Chapter 15
The Final Stretch
The rest of the way to the destination of Frisk and her friends was dead quiet. Nobody dared to say a word as they continued to walk the path that Alphys with her device led them through. It was so quiet between all of them that the slightest pebble being thrown to the ground could have been heard by any of them.
They all knew what was at stake with this fight. If they lost, or if they made a single mistake, then everyone, humanity and monsters alike... they could all kiss everything they've worked so hard to establish in all their lives... they could kiss that all goodbye. If Chara got Frisk's soul and succeeded, then he would destroy all of humanity, and more than likely all of the monsters along with them. If they lost...
Well... they were determined to not lose that fight. They weren't going to let Chara win.
Eventually, after what seemed like hours of walking, they arrived at a 7 story building that stood fairly tall, though looked relatively abandoned. The place had several holes in the windows and looked rather dirty and worn on the outside, with the only exception of the cracked windows being the second story of the building. It certainly didn't look like somewhere that somebody would be able to live very comfortably... but then again, Chara wasn't necessarily 'living', and nobody seemed to be passing by aside from them.
Alphys looked at her device one more time to check for any more paths shown by device, but there were none at all. It showed that they were standing right at where the trail of Neptune's Hound's DNA ended. "...This is the place." Alphys said with a nod as she looked up at the building.
"Well, I suppose it's certainly a place we wouldn't have thought about looking..." Papyrus said as he looked up. "...Though I will say, this Chara fellow certainly needs to give the outside of this building a bit of a repainting."
"Yes... and it's certainly quiet here..." Undyne said as she slowly drew her sword out and held it in both hands, keeping her eyes alertly scanning the area around them for any traces of a foe. She was cladded in her entire suit of armor, all except for her helmet. "...Too quiet..."
"...Are we sure this is the right place for sure?" Asgore questioned. "...It... almost seems a bit too quiet for anybody to be here."
"...I would imagine that's the whole point of Chara picking this place." Sans said. "...We can assume that he's not an idiot... no, wait... scratch that. He's an idiot, yes, but I'm sure even he could have figured out that it would be better to set up somewhere where nobody would expect him to be."
Frisk was quietly looking at a big sign that was worn and faded. She was barely able to make out what the sign said, as it all appeared to be faded away or somehow torn up a bit. There was a design on the sign in horrible condition, but what little of it was tangible, Frisk could identify as being a picture having to do with a brown bear and a slice of pizza. She tried to make out any writing on the sign, but the only letters that could be made out in the garble of a sign was two capital F's and one lowercase z.
"...We're in the right place, alright." Undyne said as she looked at the door slowly opening. Standing there with a smirk on his face was Hothead, standing with his hands tucked away in the pockets of his jeans and now wearing a darker green shirt. Despite the smirk on his face, his eyes held a bit of resentment as he laid eyes on the group, obviously not at all enthused in seeing them again.
"...It took you long enough to show up." Hothead said as he walked up to them. "...Your timing certainly is impeccable... I was starting to wonder if you were ever going to show up."
"Listen here, punk..." Undyne started. "...Hothead... we're not here to fight you... our business here is with Chara, and we'd rather not hurt anybody else in the process... well... I mean, I'm still pissed at you about our battle last time... but other than that... we don't want any more fights than what's necessary... so do yourself a favor, and back off before someone gets hurt."
"...Is that a fact?" Hothead questioned. His smirk had faded and he brought his arms to his sides. His fist began to shake and his hair began to heat up and glow brighter. "...You know, Chara was not at all happy that you gave me that fake device..." He gave a little growl and his hands began to ignite. "Mhm. Gave me a good verbal whoopin'. That's what he did... and ever since then... I've been wanting to have this moment for a long time... where I could have my revenge."
He stepped up close to Undyne, the two's faces just inches away from each other as they stared each other down. "...Believe me, fish face... if I were given the opportunity... I would finish what I started right here, right now..." he said. "...Just looking at you again... I'd love nothing more than to chop you into seven bloody pieces, and ship one to every continent."
Undyne remained quiet as Hothead and her stared at each other. She had no fear or uncontrollable anger in her eyes, but she had her hand holding the hilt of her sword, just in case Hothead tried something. All the other monsters and Frisk watched quietly, their breathing almost completely stopped as they waited to see what happened next.
"..." Hothead gave a sigh and a shake of his head as he got out of Undyne's face, his hair cooled back down, and the flames on his hands were immediately extinguished, leaving trails of black smoke rising from his hands. "...Unfortunately for me, however, Chara has given me other orders... I'm not allowed to fight you, or even lay so much as a single drop of poison on either of you."
"...That's unfortunate for you, hm?" Undyne questioned as she crossed her arms. "...Kind of a shame for me. You only won our last contest because I wasn't focused... I think you'd be more happy that you don't have to get your ass handed to you by me."
"...Oh... don't worry." Hothead said as he stood. "...After Chara is done with all of you, I'll make sure he keeps you and your girlfriend alive... you, so I can finish what I started and destroy you in a fight... and your girlfriend, so I can have you watch me rip every fabric of skin off her body."
"Well... after we're done with Chara, and both humanity and monster-kind are saved... I'll gladly take you on in a rematch anytime, anywhere." Undyne said. "After all... I was never one to quit... and I won't let our last battle be our very last."
"...We'll just see which of our visions is right then." Hothead said as he stood and looked at the door. "...Follow me... I'll lead you to him."
Hothead began walking towards the door, the other seven hesitated as they all looked at Undyne. "...Oi. What are you all waiting for? Fourth of July? Let's go!" Hothead said. "I've got anger management class two hours from now, and I can't go until this fight of yours is over."
"...How do we know that this isn't some trap?" Alphys questioned as she looked up at Undyne.
"...That's the thing, Alphys... we don't know." Undyne said with a sigh. She released the hilt of her sword and began to walk up to the door.
"Hmph... about time." Hothead said as he gestured the others to come along. Reluctantly, all the others followed. All of Frisk's friends had entered, and Frisk was about to go in herself, but she was sopped by Hothead putting his hand on her shoulder.
"...Yo... Chara's brother in there told me that you, he and Chara had a conversation last night." Hothead said quietly. "...Is it true what he told me?... 'Bout your parents, I mean."
Frisk gave a little shudder. She had no idea why Hothead would want to know. "...Those humans... they aren't my mother and father... at least they're not anymore." Frisk said. "...But yes... what he said was true..."
"So... the beating? The paddling? The rubbing salt on your wounds and breaking of glass-"
"Yes, it's all true, alright?" Frisk said impatiently. "Now will you knock it off? I don't want to think about it anymore."
"Oh... eh, that's gotta be rough." Hothead said with a little nod. "...Though it does beg the question. From what Chara's brother told me, Chara had something fairly similar to that... I'm having a hard time figuring it out... why exactly are you fighting against Chara? You've been in the same situations he was in... and yet you're not at all reacting to it in the same way he did."
"...I learned something that Chara has yet to learn." Frisk said as she looked at Hothead. "...That's why I'm here... I'm not here to fight Chara, or to save the world... I'm here to save Chara... and help him see that what he's doing is wrong."
Hothead hesitated for a few seconds before giving a nod and kneeling on one knee as he looked at her. "...You know, kid... I've been really thinking a whole lot about this... I'm... starting to have some difficulty seeing either side of this now." Hothead said as he gave a shrug. "You know... it was so easy at first... just follow all orders I'm given and leave it at that, no questions asked..."
"But...?" Frisk questioned as she looked at him. "...What exactly are you trying to tell me?"
"Just hear me out on all this." Hothead said. "...Anyway, as I was saying... I've been thinking about it overnight... and yes, I can think, so don't make any jokes about my brain being fried or anything like that... but I began to look at all my options. What good would it do me if Chara wins?... What good would it do me if Chara loses?... Will I be needed at all if he wins?... Will I be needed at all if he loses?"
"...Are you telling me that... you don't want Chara to win?" Frisk questioned.
"...In all honesty, I don't know what I want to happen anymore... I don't know if I want Chara to succeed in killing you and taking your soul... and I don't know if I want you to beat Chara... or save him... or kill him, or do whatever you plan to do with him... but what I do know is that I had been doing just nothing but following the orders I've been given by Chara in the one day of my being... and... I don't even know what I want to happen anymore."
"...I still don't get it." Frisk said. "...Why are you telling me all this?... What does it have to do with what's going to happen next?"
"...I don't know." Hothead said honestly. "...That's the whole point... I don't know what to think anymore... I mean, Hell. Helping out a demon wipe everybody off the face of the earth?... He always said that sometimes to do some good, you gotta be the bad guy, but still... that's quite a lot of destruction that I gotta help him out with... and would it really be worth it?..."
"...You know... you don't seem to be that bad of a guy." Frisk said as she looked at him. "...You know... you've got some anger problems, and you can act a little annoying at times, at least from what I've seen... but other than that... you're not that different from me."
"...Not that different from you?" Hothead questioned and looked at her. "...What do you mean? Do you have the ability to shoot balls of poisonous energy from your hands?... Can you fire lightning out of your hands just by clapping them?... Do you got a body like mine, packing all these sexy muscles that make all the ladies want to-"
"Alright, stop. Stop it right now." Frisk interrupted, making Hothead stop. "You're getting way in over your head... anyway... no... I don't have any of those things... but just like me, and all my friends and family, you have a mind... and you have a heart... all monsters have those... all humans have those... and Chara has those too... they're buried underneath his blind hatred that was brought up by his family... but I believe that once he feels and remembers the love of having a family that cares for him and friends that would go through anything to help him, then he'll be just as good of a person as I can be."
Hothead stared at her as he heard that. He couldn't deny that somehow, he felt a little bit of inspiration from the girl. "...That's what I think, Hothead." Frisk said with a nod. "That's what I'm taking with me into this fight."
"...Strangely enough, I'm somewhat touched." Hothead said as he stood up. "You've definitely given me some things to think about, kid... if I weren't supposed to be your enemy at this moment, I'd probably hug you or something."
"Yo, lazybones." Sans said from inside. "You gonna scold us for taking our time and then keep us all waiting? Let's go."
"Alright, alright." Hothead said as he looked at Frisk. "Sorry for the hold up... it was good talking to you... uh... Chris, was it?"
"...No. Not even close." Frisk said with a shake of her head. "It's Frisk."
"Oh... right... good talking with you, Frisk."
Frisk nodded silently and followed Hothead inside. Nobody said much else after that. They walked towards the stairs of the old and dusty first floor, which only had a few desks here and there, and some cobwebs with spiders crawling around them.
Hothead stopped in front of the stairs and everybody else did as well. Hothead looked up quietly at the steps as a figure walked down the stairs. It looked exactly like Windeol, the one humanoid being created by Chara that saved him during his fight with Sans, except it was cladded in purple instead of teal, and its eyes glowed a dangerous red. Its staff had a purple cloud of darkness on the top and purple dark sparkles that came from it.
"...It's quite a pleasure to be able to meet all of you and your friends close up here and now, Frisk." the being said. Its voice was more calm and collected than anything else, and the being seemed to speak with a bit of a refined intelligence. "My name is Darkeol... you've met one of my brethren before me, if I remember correctly."
"Yes... we met someone exactly like you." Papyrus said. "...And he messed up my house! He blew over all Sans and I's stuff, and he almost blew our whole house down!"
"...That's... not necessarily my problem." Drakeol said with a blink. "...I usually don't really hear complaints like that... so... I'm just going to pretend you didn't say that, and move on with what I'm here to do."
"...And what would that be?" Toriel questioned as she held Frisk's hand protectively.
"...You're about to be in the greatest fight of your life." Darkeol said and looked at Frisk. "...You must realize what's all at stake here... if you win this battle against Chara, then everything that he looked forward to... everything that he genuinely felt was right will be all for nothing... and if you lose... you risk not only losing your soul and the battle, but also the fate of all of humanity... and perhaps even monster kind as well."
"...A battle for ideas." Frisk said. "...Yes... I understand what's all at stake... I understand what will happen if I mess up..."
"Then you must also understand what exactly you're up against." Darkeol said and looked up the stairs. "Beyond me, up these stairs, lies not just any normal human or monster, or whatever Chara is at this point. You'll be facing off against a hatred so incomprehensibly powerful that it changed a young innocent boy into a ruthless killer with a desire for genocide... you must know that there's very little hope for what you would seek to do... so why do you continue to go on?"
"We go on because we can't sit down and let Chara go along with his plan of destruction." Asgore said. "...All of humanity and the fate of all monsters rests on our shoulders... and we're not going to give up, no matter what."
"...Ok... but that's not what I was referring to." Darkeol said and glanced back to Frisk.
"...Wh-what do you mean?" Alphys questioned. "A... Asgore a-answered your question."
"He answered a question... he didn't answer what I was referring to." He then glanced at Frisk and the two of them stared deep into each other's eyes. "...You have every right to hate Chara, you realize that? We're talking about a being who tricked you, made you kill hundreds upon hundreds of monsters, and even forced you to barter your soul to make everything right... any other person would most certainly carry a strong hatred and want to destroy Chara... but yet you would believe that you could 'save' him, and turn this hatred of his around?"
Frisk gave a hesitant nod. "Nobody in the world is ever impossible to change." Frisk said.
"What of your parents?" Darkeol questioned. "Would you still try to save them if they were in this situation instead of Chara?"
Frisk remained quiet for a few seconds as she looked down, quietly thinking about what to say. She really had to think about how to answer that. Her biological parents had caused her so much pain as a child, doing things to her that no living human should ever have to experience, much less a child. If it were anybody else, literally anybody else, then she would gladly try to save them without a second thought about it... but that man and that woman...
"...You can't answer that..." Darkeol said as he looked deeper into her eyes. "...Hmmm... peculiar... you're like a diary with a key and lock... unlike all other books, until you yourself open it... I can't read into you..."
All of Frisk's friends stared quietly, not making a sound as they waited for something to happen, though Frisk and Darkeol seemed to be doing nothing that would cause any raise of alarm. Papyrus began to slowly raise a bone he had in his hand, just in case he needed to protect Frisk, but Sans put his hand on Papyrus's hand and gently moved it back down. "...I don't think he's going to do anything to her." the older skeleton said.
"...If you told me that even the worst people can change, but you aren't sure whether or not you'd want to give that chance to your parents if you could... but yet you're willing to give it to Chara... that tells me that there's another reason that you're trying to 'save' him." Darkeol said. "...So then... now that that's established... I'll ask you one more time... you have every right to hate Chara, but yet you believe you can save him... why?"
"...Because..." Frisk was finding it difficult to find an answer to what Darkeol was asking. He was really digging deep to try and get an answer from Frisk. Even she was beginning to wonder and question about why she was doing this.
"...You don't have an answer at the time..." Darkeol said with an understanding nod. "...It's ok... I can well imagine that this must be a very tough answer for you to make... but you now have a very limited time to come up with what you are fighting for... and why you want to change Chara... are you doing it simply to stop him without killing him?... Do you just think you have to do it, because a friend of yours asked you to do so?... Or is there another reason... deeper inside you that even you aren't really sure of?..."
"...Who's side are you on?" Undyne questioned. "...You make it sound like you don't even want Chara to win."
"I have no desires of my own." Darkeol said. "It's all just a passing event for me... I don't really care who wins... I don't really care who loses, and what the price is for it... I don't really care whether or not Chara should reward me for following orders, nor do I mind if he's mad at me if I should ever mess up, which hasn't even happened before."
"If that's the case, then why do you follow Chara?" Toriel questioned. "If you really don't care what happens whether or not Chara succeeds, then why do you listen to him and try to help push his plans further?"
"...Do you ask an earthquake as to why it strikes parts of the world constantly, but leaves other parts untouched?... Do you question why a hurricane goes one direction or travels to one city or town, and leaves many others untouched?" Darkeol questioned. "...The earthquake and the hurricane don't have any desires of destruction, but they also don't care who all they destroy... they don't choose when they appear, nor do they choose how long they last or how far they go... they simply do what they do because they are commanded of it by nature... I do what I do because it's what I was created to do under Chara."
"...Um... could you go by that again... you know... without the whole poetic thing." Papyrus said as he scratched his head. "You're giving me a headache trying to follow what all you're saying."
Darkeol gave a sigh. "...I follow Chara because that's all I am... I'm but a creation bound to serve him whenever he should command me." He then glanced at Frisk. "...I would hope that you would have a better reason to be fighting Chara then my reason to fight along side him... after all... this is a fight between ideals and beliefs... if your only reason for trying to save Chara is because you feel that you have to do it... that won't suffice."
"...What am I supposed to think?" Frisk questioned as she looked up at Darkeol. "...I want to save Chara... I want to help him, but... what am I supposed to say my reason is?..."
"I'm afraid I can't help you with that." Darkeol said. "...You're a very brave and smart child, Frisk... you have knowledge and courage far beyond any other of your age... if you can't find the answer to that question... then nobody else can."
"...I understand." Frisk said with a nod. "...I think I'm ready... to face Chara now..."
"...So be it." Darkeol said as he stood and gestured them to follow him. Frisk followed him without a single second of hesitation, while her friends took a couple of seconds before they followed along. They wanted to help Frisk in any way they could.
They came to the door that led to the second floor, and Darkeol stopped as he went in front of the door. Frisk and her friends stopped there and quietly waited. "...Beyond this door, my creator is waiting for you... your journey finally ends here, at the final frontier." Darkeol said. "...Once you go past this door, I will seal the door shut so that until the fight is complete... nobody will be able to enter or exit."
"...So then we only have one chance at this." Undyne said as she looked at all the others. "...If we mess up here and now... there won't be a chance to make things right."
"...We won't mess up." Toriel said. "As long as all of us work together and have each other's backs-"
"Mom..." Frisk said and looked up to her. "...Thank you... for everything you've given me... I'll always love you and consider you my mother... but... once I enter that room... I know that you won't be able to fight this battle for me."
"...My child..."
"...I've been running away and leaving my friends to fight this fight for too long now..." Frisk said with a tightening of her fist. "...I could probably use all the moral support and cheering on you could provide... but this is my battle... and I have to be the one to fight it..."
"...No matter what happens Frisk, we're here for you." Asgore said. "...We're not going to let you go through with this on your own."
"...Somehow... I feel like you won't have much option." Frisk admitted and looked back to Darkeol. She had a very strong feeling that Chara wasn't going to let anybody interfere with their battle... both him and Frisk herself knew that they had to settle this just how they started it all... just her and him.
"...Listen... child... once you and your friends go through this door, there will be no turning back." Darkeol said and looked at all of them. "...If... you have any business left undone, or something you need to take care of, just in case you won't live to do it another day... I would advise that you do it now, while you still have the chance."
"...Does anybody have anything else they need to do?" Sans said and glanced around at everybody.
"...I don't think so." Frisk said as she looked at Darkeol. "...We're ready now."
"...So be it." Drakeol said and opened the door. "Go now... whatever you seek to accomplish in your fight against Chara, let it be your guide and your strength... keep a strong heart and a stable mind... and you might just survive... emphasis on might."
Frisk and her friends entered quietly. As soon as they all were past the door, Darkeol closed it behind them and pointed his staff at the door, letting it glow dark purple as he had sealed it shut with his power.
"...Good luck, kid... you're going to need every bit of it." Darkeol said as he closed his eyes and remained quiet out the door, awaiting to learn the result of the battle.