A Tale of Consequences

Continue?

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Chapter 8

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You don't know how much time has passed.

Sometimes you wake and the skeleton is there. Sometimes not. Once or twice you spotted a yellow dinosaur engrossed in one of nearby monitors, although she was quick to scurry away if she ever caught you awake. That was different. You remember the one time she'd pressed close to the glass, her eyes shining with wonder and excitement as Sans held you in the air. It had...hurt. It made you think of the first time you met her. When she'd been legitimately excited to be helping you.

You sit in your little cell, staring at the floor. Saying nothing. Doing your best to think of nothing.

But really you can't help it.

You think of brighter times. Of the sunset. Of Sans and Toriel swapping bad puns on the cliff overlooking the old city. Of Undyne and Alphys happy. Of Papyrus running off and Sans rolling after him to keep him out of trouble.

You even remember Flowey, peeking over your windowsill, begging you to be happy with your ending.

But you couldn't be happy, could you?

And now you are here, trapped by your own friends. The ONLY two friends you have left, neither of which care about you other than as a murderer. Wanted for, not only your soul, but to answer for the crime of mass genocide. A science geek and a cryptic skeleton planning to do who knows what with your tainted soul.

You glance at your hands, remembering how they looked as you pushed open the door to New Home. Grey, covered in dust. Red, as you lay dying in the hall of judgement. You can see both of those colors now, and you shudder, forcing your gaze up and away.

You stand abruptly, your leg cramping and almost collapsing beneath your weight. You really should move more often, but you didn't care then, and you really don't care now. You can already feel the ambient green magic working on soothing the muscle, and soon the pain fades to pins and needles.

Something feels off about today. The atmosphere hangs heavy over your head. You always feel as if you were being watched, and probably were through the cameras, but there's something different now. The oppressive air makes your throat clench and but you steel yourself and it fills you with-

No.

Well, you can't fault me for trying. It sucks having to reload there over and over again.

You don't know how long it's been since you've seen the skeleton. Long enough for you to fall asleep and wake up again. He doesn't say much when he does visit, anymore. It feels weird, knowing that he knows. At least a little bit. He just stands there behind the glass. Watching you. Judging you.

Waiting.

You know exactly what he wants desperately to ask. And now he knows what your answer will be.

A sound down the hall. You turn your head, listening. It's muffled through the thick glass, so it must be loud.

Thump.

Thump.

Maybe the Endogeny escaped wherever the lizard locked them up. When you first woke up here you wondered why you never saw any of the amalgamates. Of course scared little Alphys would do her best to keep them away from the murderous human.

Thump.

Thump.

Footfalls. Definitely. You lean up against the glass as a large silhouette appears in the distance. It comes closer and closer, much taller than the Endogeny and too thick to be the Reaperbird…

You lurch backwards, fear and terror and love and grief gripping your heart. The sight before you fills you with a dread that not even seeing Sans kill you 30 times could bring to the forefront. You've known this was coming. The skeleton warned you.

King Asgore Dreemurr stood on the other side of the glass, the old fool's sad eyes staring down at you and boring into you and ripping you to shreds with his kindness and understanding and pity.

"Oh child…" Even his voice was heavy, "What have you done?"

The emotions you've been battling knotted your throat so you couldn't even utter a single cry.

You've waited long enough. It's time to choose, Frisk.

Can you hold to your decision to truly die, now that it's staring you in the face?

Imperceptible seams in the glass split and parted as a curved section sank into the floor. Asgore took a step forward, his massive bulk nearly blocking the entryway completely. You back away, step by horrified step. No. You mouth wordlessly, unable to get the sounds past the tightness in your throat.

Somehow you'd put your faith in the skeleton. Staring death in the face was almost a physical blow. Hadn't you wanted to die? To end it? Did you really think you'd escape judgement because your executioner was too lazy and selfish to finish the job?

I smile and reach for our soul, taking that as an answer.

Game Over.

There's no way you can talk your way out of this.

I won't let him stand in my way, but then again you knew that, didn't you partner? We've killed him before, even if we didn't strike the final blow then.

Our soul materialized, beating black in a single beat. The old fool barely slowed. The skeleton had stolen my worn knife, it's true, but I was never truly unarmed.

NO!

The soundless shriek echoed in my-our-head. I stumbled, losing the concentration. You just keep screaming. "SHUT UP! SHUT UP!"

I'm trying to protect YOU.

My partner.

My soul.

Asgore's hand lifts, his large paw flashing bone thin. Our soul shudders painfully, waiting for the vice of blue magic to slam us to the ground-

Then reason returns. The skeleton is nowhere to be seen. I shunt you aside, balling our hands into fists. LV strengthens us. The magic of all the monsters we've killed strengthens us. We square our body, waiting for the red trident to materialize from the depths of his soul. We know his patterns. We know his reluctance. We aren't fully healed, but our hard fought LV bouys our aching body. Wear him down, and I could take him out with a single punch.

Just like Flowey had.

But the red never comes. Suddenly pain lances through us. Yellow and weak and sparking. Our body convulses involuntarily, and we fall to the ground with an embarrassing thud.

I glare daggers at the nervous yellow lizard behind Asgore, small yellow sparks of magic shaking from her claws.

Weak.

So weak.

But enough.

Your relief is obvious as our vision fades out, limbs going numb as the magic fulfills its purpose.

Sometimes, partner, sometimes I believe I could learn to hate you.

But I will not give up. I reach for our soul, digging my claws into it. It shudders and splinters and I can hear you howling in pain that even the dinosaur's incapacitating magic can't stop.

Your soul is mine. He can't have it. No one can have it.

You struggle to hold it together, just as you did the last time I shattered it. For someone so determined to die, you really seem to want to live this time.

I wanted to laugh at the irony.

It only made me angry.

X-x-x

Asgore caught the child with such tenderness, Alphys almost couldn't believe what they were going to do.

She shook the sparks from her claws, shuddering, jittery as the magical residue still lingered in her system. She-she didn't like Fighting. Her magic was weak. Useless. It was a momentary distraction.

But channeled through the container's amplification field, it had been more than enough.

"T-the e-extractor is t-this w-way, s-sir."

"I wish you would have told me sooner… This could have all been over." She flinched at that. It wasn't accusing at all, just wistful, but Alphys couldn't help but take it as a punch to the gut. She hunched her shoulders, trying her hardest to resist curling in on herself defensively. Not the time. Not the time. "I-U-uh...W-we-It was too dangerous. S-sans has been gathering research s-scraps for days. T-there's plenty of evidence t-that...that…" Her voice progressively got quieter, her steps slowing as she hung her head.

Would it really matter to the king? Did...any of their excuses or reasons stand up against his sad eyes and determined posture as he strode toward what needed to be done. Alphys chewed on her lip, shuffling after him as fast as her little legs could carry her.

She wished Sans were here. She'd frozen when she opened the door to find the King shadowing her doorstep, asking her why she hadn't been answering his messages in that worried way of his. Was she hurt? Did she know what happened? The evacuees were safe, but worried, did she have any news?

Admittedly, she'd been hiding from her phone for days, afraid of the guilt bubbling to the surface as her unread messages slowly began to skyrocket. She'd kept herself busy, buried her head in code and DT levels and little simulated souls and tried to forget there was a world outside holding its breath.

Maybe if Sans had been there he could have deflected it. Taken the King's sad eyes off her for the moments it would have taken for her brain to catch up with the present.

But he hadn't. He wasn't. And now here they were.

This was what she wanted right? The King had the demon. They would be free.

She buried her head in her claws, her heart thudding with each of the king's heavy footfalls. She could only hope everything she'd done was enough.

P-please let me be right.

P-please let something go right.

x-x-x

"'Ey Alph, I hope you don't mind but I stopped by that old turtle's on the way back. Can you believe he's still set up in Waterfall?"

Sans glanced around, his voice echoing oddly in the large space. The area before the giant monitor was just as much of a mess as he'd left it, with one of Alphys' simulations and a DT plot running and taking up the bulk of the security feed. His mashup of parchment scraps and diagrams was a different kind of mess from Alphys' abandoned laptop and empty chisp bags, but the scene left him a little nostalgic.

There'd been no point in trying to reconnect, before. She never remembered.

He walked to the console, depositing the Kelp flavored Sea Tea on the edge with a careless shrug. She'd find it eventually. He slid the dictionary next to it, along with a couple more references he'd grabbed from his workshop. she'd probably gone down to feed the Amalgamates or something.

He hadn't been gone that long. They needed to modify the DT extractor in order to use it to remove just the LV, instead of the entire soul, but Alphys had been having trouble reading the wingdings on the schematics she found in the d-static-old back office. Sans could translate, but even he was a bit rusty. After so many resets he just… stopped practicing. The complicated concepts were beyond his fuzzy memories.

...there were many things he'd just...given up on. After all, what was the point?

Even now, he was actively trying for a reset. None of this would matter, if he succeeded.

Well, his cache of notes in the workshop would be a bit bigger, if it worked the way it usually did. And he'd probably an extra nightmare or two.

A butterfly fluttered in his gut. He didn't much want to think about the nightmares. Dread weighed on his tired shoulders, threatening to drag him down into a pile of listless apathy.

If...this worked...then what?

He'd have Pap back. That was worth anything. But...how could he prevent all this from happening again?

Believe? Trust that the kid could stop...whatever it was they were afraid of?

Afraid…

The fluttering turned to terror. The world dimmed. He was trapped. It was cold. Tight. He couldn't breathe.

That wasn't him.

He was halfway there already, reaching and stepping as the cyan magic whirled around him. When his vision returned, he was in the dimly lit chamber, standing before a gaping hole, the access panel wide open.

The human was gone.

Closer now, he reached for their soul. The sense of space was stifling. In his head he knew he had plenty of space in this sizeable room, but it felt like he was being stuffed into a box half his size-

A mechanical whine echoed through the corridors.

Sans reached and stepped. He knew what that sound meant.

"Alph wait!" His voice was almost lost in the sound of the machinery rattling to life, even as he staggered out of the shortcut. The eyes of the skull-like machine were glowing a deep fiery red. The console was-and then froze.

"Y-you s-said you t-told him, S-sans."

He could barely see Alphys beyond the boss monster's large bulk. She'd turned at his shout, but was trembling, clenching her claws. The King stood between them, having positioned himself on one of the catwalks overlooking the machine. He'd barely even noticed Sans' entrance.

Sans swallowed his words. He had said that. He hadn't expected Asgore to leave the castle.

Was he prepared to go against the king? For a creature like that?

"What about the LV?" He forced himself to act casually, yelling at her would only rile her up more. "Are you going to risk it?"

Claws clicked against the keyboard. The hum began growing louder. He could feel the kid's soul racing. Could hear the small fists impacting against the metal, trying to escape. He felt each impact as a shiver up his spine.

"W-we don't n-need to e-extract the LV, Sans." She took a heavy, steadying breath, "J-just the s-soul. J-just the human's DT. Not the rest."

LV was monster DT. It would work.

"That'll kill 'em, doc."

"They k-killed everyone else!" Alphys cried out, pounding her claws against the keyboard in a loud clatter. She whirled around, glaring at him with the glimmer of tears gathered in the corner of her eyes. He faltered. He'd known Alph for a long time, and he'd…

Never…

Seen her so resolved.

He envied her.

She was trembling. From fear. From anger. From grief. Hell it could have been all three. Probably was.

"They are d-dead and g-gone and it's all the fault of t-that t-thing in there! And you want to p-protect t-that!?"

"Alph-"

"No Sans. You listen to m-me!" The lizard steeled herself, "T-that soul represents the only h-hope we have left! The h-hopes and d-dreams U-undyne wanted to protect! W-we need to be thinking about the m-monsters who are left alive! N-not the o-ones who are dead!"

"Well said." Asgore rumbled with a sad smile. He spared her a grief filled glance, before focusing on Sans once more, "I understand your grief, young one. Too many lives have been lost. But we cannot go back. No matter how much we wish to."

Yes we can!

But no words came out. Only his ragged breathing. He...he didn't know what to do.

They didn't understand.

How could they understand.

Could Sans explain it?

The Kid screamed. The phantom heart pounded in his chest. Sharp knives of pain as the soul shuddered. It wanted to crack. To shatter. To reload.

The machine had been designed to hold human souls together. It wouldn't work.

Did he even have time to try?

They could move on. They could break the barrier. Despite the losses, monster-kind could live. They would mourn. They would survive. They would be free.

But… the thought of a world without Papyrus' wide smile…

It filled him with determination.

I'm sorry.

Asgore's eyes looked sad. He let out a sigh.

I refuse to let this be the last reset.

Magic blazed in his eye. Distantly he could hear Alphys squeak. Heard her claws clatter against the floor. Sans reached for the shortcut Sorry Alph.

And then she faded. Everything did. Everything except the king and the kid's screaming.

Asgore Dreemurr blocks the way.

"Heh...you couldn't make this easy for me, eh?"

"Afraid not." The king hefted the trident effortlessly, "Back down, Sans. I do not wish to lose anyone else this day."

The screaming echoed in his skull. Sans rattled his bones lazily, loosening the joints

Damn it. Sans never did like crying kids.

X-x-x

Alphys couldn't keep her eyes on the monitor. On the steadily dropping DT levels as the machine worked on extracting the human's soul. Instead she was riveted by the battle playing out before her. The King's weapon made wide sweeps through the room, wreathed in orange magic. In blue. In Orange again. Her heart thudded in her chest each time Sans barely dodged, his cyan magic shimmering around him again and again as he just seemed to fade in and out of the attack patterns.

He-He only has one HP!

She wanted to scream, but her throat seemed to have closed on itself.

E-even i-if he had lied… S-she didn't want him to die too.

"Alph." The skeleton skidded to a halt just a few feet away from her. His shoulders were heaving, shaking with the effort. Beads of sweat seemed to roll down his skull, and that steadily glowing blue eye glanced up at her. She froze, even as she knew he couldn't do anything to her. His magic was still very much focused on the ongoing battle. "Don't you remember how we met?"

"H-how…" She frowned, but he was gone, vanishing as a series of fireballs turned the spot he was standing into a sooty mess.

How they'd met?

It'd been when Papyrus was inducted into the sentries...wasn't it? Undyne had declared she'd been spending too much time in that dusty old nerd cave and dragged her all the way out to Snowdin to inspect the new recruits…

"Long time no see, Alph."

That had to have been the first time...right?

...right?

The king blocked a flurry of bones with deft motions of his weapon, but Sans wasn't trying very hard. He just kept dodging. Rings of fire. Sweeping strokes. He was breathing heavily-skeletons didn't need to breathe right? H-he didn't want to hurt the king.

R-right?

She'd seen him fight in the judgement hall. He hadn't even tried to summon the blaster things.

"There's a way to save them Alph." And he was in front of her again, shaking knees clattering as he leaned against a wall, trying to catch his breath during the brief respite before the king could summon another attack. "You may not remember but-our research. With the timelines. Everything."

And a flash of yellow and he was gone again, the orange glowing blade smashing into the floor.

"It's true."

She whirled, but she couldn't see him. She couldn't find him. Just his voice, a ghost on the wind.

Research? S-she'd n-never done any research with S-sans. N-not until recently. He w-was just the brother of her b-best friend's f-friend...

...right?

So why did you listen to him?

She shifted uncomfortably at the thought.

Why didn't you call Asgore immediately?

B-because S-sans…

...asked her not to.

...her head felt heavy. Fuzzy. Why. Why couldn't she remember.

With an earshattering screech the machine died. Tearing her eyes away from the fight, Alphys frantically input the correct output sequence. Stupid. She'd gotten distracted. The extractor was mostly automated, and had a built in buffer to keep the soul from deteriorating, but she still needed to get in there and transfer it to one of the soul containers just to be safe.

The machine began to hum again. She could hear the battle crashing behind her as Asgore's trident continued to tear up the tiles of her lab. Even as she tried to focus, she couldn't help but wonder how long Sans could keep up this pace…

With a rattle, the red energy began to flow through the metal pipes, away from the main bulk of the reactor. She directed it through the channels, and checked the seal on the soul container as she reached for the valve. The DT levels on the main monitor had fallen to one, even as the levels in the jar began to rise, an answering red glow beginning to coalesce in the sealed glass. She winced as she wiped sweaty palms against her stained coat. Normally it would have zeroed out, but her improvised program had isolated the monster DT, and that still remained in the human's body. She swallowed. It was almost at a full 3 on the scale. That was almost half the soul's base DT from her initial scan.. H-how...many monsters had b-been k-killed to leave that much?

The hum fell away, and the light settled into a faintly glowing red heart. Weaker than it should be, cracked and splintering and missing chunks where the darkest concentrations had been...but... intact and floating in the center of the jar. Alphys let out a breath she hadn't known she'd been holding. She turned away from the monitor. Toward the sealed container.

It was done.

Over.

...she didn't see the DT in the machine begin to rise again.

X-x-x

It was dark in here. Cramped. Metal pushing inward. I may be trapped. I may be weaponless.

But I Am DETERMINATION.

And you, dear Alphys, just stole something from me.

X-x-x

He dropped to his knees as the crying suddenly cut off. Leaving his head eerily empty. The frantic beat in his chest was gone. Asgore's trident came down. Down. Down.

And passed through him. Blue.

Think of blue stop signs.

He couldn't help the hyena laugh that rattled out of him at that. Tears leaking from black eye sockets. He couldn't even summon the strength to summon his eyelights. It was over. He couldn't feel the kid anymore. The will driving him forward suddenly vanished into a cloud of dust, and with it scattered all hope of seeing his brother again.

He could feel the king towering over him. A heavy hand landed on his shoulder.

Asgore is sparing you.

His shoulders shook, alternating between laughing and sobbing silently. His options hovered before him. Fight. Act. Mercy.

What was the point of it all?

What was the point of trying?

Why had he waited?

Alphys's claws clicked against the floor as she shuffled closer, "G-gods S-sans a-are y-you-"

And then she halted with a screech. "Y-you-S-sans-H-how-"

He didn't look up. Just kept his eyes on the floor. On the three options before him.

Fight.

Act.

Mercy.

Crack.

"SANS!"

She sounded so far away.

"Oh god oh god. Was he hit? Asgore! You have healing magic right!?"

They tried to reach him, but he pushed them all away.

Crack.

He ignored it all. If this was the last reset, he wanted nothing to do with it.

I'm sorry Pap. I shouldn't have waited.

Crack.

I should have killed them when I had the chance.

As many times as I needed to.

I...I think I'm going to go to Grillby's.

He dragged himself to his feet. Inch. By. Inch. Large paws gripped him by his bony shoulders. Alphys was screaming at him not to move. They didn't matter anymore.

...want anything pap?

YOU KNOW I DON'T CARE FOR ALL THAT GREASE, SANS.

Oh yeah. Worth a shot anyway. I can go alone.

OH STOP BEING SO MELODRAMATIC AND LISTEN, LAZYBONES.

Mind blank, Sans did.

I THINK THERE'S SOMEONE ELSE WHO WOULD JOIN YOU.

In the silence, a phantom heart beat in his chest. So faint he could barely feel it. So slow it might have been his desperate imagination. But if he just...reached…

"S-Sans p-please. N-not you t-too."

Ping.

If he just pulled.

Glass shattered.

That cold fire beat in his hands. With the last of his strength, he stepped, cradling that shattered soul protectively. To the one place that was safe.

Cold tile. The smell of dust. A photo album of futures.

The world faded away to nothing. Three options changed to two.

Continue?

Or Reset?

The fire was broken, just like he was. A cracked mess of shards barely being held together by pure will. It recoiled from the choice. But...it didn't refuse.

SEE? THEY AREN'T HAPPY EITHER.

It seeped into the cracks of his splintered soul, filling them with hesitant warmth.

...filling them with determination.

His hand slowly reached toward the option he wanted more than anything.

I THINK THEY JUST DIDN'T WANT TO GO ALONE.

"...stop me…"

A small hand was lying over his. Hesitantly.

"...promise me you'll stop me."

...you know me and promises, kiddo.

It didn't pull away,

The red soul shattered, and Sans's went with it.

TBC

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A/N: I'm currently working on the next part of our Tale, but I hope this one is enjoyable! If you would like to read more be sure to follow either me or the story ;D Reviews are welcomed and encouraged. I love feedback.