Sans had never been so happy to have Frisk in his arms, but seeing Gaster?
This day couldn't really get any weirder.
Toriel lobbed a large amount of fire at Chara, who laughed manically and glitched to the left, avoiding it. Flowey was out of his pot and he glowered back at Sans in anger. "GET THAT IDIOT OUT OF HERE!" He pointed to Frisk, whom Sans was still holding in his arms.
Sans, no! Frisk said, clutching his jacket. Merida, who'd wisely left Zhèngyì in the car, dove to one side and fired a hail of golden bullets toward the demon child. Chara laughed even harder, as if certain death were a mere joke and summoned knives, which glinted blood-red in the sun. "Oh, you're bringing other humans into this? I remember your child; what was her name? Oh yes. Sarah, wasn't it? I remember her crying for her mommy when she died!"
Chara lobbed the knives at Merida, who had frozen in shock. Undyne, who was the fastest of the lot, dove forward and slammed into Merida, saving her from the attack. Grillby appeared right next to them, his sleeves rolled up and his flames roaring. He raised his hands and fire streamed out of his palms, right toward Chara.
"SANS, PROTECT THE HUMAN!" Papyrus said, leaning down and helping Gaster to his feet. "I SHALL PROTECT THIS PERSON."
"Papyrus, that's our dad!" Sans called, dodging a knife and levitating as Chara tried to harm Frisk. Papyrus looked up, his face shocked.
"THIS OUR DAD? HE'S SMALLER THAN I THOUGHT!"
"Papyrus, get him out of here!" Sans yelled as Undyne scrambled to yank Merida out of the way. Papyrus picked up Gaster and disappeared, sprinting off toward the car. Gaster's wounds left large puddles of blood as Papyrus carried him away.
Sans watched with a clenched heart as Gaster disappeared once more from his life… but hopefully not forever, this time. He returned his attention to the battle, his eye flaring in anger as he clutched Frisk to his chest. Flowey disappeared underground before reappearing right below Chara. His vines shot up from the ground and snapped toward Chara, the vines grabbing onto their legs. Chara laughed and sliced the vines with a knife before trying to impale Flowey.
"Don't touch my son!" Toriel screamed, lobbing fire toward Chara. Chara dodged, their body disappearing and reappearing to avoid the fire.
"Wasn't I your child as well?" Chara screamed, summoning more knives and snapping them toward Toriel. "Funny how that changes, huh, mom?!"
Frisk clutched Sans as he threw the gaster blasters up and caused them to fire, forcing Chara to retreat. Chara laughed as Undyne summoned spears and lobbed them toward the rapidly teleporting spectre.
"Undyne the Undying." Chara chanted, their voice mocking. "So strong and true, brave of heart. Too bad when the Underground needed her the most, she fell APART!" Chara summoned a multitude of knives, all of which gleamed a bloody red. Undyne dove to one side and Merida dove to defend her. The woman was strong and her magic was even stronger. She lobbed bullets toward Chara, the golden projectiles following them as they teleported.
"Don't touch my friends you stupid child!" She roared, summoning several more bullets and showering Chara with them. Chara dodged and giggled as if they had merely heard the punchline to a stupid joke. "You're just a spoilt brat! Don't touch any of my friends!"
"Friends?" Chara asked, cocking their head to one side and deflecting a bullet without glancing at it. "You should ask yourself this question, Merida. Who killed your little girl? She just wanted to find a bed of golden flowers for her mommy, and ended up dead at the hands of a tyrant king."
Merida's attack faltered and that was all Chara needed. They laughed as they teleported closer, right in front of Merida's face. Merida gasped and backpedalled, but Chara grabbed her shirt.
"Sans!" Toriel screamed, trying to lob more fireballs. "Get Merida!"
Frisk was placed near a tree as Sans streaked toward Merida, his eye flashing. Merida was choking as Chara lifted her up by the throat. Sans summoned a femur and lobbed it at Chara, who merely vaulted a few feet above it, laughing hysterically as they left Merida behind.
There was the sound of an impact, one that Frisk knew too well. It was the sound of a femur hitting a human soul.
Merida choked. Her HP, which had never shown before, now flickered to life.
0.5/5
"MERIDA!" Toriel screamed, summoning more fire and throwing it at Chara. Chara laughed maniacally as Merida keeled to the side, Sans frozen in horror at his mistake. Chara noticed his shock and smiled. "Oh, this isn't new to you, comedian. Remember how you pinned Frisk to the pillar in that hall of judgment? Don't make me laugh! You loved it! Breaking your promise again and again, watching as they died and came back to fight you. It gave you some sick pleasure, didn't it?!"
Chara sent a knife hurtling in his direction and Frisk jumped in front of him. The knife collided with their arm, their HP sinking to 16/20. Sans grabbed them and leapt out of the way as Chara continued their attack. Papyrus and Gaster had disappeared from the battle, but Undyne was still putting up a fight. Grillby was aiding Toriel, but their flames could only do so much against Chara, who dodged the slow attacks in a lazy fashion.
"Sans, get Frisk out of here!" Toriel screamed as Sans dodged another attack from Chara.
No, Sans! Frisk insisted. We must get rid of them!
"Kiddo, I don't know if you noticed, but Chara isn't even a human soul anymore. They're just a vessel of hate." Sans growled, his eyes glowering in the morning sun. "Whatever you're thinking of, it won't work."
Frisk choked out a sob, but Flowey suddenly appeared, having been absent from the battle after Chara cut his vines. He looked beaten up and his health was lower than normal, but he was full of anger and Frisk could see it.
"Get the kid outta here!" Flowey snarled. "Didn't you hear Toriel, you smiley trashbag?! Get 'em out!"
"Oi, petals, watch out!"
Sans grabbed Flowey in a blue attack and heaved him out of the ground, just as three knives landed in the spot where he'd been sitting. Sans placed Flowey next to him, sending another gaster blaster toward Chara.
"You're so weak, Asriel." Chara sneared, their voice getting more distorted. "What happened to best friends forever? What happened to our dreams?! Whatever happened to REVENGE?"
Flowey looked pained as he deflected knives from Chara's next attack. Chara was not being lenient. Every knife was getting more and more dangerous and with Merida lying motionless on the battlefield, the others had to be more careful where they lobbed their attacks.
"That was your dream, Chara, not mine! I didn't want to kill the humans!"
"LIAR!"
Flowey screamed, his bullets sailing toward Chara. Sans took the opportunity and teleported toward Merida. The woman wasn't breathing. Blood was pooling around her and her soul, a bright gold above her head, was beating weakly.
"Zhèngyì… Sarah… my babies…" She whispered as Sans grabbed her tightly. Frisk pushed themselves away and Sans looked at them in shock.
"Kiddo, what're you-"
Teleport her to the car. Get her to safety.
"Kid-"
Go, Sans! Frisk shoved his shoulder hard enough for Sans to stare at them in shock. "Kid-"
I have to do this by myself. The only way. Frisk smiled. I'm sorry.
Frisk stepped away and Sans looked at them with a horrified, shocked expression, his eye sockets no longer pricked with light. "Kid… I… I-"
I know.
Sans and Merida disappeared.
Frisk stood and stared at Chara, who was now lobbing some more knives at Flowey. Frisk glanced up, looking at their soul. It was stronger than ever, filled with determination and hope. They reached up and clasped it gently, bringing it to eye-level.
They glanced at Flowey. There he was, now fighting to protect them. Once upon a time, a child had fallen into the Underground, intending to kill themselves. Instead, they found a new family. One that just couldn't be replaced. And now Flowey, out of all things, was fighting for them. He'd been the first one to greet Frisk in the Underground, the first one to draw their soul into a battle. He'd also only been a child when he'd died.
Frisk clenched their soul in their hand and glanced up at Chara. Chara. Look.
Chara snapped their attention to Frisk, smiling. "Finally gonna reset, partner? I knew you'd come around-"
It's your best friend.
Frisk cracked their soul in half and, with hesitation, sent it to Flowey. The flower looked shocked as it collided with his body, which suddenly began to glow a harsh, bright white.
Asriel Dreemurr
Sans had never seen so much blood. Gaster… his father, was propped up against the back of a decimated bench whilst Papyrus attended to him. Merida was still in his arms and without warning, his other arm snapped off again from the weight.
"Son of a-"
Language.
Sans glanced up at Gaster, who was smiling oddly. He was looking at Papyrus with some sort of quiet fascination and he coughed up some more blood. Sans winced at the watery sound and Papyrus looked up at him, his face very serious for once.
"SANS… IS HE REALLY OUR DAD?" He asked quietly.
Gaster looked up, wincing in pain as Sans placed Merida on the bench next to him. The woman was breathing harshly and Sans had never felt so terrible in his life. The femur was gone, but there was a lot of blood. Her HP had dipped even lower, stooping to a very troubling 0.05. Sans dug around in his pockets, searching for food. When he found none, he reattached his arm and glanced at Papyrus.
"Damnit, I left the monster candy back in the car."
Merida looked up, a soft smile on her face. "Monster… candy?" She whispered, almost childishly. "Sarah… she would've liked some." She coughed and Gaster, who was in immense pain, reached over and clasped her hand.
Are you in pain? He asked, his breathing shallow as Papyrus drew back. Papyrus looked at Sans with a very sad, very confused expression.
"SANS… IF HE'S OUR FATHER… THEN WHY CAN'T I REMEMBER HIM?"
"It's a long story, pappy." Sans said, sighing. "Listen… could you go back to the car and get the candy? Her HP is really low."
Papyrus paused, then looked frightfully at Gaster. "ARE YOU GOING TO BE OK?"
Gaster laughed quietly. Yes, my child. I will be fine. Go and get the food. She's fading quickly.
But Gaster was not fine. Sans had never seen so much blood come out of a skeleton, and that was including the time he'd been stabbed by Chara. There was simply too much. Sans knelt in front of Merida, huffing as he tried to staunch the bleeding.
"I'm sorry. I'm sorry." He muttered, tears forming at the corners of his eyes. It was all too familiar. He shook as he pressed his hands to the wound going through her stomach. "Oh god… I'm so sorry-"
"Shh…" She said, raising a hand and placing it on his arm. "You didn't mean to… I understand…"
Sans blinked. He'd been ready to kill this woman a few days ago, ready to impale her. And now he had. He concentrated, trying to force some healing magic out of him. "I- I've never been good at healing, but I'll try-" He sniffed, wiping away some of the tears with his hand. It left a red smear on his cheekbone.
"M-mommy?"
He froze. Sans turned quickly and saw the child standing stock-still in the snow, Papyrus behind him. He'd obviously tried to stop Zhèngyì from seeing his mother, bloodied and bruised, but there he was, standing in the snow.
"Kid-"
"What did you do to her?!" The child screamed, running to his mother. Sans moved out of the way as Zhèngyì threw himself into her arms. Merida smiled and hugged him back, tightly.
"Hello, sweetie."
"Mo-mommy!" He cried, looking up with terrified eyes. "What happened?!"
"Mommy had an accident, baby." She said softly. Gaster, who was beside her, squeezed her hand even tighter.
"Did the monster do this to you?!" Zhèngyì cried, his face fraught with anger and tears. Sans waited. All she had to do was point and he could shoulder the blame fully. The child deserved to know.
But Merida shook her head.
"No, baby. Mommy did this to herself. It's alright, baby. Mommy's going to be fine…" She trailed off, as if realising the lie in her words. Her HP was already at 0.005. Sans knew that after that, Merida's soul would break in half. And her child would be there to see it.
No amount of monster candy would help.
"Don't lie, mommy." Zhèngyì cried, his face twisted. "Mommy, please… don't leave. Don't leave like Sarah! Please! Who's going to cut my sandwiches? Who- who's going to tuck me in? Who- who? You can't go! I won't let you."
"Kid…" Sans said quietly, placing his hand on Zhèngyì's shoulder. He turned to Sans before grabbing his jacket and shaking him so his bones rattled.
"You can fix her! You can fix her, right? You- you can do magic! You can- you can fix her like you fixed your arm! Look!" He grabbed Sans' arm, which had been broken so often it just rattled. "You fixed your arm! Can't you fix my mom?!"
"Kiddo-" Sans said, his spine prickling. "Kiddo, I- I can't. Human souls aren't like ours… see?" He held out his hand and brought out his soul, an upside heart pure white and beating. "See, kiddo? We're too different. We can't… I can't help-"
"I hate you!" Zhèngyì screamed, pounding on Sans's ribcage. It hurt. Sans grabbed him and pulled him close in a hug. Zhèngyì screamed bloody murder and cried, Sans eventually having to clutch him tightly to stop him from moving and hurting himself.
Gaster, too, was not looking too good. Papyrus shuffled toward Merida, who was now barely breathing. His hand shook as he picked out a piece of candy and pressed it to the woman's lips.
"T-THE GREAT P-PAPYRUS WILL MAKE YOU BETTER. I-I AM GREAT, SO-SO… I CAN MAKE YOU BETTER…" He sniffled. "DON'T GO, HUMAN."
Merida chuckled weakly. She was so weak that the candy merely fell from her mouth and landed in the snow. Sans clutched Zhèngyì, who wouldn't stop sobbing. "Mommy… mommy please. Don't go-"
"Honey…" Merida said as her soul cracked down the middle. "Why don't you go play with your toys? I'm sure Sarah wants to… play with her little brother…"
She didn't open her eyes.