How was this possible?
Asriel, the prince of the Underground, who had been dead for years, now hovered before her, eyes flashing with menace. How was he back from the dead? Where did he come from? Where was Flowey?
...Wait a minute...
"I was so tired of being a flower."
Asriel's dust had fallen onto the Golden Flower when he died, and then when Alphys injected a healthy does of DETERMINATION into it...
"I happen to know what you're thinking," Asriel told her, his voice now deeper, and sporting a sadistic sneer. "And you'd be right. Flowey's gone. I'm back. And I'm going to take control of EVERYTHING once and for all."
The void suddenly began to flash with the being's own power, colored lights spewing all across the darkness and breaking the silence. Asriel raised his arms, then disappeared from view. In his place, a storm of bullets began cascading down towards the Huntress; shooting stars, spinning as they flew and exploding into scores of smaller bullets as they drew near. His attack was sudden and swift; Ginger managed to weave around some of them, but was ultimately hit by several of the projectiles. Then came the final wave of the attack came her way, and the last, largest of the star-shaped missiles erupted into near a hundred smaller clones of itself. The human was still in shock, and just barely managed to dance around them as they spread out.
"You know something?" the prince remarked as he came into view again. "I don't care about destroying this world anymore. I just want to RESET everything!"
"Why...?"
"Because I CAN. And I WILL, once you're FINALLY OUT OF MY WAY!"
He summoned another attack as his form vanished. Parts of the battlefield flashed red; warning signs signifying unavoidable attacks about to strike those parts of the area, as she'd seen twice before. She moved into a clear section...
Just as the lightning came crashing down towards her.
The spot she was in flashed next, and she just barely flung herself out of the way in time, and then again when they struck in THAT spot, coming careening down from above as though there was an immense storm raging across the void. Three more bolts of energy came down, faster, bigger, and more sudden than the last three waves; too fast for the human to get past all of them unscathed. The last bolt, striking right in the middle of the field, clipped her as she swung to the side, and a strong course of static electricity went through her veins, sharply and painfully, worse than anything she'd felt yet, even if the worst of it was only brief. There was no doubt this was the strongest entity she'd faced yet; even more powerful than what Flowey turned into with only six SOULs.
But now he had the equivalent of seven on him, stable enough to keep them all under his control, and he was no longer trapped in his leafy shell.
"So...You hold up your reputation for being hard to hit," he admitted. "Well, then...Dodge THIS! CHAOS SABER!"
The deity summoned two twin blades in his hands, trapping his mere mortal enemy within a small space, blocked off from the rest of the battlefield by magic barriers.
He swung the left blade, then the right, then the left one twice, then the right again; the unpredictable pattern of his attacks made them hard to avoid, and again, Ginger was hit, each of the two weapons making their mark once each. Several flecks of blood flew into the void, only to disappear from sight into thin air. The human held her side; she had just barely been hit by the tip of the blade, but the wound was nearly an inch deep. Any deeper and it would have very well sliced into something important.
Even so, she was absolutely in awe of Asriel's power. She was not only terrified, but speechless.
"No cries for MERCY, huh?" he taunted. "Just give up. You're no match for all the SOULs combined...That sounds familiar, doesn't it?. I'm the one in control! All your friends... All your progress...Everyone's memories...I'll bring them all back to zero! SHOCKER BREAKER!"
His godlike power had gone right to his head; he really WAS going to steal control of the timeline!
...Not if I have anything to say about it.
The field flashed again, and Ginger did as best she could to avoid the bolts of brightly colored lightning that came crashing down throughout the void. This type of power was unable to be taken down with brute force; he would be entirely invincible against any attacks she threw at him. Besides, despite him quite literally threatening the entire plain of existence, she couldn't find the will in her SOUL to attack him. There HAD to be another way to go about this.
For the time being, all she could really do was hold on to her hopes, just like she'd been doing all along.
A surge of energy coursed through her body; some of the damage she'd taken from his attacks lessened.
"And once I do that," he continued. "Then we can do everything ALL over again. And then, you'll lose to me again...And again. And AGAIN!"
"You've gone MAD!"
Asriel snarled.
"It doesn't matter...Mad or sane, I'll still defeat you! STAR BLAZING!"
He vanished again, the shower of flashing stars coming down across the plain of the void again, spewing out the smaller bullets as they collided with the invisible surface that the young human stood on. She found it wise to steer clear from the impacts, as the smaller star bullets spread out a lot upon impact, and were easier to dodge from there.
Then the big one came again, and she noticed it just a bit too late to avoid the storm of missiles that came from it. Three of them struck her, and the sheer power of the god's magic did far more in a single hit than anything else she'd seen. It wouldn't take many hits to make her fall...
But she couldn't give up yet.
"Just STAY STILL so I can finish the job!" he demanded, thinking for a second that she would listen to him. "CHAOS BUSTER!"
He summoned another weapon, unlike any Ginger had ever seen before. It aimed its course of missile trajectory across the field, and he kept the tip if the weapon pointed at his stubborn opponent no matter where she tried to go to avoid being struck. And then, he fired it; the white bullets spread out in three different directions, one to her left, one to her right and the middle one directly at her; she tried to squeeze into the space between the middle and right paths of trajectory to avoid the missiles, and it worked until the aim changed, now sporting FOUR paths, none of which were pointed directly at her. She realized this too late, as well, and got herself right into one of the streams of bullets as they fired out.
He intervened between three and four throughout the attack, and despite having been wounded by the bullets, she kept with her original strategy, and it wasn't until the end that Asriel pulled something completely unexpected. The weapon he wielded loaded with concentrated magic energy, sporting all of the seven colors of the human SOULs, including her own. She leapt away from its fire path...
Right when it fired an immense beam of glowing energy!
The burst was so intense, it made the entire void shake. But the human still stood her ground against the being.
"You're weak..." he jeered. "Just look at yourself! Weakened. Wounded. No hopes for the future. Why don't you just GIVE up!?"
There was a brief pause, and after choosing her words, the Huntress finally looked him in the eye and dared to say them.
"...Did YOU give up when you were like that?"
His expression softened into shock, just for a few seconds, but he immediately shook the thought from his head.
"That was then! This was now! It's KILL or BE killed in this world! Don't you get it!? I was a weak-minded FOOL back then! And now I'm the most powerful creature in all the universe! So BOW BEFORE ME!"
He summoned his blades again, and the human was careful to keep an eye on which arm he raised first; for an omnipotent creature, he was a bit strange with the execution of his attacks. If he was so powerful, couldn't he just destroy her by sheer will? Maybe he just wanted to keep toying with her, like he had in the beastly floral form he took on with only six SOULs in total.
At least his attacks are a bit more...organized now?
To the left to dodge, then the right, and the process repeated itself; maybe he thought she was expecting him to swing the same side twice. and finally the attack ceased.
"You think you're awfully clever, don't you?" he dismissed.
"Why are you DOING all of this, Asriel?" she finally asked him.
"Because it's what I was trying to do all this time, Chara! You'll NEVER LEAVE ME AGAIN!"
His smug grin was now replaced with upturned lips, and he emitted an almost wolf-like snarl as he summoned his Chaos Buster again.
Same as last time...Just get into the space between the shots as they come out.
She kept using this strategy; he didn't seem to notice her pattern of evasiveness just yet, and when he loaded up the weapons with the flashing energy again, she got as far away from the path of trajectory as she could as the weapon practically spewed out a beam of rainbows.
The void was like a prism, bending the white magic of his attacks and showing all of the different colors that were normally hidden. And they were all over the place, the lack of physicality the void had making them go all over the place. It was almost like some sort of strange dream or hallucination. It almost didn't feel real, although Ginger knew very well that it was. She came out of the attack unscathed.
"You really think you're all that, huh?"
"I've been through bullet hell, Asriel. I know how to dodge attacks."
"Really?" he challenged, raising his hands, letting them combust into sparks. "Then let's see just how well you deal with SHOCKER BREAKER 2!"
The battlefield flashed red again in several places, but this time, the bolts struck down even faster, and with less space between them. The human got past them, however, and thought she was finally in for the last wave of the electric assault when something changed. The flashes appeared next to each other, right where she was standing, and by the time she thought to jump out of the way, they were already crashing down upon her, sending the agonizing shoots of magic electricity up her entire system again. At this point, she was so drained by injury and so dazed by pain that she failed to see the final series of bolts heading right towards her, one after another...
Until, again, it was too late.
Already on the brink of death, she was smitten down by the bolt, and the last bit of life she held on to escaped, her SOUL ready to break away from its host body.
...
...
...But something happened.
She was supposed to perish right then and there, but instead, the SOUL, flashing scarlet within her chest, sent a pulse throughout her system in place of the voltage. A pulse that healed her wounds and rekindled her fighting spirit. What was going on...?
She was supposed to die.
She was supposed to lose.
Her SOUL was supposed to leave her mortal coil.
...
*But it refused.
She would have questioned it, but now wasn't the time. She stood back up onto her feet, reinvigorated and ready to end this any way she saw how.
"So...You're THAT determined to live? Not giving up, even when you stare death right in the face?"
"I've done it before. Down here AND up there. I'll do it again."
"We'll see about that! GALACTCA BLAZING!"
He fired up the meteor shower of stars again; it wasn't much different from his Star Blazing attack, except for it being ever-so-slightly harder, with a few more stars here and there. Maybe he was running out of attack ideas. Maybe he would become predictable, and if she could predict and didge all of his attacks, then maybe in time...
"I won't let you outsmart me!" he bellowed. It was almost as though he'd read her mind...which, of course, he was probably capable of, being a god. "CHAOS SLICER!"
...It was just a slightly faster Chaos Saber with bigger blades.
She couldn't help but roll her eyes a bit once the assault ended.
"Really, Asriel. Back where I'm from we had to memorize up to two dozen different attack types. What's with you?"
"I don't NEED that many attack types. I HAVE ENOUGH TO DESTOY YOU WITH A MILLION TIMES OVER, REMEMBER!?"
"Well, how about-"
"Enough! CHAOS BLASTER!"
He summoned the blaster, the bullets firing out of it; stronger, faster, and there were more of them. But he hadn't thrown her for a loop in a while.
"Why don't you just LET ME DEFEAT YOU? Oooooh, because you 'love your friends?' Because you want your 'happy ending'? What are you? Some sort of sentimental dork?"
"Uh...You know what? Yes. Yes, I am! A determined, sentimental dork!"
"So, it's true...Isn't that just delicious? Your 'DETERMINATION.' The power that let you get this far...It's gonna be your downfall! SHOCKER BREAKER 2!"
He vanished, and the bolt attack fired up again. Ginger remembered the uneven pattern of strikes across the field this time around, and she was careful to stay away from the blinding fast series of attacks to her left as they came down. Then the big ones flashed across the battleground again, and she steered clear of them as they approached, then sped off the left when the one farthest to the right readied to strike her; she just barely missed the bolt.
"Urgh! Alright! No more messing around!" Asriel roared, now frustrated. "It's time to purge this timeline ONCE AND FOR ALL! HYPER GONER!"
He rose high into the void, and in his place appeared the hellish image of a goat's skull. It let out a menacing laugh, then opened its bony jaws all the way open.
The void began to destabilize.
And with the void falling, the entire universe was at stake, the blackness beginning to implode into the vortex sucking in everything across the infinite expansion The expanse of the darkness grew smaller and smaller, the space decreasing. Pieces of the void itself tore away from the source and came coming right at young Ginger, and the intensity of the attack was enough to make any warrior go yeep. She shook the terror from her eyes, weaving around the dark matter as it came flying at her. It came faster, and in more pieces, and the bright white light emanating from the center of the black hole. She couldn't keep up with it. The sharp edges of the missiles slashed her unarmed form, drawing blood and causing more pain. She was just about to fall in defeat when...
The brightness subsided, and Asriel hovered there yet again.
"You're still standing, even after all that?" he marveled, somewhat impressed by her durability. "Wow...You really ARE something special, huh...?"
"I guess I could say..." the Huntress panted. "I am...a bit of...a spectacle."
"But don't get cocky. Up until now, I've only been using a fraction of my REAL power! Let's see what good your DETERMINATION is against THIS!"
Yet another blinding flash emitted from the deity, and everything else disappeared in an instant.
…
When Ginger opened her eyes, she was met with a new image.
Asriel's form had drastically changed; he'd now grown a pair of ragged, iridescent wings, his legs(now fused) tapered into a point, his horns were longer, and had the same lyre-shaped curve that his father's did, and the pointed fangs lining his jaws had grown sharper, and he gave off an almost primitive sound when he bore them. She noted the heart at his center, and on either of his armed hands. He almost looked like...
The Delta Rune...
"Urah ha ha ha ha...! Behold my TRUE POWER!"
He sent out a wave of new bullets out her way; they almost looked like comets, the glowing tails streaming behind dark centers. And there were so many of them, so close to each other, coming from either side. She couldn't hope to dodge all of them.
One struck her in the side and one in the leg, sending her falling to her knees.
"Surrender...You can't just dodge my attacks forever. Every time you die, you lose a bit more grip on this world. Your friends forget about you just a little more. Your life will end here, where nobody remembers you...So GIVE UP!"
He fired another onslaught of comets, but made the mistake of spacing them out more. The Huntress scrambled to her feet and just barely dodged all but one.
"STILL, you're hanging on!? Ha ha...Well, that's fine. In a few moments, you'll forget everything, too. And that attitude will serve you well in your next life! And forget moving out of the way anymore...I can fix that. No more fooling around!"
In an instant, the whole void seemed to close in on her; an invisible pressure holding her body the way it was.
She tried to move herself, just a bit. Nothing happened.
She struggled. Nothing happened.
Maybe if I got to my Save File...
Nothing happened. That was gone, too. Asriel was in total control.
This was it. It was really, actually the end this time. She couldn't SAVE anymore...
...
...
...NO.
She didn't come this far for nothing.
She didn't go head-to-head with a god just to succumb to his will.
She didn't come this far to abandon the friends she'd come to make here, trapped inside of this creature.
...Maybe...
With what little power she had left against him...
...She could SAVE something else.
...She would save ALL OF THEM.
Something clicked. Asriel still stood there, and she was helpless against any attacks, but maybe, if she could tap into his SOUL, comprised of every SOUL in the Underground, she could break her friends free, just like she had with just the human SOULs. It might work. It might not, but...
She had to at least try.
She uttered no words, but through her DETERMINATION, she was able to reach someone trapped in there.
...
She appeared before them. They stood there, faces obsured by Asriel's own control. They didn't know they were being used as puppets. And then, they spoke.
"A-HA! A HUMAN APPEARS! I MUST CAPTURE IT!"
"...just give up. i did."
Instead of the comets being fired, the lost SOULs of the skeleton brothers fired up a team attack of bones, and the human's SOUL flashed blue.
She was familiar with these attacks; all she had to do was jump over them, timing her leaps just right to make it past the bullets. She pulled the first attack off, just barely stiffening herself in time for the blue bone to pass through her. She opted to say something to them, wondering if anything would trigger a memory and snap them out of it.
"Come on, guys...You remember me, right? Don't be a bunch of numbskulls, we can, like...talk about this, right?"
"YOUR TERRIBLE SENSE OF HUMOR MAKES ME WANT TO CAPTURE YOU EVEN MORE!"
"oh my god..."
Sans actually huffed out a laugh, and he ceased his own bone attacks.
"STIFLE YOURSELF, SANS! IF YOU WON'T HELP ME, I'LL HAVE TO DO THIS MYSELF!"
Another wave of attacks came; a mix of blue and white. Some of the bones crossed paths, and she had to time them just right...Easier said than done, it turned out; she was clipped by one of them as the passed by, going slower than she'd expected.
"How about instead of fighting me you whip up one of your spaghetti batches?"
"wait, no, kid, that's not a good idea...wait a second..."
"NYEEERGH! MUST...RESIST...URGE...TO BEFRIEND HUMAN..."
Then, all of a sudden...
The memories came flooding back, and they remembered everything!
FLASH
"WAIT A MINUTE! WHY WOULD I CAPTURE YOU? YOU'RE MY FRIEND!"
"not bad, kid...too bad i gotta use my special attack on you."
"What?"
"nah, i'm rootin' for ya, kid. keep at it. we ain't the only ones here, ya know."
"Right...I'm goin' in."
...
"...So, we meet again. And we meet each other armed," Ginger sneered, drawing her bow from her pack.
"Save your breath! I won't let you live to see another day!"
Her SOUL flashed green, and the assault of mini-spears fired up from all sides yet again. She blocked all but one with the pipe part of her bow.
"Not bad...How about a little-"
Before she finished, the human clashed her weapon against her opponent's, the bow sliding against the spear.
"-Melee combat!?"
"You haven't got what it takes, stick-arms!"
"Oh, stick-arms, huh? Well, these must be some pretty strong sticks!"
She proceeded to elbow the fish monster right in the stomach, actually getting her to double over a bit.
"Ha! How do you like them sticks!?"
"You're the real enemy..." the creature snarled. "Give up your SOUL or I'll tear it clean from your body!"
Another series of small spears materialized, and again, they were blocked by the Huntress' signature weapon. And as they came, she continued to challenge her opponent, not even aware of half the things she was saying in her panicked rage.
"I'll give it up when I'm six feet under! And I'm not gonna let you get away with that! The king's made up his mind already! He's changed the policy!"
"I don't believe you for a second!"
"And for the love of Glaux, I am not going to be told what to do by a sprinking GAY FISH!"
FLASH
Undyne's face came back into view. She gasped, looked down at her opponent, now completely aware of the situation, and her sclera went black again.
It was then that Ginger realized her folly.
"Wait...How much of that did I say out loud?"
"I'M GONNA SHOVE YOUR ASS SO FAR DOWN YOUR THROAT..."
She summoned perhaps a hundred spears, all of them pointed down at the human.
"WHEN YOU CRAP...YOU'LL SING FUCKING BEETHOVEN."
"Quite a bit, I guess."
But both of them had disappeared from each other before the deadly assault could be fired.
...
"You, uh...didn't hear any of that, did you, Alphys?"
"...You hate me, don't you?"
"Al', no, I don't, I-"
Before she could finish, Ginger's SOUL flashed to yellow, and she saw the series of bombs descending from above. She remembered these attacks from the fight with Mettaton; maybe she knew them first and had implemented them into his system for his own use.
But that didn't matter now. What mattered was that she get past those attacks and snapped the attacker out of her amnesia.
She successfully got past all but the last wave unscathed; she was beginning to get worn down from these attacks, she noticed, even if she avoided most of them. She could only take so much more damage.
"Alphys...Come on, you remember me, don'tcha? Why would I hate you?"
"They'll all know...I have to keep lying..."
Another wave of her attacks came; the mini-Mettas. They were a bit slower than Mettaton's, and easier to fire at, so the human was able to get past them all more easily.
"...You don't have to lie anymore. I'm here for you. All of us are. We're friends, remember? Don't be afraid to fall back on us."
"Y-you sh-shouldn't have to worry ab-bout me. N-no one should, I-I'm n-not worth it..."
"No, Alphys, don't cry..."
She still couldn't see her face, but she knelt down anyway to put a hand on her trembling shoulder.
"All I do is h-hurt p-people. Just...l-leave me, I'll only drag you down."
"You don't drag me down," the human promised. "Aw, bud...You don't know just how loved you are, you know?"
"Y-you...really mean that...?"
"Yeah. And...And you know somethin' else?"
Her expression hardened, but the grin stuck fast there.
"What?"
"I think you look frickin' ADORABLE in that lil' spotted dress you got on there, and I should have said that WAY earlier!"
FLASH
Alphys gasped, hands over her open mouth and eyes filling with tears of joy.
"You really think so...!?" she rasped, on the verge of squeeing, smile big.
"And I doubt I'm the only one."
Alphys made an odd sound somewhere between laughing and happy-crying as her human friend pulled her in for another hug.
"What was I thinking?" she reflected. "That's not true...My friends like me! And, I-I like you, too!"
"Right back at'cha...I'll be back, Al'. I've got a universe to SAVE."
...
These were the last two, it looked like.
"...I came," she told them.
"So you have..."
"I should have figured you would follow me here..."
They both fired up their flames in their paws.
"This is for your own good, child."
"Please...Forgive me for this."
The first attack was the series of spinning infernos, with the one opening in the circle that she could pass through as they closed in. Easy enough; she got by without taking any damage, and she took her chance at the end of the move to speak again.
"There's another way to do this. Both of you can fix all this if you just listen to me."
"I cannot let anyone else leave..."
"It is my duty to the people...If I don't...who will?"
The wake attacks came next; they fired their flames in synchrony with one another, as though they knew each other all this time without ever being separated.
"You're both in shambles...I can help both of you, I promise."
"What ever do you mean, child?"
"How can you help us without...There is no other way."
"There is. There HAS to be. There ALWAYS is. And if we can't be free, then at least...At least we'll all be together still, right?"
They seemed awestruck by her.
"You both regret a lot of things, I know it. And...I know some pretty bad things happened in the past, but...Don't you two think it'd better to look to a brighter future?"
FLASH
"No...You are strong enough to survive this," Toriel realized. "Your fate is up to you now, child!"
"Don't give up hope..." Asgore encouraged. "You are our future. Stay determined!"
They both knelt down to envelop their hopes for the future in their doting arms, as they would have any child of their own.
And speaking of just that...
...
"What's going on...!?" the creature bellowed, teeth tightened into an angry grimace. "Something's not right! You...YOU did this! I know you did!"
He fired out another assault of his glowing comet bullets, and they shot out all across the field, stronger and more plenteous than they'd ever been. Ginger was already battered by several of her friends' attacks, so taking this now was not easy to stand her ground against anymore.
Asriel was too powerful. Everyone had been SAVED from him already. What else was there that she could do...?
...
...
...
It was then that she realized.
She HADN'T SAVED everyone.
There was still one more person she had left to SAVE.
And, once it dawned on her, she called out to him, his name echoing across the empty void...
"ASRIEL!"
...Time seemed to freeze.
The deity's face seemed to shift from blazing fury to pure shock.
And then, it seemed like his own memories were finally flooding back to him.
Everything.
The plan. Their failure. Their deaths. The loss of his emotion. The RESETS. The bloodshed. The dust. The final revival.
...But before all of that, there was a fall.
There was a bond.
And then, there was love.
"...What's happening to me?" he wondered aloud. "...What did you do...?"
It's working... she realized.
"Snap out of it, Asriel!" she continued. "It doesn't have to be this way!"
He simply stared down at her, as though he didn't believe his own ears.
"...You don't have to do this anymore."
"Wh...What's this feeling...? What's happening to me?"
"We can fix this."
"No...NO! I don't need ANYONE! GET AWAY FROM ME!"
His next assault was even more relentless, and Ginger strove to endure the hits she took, but still refused to fall in defeat.
"We can make this right."
"STAND BACK! DO YOU HEAR ME!? I'LL TEAR YOU APART!"
He fired another barrage, but only halfheartedly; there were so few bullets this time, and they were so spaced out...It was almost as though he wanted her to dodge them.
"There's another way to settle this, Asriel."
He faltered for a moment, and then, his expression finally fell in sorrow.
"Chara...D-don't you know why I'm doing this? Why I'm fighting to keep you around?"
He fired another series of attacks; standard fire magic, raining down from above, although none of the flames came her way. They just poured down on either side of her.
"It's...It's because you're special, Chara. You're the only one that understands me. Y-you're the only one who's any fun to play with anymore."
The human before him was silent.
"...No. That's not JUST it. I'm doing this because I care about you, Chara...I care about you more than anybody else!"
Something was happening. But what, exactly, Ginger wasn't sure.
"I'm not ready for this to end...I'm not ready for you to leave...I'm not ready to say goodbye to someone like you again..."
"Asriel...?"
"So, PLEASE...STOP doing this...AND JUST LET ME WIN!"
He fired up a new attack in his clawed hands.
And the prismatic beam of light that spewed from his fingertips engulfed the entire battlefield. Ginger had nowhere to run. Nothing to defend herself with. She was taking the force of the attack head on. Her body felt like it was splitting apart. As though any instant, it would scatter into a million pieces...
...But there was a burning feeling somewhere, deep inside her SOUL.
A burning feeling that WOULDN'T let her die.
If Asriel gained full control of the timeline...It would be the end. Monsters. Humans. Everyone...Who KNEW what might happen!?
Everyone's hopes...everyone's dreams...vanquished in an instant.
"STOP IT!"
...But I CAN'T let you do that.
"STOP IT NOW!"
For the sake of the whole world...
Finally, he gave up, and the light faded. The void began to calm, the vibrant, flashing colors in his wings growing dimmer.
...I'll SAVE you.
He seemed to hear her as clear as day. And still, she stood there, just barely clinging to life. Bloodied. Battered. Bruised. Burned. Sustaining all fathomable wounds.
...But she refused to die.
"I...I'm so alone, Chara."
"You're not alone."
"I'm so afraid, Chara."
"I'm right here..."
"I...I..."
The void faded from black to white again, slowly, and silently, as the awe-striking power of Asriel's presence faded. Once again, everything vanished from view.
...
"...I'm sorry...I'm so sorry..."
He stood there, weeping into his pawed hands. He was back to the way he once was; small and meek, with no wings, no stripes on his face, no horns, even, and his old green and yellow-striped shirt had returned in place of the dark robes.
After several long moments, he finally regained some of his composure, wiped the tears away with his sleeve, and rose his head to face. His eyes no longer flashed with that disturbing anger that she'd first seen in them. There was no more rage. No more hatred. Instead, there was something far different.
Regret. Regret and sorrow was all there was.
"Heh..." he smiled mockingly at his own emotions. "...I was always a crybaby, wasn't I, Chara?"
"Asriel..."
He paused for a moment.
"...I know. You're not actually Chara...Chara's been gone for a long time."
She nodded in understanding.
"...Um...I know I've heard it before, but I don't really...What, um...What is your name?" he asked.
"It's...It's Ginger," she answered him, noticing that her earlier wounds had suddenly healed again.
"'Ginger,' huh?" he repeated. "That's...a nice name. Heh..."
His expression softened again, the smile on his face threatening to fade again.
"I...I haven't felt this way for a long time," he explained. "As a flower, I was soulless. I didn't have the ability to love anymore, or feel for them...But, now with everyone's SOULs inside me, not only do I have my own compassion back...But I can feel every other monster's, too. They all care about each other so much. And...they care about you, too. I...I wish I knew how to put it into words...Papyrus, Sans, Alphys...Even Undyne cares for you, in...sort of a weird way. And...M-mom and Dad. Them especially."
"Undyne, too, huh?"
"Yeah...Monsters are weird. Even though we all barely know you, they...They all love you so much."
He tried to keep the smile on his face. but the corners of it couldn't help but turn down when he acknowledged the horrible things he'd done over so many Resets as the soulless husk he'd been as Flowey.
"Ginger, I...I understand if you can't forgive me for the things I did. I acted so strange and horrible...I hurt you. Killed you, even. And so many other people, too. Friends, family, innocent bystanders...There's no excuse for what I've done."
"I'd go as far to say there is."
"Wh...what?"
"You had no SOUL, and you did all that...Part of me thinks you might have been finding a way to get back what you lost."
"Well...I remember I did a few times...Especially in the beginning. I woke up in the garden, and...called for my parents. Dad came. He...he was so happy to know I was back, but...I wasn't really back. I just hadn't realized it yet. Mom couldn't help, either, when I found her in the Ruins. I gave up, then, and...tried to...t-take my own...But in place of my SOUL, there was something else...DETERMINATION. The will to go on. I tried to stop myself, and...I came back, right to the point at which I woke up. That was when I discovered the power to Save and Reset."
"What'd you do, then?"
"At first, I tried to use my powers for good. Helped people, tried to fix things for them...I thought Alphys could help me, but...She didn't know how, and was too afraid to do anymore experimentation, knowing...what she'd already done. I gave up, and started experimenting with the timeline on my own. Without a SOUL, I didn't care whether they lived or died. I saved everyone...I killed everyone...I've won every game, lost every game, read every book, burned every book...I've seen every outcome. Almost every possible timeline, except...except for this one."
"That's...I can't begin to imagine that."
"Looking back on all of it, it's really crazy at how many different things could happen. There was even a timeline where Undyne ended up with SANS."
"...Wait, you mean as in-"
"Yeah, not sure what I did wrong there."
They both found themselves laughing over something so ridiculous. When it finally died down, Ginger spoke again.
"I'll be honest...If it were me, I'd have probably ended up doing all of that stuff, too...'Course I forgive you."
"Y...you do? Heh...Come on. You're..."
He blinked away some of the tears forming in the corners of his hazel eyes.
"...You're gonna make me cry again...B-besides...Even if you do forgive me, I...I can't keep all these SOULs inside of me. They aren't mine. The least I can do is return them to the people they belong to...But..."
His expression shifted again, and his gaze hardened into a confident stare.
"...Before that, there's something I have to do. Right now, I can feel everyone's hearts beating as one. Right now, with everyone's power...With the six human SOULs, and all the monster SOULs in the entire Underground...It's time for monsters to finally go free...Just like I promised you before all of this."
He stood there, for a moment, and Ginger could feel the void begin to rumble with power. She stepped back further away from the young prince, and watched in awe as he began to rise into the darkness, the six SOULs of the humans, and the hundreds of SOULs of the monsters circling around him, joining him in his final act of atonement.
And, throughout the entire plain of existence, there rang out a sound.
It was the unmistakable sound of something big and indestructible snapping in two, then crumbling to bits.
...
Everyone heard the sound.
The few people in the village who were awake all looked out to the northeast, in the direction of the mountain their town's name was derived from.
The animals on and around the mountain-the foxes, the raccoons, the birds, a single doe-they all turned their heads when they heard it. But they didn't run. Even they knew that something big had happened.
And, eight miles away, in a grove of pine trees, others heard it with their keen earslits, as clear as the daybreak which was yet to come.
The High Tyto looked to his queen, who had been standing right there beside him, a strange anticipation having been in both of their gizzards for quite some time.
And now what they had been waiting for had happened.
"...You don't suppose that was..."
"It was," he answered.
Everyone, man and beast, bird and bug, all creatures alike, knew what had happened.
*The Barrier was destroyed.
...
The Angel descended from where he hovered, and his pawed feet planted themselves on firm ground once again.
It was done.
"Everyone's going to be free, now...Out in the sun, and the fresh air, and not stuck down here anymore," Asriel confirmed. "That's...all I ever actually wanted."
The Huntress stepped forward now.
"...Let's go join them," she said to him, reaching out a hand for him to take. "...They're all waiting for us."
But instead of taking her offer, he kept his hands to himself, and turned away slightly. He didn't want to have to tell her, and upset her all over again, but...
"I...I can't go with you."
Ginger's smile faded.
"What, well...Why not?" she asked him, not sure if she heard him right.
"I...I needed all of the SOULs of the monsters, and all the SOULs of the humans to recreate this body," he explained grimly, hanging his head. "And they're all back where they belong now. Without a SOUL of my own, I..."
"No..."
"I can't keep maintaining this form," he finally admitted. "In a little while...I'll be a flower again. I'll stop being 'myself.' I'll stop being able to feel love anymore."
"Asriel, please, no..."
She was on her knees, and on the verge of tears herself, as though begging him would do any good. This couldn't happen...Not after what he'd just done.
"...Don't be sad for me. In fact, it's best if you just...forget about me, really. Go be with the people who love you...I don't matter anymore. I'm just-"
He was cut off when the human swiftly and suddenly flung her arms around him, pulling him close.
She couldn't leave him.
It didn't take Asriel long to process this, and once he did, he returned the hug. He wasn't ready for the inevitable. He wanted to stay just a little longer.
"Ha...ha..." he almost laughed, ever so quietly, in spite of himself. "I don't want to let go..."
She held him tighter in return, and both of them remained there, silently weeping, as they did their best to comfort each other.
Asriel wasn't sure how much time had passed, but he knew what was coming. He didn't want to, but he had to leave. It wouldn't be too much longer until the powers keeping him together would fade, and he would turn back into Flowey. And he didn't want anybody to have to see that.
Reluctantly, he pushed away, but didn't turn away from Ginger just yet.
"...You're going to do a great job, okay?" he promised. "No matter what you do. Everyone's gonna be there for you."
She sniffed, wiping her own face dry. Asriel reached up to brush one of her tears away with the pad of his thumb.
"It'll be okay...I promise. You'll be okay."
There was one final embrace, but this one couldn't be long. He had to go.
"...Well...My time's running out," he told her, turning around to walk away. "...Goodbye."
"...Bye, Asriel."
He began to start on his way, into the oblivion that was the void...But he stopped and turned one more time.
"...One more thing," he said to her. "Do you think you could...take care of Mom and Dad for me? If you can? I don't know if you have to-"
"Asriel, I promise you," she answered him, rising her hand into a salute to the prince of the Underground. "I'll do everything I can for them...For you."
"...Thank you...Good luck up there, okay?"
She nodded.
"...See you later."
And with that, he began to walk off into the darkness, as any lone ranger would walk into the sunset after a job well done.
She almost wanted to follow after him, but it was then that she heard another voice calling to her.
"Can you hear me...? We want you to wake up..."
Toriel...
"This is all just a bad dream...!"
AND Asgore...
The void faded once again. And this time, she wouldn't be back.
...
It was odd. One minute she felt like she was standing, and the next, she was lying on the ground, just barely strong enough to push herself up.
Finally, Ginger mustered the strength to do so, sitting up on the dusty ground just to the north of the Throne Room and prying her eyes open.
She beheld all of her monster friends, gathered around her. She could see most of the worry fade from their gazes when they saw she was awake again.
"Oh, you are finally awake..." Toriel breathed, kneeling down to face her. "Thank goodness!"
They were all here. It was all alright.
She let slip another small grin.
"...Ha..."
"We were so worried...!"
Alphys was the next to approach, and she was met with a surprisingly strong hug from someone who'd just gotten up from a state of blackout.
"Wow...Uh, y-yeah, she's definitely fine."
"Missed you guys..."
"W-we missed you, too...It felt like you were out of it forever!"
"psh, yeah," Sans chimed in. "you made papyrus cry like a baby."
"WHAT!? I DIDN'T CRY! I DON'T CRY!" he protested. "I JUST...CAUGHT SOMETHING IN MY EYE, IS ALL."
"really...what'd you catch?"
"TEEEAAARS!"
He barely refrained from bursting out bawling again, and was earned a bit of a chuckle from the rest of the crowd.
"Now, now, everyone..." Asgore settled, kneeling beside her, holding something in his paws. "What matters now is that young Ms. Wingren is alright."
He held out what he had to her; a steaming cup of tea, from the same mug he'd given her when they met in his home.
"Here, child. Why not drink some tea? It might make you feel better."
"Errr...Why not give her some space first?" Toriel suggested instead, still a bit wary of him being around her, even after everything that had gone on between them earlier.
"No, no, I..." Ginger stammered, eyeing the piping hot beverage. "...That actually sounds pretty good right about now."
She took the cup from Asgore's paw and started working at it; there was something about the tea he brewed that made it...special. She wasn't sure what, but there was.
"Hrmm..."
She peered up from her drink and saw that Undyne was giving her a bit of a stink eye.
"I don't know why..." she almost growled, a thoughtful finger rubbing her scaly chin. "But I feel like I should be absolutely LIVID at you for some reason, right now..."
Uh-oh...I hope she doesn't remember THAT thing I said.
"...Can't seem to remember you doing anything to warrant it, though."
"It was all very strange, Ginger," Toriel continued. "We do not remember exactly what happened. There was a flower, and then...Everything just went white. And when we all got back up ourselves a bit earlier, we found that the Barrier had disappeared."
"I'm still a bit shocked by that..." Asgore admitted. "But there isn't really much we can do about it, I don't believe. Besides...If it's gone, that means we can all return to the surface world...After all this time, it...It can finally be."
"The Barrier's gone..."
Freedom. It was finally within reach.
The prophecy had been fulfilled.
"Ha...!"
She collapsed onto the floor again, much to everyone's shock and surprise.
"Uh...Y-you okay?" Alphys stammered.
"Fine...I'm just sort of relieved it's all finally over with."
"Well...If it would help, maybe you would like to take a walk? Maybe go see anyone else you might know?"
Anyone else...
That was when she realized.
Word had to be spread. Monsters had to know that freedom had finally come. She had to traverse the Underground one more time before she could leave.
"...That sounds like a good idea."
Finally, the human got onto her feet.
"I'll go on and do that."
"Take however long you need," Toriel said to her. "We will all be here waiting for you."
She gave them all a nod, then headed back out into the Throne Room. No light was shining down through the thin earth just above, and no birds were singing. She surmised that it was still nighttime. And when she checked the time on her phone, this was confirmed; 4:56 a.m., October 26th.
She made her way to the elevator and ordered the next ride to the CORE. It wouldn't be long now until the Underground would go empty. It wouldn't be long until she was free, alongside everyone else trapped beneath Mount Ebbot for long years. It was strange thinking that when she first fell, she hadn't given half a hoot for these monsters, her only goal to escape with her life, and then get ON with it the same way she'd been. But now, she saw the horizon of a new future ahead.
If that part of her life was indeed over, then she could start fresh with this new one she'd planted the seeds for down here.
And all the while, even after everything she'd been through, all the battles, all the hardships, all the heartbreak...
She had remained determined. And she would stay determined for as long as she lived.
A.N.: "Hey, losers! Looks like stick-arms is gonna be wrappin' it up here, soon! Bet you're about ready for this trainwreck of a story to finally-"
Now YOU'RE doing it!? How many more people am I gonna have to shoo out of my Author's Notes, fish breath!?
"Jeez...Don't be such a stick in the mud, I'm just havin' some-"
I'M GOING TO SAY THE G WORD AGAIN KANYE
"Okay, fine, I won't rain on your precious parade anymore..."
YEAH, BYE FELICIA...
Ugh...Thank Arcoos she's gone...
...What?
I can't be the only one here who watches Pokémon Talk.
So we're along the final stretch. I just want to take a moment to thank everyone's positive feedback. Quite a few people seemed to enjoy this, and nearing the end of the road feels so satisfying that I finally got this all done and so many people have been backing me. I appreciate it, everyone. :)
"you really worked yourself down to the bone with this story, huh, kid?"
NO NOT YOU TOO