Chapter 22: The End
Kia couldn't move.
She could feel it.
Hands wrapped tight around it.
Rage burned through her bones and torched her mane into crackling flames of crimson fury! How dare he!? How dare he touch what is hers!
Pain rocketed throughout her new body. She dropped to her knees as he squeezed her tainted SOUL. She couldn't breathe.
Her hair gentled to a candle glow. Kia just knelt with her back towards the last person in the Underground she had any trust left. Kia clenched her fists tight and pounded them into the ground once before relaxing. Her shoulders lined with tension. Slowly, she raised her hands in surrender and just as slowly, stood up. Turning to stare coldly at the other skeleton, her stare turn wide and incredulous.
There, surrounding the skeleton with her SOUL, were the people who have died by her hands and her deceased husband, all in their respective colors. They would either stare at her grimly or not look at her at all. Kia set her jaw. How they were here she doesn't know, but they are here. They have witnessed what she became.
Sans moved closer to her. The crowd of ghosts moved along with him. Kia could instantly feel the creep of her emotional pain dripping into her being. Sans took another step. Closer and closer it came, it creeped into her physical body. It wracked her with grief, the years of repressed emotions and current torture bubbling up. Kia looked at everyone, but she avoided looking at Kai. He believed in her the most.
Sans inched closer another step. Caging her tainted SOUL within his hands, he came ever nearer … and so did the others.
Kia turned and bolted.
She stumbled he Sans squeezed her SOUL in surprise that she was running away. She passed a solemn Papyrus restraining an irritated Undyne ready to shout and run after her with her magic spears at the ready.
She couldn't take this. No, not yet. She wasn't ready.
Kia continued to run, a void in her being growing with every step she took away.
Earlier
Sans had just given out the emergency evacuation signal to Alphus when Undyne shot out the door of his house, cursing his name and roaring for any and all monsters to get out of her way. Sans rubbed his face in frustration. He sighed.
Papyrus then came in looking confused and distraught. It took Sans all of three minutes to explain what happened in summary before Papyrus also shot out the door to pursue Undyne to stop her from making any mistakes. Sans sat heavily on his couch and sunk into it to collect his wits.
Everything went wrong so fast he didn't have time to react. The kid died. That broke his promise to Toriel again, but then again he was half expecting a time lapse as usual when the kid died. He still expected it. He was waiting for it.
It didn't happen.
It was then as he stared at Kia's sobbing form that this time, he really did break his promise. It was also then that he fully understood how much the kid meant to her. He had been hoping against hope that she wouldn't take revenge out on the Underground with how much she cared not to hurt anyone, but then Chara happened. Now everything went to shit when Kia killed the poltergeist and the weed.
Sans should probably stand up and go check how the evacuation is going. Suddenly, about two dozen broken SOULs shot through his house walls and right up to his face.
"Wait!"
After that, it was just a jumble of voices sounding panicked and scared. Sans couldn't make heads or tails of anything. He couldn't even understand where these shattered Human SOULs came from in the first place. With the human SOULs up in the castle and the SOULs in front of him, there was enough to break the barrier twice with five, or six if counting Frisk, left over.
They didn't quieten until a green SOUL flouted up to him and formed a male human in the same shade of green. They backed off as if ashamed. Sans eyed him warily. The Green Man was taller than Sans but shorter than Papyrus. By the shades of green this guy is made of, Sans guesses he had dark hair and tanned skin. Mr. Green was solemn and serious. His shoulders tense.
"Hello, I apologize for my companions for startling you," Mr. Green starts sincerely, "I am Kai. I am … was Kia's husband."
Sans stood stunned. While he knew Kia would need a spouse to have Frisk, Sans' mind just sort of skipped the notion that she had ever married. Kai smiled ruefully but kindly. Sans could see Frisk in this man. He could see a lot of Frisk in this man. San's SOUL gave a strange ping for Kia. That must be so sad to always have a reminder of her dead husband in her child and since they had just died recently … ah fuck, why should he care? She is probably on a rage killing by now in her grief.
"We need your help Sans the skeleton."
That firm and sharp request snapped Sans out of his dark thoughts. Why would they need his help? Kai suddenly stiffened in alarm. He looked unbearably sad and guilty.
"She has shut herself off from her SOUL. She is corrupting it to kill herself once and for all, but we need to stop her before it is too late. You are the only one she has any trust in that is available to help her. We do not have time, so please, we need your answer quick."
"Will it stop her from killing everyone else?"
"Fine, what do I need to do?"
Kai visually relaxed and smiled at Sans. Sans could only see the kid he took to Grillby's not too long ago. It almost seemed like Frisk only inherited some of Kia's Determination, habits, and genocide tendencies when influenced. Every spirit shuffled and gave some kind of grateful response to Sans' willingness to help.
"You need to catch her SOUL and try to talk to her."
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Kia couldn't feel anything.
Her steps had slowed to a walk. She shuffled mindless and numb. She couldn't even feel the drastic change in temperature as her foot sunk into the snow. On she walked down the desolate road and darkened town, the town was deserted. She didn't take notice. It was her fault anyways if she knew, but she didn't care anymore. She didn't have anything to care with anymore. She walked down her road of self-destruction.
That is, until something caught her eye. A single blaring defiant light in the dark town shone right next to her and above the door. Grillby's the sign said. There was a lite OPEN sign but… was it open?
Kia knocked on the door. No response. She jiggled the knob. The door swung open. Kia stared into the empty bar blankly. She closed the door behind her and made her way into the bar. There wasn't a bartender. Kia slumped onto the lightly greasy wood of the bar top. Kia sat there in silence. Temple on the surface, she stared at the wall.
Until, she heard a whoosh. Warmth crept over her bones and red curly, wavy, candle fire like hair. Kia closed her eye sockets and waited. A couple of minutes passed. Nothing happened. Kia sat her mandible on the bar top to look up at the bar tender with hazy garnet slit eye lights. Pain wrecked through her body as a harsh squeeze was administrated to her tainted SOUL for unknown reasons. Kia whimpered and drew her boney arms up to somehow cover her wince.
A camp fire crackle and pops drew her frazzled focus onto the fiery being quietly cleaning a glass. Somehow she understood what he said. She sat up straighter. She regarded the person in front of her.
"What would you like to have, Miss?"
Kia smirked tiredly though she didn't feel it. What she did feel was that the careful hold on her SOUL had switched hands to a much more painful handler. Kia endured the pain to see an old crumpled menu slide her way. Kia didn't pick it up. With a heavy sigh, she looked back at him. She smiled as a most painful squeeze could be felt.
"I'm sorry. I don't have any money to pay for anything. Besides, it would be best not to serve me."
His head tilted. Kia clenched a fist as the pressure increased enough that her carbon fiber bones creaked. Someone was trying to crush her SOUL.
Kia stayed silent, hoping the fire person would leave after a while. There was a hissing noise that sounded suspiciously like a sigh. Then it was cold. He had left. Kia slumped back onto the table top but with her forehead. Secretly, she had hoped that he would have stayed, so he could witness her death. To prove that she had died once and for all to the others searching for her, so that all this trouble and heartache could end. And, to have some kind company until it was all over.
There were a couple of clinking and one soft thunk before warmth, much warmer than before came to her side instead of in front of her. Looked at him questioningly, Kia noticed that he had placed two clean glasses between them along with something else she recognize, Root Beer Ale bottle. Kia sat up as she stared at the beverage.
When Kia was human and on the surface, she didn't drink too often, more like rarely. She disliked the taste of beer. She hated the taste of wine. She was too wary to try any other fru fru drinks or hard drinks since she had Frisk to think about.
It was actually on a lunch break at work that she pulled out her sandwich and glass bottle of Root Beer Soda. One of her coworkers had thought she had absolutely hated alcoholic drinks and would throw a fit and get fired when they switch out the labels on her drink for the carbonated 5.9% alcoholic sarsaparilla drink.
She had noticed when she took a small whiff of her drink before placing it on her lips, a caution that became a habit. She knew that this wasn't her drink, so she dumped it down the break room's sink and took a foam cup of filtered water instead. Later that day, her boss had done rounds during her prankster coworker's break and noticed that they were drinking her soda with the alcoholic label on it. They were soon fired and root beer soda and ale were banned from the break room. Even when it was their own fault for getting fired they still cursed at her for losing their job, but the drink had peaked her interest. Since then when she had a moment to herself and Frisk was asleep, she would drink one to two bottles before stopping and just enjoy the slight buzz and the taste.
The bottle right now looked a little roughed up, but still whole and intact. It looked like it was frosted before it was picked up by the fire man. Thawing enough to drink, but cool enough to drink pleasantly.
Kia smiled softly as the bartender pours two drinks from the 12 fl oz bottle. He grabbed his and took a sip. He turned a brighter orange as he hummed in pleasure. Kia chuckled in empty and absent amusement and grabbed hers. She stared down at her drink and took a sip. It was a little flat, but it still tasted good.
Kia cupped her drink on the bar top as pain made her gasp in surprise as her SOUL was suddenly under immense pressure. Her forearm and forehead nocked on the bar top as she whimpered. An unbearably warm large hand landed on her shoulder in concern. Tears sprang as a long distant memory of her Husband's hand doing the same, but this time he wasn't here, but the kind bartender.
Kia pulled herself together. It was time. Kia smiled gently and genuinely as tears collected in her eye sockets towards the concerned bar tender. She raised her glass with shaky phalanges. He was sad, but raised his in a toast like her and clinked glasses gently. They both took a sip.
Kia's SOUL shattered once again.
Kia's body slumped back with her glass drained and clutched in her death's grip. Her bones made contact with the ground. A dead human skeleton once more with a glass just under her rib cage on her hospital gown, unbroken without a crack, she laid there with a sad bar tender still taking a few more sips of his drink on his stool. Her bones started the crackle as her anger and foreign hate burned through her remains, turning her body to ash, her magic dissipated leaving a pile of dust with a sticky glass on its side on top.
Something shined from in the ashes, a cord of soft purple fabric with one silver ring. Her wedding ring stringed on the extra fabric of Frisk's infant blanket, half buried in her dust.