Chapter 35: Dirty Work

I need Sans.

It had been the three days that Tabatha needed to get more information on my… condition. Each day that I was allowed out, I visited Kody's resting place before anywhere else. One day, after visiting the cemetery, I wanted to go see Kody's apartment. Well, I guess the apartment is actually… mine, now. Anyways, I went to the apartment, to see if anything was still in there and… everything was. His clothes, his pictures, everything. And it still smelt faintly of him. There was one thing though, one thing that shocked me to my core.

A ring.

He had a ring in one of his jacket pockets. He probably had it from a previous relationship, but it had my name and his engraved on it. It might not have been an engagement ring, but it was still a ring. And it was one that was specially made for me.

When Emma, my guard, saw it, she burst into tears. She left the room, apologizing profusely for both her tears and for what happened to Kody.

I, of course, put the ring onto my right ring finger. It was a perfect fit.

Two days later when I met up with Tabatha while Emma went upstairs to her cozy area, the ring did not go unnoticed.

"That's a gorgeous ring! Where did you get it from?" Tabatha asked before we dived into our serious discussion.

I looked down at the ring on my right hand, admiring the sparkle of mine and Kody's birthstones. "Oh, this? I found it in Kody's apartment."

Tabatha's eyebrow furrowed, "Kody? I've heard of a lot of your friends, but, I don't think I've ever heard the name Kody among them."

"You haven't? I would have thought that Papyrus would have told you about him. Well, Kody was my boyfriend, but…. well, let's just say it's not a happy ending," I explained quietly to Tabatha.

"Like a break-up, or- Oh God, wait, oh no, did he die?" Tabatha's features took on one of pain, "Oh my God Frisk, I'm so sorry!"

I waved her off, really not feeling much sorrow. "Tabatha, calm down and focus. There's no time to be sorry, because we have limited time right now. I'm sorry, but we should get down to business."

"To defeat the huns?" Tabatha quietly asked with a small smile. When I didn't give her a smile, she continued on more seriously, "Okay, so here's what I know. LV, or, Level Of Violence, increases HP, ATK, and DF when it rises. Sans sort of described it as 'A way of measuring someone's capacity to hurt', but that's all he said on it. Most of the time, you can point out people with the higher LV levels, because of their actions or words and such. And Papyrus briefly said something about LV going up when you physically harm someone, but I conversed with Alphys, and she concluded that you could hurt someone emotionally and have your LV go up. Now your LV doesn't go up every time you say something mean, but your LV goes up when you deliberately do something to make someone feel bad or hurt them. From what it said in history books, there's no complete factual way to get your LV down, but there are some theories. And something else that I found in the history books, is that the highest known LV levels were: 1,560,000,000. And that LV level belonged to Mao Zedong, who killed 49-78 million people."

I listened until Tabatha seemed to finish up, "That's…. really interesting. I have a few questions though. Can you answer them?"

Tabatha looked a bit unsure, "I can try, but there's only so much that I know."

"You said there were some theories about getting LV down to lower levels. Can you tell me about those theories? Or is there a book or a journal that I can read to find out more?" I questioned.

Tabatha looked troubled, "Well, there are some journals. But from everything that I read, none of them go into detail, and they're all assumptions or theories. From what I could see, you can get your LV down by just…. well, you're Frisk, the saviour of monsters, one of the kindest humans everyone knows."

"So, I'm assuming that what you're saying means…. I have to be nice, and kind, and just this peachy little perfect angel?" I snapped. I took a moment, trying to keep my snappiness and such down. "I mean…. Just, just what do I have to do to get my levels down? And how quickly will they go down?"

Tabatha bit her lip, looking through some notes she had written down, "Well, it's all theory and assumptions, so I don't know how accurate this information will be. But from what I have here, it can take… months, just to get rid of three levels of LV." Tabatha quickly carried on when she saw my fists clench, "You just have to refrain from both negative thoughts and comments, and try to…. cease any snappiness, any rude remarks, any violent mannerisms or actions…. you just have to be the person that you were, before your LV levels increased."

I ran a hand through my hair, grabbing it tightly at the top, "That is going to be so frustratingly hard." I released my hair, clenching my fists and digging my nails into my palms, "I have a… completely different mindset now. My thoughts, my thought process, my actions, my mannerisms…. they're all so different now, and it's hard to think of how I was before."

Tabatha's eyes were swimming with concern as she sat down and picked up a pen, "Can you… elaborate, Frisk? Can you explain to me, in more detail, or in a way that I can understand? Can you help me understand?"

"Well that's just it, you can't understand!" I shouted to the girl. I clenched my fists even tighter, I didn't like the way I was acting right now. "It's just…. Ugh! When I look back at who I was, I feel disgusted because I was a naive, innocent, little goody-two-shoes who thought everyone could be a good person and that everyone deserved mercy. But the world isn't like that, not at all, and I thought it was! And then there's the bullshit on not hurting anyone. I thought, that even if people were bad and wanted to hurt me, I could persuade them to be different, to choose a different path and be a good person. But the 'bad guys', are not like that, not in the slightest! They don't care about who I am, or what I do. They don't care if I'm just an 18 year old who has to live in a compound and train everyday, they don't care that I can't see my family and friends because if I did see the people I love, they'd be killed immediately! The 'bad guys' don't care about any of that! And I just… I get so frustrated and angry that I want to scream!" My throat burned because of my need to scream and because of my rant, and my breathing was heavy as I stood there.

Tabatha wasn't shocked or scared after my yelling, instead she was surprisingly calm. But her eyes were still full of concern and pain, "Oh Frisk… I wish I could help you, I really truly do. Maybe if-"

"No," my voice was flat as I replied. "We are not dragging any of them into this… Honestly, I shouldn't have even dragged you into this."

"Frisk, I want to help you. Please, don't push me away. I can find out more about LV, I'll find ways to lower them more quickly. Just give me more time, I promise, I will find a way to help you. Okay?" Tabatha had gotten up and crossed over to me, the shorter girl reaching up to put a comforting hand on my shoulder.

I reluctantly nodded, accepting her help.

Tabatha looked relieved, "Okay, thank you. Now, I think you're time here is almost up, so you should probably disguise yourself again."

I hadn't had the chance to do anything, before the door was suddenly opened. "Good morning Tabby! I know you said not to come until a little later because of some important business, but-" Papyrus pulled up short when he saw me, his small smile dropping immediately. "…..."

I looked over to Tabatha, who looked absolutely petrified, "Papyrus, I- it's- I mean-"

Papyrus had a hurt look on his features, his voice unusually quiet, "You said that you'd tell us if you found her. You promised us that you'd- I just- Why? Why wouldn't you tell us, or at least me?" Tabatha didn't say anything, she just stood there, "How long have you been lying to us?"

I snapped my fingers, grounding Papyrus' soul to the spot he was in, "I'm sorry Paps, this is a precaution. I can't take the chance of you running out, y'know?" I turned to Tabatha, "Go out, make sure no one else is here with him. If there is someone else with him, distract them."

Tabatha hesitantly went out the door, pausing by Papyrus for a moment, reaching a hand out to him before quickly retracting it and leaving. When the door was shut, I released Papyrus' soul, and watched as he made his way over to Tabatha's bed, sitting down.

"Where have you been, Frisk?" Papyrus asked quietly.

I began to distance myself, ready for the conversation that was about to occur. "I've been keeping you safe."

Papyrus put a hand on my shoulder, his voice not quite pleading, but getting there. "Come home, Frisk. Everyone misses you so much, and it just seems like things get worse and worse everyday that you're gone. Come home."

"No. I'm not going to come home. I don't think I ever will," I said quite casually.

Papyrus' brow furrowed, his voice now taking on that pleading tone, "Please Frisk, come home. We don't care about anything that you've done in the past, we only care about you! Please, just come back."

I scoffed, "Papyrus, don't be such an imbecile. I'm not coming home!"

Papyrus flinched from my insult, but he still would not stop, "Don't you care about us? Don't you care about your family? Your friends?"

I shook my head furiously, ignoring the stinging in my eyes. He wasn't going to persuade me to go home. I couldn't.

Papyrus went on, "What about me? Toriel? Asgore? Asriel? Chara? What about Sans? Melody?"

I jumped up, hands flaming at the mention of Melody. "I don't care! You're not my family! You're just monsters that I took pity on! You're all nothing to me!" I felt my LV go up, and for the first time, it audibly chimed.

Papyrus ignored his hurt, confused by the chime and what I had said, "Frisk, is there something… wrong? Are you sick? Do you need help?"

I turned away from him, checking my stats with shaking hands.

HP: 92/92

ATK: 150

DF: 150

EXP: 50,000

LV: 19

I flinched back, my pulse racing. How did my LV jump from 15 to 19?! It shouldn't be able to do that!

From behind me, I heard a gasp, and whirled around to see that Papyrus had checked my stats as well. Papyrus looked at me with such sorrow, reaching a hand out to me hesitantly, "Frisk, if you come home with me, Sans, Alphys, they can help you. Please."

I shook my head, feeling nauseous, "No. No, I can't. If I do, they'll kill you, they'll kill you all."

"See? You do care, if you didn't, you'd just come with me and let us all be killed," Papyrus softly said. Papyrus turned the subject, "Who's doing this to you? Who said they'd kill us if you came home?"

I shook my head, still feeling nauseous, "No! I won't come home! You're wrong, I don't care! I hate you, I hate you all!"

Papyrus ignored my words, embracing me in a crushing hug when he stepped close enough. "I'm right, and you know it. You care. And you always will, no matter how high your LV is."

I let him hug me, but I refused to hug back. And I refused to cry, "Just go home, please. And don't tell anyone about what happened today. You never saw me. I was never here."

Papyrus hugged me tighter, breathing in deeply. "Okay, I won't tell them," he exhaled. "But if things get too out of control, if Tabby can't help you, I will get Sans and Alphys. It's for your own good. Okay?"

No. If I don't get better, I'll just have to pretend. "Okay. I need to go, before my guard gets back."

"Goodbye, Frisk. Stay safe, okay dear human?" Papyrus called out as I opened the door.

"….." Goodbye.

"Okay Frisk, since I've been generous and given you privileges, I need you to do something for me," Alexandra purred from across the table.

I crossed my arms, eyebrows raised, "Just what exactly do I need to do?"

Alexandra's smile became impossibly large, her eyes shining with malevolence. "A mission. A mission that's…. quite similar to the one Pandora was assigned."

"You're asking me to… kill someone?" I asked, eyebrows furrowed in contemplation.

Alexandra was practically sending off waves of pleasure, excited to see if I was still the same pacifist that I was when I came here. "Yes, I am asking you to assassinate someone."

….. "Who?"

Alexandra's smile faltered, "Um, Stanley Cohen." Her eyes were now focused on me in intense curiosity.

"Why?" I questioned.

"Why? What do you mean, 'why'?" Alexandra looked at me not with annoyance or anger, but still that shining curiosity.

"You know exactly what I mean. Why do you want me to kill him?" I snapped.

Alexandra looked shocked for a moment, before chuckling. "Well now, this is getting interesting. Okay, you want a reason? Well here you go little missy: he's ruining my great big plan for your little monster friends. He's messing everything up, and I want him out of my way."

"That's not a good enough reason. If you want me to kill him, I need something else. Like: he beat a pregnant lady to death, or he's killing babies or something," I said, getting up and heading to the door.

"Actually, you're correct. He did beat someone to death, a pregnant monster, in fact. So technically, he killed two beings," Alexandra piped up before I could leave.

I slowly let go of the door handle, my interest piqued. "Now, that's a good reason to kill someone!" I exclaimed, smiling.

Alexandra looked baffled at my sudden change in personality, feeling uneasy. "It… is, isn't it? Um, do you want the details?"

I nodded, lazily striding over to my seat and sitting. "Of course. It's been a bit boring around here recently, I need something to do. Hey, maybe I can have another target? Y'know, in case I finish Mr. Cohen here quite easily and quickly."

Alexandra shifted uneasily in her seat, "Um, of course. How about…. Aha," Alexandra smiled maliciously. "How about we kill one of your loved ones? Like… little miss Pandora Evans- actually, no, I've changed my mind. Let's do little miss hero here, and go with Undyne, your fish friend." Alexandra eyed me happily, waiting for my reaction.

I smiled, "Finally. Things are getting a little exciting. Okay, done deal. Now tell me when, where, and how."

Alexandra's mouth dropped for a split second, before she silently handed me two manila folders. I looked through Mr. Cohen's first. I would have to go in about a month, when he'd be dropping by to threaten Tabatha. Alexandra had already taken care of finding out where he'd be and when, so I just had to do the dirty work of killing him. He'd be at Tabatha's on a Wednesday night, around 6:30, and he'd have one escort with him so he wouldn't draw too much attention. Alexandra wanted me to take care of the escort by casting an illusion on him, and when Mr. Cohen was alone with Tabatha, I was to land my blade perfectly to sever his spinal cord.

For Undyne, she'd be out a little bit later at around 7:20 for her training. She'd be alone, so it'd be easier to get to her. Since Undyne always takes a specific route home, I'd wait until she came up on an alley, and cast an illusion of me asking for help saying that I'd escaped. When she went in for the bait, I'd just go ahead and do something simple, like slit her throat.

When I finished reading, I looked up at Alexandra, who was waiting anxiously. I gave her an innocent smile, "Fantastic. I'll be training with blades until my mission day is here, and everything will go smoothly. Any questions?"

Alexandra furrowed her brow, but shook her head. Before I left though, I took a peak at her stats. And only one thing popped out to me.

She was scared of me.

It had been a little over a week before I went back to Tabatha. My guard didn't really care about what I did at this point, she told me to just stay at the location while she chilled upstairs, and she'd be cool.

Right now I was sitting with Tabatha, Papyrus had gone out when I asked him to.

"So, Tabatha, I need one last favor," I said as she made our tea.

Tabatha grabbed my glass, heading over to me, "And what's this favor?"

"If I were to seriously injure a monster, and they're on the brink of life and death, would I be able to heal them? Even as they started to turn to dust?" I threw out, my heart pounding.

The sound of glass shattering on impact with the floor was impossibly loud in the room, as Tabatha gaped at me in horror. "Why would you even want to know about that?! Oh my God Frisk, that's just… that's sick, that's what it is!"

"So, I'm assuming you won't help me with that information," I replied flatly.

Tabatha threw the teacup in her hand at me, getting my arm. "NO! Oh my God, just, get out. If you're just embracing your LV, and plan on murdering an innocent monster, then get the hell out!"

I casually plucked a glass teacup shard from my arm, heading to the door, "Okay. Make sure Papyrus doesn't say anything about our meetings. And you can't squeal either. Later Tabs."

Tabatha's voice was deadly serious when I was going out the door, "Just so you know, Frisk, if you dare to hurt Papyrus…. I won't hesitate to hurt you. I don't care if I'm just some human while you're a mage, I will try my best to hurt you badly if you even think about hurting Papyrus. Got it?"

"Sure."

The month went by quickly, my mission day already here.

Alexandra had already went over the plan with my, but she didn't really say much; she was still scared of me.

Now, I was just waiting inside Tabatha's, disguised as a customer. I had arrived around 6:15, so I would have plenty of time, in case Mr. Cohen showed up earlier than he was supposed. But as planned, he showed up right now time. I let the guy throw a few empty threats around, before he got down to business. When he got down to business, I put an illusion on his escort, making his escort believe that there was a suspicious figure outside, leaving my target vulnerable.

I made sure that my hair was still up in a tight bleach blonde bun, that my eyes were a dazzling green, and that I looked and sounded nothing like myself. When I was ready, I got my blade out, quietly stalking towards my target. Lucky for me, I was right behind him, not even being seen by him nor Tabatha. When I was ready to strike, I just… did it. I had to hold the knife with the blade held flat, and the sharp edge towards the spine. Then I stabbed deeply and firmly into the back of the target's neck, the blade point angled towards the front center. Then I just had to firmly yank the knife towards the spine. Easy peasy.

My voice was quiet, and low, "That, Cohen, is for everything you've done against monster kind. But this was more specifically done for that pregnant monster."

I let his body drop, and quickly left the shop when Tabatha started screaming.

Now I just had to wait for Undyne.

By the time that Undyne left, my illusion was ready to go, and immediately attracted her attention when she went past.

"Who's over there? Do you need hel- Frisk!" Undyne dropped the bag she had been carrying, and she ran to my illusion, believing that it was real.

When she embraced the illusion, I struck. I threw my most powerful attack at her, which immediately took all of her health down, causing her to collapse and turn to dust. Which was different. From what I remembered from the genocide run, she would always become some sort of true heroine by the means of determination. But that wasn't happening this time. Anyways, I had no time to dwell on that.

I immediately jumped from my hiding place, pulling out my phone and hitting record. I still had the same disguise as earlier, and put on a malicious smile, "Done Boss, and I just have to say…. I enjoyed this mission immensely…. Let's do it again sometime!" When I stopped recording and had hit send, I immediately went to Undyne's side, working my healing magic.

While I had done great with my more destructive powers, healing wasn't my strongest point. But I did what I could, working extremely hard to make sure Undyne was okay. By the time that I had her whole again, instead of half dust, I was drained and dripping with sweat. Now I had to wait, to make sure she was actually okay and alive. When her eyes fluttered open, Undyne jumped up, summoning attacks as well. But since she was weak, her attacks flickered out of existence due to her low magical levels.

"Relax fish sticks, I'm not going to hurt you. In fact, I'm actually trying to help you," I said as I leaned against the alley wall.

Undyne practically growled, "Bullshit! You almost killed me a second ago! Now, where's the girl; what the hell did you do with Frisk!"

I held my hands up, sweating as I kept my disguise up. "Frisk is fine, she's safe. And actually, she's the one who sent me. She has a message for you and your friends."

Undyne was still in a fighting stance, "And just why should I believe the likes of you, when you tried to kill me?!"

I smiled, walking right up to Undyne, "Well, you shouldn't. That attack that I threw at you though, that was to throw them off my trail. But anyways, as far as anyone else knows, you're dead. Since they believe you're dead, you're dead to the rest of the world as well, got it? That means that you, Alphys, Sans, Melody, all of them, will have to make sure that you're not seen. You'll have to go into hiding. And it's probably best if you guys either move back into the Underground where you'll be better protected, or move somewhere more remote where nobody will know about your whereabouts."

Undyne was still suspicious, but she relaxed slightly, taking my words into consideration. "And just who are you? Why would Frisk send you? Why wouldn't she come herself! And who are these people that you say will kill us?!"

I grabbed Undyne, losing my patience and pinning her to the wall, "Listen here fish, if you don't listen to me, you and everybody you love will die. Frisk sent me because she knew she wouldn't be able to persuade you to leave without her. And even if she came, the compound would just track her down, and kill everyone you guys care about anyways. So either take my advice, or our- your guys' family will be gone in an instant. And this 'they' that I'm talking about, are the people that are watching mine and Frisk's every moves. They're the ones that took me- Frisk, I mean. So listen to me and get out of here before it's too late. Please."

I let go of Undyne, running out of the alley and back to the compound.

I hope she listens.

When I got back to the compound, Alexandra was waiting with questions.

"Well Frisk, while you did get the job done, you stayed in that alley way for… a bit longer than expected. Anything you'd like to tell us?" Alexandra was hesitant, afraid of having me go off at her.

I gave her a chuckle, "Oh, Alexandra, I thought you knew." Alexandra gave me a confused look, so I continued on, "I wanted to watch her slowly turn to dust, crumbling and fading away right in front of my eyes. I was hoping to see the light go out of Mr. Cohen's eyes, but Tabatha had begun screaming, so I decided it was best to get out of there quickly."

Alexandra quickly got out of my way as I went down the hall and to my room. And I was glad she was too scared to question me on anything else. I needed time to myself anyways.

As I entered my room, I threw myself onto my bed, screaming loud and hard into my pillows. God, what was I doing?! I was supposed to be getting my LV levels down, not up. I quickly took a look at my stats, seeing that my Level Of Violence was now 29. I let out a frustrated sigh, rubbing my face tiredly with my hands. My LV always jumped so high up whenever I did something to increase it, and it definitely wasn't normal…. I should have listened to Papyrus. I should have gone home. But… I was in so far deep, I don't know if I should go home with the way I am right now. I said devastatingly hurtful things, I was too violent, too…. I just wasn't myself.

What to do….

What to do.

Oh boy. Frisk is… not going down a good path right now. I hope she chooses to try and get her LV down, instead of embracing it.

(Side note: If you guys have any requests for stories or anything, just message me!)

Until Next Time.