Again, this chapter is a dark one. Nothing graphic, but dark all the same.

Chapter 6: Hope Dimming

The monsters were gathered in the throne room, watching Frisk through a portal Gaster was able to call up and they all smiled again as they watched her try to make things not look so gloomy and she even cleaned up some of the buildings in the Underground where stuff had been laying around, stuff they had all been doing or working on when they had been imprisoned by their master. Seeing the child fixing things up made their hearts soar, knowing she would keep her promise about freeing them.

Gaster suddenly sensed something and shut down the portal. "He's coming," he whispered.

The others looked worriedly at the door, which flew open a moment later and their master stormed in, looking very displeased. His gaze focused on Alphys, who shrank down as he came closer, grabbed the chain that was around her ankle and dragged her after him. She struggled to get free. "Master! No!" She pleaded.

"Stop!" Sans cried out, teleporting in front of their master, who shoved him aside like nothing. Gaster caught his younger brother as Grillby, Undyne, Mettaton, and Papyrus tried to stop their master, who glared and twisted Alphys' arm, making her cry out sharply, making all the monsters freeze.

"Try that stunt again and I'll break every bone in her body," he growled at them. "Not even Toriel will be able to heal her if that happens."

Hearing that, the others had no choice but to retreat. "Master, please, don't," Gaster pleaded.

The young man glared at them all. "Alphys will get triple the punishment today," he said.

The others felt their hearts drop at that as the master dragged Alphys into the punishment room and closed the door, making them all hang their heads as they braced themselves to hear the worst punishment being given to their friend who the master saw fit to hurt when he felt like it.

The young man chained Alphys to the wall and pulled out all his favorite torture tools. "I couldn't find those royal children or Frisk," he said, looking at Alphys. "And Muffet didn't cooperate with me, which means you get the ultimate punishment I've been saving just for you, Alphys."

She trembled fearfully, her tattered yellow scarf soaking up her tears and her yellow long-sleeved shirt and yellow jeans did little to soften the punishments. Even her yellow boots couldn't block out the blows much. "Master, please, I'll…I'll do anything," she pleaded.

He was deaf to her pleas and began punishing her.

Outside the room, Alphys' screams echoed to the others, who could do nothing but listen. Gaster began crying as he heard the horrible sounds of the dinosaur's torture and her screams, tears rolling down his skull as he couldn't do anything to stop their master. The others also started crying, knowing that if they dared to break down the door and fight him, the master would keep his promise and break all of Alphys' bones and prolong her torture.

Papyrus hugged Sans. "I wish he'd stop," he said. "She's in so much pain."

One of the attributes of his power to encourage emotions was that Papyrus could feel someone's sad emotions very powerfully, something that would fill him with sadness and make him want to help that person, which would make his power stronger. Sans hugged his little brother back.

"I know, bro," he said softly.

Alphys' screamed died down and they all looked at the door, fearing the worst. "He's gone too far," Undyne whispered in horror.

"No," Toriel whispered fearfully. "Please. She…She…can't be…,"

Asgore held his wife close, all watching the door fearfully, fearing they may have lost their friend. After many long minutes, the door opened and the master came out, dragging Alphys behind him again.

The sight of the yellow dinosaur and the wounds she was now sporting made the others all sick, but they were relieved to see she was still alive. Roughly, the master threw her towards Toriel and Asgore and left without a word.

Everyone gathered around Alphys as Toriel's hands glowed with her healing power as she tried her best to heal the dinosaur, but some of the wounds were too deep and she could only partially heal them. The small dinosaur opened her eyes to see them all gathered around her and felt Toriel healing her. The goat monster looked at her. "I'm sorry, Alphys," she said softly. "I can't fully heal some of these wounds."

"I-It's…o-okay," the dinosaur breathed out through her pain.

"Shh," Gaster gently shushed her, placing his fingers gently over her mouth. "Rest, my dear."

Grillby prepared some food and fed Alphys with Papyrus' help. Toriel helped by projecting her healing power into the food, hoping it would help with the deeper wounds.

"It's not right," Mettaton said, speaking up now. "It's not right that our master feels that he can hurt Alphys whenever he feels like it."

Undyne had tears in her eyes. "He won't stop until he has all of us," she said. "Muffet can only keep the royal children safe for so long. He almost found them earlier."

Asgore looked at his friends, tears falling down his face. "I've been a horrible king," he said. "I've allowed this to happen."

"No, my love," Toriel said softly, clutching his purple dress shirt gently in her paw. "You couldn't have known that a human would come and trick us with a promise and then enslave us all."

"And you did manage to get Chara and Asriel to the secret exit before we were captured by our master," Papyrus said. "And Muffet managed to avoid capture."

"True," Asgore said. "But my power…has caused us all grief."

"No, Asgore," said Gaster. "Our master has caused us all grief, not you, our wise King."

No one was really cheered up much by the words Toriel and Papyrus spoke as pain filled them that Alphys was suffering from severe pain and worst of all, they began to lose hope.

Sans suddenly remembered Frisk and glanced around. "I'll be back," he promised and teleported himself to where Frisk was. He was tired, but he had to find her. She had to know that it would soon be time to face their cruel master.

Glancing around, he found her down the path and she was only a few hours journey from the castle, something that filled him with relief and he went over to her. She glanced up and saw his face before running up to him and hugging him. He returned the hug, holding her tight as tears filled his eye sockets.

Frisk looked up at him. "It's Alphys, isn't it?" She asked. "She's been really badly hurt."

Sans nodded sadly. "This is the worst one this time," he said softly. "Our master went too far."

Hearing that, the ten-year-old girl felt anger fill her and she stood straighter. "I'll stop him," she said. "He's not going to do that again to Alphys and he's not going to be your master any longer."

Kneeling down to her height, Sans gently clasped her hands in his. "You really mean that, kid? You promise?" He asked hopefully.

"I promise," she said firmly. "Please, you guys have to hang in there. I'm almost to the castle. I'm going to free you all."

Hope filled the skeleton's heart when he heard that, because he could hear the promise in her voice and the determination that was inside her. "I believe you," he said.

Frisk nodded. "Share that hope with the others," she said. "Don't let them give up."

He nodded and hugged her. "Kid, this place needs more humans like you," he said.

She smiled before getting an idea. "Sans, can you do me a favor?" She asked.

The skeleton gave her a thoughtful look. "If you ask me for a favor, you can't get it back," he said.

"I know," she said before holding Twister in her hands, giving the small Gaster Blaster a pet and it looked up at her knowingly before she looked at Sans. "I want you to give Twister to two people or monsters. The reason I ask this is because three fighters are better than one."

Sans looked confused, to which she understood. "Don't worry," she said. "You'll understand soon."

He slowly nodded, but then looked at her. "You have to really mean it, kid," he said.

Frisk nodded, holding Twister out to him and he accepted the small Blaster, who nuzzled him reassuringly, which told him the kid has already run it by him too. He took a deep breath. "Okay," he said. "I'll give Twister to two people or monsters that I know."

She smiled and hugged him again. "It'll be over soon," she promised. "I'll be there in a few hours."

Smiling, he gently ruffled her hair before teleporting away and watching her head down the path. He glanced down at Twister, unsure about Frisk's request, but deciding to trust her.

A moment later, he had made good on his promise and teleported back to the castle. Gaster was holding Alphys in his arms as she was resting and the others looked forlorn. "Frisk's almost here, guys," the short skeleton whispered to them, making them look up at him. "She's only a few hours away. She says she'll be here soon. She's going to free us. Our torment will be over soon."

They all didn't look too reassured, but their hope began to feel a bit brighter than earlier. Would they really be free soon?

They knew from their encounters with her that they could trust Frisk and that knowledge made them cling a bit harder to their hope that a human child would show them mercy and that they'd be freed from the cruelty of their human master and freed from the prison that the Underground had become for them.

As Frisk promised, it would be over soon.


Well, Frisk has now traveled traveled through the Underground and is nearly there at the castle. Can she free the monsters? Next up: she comes face to face with the master, who is someone she never would have expected. Who is the master? Stay tuned to find out.

And please leave a review, but no flames!

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