By the time Loki had gotten to the bridge, it was already too late. Undyne knelt on the bridge, bleeding heavily, as the Monster Child beat a hasty retreat behind her. "No…" She was panting. "It can't end like this… I have to be strong… for Asgore… Loki… Alphys…"

Loki shoved past Thor, catching him by surprise, and dropped to his knees beside the fishy woman. "Undyne!" He cried. "Hey, look at me, you're going to be alright."

"I have to be." Undyne gasped. "Don't you see? This isn't just about the monsters, anymore. As soon as he gets through that blasted barrier, he'll kill everything. Everything. I've got to stay strong."

"You're wounded." Loki pointed out. "You can't."

Undyne raised her yellow eye to his. "What makes you think that?"

Loki summoned a green ATTACK, and pressed it to her forehead, raising her hit points just by a few decimals. "You'll be alright, now." He smiled. "Let me handle this. He's my brother, I can get through to him."

"You can't…" Undyne began, but Loki had already pushed her out of the FIGHT. "Stay." He commanded her, like some sort of puppy, then turned back to his unemotive, impassive brother. "Thor."

Thor responded by shooting a lightning bolt at him. Loki was used to this sort of ATTACK, having grown up with the Thunderer, and nimbly side-stepped it. "I realize you won't listen to me, but please. If any of my words are penetrating that shell of LV, hear me. I don't want to hurt you, Brother."

Lightning.

Dodge.

"We were raised together. We fought together, played together. Do you remember none of that?" Loki pleaded. "You don't have to be the monster. You can stop this madness."

Lightning.

Duck.

"I love you, Thor. I'm on your side. You can't want to hurt me."

Lightning.

This one almost caught Loki's leg. Apparently, he did want that.

"These monsters, they've done nothing to deserve your wrath. And, as much as it pains me to say, the safety of the nine realms is…" Loki gulped. "It is more important than you."

Lightning.

Loki skittered out of the way, just in time. The walls of the FIGHT box seemed to be aflame, and the heat was getting to Loki's head.

"I don't wish to hurt you. But if you continue down this way, you leave me no choice." Loki declared. "To save the lives of all the nine, I am…" Loki hesitated. Was he willing to kill Thor? Could he? Was that truly who he was? Was the hero truly him, if he slayed his own brother?

Thunder rolled, and the entire bridge shook, knocking Loki to the ground. He rolled out of the way of another strike of lightening, and jumped back up to his feet. "So be it, then." He wiped his forehead of the sweat. "Forgive me, Brother."

He summoned his daggers, and leapt at the Thunderer, burying the blades deep in the flesh below Thor's heart. For a terrible moment, Loki thought he'd actually done it. That he'd actually murdered his own brother. Guilt and relief simultaneously welled up inside him, as Thor dropped to the ground, his face just as expressionless as before.

Glancing around, he scanned his surroundings for Undyne. She was sitting in the same place, pointing behind him with an urgent look in her eye. Loki glanced back at Thor.

He wasn't dead. Far from it.

Thor had stood back up, a mocking leer on his face, and deftly tossed the two daggers into the cavern. Thunder rolled, and lightning crashed, stabbing Loki through the heart.

All was silent, as Loki stared in dumb shock at Thor's face. The Thunderer turned, forgetting Undyne, and left.

"No…" Loki croaked, and everything went black.

He woke up in the True Lab, dull voices ringing in the background.

"So, let me get this straight. The kid is half-dead because his brother shot lightening at him, and you did nothing?"

"He told me not to, okay?"

"SINCE WHEN DO YOU TAKE ORDERS FROM ANYONE LOWER THAN ASGORE?"

"Since I was at 1.5 HP, and he looked like he was handling it. He didn't even see the lightening coming."

"It wasn't Undyne's fault, my children. I realize your friend is hurt, and I'm worried about him, as well, but…"

"But you did, didn't you?"

"I tried to warn him, I told you that – "

"AS A SOLDIER, YOU NEED TO DO BETTER THAN TRY, UNDYNE."

"Children, please!"

"I think I'm a better soldier than a hunk of metal!"

"WELL, I NEVER WANTED TO BE FIGHTING IN THE FIRST PLACE. YOU DRAGGED ME INTO THIS!"

"You don't fight by being a soldier. You fight by making the right call, when it needs to be made, and sitting out while the kid fought was downright stupid."

Loki pried his eyes open, blinking wearily at the ceiling; a network of pipes, painted a sickly green. His entire body hurt. There were figures in the corner of his eye, and he wearily turned to look at them. Undyne, Sans, Asgore, and Mettaton. They were arguing. Arguing over him.

"Hello…" He croaked. The four of them all jumped, and turned to gather around the bed Loki lay on.

"DARLING, YOU'RE ALIVE!" Mettaton gasped dramatically.

"Yeah, I think so." Loki smiled, his lip cracking as he did.

"How ya feeling, kid?" Sans smiled at him, clearly relieved.

"Like I just got run over by a buffalo stampede." Loki chuckled weakly. "Have you any water?"

Asgore handed him a glass, and gently sat him up so he could drink.

"Thank you." Loki smiled gratefully. "Did you stop him?"

The four monsters glanced at each other sheepishly. "Well… no." Undyne admitted. "We were all too worried about you."

Loki closed his eyes in disappointment. Thor had gotten away. He'd lived to kill another day, another monster, and Loki hadn't been able to stop them. Not only that, but his presence had distracted them from finishing him off. His HP was low, they could have gotten him, but… they'd saved his life, instead.

If he had just dealt the killing blow on whatever was left of Thor, they wouldn't have to worry about him, anymore. Gritting his teeth in frustration, he opened his eyes, scanning the room.

There was a tiny, glowing star in the corner of the room.

"A save point…" Loki breathed.

Sans looked up. "What's that?"

"There's a save point, right there." Loki pointed a shaky finger at the glittering light.

"You're more DETERMINED than he is, now." Undyne smiled in realization.

Weakly, Loki stumbled out of bed, and knelt next to the glowing orb.

The comforting presence of your friends gives you hope for tomorrow.

You are filled with DETERMINATION. HP fully restored.

Loki stood upright, DETERMINATION coursing through his veins for the first time since leaving the Ruins. "Mettaton?"

"RIGHT HERE, BEAUTY!" The robot sent him a cheeky wink.

"How soon can you cut him off?"

It had taken a while, but Loki had finally realized that Thor is no longer his brother. His brother has been drowned by overdose to LV. Loki could not kill Thor, as the monster who was making his way through the Underground, slaughtering everything he could find, was not Thor.

Thor was dead.

All that remained was a bloodthirsty shell of the man he'd once been.

Loki's boss theme, if you're interested, is "Quutamo", by Apocalyptica. "Quutamo" means Moonlight, in, I believe... Finnish? DOn't sue me.

TheOnlyHuman.