(14)
L was currently ambling about Alphys' lab while the reptile monster herself sat at her incredibly cluttered desk. She was using its smaller monitor to go through various camera feeds while digging up notes on the puzzles of Hotland that she had stashed away. She was attempting to compile as much as she could, she viewed the patterns of the steam-powered launching platforms, the conveyor belts, lasers… she seemed incredibly absorbed with the task.
L had gone up the strange moving staircase on the eastern end of the building and the bookshelves that were now just before him had piqued his interest. He reached out to the first one of the books that caught his eye, the spine was labeled "Known History of Humans, Weaponry." He carefully opened the older looking book to a random page and read.
'...for how long we were able to observe humans, we took note of just how adept they were at making weaponry. Whereas many monster weapons are magically summoned and usually spear-like in nature, human weapons are varied and can be incredibly complex in many ways. Humans also have a knack for creating weapons that can be just as simplistic as ours, but are far deadlier due to their physical nature, inflicting numerous types of physical traumas that can't be easily replicated with our magical soul-damaging weapons. As an analysis of the war, it can easily be seen why we did so poorly. Our attacks were aimed at the incredibly tough souls of the humans, and theirs were aimed at our physically weaker manifested bodies. It is no wonder how they were capable of killing-'
L closed the book curtly and replaced it, he didn't want to read much more of that.
L was about to explore more of the top floor, but before he could do so Alphys came up the moving stairs with a binder in her hands. "I got the plans for what's ahead in the Hotland and Core areas. As long as you stick to this, you should be fine." She held the binder up for the taller human to take, which he accepted and held under his arm.
"Thank you, Alphys. Once I have made it to the king and convinced him to end his plan, I will make sure to put in how you helped me in this endeavor. I am more than willing to bet Asgore will be quite impressed by your initiative."
Alphys looked more than a little nervous at that, as well as the attention it implied. "Oh… don't worry about it. Really, just… doing the right thing!" She made sure to try and put on a convincing smile… instead, it came out looking awkward and shaky… as usual.
The awkwardness was actually transferring to the now shifty-stanced L, somehow. He felt it was time to leave… "Ah… again, thank you. I will be on my way though, it is imperative that I make it to the king as soon as possible. I will just be going…"
Alphys had let her awkward look sink away as she watched L go back down the automatic staircase, which had changed direction when he stepped on it. He opened up the binder and read the first step, that being "Exit lab from East door to get on Core path." He went through the odd sliding door without hesitation this time and found himself out in the heat of Hotland once more, a narrow linear path before him. The heat was even stronger on this side of the lab, but he'd been in much worse conditions before. L then started on the path to Asgore. The path was a steep dropoff into lava on either side, and it sharply turned North a little ways away from the lab.
As L walked, he let his mind wander across issues at hand to pass the time.
'I wonder if Toriel will catch up… I cannot go back to see if we can reunite, I need to keep going. This is rather time sensitive, if Asgore does what Toriel thinks he should do, just absorb one of or all the souls and go through the barrier… and he surely has learned of my presence by now. He has guards and townspeople who would report my being here. That could push him to stop procrastinating if he feels threatened, and then it would be the end of the Underground once the beings of the surface find out.'
A strange pair of moving paths were ahead. They were going in two opposite directions, so L stepped on the leftmost one and let it carry him onward. Green jets of flame spewed out of copper pipes that were on either side of the moving paths, and smaller copper pipes ran every which way.
Once the set of moving paths ended, another patch of land and another set of far more complex moving paths lay ahead. Once more L stepped onto the one going in the direction he was headed and just went with its snaking movements, doing his best to stay balanced on the winding path underfoot. The end of this one had conveyed him to a series of ramp-like pipes that angled downward and terminated on a path that was even closer down to the magma. A cacophony of venting steam and the grinding of gears and cogs sounded out constantly, mixed with a droning magmatic roil that provided the background to a symphony of machines.
The magma was covered with different jutting sections of separated land, and square plates were built into them. L approached the plate that his section ended with and inspected it. Spurts of barely contained steam were being ejected, and a glowing arrow on the plate was pointing in the direction of another plate that was on a distant piece of the path.
L gave the binder a look, finding a description for these plates. "A means of travel across the gaps in the path then… so I have to step on it."
L stuffed the binder into his bottomless box for safekeeping, then hesitantly placed his weight on the grated steam plate. It groaned and tried to belch out more steam to relieve the pressure he placed on it, and when it did so the vapor burst outwards in the direction of the adjacent plate, but he went nowhere. He'd felt it trying to move him, but he was too heavy to be thrown airborne by the plate's release mechanism.
He stepped off it and took a few seconds to figure out a solution. He decided that a change in armor was necessary, even the relatively light Silver Knight armor was too heavy.
L removed his bottomless box from his belt and placed it on the ground, then set about removing his armor…
vvv
With a final "whoosh" of an old hood over his head, L now donned his "new" clothing. He had forgone his full-plate armor and opted instead for his oldest gear, which consisted of a light overcoat that sported a thin metal pauldron over the left arm, a pair of thick leather manchettes, pants that sported metal knee plates and boots that featured steel coverings over the top of them.
As he got used to the feeling of plain clothing and minimal armor, he remembered more. This was what he was wearing when he first died and became undead… he felt over the heart area of the overcoat and his fingers slipped into a tear in the fabric… memory started to rush back in a flood.
vvv
He had been on a dirt road, it was raining. He was carrying a few logs of extra firewood he had just bought from the farm down the road. His arms were starting to tire, but he had to get the firewood home before night fell all the way, it would be deathly cold in the winter night with the wind and rain not helping in the matter. He was trudging along the wet, muddy, and slippery path.
A sound behind him caught his attention just as he saw his house in the distance, at the treeline just before the forest. He looked behind him, shrugging his hood out of the way to see. The sound was revealed to be the pounding of hooves. A royal soldier was on his horse, carrying a blazing torch that glinted against his armor and fought against the approaching dark of the night. The soldier yelled in his direction…
"You there! Stop!"
L stopped immediately, but he was worried. Did… did they find out that he was cursed?
The soldier rode up next to L and looked down at him from atop the horse, trying to see past his hood. "Might you be Leontius, son of the late Leopold?"
That is his true name then… Leontius.
Leontius had remained silent, and the soldier leaned down a bit from his horse. "Remove your hood so that I can see your face." When Leontius silently refused to do so and started inching away slightly, the soldier drew his ornate longsword and pointed it at the defiant man. "Under suspicion of being cursed with the Darksign and the order of the King himself, remove your hood!"
Leontius slowly set down his armload of wood beside him on the wet road and pushed back his hood for the soldier to see. The soldier inspected his face in the torchlight and recognition flashed across it.
The soldier quickly dismounted his horse and extinguished the torch, his blade was still drawn. "Leontius, son of Leopold, by order of the King, I have been appointed to be your executioner under grounds of you being a bearer of the accursed Darksign! For the good of the kingdom, surrender now so that-"
Leontius was beginning to panic. He was found out! The soldier still had his sword pointed at him while he blurted out his reasons for needing to kill him. What could he do? He thought about running, but the soldier would just remount his horse and easily run him down…
Suddenly the soldier made to thrust at Leontius with his longsword, but he quickly stepped back, nearly losing his footing to the mud beneath in the process. The soldier slowly advanced, the tip of his sword aimed menacingly. The soldier's face was grim and of stone…
Another thrust and Leontius was too late to dodge.
The blade pierced Leontius' thin coat, shirt, and finally, his chest, slipping through his ribs and cutting into the vessels just beneath his heart. He fell to the mud, rolling in utter pain and weakly grasping at the wound. The soldier approached him and began to drag him from the road.
Leontius had lost a terrible amount of blood by the time he felt himself being propped up into a loose kneeling position on his knees. He felt wet and terribly cold, and he could hear rushing water somewhere far behind and below him. He tiredly looked at the soldier who stood before him, blade aimed menacingly at his heart again.
"We shall send our condolences to your wife and child, Leontius. This is for the good of the kingdom, we cannot allow the cursed to stay in our lands. Surely… you understand."
Leontius could feel his eyes beginning to droop. With a painful push, the soldier made a final stab at Leontius' wounded heart, piercing it directly. As Leontius felt himself go limp, the soldier pushed him off his sword and into the roaring waters of the rain-engorged river far below. Leontius' final moments were filled with the weightlessness of falling. There was nothing he could do. So he just let himself plummet.
The end of his fall seemed to have taken an eternity… this was the beginning.
vvv
Leontius had been feeling at the coat's hole over his heart while he was recalling the memory, his fingers lightly tracing the rim of the Darksign. He knew his name again. He had a wife and a child… bits and pieces were coming back. He could vaguely recall when he woke up on a beach somewhere downriver, he could remember wandering, feeling empty, wanting to find someone to kill to put out the emptiness inside, like snuffing out a fire...
As he pondered his past, Leontius replaced his bottomless box and his claymore on his belt. He was willing to change his armor and forgo a shield, but he wasn't quite willing to give up his favorite weapon, even if it was a bit on the heavy side.
The gravity of the knowledge he had regained was beginning to weigh on him. He tried to remember his family… but nothing on them could be dredged up. The only thing that came of it was an all-too-familiar feeling of phantom warmth when he thought of his wife. He felt as though simply moving on would be best, it seemed those memories had been lost for good. Nonetheless, he was glad he'd finally remembered his name, and he now had more about his past that was certain and unfogged.
'Perhaps searching through my box may do me some more good… but that will come later. Now, to keep on the path to Asgore.'
Once Leontius had gotten his belt adjusted, he stepped onto the steam plate again. This time, the plate didn't strain nearly as much and instead launched him across the gap as intended. It was slightly disorienting, but he'd have to get used to it since he had a few more steam plates and gaps to jump across. He could see another path at the North end of the magma room, so he traveled across the gaps appropriately to get there. He kept the pace going and continued on.
The next obstacle was a set of what seemed to be colored rays of light projecting from orb-like objects. The lights were orange and blue… He once again consulted Alphys' guide and found that they were defense measures. He'd have to move through the orange lights, and stay still when the blue ones were passing over him, similar to how blue attacks worked. Personally, Leontius felt whoever decided to use them in conjunction should have made them work whether an intruder was moving or not… but that was just him.
Passing through them proved a slight amount of a challenge, but now that Leontius was much lighter and quite agile, thanks to his rings and lack of armor, he could stop when needed. The next room was much like the first steam plate room, except for the fact that this one featured a locked door. After consulting the guide, he set about getting across the gaps to the "puzzles" that were on either side, starting with the right. On this side, he noticed two monsters lazing about by sitting on the edge of the land, dangling their legs over it. They had seen him walking by, and looked at him through their odd glasses as he went.
Leontius did his best to ignore their looks and instead entered the small building just behind the two monsters. The inside featured a large "monitor" (that's what Alphys' guide referred to these odd glass things as) that was displaying two arrows facing each other, a square, and six other smaller squares inside that square. There was what appeared to be another monster, but he was essentially just a head…
Leontius decided solving the puzzle would be in his best interest. He approached the controls and found a note attached to the side of the panel. "Shoot the opposing ship! Move the boxes to complete your mission." The controls were simple, one lever-type stick that moved all the black boxes, a counter for shots left, and a button that would fire one of the shots. Leontius fiddled with the movement stick until there was only one box in the line of fire, then shot it and the "Ship" arrow behind it. The head monster seemed astonished and began floating up and down somewhat disturbingly.
"Wow? And I kept running out of ammo when I tried? Maybe we'll get to work after all, thanks?"
Leontius eyed the monster somewhat sideways as he left the building. "You are welcome, I suppose…?" 'How would he have even attempted it…? He has no hands.'
He passed by the other two monsters outside, hopped across the gaps once more, and promptly found himself at a slight impasse.
He was now on the left side puzzle area, and there was a blue light blocking his way. There were more monsters here too, trapped on the other of the laser by the looks of it.
A monster made of green flame noticed him and spoke up. "Um, excuse me, but you wouldn't happen to know a way to shut off that laser, would you?"
Leontius shook his head at the monster. He didn't know a way to turn it off, but he could certainly break it. He drew his claymore and pointed it at the distant light-emitting-orb, and fired a simplistic Soul Arrow at it. The magic bolt struck the orb in the glass, cracking it and causing the orb to spurt sparks as it died out. Once he was pleased that it had been disabled he sheathed his claymore.
The flame monster looked at the man oddly as he passed by and walked into the building they had been loitering in front of. "Um… thanks? I guess." Both of the monsters then decided not going to school was actually a pretty good idea, and continued to stand about.
This puzzle was a bit more complex. It had far more boxes in the way of the shots, and oddly placed immovable boxes. Leontius had to give it some thought before he could begin moving boxes around. Through some trial, error, and time, he found the correct orientation and pattern that let him use both shots and hit the other ship. Once Leontius was done, he returned to the center room and hopped to the large door, which freely slid open as he approached.
The path ahead was highly elevated, and the plates were placed one after the other. As soon as he activated the first one, it sent him forward into the next two, which carried him over to an odd, dark building. The floor was made of strange, round tiles…
Walking into the building revealed it to be pitch black inside. Leontius wandered about in the dark, getting an unsettling feeling of familiarity….
The lights suddenly flipped on.
Leontius was in a kitchen of sorts. Shiny appliances, ingredients, and a counter were all set up. Seemingly from out of nowhere, Mettaton (now sporting a chef's hat) popped up at the counter with an exclamatory "OHHHH YES!"
Leontius could feel a twang of impatience at the sight of the robot, and he aggravatedly ran his hands down his face. "I cannot believe this… of all the interruptions..."
Mettaton had started waving his mic-less hand to cameras all about the studio, he was going to make this a show to remember!
"WELCOME BEAUTIES, TO THE UNDERGROUND'S PREMIERE COOKING SHOW, COOKING WITH A KILLER ROBOT!"
Leontius' annoyance grew. 'What is a cooking show…?'
"PRE-HEAT YOUR OVENS, BECAUSE WE'VE GOT A VERY SPECIAL RECIPE FOR YOU TODAY! WE'RE GOING TO BE MAKING…" Dramatic pause for the tension… "A CAKE! MY LOVELY ASSISTANT HERE WILL GATHER THE INGREDIENTS. EVERYONE GIVE HIM A BIG HAND!"
Just like at the Lab, Mettaton clapped his hands and confetti fell from above onto Leontius. This time, the man didn't even bother to try and swat them away, he knew it was in vain. As Mettaton kept clapping, Leontius felt this was a gargantuan waste of time. He made to leave, but Mettaton reached an arm under the table and pressed a button which activated a grid of blue lasers over both doorways, and Leontius wouldn't be able to shoot them out since their orbs were hidden by the walls. With a defeated sigh he stayed where he was.
"NOW… WE'LL NEED SUGAR, MILK, AND EGGS. GO FOR IT, HANDSOME!" The robot pointed to the ingredients on the other counter.
Leontius dejectedly picked up the bag of sugar and the two cartons of ingredients next to the bag, and then put them all on the counter next to Mettaton.
"PERFECT! GREAT JOB, HANDSOME! WE'VE GOT ALL THE INGREDIENTS WE NEED TO BAKE THE CAKE! MILK… SUGAR… EGGS… OH MY! WAIT A MAGNIFICENT MOMENT! HOW COULD I FORGET! WE'RE MISSING THE MOST IMPORTANT INGREDIENT!"
Mettaton then procured a large chainsaw from under the table.
"A HUMAN SOUL!"
The robot then revved the tool and slowly wheeled towards Leontius, who was now fully alert and backing up steadily while reaching to unsheath his claymore at the maniacally flashing red and yellow robot. By the time he was about to pull the blade, a ringing interrupted the machine. He dropped the chainsaw, lifted up his chef hat, and got the ringing phone that had been underneath it. The machine brought the phone to its frontal speaker/microphone.
"HELLO…? I'M KIND OF IN THE MIDDLE OF SOMETHING HERE… A SUBSTITUTION? YOU MEAN, USE A DIFFERENT, NON-HUMAN INGREDIENT…? WHY…? VEGAN. THAT'S A BRILLIANT IDEA, ALPHYS!"
Leontius gave a breathless sigh of relief. Alphys was looking out for him. 'But that means she may have seen me changing armor… it is a good thing I did not strip to indecency.'
The robot then tossed the phone away. "ACTUALLY, I HAPPEN TO HAVE AN OPTION RIGHT OVER HERE! MTT-BRAND-ALWAYS-CONVENIENT-HUMAN-SOUL-FLAVOR-SUBSTITUTE!"
'Souls have a flavor? I have yet to notice… hrm.'
"...A CAN OF WHICH... IS JUST OVER ON THAT COUNTER!" Mettaton pointed out of the doorway, which somehow deactivated the blue lasers that were guarding it. A counter with a small red can was there, just before the end of the odd tiling and the start of the normal rocky path.
"WELL, HANDSOME? WHY DON'T YOU GO GET IT?"
Leontius gave the robot a look of distrust as he went over to the small counter. This seemed like a trap, or at the very least, some kind of trick. Why would the counter be outside the-
Just as he stood before the can and counter, it dropped a few inches, rattled, then suddenly burst upward and gained height. Leontius looked on with ever-increasing loathing for Mettaton as the counter gained more and more height. Just as the machine in question rolled up to say something, Leontius calmly took his claymore in hand, then charged up a magical Soul Greatsword attack.
Once it was charged, he took a wide swing to release it and cut through the expanding counter-tower before it got too tall. The section that was growing stopped dead in its tracks and the top piece slowly slid over, before toppling down through the studio Mettaton had set up.
At least the can landed next to the other ingredients.
The robot stood silent while Leontius sheathed his blade. "I think I will be heading out then. Enjoy baking that cake, Mettaton." He then set out onto the path, seeing the looming Core in the distance out in the magma.
"WELL, YOU MUST NOT KNOW HOW COOKING SHOWS WORK… I PREMADE THE CAKE, WITH THE OPTIONAL…" Mettaton realized he was still on camera. "OH WELL NEVERMIND THAT, ONTO THE NEXT SET!" He then took off, flying across the magmatic caverns of Hotland.
(14)
