Ruintale

Chapter 5.

It is time.


For over a minute, Frisk and Queen Toriel remained motionless, staring at one another in utter silence, waiting for the other to make the first move.

"O-Oh," the queen spoke meekly, "ah...you...you made it."

"Queen...Toriel?" Frisk responded curiously.

The goat woman nodded, clearly disturbed by his presence.

"Human...Child," she inquired stiffly, "what is your name?"

"Frisk." the human teenager answered.

Toriel looked at him closely.

"Really?" she voiced, "I only wondered, because...you look...so...much...like..."

When a mental image of the past flashed into her mind, the queen shook her head vigorously to forget it.

"I'm sorry I came in uninvited," Frisk said, "but, I went through a lot of trouble to get here..."

"I know," Toriel replied, "I have known for a while that you were coming."

"Yeah?" the human teenager replied, "Well, now that I'm here, your highness, I need to t-"

The queen then raised a hand to silence him.

"Yes, I know why you are here." she stated.

Frisk looked on curiously.

"Please," she requested, "follow me."

Toriel led the human boy out another doorway, down another hall, to a new area, where they stood before a translucent wall of pulsating light, beyond which was a doorway to the outside.

"Is this..." an awestruck Frisk mumbled.

"The barrier that keeps us all trapped underground," Toriel affirmed, "one human soul and one monster soul is all it takes to pass through, however, to bring it down, we need-"

"Seven human souls." the human teenager added.

The queen nodded solemnly.

"We have two right now," she proclaimed warily, "and...if I win, and finally do this right again, it will be three."

"W-Win?" Frisk responded tensely.

With that, Queen Toriel turned to face him with a grave look on her face.

"Forgive me for this." she bewailed softly.

closing her eyes and hanging her head, the monster queen held out her hand and before Frisk's eyes a massive trident appeared in her grasp. Frisk drew back as he realized what was happening.

"Wait," Frisk tried to say, "I didn't come to-"

He was then cut off by a fireball hitting him in the shoulder, causing him to stumble backwards, before he could react, he found himself surrounded by fireballs at all sides, coming at him with greater speed and force than the ones he faced from Asriel. It was clear that, unlike her son, the queen meant business, as after a round of fireballs, she thrust the trident in her hands forward and, when the human boy dodged it, swung it violently back and forth. As hard as he tried to dodge her attacks, Frisk eventually did end up taking damage. The only reason he had not sustained more cuts or burns was because of Asriel's thick leather jacket.

"Please, Queen Toriel," Frisk said anxiously, "I didn't come to fight you!"

The queen did not respond, she only trembled as she powered up her next attack, yet another wave of white-hot fireballs. Once again, Frisk made every effort to avoid getting hit, only to get hit a few times.

"Listen to me," the human teenager yelled, "please, I need to tell you about the surface!"

"Whatever is up there," Toriel huffed, "I'll see for myself once this barrier goes down!"

She sent out more fireballs and Frisk covered his face with his arms as they made contact with him.

"But, that's just it," the human teenager groaned, "if you go to the surface, you and the other monsters will be-"

He was cut off again when the queen's trident slammed across his face, leaving a deep gash across his burnt, filthy face.

"There is...not point in resisting," Toriel lamented, clearly distressed, "fight me...or die, we cannot both survive here...I refuse such an scenario."

Frisk looked up at her with concern, it was clear that there was more at stake there than just his soul alone.

"I'm sorry, but, I refuse to fight, let alone kill you," the marred human boy responded, "I don't care if you kill me, your highness, but-"

Again, Toriel swung her trident and, as he stumbled back to avoid it, raked the human teenager across the chest, leaving three big scrapes. Sore and worn-out, Frisk fell to one knee, panting as blood from his open wounds slowly dropped onto the floor. Queen Toriel was also panting, she was, after all, giving it all she had.

"W-Why?" the goat woman questioned breathlessly, "Why are submitting? Why do you not fight?"

"I said that I wouldn't fight." Frisk huffed wearily.

Then, Queen Toriel wrapped both of her hands around his neck forced him to look at her, choking him in the process.

"It is a fruitless choice, you naive child," the distraught queen expressed anxiously, "the only way to get through the barrier is to have the soul of a human and a monster with you, if you do not kill me and take my soul, you cannot get back to the surface!"

"I...don't...want...your...soul!" Frisk wheezed as Toriel's grip tightened on his throat, "I don't...want...to...go...back!"

"You do not...want..." Queen Toriel responded, confused, "then why come here, to my castle!?"

"I...I'm...trying...to...protect...you...all...monsters," Frisk croaked, "the...surface...is...a...nightmare...I...ran away...to...escape...our...king...our...king...Cha..."

Finally, everything started going dark as he began to black out, as he did, he could feel the queen's grip loosening on his neck.

Suddenly, a fireball came flying from the opposite end of the room, crashing into Toriel, knocking her off her feet, free of her grasp, Frisk ravenously took in oxygen once again.

"Frisk!" he heard.

Looking back, he saw Asriel standing there, panting and covered in dirt, obviously from forcing his way through the mess that had separated them.

"Asriel!" Frisk called back feebly.

Queen Toriel, having forced herself into an awkward, half-sitting position, looked up in shock.

"Asriel?" she uttered meekly.

She watched as the teenage goat monster hurried over to the wounded human and promptly took him into his arms, the human teenager hugged him tightly, melting into the monster prince's embrace as his warm healing magic immediately took effect.

"You naive bastard," Asriel scolded in a relieved tone, "don't scare me like that."

"Sorry, but, no matter," Frisk replied affectionately, "I knew you'd catch up with me eventually."

After squeezing the human boy tightly once more, Asriel turned his attention to the dumbstruck monster queen, his mother, who looked at him with pure astoundment. The goat prince stood up, with Frisk following suit, staring coldly at Queen Toriel, who slowly got to her feet as he approached her.

"Asriel...my child?" the queen voiced shakily, "You...you came back."

"First off, don't 'my child' me, Queen," Asriel replied bluntly, "you inglorious heathen, second, the only I'm here is because Frisk wanted to talk to you and I wanted to see to it that he survived the encounter. Your killing spree ends here."

The conscious-stricken goat woman looked on contritely, clearly on the verge of tears.

"Asriel..." she lamented, "yes, it is true, I am a...a heathen, I have done horrible, unforgivable things to innocent people, I did not want to do it, I just...the barrier-"

"Stop, just stop," Asriel interjected callously, "enough with the barrier excuse, this isn't about the barrier at all and we both know it!"

Frisk looked on tensely.

"Tell me, Toriel," the monster prince questioned, "of all the humans you've faced, how many souls have you actually collected?"

Queen Toriel hung her head in shame.

"One." she mumbled.

"Speak up." her son prompted.

"One soul," Toriel affirmed sadly, "I have taken...only one human soul of my own, two in total...is all we have."

Asriel nodded while staring at her in pure disgust.

"Uh huh, yeah," he berated, "you didn't give a damn about destroying the barrier, you just want to kill more humans, because, you still blame all of humanity for Dad's demise, when only one person is truly to blame, God, words can't describe how much I absolutely hate you, you pathetic bitch!"

Frisk flinched as Asriel struck his mother with another fireball, which she made no attempt to avoid.

"Do you think I am proud of the things I have done?" Toriel expressed miserably, "Of what I have become? I have destroyed homes, I have murdered faultless humans, children, and I have let my own kingdom fall into despair, this is not what I want!"

"Well then...what do you want?" Frisk wondered.

The queen wept softly.

"I want...to die," she whimpered, "I just want to die, I have failed as a mother and a queen, I have no right to hold onto this throne anymore, let alone live."

Queen Toriel sank to the floor, sobbing uncontrollably, clutching her trident against her chest.

"So...that's why you wanted me to..." Frisk mumbled as Toriel's words sank in.

He looked at the tormented goat queen with immense sympathy, but, Asriel's countenance, as he stood before the ruined monarch, was as apathetic as one could get. Suddenly, the goat teenager's hands twitched and in them appeared two big, formidable swords, his expression degenerating into a hateful scowl.

Horrified by the scene, Frisk rushed in between the prince and the queen, just as Asriel he raised his swords to strike.

"NO, Asriel," the human teenager yelled, "not like this!"

"Stand down, Frisk," Asriel said firmly, "you knew this is how this would end."

"No, I didn't, I did not consider for a second that it would come to this!" the distressed human teenager countered, "This can't be the answer, I won't accept it!"

The goat prince's gaze remained firmly on his mother, who had gone completely quiet.

"Come on, Frisk," he said acerbically, "you've seen what the underground looks like now and you've heard what she has done, besides, you heard what she said, she wants to die."

"And you said that you didn't want anyone else to die!" Frisk asserted, "And you didn't specify, you didn't say that you didn't want any other monsters to die, you didn't say that you didn't want any other humans to die, you said that you didn't want anyone else to die!"

"Yeah...but..." the monster prince mumbled.

The human teenager then reached up and placed his hands on both sides of Asriel's face, making the conflicted goat boy look at him.

"What would your dad want, Asriel?" Frisk asked softly.

The monster teenager flinched at the word "dad" and, in that moment, it seemed as if time had come to a grinding halt. Asriel looked from the human boy to the family picture hanging on the wall, he stared at it for several silent seconds, focusing on the image of his father, feeling as if the old king was actually looking back at them. He then looked back to the curious Frisk and closed his eyes.

"Not this," Asriel said solemnly, the swords disappearing from his hands, "never this."

Relieved, Frisk turned his attention to Queen Toriel, who was still slumped on the ground, lost in her thoughts, he got down to her level and made eye contact with her once again.

"Now will you listen to what I have to say?" the human teenager requested.

The queen responded only with a nod.


Frisk explained the state of the surface in great detail to Queen Toriel, along with the history of Chara's rule and how he had found his way to the underground.

"So...that is what happened after..." the queen voiced dismally, "I never thought...dear God...you poor thing..."

"You get it now, right?" the human teenager prompted, "Why you shouldn't break the barrier? Why it would be better for you all to stay down here?"

"I do, but..." Toriel replied, "it will be difficult to explain to rest of the monsters."

"Well, write it down if you have to and power through it," Asriel huffed, "consider it your final act as queen."

Frisk looked at curiously.

"You said that you don't want to be queen anymore and you clearly shouldn't be," the prince said to his mother, "so, since nobody wants to fight and nobody else is going to die, your only option is to formally step down as queen."

The queen thought about it for a moment, before nodding.

"If she's going to give up the throne," Frisk asked, "does that mean you're gonna be king, Asriel?"

"Well, obviously," Asriel retorted, "it is the rule, plus...I think I've been away from home long enough."

"As do we!" they heard from the doorway.

They looked to find the skeleton brother, Undyne, Monster Kid, Alphys, Gaster, and some of the lab worker looking through the doorway.

"Before you ask," Undyne attested, "yes, we saw everything!"

"Whatever happens next," Alphys said, "we're with you."

"So...what does happen now?" Frisk wondered.

"Here's what's going to happen," Asriel declared, directing his words at Toriel, "first, you're gonna inform our kind of the entire situation, second, you're going to renounce your status and let me step up as king, and finally, you're going to leave this castle and never come back...unless I decide otherwise."

The queen, not surprisingly, seemed okay with every demand.

"Understood." she stated.


It took a while, but, with the help of everyone in the castle, Queen Toriel eventually managed to get every sound monster to the castle grounds, where they listened as she revealed everything to them. First telling them about the lack of human souls and her actions behind it, then about Chara's fate and the state of the surface, then about Frisk and the idea that they would in fact make the underground completely impassable from the outside to protect monsterkind.

With the truth out and the situation fully explained, Toriel went on to announce that she would resign as queen and hand her position over to Asriel. As requested, Alphys quickly brought out King Asgore's crown, which had been locked away ever since the king's death, and held it out while in a half bowing position. The goat woman took the crown and peacefully placed it on her son's head, the act making the spectating monsters rejoice, the crowd cry out jovially, joyously chanting Asriel's name. Then, on Asriel's insistence, the now former queen removed her own crown and handed it to the new king.

"Now, Dad's trident." Asriel pressed with a beckoning gesture.

With no resistance, Toriel solemnly handed the massive trident over to her son.

"That's Asgore's trident?" Frisk responded quietly.

Undyne nodded affirmatively.

Asriel held the trident closely, getting the feel of it as it was rather heavy, then looked back at his mother.

"Now...get out." he said curtly.

With that, Toriel walked somberly out of the castle, the crowd of monster parting to clear the way for her, keeping her head down as she went, unable to look any of them in the eye.

"Are you really not gonna let her come back here...ever?" Frisk wondered.

"Moving on is a process, Frisk," Asriel sighed, "and whether she's ever forgiven or not, I can say with the utmost certainty, nothing will ever be the same for us."

The human teenager looked on dismally.

"I guess I understand," he voiced, "it's just...such a situation is unfathomable to me..."

"Monsters having family quarrels?" Asriel mused.

"No...the idea that someone could...hate...a family member," Frisk said, at a loss, "especially a parent."

The teenage king looked at him apologetically.

"I'm sorry you got mixed up in all of this," he voiced remorsefully, "guess I'm not much of a caretaker."

He was then hugged from the side by Frisk.

"Aw, are you kidding," the human boy replied fondly, "I would've been dead long before now if it wasn't for you, I am not a fighter, I think I made that abundantly clear."

"I know," the goat teenager said, "and I probably wouldn't have left the ruins if you hadn't convinced me otherwise."

He hugged Frisk in return.

"But," Asriel wondered, "what are you going to do now, Frisk?"

He then felt the human teenager bury his head in his sturdy chest.

"Duh," Frisk affirmed, "I wanna stay with you, silly!"

The new king was oddly surprised by his claim.

"Really?" he responded placidly, "You really are odd, had you said that before we left, this would've never happened."

"Besides, even if I wanted to leave, going to the surface isn't an option," Frisk said, "not that I'd ever want to go back there in the first place."

Asriel placed his hand on the back of the human teenager's head.

"It's okay," he avowed softly, "I promise...you'll be safe here."


Yes, done, it is done!

Ah, I know that seems rather anticlimactic, but, it is only because, if I get to it, I plan on writing more fics to follow it, as there are loose ends that need to be tied up that cannot really be tied up here.

Anyway, now that this is done, hopefully I can continue Tyrantale, which is at its halfway point.

I would like to do art for this AU, but, it might be more of a challenge compared to Undertale and my Tyrantale, but, we will see in due time.

I do have other fics and possible AUs in mind for the future, but, I am not sure what comes next, I might just focus one what needs to be finished first.