Thanks go to Skele, Okami Endless, 10burgers, Monkey D. Chimera, Zack Frost, Linki, saltythebear, WhoWritesThisCrap, Tbone8454, Jack54311, Wingah, Your Midnight Scribe, Genowar, and cagrijan1904.
Sorry about the extra time this chapter took, but it needed a little more work than I originally anticipated, and I've been very busy lately. Expect the next chapter sometime between a week and two weeks from now.
To answer your question saltythebear, my writing process starts with me thinking of the big points in the series, and then filling in the blanks more and more until I reach them. I have the ground work for where I want to go, and as I get more ideas I go back over my work to make sure I don't create any plot holes and that every important detail is well put together and flows well. As for just standalone chapters, I slap it all in the doc and then go back over it for spelling and to add more detail and make things better overall. I hope that answers your question! :)
Disclaimer: I do not own Undertale or Horrortale.
Clunk... Clunk... Clunk...
Her metal boots crashing forcefully to the tile floor, the empress stomped through the dark mess of a lab. Her one mad, yellow eye darted to and fro, glossing over the random papers that dropped haphazardly over the floor and scattered across every messy desk. Alphys always wrote cryptic nonsense that was hard to understand, even before the CORE shut down. But the looks of these notes was nothing but eerie, even to the queen of this mad world. Random words, scribbled over and over. Overlapping.
"DARK"
"FEAR"
"CHAOS"
"SHADOWS"
"WORMS"
Occasionally there was a sketch. A drawing here and there of some metal tool or some kind of bug or - Undyne was made the most uneasy by these - an incredibly detailed eye, colored in with a deep red. Sometimes it was just one, sometimes there was a pair, and sometimes beneath them was a curled, sharp tooth smile.
"Alphys?" Undyne shouted out into the dark, squinting some at the eerie bluish white light at the distant end of the lab. Inside that light she saw a meek figure, stumbling and shivering while it ran its hand in purposeful patterns over the wall. After another few moments, its legs gave out, and it dropped against the wall on its shoulder, sliding down to slowly curl into a ball against the metal opposite to the flickering and flashing screens.
Growling with aggravation at her scientist's lack of response, the empress clenched her fists at her sides. She stomped with increasing speed towards the trembling doctor, entering the unsettling light of the screens.
"Alphys! What are you doing?!" Undyne demanded to know furiously, looming over her pathetic underling. Her snarl grew in rage when Alphys didn't so much as lift her head, Undyne's one eye narrowing with lethal precision. "Look at your empress when she's speaking to you!"
"I-... In... Side..."
"What?!" Undyne boomed in furious retaliation to Alphys' barely audible squeak.
"Have to... Get them... Out..."
"Speak up!" Undyne ordered, slamming her heel into the floor to get the shaking reptile to lift her head and raise her voice.
"W-... Worms..." Finally the doctor lifted her head, and Undyne's gold tinted orb went wide. Her face went pale. Alphys unwrapped herself from her blood and dust stained lab coat. There were tears in her cowardly and frightened eyes as she looked upon her empress. "They're... They're inside..! H-have to get them out!"
"A-Alphys, what are you talking about?!" Undyne took a step back, shaking her head as her eye drifted down to the vicious stab wounds that bled and dusted down Alphys' stomach. Then, her stunned orb creaked over to the bloodied knife clenched in her shaky claw. "You idiot! What did you do?!"
"THEY'RE GONNA EAT ME!" Alphys clenched her eyes shut tight with her ear piercing scream, yanking that blade high above her head and pointing the tip back towards herself. Undyne could only watch in confusion and terror as Alphys plunged her knife down, further shredding her own belly. Screaming and sobbing she pulled the blade up and down, stabbing herself over and over with what life she had left in her dusting body. "GET OUT! GET OUT GET OUT GET OUT GET OUT GET OUT GET OUT GET OUT GET OUT GET OUT!"
Her shoulders slowly sinking with her hopeless expression, the empress could only watch with silent dismay as her mad scientist ripped herself apart. Madness and suicide and a link between the two was not uncommon in the underground. In fact it was so frequent that even as Undyne watched someone she had loved once - a distant memory these days - she felt hardly anything at all. She was more frustrated than anything, watching the loss of such a valuable asset. Alphys was the only brilliant mind she felt she could trust. But that mind was destroyed now, ripped itself apart to get away from its own darkness. And as Alphys' screams and cries faded to ash, Undyne's ears picked up on another sound.
"You wanna see scary?!"
Four words, punctuated by bloodcurdling screams that Undyne thought familiar. Gradually she pivoted, turning her back momentarily on the worthless pile of dust and letting her eye land upon the many flickering monitors. The cameras in the Underground worked like every other electronic: Barely or not at all. They had very little power left, and Undyne had decreed that only certain people were allowed to use certain machines at certain times. What had possessed Alphys to turn on the shaky, low resolution and in some cases black and white cameras Undyne would never know, but what had made her stab herself to death was becoming more clear.
"You wanna see scary?!"
Footage was looped, different scenes replaying over and over again. Some showed Monsters being beaten to death, effortlessly slain by one cruel crowbar. One or two peaked into a raging snow storm, peering a massive bug leg or some freakish pincer crashing through a building. Writhing black worms entangled Monsters, laughing hysterically while they ripped them to shreds and feasted upon their dust with long tongues and sharpened teeth. But above the rest of the carnage, two particular videos stuck out to the empress.
"You wanna see scary?!"
Sans. The poor, disobedient fool. His bones cracked and shattered apart from the inside, those worms bursting with sadistic cackling from his body, only to curl back around and keep gnawing on his bones. He was suspended in air on one powerful hand, and judging from the way he writhed and kicked and screamed, Undyne guessed that his death had brought him great pain.
"You wanna see scary?!"
Then, at the very center of the flashing monitors, she saw him clearly. The massacre-er of Monsters, the master of the worms. The least human-looking human Undyne had ever seen, this one had pale white skin and snowy hair, along with piercing red eyes that stuck out drastically from the rest of his happy expression. Though his grin was giddy and gleeful, his eyes were cold and lifeless. He knelt down, stared directly into the camera, and waved excitedly. Then he leaned in and breathed on the lens, coating it with condensation before drawing a heart in said water vapor. Then, the feed cut, and replayed from the beginning.
"What... What is this..?" Undyne slowly stepped back, wide eye unable to leave the smiling face of The Anarchist. She took several backwards steps, before her foot landed in dust and her back hit a wall. This made her snarl with paranoia, spinning around to face the wall and stumbling, her foot sliding on the ash of some Monster she used to know and making her fall back.
She landed flat on her ass, but didn't so much as wince. She was grasped entirely by one sight: the message Alphys had written in her own blood and dust across the cruel steel wall.
BE AFRAID OF THE DARK
Chapter 34: Upon The Alter
"I don't want to wake up..."
Things had been quiet for a good while. Anarchy and Aliza - pretty much entirely Anarchy, apart from one poor rabbit - had decimated Snowdin town, and for a short while they'd rode The Onyx Scorpion through the early muck of Waterfall. But, inevitably, they reached a bridge that was far too rickety for however many tons the kaiju arachnid weighed. So they stood in the lowly dirt once more, and Aliza watched as Anarchy laid his hand upon his beast, and it faded to darkness, rapidly slithering over his arm and pouring into his bottomless soul.
She was fixated on that ruby heart that glowed brightly upon the chest of The Anarchist. It absorbed that shadow, that hate and that fury. All of Anthony's malice and wicked desire loomed in the crimson depths of his beautifully twisted soul, The Scorpion a tip to an iceberg. That peak revealed itself for a few short seconds after the beast was entirely consumed, Aliza furrowing her brows with some confusion at the strange sight.
It was darker than black, the left half of Anarchy's soul. Split perfectly down the middle, the right side was red like the blood that had dried down his neck and in some dots up his cheek. The left was vantablack. Darker than the scorpion and the worms. It was black as the rot that cured Anthony's sanity, stomped out whatever once made him a mortal man and birthed a vengeful god into this wretched world.
But, just as quickly as it came, that darkness faded back into the scarlet light of Anthony's DETERMINED soul, before the heart as a whole disappeared back into his chest.
"Alright, you ready to go?" Anarchy glanced over his shoulder back to Aliza, making her jump slightly with a voice suddenly shaking her out of her thoughts.
"O-oh! Yup!" She smiled wide and sheepishly, and Anarchy stared with some confusion at her. His hands were in his pockets, his head leaned back some while he looked her over. After a moment, he scoffed with amusement, his dry lips curling up some.
"... W-what is it..?" Aliza shrunk some, blushing in minor embarrassment while her best friend shook his head.
"Why're you so jumpy?" Anarchy asked with a casual tone as he walked past her, glancing over to her as he did so. "Seems like you get distracted real easy."
"E-erm," Aliza stumbled over her words, turning to watch Anarchy walk a few steps before quickly skittering to catch up to him. "W-well, I-"
"Were you one'a those serious ADHD kids?" Anarchy spoke before she had the chance, tilting his head to look over at her as she caught up to him. "Y'know, the ones who'd just blank face stare at nothing during recess? All strung out on Ritalin and Adderall?"
"U-uhm, no, I-"
"Those kids were weird, right?" Anarchy cocked a brow, the bridge creaking beneath their feet as the two of them walked across the dilapidated wood. "And trust me, I know weird kids. I was the albino kid. Don't get no weirder than that."
Aliza found herself snickering just a little at Anarchy's honesty and lack of a filter, but she still shook her head to dismiss his worries.
"No, no, nothing like that." She smiled lightly, holding her hands together in her lap. She hesitated, however, after a moment of thought, and her pleasant expression faded some. "... I just, learned to internalize things. G-guess it gave me a bit of a uhm... L-loud imagination. Ehehe..."
"Oh yeah?" Anarchy watched her curiously as he strolled along, furrowing his brows. "And why'd'ja start stuffin' your words in, exactly?"
"... My mother." Aliza looked ahead, her eyes narrowing thoughtfully and painfully. She was so lost in whatever wretched memories might've been crossing her mind that she didn't see Anarchy perk up some at the mention of a mother. "She... Thought it might be, b-better if I was... More of a passive girl."
"Passive?" Anarchy repeated, his expression softening with some confusion.
"She... Had a saying." Orbs squinting with some kind of resentment, Aliza looked to the side. She was scowling now, in a way Anarchy had never seen on her before. He thought it was a good look. More honest. "She used to tell me, whenever I was too loud or too energetic, that 'a good girl is a quiet girl'."
"..." Anarchy was silent. He just stared ahead, expression hard to read. Maybe saddened by nostalgia, maybe enraged by it.
"Looking back, I... I think I was an accessory to her." That scowl faded to a lighter shade, and Aliza's shoulders sunk some. "A piece of jewelry to be shiny and pretty and... Inanimate."
"... Moms are tough." Anarchy finally spoke, surprising Aliza some and making her look over to him. He didn't return her gaze, thoughtful rubies focused on the path ahead. That's always where he looked, she had noticed.
"You had a mom?" Hearing it out loud, Aliza thought that was a dumb question. Seeing the look Anarchy shot her way, she figured he thought it was a dumb question, too.
"I think so." He answered, and she didn't know if he was being sarcastic or not. "Guess it depends on how ya define the word."
"What was she like..?" Aliza asked with care, holding her hands together at her chest.
"... She desperately needed love." Anarchy spoke with a surprising amount of thought, letting his usually murderous eyes drift to the glittering ceiling above. "But she was too horrible to ever accept it."
"... Did you love her?" Aliza slowly tilted her head to the side, concern for her friend shining in her eyes.
"I tried to." Anarchy shrugged absently, a frown gracing his face. "But, ya get pushed away long enough and you get tired'a waitin'."
Aliza was confused by this oddly human tale The Anarchist was spinning. To find that she could relate in a way to someone so fantastically grand. She supposed it made sense, that Anthony's mother was 'horrible', as he described her. Amazing as she thought Anarchy was, she also knew that a mother's love properly distributed would never let a child end up as terrifically twisted and unbelievably out of the ordinary as Chaos Incarnate was. At least, she wanted to believe that. She'd never felt that kind of love either, so she guessed she'd never know for sure.
Anarchy lifted his head some, glancing over to her with a surprised rise of his eyebrows. Aliza hadn't said a word, instead choosing to gently place her hand upon Anthony's arm. When he looked at her, she smiled with care, and kindness in her eyes.
"..." Anarchy returned that smile, as sweetly as his charred heart would allow.
"You're alright, Aliza."
Aliza stared with wide eyes at the massive drop that loomed before them. It looked as though years ago the bridge had been snapped, the remaining wood long since plummeted into the darkness of the abyss.
"You afraid'a heights?" Anarchy asked, shooting a casual glance over to his best friend. She looked back with wide eyes and a face almost as pale as his.
"I'm afraid of everything." Aliza answered honestly, and the Bastard Son laughed like she'd told a knee slapper of a joke. Then, with the twirl of his finger, the darkness of the chasm below swirled and twisted, morphing into one long worm that spiraled like a spire's staircase down into the shadow below.
"Never fear!" Anarchy was unhesitating in lifting Aliza up in one arm, making her let out a startled "Eep!". With his free hand, he summoned that sapphire shield in his grasp. Then, to his best friend's displeasure, he began walking swiftly towards the ledge. "Anarchy's here!"
"W-wait waIT WHAT ARE YOU DOING-?!"
Aliza let out a terrified shriek as Anarchy dove over the edge, gripping fistfuls of his shirt and clinging to him for dear life as the two plummeted. Anarchy, on the other hand, was laughing hysterically, his face yanked up like he was having the time of his life.
As the two dropped, The Anarchist tossed his shield down onto the twisting body of the worm, landing on its back and beginning to slip down the dark beast's back like a skateboarder down a rail. But instead of a board, he rode his sapphire shield. And instead of a rail, it was a freaky creature from the depths of his twisted imagination.
"Woooo!" He shouted into the aether, crazy flickering in his wide scarlet orbs.
"H-how often do you d-do this?!" Aliza cried out, her horrified eyes and shrunken pupils unable to so much as blink away from the abyss that they radically plummeted into.
"Literally any time I get the chance!" Anarchy called right back, snow white hair whipping back behind his head from the velocity at which they shredded down to whatever murky earth below.
"Y-you're very good at it!" Aliza said out loud. While technically it was a compliment, it was more her reassuring herself that she was safe than it was a stroke to The Anarchist's ego. He was skilled in more ways than feasibly possible for a regular human, she was certain there was no danger for her here.
With that thought in mind, she felt her body begin to relax. Her breathing steadied, and the fear in her eyes ebbed away. A smile even started to tug at the corners of her mouth. This rush of adrenaline was amazing. Her heart in her ears, the wind in her hair. She felt alive, something she hardly felt. At least, until she met Anthony, that was.
"W-woooohoooo!" She found the confidence to shout out, and though the sound seemed admittedly stupid in her ears, Anarchy shouted his agreement in another silly primal noise, his grin widening joyously.
The ride went on for thirty seconds more, and by the end the two were both hootin' and hollerin'. Anarchy hopped from the end of the worm, a smiling maw of jagged teeth that Aliza had already grown familiar with. As the two flung from the creature, Anarchy performed a kick flip on his shield, before landing on what seemed to be the rotted remains of the chunk of bridge that had plummeted down here ages ago and skidding to a stop.
"Well?" Anarchy asked, setting Aliza down gently before stepping on the edge of his shield, sending it flipping up. He caught it on his arm, and it disappeared back into his inventory. "Did'ja have fun or did'ja have fun?"
"I-it was kinda like a roller coaster..." Smiling timidly, she rubbed her shoulder, looking to the side. "Scary at first, but once I realized I was safe, it was... A-actually kinda fun..."
"You're a regular thrill chaser, Aliza." Anarchy joked, patting her on the back. Then he turned around, taking a bold step into the ankle high water that surrounded their chunk of wood plateau.
"... Huh..." After a moment of smiling from Anarchy's little joke Aliza furrowed her brows with a sudden thought. A curiosity, and a question she was surprised she hadn't thought to ask. "Thrill chasing..."
"Mm?" Anarchy turned his head to look at her upon hearing her muttering, standing ankle deep in that filthy water while she remained just inches away from the muddy depths.
"Anthony, is that..." Aliza paused, glancing to the side to gather her thoughts before her eyes darted back to him. "Is that why you uhm..."
"Murder?" Anarchy tilted his head to the side, and his blunt phrasing made her jump.
"U-uh, yeah... T-that." She held her hands together at her chin, lowering her head like she was half attempting to hide her face away. She was speaking without being spoken to, after all. And that wasn't something she was familiar with. "N-not that there's, anything wrong with that, I'm just... Curious..?"
"Well, you killed somebody earlier, didn'tcha?" Anarchy cocked a brow, stuffing his hands in his pockets. "How'd that make ya feel?"
Aliza's eyes went wide, and she recoiled some. That was true, she had killed somebody. A rabbit woman, her memory told her. She'd cleaved right through her neck, sent her head tumbling down into the snow. It felt cathartic, seeing the surprise and the fear forever imprinted on that lifeless face as it rolled out of sight. It felt good, it felt fantastic. Without a thought, her answer slipped out from between her lips. "... Like a god..."
"Pfff!" Anarchy's eyes widened when he heard that, laughter immediately jumping out of his throat. He threw his hands up defensively, speaking through his giggling. "Whoa! Okay maniac, take 'er easy!"
"W-well how does it make you feel?!" Aliza blushed brightly with embarrassment, crossing her arms and huddling herself close, shrinking from her best friend's laughter. "Why do y-you kill people?!"
"Ehhh... It's a little hard to explain." Anarchy gave an iffy hand motion, shrugging. Then he looked to the side, holding his chin in thought. "It's kinda like... An itch in my brain? I crush a skull or two and I scratch it. Then some time goes by, and it comes back. So I gotta kill somebody again."
"'Least, that's why the extras die. Either to scratch the itch or because they were just kinda in my path o' destruction. Most'a the time it's both reasons." Anarchy's expression was casual, lacking any semblance of emotion towards these 'extras' he mentioned. "I never remember their faces. I see 'em more like little embers'a life that I like stompin' out."
"You talk like the extras are something, separate..." Aliza pondered quietly, narrowing her eyes some. "Are there faces you do remember? Are there kills that matter to you?"
"Hm." Anarchy scoffed with some amusement, venom entering his eyes as his expression darkened. It made her uneasy, the way the corners of his lips curled into such a sweet, adoring smile.
"Aliza..." He nearly sung her name, and that made a chill run down her spine. He turned away from her, holding his hands behind his back and letting those ruby orbs peer over the trash that surrounded them. "Have you ever loved someone?"
"Huh..?" Aliza slowly tilted her head, watching Anthony's back carefully. She considered his question carefully, knowing that an honest answer was the only answer The Anarchist would accept. She didn't have to think long however, it was an easy inquiry. Her whole life had been loveless and without any value at all. She'd never given love, and she'd never been the recipient.
"... No. No I haven't."
"And what about hate?" A glimmer in his crimson eye, Anarchy turned his head to look at her over his shoulder. In the dim light of Waterfall, the murderous red of Chaos Incarnate's eyes was a scarlet mist, creeping through the dark towards any and all that he looked upon. "Have you ever hated someone?"
Another easy question, Aliza thought as her expression hardened. Her lips sunk into a frown, her own poison entering her eyes. She could see that her sour expression pleased The Anarchist, who's smile crept a little further up his face. "... Yes. A lot of people."
"Then you understand." That was the only answer Anarchy offered before he turned himself back to face her. From the filthy mud and polluted water he reached out to Aliza on her rickety and rotted safe haven, offering his hand to lead her through the filth.
"..." Aliza was quiet, her purplish-blue eyes landing the hand before her. Pale and stained with blood and dust. Anarchy hadn't answered her question, at least not in a way she could fully comprehend. Still, she didn't hesitate in reaching out.
Gently his ivory fingers wrapped around hers, and he lead her into the mud.
Six long months. What an investment, and in a field with as many variables as this. Any sane scientist would call Badster a madman. But a sane scientist was no scientist at all, as far as the doctor was concerned.
But, he had to admit as he watched his subject parade through Waterfall with that dead weight in a violet dress, even he wasn't crazy enough to understand Anarchy's philosophy. He didn't grasp his interest in that meek and fearful human, and beyond that he didn't understand his interest in the jumping devil. The one that had stolen that crown from Chaos Incarnate back in the Deltarune timeline he'd distorted the code of.
For a mortal man, Badster would have thought it pride. Anger from being disrespected and stolen from. But Anthony was not a mortal man. He did not tick in the same tune as mankind or monsterkind. The only one he seemed to resonate with was Cter The Hacker, and that too Badster did not comprehend.
Anarchy had another reason for seeking out the mad jester. Badster would have had trouble believing that Jevil was still paying attention to Anarchy, that he hadn't just ran off to some circus across reality to hide his face from The Scorpion's wrath. He would have, if he held the two at the standard that he held the things he understood. But the clown and the killer eluded him. The only thing he knew about them was that he knew little to nothing about them. When the two spoke they spoke in riddles, twisted and hidden meanings. They followed a foreign compass, spoke a different language, bled a different color.
"..." Silently, the doctor shifted his looming form. He craned over a different warp in the void, peering with corrupt eyes through one way glass, a half invisible window. He saw a crumbling city. Fire rained with ink and pens. A demi god stood with three mortals against a titan. He smiled, just a little.
Though Badster couldn't help but see The Anarchist's wild mime chase as frivolous, he also knew that Cter needed more time. He needed to pass this test, or he wouldn't even challenge Chaos Incarnate, and Badster will have not only wasted his time but also his life. The fact of the matter was, once Cter was gone, it was likely Anarchy would have little use for Badster. And The Bastard Son didn't like dead weight.
And that thought brought Badster's eyes back the girl in the purple gown. Poor, weak little Aliza. If Badster were to compose a dictionary, there would surely be a photo of her next to the word 'pointless'. He admired Anarchy's patience for putting up with the girl just to reach his goal of the reality and reason defying court clown, but surely this story ended with her life, did it not?
Anarchy was a terminal disease. Once he sees someone's face, it is only a matter of time until they died. Whether it be seconds or months was all his decision. Badster knew this to be his own fate as well before he introduced himself to The Anarchist, but had made the choice that his experiment was worth more than his lifespan. No one knew better than him that whatever Anarchy put his mind to, he did. No ifs no ands no buts.
But... He also knew he promised this young woman her safety. Anthony was many things, but a liar was not one of them. So what would her fate be? Would he abandon her in this dead timeline? Would he erase her with the rest? Or would he honestly drag her along for the rest of his journey?
Thinking about it, that probably depended on Jevil's intervention, or lack thereof. Badster scowled. Jevil. To Anarchy he was a prophet. Someone The Anarchist believed had seen the end and the beginning. To Badster he was a pain in the pelvis. Some rouge code that knew more than it should. Whether that was from Badster editing him when he first changed that Deltarune timeline to his liking or from the chaotic clown's own twisted existence before then or some wretched combination of the two the doctor was unsure. Like he was unsure of a lot of things these days.
The only thing he could be sure of was that the day of reckoning was fast approaching, and he feared he had under prepared. Perhaps he should have intervened more with Cter The Hacker, but that would have drawn too much attention to himself. And if Cter came looking for him, Badster doubted he'd be able to keep him and Anarchy from starting their fight prematurely. So he'd played it subtle, left things in CORE Frisk's shaky hands. He saw now that was a mistake.
If Cter failed to rise to Character's challenge, he would certainly fail to rise to Anarchy's. And that made Badster uneasy. If those two could not put on a battle to shake the multiverse, then it would be a setback beyond setbacks. Badster would have to look into other options to challenge The Anarchist, of which there were few.
... But, he did have two ideas. Two fall back plans. If a single man could not stand against The Anarchist, then maybe many could. And aside from The Angel, Anthony's time in Deltarune had taught Badster that he had two more connections. One the head of a crime syndicate turned government, the other the captain of some dangerous and daring pirates.
If not The Hacker, then Badster would have to groom another. Perhaps The Gatherer or The Predator would do.
Metal groaned and creaked as pale hands shoved apart the once sliding doors of Alphys' lab, letting the light of Hotland's magma pour into the dark room.
"Anybody home?" Anarchy's eyes glowed red into the dim light of the lab, his head tilting from side to side. Behind him Aliza stood skeptically, cleaver gripped tight in hand while she looked over his shoulder. When no husks of monsters rushed out to throw their corpses at her best friend, however, she relaxed some.
"Whoa..." Anarchy's eyes gleamed with intrigue as they glossed over the scattered papers on the floor, spotting doodles of his beasts, his eyes, and even his weapon of choice littering the papers. Unhesitating he stepped further into the lab, leaning down to pick some of the messy writing from the floor. "Aliza, you seein' this?"
"Seems like someone has, uhm..." Aliza turned her head from side to side as she stepped through the laboratory, her eyes narrowing at the dust littering the floor. She was careful to step around it, not wanting it to stick to her bare feet. She turned her head then, letting her curious eyes settle on the wall of blank monitors. Or, what was left of them. Through each glass screen a spear had stabbed, shattering each of them into an indecipherable spiderweb of cracks. "... Been paying attention..?"
"Oh yeah." Anarchy turned his head to Aliza and nodded. Then, he lifted his gaze over her head, smiling just a little when he spotted the dust written message upon the wall.
BE AFRAID OF THE DARK
"Ooh." He smirked, shivering and pointing casually at the wall. "This place is startin' to give me the hebe-jeebies!"
"Y-you said it..." Aliza spoke after glancing up at the writing. She figured her fear was silly, however, considering she was best friends with the dark that this message was warning her about.
"It's like some weird cult shit, right?" Anarchy's powerful footsteps echoed deep into the blackness that loomed ahead as he fearlessly walked forward, hands stuffed into his pockets.
"Well, if there was anyone to form a cult around..." Aliza trailed off as she walked behind him, still letting her eyes scan over their surroundings with curiosity and anxiety.
"Ha! Wouldn't that be somethin'?" Anarchy grinned with amusement at the thought, a certain twisted wonder in his eyes as he inspected the dilapidated laboratory. "Anarchist cult."
"You would support a cult following?" Aliza turned her head back to Anarchy, cocking a brow.
"Oh, no." Anarchy was quick to answer, shaking his head. "They'd die just like everybody else if I bumped into 'em. Don't use my name for clout, y'know?"
"... Right." Aliza kept a confused expression, but her lips did curve upwards slightly. She was undeniably amused by the casualness with which Anarchy spoke of his genocides.
The two continued for awhile, through the fires of Hotland and deeper into the Underground. Monsters ran away from them or they ran towards, it made no difference. Worthless ants they were, scorched to ash under The Anarchist's unbiased magnifying glass.
The longer Aliza watched, the more curious of her best friend she grew. His creation, his motives, his enemies. His mother, some ex best friend that left him for dead, and a clown that can allegedly do anything. She had pieces of a much larger puzzle, one that her natural human curiosity made her want to complete.
Anarchy was amazing, after all. Incomprehensibly so. To know the motives of a god, to understand how someone so entirely unique ticked, who wouldn't want those answers? But how to obtain that information, she wasn't sure. Her best friend was an honest man, if she asked him he would answer truthfully. But when he truly spoke, he spoke a different language. One that someone like Aliza would never be able to learn. So he was likely to give a truthful answer, but in a way she would not understand. Whether that was purposeful or not, she wasn't sure she'd ever know.
"Anthony?"
But, she had no other options.
"Mhm?" Anarchy glanced over his shoulder at her, taking his eyes from the run down hotel that loomed ahead. Vines grew over the sign, but it could still be made out. "MTT".
"..." Aliza's eyes drifted to the floor, narrowing thoughtfully while she decided on how exactly she would phrase her question. After a moment, she lifted her head, a twinkle of DETERMINATION in her eye. "What's this all for, Anthony?"
"Huh?" Confusion written on his face, Anarchy picked at one of his ears as he turned to face her. "Whaddaya mean?"
"Befriending me, destroying the Underground, coming here in the first place..." Aliza lifted her arms, gesturing to the world around them. "What did you stand to gain?"
"I thought I already explained that one." Expression still gently muddled, The Anarchist tilted his head to the side. "Little clown man, 'member?"
"But why do you want to catch the clown?" Aliza asked with growing confusion. "What does that get you?"
"I thought I should be crowned king before I kill The Angel." Anarchy shrugged his shoulders, hands in his pockets. His expression was no longer confused. In fact, it was hardly anything at all.
"King..?" Aliza whispered to herself, before shaking her head and refocusing. "And The Angel, whatever that is. Why will you kill that?"
"..." Those ruby orbs narrowed slowly, and Aliza thought she felt the Underground pressurize. In the corners of her eyes, shadows slithered, prowling silently. It was as if her question alone had hungered Anarchy's darkness.
"... Do you believe in karma, Aliza?" The Anarchist's lips curled up gradually, forming a soft, adoring smile. "What goes around and what comes around? Cause and effect?"
"More than that," Anarchy continued before Aliza could answer his question, spinning on his heel and beginning to walk towards the shattered glass doors of the dilapidated hotel. She raced after him. "It's the belief that what you did in a past life dictates your fate in this one."
"Yeah, I'm..." Chasing after Anarchy, Aliza slowly stepped through the shattered doorway, careful to evade the shards of glass and counting herself lucky that she made it through without any stabbing into the soles of her feet. "Familiar with the uhm, concept..."
"Welp, from what I've seen, it ain't real." Anarchy's expression grew sour then. He walked hunched, right to the doors at the other end of the lobby. These ones were boarded over, clamped shut. "My whole life people have gotten away with whatever they want."
"And that. Makes me." Anarchy didn't hesitate in bringing one knee up to his chest, planting an earth shattering kick in the boarded door and sending it blasting into the darkness it had once hid. "Angry."
"So it's revenge you want..?" Aliza asked after a moment of hesitation, shrinking some from Anarchy's wrathful action.
"... In a sense." The Anarchist stood back to his full height, staring with hateful eyes into the vantablack that lied ahead. His voice was low now, the warning growl of a rabid dog and the slow shake of a rattlesnake's tail.
"..." Aliza could feel it as she stared at his back. The hate and the rage and the will that made Anarchy so lethal. He radiated it, stronger than usual. It was the thought of his purpose that fueled his flames, she was sure. But, though her fearful soul quivered from this power, she found the strength to ask a loaded question.
"... And what about you?"
Anarchy didn't move. Didn't react. Just kept staring into the shadows.
"If you believe in vengeance and payback and what goes around coming back around," Aliza clenched her hand in a fist over her chest, steeling her nerves and narrowing her eyes at his back. "Then what do you think is going to happen to you?"
Things were quiet. Seconds that felt like hours trickled on by, and she felt a cold sweat break out on her forehead. Had she overstepped, damaged their friendship? Would he be angry? Would he lash out and hurt her? Had this game been charades all along?
"... I'm not the cause, Aliza." Finally Anthony's voice rang out, calmer than it was before. Then, without looking back at her confused and worried expression, he continued on into the darkness.
"I'm the effect."
"Knock knock."
CRASH.
Aliza jumped some as Anarchy booted in the front door of the Empress' ill-managed home, sending it flinging back into the wall above the staircase, where it stuck, protruding halfway out of the drywall.
"... Looks like nobody's home." Anarchy smiled just a little, slowly lowering his leg and planting his foot back on the ground.
"So, this is the empress's house..?" Aliza's eyes traveled along the walls as her and Anarchy stepped onto the wooden floor. She grimaced, spotting the occasional dusty hand print on the wall or scattered across the floor. She found it odd seeing dust stain, but from what she'd gathered, the ash of Monster corpses was more sticky than it was powdery.
"Tacky, right?" Thumbs sticking out of his pockets, Anarchy glanced back at his best friend. While yes, Aliza supposed tacky could have described the fish based decor of this home, she thought "filthy" was a better word to describe the shack. It looked as though there'd been a home here once, and it'd been half torn down and half fused with this fish-based monstrosity of a house.
"Uhm, yeah... Something like that..?" Aliza halfheartedly agreed, distracted by her strange surroundings. Her eyes landed on the metal chain blocking off the staircase to the basement. Or more specifically, the note attached to it.
"STAY OUT"
"Ah geez I guess we gotta find a key." Anarchy spoke sarcastically as he walked up to the chain. He casually reached out, grabbing the steel with both hands, before effortlessly yanking it apart and snapping the metal with ease. Aliza laughed a little at his snarky actions, and that made Anthony smile.
They made their way down the staircase, which creaked and groaned feebly under their feet. Eventually, they reached a long hallway poorly lit. The padding of their footsteps echoed along the stone walls.
"So... This is, almost over, huh?" Aliza's timid voice rang once more, and Anarchy didn't bother looking back.
"Eyup!" Anarchy answered, swaying from side to side as he took long, goofy strides. "We got like, fifteen more minutes, tops."
"T-that soon?!" Aliza exclaimed, sudden anxiety striking her fearful heart. "B-But, what then?"
"..?" Anarchy looked over his shoulder, now taking regular steps. "How many times do I gotta answer this? Little clown, hypocrite Angel."
"B-but... But..." What about me, she pondered. Anarchy was about to be finished with his end of the deal. She gave him friendship, he gave her protection. He could abandon her now, leave her with the wretched life she'd been forced to live before this mess. For the first time in what felt like ages, she was terrified.
"But what?" Anarchy turned to face her now, walking backwards towards the goal ahead. "Don't tell me you're worried about gettin' dragged along for that mess, are ya?"
"N-no, I-..." Her words caught in her throat. She was mortified that she wouldn't be brought along to see Anarchy complete his journey. He was going to leave, and she was going to be alone again.
"Don't worry, I've got a guy who can give ya a hand." Anarchy said with a dismissive wave, spinning on his heel and facing forward. Turning his back on her. "I figure you probably don't wanna go back home, right?"
"N-no, I don't..." Aliza found it hard to speak, and that was a feeling she'd somehow almost forgotten. She had to get her words out. She had to tell him. "I-I, I would rather-"
"Welp, with the doc's help, you can have a fresh start wherever you want!" Anarchy grinned over his shoulder back at her, and something about that smile made her stop dead in her tracks. She stood in the light now, a rare beauty in this wretched world. They'd walked to a golden hall, light shining in through the stained glass windows and washing over the pillars that lined the room.
... But I don't want a fresh start... Pain poured into Aliza's eyes as she watched Anthony smile. Even with the blood and dust that stained him, the droplets that had dried to the left side of his chin and up his cheek, something about it looked so pure and perfect to her. ... I want to be with you.
"We can drop ya off in a much nicer place than this." That happy and beautifully crooked expression remaining, Anarchy turned around to face Aliza, golden light slipping over his face. "You can have a real family, real good friends,-"
"But you're my friend..." The words tumbled out of her mouth, whatever wall was stopping them breaking down with a sudden crash. Anarchy rose his eyebrows, and that smile disappeared for a look of bewilderment.
"Y-you said... You said you'd be my best friend." Gripping the chest of her dress, Aliza felt a lump forming in her throat. She took a timid step forward, and Anarchy found himself leaning back.
"... I don't understand." Anarchy spoke calmly and clearly, despite the genuine confusion in his eyes.
"Best friends don't just, leave each other behind, right..?" Aliza's eyes trembled, tears building in them. "I... I do matter to you, don't I?"
"Aliza..." Anarchy slowly reached out to comfort her, even though he had no idea what to do even if he touched her. Luckily, he didn't.
"THERE YOU ARE!"
THUNK THUNK THUNK.
Anarchy arched his back, his eye twitching in a minor display of pain. Blood poured from his new wounds, running in streams over the blue spears that embedded themselves in his back before trickling to the floor.
Aliza gasped, throwing her hands up to cover her mouth. The shock made the tears in her eyes spill over, streaming down her cheeks.
Anarchy was silent as his expression darkened and his back relaxed, and he slowly looked over his shoulder to find Empress Undyne standing at the other end of the Judgement Hall. She had another hand yanked back, preparing to whip another spear at him.
"IT'S OVER!" She threw her fourth spear with lethal accuracy, sending it blasting down the hall and piercing Anarchy's shoulder. That made him jerk forward, white hair falling over his eyes.
"You humans have taken enough from us!" Undyne pulled back both hands as Anarchy slowly pivoted, turning to face her. "Now you're going to pay!"
Anarchy remained unresponsive as his feet creaked forward, each step thundering down the hall. Onward he sauntered, not minding at all as two more spears raced to meet him, jabbing into his right shoulder and just under his left pectoral muscle.
"Once I get your freaky soul, I'll have all the power I'll need!" The mad tyrant grinned even as death wandered closer, throwing spear after spear. Each one hit its mark.
Anarchy didn't flinch, like a brick wall being struck with stones. His biceps, his shoulders, his chest, his abdomen. A pin cushion he was. But even as his blood splattered in puddles underneath him, his steps did not falter, his expression did not change.
"I'll cross the barrier!" Undyne snarled, the distance between herself and The Anarchist getting terrifyingly short. Still, though cold sweat trickled down her face, her nerve remained, and she yanked back another spear. "I'll exterminate your whole worthless race!"
One last spear fired through the air, striking its target right through the forehead. Anarchy's head snapped back, the shaft of a pike sticking straight up from between his eyes. The point had pierced his skull, sending streams of his scarlet colors trickling down his face in all directions.
"Got you now!" Another sapphire lance appeared in her grasp, Undyne wrapping both hands around it before rushing forward. She lead with the point of her weapon, looking to skewer The Anarchist once and for all.
SMASH.
It was instant, made the tyrant recoil. His arm had swung up thoughtlessly, and his crowbar had smashed right through her weapon. Suddenly she was defenseless before The Scorpion's pincers and ruthless stinger. In the blink of an eye, his other hand darted out and snatched her by the throat, yanking her right off her feet. Then, red aura exploded out around Anarchy, the force of his DETERMINATION shattering each of the pikes that skewered him.
"Ack-!" Undyne grabbed at his wrist, wincing her one good eye. She snarled, kicking her feet feebly as she stared with horror into The Anarchist's soulless left eye. Ivory locks draped over the eye, but it's murderous red shun through the dark and pierced Undyne's blackened heart. His right orb was uncovered by hair, blood running in two streams just around it as it stared, wide and unfeeling. His lips were parted slightly, but to the Empress's terror, they were gradually moving further apart, revealing a maw of sharpened fangs.
"P-put me down!" Undyne demanded, trying desperately to pull away as Anarchy slowly dragged her face closer to his hungry jaws. "Not like this! I can't-!"
CRUNCH.
Anarchy's teeth ripped through her face, chomping it from her skull. She tried to scream, but with the blood filling her throat found it impossible. Gurgling and sputtering, she was instantly unrecognizable, her identity ripped away without any difficulty.
Aliza just stood there, staring without a blink as Anarchy dropped her body to the ground. Then, as she writhed and flailed, he hunched over her, and bit into her flesh again and again. He devoured as much as he could before she blew away in the same worthless silver that was the rest of Monsterkind, savagely ripping and tearing until there was nothing left.
"..." Then he stood, his shirt in tatters and his skin colored with his own crimson. With his back to her he reached up, taking a fistful of the shredded cloth that barely covered his upper body and tearing it free from himself. Then, he haphazardly tossed it aside, letting it splat to the tile floor with all the blood it was soaked in.
Aliza's eyes went wide as she saw his bare back. Under the streams of red and the DETERMINED mist that was sealing his wounds, scars detailed his flesh. They curved sharply over his muscles, a chronicle to the cause behind his effect. She thought there might be more scar than there was skin.
"A-... Anthony..." Fear and worry flickered in her eyes as she slowly stepped closer, reaching out fearfully towards him.
"... Do you get it now?" He looked through her from over his shoulder, turning his head just enough to peer at her with one unfeeling eye.
"How did... All of this..." Aliza couldn't find words, letting her hand slowly meet Anarchy's skin. Her finger tips traced along the unsolvable maze of twisted flesh, as if it would give her some insight on the horrors that birthed The Anarchist.
"... Stop looking at me like that." Anarchy turned around to face her, and she looked up at him like she didn't understand. "Like I'm some... Wounded animal. Like these scars change what I am."
Aliza was only half listening, eyes glossing over the matching scars on his abdomen and chest. None of them matched the spear wounds his red mist had healed. These were old, from a time before Anarchy transcended mankind.
"... She desperately needed love. But she was too horrible to ever accept it."
"My last best friend called me Anny, but he left me for dead twice, sooo..?"
"Y-your mother... Your old friend..." Eyes narrowing painfully, she lifted her head to look The Anarchist in the eye once more. "Did they hurt you..?"
"Would it matter if they did?" Anthony tilted his head curiously to the side. "If my mother beat me, if my fellow man shunned me, if the only person I ever trusted put a knife in my back, would it make everything okay?"
"I-I..." Aliza took a step back, but Anarchy took a step forward, looming over her.
"The bones I've broken, the blood I've spilled, the monsters I've crushed and the humans I've cannibalized." Curiously The Anarchist narrowed his eyes, his glare keeping Aliza's nervous orbs paralyzed on him. "Does that all just go away because my childhood sucked?"
"..." Eventually she lowered her head, her lips drooping in a frown. "... No."
"Exactly." Anarchy rested a hand upon her head then, and though at first Aliza thought this action condescending, she was surprised to lift her eyes and see a glimmer of care in his eyes. "But you aren't like me. You can still go back. And you're going to."
"..." Aliza sighed quietly, shutting her eyes and taking a deep breath. When she reopened her eyes, she reached up, gently taking the powerful hand that rested on her head in both of her hands, lifting it from her skull but holding it close to her chest. Then she smiled up at him, gently and sweetly. It reflected the kind of person she was, Anarchy thought. "I understand."
"... Thank you, Anthony. For everything." Aliza added, making Anarchy's eyebrows rise slightly with surprise. "You're a good friend. Nothing you've done is going to change that."
"..." A small smile tugged at Anthony's lips, whatever was left of his kindness flickering in those ruby orbs. "I hope you're right, Aliza."
Anarchy stepped back after a moment, freed his hand from her grasp and shoving his fingers in his pockets. He looked over the hall while he called out: "Gaster? I need a favor."
Aliza furrowed her brows with some confusion, before her eyes darted with confusion and concern to the rift in air that opened, swirling with code. Multicolored blocks rapidly pieced together to form a skeleton with a cracked skull and a crescent smile.
"Your wish is my command, Anarchy." Badster kept that smile as he took a humble bow, placing one hand on his sternum and the other behind his back.
"You've been watchin', right?" Anarchy tilted his head to the side, cocking a brow at the doctor. When Badster stood back to his full height and bowed his head in affirmation, he continued. "Then you know what I want."
"A new beginning for our lovely friend here, yes?" Badster gestured to Aliza, and Anarchy nodded. "It should be easy."
"Make sure she's got a fair start in a safe world. Talk to her, help her with what she wants." Anarchy ordered sternly, and Badster gave another humble and obedient bow.
"Come, my dear." Badster smiled politely, gesturing to the portal he'd entered through like he was holding open a door. "We have much to discuss."
Aliza hesitated, but eventually nodded. She took a few steps towards the portal, but when she reached it, she paused. She cast a glance over to her best friend, who stood there with a patient smile to see her off.
"... Just one more question." She spoke, and he scoffed with some amusement.
"You really are a curious one, ain'tcha?" Anarchy leaned his head back some. "Whatcha wanna know?"
"After you kill the Angel, where are you gonna go?" Aliza tilted her head, the golden light of that hall slipping over her face gracefully.
"Hmm... Good question." Anarchy's eyebrows rose with some thought. He bobbed his head back and forth to jumble his thoughts together, looking up at the ceiling. Then, after a moment or two, he nodded, and looked back to her. "Somewhere... Quiet, I think. Somewhere real quiet."
"Hm." Aliza's lips curled up into a tiny smile, finding some strange solice in that answer. Anarchy worked hard, after all. She thought a quiet and peaceful place would be good for him. But she didn't need to tell him that. "Goodbye, Anthony."
With a small smirk, Anarchy lifted one hand, giving his best friend a two fingered wave. "Goodbye Aliza."
She disappeared with Badster into the portal, and the rift disappeared.
Anarchy waited a moment or two, before his expression faded back to an emotionless void, and he exhaled slowly. Then he reached out into thin air, and to meet his finger tips his shadow reached up from below, morphing into a familiar button.
ERASE.
Anarchy lowered his hand after pushing the button, watching shadows pulse over the world around him and make everything bleed away into ones and zeros. After everything faded away to the blackness of the void, he paused like he was waiting for something. Or someone.
... But, after a few seconds, he just groaned with disappointment, rolling his eyes and summoning a bucket of water with a rag in it from his inventory. The head of a worm formed from the void behind him, and he lazily took a seat, dragging that bucket closer.
He pulled the water soaked rag from the bucket, running it over his blood stained skin and washing the red away. Now diluted, it ran in streams over his marked flesh, dripping off of him.
"... So, do you think you understand, Chaos Heir?"
"..." Anarchy paused, that cloth remaining pressed to his neck as his lips slowly curled upwards.
"It's Anarchy." He corrected as he smirked over his shoulder. Just as he thought, there Jevil stood. He kept his hands behind his back and his feet on the ground, but he bounced his upper body excitedly from side to side. "And yeah, I do."
"Uee hee hee!" Jevil's face was yanked up in an excited grin, and he jumped back as Anarchy slowly rose to his feet, dropping that blood stained washcloth into the bucket while he turned to face the mad jester. "Correct, correct!"
"So what now?" That worm coiling behind him, Anarchy picked his crowbar back up, eyes narrowing with murderous glee.
"Now, now!" Jevil threw his hands up into the air, and suddenly that same green code was bursting to life from the emptiness, swarming around the two. "Set the stage! It's time for a show!"
Anarchy's jaw clenched with concern and confusion, ruby orbs darting through the swarming emerald numbers. But, after a few moments passed, the ones and zeros faded, revealing that the two were now standing at the center of a massive circus tent, stands curling around their arena.
"A performance like this requires a very special crowd!" Jevil hee'd and haw'd as he floated up into the air, slowly waving his hands in a gesture to the surrounding bleachers. Eyes wide in genuine surprise, Anarchy watched as hundreds to thousands of portals opened in the sky above, before hundreds to thousands of people plummeted down from them.
They all landed semi-gracefully in their own seats, and confused shouting filled the air. While Anarchy couldn't recognize anyone in the stands from the distance between him and all of them, he judged by the screams that broke out they'd recognized him.
"It's him!"
"The Anarchist!"
"How did we get here?!"
"Get me out!"
"Uee hee hee!" Jevil floated high in the sky, a microphone on a stand popping into his hand. Grinning like a madman he brought the tool to his lips, and gleefully he spoke.
"Ladies and gentlemen, heroes and villains, bounty hunters of all ages!" At the sound of his voice the crowds quieted, desperate ears listening for answers. "I've brought you all here because you're the important faces of this big wide multiverse!"
More shouts broke out, but Anarchy found it hard to pick out what they all meant. Things like "How did you do this?!" And "Why can't I get up?!"
"Speaking of important faces, I know you all know my lovely associate!" Jevil pointed his hand out to The Anarchist, who was sitting there without a care, casually wiping the blood from his flesh with that rag while he waited for Jevil to finish whatever he was doing. He was disinterested in crowds, public opinion hardly mattered to him. But, he did have an idea as to what point the mad clown was trying to make with this performance, and he did approve. "That's right, the piss running down your pant leg is correct, it's Anarchy himself! The biggest and baddest, baddest!"
More shouting that couldn't help but bring a smile to Anarchy's face as he rung the red from his washcloth, before dunking it back in the water and going back to wiping his upper body down. He was sitting on the head of that worm again, not feeling the least bit of stress by sharing a room with the multiverse's worst and best. They were afraid of him, he could feel. If this was really the best this world had to offer, he might just have to take pity on it.
"Now now, I know my gift has caught you off guard, but you should all be excited!" Jevil laughed and laughed as he threw his hand back into the air over his head, and in his grasp Devilsknife appeared. "After all!"
As he pointed his blade down towards Anarchy, the sky above him filled with shimmering diamonds, each pointing down at him. They reflected in the spot lights, twinkling murderously.
The Anarchist still smiled, however, letting that bucket and rag disappear while his shield appeared on his arm and he snatched his crowbar up in his free hand. Without a care he climbed to his feet, tilting his head to the left until his neck popped, then tilting his head to the right until the same sound came.
*Prove a point.
"You get to witness a revolution! Uee hee hee!"
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