AN: Happy New Year my lovely readers. I wish you a great new year. I hope to have more consistency with updates this year compared to last year. Anyways it's time for a crazy chapter and just know if you are questioning stuff that happens, good I want you to be a bit confused. Enjoy
Chapter Twelve: Patience Worn Thin
(Asriel POV)
I can't wait for six more days. I need to find Chara. She is my best friend and needs help. I know she is capable, but I can't help but worry. Currently I was sitting outside the operation room in Chara's Lab. I had contacted Undyne and Alphys about what had happened and why I looked panicked when going by their house. Alphys then commented that she had some scientific background and might possibly figure out what had happened with the girl. Of course, Dad overheard the comment and took my phone and told her to come to the lab. Undyne looked pissed when they arrived, probably mad at being told what to do by Dad. She was waiting next to me, but she was asleep. We have been waiting for around ten hours for them to exit the room and it was currently midnight.
Ten minutes later, Alphys comes out looking entirely exhausted. She sits next to Undyne and gives me a small smile.
"I think the girl is fine. Ugh, that took forever. I'll tell you more when I wake up. The King is currently talking to her, so you might want to go in now." Alphys tells me before laying her head on Undyne and passing out from exhaustion. I stand up and go in. I took a nap for five hours and wasn't tired and had the energy to deal with the situation in the room.
"Howdy." I say as I enter and close the door behind me. Dad gives a small smile to me and the girl tilts her head in confusion.
"You look familiar. Who are you?" The girl asks me twirling her hair.
"Asriel Dreemurr, Prince of the Underground and soon to be Captain of the Royal Guard. And who might you be?" I respond and Dad looks at me in confusion at the Captain part.
"Gerson said he was going to give me the title. I'm not sure when it goes into effect." I tell him before he can ask the question I knew he was about to ask.
"I am Penny. No title to be given, unless you want to include former puppet of DAMC." The girl tells us and looks at her hands with terror in her eyes. She must barely remember what happened earlier the previous day. Wait, where was Papyrus?
"Where's Papyrus?" I say worriedly to Dad and he points to a curtain at the other half of the room.
"Alphys spent more time helping stabilize him then removing the corruption in Penny's soul. And no one has been able to contact Sans for some reason. And Alphys said the only way to make sure he didn't Fall Down was to replace his destroyed bones with robotics." Dad told me and I looked down in sorrow. I knew he was going to probably live, but at what cost? Half of his entire body.
"That was my fault, wasn't it?" Penny says getting up from the operating chair she was on and started to head to Papyrus, "I need to at least apologize."
She opened the curtain and immediately behind her. I guess she wanted to apologize in private. Me and Dad both wait in silence for around a minute before Penny comes back out in tears.
"Why did this have to happen?" She cried and I bend down to her and give her a hug for comfort.
"It's not your fault. No one can control their destiny. I know. I have tried." Dad told her looking down. This room was filled with negative emotions and it is very tangible.
"What is your name, sir? If Asriel is the prince, are you the King of Monsters?" Penny asked wiping her face of tears and Dad nodded.
"King Asgore Dreemurr. Sorry I didn't introduce myself as soon as you awakened." Dad answered and Penny looked at him in shock.
"Asgore Dreemurr? I think I remember that name when I learned about the Human-Monster War." Penny said sitting back down on the operation chair.
"Really? I thought humans would have tried to get rid of the evidence that we existed. If I may ask, what did they teach you?" Asgore asked kindly and Penny nodded before starting to explain and I tuned out a little bit and thought about how CHara was doing. But my attention was brought back with one thing she said.
"Diana Daro died four years ago. Everyone was surprised as she had somehow lived over a millenia, but when she died her two children disappeared. I believe their names were Adam and Artemis." Penny told Dad and I look at her with surprise in my eyes.
"If I may interject. I wasn't listening the whole time, but Adam and Artemis you said their names were?" I say and Penny nods and Dad looks at me with the same surprise I had when I realized.
"Clover's been here for around three years. Well, Adam and Artemis have been here for four months less than her." I say and Penny tilts her head in confusion.
"The Daro Twins? Are here? Are you sure they are the Daro twins?" Penny asks rapidly.
"I am sure that they are the children of my best friend." Dad answers and I don't know what to say after that response. Dad's best friend was a human and not Gerson? I didn't know what to make of that. He did hide much from before monsters were imprisoned.
"Ok." Penny says probably not expecting the best friend comment either.
"Penny, since there is no way for you to return home would you like to stay with me and my wife?" Dad asks and I scoff at that. I may not have seen it before, but Dad is trying to adopt every human that has fallen down. Like he has something to repent for with humans and would do so by taking care of the young.
"I… uh. I'm not sure. I don't really want to be adopted. I was kidnapped in front of my family's eyes and to stay with another family that seems that they adopt others, no thanks. Is there anywhere else for me to stay?" Penny responds and Dad is about to retort before I speak up.
"I'll help you find a place to stay if staying with my Mom and Dad is uncomfortable for you. Before that, may I have a word with my Dad in private? You can wait out in the hall. Just don't wake up the two sleeping monsters out there." I tell Penny and she nods and leaves the room as I turn to face Dad.
"You have some nerve! She is not an amnesiac, like Adam and Artemis, or looked like she was abused, like Clover and Chara. You didn't care that she had different thoughts and experiences to my 'adopted' siblings. And you were about to argue back her point. Not everyone wants to live with a king. Why do you think I fucking moved out!?" I yell at Dad and he glares at me.
"It is to keep the humans safe. You don't know what monsters would happily try to kill a human to take their soul for power." Dad calmly answered back without batting an eye.
"Distrust for your own people? And don't you trust the Royal Guard to keep an eye on her and for the monsters who take her in to defend her?! You may have been King of Monsters for a millenia, but you haven't interacted with a human for many years before Chara fell. You don't know everything and you aren't correct in every situation. I am going to take Penny to find a caring home for until we break the barrier. After all, I've read Chara's diary and know that seven human souls are needed to break the barrier. She wrote down that she confirmed it with you. So if you think I'm going to let you 'adopt' seven humans and then use them to break the barrier, I won't let you. I remember you saying when I was young that all life was precious, even human life. So why are you trying to use souls for your own benefit?!" I basically screech at my Dad, without giving him a chance to counteract any of my points.
"It's for the benefit of monsterkind. I promised the day that we were sealed here that I would do anything to ensure our freedom. I know that it is wrong, but Toriel and Gerson both agreed to help me with ensuring our freedom. We are over halfway to our freedom, Asriel! I will regret killing the children, especially Adam and Artemis, but a ruler must make sacrifices." Dad, no Asgore, told me. He no longer deserved the title of father.
"Now I am going to convince Penny that she needs to stay with us." Asgore says reaching for the door but I put up a flame wall in the room trapping us in. I make sure Papyrus is outside of the area so he can recover.
"Asriel! It's for the good of our people!" Dad shouted at me with rage in his eyes.
"Why are you acting like this? Does Chara's life mean nothing?! Is this why you sent Red after Chara, to make sure you had her soul available to use? I've never seen you act like this, but if you continue like this, I will no longer consider you my father." I say as I pull out my usual sword, but also my magic creates a flaming hammer above me which I grab with my left hand and my sword is in my right hand. Asgore summons his Crimson Trident and launches himself at me. I use my hammer to block his strike and try to strike with my sword, but he jumps back.
Then Asgore sends waves of flames at me that I absorb with my flaming hammer and send back at him and he is able to dodge everything. I know I won't be able to hit him as he has been fighting for more than I have been around. I just need to buy time for Undyne and Alphys to take Penny to safety. I put magic into my voice so it will reach the three outside.
"Undyne and Alphys. I need you to take Penny and run. Asgore wants to kill her for her soul to eventually break the barrier. I'll hold him off, just go somewhere that he won't follow." I shout out before getting hit with a fireball to the back and fall down. The same spot where I was injured in my fight with Gerson. Still not healed fully.
"She won't leave. And if those two harbor her, they may not live in my kingdom any longer." Dad said looking down at me and I scoff.
"Who would want to live in a kingdom you run? You don't care for human life. Wasn't your best friend a human? Diana Daro, right?" I taunt him as I stand back up and I see a storm cloud form above Asgore and he is hit with lightning and falls to his knees.
"What was that?" He questions as he stares up at me. I shake my head and see as Papyrus steps through the wall of flames. When did he wake up?
"Sorry King Fluffybuns. But I couldn't help but overhear. Asriel, leave. I'll hold him off while you go catch up to your friends. And tell Penny that I forgive her." Papyrus says and I nod as I run off after Undyne, Alphys and Penny. I just hope that Papyrus doesn't get hurt.
(Papyrus POV)
I had woken up when I heard Asriel start talking to Penny and the King. I pretended to sleep and heard Penny's heartfelt apology. I knew that it wasn't her fault and forgave her in my soul. Then hearing Asriel and Asgore talk in private. I knew I would have to do something. I may have been a bit younger than Asriel, but it's not like I couldn't fight. I knew as soon as Asriel got hurt that I needed to do something. I tried summoning a bone sword, but instead a storm cloud appeared above the king and lightning struck the boss monster.
I had Asriel leave. I didn't agree with killing, but I knew Asriel needed to protect Penny.
"Why are you doing this?" I shouted at my king who glared at me.
"This is for all of you! I promised her that humans would never win. The war is not over." Asgore says before throwing his trident at me and I barely dodge it and it is lodged into the wall.
"I should have never told Chara about the requirement to break the barrier. She suspected but I confirmed it. If I didn't tell her than no one would have fought back." Asgore says not even looking at me.
"You are not acting like the king that monsters love. No monster wants anymore war. I don't. Sans doesn't. And everyone else too. And don't you love Clover? Or Chara? Or the twins?" I say with a lot of anger held inside of me.
"Of course I love them. That's what makes it hard. I don't want to do it, but I can't go back on my word. I have to. The Goddess of Monsters commanded it of me. And I promised that I would. Free monsters and reclaim the surface." Asgore says before surrounding me with a circle of fire. I try to use my magic and suddenly lightning comes from nowhere, getting rid of the fire.
My magic is severely acting up. This isn't my bone magic. Is an important part of my life coming soon? Is it right now?
"You're acting crazy, my king. No one has seen the Goddess of Monsters since the time of Queen Hestia." I say trying to talk some reason into him.
"I don't need to tell you when I met her. Now, it's time for you to shutdown." Asgore said before a fireball hit me in my back and I instantly lost consciousness. My last thought before going to sleep was that I now knew where my power source was and it was hit by the fireball.
(Asriel POV)
I quickly caught up with the three I told to run as they were hiding behind an empty sentry station in the middle of Hotland.
"Howdy." I greet the three as Penny eats a Hotdog that was left there and looks at me with happiness.
"What happened with Asgore?" Undyne asks glaring at me, probably for waking her up.
"Papyrus decided to hold him off, so I could catch up with you. By the way, I saw you guys duck behind this station and only Undyne acted sneaky about it." I told them and Alphys snorted.
"I'm not that stealthy. And did Asgore tell anyone to find us yet?" Alphys asked as I hear the loudspeakers spread throughout Hotland turn on.
"Attention all monsters! Prince Asriel Dreemurr has been exiled and if he is seen anywhere in our Kingdom than permission is given to capture him. Alive or Dead. This statement comes directly from our King. Along with the prince are three accomplices. A female human child, a Sea Wraith and a Yellow Dinosaur monster. And for more fuel to find them, the broadcasting station has been told that the two monster accomplices are Outsiders. Do not try to apprehend the subjects as the Sea Wraith and Prince are extremely strong. If you spot them, contact the Royal Guard or someone daring enough to go after them. This ends our broadcast." The broadcast stated before going offline.
"There's your answer. Where did you think to go?" Penny asks me and I scratch my right horn in frustration. I didn't know Dad would take it this far. He told me how he was exiled as a teenager and how he promised never to do it to me. Liar.
"We can't remain in the Dreemurr Kingdom. And the Outsider's Kingdom has a crazy queen in my mother." Undyne says before looking to see if the coast was clear in the area.
"The Outsider's realm. We need to find Chara to keep her safe and find Red. We can't stay here and we'll also be in danger there. But I know at least in the Outsider's Kingdom, we at least have a chance of overthrowing Queen Naia." I explain and Alphys and Penny nods as Undyne bends back down.
"Two things. First, the coast is clear. Secondly, what do you mean by my mother will be easier to overthrow? She is a fucking menace with most of the people doing anything she asks. How do you think we can overthrow her and not Asgore? At least the people around here don't obey his every whim." Undyne questioned me as she crushed a ketchup bottle. Wait ketchup bottle? This was Sans' station. He took the sentry position around the same time that Chara turned into a hybrid. I needed to give him a call before we left.
"We're heading there Undyne. Unless you want the king to capture us? And before we head out, I need to make a phone call to Papyrus' brother." I tell them and Undyne sighs in resignation before she grabs Alphys up and they stand outside our sentry station to stand guard. Penny stays next to me and looks downtrodden about me calling Papyrus' brother. Can't blame her, she was forced to attack Papyrus.
"Come on. Pick up Sans. No one has reached you all day, but I need you to answer." I say as the phone rings and in a minute it stops and I am about to put it away until I hear Sans' voice.
"heya." I hear the skeleton's voice say as he picks up.
"Sans. Where are you?" I ask worriedly and he sighs.
"how many voicemails have I got asking the same thing? but I did just hear that broadcast on the Undernet and i don't feel like capturing you. i'm at Old Home. now let me ask you something, what happened to Papyrus after i ran off? i hear that as soon as i left a human nearly killed him. is that human with you?" Sans asked and I sighed.
"Long story short. She was not in control of her actions as her soul was corrupted. And Papyrus is now basically a half cyborg, but when he saved me from Asgore he looked fine." I told him as fast as I could as I heard Undyne start summoning spears and heard electricity crackle as well. We were out of time.
"Sans I need you to promise me something. I need you to lock the doors to allow people outside in. I, as Prince Dreemurr, give Sans the Skeleton the permission to close of the doors of Old Home to everyone outside of it, including the two monarchs and excluding Prince Dreemurr, so that only Prince Dreemurr and Sans the Skeleton will be able to open the door to Old Home. That will give you permission to close it off. I need you to promise to look after any human that falls into the Ruins. Can you do that?" I say over the phone.
I knew the exact words needed to give people permission to do stuff only the royals could. I also found out through Red that as a prince that I could limit things the monarchs could do with their power. Apparently she said I could only limit it three times, but it would work. And I looked it up in the Snowdin Librarby, they misspelled the sign, and in a book from Queen Hestia's time, author unknown, it confirmed this and also said that an exiled prince or princess could limit the powers only once.
"will Papyrus be fine with me closing off Old Home to him as well? i'm fine with doing the door closing and I'll look after human children. those are fine with me and i promise to do those. but Papyrus is very important to me." Sans says and I am about to respond when I hear the broadcast come on again and I hear an all too familiar voice that I hate.
"Ladies and Gentlemonsters. I am Baron, the school rival of the now exiled prince and up and coming scientist. The king has hired me to replace the old royal scientist and my first project was building a half monster half robot. I call him PYTN-5000. Or the Papyton 5000. It is a half skeleton, half robot. And it is now being used to hunt down the exiles. Don't get in it's way. That's all the news that Baron Raven, the Royal Scientist, has for you. Goodbye my loving people." I hear the ear destroying voice say. I hated that kid and he always had a thing out for Chara and always hated her. Now he had her job. And that cyborg sounded like…
"that Baron person just said he created the cyborg version of Papyrus. i doubt Papy would willingly help him, but if my science knowledge is even close to good, he reprogrammed Papyrus. how much of Papyrus was robot?" Sans asks me and I try to remember.
"Over half, at least." I tell him as I summon my sword, preparing to fight as soon as I'm done with Sans.
"his robotic programming must have been overwritten. if over half of him is robot, and including part of the container of his soul, then he has to obey his programming. how long ago did you see Papyrus?" Sans asks me and I think it was around twenty minutes ago and tell him that.
"that Baron Raven guy at least needed ten minutes to reprogram it. i doubt he was there when you left, but how did he get there so fast?" Sans informs me and just as I am about to answer, a stray fire attack hits the station and I pull Penny away from it and see a Pyrope, Vulkin, Tsunderplane and Temmie fighting Undyne and Alphys.
"He always goes to the lab to try and convince Chara to quit around midnight and an hour later, and ten other times throughout the day. He's been doing so for months. And he must have convinced Asgore to let him change Papyrus. Sans I need to go now. Keep your promises and lock that door as soon as possible. I'll see you eventually." I say before putting my phone in my pocket and fireballing all the monsters who attacked us, knocking them down. Undyne decides to put them in a cage of spears.
"Stay." Undyne says pointing a spear at them before picking up Alphys and Penny and running. I am able to keep up with her. We are able to run to the guard station that protects the route to the Hotland Borders. No one is there at the time. I guess they wanted to find us for the king and recognition and didn't know we were headed this way. As we ran I prayed that the chaos of my home kingdom would soon die down. I would come back one day and challenge Asgore for the throne.
(Clover POV)
I growled as a Royal Guard had woken me and my siblings up around midnight and was now escorting us through the city. Soon we arrived at the prison with Mom at the entrance. She looked guilty about something. I just couldn't figure out what.
"Mom, what's the matter?" I ask her as she looks at me with guilt in her eyes. But for what though?
"Queen, I brought them here like you said. Which cell do you want them in?" The Guard says and panic fills my eyes. What was going on here? I don't have time to react as a Guard grabs my shoulder, but I feel surges of electricity surge through me and blasts him away and I glare at Mom.
"Explain!" I shout with extreme anger aimed at Mom. Why are we being put into cells?
"We need human souls to be free." Mom says bluntly without emotion. She wanted to use us!
"And you are planning on using us?! Did you ever actually love us?" I shout with tears in my eyes.
"Yes and it does pain me to do this. I love you children, but your father, Gerson and myself had promised the Goddess of Monsters, Leya, to do anything to free monsters. And this is our decision on what to do." Mom told us and I shake my head in disbelief.
"Watch out." I hear Artemis shout before jumping on me before a fireball could hit me.
"As Queen my duty is to monsters. I will say this once, go in willingly or by force. Choose." Mom, no she was never my Mom. My first Mom abused and hated me and Toriel is trying to use me for her own benefit.
"No." We all say at the same time before Toriel sighs and encircles me and Adam in fire, but Artemis dodges out of the way.
"I'll deal with Artemis. Escort those two to the lowest cells." Toriel says before two Guards grab me and Adam out of the fire and drag us into the jail. The last I see of Artemis is her holding a glistening bow aimed at Toriel. Artemis better free us.
(Chara/Artemis POV)
What happened to this world's Toriel? In my world, she would never order the capture of human children. This all felt wrong and that I needed to do something. Even if I came here just to cause a bit of chaos and get my toys back, I felt Artemis' soul obligating me to help her siblings. I see Toriel prepare a fire circle and I am about to shout warning, but I feel myself faint.
I look around in the darkness of my mind and see Artemis' soul. Even though I took over her body the soul look unaffected. But how? Everyone I had ever taken over has had their soul corrupted when being taken over. But she was only a regular cyan soul. Her best trait was patience. I had taken over the patience child from my world and her soul lost itself within seconds. The only other soul that ever resisted was the Frisk of my world.
"So, you are the one who has taken over my daughter?" A voice resounds in the dark and I look around for the voice.
"So what if I am?" I shout out pulling out a knife for self defense.
"Peace child. I am here to talk with you. I even froze time when you fainted so no one would notice." The voice says and I still clutch my knife.
"Show yourself!" I shout out and the voice sighs before a woman appears next to Artemis' soul. She looked like a taller Artemis, but had silver hair and a scar running across her face. And she was holding a staff. Was she able to perform magic?
"I am Diana Daro. In the outside world I died when my children were only four. But I hid a part of my soul in theirs when I felt my soul start to break. That's why my daughter was not corrupted by you. But I can see the turmoil in your eyes. The conflict you have gone through. But why do you seek to cause more?" The woman said staring straight into my eyes and I look down. I did this because I had no choice. The LOVE Frisk gained corrupted me and my thoughts. I knew this to be true, but I still decided to follow the corruption. But wait didn't I corrupt Frisk? Ugh, this made me confused.
"I can tell that you regret it," Diana told me with a small smile, "If you do regret it, then I will grant you something. Something that you won't be able to use for corruption."
I struggle with the choice. Did I regret it? I could barely remember much from before the first Genocide. All I remember was the names of the Dreemurr family and their relation to me and their importance.
I… think I regretted it. I fall to my knees as I think that. I feel my memories come back to me. I. Never wanted this. I start to cry as I start remembering. I killed my own family so many times with no regrets. I thought my only purpose was death and destruction.
"I'm sorry." I say with tears in my eyes and Diana gives me a hug.
"I'm a bit glad you tried to possess Artemis. The part of my soul in her was the part of me that could use magics. Mainly healing magic. I have healed many of LOVE corrupted souls during the war. And I think you were the worst case I have ever seen. But a seven year old, not including how long you have been around after death." Diana says pulling away from me.
"You came to this world for selfish purposes, but I think you'll stay to atone for those reasons." Diana says and I nod sadly. I hated myself for what I did to others. I killed. I tortured. I commited genocide many times.
"I will allow you to stay in my daughter's body. But you and Artemis must share it together. You must work together to use the body. And the gift I spoke of. There is a reason Artemis was my name for my daughter." Diana says before the cyan soul drifts to me as my red soul exits my body and meets it and they combine. I feel myself fade back to the real world. I look around and see Adam and Clover surrounded by circles of fire, but I wasn't. I am still readjusting to being back and I can't do anything to prevent my siblings from being taken away. Wait did I say mine?
"We share a consciousness now, Chara. We both share thoughts and feelings. Just go along with saying stuff that I would say and you wouldn't. Oh and duck." I hear a young girl's voice say and my head and I barely duck as a fireball soars past my head. It came from Toriel, who looked tired and guilty. I try to run after Adam and Clover, but a pillar of fire comes from the ground. I try to use my magic to summon the knives I am used to. Instead I summon a silver bow. Artemis. God of the Hunt. The bow is Diana's gift. I've used a bow once or twice and have thrown knives before. I can work with this.
I pull the bowstring back and let our magic form a silver arrow. I let it loose and Toriel barely dodges it. She looks shocked that I summoned the bow, but I don't let her reaction stop me from unleashing a barrage of arrows, probably ten find their way into Toriel. We notice more guards emerge from the jail and we decided to run, leaving Toriel behind. We didn't know if she would be fine or not. I start running as fast as possible through New Home and reach the CORE soon enough. As I exit the CORE I see Asriel and Undyne run the direction of Hotland's Borders. We decided not to go after them and sneakily headed to Old Home to hide. I was able to make it through Hotland with no trouble and Waterfall the same, but as I reached Snowdin I heard a broadcast come on.
"A third broadcast has been put out today. Baron Raven once again. And news has just gotten out that the three human children attacked and nearly killed the Queen. Two have been caught, but a third one has escaped. She was last seen nearby Waterfall and heading to Snowdin. Her name is Artemis and was adopted by the Queen, whose trust she betrayed. Along with the exile and his accomplices, this human is the King's most wanted. Seeya later and this has been your great new Royal Scientist." I hear originate inside Grillby's and hear a rush of feet run to the direction of Waterfall. As I hear the sound die down, I decide to continue west towards Old Home and get out of the barrel at the back of Grillby's I was hiding in. I barely make it five steps before a bear monster sees me and runs towards me. I try to run but the bear monster catches up and pins me to the side of Grillby's restaurant.
"Let…me… go." I say gasping for breath as he was holding me by our neck.
"Perfect opportunity for me to get revenge on a human. It might not be Clover herself, but this is good enough. Prepare to die." The bear says as his other paw's claws get covered in ice but we hear small footsteps approach and he is knocked out and slumps to the ground. I look to see who saved me and it was the Dog Unit of the Royal Guard. What, did they want to capture us for themselves?
"We come in peace." Doggo says putting his hands in the air, thinking to know immediately my assumption.
"When we heard Asriel was exiled three hours ago, we got very suspicious as earlier today we had helped him catch that corrupted human." Dogamy says putting his head on his axe and Dogaressa nods in agreement.
"Supposedly she was cured after being captured. But can you tell us what really happened with the Queen? We don't really trust that Baron Raven guy, based on Doggo's experiences with him in school." Dogaressa says and I explain what happened to us, leaving out the part where me and Artemis had that blackout moment. Over the time it took me to explain, Lesser Dog and Greater Dog had knocked out five monsters who tried to attack me.
"Seven human souls you say?" Doggo says trying to take in the information.
"I say that their method of trying to get the souls is horrendous. Especially considering that they are our rulers." Dogaressa exclaims, shaking her head at the information.
"I think that we should protect you," Dogamy says and the other dogs nod in agreement, "Where are you planning on hiding out?"
"Old Home." We say and they look at me like I'm dumb.
"Well let's just hope that the door was left open when we left yesterday." Doggo sighs and I look at him in confusion.
"Only those with Royal Blood can open that door. Otherwise it is sealed off. If I remember from Asriel telling me when we were at the lab, then he left the door open on accident today. He said he was gonna go back in the morning to close it, but now I'm taking a guess that he can't. It's worth a shot." Dogamy explains to me and we nod. The dogs then lead me out of town through a path not normally used. They didn't want to use the main path as it would draw too much attention. We didn't talk much on the way there except when they would point out a danger ahead or to tell where to go. It took much longer than the normal way to reach the door, but three hours later we had reached the door. As we approached it we noticed a figure closing the door. The closer we got the more I could tell who it was.
"Sans! Don't close the door yet." I shout out as I sprint ahead to the door and see Sans look at me with relief.
"you're safe. i heard the broadcast on the Undernet and decided to wait until around now to close the door, like i promised the prince i would do. i'm glad i waited, but why are the Canines with you? shouldn't they have captured you?" Sans asks us and I shake my head.
"They're the reason I am here. They saved me from a bearlike monster who tried to kill me and they didn't trust the broadcast as they said they had been with Asriel earlier in the day and he didn't do anything worth exiling for. I don't think everyone is gonna be out to get me." I tell the short skeleton, who nods and signals the dogs over.
"are you five gonna stay here in Old Home, or were you just transporting her? and if you stay then you must denounce the Royal Guard." Sans says and we think that it's a fine question and fine reasoning.
"I denounce the Royal Guard as they have not followed the code to protect others above following the Royal's orders." Doggo, Dogaressa and Dogamy say at the same time with hands over the Delta Rune on their uniform. Lesser Dog and Greater Dog do so in yips and I am able to understand that they said the same thing.
"Nice to know that we have seven traitors all in one place. Papyton, capture them." I hear Baron say as he jumps down from a tree. The dogs all rush behind the door and I stand next to Sans, who is looking shocked at his cyborg brother.
"Sans, we need to close the door before they can get us." I screech in his ears and push him to the Old Home side of the door and I start pulling, but it was way to heavy for me to move alone. The dogs notice my struggle and come to help and still it is closing slow enough for Papyton to reach us before it closes.
"Sans! Your brother would want you to keep us safe and out of his clutches!" I yell at him and that seems to break Sans out of his stupor as he pulls out his right hand and the door is suddenly surrounded by a blue aura and slams shut. Sans sighs as he leans against the door.
"I needed that. My brother, he's being forced by that raven monster to do whatever they want. I just needed to remember that he wasn't in control of his own actions." Sans explains to me and we nod in understanding. I couldn't imagine the emotions he was going through just then.
"You stupid cyborg!" I heard Baron yell at Papyton as the door shakes a little bit, "Only the royals can open that door after its closure. Luckily the king is but ten minutes away. Hear that traitors, you may have stalled your capture, but it is inevitable." Baron laughs maniacally and I roll my eyes at his blatant craziness. I had dealt with crazier beings than him. Our group of seven decides to wait for that time to arrive so that we could fight back. And sure enough in ten minutes Asgore arrives.
"So they closed the door, correct Mr. Raven?" I hear Asgore ask the crazy raven.
"Yes. It was the Artemis girl, the skeleton that you had me try to call earlier but wouldn't answer, and the Dog Unit of the Royal Guard. Seven traitors that will soon say adios to freedom." Baron answers the king and I roll my eyes at his pronunciation of a simple spanish word. U-de-oz was how he said it. That was horrendous. It was Ah-de-os
"The human is the only traitor. The others will be untouched. The only monster you were allowed to use for experiments was Papyrus, as he attacked me to protect the exiled prince. Now I will open this door and will have Papyton look for them." Asgore told the monster before the door glowed red and a shake in the ground occured. Then the door returned to normal and wasn't moved.
"The exile seems to have removed my ability to open the door. He wasted his one limitation of an exile on this. He could have done anything else, but he used it to protect Old Home. We can not enter unless it is opened from the inside. Come with me Mr. Raven, I must check on my wife and figure out what to do about this door." Asgore said before they all started walking away and everyone put their weapons away.
"let's go rest. i cleaned up the Dreemurr's old home, so we can rest there. and before you ask, no cameras are in this place. Chara put up the cameras and didn't get to here yet." Sans told us and the dogs yawned before running back to the place that Artemis had the first memory of calling home.
"i can carry you. it's nearly seven in the morning. and it must have taken you a while to get here. when you wake up, we'll talk about what we're going to do." Sans said and suddenly I feel all of my adrenaline go away. We really wanted sleep and I passed out in Sans' arms.
(Ralsei POV)
We had been in this corridor for nearly fifteen hours. We had been walking for ten of those. And yet we had found no end. It didn't make sense. It never felt like we had been going anywhere, yet like we had travelled everywhere.
Currently Noelle and Lancer were asleep next to me against the stone wall. I had only just woken up and was thinking about logical ways to get out of here. So far none had come to me. For what feels like forever I sit with no one to talk to in complete darkness. Which also made no sense as I could usually see perfectly in the dark, but not here apparently. But why?
"Ah three heroes in this corridor. Must be my lucky day." I hear a voice emanate from nowhere, but everywhere.
"Who are you?!" I shout out summoning a flame to try and see where the voice was from. I hold it out in front of me for a minute but see nothing.
"I am the darkness. I am the creator. But if you want a name and a face to go with it." The voice says as suddenly all the darkness goes away, leaving just a white room and me, Lancer and Noelle who had woken up when the room turned white.
"Ralsei. Where are we?" Noelle yawns the question out as she stands up and Lancer starts running around in the white room trying to find the walls.
"You three stumbled across my realm from the Crystal Cavern. I hid the entrance to my realm there as no one would try to find the God of Darkness' realm in a room filled with light. So that's exactly what I did. I am Ateno and the world's soon to be ruler." The voice says and Noelle pulls out her dual Staffs and Lancer prepares to summon magic attacks as I start summoning fire around me.
"Like heck we'll let you rule the world." Lancer shouts at the voice which responds by snorting.
"Heck? Wow they don't let you say hell. You are a kid who pretends to be a hero and is not deserving to be a king. Even if you are 18, you don't act mature and always fall back on your friends." The voice taunts Lancer who looks deeply hurt by those words and looks down in shame.
"Why are you hurting his feelings?" Noelle questions the voice as she starts shooting ice attacks into the white room and hitting nothing.
"And why do you think you have any? You say that you love your family and Susie, but all you ever wanted was recognition and to not be a wimp. But you have not accomplished either. Ask yourself this, does anyone truly love you?" Ateno says and Noelle also looks down in shame at their words. He was using their thoughts and feeling against us and making us feel horrible about stuff, but why?
"Ralsei, the lonely prince. Born from the Dark Fountain of your Dark World. Claims to be a prince, but has no relations to royals. Tell me, why lie blatantly to your friends about being a prince of the dark? As far as I know, I have no prince. And you would be a princess, not a prince." Ateno taunts me and I feel nothing from his words. I lied to protect them and to keep the real prince, Lancer, out of danger. If he thinks that he can make darkness grow in my heart, than he is wrong.
"I won't succumb to the negativity you want me to. God of Darkness, right? You want the darkness in my heart to grow so you can make me obey you. Isn't that right?" I growl at the voice who laughs at me.
"But of course. You may not have given in, but can your friends say the same? My dark servants, capture Ralsei." The voice echoes in the room and I look at my friends and see their tears from the words he said go away and their eyes go dark and their bodies all turn to black. They had succumbed to darkness.
"Noelle! Lancer! You need to break free. His words should not have affected you so much. You are determined by both the good and bad you have." I try to reason with my friends but they lunge at me and I quickly dodge.
"Enough!" I shout before entrapping the dark versions of my friends in cages of fire. They try to break free, but aren't able to.
"My friends are not your puppets! Release them before I…" I start to say before I feel something grab my throat. It was a hand and it looked human.
"If you won't succumb to darkness, then you will be bait for your friends to come to their deaths. And you won't awaken until they arrive in my castle. And my predictions is you'll be asleep for five to six years." Ateno says and I look up to see my captor. His face looked identical to a human's, had hair down to his lower back that was pitch black and his torso kept glitching. He also had no legs and was just floating in the air.
"Get a good look at me. As it's the last thing you'll see for years!" Ateno shouts before I see him and my friends disappears and I am left in a room of complete darkness. Did he leave me or did he put me to sleep? Either way I sigh as I lay on the floor and wait for the day that I am rescued. I just hoped that my friends would figure out that I was gone.
(Ateno POV)
I laughed as the female boss monster fell to the floor after my dark aura engrossed her. I knew that she would be the perfect bait to draw in and eventually kill Kris, Susie, Chara and Asriel. They were my biggest threat, especially if they found the Legendary Artifact.
I knew that it was hidden from even my view and would give whoever found it great power that was only known to the universe's creators. Me, Leya and an entity by the name of Toby. But I know that Leya and I had never seen its power, only knew of the power it could unleash.
I searched for years but it always escaped my grasp. But to rescue Ralsei they needed the power of the Legendary Artifact. It was the third of the three Universal treasures. My sister's Crimson Key, which now belonged to Asgore, my Nightgem, which would give limited control of my powers to the user and currently belonged to Queen Naia, and the Legendary Artifact's owner and location was unknown. But soon it would be mine. But for now I would content myself with influencing the DAMC and sprucing up my castle.
"My dark servants. I need you to clean up this castle that we are in and no leaving the castle. Once a day you will check in on the prisoner and then report to me three times a day. Dismissed." I order the two corrupted heroes who bow before leaving to clean up the castle. Everything was going how I envisioned it. My plans would soon become a reality and no one would stop me.
(Gaster POV)
I didn't even tell Leya why I requested her presence. She just appeared as usual and I snapped my fingers and my assistants that fell in the void as well grabbed her and forced her to the ground.
"Great way to greet me." Leya growled at me with anger very evident in her voice.
"Is it true that Asgore made a promise to you to do anything to free monsters?" I say with clear anger as well and she gives me a curious look.
"Yes. The day you all were sealed I had him, his wife and the captain of the guard promise that. Why did that make you have your assistants force me to the ground?" She asked with clear confusion about the situation.
"Today, Asgore admitted that his plan was to play nice and lure seven humans into a false sense of security before taking their souls to free monsters. He admitted that he was willing to kill the child he had cared for nearly eleven years." I inform the goddess who looks at me with shock.
"He...I...I'm sorry for making that promise. I was mad at the time that the species I created lost to my brother's creation and wanted revenge. Even a goddess of light can feel darkness in her heart. But I can tell something else has you upset." Leya says with tears in her eyes and I can tell they are genuine and I pull up a screen to the real world and show the scene of 'Papyton' trying to charge after Sans and afterwards show Papyrus fighting Asgore.
"My promise hurt your sons. I never wanted to hurt them. I didn't want to hurt anyone. I try my best to keep everyone's light in their hearts the best it can be. But more and more darkness is arising in people's hearts. This is not my fault Gaster. Ateno is causing the worst in people's heart to arise." Leya tells me and I sigh and put my hand up to dismiss my assistants who do so and leave Leya on the floor.
"I left the world at the worst possible time. The darkness in my heart had taken me over so soon after my sister's death that Ateno easily could control me. If only I wasn't weak hearted, then I could have prevented these events. But I need to not reflect on my mistakes. Instead…Leya you communicated with young Asriel just yesterday. I need you to contact him again and finish telling him what you planned to. In one night. And also," I say as I look up at nothing, "I know you don't wish to hurt monsters. What goddess would you be then? I will take my leave now." I say before melting into the white nothingness of the void, leaving Leya alone for the moment.
(Chara POV)
Both me and the girl I found in the river have been resting in an empty room for over 15 hours. We had found the room shortly after running off and blocked the entrance with a stone slab I found at the back off the room. We talked very little as we tried to rest and have our injuries heal. The injuries weren't bad, but we also needed to hide from the knights. But when I woke up, I saw the girl trying to move the stone slab so she could leave.
"What are you doing?" I question the girl who looks at me with surprise. The room was definitely as dark as the Cavern had been, but since it was so small it took little effort to see each other. Especially when I used my magic and my knives emitted a soft glow.
"I...Was going to leave. You remind me of someone that tried to kill me and my friends. I just can't deal with those thoughts. You seem able enough." The girl said as she still tried to push the slab away from the door and I sighed.
"We are both wanted by their Queen. Do you really think you'll be able by yourself? We need to stick together." I try to reason with the girl but she doesn't respond.
"What did those knights call you? Prisoner 001-RD, am I right? Well I hope that's not your actual name." I say trying to get her attention and I see a rock go by my head.
"My name is Kris. And I need to get back to my friends. I was foolish to run off alone, especially when I was blinded as a prisoner." The girl explains and I shake my head. That seemed more foolhardy than something Asriel would do. But wait, if she was blind as I figured at the river and as she just said, then how did she fight off the knights with little effort?
"If you are blind, then how did you know the stone slab was there and how did you know where the knights were when you fought them?" I question her and she shrugs.
"I don't know. Magic probably. Now you can escort me to my friends if you want. It's your choice, but help me move this slab. I don't know how you did it by yourself earlier." Kris asked me and I decide that I would help her find her friends. I stand up and kick the stone slab to the side with ease. My hybridization gave me a lot of strength I never had when I was just a human.
"Shall we go then?" Kris asked as she summoned her sword and pointed to the rest of the Cavern.
"Well, I can't just let you die alone. Do you remember the way… No you wouldn't remember as you came from the river. Perhaps we should follow near the river if you came from near it originally." I suggest and the girl nods before walking out of the room with me at her heels. I really should have thought this exploration to this place through more. Perhaps I wouldn't be hunted by a kingdom. But then again, who would have been there to save Kris if I did think things through? I can't change my past decisions, but perhaps I can make the correct ones for the future. I don't know my fate as I walk with Kris out into the Cavern. Perhaps we will meet our end, or we will bring about Naia's end. All I know is that the darkness of the Cavern may be a hindrance at times, but it is also beneficial at times. Darkness is not always bad I guess.
AN: And time to end this chapter's craziness. And to be completely honest this chapter was done probably in a day. I did a lot of this yesterday.
Leya: Seems more crazy than this chapter. Is that why chapter is filled with crazy things no one expected?
Angel: I am the author and still think the chapter is crazier than writing over 9,000 words in one day.
Ateno: At least you didn't just push me off to just be a later villain. At least I am more threatening than the ANs make me seem.
Angel: And you won't be seen again until after the Darkness Arc we are currently in. And then after your next appearance in this book, I don't think you'll make much more of a presence until the end of Book 2. Which will be far off in the future.
Ateno: That just gives more time to plan and prepare
Angel: Anyways, those two gods aside, let's talk about some stuff from the chapter. Firstly, Asgore's and Toriel's plan to break the barrier. They were told about the souls by Leya when making the promise. I can say that. Also they bother agreed to this plan after a hundred years of imprisonment. That is all I'll say on the subject for now. Secondly, the scene with Ralsei and Ateno. Ateno used words to draw out the darkness in Lancer and Noelle's hearts and then used it to take them over. Why Ralsei could resist it will be explained at a later time. But just know that at the very least, Lancer and Noelle won't be in the story again until probably Book 3. So they are out of the picture for now. But Ralsei will make other appearances before then, but I'm not gonna say how so. But now time for the Question of the Day. What game are you most looking forward to come out this year? Personally, I really want to play Kingdom Hearts 3, even if I never played the series before. I want to get my hands on all the games as they all intrigue me. But there is also Pokemon coming later this year as well. Anyways, have a good day everyone and remember to be great people.