In this world… it's killed or be killed !
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All of your souls are mine !
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Behold my true power !
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Chara… I'm so sorry
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Asriel knew he was dreaming; it was more like a memory, actually. He had understood it immediately, when his mind had decided to show him this fragment of his memory.
The human child had succeeded in putting him out of harm's way after enduring his wrath and repeated assaults. The Barrier was broken and their souls returned to those involved in the conflict. The resulting void in his being was terrible; however, the fallen prince did not regret his gesture. The people of the Underground were now free and could forget all the tragedies of the past.
Asriel looked at Frisk after the latter had comforted him. He would watch over his parents; the kid knew he could trust him.
Now, nothing held him here anymore.
«Right, I decided to leave. Mom or Dad couldn't see me. I would have broken their hearts again.»
« It's still a good ending » , Asriel agreed to himself before walking away, bravely trying to hide his tears. But as he was about to disappear into the darkness, he was grabbed by the sweater.
"Asriel, wait!" Frisk held him back, his tone pleading.
« Of course » . The former prince expected it. The young monster turned to him with a fake smile meant to reassure the human that he needn't worry, before to be stopping by his dark expression. It was unexpected: obviously, he hadn't known Frisk for a long time, and for a child, he was not usually very expressive - only Sans could detect the slightest trace of emotion on him. Yes, he sometimes seemed frightened, lost, sad; sometimes happy or very angry - the only time had come shortly after Asgore's death, before his battle with Omega Flowey - but Asriel could tell the human had never looked so desperate as he did at this precise moment. And that hand that held him tremblingly, the rest of him tense as if expecting disaster to come. This worried Asriel a lot, especially since the child had never acted like this even when faced with the worst trials.
«At that time, Frisk was so weird; even when he faced with the worst of circumstances, he had never seemed afraid. But not this time. It had shocked me.»
"Frisk, what's happening?" Asriel asked, instinctively wanting to help him get better, even though his time was running out.
His own unhappiness forgotten, the remnant of compassion that remained in him prompted him to ask what was bothering him. Softly, so softly that the monster had to lean in to hear him, Frisk said this:
"It will never stop, Asriel. No matter how many times I had to come back, no matter how many times I took everybody out, fought, let you go. The intervals are hazardous but, in the end, I always return to the place of my fall. The Barrier is only a false obstacle; it is not she that only needs to be destroyed."
«At this moment, he seemed so exhausted.»
"Frisk...what are you talking about?"
The human child did not answer; instead, he handed her a notebook. It was very old and decrepit; where did it come from? Hesitantly, Asriel took it, but before he could open it, Frisk stopped him.
"Wait until we return to the Ruins, where the flowers grow. I could explain myself better and tell you what you need to hear. Sans is aware: he will warn your parents and all the others to wait for me".
If Asriel shuddered at the mention of the skeleton – who knew him as Flowey from his memories of the old timelines – the child ignored him and took his hand to guide him. Already, Frisk seemed to have found all the energy of his own. Although the little goat boss monster didn't know why the eighth human was acting like this, he could feel his Determination radiating from him. He was really determined.
"This time it will be all right, Asriel," he promised loudly as Asriel could only follow him. "It took me forever to figure out what to do, but this curse ends now." And on his enigmatic words, the child and the fallen prince disappeared together.
«And then, we...»
-oOo-
"i'd leave the coffee on the table," Sans decided, a hot cup in his hand that he had left to fill for his friend, but simply put it next to Alphys sleeping on the desk - again - her head in the papers.
The geek royal scientist, handyman in her spare time, undisputed fan of Mew Mew Kissy Cutie, except for the 2, and official girlfriend of Undyne, had worked all night until late in the morning. Sans had slipped away for only five minutes to go to the kitchen and bring him some supplies; when he came back, the skeleton found her like that. Her exhaustion was understandable.
Lately, Alphys had been working hard to cure the monsters victims of her failed experiment: Lemon Head, Memoryhead, Reaper Bird, Endogeny and Snowdrake's Mother. Under Sans's guidance, she had recently become interested in the Amalgamates' current soul structure. Until then, the little yellow reptile was only trying to figure out what was wrong with their anatomy but, as his friend had suggested to him, the monsters' bodies were shaped to match their souls. After he told her how to do it, the two fellow scientists had scanned many merged ones in New Home's lab to better understand the condition of their bodies.
undyne is right about how passionate she can be, Sans acknowledged, covering her friend's back with his old work jacket. For whole days, Alphys had observed the energy curves on a diagram, variables of all kinds, and she had carried out many simulations to finally fall from exhaustion at the end of the morning. Through her snores, Alphys muttered a few unintelligible words while gritting her teeth, and Sans was pretty sure she heard her friend mutter "Undyne, marry me..." with a conspicuous blush on the scales of her cheeks.
"welp, better get out of here before we hear any more. also have to stop at grillby", decided Sans, who wandered around the residence towards the entrance, leaving the scientist to her dreams who now made her laugh shamelessly.
The house had been built on Mount Ebott, not far from the passage leading to the rest of the Underground; thus, Alphys could regularly travel to her lab in the Hotlands to conduct her research. The residence was not very spacious and its interior looked like two drops of water to his other home: on the walls hung anime posters, the floor was strewn with several piles of leaves with collector's edition figurines lying around, several manga series and boxes of instant noodles with seaweed that she nibbled a lot. Since Sans came often, a sofa had been set up in a corner of the living room. In addition to helping her in her research, he was keeping an orbit on her at Undyne's very insistent request and, as long as it was, his remains of science could also be useful to her even if he was not especially gifted than in the realm of souls. There was also a television where dozens of images displayed many areas of the region: Alphys had cameras installed everywhere that crisscrossed the area. «More a precaution», she said.
Before leaving, Sans looked briefly at the screen; the images scrolled by, and he was about to leave when one of them caught his attention. His bright eyes suddenly darkened with anxiety and sweat ran down his skull as he recognized the child who was lying there. asriel ? He was far from the perimeter his mother usually allowed. The mountains were not safe for young people to wander around unsupervised. tori will definitely turn to goat if she finds out about this.
There was something else: unlike the other images, the one where the young one sleeped, was inconstant. Parasites scrambled it, making the broadcast jerky. And that shadow, hidden near the trees not far from him... Sans had thought it was only half-light but...
Did... it just approach the prince?
The skeleton didn't waste a second and studied the place in more detail; Sans recognised one of the clearings at the foot of the mountain, a little off the path to town. He calculated quickly: on foot, it would take him a good hour to reach him because the access was quite steep and difficult to access. But...why would he bother doing that, when he could take the fast way?
-oOo-
If Asriel did not immediately understand what had pulled him from sleep, when he was sleeping very deeply, the kid knew as soon as he woke up that he was no longer alone. It didn't take him long to regain his senses, as the young goat woke up in the middle of the woods where he had dozed off. Straightening up, his fearful eyes scanned the lonely surroundings: nothing but his breath could be heard in the striking silence.
"I... Is anyone there?"
No answer. Asriel already knew that Ebott's people avoided the mountain; in the past, many legends told that no human ever returned. Rumors had it that there had been dozens of unexplained disappearances, which did not only involve those who fell into the Underground. Apart from the eight children, no other had managed to reach the summit. Its woods were said to be haunted by strange forces, and nearby residents recounted the many supernatural apparitions that could occur. That didn't make it the ideal place for a short walk.
A little intimidated, the young prince got back on his feet. Even if the disappearances had never concerned monsters, Asriel did not prefer to linger there: unlike Frisk and his courage which often turned into recklessness - probably an effect of his temporal capacity which gave him so much audacity -, he didn't want to take his own chance when something was clearly wrong. Like Flowey, Asriel much preferred retirement to seek refuge as quickly as possible, regardless of the fact that it did not seem worthy of the future king of monsters.
His hand patted one of his pockets, where his phone was kept, before moaning when he discovered he'd forgotten about it. Alright, calm down, Asriel. Maybe it's just a doe. There are plenty of them here: it will be leaving soon.
The bushes stirred; his heart skipped a beat. Further between the trees he had seen the outline of a body; too fast to know what it was, but it was no mere stray wild beast. Whoever or whatever it was, it made sure to stay hidden and came to him.
"Show... Show yourself! Now !" ordered the child with authority, fighting the panic that was making his voice weak.
It was approaching here: he had to go. While running ? But his frozen legs refused to obey him. By moving in the ground ? Too long. What do I do, what do I do, what do I do? Damn, I shouldn't have come here. No wait. Remember, Asriel, that you can defend yourself. Concentrate.
Asriel struggled to breathe; with great effort, his arms held out in front of him, mimicking the grip of a weapon. He drew magickal energy from deep within him, as Undyne and his father had taught him: his panic was not helping him to concentrate, and the young prince realized it. Asriel took a deep breath, to better control his emotions, and resumed his efforts. From his palms rose speckles of light, faint at first then, as he dug deeper, it molded into the shape of a Chaos Saber. The relief of having succeeded gave him more confidence. He prepared to retaliate against this unknown threat... until a tap on his shoulder almost made him let go.
"yo, kid! wassup?"
His reaction was immediate. With a "Gyaaaaah!" really expressive, Asriel's sword swung very, very close to Sans's head.
MISS
Before hee sliced him, Sans had reflexively lowered himself as soon as he perceived the attack. But his hood lost some textile. oh damn, that one wasn't far. he has reflexes, the kid of asgore and tori, he thought, a little impressed despite the close call.
Asriel's new Soul was thrashing wildly in his chest, and the poor boy was shaking with the expression of a deer in headlights. But once the little Boss Monster recognized the skeleton he had almost obliterated by mistake, a confused and horrified Asriel released his weapon which disintegrated and joined the skeleton on the ground.
"Oh, golly, Sans! Are you ok ?!"
"huh, i think my old noggin is still there, so yeah."
"S-Sorry, I didn't mean...it was an accident, I...I thought..." The young monster tried in vain to hold back the tears of regret that threatened to fall. He had almost started again. Because of his fright, the child had almost committed a terrible act. One more among many others.
Hearing him start to cry, Sans turned to him, already restored, and he hastened to reassure him: "it's okay, kiddo. i have nothing and then you didn't do it on purpose. i shouldn't have surprised you like that. hey, there's no damage so dry your tears, ok, otherwise your mom will turn me into the next ghost rider."
"There... there is something in the bushes. Right there," the kid explained to himself, pointing to the place behind him where he thought he saw the strange creature. "Or, at any rate, there was something that was coming my way. I... I was scared."
Everything had become calm again, as if it had only been a figment of his imagination. A little embarrassed, Asriel wondered if he hadn't overreacted, which made him feel worse for being so close to hurting Sans. The latter, however, saw something else that Asriel had missed and made him suspicious. Invisible to those who were not standing where they were, but it was there; this undulation in space that deformed the trees, before it disappeared without the slightest trace.
Except for the soul energy that only Sans could see very clearly: a line of light escaping to this place. come on, what the hell is this thing again? Someone had definitely left the place, when he appeared here and the prince had come close to making him the new skull of Shakespeare. It... really didn't appeal to him. He suppressed an exasperated sigh.
just when things were starting to go well. It wasn't cool, but Sans knew he should dig deeper into what he had just unwittingly witnessed. At such times, he cursed his role as self-imposed caretaker and his obligations. But for now, he had to take his friends' son away from here.
In a playful tone, Sans offered him: "welp, little bud. i think after all that, you need a pick-me-up. i go to grillby : you come too. we can even use a shortcut to get there, if you want."