DoubleTale: Rewritten

by XWolf26

What if two humans were in the Underground at once? What if one human was DETERMINED to stop the other? What if they could both SAVE? What happens when an Unstoppable Force meets an Immovable Object? When a certain scientist pulls enough of himself together, he finally finds a way to stop the destruction of his world. (Undertale AU. Rewrite of DT.)

70. Chapter 70: Hate Without Excuses

Thanks go to Tbone8454, BonelessSkele, EpicSlayerGuy99, Wingah, Guest, MysteriousNugget, 2Strong2SignIn, ZeroaraTheKnight, 10burgers, Zack Frost, Doctah Sawbones, TiredWhiteMayge, TheRealCooper, H1s4a5, NervousArif2, Genowar, and lilo.

Alright, so I know I'm a few days late! That's because this chapter ended up being the lonGEST ONE YET AT OVER 28,000 WORDS. FUCK. But, hey! This is the finale of Season 5! After this upload, I'll be going on a break for the month of August! The next update will be Wednesday September 1st. It's going to be on a Wednesday instead of a Tuesday because the first Tuesday of September isn't until the 7th, and I'm not giving myself an extra week of vacation because I am deranged.

So, enjoy this chapter, friends. And prepare for all that is to come.

Disclaimer: I do not own Undertale.

---

It'd been a fun week or two, but it was over now.

Crack!

Vibrations shook the bat in Anarchy's hands, but his powerful grip stopped the tremors quickly. He lowered the aluminum bludgeon in one hand, raising his other to shield his eyes from the light of the setting sun while he watched the baseball he'd struck sail into the golden glow of the horizon. He called out after a moment, "Well? Whaddaya think?"

"What do I think?" Max repeated incredulously from a handful of yards across the field, wincing his own eyes up into the light to try and spot where the baseball Anarchy'd struck was. A small smile crossed his face while he looked back to his albino bud, baseball cap atop his head of black hair and baseball mitt still resting over his hand. "I think it's a good thing baseballs burn up exiting the atmosphere, or you'd've knocked down a satellite by now!"

"Aw c'mon." Anthony smiled just a little sheepishly, his medicated eyes glossing to the side while a tiny, open mouthed smile graced his face. Max could usually see his sharp teeth when he smiled, and those fangs always made Anarchy look like a madman, but it was growing on him. In fact, seeing Anthony's strange smile made his own widen some. "I didn't hit it that far, did I?"

"They're either evaporating in the atmosphere or some guy six states over is getting real tired of baseballs crashing into his lawn." Max responded, turning to face Anarchy fully. He leaned down some, grabbing the handle of the bucket beside him and lifting it up. Then, he flipped it upside down, and nothing but dirt sprinkled out. "If you ever get tired of farming, I'm sure there's plenty of money for you in baseball."

"Mo money mo problems." Was Anarchy's simple response. He slung the now dented and cracked bat over his shoulder with one hand while he rose the other in a lazy shrug. Then, he chuckled a little. "Can't believe you got so much millage out of seeing how far I can hit a ball."

"I shouldn't be the only one interested in your super human strength." Max stated simply, a small smirk curling his lips while he pulled the cap from his head. He tossed it into the now empty bucket he was carrying, along with his mitt. "I think you and Mako are the weird ones for not being entertained by you hitting baseballs into space."

"See a ball shoot into space once, you've seen it a thousand times!" Mako called from the back entrance of the barn in the distance. She stood on a step stool in front of a grill, wearing a pink apron that read the words "Kiss the cook". She also wore what Max called "Dad sandals", and one of those poofy white chef's hats.

Anarchy laughed quietly at her casual response. He was sure from her jovial tone that she did enjoy watching him bat into the stars, or at least that she was glad to see him and Max spending time together. Looking at her over there, smiling and cooking on her step stool, it made Anthony feel something pleasant. Interacting with her, being near her, it made him feel lighter. Made his heavy soul a little easier to bare.

... But, in her shadow, he could see him. That green eyed little boy, staring out from under his too-big hoodie. Pouting and tapping his foot, like he was tired of waiting. "Come back and play with me already!" Anarchy thought he might say. "You're a terrible best friend!"

... Yes, his time here was coming to an end.

Chapter 70: Hate Without Excuses

Or: My Bitter Medicine

---

"... Frisk..?"

The whole world held its breath. Everyone watched in silence, in horror. Waiting for a punchline, but the comedian was already laughing. My mind raced for an answer, but emotional whiplash had thrown me for a loop. Why was this happening? Why had they stabbed me? Why... Why were they laughing like that?!

"Oh MAN! I did not think it would work out like this!" Frisk snickered, running one hand back through their hair while the other waved around my eye on their rapier. They were smiling so wide, wider than I'd ever seen. "Sorry guys, my bad! But to interrupt everybody's big day like this? C'mon, how was I supposed to resist?"

"W-... What are you talking about..?" I shook my head slowly, lowering my shaky hand from my face. With my left eye now regenerated, I stared into my blood soaked palm. The left side of my mortified expression was painted in red, and my eyes slowly glossed up from my palm and back to the smiling face of my friend. "What's going on..?"

"Oh c'mon Cter, you of all people should recognize a BETRAYAL when ya see one!" Eyes snapping open wide, Frisk threw their arms out to their sides and leaned forward some. They loomed over Chara and I, grin splitting their features. Another drop of my blood hit the pavement. "I've been waiting three long years for this moment! Least you could do is make it fun for me!"

"B-... Betrayal..?" A shaky, nervous smile creased my face. My shrunken pupils trembled fearfully in my eyes. The pit in my stomach grew wider. "Frisk, s-stop joking around..!"

"You need me to prove I'm not joking?" Frisk asked while their expression suddenly drained of all emotion. The way their eyes stared, wide and unfeeling. The red color. The switch from psycho to socio on the drop of a dime. I'd seen it before, and it made my cracked arm burn.

Fwoosh!

Frisk was giggling again as they jumped back to dodge the wave of flames that exploded to life between them and us. Asriel was suddenly kneeling beside us, putting a hand on my blood stained left shoulder while he stared with anxious eyes out towards Frisk. MK landed in front of us, planting his feet and digging his talons into the stone at our feet. He glared out towards Frisk, and though flames rose from the corners of his maw, uncertainty was clear in his eyes.

"Oh good, gang's all here!" Frisk stood up straight, placing one foot directly in front of the other. They crossed their blood dripped rapier in front of themself, and narrowed their eyes with disdain at the prince and drake protecting Chara and I. "I'd love to dust both of you just to prove a point, but unfortunately Gatherer needs just Angel's blood for his plans to come together."

"Gatherer..?!" Chara barked from where they knelt beside me. They looked so furious and so hurt, but they didn't move. I was trembling, so they stayed there, holding me and keeping me safe.

"Eyup! You guys should know, while you've been living it up on vacation, my boss has been working on finding Anarchy!" Another name drop that curdled everyone's blood. Gatherer? Anarchy? This couldn't be right... This timeline was, it was supposed to be somewhere safe. Away from the multiverse, away from all my problems. I felt rising bile sting my throat, and Frisk just kept running their mouth. "I'll spare ya the details, but basically your blood is the last thing he needed to complete a scavenger hunt and get Anarchy's location outta Nightmare."

"Anny..?" There it was. The exact reality I was afraid of, the future that finally stepped over the horizon. The reason I hesitated to kiss Chara just now, the reason I was afraid to go on this vacation in the first place. The reason Frisk took my eye.

"Why would you want to find that freak?!" Asriel growled from where he knelt beside me, horror in his shrunken pupils. With one hand on my shoulder, the other reached up, planting itself on his chest. He was shaking, too. He didn't understand. "If this is a joke it isn't funny!"

"Looks pretty hilarious from where I'm standing." A cruel smile curled Frisk's lips while they narrowed their crimson eyes down at the monster prince.

"Tell me you're joking." Asriel demanded, his jaw tightening while cold sweat broke out on his forehead. His fingers curled into the white of his button up shirt. "You gave me a soul. You saved Monsterkind, you saved me! So tell me this is a joke!"

"Oh wow, I guess I did do that stuff, huh?" Frisk put a hand on their hip, turning the tip of that rapier towards themself. They pressed my bloody eyeball to their chin thoughtfully, and they "hmm"ed like they really were thinking, before they looked back to Asriel. They winked, sticking the tip of their tongue out past their lips. "But I'm bored now~!"

"Don't you dare say that's why." Chara trembled with rage, pained red eyes glaring up at Frisk. Their teeth grit, and they unconsciously tightened their grip around me. "Don't you dare talk like this is still just a game to you!"

"A game..?" The mirth suddenly drained from Frisk's expression. They lowered my eye from their chin, leaving a red stain that dribbled down the curve of their jawline. The chill of hatred iced their eyes over, and they tilted their head to the side like some forgotten doll in the corner of a kid's dusty closet. "No, no... This isn't a game. You assholes don't let me play games anymore, remember?"

"What are you talking about..?" Monster Kid furrowed his brows like Frisk was speaking nonsense, keeping his guard up. He didn't want to believe this, just like the rest of us. But still, he was the only one standing. He was the one DETERMINED to protect us from any foe.

"Kid, please. Adults are talking." Frisk rolled their eyes, holding up their free hand to Monster Kid as though they were signaling him to keep quiet. Then, they rose both their hands, using two fingers on each hand to do air quotes. ""Promise to lay down your weapon and never gain LOVE again", right? Those were the grounds on which you spared my life back then."

"..." I didn't know what to say. I glanced to the side when everyone's attention was back on me, if only for a moment. I'd honestly forgotten all about that promise. I'd forgotten that Frisk was ever a villain, that they were ever someone I didn't trust. But now, seeing that lethal look in their eye for the first time in years... Had it ever went away? Or had I just stopped looking for it?

"Now, I was extra good and kept my promise, even when tall pale and handsome was kicking our collective teeth in back at the Garbage Dump!" A furious smile pulled at Frisk's expression, the brutal red of their eyes going wide. Those ruby orbs even twitched a little, pupils shrunken within them. "But is it interesting to ANYONE ELSE that CHARA never had to make any promise like that?!"

"Don't try to make this about me!" Chara snarled, straightening their back some. It was a threat, a warning that they might just stand up and make Frisk regret those words. Frisk wasn't intimidated, though.

"Oh this has everything to do with you! With both of you!" Frisk pointed their blood soaked rapier down towards Chara and I, rage twisting their expression. "You morons think this is a joke?! Explain it to me then; what's so funny about you forgetting I exist?!"

The pit in my stomach grew even wider. I felt like I was gonna puke. Dots were connecting in my head faster than Frisk could shout not so subtle hints at me. The promise I made them keep, the adventures I'd left them out of, the life I'd condemned them to... Oh god, was this my fault..?

"WHY WEREN'T WE GOOD ENOUGH?!"

Anarchy's words echoed in my mind, and despair gripped me. I was the same. I'd made the same mistake that I made with Anthony. I flew away and left Frisk behind.

"Why would I have spent so much time RESETing if I didn't hate this life?! This happy ending is only happy for these fuckin' extras! These toys!" Frisk threw their hand out to the side, gestured out to the crowd that stood in mortified silence by the dance floor. Their furious expression twitched then, lips creaking up into one of the least sincere smiles I'd ever seen. "But you didn't really care about how I felt, did'ja Angel? No... You're just like me!"

"What are you talking about?!" Chara recoiled, and they looked at Frisk like they were insane. Talking nonsense, Chara must've been sure. But I wasn't. I knew exactly what they were getting at, and it made my dinner rise in my throat.

"Your happy ending, your special safe space, the loving home waiting for you whenever you get tired of fighting your fate..." Frisk's eyes narrowed, that berserk smile remaining on their face. They held their arms out to their sides, holding their weapon soaked in my blood straight out. "You made me a toy in your game. We're all just toys in your game."

"That's not..." My eyes glossed to the side. I could barely speak. I choked, tried to think of a response and failed. An excuse, a reason, something! This couldn't be right, I was supposed to be better now! I couldn't have let this happen, this couldn't be my fault..! "T-that isn't..."

"Don't listen to them, Cter!" Monster Kid interjected, tilting his head back some towards me but never taking his eyes off Frisk. "You're our friend, none of us think you see us that way!"

Monster Kid's hasty refutation seemed to piss Frisk off even more. Their eye twitched at his faith, something inside them twisted further. More and more wrath bled into their expression, and I was sure in that instant that their PATIENCE had reached its end. So, before I knew it, I was launching up and out of a shocked Chara's arms. I raced forward, I reached around Monster Kid and I planted a hand on his chest. I shoved him back, and I stepped forward.

"MOVE!"

Stab!

Frisk's eyes narrowed again, and that furious smile crept further up their face. In what had been their spare hand yet another rapier had appeared, and its point was now driven clean through my chest. Another horrified gasp from the peanut gallery. MK was now flat on his ass behind me, staring up with wide and mortified eyes at the steel protruding from my back. Chara's jaw tightened, their pupils shrunk in their eyes, their body trembled with rage.

"The more things change the more they STAY THE SAME!" Frisk threw back their free blade, sending my eyeball flinging off its point and splattering across the ground. Then, they jabbed forward once more, driving it into the other side of my chest and staining my suit with more of my blood. "All you morons are so focused on preserving your happy ending! Has it ever occurred to you that this game never has to end?!"

My head hung low. My hair, knocked loose from its slicked back position, drooped over my face and covered my features with its shadow. Frisk laughed through gritting teeth as they yanked both of their weapons out of my chest, ignoring Toriel's scream for them to stop and sending long splatters of my scarlet ichor flinging across the floor to their sides. "C'mon Cter! I'm fucking up your happy ending, I'm screwing up your game!"

They stabbed me again, I'm pretty sure. Time shifted, my perception turned off for another short burst of two or maybe three seconds. When the lights turned back on in my head, there was a new dozen holes bleeding and steaming in my abdomen. Frisk barked like a mad dog, "One'a your toys is stepping outta line! Your happy ending is in danger! So c'mon, TRY TO KILL ME!"

Suddenly, my head lifted. Frisk's voice caught in their throat, their breath tangled with it. They stopped their shouting, and they paused before they could stab me again. When my eyes met theirs - my face still wearing a half mask of red and blood now overflowing down my bottom lip - they shined a DETERMINED crimson that stopped Frisk dead. I wondered if the lights seemed to go out for them. I wondered if for just a moment, in their eyes, it appeared that it was just the two of us in an endless darkness. I wondered if they were afraid of The Dark. "Frisk."

Suddenly, Frisk had jumped back away from me. I didn't see it happen; again there had been a few second blink in reality and suddenly they were standing several feet back away from me. They lowered their stance, crossed their blades over one another like they were preparing for a counter strike. But one never came. Instead, I just stood there, arms limp at my sides and blood pouring down my hole punched body. The red in my eyes had returned to green, and I frowned at the sight of them. Seeing the sad look in my eyes made them smile in spite of the cold sweat that had broken out on their forehead, and they scoffed. "... Look at you. You're a monster."

"I wish I was." I spoke up, not moving a muscle. I just stared at them with my despairing green eyes, the only other sound in the world the pitter patter of my blood hitting the ground. My voice was weak, subdued, hopeless. "Then maybe I wouldn't feel so awful. Then maybe I'd know what to say."

"There's nothing to say." Frisk assured me bitterly, that wicked smile falling into a deep frown. Gradually, they stood up straight, lowering their weapons to their sides. Ichor dripped down the blades, splattered to the ground and occasionally dribbled onto Frisk's black shoes. Now that they'd put their smile away, and the anger had cooled into hatred, I could see the pain in their eyes. The indignation, the disdain... This wasn't a joke and it wasn't a lie, I knew that look they were giving me. I'd really hurt them. "You picked them over me. Left me behind, forced me to play a role that I never gave a damn about playing. Because you don't actually care about me, Angel. You just care about preserving your 'happy place'."

"Frisk, I'm sorry." I was quick to say, that sad frown drooping further down my face. My shoulders were sunken, my head lowered slightly. They meant more to me than that, they weren't some toy and none of this was a game. But how could I fault them for believing that? After abandoning them here, just assuming they'd be happy with a life that I forced upon them... My eyes narrowed painfully, their KIND green a contrast to the red that was still steaming off my body. "I didn't know, I didn't understand-!"

"Yeah and how could you have?" Frisk cut me off, tiling their head to the side and squinting at me. Their jaw tightened, and they gestured back towards Chara again. I was getting tired of Frisk bringing them into this. "You were so busy living out a crazy, dangerous life with them! It probably never occurred to you that the ENTIRE REASON YOU'RE EVEN HERE is because that's the life I wanted, right?!"

"We can still fix this!" I told them, desperation shining in my eyes. I was afraid to lose another friend, I was afraid it was my fault. If I'd abandoned Frisk just like I'd abandoned Anny, then had I really changed? Was I really better now? Had I grown up in the slightest?! "If you want to be a part of this, then you can be! You can help us-!"

"Oh but I'm already a part of this, Cter." Frisk assured, giving their blood soaked rapiers a few swings and letting my blood splash across the ground at their feet. Their stare was unforgiving, their words coming up from some dark place in their chest. "I give your blood to Nightmare, he gives Anarchy's location to Gatherer, we recruit Anarchy, and the Angel Eradication Plan goes into full effect!"

"God damn it Frisk! All you had to do was talk to me!" I took a step forward, holding my hands out in front of me. I didn't know whether to draw them in towards myself or reach out. It felt like Frisk was racing further and further away from me, but it also felt like my whole body was crumbling into the anxious pit in my core. Cold sweat dripping down my sickened body, my expression twisted with all the painful emotions playing tug-of-war with my heart. "One phone call, one conversation! If you'd just told me how you felt I would have invited you to Future's timeline immediately!"

"But I don't wanna be a side character in your adventure. I want my adventure back." My heart dropped into my stomach when I heard that. My pupils shrunk in my eyes. I recoiled visibly, and I have to assume everyone who understood what they meant did the same. My thoughts raced back to the RESET button they still had, to the SAVE FILE they'd never destroyed. And they smiled at how disgusted I looked. "That's right~! After you and Chara are FINALLY out of the way, I can live out my favorite adventure all over again! And again! Forever and ever, just like it was always meant to be~!"

"... N-no... No, Frisk, c'mon..." My arms slowly dropped back to my sides, and I shook my head. I felt like I was gonna puke or cry or maybe both. I would have looked to the people around me to gauge what their reactions to this news were, if I remembered that any of them were there. But I didn't. In my mind, I was alone in the world with the friend who'd stabbed me in the back, and all I could feel was them twisting the blade. "We're past that, aren't we..? The RESETs, the Underground... Tell me you're over that!"

"Tried to be." Frisk shrugged like they were talking about something so mundane and inconsequential. Like the despair we were all experiencing because of them didn't mean a thing in their eyes. "But your game is boring. Your adventure isn't my style. You had your chance to wow me, and ya blew it~!"

"Keep talking like that and I swear to god I'll kill you." Asriel's voice surprised me. It was a swift reminder that I wasn't alone, and that I wasn't the only one who had a knife in his back. I looked to my side to see that he was once more standing with me, and I winced at the sight of tears streaming down his face. His voice had been so shaky, so cracked and damaged in a way that I'd never heard it. His fists clenched and shook, flames crackling between his knuckles. "I broke the barrier for this life! Angel gave his arm for this life! Him and Chara both gave up years and put themselves in danger so we can live in a peaceful world, and you think you can just talk about it like it doesn't mean anything?!"

"I think I liked you better as Flowey." Frisk responded cheerfully, smiling and crossing their arms behind their back. This pointed both of their blood stained needles up behind them, and a drop of my ichor dripped down onto their cheek. They didn't seem to notice, or at least they didn't care. Both of the points looming over their head, from a certain angle the needles almost looked like horns.

Asriel reeled at that statement. More tears overflowed from his wide, mortified eyes. But, then his jaw clenched. A shaky breath slipped out past his grinding teeth, and he lifted one hand out towards Frisk. Flames crackled and ignited before his open palm, and he spoke through the lump in his throat. "I should've erased you when I was a god..!"

"Asriel, don't!" I was quick to reach out, but not quick enough. A wave of orange flames exploded to life, igniting the night in bright colors for only a brief moment. Frisk disappeared in the wall of heat before I finally got ahold of Asriel, grabbing him by the wrist and yanking his arm up over my head. The remaining flames launched up into the air, before the stream came to a stop. Asriel, furious and hysterical, yanked his arm back out of my grasp. But, before he could shout anything at me, a cruel giggling resounded ahead of us.

"Aww, Asriel!" Frisk still stood there when the smoke cleared, smiling wide. There was barely a scratch on them, just a little soot mark on their cheek. Over their head, one number floated in bold. "I didn't know you cared so much!"

-1

"You poor thing... Monsters have so much trouble fighting when their heart isn't in it, huh? Your attack and your defense drops to basically nothing just because you care about lil' ol' me~!" Frisk unfolded one hand from behind their back, unwrapping one finger from their rapier's handle to push it into their cheek while they stuck the tip of their tongue out past their lips. "What was that thing you used to say about how cruel it was of me to make everyone love me? It's been so long since then, I can barely remember~!"

I watched, gripped by guilt and anguish as Asriel's knees buckle. He lowered his head in shame while he dropped to his knees, and then to his hands. He banged one fist against the stone beneath us while he cried, embers flashing pathetically in his clenched fist. Monster Kid was quick to kneel beside him, resting one wing over him to both hide him away from Frisk's cruel laughter and protect him. He said something to the heartbroken prince, but I didn't hear it. My heart was pounding in my ears, my thoughts were so loud. What was going on? What was happening?

Suddenly, red flashed from behind me. Like a bolt of lightning, Chara was suddenly in the air above Frisk, crashing down towards them with one blade pulled back over the shoulder opposite to the arm that held it. Frisk didn't even bother to look up at them as they raced down to decapitate them, instead just continuing to smile at me like they were happier than they'd ever been.

Reality flickered, time skipped, and suddenly Frisk was just a few steps to the side of where Chara crashed down, slashing the fiery blade of their DETERMINATION into the stone and carving a path through it. They landed kneeling, a single strand of auburn hair falling loose and dangling beside their face. And while Chara stood, they turned their furious glare towards Frisk. Frisk, who had turned to face them too, hands and rapiers folded behind their back. They wore an innocent smile, their eyes squinted in a way that I had not seen since we were underground. Chara growled, "I can't believe I trusted you."

"Yeah, me neither! Never took you for a moron, Chara~!" Frisk teehee'd like they thought it was endearing to be a traitorous piece of shit. Chara snarled and darted forward to stab them; they probably thought they had to. However they felt, I didn't know. Frisk was allegedly about to give us a worst case scenario on a silver platter, it made sense to try and stop them. But my feet weren't moving. My body was frozen.

In the instant before Chara's blade made impact, time skipped like a record on a track, and their stab was blocked by Frisk's blood soaked rapiers crossed over one another. The traitor peaked one eye open and tilted their head in a weird sort of reverse wink, that gentle smile twitching with madness while their and Chara's weapons trembled and struggled against one another. "But I guess you were a little preoccupied with your new partner, right?"

"How could you do this..?!" Chara demanded to know, ignoring the barbs on Frisk's words. They jumped back away from Chara's blade, twirling their weapons in their hands and once more folding them behind their back. Chara didn't press forward just yet, instead standing up straight and holding the shimmering red of their sword out to their side. "So what, was everything a lie?!"

"Hmm..." Frisk paused and furrowed their brows, like they really had to consider if they'd said a single true thing in the past three years. They juggled their head from one shoulder to another, before suddenly perking up as though a lightbulb had flicked on over their head. "Oh! The nonbinary advice was true; gender norms are bullshit."

"Also, I really do think Anarchy's hot." They smirked, tossing one of their rapiers up over their head. In the time that it spun above them, they lifted their now free hand, snapping their fingers and pointing a finger gun at Chara while they performed that strange reverse wink again. Then, Frisk caught their weapon from the air, folding it behind their back again. "Definitely gonna try to get a piece'a that when Gatherer finds him."

"... You make me sick." Chara stated coldly, narrowing their pained eyes while they once more lowered their stance. They were preparing to strike again, but Frisk didn't bother to even shift their footing.

"Like I give a shit what a clingy ghost like you thinks~!" Frisk stated cheerily, shutting their eyes and tilting their head. Again they stuck the tip of their tongue out past their lips, mocking Chara's serious demeanor with a silly expression.

Chara attacked again, Frisk remained untouchable. Every time Chara got close, reality skipped, a frame went missing, and Frisk was out of their reach. It couldn't be speed, Chara was even faster than I was. It was something else, the slight manipulation of time. The tiniest bending of a clock's hands. But I wasn't in the mood to analyze. It was all I could do to watch Chara chase Frisk from side to side. Watch and despair as chaos ensued, and the happiest day of my life became something I would have done anything to avoid.

So, I stood there and watched, just like all of monsterkind. The mortified faces of the newly weds, the confusion, fear and anger that twisted the expressions of people like Undyne and Mettaton. The despair and guilt reflecting in Sans' and Gaster's pupiless sockets. The worry that Papyrus and Alphys showed in their teary eyes. I understood all their emotions, because I felt them too. And I stood there, frozen, just like the people I was supposed to protect. I whispered... "... Stop it."

Chara and Frisk darted left and right, to and fro. Frisk made more hurtful and pointed comments, smiling all the way. Chara got angrier, more pain reflected in their eyes and in their voice. My hands tightened into fists at my sides, and my green eyes shined a little brighter. "Stop it..!"

They didn't hear me. Nobody did. Asriel remained on the ground beside me, Monster Kid continued to kneel and support him. Chara kept chasing Frisk, and Frisk laughed and laughed as they jumped around and dodged every last slash or stab. My jaw tightened, my eyes clenched shut tight, and a green soul ignited on my chest before I finally shouted out "DAMN IT, I SAID STOP!"

KIND light flashed to life. Just as Frisk had been jumping back from one of Chara's attacks directly ahead of me, walls of KINDNESS exploded outward. In the blink of an eye, the power of my KIND soul had formed a rectangular prison around Frisk and I, keeping us in and the rest of the world out.

Frisk paused, landing on the now shimmering green floor. Both of us were illuminated in that emerald shine now, and after they spent a moment looking around like they were confused, it must've clicked in their head what I'd done. And they stopped, straightening their back and turning towards me. When they looked at me again, that smile became a frown, and they opened their crimson eyes once more. Their voice was as cold as ever, "What, you've still got more to say?"

"Don't do this." I requested in a calm, sad voice. Green halo shining over my head, I was the opposite of them. Head hung low, shoulders drooping, eyes full of shame and regret and desperation. "We can work this out. We can fix this."

"Get it through your thick skull, Cter! I don't want to fix things!" Frisk snarled, lowering their arms from behind their back. They stood with their knees bent, blood soaked rapiers at their sides. With everyone else they were so calm and composed, but the moment they spoke with me all of that bubbling rage rose right to the surface.

"Just talk to me!" I demanded, taking a step forward. I planted one hand on my chest, more urgency appearing in my eyes. "Just tell me what you want! Anything, and I'll make it happen! Just don't leave!"

"I want you to be dead!" Frisk stated like it was obvious, throwing their arms up some in a clear show of exasperation and irritation. "All I ever wanted was for you to be dead!"

"Don't give me that shit!" I pointed my finger out towards them, teeth grinding from how their words stung. "When I told you about my deal with Chara, you cried and told me I was your friend and you didn't want me to die! And when Anarchy showed up, you put your life on the line to protect me!"

"T-that's not-!" Frisk recoiled, jaw tightening. I struck a nerve, I must have. A drop of cold sweat broke out on their forehead; I wondered if they briefly understood the gravity of their actions. If, for just a moment, they remembered feelings that they had not felt in some time.

"I don't know what bullshit Xander put in your head, but it's not true!" I took another step forward, hands tightening into fists and KINDNESS glowing bright in my eyes. My will strengthened when I saw them falter; I was getting through to them. This could work, I could put an end to this right now! "You're my friend, Frisk! And you always have been! So please, just put down your weapons, and we can talk this through!"

"Put down, my weapons..?" Frisk paused, leaning back some. Their eyes drifted down to the blood soaked needles they'd drawn my blood with. It was true, the power to stop all of this right now laid in their hands. It wasn't too late to turn things around, give this life just one more shot... But then their jaw clenched. Their knuckles whitened around the handles of their weapons, and their furious, misty eyes darted back to me. "No. Not again, never again!"

"Frisk..." I paused, my own eyes narrowing painfully at the sight of the tears building in their eyes. I stood there, halfway across the rectangle of KINDNESS that entrapped us. My hands at my sides, my defenses down, my trust placed completely in them. "Please..."

"I won't let you trick me again!" Frisk shouted out, suddenly putting one foot forward. Time glitched and skipped, and in an instant they were right in front of me, both of those rapiers yanked back and ready to be driven through my chest again. "I'm done believing in you!"

Thunk!

Everything was quiet again. Their rapiers had been stopped this time by the KINDNESS of my soul, their points pressing desperately against the ethereal green light flickering over my body. But to no avail. There was no give. And they glared up at me, jaw tight with rage and eye twitching slightly. They hated me in that instant. For leaving them behind, or maybe for making them want to stay. For not letting them hit me, or maybe for not trying to hit them back. And I just stared down at them, tall and calm with that same sad frown on my face. "... Frisk, please. If you leave now, there won't be any going back."

"..." Frisk narrowed their eyes up at me, before jumping back out of my reach. they lowered their weapons to their sides again, and their expression straightened out. They squinted their eyes again, and their lips neither smiled nor frowned. "There'll be plenty of going back once you're out of the way. And you won't be able to stop me ever again."

Time skipped again, and suddenly their left rapier was raised into the air. It seemed that in that second blink they'd torn open a rift in space just behind themself. My eyes went wide, pupils shrinking in fear as I recognized this to be a portal. They were going to escape. I had driven them away, and there was nothing I could do to bring them back. "Frisk, don't-!"

"Oh, and one more thing." Frisk spoke again, their voice calm and even as they cut me off. They wore an emotionless mask of an expression, the classic three line that I had not seen in years. And they lowered their arm, taking a step back towards the portal they'd created. "I hacked the firewalls protecting this timeline, and I'm the only one who can leave or re-enter this place for the next three days. So enjoy the rest of your vacation, as a present from me."

"Frisk-!" I didn't care about what they were saying, just what they were doing. I lunged forward as fast as I could, racing towards them with one hand outstretched. My cracked and burning left one, to be exact. I had to catch them, I had to stop them, I couldn't lose them!

"Seems like everyone always wants to start over. Why can't anyone just get it right the first time?"

Time jumped, and they were gone. A flicker in reality, and there was no Frisk. No portal. No Ichor. Nothing but me, alone, in a box of my soul's power. I landed where they once were on my hands and knees, and as reality set in, my breathing quickened. Tears built and overflowed from my eyes, hitting the shimmering green floor.

I stared at the ground, crying and hyperventilating. My hands trembled, my cracks burned, and finally... I screamed. A meaningless, primal sound. Something an animal would make when separated from its pack or herd. An indecipherable, emotional wale. And I clenched my eyes shut tight, leaning forward and slamming my forehead against the ground. My grief intensified gravity one hundred fold.

Sobbing and wailing, I managed to lift one hand up over my head. My cracked and disformed left fist burned, before I sent it crashing down onto the floor. The power of my DETERMINATION sent scarlet cracks splitting through the green prison around me, shattering it in an instant and revealing me to the world.

And everyone stood there, staring with sadness and pity and understanding in their eyes. But I couldn't look up to any of them, I couldn't even try to hold myself together. I just bowed there, overcome with guilt and regret. It was over. Frisk was gone because of me. Gatherer would find Anarchy because of me. Everyone was in danger because of me.

---

The circus was quiet again, plunged back into the dead silence that it had briefly arisen from. That seemed to be the trend in this joint. A quiet, lifeless void, a huge explosive event, and then silence again. Predator didn't have the will to break this silence now.

Gatherer had escaped after he got in the last word. That was fine, Lexi knew he would. He always did. Besides, catching him and beating him to an even bloodier pulp wouldn't have fixed anything, Nightmare still would have handed over the information to Xander's successor. Probably that girl that followed him around. Cliff's sister, if Predator remembered correctly. Her crewmates had told her about the brutal scene of Cliff's murder at Angel's hands, and Predator figured that'd drive any loving sibling to want his head on a silver platter.

... A traitor lurking in Angel's timeline. Just because it was ironic didn't mean Predator thought it was funny. She hated him these days for what he did to her, Xander and Anthony, but she did believe that he was trying to get better. And after nearly three years of not seeing him, Lexi could only hope he had improved on the wretched person he was. So she didn't take any pleasure in learning that he'd been stabbed in the back, especially not for the sake of Xander winning this god forsaken scavenger hunt.

This was a stupid idea. Xander had won, Muffet was dead, and her friends were hurt. She should have known Nightmare would cheat, she should have known this would fall through, and she shouldn't have risked lives just so she could reach Anarchy. But, even though her main focus was her personal reason for pursuing The Anarchist, it was true that her finding him was the best outcome. There was no killing Anarchy after all, that much had been made clear after he defeated the second strongest man in the multiverse in front of everyone and made it clear just how wide the gap in power between himself and everyone else was.

If Lexi had found him, she could have helped him. Talked to him, been there for him as one of the few people that he seemed to care about. But Xander would no doubt try to manipulate Anarchy. The Gatherer was playing with powers behind his control and his comprehension, and Predator knew that there was only one possible outcome: The Anarchist would be unleashed on the multiverse again, and it was possible he'd bring even more devastation than he had the last time.

So, Lexi The Predator stood there. Tired eyes staring up into the endless black above and bitter frown defining her features. She'd failed today, and lost more than could ever be measured. But she wouldn't despair, because the fight wasn't over. It wouldn't be until she was dead. With that thought in mind, she shut those PATIENT eyes, and exhaled slowly through her nose. As she did, steam rose from her frosty body. Her hair thawed and her crown disappeared while her skin returned to its regular color, and at her sides her fists slowly unclenched. I can make this work. She told herself. This isn't over yet.

"Lexi!"

Predator's eyebrows rose some, and she turned to look over her shoulder. From across the arena, Melanie the KIND was making her way towards her, waving one hand over her head. And Lexi almost smiled, before she remembered the terrible loss Melanie had experienced in this battle. That made her expression flinch painfully, but she still turned to face her friend.

"I'm glad you're okay." Was the first thing Melanie said once she was close enough, wearing a gentle smile. But Predator could see the tear stains on her face, and that confirmed to her that Melanie was already more than aware of the mother she'd lost. This was something Predator could relate to, and it made her heart ache. But, she admired Melanie's ability to smile still, so she forced herself to return this expression, even though her exhaustion and sorrow crept into her eyes.

"I'm glad you're okay, too." Predator nodded with her kind words, but then she glanced to the side. Shame appearing in her eyes, that sad smile drooped into a frown, and she confessed. "... I, wish I had good news for you, but I don't..."

"..." Melanie's eyes winced a little painfully, and her smile grew heavy on her face. But she didn't despair either, even though tears were building in her eyes. Instead, she just shook her head, and spoke over a lump growing in her throat. "Y-you being okay is the only good news I needed, s-so try not to look so sad, okay?"

"..." Predator looked back up to Melanie, but she wasn't strong enough to return that smile. Her own throat felt like it was getting tighter, so she shook her head and spoke before she feared she wouldn't be able to anymore. "I know about Muffet, Melanie. I'm sorry..."

Melanie's expression trembled again, and tears overflowed down her cheeks from her misty eyes. She stifled a sob, and that sad smile trembled on her face. Lexi knew she probably wanted to say something to reassure her, Melanie was always sweet like that. But she couldn't talk over the lump in her throat, so Predator offered something more simple and more meaningful. She opened her arms, and almost instantly Melanie darted forward, hugging her tightly and burying her face in her shoulder.

Lexi looked a little relieved to see Melanie letting her emotions out, and she wrapped her arms around her to return the KIND soul's hug. The Predator even managed a sad smile, the guilt in her eyes lessening some while Melanie clung to her. The fight was over. All she could do now was hold her grieving friend, rub her back gently while she sobbed and try not to start crying herself.

They stood there like that for awhile. Predator didn't really know how long, she wasn't keeping track of the time. She was glad she could be there for Melanie to lean on; when she'd lost her own surrogate mother, there'd been no one there for her to turn to. And she wouldn't wish that kind of loneliness on anyone.

But, eventually, Melanie's grip loosened up, and she stopped shaking with tears. Another few seconds, and then she took a step back away from Predator, who slowly unwrapped her arms from around her. And Melanie smiled at her thankfully, reaching up and wiping some of the tears from her cheeks. It seemed that the flow had stopped, at least for now. She nodded gratefully, and her voice seemed much cheerier than it had been a moment ago. "T-thank you... I'm okay now."

Lexi smiled at that. She reached out, patting Melanie on the shoulder before stepping past her. She briefly considered wiping away one of the stray tears on her cheek with her thumb instead, but unfortunately there was more to be done. There could be more tender moments after she'd scraped her friends off the ground and gotten back onto the ship.

Melanie followed Predator across the torn up, glassed, and frozen sands towards where the rest of her team laid. Seemed like some people had started to get their wits together again; Clover was sitting up and eating a crab apple to heal whatever broken ribs Character's brutal punch had given him. Ralsei sat beside an unconscious Susie, holding glowing green hands over her body.

... And, across the field, Grillby sat. On his knees, before the brutal spikes of ink that jutted up from the sand, frozen into obsidian spires and painted with silver dust. His flames burned weakly, and he lowered his head, but Predator was too far away to know what he might have been saying or doing. She didn't need to know, though. That was between him and Muffet.

Lexi turned her head away from the sight of Grillby mourning his lost baker, shutting her eyes tight and letting her lips slip into a deep frown. But, she swallowed the lump trying to form in her throat, and she rejected the invasive thoughts shouting that this was her fault. Muffet knew what the stakes were, everyone did. She just as easily could have been the one who ended up dead.

"Hey, Lexi?" Melanie's voice tore Predator's attention away from the sight of Muffet's untimely end, and she looked over her opposite shoulder to see Melanie kneeling beside a man that was at least semi-familiar. Predator's eyebrows rose some at the sight of Future laid out on the sand, clearly unconscious. With everything that had happened she'd completely forgotten about the stranger that had joined her side in this fight. But, now that she got a closer look at the man's face, Predator didn't think he was a stranger at all. Melanie asked from where she knelt beside Future, "What should we do about him?"

"..." Predator squinted thoughtfully at the sight of the beaten and bloody king. He'd clearly risked his life, just like everyone else. The red misting off him had sealed up the bleeding stump that once lead to a forearm, and it seemed his weak DETERMINATION was continuing adamantly at restoring his missing arm along with his shattered jaw.

Wind gusted by, and Predator looked away from Melanie briefly to her ship, which was lowering to hover just above the circus floor. Sand was kicked up and her hair was pushed back in the whipping winds, but Lexi didn't mind. Instead, she turned and looked back towards Melanie. Her expression showing a kind of seriousness that Melanie did not see often, Predator answered. "Load him into the ship with everybody else, then get started on healing him."

"Really?" Melanie's eyebrows rose, but her expression seemed to light up some. She must've been relieved; she was always so caring for anyone, stranger or not. Abandoning Future here after the hand he'd lent them likely would have upset her. Obviously, it would be a terrible thing to do. And greenies had to stick together.

"Something big is about to happen, Mel." Predator nodded once, slowly. Her expression didn't lighten, even with the glow of a smile on Melanie's tear stained face. Lexi looked back out to the surrounding rubble of the circus, and she watched her teammates all close in towards the ship. Some standing, some being carried. This was in fact just the beginning.

"We need all the friends we can get right about now."

---

"It's getting late." Anthony commented, glancing over to Mako beside him. He kept his arms tight to his sides, pushing himself into the wood wall of his barn bedroom as much as he could. The two laid on his twin-sized bed, Mako's eyes focused on the screen of the gaming system she held in her hands. It was a screen with a handle on either side, one handle blue and the other red. "You sure you don't wanna head inside?"

It was more than getting late. Max had already went to bed, and the sun had set hours ago; now the only light came from the window at the room's front. Moon and starlight poured in, making everything visible in a soft blue color. Outside of that, the only other source of lighting was the flashing colors on that screen of Mako's. She'd wanted to show Anarchy some game she liked, a rhythm game she was really good at with all these bright, dancing anime boys and girls. "Hatsune Miku" something, something "Diva" something. Anarchy didn't really get it - the characters sung in a language that he didn't understand - but music was a universal language, and Mako seemed really into the game, so that was enough to keep him interested.

Mako had wanted to show him the game, and ended up getting so wrapped up in it that a few minutes showcase turned into a few hours of him watching her play. His room didn't have anywhere to sit, and it didn't seem like Mako wanted to move anywhere else, so over time the two of them ended up laying side by side on his bed. Anarchy tried his best to make himself smaller, but that was difficult with how big he was. So, he ended up kinda scrunched against the wall, craning his neck to look over Mako's head and watch the screen.

"Anthony!" Mako said in her pouty voice, squinting up at Anarchy after finishing out her song. This was the third or fourth time he'd brought up the time, and the third or fourth time Mako would dismiss his worries. He just wanted her to get to bed safely and get a good night's rest, but she made it apparent she didn't want to go to bed. "Are you having fun?"

"Well, yes, but-" Before Anarchy could finish out his sentence, Mako put her skeletal hand over his mouth. This made him smile underneath her bony palm, just a little. She turned her head towards him, squinting up at him.

"Then shushie!" Mako demanded, lowering her hand from Anarchy's mouth. He laughed some at her attitude, and she didn't mind seeing his sharp teeth in his smile.

"Okay, okay." Anarchy shrugged his shoulders, making the bed that they were pressed against creak some. "Just don't complain after you don't get any sleep tonight."

"Sleep is for the weak." Mako assured cheerily, making Anarchy laugh just a little again. Then, she turned her focus back to the game. She scrolled through the handful of characters available to switch to, stopping on a woman wearing a red skirt and jacket. She actually looked like an adult, unlike two or three of the other characters. "Oh, this is Meiko! She's one of the older vocaloids, so I always kinda imagined her as the mom of the group. That's, kinda just a headcanon, though."

"The mom of the group, huh..?" Anarchy muttered thoughtfully, squinting at the screen and the character on it. It was hard to see her as more than just a two dimensional character that sang and danced when the right buttons were pushed, but he tried his best to use his imagination and see things through the wonder filled eyes of Mako. So, after a moment of thinking, he smiled softly. "She seems nice."

"... You probably just like her 'cause she's got the biggest boobs." Mako squinted over towards Anarchy, and her accusation came so far from left field that it made Anarchy burst into laughter, sitting up some. Mako smiled at the sound of him laughing, turning onto her side to look at him better while he propped himself up on his elbows.

"No, I don't think that's quite it." Anarchy spoke while his chuckling faded out, arching a brow at Mako like she was weird for even accusing him of that. Though, it was apparent in her smile that she'd mostly just been joking. That was okay, Anarchy was hardly offended. It had just caught him off guard; the man had hardly had a horny thought in his life, after all. The last thing he was thinking about was the bust size of the dancing anime girls in a video game. "Honestly, I didn't even notice. Tig bitties must not be my type."

"Please don't say 'tig bitties' ever again." Mako requested through the laughter Anarchy's absurd terminology caused. He smiled at the sound of her giggling though, even though his expressions were as medicated as usual. Mako paused then, glancing to the side thoughtfully. Her cheek bones tinted a little red, and before Anarchy could piece together in his head how in the world a skeleton could blush, she gave him a real headscratcher of a question. "So... What is your type, exactly?"

"Uhhh... My type?" Anarchy pulled on his bottom lip thoughtfully, letting his scarlet eyes drift towards the ceiling. He searched his brain through the people he'd seen and known, considered people of all genders, shapes, and sizes... Before ultimately coming to the conclusion that it was too confusing to think about. Didn't make any sense. "... Dunno. I don't think I've ever thought about it."

"You're in your twenties and you've never thought about what kind of people you find attractive?" Mako tilted her head, resting it on her propped up fist while she leaned on her elbow, body facing Anarchy. She didn't sound like she didn't believe him; must've known he was an honest man by now. She just furrowed her brow bones, like she was intrigued.

"I guess I've just, never really found anybody attractive. At least not in the whole..." Anarchy squinted thoughtfully, bringing up the both of his hands as best he could with all his weight leaning on his elbows. He made a circle with one hand and pointed out the finger of the other, then poked the finger into the hole he'd made with the finger of his other hand. "Uh, this, kinda way. I've just never really thought about that kinda stuff."

"That's interesting." Mako said thoughtfully, watching Anarchy with care in her eyes. She was listening, and Anarchy appreciated that. But he didn't know why. She spoke softly, an extra bit of care and delicateness in her voice. "Do you, think you might be asexual?"

"I think I'm just Anthony." Was The Anarchist's simple answer, laying flat on his back. He reached up towards the ceiling he had built with his own hands, hands that he examined now in the moonlight. Scarred up, calloused and sturdy. Another part of him, Anthony The Anarchist. His name was the only label he needed or wanted. "It's not like I'm disgusted by or disinterested in sex, it's just not something I want like other people want. If it happens it happens, but I could go the rest of my life without it, and I don't think I would notice."

"... Huh. You really are unique, Anthony." Mako laid flat on her back beside him, and with what little space there was on the bed, their shoulders were pressed together. She reached her hands up overhead too, letting them reach aimlessly into the air beside Anarchy's. "So, if sex isn't really something you would want in a relationship, what is..?"

"Hard to say. I've never imagined myself in a relationship before. I don't think anyone will ever love me like that." Anarchy said it so casually, as though it was just a simple fact. It stung Mako when he talked like that, reminded her of how cold and dark her friend's life had to have been to have made the concept of love seem unrealistic and unattainable. Anarchy didn't notice how his pain worried her, he never did. He didn't think people worried for him. "But... I like what you n' me have."

"H-huh?!" Mako jumped slightly, propping herself up on her elbows and looking swiftly over towards Anarchy. He stared casually, like he always did. So unphased by her shock, so unaware of the weight that his words carried. He didn't understand that people valued anything beyond his ungodly power, in his mind he was still shunned by all other things that lived to some degree. But that didn't stop Mako's face from going red, or her eyes from shaping into hearts. "W-what do you mean, what we have..?!"

"You spend time with me and say nice things to me." Anarchy explained casually, lowering his hands and folding them over his chest. He spoke so casually, so free of embarrassment or shame. Mako, in all her purity and positivity, did not understand how one person could be so shamelessly honest. So perfectly genuine in all things that he does, whether those actions are good or bad. The small smile that he flashed her, genuine and true just like all other things he did, made Mako's white soul fluctuate unnaturally, produce more love than usual for her magic made body. A physical response, something similar to the rush of dopamine and endorphins humans might feel in a moment like this. Oblivious as ever, Anarchy continued. "My soul doesn't feel so heavy when you're around. Things don't seem so gloomy when I'm with you."

"When you look at me, you look like you're actually seeing me, and not just the things you're afraid I could do to you." Anarchy turned his scarlet eyes up towards the ceiling again, twiddling his thumbs mindlessly while he spoke. "So, if I ever did want a relationship, I think something like what you and me have is all I would need."

"..." Mako was quiet, laying there in awe of the things Anarchy had just thoughtlessly laid out on the table. Her mind drifted back to the man she'd seen on her television a few years ago, how his tears and his screams had made her soul ache with empathy. How, even though she should have been terrified of the power Anarchy was displaying, all she could think about was how desperately she wished she could relieve all that pain. Hug him, let him know that he was good enough. That existing was not a crime. So, when she saw the small smile on his face now, and when she heard the honest words he'd offered so easily, it made tears build in her eye sockets. She felt a weight she didn't know had been there lift, and she realized that the wishes she'd made to be able to reach him that day had come true.

"... Mako?" Anarchy finally arched a brow over towards her after a minute of silence was the only response his words received. But before he could look at her face, she darted forward, and he jumped some as she suddenly clung to him. Eyebrows lifted in surprise, Anarchy instinctively lifted his arms up, like he was afraid his touch might harm her. But Mako wasn't worried about that. She just wrapped her arms around him, burying her face in his chest and hiding her tears so that he wouldn't have to worry.

"Is it okay if I spend the night out here..?" Mako asked quietly, her voice semi-muffled in Anarchy's chest. Anarchy looked confused at first, but a gentle smile slowly pulled up his expression, and he carefully lowered his powerful arms around her, hugging her close to him.

"... Of course. I don't mind."

---

"... And you're certain he's there?" Gatherer narrowed his violet eyes down at the oozing black mass before him. His clothes were still torn, his hair still a mess. But, his horns had disappeared back into his forehead, and the blood had been wiped from his face. "This isn't a trap?"

"If ya don't consider walking into The Anarchist's den a trap." Nightmare's one eye darted to the side, his grimy grin growing on his face. He'd been invited into The Gatherer's compound for such a special exchange of information, and now they stood in a board room, the thin side of a rectangular table between them. Behind The Gatherer, Eden and Frisk both stood. Eden stoic and standing with perfect posture and Frisk smiling and squinting, still dressed in their suit from the wedding they'd ruined earlier in the night. Hacker and Demon were supposed to be here too, but they'd retreated back to their room after that humiliating defeat at the hands of Melanie The KIND. That sure had cracked up Nightmare. "I told'ja, I'm a man'a my word."

"Any liar can claim to be truthful. Words mean nothing out of a mouth like yours, Nightmare." Gatherer stood with his hands folded behind his back, his posture straight and perfect, just like Eden's. His magenta eyes watched Nightmare like they knew all and saw all, but Nightmare was hardly intimidated. "How did you happen upon this information exactly?"

"Now you wanna start askin' questions?" Nightmare tilted his head, arching his one brow bone up at Xander.

"Humor me." Gatherer spoke like it was a polite request, but it was an order. Nightmare chuckled at that, his smile widening on his goopy face.

"Well, it's all thanks to the negativity you DoubleKids have been kind enough to flood the multiverse with." Nightmare straightened out his head on his shoulders, and his one eye glowed a lethal blue. A few of his tendrils squirmed excitedly upon his back, wriggling and writhing over one another. "If it wasn't for all the devastation your kind has caused, I wouldn't have had the heightened perception needed to track Anarchy."

"Perception..?" Gatherer muttered with the curious cock of his eyebrow. He watched Nightmare closely, intrigued. Behind him, Frisk seemed to be spacing out. Their eyes glossed around the room, their head turning from side to side. They might've been wishing they could mash A and skip through this dialogue.

"That's how my and my brother's powers work. The more negativity - or, in his case, positivity - there is in the multiverse, the more of it we can sense and see." Nightmare continued to explain. He didn't look particularly interested in relaying this information either, but he was prideful. Glad to talk about himself highly, lament to someone about how great he was. "And you better believe Anarchy is easy to track."

"Then why hasn't Dream relayed Anarchy's location to The Angel?" Gatherer's frown deepened as he pushed on what seemed like a weak point in Nightmare's explanation, his eyes narrowing sharply.

"My useless bro's got no idea where Anarchy is, because the hurt and pain you DoubleKids cause has made him weak. There's not even a quarter as much positivity out there as there is negativity right now; the multiverse is out of balance and I'm lovin' it." Nightmare would have winked, if he had another eye to do so. One of his tendrils reached up from his back, sliding up the side of his skull. "And these big hot spots of positive and negative energy is exactly how I found where Anarchy is."

"See, Anarchy's a walking negative energy powerplant. Anyone who doesn't live under a rock should understand that." While Nightmare explained, Gatherer's expression relaxed some. He was glad his worries were being refuted and disproved, but he didn't trust this sludgeball as far as he could throw him. Though that was probably admittedly far. "So, Anarchy went to an equally positive energy source to hide this negativity he gives off. My brother is so used to lights flickering out because of your kind and his senses are so dulled with the lack of good in the multiverse, he didn't even notice these two energy sources meeting. But I did."

"So Anarchy went somewhere when he disappeared that would block out the dark energy trail he leaves?" Gatherer reached up, resting one knuckle against his chin while he gave a thoughtful tilt of his head.

"Exactly. But it didn't just block out his energy trail, it blocked out the positive energy source there too. So that whole timeline is just a void of neutrality." Nightmare's grin widened some, and he leaned his head forward some while he narrowed his maniacal eye. "And it looks like after two and a half years, I'm still the only guy around who noticed that."

"So you know where Anarchy is because it's the only place in the multiverse that is neither positive nor negative?" Gatherer's eyebrows rose with intrigue, some of the harshness leaving his expression as he began to see the truth behind Nightmare's words and put the science together in his head. "And Dream was too weak to sense this anomaly?"

"Now you're gettin' it." Nightmare's eye darted to the side, his tone only a little condescending. But, then he looked back to The Gatherer, flashing his friendly smile. "It was a good idea. Cover the trackable energy he gives off in a way that nobody would notice. Nobody but me, that is."

"Ya get it? I'm the only one who could have found Anarchy." Nightmare's depraved eye went wide, a hint of a fanatic lurking within. That made sense to Xander, of course someone as screwed up as Nightmare would be a huge fan of Anarchy's work. "I'm the only one who can perceive that neutral space. I don't know what's inside, but think of it like looking at a map. The only place Anarchy could be would be a big smudge of ink on the paper. I don't know what the smudge is hiding, but I know Anarchy isn't anywhere else on the entire map."

"... Alright, Nightmare. That checks out." Gatherer spoke after a quiet moment of thought, nodding once to the darkness blob. He straightened his neck and looked down to Nightmare from his nose's tip, "Thank you for this information. You're helping the multiverse towards a better future by relaying it to me."

"Ha! Yeah, okay bud, whatever you say." Nightmare stepped back, chuckling at Gatherer's words while a black rift opened in reality behind him. It seethed darkness, oozing and wriggling just like the rest of Nightmare's body. He wandered right back into the bubbling mass, beginning to disappear within it. "Y'know me. Nightmare, savior of the people. Good luck with Anarchy."

The dark skeleton's eye narrowed malevolently then, and as he faded into his negativity, he added. "I look forward to whatever you have planned."

"..." There was an ominous silence left in the room after Nightmare's departure. Gatherer stood in place, silently contemplating what would come next. His plan for Angel's Eradication, the meeting he would have to have with Anarchy, the many failsafes and whether or not they were ready to be used. It was time now, it had to be. For over two long years he'd been working towards this day, and it was finally here.

Eden stared contemplatively at Xander's back. Her eyes narrowed some, a thoughtful frown pulling at her lips. She believed in The Gatherer's cause, it was the reality that Cliff had died dreaming of. But... Nightmare didn't often stand on the right side of history. So, if he was helping Xander, had the monstrosity misinterpreted Gatherer's ideals?

... Or, were all of them on the wrong side of this..?

"... I leave at dawn." Gatherer looked over his shoulder, and Frisk perked up. Eden hardly paid attention, lowering her head and focusing on swallowing her doubts. She could not let herself become disillusioned, Nightmare's goal was likely to plant seeds of doubt in Gatherer's righteous plan. She wouldn't let that happen. "I'm going alone, as a show of trust."

"Wait, alone?" Eden suddenly lifted her head, shaken from her thoughts and her doubts. Her brows furrowed, worry manifesting in her purple eyes while she looked over to Gatherer. How could he say those words so carelessly, did he not understand that a face to face meeting with The Anarchist was a death sentence? "Sir, I don't want to question you, but-!"

"Anarchy is powerful enough to kill me, I know. He's powerful enough to kill all of us." Gatherer stared forward with his powerful purple eyes, hands folded perfectly behind his back. "If he decides he wants us to die, we will die. So, I will go alone. And only I will die if he choses to kill me. But, I have faith that he won't."

"B-... But..!" Eden shook her head, expression tensing with panic and internal struggle. Her thoughts drifted back to the image of her brother standing between her and The Angel when she stared at Xander's back now, and her pupils shrunk in quiet agony. She wanted to scream at him and demand that he stay, but this was work. This was The Gatherer she was speaking to, not Xander. And she was currently his adviser, not his friend. It was not her place to cling to his arm, not her place to beg him not to leave her too.

"Frisk, your room is on the third floor. It's been furnished to your liking and stocked with all the things you requested for this day." Gatherer turned to face the two of them and set his magenta eyes on the squinting traitor, and he smiled perfectly. Then, he began walking forward, stepping past both them and Eden. "Thank you again for helping me in my endeavors. I am eternally grateful, and I'm glad to welcome you home."

"Happy to be home." Frisk smiled heartlessly as Xander walked by them, nodding obediently just before they were out of his eyesight. Then, they turned their believable expression towards Eden, and they smiled just a little wider. "Ooh, this is so exciting~!"

"... Y-Yeah." Eden hesitantly agreed, nodding skeptically to the traitor before her. Frisk either didn't notice her aversion to them or didn't care, instead turning and happily wandering off out of the room and probably to their new home. Eden watched them leave, squinting her eyes some at their back. But, then she shut her eyes and took a deep breath. She had more important things to worry about.

Tomorrow, she would either lose her best friend or she would meet a monster even more horrifying than The Angel who haunted her nightmares. Tomorrow morning, for better or worse, she would be face to face with an irreversible change.

---

It was dark in their apartment. The sky was overcast, so there wasn't much moonlight making its way into the room. Hacker sat at the foot of the bed, staring with dull green eyes out at the world outside. The grey clouds in the sky, visible only because of the star shine they absorbed and withheld from the ground below. The ground he was stuck to. Hacker's frown deepened. ... I fuckin' hate clouds.

Demon sat on their usual side of the bed, their lower half covered by the blanket that covered the bed. The bed on their side, at least. Hacker's side of the bed was messy, pillow pushed down and dented in uneven ways while the blanket was thrown up and laid atop Demon's side of the bed. Their arms were crossed over their chest; of course they'd been angry with Hacker after that green ant managed to pull a win over on Character. It was his weird obsession with breaking the KINDNESS soul that had pushed Character to be so arrogant and leave themself open - a rare lack of synergy between the two.

Demon had been so furious that they'd snapped at Hacker, said some things they'd rather not have said. He didn't shout back though, which was unusual. They didn't have real arguments very often, but on the rare occasion that either Hacker or Demon did something to piss the other off, neither of them feared yelling at the other. These fights usually concluded once the both of them ran out of nasty things to say, and then they would both apologize and sometimes laugh at themselves for getting so worked up.

... Not this time, though. Demon had called Hacker a few mean names, demanded to know why he would care so much about something so insignificant, and blamed him for that humiliating loss. Hacker just frowned, said "Whatever", and went to bed. No screaming match, no later apologies. Demon had joined him quietly thirty minutes later, only to find that he couldn't sleep. They'd still been too aggravated and confused to apologize though, so they'd just silently gotten into their side of the bed. That was almost an hour ago.

"... I'm... I'm sorry, Angel. I shouldn't have gotten so angry." It was hard, but Demon forced themself to swallow their pride. Hopefully Hacker would be grateful, they wouldn't do such a thing for anybody else. He was being weird, and they didn't want things to be so tense anymore. He was the only person they actually gave a fuck about, so they didn't like seeing him so different.

"... It's fine. I don't care." The most words Hacker had said since Melanie had defeated Character. He'd been quiet from the moment Eden dropped their trapped body through a portal back to Gatherer's compound and out of Melanie's grasp, freeing Character from her Iron Maiden.

"..." Demon furrowed their brows at Hacker's back. They could just barely make it out, the Deltarune engraved on his back. A mark fit for an Angel, an Angel that he was not. Above that, across his shoulder blades, the tattoo he'd given himself with his ink. "BAD KARMA". Something that made him stand out from the rest of his kind, something he might have felt he needed. Hacker said it was fine, but Demon knew that wasn't true, and they didn't want things to be quiet again. "... I just, didn't understand why breaking that green soul was so important to you."

"It's not important." Hacker didn't look at them. he stared aimlessly, out into the overcast sky. It reminded him of his childhood, those days at the playground looking up at the cloudy sky and wishing he could fly away. The more things changed the more they stayed the same.

"... I wish you'd talk to me." Demon lowered their eyes to Hacker's uneven and messy side of the bed. Hacker's jaw clenched, and his hands gripped his knees tightly. He was shirtless, but he did wear a pair of blue pajama pants.

"Yeah well I wish you'd shut the fuck up!" Hacker suddenly snapped, head spinning back around so that he could shoot Demon a vicious glare. This sudden show of rage made his partner recoil, scarlet eyes going wide in the night.

"... Excuse me?" Demon spoke into the quiet that followed, their tone and expression growing a little more stern. Worry was still apparent in their eyes, but first and foremost they had to stand up for themself. Boyfriend or not, Hacker wasn't allowed to talk to them like that and they weren't allowed to talk to him like that.

"..." Hacker's expression relaxed some, that anger fading back away while his dull green eyes glossed to the side. He exhaled slowly, his shoulders sinking while he relaxed. "... Sorry. I didn't mean that. I'm just, upset."

"..." Demon smiled just a little at his honesty, clearly relieved to see him opening up some. He turned his head back towards the window, and the clouds shifted enough for a ray of moonlight to flood into the room. Demon sat up some, pulling their blanket off of themself. They were wearing green pajama pants and an oversized T-shirt. "It's okay. Just, try to explain what's going on, okay..?"

"... You're lucky, Chara. Your soul and your eyes are the same color." Hacker blinked his green eyes out into the night beyond the window, sad frown pulling down his expression. "But, mine aren't. And I wish they were. Because then maybe I wouldn't feel like this."

Things were quiet for a few moments after that. Hacker winced at the words he'd let slip, the feelings he was ashamed of sharing. But, then he felt Demon's arms wrap around him, and his eyes widened a little. They hugged him from behind, resting their chin on his shoulder and trying their best at comforting him. They spoke softer than usual, eyes darting to the side and face stinging with light embarrassment. It wasn't often that they showed any kind of softer side, but Hacker looked like he needed it. "... Well. Our souls and our eyes are the same color when we're together."

"..." Hacker's eyes went wide when he heard those words, and more of the clouds cleared away. Feeling a little less heavy, he managed a smile while he shut his eyes. He leaned his head gently against Demon's, sighing quietly while he relaxed in their arms. "... I hadn't thought of it like that. Thank you..."

---

Gold light shined in through the bay window of the living room. It was so bright that it rendered the stained white curtains completely useless. Golden rays gleamed on the scratched wood floor, reflected on the box TV's dark screen and tried desperately to add beauty to the sunken cushions of old furniture.

It was so bright that Anthony had to squint to try and perceive this familiar room. He blinked his tired eyes, tilted his head to his left and looked into the blank TV screen in an attempt to see his reflection. But the glare was too bright, the powerful shine burned his eyes. So he blinked from where he lay on the couch, and he looked straight up.

There she was again. The haggard face of his mother smiled regretfully down at him, tears trickling down her emaciated face. And Anarchy frowned this time, his eyes narrowing irritably up at her. The dark blue of her eyes was gentle, more so than he'd ever seen it. Her touch did not bring pain, she did not strike at him and attempt to punish him merely for existing. But he didn't care. She'd already done those awful things too many times to count.

"... Why are you doing this?" Anarchy finally asked, his voice as aggravated as it was confused. He didn't sit up, didn't move away, didn't flinch when her tears struck his face. "Why are you trying to reach out to me now, after everything you did?"

Her lips moved, but her voice didn't come with it. And Anarchy growled at that, his eye twitching with rage. She just frowned at the sight of that, and with a tremble more tears poured down her cheeks. Anarchy didn't care. "And why are you crying? What do you even have to cry about? You fucked up my life, remember?"

She sniffled, and Anarchy scowled. But, when she leaned down, he humored her. Grit his teeth and continued to watch her with angry eyes, but he humored her. And for some reason, when his mother pressed her forehead to his, he felt some of that anger release. Replaced by sadness, by a longing feeling. Why was he pushing her away when all he wanted was to be closer to her?

A sound in a silent void. The heartbreakingly familiar voice of his mother.

"I'm sorry..."

Anthony's scarlet eyes snapped open, and the first sensation he recognized was the chill of water droplets on his face. Blinking groggy eyes, he lifted his hand and sloppily wiped whatever this liquid was from his face. He was half expecting it to be blood; waking up bloody was far more familiar to him than waking up with tears of his face. But, once again, he found the bitter salt water of his mother's tears had made it through the dream, and once again he wiped them away.

Shifting in his bed, The Anarchist sat up. As his thoughts tried to yank themselves away from that horrific dream and the sound of his mom's voice, he remembered that he had not fallen asleep alone. That was a feeling he'd never experienced, the comfort of sleeping with someone in his arms. And it wasn't one he thought he'd be graced with at any point in his life. So, when he looked to see that Mako was no longer beside him, he was struck with a painful, lonely sting.

But, before he could get particularly sad, he spotted the note left on his bedside table. A folded piece of paper with frilly handwriting on it, Anarchy had to squint his tired eyes to read its words.

"Good morning! Went to make you pancakes!"

- Mako

"... She drew a little heart next to her name." Anarchy muttered in his groggy voice. As he reached over and took the note between his fingers, a tired smile crossed his lips. He felt relieved, and his thoughts were able to drift away from that wretched dream. He must've overslept, the crack of dawn is usually when he woke up. But, judging by where the sun shined in from his window, it was probably eight AM by now.

Groaning and stretching, Anarchy slid his legs off his bed and let his bare feet hit the wood floor of his attic room. He reached over and pulled open the drawer on his bed side table, setting the note Mako had left him inside it. Then, his eyes glossed over to the pill bottle in the mostly empty drawer, and his eyes narrowed knowingly. Having overslept, he would need to take his medication right away. He was already a few hours overdue, and he didn't want Mako or Max to see him if his psychosis started to crack through the fading dose that he'd taken yesterday morning.

Like clockwork for the past two years. Every morning, wake up just as the sun's rising. Take anti-psychotics. Start chores to keep busy. It was a strict schedule, and he'd slept so peacefully with Mako by his side that he'd ended up breaking the cycle. Not that it was a big deal, he just had to take a pill right now before the last one finished wearing off. And, even if he didn't, it's not like he'd go on a killing spree. He would just be... Well, unhinged. In the way that he always was when he was not medicated. In the way that Mako had seen him when he fought Angel. And he didn't want her to have to see that, so he reached for the pill bottle.

Cruuunnncchhh...

Anarchy's ear twitched, and his eyes lifted from the bottle, his hand stopping in place before he reached his meds. That sound, it was the crunching of gravel under tires, along with the hum of a vehicle's engine. A car was pulling into the driveway. But Max was the only person with a car here, and where would he be returning from this early in the morning?

---

Mako tilted her head curiously from where she stood in her house's garage door. She'd been on her way out of the house and towards the barn to wake Anarchy up for the breakfast she'd prepared, when she spotted a car making its way down the driveway. Not just any car, but a black limousine. The length of the vehicle spanned much of the driveway, which lead from the road all the way to Anthony's barn. Near the halfway mark was where the house stood, and where Mako stood confused.

The limo drove most of its body past where she stood bewildered, before slowing to a stop. A gear shifted, and the long car was parked. Mako's thoughts drifted, imagination trying to think up reasons that such a fancy piece of machinery was driving into her humble life at eight o'clock in the morning. But, her attention was captured by the driver's side door opening.

"Uhh, excuse me?" She spoke up, raising her hand to hopefully gather the attention of the monster that stepped out from the car. It was a taller monster, wearing a metal helmet under a black hat. Besides that one piece of armor, the guard seemed to be wearing the black and white suit she'd expect of a chauffer. He even wore white gloves.

The monster didn't acknowledge her though, which was even more odd. Monsters out here were rare, and her kind was a friendly bunch. So why wasn't this armored driver looking at her? Instead, he walked swiftly to the door that was further down the limo, directly across from Mako. He gripped the door's handle, pulling it open and allowing Mako to see inside - something that tinted windows had previously made impossible.

Before Mako could get a particularly good view though, she was taking a step back on instinct. A man with some unexplainable presence stood from within the limo. Perhaps it was his perfectly put together hair, or his wrinkle-less red and black suit and tie. Maybe it was the overpowering will in his violet eye, or maybe it was just the nature of his entrance. But, regardless of the reason, when Xander The Gatherer stepped out from his limo and stood up straight, Mako understood immediately that whoever he was, he was a big deal.

"Thank you. As you were." Gatherer gave a simple order to Royal Guard 01, nodding once to him. The guard nodded back, before walking back towards the driver's seat of the car and slipping inside, shutting the door behind him. When that was done, Gatherer turned his eyes to the short skeleton standing before him, and he arched a curious brow. This was the place, was it not? So what was this bright little monster doing here? He cleared his throat, and reached one hand down to her. "Hello, dear. Pardon my intrusion on your property."

"U-uhh... Yeah, hi!" Mako managed a smile, even though she wasn't completely feeling it. Still, this strange human was being friendly, and she didn't want to be rude. So she reached up with her smaller hand and took his, shaking it with her usual positivity. "What brings you out here, random stranger?"

Gatherer laughed politely at Mako's honest phrasing, wearing his perfect smile. It had been quiet some time since someone had seen him as a stranger; seemed these days the entire multiverse knew his face. He shook her hand, and then carefully retracted his own hand, folding it behind his back with its counter part. "I'm sorry to bother you this early in the morning, but I'm searching for an old friend of mine. It's urgent."

"A friend?" Mako repeated, her pupils shaping briefly into question marks. She smiled sheepishly and honestly, giving a casual shrug. "Sorry sir, but we don't get many people out here. Who are you looking for?"

Is she being coy, or does she genuinely trust me? Gatherer pondered, though he didn't let his skepticism show in his expression. Instead, he smiled a little wider at her curiosity, holding up one hand a few inches over his head. "My friend is a bit hard to miss. About this tall, pure white hair, pale skin, red eyes?"

Mako's pupils turned into exclamation points then, giving away immediately that something in Xander's words had sounded familiar to her. Did this girl truly know where Anarchy was, or was Nightmare tricking him after all? Mako dispelled his worries, smiling invitingly up at him while she straightened her back. "Oh! Well I only know one guy who fits that description!"

Xander felt a spark of emotion when Mako spun on her heel towards the barn. Excitement, relief, anxiety, uncertainty. This was the moment that everything hinged on. Finding Anarchy, and getting him to agree to join his cause. If things went wrong in this moment, he could die at those powerful hands, and two years of work would wash down the drain. Mako leaned forward some, cupping her hands around her mouth. "Anthony! You have a visitor!"

Gatherer turned his attention towards the barn. Anthony? This girl was on a first name basis with The Anarchist? What was she? What was this house, this life? The last time Xander had seen Anthony he was a blood soaked killing machine, and now he was... What was he doing? That didn't matter, that wasn't what Xander had to worry about. He felt a drop of cold sweat break free on his forehead, and he gulped silently as he watched that wide open barn door. The shadows inside... They did not seethe. No glowing red eyes appeared in the inky black.

But, footsteps did echo on the concrete floor. And, slowly but surely, a man emerged from the barn he'd built with his own two hands. Hands that he now rested in the pockets of his jeans. His work boots crunched gravel, his white tank top showed off his scarred up and muscular arms. The mane of white hair and addition of a white beard confirmed his identity to Gatherer. Anthony The Anarchist walked out into the sun, and his eyes met with Xander The Gatherer's for the first time in nearly three years.

Xander's smile grew a little unstable, losing its perfection momentarily in favor of what was either anxiety or excitement. The moment was finally here. So much work, so much sacrifice, but he was finally face to face with Anarchy. He could hardly contain himself, but he had to. His success hinged on his winning smile, on the natural charm that had started his empire in the first place.

"This guy says he's an old friend of yours?" Mako took a few steps closer to Anarchy as he walked without haste onto the scene. His eyes remained locked on Xander for a few long, tense seconds, before his eyes glossed back to Mako, who had walked right in front of him.

"... Yeah, I know him." Anarchy spoke hesitantly, his eyes darting briefly back to Gatherer. He knelt down to be at eye level with Mako, who furrowed her brow bones curiously at him. He was being weird, after all. If this stranger was a friend, why wasn't Anarchy excited to see him? Anarchy didn't give her time to ask, reaching out and gently resting his hand on Mako's shoulder. "Go inside and find Max, okay? Get started on breakfast without me. Xander and I have some catching up to do."

"Are you sure..?" Mako asked, and Anarchy nodded. He was being reserved, but there was a serious edge to his words. Something definitely wasn't right here, but she'd already figured that. If this man was from Anarchy's past, then he was likely dangerous. But, that was okay. Anarchy would protect her and Max from anything. So, even though she was worried, Mako stepped forward and wrapped her arms around Anarchy's shoulders, giving him a hasty hug that startled him before breaking away and making her way back inside the house.

"..." Anarchy stood back to his full height, shoving his hands in his pockets again while he watched Mako return to the house he'd built. Once the door shut, and she was out of ear shot, The Anarchist turned his powerful red eyes to The Gatherer, and he frowned. "... Long time no see, Xander."

"I would have visited sooner, but you are a very hard man to find!" Gatherer flashed his perfect smile, friendly and welcoming. But Anarchy didn't buy it, and Gatherer didn't think that he would, at least not at first. Regardless, he went on with friendly banter. It was nice to talk to an old friend, and Anarchy was the only person from his past that Xander actually liked. "This is a very nice home you have here, by the way. Certainly not what I expected, but I'm relieved to see that you've been living well in your time away."

"... Thanks. I built it all myself." Anarchy turned his scarlet orbs out towards the home around the two of them, allowed himself a moment to take pride in his work. He knew Gatherer was probably just trying to butter him up, but it was nice to receive praise for his hard work. That in mind, his eyes darted back to Xander. "Now cut the shit. Whaddaya want?"

"Oh come now Anthony, you don't think I came all this way just because I want something from you, do you?" Gatherer recoiled like he was offended, but the coy smile on his face told a different story.

"Limo's are expensive, Xander." Anarchy rose his eyebrows, his medicated eyes not reflecting much of whatever lurked beneath. His demeanor was so different now, Xander thought. He was more reserved like he had been when medicated in their days in gang, but he was less irritable than those days, too. Wiser, maybe? More aware? "Be a shame if I had to put your head through the windshield because you lied to me."

"You're so straight forward, Anthony. It's something I admire about you." Xander admitted truthfully, chuckling some at Anarchy's blunt and creative threat. Anarchy could be funny, it was something not many people knew about him. But Xander knew. In fact, when Anarchy looked at him now, he saw that Gatherer too was different from the last time he'd seen him. When the two were last face to face, Gatherer was clearly afraid of Anarchy, viewing him as some rabid animal. But now he saw something different. He understood things now that he did not then. "Yes, you caught me, I do want your help. But, you could also consider it me helping you."

"... It's about Angel, isn't it?" Anarchy tilted his head to the side, narrowing the lethal red of his eyes.

"How'd you know?" Xander smiled with a hint of wickedness, a shared hatred in his eyes. Anarchy understood that loathing, he knew it too. And there was something special about seeing someone else feel the same way about that liar.

"Call it a lucky guess." Anarchy grinned then, flashing those sharp teeth. It was such a wide smile, wider than any smile he'd given in quite some time. There it was, the maniac that Xander knew. The maniac that Gatherer needed.

"You've been away a long time, Anthony." That smile faded away, and Xander's expression grew more serious. He narrowed those powerful purple eyes, leaning his head forward some to look at Anarchy from under his eyebrows. "A lot of things have happened in your absence."

"From what my worms have been whisperin', it sounds like all anyone's been doing is waiting for me to get back." Anarchy's grin shrunk some, but it didn't fade completely. So he hadn't been under a rock, that was good. Less explaining for Xander. "In fact, I heard you had to perform a pretty dirty trick to win that scavenger hunt."

"Planning ahead is my strong suit, Anthony." Xander reached up with one hand, straightening his tie while he flashed a smile. He was clearly proud of his handiwork, though Anarchy didn't exactly approve of the deceit involved in that mole plan he'd devised. But, it was Angel's fault for trusting a Frisk. The first thing Anarchy had learned when entering this world was that Frisks are filthy, underhanded creatures who subsist on lies and deceit. "What you call a dirty trick, I believe to be adequate preparation."

"..." Anarchy was quiet. He narrowed his thoughtful ruby orbs at The Gatherer and paused for a moment, before exhaling through his nose. He turned his head away, once more glancing around his yard. The grass was so green, the trees beautiful oranges and reds in the entrance to Fall. "Yeah, I've kept a close eye on anything relating to me, especially lately. I knew you were coming."

"The one thing I don't know, Xander," Anarchy took a few steps away from him, let the gravel crunch under his powerful steps. Then, he turned to face Xander again, and a cold gust of October wind blew by. "Is what you want from me."

"You keep talking like I just want to use you for some goal, Anthony. I don't appreciate it." Gatherer answered, keeping his hands folded behind his back. Then, a serious frown shaped his features, and he narrowed his magenta eyes once more. "I'm not here because I want to use you. I'm here because I want to help you destroy Angel."

That made Anarchy's eyebrows raise. He went quiet, watching Gatherer carefully. Those words sure sounded nice, especially out of a friend's mouth. Seemed all anyone had ever wanted to do was get in his way and hinder him in anything and everything he ever wanted, so hearing Xander state that he wanted to help Anarchy achieve his ultimate goal... He couldn't help but let his lips curl up slightly. "You shouldn't say things like that if you don't mean them, Xander. Wouldn't wanna disappoint me."

"I wouldn't dream of lying to you. It would be counter productive." Gatherer flashed a smile to reassure The Anarchist, but then it faded back to the serious edge of his frown. His purple eyes narrowed some, showing a measure of care that was unlike him. Was this all means to an end, or did Xander truly have a personal stake in Anarchy's desires? "I watched you battle him. I heard you speak my name. You don't just hate him because of what he did to you, do you?"

"..." Anarchy didn't agree, but he certainly didn't refute. He just narrowed his scarlet orbs, straightening his neck some and watching The Gatherer carefully. After a pause, he admitted. "... No. I hate him for you and Lexi, too."

"And that is something I wish I had understood sooner!" Xander exclaimed, passion igniting in his eyes. He unfolded his hands from behind his back, clenching them into fists in front of himself in an excitable manner that was so unlike him. But, then he took a deep breath, seemed to reel himself in. He lowered his hands, and blinked slowly before looking back to The Anarchist with new composure. "I had thought that you had all betrayed me and abandoned me when we entered this reality, but I was wrong. Lexi and Angel both stabbed me in the back, but you, Anthony! Our friendship still means something to you, doesn't it?"

"... It does." Anarchy admitted skeptically, slowly nodding his head. He tried his best to keep his emotions pushed down, but with his medication wearing off, it was getting harder to do. The truth was that hearing Xander understand his feelings was a relief to him, and not something he thought he would get to feel. He'd thought The Gatherer had forgotten and abandoned him too, but he hadn't. Gatherer officially had his attention.

"Then let me help you, like I should have from the beginning." Xander pleaded to the higher power that was The Anarchist, reaching out and daring to grab Anthony's powerful hand in his. He knew Anarchy could clench his fist and shatter his fingers, but he didn't care. He had to reach him, he had to be honest, he had to get his point across or else it was all for nothing! "Together we would be unstoppable, Anthony. No one could stand in our way."

"... I'm already unstoppable." Anarchy narrowed his eyes, but he didn't crush Gatherer's hand. His skin was warm, his eyes were passionate. His expression, in its desperation, was honest in a way that Xander usually was not. The Gatherer was a proud man, not one to beg. This must have been incredibly important to him. "I could go and kill Angel right now if I wanted to."

"And yet here you are." Xander was quick to reply, squinting his purple eyes knowingly. Anarchy's jaw tightened at that remark, and he considered snapping a finger or two on The Gatherer's hand to remind him just who he was speaking to. But, he elaborated before Anarchy could punish him. "Because you're lonely, Anthony. And I understand that, because I am the same."

"You've got a whole timeline full'a morons chanting your name." Anarchy yanked his hand back out of Gatherer's grasp, and his snarl showed a few of his fangs. Then, he lifted his other hand, pointing an accusatory finger Gatherer's way. "You could never understand what I feel."

"I have a timeline full of subjects who see my power, not me." Gatherer's pupils trembled with emotions that he didn't know how to share. He stared into the powerful eyes of The Anarchist, and he reached up, planting one hand on his own chest. "Doesn't that sound familiar to you? In a multiverse full of people who quake in fear at the mention of your name, doesn't my situation ring a bell or two?"

"... My power is not like your power, because your power can be taken away and mine cannot." Anarchy shut down with an emotionless chill in his voice. His eyes were apathetic, unmoved by Gatherer's lonely wails. Suddenly, The Anarchist turned on his heel, and he began walking back towards his barn. Waving Gatherer away over his shoulder, he spoke. "If that's your pitch, it failed. Get off my property. I'll kill Angel my way on my time."

"... It, failed..?" Gatherer repeated quietly, his eyes going wide. His pupils shrunk, his shoulders sunk. Then, slowly, his fingers curled back into fists. His slacked jaw tightened, and his teeth began to grit. His brow twitched, embers crackled and popped between his knuckles, and finally... He shouted. "Alright, fine! You want the real reason why I'm here?! Is that it?!"

"Couldn't care less." Anarchy called back, not bothering to look back to The Gatherer or stop walking forward. He stuffed both hands into his pockets, and he frowned while he faced forward. His thoughts focused on Mako's bright smile, on Max's reserved smirk. The way those two looked at him, the pleasant way he felt around them... He didn't want to leave yet.

"In my entire, miserable life, all I've ever done is work!" While Gatherer shouted, he stomped forward. Gravel crunched and heated beneath his feet while he walked past the length of his limo, and another gust of cold wind knocked a strand of hair loose from its perfectly put together style. "Work for a future that never comes! Work while everyone I ever give a damn about leaves me behind!"

"..." Anarchy's brows furrowed, his eyes narrowed. Mako's smile disappeared from his thoughts, replaced by the crying face of his mother. And his steps slowed while his eyes glossed down to his powerful arms and all the scars they were covered with.

"There was one person who wouldn't ever dare abandon me! One man who I loved more than anything else!" Gatherer's finger nails ripped open his palms, and blood dripped between his fingers while DETERMINATION steamed past his knuckles. His eyes stung, so he was forced to clench them shut. And when he did, tears overflowed, and the brutal ache in his chest forced him to lean forward some while he screamed down the driveway. "AND ANGEL TOOK HIM AWAY!"

Anarchy stopped. His ruby orbs went wide, and something flickered inside them. He stood at the entrance to his barn, and underneath him, his shadow shifted unnaturally. His pupils shrunk, and standing in the dark end of the building he'd crafted himself he saw Cter The Angel. Glowing red eyes and all four wings, glaring at him like he was the monster.

"Ripped his heart from his chest! Killed him in an instant and threw him aside like worthless garbage!" Tears overflowing down his cheeks, Xander The Gatherer bowed his head and gripped painfully at his aching chest with his blood soaked hands, staining his tie and his suit. "All so he could go and fight YOU!"

Anarchy's pupils trembled in his eyes, which glossed over to his left. There, leaning against the frame of the barn door was Angel The Hacker. Arms crossed over his chest while he gave The Anarchist a knowing smirk, as though he wanted to say "I told you so".

"Anthony! When you fought Angel, you said you were the hero! You said this was your story, and god damn it you made me believe it!" Gatherer straightened his back some, glaring at The Anarchist's turned back with intense and emotional eyes. Tears streaked down his face, his heart pounded in his chest, and his mouth hung open while his intense emotions forced him to breathe more heavily. His fingers curled into the clothing that covered his chest. That covered his one tattoo, the words engraved right over his heart. "So just tell me..!"

Clifford The BRAVE

March 23rd, 1999 - September 22nd, 2019

"WHAT KIND OF HERO WOULD LET HIM GET AWAY WITH THAT?!"

Anarchy's eyes drifted from The Hacker to the small hand that he felt wrap around his pinky. And when he looked to his side, he flinched at the sight of little Angel staring up at him with those knowing green eyes. Anarchy's thoughts raced back through two years of menial work, happy and peaceful memories and to the very moment he'd let himself put his crowbar down.

"If you trade in that crowbar for the cushy, happy life, then you'll be doing exactly what I did. You'll be a hypocrite, Anny."

Little Angel smiled sadly, and Anarchy's eye twitched when he heard his voice. "Tried to warn ya, Anny."

Disgusted, Anarchy yanked his hand out of the grasp of that child, and he disappeared. Seeing little Angel fade away, Anarchy's eyes darted to where Hacker had stood, seeing no one there. Then, finally, those ruby orbs shifted to where Cter The Angel had loomed. Nothing in the shadows. He was alone again.

D-damn it..! Stop crying..! Xander inhaled sharply while lowered his head, trying desperately to wipe away his tears. But, new streams came to replace whatever he wiped away, and he inhaled sharply through gritting teeth. He hated this. Feeling like this, showing this weakness, crying these worthless tears..! T-this is pathetic! You're better than this! You have to be stronger than this..!

Suddenly, a new sensation. Xander lifted his misty eyes, jumping slightly when he felt one powerful hand rest on his shoulder. And his sad amethyst orbs went wide at the sight of Anarchy now standing right in front of him again, looking at him with an emotion Gatherer had never seen on his face before. A gentle gleam in the madman's eye, a sad frown on a mouth that had devoured human flesh. And Xander sniffled, wiping another few streams away with shaky hands while he tried to compose himself in the presence of a greater power.

"... Thank you for believing in me, Xander." Anthony The Anarchist spoke humbly, and Gatherer swallowed the lump in his throat while he stared up at him, confusion written on his tearful expression. Then, suddenly, that arm on his shoulder pulled him in, and he nearly gasped as Anarchy pulled him into a hug. For a moment he was fearful that the powerful arms wrapped around him would squeeze him until he popped, but they did not. Instead, he was held. Protected. As though somehow this murderer, this Anarchist was assuring him that his tears did not make him weak, and it was okay to be sad. "I think you snapped me out of a delusion just now. So, I will accept your help."

Anarchy turned his eyes skyward, squinting into the bright blue sky. At the sun that had burned his flesh and rejected him. The same sun that never had any problem with Angel. He took a deep breath, and he nodded to reassure himself. "It's time for me to leave this place. It's time for Angel to die."

Gatherer's violet eyes went wide, before he sniffled and swallowed again. Relief washed over him, and without thinking he reached up, returning Anarchy's hug. He clung to him, and hidden away in his benevolent hug, Xander was able to sob and cry into his chest. Express his grief in a way that he had not in years, feel safe and secure and understood in a way that he might have never felt. He'd meant what he said; he did believe Anarchy was the hero of this story. He did trust Anarchy, and he did believe he was the only friend who had not stabbed him in the back. That was why he had believed so adamantly that his plan could hinge on the madman, and that was why he was so relieved now.

The two of them stood there like that for awhile. Anarchy thought about how strange this was, how much had changed. How much they'd grown, and how broken the two of them still were. That thing Xander had said, "Working towards a future that never comes", he related to that. That was all he'd been doing these past two years, and now he knew that if he didn't leave now, he would not ever leave, and Angel would get away with his crimes. And if Anarchy was truly the hero, and this story really was about him, then he couldn't let that happen. Not with people like Xander relying on him.

---

"..." Silently Anthony stood at the center of the barn. In this exact spot, nearly three years ago he had stood. A rundown shack this was then, but he had rebuilt it with his own hands. He had used his power to fix something, to create something. Now he peered upwards, to the rafters where he slept and the roof he had shingled. Where there was once a massive hole, a spotlight upon him, there was a ceiling. Something that he had crafted, blocking out the light and taking him out of the focus. He wished now that he'd built a skylight.

His hands were empty. His left palm itched, his fingers twitched. And Anthony lowered his head, looked forward, and began walking towards the ladder that lead to his bunk. And as he did so, he felt something pulse and resonate in his all powerful soul. A part of him that he'd been missing, something he'd hidden away.

Anarchy wandered through the light until he reached the ladder, and with two hands he climbed. The wooden rungs did not scratch the itch in his palm, they did not fill the missing part of him. Heaven knew they tried.

From the circular window at the barn's peak, the sun's harsh light shined. It was a chilly morning, but the sky was without clouds. Anthony's head rose into the beam of gold that glimmered with a few dust particles as he climbed onto the wood floor of his bunk. It was a simple room, just a flat wood floor in front of the barn's peak window. The only furniture was the mattress Anthony had bought with blood money and the bedframe it rested upon, which Anarchy had built with his own two hands. Beside this bed was a table with a drawer. A drawer that contained pills that he didn't need to take anymore.

The whole world held its breath. All was silent as Anthony The Anarchist approached his bedside, hands now trembling at his sides. When he reached his bed, he knelt down in front of it. Then, he lowered his hands, and gently pressed his palms to the smooth floor.

Down on his hands and knees, Anthony reached beneath his bed with his yearning left hand. The scars that covered his body tingled, reminded him of every injury that shaped his powerful body. And the closer his fingers got, the warmer his hand felt. The more his phalanges twitched, until finally they gripped something.

The scrape of stone on wood. The barn creaked as the winds outside grew more intense. Birds flew, chirping and screaming for other birds to do the same. Plants swayed uneasily in the heavy winds, hundred year old trees shifted and groaned. And from beneath his bed, Anthony The Anarchist pulled out a vantablack box. Without latches, without any crease to indicate an opening.

He stood unhindered, holding this box effortlessly in his left hand, as if it was worthless to him now. All that mattered was what it contained. And there, in the home he had created, with that hypocrite sun shining brightly upon his unburnable flesh, Anthony lifted that obsidian chest up over his head. He grabbed it by each end, and its strange texture creaked and groaned as his powerful fingers pushed against it.

He bent the stiff object upwards until finally a snap rang out. And the moment that crack resounded, the whole world went quiet again. The forest stopped moving, the birds shut their beaks, the wind stopped dead. Anthony The Anarchist tilted his head upwards, and as the black rain of his madness poured down and out of its broken prison, he opened his mouthful of sharp teeth and let his long tongue reach out to catch the waters of his fountain.

The pitch black liquid poured past his lips, through his teeth and over his tongue down his throat. Gulp after gulp, the only noise there was, until Anarchy was just catching the last few droplets on his Dark soaked tongue. And, when that was done, he shut his mouth and he smiled. His right eye bled black while his left eye burned red, and that passive layer had disappeared from his expression. He no longer appeared medicated and reserved. For the first time in two years, Anarchy was whole again.

In a sudden motion, he yanked his hands away from one another and whipped the two worthless ends of the chest he'd ripped in two to reclaim his darkness in full back behind himself. And his eyes lit up with manic glee when he watched his crowbar plummet from above, freed from its prison. His hands did not lift to catch the wicked metal, not even as it dropped right down towards his face. He merely stared in awe of its beauty, admired its rusted red color and all the blood and ash that had crusted over its filthy surface. Not a drop of it had washed away in the prison of his darkness, just like he'd known it wouldn't.

Clang!

And before it could drop onto him and sting his flesh, an obsidian pincer caught his crowbar in its grasp. From his left shoulder blade, Anarchy had sprouted one of his scorpion claws. A large and powerful pincer, now holding his Inheritance in its grasp. In his grasp. The arachnid appendage slowly and carefully lowered The Anarchist's crowbar, and he reached up with his left hand to meet it halfway.

And finally, his Inheritance was right back where it belonged. The object of his torment and his salvation, from the Father to the Mother to the Bastard Son, Son of a Bitch. Anthony The Anarchist, a man who came from nothing and did not fear returning to it. He had his crowbar in hand now, and his red and black soul glowed on his chest. The tip of the iceberg's tip. A depth and a weight and a power that none but him could wield and understand.

Now was his time. His pincer slipping back into his shoulder and his only true possession in hand, Anthony turned to face the ledge. And without a moment's hesitation, he lunged forward, launching himself right over the edge and not bothering with the ladder. He didn't need it. In fact, he had all that he needed back within him. In his soul, in his left hand.

With a thud! Anarchy landed on the concrete floor that he'd poured in another life time. His knees bent from his impact, but then he stood up straight. Leaning his head back, Anarchy flashed his sharp grin to the ceiling that could no longer hide him. And he almost began laughing, seeing this hiding place through new eyes. It had been quiet, and it had been pleasant. But he missed the noise.

"... Anthony..?"

Speaking of noise. Anarchy's eyebrows rose some, and he turned his head to see the two people who loomed in the doorway of his barn. His two favorite people, as a matter of fact. Mako's brow bones furrowed with worry, her pupils the shape of teardrops. Max put a protective arm out in front of her, watching Anarchy with disgust and disbelief written on his face. And Anthony just stared back at the two of them, his honest eyes narrowed curiously while he tilted his head to the side. Mako found the strength to speak again. "... You're leaving, aren't you?"

"... I wish I could stay, Mako." Anarchy knelt down to be at eye level with her, resting his crowbar holding arm over his knee. But, then Max pushed Mako behind himself, boldly stepping into Anarchy's path and getting between him and his sister.

"You can stay! You're the most dangerous man alive, nobody can make you do anything!" He exclaimed, frown carving deep into his expression. Max's expression twitched with disappointment, anger, disbelief, and fear. For himself, for his sister, and even for Anarchy. "So why are you choosing to go back to that life?! For years you've been doing so well! Now you're just gonna flip a switch and go back to killing people? Was it always that easy..?!"

"... No. This is one of the hardest things I've ever had to do." Anarchy answered honestly, letting his DETERMINED and Dark eyes gloss up to Max. Max furrowed his brows at those heterochromia eyes, and the unnatural soul they showcased. Anarchy's jaw clenched then, and those powerful eyes narrowed. "But I have responsibilities, Max. Things that are beyond me and what I want. Things that only I can do, and that I have to do."

"What could possibly-?!" Before Max could further lay into The Anarchist, Mako reached around and pushed herself in front of him. One hand reaching up to plant itself on his chest, the gentle beat of her soul evened out the furious pounding of his heart. She looked up at him with understanding eyes.

"Max." Just his name, and he understood. Even though he hated it, Mako believed what Max was doing wasn't the right option. And she was smart about these things, smarter than he was a lot of the time. Besides, her and Anarchy had a much more special relationship than he did with Anarchy. One that Max didn't understand and, frankly, was worried about. Regardless, he took a deep breath and a step back, giving Mako the floor to speak to her friend.

"I knew this day would come." Mako spoke forlornly while her teardrop eyes glossed back to The Anarchist. He hated seeing her frown like that, and he hated knowing it was his fault. Mako folded her hands in front of herself, wincing her loving eyes painfully. "I knew how important Angel was to you, and I knew it would have been... Dumb of me to think there wouldn't be a day where you would want to finish things between you and him."

"You said killing him was the one moment that would make your life worth it back then, didn't you?" Mako's frown trembled some on her face, and Anarchy felt a painful sting as he watched tears start to well up in her eyes. But, she was right. He had said those words, and he still meant them. Making Angel pay was the most important thing in the world to him. More important than his own happiness, and more important than her. Even if that hurt to think about. Mako reached up, sniffling some while she wiped away the one stream of tears that managed to break free of her eye socket and roll down her cheek bone. "... I-I'm sorry. I guess I just, was hoping that I could make your life worth it instead..."

"..." Anarchy frowned, and his scarlet eyes glossed shamefully to the side. He exhaled quietly, and as more tears trickled down Mako's face, his aching heart forced him to reach out. Gently he cupped her cheek with his scarred hand, and carefully he wiped away a tear with his thumb. This caring gesture made her look up to him while she sniffled, and he managed a sad smile while he looked at her face. It was almost funny, someone so special crying over someone as worthless as him. Anarchy would have considered what his life would look like if he'd met Mako earlier, if he wasted his time thinking about what ifs.

As her tear trickled down his thumb, it crossed paths with one of the black droplets that had overflowed onto his hand. The tear and the water from his fountain met and mixed, darkness lightening and light darkening. The two masses of water didn't mix, but they clung to one another. And Mako reached up, resting her hand over the one that Anarchy held her face with. She sniffled, and spoke with a shaky voice. "A-am I ever gonna see you again..?"

"..." Anarchy was silent. His brows furrowed thoughtfully, and his eyes glossed away from Mako. He briefly scanned the room, before his eyes caught on the blue glimmer of his sapphire shield. His only other true possession, the second most important item he owned. Regretfully he stood, and Mako frowned a little deeper as he pulled away his hand from her face.

She watched him cross the distance of the barn, and furrowed her brow bones when he gently pulled his shield off the wall. She sniffled and wiped away another tear, her sad expression not lightening even when he turned around to face her with the shield in tow. He walked back towards her, before carefully holding out the sapphire guard to her. It was so big, if she lowered herself just a little she would likely disappear behind it. Still, skeptically, she took this shield from his grasp, looking up to him with her sad eyes. She asked fearfully, "... To remember you by..?"

"No. It's so you know I'll be back." Anarchy said, and Mako's eyes widened with surprise. Her pupils' teardrop shape turned to exclamation points, and Anarchy smiled with relief at her change in demeanor. "This shield is one of the most important things I own. I want you to have it, so you know I'll always be there to protect you, and that someday I'll have to come back to get it."

"..." Mako smiled, sniffling some while she took Anthony's shield. It was heavy, but not so much so that she couldn't carry it. Carefully she lifted it, holding it to her side so that it did not separate her and Anthony, who was smiling back at her. Unmedicated, truly himself, and still happy with her. She nodded up at him, even though tears still trickled down her face. "... I-I understand. I know this is important to you, and I know how strong you are, but... Please, be safe, okay..?"

Anarchy's eyebrows lifted with surprise. Be safe? Someone was worried about him? She was afraid for him and not of him..? In that instant he wanted to kneel again. He wanted to hold her, he wanted her to know how important she was to him and how desperately he wished he could stay. But, if he hugged her, he feared he'd never let go of her. So, instead, he just nodded. "I will be. And you will see me again."

Mako nodded silently, the lump in her throat too big to speak over. More tears streamed down her face, and the sight of her heart shaped pupils made the blackness fade from Anarchy's right eye, returning both eyes to their beautiful scarlet shade. He wished he knew how to say how important she was to him without having to say it, he wished he could explain the intense emotions his manic heart experienced, good and bad. He loved and he hated so powerfully, it was the cruelest symptom of his psychosis. But, he couldn't explain any of that. So instead, he just said a few words, and Mako and Max could both hear how they scratched his throat on the way up. "... See you later, Mako. Thank you for everything."

Anthony The Anarchist walked forward then, regretfully past Mako and Max. As he walked, he snagged his black anarchy sweatshirt from his bench. And, just as he made it to the barn door, Max spoke up. Back to Anarchy and Anarchy's back to him, he found something more to say. Smiling bitterly and shaking his head... "I don't understand you, Anthony."

"... That's okay." Anarchy stopped in his tracks, but he didn't turn to look at Max. That was okay, Max didn't look at him either. No one saw the sad look on Anarchy's face, his frown or the way that his eyes drifted to the rough gravel path ahead of him. "I don't always understand me, either."

"... Mako might wanna see you again after this, but I don't." Max's eyes narrowed, lowering to the smooth concrete floor he stood upon. Mako turned her eyes up towards him, and another few tears slipped down her cheek bones. She wanted to scold him, but she couldn't. She understood exactly where he was coming from, after all. Max's jaw tightened, and he clenched shut his pained INTEGRITY eyes. "I wanted to be your friend because I didn't want you to hurt anyone else, I don't care who they are. You can't just switch between being a good person and being a murderer whenever you want."

"..." Anarchy lifted his eyes back to the black limo waiting for him in the driveway. He exhaled slowly, and his fingers tightened around the crowbar in his hand. "That's exactly why I have to leave."

That was the last thing he said to those two. After that, Anthony The Anarchist continued down his rough gravel road. Forward and to the door of that limo, which Royal Guard 01 held open for him. The monster trembled and shook as Anarchy walked by, like he was afraid Chaos Incarnate was going to reach out and crush his skull through that helmet. But Anarchy didn't even see him there. He stepped right past, and climbed into the open space of Xander's limousine.

And there, in the square black room inside, leather padded benches lined all the walls. Xander The Gatherer sat directly across from him, smiling wide and with relief. There were still a few tear stains on his face, but that was alright. They would fade before anyone else would see. Besides the driver, but he was already under strict orders to keep all that he saw in this reality to himself.

"You made the right choice, Anthony. I'll make sure you don't regret it." Xander assured while Anarchy took a seat across from him. The Bastard Son leaned back in his seat, letting his arms lay over the back of the bench behind him. His mane of white hair fell over the cushioned leather, and his lips curled upwards slowly into the grin he knew and loved. Xander smiled his perfect smile into Anthony's wonderfully imperfect grin, and the limo began to reverse back out of that driveway, crunching gravel beneath its tires.

"You and I are going to do great things."

---

Wedding really fizzled out after Frisk came out as a mole. My friends and my family had surrounded me after Frisk left me sobbing on my hands and knees, and even though I tried to apologize for being such a worthless friend, they didn't wanna hear it.

I'd sobbed and cried and apologized endlessly, but their heartbroken eyes only looked at me with understanding, worry, and their own guilts and sorrows. Nobody blamed me for Frisk's betrayal, in fact several people tried to convince me it wasn't my fault. And, even though they couldn't really make me stop believing it, they did get me to stop crying, and I thought that was close enough.

Everybody had their own shitty feelings to handle though, so I didn't hold any of them up too long. I managed to stop my crying, and I got myself into a chair. I was still sitting there, at some random table, three hours after the wedding came to an abrupt stop. I hadn't really been able to move. People came by and checked in on me as they left, and I flashed a few sad smiles and lied and said I would be okay.

Toriel and Asgore went back to an empty home, and Asriel went with them. MK went home, so did the skeletons. Gaster had stopped to talk to me, though. He told me he was sorry about Frisk, and he promised to look into that firewall they had mentioned. I told him I would meet him in the morning, and that we'd work on preparing for whatever comes next.

I had this night to mourn, and then Chara and I would have to get to work on preparing for the near future. Gatherer's rise to power, Anarchy's return, Frisk's betrayal, and whatever the "Angel Eradication Plan" was. The name was kinda self explanatory, of the end goal at least. I was staring down the barrel of my execution now, and how the fuck was I supposed to cope with that?

The chair beside me groaned, and I lifted my head from where I'd been hanging it low. I rested one arm on the table before me, the other drooping limp at my side. But, when I saw Chara had taken a seat beside me, I managed another one of my sad smiles. My tear stains had faded away, but my eyes were sunken in and tired. Chara returned my sad smile with their own, and they reached across the table with their own hand, gently taking mine in their grasp.

They looked like they wanted to say something, but couldn't think of anything. That was okay, them holding my hand was enough. I squeezed their hand gently to assure them they didn't have to say a word, before slowly sitting up. I leaned my head back in my chair, let my emerald orbs gloss out over the shut off lights and empty tables. Everyone was gone now; honestly I'd thought Chara had left too. But, I was happy they stayed.

My blood was still spattered across the floor ahead of us, but I'd washed its stains from my face and hands. Couldn't get it out of this suit, though. Seemed I'd have to buy the thing. Chara leaned back in their chair with me, and we sat there in silence, looking out over the empty town square. Only lights now were the street lamps, but that was enough. My eyes glossed down to our intertwined fingers, hands still resting on the table together while we sat side by side. And I managed to reach further back into my memory, past the horrific trauma of Frisk's eye gouge and to the happy moments that preceded it.

What shitty timing. I would have laughed, if I was in the mood. Person of my dreams is confessing their feelings and Frisk thinks it's a good time to stab me in the fuckin' face. Dick move, for sure. But there wasn't much I could do about it now. My eyes glossed up from Chara's hand in mine and back to their eyes, which were transfixed on our hands. They looked tired too, but they managed a smile. They were comforted, if only slightly, by my touch. And that was enough for me to find the will to talk. "... I'm sorry, Chara."

"Angel, please... You don't need to apologize." They assured me with worry in their scarlet eyes. They frowned as they turned their head towards me; clearly the last thing they wanted was to see me blame myself. "I know what they said, but what happened with Frisk wasn't your-"

"No, not that." I shook my head slowly, turning my emerald orbs forward and swallowing quietly. I didn't feel a rush of anxiety, I didn't feel any of the debilitating haze that I'd felt when we danced. In its place was a consistent warmth, a gentle but powerful flame in my core that sealed any malevolent pit that my fears might try to open. "Earlier, when we were dancing. We got interrupted, but... You shared a lot with me, and I know that had to have been hard. I can't let this night end without addressing that."

"O-oh, that!" Chara's eyes got a little more light in them, and they even managed a nervous laugh. They sat up straight and they waved their free hand dismissively, but they didn't dare let go of me with their other hand. I was glad, I didn't want them to. "You shouldn't worry about that right now Angel, it's not all that important."

"It is important. You're important." I sat up too, letting my eyes dart back over to them. And they recoiled just a little, a light pink shade appearing on their cheeks. An honest care appeared in my eyes, and I shook my head while I gathered my nerve. I had to say this now, while I had time. Before I found myself unable to elaborate again, before I let this slip through my fingers like I had a few other important things tonight. "Chara, I think you're amazing, and hearing you admit all those things... I-it, made me happier than I've been in a really long time."

Chara was taken aback by that, their face tinting a darker shade of pink while they looked to me with wide eyes. I braved their stare, didn't let it make me stumble over my words. The floodgate was open, and I had to keep it that way until I had said everything I desperately needed to. Really, I was just glad they looked invested in what I had to say. I was afraid, with what Frisk had done and how terrible this night ended up, they might not be interested in hearing me explain my feelings. But they were, and that was both relieving and anxiety inducing.

"For years now, I... I've felt like I'm going insane when I'm around you. I miss you when you're gone, I always want to be closer when you're here." I looked to the side but did not turn my face away from theirs, a blush creeping over my cheeks. "I think of you when I go to bed and I think of you when I wake up, but... That thing you said, about being afraid that admitting you wanted more would screw things up, that's all I could ever think."

"You're so important to me, and you're so amazing, I..." I turned my head away just a little while my face burned brighter, reaching up with one hand and running its fingers through my now messy hair. I thought for sure I was wording things wrong, that I was fucking this up and that even now I was going to scare them away. But they weren't going anywhere. They squeezed my hand, and I gulped. "... I just, never thought someone like you would be interested in someone like me. So, the idea of, c-confessing, it was terrifying. Is terrifying."

"Angel..." Chara managed to say, reaching out and resting their other hand on my bicep. There it was, the rush from before. It seemed not even tragedy and betrayal could dull my feelings. There really wasn't anything more important to me than them. I shook my head, that madness they inflicted raging inside my skull. My heart pounded, my thoughts jumbled together, and all I knew was that I didn't know enough.

"I don't know how to do this, I don't know what to say." I gulped again, my emerald eyes glimmering in the dark while they scanned the floor and the tables and anything they could so that I didn't have to look Chara in the eye, because frankly I just wasn't strong enough. My free hand grabbed at the now blood stained tie that they'd secured around my neck earlier in the day, and I nearly choked on the shaky words that I managed to push out next. "B-but I, I didn't want you to think I didn't feel the same way that you do, because I do. I didn't want you to have to feel as unsure as I do, I... I didn't want tonight to end w-without... Without saying, uhm... Without, telling you... T-telling you, I..."

I finally found the strength to look back towards them, if only to possibly express my feelings with a look, as my words were no longer cooperating. There was so much I wanted to say that I couldn't, in so many areas of my life. Why was it so hard to talk about my feelings? Why couldn't I ever express in words what I felt in my heart? In a moment like this I panicked, my thoughts and my words jumbled together. But they had to know..! I had to explain it now! So why couldn't I get the words out?

Our eyes met again, and I was suddenly aware of how much closer they were now than they had been when I last looked away from them. Their face was just inches from mine, the beautiful red glow of their eyes reflected in the glow of my green eyes and vice versa. And just like that, my thoughts shut off. That tangled lump of words in my throat dispersed, and my panic disappeared. There was nothing but that consistent, warm feeling in my chest. The purest and most pleasant form of the feelings they inflicted upon me. And seeing that they wore the same dumbstruck look I was wearing was a relief, it assured me that they felt that same warmth.

Our eyes stared into one another, and they did not look away again. Some understanding was reached, and somehow I knew that they knew what I had wanted to say. And that should have been enough, but it wasn't. Not for me and not for them. I got closer to them, they got closer to me. Our expressions relaxed, our embarrassment faded, our blushes dulled while we craned our necks to be closer to one another. We tilted our heads to make sure nothing got in the way, and for the first time, I finally felt that they were close enough.

I felt Chara's soft lips on mine, and that warm feeling in my chest burned in the most pleasant inferno I could imagine. I watched their eyes close while they watched mine do the same, and we lost ourselves in the moment, in each other. I reached up with my free hand, and I gently cupped their cheek with it. I felt them do the same. I didn't want them to pull away, I didn't want this moment to end, and they must have felt the same.

While we kissed, the whole world came to a stop. We were really alone together, no one and nothing to interrupt us. And that was good, because they were the only person I wanted to be around in that instant. There was no looming threats, there was nothing but them. And I wished we could stay like that forever, that we could be together and that that kiss never had to end and that life never had to be anything else.

But, it did. And eventually, we had to breathe. So, we gradually pulled away from one another. Our lips disconnected from what I hoped would be the first kiss of many, and we gently pressed our foreheads together while we held each other's cheek in our gentle hands. Our eyes fluttered open again, and when I looked into their beautiful ruby orbs, I couldn't help but smile. Chara smiled back.

And that went on for awhile, looking into each other's eyes and smiling like idiots while we held one another. They looked so relieved, and I felt the same... Until my cruel thoughts reminded me of reality over the horizon. Tonight, this was all we had. After this, we would have to look forward again. We would have to address Frisk's betrayal, we would have to account for Gatherer's plan, we would have to fight Anarchy. This moment couldn't last forever, no matter how much either of us might have hoped for it. So, my eyes winced painfully, and I finally parted my lips to speak. "Chara, I-..."

They stopped me, though. Shifted their hand and rested their thumb across my lips, signaling me to stop talking. This made me raise my eyebrows with some surprise, but they just smiled in a certain way. Knowing, understanding, reassuring... They really knew me, didn't they? Their next sentence made it obvious. "I know what you're gonna say, Angel. It's okay."

"You're worried about the future, right?" They asked with a caring tone, and I glanced shamefully to the side. They were spot on; that was the very reason I'd been so afraid to let us have this moment in the first place. Even if all went well, as it had, I could still be dead by next week. And I just, I couldn't let them go through that. But, Chara just kept smiling, and they did not pull away. "I understand. If we start something now, and something happens to one of us when tonight is over... I know you're scared, and it's okay. I am too."

My eyes narrowed further, and I continued to avoid eye contact. But, then they leaned in just a little more and moved their thumb. They dared to plant another little kiss on my lips, and that got my attention - just like I'm sure they knew it would. They hummed happily at the way a simple peck on the lips drew me back in, and when I looked back to them, that kindness and that understanding was still ever present in their eyes. And they continued in that soothing voice of theirs, "We don't have to do anything now."

Then, Chara smirked. Just a little, not too much. Enough to display more of their personality, more of the things that I adored about them. "But, when this is over, and when we both make it home safe? I expect a first date."

"... H-heh..." Gradually, a little bit of laughter crept out of my throat. Relief appeared in my green eyes, and suddenly salvation didn't seem so far away. They shifted, and finally we pulled our heads away from one another. Instead, they wrapped both their arms around one of mine, and they rested their head on my shoulder. And I sighed with relief, their head on my shoulder relieving the weight of the world from my back. I tilted my head, resting it upon theirs while I scooted in to be as close to them as possible.

"Nothing would make me happier..."

---

"Everyone, please welcome the newest additions to our cause!" Smile plan on his face, Xander The Gatherer stood at the front of one of his board rooms. Before him, the entirety of his inner circle sat in chairs that were hardly in order. Hacker's chair was flipped around so he could lean his arms over the back of it, Demon's chair was directly beside him so the two could remain in each other's personal space like usual. After them was Felldyne, who leaned back and stretched her legs out in front of her, frown on her face.

Then, it was Frisk, who leaned forward in their seat and rested their chin on their hands, which were propped up at the elbow on their knees. They sat criss cross on the seat of their chair, staring with a happy smile and their now usual half lidded eyes. Beyond them was Mad Mew Mew, who was casting anxious stares towards their new associate already. She crossed her arms over her chest, keeping herself close, like she was trying to keep herself safe.

Then, finally, was Eden. Perfect posture, face a mask without emotion. In her lap was Flowey in his best looking pot, not daring to blink his eyeball petal. He shifted more anxiously than she did, but she gently smoothed his petals with her hand, petting him like he was some lap cat or something. In any other occasion he would have hissed at her, but... It was just barely pleasant. So, for the moment, he let it slide.

Gatherer gestured over to the two chairs to his left, where Anarchy sat with his arms crossed over his chest and his legs stretched out in front of him. His head was leaned forward, mane of white hair falling over his face and covering his expression. Beside him was Badster, who smiled welcomingly to Gatherer's friends and associates. He was another one of the few people in the room who understood the importance of good posture, at least while sitting and trying to look presentable. Xander announced, "Anthony The Anarchist and doctor Wing Ding Badster."

"..." The room was silent. Filled with tension, no one in the small crowd knew exactly how to respond to the presence of the most dangerous man alive. And Anarchy certainly wasn't giving them anything to work with; he hadn't said a word. He just sat there. Unmoving, unresponsive, not looking to anyone. Finally, the biggest loud mouth in the room found his voice, and Hacker raised his hand. "Uhh, I thought you were just grabbin' Anarchy. Didn't expect to see his keeper along for the ride. I kinda got beef with this guy, y'know."

"Keeper?" Badster spoke up, unfolding one hand from his lap and resting it defensively upon his chest. Though he emoted like he was taken aback, he still wore that friendly smile. In fact, as his sockets narrowed with malice, that friendly smile only grew on his lips. "Oh, my friend... Do you think I could stop him if he wanted to kill everyone in this room?"

The tension doubled. Hacker's eyebrows rose, and his pupils shrunk. Nearly everyone recoiled at the brutal reality of Badster's words, and Demon shot Hacker a warning glance, silently scolding him for trying to joke in such a serious moment. Badster just chuckled, shutting his sockets briefly. But, then his eyes opened, flashing a lethal magic glow. And his crescent smile reached all the way from one ear to the other when he whispered. "Do you think any of you could stop him if he wanted to kill everyone in this room?"

Again, a brutal, tense silence. Nearly everyone exchanged anxious glances, apart from Gatherer who stood confident at the room's head and Frisk, who continued to stare and smile at living doom like he was dreamy. Badster folded his hands over his lap again, and that magic glow disappeared from his eyes while his tone returned to its usual friendliness. "Then I suggest you watch your tone."

In the silence that followed that warning, the Anarchist finally started to make noise. His head down and his face covered, Anarchy began snickering. His chest rumbled and twitched with his laughter, and the tension only rose in the room as most of Gatherer's circle heard his voice for the first time in person. Sweat drops built on Demon's forehead, and Hacker squeezed their hand in his. Eden gulped silently, but kept her expression stoic. Mew Mew fidgeted, Felldyne's jaw tightened into a snarl, Flowey squinted his eye, and Frisk smiled just a little wider. Gatherer's expression remained free of uncertainty, however. Rough around the edges as Anarchy was, Xander did not doubt him for a moment. He was more than a madman, he knew that now.

Suddenly, Anarchy threw his head back and whipped the hair out of his face, revealing his mad smile and his wide eyes. In his next motion he yanked his legs up, kicking up from his seat and launching forward a few feet before sticking the landing. This made the crowd jump; Hacker and Demon jumped to their feet and Hacker took a step in front of Demon, who's machete appeared immediately in their grasp. Felldyne kept one hand on the back of the chair she'd jumped out of, her free hand manifesting a crimson spear. Eden stood too, but did not pull her spell book from her inventory. Instead, she held Flowey in her off hand, other hand open and glimmering gently with purple energy. Mew Mew had fallen out of her chair and flat on her ass, and Frisk hadn't even flinched, continuing to sit in the same cross legged position with their chin in their hands.

"... Motley crew ya got here, Xander." Anarchy commented, grinning over his shoulder towards The Gatherer. He pointed with his thumb towards the goons laid out in front of him. "These are the dorks we got to work with? I see why ya needed me."

"Very funny, Anthony." Xander spoke with reserve, his perfect smile plain on his face. He kept his hands behind his back and his back straight, presenting himself no differently now that Anarchy was standing and looming. "Please be respectful of my associates. They may not be as powerful as you are, but they all work very hard and are dedicated to the same goal as you and I."

"I guess I can try, but c'mon!" Anarchy threw his hand out to gesture at the group before him, shaking his head back at Gatherer. Then, he looked forward, and walked right up to the start of Xander's line up. "Look at this gang!"

"We've got a few knock offs," Anarchy began as he paced down the line of different faces. He gestured first out to Hacker, Demon, and Felldyne. As he passed by Hacker and so boldly called him a knock off, Hacker's brows furrowed irritably. Without thinking he interjected,

"Hey-!" Was all Hacker managed to get out before Anarchy was suddenly right in his face, wide red eyes glaring into his petrified green ones while he barred his sharpened fangs.

"WHAT?!" Anarchy challenged instantly, teeth gritting together and murder flaring in his eyes. Hacker didn't even look at him, instead just tilting his head back and glancing to the side with wide, horrified eyes. Cold sweat was suddenly pouring down his face, and his intimidated gulp was the only response The Anarchist needed. Smiling at the shaken Hacker, Anarchy stepped back out of his personal space and refocused on the task at hand. "That's what I thought. Now, as I was saying."

"You've got a few knock offs," Anarchy gestured to the trio of AUs that he had already seen the best versions of, and this time nobody dared test him. Hacker was far too busy breathing a sigh of relief and looking to a worried Demon for comfort. Anarchy continued down the line up, gesturing briefly to the seated Frisk. "A dirty traitor,"

"Hiya, handsome~" Was Frisk's unphased response. They reached up with one hand, waving their hand daintily while they smiled up at Anarchy. He just squinted irritably down at them, but didn't dignify their *Flirt attempt with a response, instead continuing down the line.

"A sex doll, a spineless flower," Mew Mew grumbled quietly at Anarchy's assessment, and Flowey's single eye looked fearfully away from him. Anarchy looked up from the potted plant to the girl holding him, and suddenly his stern expression reflected surprise. His eyebrows rose and his jaw dropped briefly, before a baffled smile slowly curled his lips. "And an emo girl?"

"Xander, look, I know we worked with teenagers when we were teenagers, but c'mon." Anarchy looked back to Gatherer, exasperation clear on his face while he shook his head. His arms hung limp at his sides, and he gave The Gatherer a disbelieving stare. "You expect me to believe the head of the Twilight fanclub here has a stake in this?"

"Eden is one of my most trusted advisors. Wise beyond her years and more dedicated than any other to my cause." Finally, Xander's smile faded. His powerful purple eyes narrowed in a warning to The Anarchist, and a frown dug deep into his expression. "I'll ask you not to disrespect her again."

"... Alright, I'll bite." Anarchy's eyes narrowed, his expression growing more reserved under Xander's scolding stare. He looked back to Eden, who glared right up at him with her stern violet eyes. She didn't fear making eye contact with him, she did not step back and she did not dare show weakness to him. Even when he reached up and planted one powerful hand on top of her head, nor as he flashed the cruelty of his grin. "Why're ya here, sunshine? Who hurt you?"

Eden didn't respond. Her jaw tightened, and she glared furiously up into the mad eyes of The Anarchist. Then, suddenly, she reached up, daring to shove his hand right off her head. She didn't say a word, but this act of defiance was enough to make everyone jump. Even Gatherer recoiled as she dared to challenge The Anarchist, immediately reaching out. "Eden-!"

Another flash of motion, and Anarchy's crowbar had slid from his sleeve and into his hand. He swung it upward, stopping it right against Eden's throat and forcing her to lift her head. Everyone was quiet now, watching Anarchy with tense eyes. Ready to jump, react, attack the most dangerous man alive if he laid a hand on her. From Gatherer all the way to Hacker, suddenly everyone had found the nerve to challenge him if they had to. And Eden stood there, chin raised and cold sweat forming on her brow. But still she glared into his eyes, fearless in the face of his power. Anarchy spoke through the clenched teeth of his smile, "Answer. The Question."

"... Two and a half years ago The Angel murdered my brother right in front of me." Eden finally spoke up, her hand clenching into a fist beside her. The hate intensified in her eyes, and the sight of it made Anarchy's eyebrows raise. "When I tried to avenge him, he broke four of my ribs and threw me aside like trash. Now, I'm determined to turn him into mulch for my garden."

"So don't ask me or anyone else what our stake in this is." Eden growled, her jaw tightening while she glared into Anarchy's dumbstruck expression. "You aren't the only one he's hurt, and this isn't just about you."

". . ." Anarchy was quiet, everyone was. Gatherer's eyes narrowed painfully at her confession, while Mew Mew and Felldyne stared in awe of her bravery. And then, Anarchy's lips slowly curled upwards. A content grin split his face from one ear to the other, and he didn't hesitate to drop his crowbar back down his sleeve and take a step back from the young woman who'd dare challenge him. "... That's pretty metal, sunshine. Sorry for doubtin' ya."

Did he just... Apologize? Eden pondered quietly, narrowing her eyes suspiciously at The Anarchist. He didn't notice though, instead shifting his focus to the rest of the group.

"The rest'a you, be more like this one." Anarchy narrowed his eyes then, grin dropping down into a frown while he pointed to Eden. He looked out to everyone else in the line up, who either looked relieved that he was no longer about to concave Eden's forehead or confused by his demeanor. "Angel and his sidekick ain't no joke, and if you're a chicken shit they'll drop you in two seconds flat."

"I'm not gonna save you if you get yourselves in trouble, and I'm not interested in carrying dead weight. So keep yourself useful or stay at home." Anarchy narrowed his cruel crimson eyes, looking up and down the line up before him while he spoke. "It's no secret that I'm far from a team player, and I'm not gonna pretend I'm here to further Xander's empire."

"I'm not here to help you, you're all here to help me. I want you to remember that." Anarchy stood at the forefront now, Gatherer standing and Badster sitting behind him. Neither of them had any desire or reason to object, they listened to his speech just as much as those he was directing it to. "As far as missions and goals go, I'm here to kill Angel and kill him how I want to kill him. If we get to that point, and none'a you extras get in my way, I'll be outta your hair. Angel dies, and Xander's eternal empire never has to worry about me burning it to the ground."

"I'm on your team because Xander's my friend, and he asked for my help. But I don't take orders from him or any'a you." Anarchy stuffed his hands in his pockets, the anarchy symbol clear on the chest of his hoodie while he looked up and down the line of his new teammates. "Everything I do, I do because I decided to do it. I'll let Xander call the shots because he's smarter than I am, but at the end'a the day I'm still the guy who can murder everyone in this room, so any plans that are made gotta get my okay first."

"That all good with you?" Anarchy turned on his heel to face the Gatherer, smirking knowingly. Like he said, Xander was smarter than he was, so there wasn't a doubt in his mind that Gatherer had known this stipulation was coming. Xander smirked right back to confirm this.

"Of course, Anthony." The Gatherer narrowed his venomous violet eyes, lowering his head some and looking to Anarchy from under his eyebrows. He remained entirely confident, not the least bit shaken by Chaos Incarnate's harsh words. Really, he was more impressed than anything. He had grown so much from the cannibalistic maniac he had found in that alleyway all those years ago, and there was not a doubt in Gatherer's mind that The Anarchist was worthy of all the power in his hands. So, for that reason, he would allow him final say, he would take orders from the one power higher than his own if he had to. "It's like I told you before."

Hacker had taken a seat once again, slouching with one arm around the back of Demon's chair. The two of them were smiling wickedly; it was almost time. Just like they'd thought, everything was coming up Gatherer. And since they were playing for his team, everything was in their favor, too. Soon enough they would have their revenge on the wretched Chara that had defeated them a few years back, and The Gatherer will have won the battle for the multiverse. Then, with The Angel and The Ascended Heir gone, they would finally be able to do whatever they wanted.

Felldyne and Mew Mew stood at attention. They believed whole heartedly in The Gatherer, and if Gatherer believed in Anarchy, that meant that they did too. Rough around the edges as The Bastard Son was, he too had chosen to stand with The Gatherer's cause against the ultimate evil that was The Angel. That meant that he truly was the hero he'd claimed to be, and that meant that The Angel and The Predator and all who stood with them would be destroyed, and The Gatherer would share his prosperity with the multiverse unhindered. Just as it was always supposed to be.

Frisk smiled maliciously, opening their scarlet eyes a little more than usual. Giddily they tapped their fingers on their face while they glanced between the two DoubleKids standing before them; such wretched creatures. So twisted and awful, so full of turmoil that they would destroy lives and worlds just to get what they wanted. They were the perfect cast for their greatest adventure, and they were the only bit of the multiverse they were invested in. After this was over, they could return to their simple timeline. Their easy game, their whimsical pacifist runs and their cruel genocides. That was all they wanted; that one little timeline for them to rule. And that was what Gatherer had promised, just as soon as The Angel and The Ascended Heir were dead.

Horror!Flowey's petal split, revealing his wicked vertical maw. And he grinned in the wrong, side ways way that he knew, because he knew above all else he was about to see the multiverse change forever. And over him, holding him in her arms, Eden stared with precise and focused eyes. At The Anarchist, at The Gatherer, even at the bad doctor seated in the room's corner. Her thoughts drifted back to Nightmare, how the evil creature had decided Gatherer's victory was the best outcome for him personally... Once again, Eden's jaw tightened, and she swallowed her doubt. Gatherer always did what was right, and the multiverse would be better off with that false idol Angel dethroned and The Gatherer in charge.

Xander The Gatherer was so giddy for what came next, he could barely contain his glee in his perfect smile. Everything had went according to plan, and now it was finally time. There was no one who could stop him now.

"Together, we're going to do great things."

DOUBLETALE: SEASON 6

THE CROSSOVER EVENT

---

I'm real excited to see what you guys thought of this one. ;)

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