Man, I am just AWFUL at updating, aren't I? Have a new chapter!

Ding.

"God DAMMIT!" I yelled, diving out of the way of another spear that was about to impale me for possibly the fifth time today. This minigame was NOT this hard back in-

*Carter!

"Right!" I yelled, leaping from one rickety wooden bridge to another. If I just kept running, then I'd probably be fine, right?

Undyne threw an arm up, blue circles temporarily encasing me as Undyne attempted to stop him in my tracks. Unperturbed, I jumped right over the circles, the spears just barely missing me.

*You'd think she'd realize that you and the other human look nothing alike.

"I really don't think she cares!" I responded, just barely dodging another spear. I kept charging forward, expecting it to end soon-

*STOP!

All of a sudden, my legs locked up, forcing me to plummet forward, falling flat on my face as I skidded on the ground.

"What was THAT-?" I began to ask, before seeing that I was right about to run off a dead-end. Shit.

I heard metal boots stomp behind me, and I spun around, sitting on my butt as Undyne towered above me. She was fucking terrifying.

"S-So, hey, would you consider, you know, not killing me?" I asked her nicely.

Spears appeared above me, glowing blue and pointed directly at me.

"... I'm guessing that's a no…?" I asked quietly, closing my eyes, assuming I would hear the familiar shatter at any point now…

.

*Did you forget that Undyne broke the bridge?

The weakened boards held for only a moment as it separated from the core part of the bridge. Honestly, I was unsure if I could survive this fall. My stomach dropped as the board began to fall out from under me, my hands desperately clawing at anything that could possibly save me from this fall. Unfortunately, there was nothing there, so, as I dropped into the inky blackness, no hope that anybody would save me…

I screamed.

"AAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"

"Hey! Be careful, you don't want to hurt yourself more."

"Carter, huh? That's a nice name!"

"My n a me i s . . ."

Chapter 3: For Monster Kid

Fucking Traitor.

My text box stayed silent about the assessment of my dream.

I ran my hands over my face, the water from a nearby waterfall gently making the boards I was laying on bob on the water. It was almost pleasant, if I wasn't painfully aware that this water was garbage water. Ew.

I sat up, the back of my head dripping with murky water onto the back of my hood.

*This gross dump reminds you of home.

"Fair enough." I told Texty, swinging my legs over and into the gross water.

"..."

*Looks like a Mad Dummy's up ahead.

I groaned. Maybe running ahead of Chara was a bad idea.

*Being out of that dump… It fills me with DETERMINATION.

"Wish I could say the same." I stated, glad that SAVE Points cleaned water out of my shoes. Fortunately, Mad Dummy turned into Glad Dummy, so I could just walk past him. Unfortunately, that means he's just wide open for Chara to come charging through later. Not a whole lot I could do about that, though.

I kept moving down a muddy hallway, stopping at Gerson's shop.

"Wah hah!" He laughed. "Yer the first human I've seen down here in awhile, kid!"

I grinned sheepishly. "Uh, yeah, I guess I am."

Huh. He had a Deltarune carved into his wall. It called to me, somehow. As something that should be destroyed.

I shook my head.

"Hey, uh, sorry, you sell stuff, right?"

"No need to apologize!" He said, waving a hand towards his stock. "Pick out whatever ya like! If you have the gold, ya can have anythin' here!"

I came out a few minutes later wearing a new pair of cracked specks and three gallons of Sea Tea. Worth it. I adjusted the glasses, grinning.

"A save point…?" I asked myself, approaching a part of the cave that led onto a bridge in a wide-open area. I SAVED.

I carefully stepped onto the bridge. It didn't feel safe in the slightest.

I gathered whatever DETERMINATION I had in my SOUL, taking another step. Then another.

Hey, this isn't so bad! It's just a bridge.

I grinned goofily to myself, continuing onward like I was the King of the World. It was a simple victory, but I never was the best with heights. Besides, I fell, what, three-hundred feet earlier? I think I could tank whatever was at the bottom of this chasm.

*Uh-huh. Keep telling yourself that.

I rolled my eyes.

The tapping of feet behind me. I looked to where it was coming from.

Oh, great. It's MK.

"H-Hey!" MK greeted me, breathing heavily, "I-I wanted to see if I could catch up! Y-You wanted to see Undyne with me, right?'

He sweated nervously. Something wasn't right. I squinted at him, "MK, you good? You don't seem like yourself."

His pupils widened. "N-No! I'm fine, really, I just, uh…"

He gulped, "I-I feel a little nervous, with the… Y'know… Other Human, around."

I smiled sympathetically. "Hey, it's al-"

Suddenly my body moved without any of my input, sprinting forward and tackling MK to the ground, yelling "Get down!" in a voice that was just a little higher than mine. Something soared just over our heads.

"Well, aren't you observant?" A voice said from above us. Shielding MK, the person controlling me looked up at Chara. My body pulled MK a little closer to my chest, as I glared at Chara.

My right eye twitched. "Go away. This is between you and I - Leave MK out of it."

Chara shrugged. "While you're correct," they began, kicking me in the face, jarring Texty's control back to me. I growled, standing and pulling out my Pocket Knife, flicking it open.

Chara tapped their foot, a little switchblade popping out of their shoe. They pointed their toe at MK, the blade just inches from his face. MK was sweating.

*Where is Undyne? Shouldn't she be here by now?

The grip on my knife tightened. I wasn't sure, but I couldn't bank on her to save MK. I had to do something.

I took a step, and Chara lifted their foot, a threat. They smirked slightly

Maybe it's best to retreat. I thought. Maybe they'll spare him if we just… Stay out of the way?

*What?! No! They could hurt MK, we can't let that happen!

Control was briefly taken away from me, but I yanked back the reins before I lost them completely.

If we go any closer he'll DIE!

*Yeah?! And if we leave, he dies anyway! At least this way, we have a chance!

I struggled to keep control. There was no way I was going to be able to keep Texty down much longer. I had to do something.

I took a step back to pivot the other way, but control was wrestled away from me just in time, Texty instead using the opportunity to get a running start at Chara. My finger flicked open the Switchblade, as my feet leapt.

Chara was caught off-guard, but that didn't stop them. They caught me with surprising grace. LOVE is one hell of a drug, I suppose, because they caught my full 190 pounds with one hand, my breath being taken away from me.

They grinned, pivoting their foot…

SLASH.

*NO!

I growled, using my feet to kick their chest, sending them stumbling as I landed flat on my back, right in front of MK. I scrambled to my knees, looking at the poor massacre.

"No, wait, I didn't-"

He looked terrible. A slash across his face, from the top right corner of his head, to the bottom left corner of his chin. It was cut deep. He was gone before I had hit the ground.

"MK, I'm sorry-" I started, before he turned to dust. I reached out, but there was nothing to grab, nothing to hold, nothing to say sorry to. Tears filled my eyes.

"I should've… I should've treated you better. Maybe, m-maybe then, you wouldn't… You…"

Tears fell down my face, into the dust. It shouldn't have ended this way. I should've been able to save him.

Chara grinned. They grinned. They just murdered someone and they were… What? Amused HAPPY?

I snarled, I grabbed my pocket knife, tried to rush at them, but I couldn't get up fast enough. They swiftly kick-stabbed me in the chest.

-18.

I fell backward, right into the dust. I might've been disgusted if I wasn't nearly dying. I looked up at them, still grinning.

They brought their foot up, ready to finish me off, before something soared over me, blocking the final blow. My vision faded, lights dancing on the edges of my peripherie as I watched someone clad in metal take a knee. I couldn't hear what she said, but something started glowing as I was whisked away.

My groggy eyes struggled to open, the world nothing but a blurry brightness as I tried to focus on something that wasn't the gnawing pain in my chest. I couldn't move, not in the slightest.

"O-Oh!" Alphys exclaimed, but my eyes didn't move. I tried to lift my arm to access my inventory, but it was so difficult. My mouth felt dry. "Y-You're awake!"

*Carter!

I couldn't focus on the text box. Everything was so fuzzy.

"H-Here! I'll get you some water!" The poor, plump lizard stood and rushed to something nearby. I couldn't do anything but stare at the ceiling, the boring greenish blue helping me focus. I had to get my inventory open, I was going to die again if I didn't-

Alphys reappeared at my bedside, but I ignored the water she attempted to pour down my throat.

"M-My… Inven… Tory…"

"W-What?"

"Need the… Pie…"

"Wait, you s-shouldn't be eating, you could-"

Slowly, I lifted my arm, limply grabbing her sleeve. She jumped, but seemed intent on listening.

" ."

Alphys paused, before nodding quickly, grabbing my phone from the table next to the bed I was stuck to, clacking a few buttons before a Butterscotch-Cinnamon pie appeared in her hand, and she offered it to me gingerly.

I weakly took the food, slowly bringing it to my tongue, before taking the thick end and shoving the pie in all the way.

I groggily sat up. While I physically felt fine, mentally I felt awful. It felt like my skull was pounding in regret and sadness.

"O-Oh! You… Feel better?" Alphys stuttered out, and I nodded.

"Yeah." I said simply, rubbing my eyes. "Monster food heals humans."

"T-That's good!" She stuttered out. I didn't meet her gaze. I couldn't.

She stayed quiet, shuffling awkwardly out of the room while I stared down at the tiles on the floor. I'm not entirely confident in how long I sat there, but I know that, after a while, Sans came into the room, looking sympathetic. He scratched the back of his head.

"Hey," He greeted, sitting on the chair next to the bed like an awkward stepdad. "You alright?"

"No." I answered honestly. "Monster Kid is dead. How could I be okay?"

Sans grimaced at that. He was quiet for a moment, searching for the words that could make this better.

"... Well. He's not the only one who's died over the past couple of days."

My eyes slid over to him, half lidded in a 'you serious?' kind of look.

"But you can bring him back, right? You've got DETERMINATION."

I winced at that, but nodded. I wasn't sure if I could RESET with Texty's DETERMINATION, and I wasn't keen on finding out until I had to.

"Then you can fix all this." He said, laying a hand on my shoulder. "You can bring everybody back, by defeating that kid. We're counting on you."

I stayed silent.

"... Come with me." He said, laying a hand on my shoulder, the air around us pressurizing for a moment, before we reappeared in the room with the DT Extraction machine. Only, now, it was fully operational, with a canister at the crest of the dragon-headed-shaped machine's skull. The canister was glowing white, with the screens surrounding it alight with life.

MAGIC INSERTION MACHINE

STATUS: OPERATIONAL

"... You can fix this. For Monster Kid."

*... For Monster Kid.

I looked at the machine. I looked at Sans.

It was my fault. He died because of me. My hands clenched into fists.

I was going to make this right.

I was going to win.

"For Monster Kid."