CHAPTER ELEVEN: SONG OF DARKNESS

Me: This started off nice.

Shamir: It did.

Me: ...Yup. You're right that it DID.

It gets...Darker!


[Royal Guards' Training Grounds, Waterfall]

Shamir and Asriel stood one in front of another, wind gently flowing their attires. The jaguar captain was willing to mold the little brother before him exactly as Asgore showed him before - pride, heroism and kindness - but Shamir often shrugged the kindness part, for the life of a Royal Guard was nothing like an ordinary monster's. There was no time to play, no time to waste on improving anything else than their fighting prowess. He wasn't really cool with the fact that Ribras and Rasha had decided to involve their personal life with the Guard's affairs, but they were the only ones he made a compromise with - even if he was a gruff warrior, kindness was somewhere deep buried inside that apparent cold stone SOUL of his. Parvos noticed that the ice on their captain's SOUL seemed to melt away since Undyne was now his prized student.

She was growing stronger each day, with each spar and each perfected attack she could land on Shamir. And the feline monster was beaming with pride at how well she was improving, but he did not neglect Alphys. He looked at the small lizard and tried as much as he could to make her feel less awkward around other monsters - he was also impressed with the remarkable progress she did in the field of science. Recently, she built, along with Sans, a robot that could help out the Guard with capturing humans - and he was surprised to hear that she was in love with the small skeleton - nevertheless, like any respectable father would do, he gave her his blessing in keeping this relationship alive.

"Master Shamir?" Asriel asked, looking at the jaguar, whose eyes seemingly sparkled with recollection.

"Yes, Asriel?" Shamir retorted, blinking away his recollection. "What is it."

"Are we ready to duel?" the small goat asked, his paws grasping tightly his Chaos Saber.

"Okay. Stand ready!" the jaguar captain said, as he moved a bit his paw over one of his Dual Sabers' handle.

The two warriors' swords clashed one upon the other, metal upon metal, with small aftershocks and then Asriel tried to land a diagonal swipe at Shamir, the latter letting it slide with ease, ducking under the blade. He smirked and retaliated, Asriel managing just in time to parry the jaguar's blow that came after, blocking the Dual Saber and pushing him a bit away, with what little strength he had.

"Not bad, Asriel, not bad!" the jaguar praised him. "But in combat, you won't be able to rely just on brute force..." he huffed a bit at that part, "even though I prefer to try and use as less magic as possible, I will teach you to make use of both your force and magic while battling an enemy."

"I can do that?" Asriel blinked, as he stood in battle position, eyeing the jaguar in front of him.

"Of course. Toriel said you have a very, very creative mind." Shamir said as a small smile graced his snout. "We'd better work on that too!"

Asriel laughed a little, and then he charged at Shamir once more, this time using a lightning attack, "SHOCKER BREAKER!" which Shamir had a little difficulty in avoiding - and was proud that the small monster was able to control electricity. 'Hm...It would be a good thing to teach him a thing or two about lightning magic in combat.' the jaguar mused as he blocked the Chaos Saber and repelled the Shocker Breaker with his own Charger Shock, the two magical attacks sending out ripples of electric energy that powered down Alphys's experiments for a moment, as she was working in Sans' Lab. The two fighters looked like they didn't even sweat - Shamir was smart enough to figure that, due to his heritage as a Dreemurr, he would be extremely resillient, while he worked hard to reach that level of endurance.

"Lightning magic can be a very, very good force, Asriel. Just remember to focus your attacks better." Shamir carefully instructed as he sent towards the small goat a few sets of lightning shocks, and Asriel tried as hard as he could to counter the two, but his fur got a few notches darker in some parts. "And you can use it on yourself too. It won't do any harm, as long as you are honing control over said element." Shamir cared to demonstrate, as he coated his paws with lightning, and dashed towards Asriel, who tried to parry the subsequent blows that were aimed for him - his Chaos Saber could absorb that much energy - until he did something unexpected.

His Chaos Saber was lightning-coated due to the absorption - and a full-force strike managed to knock Shamir a few paces back, while the latter used his paws to parry the blow. "Wow...that was- how did that happen?" Asriel blinked in realisation, as this was the first solid blow he landed on the monster before him.

"I would call that an energy kidnapper," Shamir joked as he looked at the Chaos Saber, exhaling with relief, "but that's a very good thing. It can turn someone's magic against them. Now, try to use lightning magic on yourself. Focus on coating one of your paws with it."

Asriel did as instructed, and he could feel ripples of electricity flowing in and out of his right paw. "It looks...amazing!" he said as he looked in awe. "I'm a fire master, but I never knew I had access to this as well!" Shamir left out a small chuckle, while Asriel was still in awe at what happened, "Little brother, you are creative and taking risks when using said creativity. It will serve you well when you're going to fight stronger enemies. And...I have to teach you something else."

"What is it?" the small goat monster said as he dissipated the Chaos Saber, while Shamir sheathed back his Dual Saber.

"I can see you're a very kind monster at heart, and would probably want to be merciful towards the ones you'll get to meet in your life. But..." Shamir closed his eyes for a moment, only for the azure to turn a glazing red, "Not everyone will appreciate you're a pacifist. Some will go as far as KILLING you for these views, and dejectedly refuse MERCY. That is why I am striving so hard to balance the need of fight with the need of mercy. Some will deserve the latter, some will deserve the former."

"But, but- I don't think everyone is bad out there..." Asriel sheepishly looked towards the serious jaguar, whose arms were folded.

"I know what you mean, Asriel, but there will be times when you just can't simply let someone take everything because you won't FIGHT. There will be times when FIGHTING might be the only solution."

Asriel tried to understand what Shamir's words meant, as he placed a thoughtful look on his face. The jaguar's expression was still a stern one, showing that he wasn't talking nonsense, and he stood on the rather humd grass of the Training Grounds, while Shamir did the same thing and closed his eyes, as if meditating. Sans was surprised at the rather moral stance his friend put on there - his pride was showing off more than ever, and yet, that pride was well honed this time - too bad he wasn't paying attention over this, to keep his pride like that, in the right place. The small skeleton shook his head as the two monsters seemed to form a small bond over there, and decided to go back to his lab, where Alphys was working with their secret project.

[Sans' Lab, Snowdin]

"...it can't be going here!" Alphys mumbled under her breath, while she was tinkering with some intricate wires before her.

"...yup, but you'll end up being cooked like a chicken." Sans said as he looked at the lizard, who was working at the panel of his machine.

Her curvaciousness was indeed something, from here, he could note as she swayed her hips while pondering the order of the wires. He must've stood there staring at that, until he decided to break the silence with that pun. Alphys jumped from the sudden noise and dropped the screwdriver, turning around to notice the rather funny look he had on his face - her arms were now folded as Sans blushed a little blue at being caught up in the act.

"How long have you been standing there?" she asked, in a rather serious, yet teasing tone.

"heh, i just admired how well your beauty shows...from the backstage." Sans grinned, while Alphys blushed and covered her snout with her claws.

"S-SANS! Y-YOU CHEEKY B-BASTARD!" she could utter before shooting a serious glare at him, while the skeleton looked unfazed.

"oh come on, what do you want me to do. i was just admiring the view. the backseat looks very comfy." he kept teasing her, until she placed a claw on his lips.

"Shut up, you silly skeleton!" she said as she drew him in a hug, looking in his eyesockets.

"i can't stop myself near such a-MMPH!" he was silenced as a pair of lips suddenly glued to him, forcing him to surrender to this rather passionate input from Alphys.

Their kiss was intense, just like the first time they made out in the lab - this time, it was her turn to be the bold one - and he found himself rather submissive to her fiery tongue making her way. They drew even closer to one another, bony hands and lizard claws tangled into one another, forgetting about what was happening in this timeline.

[Alphys and Undyne's home, Waterfall]

Undyne was standing all alone, in the gym, as she trained her stamina and endurace, per Shamir's instructions. He told her that today they won't be training, as he had something important to take care of - yet Ribras and Rasha paid her a visit, trying to be as friendly as they could towards the fish monster, as their captain suggested. The two felines were eager to have an offspring of their own, and to see Shamir so dedicated towards raising Undyne to his level, it made them change their tune and approach her with more warmth than before - they were getting ready to knock on the house's door, when Undyne's voice left out her famous NGAAAAAAHHHH! and Rasha took a peek through the larger window that caught her eye. What she saw, really surprised her.

The fish monster was training exactly like Shamir - she could see the amount of focus Undyne was placing into her attacks, and how many, many spears were embedded in the room's walls, dummies and various other equipments Rasha wasn't knowledgeable of. It seemed like she was trying to focus her range, by all means...

...but in fact, Undyne was trying to control her rage. The fact that she couldn't tone down her rage was a flaw Shamir pointed out and tried to improve each day, but it seemed borderline impossible. 'He told me this will be my biggest weakness...' Undyne mused as she looked at the damage before her and sweatdropped. Her sister will be mad again for destroying the gym the umpetenth time, but she was lucky that Alphys was quite understanding with that - Shamir still refused to live with them, because he didn't want to be a burden, and besides, he was close by and much more content in staying within his tent.

"Ribras, did you see that?" Rasha said as she looked with widened eyes at the scene before her, while Ribras was standing there, arms folded.

"Sheesh, I didn't expect her to make as much mess as Shamir does. Still, can't deny that this is impressive." Ribras noted as well.

"Let's just hang out with her for a while...Shamir is busy with something else." Rasha said as she went down to knock on the door, while Ribras gave her a questioning look.

"So, what is he busy with that he couldn't tell us at least? I get he doesn't trust Parvos anymore, but-" Ribras opened his mouth to speak, only to be silenced by Rasha's lifted paw.

"I have no idea. He just told me to check up on Undyne, and make sure she's okay. Looks like his icy demeanour tones down around her, and we have to inform her of the human's advancement. Since Captain Shamir is busy, someone else has to defend Waterfall. And we're in Snowdin, while Parvos was assigned to Hotland." Rasha said.

Undyne's footsteps could be heard distinctly on the other side of the door, and she opened it as if thinking Alphys must've come back home, only to backtrack a little and notice the two feilnes from the Royal Guard at her door. It was definitely unexpected, as she was still in her training clothes and by all means, sweating from all the exercise, but she tried her best to be somewhat welcoming despite her appearance, so she beamed at the two with a large, goofy grin.

"Uh...sorry guys, I wasn't expecting you to show up in here." she said as she cleared her throat a little. "I thought it was Alphys."

"It's alright, Undyne. Is it okay if we enter?" Rasha said as she tilted her head.

"Uh...sure, I guess?" Undyne said, hesitantly, before letting the two felines in.

"We have word that the human has returned and is slowly, but surely, advancing until here. We'll try to stop them in Snowdin if we can, but you'll have to handle Waterfall..." Ribras said as he folded his paws, unsure if he could really give these news to Undyne.

"Wh-why me?" the fish monster asked as she looked at the two in puzzlement.

"You're a member of the Royal Guard, why do you even ask this?" Rasha said, huffing a little.

"Right, I see. I'll try my best!" Undyne said as she flashed a proud smile.

[Ruins]

"Now that my brother is gone...I can start killing!" Napstablook said as he hoisted the pocket knife in the air. "I...WILL...BE...THE ONLY RULER...of the Underground!" he screeched as he advanced further in the Ruins, the puzzles already solved by Roger's smarts. 'I can be grateful to your friend, kid. He made OUR job a lot easier now.' Napstablook thought as he encountered a small, scared Froggit, and the monster looked with wide eyes at the scary human before him - the Froggit could only start running, while "Ribbit"-ing the hell out of himself to warn every other Froggit and Whimsun living in the Ruins - but Napstablook was not going to let them just walk away like that. It wasn't really surprising that, after a good five minutes run, the small monster was exhausted - and the only last resort this small Froggit had was to let himself caught, unaware that this human wasn't going to deal Mercy to him.

Napstablook, in Frisk's control, lashed out repeatedly at the defenseless Froggit, turning him into dust and increasing Frisk's LOVE, the ghost feeling a bit drunk at the sensation killing was offering him. His corruption was good enough to absorb well the after-effects of the first kill, and, with a creepy grin on his face, marched on in the Ruins, killing every living monster in there, until...

Nobody came.

He then stopped at the end of the Ruins, walking into the room where the Toy Knife was. 'That pathetic knife was not good. Now...THIS is more like it!' the ghost mused as he was now looking with curiosity at the new weapon, and was enjoying the silence in the Ruins as he headed towards the Old Home and the exit towards the rest of the Underground. Napstablook was sure nobody could stop him, as his powers were now virtually unlimited - he could SAVE and RESET, or LOAD any file just to make sure his domination over this land was complete. Nobody could really mess with him, as long as he held the key to the Monsters' demise...

...nobody except the Royal Guard, maybe?

[Sans' Lab, Snowdin]

"did'ja feel that?" Sans asked Alphys, as they were holding off from another make-out session, slightly blushing and softly panting.

"Our numbers just diminished..." Alphys said. "Bet the human just cleaned the Ruins," she exhaled as she straddled off the small skeleton.

"they're surely headin' here." Sans said grimly, as he looked towards the console where all the camera feed was. "but when they do...the royal guard will take 'em down. i just-"

"I know, Sans." Alphys gently shushed the skeleton. "Let's just make sure we can warn Shamir, and tell King Asgore and Queen Toriel about this, so we can make a stand at the Barrier, if anything."

"right. i'll talk to tori, you talk to shamir and make sure to take someone from there. it's better if the dreemurrs find out the mess from me." Sans said as he warped out to New Home.

[New Home]

The King and Queen were standing in the throne room, examining the few reports about a human wandering in the Underground - Toriel was mad at Asgore for hiding her this, but after he explained he didn't want her to risk anyone's life nilly-willy, she seemed to have toned down a few notches. Still, the fact that a human was wandering the Underground and hasn't been caught yet, it spelt trouble for the Kingdom ahead - and from time to time, the two Boss Monsters would exchange glances that had a shadow of questioning in them - until a flash of light managed to render them blind and drop a few reports amongst the golden flowers.

From the flash, emerged Sans, who had a really tired face and was still digging his hands in the lab coat's pockets, and some sweat was bedding on the skeleton's skull as he approached the two monsters before him. He couldn't help notice that both Dreemurrs had their battle armor on, meaning they might have known everything, or very little, at this point they were here, and he cleared his throat to break the silence.

"your majesties. i came down here cause...maybe you have heard, a human rolls in the underground." he said sheepishly, as the two monsters gazed sternly at him.

"Have any ideas on how to prevent more deaths from occuring? We sensed our numbers just got smaller." Toriel said, as she was still sternly looking at Sans.

"shamir has everything under control. he really does. but we hafta retreat to the barrier..." Sans gestured towards the next room, "because at this point, we can't really do anything else but hope the guard does everything to stop this."

"We concede the point, but if this isn't averted...it will mean we'll be gone." Asgore said, a bit grimly.

[Royal Guards' Training Grounds, Waterfall]

Shamir felt the shift in the wind, but Asriel wasn't able to pick it up so well - in any case, Shamir's time to stay idle was slowly running out, and he wasn't going to be caught up defenseless. He rose from the ground, and asked Asriel to wait outside, until he fully equipped himself. Asriel focused on summoning and dissipating the Chaos Saber at will, as well as controlling the small cracks of electricity around his right paw, while in his left one, he summoned a fireball. Inside the war tent, Shamir placed the Dual Sabers behind his back, set the bandana in place, and checked for his daggers, feeling quite rested and able to take on whatever enemy would be coming this time.

Outside, Alphys arrived in a flick of light, blinding Asriel for a moment. The lizard monster gasped as she saw who was present before, and she couldn't believe her eyes - it must've surely been a prank, a prank from Sans - there was no way Prince Asriel was alive. There was no such possibility! He and his brother died years ago, at the hands of humans, who were exploring the Underground - but King Asgore decreed that the souls of those humans will never be used to break the barrier - and so monsterkind was forced to wait more until they would be free.

Now they had six SOULS...and their victory was closer at hand.

"Pr-Prince Asriel?" Alphys timidly asked, looking at the small goat before her, still believing it to be a prank.

"Who're you?" he retorted, studying the lizard before him. "I've never seen you..."

'Did he lost his memory?' was the first thought Alphys had as she looked at him, while clearly remembering the times she babysat Asriel when Asgore and Toriel were out meeting the monsterfolks. And at that time, she didn't think she would enjoy looking after a child, but he rubbed off her with his cuteness - and now to see him looking at her with such a questioning gaze, it made her sad.

The silence between the two seemed to have spoken volumes, for they would exchange curious looks towards one another, until Shamir walked out to check the noise and saw Alphys, her face in full shock at the sight of Asriel. He mentally facepalmed as now, he had to explain why was Asriel in here, with him.

"Alphys? What are you doing here?" Shamir said as he looked at the scared lizard before him, and at Asriel, whose head was tilted in curiosity.

"Care to explain...how is Asriel alive?" Alphys folded her arms, looking at the Captain before her.

Shamir exhaled slowly, and then began explaining everything to her, pausing from time to time to make sure both understood - because Asriel was also curious - and after a good five minutes rundown on everything, Alphys' reaction was completely shocked and started fiddling with her claws, her glasses foggy as emotions got the best of her.

"...and that's how he's here. And I'm training him, currently. Let me assume, the human is on its' way?" the jaguar said as his eyes squinted. "I hope Ribras and Rasha can face this human bravely..."

[Somewhere in Snowdin]

The snow crunched under the human's small feet, while Napstablook, in Frisk's control, was content to keep on killing - he had a lot of victims to choose from here, unlike the Ruins - and his first Snowdin target was Snowdrake, who was currently practising his ice puns as if nothing ever happened in the first place. Napstablook decided to adopt a seemingly different approach this time, pretending to be a nice human, and just when he would least expect it...

"Ice to meet you, human!" Snowdrake ruffled his feathers, but when he saw the human staring at him, he thought his pun wasn't funny. "Uh...it was fun, right?"

"...Nope."

"You can't have that cold of a heart, don't you?" Snowdrake said as he tried another pun.

"Do I look like I care?" Napstablook said, "Your puns are horrible."

"I-just, don't give me the cold shoulder, here."

"Are...you deaf? I said I don't care!" Napstablook lunged towards Snowdrake with the Toy Knife, closer to the beak.

"Really, you look like you didn't have a chill out lately..." Snowdrake kept making puns, even if he was sweating.

"SHUT...UP!" Napstablook roared as he slashed the bird monster once, the gash starting to drop drip by drip, until Snowdrake turned to dust.

After he was done with Snowdrake, he decided to keep wandering around until a better challenge presented itself before him - dusting Ice Cap and Lesser Cat in the process - until it came to the first real showdown of this run so far. The genocidal human stopped before a large, wooden bridge, at its' other end being the first notable members of the Royal Guard trying to stop his advancement towards the barrier.

Ribras and Rasha.

The lion and his mate were tightening their grip on their axes, while their robes fluttered with the wind, the burden on their shoulders being quite heavy. It wasn't that simple, and the rumors about the human were only half-true - they didn't have any real special power, except the Toy Knife. However, because Napstablook was possessing them, their damage was solidly stronger and enough to make any monster dust before them - and therefore overriding the effects of LOVE.

"Human! This is your last step on these grounds!" Ribras roared, his eyes narrowed to slits as he looked at the human.

"Oh, look at you. You think yourselves so fierce, huh? You'll FALL before you even get a chance to rise!" Napstablook said, chuckling with insanity.

He then dashed towards the two monsters, jumping in mid-air as a ghostly light surrounded the Toy Knife, the speed of the charge considerable enough to bust through their defense, but Ribras was swift enough to block it with his axe, recoil from the blow pushing both human and monster apart as the latter clenched his teeth, and Rasha hurried to his help. She then charged towards the human, axe covered in blue magic, but she was put to a halt when the axe clashed against a faint red shield that surrounded the child, a smirk playing on the child's face.

"Tsk. You're so...so stupid." Napstablook said as he backed a few steps from the attack.

He then lunged towards her, rapid swipes in his attacks which she desperately tried to parry - a few wounds were leaking blood on her face from the lucky blows - until they broke the attack and looked towards one another, each squinting their eyes. Ribras then gently pushed her back and he dug his hind legs in the snow that was now coated with some blood due to his wife's wounds - this was not going to be unpunished, of that much he was certain.

Ribras jumped in mid-air, axe on front, aiming to split the child's head open, but Napstablook dodged fast - thanks to Frisk's ability - and Ribras ended up digging his axe deep in the ground with a long metallic vibration. Napstablook wasted no time in attacking the lion, and threw with some swiftness the Toy Knife towards him, hitting Ribras in the chest, busting an artery in the process. 'The lion was so stupidly busy in trying to recover his axe, he didn't look at my moves at all.' the possessed human thought as blood and dust were mingling with the snow, and Rasha was rendered speechless.

She tried to plead for mercy, but the same fate waited her as well.

EXTERMINATION.


Looks like clock is still ticking for the timeline...but not for long.

Shamir: What-what is this feeling?

Me: ...I dunno. Until the next time, I guess?