This chapter is just some aftermath stuff alongside some soul discoveries.

Sorry that this chapter is mainly just a ton of info dump, next chapter will be way less of that most likely. (Also I decided aginst adding songs cuz if feels kinda cringe lmao) Anywho, enjoy the chapter and maybe leave me a review to help me improve future chapters. :D


The arena was completely barred for any and all individuals who weren't part of law enforcement or the wizard council, the entrances and surrounding area blocked off by yellow tape and warning signs. First responders had already arrived and were digging through the rubble to find any possible survivors or unaccounted bodies to add to the total deaths unfortunately accumulated.

From what they all saw, the arena grounds looked like a mess. What was supposed to be a place for sparring had become a warzone. Particles of magic and dust still lingered in the air, shards of bones and dissipating cyan wires were scattered everywhere, and scorch marks littered the ground where there would also happen to be blood too. To make it even worse, some human souls lingered around, slowly cracking and shattering as time went on with nothing anyone could do but watch.

News of the incident spread like wildfire, especially with how it was all broadcasted on live tv. Every district caught wind of Betty's fight against four humans and the massive amounts of casualties associated with it. There was no more fear since the bloodshed was over, but sorrow had taken over the entire kingdom. News had little to no positivity along with families and friends openly grieving over their likely relatives.

AMD had no idea how to respond to the tragedy, they couldn't pin the blame on monsters since it was so clearly the work of humans. Some members tried blaming Mettaton due to their own radical beliefs, but others would suddenly drop their allegiance with the organization due to emotional turmoil. Jessica, AMD's leader, would find herself in a dilemma that result in her absence from the organization an hour after the news reached her. Support for the group was suffering a quick and severe regression in a short amount of time.

There were also rumors that former King Asgore and former Queen Toriel would soon give their statement over the unprecedented massacre.

Meanwhile, two hours into the aftermath, Betty was seated next to her friends and monsters associated with Asriel within an emergency tent. She was currently hooked up to some odd device she had never seen before in her life, weird suction-cup-like things attached to various areas of her body that would apparently feed information into the machine through technological and magical means. She wasn't the only one having it happen to her, which helped make the process overall less embarrassing. Her friends Milo, Mila; known also as 'Miller' as part of her disguise, Null, and Tulah were all getting the same treatment as her.

Two scientists would go over the group's condition, periodically viewing the machine's readings and treating any and all injuries sustained on them. One was a yellow lizard-like monster who stuttered as much as Agni with a side of incomprehensible science-related vocabulary, and the other was a tall skeleton who looked like he could perform the most horrible experiments without batting an eye. Their names were Alphys and Gaster. Gaster in particular made Betty uneasy, although she couldn't pin why.

For the most part everyone was fine, aside from Milo's natural cloak getting torn and some stab wounds Tulah sustained. Tulah didn't seem to mind the wounds, nor react to the disinfecting alcohol poured over them. She even joked about it. "I know I have seven new mouths, but I'm not in the mood for a drink."

"Lmao." Null blandly humored.

"You'll be back to one mouth in a few minutes, but I need you to please hold still." Gaster said, putting one of his many summoned hands on Tulah's shoulder while the others held out an assortment of tools from bandages to staples. Despite being a scientist, he was very knowledgeable in medical treatment. "I need to close your wounds before I can apply healing magic to them."

"I-I'm surprised she was the only one who sustained injuries. What happened back there?" Alphys asked Tulah while holding and stitching Milo's cloak back together. The froggit hid underneath a paper bag as he waited for his outfit to be returned, refusing to come out over privacy reasons.

Milo, though, would occasionally poke his head out, this time to answer the lizard's question. "We got jumped by a bunch of clones with swirly eyes. Since me and Miller aren't capable fighters, Null and Tulah were doing all the work."

"Yeah! You should've seen it! We went smackin' and slashin' on them all! Null's new weapon really helped!" Tulah seemed to be handling everything that had happened pretty well, it was awfully hard to deter her bright spirit in the first place. She tried to get up and reenact what happened, but Gaster would keep her down as he treated her injuries.

Null flexed his gloved hand with the magical fingers that had recently replaced his lost ones from the Sicko Incident, in which a corrupted loox bit them off. The bright, white digits would form razor-sharp claws for just a second as he presented them without care. "Yea. These are rather effective for combat."

"Those gloves?" Alphys turned and looked at Null's accessory. A wide smile came upon the monster's face, her glasses reflecting the glistening of her prideful eyes. "You k-know I create those, do you like them?"

"Like them...?" Null forced a soft smile on his face "I don't know. But I do know they are useful and I thank you for that."

"Yes! '' Alphys was satisfied with the answer, fist-bumping the air with her wide scaley tail wagging.

"Seems like you all are making the most of the situation-" Betty commented, having enough of just watching off on the sidelines. She found everyone here rather strange, especially with the given situation they had all just been in. While there were crowds of people mourning, there were these guys just bumbling about. "- but haven't the fatalities bothered any of you?"

The room went quiet for a moment.

"Well, of course it has...A lot of people died, and I'm sure you know that especially well." Milo finally spoke out. "But we have to keep our spirits up if we want to get through it."

Tulah sighed and groaned, swaying side to side much to Gaster's annoyance. "If we just sob the entire time, then we'll get nowhere. I mean, look at monsters like this skeleton dude. They know that fact very well after being locked underground for hundreds of years!"

"I'm flattered, but seriously stay still." Gaster tried to hurry up with the stitching before the preserving human would become too much of a hassle for him. It was becoming increasingly evident the two of them didn't synergize very well. He was calm and patient while Tulah was the polar opposite. His patience was being quickly drained though.

Betty guessed that made sense, progress is hard when you're busy grieving. What's worse was that progress can be ruined too, if one suffers too much grief in one session. She'd know that too well. Easing the tension with lighthearted comments and jokes certainly helped prevent that from what she saw. "That is valid logic, but that doesn't deter the fact we're all going to get caught on more issues from this incident."

"Psh. What's up with you being such a downer?" Tulah mindlessly asked.

"I did just get targeted for my soul and proceeded to get brutally stabbed numerous times." Betty shot back without a second thought.

"Well, uh- I got stabbed too so you can't compare to me!" Tulah noted, using her injuries to her own advantage.

The pink-haired girl raised a curious eyebrow. "What about having your entire chest ripped to shreds?"

"...Okay. You win." The purple-souled human raised her hands in defeat, leading to Betty giggling at her own little victory.

"Speaking of injuries, I'm a-assuming you healed all of yours, Betty?" Alphys asked. Looking at Betty, she noticed there were indeed no injuries she could see, not even scarring. Any wounds they had in the past were repaired perfectly without error, the only remnant of any inflicted damage was the holes on their clothing where the strikes were made. She wished she could study the human further aside from just a basic soul appraisal done by the machines.

The lizard monster's thoughts snapped when she happened to notice Tulah's soul monitor was beginning to beep excessively. Walking up to it, she saw the readings were becoming abnormal. "Strange..."

"Yea. Thanks to my determination I can withstand a lot of damage." Betty poked her finger through her torn clothing and frowned. She wished clothes would regenerate alongside her flesh in this world, but she was sure magic couldn't normally generate fully constructed sweaters. There were no clothes lying around either that she could just openly steal for herself.

"I've seen determined humans capable of resisting death, so that's no surprise." Gaster mentioned once he had finished closing up Tulah's wounds and lacing it with kindness magic one of his many summoned hands would produce.

"Let me guess, the child who freed monsterkind?" Betty swore she heard about a dozen times at least, how they pulled off near impossible feats and stuff like that. This was slightly different though, even as she was annoyed by the mention of the human. Seen? Has he seen a determined human die before? She knew Mettaton had also seen this somewhat mythical legend, but it wasn't to the degree of seeing them die. She hated to admit it, but she was a bit curious.

"Who else would I talk about?" Gaster smirked, although it'd quickly become a frown upon him remembering a faint memory. "Well…There is that other determined human and the one before them centuries ago, but they're a long story."

"How old are you exactly?" Milo asked, inching closer to the trenchcoated skeleton. "Those other humans are from hundreds of years ago…"

"A few decades older than the barrier." Gaster said with a matter-of-fact tone.

"OLD MAN!" Tulah exclaimed, leaning forward with a laugh. She had just found her newest victim to tease, her eyes glowing a bright and profound purple.

"Boss monsters don't age unless their children do. I've technically just gotten into my early forties." Gaster educated.

"Still oooooold!" Tulah continued.

"Um…Back onto the topic of souls refusing death…" Alphys started, seeing Gaster's hands clenching. "Tulah, your soul readings are off the charts." Alphys mentioned Gaster over to look at the results displayed on the monitor. The two of them would stare at it for a long moment, looking at displayed wavelengths and analysis generated. Even if one wasn't knowledgeable on the situation - such as Betty, who was trying to catch herself a glimpse - it could be noticed that the machine's statistics were going crazy. "D-do you mind showing your soul for a second?"

"If you two wanna." Tulah placed her hand on her chest, pulling her soul out of her body to be observed by everyone in the room. The heart-shaped object was terribly cracked and chipped…

"So this is what Mettaton was crazy about.." Alphys gandered at the soul before shivering and looking away, dismissively waving her hands. It was hard to look at the cracks on them for more than five seconds, deeply disturbed by the sight. "Y-you can put it b-b-back!"

"Is it really that scary to look at?" Tulah snorted, amused by the reaction she got.

"I-it feels like I'm looking at a z-zombie. I-Um…err…How do I put it? I'm…Surprised that you're standing here and talking." Alphys adjusted her glasses and looked over at the rest of the present MewMew club members. "D-did anyone know about her condition?"

"Practically all of us when she showed it in her interview… Minus Withern." Milo croaked. "We're all surprised as you are by her survival, but we chopped it down to her soul trait's doing."

"Persisting through death…" Gaster muttered in awe at the soul. "I knew perseverance could do that, but to this extent is unheard off…Mind if I run a few tests on you later, Tulah?"

"Persisting through death? I thought I'm refusing it." Tulah was clearly still capable of thinking, breathing, talking, and eating without much issue at all. In fact, she felt like her soul hadn't been cracked in the slightest, able to move around freely without care. "Am I really a zombie or something? Wait- does that mean I can bite humans and make an army of undead? If running a few tests means I get to say I'm a badass undead human, then sure!"

"You wouldn't be the first human to already do that." Betty said, thinking back to the ability her opponent, CC, displayed before she had ultimately killed him. She thought it was a bit insensitive of Tulah to even mention the idea, but she was also sure she had no idea what really went down between her and those corrupted humans.

"In a sense, yes, but you don't get that 'cool' power." Gaster informed.

"Damn…" Tulah muttered in disappointment.

"But as I was saying, you're not refusing death. Only determination is capable of that. Normally the soul would reform completely intact and without a stain of injury. They are basically 'resetting' their entire body. You, on the other hand, simply are moving forward despite your injuries." Gaster keeled down to get a closer look at Tulah's soul. "What fascinates me is how you're stabilizing yourself so well. You'd have to expend mass amounts of magic to make it possible…Is it determination playing a role? Or is it something else?"

"Er….This sounds like a lotta complicated soul stuff I'm not wrapping my head around." Tulah scratched her head before poking her soul back into her body. She didn't understand anything the skeletal doctor was saying aside from the fact she was undead and her soul didn't want to shatter.

Betty, on the other hand, was getting the gist of Gaster's words. Determination was made of all seven traits perfectly combined together and can be naturally generated since humans have all seven traits, it's just that the dominant trait defines one's soul capabilities and type. If she had to make an educated guess, refusing to die stems from perseverance's persistence through death. Determination's refusal to death was likely created by other trait abilities combined with perseverance's ability to persist.

For some reason she fully believed her own guess, but she also had a dreadful feeling suddenly rising up in her. It was nearly inexplicable, but she felt like she should be worried about those corrupted humans who escaped. Especially CC's corpse…

"Don't worry about it, I'll explain more when I have the chance to study your soul further once everything settle-" Gaster's words of reassurance were suddenly cut off by a booming voice outside the tent. It sounded deep and rough, rather violent to the point it was intimidating.

"Don't you dare say another goddam joke!"

"speaking of refusing to die-"

"GOD DAMMIT!"

A black leg kicked open the tent flaps to reveal Hate wearing a cyan ribbon around its neck while carrying Sans over its shoulders. Agni was right behind to two, awkwardly waving at everyone inside. The three of them looked notably worn out, scratches and dirt over them. Sans, upon Gaster's immediate notice, had the worst out of them all by an entire missing arm. He looked awfully tired too, eyes half-closed yet forcing himself to stay away and crack as many witty jokes as possible to try and keep his mind running.

"Hate! Agni!" Betty and most of the MewMew Club members exclaimed in surprise.

"Sans!" Alphys and Gaster exclaimed in horror and ran up to the trio.

"sorry, i got caught up in some armageddon." Sans weakly joked while raising up his nubbed arm.

"For fuck sak- Get this bozo off me!" Hate had enough of the skeleton, taking off the smaller humanoid and shoving him into Gaster's arms. It grumbled and walked past everyone to take a seat on one of the tent's benches. It rubbed its forehead and gave a deep growl. "I need some damn peace."

"Holy hell, Hate!" Tulah rushed up to Hate and tackled them into a hug "You're alive!"

"GET OFF ME!"

She released her grip from Hate and instead turned towards Agni. The poor girl quickly became her new target for a bear hug, since her previous victim clearly wasn't ready to deal with her energy. "You're okay too!"

"What happened to you, Sans?!" Gaster asked in a panic, looking at Sans' missing appendage in horror. He turned away from the sight while putting down the fellow skeleton onto a medical bed. His array of hands would rush to grab medical equipment for them, although it took a considerable amount of effort and fidgeting errors due to the stress he was suddenly going through.

"you can ask 'Hate', as he calls himself…" Sans didn't want to give the whole explanation at the moment, and rightfully so with how limited his time was at the moment. Sure he was made of mostly magic and couldn't bleed out, but he could die from overusing his own magic to keep himself alive. His soul would illustrate the severity, popping out from his body and hovering above to reveal he was quickly being drained of his essence.

"Yea, what happened to you all?" Milo asked with a hint of worry in his voice. "You all look awful! No offense, I'm just concerned…"

"Blah blah blah swirly eyes and wires. Etcetera. Etcetera." Hate was in a bad mood, overall aggressive and aggravated from all the recent events he had gone through. It just wanted to take a break and rest rather than deal with people and their questions.

Betty, though, had a different idea. She took out her scythe and pressed it against Hate's neck. "Hate, we're serious here."

"You're nuts…Fine." Hate pushed away the curved blade and rubbed its eyes. It sighed and hunched over, looking up at everyone with disdain. "Me and Agni got ambushed and I was pulled into a pocket dimension. Meanwhile, Withern and this Sans guy got ambushed too."

"Pocket dimension? That's impossible! " Milo thought Hate was speaking nonsense for a second, up until he saw them giving him the harshest glare known to monsterkind. He was suddenly pretty sure they were speaking anything but nonsense since they looked ready to tear him apart over poor word choice.

"Well apparently it's not! I was going to be killed there if I didn't make friends and get Agni's help." Hate was pretty brief about the whole scenario it had been caught up in recently, missing out key details and specifics on what it meant about new friends. The being could care less though, going on to wave away everyone. "I'll let Agni explain the rest, I'm too tired for this shit."

Everyone turned to Agni, nearly cowering at the newfound attention. She forced herself to stick her fear elsewhere and took a deep breath. Wanting to get this over with, she'd give the whole summary in one go. "O-okay! So! Hate made a new friend who had a plan to get Hate out of some purple p-p-pocket dimension place? It was, er, very dark and I think…Made entirely of perseverance magic? I blew an exit out for him a-and fought a bunch of clones. It, uh, got very violent u-until we escaped. O-On our way back to the arena, we stumbled across Sans."

"And what specifically happened to him? I need an answer." Gaster demanded to know as he hooked up an IV of magic into Sans' shoulder. One of his many hands would go on to take out a syringe and inject it into the skeleton, apparently some kind of injection to reduce pain as it made Sans relax moments later. He then began to hook them onto the same kind of analysis machine nearly every MewMew Club member had near them. All his movements were quick yet sporadic and in a clear rush.

"S-sorry- I mean- Er- Sans was with Withern and was ambushed by the same people we were attacked by! W-we don't know what happened to our friend Withern, I think he won, but Sans managed to make it out alive by c-c-c-conjuring enough magic and teleporting away. H-he said something about his own attack shooting him? I-I think?." Agni explained as her eyes began watering. The tension in the room quickly became too much for her and moved over to one corner of the room, gazing away from everything but the tent walls.

"Same people?" Betty had a sneaking suspicion she knew what person Agni and Hate were referring to. All of these mishaps everyone suffered seemed to stem from the same incident. If they did, then that brought new major issues. " Do those people happen to be swirly-eyed humanoids?"

"YES! THEM!" Hate hissed, recognizing the description almost immediately. "Did they get you too?!"

"They were present in all of our fights." 'Miller' spoke out of the blues, her mouth clicking with justice magic.

"God damn…" Hate clenched its fists. "I only wanted to find Withern, but instead this shit happens with those purple, toothy bastards!"

"I-Is Withern important to you?" Alphys would tend to Hate since they looked to be in rough condition with the dirt and scratches on them. The only notably injure thankfully, in her eyes, was the gaping stab wound in their back left untreated and outlined with perseverance magic.

"As much as all my other friends." Hate said before wincing from the sudden, agonizing pain flaring up on its stab wound. It turned to see Alphys pouring alcohol on the wound and the being threatened to scream at them…If not for the fact it was way too tired to fight back and could use the aid. He ignored the lizard monster and went back to his former sympathetic state. "He'll go nuts if he finds out we were all attacked… Dammit, this whole attack was coordinated against us, wasn't it?"

It was a quick conclusion Hate had come up with, but with the overwhelming evidence, there wasn't any reason to disagree. Alphys' mood turned sullen as she quietly gave her two cents. "Maybe…S-so many people were caught in the mess. Mettaton, Sans, my other friends, and the audience were all just collateral damage. T-those deranged humans were only after you all."

"But why?" Hate uttered the golden question.

Betty already knew why. One of her attackers, CC, had said why numerous times during her fight. They just wanted her soul. She didn't know what they'd do with her soul specifically, but they were going to use it to push their agenda in some way. Knowing that, her friends probably posed a number of problems to them. The more allies, the harder the fight would've been for the corrupted humans, so systematically killing Hate and the others off or at least distracting them would've been beneficial. That would've been her thinking at least if she was one of them.

Betty began to once again regret the public attention she had received, it likely was what sparked the attack in the first place. Prior to all of that, almost no one had known of her existence or her soul trait. If she had simply evaded the public eye better or not attended Mettaton's show, then this could've all been avoided. Beating herself up over it didn't get rid of the fact of what happened, but it was nice to think of the alternative actions she could've taken because now there was a huge wrench stuck in her life. Those corrupted humans were not done with her yet.

It was also an issue that the MewMew Club was caught in the mix of this, now alongside the monsters who were Mettaton's friends. If they were friends to her, then they were enemies to her enemies. "Because they want my soul and you all are associated with me."

"Seriously?! You owe me hell for this!" Hate screeched with an accused finger at Betty. Its rage was understandable considering she freeloaded in its apartment, threatened its life numerous times, and now made the humanoid a target. Its short life could've gotten cut to a short lifespan. "I got sent to a deathtrap because of you!"

" I understand I've put you in a situation you had no control over. I'll…think of something, but we're getting ahead of ourselves. There's a lot we have to deal with in the coming days regarding the tragedy at the arena. Until that settles, I can't make up for the issues I've caused." The determined human carefully explained in an attempt to calm down her rambunctious friend.

Hate crossed his arms. It wasn't keen on waiting, having no idea if Betty would really fulfill her promise or not, but she did have a point. Overloading the human with more issues wasn't probably the brightest idea. That and it somewhat already got an award for its troubles, the cyan ribbon it currently wore. the object might not seem like much on the outside, but there was more to it that no one but the dark humanoid recognized. "Fine…But if I get jumped again just because I know you, I'm going to rip your limbs off."

"i think one disarmed friend is good enough." Sans punned from across the room, winking at Hate. He was getting better with the IV of magic recovering his strength, especially with Gaster treating him in unrestrained worry.

"You're hardly my friend." Hate snapped.

"eh." Sans shrugged. "back to important stuff and such…i'm pretty sure those humans will target you all again, there's no doubt about it, so what will you teenagers do?"

"We don't have much in mind except to face the future, but some protection would immensely help." Betty just knew those humans would come after her again. She didn't know exactly when, but someday they would and it might not be long.

"I can get that arranged for you all, especially after what happened to my son. We all need it." Gaster switched some of his hands to produce kindness magic, using the same healing technique he had previously used on Tulah. The hands would hover above Sans' nub where his arm had been blasted off, healing it slowly. A content sigh left him, seeing that his son would likely survive the limb loss, although he was still clearly sorrowful from the damages caused to them.

Sans would notice Gaster's worry and widened his permeate smile. "relax G, i'm still here aren't i?" He said in an attempt to ease his father's worries. Gaster's emotions didn't seem to ease up despite his words, still appearing despondent, so the skeleton placed his only hand on their shoulder. "I'll be fine, really. I'm not going to dust on you or Papyrus anytime soon. There's way worse that could've happened to me, this is a pretty lucky outcome."

"Lucky? Sans, your arm is gone!" Gaster burst out in outrage at his son's words, if not pissed. "How can that be lucky?"

"I could've been gone entirely." Sans shot back, un-wavered by his father's attitude. "I would've been found and killed, G, if Withern didn't have a working plan."

"If Withern wasn't there then none of that would've happened in the first place." Whether it was by intention or not, Gaster's left eye began to glow red and the floating hands he had summoned illuminated the same, dangerous color. His magic was reacting to his emotions. Anger was starting to overcome the distraught monster.

He was about to speak again, more denial and harsh words threatening to spew out from his mouth, but…. then he saw Sans' reaction to his state. They were flinching and shifting themselves away from him. Horror overcame Gaster upon the sight and realizing his own, aggressive attitude. Whatever words he was going to say suddenly were reduced to stammers. "I-I- I didn't mea- Sans-"

"Hey. Not to be rude, but could you two continue the family stuff some other time?" Milo mewed, catching both the skeleton monster's attention. He'd go on to extend one paw up from his paper bag home and point at Alphys and the MewMew Club members.

Sans and Gaster turned their attention to everyone else in the room. Everyone was on edge from the dangerous hands floating in the tent, tensed up and looking at the monster with wary anticipation. They could see genuine fear in some of the humans, leading to Gaster de-manifesting the magic building up in his hands. He took a deep breath and rubbed his temples. "I'm sorry. I'm... just very distraught."

The older skeleton walked towards the tent exit, the multiple magical hands pursuing him from behind. He didn't dare look at anyone, whether out of shame or for some other shrouded reason, and part with some last words. "I'll get the protection issue sorted out. And Tulah, as I previously stated, I will be looking into your soul a bit more. In the meantime, stay here until I give proper directions."

"...Understood." Was all anyone could conjure.


Gaster looked at a racked set of vials, each containing either human or monster soul essence. Each tube was subjected to a small shard of Tulah's magic to test its effects on the essence. The results were unique. Upon contact, her perseverance magic would infuse and overlay the substance. From there the essence would become a solid, one that was rather hard to break even with a blast of determination on it.

The monster could only imagine how tough Tulah's soul is if it took the strongest type of magic to deal any significant damage. She was a purely defensive human, but there was more to it with these new results he had gained.

Her soul was nearly a hundred-percent pure perseverance.

It was strange considering most humans possessed a portion of each trait in their soul aside from their dominant one. But for Tulah, she was almost purebred perseverance, allowing such immense durability. For Gaster, the question now wasn't how her cracked soul remained stable, but how it was possible her soul only held one trait.

"Fascinating... That's nothing in history that has recorded a soul like this. " Gaster mentioned and held one of the tested vials in his hands. Just to make sure the other vials weren't a fluke, he slammed the one in hands down on the counter. No damage. A smile rose onto his face. "Your magic could potentially save lives."

"What's so special about it? wait- I can resurrect people like a zombie?!" Tulah enthusiastically guessed, her purple eyes brightening.

"Somewhat, it's more like saving people from near death." Gaster humored the human while staring at the vial. What he was looking at right now could be groundbreaking to the medical field, if it can successfully prolong someone's life. " Even with today's current technology, we can't get magic this pure..."

The skeletal monster felt like he was asking for too much, but what he had just discovered was important to him as a scientist. He needed more of Tulah's magic to test if he wanted to get anywhere with his discovery, and given the latest incident...This could save lives right now. "If I could get a sample of your soul essence, then I could find a method of replicating your magic."

"Huh. Considering what went down recently, my magic would be useful right now." Tulah playfully guessed Gaster's thoughts with a smile.

Gaster nodded and held out his hand. "Exactly. So...Are you willing to offer up a bit of yourself?"

Tulah would accept the offer, giggling and shaking Gaster's hand, but she felt like the who thing was rather one-sided. What was in it for her? "Hell yea! But, there's something I want in return." Silence fell onto the human for a second, still shaking his hand. Curiosity got the better of her and she began sticking her fingers through the hole in his palm.

"Hm? And what woul- What are you doing...?" Gaster deadpanned, watching Tulah trying to fully stick her hand through his hand hole. unamused, he pulled away from the hand and shoved it into his pockets. Why is she so troublesome? "As I was saying...What do you want in return?"

"Well, I'm sure you know we're all teenagers, so some of us have families and friends to go back to. We didn't plan to stay here in Determino foreeeeeever." Tulah's soul manifested in front of Gaster, showing its horribly cracked state once again. "So I was thinking... We stay here until tomorrow and then head back home, but with some people who'll keep a watch after our little town from now on."

"That'd be dangerous. Determino is the safest district, and it has the strongest monsters and humans around. We don't know when those humans will strike you all. Your friends need as much protection as possible." Gaster pointed out, not keen on the idea. He feared that if the gang went back home then they'd risk their security, the town these teens came from was secluded but undefended.

Tulah frowned as she slowly etched her hand to her soul, gripping onto one of its corners. "Ugh, statistics don't equal facts! I learned that the hard way being here already. I don't care! we need to go home and you can't convince me otherwise!"

Gaster had a good feeling it'd be impossible to reason with Tulah on the topic. She was stubborn and deadset with her plan, perseverance souled humans were often like that. "Alright, fine. I'll do it, but don't say I didn't warn you." He held out his hand for the human's soul. "Now, lend me your soul so we can extract some essence."

"Sure thing." Tulah abruptly ripped off a small shard of her soul and handed it to the dumbfounded skeleton. "There we go!"

Holding a ripped out portion of Tulah's soul in his hand made Gaster feel sick to his core. He was essentially holding the accumulation of Tulah herself, and even though the shard was small it didn't get rid of the fact it was a torn piece of the human. He didn't expect her to do that, all he was planning to do was drain her magic. "Why would you rip out a piece of yourself?! You're shortening your life!"

"Tch, don't act like I have much time left. My soul may be intact, but it's still heavily cracked." Tulah casually informed while poking the shard of herself in Gaster's hands. She looked up at him and grinned. "Eventually I'll die so get over it. Besides, with a piece of my own soul, it'll speed up the research process significantly, won't it?"

"Where in the world did you get that idea?" Gaster didn't know whether Tulah was really just insane or too careless for her own good. She wasn't fazed by her condition at all, a rather disturbing sight. "Your assumptions are right, nevertheless." he begrudgingly admitted.

"Knew it!" Tulah laughed, but eventually they'd subside and her tone would shift into something more serious in nature. "I'm pretty much already dead, I'm just running on magic to stay here and you know it. Eventually I'll run out and completely shatter. Don't tell my friends that though, okay? I just want to give them the best outcome before they realize I'm gone."

"I understand." No, Gaster really didn't, but if that was her goal and she was more than willing to use up her borrowed time, then he'd fullfill it... Even if he was reluctant.

What he was getting from her words was that she was suicidal and could care less about her own life. Even though she is dying, why not live her life out as long as possible? Why break herself apart for someone she barely knew? Why not stop and mourn over her shortened lifespan like a normal person, instead of acting like there was not troubling her? Tulah only brought more questions than answers the more he looked into her. Not even a god with the power to reset time was this selfless.

And why did she not want her friends to know she was dying? They already knew her soul was in a state of disrepair, it was only natural to assume her life was cut short...Or did they not think it? Now that Gaster thought of it, Tulah's attitude failed to emulate she was dying slowly. It was easily assumable she was too persistent for death, even though she knew otherwise.

Shaking his thoughts away, the skeleton continued to speak. "If you're really okay with this, then I'll put this shard to good use." He summoned a hand to go and fetch a jar, which he'd put the soul shard into to store. Hopefully I won't regret this...


Betty loomed over Gaster as she watched him get to work with his newest project, testing out the portion of Tulah's soul to push himself closer to a possible discovery. She could vaguely recall seeing scientists on TV run similar experiments to what the monster was doing, using a load of test tubes and multiple trials to get expected results - minus all the deranged laughter and usage of lightning in the mix somewhere. It was rather interesting to watch, even if she had no idea what was going on. She had always been better at combat than doing sciency stuff.

She had been debriefed on the current plan he and Tulah had come up with regarding her and the MewMew Club's safety, which she gleefully accepted since she hated all the attention she was getting in the dense district at the moment. There was undoubtedly even more at the moment with the recent event caused by those four corrupted humans, which reminded her why she was standing next to Gaster in the first place.

"Hey Gaster, I have a question about perseverance in regards to all that has happened lately." Betty spoke, catching the skeletal monster off guard.

Gaster flinched and nearly dropped a stack of research papers one of his many summoned hands were holding from the unexpected voice. He whipped around to see Betty behind him, looking up at him with a deceptively sweet smile on her face. "Oh. Betty. Perseverance you say? What specifically about it?"

"This has to do with two certain people who attacked at the arena, the cloned humanoid and that violent child whom I had to kill... Is it possible they might not be actually dead?" Betty asked. The thought had bothered her ever since the topic of refusing and persisting past death had came up, which had only been a few hours ago. There was just something not right with either person she killed. "I'm asking because the child was dual-traited with kindness, if you can even call that anymore, and it seems impossible to duplicate one's self normally. No human has even been capable of that.

Gaster didn't expect a question like this to be brought up, he hadn't considered the abilities of those dangerous humans who caused all the mayhem, mainly because he was too focused on providing aid to civilians caught in the crossfire. He winced at the idea of either of them somehow surviving, but it wasn't entirely impossible given their capabilities. "It...Might be possible. Perseverance mixed with kindness is a relatively rare combination - as with any dual-traited soul in general - but from the information gathered about them, they're often durable. They have a naturally potent aura and can lean towards defense if they so choose, in addition to the healing and defensive magic they gain. On top of that, there's the ability to persist through death."

one of Gaster's hands would go over to a nearby filing cabinet and take out two various charts in regards to perseverance and kindness. He held them up side by side, reading the information regarding their known capabilities and such. "You said you killed the dual-traited one...It's hard to say if you really did or not."

"That's what I've been thinking." Betty eyes lit up and she took out what seemed to be CC's soul with dark purple and green transitioning. It wasn't really a soul, but rather an imitation created through her magic, a mirage more specifically. "But I've also thought if perseverance can persist past fatal injuries, and kindness can heal; wouldn't that mean a combination of the two could refuse death like determination?"

"The magic needed for that would be absurd, they don't have the ability to generate such amounts like determination can." Gaster didn't doubt the possibility despite his words. While a feat like that was unheard of outside of a determined human or a monster, it wasn't impossible. "Where'd you get the idea kindness and perseverance combined could do such a thing?"

"Since Determination is a combination of all traits, its abilities are derived from what other traits can do." Betty explained as the fake soul she held began turning red. "Considering that, refusing death has to be derived from various traits mixing together to create the ability. Kindness and Perseverance just seem the most likely to make it possible."

Gaster was impressed by the pink human's guesswork, alongside the little display they did with their magic. The use of kindness and perseverance did remind him of a medical practice used in today's world where perseverance magic would be used as a stabilizer before healing magic was applied to wounds. If that same practice could be applied to a soul, which was what he was exactly trying to accomplish with Tulah's magic, then maybe Betty was onto something. "You might be right, but our information on determination's abilities in relation to soul traits is relatively basic. It's hard to say if what you're saying is true or not."

"That should've been expected. It's not every day a determined human shows up anyways, so gathering information on people like me is a hassle." Betty said with a disappointed sigh. It wasn't the answer she was looking for, but at least someone knowledgeable agreed with her thinking to an extent. "And what about the other perseverance human? Do you know how he's able to duplicate himself? I heard he could also make a pocket dimension."

Gaster took a long minute to think while scanning through the papers he had with him in regards to perseverance. There was no information of that trait, or any trait aside from monsters, being able to do such a thing. "I don't believe I do...Those two things are impossible for a trait like, without the help of another trait at least. I'm afraid I have no answer to that, although I do wish I did. It does bug me too, now that you mention it."

"I see...Well, that was all I wanted to ask. Thank you, Gaster." Betty walked off to leave the monster and let him continue his work. What she learned was essentially useless, it only made he more paranoid if anything. Those twisted humans could come back any moment, possibly alive and with an army again, which only meant more bloodshed and lives wasted. If her hair wasn't already pink enough from the recent attack, it was now. There wasn't a strand left unfilled with fearful anticipation for the future.


Boukyaku tapped a needle full of black, green. and purple-colored magic while looking at the dead body of CC sprawled on the counter. Above the corpse was his dead companion's soul, shattered and in pieces. The soul should normally be completely gone and dissipated, as with any soul that breaks, but the corrupted child was a unique case.

The purple-eyed humanoid saw CC's soul attempting to reconstruct itself, each shard becoming attracted to one another and steadily merging. The process was awfully slow, using corrupted perseverance to bind the pieces together before kindness magic would heal the cracks. The magic required to make a soul recover from shattering was huge, it was only why determined souls were usually only capable of refusing death, and since CC didn't have the required reserves to make it happen.. It'd probably take at least a week before he could fill in the quota and fully remerge his soul back to one.

But a week for far too long for any of the four corrupted humans, and Boukyaku was damn sure CC would strangle him if they found out they'd been gone for days. Thankfully the small human was a sucker for research, which meant they had a lot of useful supplies and information laying everywhere. Most of the texts and books they had were related to souls too, which made finding an answer to speeding their recovery a breeze.

The real problem was getting the materials; not because they were hard to come by, but because BB, CC's pet, didn't trust Boukyaku for one second in their home. The only reason he was allowed here in the first place was because of a temporary truce with the small beast. It only took a few threats and uneasy promises to make it work, which unfortunately didn't apply when it came to handling CC's stuff.

BB watched Boukyaku like a hawk and silently directed his every move with growls or poking him with her razor-sharp tail. She disallowed him from touching anything but what he absolutely needed, which quickly became a game of grabbing stuff and then having to plead with a ten-minute explanation every time.

Thankfully that nightmare was nearly over, all the sawtoothed being had to do was inject the serum of mixed magic into CC to exponentially speed up their resurrection. As he inched the needle towards the child's broken soul, BB's tail would wrap around his neck in response. She wasn't choking him, but rather emulating the idea if he messed up the procedure.

"Stop that. I'm not planning on anything, I need him alive as much as you do." Boukyaku looked down at BB with a wide, glowing grin on his face. "You and I both know I don't let him live in my dimension without a good reason."

BB growled, but her tail would loosen and eventually slide off Boukyaku, allowing him to continue his task without worry. She'd still keep a close on him, silently staring and waiting.

The humanoid injected the serum into portions of CC's shattered soul, overloading various pieces with kindness and perseverance mixed in with...Whatever black fluid BB had given him. he didn't know why she wanted that in the mixture too, knowing what it likely was, but he added it anyways since she knew everything magic-related better than him.

Boukyaku went on to watch as the pieces began to rapidly form into a singular heart-shaped object. The process went on like how it normally did, the two traits he injected CC with began to do their healing process...But what somewhat alarmed him was the black substance that also appeared. It was much more violent and makeshift, slamming nearby shards into one another until they made a perfect fit. Once they did, the vile liquid would encase around the pieces and replicate the abilities of the two traits. The sight was strangely disturbing, even though he knew full well of the substance's nature.

Too bad it wasn't his problem, as long as it was getting the job done.


Super Short Story.

Recently I made a new friend down in the Determino district. He's no one impressive at first, just some cat who flipped way too many burgers for his own good with whatever aspiring goals he had quickly flushed down the drain. He seemed like a total loser, running a minimum wage job and complaining how his life was already over at 19, it was almost sad hanging around him. I only met him because I wanted some glamburgers, all the monsters were raging about it and I had to see what all the talk is about.

I eventually striked up a conversation with him, watching him work his magic. It was a strange sight. Did glamburgers really include glue? I really hoped it was edible glue at the very least, because I ended up eating the burger. Wait, where was this going? Something about...chatting. I lost track. I think I talked to him about nonsensical stuff, kinda just asking stuff about his life and then moving on to more obscure topics like games and stuff. We got pretty lost in our conversation.

He ended up being a decent monster to talk to, we had more in common than I realized...Minus the fact we're both cat-like creatures. Somewhere amongst our chat, we both sat down at a booth and continued talking while eating. The place was pretty much abandoned since everyone was heading to the arena to snatch a look at Betty and her soul, so he didn't have anything better to do.

We joked around for a bit about my appearance, supposedly the way I ate was rather weird. I guess I was eating from the wrong hole in my face or something, it was a common habit. embarrassed, I tried to defend myself anyways, which ended up being a petty back and forth in an agruement until we both settled down and laughed it off. He decided to nickname me 'Little Werido'. I strangely like that name.

Right after that...Something interesting happened. You see, I asked him why he didn't go to the arena show since there was nothing better to do. He declined, even though this cat had free tickets to Mettaton's show. Some comedian gave it to him, and those things aren't cheap either - apparently, you shouldn't trust a spider with prices. The reason why he didn't want to go was because apparently he hated his boss, Mettaton...

Yea, this monster worked for Metatton himself! Not that it was a huge deal, because I worked at one of the robot's hotels, but I've never known them personally.

Apparently (I feel like I'm abusing this word, 'apparently') it's not as bright as it sounds, a hellhole actually.

...Pretty sad...

Long story short, I convinced him to give me the tickets and added him as a friend to Undernet. At that moment, some random dog came out of nowhere and tried stealing the tickets from me. I was lucky to hide them away in time, but I don't think they were very happy; they had these huge eyebrows as they glared at me. I really hate dogs as much as they hate me, I considered killing them before they ran off.

Er...Going on with the conclusion... Man, did my new friend miss out on the event. I think he would've liked to see Mettaton hanged by strings, if he didn't mind all the dying spectators and possibly getting crushed by rubble. Fun times. My only regret was not recording the whole thing.

Moral of the story? Make friends with cats that flip burgers...Or something like that I guess.


Notes:

• Boukyaku's abilities aren't supposed to be possible.

•Refusing to die is derived mainly from kindness and perseverance.

•Tulah's time is limited.