Chapter 14: The Sacrifice
"We've been searching for hours, and what have we found? Nothing," muttered Mr. Peterson.
Indeed, the group had been searching for an entrance to that elusive world where they fought their final battle, where Monika claimed that they could always find Tim. Yet all they had done was go around in circles, visiting every single game over and over again.
Freddy suddenly walked through a solid wall. "Hey, guys! Over here!"
The group followed Freddy through, down into the third layer of subtunnels, where they had never been before.
It was worse here. Everything was reduced to blocky shapes, including the heroes themselves. Nothing seemed to make sense.
There was only one path. The heroes walked down it, constantly checking solid objects to see if they were false. They were all real.
Up ahead, a glitched, distorted blocky shape stood in front of the gang, in front of a golden exit to the subtunnel.
"Aha! There it is!" cried Cuphead, dashing forward.
Freddy grabbed him just before he launched himself into it. "No, see that in front of it? That'll take us down another layer,"
"So let's go!" said Baldi, sauntering forward as well.
"No, no!" Freddy said, and there was so much anguish in his voice that everyone froze. "You can't go down more than three layers!"
"If you do, you can't come back out," the Player added helpfully.
"No worries," said Bendy, stepping forward. "I'll just move it aside."
The demon began to send several streams of ink at the object, trying to push it out of the way.
The object sucked in all the ink and stood there unmoved.
Six began to wave her hands, and grey wisps ensured from her fingertips, gliding towards the object at a glacial speed.
The object sucked those in, too, and stood there unmoved.
Monika stared at it, using her power to break down the lines of code that sustained the object and made it be.
The object stood there unmoved.
"If.. if one person goes in there, it'll disappear. The way will be clear. I felt it," Monika said.
"No. We're not sacrificing anyone," Frisk said flatly.
Monika turned to face the party. "I'll go,"
"What! No! We need you to...to…" the Player began.
Monika gave him a sad smile through the screen. "It has to be me. Besides, I'm the only one who has the ability to get out."
"Come on! We'll find another way to do it. We'll… we'll… Come on, guys! Back me up!"
The Player stared hopelessly at the screen.
Monika smiled. "This isn't goodbye. I'll still love you forever, no matter what."
The words rang in the Player's ears.
Speechless, he watched as Monika blew one last kiss at him, then turned around and resolutely walked to the glitched object. No one stopped her.
She hesitated for just a moment in front of it, and then, head held high, she confidently stepped through it, disappearing in an instant.
The glitched object suddenly vanished. Just as Monika said, the way forward was now clear.
Everyone just gaped at the spot where Monika once was, unable to speak.
"I… I can't believe she…" Mama got out.
"We can't let it be in vain," said Frisk. There was a look in her eye. And it wasn't just determination. There was something more in there, now.
"Let's finish this,"
In a daze, the group walked forward, up to the second layer, where there was only a short alley to another exit. By the time they had made it back up to the first layer, where there was another short alley and another exit, they had gather their wits enough to examine their surroundings.
A meadow. Flowers. A river. Faraway mountains.
"Ok, stop. Stop." the Player said. Everyone did.
He took a deep breath. "Through this exit is a villain. He will stop at nothing to erase you. Kill you. He hates you."
"And boy, oh boy does he have powers. It's going to feel like we have nothing at all against him."
"But you know what we have that he doesn't?"
"Friendship. We have each other."
"And for the life of me, I never thought I'd say these words, but… we do it for Monika. You hear me?"
"FOR MONIKA!" came the eight-voices strong reply.
"THEN LET'S DO THIS!" And the Player led his team out of the subtunnel and into the world of Braid for the final battle.
Random sacrifice required for plot, somewhat cringy pep talk, and two unstoppable forces. Sounds like the legitimate final battle to me!
What? You don't think this is it? That the story is almost over?
Well, you'd be quite wise to think that, Reader. You really would.
Until next time...?