This chapter is named after an OST from Drakengard 3, exclusively on the PS3.

"Tsuyoku kioku shiroku tsume

Yowaku kuraku kuroku kiba

Itsuka wa naga towa ni saku to

Takaku tooku aoku yobu

Atsuku kooru kaze no koe

Itsuka hana ga horobu ima yo" - Five
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Chapter Three: The Rising Fool

"What's happened to Snowdin?" Toriel asked Kira as she walked through the no longer cheerful town.

Even since Aster ascended to the throne, many of Snowdin's citizens have gotten cut wages, and oppressors were even silenced by his knight.

"Oh dear..."

Toriel had every right to be worried. Snowdin Town was in a depressing state. All of its citizens were either scared or furious, as well as giving each other the death stare. The edgy atmosphere was only increasing her fears about Aster, the soulless sorcerer Kira keeps speaking of.

"Hey, you!" yelled a voice from behind.

Toriel stopped dead in her tracks, paralyzed in fear. She never did this before. Perhaps it was a side effect of procuring Kira's soul.

"Yes, you! Come here lady!"

Toriel slowly turned around to see an intimidating red monster, brandishing a rusty knife. She couldn't risk using fire here, for people would get suspicious of her identity. Not many monsters could control fire magic.

Eeek! Let's get outta here, goat mom!

"Right!" Toriel agreed, turning her back on the red monster and running.

"Hey! Get back here you wench!"

Toriel took a sharp turn down a back alley behind Grillby's. Perhaps she could lose the bandit if she-

"Ah!" The ex-Queen screamed as she felt her foot get snatched. She was pulled underground; into the dark...
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The next thing she knew, Toriel found herself in an underground bunker with minimal light. She searched her surroundings to find a group of five hiding down with her: a ghost, a spider, and three dog monsters. The dog standing the closest to her starting walking towards her.

This guys seems familiar...

"Who are you?" Toriel queried, appearing bold and shy at the same time. "You're not here to attack me too, are you?"

"Attack you?" The blind dog asked. "Gosh no, ma'am. If anything, we saved you from that felon."

He held out his hand above Toriel, who stood up and shook it.

Whew...

"I'm Doggo. Me and my two friends here were members of the Royal Guard."

Doggo was pointing in Dogamy and Dogaressa's direction. That blind couple loved each other no matter what.

"Greetings and salutations!" The spider introduced herself. "The name's Muffet."

These guys aren't bad at all! Thank goodness.

"Hi..."

The ghost was someone Toriel spent enough time with to know his identity.

"Nabstablook?"

"Y-yes... Toriel..."

Muffet's eyes widened, Dogamy's jaw fell open, and Dogaressa fainted. They had no idea they were rescuing the queen of the Underground! But then again, how many goat monsters were still around?

"Wait a minute." Doggo cut in. "The Toriel!? Ex-Queen of the Underground?"

"Yes."

"This is perfect. Toriel, you could be our chance to end Aster's tyranny!"

What?

"M-me...? But I'm really a pacifist. I wouldn't harm anybody on purpose."

"Doggo!" Muffet raised her voice. "You can't just ask somebody to kill a soulless overlord, even if he is your evil ex-friend. Can't you see how stressed out she is?"

"Huh? Your ex-friend?"

"...Papyrus. He was a skeleton who was worked up about joining the guard like the lot of us. Captain Undyne held him back though because he was an innocent person. But then..."

Dogaressa stood up to speak for Doggo, who didn't want to speak more about the past.

"Something happened a few months ago that Papyrus didn't tell us about. He came back from wherever the hell he went, holding his brother's ashes in a jar."

"That's horrible..." Toriel responded, feeling sorry for the monster who became a villain.

"He wouldn't leave his house for a week." Dogamy joined the fray. "That kid even threatened to stab one of us if we kept trying to help him. I guess not even the purest saint is free from sin, eh?"

Toriel thought back to when she nearly killed Frisk in an attempt to protect her from the outside world. "No, I guess not. Not even me."

"Anyways," Muffet spoke this time. "A mysterious tower literally sprouted up one day for deep within the woods."

Dogaressa continued from that point. "Moments later, Papyrus came back to Snowdin from the tower declaring how he would be the Underground's new ruler. His brother, Sans, was incredibly alive and by his side, although he-."

"Excuse me?!" Toriel interrupted, shocked. "I know him. We used to speak to each other every day behind an ancient door. But then..."

Yes, Miss Toriel. Sans is Onyx, Aster's knight. Aster is Papyrus, Sans' brother. I had no idea they had different names before this though...

"So, you've heard then, Queen Toriel. Papyrus and Sans, or should I say Aster and Onyx, are now controlling this town, and their influence is only continuing to spread. That's why we need your help."

Toriel wore an uneasy face, as she couldn't even fathom how her one close friend had become so bad. "Help for what exactly?"

Doggo stepped back forward towards Toriel, his arm again outstretched. "We need to take a stand; rise up. Wanna join our cause?"
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hElP mE... i'M bRoKeN.

Sa-... Onyx, get over yourself.

Y-Y-Y-Yes, s-s-s-ir.

By the way, thank you for collecting those vials of Determination. I'll use them later.

...

Why so glum, my boy? We've achieved a wonderful victory today.

wonderful? WONDERFUL!? I slaughtered every last one of those innocents, just to fetch you f***ing steroids!

SILENCE! And profanity. And if your report is true, then it is apparent that Captain Undyne isn't deceased after all. A pity she had to catch you in the act. She would've made an exceptional personal guardsman. Although... it is not too late for that to change.

Alphys... p-please forgive me...

Pay attention when I'm addressing you!

S-Sorry, m-m-aster... Father...

Better. Now, it has also come to my attention that four humans are roaming the Underground; their souls with the trait of Neutrality. Bring them to me... alive.

...It shall be d-done.
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A few years ago, Ivan had learned of the Mt. Ebott rumor. Legend foretold that those who fell into an opening in the mountain would fall into an underground world, the home of monsters. Ivan thought that it was an interesting fact, and thus he shared it with the class. Eventually, a girl named Chara heard the rumor. She finally found a way to escape her abusive father. Three other kids dared her to jump,... Ivan had only spread the rumor...

201X, one month ago...

Ivan's stepfather threw the apologetically sobbing teen into his room, pissed off as hell.

"Stay in there you lousy little punk! And don't come out until you have my authority!"

"I-I'm sorry, I-"

His stepfather, Chara's father, slammed his door closed, locked. The sixteen year old boy could only struggled into his bed in tears. An only child, he was constantly bullied by everyone. The bullies at school, his abusive stepfather, and even his next door neighbor. An unloved boy who, until three days ago, had done nothing wrong.

His stepfather, oh what a bastard he was. Every since that deadbeat married his mother last year, he and his younger brother, Anthony, we're raised under pressure. His mother got beaten by him when she strongly disagreed with what he tried to do. He'd even hit the kids. Three days ago however, Anthony could no longer take the pain. To protect him, Ivan convinced his brother to run away and escape, an action he quickly regretted.

Today, the main school bully, Logan, came up to Ivan and began taunting him about his broken family, again. This time however, Ivan couldn't ignore words that added insult to injury. He broke Logan's nose with one, hard punch. Once he did that, he was immediately caught and taken to the principal's office. His stepfather was the one to pick him up. When they came home, he started beating at Ivan until he got a punch to the gut. That is how Ivan had ended up here... And why he ran away...

Ivan limped his way through the dark alleys of New Home, a city where half a million citizens lived in anxiety due to a small committee ruling in King Asgore's stead. The sixteen year old boy struggled to shake off the soreness of his legs; struggled with the new magic he had never been able to manifest before his capture. Oh did he regret his life choices. So many wrong turns in life are what led him to this rough state.

Ivan was originally a fencer and a hip hop prodigy who always told the truth. But not anymore. With a Neutral soul, he no longer felt the weight of lying on his shoulders. He was a new kid, one who left a monster to die...

"Just you wait, monsters of the Underground. There is a new king on the chessboard."
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Sorry that I didn't make room for Undyne in this chapter. She'll reappear next chapter, taking a detour to Waterfall. I hope you enjoyed this chapter! Please leave a review on what you think about the story, and possibly story suggestions. Have a good day guys!

FinalMagus25