your heart with an icy claw. "What if they blame me for Asgore's death? Nobody else was here, how do I explain this?"
*You're tearing up, feeling helpless. This is just too much.
"Uhm…"
*It's not your head-voice.
*You spin around, staring wildly at whatever sneaked up on you. Flowey is back. He's popped up from the ground, and looks shameful.
"You know… I've been thinking. Maybe, if it's you, you could… change all of this."
*You eye him up doubtfully. "What do you mean?"
*Flowey gives you a sad smile. "I owe you. And I don't like that. So I'll tell you how to go on."
"Don't trust him," your inner voice declares. "I hope that's obvious."
*You squint your eyes at the flower. "Okay, tell me."
*Your other part sounds frustrated. "You can't be serious with this! Fine, I give up. Make your plans alone."
"Now that I've… lost, you should be able to reset time again," Flowey says. "So go back to the point before you fought against Asgore and then… you remember the elevator in Alphys's lab?"
*You nod slowly. You didn't get to use it, but you remember it being there.
"Take it and choose the deepest level. There's an older, abandoned laboratory down there. Alphys used to work there until… until… well. You'll find some more answers as to how to solve all of this mess."
*Your inner voice chimes in again. "Uhm, you know, forget making your plans alone. You do notice how this guy is being purposefully vague, right? If he knows that there's something useful down there, he also knows what it is. So you taking a trip down there is completely unnecessary! It's a trap. Please don't just go along with what this guy says."
*You close your eyes, immediately recognizing the gaping hole that can take you back.
"You do know that this will bring the human souls back? And that this creep can just take all of them again? Please, don't be so stupid."
*You reach out, into the dimensional gap. You hear your inner voice sigh. "Fine. Apparently, we are this stupid. Don't complain to me when this guy stabs us in the back."
