Thanks go to Wingah, TiredWhiteMayge, Doctah Sawbones, Zillowzest, WhoWritesThisCrap, adam,mat2007, Acoolnamme, VoidGivenForm, 10burgers, Zack Frost, and MrDen1999!
MrDen1999, if there are going to be more AU characters who appear, I won't be spoiling it in an author's note lol. But I appreciate your enthusiasm!
Anyway, this chapter was a lot of fun to write! Definitely one of the easiest ones that I've had to force myself to complete in just a few days because of poor time management lol. I think you guys will enjoy it. Next chapter should be up two weeks from now, on April 26th. :)
Disclaimer: I do not own Undertale.
Red winds ripped across the battlefield, capturing the attention of The Predator, The KIND, and The Traitor alike. All three heads swiveled to see the flashing scarlet in the distance, DETERMINED winds warm on their faces. Well, all faces but Predator's. Her skin had grown cold, cold like the frozen crown atop her head. The crimson blast of Anarchy's soul did nothing to warm her. She just stood there, stared with the borrowed red of her eyes into the flashing light of The Anarchist's wrath. And, possibly more interestingly, the green glow within that brutal shine.
The last time she had seen Angel, Lexi recalled, was when she told him she hated him and that they weren't going to be on the same team anymore. He had been so unresponsive, unlike any way she had ever seen him before. Lexi often thought that was the most real Angel she'd ever known, the one she met on a ruined Mount Ebbot. The one with the wrapped up left arm and the crutch. And fuck, he looked miserable. But that was damn near three years ago, and that Angel had made her a promise. "Next time you see me," He'd told her, "I'm going to be better."
... Whether she wanted it or not, that next time was upon Lexi now. And with that green reflecting in her scarlet eyes, she had to hope that Angel had told the truth. That the broken boy on a crutch had been honest that day, and that he'd remembered every night the way those cracks burned in his arm. She hoped it woke him up when the lights were out, she hoped it remained at the front of Angel's brain from the moment it happened and she hoped that he knew now what he had to do. Because despite Lexi's best efforts, Anthony's fate was on Angel's shoulders now. She had her own problem to handle.
Frisk's eyes were open, they were wide. An open mouthed smile was growing on their face as they felt the heat of Anarchy's soul around them. It was a feeling they had longed for, a terrible power that they hadn't experienced since they met him in the garbage dump. That suffocating strength, they'd once been foolish enough to fear it. But now they knew the scorching light of Anarchy's soul meant salvation. Salvation for all but The Angel. That pathetic green light, dwarfed by the explosive red power that The Anarchist possessed. Angel wasn't good enough before, he certainly wouldn't be good enough now.
Anthony The Anarchist was absolute, of this Frisk was certain. Everyone's fate rested on his shoulders and his shoulders alone. He was their hero, and he would save them. He would save everyone when he finally destroyed The Angel, like he was always meant to. Once upon a time, they had felt like a puppet on strings. Dangling and dancing, playing a game for a higher power. But, whatever that power had been, they were certain that The Anarchist was a power even higher. Because with one fist he had destroyed Frisk's strings, and under the light of his soul they were free.
And a few yards back, away from the battle, stood Melanie The KIND. She had felt The Angel's soul a few years ago, when his power had shattered her KIND barrier and engulfed Gatherer's compound in red. The shock of that power had knocked Melanie out, but in the brief moments before she slipped into unconsciousness... She remembered soul deadening worry. In the scarlet shine of The Angel's soul, her KIND eyes had not perceived power. There was no strength in that red light, she had only seen misery. A twisted and mutated soul.
Now, Melanie stared into a similar crimson. Anthony The Anarchist, a man that The Predator had bet everything on saving. His soul was not twisted and wrong, at least it did not appear that way to Melanie. The red of Anthony's soul was what it should be, what it was meant to be. And that made the misery her green heart felt within it even more heartbreaking. A Bastard Son, a Son of a Bitch. Was it possible to be born destined for pain? Is that what it meant to have a red soul and red eyes both?
This question brought her attention back towards Frisk. A red heart, red eyes, and red dripping down their rapiers. They looked so giddy with Anarchy's soul reflecting in their eyes, Melanie could not understand why a person would desire annihilation. But, she wondered while she looked to the humble emerald glow in that ruby shine, if The Angel could see a side that she could not. If perhaps his mutated soul offered a different perspective. He had told her once, "I coulda been a lotta things." And with that in mind, Melanie had to ponder.
What are you now, Angel?
Chapter 82: What I Can't Ask For
Or: What I Need
"... I'm not sure why you're trying to get past me, Lexi." Frisk eventually spoke up, only after the bright lights faded away. They looked back ahead to The Predator across from them, a hint of confusion on their face. Red eyes were hidden behind mostly closed eyelids, and they folded their arms behind their back, keeping all but the bloodied tips of their rapiers hidden. "From what I heard, Angel screwed you over worse than most people."
"Yeah, a teenage boy was an asshole. Shocker." Lexi narrowed her eyes, frown ever present on her face. There was sarcasm in her tone, enough to make Frisk smile a little. The Predator didn't care, gripping her scythe tight and widening her stance. "What Angel did was horrible, but he doesn't deserve to be murdered for it. He's got his whole life to make up for what he did, and I think that's exactly how he should live his life - atoning for his sins."
"That's stupid~!" Frisk smiled cheerily, tilting their head to the side. Lexi's frown drove deeper into her face, but she didn't react. Didn't fling herself at Frisk like she knew Frisk wanted her to. She'd done that a few times already, and it earned her some pain and some bloodstains on her clothes. Frisk opened their left eye, their smile gaining a certain vile edge that Predator hated. "People don't get better, dummy! Anthony told me that."
"Well he's wrong, and I'm gonna prove it." Her soul flared, and a gust of frigid winds exploded out around Lexi, blowing back Frisk's hair and making them wince that eye shut again. The frost on her cheeks crackled, spreading a little further across the chilled skin of her face while she prepared her next assault. "Right after I get through you."
"Good luck, you're gonna need it~!" Frisk sang, and Predator decided that was all the talking she needed. With the stamp of her foot the snow before her exploded to life, sending a massive wave of ice blasting up towards Frisk. They squinted at the deadly expansion of ice, the area of effect. They'd have to move fast, but that was okay. They'd done a speed run before.
With the pulse of Frisk's scarlet soul, the world around them was engulfed in black and white. Everything paused, that ice wall stopped expanding and no longer raced closer. And at the other side of it, Predator stood motionless, unblinking and unmoving. Further behind her, Melanie the KIND was stopped too, her hand outstretched and KIND light just barely beginning to shine in her palm. A colorless dome had burst to life in a radius around Frisk's soul, and within it time had slowed to a stop.
Frisk didn't waste a moment of the time they manipulated, instantly racing forward and towards that paused ice. They ran low to the ground, jumping hastily and landing on the slippery surface of that forming iceberg. They skated downwards and towards The Ice Queen, pulling back the both of their rapiers and leaning forward some while they closed in on the defenseless queen. Two through the heart, they figured. That'd slow her down.
Unfortunately, that colorless pulse was returning back to the traitor's soul as quick it had came. That black and white time void was rapidly closing in on their soul and to the SAVE FILE stored within. But that was fine, Frisk thought. Predator was still right in front of them, she wouldn't be freed in time to dodge. No one could dodge Frisk's attacks, not anymore.
Flash!
Frisk's eyes widened as the precise points of their rapiers were stopped dead against a wall of green energy, Predator recoiling on the other side of the green. The traitor's eyes darted from the queen to her lowly subject, spotting Melanie standing several paces behind Predator with her glowing emerald hand extended. Yes, Lexi had still been trapped in the shrinking range of Frisk's Time Void, but Melanie was not.
Color back in the world and time flowing unhindered, Melanie clenched her extended hand into a fist and sent the wall of KINDNESS separating Frisk and Predator launching forward at the traitor, who was quick to jump to the side and let that KINDNESS fling on by. They were given no chance to breath however, because the moment they landed back on the snow Predator was upon them. Slashing her scythe at Frisk's side in an attempt to bisect them, fury burned clear on Lexi's frosty face.
Time blipped, reality skipped and suddenly Frisk was another two steps back, making Predator's slash slice nothing but air. This hardly hindered The Ice Queen, who spun on her heel with her swing and brought a wave of ice curling up around her with the blade of her scythe. Once she had finished a complete spin, that frosty wave blasted out towards Frisk, who was already jumping back. Unfortunately, their back struck another wall of green, stopping them dead in the face of the ice barreling towards them.
Time skipped forward, and suddenly Frisk was just finishing a backflip over the green wall that had trapped them. Melanie watched with narrowed eyes, curiously examining the traitor jumping back again while Predator's ice blast shattered through that weak KINDNESS wall and continued its race towards Frisk. Melanie's lips moved, silently counting...
Another blip in time, and suddenly Frisk had jumped over the frozen beam crashing towards them. They landed on its jagged surface and immediately began a dead sprint down towards The Predator. They darted to and fro, jumping between the short spikes of ice that crashed up from the frozen surface. After a few rapid steps, time jumped ahead again, and Frisk was suddenly lunging forward at Lexi, yanking back the both of their rapiers.
Predator was ready this time, throwing her head back and limbo ducking under Frisk's twin needles. The traitor sailed over her, landing in the snow behind her and rolling. They had jumped to their feet nearly immediately, an eternity of dodging and falling had them plenty prepared. They knew battle better than anyone alive, and in the grand scheme they were undefeated.
Predator spun around to face them while she stood up straight, pointing her scythe out towards them. Ice fired off the curved blade of her weapon, and the traitor effortless weaved between the rapid fire frost crescents. They only stepped closer to Predator as they effortlessly and elegantly glided between the ice blasting out of her scythe, wind catching their scarf and making it billow in the wind.
And when boulder sized spheres of green light appeared in the sky overhead and illuminated Frisk in their emerald shine, they slowly parted their eyelids and peered into The Ice Queen with their ruby orbs. And they cracked a smile, beautiful and twisted before Melanie clenched her fist and those orbs rained down from above. Too late.
Another pulse was released from Frisk's crimson heart, and the colorless dome of their Time Void engulfed the pirates. The crushing KINDNESS paused over their head and The Ice Queen frozen, Frisk's smile only grew as they darted forward. They ran low to the ground, below the frost Lexi had been blasting at them and closing the distance between themself and The Predator. That colorless void closed back in, and red burned over Frisk's right eye as they threw their rapiers forward.
STAB!
Lexi recoiled, time flowing again to reveal those twin needles stabbing up through her throat, crossing over one another in her windpipe and forming an X. Her bloodshot eyes were wide, and it was all she could do to hack up a mouthful of red. Her surprised gasp had only filled her lungs with blood, and Frisk leaned in, grinning ear to ear. "Long live the queen!"
Suddenly, they yanked those rapiers back out of The Predator's jugular, sending two spigots of blood spraying out across the snow. Predator barely managed to take a step back before Frisk stepped in, jabbing forward with one needle and piercing her stomach with it. Another stab with the opposite stinger, this one through the chest. Predator was stumbling back now, but Frisk kept stepping in. Another stab, and another. And another and another and another and another and another. Their weapons were impossible to follow, milliseconds splitting and pausing between Frisk's assault to always make the next strike harder to predict.
"Poor, pathetic Lexi!" Frisk shouted out between their impossible barrage of piercing strikes, juggling The Predator back and forth. Red splattered and sprayed against the white canvas that they stood upon, and Frisk carelessly stepped in the pooling blood in order to keep the stabs coming. Predator's blood stained expression twisted with pain and shock while Frisk rambled on, "Not enough power, not enough allies, just not good enough to save anybody!"
Frisk jumped up into the air then, yanking back one leg to kick Lexi across the face with. The Predator, blood soaked and barely standing, was still able to reach out just as that kick flew forward. The vice grip of her chilling hand snatched shut around Frisk's ankle, and they winced at the frosty pain her touch inflicted as she spun, throwing Frisk as hard as she could away from herself while she dropped down to the ground, slipping in her own bloody slush.
Frisk flung back through the air with Predator's throw, hastily flipping to land on their feet. They landed in the snow and skidded back on the soles of their feet, their jaw tightening from the pain it caused their now frostbit ankle. Lexi, meanwhile, dropped down onto one elbow, planting her hand on the red dripped snow and sending a tidal wave of ice exploding up from the earth at Frisk. She choked, "F-fuck, you..!"
While Frisk jumped onto the expanding mass of ice and rode it high into the air, Melanie sprinted to Predator's aid. She dropped to her knees and skidded through the snow to reach Lexi, who was puking more of her crimson color onto the slush beneath her while DETERMINATION steamed from the gaggle of little holes now detailing her body. Melanie grimaced at the sight, and a small square of KIND energy appeared around the two of them while she held out hands that shined with a healing light. "Lexi! Are you alright?!"
Gasping and rubbing her throat, Lexi The Predator spat one more mouthful of red before planting her palms in the muck and shoving herself to a sitting up position. Her eyes locked onto the smiling traitor perched atop her iceberg, and frosty mist hissed between her gritting teeth. Without a moments thought she shoved herself away from Melanie's healing hands, startling the KIND soul and sending her falling back onto her ass. Predator barked as she sliced through that green barrier with her scythe, "Stay out of my way! I can handle this!"
"What-?!" Was all Melanie could manage, staring appalled up at The Predator as she raced forward and towards the perched traitor. She was so baffled by her friend's action that it almost didn't register as real - she thought it might have been a joke when it happened, but Lexi wouldn't joke in a time like this. So why was she pushing Melanie away?
Predator sprinted up the incline of her iceberg, chilled glass curving outward and giving her steps to bound off of. Frisk just remained perched there atop the frozen mountain, patiently awaiting the arrival of The Predator. Blood trickled down their cheek, it had splattered there while they punctured The Ice Queen. And as she finally made the final hurdle and jumped up over them, yanking her scythe back to once more try and cleave their head off, Frisk's tongue slipped past their smile and dragged through the red painted on their face.
The traitor leaned back swiftly, letting The Predator's righteous blade cleave through the chilled air while their tongue slithered back inside their mouth. Predator spun with her slice, pulling back one leg and planting a kick in Frisk's chest. The force of this strike knocked their feet out from under them, sent Frisk slamming back first into the ice and sliding down the frictionless surface. Lexi jumped down the curve of the iceberg, skating down right after the traitor.
Frisk lifted their head to spot The Ice Queen racing after them, just before another blip in time struck. A quick flicker in space time, and suddenly they were standing instead of laying, now skating downward on their feet instead of their back. They were still facing Predator, sliding backwards towards the ground while she rapidly closed the distance.
The moment Predator was upon them she was slicing at their head again, and they ducked backwards yet again to let that scythe swing over their head, this time jabbing back at her with their right rapier. Lexi swung her head to the side though, dodged a sting that would have certainly taken her eye outta her head. Expression twisting with rage, she yanked back her free fist and sent a punch crashing into Frisk's jaw, launching them back towards the bottom of their icy incline. A bottom which, with the flex of her soul, jutted upwards in a patch of chilling frost spikes.
Frisk managed to snap open their pain winced eyes to see the impalement death they were racing towards, and time flickered once again. Several frames skipped, and suddenly they were standing upon one of those spikes, elegantly avoiding its point and jumping back off of it. Lexi slid down after them, eyes flashing red as the spikes that were now in her way near instantly vaporized on her command, morphing from solid to gas in less than a second and shrouding The Predator in mist with a hissssss!
"Easy on the face!" Frisk called out as they landed back in the snow, raising one thumb to wipe the blood off their red steaming split lip. A little bit of anger flickered in their scarlet eyes as they held their rapiers out to the side and shouted into the mist. "That's the money maker, bitch!"
Suddenly, that fog sucked inward on a dozen different points, and Frisk watched the moisture nearly instantly become a barrage of ice pyramids, the points of which were all locked onto them. With the fog cleared The Ice Queen was visible at the center of the ice volley, sprinting towards the traitor right with her frosted attack. And Frisk exhaled quietly, narrowing their eyes again and lowering their stance. Predator was racing closer, and her barrage was closing in on Frisk.
And just like that... Everything stopped. Another Time Void, a pulse from a traitorous soul encapsulated Frisk and Predator in a colorless dome. Frisk grinned from ear to ear - whether Lexi liked it or not, she couldn't fight time. Reality was Frisk's to control, this world would belong to them. No higher power, no strings, no kings and certainly no queens.
When color returned and Predator felt her consciousness flip back on, electric pain exploded through her body. Her back straightened, and Predator screamed out in agony as blood was once more spitting from another unbearable barrage of stabs. It had all happened already, there was no way to counter. And she crumbled to her knees, clutching at the holes in her abdomen, legs, and arms. How many arteries? How many death blows was her soul healing at once? It was too much, she wasn't like Angel, wasn't like Anthony... No, she had to be! Get... Up..!
Frisk smiled wickedly from where they stood behind The Predator, looking over their shoulder at her while they folded the dripping red of their rapiers behind their back. Lexi was gasping and steaming red, wide eyes staring at the crimson spattered snow while Frisk sneered down at her. They figured they had the time to ACT, "I spent a lot of time reading up on human biology between dogshit politics! There's so many tiny little spots that kill somebody if you push on them hard enough~! Did you know that?"
"Get away from her!" Melanie's voice caught Frisk's attention, and the traitor stepped to the side to let the KIND soul drop from above. Melanie landed crouched beside Frisk after they'd dodged her downward swing, jaw clenched tight and furious emerald eyes darting up to meet with Frisk's squint. She shifted her footing and lunged upwards, green light shining in her frying pan just before she bashed it into Frisk's sternum. A shockwave of KINDNESS crashed out from the point of impact, sending wind blowing back Melanie's hair and launching Frisk back through the air.
"Melanie..?!" Lexi choked, glancing up to the KIND soul standing between her and Frisk, who had flipped in air and landed on their feet, skidding back. Lexi's brow twitched, a snarl curling deeper into her bloodstained face. She couldn't help it - seeing Melanie stand tall while she was struggling to put her organs back together just made her feel weak. Reminded her of Jade. "Get, out of here..! They're too dangerous for you!"
"Lexi, listen to me! There's a reason Gatherer had Frisk stop you instead of doing it himself!" Melanie squared her feet, wrapping both hands around the handle of her frying pan. Across from her Frisk was swallowing the pain of Melanie's strike. It was painful, but pain didn't hurt Frisk. Melanie continued, "This is a bad match up! I've been watching them, and I don't have it all figured out yet, but I know there's a range for their time manipulation! Their whole fighting style relies on getting in close, that's why they keep trying to bait you!"
"Who, me?" Frisk recoiled and put a hand on their chest like they were offended, spiting the clear smile Melanie's accusation had painted on their face. "Crazy talk!"
"They want us to believe they're untouchable, but if that were true we would both already be dead." Melanie stated while Predator struggled to get to one knee, hacking up another mouthful of red. Melanie winced at the sound - hearing Lexi's pain was killing something inside her. Regardless, she kept her eyes on the traitor, green sparkling off her frying pan. "I'm not sure what the exact timing is, but they can't skip or pause time infinitely. There's a varying recharge time between their skips, and it seems like they can only stop everything around them for a few seconds every few minutes."
"Well look at you, green! If only every version of you was this smart, then maybe you wouldn't be destined to die underground!" Frisk smiled cheerily, folding their arms behind their back and tilting their head to the side. Squinted eyes hid the wretched soul beneath, and Lexi's blood dripped off one of their blades and landed in their hair. "Too bad you weren't this smart against Character, then maybe you would have been able to save that dirty bug mom you had~!"
That stung, but it was fine. Melanie wasn't an angry person - pushing her buttons wouldn't get her to be reckless. But as she opened her mouth to snarkily inform Frisk that she couldn't be baited so easily, and Lexi exploded up by her in another mad dash to kill Frisk, she realized the bait hadn't been for her. It was all Melanie could do to reach for her and cry out, "Lexi, don't-!"
"Shut! Up!" Predator snarled, and Melanie wasn't sure if it was directed at her or Frisk. Predator's frustration was boiling over, she was seeing red. Too many times now had she come this close to being able to reach Anthony, only to fail in the last moment. If she had reached him three years ago, his fight with Angel never would have happened and he would have never disappeared. If she had reached him instead of Gatherer, this entire war wouldn't be going down. She didn't know what would happen if she failed to reach him this time, and she wasn't going to dare find out. She pulled her scythe back to her side while ice spiked up beneath her, red flaring in her left eye.
But, there was another blink in time. Suddenly, Lexi's eyes were snapping open wide, shock rushing through her nervous system. Frisk had disappeared from where they'd stood in front of her, now dropping down behind her after jumping over her. It appeared however that they'd left their mark in the form of an instant strike to the base of the skull. The C1 vertebrae, Frisk recalled, was the closest vertebrae to the brain stem. The one that, when broken, was likely to cause seizure, total paralysis, or instant death!
Predator hit the ground and slid through the snow on her face. She couldn't really feel or think for a few seconds, but she knew she wasn't dead. Whatever Frisk had been aiming for, they hadn't hit it dead on. Lexi wasn't dead, but she was laying flat in the snow, twitching and spitting up red foam while her scarlet heart patched up her damaged spine. Her body temperature was rapidly returning to normal, the ice crown melting off her head and her ascension fading away after that brutal strike.
Frisk didn't take any time to admire their handiwork or finish The Predator off, instead busying themself by dashing towards a mortified Melanie The KIND. Seeing her leader dropped in the blink of an eye was a haunting sight, but Melanie steeled herself regardless. That time skip had to have been at least three seconds, right? So she had a moment to get her guard up. She just had to lure Frisk in, then catch them in the Iron Maiden. But she couldn't regenerate, and had to be conscious to heal herself. A blow like the ones Predator had been regenerating could spell doom for Melanie.
A green wall flashed into existence between Melanie and the traitor, and with a flicker Frisk was suddenly jumping over the barrier. Melanie was prepared for that, though. A back up wall had formed to the left, right, and above the first one a split second afterwards, blocking all potential routes for the time manipulator. Frisk landed atop the platform of KINDNESS that now separated them and Melanie, and the platform immediately launched into the air, carrying that dirty backstabber with it.
Frisk was unbothered, rolling off the platform and dropping down towards Melanie, who jumped up to reach them, yanking back her pan. She had to close the distance, had to strike before the second recharge time for that time skip was up. But, alas, just before her pan connected time cut out again, and Frisk was suddenly leaning their head back and letting Melanie swing through nothing but air. They yanked back their rapier to stab through the green soul on Melanie's chest, but another flash of emerald light formed a KIND barrier between the two. They both kicked off of their respective sides, dropping back towards the ground and landing on their feet, skidding back on their respective heels.
"You know who one of my favorite kills was back in my RESETing days, green?" Frisk asked, darting forward and sprinting at Melanie. They ran low to the ground, held their rapiers out to their sides and locked onto The KIND with the burning accuracy of their red right eye. Melanie's eyes narrowed irritably while she stamped her foot, and suddenly panels of green light were forming along the ground that Frisk was sprinting across. The panels flipped up when the traitor got in range, tried to smash down on them like rat traps. But alas, Frisk always managed to jump or time skip out of the way of ever panel. "You guessed it: Muffet~!"
"There was just this, elegance! To her death!" Frisk punctuated their statement with a lunging stab, one that Melanie stepped to the side of. She yanked back her pan, and Frisk ducked back out of the way of her powerful swing. Stepping back, they stabbed out at her side, only for her to open one palm in the path of that rapier and summon a small square of KINDNESS in the path of that point, blocking its precise sting. "She would crumble away, and the cutest thing would always happen! A little spider would crawl out and drop a rose on her dust!"
"Do you ever stop talking?!" Melanie snapped, flipping her pan around and swinging it back down at Frisk's head. They ducked down and darted forward, dipping under Melanie's extended arm and popping out behind them. She spun around, summoned another green wall to stop the twin needles jabbing towards her kidneys. The wall broke apart into pointed shards the moment after those strikes were stopped, and those shards crashed out towards Frisk, who was forced to blip to the side to avoid the vicious shards.
"C'mon little spider! Just humor me - I'm curious!" Frisk grinned wide as they stepped back, weaving between a barrage of pan swings. Melanie kept reaching out towards them, but whether it be their acrobatic skill or their time skip, they continued to always just be a few inches out of reach. Melanie couldn't give up, not now and not ever! She had to protect her friends, she had to stop The Gatherer and that meant she had to go through Frisk! The traitor didn't see her side of things, their scarlet eyes snapping open wide while they jabbed one of those stingers at Melanie's shoulder. "Did you drop a rose on your Muffet's dust?!"
Melanie's eyes twitched with pain, her pan wielding arm jolting back. She'd moved, caught that rapier's point in her bicep and let the cruel stinger drive all the way through her arm. That was fine, she decided as she screamed a mix of a Valkyrian battle cry and an agonized shout, shoving herself closer to Frisk and dragging her skewered arm down the length of Frisk's needle. With her free hand she reached out, open palm racing into Frisk's chest. "IRON MAIDEN!"
Green light flashed out in an instant, and Melanie felt relief wash over her. Though less versatile, Melanie's Iron Maiden was her equivalent of Frisk's time skip. A solution for dealing with more powerful foes, an inescapable prison. And unlike Character, Melanie doubted Frisk's DETERMINATION would be enough to heal the effects of suffocation long enough for them to survive. That was, if Predator didn't wake up and cleave their head off before then. Regardless, it was over. The traitor was trapped, and that meant Melanie was one step closer to assuring her friends' safety.
... Or, she thought she was. Because when the green flash of her KINDNESS faded away, and her eyes refocused, she realized the Iron Maiden was empty. A hollow shell, a prison without a prisoner. And Melanie The KIND barely had time to widen her eyes as her brain caught up with the present, putting together the process of events. Another Time Void had occurred, and at point blank range she hadn't even noticed. And if Frisk wasn't trapped in the Iron Maiden, Melanie was certain there was only one other place they would be. The voice over her shoulder confirmed this,
"Time's up."
STAB!
Melanie jolted, her back arching on instinct. Her wide, green eyes stared up at the Snowdin ceiling, and for just a moment... It kinda looked like the ceiling in Hotland. For just a second, everything felt like a searing heat. What was that thing Frisk had said about being destined to die Underground? Her shaky emerald orbs slowly lowered to her abdomen, where she could see the twin points of Frisk's stingers sticking out from her diaphragm. Blood starting to overflow down her bottom lip, Melanie stammered in a whisper... "W-... What..?"
"Good try, green." Frisk smiled with love and care, eyes hidden beneath their eyelids and the windows to their cruel soul drawn shut. They didn't hesitate to yank their stingers out of Melanie's back and plant a foot in her spine in the same motion, kicking her forward and off their needles like she was a scrap of worthless garbage. "But I'm the only human who leaves the Underground alive."
"Melanie..!" Lexi struggled to cry out as she watched The KIND crumble forward. That Iron Maiden disappeared from the air in front of Melanie, and she dropped unhindered face first into the dirt. The dirt that Lexi too laid in, her nervous system still struggling to pull itself back together after that vicious strike at her brainstem. It was all she could do to spin herself around to face the brutality on display. Tears in her eyes and blood staining her teeth, Lexi barely managed to reach one shaking hand out towards the traitor that had just stabbed her friend.
No, not..! Again..! Lexi begged, trying her hardest to manifest ice. Something, anything to get Frisk away from the now prone Melanie. She could see it clearly now, the basement she'd ran away from. The abandoned mall, the moonlight, the rooftop, the face of The Killer... How was it that years later, she'd still scorned her PATIENCE when she needed it? How was it that she was still the same pigheaded brat that got Jade murdered? Now Melanie was face down in the snow. Now Melanie was gonna die! Please, god, not again..!
"... You make me sad, Lexi." Frisk frowned some while they stared at the writhing Predator, stepping closer to her. They took just enough steps to reach Melanie, and carelessly planted one boot over the two bleeding holes in the poor girl's lower back. Though their tone had a care and regret to it, Frisk was cruelly digging their heel into Melanie's bleeding wound, making her groan and gasp with agony beneath them. "All this struggling, this silly little dance you've done your whole life... Don't you get it? You're a puppet, too. A pathetic little thing being played with, you exist as a prop in someone else's story."
"That's, not true..!" Lexi refuted in spite of the tears forming in her eyes. No, she wouldn't quit. She wasn't going to cry, she wasn't gonna die here. She just, had to get up..! Move, attack, anything! Gain a power up, grow some wings or summon a big ass bug! Anything! Why was this happening? She worked so hard, why was she still not good enough?!
"You should have quit, you know. Ran away, left this story behind and lived a different one. You could have taken all your little friends and just left this life behind..." Frisk looked down to Melanie. She was gasping for breath, clutching at the twin holes in her stomach and trying to hold her scarlet colors in. Her hands flickered with green light, but it wouldn't be enough. She would die faster than she could heal, but her pathetic clinging to life made them smile. They rested the blood soaked steal of their rapier against the side of her neck, "But instead you brought them into this. Tangled them in your strings, assured their death. You're such a wretched, selfish thing."
"Anthony isn't going to save you, because he doesn't need or want you." Frisk's eyes lifted to The Predator in the dirt, and they opened just enough for that cruel red to shine free. They pulled back their rapier, tightened their grip on it and looked right into the miserable eyes of that little girl who lost her parents in some shitty Fortune City alley. The little girl who pushed Anthony down when he was a boy, called him a freak, and did what she did best: Run away. C1 vertebrae, Frisk thought while they lined up their rapier with the back of Melanie's neck. Seizure, total paralysis, instant death. "Your time in his story is over now. You should have just ran away."
"Frisk, that's enough."
The traitor furrowed their brows, hid their eyes away again while they turned their head to the side. Eden stood there, a few yards away and with the worst case of resting bitch face Frisk had ever seen. How was it that somebody so cute could put on such an ugly face? Frisk liked her better as a disembodied soul in Omega Flowey, but they decided to keep that to themself. Instead they answered, "Seems like a weird spot to call the fight, Eden. I've kinda got 'em on the ropes here."
"We're moving into phase four. Get to Snowdin Town, now." Eden's glasses reflected the glaring light of the bright snow, covering the violet eyes beneath. it kinda made Frisk think about the way they hid their own eyes, and that might have made them smile, if it wasn't for Eden's stupid order and nasty tone. "I don't want to have to repeat myself."
"Gimme like two seconds." Frisk shook their head in a dismissive way, looking back down to the dying soul under their boot. They lifted their rapier again-
"NOW!" Eden snapped, making Frisk jump. Their scarlet eyes opened for a split second, they were so jarred. They didn't know Eden could speak above a monotone, so hearing her bark an order like a slave driver about to crack a whip was enough to get Frisk to jump back and off of Melanie. This hardly improved Eden's mood, her lips curling back in a snarl while she pointed to the smoldering town in the distance. "Phase four is happening this instant, and this instant you will go to assist! Do not waste another second of my time!"
"..." There was a tense pause, and Eden ignored the cold sweat breaking out on her forehead. Kept up her vicious expression, and when the glare in her glasses shifted, Frisk could see a violet burn in her left eye. And they stood there, motionless, rapiers gripped tight in their hands... "... Alright~!"
The return of Frisk's fake, cheery voice might have gotten Eden to sigh with relief, if she wanted to blow her cover. Frisk didn't think too much harder about it - Angel was the one they really wanted to kill, after all! And they'd get to be there with Anthony during his destruction, see the man they adored complete his life goal! That would be a special thing, they were certain. Maybe Eden just wanted them to leave so she could finish off Predator herself, Frisk rationalized as they turned and began to sprint towards the smoke stacks and flashing lights over the horizon. She was the other big reason Cliff died, after all.
Lexi had hardly noticed the altercation. She was busy, desperately trying to claw her way through the blood soaked slush to Melanie's side. But her vision was getting foggy, her body was weak and unresponsive. When she glanced at Eden, she thought the way she paused was weird. She had expected the brat to impale her with vines, but instead she just... Stood there. Watched her from behind the glare of those glasses as Lexi struggled in the mud. Something appeared in her hand... A weapon? An item?
Eden took a step closer to the two pirates dying in the snow, before quickly looking up and across the field. She took a skeptical step back then, Predator didn't know why. But, the PERSERVERANCE soul just glanced down at her one more time after her hesitation. Their eyes met, and Lexi could see something in those purple eyes. Something new, an interesting color... Eden spun on her heel, and she ran suddenly in the other direction.
Lexi would have taken the time to ponder Eden's retreat, but she didn't care. She just looked forward, set her sights back on Melanie. The KIND soul was still breathing, or at least Lexi thought she was. It was hard to be sure, her vision was starting to go black. But that didn't matter, Lexi thought as she clawed at the dirt. She had to crawl over, cling to Melanie, keep her safe. If she would just, move..!
It was no use. Lexi could feel her eyelids slinking and drooping down her eyeballs, she could feel her consciousness getting pulled into the back of her throbbing skull. And as she reached out, weak and in vain towards Melanie... Something new came into view. Through blurring eyes Lexi watched Ralsei drop to his knees and skid to Melanie's side, instantly holding his hands over her wounds. Some sort of relief might have washed over Lexi then, if she was even conscious enough to recognized what was happening. But, by the time Susie had reached Lexi and knelt beside her, she'd already face planted in the snow. The fight was over, and she lost again.
"Angel..?"
Chara stared into the blaring red light, furrowed their brows and clenched their jaw while they felt searing heat on their face. They recognized the twisted feeling of that raw DETERMINATION, it brought their thoughts back to the brutal sting of The Anarchist's crowbar. A fresh memory always, the defeat they suffered at his scarred up hands on Mount Ebott played out in their head every time they felt like giving up. Every time the training seemed too harsh, every time they thought they were too sore to roll out of bed, they remembered standing at the bottom of that crater with a stick in their hand, mentally preparing themself to be eaten from the feet up by a horde of those disgusting worms.
They'd felt a lot of horrible things in their day, but to Chara there were few if any pains that ranked higher than the sting of Anarchy's crowbar. The soul deadening feeling that came with watching Angel be beaten to a slow and painful death. They'd sworn they would never let something like that happen again, had busted their ass for years to prevent it. And now here they were, staring from a mile away at the burning red light of Anarchy's DETERMINATION and the glowing green of Angel's KINDNESS. Staring from a mile away while a Wingless heathen stood between them and their Angel. Chara's eyes settled back on Character, and they narrowed. Whatever Character thought of this encounter, whatever this rematch meant to them, it did not mean anything to Chara. The fusion was a roadblock and a waste of their valuable time.
Character didn't bother looking into that flashing lights like the rest of the pathetic sheep gathered in this nothing timeline. They didn't care about Angel or his stupid showdown - they'd actually beat that guy before, even though nobody would ever give them their flowers for it. Their focus was The Ascended Heir, had been and would be until one of them was six feet under. After Chara was gone, Hacker and Demon would... Uhh, go somewhere and do, something. Away from Gatherer and his cult, probably. Away from everybody. Going back to slaughtering people for fun was the original plan, but... Why didn't that sound good anymore? Bah, they'd get back into it. Too much softy living for too long, the Wingless figured. Surely watching the life bleed from Chara's eyes would reignite their passion for devastation.
And, with The Angel out of the way and The Anarchist content, Character would have so many more options! Maybe hunt down any'a Predator's Pirates if they manage to weasel outta today, maybe uhh... Ooh, go destroy Chara's timeline! Yeah, that'd be fun! Have to, figure out a way to get in, but... That sounded good! Right? Whatever, they could think about the life they certainly had ahead of them after today was over. Whatever it was, it certainly wouldn't include anymore computer work or training whiny brats.
The light show died away with the whipping winds, and Character cracked a smile as peace and quiet reigned supreme... At least for now. Tension crackled in the air around the two of them, it felt like standing in the eye of a hurricane. Soon enough this quiet would disappear, and this timeline would shatter with noise. It was strange to Character, staring at Chara now. They'd always remembered them the same way - the burning wings, the blood stains, the pissed off look... But they were different now. Cleaned up, longer hair, and their eyes weren't as intense. Why was that? Had they gone soft? Character grumbled at the thought. Chara was soft before, they reminded themself. The win The Ascended Heir had over them was a total fluke. They cheated.
Determination (Undertale) Vs. Chara [MSB X Cannibal] by Nick Nitro began playing.
"We've waited a long time for this." Character finally spoke again - Chara looked disgusted by the sound of their voice. The fusion was a mockery in their eyes, a heartbreaking imitation of the life they'd been living and the work they'd been doing. It didn't sit well with Chara that their counterpart had denied their own potential and still clung to the twisted views of an abused child, just like it didn't sit well with Character that Chara had abandoned the truth. Weak and strong, that's all there was. No home, no family, no friends. "Least you can do is look happy to see us."
"... I might have been happy to see you two, if you weren't still playing the same dumb game." Chara narrowed their scarlet eyes, electricity crackling along the DETERMINED steel of their blades. They crossed those swords over one another in front of themself while they shook their head, and their disappointed stare just made Character's teeth grit. Who did they think they were, looking at the fusion like they were better than them?! Of course Chara could see they were getting mad, but they didn't care. They just went on, "You're too old for this, both of you. You've been wasting your own time and now you're wasting mine."
"Pff!" Character recoiled, throwing their arms up into the air and forcing a condescending chuckle. They were smiling like Chara hadn't just struck a nerve, but their face sure was starting to get red. The air crackled with power around them, crimson steam rose from between their jaws. "What are you, our mom? you don't get to high road us just because you chose to live a lie!"
"Can we expedite this little debate?" Chara shook their head and rolled their eyes, like they really thought they were just dealing with some petulant child. That made Character's teeth grit through their forced smile, their knuckles white around the handle of their machete. Blackness washed over the whites of their eyes, both of which were now producing a scarlet flame. They'd waited years for this, didn't this stupid brainwashed heir understand how important this moment was?! "I don't have time to parent you two - the fate'a the goddamn multiverse is on the line."
"Oh you want us to pick up the pace?!" Character snapped, a vein pronouncing itself on their forehead. They wished Chara would smile at that - they wished they would look like they were invested in this fight at all. But instead they just stood there and looked through the two of them, like they held no value. Like this fight didn't matter to them. And that was more infuriating than any mockery ever could have been. The ground shattered apart beneath the fusion in the next instant, the distance between themself and The Ascended Heir closing in a split second while they yanked back their machete. "Fine - you asked for it!"
Character slashed with wicked speed at Chara's head, which made it all the more shocking when they effortlessly leaned back out of the range of the strike. Taking a step back and planting their heel in the dirt, a charge of DETERMINATION from their soul pierced the earth, and in an instant curved red blades made from the same soul steel that comprised their swords were exploding up around Chara, jabbing inward and closing in around Character. The Wingless was forced to jump back, narrowly evading the hair splitting sharpness of those edges and suspending themself in air.
There was a red flash, a crackle of scarlet lightning and suddenly Chara had already exploded up off the ground and gotten right in their face. Character barely had time to recoil before Chara yanked one knee back to their chest, blasting a kick into the fusion's sternum with a thunderous crack. A red shockwave boomed out from the point of impact, just before the force carried through and sent Character firing at stunning speed into the snow.
The fusion hit the ground so hard dirt and snow alike blasted out in a V around them. They skidded on their back and shoulders through the rocky hardness of the frozen earth, one hand resting over the stabbing ache in the already healing fractures of their rib cage. Their eyes were winced shut for much of their slide, but rage made those peepers snap open wide. They reached back and planted their hands on the earth they were sliding through, hastily flipping themself up and skidding a few more feet on all fours. Their eyes locked onto The Ascended Heir, who floated in the sky overhead, glaring down at the two of them.
The earth around Character shattered apart with tendrils of ink, all spiraling and spiking upwards towards Chara at shocking speed. The Ascended Heir steadied themself, quietly exhaled a red fog while they watched those spikes race up towards them with a bland expression. Then, suddenly, their wings beat, and they were launching down into the piercing death below. And Character watched with wide, stunned eyes as red lightning cleaved down towards them, bolting through tendrils and closing the distance in the blink of an eye-!
The ground under Character shattered apart, and they were forced down to one knee as they blocked the incredible force behind both of Chara's blades with their machete. Their face twisting with exertion and their muscles burning desperately against the might of The Ascended Heir, the fusion was shocked to find that they couldn't move. It felt like they were trying to lift a mountain, just pushing their machete up against those burning blades. And they looked up past the scarlet embers to Chara, hoping to find a similar struggle written on their face. But, there was nothing. They weren't even breaking a sweat! What the fuck was going on?!
Chara suddenly yanked back one leg, and Character was smart enough to lean their head back, letting a brutal punt kick just barely graze by their chin. In that instant, the unbearable weight atop the fusion shifted while Chara swung their body with their kick, backflipping and placing both of their fists against the snow. Character could barely begin standing before Chara's DETERMINATION channeled through the earth again, and the wicked curve of three DETERMINED blades exploded up out of the snow and through Character's chest.
"G-guh-!" The fusion managed to grunt, eyes snapping open wide while blood spewed out past their lips. Their shared body was dragged a few feet off the ground, lurched forward and dangling on those burning blades. Chara, meanwhile, sprang forward off of their hands and spun in air, throwing both their blades out to the side as they descended upon the mortified Character.
Hastily the fusion yanked back their free fist, knuckles crackling with red before they sent a punch crashing through the unforgiving soul steel that had impaled them. Shattering that red energy with their punch, Character then dropped to the ground and immediately shoved themself to the side with all their might, shattering the ground beneath them and sending snow and pebbles into the air while they launched their body to the right. Chara crashed down right after them, landing crouched in the dirt but immediately and effortlessly standing back to their full height. They looked to Character from the corner of their eye, and the ruby shine of their stare gleamed through the settling dust.
Character had barely managed to climb to their feet let alone think up a counter attack before lightning cracked again and Chara was suddenly in the air right in front of them, one leg already cocked back and ready to blast into them. The Ascended Heir sent a brutal kick crashing into the side of Character's head, a shockwave of cracks spiderwebbing through the fusion's skull before they were sent launching off into the distance.
Character hit the snow and rolled, tumbling through the field and splattering red on white. They had to blink their dilating eyes a few times while scarlet steamed from the side of their head. They pushed one hand into the snow while they tried to make sense of what was going on. Everything was moving so fast, it felt impossible to understand. This wasn't right, wasn't how this was supposed to go. How were they so fast, how were they so strong?!
"This... This isn't how this is supposed to go..!" Character snarled while they stumbled up to one knee. They had to take a deep breath, spit a mouthful of blood and black gunk into the snow at their side before they managed to stand back up. They shook their head and tried to get back the sense Chara had smacked out of them - their DETERMINATION could heal a lot more than that last barrage of wounds, but something told them Chara had plenty more to dish out. "How are you this strong?!"
"I spent the time since our last fight training to fight Anarchy. You spent that time groveling at Xander's feet." Chara called back across the snowy field in a disinterested tone. They pulled back one of their blades while they began walking forward, lazily slicing it through the air. This slash sent a red streak of power blasting through the air towards Character, all while Chara continued. "This outcome should be a lot for you two - an eye opener, a rock bottom, a turning point - but it shouldn't be a surprise."
Character snarled at Chara's snarky remark, yanking their machete up over their head. They cleaved down through that slash of red, grinned when it shattered under their might. But as those red shards flung through the air, the fusion looked up to see Chara had already closed the distance. With a red bolt of electricity they were upon the Wingless again, and Character barely had time to lift their head before Chara's knee was crashing into their chin.
The fusion's eyes rolled back in their head while force split their jaw, just before they were sent exploding back through the air from the strike. Character was barely able to keep ahold of their machete let alone think up any way to recover or counter, so it was no surprise when a bolt of red streaked by their prone body, Chara darting behind them and cocking back another brutal kick, which they launched right into.
Thunder cracked with Chara's strike, a vicious kick that launched Character into the sky and towards the ceiling overhead. Chara took just a moment to watch them launch, before they bent their knees, electric DETERMINATION crackling across their body. With another flash of crimson they shot through the air, wings carrying them at mach speed over Character and to Snowdin's frosty ceiling. They landed perched atop that ceiling, standing upside down on its surface and staring straight down at the disoriented fusion. They waited until Character was lined up directly below them, and then lightning struck once more.
Chara fired down in another ruby bolt, crossing the distance between themself and Character in the blink of an eye and crashing their heel down on the back of the fusion's head. They fired down with their unfortunate counterpart, bashed their skull into the earth under their shoe with enough force to send a crater exploding out around them, the earth being sent blasting into the sky. Then, as pebbles and frozen dirt clattered down around them, and they stood there with their shoe planted firmly on the back of Character's head and Character's face planted firmly in the dirt, they sighed. "Had enough?"
"Why..! Are you..! Being like this..?!" Character growled, voice only half muffled in the mud. They turned their head and glared up at Chara with one burning red right eye, hands clenching pathetically into the dirt. Their face was scrapped up and had earthy colors mashed into it, and they gasped for air while they snarled, "We got that old Chara killed..! Tried to kill you and your dumb Angel..! You hate us! You should be enjoying this..!"
"Hate you? Character, I thought you were dead!" Chara furrowed their brows down at the fusion beneath them, shaking their head. Their mouth remained slightly open they were so baffled by these ridiculous accusations - how could they not understand? Why were they being like this? "I don't enjoy beating people up, I don't like knowing that violence is how I have to teach you idiots. And I don't hate you, because in order to hate someone you actually have to think about them!"
Character's eye snapped open wide, the pupil in it shrunk. Hateful black goo trickled out of their tear duct, and their face once again began to turn red with fury. Their hands clawed into the dirt, and the air around them crackled and popped with power. Then, in an instant, a blast of red light was exploding up around the Wingless, and Chara hastily jumped back away from them and out of the crater they'd planted them in. The earth rumbled and groaned while Character's shared voice roared with indignation, and Chara narrowed their eyes, hastily glancing around themself.
Suddenly, all at once, pens blasted up from the frozen earth in a massive radius around Character's crater. Their roar continued to get louder while Chara was forced to jump back, perching gracefully atop the point of one of those pens while that scream grew more and more distorted. And Chara watched with a grimace as Character's body writhed, ink pouring out from the Deltarune hidden beneath their now torn combat vest and bubbling over their prone body. After a few seconds, Character had completely disappeared beneath the expanding blob of dark liquid, leaving Chara wondering where on earth this strategy could be going.
Boiling hot winds crashed out around the bubbling mass of ink in that crater, pens continuing to aimlessly crash up out of the ground. The tar of Character's soul had formed a steaming orb, which bubbled and trembled before sprouting a weird, bulbous formation on its top. The body of that ink mass rumbled as it grew and grew, filling out the crater Character had been blasted into before finally its sides exploded apart, and Chara watched with wide eyes as long, inky arms ending in weird stubby hands launched out from that weird round body. The arms swung aimlessly, forcing Chara to quickly jump back to a further back pen and narrowly dodge one of those freakish swings, which crashed right through the pen they'd been standing on and many like it.
Plastic shards flinging through the air, those boiling hot winds only intensified as those hands pulled back, reaching into the bubbling bulb atop its head and digging through it with its stubby fingers. Chara grimaced at the gross squelches and pops before suddenly the ink doll yanked its head out of its body. Another dumb rounded shape, this one adorned with two button eyes and a wide, smiling mouth. Now with eyes, the ink doll turned its head towards Chara, who continued to look sickened by its existence. "... What. The fuck."
The doll's body jiggled and wobbled as it leaned back its head, shutting its mouth and puffing out its cheeks. Heat bubbled and boiled in its face, before it suddenly lurched forward, spitting a white hot laser beam out towards Chara. Quickly The Ascended Heir darted to the side, jumping from pen point to pen point and leaving a DETERMINED red trail behind them. Ink was overflowing from that ugly thing's body now, washing over the field between the pen spikes that rose into the air.
A river of black flowing at breakneck speed beneath them, Chara glanced back at the white wave of power that was chasing behind them. They looked back to the doll, seeing that its head was twisting indefinitely on its lack of shoulders, that beam of energy obliterating the pens that Chara was jumping between. Without wasting another moment Chara's wings beat, launching them into the air over head and letting that laser beam pass by beneath them.
Chara floated overhead now, watching as that stupid thing's head stopped its spinning and wobbled on its body. They expected those lengthy arms to reach up to swat at them while they prepared to blast down at cleave that doll in two, but instead it just leaned its body back, pointed as much of its mass up at them as it could. Then, its inky form began to rumble and bubble, and Chara's eyes widened as a massive volley of of graphite spikes exploded out of its tar flesh, racing up towards them at breakneck speed.
Chara growled with some frustration before their wings beat again, firing them down and into that barrage. They held their blades out in front of them and flipped forward, beginning a speeding rotation and spinning their body in a high speed wheel. Crackling with red lightning, Chara was a buzzsaw blasting down towards the doll below. They cleaved through any graphite spikes that got in their path, sending grey smoke exploding out around them before they finally closed the distance.
The doll's head was cleaved in two meaty halves that flopped apart, Chara darting right by the ugly formation. They landed on one of the still standing pen spikes with their back to the wobbling abomination, glancing over their shoulder and watching it go limp... Before ink tentacles exploded out of its split head. Chara spun around with the swing of their blade, cleaving the first tendril that struck out at them in two and letting it splatter down into the ink river beneath them.
Chara stood there, perplexed by the random and inaccurate flailing of the ink doll and its tentacle head. But, soon enough their attention was instead drawn to the bubbling river below. Massive tentacles rose out of the ink flowing over the ground, a strange kraken concocted of writing materials. armored with computer keys, these inky tentacles swiped and swung with aimless wrath. Chara thought that was a pretty good metaphor for Character's outlook on life.
Chara's teeth grit, annoyance crept deeper into their expression while they jumped between pen spikes and cleaved through whatever tentacle happened to throw its weight their way. What was this? It didn't even feel like this stupid attack was directed at them anymore - it was just a gross misuse of magic and an oversized temper tantrum. What on earth were Hacker and Demon trying to prove?
Whatever, didn't matter. It was time for Chara to put an end to this. With the beat of their wings The Ascended Heir launched into the sky overhead, flying high above the massive area of effect and getting one last look at the monstrous terrain that the fusion had created. They'd been fused with Angel before, and they'd never once thought to create something like this... Their jaw clenched, and their fingers tightened to a white knuckled grip around the handles of their sabers.
Chara yanked back the both of their blades to their sides, and scarlet lightning crackled and shined along the steel. Power flickered and crackled around The Ascended Heir, just before they slashed down through the air. Massive streaks of red power launched from their DETERMINATION blades, barreling down towards that bumbling abomination at the center of the wriggling ink lake. Those slashes crashed down through all the whipping tendrils that tried to stop it, blasting right down upon the doll while Chara pulled both swords up over their head, cleaving down through the air and sending the third and final red streak flinging down towards the doll.
That ink abomination was only able to manage a distorted scream before the last slash connected with the first two, detonating a red blast. Scarlet flashed across the skyline, a shockwave of DETERMINED heat blasted back Chara's hair while ink melted in favor of their Final Slash. The blast of Chara's power sent all those climbing tendrils exploding to droplets while electric vibrations crashed through the lake Character's doll was creating, sending the ink spewing away from the scorched crater Chara's attack had left.
Now, all that remained of that doll was a bubbling black puddle. A puddle that Chara watched with narrowed eyes as they slowly descended back down to the edge of the crater, and a puddle that twitched with life. Suddenly, Character exploded out of the ink with a primal roar, yanking back one red crackling fist as they raced up towards Chara. The Ascended Heir just growled irritably, seeing the way that ink fishhooked into each of Character's cheeks. The way darkness overflowed from their eyes, the primal look on their face and the ink hands that had exploded out of their shoulders. The petulant, petty rage!
"For! Fuck's! SAKE!" Chara finally shouted just as they side stepped Character's punch, letting it sail over their shoulder and driving their twin sabers right through the fusion's chest. This got Character to pause, eyes snapping open wide and blood spewing up over their bottom lip. Chara yanked back their head, DETERMINATION crackling over their forehead before they threw their skull forward. "Character! This is the same stupid form that didn't work last time!"
CRACK!
The force of that headbutt was enough to send the fusion flinging off Chara's blades, tumbling right back down into that smoldering crater. Once they landed at the bottom, they just laid there. DETERMINATION was sealing the gushing holes in their chest relatively quickly, but Character still didn't jump up and attack again. They just laid there, expression twisting with rage while the ink dripped away from their face and that furious descension faded away, hands turning to puddles beneath them. The music faded out.
"We're done." Chara said in a commanding tone, turning away some from the wretched fusion and leaving them to wallow in the dirt. They could get up again, Chara knew that. Character would have to be cleaved apart a hundred and one times to stay dead - it was just a matter of showing them that was the only possible end to this fight. "If you get back up again, I'm gonna stop holding back and you're gonna die. So just stay out of my way."
"You don't get it!" Character snapped, propping themself up on their elbow. Black tears were overflowing from their darkened eyes now, blood dripping down their chin and out of their nostrils. "We waited years for this! This is EVERYTHING TO US!"
"Well it isn't anything to me!" Chara turned back just to shout down at them, anger and disappointment clear on their face. Their hands clenched the handles of their blades with a shaking rage - how dumb were they? Why didn't they get it? "And killing me wouldn't fix you two even if you could do it! So stop wasting your time!"
"Stop saying this is a waste of time!" Character winced some, grabbing at their still healing chest while they sat up further. Their free hand grabbed their machete off the ground, all while blackened tears streamed down their face. "You humiliated us, made us feel like less than who we are!"
"Don't you get it?!" The Hacker and The Demon cried out in unison, clenching their eyes shut tight while they pounded their fist into the dirt. The boiling rage and searing loathing was overflowing now, words that they'd never dared even think were pouring out of them. "HOW ARE WE NOT SUPPOSED TO JUST FEEL LIKE A KNOCKOFF WITH YOU AROUND?!"
Chara recoiled a little at that. Some of the anger bled out of their expression, their grip loosened on their blades. And they stared down at Character, a wretched adversary from a chapter of their life that ended years ago. This forgotten relic, this part of themself that they'd outlived... Character couldn't look at them. They were clenching their eyes shut, keeping their head low, digging their fingers into their flesh and into the dirt like they were trying to find an answer. Shaking, trying to understand...
"... Look, I... I didn't mean it. When I said I don't think about you." Chara was only scowling a little - this olive branch thing didn't come so easy to them, their eyes were red like their soul. But, after another moment of convincing themself and remembering why KINDNESS was important and how it had saved them, they decided to choke out an honesty that they'd kept to themself. "Every time I made progress, every time I noticed myself doing something good and started to feel proud of myself... I would also feel guilty. Because it would make me think of you two."
"... What..?" Character asked skeptically, lifting their head slowly and looking up at Chara from under their eyebrows. Black tears were still trickling down their face, but their left eye had turned green.
"... Chara, Angel. You're, versions of myself and someone I really care about. And thinking that I killed you both, while seeing every day how much potential an Angel and Chara have to get better..." Chara shut their eyes momentarily, the crackling red energy fading off of their body. Their wings remained with their blades, but their aura died down. They opened their eyes, the whites of which were clear like they had been for years. And they stared into the blacked out mess that were Character's eyes while they continued. "I, felt like I took the opportunity to change away from you two. Knowing I can do better was knowing that you could do better, and knowing that you could do better was knowing that it was wrong of me to kill you."
"..." Character didn't have an answer for that. They just looked back at the dirt, thought about their days in Gatherer's tower. Eden's birthday party, Demon's trainees, even that brat Fellphys had her moments... The anger started to disappear off of their shared face, replaced by confusion. What was going on? Why did they feel like this..?
"But, seeing you, here! Acting like this, it... It really upsets me." Chara struggled getting that sentence out, and after they said it they wished they'd found a more powerful way to word it. But, what they said was true. They were really upset to see that Hacker and Demon were still alive, and that they had wasted all this time. "Because I wasted so much time mourning two people who would have never done the same thing for me. And while all I could think about was how I should have helped the two of you, and while I could never feel properly proud of myself, you were just..! Hiding under Gatherer's thumb! Waiting to take your stupid trauma out on me again instead of actually working towards a better future!"
"So I'm sorry for not getting hyped up for some grand rematch, but the truth is I don't see you two as some great enemies from my past! You're not even evil doppelgangers or 'knockoffs' to me!" Chara used air-quotes around the word 'knockoffs', looking down to Character with an expression that was both disappointed and baffled. Then they shrugged, like in their eyes what they were saying was obvious and that they'd thought it common knowledge. "Demon, you're just as much a Chara as I am! Hacker, you're an Angel the same as the one your boss is bent on destroying!"
"And you would have seen that by now if you weren't so busy chasing The Chieftain and The Killer's approval with this stupid "strength and weakness" rhetoric that they beat into each of you, respectively!" That line got Character to wince - was a raw and personal reminder that Chara did in fact know who the both of them were, just as much as they knew who they were. In fact, it was kinda starting to sound like Chara knew more about Character than Character did. "The problem isn't me, it isn't Angel, it isn't even any of the screwed up stuff that happened when you were kids! It's! You!"
Character wished that line had made them angry, that any of this had pissed them off. But the truth was, it just made them tired. Exhausted with lashing out, exhausted with their angry schtick. They thought back to Melanie The KIND, remembered the argument they'd had after their loss to a weaker being with a more powerful resolve. Remembered being locked in that stupid green prison, just staring at her... Character exhaled red fog, shut their eyes gently. Had they always been this tired?
"So please, just get your shit together." Chara shook their head, having to blink some of the frustration out of their eyes while they turned to look back at the smoldering town in the distance. They could feel the ground shaking, could hear echoes of the crashes and blasts. Their expression became focused, their blades crackled with light. "In the mean time, I'm gonna go help that stupid guy I like fight Anarchy. I sincerely hope you learned something today."
Character waited until they heard Chara's wings beat and witnessed the red flash of them making their exit, before falling flat on their back in the dirt. They stared straight up with lightless eyes, the left green and the right red. The whites of their eyes weren't black anymore, seemed like they'd cried all of it out. Their shared red soul faded back into their chest and whatever remnants of their aura was left dissipated. Finally, they spoke aloud in a voice that was solely Hacker's. "... Fuck, dude."
*I know...
"... I had, a lotta imaginary arguments in my head, but uh..." Hacker blinked his and Demon's shared eyes, shaking their head slowly. He reached up with their hand, resting it over their shared forehead and running it through their hair. "I, didn't ever think this was how it was gonna play out."
*... Angel, do you... Think we've been, denying the obvious here?
"Don't know. But I do know we've gotten our shit consistently rocked by the emotionally well adjusted." Hacker's green and red eyes darted over to the text box floating beside him. Exhaustion was written all over his face... Their face. "Even if that strength weakness thing is true, I think the power'a friendship might have more to it than we thought."
*... So, then... What now?
"... I, think we gotta call up Xander. Give him the bad news." Hacker and Demon's shared eyes glossed back up to the ceiling of the underground. And after a moment... They cracked a little smile. Huh. A few years ago, they'd met for the first time, right here in their own timeline. Sure did look prettier there than it did here... Too bad that timeline was gone. Their smile disappeared, and their hand dropped back off their head and to their side. "Then, hopefully, lay here until today is over."
*And if we don't get off that easy?
"Uhh..." Hacker pondered for a moment, his and Demon's eyes glossing around thoughtfully. He shrugged into the dirt, "... Roll with the punches and run for the hills when its over?"
*Foolproof.
"... So, do you wanna talk first, or should I?"
That was the first thing I said after the light show died down. First thing I said after three long years. A pretty simple and easy question, but I hoped its casualness was humanizing. I figured he'd probably had enough of the dramatics - I sure had. The truth was this had gone on long enough, Anny knew it and so did I. There wouldn't be any cop outs today, I could see it in his eyes. Either I was gonna save him, or one of us was gonna die. Felt like the whole multiverse had built a steel cage around us - this match was gonna get a clean finish, whether we liked it or not.
"... Ha. Haha. Hahaha." Anthony, surprisingly, cracked a smile. He started to chuckle, and to me it was such a weird sound. He wasn't doing that Killer cackle, didn't have madness exploding in his eyes and didn't look like he wanted to bite my face off just yet. Shaking his head, Anny laughed like he hadn't laughed in years. And eventually, when his chuckling died down, he reached up and wiped a tear from his eye, still smiling wide while he repeated my words. "Do I wanna talk first? That's a good one, Angel. Like I got you out here to talk, heh... Haha..."
"... Hey." His eyes glossed down to my left arm then, and his smile shrunk into something more gentle and intrigued. I narrowed my eyes, felt heat burn in the ever glowing red cracks on the arm he was eyeing. And I watched as he absentmindedly reached up, tracing his fingers over the scar left across one of his pecks. His smile grew just a little while he examined the cracks and scars he'd left on my body, his scarlet eyes glossing back up to my green ones. "Those're my fault, ain't they?"
I sighed just a little, frowned while he smiled. The halo over my head was heavy - always has been. That was probably why I spent so many years trying to pull it off, refusing to accept its burden. But, here I was now. I just hoped it wasn't too late.
"... No. They're my fault."
Happy early birthday, Connor/Wingah!
Also, hey! I updated the first chapter of DoubleTale: Rewritten to be better overall. Added some stuff, changed a little bit, just made it read a lot better. If you guys are craving a little more DoubleContent, you should go read it after you leave a review!
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