Loox like Trouble

Alphys, hunched over her tablet, is guiding Mettaton through the dangerous streets via radio she installed in him. Asriel is tucked under your arm, sleeping, and you know you can't remain in the safety of a stranger's basement while warfare exploded just a few feet above you. Looking down at Asriel, you shake him awake and wait for him to rub the fatigue from his eyes.

"Frisk...?"

You purse your lips and nod as you stand, bringing Asriel level with you.

"You need to reabsorb your powers, Asriel...this is your magic. A lot of people will die if you don't..."

His eyes grow wide and you know that he's on the verge of tears again.

"I can't..."

"Flowey, then. I'll help you. Chara will bait Flowey out..."

Your hand grips onto your temple again as a stab of pain hits. It's Chara fighting to gain control of you, but you can't afford to let them gain control.
Asriel looks over to Alphys for help, but she's too busy flicking through her different cameras. Frowning, you shake Asriel's shoulders in effort to coerce him into agreeing with you, but he remains still as a stone.

"Oh, sweetheart, there's Undyne alone...where's Papyrus?"

You hear Mettaton's metallic voice and purse your lips. Your hands leave Asriel and you know you've gotta help somehow.
But you helping somehow meant trying to get Asriel to reabsorb his magic; effectively killing the 'live' flowers. Gnashing your teeth, you run over to Alphys and her tablet. You can't help it. You need to know if Undyne is alright on her own.

"I-is she safe?"

Worry laced the saurian's voice. Her spear is gripped only loosely in one hand and she looks...unstable. Grimacing, you see that she's bleeding in some places and her scarf is missing from her mouth. Her gills are glowing a bright yellow color, and you mentally hit yourself at the sight of her sluggish demeanor. She was a fish, for crying out loud. Her gills helped her breathe...meaning if she didn't cover that up too...
"She's infected..."
Alphys looks over at you with wide, watery eyes. Her body begins trembling violently, and her sobs soon follow.

"Undyne!"

Mettaton calls out to her and you watch as he catches her just as she tips over backwards. Her breathing is ragged. You can see just how badly it is with Mettaton being so close to her. Yellow pollen had polluted her gills in large clumps. You can see that she tried scratching it out to no avail. It glittered in between her scales and under her nails. Alphys turns to look at you, horror-stricken, and another reset is already coming to the front of your mind.

"Mettaton, get away from her!"

Your voice leaves you before you can stop it. You're thinking of preserving as many friends as possible. But the robot won't have it.

"Not a chance, darling. This will be good for reviews."

His voice is strong and determined, and Undyne is held even closer to him. He turns away from the spot and, from what you can tell, he begins to run to safety. Alphys doesn't change screen to observe the other monsters. Her eyes are glued to the screen as thick globules of tears sloppily leak down her face.

"Wh-wuh...what do we do...?"

She asks you, expecting an answer. You don't respond. You don't know how to. You know the answer should lay with Asriel, but he wasn't able to without Flowey.

"Mettaton..?"

Alphys nearly screeches as her girlfriend comes to life. She groans and grips onto her sides and, what you can only imagine to be, bones begin to crack. Her mouth hands open and Mettaton is forced to let go of her. Teal ooze begins to seep through her gills. Then from under her eye patch. By now, Alphys is livid and screaming at the tablet for Mettaton to help her. But he knows he can't.

"DO SOMETHING! HELP HER! DO SOMETHING, P-PLEASE!"

You want to restrain her, to help her calm down, but her girlfriend...her love...suffering in front of her? There was no way you could fathom even being remotely able to ease her pain.

So you watch. You watch with the most expressionless face you can muster, though the tears are hot behind your eyes. It wasn't supposed to go this way.
Undyne is screaming, now, as she claws at her gills with one hand and covers her eye with the other. Her bones continue to creak and groan until she's hunched over on the ground, coated in a teal slime, and crying in pain. Her spears begin to form around her and, true to the nature of the pollen, begin to morph into something else. At first, they began melting in on themselves until large spheres formed. Then they tried regaining their original shape. Tiny spikes formed on the balls and, with a scream, they shot out in all directions. Mettaton did his best to avoid the majority of them, but one definitely had hit him. You could tell by the way the camera zoned out of focus for a solid two minutes.

That and Alphys screaming something about his energy levels.

You can't bear to watch anymore. Alphys is in a violent fit and slumps over in defeat. SHE can't even bear to watch anymore.

You go to place a hand on her shoulder in an attempt to comfort her, but she smacks it away.

"J-JUST..." she hiccups, "just go away..."

Over Undyne's screaming, now turned into more of a grotesque moaning, and Mettaton's crackling, you know that this timeline was taking the same road as the others.

You needed this to stop.

Snapping around to where Asriel was, you notice that he had taken off. Gnashing your teeth, you break into a sprint. You can't let him out of your grasp. You owed everyone that. You feel like...like a monster, for trying to get Asriel to do what you needed him to do. But you couldn't let them all die because he was scared. Hell, you were scared, too. But not trying was scarier, and giving up was totally out of the question.

Leaving Alphys alone in the house, you run outside to see the air thick with smoke, snowflakes, and pollen. Teeth clamping shut, you look around to find any traces of the youngest Dreemurr. Little, Dreemurr footprints leading away from the house were easy enough to spot, but Asriel himself was nowhere in sight.
Sprinting, following the footprints, you feel the weight of the knife once more in your pockets. You hate it.

"DOOON'T LOOOOOOK..."

A sudden force knocks you sideways into a nearby bush. A Loox, now made up completely of an eyeball with multiple pupils, had sent an attack your way. It caught you off guard. Not again. Breathing in, you turn your head away from it and try and outrun it. Garbled yells escape from it's...mouth? Where was it speaking from?
You just barely dodge another attack and dive under a car for protection. Rolling out to the other side, you scramble on all fours to the safety of another nearby bush and wait for the next attack.

"IIII SEEEEE YOU LOOOOKIIIIIING!"

Four pupils, all facing forwards, all rest their gaze on you. Without giving you a chance to breathe, it sends forth a flurry of circular orbs your way. Scrambling to your feet, your body automatically avoids any direct attacks. Like you've practiced time and time again. Left side-step, right, left, roll tot he ground-

"Ah!-"

A blow grazes your shoulder and blood immediately floods the area. Stunned for a moment, you barely manage to react to the next attacks. Your hand flies to the wound, trying to stem it, worried about Sans's hoodie, and you dive out of the way of another flurry. Gnashing your teeth once more, you look around in attempt to find other cover of some sort. Bushes didn't cut it.

You gaze once more at Loox, your heart thumping wildly in your chest, and you take off in a sprint once again. More attacks flew your way, but if you stayed, you knew that it'd have more of a chance of hitting you again.

"LOOOOOOK!"

For some idiotic reason, you turn back and do so. As more bubbles fly your way, you notice that you were in direct line of a tree.

"Just let me fight for you."

You had half a mind...

Dodging out of the tree's way, you round a corner behind a house and dive into a dog igloo. If you stayed quiet, it wouldn't find you. You'd have enough time to recuperate and retrace your steps to where Asriel fled.

"IIII DOOON'T SEEEE YOUUUUU..."

It's voice, grinding and sorrowful, echoes around you. You cover your mouth and keep your eyes focused on the ground in front of the dog house. Snow crunching under Loox's feet passed close, and then disappeared. You could hear it still calling out to you, but you had successfully fled it. You just couldn't risk going out right away.
Wincing, you squeeze your shoulder wound and take the opportunity to look over at it. It looked worse than it felt, but you had to credit that to the cold weather. At least that would stem the blood properly in due time.

AN: Short update, but it's pretty action heavy. Enjoy!