Ugh...this one really fought me something fierce...but I got it done! Quite a long one, it'd be. Given that it's the final part of the Surripio section, it's kind of a slight given.
Won't take too much time here, not too much to say. Except that, of all things happening here, a few females in particular have the spotlight in different ways. Some might be cool, some might be more lowkey. And one...well...just watch out for the Snek Mom.
Maybe I'm being a sheepish baby about it despite having written a few worse things already, but I'll just take my chances and hope that I'm giving the courtesy of a somewhat fair warning, and PRAY that it doesn't backfire.
Also... I noticed that it's the month of the spooks...and I have character who's basically a mashup of Jack the Ripper and Jack O'Lantern, Jack Frost and Jack O'Lantern, not to mention I also have a Black Cat Witch, some Spooky Scary Skeletons, a Goblin...
...None of this was intentional, I swear.
Chapter Start!
They had thought it'd be easy. They thought it wouldn't be a problem. They thought it was a group that wad merely someone minor and overconfident that they simply needed to put down.
What they failed to account for that they might be...the slightest bit outmatched.
Papyrus tried to reason with them. Talk them down. Make them see that their way was wrong. They ignored and outright defied each and every attempt. Once he understood that delaying the conflict means endangering the capsuled souls, he stopped trying to reason, and he started attacking.
...What immediately followed was pain and regret, because NO punches were pulled.
As in, 'end the battle with the first attack' kind of no punches pulled.
Flowey fired a large storm of friendliness pellets; Papyrus with a barrage of bones; Scythe with a barrage of dark ice shards; Warkie with sound bullets; Dyra with psychic elemental bullets...they didn't hesitate in the slightest with letting loose with their ranged attacks. Then while they tried to recover, Akai grew several feet, with Dynamo coating himself in stone, and both charged through the rest of the masses, painfully throwing them back with their enhanced tackles.
Papyrus would refuse to give them a chance to recover quickly, with another barrage of much stronger and large bones to push them back, knock them to the ground, and furthered beat them into submission.
"That's the way, Papyrus! Make them regret trying to abuse these souls!" Flowey chuckled, enjoying the barrage of beatdown, however short it may be.
Papyrus gripped his scarf while it flapped slightly. "I HAVE WARNED YOU TO KEEP BACK, WILL YOU HEED ME NOW?" Papyrus said with a firm glare. "HERE IS YOUR CHANCE. LEAVE NOW, BEFORE WE RELEASE MORE OF OUR RESTRAINT." The thought of that definitely scared the aggressors into submission, as they turned and ran, running as quickly as they could away from the ragtag team. As they slowly retreated out of sight, Papyrus sighed. "USUALLY I WOULD HOLD BACK EVEN MORE...BUT I COULDN'T WORRY ABOUT THEM AT THIS MOMENT. THE SOULS ARE MORE IMPORTANT..."
"You've done well, friend Papyrus." Dynamo hummed while patting his shoulder with a nod, gently blowing out the smoke from his cigar. "The souls are safe. We may return them to their families so they an decide what to do with them."
"Such a disappointment..." Scythe clicked his tongue. "Ah well. Should have figured they were all bark and no bite."
"And our bite is definitely bigger than theirs." Dyra scoffed. Warkie and Akai both high fived her from behind.
Papyrus nodded, while turning to the souls. He looked saddened as he placed his hand on one of the capsules. "...I STILL CANNOT UNDERSTAND. WHY ANYONE WOULD DO SOMETHING LIKE THIS..."
"Papyrus." Flowey extended his next to wrap around and look at Papyrus. "Someone like you will never understand these kind of people. All you have to worry about ks stopping them from doing it ever again. You did good here."
"RIGHT...OKAY. RIGHT NOW, WE FOCUS ON GETTING THE SOULS OUT OF HERE." He nodded while the others prepared to escort the souls out, and call Levi's men ahead of tike to make sure they all got out safely. As such, he wondered about the others.
I HOPE ALPHYS AND SANS ARE ALRIGHT...
(Simultaneously...)
Alphys was deeply surprised with herself over the courageous words that came spewing from her mouth. She was even more surprised with the fact that despite how scared she was, she meant every word of it, even though she currently stood against a monstrous killer, known for the deaths of so many people to serve someone else's agenda or simply for his own amusement.
Alphys clutched onto her wrench as Ripper gazed at her with a leer laced with depravity, with demonic flames emitting from his head and coating his scythe. She swallowed the lump in her throat and mentally prepared herself for the fight.
I mustn't run away...I mustn't run away...I mustn't run away...!
Alphys clumsily but successfully parries a scythe swipe with her wrench when Jack attempts to slash at her after disappearing in a flash of flames and reappears at her side. He seemed slightly surprised by her counter, and swiftly jumped back when she retaliated with a high-voltage shock. Alphys narrowed her eyes while glaring toward him.
"You saw me coming? My, what a sneaky one we have here.~" Ripper chuckled while twirling his scythe as it ignited with demonic flames once again. Alphys narrowed her eyes as more voltage coursed through her wrench.
Ripper slashed at her with his demonic flames, Alphys swiftly rolling to the side to barely avoid it. She was mostly successful, but a portion of her left arm was burned along with her jacket. Damn! Alphys lifted her wrench with a swipe as an electro ball shot towards Ripper and collided hard into his chest, voltage coursing through him as Alphys fell to her knees from the burns. She nodded slightly, though winced from the burns still, which managed to ruin her jacket. Unfortunate, she was beginning to warm up to the look.
She noticed rather quickly ad she jumped back a few feet, barely avoiding an upward slash towards her chest. She winced as she felt the intense heat from the attack reaching out to her and attempting to singe her. A digital Gaster Blaster appeared by her side and blasted him right in the chest and sending him back. She gained some space, and pouted slightly once realizing that her jacket-and the shirt under it-was further ruined. Unfortunate, she felt like she was getting used to the look.
"Hey, I got you!" Jack O'Frost said quickly as he landed by her side and held his hands over her arm and back. Alphys flinched a bit, but relaxed with great relief as the burns soon cooled. "His flames are a bit intense, aren't they? Luckily I'm able to cool the burns for you. Just keep doing what you're doing..."
"Yeah, thanks..." Alphys groaned as she slides out of the jacket and tossed it aside. "Alright. I proved that I can stand my ground against him...now I just have to keep up this momentum until he goes-and stays-down..." Easier said than done, but at least I'm making some progress.
"Snowflake! How about minding your own business?!~" They both heard Ripper shout as he slashed another intense wave of flames towards them both. Frost narrowed his eyes as he jumps in front of Alphys and raised a high wall of ice and snow to defend against it. He winced from the force behind it as well as the heat, but stood firm as steam began building from the collision.
Alphys, seizing the opportunity, nodded. Good! Keep things just like that... She mentally mutters as she snuck off into the steam, and all that was heard was the sound of something glitching.
"Bah! Pesky Snowflake!" Ripper shouted while slashing the steam in half, the rest of it blowing apart from the cold air that Frost was emitting. Ripper looked in confusion as Frost was the only one he could see. He narrowed his eyes while looking around the room. Where'd she go? I know I sense her magic in the room, but not an exact location. Where cou-
SLASH!
He barely managed to avoid it. Seconds before it made contact, Alphys seemingly appeared out of nowhere in a glitch of yellow glowing digital data, holding a digital sword in her paws, then clumsily but strongly slashing at his chest. He managed to jump back before it run him through, but it still left a hefty gash on his chest. He landed a feel feet behind while contemplating how she got so close without his notice. I thought that digital magic of hers was purely for defensive purposes...then it turned her invisible so she could try to sneak up and run me through...?!
The scientist clicked her tongue as her digital sword disappeared. "Damn it, I missed. I'm not as proficient with weapons like Undyne. She'd find that swing laughable." She muttered while pushing up her glasses. "But I did damage nonetheless, so that's a partial pass..."w about that! I didn't take you for the type to be so straightforward!"
"There are many things you don't know about me." Alphys said sternly.
"Fair enough. Now then..." He quickly threw a fiery pumpkin ball that increased in size towards Sans and Frost. Thinking in the moment, Sans summoned a larger Gaster Blaster while Frost infused it with snow, ice, and cold air. It quickly fired off at the explosive pumpkin, and the resulting, much larger explosion easily threw the two relatively light monsters away a far distance across the room.
"Sans! Jack O'Frost! I'm-wagh!" Alphys intended to run towards them and help, but was cut off by Ripper appearing in front of her and attempting to slash at her stomach. It briefly burned her and her shirt, but she used a digital force-field to defend against the attack, though it sent her hurtling out of the door and down the long corridor. He grinned while chasing her down.
"C-Crap...it was so sudden...so strong...couldn't deflect a majority of the damage..." Jack O'Frost grimaced while lying on his side, barely able to lift himself up. Sans was in an equal predicament, barely able to move.
"we're...gonna need time to recover again..."
In the meantime, Jack O'Ripper was stalking Alphys through the dark abandoned corridor, his flaming pumpkin head illuminated the area with his scythe leaning against his shoulder. He was looking around for the scientist while grinning madly.
"Alphys, my dear...why must you make this difficult? We both know how this will end, so why delay the inevitable?" Ripper asked with his voice echoing through the halls. He glanced at the ground with a grin. The cinders from his flames burning her shirt were leaving an ember trail for him to follow with frightening patience. He surely sensed her magic but had no real grasp of where she actually was. Though he eventually stopped when he saw the trail end, and the remains of her burned shirt laying in a pile in front of him. The trail ends here. I sense her. Where is she...?
Zzct...!
"Wh-"
Ripper was cut off by a heavy electric shock striking him in the back, making him hunch over from the surprise. Then he felt something heavy land on the same back and attempted to impale him through his pumpkin head, but he moved it to the side so that only his cheek was barely nicked. He quickly through the heavy figure off and gazed at it fiercely. Alphys was breathing somewhat slowly, now in nothing but her bra and skirt, with her shirts and jackets having burned too much to be wearable. Fighting for her life, her care for modesty has been discarded for the moment.
"I'm...surprised at you, Alphys. Such underhanded tactics..."
"You're expecting someone like me to fight someone like you fairly. You clearly have a pitifully low IQ level if you think I'll adhere to that."
"That's a fair enough thought..."
His flames intensified and briefly turned blue, as he tightly gripped his scythe and swung in a arc. They collided against Alphys, who did her best to defend against it with a forcefield, though it was broken upon impact and sent her crashing against the wall behind her. Not missing a beat, Ripper bolted towards her with his scythe gleaming, and slashed.
SLASH!
"Gnngh...!" Alphys barely dodged enough to avoid a lethal strike, though the curved blade still managed to slash her at her right side, with the blistering heat almost making her collapse. Regardless, she kept going, with her wrench reappearing in her paw and parrying another the swipe.
"I'll admit, you might possibly be more trouble than you're worth. None of my past quarries have given me as much grief as you have." Ripper conceded as he slashed with another wave of heated blue flames, which forced her to dodge once again. "After killing you, I'll go back and crush the skeleton's skull and melt Snowflake into nothingness. I was getting sick of the little nuisance anyway."
Alphys said nothing as she tossed another electromagnetic ball at him via wrench. He simply batted it aside and attempted to slash at her with another wave of flames, which she narrowly avoided via ducking.
"And that won't be the best part. That would be savoring the guilt and despair of your lover when she realizes that she sent her wife to her own execution, foolishly believing that she could save anyone or protect anything. Her greatest failure. Protect so many yet couldn't save her life. A nice bit of psychological torment, don't you think?~" He said while tossing a ln exploding flaming pumpkin towards her. The impact and resulting explosion threw Alphys back harshly enough to dent the wall behind her, and she fell on her front, with her glasses falling a few feet ahead of her.
"Nngh...!"
"That will be my gift to her and my memoriam of you. Despair and disappointment for you both." Ripper hummed while twirling his scythe while slowly moving towards her. "Now, would you like a swift end? I'd much prefer to drag out your suffering so you can take the time to fully realize how utterly failed to understand your folly until it was too late. Your agony will be a pleasant send-off.~"
Alphys picked herself up, getting on one knee. She briefly glared at Ripper after his threat towards Undyne, but she closed her eyes and lowered her head, taking a deep breath and sighing to recollect her thoughts. When she raised her head again, she opened her eyes which glowed brightly. Though to Ripper's curiosity, her left eye was flickering digitally, until it remained glowing. The insignia within her eye was a yellow colored Delta Rune.
"...Okay. Let's try this again." She muttered quietly.
"Hm-"
Instinct told Ripper to move quickly as Alphys raised one of her paws. He shifted quickly to the side as an electromagnetic beam shot from her palm and pierced right through his left side, causing a rather painful grimace on his face. This however left him open to her other palm shooting a beam of data energy that blasts into his chest and sent him crashing against the wall. He grunted while staring at Alphys wide-eyed.
That was...unexpected.
"Awww...what's the matter, Mr. Ripper? You don't seem to be having fun anymore." Alphys mocked with calculating eyes.
"I wouldn't be getting so confident if I were you...!" Ripper snarled as his scythe's flames intensified to frightening degrees, swiftly leaping towards Alphys and swinging quickly to slice her in two. A digital shield raised up around her right arm and deflected the slash, while her left paw shot an electromagnetic beam that pierced through his side and made him wince; the slight delay was exploited and she blasted him away with three large simultaneous Digital Gaster Blasters point-blank. The damage was heavy, and it knocked the scythe out of his hands while knocking him across the room.
It was clear that due to how tired she was getting, she had no intentions of dragging this out.
Ripper eventually lifted himself up while glaring furiously at Alphys as the demonic flames intensified around him. A demonic pumpkin manifested by his side, with flames crackling within. "You damned troublesome woman! I WILL tear you apart!"
"It'll be interesting to see you try." Alphys stated calmly as she gently picked up her glasses. As she stood back up, she raised her paw as a Gaster Blaster appeared by her side. Except rather than be made of digital magic, it was gathering electromagnetic magic. "Now who's the one failing to understand their folly...?"
Ripper made a rather feral noise as the pumpkin head next to him fired a fiery wave of flames. Alphys fired her electromagnetic Gaster Blaster fired in return, and the two blasts collided with a bright blinding light filling the room. Because of the energy from the former, power to the entire facility jammed and flickered on and off temporarily, before the clash ended in another bright flash of light that nearly blinded them.
...The smoke slowly clears, and the lights eventually flicker back on. Ripper was on his front, heavily injured. Alphys, on the other hand, still had some energy left, albeit she was worn out as well, covered in numerous burns with her left eye flickering back to normal, the glowing yellow Delta Rune no longer visible. Suppressing a grunt, she made her way towards the downed pumpkin head monster, pulling her customized wrench from the Dimensional Box through her phone.
Ripper lifted his head to see Alphys standing in front of him, her eyes lowered halfway. He chuckled as he got back on his feet while holding his side. "W...Well done...you actually managed to overpower me...quite handily."
"..."
"So, I suppose is the part where you restrain me and spare me, right? Have me locked up in some dark hole so I can't hurt anyone anymore? You 'hero' types are pathetically stubborn with that kind of thing-"
"The last thing your many victims saw before you slaughtered them? Someone ruthless enough to messily kill them, cruel enough to make them believe it's their own fault, and cold enough to deny their pleas for mercy." Alphys said calmly, her wrench charging with electromagnetic magic. "...That fits your view of a true 'monster' well, doesn't it?"
The implication Alphys put out chilled Ripper, especially once she saw her eyes darken.
"You've killed or ruined many innocent lives, made it clear that you'll kill more, as well as threatened my friends...just WHAT reasonable incentive do I have to spare you?"
Ripper's soul pulsed violently in shock when he realized that Alphys wasn't bluffing.
'There are many things you don't know about me.'
"alphys...?" Sans and Frost moved into view, gazing at the two with concern.
Ripper didn't miss the opportunity; in a flash of fire, he reappeared beside Sans and kicked him aside with intense force, him crashing into the wall and nearly knocking him out entirely. Ripper then quickly ensnared his neck with his arm while turning towards Alphys.
"Stop-"
"Don't." Ripper cut off immediately as his other hand ignited with intense flames and held it towards Frost's face with his most unhinged smile yet. "I'd advise you to not to try anything foolish, doctor. Melting Snowflake here into nothingness won't cost me a wink of sleep.~"
"Tch...!" Alphys glared harshly as she slowly began relaxing her magic.
"That's better...needless to say, I can't exactly let you go unpunished." He muttered as he gently held his hand out towards Sans, the flames growing more intense. "This one stepped up before you...hmm...just to keep things fresh and orderly, I think I'll kill him first. That will be on YOU for not giving yourself up.~"
"...No..." Frost muttered painfully from the heat, but it was less pleading and more furious. "I thought I already told you...I am NOT...going to let you abuse me anymore...!" Jack O'Frost shouted furiously as an explosion of spiked ice erupted from his back. Ripper was disoriented by the sharp ice, and released Frost upon impact.
Alphys took the opportunity, clutching tightly onto her wrench and leaping for Ripper, who was still trying to recover from the sudden turn. "Let's see how much you appreciate someone ripping YOUR life away, Jack O'Ripper!"
"Dammit! Damn you Alph-"
WHACK!
Alphys would have none of it; her wrench struck true, smacking Ripper's helpless screaming pumpkin head hard enough to send it flying away from his body. That wasn't a big deal. Both he and Frost could remove their heads from their bodies without much issue, and reattach it pretty easily. However...
SMASH!
...that certainly couldn't happen if the head was destroyed, and Ripper's head was definitely the latter, as his disembodied head hit the wall so hard that it shattered into pieces, instantly silencing his voice. His body wobbled and staggered slightly, before it fell over and began turning into dust upon impact. His scythe also crumbles to bits as the pieces were smoldering flames accompanying the soon dusting pieces.
"Ha...ha...h-ha..." Alphys breathed heavily as her custom wrench was recalled to her phone, not batting an eye. Though her mind WAS in a bit of a state of shock, her eyes appearing dumbfounded. I...I killed him...I really did kill him. What am I feeling? Bad for having to do it...but not for actually going through with it? Then again, he threatened my friends and nearly killed Sans, and also threatened Undyne...I think I kinda slipped after that one...what SHOULD I be feeling...?!
"...holy shit, Alphys...!" Sans muttered with his eye sockets dark.
The voice snapped her out of her stupor; she chose to save the subject for later and, not missing a beat, she scurried towards Sans and gently helped him up, then pulled him into a hug. "Sans! Jack O'Frost! Are you both okay?!"
"W...We'll manage..." Jack O'Frost as still staring in disbelief at his superior's dust, taking the time to truly process what happened. He's gone. H...He can't hurt me anymore. Can't hurt ANYONE anymore...it's...it's over...finally...!
"Whew...what a relief." Alphys smiled. With that worry out of the way, she then took a deep breath...then decompressed completely, falling to her knees while holding her cheeks. "Ohmygod that was SO intense and sooooooooo scary!"
you're the one who was intense and scary...Sans muttered mentally. He never thought she'd have it in her, but clearly she did. He supposed that the number of enemies constantly gunning for her loved ones was beginning to irritate her as well. Though, as he was staring at the remains, he couldn't help but grin. "sooo...anyone up for pumpkin pie?"
"Okay, what the freezy hell, man?! That's just sick!" Jack O'Frost shouted with razor teeth and sharpened eyes.
"Sans..." Alphys groaned while facepalming.
Sans chuckled, then coughed awkwardly as he pressed a button on his phone, pulling his classic jacket out of a Dimensional Box. "ya might wanna slip this on."
"Why?"
Sans awkwardly turned away while scratching his blushing cheeks, and Jack O'Frost covered his eyes in realization with a similar color on his own cheeks. "you...uh...aren't fully modest."
Alphys blinked slowly, then looked down to see for herself...only a bra and skirt remained after Ripper burned through her jacket and undershirts. Face turning fully red, she quickly snatched his jacket, zipped it up, pulled the hood over her head and covered her eyes, bending down in embarrassment as her tail shot up in panic with the tip of it also being red.
"Whyyyyyy meeeeee...?"
"well...at least you still look stylish."
SMACK!
"Everyone, I've got what we came for on my end. It's time to blow this facility to pieces." Alphys said into her phone after unceremoniously punching Sans in the face and knocking him on his back. "I'm setting the timer for thirty minutes. That should be enough time for Levi's support to come and escort all the souls out of here, as well as potential subjects. We'll regroup later. Alphys out." She hung up and pocketed the phone.
"We should probably get outta here quickly if the timer is thirty minutes..." Jack O'Frost muttered worriedly.
"It's more than enough time. It's also a precaution, I can accelerate the timer if need be once everyone's out." Alphys explained. Then she smiled and moved up towards Jack O'Frost. "Oh, and before I forget..." She left it hanging as she held Jack O'Frost by the shoulder and sweetly kissed his cheek.
"...B-B-B-B-B-B-Bwwwwwaaaaa?!" The poor snow lantern could barely comprehend it, his entire head now blushing bright pink. D...D...Did I just get a cheek kiss from a beautiful woman...?! That doesn't usually happen...! Especially after the enjoyab-NO! NOT enjoyable! EMBARRASSING! The view was embarrassing! Nothing else!
"You stood up for yourself, and you provided the opening needed for me to finish the fight for good. That's, ehe, a bit of my thanks to you. So thanks." Alphys nodded as she turned and began to run. "Let's go, boys!"
"C-C-C-Comi-i-n-ng..." Jack O'Frost babbled a bit as he sheepishly followed after Alphys, with Sans shaking his head and soon following after them, briefly lost in his thoughts.
welp, that's our job done for tonight. how ya doin' on your end, tori...? hopin' you're alright. you'd better not be pullin' somethin' seriously crazy...is what i WOULD say if i didn't know you better...
More than anything at the moment, he was wondering if Alphys will be alright after this.
Toriel, with her cold flame fists and her currently icy blue eyes, was currently facing down the goblin Kingpin in front of her, with Levi by her side and Elvira handling the noise behind them both, which was the likes of Sloanes and his men. They were all high in a tower with a hole in the floor, the room itself being otherwise durable, with the overall goal being to overthrow Faust so that Levi could take his place, and begin the process of the Kingdom's healing, and thus begin negotiations with Fortuna and Astus.
Toriel's victory was at hand. She will grasp it, regardless of how Faust may have already proven, before and after she came here, that the common folk were mostly below his notice, and that was simply not going to fly with her. Faust realizes that this madwoman was never going to leave him alone unscathed, so he discarded his fear of her and turned it into scathing anger, hence his greater magic power welling up within him through dark metal.
"You're making a big mistake, Toriel Dreemurr!"
"We'll see."
"You really don't ge-" Faust was cut off by a wave of ice cold flames briefly passing by him after he dodged, and the surfaces the flames touched turned to ice moments later. He gritted his teeth while glaring at the resolved woman in front of her. It was clear to them both that they would not be seeing eye to eye.
"I do believe that Lady Toriel has made up her mind, and you've made yours. Nothing either of you can say to dissuade the other." Levi lifted a finger and pointed. "I do apologize for that, good man.~" Levi soon shot a fierce blast of water that crashed right into Faust and dove him back, the pressure from it actually managing to make his metal exoskeleton dent slightly. Faust grunted, though he resisted and eventually swiped it away after a moment of aggravation.
I'm not about to take this, not from them! He mentally shouted as he roared furiously and hurtled down towards the ground and smashed both fists down. Darkness-coated pillars soon rose up from the ground due to the impact. Toriel and Levi both jumped away from the storm of pillars, which gave him the opening to immediately fly towards the former and rammed into her midsection and crashed them both into the wall. The impact greatly knocked the wind out of her. She recovered quickly, with both her fists coated in ice-fire and pushes Faust off before blasting him point-blank with a medium-sized ball of ice-fire, simultaneously burning and freezing him. Due to his demonic metal exoskeleton, it did less damage than expected despite doing enough to push him back. Toriel landed on the ground and caught her breath, lifting herself back up and cracking her knuckles. The blue flames grew darker and hotter, signifying her switch to literal blue flames.
That's nowhere near enough... Toriel mentally muttered, with a propulsion of blue flames propelling her forward. Faust's eyes widened in surprise before Toriel launched herself towards him via blast f flames before smashing a flaming elbow into his cheek, sending him far across the room. His path was immediately halted by an intense blast of water from the side, knocking him down and over with brief cracks in his armor, though they quickly sealed with enough focus.
In the meantime, Elvira was looking towards Sloanes and his opposition, with her arms folded under her chest and tapping the ground irritably.
"How amusing. You, a fat greedy pig, think you're going to get away with threatening my son." Elvira stated calmly. "Nah...nah. No way in hell. You see, I don't take very kindly to that, because only now have I really gotten back into his life, and I'm not gonna let you ruin it."
"Dunno why you seem so upset. This is what's usually expected of of the big-shot residents of Surripio." Sloanes said as his men gathered around with concrete magic around them. "You were simply another 'unfortunate' victim is all. We found something you were emotionally invested in-Parvos-and exploited it to the best if our ability to keep your paws away from us. In all honesty we should have had you killed. Because we knew you were gonna be a rogue element sooner or later."
"Oh?~"
"Yeah. With Ratoveros dusted off and Parvos no longer in serious danger, THAT'S when you made your move and reached out to these people who are helping you cause all this chaos! The status quo of the three Kingdoms being at each others throats became threatened the second you got moving!"
"Oh, I'm sooooo sorry! Were you benefitting from so much infighting?" Elvira smiled devilishly as she held up a paw with generated dark purple magic right above it. "Well, what can I say? You crossed a black cat's path. And well...you know the rest.~"
"Pesky cat!" Sloanes waved off as his men moved in with layers of armor moving towards her with their magic dangerously hostile.
She almost looked amused.
"Oh my, look at all the toys coming my way. Lucky lucky me.~" Elvira purred dangerously as she snapped her fingers; a dark violet wave of energy shot towards them and knocked most of them down, the ground rupturing slightly a moment later. Though-to her hidden delight-they managed to endure it, standing up again after regaining their focus. "And they don't break so easily! You really shouldn't have!~"
"You won't be thinking so for long!"
"Don't worry, I'll have you be my scratching post as soon as I'm done with them.~'
Back with Toriel and Levi, Faust was descending upon them with a flaming metallic fist, as it crashes down in-between them, with them jumping away from the impact, as well as the flaming metallic pillars that erupted from the ground. Toriel huffed as she stood with her flames flickering from her paws.
That darkness enhanced armor is much more durable than expected. So far blue flames and ice-blue flames haven't been able to make a significant dent in it. It will take much stronger firepower to make any progress, at least from me.
"Lady Toriel. Allow me to take the lead this time." Levi asked quietly and politely. Toriel blinked, though she nodded in confirmation. Levi nodded back as he turned towards Faust and threw a ball of water towards him, that he easily dispersed with his palm.
"That's far too weak, Levi!"
"Oh! You're right! Sorry, allow me to try again." Levi smiled as water gathered in both of his paws, and the resulting, devastatingly more power jet of water smashed into Faust with unrelenting force. If he hadn't hardened his metal exoskeleton even further, it would have obliterated his upper half. He felt the water eventually disperse, and he shook most of the water off as more flames gathered around him. He then charges towards Levi to slash at him with a metal sword generated from his metal exoskeleton, and slashed it at the water dragon. Levi quickly countered with a wall of water that just barely held it at bay.
"Gragh!" Faust pushed through Levi's water shield and dealt a decently strong metallic punch to the dragon's cheek, and attempted to follow up by leaping towards him sword-first. Levi quickly countered with a water enhanced punch that managed to push him back but not do significant damage.
"That didn't look very soft, Faust. Did that hurt?"
"Tch...!" Faust gritted his teeth in anger, as he sent out a burst of metallic energy towards Levi, who barely manages to defend against it; the water shield he put up was pierced, and it ended up hitting him dead on. He staggered from the harsh hit, which Faust took advantage of as he swoops in for a harsh clothesline from his hardened metallic arm, sending the water dragon crashing against the wall while slightly embedded in it. He furthered his anger-infused attack with a harsh strike to the abdomen which did leave Levi heaving for breath. He quickly turned for Toriel and flew towards her with a harsh tackle after his metal armor hardened even further, and sent her flying across the room, only disrupting her unwilling flight with a jet of flames from her hands, resulting in an ungraceful landing on her side.
Elvira, in the meantime, smirked as she turned and sent another violet blast of magic across from her, which destroyed the incoming concrete shards that attempted to pierce her when she wasn't paying attention.
"Hey pig! The way Faust does things, he's bound to eventually crash and burn super hard, and he's also bound to take almost everyone who's still on his side with him. Seems like a good opportunity to double cross him, eh? Save your own piggy hide? You both have a history of stabbing many of your 'friends' in the back when it most benefits you and your rise to power."
"I dunno what you're talkin' about!"
"Yeaaaah. Course you don't." Elvira said with rolling eyes, as she casually dodged a barrage of concrete shards that came her way simply by walking to the side, then ducked under a much larger shard that embedded itself in the wall behind her. Violet magic gathered in her paw, and she sent it outwards in a circular wave that blasted the concrete magic users back, and sending Sloanes slightly off-balance. "The enemy of your enemy dies next. That's what you subscribe to, right?"
Sloanes simply refused to take her bait this time, simply gesturing for his men to move forward again. They worked together as they helped create a larger concrete construct that appeared to be a golem with yellow glowing eyes. It glared down at Elvira and swiped at her, but she effortlessly jumped over it and tapped it's forehead, sending a brief pulse of violet energy throughout it's body. Seconds later, it fell to pieces, crumbling on the floor.
That didn't do much to build their confidence. Especially not the results of them trying again, which was them launching multiple larger sphere of sharpened concrete towards her, and each of them were destroyed with yet another violet pulse that crumbled apart before they could harm her.
Oh dear, they're trying so hard and yet are getting nowhere, such bad luck.~
Elvira decided to shut down their helpless attempts now. It took her another swipe of her paw to fire multiple violet magic bolts, much stronger than the previous ones, to lock onto multiple targets and crash into them with ruthless efficiency, knocking them down and out as they were coated with violet surges of magic. Sloanes confidence went further down the drain, and now he looked worried. To add further insult to injury, the moment one of them got closer to try and attack her with a concrete infused punch, she'd dodge right out of the way and strike them in the face with her jinx infused fist, before grabbing them and throwing them into Sloanes, who moved out of the way while barely catching his breath.
"Aw, and look at you, trying to catch your breath after rolling outta your bench. That's so nice." She said before disappearing in a violet light, appearing directly next to him and kicking him in the stomach hard enough to send him in the air. She flashed again and reappeared above him, and kicked him back down into the floor. She landed on all fours before standing up and smirking. "And now you're bloody and unconscious, lying on the floor. Pig." She soon turned towards Toriel and Levi, who have both been briefly downed by Faust.
Toriel slowly managed to pick herself up, and Levi pulled himself out of the wall, briefly brushing himself off with a slight wince. "Well...that was more painful than expected...but not to the point where I couldn't handle it."
"Same here, Levi..."
"Neither of you get to overthrow me! I'm staying right where I am!" Faust shouted defiantly. "This is the way things are and the way they should be! There's no reason for you to be fighting for lost causes! Why do you even bother?! Mind your own business!"
"I grow weary of you." Toriel said strongly as her paws ignited once more. But this time the flames were completely white. "Levi, care to join me?"
"As you wish." Levi composed himself as water slightly gathered around him, and it gradually turned white.
"Don't think you've-" Faust began, but was cut off by Levi using water to propel himself forward and attempted to strike him with a water coated fists. Faust flapped his wings to jump upwards, though Toriel was prepared with a fist coated with white flames, and smashed it into his cheek. He was about to state the uselessness of it, but was surprised that he was pushed back so far, and tumbled across the ground. He got up quickly with his eyes widened. What the...what's different?!
"Apologies. I should have started with this sooner." Toriel said as her fists were still coated with white flames. "This is white fire. Simple, gentle, positive. It seems to be the best flame to counter the negative energy that your black metal is emitting."
"The same applies for benefic white water!" Levi exclaimed as a whirlpool of it turned and shot towards Faust, right in the chest and further knocking him down and bashing him against the wall. He nearly collapsed to his knees, with the cracks beginning to form within his armor. The sound of it was more than enough to startle him. It wasn't a bluff.
And thus, he got more frantic, with his arm generating a metallic sword. He flew towards Toriel in an attempt to slash diagonally downwards. Toriel responded via a white flaming sword to counter the incoming negative weapon, and it clashed fiercely enough to dent the ground below them, running the threat of having the floor collapse. While he was distracted and occupied by Toriel, Levi gathered white water around his paws and would shoot the blast towards Faust. Seeing it incoming, Toriel's right foot catches fire and she did a flexible kick upwards into Faust's chin, disorienting him and leaving him vulnerable to Levi's blast of water pounding down on him once more.
Faust barely struggled to stand, as his metallic armor cracked more, and he was barely able to continue repairing it since it was bombarded by several heavy attacks at a time by white flames and white water. Through a brief bout of frustrations, he put both his hands together and fired off a metallic beam of magic towards Toriel, who response via firing off a white fiery beam of her own. The clashes would struggle slightly, eventually losing the flair and dissipating entirely. It took quote a bit out of Faust. Toriel, with the greater magic reserves, was just fine, and proceeds to throw a white fireball towards his face before he could fully recover, with Levi hitting him with a ball of white water at his back to knock him on his front. He slowly stood back up despite his armor really beginning to chip away. He slowly gets back up again, looking prepared to resist even further.
Faust flapped his wings and sent a black wave of magic towards them, briefly reducing their sight. Toriel used white fire to clear through the darkness and light up the room again, before Faust came down with a hardened metallic punch. Toriel held her ground and punched as well, with the two elements pushing against each other and lashing out quietly throughout the room. Once again he briefly forgot about Levi, who would leap forwards him with another punch, which Faust would attempt to block with his wing; it was a feint, stopping the fist mid-flight as his white water colored tail would bypass his wings and slam down roughly on his back, the goblin's eyes widened from the impact and the ground cracking even further, and still stayed strong. The strike would set him off-balance, as now Toriel landed a solid fiery punch to his cheek and he went down hard, greatly dealing damage to his metal exoskeleton until it shattered entirely, it's pieces scattering across the floor.
His armor was destroyed from the highly heavy attacks from fire and water carrying a positive energy around them that can counter-balance his own, and the two working in unison managed to quickly overpower him Working together so well despite only knowing each other for a single night, and being more skilled with their magics to back up their power, unlike him, who didn't take the time to hone his abilities to their extent.
At this point, he could only stare in disbelief.
"It's over, Faust. Your operations have been sabotaged and your top subordinates subdued. You've lost." Levi said evenly. "Not to worry though; per Surripio kingship succession rules, I'll be sure to take care of Surripio in your place. As in: I'll actually make an effort to see it improved and redeemed."
"...Why? This place isn't worth saving." Faust shook his head. "You've seen how it is. How messy things are...how much people outside hate it...why would you want to save it...?"
"You truly didn't deserve to be a King if you've turned your back on your own Kingdom, and prevent those that could help it from trying." Toriel glared. What he just said reminded her too much of the past in the most unpleasant sense, hence her intense dislike towards the goblin before her. "If you intend to focus your resolve in sending this Kingdom further into a downward spiral, then you have NO business being it's King. If you really believe what you believe, then simply vacate instead of dragging people down further. And never return." Toriel turned and began walking away. This didn't leave a good impression on Faust, who began snarling.
"You think you can come into MY Kingdom...criticize ME for how I run it...then tell ME to leave?! You...are...OUT OF YOUR MIND!"
And you wasted your ONE chance to peacefully walk away... Levi sighed quietly.
Faust would force himself up and leap towards Toriel again with his metallic claws looking to obliterate her head...
He seemed dumbfounded when he found himself facedown in the ground with said face highly bruised and burned. He struggled to get up on his knees and looked up, only for his eyes to widen when he found Toriel's paw in front of his face. The fiery look in her eyes told him that the remains of her already short patience with him was lost.
The defiant facade fell apart instantly when he realized what was about to happen.
Toriel Dreemurr will be the one to burn it all to ash.
"M-My Queen! Queen of Monsters!" Faust cowered hurriedly. "C-Can't you see!? I'm a product of the corruption that is Surripio! I only did what I did because of how toxic the city was in the past, and I knew it'd never get better, so we shouldn't waste our time over it! Y-You understand, right?!"
"Now this is just embarrassing." Levi shook his head, while Elvira facepalms in the background. Even now, he refused to admit his fault in the current state of things. Toriel certainly wasn't amused.
"...I dislike plenty of things, just like anyone else. But there's one aspect in particular that upsets me something fierce...because it reminds me too much of myself, long ago. Something my youngest child-whom you've indirectly harmed-played a major part in helping me overcome." Toriel began icily.
"M-My Queen...please! Tor-!"
Blazing flames soon engulfed his entire being. The resulting pillar of flames reached far enough to be seen several hundred feet away from the building, with him in the very center of it while screaming from the intense burns, launched far enough to land somewhere within the destroyed abandoned district.
Toriel was left staring after the fallen goblin with a disinterested frown, her paw emitting a bit of smoke as the wind entering the building began making her floppy ears sway slightly.
"Cowardice."
"Ahuhuhu...look at all of these marks, Valerie! Such an ambitious pig we have here!~"
"Pig is surely correct..."
"Hey. The asshole's waking up."
A bright light would soon pierce into Sloanes eyes as he slowly opened them, blinking several times to try and adjust. As he did, he was surprised to see Elvira, Valerie, and Muffet in front of him, each having a cup of tea in their hands and sipping it in unison. They'd then place the cups down and sighed, also in unison.
"Your tea is quite lovely, Muffet." Valerie complimented.
"Thank you, Dearie!~"
"This is some pretty damn good tea...refills are inevitable." Elvira purred.
"You should try Asgore's tea sometime. His tea brewing skills are superb!~"
"Ugh...what hell...where am I? And...why do I smell like a pastry?" Sloanes eventually asked. He tried to move, but smaller rope-like snakes had him coiled up, and they were hissing at him hatefully.
"Hello, Sloanes." Cleo was in the room as well, looking outside a window. Judging by the positions of the rays of light, they were currently on a hotel floor above the first. "I didn't really expect to feel the need to confront you like this...but now that I've officially got your role in Surripio's downward spiral read, I"m very glad that I did."
"W...What do you mean...?"
"We've gotten quite a list on you. And they're quite plentiful." Elvira hummed while again sipping her tea. "And it was thanks to a cute wittle scientist exposing all your secrets."
"My...secrets...what did you do?!"
"Let's read them off: You've used connections to destroy good reputations, wrongfully had innocents imprisoned and allowed them to die to exploit the soul trafficking 'business', got co-conspirators killed off via Jack O'Ripper when they were more useful dead than alive, and organized a mob war by using five year old Valerie as a catalyst, getting a whole district of people killed just to rid yourself of troublesome mob factions. You swept your involvement in all of that under the rug and never looked back. Levi and Cleo...don't like any of that, especially the last two parts, particularly the previous part."
"Yes." Valerie hummed while sipping her tea. "All that information got out while you were unconscious. Thanks to Alphys, all of your connections pulled out of involvement with you, subordinates cut their losses and ran, the citizens hate you with a passion, and your top hitman is dead by her paws. Oh, and she destroyed the main facility AFTER freeing the remaining souls."
"S...She did all of that?!" He had grossly underestimated how much damage one little resolved genius could do. More than that, how could someone so pathetic looking KILL Jack O'Ripper?! "W-Where's Faust...?"
"Toriel fired him." Muffet said, casually dismissing the shock on his face and biting into a crumpet. "Levi and Cleo run things now, and Valerie is the pretty princess! Therefore, they got to decide what to do with you.~"
"Sloanes. You are a backstabber, a betrayer, and a bastard. Lot's of people sunk so you could stay afloat...now you're out of people to protect you and/or serve as your safety net. And whoever's left wants you gone." Elvira hummed while tilting her witch hat. "You'll be regretting your depravity against the good humans and monsters of Surripio for the rest of your life."
Sloanes looked at them, before chuckling and shaking his head. "You all think you're going to scare me? I've recovered from worse downs than this, and I ALWAYS returned the trouble sent my way in full. You're all ruined once I get out of here. RUINED."
This is comin' from a guy who no longer has anything to stand on. Elvira scoffed. Human tenacity intrigued her at times, but here it was just ridiculous.
"...That's all you have to say? Not even going to acknowledge what you've put me through at five years old?" Valerie pointed out. "Not going to acknowledge that you put a bounty on me that day simply for being the daughter of two people you hated simply to hurt them in the worst way possible? Starting a vicious mob war which got so many good people killed from the fallout? Nothing at all?"
"That's kind of your fault for being related to them, isn't it?" If he expected Valerie to look shocked at his lack of care, he would be surprised to see her expression mostly unchanged. "Anyway, it doesn't matter. Precious Princess of a mob boss. Nice and sweet. You don't have the guts to get back at me for something like that."
"...I suppose you're right." Valerie admitted freely while grabbing a crumpet offered to her by Muffet. "...Unfortunately for you, Mother is here."
Sloanes was cut off from wondering what she meant by that, as the cobra monster quickly slithered around him and had him trapped in her coils, her forked tongue visible from a hiss. "Well well well...looksssss like I'll be having a third ssssnack for the night. Already had a pick me up from after the fundraising event, and a little bit of one when I visited the prison Undyne mentioned.~"
It was then that Sloanes actually paid attention to Cleo. The very middle of her snake body...seemed filled. Understanding and horror sunk in quickly. "You can't be serious...!" He wheezed.
"You tried to have my only daughter killed out of spite. Twice. Five years old the first time, and the second time was this night. How could I not take something like that personally? Not to worry, though. You'll be making it up to me now, so I'll forgive you.~" She said with a sinister smile.
"You heard Mother. I can't stop her." Valerie shrugged while sipping her tea, not at all sounding bothered by this, which confirms that it certainly wasn't the first time she witnessed it.
"That's also why you smell and taste like a strawberry pastry! My own personal touch while you were taking a long nap.~" Muffet smiles. Unlike her new friend, this IS her first time witnessing this...and she's very interested.
"Quit screwin' around, this is ridiculous!" He turned to Elvira, ignoring how Cleo's jaws beginning to click wide open. "You just said I would be regretting my crimes for the rest of my life! Shouldn't I live long enough to regret them?!"
"Oh you silly, silly man. You squealing pig. The new Queen has made her decision, it's out of my paws. Besides, there's an often-missed loophole when it comes to statements like that." Elvira sipped her tea, then smirked darkly at him, VERY much reminding him of both the mischievous Parvos and condescending Ratoveros. Now it seemed like they mocked him for the final time. "I never specified how long the rest of your life would be...you shouldn't have messed with our kids."
"You living walking jinx! I never shoulda looked in the direction of you and your accursed family! I-mmph!"
"What was that? I couldn't hear you.~" Elvira taunted while mockingly holding a paw to her ear.
"Hopefully mother doesn't get sick from this." Valerie inferred calmly while accepting a tea refill from Muffet.
"Not to worry! I did good work with the little time that I had! Ahuhu!~" Muffet chuckled as she sipped her tea, casually watching a fellow predatory monster go to work with an intrigued smile.
Fascinating.~
Augustine slowly opened her eyes, the light gently peaking into them as she did so. She groaned quietly as she sits up and observes the current environment before her. The first thing she immediately noticed was that she was in a hotel lobby. And a particularly prestigious and roomy one, since it was large enough to fit a restaurant in the far left, sign in in counter at the far right, entrance/exit at the front, and an infirmary at the back, which is where she was right now. And of course the lobby's waiting area was just as large, and had plenty of people entering and exiting to sign into their rooms.
It took her a moment to recognize that this particular hotel was supported by Levi, given how she recognized most of his subordinates are here. One of the many rest spots that he placed down, she supposed. Still, she was confused about several things. Who took her here? What happened to the ones attacking her? And did the charity event go on alright?
"Huh. You're awake." Augustine nearly jumped as she heard the young voice aside her. She turned to see Red sitting in a chair next to her, watching her with a small nod. "Hey, Augustine. It's been a while, a long while. I've been assigned to keep an eye on you until you woke up. You've been out for quite a while since the skirmish with those mobsters. You've been healing here ever since while everyone else was busy."
"...Busy...doing what?"" Augustine asked slowly once she realized that the pup had no intention of harming her. Red nodded while staring at the ceiling.
"We kinda...took out the whole soul trafficking thing."
Augustine thought she misheard her. "...What."
"We...uh...took the capital, I think?" Red pouted while folding her arms. "I mean, we helped a bunch of people, protected the charity event, freed a lot of prisoners that were basically being treated like fuel, freed the souls in that facility place and destroyed said facility afterwards, defeated Kingpin Faust and had him surrender Kingship over to Levi...and...um..." She snarled as she scratched her head with both paws, slightly messing with her hair. "Grrraaagh! I don't know! I don't have a clear-cut understanding of all this stuff! All I know for sure is that we completed our missions!"
"M...Missions...?"
"Yeah. It was an operation headed and approved by Levi and Lady Toriel."
Toriel...Toriel is here...?!
"It's getting pretty late, I'm hungry, and I wanna take a nap...but I needed to be sure all of my duties were completed before I can start doing other things..." Red muttered while scratching the back of her head. "Though in other, more important things...are you alright?"
"I...I'm fine..."
"Okay, that's good. That's great."
Augustine nodded, then looked to the side as she spotted yet another familiar face within this large space, and it was a certain warrior. Undyne, one of the warriors that was there on the Seloms Archipelago, was sitting nearby in a chair with a young girl on her lap, the one she rescued mere hours ago, and she seemed to be sleeping in comfort on her ample bosom. She's had quite a long night, and the little one needed a long-deserved nap.
"Undyne...?"
"Alphys?" Undyne blinked and turned her head to see Alphys calling out to her. "Oh, hey." She said quietly, not wanting to wake the human girl up, hence why she was in the quieter parts of the room.
"H-Hey..." Alphys mentally cursed her stutter, before she sighed while staring at her paws. "D...D...Did you hear from the others...?"
"About what?" That in itself told her that they wanted her to tell Undyne herself, mostly keeping the info to themselves.
A part of Alphys wanted to save it for later, but she quickly pushed it down. The sooner she got it out of the way, the better. She swallowed and clenched her fists while lowering her head. "Undyne...I...I...I killed another monster tonight..." She waited for a moment for a response to that. A gasp, a much more likely surprised shout, something. But she heard nothing. She lifted her head, only to see Undyne looking at her, and it was strangely calm. It was a look open for understanding. Taking that as a sign to continue, Alphys did so. "Jack O'Ripper...I...killed him. I...I didn't know how to feel. I mean, I felt a lot of things, but I didn't know what felt most accurate. Panic, fear, adrenaline...relief...I just...I don't know..."
"...Alphys." Undyne started, gently handing the sleeping human girl to a nearby Ice Wolf, who was very delicate with her, and she quickly relaxed in the warmth of his fur.
"H-Huh?"
"You're the smart one between us. I think you know what those feelings are."
"Uh..." It took a moment for her to understand. She sorted out the feelings one at a time: "Panic at the thought of my friends dying...fear that it would be all my fault...adrenaline that pushed me to take action...and I finally felt relief that they were safe afterwards...only then did my legs kinda turn to jelly and I fell to the ground, also out of relief..."
"Mhm."
"...Y-You're really going to accept this? So easily...?"
"Alphys. I get it. You're shaken up about this, and you're not wrong to be. Circumstances pushed you, and in the end you made a call. It ended up saving Sans and Jack O'Frost's lives. And Surripio is overall much better for it." Undyne pulls Alphys herself onto her lap this time, then gingerly kissed her lips. "It's fine to feel bad about doing it 'cause you're not as hardened as I am. But you shouldn't feel at all guilty about the results: saving your friends, and all of those souls."
"R-Right. Still...I wonder..."
"If killing him makes you no better than he is, right?" Undyne rolled her eye. "C'mon, Al. That doesn't hold too much water anymore, not with the crap we gotta endure. That asshole killed people, good or bad, purely for shits and giggles. You killed him so that he wouldn't do the same to someone precious to you, or more innocent people. I'm VERY confident in you being the better person in that scenario." Undyne huffed and pulled her into a tight hug. "But forget all that shit for a moment, because one thing takes priority over all that...I'm glad that you're alright. You did good, okay? You did good."
"T...Thank you..." Alphys nodded as she returned the hug, her tail slowly and gingerly wagging from the comfort.
Augustine blinked at the both of them in wonder. She then jumped as Undyne turned her eye towards her. Before she could say anything, Undyne nodding upwards. "Toriel is few floors up. You might wanna go see her."
"O-Oh...okay."
Augustine dreaded seeing Toriel again. But see her again she must. There were things she needed to say, things she needed to tell her. It was a bit shameful she had passed out after defending something close to her, but she could at least say that she tried, right?
After going up several floors, and going by several rooms, she stopped slightly in front of one of them...and looked quite baffled.
"Yes, Faust has been usurped. And via Surripio Succession, that would make my husband Levi the King. Yes, I've always considered it a troublesome rule, but now it works in our favor.~" Cleo said with a cheery smile on the phone...with a rather gorged snake belly which her husband Levi and daughter Valerie were both in the process of rubbing lovingly. Her upper body was still quite slim. "Indeed, we'll be making that building of his our new main base of management. And after a little of repair and touch up, it'll be good as new! Alright, thank you for your time. Bye." She hangs up and turns towards Augustine with a smile. "Ah, Augustine! You're finally awake. Glad to see you're alright, dear."
"S-Sure..." Augustine muttered quietly. Aware of Cleo's reputation of dealing with personal enemies behind closed doors, she knew exactly what happened...and wisely decided NOT to comment on it aloud. Raul...Arno...Sloanes...I...won't miss any of you, really.
"If you're wondering, Toriel is in the room next door. She's been-*burp*-oh! Pardon me. She's been waiting for you.~"
"O-Okay...thanks"
"We really am proud of you for sticking to your promise despite the odds. But next time...have some friends to help you out, alright?" Valerie smiled.
"We almost lost you, Augustine. We don't want that to happen, alright?" Levi said sternly, but not unkindly.
"Okay...thank you." She nodded gently, before moving onto the next room as instructed. She finally found the person she was looking for the most.
Toriel.
"Hello, Augustine. It's been quite some time." Toriel said gently while lightly bringing a spoonful of pie into her muzzle. "Come. Sit next to me." She patted the cushion next to her.
Incredibly anxious, Augustine walked up and takes the seat next to her, twiddling her thumbs and nervously giving Toriel a side glance. She had forgotten how imposing her aura felt, how fluffy and fuzzy her fur is, how amazingly statuesque she is, and how...big...she is. But what was completely new to her, was the feeling of warmth the Queen of Monsters emitted, and it was directly towards her. Because the last time she looked at her, her eyes was full of ice.
Now they were akin to a warm campfire.
"...Like it or not, Augustine, I have a unique memory of you. You're my first real 'enemy' I've come in contact with on the Surface. The first I've really come into personal conflict with. And I've thought that my memory of you in particular would always be one of dislike." Toriel began, her eyes half-closed. "...But then you go and surprise me a year later. Apparently before and after Seloms Archipelago was destroyed, you've done your best to reinvent yourself."
"I...I...yes. I did." Augustine said nervously. "Nikon and her tribe...they took care of me. They looked after me despite what I've put them through. They...made me rethink a lot of things. How I've treated them. How I simply did what my superiors asked of me. I had to learn that...doing what was asked of me...doing the things I did because I was suffering...that was no excuse for doing what I did. They...forgave me. Almost as if I were part of the family." She shook her head. "So...when everything went down...I tried my best to stop it. That was their home, I couldn't let them destroy it. And yet...I failed. The islands were destroyed, my entire guild killed, and I got maimed. I was too weak..." She looked at the ceiling. "We survived by some miracle. But...I couldn't bring myself to face them after that. I left for Surripio, and sent them charity packs at every opportunity. I just...it was the best that I could do, yet I wished I could have done more...I wish that I was better..."
Toriel hummed softly, setting her pie aside while looking down towards Augustine. "Have you heard? I've defeated Faust. Kingship belongs to Levi now, via Surripio Succession rules. That in itself is a sign that this Kingdom needs some serious, ACTUAL assistance."
"Yeah...I didn't think you'd go that far..."
Toriel nodded quietly. "I heavily dislike him. Even after everything, he still refused to admit to his fault in Surripio's less than ideal state. He turned his back on it, never had faith in it, was content with letting the rot fester. A monarch should never fall so low, never turn their back on their own Kingdom. It...it reminded me too much of myself. It wasn't bravery back then...it was cowardice. I was not brave enough to own up to my folly and face/fix the consequences that my negligence and self-righteousness had on the people I abandoned... until Frisk, my youngest son, came into my life." Toriel shook her head. "That is why I'm the way I am. I'll never turn my back on people who need me, much less the people I care about. Never again."
"W-Wow. That's a pretty admirable trait." Augustine chuckled while rubbing her neck. "Of course that also comes with a heap of trouble..."
"Admittedly it does. Which is why I'm glad I'm not alone in it. I want my loved ones to be proud of me as much as I am of them." Toriel smiled, much warmer than before. "After years of self-imposed exile, I've turned myself back around, so I could truly see the people who still reached out to me. As a result, with several interventions and miracles, I have a family again. I've been blessed with quite a group of eccentric, loyal, and amazing companions. They're an absolute joy to have, despite how much we may greatly agitate each other sometimes. We wouldn't give each other up for anything."
"Wow. That... that must be nice." Augustine chuckled. "In all honesty...I want to thank you for...you know...sparing me back then. It gave me a chance to turn my life around. It's had a very steep down...but I'm climbing my way up bit by bit. Maybe someday I can be proud of myself too." She smiled to herself, then frowned and sighed. "...Toriel...I...I'm sorry...for everything..."
"...It is not me whom you must apologize to." Toriel said softly.
"Yeah...you're...you're right..." Augustine fell to the side, with Toriel gently catching her and hugging her, as the former teared up just slightly. "I don't want to hide from them anymore. I...I want to see Nikon and the tribe again...!"
"And you shall. Sooner than you think." Toriel nodded, her eyes closed as she pets the back of the human woman's hair, allowing her to cry into her chest. Yes, it would be grand for the both of them to see Nikon again. By now, Asgore and the boys would be successful in their own mission, and they'd all meet in Ebott together.
But for now, from the intense day and night everyone had...they all needed their rest.
There! DONE! GOSH!
Seriously though, I thought I'd have this up earlier...
So to sum up the overall events of the Surripio section: Charity event successful, prisoners rescued, souls saved, facility destroyed, insane monster hitman killed, Corrupted Goblin Kingpin overthrown via Surripio succession rules, and also his main support/corrupt human pig...yeah.
That last one's not gonna backfire on me at all...
BUT! The main fact of the matter is, everything's done there! Now all that's left is to get the major figures to meet up in Ebott for the conference, which shall wrap up the Scelus Arc nicely!
Until next time!