Chapter 19

Coming Down

It seemed like an eternity as Frisk sat there, her eyes closed as she was waiting for Chara to finish her off, but the life ending attack wasn't coming... everything had gone quiet, and Frisk didn't feel anything.

She wasn't sure of how long she was waiting until she opened her eyes to look up to Chara, to find out why he wasn't trying to kill her. When she did, the entire world around her seemed to have changed to various shades of black and white. Chara was still there, his blade just inches away from slashing through her chest, but he didn't go any further. He appeared to have been frozen in place.

She looked back at to the outside of the forcefield, where Asriel and the rest of Frisk's friends stood. They didn't appear to be saying anything, and they too seemed to be frozen in place like Chara; some covering their eyes, unable to watch what was about to happen to Frisk, Undyne grasping at the forcefield, as if to make one last final attempt to break in, and Toriel stretching her hand out, as if to try to reach for either Chara or Frisk.

"...Wh... what is this?" Frisk questioned as she looked around. Nothing appeared to be moving at all. Everyone but her seemed to have been trapped at the sudden pause of time. "...Is... is this a dream... or... was I already killed?"

Assuming that she had already been killed, and this was just some Purgatory, she shook her head with a sigh and grasped her head with her hands, cursing at herself for failing to defeat Chara. She had given it everything she had, but even with the help of the other souls, she just wasn't able to stop him... "I'm sorry... everyone..." Frisk whispered. "...I let you all down..."

"Yer not just gonna let this fella kill you here and now, are ya?" came a young boy's voice, speaking like a stereotypical cowboy.

"...Wh... what?" Frisk questioned slowly as she looked up again. Everything around her seemed to have disappeared. Instead, standing in front of her was a kid that looked to be just slightly older than her. He was entirely in western clothes, which was complimented by him wearing a brown cowboy hat, which covered a majority of his blonde hair, and had a little lasso in one hand and an empty gun in the other. His chest seemed to glow a bright yellow color.

"Howdy there, partner." the boy said with a friendly, confident smile, tipping his hat a bit in greeting. "Y'all don't look like yer having a very good time at the moment, huh?"

"Wha... who... who are you?" Frisk asked as she stared at the boy. "How did you get here... wh-where is here? How did i get here? Where am I?"

"Woah, woah, woah. Slow it down there, partner." the boy said as he put his hand on her shoulder and patted it to keep her calm. "Quite a mighty howdy-do you got there, bombarding little old me with questions right off the bat. Not even giving me a thanks for saving you from them giant purple balls earlier in the fight."

"Saving me... from..." Frisk looked at the boy and looked closer at the glow he had at his chest, noticing what appeared to be the shape of a heart from inside his chest. "...You... you're one of the souls... you're the Human Soul of Justice."

"Yep. That's my title." the boy said with a nod. "Don't wear it out."

"But... how... how are you here right now? I... I thought that you and all the other souls were still trapped inside Chara."

"We are, unfortunately." the Soul of Justice said with a shrug as he took out his empty gun and began to casually spin it around on his index finger, as if there was nothing wrong at the moment. "But as you can clearly see, the big guy's having a little bit of an issue with insubordination on our part. We decided that since we had already kicked him around a little bit, we might as well pay a visit to you and kick you back into shape."

"'We'? You mean... you mean that the other souls are here as well?" Frisk questioned.

As she said that, a young girl, looking to be around the same age as Frisk, walked to the left of the Soul of Justice. She wore a green apron that had a number of brown and white stains on it over a dazzling white dress, her long black hair flowing despite there being no wind. In her hand, she held a burnt pan that smelled of a strange combination of pie crust, snails and butterscotch. Her chest was glowing just like the Soul of Justice's, but instead of a bright yellow, hers glowed a gentle mint green. "We saw you in so much pain... we couldn't just leave you alone." she said in a caring, sweet voice.

"Yeah, Kindness is right. We can't just let this happen to ya, especially given the circumstances here." Justice said as he knelt by Frisk. "Planning on giving up and just letting the big mean son of a gun take yer soul too, eh?"

"N... no... I don't want to give up... but... I..." Frisk gave a sigh and shook her head. "...I can't do anything more... I... I already gave that battle absolutely everything I had... and even after all of that... I still can't beat him... his hatred is just too strong..."

"Now that don't sound very determined of you." Justice said as he sat down. "Yer supposed to be this determined girl, who would never give up no matter how hard things get, aren't ya?"

"You can't give up now." Kindness said as she took Frisk's hand and began to pull her up to her feet. "You've suffered through so much in this fight, and we went through heck to weaken Chara so you can continue fighting... you're not going to let that all go to waste, are you?"

"But... don't you see what he was able to do?" Frisk questioned. "Even after him becoming so weak with you guys rebelling, Chara's hatred was able to reverse all of that... at this rate, I'm sure that he's even stronger than before you started to fight back in the first place... I... I don't have anything anymore. How can I even attempt to beat him?"

"Now that doesn't sound like the individual we've been observing throughout all of her misadventures." came another voice, more mature than the other two. Another one of the souls appeared, looking to be at least 13-years-old, and his chest glowing purple. He wore a pair of khaki pants and a striped button-up shirt, holding a purple notebook that seemed pretty badly damaged, while his other fidgeted around with his purple, cloudy glasses. "We've seen you overcome many different obstacles, no matter how bad the situation was. You've befriended all of the Monsters that tried to capture and/or destroy you. You saved Asriel when there was virtually no hope left for him. You even battled a giant, monstrous flower after it absorbed us and was able to defeat it, for goodness sake."

Frisk looked at the new person and processed what he had just said about beating a giant flower that absorbed the Human Souls. She tried as best as she could to remember that, but she had no recollection of it. "...Did... did you make that last part up?" she questioned.

"...Do you recollect nothing from your other previous runs in the Underground?" the Soul of Perseverance questioned.

"...Was this a part of Chara having me kill everything, or..."

"She doesn't remember it, Perseverance." Justice said as he waved his hand dismissively. "Let's not spend an hour lecturing her about it."

"I think what he's trying to say is... you've already been through a lot of things, whether you remember all of them or not." Kindness said as she gave her a friendly pat on the back. "We know you can do it because you've done things that nobody should ever be capable of doing before... if you can do it then, you can do it now."

"But... when I faced off against Asriel... and while we were battling Chara earlier... I was only able to succeed because I had my friends... and you guys helping me." Frisk said. "...This time... I'm all by myself. Now that all of that hatred is there inside him-"

"What do you think we're doing here, hm?" came another girl's voice as another one of the souls danced in, her chest glowing a royal blue color. Seeming to be older than the others, but younger than the Soul of Perseverance, she was dressed entirely in a ballerina outfit, her tutu and dance shoes being a dark shade of blue while the rest of her outfit was lighter. She had jet black hair that was tied into a bun at the top. "You think that we're not doing anything by being here, trying to get you back on your feet?"

"We've always been with you since the beginning of this confrontation, Frisk." Perseverance said as he took off his glasses and began to wipe the lenses in an attempt to take off some of the cloudiness in them. "Maybe not physically, but in our essence, we've been there, rooting for you the whole time."

"...I... I know you want me to keep going... I want to keep going too... but what am I supposed to do?" Frisk questioned. "I'm barely able to move a muscle in my body now... I don't even have a weapon to fight him with anymore."

Another soul in his teen years came running in and grabbed Perseverance from behind, holding him in a head lock. He was wearing a plain white t-shirt with the sleeves ripped off, and a pair of blue jeans that were torn in several areas. He also had an orange bandana on his head and two orange, sturdy gloves to compliment the orange glow on his chest. "You gotta do what you do in every other fight. Just gotta keep getting up and getting up until you win, right?"

"Yes, yes, whatever you say." Perseverance said as he began to try to free himself out of the Soul of Bravery's hold. "Now would you please let go of me? You know how much I hate it when you do this."

Finally, after patiently waiting for the others to say their greetings, the final Soul, the Soul of Patience, walked over. She looked to be no older than 4-years-old, wearing an adorable light blue and white dress, her chest glowing a bright blue color. To compliment this, she wore a light blue ribbon in her blonde hair, which she played with with her toy knife. "If you give up now, then everyone is doomed." she said in an adorable voice. "And I'm not going to watch him destroy everything I loved."

Frisk was silent as she looked at all of their faces. Each of them held their own different emotions, but all of them were telling her the same thing; she had to get up and keep fighting. She couldn't afford to give up now, not when there was so much riding on this battle.

"...I... I don't get it." Frisk said as she looked at all of them curiously. "...You all seem to be familiar with some of my past adventures, whether or not you were there, even if I don't remember some of them... you... you must be aware of what Chara and I did before this all started."

All of the souls looked at each other, hesitating to answer that question. "...We never like to think about it..." the Soul of Integrity said as she looked back at Frisk. "...But yes... we also saw what you and Chara had done... and we never forgot it... even if everyone else did."

"...And... you are aware of all the pain that I caused with Chara." Frisk went on. "...If you guys know about that... if you know about what I had done... why are you helping me now? You can't honestly think that I deserve your help..."

"Deserve?" Bravery questioned. "You think that what's happening now is all because someone deserves it?"

"Whether or not we believe you deserve our help is completely irrelevant, young one." Perseverance said. "We're not doing this based on whether you deserve it or not, nor are we doing this because we believe Chara deserves to fail."

"We're doing this because we care about you." Kindness said with a smile. "Just like you care for all of the monsters and other humans."

"...C... care...?" Frisk asked as she looked down, a strange feeling of deja vu coming to her as she heard the word care.

"Darn tootin', we do." Justice said. "If you look at in from a certain point of view, you could almost say that we're our own little unofficial family."

"And if that's the case... then one of our family members is in trouble... and he can't get out of it by himself." Patience said.

"And you're the only other one who can help him." Integrity said. "...Do you understand that now?"

"Un... der... stand..." Frisk said as she began to trail off with her thoughts. At that moment, it seemed like she could suddenly see every moment of what happened in her Genocide Run quite clearly. She could see the meeting of Chara, him teaching her what he wanted her to do, all of the time that they had spent together, whether it be killing monsters, robbing abandoned shops, or in one case that she saw, just taking a break and relaxing for a little bit before continuing on with their mission.

She also began to vividly see all of the moments of the current fight again. Most importantly, she recalled the number of times Chara could have killed her during the fight, but hesitated. Him giving her time to cook and eat the noodles... allowing her to take her turns without any interruptions... suddenly, as all of these memories began to play out in her head, she finally realized just why she was trying.

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?

She remembered that question that Darkeol had left her before she entered Chara's room. She remembered not being able to come up with an answer, despite being so close to the end... and suddenly, as she spoke with the other souls, it all became clear to her.

"Y... yes... I understand now." Frisk said as she looked up at all of the other souls. "I now understand what Darkeol was trying to tell me."

All of the other souls quietly listened on, allowing her to speak on as she stood. "...When I first entered this room... I believed that I was only doing it because every person should have a chance to change, including Chara... then I began to think that I was just doing it because I promised Asriel, my mother and Asgore that I would try to save him... but... now I know... I know the reason I want to save Chara now... it's the same reason why he couldn't bring himself to kill me so many times... the same reason why he brought his brother back, even if he knew what it would cost him."

She looked at all of the souls, her eyes regaining a familiar determined flare to them, that made all of the other souls smile with pride. "...I know why I want to save Chara... and no matter how hard it gets, I'm never going to give up, not until the very end!"

"Yeehaw! Now that's what we want to hear from you!" Justice said as he gave her a good slap on the back of the shoulder. It stung, but Frisk didn't pay too much attention to it, knowing that he was just trying to be friendly.

"And we're going to stand up with you." Patience said with a grin on her face. "We're going to fight with you until the end."

"We'll be able to provide assistance when the time comes." Perseverance said as he began to write something in the notebook, clearly planning something out. "The six of us will be able to keep you from getting killed by him, but you have to be the one to open his eyes. Do you understand me?"

"Yes... I understand. And I'm ready." Frisk said with a nod.

Bravery gave a nod and looked at everybody. "So then... we all ready to get to work?"

"W-wait!" Frisk exclaimed, making all of the souls look back to her. There were so many questions she wanted to ask them, but since she knew she couldn't spend much longer there, she instead decided to ask just one question over all the others.

"...What are your names?"

The souls looked at each other and back at Frisk. The Soul of Patience gave a smile and stepped forward to introduce herself first. "My name is Lila."

The Soul of Bravery took a step forward next, hitting his gloved hands together like he was ready to brawl. "They call me Orlando."

The Soul of Integrity was next as she took a step forward, gave a little ballerina spin and curtsied politely. "You may call me Brianna."

Next up was the Soul of Perseverance, who stepped forward and looked up into the sky, thinking before speaking. "Aside from less favorable nicknames I've been given by my peers... I go by Paul."

Up next came the Soul of Kindness, stepping forward and giving a friendly wave. "I'm Grace. Glad to meet you."

Finally, the Soul of Justice came forward and gave another tip of his hate in greeting. "Th' name's York. But you can call me Sheriff York, if you like."

Frisk looked at all of the other souls and gave a smile. To the very least, now she knows their names. "Frisk." she introduced herself simply yet happily.

All the other souls gave smiles as well. "Well then, Frisk... I believe it's time we got to work now." Grace said as she and the others began to fade away, the only parts of them that weren't fading being the hearts that represented their souls.

Frisk gave a nod and closed her eyes, focusing all of her attention on where she would be and what she would do as soon as she opened her eyes again. "Don't give up... don't ever give up... don't... ever..."

Her eyes shot wide open, and at that instant, she was back where she originally was, sitting seemingly helpless at the wall of the forcefield as Chara, infused with the power of a hatred far beyond the capacities of any human, inches away from stabbing her and taking her soul. The only difference is that now, Frisk's determination was burning harder than ever. Having no other alternative, she grabbed Chara's sword and held it back with all of her might, keeping the blade from piercing through her flesh by just mere inches.

All of Frisk's friends gave a collective gasp of shock as Frisk was able to stop the attack cold in it's tracks. "What?! Impossible!" Chara yelled in disbelief as Frisk held on to the edge of the sword, trying with all of her might to keep it away from her.

Chara, in return, put all of his force into trying to push the blade down upon Frisk, but he couldn't do it. Even with his hatred giving him power, he found himself unable to overpower Frisk, despite her current physical state.

"Rrrrgh... you just don't know when to give up, do you?" Chara growled in annoyance. "You're making this so much more difficult than it has to be for all of us... why don't you just accept your defeat and let me take your soul?!" He grabbed the handle of his sword with both of his hands and began to lean into it, letting his weight assist him in pushing the sword towards Frisk, which allowed the sword to move just a tad bit closer to Frisk's chest.

"N...no... I... won't... ever... give... up!" Frisk said as she continued to hold the sword back with all of her might. As she did, she began to be surrounded by a shining white light that changed periodically into a variety of different colors, one for each of the other Human Souls, including her own burning fiery red color.

"Wh... what's going on?" Chara questioned. "There's no way you should be able to stop this... my hatred has given me power far beyond any determination!"

"We know... what you plan to do with my soul..." Frisk said as she continued to push the sword back with all of her might. The blade wasn't even an inch away from her chest, but no matter how hard Chara tried, he couldn't move it any farther forward. "We... can't... let... you have it... we won't let you take it!"

"'We'?! What do you mean-" Chara's eyes widened as he finally noticed the multi-colored glow that was surrounding her as she continued to hold his sword back. In shock, he looked at his black chest, seeing that even past all of that darkness, the Human Souls were once again glowing inside of his chest. "No... no no no no no! That's not possible!" he cried out as he continued to attempt to stab Frisk with all he could. "My hatred should be suppressing them! They should be obeying me!"

"You're... wrong... you've always been wrong." Frisk growled. "We're fighting... for the lives and hopes of everyone in the world... we... cannot... we will not lose to you!" She pressed back even harder, even managing to move the blade just a few centimeters away from herself. Both Chara and Frisk's arms began to shake from the strain of trying to overpower the other.

As they both continued to push on the blade, the sword's yellow eye widened, its pupil shrinking to a tiny black dot as the sword began to crack from the pressure of both forces. The bottom of the sword began to crack with a sinister dark purple aura emanating from the cracks, while the top of the blade was cracking and giving off a powerful, unbearably bright glow through the cracks.

The cracks met each other at the exact center of the sword. As they did, both Chara and Frisk could sense a mighty force building up in the center of the sword as the power of the conflict between Chara's hatred and the hope of Frisk and all the other Human Souls was becoming too much for the sword to handle.

"Wh-what's going on?! What is this?!" Chara demanded. He didn't have to wait long, as eventually, the sword could no longer handle the power, and released it all in an extremely powerful explosion, which shattered the sword into millions of pieces and vaporized it.

The entire area trapped around the forcefield was completely covered by a white, unbearably bright light. The force of the power that had just been released all at once was so great, that even the forcefield that kept anyone from interfering with the fight was unable to withstand its mighty force. In a few seconds, the forcefield shattered and dispersed, releasing the bright light all throughout the room. All of Frisk's friends had to shield their eyes from the explosion, as they would most certainly have gone blind had they not.

Both Chara and Frisk were sent flying in opposite directions from the force of the explosion. Frisk crashed straight into the door that led out of the room, which only was able to stand from the force due to Darkeol sealing it down. Chara, meanwhile, had crashed into the wall, almost going straight through it from the force of his fall. Both fell to the ground on their stomachs, in agonizing pain and unable to move.

"Frisk!" all of Frisk's friends yelled as they all ran over to her. Toriel ran to Frisk and knelt by her, gently lifting her head a little bit with her hands. "Frisk. Are you ok, my child?" she asked.

"...M... M... Mo... Mom..." Frisk said weakly as she tried to move, but couldn't. A few tears escaped her eyes from the excruciating pain she was in. "I... c... can't... move..."

"It's ok, dear... it's ok." Toriel said as she gently picked Frisk up and held her. "I have you now, my child... everything will be ok."

Asriel, meanwhile, had gone over to Chara. "Ch-Chara." he said as he put his hand on Chara's shoulder and tried to shake him a little bit. "Come on, Chara! Say something!"

Chara, hearing his brother's voice, slowly looked up at Asriel. Seeing his brother's caring eyes, the black mist that covered him faded away. "A... Asriel..." he whispered weakly as put his hand gently on Asriel's little shoulder. "...As... riel..."

Everyone's little reunion didn't last long, as just a mere matter of seconds later, the entire building began to shake, loud crashing sounds being heard from below and above. "Wh... what's happening?! What's going on?!" Undyne exclaimed as the building trembled.

"Oh no..." Alphys said as she looked at the ceiling above them. "G-guys! The building m-m-must not have been a-able to take the force of the explosion! I-It's starting to collapse!"

"What?!" Asgore exclaimed as the shaking of the building began to worsen.

"A-a-at this rate, I-I don't think this building can stand for m-more than a couple minutes!" Alphys exclaimed in a panic.

"Then we can't stay here." Sans said as he looked at all of Frisk's friends. "Come on! We gotta get out of here, now!"

"B-but what about the door?!" Papyrus questioned. "Darkeol said that he was going to seal it so that nobody would be able to-"

"Oh, forget the door! I'm not going to die here because of some damn door!" Undyne yelled as she began to slam her body into the wall next to the door, which was starting to crack with each time Undyne rammed into it.

Asriel looked around in the doomed building before looking back at Chara. "Chara, come on! We have to get out of here, now!" Asriel said as he took ahold of Chara's hand and tried to pull him up to no avail. "Chara, please! The building is coming down!"

"Asriel... forget about me." Chara said weakly as he looked at his brother trying to help him up. "You already died once... because of me... I won't let that happen again... go... get out of here before this building kills you!"

"No!" Asriel yelled as he didn't stop trying to help Chara. "We promised each other that we would stick together no matter what! I won't leave you here!"

Asgore and Toriel both looked back at Chara and Asriel, seeing what was going on. Their eyes widened as they saw the ceiling above the two of them beginning to crack, ready to come down on both of them. "Chara! Asriel!" they both yelled.

Both Chara and Asriel looked up, their eyes widening as they saw the ceiling above them begin to collapse, falling straight down towards the two. Asriel was frozen in place as he watched the falling rubble heading straight for them, his heart pounding at the thought that he was going to die again.

"No! Not again!" Chara yelled as he was suddenly filled with a new strength from his desire to save his brother. While still not able to move much himself, with whatever strength he had, he grabbed Asriel by the shirt and threw him towards Frisk and her friends, safely out of harm's way. When Chara knew his brother still had a chance to make it out, he looked back at the rubble falling down, just having enough time to close his eyes and attempt to shield his face from the rubble as it came crashing down on him.

"Chara!" Asriel cried out in horror, watching as his view of his brother was quickly disappearing under the rubble that now trapped him.

"Ch-Chara..." Frisk whispered weakly as she buried her face in Toriel's cloth in sadness and fear.

Undyne gave a yell as she crashed into the wall again, the wall finally breaking down from her strength. "Come on! Let's go!" she yelled as she began to run as quickly as she could, all of Frisk's friends following her, except for Asriel, Toriel and Asgore. Frisk remained in Toriel's hold, looking around as the building continued to come down.

"Chara! Chara!" Asriel cried out as he tried to get to the rubble that held Chara down. Asgore took ahold of his son and held him away from it.

"My son, there's no time!" Asgore said. "We have to get out of here before this building collapses!"

"Chara needs me!" Asriel yelled as he tried to pull away from Asgore. "I can't leave him!"

"There's nothing more we can do, Asriel!" Toriel called to him. "If we stay in here, we're going to die! Is that what Chara would want?!"

Asriel stopped trying to move away from Asgore when Toriel had said that. He stared at the rubble as he remembered promising Chara that he would stay safe, no matter what happened to Chara. Now Asriel finally understood what Chara meant. He was telling Asriel to stay alive, even if it meant having to leave Chara to do so.

"Asriel... please... come with us." Frisk said weakly. "...Chara... wouldn't want you to... die again... he'd want you to stay alive... please..."

Asriel looked at the rubble again, knowing that Frisk and his parents were right. As much as he didn't like to admit it, Chara would want Asriel to escape, whether or not Chara was able to or not. "...I'm sorry... Chara..." Asriel said as a few tears escaped his eyes before he turned around and began to run out of the room. Seeing Asriel run, Toriel and Asgore followed him out of the room.

"What took you so long?!" Sans questioned, as he and the others had been waiting for them on the first floor. "Come on, come on, come on! Let's go!"

Everyone began to run out of the door of the building. Alphys was the first one to run out, followed by Undyne right behind her. Papyrus ran out with them. Sans ran just outside the door and turned back to Toriel, Asgore, Asriel and Frisk, and began to gesture them to hurry up. "Come on, come on! We don't have much time!"

Toriel was running as fast as she could to get to the door. Just when she thought that she would be able to get herself and Frisk out of there on time, she heard the sound of falling debris right above her. "Look out!" Asgore yelled as he swiftly took ahold of Toriel and pulled her and Frisk out of the way, just in time as the falling rubble began to land on the ground with a crash, blocking off the door.

Asriel, Asgore, Toriel and Frisk looked helplessly in shock as their way out of there was completely blocked off. They wouldn't be able to move all of that rubble in time before the building collapsed. "Wh-what do we do?" Frisk asked as she began to shake in Toriel's hold.

"That can't be the only exit." Asgore said "There... there has to be another way out of here."

Asriel looked around and then he remembered that Chara had shown him a number of emergency exits just last night. If they were lucky, they might be able to get to one of the emergency exits before the building came down. "I know another way!" he said as he began to run to the direction, recalling where Chara had taken him. "Hurry! Follow me!" Asgore and Toriel, having no other alternative, followed their son.

They ran as fast as they could, the building shaking and crumbling all around them. The ceiling above them cracked and shattered, threatening to come down on them any second. The thought of the building toppling on them at any moment only inspired them to run faster, and hopefully be able to reach the exit before the building came tumbling down.

"There! There it is!" Asriel shouted as a door came into sight. "Come on! Hurry!" They ran as fast as they could, hoping to reach the door while they still had the chance.

As they were approaching the door, however, part of the ceiling above them caved in and collapsed, blocking off that door with the rubble that fell. "No!" Asriel yelled as he saw they were blocked off again.

Asriel turned quickly to try to get to another one of the exits that Chara had shown him the night before, but the ceiling above the way there collapsed, blocking them off once again. "Oh no... we're trapped..." Frisk whimpered as she buried her face into Toriel's cloth, shaking in fear.

"No... no..." Asriel said as he fell to his knees and looked down. "...This is all my fault... I shouldn't have hesitated... I should have just left when Chara told me to..."

"Oh, Asriel..." Toriel said as she and Asgore huddled up around Asriel, and both hugged him. "This isn't your fault, my child..."

Asgore looked around as he held Frisk, his wife and son, watching as the building around them continued to fall. He noticed the ceiling directly above them begin to crack. Seemed like they weren't going to have to wait for the whole building to come down. "...I guess... if I am to spend my last moments here... I would spend them no other way." he said, his voice scared, yet also accepting of what would come next.

"S... so... this is it?" Frisk questioned. "Are we... are we going to die here?" Nobody answered her question, but she knew the answer already. They had come so far to stop Chara and save humanity... and now, it looked like they were going to die for their efforts.

"Mom... Dad..." Asriel said as he began to cry in their hold. "I'm... I'm so sorry... for everything."

"It's ok, my child." Toriel said gently as she petted Asriel's head. "We understand... this isn't your fault."

"N-no... that's not what I meant." Asriel sobbed. "I... I've done so much... so much that you don't know about... I..."

"Asriel... what do you mean?" Asgore questoined. "What do you mean you've done so much that we don't know about?"

Asriel wanted to answer, to let his family know of the horrible things he had done, but from the sound of crumbling straight above them, there wasn't any time left. The ceiling above them had finally collapsed. The four, knowing that their time was up, held each other tight and closed their eyes, waiting for the end to come.

A familiar roar came as a powerful torrent of water blasted at the incoming rubble, breaking it into dust and tiny pieces that harmlessly bounced off of the four. All four of them looked, surprised as Neptune's Hound appeared, roaring. "N-Neptune's Hound?" Asriel asked in surprise. "Wh-what are you doing here?"

"What does it look like he's doing?!" came Hothead's voice as he ran to the rubble that blocked off the door and began to try to move whatever he could. "We're saving your lives, of course!"

"Hothead..." Frisk whispered as she watched Hothead attempt to free the way to the door. Neptune's Hound ran over and helped Hothead by smashing and moving all of the rubble he possibly could. Illusionist also appeared out of the blue and began to try to move whatever rubble it could, which wasn't very much, given its small physical strength. In a matter of seconds, the door had been freed.

"How's the weather over there, dumbasses? Let's go! Come on!" Hothead yelled as he and Neptune's Hound quickly ran out. Having another opportunity, Toriel held Frisk tight as she, Asgore and Asriel swiftly got up and ran for the door, this time being able to make it out.

"Th-they got them!" Alphys said as she and the others watched the Dreemurrs, Frisk and Chara's creations rush out of the building.

"It's coming down! Run!" Hothead yelled as all of them ran as far away from the building as they possibly could, just making it to a safe range as the building finally came toppling down.

All of them stood where they were and watched as the dust and debris rose from the collapsing of the building. It seemed hopeless at one point, but everyone was able to make it out, safe and sound... everyone except...

"We'll... go through the rubble, see if we can find him." Hothead said to Asgore, Toriel and Asriel. "...If he was in his demon form at the time of the building collapsing... there may be a chance he's still alive."

"You really think so?" Asgore questioned, hoping that by some miracle, Chara managed to survive.

"I wouldn't get my hopes up quite yet... but given how much punishment Frisk was able to take, it wouldn't surprise me if he's alive." Hothead answered. "...We'll let you know when we find him."

Toriel watched as Hothead, Illusionist and Neptune's Hound went to the ruins of the building and began to search through them, looking to find Chara. "...Rest now, my dear." she said as she laid Frisk down on the ground and began to heal her. "...I will heal you, my child."

Frisk gave a comfortable sigh and closed her eyes as she felt Toriel begin to heal her. It felt so nice to be with her mother again, especially after such an impossible fight. She drifted off and fell asleep, knowing that she was once again safe with her friends and family.