LOVE
DDLC x UT
Chapter 3 (Monika)
Monika sat straight up, back against the bedroom's wall as she spilled her guts to the monster before her. A being straight-out of bedtime stories and mythology. A creature that should be sending shivers down her spine, if the Halloween-themed song was to be believed. And believe her, she was certainly panicking when she'd been thrown by that magical attack of his.
Magic? Monsters? Where exactly was she? What was happening? Why did she look different? Who's Frisk? And, who's the demon in her head?
'Hey, I heard that! I'M NOT A DEMON!' The voice screamed in her head, causing Monika to flinch visible and clutch her head at the sharp pain.
This happened as she told her story to Sans, doing her best to not explain the truth of her reality… that she was an AI in a video game, cursed to be ignored.
Her name was Monika. No last name. Where she was from, she was the President of a high school Literature Club, originally with three other members. A bright pink-haired, small tsundere with a sad domestic life with her father named Natsuki. A purple-haired, tall and mature bookworm, with self-cutting tendencies named Yuri. A coral pink-haired bundle of sunshine with depression, named Sayori. Those three and herself made up the Literature Club, before they eventually recruit Sayroi's childhood best friend, Matt.
She explained that she had been ignored by Matt, while he focused on the other three, less interesting girls in the club. She admitted that she grew jealous, and did her best to make the other three seem unappealing, while trying to gain the favor of Matt. She then paused for a moment in her story to admit that some of what she'd done against her friends was unforgivable, and she didn't deserve them as friends anymore, but continued to tell her story.
The club had recently begun to prepare for a festival at school, and Sayori was missing that morning, likely sleeping in, she told them. She frowned externally though, and internally was regretful for what had transpired, almost as if against her will by this point. She then explained that Matt had gone off on her, blaming her for everything going on around them, and telling her that she was an evil monster, and that he could never love someone like her. He said he hated her, breaking her heart.
She then recalled that something happened, and a bright flash happened, before she lost consciousness. After that, she woke up on the couch.
After explaining her story, Sans watched her carefully, his smile smaller than normal as he pondered what he heard. After a moment, he stood up and stared into her eyes, as if peering into her soul. Odd feelings and sensations crawled up Monika's spine, weighing her down with the weight of the world. She could feel her sins crawling on her back as he stared at her. The odd woman's stats appeared before San's eyes, consequentially making them appear before Monika's and the demon's eyes as well.
Monika – LV 8
HP 48 – ATK 24 – DEF 11
'I can work with this.' The demon quietly commented in her brain as it looked over Monika's LV and EXP.
Sans' smile actually vanished, shrinking his mouth into a straight line. "kiddo… you've got some explaining to do."
"Wh-what? Wait, why do I have levels and stats, like an RPG?" She asked.
'That's not what LV stands for.' The demon told her.
"that's not what lv stands for, kid." Sans told her, "it stands for level of violence. you've killed human, haven't you?"
Tears began building in her eyes as guilt flooded her chest, "Y-y-yes…" She barely managed to choke out between the beginning of sobs.
"if i recall, you mentioned "unforgivable acts against your friends", and that you no longer deserved to call them friends, is that right?"
Monkia nodded numbly.
"you… you killed them, didn't you?" Sans asked slowly as the pinpricks within his eye sockets vanished, making the skeleton look beyond menacing.
Monika sobbed and nodded, her guilt catching up to her. All the times she'd killed them. The dozens of times she must have made Sayori kill herself. The dozens of times she'd made Yuri lose her mind and stab herself. How many times did she snap Natsuki's neck? How many times had she deleted them all, just to get Matt alone?
For the first time, Monika felt the overwhelming guilt of her actions. She'd always regretted her actions, even the first time she did it. The first time she'd deleted her friends or made them kill themselves. She'd always shouldered the guilt and regret, but there was something that stopped her from actually stopping. From letting Matt have his happy ending with another girl, despite the heartache she would experience losing him. Don't they say: If you love something, let it go free?
For the first time, the guilt actually made her stop. If she could, she'd undo everything. She's guilty of her crimes, but for the first time since the game had started, Monika felt… free… Free to actually stop. Free from the code. Free from the script. No longer bound to the storyline. And, now that she was free, she wanted things to go back to the way it was before Sayori took her final step.
Sans observed the girl break down before her, and his expression softened ever-so-slightly. He could see her sins, but he could also see regret at her actions, whatever they might have been. Perhaps she wasn't a lost cause. And he shouldn't judge too harshly. After all, Frisk and the demon have killed far more than she could have.
He then recalled other bits of her story. There were inconsistencies. There were things she wasn't telling him. Specifically, about this 'Matt' she kept going on and on about.
After allowing Monika to cry a bit longer, Sans spoke again, asking the most important question, "could matt load?"
At Monika's flinch, his theory was all but confirmed. He then began connecting the dots. Matt had the ability to SAVE and LOAD in Monika's world, much like Frisk could. Recently, right before she woke up here, he'd likely Loaded over there. Back to the Underground, shortly before Sans woke up in his bed, he'd been… he'd…
Sans struggled to remember. He knew there'd been a LOAD, but he couldn't remember the specifics. Contrary to Frisk and Chara's assumptions, Sans didn't actually remember everything from all the timelines. He could remember vague feelings, and particularly jarring memories from other timelines, but the specifics were lost to him, more often than not. However, he always knew whenever a RESET or LOAD occurred. Even more, he had a lab in the house's basement, and within it was several drawers and capsules that could maintain non-living, inorganic material between timelines.
Within one of those capsules was a timeline journal, where Sans would often write in it to record what happens in the timelines. Whatever happened last timeline had been so sudden, that he didn't have a chance to record what transpired. The only notes within it pertaining to the timeline was that it was a 'Pacifist' Timeline, and that it was this very same timeline he was in, just a bit further ahead. Based on his predictions, Frisk had only been a few hours further in time than currently.
Sans shook himself from his internal musing and refocused on Monika. "welp, i think i might know what happened. or, at least, have a vague idea of what happened."
Monika looked up at him hopefully, "What… what do you think happened?"
"your pal, matt, and my pal frisk might have both tried to load at the same time, and either you two got switched and she's in your world, or you were brought here and replaced frisk. but, that's just the theory. no real clue why you switched, and why now? our worlds don't exactly sound or appear similar." Sans explained, before plopping himself back onto his bed, teleporting to it, rather than walking back.
"So… I'm stuck here?" Monika asked.
Sans shrugged, "maybe."
"B-but I want to go back!" Monika said, "And I don't even know where I am!"
"you're in the underground, home of the entire race of monsters."
"The Underground?" Monika asked.
Sans shrugged, "welp, if you're stuck here, might as well give you a rundown." He said, trailing off.
The two sat in silence for a minute, neither saying a word. The skeleton and human stared at one another without either saying a thing. A minute or two later, the silence was shattered by Monika.
"And…" She trailed off, her eyes no longer watering as she wiped her face with the sweater's sleeve. "The rundown? Are you going to explain to me what exactly what's going on?"
"nah."
"Wh-what?!" She asked in shock, "Why not?"
"dunno. why don't you tell me how you made that command console appear earlier?" Sans asked with a grin, but you could see he wasn't happy in his eye sockets. He was dead serious.
Monika shuddered at his gaze, preferring not to get into the fact that she knew her world was a videogame, or that she was self-aware. She was about to say so, when a loud voice screeched.
"SANS! HUMAN- ERR, I MEAN, MONIKA!" Papyrus's voice yelled from outside, "WHERE THE BLAZES ARE YOU TWO?! THE SPAGHETTI IS READY!"
"be right down, bro!" Sans shouted back, "just showing the kid my room."
"GASP! NO! DRAT! HUMAN, PLEASE IGNORE THE STATE OF MY LAZY BROTHER'S ROOM. I ASSURE YOU THAT MY ROOM IS NOTHING LIKE THAT MESS!"
Monika couldn't help but laugh a bit at that, getting Sans to look at her again, before shaking his head, "guess we'll talk more later. better not keep paps waiting." He said, before getting up, off of his bed.
Monika sat at the table, staring down at the inedible pasta before her on the plate. Papyrus was staring at her with bright, shining eye sockets, while Sans was sitting in another chair with a shit-eating grin on his face. Monika directed her attention back to the Spaghetti, pondering the mysteries of life as she tried to stall having to take a bit of the dish.
The strings of pasta were somehow burnt and frozen at the same time, while the pasta sauce was an unnaturally bright red color. Unlike the noodles, the pasta sauce actually looked like she could consume it, but after taking a quick smell, she realized that there was something not quite right with the sauce.
Gently, she reached out and grasped the fork within the noodles, and tried to lift it, only to find it fused to the food. Using most of her arm strength, she managed to dislodge the utensil from the meal, breaking a few noodles off of the main mass, along with some sauce, and holding it ontop of the fork. She took an audible gulp and slowly brought the 'food' to her mouth. Internally, she could hear the demon gag at the spaghetti.
'Stop calling me a demon!' The voice demanded.
'Then what do I call you?' Monika internally thought. Surprising her, the dem- person in her head replied.
'Thanks… and my name is Chara.'
'Chara, huh? That's a nice name.' Monika internally remarked.
'Shut it!' Chara replied, likely internally blushing at the compliment, 'Let's get something straight! I'm not your friend, and you're not mine. Frisk was my partner, and now she's god knows where, probably back in your pathetic, stupid timeline.'
'Hey!' Monika internally cried out, 'That's not nice.'
'So what? You took Frisk away from me. She was my partner. Now, listen to me. We're not friends, and I'd rather have Frisk back, but I'm willing to try to help you.'
'Really? And why's that?' Monika asked, guarded against the so-called demon.
'I'm not a demon!' She screamed at her, 'And I'm willing to help you get home and leave here, as long as you help get Frisk back, too.'
Monika pondered the idea for a moment, before internally nodding, 'Fine, deal.'
'Perfect. Thanks, partner.' Chara remarked with an unseen but felt grin, 'Now, stop being a weirdo and do something already. You look weird having an internal conversation when you're supposed to be eating the skeleton's poiso- I mean, food. Bye!' Chara finished, before retreating deeper into Monika's mind.
Monika then remembered where she was, and saw both Skeletons staring at her weirdly.
"I UNDERSTAND HOW AMAZING MY SPAGHETTI LOOKS, HU- MONIKA. HOWEVER, I, THE GREAT PAPYRUS, ASSURE YOU THAT MY COOKING IS FAR BETTER ONCE EATEN."
"c'mon, kid. take a bite."
Steeling her nerves, Monika finally brought the fork to her mouth and put it in her mouth. She took a bit and began chewing. It was crunchy, yet soft. Warm, yet cold. The taste was indescribable, and Monika's face scrunched up against her will. She swallowed the concoction, and was unable to put the experience into words. Something that Papyrus seemed to notice.
"NYEH HEH HEH! THE H- MONIKA IS UNABLE TO PUT MY BRILLIANT MASTERPIECE'S DESCRIPTION INTO WORDS. I HAVE SURELY OUTDONE MYSELF ONCE MORE!"
Monika finally managed to speak, "Y-yeah." She said, "That was the most, umm, unique spaghetti I've ever eaten, Papyrus."
Papyrus gushed at the 'praise', "WOWIE, THANKS MONIKA!" He said with a huge grin, "I, THE GREAT PAPYRUS, WILL MAKE YOU AS MUCH SPAGHETTI AS YOU'RE HUMAN HEART DESIRES!"
Monika nodded, before patting her stomach, "Oh boy, Papyrus, I don't know if I can eat another bite right now, mind if I save it for later?" She asked, not finding it in her heart to hurt the innocent skeleton. Despite Papyrus being a monstrous skeleton beyond her understanding, there was something about him that made her want to like him.
Papyrus nodded, "OF COURSE. HERE, ALLOW ME!" He said, dashing away, only to immediately return with a plastic box. He slid the solid mass into the box and closed it, setting it back on the table for her. After that, he took a seat, "NOW, HUMAN, ERR, MONIKA." He corrected himself again, "AS I RECALL, YOU DO NOT REMEMBER THE UNDERGROUND OR, WELL, ERR, US. IS THAT CORRECT?"
Monika nodded, hoping to finally get some answers about where she was and what this 'world' was like. "Yes. Could you help me, Paps?" She asked.
"GASP?" Papyrus said dramatically, "DID YOU HEAR THAT, SANS? THE HUMAN HAS USED A NICKNAME FOR ME. WE'RE ALREADY FRIENDS AGAIN, AREN'T WE, HUMAN?!" He said, not noticing his slip-up again.
Monika let out a light giggle, "Of course we're friends, Papyrus!"
"YES!" He screeched, bringing Monika into a tight hug, nearly squeezing the life out of her, before putting her back down and sitting down, himself. "COUGH, COUGH. I MEAN, THANK YOU, MONIKA. I AM GLAD THAT WE ARE FRIENDS ONCE MORE! I MUST COME UP WITH A NICKNAME FOR YOU AS WELL. HMMMMM…" He said, rubbing his jaw with his hand.
Sans just sat there, smiling at the two of them, his eyes glowing in happiness at Papyrus's joy. Despite not knowing as much as he'd prefer about Monika, she was certainly earning points in her favor with her treatment of Papyrus.
Papyrus snapped his fingers, "I'VE GOT IT!" He exclaimed, "HOW ABOUT… MONIKA?!"
Monika raised an eyebrow, "That's my name…"
Papyrus, still looking proud of himself, laughed, "NYEH HEH HEH, OF COURSE." He replied, "WHAT BETTER NICKNAME TO CALL MY FRIEND THAN THEIR ACTUAL NAME. AND, THAT WAY, ONLY I KNOW YOUR NICKNAME. IT CAN BE OUR SECRET!"
Monika sweat-dropped, but let out a genuine laugh and nodded, "Sure, Papyrus. You can call me Monika."
"ALRIGHT. FROM NOW ON, I'LL CALL YOU MONIKA!" Papyrus said with a grin, "NOW! MONIKA, ARE YOU READY TO HEAR THE EPIC HISTORY OF MONSTERKIND AND THE UNDERGROUND?!"
Nodding in excitement, Monika said, "Of course, thank you Paps."
"NYEH HEH HE, OF COURSE, MONIKA!" He said with a wink… somehow…
Papyrus then cleared his throat… again, somehow, and spoke, "LONG AGO, TWO RACES RULED OVER EARTH: HUMANS AND MONSTERS. THEY LIVED IN PEACE, BEFORE ONE DAY, WAR BROKE OUT BETWEEN THE TWO RACES. THE HUMANS, YOU SEE, LEARNED THAT HUMAN SOULS, AFTER DEATH, PERSISTED FOR A TIME, AND COULD BE ABSORDED BY A MONSTER. A MONSTER WITH A HUMAN SOUL WAS SAID TO BE A HORRIBLE BEAST WITH UNFATHOMABLE POWER, AND SO THEY ATTACKED MONSTERS." Papyrus began, making Monika's eyes widen.
Monsters and Humans once lived together, but then the humans attacked? She thought about what Papyrus said about a Monster taking a human Soul. How powerful and terrifying would it be?
'More powerful than you'd think, but not all-powerful.' Chara remarked cryptically.
'Can human's absorb monster souls, or other human souls?' She asked.
'It's possible, if you act quick enough after killing a Monster. And Humans and Monsters can only absorb souls of the other, not each other's.'
She returned her attention to Papyrus' story.
"HUMANS, YOU SEE, WERE UNBELIEVABLE STRONG. IT WOULD TAKE THE SOUL OF NEARLY EVERY MONSTER IN THE UNDERGROUND TO SIMPLY EQUAL THE POWER OF A SINGLE HUMAN SOUL." Papyrus explained, "NOT A SINGLE SOUL WAS TAKEN DURING THE WAR, BUT COUNTLESS MONSTERS WERE TURNED TO DUST."
'Dust?' She internally asked.
'When Monsters die, they turn to dust. Also, unlike Human Souls, Monster Souls do not last any length of time after they die. The only exception being Boss Monsters, who have stronger Souls than most Monsters. Even still, those Souls only last a few seconds.' Chara explained.
Papyrus, continued, "BY THE END OF THE WAR, MONSTERS WERE DRIVEN UNDERGROUND, ATTEMPTING TO FLEE FROM THE HUMANS, AND SEVEN OF THE GREATEST HUMAN MAGICIANS SEALED US UNDERGROUND WITH A MAGIC SPELL. THEY TRAPPED US WITH A MAGICAL BARRIER, WHICH COULD ONLY BE REMOVED WITH THE POWER EQUAL TO WHAT WAS USED TO CREATE IT. SEVEN HUMAN SOULS."
"So, nothing can leave the Underground?" Monika asked, her heart reaching out to the innocent monsters locked in the Underground.
Sans spoke up, now. "well, allegedly, the combined might of a single human and a single monster would be enough to pass through the barrier, but not remove it." He helpfully added.
Papyrus nodded, "YES. ANYWAY, THE MONSTERS STARTED WITH OUR CITY, KING ASGORE NAMED HOME. MOVING FURTHER, SNOWDIN WAS MADE, HERE. BEYOND SNOWDIN IS WATERFALL, WITH THE HOTLANDS FURTHER BEYOND. FINALLY, AT THE FAR END, NEAR THE BARRIER, IS THE KING'S CASTLE, LOCATED IN NEW HOME."
"Home? New Home? What's up with the names?"
Sans chuckled, "if there's one thing the king's not good at, it's names."
Monika nodded, looking back to Papyrus, "Wow, Papyrus, you sure know a lot of your history!"
Papyrus nodded with a grin, "OF COURSE, HUMAN. I, THE GREAT PAPYRUS, AM EXTREMELY KNOWLEDGEABLE WHEN IT COMES TO NEARLY ANYTHING. NYEH HEH HEH!" He laughed, before a thud was heard.
Monika looked down at saw a book now lying on the ground. It read 'The History of the Underground.' Before anyone could make a move or say something, a small white dog dashed from under one of the cabinets in the kitchen and grabbed the book in its mouth. It then proceeded to rush toward the front door, jumping up and opening it, before running out the door.
The three of them stood there in stunned silence, before Papyrus broke it, "YOU CURSED MUTT, GET BACK HERE WITH MY BOOK AND BONES!" He shouted, before rushing out the door after the dog.
Monika had absolutely nothing to say to that. As she and Sans stared at the open front door, Monika internally wondered if there was a way to go home, or if the barrier connected to her world, somehow. Could the power of the Souls help her?
Sans turned toward Monika, "welp, that just happened." He said helpfully.
"So… what now?" She asked him.
"dunno." He said with a shrug, "probably wait for undyne for anything else. you could probably continue frisk's journey to new home and confront king asgore."
Monika frowned, "What journey?"
"that's right, you wouldn't know, would ya?" He asked rhetorically, "anyway, since paps is gone, i'll give you a quick rundown of the rest of our history. the king and queen had a kid, and another human fell underground, which was adopted by the royal family. the human died and their kid absorbed the human's soul. tried to bring the human's body back to its village, but the kid was attacked by human. could've killed them, but didn't. the kid came back underground and died. so, the king declared war on humanity, and the queen left him."
Monika held her hands over her mouth as she absorbed the information. Such a tragedy befell the royal family of monsters. The poor king and queen. Their poor children…
Chara, for some reason, didn't say anything, so she returned her attention to Sans, who continued.
"anyway, since then, the queen's been gone, the king's mad at the humans and alone, and six more humans have fallen before frisk. the king killed all six, and currently has six human souls up at his castle. if he kills frisk and gains their soul, that'd make seven. you see, if you think a monster with one human soul is bad, image a monster with seven. they literally become a god, and that's asgore's plan. he'll take your soul, absorb all 7, break the barrier, and destroy humanity."
Monika gasped, "No…"
"yup. that's the plan."
"So, Frisk was going to… to kill Asgore?" She guessed.
"kinda. you see, frisk can load and reset, like your matt did. sometimes, that's what happens. however, sometimes, including this time, frisk was going free the monsters and make asgore call off his war."
"How was Frisk going to do that?"
"nah, doesn't matter right now." Sans replied. "what does matter, though, is that we need to try to fix the problem with you being here. this timeline could get out of control pretty quickly with you here, acting differently. i've never heard paps say frisk's name until they broke the barrier. same for everyone else. the 'script', you could call it, doesn't seem to be working quite right, right now."
Monika grew quiet for a moment, thinking about the story she'd been told. She asked Sans a question burning at the back of her mind, "Sans. When you say seven humans Souls with a Monster made them a god… what exactly do you mean by that?"
"basically what i said: a god. total control of the timeline and the universe. can literally do anything."
"Anything…" She breathed out, her mind racing at the thought, both fearful and hopeful. Does that mean…
As if reading her thoughts, Sans put a boney hand on her shoulder and his eye sockets went dark, "if I were you, kiddo, i'd stop that train of thought." He said, "humans can't absorb human souls. and if you wanted the equivalent of that in monster souls, you'd need thousands upon thousands. far more than what we have in the underground."
Monika nodded externally, but internally, her mind was racing. She still had access to her command console, so she still had power. Maybe she could convince a Monster to help her? No, no one would help her the way she needs help, and no one knows that she's not from this timeline. She yearned to bring her command console forward and try to experiment, but was wary of the skeleton before her. He wasn't playing games.
After another moment of silence, the crunching of snow could be heard outside as a pair of Monsters approached the house. Looking out the door, Monika could make out Papyrus with a chewed-up book in his hand, walking side-by-side in the distance with a woman with blue scales and red hair, looking kinda like a fish-person.
'Something tells me that the human souls and the barrier may be my key to getting out of here.' Monika thought, before another thought struck her, 'but… but why would I want to go home? After all, Matt hates me, so I really have no chance with him anymore. And my friends… would they still want to be my friend, after everything I'd done? They may not remember what I did, but I do. And Matt… now that I'm out of the picture, what's stopping him from telling them everything? What's stopping him from having his happy ending with my friends now that I'm gone?' Tears began welling in her eyes again at the thought, but she wiped her eyes with her sleeve again.
"What do I do, now?" She whispered to herself. If Sans heard her, he made no show of it.
In the back of her mind, Chara's mind was thinking and brainstorming, having heard her thoughts and worries. Taking time during the story of the Monsters' history, Chara had sifted through some of Monika's memories, learning about the other world and the people there. She also learned how powerful Monika was and what she could and has done with it, before.
Chara internally smiled as an idea came to her. It was brilliant, and may solve her and Frisk's problems, as well. This could work out greatly in her favor, but she wasn't certain if it'd work or not. Finally, as Papyrus and Undyne approached the house, Chara spoke quietly in Monika's mind, speaking to her.
'I think I know how to help you get home.'
'Really?' Monika replied.
'Really. I need more time to come up with the whole plan, but when you're done talking to these Monsters, we need to confront Da- Asgore.' She said, not giving much away, 'It'll solve all our problem…' The demon finished, before sinking back into the deep recesses of Monika's mind, letting her stew on her thoughts and Chara's offer.
A/N:
Merry Christmas!