Undertale Spoilers.
I don't own Undertale.
"you lost her?" Sans' voice echoed through the house.
"Well, if you'd kept her knife, then she wouldn't have cut herself out of the cuffs!" Undyne shouted.
"Woah, calm down." I stepped between them. "First, we need to know where Cyan will head next. She was looking for human souls, if I remember right."
"How'd you know that?" Undyne asked sceptically.
I sat down on Sans's sofa, and Sans followed suit. Undyne stayed standing.
"Last time, when we went to the cave and I died. Oh! That's right. You don't remember. Last time we fought in Temmie Village, she told me her plans to force a monster to absorb a human soul, then absorb the hybrid result."
"that… could work." Sans said thoughtfully. "why, though?"
"Every human soul has a varying amount of… uh.. power, right?" I asked.
"you mean determination?" Sans asked.
"Yeah, that's it. When I spoke with Chara, she said her power came from excessive amounts of Determination. That's what allowed her to fold time – almost completely erasing past events. One soul clearly doesn't have enough – Cyan is proof of that. Maybe if she has two, she could gain the same power Chara had."
"No." A fourth voice came from behind me. I turned around to see Chara, sitting on the back of the sofa cushions.
"How did you get here?" I exclaimed.
Sans and Undyne reacted similarly.
"I've been here the whole time. I'm the part of Chara that currently exists in your soul. The reason I appeared is to explain that you have no idea how determination works."
"Of course I know how it works." I folded my arms sulkily.
"No, you don't." She insisted. "Whatever being that has the most determination – that being and that being alone can use the power. In this case, that's you." She drew a glowing red knife from nowhere and used it as a pointer.
"So what Cyan is doing is pointless?" Undyne asked craning her neck to look at Chara.
"Yes." Chara hopped off the sofa cushions and took a biscuit from the table. She ate it while she talked. "Currently, there is no way for Cyan to achieve her goal of time travel. However, if she manages to absorb a hybrid soul, she will realize there is still a dominant power – that's us." She tapped me on the forehead with her glowing knife and grinned.
"Hmm…" Chara stopped and scratched her chin pensievely.
"What? What is it?" Undyne exclaimed.
"There was no chocolate on that biscuit." Chara sighed and flopped onto the sofa with Undyne and I.
Sans groaned and pressed his bony palms against his temples.
"so you're saying cyan will come after green again when she realizes she still doesn't have enough determination?" Sans questioned Chara.
"It's quite likely. All you need to do is wait, and Cyan will come to you." Chara reached forward and grabbed another biscuit, this time carefully selecting one with chocolate.
"But if we just wait, Cyan will kill somebody." I protested.
"I guess you're right." Chara said. "Does that bother you particularly?"
"Yes! Of course it does! We can't just sit around knowing someone's going to die!"
Chara stood up on the sofa to look out the window behind us. "Well, whatever your decision, I'd make up your minds fast. There goes Cyan now." She pointed out the window and I spun around.
Sure enough, a familiar figure raced across the snow.
"We have to go!" I shouted. "We need to stop her!" I stood up and ran to the door.
"wait." Sans's hand clamped onto my shoulder. "calm down. i can teleport us where we need to go any time i want. first, we need a plan."
"Well, you guys have fun!" Chara laughed. "I'm off now!" She vanished in a cloud of red steam.
"chara wants a human soul. they're kept in the king's palace, if memory serves." Sans begun.
"What memory?" Undyne interrupted. "How do you know that?"
Sans ignored her and continued. "the only way to the palace is through a replica of the ruins – there's one more corridor, then you're at the front gates. that corridor is where we'll stall her until green can make a cell to trap her in. alright?"
I was surprised Sans had thought this through so thoroughly. "Let's do it." I said.
I grabbed Sans's and Undyne's arms and the world was torn apart, revealing the nothingness beyond. Then it was rebuilt, like fabric sewing itself together.
We were suddenly in a very different place. It was a long, wide corridor. The floor was tiled with checkered gold and cream. The windows were metres tall and made of stained glass. Along either side of the corridor, golden pillars extended to a ceiling so high I couldn't even see it.
"Where… are we?" Undyne asked, examining the new surroundings.
"this is the final corridor." Sans pointed to the opposite end end. "cyan will come from there. green, hide yourself. we don't want cyan to know you're here."
I nodded and stood behind one of the golden pillars, out of sight from anyone coming into the room from the opposite end.
It didn't take long for Cyan to arrive. Five minutes, tops.
"So, you're all here." Her voice carried down the corridor. "But wait – where's the green human?" She feigned disappointment. "Just kidding. I don't need Green anymore."
"We know." Growled Undyne. She took a spare spear from her back. Apparenly the power I gave her stopped working. Her eye, however, was still glowing, so I'd made an eyepatch on the walk back from Temmie Village.
"so, what?" Sans's grin widened. "you gonna try'n get past us?" He spread his arms, and countless giant ram's skulls appeared behind him. Their eye sockets glowed a fierce blue.
I begun the mental imaging and whispered to myself; "A flat floor. One, two, three, four, five, six bars along this side. One, two, three, four - " I was cut short at the sound of Sans's ram's skulls blasting lasers down the corridor. Dammit.
"A flat floor. One, two, three, four, five, six bars along – " I didn't even get that far on my second attempt. The sight of Cyan fighting Undyne, knife on spear, caught me off guard. Undyne and Sans were clearly outmatched. They needed help.
I knew what I had to do.
Chara. My friends need help. Our friends need help.
A flash of red-white light and in the centre, Chara.
"Fine, whatever. Be aware, though. You guys aren't my friends. We just share a common goal." Chara turned to see Cyan staring at her. Thankfully, I was too far around the pillar to be seen.
"Are you…?" Cyan began.
"Yes, yes, Chara. Bringer of death, destroyer of hope, vanquisher of Justice." Sans cringed at the last one.
"Those aren't your titles." Snorted Undyne.
"No, you're right." Chara laughed and dived forwards, red knife flashing in her palm.
Don't kill her. I warned.
Metal and magic clanged together. Bright light flashed from behind the pillar and a soul-wrenching scream echoed throughout the hallway.
Whoops. Chara's voice echoed back.
I stepped from behind the pillar to see Chara standing over Cyan, who was lying on the ground, gushing blood.
"We can still save her!" I shouted. I raised my palms and attempted to focus my magic, but it was too late.
Cyan's light blue soul rose from her corpse, shimmering faintly.
I need a box. Just a box. No air holes necessary, we're not trapping a human here.
A shimmering green cube appeared around the soul, encapsuling it.
"We did it." Undyne whispered.
"It's all… over now." I nodded.
"i think this should go to the king." Sans patted the soul container.
"I can do it, if you like." I said. "You guys go on ahead. There's still something I want to take care of."
Undyne opened her mouth to ask questions, then we made eye contact and she closed it again. "All right."
"I'll be going now. For good." Chara reached out to my soul, and the red Determination drained out of it, and back into her. She seemed to… solidify, just a little. Then, without a body to contain her power, she vanished, back to the Load Screen.
Sans put his hand on Undyne's shoulder and with a sharp crack, they were gone.
And I was alone.
Whew. It's almost over.
You know, I had an epic fight scene between Green and Cyan all planned out, but as the story, the characters, and their powers developed, I realized that a lot of it didn't make sense anymore, so I scrapped it and went with the classic "team effort" type thing.
Anyway, you all know the drill. If you want to hear more, press Follow to get a notification when I update the story. I reeeeaaaally love reading what you think, so if you have anything to say, then leave it in a review!