"It's so excited that it thinks fighting is just play."
-Check text for Greater Dog
Freedom… outside…
Want… want to play…
Outside… humans here...
Humans… humans… nice.
See… nice human…
Want to play…
No! Playing with human… dangerous!
Yes! Playing with human… fun!
Play… play with human…
Feeling sick from the disgusting snail pie, Frisk stumbled into his room, closed the door, turned on his TV, and collapsed onto the couch. He'd be fine… eventually…
The current program on TV was Ebott News.
Frisk groaned. Lately, Ebott News only wanted to talk about two things: Chara's attempted genocide, and the threat of monsters absorbing human souls, not what Frisk wanted to hear at the moment. He could have changed the channel, but... he was feeling like Sans.
"Today, we have an exclusive look into the recent findings under Mount Ebott," the reported announced. "We are excited to present a special report from our very own President Malcom!"
The camera cut to the inside of the Snowdin Library. Malcom was sitting in a chair, reading a dark green book. How theatrical.
"This book is an interesting read," Malcom stated without taking his eyes off it. "Listen to this." He began to read the book out loud. "'Love, hope, compassion... This is what people say monster SOULs are made of. But the absolute nature of 'SOUL' is unknown. After all, humans have proven their SOULs don't need these things to exist.'"
Malcom closed the book and stared at the camera with a stern expression. "So, according to monsters, they are made of love and compassion, while humans can easily exist without these traits. They claim that they are fundamentally better than humans, as manifested by their very souls. I must be frank here; this is some of the most blatant, inflammatory, misanthropic propaganda I have ever seen!"
Frisk winced. Now that he thought about it, that book actually did come off as pretty racist, he had to admit.
"It seems clear that monsters did not regard humanity as the greatest people," Malcom continued. "To be fair, who can blame them? For millennia, they have resented us for being the reason they were trapped under Mount Ebott. For millennia, they have blamed us for all their problems. Just over a year ago, they were technically at war with humanity. Can we really believe all of that hatred simply vanished just because some kid came through and acted nice?"
Malcom had it all wrong. The monsters just wanted to be free. Asgore only declared war because he thought it was necessary. It wasn't out of any desire for power or revenge. Asgore never wanted those things. He just wanted to give his people hope. It was never because the monsters hated humanity. They just… didn't trust them. They thought if they escaped to the surface… it would be kill or be killed.
Frisk prayed that the monsters were wrong.
"Despite this, monsters seem to have gotten along with us just fine so far," Malcom admitted. "Perhaps most monsters really do mean well, but how long will it last? How long will it be until a monster who isn't so nice absorbs human souls? If such a monster gets seven souls, will the Guardian Monsters even be able to stop them? When it happens, how many humans will die? How many monsters will die? What if we can't -"
Suddenly, the camera cut away from Malcom. The words 'EMERGENCY ALERT' flashed across the screen, accompanied by a shrill alarm. Frisk didn't like the timing.
"Sorry, Mr. President," the newscaster apologized, "but we have just been alerted of a major incident in downtown Surface Home. The Military Police is engaged with a strange and dangerous monster assaulting a young human child. Citizens are warned to stay far from the area. Displaying live feed now. Be advised, the footage is graphic."
The screen cut to a street near the center of Surface Home. Frisk's face turned pale when he saw what was happening. In the center of the street was… well, it was difficult to make out what it was. It was a massive clump of white magical energy, vaguely resembling a bunch of dogs merged together. Frisk knew who they were. It was Endogeny, one of the amalgamates that Alphys had created.
Endogeny, and a young human boy. The child was bleeding, and his body trembled with terror. It was hard to get a read on what Endogeny was thinking, but based on the way their body excitedly convulsed, Frisk imagined that Endogeny was blissfully unaware of the grave situation they had caused. Their large orifice opened wide as their body melted its strange liquid onto the child.
Frisk's stomach churned. N-no… this can't be happening…
Endogeny and the human were surrounded by Military Police officers, all armed with rifles pointed straight at the amalgamate. One of them was a woman with shoulder-length blonde hair and purple eyes, the same one who had repeatedly killed Frisk on his way to Mount Ebott. She held a megaphone and barked orders at Endogeny.
"MONSTER! Cease this assault at once! If you don't comply, we WILL fire!"
Endogeny didn't understand the officer's words. They swiped their claw against the child's chest, slicing open more wounds. The boy screamed. Endogeny didn't realize how dangerous they were.
"FIRE!"
Frisk gasped. "NO!"
The officers unloaded their weapons into Endogeny. A hailstorm of bullets flew into their body. Frisk felt like he was going to faint. "N-no… they didn't mean to… h-huh?"
Endogeny was completely unfazed, showing no sign of pain or damage. How was that possible? Endogeny didn't even acknowledge that the officers were trying to hurt them. Endogeny turned to face the officers and barked happily. They must have thought the officers wanted to play with them. Endogeny bounced up and down, and energy bullets shot out of their orifice. The officers dived for cover, and a one-sided firefight ensued. Endogeny didn't seem to take any damage at all from the bullets, but the officers were far from invincible. One of them got shot in the shoulder. He fell down, dripping blood onto the asphalt road.
This can't be happening!
As the Military Police kept firing, the injured child valiantly got up and tugged on one of Endogeny's several heads. "P-please stop… y-you're hurting them."
Endogeny turned around and pounced onto the boy, their oriface wide open. The boy's orange eyes widened in terror as energy bullets shot out of the hole, and the road ran red with the boy's blood. As his screams faded, the boy's orange soul floated above his dying body.
Everyone stared intently at the exposed soul.
Endogeny whimpered sadly, finally realizing what they had done.
Paralyzed with fear, rational thought failed Frisk. Wh-what should I do?
Suddenly, he heard someone knock on his door. "Frisk? May I come -"
He snapped back to his senses. Frisk knew what he had to do.
Sorry, Chara…
FILE LOADED
Frisk sent the world back in time. He went back to the SAVE point he made that morning. He saw Chara asleep on his bed, and he saw Asriel, staring at him with confused eyes. "H-huh? Frisk, did you…?"
As he looked at them, tears threatened to form in his eyes. There was no need to get them involved, no need to put them in danger. Frisk had been able to reset this time, but what if someone took it away again? What if Malcom was behind all this? What if it was a trap? The risks were too great. Frisk had to solve this problem on his own. As he turned away, Asriel called out to him. "Frisk, what -"
Frisk ran for the door.
"FRISK!"
Just as he grasped the knob, a vine wrapped around his wrist, tightly. He struggled with all his might, but he couldn't move his hand an inch. He turned to face his captor. "L-let me go, Asriel."
With clenched teeth, Asriel did not loosen up one bit. "Not until you explain what's going on!"
That wasn't an option. The less they knew, the better.
Frisk had to break free of Asriel's grip. He used his free hand to reach for something in his pocket. Fortunately, Asriel could grow his vines back, so Frisk wasn't going to do any permanent damage. It was still going to hurt, though. Frisk's hand trembled. "Asriel… I'm so sorry."
He gaped at him. "H-huh?"
Before Asriel could see it coming, Frisk whipped out Chara's knife and sliced off the vine Asriel was holding him with. While Asriel screamed in pain, Frisk ran out the door with an aching heart. Nothing was worse than hurting someone he loved.
Frisk ran as fast as his legs would carry him. He ran through the hall. He ran past Toriel. He ran out the house and down Ruins Street towards the center of Surface Home, garnering many confused stares among the morning crowd.
Once his house was out of sight, Frisk slowed down to catch his breath. As he recovered, his phone rang. It was Chara. After the stunt he had just pulled, she must have been so upset with him.
… what I am doing?
Frisk didn't want Asriel or Chara to get hurt, but he was sure that they felt the same way for him. His gut reaction had been to charge off into danger alone, but now that the initial shock had worn off, he realized how childish he was being. How could he refuse to let them help? He was being like Toriel when she had tried to stop him from leaving the Ruins, afraid and overprotective. Frisk's phone rang again. With a deep breath, Frisk brushed aside his fears and answered. "Chara, I -"
"Frisk! What the hell?!"
He whimpered. "I'm sorry, but I had to reset."
"Did you have to ditch us?! Did you have to hurt my brother?!"
"I… I'm sorry, Chara! I panicked, but I'm not far! I'm just down Ruins Street, towards the center of town."
Chara took a deep breath. "Okay… don't move, alright?"
"I won't. I'll explain everything when you get here."
"Yeah, you better." Chara hung up.
Frisk frowned and sat down on the sidewalk. He had really screwed up, hadn't he? How was he going to make it up to them?
A familiar voice called out to him. "Frisk? What are you doing?"
Frisk looked up and saw Agent Miller, looking down on him with a dumbfounded expression.
"Oh, if it isn't my stalker," Frisk quipped.
"It's my job," he countered. "Now, what's going on? Why are you so worked up?"
"I had to reset," Frisk quietly said. "A monster called Endogeny killed someone, so I reset to stop it from happening."
"Wait, a monster killed someone?" Miller asked. "Why?"
"They don't know any better," Frisk said. "They're not, uh, they're not really a normal monster; they're an amalgamate, multiple monsters fused together. Endogeny is a bunch of dog monsters; they think fighting is just play. It was an accident."
Miller scoffed. "Sounds like they belong in a mental hospital."
Frisk didn't like it, but perhaps he had a point there. He wasn't sure what had caused Endogeny to attack, but whatever the case, they had proved themselves to be very dangerous. It was possible that they really would need to be hospitalized when they sorted things out.
"Well, you should go home," Miller said. "This is a job for the Military Police, not some kid."
He shook his head. "No offense, but I don't trust you guys. How do I know you won't try to kill them again?"
"Oh, for the love of..." Miller sighed. "Frisk, I know it's hard for you to remember, but you're still just a kid. Leave this to the professionals."
Frisk laughed bitterly. "Are you serious?! You're giving me the 'You're just a kid' lecture? Could you be any more of a cardboard solider guy? Come on, I know you can do better than that. I saw you standing up to that General. You don't just accept orders without question."
Miller scowled, taking off his sunglasses to glare at him with his yellow eyes. "You don't know a thing about me."
Huh, a justice soul, Frisk noted. Until now, he had never seen Miller without his sunglasses, so he hadn't known. "You care about justice?" he asked. "Then let me make sure this doesn't go south. The human-monster situation is bad enough as is."
"Oh, fine," Miller said. "I suppose it never hurts to have the World Master on your side. Just don't do anything stupid."
"I could tell you the same thing," Frisk retorted.
Miller turned to face two figures approaching them. "So can they."
Frisk gulped. Chara and Asriel had caught up with him. Chara's red eyes glowed with anger. She quickly closed the distance shook her finger at him. "Don't. Ever. Do. That. Again."
Frisk frowned. "I'm so sorry."
"Do you have any idea what that was like?!" Chara yelled. "Do you have any idea what it's like to be ripped back in time without any warning? To know something terrible is about to happen, but no idea what? How could you leave us like that? Why, Frisk? Do you not trust me?!"
Frisk winced at the accusation. "Of course I trust you; I just didn't want to put you in danger."
"Oh, so I need to be protected?" Chara spat. "You think I'm too weak to help you?"
God, he really had messed up. He shook his head. "No! It's not like -"
Chara clenched her teeth like she was going to bite his arm off. "I will not stand idle while you play hero! I am done being a worthless voice in your head. You are not allowed to put yourself in danger without me. Is that clear?"
Frisk nodded. "C-crystal."
"Are you sure?" Asriel angrily asked. "It's hard to believe you when my severed vine feels like it's on fire."
Words couldn't express how sorry Frisk felt for that. He felt something sting his red eyes. "I… I know. I sh-shouldn't have l-left you like th-that. I should n-never have h-hurt Asriel. I'm s-so sorry!"
The fire in Chara's eyes died down, and she glanced at Asriel. "Umm, I think we may have overdone it," she said.
"Uh, yeah," Asriel agreed.
Chara gave Frisk a comforting smile and placed a hand on his shoulder. "Frisk, we're not that mad at you. I understand that you wished to keep us out of harm's way, but we wish to protect you as well."
Frisk wiped away his tears. "Th-thank you. I won't do it again; I promise."
Asriel rolled his eyes and smiled. "Yeah, yeah, crybaby. You're allowed to make a mistake every now and then. You don't have to be so damn perfect."
Chara smiled warmly "Even though you are." She wrapped her arms around Frisk and hugged him in a tender embrace. Frisk felt like a weight had been lifted from his chest. "You don't have to face this alone," she said. "You told me to stay with you, did you not?"
Frisk hugged Chara back. God, she was so amazing. "Y-yeah, I know you have my back. With you by my side, I feel like I can do anything."
She laughed. "Come on, Frisk. That's so cheesy, even for you."
He smiled. "Well, maybe not anything, but I certainly feel stronger with you around."
"Yeah, that's great," Asriel impatiently said, "but can you two please focus on the crazy dog amalgamate? Especially with that Miller guy here. He probably can't handle all this mushy stuff."
"I am a human being," Miller growled.
"Hey, it's alright," Flowey said. "You're not the only soulless person around here. We should start a fan club. The Soulless Fan Club. It's gotta be better than the Flowey Fan Club!"
Miller grunted. "I thought you were going to focus?"
"Uh, right," Frisk said. He took a deep breath as he prepared to deliver the horrible news. He brought Chara and Asriel close and talked as quietly as possible. "It was Endogeny. They… killed someone."
Chara's red eyes widened. "They... killed someone?"
"Huh, interesting," Asriel said.
Chara grimaced. "Don't tell me... they were 'playing,' were they not?"
Frisk nodded. "Yeah, I didn't see how it started, but yes, Endogeny was 'playing' with some human kid. And when he died, his soul… everyone saw it."
"What were they doing on the street?" Chara asked. "Who let them out?"
"Yeah, who let the dogs out?" Asriel asked.
For obvious reasons, the amalgamates seldom walked the streets. Normal monsters were hard enough for humans to get used to; the amalgamates and their hideously deformed bodies would have caused panic everywhere they went. It didn't help that they were not mentally stable. Over a dozen minds crammed into one body caused problems. If pushed, an amalgamate could forget who they once were and turn aggressive. For these reasons, the amalgamates were generally confined to their homes where they were taken care of by their families. Frisk recalled that Endogeny in particular was under the care of Dogamy and Dogaressa.
"We'll start with the Dogi couple," Frisk said. "They're the ones taking care of them. We'll see if they know anything."
Chara nodded. "Agreed. We have two hours, correct? Let us make haste."
They started jogging at a steady pace towards the Dogi residence. If they were too late, Frisk could probably reset again, but that was no excuse to rest easy. They had to try their best to resolve it the first time, and they had spent too much time chatting. They moved quickly.
"There's one other thing I don't understand," Frisk said as they ran. "Before I reset, the police shot Endogeny, but they weren't hurt at all. Why is that?"
"Must have something to do with all the DT," Chara guessed. "While Melty may have died easily, the amalgamates are quite different. Perhaps it's because the amalgamates lack physical mass, not unlike an incorporeal monster such as Napstablook or Mad Dummy."
"Ah, that makes sense," Frisk agreed. He closed his eyes and smiled. "But, umm, how did the monsters lose again?"
"Don't even get me started on that one," Asriel mumbled. "Seriously, where was Sans during the war?"
"The humans had more mages back then," Chara explained. "Ghosts may be immune to physical attacks, but not magical ones. Back when human mages were more common, not even the ghosts were a serious threat."
"All the magicians in the world wouldn't have mattered against him," Asriel muttered.
"Of course, human mages still exist," Chara said, "but they are far less common these days. While monsters are naturally attuned to magic, humans have to train themselves to use it. Now that they have modern technology, fewer humans are motivated to learn it. If another war were to break out, ghosts might overwhelm the humans. I don't see how the humans would be able to stop the ghosts from acquiring souls."
Frisk's head dropped down. It seemed like every day, he was being reminded how incredibly dangerous monsters were. Like Malcom had said, could a monster with seven souls kill another monster with seven souls? What exactly would happen if two such monsters clashed? Would one overpower the other, or would it be a tie? Or, could a monster become even more powerful by claiming more than seven souls?
Eh, unlikely. Seven appeared to be some kind of magic number in the world of DT. Seven magicians sealed the barrier, and seven souls allowed a monster to become godlike. Indeed, how could infinity be surpassed? What happened when two infinite forces collided? Frisk had no idea.
Chara frowned. "Do you understand why I'm afraid?" she asked. "I may have hated humanity, but that is not why I wanted to destroy them. The two races are simply too dangerous to coexist. As long as both humans and monsters exist, the potential to destroy the world exists. I'm still afraid of that; I'm still afraid that it'll eventually come down to humans or monsters."
What could Frisk say to cheer her up? She was right; as long as both races existed, the threat of soul absorption existed. It seemed like an unsolvable problem. Humans and monsters could try to prevent it all they wanted, but the only absolute solution was the elimination of one race.
"Well, it hasn't happened yet," Frisk said.
"Yeah," Chara replied. "It hasn't happened yet, even though it wouldn't be difficult at all. It really goes to show how kind monsters truly are, but will it always be that way? A single bad monster is all it could take."
"... they'll find a cure," Frisk said.
"And if they don't?" Chara asked.
"They will."
She gave him a sad smile. "Well, I suppose we can worry about that later. For now, let us focus on the task at hand."
He nodded. "Yeah."
Trying to ignore the growing dread in their minds, they continued running towards the home of Dogamy and Dogaressa.
