"The mountain no one returns from".
She just didn't think she'd never come back from it. It was silly, looking back on it now as she felt her body shake, the massive form of the monster king before her. A great darkness had seemingly taken him, shrouding him a mysterious shade as the barrier echoed endlessly behind him.
"I enjoyed… speaking with you," his voice rumbled to her slowly, his gaze low, a deep sadness she couldn't comprehend behind his tearful eyes. He couldn't even seem to look at her.
"But you know what happens next."
This was true. She'd heard the monsters tell her about what was coming when the Doctor had delivered her here. "It doesn't have to happen," she replied, her voice quiet, timid, and most certainly quivering just as much as her body. But she remained strong, her Integrity would overcome this.
His gaze lowered still, his face now shielded in shadows. "I wish that were so," he told her after a few moments of silence. "To break the barrier, I need seven SOULs. With that power, my people will be freed. With that power…" his voice trailed off, before he suddenly swiped his arm, his amethyst robes sweeping back as a crimson trident materialized in his hand with a powerful 'whoosh'.
And he struck, swinging the trident forward like a spear. She wasn't prepared in the slightest as she felt the tips pierce through her body. Her whole body jolted, before she felt… nothing. Darkness swallowed her whole, yet she could still think. Her mind reacted to this with panic and fear that seemed to last forever. She couldn't move, couldn't speak… she could only stare into a vast emptiness and think about how she'd much rather prefer being somewhere else right now.
Had Asgore killed her?
She assumed he had. No way could she survive that sudden attack… then she heard a voice. Tiny and small in the back of her mind.
"Mmmm, I can feel them wriggling…"
The voice was unrecognizable. Shrill, high-pitched, yet… chilling. Suddenly, she could feel again. Not her body, no, but something else. It was a feeling she couldn't possibly understand, yet as it grew, spreading a warmthness through her, it began to grow cold, chilling her to the core. She felt constricted, restrained… hopeless.
"So you can watch me tear you to bloody pieces…"
She was trapped inside of herself, her SOUL a prison. Her mind was being torn apart as she struggled desperately against the feeling clawing at her, the shrill voice growing louder and louder, almost as though she were growing nearer to the source.
"You really ARE an idiot."
Quite suddenly, she could see. Not in the traditional sense, it took her little time to realize she had a lack of eyes, yet somehow she could see, almost like sensing her surroundings, though there wasn't much to sense. A girl, small and young like her was standing at a lower elevation than her, staring up through slanted eyes, her skin a pale yellow, her hair a shoulder-length auburn. The girl was staring up at her, surrounded by an inky void that threatened to consume them both. Was she dead, too? Was this some kind of afterlife?
Then she could sense the others. Five other SOULs close by, all glowing a different shade, different colors, all together. For some reason, they all seemed so familiar… almost like she'd been friends with them for years. She even thought of them like people, even though all she could see were SOULs.
Yet she could tell they had the same feeling as her. The feeling of being trapped and restrained, a prisoner against their own will. Just as quickly as everything had appeared, it all faded… and was dark once more. She was consumed by shadows as a presence invaded her mind, ravaging it. The presence made her feel so tired… so… awful. Like it was draining her of all emotion and willpower. It was almost as though it were trying to control her… no… it was trying to control her!
With a silent cry made through nothing, she tried to struggle against the invasive presence, but it began to tug harder at her mind, sinking its terrifying claws deep within, trying to rip something out of her. She could see her mother, smiling down at her. With dark skin, warm black eyes, and frizzy black hair that fell in her face. She suddenly felt warm. She felt safe. Secure.
And just as quickly as her mother had appeared, she disappeared, her image being torn to shreds before fading from view.
She wanted to cry, but she didn't know why. The presence had just taken something from her, but she couldn't remember what it was. And suddenly, the world changed once more. She stood at a stove beside her mother as they peeled leaves from a head of cabbage, making a meal. She felt content once again, her mother making her feel happy.
And it too was torn away by the presence, shredded into non-existence. She couldn't remember why she was upset, but she understood what was happening now. The presence was tearing apart her mind and molesting her memories, taking away anything and everything from her in an effort to break her willpower, to make her obedient. It still wanted control, and that was something she couldn't give it.
The girl appeared once more, though she was looking worse for wear. Her yellow skin was splotched with streaks of crimson, her own blood staining her. Her hair was a wild mess, her clothing ripped here or there, her knees wobbling beneath her own weight.
She felt sorry for the girl and her state. She knew she needed to help her, in any way she could. A feeling returned. Another, and… another. She looked down at her body, which was glowing a deep shade of blue. Memories of her mother flashed before her eyes, and she reached out her hand to the girl, pushed on by a feeling of compassion, and love. A warm green light extended gently from her outstretched hand, and connected with the beaten girl.
The girl smiled at her as her wounds faded, her body healing with the power she was giving to her, a power she didn't know she had.
And it was gone. The presence had returned and it was enraged, trying to ravage her mind once more. She felt like choking, she was suffocated by it as it continued to pry into her mind. More memories flashed before her. The birth of her brother, playing with her father, being taken from home by the mysterious men, making friends with other children working in the great house she'd been sent to, running away, and-
Her struggles buckled the presence once again, even as more and more of her memories were torn from her mind and discarded. This wasn't the king, and it wasn't the girl. For some reason, she could sense that. She could sense…
Another girl stood in front of her, cheeks rosy, a natural blush with dark brown hair that partially concealed her scarlet eyes. She was smiling, no… laughing. At her. At something she did? She'd just fallen over when trying to demonstrate some sort of attack she'd written on a paper. Wait, no, that wasn't right. This wasn't her memory.
It belonged to the presence.
Unlike her own memories, this one wasn't torn to shreds. Instead, it faded, blocked from view. The presence was trying to shield its memories from her. Seeing an opportunity, the girl pushed against the presence once again, harder than she had before, and just like the last time she retaliated, it relented, disappearing into the background, fading temporarily from her mind as she broke free from its control.
The girl was there again. The first one, with the yellow skin. She was looking even more brutalized than she had earlier, even before she'd healed her. She was standing in front of her, no… in front of the others. The other SOULs she'd seen before now had forms, just like her, all with their corresponding colors.
"Don't give up," the green one said, stepping forward, and placing his hand on the girl's shoulder.
The purple one followed suit, she too placed her hand on the girl's shoulder. "You can win."
The light blue one then stepped toward her, doing the same as the other two. "We'll help."
Yellow; "We're with you."
Orange; "You'll beat him."
She knew she had to follow suit. Whatever the presence was, this girl was fighting it, and it was probably trying to control them to fight her. So they'd keep fighting against its invasive pressure to aid the girl in defeating the presence. Stepping forward, she placed her hand on the girl's shoulder, over the hand of the yellow SOUL. "Stay determined," she encouraged, and the emerald light appeared once again, now emanating from the surrounding SOULs, rejuvenating the girl entirely. Just like before, she said nothing, but let her appreciation be known through a simple smile.
An unharmonious cackle rang in her head right after, as the world disappeared once again. It was, for lack of better terms, demonic. It chilled her down to her core, and the presence returned, furiously hacking away at her mind, trying to rip away all of her memories haphazardly.
It was desperate. It was losing.
So she fought back, hanging on to everything she could while trying to do what she had earlier. She pushed against the invasive presence, trying to look into its own memories, keeping it focused on hiding those opposed to attacking her own. The next memory the presence had was of the same girl she'd seen earlier with the rosy cheeks. She was lying dead on a bed of golden flowers, her eyes closed, her mouth slightly open. She wanted to cry over the body, but knew that she had a mission. To take her SOUL, and perform her ultimate desire.
The memory was hidden away once again by the presence, which was livid at her resistance, a roaring filling her mind as the mental torture further increased, yet she continued to push against it.
Humans were attacking her from all sides, beating her, throwing rocks, lighting torches, screaming hatefully. She was being assaulted every which way, but she refused to fight. Even as the mind she shared screamed and yelled at her to, shouting at her to kill them all. But she just couldn't, instead smiling weakly up at them, hoping they'd stop. Hoping they'd see she meant no harm…
The memory was tugged away just like the others, the presence still trying to fight- but it seemed weaker. It once again tried to attack, but it couldn't pull away any more memories. It had failed. The SOULs were winning.
"No… NO!"
The shrill voice cried out, panicking. It was terrified.
"This can't be happening!"
They'd won. The presence had slunk away from her, its being nearly non-existent. She could still tell it was there, but it was far too worn to continue its attacks against her. The others had probably gone through the same thing, and fighting six SOULs was undoubtedly exhausting.
"You… YOU…"
The world appeared once again, but it was different this time. She wasn't seeing it through her SOUL, or her own eyes. No, she was seeing it through the eyes of someone else. Through the presence, its hulking form staring down at the girl she'd been helping, who appeared to be glaring defiantly up at it, a knife in her hand. She had a few cuts and bruises, but looked far better than the last few times she'd seen her.
"You IDIOT." The presence cackled, and she could feel her strength restored… but she could also feel the presence grow stronger with it, too. What had happened? The girl, too, was revived to peak performance, but seemed far less surprised. Had time somehow reversed? Had the presence healed everything?
But it began to taunt the girl, laughing at her all the while, informing her that it had won. It told her to call for help, for her mommy and daddy, shouting it out at her.
After a moment, she did. The girl called out a name. Then another…
"But nobody came," the presence cackled in delight. "Boy! What a shame! Nobody else…"
As it spoke, a web of white pellets began to appear threateningly around the girl, slowly closing in on her. "Is going to see you DIE!" with that, it began to laugh maniacally, its cackles reverberating through the emptiness that surrounded them.
No. She wouldn't allow this to happen. Pushing with all of the strength she had, she tried to direct her energy into the pellets. The same energy that had healed the girl. Through a sort of sixth sense, she could now feel the presence of the other SOULs with her, all doing the same thing. And just as the trapped girl was about to be crushed by the pellets… they instead faded into her, healing her, or at least not harming her.
The presence was startled. Confused. It tried to access its powers. To reverse time once again. But it couldn't. "Wh… Where are my powers!?" cried the presence, panic clearly resounding through its voice as she did what she could, now having turned the tables entirely against the presence. No longer was she targeting its memories, but its source. Sealing away her power while taking its own. The world began to shake as the presence tried to fight back.
The world disappeared, and it tried to invade her mind again, but couldn't break through as she drained it further and further, pulling all of its power away from it.
It began to scream in terror and fear as she and the other SOULs stole back the power it had tried to take from them. It began to shout and yell at them, but it was no use. They had won.
The presence had lost.
And just when this thought had crossed her mind, the presence faded entirely. It disappeared completely from her mind, leaving her to occupy the empty space around her alone. She was confused about what had happened, and why it had all happened, yet a part of her felt like it understood everything. She'd helped the girl survive, and defeat the presence.
It was over.
…
…
Over…
How much time had passed since her death? Had it been really that fast between her death and the invasion of the presence? How long had she been here now?
Yet through the void, she could see something after what felt like an eternity. A cloaked figure striding calmly toward her, his visage reflected below him as though he were walking on a mirror… or perhaps water, with the way the ground seemed to ripple his appearance.
She recognized him. She'd known him before. It was the Doctor, who was appearing a lot more weathered these days. His face was cracked and scarred, his clothing much darker than she remembered, but even so, it was light enough to be seen against the inky blackness that surrounded them.
He stopped in front of her, and looked down at her. She stared back up at him, and after a few moments, he wordlessly pulled a skeletal hand from beneath his black cloak, and held it out to her, silently asking her to take it.
She reached out, and grasped his cold hand in hers, noticing that she had an arm, but it wasn't glowing blue like before, nor was it the usual dark skin she'd known her whole life. It was grey, and a glance down at her body let her know that the rest of her was colored the same.
She looked back up at him, her expression worried and frightened. Still, he said nothing. He only smiled at her, and she felt a sudden warmness wash over her as she remembered that there used to be someone she loved who used to smile at her like that. Someone she couldn't recall…
He'd let her know it was alright, and began to lead her along through the void for a few paces. Each step they took, the world around them got a little brighter, turning into a dark grey, into a silver, and fading slowly into a white. With each step, the color returned to her body, and she could begin to feel again. She could feel her chest rise and fall as she breathed. She could feel the ground beneath her feet. Even the rumble of her stomach as a hunger returned.
Looking up at the Doctor once again, she could see that he remained colorless, but he gave her a reassuring smile once again.
"Where are we going?" she asked him. He remained silent for several moments as they walked, the white around them beginning to blind her, to the point where he began to fade from view. She felt his hand slip from hers, and could see him turn to begin walking away, but not before telling her one thing;
"Home."
And he disappeared, as did the white void around her…
And she was home.
Home at last.