Every game has stakes, and this one's stakes are way more than mere bragging rights.
The Royal Guard weren't considered by many a large group Their standards were strict, meant to be the composed by the very best guardians the Underground had to offer. Including Undyne, there were only forty-eight guards, all of them under the command of the King and the Queen of All Monsters, and although since quite some time ago there were divisions and dissensions among its members, all of them had the same goal in mind: the well-being and protection of monsterkind. So what if half of the Royal Guard supported Toriel and her orders more than Asgore? So what if those people reported only to Toriel and refused to follow Undyne's orders without talking about them with Toriel first? Undyne knew there were people loyal to her and Asgore, and it's to them that she'd ask their help.
"Listen up! There's a human in the Underground!" she started, shouting loudly to rouse up the few guards selected "This is our chance!"
"Uh...Captain, are you positive there's a human?" 046 asked, raising a paw.
"I saw her myself!" Undyne's emphatic reply made the five guards stand up straight. If Undyne said she saw a human, then there was no room for mistake "And she's dangerous. We must stop her before she hurts any more innocent monsters!"
025 shuddered, her armor clanking "N-No way!"
"She attacked an adult, she also attacked a child!" Undyne stomped on the ground, bits of stone scattering "We are going to stop her TONIGHT!" Her sentiment was echoed by the guards. A human - a dangerous one, to boot...of course she had to be stopped! The number of monsters a dangerous human, one truly aiming to kill, could be staggering. It was their duty to find her and make sure she wouldn't be able to hurt anyone else! All the guards present grabbed their weapons, psyching themselves up.
"Where is she, Captain? Tell us!" 027 demanded to know. Undyne, liking the guard's will and desire to get moving, grinned widely.
"Follow me! To Waterfall!"
It didn't take long for the six guards to arrive to the place where Undyne had seen the human girl at. There seemed to be nothing abnormal around. The rocks, the murmur of water, everything was normal. There wasn't even a bit of dust that could hint where a couple monsters died. Undyne grit her teeth, that just meant the water must have cleaned the remains of those monsters, or someone had taken It to their families! "Start looking! She must be nearby!"
"But if she was here yesterday then she must have gotten away. We must alert the King!" 023 proposed. Undyne knew he had a point, if that girl had gotten away from Waterfall then she must be trying to get to the Barrier...and through Asgore. She didn't want to say anything yet to the King, though. If the human girl was nearby there was no need to possibly cause panic in the capital.
"We're looking around first" she said in a tone that showed there was no room for argument. Undyne formed a magic spear and pointed with it towards the depths of Waterfall "This is the place where the human was seen. Start searching! Look under every rock, don't let anything go unchecked! Get moving, everyone!"
And they did. The six guards Undyne took with her did their best to look around, trying to find anything that could indicate where the human girl had gone to. Nobody, not even Undyne, seriously thought the human was hiding behind any random rock, but they all were hoping to find any sign of where she could have gone.
01 and 02 were the ones who managed to find what Undyne had hoped to see. "Over here" 02 said, entering a corridor where luminescent mushrooms hung from the ceiling and littered the floor. The two of them slowly traversed the corridor, looking around with attention, until 01 found the crevice.
"Bro? You think the human went down here?" 01 laid on the floor to try to peer into the crevice, finding a hole at the bottom. 02 shrugged in response, but it was a possible way. Reporting it to Undyne was the right thing to do, though, she immediately followed them to the crevice, followed by 025.
"Good job" Undyne praised, clapping 02 on the back with a lot of force, something the stoic dragon took without even reacting. 025, being the smallest guard, descended into the crevice to see how far it went.
"There's a tunnel, captain! It's dark, but it goes on and on!"
"Keep walking, quick!" Undyne ordered. 025's metallic steps vanished into the distance. The rest of the guards waited, not saying anything beyond exchanging unsure glances. This could be nothing; or this could be just what they were looking for. The hardest part was to wait. Undyne had a tense expression, clenching and unclenching her fists, until after a couple minutes the steps started approaching. 025 was running, judging by how quick her steps sounded. "Ca-Captain, you won't believe this!"
"Is she there?"
"I didn't see her, but – I saw a human...I think there's more than one here. They even have a tiny village over there!"
Undyne could only stare, both baffled and surprised. There was no pleasure or joy, it was more like for a moment she didn't know what to do. More than one human? How...how did many humans settle down in the Underground? How long had they been around? Should she have noticed something?
But this wasn't the time for thinking, it was time for moving. Undyne would leave the thinking for later, what mattered now was that this was their chance to obtain SOULs. "01, 02, you two stay here. Stop anyone who tries to go in or out of this tunnel. If a human comes by, defeat them"
"Right, captain"
"Yes"
Undyne turned to everyone else "The rest of us will go inside. Follow me! We're ending this tonight!"
-ooooo-
It was late in the night when the attack to the Hidden Village happened.
Mere hours earlier the thought that soon they'd all be attacked hadn't even crossed Syphus' mind. He had felt sure this place was well hidden, that no monster would find them. He had gone to sleep at Cohen's cabin, just like he had done many nights before, he made a SAVE point and went to sleep. It wasn't until someone started hitting the door very loudly that he woke up.
"...hmmmmm...?" he sat on his mattress, rubbing his eyes "Who is it?"
"Wake up and escape!" someone shouted before running away. It was Byssa, he recognized her voice. Syphus stood up, rather groggy, and slowly walked to the door, not realizing how bad the situation was. Only when he opened the door and stepped outside he realized what was going on: The Royal Guard had found the village.
It didn't seem like a battalion or anything had come. Instead there were just five or six monsters around. In normal circumstances they wouldn't be a match for a group of humans truly determined to fight back. The humans could even kill them, if they felt it was necessary to survive! The problem was that none of the humans of the Hidden Village wanted to kill monsters. That, coupled with how the Royal Guard had arrived during the night and caught the humans by surprise, gave the monsters an advantage they wouldn't have otherwise, advantage that'd prove to be decisive.
There were no dog monsters. All monsters had armors, covering them enough for Syphus to be unable to be sure what they were like. All of the attackers had the same black and dark blue armor, fitted with fins, space for ears, everything so the monsters inside would be comfortable. There were more important matters than knowing for sure what the monsters looked like, though. Syphus yelped and rushed back inside the cabin, looking around frantically. The halberd! Where's the halberd?! It was there, beside the mattress. Syphus took it and inhaled noisily, steeling himself. Could the situation be salvaged?
Syphus rushed outside the cabin, holding the halberd high, so rattled and scared he completely forgot about the firefly brooch and the illusion it carried. All the guards saw him as one human more, just that this one held a dangerous weapon with him. The piece took a look around, evaluating the situation.
A couple guards were kicking down the door to one of the cabins – Celia's cabin – while Byssa tried to stop them, shouting and attempting to attack them. She wasn't a spring chicken anymore, although she jumped and tried to kick as ferociously as possible, the monsters dodged her with ease, until one of them decided to stop her. "Ah...heeelp!" she screamed once the guard pointed their sword at her, a thin magic bullet coming out of it and crossing the air towards Byssa. The woman barely managed to avoid it before jumping behind Celia's cabin, disappearing from sight. The guard who continued kicking the door finally tore it open, a violent CRACK echoing in the cavern.
"Stop that!" Syphus shouted, running towards Celia's cabin, but before he could get there an irregularly-shaped magic bullet flew right in front of his face, stopping him in his tracks. Another guard had seen them, having heard Syphus' shout, and was arriving to stop him, aiming at the halberd to knock it off Syphus' hands. The monster missed, and Syphus saw no more option than run away. Where's everyone else?! Graham, Annie, Cohen, where are them?! He looked around frantically. Over there! There was Ciruel.
Ciruel was running towards the exit of the village, jumping up the wooden staircase as fast as he could. Ananas was near it, screaming like a madwoman and holding her gun, aiming at the guard coming at her. She wasn't trying to shoot, though. Her fingers trembled, she looked like she was about to faint. And to a side, right near to the sentry station...Cohen laid on the floor, limp and seemingly uninjured. He had been the first and only human so far to be defeated, that much was clear: the monster right beside him was holding an orange SOUL. The armor, the red plume on her helmet, it all made her unmistakable.
"HOW DARE YOU?!" Syphus screamed at Undyne, running towards her, seeing red. She had done it, she had killed Cohen. It was to be expected the guardian of the village would be the first to fall, but that didn't mean he deserved it. Syphus jumped forward, raising the halberd high, but Undyne wasn't worried at all. She grinned and stepped back, cradling the orange SOUL in one hand. Dodging the halberd strike was very easy, she identified Syphus as an amateur.
"Yeah, now we're talking! Raise that halberd of yours, you'll fight me!" she seemed way more excited than she should be, in Syphus' opinion. The piece merely growled, shuddering in anticipation of what he expected to be an even fight.
It was nothing like an even fight. The combination of the late hour and his lack of skill worked against him. Undyne was a well-trained and strong soldier, the Captain of the Royal Guard, while Syphus wasn't neither in top shape nor knew how to use a halberd effectively. Undyne was nothing like the Shadows, too.
Undyne made a spear, swinging it in Syphus' direction and turning his SOUL green. It was now impossible for him to run away, and although he wasn't given a spear to defend himself, Undyne expected him to use the halberd as a shield. "Take this!" small arrows formed around, zooming towards Syphus, forcing him to interrupt any attempt to reach Undyne, instead having to block the arrows.
Arrows impacted against the halberd. Syphus managed to stop the first barrage, and then dashed forward, directing the spike of the halberd towards Undyne. She stopped grinning and raised an arm, intending to block the spike with her armor. Right before the spike made contact, Syphus felt himself losing the intent he had about hurting Undyne. No, he couldn't do that...he wasn't in this place to kill. He couldn't kill...right?
The doubts greatly diminished any attack power Syphus had. The spike clashed against Undyne's armored arm, a metallic noise echoing. Undyne winced and stepped back, conjuring more arrows in the air.
"Wait! I'll help!" Ananas tried to approach, but the guard she had been dealing with – 027 – stuck her sword into the ground, magic bullets shaped like leaves erupting in front of Ananas, stopping her. Syphus glanced for a second before focusing back in his own fight. That moment was enough for Undyne, taking advantage of this mistake to summon several spears in the air.
With a cry of war, the spears whooshed through the air towards Syphus, forcing him to move. Dodging every single spear was unlikely for someone like him, who not only was a full-grown adult instead of a small child, he also wasn't as nimble. Some of the spears touched him, sending a strange painful sensation throughout his body, focusing into his chest. The small piece of SOUL that gave him an identity felt the brunt of the magic attack, half of his HP disappearing immediately. I can't let myself die...!
Undyne was relentless. Noticing her attacks did manage to make a dent in Syphus' health, she turned his SOUL green again, forcing him to defend himself against more small arrows. She hated the thought of playing with one's foe, what she wanted to do was wear Syphus down until he'd be defeated as quick as possible. Undyne wasn't some kind of sadist, even if her intent was to obtain a SOUL she didn't want to make things longer unnecessarily. All of her thoughts were focused on trying to touch Syphus with any of the bullets again.
The moment his SOUL returned to normal, Syphus lunged forward, aiming with the blade of his halberd to Undyne's shoulder. Undyne would have been more than capable to dodge it, but she felt confident. The blow of the halberd did hurt, but she didn't falter, a loud clank of metal against metal resounding. Syphus, emboldened, tried to swing the halberd from a side, but she wasn't going to let him hit her again. She caught the halberd in her left hand. In a second he pulled from it, dragging Syphus towards her. The piece yelped, surprised, and barely had time to react when Undyne's right fist swung towards him.
She hit him right in the solar plexus. Syphus was thrown in the air and crashed against the rock wall, falling in a heap on the ground, coughing. Everything hurt, he wanted nothing more than lie down and rest, but that wasn't an option. Undyne sighed. "That's enough. You fought valiantly but losing isn't an option for me"
"I won't...lose..." Syphus coughed, wheezing for breath, and buried the bottom of the halberd pole between the rocks, using it to stand up. It took him a whole minute, more than enough time for Undyne to have attacked again, but she didn't. She was looking at him with a strange mix of concern and a stoic determination to defeat him. Syphus bared his teeth, trying to ignore his aching body, and clutching the halberd. "Give back...g-give that SOUL..." Instead of replying, the Captain of the Royal Guard swung her spear, the arrows appearing again, all of them above him. Seven, eight, nine arrows descended in a row. Blocking them was easy, Syphus raised the halberd and blocked them all with the pole of the halberd. Each time an arrow made contact, the bamboo creaked, each arrow causing more and more damage, until it broke.
The bamboo, not resisting the constant hits on the same place, snapped in half. Syphus felt a knot of dread inside him, pieces of bamboo fell on him. "Nooo!" Syphus howled, dropping the pieces of his broken weapon and cowering against the wall.
"It's over" Undyne said before several large magic spears materialized around her, aiming at Syphus. Syphus could only stare, defeated, before all the spears came crashing down on him. Not a single one made a wound, all of them pierced and went through him without leaving a mark. All his HP depleted, unable to withstand the assault. What happened next happened in the span of a second or two, but to Syphus it felt much longer than that.
It was the strangest sensation Syphus had ever experienced. He felt numb, no pain at all. Slowly, as if he didn't understand what was going on, he stumbled forward, dazed. His vision started to fade, soon he felt strangely light, while he faintly realized he was turning pitch black, all of him. The tiny red piece of SOUL given to him by the witch he belonged to came out of him while he fell to the floor, the SOUL shattered without leaving a trace.
And during all that, Ananas screamed with horror, seeing it all happen.
Syphus didn't even reach the floor before he vanished in a puff of black smoke and red particles, like any lesser Shadow.
...
...
...
The goal had been achieved. After centuries of imprisonment, monsterkind finally had the necessary SOULs to be freed. The Royal Guard's efforts provided of seven SOULs, taken to King Asgore before the night ended. Despite it being the early hours of the morning, the word about the SOULs spread throughout the Underground almost immediately. Everyone gathered at New Home, wanting to see with their own eyes how the Barrier would be shattered once and for all.
The King didn't take the SOULs immediately, and although the Queen was told the SOULs had been obtained, she never arrived to New Home to see it by herself. It took a lot of convincing by Undyne for Asgore to decide to use the SOULs. Everyone gathered at the capital gasped at the sight of their king turned god. It was the most intimidating and the most wonderful sight they had ever witnessed.
Asgore raised his trident and, with a single move, he broke the Barrier. The noise was monumental, heard in every corner of the Underground, and after it vanished for a moment everyone was silent. Nobody could believe freedom was so close, but it was true...they were free. Astonishment turned into euphoria, all monsters hurried back to their homes to share the news and prepare to leave the Underground. During the celebration, Asgore waited for the Queen to come, but she never did.
Not everyone chose to leave the Underground immediately. Only a few decided to go, leaving the rest behind while they made the first contact with humans. It shouldn't be too difficult. The nearest human city was around five hours away, from what the monsters could see from Mt. Ebott. They had time to plan how they'd make first contact. King Asgore went with a small group of monsters, hoping to bring good news.
Monsterkind's joy did not last not even one hour.
xx/xx/21xx
RE: Mt. Ebott
Sir:
The Barrier was shattered. Monsters emerged 43 minutes later. Confrontation. The seven weren't with them, presumed dead. Retaliation protocol ensued. King surrendered, other monsters were defeated and killed.
Troops entered the mountain to retrieve human bodies. No problems so far.
-Sergeant Roger Wilco, Third Brigade.
GAME RESULT:
Celia: Dead. Her SOUL was sacrificed to open the Barrier.
Cohen: Dead. His SOUL was sacrificed to open the Barrier.
Byssa: Dead. Her SOUL was sacrificed to open the Barrier.
Ciruel: Dead. His SOUL was sacrificed to open the Barrier.
Graham: Dead. His SOUL was sacrificed to open the Barrier.
Ananas: Dead. Her SOUL was sacrificed to open the Barrier.
Frisk: Dead. Their SOUL was sacrificed to open the Barrier.
Syphus: Dead. A failure, nothing more.
Asgore – Dead. Surrendered despite his powers.
Toriel – Missing. Losing six children in one night...
Asriel – Dead. That never changed.
Chara – Dead. It's doubtful their spirit will ever find peace.
Sans – Alive and hiding.
Papyrus – Dead. Innocent casualty.
Undyne – Dead. Fought valiantly.
Alphys – Missing. Was the guilt about her carelessness too much for her to endure?
Mettaton – Alive and trying to survive on the surface.
Burgerpants - Dead. Innocent casualty.
9% of the monsters in the Underground died. How many will more die in the future?
The winner is Cornio. All humans in the Underground are dead. Monsterkind is not going to be okay.
-ooooo-
Cornio's narration was very grim. Despite having won the game, there was absolutely no joy in his voice. It sounded monotone and defeated, he didn't even look up from the board. "...I win" he muttered, knocking over with a bishop the pawn that represented Syphus, cornering the king.
"...what?" Sisyphus stared at the board in disbelief. Really? He had lost? That was how the timeline was going to end?!
"You were warned. Not even a single human SOUL must be used to shatter the Barrier" Lucia said, staring at the ceiling. She sounded...upset.
"B-But – wait a second, everyone is dead?! That's ridiculous! It can't be that everyone –" Sisyphus passed his hands through his hair. Had he played so badly this was the end result? "There has to be a way to fix this. I refuse to let the game end like this!"
Cornio raised his head, looking at Sisyphus with indescribable expression. "Yes, let's fix this! Syphus can SAVE and LOAD, you need to return to an earlier point! When's the last time he made a SAVE point?" Sisyphus had been about to reply when Lucia punched the board, making the chess pieces jump up. With a swift move she suspended the pieces in the air, taking the board and turning it around. A small crystal emerged from it, and from the crystal Lucia extracted a golden thread: the timeline itself.
"Okay, you two seriously need the guidance of someone experienced. You're lucky I'm here" she definitely wasn't in good mood "You two must understand that actions have consequences. Tell me this: what led to this bad ending?"
"Undyne found the village, that's it" Sisyphus replied.
"But that's because Alphys left the disc where Undyne could find it"
"I can't control Alphys, I have only my piece right now, and the SAVE point is after he returned to the village. It's too late to stop Alphys"
"Run to the lab, quick!"
"I don't think I can arrive before Undyne!"
"Then—wait. I know!" Cornio's face lightened up "Distract her! If you can distract Undyne you could arrive to the lab before her!"
"But how can I distract her? It's the middle of the night, there are no monsters I can control"
"I...I don't know. There must be a way!" For someone who had cornered Sisyphus he sure seemed a bit clueless about how exactly it had happened.
Lucia, stretching and examining the timeline attentively, started moving the chess pieces in the air. "You two are focusing too much at the present, you need to look at past days. Let me put it like this: how can you convince Undyne to not to want to kill humans for their SOULs?"
"Frisk usually did it. They'd have to FIGHT her first—"
In that moment, Sisyphus sank in his seat, staring at the floating pieces with disbelief. ...no way... "It's my fault. I made a mistake"
"W-What? What do you—"
"I got Frisk to stay in Snowdin all this time...that's it, that's what I did wrong. If I hadn't – maybe they'd have met Undyne and survived..." he sighed. He was so stupid, at the time it had seemed like a reasonable thing to do, but now...
"Oh" Cornio looked at him sympathetically "It's not your fault, you were trying to protect Frisk"
"I should have looked for some other way!"
"It was a good decision at the time, you couldn't have known it'd end like this" Cornio tried to sound encouraging, but Sisyphus didn't seem fully convinced yet "And this is your chance to fix it, you can think of something!" He was right, and Sisyphus knew it, but still...
The crystal fueling the gameboard descended back where it came from, the chess pieces settled back on the surface. It had all been rewinded to the moment of the SAVE point, to the smallest detail. "Try to focus on the immediate crisis, and once that's solved do what you need to do with Frisk"
"I'm not sure how I can—"
"And you, Cornio" Lucia talked with a severe tone she didn't use often "I know you want everyone to be okay instead of causing everyone's doom, but don't you dare holding back. You need to play like you mean it" Cornio didn't reply to that. Satisfied, Lucia leaned back on her seat, making a cup of tea appear on her hand and making a flourish with her other hand "You may continue now"
-ooooo-
Syphus blinked several times, realizing belatedly he was alive. His memories were hazy, the last thing he remembered was the spears coming towards him. Maybe it was for the better he didn't remember the exact moment his last HP depleted, but the mere memory of that made Syphus furious momentarily. "Oh, come on!" he shouted, kicking the wall of Cohen's cabin and earning aching toes. While Syphus jumped on one foot, regretting kicking the solid cottage, Cohen came out of it.
"What happen—did you just kick my cabin?" Cohen quickly made the connection, but there wasn't much time to argue about it. Without even bothering to apologize, Syphus turned around and started running towards the stairs that led outside of the village, trying to ignore the pain on his toes "Where are you going?!"
"I forgot something!" Syphus shouted without looking back. By his calculations from the information the witch controlling him had funneled into his head, he didn't have more than ten or so minutes before Undyne arrived to the laboratory. The advantage was that Syphus was near the laboratory already, given the location of the Hidden Village, so he had a bit of time to think of a way to distract Undyne so he could arrive first to the laboratory. There has to be a way...I have to think of something! He thought while activating the firefly brooch to disguise himself.
What he hadn't expected nor was properly conveyed in the information the witch gave him was how fast Undyne was. He had just seen the main road not too far away – the only way to enter Hotland, as far as he knew – when Undyne passed by, running at full speed. "Already?!" Syphus gasped, instinctively slowing down for a moment before trying to increase his speed. There was no time for hesitation now! Taking out the halberd and throwing it aside to be able to run faster, Syphus set to try to reach Undyne.
That was an impossible task. Undyne not only was more athletic, younger and had the advantage of already being ahead by a lot, she also focused hard in everything she did, so right now she was fully focused with running towards the lab. Syphus wasn't even close to reaching her, she always stayed quite some distance ahead. If it wasn't because there was only one way into Hotland Syphus would have thought he had lost sight of her. The perspective of failing and all the humans dying again was one he wanted to avoid at all costs. Syphus forced himself to ignore how tired he felt, how his legs were starting to cramp and how the air in Waterfall hindered his sight and made him feel more winded than he should be, he had to reach her! She couldn't be allowed to enter the lab!
The most he was able to do was close the distance a bit. By the time Undyne turned the corner near the large electronic sign that welcomed people to Waterfall, Syphus was barely going underneath the stone arch where she usually waited for Frisk. Syphus could see her in the distance, a light blue shape moving at considerable speed towards Hotland. Syphus tried to shout, say something to stop her, but he was unable to, he had no air in his lungs. As if that was what his body had been waiting for, he started slowing down, having reached his limits. Away, in a straight line, was Undyne, running through the bridge after the sentry station. She'd get to the laboratory doors in matter of seconds. In a desperate attempt to try to stop her, Syphus inhaled, gasping like a fish, and poured the very little energy he had left in screaming as loudly as possible.
"WAAAAAAAAAAAAAYIIIEEEEEEEIIIIIIIIIIIT!"
That wail was so incredibly undignified and shrill Syphus couldn't believe he had made that sound. A simple word like 'wait' had gotten distorted that much? At least it seemed to have done what he wanted, because Undyne stopped, just a few feet away from the doors, and turned around. Syphus, grabbing his knees and more tired than he had felt in a long time, weakly waved at Undyne. She looked at him, back at the laboratory, and decided to approach Syphus. He may need help, after all.
"You okay?" she inquired once she was close enough to take a better look at him. Syphus, hunched over and with his hands on his knees, gasped and wheezed.
"...h-help...you have...Undyne...wait..."
"What? What is it?"
What am I supposed to say now?! At least he had her attention, but he needed to get her go away for the enough time for him to enter the laboratory. He needed two things: something urgent that merited such a panicked behavior, and a location that wasn't so far away it'd be suspicious. ...I better be careful... "Human...I saw a human..."
"What?!" she would have grabbed him from the shoulders if he hadn't been so obviously fatigued "Where?!"
"Uh...I saw a human in—I saw them at—" Scratch that, it had to be close enough to where they were right now and far enough from the Hidden Village for them to not be in any danger. There weren't that many places that fit such requirements, but maybe, just maybe... "...the garbage dump"
Undyne looked towards Waterfall. The garbage dump wasn't too far away, she could go, check it and return, all in no time. It wasn't like she could risk not taking a look. Humans were a matter of utmost importance. "Got it" Undyne nodded, immediately running away towards the place indicated. Syphus watched her run away, gathering his breath, before he shambled towards the laboratory, moving as if he was going to trip and fall at any moment. He managed to get to the steel doors, and knocked on them.
After a few seconds that seemed like hours to Syphus, the doors parted. "S-Syphus? What are you doing here?"
"I forgot something..." Syphus stumbled inside, starting to recover his energy "Sorry, I'll be gone in a minute"
"Uh, that's fine, I guess..." as long as it was just a minute she was fine with that. Syphus looked around, pretending to look at the floor but instead he was paying attention to his surroundings. Over there! There was his target, that DVD case on that desk. Syphus slowly approached it, still looking around "What are you looking for?"
"It's a tiny thing, hm..." he had arrived close to the desk, but he couldn't take it without Alphys noticing. "Hey, what's that?" Syphus pointed in the opposite direction. While Alphys looked in that direction – and Syphus mentally slapped himself for such a childish and stupid distraction – he quickly took the DVD case, hiding it behind his back right before Alphys turned around. "Oh, sorry, I think it was nothing"
"R-Right...did you find the thing you were looking for?"
"Yeah! I did, so I'm going to leave now. Thanks, Alphys, I owe you one" before he could move towards the doors somebody knocked on them. Crap, not now! They opened quickly, revealing Undyne. The greeting Undyne was going to give Alphys was forgotten once she saw Syphus.
"There was no human in the garbage dump!"
"Human in the garbage d-dump...?" Alphys looked between Undyne and Syphus, confused "What's she talking about?"
"Uh, there must be an explanation for that—"
"Then say it, punk!" Undyne narrowed her visible eye. Syphus, trying to open the DVD case behind his back and trying to take out the disc, smiled sheepishly, his feathers fluffing up until he looked like a particularly puffy half-plucked chicken.
"Maybe I saw one of the garbage piles in an odd angle and thought it was...a human?" an awkward silence fell on the room. Undyne didn't believe that excuse at all, her expression showed it. Alphys noticed it too, and although she didn't fully understand what was going on, she nodded.
"Th-that's plausible, the junk piles have some s-strange shapes, Undyne"
"I know!" Undyne threw her hands in the air, exasperated. She knew very well that was possible and couldn't prove that wasn't what happened. She had no reason to think that feathered monster was lying "Hey, Alphys! There's a camera in the garbage dump, right? Let's see it!"
In that moment the DVD case slipped from Syphus' hand, falling to the floor with a clattering noise. Thankfully, the disc was safe on Syphus' hands. "Uh, but that's not GOING-!" Syphus shouted, trying to disguise the sound of snapping the disc in half "—to prove much, right?"
"Of course it will! If there's no human at all at any time—"
"Uh, Undyne? I..." Alphys intertwined her claws "The camera in the garbage dump is, uh, broken"
Undyne facepalmed. "Are you serious?!"
"Y-yes, my cameras seem to break easily. The other d-day, that camera in Waterfall—"
"I know!" Undyne removed her hand from her face "Jeez, Alphys, you should invent some way to protect the cameras" There wasn't really a way to check if there was ever a human in the garbage dump, and honestly Undyne didn't feel like calling for a witch hunt through Waterfall without knowing for sure there really was a human around. That would be a waste of time and resources, and she was the Captain of the Royal Guard, it was her responsibility to lead the guards with relatively efficiency. She would rather to fight and look for a human, but logistics were also a part of the job. Frustrated, she grabbed the DVD case Syphus had dropped, turning it around in her hands "Why are you being so suspicious, whoever you are?!"
"I'm not being suspicious!" Syphus blurted out, unsure of how to reply. Undyne put the DVD case aside, not even bothering to open it. He didn't do all this circus just to try to borrow or steal Alphys' anime, right?
"Whatever" she turned around to Alphys "Are you feeling better now? You sounded strange in that earlier call"
"I'm fine" Alphys said. Undyne sighed and went upstairs. She trusted Alphys, not even doubting for a second Alphys was lying. Once the Captain was gone, Alphys sighed, taking off her glasses and rubbing her eye "I'm sorry about Undyne, Syphus, she hates when things reach a dead end..." she put her glasses back on "D-Did you...really see a human at th-the garbage dump?"
"No. Thanks for backing me up, Alphys" Syphus inserted the pieces of disc in the sleeves of his track jacket. Alphys nodded, lowering her voice.
"You're p-protecting a human...right?"
"...I can't answer that. I'm not saying I am, though"
"N-No, it's okay, you don't need to answer" Alphys looked down "...I understand...but Undyne is going to find out about the humans in the Underground at some point...and I don't know yet if it'll be because I'll tell her" at some point she had to tell Undyne, that's what she thought. There was no way she'd be able to keep the secret from Undyne forever, Alphys thought, then again...she had kept from Undyne a few secrets for quite some while...
...was she getting used to lying to Undyne? That mere thought made Alphys want to go confess to Undyne everything she had hidden from her, but she didn't move. She had too much fear to consider it seriously.
Once Syphus left the laboratory, Alphys took the DVD case, opening it and finding there was nothing inside. Just like she suspected, Syphus had taken it. Outside, while crossing the bridge to Waterfall, Syphus took out of his sleeves the pieces of disc and let them fall into the lava that was far in the depths of the cavern.
It was done. The Hidden Village would continue hidden for longer.
-ooooo-
Sisyphus looked away from the board, relaxing immensely. It had been difficult, but he had managed to do it, his piece had ensured the humans' survival for a while longer. "Done! And the next day I'll ask Frisk to continue their journey...that should be enough"
"It should be!" Cornio was much more relaxed now. He had been less skillful this time than before, and he hoped Lucia hadn't noticed. He looked at the arcane witch, who was staring at him. Even with her blindfold, Cornio felt the drilling stare of disapproval. Oops, she knew. Lucia put aside the teacup, standing up from her seat.
"I'm leaving for a while. Continue without me" she said, exiting the parlor. Wow. She could be a childish when things didn't go like she wanted, Sisyphus knew that, but he didn't think she'd do that in front of a guest.
"Don't pay attention to her. I don't think you played badly" Sisyphus said. Cornio frowned and shrugged, a bit uncomfortable.
"She noticed I wasn't doing my best. I could have encouraged Undyne to be more assertive"
"Oh?" Sisyphus leaned forward, looking at Cornio with more attention. That was a meaningful statement! "I thought you had made Undyne confront me"
Cornio touched lightly the top of one of his bishop pieces, talking softly and with melancholy. "I don't like the idea of controlling people. That's not what I want to do"
"Then how do you play?"
"You know that little voice in your head that sometimes sounds like it gives you advice and encouragement and tells you when you're doing something bad?"
"You mean one's conscience?"
"Yes! Like that" Cornio's arm raised, outside of the trench coat he had hanging from his shoulders. He's not wearing that thing? "It's better than forcing people to do what one wants, right? I wouldn't like that happening to me..."
"I agree with you about that" Not that it stopped Sisyphus from exerting some minor control over some of the monsters in the Underground...even if he didn't like it. So far the only moment he had done it was with the Snowdin guards, to rough up Frisk a bit. And I'm not going to do it again. Cornio hadn't forgotten about it at all, though. He looked at Sisyphus with strange expression, one that made Sisyphus feel especially self-conscious. Feeling the need to defend himself more, Sisyphus hurried to add: "And my piece is pretty much me, created from my SOUL, it's not like he's a separate entity from me"
"...I know..." Cornio's expression gained a tinge of sadness before looking away. Uh? What was that? Sisyphus was sure he had seen...sadness and guilty, but why? He had just mentioned a simple fact; why did it warrant such reaction?
Cornio avoided looking at Sisyphus, hiding a bit inside his trench coat. "Did I say something wrong?" Sisyphus inquired, Cornio simply shook his head. Seeing that Cornio's strange reaction, he decided to ask something else "Okay, changing topic. Is this your first game?"
The other witch raised his head, once again his face acquiring an expression that showed he was trying very hard not to show too much emotion "Kind of? It's the first time I play with a gameboard"
"What do you mean?"
"You know...my life before I was a witch" That was self-explanatory.
"What kind of life was it?"
"I don't like to talk about it, but I wasn't...I wasn't a good person. Please don't make me say more" Cornio closed his eyes "I don't want to think about it"
That was enough for Sisyphus. "Oh...I'm sorry. I didn't mean to—"
"It's okay. What happened in the past doesn't mean that much anymore" his voice turned more resolute, like he was imparting an important lesson "What matters is what one does in the present. When I was acknowledged as a witch ten years ago-"
"You're just ten years old?!" That was even younger than Sisyphus! "How old were you when you were human?" The silence told Sisyphus the interruption wasn't good at all "I'm sorry. Continue"
"Ten years ago I decided I'd make amends for everything. So that's what I want to do, now that I have all this power and I can oversee a world that means I can make amends" he narrowed his eyes, thinking "Because that's what witches do, right? We oversee worlds and try to make things better...I think"
"...you don't know?"
"It's been ten years and there's a lot I don't understand about being a witch"
You feel you understand Cornio a bit more.
The Unusual Witch Social Link has reached Rank 2!
Your power to create Personas of the Death Arcana has grown!
Cornio nudged a pawn forward. "I don't like these games...this is the first one I play and I already want it to end as soon as possible"
"It could have ended not too long ago, and with a victory for you" Not that Sisyphus wanted that at all.
"I know, but I don't want to win and destroy monsterkind"
Sisyphus raised his eyebrows. "I didn't think you'd care about them...I thought you were like Lucia, like she says almost all witches are: only caring about entertainment"
"Then I'm not like most witches" Cornio looked at Sisyphus' eyes "What about you? Are you like most witches?
Do you care about all these monsters and humans?"
"Of course I do!" Sisyphus' reply was immediate, even raising his voice as if that was the most stupid question ever asked "All those humans are my friends, and the monsters don't deserve to be destroyed. I want to set them all free"
The answer seemed to please Cornio, he smiled. "That's what I hoped to hear. Want to keep going?"
"Let's do it" Sisyphus examined the position of the pieces, meditating his next move. Cornio wasn't like Sisyphus thought he'd be; he wasn't just a random opponent Lucia had found who knew where. He clearly deviated from Lucia's 'stave boredom no matter what' philosophy regarding games and tales, and it was impossible she didn't know it. Why did she bring him here, then?
...now that he thought about it, Lucia was behaving a bit unusual. She was meddling with both of them, but for the most part she was content to be a spectator – and sometimes aid Sisyphus, but not that much. Usually she was very hands-on, wanting to take part of everything. If Sisyphus had to define her personality, she'd describe her as an overbearing woman, with a personality that required a lot of patience to deal with. She wasn't too different on that regard – she was still as annoying as usual – but Sisyphus couldn't avoid thinking that there was something about her that made him be in high alert.
What was going on with Lucia?
CHECKMATE IN ZERO MOVES - AVERTED
CHECK IN TWO MOVES
SOCIAL LINKS:
Fool - Frisk - RANK 4
Magician - Burgerpants - RANK 1
Priestess - Alphys - RANK 2
Empress - Toriel - RANK 2
Emperor - Cohen - RANK 3
Hierophant - Ciruel - RANK 2
Lovers - ? - RANK 0
Chariot - Ananas - RANK 5
Justice - ? - RANK 0
Hermit - ? - RANK 0
Fortune - ? - RANK 0
Strength - ? - RANK 0
Hanged Man - ? - RANK 0
Death - Cornio - RANK 2
Temperance - ? - RANK 0
Devil - ? - RANK 0
Tower - ? - RANK 0
Star - Lucia - RANK 1
Moon - ? - RANK 0
Sun - Papyrus - RANK 2
Judgment - Team - RANK 1
Aeon - Syphus - RANK 2
Jester - Alphonse - RANK 2