Thanks go to Zillowzest, Wingah, TiredWhiteMayge, 10burgers, XelaZagity, Eternal7, Zack Frost, Acoolnamme, ZeraoraTheKnight, and Prominent!
We're back to the action now! This one was real fun to write, I hope you guys enjoy it! There's a lotta music this chapter, so uh be prepared for that lol. Next update should be Thursday, October 27th!
Disclaimer: I do not own Undertale.
I took a deep breath in an attempt to calm my nerves. My blood was starting to vibrate with anticipation, my foot was tapping against the metal hangar floor. Ahead of me, the massive door of Predator's ship had lowered and revealed the void of darkness outside. In this doorway, doctor Wing Ding Badster stepped to the side, giving Anarchy the floor. Before the two of them, where hangar met void, there was a crackling wall of code. Green numbers shifted, glowed and faded in incomprehensible patterns. But, in this number barrier, there was a single rectangle unoccupied. This, I realized as Anarchy lifted his palm to the space, was the slot for Anarchy's ERASE button.
"Remember." Badster warned as Anny summoned his ERASE button in that slot, drawing the eyes of all of us gathered in the hangar back to him. Though he was reminding us of danger, the plastic smile remained on his skull. "After this firewall drops, the fighting starts. If by any chance one of you isn't ready, it would behoove you to take a moment and prepare yourself."
Anarchy glanced over his shoulder at the rag tag team behind him. Lexi and I, Future and Melanie. Clover, Grillby, Sans, Susie, Ralsei. We were a motley crew alright, but not one of us objected to what he was about to do. We all stood at the ready, and that slapped a grin right onto Anny's face.
"Thanks for the warning, Gaster. But we get it." Anthony assured. Then, without wasting another moment, he pressed his scarred hand into his ERASE button. In the very next instant, red cracks exploded through the green wall before us. It was enough to make me recoil, and I watched in awe as all of those emerald ones and zeros turned to red nines... Before fading away. Suddenly, the void in front of us was tearing open.
In the distance, a tower pierced the clouds that were rapidly revealed to us. Between us and the tower, a wall of stone and steel stood in defense and defiance. Mounted on its towers were guns, nay cannons. Two pronged steel, glowing with magic and science. Those twin prongs vibrated, electricity jumped between the metal points, wall mounted railguns took aim on Predator's ship. And on the ground far below us, standing firm on a plain peppered with trees and flags, was an army.
Chapter 92: Pay-Per-View Card
Or: Us vs. Them
"... Hhuh." I furrowed my brows down at the mass of consciousness below. Thousands of eyes were all staring up into the ship, into the open hangar that we few rebels lurked in. Putting my hands on my hips, I nodded my head and considered. Then, I looked over to Anny beside me. "Y'know, Anny, I think they might'a been expecting us."
"Makes my job easier." Anarchy cracked a smile as he spoke. He threw his left arm down, and his crowbar slid out of his sleeve and into his hand. Then, he took a step towards the door and the whipping winds, the latter of which began pulling at his long hair.
"Got any music requests?" Lexi smirked some over to Anthony. She lifted one arm from where she'd had them both crossed at her chest, pointing with her thumb towards the speakers lining the inside of the hangar.
"You know what I'm about." Anarchy answered simply and bluntly, taking another step towards the edge all the while. With his toes hanging over the ledge, he rolled his shoulders and stretched his arms.
"Right." Lexi nodded, as though the answer was obvious. Then, she turned her head towards those speakers. "Alexa, play Ready To Die by Andrew W.K."
Hearing that robotic voice respond with "Playing: Ready To Die, by Andrew W.K." followed by the happy notes that made up the first few seconds of that song made Anny's smile tear up his face. Now grinning from ear to ear, he bent his knees, and before he lunged out of the hangar he responded. "Perfect!"
And just like that, Anthony The Anarchist was plummeting down towards the ranks lurking below. Neat squares made up of soldiers, human and monster alike, all adorned with The Gatherer's serpentine symbol. They all fit perfectly between rows of trees and stacks of sandbags, their ranks stretched for acres. But, strangely enough, in the space directly in front of the metal wall's main gate, for about a football field's worth of space, no one stood. No soldiers, no trees, no tanks, no cover to be retreated behind.
In this moment however, that meant little. Because acres ahead, right in front of the thousands of eyes watching on, Anthony hit the ground. Landing on his feet, his impact sent a tremor crashing through the earth and cracks shattering through the dirt. He had to crouch some from the force of his own impact, and his head lowered... Before he whipped it back up, and those glowing red eyes locked on to the poor fools on the front line. With his Inheritance in one hand, Anarchy threw his other out to the side and demanded. "Gaster! Megaphone!"
Almost instantly, a megaphone put itself together in his grasp out of those glowing pixel blocks. Anarchy yanked it right up to his lips while he stood up straight, and he shouted a threat into an army that knew he was coming.
"Alright, listen up! I've got a busy schedule and I'm trying to be nice!" Anarchy snarled in a tone that was hardly nice at all, and the sound of his voice made the masses shift. The world, as always, was getting antsy in his presence. The wind picked up, the birds screamed and flew away... But the humans and monsters alike dug their feet into the dirt before him. "So you've all got ten seconds to get out of my way, and nobody gets hurt!"
Anthony got an immediate answer in the flash of a tank's barrel. With a boom loud enough to draw his Killer stare, a tank shell was sent blasting towards him. Massive as the metal was, he still threw up his crowbar, and with all his might he cracked his Inheritance into the shell just before it reached him... Only for it to explode apart. Smoke and flames immediately engulfed The Anarchist, and without wasting another moment the other tanks on the front line all blasted their own shells into the smoke.
Explosion after explosion, the earth rumbled in defiance... Before the dust exploded apart. From it, a pitch black geyser fired high into the sky. All heads turned to the clouds to watch in awe as The Dark met the atmosphere, and that geyser stretched wide. A pillar of Dark power, sending black rain cascading down onto the troops who dared stand against god's Bastard Son. And they watched, armed with guns, swords, bows, magic, and artillery as one massive onyx stinger crashed down from the Dark Fountain. Its poisoned point smashed the tank that had fired that first shot. Its metal mushed like paper mache into the dirt. Under that pressure whatever rounds it had stored within exploded, and the metal pancake sent flames licking up that Scorpion stinger.
Eyes of all colors watched with trembling resolve as that Fountain darkened the sky. The grey clouds went black with terror, it seemed the whole world was being eaten by Darkness... And then eyes snapped open on that black sheet that the sky had become. Scarlet orbs stared down from above, like the many watchful eyes of an angry god. But when mouths opened below those eyes, they did not frown. In fact, they smiled. They grinned. Cheeks puffed out, eyes bulged and went bloodshot... And then those jaws all snapped open, and they all started cackling.
Feet shuffled, soldiers were forced to step back as matching massive pincers emerged from the rushing water tower before them. Next, the water split around the hungry maw and scarlet eyes of The Scorpion. The kaiju arachnid stared down at the ants below, shuffling and nearly having to break their ranks just to keep from being crushed beneath its legs when it stepped forward. As more of its head emerged, The Anarchist was revealed to be standing atop his gargantuan steed. The Bastard Son grinned and threw his arms out to his sides, "Alright, in that case!"
At The Scorpion's sides, the Fountain exploded open. Twin draconic heads on serpentine bodies. Smiling maws of wretched fangs, onyx scales and slit shaped pupils in crimson eyes. The two Wyrms let their maws open, their filthy black tongues lapped out through the air and caught the scent of those below. And Anarchy leaned forward, planted one hand on the head of his Scorpion while he held his crowbar out to the side. "YOU BETTER GET READY TO DIE!"
In the next instant, chaos devoured the battlefield. That geyser blew apart in favor of a horde of worms, all plummeting down onto the monsters and humans alike gathered below with giddy jaws snapping hungrily. Tanks blasted useless shots into the shell of The Scorpion as it stomped forward, lifting its pincers high before sending them smashing like wrecking balls into the front line. The opened maws of those Wyrms fired lasers of high pressure black water, cutting down the ranks and melting man and metal alike.
Acres away, posted atop the stone and steel walls and standing before a podium overlooking the carnage unfolding, Eden grit her teeth. She pulled the communicator from where it was strapped to her hip and brought it up to her lips. Her violet eyes remained locked on the three massive beasts melting, crushing, and devouring her forces while she pushed in the button and barked orders. "Forget the ship overhead! All the firepower we got, focus on The Anarchist! We can't let that monster get past our wall! No matter what happens, an albino's gonna die tonight!"
On her command, all those charging railguns pivoted in unison. Their massive sights locked on to The Anarchist's abominations, monstrosities almost unimaginable until fifteen seconds ago. Then, the entire wall hummed and buzzed...
CRACK!
Bolts of lightning careened in the blink of an eye through the air and over the heads of the soldiers Eden was sworn to protect. Fired on an electromagnetic beam of power, massive shells shot like sniper rounds into the bodies of those beasts. Worms were blown to smithereens, Wyrms had their stone scales ripped open and were sent screaming and reeling. The Scorpion lifted its pincer to guard its master, but even its unbreakable shell split in thin spiderweb cracks when those railguns blasted against it.
"Be BRAVE, and PERSEVERE!" Eden snarled into her communicator, for all ears to hear. She hastily waved her free hand over the podium before her, and her spellbook appeared from her inventory laid across the wood. Glowing with purple light, it threw itself open and rapidly flipped through its pages, landing on a page with an eyeball-like symbol drawn onto it. That eye crackled with violet light as Eden held her own magenta glowing hand over the page, and the symbols drawn onto the hundreds of trees below by the Red sisters began glimmering the same shade. "You! Are not! Alone!"
Creaking and groaning were the trees, but not with fear. Not as they usually were when The Anarchist unleashed his unbearable soul. This time, wood and bark moved with purpose. With defiance, with righteous fury. The bark that those eyeball symbols were drawn onto split open on the trunks so that new eyes could see, all while the branches bent and the roots ripped from the ground. And somewhere on the battlefield, a worm cackled with delight as it lunged down at some poor soul... Only to be snatched from the air by a hand of bark, thorn, and wood.
"Good lord god, Fangorn Forest has mobilized!" I cried out in awe while I watched the battle below. Trees had come to life, and now stood with Gatherer's army. Ents were fighting Anny's eldritch horrors, railguns were firing bolts of magic electricity and solid steel across the battlefield. It was impossible to fathom, just for a moment, that there had ever been a point in my life that things like this were just fantasy and not reality.
But, even through my bewilderment, I remained concerned. I knew I probably shouldn't have been worried, Anny had survived everything thus far and he usually made it look easy. But, still, he was one man against an army. An entire empire, trying with all its might to kill him as an organized unit. I knelt on the hangar's floor, looking down as cannons fired, railguns blasted and mortars dropped onto the sea of Darkness writhing below. There was no time to worry, we all had our own mission to focus on.
The battle below whipped by as the ship flew forward, racing right in towards that wall and the tower that loomed far behind it. Everyone was standing at the ready, saying their last prayers and waiting for the moment rapidly approaching. We couldn't risk taking the ship all the way to the tower; even with all the cannons on Anarchy, there was no telling when a lightning bolt or eraser could come crashing into Predator's home. One of those railguns could spin around and blast a hole in the hull at any moment, so there was no time for a safe drop off. The moment we were over that wall, everybody jumps.
I stood from where I'd been kneeling, and I glanced over at Lexi. That cat mask was on her head, I recognized it. Something she'd kept in her room in Fortune Manor, something that was left to her when she lost Jade. Now remade by Badster, she was ready to wear the mask on take up her mentor's mantle. We were fast approaching the wall now, and Clover stepped right up to the ledge. Behind him, most of Predator's crew stood on his command. Susie, Sans, Grillby, and Ralsei. Clover's business was with Eden, but the others had business with those railguns. That meant they all jumped before the rest of us.
"You manage to think of a one liner this time, Tex?" Lexi called over to Clover through the roaring winds. She turned towards him, and she was trying to smile, but it wasn't really working. Clover didn't get back up like she did, none of her friends assigned with taking the wall did. They all understood there was a chance that this would be goodbye, but they'd already written down whatever they might need said. So, instead, Clover just glanced over to her and flashed an honest smile.
"You ain't gonna lose, so quit worryin'." He told her with ease and with certainty, and The Predator recoiled. Now just how did he know she was worried she would screw up, she must've been wondering. Clover didn't give her any time to ask though, grabbing ahold of his hat and yanking the revolver off his hip. He darted towards the edge, and the other four raced right after him with faith absolute. "Now lets get them guns off'a our gopher! YEEEHAWWW!"
Ready To Die finished playing, and Clover's southern howl followed him right with his crewmates down towards the massive structure beneath. Clover's feet hit the stone first, and he winced as the force of his drop pulled him down to one knee. Next, ahead of him, Susie, Ralsei, Sans and Grillby all landed in a similar manner. The next moment was spent hastily examining their surroundings. Clover was quick to spot the front most battlement, a ramp leading up to a short tower's peak, where Eden was standing over her purple flashing notebook.
Turning to face Eden's position, Clover glanced just once over his shoulder. He found his teammates were already getting started on their job; Grillby launched himself down the opposite side of the wall on a stream of flame, and Sans' blasters were already opening fire on one of the railguns. Susie brandished her ax and started down the path towards those guns without hesitation, just like she was supposed to. It was Ralsei and Ralsei alone who looked back towards Clover, and immediately the fluffy prince flashed a smile. He reached out one hand and gave Clover a confident thumbs up, before he too sprinted across the wall's wide path after his friends. Their mission was war, Clover's was a one on one.
With that in mind, Clover's JUST eye turned forward once more. Killing In The Name by Rage Against The Machine began playing as he started his march towards Eden. Hasty steps, his boots thumped on the stone. he knew he could take the shot from where he stood, she hadn't seen him yet. But, he came to talk her down, not fight. Killers kill killers 'til everybody's dead, and Clover was sick of people dying.
Eden stood with her feet planted, the light of her violet soul reflecting in her glasses. Her notebook continued to flip through spells, its violet aura making her bangs lift. The trees could fight without her instruction, now it was just a matter of creating vines to attack the enemy and defend her soldiers. That, and commanding her forces. And that was all that was on her mind, even when she heard a shout from behind her. "Eden!"
Squinting behind her glasses, Eden turned to look over her shoulder and spotted Clover The JUST. She'd seen the ship fly right over her head of course, that'd been a calculated risk. Character, Frisk, and perhaps even that scum sucking coward Xander would deal with the rest. The Anarchist required the most focus... And yet here the cowboy was anyway. Eden turned around to face him, a frown digging deep into her cheeks. She called back to him while she watched him stomp right up the incline and to the stone plateau she stood on, "This isn't the time and this isn't the place, cowboy. Stay out of my way."
"I don't wanna fightcha." Clover shook his head. He came to a stop across Eden, and in spite of his words he had a gun in his hand. Under his hat, his one eye could be seen glowing a pure gold. Across from him, Eden's glasses reflected the violet shine of her soul. His gun was loaded, and her notebook was crackling with her power on that podium. Clover went on, "You call off your jar heads n' we'll call off Anarchy."
"I couldn't 'call them off' even if I wanted to." Eden confessed matter-of-factly. She lifted one arm to gesture to the brutal battle behind her, and in the next instant those railguns fired blue beams across the sky once again. "Every one of those men and women were given the option to leave, and all that remain are the ones who chose to stay. Their will is iron and their resolve absolute, even in the face of the abominable. They would rather die than let this empire fall."
"N' whaddabout you?" Clover narrowed his eye, and his hand gripped the handle of his revolver a little tighter. Behind Eden, one of those Wyrms cut through the mass of soldiers with another screeching ray of pressurized water. "Where d'you stand?"
"... I will protect the future of this empire, and I will bring the peace that those BRAVER than I fighting below have dreamed of." As Eden spoke, her soul flared. Behind her, her notebook flipped through pages on its own and stopped on a different spell. Then, in a flash of purple light, it manifested words floating behind Eden, over her head and her shoulders. "PROSPERITY" "FUTURE" "CHANGE" "DESERVE" "HOPE". These words all pointed down at Clover, ready to fire down at him like the bullets in his gun. "It is all I can do now. It's the only way to clean the sins we committed behind this wall."
"... Ya can't cut evil out of n' empire, not when its in the roots." Hesitantly... Clover lifted his gun. He stared down the barrel like he was born to do, aimed with the eye he'd been allowed to keep for the sake of his gun. His jaw tightened, he could see Eden's head on the other side of the barrel. "This's all gotta come down. Ya wanna build a safe home? Wash yer hands n' start over."
"They don't have that luxury. They've dedicated their lives to this, and so have I." Eden nodded back towards the raging battlefield behind her. Mortars rained down, blasts of fire and chunks black and red alike sprayed in their wake. Eden's fists crackled with the light of her soul, and she growled. "You're squinting down the wrong side of the barrel, cowboy. Now I have to kill you for it."
Just a moment or two after Clover and the rest of Predator's crew minus Melanie dove from the hangar, it was everyone else's turn. The ship would have to pull up in seconds and make a hasty exit, it had carried us as far as it could. Now was the time to jump. So, while Killing In The Name was fading out behind us, Lexi and I were the first to dive over the edge.
Wind pulled at my hair and screamed in my ears. It stung in my eyes, which were locked onto the ground I was rapidly approaching. I waited until I heard the roar of the ship's engine launch upwards and away above us before I let my wings snap open, and immediately air blasted against my feathers and slowed my descent like a parachute. Glancing to my right, I was glad to see Future had opened his own wings at the exact same time.
Lexi fearlessly dropped right down to the stone path below, and when she hit the ground she hit the ground running. Future and I flying side by side over head, Lexi sprinted across the ground and Melanie jumped between green platforms of her own creation after her, remaining in the air beneath Future and I.
"You don't bust out the wings often, old timer." I called over to Future, and when he turned the green eyes he shared with me towards me I flashed him a smirk. Seeing his hair pull back from the velocity at which we flew, I realized something. "Have we never flown together before?"
"Sky ain't big enough for the both of us, munchkin." Future answered while he returned my smirk, and I rolled my eyes. I'd never forget how jarring it was when I first met the old king - I'd been in denial for the first minute or two, and it had sparked an argument between Chara and I. I just didn't see myself in him, he was so haggard. So beaten down, so broken. Now, seeing his wings and the way they matched mine, there was not one doubt in my mind that we were the same man.
Looking out at the landscape we sailed over, I furrowed my brows. Buildings and streets, it looked to me like a small city scape. Stores peppered in with housing that I figured might have been for the soldiers Anarchy may or may not have been slaughtering at that exact moment. It appeared that between Gatherer's inner sanctum and the training grounds beyond the wall, there was a small city for those Xander knew had drank his cool-aid. Still, far ahead, before that looming tower and the smaller buildings surrounding it I could see a golden fence. Fortunes and their golden fences... I hoped history would remember me tearing down this fence a little more fondly than it remembered the last one I brought down.
Now, we were racing down what I figured was main street. One big road, barren and leading right towards the tower in the distance. It was a straight shot from here, and that thought made my fists clench at my sides. Somewhere behind that fence, Xander had Chara's soul. he'd stolen them from me, and now all I had was the flower behind my ear. My jaw tightened, my KIND eyes flickered red. I didn't care if I had to rip Xander in half, I'd get my Chara back.
My eyes were focused on that tower now, up until pencils blocked it from sight. Would by Alice In Chains started playing as the road ahead of us suddenly exploded apart. Chunks of stone and street tar blasted up through the air as a wall of massive pencils stabbed up and out of the earth. Lexi skidded to a stop, snarling impatiently while Melanie dropped down from her platform beside her. Future and I spread our wings, catching wind and stopping our momentum before we dropped right down to the earth with them.
All our eyes laid upon the wall of wood before us, and we all knew what it meant. Confirming our silent conclusion, two familiar shadows appeared atop the points of the center pencils. They loomed over us for a moment, clothes shifting in the wind... Before they jumped down. They plummeted from above, but there was no attack. Not yet, at least. Instead, Hacker and Demon landed right in front of me. Hacker's face - my own face - was just inches away from my own. His lightless emerald eyes stared into my bright green ones, and I felt my soul crackle with wrath. Did the two of them have any idea how lucky they were to not be separated?
Everything was silent, just for a moment. The street crackled with tension, Wingless and Winged stood face to face... Before Hacker's expression relaxed, just a little. He exhaled through his nose, and he took a short step back. I didn't move, I remembered vividly what happened the last time I let my guard down around a Hacker. But Granny wasn't wrong about me, and I intended to prove it. Maybe, Hacker had the same thing on his mind.
"... We were right there, when your Chara gave up their soul. We could have tried to stop it, but we didn't." Demon spoke up first, and their voice hurt to hear. They sounded like my Chara, but they weren't. Their voice was a sound I had taken for granted, a sound they had taken part in taking away. I stared into my own dead expression on Hacker's face because I could hardly bare to look Demon in the eye, and I tried my best to listen. "Instead, we fed into Xander's paranoia. We helped your Chara with their plan, we made sure that you were spared."
"... Why?" I was the first and only one to speak after that revelation, demanding answers through gritting teeth. I didn't look to The Predator or the king or the KIND, because I didn't remember they were there. Right now, all that existed was me, those spineless knockoffs, and the stolen soul somewhere in that tower. My eyes glossed between the two of them, but this time neither of them flinched under my powerful stare.
"... Because we can't stop him, but you can." Hacker forced himself to say in my voice, beaten down and tired as it was. My anger faded some, my glare slowly turned into a confused arch of my brow. Skeptical, I didn't drop my guard. I waited for an ink spike that never came. In its place, Hacker reached one hand into his lab coat and yanked out some kind of card. He extended it out to me, and though I'm sure it hurt him, he admitted. "Because Granny was wrong about me, but she was right about you."
"..." Silently, I examined that card he offered me. Shooting Hacker a skeptical glance, I slowly reached out and took it from his grasp. After I waited another moment and no sneak attack came, I let my eyes gloss down to the card I was holding. It was a picture of my face alright, just on a weaker man. "ANGEL THE HACKER" it read, along with a list of credentials that I didn't give a shit about. There was a barcode on it, and a metal strip along its bottom. I glanced back up to my despondent counterpart, "What is this?"
"You'll find the souls behind a steel door in my lab. If you try to brute force the door open, the souls will be instantly transported to a different location. Use that key card, it'll open the door for you." Hacker explained without so much as blinking his tired green eyes. His expression didn't change and neither did Demon's. It hardly seemed like helping me made them feel any better. Still Hacker went on, "I don't know if Xander kept Chara's soul in his inventory or stashed it with the rest, but if you take even one soul he won't be able to make a god."
"Why are you helping us?" I asked with an incredulous tilt of my head. That keycard disappeared into my inventory, but my eyes stayed locked on The Hacker. Demon stood close to his side, spring loaded. They looked ready to jump to defend him in an instant, seemed to be a common trait in Charas. Ride or die... Now mine could be dead.
"Not sure yet. I think we wanna get better, but I don't think we don't know how." Hacker's eyes narrowed, he gave a slow shake of his head. For a moment I was taken back to a broken building in Future's timeline, when I had almost caught Hacker and when Demon had nearly died. When I tried to help myself, and I betrayed me for it. Hacker hesitated for a moment, his eyes glossed down to the road we stood on. I thought he might have wanted to ask me something, but after a moment of thought, he shook his head again. Lifting those emerald orbs back up to me, he spoke with certainty. "There's no time to waste - get going. Xander's gone off the deep end and we have no idea what he might do next."
I shot a glance over towards Lexi, she winced a little when Hacker said that. I remembered the words she had put on Xander's analysis paper. "Used to be our friend"... She flipped that mask over her face, and I nodded before looking back to Hacker. We stared at one another for just another moment, and I swallowed my anger before I next spoke. "...Thanks, Angel. You really are too KIND."
"You're not about to rip my heart out, are ya?" Hacker cocked an eyebrow, and the corner of his mouth curled up just a little.
"'Fraid I don't have that kinda time today." I smirked just a little as I took a step past Hacker. I reached out as I walked by him, patting him on the shoulder as I went. Predator nodded her head and got to walking too, and we began moving past the two Wingless and towards that tower once more. The ground rumbled, and that wall of pencils started to sink back into the concrete it had shredded.
Future and Melanie glanced at one another cautiously, and then they started to step forward. But, before they could get past Hacker and Demon, Demon stepped into their path. They opened their hand out to their side, and in their grasp a machete appeared. They threw it forward as Hacker took a step to his left to stand beside them, and they spoke while they pointed their blade at Future and Melanie. "Ah ah! Not you two."
"I knew that was too easy." Future grumbled, narrowing his eyes at The Hacker and The Demon. His wings spread wide behind him, but his hands remained buried in his pockets. Similarly, Hacker stood across from him with his hands buried in the pockets of his lab coat.
"Didn't he literally just say you two wanna get better?" Melanie questioned with the confused and incredulous furrowing of her eyebrows. Her frying pan appeared in her hands, and she widened her stance in wait of an attack.
"We're not sure what getting better means just yet." Demon didn't hesitate to explain, narrowing their scarlet eyes in the face of Melanie's emerald gaze. Their fingers kept a tight grip on their weapon, it'd clearly take a lot to pry the thing out of their hand. "So you two are gonna help us figure it out."
"Oh yeah?" Future tilted his head to the side, cocking a brow at Demon. His wings shuffled with anticipation in spite of his casual posture, and ink was already running down his bare arms. Didn't look like he had too many complaints with fighting his doppelganger again, keycard or not. "And how are we gonna do that, exactly?"
"We killed your Chara." Demon answered boldly, and Future's expression twitched irritably. After speaking, Demon moved their arm, pointing their machete instead at Melanie The KIND. They continued, "We killed your mother."
Suddenly, Demon threw their machete out to the side. They leaned forward and planted one hand on the ground before them, preparing to dart forward at max speed. The red light of their soul burned in their right eye, it flickered over the steel of their machete. At their side, Hacker threw his arm out of his pocket and to the side opposite to Demon's machete. His left eye ignited with red flames. On his command the earth behind the two of them tore open, and spiraling points of ink reached up over them to point down at the king and the chef before them. Demon made their demand in a fierce snarl,
"If that was wrong, then prove it to us!"
"I don't like this." Predator confessed through her mask as we ran, leaving Would behind us. I shot her a glance from the corner of my eye, and she shook her head. Our feet pounding on the concrete was the only other sound in the empty city. "Hacker and Demon are dangerous, and we still haven't found Frisk. We shouldn't have left them back there."
"Hacker and Demon are either gonna come around or they're gonna die." I answered matter-of-factly from where I ran beside Lexi. My wings had disappeared back into my shoulders so that I wouldn't abandon her on the ground. I looked away from her to stare ahead at the fence we were rapidly approaching while I went on, "There's no better man to kill them than Future and there's no better woman to spare them than Melanie. Have faith, they'll figure it out."
"Have faith, huh?" Lexi lifted her mask some, just enough for me to see her smirking. I shook my head at her teasing tone as she went on, "You really are buying in to this whole religious figure thing, huh?"
"Eugh, don't remind me." My expression soured some, and I rolled my eyes. That fence was fast approaching now, it reminded me of home. Made me think of Granny's funeral, and when I first met Xander Fortune. I heard him shout at his uncle, that was pretty funny. Made me believe he might have been one'a the good ones. And, hey, maybe he was. Maybe I screwed that up for him. I shook my head, it didn't matter now. All I could do now was fix it. "I just hope when this is all over I can lay around and play video games for awhile, and that I don't have to transition immediately into being the Monster Pope."
"Pretty sure you're Monster Jesus, Angel." Lexi corrected with a tone that told me she thought it was obvious, keeping her eyes focused on that looming fence that we were racing towards.
"I'm not having this debate again." I muttered more to myself than her, exhaling through my nose. For just a moment, my thoughts were cast back to the days before the wedding. Back when my biggest problem was figuring out how and when to tell Chara I was crazy about them and getting fitted for a tuxedo. Back before I knew that Frisk... I grumbled, and it sounded like a sound Future would make. "Whatever the case, we're comin' out on top today, Lex. I know it."
"I wouldn't be so sure~!"
Molly by Mindless Self Indulgence began playing as a familiar sing song tone caught our attention just as we reached the looming gold of that fence, and Lexi and I skidded to a stop side by side. Our eyes darted up to the high peaks of the shut gate, and I squinted my KIND eyes furiously. There, standing perched with perfect balance, was Frisk The Traitor. The first thing I noticed was that plastic smile and those mostly shut eyes, the next thing that I noticed was the oversized sweatshirt that most of their body was hidden in and the symbol for anarchy drawn across it's front.
They carelessly hopped down from their high fence, landing gracefully right in our way. There was no rapiers in their hands, which were stuffed in the front pockets of their stolen sweatshirt. They stood there so casually, as if they were meeting up with old friends. When they looked at me with that fake smile, my hands clenched into tight fists. Predator seemed similarly tense with anger, but the mask she wore concealed her fury. Frisk pretended they didn't notice the tension by proclaiming happily. "I'm surprised either of you showed up, after how bad you screwed up last time~!"
"I mean, at least Lexi had the sense to cover her face." Frisk opened one eye in their reverse wink, gesturing lazily to The Predator. She growled, reaching up to grab the handle of her scythe strapped to her back. But, I reached out and put an arm in front of her, signaling that she control herself. I knew Frisk was baiting us, but still my blood boiled when Frisk gestured towards me with an incredulous expression. "Angel, put your tiddies away. Chara's dead; nobody wants to see that."
"You don't deserve to say their name." I spoke through grinding teeth, lowering my head some and glaring at them from under my eyebrows. A cool gust of wind blew by. It reminded me of the Judgement Hall...
"Oh, Angel." Frisk shut their eyes and shook their head, as if my lack of understanding broke their heart. They smiled at me again, and I wanted to punch them in the jaw for it. "If we all got what we deserved, Anthony would have killed you a long time ago."
"You don't deserve to say his name, either." Lexi chimed in, daring to take a step forward while her fingers wrapped around her scythe's handle. Frost formed on her mask in a few patches, and Frisk giggled.
"Aww, Lexi! Are you mad that your hero likes me more than you?" Frisk put one hand over their mouth and folded the other behind their back, "Jealousy is a bad look on you, hun~!"
Lexi snarled and took another bold step forward, but again I reached out and stopped her with my arm. That got Frisk cackling, made their eyes open some to reveal the wretched red beneath. "Ah ah, I wouldn't do that if I were you. You remember what I did to you last time, right?"
"Okay you know what?" Lexi growled as she started to yank the scythe off her back, but I was quick to step in her way and shove her back some. That only pissed her off more it seemed, because I felt her icy grip on my cracked shoulder. She barked demands, "Outta my way, Angel! I got a score to settle!"
"Lexi, relax! They're baiting you." I shot a quick look to Lexi over my shoulder, my jaw clenched tight and my eyes clearly showing the same wrath that was in Lexi's soul. Still, I took a deep breath and forced myself to think rationally. "They know they can't beat me and that you can beat Xander. They want you to get angry."
"Oh, you think I didn't come prepared to fight you, Angel? Okay." Frisk opened their scarlet eyes just to give me an incredulous look. Sighing like I'd forced their hand, they took ahold of their sweatshirt's hem, which was down past their knees. They pulled the fabric up and over their head, and my eyes went wide when I spotted the clothes they wore underneath. Khaki brown shorts, and a green and yellow striped shirt. They grinned wide, and my pupils shrunk in eyes that trembled with rage. Frisk even struck a pose there in Chara's clothes, holding their hands out to their sides after letting that hoodie vanish into their inventory. Their eyes didn't shut again, they let me see their scarlet eyes and the way they matched Chara's while they hissed, "You got the strength to get them killed again, tough guy?"
"... Lexi. Go. Now." I had to force that sentence out through my gritting teeth. I didn't look away from Frisk, if they wanted my attention they had it. On my chest my green soul flashed to life, its light began shining in the cracks along my arm and between the knuckles of my clenched fists. Frisk looked positively giddy to see me so angry. They didn't mind one bit when I threw my hand out towards Lexi, offering her the keycard I had summoned from my inventory without taking my eyes off The Traitor.
Lexi looked between Frisk and I in silence for a moment, before nodding her head. She took the card from my hand, and it vanished into her own inventory as she began her march forward. Frisk was gracious enough to step aside, gesturing towards the fence gate behind them and gladly ushering The Predator into The Gatherer's inner sanctum. They squinted their eyes and smiled at her as she walked passed them, "Good luck with Xander! I hear he's real agreeable these days."
"... Angel." Lexi The Predator paused, right in front of the golden gates. With her back to me, she slowly turned her head. She peered over her shoulder at me, and through the eye of her mask, I could see the furious cyan shine of her eye. "Kick their ass."
I nodded, finally taking my eyes off Frisk just so I could look Lexi in the eye while I agreed to meet her demand. KINDNESS glowed in my eyes and on my chest, my halo appeared atop my head. She turned her attention back to the fence, and I offered what encouragement I could from where I stood, left behind her. "This is your moment, Lexi. You can do this."
Predator didn't respond, but she paused. That was enough to confirm to me that she had heard what I said. Then, suddenly, she moved. Yanked up one leg, cocked her knee back to her chest, and blasted a kick right where the twin doors of the gate met. Instantly that gold painted fence gave, hinges exploded apart and the doors blasted inward. The last fence protecting the last Fortune was wide open now, and Lexi The Predator marched right inside Xander The Gatherer's sanctum.
"There she goes, off to fail like always." Frisk said in their fake cheery tone, turning their plastic stare back towards me. Then, their eyes opened, and the wicked red within was on full display. Their wretched soul flared to life on their chest, and they opened their hands out to their sides, summoning the both of their rapiers in their grasp. "You two have that in common! Too bad she dumped you, what with Chara bein' dead now n' all."
"Oh well, it's not like either of you are gonna live past today anyway." Frisk kept running their mouth, but I wasn't really listening. They folded their hands behind their back, and those rapier points poked up over the back of their head like little horns. I just opened my left hand, and in its grasp appeared an item from my inventory. Frisk's eyebrows rose, their lips parted a little when they spotted the Real Knife I was holding. Green light reflected in their intrigued red eyes then as KIND energy raced up the blade of Chara's knife, forming a sword with my KINDNESS instead of their DETERMINATION. When I pointed my borrowed blade at Frisk they cracked a smile, and their eyes darted up from its emerald shine and into my indignant glare. "Aww, this is so sad! Can we get fifty likes?"
"... Frisk, do you remember when we first met?" I narrowed my eyes at them, tilted my head to the side. Their smile faded, probably because I wasn't playing along with their mockery. They stood straight with those rapiers behind their back, and I tried my hardest to remember all that I'd picked up from Chara about using a sword while I pointed my KINDNESS saber at them. "Not in Snowdin, after that. When we really first met, after Chara was out of your body."
"When I made a promise that Chara never had to make because you were trying to nail them? Yeah, it rings a few bells." Frisk frowned then. Their eyes stayed open, just so they could glare at me. All the while they unfolded their hands from behind their back, crossing their rapiers over each other in front of them. Murder gleamed in their scarlet eyes, and they smiled furiously. "Why'd'ya ask?"
"... Was that real, Frisk?" I asked after a moment's pause, and their irritated smile faded. They furrowed their brows, tilted their head and waited for me to elaborate. I took a deep breath, maintained my composer while I explained. "The remorse you showed. The guilt, the shame. Did you really know how much of a coward you were, or were you just trying to trick me into sparing you?"
"Oh, Angel... You ask the silliest questions." Frisk smiled, just a little. I remembered a time when I liked their smile, I remembered when seeing them happy gave me hope for my own happiness and my own redemption. I remembered when I was proud of them, and I clenched Chara's sword tighter in my cracked hand. "Those days are gone, and they're never coming back. So don't waste your time thinking about it."
"... Yeah, you're right." When I agreed, Frisk looked just a little surprised. But their smile only grew as they bent their knees. Lowered their stance, prepared to pounce. My eyes glossed down at the knife hidden within my KIND blade, and they narrowed thoughtfully. I could see my reflection distorted in green light... My eyes darted back to Frisk, and an emerald aura began shimmering on my skin.
"There's more important things to do."
Lexi's eyes stared straight ahead as she ran down the stone path and Molly faded out behind her. Whatever feelings she may have had were hidden behind her mask while her rapid steps echoed across the empty courtyard. Things were so different from the last time she was here, in almost every sense. Before, Gatherer's inner sanctum had been the focus of all the fighting. The entire place had been alive then, crashing and booming with chaos... Now, all was silent. Nothing moved besides her.
Lexi turned her head as she sprinted, her eyes locked on to the shut doors of Gatherer's Strategy Hall. The building she'd sent Disbelief Papyrus to. Those doors had shut, and it was the last time she ever saw him. He'd died somewhere in or around that building, without a friend to save him or at least keep him company. That image in her head had kept Lexi awake for more nights than she would ever admit. Not knowing what his final moments were, what his last thoughts had been... Predator's masked face turned forward. There was only one way to make it up to Papyrus now.
At the end of Xander's gated community loomed his tower. A grandiose thing, a pretentious thing. A monument to greed payed for with blood stained cash. It looked to Lexi like a nightmarish mutation of Fortune Manor, this whole timeline was an imitation of Fortune City. Now, once again, she stood at its heart. Ivory Ghoul rampaging beyond the wall, Fortunate Son plotting in his sanctuary, Jade Cat here to steal the ultimate prize. History, whether Lexi knew it or not, repeated itself.
As she ran deeper and deeper into the serpent's den, her eyes squinted a little. She hadn't noticed it at first, but at the courtyard's center there was a statue. A different monument, one smaller and more humble than the tower looming above. It was totally eclipsed in the shadow of The Gatherer's skyscraper, almost impossible to see in its darkness. So stunned by this statue was Lexi The Predator that she stopped. She paused, furrowed her brows, and tried to understand. There, looming over her, surrounded by flowers carefully cared for, was Cliff The BRAVE immortalized in stone.
The Chairmen's Intent by Action Bronson began playing.
Suddenly, flames exploded to life at the statue's feet. The flowers that surrounded Cliff ignited instantly, flashing orange shades up onto his stone form and painting him in a horrifying light. Lexi recoiled, her eyes went wide behind her mask. She took a few steps back, reached back and wrapped one hand around the handle of the scythe on her back. And when her eyes traveled up that stone effigy and to the one that dared stand on his shoulders, she squinted and exhaled frost.
Xander Fortune, or whatever was left of him. With the shadow of his tower on his back and the light of his flame underneath him, his eyes did not appear to have iris or pupil. For a moment, they were entirely red. On his head, black horns crackled with embers and sparks. They were taller than before, sharper. The skin of The Balor King's hands was entirely scales now, reaching well up past his elbows. All the expensive clothes had been left behind now, all Xander wore was a pair of black pants. He was shoeless, he was shirtless. There weren't even any expensive rings or watches on his hands, all that coiled him now were those wretched snakes.
Those serpentine tattoos were in perpetual motion now, curling up and over Gatherer's arms like fiery bindings. They slithered over his shoulders, along his back and over his chest. The snakes hissed, they circled and coiled around the few words tattooed on Xander's left pec. Right over his heart, in memorium of a man The Balor King hardly remembered.
Clifford The BRAVE
My Unbreakable Shield
Gatherer jumped from that rock he'd been standing on, his feet having left soot marks on it. Lexi flinched some when he landed in front of her - the way he moved was almost uncanny. He slumped forward and let his arms hang limp when he landed, letting his hair fall over his face... Before he threw his head back, and those furious red eyes locked onto The Predator. She'd drawn her scythe now, standing on the defensive and pointing its blade out towards him. He grinned, and black smoke poured out from between his fangs. "Lexi The Predator... I always knew it'd be you."
"... Xander, you're sick. Real sick." While Lexi spoke, she slowly lifted her hand. Took careful hold of her mask, and pulled it up off of her face to reveal the expression beneath. She was pale, but not because of her cold. Though Gatherer had already summoned his horns, Lexi hadn't ascended. She stared at him with the eyes she was born with, wincing with some emotion that The Gatherer didn't bother noticing. "Please, just-"
"Y'know, Anarchy said something similar right after he STABBED ME IN THE BACK!" Gatherer stomped his foot as he shouted, it sent the circle of flaming flowers behind him launching up around Cliff's statue. That grin disappeared in favor of a jaw clenched frown, and he exhaled another few streams of smoke to make those fires behind him relax some.
"That's not how it went, Xander." Lexi assured clearly, her concerned eyes never leaving The Gatherer while she took her hand off her lifted mask and put it back on her scythe's handle. "You know that!"
"Oh that's always how it goes with you ingrates." Gatherer spat his venom, shaking his head while he seethed. Those snakes on his body had their eyes on Lexi now. They lifted off his body, shifted and waved slowly from one side to the other while they waited to strike. He pointed an accusatory finger at Lexi and continued to snarl, "I bring you in, give you everything, and all you or anyone else ever did was spit in my face! Bite my hand! Betray me, humiliate me!"
"I-!" Lexi dared take a step forward while she tried to refute, but one of those snakes lunged out at her and forced her to step back as she slashed it aside with her scythe.
"Well guess what? I don't NEED you anymore! Not you, not that filthy Ghoul, not that damn dirty thief! I don't need any of you!" Xander threw his arms out to his sides, and his snakes rose off of his arms like the black smoke rose from his horns. Behind him, Cliff's statue was illuminated in haunting lighting. The Gatherer kept barking, "My empire, my people, my protégé? Fuck 'em!"
"In all my life, the only thing that never betrayed me was money! Power!" Gatherer clenched his fists, and static crackled between his fingers. Flames were exploding to life on his horns now, those scales were creeping up his arms. A face that had once been perfect and trustworthy was twisted, mutated and warped with madness. "Everyone else always lets me down! I always have to do everything myself!"
Gatherer opened his hand, like he was about to summon something from his inventory. He opened his mouth, grinned from ear to ear while he started to shout "Not anymore!" But, before he could, Lexi snarled her own challenge and cut him off. She pointed up to the statue encircled in flames that were now burning an eerie white and she shouted, "And what about him?! Did he let you down, Xander?!"
Gatherer's head whipped around, his slitted pupils landed on the stone carved Clifford behind him. His eyelid twitched, his jaw tightened as he stared at that face. Carved in rock, perfect and immovable... The Balor King's head snapped back around, and he inhaled through his nose. His chest puffed out, and a white hot glow started in his core. That searing light raced up his solar plexus, through his chest and up Gatherer's throat before he suddenly threw his head forward and let his jaws snap open.
Lexi The Predator recoiled. She threw her scythe up like a shield, and from it ice rapidly expanded out to guard its queen. That scorching light fired out past Xander's lips, but it did not sound like a laser or a fire upon being shot. Instead, that beam of fire breathe erupted from The Balor King with a wretched, furious, primal scream.
The Gatherer's laser exploded right into The Predator's ice shield, engulfing her in its wrathful white flames. The beam pushed into that shield, shoved it back across the courtyard and melted the stone that it launched over to molten rock. As that heat ray slowly died down, and Gatherer's chest heaved for air while his shoulders slumped forward some, mist and smoke engulfed the courtyard ahead of him.
Gatherer's mad eyes twitched as they darted across the wall of smoke ahead of him, waiting for any twitch of life. But, no one walked from the smog. Instead, a brutal wave of ice cold wind sent that fog dispersing, and The Ice Queen was revealed. With that scythe in her cold paled hand and that mask covering her face, the scarlet glow of her eyes was locked on to The Balor King. His heat and her chill was disrupting the wind currents, making the clouds overhead start to twist and swirl with the gusts that whipped around the two of them.
"You... You took him from me. It's your fault." The Balor King hissed, his open hand twitching and fidgeting. Electricity crackled in his grasp, and when he threw his hand out towards The Ice Queen and let his sharpened finger nails point at her, her ice tiara formed over the front of her mask. Her cold eyes stared, her expression remained hidden behind that mask. And as violet electricity exploded from Xander's finger tips and ice exploded up from the ground at Lexi's feet, The Fortunate Son screamed out.
"NOW, I'M FINALLY GONNA KILL YOU FOR IT!"
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XWolf26, out
