St. Paul's Cathedral, Churchyard
Friday, April 26th, 2120. 12:23 AM
Aboveground, Willow and Raven continued to clash. Realizing that the Queen fared far worse in cover, Raven had lured her into the trees surrounding the church and was using them for cover. Now, both of them danced around the churchyard as they attempted to attack each other. Raven, a trained soldier and a veteran to many fights, was able to handle the situation with a fair amount of finesse. However, it was clear that Queen Willow was struggling. She held her bloody right arm as she continued twist and turn around the grove to find her opponent.
Willow had at least gotten used to Raven's pattern. She would use her speed to jump from tree to tree, occasionally cutting a branch down and sending it her way. After about two or three large, lateral jumps, she would always approach the queen from her sides, where the fire from her orbs would be the least able to catch her. Down to only one shining, yellow bullet orb in the cover of darkness, Willow was forced to use it wisely in order to be able to see and catch her very fast opponent.
"And she'll come in three…two…" Willow immediatedly pivoted on her feet and held up her battered pistol to stop a blow from Raven's spinner. Quickly, she shot at her as she landed on the ground and followed her as she ducked behind a tree for cover.
"You got a little of my hair this time, nice!" Raven said, inspecting the shot-off ends of her pink hair. "I'll totally have to use some of your hair for extensions when I fucking kill you!"
"Honey, don't kid yourself, this totally isn't your texture, it would never work!" Willow did her best to articulate her sarcasm through the strain in her voice. She did her best to follow Raven's voices as she ran between trees.
"Ha, comedy gold! You'd like to think you're half as funny as me, but unfortunately, you're not. But that's just what I would expect out of a Justice-type SOUL like your's! Everyone finds out what their trait is and gets so stuffy about it. That's part of the reason you're losing darling, you're just not flexible enough!"
Willow jumped to the side to avoid a strike from Raven, and found herself ducking and strafing to avoid her kicks and the blade of the spinner. She held her pistol out in desperation, but she just wasn't strong enough. With two final swings of her arms, Raven knocked the pistol out of Willow's hands and pierced her bullet orb with the side of her shield. Queen Willow fell to her back and had no choice but to be held by Raven at knifepoint.
"Tch. What a waste of my time. But I'll admit, you did give me more of a fight than I thought you would. For an uppity princess like yourself, consider me impressed. But it's too bad you chose to fight for the wrong side. Now, you'd better come quietly. Don't make me kill you, kid. Contrary to popular belief, I really don't want to."
Willow sneered as she looked away from Raven. "Terrorist scum. What do you care about sides or the world? And for someone who doesn't want me dead, you certainly don't act like it."
Raven sighed. "You would be like that, wouldn't you? You really have no idea how this world works, do you? How hard it has to be for people like us. But of course you don't, you have an entire country at your feet. And I mean, if we're going there, then to be fair, you were the one who tried to kill me first." Raven pulled some rope from her side as she went behind Willow and proceeded to secure her.
"Only because you tried to kill Frisk, you moron!"
"Oh yeah…well, I guess you shouldn't have intervened then. Now hold still so I can tie you up. If you promise to be half as annoying, I promise to tie the ropes half as tight~"
"What, that doesn't even make – OW! That's still definitely full tight! You call that half!? Plus, with any luck, Frisk is showing Cage who's boss right now! Then what are you and your silly organization going to do then!?"
Raven stood up the tied-up Willow as she began to pull her towards the church. With a frown on her face, she said "Figures I would get stuck with the babysitting job. God I am so going to fucking yell at Owl la-" Flinching, She stopped mid-sentence as she ground to a halt in front of Willow. Entire seconds went by as the normally snarky legate seemed to zone out completely. Willow contemplated turning and running but the Queen part of her brain knew that she would hardly be able to make it, if at all, and dying simply wasn't an option that she or Britain had right now. Before Willow had a chance to roast Raven for her moment of weakness, she ran off at full speed towards the cathedral, leaving her prey behind.
"It's your lucky day, Queen Bitch! You get to live!"
"Wait, what-!?" Willow barely had time to answer before Raven disappeared into the blown-open doorway and sealed the entrance to the crypt by collapsing the frame onto the stairs. Coughing, she began to limp back towards the front of the church to try and see if she could find another way inside. But she barely made it past Canon Alley before getting an urgent call from Justin.
"Your highness, are you anywhere near the church right now!?"
"I'm circling the North side right now, yeah? What's wrong? And what happened to radio silence?"
"There's no time! They're going to blow the church up!"
Willow began to panic. "What!? No, they can't! I'll can't get clear."
"Damn, not you too! We'll never get to you in time! Ugh, standby!"
Sure enough, as soon as Justin finished his last transmission, an alarm sounded throughout the church signaling the imminent detonation of the first set of charges. Willow's heart dropped as she resigned herself to her fate.
Her eyes hot with tears, she somberly laughed at her fate "Haha…so I guess this is how it ends. I'm so sorry Frisk. You deserved better…And Mom-!" But before she could further lament her death, she felt herself get scooped up by an incredibly fast Asgore. Willow could feel the air leave her body as Asgore charged at full speed towards the base camp.
"A-Asgore…!"
Though Asgore's deadly serious face, Willow swore she saw the King smile for just a second before the smoke overtook them both. "Human. You are going to be okay. Hang on." And as quickly as he came, both of them disappeared through the arch gate separating Paternoster Square from the cathedral. One inside, Willow gasped at the sight of Undyne and Sans, who gave her a friendly smile as Asgore skidded past.
Without using his communicator, Asgore yelled into the air "JUSTIN! SHIELD! NOW!"
Following Asgore's command, a blast shield activated over the square and kept it from being inundated with any more smoke. However, everyone except Asgore were forced to take cover from the excessive wind that flooded the square from the building's collapse. After what felt like an eternity, Willow opened her eyes and saw Asgore extending a paw to help her to her feet. With his soft, regular Asgore face, he asked "Queen Willow, are you okay?"
"Asgore!" Queen Willow exclaimed as he tightly hugged the furry king of monsters. "Thank goodness you came! I was so worried that would have been it for me."
Asgore grunted from the force of Willow's hug and gently patted her back in response. "Your highness! It is okay. If Sans had not alerted me to your presence, I surely would not have made it."
"heh. it was no problem." Sans smiled. "i guess tori and my bro were right after all. you really would need the help of a serif on this mission."
Asgore perked up, as if someone had just mentioned his favorite food. "Tori sent you?"
Justin interjected. "Yes, but it was me that told you where everyone was!"
"HEY! And don't forget, you saved me too! You'd better give me a chance to say thank you!" Undyne stood and exclaimed, almost hurt that she didn't get to say her thanks first. She shot Sans a toothy smile as Alphys spoke up too.
"Fishcake! Ahhhh, it makes me so happy to hear that voice again! I'm so happy you're okay! I was getting worried when-" Alphys was cut off by an alarm at her console, apparently so shocking to her that she spilled her tea all over her tail. She leapt up to sweep the hot liquid away, and when she looked back at her screens she gasped. "S-S-Sans! Are you seeing WHAT I'M SEEING!"
Sans' black and white eyes as they went unusually wide. "this…this can't be, right?"
"NGAHHHH! What, you two!? Don't keep secrets from me!" Undyne, caught up in her anxiety, pushed her way next to Sans to see a warning on his communicator. "High LOVE threat in vicinity. Take cover immediatedly." It wasn't long before Asgore and even Undyne's communicators began to beep as well. Willow's face went pale.
"Guys…where's Frisk?"
There was a brief moment of silence filled only by the sound of beeping before everyone started to talk at once.
"WE'VE GOTTA GET FRISK BACK RIGHT NOW!"
"i was wondering where the kid was. i thought they were already here."
"No…not again. Never again."
Undyne turned to Sans and grabbed his sleeve, summoning her spear in the other end. "Let's go Sans. This fight isn't over until we recover Frisk!"
"Wait Undyne, you can't!" Alphys said, shaking slightly as she spun the 3D diagram of the cathedral in front her to try and pinpoint the source of the LOVE. "I've analyzed the signal and it's coming from deep underground! You wouldn't be able to reach them if you wanted to! It must be in the underground area Frisk was talking about."
"Underground!? This church had lower levels too!?"
"W-When they called earlier, they said that Cauldron was escaping through a hole below the crypt. When I tried to reach out to them, the radio signal didn't reach. But this doesn't make any sense! We've had the magic tracking system online since this evening, and it hasn't picked up anything yet! Why now?"
Sans closed his eyes and thought back to what Toriel had told him earlier. "if this is who i think it is, i may have an idea. i may not be enough to beat him though. this LOVE…it must be high."
Willow tried to let the shock settle in her face before looking up to face the group, but she could feel the terror creeping up through her throat as she tried to answer. "Impossible…something under the cathedral…? I'm queen, there shouldn't be anything in the Church of England I don't know about. And yet..."
Willow looked at Undyne and Sans, waiting to hear whatever plan the Kingdom of Monster's two greatest champions could come up with. Willow could tell from Undyne's nervous grip that she was deeply worried about Frisk too. Undyne turned to look at her "Willow! If you take us back to the church, could you tell us how to get down there!? We have to save Frisk!"
Willow reached for her communicator. "Justin?"
"Already on it, you highness! We have the last ping from Frisk's communicator and we think we have a likely spot. You need to be careful though, don't leave the safe zone without a respirator. Also, you should know, all activity on the surface has ceased. Whatever's happening must be underground."
Willow looked back at Undyne as she responded, her face still drained of all color. "Understood. Send the coordinates to everyone. But we'll need a way to get down there. Do you have any other ideas?
Sans spoke up. "you know, i may be able to teleport down there, as long as i know how deep to go. i can't risk turning into a fossil after all. but willow," Sans pointed at the beaten-up queen still being held on to by Undyne. "i want you to go with me."
Willow swallowed before drawing from the depths of her resolve to return Sans' proposal with a determined face. "Okay. I'll do it."
Justin responded almost immediatedly. "Lord Serif, I must strongly object to your plan. Whatever is down there sounds like it would only put Her Highness in danger. She can't fight in her condition."
Asgore voiced his concern as well. "Sans, let me go. I managed to do very well in my last fight. I have energy to spare so…"
"SANS! As your superior officer, I ORDER you to take me! There's no way we can put the human in harm's way. I know I've taken some damage but-!"
"i'm sorry undyne. your highness. but it has to be her. no one else can go. not against this threat." Sans turned to face a thoroughly frustrated Undyne. "cage's power could allow him to kill any of us. he'll have more trouble with the queen, even in her state. plus" he winked "if things go well, she won't even have to fight. i'll protect her the entire time."
Undyne backed off, but didn't look happy about it in the slightest. Asgore looked as worried as Willow's father might have been. It was Justin who would finally break the silence and relent to the skeleton. "…God, Collette's gonna murder me. But okay. As the operational director, I approve it. Don't leave until we're able to replace Her Majesty's armor and put her right arm in a brace. I'll have logistics prepare a transport to the church site…"
Willow stepped up to Sans and let the yellow light of Justice fill in her eyes. "Sans. I know I can't do much, but thank you. I'm not going to let you down."
"heh, no problem kid. between the two of us, we'll save frisk in no time. i know it."
St. Paul's Cathedral, Basement Chamber
Friday, April 26th, 2120. 12:37 AM
Crow came tumbling into the cave with an angry Vulture in tow, causing a pile of dirt and debris to fall behind him. Both of them fell flat on to the ground at the relief of being out of death's away and reunited with their comrades.
Vulture groaned. "Ow man…that really smarts. At least I'm alive but jeez, would it really had killed us to – YOU!" They crawled over to Owl, who was too busy inspecting Cage's wounds to pay any mind to Vulture. Cauldron operatives snickered as walked past them into the portal. "How dare you!? Do you know how many people you nearly killed with that stunt? Including ME!? What's your problem anyway?"
Owl didn't turn from Cage as she responded. "You knew this would be the plan all along. Raven made it back and she was outside. You were stationed inside the cathedral for a reason, Vulture. No one told you to climb it."
"Oh yeah, well, maybe *you* try dealing with a crazy spear throwing fish-lady next time, as was the original plan in the first place! I would have done just fine up against those –"
Owl cut them off as she summoned her bow and pointed it directly at Vulture. "Listen. No one forced you to be weak. You go on and on about how you were this child gifted with magic ability, but all we've seen from you is failure. If you want to keep gloating in front of our fallen comrades, please do so. But know that I'm not going to let you let you leave until you look and feel exactly like them. Do you understand?"
Surprisingly, Vulture wasn't phased in the slightest. Irreverence still ripe in their voice, they responded to her as someone arguing with a friend would. "What!? Ugh, you're in one of those moods again. I hate when you're like this. Cage, send her home!"
Cage, who was inspecting the near lifeless-body of Frisk, struggled to his feet as he walked over to both of them. "Can both of you please just quit it? As if getting this off the ground wasn't hard enough. Why don't you both just head on home, we're done here."
Owl dematerialized her bow and snapped to attention at Cage's command. Grabbing Vulture by the collar, she pulled them as they kicked and screamed into the well of light and disappeared into the ripples of the water.
"Gosh, they actually act worse with her than they do with me." Raven said, who got up from a rock next to the portal to join Cage's side. "You think that's a good sign?"
Cage sighed as he went to check on Crow, who had gathered just enough strength to stand on the other end of the room. Cage addressed him first. "Don't put too much pressure on yourself, okay? Getting back here was good enough. Just help Raven with Frisk and we'll all get out of here."
Crow nodded as Cage turned back to Raven. "I don't know, but I'll take anything as a sign that we're coming together as a group. Recovering from all this will take –" Cage was forced to stop speaking when he was staggered by an enormous and sudden surge in spiritual pressure. Crow was knocked to his knees as Raven took a protective stance in front of both Crow and him. They all turned to see Frisk's body, still unmoving as Cage as left it, but emitting massive amounts of magical energy. None of them had ever seen anything like it.
"Damn it, I knew that kid wasn't dead" Raven said, equipping her spinner. "We need the kid alive, but I didn't think they were that alive."
Cage looked astounded. "W-what is this? Is this what that flower was talking about? Is this the power we were supposed to investigate!?
Crow grunted through the strain. "Cage…this energy…watch out…."
Before Crow could finish his thought, Frisk's body sprung into action, recovering the Wakizashi placed by their slide and moving past all of them to slash Crow's side. The metallic scent of blood filled the air as it began to spray from his body. Raven grabbed him as she and Crow retreated backwards to avoid the body's wrath.
Cage could feel his spirt faltering from the sight of this corpse animating itself back to life. He returned his sword to ready position and engaged its (?) SOUL. The SOUL still looked as broken as always. But as Frisk's body began to turn, it was clear from their blood red eyes and the SOUL's dark aura that something was very, very wrong. They all took a few steps back as the corpse began to laugh.
"I guess you were wrong, Cage. It looks like you can't handle a little bit of magic after all!"
Raven moved to step in front of Cage, but he motioned for her to stay back as he tried to use Blackout on Frisk's SOUL. It blinked brown, as it should, but instead of looking like the power was drained from them, the corpse just looked bored. It waited for Cage to finish before saying anything else.
"Is that all you got, Cage? W̶͓͌ ̷̜̪͊E̵͔͐̒ ̴̝̇̊L̴̳̔̿ ̶̳̈́L̷̥̈́͒ ̵͙̮̀ ̷̥̰́N̷͖͝ ̶̬̾͝Ô̸̳ ̸̜͔̔̽W̴͚͂̚ ̵̺̯͠ ̷͓͒I̴̤͇͂ ̴͕̆̅T̸̨̯̓͊ ̵͕̪͆͝'̸̡͎͌̇ ̷̬͝S̵͔̈́̏ ̴̼̀ ̴͚̐M̵̟̿͜͝ ̸̺͗̇Y̸͙̳͗ ̶̜͗ ̴̨͔̐T̸̤͇̊ ̵̢̮̾͌Ŭ̴̙ ̶̛̒͜R̵̦̪͂̌ ̸̺̏N̷̬̒ ̶͚͝!̷̗́̈ " It rushed forward, stopping short of the arc of Cage's blade and using the opening to strike his right wrist, causing a stream of blood to squirt as he yelled in pain. It continued, grabbing Cage's hand and preparing to strike at his head before Raven took the blow to the side of spinner, wincing in pain as Frisk's body brought their Wakizashi into contact with her pale skin. Neither Cage or Crow had seen Raven as angry as she looked right now.
"Okay, I don't know who the fuck you think you are, or why Blackout didn't work on you, but I know for a fact that I'm NEVER going to let you hurt Cage again! I don't care if we need you alive, I'm going to kill you!" Her red eyes glowed with the determination in her heart, but her effort only cause Frisk's body to laugh even harder. They held up their arm to stop a punch and then backflipped to avoid the rest of her blows.
The corpse addressed the group. "All of you think that your disgusting cause is this righteous? How pathetic! None of you have any chance in making this world into what you want it to be! And for all the lives you've destroyed, an̴d̶ ̷f̷o̶r̸ ̸w̸h̵a̶t̸ ̵y̵o̷u̶ ̴d̵i̵d̴ ̶t̷o̸ ̶m̶y̵ ̷p̶a̴r̷t̸n̷e̸r̶,̷ , YOU WILL PAY!" As the curpse body became upright, it swung Frisk's Wakizashi, and without even needing to charge, the knife-shaped spiritual energy tore the ground in front of it and Raven's meager shield to shreds. Rocks and dirt flew everywhere as massive amounts of Earth were displaced from it's latest attack. She screamed as it let out an inhuman cry and began to advance on them both. Purge fluid, a putrefied, viscous, toxic mass of bacteria and melted body parts, began to flow from every orifice on their face. It was as if Frisk's body had already been long dead.
"This is it! I'm going to kill you all! I'm going to make each and every one of you suffer ten times over for what you've done to Frisk, and I'm not going to stop until there's nothing left of your rotten SOULS! Nothing will delight me more than sending you all to HELL!" The corpse lunged at them with their knife out, but they were forced to re-establish their footing on the ground when Crow used the last of their energy to turn its SOUL blue. The corpse shrieked as Crow held onto its SOUL and kept it on the ground. He did this even though he and the others were forced to cover their noses from the smell of its disgusting purge fluid.
Behind a gagging Raven, Cage kept himself from puking as he marveled at the sight in front him. He kept his distance between both his legates as he laughed to himself at how the situation has suddenly turned for the worse. "Ha ha…it's all true. Everything that dog and flower said, it's all true. There's far more to Frisk than meets the eye. They really do contain a double soul…!"
The corpse begin to fire off more blasts as they slowly approached the group, dripping toxic fluid as it walked. The black substance singed the corpse's tattered EU uniform wore and damaged the earth as it passed. Despite her injuries and visibly trembling out of fear for her life, Raven refused to falter as she blocked all of the corpse's attack the best she could. But even she was still getting pushed back towards the edge of the island.
"Cage I don't know how much time we have left here…but you should go. When we…were aboveground, I could feel it! I could feel you. No matter where you go…I'll protect you! But I don't know if I can keep this up much longer!"
D̴̰̆ ̴̮́I̷͎̅ ̶̬̐È̶̺ ̷̢̊ ̶͓̔A̸̻͑ ̷͈͂L̸͔̍ ̵͍́R̸̤̚ ̵̼̚E̷̠͐ ̶̦̂Ǎ̴͙ ̴͔̀D̵̳̍ ̸̧̎Y̸̠͘ ̴̣́!̵̬͗!̴̖͝!̸͛ͅ The corpse took one large leap forward and aimed for Raven's torso. Taking a page from it's playbook, Raven grabbed their wrist and attempted to slash them. But before they could manage, the corpse dropped the knife and recovered it with their other hand, slicing Raven directly though her SOUL and making her recoil in pain. She staggered back as Crow increased his grip on the corpse to keep it from killing any of them. It began to drag the soles off their shoes as it inched towards the group. Cage thought they were done for before he watched a skeleton and a small girl blink inside the chamber. He smirked to himself at the irony of it all.
"Not exactly what I thought of when I thought of reinforcements, but I guess that will do!" Cage yelled back to Sans as the corpse continued to ignore them. "What will you do, Sans?"
"w-what…what is happening here…this feeling…!" Almost immediatedly, Sans gripped his ribcage as the corpse's pressure overtook him. Willow, too injured to keep herself from puking, relived herself to the side before turning to face the entity before her. She could feel her heart intensely beating."
"Sans, is that…is that Frisk!? It can't be! Sans! Tell me what to do here! They're gonna kill them! But that…that can't be…"
Sans looked up at the shuffling corpse and failed to come up to a response. Nothing felt like it would work. Should he transport it somewhere else? Where though? And how could he do it without getting himself or anyone else killed? Should he fight them here and risk exposing his power? Was that a risk he had to take? Cauldron is their enemy. But is this a fate that they deserve?
It would seem like he had no choice. Sans blinked and let his blue eye shine, finally getting the attention of the black-faced, red and black-eyed corpse who turned to look at the growing spectacle behind it.
"Sans….! Of course!" It let out an otherworldly laugh as they held the Wakizashi at the ready. "Of course you would come and try to kill me too!"
Sans pleaded. "kid…don't make me do this...please…"
"WHY NOT!? AFTER ALL, ISN'T THS WHAT YOU ALWAYS WANTED!? DO IT SANS! KILL ME!"
"Stop." Before either of them could attack each other, Willow stepped forward and took control of the corpse's SOUL. Crow passed out from the strain, falling to the ground after such an incredible exertion of his power. Sans' eye still burned blue as he watched the situation with disbelief.
"kid, what are you doing!? do you want to get yourself killed? move!"
"Not yet. I can't yet." Willow stared the corpse down before stepping closer to use her power. Her fear grew with every step that it would strike her down, but it remained there and watched her with a smile.
"Frisk…or whatever you are. Whatever realm of beast you claim to be. I, Willow Elizabeth Alexandria II, the Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britian and of Her other Realms and Territories, Head of the Commonwealth, Sovereign Head of the Dominion, and Defender of the Faith, hereby use the power invested in me to evaluate your SOUL of it's crimes. Stand in witness of your judgement."
The corpse actually looked a little shocked, but they only showed it through a subtle change in their amused expression. "What is this, Willow? A roleplay? What do you thin you're doing –" The corpse stopped as they felt their SOUL unmasked before them. For the first time since reanimating, it looked shocked to feel Willow rifling through their SOUL as if it was an open book.
Willow unblinkingly talked to Sans behind her. "Sans, this pressure…this power that we feel. It's called LOVE, is it not?"
Sans hesitated, but told her. "it is. and the EXP?"
"Unreadable. It's the same for the extent of your LOVE. All I can feel is the immense darkness and pain that penetrates your heart. It's like an abyss of sadness." Tears began to steam down her face as her yellow eyes investigated the corpse. "This darkness is…strong, but this grief is unlike I've ever felt. You…you're not Frisk. You feel nothing like them, down to the fibers of your SOUL? Who are you?"
G̴̨̦̅̈́É̵̛̟͇̉̀T̴̤͍̊̿ ̵̞̥̃Ö̸̢̗̝̹́Ṵ̸̿̎͗ͅT̷̗͙̥̈́͑ ̵̧̺̈́O̶̠͋̔̄F̷͍̓ ̷̣̺̜̣̄̋M̸͍̲͐͋̌̈E̶̞̲͛̀̃!̵̖͖̔̂͛!̵̧̥̤̹̀̈́̃́ The corpse tried to rush forward but realized it couldn't move. Purge fluid pooled at their feet as they shrieked. The overwhelming smell was nearly too much for everyone in the room. But as tears continued to stream from her eyes, Willow resolutely looked the corpse in the face and continued judging them.
"This is my special ability, Judgement. It allows me to see the true nature of a person's SOUL. As long as I can keep my eyes on you, I can keep you there to face justice. You can't kill me. Not even if you wanted to."
"Fool! How do you know I wouldn't the second you released me! You're weak! You don't stand a chance!"
"You won't. I know you won't."
The corpse started to break down into an uncontrollable laughter. The room echoed with their holler as everyone else watched, terrified of the power before them. "Fine! You naive brat! Everyone here! You want to know who I am!?" The corpse held their arms out as they boasted to the entire group. Sans could feel his soul drop as it looked as if his worst fears would be realized.
"I am the demon who comes when you call its name! No matter where, no matter when, I will always be there in the shadow of the light. I am Chara, the angel of death who has come to pass judgement on this ungrateful and disgusting world!" Chara let their built-up energy release out of them in a massive wave, knocking everyone back onto their feet. Willow lost control of their soul as Chara's demonic aura became too much to oppress.
"D-Damn…I guess I wasn't strong enough after all. Sans, what do you…Sans!" She turned to see the skeleton's SOUL cracking as a result of the blast. Willow rushed to their side and helped him to his feet. "Are you okay?"
"y-yeah, thanks" Sans groaned as he collected his bearings. "it looks like something awful really has been let loose, huh?"
Willow hesistated. "I don't understand. That's Frisk's body. That should be Frisk. And yet…"
"and yet they're gone."
Across the room, Cage held his head and laughed "That flower! All of his theories were right! Frisk shares their body with a spirit named Chara! Together they command an immense power that was enough to even free the monsters! And this room awakened it, just as he said. Unbelievable. Then if this is true, then it means that our research still has hope after all."
Raven, thoroughly terrified, looked as if she was nearing her limit. In a defensive stance in front of Cage, she said "I guess we know why Sirius wanted them so bad. But now, there's no way to retrieve them, much less get out alive. What should we do?"
Cage turned to look at the swirling magic fountain and back at the demon before him. "We could still maybe get what we need! All we need to do is-"
Chara closed their eyes and screamed. "AHHHH! Stop talking! I don't care anymore! I don't care about anything anymore!" They began to charge their Wakizashi with energy. They took a wide stance and pointed it face down towards the magic-filled earth" I'm so tired of everyone here acting like they know me! Like they know of everything! It's time for this fucking charade to end! This is what you all get for destroying Frisk's dreams!"
In just a few seconds, it seemed as if they would all meet their end well below the streets of London. But before Chara could execute the strike, they heard a voice call out to them from the depths of their SOUL.
Frisk now inhabited the inner world, the place that had once been the vessel for Chara's essence. Dripping blood from their wounds, and no doubt in intense pain, they walked up to a distraught and angry Chara and held them from behind, placing one hand on their stomach while holding the other to their corrupted face. The purge fluid burned their hand as they touched them. But Frisk didn't yell, or flinch, or pull away from their hurting partner. They hugged them tighter as more tears began to flow from both of their eyes.
"Chara please…it's okay. It's okay….you don't have to do this."
"NO! Frisk! Let me go! What are you doing!? Stop!"
Frisk nodded and buried their head deeper into Chara's back. It was only a little, but Frisk could feel their partner relax as they pulled Chara closer to them. They continued to yell.
"You don't understand Frisk! They hurt you!" Chara tried to free themselves to no avail. "This entire world is out to hurt you! You've done nothing but give, and give, and give, and everyone in this fucking world has wanted nothing more from you than to suck you dry of everything that makes you who you are! It's not fair! It's not fucking fair! None of this is worth it anymore…so please…"
Chara began to bawl as they let themselves fall into the Frisk's arms. "It's not supposed to be like this! We tried so hard to be better people! To make a difference! This was supposed to be our chance! This was supposed to be the place we could finally belong! So why! Why is the future that we have to have!? Frisk…! Frisk…I'm so sorry…"
Frisk didn't let go as they began to bawl too. "Chara…I'm so sorry. I'm so, so sorry. This is so unfair. We deserve better. Everyone does. But…but we have to give them and ourselves the chance. If we do this now, it's all over."
"It's all already over! Sans saw me! He knows who I am! He knows what we are and Willow does too. They're never going to forgive you. We can't reset so we're never going to be able to go back to the way things were! What other choice do we have!?"
"We don't have to end it! We can carve our own future! We'll pick a path that's all our own and make the future we never had! No matter what happens, I promise I'll stand with you. We'll overcome anything or anyone who gets in our way! And I promise Chara, we'll find the place we finally belong! So please…please don't give up on yourself!"
Chara wailed. "Damn it, Frisk…! You…you idiot…"
In the real world, Chara dropped their knife as their façade of pain and anger faded into one of sadness and anguish. The black slowly faded to white in their eyes as the oppressive demonic aura that filled the room dissipated into the air. Willow rushed forward to catch Chara as they fell and brought their body back to their corner of the room, careful to not let the purge fluid touch them. Sans shot her an incredulous look before shrugging it off and turning his attention to Cauldron.
Cage looked at his communicator and spoke up first. "I…I think that this is enough. Neither of us is really in a state to continue this any further. Agree to split up for now?"
Sans looked at the unconscious Chara (Frisk?) and responded. "i promised that i'd kill you the next time i saw you. but i guess this is why i don't make promises. get out of my sight."
With a smile and a cold look of contempt from Raven, the two of them pulled Crow into the fountain of light, disappearing into the water. Willow dropped to her knees as she let the tension release from her body.
"So what now Sans? Where do we go from here?"
The skeleton closed his eyes as he placed his hands of the both of them. "For now, let's go home kid."
They both blinked out of the chamber and back onto the surface, ending up between the pile of debris and the door that led to the square. As they stumbled in with a bloody and disgusting Frisk in tow, the other monsters and Justin rushed to their side as they anxiously tried to check on them all. Alphys cried from behind her desk at her lab. Asgore looked like he had just had to watch his children die all over again as he moved to hold Frisk in his arms. Undyne's ecstatic, congratulatory face was quickly replaced with worry when she saw the state Sans was in. Justin rushed to Sans' side to place Willow around his shoulders. Everyone yelled, laughed, and cried as the bright cloudy sky gave way to the infinite starry night.
A/N - Well, we made it. One more chapter, and the first arc of my sprawling fanfic will be complete. I'm so happy that roughly a year after I originally sketched out the idea for this fic that I've finally been able to reach this point. To everyone who's stuck with me since then, and to the people that have joined along the way, thank you so much. I can't begin to talk about how each and every person is special to me.
I had so much fun writing this chapter! When I originally planned this arc, this was the first chapter to get outlined, and despite all of the action scenes, I love how much of the characters I was able to expose through it all. The United Nations arc sets the foundation for everything else that happens in my story. I hope that everyone can enjoy the paths the characters take as they try to figure themselves out.
The next update will probably come out in Mid-May to early June. Until then, thank you so much everyone for enjoying my story, and good luck on your own as well!
