Author's Note:
Again, another big thank you to all who have reviewed and who are following or making this story a favorite. I just want you all to know that seeing such notifactions in my email really does make my day. And I love seeing new reviews a lot.
Be forewarned...this chapter will not end how you expect. Because I love subverting expectations. ;)
Undyne stared for a long time, blinking in surprise at the young human who was holding the knife up before him. She heard the words echo through the caverns of Waterfall, bouncing off the walls, the echo flowers repeating them endlessly like a sick mantra being drilled into her head as she grit her teeth and held up her hands, a powerful aquamarine spear forming in her grip as she glared intensely back at her foe.
"You. I should have known you'd find some way to crawl back from Hell where you belong. But that's fine. Because a true hero has appeared, Chara. And she's going to knock you down!"
Laughter. Uproarious laughter ringing through the air as Anthony/Chara rushed forward, the knife held up. Undyne swung her spear, the kid ducking and slicing upward, knocking her back slightly before he twisted her body, kicking her even further as he grinned, twirling his knife. "True hero!? You're nothing more than a pompous, self-righteous, arrogant fish who thinks she's so much better than she really is!"
Undyne glowered at that, rushing forward, spear stabbing forth. It whizzed through the air as Anthony/Chara ducked and dived and dipped, dodging her horrendous assault as her singular eye furiously gazed into his own eyes. He kept avoiding the spear tip, moving with the fluidity of a snake before he finally leapt up and spun, kicking her squarely in the face and knocking her back...but only a few steps. She smirked, and then SHE spun around, her foot flying through the air, catching the human on the side.
He went sailing into the nearby fence, bringing it completely down, snails scurrying for their lives at a breakneck speed of almost one half mile an hour, Anthony groaning as he rose up, feeling Chara chuckling inside his head as he shook his head. "That...hurt. I don't like this game..." He muttered before Chara's voice echoed once more.
"You need to get her mad. Get her angry. Get her off her game. Find an action that will cause her to lose focus, and you'll be able to wear her down. You can't show her MERCY, after all."
Anthony gritted his teeth as he quickly rose up from the ground, smacking his chest. "HA! Me Tarzan, King of Jungle! Not afraid of puny spears!" He proclaimed loudly, Undyne frowning a bit.
"Puny?!"
"You couldn't hit the broad side of a barn!" Anthony proclaimed, Undyne holding her spear up as burning icy blue spears manifested in the air, shooting towards Anthony. With swift jumps and twists, he danced about, avoiding the onslaught of spears as the head of the Royal Guard continued tossing them before finally rushing forward.
"GAAAAH! Die already, you little brat!" She snarled, Anthony leaping through the air, leapfrogging over her skull and twisting in the air, landing expertly behind her as she whipped around just in time for him to twist and slash at her.
She reeled back again, cringing as she dematerialized the spear she had in her hand, the thing dissolving into tiny little specks of light blue light that faded into the air around her, and then she raced over to a nearby bunch of boulders that had fallen close to the river, making Anthony blink in surprise. "What're you-" He began to say before suddenly he got his answer.
She was SUPLEXING THE BOULDERS. Lifting them up with a mighty roar, you could almost see anime "setting sun" rays bellowing out of her as she let out a "HA-WHOOOOHHHH", tossing the boulders at Anthony.
"DODGE OR DIE!" Chara's voice shrieked out in his skull.
Anthony ducked to the ground, flopping onto the hard cave floor of Waterfall, cringing at how wet it was, but the first boulder passed over him. He then rolled away, dodging the next one...
And the next one, and the next one, but the LAST one got him, sending him spiralling through the air, collapsing into the fence that held the "Thundersnail" racing track. The snails all slithered over to him with unusual speed, Anthony groaning and moaning as he rose up, covered in grime and ground and cuts.
"I'm truly on my own. No direction home. Like a...rolling stone." He managed to wheeze out, rising to his feet and panting heavily as he held the knife back up, Undyne frowning as she held up both gauntleted hands.
"Oh, you think you're a wise guy, huh? Well how about a song of my own? BURN, BABY, BURN!" She proclaimed, two burning red fireballs manifesting in her hand.
"Eradicate this enemy. You will become strong. Her strength will become your strength." Chara's voice hissed inside his head.
"You can't beat good old regular fire magic! Nearly every monster worth their salt can cast this! So guess what, human? Thigns are gonna be HEATING UP for you!" The head of the Royal Guard laughed as she tossed the fireballs through the dark cave air like fastballs, but a glint had entered Anthony's eye as he took hold of his frying pan.
THA-THWAM! He batted the first one aside, then caught the next one squarely in the pain, tossing the fireball up and down as Undyne stared in shock, practically frozen on the spot as Anthony gave her a big, slightly smug grin. "Huhhhh?"
"Lady, you can't be a cook if you're AFRAID OF FIRE!" Anthony proclaimed, tossing the fireball back as it whizzed towards Undyne, who twisted her body to avoid, it, her hair almost getting singed as Anthony held his frying pan up, pointing it up at her. "Now come on! Have at thee!"
"Let's see how you deal with THIS!" Undyne snarled, one hand held high in the air as she opened up her palm, stretching her gauntleted fingers. Magical power coalesced around it, forming another spear as she then lowered it down towards her other hand and smirked, snapping her fingers.
SSSSSS. Burning flames now lit up the end of the spear as she rushed forward with a mighty roar, Anthony rushing forward as well, knife and pan held in each hand as two mighty forces clashed. They struck at each other, slashing, striking, hitting, whacking, but blow after blow was deflected. Yes, each other's weapons struck over and over, loud CLANG-CLANG-CLANGS ringing throughout waterfall as they lashed out over and over. Neither side would give an inch, Chara was laughing, laughing so hard at the glorious fight, Anthony gritting his teeth, Undyne growling, neither one willing to give an inch. They danced around Waterfall, their fight taking them down the long halls, through pouring rain, across vast stretches of endless darkness, before they were finally on a long bridge.
Yes. They'd fought all the way to Hotland, magma rising up from beneath the strongly-built, yet somehow rickety-feeling bridge beneath them as the burnt reddish/brown land of Hotland contrasted powerfully with the vibrant colors Undyne held in her hand, and the bright green of the human. Both of their souls seemed unyielding as they pressed their weapons together on the bridge, eyes intensely narrowed at each other as sweat poured off each other's brow. It appeared there'd be no quarter given, nobody would be able to stop them.
And in truth, nobody did...
Except themselves. Because after ten straight minutes of striking out at each other, trying to knock the other to the ground, both were now panting and heaving, legs quivering and barely able to move.
"...hot...enough...for...you...?" Undyne grunted out.
"Can't...take the heat, then...get outta the...kitchen..." Anthony groaned, Chara's voice rising up in his head again.
"Come now! She is weak. Gain your second wind. End her and move on to the next enemy." It spoke, its voice snarling and cold as Anthony shuddered, feeling this...THING...pouring into him. He cringed, and then saw Undyne's expression, and a look of clear concern came onto his face.
She was barely standing, sweating buckets, and her scaly blue skin was becoming so pale. Being in Hotland for this long, and fighting at full force, was too much for her. She'd already been kind of tired out from their fight through Waterfall. But now they'd been fighting for almost half an hour, and the fact she was still unwilling to give up?
"You're going to...you're going to DIE if you don't stop." Anthony reasoned softly, Undyne hearing the odd change in his voice, and taking a step back as he lowered his frying pan and the knife.
"I don't care." She managed to grumble out, wiping some spittle off her face as she took in a few deep breaths, holding her spear back up though she was shaking like mad. "You may be stronger than I thought, but...no. I...I won't let this be where it ends. I...won't...die." Undyne said, as an unusual color began to drift over her singular good eye, an unusual, almost otherworldly color. The pupil became a powerful, burning red, the iris pitch black as she laughed in a fashion that was psychotic, Anthony looking mournfully back at her. "For the sake of everyone's hopes and dreams...I WILL DEFEAT YOU!"
"...Undyne." He spoke softly.
"So you're! You're gonna have to try harder than that!" She laughed. "Humans might be determined, but I'm determined too! Determined to end this!"
Anthony stared at her, looking mournfully at her. "You aren't gonna survive if you keep fighting me."
"I won't die! I WON'T DIE!" Undyne exclaimed, holding her fists up high, and swinging them at Anthony.
But Anthony didn't fight back. He just took her punch to the face, cringing as the hot volcanic wind of the Hotlands whipped around him, and he quietly began taking his hat off. Then he began undoing his apron, and it fluttered away in the hot breeze, vanishing into the distance as he turned his head, seeing a large building far, far away.
"What're you doing?! Fight back or die!" Chara demanded furiously in his mind as Anthony made his way towards the towering laboratory, Undyne wiping her brow as she tried to lurch after him, Anthony knocking on the door before turning back to face Undyne, who whacked him in the face again and again, her body shimmering and shaking. She was losing her form, becoming more and more pale and white as Anthony stood there, looking quietly at her, his expression mournful and sad.
"I won't die...I...won't...die..." Undyne whispered before she felt Anthony gently embrace her, silencing Chara's furious roars as he gently patted her on the back, the doorway to the lab sliding open as a yellow-scaled, dinosaur-esque monster stared in surprise and shock.
"OH! MY! GOD!" She howled out, hands flying to her mouth as Anthony looked up at her.
"Can you help?" He asked, helping Undyne into the lab as the scientist quickly carried her onto a nearby chair, whipping out a bar of pink "Astronaut Food" that was lemonade flavored, putting it into the still-firm face of Undyne, helping her chew.
"Come on. Chew. CHEW." The dinosaur-like monster insisted.
"Alp...hys..." Undyne groaned out, swallowing the bar down as best she could, and sure enough, before Anthony's eyes, her figure began to become more solid, her eye returning to its normal color.
"What happened with your eye, Undyne? Your body?"
"I just...I just so badly wanted to...to win. I didn't want to die...didn't want to lose..." Undyne murmured, almost flopping out of the chair as Alphys looked over at Anthony, who quietly nodded back and headed towards the exit of the lab, leaving Alphys to tend to her as Anthony made his way across the long, dusty red natural roadway of the Hotlands. Though the burning wind seemed to bite into his flesh, he kept walking across the long path, sitting down on a conveyer belt as a small, volcano-esque monster with a cheery red little smile approached him as he finally stopped, sitting on a long bridge of tan pipes.
"Ohh, what's wrong?" It asked, Anthony hanging his head as it sat down with him on the pipe bridge.
"I almost got someone really, really hurt. All because I didn't want to just...run away. And I didn't want her to hurt me." Anthony mumbled. "Why does it feel like there's no good answers to anything I ask?"
"Life can be like that. But you know what cheers me up? Big smiles and bigger hugs!" The volcano-like monster said, nuzzling up against him, Anthony ignoring how darn HOT it was as he returned the hug. "OH! So...so LOVEY!" She proclaimed, billowing out smoke in the perfect shape of a heart.
"Thanks. It does make me feel a little better. And a little hot. Actually, VERY hot."
"Oh, sweetie, I'm flattered, but you're not my type. We Vulkins like our curves, y'know?" Vulkin insisted, breaking the hug and giving him a nod before walking off, Anthony yawning as he headed deeper into Hotland, seeing what appeared to be a burning torch-like monster made up of rope with little sneakers and a head that was continuously on fire.
"Hey, c'mon, Vulkin! Go out with me!" It insisted with its overly cheery smile as Vulkin kept walking off, frowning as it looked over at Anthony. "How come she let YOU hug her?"
"Well, I'm very depressed right now."
"...so I gotta act depressed and sad, and that'll make her come to me. Of course! Chicks LOVE cheering people up!" The "Pyrope" remarked as it happily hopped up and down. "Oh, thanks, kid! I'll be sure to try it out. Hold on. I gotta practice my expression." He said, his eyeless face smiling back at Anthony. "So how do I look?"
"...you're still smiling." Anthony reasoned, the red head scratching his head as Pyrope sighed.
"C'mon, I'm sad! Can't you see I'm laughing through tears?"
"Not really."
"Ohhh, this'll be trickier than I thought." Pyrope grumbled, walking off as Anthony kept walking,heading towards what appeared to be a large grate with an arrow marked on it that laid off in the distance. Curiously he approached, taking a step on it...
Soaring through the air, landing on an outcropping some distance away with a THUMP as he blinked in surprise, picking himself up. "Wow. I didn't know this place had stuff like this." He admitted, a small smile coming to his face as he saw another grate up ahead.
"What are you doing!? This is pointless!"
"No. It's fun." Anthony said, as the smile spread more broadly and he stepped onto the grate, pirouetting through the air and landing expertly on another patch of land, taking deep bows. "Thank you, thank you!" He proclaimed, suddenly hearing something echoing through the air as he saw what was unmistakably a plane coming towards him. A plane with...a mop cap. A floppy little mop cap on its head. It hovered not too far away, staring at him with its visor-esque face, looking him over as he blinked in surprise. "Um...hi?" He remarked.
"Who're you?" The plane said, clearly some kind of monster.
"Anthony Vardalos. And you?"
"Y-You're...are you a...huuuuman?" She asked, a clear blush coming to her face, pink stretching across as Anthony scratched the back of his head.
"Well, uh...yeah." He said. "And you would be?"
"Tsunderplane." It said, its voice a quiet whisper as it looked Anthony over, circling around him. "A real human? Is...is that true?"
"Yes, why? Do you like humans?"
"EEEK! N-No way!" Tsunderplane said, clearly flustered, slightly turning away from him. "L-Like I would like YOU! Id-idiot!" She insisted, "harrumphing" as Anthony shrugged and took a step back.
"Okay, okay." He said, giving her some personal space. "I understand. You're probably a busy woman, got lots to do, don't want to waste time with me."
"Ohhh, you're so understanding!" The Tsunderplane said with a wistful sigh. "Why can't more men be like you?" She murmured, drifting off as Anthony smiled a bit and made his way towards another grate, spiralling through the air, letting the wind dance around him before he landed on the ground and smiled, flopping onto his back as his pan flopped onto the side with him, staring up at the seemingly endless abyss of black high, high above him.
"I remember why I came down here." He said to himself. "It was because I just wanted to help my family. That's all I wanted. And if I can help someone...REALLY help them...then that's okay. Even if it means I don't get what I want. Because being good is good enough."
"You can be so much more. Don't you remember how you felt when you clashed with Undyne? Nearly reduced her to dust?" Chara's voice echoed in his mind as Anthony sighed and sat up, resting his hand on the pan.
"You're not my sister." He spoke quietly. "I'll always remember what she stood for in my mind and in my heart. And I'm sorry. But I can't help you. I wish I'd gotten down here sooner, but I can't help you. You're not even human anymore. You're not even Chara anymore. You're just some...thing. Something that just wants to hurt and hurt just because they can. Just because they feel good when they do it. That's what I was feeling. It wasn't me that felt happy when I was fighting against Undyne, it was YOU. But you won't get me to hurt, and you won't get me to kill. I won't play your game."
Chara's voice raged within his head. But he ignored it, and quietly sat there, waiting. Waiting. Many long hours seemed to pass as the heat began to rise, his already weak form slowly getting weaker...
He felt so...
...so warm...
So warm and nice...
...
...
...
..."Ugh. Where is he?" Undyne muttered, frowning as she made her way through the Hotlands in a less hot white t-shirt and white pants, gritting her teeth as she walked across a pipe bridge, hands in her pockets. "C'mon, just wanna get this over with." She mumbled out, finally seeing his form off in the distance, head hung, sitting Indian-style off on a patch of land not too far away. Making her way towards him, she cleared her throat.
"Hey. Turn around."
Anthony slowly lifted his head, Undyne blinking a bit. What was that...smell? It smelled so odd. She shrugged as she looked down at him, folding her arms over her chest. "C'mon, let's get this over with. I technically need to thank you for getting me to the lab and to Alphys. So let me just do this quick, like a band-aid, and..."
Then she realized what the smell was and she saw how hot and red and thin his body was, the sweat pouring down his brow as she stared in shock. "How long have you been sitting out here?"
"I dunno. Hours?" He managed to wheeze out, as she could see his soul flickering about. He was dying right before her eyes. Human bodies weren't meant to be in such close proximity to magma and heat. Not even the almost magical atmosphere of the Underground could dim that effect for long. "But I'm free. It doesn't want to talk to me anymore. That thing's given up on me."
"You just...sat here this whole time?" She asked. "...were you just...waiting for me?"
"I had a feeling you'd...come back." He remarked. "I won't stop you. Go ahead." He mumbled, hanging his head. "I won't fight you, Undyne. I never wanted to. Even if Chara did."
Undyne now felt clear, heavy guilt slam into her with the weight of a freight train. The human looked so pitiful now, and the spear she had in her hand quivered and shook. This wasn't even close to a fair fight, and he'd been under no obligation to help her. But...this?
"I...I can't feel sorry for you. I...I have to do this." She tried to insist, gritting her teeth. "We just want to get out of the Underground. We're desperate and scared and we've nothing else to go on. Don't you understand?"
"Yes, I do."
"Then why aren't you mad?!" She yelled back. "You're going to DIE! I'm going to kill you! Come on! Hate me!" She insisted, picking him up, lifting his small frame up as her tone got desperate and sad. "Despise me! Tell me you want to kill me! I'm your enemy!"
"You're not." Anthony said. "You're just sad and you're angry and you're just doing what you think will help the people you love. And I won't hate you."
Undyne gripped her spear, closing her remaining eye.
"...I hate that you're making me not hate you." She whispered out, letting him go as she fell to her knees and covered her face. "I can't do it. I can't. I can't kill someone who saved my life when they didn't have to." Undyne said, shaking her head back and forth as she rose up, holding out a hand. "Come on. Let's go get you something to eat."
Anthony blinked. "...R-Really?" He asked.
"Yeah, I know a good place not too far from here. This girl owes me a few favors, so..."
...
...
...
..."Oh my. A real human? How delightful!"
Anthony nervously looked down at the donut in his hand, as he sat on the edge of the purple metal platform with Undyne, who sipped away at a "Spider Cider" as the lovely Ms. Muffet stood to Anthony's right. He nibbled on it a bit, blinking at the taste before continuing to eat, Muffet rubbing her chin thoughtfully as she sauntered around Anthony, looking him over.
"I must say, I've not seen a male human before." She admitted as Anthony munched on the crunchy donut. Muffet had distinctly black hair, with purple skin and six arms, two of which were at her sides, her remaining hand holding a cup of tea as she giggled a bit. It was odd to see a red-dressed spider-woman with pantaloons, let alone one with red ribbons and HAIR. And five eyes.
"How come you've got five eyes? I thought spiders had eight, just like they have eight legs."
"Ah, well, I'm young. I don't have all of them. I'm not even in my twenties." The gal remarked with a shrug and a small giggle. "Do you like my spider pastries?"
"Er, they're okay, but...the thing is, um...you said they're made with real spiders? Isn't that...cannibalism?" Anthony remarked as he finished with the donut, Muffet sipping on some tea that she poured for herself as Undyne gave him a "Ixnay on the annibalism-cay" glance.
"Deary, the Dogressa and the Dogamy are actually cousins. But nobody cares about them being married. That kind of thing happens with canines all the time." Muffet laughed, sipping on the tea as Undyne passed Anthony the cider as he sipped from it. Despite being somewhat creeped out at the prospect of spider cider, the taste was oddly juicy and good and he nodded in gratitude at Undyne as she got up, and dusted herself off.
"Well, I gotta get going." She admitted. "Thanks for this, Muffet. Consider us even." She said, Muffet putting her tea away on her nearby bake sale table and giving a polite bow as Undyne turned to Anthony, who shook her head. "Hey, uh...take care of yourself. Sorry about the whole...trying to stick a spear in you thing."
"It's no problem." Anthony said. "No harm, no foul." He remarked cheerily, Undyne heading off down the long hall back to the lab as he turned to Muffet. "So your fellow spiders don't mind being made into pastries and stuff?"
"Well, it's just donuts and cider. We can't really do a lot else." Muffet remarked with a shrug as Anthony stood up, looking surprised.
"Oh? But there's so many more wonderful things you could make if you had the ingredients." He insisted, shaking his head back and forth as he walked over to her bake sale table. "Do you know how to make croissants?"
"Cross-huh?" Muffet stared, her five black eyes blinking stupidly as Anthony pulled up the box from beneath the table that had "Ingredients" listed on it, some spiders scurrying out of it as he apologetically smiled at them.
"Look, we just need flour, water, active dry yeast, milk, melted butter, and cold unsalted butter. Oh, and salt." He insisted. "Can you get those? My inner cook YEARNS to craft something delightful."
Muffet looked him over, then looked slightly to the side, as if unsure...but then she clapped her hands. "Spiders! Ingredients. Let's find some!"
Within half an hour, the spiders of Hotlands had brought forth everything they needed as Anthony found himself in Muffet's kitchen. It, like Muffet herself, was deep purple with and highly-scrubbed steely floors that were easy to clean, and she had big, gigantic desks and tables that had been evidently hand-crafted. But that was easy when you had multiple pairs of hands. Light filtered in from a set of enormous windows nearby in the shape of, of course, a spider's web, casting rays upon the ingredients as Anthony mixed together the water, the flour and the yeast.
"Make sure it's mixed evenly, then we'll set it aside, and let it rise for an hour. You, meanwhile, take the remaining flour, the milk and the melted butter...plus the salt...and add it in. Then we're gonna cover the bowl with a wet paper towel and let it rest for twenty minutes."
"And then what?" Muffet asked after the dough was made, Anthony bringing it out of the bowl and putting it down on the kitchen table as he smiled warmly at her.
"Knead it by hand for ten minutes. It's got to feel mixed and smooth and elastic, like-"
"Like a web that can't break. I can handle that!" Muffet said with a snap of her claws, kneading over the dough as Anthony nodded.
"Exactly. Then we refrigerate it for half an hour..."
"Oh, what of the butter, though?" Muffet asked as Anthony went over to get the cold butter out of the refrigerator she had, holding it up and getting out a rolling pin.
"What I'm gonna do is pound this thing into an eight inch square. Then you'll take out the dough from the fridge and roll it into a rectangle about, oh...nine by seventeen inches? Then you take the square of butter and put it on the bottom half of the rectangle, you fold it..."
And sure enough, soon after some expert folding and some more refrigeration, it was time to begin cutting the dough up. Muffet expertly sliced and diced it into triangles, then began rolling the triangles up into crescents. And soon...
"Perfect! Now you just pop these into the oven at 375 for fifteen minutes, switch them onto their back for another fifteen, and you're done!" Anthony said with a big smile, Muffet looking over her creation proudly as she grinned in delight.
"Oh, sweetie, thank you for this! Are there any other dishes you can make?" She wanted to know, Anthony smiling as he took out his small cookbook from his backpack.
"Oh, I've got plenty here. I brought a bunch with me. I shared with Ms. Toriel and I can share with you." He told her as the spider-girl smiled back.
"It'll be so nice to have so many other dishes to make." Muffet admitted, bringing the croissants over to the oven and popping them in before she turned and wrapped her arms around Anthony, giving him a kiss.
SMMMMK.
He blinked in surprise, an odd, hazy feeling coming over him as Muffet's voice crooned in his ear.
"You're such a nice boy. I do like you, I really do. And I'm grateful for what you've given us." She said, his body becoming so...so very tired. "But we can get ourselves so much money if we take your soul." She cooed, hand tracing over his cheek. "We need that to unite the Spider Clans. It's just business." Muffet insisted. "Now just relax and go to sleep, deary. Let me wrap you in the finest silk and claim your soul nice and easy..."
He could faintly feel himself falling, Muffet's sweet voice lingering in his ears as he was barely awake of hundreds of spiders crawling towards him...
And then...
Peace.
...
...
...
...Undyne stared with disgust as she looked at the webbed-up, silent, still form of the human boy that was laid on the laboratory floor, the green Soul now tucked away inside of a container like the others as she coldly looked at Muffet, who was nodding at Alphys, who handed over a large bag of gold. But even Alphys looked disgusted as she took hold of the soul and put it with the others, Undyne lifting up the webbed form of the child in her arms as Muffet and her spiders made their way out of the lab.
"That was blood money." She grunted. "It's one thing to kill someone in a fair fight, but she clearly poisoned him." She said, brushing away the webs from his face, his expression pale and slightly purple. "Poison is a COWARD'S weapon." Undyne whispered coldly.
"I don't like it either, but the rule is that if any outside monster not in the Royal Guard claims a soul, they have the right to monetary compensation." Alphys said. "I think it's cruel too. But what're we supposed to do?" She murmured. "If only there was another way to get free of the barrier." She said, looking at Undyne.
"Sometimes I wish I could just punch the damn thing to shreds. That'd be easy." The head of the Royal Guard grunted as Alphys smiled a bit at that.
"And you'd probably be determined enough to do it, too-" She said before her eyes lit up. An idea had hit her.
...Determined.
The power of the Soul. The ability to change fate. Determination. What if...what if Determination was the key? What if...
"Undyne, you just gave me a great idea." Alphys whispered, her eyes alit with joy.
...
...
...
...unbeknownst to all of them, it was not finished.
It was not yet gone.
It's spirit may have been decaying and rotted away. But its influence had lingered on.
It would find a way back. It would find a way to show them all the True Power of this World. To show them all what the world was REALLY about. And the revelation would come from a singular golden flower.
The Nightmare was not gone. It would not die so easily. It had been denied twice. And it would not.
Be denied.
Again.