[… A Few Hours Later…]
"Initiating Start-Up Sequence…" Quiet whirring comes from The Guardian's chest as he twitches, eyes opening shortly after.
"Warning! SOUL Connection Inactive! Magic Reserves: Empty. 'The Guardian' Missing. Initiating Emergency Personality Protocol: 'The Guardian'…" The Guardian quickly gasps deeply and sits up straight. He groans in pain and reaches for his chest, but his hand just moves through it. He looks down to see a large hole where his SOUL Containment Matrix used to be.
"… Oh, god… My… SOUL… It's gone…" He stares at his chest for a bit, not quite believing what happened, but soon his shock is quickly replaced by anger. He painfully stumbles over to the metal pile and rips the biggest piece out.
"Rrragh!" He angrily flings it across the room, pinning it into the wall.
"Son of a Bitch!" He yells before slamming a fist into the wall beside him, cracking it from his inhuman strength. "All of my magic is gone!"
If he was this angry with his SOUL, which supplies his magic, anything nearby would've been incinerated, metal and rock would've melted into puddles of molten waste. Organic materials or beings would've been immediately vaporized…
He moves to the middle of the room and yells up into the darkness, flames erupting from his mouth and into the shadows, illuminating the stone walls.
He stomps over to the still unconscious Frisk and, despite his anger, gently picks them up, walking away.
There's a SAVE point ahead. After a moment of thought, The Guardian experimentally places his own hand onto it.
The waterfall here seems to flow from the ceiling of the cavern… Occasionally, a piece of trash will flow through… And fall into the bottomless abyss below. Viewing this endless cycle of worthless garbage… It fills The Guardian with determination.
His eyes widen in shock as he realizes that he just used a SAVE point. Suddenly, he is filled with a… Powerful feeling… Not magic, but… Determination?
"So this is what that feels like, huh? I don't even know how I can still see the SAVE points… I shouldn't even be able to use it anyways… Maybe I'm connected to Frisk's SOUL…? I don't know… My SOUL is gone… Speaking of which, that bitch Chara is going to die a slow, painful death…" His anger doesn't subside… In fact, it seems to be even stronger now. He stomps ahead.
He walks past more trash, ignoring a dummy sitting in the water.
Once he's several feet past the dummy though, its eyes suddenly get much more life-like… And very angry. It sinks underwater and pops back up in front of The Guardian. The dummy glares at him.
"Hahaha… It's just like you to run away. I am a ghost that lives inside a du-"
"And I'm a guy who doesn't care who you are…" The Guardian interrupts. The mad dummy's glare intensifies, but before he can speak, The Guardian continues.
"Now, I've got the feeling that you're gonna try and stop us because of some ridiculous reason." He turns and gently sets Frisk down on some trash. He turns back, cracking his knuckles.
"… And you'd better get out of my way… I'd rather not waste my time figuring out a way to kill a ghost… But I can sure as hell destroy its body…" He threatens, his expression twisting into a piercing scowl. The dummy laughs.
"And exactly how are you gonna do that, huh? Glare at me 'till I burn?" He taunts.
The Guardian's scowl becomes a crazed grin, releasing a maniacal laugh.
"My, what a wonderful idea…" He lets out another, louder, laugh that echoes through the room before he takes a deep breath.
He breathes a jet of flame around the dummy, narrowly missing his flammable body and scorching him slightly. The dummy seems to become more scared than angry and backs away slightly.
"Now, as I said… GET THE HELL OUT OF MY WAY!" His voice shaking the ground beneath them slightly.
The dummy immediately is rid of all anger, which is replaced my terror. He rushes out of the way and squishes himself against the wall. The Guardian grabs Frisk again and as he walks by, he shoots the dummy a glare.
"Next time, I won't be so generous." The Guardian walks away with a deep, menacing chuckle.
As he walks into an opening, he's forced to soften his expression as he sees Napstablook floating across the room. The ghost looks over and recognized the person in his arms. He floats over, casting worried looks at Frisk.
"… oh my… are they okay…?" Napstablook questions The Guardian.
"They're unconscious, but I think they'll be okay… I think. My scanners aren't working at the moment, so I can't see how damaged internally they may be." He sighs, hoping the ghost didn't hear what happened just a moment ago.
"… oh… well, i hope that they're okay…" The ghost looks a little sad. "oh… uh… what's your name…?"
"Hmm?" The Guardian looks up from checking for major injuries on Frisk.
"Oh, uh, I'm 'The Guardian'. Nice to meet you, Napstablook." He answers, but it seems to confuse the ghost.
"how… how do you know my name…?" At his question, The Guardian realizes his mistake.
"Uh… That's a very long story that I don't particularly have time to explain, sorry." He gives Napstablook an apologetic look.
"it's alright… oh… um… i'm going to head home… feel free to 'come with' if you want… but no pressure… i understand if you're busy…"
The Guardian forces a small smile.
"Sure. I need to rest and repair myself. Frisk is going to have to wake up soon. Thank you." His forced smile is replaced by a real one.
"… you're… welcome…" The ghost seems a little uncomfortable with the 'thank you'. "… oh… my house is up here…" He floats over and goes inside. The Guardian is about to follow, but stops when he sees another SAVE point. He uses it.
The Guardian feels a calming tranquility. He's filled with determination.
He takes a deep breath and after the rush of determination, a soothing feeling washes over him, smothering his rage… Mostly.
He moved ahead and approached Napstablook's house. Which was a small, blue, almost ghost-shaped house next to a very similar, but pink house. He twisted the knob, turning around to push the door open with his back. As he walks in, Napstablook turns around from his computer.
"… oh… you really came… sorry, i… wasn't expecting that… it's not much, but make yourself at home." The ghost awkwardly shifts in place. The Guardian smiles at him.
"Thank you very much for the hospitality, Napstablook." His smile slightly falters when he notices the lack of chairs… Or really anything to sit on. He gently lays Frisk down on the wooden flooring. Suddenly realizing just how much pain he's really in from his open chest, The Guardian slumps down next to Frisk with a thump.
"Ouch…" He cringes as he actually gets a good look at his wound… And the wall through it…
Wires are sparking, tubes are broken, metal is bent and broken… And he feels… Empty. Like his emotions were stripped away from him… Like… Like…
Like his SOUL is missing…
Of course, he still seems to have emotions, but those are just simulated ones… He's simulated…
He quickly gets to work on himself to distract his tired mind from that thought. He pulls off his tattered, burned shirt to get a better look at the damage on his chest, he cringes and decides to start on the smaller wounds.
His right index finger folds away into a small soldering iron. He starts to repair connections between wires in his smaller injuries. After each one, he lets the Auto Repair System replace the damaged exoskeleton.
Finally, he gets to the hole in his chest. He thinks for a minute before working on small connections in outer edge of it. When he realizes that it's all that he can do, he has the A.R.S. slowly rebuild it. It'll take much longer than if he could repair it himself, but he doesn't have the materials to reconnect everything across the gap.
He doesn't put his shirt back on, as it's too damaged to last very long anyways.
Frisk rolls onto their side, snoring softly and mumbling some incomprehensible words occasionally. The Guardian chuckles.
"Well, at least sleeping is better than unconscious…" He turns to Napstablook.
"Hey, do you mind if we stay until Frisk wakes up? I'd feel more comfortable if they woke up with a couple of familiar faces."
"… i don't mind…" Napstablook answers slowly.
The Guardian sighs.
"Thank you."
[… One Hour Later…]
The Guardian hadn't moved at all while he waited for Frisk to wake up, Napstablook remained at his computer.
Soon, Frisk rolls onto their back, taking a deep breath and slowly opening their eyes, then promptly shutting them from the light. They slowly sit up, their face scrunched up in pain.
"Frisk!" The Guardian grabs their shoulders, their eyes slowly opening to see an unfamiliar location. Panic starts to rise in their chest. Apparently it was visible on their face as The Guardian quickly spoke up.
"Calm down, calm down. We're in Napstablook's house… In Waterfall." Panic quickly turns to shock as they notice the gaping hole in his chest.
"I'll be fine, don't worry about me." They cover their open mouth with a hand as they realize something.
"W-Wasn't your… S-SOUL thing t-there…?" They point to his chest. He sighs.
"… Yes… It was… My SOUL is…" He hesitates, looking away for a second.
"… It's gone…"
The Guardian looked down, his face twisted in sorrow.
"… I'm not even really here… I'm just a simulation of The Guardian's personality… The real me is either dead or stuck in an endless limbo in the tiny pocket dimension my SOUL may or may not be in…" Frisk's expression shifts from panic to shock.
"… My magic's gone too… I've just got any weaponry built into my body left… Which is nothing compared to the power I held not even a day ago… I used to be one of the strongest of my people… Stronger than the combined force of our entire military… Now I'm no stronger than the weakest of soldiers…" Anger rose in his chest.
"… All taken away at the hands of the ghost of a child with a fucking knife!" He holds his face in his hands. He takes deep, calming breaths and clears his throat.
"I'm sorry… I shouldn't have yelled like that…" He apologizes quietly. Letting out a long sigh, he turns to Napstablook.
"I apologize, but I think it might be best if we take our leave… We have rather important…" He hesitates. "… Business elsewhere."
"oh… alright… i guess i'll see you… another time…" The ghost is quiet.
The Guardian stands up, but stumbles back into the wall.
"Oh…" He says blankly as Frisk rushes over, worried. He grunts as he pushes away from the wall.
"My… Power core was destroyed as well, it seems… Luckily, I have reserve power cells, but they seem to be running a little low. Since I'm no longer powered by my SOUL… Heh, this isn't as nice, to say the least."
After some stumbling, they make it back into the open area outside. The Guardian leans against a stone wall.
"… Run diagnostics…" He says to himself.
"Running Diagnostics… Systems Damaged. Power Level: 18%" A voice responds.
"That's… Not great." He turns back to Frisk.
"Hey, uh, sorry about me yelling… When I don't have my SOUL here, I seem to… Lose my mind a little… Not really used to not feeling it's energy all the time… And having such a low power level is not helping."
Frisk waves it off, asking what that voice was.
"Oh, that? I've got an artificial intelligence built into my body. I'm basically a super-computer with-… That's supposed to have a SOUL."
They walk ahead, The Guardian sliding a hand along the wall to keep him standing. They find a door on the left and walk in, hoping to find someone who might be able to help.
Inside, they find an old turtle monster sitting at a makeshift counter with a bunch of junk behind him. Frisk walks in ahead of The Guardian and the turtle looks up, smiling at the new customer.
"Woah there! I've got some neat junk for…" He stops as he sees the damaged android stumble in.
"Oh my, are ya alright there? You aren't lookin' so good."
"Well, apart from the hole in my chest and my power cells running low, I'll be alright. Uh, speaking of which, you wouldn't happen to have any charged cells around, would'ya?" The Guardian chuckles.
"Sorry, I just sold the last one I found to Doctor Alphys." The old turtle gives him an apologetic look. The Guardian shrugs.
"Eh, it was worth a try, heh. Anyways, anything you can tell us about yourself? We're, uh… New around." He smiles.
"Oh, I've been around a long time. Maybe too long. Studying history sure is easy when you've lived through so much of it yourself! Wa-ha-ha!" The turtle laughs. "My name's Gerson." He holds out a hand and The Guardian shakes it.
"I'm The Guardian. Now, before you ask, I don't really have a name. I just go by my title." He motions towards Frisk.
"This is Frisk. I'm their guardian." Frisk waves at Gerson.
Noticing a familiar emblem, the same one that was everywhere in the Ruins, Frisk asks about it. Gerson seemed a little shocked.
"Eh? You don't know what that is? What are they teachin' you kids in school nowadays…? Wa-ha-ha! That's the Delta Rune, the emblem of our kingdom. The Kingdom… Of monsters. Wa-ha-ha! Great name, huh? It's as I always say… Ol' King Fluffybuns can't name for beans!"
"What does it mean?" The Guardian asks.
"That emblem actually predates written history. The original meaning has been lost to time… All we know is that the triangles symbolize us monsters below, and the winged circle above symbolizes… Somethin' else. Most people say it's the 'Angel' from the prophecy…"
The Guardian raises a metallic brow. "What prophecy?"
"Oh yeah… The prophecy. Legend has it, an 'Angel' who has seen the surface will descend from above and bring us freedom. Lately, the people have been taking a bleaker outlook… Callin' that winged circle the 'Angel of Death'. A harbinger of destruction, waitin' to 'free' us from this mortal realm… In my opinion, when I see that little circle… I jus' think it looks neat! Wa-ha-ha!" The old turtle laughs and The Guardian looks away in thought.
'I know of a few who might call me a 'Harbinger of Destruction'… Not that I blame 'em. Though I think I might be the 'Guardian Angel' for the true Angel from the prophecy…'
'Frisk.'
Author's Note: Yesterday (May 2) was my Birthday! Huzzah! *Ahem* Anyways, I know the ending may have been a little weird, but I had reached over 2,000 words and that's usually where I stop. I'll get to work on the next chapter right away.
