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.

19. Daybreak: Part 1

Tap

The wooden stick tapped against the vinyl floor, leaving a small, almost entirely unnoticeable indention on the surface.

Tap

A second tap beside it. A second indention. Nothing more, nothing less.

Tap

A third tap.

"Can you stop that?"

The girl blurted out the words in a calmed annoyance. Gerson raised a brow at her as he sat in his chair, seated across the table from her. He proceeded to tap the floor with his cane a fourth time. "Eh? You'll have to speak up!"

Gerson had received a letter a day prior, requesting a meeting with very little information as to what this person actually wanted with him. He'd initially thought it would be related to the incident at the Crystal Caves, but…

Instead, he'd gotten this. A young girl he'd never met nor seen before, perhaps in her early twenties, with light brown skin, striking cyan eyes, and long, chocolate-colored hair with a single braid in the front. Her attire wasn't too formal, but not what one would call casual either, a black buttoned shirt with a matching skirt and a salmon-colored sweater that hung loosely over her shoulders.

Another thing Gerson happened to notice were all the bandages on her; her knees had them, a few wrapped around her arms, and a black one draped underneath her jaw, though she certainly didn't look injured.

"Sorry- it's just annoying. I mean, it's your house. Nevermind. Sorry."

In spite of the wild, curious look in her eyes, she was polite- or at least, she tried to be, something that amused the old turtle monster. He didn't hide this satisfaction, letting out a hoarse chuckle.

"I don't usually come down here. To Voxis, I mean," the girl told him, not breaking eye contact. If she wasn't so obviously doing her best to adjust to this setting, Gerson might've even considered her gaze and aura intense. "But I heard a rumor about you, from a friend. About your skill, and all the people you've trained."

"Ehh?" Gerson raised an eyebrow, putting a hand on his chin. "I don't quite understand. Do you want an autograph? Or a mentor, perhaps?"

"Not really. I don't think I need a mentor," the girl shook her head, before her lips began to curl into the subtle shape of a grin, resting her hands on the table, which appeared to be recovering from training, covered in scratches and bandages. "You're the one who trained the monster Undyne, isn't that right?"

Gerson let out a short slew of chuckles, a twinkle emerging from his good eye. "Aye." He stated. "Trained her father too. And his father. And his father. Come to think of it, was s'posed to train her brother instead of her. She breaks tradition like she breaks expectations, though, eh heh heh."

Squinting at the young woman seated across from him, Gerson leaned forward. "Question is; why do you want to know?"

"Because she's been making quite a name for herself as of late," the girl replied, crossing one leg over the other and leaning forward, her hands still resting on the table.

"Is she now?" Gerson thought aloud.

"Not in the public eye," the girl shook her head. "Certain people are doing what they can to cover up what she did to those two Messiah lieutenants. Instead of being regarded as a hero, she's got a target on her back now. Right? She's strong, so the Messiah is going to want her out of the picture."

"Ah, so you know more about our Messiah situation than you let on," Gerson chuckled once again, though he wasn't quite as amused now as the dark topic of the Messiah inevitably came up. "It is true that her power will brew fear amongst her enemies. I have no doubts about that. But why do you care about Undyne's safety? Are you a friend of hers?"

"No, never met her," the girl responded, leaning back away from the table. "But I happened to hear about the things she's been doing lately. I think she and I are the same, in some ways. So I wanted to learn more about her."

"I see, I see," Gerson squinted, rubbing his chin as he grew a bit more invested in the conversation. "And what exactly were you hoping to learn?"

"I want to know how Undyne became strong," she requested without hesitation.

"Hah!" Gerson blurted, tapping his cane quickly against the ground a few times. "Easy! She's always been strong! Certain people in her life helped harness that strength. First her father. Then myself. Finally Asgore. The three teachers who taught her everything she knows."

"Her father?" The girl furrowed her brow. "Not alive, I assume?"

"Nah." Gerson replied, averting his gaze for a moment, clearly reflecting on the matter. "One of thousands of victims Fallen Down. Claimed her brother, too. He was s'posed to be the one in her place, but he was a real sweetheart. Wouldn't hurt a fly, even if he could topple towers. The Dhelaron family have always been known for their strength, missy. Almost as powerful as a Dreemurr in every right."

"I see. And the Dreemurr's are the royal family of monsterkind, right? I heard about what happened to the old queen. Really a shame…" she tapped her fingers against the table.

"Indeed it is," Gerson nodded his head. "And yes, but the Dreemurr family currently consists of just the king, Asgore Dreemurr, and his adoptive daughter."

"The ambassador," the girl nodded. "I know about her too."

"You're quite familiar with the city's current events for someone who claims not to come around often," Gerson noted.

"It's hard not to stay caught up considering how serious everything's been for the past few months," the girl stared down at the table, one of her hands curling into a fist.

"Well, tell me this," Gerson tapped his cane against the ground. "Are you as strong as Undyne?"

"I don't think it would be very wise of me to challenge her to find out the answer to that question," the girl replied. "I wasn't always strong like she was- I had to fight for a really long time before I was able to fend off my bullies… but I didn't come here to bore you with my childhood story."

"Oh, it's not a bore. As a matter of fact, it's not often someone comes to me for a chat," Gerson chuckled. "My last visitor was one of those blasted Lieutenants, so this is a good change of pace."

"Tch. They're not exactly the friendliest bunch, are they?" the girl cracked a half-smirk. "Elusive too. I was raring to thrash one of them a while back, but they really stay under the radar unless they're, y'know, attempting murder."

"A friendly chat, a common enemy, and an interest in my star student's training." Gerson stroked his thin beard. "Yet you claim you don't need a mentor. There's more that you want, youngun. I can tell. Can't fool my one good eye eh heh heh!" He squinted at her with said eye. "So... What is it you're looking for? The secret to Undyne's prowess? Or perhaps you're more aware of one of her more... latent abilities."

There was a pause, in which Gerson leaned forward. "Ah, so that's it. You'd like to know the Blessing of Dhelaron."

The girl tilted her head to the side. "A tale?" She inquired. "A myth." Gerson corrected. "The power a Dhelaron wields is passed down not through kin, but spirit. The spirit of the first ancestor, Dhelaron, at a time when fish monsters were known as the Faquant, a regal breed of monster. Undyne and her last few generations are far from the first to stand alongside a Dreemurr. Where there is a Dreemurr, they are always backed by a Dhelaron."

"So… Undyne is a monster from a regal family, and she's blessed by the spirit of an ancestor? Is that what you're saying?"

"That's about right," Gerson nodded. "But she's a tough cookie even by Dhelaron standards! I remember the day she first knocked down Asgore, yes ma'am, she was so fired up that she didn't stop training for days! Eheh!"

"Sounds like monsterkind is pretty close-knit," the girl slowly closed and reopened her fist, subconsciously testing the waters to see if they'd healed at all. "How many generations of monsters have you lived to see, old man?"

"I prefer 'experienced' man," Gerson responded quickly with a wink, before stroking his beard again, deep in thought. "Hmmm… well, some breeds of monster produce a 'new generation' much later than others," Gerson said. "The Dreemurr family is a prime example. Until Asgore has a child, he cannot pass away from old age. Many believe that was the great Orion Dreemurr's way of ensuring his family would never disappear!" he laughed. "As for your question, I've seen dozens of generations of monsters. Naturally, as I happen to be the oldest one alive! Eheheh!"

"Huh. Yeah, I can see it. No offense."

"None taken," Gerson winked. "Age may make my bones brittle and my breath short, but it also makes my mind sharp and my wit sharper. If I were in my prime, I reckon I could have been a very valuable asset in this war…"

"Well, settling for being the guy who trained some of the toughest monsters in existence can't be too bad, right?" his company suggested, raising a hand to readjust her black chin bandage as she spoke.

"More than that, actually." Gerson narrowed his eyes, seeming to be inspecting the girl. "I've been training a boy."

"Terrence Anoma." She nodded.

"Terrence Boom has a better ring to it." Gerson replied with a chuckle. "Modern events you're clearly knowledgeable on, but history? Hm... I suppose many humans wouldn't know. When monsters were cast underground a thousand years ago, humanity did everything it could to purge our existence from the face of the world. Not many of my own kind even know the tales of old. Tales older than the Odyssey, or Beowulf. Tales of Gods as old as time. A tale that the Gods who built this universe, callusing their palms to shape every rock, perished by their own hand. Their power remained, however, latching onto a new SOUL every generation, and when such a thing happens, the seven come together. Their God SOULs are powerful, powerful things. The ambassador is one of them. I believe Terrence is another."

"Quite a coincidence that two of them just happen to be in the same city." The girl pointed out.

"Perhaps not a coincidence. Perhaps the God SOULs are drawn to each other, manifest in the same places at the same time if they can help it. Wouldn't be very convenient if they needed to stop a threat and they were all on different continents, aye?"

"I guess not. And how many generations of these SOULs have you seen?"

"Not as many," Gerson admitted. "They're quite rare, especially when you're underground encountering just one human every few years."

"Who forced you underground, anyways? I have a hard time believing all of humanity couldn't accept your people."

"Some were more accepting of us than others- just like the modern day," Gerson reminisced. "But enough humans hated us after years of fear and war, that we were unable to avoid being sealed away. Would you believe me if I said the Messiah had existed even back then?"

"Oh God, you're kidding," the girl wrinkled her nose.

"I wish I was!" Gerson folded his arms, his cane tapping the leg of the table. "They were even more dangerous back then than they are now, save for a few of their higher-ranking members."

"They've been around for a long time then," the girl said, a dynamic look in her eye. "That'll make it all the more satisfying when their organization finally gets stomped out of existence though, right?"

"I can hope." Gerson stated, his eye landing onto a letter resting on the table nearby, something both had neglected to address until now. Tapping his talons on the table, Gerson's gaze seemed to darken ever so slightly. "I have seen many wars. Too much death. The Messiah may orchestrate much of it, but there's more to it than that. At the final battle, here in Voxis long before even a cottage had been built, the Battle of Kings took place. The entirety of two armies met on either side of this valley, overlooked by Mt. Ebott. Man and Monster. Asgore proposed a solution to the human king, a young man named Derek. A battle between the both of them- winner takes all. Derek agreed, and the two fought ferociously. Asgore nearly won, even, but... he was stopped before he could land the final blow. King Derek's army attacked in full force. Thousands of lives were lost before the rest of us retreated underground, herded like cattle. The Lightway Mages then sealed us away with their powerful magic."

"Lightway... as in Lightway University?" The girl asked. "Aye." Gerson nodded. "But here's the catch. King Derek had a God SOUL. The same as the Ambassador has."

"Do you think history will repeat itself?" the girl questioned. "The leader of the monsters clashing with the leader of the humans, putting everything on the line for the sake of their species?"

"There's no way of knowing," Gerson shook his head. "But I will say, Asgore Dreemurr is one of the only monsters who could reasonably battle a man the caliber of the Messiah's leader and hope to survive. Undyne may also be one of them, but she's not quite as experienced- I fear that if she were to end up in the final battle, she might end up pushing herself to death before those Lieutenants so much as lay a hand on her," he let out a chuckle, a sad one. "Undyne may go into combat with a spear, but her most powerful weapon is her emotions. She wants to protect everyone's hopes and dreams- monsters and humans alike."

"I see. Well… I guess I got what I came here for, then. I learned more than I thought I would, and you gave a history lesson that didn't make me want to snooze, so… kudos."

"That's quite a compliment," Gerson grinned. "But before you go, you ought to satisfy an old man's curiosity, since I satisfied yours and all."

"Yeah? What is it you want, then? I don't know if there's much I can tell you that you don't already know."

"I'd like to take a gander at your SOUL," Gerson responded. "You claim to be quite strong- I'd like to see for myself, if you don't mind of course."

Usually, it would be considered a poor idea to reveal one's SOUL out in the open to someone they hardly knew, but it was quite clear that neither of these individuals had any reason to attack each other; in fact, maybe that non-snoozefest history lesson had built a bit of trust, or at least the foundation for it. After a few moments of hesitation, the girl rested one of her bandaged hands below her chest, a brilliant turquoise glow filling her palm as the usual colored heart appeared before her.

"Hm..." Gerson eyed it. "Strong indeed. Not many humans these days are even aware they have a SOUL, let alone know how to summon it. The SOUL of Patience, I presume. No... no... Inspiration." He clarified. "I see now how you manage to maintain knowledge on current events. I haven't seen one of these in a long, long time."

She was quick to put away her SOUL, letting it fade back inside her as she rose to her feet. "I hope you survive what comes next, Mr. Boom." She said, to which the old hermit shrugged. "Bah. Lived a long life. If it's my time to go, it's my time to go. Pleasure getting to meet someone so insightful."

"Pleasure's all mine." She nodded as Gerson rose to his feet, and he gave her a short bow, bending at his waist. "If you want to learn more, go to the place where it all began." He informed her cryptically. "Go to the birthplace of dreams."

She paused, staring at him for several long, quiet moments, before nodding. With that, she turned, and left.

---

Five targets. Each more dangerous than the last. Messiah outposts, filled with weapons and supplies. The last of which was the headquarters itself. The big one. It was going to be a long night, but a night they wouldn't lose. They couldn't. They'd fight until daybreak, and keep fighting.

"Hear what happened to the boss?"

Two Messiah goons stood outside of a warehouse, only a few down from the same one Sans had taken Frisk to weeks prior. The man on the left carried a rifle, the one on the right carried a holstered sidearm.

Pistol-Whipper looked toward his compatriot, Rifle-Slinger. "Yeah. Who hasn't?" He asked. "All the bosses gettin' their tails handed to 'em."

"Shhhh!" Rifle-Slinger shushed loudly. "You want the lieutenant to hear you!?"

"She will if you keep shouting in my ear!" Pistol-Whipper raised his voice.

None were even aware they'd been knocked out as a crimson warhammer slugged into the side of Rifle-Slinger's head, cracking his skull against Pistol-Whipper's. Both collapsed together, unconscious.

"Ow." Rian felt at his temple, glancing toward Frisk. "Remind me not to piss you off."

The girl glanced at him, before her eyes drifted toward Muffet and Mosu. They'd all split into five groups. One for each outpost, and the fifth to stay behind and watch after Asgore. Frisk's was the smallest, though that mostly had to do with her own confidence in herself.

Turning back to the entrance, she took a deep breath. "They mentioned a lieutenant here."

"Bet it's the Witch chick again." Rian groaned. Mosu shifted behind them at this.

And this time… well, they didn't have Undyne in their corner to help them against whoever they were going to have to face. Not that anyone wanted to rely on a single person to get things done, but Frisk struggled to think of a person who could accomplish what their monster friend had done in her final moments. It hurt to lose someone like that- it hurt everyone. Frisk wished there was more time for everyone to mourn, but it simply wasn't the case. They could only keep on pressing forward in this battle against the Messiah, which was beginning to feel neverending, and yet, the end was nearing. Nobody really said it aloud, because nobody wanted to get their hopes up or jinx it, but this whole conflict was beginning to draw to a close. The Messiah had lost people. Monsterkind had lost people. Humanity had lost people- everyone was being pushed further and further onto their last legs, and with what had happened to Obaseki, Frisk didn't think it would be much longer before the final conflict.

The Messiah had a way of always managing to keep causing more problems though. More pain, more suffering, in a cycle that just couldn't go on any longer. It had to end- for everyone's sake.

"Rian, take Mosu and go around back." Frisk ordered. "Muffet and I will stay up here."

"In the way of any potential traps?" Muffet asked, baring her fangs. "I don't think so, dearie. I'll take doctor dojo~"

Frisk wasn't in any mood to argue with Muffet, so only shrugged. "Fine. Just hurry up." Muffet cast a three-eyed wink before tugging Mosu along, who was beginning to look as though he'd rather been in any other group.

"I hope Fuku and Sadie are okay." Rian muttered as he and Frisk approached the front door. "I'm sure they're fine." Frisk replied. "They've got Mettaton, Gerson, and Magnum with them."

"Doesn't hurt to worry." Rian replied as Frisk grasped the front of the warehouse door. "It can if you let it distract you." Was her reply before she shoved open the door with more force than someone of her age and stature should be capable of.

"I just don't want to forget what we're doing all this for," Rian shrugged; something Frisk could understand, but her opinion on it had gone back and forth throughout her life- or rather, lives. Going into something emotional could either make it or break it, and in this case, it would probably break it. Someone dangerous could be lurking further within, and if one of them happened to get emotional and try to be a hero, it could be catastrophic… but on the other hand, emotions were what had led Undyne to defeating so many of those powerful Lieutenants on her own. A part of Frisk just didn't want to feel anything at all- get the job done now as efficiently as possible and save the celebration and the mourning for later. But it kept getting harder, with each passing day- no, with each passing second. None of this Messiah business was really her fault, yet she felt a pain similar to all the guilt from those doomed genocidal timelines.

Inside was dark, a darkness broken only by a single ceiling light on within. It was hanging down by a cord, illuminating a pair of chairs seated back to back, rope lying around them, a pile of dust on either. Frisk narrowed her eyes at the scene, quickly piecing together what it was, but whose dust… she had a theory, though getting an answer wouldn't be hard, considering the person who'd just stepped into the light.

Witch's face was stretched into a smile as she extended her hands outward and began to slow clap. The make-up she usually wore seemed smeared. Applied haphazardly. A large bruise was on her forehead, and one of her hands was notably bandaged. "The heroes arrive." She sneered. "Too late, I'd say. Amphis and Baena, you haven't met them yet I don't think, but this was their orientation." Witch giggled as she ran a finger through one of the dust piles. "Those annoying brats with equally annoying names." She rolled her eyes, before drawing a smiley face on the back of one of the chairs with the dust.

Frisk's nose wrinkled in disgust as Rian balled his fists together.

These small actions caused the pink-haired girl's pupils to dilate drastically, her smile contorting into a twisted mess of emotions, mostly rage, yet her lips remained curled upwards. "Don't look at me like that, you pitiful children!" She screamed, the entire warehouse shaking from the reverberating sound as her mood drastically shifted from playful to pure rage, her eyes flaring hot pink. Witch was quick to revert back to a less rage-induced attitude, however, making Frisk ponder on the mental state of this chick.

"My Nikolai is very hurt," Witch said, holding her hands to her chest. "So very badly hurt! All thanks to your stupid rebellion, Frisk Dreemurr!" she cried out, causing Rian's fists to ball up again. It wasn't fair. Her people had killed so many- how was it their fault that one of their attackers had ended up with an injury?

"My big, strong Nikolai… he saved me all those years ago, and now I can only watch as his condition worsens, and worsens, and worsens, and WORSENS, AND WORSENS-"

"Shut up!" Rian interrupted just as the building seemed to threaten to collapse on them from sheer sound, temporarily surprising Witch, who was quick to recover and spun one of her boomsticks between her fingers.

"You two have had people close to you get hurt, and even die, didn't you~?" she said as her face returned to a normal smile (by Witch standards, at least) and she skipped around, dragging her feet through the dust on the ground. "Oh, I totally understand your sentiments, you want to fight us because it's just soooo unfair, right? It's not fair that your friends keep dying, it's not fair that your families are suffering, right? RIGHT?" she roared, her voice booming through the air. "Hehehe… riiiight?"

"Yes. That's right," Frisk stepped forward, clutching the handle of her DT warhammer with both hands. "You've hurt so many people- destroyed so many families- my family!" she shouted, voice getting stuck in her throat.

Frisk had come into this not wanting to act on her emotions, but that was out the window now as this unhinged individual stood before them, kicking at that dust, bringing up their dead friends and families… and she seemed so happy, yet so enraged… why?

"I understand how you feel," Witch murmured, giving Frisk a wink as she leaned forward. "I just don't care. I don't want to care. I want to be selfish. I want Nikolai to wake up. I want everything to go back to the way it was," she growled, putting her hand on her face and smearing her makeup further, her eyes flickering with a crude blend of intense hate and bloodlust. "Maybe if I kill you now… he'll be proud of me… he'll hug me and tell me I did a wonderful job, single-handedly ending your pathetic attempts to rebel against the Messiah~! I'll get my happy ending at your expense- just like you're trying to get yours at mine."

She raised her stick, pointed toward Frisk and Rian as a hot-pink glow began to trickle all across the ground, the warehouse once again trembling.

"We're not alone." Rian challenged. Witch's smile lengthened at this. "I was counting on it~" She delivered in a sing-song voice. "Hand picked a few goons myself. Boss even let me... 'adle' their minds a little, if you get what I'm saying... your backup outside need backup themselves." Jutting out her lip, she put on a whiny voice. "And you FREAKS won't get to save the day!"

Frisk narrowed her eyes around them, taking notice of the glow encompassing around them, before releasing her grip on the warhammer with one hand, the other curling into a fist. With this, a ball formed around both her and Rian. Witch snapped her finger, and they were engulfed in an explosion.

With a strange sound, a mixture between a scream and a hysterical laugh, Witch flung herself forward, the tip of her stick pulsing with energy as she made to strike at where they'd been, only for a warhammer of scarlet to burst through the smoke and smash into Witch's hand. Bones shattered as her stick went hurtling away, and the woman let out a cry of shock and fury, unbalanced, falling to the ground.

"You BRAT!" She spat, swiping her hand through the air at the pair, small pink spheres materializing around Frisk and Rian. The boy's fingertips pulsed with blue energy as he raised his arms, attempting something- though ultimately failing as nothing happened. Frisk tackled him out of the way as the spheres erupted, engulfing them in smoke once again, this time giving Witch the advantage.

"I'm sorry!" Rian yelled. "I couldn't-"

"Save it." Frisk growled back, a blade emerging on her weapon as she turned to swing it through the cloud of smoke and soot around them.

The weapon sparked with magical energy, managing to cut through the smoke ever so slightly, but she wasn't fast enough, as their opponent came flying at them, propelled by the force of a large explosion. She stood on one foot atop one of her sticks as the end blasted her toward Frisk. The girl managed to raise her warhammer in time to block the cluster of explosive rods that suddenly cluttered her view, like a crate of pipe bombs had been dropped right on top of her.

Using more of her power than she would've liked, Frisk quickly formed a shield directly in front of herself, and attempted to do the same for Rian- neither of them worked very well in her rushed attempt at a defense, but they were able to keep both her and the boy from being instantly blown to bits. She felt her legs get swept out from underneath her, tumbling across the hard, unforgiving ground and landing awkwardly on her hand. She groaned, wanting to stay down and catch her breath, but it wasn't a luxury she could afford right now. She quickly pushed herself up to her knees, eyeing her wrist and wincing. It looked worse than it felt.

"Friiisk~" Witch's cheerful voice once again danced through the air as she stepped closer, barely visible through the dust cloud that had formed as she raised her own broken wrist. "Look, now we match, isn't that nice~?" she laughed.

It was an impulse. Something she'd been warned about, but this woman, this bitch... the knife felt so damn comfortable in that moment. Witch, Rian, even Frisk herself were surprised at the sudden burst of speed.

The slash of a crimson blade, the warhammer lying forgotten nearby as Witch's eyes widened, and her good hand fell to the floor.

"Y-you-" She sputtered, before Frisk's bad fist was engulfed in crimson and slugged into Witch's stomach. She doubled over, eyes sparking with rage, still reeling from the loss of her hand.

Why Frisk had done this, tapped into that... other side... it might have been the sheer thought of this woman comparing them together. More accurately... it reminded Frisk of what she'd once been, and in a twist of irony, it was that hatred of herself that had pushed her to act as she once had.

A burst of magic exploded from Frisk's fist, still lodged in Witch's gut, sending the woman tumbling away. She came to a stop, climbing to her feet with a look of loathing besetting her gaze.

This chick just couldn't stay down.

"Careful there." Chara hissed into Frisk's ear. "She deserves it, but don't."

Unfortunately for Witch, she didn't have enough hands to clutch the parts of her body that were hurt, opting to hold her remaining one against her stomach, which was no doubt suffering from internal bleeding as a crimson puddle began to form below her wrist. Frisk could see the blood pooling at the corners of her mouth- she was doing her best to hide it, but it was obvious that a lot of damage had been done. "Stay down, or it gets worse," Frisk was quick to threaten the bleeding woman, who laughed just as cheerfully as before the hits. "You're not the first person to say that to me," the woman gasped for breath as red dripped from her mouth. "I'm not afraid of you, because I know who you are."

"You don't know anything about me." Frisk strained back as her weapon hungered for a second strike, blood slowly dripping from the blade and onto the ground. This felt wrong- this had to be wrong. But it also felt good- to hurt people who'd hurt her.

No… no, she couldn't think like that… but there were no other options, these people weren't going to listen to reason no matter what.

She had to… FIGHT… had to… FIGHT…

"I know everything about you, because you're me," Witch mumbled, a sentence that made Frisk grit her teeth and grip her blade even tighter; yet still, Witch continued. "I know that look on your face- it's the look of a monstrosity, a fiend… someone who can kill and not feel a thing. I've seen a lot of people with that look. I've been that person before. Maybe I'm that person right now. Maybe…" her lips curled into a bloody grin. "Maybe we're like sisters."

Rian was a few yards away against a steel beam and holding his ribs, having suffered a good deal of pain from that nasty cluster of explosives. He'd survived thanks to Frisk, luckily, but felt terrible, his stomach sinking as he watched the scene unfold before him.

Frisk was getting too emotional, he could see it- and she wasn't thinking clearly. In fact, Witch's words… they almost seemed like…

Bait.

"Frisk, no!" he called out, but it was too late, as the woman's last sentence had sent Frisk into a blind rage, rushing forward so quickly that, for just a moment, Rian thought Witch was about to lose her head, just as she'd lost her hand moments ago.

But when the blade came down, it collided with something else- a SOUL. A hot pink SOUL, to be exact- Witch's SOUL. Frisk's eyes flickered in between emotions- part of her wanted to stop the attack, but deep down, another part of her wanted to watch it all unfold… and that scared her.

And when the blade slashed across the soul…

It broke.

The blade shattered right in Frisk's hand before her very eyes- a dagger of sheer Determination, one of the most powerful weapons in the world, crumbling. It was like she'd struck a boulder with a plastic knife.

"Nice try, sister~" Witch teased, a boomstick appearing directly in front of her SOUL, which she forcefully thrusted into her foe's ribs with a swift kick, blasting her backwards once again.

"You may be a brat," Witch huffed, still bleeding heavily, "but you're quite strong. I think it's about time you met my thralls- since I smell more trouble on the horizon…"

Rian pushed himself away from the beam, fingertips humming with energy as he grit his teeth. Still, nothing happened as Witch winced, taking a step back as two masked men stepped from the shadows on either side of her, glaring down Frisk as she stood back up, still in shock and confusion from how her weapon had been broken.

"Go ahead, boys. Give a show! Let us see Warmth's legacy put to use~!" Witch hissed, blood staining her teeth as her manic smile only widened more. "Frisk, we need to make sure Muffet and Mosu are-"

"They're fine." Frisk breathed, emotions seething and boiling within. Rian frowned. "Shut up and focus." He barked as the men reached into their pockets, pulling out capped syringes.

Frisk turned her gaze to glare daggers at Rian, who didn't flinch away. "We've lost people, but we have more we're fighting for. Don't let her get in your head. Fight smarter, not harder, got it?" For a moment there, Frisk felt as though she was getting coached by a gym teacher.

Chest heaving, she glanced down at her bloodied hands, and for a moment saw dust.

Blinking any tears welling in her eyes, she bit down hard, grinding her teeth together as her warhammer rematerialized in her hand. "Right." She breathed, to which Rian gave her a pat on the back. The urge remained, strong as ever, but... he was right. Damnit, this fight was hard, and getting old. Not just the physical one, but the mental as well.

The goons shoved the syringes into their necks, injecting the formula, Warmth's "legacy" into their bodies, before both dropped to the ground, convulsing violently, their mouths widening in screams of agony that only seemed to lift Witch's spirits as she cradled her stump of a wrist into her armpit.

"What the hell… what was in those syringes?!" Rian asked, feeling a bit foolish for expecting answers from someone like Witch- and as expected, she laughed at his inquiry.

"Oh, just the work of a brilliant mind who wanted nothing more than to be free from himself~" she hummed as she spoke, casually approaching her severed hand on the ground and kneeling, picking it up, possibly to attempt a reattachment later. "These two fine gentlemen agreed to be my loyal thralls, and now… well, there's not a single little thing holding them back~ they'll rip you apart like men possessed!"

She kept cackling as the men slowly began to rise back to their feet, groaning as their bodies twitched unnaturally, their eyes rolled back in their heads. They didn't look too threatening, but… Frisk could feel it. Something wasn't right.

"Go ahead and check on the others." Frisk muttered to Rian. "I'll hold these guys off."

Rian turned, about to hurry off, before pausing, glancing back at her. "Go." She urged. "I'll... be fine." He reluctantly parted as the men began to shake, like addicts on a serious tweak.

With a roar, the first lunged for Frisk, who leaped backward, avoiding his fist as it reduced the concrete where she'd been standing into a small collection of jagged rocks. The second was lunging for her past his companion, clawing for her as she swung upward, cracking the warhammer under his jaw and launching him backward.

"Come ON Frisk!" Witch cried out with exasperation. "If you can't even take me on with backup, what makes you think you stand a chance against the leaders? Against my sweet Nikolai!?"

Frisk ignored her, alongside the urge to just dispatch these two men with ruthless efficiency. Why couldn't this stuff be simple like the old days? When she could just have a quick dance with an enemy, jiggle her hips for a bit, and be friends in seconds?

Like a ravenous animal, the first man was lunging for her again, swinging his arms wildly as he gnashed his teeth beneath his mask, snarling as he made to tear at her.

Frisk's hopes that she'd at least incapacitated the second thrall for a while with that hit to the jaw quickly dissolved as she noticed him almost immediately rising back up and stomping toward her. Whatever had been in those syringes, it didn't seem like they really felt pain…

The two of them began to keep Frisk busy- a lot busier than she'd expected, to be quite honest. If these were normal humans, they'd probably be knocked out or fleeing with a toothless mouth by now, but… they weren't. Like every function of their body had been burned away, replaced with nothing but a hunger for death.

Witch stuck her severed hand upon her stump with a wet and bloody slap. A small, hot-pink glow emitted from the spot where one could easily see the hand had been slashed off. She had her hand back- a temporary solution, but a solution nonetheless.

"Alright, party's over, come on out~!" Witch shouted, turning to scan the rest of the warehouse. "Come on, what happened to her backup? You're not gonna let your sweet little Frisk get mauled by these two, are you? Or even better, blasted right down to the core of the planet by me? Hmmm?"

"Ahuhuhu… how sweet…" A voice chuckled out, a group of violet eyes appearing in the dark above Witch. "You have the pleasantries to invite this~" A band of webbing suddenly began to envelop Witch. However, it seemed she was alone, something Frisk took notice of as she avoided getting pummeled for like, the twentieth time that night.

Where the hell were Mosu and Rian?

Frisk arced the warhammer, cracking it against the second man's leg. A sickening snap echoed as his leg bent unnaturally, yet he ignored it as he continued to try and rip her limb from limb. "Crystal Tomb."

Chara's whisper of advice spurred Frisk's motive as she narrowed her eyes, raising a hand, and catching the first man's fist in her palm. It stung, but his advance was slowed as crimson crystals engulfed his entire fist, and his fingers were suddenly rendered immobile.

Bringing the warhammer up, Frisk managed to block a second hit, on top of a third, before the first man's free fist rammed against her side with immense force. A rib notably cracked as she tumbled down, all while spiders began to amass by the hundreds around Witch, more webbing wrapping like tendrils around the woman, even as she used her explosive magic to destroy thread after thread.

"Mmm… well, aren't you a cute little thing?" Witch looked at Muffet as the threads around her continued to burst, before being replaced by new ones. "I might even feel bad about removing all those arms of yours…"

"Ahuhuhu… not in much of a position to be making threats, are you~?" Muffet retorted as the pink-haired woman found her arms and legs tightly bound within the webbing. Spiders crawled up the webs, all of them contributing to Muffet's cause and ganging up to hopefully eliminate this threat.

But, as to be expected, Witch had much different plans. A glow of hot pink resonated within the cocoon of sticky webs that was beginning to form, pressure building up within the ball, rising and rising as it appeared ready to burst. Noticing this, Muffet continued to apply layer after layer, rapidly building up more threads to keep the Lieutenant trapped inside.

Just as the spiders neared the woman's face, a massive boom rocked the warehouse, and like a bullet out of a gun, Witch flew toward Muffet at rapid speed. More well-timed shots of webbing were enough to slow her down and keep Muffet from being ripped in half on impact, but the midair tackle was quite painful regardless, sending both women tumbling onto the warehouse floor.

Muffet may have been small, but the combination of six arms on top of fangs stabbing into your neck probably kept one from getting the upper hand over the monster as Witch soon discovered. Muffet, like most spiders would, squirmed and wiggled her way out of Witch's grasp as two threads grasped the woman's ankles and hoisted her upside-down.

It was a punch to the face from Witch that made Muffet drop her as two of her hands clutched at where the nose would be on most humans.

A stick appeared in Witch's hand, which she proceeded to hurl at Muffet, who managed to avoid it by using her own webbing to tug herself to safety as more threads made their way for Witch.

"Naughty, naughty. I haven't been allowed to eat a human before... maybe they'll make an exception. Just this once~" The spider hissed.

Frisk was backed against the wall, still unable to overpower these men. Sure she could delay or block or dodge, but they didn't seem to stop, or need to take a breather. The first had crystals running up to his shoulders, leaving both of his arms immobile. His solution seemed to be making his teeth his primary weapon as he continually lunged for her, aiming to try and take a bite through his mask.

To top that off, a boom thundered as a third man burst through the wall of the warehouse, crumpling into a heap. What followed through the hole was enough to let the girl sigh with relief. Mosu, Rian closely behind.

Upon seeing Frisk, Rian rushed over and tackled the second man football-style. "I thought you said you could handle them!"

"I said I'd hold them off!" Frisk growled back through grit teeth as the second man bit through his mask, clamping his jaws on the handle of the warhammer.

Mióm groaned, rolling her eyes as Rian appeared again, accompanied by her former ally, Mosu. Her nose wrinkled in disgust, but Muffet still required her attention for the time being.

"On the contrary, you'll be the one who gets devoured if you keep this up… if you monsters didn't turn to dust, I suppose. Ugh. Even in death, you people continue to irritate me…"

The threads that came toward Witch were intercepted by explosive sticks, while the sticks that attempted to hit Muffet were intercepted by threads. This cycle continued for about twenty seconds, before Witch was the one to grow bored of it first, and she charged forward, knowing full-well that she could gain the upper hand in an old-fashioned brawl. The threads Muffet produced to halt her foe's progress continued to be thwarted by boomsticks, blasting the threads apart into powder and wispy strands that floated to the ground.

Witch rammed her forehead into Muffet's, leading with a strong headbutt. Muffet let out a grunt of pain, which gave the pink-haired woman confidence… until she realized Muffet had sunk her sharp fangs into her cheek. Instinctively, she shoved the spider monster away.

"Bleck. You taste awful," Muffet complained as a sea of lone threads danced around them, millions of particles and lone web strands hovering in the air and settling on the ground all around them.

"I'm wearing makeup, stupid," Witch hissed in response.

With the arrival of Rian and Mosu, Frisk's relief began to instantly fade away as she realized that the enemy hadn't gotten any less dangerous- there were just two more people here to deal damage to their bodies until they couldn't possibly move anymore. That was really the only solution she could think of as the handle of her warhammer was chewed upon, like a dog with its favorite bone.

"Mosu, you knew Warmth!" Frisk called as Rian's grasp was far from enough to contain the one man. "How do we deal with this serum stuff?"

"Nobody "knew" him." Mosu replied, his voice a lot calmer than anyone else's at this point. "Its effects should dissipate soon, but-"

"Nevermind." Frisk groaned, her eyes surging with crimson light, and the crystals appeared around the guy's feet, crawling rapidly up his legs as the crystals around his shoulders violently spread across his chest.

A tooth went flying as Frisk yanked her warhammer from his jaws, and she whirled about to slam it against the other guy's head just as he was trying to rip Rian's throat out with his teeth.

It was enough to daze the guy, allowing Rian to shove him away as he climbed to his feet, wincing.

The third guy Mosu and Rian had busted in with was moving, frothing at the lips, no doubt under the same influence as the other two, but as Mosu bent down over him, he placed a hand on the man's forehead. A brilliant white light flashed, beaming out of the man's eyes and mouth, before he fell back unmoving.

It wasn't clear if that had been fatal or otherwise.

Witch lunged for the spider again, only for a thread to slam her against the ground by the ankle as Muffet giggled. "Not even makeup could make anyone love you, dearie."

Witch's face screwed up in anger that only seemed to amuse Muffet. "Ahuhuhu... strike a nerve, did I? Perhaps you know it's true~"

Witch stabbed one of her boomsticks into the ground, the ground around her humming hot pink, before it erupted, engulfing the girl in smoke.

An attempt at cover, as more began to whistle out, heading for Muffet, who continued to calmly use more threads to yank them out of the way- until Witch burst through the smoke to tackle Muffet down once again.

This time Witch seemed to learn her lesson, at least a little better than last time, as she did what she could to keep Muffet's fangs from impaling her once again, instead putting her hands around the spider's throat and squeezing. Breaking her neck or choking her to death, whichever came first, she wasn't feeling picky.

This, however, was interrupted as Witch felt her hair get violently tugged from behind with enough force to snap any lesser person's neck, though it was more than enough to relinquish her hold on the spider and gasp in pain, only to get a kick to the gut just as she made to turn and deal with the idiot attacking her.

Dropping to her knees, Witch cradled her stomach, the magic sealing her severed hand to her stump beginning to fizzle. She was at her limit, and this time... there was nowhere to run. Mosu stood opposite her, his expression unreadable as a hand rested on the hilt of his blade.

"Muffet, help the others. We have unfinished business." His voice was just as calm and collected as ever. Spitting a wad of purple... something... out of her mouth, Muffet climbed to her feet, smirking. "Of course, dearie. I've softened her up for you~"

Witch let out a growl, and made to hurl another boomstick at Muffet as she retreated away, only for the weapon to get sliced in half immediately as Mosu unsheathed his new weapon.

"Unfinished. Business." He reminded her.

Witch's eyes narrowed toward her former comrade, disgusted with him after what he'd done to her- to betray a fellow lieutenant like that, it made her feel sick to her stomach just thinking about it. The Messiah was supposed to be the place where she was loved. Where she had family.

"You had to wait until all of your new friends took a crack at me, hmmm? You know you can't beat me in a fair fight," Witch cackled, seeming unable to quite pinpoint which part of her hurt the most. "After you left me, buried alive, underneath that mountain- and after I was so kind and didn't hunt you down like the vermin you are… you have some nerve to show your face to me again like this, Mosu!"

Two boomsticks appeared on either side of her, both of them ramming into the ground and setting off a large blast that rumbled through the warehouse floor, all of the blasted threads from earlier being sent drifting into the air.

Mosu scanned around him with his blade out, unable to see much through the shield of spider webbing that had arisen, many of the strings sticking to his skin and clothes in irritating fashion.

"You're quite bold," he replied. "to assume I care about what you have to say."

With a flurry of slashes, Mosu burst forward, tearing apart thread after thread in the blink of an eye before coming to a sudden stop, katana tip pressed against Witch's throat. "The only thing stopping me from killing you is your potential as an ally."

She sneered, opening her mouth to reply, only for the blade to press harder and cut her off. "But your misplaced love for a family that doesn't care for you reveals the truth. You're past saving."

With a slash, he made to sever her head from her shoulders- and probably would have succeeded if not for her SOUL bursting forward to take the strike. His blade bounced off, though began to noticeably grow a darker shade. A pinker shade.

Taking a step away, Witch conjured two boomsticks. "Nice blade." She commented. "It's a lot more... lifelike than your last attempt. But we both know what using your magic means for you. All I have to do is keep you on your toes, and victory is assured. I get to deal with a traitor, two brats and the biggest target the Messiah's ever had. Nikolai will reward me with more than I could ever ask for!"

Mosu spoke no more as he took a battle stance, blade humming brighter.

"Potential as an ally? What a joke!" Witch growled, leaping into the air as a boomstick materialized below her, launching her up into the air, landing on a platform above, near the ceiling. Her attacks didn't stop, stick after stick hurtling toward Mosu from all directions, and he had to parry each and every one.

"Of course I wouldn't want to join some pathetic loser like you, Mosu! Use your head! Of course I'm gonna choose the people who love me- of course I'm gonna choose my family."

"They don't love you," Mosu responded simply, expecting to strike a nerve, but it seemed that one had already been poked too many times during this fight, as he got little reaction.

Finally, the boomstick assault ceased, and he was given a few moments to recover and hopefully figure out a battle plan. Even tired out, his enemy was a dangerous one, as she was always one direct hit away from victory, really.

"What would you know about love?" Witch growled, glaring down at him. "You were abandoned here by yours. They never even wanted to look at you. Just a sad little orphan about to get disemboweled. You're pathetic, Mosu."

"I chose to be here." He corrected. "Just as I chose to leave."

He swatted aside a boomstick as he rushed forward, slashing apart the beams holding up her platform. Losing her balance for a moment, Witch leaped ungracefully away, only to tumble to the ground and barely roll out of the way of another strike from Mosu.

Blood, sweat, and tears mingled on Witch's face as she dodged another slash, feeling it graze against her side. While it wouldn't normally be much, the burning sensation that exerted from the magical power exerted into his blade was enough to make her hiss.

One of her thralls seemed to have his eyes burned out, the other was seemingly a scarlet statue, and her last was tied down by webbing as more crystals crawled across him.

She was losing.

"Get BACK!" She screamed at Mosu, swiping her hand. A burst of energy propelled itself from in front of her, and Mosu seemed suspended in animation for a split second, before he went hurtling away, crashing into the pile of rubble that had been growing higher through the fight.

"Why won't any of you DIE ALREADY!?"

She got no response as Mosu sat motionless in the rubble, having had quite the rough landing. He was still breathing and very much alive though, something that pissed Witch off greatly.

"Do I have to bring this whole warehouse down on your heads?!" she shouted, her pupils shrinking down as they shined, a pink light emitting from her eyes and mouth.

Finally, with one last hit to the head with the warhammer, Frisk was able to fell the last of the three twitching, frightening men, feeling bone crunch against the weapon. Probably for the best that Sans and Papyrus hadn't come with her group.

Another boomstick manifested in Witch's hand, but this one wouldn't be thrown at a foe- instead, she stomped it into the ground, cracking the floor below her as it was wedged inside. It was hard to tell what exactly she was doing, but it all began to make sense to Frisk as the ground began to crumble below their feet, pink lights streaming from beneath. Like the roots of a tree, the stick had grown through the ground- as for how far out it went, Frisk didn't know, and they needed to leave before Mióm decided to show them.

But… Mosu was still in there, practically at the center of where the blast would be.

For a third time, Rian raised his arms, fingertips flaring with energy as he screwed his face up in concentration. To everyone's surprise, Witch lifted into the air, her throat visibly constricting as her eyes bulged from the sudden and violent force.

This was Rian's downfall, however, as he released the magic almost immediately, eyes widening in shock.

Something Frisk had been anticipating.

Warhammer lugged behind her, she rushed toward her foe as the earth rumbled and cracked around them, Muffet using her webbing to sling Rian toward safety.

Right in the middle of her back, the warhammer struck, pummeling Witch into the ground just as Frisk swung the weapon around and slammed it like a piledriver into Witch's back a second time- then a third, burying the woman in the earth.

With anybody else, perhaps she would have shown restraint, but Witch proved to be annoyingly resilient. She could take that.

This was confirmed as Witch dragged her arm beneath her in an attempt to push herself up, before that hand came apart, no longer having the energy to stay attached, and she crumpled with a weakened growl.

She slowly turned her head up to look, fury in her eyes- before Frisk brought the warhammer down on her skull, and Witch stopped moving.

The dust began to settle as the warehouse lay in ruins, moonlight streaming in through what little of the ceiling remained. For a moment, Frisk contemplated crushing this woman's head in. Save more trouble from happening in the future...

But she didn't. Instead, she turned and began to approach the pile she'd seen Mosu crash into.

It seemed that after having some time to recover, Mosu was alright, pushing himself out of the pile of rubble with a light grunt. He noticed the Lieutenant's battered body just a few yards away, missing a hand, no doubt having several broken bones, internal bleeding, along with plenty of external bleeding from her stump and the spots Frisk had just whacked with her warhammer. Witch was dangerous, frighteningly strong with an equally frightening mentality, and a desire to please a family that mostly didn't care for her or just used her abilities for their benefit. In spite of everything, he actually felt quite sorry for her- a sentiment that the nearby Rian seemed to share, his eyes on her for a few more moments before he looked back over to Mosu and Frisk, Muffet nearby bidding all her spider friends farewell.

"I think we won," Mosu stated calmly, brushing some dust from his shoulders and sheathing his blade, the thralls rendered immobile and the main threat also down and out. If Frisk hadn't charged in like that though… well, things probably could have gone much worse.

"You guys should see if there's any supplies in here that haven't been blown up," Frisk suggested. "I'll help too, but I want to talk to her first," she said, obviously referring to the fallen Witch, who was motionless aside from the slow rising and falling of her chest, and her eyes, which were moving around, indicating she was conscious and aware of her surroundings to some extent.

"Frisk, I don't know if that's such-" Rian began in a concerned tone, knowing fully well that Witch had drawn out Frisk's dark side- or maybe her words had just been the straw that had broken the camel's back. Either way, a conversation between them seemed destined to turn ugly.

"I won't do anything stupid," Frisk interupted. "Don't worry, it won't take long."

Mustering herself for a moment, Frisk closed her eyes, taking a deep breath.

"I know what you're thinking." Chara muttered beside her. Frisk didn't open her eyes as Rian and Mosu began to search about for valuable items. She didn't reply.

"Just because you still haven't killed doesn't mean you can't resist the corruption." The spirit continued. "It's more than just the blood and dust on your hands, it's a part of you. It's something inside."

"So don't watch." Frisk replied, before she opened her eyes and strode forward toward Witch's trembling body. Doing her best to hold back her rage, Frisk grasped a handful of the woman's pink hair and then proceeded to drag her across the ground, away from the others, leaving Witch's severed hand behind.

Witch could do nothing, too weak and battered as Frisk's grip threatened to scalp her. As though her arms were heavy as lead, Witch tried to reach up toward Frisk's fist, but even this was too much of a chore.

Once they reached the other side of the warehouse from Rian and Mosu, Frisk threw Witch against the wall, who only weakly coughed out some blood as a response, her eyelids trying to stay open, but clearly struggling.

A trail of blood lead from the spot Witch had initially been lying to the wall she was now up against, several red splotches on her tattered black dress. Managing to lean her head back ever so slightly, her eyes opening, just a bit, peaking through toward Frisk.

Frisk had told Rian that she wasn't going to do anything, but it was ridiculously tempting. Witch's words had struck her like a dagger to the chest, and they kept on eating away at her. She didn't want to be anything like Witch, and yet, the fact that she was thinking this proved the Lieutenant's point, in a way. In her head, she was picturing all the ways she could finally put an end to this resilient woman's life, and not once did she feel a hint of remorse.

Again, she wondered why the surface had to be so complicated, filled with enemies- some of whom she could talk to, others were like this. Their minds were so damn twisted… and yet, she wanted to know more, because even though it ate her alive, she couldn't deny that… the Messiah and her past self shared a lot of similarities. Maybe that was why she'd snapped just now against Witch, because there was some truth to her words.

"You can't speak, can you?" Frisk asked, watching as the jaw of Witch shifted about half an inch, but didn't make it any further than that.

"It's fine, you've talked plenty tonight," Frisk said with a grumble, trying to figure out what to do with this woman. Killing her was a thought that, of course, kept lingering in Frisk's head, but she knew it would keep coming back to haunt her if she did- and leaving her here to die was no different. Yet, keeping the woman alive also had a chance of coming back to haunt Frisk and her friends, and she was a little dangerous to be taken prisoner…

There were several tense moments in which Frisk glared down at Witch, mulling over a hundred different scenarios one after another. She could feel Chara's gaze burning into the back of her head, but chose to ignore it. Chara's presence had simply become as annoying as a pimple.

"Thanks to Mosu and Magnum, I don't even need to ask for the locations of other outposts. They're all being hit as I speak." Frisk stated, noticing Witch's remaining hand twitch at this.

"You're losing. This pretend family you got?" Frisk crouched, getting eye-level. "I'm bringing them down. Tonight. Even your precious Nikolai. None of them are safe from me. Not anymore."

Witch mustered enough energy to spit blood at Frisk's face, who closed her eyes and mouth, before she calmly stood up and wiped it away. A split second later, her heel had smashed into Witch's face, nearly crushing her skull against the wall behind her and busting her head through it as her nose snapped to the side and began pouring blood.

"I should leave you here. To bleed out." Frisk spoke aloud, glaring down at Witch, who couldn't even make an attempt to cover her nose as blood poured into her open mouth, eyes rolling back into her head. "Nobody would care..."

The sound of an approaching jogger snapped Frisk from her stupor, and she turned her gaze to see Rian hurrying toward her. "There's nothing." He stated. "We should probably head to the others, make sure everyone's handled their outposts."

Rian found himself staring at the battered body against the wall, swallowing the lump in his throat, a bit scared to see that his friend was capable of doing that to another person- even if it was necessary, it was frightening.

"What's, uh… what's the plan with her?" Rian questioned, only for Frisk to sigh.

"We leave her here," she stated simply. She wasn't about to save Witch's life, no chance in hell. Not only did the thought of it make her stomach twist just as much as the thought of murdering her, tempting as it was, but it would put her friends in danger. Could a person like that even feel gratitude? The moment she healed up, she'd probably be trying to blow their heads off again.

So… the only solution was to leave her here. She wouldn't cause any trouble for them anymore, at least for tonight.

"Come on, let's go," Frisk said impatiently.

She could only hope that this wouldn't come back to bite her in the ass in some way or another, but it was more likely to happen than Witch actually dying from this like any other person would.

Rian's eyes lingered on Witch for a few moments as Frisk made her way away, clearly done with this situation, and ready to move on to the next.

---

The next closest group was Greg's. He'd been sent off with Truck, Doggo, Lesser Dog, and Papyrus to head off a Messiah Outpost located in a bar adjacent to City Hall. The bar, of course, was a front for the Messiah, the Outpost's purpose being to keep the Mayor in check, though he was dead now.

As Frisk and her gang neared it, it became very clear that a fight had already taken place here. The street was cracked, the bar itself leveled to the ground and reduced to a pile of rubble, but none of their allies seemed to be anywhere.

"Perhaps they were successful and went in search of another group to aid." Mosu offered his theory as Frisk narrowed her gaze, scanning over the debris. Something felt off here. Something felt... wrong.

The stale smell of blood lingered in the air all around them, but there wasn't a drop of red to be seen on the battlefield. However, Frisk could see clear signs of both Truck and Papyrus's contributions to the clash, several bones sticking out of the walls, which had taken quite a beating, riddled with large holes presumably made by fists. It truly seemed that nobody was here now, though… until Frisk heard a cough from the other side of the bar.

The group rushed over to see who it was, quickly finding a collapsed monster laying in a pile of shattered glass… it seemed he'd taken quite a beating, but he wasn't at risk of turning to dust at a moment's notice- he would be fine. Relieved by this, but also fully aware that things must have really not gone as well as she would've liked, Frisk knelt beside Doggo, while Rian knelt on his other side. Mosu stood nearby, keeping watch, while Muffet picked up a broom and began to sweep away some of the rubble and glass.

"Mmmmmh…" Doggo shifted uncomfortably against the ground. "She was fast… and I couldn't see her…" he groaned.

"Who did this to you?" Rian asked as Doggo once again began to cough.

"A chick. I don't know what he looked like… the kid turned on us. He joined the Messiah. It was all downhill from there," he spat.

"What… who? Greg?" Rian blinked in disbelief. "No, that can't be right…"

"Never trust anything that... wrings its hands so much... always movin'..." Doggo winced, before glancing about. "Anybody see any dog treats? I need a light."

"Don't worry about that right now." Frisk replied, standing. "Muffet, can you get Doggo somewhere safe for the time being?"

"And miss out on all the fun, dearie~" The spider asked in reply, two hands placed on her hips as she continued to sweep. Frisk stared back, and after a moment of silence, Muffet rolled her five eyes. "Fine."

"Thank you. Mosu, Rian, we've gotta make sure the others are okay." Frisk turned to them, and Rian folded his arms across his chest. "No way we're splitting up." He stated. "Way too dangerous like that."

Frisk actually had been about to suggest that, so she frowned, glancing past Rian as she thought. "Alright. Fine. We link up with Alphys' group." She replied. "They're closest. Then Sadie, and finally, Obatech Industries."

"Seems sound to me." Mosu nodded, glancing over his shoulder, no doubt expecting Witch to pop out of nowhere like always.

"Don't be so paranoid," Frisk told Mosu, mildly annoyed at just the thought of Witch, which had crossed her mind as well. "She's not going to be going anywhere for a while. Especially if she just ends up bleeding out," she stated confidently, seeming so comfortable with the thought- something that Rian found eerie. He realized she was going through a lot, they all were, but was this really the same Frisk he'd been friends with all this time? She seemed so… different.

"She has Herculean vitality," Mosu replied with a sigh. "If me burying her alive beneath that mountain didn't kill her, I'm not sure what could."

"Well she won't be getting back up tonight," Frisk retorted, now feeling a bit more irritated, hoping her statement would hold true. "By the time she's done rotting in that warehouse, the Messiah will already be destroyed. Now let's go."

A few feet away, Muffet began dragging a web-covered Doggo out of the bar.

"Watch where you're pulling those webs! Dogwife won't appreciate that," Doggo barked.

"Shush, dearie," Muffet ordered.

Frisk took the lead again, bringing her two remaining companions about toward another of the Messiah outposts that Magnum and Mosu had detailed for everyone. Her thoughts were occupied with Greg, however. She had no idea what game he was playing, but it was a dangerous one. Papyrus and Lesser Dog were nowhere to be found, nor was Truck. No dust hung in the air, so... maybe nobody had died. So what the hell was Gregory doing?

"He's a lot like you." Chara muttered into Frisk's ear. "You know it, you're thinking it. He'll put others in harm's way just to see his own expectations to fruition. Remind you of anyone?"

Frisk ignored the spirit, instead focusing on making sure no secret Messiah members would pop up. When none did as they approached the third outpost, Frisk let out a sigh of relief. Alphys was standing by her troop of dogs (and Aaron), the device she'd been working on earlier in her hand, her gaze on them as they approached.

"Everyone's okay?" Frisk asked as they neared. "We... haven't actually done anything." Alphys replied sheepishly, a blush tinting her cheeks. "We couldn't find the entrance."

"Huh… did you check everywhere?" Frisk asked, to which Alphys quickly began to nod.

"Every side of the building, inside and out, not a single opening anywhere… I-I guess they really don't want anyone getting into this one, or it… doesn't exist..." She gulped. "How'd things go for you guys?"

"Fine," Frisk replied quickly before Rian could get a word out. "Just fine. We took care of that warehouse and went over to Papyrus's group, but most of them were gone."

"Doggo said Greg turned on them," Rian added as Mosu suddenly broke off from the rest of the group, approaching the structure in front of them.

"He... he d-did what?" Alphys' eyes widened as Mosu approached one side of the specific building- a church. The sign outside was labelled as 'The Great Baptist Church of Science'. Frisk didn't really feel like figuring out how that religion worked, her head already throbbing. The main event still had yet to start and she was beginning to feel... exhausted.

"Did you check the cellar?" Mosu asked. "We did." Alphys replied as Aaron flexed after Mosu. "There was nothing."

"Follow me." The ex-Lieutenant advised, walking down a thin set of stairs to the basement door of the church.

They didn't have any options other than to follow Mosu, so that's just what the group did, closely trailing behind the man as he descended down the stairs. It quickly became dark- darker than it already was outside, anyways- but Alphys' device luckily came equipped with a flashlight, so they would be fine for the most part. Worst case scenario… well, they'd probably have to retreat back up to the surface. Frisk wasn't feeling a hundred percent anymore, so she couldn't confidently say she could handle an entire ambush in the dark on her own.

But it didn't seem like they would have to worry about that as Mosu pushed the doors open- unlocked, as Alphys had already come in here earlier seeking a way to get into the main building.

"There's a secret switch somewhere in here," Mosu informed the rest of them. "I don't know exactly where, but I remember the leaders mentioning it briefly before."

"This reminds of a time i-in Mew Mew Kissy Cutie: Forces of Friendship (it's a spin-off) when Mew Mew had to gather her friends like Bow Wow and Moo Moo to find a way into Hissie's secret lair and... uh..." Alphys was sweating bullets as her blush, that had never left, only intensified once she noticed everyone was staring at her. "S-sorry, I'm nervous."

"You're fine." Mosu replied. The basement they entered was fairly dank for a Church that seemed fairly well-kept. An old piano sat nearby, covered in dust, several pieces of furniture draped in white cloth, turning yellow through time. Cobwebs marked every corner and every crevice as the smell of mold clung to the air.

"So is it in a book case?" Rian asked, peering about in search of one. "Or a portrait? In the 1985 movie 'Clue' starring Tim Curry those were the usual things. But nobody start killing each other."

This time, eyes were on Rian, and he shut up to begin nonchalantly looking about, though Alphys looked relieved she wasn't the only nerd around.

"It may be a light bulb." Mosu replied. "A melody on the piano. Or even as simple as a trap door."

"So it could be anything," Frisk stated bluntly, "and we're just supposed to rummage around in here until we find it. That could take hours, we don't have time to be sitting in this dusty basement while the Messiah…" her voice trailed off as she felt her rage beginning to boil inside of her- not directed toward Mosu, but rather toward the simple fact that she was here right now instead of ending the existence of her enemies.

She didn't want to wait anymore. She didn't want to participate in any games or puzzles, she didn't want to waste one more second. Everything that had happened- the death of Toriel, the vicious attacks and murders on the night of the dance, Undyne's sacrifice, not knowing where Gregory's loyalty was… it was all hitting her now, twice as hard as when they'd all happened individually. As her emotions got the best of her, she could feel the giggling against her ear as Chara took the opportunity to speak once more.

"Isn't it tempting to just run out of here right now? I can see how much you want to leave. Leave, abandon the dead weight, and go to lay waste to your enemies. You know you're strong enough. Or…" there was a brief pause. "You could be."

Frisk grit her teeth and ignored the voice, seeing that the others were going as fast as they could- whatever. She just had to find that switch, and she had to do it as fast as she could. Frisk had accomplished much harder in much less time before.

Chara was simply taunting and jaunting her. Teasing her with the prospect of an alternate life once led... but judging by Asgore's excuse before, Frisk technically had never led that life. That timeline had been erased. Still, the memories sat restlessly. If she didn't start backing off on her attitude, it would be hard to keep everyone from continuing to believe that their memories of alternate timelines weren't a Messiah machination of psychological warfare.

"If I'd brought along M-Mettaton, he could just scan for the entrance..." Alphys muttered as the group began to fan out, searching for this fabled switch. Rian had found himself a book case and was carefully pulling every single book off. Dogamy and Dogaressa began to play notes on the piano before congratulating one another on their musical talent. Greater Dog appeared to start having a flex off with Aaron, so it became clear that not everyone was searching for the switch.

Frisk and Alphys moved to the opposite end of the basement, discovering an old, partly destroyed, decrepit pipe organ of formidable size.

"Hey..." Alphys frowned, staring at it, drawing Frisk's further attention. "What is it?" The girl asked. "There's not a lot of dust on this." Alphys commented. Frisk could easily deduce where the monster was going with this. As unused as this place looked and felt, the ruined pipe organ seemed relatively new.

Of course, there was no guarantee that this was what they were looking for- for all they knew, the pipe organ had only just been recently moved to the basement. After all, it probably saw little use in the church what with it being a rusty disaster and all.

"T-The only problem is… if it is the key to opening the entrance… what keys do we hit?" Alphys wondered aloud.

That was a good point, and Frisk didn't really have an answer. Even though some of the keys looked a little more worn than others, they hadn't a clue what order to press them in. Luckily, Mosu came to the rescue once again, approaching the keyboard.

"There's a tune from Nikolai's home country that he hums on occasion," Mosu explained. "Several of the Messiah's music-centric puzzles and traps relate to it in some way or another."

Frisk was a little surprised at the prospect that the Messiah had music-related puzzles and traps in the first place. To have those be in the tune of an old Russian song was even a little genius, considering the country had been basically turned into a giant hazard zone after it had been nuked to hell during the Polar War, leaving very little Russian influence on the world.

"What uh... what tune?" Alphys asked. Mosu didn't reply as he raised an arm, and drifted his fingers across several keys, playing nothing at first, before his fingers began darting about. The noise emitting from the pipe organ was feeble, and some of the keys seemed to stick, though Mosu was undeterred.

The tune wasn't recognizable, not to Frisk at least. Something she'd never heard before, but it was over in about six seconds. Nothing happened, following it, but Mosu noticeably perked up, as did Greater Dog, Dogamy, and Dogaressa. "What?" Rian frowned. "What is it?" He'd noticed the four of them unanimously react. "A click." Mosu replied, turning his head toward the book case Rian was standing beside.

"I heard it too." Dogaressa stated, her husband agreeing curtly. Aaron flexed.

"Oh…" Rian's face lit up after a few seconds. "So the bookcase isn't the switch, but it's the door," he concluded, a statement Mosu confirmed by pressing a hand against the side of the dusty wood, tilting it just enough to reveal a passageway, leading to a stairway descending into God knows where. It clearly didn't lead into the main building, but it was progress.

Finding that passage hadn't taken as long as Frisk had initially feared either, so to see it open up was a great relief. Maybe they'd still have enough time to finish off the Messiah once and for all tonight.

The distant rumble of thunder outside made her glance upward, just now noticing that a harsh hailstorm had begun, pounding away at the roof without mercy, audible even from the basement. She wasn't looking forward to going back outside now, but bad weather was the least of her worries as she slipped past the bookshelf, after Mosu and, with a bit of struggle, Rian.

The stairs led down, down, down... it was lit by torches along the walls as though this were some kind of gothic castle. Minus it being easy to find. This moment of levity gave Frisk time to reflect. To think about what came after tonight. Would there be anything to come back to? Would they succeed? The future seemed scarily unknown, and she hated that. She hated not having control and knowledge, but... the alternative wasn't exactly preferable if it had to be attained through death and dust.

The Messiah had other sects around the world, from what Frisk had learned from Mosu and Magnum. The German one- this one -was one of the biggest. The head of the snake. But what if the Messiah was a hydra, and cutting off the head just sprouted more? Was the Messiah comparable to a plague more than just a person? That person being Jonathan Obaseki. She could recall the chill that had run down her spine the first time she'd met him. Until just a few hours ago, it had been the only time she'd met the man. Knowing what she knew now, she... wasn't sure what she'd do to alter events if she were back on that day in the wake of Toriel's murder.

Shaking her head, Frisk took in a deep breath, immediately earning a comforting hand on her shoulder from Rian. She glanced at him, brows knit tightly together as she still battled her inner demons (not to mention ignoring Chara's comments). Rian said nothing, just offering her a reassuring squeeze and a smile before removing his hand. Somehow, that made her feel a bit better than any words could have.

She couldn't afford to freak out again like she had with Witch. This time, it was a full-on mercy run. She'd dance and joke and try to do things the old fashioned way.

Well... easier said than done. She was just so tired...

The walls and floor were a sturdy combination of grey brick and concrete, making the tunnel all the more ominous. Those torches were definitely spaced out the way they were on purpose, Frisk thought; whoever had designed this place had a bit too much love for old dracula movies. But nothing had jumped out at them just yet, so the group had some time to just… well, be alone with their thoughts and with each other. A part of Frisk regretted not having Muffet come with them, having her army of spiders help navigate this place would have been lovely…

Especially when they came up to a fork in the tunnel, branching off into two different directions. Everyone except for Rian was able to suppress their groans of dissatisfaction; this meant they'd either have to split up or risk all of them going down a dead-end path. Even Mosu looked uncertain.

"Which way?" Aaron asked, though his voice was nearly drowned out by his bulging biceps.

Mosu opened his mouth, but Frisk was the first to speak, calling him by name. "Mosu, take the dogs and Aaron down the left. Rian, Alphys, and I will head right."

Wordlessly, the ex-Messiah member gave the girl a nod, before gesturing for the others to follow, which they promptly did, Aaron trying to get Mosu to flex with him as Dogamy and Dogaressa huddled together. Greater Dog took up much of the hall from the rear.

"That thing's been tested, right?" Frisk asked, glancing at the object in Alphys' claws. The monster shrugged, stuffing it into the pocket of her lab coat. "N-not really." She admitted. "But a field test seems to be the best way to... y'know..."

"Wasn't Sans talking about that thing turning people to goop?" Rian asked worriedly. Alphys scoffed. "He went around talking about that?" She seemed displeased. "No, it doesn't melt people or anything. Just their SOULs. Hypothetically. If I got my calculations wrong and inversed the polarity of the electron output…"

Rian blinked. "Science talk aside, that's scary."

"I-I'm sure it's perfectly safe… for us," Alphys tried to reassure Rian, who still didn't look too sure. If the creator of the dangerous device hadn't even tested it, was there really any way of knowing whether it would even… work to their benefit? He did not want his SOUL melted, that sounded very painful

Frisk didn't seem so worried; sure, she knew Alphys had a bit of a history of being unreliable, but she'd worked very hard for a very long time to improve herself and do better for herself and her friends. She trusted the doctor not to melt her SOUL, and even if she did… well, Frisk didn't want to toot her own horn, but she had a feeling her SOUL was a little too strong to be affected that greatly by a simple device.

The number of torches ahead of them was beginning to lessen, meaning they were approaching another door or stairwell, or there was another split in the path- or there was just a corner they needed to turn. Frisk hoped for the first.

It was in fact, the third option. The hall made a sharp left, but this hall was nearly three times as wide as the previous, with doors going down it on either side, and a large set of double doors at the end of the hall. Thirteen entrances to other rooms in total Frisk could count, six on either side. "This place seems abandoned." Rian commented quietly. Alphys dug into one of her pockets for a moment, before pulling out another device, this one smaller and with a screen in front.

"This is my uh... SOUL-Finder." Alphys said. "Don't j-judge the name I uh... just now came up with it. P-place-holder. I can use it to track the direction of powerful magic exerted from SOULs."

"Do you know if this one works? It won't melt my SOUL, right?" Rian asked. Alphys gave him a rather annoyed expression. "Of course it works, you and Frisk exert a lot of magical energy, that's how I tested it."

Frisk glanced at the blank screen, finding that a crimson pulse beeped on it on the side of the screen where Frisk was standing, and a blue pulse on Rian's side. Then there was a third pulse, much fainter, green in color. "Oh, whoa, hang on." Rian leaned closer to the device. "I'm blue, aren't I?"

"You have a lot of stuff I've never heard of." Frisk commented, and Alphys blushed. "Well, I mean, I just... have a lot of free time and I'm always researching SOUL stuff so..."

"So… we just… follow whatever pops up on the screen?" Rian asked, raising an eyebrow. "That seems dangerous. Like walking right toward a trap."

"Of course it's dangerous, but it would be even more dangerous to spend the next hour checking all these rooms only to charge in blindly anyways," Frisk pointed out, much to Alphys' satisfaction.

"T-This way we know what we're getting into, at least a little bit… and we can't get ambushed since I'll know h-how close other SOULs are," Alphys added. This seemed to ease Rian's nerves, just a little.

The group silently began to walk past the first few doors, but Rian could swear he heard voices whispering behind a few of them, hoping it was just his mind playing tricks. Or maybe this creepy old place really was haunted. Either way, Alphys wasn't getting a reading from any of the doors on her device, so there was little reason to check.

They progressed past six rows before reaching the end of the hall at the great set of double doors, metal gleaming off the fire light. As medieval as most of this place looked, these doors seemed modern, and very heavy. The green energy was coming from beyond the door. Frisk grabbed the handle and tried to wiggle it, only to find the door was locked.

"Oh man." Rian bit his cheek. "It's like every horror game ever. Now we have to go searching these rooms for the key."

"Why?" Frisk asked, a scarlet battering ram materializing behind her. "We can just bust it down." Thrusting her arm forward, her conjuration slammed against the door- before bouncing backward, almost as though it were completely reversed yet kept its momentum- and deadliness.

Frisk barely summoned a shield before her in time, which absorbed most of the impact, her magic cancelling itself out, the force enough to skid her a foot back. "What the hell was that?" She asked, dissipating her shield.

Alphys practically had her nose pressed up against the SOUL-Finder. "U-um... I think the door itself is exerting the green magic." The monster theorized.

"So... key?" Rian asked.

"W-Well… yeah," Alphys nodded. "I don't like it, but we'll probably have to look through these rooms… but… there's something about this I don't like…" Alphys gulped.

"What's that?" Rian asked.

"W-Well, this door is currently sealed by someone's magic, so that we can't force it open," Alphys pushed her glasses slightly up the bridge of her nose. "But it's not a long-lasting barrier like the one cast on Mt. Ebott. Someone had to have p-put this up recently…"

"Meaning… the Messiah wants us to check these rooms for the keys," Rian concluded. "And they're not giving us a choice."

"Right, so there's probably going to be traps aplenty," Frisk sighed. Nothing could ever just be simple, not even opening a damn door. She felt foolish for having tried to ram it through in an enclosed space like this- that was dangerous, normally she wouldn't do something so irrational. She was just… feeling really impatient. Really eager to make more and more progress.

As they backtracked to the first door, Mosu found himself to be in somewhat of a similar situation. Either hall was mirrored, six rows of doors down a hall, with the large set at the end, blocked by magic. It was this instance that allowed Mosu's more common yet versatile SOUL to shine. Drawing out his blade handle, the blade extended as a white light, not unlike a lightsaber, projected through his magic.

The monsters watched on as Mosu walked to the door, and rammed his blade down the middle. Immediately, the pale light began to shift into a sage as it absorbed the magical barrier. Despite this seeming like a simple act, Mosu notably winced. His exertion of magic over the last few weeks was definitely starting to take a toll on him.

After a few moments, the barrier was down, and Mosu slid his sage-colored blade into the scabbard, narrowing his eyes.

"What's that smell?" Dogamy gruffed, sticking his nose in the air. Greater Dog and Dogaressa followed suit, all three sniffing at the air for a moment. "Smells like..." Dogaressa began. "Woof." Said Greater Dog. The others agreed. "No whey." Aaron flexed.

Mosu pinched the bridge of his nose.

The monsters didn't recognize the scent for obvious reasons- they'd never been exposed to it before, it seemed. Mosu, on the other hand, had plenty of experience, especially since his former opponent, Witch, could manifest it with her magic. It was the stench of gunpowder, and having reached the same conclusion as Frisk's group by now, Mosu wasn't looking forward to whatever traps had been laid out for them.

If they set even one of them off, it would risk this entire tunnel collapsing in on them, and Mosu wasn't sure if he or any of these monsters could survive such a crude burial.

"We have to be careful," Mosu told them sternly. "Keep your eyes out for wires, switches, anything- one wrong move and we're worm food."

"Worms don't taste bad, actually." Dogamy pointed out, but shut up when his wife jabbed his side. Mosu grasped the handle of the door, paused a moment in anticipation, before he yanked the door open. A metallic screech was let out as the door slid against the floor as it moved.

The group winced at this, and Mosu let go of the door. They stood there in silence for a moment, and he poked his head through, glancing about.

"Let me know if the smell gets stronger anywhere." Mosu added. "We must avoid those areas."

"Woof." Greater Dog nodded. Sliding through the door, Mosu glared about, checking the immediate vicinity for traps, though found nothing upon initial inspection. He'd entered some kind of mess hall, cafeteria tables lined out in front of him, the ceiling much higher than it had been in the hall. This place was more than an outpost, it may have very well been the original headquarters before it was upgraded to the bowels of Obatech Industries.

Another screech sounded as Greater Dog yanked the door the rest of the way open just so he could squeeze through it, his armor getting in the way. Mosu winced again at the sound, but his eyes remained attentive. No danger, not initially at least. Where were the others?

Well, Frisk's group was… struggling a bit. The search for the key was ongoing, and just as Frisk had stated earlier, the place was laced with traps, confirmed the second they'd opened the first door and seen dozens of wires all around the room. They'd opted to skip that one and come back to it later.

Rian had already cleared two rooms, as had Frisk, who'd just narrowly avoided getting her skull bashed by a falling chandelier, while Alphys kept an eye on the door to make sure it didn't do anything unpredictable.

But… something was strange about these rooms. They were all arranged in about the same way, with the same basic furniture and color scheme, but each one felt personalized. Whether it be by the trinkets across some of the dressers, of the lack of overall tidiness in some rooms… people had been living here. Messiah members had been living here. She couldn't help but wonder if she'd encountered the owners of some of these bedrooms before. Frisk didn't care enough to start guessing, but still… interesting, and a little stomach-churning.

Rian exited his room as Frisk did hers, his face appearing pale. "What's wrong?" Frisk asked, closing her door behind her, having just barely gotten away with not getting impaled by floor spikes.

"I got Indiana Jones'd." He replied. "Skewered corpse."

"Oof." Frisk replied, wrinkling her nose as Rian closed his door, shaking his head. "This is so crazy." He sighed. "What?" The girl asked. "Searching booby trapped rooms for a key to get past a magical door? Is that the craziest thing yet?"

"No I mean... I used to have a normal life. Semi normal. It was good, alright?" The jock rubbed at his arm. "Sadie and I went to school, had problems there but we always helped each other through them and now... ever since the bombing, it's just been downhill. She lost her mom, we don't know anything about her dad, and I'm not there for her or her sisters right now. The stress is... really starting to build up." Rian gave a nervous, involuntary chuckle. "I- I'm sorry, this should wait."

"No, it's… it's not good to let it build up," Frisk told him, immediately feeling like the biggest idiot in the world. That was what she'd been trying to do this entire time, bottle everything up and then hope it would all disappear by the time this was over. Even though she knew that wasn't how it worked, it was all she could do to keep herself from snapping, especially with Chara whispering in her ear with her poisonous words.

"Holding it in is… it's not gonna do anyone any good," she continued, letting out a shaky breath. "That's why I was a different person back at the warehouse."

"You were acting pretty strange," Rian admitted. "I've never seen you so comfortable with a weapon in your hand before. Granted, I haven't been seeing you with weapons in your hands for very long in the first place, but…" he shook his head.

"I know everything feels like it's gone to hell," Frisk told him, unable to make eye contact. "But… we haven't lost everything, okay? Sadie is still alive, and she's going to need you. You're going to need her too. We're all going to need each other, and… maybe things won't go back to normal right away. Maybe they never will. But… we're still always going to have…" her voice trailed off. "Someone who really cares about us."

For a moment, she could see the flicker of candlelight, and the assuring skeletal grin behind it, a shadow of a memory.

Her words, like his comforting squeeze for her earlier, seemed to ease him. Rian gave her a nod, and his usual goofy smile. "Thanks, F."

"No problem, R." She replied, feeling her lips tighten into a small smile. Probably the first she'd given all night. "Now let's-"

"HA!"

Frisk and Rian turned to see Alphys scuttle triumphantly from the last room, holding up a rather large and clunky-looking key. "Got it!"

"Where was it?" Rian asked. "Sitting on the bed in there." Alphys replied. Frisk hoped this was the right key, because that seemed way too easy.

Turns out it was. Rian slid the key in, unlocked the door, and he could open it. No magical barrier stopped them, though Frisk felt certain it probably could have. Whoever had conjured it was letting them through for some reason...

The next room seemed to be a lounge of sorts. An old box television sat against the wall to their right, couches and chairs seated about it, and there was even a pinball machine in the corner, old and unpowered.

"No way, that's the Golden Bond Ball Pinball Machine!" Rian pointed to the entertainment device. "Only like, five of those were ever made in honor of the James Bond franchise!"

"Maybe we'll come back for it." Frisk offered. "But for now, let's just clear out this outpost then move on."

Rian seemed reluctant to leave the pinball machine behind, but in spite of his nerdy desires, he knew there were much, much more important things that needed to get done tonight. But the fact that it was even here really did just go to show how wealthy the Messiah was, if they were capable of spending that kind of pretty penny on a pinball machine likely billions of dollars in worth.

The box television displayed only static, with a single tape beside it labelled 'VIDAL'. It appeared someone had just recently been watching it, as the tape hadn't collected any dust… Frisk was overcome with curiosity and popped it in, not intending to watch the full thing, but she wanted to know what the contents were, not to mention the name of the tape felt strangely familiar… but she couldn't remember where she'd heard that word before at the moment.

The screen flickered black and white for a couple of seconds before a grainy picture appeared, showing the body of a man being tied down with steel chains. He looked quite a bit familiar.

The tape then cut to a shot of the man with his SOUL out, probably not willingly as evidenced by his unconsciousness. A second figure, covered from head to toe in rubber and padding, appeared to be drilling away at the exposed SOUL with some kind of device, the mechanical whirring making Alphys' stomach drop.

"O-Oh my god…" Frisk heard the doctor's voice murmur as the torturous tape continued, the man's hands and feet twitching as his SOUL was… tarnished, by the glowing shards that figure began to shove into it with the aid of a SOUL-charged scalpel.

There was a difference between physical torment, and SOUL torment. The body could feel physical pain, that much was obvious, but it could heal, even if it may scar. The SOUL, however, was fragile and sensitive. To do such a thing to the very culmination of one's being was a horrendous act. It was difficult to describe, admittedly, but the pain inflicted through the SOUL was on a deeper level, and the scars ran deeper, bled longer.

After a particular shard had been shoved into the man's SOUL, his eyes shot open and he began to writhe wildly, screaming as though he were seconds away from death, his vocal cords audibly tearing as the man in rubber waved at the camera to move back.

"Who is that?" Rian asked, tearing his eyes from the screen with a pale green to his already pale face. "Raptor." Alphys answered. "I h-had him in captivity in my lab a while back w-with Magnum. He's... not a bad guy... I didn't know this is what the Messiah did to him. A-Asgore mentioned something about it once to me but..."

Frisk swallowed the lump in her throat- it was so hard to watch, but she couldn't look away. She'd been hit in the SOUL thousands upon thousands of times before, and it always hurt, but what she was watching was something completely different. To have your SOUL carved into like that was just… unimaginable. Especially with the knowledge that he'd somehow survived, it was very likely that Raptor was suffering the pain of this experience to this day.

Frisk had to pull the tape out the moment the camera began to zoom in on Raptor's hands as the flesh and bone beneath his skin visibly twisted, his body attempting to replicate the new additions to his SOUL in physical form. Alphys and Rian both looked ill, and Frisk couldn't blame them, she wanted nothing more than to forget what she'd seen… but she couldn't.

"They don't stop at hurting monsters," Frisk sighed shakily. "They hurt each other too. They don't care at all."

"People and monsters have hurt each other and themselves since the dawn of time."

Practically everyone jumped at the voice coming from the other end of the room. Frisk whirled, a daito materializing in her hand- though she was quick to dissipate it once she realized who it was. Mosu stood at another door, behind him seemed to be a cafeteria of sorts, in which Aaron was trying to get the dogs to watch him flex.

"Jeez man, at least clear your throat next time." Rian huffed, patting his chest. Mosu cleared his throat. "But this;" Frisk gestured to the screen. "This is what we're trying to stop."

"Greater people have done worse." Mosu replied. "Are you trying to defend them?" Frisk frowned, to which Mosu calmly shook his head. "No. You must understand, Frisk, to battle people who do wrong means you will never find peace. To go down such a path would turn you into something like them. There are organizations with a high public standing performing similar experiments on people. Trust me in my knowledge, the Messiah's reach extends far. We are not here to stop things like this from happening. We are here for vengeance. Each of us, even if we choose not to admit it. We have lost something to them. So we intend to take more in return."

As much as Frisk didn't like to admit it, she knew Mosu wasn't wrong. If she were to try and stop the existence of experiments like she'd just seen on the tape, it would mean laying waste to the scientific community and many of the world's more powerful governments, ultimately something that would claim more lives than she'd be saving, even if she could get very far in such an endeavor.

But that still felt so wrong- to not do anything to help all the people who were being hurt in ways similar to Raptor. People who were losing their lives and their dignity, and nobody on the outside would even begin to help, allowing those experiments to keep happening.

It was times like this that Frisk really had to step back and acknowledge just how messed up the world truly could be.

"We should keep moving," Rian suggested, hoping to not let this topic cause anymore tension. That tape could have very well been planted there intentionally just to mess with the group's morale- and if that was the case, it was working damn well.

"I fear I may know who one of those here are." Mosu began as the group continued into the kitchen area. "Danica Miracle, a demolitions specialist. She has no magical affinity, so she compensates. A contractor originally from the states, she was about to participate in the dead pool that made me a lieutenant, but I talked her out of it." The man explained as Frisk gestured for the dogs to follow them, who seemed eager to avoid Aaron's flexing, the group making their way toward a door at the other end of the mess hall.

"Think she became one anyway?" Rian asked. Mosu gave him a nod. "I do, yet she is not alone. The magic required to conjure a barrier as we had to go through was powerful, something that would usually take at least two people to do, but I believe it only had one source."

"You wouldn't happen to have a theory on the identity of culprit number two, would you?" Frisk asked, glancing about the dark room. This place seemed so old, yet there was no dust. It had clearly been lived in up until recently. The Messiah knew they were here and had planned for it. If the person who'd made the barriers earlier could so easily turn magic against the user... Frisk hated to think about how some of her more devastating weapons could be utilized against her friends and allies.

"I may. Never met them, but I am aware of one individual among the Messiah in possession of a SOUL of Pneuma. Worse; she can use it well." Mosu explained, making Frisk perk slightly, a frown besetting her face. "Pneuma? I haven't heard of that one."

"It's nearly as rare as your own SOUL, Frisk. Nearly." Mosu explained.

"But… there's only one SOUL of Determination," Frisk responded- something that was entirely true. Only one could exist at a time due to its immense power and ability to control timelines, or at least that had been the rule she'd always known, and the biggest reason why gaining so much of it has led to the destruction of monsters and humans alike so many times. It was a bit complicated, especially with that apparent 'new controller of the timeline,' a completely different issue that as of right now she had to trust that Sans and Flowey could solve… and with a duo that hated each other as much as them, Frisk didn't have the highest expectations.

"The SOUL of Determination is the rarest," Mosu nodded. "But the SOULs of Pneuma and Unity are not far behind it, especially because the Messiah and similar organizations are willing to go to… great lengths, to ensure they stay few, due to their natural potential."

"Like… killing them?" Rian guessed, and even though Mosu didn't confirm, Rian knew he was right. Yet another thing to add to the list of horrible things this group had done.

Frisk shook her head, pondering once again on the prospect of just eliminating the problem. Shoving those thoughts from her mind, Frisk let out a sigh. "Alright, so I'm guessing we need to fight the Pneuma girl and Miss Miracle, then."

"An accurate assumption." Mosu nodded. "They seem to be toying with us right now-"

"But with this, they can't hide forever." Alphys interrupted, raising her SOUL-Finder up, displaying that the green light- the Pneuma SOUL -was at the exit of the kitchen, the only door they had yet to go down.

"Should we split up?" Frisk asked, wondering if it would be better to let the weaker of their group to stay behind, considering the Pneuma-user sounded like a tough one to fight, and the dogs would just get in the way. Especially Aaron.

"Split up? Have you ever seen a horror movie?"

"Fortunately this isn't one." Mosu replied, and Frisk continued off of him; "Mosu and I will pursue the higher threat. Rian, Alphys, and the rest of you need to draw out Danica."

Rian could tell what Frisk was getting at; him, Alphys, and the others weren't as combat-savvy, so leaving them to deal with the girl without magical powers was the smart decision. It stung of course, as Rian hated the thought that he was dead weight and couldn't be as helpful as he would've preferred in a situation like this… but still. Smart decision, as long as they didn't end up falling for any traps.

But still, Rian felt like he had a pretty damn good point that had been glossed over without a second thought. Splitting up inherently posed its own share of risks, and they didn't have a reliable method of communication between the two groups. If Frisk and Mosu failed, then, well… Rian's group wouldn't even know it until later, assuming they survived, of course.

"A-Alright. But… be careful," Alphys told them.

"Hey, Frisk." Rian called her attention to him as Mosu broke away to make for the door. "Just... don't... you know." He advised. Frisk stared back for a moment, before she offered a nod. She knew what he meant. His words were more like 'don't kill them'.

With that, Frisk joined Mosu at the door. It opened on their approach, making the girl tense up as her eyes narrowed. "They expect us."

"Or at least one of them does." Frisk replied, glancing over her shoulder at the others, before proceeding after Mosu as he made his way through the open doorway.

The door closed behind them, and Rian could feel his mouth go dry. He glanced toward Alphys, who was tapping at her thigh anxiously, clearly biting her lips nervously. He felt equally as anxious, even if he wasn't outwardly showing it. Having grown up as a 'dude bro', he'd grown used to concealing things like that. Staying strong in the face of danger. Stowing his fears until the game was over.

If it weren't for the fact that the situation had already reached maximum discomfort, Rian might have felt a little strange being surrounded by people he didn't know. He didn't mind being around these guys of course, it just felt a little strange knowing that… he could end up being the difference between whether or not they survived.

Okay, maybe that was putting a little too much pressure on himself. But it was entirely possible, if this girl was as dangerous as he feared… he didn't know much about the Messiah lieutenants, but he knew they were powerful. Someone making it to that status without magic had to know a thing or two about a thing or two.

"Any reading on the other SOUL?" he asked Alphys.

"Still... nothing. I don't think this Danica person's here." Alphys replied, glancing at her device, before her surroundings. Rian could feel cold sweat upon his brow, which was creasing. "Mosu seems to think so. He might be ex-Messiah but I think he's pretty trustworthy. He's like a cool sensei guy."

"Oooh, like Jiraiya!" Alphys beamed. "From Naruto!"

"I haven't seen that, but I was thinking more like Mr. Miyagi from Karate Kid." Rian replied, nodding his head as though this were an absolute fact. Alphys' face soured a little. "You should watch Naruto."

"I'm not really into anime." The boy replied. "Watch Crossfit!" Aaron added, flexing his way into the conversation. "Marley and Me!" Dogaressa pitched in.

"Why not Saving Private Ryan?"

The voice emerged from behind them, back toward the lounge area. Rian shot his head in that direction a little too quickly, cricking his neck. Rubbing it uncomfortably, he watched as a dark-skinned woman with curly dreadlocks stepped toward them, a red leather jacket splayed open, revealing a black tank top. Her jeans were torn, and she was wearing combat boots. Pouches were slung around her, and a knife handle was sticking out of her left boot, two pistols in either of her hands.

"You are Ryan, right?" Danica asked, pointing her left weapon casually at Rian. "Sucks there ain't a bitch here to save you."

Rian could tell from within a second of looking at her that this could mean trouble. Magic or no magic, guns were dangerous, and Rian didn't know how to properly manifest a shield, nor did he have the speed to dodge a bullet. The dogs would probably be fine with their armor, and… Rian didn't feel too comfortable admitting it, but a bullet would probably fly right off Aaron's abs of steel.

That left Alphys. It was no secret that she wasn't the toughest of monsters, but she was extremely helpful in her own regard. Whether or not she could hold her own in a situation like this… well, that remained to be seen.

"There's six of us and one of you." Rian stated, hoping he could convince her to back off. "Might be a fair fight then. Was hoping the traitor would stay back." Danica replied, two clicks resounding through the air as she turned off the safety's of her weapons.

"The SOUL-Finder still isn't picking her up." Alphys muttered to Rian. "She's not exerting any magic, which means my prototype won't be able to do anything to her."

Rian grimaced, trying to think of a way to handle this as quickly as possible without anyone dying, but that was pretty tough. This wasn't a football game with positions, this was a singular opponent he knew nothing about. At least in football he could observe and determine what play his opponents were using.

"There doesn't have to be a fight." Rian continued, feeling the cold sweat running down his neck become rigid and freezing. Danica simply rolled her eyes. "Cute, but this isn't Kissy Kissy Mew Mew. We're not gonna be friends and frolic into the sunset arm-in-arm. We both know how this ends, and it ain't like that."

"Y-You mean Mew Mew Kissy Cutie," Alphys corrected, obviously an unwise decision, but she couldn't help but get that in, it was her favorite anime after all.

"I don't care. I only watch dubbed anime," Danica said with a little smirk, making Alphys freeze in shock and horror.

"We don't have to be friends either," Rian cleared his throat, trying not to let his voice give away how he was feeling at that moment. "Killing us won't do you any favors."

"Actually, it will," Danica responded confidently, spinning a pistol in her left hand before pointing it directly at Rian's head. He was hoping to keep her talking a little longer, but she seemed uninterested in a drawn-out conversation. The sound of the gunshot sent a more horrific chill down his spine than he'd ever felt before, trying as hard as he possibly could to manifest a shield, or something to block the projectile.

Luckily, he didn't have to, as something else flew into his field of vision, Greater Dog's spear swinging inches from his nose and blocking the bullet- just barely.

It was far from the only bullet, more rang out, but Greater Dog was proving to be a greater annoyance to Danica as he woofed, wagging his tail, and stepped in front of Rian. The bullets embedded into the dog's armor as Dogaressa and Dogamy procured their axes, leaping into action in unison while Aaron flexed intimidatingly.

"Whoa." Rian breathed, eyes wide as Greater Dog licked his face before turning around, growling at Danica, who leaped backward, spinning into a flip to dodge the quick strikes from the dogs.

"Undyne trained them." Alphys stated proudly as she began to scan the room, seemingly looking for something to aid them. "Or... tried to." She added as Danica's foot slammed against Dogaressa's face, knocking her aside and into Dogamy, both losing balance over each other.

Greater Dog swung his spear, only for Danica to fall backwards and avoid it, putting her arms behind her to push from the ground, launching herself up, slamming her legs into Greater Dog, who lifted off the ground and sailed into a table, which broke under his weight, splintered wood flying in every direction.

With a bark, the dog was back up and going in, tail still wagging. Rian quickly grabbed one of the broken pieces of wood like a shield, unsure if that would do much to aid him.

"Okay, come on magic fingers." He muttered, his fingertips glowing blue. "Don't fail me now. Just need to push her off-balance..." Raising his arm, he attempted to project his magic outward.

Rian didn't think he was asking for too much- just one little attack, that was all he needed. He'd been feeling pretty useless up until this point, but as his fingers began to glow, he felt some hope within his SOUL, along with a twitch of jealousy that Jason Clever- or, "Krashna", was able to produce so much unfiltered SOUL energy with so little effort.

But, by some miracle, Rian did exactly what he needed to do, a shot of ocean-blue magic firing toward Danica Miracle. It was clear from the moment the magic struck her that she hadn't been expecting it, her focus shifted to the dogs for the time being, having perceived them as the biggest- and only- threat.

If looks could kill, Rian would have been dead then and there, because her glare was drilling right into him. It did seem like the six-on-one thing was working in his favor, because while she was busy preparing to attack him, Greater Dog rushed toward her, the edge of his spear barking loudly as it slammed against the side of her head, causing her to stumble backwards into the adjacent wall.

"URK!" She'd been knocked right into Aaron's flex, which floored her as Rian tapped into his magic again, trying to use it as he had before. It felt like it was getting a little easier to do, but man it was just so... weak. With the pull of his SOUL magic, Danica's legs were pulled out from under her the moment she'd climbed back to her feet, and Dogaressa rammed the blunt end of her axe against Danica's chest before the girl could even recover.

With the sweep of her legs, Dogaressa was flung onto her back and Danica rose up, firing off several shots towards Dogamy, who crossed his arms over his chest, armor pinging with the shots, but he jolted with each one. The Messiah lieutenant ducked under another swing from Greater Dog, leaping atop his back and bringing her weapon toward the dog's head...

"NO!" Rian grit his teeth, swiping his arm again. Danica flung off the monster as a result, but rolled against the ground as she landed, raising her weapon and firing toward Rian as blood ran down the side of her face.

Her aim seemed to be a little off due to having one eye shut to avoid being filled with blood, but her bullets were still threatening to hit him square in the head, chest, and kneecaps- she knew just where to aim to inflict maximum punishment, or just kill him altogether.

Except… he wasn't dead, or in excruciating agony. The bullets were definitely hitting him, and they hurt, but only about as much as a paintball gun would. Danica appeared as confused as he was, until Aaron literally dove through her, slamming her against the ground as he flexed his biceps.

"All natural, baby," he boasted as Rian finally figured out what had happened with the bullets. He hadn't even realized it, but he had made a shield- an embarrassing excuse for one, though. The bullets had gone through it, but at least it had stopped him from being killed.

Small, angry red marks were left behind, and Rian could feel his breath escape him in a shaky sigh of disbelieving relief.

"Holy shit!" He laughed, feeling his chest for a moment, before a bang rang out as Danica shot Aaron. Swol as he was, the bullet plunged right into his bicep. He let out a mixture between a neigh and a shout, backing away from Danica. The dogs were back on her before she could do much to Aaron, who proceeded to flex the bullet out of his body. "No pain, no gainz!" He winked.

Although it was impressive that Aaron had stayed so calm, Rian wondered if the bullet had still actually damaged him. One thing he'd noticed about monsters was that they rarely acknowledged when they were in pain; usually right when the wound was inflicted, and when they were nearing death. Maybe they just felt pain differently from humans. He was concerned for the flexing monster, but right now they had to finish off Danica before she could regroup.

The dogs were really laying into her, Greater Dog smacking her around with his snarling spear as Dogamy and Dogaressa hit her with axe strikes of their own. After a few seconds of this, she managed to slip away between Greater Dog's legs and retreat deeper into the kitchen.

Rian looked back for a brief moment and spotted Alphys, hiding behind the remnants of the table Greater Dog had gone through. She was sweating, frantically adjusting her newest device, probably so it could serve a purpose at all in this battle. She gave Rian an apologetic glance.

"Ugh, screw this." Danica groaned after rolling away from an axe strike against the ground she'd just avoided by rolling backwards. Reaching into her pocket, she pulled out a small capsule, tossing it forward as she rolled backwards a second time to avoid Greater Dog's spear. As the capsule hit the ground, it bursted in a flash of light, and smoke billowed through the room, obscuring their vision as Danica retreated back through the way she'd come in- only to step out with a rifle in her arms.

"Oh sh-" Rian ducked next to Alphys by the remnants of the table as automatic fire began to spray. Out of the smoke raced Dogamy and Dogaressa, the wife having to haul her husband as he clutched his side, limping, several bullet holes punched clean through his middle.

This was going south fast. The bullets stopped whizzing overhead, signifying the empty clip. Rian took this moment to rise up from cover, thrusting his hand forward as it pulsed with magic.

The smoke parted as though cut through by a gigantic invisible hand, and at the center of it stood Danica. Or rather, she wasn't standing anymore, being flung back through the doorway, her rifle and a fresh magazine flying out of her hands.

He couldn't keep playing this game of tossing her around, they had to knock her out somehow before any of them wound up getting killed.

Getting an idea, Rian chose to try something, aiming his hand toward one of the tables. It wiggled to his will, but he wasn't quite picking it up and throwing it as he envisioned.

The smoke was beginning to settle, revealing Greater Dog crouched over Aaron, having shielded the fitness monster from the bullets. "Woof." Greater Dog stated as his spear let out a similar sound.

"Trick's getting old, kid." Danica had returned, her face a scowl. In her hand was a wooden baseball bat, spray painted with pinks and lime greens, barbed wire wrapped tightly around it. "What say you we kick this up a notch." She grinned, showing off blood-stained teeth.

Rian wasn't sure if wrapping a baseball bat in barbed wire actually made it more dangerous of a weapon, but he sure as hell wasn't going to find out. Despite the horrific sight of a bloody woman about to go on the attack with something that could easily cave a skull in, he appreciated that it wasn't a ranged weapon this time.

Danica came charging forward with Rian in her line of attack, forcing him to set up another shield- this one was stronger than the last, and visible, but the bat shattered it regardless. However, it also slowed the bat's momentum, and what could have been an immediate death was instead a painful thud, added to by the ripping of barbed wire at his forehead.

His instincts kicked in, and Rian leaned forward, driving all his weight into the woman and charging forward. She crumpled in half against him, the baseball bat slipping from her grasp as he tackled her into the cold, steel refrigerator nearby. His vision was a little blurry, but she was on the ground- and the dogs appeared to be rushing over to assist.

What she did next he could barely react to, her free hand yanking the knife from her boot and slashing.

Rian could feel warm blood staining his shirt, the blade having cut through his shirt and across his stomach.

Before he even registered this, the bat thwacked him sideways, the barbs digging into his skin as white lights spotted over his vision and he collapsed to the ground with a gasp.

Danica brought down her knife, but Greater Dog was too busy earning MVP status to let her succeed, the large monster shouldering into her and bowling Danica over.

In hindsight, football tackling a person with that many weapons at their disposal hadn't been the most solid of plans… but really, it had just been instinct. Hell, it wasn't like his magic was going to save him from a close-up encounter with her.

While Rian dragged himself toward the refrigerator praying she hadn't cut through anything too important, Aaron casually flexed his way over.

"Get that protein," the muscular monster announced as a green steak appeared out of thin air, falling onto Rian's face and disappearing. He felt a bit better.

Danica, on the other hand, was too busy reaching for her blade and bat to think about healing the damage that had been done to her. Greater Dog halted her progress by knocking her backward with the flat of his spear, her lips oozing blood as she was cornered against a cabinet.

"Give up." Rian coughed. "Losers give up." Was the girl's response as she pulled one last trick out from up her sleeve- metaphorically, at least, as she actually pulled it out of one of her tactical pouches.

A small black box. And somehow... Rian knew what it was. "I never lose." The grin she was giving as she said this was maniacal. Unhinged. The small red button she pressed down could only mean one thing.

Rian felt as though he were half a year younger, staring in slow motion at the boy he'd watched get bullied relentlessly for years did the unthinkable.

He felt his chest seize in shock, his breath hitching as his heart caught in his throat.

What followed was the heat wave.

He couldn't hear anything. He couldn't see anything. The scent and taste of smoke bombarded him as he felt a large arm wrap around his waist, pulling him away from the kitchen before collapsing.

Rian wasn't sure how long he remained on the ground- it couldn't have been more than a few seconds, maybe minutes, but he felt like he'd just woken up from a long rest. His first instinct was to check to make sure if Sadie was alright- before remembering that this was a different bomb. She wasn't here.

Slowly, he began to peel himself away from the ground, feeling great discomfort all across the front of his body, stinging slightly from the rush of intense heat. Beside him sat Greater Dog, who appeared quite tuckered out, while Dogaressa and Dogamy were huddled in a corner with the former attempting to heal the latter's wounds. Alphys remained behind that table with wide eyes, shivering in horror.

Aaron sat on the ground closer to the kitchen, coughing with a chunk of the ceiling sitting by him, which had dislodged and hit him over the head. He seemed relatively okay.

Danica… well, she'd been at the center of the blast. Rian didn't really expect her to be in one piece. He could feel himself shivering, his mind refusing to stop flashing between Danica and Caul. Two different events, events he'd miraculously survived. It felt as though his eyebrows had been singed off, no surprise there. His body felt like it was on fire, particularly on his face and the fronts of his arms.

It was scary, to be honest. Looking around at them all. Danica really hadn't been kidding, about thi being a fair fight. All of them save for Alphys seemed to be pretty hurt in some way, and the doctor was struggling with her piece of tech, which seemed to be falling apart now as she tried to reassemble it with violently shaking hands.

Sitting up, Rian winced, feeling the gash in his stomach flare in pain even greater than the burns on his skin. With an involuntary cry, he lied back down, his arm acting up again. After Krashna had broken it, Sadie had dragged Rian to safety, where his father later found him and took him home, bandaging the wound and whatnot. Then they joined everyone at that base, and several monsters were adept at healing magic, so it wasn't long before the broken arm was mended, but right now the joint connecting to his forearm was beginning to sting in a similar way to when he'd broken it before.

"That... really went downhill." Rian grunted to Alphys, who glanced at him, her forehead beading with sweat. He was feeling a little delirious from the pain, but he took the time to wonder how a reptilian monster could sweat... wait, he'd seen Papyrus sweat too...

"I-I'm so sorry I d-didn't do anything." Alphys whimpered, still failing to reassemble her tech. "We're all alive... at least..." Rian offered, letting out a shaky breath. Were the Messiah really so desperate for victory that they'd stoop to suicide bombing their enemies? It was a terrifying prospect, and got him wondering about the success of Sadie and Fuku's group. His heart yearned that they were both alright.

"But f-for how long?" Alphys shook her head. "I'm no good a-at magic. We're already l-losing this fight..."

This fight had only come around because Frisk had rallied everyone to it. When Obaseki had failed to kill Asgore in a 1v1, the Messiah had fled. The deal Asgore and Obaseki had made was abandoned as Frisk sought to snuff the Messiah out before they could recover.

And here they were, getting their asses kicked. Well, that was two lieutenants down, he guessed, but what if that was all they'd get? Greg had seemingly betrayed the others, so whatever lieutenant there was probably alive. The Pneuma SOUL was somewhere here fighting Frisk and Mosu, apparently a dangerous enough task that the other six in the group would get in the way. Then what else? They were battered and beaten and all three Messiah leaders still stood.

Alphys was right.

---

The deeper Frisk went into these tunnels with Mosu just a few steps ahead, the more she was beginning to appreciate the comfortable life she'd been able to live in Voxis City not long ago. The silence gave her time to think; and she kept coming back to one question. If she were in control of the timeline right now… what would she do?

It scared her that a big part of her wanted to reset. After everything, all the work that had gone into repairing the timeline and breaking free from Chara (something that had evidently been a temporary separation), and part of her was willing to throw it all away. Not out of curiosity, not out of anger, and not out of boredom, but out of desperation. Retreating to another timeline- one where everyone was alive- sounded appealing.

…Until eventually, she would run into the same problem all over again. The Underground overflowing with magma, the "escape" to the city, becoming ambassador… and then everything would crumble all over again.

Frisk couldn't run from this, and she knew she couldn't, but admittedly it was something she fantasized about from time to time. A world where her mom was alive. A world where the Messiah wasn't the immediate problem.

Her thoughts were interrupted when Mosu's arm extended outward, gesturing for her to stop as he held up a finger to his lips. The tunnel had come to an end, opening up into what seemed to be some sort of dungeon, rusted steel bars and chains collecting dust in all four corners of the chamber. It was deadly quiet, and obviously hadn't been occupied for many years. An old prison chamber, Frisk guessed.

She could only assume one thing; "She's here."

Mosu answered this with a nod, pulling out his glowing white blade. His eyes seemed tired and old in the light. Not really feeling the warhammer anymore, Frisk opted to try out a shield this time, a solid crimson barrier materializing against her forearm. Something about it seemed... much more comfortable than anything she'd used before. Not in the way the knife was comfortable, but it felt… good.

The pair of them waited for something- anything- to cut through the silence. It wasn't long before something did, the sound of shoes tapping against the cold stone ground, descending into the dungeon from the opposite side. Slowly but surely, their opponent was approaching, and just moments later, Frisk could make out the figure of a woman through the darkness. Her expression incredibly dull and her hair a rosey red, there stood the foe, stopping in her tracks once she spotted the pair.

It was unclear if she'd been expecting them or not, but Frisk suspected the former judging from the total lack of surprise (or emotion in general) on the woman's face. She said nothing- something that might've been helpful back at the warehouse, but if she wasn't up for conversation… it could trouble her new, pacifistic plan.

No words were shared as Mosu and Frisk began to move, walking cautiously along the edge of the circular room. The woman followed suit, walking opposite them, her body language completely open, expressing a complete lack of fear or even preparation. It seemed to be throwing Mosu off, whose face was screwed up in concentration, no doubt trying to discern any sort of emotion from the girl. Alas, he found none.

Frisk was about to take a risk and start wiggling her hips, but decided against that. What a stupid idea, this wasn't a Moldsmal, it was a cold blooded killer if anything about those that remained with the Messiah were any indication.

"She hates monsters."

Chara's voice whispered into Frisk's ear. "She's preparing an attack."

Frisk frowned, seeing no indication of an attack being prepared- when quite suddenly, Mosu doubled over as though he'd just been kicked in the gut by some invisible force, followed by him somehow getting flung into the ceiling with great force.

The woman hadn't moved an inch.

"Ember has a Shaytan of her own." Chara's input rattled Frisk's mind as she recalled her confrontation with Demon. How he'd called Chara a "Shaytan". Was there some way this woman, "Ember" as Chara called her, had an entity like Frisk had Chara?

"You can't win every battle up here your way," Chara continued to whisper, causing Frisk to grow irritated. Usually once the spirit got under her skin, it would buzz off for a while before looking for another opening. It seemed like she really wanted to egg Frisk on this time around, though, as she continued.

"No ACT. No SPARE. No second chances. Nobody to hold your hand and walk you through the battle. You already know what the path to victory is."

As bothersome as Chara was, she rarely gave bad advice in the heat of battle, so at the very least the knowledge that Ember was preparing something was helpful. Doing her best to ignore the rest, Frisk took the opportunity to act first, hurling her shield like a frisbee at Ember, expecting it to strike the foe and then return to her… only the latter happened, though, and not in the way she'd been hoping. As the shield flew back at her with great force, Frisk quickly materialized a second shield, the two of them colliding and producing a nasty ringing sound in Frisk's ears.

"She can redirect magic."

"I can see that." Frisk muttered as Mosu rose to his feet, only to be slammed into the wall by the invisible Shaytan. Frisk's original shield dissipated against hers, and she decided projectiles wouldn't work. She'd need to get close for this. Frisk assumed that stopping Ember would in turn stop her Shaytan. "You hate monsters, right?" Frisk asked. Ember's eyes narrowed ever so slightly. "Tell me why. What did they do to wrong you?"

Ember made no reply, but the sound of Mosu getting tossed around ceased. "It's attacking from behind." Chara whispered. Frisk whirled on the spot, and she felt something slam against her shield, which she pushed back against, shoving whatever it was away for the moment. It'd be so much better if she could actually see this thing...

Ember's gaze transitioned from bored to mild interest. Clearly she'd never met someone who had "predicted" a strike from her Shaytan.

Frisk had never asked Chara to actually attack her opponent before- she doubted the girl was capable of such a thing, which is why she stuck to standing close behind and whispering advice. The Ember girl's helper was different though, it could strike her… well, it could try, anyways. Chara's callouts made it easier.

"Other side," Chara said calmly, to which Frisk once again whirled around, her shield vibrating as it blocked a heavy strike that undoubtedly would have knocked the wind out of her. It was the first time a shred of emotion could be detected on Ember's face, and even then, it wasn't much.

"What did they do wrong to you?" Frisk repeated as she pushed the shield back, feeling it shove up against something semi-solid. It pushed back against her as the edges of the shield extended outward a bit. Not an ideal position, but at least she knew where it was for the moment.

Ember didn't speak. She didn't utter a word. Her eyes only seemed to light with the faintest hint of malice. Feeling another strike against the shield, Frisk attempted something. Pushing back against the Shaytan, she used the shield to project a burst of wild determination. It worked better than she'd expected, the feeling of weight lifting off of the shield. On top of that, Ember's eyes widened for a moment, and she dropped to a knee, clutching at her chest.

Yet another difference between Chara and Ember's Shaytan. Harming that thing seemed to harm Ember. They had some kind of link...

"She can't answer you." Chara informed. "Her tongue's been cut out."

Frisk blinked, suddenly feeling a bit bad that she'd been attempting to get the girl to speak up until now. That being said, she could probably still answer yes or no questions…

"Did the Messiah cut your tongue out?" Frisk asked. It was her first guess simply because, up until now, the more she learned about the Messiah's practices, the more she realized how poorly they actually treated each other. Even many of the high-ranking members only stuck around because of fear. However, Ember surprised her by shaking her head. It was a very, very slight movement, her head just barely turning from side to side.

"…I get it," Frisk swallowed. "A monster did that. That's why you hate them."

This time, Ember didn't move her head, which told Frisk all she needed to know. It was hard for her to ever consider that a monster could wrong a human- as silly as it sounded. She'd just gotten so used to monsters getting the short end of things these past few weeks. Now that she was encountering someone that actually had a reason to hate monsters… it felt odd.

"Not all monsters are like that." Frisk stated, noticing how no more attacks had come in. "The ones I know are good people. Caring. You can turn away from the Messiah, they only want to use you. I can show you that there's a better alterna-"

A sudden blow slugged across Frisk's face, and she felt the ground leave her feet. Seeing stars, she shook her head, finding she was on the ground, her shield having dissipated in her momentary delusion. Ember was back on her feet, the cold expression having returned to her face.

"On your left." Chara stated. Frisk ignored her intentionally poorly-timed warning for the moment, rubbing her cheek.

"Ember, I can help you. We can help you, if you just give us a chance." She summoned her shield, managing to block a second blow Chara hadn't warned her of by pure coincidence. "Nice one." The spirit girl said.

"It's okay to hate the person who hurt you!" Frisk called out to the girl, who still didn't budge, but the attacks of the Shaytan were growing more rapid. They were incredibly hard to predict, as they made no sound, and Frisk had to rely on instinct to know they were coming since Chara had chosen to let her work this one out. Maybe she'd noticed that Frisk was making some progress without having to hurt the girl.

"…but you shouldn't punish innocent people for it," Frisk continued, shoving the shield forward to get the Shaytan off of her for a few seconds. "That won't make you feel better at all. Don't let the Messiah weaponize your trauma."

No more attacks came. After a few seconds, Frisk looked toward Ember to find she was staring back, brows knit tightly together. "If turning against them is something you can't do... then go. Don't fight for people who don't care for you. I'm sorry about what happened to you, but nobody else needs to die tonight."

Another moment later, Frisk took a risk, her shield disappearing. Ember simply stared back for several seconds longer... then turned and began to walk back up the stairs she'd come down.

Frisk let out a sigh of relief, having not honestly expected that to work as well as it had. Maybe that all was just something Ember needed to hear. Maybe she just needed a valid reason to leave to be told to her.

Mosu grunted from the other side of the room, picking himself up off the ground. "How..." He began, before pausing, eyeing Frisk. "...You're wise beyond your years, Frisk."

A statement Frisk was familiar with. She didn't have the heart to tell Mosu where she'd gotten that wisdom from. Half-expecting the Shaytan to attack her once more, Frisk turned back to stare ahead at the stairway… but no strikes came. It seemed that was truly it. Now they had to hope that the others were still doing alright. She had been worried sick to her stomach all along, but now that Ember was dealt with, the realization that the others could be in trouble hit her like a brick.

"Come on, let's go check on the others," Frisk hurried Mosu along.

No more surprises awaited them on the journey back. As Frisk stepped into the kitchen, a pit dropped in her stomach. A portion of the room seemed to have entirely collapsed,a few small fires flickering about, and the smell of soot hit her nose.

The others were huddled in the corner of the room near the door to the lounge, and not looking to be in the best of shape. Quite the opposite, in fact.

"Oh my God what the hell happened?" Frisk hurried to them, not really sure which one to look over first, but seeing the amount of blood drenching Rian's shirt made her gut twist.

Frisk hurried over to him first, and although she wasn't too familiar with healing magic, she'd definitely do what she could. Aaron seemed to have been roughed up a bit as well thanks to the chunks of ceiling that had dislodged and a hole in his bicep, but he wasn't at risk of bleeding out, so Frisk would heal him second.

Meanwhile… what Frisk presumed was their opponent sat in the corner of the kitchen. Or rather, what was left of her- she seemed to have been the victim of an explosive, and Frisk had to quickly turn away to keep her stomach from sinking. Clearly, a self-inflicted wound…

"S-She… um… w-well…" Alphys tripped over her words as red magic began to trickle from Frisk's hands onto Rian's shirt, hoping she could at least seal the wound up. Rian winced, clearly suffering from burns as well. He definitely seemed shaken up.

She was split for a moment. Frisk couldn't stand to see her friends like this. Doggo earlier had been mostly okay but this? Only Alphys didn't seem physically harmed out of all them, even Greater Dog was nursing a limp. Shaking her head, Frisk rose after she was certain she'd mostly sealed the gash in Rian's stomach. He seemed a tinge less pale.

Glancing toward Mosu, she could see that he was looking more tired than ever. She knew why, of course. It was Mosu's worst-kept secret that his SOUL drained his life force to be in use, that was why he was so powerful despite having the most common type of SOUL, yet it also held him back. She couldn't risk him anymore, either, just like the others.

"Mosu, get everyone to safety." Frisk commanded. It was lucky nobody had even died thus far. Hell, a miracle was more accurate. Was she doing the right thing here? Striking the Messiah during their moment of vulnerability? Dragging everyone she cared about into this?

Would it be worth it?

Toriel was still dead. Burgerpants. Skeeter. Catty and Bratty... that wasn't to go without saying that the Messiah hadn't suffered their own losses themselves. Psycho and Warmth being the ones Frisk knew of, and now this woman. Danica had been her name. To go out the way she had... she had to have believed strongly in her agenda.

"Are you kidding?" Rian grunted, offering a weak grin. "I can still fight."

"Maybe a fly." Frisk replied. "I'm not trying to get anybody here killed, this- this is my fault."

"It's n-not, Frisk." Alphys assured. "We u-underest-"

"It is." Frisk asserted. "I could have revealed the Messiah forever ago. Toriel tried to bestow the proof onto me but I was too... arrogant at the time to accept it. I could have exposed them before anyone had to die." She paused. "...Before anyone else had to die."

"Frisk, this isn't something you should go at by yourself," Mosu advised in spite of his obvious weariness. "Even if you think you can- they're more powerful than you think. And there's no way of telling who you'll be up against."

"I'll meet up with everyone at the Elementary School," Frisk replied. This answer seemed to ease them, at least a little bit. "I won't be alone. But you're all tired and hurt. I don't want to sound conceited or anything but…"

"But you're the only one of us strong enough to keep moving forward," Rian sighed, as if disappointed- not in her, but in himself. "Yeah. It's probably true, I guess."

Frisk didn't even want to think about the outcome that could have transpired had Alphys found the entrance before Frisk and co. had arrived to help.

It undoubtedly would have resulted a LOT worse than this.

Mosu offered Rian a hand, who took it and was pulled to his feet. "Careful that you don't tear that wound open again, it's not fully healed." Frisk warned.

"Y-Yeah. Got it," Rian gave a halfhearted smile as he placed a hand on his stomach. No more fighting for him, at least for tonight- it was lucky that Frisk had sealed it up. He was still feeling lightheaded from the blood loss, but he could stand… kind of. Greater Dog appeared beside him, offering the boy support, which he gratefully accepted.

"You should all get back to the Kingdom," Frisk suggested. "Dad is strong enough to protect you, and Muffet should be there by now too."

Mosu gave a nod. "We'll try to stay under the radar," he assured Frisk. "After you finish up at the elementary school, though… that just leaves the Messiah HQ," he stated grimly. "I have no doubts that only the best of the Messiah are waiting there for you, Frisk."

"I know," she stated with little enthusiasm. It wasn't often that Frisk felt fear, even now it was mostly overridden by the rush of realization that was setting in. She was really doing this, the final battle was approaching…

This chapter of her life was coming to a close.

---

The ringing wouldn't stop. That flash of light, the smell of burning metal, the thunderous booms... Sadie could feel her chest elate as her mind grew numb, her back pressed up against a wall of concrete.

Her eyes darted about, as though searching for something, but she had no idea what that something could be. The playground was left in smolders, a few bodies laid about in prone positions.

"Hey!"

The person at her side was yelling at her and grabbing her shoulder, but she sounded muffled, looked blurry. Sadie looked back, brow furrowing as she tried to comprehend this, doing what she could to keep herself from going into full-panic mode.

"Sadie!"

It was Magnum, a large gash present on her cheek as she shook Sadie's shoulder, eyes wide with as much fear as Sadie felt. Sure, horror movies and their scenarios could be scary, but this? The bullets whizzing by, seeing lifeless eyes, the reminder of her mom, the reminder of mortality...

It was horrifying.

"H-here." Sadie gasped out as a bullet struck through the concrete above her head, showering both of them in a spray of concrete dust to which Magnum shielded her eyes. "You're not hit, right!?" Magnum yelled over the gunfire.

Sadie shook her head. "I... I don't think so..." She managed out, exhaling a shaky breath as her eyes returned to the bodies on the playground and she tried to re-orient herself. All Messiah members, fortunately. When they'd come here to Dreamhope Elementary, Frisk had told them not to kill anyone. It wasn't until after that explosion that things became blurry. Judging from the scorch marks all around... Fuku wasn't keen on holding back, it seemed. It made sense. Not only did the fire girl want to be rid of the Messiah, but she was under the impression they'd killed her dad, or at least imprisoned him somewhere. Sadie was pissed enough herself for what happened to her mom, but didn't have the kind of power to back that kind of rage.

Magnum's arm was bleeding, a hole in her bicep from a bullet. Gerson and Mettaton were nowhere to be found in Sadie's line of sight, so she could only hope everyone was okay.

"W-where's..." Sadie gasped out, still fighting off the panic attack. "We got separated by those two creepy twins." Magnum replied, gritting her teeth. "Now we're pinned by three of these asshats... Can you walk?"

"Y…Yeah… I'm not hurt," Sadie mustered her reply. Physically, she wasn't wounded, but it was obvious that she just wasn't ready for this kind of conflict. Her heart was pounding out of her chest, she couldn't stop herself from taking ragged, shaky breaths, and her legs felt like they were independent from her body. It took a lot of willpower just to get them back underneath her as the bleeding Magnum helped her up.

"We need to get out of the line of fire," Magnum informed the girl. Sadie didn't feel great about a wounded person having to help her even though she hadn't sustained any real damage, but it felt like she wasn't even in her own body. Everything felt uncomfortable, her basic motor skills were slow, her breathing felt off… Everything was wrong.

The two of them managed to make it around the corner of the wall Sadie had been up against, away from the barrage of bullets for the time being. The hail was beating down against them, accompanied by frigid wind that neither of them were quite dressed for, making it all the more difficult to think rationally in a situation so dire. Retreat wasn't possible at the moment, and going out there to fight back was risky too. They needed a plan.

"…you're hurt," Sadie commented. Stating the obvious, of course, as blood continued to trickle from the pink-haired woman's bicep.

"It's alright," Magnum assured her with a small smile, looking a bit confused and wincing as Sadie poked her finger against the wound.

"Sorry. This is the only way I know how to apply it," Sadie swallowed, focusing as hard as she could, and sure enough, a light blue bandage manifested over the bullet hole. Already, Magnum could feel the numbness in her shoulder beginning to fade.

"Didn't you learn how to use your magic, like, yesterday?" Magnum asked, half-joking. Sadie only shrugged, still feeling overwhelmed in their situation. "Guess you're a natural." The ex-lieutenant stated, peering around the corner. "I guess the no-kill rule is off. Fuku went crazy when she saw you weren't moving for a moment there." Magnum glanced back at Sadie. "It was... pretty scary, I guess."

Despite her slight delirium, Sadie could see a look of doubt flash over Magnum's face. A doubt of what? Doubting her turning sides? Magnum had left the Messiah to avoid killing people. She probably knew some of these people, too. Probably grew up with some of them, and now the people she wanted to help and protect were killing them.

Sadie felt she'd be conflicted, too.

Magnum peered around the corner once again, and a pink aura engulfed her hand as she utilized her magic the moment one of the men rounded the corner, weapon raised. A portal split open, engulfing half of his weapon before the portal closed off and the rifle was cut cleanly in half.

"Traitor!" The man roared, tossing aside his now useless weapon as he yanked a knife from its sheath strapped to his chest.

"Move, move." Magnum urged Sadie, helping her further away as the two other men appeared at the first's side.

The sound of heavy footsteps pounding against the hail-coated ground sent shivers down Sadie's spine, the men rushing to attack them before they could properly recover. She felt sick as the sound grew louder and louder- they were approaching, fast, much faster than she or Magnum could manage to move.

The first man rounded the corner, knife gripped firmly in his hand as he rushed toward Sadie and Magnum. The distance was closing quite rapidly, and without thinking, Sadie attempted to manifest her magic into a weapon. In her mind, she imagined a ranged weapon like a gun or slingshot to knock the man off his feet. The unfortunate result was a dull-looking blue knife.

"Urgh…" Sadie groaned, but it was better than nothing. As Magnum began opening a few small portals to intercept the bullets that came toward them, courtesy of the other two men rounding the corner of the concrete wall, Sadie chucked her knife as hard as she could at the running man.

Obviously, the Messiah knew how orange and cyan magic worked. The man attempted to come to a halt so the blue blade would pass right through him, but the slick, frosty ground had other plans. The man's feet slid right out from under him, and he was planted ass-first on the unforgiving blacktop, and to add insult to injury, the knife wedged itself into his leg. The bullets ceased, and Magnum happily took the opportunity to hurry Sadie along, creating more distance.

"We need to find the others." Sadie stated as they made their way deeper into the elementary school. According to Magnum and Mosu before this mission had been launched, there were four prominent outposts left to the Messiah throughout Voxis. Only one had been dealt with before tonight, which had been the blown base known as 'the complex' in a failed attempt to kill Mettaton and Papyrus with it.

Then there were the other locations. The warehouse, the bar, the church, and the school. It wasn't unknown that Toriel used to work at Dreamhope Elementary as a teacher, so the surprise had been the fact that the Messiah had been stationed there all along. Perhaps they'd always known Toriel was onto them. Or perhaps that's how Toriel had discovered them in the first place. Whichever the truth was, Frisk's mom, like Sadie's, had been murdered.

While she was following this "no-kill" rule, deep down Sadie would have preferred to just wipe all these people out. For Magnum's present sake, and the sake of Sadie's own sanity, she wasn't going to attempt that. Not now, at least.

Magnum's arm shuddered violently as though it were about to break, and a portal materialized in front of them, gulping them both up before closing behind them. They were now back toward the playground where Sadie had initially regained her bearings, the men having raced off from here now.

With a grunt, Magnum pressed against the wall, wincing. "Are you okay?" Sadie asked, glancing around to make sure they were alone. Magnum gave a nod. "Yeah, just... getting a little tired. The others went deeper in before we got cut off. Hopefully we can get to them before anything worse ends up happening."

"I get that we can't kill them, but…" Sadie sighed, glancing over at the corner they'd gone around earlier, knowing that those grunts weren't that far away. "Isn't there a way we could… incapacitate them? Knock them out?"

"Easier said than done," Magnum replied. "Members of the Messiah can be pretty resilient. I think that knife is as much damage as we're gonna be able to do right now," she glanced toward the building. "If we're lucky, we can get to the rest of the group before those guys come looking for us. Come on."

A dissatisfied Sadie nodded grimly. As much as she wanted to let off some steam, that hit she'd landed earlier had been a lucky break. If she tried to battle against those three, realistically it would end in her death. Sadie didn't want to die, in spite of all the negative emotions clustered in her head, she knew she had to stay alive. Otherwise, her siblings would have nobody- and that thought cut deeper than any blade could.

The two of them began to move away from the remnants of the playground, Magnum leading the way for obvious reasons. This was likely the only opportunity they'd have to catch their breath, because… well, it was likely that the rest of the group was dealing with those creep lieutenants.

Through the front entrance, down a hall, and to a classroom that appeared cleaned out. Magnum approached the whiteboard at the head of the classroom, running her hands along its edges for a moment before coming to a stop. She tapped some sort of sweet spot three times, and a click sounded.

"Trap door." Sadie stated. "Rian's missing out."

Magnum pulled the whiteboard open outwardly, revealing a hole large enough for them to step through. Anyone Asgore's size couldn't fit, but considering they were both scrawny chicks, that wasn't much of a concern at the moment.

After Magnum stepped inside, she helped Sadie through. She was beginning to feel a little better, at least where her head space was. Usually the calm and collected type, Sadie wasn't exactly used to dealing with panic attacks on the fly. That was something she'd need to work on once all this was over- if she survived.

They had entered a small platform that led down a flight of stairs. The aesthetic seemed extremely industrial, and Sadie was reminded of all those Nightmare on Oak Street movies Rian had her watch. Hell, there was even that crimson glow coming up from deeper inside, and the place reeked of burnt coal.

"Kind of alarming that this is in an elementary school," Sadie admitted. Magnum just shrugged, she didn't really know how public schools worked, as she'd never been allowed to go. To her knowledge, about zero people raised within the Messiah went to public school. So whether this strange hidden area actually served a purpose, or it was further evidence of the Messiah's grasp on the city, she had no idea.

"They should be down here… I think," Magnum stated, not sounding very certain. "Be quiet. Those weird twins… they're creepy as hell, but they're also strong. It'd be best to sneak up on them."

Sadie swallowed the lump in her throat and nodded as the two began their descent down the creaky stairs, the scent of rust and coal growing stronger the deeper they went. Not a pleasant smell, and the sound of heated battle was beginning to creep up against Sadie's ears.

The stairs descended to a series of walkways that sat over a smoke-filled room, the glow of what was clearly magma illuminating the fog, giving it an eerie, angry red glow.

Flashes of light shown below them. Burst of green fire, a mechanical laugh or jaunt here or there, and violet energy flashing every which way. Fuku, Mettaton, and the twins. So where was Gerson?

"Of course it had to be in fog." Magnum muttered, looking about the catwalk for a way to get to the ground floor- and she spotted a ladder on the other side of the room. "How'd everyone get here?" Sadie asked. "There's more than one entrance… other than that I dunno." Magnum narrowed her eyes. "There should be a control room of sorts around." She stated, turning back to Sadie. "I'll join the fight, but you need to find that control room. Use it to activate the air filters in the room, clear it out, and enable us a better visual chance."

"You think this place has that?" Sadie asked. The pink-haired girl shrugged. "Maybe. There was last time I was here, but I was like, seven at the time. Could you do this?"

"Yeah. I'll find it," Sadie said, but she wasn't very happy about it. Of course she knew she wouldn't be able to hold her own against enemies like the ones beneath her, so finding that control room was the absolute most she could do… for now. Magnum gave her a quick pat on the shoulder before making her way toward the ladder, intending to join the battle.

Whether or not the fog really provided a disadvantage was questionable, unless the lieutenants could somehow see through it. But Sadie wasn't in the mood to wonder about it, she just wanted to accomplish what Magnum had asked of her. No fighting, no getting directly involved right now. Her goal was to make it easier for her friends to battle.

Magnum began to descend, the battle growing ever louder with each step down the ladder. It didn't seem that either side had suffered any casualties just yet, as both the twins' magic was visibly cutting through the fog. The only person missing seemed to be Gerson, which made Magnum worry.

Considering the only way off the catwalks was the ladder, Sadie searched the room below for doors or whatnot, and managed to find not just one, but two, alongside a conveyor belt that appeared to carry half-finished rifles sitting on it. The belt wasn't moving, but it was clear that this outpost was some kind of weapon manufacturer for the Messiah's local units. And underneath an elementary school of all things.

Magnum disappeared into the billowing wisps to join the fight, flashes of pink now appearing among the other colors. Perhaps it was easier to see what was happening within, but from this height looking down, it looked simply like a mess of a battle.

Sadie descended down the ladder, quickly making her way to the door nearest her before she could get sucked into the battle through whatever means.

Of course, the door was chained shut, a padlock linking the chains together over the door. Sadie wasn't sure she had the magical prowess to bust this kind of thing just yet, so opted to head toward the second and only other door in the room. Peering through the fog billowing about, she couldn't see any chains on this one, but until she got close, nothing was confirmed.

For a moment, something emerged from the cloud cover, obscuring Sadie's path. It took her a moment to realize it was a cauldron, which had embedded against the wall. It was the size of Sadie, and thick enough to hold hot magma without melting. Smoke drifted off of its surface in droves, providing more coverage within the room, no doubt detrimenting her allies, save for Mettaton, who probably had the means to see through the smoke. Fuku and Magnum, however, weren't nearly as adjusted for this kind of scenario.

Sadie pressed both of her hands up against the unchained door before her, eyes watering from the massive cloud of smoke and fog that billowed all across the ground. Magnum wasn't a machine, nor was she a fire monster, so if Sadie didn't find a way to clear this room up, and soon…

She didn't even want to think about it. Sadie knew smoke was even more dangerous than fire for humans, all the more reason to find the control room.

The door was incredibly heavy, and even when she pressed all her weight against it, it barely budged. She kept pushing and pushing, sucking in deep breaths and subsequently coughing up the dirty smoke. It took a good minute for her to create a gap big enough for her small frame to fit through, but when she finally did, a large grin appeared on her face.

Nothing fancy, but this room clearly controlled something, as several red buttons were neatly displayed in front of her on a steel panel. None of them were labelled very well, each one having a single letter or number written on it in smudged marker. Very helpful.

A fire extinguisher sat on the other end of the cramped room, beside another button that extended from the wall. Sadie nearly pressed it the moment she saw it in hopes of maybe turning on a sprinkler system… which would have been lovely, but Fuku was out there, and Sadie doubted water would be good for her. So, she was left to examine these buttons and pray to god that she could turn on a filter, or a fan system, or something. A place underground with all this dangerous equipment had to have some method of extracting smoke, after all, she just needed to find it.

Sadie began by pressing down on the 'A' button, not knowing quite what to expect, but instead of anything actually beneficial, an irritating alarm began to ring, accompanied by a flashing red light. Not what she wanted. Sliding her fingers down the steel panel, Sadie instead began to poke at the row of 'F' buttons.

The first one... didn't seem to do anything. F1 was useless. F2, on the other hand, made a loud ringing sound echo through the outpost. It lasted only a second or two, but she noticed the microphone situated further north on the panel of the button, leaving her to assume she'd just activated some kind of microphone.

F3, upon pressing it, made the stale, smokey air feel suddenly lifted as the whirring of machines sounded. While she'd been successful at activating the filtration system, she'd already pressed F4, the final of the 'F' buttons before waiting to see what F3 did. The sound of grinding metal could be heard at the activation of F4, but before she could determine what that was, the door into the control room suddenly burst open.

Sparks flew as Mettaton slid a foot against the ground, his face appearing to register mild annoyance as he climbed back up to his feet. While he had bountiful scratches across his metallic surface, Sadie was quick to notice he didn't seem particularly beaten, even after getting slammed through that heavy-ass door. Alphys' repairs must have been some real science genius stuff. Or at least engineering, in this case.

A glance outside confirmed that the smoke was already clearing, but also revealed the effects of the 'F4' button. The conveyor belts were moving on an assembly line toward another section of the outpost. On one side of the room the conveyor transported the unfinished weapons to another location, while the other side of the room had metallic junk being dumped into a giant, boiling bowl of hot magma.

One of the twins was walking toward Mettaton, a smile set upon her face while her brother could be seen back in the room, tossing Magnum into Fuku, who both went tumbling.

For some reason, it just crossed Sadie's mind that this was the closest she'd ever been to her favorite cooking show celebrity"Cooking With Mettaton", save for Papyrus of course.

"I thought you were supposed to be strong." Baena stated. "I'm supposed to be beautiful." Mettaton corrected, striking a pose. "It's just a bonus feature to be this impressive."

Sadie felt like she was watching an anime unfold with Mettaton's pose-striking, but as he launched himself at Baena, the girl's eyes flashed, and quite suddenly, she was outside, and her brother was slamming his fist into Mettaton's face, launching the robot against the console next to Sadie, his body forcing a lever to shoot backward. The sound of a background hum intensified, and the conveyor belts began to speed up at a rapid pace.

Sadie's eyes widened as Mettaton groaned, the robot having smashed and broken about twenty of the buttons on the control panel. There were so many alarms and mechanical noises humming all around Sadie that she had no clue how to proceed. The conveyer belts only continued to gain speed, the vat of magma threatening to overflow. With each second that passed, the more disgusted Sadie was that this whole operation was going on beneath the elementary school… disgust soon turned to fiery anger.

Her siblings went to school here. One mishap in this weapon chamber, and the lives of her brothers and sisters- and the lives of so many other innocent children- would be in jeopardy.

'They don't care about anyone,' a voice in the back of her head told her. It sounded strangely familiar, but she couldn't quite put her finger on who it reminded her of… and in any case, the voice was correct. The Messiah… These people didn't care who they had to hurt in order to satisfy their repulsive agenda.

She turned away from Mettaton just in time to avoid being slugged in the stomach by Amphis, the brother of these twins. He was quick, but also a bit worn down from the battle he'd just been fighting against Fuku and Magnum. As she ducked out of the way of another powerful strike that aimed at her temple, she watched his lips curl into an ominous smirk.

In an instant, he was gone, replaced by his sister who had an identical creepy smile plastered on her face. Sadie didn't even feel in control of her own body as her hand flew to the sister's throat, tears rapidly dripping down her face as she roughly dug her fingers against the woman's skin, a blade manifesting in her hand.

Just one stab to the head…

'For mom.'

And yet, she hesitated, something her foe clearly didn't plan on doing as she shoved Sadie backwards, followed by a swift kick to the stomach for good measure. Baena's eyes flashed with violet light as blood oozed from her throat and the side of her neck from Sadie's nails. Knocked against the control panel, it was quite obvious to Sadie she'd bitten off more than she could chew by attacking an opponent so much more powerful than her. She didn't have time to process why the hell she'd done that, and why she'd actually been prepared to drive that knife forward for a brief moment.

Mettaton came to her rescue, the few seconds having been enough time for him to recover. He fired a blast of electricity from the end of one arm, which Baena easily avoided, causing a hole to be blasted right through the wall.

The robot darted toward her, a blade extending from his arm as he moved forward. With a slash, Baena ducked beneath the sword, sliding to the left to avoid another blast of electricity as she swung her leg around, attempting to connect with Mettaton's side, but the robot was a little quick for that, moving out of the way- only to still go flying as a burst of violent energy exploded from Baena's leg.

Sadie glanced around, searching for something- anything -to use here. Her magic wasn't powerful enough for this conflict, but if she could...

Sadie's eyes traveled to the bowl of magma outside. Horrible way to go, melted alive, but at this point, she had no intention of "sparing" these horrible murderers.

There were some people who simply didn't deserve mercy.

Outside, Fuku seemed to be glowing brightly with magical energy as she began to hurl lime-colored fireballs toward Amphis, who was dodging each one hurled his way- before a portal sucked in one of the fireballs, hurling it at him from behind. it erupted as it made contact, and Amphis flung forward, only for his eyes to flash violet as Baena looked back toward him, and the two had swapped places once again, Baena knocking Magnum to the ground with a powerful kick to the head, Amphis knocking aside Mettaton's blade with his own hand, his other fist grasping the robot's face, and more of the SOUL energy erupted.

The male twin's back was smoldering from the hit delivered by Fuku, but Sadie noticed something a little more important there. The twins seemed to only be able to teleport one another when looking at each other. That's when their eyes would flash.

So the best option here was to separate them from viewing distance of one another, and Magnum was the clear choice to do such a thing.

"They have to look at each other to switch places!" Sadie called out to the rest of the group. She didn't know whether or not they'd picked up on it. Judging by their expressions and the sudden pause from both the twins, they hadn't. They both resembled deer in headlights, like Sadie had just cracked some top secret code. Maybe that was only natural, though, considering she was just spectating while the others were out there having to focus on staying alive.

As she began to pull herself back to her feet, she watched as Baena began to struggle against Magnum, who was now utilizing her portals with much greater efficiency. If she could get the woman to go all the way through one, they could separate the pair for a brief period. More flashes of violet sparked from Baena's eyes and legs as she grew frustrated, every attack she threw at her opponent simply going through a portal. As much as this deteriorated Magnum's energy, having Fuku there to help was a blessing for the former lieutenant, her fire more than capable of driving Baena back.

Amphis, meanwhile, seemed to have the upperhand over Mettaton, grappling onto his arm and yanking it, a metallic creak emitting from the robot's joints as he was slammed into the adjacent steel wall. Luckily for Mettaton, Amphis seemed to have his sights set on another target, possibly wanting to get revenge after he and his sister's technique was spoiled.

Sadie could feel his presence behind her as she pulled herself to her feet, frantically scanning the buttons in front of her… but it was no use, nothing to save her, and if there was, she'd have a damn hard time trying to find it thanks to the poor labelling.

A powerful hand wrapped around her forearm, bending the bones within ever so slightly and threatening to snap them with ease. Eyes wide with horror and anger, she turned her head to look back at the grinning Amphis.

That sick, disgusting smile. He was so thrilled to be hurting her.

"Eat shit!" she yelled, driving her elbow back toward him as hard as she could. She could hear and feel the cartilage of the lieutenant's nose being flattened, a small (but still gross) explosion of blood spattering across his face. For just a moment, he was dazed, and this time Sadie didn't hesitate to inflict a little extra pain. She jammed her thumb into the eye of Amphis, not enough to cause permanent blindness thanks to him stumbling backwards.

Sadie's mother had always given her two pieces of advice for if she ever found herself being attacked or kidnapped. The first one being that the elbow is the strongest part of the body, the second being to go for the eyes and throat of the attacker. Sadie supposed that those were weak points even for powerful people like this.

Her brief victory was short lived as the red-faced Amphis stomped forward, slamming his fist right against her cheek. Immediately, half her mouth was coated in the undesirable flavor of blood, and she crumpled against the steel control panel with the lieutenant still looming over her, rubbing at his eye to try and regain his vision.

Mettaton was on him before he could recover, grasping under his arms with his metallic limbs. With a burst of speed, Mettaton launched upward, ramming the brother's head against the ceiling before performing a straight-up suplex, the concrete in the room cracking under the power as Amphis went sprawling.

"Baena!" He called, and in a flash of light, he had disappeared.

Her gaze felt hazy from that hit, and the copper stinging her mouth was making her gag. Sadie spat out a wad of blood, swearing she saw a tooth in there for a moment, but turned her gaze out toward the factory room to see Amphis had been transported behind Magnum, smashing his fist into the back of her head. "Mettaton..." She hissed to the robot through grit teeth. "The magma..." She stated. "Horrible way to go, darling. Sure you're not the one designed to be a killer robot?" He joked to her before dashing off. Sadie wasn't exactly sure how comfortable that line made her feel.

Despite how queasy the thought of ending someone's life made her, Sadie cared a hell of a lot more about her mom and siblings. If getting rid of these two made Voxis City even a little bit safer for the people she loved, she was willing to put it all on the line to get rid of them. No more murders. No more weapons under the school. No more heartache… that's what she would achieve by killing these people.

"Your sister is ugly as fuck!" Sadie shouted at Amphis, leaving the useless control panel behind and climbing through the hole in the wall Mettaton had made earlier, leaving behind a newly appeared Baena, who was catching her breath after an unsuccessful tangle with Magnum. The insult seemed to actually achieve what Sadie had hoped, as the lieutenant grumbled, moving away from Magnum, who was clutching the back of her bruised head. Sadie suddenly felt lucky that she'd been hit in the side of the face instead of square in the head.

Obviously, she wouldn't be able to outmuscle this guy, nor would she be able to overpower him with her SOUL. The only way she could win was by outsmarting- with a bit of assistance from the others, hopefully, though everyone aside from Mettaton seemed to be worn down.

Amphis stomped toward Sadie with SOUL power leaking from the cracks of his knuckles, taking a swing that likely could have decapitated her had she not ducked. Enraged, Amphis threw a flurry of strikes, but his foe just continued to move backwards, luring him toward the conveyor belt…

Crack!

The sickening noise echoed through the chamber, the sound of Mettaton flying full-force into the lieutenant's back and likely breaking something. Amphis fell forward, Sadie narrowly sliding away to avoid being collapsed on top of.

The lieutenant's arms and head landed on the conveyor belt, something Sadie was happy to take advantage of. If it were Baena, Sadie could have maybe lifted her up onto the conveyer belt to be sent into the magma. Amphis would be too heavy, so instead, Sadie grabbed onto the back of his head and slammed his face into the belt, holding it there to the best of her ability. It wasn't easy to stay calm as she heard and watched as the belt peeled skin away from the stunned, injured lieutenant.

He thrusted his elbow behind him, and Sadie felt it crack her ribs. With a gasp, she stumbled back, grasping her new injury as tears welled in her eyes. Fortunately, Mettaton was still on the same page as her, immediately darting in to grab Amphis by his hair, tugging him up like a ragdoll, then slamming him again onto the conveyor belt, this time fully.

Regardless of who this guy was and what he'd done, the chilling scream that he let out sent shivers down her spine as Mettaton held him against the belt with tremendous strength, the lieutenant's entire front being practically ripped away. Even Mettaton seemed shocked by the scream, letting go- and Amphis was hurtled toward the bowl of magma.

Despite it all happening in two, maybe three seconds, it was like slow motion. Sadie watched as the man was flung into the bowl with such force, his lower half flinging wildly against it as his upper half splashed into it. They couldn't hear his continued screams as more metal forced him to be buried faster into the molten lava.

And he was gone.

There was a moment of silence, before another scream sounded. It sounded almost exactly like the one Amphis had delivered. Instinctively, Sadie turned her head to look at Baena, who was writhing on the ground, jerking her body in unnatural ways, clawing at her skin, eyes wide in terror as she screamed, tearing her vocal cords apart.

Sadie had no idea what was happening, or how to react. Mettaton extended his sword, moving toward her, clearly ready to end this, but Magnum raised a hand to stop him, her face bruised as she panted.

"It's over." She stated over Baena's screams. "Intellect SOULs... they can form bonds together. Theirs is so strong, she can feel his pain."

"Are you sure she's not… dangerous like that?" Sadie asked. It sounded a bit silly when she said it out loud, but she'd played more than enough horror games with Rian to know that suffering opponents could have a last gasp. She just didn't want Mettaton to go over there and get turned to scrap by a violet blast.

"She's about as dangerous as he is," Mettaton gave a grim nod toward the vat of magma. "…I'll finish her off. For my biggest fans."

Sadie couldn't argue with that decision. Even if she was angry, it didn't feel good to watch someone else in that much pain, regardless of who they were. Even if she'd been willing to kill, Sadie hoped that a day would never come that she'd find pleasure in watching other people suffer.

The excitement of battle began to wear off, and the amount of pain Sadie was in began to weigh down on her. She collapsed beside the conveyor belt, unable to watch as Mettaton mercifully put Baena out of her misery.

And just like that… it was over, yet it was difficult to calm down thanks to the violent whirring of the machinery and the numerous alarms blasting against the group's eardrums.

Sadie looked up slightly, just in time to notice Magnum and Fuku approaching, both of them looking totally spent.

"…how'd I do?" Sadie asked.

"Not bad." Magnum replied, rubbing the back of her head. "Has anyone seen Gerson?"

The alarms quite suddenly went off. With a whir, the belts slowed to a stop. Exhausted as they were, everybody was still on edge enough to get their guard up. Turns out, it was only the turtle hermit himself.

"Nice work, ehehe." Gerson cackled from the doorway into the control room, squinting at them with one eye. "Got some of my pals in the police department on the way to help clean up."

"The Messiah owns the police." Magnum replied, but Gerson simply winked. "Not all of 'em. Like I said, my pals. Come here, the lot of ya." He waved for them to near him, green healing magic enveloping both his claws. "Frisk'll be arrivin' soon, and we're gonna help her bust into HQ."

The mysterious, cooky turtle was up to his usual antics. Sadie could see why Terrence respected the guy so much, he seemed to think ahead. Think smart. She could take a page or two from his book, maybe end up with more teeth in the end.

"Oh, and I took the liberty of callin' an ally. He'll meet us there." Gerson added.

"An ally? Who?" Sadie asked.

"Oh, just a flighty fella." Gerson winked again, this one seeming to be like a Sans wink, pun and all.

With the situation handled, and the next steps already planned out, Sadie had a few moments alone with her thoughts. One by one, the group began to make their way out of the underground chamber- Magnum, then Fuku, then Mettaton, and finally Sadie. Gerson assured them that he would catch up with them after having a few words with his police friends.

Sadie didn't want to be conceited or anything, but she couldn't help but wonder about something. Was it at all possible that if she hadn't been there during that fight, Amphis and Baena wouldn't have died like that? For some reason, a painful feeling sat like a heavy weight in her chest. She felt responsible for the deaths of those two people, even though she found their actions and everything else about them sickening… but if she hadn't done anything, one of her friends could have gotten seriously hurt, or worse.

Or maybe things would have turned out that way regardless of whether she was there or not. Sadie didn't know, she didn't want to think about it. Helping kill Messiah members had sounded appealing for a little while, but it did little to sate the void in her heart that the death of her mom had created.

Before she knew it, they were back in the main building. It was freezing cold in comparison to the weapon bunker below, especially since it had begun to snow heavily outside. Better than hail, at least.

They stopped at the school entrance, and proceeded to wait. Frisk was apparently on her way. Would Rian be with her, or... anyone? Had the other operations gone well? Or at least as good as this one had?

Questions that would need to wait for answers. Instead, Sadie pulled herself from her thoughts to look toward Fuku, who was staring at the ground. "You good?" The human asked. Fuku glanced toward Sadie, before letting out a sigh. "No." She replied bluntly. After a moment of silence, Sadie sidled closer to Fuku, offering her a smile. "You don't have to talk about it. Rian's your guy, so guess that makes you my new sis, huh?" She nudged the fire girl in a friendly manner, trying to offer this kindness to cope with her own, strange emotions.

Fuku didn't move away, nor did she react at all. Sadie was aware the girl just desperately wanted to find her father, holding onto the hope he was alive. Sadie would have loved an opportunity like that for her mother. Frisk for Toriel too, probably. It was quickly becoming apparent that pretty much nobody was coming out of this without some kind of heartbreak.

"Here she is." Mettaton announced, staring out of the front window. The fires in the playground had long since gone out, and through the snow marched the familiar form of Frisk. Sadie had to take a moment, noticing the girl's cuts and bruises, her torn clothing, and the look of pure determination beset on her face.

Looked like a straight-up action hero, though Sadie was sure they were all looking pretty roughed up at the moment.

Magnum let Frisk in, who spared little time in explaining how things went down elsewhere. Greg's apparent betrayal and the capture of his group, the defeat of Witch, the death of Danica, the surrender of Ember, and everyone's return to the old kingdom.

"Just... us...?" Sadie asked, glancing about. "How can we storm the Messiah HQ and hope to come out of that alive?"

"You don't have to come with me." Frisk replied, her tone much less friendly than usual. She was clearly exhausted. "I'll go alone if I have to."

"Not without me." Magnum stated firmly. Mettaton rotated his shoulders. "My dear Papyrus, trapped and confused in there, of course I'm coming."

Sadie fell silent. It was a suicide mission at this point, they'd thrown all they had at the outposts but the worst of the worst still stood in their way.

"Where's Gerson?" Frisk asked. "He said he'd catch up." Magnum replied. "Apparently he's got contacts in the police."

"Officer Stanton, probably." Frisk replied. "Amphisbaena?"

"Dead." Mettaton replied. "There was no alternative." He added as Frisk opened her mouth with a reply. She closed it, before nodding. "Right. Let's finish this before daybreak, yeah?"

"I'm… gonna head back," Sadie said, expecting to feel some sense of shame for not accompanying her friends, but she didn't. Down there, she'd managed to catch some lucky breaks, but against the leaders of the terrible group? She wouldn't stand a ghost of a chance. There was no point in leaving behind her siblings for the sake of some impossible fight. But if anyone could do it… well, hopefully Frisk could.

"Try to stay under the radar on your way back. There might be a few of them patrolling the streets," Magnum advised, giving the girl a light pat on the shoulder.

"Be safe," Frisk said. Sadie appreciated their understanding, giving a nod and a shaky breath, realizing that this could very well be the last time she'd see them all. If anything went wrong…

Unsure just how much more loss she could handle, Sadie began to step away. "You too. Please."

And just like that, she was gone, disappearing out the door and into the curtain of snow that continued to fall from the sky.