Book I: The Vigilante
Chapter I
With every choice you make, and every action that you take, a universe forms. A universe that exists solely to play out the results of alternate choices you could have made. Some universes end in ways even better than your initial decision, while others, others end in despair.
This never ending, infinite system of universes existing in pure separate harmony is called the Multiverse Theory. However, one question seems to go unanswered every time the Multiverse Theory is brought up, does each choice have a certain ending? For instance, someone may try hard to achieve something, does this effort also count as a choice? What if they gave even slightly less effort? Can someone aware of their fate change their fate? And if they succeed, were they destined to succeed? What if they're destined to fail? Can they ever succeed?
Of course this is all taken in great speculation, as the Multiverse Theory is, but one thing is for sure, the universes that succeed in the greatest ways or fail in the absolute worst ways all have one thing in common. Determination.
Universes in which the happiest of endings occur, occur through an absolute determination of a being that controls the timeline itself. The same can be said for the opposite. Endings that were brought to a disgusting and brutal end were also caused by a being with enough determination to alter the timeline.
Imagine having this ability... the ability to go back and make a different choice, just because you're determined to see the outcome. It's a power I'm envious of.
Maybe... possibly... this power. This power could let me come back.
But enough about theories, it's time to visit a new time. A timeline where a different choice was made, so, let us begin.
Oh, and if you're reading this, yes YOU. Don't change it this time, just let it play itself out. Oh who am I kidding... we both know you can't help yourself...
Well, let us begin.
...
"I'm going to eat these buttercups. I'm going to get very sick. Please, when I die, take my soul, and go to the surface. Monsters deserve to be free, you'll have enough power to free them all."
"I... I don't like this plan Chara."
Chara was a young girl wearing a green long-sleeved shirt with a single yellow stripe wrapping around and brown pants. Her hair was brown and almost shoulder-length and her eyes were blue.
"Asriel, you don't want them to suffer anymore, do you? Please, let's just do this," Chara pleaded.
Asriel was her brother, but not by blood. Chara has been adopted into a family of monsters after falling down a hole located on Mt. Ebott. Asriel resembled a goat, with small, still growing horns and all white fur. His eyes were bright green and he wore the same clothes that Chara did, after all, she had been borrowing them from him. Although he doubted if she'd ever return them.
"Chara I don't think this is a good idea!" Asriel said again.
"Azzy you know what they did!" Chara argued. "Monsters used to live in harmony with humans... but humans began to fear them! They locked you all down here and the only way to get out is to either break it with seven human souls, or pass through with one human and one monster soul! If you take my soul, you'll be able to pass through, kill six humans, and then come back and set them all free!"
"I... I don't want to hurt people!" Asriel argued back.
"It's to free hundreds of monsters! Six people is a measly sacrifice! They deserve it for all they've done!"
"Chara no!" Asriel stated, tears rolling down his face. He hated confrontation.
Chara picked the buttercup. "Don't cry... Azzy," she sounded much softer now. "You... no. All of you will soon be free, don't you agree?"
Asriel dropped to his knees and began full on crying. "It's not freedom without you Chara!"
"Oh Azzy," Chara said with a slight giggle. "You've always been such a crybaby."
Chara began to eat the buttercup, a flower that was poisonous if eaten.
Something welled up inside of Asriel. Normally he'd just go along with whatever Chara went along with, but he wasn't about to lose his only sibling.
He shakily stood up, adrenaline coursing through him. He felt dizzy and even nauseous. He couldn't describe exactly what he felt, but he knew what he had to do.
"Spit it out!" he shouted out at the top of lungs, startling Chara.
Chara began chewing faster, and Asriel immediately tackled her to the ground and shoved his furry hand into her mouth.
"SPIT IT OUT!" he cried. "SPIT IT OUT NOW!!"
Chara, unsure of what to do, spat out the flowers and gasped for air as he took his hand out.
"Azzy get off of me!" she yelled.
Asriel hugged her and would not let her go.
"Never do something that stupid again!" he said, still shaking.
"But then... how do we free the monsters?" Chara asked.
Asriel shook his head. "I don't know! But this isn't the right way, we'll find another way. I promise, but promise me you'll never do something so stupid ever again!"
Chara sighed before hugging him back. "Ok Azzy."
"I promise."
...
"So that's why you blame yourself," she said as she listened to me tell the story of the time Asriel stopped me from killing myself six years ago.
I nodded. "Please don't tell Mom about that Undyne. She'd probably flip."
Undyne was a ridiculously muscular humanoid monster with a head resembling a fish. She was covered in blue scales and had red hair. Instead of ears, she had fins. She had sharp teeth and yellow eyes. Or eye, rather, one was covered by an eyepatch, she had lost it at some point but would never say how. Undyne was covered in armor and was the Underground's hero, the Captain of the Royal Guard, and my best friend. Oh, and the Underground was what we called the place where all the monsters lived.
"Yeesh punk, it ain't easy keeping secrets from my boss y'know," she said, looking stern. She then gave a big giant smile. "Aw who am I kidding? Let's just say you owe me."
I gave her a discreet smile. "Thanks Undyne."
"Hey don't mention it." Undyne said before stopping to think. "So that means five years ago... The reason Asriel did what he did..."
"It was for me," I replied. "That little girl fell down and accidentally provoked a Froggit. She was tiny, didn't know any better. The Froggit freaked out and accidentally killed her with magic. Asriel happened to be there and he took that soul, he then went to the surface, and he never came back."
"You think he'll ever come back?" Undyne questioned.
"I do," I answered. "My mom wants to believe it too, but she says I should face reality," I said with a bit of a laugh. "No... he's coming back. He's just held up, he may be a crybaby but he never breaks a promise."
"Well I like your attitude!" Undyne laughed. "You should join the Royal Guard! Strong girls like you could help with all these rogue monster cases that've been popping up."
I couldn't help but laugh. "My dad would literally kill me, and you. Do you ever think things through Undyne?"
"Listen here punk," Undyne said threateningly, but with a smile on her face. "I suplex boulders for shits and giggles, with might like mine I don't need brains. That nerd shit's why we have people like Dr. Alphys!"
I giggled. "Yeah, I'm glad she knows what she's doing, otherwise we'd all be out of luck."
"You got that right," Undyne agreed.
My phone began ringing out of nowhere.
"Speak of the yellow devil!" I joked. "See ya later!"
"Yeah stay out of trouble princess," Undyne teased.
"You too!" I nodded as I ran back to where Undyne couldn't hear my phone conversation.
"Alphys, what's up?" I answered.
"Th-There's a g-g-group of three m-monsters from Snowdin st-stealing G in Waterfall!" she said. Alphys couldn't help but stutter, it was annoying to most people, but it didn't really bother me that much.
"What, why? Is this related to the rogue monster cases?" I asked.
"I-I think s-so. But you've g-gotta move f-fast. The Royal Guard w-will be alerted any s-second," Alphys warned.
"On my way," I responded as I ran out of the area.
Luckily, I had been at Undyne's, so I was already in Waterfall.
Waterfall was one of six regions of the Underground. It was known for being a very dark environment, decorated in luminescent flowers and rocks. It, as the name would imply, was also covered in many streams, ponds, and, of course, waterfalls. It was definitely one of the prettiest, if not the prettiest, places in the Underground. The rocks that lit up the top of the caves twinkled like stars and it always felt like a starry night wherever you went.
I soon made my way up a considerable ledge overlooking a large pond beneath me, and the area where the suspects were, and immediately I saw them. A Snowdrake, a Chilldrake, and an Ice Cap. A Snowdrake was a small dragon creature that resembled a snowflake, it loved to make puns. A Chilldrake was a Snowdrake that wore sunglasses and overemphasized skipping school. The Ice Cap was an even smaller monster that wore a cool icicle cap that it wanted everyone to notice.
I put on a hoodie that looked just like my green-striped shirt and put a blue bandana over my mouth and nose, this helped conceal my identity. After all, if my dad found out I was illegally trying to help the Royal Guard, he would probably kill me. I then put on an earpiece, so that Alphys could keep me updated.
"R-Remember Chara, n-normally you could easily talk these monsters out of f-fighting. B-but that won't work! Fight them until th-they're too scared to fight back!" Alphys warned.
"Right," I said as I put my knife into a holster attached to my left leg.
"And b-be careful!" Alphys continued.
I let out a laugh. "Alphys it's me you're talking about!"
I then stood up on the edge of the cliff, and took a swan dive off of it.
"Chara no!" Alphys cried, but it was too late.
OwO what's this? This is a link to a song. Listen to it while reading to enhance the reading! (I promise it won't all be nightcore)
https/youtu.be/BByMzI1YjKA
I hit the water, swam up, and jumped up, immediately pursuing the Ice Cap.
"Y-You're going to give me a h-heart attack!" Alphys complained.
I let out a laugh. "Just be glad you made your tech waterproof."
I drew my knife as I approached the Ice Cap.
"Hey you, what's up with the petty thievery, don't you have better things to do?" I asked it.
It glared at me, "Get out of my way."
It wasn't acting natural..., in fact, I'd never heard of an Ice Cap issuing a threat. And I noticed one other weird thing as well.
Immediately the area around me went to black as the monster initiated a battle. A little red heart appeared on my chest.
"Y-You still know how monster battles work Chara?" Alphys asked.
"Of course, it'll cast magic at me. If it hits my soul, this little heart, it does damage. Once I've taken enough damage, I die. I have four options, Fight, Act, Item, Mercy, and fights always occur in turns, I attack, and then they attack," I summarized.
"Good, n-now don't lose focus!" Alphys warned.
I leveled my knife, it was just a toy, but that was another rule in the Underground, anything used with the intent to hurt would do damage. So even stupid objects could hit hard.
Immediately I struck the monster, doing more damage than it would've liked.
Almost immediately the Ice Cap asked for Mercy. "It's not worth dying over."
I threw out a little orb, which shot out a net that nullified monster magic, trapping the Ice Cap, something of Alphys' design. Afterwards, I hit Mercy, sparing it and ending the battle, the world was refilled with color.
"Cya," I said as I moved quickly to take out the Snowdrake.
"Y-You're closing in, you're doing g-great!" Alphys complemented.
I wasted no time in initialing the battle as I approached the Snowdrake, drawing the world into black again.
I hit it once, but it wasn't defeated so easily, and it launched a barrage of ice magic at me in a pattern. I moved around carefully until the monster's turn ended, successfully dodging the attack before slicing at him again.
"I yield!" it cried. I captured him as well and then left him as I spared him and moved on.
"Man these guys aren't even a challenge!" I laughed.
"B-Be careful! Undyne has been alerted and will be there any m-minute! Y-You d-don't want that," Alphys warned.
"Don't worry Alph, I'll get out of it!" I said, not really easing her worry.
I soon closed in on the Chilldrake, who looked a LOT more angry than the others.
"Why don't you chill drake?" I asked jokingly.
"I will kill you and everyone you love," it threatened.
"Wh-What?!" I questioned, taken aback. I had never heard a monster say something so awful...
The world turned to black and Chilldrake launched an arsenal of ice attacks at me, way more forceful than usual. I had to backflip in order to dodge it correctly, how did it attack first?
Up on a ledge, her arms crossed and her knight's helmet on, Undyne watched the battle play out below. The vigilante she'd been tracking fighting the rogue monster thieves.
"This outta be fun," she said to herself with a smile.
I jumped in and slashed it as icicles began falling from the ceiling, the turns were moving fast. It was almost hard to keep up. I jumped back, only to take a hit directly in the soul.
"Chara be c-careful!" Alphys shouted. "Use an Item!"
I pulled out a capsule and ate a little ball. Alphys has created them to help heal me if I needed them, it was just like monster food, but more convenient. However using an Item meant I couldn't Fight this turn, so it was back to dodging.
The monster unleashed even more ice crystals and I had to react way quicker than normal. I began approaching it as it's turn ended and slashed it again, but it still wasn't done.
I was hit in the soul multiple times this turn, and it wasn't looking good.
It's turn ended and mine began, but I wasn't sure what to do, I couldn't keep this up forever. Before I made a choice, however, a large spear impaled the monster straight through, and the monster scattered into dust. Dust meant the monster had died...
The world was brought to color and Undyne was standing across from me, I jumped up nervously.
"What's the matter punk?" she asked as she drew another spear. "You scared?"
"Who? Me? N-Never...," I said nervously.
"U-Use the voice disguiser or she'll recognize you!" Alphys warned.
I quickly hit a button and my voice sound much deeper now, definitely not normal.
"Listen kid, I saw that fight. You've got guts, but you're sloppy," Undyne said bluntly. "I want you to join the Royal Guard. In return, I'll forgive your crimes and you can help the underground in a legal fashion."
"And if I refuse?!" I replied defiantly.
Undyne's smile faded as she pointed her spear at me. The Spear of Justice, that was her nickname. "Or else I'll end this in a way neither of us want."
"You killed that monster!" I pointed out.
"Yes, monsters rarely commit actual crimes, and when they do," Undyne answered. "Well, we don't want other monsters losing their determination. You know what happens right?"
I nodded, monsters only had limited amounts of determination. They weren't like humans, that's why humans are so much more powerful than they are. If they lose the will to live, or "run out of determination", they die. It actually made sense why Undyne killed the Chilldrake.
"Monsters fearing for their lives is dangerous, and I don't like thinking things through as is. That's what nerds are for!"
I dropped down a pellet on the ground, a thick smoke began pouring out of it.
"I'd love to join Undyne, I really would. But I can't, for reasons you can't understand right now," I said before using the smoke to get away from her.
...
I knocked on the large metal door in Hotland, an area underground known for lava lakes and volcanic activity, another one of the six regions in the Underground. The large metal door was to the largest, and only, laboratory in the underground. Alphys opened it up and ushered me in.
https/youtu.be/6ZnFoMTHc8o
"Oh... I h-haven't even had time to change m-my clothes," she complained.
I laughed. "Alphys you wear the same lab coat every time I see you, I'm starting to doubt you ever change clothes."
She blushed. "I-I do!" she said defensively before going silent. "...sometimes."
I looked over that. "Ok so let's go over what we know."
"W-Wait! Did you steal m-my smoke p-pellets?!" she yelled out.
I rubbed the back of my head nervously. "O-Oh you... saw that?"
"I have c-cameras all o-over th-the Underground, of c-course I did!" Alphys said nonchalantly, but even her nonchalant sounded anxious. "Th-Those were highly experimental!"
"Well they did the trick!" I laughed out.
Alphys shuddered. "Yeah? W-Well it probably just gave U-Undyne extreme allergies."
"Oh...," I said in realization. "Well it's a good thing she's a tough one then?"
Alphys sighed.
I then remembered what I was going to say. "Oh! The rogue monsters! They have yellow eyes!"
Alphys seemed shocked. "I-I would've noticed that! Th-They definitely didn't!"
"Are you calling me a liar?!" I questioned.
"N-No, well... m-maybe?" Alphys responded.
She could tell I wasn't happy, and quickly changed course.
"W-Well I'll ch-check the footage! Then we'll know for sure!" she reassured.
"Alright well my mom's gonna be worried sick if I don't go home for dinner, I hear she's really excited about her snail pie, so I'd better go snag a bite," I said before walking out the door.
"I-I thought you h-hated snail pie," Alphys pointed out.
"You're right, I'm gonna fake eating it and then just eat desert!" I admitted while walking away.
On my way back I couldn't help but wonder. What was wrong with those monsters? After they pleaded for Mercy, they reverted back to who they were before... It was the same case every time, was there some sort of outside force causing it? I couldn't be sure. The only thing I knew was that I needed to keep helping. If I let Undyne kill every culprit, then we'd never find out what was really going on.
I hadn't been doing this vigilante gig for long, but that Chilldrake was way more powerful than normal, and I knew I had to get better at fighting if I wanted to keep doing this. But how? Maybe if I could learn magic like monsters do I'd be able to hold my own.
That wasn't a good option though, there hadn't been any wizards since the humans locked the monsters away here in the Underground, I guess there was no choice but to get trained. But Undyne wouldn't do it, if she got caught she'd be in trouble. The whole thing was kind of a mess.
I soon reached New Home, the city in which King Asgore Dreemurr, Queen Toriel Dreemurr, and their princess lived. My dad, Asgore, named all the regions of the Underground, he... wasn't good at names at all.
I walked into our small house to be greeted by my parents sitting at the table.
"Oh Chara! Welcome home!" my mom said excitedly.
I laughed nervously. "Yep, I come home every day Mom, you don't need to make it sound like some 'grand achievement'."
"You know your mom is a bit of a worrier," dad said, laughing a bit.
I sat down and my mom didn't look to happy. In fact, both of them looked as if they could cry.
"Is... something wrong?" I asked, breaking the silence.
"Chara I think...," mom said before she became unable to speak. My dad went to her and held her hands before continuing her statement.
"We have something rather serious to share with you," he continued.
"We believe," my mom tried to start again, but she still couldn't say it, instead she began... crying.
Asgore sighed before finally spitting it out. "Child, Asriel's not coming home."
Readability Level: 11-12th Grade
Time Taken: 3.5 Hours