To Sans, the world had turned bleak.
The land had died.
The monsters have gone silent.
He was alone.
Kain was before him. Soul Reaver in hand.
His worst nightmare had come to pass.
He was throwing everything he had. Waves upon waves of Gaster Blasters, energy formed bones made to piece and decapitate flying out of the ground, forming around the vampire, flying out of walls. Using his transmission ability to get behind the being, surprise attack at whatever chance he had.
But he knew, deep down.
He knew this was the worst outcome now.
Some of the attacks connected, they hurt Kain.
But the vampire fought on. He wasn't getting tired anytime soon.
Every time Kain looked at him...the warning words of Chronoa crept into his mind.
Don't ever face people like Kain. They don't care for time, for the rules that must be in place. He'll kill us without another thought.
Having Gaster standing there, hands behind his back away from the breaking pillars, destroyed tiled floor and shattered windows with Flowey on his shoulder still, watching the whole spectacle didn't help.
The scientist was speaking to him, into his mind. The bastard was telepathic. Sans had forgotten it till now. And whilst he fired the beams at the vampire, finding himself getting ever closer calls to the sharp edges of the Soul Reaver...
'Don't you feel tired of all this Sans?'
'You've been trapped away. Chronoa cannot save you. She will not save you.'
'I know Papyrus is gone. That is how she wants it. He was suppose to die with everyone here, in the great war.'
'Don't you want to stop?'
'The underground must face the truth now. It's time to rejoin everyone.'
'You're all that's truly left. A lone Time Patroller in a bubble about to burst. Standing against one who can reject the rules of time.'
'Frisk cannot fix this anymore. It is finally coming to a close.'
'Don't you wish to end this madness?'
'I've seen you fight before. You don't hold back but you are not inexhaustible.'
'Your limited stamina...is it from the fact you've faced Frisk over and over? Would you want that again?'
'Why would you place your faith in her? For all that she has done to you and your brother?'
'Don't you want to halt the cycles?'
Sans soon got himself behind one of the more intact pillars, panting, sweating.
He was getting so tired now. He was losing his focus. The same mistake that always cost him against Frisk…
But he couldn't stop. There was no new chance after this. "K-Kain. Maybe, maybe you can let an ol' skeleton catch a break eh? Feeling a little rattled out right now."
He found himself having to duck and quickly teleport away from his location as the Reaver embedded itself into the pillar, causing it to heavily crack at where his head was, with Kain soon pulling the blade away. Looking for Sans.
Before he found himself dodging side to side against several Gaster Blasters forming before him, firing powerful blue energy beams.
Sans was behind another pillar. "I...I know you won't listen. But this is all wrong. You could have saved them. I learnt that chance from all my time in this place. Maybe we could've prevented their deaths. Raziel is willing to give it a go. Why can't you?"
He heard Kains footsteps. Focusing the energy into his hands, he channelled it into the ground causing three rows of energy formed bones to spike up from the ground, heading towards Kain.
Despite that he soon saw the Reaver blade again, and once again vanished.
He was now at the furthest pair of pillars in this place from where Gaster and the others had entered.
He looked to his hands.
He tried to muster up more energy, gather a little to keep on going…
But he knew he had reached that limit he always gets to. That last transmission wasted it.
"Heh...no fancy special second-to-last attack like every other time eh Sans?" He mumbled to himself, chuckling weakly. "Kain had you on the ropes far more then Frisk and Chara ever did."
No way not.
No chance left.
He wondered if Raziel and Frisk had gotten further...He cursed himself.
Telling the damn kid to keep trying to save those they could. Not fully acknowledging the threat Kain had posed. That had no doubt delayed them like it did before he got Frisk to the restaurant. He should've told the kid to either kill or run away from those who were left in order to hurry along. Just do what they had to like she did those other times killing everyone around her.
He smiled as he closed he eyes for a moment, the footsteps of Kain slowly fading from his hearing.
He could see Frisk. Her sweet smile every time she got them all out of the underground. Her tears of regret and self-hatred when those times she killed them all came and went and she had to meet him again. Her determined look to do this right for them all as it could be the final time…
In the end, if they had been delayed...Frisk was being true to herself. At the outcome she honestly wants.
He stepped out from behind the pillar. Kain was there, having just got to them and was trying to guess which one Sans was hiding behind due to the silence.
They stared at one another. Quiet.
Kain finally spoke. "I assume with your sudden change of behaviour you must be out of magic tricks, skeleton."
"Yep. Fresh out Kain. I have nothing left up my sleeves. You dodged it all. Still, with the injuries you do have I certainly gave you a little bit of a 'kain'ing."
Kain had minor burns from the intense energy beams on his body, and a few amount of tiny cuts and open wounds on his legs and arms from the bone shaped attacks.
For a being that's been impaled and hacked into several times of his life...it's not much. "A last bit of humour before you fall?"
"Gotta get the last laugh in somehow."
Kain tightened his grip on the sword, bringing it up ready to strike.
"Well Gaster. Looks like you do win in the end. Tell Chronoa something for me, alright? Tell her I'm sorry."
The blade was swung.
Gaster simply nodded to that request. "...Well Kain. We must progress on."
Raziel had been standing in the living room of what was known as New Home...more precise, the home that as Frisk explained to him, was the home of Toriel and Asgore before problems arose.
Frisk was currently getting the keys to unlock the way to the basement, which she said led to an overhead walkway to the castle. As she grabbed the key from the kitchen close by though and returned to the living room where Raziel was glancing at the books. She wanted to ask him something.
"Raziel...what were you like? When you were human?"
Raziel laughed bitterly at that question as he looked into one of the books that explained the history of this place, how this was called New Home, that the monsters came up to here once they no longer were so afraid of humans. "A hunter. A killer who did so for 'righteousness' means. If they were not human, they were to die. Vampires were my speciality."
"It sounds like you didn't like being that."
"When I was reborn a vampire by Kains hand I had no memories of my past life. Seeing what I was before after accepting that vampires were not the real enemy of the people of Nosgoth, greatly disturbed me. I held no kindness and sought only the blood of my enemies. The fear of the unknown is easily made into hatred."
"...Do you hate humans?"
Raziel closed the book. "You need to find that other key child."
Frisk left him alone in his thoughts. He chose to wait for them now at the entrance hall of the house, near the locked pathway.
It gave him time to think of it.
The Sarafan. The angels of light to humans. Those who almost brought vampire kind to extinction, slaying the last ancient vampire Janos Audron before Raziel's eyes...by himself, no less.
He did once see them in a good light, longing to have that human existence and experience again. But on his journeys through Nosgoth, he saw the monstrous side of humans, and the kind face of vampires and what they did on his world.
It led to him chasing down his past self. Killing him and those who would become his brothers as Kain raised them in the future.
It's what got him in this mess. His anger and need to renounce his past...it brought about the edge of the coin, and Kain's wish to free him.
Why though? Why would Kain want him free?
He couldn't trust him. Kain had his own hidden motives. He always had done. Now it's brought them both to this world. Where monsters had been forced to hide from Humans who had hunted them to this point so long ago…
Yet there was a human here who was trying to show them kindness, who had been on both ends thanks to having to constantly repeat their actions, but still even now as things begin to descend into a dark path, they continue to be kind.
As they had been kind to Raziel when he rose from the ground.
The girl had returned with the other key, and using them both, opened the pathway by dismantling the magical chains that blocked it off and had not allowed them to simply climb over, creating a barrier.
Raziel started to walk ahead, heading down the stairs when he noticed Frisks steps were slower. Clearly his avoidance of answering the question earlier had left her wondering.
As they walked through the basement together, they saw the end of it as the door leading to the walkway over the town was open, letting the lights of the place filled the darkened lower level of the home.
When they reached the door, the wraith stopped causing Frisk to stop only a step or two away from him, looking up at his back and his ruined wings.
"I once cared not for humans. They were cattle that fed me and my kin. Before I came here I openly despised them for their actions...my past self actions."
He turned to face Frisk, bending down to her level. "But I do not hate you. Like vampires have to me for their kind, you have shown me the kindness of humans. I have learnt that I cannot judge them by the ones I know. For on other worlds, they are not all so afraid of the unknown. And while there will be humans that fear monsters and vampires, even soul wraiths such as I am now, it is welcoming to see there are those who will express goodwill to them."
"But I known these monsters for so long. I'm only doing what I know-"
Raziel stood up and started to walk along the concrete path, looking down at the town below a little as they head to the castle in the distance. Frisk followed him. "I am speaking of your actions to me. You have only wished to be a friend to me. Something I was untrusting about. It led to me slaying Undyne. But after that when you left for Hotlands, I had seen Toriel again. I told her of what happened...She did not scold me for killing. Instead suggesting I return to you. I admit I was slightly reluctant. I knew Toriel did not know of your killings in the past."
Frisk looked down at the ground, saddened. "So you do know about that...I had a feeling Sans told you at some point..."
"You have been doing this for hundreds of years. On knowing this though, along with speaking with Toriel and looking back on when we met...That makes it more surprising that you would show such kindness. If I were to face such an event like this, I would no doubt lose my patience and fall to madness. You remain strong. You can still look for hope in all this."
"...I used to be called a fool and an idiot alot for that. It hurts knowing that in some ways they were right. I shouldn't have any hope with the ways things had been going."
"Yet now here we are. Aiming to save those you care for. I do not see a fool nor an idiot. But someone who can steel their heart and remain determined on what they want in this world."
Frisk was smiling on hearing that, looking up at him. A small glistering of tears showing at the corner of her eyes. "T...Thank you. Raziel."
As they got halfway across the path though. Raziel stopped again.
He could feel something...energy around them, this entire place, building up.
It felt like the world was shifting, like the ground was moving under his feet and something was weighing on his shoulders yet nothing was visible to him or Frisk.
That got him running to the castle, with Frisk quickly going after him. The strange feeling she was getting plus him rushing off making her panic. "Raziel! Raziel wait! What is it!?"
He didn't know. But if he learnt anything around Kain, a feeling like this is never a good omen.
It was as they entered the castle, they saw it.
The corridor with the pillars, the stained glass windows…
it was shimmering and distorting, going between the pristine state of it...to that of ruination.
As they stared and watched, Raziel soon figured it out. Remembering what Chara said.
The merging of the two undergrounds. It was occurring before their eyes now, reaching it's peak.
Before a brief flash of white light blinded them, the ground at that moment violently shook before all was still and their eyes adjusted once more with the light fading away.
Revealing the corridor was in ruins, a battle had taken place here...and while Raziel was looking at the damaged pillars, Frisk had spotted someone. "SANS!"
The child ran over to the skeleton, who had managed to prop himself up against one of the last two pillars here, looking weakly over at Frisk and Raziel, his shirt was covered in pink blood that had come from a sword wound across his torso, his mouth dripping of that same fluid. "Glad you guys, made it. Hey kid."
"Sans! What happened!?"
Raziel had now joined them. "Kain happened kiddo. He got me good like you used to, heh. 'Cept this time's gonna be the last. He and that goddamn Gaster left me to bleed out. Guess he didn't feel like I was worth finishing off."
Raziel, on hearing Kain's name, readied his own Reaver blade forming from energy out of his hand. "And so we can finally meet again, even on this strange world. If he has ran off ahead in this place then-"
Sans was shaking his head. "Don't Raz. Don't try. It's too late. His version of the underground has won out. I don't know if it's because of Gaster or because they got close to the barrier first but, they won. Now I have to make sure you're both alright." He reached into his pocket, pulling out a small silver key. "Frisk...Raz. Take it."
Frisk gently took the key from Sans, looking at it. "What is it for Sans?"
"Get-get back to Snowdin. To my house. You've seen it before round the back kid. The door to the basement of my place. That key will unlock it. Get in there. The set of metal drawers, third one. Contains a green crystal. A time crystal. Hold onto it. Get as far away from the barrier as possible. Back into the old ruins if you have to."
Frisk was shocked at this and baffled at the suggestion. "What? Why Sans!? We could stop Kain!"
"Raziel...has a chance but. Flowey is with him, and so is Gaster. You're outmatched and won't survive. If the barrier is broken completely I fear what the results are due to-" He gave a rough cough, leaning forward. "-differences in the timestream, thanks to the fact we've been trapped for so long..." He coughed once again, this time bringing up some blood, resting his head on the cold pillar afterwards so he could focus on them. "It may lead to drastic changes here...so the deeper into the underground. The better. Best suggestion I got kid. Sorry. The crystal if you're connected to it, holding onto someone who's got it or grabbing it itself, should protect you from the difference."
Raziel was angered. He was so close to Kain. He looked over to the stairway ahead. He could go there, face him…
"Don't, leave the poor kid alone Raz." Sans knew what Raziel was thinking. "She needs a chance."
Frisk was shaking, upset at what was unfolding now. "We-we can carry you Sans. We can get you, Papyrus, Mettaton, Toriel-"
"All dead but me Kid. Knowing Kain. His timeline is king now remember? Leave me behind. I'll just sooner or later dissolve into dust. Don't think Raziel would want that all over his back."
Frisk was crying now, knowing that all she tried to do, all that she wanted was snatched away.
"Sorry kid. Never made the shots. This is the end game now. Get going."
Frisk just couldn't. She had broken down entirely now, sobbing into his jacket as she didn't want to leave.
Sans looked to Raziel.
He seemed to get what the skeleton wanted him to do. He grabbed Frisk and lifted her away from Sans. She didn't hold onto the skeleton anymore, but turned herself around and held tightly onto Raziel, ignoring the cold feeling of his body and continued to cry. "I will get her to Snowdin."
"Thanks Raz. I knew you wouldn't give her the 'cold' shoulder. I know I'm asking for a leap of 'wraith' here." Sans weakly chuckled to himself. "Sorry, needed to get it out. Since I'm a bit 'bone'd now...heh."
Raziel couldn't say anything more...there was nothing he could think of to comfort Sans at this moment. He turned away with Frisk in his arms and ran back the way they came as quickly as he could.
Sans watched them leave and took a few deep breaths. It hurt but, it felt a little more relaxing. "Whelp. Gonna miss ol'Conton City. Never, did convince Papyrus to go there...oh well..."
He closed his eyes. A good rest was needed right now, he felt so exhausted waiting for them in this state.
All that remained after, was a pile of white and pink dust covered by a blue jacket.
The throne room.
The stony ground was covered in a bed of golden flowers, the ceiling had several glass windows allowing the artificial light created by magic to flow in and keep the flowers alive, the walls of the room covered with purple flags of the royal emblem. Two red cushioned golden chairs were at the end of it, near a doorway leading to the place behind the castle...the entrance into the Underground, the way out.
One throne chair was covered up in a white blanket and placed to the side. The other had been used recently, but it's owner had left a few a few minutes ago to fetch something.
"Ah. Here we are."
The voice was deep, yet kind and gentle. It belonged to the king of the monsters of this place. Asgore Dreemurr. Bringing in a small circular wooden tray carrying a teapot and four empty small teacups. "I'm sorry that I couldn't find anything larger for you, but your hands are rather unusual."
He soon sat down in the middle of his throne room. Making sure to move back his purple cloak that covered the large metal armor he wore underneath, gently pouring out the tea he had prepared for his guests. One for himself.
Another for a flower that was alive, that just stared at the cup placed before it before mumbling a "Thank you..."
One for the Royal Scientist he hadn't seen for so long but gladly gave a warm welcome to.
And one for none other than Kain, who took the cup from Asgore with a smile, sitting back on the flowers, looking around at the place. "Your hospitality is quite welcoming Asgore."
Asgore smiled a little, picking up his own cup. "Well, no need to rush things is there? We can spent a moment to enjoy this before having to move on." With that, he took a sip of his drink.
Flowey just glanced between Kain and Asgore, whilst Gaster was certainly enjoying his drink, he did look over to Kain, clearly trying to figure out...Why.
They were so close to escaping now. The barrier was within reach. The answer to Asriel's problem was too.
Yet Kain accepted the offer of tea. He allowed Asgore to finish watering his plants.
His never seen Kain react like this to those here.
Asgore soon talked again. "So Kain, was it? Why did you come to our home?"
Kain already admitted he was an outsider. He was a vampire. "By chance I was brought here. I was taken from my empire, well, what was to be my empire at a later time by your scientist here. He saved me from a fate I had failed to consider."
"Oh I see. Well at least your alive then. So were you a king?"
"Emperor. A leader to my people. As you are. A master of monsters, as we were seen to the humans of my world as you are to those on this one."
"Well, I have been losing quite a few subjects lately." Asgore gave a light hearted chuckle. "I suppose that should've been expected. They would attack someone who is an outsider."
"They did not at first. They were welcoming to me. Sadly the moment one of them knew I killed a human as well as others to feed and survive, one like yourself named Toriel, She turned on me and from there, I was faced with those of this land."
"Toriel always did what she felt was right. I do miss her greatly. At least she's at rest..." He didn't seem shocked at knowing this.
"Tell me honestly Asgore, if you are not sure you want to do this." Kain looked over from his cup before taking a small drink.
"I feel I have to Kain. They all have moved on. Either I follow them, or you must. You know how it is."
"A leader must follow their domain to ruin? I did not. I survived beyond mine."
"Ah." Asgore continued to smile. "Well, in actual fact if what you said was true, it doesn't even exist yet. So you haven't."
Kain gave a small laugh. "An impressive response. But one day I shall make it again. And do it right this time."
"Well, allow me to wish you all the best in that endeavour."
"Thank you. Allow me to wish you good fortune, should you continue to rule."
"Thank you."
Asgore soon finished his drink. He placed the cup down on the tray. "Well. I suppose this should end soon. A pity. I would love for us to discuss about your home after you had seen mine. I shall await you in the next room Kain." With that he stood up and left the others be to go into the room behind the throne, bidding Gaster and Flowey farewell as he did.
Gaster watched him walk away, before he focused on Kain. "Tell me honestly now. Do you think him as a fool?"
Kain shook his head, drinking the tea. "He wishes to understand what he is about to face. He wants this moment of peace before bloodshed, perhaps his death. He clearly felt relief when I accepted his offer of a final drink before he falls to me."
Gaster looked a little relieved. "Ah, I feared you took the kindness with face value. Well when you face him, drain him of some blood. That is what Asriel needs to begin the process of my project."
"I will not promise anything. If I am hungry, I will feed myself first before anything else."
"...Make it quick for him Kain." Flowey was staring down at his cup, not having touched the tea at all even though Asgore had put it close for him to bend down and sip.
Kain looked over at Gaster who explained. "Asriel Dreemurr. Son of Toriel and Asgore."
"I see now. A prince reduced to a petty flower. He did not seem to mind me killing his mother though." Kain glanced at Flowey.
Flowey didn't answer that with anything.
They allowed the relaxing feeling of this continue to stay with them as Kain finished his drink and placed his cup down on the tray. Taking another minute to soak the atmosphere in before standing up. "I don't expect either of you to follow me. If you wish to, do so."
He left Gaster and Flowey behind. Gaster finished his drink and put the cup down. "I need to observe. What will you do Asriel?"
"I...can't watch. I'll wait here." Flowey looked away from him. "It's sad to think dad won't be alive anymore."
The flower was soon left alone.
Asgore had been waiting for Kain in the empty room beyond. Now the vampire was here, both walked along side by side heading to a doorway further ahead, Gaster eventually following behind them. What Kain noticed through the purple stoned crafted doorway was a white light, that glowed brighter and brighter then faded away, over and over.
Once they got through, the light was ahead of them, a wall of light that seemed to stretch out far into the distance, it briefly lit up the metal flooring once in a while that was in place here, with small seven metal circular hatches in it. There was the sound of wind blowing through here, coming from the world beyond this place. The ceiling was stone, misshaped and jagged, as were the walls...a cave. Whatever the colours were here, all it seemed to be was white due to the light. It even dulled out the colour of Kain and Asgore.
Asgore remained at his side as he spoke to Kain, both having walked past the hatches and stopped a good distance from them. "This is the Barrier. The way out to the world. Created by humans centuries upon centuries ago. Where they once held magic. If what my scientists have said is true, those times long since past. Magic is forgotten. Technology is dominant."
"Yet you have not broken the barrier."
"It requires the power of seven human souls. With one a monster can pass through, with seven, we can destroy it."
Gaster was now at the entrance to this place. Watching them.
"How many do you have then?"
The hatches in the ground opened up and several small platforms rose up, each housing a glass cylinder, sealed within six of these cylinders, were different coloured orbs, glowing weakly with haunting lights.
The seventh that had come up was empty.
Kain looked at them. Moving away from Asgore to take a closer look. "How did you manage to get these?"
"Patience. Alot of it."
"Six of them...it's amusing to me. There are six people within this underground that have caught my attention besides those who have followed me. Five of them are gone now. Shall I name them?"
Asgore didn't answer. He simply stared ahead at the barrier.
Kain walked near one of the cylinders, grabbing it from it's platform.
With his strength he crushed the glass, the green coloured soul within set free, fading away. "Toriel."
Asgore was seen wincing on hearing the glass break, his hands slowly clenched up more and more, his body shaking as Kain walked to the next one after dropping the shattered glass, doing the same to the yellow coloured soul. "Papyrus."
Then the orange coloured one. "Undyne."
Kain went by the spare container, breaking the one that instead contained the purple soul. "Mettaton."
And finally he crushed the glass holding the blue soul. "Sans."
He left the light blue one alone. Gaster had tensed up on watching Kain perform this act of mocking Asgore's efforts but was clearly thankful for some reason when Kain left the last one as the Vampire returned to the middle of this place, next to the spare cylinder...He placed one of his bone covered talon-like feet on top of it, slowly putting pressure on the container, the glass cracking.
"I shall free the last, when you fall Asgore."
With that, Kain put his hand behind his back grabbing the hilt of the Reaver and bringing it out to his side.
The glass was on the verge of shattering.
Asgore gave Kain an answer. "...Let us end this."
As the sound of the glass smashing apart was heard, the sound of two metallic objects colliding quickly followed.
The Soul Reaver had stopped the sudden glowing red trident that Asgore had created in his hands the moment he spun around, the three prong tip halted from entering Kain's chest by the blade catching in-between two of them.
The trident was pulled back, and thrusted again.
Kain this time knocked the weapon aside before moving around Asgore with the monster king easily keeping grip on his weapon and facing Kain, watching him as he moved.
The vampire suddenly changed his movement and lunged. Asgore used the trident's staff segment to knock away the Reaver and took a swing at Kain. The vampire passing by Asgore's side going behind him.
The king had easily turned around, holding his weapon and glaring.
They both shuffled their feet, making slow, tense movements. Barely blinking, eyes locked on the other.
Someone had to make the next move.
Kain made that move.
He ran towards Asgore who attempted one last thrust at the beasts dark heart.
The monster king saw the world slow down as the vampire turned his body avoiding the red tips of the weapon…
And the Reaver hitting it's mark, piecing the armor with ease and into the flesh of Asgore.
The king dropped his weapon as it dispersed into flickering tiny specks of energy. Kain pulled the Reaver out of the wound and aimed his other hand towards it.
Pink blood was rapidly escaping it, into the air and into the mouth of Kain.
A small collection of the blood was briefly diverted, launched towards Gaster who used his own power to catch it into a small fluidic orb before him, surrounded by a faint dark blue aura.
The rest of it went to Kain.
Before long all that remained was a crown, a cape, hollow collapsed armor and dust.
Kain returned his sword back to it's holder. He walked over to the last soul, lifting up it's container.
"I believe we may require that. Should the next phase of my plan fail." Gaster suggested, still keeping the blood near him.
"..." Kain walked over and placed it near Gaster. "Do with it as you must. I must now pass through this 'barrier' and leave this place."
"You."
It came from near the broken containers. Kain looked over with Gaster.
Flowey was there, looking down at the broken remains...it's face twisted and clearly far more darker than before. "You DESTROYED them! YOU IDIOT! They were mine! All mine! You've released them before I could take them and use them against you both!"
It now glared at them both. "I could've become something beyond you! With the souls I'd have gained POWER! I would've KILLED YOU! I'VE BEEN WAITING ALL THIS TIME FOR NOTHING! PRETENDING TO FEEL! TO BE ALIVE!"
"And the curtains are pulled away." Kain clearly was not happy with Flowey. "I knew something was not right. It seems I now need to do some pruning."
"Kain please stay your wrath!" Gaster stepped in front of Kain to ensure he had the vampires attention, before turning towards Flowey. "Asriel I know you cannot feel emotions! That your still trapped in this form! Once I give you the blood of Asgore the Lifestream source I have provided you will bear fruit! It will bring you back!"
"Bring me BACK!? I CAN'T COME BACK! IF I DO I ONLY LIVE FOR A SHORT TIME! I'M DEAD ALREADY!"
"That's all you've known because that's all Frisk could do for you! But I can do more!"
"There's no promise it will work!"
"But you always wanted to try a way! You want to be alive again! This is the last time! There will be no more cycles!"
"Die...DIE!"
Small white pellets, dozens of them formed around Flowey, spinning in the air before firing towards Gaster who had little choice but to form a white barrier around him to deflect the pellets away, looking angered as it continued to shoot at him, trying to kill the scientist whilst giving off a mad laughter.
It had eventually made Gaster lose focus on the precious blood he had saved as it dribbled down to the floor, no longer usable.
It failed to noticed the flock of bats flying overhead and coming together behind him, forming Kain. Reaver out of it's holding once again. "I should've done this at the start."
Flowey turned himself to look up at the once human noble.
It's face was met with the blade stabbing through it and its stem, embedding into the metal floor.
Golden petals fell away to the ground as the face on the now broken apart flower slowly went hollow, it's eye sockets empty as was it's mouth. Kain yanked his weapon away from the ruined plant.
Gaster removed his barrier and slowly walked over to where Flowey lay. "...Asriel...I wanted to bring you back. I wanted to spare you."
"He was dead already he said."
The monster scientist nodded. "He has no soul. He was linked to it by Molag Bal who indeed kept to what Chara wanted, but made sure Asriel could not feel, or live."
Kain walked away from the dead flower. "If he was dead already, then why are you hesitating to try?"
Gaster looked at him, confused for a second.
"I have revived bodies over 500 years old, If I can do that, why is a recently destroyed flower such a problem for someone who can travel between worlds?"
"Wait...you..." Gaster was smiling. "Of course! You can help!"
"I do beg your pardon?" Kain raised his eyebrow as he focused on Gaster.
"You revived the Sarafan by using your soul to force there's back into their body! The gift of vampire revival! You create a calling to their souls to come back!"
"You want the flower back?"
"No! Look!" Gaster pointed to the plant whilst with his other hand, he created a blue aura around the remaining container and brought it over to him. He opened it and used his powers to force the soul to remain instead of being released to the Lifestream. He made it float out of it's prison and towards the dead flower, being absorbed into it. "When Asriel has a monsters soul and a human soul, he is revived into a form more true to who he is! Call his soul back for him Kain! Allow both souls to be as one!"
Kain noticed something in the monsters voice.
That was pleading. Gaster was pleading to him to help.
...The vampire thought this over, looking carefully at Gaster, eventually deciding to return to where the flower was. "You know he will not be entirely himself if I do this. Like Raziel and the others he will be sired."
Gaster understood, nodding his head as he watched.
Kain reached up to his mouth, taking a long, continued breath as eventually a small dark purple fragment of his own soul escaped him, into between two of the claws on his hand, wisps of dark energy flowing off it.
He had indeed down this before. By forcing pieces of his soul out and breathing life into corpses, he could bring their souls back from the realms beyond, even after centuries had past. It's how he made his six chosen sons. One of them was Raziel once.
He lowered himself towards the plant, and whispered the name of it to the fragment he held. "Asriel Dreemurr..."
He placed the fragment of his own life-force onto the plant, causing it to briefly be covered in a purple aura...then silence.
Blood.
A massive puddle of blood suddenly formed around the dead plant, several times in length and width of the object the remains sinking into the liquid. Gaster and Kain stepped away as the blood soon seemed to begin to take the shape of a fleshy cocoon, elevating off the floor slightly.
They couldn't see within. Kain knew this would happen. The fact it was about the length and shape of a human corpse surprised him compared to the small flower previous.
The cocoon appeared soft and thinly held together when it first formed, but as minutes past the shell hardened, becoming darker in colour smelling of rotting flesh and sinew.
Kain moved towards it. It was now at waist height for him as he placed his hands on the middle of it. It would be interesting to see this one's reaction. The soul was already linked according to what Gaster said whereas the Sarafan had been separated entirely, losing their past memories.
Kain cracked the surface of the shell digging his claws in as blood spurted out and tore it away.
A gush of the liquid flooded out to the floor as the cocoon was broken into two halves falling away to the ground. Within that wave of blood was a body.
Long white ears and smaller horns than his father, silvery white fur covering him from head to toe with a tuft of it on top of his head. His body was slender and with slightly visible muscle. His hands ended with sharpened claws, his mouth bared two very visible fangs. He had pawed three-toed feet like the rest of his kin with also had sharp claws now.
He gasped for air as he lay in his naked state, his eyes shot open. Showing they were white slightly glowing irises with the sclera being very dark grey, the inside of his maw being the same colour as was his tongue.
He was confused, struggling to see as all he could was blurred shapes and colours, forcing his body to move and sit itself up, his lungs working overtime as was the rest of his body to adapt and remember how it all used to work.
Eventually the figure's eyes started to readjust. He could see the outline of two people, blinking as the light of the barrier kept hurting the eyes when it went by. The first person he soon recognized. His voice was no longer that high-pitch tone that the flower had. "G...Professor Gaster?"
Gaster bent down to him. "Asriel Dreemurr. Welcome back."
"The..." Asriel looked up, recognizing the light now. "We're, in the entrance. The barrier-"
"What do you recall?"
Asriel held his head with both hands, closing his eyes trying to think back. "I, I recall being, a flower. I recall coming through this place. I had become angry at you and...and him, for ruining my chance to be in one of my more powerful forms. I recall the sword plunging into me..."
Asriel opened his eyes and looked over to Kain. To him. Kain was covered in a faint divine light. It was like he saw the vampire completely different from before, instead of something to be feared...he was to be worshipped, to be obeyed, to be followed. "M...Master Kain. You, called to me. You allowed me to serve you in the mortal realm."
"Stand up." Kain told him.
Asriel did not hesitate. He forced his legs to carry his adult body.
"You require clothing."
"Yes master. But I fear whereas when I became this before many times throughout the cycles in the underground, I held far more power. I only have but one soul of each and it is hardly anything to speak of."
"I will teach you more of your magic in due time. With your masters permission of course." Gaster bowed a little towards Kain.
"You intend to follow me regardless. Do what you want with him." Kain seemed to eye Gaster up once more, before he made his way over to the barrier.
Gaster motioned to Asriel to follow and both soon joined him.
Kain stared at the magical wall. "So...I simply step through. I am a follower of Molag Bal, correct?"
"As a vampire, yes. I am too and so is Asriel thanks to you. We can all pass."
Kain stepped through it. A brief cold feeling rushed by him as he did, but nothing else.
Gaster and Asriel followed him.
All of them had gotten through without an issue, and beyond the barrier reality was now shown to them.
The cave entrance showed a cloudy night sky, the place held a few skeletons of humans, the air was warm and dry. Behind them the barrier remained, a wave of white and black energy.
They all walked towards the entrance, Asriel and Gaster eager to see the state of their world now.
But as they passed by a large rock formation. A voice came from it. One Gaster knew. Molag Bal. "So. It's finally happened. After so long. You Kain of all people, end this deal."
Stepping out from behind the rocks was the Daedra itself. "I must congratulate you. I never expected anyone to leave."
Kain looked annoyed at the creature. "So, you are the one who made vampires exist and expect our obedience."
"To an extent. I know you well enough that if I demand you to listen, you will fight."
"Of course."
"But even then I influence what you do. You are mine Kain, as is your companion here. For the effort it no doubt took you to get here, let alone leave. I will give you time to rest on this fallen world. My need to dominate Nosgoth can wait for a short time."
"I am conquering it for vampires to rule. Not you."
"Believe what you will mortal. For now I must end the barrier." Bal turned away from them and walked over to the magic that held the monsters away from the rest of the world.
Asriel now wanted to speak. "They will be set free at last?"
"Indeed...They will be brought to the present time so they can leave." The demon aimed his hand towards the barrier, a blood red ball of energy forming in it's hand. "Once they live through the two hundreds years they have missed!" With that he fired it.
The barrier shattering like glass, the force behind it knocked Kain, Asriel and Gaster out of the cave into the ashen trees and cliff-side of the mountain rolling down through the dirt, twigs and dried plantation.
Frisk and Raziel had just entered the old ruins, now inside the basement of Toriel's house running towards the stairs.
Frisk has the Time Crystal in her pocket whilst having a piggy back with Raziel, clinging onto his shoulders tightly. She had stopped crying for a while now, but it still hurts within her. They had seen things on the way.
Mettaton had fully shut down, the dust of all the monsters in the Core, Hotland, Waterfall and Snowdin, the remains of Papyrus and even the clothing of Toriel, crumpled up in the snow surrounded by that dust as she never even made it to the town…
She couldn't walk. Everything was numb. She wanted to sit there in Sans basement but Raziel got her moving again by getting her to go on his back. He wasn't going to let her give up after all this.
But now it didn't matter.
A powerful shockwave came rushing behind and all around them. Shaking and nearly causing Raziel to drop Frisk as everything seemed to...turn into a blur. The walls around them were rapidly decaying, mould was forming at an alarming pace, dust building up all around them as cobwebs forming and disappearing in a blink of an eye, odd shapes shot by them in instances and even through them several times.
Without realizing it, they were witnessing the underground going through it's 200 years of history that it had been avoiding, being left in the state that Kain left it, and starting at the moment the bombs strike the landscape.
Before long, the shockwave, blurriness and the rapid changes come to halt, knocking Frisk and Raziel off their feet as they land on the cracked, damaged ground of the basement.
It didn't take long for Raziel to recover. He forced himself onto his feet checking the state of the place.
The torches that lit this place up had long since been gone, the ground and walls looked like they were on the verge of collapsing. The smell of old water and moisture filled the air. The door leading out to Snowdin seemed in a far worse state now then mere moments ago, hanging off the hinges and rusted. The stairway into Toriel's house was crumbling and barely looked usable.
He saw Frisk on the ground and was a little relieved to see she was okay as she groaned and forced herself to sit up, looking around as well. "Wh-what happened?"
"I am not sure." Raziel waited for her to get on her feet before walking towards the damaged doors, grabbing and pulling them open to see what had happened to Snowdin.
Frisk went over and looked.
There was no snow. No forest. The ground had visible signs that it had been scorched by fire. The bridge leading into Snowdin was gone...beyond where it stood, was an ever increasing volume of black rock, rising higher and higher...there was ash flowing through the air, no water, no life.
They stepped out into the only part they could walk on, and headed over to where the bridge once stood, where so long ago now, Sans greeted Frisk with a whoopee cushion in his hand.
Frisk just stared, and soon she began to figure out what happened here. She wasn't stupid. She knew what Hotland contained. She remembered asking Alphys what if something made the magma rise upwards...the scientist told her it would take the Core overheating, major earthquakes of unusual levels or a major geographical change of the landscape.
One of them clearly has happened.
"...it's gone…it's all gone..."
It took them a while, but eventually they returned to Toriel's home. Climbing up the damaged stairway they found the house in ruin. Long since abandoned with no sign of life. The chairs long since destroyed, anything metal was unusable and rusted, the bedrooms a complete mess, the wallpaper had crumbled away along with a majority of books on the collapsed shelves.
As Frisk was trying to accept the way things were standing close to the wraith, Raziel had gone through the ruined books, looking for anything that would explain what happened to this place.
Eventually he found a few ruined books that seemed more like notebooks then the actual ones Toriel had. He read aloud what he found between the ruined pages which was enough to get them a picture of what happened.
"The barrier is gone. We are free yet as Dr Alphys led as to the entrance through the castle, she screamed at us to run away instead of leaving the underground. The shelter was cramped and now we couldn't leave this place after all the killings that happened?"
"Nuclear bombs. She said as she was about to step out she saw them come down and strike the human city. According to what she managed to get on a sudden update from the human channels she hadn't been able to watch for a long time, humanity has bombed itself."
"New Home has been evacuated as has Hotland and the old ruins. The Magma is rising slowly but surely. We can't leave the Underground. The radiation that infests the old ruin and new home blown in from the outside kills us too quickly, if not that it's the black rain falling from the sky. Our water levels are starting to lower and disappear. Snowdin is melting."
"Alphys is dead. She tried to stop Core from meltdown but it was far too late. Now the Magma is quickly reaching our walkways and homes. Waterfall has been evacuated. We trying to live in the old ruins but everyone is falling sick. Everyone is dying."
"The magma overflowed. Molag Bal will not save us. Snowdin and everywhere else is gone, submerged in the liquid heat. There is no water left. We cannot escape."
"There are only five of us left. We are dying. Let it be remembered that we survived here. We are monsters. A species that existed on this world, killed by humans as they killed themselves. There is nothing here for you." He looked at the last pages, noticing a date. "10th of November, 2082."
Frisk fell to her knees. She had zoned out, those words Raziel said repeating over and over in her head.
Nothing here for you.
Everyone is dying.
Nuclear bombs.
"I...I lived here...for 200 years...they all, died in five..."
"Child?" Raziel looked over to her.
"In 2077. I fell down here—no, I jumped. The world above, was breaking. There was little left, fuel was scarce. Everyone was tense. On the brink of total war. I ran from home. Dad died in Alaska. Mom. Mom was drinking. Our application for vault entry was denied. I ran away on the 22nd October in the evening about 4, 5 o'clock. Mom was asleep in her room. I just left with my cloths on my back. I heard stories of Mt Ebott. No one returning from it. I went through the cave and saw the hole down here...I just felt like I had nothing. The news before I left was all about the chance of Nuclear war coming any day now."
"I do not understand what you speak of, but it sounds like a powerful spell that causes the end of days." Raziel moved away from the ruined shelves and bent down near Frisk.
"You, you could say that. Hundreds of them being cast at once by all kinds of people. Killing eachother." Frisk laughed in a way that Raziel knew was not that of happiness or joy. "Now it's all happened. I've lived through it."
"I am sorry."
She looked down at the ground. She couldn't cry again. It was too painful. She was thirsty. "Now we're here. Alone...with the barrier gone. I suppose we could, try to go to the surface the way I fell but it's impossible to use the walls. There's no platforms. Nothing to hold onto. The rock surface is smooth."
"I can climb it." Raziel suggested. "You merely have to hold onto me again. I shall get us to the surface."
The child slowly forced herself back on her feet...she could see the outline of Toriel in the entranceway, smiling at her, in her eyes the home for a moment appeared like it was before. Then it quickly went back to it's rotten state.
It took them an hour.
Frisk was not rushing. She was taking small steady steps, looking around. She had been through here so many times. The ruins now felt deeply unwelcoming. An empty shell.
When they arrived at the spot Raziel arose from. The flowers had long since rotted away, a black patch of dirt remained where they once were. High above there was the dim light of the moon, barely visible from how high up it was, just showing the cave that housed this opening.
Raziel made his way over to the smooth flat surface of the cavern wall, looking up at the hole then towards Frisk. "Are you ready?"
She looked back to the way into the ruins.
She didn't want to leave.
She didn't want to say goodbye.
She saw them all. Memories in her mind. Brief flashbacks to the cycles, their faces smiling at her.
Frisk soon heard the footsteps of Raziel. He was beside her, his hand reaching out to her.
He didn't speak. Didn't need to. She held it as he walked over to the side of this place again bending down for her to climb on his back holding on tight.
He dug his talons into the stone, breaking the hard surface with ease as he started his ascent to the opening.
Frisk closed her eyes. She didn't want to look down nor up. It would only make her regret so much now.
Eventually, they made it.
Walking out of the cave, Raziel and Frisk were greeted to the moonlight, the starry sky above, the ruined trees dried earth and brittle bushes.
But in the distance, there was something Raziel hadn't seen before.
A city. A massive one though in a terrible state by the odd shape of the buildings, glowed with lights. Especially somewhere in the center of it all, a strong, greenish tint that seemed to stand out in the night.
She pointed to it. "I used to live all the way over there. Boston. It took me hours to get away. No one stopped me."
"Then perhaps we should head there first."
"...It's not going to be what I know." Frisk looked up at him.
"I too missed time. It led to the genocide of my clan. But you may be surprised what remains that you know of. Let us go." With that he began to climb down the mountain, Frisk following suit.
Close to the mountain there was a small settlement. The houses there had been roughly created, built long after the bombs came and went. The eight people who lived there had made a little farm for themselves and had been able to keep themselves afloat with the food it produced.
Now they were fleeing from it, no longer caring for their home as it had been invaded by three ghoul cannibals as far as they were concerned. Three cannibals that slaughtered a group of raiders who had come to extort bottlecaps off the settlers.
They at first believed they had been saved by the three ghouls, each vastly different from the other and one appeared more animal than man.
But soon one of the cannibals drank the blood of one of the raiders who helplessly screamed for their life before falling still, whilst another had descended on a fallen wounded raider and bit into its neck, doing the same as the other.
Then there was the strange weapons they used. Seemingly visible and coming from their hands. The one who had holes within his hands fired blue lasers that ripped through a couple of raiders, whilst the more humanoid cannibal made a raider seemingly levitate off the ground before blood erupted out of their neck and flowed into the creatures mouth.
The animal-like cannibal made two silver blades appear in his hands from out of thin air, hacking down the last raider that had fallen on his knees begging them to spare him, throwing the bottlecaps he had to them to try and pay them off.
Now all three stood in the light of the fire lit up in an old rusted barrel that had been placed in the middle of the settlement.
Kain, Gaster and Asriel.
The bodies of the raiders, who were fifteen men strong littered the site.
"I see humans are no different here than my world. Bandits and 'innocents'." Kain mused.
It had been a few hours for them since they had escaped the underground. The way they had left had caved in after Molag Bal destroyed the barrier. If there were any survivors, they were not escaping that way.
"The taste of blood...I've never experienced such a delight before. It's, kinda scary thinking about it compared to what I knew before this." Asriel wiped his blood soaked chin with his arm.
"Each time you feed you'll get stronger. Do not over indulge though. Gluttony can dull your senses and leave you open for killing." Kain looked over to him as he said this, before focusing back on the settlement. "Now, you told me we can find a way off this world Gaster."
When they first recovered from the fall, Gaster told him something that nearly made him strike the monster down.
He had no way of getting Kain back to Nosgoth. At least not straight away. What stayed Kain's hand was the reminder that were it not for Gaster, he would most likely cease to exist due to the paradox he created on his world.
"In the far south there is a group that are hidden off-worlders. The Enclave. While I doubt they will be willing to help you we can use their technology. The other choice is closer. Within the land now known as the Commonwealth, there lies the Institute. They appear to be isolated on this world but they too have ways off. We could approach them." Gaster went closer to the barrel, looking at the fire. "The last two places I can guess for us are Diamond City and Megaton. Both are entry points for Time Patrollers. Dressed in rag they blend in just fine while they observe the planet to see what the factions are up to. But Megaton will take days to reach like the Enclave. So our best options-"
"The Institute and Diamond City. We best move then. While I can tolerate sunlight to a degree, Asriel here has only been recently sired. I do not know if all of my gifts have passed over to him successfully."
Gaster nodded and showed Kain the way towards Diamond City, all three of them walking off into the darkness leaving the abandoned spot behind…
When out of the darkness from the path they had come from to get here, stood a man with a golden staff that had a golden eagle on top, wearing a gas mask, brown skin, dark brown knotted and twisted hair, yellow glowing iris' and a long sleeveless brown duster, bearing the word's united states flag on the back. "...Should we follow him and ask Alarak?"
Walking up beside him was a Protoss, standing at least a head taller than him. His skin was pale, wearing black menacing armor with a royal red cloth that surrounded his lower half, two red energy blades protruding from his armor's wrists that only matched his red glowing eyes. "Don't bother. Kain is being watched by Molag Bal very closely. Dragging that trouble along will cause problems. There is another though that we could target. He might be easier to sway. Hermaeus Mora hasn't got back in contact with him yet, and the child that is with him has no home left. They'll follow us Ulysses."
"Take me to them then."
"And waste your tracking skill? No. I'll take you to where they started from, but from there you need to hunt them. I'm not handing you followers for free, courier."
Alarak raised his hand up and clicked two of his fingers together, both he and Ulysses vanishing in a flash of white light.