Me: The curtain will fall.

Shamir: Well, I surely enjoyed the tale.

Me: Yeah, me too, it was fun writing it.

Shamir: So...you're not mad at me?

Me: No, you doof. You just have to learn a lot, and that's why I love you, buddy.

Shamir: *sweatdrops* Good grief, you seem to like me despite my flaws...

Me: ...Let's just start the chapter, the readers don't want to read our shenanigans.

Shamir: ...This is the end.


CHAPTER FIFTEEN: IN THE END, START ANEW

"Look around you. Is this how you want all this to end?"

A war zone.

This was the description that could be graced, as the fog of battle slowly revealed a catastrophic background, where Shamir, the brave jaguar captain stood against the human whose destiny was to erase everyone in his hatred, with a little help from a certain corrupted ghost. Grass was burnt in some parts, in its' place being a lot of dark circles that formed after lightning struck, the once solid walls of Waterfall on the verge of collapsing, due to the recoils of battle and tossing around of the enemies. And to add to this sorry description, the only sound that could be heard was the cascade's furious torrent, as the wind's intensity was close to a hurricane's.

The fog of battle revealed the wounded jaguar, whose heavy breathing was rhythmic with the cascade's flowing while he dropped his swords for a moment, trying to regain whatever power was left within him. He held his right arm with his left paw, wincing from the effort and the various cuts the human managed to land on him, while his fur was in complete disarray and soaking wet. He could feel each breath hurt him on the inside too, as the latest blow must've broken some ribs, yet despite all those wounds and the blood running down his snout, he flashed a weak smile towards his adversary. With whatever strength he would muster right now, he would finish the human, and complete his duty - everyone would be proud of him for this.

Distinct pitter of paws could be heard in the distance, while on the other side, the human was laying face down, his hands gnawing at the grass in front, in a pitiful attempt to recollect his power. Their hair was left to a few strands, while the clothes were ripped and wounds were still bleeding in place where fiber should've been, and Napstablook thought that this couldn't be the end for them - he had to use one final blow towards the jaguar, to exterminate this enemy who seemed to keep on going, and going, no matter the wounds or exhaustion that was starting to show on his face.

The human slowly rose to their feet, a small, cracking evil laughter escaping their breath, while wincing in some pain as he looked at the monster before them. It had came to this, a final battle of whose blow is going to land first on the other, at the edge of their powers, and their hollow eyes affixed the jaguar, who was still weakly smiling as blood stained his snout.

"So," the human chuckled, "it has come to this. You and I on the verge of our powers, trying to find a way to finish each other...isn't that delicious?"

Shamir didn't retort any comeback, as his ears were still perked, trying to figure out the owner of the distant pitter-pawing, while leaving out a long sigh. He definitely didn't want anyone to come between himself and the human, this was his job, his duty right now, and he won't be stopping for anyone - not even for his mother - and only should he fail, the next Guard would take over the duty.

That's how being a Guard worked for him, and he wasn't up to changing this right now, not in the middle of a crisis. Napstablook could see the jaguar's eyes sparkling with determination, a trait he didn't see so often in monsters - with the exception of the large, pitiful jaguar before him and Undyne - and right now, Shamir's determination was set on destroying the very threat walking through his home, the threat that took his foster daughter's life.

"Has the Captain given up on our little playtime?" the human called out to Shamir, but it looked like the monster before him didn't even hear. "Ignoring me, huh? You think I'm that stupid Ice Cap?"

"No." Shamir finally opened his mouth to speak, as he picked up his swords, his eyes squinted as silent fury filled them once again.

He was ready to put an end to this, as wounded as he was, and it was likewise for the human before him, because his enemy lifted the white and red sword and pointed it towards the monster. Drums of war started to chant inside the jaguar's mind, a distant memory of times gone awry, of final decisions that could shift the reality before him, and he charged his blades with lightning for one more time - aware that this could drain his magic completely -

as well as his stamina, due to his sustained injuries, while the human's mind was slowly filling with thoughts of hatred, betrayal and darkness.

"this bullshit is over, fellas!" a voice called out as a rift opened behind them, letting both opponents with eyes wide open as a glitch-like skeleton approached them, his whole body spelling ERROR and changing colors at will, with a maniacally plastered grin. Napstablook knew it was their friend, while Shamir knew that this new monster was yet another enemy, due to the demeanor the skeleton had.

"Who...who're you, skeleton?" Shamir said as his eyes turned towards the glitchy skeleton, while the latter kept his grin on, snapping his fingers in irritation.

"let's just say...i'm your worst nightmare, shamir." he said as a glitchy Gaster Blaster was hovering above him.

This was only spelling trouble for the jaguar, as his face darkened in anticipation - he figured that this was the end - and steeled his mindset to stay there, take it in full force as there's nothing else left. 'He's a lot more powerful than my friend...and even this blasted human in here...' Shamir could only think as his eyes closed, breathing in and out, knowing there was no way to survive this, until something unexpected happened.

"Why don't you kill the freaking bastard?" Napstablook asked as he left out the human's body, which collapsed with a heavy thud due to the exhaustion endured. "Why the hell did you come here if you don't-!"

"did you really think i'm going to let you live, idiot?" Error Sans said as he shot the blaster towards the ghost, who left out a screech as his SOUL was destroyed, the recoil of the blast pushed Shamir further away from the human. "time to erase you, furry glitch." the skeleton said menacingly as he took control over the human's SOUL and used their DETERMINATION to begin the timeline's erasure.

Shamir could see the world before him turning darker, yet darker, as the skeleton shot another ray from his glitchy Gaster Blaster that the jaguar deflected with a well-timed Jaguar Fury, but the recoil from this particular clash threw the latter into the open rift, without knowing what was going to befall him next.

[Altertale Universe]

He couldn't remember much, only the fight, the fall...and then white light.

Everything else was fuzzy.

He opened his eyes to feel the humid grass under his snout, and then he felt something familiar - pain - his head hurt horribly, along with other parts of his body, while he could sense his magical reserves completely drained. 'Ngh...whe-where...am I?' he could think as he flipped on his back, looking at the dark ceiling above him. Blood was dried on his snout, while the cuts on his fur were starting to slowly heal, and felt like he could lay in here forever - the silence was indeed calming the rapid pulses of his SOUL - until he heard distinct pitter-patter in the distance, and slowly rose to his feet, shaking away any hesitation.

He looked around him, seeing that he was in Waterfall, but there was a difference to this place. There was a Royal Guard Headquarters in here, but it was... deserted, and very different, as the banners showed a dog print in there. 'Hm...I don't remember having any dogs in the Royal Guard.' he mused as he looked at the ruins before him, but he could see the former Captain had a thing for tents too and he smiled weakly.

His ears perked up as some distinct pitter-patter could be heard in the distance, similar to a...human's walking. His eyes turned red at the very thought, the human must've eluded him after the skeleton intervened, and was probably coming down for a second fight. 'Well, this time, I'm going to make sure that they die on the spot.'

A human girl with a purple and pink-striped shirt and a blue skirt was exploring this area, and she jumped in fear as the large jaguar appeared before her, swords unsheathed and eyes red with fury. If there was anything she could discern about the monster in front of her, was that he looked extremely displeased, and didn't look like he could be talked down to MERCY.

"You have eluded me for the last time, human! Now I'm going to take your SOUL away and my duty will be served!" Shamir said as he grinded his swords, faint lightning dancing away on the metal as light shone on the bloody snout of the jaguar.

"W-wait! I'm n-not your enemy!" the girl before him started cowering in fear, intimidated by the large stature of the jaguar. "Please, d-don't hurt me!"

"Begging for your life, human? This won't be happening!" the jaguar captain said as he lunged towards the defenseless human, only for his attack to be deflected by a powerful shield of fire. 'Wh-what?...'

"...are you alright, lil child? is this obviously misguided kitten attacking you out of the blue?" a female wearing a purple jacket and pink sweaterdress said calmly, as she came down hearing the shrieks of the scared child.

"Tori!" the girl said as she beamed towards the motherly monster, exhaling in relief. "I don't know what's going on!...He lashed at me out of a sudden..."

"You dare to have my mother's name..." the jaguar said as he gritted his teeth, "and then you intervene in my fight! You're standing in the way of the Royal Guard!" Shamir said as his eyes squinted, obviously upset at the fact the monster just denied him the chance to complete his task.

Alter!Toriel stood in front of Alter!Frisk, staring casually at the feline. "eh? whaddya talkin' about? the royal guard's been disbanded for six years. you're...not from this timeline, are ya?" She tilted her head, as she noticed the sheer determination in the jaguar's eyes. "well, confused or not...ya might consider stopping whatever you're trying to do."

"I am not going to leave without the human's SOUL. I have to finish my task...and I won't let anyone else intervene!" he roared as loud as he could, before digging his hind legs in the humid grass. He was not going to back down, even if he didn't look really good right now.

"...sigh. if he keeps this up, the humans are gonna have a fit. stand back, lil child. this won't take long." Alter!Toriel said, her eyes flashing yellow as her sclera turned back. "...looks like somone needs to put you in a timeout."

The female goat monster's aura of fire gently coated her up as she stared at the monster who outright dared to hurt her precious Frisk. She ensured that absolutely nobody will ruin the progress they've worked so hard to achieve - peace with the humans - and this misguided jaguar just earned himself a place on the bad time list. On the other paw, Shamir looked at her with silent fury, ready to lunge at her - their sides were drastically different, yet so drastically similar - but he didn't have the time or the patience to listen right now.

All that mattered was that she was keeping the human SOUL he needed, and it wasn't enough that he landed in here - he had to fight against someone that resembled his mother, while being a lot smaller than he knew her. "I'm feeling...quite strange. A bit hesitant too. Yet...I'm not going to let that human escape like that!"

He began running towards her, lightning blades up, and then jumped in mid-air as he aimed for two vertical slashes, but Alter!Tori casually dodged as the blades hit the hard ground and left out a cheeky smile at the weakness of his attack. "Ugh, how is she so fast?!" he thought as he pulled up his sabers, aiming to swipe again at her, this time with more force than the first blow, but she did nothing else than aim a fireball towards him that impacted his chest, pushing him away a few paces back.

"hm. you're obviously out of style. tryin' to hit a lady like that~" Alter!Toriel winked as she raised her paws, a plethora of green lights surrounding Shamir...She then clenched her paw as all twenty of them stuck to his body and denoted violently.

He left out a grunt of pain as the lights zapped him violently, leaving him unable to focus his stance. "Damnit! She's stronger than I thought...but for some odd reason, my magic seems to be back." he thought as he could feel energy running through his body, despite his sorry state.

"You're really strong...and it's impressive. But...I think I have to thank you for giving me a chance..." the jaguar smirked as he was now able to charge his paws with electricity, "...to show you just how strong I am."

Alter!Toriel smiled at the stupidity of the monster before her. "more like giving you a chance to show how weak you truly are. both in mind and spirit. power...buddy. you can't compare to anyone in this timeline. especially me." Her smile turned into a frown as her sclera turned black. "You don't really know what's going on here, so I'll cut ya a break. But if you keep going like this, i'm gonna drop my mercy. This is your final warning."

"That kind of superiority isn't going to bode well for you. If you think yourself superior than a Royal Captain...then you're wrong!" Shamir said as he roared powerfully towards the goat monster, forcing her for a moment to place her paws to her ears, while keeping up a shield of fire to block the jaguar's strong, yet-not-so-strong lightning strikes.

She wasn't going to tolerate his nonsense, that much was obvious - she dusted her skirt, while sighing at the sorry sight before her - and then her eyes flared menacingly, seeing this monster won't be listening to reason."alright, i gave you a chance. remember that," she said before disappearing in a flash of fire.

'What? Where did she-ACK!' Shamir was desperately searching for her when he felt pushed to the ground by twenty rapid fireballs, Alter!Tori's paws showing steam due to the intense heat emitting from them. He then rose from the ground, and turned to her partially, his eyes shining with fury - he wasn't going to let that unpunished - while he raised one paw to call out three sets of lightning strikes, which Alter!Tori avoided by teleporting in flashes of fire. 'Stay still you little-' he was growling mentally when she appeared in front of him and punched him with a fiery paw, burning his fur in that spot.

"sucks to be you, that fur won't be growing back too soon~" she giggled casually as the jaguar looked at her, still pissed.

"You...YOU WON'T BE GETTING OUT HERE ALIVE!" Shamir roared towards her as he charged up his blades, aiming to hit her full force with the Jaguar's Fury.

He wasn't going to let her just walk over him like that - he didn't allow anyone to walk over him like that, well, except his mother - but this monster, no matter how much of a look-like it was to his mother...wasn't in the slightest a friendly one. And plus to that, she was standing in his way, in the way of the Royal Guard, in the way of everyone's hopes and dreams - and that little human critter wasn't helping things out.

Alter!Frisk looked at the sheer ferocity the jaguar displayed - while he wasn't a weak monster, he was certainly confused - Tori was right, he didn't know what was going on in here, but he also refused to listen to anything she had to say.

What kind of monster was he, exactly?...and why was her MERCY ineffective on this one?

She then listened in to what Tori had to say, as the latter surprised the jaguar by teleporting insanely closer to him. "i see that look in your eyes. you're trying to get your mojo back. your cred back. your honor back. i want you to listen VERY carefully to the next words i say."

Shamir feels an intense amount of frightening intent around him, as he turns around. Alter!Toriel's paw was an inch from his face. Her own face was blank, her sclera were black, her eyes flaming yellow, and her overall expression was filled with terrifying coldness, colder than all of Snowdin.

"Your honor...your pride...your power...none of those things matter to me. All that matters...is that you're trying to kill my friend. And I find that action...intolerable." Those we're the last words she uttered before an intense fire blast engulfed his entire body, and she hopped up slightly to kick him a long distance away, so he looked like a flaming comet until he harshly hits a boulder, stopping his momentum and doing insane amounts of damage from the flames and the impact.

He was knocked down unconsciously, looking dreadfully charred.

And Alter!Toriel looked at him, almost in pity, while she held tight Alter!Frisk's hand, and could only utter these words.

"i jus' hope that he wakes up with a clearer head. if he doesn't...i won't be holding back anymore."

And that's how the tale of Altershift ended, while Shamir's tale wasn't going to be over, for he was going to play a part in the unfolding events.

THE END.


I want to say a huge thank you to Ben10extreme for inspiring me to write this story.
And I also want to thank you, lovely readers!

This was the tale of Shamir's universe, and I hope you have enjoyed it as much as I did while writing it. :D