Howdy all. It's been, what, a month and a half? Not terrible, all things considered. Here's hoping it was worth the wait. The second round of the big fight is finally here. Before that though, review time.
EpicSlayerGuy99: Glad to hear you're enjoying the way Frisk is portrayed in this so far. There are some hopefully interesting plans in the works for Frisk and Cter's dynamic.
Zillowzest: Hush you.
Obligatory disclaimer time, Undertale belongs to Toby Fox, DoubleTale & DoubleScramble are XWolf26's, and the DoubleScramble Sprite Comic is Wingah's.
Now, without further ado, let's get on with the show.
The wind was howling. Ash and dust mingled with embers in the air as they were swept up in the currents. Lightning crashed to earth in the distance, bathing the wasteland in brilliant flashes of scarlet. We stood across from each other in the silence following in my ultimatum's wake. Sans interrupted the silent standoff with a chuckle, which quickly escalated into full-blown laughter which grated my ears. As my teeth began to grind a copy of Tournesol blasted out of the sands beneath us to shut him up. The weapon would've taken his head had he not disappeared before my eyes. Right. Shit. The funny bone man could teleport.
Chapter Eleven: Game Over
*your heart's pounding
*even then, you hold on to your determination
"Ya got any more thigh slappers for me, Mari?" Sans asked as he reappeared above me. He reared back before bringing a bone club down on my head. The sound of bone smashing against metal rang in my ears as I summoned a shield in one hand to block, the other clenching into a fist.
"Not in the mood for more of your sick jokes, funny man." I growled as a battalion's worth of lances and halberds sprouted from the sands around us, skewering the space the skeleghost had just occupied a moment prior.
"Awww, Mari, don't be like that. Don't tell me you don't get the joke!" Sans sneered from atop a draconic skull floating in the air as light gathered in its maw. A low keening noise filled the area, building to a crescendo before the built-up energy tore itself free of the skull's mouth to rush forth and obliterate me. I bit back a curse as my mind scrambled for options in the precious few moments I had once I saw the hellish laser begin firing. No time to grapple onto something, and the beam of death wasn't about to wait for me to get my act together. I reinforced my shield and planted my feet, slamming the bottom of the newly formed tower shield into the sand and braced for impact.
I let out a gasp and nearly staggered as the beam reached me. The sound of super-heated mana crashing into magicked steel screamed in my ears as the metal heated up and warped under the pressure before the beam died down a moment later. My shield dissolved into a cloud of pixels and code strings, from which a salvo of swords and spears rushed to meet the storm of bones bearing down on me.
"Oh I get the joke alright, and it ain't funny! Look, I get it, Frisk fucked up! They fucked up a lot!" I shouted while swinging a flail. The chain extended and wrapped around a sword embedded in the sand before yanking me out of the way of a patch of sharpened spinal columns as it rose from the sands below. The forest of bone was hot on my tail as I soared across the battlefield while peppering Sans' position with a scattershot of low-resolution knives and shortswords, trying to break his focus as I continued to outrun the bones trying to skewer me.
"Oh, you "get it", do ya? You get what it's like to watch someone murder the people you love over and over again out of curiosity?" Sans asked as he threw a hand out the gesture causing a faint ping to echo in my mind. The feeling of my stomach lurching caused me to look down, revealing that my soul had been stained a deep indigo, and that I was now hurtling back the way I came. I grimaced and grit my teeth as I smashed through the calcium-rich 'trees' I'd just been scrambling to avoid. I planted Tournesol into the sand and dangled from its hilt as I came to a stop, before flipping to stand atop it and fix the skeletal specter with a glare.
"Oh, cry me a god damned river! How many more times have you forced them to do that exact same thing!?" I fired back, twirling a flail before launching it at Sans' makeshift vehicle. The chain wrapped around one of the jaws, and I gave it a sharp yank. The draconic skull disappeared a moment after the skeleton riding it did, and my stomach lurched as gravity once more decided it'd grown tired of this direction. I conjured a hammer the size of a small house and grappled onto it, trying to ignore the instinctive panic as I nearly fell into the goddamn sky.
The sound of energy building inside the mouths of a dozen dragon skulls around me turned my blood to ice. My knuckles turned white as I clung to the chain keeping me tethered to the earth, my mind scrambling for an answer once more. The skulls followed as I reeled myself in, keeping their glowing maws trained on me as they prepared to fire. I needed a better shield, and I needed a lot of them. A memory managed to push its way to the forefront of my mind through the haze of panic, and I put all I had into it out of desperation. A wall of shields surrounded me, their surfaces polished to mirror sheens and emblazoned with horrified faces.
"I'm just dishing out the punishment they earned, Marian. They fucked with peoples' lives like toys, poked and prodded until something broke, and now-" Sans was cut off by the sound of his draconic firing squad exploding under their own force, their beams being reflected by the wall of mirror shields. As his focus faltered, I felt gravity begin to right itself. I conjured a halberd suspended mid-air, using it to swing around and launch myself at the skeletal menace.
"And now if you have your way they'll never get the chance to fix it!" I shouted, gritting my teeth as I brought Tournesol down on Sans' head. My blade cleanly sliced the skull he'd been riding atop in two as he vanished. I realized my folly a moment later when the energy building inside its maw exploded in my face. An agonized scream tore itself from my throat as I soared through the air and plummeted to earth. I felt a few bones crack as I bounced a couple times in the dusty sand, groaning as I rolled to a stop.
"They had their chance to fix this, Marian, and they blew it!" Sans asserted, throwing his hand to the sky. I forced my battered body to move, rolling to my feet as a patch of bones nearly skewered me. I took off at a dead sprint as I hastily chugged an energy drink, tossing the can in the vindictive bastard's general direction while the beverage knit my bones back together.
"Says the piece of shit who kept flipping the table and handing them a hammer to smash it with whenever they tried!" I shouted as I threw a shield to the ground while grappling onto a sword in the distance. I reeled myself in, using the shield to surf across the sands as the sound of bones crashing into and rising from the sand chased me down. I yelped and swerved around a plume of dust and molten glass kicked up by a laser crashing into the sand a few feet away from me.
"How else were they ever going to learn!? What can you realistically do to someone who can laugh in the face of justice, and yank time back to avoid the consequences?" Sans shouted back, filling the air with more blaster skulls and sharpened bones before raining death upon me. I continued to wildly swerve and weave around lasers and bones, occasionally firing back or conjuring mirror shields to save my ass.
"Oh you can go straight to hell with your moral grandstanding bullshit! Where's the justice in tormenting the people who you claim to care about who're aware of all this time travel fuckery?" I screamed, cutting a wide turn to face Sans before latching onto some swords in the distance. The ground rumbled as a massive sword began to rise from the desert, looking more like a plateau of iron than a weapon, and I hurtled towards the makeshift ramp as fast as I could manage.
"If they were in my shoes, they'd understand!" Sans rationalized, trying to shoot me out of the air with more bones and lasers as I soared towards him at breakneck speed. Tournesol took its rightful place in my outstretched hand as I stared daggers at the ghost and retorted.
"That's bullshit and you know it, Sans! You act like your some grand arbiter of justice, some karmic force punishing Frisk for their crimes, while at the same time egging them on and forcing their hand!" I spun on my makeshift snowboard, cleaving through magical bones before leaping from the shield as it was reduced to slag by lasers. I reared back and threw Tournesol like a spear at Sans right as I heard that strange ping ring out in my mind again, and gravity grew especially intense.
"Shut up! You have no idea what you're talking about! Do you have any idea what it's like being in my position, watching it all go wrong while you can't do a damn thing to stop it?" Sans shouted as he turned the hills beneath us into a rolling sea of sharp, calcified death, his gravity magic hastening me to my end. My soul flared on my chest, my eyes gleaming with Determination as I forced my leaden limbs into action and grappled onto a lance I conjured.
"Like you even care about stopping it anymore! You said it yourself Sans, this is all one big fuckin' joke to you, and Frisk's pathetic state of affairs is the god damned punchline!" I screamed as I rocketed towards the ground, only to have my arms nearly ripped from their sockets as the chain of my flail went taught and I swung back around.
"No one's above the consequences of their own actions, Marian, not even Frisk!"
"Does 'no one' conveniently exclude you!? What the hell could possibly justify stealing a kid's soul, punishing them after they've already learned their lesson, and continuing to grind more and more salt into the wound till there's barely anything left of the kid but an empty husk on a death march!?" I fired back as I reached the zenith of my little round trip, glaring at Sans from a few dozen meters above him. I let myself plummet once more as I pulled my blade back, the indigo-dyed soul on my chest dragging down towards the skeleton with the force and speed of a comet.
"They sold their soul for depraved power, I just took my opportunity to do my duty as a Judge and save this timeline!" Sans' mocking sneer looked a lot more like a grimace as I carved through layers of conjured bone like a hot knife through butter even after he released his magic's hold on my soul. My sword blade stopped halfway through his bone club as the pair finally collided, the dragon skull we struggled atop cracking under Sans' feet.
"You're no savior, or judge, you're just a sick, twisted jester who cracks jokes as people suffer around him! You have no right to sit there on your fuckin' high horse and toy with peoples' lives like you're any better than you claim Frisk is!" I reached out and grabbed a fistful of Sans ribcage through his shirt.
"I-" Sans choked out, the world lurching around us as we were suddenly down on the ground, dozens of bones filling the sky above us as the skeleton struggled. I grit my teeth as I felt a few of my own ribs crack under the force of him ramming the butt of his club into them to try and shake me off.
"This soul on your chest and this timeline don't belong to you! They never did, and they never will!" My soul and eyes ignited in brilliant scarlet flames, my free hand doing the same as I wrapped my fingers around the soul hovering over the washed-up comedian's chest and began to pull as hard as I could.
A growl began to rumble in my throat as bones began to crash into me from all angles, escalating into a primal roar as the world continued to lurch and shift around us as Sans teleported us around the desert and drowned the area in projectiles in a panic. If he had anything further to say, I couldn't hear it over the sound of blood rushing in my ears. I grit my teeth, planting a boot into his chest as I poured everything I had into one final yank. The whole desert grew still as the sound of something shattering like glass slowly echoed throughout. The ghostly skeleton and I both grew limp as we processed what had just happened, and what the glowing red soul resting in my grasp meant.
"...heh…guess my set's over…" Sans remarked, surprisingly calm given how frantically we'd just been struggling.
I silently let go of the vengeful spirit and climbed to my feet, glaring at him as we sized each other up. I was battered and bruised, blood trickling down from the corner of my mouth as I clutched my prize. Still, I stood tall, half expecting the fight to start back up as suddenly as it had begun.
"...yeah…I guess it is."
The skeleton's clothes were in tatters, and a few beads of sweat rolled down his skull. His permanent grin looked much more strained. He stuffed his hands into the pockets of his shorts, and simply shrugged.
"Welp, looks like it's time for me to get off the stage. See ya around, Mari."
I silently watched as he turned and began to walk away, slowly disappearing into the desert of ash and dust. My gaze shifted to the soul in my hand, faintly pulsing in time with my own. Uncertain of what came next, I turned and began to walk in the opposite direction. In what could have been minutes, hours, or even days, I found myself standing in front of a cage crafted of dull red bone.
The door swung freely with a creak as I pushed on it, giving me an unobstructed view of the sweater-clad child sitting inside. They looked up at me, their dull maroon eyes lacking the vigor and manic energy they'd shown in our earliest battles, though I couldn't place when exactly it'd left. They stared at me, wordlessly, almost expectantly. I swallowed the lump in my throat and focused on the warmth of two souls pulsing in time with my heartbeat, before opening my mouth.
"H-Heya…" I lamely greeted, clearing my throat before continuing, "...so, uhhh…I kicked Sans' ass."
The faintest of smirks tugging at Frisk's lips for but a moment, before vanishing as quickly as it had appeared. "...so what now? You gonna finish me off?"
I blinked, staring at the kid in shock for a moment before shaking my head. "What? No, of course not."
It was Frisk's turn to stare in shock and confusion. "Really? After all I've done to you? After all the shit you heard Sans say about me? Are you insane?"
"Guess so." I shrugged and trudged over to the back wall of the cage, claiming a spot next to the squinty child and groaning as I gave my weary body a moment to rest.
"...why?" Frisk asked, their expression unreadable as they fixed me with a stare intense enough that I worried my hair would burst into flames.
"...cause I think I've already gotten kinda tired of all this violence, Frisk…haven't you?" I sighed, staring past the bars and out into the rolling gray hills, dotted here and there with patches of blue Echo Flowers.
"...I…I don't know…" Frisk replied, sounding a bit lost before shaking their head. "Th-That's besides the point! You're seriously gonna let someone like me off the hook because you're "tired"?" they shouted, prompting me to turn back to look them in the eye.
"Look, I…I don't understand exactly what you've gone through. No one can, I think. But from what I've heard, what I've seen? I think I understand all I need to. Past all the Resets, and pain, and mistakes, you're still just a kid. A messed up kid, trusted with the kinda power no one should be trusted with."
"...I…I hurt them so many times…just because I thought I could get away with it…" Frisk argued, wilting a bit.
"Don't get me wrong here. You've done some fucked up shit. Knowing why you did it doesn't necessarily excuse that fact." I awkwardly began, glancing off to the side and taking a deep breath before meeting their eyes again.
"But you've also been through hell for it already, countless times. I think it's about time you got the chance to do better."
Frisk's expression damn near broke me. They just looked so…so lost. Their mouth opened and closed a couple times as they seemingly struggled to process what was going on. "I-I…I can't…"
I shook my head before pulling them into a tight hug. "I get it. It's hard. And scary. Change always is. But you aren't alone." I reassured, pulling back for a moment to look them in their misty eyes again.
"...wh-where do I even start?" Frisk asked, only to stare in shock at the glowing red heart I held up, its light reflected in those empty maroon eyes of theirs, brimming with unshed tears.
"At the beginning, dummy." I smiled, holding their soul out to them.
Hesitantly, they reached out to cup their hands beneath it, as if afraid that one wrong move would cause it to shatter like glass. They gasped as it pulsed once, then twice, before beginning to sync up to their heartbeat as it sunk back into their chest. Back where it belonged, at long last. That was what broke the dam, the kid breaking down and hugging me as tightly as their tiny arms could, nearly breaking my spine with their LOVE-enhanced strength.
I smiled and returned the hug, rubbing Frisk's back as their body was wracked with sobs. Around us, the bars of the cage began to break down and dissolve, giving us an unobstructed view of the static-filled sky. The monochrome haze above the clouds was slowly beginning to fade, the world around us beginning to fade to a bright and pure white as well.
I groaned as I slowly came to, picking myself up off the tiled floor before looking around. I nearly jumped out of my skin as I noticed the stranger clad in black looming over me, feverishly jotting notes inside a scorched notebook and scarcely acknowledging my presence. A few feet away, Frisk seemed to be coming to as well.
"...so the anomaly still lives. Interesting." The burning man noted, not bothering to spare so much as a glance from his notes as I held out a hand to help Frisk up.
"I have a name, you know." Frisk grumbled, dusting themself off once they were on their feet.
"There's little time for pleasantries. You must Reset this timeline soon, before the last traces of Sans' influence leave your soul." Tall, dark, and burning replied, snapping his notebook shut and tucking it away into his coat before whirling to face me.
"And you shall come with me. If you stay inside the timeline during the Reset, there is no guarantee you will still be here when it's finished." He reached out to his side, and a hole in the fabric of reality ripped itself open with a horrific screech of static.
"Woah, woah, woah, can we at least get a name first?" I asked, already beginning to lose my patience with the pushy jackass in the lab coat. It didn't help that he'd scarcely taken his eyes off me since he put the notebook away.
The man heaved a sigh, the sound reminding me of a bellows, before clearing his throat, I guess, and fixing me with that eyeless stare from behind his glasses. "If you insist. My name is Grillby. You may refer to me however you wish. Now, if you're satisfied, come, I've already outlined the dangers associated with lingering while the anomaly Resets the timeline."
"Their name is Frisk." I replied with a frown, before glancing over at the child in question and offering a smile I hoped was reassuring. They hesitantly nodded back, mirroring it with a small smile of their own, their hand hovering over a spot in the air next to them.
"...see you on the other side?" Frisk asked, looking nervous for the first time since I'd met them.
"Bet on it." I replied, with a grin, before stuffing my hands into the pockets of my pajamas and strolling into the portal. The cool facade broke down immediately as I yelped and squirmed under the strange, pins and needles feeling that assaulted me. I could hear Frisk laughing through the hole in reality before it was seared closed by those strange colorless flames Grillby was made up of.
Silence reigned in the strange void for a few moments as the monochromatic flame elemental and I stared at each other once I regained my composure. My eyes narrowed as Creeps Flamesman loomed over me, practically able to feel his gaze trailing up and down my body, lingering occasionally on the spot on my chest where my soul rested in a fight.
"...alright, we've got time to burn, right? I want some answers. Starting with how the hell I got here." I demanded, crossing my arms over my chest as the man silently cocked his head to one side, then the other, before straightening his glasses.
"I suppose a brief explanation is in order. Simply put, the anomaly and Sans' antics threatened the stability of the timeline. I plucked you from your world to save ours." Grillby answered, his tone disinterested, or perhaps distracted? It was hard to tell when every syllable sounded like the crackle and pop of a fireplace.
"So, what? You just gambled on me being up to the task?" I asked incredulously, cocking a brow.
"I hypothesized that, given enough attempts and some assistance from the locals, that you could eventually prevail. You didn't disappoint." Grillby replied, looking decidedly smug for a perpetually burning void hobo.
"Speaking of, is Sans just going to come back when the timeline Resets?" I asked, the thought and Grillby's piercing gaze enough to leave me wound up tighter than a spring.
"...perhaps, though without a host I doubt he shall be of much concern to you." The elemental replied, busying himself with…something. I stared in confusion as the air in front of him seemed to catch fire, spreading throughout it slowly as white and red cloth filled the empty space that the flames left behind. As the colorless flames continued to burn away the empty void, I gasped as I recognized what they eventually left behind in Grillby's hands, which were held out towards me.
I wordlessly took the copy of my old hoodie, undoing the zipper and shrugging it over my shoulders before zipping it back up. I let out a faint sigh of contentment, feeling like a little piece of me was back where it belonged. I awkwardly glanced up at Grillby's stoic face.
"Uhhh…th-thanks, I guess. Kinda figured this thing was toast after Frisk wrecked it." I mumbled, doing my best to ignore the unease I felt in the elemental's presence.
"A small token for your efforts. Now, it's about time to go." Grillby replied before wrenching open another hole in the fabric of reality next to me, a familiar turquoise flowerbed visible on the other side. I blinked in surprise, only to let out a yelp as something shoved me through the portal, and I realized that I was a lot higher up than the view from the other side had made it seem.
"When you see him, tell Gaster I said hello." Grillby's voice barely reached my ears through the screeching static and crackling flames as the portal closed behind me. The unexpected mention of the well dressed skeleton distracted me for a moment, and a moment was all I'd had to avoid slamming into the dirt at less than pleasant speeds. As I laid there, surrounded by whispering petals and clumps of dirt, my consciousness once more decided to take a leave of absence, taking my senses with it.
And with that, the No-Mercy route comes to a close. It's been a fun ride. Next time we get to see how scuffed this timeline can get with another human wandering around when the Underground is this close to fuckin' rioting and there's a grand total of 8 souls kicking about. Should be a fun time. =)
Thanks as always goes to The Council, whose members help make this story as good as it is with their continued support. Special thanks go to the talented KuroNekoPallette for the brand spankin' new cover art! If you've got the time and you enjoyed the story, considering, favoriting, following, and/or reviewing.
I'm TiredWhiteMayge, and for once I'm not posting in the wee hours of the morning.
