Edge of the Abyss

Frisk stalks through waterfall, searching every tiny crack for the monsters who hide away at the sound of her footfalls. When she finds them, she kills them. She feels nothing, except perhaps a dark mass writhing against the wall around her heart. She cannot feel, not now.

Some time though her journey, in the normally featureless blue walls of Waterfall, Frisk spots a grey door. Curious, she opens it.

Inside the small grey monster kid waits.

"Frisk," she says, in her sweet, quiet voice, and Frisk pales, a feeling of guilt washing over her.

"Frisk, you must remember why you do this. For life, not for the death."

Tears run unbidden down her face. How could she have started to enjoy this - this genocide she was committing?

"Frisk, you are the hope of the underground. Stay determined!" She fades away, and Frisk clutches the hem of her sweater, sobs quaking her chest as remorse shoots through her veins like acid. She has to remember why.

Her hands shake as she continues to murder every monster, picking up a tutu and ballet shoes among the reeds, then buying a torn notebook and cloudy glasses from Gerson, who eyes her with disgust. She wants to apologize, over and over, but instead just bows her head and accepts his judgment.

She recognizes the items as having once belonged to humans - humans children. How scared they must have been. How much like the monsters before her and the dust behind her they were. How could she - for gaster for gaster for gaster

Shyren lets out a strangled yelp as she is silenced for good. Frisk remembers the haunting melody she sang, and tears spring to her eyes.

Mad Dummy incorporates, and he smiles. Frisk had never seen that before. He is so happy … He was.

The Echo Flowers are silent.

Monster Kid runs up behind her, and Frisk's heart freezes. Not Monster Kid, please, no

"Yo," he said in a subdued voice. "Undyne told me to stay away from you. She said you… you hurt a lot of people. … But, yo, that's not true, right?! …"

Frisk is silent, struggling to keep from bursting into tears or laughing from sheer overwhelming grief, she isn't sure which.

"...yo… why won't you answer me? A… a… and what's with that weird expression?"

Frisk turns, heart trying to burst from her chest. She steps forward, forcing Monster Kid to back up.

"Oh…" he breathes. "Oh man… Man, my heart's pounding right out of my chest… what would Undyne do?"

He squares his shoulders, facing Frisk defiantly. "Yo. Y-you'd b-better st-stop r-right where you are… Cause if you w-wanna hurt anyone else ...you're… You're gonna have to get through me, first."

Despair cracks through Frisk's soul, threatening to break it and send her plunging into the void of death. He's so young, so selfless and brave.

"A… and...and…"

She raises the torn notebook, unable to put it off any longer.

As she throws it at him, a large shape takes the blow. Undyne stands before him, a gaping gash across her chest cutting straight through her armor.

Monster Kid's eyes are wide, terrified.

"Undyne…" he quavers. "You're… you're hurt…"

"Hurt? It's nothing." Undyne manages half a grin as Frisk takes deep, shuddering breaths of relief. The choice is taken from her, she doesn't have to kill him. Oh, god.

"Next time," she continues, "listen when I tell you to leave, okay?"

"Undyne… I…" Monster Kid whimpers.

"I'll take care of this," Undyne insists, her expression becoming fierce. "Get out of here!"

Monster Kid edges away, then scuttles off, crying.

"...heh… 'It's nothing'..." Undyne rasps, dust beginning to waver from her legs. "No… s-somehow, with just one hit...I'm already...already...D...damn it… Papyrus…" Frisk heart drops like a stone. "Alphys… ASGORE… "Just like that, I… I've failed you."

The dusting spreads, and Frisk turns away.

"No…" Undyne says, her trembling voice steadying. Frisk turns back to see her solidifying. "My body… It feels like it's splitting apart." Her legs still waver. "Like any instant, I'll scatter into a million pieces. "But… Deep, deep in my soul. There's a burning feeling I can't describe. A burning feeling that WON'T let me die. This isn't just about monsters, is it? If you get past me, you'll… You'll destroy them all, won't you?"

No! Frisk cries with every corner of her broken, bleeding soul, but it is that very cry which keeps her silent.

"Monsters… Humans… Everyone… Everyone's hopes. Everyone's dreams. Vanquished in an instant." Her voice begins to rise, growing louder, booming across the empty silence. "But I WON'T let you do that. Right now, everyone in the world…" She looks up, a determination staining her face fiercely beautiful. "I can feel their hearts beating as one. And we all have ONE goal. To defeat YOU. "

Her smile grows, filling her face. "Human. No, whatever you are. For the sake of the whole world… I, UNDYNE, will strike you down."

Her smile turns into a grinning snarl and light shoots out from her. Frisk blinks, tearstruck by the light. Undyne reappears, no longer wavering, clad in black armor with a purple soul on the front.

"You're gonna have to try a little harder than THAT," she shouts, and the battle begins.

She threw the notebook, drawing a gash across Undyne's spear arm. Three slow-moving arrows approached her from the front in return. She held her soul-shield, trembling. Then she spun, as arrows cascaded at her from every direction.

Arrows slipped past her defense, striking her in the soul. They struck like shards of ice and fire, burning away her hope.

She attacked. Spun. Attacked. Spun. White spears targeted her, flying at her from every direction. Her soul cracked, crushed under the weight of mountains on her chest. It is like being ravished by burning hellfire along every inch of every limb that by right, she should no longer be able to feel, while her insides crumple like tissue, shards of her soul tearing them to pieces. She reloads,

Panting, crying, she dry heaves at the save point just before the bridge. When she is finished choking on the memory of death, she stands, hand against the wall for support. Is this what she is doing to them. Oh, oh god, oh - they won't be able to remember it - oh god, she has to remember that.

She waits at the bridge, knowing Undyne will come. But as she stands, awkwardly, staring Monster Kid down, Undyne doesn't show up.

Frisk starts to panic. She has to come, she is set in the timeline - oh. The trigger.

She slashes at Monster Kid. Undyne reappears, repeated her speech. Frisk shakes her head. So much courage. So much stupid, beautiful, useless courage.

This time Frisk eats a cinnamon bunny and makes it past the spears shooting up from the ground and she hops from foot to foot, past more hails of arrows, until the arrows reverse, striking her in the back.

Every bone in her body turns to powder, to dust, shooting out through her skin in tiny spears. It is unendurable, exquisite agony, as the pain increases towards infinity,

She is on the ground before the ominously twinkling save point. She narrows her eyes, glaring at it, and pushes herself to her feet.

This time she does not hesitate before striking at Monster Kid, knowing that no matter what, Undyne will take the blow. Though Undyne is one of her closest friends, next to Alphys, it is still better to strike her. She is strong. She can take it. She will defy her and endure until Frisk permanently strikes her soul.

She attacks, dodges, blocks, and dies. Halos of spears surround her, and she dives through the gaps. Spinning, moving faster. Farther each time, Undyne growing weaker, then reappearing refreshed, as Frisk's soul aches, throbbing with each pulse with the memory of breaking. Multiple halos surround her at once, the spears driving the pieces of her soul apart. Acid spirals through her every vein and vessel, disintegrating her. She reloads.

This is the time. She strikes a hard blow, driving Undyne's HP down. She dodges spears, flying thickly as the snow in Snowdin. Her soul trembles, held together with cinnamon bunny glaze and desperate hope.

She strikes. Undyne shakes, squeezing her good eye shut. "Damn… it…" she chokes. "So even THAT power… It wasn't enough?... Heh…" she smiles sadly, "Heheheh…"

Her grin brightens her face as she smiles as widely as she can. "If you… If you think I'm gonna give up hope, you're wrong. 'Cause I've… Got my friends behind me."

Undyne starts to drip. "Alphys told me that she would watch me fight you...And if anything went wrong, she would… evacuate everyone."

Frisk heart swoops down with a feeling like traveling in a super-fast elevator.

"By now she's called ASGORE and told him to absorb the six human souls," Undyne continues, "And with that power…"

She falls to her knees, melting. "This world will live on…"

Frisk lets out a cry, running to catch her as she falls, but instead is engulfed in a cloud of dust. She coughs, choking on it, eyes watering.

As she rubs the particles out of her crusted eyes, Frisk knows she cannot stop now. She uses her determination to put one foot in front of the other, her footsteps echoing loudly in the empty cavern. There is no one to hear them, no sound but the distant rushing of water and the growing hiss of steam.

Hellfire and Ruin

Frisk strides through Hotlands. She uses her mantra - Gaster. Gaster. Gaster. - to deflect the wounds every murder reflects back onto her own soul. She cannot completely avoid the remorse - instead she stores it away, to always remember the cost of what she has set out to do.

"Ahuhuhuhu," Muffet giggles, as she walks into the spider's lair. "Did you hear what she said?"

She pauses. "They said a human wearing a striped shirt will come through here."

She pauses again. "I heard they hate spiders."

Frisk lets out a hard breath as her chest tightens.

"I heard that they love to stomp on them." Not true.

She wades through the thick webs.

"I heard that they like to tear their legs off.

She gradually becomes enmired.

"I heard…" Muffet says, scuttling out of the darkness, "...that they have some awful taste. What a shame. A human comes through and they aren't even fit to be eaten. ~" Her voice is sing-song. "Oh well! Rotten ingredients can always be discarded. ~"

With a single blow from Frisk's frying pan, Muffet's eyes widen, and she poofs into dust. A single, brave spider comes forward, laying a flower on her dust.

Frisk fights back tears. Gaster. Gaster. GASTER.

It seems that no time passes until she arrives on Mettaton's stage. She blinks, not remembering how she got there,

"My, my. So you've finally arrived," he says, in a bold voice. "After our first meeting, I realized… something ghastly. You're not just a threat to monsters… but humanity as well."

Frisk just stares at him, too weary to even protest in her mind.

"Oh my," he continues. "That's an issue. You see, I can't be a star without an audience. And besides… There are some people… I want to protect."

Don't be stupid, Frisk thinks. Please, don't make me do this. Blooky is incorporeal, he'll be fine, and mad dummy is already… al- You mean Alphys, don't you? Oh, no. Please…

She steps forward, and Mettaton laughs.

"Ah ha ha. Eager, as always, eh?" No. "But don't touch that dial. There's something you haven't accounted for. As any true fan would know, I was first created as a human eradication robot. It was only after becoming a star that I was given a more… photogenic body. However. Those original functions have never been fully removed."

Frisk takes a deep, tired breath. Is she even truly human anymore?

"Come any closer, and I'll be forced to show you… My true form!"

Even Mettaton is afraid to fight. Blustery, forceful Mettaton… She steps forward.

"Fine then!" Mettaton crows, but his voice falters. "Rrrrready? Iiiiiiit's showtime!"

Spotlights shine, dazzling Frisk, and Mettaton in a new, armored form appears through the blinking shadows.

One hit, and he closes his eyes, smoking and clattering as he shakes.

"Gh… Guess you don't wanna join my fan club…?" he quips, then explodes.

Frisk is pushed back by the force of the blast, but steps through the smoke, into the waiting elevator. Her heart lightens just a little bit. At least the deaths are clean, one hit. One and done. And Her EXP is rising considerably. She won't have to kill Alphys, or the all of other monsters. Asgore will be enough.