Chapter 17
Once I got to the barrier, I saw that I was able to go through it while everyone else was stunned when they saw my hand go through something only they could see.
"What do you guys see?" I asked them.
"Your hand is going through the endless white door. That's what the barrier looks like to anyone who can't pass through," Asgore said, me then seeing that Asriel shook a bit when he saw the barrier for himself.
"heh, you may not know it, but i can see through it too," Sans said, everyone being surprised at that, myself included.
"How? You don't have a human soul on you, bro!" Papyrus said.
"no. but i do have determination in me," Sans said, Alphys smiling at that. "after all, back when the first humans started showin' up, i was alphy's lab assistant. i injected myself with a single drop of determination. and just from one drop, my soul gained immense power. crow can attest to that," Sans said, me smiling and nodding my head at that.
"He's not lying. He showed me his true power when he wanted to test my strength on my way through Hot Land. His eyes go blank, then he gains a blue left eye, and all of his attacks cause weakening damage while also being super-fast and very difficult to dodge!" I smirked.
"Is what he's saying true, bro?" Papyrus asked.
"yeah, it's true. i decided to finally show my true colors, now that i know nothing can be reset ever again," Sans said.
"Reset? What does that mean?" Undyne asked.
"i'll tell ya after crow leaves. after all, i sure don't wanna go up there with only one person helpin' out. i'd rather just tell you all about how this day is the greatest in my entire life," Sans smirked.
"You're very mysterious, mister Sans. After all, your puns really tickled my 'funny bone'!" Toriel smiled, that getting some of us to laugh and one to groan. Who groaned? Papyrus.
"Ugh!" he groaned.
"Aw, come on, Papyrus, you're smiling," Tootie smiled at him.
"I am and I hate it!" he groaned at that, Tootie smiling at Papyrus.
"Would you rather settle for knock knock jokes? I know a few of those," Cinder smirked.
"Yes! Those are much better than puns!" Papyrus smiled, me then looking at everyone with a smile.
"Keep them entertained, Cindy. Oh, and everyone?" I asked, getting their attention. "Spread the word to the other monsters in the Underground. Tell them that freedom is within our grasp. Tell them it will only take at least 1 to 4 hours and the barrier will finally come down," I smiled.
"I know just who to call!" Alphys smiled.
"Taking a guess... Mettaton, right?" Tex smiled.
"Correct," Alphys smiled.
"Well, here I go. Up to the surface. I'll be back shortly, guys," I smiled as I then went through the door of the barrier and then I found a staircase. I went up it and soon found myself outside of the Underground and at the very summit of Mount Ebott, the moon high above me in the sky. It was midnight. "Now time to go to the town's cemetery to find 7 human souls instead of 6... after all, I don't want Chara to be lost forever," I said as I then proceeded down the trail back home. And I knew that this would be my most important assignment to date.
Norma POV:
"Be safe, hon... be safe," I said to myself after I saw Crow leave through the barrier, hoping that he'd be able to do the job effortlessly despite his different skin color.
"You really care for him, huh, kid?" Undyne asked me, me nodding at that.
"I'm in love with him," I admitted, my heart still feeling just a slight bit of strength from when Chara was attached to it. I then looked at Crow's siblings and smiled at how all of them needed a bathing. "Hey, I wanted to know more about you since Crow mentioned he was going through the Underground all to save you guys. So what's your background?" I smiled at them.
"how about it waits until i tell my tale?" Sans asked, me smiling at him.
"Right, forgot. Sorry," I smiled with a blush.
"So what's the deal, Sans? What did you mean when you said that stuff?" Toriel asked.
"i'll explain from the top," he said as his eye then turned blue and everyone looked at him in shock.
"Whoa!... That power... it's unheard of!" Asriel gawked as he hid behind Toriel for protection, me smiling at him.
"Don't worry, he means no harm," I smiled.
"Right," Sans said as he then started to explain. "You see, after I injected myself with Determination from Alphys, I suddenly got a flash of knowledge enter my brain. I had gained some control over the power of time and space just from a single injection of the stuff. Using this knowledge, I was able to discover how to see others' paths if they have a powerful source of Determination, much like Crow and Chara, as their souls are the most powerful of the humans down here... but when I finished work on W.D. Gaster's unique machine, the one that caused his disappearance, I discovered something startling. It started to record an abnormality in the timelines that happened consistently with a child named Frisk. Every time that Frisk ended an adventure, whether it be peaceful, neutral, or genocidal, the timelines reset completely. But then, just a few days ago, the timeline was changed drastically by Crow's appearance in the Underground. Just from seeing him, I knew there would be some form of hope, as Frisk was not around this time. My machine records every single timeline reset so far, and this is so far the 1084th reset. After so long, it gets tiring having to see the same endings over and over, so I just played along after so long. But once Crow appeared, I knew I could finally figure out the source of why the timelines kept getting reset," Sans explained.
"And who was the one resetting the timelines?" Sir Whims asked from Reaper Bird, who still was around, despite the others being creeped out by his appearance.
"It was none other than Gaster himself. He found it amusing to toy with the timelines and only made himself known when Chara finally came clean," Sans said, everyone looking shocked at that.
"Chara had something to do with this?" Asgore asked.
"Every time that Frisk entered the Underground, Gaster would follow one of three possible outcomes. Either sparing every single monster in the Underground, killing a few but then leaving some alive, and then, the worst of them, possessing Chara so she could possess Frisk and kill every single monster in the Underground before resetting the timeline in a single attack. And, in the parlor of Mettaton Resort, after Chara revealed Gaster's motives, he appeared before us. But Crow, out of sheer luck from getting Muffet to willingly merge with him, managed to ensnare him with some magical pink webbing, preventing Gaster from teleporting anywhere. Then, just out of sheer anger and hatred, for all the lives he toyed with, I was the only to shatter his soul and put his ashes in the molten lava directly underneath the CORE. He's not going to be coming back for another round after that, I can assure you," Sans said before he then lost his eye and then he returned to his normal self with sweat going down his head. "and now that it's finally over, i'm just as relieved as chara is... to be able to live life past today for the first time in what seems like forever... i never thought it'd happen, but crow managed to save all of us," Sans said, everyone gobsmacked by his tale and Papyrus the most shell-shocked of all.
"B-Bro... I..." Papyrus said with a gulp.
"it's okay, bro," Sans said as he went to his brother and hugged him, Papyrus sniffling and hugging back. "anytime a genocide path happened, i always hated it, since i was the only obstacle remaining between frisk's blade and the king. every single one of us would have been slaughtered in the process. tori would've been first, papyrus would've been next, then undyne, then mettaton, then, after every single monster was killed, i would remain. and if frisk got past me, which he would always find a way to do, then he'd kill asgore in one hit and then brutally murder asriel, who still would've been flowey. in fact, flowey was always so scared, he literally begged to be spared, but frisk killed him anyways," Sans said with a sigh.
"Whoa... the fact that all of that could happen... it's a true nightmare. Honestly, Sans, I wouldn't have wanted to be alive anymore if that happened to me... I can't imagine the kind of pain you had to endure... and from your own father, no less... he sounds like a true monster," Shiva said, me looking at her in confusion as did Mew Mew and the others. The only ones that didn't were the Reaper Bird, Sans, and Alphys.
"What's that supposed to mean, punk?!" Undyne growled.
"She's not talking about monsters as in a species," Alphys explained. "She means a different form of monster. A creature that only knows death and destruction and won't hesitate to inflict pain and suffering to others. Gaster was that kind of monster. Meanwhile, all of us are much kinder and have moralities to them."
"Thanks for translating for Shiva, miss... Alphys, right?" Andy asked, her nodding at that. "She is still a kid after all. Not a wide vocabulary for a 6 year old girl."
"Yeah... I was an idiot when I tripped on that log and fell into the Ruins..." Shiva sighed, her then looking at Toriel with a smile before going over and hugging her, Toriel surprised, but hugged back all the same. "I missed you so much, mum," Shiva smiled, me being surprised at her saying that.
"There now, child. It's alright," Toriel smiled. "But I'm not your mother... you could think of me as one, but I don't know if..." Toriel said as the other kids sighed and then Bullet spoke.
"Listen, queenie. We literally have no family but each other in the Burr household. Our parents died not long after Shiva was born, so she hasn't had a mom that she remembers. So please, just let Shiva and all of the Burr family be a part of yours, okay?" Bullet smiled, me gawking at that.
"Crow... he never mentioned that... he doesn't have parents?" I gawked, only then gasping at something. "CRAP! We've been standing around way too long! We need to go spread the word out! Mettaton may be popular, but there are monsters down here he doesn't have access to! We need to go tell everyone! Cell phones at the ready!" I exclaimed, everyone gawking and immediately doing that, me smiling as Toriel called the monsters in the Ruins one by one, Sans and Papyrus called the monsters in Snowdin, Undyne called up the monsters in the marsh and the glittering caves, and Alphys and Asgore called the monsters in Hot Land, some even texting monsters that had text phones.
"Okay, let's tally up how many we contacted... I contacted every single monster from the Ruins just now," Toriel said.
"Sans and I did the same with the Snowdin residents!" Papyrus smirked.
"All the monsters in the caverns got the message too! I'll expect the Temmies to be some of the first to show up!" Undyne smirked.
"And the monsters in Hot Land and the capital will probably be here quickly as well," Alphys smiled.
"Well... that's everyone accounted for, then. We'll need to make a meeting with them all when everyone arrives... Toriel..." Asgore said, his wife looking at him with a stern gaze. "I... apologize for my actions... can you ever find it in your heart to forgive me?... So we can have a family again?" Asgore asked, Toriel frowning angrily, but then Asriel pulled on her dress with a small, sad smile.
"Please, mum? If I want to be alive again, even with Chara inside of me, I want dad to be apart of it, too," Asriel smiled, Toriel's frown then loosening and Undyne smiling at her.
"Come on, Toriel! I mean, if Crow was able to be the nicest guy around, even to someone like me who actively tried to attack and kill him in the past, then you can let bygones be bygones, right?!" Undyne smirked widely, her then smiling at that.
"Very well... I shall give you another chance, Asgore. But when we get to the surface, you will remain on a very short leash until I feel you've atoned for your misdeeds," Toriel said, Asgore smiling and nodding at her.
"Thank you... I'll do anything that I can... to earn your trust once again," Asgore smiled, all the Burr kids then immediately going to Asgore and hugging him tightly, him surprised as he then fell to the ground from the amount of weight on him, but he simply laughed it off happily, everyone finally smiling at that and me seeing Undyne pick up Alphys and kiss her on the lips, the science dinosaur smiling and blushing before returning the favor. And Reaper Bird also smiled widely... or as best they could, anyways.
"I do wonder what the surface world will be like... I've heard of amazing stories from Alphys," Sir Whims smiled.
"Croak! Yeah, the magical swords, fairy princesses, and giant fighting robots!" Final Froggit croaked.
"We'll just have to wait and find out," Astigmatism smiled.
"Actually, those things were part of human history long ago, but that was all before the barrier was put in place, before any of us were born. Now humans live much less magical-filled lives. Right, hon?" Undyne smiled, Alphys nodding at that.
"Uh..." the other kids frowned, me whispering something to Sans and him saying it to them and only them to keep quiet and just let them think what they want, the kids then smiling and nodding at that before giggling.
"Now we have to play the waiting game... we should probably go to the throne room in the meantime," Asgore smiled.
"Yeah! Let's go! We'll need to tell everyone the great story of what happened here today!" Papyrus smiled proudly.
