Thanks go to Wingah, adam,mat2007, BlueIndolence, 10burgers, Zack Frost, Acoolnamme, Zillowzest, 2Strong2SignIn, Doctah Sawbones, eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeea, BonelessSkele, Prominent, and XelaZagity.
Sorry about this chapter bein' a week late. I was curled up in bed with COVID for like a week and unable to type. That shit ain't no joke, be safe out there. :)
Disclaimer: I do not own Undertale.
"... No. They're my fault."
Anny paused when he heard that, looked like he was confused. His eyes were so different now, I thought. When he and I first met on Mount Ebott, he'd looked so giddy and so angry all at once. Now he looked... Wistful? Considerate? Wise? Fuck, I hoped so. I hoped his anger had been soothed, I hoped Anthony had gotten healthier under that scarred ivory shell. But there was only one way to know for sure.
"Anny, last time we met you told me to lie to you. You demanded that I say you're my friend, that I don't wanna kill you, and that it doesn't have to be like this." I watched Anthony lean back a little when I stepped forward, noticed the way he almost flinched when I reached out my hand. He must have been so sure I was going to try to hit him, so sure I was the same angry brat he'd beat to death atop the mountain. So, when he realized I was holding out my hand for a handshake, his eyes darted from my hand and back to my face. He looked shocked, skeptical... He was watching my face for a smirk or that Hacker gleam in my eye. Nothing there. "You're my friend, Anny. I don't wanna kill you. It doesn't have to be like this, and that's the truth."
"..." Anthony The Anarchist stood there, perplexed. He stared at the hand I reached out to him with, furrowed his brows and narrowed his eyes. It was my left hand, the cracked and broken one that I summoned a Massive Beat Dome with a few years back. The arm I had mutilated in a last ditch attempt at murder. The arm I sacrificed to try and kill him. My fault.
Suddenly, Anthony's right hand swung out, slapping my extended hand aside. In the same motion he leaned forward, spit right into my eye with cruel defiance. I turned my head to the side, shut my now stinging eye and hastily reigned in the burst of anger this disrespect ignited in me. But the anger was what Anny wanted, he made that clear when he took a step forward and got right in my face.
"Ooooh, now you don't wanna kill me. Boy Angel that sure is interesting!" There it was, the rage in those scarlet eyes. A frown had dug into my face while I slowly reached up and wiped the blood soaked spit out of my eye, the emerald glare of my open eye not leaving The Anarchist. He stared right into my soul's window, cracked a smile while he tilted his head, face inches from mine. "See Angel, I remember what you said to me last time, too. Every time you let me outta your sight, somebody dies, right?"
"Anny-" I started, but he cut me right off. Planting an irritating finger in my chest, his smile grew into a grin and he prattled on.
"Nonono, don't try to be modest now tough guy!" His free hand swung up, planted a slap right across my face and threw my head to the other side. The sting in my face made my teeth grit, but I shut my eyes and bit my tongue. My MERCY went unthanked, and Anny kept on berating me. "You said you were gonna put me down! And I know ya love breaking your promises Angel, but-!"
That line hit a nerve - brought my memory back to the playground. I promised him then, didn't I? If I grew wings and flew away, I would visit. That was what I told him, that was what little Anthony needed me to do. And in a flare of emotion, besieged by a flash of memory, I planted my hands in Anthony's chest and shoved him back away from me. His eyebrows rose as he stumbled back, but he was smiling even harder. He wanted me to lose my cool, wanted to drag out the shittiest parts of me and rub them in my face.
"You aren't gettin' it, Anny." I growled now that he was a few paces back, an irritated base entering my voice. I wasn't gonna let a Killer high road me, not after all the work I'd put in. Not after I sacrificed my time, my life, my arm. I straightened my back, stood tall under the weight of The Anarchist's soul and continued to be honest. "See I might be a decade late, but I'm doin' what I promised I'd do!"
"I got my wings and now I'm back for you!" I stomped forward fearlessly, and once more with a lot more force I extended my open left hand out to him. Didn't break eye contact, didn't let up and didn't try to hit him even after he spat in my eye and slapped me in face. I did what the Anthony I remembered would do - turned the other cheek and offered up my MERCY again. "Now take my hand so we can fly away!"
"You're right Angel; you're a decade too late!" Again Anthony slapped my hand away, but he didn't bother hawking a loogie in my eye again. He looked angry now - my defiance and my MERCY wasn't what he wanted. What he wanted, I surmised, was for me to be the same brat from Mount Ebott. "You don't get to play my hero anymore! This story isn't about you anymore!"
"Yeah you're right Anny, it's all about you!" I responded, sarcasm clear in my voice. I didn't step back, didn't care that he was trying to mad dog me. I lifted my hand right back up - he'd have to rip my arms off if he wanted me to stop reaching out to him. I stood my ground in the face of his Killer stare, didn't let him push me away or pull me in. "I'm not the one playing hero - you're playing villain."
"I'm not the bad guy here." Anarchy assured with a snarl, his fingers tightening around his crowbar. He didn't swing it at my dome though, so he must have been at least a little invested in what I had to say. Still, he effortlessly refuted. "You know what you did! The people you hurt, the people you killed!"
"He said with a blood rusted crowbar in his hand." I tacked onto the end of Anthony's sentence, narrowing my eyes with a deadly precision. I had more to say, but Anarchy snatched a fistful of my shirt and yanked me forward. In an instant his face was inches from mine, mad red eyes wide and staring into the forgiving green of my own eyes.
"Don't you dare try to lecture me. I know better than anybody what I've done." Anthony spoke through grinding teeth, pushing the curve of that crowbar like an accusatory finger against my chest. The ferocious metal felt my heartbeat, longed for it to stop. "Difference is, I'm not living a lie. I didn't forget who I am."
"There's no redemption for you n' me, Angel." Anarchy's lips curled into a cruel smile while he pressed his forehead against mine, attempting to shove my head back with his. I pushed right back, and I hardly noticed the way that the air pressurized. Didn't hear it crackle and pop, didn't realize our souls were affecting the world around us. If Anny noticed he didn't give a shit, continuing on. "This blood ain't gonna wash off our hands. There's only one good thing that I deserve to do now - kill you!"
Crack!
Anthony paused, his eyes widening a little. He'd yanked that crowbar back away from my chest and swung it at my head, but my free hand had darted up and stopped it in the glowing green of my palm. And he pulled his head back away from mine some, looked with a curious expression to the hand that had effortlessly stopped his attack. My other hand remained extended, lingering right between our chests and waiting patiently for him to take it. I spoke in the calm yet powerful voice of an Angel, "I disagree."
"And I didn't ask!" Anarchy didn't hesitate to yank back his head, and I thought about jumping back and dodging the oncoming headbutt... But decided against it. I wasn't gonna back up, wasn't gonna lighten up and wasn't going to back down. His forehead cracked against mine, sending red and green sparks launching out around the impact. A shockwave crashed out around the two of us, the force of our impact sent the both of us skidding back on the balls of our feet and put two or three yards between the both of us.
"You must think I'm an idiot if you think I'm gonna fall for your bullshit ever again, Angel!" Anny snarled while the bruise on his forehead rapidly healed, pointing his crowbar out towards me. Our Inheritance... My jaw tightened at the sight of it, the memory of the metal sting. That cruel steel had twisted Anny and I, and I wasn't going to fight him for it anymore. "You'll always be a liar! It's all you've ever been! And your little sorry act ain't gonna save you this time."
"... You're right." I spoke after a pause, straightening my feet and standing tall. Green light shimmered over my body, the halo over my head expanded some and grew even heavier on the head that'd learned to bear its weight. My stoic eyes rested their unyielding KINDNESS on the twisted red and black heart before me, and my hands tightened into fists. "These past two and a half years I've said that I was honest about everything. Told everyone the absolute truth... But there's one lie. One thing that I've hidden ever since I woke up in a hospital bed two weeks after you almost killed me."
"See, I told everyone I would try to save you. That if you really couldn't be reached, I would do everything in my power to stop you... Even if it meant you had to die." I narrowed my eyes but their emerald glow continued unhindered. Anny straightened out his own stance, too. We stood there, air crackling with anticipation around the two of us. And I lifted my head some, showed my neck even though he was pointing the object of our shared torment right at me. "That, Anthony... Was a lie."
Anarchy didn't say anything, hardly reacted. But, his scarlet eyes narrowed. Beneath him, his shadow slithered curiously, slow tendrils sliding over the melted snow. A hatred that remained under control, a burning rage that waited for its master's command to explode. He just watched me with curious eyes, untrusting eyes. That was how Anthony had learned to look at KINDNESS; in his life my core trait was nothing more than a set up to an unbearably cruel punchline. Not this time, Anny. You just gotta trust me one last time.
"Far as I'm concerned? This story between us only ends two ways. Either we fly away together, or you kill me." Again Anthony's face twitched, hid away emotions he was too scared to let me see. Still, his ruby orbs darted to my scarred hand as I once more reached out to him with it. I never looked away from him. Wasn't gonna fly away without him. "You say I don't deserve the good life I have or the people who love and support me, and I think you're right. The only way for me to earn what I've been given is if I share that love with you, too."
"Feels like I've spent my whole life runnin' from you, and I'm not gonna do it anymore." The emerald heart on my chest gleamed bright, and I could see its light reflecting in Anthony's skeptical eyes. The typically red cracks in my outstretched hand glimmered green, and despite the grim words passing my lips... I cracked a smile. "I had three years to think on it, and the answer was simple."
"This time, I'm putting everything I am on the line for you!" I exclaimed with a sudden force, and at my side my free hand clenched into a fist. The shadows slithering upon the earth were scorched away by a green light that suddenly exploded over the ground, a field of KIND energy stretching over our battlefield. And Anthony The Anarchist was taken aback; his eyes widened, and he took a step back. Green light reflected in his red eyes as he looked over the the emerald floor... Before he lifted his stare back to me. And I don't think I looked like the winged brat he'd killed on Mount Ebbot anymore.
"This time, I'm gonna save you or die trying!"
Chapter 83: Liar's Gambit
Or: The Scorpion And The Frog (Part 1)
What a night, Aliza thought with a tired smile. A dinner rush had extended past the time that doors were supposed to close, and now she was cleaning up her little diner in the A.M. One or two of her employees had offered to stay and help, but she sent them home. They were sweet kids, but they deserved to enjoy their weekend. Besides, she had tomorrow off. She could sleep in after she finished preparing things for the morning crew.
Sighing while she straightened out a stack of menus, Aliza took a moment to examine her little scorpion mascot. She'd gotten plenty of warnings that a bug was not good advertising for a restaurant, but the money in her register and in her pocket told a different story. Besides, she felt it was important to leave some sort of nod to Anthony in her success. He'd been kind enough to set her on this path after all. So, even though she doubted he would ever see this diner and that she would ever see him again, she still ran her finger fondly over the silly 2D arachnid eating a burger on the laminated surface of her menu.
"... Where did he go..?" She let herself ponder aloud, sitting absentmindedly on the corner of one of her tables. While she stared at the menu she knew by memory, her thoughts drifted back to The Angel and the meeting that she'd had with him. A random morning two weeks ago - seemed all DoubleKids liked appearing in her life totally unannounced.
He was definitely a unique one, and Aliza didn't just think that because of the wings. He took the time to ask her all those questions about Anthony but then looked sad when he got the answer. She couldn't say she liked the guy, but Aliza didn't hate Angel either. All she felt about him was what she had told him: that she did not envy him. They were on opposite ends of Anarchy's crowbar, after all. Anarchy had spared her and given her an absolute KINDNESS, but had made it a point to maim and nearly murder Angel.
Why he had bothered to spare Angel, Aliza had no idea. But, like she told him, it either meant he was very lucky or very unlucky. And when the little TV Aliza had set up on the counter to run late night television while she cleaned flickered and changed to a channel beyond her reality, she thought it may have implied the latter.
"Hm..?" She hummed while she lifted her head, grimacing some at the sight displayed on the small screen. Two familiar men, one with a green halo and one with a crowbar in hand. Her eyebrows furrowed some while she stepped away from the table she'd been leaning on, setting those menus back down on it. Walking skeptically to that television, she reached out towards it with one shaky hand... "... Anthony..?"
"You're right Angel: you're a decade too late!"
The harsh words that Anarchy shouted made Aliza's hand stop, fingers flinching back away from the screen. She remembered the last battle she'd seen, the violent outbursts Anthony had displayed. She'd heard him cackle and seen him grin, she'd watched him destroy an entire species of monsters, but she had never seen him so angry. It hurt her in some way, watching all of the pain that made Anthony who he was be brought to the surface, and she hoped it had healed him to take that anger out on The Angel. But it must not have been as fulfilling as she had hoped, because there the both of them were again. And Anthony was spitting and shouting again.
Aliza remembered what Anarchy had told her, it was always the first thing that jumped to mind when she pondered the feud between him and The Angel. "I'm not the cause," he told her once. "I'm the effect." The Angel challenged that now, gesturing to the metal in Anthony's hand. Aliza frowned at that, hardly bought into Angel's challenge of that viewpoint. She had seen The Anarchist's benevolence first hand, she understood that at his core he was a kind and honest being. The Angel had to be punished, and the world that deified him had to be punished. That, she figured, was why Anarchy held onto that blood crusted crowbar.
... And yet, for nearly three years, nobody died. Anthony The Anarchist had went away, Aliza had inferred from Angel's interrogation, and there was no trail of death to follow. Now, she watched that same Angel reach out a hand to her best friend. That Angel, who kept his wings put away and withheld the vicious halos of his wrath. Who wore a single green halo upon his head, and turned the other cheek in the face of Anarchy's rage.
Before, Aliza had rooted for the death of The Angel. She'd knelt before her TV, believing to be the one person who would root for Anthony, and cheered as he beat that liar for his sins. She wasn't exactly proud of this, but she did still believe that Anthony had been the one in the right that day, and The Angel had deserved what he received. But now... Why was he reaching out to Anthony?
Where was the anger, the defiance, the self righteous attitude? Aliza thought back to the boy she watched be beat to death on that mountain, and then the forlorn man she'd sat across from two weeks ago. The body had lived, but something had been beaten to death in The Angel that day. And maybe, Aliza considered while she took a careful seat on a bar stool in front of that TV, that was all of Angel that Anthony had needed to kill.
Was a miserable night. Quiet, but with too many people for silence to feel natural. The Dreemurr family remained gathered in the living room, sitting in contemplation right along with Monster Kid. Asriel appreciated the general positivity the drake had managed to maintain, even in the face of Frisk's betrayal and Cter's potential destruction. But Asriel couldn't mimic his friend's upbeat outlook; he'd always been a crybaby. Didn't matter - now even Kid had fallen silent. Certainly, one of them would eventually gather up the strength to say they were going to bed and the rest would agree and they would all disperse back to their respective restless nights.
Eventually, Asriel decided he'd be the first person to speak in an hour. This situation had left a bitter taste in his mouth, and he didn't want anyone to see how irritated he really was. It was infuriating, seeing such events play out before him with no way to stop them. Seeing the people he cared about in danger with no way to help them, seeing the person who gave him a soul turn their back on him... He lifted his head and opened his mouth to speak, but the flicker of light in the television cut him off.
All eyes lifted then to the clearing static on the TV, and Asriel's rainbow flecked eyes narrowed at the sight displayed there. The Angel and The Anarchist, standing right across from one another in a melting field of snow. His paw gripped the arm of the couch he sat on, he felt his jaw tightening. Seeing that albino abomination lurking in his TV was something all too familiar to the young prince, took him right back to the time he spent desperately healing Chara beneath a crumbling mountain. The fear he still felt, the worms he thought he could see slithering in dark corners and empty hallways.
Monster Kid looked over to Asriel, and he didn't notice. He just stared with an expression that was hardly surprised at the Bastard Son on his screen. Asriel did not know what it was like to be born a bastard, not even Flowey could understand that. He had been born a prince and reborn with infinite power at his finger tips, only to be rereborn a prince again. For that reason he could not understand the rage and indignation that fueled The Anarchist, he could not relate. He had once turned his back on the world, but the world had never turned its back on him.
This thought brought the crown prince's eyes to The Angel. No wings sprouted from his back, there was no tornado of red energy around him. Instead, a green halo glowed over his head and KIND energy radiated from his form. Angel was a man the prince could understand a little better. A KIND man seeking redemption, but redemption did not come easy. Asriel had to shatter the barrier and free Monsterkind to earn his right under the sun, he'd had to right his earliest wrong and make good on the promise he'd made as a child. Now, it seemed Angel had to face his past in a similar way, but Anthony The Anarchist was not like the barrier. If he was, then the story between the two of them would have ended back on Mount Ebbot.
"Far as I'm concerned? This story between us only ends two ways. Either we fly away together, or you kill me."
There was an audible gasp in the room, mostly Toriel backed up by Asgore's confused grunt. Asriel's eyes widened some, his pupils shrunk. Admittedly, he'd been considering the potential of Angel's death since he made him promise to protect Chara's life at any cost. And with that in mind, he felt a pit form in his stomach when Monster Kid pointed out, "Wait, where's Chara?"
Asriel couldn't believe he hadn't even thought of it, he must have been too distracted by the titanic presence of the two figures that were on the screen that he'd forgotten someone else should have been there too. But after a quick scan of what the screen showed, Asriel was certain that Chara was nowhere to be seen. And while Toriel worried that something had already happened to them, Asriel was certain that they were safe. Still, as he looked upon The Angel, a pit had opened in his stomach. Did Angel find some way to send Chara away and face Anarchy alone, all to keep his promise to Asriel? If that was true, and Angel died because Chara wasn't there to help him, then... Asriel's paws dug deeper into the fabric of the couch while he felt a cold sweat creeping out of his skin. ... My fault.
"He's betting his life on the MERCY of that beast?!" Toriel snapped, rising hastily from her chair. To do what, she did not know. The painful truth was that there was nothing she could do. Powerless fists clenched tight at her sides while indignant tears filled her eyes, and she glared at the screen like she wished she could jump through it. Push her child aside, take his place in a fight against the most dangerous man alive. Even if he crushed her to dust under his crowbar, even if she died in an instant, would that not be better than letting even one more of her children die while she lived?
"Tori, please..." Asgore rose from his own chair, reaching out towards her gently. He was strangled by this revelation as well, but in his decades alone in a castle because of his own furious outburst he'd taught himself to be a more reserved man. But it was obvious in his eyes, the king was so tired. He too would have taken Angel's place if he could, but he couldn't. No one could. The Son of a Bitch had made it exceedingly clear, there was only one man who's destruction would calm his rage.
"This time, I'm gonna save you or die trying!"
"Do not 'Tori' me!" Toriel spun around to slap Asgore's outstretched hand away. Now facing the rest of the room, the tears streaming down her face were obvious. It hurt Asriel to see his mother cry, he thought it might hurt every son to see such a thing. It hurt Asgore, too. He knew it was his fault that Toriel had seen so many children die. She threw one hand back towards the TV while green light flashed from it into the living room, "Our children are out there with that thing in human skin! Angel is going to die and there is not anything we can do!"
"That's enough!"
Asriel had opened his mouth to speak, but it wasn't his voice that he heard. Surprised, his head turned with those of his parents to see a furious Monster Kid standing across from the three of them. The green light on the screen reflected in his white eyes, stretched out across the carpeted floor between himself and the royal family. "I am so tired of everyone sitting around and whining ever since the wedding! I'm so sick of everyone assuming the worst!"
"Have any of you figured out that people assuming there's no good in Anthony is exactly what made him that way in the first place? Do you really think Angel is dumb enough to bet his life on somebody who can't be saved?! No!" Monster Kid snarled, his pupils a slit shape in his eyes. His clawed feet tensed some, were barely able to keep from tearing into the carpet. "Cter and Chara can handle this! They're not just gonna be fine, they're going to win! And the next person I hear say otherwise is getting tail slapped right out that window!"
"My best friend is out there trying to save somebody really important to him!" Monster Kid's tail pointed out to the TV, a flash of red light from the screen flickering across his scales. Then, he lifted one foot, stomping angrily on the floor a few times while fires curled up from the corners of his jagged maw. His wings had even unfolded, twitching and and shifting enough to accidentally cause a few gusts of wind strong enough to knock papers and empty cups off the coffee table. "And we are going to believe in him and support him because that is what you are supposed to do when the people you care about are doing what's important to them!"
". . ." The whole of the royal family was quiet after that. They each stared at Monster Kid, wide eyed and baffled by the young dragon's tantrum. Then, after a few awkward seconds... Asriel cracked a smile. He even started to laugh, reaching up and running a hand down his face while he shook his head. In that instant, he felt so silly for ever being as upset as he was. Monster Kid's absolute faith had reached him, and suddenly he believed just as clearly as his scaled friend did. "... Yeah. Yeah, Kid's right!"
Monster Kid relaxed, relief settling over his expression. The fire faded from his mouth and his pupils went back to normal while he watched the king and queen join their son in relieved expressions and light laughter. That made MK smile a little, even as a few drops of nervous sweat beaded down his forehead. He had just shouted at the queen after all, and Toriel was a real scary lady when she wanted to be. He must've got lucky and said the right thing. Toriel bowed her head some to him in a show of gratitude, and spoke in a voice that was still a little shaky. "Yes, thank you, Monster Kid. I, believe we may have needed to hear that..."
Asgore smiled at the drake, who laughed sheepishly at his wife's thanks. Monster Kid was not much like his parents, that was usually the case with the uninvolved way that dragons 'parented' their children. But, seeing that outburst took the old king back quite a few decades. Made him remember Monster Kid's father when he was a drake like Kid, the outbursts he could have and the tantrums he could throw. It was funny now to see just a pinch of that in his son.
Asgore held Toriel, carefully walked her back to the couch and sat down with her in his arms. All eyes fell back on the screen after everyone had reclaimed their seats, and the room fell silent again. But this time, the quiet was different. There was less tension, it seemed peace had been restored to the Dreemurr home, at least for the moment. They did not fear as much what would happen next, because their faith in The Angel had been reaffirmed.
"So he's at it again." CORE Frisk acknowledged aloud, though there was no one around to hear. They stood with their arms folded behind their back, atop one of the points that dangled from Snowdin's high ceiling. Beneath them, on the ground that they looked straight up towards, stood The Angel and The Anarchist. And on billions of screens, in homes and plastered on skies, this very fight was displayed all across the multiverse yet again. Badster's deal with The Seer must have still held up three years later.
What was interesting to CORE, however, was that a screen had still manifested over Gatherer's timeline. The bad doctor must not have been concerned with upholding Xander's good name if he was so happily displaying this battle over the heads of his people. Perhaps the feed would cut out as soon as Gatherer or his underlings got involved, if they had any plans to... Or perhaps it wouldn't. Perhaps Badster's goal was absolute, and perhaps he did not care if he stomped on the toes of The Gatherer.
Either way, chaos would ensue in the wake of this. Panic would overtake the bewildered masses, the people of the multiverse would scramble and squirm and, above all else, watch. Watch as Anarchy and Angel battle, watch as Badster's freak fights CORE's once more. And this idea that Angel had, the concept of sparing The Anarchist would have made CORE laugh if it didn't aggravate them so.
In the perfect world, Anarchy Angel Predator and Gatherer would all destroy each other tonight. Badster and Nightmare and all the others that pulled strings would have their legs cut out from them and their toys would break each other apart. Then, CORE could go back to watching over the multiverse in peace. They sighed, narrowing their void eyes. In a perfect world.
"So... Do you, think this is gonna hurt our property value..?" Nephilim managed to choke out in their overlapped voice, arching one tired brow up at the screen floating over them and Toriel. They were flat on their back on one of the True Lab's beds - felt like one of the only safe places to be, despite the general spooky vibe of the amalgamates. The poor creatures were anxiously pacing in a radius around the bed, the Chara and Frisk parts of Nephilim had no idea why. Cter and Sans understood it though; they were created down here too, the amalgamates were afraid for the health of one of their own.
"I'm just hoping there will be property left to value..." Toriel muttered, slack jawed as she stared straight up at the screen hovering over the two (five?) of them. She might have questioned where this portal came from or how it worked, but she was already at a maximum capacity for mind bending knowledge after the events of the past few hours. Instead, she looked back to Nephilim's cracked and broken body and continued to try her hands at healing them. Those red cracks would not seal, but the blood had stopped trickling out of them... For the most part.
"Wishful thinking..." Nephilim shut their eyes, exhaling a red fog while their aching body relaxed into the dusty mattress. Maintaining consciousness wasn't easy, but they had to. If they passed out, they couldn't be certain they would wake up again. At least, not for some time. Exhaustion throbbed in their bones, pain crackled across their skin. But they had to endure, and they had to hope that The Angel would win quickly and all these intruders would leave. Because once they were gone, Nephilim could use their now shared RESET button to restore the world. They just had to hope the good guys won, or at least that the bad guys fucked off.
An Angel with a halo... Nephilim had never heard of such a thing. They hoped maybe this one had learned the same thing they had to learn: Anarchy can't be stopped with brute force. Granted, after the brutality of their beating and the deaths of everyone they cared about, Nephilim didn't have the highest hopes for Anarchy's MERCY either. Whatever, they decided. Doesn't matter now. Either Angel stops The Anarchist, or they were all gonna die and stay dead.
The farm wasn't the same without Anthony around. Just a few days ago there had been a certain presence to the outside, Mako had thought. An aura that followed Anthony and made this lonely space in the middle of nowhere feel safe. That made every dark corner feel friendly, that removed the fear that came with a bump in the night. That sense of safety and comfort had left when he did, and now this farm was an empty void in the forest without him.
It was cold today, bitter cold. Overcast and heavy winds. One of the first awful fall days, wherein the beauty of Summer was disappearing and the lifeless chill of Winter was setting in. Last Winter, Anthony had been outside shoveling snow. He was in a T-shirt, Mako recalled, the red soul on his chest producing enough heat to keep him warm. He was so pale that when the snow picked up he blended right in with the whiteout - Mako remembered giggling at the sight of what looked like a floating shirt and jeans.
She made him hot chocolate that day. Thought making herself some would cheer her up now. But, it didn't. So, she was just standing in a quiet living room, looking out through the window at the dark forest that surrounded her home. In another few weeks, once it starts snowing, the white of the frost would reflect moonlight and illuminate the night in a way she always thought was beautiful. But for now, it was nearly impossible to see that lonely barn abandoned at the end of the driveway. Mako stared at it anyway.
Max had already gone to bed, but she couldn't sleep. The quiet of the nighttime often brought her thoughts back to her missing friend, to the daunting quest he was on and the inhumane choice he would have to make. Mako knew what he thought he wanted; Anthony had told himself for years that The Angel had to die. But Mako had watched him every day for so long now, had seen the way he smiled when he created instead of destroyed. She knew that his powerful, scarred up hands were made to be gentle.
The most miserable she had ever seen Anarchy was through her television three years ago. Angry, sad, in so much pain... She wished she had convinced him to stay, that he would see things her way and understand that for as long as he chased The Angel he would be unhappy. That once he killed The Angel there would be no healing. But, as much as it hurt to realize, Mako didn't think Anthony wanted to heal. It seemed to her that he didn't think he deserved it. Perhaps he resented The Angel for seeking a new life, or perhaps he hated himself for the crimes he'd already committed. Either way, he saw salvation in Angel. But the way Mako saw it, salvation would only reach Anarchy if he forgave the man who hurt him. If he used those powerful hands to reach out, and not to push away.
Behind her, the living room's TV crackled with static. Mako turned her head without much haste, because she felt in her bones she was already certain of what would be displayed on the television. But, her tear drop pupils morphed into exclamation points when she did not see the four winged beast bearing down upon Anthony, and instead spotted a man with a halo floating over his head. The Angel reached out one hand to Mako's best friend, in spite of all the blood and war that had already stained Anarchy's powerful body.
"This time, I'm gonna save you or die trying!"
Mako felt her expression quiver, her pupils shaping back into tears to match the water filling her eye sockets. Her mug was shaking some in her hands, but she didn't set it down. Instead she just stood there, the green shine of the screen reflecting in her teary sockets while she tried her hardest not to start crying. She had to hope, now more than ever. Anthony promised he would return home, and seeing Angel reach out to him now, Mako thought it would have to be him to bring Anthony back.
Crowded streets, endless noise, A rumbling in her stomach... She hated the city. Beneath her raggedy brown cloak, pink eyes darted from person to person. Laughing and smiling, grumbling and frowning... Stupid livestock didn't even understand that they were meant to be eaten. If she was stronger, she would show them all their true purpose. She would show them all the true meaning of FEAR.
But... Betty's pink eyes lifted, her head turned to look past the glass window of a hardware store. She stared at the wall of TVs inside, and beneath the shadow of her cloak her crooked maw clenched tight. A drop of pink drool overflowed past her fangs, trickled down the chin of her emaciated face. The screens inside displayed Xander The Gatherer, this timeline's 'fearless' leader shaking hands with some worthless politician. A monster, one that if she paid attention to current events would know was opening a school for teaching healing magic. This timeline's wonderful emperor had stopped by a few weeks ago to personally thank the monster that's name Betty didn't bother remembering and fund her endeavor, and the stupid news stations were still running the footage.
The people in this empire were so dim, so dumb and so dull. If Betty was as strong as she had been, if things were like how they were before those worthless DoubleKids showed up. If she had never been summoned to that god forsaken circus, if those disgusting worms had never descended upon her..!
A flash of light cracked across the sky, glared in the glass that Betty was looking past. And she turned her head, just like the rest of the weak and powerless huddled under The Gatherer's banner, to look at the screen that had opened above. Her pink eyes went wide, her inhuman jaw unhinged while green light dared illuminate the darkness shadowing her face. Behind her head within the bulk of her hood a second pair of beady pink eyes glowed, watching The Angel and The Anarchist face off again.
"... An... ar... chy..." She had to sound out the word in her dry throat, said it so softly even the starving pink beast dying in her cloak couldn't hear her. And her face was pulled down by her wretched frown, her eye twitched with fury while she looked upon that blood soaked albino animal. Yes, once upon a time these brainless livestock were afraid of her. But now, they shouted and screamed from the sight of Anarchy on a fuckin' screen floating in the sky. And Betty wanted to laugh, she wanted to call them pathetic, rip their souls from their bodies and feast upon them...
... But she was shaking. Yes, these worthless creatures running and hiding around her had all hid under Gatherer's banner, afraid of death at the hands of The Anarchist or The Angel or even The Predator. And Betty stood there with them, indignant and starving and weak, because she was, just like all of them... Afraid.
Tokyovania (Serenity) Remix by Nick Nitro began playing.
"THEN DIE!" Anarchy exclaimed, yanking both of his arms up over his head. He arched his back, put all of his weight into a brutal downward slam into the green floor I had created. His fists connected with the ground, and I recoiled as red cracks spiderwebbed through the KINDNESS field, just before it exploded apart. Shards of green flung up through the air while I stumbled back, watching with wide eyes as The Anarchist crouched across from me. He lifted his head to rest his furious eyes upon me, all while a green shard flew by his face, momentarily reflecting him in its KIND light.
Anthony's shadow split into three hungry worms, racing up from the ground at his feet and flinging their rotten bodies towards me, fangs first. I hastily caught myself from my backwards stumble, planting my feet and yanking back one green glowing fist. The first of the three worms lunged at me head on, and I threw my fist into the eyeless space right above its gnashing teeth. With a crash its head indented, green light vibrating through its body and exploding out of whatever weak point it could find.
The remaining worms tried to flank me while their brother died a distraction, but twin walls of KIND energy appeared in their paths just as they lunged at me. Their giddy smiles smushed against the transparent green and they were stopped in their tracks, just before the walls flipped forward and crushed the both of their heads like a rat trap. I didn't have any time to celebrate this small victory however, because Anarchy was already upon me.
Rocketing forward, he yanked back our Inheritance and let out a primal roar as he swung it at my skull. I was quick to lift both arms, crossing them at the side of my head and stopping that twisted steel dead against the green glow of my forearms. The sheer force of Anny's strike sent cracks splitting the earth at my feet, but I grit my teeth and held my ground while my KINDNESS absorbed the earth shattering force, before throwing it right back at him.
Anarchy's eyes snapped open wide as his crowbar wielding arm was suddenly thrown back, shock clear on his face from the sudden reversal of his power. I didn't waste any time as he stumbled back, yanking back an open palm and stomping forward. I blasted a brutal palm strike into Anny's sternum, and a shockwave of green exploded out around us. The emerald glow of my KINDNESS washed in a quick wave over his scarlet soul and through his crimson eyes before it faded away and he was sent launching back through the air.
Anarchy flipped in air, landed on the balls of his feet and both hands. He dug his fingers into the frosty dirt to slow himself to a stop, the pain of his finger tips tearing and his finger nails splitting must not have registered. He threw himself back up to an upright standing position while I launched forward, and a grin split his face while he watched me close the distance. With one hand he tucked his crowbar into his back pocket, waving me closer with his other hand. "C'mon, bitch! I don't got all day!"
I crashed into him, our hands caught each other and we locked up there in what I thought Anarchy might call "some Greco-Roman bullshit". We shoved against one another with all our might, the ground beneath us shattering while the air around us bubbled and popped. Flashes of green and streaks of red crackled around our bodies while we pushed against each other, and I spoke through gritting teeth. "I don't..! Want to FIGHT!"
"Yeah, why would'ja?!" Anarchy asked incredulously, suddenly shifting his footing and pulling me in by the hands I was pushing forward. He stepped to the side, yanking me up and off my feet and trying to throw me back behind himself. My eyes widening with shock, it was all I could do to grip his hands tighter and throw my legs up ahead of myself. "You got your ass beat last time!"
A green wall appeared beneath my feet as Anarchy tried to release me, my own grip remaining on his hands to keep me from flinging away. I planted my feet against that wall and kicked right off of it, flinging back in towards a shocked Anthony and bashing my knee right into his jaw. While his head whipped back and another green shockwave exploded out around us, I released his hands and let him skid back a few paces on his heels, dropping onto my feet in front of him.
I yanked both my hands back to my sides, and with them two walls of KIND energy manifested on my left and right. They flew forward with the swing of my arms, crushing down from the sides at Anarchy in an attempt to squish him. Anny just threw up the both of his hands though, stopped the walls trying to crunch him like an accordion effortlessly against his palms. I stomped one foot forward and sent a foot wide pillar of green light blasting out from the earth at Anarchy's chest, but he effortlessly whipped his foot upwards and kicked the pillar to pieces, sending the shards of its upper half flinging up into my face.
With my vision obscured I instinctively leaned back, but it wasn't enough. Through the green shards a burning red fist launched, and Anarchy drilled a vicious left hook into my jaw. A shockwave of red blasted off of us, and I was sent firing backwards through the air, blood spiraling off of my now split lip. Hastily I flipped back in air, wincing open one eye while I landed in the dirt and skidded back on my heels.
Looking ahead, I watched Anthony point one accusatory finger at me. That was the only command his Darkness needed, the shadow at his feet exploding apart with a few dozen ravenous worms. I grimaced at the sight, my first instinct was to blast the creatures away with a volley of Beat Blasts. Unfortunately my green heart couldn't manifest such power - I had to be a little more creative.
So, I reached up over my head with one hand and held the other out behind myself. And while a massive slab of green energy appeared over my head, stretching for dozens of feet in every direction, a portal opened on the ground behind me. And I watched, held my ground as those violent invertebrates cackled towards me... Before yanking my raised hand down. With that command, the massive ceiling of green I had manifested overhead plummeted downward to crush those worms and me both.
And just as the worms got close, when they were just a few feet from being able to lunge out and chomp at me, I dropped backwards. Falling clean through the portal I had opened, the jagged fangs of Anarchy's Darkness sunk into nothing but air just before the falling green sky crashed down upon them. With my portal closing right behind me, the disgusting creatures were pancaked between that green wall and the earth, each of their bodies splattering into a mess of cold, dark blood.
Anthony furrowed his brows at my disappearing act, but before he had time to comprehend the trick I'd learned I was already falling out from a portal in the air behind him. Frosted dirt crunched under my feet as I landed crouched behind him, and his eyes widened as he spun around to face me. The moment he had turned to face me, I lunged up and sent both fists launching upwards. With a boom my twin punches crashed into his chest, and with the flex of my KIND soul another shockwave of green exploded out around the two of us.
Anny's eyes snapped open wide, green light once more washing over his red stare for just a second or two. Then, the force of my strike carried through, and he was sent launching back through the air and over the green field that his worms were crushed beneath. He flung through the air for awhile before finally managing to flip and land on his hands and feet, skidding back for another yard or two before coming to a stop. While he straightened his back and stood back to his full height, he scratched absentmindedly at his chest, narrowing his eyes suspiciously. I was sure he'd caught on by now - every time I hit him, I was blasting KINDNESS through his soul. Hopefully if I did it enough, he'd start to let go of some of that anger. But judging by the crowbar he was grabbing from his back pocket, it'd take a whole lot more KINDNESS to convince him to give MERCY a shot.
"I'm serious Anny - I don't wanna do this." I stood at one end of the green field I'd created and he stood at the other, and I put up my fists while he wrapped his fingers tight around his crowbar. Beneath us, the blood of those worms wriggled and twitched with unnatural life. "Your hatred won't just destroy me, it'll destroy you too."
"Y'know Angel I'm starting to think I'm the only person who understands that that's the point." Anarchy shook his head, stuffed his tongue into one cheek and looked at me like he was both exhausted with my arguing and disappointed in my lack of understanding. I frowned at his response, it reminded me of what he'd said last time we fought.
"... When you kill me, most'a you will die with me. That's what you said, right?" I lowered my fist some, looked at him with the emerald shine of my KIND eyes. He was unfazed by this stare, cracking a little smile and even clapping to give my connecting of the dots a condescending congratulations. I didn't let him make me angry, didn't snap at him like I knew he wanted me to. "You're my friend Anny, I don't want any part'a you to die."
"Cope." Was Anarchy's ruthless response. He lifted his crowbar, pointed the wretched metal my way and let his smile melt away. I opened my mouth to respond, but before I could get a word out the energy floor that we stood on exploded open. Recoiling, I watched a mass of blackened scales soar up from was was once the viscera pile of splattered worms. On the command of its master, Anarchy's Wyrm crashed up through that barrier and rose its ugly head high into the sky. I took a step back and stared up at it with wide eyes while its jagged jaws snapped open, a monstrous scream blasting out of its throat. It was loud enough to make Snowdin's ceiling shake.
". . ." I tilted my head back to watch that enormous serpent stretch high into the sky, before it inevitably turned its head down and looked upon me with the vicious glare of its crimson eyes. It cracked a smile with jagged teeth, its parted tongue slithering out between those fangs to remind me of what awaited me past the crashing doom of its jaws. Shoulders sinking, I called out. "Y'know Anny, I'm just one guy. I'm starting to think it's not very fair for you to have Godzilla monsters doing your bidding."
"Copium!" Anarchy cupped his hands around his mouth to call past the swaying mass of that Wyrm. Apparently that word doubled as internet shit talk and Wyrm command code, because that ugly monster threw its head down towards me without any other warning. Its massive maw raced down towards me at mache speed, murder shining in its eyes and dripping off its tongue.
"Where could he have possibly learned that word..?" I pondered under my breath, narrowing my eyes at the vile beast barreling down towards me. I planted the both of my feet, clenching and unclenching fists while I rolled my shoulders. Without wings I couldn't dodge this thing, and no barrier I made would be able to slow it down long enough. That, I understood as I slowly reached up towards it, left me with just one option. "Alright, bring it on!"
Those jaws snapped open to slam shut around me, but I was quick to lean forward and throw my hands out. My right hand crashed onto the top jaw of the beast, just above its fangs and below its lip. My left hand fearlessly planted itself on the center fang of the bottom jaw swinging up towards me, and I grit my teeth as I stopped it dead in its tracks. The ground beneath my feet shredding apart, I was sent rapidly skidding back, arms struggling and trembling against the ungodly bite force of Anarchy's Wyrm.
Sweat beaded down my brow and a green glow illuminated my body while I ground my teeth, wide eyes housing shrunken pupils. Finally, I dug in my heels, and in spite of the screaming of every muscle in my body, that big ass snake came to a stop. A vein popped out on my forehead while the green soul on my chest pulsed and vibrated, and as I stared down the seemingly endless void that was The Wyrm's throat, I realized I could hear water churning and bubbling within it. My memory was quick to remind me that this thing could shoot a pressurized water cannon, only after I'd had the bright idea to catch it by the face.
With no other option, I yanked back my left fist. The Wyrm didn't snap its jaw shut, it kept its mouth wide open in hopes of vaporizing me with that cannon. Didn't matter, I was certain it wouldn't get the chance. All the force of its weight bearing down upon me crackled in the green energy flowing over my body, rapidly channeling into the cracked fist that I had cocked back. And as I watched that ruthless geyser start to blast up The Wyrm's throat towards me, and my right arm creaked and groaned under the weight bearing down upon me while my left vibrated with the kinetic kiloton I was gathering from this big ol' bitch, I let out a primal roar.
Suddenly, my footing shifted and my right hand slid right off the tooth of The Wyrm. I threw my clenched fist upward and put my entire weight behind it. Swinging my knuckles into the mouth of the beast, I blasted an ungodly uppercut right into the roof of the Wyrm's mouth. KINDNESS exploding out from the cracks coating my left arm and the sweatshirt sleeve that was bunched up at my left bicep being vaporized in an instant, an eardrum shattering boom accompanied the earth shaking emerald shockwave that exploded out from the impact of my knuckles.
The force of my uppercut sent that Wyrm's head whipping back in an instant, it's entire upper jaw exploding apart in black and red chunks. The very next instant that geyser blasted out from its now mutilated maw, launching into the sky overhead with less flesh melting pressure than it had a moment ago when the Wyrm was alive. I found myself staring up into the red and black rain, gasping and wincing while my left arm dropped limp at my side. from shoulder to finger tip it was vibrating with numbness, but the healing glow of my KINDNESS in the cracks on my skin was already starting to restore some feeling.
I didn't have much time to rest though; that fountain exploded apart around one pissed off Anarchist. Launching through the mad water of his darkened soul, much of the blood staining Anthony was washed away by the time he had made it through the geyser. He plummeted down towards me, and I jumped back while a wall of KINDNESS appeared between him and I. It didn't do much good; he cleaved through that KINDNESS with his crowbar, green shards exploding out around him before he crashed Inheritance first into the cracked dirt and sent it denting inward immediately. With my footing suddenly dragging downwards around the force of Anthony's impact, I stumbled, giving him the chance to dart up the slope of the crater at breakneck speed.
He launched a right hook my way while I fell backwards, and my only working arm got right in its way. I caught his knuckles in my palm, causing another crash of green and red to crackle out around us. Undeterred by the protective force of my KINDNESS launching the force of his own punch right back up his arm and throwing his right hand back away from me, Anarchy instead moved with this sudden motion and swung his crowbar up at the side of my head.
Green light flickered briefly over the side'a my skull, but I hardly had enough time to prepare. Our Inheritance broke right through the KINDNESS that tried to launch its momentum back into it, and I felt its cruel crack upside my head. The brutal strike sent me launching to the side, my limp body crashing through the dirt and cleaving a trench out through the side of the crater. Dirt tumbled down over my prone body while rocks ripped through my clothes, my shoulders shoving together in the tight space I was being buried in.
Finally I came to a stop, and the moment I did an orb of KIND light exploded out around me, shoving that pesky earth away and giving me the room I needed to stand. Anarchy winced into the bright glow of my green heart, and when that glow faded I was looming there in a small crater at the end of the trench separating us. In unison the both of us bent at the knees, jumping up out of our respective craters and landing on the flat ground beside that trench. The music paused.
"How much longer do you wanna do this?" I asked with a disappointed stare, reaching up with my right hand and and grabbing the mutilated left shoulder of my hoodie. I pulled the torn up sweatshirt off my body and carelessly tossed it aside, revealing the grey tank top underneath and a few more of my battle scars. Felt like every time me n' Anny met again I was always at least a little closer to being as banged up as him.
"Y'know, I asked my mom that once." Anthony leaned his head back some while a cruel smile curled his lips. My eyes glossed down to the crowbar dent scar that stretched over his collar bone, and my frown dug deeper into my face. He didn't seem to care, pointing the twisted metal that had branded him out towards me. "She told me 'We're just gettin' started'."
"... Y'know, Anny, I read this old story a little while back. The Scorpion and the Frog." Anthony furrowed his brows at my sudden subject change. He slowly lowered his crowbar; maybe my blunt segue scratched a chaos itch in his brain and that's why he humored me. Maybe he just valued what I had to say. Whatever the case was, I knew he'd never admit the answer. So instead of asking, I just went on with my story. "There's a scorpion, a frog, and a river. The scorpion needs to get across the river, so it asks the frog to ferry it over."
"Frog's afraid'a the scorpion, knows one sting can kill it. But the scorpion makes a good point, says it would drown if it stung the frog while they were on the water. Sometimes the frog says yes, sometimes it says no. Sometimes they get out on the water, sometimes the scorpion stings the frog before they ever get off the beach and sometimes the frog swims away without ever considering the scorpion's offer." I narrowed my green eyes wistfully, felt a cold gust of wind on my skin. Feeling had returned to my left arm, and Anthony stood there, curious and motionless. Frozen water skittered across the dirt, snow blowing by in the wind. "Sometimes the frog abandons the scorpion in the river and lets it drown, sometimes the scorpion can't help but sting the frog after they've started their trip and they both die."
"Sometimes they make it across, sometimes they don't." I shrugged thoughtfully, intrigued by Anthony's stare. He hung onto my words while the world shifted and moved around the two of us. "There's a lot of different versions of the story."
"... What's your point, Angel?" Anthony finally spoke up, I think he got the gist. Stuffing one hand in his pocket while his crowbar dangled in his limp left arm, his shoulders slowly split open. Pincers reached up and over him, they snapped eagerly in the chilled winds. A moment later these pincers were joined by a stinger, but I was not intimidated. I just stared, eyes KIND and expression thoughtful.
"I think I'm the scorpion, and I think you're the frog." I spoke clearly and calmly in the face of his pincers and his poison, and he recoiled. Just a little, a facial flinch. Something he was sure to hope I hadn't noticed but something I certainly had. Hands in my pockets, my green soul vibrated with power on my chest, and the halo over my head gleamed. "I think it's in my nature to sting you, and I think it's in your nature to cut me loose and let me drown."
"But I think we're already on the water, Anny." Then, I lifted my left hand from my pocket. Revealed to him that I could move it, reached out towards him with my cracked fingers. Green venom slithered in my shattered skin, power coursed through the stinger on Anarchy's back. "And I think I can see the other side of the river."
". . ." Anthony was quiet, stayed that way for awhile. He stared at my hand, contemplated the KINDNESS I offered him and what it might mean for his red and black heart. Over his shoulders his pincers did not snap, his tail dripped no poison. Finally, he lifted his head and looked me in the eye, strands of white hair falling meaninglessly around his face. "That's quite a story, Angel. But I've got an even older one."
"Oh yeah?" I tilted my head some, arched a curious brow at The Anarchist. I didn't retract my hand, for better or worse I continued to reach out to him.
"There's two people. One of them has to leave first." Anarchy narrowed his eyes, and red flames ignited over his left. The scarlet iris of his right eye was washed black, and with a blink a single onyx tear overflowed from said eye and trickled down the right side of his face. He lifted his crowbar, and his pincers snapped open while he pointed our Inheritance at me. Inky black poison overflowed from the relentless spike of his stinger, and he frowned as he added. "There aren't any other versions of the story."
Suddenly, a worm launched up from the trench beside me. It lunged up at me, cackled hysterically as it opened its jagged maw. I recoiled, eyes snapping open wide while I spun on my heel to face the creature. Swinging the hand that I'd reached out to Anthony with, I blasted a brutal backfist into the side of the worm's head. Its exoskeleton crunched around my fist like the thing's body was made of paper mache, just before the force carried through and the worm's corpse was sent launching back away from me. The music resumed.
My body now turned to my left, Anarchy took the opportunity to lunge forward. The ground beneath him shattered apart, and my eyes darted back towards him just in time to spot him yanking back his crowbar. I hastily got my arms up, turning to face him while I crossed my arms in an X just over my head in preparation to block. Unfortunately, that crowbar strike never came, and my eyes widened as I felt two pincers crash into my sides. They clamped shut around me, yanking me up into the air over Anny's head while they began squeezing my rib cage.
"You're really pullin' out all the stops, aren'tcha Angel?!" Anarchy snapped, staring up at me with madness glowing in his eyes. His pincers kept me suspended in the air over him, gripping my sides with enough strength to rip apart a steel beam. Green light crackled over my body however, absorbing the force being exerted on my creaking and groaning body while my KINDNESS tried to hold my skeleton together. "Even cited an old fable! Deep stuff - I'd be really moved if I was a fuckin' second grader!"
"What am I gonna have to do to get you to understand?!" Anarchy barked his anger up at me, holding his arms out to his sides. That stinger loomed behind him, but it did not lash out to stab at me yet. I winced and grit my teeth, hands pulling uselessly against the iron grip of those clamps. Just another few seconds, had to keep absorbing force..! "You think just because I went easy on you last time that a few apologies will save your ass now?! You think you can manipulate me?! NOT ANYMORE!"
"I'm! Not! Trying!" Suddenly, I yanked back one of my legs. Green light crackled over it, kinetic energy channeled through my femur and shin. Then, I swung my foot forward, and with another green shockwave I cracked a brutal kick right into Anarchy's face. Streaks of emerald light blasted briefly up through the pincers holding me, and that bone crunching grip released, letting me drop down towards the ground while my kick sent Anny blasting head first back through the air. "To manipulate you!"
Pincers and stinger vibrating with momentary numbness, Anarchy had to reach back and dig his own hand into the dirt to stop his backwards launch. Flipping back over himself, he planted both feet on the ground and skidded back through the frosty dirt while hunched forward. He snarled, reaching up with his free hand and thumping his palm against the side of his head. That, accompanied with a few blinks, washed any green light completely out of his eyes. Behind him, his pincers and tail lifted themselves again, that KINDNESS once again forced out of Anthony's DETERMINED soul. He climbed back to his full height, rolled his shoulders while his knuckles went white around his crowbar, and refuted. "I don't buy it, Angel! Your whole life, all you ever did was lie!"
"You think I don't know that?" I asked, still kneeling in the dirt and holding one hand over my ribs. While a green light patched the cracks in my sternum, I started to climb to my feet, never breaking eye contact with The Anarchist along the way. "Nobody knows better than me how shitty I've been - that's why I'm trying to make up for it now! So just take my fuckin' hand!"
"I'll take your whole arm!" The ground beneath Anarchy shattered apart as he launched at me, both pincers reaching forward while he yanked his crowbar back. I ducked down and darted in to meet him, sprinting right under the pincers that tried to crash down upon me and letting them smash into the dirt behind me.
I raced right into Anny's face, yanking back my left hand along the way. He slashed down at me with that crowbar, but my free hand reached up with an emerald shine. The cruel steel of our Inheritance crashed into my palm, and I winced at the red electricity its collision sent sparking up my arm. Splitting pain crackling through my palm and up my fingers, I still snapped my broken hand shut around that crowbar and held it there while my left hand darted forward. Anny recoiled, scarlet eyes widening just before the iron grip of my left hand clamped onto his face.
With a roar I let the green light of my soul flare, sending it blasting up the cracks in my arm and forcing it through my brother's thick skull. Anny snarled and growled, being forced to bend his knees and lean backwards while my KINDNESS challenged his DETERMINATION. But it didn't matter, he wouldn't get away. Not this time, I wouldn't let him! Emerald streaks cracked through the pincers and stinger looming over me, The Dark rendered useless beneath my KIND light.
"We don't have to keep doing this!" I shouted over the roar of our souls, a shimmering green hue engulfing the both of us there. Occasionally a streak of scarlet lightning would blast off of Anarchy's body, crashing through the dirt on its directionless path. The ground at our feet shimmered and shifted with hissing shadows, two dimensional shapes that writhed in agony under the glow of my KINDNESS. "You don't have to keep feeling this way!"
Anarchy's furious snarling slowly changed beneath my palm, even as his pincers and stinger dissipated in my light. Shifted, twisted like the shadows at our feet. Sound rumbled and bubbled in Anthony's chest under his assaulted soul, and a mad cackle exploded up out of his throat. My brows furrowed at this sound, my skin crawled and for just a moment my grip lightened. That, apparently, was all Anarchy needed. From his side his right hand shot up, blasting my ribcage with a punch so hellacious that it sent a bolt of red lightning cracking out from the opposite side of my body.
Blood spitting up past my jaws, my pupils shrunk while my body folded to the left and around the fist that had just shook my organs. My hand slipped away from Anny's face, and when he yanked that fist back again and blasted his knuckles into my jaw, I released him. I stumbled back while the green light was overwhelmed by the flaring red of Anarchy's own soul. And by the time I'd gathered my wits and was starting to look back to him, that Inheritance was already barreling towards me.
A shockwave of red exploded around the two of us when that twisted steel crashed into my chest. Cracks vibrating through my body, I was sent launching backwards in an unfortunate C shape while more blood spat up past my lips and out of my nostrils. I winced, forced my blurred vision to focus in on the furious albino diving after me. The pincers and stinger having been destroyed by the light of my KINDNESS, Anthony launched himself into the air over me with nothing but the red light of his soul. It seemed my KINDNESS had even washed the black coloring off of his right eye, but that didn't mean the red was any more comforting.
"It's always been so EASY for you to let things go, hasn't it Angel?!" Anarchy plummeted from above, and with that crowbar's brutal sting still rocking my core I wasn't able to get my hands up before he smashed knee first into my diaphragm. Dirt exploded out around us when we hit the ground, a crater was formed in an instant and more bolts of scarlet lightning careened through the sky. My mouth hung open wide in a silent scream, the air shoved right out of my lungs by the knee that I was now pinned under. Yanking back his free hand and clenching it into a tight fist, Anthony continued. "YOU weren't the one who spent five years waiting on a phone call that NEVER CAME!"
His fist came down with another crash, another bolt of red lightning. He slammed his knuckles into my cheek so hard that the crater around us crushed deeper into the dirt. With my head now tilted to the side and half of my face buried in the frosty sand, I didn't even see the next attack coming. My green heart ached while Anthony's red heart flared, fury igniting a red flame over his left eye while he cocked back his right fist again. "Sitting and watching the window like a GOD! DAMN! DOG!"
A punch punctuated all three of the words Anny emphasized at the end of his sentence, and with each fist that rained down Anarchy dug a deeper hole around us. The crater sunk deeper and deeper, and then Anny got a more creative idea. Grabbing a fistful of my hair and yanking my half submerged head out of the dirt, he stood over me and reveled in the blood that now trickled over my face. A furious grin twisted his expression, spited the loving smile that his childhood self had given me so selflessly so many times.
"You wanna fly away NOW?!" Anarchy asked, and I had a feeling it was rhetorical. With his grip on my head he yanked me right outta the dirt and whipped me up into the sky overhead with monster strength. I flipped and flailed in my unwanted ascension, blinked my dilating eyes and tried to gather my senses in what few seconds I had. Unfortunately, a streak of red light highlighted Anarchy's super powered jump, and in the blink of an eye he was floating right in front of me. With his fist already cocked back, all I had time to do was cross my arms in front of my face and clench my eyes shut. "I don't need you now!"
A flash of crimson exploded out around the two of us, the dim green of my KINDNESS withering within the massive flare as Anarchy's fist crashed into my feeble guard. Pain splintered up my forearms and the force of that strike sent me exploding back down towards the earth. In the blink of an eye I had already hit the ground, my prone body skidding through Snowdin's town square and right up the path towards the river. Crashing through the snow and dirt, I dug my fingers into the ground and desperately tried to stop my momentum. My effort was rewarded by broken fingers, but I did manage to slow to a stop just before the water.
I spent just a second laying flat on my back and leaning my head back, gasping for air while blood trickled down my face. From the corner of my mouth, from my split lip. From the both of my nostrils and from my hairline. I stared at the river, contemplated the frosty death of its waters for just a second or two. But, then I heard the sound of Anny landing, and grit my teeth while I forced my head to look up and over my aching body. He was already sprinting towards me, running low to the ground and dragging his crowbar through the earth behind him. It sent frozen water exploding out around it while it dug effortlessly through the snow, a streak of burning red energy trailing behind its malevolent metal. And as I struggled and forced myself to a knee, Anthony The Anarchist blasted forward from his front foot. He lunged at me, yanking that crowbar back and tearing through the sky with its violent streak of DETERMINATION while he screamed.
"I NEEDED YOU THEN AND YOU WEREN'T FUCKING THERE!"
A brutal crash shredded through the ground, a crater tore apart the earth beneath us. Green and red light exploded out around us, illuminated all of Snowdin for just a moment. It was even, a clear color split right down the middle. The center that I knelt in, illuminated in green while my right hand stopped that crowbar dead in its grasp. Anthony loomed over me, white skin reflecting the red of his soul while he stared down at me with shock written over his face. I'd stopped his attack on impact, and that wasn't supposed to happen. Now, as I knelt and he stood over me, as the lights slowly dimmed away around us and as his DETERMINATION reflected in my green eyes while my KINDNESS reflected in his red ones... I said something I didn't think I would ever say. "... I was ten. Years. Old."
The music stopped. Anny recoiled, his brows furrowed. And he watched, stepped back some as I slowly rose to my feet. I didn't let go of that crowbar, in fact I pushed it up while I stood. With Anny holding on to one side and me holding on to the other, I shoved our Inheritance over our heads. And there it loomed while I glared fearlessly into his wide eyes. While my jaw tightened, while I repeated the sentence I'd never let myself think until that exact moment. "I was ten years old."
"What..?" Anthony barely managed to mutter, bewildered eyes staring at me. Seeing the way he leaned back, seeing his pupils shrink in his eyes, I knew at that moment I was finally getting through to him. His anger was gone, for just a moment. And he finally heard me.
"I'm sorry that I didn't help you then. If I could go back knowing what I know now, I would have told my parents what your mom was doing to you. I would have called the police myself. I would have done everything in my power to help you, and I never would have left your side." My green eyes narrowed, and I stared at him even though he looked away. His eyes scanned everything - the crowbar over our heads, the rubble that surrounded us, the scars on my arm and finally the blood on my face. Flinging through the ground earlier had shredded through my tank top, and as the fabric slid off my body the Deltarune glowed green on my back. "But I was ten years old, and I had a lot of growing up to do."
"I wouldn't be ready when I was sixteen and I met you again, I wouldn't be ready when I was eighteen and I ruined your life and everyone else's." A knowing frown crossed my lips, truthful words sounded weird out of my liar's mouth. Still, my stern eyes stayed right on The Anarchist, and it was clear he didn't know what to do. Last time he'd screamed and berated me, I had gladly taken it and asked for more. Not this time. "I wouldn't even be ready six months later on Mount Ebott. I had a lot of growing up to do."
"But I'm ready now, Anny." I watched Anthony's eyes dart down, saw the way he flinched as I lifted my cracked and scarred left hand. Green light shimmered in those scars, glowed in the hand that I reached out to him again. When he dared look back to me, he found a sad smile on my lips. That stern glare had left my eyes, replaced now with a forgiving and understand emerald shine. "I'm sorry it took so long, but I'm ready."
Anny's grip loosened up on the crowbar that we were both holding, his mortified eyes stared at the hand that I reached out to him with. He was leaning back, on the defensive and ready to flinch. I recognized that stance, it was something his mother and all those cruel children had taught him. A skittish posture, an instinct to flee from expected cruelty. I remembered what he said last time, how he didn't know how many more times he could let me hurt him. Not again Anny, never again. I just need you to trust me.
"I want this to be over. You've suffered enough." I kept my hand out, let my own grip loosen up on the crowbar that we both held over our heads. And I smiled when he looked at me, smiled in that KIND and caring way that would make a person feel safe. I smiled the way that he used to, I finally gave him back one of the many smiles he'd so carelessly given away when we were kids. "Please, just take my hand and let this end."
"... Suffered... Enough..?" His lips moved, and that was all that came out. He had to sound those words out, they didn't make sense to him. His expression relaxed gradually, the defensive layers built after years of abuse slowly started to lower. And relief started to wash over me as that paranoid posture gave way, and he stood up straight. Hesitantly... Anthony The Anarchist began to lift his hand. The wind carried snow, the river raged around us. I could see the other side... "... Over..."
CRASH!
My eyes widened, the smile washed off my face. My head snapped to the right, where I could see a bolt of purple lightning crashing towards me. It raced at breakneck speed, melting the snow on the earth beneath it and barreling closer... Until a red streak of lightning crashed from above, and Chara appeared in an instant in the path of that tyrannical electricity. Their DETERMINED saber slashed down through the bolt, the energy of their soul sending it splitting and blasting out around them in a cone of violet volts.
In that instant, everything moved in slow motion. I felt Anny's hand tighten around the Inheritance that loomed over us, I felt my own grip release it. And as I turned my head back to face him, as I watched the frame by frame of him yanking back his right fist and as the MERCY melted off if his face... I only managed to utter one word, in barely a whisper. "... Wait."
Change by Deftones began playing.
Anny had punched me in the face before, but it never hurt like this one did. My head forced to the side and my feet taken out beneath me, I was sent launching back over the river. I flew right over the water without ever touching it, and I didn't make a sound as I crashed back first into the stone wall on the other side. The blue rock indented around me, shattered apart and left me suspended in an Angel shaped dent. And I stayed there, for seconds that felt like hours. Arms out at my sides, crucified in stone and watching with betrayed green eyes as Anthony The Anarchist lowered his red misting fist. I could see it on his face, in the sad red eyes of an abandoned little boy... He knew that was wrong.
"... Sorry, Angel." He spoke quietly, in a measured and real voice that I hadn't heard in years. There was no insane inflection, no furious fuel behind those two words. And I watched, eyes wide and lips parted for words that wouldn't come. Anny stood back to his full height, and as soon as he did Frisk blipped into existence above him. Their squinted eyes and giddy smile hardly matched his sad stare as they dropped down, wrapping their arms around his shoulders and clinging to him with their twisted excuse for love. Anny didn't react at all to their sudden appearance, just kept staring at me with that miserable red while he explained. "But this can't end like that, even if we want it to. See, there's something we've been ignoring."
Beside the two of them, shifting pixels suddenly appeared. From the multicolored blocks familiar faces wandered. First, Xander The Gatherer stepped out on Anarchy's left side. I wish I could say that I almost didn't recognize him, but truthfully the horns made him look even more like himself than any suit or tie ever had. To the right of The Anarchist came a face I hadn't seen in awhile - wasn't Character supposed to be dead? They sure looked dead in some way, didn't grin or sneer like I remembered them doing. Instead, they looked away from me, from everyone. Judging by the slashes and bloodstains in their clothes, they'd already had a pretty rough day so far.
*Bad day to be an Angel.
Finally, to Gatherer's left came a face I almost didn't recognize. I squinted painfully at the sight of violet eyes, cold and empty. A Killer stare rested on the face of a young lady, hatred slithered in her PERSERVERANCE soul. I didn't know her name, but I remembered her. And I think she could see it on my face, I think she knew that I could still see some remnant of the terrified little girl who's brother I killed. It made her teeth grit. Anthony's voice caught my attention, and I looked back to him. He stood at the center of this woefully familiar gang, his expression an emotionless void for a moment... Before it twitched. The corner of his mouth curled down into a slight frown, his eyes narrowed and his grip tightened on his Inheritance while he explained. "I'm not the only person you hurt."
"..." I remained silent. Stared and stared while I tried to understand. But, finally... My jaw shut. My eyes narrowed, and my soul flexed. Red light crashed through the green cracks on my arm, overflowed through my green soul and my green eyes. In an instant, explosive waves of scarlet heat were blasting out of my DETERMINED soul. A tower of light blasted high into the sky while the snow at my enemies' feet melted, while the river beneath me steamed and bubbled. And though Anarchy did not flinch and did not look away, Frisk had to shield their eyes from where they hung on his shoulders. Character planted their feet, tried not to tremble while their shared scarlet eyes finally landed on me. And while Gatherer snarled white flames and lowered his stance to protect himself from the torrent of boiling wind, Eden's violet eyes lifted to the flashing white light of the Deltarune that manifested above my whirlwind of DETERMINATION. She stood there and stared, perplexed under the light of my power. She hadn't seen it like this last time, I don't think.
The stone wall behind me exploded apart, the four wings that launched out of my back blasting through it and freeing me. And there I floated, over the boiling river and within the flaring DETERMINATION of my angelic soul. Over my head my halo broke away and faded to nothing in the flashing scarlet, and when I shut my eyes, a single emerald tear overflowed from the both of my eyes. Those tears streamed down my face, perfectly cupping each of my cheeks while I lifted my head and looked upon those before me with the crimson eyes of The Cherub.
As the burning light of my ascension faded away and Snowdin stopped rumbling from the force of my soul, a bolt of red lightning struck between myself and those I had hurt. In the wake of that scarlet bolt Chara stood, back to me and blades crossed in front of them. With their wings spread wide behind them, they kept their feet planted and their eyes on the man who stood at the head of this uprising. Anthony The Anarchist. Shaking their head slowly, they spoke only after the screaming winds had finally dissipated and the world was no longer tinted red. "... I'm sorry, Angel. I stayed back after getting away from Character because it looked like your plan was working, but..."
"It's fine. I'm glad you believed in me." I stated clearly and concisely. While I lowered to the ground on my four wings, my eyes scanned those lined up before me. I made destroying Hacker and Demon my mission once upon a time. I left Frisk alone in a life they hated. I destroyed everything Gatherer spent his life building. I killed Eden's big brother, and I left Anthony for dead twice. Still, I put my feet in the mud like a mortal man and turned my head to Chara. They looked back to me, and a smirk crossed their lips when I reached out my hand towards them. "I think it's time for plan B."
"I'll always believe in you, Angel." Chara assured, one of their blades disappearing suddenly into their inventory. In its place, their scarlet soul manifested. Its warmth was familiar to me, put a smile on my face and splattered terror across Character's. I reached out to that crimson heart without another moment's hesitation, because we didn't have any more time to waste. Chara added, "And together we can still get the right ending here."
"Wait-!" Character suddenly exploded with life, daring to take a step to lunge forward. But before they could, their shadow lashed up from beneath them. A vile black tendril wrapped around their ankle, stopping them dead in their tracks and making them look to Anarchy with despair and confusion. Anarchy however did not react, just stared straight ahead even as Xander and Eden shot him a similar shocked look, because their own ankles had been snagged in a similar way. Frisk was the only one who hadn't been grabbed, because Anarchy had simple reached up and grabbed them by the arm with his bare hand to assure that they did not escape. He didn't elaborate and didn't have to, the rules were clear. They work for him, and this fight was going to go the way that he wanted it to go.
Another boom of scarlet light, so powerful and so sudden that it sent the five of them skidding back on their heels. A twister of red light blasted all the way to Snowdin's ceiling, made the cavern groan and rumble. Snow steamed into nothing at all, the river boiled and seethed. Snowdin's abandoned houses ignited under the constant stream of molten heat, glass melted and shattered while wood smoked and exploded into flames. Permafrosted dirt was heated into a dead white sand, all before the tower of DETERMINATION crashing down on Snowdin Town.
Anthony The Anarchist stared undeterred while those around him struggled to keep their footing. Frisk clung to his back, tried to shout something over the screeching winds but he didn't hear it. His feet planted in the glassing dirt, god's Bastard Son stood before that grand and terrible power without flinching. And while red light reflected in his eyes and scorching winds pushed back his hair, he stared at the shadow floating in that hurricane of soul fire. One being with four wings and two souls, levitating there in the eye of the storm. The source of power like he'd never seen before, pressure and weight that he'd only ever felt in his own soul...
Now he was the one contemplating. Something about that great red storm brought his thoughts back to the playground, back to the offer he'd waited his whole life to hear. The promise he had needed to be kept back then and the request he hadn't dared make...
"If you could have a super power, what would it be?"
His fingers clenched tight around his Inheritance, and his own DETERMINATION exploded to life.
(Betty belongs to Camila Cuevas)
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