Undertale 2: Forgiven
Chapter Nineteen
POWER
That's what Jasmine could feel. Energy surging through the room in powerful heat waves. The resonating power of every monster's SOUL beating as one; six human SOULs and an entire race, controlled by one person:
Asriel Dremurr.
It wasn't like anything she had felt before.
Asriel raised his arms, and something that resembled a heat-seeking missile that left a rainbow path shot from his palm. Jasmine shrieked, running to her right and throwing herself to the floor.
Not one of Asriel's attacks hit her.
"Keheheh. You know what I've noticed about humans since I've seen them come down here? They're always given the chance to strike first. What is it with that unspoken courtesy happening every time, huh? I think it's my turn now."
"...my boy, you need to wake up now. You're still needed."
Alex slowly lifted his head. He felt so heavy. So weighed down. He couldn't move. He couldn't see. It was as if he no longer had the power, nor the strength to move his body.
"G...Gaster?" Alex groaned, faintly calling out to the voice.
All at once, Alex felt himself being pulled into the air. He looked below him, and he could see his own body still laying where it had fallen.
Now Alex could see the scene unfolding not far from where he laid: Asriel Dremurr and Jasmine in a mostly one-sided battle to the death. Jasmine's energy was desperately dedicated to staying alive long enough to land a blow."
"Jasmine!" Alex gasped. He watched her frantic dance to dodge Asriel's attacks. He was already fully aware of who was attacking her. He also knew that her chances were slim.
"No no, go that way! Agh! Duck! Oh crud oh crap okay!" Alex instinctively shouted out as if he were playing a stressful video game. Alex wrung his hands, his stress levels rising.
"She can't hear you, my boy, and even if she could, I don't think you would be helping very much."
Alex spun around. Gaster was standing behind him.
"What did you do?" Alex asked.
"I pulled your SOUL from your body temporarily. It's a process I've been granted to perform as a result of the unstable timeline. Truth be told, I wasn't even aware I could do this until now.
"I only have a little time; I can't maintain this for long. I need you to listen quietly." Gaster said. Alex nodded.
"Your theory on Asriel Dremurr: it was smart, genius even. And very, very close to what occurred, but not exact I'm afraid." Gaster said.
"No? What did I miss?" Alex asked.
"Nothing you knew, don't worry. It's a detail I failed to include in my explanation of what happened to Asriel. It has to do with monster tradition:
"When a monster dies, we have a special funeral custom. We spread the dust of the deceased monster over their favorite thing. For Sans, it'd probably be a joke book, and for Papyrus, a plate of spaghetti. You get the gist.
"When Asriel died, he was carrying the dead child in his arms, and the dust of both of them spread over the child's favorite thing: the golden flowers in Asgore's garden. Specifically, the one in the center. It was the first to grow, before all the others."
Alex was beginning to catch on.
"Years later, Dr. Alphys commenced her Determination experiments in an effort to find an alternative path to freedom; an interesting avenue to choose.
"During her experiments with monsters in critical conditions, she tried injecting Determination into something without a SOUL: the flower. It was meant to be a surprise for Asgore..." Gaster gestured to Alex, urging him to finish.
"...so, the Determination was injected onto the golden flower that had the human's and Asriel's dust on it...and you said my theory was close..." Alex clapped his hands. It came to him!
"I got it! The Determination was like a-a defibrillator! It jumpstarted their SOULs, but it was corrupted by the raw Determination and their SOULs combined and manifested into Flowey!"
"Precisely!" Gaster nodded proudly.
"So then what you're saying is that Flowey was lying when he said he had no SOUL."
"Not necessarily." Gaster responded. Alex paused for a moment.
"He doesn't know."
"Correct." Gaster nodded again.
"Why do I need to know this?" Alex asked.
"Because, my boy, it could be the key to the happy ending your story needs, but only you can decide what happens." Gaster answered, placing his hand on Alex's shoulder.
Jasmine slapped Asriel and pushed him back. He slid back, his smirk unfaltering.
"Not bad. You've held your own magnificently! And yet, I've only been using a fraction of my full power. As a warm-up. Heh. Now it's time to put you to the real test." Asriel stood straight and held his arms out...
Jasmine looked down at his STATS "No punch, Act, nor Item will help you, nor will Asriel accept your Mercy, but maybe, somewhere deep in your SOUL, you can muster the power and the Determination to SAVE someone else..."
Jasmine lunged at Asriel, slapping an open hand onto his chest. "This better work. Don't let me down. Do it for Alex."Jasmine encouraged firmly, through gritted teeth.
The battlefield shifted, and six opponents appeared in a line in front of her: her friends.
"Guys, listen to me now! You need to break free from Asriel's control! Don't let him overtake you this way! Think of Alex! How he showed you the good of humans, and you desire to help him, and me!
"Alphys: think of how it felt seeing Alex's adventure onscreen.
"Undyne: think of how Alex Saved that child.
"Sans: think of how Alex proved you wrong and how you so wanted to help me.
"Papyrus: think of your friend and that loving bond you to have.
"Toriel: think of that promise that Alex made you. How much he cared.
"Asgore: think of how much we've all sacrificed to be here now.
"Come to your senses!" Jasmine yelled at the top of her lungs. Asriel appeared in front of her.
"What're you doing?! Stop that!" He yelled.
The six of them began to stir, physically pulling themselves away from Asriel's attempt to cloud their minds.
"No! Come back!" Asriel begged in anger. The six of them all gathered behind Jasmine supportively.
"Alex was our friend too." Sans stated, shaking his head.
"Bah! So what if you refuse me? It doesn't matter! I'll just RESET everything! We can do this all over again! You'll all forget! Perhaps in the next life you'll be a little more open-minded," Asriel said, wagging his finger. A giant SOUL cannon appeared over Asriel's head.
"Until then, I can't just have you standing in my way. You've left me no choice but to destroy you. Don't worry though, you'll all be back home soon and this'll all be behind us." Asriel said.
The six human SOULs rose to the cannon.
"Speaking of behind: yours."
Alex jumped up and grabbed Asriel from behind, locking him into a choke hold.
"Help!" Alex yelled upwards.
Jasmine and the others stepped forward, but Alex shook his head at them. He looked up again.
"I know you can hear me! Help me set you free! Come on." Alex said softly. Asriel threw him off.
Alex slid back and rolled onto his feet. The other six human SOULs followed him.
"No! You're supposed to obey me! This is all wrong!" Asriel screamed. The SOULs joined with Alex, and Asriel was no longer a being of great power...
Alex approached the young goat. From his height, Alex could assume he was in his early teens. He had on a long-sleeve green and yellow shirt, and black pants. His head was down, and he was crying. Little sobs escaped him, and his shoulders fell.
"Shh. There there." Alex said soothingly, hugging him and patting his back.
"Gosh, I'm a real crybaby." Asriel sighed, resting his forehead down on Alex's shoulder.
"There's nothing wrong with that. Jasmine's a crybaby too."
"Hey!" Jasmine shouted. Alex chuckled a bit.
"Yeah, Papyrus cries a lot too." Sans commented.
"Untrue!" Papyrus defended.
Asriel smiled a bit. Alex and Asriel made eye contact for the first time. Alex saw no evil monster nor a SOULless, power-hungry tyrant...
He saw a boy who was scared to be alone, and lashed out because he was hurt. Hurt by the hand life had dealt him. Angry because he was lonely, feeling like no one understood him. That no one cared about him...
It was a feeling Alex knew all too well...
"I... I'm sorry, Alex. I'm sorry everyone. I... I really messed up badly." Asriel apologized, sighing heavily.
"Well, you only destroyed the Underground's existence." Alex shrugged.
"Yeah..." Asriel's eyes fell to the ground.
"No, that's good. In fact, it's perfect. Your damage is irreversible, which means we can now free monsterkind together." Alex grinned. However, Asriel's eyes furrowed.
"That's impossible. I can't hold this form for more than a few minutes with the monster SOULs. Soon I'll be a flower again." Asriel said hopelessly.
"With monster SOULs, yeah, but how about 7 human SOULs?" Alex suggested. Jasmine stepped forward, wrapping her arm around Alex's neck.
"Make that 8." She said. The others joined them.
"You've got monsterkind on your side too, kid." Sans said. Asriel swallowed hard.
"I'm scared." He admitted. Alex smiled a bit.
"Remind me to tell you a story later."
Alex grabbed Asriel and threw him at the barrier.
"Go! Head for the barrier!" Alex yelled, leading the charge himself.
Everyone spilled out onto the summit of Mount Ebott. Asriel stood, feeling corruption taking over. He grunted in agony. Alex took full advantage of his power, grabbing Asriel's SOUL...
...and splitting it in half.
"Help guys!" Alex called over his shoulder. Jasmine and the others grabbed Asriel, helping to keep him still.
"Agh! Stop!" Asriel screamed. But Alex couldn't stop now. Alex threw the two sections away from each other. Asriel fell to his right, and another SOUL fell to his left.
Quickly, Alex released the other six human SOULs. He sighed heavily, feeling a large amount of the power drain away from him all at once.
"Why didn't you keep the SOULs? You could've had immense power!" Undyne questioned him.
"No one should have that kind of power. It changes you. God forgive me for even using it. They're going back to where they belong now." Alex said, looking up at the stars fading away with the stars.
"H-how t-t-touching..." A voice trembled.
Alex turned to his left. Flowey was there on the ground, uprooted. The others quickly looked back at Asriel, behind Alex. Asgore and Toriel quickly tended to their son.
Alex picked up Flowey by the stem. Flowey looked broken and weak, but he managed to look up at Alex with that same disturbed smile, but his widened eyes were full of a silent fear.
"You must be feelin' like a real big shot now, huh? Heheh... The monsters are free to leave the Underground now that the boy's letting them go. You're with her again. You're the savior now, keheheh...
"Now all you gotta do is kill me." Flowey stared at Alex with a disturbed sense of anticipation in his eyes.
Alex shook his head. "I'm not gonna kill you, Flowey."
"Yes you will!" Flowey growled.
"No."
"I haven't learned anything from this! You can see it! I'll kill you! Everyone! Everyone you love! Piles of bodies and blood! I'll do it!" Flowey screamed, his voice breaking several times. Alex shook his head again.
"No." He said softly.
Flowey shook his head, his eyes filling with water. "Why? Why are you Sparing me? Why are you being nice? Where is it coming from? It's not natural. I don't get it. It doesn't make sense. I don't understand. I can't understand. I can't..."
Flowey shook himself free of Alex's grip, and inched back into the Underground...