Cover Art: FairyFan94 from Deviant Art
A/N: I am updating sooner because I got to know today that I will be away for a while. Which means I won't be able to update next week and maybe even longer depening how long I won't have any access to wifi or any sorts of internet connection. Since I managed two write at least two chapters since the last chapter I am able to give this one early. Also I might be able to update regular again depending how much time I can spare to write while i am away.
Chapter 18 – Safed yet Trapped
Frisk opened her eyes slowly. Her body hurt. She flinched as she looked around in the blackness confused for a moment before she spotted her mirror like image a few meters away from her. Their arms were hanging down their sides their head dropped. Fear gripped her heart but yet she was rooted in one place. A faint light glowed next to her and she recognized the glowing letters once again, her hand slowly reaching forward, hesitating. She looked at her mirror like image once more, they looked sad and lonely Frisk noted.
"It's not over yet." Their voice filled the strange room around them. They didn't raise their head, not meeting Frisk eyes. "Even if you LOAD now, I will get regain control."
The girl tilted her head in slight staring at her mirror image. Her hand dropped to back to her side. Slowly fear crept into her heart and she slowly took a step backwards.
"You didn't take my hand, yet wanted the pain to be gone." Their voice was void of any emotion, causing a shiver to run down Frisk back. "Giving me an opening to take control."
"It will happen again and again and again." Their head snapped up, blood red eyes gleaming dangerously and a large smile. "You will wish for the pain to go away. Your determination will waver and then, your soul will belong to me like it should. You don't remember it. But you gave it to me begging for this world to be recreated."
Frisk shivered and took a scared step away from her mirror image. One of her hands clutch the fabric above her heard. She could feel her heart beating wildly inside her ribcage. Did she really give her soul to them?
A humorless chuckle echoed and they tilted their head a mocking smile on their face. "You don't believe me? Why do you think it was so easy for me to take over control whenever you showed the slightest bit of doubt?"
The human girl shook her head violently, both hand now holding on to the fabric above her heart. She squeezed her eyes shut.
"I am just taking what is mine you know." They stepped closer. "A deal is a deal, but this comedian got in the way and you refuse to cooperate too… its making everything harder than it should be."
Frisk panicked when their soul burst from her chest. Its warm red glow was obviously weaker to what it used to be. Her small hands reached forward cupping her own soul in her hands in an attempt to hide it from the one before her.
"I had hoped that proving to you that they all hate you that him killing you and hurting you would make you give up your soul. But as it is now… you still refuse to give me what is mine, don't you?" They asked mockingly. "He can't help you here you know."
Frisk took another step backwards and they another one forward. Her body shivered, her muscles ached, yet she refused to entrust her soul to the one before her. But fear was a powerful emotion that froze her completely and her thoughts to go blank.
A hollow laugh echoed. "Where is you determination now?! You are all alone! No one will come for you! No one will help you! Its game over for you and game start for me!"
Frisk wanted to cry out for help but their voice failed them. Then again, no one would come. She didn't even know where she was right now let alone what had been going with all the LOADs to escape the nightmares.
"That's not true." A new, more mature voice spoke through the blackness.
The girl blinked. She knew that voice. Frisk looked around but saw no one. Her eye landed on the one opposite her and she saw them frown. Had they heard that voice too?
"Don't give up." It resounded once more this time nearer.
A cracked red transparent soul appeared before the girl. Confusion reflected in her eyes as she watched it floating nearer to her. Slowly she removed one hand from her soul and reached for the transparent one. Her mind began to swim with images, and slowly the black cracks stated disappeared.
But before Frisk could get a hold of the transparent soul it was ripped out of her reach by a pale hand. A grin spread across their face, replacing the frown that had been there earlier. The transparent soul in their hands trebled and the cracks reversed reappearing instead of disappearing.
"Oh look who we have here." Frisk felt a cold feeling gripping their soul even thought it was safely in her own hand. Her outstretched hand started to tremble and she withdrew it fast.
"Think you can help out poor little memory less you?" A strange pain filled Frisk as she watched them squeeze the transparent soul between her fingers, the cracks in it became deeper and it looked like they were oozing a thick black liquid.
"You know if you want to keep your soul that badly…" A strange feeling of foreboding filled the girls mind as they saw their grin getting even wider. "…then I will take this for now."
They crushed the transparent soul in their hand, black goo spilling out between their fingers as the transparent and shattered reminds were left in her hands. Frisk felt a strange pain and dizziness, it was like something important was ripped right out of her but when she looked at her hands she saw her own soul still in them. It was slowly regaining its warm glow. Yet a black dot formed in its core, it was like she was missing something very important but she could not pin point what it was.
Laugher ringed through the black ness and she looked up to the see them a soul was hovering before them. Half of it was white emitting nothing but coldness but slowly another half was added it glowed weakly in a transparent red yet a black liquid was oozing out of the place where the two halves should connect. Slowly the liquid crawled up the other half and formed a solid other half completing the white half soul.
Frisk eyes went wide staring. Their hand reached up to the strange soul over their chest. They grinned, their red irises gleaming with a maniac joy. "All I need now is the rest of your soul."
The human girl shivered fear filling her as they laughed crazily walking nearer and nearer. Black liquid dripped out of their eyes giving them an even more disturbing look.
Frisk was rooted in place, she could not move even an inch to get away. Slowly they got nearer and nearer. They were going to take her soul…
…bone hands gripped Frisk from behind ripped her out of wherever she was.
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A long cut went through his hoody when he narrowly avoided their attack. That was to close for his comfort but nonetheless Sans used that chance. His right eye glowed blue his left arm shot to the side.
The soul turned partly blue. With all his control he pulled on the blue part.
A ripping noise echoed...
…and then the blue part separated from the weakly glowing red part.
He summoned a Gaster Blaster and was ready to fire it at the blue soul in his magic clutch.
But in all his focus on the half soul he didn't pay attention to the body that was still controlled by the soul part in his clutch.
They swung their knife at him at the same time he fired the ice blue magic beam at the half soul.
A glass shattering scream echoed in the judgment hall before everything began to become fuzzy. The noise of static was faintly heard before everything turned black.
Then everything turned back and Sans blinked. He stood in the middle of the judgment hall alone. There was no demon and no Frisk. Slowly panic started to rise in him and the lights in his eye-sockets searched through the hall.
Something felt off, but not in a déjá vu kind of way. After all he didn't wake up yet again in his room but he was here in the judgment hall where he had faced off against the demon and tried to safe Frisk soul.
He kept on searching for the human child, retracing all his steps even going back to his room at one point to see if the child was there. While his thoughts circled about if Frisk was alright, neither where she was nor if he really managed to separate the demon from Frisk.
Deep these thoughts he didn't realize that his phone was ringing for a third time in a row. Only when it started to ring a fourth time he realized and reached for it, raising a skeleton eyebrow at the caller ID.
"Alphys?"
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The bright white light that had blazed through the darkness had enabled him to get see what was happening inside the childs mind. But what he saw was something he knew was going to 'erase' all the efforts of the short skeleton. Not to mention it would ultimately cause the child to lose herself. So he had reached in and tried saving the child of mercy from the child that lost their path.
He looked down at the human girl now. She was unhurt, the bruises she head were slowly healing and fading. By saving this child from her own mind he knew he had made a great mistake. He had once pulled the short skeleton here to give him a warning but… compared to sans, this child was now trapped in the same realm he was in.
This child had been their hope, their dreams. She was the key to the freedom of every monster, the angel of the prophecy, the cause for the underground going empty, being freed and let to Aboveground.
That was all gone now. He had destroyed their future. Yes he wanted to be free, to be remembered too, but his own selfish wish was now costing them all. How much is the return of one or two beings worth compared to the freedom of a whole race?
Everything he did was always thought through carefully, every error he could make was prevented by slight changes. There were no irrational actions for him. No mistakes in his calculations, no failures. Yet here he was, in the black abyss, forgotten by everyone he held dear, making one mistake after another, underestimating their adversary…
…and failing their hope.
He knew he should have pulled the other child with him but… instead he had taken her. He didn't understand his own action.
The child stirred, his attention returned to her. Slowly he floated nearer unsure of what to do now. Surprisingly the black goo of this place wasn't even trying to swallow the child, nor did the shadows try to cut any deeper. It seemed as if their determination was even in this weaken form strong enough to resist desperation.
For a brief moment he wondered… had they forgotten this child of mercy like they had forgotten about him and the lost souls? Or was her determination so strong that even her memory will persist in the mind of others.
He tried to take a look at the future of their timeline but found that he couldn't. He hoped that didn't mean that they all were going to be erased.
"W-who…" A weak voice resounded through the black abyss. He glanced back at the slowly waking child that stared at him, confusion, fear and curiosity reflecting in her eyes.
A strange voice filled the silence that was between the two and the human child tilted her head in confusion. Fear slowly leaving her eyes as more and more curiosity took over. He frowned slightly, so much for hoping that Sans would teach her how to understand wingdings. It looked like he had to change his voice more for them now, so that the child could understand him.
"I… am… Wingding…" Of course there was more to the explanation of who he was. But he doubted that the childs mind was cable of understanding a full blown explanation of his being and how he was only half of what he used to be, thus his name being split in two just like he was.
"Wingding…" Frisk slowly repeated confused but then she smiled, despite not knowing what he had done nor that no one was going to remember her anymore.
It was going to take very long to fix his mistakes once again. Yet here they were, the kindhearted child smiling up at him, and the one that took their future.
"Friends?" Her smile was still radiant and he couldn't help but slightly smile too. Well at least he didn't have to share this place with a murderous child anymore.