Chapter Twenty Two

Oro wasn't sure how long they'd been down here, but knew it'd been a while. A few days in the normal world, at least. Time worked differently in these paranormal spots. Was it really any wonder why everyone was getting a little tired and cranky? Even so, Daezl was taking it to extremes. Oro sat alongside Juni, and the two of them watched their self-proclaimed leader rant and rave about everything in the multiverse that annoyed him.

The final chamber was huge, and well-lit. Bright red stones jutted down from the ceiling, glowing brilliant like a subterranean sun. The weird red vines grew so thick that they covered nearly every inch of the walls. Glowing blue mushrooms gave the room a splash of different color, and stood out in contrast to the red and gray. Oro had gazed around the room with half-lidded eyes, thinking to himself that it wasn't a bad setup. When they got out of here and got a place of their own, a room like this one would be pretty cool, he thought. Maybe it could be a game room.

Much as he liked it from a home design standpoint, he was pretty sick of looking at it for now. Too bad they were stuck. Only Sans could figure this last riddle out, and he and Miz were somewhere deep in the bowels of this dungeon… Wait a minute.

"Guys?"

"WHAT?"

"Wasn't one of our special artifact things supposed to be in a place like this?"

OoOoOoOoOoO

White flames flickered, licking the smooth stone wall like deadly magical tongues. Sans' arms around her collarbone, Mizera stalked through the silent, cramped hallways of their latest problem. She paused on the regular to toss a new line of fire out before them to light the path. He guessed it was getting fairly difficult for her to continue, between carrying him and expending more and more of her magic. She'd gotten quiet, and while it was a bit awkward, he didn't know if asking her to talk was the best idea right now.

In the end, he decided to give it a shot. If she was too tired for conversation, nothing was stopping her from simply telling him such.

"So… You guys were lost in other dimensions for… How long?"

"Um," she said, drawing out the sound. "Sorta hard to say. Time works different in different places. It was a while. Maybe around… ten years at the least?"

"Wow."

"Yeah."

"So when you guys were wiping memories, did you uh, you know… You made us forget we had a family. So did you-"

"Oh! Um, n-no."

He was much too tired to press on her nervousness. "So to them, we've just been missing all this time. What about your families?"

"We didn't wash their brains either."

"Everybody's gotta be pretty worried."

Like Papyrus probably was. And Alphys, Toriel...

They came to an opening before she could reply. The room was simple: a huge, rounded chamber, bearing torches on its walls where needed, with a massive pair of doors at the other end. A metal plate stared back at them from one of the ancient strips of wood. Engraved in the iron was what looked to be nonsense at first glace, but to him quickly arranged itself into something coherent.

She approached close enough for him to read the text, and he stared with bleary "eyes" at the riddle. Mizera yawned, as did he a moment later. He read the words without truly bringing them to register, more to pick out the letters he needed than anything else. He shifted in Mizera's hold, finding no more comfortable position for his fractured limb.

"So, what's the answer?"

"Sorry," said Sans, rubbing at the rims of his eye sockets.

Forcing a fresh spark into his brain, he paid more heed to the letters. The plate read like an old novel, with a long winded warning of some ancient lurking beast. Once he at last came to understand its message, the lights in his skull flicked on with a vengeance. He knew the answer; the word was clear as day. Even so, he stared at the sign with renewed apprehension.

"Can you fight?"

"Sure I can! I just… Don't feel like it. Why?"

"how fAr you've strAyEd from your path. beWare what lies in wait. for you are Now in the presence of a great treasure's Keep. its guardian will test your worth."

Her ears perked up, and she gasped. "Treasure? Let's do it!"

"You sure?"

"Yes! Yes! Let's get the treasure!"

He gave her a nervous chuckle. "Okay, but you're gonna be extra careful, right? My leg's still a jigsaw puzzle, you know."

"Aw, don'tcha trust me?"

"Asked the kidnapper," he said lightheartedly.

But did he?

Their souls pulsed in unison, the force of wordless, primal energy flowing through them. It didn't run as freely through his system as hers, but ran nonetheless, like an unused program trying its best to spring to life. This thing the five of them shared, this connection unlike any other… This aura of life and power, so much dimmer than he knew it could be… This thing which didn't make any sense, not to anyone other than them. In the end, he'd already known the answer to that question.

"Say the magic word!"

Smile genuine, he said, "awaken."

OoOoOoOoOoO

Frisk stared down at her swinging feet, watching their steady motion with glazed eyes. Her surroundings were hazy, all sound tuned out. Things had grown heated during her latest obligation, and she found herself too tired to even yawn. The blazing inferno of her crimson soul had dimmed through hours of whittling down, and she kept flickering her "buttons" in and out out her mind's eye.

Loading only got harder and harder lately, the task she once abused so freely now locked behind some wall she failed to see. Exhaustion weighed her limbs, and something told her it would carry over into the next timeline if she found herself able to manage the feat. That fire yet burned, however, as it always did. If people wouldn't heed her words, then she would simply try again.

Of all she'd accomplished in her times, she'd found the biggest challenge of all was making people take her seriously. Humans especially proved arrogant and judgmental in more instances than she ever hoped to tally up. It wasn't as though some doubt was unfounded; she was by all appearances a mere human child. She'd no blood relatives to vouch for her. She'd little in terms of an educational background. So much less, as far as most were concerned, in the ways of diplomatic relations. She wouldn't deny the humans' side had a point: murder was murder, no matter Asgore's final intent.

Still, the more time she spent around humans, the more she wanted to fall into another magical kingdom and get a break from them. Frisk allowed her legs to still and leaned back with a sigh, staring at the ceiling. She could really go for an "adult beverage" or two. Heck, at this point, she'd take a milkshake and a game of Go Fish.

A massive set of polished doors swung open, and she turned at the creaking sound. The human representatives were the first out, and many of them slithered past her with barely a glance at monsterkind's ambassador. She watched them go, giving them the mental middle finger for their disrespect. A few stood just outside the room, whispering to one another, their words cutting the warm air like sharpened blades. Toriel strode out and oh, if looks could kill! Asgore trailed along after her, defeated.

"Come, my child. We must go," said the goat monster as she approached the wooden bench.

"How'd it go?" she asked as innocently as she could.

"Everything will be fine, dear."

Ah, there it was: the most surefire sign that the whole thing had been a train wreck. Frisk allowed her ire to show, and summoned the words that only she could see. The goats took notice, as did the humans, who she made direct eye contact with when her finger touched down on the appropriate option. She'd try again to convince them before they kicked her out.

The dimension of time broke, the arrow no longer flying forward, but snapping in half at her command. The world rewound like a cassette tape, reversing the past several hours. It was a dizzying sensation, even more so than it typically was. Visions of what never was flashed in and out of her dark eyes, phantom voices ringing in her ears with a wave of echoing bells. In an instant, she stood before a golden light, with Toriel calling her gently from behind.

She turned to follow her adoptive mother down the hallway. Off-white tiles flew past her feet, nauseating with their perceived motion. Florescent lights hummed faintly above her head, and the drawstrings of her jacket tapped rhythmically against her chest. Figures surrounded her, all out of focus. The ringing in her head didn't cease, and her sight only grew blurrier. She cursed to herself for so recklessly using her power when it was suffering such glitches. She stumbled, then, accepting the inevitable, gave Toriel's fingers a squeeze just before she fell.