Frisk didn't know what to do. This had never happened before. It was all new. And there was no more pretending that the blame lay anywhere else.
After dying all those times, the questions had seemed so harmless at first
What would Toriel do if her child actually stayed put?
What would Papyrus say if confronted with mean, negative, hurtful words?
What would Sans say if told his brother wasn't cool?
What would Undyne say if the vegetables were attacked instead of petted?
What would Alphys say if her advice wasn't followed?
What would Mettaton say if the tile puzzle was beaten?
What would Muffet say if given a 9999g donation in exchange for a donut?
What would Asgore say if a cup of tea were refused?
What would Flowey say if he wasn't spared?
What would happen if one of them were attacked? Or killed?
What would they say?
What would the others say?
What would happen if…?
For maybe the first time, Chara's hatred made sense. Self-loathing had dulled so many feelings, any anger Chara expressed seemed extreme, and unfair. But they were right.
The reset power was too tempting. It was an addiction that had to stop. "Chara…"
"DON'T. Ha… you think it will matter? That you can ACT your way out of this? WRONG FIGHT. So the only question here is, are either of you going to own up to what you did and FINISH this, or am I going to have to take charge?"
"ACTUALLY, TALKING WOULD BE A GOOD IDEA TO…"
"There have been too many words already, so just SHUT UP you idiot."
Apparently Sans had been pushed to the limits of his patience. His voice had a warning edge to it. *watch it.
Asriel looked torn for a moment, then he steeled himself, and walked back to Chara's side. "I'm with you."
"Whatever. Let's just get this over with. First things first… we need to get these pathetic losers out of the way."
Papyrus and Sans took a step forward, planting themselves in the middle without even saying anything.
This was it.
If they won, would the temptation to reset prove stronger than Papyrus's belief? If they lost… everything would be erased.
But… what if they didn't?
What if the three of them were strong enough to stand up to Chara's hate?
What if, instead of being reset, the timeline was finally allowed to move forward?
Papyrus felt something, too. He smiled backwards, still keeping an eye on the siblings ahead of them. "I STILL BELIEVE IN YOU, FRISK. I ALWAYS WILL."
There was a familiar tingling sensation, and then Chara laughed, a hard, humorless sound. "You've brought about the end of the world with your foolishness, but, somehow, you're still filled with DETERMINATION."
PAPYRUS
He wasn't sure how Chara knew, but he could feel the Determination transfer from himself, back to Frisk. Sans shot him a questioning look; his smile cracking around the edges a bit as he accepted the fact that even if they got out of this, they'd be back in the hands of the child's mercy.
Frisk's voice shook, and they could only manage one word. "H-help."
He merely nodded as he and Sans were put to work, deflecting attacks. He felt better now that the determination was back where it belonged, actually. He hadn't been drawing on it anyway, and it hadn't belonged in him at all. He hadn't even realized how sick it was starting to make him, until it he was free of it.
He spared another glance at his brother as Sans dodged another onslaught, craftily drawing the attacks away from him and Frisk, and then dodging out of the way at the last second. The sweat was gone, and he looked like he'd had a chance to rest while Chara was talking.
They all had. Which was good, since Asriel and Chara didn't seem to need to rest.
By unspoken agreement, they fought back this time, hoping they could stop this before it went too far.
He swelled with pride when he realized that Sans had actually been paying attention all those times they'd practiced fighting. At the time, Sans had made light of it, yawning and tossing an extra bone attack or two into the mix, but, from the way their attacks were melding together now, his older brother had actually memorized each and every one, and from the hits they were giving, that was something neither Asriel nor Chara had ever seen before.
Which made him wonder… "FRISK… DID I EVER SHOW YOU MY SPECIAL ATTACK?"
Now armed with a stick AND determination, Frisk was dodging back and forth, holding their own. "Uh… no."
Then maybe the other two hadn't seen it either. Not unless they'd watched him practice. "SANS?"
*whenever you're ready, bro.
He politely waited for Asriel and Chara to finish their turn, then nodded at his brother.
He was conscious of their hp the entire time, just in case they weren't as indestructible as they seemed. He dug deep, summoning his most power consuming attack, one that he'd spent, well, his entire time training, to perfect. The walls of every single bone maze required perfection to navigate, leaving no room for error. But even after the onslaught of spinning bone mazes, whirling platforms, and a dozen devastating blaster attacks from Sans thrown it for good measure, all they'd done was anger the pair even further, and drain their own magic.
This was dragging on too long, with no ending in sight, but even though Sans was looking tired, there was hope in his eyes that had been missing from his fight with Frisk. He wished he had the time or energy to cheer him on for not giving up, because right now… in light of all their efforts and the smug grin on Chara's face, things seemed… bleak.
And then Frisk jumped to the front, waving the stick in the air like a victory banner. "HELP!"
He wanted to ask how… but apparently, Frisk wasn't talking to them.
Asriel was thrown to the floor, and all of a sudden, his hp started to lower. Another special attack, and it was knocked down to 400.
"Useless."
Chara began to focus everything they had on Frisk, while Asriel tried to fight him and Sans, and something else from within him.
"SANS! HELP FRISK!"
*what?! His brother froze, then stepped out of the way just in time to avoid an onslaught of star shaped attacks. He glanced over his shoulder. *looks like the kid's got it under control, bro.
"SO DO I."
Sans nodded, and shortcutted over to Frisk. "FLOWEY… ASRIEL … I DON'T THINK YOU WANT TO DO THIS."
He only got a glare in response.
"CHARA WANTS TO ERASE EVERYTHING… EVEN YOU."
The boss monster's voice was a low growl. "It's no more than I deserve."
He knew he should be totally focused on his own fight, but he glanced over at Sans and Frisk anyway. The little human was excellent at dodging, and his brother seemed to be giving Chara a really bad time without moving much at all.
"EVERYONE MAKES MISTAKES. THAT DOESN'T MEAN THE WORLD SHOULD BE ERASED, OR THAT THAT'S EVEN OUR DECISION TO MAKE."
Sans
He sure hoped his bro knew what he was doing, but he trusted him. He'd said he'd help however he could, and he'd meant it. He didn't like it, but he trusted his brother.
Frisk was weaving around Chara's attacks like a real pro, though the stick wasn't nearly as deadly as the knife Chara was wielding; one that was giving off the same sort of vibe as the last corridor before the throne room. He had a feeling that he and that knife had been real close in past timelines, but he wasn't here to rekindle that relationship. Not in front of Papyrus.
Not with the kid's help.
Only trouble was, Chara seemed to have his and Frisk's every move memorized. Maybe not in the right order, but as soon as a rhythm was developed, Chara had little or no trouble staying ahead of the attacks. There was a little stumbling and lack of coordination at first, since it'd been Frisk doing the actual dodging in those timelines, but Chara was a fast learner. He supposed that made sense. If anyone knew his and Frisk's fighting styles, it would be Chara.
They were at an impasse, until one of them slipped up, or… he short-cutted them both back from an attack, and shot a grin at Frisk. The kid looked confused, until the unrelenting waves of attacks let up.
Chara had seen all this, so that meant the two of them were that much more likely to be one step behind. But, even though he was still fighting to keep the timeline from just stopping, he wasn't doing it alone.
Which meant he could afford to mix it up more than he would have dared. In theory. But hey, the fact that they were here was proof that whatever he'd thought was going to work hadn't turned out so well. So maybe he'd be able to catch Chara off guard with the kind of attack people would expect of him…
Bingo.
After all the familiar, fast, attack patterns, the slow moving ones caught Chara off guard. The timing was all wrong, and the bone attacks that should have been a cinch to avoid were connecting. With karma still added to the mix, and Frisk to contend with… they might be able to pull this off long enough to give Paps time to do… whatever he was trying to do.
PAPYRUS
Asriel's hp was getting dangerously low, which meant he was running out of time.
His own hp wasn't doing so well, either, but he could still take a couple more hits.
Asriel looked close to tears, but he wasn't sure if it was from fear, or hurt, or just plain anger. Whatever they were from, his next bone attack was a little too strong, and he had to pull it short as Asriel fell forward.
1 hp.
And he wasn't healing, so… it was now, or never. "THIS CAN'T GO ON FOREVER, ASRIEL. AND YOU DON'T EVEN WANT WHAT YOU'RE FIGHTING FOR."
The next attack the boss monster unleashed was packed with fury and frustration. "Shut up! You don't understand! I OWE this to Chara!"
"I THINK I DO… WELL, A LITTLE."
"Ha! YOU? You're probably the only monster in the whole underground who will NEVER understand."
"CHARA IS YOUR FAMILY. YOU DON'T WANT TO LET THEM DOWN. JUST LIKE I'D NEVER WANT TO LET SANS DOWN. BUT… IF MY BROTHER WERE TRYING TO DESTROY THE WORLD… I COULDN'T LET HIM."
Asriel got back to his feet, glaring. "Right. Like you'd ever be able to bring yourself to dust him."
Why was everyone acting like that was the only option?! "IF HE WERE TRYING TO DO SOMETHING LIKE THAT, SOMETHING WOULD BE VERY, VERY WRONG WITH HIM. AND THAT WOULD MEAN THAT HE NEEDED MY HELP, JUST, NOT IN THE WAY HE WAS ASKING FOR IT."
"Stop comparing Chara to that smiley trashbag!"
"DO YOU REALLY THINK CHARA WANTS TO ERASE EVERYTHING?"
In the pause that followed, he tried to think of something else to say. But sometimes, actions spoke far louder than even his words ever could. They both knew how tired Asriel was. They both knew that if hadn't pulled that last attack, something horrible would have happened.
Just like they both knew that, as tired as Asriel was… he still had more attack power than he'd ever need. After sparing him, Papyrus's own remaining hp level wouldn't matter… it would only take one hit.
He dropped his defenses. "I'M NOT GOING TO FIGHT YOU ANYMORE."
"Why? I thought you wanted to stop us."
He was still alive. That was a good sign. "BECAUSE I DON'T HAVE TO KILL YOU, TO STOP YOU."
He flinched at the look Asriel gave him as he powered up his next attack. "You idiot! You actually had the chance to dust me, and you threw it away. For what? because you think you can change me? You think you can make a difference? Don't you know how many times you've tried?"
The attack grew as Asriel prepared to fire. Maybe more talking would have helped more after all. At least he'd made a lasting impression. Frisk proved that they could be good… perhaps Asriel could do it, too.
He braced for impact, glancing to the left where Sans and Frisk were fighting. The powering attack drew Sans's attention away from Chara, and he froze up, lights disappearing from his eye sockets, just as Chara aimed a vicious slash at his back.
He willed Sans to step out of the way, because neither of them could do anything about the other's impending doom.
Sans
Papyrus was sparing Asriel… of course that was his plan. He had to think, and fast. Shortcuts… counterattacks… he had to do something!
And then something rammed into him from behind, hard, knocking him to the ground.
A/N: Evil Flowey laugh.
Agent B: Why hello there! Thanks again for the help with those typos, and, you know... everything else! ; )
MoonPoppy: Well, I continued sooner than normal!
ThePunnySkeleton: Hehehe XD One thing I noticed in the You Tube vids is that Sans REAL special attack is that one where he spares you. You know, that no bells or whistles just dead attack? I have to question why he didn't just start with that attack. It's kind of against his nature... seems like he took the hard way, giving it his all, instead of just ending the fight before it began every time Frisk reset. It's not like he'd have gotten bored of it... anyway, just random observation when I think of Sans and special attacks. That being said, I hope the awesome power of the skelebros' combined special attack (which didn't get all that much of a description because I stink at that stuff) sufficed, because Sans stopped cooperating after that. lol
I guest as much: Yep, it was really, really hard writing Frisk without Determination, because, well, for obvious reasons. But they did get more of a role in this, and the next chapter.
Mighty Dreamfinder: I love these guys! (What... was that too obvious or something? Anyway...) That part was fun to write. = ) As for Asriel...
Thanks!