VOXISTALE: Season 1

by TheOneTrueComic

Once upon a time… A human fell underground. Beneath the surface, they made friends. Made enemies. Made mistakes. Made things right. After a long time, the human decided to stay, calling the underground home. The monsters, her family. One day, the underground was destroyed, but the monsters were able to escape, thanks to the human. For years, they have lived on the surface.

15. Out of the Shadows

Four days.

That's how much time had passed, and by now, everyone was aware of what was happening; a hostile takeover by the Messiah as they crawled out of the shadows again, and slaughtered any who stood in their way. Human, monster, it didn't matter. If you were between them and their target, you were going to die.

The old Messiah outpost Magnum had led them to turned out to be the real deal. The tunnels leading out of it were sealed off for the most part, leaving only two open tunnels in which they could traverse through, both of which met at the station they were taking refuge in. Once they were all safely there, Undyne had left them in search of more monsters to bring in. Frisk, of course, had offered to help but Undyne seemed uncharacteristically... distant. She refused any help, no matter what with, and was pretty consistently quiet. It was unnatural seeing her like this, especially considering how much more confident she usually was at the end of her own life every time Frisk had killed her once upon a time.

Asgore was much the same. He didn't speak, just sat on a bench that sagged under his weight, staring intently at a blank stone wall, Demon seeming to have really messed with him. Alphys, for once, seemed to be the most collected individual. She made it her top priority to make sure everyone was safe and comfortable, no matter if they were human or monster. Truck had taken no time at all in returning to his usual self, at least that's what Magnum had called it. While Frisk had thought him just an idiot after their battle, she could see now that he couldn't help it. He acted like a toddler- a very dangerous toddler. He quickly became somewhat of an assistant to Alphys, happy to hand out blankets to any newcomers, alongside anything else Alphys asked of him.

Then there was Magnum. She seemed beside herself, trying to help yet being, for the most part, refused. It became no secret among their growing group that she was not only a previous member of the Messiah, but the daughter of its leader. Her real name was Trinity Obaseki, but she clearly preferred Magnum for unknown reasons. Like Frisk, she offered to help Undyne, but was refused. Sometimes she'd assist Alphys, but Truck mostly had that covered.

So she was left to pace all around the refitted train station, eyes distant, sometimes muttering to herself. They were all a complete mess, and it had come as a shock to learn that Jonathan Obaseki was the leader of the Messiah. Asgore had no initial reaction, as he had with just about everything since he'd awoken.

Monsters, and the occasional human, were brought back to the outpost by Undyne. She never stayed long before heading back out to collect more people, and it wasn't long before several more familiar faces showed up, like Mettaton and Papyrus. Well, Mettaton's body. He seemed relatively dead, and Alphys had quickly gotten to work on him. Papyrus had told Frisk that Sans had brought them here, but had left with a talking flower, which... worried her. If Sans and Flowey were operating together, then clearly they were more concerned about the new timeline holder than they were about the Messiah.

She could understand the concern but it kind of pissed her off that Sans would rather focus on that than the immediate issue. The one that put everyone in harm's way right now. The thought of Sans often left a sour taste in her mouth more and more lately. Thankfully, Papyrus didn't seem as eager to abandon them, as he and Truck seemed to become well acquainted, and Papyrus somehow managed to find food to begin cooking for people, with the help of Truck.

The food wasn't necessarily awful, but it wasn't great, not that she could complain, their options were limited up until Undyne brought back some other monsters including Muffet, who quickly took over Papyrus' sub-par cooking scene.

And yet, still... her friends hadn't shown up, and after learning from Magnum and Truck that the Messiah had listed them to be killed by Krashna, who was apparently that Jason Clever kid she'd felt so uneasy about…

She could have kicked herself. Had she just listened to her gut, maybe so much of this could have been avoided. She clearly had the power to take on the Messiah, maybe even more. What Demon had said... about her only using a fraction of her power…

She wasn't sure what he meant, it could be a variety of things, but clearly he knew more about her SOUL than she did, or perhaps just more about the history of previous users of Determination. Either way, it made her wonder how she could... unlock more of that power. If she could, then the Messiah would be far easier to take down... right?

That's what she hoped.

But as Undyne continued to bring more people back, Frisk felt her stomach twist and turn even more as her friends failed to arrive. Was this how monsterkind had felt all those times she'd committed eidocide against them?

Just the thought of that made her stomach curl even more, and she closed her eyes, feeling ready to throw up as she silently sat on the ground near the entrance to the refitted train station, waiting for somebody- anybody she knew, to walk in there.

Overall, the group morale was relatively low. After the Messiah unleashed their might upon the city, it was hard for a lot of the weaker monsters to have hope for the future. Every time Frisk walked around the outpost, she could hear the whispers.

'We'll be here forever.'

'If they find us, we're done.'

'We can't really trust the leader's daughter...'

'We lost.'

It made her want to bury her face in a pillow and scream, because nearly everything people were saying felt like they were speaking her thoughts for her. She was scared, everyone she knew, all her friends, were either dead, or had their spirit shattered. Alphys and Papyrus were the only people she could really talk to. It had been an unpleasant surprise when Asgore had been unresponsive, even when she'd tried to check on him. She didn't blame him or feel as if he didn't care, though, he just... had other things to think about.

Frisk's blood began to boil as she recalled the events from three nights ago. She wanted to explode every time she thought about Demon, what he'd done to Toriel, what he'd done to Asgore, what he'd wanted to do to everyone.

She'd never felt so helpless against an enemy, not even when she'd fought Sans in all those broken timelines. Even after making him retreat, Frisk's stomach throbbed at the thought of meeting him again. She was beginning to think there was some kind of trauma there.

Before Frisk could go back to her usual sitting spot, she felt something come down on her shoulder, squeezing it slightly. She nearly jumped, her head turning to look at whoever had touched her. At her side was a girl she didn't immediately recognize, but she seemed somewhat familiar- then it clicked. She was the green-eyed girl that had been brought to Muffet's for those blind dates with Greg. Paying closer attention now, Frisk could see the girl had deep violet hair and a pair of thick glasses with magenta rims. Her demeanor seemed playful, as did her expression, which seemed to be a combination of cheer and worry.

"Hi! You look awful," the girl greeted with a cheerful smile that made Frisk completely envious. She wished she could muster up a smile these days.

"Um... I'm sorry?" she blinked.

"Not in a mean way, of course. I just mean you gotta learn some self care, Ms. Ambassador!" the girl patted her on the shoulder. "Rough week?"

"I guess you could say that," Frisk nodded, not that it really needed to be said. Everyone knew it was a 'rough week.'

"Wanna talk about it? You look like you need to vent, I can tell. Your shoulder feels like a brick," she giggled. She… wasn't wrong about Frisk needing to vent. Even if it seemed weird to do it to a total stranger.

Maybe it would be better... this chick had no idea of all the stuff Frisk had done, wasn't connected enough (presumably), and... well yeah. She could get a load off her chest.

"...Well, uh... okay, um... so like, you ever... and... it's like... you just..."

She was struggling to find a place to even begin, and felt pretty awkward as the girl continued to stare at her with that seemingly unbreakable enthusiasm- almost like Papyrus as he could distantly be heard trying to cheer someone up by mentioning his love of pasta.

"Take your time."

"I... don't know where to start. If there even is a beginning to... the issues I have," Frisk shook her head, turning away as she stared back down to the dark tunnel. "Look, I... I went through a lot to get to be 'Ms. Ambassador'. I didn't always appreciate it, that title, that... responsibility. But I learned, and..." she was beginning to feel like venting to this girl was stupid. She'd have no idea what Frisk was talking about. It was a pro and a con and she found herself really wishing she was on good enough terms to talk about this with Sans. Despite their current issues, she could really use his seemingly supernatural wisdom.

"And?" the girl invited Frisk to continue.

"And... I'm starting to feel like I've made bad choices. Why did things happen like this? Maybe someone else would've been able to stop the Messiah," she swallowed, wondering if that was true at all.

"Well, that's goofy," the girl said, leading Frisk over toward a bench. There wasn't any resistance; Frisk needed to get this off her chest anyways, and doing it sitting down wouldn't make much difference. "I like to think everything happens the way it does for a good reason!" the girl continued, patting Frisk's shoulder again. "The Messiah doing all this was a good thing."

Frisk's mouth went dry. "What."

"Oh, whoops. That sounds icky out of context, huh? What I mean is, now that they're out of the shadows, they can get put away! Everyone knows they're bad now," she corrected herself. A bit of relief washed over Frisk; for a second she'd thought the girl was actually on the other side.

"Well... if we have anyone strong enough to do that," Frisk swallowed, "it feels hopeless."

"That's usually how this part of the story goes," the girl shrugged, "the enemies are unveiled, the heroes are at their lowest point and must find hope to prevail or stay stranded. It's really key and lock stuff."

Frisk was pretty sure 'finding hope' was a lot harder than it sounded. "Okay but like... this isn't just some story, this is real."

"Let's not get meta now," the girl teased, receiving only a blink of a response from Frisk, so the girl continued, "do you think anybody else would have done better in your position?"

… No.

That very thought had crossed Frisk's mind countless times, for years. After everything she'd done and been through… nobody was more capable than her. Which only made her all the more frustrated at the fact that she was losing this time. The happy ending she'd worked hard to maintain had come crashing down and now they were sinking lower and lower, day by day.

"I didn't think so," the girl said with a smirk.

"Then why is it still so hard?" Frisk questioned. "If there's nobody better for the job than me... why can't I win?"

"Because reality isn't anyone's friend," the girl shrugged, leaning back against the wall as she readjusted her magenta-rimmed glasses. "Everyone is their own unique person, and that also means no two people have the exact same beliefs. Right and wrong, good and bad, it doesn't matter, because the world will throw you curveballs either way."

Frisk wasn't sure if this was supposed to be a pep talk, but she didn't feel any better. Hopefully this girl was going somewhere.

"My point being, no matter how good you are, some things are out of your control! That's why it's important to not do things alone. Friends are nice to have."

Frisk nodded with a sour taste in her mouth. "Yeah... friends. Well... mine haven't... shown up yet," her heart ached as she worried about them. Terrence, Sadie, Greg, Rian…

"Aw. Well, we can be friends!" the girl offered, smiling even bigger.

That didn't seem like too bad of a prospect, one could never have enough friends, especially with the current situation going on.

"I don't even know your name." Frisk pointed out.

"Oh, my bad. It's Layla. No need to introduce yourself, every person with a pair of working ears and a brain knows you, you and the monsters was all anyone could talk about for a whole year."

Frisk scratched at her arm, a little embarrassed at the mention of her fame. "Oh... Uh, yeah..." her voice trailed off as she looked past Layla toward Asgore, who was sitting still, staring at his lap, as usual these last few days.

"So uh... Layla," Frisk began, "what brought you here anyway? I know not a lot of humans are exactly fond of monsters right now... especially with the Messiah taking over the whole city."

"Is that so? I can't imagine why. It's not like the monsters have done anything wrong," Layla frowned, clicking her heels together as she recounted her story. "I was with my friend, walking around the city and... well, we were cleaning up a… 'mess'. At some point, I wandered off to go and get a donut or something, and then... I saw that Undyne lady, leading the monsters around. I decided to follow her, just in case anything bad happened. Now I'm here! I don't know how long I'll be staying, though."

What the hell was actually going on on the surface? As far as the city knew last she was topside was that Asgore had killed the mayor in retaliation for wanting his position and being denied it.

Frisk, however, wasn't able to question further on the matter as several voices echoed from the dark tunnel she'd eagerly been staring at for days.

Frisk's curiosity got the better of her when she heard the voices. Not that she didn't want to talk to Layla; actually, she was dying to get more details about what was happening in the outside world.

"Uh... hey, Layla? I actually have to go... do something. I'm sorry."

"Oh, that's fine! You're probably a busy bee," Layla giggled softly, patting Frisk on the shoulder once again as farewell. "Maybe we can talk again later. Actually, my friends are dying to meet you! If that wouldn't be too much trouble."

"Of course not," Frisk managed to smile for the first time in three days. Not quite as perky as her usual one, but at least she knew her facial muscles weren't dead.

She hopped off the station platform and onto the unused train tracks that led into the darkened tunnel where the voices echoed from.

Her feet carried her to the edge, where the light was replaced by a shadowy veil, and stood there listening to the voices approaching. They sounded...

"Greg?" Frisk called, her own voice echoing down to them.

"Frisk?" Another voice called back immediately, which she recognized as Gregory Favian himself.

Deeper within the tunnel, something was illuminated, a few dozen feet away from Frisk. This light allowed her to recognize three familiar figures approaching. It was Greg, Gerson, and Undyne. Although Frisk was elated to see those three, this brought up a very important question.

What about the others?

She wanted to ask her friends what had happened, what the hell had gone down after she'd left that homecoming dance. Nothing good, that much was clear. Frisk rushed down the tunnel at top speed, practically tackling Greg with a bear hug, who seemed like he'd prefer anything else.

"Uh…" Greg stammered out as Gerson and Undyne walked past.

"Oh my God you're okay," Frisk breathed.

"Me? What about you? You look... really beat."

"Yeah, I guess I kinda am," Frisk replied, pulling away and scratching her head. She was ready to begin bombarding him with questions, but decided to check on him first. "Come on, let's catch up. Get off your feet and stuff. I'm not the only one looking 'beat'."

After she'd left Homecoming in response to Asgore's text, she learned that her friends had been attacked by Krashna, as Magnum had told her. That Skeeter was dead, that Rian was missing. How he, Terrence, Fuku, and Sadie stayed at Grillby's before Sadie and Fuku went missing and Krashna attacked again. How Grillby had held off Krashna so that the teens could escape, and how the Messiah had abducted Terrence only hours ago.

Frisk absorbed this all in silence, digesting it as she sat on a wooden bench beside Greg. She was glad to see he was acting more like a living person opposed to however long he'd hadn't. She couldn't bother to remember how long it had been. A month?

"Also…" Greg continued, "there's… something else. I think you should hear it from me rather than… a-anyone else," he was wringing his hands. She got the message that she probably wasn't going to like what she heard, though she maintained her vigilance as her gaze returned to Greg, who took her silence as a gesture to continue.

"Uh… well… about a month ago, I um… I uh… okay, look. The Messiah, they… wanted me to join them, and… well… Krashna abducted me and… I tried to hold out for a while, but they tortured me. I…" His voice trailed off as Frisk stared at him, her gaze unreadable at the moment. Appearing almost embarrassed, Gregory lifted his shirt, averting his gaze as he revealed the branding on his chest. The symbol of the sun was seared into his flesh.

"They branded you?" Frisk asked, mouth opening in shock slightly. Magnum had failed to mention anything about this, though Frisk did know about Truck's brutal punishment for failing to kill Frisk, and about Psycho's death for failing twice to kill Asgore. But branding? That seemed… cruel. Even for the Messiah. Or maybe… it was actually on brand for them. Pun not intended.

"Yeah…" Greg nodded. "I… gave in eventually when they threatened to… kill my family... I was… given a task. I was supposed to lead everyone out to the football field during Homecoming so that Krashna could kill them.

Frisk had fallen silent again, though her gaze didn't turn from Gregroy's violet eyes, the boy still wringing his hands, having since lowered his shirt back down. "That's why I was… so… weird this last month. I'm… sorry, I just… I didn't know what to do. B-but, I… I helped Terrence when Krashna was trying to kill him. So… yeah... not sure if that… helps your image of me…"

"Why would that help?" Frisk asked, "you weren't given many choices. Stronger people in your position would have done worse. I don't hold it against you," she stated. Greg appeared to relax at her words, his face laxing in relief. "Oh… that's… thanks…" He gave her a small smile. It wasn't like she could judge him anyway, she'd done countless unspeakable things unimaginably worse than anything he could probably do, and she'd been given this new chance. A chance that she was really screwing up by not dealing with the Messiah sooner.

Now that Greg's personal issue was out of the way, Frisk's mind lingered on the fate of her friends. Skeeter dead, everyone but Terrence missing, and he was abducted, leaving only Gregory. No offense to him, but he always seemed like the least likely person to make it out of scenarios like these.

Now that she had a new idea of what was going on with her friends, she prompted Gregory to detail the surface to her, but he seemed distracted at the moment, so she snapped her fingers in front of his face. He blinked, turning to look at her. "Huh?"

She traced where his gaze had been resting, and saw Layla leaning against a pillar on the other side of the outpost, writing in a notebook. Greg, seeing that Frisk had noticed, blushed. "S-sorry." He let out a weak chuckle. "I just… recognized her from… somewhere."

"She was the girl who sat down for like 2 seconds on your date," Frisk elaborated, and Greg seemed to blush harder, looking ashamed.

"Oh… right…"

Again, she pried now that she had his attention, and Gregory detailed to her what the surface was currently like. People hiding away in their homes, gangs roaming the streets, the city felt empty and lifeless, not to mention dangerous.

She couldn't just sit around here anymore. Undyne could retaliate all she wanted, but this time she wasn't stopping Frisk from leaving. Once she learned this, her gaze fell on the azure fish monster, who was currently deep in conversation with Alphys, Mettaton's still-inactive body on a table behind the scientist. Gerson appeared to have moved over toward Asgore, and the two were talking quietly to each other, though Gerson seemed to be the one doing the talking.

"Hey, I need to do something," she told Greg, "now that you're done being a sourpuss, why don't you go talk to Layla? The girl you were staring at. Her name is Layla."

Greg's face reddened at this as Frisk stood up. He stammered out a response, but Frisk was already briskly walking away.

Alphys greeted Frisk with a smile as the girl approached. Undyne glanced sideways, but said nothing. "Just… think about it, Alphys, okay?" She asked, before she walked away, heading off toward Asgore and Gerson. Frisk let out a sigh as she stopped beside the reptilian monster. "Something you need?" She asked, giving a smile that seemed forced, her eyes distant. Whatever she'd been talking about with Undyne was clearly upsetting her. "Actually, I wanted to talk to her," Frisk replied, gesturing to Alphys' girlfriend. Alphys only chuckled at that. "Oh… yeah, she's pretty annoyed that you keep asking to go with her."

Clearly repetition didn't work on Undyne. Deciding to let Undyne talk with those two for a moment, she gave Alphys her full attention. "How's Mettaton?"

"Oh, he's fine," Alphys replied, "I've repaired the body as best as I can, but I don't have the right resources to bring him to peak performance." Frisk stared at Mettaton, who remained still and lifeless, mismatching colors replacing where he'd been damaged. He looked fine, as Alphys said, relatively speaking. "So… why isn't he… up and about?" Frisk asked. At this, Alphys rubbed her arm. "Uh… I have theories and such, but… he just refuses to come back online."

"I thought Mettaton was corporeal with his body." Frisk frowned.

"Huh? W-what?" Alphys laughed, feigning ignorance. "What do you mean?"

"Oh. Is it… supposed to be a secret that Mettaton's actually a ghost?" Frisk asked, and Alphys' eyes widened, sweat beading on her forehead.

"How did you know?" she whispered.

"It's kind of obvious." Frisk shrugged in reply. "I mean, his relationship with Napstablook, the old house next to Napstablook's back underground, the fact that they're cousins…"

Alphys blinked, pursing her lips. "O-okay, yeah, it's… obvious," she nodded slowly. "Well, see… my theory about it is that… maybe ghosts can detach from a body the same way they join one. A powerful enough emotion. Like I said, it's… just a theory," her smile widened, "a Ghost Theory!"

It was Frisk's turn to blink, feeling like that had been a reference. One she… failed to understand. "Uh… okay. Any idea if Mettaton is even still inside that body, then?"

Alphys readjusted her glasses, glancing back at the body on the table. "Honestly I don't know. I hope so, but at the same time I don't. I mean… what if he's just trapped in there and unable to escape because of detaching from the body? I have no idea how ghost physics are supposed to work, they're a rare type of monster, and pretty secretive about their personal lives and existence. If he did get out, I hope he finds us." Frisk stared at the lifeless metallic body for a moment longer, before a shout rang out.

"LUNCH!" Papyrus exclaimed, quickly followed by the much lower-pitched shout of "LUNCH!" from Truck, who stood beside Papyrus, both grinning enthusiastically. Muffet stood behind the pair in a doorway, one set of arms on her hips, another crossed over her chest, and a third holding two knives. Why was she always holding knives these days?

"Oh good," Alphys grinned, "they were supposed to be making pasta today."

"They make pasta every day." Frisk pointed out.

"Yeah, but today they used ramen," Alphys replied.

As the hundreds of people began to flock to the kitchens, kept in an orderly fashion by Papyrus and Truck, Frisk made her way toward Undyne and Asgore, the turtle departing to get a meal. Asgore remained seated on a concrete bench, staring down as Undyne stood idly by, seemingly waiting for Asgore to answer a question she'd asked. Seeing Frisk approach, she let out a sigh, and slid away to join the meal line. Frisk watched her go for a moment, creasing her brow. She felt bad that she made Undyne feel like avoiding her, but at the same time, c'mon. It was for a good reason.

Once again, Frisk didn't follow, instead this time letting her eyes rest on her adoptive father. He was wearing his white undershirt, his suit jacket having been discarded at some point, though he still bore his black slacks and dress shoes. She had made attempts to talk to him a few times over the last few days, but he was relatively unresponsive. Couldn't hurt to try again.

"Hey dad." She greeted. He didn't move, but she could tell he was aware of her presence. Quietly, she sat next to him on the bench. There was little room in the first place, as Asgore was very large and took most of it up, but she managed. "I'm trying to convince Undyne to let me go with her to the surface and look for others."

His shoulders tensed. Still no words.

"Got any advice for me?"

She sat there, waiting for several minutes, but Asgore still said nothing. Frisk inwardly sighed. Something was eating her old man up and she was useless to help him, but as she stood, he finally spoke.

"It was him."

His words were deep, but extremely gentle in tone. She turned to look at him to find he was still staring at the ground.

"Huh?" she asked.

"Demon," Asgore replied, "he… his name is Lucifer. I had my suspicions on him before, but now…" His voice trailed off. Frisk slid her arm behind Asgore's back in an attempt at comforting him, her hand incredibly small in comparison.

"You knew him?" she questioned.

Asgore gave the slightest of nods. "He killed Toriel's father, as well as my own. His actions sparked the Great War from before. Somehow, he lives to this day, and now he's taken Toriel… and almost me."

That was… a lot to digest. Demon had somehow been alive since before the Great War? Was that even possible? Asgore seemed to think so, and clearly Demon's existence was bringing Asgore down. "Are you sure?" Frisk asked. Asgore once again gave a brief nod.

"I am," he confirmed, "the only difference is his length of hair. He's cut it. He's still as vile as he once was. He tried to kill Toriel in her youth, did kill her father, a friend of mine saved her, though who I… cannot remember. After he killed my own father, he tried to kill me, though Tori and I managed to fight him off. He's… been a blight. And now he's here, and I don't think I can succeed."

Frisk was silent for a moment as her adoptive father unloaded his worries onto her, his eyes still staring at the floor between his feet.

"I can beat him," Frisk replied simply. This caused Asgore to finally move, turning his eyes to look at her.

"Frisk…" he said softly, but she shook her head.

"He's scared of me. Of my power. I made him run once. His weakness is Determination, I thought you had some of your own."

"I do," Asgore confirmed with another nod, closing his eyes as he turned his face back down. "My family dates back to Orion, and each of his blood could wield the power of Determination through our weapons. But it's not as though that will be enough to defeat Lucifer. You barely survived, and you embody Determination."

"I'm also weaker than usual," Frisk retorted, "dad, you gotta stop putting yourself down. He had the upper hand a few days ago, sure, but now we're ready for him. We need you, dad. I need you. Are you done moping? Are you hungry?" Frisk had stood up, now offering her hand to Asgore, who stared at it for a moment, seemingly struggling to make up his mind, before he let out a sigh.

"I suppose you're right," he said. "I will… try to reassert my social life," he half-joked. It was good enough for Frisk as Asgore's massive paw took her hand. It's not as though she'd helped him stand, but he'd taken the gesture.

The both of them left the bench, making their way to the line. Some people tried to part the path so that Asgore could move ahead, though he politely refused, remaining by Frisk's side, still very quiet, but noticeably a little better after his conversation with Frisk.

"Oh, that's right," he finally spoke, looking down at his daughter. "While I… would prefer you remain safe here… I understand now, more than ever, that you're not to be underestimated. Just tell Undyne that I command her to take you with her. If she still has an issue with it, well… you're just as stubborn. I'm sure you'll manage," he gave her a soft smile, one that she returned.

"Thanks dad," she replied.

The line moved quickly now that Muffet, Papyrus, and Truck and so many helpers passing out bowls of food opposed to a couple days prior when the line would last until the next meal time. Papyrus was chatting animatedly with anyone who would stop in front of him to receive their meal, and the skeleton didn't seem to mind it when they walked away, continuing his conversation with the next person in line.

Once Frisk received her meal, she returned from the kitchens to the station, which was abuzz with voices. People were always a lot more chatty with some food to fill their stomachs. Her eyes scanned the rows of people, and she picked out Gregory and Layla talking to one another near the mouth of the tunnel. He still seemed awkward as hell, but the girl didn't seem to be walking away. He'd taken Frisk's suggestion, and the two seemed to be getting along fine. It was enough to make Frisk smile as her eyes continued to scan, eventually landing on Magnum in the far corner of the station, seated by herself as she ate her meal in silence, simultaneously looking at a notepad in her hand, one that Frisk had seen her more and more frequently with.

"Will you be fine on your own?" she asked Asgore, who followed Frisk's gaze to Magnum. Asgore let out an understanding hum.

"I think I'll manage. I'll let you know if anyone else is feeling down, you seem to be picking on us a lot today," he teased, obviously in higher spirits with every minute as he winked at Frisk before heading off, probably to find Gerson or something.

Magnum looked up as Frisk approached, and offered a smile. "Hey," Frisk greeted, earning a nod from the pink-haired girl. Her blonde roots were started to show more noticeably, making Frisk feel silly for thinking that pink had been her natural hair color. Pink's couldn't be a natural hair color, right?

"Sup," Magnum replied, scooting slightly over to give Frisk room as the younger girl took a seat beside her.

"Just wanted to check on you," Frisk replied. Magnum's smile seemed more genuine now. "Really? Thanks," she said. "I haven't been able to really talk to anybody, now that people know my heritage and stuff."

That much was true. People around her seemed to go to lengths to ignore Magnum's presence. She made people uncomfortable just by being here, and it wasn't really her fault in any way. What made it worse was that Magnum was clearly trying hard to earn their trust. She was always trying to help around with anything she could, most people just simply denied her.

"They'll get over it," Frisk stated, "just give them time." Magnum nodded at that, then took a few bites of her ramen, inciting Frisk to do the same. They sat there in silence for a moment.

"I'm not sure," Magnum finally spoke. Frisk turned to look at her, seeing Magnum's brows creased in worry as she stared into her bowl.

"About what?" Frisk questioned. Magnum pursed her lips, maintaining silence for a few moments longer.

"The Messiah are strong. Stronger than most people think," she stated. "Voxis is our- sorry, their headquarters, but if they fall, another location will take its place. The Messiah is a global cult, outposts stationed in every country you can think of save a few. Take out the leadership in Voxis, and the rest will prepare accordingly. They have their hands in just about every government, every military, one of the few things they don't control is the US and Unitropolis, some organizations here or there, but everything else is fair game."

Frisk was beginning to think today was a day of absorbing information she didn't previously know. First with Greg, then sort of with Alphys, then with Asgore, now with Magnum. What was next, Papyrus? Maybe she'd find out what that "special attack" really was.

"That's just their width. The Messiah tries to brainwash their members. Instill the good of violence, train its members into believing that killing is okay if it furthers the 'good of mankind', which is a stupid ideal," Magnum shook her head. "Maybe it's because I was the big man's kid or something, but people usually let me get away with stuff. They never tried to brainwash me into their beliefs. I just grew up there with two friends, and both of them are now crazy lunatics who only want to kill you. Us, I mean…" her gaze now returned to Frisk. "My dad killed my mom, you know. It was how he became a leader. Killed her, inducted me, and he was in power. That fact is one of the first things I learned growing up, even saw pictures, but that never made it… harder… you know? I won't pretend to act innocent, I've killed people. I killed my first person when I was fourteen during the dead pool to become a lieutenant. Five people. That's… how many I killed. The thing that scared me though, it-it was… it was their eyes. The way that the life seemed to just… disappear… and then I could see my mom. Like that. They told me my dad used to love her, but if he did he wouldn't have…"

Magnum's voice trailed off, her jaw quivering for a moment. "Sorry," she said after a moment, letting out a sigh. "This is a lot of baggage to dump on you, you probably didn't need to hear any of it."

"It's okay," Frisk assured, offering a reassuring smile. "I know where you're coming from. I've d- I've seen things." That wasn't a full lie, but she wasn't about to share the fact that she was a mass murderer that had slaughtered an entire civilization a hundred thousand times at the age of twelve. "It gets easier if you have a chance to heal. We'll make it through this, and when it's over, you'll get that chance to heal. You're seventeen, right?"

Magnum shook her head. "Eighteen. I… turned eighteen almost a couple months ago."

Huh. Her birthday was close to Frisk's. Well, Highschool was out of the question for someone at her age, but… "You ever thought of going to school?"

Magnum stared back for a moment, pondering on the question. "I… guess I never really thought about it. You mean like, college? Doesn't that take money?"

"Wouldn't your dad's money go to you?" Frisk asked.

Magnum shrugged at this. "Maybe. Maybe not. I'm not sure how those things work. But… I'll think about it. I've always kind of wanted to try school. Never had the chance, once we got the basics of math and science down in the Messiah, it was always combat training after that."

Frisk's gaze found Undyne talking to Alphys again, a bag slung over Undyne's shoulder. She'd be leaving soon. Just one person left to talk to before forcing Undyne to listen. "Sorry, I need to go check on something." Frisk said, standing up, feeling like she'd used that excuse before. She didn't exactly want to feel rude, but time was limited now. Magnum nodded, her eyes finding Undyne..

"That's cool," she replied. "Come talk to me again sometime? If… you don't mind me… you know…"

"Sure," Frisk nodded, recognizing that Magnum was in need of a friend. Maybe she could recommend she talk to Greg and Layla. She and Greg could even bond over their Messiah experiences… or maybe that was a horrible idea.

She decided to leave before things got too awkward, and made her way back to the kitchens to see Muffet, Truck, Papyrus, Dottie (the innkeeper from Snowdin years ago), and Dottie's sister Lottie (the shopkeeper from Snowdin years ago) all washing the dishes. For such an old place, it was surprising to find it had working plumbing.

"Hey Papyrus, can I talk to you for a second?" Frisk called to the group. All eyes turned her way, or lack of eyes in Papyrus' case, before he grinned.

"SURE THING! I HOPE I'M NOT BEING SENT TO DETENTION!"

He rinsed his skeletal hands off, dried them, before sliding his usual scarlet gloves back on and bounding his way toward Frisk. "HELLO, HUMAN! ER- FRISK." He was making an effort of referring to people by names more lately after having to interact with so many humans.

"Have you heard from Sans lately?" Frisk asked.

Papyrus gave a quick nod. "I DID! HE STOPPED BY LATE LAST NIGHT TO CHECK ON ME. HE TOLD ME HE STARTED A CLUB BUT IT HAD A REALLY LONG NAME I CAN'T REMEMBER. SOMETHING LIKE 'FINDING A POSSIBLY DANGEROUS AND DETERMINED INDIVIDUAL'. THE NAME, I MEAN. IT'S NICE HE'S FINALLY DOING SOMETHING USEFUL WITH HIS TIME."

Late last night? She'd been awake then. He was obviously avoiding her, and that stung a bit more than Undyne avoiding her. Frisk let out a sigh. "Can you tell him that I really need to talk to him next time you see him?" she asked.

Papyrus nodded. "OF COURSE, FRISK! ANYTHING FOR MY BESTIE! EVEN THOUGH I HAVE LIKE, A BUNCH OF BESTIES NOW! IS THIS WHAT POPULARITY FEELS LIKE?"

Frisk left the room to find Undyne beginning to move to the exit tunnel, forcing the human to sprint to catch up with her. Undyne turned her gaze to see Frisk, before she frowned. "No." she barked.

"Asgore said I could," Frisk replied with a shrug.

"I-" Undyne raised a finger, pausing before her eye darted toward Asgore, who was chatting with a few elderly people, Gerson and Undyne's ex-partner in the NYPD Carl, alongside a few others. She looked back at Frisk. "My answer hasn't changed."

"Then I'll just head out on my own," Frisk replied with a shrug, and strode past Undyne.

"What?" the monster growled, "that- why do you want to go so badly?"

"I thought it was obvious," Frisk replied, turning to face her with a frown. "I want to help people. I want to find my friends, and I don't want you out there without backup."

"I can take care of myself," Undyne grumbled in response.

"So can I." Frisk stated. They stared at each other for a long moment, before Undyne sighed.

"Alright, fine. Fine! You win. You always win. Happy? If you get snagged don't expect me to save your butt when I can just say 'told you so'." Undyne marched past Frisk, who was now grinning.

"Awesome."

"Wait up!"They both turned to see Layla racing toward them, leaving Greg standing alone, watching them.

"Oh no. Not more. No." Undyne frowned.

Layla merely frowned back. "More? You guys are headed out, right? I'm coming with."

"You'll get chewed up out there," Undyne replied, and Layla raised a brow.

"Pretty sure I was doing fine before I decided to come here. Besides, I know the streets better than anyone!"

Undyne let out a long, loud sigh, rubbing at her temple for a moment. "By Orion, fine. Come on. If this turns into a babysitting session you're not coming next time."

With that, the three made their way out of the abandoned Messiah outpost.

---

The tunnel led to an abandoned train station, which then led out to the older part of Voxis, the original city that had existed there before the UCA had built the modern version of the city, once known as Marne. The tunnel led out to a waterway, mostly concealed by a mass of vines, the waterway filled with still waters. Frisk hadn't spent much time on this side of town, never had much reason. She was used to living among the middle class, something she would never parade around, but it was… strange being here. She could hear people there. According to Undyne, Lower Voxis (the term used for the old, poor part of the city) was the least affected by the martial law enacted by the Messiah. It was like a place separated from the events going on. When Frisk asked why they hadn't hid in there, if the Messiah didn't bother them, the answer was pretty simple. Undyne made it clear that hiding there would have made the folks living there targets.

They moved on, the sound of Lower Voxis fading into the background, replaced by an eerie silence. Undyne was intending to meet up with Mosu, another Messiah Lieutenant who'd left the Messiah, like Magnum, Truck, and Raptor. He was supposed to have been looking for Sadie, so hopefully she'd be with him.

The streets they passed were empty, as expected, but it was weird to see it like this. Voxis was always such a lively place at this time of day. It almost felt like she'd stepped into a post-apocalyptic timeline or something. The only things missing were the zombies and the dilapidated structures.

They had to take cover in alleyways a few times when a gang on motorcycles would ride through, or police cars would cruise by. According to Undyne, the Messiah had the VCPD and the city's gangs under their thumb. Not surprising, considering the Messiah controlled seemingly everything else, too.

On the way, Undyne described to Frisk how Terrence was abducted in better detail than Gregory had provided. Gerson, Greg, and Terrence had been waiting for Undyne to show up and were ambushed by the Messiah. They fought hard, but Terrence was captured just before Undyne had shown up and managed to fight off the remaining Messiah. No casualties on either side, except maybe Terrence. That made Frisk's gut clench. Undyne was supposed to find a new meeting place with Mosu once they met up, and she made sure to alert Frisk and Layla that they could be walking into another ambush.

However, there was none. When the three arrived, they found the street corner was empty and silent, right next to Aaron's Crossfit Flexing. Nobody was inside, though Frisk was already aware that Aaron was safe at the old base, still flexing away. The only other monsters that she didn't already know were dead that also weren't in the safety of that place were the Temmies, Catty and Bratty, and the Fire family, consisting of Grillby and Fuku. The Temmies would be fine. They were out of the way, barely anyone knew where, and they kept to themselves. Wouldn't hurt to make sure they were still fine, though. Catty and Bratty… right now, Frisk had to assume the worst, but maybe they were still around. Grillby and Fuku too, didn't have a lot riding on their survival. Grillby had been last seen battling Krashna, and Fuku had last been seen with Sadie, neither of them seen since.

At this point, Frisk was actually curious about Grillby and Fuku. She had killed a lot of monsters in past timelines, but the Fire? No. She'd assumed the need to dump them in the icy rivers of Snowdin to win. Frisk felt a shiver run down her spine, realizing she was thinking so casually about those past sins. Shaking her head, she shook the thoughts from her mind. That was a life she never wanted to revisit.

It was only a few minutes before Mosu arrived. He was a few inches shorter than Undyne, with messy black hair, pale yellow skin like Frisk's, and beady black eyes. A fresh cut sat on his cheek, which seemed to have recently stopped bleeding, his clothing was dirty, parts of it ripped, and he was carrying the hilt of a sword, except there was no blade attached to it. He looked quizzically at Frisk and Layla as he approached. "About time." Undyne said, and he gave her an awkward smile in response.

"Good to see you too," his tone was sarcastic, yet there was a genuine feel behind it. "Where is Gerson?"

"He stayed back, taking a break," Undyne answered. "No luck?"

"Actually, yes," Mosu nodded his head. "I found the girl, but she doesn't seem okay." His gaze turned to Frisk, and he gave her a polite bow, bending at the waist. "Ms. Dreemurr. A pleasure." He turned his gaze to Layla, who didn't seem as enthusiastic as usual, glaring shrewdly at Mosu, who noticed this, though bowed anyway, saying nothing. "Sadie is your friend, right?" he asked Frisk, who gave a nod. He nodded with his head in the direction he'd come from. "She's at Racilla Hospital, in… um… well, you'll see. It's… not pretty."

Mosu wouldn't tell them what exactly he had seen when finding Sadie, just that it wasn't pretty. He was clearly uncomfortable with it, and even Undyne seemed uneasy to learn what it was. Surely it couldn't be that bad, right?

Truth was, it could.

The group of four soon arrived at Racilla Hospital, one where Frisk knew Sadie's mother had worked. While Voxis Hospital was considered to be for the "richer" side of town, Racilla was for the poor side. She was preparing herself for the worst as Mosu led them inside. She had no idea why Layla kept giving Mosu dirty glares, but thinking about it now… Layla had also cast a few dirty glares at Magnum and Truck, though Frisk hadn't really registered that until now. Layla clearly didn't seem to like the Messiah it seemed, reformed or not.

The hospital was a mess, papers and files littering the floor, but there were bullet holes and blood staining the walls and floor here or there. Something horrible had gone down here. Mosu led them to an elevator, the doors appearing to have been pried open. He paused at the open abyss, turning back to them.

"It is uh… very nasty down there. Sadie too, might attack. She gave me this," he pointed at his cheek wound. "There are no stairs leading to the basement. None I could find. She is down there with… well… I can keep watch out here. I do not want to see it again."

Layla and Undyne both didn't seem to like the idea of Mosu keeping watch, so Frisk approached the abyss, poking her head in. A floor below, a light was streaming out of another pried open door. Above her, she could barely make out the elevator stuck a few floors above. So the elevators were out then, it seemed.

"All of you stay up here," Frisk said. "I'll get her."

Before anyone else could argue, Frisk leaped down the shaft.

The first thing that greeted her was the stench. Rotting meat. Her stomach churned at the horrible odor that clung to the air. Hoping beyond hope it was from already dead bodies that had been left in the morgue unattended or something, she looked about. The elevator opened up into a white hall that stretched on. No blood or bullet holes or papers here. Clean and empty. Deciding to follow the awful stench, Frisk continued, her steps echoing down the hallway, alerting any down here of her presence. The hall had a few doors on either side of it going down its length, all of which were closed. None of them had a window to peek through.

The first door opened into a closet. The second into an office. The odor grew more powerful as she reached the third. Preparing for the worst, Frisk pushed it open.

She'd tried to hold her breath, but now she couldn't, letting it out with a horrified gasp. Dozens and dozens of human bodies were stacked in the room, a pile of gore. Not a single body was unscathed. Throats torn out, guts spilling out, even Frisk couldn't stomach it.

Instinctively, she turned from the room, stumbling back out and feeling her meal of ramen spill out onto the floor. Tears stung her eyes. Despite the horrible things she'd once done, none of that could have ever prepared her for… that…

Wiping at her mouth with her sleeve, Frisk turned back to the room, now trying to look anywhere but the mass of torn bodies, searching for her friend- and there she was. Sadie's back was to Frisk, the girl sitting on her knees, head bowed in front of the mass of bodies, holding something in her hand. This felt like something out of a horror movie, and if she approached Sadie, she'd find that her friend was some kind of demon-possessed beast or something. Jump scare and all.

Taking a deep breath, Frisk immediately regretted that, choking on the stench before she used the front of her shirt to cover her face, masking the stench, only slightly though.

"Sadie?" Frisk asked. Her friend didn't look up. Didn't respond. Her knuckles appeared bloody. What the hell had happened…?

Frisk slowly approached her friend, working hard not to look at the carnage they shared the room with. When she reached Sadie, the girl still did nothing, even as Frisk said her name a second time. Slowly, Frisk reached out timidly, expecting Sadie to go off like a bomb. She didn't, thankfully. She tensed when Frisk's hand found her shoulder, but nothing more. "Sadie, let's go," Frisk urged. Sadie made no reply, and didn't fight when Frisk pulled her gently to her feet. She did nothing. Said nothing, even as Frisk led her from the room, making their way outside.

What Sadie held in her bloodied hands was a note, it too stained with blood. They came to a stop at the elevator shaft, and Frisk turned Sadie to face her. The girl's bright blue eyes seemed so dull and distant at the moment. When Frisk forced the girl's chin up to look at her, Sadie's eyes finally seemed to focus. "... F-Frisk?"

Her voice was so quiet. Barely above a whisper, and even then it cracked. It was heartbreaking to see Sadie, such a strong-willed girl, like this. Frisk gave a nod, staring back at Sadie, the two standing in silence for a moment before Sadie took a small step forward, and slowly wrapped her arms around Frisk. She could feel the girl's entire body shaking, giving shallow breaths. "I… saw…"

"I know," Frisk replied, hugging Sadie back, the girl beginning to cry. Small, strained sobs. Frisk had seen it too. The body directly in front of her had been unmistakable. She had shared Sadie's skin, her hair, her eyes, even the same bone structure, just more mature. Sadie's mom was among the dead.

Sadie's body refused to stop shaking, and Frisk didn't let her go. They held each other for what must have been half an hour before Layla hopped into the basement. She said nothing when she saw the scene in front of her, her eyes then traveling to the note still clutched in Sadie's hand. After a few moments, Layla spoke. "What's the note say?"

Sadie nearly jumped, not having noticed Layla's entrance. Slowly, she pulled from Frisk, her eyes red and puffy, sniffing to keep her nose from running. Her gaze turned to Layla for a moment, before she silently held the note out to Frisk, who accepted it, still being gentle with her friend.

The note wasn't just covered in blood. It was written in it as well, thick dark letters spelling out a short message.

'His Eyes Are Green'

She was… confused. What did this mean? Did it mean… any… thing…?

Frisk's eyes widened as she took a step back, a memory resurfacing, not that it needed to. Her nightmares were constant. Her nightmares were always the same. And now…

Now…

'His Eyes Are Green'

"Frisk?" Layla's voice sounded distant as Frisk held a hand up to her head, her skull feeling as though it were pounding painfully, threatening to rip through her skin. The eyes from her nightmares. Imperceivable yet green at the same time. That was the only color that could describe them.

'His Eyes Are Green'

This wasn't the Messiah. Maybe not in full. Somehow, Frisk knew what had happened here. Somehow, she knew who had killed all those people. The Messiah hadn't done it, or at least they hadn't ordered it.

Demon. Lucifer. It had been him. Somehow, he had written this message for her. Somehow, he knew she'd get it.

Slowly, she started to come back to reality, realizing that Mosu and Undyne had joined them down here. Everyone, even the shell shocked Sadie, was staring at her in worry. "I'm… I'm fine…" she told them, blinking rapidly for a moment, her heart still hammering against her chest. The pain in her head had died down now, but it was still there, barely noticeable.

"Is the note cursed?" Mosu asked, though Undyne ignored that, snatching it from Frisk and looking it over. To Frisk's surprise, Undyne's own eye widened at it just like Frisk. What if the message had been intended for Undyne instead? Was she having the same nightmares? Undyne seemed to be thinking along similar lines as her eye rose from the note to Frisk, the two sharing an unspoken conversation between each other. This was something they'd need to talk about later. Alone.

"It's nothing," Undyne finally stated, stuffing the note into her pocket, and looking toward Sadie, before turning to Mosu. "We need to go before anything else happens. Get her back to the hideout, then go looking for Grillby and Fuku."

It was unanimously agreed. Turns out there was a stairwell out on the other side of the basement, allowing Undyne and Layla to briefly see the scene of carnage when they passed it. Layla seemed… unphased somehow, while Undyne appeared far more unsettled, continuing to share looks with Frisk, the two glancing each other's way every now and again.

The stairwell led back up to the other side of the hospital, and the group of now 5 left it behind. Sadie stuck close to Frisk, still having said nothing outside of her two words as Frisk's mind was torn between everything going on, but most of all, the color of his eyes. It sounded so stupid. So silly. Yet it was gnawing away at her.

Who was he? Were his eyes really green? The note seemed to confirm it. Demon's note. Demon, too, wasn't natural. He had existed over a thousand years ago, and continued to. Perhaps he wasn't even a part of the Messiah. Perhaps he was worse than all of them combined. Perhaps he was really answering to someone else. To Him.

'His Eyes Are Green'

She shivered, still picturing those ungodly eyes that haunted her dreams. Whatever conversation she was about to have with Undyne… it would be interesting.

---

A couple hours later, Undyne and Frisk were now short two members. Mosu had split off to lead Sadie back to the base, and Layla remained, tailing the two at a distance after Undyne had barked at her to give them some space.

Now they were walking down the street. What street? Frisk didn't know. She hadn't been paying attention to that. They were silent for a moment, until Undyne finally broke the ice. "That note seemed to uh… have more of an effect on you than me. Was it… cursed…?"

"I… dunno," Frisk replied with a shrug, "are you having nightmares, too?"

"I… dunno," Undyne usefully stated. "I never remember my dreams. Wait, what are you talking about? You've been having dreams about this… whoever this guy with the green eyes is?"

Frisk gave a nod, and frowned. "How do you know about Him?" Undyne scratched the back of her head.

"Some blind guy," she admitted. "I thought it was some stupid prank or something. He was there, then he vanished and left me a note that said something like 'wonder what color his eyes are'," she looked toward Frisk. "You've been dreaming about this green-eyed guy?"

Frisk shrugged again, still trying to figure it out herself. "I'm not sure," she admitted. "I've been having these… nightmares. There's always these green eyes in them. I've just been sort of… ignoring them. But… I don't know if they could be connected to that note."

Prompted, Undyne took it from her pocket, narrowing her eyes at the words, shaking her head slowly. "I don't think it's a coincidence," she admitted. "I think there's… something else to deal with. Outside of the Messiah, I mean."

Frisk agreed with her on that.

Layla was allowed to join them again, and they devised their next course of action, knowing they still had a few more people to find. That was when Undyne presented an idea. Risky, yes, but it had potential of working. They could try to bust into the VCPD and access their city-wide video surveillance. Frisk and Layla weren't coming up with any better plans, so it was agreed that this was their next destination.

Running about an empty Voxis City all day wasn't exactly what Frisk had been expecting to do today, but she hadn't expected things to be so dire here. There wasn't much to go off of. They'd questioned Sadie about the whereabouts of Fuku and Grillby earlier, but she wasn't very responsive. Her responses were simply shrugs, so she didn't know where they were either, though she had alerted Frisk to Rian's whereabouts, as he was currently being watched over by his father at his home, which took some amount of weight from Frisk's shoulders. Not much. But some.

The VCPD wasn't too far of a walk, but when they got there, it became clear that the Messiah may have anticipated this. Several Messiah goons were stationed outside of the building, their ski masks covering their faces, automatic rifles held in their hands.

"Jesus, do all of them have to have automatic rifles?" Frisk hissed to Undyne, who didn't reply as she visually inspected the scene for a few more moments before turning to face the girls.

"Doesn't look super busy. If we can knock out the guards-"

"Knock out?" Layla frowned. "Why not kill them?"

Frisk turned to look at Layla, who appeared… genuinely confused that killing wasn't the go-to option. "We don't kill," Undyne replied simply, "even if… we might want to sometimes."

"That's stupid," Layla argued, "they're killing you guys and you just don't kill them back? You'll die out before you make a difference."

"We don't. Kill." Frisk enforced, feeling her right hand tingle for a moment. A familiar feeling. A dark one. Layla didn't seem to understand the no-killing rule in the slightest, and her argument wasn't dismissable to be fair. Frisk had her own, very personal reasons, for not killing anyone. But Undyne? She wasn't making Undyne remain passive. What was stopping Undyne from killing?

The argument was short as Layla was convinced to not kill anyone, and they devised their plan. Take down the men at the front, Layla would guard the entrance as Frisk and Undyne went inside, disposed of anyone in there, and get to the surveillance room. Simple enough.

Taking down the men at the front was actually fairly easy. Undyne knocked them out the second she stepped from cover, using the blunt end of two spears to smack them over the head. Leaving Layla outside, Frisk and Undyne stormed in to find it was empty. Not a soul or a SOUL in sight. Undyne had to assure Frisk that the random elevator in the station didn't lead anywhere important, so nobody would pop in through it. Still keeping their guard up, Undyne led Frisk to the back of the building, through a set of double doors to a hallway that then led to another door, which opened up into the surveillance room. A series of nine different screens sat on the far wall, and nobody was inside. It was… off-putting. Frisk and Undyne both knew that this had to be a trap of some sort, so Undyne had Frisk retrieve Layla. It was dangerous to leave her alone out there, especially with apparently violent tendencies.

When Frisk opened the door, she was surprised to see Layla wasn't alone. She was talking to another girl, this one with platinum blonde hair that was pulled back into a ponytail, dark grey eyes glaring back into Frisk's scarlet ones. Layla turned, noticing Frisk had come out. "Oh, hey. This is one of my friends, Katherine. One of the friends I wanted you to meet."

Katherine didn't seem all that pleased to meet Frisk, her gaze steely and cold. Finally, she was the first to look away, turning her gaze to Layla. "I've seen enough," she stated, her voice light and calm, yet with an authority to it. She had to be no older than seventeen, yet her eyes seemed to say she was older. Without another word, she turned and walked away, Frisk staring after her until she'd disappeared around a corner.

"What's her deal?" Frisk asked, feeling put-off by the teen. Something was… weird about her. Layla simply shrugged.

"She's usually a lot more… energetic," she admitted, "but things have been weird lately. You'll see her again soon. Something you need?"

Frisk blinked, before looking away from the corner and toward Layla. "Oh. Right, yeah. We think this might be a trap, so we've decided to stick together. Come on," with a nod, Layla followed Frisk back inside, making their way to the surveillance room.

Once there, they found Undyne standing in front of the wall of screens, a large black rectangle on the desk before her, with an assortment of buttons and dials. Frisk wouldn't have the foggiest clue on how to operate it. Undyne was flipping through channels, scouring Voxis City for any clues that could help them. Minutes ticked by as the search yielded no results. At least not the results they were looking for. A stray dog, the motorcycle gang, a small white dog, somebody poking their head outside their home before darting back in, another dog, and that was through hundreds of different cameras. Not a lot of activity, but it wasn't unlikely that they missed some content when flipping through the various camera feeds.

However, they caught a lucky break. "Found her," Undyne stated, drawing Frisk's attention back to the screen to see Fuku darting down an alley. It would have been impossible to tell it was her at first, clothing covering her from head to toe, sneakers, sweatpants and a hoodie, but she happened to glance back, the familiar emerald glow casting from under the hood pulled over her head.

"Where is that?" Frisk demanded. Undyne paused, searching the feed.

"Uh… north of Brooker. I think that's around the corner from Tayday Laundromat."

Frisk was familiar with it. She'd used the laundromat a few times with Toriel before her adopted mother had purchased a washer and a dryer. It was odd how many different things the monsters had underground, like gas ovens, refrigerators, and lasers, but dishwashers and washers/dryers had never been something they'd invested in.

They had no time to spare, immediately getting up to leave, encountering no resistance up until they stepped outside. "Oh hell…" Undyne groaned at the sight that lay at the bottom of the stairs once she had exited the VCPD. Three cop cars lined the street, alongside six officers, one of them appearing much fatter than the others.

"Undyne. Figured you'd show up," the fattest spoke. Undyne scowled back as Frisk noticed the two Messiah goons still unconscious in the back of one of the cruisers.

"Chief Dowary," Undyne greeted unenthusiastically, "was hoping you wouldn't."

"You're one of my best officers, I'll admit it. But you're a monster, and you're harboring that terrorist king of yours," Dowary replied, placing his hands at his wide sides. "Normally we'd just arrest you, but we have orders to kill on sight. Buuut," he raised a hand to stop Undyne as she seemed about ready to pounce. It was enough to make her pause. "Those kids don't deserve your fate. Let 'em go, and we can settle this proper."

Neither Undyne nor Frisk were able to react to this, however, as a green bubble appeared around Dowary. Everyone appeared confused for a moment as the bubble began to shrink in size, closing in around Dowary, who shouted something but went unheard. Immediately, Frisk turned her attention to Layla beside her, who had raised her hand, what could have been mistaken as an innocent smile dancing on her pale face.

So she could use her SOUL… that wasn't a common thing among humans these days, but Frisk didn't have time to worry about that right now, as the officers started to raise their weapons, forcing Undyne to act. The monster leaped forward, a spear materializing in her hand, which she used to slam a gun out of one of the men's hands. He let out a cry as his hand fragmented from the hit, collapsing onto his knees to grasp his broken appendage.

The bubble was growing smaller and smaller around Dowary, who was struggling against it for several moments. "Layla, stop!" Frisk urged, seeing that she had no intentions of letting Dowary out alive. However, she wasn't able to intervene as she sent a blast of Determination into an officer who'd raised a gun to the back of Undyne's head as she dealt with two others. The officer she hit was knocked aside, and her eyes landed on Dowary again to find he'd pulled out his gun. "LAYLA!" Frisk yelled, but it was too late.

A gunshot went unheard as Dowary attempted to destroy the shield with a bullet, which instead ricocheted off the bubble and slugged right back into the man's gut. He collapsed as the bubble finally disappeared while Undyne knocked out the last two officers.

Frisk hurried over to where the Police Chief was to find he was already dead, eyes staring blankly skyward. Whatever the bullet had hit, it had been lethal. Lethal enough that he'd died this fast. Undyne stared in slight shock at her old boss as Frisk turned on Layla to find the girl still casually grinning. "What did you do?" she asked, dumbfounded. Layla shrugged. "What? He did that to himself. My hands are clean," her tone was almost mocking as she held up her palms to show Frisk in a literal sense. She wasn't sure of how to respond to that as Layla skipped past. "Come on, Fuku should be this way."

She shared a look with Undyne, before following, leaving the scene behind.

---

They finally did arrive, just past Brooker Street, rounding the corner off of Tayday Laundromat, and spotting the camera on the corner of a skyscraper. They'd arrived in the right location, but no Fuku. Not that Frisk had been expecting her to linger here, but it would have been nice if, for some reason, she had. It was comforting to know that Fuku was still alive, at least. Then there was the issue of Layla. She was… strange, to put it simply. Frisk would never have thought her capable of her sadistic joy in Dowary's death after the times she had interacted with her. Layla had seemed generally happy-go-lucky with a dislike for the Messiah. Wanting to kill the Messiah goons should have been a red flag, but Dowary's death definitely made Frisk uncomfortable of the girl. So what if Frisk had done far worse? That had been at a different time in a different life. That was behind her now. But Layla… somewhat reminded her of what she used to be. A killer. Layla just seemed to take more joy in it. She could tell that Undyne, too, wasn't sure of how to make out Layla, but she was their ally for now. May as well utilize that advantage.

The alley Fuku had disappeared down was where they headed next, and they found it was a dead end. Undyne was the first to comment on this predicament. "Are you kidding?" she huffed. "If we'd just watched like, ten seconds longer…"

"Then you would have died with her."

Undyne had been cut off by a feminine voice behind the group, and when they turned, they were greeted by a sneering girl with bubblegum pink hair, her clothing looking straight out of the Renaissance, a staff in one hand, a stick with a glowing magenta end in the other. "Hi~" she greeted them with a singsong voice, smiling brightly at them.

"You're the crazy woman Mosu and Gerson warned me about," Undyne stated. So this was Mióm. Somehow, she seemed to be the new and improved Psycho, in Frisk's opinion. "We don't have time for this." Undyne pointed out, and Mióm's grin lengthened.

"I agree," she nodded, "I'd rather kill you three here and now and call it a day!"

Before anyone could move, once again, a green bubble appeared around Mióm, who raised a brow, her gaze darting toward Layla. With a wink, she slammed the stick with the pink end into the bubble, and it shattered with an explosion, filling the space where Mióm was in a cloud of thick smoke. Layla didn't seem to mind however, but Frisk didn't really have time to worry about if she was going to kill Mióm or not. The battle had commenced.

Mióm emerged from the smoke with an intense speed, her feet pummeling the ground as she made her way toward Undyne, swinging her staff only for it to clash against a spear as another green bubble appeared around her head. Mióm frowned at this, leaping back to avoid a kick from Undyne as Frisk summoned her weapon of choice- a shield. Not exactly very proficient, but she doubted the other two would need a ton of help from her to take on Mióm, who was already looking annoyed that she was being forced onto the defensive. Did she really believe she could outmatch Undyne and Frisk? Not to mention the mysterious Layla, who seemed not only capable of using her SOUL, but skilled and adept at it.

Mióm said something, but only she could hear it with that bubble on her head. Undyne launched a spear as two more bubbles appeared around Mióm's feet, forcing her in-place. Bending her body, Mióm used the spear to break the bubble around her head, and used her staff to bust open the two around her feet before leaping into the air, barely missing another bubble that appeared just behind her.

Three sticks appeared in her right hand, glowing bright pink, which she launched toward Layla. This time, the bubble appeared around Layla. Enough to sustain the first stick, but the second shattered, and the third- was caught. Mióm hadn't noticed this as she attempted to land a hit on Undyne, only for Undyne to knee her in the gut, and Frisk slammed her shield into Mióm's face. The Messiah lieutenant stumbled back, dazed as she blinked, appearing to grow more angry than annoyed before her eyes widened as the third stick struck her chest, thrown by Layla. Mióm was flung to the other side of the street, the brick cracking behind her. They'd been warned by Mosu she was resistant to explosive magic, but that hit against the wall had to have hurt.

Mióm slumped against the ground, a small line of blood running down from her forehead. Layla stepped forward, but Frisk stuck her shield out in front of her. "She's down. We won," she said. Layla smiled back, before shrugging.

"Okay. She'll just come back again."

"And we'll beat her down again. She'll give up eventually," Frisk assured. Layla seemed far from convinced. It seemed that was all settled now, so Frisk got rid of her shield and glanced back at Undyne, who had remained quiet during this exchange. It seemed Frisk's words hadn't convinced her all that much either.

Nevertheless, they followed Frisk's pacifistic lead. For now. "She mentioned killing Fuku," Layla reminded, "so… eye for an eye?"

"I don't think she could have managed against Fuku," Frisk admitted, walking over to Mióm's unconscious body. Maybe she had something on her to point them in the right direction. After digging around in Mióm's inconspicuously placed pockets, she conjured up a phone. It didn't seem to be anything special, a burner, but it could have something on it. Flipping it open, she was greeted by a standard background, and only two options on this particular phone. Contacts and Messages. A small red circle was on 'Messages', clearly indicating Mióm had received one. Selecting it, Frisk was greeted by a series of messages, all from the same individual that Mióm had set the contact info as 'Hubby'. She didn't realize Mióm was married.

The unread message was opened, reading;

'She's in the construction zone. End her run.'

Frisk had to assume 'she' meant Fuku. So perhaps Mióm had been lying? Or maybe she'd been alluding to killing Fuku along with them all if they'd all reunited. Whichever the case, they had their next destination.

The construction zone was a small portion of Voxis City where a new series of skyscrapers were being built, and had been for three years now. It was still a few years off from completion, but with current events, construction was obviously on hold until further notice. The street turned into dirt, yet to be laid with asphalt. Skeletons of buildings were skewed about, making this the biggest jungle gym in the world right now.

Frisk filled Layla and Undyne in as they made their way through the maze of steel beams, concrete platforms, construction vehicles and muddy holes. No signs of anyone for about ten minutes of wandering around.

"Sure she hadn't already killed her?" Layla asked. Frisk was getting a bit annoyed with Layla at this point.

"I'm sure. The message was unopened, meaning Mióm didn't know where Fuku had gone."

Layla shrugged at this, but Undyne paused, her golden eye narrowing. "See that?" She asked. Frisk and Layla followed her gaze to one of the buildings somewhat up the crest of a hill, and saw nothing. At least, Frisk didn't. Layla voiced her own view;

"See what?"

Undyne started making her way up the hill, gesturing for them to follow. "Probably her," she replied. Frisk eagerly fell in step behind Undyne as Layla brought up the rear. Instinctively, Frisk summoned another shield as a ball of green fire suddenly hurled their way. Undyne was able to slide out of the way, leaving the shield to take the hit, halting Frisk for a moment.

"Oh my God, I'm so sorry!" Fuku's voice called out, and Frisk lowered her shield, relieved. Fuku was peering around a concrete wall at them, before hurrying out of it, her hood down, green fire for hair flickering in the air.

"It's okay," Frisk replied, smiling at her, "we've been looking all over for you."

"Oh yeah, me too. For you guys." Fuku replied, reaching them and shoving her hands into her pockets. "They captured my dad, I learned it from this Messiah girl I beat."

Oh. Well. That was news. Frisk digested this, nodding. "Well, at least you're okay. That Mióm chick was about to come find you if we hadn't stopped her."

"Let's just get back to the hideout." Fuku replied hurriedly. Frisk paused, brow furrowing slightly in confusion. Undyne seemed to have caught on as well, the two exchanging yet another glance. Get 'back'?

"Uh… sure," Frisk nodded, feeling a suspicion arise. "Did you get Rian what he asked for while you were out?"

Fuku's face fell. "No, sorry. I didn't."

Immediately, the fire monster was airborne after Undyne's fist slammed into her face. Tumbling through the dirt, the illusion faded as Trickster slid to a stop and wiped at her jaw, scowling, slowly climbing to her feet. "I'll admit," she said, "I didn't really practice for that one, but you guys figured that out fast. How?"

"Fuku's never been to the hideout. And, you know, Rian never asked her for anything," Frisk replied, her shield transforming into two separate daitos for either of her hands. "Where is she?"

"Around," Trickster replied, glaring hard at Undyne for a moment. "It's kind of a shame Magnum couldn't be here to see me disembowel you. Maybe seeing some reality would help her recover from this fantasy."

A golden arrow appeared beside Undyne as she spread her legs, taking on a battle stance, cyan spear in-hand. "What reality? The one where I'm about to kick your ass?" she asked, grinning. Trickster narrowed her eyes at this. "I'm a… little out of your league, fish girl. But you can try."

The arrow fired, bouncing toward Trickster, who stepped to the side. The arrow sailed past before bouncing around in the air, launching at her back. A sword erupted into her hand as she twirled with inhuman speed, splitting the arrow down the middle, bursting it into nothing.

Undyne wasted no time in tossing her spear, about to race forward. Trickster made to leap aside of the spear, only for a green bubble around one of her feet to force her to stumble, unbalanced- and take the spear.

The spear pierced through Trickster's shoulder, sailing right through her flesh until it was completely through, and disappeared. Baring her teeth in anger, Trickster made no sound as she gripped at her wound, unable to counter a knee to the face from Undyne. A crack sounded as Trickster was flung once again through the air, tumbling to a stop.

She spit out a tooth, groaning. Again, she began to climb to her feet, spitting out blood every couple of seconds. Her nose was askew and gushing blood, clearly broken. She'd already taken too many hits this early into the engagement. Frisk was beginning to feel that Undyne and Layla could both take on the entire Messiah so long as each fight was a 2v1 where the lieutenants and leaders were concerned.

Trickster stood, her sword dripping with raw energy as she seethed at Undyne, but once again, she was stopped from making any type of counter attack, a ball of lime flames slamming into her back, bursting with explosive energy, launching the girl right into Undyne's fist.

"Fuku!" Frisk called, seeing the fire monster not too far off, her clothing appearing more torn than when she'd appeared on the camera. Her help didn't seem as though it had been super necessary, but it was welcome nonetheless. However, it seemed Fuku's arrival had been distracting enough that Trickster appeared to have vanished, not even a blood trail to follow. She was quick, that much was certain. Undyne relaxed as Fuku, Layla, and Frisk converged on her position.

"You're the real Fuku, right?" Undyne asked.

"Yeah," Fuku replied, "that crazy lady almost got me before I slipped away. She looked like my dad before she tried to kill me, but… you know, it's kind of hard to cut fire in half."

After a few more questions, Fuku assured them that it was really her. They'd managed to find and rescue both Fuku and Sadie now. All that was left was Catty, Bratty, and Grillby, as Terrence was captured. Well… maybe Grillby was too. Frisk shared this theory with Fuku, as Trickster had mentioned Grillby being captured while impersonating her, and had also mimicked Grillby to lure Fuku. It seemed to be a solid theory, and everyone was beginning to feel pretty exhausted. Today had been a good enough day. Kicked the shit out of two Messiah lieutenants, saved two people… the only thing still itching at Frisk was Layla's disregard for life. How she'd smiled at Dowary's death.

The group agreed that Grillby was probably captured alongside Terrence, though if either were alive was anyone's guess. Fuku wanted to storm the headquarters, but that was out of the question. They might have done well against a lone lieutenant twice, but their headquarters was sure to be swarming. It would be a death sentence to march on that right now.

On the way back to the hideout, Fuku detailed what she'd gone through since she'd last seen Frisk. The usual on how she, Terrence, Sadie, and Greg had stayed at Grillby's before she and Sadie had returned to find it in shambles. Sadie had gone off in one direction, Fuku in another. Fuku's search had yielded nothing outside of being hunted for the last day by the Messiah until now. She was clearly tired, her fire a bit dimmer than usual.

Once back at the entrance to the train tunnel, the sun was already beginning to dip below the horizon, disappearing behind the mountains. Frisk hadn't even realized they'd been out for that long.

She was greeted by a surprise when they reached the old hideout. Sans, leaning against a wall, appearing to be asleep. Layla seemed entertained by this, but Frisk prompted her to take Fuku to Sadie and Greg. Undyne eyed Sans for a moment, before moving off to talk to Alphys, leaving Frisk to slowly walk up to the skeleton and lean against the wall beside him.

He opened one eye, peering sideways at her. "paps mentioned you wanted to chat?" he asked. Frisk gave a nod.

"Yeah," she looked toward Sans, who had gone back to closing his eyes, that ever-present grin lingering on his face. "Please stay with us."

The smile seemed to falter for a moment as he opened his eyes, and turned to look at her, momentary confusion on his face. "...aren't you gonna chew me out or somethin'?"

"No," Frisk shook her head, "we need you, Sans. I need you. Paps needs you. I know searching for the new timeline holder is important, but there's a lot at stake here. I know you don't trust me very much, but there's no one else I trust more than you."

Sans remained silent at this, searching her eyes with the small orbs of lights that made up his own. "... i…" he began, but couldn't seem to find his words, looking away after a few more seconds. "i'm sorry for uh… not trusting you before, kid. that wasn't cool of me."

"I'm not mad about that anymore," Frisk assured, "I'd just feel a lot better if you were here with us. In case things… get worse."

Sans looked down to the ground at her words, clearing mulling it over. After a few moments, he let out a sigh. "if i don't find this new controller of the timeline, they could reset. make all of this pointless, your efforts... moot," he stated, "i wanna help. i really do, but… this is huge. bigger than the messiah."

Frisk wasn't sure what to reply with. She couldn't recall a time before this that Sans hadn't been there for her when she needed him most, and now… he was refusing to take part at all. She honestly never thought something like this would happen, especially with how experienced she was in the knowledge of how hard he was to kill.

"Sans…" she said, "I get that. But… if they reset, it may be easier to find them after. The reset point, if they never saved, would probably be when the barrier was broken and I lost control."

"that's four years ago, frisk. so much has happened since then. too much. i can't risk-"

"Neither can I," Frisk interrupted, "there's a chance they know they have this power, there's a chance they don't. Sans, I can't do this without you, please."

His eyes grew dim and dark for several long moments of silence. Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, he spoke. "... okay, kid. i'll stick around," he looked back at her again, the lights returning to his eyes. She gave him a small smile at his response, one that he returned.

"Thanks Sans. When this is over, I'll even help you look for them."

"let's not get ahead of ourselves now," Sans winked, "so uh… we cool?" he asked, sticking out a bony hand from his pocket. Frisk gave a nod, taking his hand in hers and shaking.

"We're cool," she confirmed.

"cool," he grinned.

"So cool," she agreed.

---

"Met your girlfriend,"

Magnum looked up from the notes she'd written and was mulling over, a look of confusion present on her face. "Huh?" she asked Undyne, who rolled her eye.

"Trickster. The one you said can shapeshift or whatever."

"Illusions," Magnum corrected, "and… she's… uh… not my girlfriend," she blushed at this, which Undyne ignored.

"Look, I kicked her ass. She mentioned you."

Magnum pursed her lips at this, brow creasing. "What uh… did she say?" she asked.

"The usual villain banter," Undyne shrugged, "going on about how you're living in a fantasy."

"Oh…" Magnum's face seemed to fall at that. "You didn't kill her, did you?"

"No. Maybe killed her pride, I get the feeling she's not used to having her ass handed to her so fast," Undyne replied, and Magnum appeared to grow somewhat uncomfortable on her spot on the ground, though it seemed to have less to do with how she was sitting and more so with Undyne's words.

"I… guess." she shrugged, "did you just come to gloat?"

Undyne shrugged back in response. "Just thought I'd let you know," with that, she turned and began to walk around, but Magnum's voice called back her attention.

"Hey, wait."

"What?" Undyne frowned back.

"Look… I know you don't like me, you'll probably never trust me, but… we're on the same side here. I don't know if you knew this, but… the Messiah is all I've ever known. Trixie is… was… the only real friend I ever had. And now I have to fight her, and my dad, and…" she paused, staring at Undyne. "So if you're trying to pick a fight with me, or upset me, just stop. I've already got enough on my mind."

Undyne watched as Magnum resumed writing her notes, but made no reply, instead turning away to walk someplace else, though the look on her face seemed to be more conflicted than anything else.