This ending continues from chapter 19 and not chapter 21.
He was injured but it wasn't over, he could still fight.
Frisk thought they were soooo smart, that they knew soooo much better than him. Lucius was infuriated just listening to them trying to lecture him.
"Just because you got curious ? Look back, look at those you've killed. Were they people you knew ?" They asked him.
"Shut up !" Lucius responded while slashing at Frisk, still missing.
"Were they your friends ?" Frisk continued.
"SHUT UP !" Lucius screamed out as he once again got close to touching Frisk, making a small cut on the tissue of their shirt.
Frisk examined Lucius' expression, he was conflicted. He was in denial but he had heard them even if only in his subconscious. He was redeemable, Frisk knew he was. They knew they could do it.
On the other hand, it appeared Frisk had overestimated their odds in the very long run. Sure they were both learning from each other, but that learning had diminishing returns. Lucius would get better at this ever so slightly faster than they were. They did feel that he was starting to do a bit better against them. The skill difference was lowering, extremely slowly, but it was.
They still had many tricks up their sleeves of course but that observation still wasn't good news.
They dodged another one of Lucius' attacks.
"Is it making you happy ? Wouldn't you be happier with a different path ?" They suggested.
They recognised the stare Lucius gave them as an answer, it was one that meant "It doesn't matter, i just HAVE to know what happens"
They managed to land another small cut on Lucius, it wasn't much but it was something.
9
Lucius 22/48 HP
He groaned in pain and took a few steps back. After that he stood still for a few seconds, seemingly thinking, then his facial expression changed again. He was...
That expression...
It couldn't be described, it was a mixture of pain, determination, conflict, rage, desire and Frisk swore that they saw a tiny bit of regret as well. All of that at the same time.
It was so close, Frisk could feel it. Lucius was so close to the breaking point. They of all people knew exactly how it hard it was to make that choice, to got back on everything you worked up to.
The look in his eyes left no doubt. He wanted this to be over, he wanted them gone, he just wanted to finally end this timeline. And to do that, he thought he had to finally win, but he didn't. There was another way.
He wouldn't listen to them, not yet, he had antagonised them and his LOVE wouldn't let him change his mind until his will was satisfied.
They needed to get Lucius to calm down and listen to them. But how ?
He ran towards them and tried to stab them, missing his shot.
"Why ? Why won't you just let me win ?" Lucius exclaimed. It seemed like he was about to break down. He was getting desperate.
He slashed at them again and again, missing over and over.
"Stop dodging ! What you are doing is useless, you can't win !" He really was getting close to crying.
After all this time the frustration he had accumulated was finally starting to damage the emotional barrier his LOVE created.
"...And what you're doing isn't useless ?" They answered with a low calm voice. Frisk looked at him in the eyes. "What will you even do if you do kill me ? Just RESET ? Then it will all have been for nothing anyways, so why does hitting me matter ?"
Lucius' hands started trembling again.
"You..You're in my way !" Now, his voice was trembling too.
As he said it, Lucius ran again towards Frisk and attempted another weak attack, he was out of strength. Frisk countered by stabbing him instead, but making sure the hit wouldn't be lethal.
19
Lucius 03/48 HP
He screamed as hard as he could, he was in terrible pain. Lucius fell to the floor dropping his knife and whined in pain as blood oozed and tears began to fall from his eyes.
Frisk just looked at him with a sad look on their own face, they thought for a while about what to say next.
"And what if… I didn't have to be in your way ?"
Frisk lowered their weapon and Lucius stared back at them after turning his head in their direction. He didn't understand why they weren't just finishing him off already.
"What if we just… fixed this Instead ? We don't have to be ennemies, we don't have to fight"
"N- No ! Liar ! Y-You ar-" Lucius interrupted himself by coughing up blood. When he tried to turn towards them again he didn't manage to articulate a word before melting into tears due to the pain. It was unbearable, he was slowly dying and he knew it. Why were they prolonging his suffering ?
Why ? Why wasn't Frisk just killing him ? It hurt so much, why couldn't he die ? If he died the pain would stop. He needed it to stop. Anything ! Anything but suffering through this.
Frisk sat down not far away from him to get a better view of Lucius, he looked absolutely miserable.
"M-mommy… Daddy… Please h-help me..." He barely managed to say.
This was him, the one who threatened to doom the timeline forever, the one who risked trapping the universe in an endless loop of pain and suffering if left unchecked, and he was crying, begging for his parents to help him.
Deep down, despite everything, he was still a 15 year old boy.
This was now, now was their chance.
"Lucius… Please listen to me for once. Look at yourself, look at what you've become… What would your parents say if they saw you now ? What would your friends say ?"
Lucius began silently muttering his parent's names.
They were right, his parents.. They wouldn't get it ! They wouldn't understand who he was now ! They… They…
They'd be disappointed in him. But... it was because they wouldn't realise the truth ! What he was doing was just what he had to do.
"What would Mila say ?" Frisk asked him.
Mila… This was how it all began. He discovered he had this power in the first place because… He wanted to save Mila. But he never did. He tried to but eventually he gave it up and did his own thing instead. But… He was gonna come back and try to help her again soon ! That's what he told himself !
...Then why hadn't he done it at any point yet ? It was no longer about Mila wasn't it ?
What would she say about him ? She couldn't be mad, he wanted to save her ! He really did ! But… What would she say about…
Lucius remembered his crimes.
...It wasn't real ! He'd just RESET afterwards ! It doesn't count !
But would she understand that ?
….Whatever ! He was GOD, he didn't need anyone, no need for friends or for family. He could do what he wanted and he didn't care about what anyone else had to say about it at all !
But then why did he just call to them for help ?
It was a lie, he still wanted to have them all by his side… And they could be ! If he just RESET anything bad he did they'd never know about it and keep loving him as before.
...But could he look at them in the eyes then ?
He realised he knew the answer. He couldn't. Frisk was exactly like this weren't they ? That's why they couldn't look at the monsters in the eyes anymore. Even if they didn't remember it had still ruined their relation with them forever in all future timelines.
Was it a price he was willing to pay ?
Just for what ? To see what happens ?
...Was it worth it ? Lucius had a small doubt for the first time in a long while that maybe he wasn't above consequences.
"Listen... You realise that this is going nowhere right ?" Frisk asked him.
"We keep fighting to the death here over and over again, there is no end in sight. We're going to be here forever. Think about it, why are we even fighting ?"
"Because you're… you're..." Lucius immediatly responded before realising that they weren't really in the way of anything except for this objective, the same one that might result in him losing the people he cared about in all future worlds.
There was a second of silence, Lucius looked like he was questioning his life choices. Frisk was nervous but hopeful.
They got closer to Lucius and wondered.
"You've done this because you wanted to see what would happen right ? Well, what if you accepted my offer ? That's also something that you've never done before right ? It should be just as interesting as this. Please if you're going to listen to me once in your life, do it right now. Its not worth it. This path isn't worth it. You lose everyone and everything you care about, including yourself, and you get nothing in return. Don't make the same mistake i have. Please."
Maybe they had a point… If they did the same thing he had, if this path really brought nothing but the inability to face those you love again. Maybe, just maybe, he could skip this one and try to do everything there was to do in this world except killing everyone he could.
"Lets stop fighting and start everything over from the beginning. I can help you turn back from this path, we'll do it together. Come on, aren't you tired of being alone ? Aren't you tired of everything always being the same ?"
...He was.
It might seem strange but this power, this same power that allowed to have every interaction with every person. It actually made you incredibly lonely. It creates a sort of wall between you and everyone else. They all become some sort of machines, when you tell them something once you can know for sure they'll say the same if you do it again later on. They become like predictable computers.
In a way, they stop feeling like people the same way you do. They still are, but from your perspective you lose a sort of connection that you previously had with them. You no longer feel as two members of the same species, it feels like you are you and everyone else is something different.
You no longer feel as one person among many, you feel as one strange anomaly among billions of normal people. And that makes you feel incredibly alone.
He didn't have anyone. His family wouldn't get it, his friends wouldn't get it, anyone would think he belonged either in an insane asylum or in prison if he told the truth to them.
There was no one that could understand how it felt like.
No one except… He stared at Frisk again and saw them in a different light. They knew. They would get it.
Lucius' stare changed, he looked like he was examining them instead of being filled with hatred. Was he considering their offer ? He was on the edge for real this time. He just needed one last push in the right direction, Chara had been their push, they could be his.
"I understand how it feels, you're hurt, you're alone. Its not too late to change, you just need to let me help you. I forgive you for everything. We can fix all of this, i promise. Can you believe in me ? Because i believe in you." Frisk smiled at him.
They wanted to forgive him. He tried to kill them dozens of times and they were just trying to… To what ? To make him stop shooting his own foot ? He looked at them again, they were scared too. They were just like him.
They were one and the same, he just happened to get the power a couple years later than them.
Frisk hesitantly approached Lucius, they knelt down right next to him and brought out their phone. They used their dimensional box to bring out a glamburger they had for the fight.
Hesitantly, they held it towards Lucius.
"Here, take this" They told him.
It was a gesture of trust, they hadn't even took Lucius' knife away or anything and they even let theirs behind. If he wanted to, Lucius could just strike at them right now and probably hit them if not outright killing them with a betrayal kill.
But... What would be the point ?
They were making a step towards him. Letting themselves vulnerable and even offering to heal him. They were trying to show him that it wasn't a trick. That they really didn't have to fight. And honestly, at this point, he didn't really see the point in fighting Frisk anymore either.
Lucius took a bite and felt slightly better, monster food wasn't as effective against physical damage. He let go of his knife and used his right hand to pick up the glamburger from Frisk's hand.
They could just kill him right now if they wanted, he could just kill them right now if he wanted.
But neither of them did. They were both very cautious and unsure of what would come next but no one did anything. Lucius just ate the glamburger and once he was done they looked at each other in the eyes.
Lucius took back his knife.
Frisk got scared for a moment, did he just pretend to be listening to get them to heal him ? Was he going to attack them now that they were defenseless ?
Lucius threw the knife as far away as he could.
He said nothing, Frisk said nothing, they just looked at each other in understanding.
Frisk held out their hand, inviting him to make peace and end this suffering.
Lucius took it.
Frisk kept looking at him in the eyes as he did so, then once he did, after a second they lowered their stare towards their hands and smiled. Lucius didn't smile, he looked like he had a million things on his mind and honestly, he probably had.
He pulled his hand away.
"I..."
Frisk got close to him again.
"Shhhh, you don't have to explain yourself if it pains you. I understand, its alright."
Lucius was lost, he didn't know what to think, he didn't know what to do.
He just needed one thing.
He needed this to end.
RESET
Lucius felt the fresh air brushing against his face, he knew exactly where he was.
He was on that hill.
His thoughts suddenly turned towards Mila.
...Mila !
As soon as he thought of her, a wave of feelings took Lucius by storm, feeling terrible for not helping her, regret that he had repressed after committing murder, the memory of blood, pain, his fight against Frisk. It all came crashing down on him.
...What had he been thinking ? This was all a horrible idea. What could have ever made him think that any of this was necessary ? It wasn't what he had to do, it never was. He just fooled himself into thinking that was the case, it was just what he wanted to do.
Why did he even want this ? What happened to him ? Just last month he was the most normal person there was, how did it turn to this so quickly ? Did he go insane ? Did this power make him lose his mind ?
It did, didn't it ? Hah, he always thought that the classic "corrupted by power" plot in movies was stupid and overdone, and now he was a living example of it.
What could he do now ? No, what should he do now ? That was the question he actually should be asking himself.
The answer came naturally to his mind.
"Let me help you."
Maybe they would know what to do.
Silently, Lucius got up and walked back to the building while thinking about everything he had done. He felt sick, what did he let himself do thinking he was above consequences ? He felt his sins crawling on his back.
He ended up finding Frisk just outside of the building, looks like they had been searching for him as well.
"There you are !" They were smiling as if it was the best day of their life and they weren't fighting to the death less than an hour ago.
"How are you feeling ?" They asked him.
Lucius' mouth opened then closed again without him saying anything, he started tearing up again.
After hesitating to do so a bit, Frisk took him in their arms. Lucius wanted to push them away but he just couldn't bring himself to do so.
"Im sorry... " His voice was barely audible.
"I already forgave you" The truth was that the hardest part was actually forgiving yourself, Frisk knew that very well.
"Come with me, i think we have a lot to talk about now." They added with a hand gesture inviting him to go after them.
Lucius looked down but followed silently. Ashamed of himself.
"Smile ! Its all going to be fine now, its over !" Frisk hadn't looked so happy in… forever ? Not since they left the underground two years ago at least. They hadn't been like that since the days of the orphanage as far as he was concerned.
Lucius put on a forced smile and followed Frisk inside. He was uncertain what the future held for him now, but whatever it was, he had escaped the worst. It filled him with determination.
For the next few days, Frisk and Lucius talked about all sorts of things, they asked each other countless questions about their experience or their pasts. Having someone like him to talk about this to really changed things for Lucius, he no longer felt as alone as before.
Frisk also had to explain everything that had happened to Chara again, it was hard to take in at first but eventually she got more comfortable with accepting that Lucius having the power instead of them was now a thing.
Quickly enough the subject of Mila was brought up. Frisk was still quite well known and was in the good graces of all of monsterkind, with Chara being the adoptive daughter of Toriel and Asgore, it was easy enough for the both of them to raise enough money to negotiate a peaceful outcome to the hostage crisis, that meant the criminals all got away scar free and rich but that wasn't important. Mila made it out alive. Lucius' involvement in this was kept secret for obvious reasons.
Some people gave the two of them weird looks for spending so much money like this both among humans and monsters, since they couldn't tell anyone the truth they just acted like nothing happened. Eventually people put the blame on Frisk wanting to free the hostages like they freed the monsters and let go of that weird event without thinking too much of it.
Shortly after, they had another talk about what was to come next. Lucius quickly agreed not to tell anyone about his power or that Frisk used to have it.
It took a bit more convincing to get him to accept to oblige to the rules they had previously set up for Frisk. But after telling him about what happened in the underground exactly and telling him about Flowey's story, they eventually could convince him that this was for the best. They had to make sure something like this wouldn't happen again, for real this time.
No one should have this kind of power, left unchecked they could become a sort of "god of the world", Flowey had once been just that in the underground.
God knows what would have happened if he had managed to get the human souls back then.
God knows what would have happened if Chara didn't try to save Flowey from them.
God knows what would have happened if Lucius hadn't listened to them.
Three times the world had been on the verge of being dominated by a twisted god corrupted by this curse of determination.
Three out of three, every single time someone had this power, it always ended up like this.
But maybe, just maybe, this time the nightmare would really be over.
Maybe the third one would be the last.
A few months later
"So is it okay for this afternoon ?" Frisk asked.
"Dad said it was fine, how about Lucius ?" Chara answered.
"Its not a problem, his parents aren't strict, he can kinda do what he wants if its not dangerous." Frisk purposely pronounced the last word weirdly and giggled, making Chara laugh as well. They had all seen their fair share of dangerous, way more than people do in a lifetime.
"Aight, see you then !"
"Bye !"
They hung up.
Frisk's life has improved a little bit since Lucius' change of heart. When he got the courage to continue his life as it used to be before he got the power despite everything that had happened, it gave them the courage to try and talk to the monsters again a little bit.
They still felt guilty when doing so, but it wasn't quite as bad and they had to admit they liked being able to talk to them again. It was like meeting old friends again for the first time. As for their perspective, they were just happy to see Frisk coming out of their shell a bit instead of just staying with Chara all the time.
Chara had been doing fairly okay as well, Lucius' story had been evidence that falling into insanity due to determination was something natural, that it wasn't her fault that Frisk had too. It was the natural outcome, if anything she had to be praised for stopping them not blamed for letting it begin.
Of course she still blamed herself for starting this entire chain reaction and for what became of Asriel but having one burden a bit less heavy was already good progress.
In reality, Frisk was even a bit jealous of how well Lucius was handling it. Perhaps he was lucky to have been stopped before ever having killed one of his family members, that would have made it much harder to go back to a normal life with them again.
He had gotten a bit depressed since that whole experience but honestly he was doing far better then they were after their own change of heart. They had been a complete mess and so was Chara, without each other they would have never mentally recovered from it. And even then they still struggled sometimes.
Lucius being around had also been a good thing for them. Unlike Flowey he was a normal human, just like them. They could relate to each other a lot and having another person to talk to about it other than Chara and who had been in their place too allowed them to rationalise the situation more. They still considered themselves as entirely responsible for what they did but it didn't make them feel like they were a horrible human being for it anymore.
As for the world as a whole, it basically went the same as in the old timeline but without them acting as the figurehead ambassador.
One fear that plagued their mind was that if such a peace could be broken so easily by having the current power holder lose determination and someone else near them having a very high one as well, there was always a risk it could happen again. That Lucius too could lose the power to someone else and that this cycle would begin a fourth time. For this reason Lucius checked every day if his power could still work just in case, and as long as he was determined not to lose it, he probably wouldn't.
School wise things for them were really easy, after all they had already finished their education in another timeline, they barely ever studied and got great grades. The other two were doing decently although they sometimes had to help them a bit.
Overall, they were enjoying life as they could, trying to live without the RESET power despite their shady pasts and as far as they were concerned, this story could have ended in much worse ways than this. It was no perfect ending but it was the best they could have and they were taking it.
Later that day, the three of them were laying on the grass, they had gotten permission to hang out this morning. It was a beautiful day outside. The sun was shining and the leaves were slowly falling from the trees.
"Chara ?" Lucius asked.
"Yes ? What is it ?" She wondered.
"How did it feel like when you were inside of Frisk's head ? You've never told me the details." He answered.
"Well, it was a bit strange. I had some sort of projection of myself outside of Frisk's body so they could see me but at the same time i was still bound to their body. I could feel the things Frisk felt when i wanted to and i couldn't go very far away from them. Its like i was inside of their body when it came to the things i felt from them because our link was through Frisk's soul which was inside their body but my actual form was outside of Frisk's body. Im sorry if that's not clear, its hard to explain." Chara attempted to make things clearer but wasn't doing a very good job at it.
"I think i get it… Sort of." He got what that meant on paper but he couldn't imagine what that would actually feel like if it happened to him somehow.
"I actually kinda miss those days you know ? » Frisk added. « I liked having you around like this with me before… things went wrong."
Lucius decided to change the subject.
"So did you stay in the orphanage until you went to Mount Ebbot ?"
"Yes, after you left i stayed there for a few more years but no one wanted to adopt a child that was already in their pre-teens, they would rather adopt a cute baby. I would have surely stayed there until adulthood if i never left." Frisk explained.
"That's not necessarily true. Toriel would have loved to adopt you again if you had wanted to." Chara pointed out.
"But would a human have done the same thing ? Toriel was a monster and i had just helped freeing her kind."
"...Fair point." Chara admitted.
They all stared at the sky for a bit longer. Eventually they were interrupted by Chara's phone ringing. She picked it up and Frisk caught that the caller must have been Undyne as Chara was holding her phone somewhat far away from her ear meaning the person must be shouting.
"Who was it ?" Lucius asked when Chara hung up.
"Undyne and Papyrus, about Papyrus' latest "groundbreaking" cooking discovery" And by groundbreaking she meant that the pasta was actually so solid that it cracked the floor when Undyne dropped it. Papyrus was the one who made that pun. And people say Papyrus doesn't like puns...
Chara laid back down and Frisk looked at Lucius, then took a moment to reflect on themselves. They really had come far, didn't they ?
"Hey, Chara. I've also got something to ask you."
"What is it ?"
Frisk smiled a bit at the thought of saying what they were about to ask.
"Do you think even the worst person can change ? That everybody can be a great person if they just try ?"
Chara got up and sat down in between Frisk and Lucius, grabbing both of their hands with her own. They were both living evidence as to what the correct answer to this question was.
"Yes, yes i do."
Author notes :
With one ending in which the first one wins, one ending in which the second one wins and one ending in which the third one wins, this story has now finally reached all its possible conclusions.
When i first came up with this scenario almost two years ago i never imagined i would actually end up writing it as a fanfiction, i never thought i would even write fanfics at all. But now that i have, i don't regret it. I hope you all had as much fun reading this story as i had writing it even if the start was a bit slow. There was nothing more satisfying than receiving a notification telling me someone had started following this story.
Thanks again for having read this up to end and i hope to see you again in future fics !