14500+ WORDS!?
Yes.
Have fun with that!
Also HOLY CRAP WE REACHED 100 FOLLOWERS BEFORE THE END! THAT IS ABSOLUTELY AWESOME! I thought there was no way I would reach 100 at the end of this! Guess there really is a first time for everything.
I hope you enjoy the finale!
(There will be a point where you will have two options for background music. If you actually bother with that, I have to suggest the one that isn't part of the Undertale OST, because that is the one I listened to while writing that part. It's your choice though)
ProtectorTale Ch.25
(Undertale – Undertale OST)
They reached light and were greeted with a strangely familiar sight. A cozy little house inside the massive castle, and it looked identical to Toriel's.
"Toriel?" The girl said as she walked towards the house with a confused stare.
"She's not going to be in there." The boy said certainly.
"DETERMINATION!" She suddenly shouted excitedly before running in.
"Whoa, what the-"
The girl stopped before she entered. She let out a shaky breath and calmed herself, trying not to think about the events that just happened. It was important to not dwell on what never actually happened. She turned around and smiled at her fellow human. "What is it?" She asked curiously. Her eyes widened at the sight of his soul. "Whoa!"
He looked down at his chest and saw his soul, which he was so used to seeing red, had turned a nice, light green. He was suddenly filled with really strong emotions. Nice, friendly, kind emotions. He smiled brightly as these feelings filled up in his chest and he quickly walked up to the girl and picked her up to embrace her in a big hug.
"U-Umm… what's wrong? Did something happen?" She asked, incredibly confused.
"I feel like some weight I didn't even know about has just been lifted off my shoulders and I am just really happy right now!" He answered before realizing what he was doing. "Oh! Sorry…" He said before putting her down. The moment he put her down though, the urge to hug the adorable kid again came back up. "Gah! I'm sorry! I just feel really good right now and I don't know why!" He exclaimed with a bit of a hop as he tried to control himself.
She smiled a bit. "Well, that's good. Why is your soul green though?" She asked, still confused.
"I have no idea!" He answered as he threw his arms up. "But it feels… right for some reason." He noticed. "I knew a determined soul made no sense for me!" He exclaimed. "Maybe I shouldn't be so quick to say that, actually, it might change back or something."
Frisk smirked in amusement. "Well come on! Let's go inside!" The girl said before heading in excitedly.
"Alright, alright, wait up!" He requested with a chuckle as he caught up with her.
The inside was just as familiar to them, and looked a lot like the inside of Toriel's house.
"Wanna see what the room looks like here?" She asked.
"The room?" He repeated.
"You know, our room!" She answered, pointing towards the first door in the hall.
"Oh! Sure!" He answered and they walked up to the room they knew as their own in another place. They opened the door and found that even this room was incredibly similar. "Dang! This place is nearly identical!" He noted. "Except they actually have a second bed here!" He complained, getting a laugh from the child.
There were a few other small differences, like the picture frame having a picture in it, a drawing of a flower on the wall, the dust covering the toys in the toy box, and the two present boxes on the floor that stood out from everything else.
"What's in these?" The girl asked curiously as she opened one of them up. "A knife?"
"Okaaaay, let's not let the kid get near the knife, eh?" AJ said as he quickly put the cover back on the box and picked up said box so he could stuff it on top of the dresser.
"I could just jump up there you know." The girl pointed out.
"Yes, but I'm making it clear that you shouldn't take that. Besides, these are probably presents for someone else." He explained.
"Can we at least see what's in the other box?" She asked.
"I see no harm in looking." He responded with a shrug, so she opened the box and saw a heart shaped locket inside.
"Whoa… Cool!" She exclaimed.
"I don't know about the knife, but this would definitely be a good present for someone." The teen commented.
"It's cute actually. I want one!" She said before putting the lid back on the box.
"Heh. Well, maybe we can buy one from somewhere." He said as he walked back out the room. "I'm guessing you want to check the rest of the place?"
"Yep!" She said simply as she left the room as well and walked towards the next rooms. They passed by a room with a sign saying "Under Renovations" on it and entered the one other room they could enter. The king sized bed was immediately apparent, as well as the large clothes sticking out of the dresser. The girl walked up to the journal on a nearby table. "Asgore thinks it's a nice day today." She noted.
"Sounds like an optimist." AJ commented with a chuckle as he grabbed at one of the sweaters in the dresser to see what was written on it. " 'Mister Dad Guy' ?" He read with a bit of a laugh.
"What?"
"This sweater." He responded and turned it so she could read it more clearly. She laughed a bit as well. "Alright, I'd like to leave. I feel bad snooping like this." He admitted.
"Aww. Are you sure?" She asked.
"Yes!" He answered with a strong nod.
She let out a sigh that said she was conceding. "Okay." She said with a nod before walking out.
He stepped out and saw her turn left, towards the dead end of the hall. "What are you-" He trailed off as he followed her out and realized she had walked up to a mirror on the wall. He walked over next to her and looked at it as well. It had been a long time since they'd had a reflection of themselves to look at. They'd… been in better shape. But, they still couldn't help but smile.
"You know... after everything we've been through… we're still here." Frisk noticed happily.
"We're still us." He added in agreeing tone.
Their smiles grew a bit as they let out a happy chuckle.
*Clink* "Oh!" The girl exclaimed as she felt her foot hit something when she turned to walk back down the hall. She bent down and picked up a key. "We need this!" She answered before holding her hand out for him. "Come on!"
"What do we need it for?" He asked in confusion as they walked back down the hall.
"Didn't you see the chain? Here." She asked and pointed to the padlocked chain as it came into view.
"I was too busy following you." He responded before looking at the chain and the stairs. "Can't we just jump over the rail?"
"Where's the fun in that?" She asked with her cheery smile. "We're looking around anyway, so we might as well be fair."
The teen read the note on the chain. "Alright then. To the kitchen!" He exclaimed.
They walked into the living room and noticed it was also identical to the one in Toriel's house. The only difference was that the reading chair seemed to go unused.
"I really miss Toriel…" Frisk admitted sadly.
"Yeah, this is making me miss her too." AJ said sadly before turning and looking down the hall. "It would be really nice if she just came through the door right now and we were really back in that ruined city, happy and at home."
The child thought for a moment before speaking up. "Why don't we go find Toriel after we free monsters?"
He smiled back. "That sounds like an awesome idea!" He agreed.
"Great!" She cheered. "Then let's get that key and free the monsters!" She ran in and ran back out of the kitchen before he could even follow, and he chuckled at her enthusiasm and excitement. They unlocked the padlocks together and silently hoped this plan of theirs would work.
They relived the sad memory of leaving Toriel as they followed the path out of the castle structure. They were back out on the path outside the castle once again, and they froze in shock at the view below them. It was clearly another portion of the city, but that wasn't what shocked them. It was the massive crowd of monsters below them.
Monsters that they had seen and monsters that they hadn't stared up at them, and their voices rang out in a chorus as they told the humans a story.
"A long time ago, a human fell into the ruins… Injured by its fall, the human called out for help. Asriel, the king's son, heard the human's call. He brought the human back to the castle. Over time, Asriel and the human became like siblings. The King and Queen treated the human child as their own. The Underground was full of hope.
Then… one day… the human became very ill. The sick human had only one request, to see the flowers from their village. But there was nothing we could do. The next day… the human died. Asriel, wracked with grief, absorbed the human's soul. He transformed into a being with incredible power. With the human soul, Asriel crossed through the barrier. He carried the human's body into the sunset, back to the village of the humans. Asriel reached the center of the village. There, he found a bed of golden flowers. He carried the human onto it. Suddenly, screams rang out. The villagers saw Asriel holding the human's body. They thought that he had killed the child. The humans attacked him with everything they had. He was struck with blow after blow. Asriel had the power to destroy them all. But… Asriel did not fight back. Clutching the human… Asriel smiled, and walked away. Wounded, Asriel stumbled home. He entered the castle and collapsed. His dust spread across the garden.
The kingdom fell into despair. The king and queen had lost two children in one night. The humans had once again taken everything from us. The king decided it was time to end our suffering.
Every human who falls down here must die.
With enough souls, we can shatter the barrier forever. It's not long now.
King Asgore will let us go. King Asgore will give us hope. King Asgore will save us all.
You should be smiling too.
Aren't you excited? Aren't you happy?"
…
They paused as the crowd grew strangely silent. They turned away before stopping as they saw a single Froggit in front of them.
"You're going to be free." It said before hopping away.
"Oh, they can talk too?" Frisk commented, a bit surprised.
"Well… that was… a really sad story." The older human eventually said. "And they all came here to… tell us that before the end?"
The girl stood out near the edge and looked out at the city below. "I think that… they think this is going to end in a bad way… But, we'll show them another ending, a better one." She said and turned to smile at her friend.
He smiled back and nodded. "I don't know if it's because of my new soul, but I feel nothing but confidence. I'm sure we can do it!" He said certainly.
(The music ends)
With the two of them smiling brightly and full of confidence, the red and green soul stepped into the hall, and turned to see a familiar face.
"Sans? I didn't except to see you here." AJ said in surprise before smirking. "Wait, let me guess. Big reveal, you're the king?"
The skeleton's serious stance faltered before he burst out laughing. "HAHAHAHA! Oh, that's a good one, bud! Me being the king!? Pfft! As if!" He smiled at them before covering his smile and turning away. "Damnit AJ, I was gonna be serious here and you ruined that. Give me a second. Hehe."
"Sorry." The teen said with a chuckle and tried to get himself into a serious state as well.
Eventually the skeleton turned back with a more serious version of his normal smile. "So… can't help but notice that green soul of yours." He noted.
The human held the floating green heart close to him. He still felt the pain of the past, but for some reason he just felt happier than ever while holding it. He just had a strong urge to help someone and to make people happy. "Yeah… I don't suppose you know what that's about?" He asked.
"Well, I have no clue how your soul could change traits like that, but I do know that green means kindness." Sans answered.
"Kindness, huh? So that's why I feel this way…" AJ said to himself.
Frisk was hiding behind the boy, but she was making her suspicious looks very clear to Sans, who didn't show that he saw her looks at all.
"I've read that it might feel strange, but you shouldn't worry about the feelings you have. Your soul reflects the strongest trait about you, the thing that shines through more than anything else. So those feelings you have… they're you, they're who you really are deep down." Sans explained.
"If you say so. It still feels a bit weird, not sure it's totally natural." AJ commented.
"Humans having magic is a natural thing, it's just a long-lost art, you could say. It feels weird because it's new having magic show your soul trait, but it should feel natural again pretty soon." Sans said.
The older human nodded and there were a few moments of silence.
"So… what are you doing here, sans?" Frisk asked with a hint of a questioning tone.
"Well… I'm the judge." The skeleton answered simply.
"The judge?" She parroted.
"Yep. I'm here to explain a little thing to you. Magic has this tendency to make this into something akin to a modern video game, and well… anyway, it's time for you two to be judged." The monster explained before his smile vanished. "Judged for your every action, your every EXP that you've gained. You're probably wondering what that is. Well, it's an acronym, and it stands for Execution Points. It's a way of quantifying the pain you have inflicted on others. It and your LOVE are things that monsters can see when they enter a fight. LOVE, too, is an acronym. It stands for Level of Violence. When you kill someone, your EXP increases, and if it increases enough, your LOVE will increase, letting everyone know who you really are, what your capacity to hurt is. When you kill, you're able to distance yourself from others. The more you kill, the less you will hurt, and the more you'll be able to hurt others."
His kind smile returned. "But you two… you're both still at LOVE 1. Course, that doesn't mean you two are totally innocent or naïve, just that you kept a certain tenderness in your hearts. No matter the struggles or hardships you two faced, no matter how you defended yourselves, you both never killed anyone. You both always did strive to do the right thing… Even now, you two wish to save all of monster kind. Yeah, you guys never gained LOVE, but you sure gained love. Did that make sense? Maybe not…"
He paused for a moment. "But now… you're about to face the greatest challenge of your entire journey. Your actions here will determine the fate of the entire world. If things work out, the barrier can be shattered peacefully, and everyone can walk out happy. If something goes wrong, one of you may die. If that happens, Asgore will be able to destroy humanity. Are you still determined to take that risk?"
"Absolutely." AJ nodded.
"Yeah!" Frisk shouted passionately.
Sans smiled. "Well, if I were you, I would have thrown in the towel by now, but you guys didn't get this far by giving up. Nope, you guys have something called Determination. It may be a trait defined by red, but it is still something all humans have. Who knows? Maybe determination will get you through this? Maybe if you just hold on, and try with all your might to do what's in your heart, you two can get survive this, and get the best possible outcome." He wondered. "Alright… we're all counting on you, Frisk, AJ… so be careful alright? Even if you can't break the barrier with Asgore, I wouldn't mind having you both here to hang out with in the Underground." He said with a wink.
"We will." The girl said with a nod.
"Yeah, I promise we will." The boy said with a strong nod.
"Good luck." The skeleton said before vanishing right before their eyes.
"Alright I keep thinking that we're going to see the king and then we run into something else- I would really like to just see the king already because I'm so anxious that it's killing me!" AJ commented.
"I think we're really going to meet him this time. At least I hope we are." Frisk responded.
"Yeah, he did kind of make it sound like this was it, but let's just get going and find out." He said before he started jogging.
The two pairs of footsteps echoed as they jogged down the long hall before leaving it and finding more brick walls. They saw a sign saying "Throne Room" on the wall, and they couldn't help but feel their anxiety peak as they pushed the large doors open to the throne room.
"Oh? Is someone there?" Asked the large figure ahead of them, standing in a large field of yellow flowers. Rays of light from the surface shined through holes in the ceiling above them and bathed the area in beautiful light. Birds on the surface could be heard singing through the holes as well. "Just a minute. I've almost finished watering these flowers."
And there he was, the king, right there in front of them. There was no familiar house, no old friend, no story to tell, it was just him, the big monster that ruled over all the other monsters. He had the voice of a gentle giant, deep, yet calm and kind. He waved around his watering pail for a few more seconds before turning to them. They already could see his large horns, but now his white, furry face and big smile could be seen. Not only that, but he had very familiar goat ears hanging on each side of his head. The only thing making him look that different from Toriel, aside from stature, was his yellow hair, beard, and the crown on his head.
"Howdy! How can I…" He physically stepped back when he realized the two figures that stood before him were not monsters. "O-Oh…" The bright smile of his that they were only able to see for a moment was gone. He looked away from them.
"Hello, Asgore." The older human greeted politely, though he frowned, given the circumstances. This large figure was supposed to kill them, and the king was clearly not happy that they were here.
The King gave a weak, fake smile. "…I so badly want to say… would either of you like a cup of tea? But…" The smile fell. "you know how it is…"
"It doesn't have to be that way, though…" Frisk spoke up pleadingly.
"We don't want to fight you." AJ said, standing as straight as he could.
The large goat walked to his right a few paces. He sighed before turning to them with a smile. "Nice day today, huh? Birds are singing, flowers are blooming… perfect weather for a game of catch." He noted.
They could already tell the king didn't want to do this either.
"Asgore, we don't have to fight. We want to do this another way." AJ said.
Asgore turned to them, but he did not smile. "No… you know what we must do." He responded.
"I know what we can do, but I also know that we can do something else!" AJ responded.
"We want to free the monsters!" Frisk spoke up.
The king turned away and cringed. "Don't say that…" He managed to say.
"We want to help you, we don't have to kill each other. Just let us break the barrier together." The teen requested. "With our souls and the ones you already have, can't we just break it together?"
"If that was an option… do you think I would have even considered killing a human?" Asgore responded quietly. The humans paused. "If that was an option… there would be six other humans here, standing beside you, and I would watch with a great big smile as you all broke the barrier together…" He said with a sad smile and tears in his eyes that betrayed his now stern expression. "The barrier was made by seven, but it can only be broken by one."
"If that's the case… then we'll just leave…" AJ said sadly. "We promised to protect each other, so… we can't do this. We'll just go back and-"
The human was cut off when Asgore suddenly revealed a red trident and threw it. Frisk froze with wide eyes as it flew past her and slammed into a switch on the wall behind them, shattering it and causing a massive gate to fall behind them.
The older human turned his head and stared at the gate for a moment, before turning back to Asgore with tears in his eyes and a pleading look. "Asgore… please… raise that gate… Don't do this… Don't make me…" He didn't want to say anymore, and the king turned away from him.
"There is something you need to see." He said before magically retrieving his weapon and walking away, into another room.
The humans followed sadly, and found themselves in an area not too different from the one they first fell in. They followed the king through this area and entered another room. There, they saw a strange chasm of light.
"This, is The Barrier. This is what keeps us all trapped underground." Asgore said. "This is also our destiny. An inescapable point in our lives, yours… and mine."
"Asgore…" The teen said as he glared at the back of the monster.
"We cannot escape our destiny." Asgore continued.
"Just let someone else fall down here!" AJ shouted. "I don't care if that's selfish, either! I'm not letting her get hurt!"
"Nine humans have fallen down here…" The king said before turning to them and smiling sadly. "And not one of them… have been cruel, or unkind." The smile went as quick as it came. "This will never get any easier, for anyone. It has to end… here. It cannot be delayed any longer."
"Please, Asgore! You really don't have to do this!" Frisk pleaded again as tears fell from her face. "No one else has to die! No one else has to get hurt! Please!"
The king could not bear to look at them. "As I said… this is our destiny. If you wish… I could… make your deaths quick…"
The taller human looked down as he clenched his fists. "After all this time… I really, really don't want to fight, and…" He pulled out his machete and looked up at the king defiantly. "I'm sorry, Asgore, but I can't let you do this." He looked sad as he said one last thing. "Asgore… if you do… win… can you do one thing for me? Please don't destroy humanity… they might deserve it, but… making so many people suffer isn't right, ever."
The king sighed. "I… will think on your request…" He said before pulling out his trident once again.
Frisk wiped away her tears and pulled out her stick and held it in front of her.
"This is it, then… Ready?" Asgore said.
Seven glass cylinders appeared out of the floor against the back wall. Six of them contained large floating hearts. Green, purple, blue, orange, teal, yellow… and one that was empty.
"Humans… it truly was nice to meet you both." The monster said with a smile. "Goodbye."
(Bergentruckung – Undertale OST)
A strange light shined into the room… It was twilight, shining through the barrier.
This was it, their journey through the Underground was at an end.
It seemed that there was no possible happy ending here.
…
But maybe there was.
As long as they stayed strong… as long as they stayed…
Determined…
Maybe they could end this fight peacefully, somehow.
That possibility, however slim, of making it through this without death….
Filled them with Determination.
(Asgore – Undertale OST)
(Or…)
("Undertale – Asgore – Remix" by "ElectricMudkip")
The king held his left hand out towards them, and three fireballs were created above his hand. He held his hand out and the fireballs flew at them. The humans sidestepped the attacks before running at him with their weapons ready. The king readied his weapon and swung it as they got in range, with Frisk sliding under it and AJ jumping over it and flipping forwards. He used his flip for momentum to swing at the king's right arm, but the monster pulled his shoulder back to avoid that before swinging that fist at the boy. He ducked under it while Frisk swung her stick at the king's leg as hard as she could, causing him to stumble forward. The teen used this chance to slash into the king's shoulder before jumping away from the tall king.
Asgore stood up straight again and turned around to face the shorter human. He lunged at her with his trident, but she jumped out of the way and let the weapon stab the ground instead. He swung his weapon, but she jumped over it and tried to swing her stick down on his head. He raised his arm and let his armor block the attack before batting her away. He quickly turned and shot a barrage of fireballs at the approaching human behind him, and the boy dove to the side to dodge the flames. Frisk jumped up at the king again, and the king turned to her and swiped her out of the air with his weapon, knocking her onto the floor. The girl quickly rolled out of the way as he tried to stab her.
The monster quickly turned to the human running at him again and fired a single fireball at him nearly point blank. The human flailed his weapon in front of him to stop the attack, but that didn't deter it and he was knocked down by it. Frisk jumped on the king's back and started wailing on him with her stick. He reached over his head and threw her onto the ground in front of him, but the other human was quick to attack him again. He swiped the teen with his trident, but it was blocked by the machete and the human held against the strength of the king, sliding only slightly.
He was surprised to find his body hadn't once moved on its own yet in this fight.
The king spun and went for a stab, but the boy ducked and deflected the weapon over him before slashing under Asgore's arm and jumping to the side. Asgore turned to face him, but heard Frisk jump up at him again. The king fired a fireball at the boy while turning and knocking the girl out of the air with his weapon. He found himself slashed across the back by the boy who had simply dodged his attack, and he spun around to bring his weapon down on him as if it was a hammer. The boy sidestepped it and slashed his hand, and the king recoiled back before he was hit in the back with a stick. He twirled his weapon above his head as he spun around before doing one large swing all around him that got the humans to step back from him.
He fired three fireballs at the boy before turning and doing the same to the child. Frisk was able to skillfully dodge them, and she needed to because Asgore rushed towards her. AJ dodged them as well, but he stumbled in doing so and only barely avoided the attacks. Asgore lunged at Frisk, who dove to avoid the trident. She rolled to a stand just in time to see the king's weapon turn blue before he swung it at her, and she stood her ground to let it pass through her. He quickly brought the weapon back as it turned orange and she ran at her opponent to avoid it as well. She jumped and tried to uppercut him, but he leaned back to avoid that before knocking her out of the air with his weapon. He shot a fireball at her, but a machete slashing across his back caused him to miss. He turned and saw the boy spin before attempting another slash. He batted the human away with his arm before turning to him.
The king tried to stab the boy once again, and once again the human ducked and parried the attack over him. The king was quick to release his grip with one hand and use a fireball point blank, and the human jumped to the side to dodge it. Asgore tried again to stab the human repeatedly, and AJ skillfully dodged four lunges at him before deflecting and counter-attacking. He swung his machete at the king's chest, but the king twirled his trident in front of him and knocked the blade away. The human continued and attacked again, but the king spun back and swiped the attack to the other side. The human let go of his blade and struck with the weapon on its string in an attempt to throw the king off, but the king caught the string with his trident and pulled the blade to the side. AJ pulled his weapon back and made it wrap around the king's arm before pulling it down.
Frisk used this chance to jump in and smack Asgore across the face with her stick as she landed next to him. She struck again and hit his stomach, causing him to lean forward and give her fellow human an easy target to punch Asgore as hard as he could. The monster grit his teeth as he built up fire magic in his hand and struck the ground, sending a wave of fire outward in all directions that knocked the humans away from him and left their hair singed.
The king of monsters raised his hand into the air and created a ring of fireballs before throwing the swirling ring at the humans. Frisk dove out of the way and AJ jumped over it, so the king began throwing more at them. Frisk ducked under the ring aimed at her while the older human took the hit as he landed and was knocked down hard. Even while in a daze, he was able to look down and see the sizable cracks in his soul, and he was filled with dread when he realized they had no way to heal themselves.
Frisk ran at the king as fast as she could. She ducked under another ring of fire and jumped side to side to dodge two more single fireballs before she was nearly in range of Asgore. He struck straight with his trident, but the child jumped over it and landed on his weapon. He threw the weapon upward, and she used this to fly into the air before raising her weapon over her head as she came falling back down. The older human forced himself up and realized the king would have an easy time hitting her as she fell straight down at him, and he tried to run towards them. He knew he wouldn't make it in time though, so he instead threw his weapon straight where he thought the king's weapon would be in a few moments.
The king stabbed upwards at the girl, but his weapon was deflected to the side just before Frisk could be stabbed by it, and she was able to bring her stick down on the king's head with a powerful strike. The king stumbled back from the blow before raising his head and swinging his blue weapon at the girl. She froze just in time for the attack to pass through her, but the moment she had a chance to move, the weapon was already coming back as a normal attack. She ducked under the attack and saw it was coming back as an orange attack, so she quickly ran away from it. It passed through her before coming back at her face as a blue attack, forcing her to stop. She turned around to see what the next attack was only to be smacked in the face with his weapon and knocked flat on her back. She opened her eyes and saw him about to stab her, so she quickly rolled away from him and stood up in time to spin around a fireball.
"Asgore… please…" Frisk pleaded. The king responded by bringing his weapon down on her like a hammer, and she raised her stick above her head and braced with both hands to hold her ground against him. "Stop… doing this…" She pushed his weapon to the side and rushed him. "And just LET US GO!" She shouted and struck him as hard as she could with her weapon. He barely slid back before swinging his weapon again. The tip of the trident slashed across Frisk's chest and she cried out in pain as she fell back. She turned and tried to crawl away from Asgore, but she heard him get closer and she turned around just in time to hold up her stick and block the tip of the trident. Her arms shook weakly against his strength.
Seeing her blood spilt, he became single minded in his focus. He reached out for her and tried to run, to get to her as fast as he could, but he could do no more than walk weakly. Suddenly, he felt energy build up in his chest, but what struck him for an instant was that he had never felt the energy before. It wasn't determination, and it wasn't the blue energy either. His mind barely had the time to notice that he hadn't used that blue magic this entire time before he felt the energy move on its own down his extended arm. A light green mist appeared from his hand before a burst of green energy shot straight towards Frisk. It hit her and burst into a few small green sparkles, and the girl suddenly felt her wounds disappear as her skin grew back in a second and sealed them. The massive cracks in her soul vanished. She was able to force the king off of her and jump away from him, and she turned around to see her fellow human staring at his hand in awe and confusion.
He tightened his hand into a fist as he felt himself fill with power, enough to overcome his pain and continue on. He was determined more than ever to end this fight without death, to beat this king and get the kid back to Toriel. After everything they'd been through, he now just thought it was stupid to ever leave the kind monster's home. Sans was right, they really should have taken what they had, but they were foolish enough to think they could find better.
He ran down the chasm with his weapon behind him. It wasn't anywhere near what speed he was able to reach with that blue magic, but that didn't matter. He stopped in front of the king and slashed downwards, and the king raised his weapon up to deflect AJ's attack. The human swung three more times and the king kept his weapon raised to block the blade, creating sparks. Frisk jumped onto the boy's shoulders before jumping above the king. Asgore raised his weapon and knocked the teen in the chin with the end of his weapon while using the point of the trident to swipe Frisk out of the air and into the ground. AJ moved to the king's right side and struck at him, and the king raised his arm to let the armor on that limb take the hit before backhanding the human away.
Asgore heard Frisk jump at him from behind, and he spun around with his weapon ready for a close range stab. He lunged, but the girl landed on his weapon and smacked him in the head with her stick before she was thrown off. He turned and threw a fireball at her before noticing the older human on his right. He swung his weapon around to catch the human, but the boy stopped his weapon with his own. The king tried to stab him, but the human deflected the attack away while standing his ground. Asgore tried three more times to stab the human, but the teen was shockingly standing his ground and deflecting each attack, not dodging it. He finally attacked with fire magic point blank, which got the human to dodge and step back from him.
The king turned and saw both the humans charge at him with a determined look in their eyes. He raised his weapon and pointed the tip of it straight at the ground. He stabbed his trident into the floor, blasting out a massive, continuing wave of fire that spread across the floor of the entire room and pushed the humans back. But they did not fall, they persevered and refused to be pushed back any further. The king eventually stopped his attack so the fire and dust could clear away, and the moment he did, the two humans jumped at him and swung as hard as they could, with magic trails following behind their weapons. The sword and stick crossed, creating an X of red and green magic that was left behind for a moment as their attacks connected and hit the king like a truck, physically pushing him back.
(The music ends)
He fell onto one knee and held himself up with his weapon. "Agh… so… that is how it is…" He said depressingly.
"It's over, Asgore. You lost, so stop this." AJ demanded as the two humans stood before the king.
"I… remember… the day after my son died." Asgore said. "The entire Underground was devoid of hope… The future had once again been taken from us by the humans. In a fit of anger, I declared war. I said that I would destroy any human that came here. I would use their souls to become godlike, and free us from this terrible prison. Then I would destroy humanity, and let monsters rule the surface in peace… Soon, the people's hopes returned. My wife, however, became disgusted with my actions. She left this place, never to be seen again.
Truthfully, I do not want war, I do not want power, I do not want to hurt anyone. I… just wanted everyone to have hope. But… I cannot take this any longer. I just want to see my wife… I just want to see my child. Please… humans… this war has gone on long enough… you have the power. The Barrier is… finicky… It will not accept combined strength, but if even one of you takes my soul… you will have enough power, and it will allow you both to cross, together… and leave this cursed place."
Frisk's eyes widened in surprise.
"Never."
Asgore looked up in shock.
"I will never kill you, or anyone down here, unless I have absolutely no choice." The boy spoke assuredly. "And the fact is, there is a choice here. We go back and live with monster kind, and live happily down here, with good people, instead of up there, with liars, heartless monsters, and corruption, among so many other things."
"After… everything I've done to hurt you… after all you've seen… you really believe you are better off here?" Asgore asked in confusion and awe.
"Absolutely!" Frisk answered with a smile.
Asgore smiled again. "Humans… for as long as you live here, I, as well as my wife, wherever she is, will take care of you as best we can." He promised. "We can… sit in the living room, telling stories… eating… butterscotch pie. We could be… like… a family."
The older human smiled back at the king and held out a hand for him to take.
Flowey's evil laugh echoed through the room. Frisk cried out in shock and terror. AJ looked down and saw a vine sticking out of his chest.
"YOU IDIOTS!" Flowey shouted. "You haven't learned a thing!"
"NO!" Frisk screamed as her friend's soul was taken away and joined by the six other souls.
"In this world…
IT'S KILL OR BE KILLED!"
…
Frisk was alone now. She now had to fight the greatest enemy they had ever faced, a god, and she was supposed to do it herself. By all means, she should have been destroyed, and she was. But… she refused to disappear.
.
.
.
She recognized the figure in front of her. "A-AJ?" She asked hopefully.
"Just go away, Frisk. I didn't fall down a mountain so I can take care of some stupid kid…" He responded through the pixels.
She knew what she had to do here though, because she had already saved the others.
"Don't say that! Come on! Let's go!" She requested and grabbed his hand.
AJ seemed to be resisting remembering something. He pulled back from her. "Back off!" He said as he pulled out his machete and attacked her. She jumped backwards as she raised her stick and blocked his downward strike. He quickly swung at her side, and she blocked the attack and barely blocked the quick slashes that followed before jumping away from him again. "Just go away, Frisk… I just want to leave already, and you're making that difficult…"
"I can't let you leave. I can't break my side of our promise!" Frisk responded. "Do you remember our promise? I take care of you and you take care of me?" She asked softly.
He smiled in response before wiping his smile away and growling. "You don't understand what life is really like, kid! It isn't worth it!"
Frisk dove away from his blade and quickly hopped back up to deflect another attack from him. He swung at her legs and she jumped to avoid it. She raised her blade to block his next attack while she was in the air and she was knocked back by the force. She stood up and raised her weapon, but seeing her chance, she smiled at him.
"I'm really glad I met you, AJ."
The glitches vanished as his memories came flooding back, and he looked at her in surprise. "F-Frisk? What's going on?" He shook his head and smiled. "Forget it. Thank you, Frisk."
"You're welcome! I'll explain this to you someday, right now I gotta go save someone!" Frisk said and waved to him before walking away.
.
.
.
.
"Not everyone can be saved, Frisk… Just… forget about me, and go be with the people who love you."
"No."
"Take care of mom and dad for me, okay?"
"No!"
"And Frisk... don't blame yourself for this, please."
"No! NO! NO! Please don't leave! WAIT!"
.
.
.
Eventually AJ woke up, lying on his back. His head was foggy and his vision was blurry, so he couldn't see where he was, he could only hear… something. He wasn't sure what at first, but it slowly became clear as he slowly figured out how to move his body again. He was hearing someone crying. He tilted his head to his right and saw Frisk, on her knees in the middle of the room they were in. She had her hands to her face, sobbing as tears ran down her cheeks and fell to the floor. He had never heard her crying before, but this… it was like she had lost someone.
He may not have known where he was or what was going on, but all that mattered at that moment was trying to comfort her. His kind side was just begging to get up and hug the poor girl. The moment he moved though, the girl looked over her shoulder and saw he had awakened. She didn't smile at the sight, but she looked relieved and she quickly got up and ran to him. She fell to her knees again and hugged him tightly before he could even get up, continuing to sob.
"H-hey, hey, Frisk… it's okay now. It's okay." He said softly, holding his hand to the back of her head comfortingly.
"I- *hic* I just lost a friend... *sniffle* *sniffle* and I don't know if I'll ever be able to see him again…" Frisk managed to say. She pulled her head up and looked him right in the eyes, ignoring her tears for the moment. "I… I need you to promise me something." She took two breathes. "I need you, to promise to me… that you will never ever leave me." She felt him go to respond, but she cut him off. "I know what you want to do, I know you don't want to be alive, but I promise that I will find a home for us, and we can be happy, you will be happy. Even if we can't find one with Toriel I swear I will find a home for us! Please… I can't lose you too. I need you to promise it to me and mean it. Cross your heart, and promise me that you will stay." She begged.
He couldn't look at her. He turned his head away.
"Please!" She begged.
It was the one thing he was sure he would never be able to promise, and now she was demanding he do just that.
"Please, AJ! Please… please don't leave me…"
He grit his teeth and tears leaked out his eyes. "Goddamn it, Frisk!" He suddenly hugged her tightly. "Alright… alright… I-" He could not believe what he was about to try and say. "I promise… that I… w-will… never… leave you." Saying it once made it easier the second time. "I promise I will never leave you!" He could not believe he had just said that, he really couldn't. "I promise that I will never leave for as long as we both live!" He couldn't believe he was actually saying it in confidence, with certainty. "I promise that I will do everything in my power to stay alive for you!" He spoke with all his emotions flowing out and tears just kept flowing. "I promise I won't disappear as long as you promise the same!"
Frisk chuckled and let her tears flow as well as they both hugged each other tighter. "I promise!"
He could only imagine what had brought him to say that. He could only imagine why he said things he never wanted to say. He could only imagine, and the only thing he came up with was that his time with this child had changed him. Why else would he decide to stay in a pointless world all for some kid?
"You know…" He started hesitantly. "You're not gonna agree with me, but I'm just gonna tell you anyway. I really don't see a point to living a life in this stupid world of ours. People tell themselves things, give themselves excuses to live on.
They say things like 'Well, we're all gonna die some time, so let's have fun!' Or something like 'I wanna be able to say I lived a life worth living.' Or they might say that they want to live to prove that they can. Personally, I think they're all idiots, but I don't hate them for it or anything. They can fool themselves all they want, as long as it makes them happy. It doesn't affect me after all, why should I be angry at them? If that helps them live their life, that's fine…
But there's no reason, there really isn't! We could all just die and everything would go on without us, that's a simple fact! I thought long and hard about this, and I really have nothing to live for. Love? Not gonna happen. Family? My parents kicked me out, so I don't care about them! Friends? That's hardly enough in my opinion. I still have to get a job, so I can afford food, water, a place to live, and I'm honestly no good at anything. Having, like, one friend is not only nearly impossible for me, but is SO not enough. They'd, you know, have an actual life of their own. I'd just be a bother if they had to deal with my uselessness all the time.
There was just nothing in my future that seemed worth it! What was the point of life? I thought about where I could go, what I could do, what I wanted to do, and there was just nothing worth it! Nothing that I wanted to do, at all! I wouldn't be happy, at all, I'd just live a life of pure misery, so what's the point!? THERE IS NO POINT! I will never have a reason to live for myself, no, the only reason I could even imagine having, is so someone else is happy. But why would anyone need me to be happy?
And then I stumble upon you! Well, we stumble upon each other, I guess. Anyway I find you, have to deal with you and these monsters and everything, and finally, at the end of it all… I realize that you have nothing, just like me. Took sans telling me to realize it though. Now, you're actually looking for something though. You're like everyone else, you have something to go for, something that would make you happy enough to be willing to keep living, and I just didn't have anything like that. I have no goals! I just figured I would find out what happened at this mountain! Do people one last service before I died! Because, no matter how much I hate people, I'm still too nice to just be mean to them all, no I always have to try and help people, like the idiot I am! I just won't learn! Even before I die I still try to be useful and make people happy, or… something, even though no one wants me to help or cares anyway! Whatever!
The point is, you have a goal, but there's one thing that would ruin your goal... If I wasn't there with you. You, you jerk, you come along and decide you want to make me happy, and you want to find a home with me in it! Once again, not human, just saying, because if you were human, I wouldn't have ended up liking you this much, I wouldn't have cared about you enough to do this!
You are the nicest person I've ever met! You're nicer than any of these monsters, and they're AWESOME!" He said, laughing. "I, I. I…" He trailed off and quieted down. "I'm willing to stay alive to make you happy." He finally said. "I am willing to go through a pointless world if it means it makes you smile, and laugh, and be happy. I will never have my own goal to reach in life, my own thing to reach for, because there's no point, but I'm willing to help you reach yours. And, since yours includes me, I'm kind of stuck with you. I'm going to be stuck with you for a long time."
Frisk could only smile. "No wonder you have a kind soul. You really are, what's it called?... selfless! That's it!"
He let out a chuckle. "Don't romanticize it, I hate myself and have no interest in my own health, that's not anywhere near as good as being selfless."
"Yes, but even though you do hate yourself, which you shouldn't, you still do things for others." The girl said. "Like you said, you were trying to do one last good thing before you died. You protected me as much as you could through the whole Underground, because you thought it was best to get me to the surface, or even better, find a home for me."
"And… in that time, I met a lot of nice people, and grew to like you." He added. "You really are special, Frisk. I was sure I would never find someone like you, but I did. Someone that I care about enough to keep living, just to make sure they're happy." He shook his head. 'Special doesn't do her justice.'
"But I'll do everything I can to make you happy too! Like I decided back in Snowdin Forest, you care for me and I care for you. You only care about making others happy, but I won't let you go unhappy." Frisk said.
He could only smile at the girl. "Good luck with that." He said honestly with a nod.
The girl suddenly gasped with stars in her eyes. "We need to call the others!"
"The others? Who?" He asked for specifics as he let go of the girl so she could jump up.
"Everyone! The barrier's gone now!" She answered.
He blinked twice and stared at her in disbelief. "Wait, what?"
"I'll explain some other day! I'm calling Papyrus and Alphys and everyone and getting them here right now!" She said as she pulled out her phone.
"Humans?"
The humans looked up for a moment and saw a weak Asgore peek around the corner of the room with the Barrier.
"Why is the barrier gone?" He asked, incredibly confused. "And how did you both get here? Last I remember, you two had just defeated me, but spared me in the end."
"Hey, yeah, that's all I remember too! What happened!?" The boy asked his fellow human.
"I said I'll explain another day!" Frisk responded before someone finally answered her calls.
The confused males waited while the child called a few friends and requested they come over right now. With the help of the Riverperson, Toriel, Papyrus, and Sans joined Alphys and arrived in the room with the humans and the king. There was a great big mess of a reunion between them all. The humans reuniting with Toriel, Toriel and Asgore having an awkward meeting, the other monsters greeting and congratulating the humans, everyone learning that Toriel was the queen... Toriel also revealed she had planned to stop the humans before they got hurt by Asgore, and that she was actually on her way to do just that when the girl called her.
The mess of excitement, and happiness, and the awkwardness between the Dreemurrs, came to an end as they decided to step out and see the surface together. They stepped outside and walked near the cliff before them and gazed out at a beautiful sunrise. The light welcomed them, and the wind blew through their hair, or in some cases, fur.
(Respite – Undertale OST)
"Oh my..." Toriel said, in wonder.
"Isn't it beautiful, everyone?" Asgore asked the group.
"I don't think I've ever seen a real sunrise before, actually." AJ commented softly as he took in the view.
"Wow… it's e-even better than on TV. Way better! Better than I ever imagined!" Alphys exclaimed with a smile.
"How could you never take in a view like this before!?" Undyne asked in shock. "You guys live with this kind of stuff every day, don't you!? The sunlight is so nice… the air is so fresh! I really feel alive! I can't believe you live with this!"
"HEY SANS… WHAT'S THAT GIANT BALL?" Papyrus asked, confused.
"We call that the Sun, my friend." The shorter skeleton answered.
"THAT'S THE SUN!? WOWIE! I CAN'T BELIEVE I'M FINALLY MEETING THE SUN!" The tall skeleton exclaimed.
"I could stand here and watch this for hours…" The king said softly.
"I could too." Frisk agreed. "I didn't know these looked so beautiful."
"Yes, it truly is beautiful, is it not?" Toriel agreed as well. "But we should really think about what comes next."
"Oh, right." Asgore said with a nod before clearing his throat and speaking up. "Everyone… This is the beginning of a bright new future… A new era of peace between humans and monsters. Humans… I have something to ask of you. We need an ambassador, would either of you-"
"Yes! Absolutely!"
"Frisk!?" The boy shouted in shock.
"YEAH! FRISK WILL BE THE BEST AMBASSADOR!" Papyrus exclaimed.
"What!? NO!" The teen said.
"AND I, THE GREAT PAPYRUS, WILL BE THE BEST MASCOT! I'LL GO MAKE A GOOD FIRST IMPRESSION!" The enthusiastic skeleton said before running off far faster than any of them expected.
Sans sighed. "I'll go get em." He said before walking in the direction of the path that hugged the rock wall of the mountain and went downwards.
"FRISK! What are you DOING!?" The teen asked, and the girl simply smiled brightly at him. "You can't be an ambassador!"
"Hurry up, slowpoke!" Undyne shouted at the skeleton, who continued to walk at the same speed. "Ugh. I'll get him!" She said before running off.
"Undyne! Wait up!" Alphys shouted as she ran off.
"Umm… should I do something, too?" Asgore asked.
The boy sighed since the girl refused to explain herself. He turned to the king. "Don't worry. Sans will get his brother." AJ said.
Asgore began sweating at the look Toriel was giving him. "Well… I'm going to follow and make sure!"
"W-Where'd he go!?" They heard Undyne shout in the distance. Seemed the skeleton finally decided to teleport.
"It seems that everyone is quite eager to set off." Toriel noted and turned to the humans with a kind smile. "Frisk… AJ… you both came from this world, did you not?" They frowned and nodded. "Hmm… but you both do not have a place to return to… do you? You said that you were on a journey to find a home. I… I have a question for you both. Would you… be interested in finding a home with me?" She asked hesitantly. "I would take very good care of you both, if you would allow me to."
The humans looked at each other and smiled. ""We want to stay with you."" They said at the same time before looking at each other again and laughing.
Toriel was too busy blushing to laugh. "Y-You two are quite funny. If you had simply stayed with me from the beginning, none of this would have happened. It is a very good thing you took so long to change your minds." They nodded in agreement to that statement.
"…Toriel, can you leave us alone for a bit?" Frisk asked politely after a moment.
Goat Mom nodded in understanding. "Of course! Private conversations with your fellow human, I understand." She walked away with the other monsters. "We will just be around the corner, waiting for you both!"
(Goodnight - Undertale OST …Best to find an extended version)
The two humans were alone now, sitting and looking out at the horizon and the sunrise. The boy then looked at her, confused and curious, while the girl's heart was pounding out of her chest.
"So… you want to talk about something?" AJ asked.
"I… need to tell you something." She said hesitantly. "But you have to promise that you will never tell anyone!"
"Another promise, huh?" He then nodded. 'This must be serious.' "Alright then. I promise to never tell anyone."
The girl sat down and let out a shaky breath. A determined light appeared in her eyes and she calmed down. Her friend sat down next to her, and so she began. "I… lied to you. I have been lying and hiding things from you for a very long time."
He couldn't pretend he wasn't a bit surprised. "And you're being honest now?"
She nodded. "Remember when you mentioned save points, and the HUD?" He nodded. "Well… I… I've been able to save, and I've had a HUD, ever since we fell." She stared out at the horizon, she couldn't bear to look him in the eyes. "I've had a bit of a… menu I guess, popping up in front of me all the time. I didn't make up names for monsters, I knew them from the moment I saw them… I've seen more than I ever should have… and I have felt more than I ever should have… but I can never forget any of it."
"Wait, so… you saved things like this was a game? You could load, then?" AJ asked.
She nodded once again, still not turning to him. "You kept… killing things, mostly by accident, and I would then have to load and try to fix things so you wouldn't kill the next time. Things seemed to change on their own though… Most of the time I didn't even need to do anything and things would turn out alright next time. I… I've had a fight button, an act button, an item button, and a mercy button in front of me whenever we fought something. I though you wouldn't believe me if I told you about any of this at first, but mostly I didn't want you worrying about me, because I've felt what it's like to die… I've… seen you die before."
For a moment her friend was shocked by this, but his expression quickly became a concerned one. "Seriously? Oh my god I'm so sorry, Frisk."
"That's it! That face!" Frisk exclaimed when she saw his expression. "I didn't want to see that face on you! I didn't want you to worry!" She took a moment to breathe and relax and she looked away from him again. "A monster surprise-attacked us in the Ruins. It knocked you down and killed me before you could do anything about it. I woke up at the last bright star that I had seen, and you acted like nothing had happened." She let out a humorless chuckle. "All the times I've been saying 'determination' is because whenever I found a glowing star, I felt some uncontrollable urge to say it come over me."
"Oh, so that wasn't just your catchphrase?" He asked.
The girl shook her head. "No, but I made it my catchphrase so you wouldn't think anything of it. *Sigh* Dealing with my parents made me get really good at lying and playing things off." She said depressingly. "Anyway, we made it to Toriel's house and we were happy for a bit. Then I woke up and couldn't find Toriel. I got scared and reset back to when she was still around, and then everything was fine again."
Flowey looked a bit surprised for a moment before chuckling. "Heh. I've been there, buddy." He used the sharp vine to push the kid's head up. The human's brown eyes stared at his own. It wasn't a blank stare, it was… almost an uninterested stare. "Fine. I'll make this quick." Before the vine struck, the boy's eyes widened with pure rage and he tilted his head, the vine cutting his cheek. Flowey flinched when he saw his red eyes glaring at him. "Wha… C-Chara?" In his moment of surprise, Flowey had loosened the vines, letting the human pull out his machete and destroy the vines. The human struck with his blade.
"Then we went to say goodbye to Toriel. We were sad and quiet all the way over, but then you weren't there when I walked up to her. Toriel ran downstairs and I followed her until we found you, standing over a broken flower... Something felt wrong with you, and I got scared, so I reset, hoping you would feel better again. This time I tried to talk a little bit with you, and this time you seemed better and there wasn't a broken Flower after you ran. We got out into Snowdin Forest, and met sans. We had fun for awhile, then you killed an Icecap monster when it tried to crush you with ice. I reset- sorry, reloaded, and we never met another one. D-Dogamy and Dogaressa killed you… so I reloaded again. Greater Dog trampled you to death…" She said, and her voice wavered the way ones voice would just before they started crying, but she refused to cry. "Once we spared that one, we spent a night at sans and Papyrus's house." She chuckled at the memory before frowning. "But… you killed sans once while we were there."
"I did? What happened?" The boy asked.
"I don't know!" The girl exclaimed. "You both were talking by yourselves, but then you both started arguing all of the sudden. You both were yelling at each other and when me and Papyrus ran in to check on you, you lost it and attacked him before he could react. I had to reload again."
The tall human looked sorry for that event. "Geez. I wish I knew what had made that happen." 'Though I guess the event technically never happened, so I don't really need to apologize to sans… thankfully.'
"We moved on, and went through Waterfall. You… kept getting angry and killing monsters, and every time I reloaded, you seemed to have a harder time controlling yourself. But, then we got lucky and didn't get attacked one time, so we were able to get through without you getting really angry. You fought Undyne and neither of you died, surprisingly. We moved on and met Alphys, and Mettaton. As we went through Hotland, you killed more monsters, but unlike in Waterfall, you didn't seem to regret doing it most of the time. Things didn't just change there, I had to do something to get you to stop. I talked with you, asked you any questions I could come up with... I did what I could to… distract you, I guess. But… you and I both died there once to some monsters, I remember that." Frisk tried not to think about it, but she couldn't, and she started to cry. "I hate thinking how… every time you died, you felt it, for the first time. You felt the pain of death for the first time, every single time… and the look on your face…"
He couldn't take it anymore and hugged her as tight as he could. "You're right… you never should have had to go through anything that you've been through." He said sadly as he rested his chin on her head. "But… at least I forgot all that when you reloaded. You're the protagonist, you can't just forget. You… know what it's like to die." He said hesitantly. "You didn't deserve that at all!" He said, suddenly very angry. "WHY!? You didn't deserve any of that! You are so precious and sweet and nice, why would the world do this to you!?" He meant to stop and let her relax, but then he noticed something. "…How in the world have you stayed yourself after everything you've been through?" He asked slowly, in shock.
Despite her crying, she couldn't help but chuckle at what she was about to say. "D-Determination." Her voice was muffled since she was speaking into his sleeve.
It caught him off guard so much that it brought him out of his anger. He let out a laugh. "You aren't human." He said, as if it was fact. "But… you're not like me, you aren't part cat or something. No, you're a freaking angel. That's the only explanation."
She blushed at what she felt was a compliment, rather than simply stating a fact (in his opinion). "Thank you." She said softly.
He chuckled and sighed happily. He kept his head still but used his eyes to look out at the sunrise again. Suddenly he was nothing but thankful. Going up to this mountain shouldn't have gone the way it did. He should have died, or simply found out what happened to the missing people and come back with the proof. Instead, so much else happened entirely. And as if it wasn't a long trip for him, Frisk had been through so much more.
"Do you… want to continue?" He asked hesitantly. She seemed to have calmed down, so it seemed safe to at least ask.
She sniffled before pulling away from him and wiping away her tears. "Y-yeah, sure." She took a few breaths and thought about their adventure. "Remember when Mettaton used those walls of fire on us?"
It didn't take him long to nod.
"Well… I went through that twice." Frisk admitted. "After going through that once and realizing we would be fine, I went back and went through it again, just so I could promise you that we would be okay. I hoped it would calm you down a bit, because we were so terrified the first time."
AJ was shocked, but also very thankful. "Well, being surrounded by flames was pretty stressful and you sounding so certain that we would be fine threw me off enough that I wasn't thinking about it. I was… really scared, actually." He admitted hesitantly. "It honestly really did help when you promised that we wouldn't be hurt. All I cared about then was making sure we weren't… burned to death." He didn't really like to think about that, so he tried to think other things. "I don't know why I believed you when you shouldn't have been able to know for sure, but I did, just a bit. So… thank you for doing that."
The younger human smiled at him before looking back out at the human city in the distance. "We made it out of there, had our 'date' with sans, went into the core… You protected us from the mercenaries with the help of your powers. Well… as much as you could anyway."
"Oh yeah, those!" He remembered.
She chuckled. "Yeah… ever since you touched that thing, you just kept getting angrier..." She noted with a frown. "But your powers had saved us from so many things by that point… I felt that it was okay. We, well, I fought Mettaton, and then we left to meet Asgore. Then we met sans, and… he killed us both."
"W-What!?" AJ asked, understandably in shock.
"Y-yeah, it was… really hard to watch you two fight…" She said solemnly. 'I heard someone else while they fought, but sans never mentioned it. I wish I knew what had happened then, and I wish I could have heard what they were saying then.' "And after that, you had your green soul, and you had lost your powers. I don't know how he did it, but I think he got rid of your powers." She said. Her friend looked thoughtful, but a bit annoyed. "He said he had to kill you because of your powers, and once he killed us and made me reload, your powers were gone and your Soul had turned green."
"Well that's weird." He commented. 'And for me, my soul just suddenly changed and then I had a weird urge to be nice to everyone. How did he do that?'
She paused for a moment. "I don't get it. You seemed so nice sometimes, but then something would happen while you were fighting a monster and you would suddenly start trying to kill them, and you did, a lot of times you did kill them. But ever since your soul turned green, I haven't seen that side of you at all, not even in our fight with Asgore. You haven't tried to kill anyone, you haven't seemed rude or… almost emotionless since your soul changed, and you were that way sometimes, almost like you were another person. I wish I knew what he did to you to change you like that." She decided it was best not to dwell on that for now. "He let us go through after that, and then we saw Asgore. I hated it, but I knew we had to fight him, cause when he threw his trident past me then, he had broken my MERCY button."
"Oh! So he didn't do that just to keep us from escaping?" AJ asked.
Frisk shook her head. "No, there was more… purpose to it than that. He thought there was no other way out of this besides one of us dying, and he wanted to make sure I knew that."
The older human imagined what that must have been like for her. "Well that was certainly a statement." He noted with a bit of a chuckle.
She chuckled as well. "Yeah. I didn't even know they could see my buttons, let alone break them."
They were silent for awhile as they admired the scenery and the young human gave him a chance to take things in and think of any last questions he might have.
"And what happened after that?" He asked.
"I… I think that can wait for another day. I don't wanna talk for much longer." She answered hesitantly.
"Okay… Did you ever try explaining this to me before?" He asked.
Frisk sighed. "No. I knew from the beginning that I couldn't tell you about it. You were reset like everything else after I died that first time. I figured this would keep happening, and I would have to keep explaining this to you if I tried to."
"So… why are you explaining this to me now? Why are you finally telling me this?" AJ asked.
The girl waved her hands in front of her, as if she was trying to hit something. "Because you have no idea how many times I've been trying to get my stuff to pop back up again while we've been talking!" She noted with childish annoyance before dropping her arms and looking him in the eyes. "I can't SAVE anymore, AJ. I can't go back to my save, I can't get my HUD to pop up. My powers are gone, too." She explained.
"Seriously?" He asked, surprised.
She nodded. "Mhm. I think all the magic in there mixed with my huge determination and gave me that power. I don't know why I think that though… But now that the barrier is gone and all the magic is probably flying out into the world… I don't think anyone can have that power anymore."
"So… things are really over for you now? You can live normally again?" Her friend asked.
She smiled. Finally, for the first time in this conversation, her normal smile was back. "Yep. I think it's finally over." She couldn't help but hug him again.
"I'm sorry I couldn't help you while you went through all that, but I'm glad it's over for you, and I'm glad I can help you now." AJ spoke before they ended their embrace.
It all really sunk in for her, then. Her friend that she was so worried about was staying, and now all of monster kind had been freed. They were gonna live with Toriel in whatever place they were going to find.
They had found their home.
She couldn't help but tear up a bit as she really let that sink in. "*sniffle* And I'm, I'm glad you're staying here to help. I'm really, really glad you're staying here. Thank you."
"Why are you so happy about that?" He couldn't help but ask. She just seemed so happy about that. Sure she wanted to find a home for them both, but she seemed so relieved.
"I said it already, I know you just wanted to die when we got out of here. So… I'm really glad you're not doing that." She explained. "You know… You say a lot of bad things when you do something bad." She noted with a bit of a grin that quickly faded.
"What, like… I swear?" He asked hesitantly.
"Yeah… you did kind of do that." She answered with a hesitant chuckle as she rubbed the back of her head.
He looked down in embarrassment. "Sorry…"
"It's okay, I understand." She said softly. "That's… not what I meant though. You… put yourself down a lot every time you realized that you had killed a monster without meaning to, usually because you were angry."
"Yeah, that's kind of my thing." He said plainly. "I'm brutally honest with myself when I do something stupid."
"You're not being honest though, you're being dumb!" She argued. "You call yourself stupid! How can a person as smart as you say you're stupid!?"
He shrugged, not knowing how to really answer. "Ever heard the phrase, 'I'm my own worst critic'?" He asked.
The smaller human blinked twice in realization. "Actually I think you mumbled that once in Hotland before I reset." She realized.
"Well, that's how I am." He said plainly. "Don't know how else to say it."
Suddenly a determined spark appeared in her eyes as she leaned close and brought her face close to his. "Well I know what I can do now that the reloads won't happen! I can keep telling you how you really are and I don't have to worry about a reload making you forget everything!"
He raised an eyebrow in amusement. "What? You think you're going to change me and make me stop 'putting myself down'?" He stood up and looked down at the girl. "Frisk, as someone who knows himself very well, I'm just gonna say it, you need to give up on that now. That is who I am and no force on this Earth can change it."
"But it's not right! You shouldn't put yourself down like that!" She said adamantly, standing up as well, though that didn't change the fact that she still had to look up at him.
"Yes, people like to say that for some reason, but you don't see that affecting me!" He pointed out.
"It will help you be happier if you stop doing that!" She countered.
"Being the way I am comes with being a realist, Frisk." He pointed out. "We recognize reality and don't pretend it isn't there. You know, that thing you optimists like to do." He added, only to see her expression not budge an inch. He sighed in annoyance. "Look, I appreciate that you are willing to try, and you can try if you want, but don't expect me to ever change." 'I really don't see the problem though!'
"We'll see about that!" Frisk exclaimed, full of determination. Though her face was nothing but an adorable one and her fellow human couldn't help but lift her off the ground in a hug. "Aaaaagh! Put me down!" The girl cried out. She was trying and failing to hold back her laughs and she wanted to be put down so she could stop laughing. "We should really go catch up with Toriel and the others!" She said in hopes that he would let go.
"Oh! Right!" He said before setting the girl down. "Well… this is going to be interesting." He realized.
"Yeah." She agreed as she stopped laughing. "We have a lot ahead of us, don't we?" She realized.
"I think that's a safe bet to make, yeah." He answered while adamantly nodding.
They turned and went down the path that their friends went, filled with anticipation among many other things. Monsters were in the world again, and they weren't sure how everyone would react to that. But, they had promised that they would stay, so they were going to see it through.
They both realized somewhere in there, that their days of protecting each other weren't over yet. Protecting each other's physical, emotional, and mental states was something they would be doing for probably a long time.
*Last Goodbye plays in the distance…*
"Is this the end?"
Well, I mean, I'm doing a sequel, so while this fanfic has ended, the series hasn't. This isn't really the last goodbye, I just needed to throw that in because listening to the end of that song, and knowing it's called "Last Goodbye" makes me really emotional, in a good way. I'll explain what comes next in a second.
Man, ProtectorTale never was much of a name, was it? XD Couldn't think of anything else and didn't know what the story would be like at the time, so that became the name and I just let it stay that way. Like, seriously, all I knew when I started this was "Fall into Underground, protect Frisk." I could never have known that all this would have ended up happening.
Anyway, this is the end of ProtectorTale. This is the canon ending of ProtectorTale. I got a surprise for you all though, and I honestly can't wait any longer to tell you. Actually, two surprises.
1: Alternate endings (kind of sort of)! I had an idea or two for how this fanfic could end, but my mind focused on this one and I liked it the most, so I let this become canon. However, I kind of want to write at least parts of the other endings and possibly other bonus stuff. Going all anime mode in a 2V1 fight against Asriel? A short little thing where Chara isn't a murderer trying to take control of the older human's body? I'm game. (Random fact: The Chara I wrote into this story actually totally goes against my headcanon for Chara) I've decided I'm going to separate these into a separate fanfic which will likely be called "ProtectorTale: Alternates" or something to that degree because of how many ideas I've had, which is more than two.
2: A Sequel! I kind of want to write more stuff with all our characters as they live on the surface. At the moment that I'm writing this, I have some idea of what I want to do. However, it isn't something that would have a definite end, it would just kind of keep going as I thought of stuff. It would just be general life stuff. Happy times, and some (prob a lot) fluffy bonding moments, and some more fight scenes, and some (hopefully) interesting events, some difficult moments, and eventually my AU that I spent months working on will take center stage… more OCs then, maybe shipping? Undetermined shipping? A lot could happen. Almost anything could happen, really, that's real life for ya. Well, real life mixed with magic and monsters and stuff.
Speaking of real life you can pretty much say goodbye to my posting schedule. I'm not sure how much I will even be focusing on the slice of life thing seeing as it takes much more thought and planning than anything else I've done before.
Hey, remember when I said that I was writing "after ending stuff" instead of writing this story? You probably don't, seeing as that was back in Snowdin Forest times, ch.9 actually. Anyway, the "After ending stuff" was actually this, this post-pacifist story idea. I have written quite a bit of that story, 20000 words (*Whispers* it's only two chapters though), like I had said. I wonder how many more I'll have written before I post this chapter? Edit: F'n NONE
So, a post-pacifist story with no official end, and non-canon stuff… Those are the ProtectorTale related things you can expect from me. I'm not sure if I'll even do anything besides that. I do have one last idea for a story, but it wouldn't be Undertale related, and I'm just not sure if I'm interested in dedicating myself to it. There would be almost nothing to it, honestly, not worth writing.
Anyway, I hope you all didn't have a bad time reaching this point. I hope you all have a very good day, and a great week! And if you enjoyed this lengthy story, let me know!
ProAJ13, your resident angel, is off to write the next… thing!
(Eeeeey 25 pages of writing for chapter 25)
Toriel opened the door and walked into the room. She smiled as she set down the two plates with slices of pie on them. There Frisk was, sleeping on the one bed in the room. The bed was large enough for the older human to fit, but he refused and simply slept on a rolled up rug on the floor until tomorrow, when they would get the second bed. The monster couldn't help but smile at the familiar sight. At that moment, the things to come didn't matter. All that mattered was that the two heroes of the Underground finally slept in the home they wanted. Goat Mom quickly backed out before her emotions could get the better of her and she ended up waking them up, but she still smiled at them one last time before closing the door.
A few minutes later, a short skeleton appeared in front of the window to the second story room. He quietly looked through the window, and his smile faltered at what he saw. He teleported inside silently. 'Once again, I have to fix this...' He thought with a quiet sigh as he raised both the humans into their air with his telekinesis. Thankfully, they still seemed unable to feel what he was doing and didn't wake up. He lowered AJ onto the bed and then set Frisk down on top of him. He smiled at the familiar sight, and at the fact that they looked more at peace now. 'There. Finally getting the sleep you two deserve.' He thought before teleporting away.