Chapter Five: Kill

The shields went up in a flash, even as both Alphys and Flowey tried to jump in, to prevent it from closing, Alphys with her staffs and Flowey with his bullets. But despite both of them being determined, the shields didn't even spark.

Frisk felt the tug at her heart and her instincts take over, meeting Sans's gaze as she did so. His eye burned, like a wild bushfire, and his smile was grim. He still pointed at her, now right at her exposed soul, its red glow seeming dim compared to the twin lights in his eye.

"The birds are not singing. The sun is not shining. Humans like you, Frisk, should be at home with family, not here dancing with danger," said Sans, his voice low and shaking her to the very core.

"You promised," she answered.

"And I have kept - and will remain keeping - it. I will not kill the weed."

"Then why are we here, now, fighting each other?"

Sans shook his head slowly. "To kill you."

Her blood turned to ice, and he attacked.

"You!" Alphys shouted, turning from the shields to face Flowey, the spear she held blazing between her hands. Flowey glared at her, but shrank back, his eyes darting from the shields to her weapon. She moved it as close as she dared without touching him, her anger making it shake unsteadily. "What have you done?! Why have you done this, all of this?! Why didn't you ever tell me?!"

Flowey's eyes flared at once, and in his normal voice, he said, "You. The doctor. It's actually you." He smiled slowly, showing all of his teeth. "I loathe you."

"You can do whatever you want," snapped Alphys, her eyes blazing as bright as her staff. "But before you do, you owe me an explanation. Why, in all conceivable hells, is Sans fighting Frisk?!"

"Because she won't let me die," he snapped back.

Her eyes narrowed slowly. "Start making sense, or I promise you, you will."

Quite suddenly, Frisk was fighting for her life, something she hadn't done in years. Weekly mini-fights with Flowey had kept her reflexes sharp, but her attack was too weak, too low on LV to be of any good. All she could do was defend.

His attacks were strange. She could tell he was holding a great deal back, and even then she still had trouble. By the time his first attack was done, she was almost out of breath, stung in several places and beading blood in others, but otherwise fine.

Frisk met Sans's gaze again, seeing no trace of her friend in that alien, lopsided stare. She narrowed her eyes, gritted her teeth, and ground her heels into the ground. Slowly, she shook her head.

"You really are not going to fight?" wondered Sans, his voice so menacing it hurt - and not just physically, either. "Knowing what it means if you do not?"

"Yes," she answered between her teeth. "But I think I should know why I'm being murdered today." Her hands shook, and she clenched them at her sides. "You owe me that much, Sans."

"True. But I never promised anything about killing or not killing you; just in regards to the weed."

"But tell me why I have to die!"

"If you can survive this next attack," he said carefully, "I will tell you why I am doing so, before I kill you."

His hand went up, and her soul was pulled with it.

"Yes, let's pitch camp by the shields of a battle and talk about the past, doctor!" Flowey sneered. "What's next, you gonna tell me I need to come home with you, too? Be a good little plant?"

At that, Alphys almost hit him with her staff, she was so angry. However, she was smiling, which really just revealed how furious she was, as it was the smile she wore when about to fight back. "The circumstances are bad," she agreed tersely, "but unless you give me answers, nothing will change. Start talking. Now!"

"I'll kill you first, weakling," was his reply, his voice dipped in mockery. "Too bad your wife isn't here, huh? No one will be able to rescue you from your own death, or even care about it."

"T-try it," she volleyed back, her anger making her voice shake. "I would love any excuse to do some gardening."

Frisk was down, but nowhere near out. Her soul, though weak now, was still shining with its strong red glow, reflecting off of her eyes like embers of a dying light. She was on her hands and knees, gasping for breath, but refusing to look away, her gazed locked on Sans's. Something flickered in that eye when he finally met her gaze directly - and suddenly, the fires vanished, snuffed out at once, replaced by his normal pinpoints. His hand, however, was still raised and pointed at her, though now it shook a little. His face changed, too, from almost menacing to almost-normal, save that his smile kept slipping into a grimace.

"I survived," she spat out. Her heart was racing and she could hear her blood rushing in her ears, but she was still alive. Still determined. "Why are you killing me, sans?"

"why?" he echoed in his normal voice. "because you wouldn't let me kill him, and i'm sick of seeing you - both of you - hurt."

"So instead of helping either of us," said Frisk, her voice wavering now, angry. "For you, it's kill or be killed."

The words caused a brief silence between them, before sans said, rather wistfully, "isn't it better to die by a friend's hand than an enemy's?"

"You're not my enemy?" Frisk answered sharply, trying to smile but failing. "I beg to differ, sans." Again, she pushed herself to her feet, slower this time, and again, she met his gaze - and refused to fight.

sans winced, either from her words or her actions. Maybe both. "you know he's been lying to you for years, frisk. he's been lying to everyone, been horrible to everyone, even his - your - parents."

"I do know," she said. "I came here to convince him to come with me to Alphys's True Lab, to see if we can do something, now that I know - and now that he knows we know, too."

"you think that will really work, kiddo?" he wondered. "bringing him back somehow? especially the way he is, trapped that way? you think that'll bring joy to anyone? to him? to your parents? to you?"

Frisk bit her lip, the questions confusing her, before she blurted out, "I have to try! I can't just know and do nothing! I just..." She looked at him, searching his eyes desperately. "I just want peace, sans. Please, can't we stop this? Can't you just help me?!"

"dammit, frisk," he answered softly. "you know that anything but peace will come from revealing something like this. do you really think your parents deserve that pain?"

"They deserve their son back, however he may be - or may not be. It'll hurt, but it's better to have him than not, to know than to be lied to forever."

"and you think he deserves a gift like that?"

Frisk's eyes burned, and she nodded. "I think it's been long overdue."

"then you deserve to die." He shook his head, and at once his left eye engulfed his socket. "I am sorry."

And once again, she was fighting for her life.

Alphys surprised Flowey, just like she knew she would, when she managed to avoid his myriad bullets, managing to deflect several of them with her staff. When, despite her fury, she chose to spare him, he laughed at her, the sound sharp and grating.

"You idiot!" he giggled. "You really just said all of that with a straight face, and yet here you are, not even trying?!" He laughed again, even when her eyes narrowed and her own smile increased. "What is wrong with you, you depraved mad scientist?!" He laughed a third time, only this one was hysterical - and not that way on purpose.

When three circles of white pellets appeared over his head, she watched them carefully, her smile widening so much her face hurt. Holding her staff tighter, she know knew exactly what to do.

At least until she could reach Frisk.

If.

A third time, Frisk was down but not out, though it took her even longer to recover this time. Sans stood watching, visibly sweating from his efforts but his eye still blazing as bright as when he had begun. Frisk had to blink hard several times to regain her focus, and when she did, she tried to get back up.

"You know you are doomed, now, no matter how determined you may be, Frisk," said Sans, his voice like an internal bellow. "You will not kill him, nor will you let me. Thus, in order to keep the most peace possible, I have to stop you from telling anyone, and kill you where you stand."

"But why?!" she demanded, her voice breaking. "It makes no sense! Why would telling people about him ruin everything, Sans?! Wouldn't it make people happy to know that he's still alive?!"

"Perhaps, but you keep neglecting one person, the most important one, the one most affected by your actions - past and possible future." When she simply glared at him, trying to find words but failing, he gave words to her. "No one has bothered to ask the prince what he wants. Have you, Frisk?"

Alphys sniffed. "Are you trying?" she wondered now, having only been hit once in that entire attack. He glared at her, and she already knew the answer. "No, of course you're not."

"You... you of all people... you think you have all of the answers, don't you?!" he snarled, his voice slowly changing from the normal, acerbic trill, to something lower, pained and broken, gone long unused. To Alphys, the more he spoke, the more familiar it became. "But none of you get it, truly. None of you. You least of all!"

When she again refused to fight, Flowey attacked again, his frustration forcing him to have better accuracy this round. There were a few more hits she had to accept, but again she stood and waited, her smile never fading.

"And you?" She chuckled. "You think I don't get it? You think I don't understand?! I, of everyone, knowing what I've done?! What a dumb little posy you are."

And again, she spared him.

Frisk felt cold, but not because of the temperature. She couldn't speak - not after that. She hesitated, not wanting to stop talking, yet - but not even close to being ready for another attack. Not if it was going to be anything like that last one.

"You want to know what he really wants, Frisk? He wants to die. He has been trying to die ever since he awoke in the True Lab. I have tried for years to grant his wish, and once I finally found him through you, you made me promise not to kill him. I do not break my promises, Frisk, and I will always honour it, but if you insist on continuing with your plan to reveal his plight to everyone, you must be silenced. The pain is too much already." Sans paused, his eye twitching. "You cannot reveal that Asriel - as Flowey - has a soul, because though it won't kill him, it will destroy him."

Frisk's vision blurred further with tears, her entire being in pain from this. "No," she whispered, but she already knew it was true.

"He was ashamed the moment he opened his eyes, Frisk. And he created his own penance. He has served it well, do you not agree? So, now that you know that, I will again give you the chance to flee, to walk away. And then, to relieve me of my promise, so that I can finally give Asriel the peace he is owed."

Frisk stared at him for a moment, the moment feeling like an eternity, when really it was only minutes. Then, without a word, with trembling limbs, she pulled herself back to her feet once more, her eyes lowered from him, now, her tears falling hot down her cheeks. Once she was standing as tall as she could possibly be, she looked up at him, meeting his gaze right on, and nodded slowly. "Thanks, Sans," she said softly.

But she spared him instead.

"You don't," Flowey snarled at Alphys. "You have everything! You can't lie to me; Frisk tells me everything! I know about everything! I know you're happy, the happiest in the world!" He laughed at her.

Alphys nodded, not rising to the bait. "I suppose yes, I do. I do have everything. But if you think I have never felt what you're feeling before, you're stupider than you look, and know even less than you ever could." She said the words sharply, harshly, her smile finally falling into a sneer. She knew exactly what it was like to feel shame, so degrading, so consuming, that all you anted to do was either hurt yourself, or die, anything, to make up for it. Oh, she knew that feeling like it was an old friend, and would always know it. "You chose what we both know is the easy way. Instead of revealing yourself years ago, sparing so many people so much grief, you ran away, you hid, pretended to be someone else! But we both know who you are, don't we, Asriel?!"

"Shut up!" he suddenly shouted, his voice different again, only the most now than Alphys had ever heard it yet. His face suddenly fell, as did the rings of bullets surrounding him. And that voice... Alphys definitely could recognise it, now - or rather, recognise its origins.

But despite his words and tone, just like that, he spared her.

Alphys's staff vanished at once in reply, and she knelt to him, keeping careful distance, just in case. "Listen... A-Asriel-,"

"No," he snarled, averting his face from her. "Not like this. I'm Flowey."

"S-sorry," she amended carefully. "F-Flowey... Now that I know you have your s-soul, I can go back to the lab, find a way to somehow bring your true form back, too." She paused, then swallowed hard, shutting her eyes. "B-but... I know my p-part in your agony. I-I did this to you. I-if you truly want... If you truly feel like it-it's the only way... I-I can... undo it."

Slowly, he turned his head back, his expression one that she didn't even know he could make: defeated, his posture hunched over in a low spiral. Slowly, his eyes met hers. "I... what I really want... is-,"

The shields dropped just as suddenly as they had gone up, shocking them both into silence - very briefly.

Sans had shut his eyes for the last blow, unable to watch, the one that threw her down for the final time. When he heard her fall, his hand dropped at once, as if a string had been cut, and he turned away, unable to even look, now.

Alphys was on her feet at once, her gaze first going to sans, then, when her eyes dropped, to Frisk - and that's when she screamed out. "No! No, no!" She dropped to Frisk's side at once, where the human lay on her back, eyes shut and face a mask of pain, the red glow that was her soul stuttering like a flame in the wind, weakening as its host did the same.

Flowey's face was probably the worst of all. He stared at Frisk, his eyes wide and his mouth a tiny line, looking as if he wanted to scream, himself. He couldn't look away, now trembling from leaf to stalk.

Alphys grabbed one of Frisk's hands in her own, her other hand trying to grab her phone, to call for help, but her claws fumbled in her fear and panic, and she dropped it more than once. When it fell a final time, she let it and held that cold hand tight. "Frisk? Can you hear me? You need to hold on, do you hear me?!"

Frisk could, and she did try. That was obvious by the fact that her soul still fought to stay lit.

"sans!" Alphys screamed out at him, glaring at his back. "Do something! Call for help, get help, do something!" When he did nothing, Alphys started to shake, panic consuming her. She reached back down for her phone, only now her claws were sticky... with blood.

"Help," Flowey suddenly whispered, his eyes wavering. "Help me... help..." He was slowly making his way to Frisk, as if in an unknowing, blind daze. "Mommy... Daddy... someone..." he whispered. "Help..."

But nobody came.

"Damn it!" Alphys snapped, turning away from sans and throwing her phone to the side. She studied Frisk, trying to see if, somehow, Alphys could find some way to carry her to safety. She even tried to pick her up - only stopping when Frisk's soul flickered dangerously low. She froze, and it stablised, but Alphys knew what that meant. If she couldn't move Frisk, and she couldn't get anyone to Frisk, then... that meant...

"No, no!" Alphys grated out, grabbing onto Frisk's hand again and rubbing it between her own, trying to squeeze warmth back into it. "If you hear me, don't go! Stay! You need to stay, Frisk! Dammit, stay determined, okay?!" She kept repeating that. "Stay determined!" As if the more times she said it, the more truthful it would be.

Quite suddenly, Flowey was there, at Frisk's other side. Alphys almost attacked him, but something about his face stopped her. She did glare at him, choking out for him to get back, but he ignored her. He was still whispering, and by the time Alphys understood, it was too late.

"I have to..." he was saying, his eyes on that dying ember. "I have to. I'm not doing it for... I'm not going to let... No. Not this time...!"

sans suddenly turned back, and with obvious panic, he started back towards them. But even he couldn't get there fast enough, nor could Alphys summon anything up quick enough to stop him.

Flowey reached out, and with a bright, blinding flash, absorbed Frisk's soul.