Of all the dreams you'd experienced, this was the most surreal. In this dream, you had footing and a path to follow. You felt as though your dream-self had substance, and for a moment or two, you wondered if you had already died during the surgery and had returned to the RESET screen. Silently you chastised yourself as you remembered to look around for the DIALOG. Finding there was none to be had, you decided to walk down the path, that though you could not see it, you felt compelled to follow the invisible path. To your sides, images faded and fresh began to appear. Some were long buried memories of when life was good, others reminded you why you forced yourself to forget in the first place. For some you stopped and watch the scene play out; when you and Sans had snuck into a movie that both of you had wanted to see but you were nowhere near old enough to see. The corners of you mouth curled into a smile as you recall Sans freaking out when the sex scenes began, trying to cover your eyes and his own. You had never seen him blush such a deep, bright blue before. While the movie was totally worth it, the intense lecture your mother gave both of you afterward left you an anxious mess. You tore your eyes away as another, much darker memory began to play.
With all the dreams lately digging up so many negative memories you had begun to learn how to callous yourself and avoid reopening old wounds- no pun intended. You continued down the path, finding the memories dimming, and the memories lining your path began to be replaced with fields of yellow flowers. As you walked on, occasionally you would catch- a figure? A child? A monster?- out of the corner of your eye, but whenever you would turn to look, there was nothing but flowers. It felt like you walked for hours, but you were not tired in the least. Something was telling you to come, and you were more than willing to oblige. Not like there was much else to do in the void.
Soon, the path you had followed split into two, and you stopped in your tracks. Down the path to your left, you saw three blurry figures. The one in the middle was much taller than the two beside it , and from this direction you could feel pain radiating from your bones, and an intense ringing filled your ears and the flower's glow burned your eyes causing you to squint. Your legs gave out from under you, and despite your best efforts, you could no longer stand. Tears swelled in your eyes, and you crawled to face the other path. The pain in your bones lessons greatly, but the dull ache is still there.
You looked down this path, and there a single figure stood, and though blurred you could make out a pair of eyes that you could faintly recognize though you felt a nagging feeling reminding you there was a reason you could not place these cold, coal-black eyes. With a great deal of exertion, you managed to stand, though your legs still shook with pain. However, something burned within your chest, a feeling not long ago that infected your every thought. Hate, it emanated from you. The anger made you want to scream and yo your nails into the pads of your hands. You wanted to hurt someone, you wanted someone else to hurt as badly as you. You wanted to kill HIM, you wanted to kill them ALL. You clawed at your head, digging your nails into your scalp. The intense emotion was maddening, and you felt your will begin to bend toward the insanity. You backed up, falling on your ass. You curled into a ball, fearful of both routes. To your left, your body had stopped responding, to your right your mind and SOUL felt as though it was being torn apart at the seams. You cried, clutching at your sleeves, the same sleeves of the same sweater you had worn during your journey through the UNDERGROUND, and you trembled from the weight of this decision.
You knew you had to take one path. After taking a few shaky breaths you looked before you. At the beginning of the road to your left now stood an echo flower, to your right a bloody knife. You were careful not to come too close to the entrance of either path, but you did come just close enough to grab the flower and the knife. You pulled them back toward you. First, you examined the knife, and from the cool metal, a familiar scene played. The night of your mother's murder. The screaming and yelling, a crash, and then silence. This was nothing new, but from this, the scene changed. Instead of cowering under your sheets as you had, in this version you had run out of your room to witness what happened. There your mother laid on the floor, blood seeping from her head into the dingy shag carpet of the trailer. Above her stood your father, holding a bloody and broken lamp. He was breathing hard, and shaking, but he was not scared. No, after just having had killed his wife, a woman who could hardly raise her arms to defend herself, this man was smiling, ear to ear. It was the first time they had ever seen that man's coal black eyes shine. He was laughing; he was happy and excited. He had just beaten her to death and he was fucking laughing and smiling. In a fit of rage, Frisk grabbed a knife from the kitchen counter and as he basked in his infernal glory Frisk stabbed him in the back. He began fighting back, but Frisk kept stabbing and fighting their father till he fell, and even then as he bled out this did not satisfy the child, and they continued stabbing him until the man was long dead. The child in the memory turned and faced the real Frisk, however, this child was not Frisk, it was a grinning demon, covered in the blood of the man that had made them suffer.
The real Frisk threw the knife as far from them as they could. That hadn't been them- no, that was a true demon. That could never have happened, could it? Frisk had a suspension that it had never happened with this session, this version of them. Still, it scared the child just how close they had come to becoming... that... thing.
Now they turned to face the echo flower, desperate for comfort after witnessing that horror. This flower did not show them a memory or vision, but instead, it spoke. The voice was raspy and hoarse, but Frisk knew that long ago that same voice had been sweeter than sugar and more beautiful than any bird's song.
"Baby, you need to listen... to me... one last time. I'm sorry, my baby, I am so sorry. Everything you endured, everything HE did... it was all my fault. I was too much a coward to face him.. to save you. But you, oh baby, you are so much stronger than I ever was. You remember that story I told you, right? The story of the wolves?" You did. It was one of your favorite memories with your mother. "My mother would tell it to me every night, and I tried to do the same for you. Remember how it went? I told you that within every person resides two wolves, one who is inherently good and MERCIFUL, and another who is inherently evil and MERCILESS. Within you, these two wolves are constantly at war with one another. You would always pause and think when you heard this story, my dear baby, and ask which one would win, and always I would respond the same: it depends on which wolf you feed. Baby, you always became so sad hearing that. You would always mutter as I would leave that you didn't want even the evil wolf to starve. Once, and only once, did you ask about the wolves within your father. I told you that perhaps he had to learn how to feed the good wolf like you had, Frisk. I remember how the next day you handed that man an apple and told him to feed it to the good wolf inside him instead of the bad. I never saw you closer to death after..." The echo flower paused. "... that incident." muffled cries came through the flower but the voice tried holding back their tears and continued. "You, baby, chose to be MERCIFUL and KIND. You saved the lives of thousands, but... at a great loss to yourself. You could have fed the evil wolf and saved only yourself, but you gave and gave until there was nothing left to give. Now, Frisk comes my last story. The good wolf in you is not just for others, baby. It is in your nature to be so selfless you give yourself away until there is nothing left, and you care for strangers but never yourself. But now, baby, you have people around you who you don't need to take care of, but instead, will take care of you..."
"... far better than mommy ever could. You chose this path all those years ago when you chose the good wolf. It will not be an easy path, and the obstacles you will face are harder and larger than anyone should have to deal with. But you, my baby, have a family now that will stop at nothing to help you cut those obstacles down and together you will conquer them..." The flower paused again, drawing a final, shaky breath.
"No matter what, know that what happened to me was never, and in no possible way your fault, and there was nothing you could do. I did not have much longer anyway, baby. But don't you ever doubt how proud I am of you, Frisk, or how much I love you. This is not game over, Frisk! You are going to be alright. Stay determined, baby!" At the voice's final words, the echo flower dissolved into dust and was blown away by a nonexistent wind. In its place now stood the first FALLEN child Chara with hand extended. Behind them stood a smiling Asriel, peeking out behind Chara's shoulder pointing excitedly down the path. Frisk hadn't noticed before, but now they could see just how bright it looked. They took Chara's hand and the two siblings held you as you walked down the path and your pain and weakness became more and more severe. You didn't cry, though, the voice was right; you needed to stay strong, and you needed to stay DETERMINED. Briefly, you looked behind you at where you had sat, and there stood the ghost of a woman standing tall and strong, smiling through her tears. You smiled back, mouthing the words 'I love you' to the woman, then turned back to face the path ahead. You never looked back.
