Thanks go to EpicSlayerGuy99, eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeea, Wingah, Eternal7, Zack Frost, TiredWhiteMayge, Zillowzest, lmao-imdeadaf, GMLxAwesome, karmax992, Doctah Sawbones, Kds147y, Acoolnamme, and 10burgers!
Eternal7, I don't know how "Hacker's Great Day" managed to exist under my nose for almost two years, but I appreciate you giving me the heads up that it exists. I read it and enjoyed it lol.
karmax992, the gender Chara was assigned at birth was revealed back in Season 3, but Cter wouldn't have cared either way. Any hole is in fact a goal for our mans.
Kds147y, the locket is in Angel's inventory and Chara's body is being kept in some kinda pod thing that Badster made as per Anarchy's demand.
Alright, this chapter's a fun one and I think you guys are gonna enjoy it. Next chapter is scheduled to go up on Thursday, December 29th. But, with the holidays clustered around that time, it could definitely get delayed. So, if it's not up on the 29th, it'll go up on January 5th. And if not then, which is unlikely, it'll go up on January 12th. Either way, it'll be here, don't you worry. Now enjoy the chapter!
Disclaimer: I do not own Undertale.
"Helloooo? Earth to Angel. You awake over there?"
I let my left eye peak open, and the first thing I saw were the stars overhead. Then I glanced to my left, and found a far prettier sight in Chara's pouting face. Their hair was still wet after a recent shower, we'd just finished training about an hour ago and were both already in our pajamas. Future's regiment seemed to get more cruel by the day, but at least it made sleeping come easier. That disapproving look made me crack a smile, so I answered their question. "Nope. The chem trails put me out."
"... Stop referencing things I don't understand." Chara squinted with some annoyance, and I laughed. My right eye opened too, and I turned my head to look across the rooftop at them. We'd found a nice slant on the roof of Future's castle earlier that day, it was just the right angle to lay on and watch stars. Caveman shit, sure, but Chara suggested it so I thought it was a good idea. Besides, for as big as the castle was, it felt crowded sometimes. I liked the idea of hanging out somewhere that nobody but me n' them knew about. Chara went on, "You were the one who said you hardly got to see the stars before. Now we're here and you're trying to sleep?"
"Fortune City was always too cloudy, yeah..." I yawned, shifting my shoulders and stretching my hands over my head. I blinked a few times in attempt to wake myself up, before looking back over to Chara. I smirked a little while I defended myself, "Roof shingles are surprisingly comfy, what can I say?"
"You can say 'I promise to stay awake until we go in' or I can throw you off the roof." Chara rose their eyebrows and frowned while they threatened me, and it just made the corner of my mouth lift some more. I turned my head and looked back up at the stars glimmering over head, wiggling my hands behind my head and using my palms like a pillow.
"I promise to stay awake until we go in." I repeated their words and met their demand in a mocking voice, bobbling my head from left and right and sticking my tongue out while I did it. When I glanced over at them from my eye's corner in wait of a response however, they didn't laugh at my joke or scold me. They just smiled up at the stars overhead and responded.
"Good boy." They said with a teasing edge. My eyebrows rose a little when I heard that, and I ever so casually crossed my legs while clearing my throat. Chara didn't notice, they were focused on the shining space high over our heads. They told me earlier that they used to stargaze a lot way back before they first jumped down Mount Ebbot. Said there wasn't much else to do in those days. After a pause, they pondered aloud. "... I wonder what everyone back home is doing."
"Well it's eight PM so Asriel has probably been in bed for an hour by now." I figured, and Chara snerked. Of the five of us, Asriel was the most consistent in going to bed early and waking up early. Or at least, that was the case before me n' Chara came here and started this brutal training regiment. I shifted a little on the shingles, my eyebrows furrowed at the stars overhead. I often wondered the same thing, about what everyone back home was up to. It felt sometimes that I hardly ever even had time to check in.
"I actually talked to Azzy the other day." Chara said, and I arched a brow over at them, turning my head just a little towards them. They kept their eyes on the sky though, hands folded over their stomach while they went on. "He said he's thinking about moving down to the city. I imagine having an entire mountain to himself is a little lonely."
"Well, I'm sure Toriel and Asgore would love to see him more often." I shrugged my shoulders, squinting some in attempt to make out any constellations. I hardly knew where to start looking though, the sky just looked like a mess of sparkly dots to me. A pretty mess, but a mess nonetheless. I smiled a little then, "I'm glad to hear he's coming out of his shell more. I'm sure having Monster Kid and Frisk hanging around him has been good for him."
"Wonder what those two are up to." Chara thought aloud. They looked at the stars with a little more purpose than I did, they must have been better at deciphering the sparkly black blanket that was the night sky. I furrowed my brows in thought...
"Ah shit, it's been a minute since I talked to Frisk." The corner of my mouth lifted a little at my own irresponsibility. Keeping up with friends certainly still wasn't my strong suit, though I was a lot better about it than I was back in my Fortune City days. Monster Kid made it easy, he called me semi-frequently. Whenever something reminded him of me, or if something funny or cool happened and he wanted to share it. Last I spoke to him was about a week and a half ago; I was doing push ups in the barrier chamber while he explained how he was trying to work the word 'based' into Asgore's vocabulary. Frisk never called though, I figured ambassador life kept them real busy too. "I should give them a call sometime."
"You could call them right now." Chara suggested with a shrug. They glanced over towards me, and even though they suggested it they didn't exactly look elated by their own idea. I understood that, I knew things were still at least a little awkward between them and Frisk. So I waved a dismissive hand, shook my head.
"I'm attending to important business right now, Char-bear." I flashed a smirk while I explained, turning my head over towards them. Moonlight was reflecting in their scarlet eyes, and they smiled just a little at my words. Then, possibly to hide that honest smile, they turned their head and looked back overhead. I did the same, and my smirk became a smile that matched their own.
I had to try not to yawn again as I shifted to get more comfortable on the castle shingles, blinking a few times in hopes of making my eyelids a little less heavy. I couldn't help but be tired, I was always put so at ease with Chara by my side. That combined with the usual exhaustion from overwork and undersleep had a good chance'a knocking me out whenever one of our hangouts didn't involve some sort of physical activity. I hoped they didn't notice that though, I didn't want them to think that they exhausted me. Or worse, put together that I only felt at peace when they were close to me.
"I'm sure Frisk is busy, anyway. I'll give 'em a call tomorrow."
"Helloooo? Earth to Angel. You awake over there?"
I blinked my dreary green eyes at Frisk, looking up from my own distorted reflection in the Real Knife I was holding. They were smiling at me, but there wasn't anything friendly about it. It was mockery, everything about them was. Their plastic smile, their hidden eyes, their stolen clothes... I frowned just a little deeper, and it made them giggle. "Somethin' on your mind, champ? Go on, you know you can always talk to me."
"..." I thought about apologizing again. Restating that I should have reached out, that I should have tried to help and that I never meant to hurt them. But that's what they wanted. They wanted me to give them sympathy, they wanted me to feel like I was the one in the wrong here, when they were standing there in Chara's clothes with Chara's blood on their hands. So, my jaw tightened, and I pointed the emerald shine of my KINDNESS saber at them again.
"Lets get this over with."
Chapter 96: Nostalgia's Four Letters, Too
Or: Back When I Could Give You The Option
"Aww, don't be like that!" Time skipped ahead, and in the very next instant Frisk was right in front of me. The points of their rapiers pressed into my neck, but were stopped against my KIND aura before they could pierce my skin. Their cruel smile turned to an annoyed frown when they failed to draw my blood, and they narrowed their eyes up at me. "I've waited a long time for this. The least you can do is make it fun for me."
I didn't say a word. I just stood there, staring down at those hidden eyes with my own despondent green ones. For a moment the two of us were frozen there, my arms hanging at my sides and their rapiers pressing uselessly against my guarded neck. They watched me, waited for the answer they wanted. A snappy come back, a threat, the revelation of some information that they didn't have. That was all Frisk ever wanted, I had come to realize. New experiences, new toys to play with, new buttons to push. So I didn't speak, I just punched them in the jaw.
My fist shot up too quick, and they were distracted watching my face. They must have figured that they knew my every move, they must have thought I would have some speech prepared to try and bring them back to the light. But they would have been ready for that, they knew Cter The Angel plenty well. So, I sent an upper cut blasting into their chin. I watched them bite their tongue, I watched those eyes snap open in surprise and I got started on teaching them a thing or two about Angel The Hacker.
Frisk stumbled back a few steps, pulling those points away from my throat and pressing the back of their hand to their chin. They winced while blood trickled down their bottom lip and red steam crept out from between their teeth, and their eyes locked back on to me. I hadn't moved, I was still just standing there. Stationary, with that KIND blade in my hand. They paused for a moment, before spitting a blood filled loogie to the side. Then, they took their stance back up. They hid their eyes, and they smiled with teeth that were no longer blood stained. "You get that one for free."
"I didn't get any of this for free." I assured in a monotone, before starting to take steps towards them. I flicked my wrist, sent my emerald blade pointing out to my side while another cool gust of wind pulled at my hair. Those cracks in my arm glowed a deep green, and my right hand clenched tighter around the old orange scarf that wrapped my right arm.
"... Yeah, I guess that's true." Frisk paused, and after they spoke, their smile shifted to a little sneer. They tilted their head to the side, and they opened those cruel red eyes to reveal the wretched soul beneath. "Just look at you. The scars, the scarf on your arm, the flower behind your ear... It's like you're a walking monument to your own failures."
"... Yeah, you're right." I could have objected, but I didn't bother. They were right, after all. Standing across from them now, almost half a decade later, it was more clear than it had ever been before. Long gone was the unimpressive scrawny boy who'd gouged their eye out with a pen. Whether I wanted that part of myself gone or not, it had died a long, long time ago. Everything I wore now, all the scars that had been carved into my flesh, they were all tribute to the war I'd waged on myself. A war that I wasn't sure if I had won or if I had lost. But, hopefully Frisk would be a pal and help me figure it out. "But, I could say the same thing about you."
"What?" That got Frisk's eyes to open, just a little. The teeth they used to put on that innocent little smile started gritting, and they gradually tilted their head. It almost made me smile, seeing that I struck a nerve. But, smiling was a lot harder these days. So, I just kept staring with that dead expression while Frisk snarled. "I'm not a failure. I'm not like you."
"You're standing there wearing Chara's clothes because the only time you've ever been special was when you were imitating them." I struck with venom on my tongue, and Frisk's eye twitched as they recoiled. They weren't smiling anymore, but that hardly deterred me from saying more. "You are a washed up after thought clinging onto something that doesn't exist anymore instead of moving on and growing up."
"Oh, is that how it's gonna be?!" Frisk didn't bother withholding their rage, they couldn't. They struggled to stomach the taste of their own medicine, and the moment they took a step forward, I began lifting my free hand up towards my face. They pulled one of those rapiers back while they snarled, "I should have known you wouldn't give me an 'I'm sorry' speech, I always was an afterthought for you!"
Reality flickered, time skipped. That was fine, I already knew where they were aiming. When the lights turned back on, my hand finished lifting, and Frisk's eyes went wide as my fingers snapped shut around their steel stinger. I'd stopped their rapier in my iron grip, just an inch or two before it punctured my left eye. And when they tried to yank it back out of my grasp, I refused to release it. Furiously they growled, "How did you..?!"
"... Feels like my whole life I've been taking the blame for everyone else's misery." While I spoke, I slowly pulled that rapier to the side and away from my eye. It trembled in my hand, but Frisk wasn't strong enough to yank it out of my grip. My emerald glare dropped down onto them, and their lips peeled back in a vicious snarl while I pulled back the point of my KINDNESS saber. "Not this time. Not for you."
Frisk's eyes widened when I plunged the emerald shine of that blade in towards their chest, before time skipped once again. In the blink of an eye Frisk was standing a few yards back, they'd left the rapier I'd snatched in my hand to assure their escape. My eyes glossed from their frustrated expression to the distance they'd put between us, and I was quick to take a few measurements in my head. Then, I looked back up to Frisk, and I tossed that rapier I'd stolen a few feet to my right while my left hand clenched tighter around the KIND sword at my side.
Just as I started to pivot my body and swing my blade, reality flickered again. Frisk disappeared from where they'd been standing in front of me, instead crouching down to my right and reaching out for the rapier I had pitched aside. They were forced to whip their head back however when I slashed up at their chin, and their scarlet eyes went wide with shock and confusion as they darted up to me. My cold glare didn't let up when they nearly tumbled back on their ass, before quickly jumping back out of the range of my sword and once more leaving that rapier behind. They took the bait, and if my calculations had been a little better or their guard had been a little lower, I would have cleaved their head in two.
"That timeskip is a little more reckless than you let on, huh?" I asked, tilting my head to one side. I held that Real Knife out to my side and watched Frisk carefully; I could see the confusion and frustration setting in. They were watching me carefully now, their stance had gotten more defensive. I smirked knowingly while I went on, "With just a split second for you to make your move, you don't really have time to check your surroundings for danger before the clock starts back up. Sure would suck if somebody realized where you were gonna be after a skip and chopped your head off as soon as time unpaused."
"Oh you must think you're so smart." Frisk's eyes narrowed irritably, but my expression hardly changed. In a lot of ways, I actually thought I was very dumb. But when it came to numbers, yeah, I knew a thing or two. They didn't know it yet, but I was the worst possible matchup for them and their shiny new power. Frisk lowered their stance, held their one remaining rapier out behind them while I began taking bold steps towards them. "If you couldn't outsmart a dope like Xander, you're not gonna outsmart time."
"I don't have to outsmart time, Frisk." As I spoke, I lifted my left foot into the air. I was looming over that rapier I'd tossed to the ground and used to bait them earlier, my foot was about to crash down and snap the steel stinger in two. At the same time I pulled my sword back, prepared to swing down towards my foot. If Frisk tried to use a standard time skip, the clock would likely start back up when they were still crouching to grab their weapon and leave them wide open to my attack. If they didn't steal the rapier back before I broke it, I would only have to predict one weapon instead of two. And if they used their Time Void to steal it back...
The rapier disappeared from beneath my foot, now grasped in Frisk's hand once more. They were standing across from me again, they'd kept their distance after using their Time Void to keep me paused for a safe amount of time. My emerald eyes darted up to them, and my foot crashed down onto the stone path, launching me forward into a sprint right at them. I snarled as I yanked back my KINDNESS saber, "Because I'm already smarter than you!"
I slashed viciously at Frisk's head, and when time blipped and their face was suddenly ducking underneath my blade, the uppercut I was also in the middle of throwing drilled into the bottom corner of their jaw. A shockwave of green light exploded out around the impact, and Frisk was sent launching on an upward arch. I turned my feet to the side and skidded to an immediate stop while I watched them fling headfirst into the air. When gravity caught them and finally started to yank them back down, Frisk managed to flip backwards and right side up. They landed on their feet and shook their head, then they shot me a glare.
"Well look who managed to pry his balls out of Chara's cold dead hands!" Frisk sneered as they threw their arms out to their sides. They'd kept a tight grip on those rapiers, I figured they understood it might be a struggle to get them back if they lost hold of either one. They kept taunting, even though blood was trickling down from the corner of their mouth. "C'mon Angel, where's the hero speech? Where's the shot at redemption? Where's the option?!"
"No more options. No more deals. No more promises, no more lies." That KIND halo weighed heavy on my head, but I can't imagine it was visible on my blank expression. Frisk's taunt didn't land, their harsh words hardly effected me. And when I lifted Chara's blade and pointed my sword at them, No More Deals from No More Deals started playing. "No more Frisk."
Frisk didn't bother responding to that, it was honestly a little surprising. Maybe they knew I was getting under their skin. Maybe they knew I'd been cheating, lying and stealing since they were concept art in one'a Toby Fox's notebooks and maybe they knew it'd take more than running their mouth to get me to slip up. So, they launched forward. Booked it towards me head on, ran low to the ground and held those stingers forward in hopes of skewering me.
My emerald aura flared, and a wall of green energy manifested between Frisk and I, swinging downward and trying to crush them like a rat trap. They jumped, flipped over that wall of KINDNESS and started to drop down towards me, only for a platform of the same emerald light to appear beneath them. They landed kneeling on it, and I yanked back my saber just before they started rolling to one side.
Time skipped, reality flickered before my blade cleaved to the right... And went through nothing but air. Frisk was standing to my left now, I'd had a fifty fifty shot of guessing which side they'd roll to and I lost the coin flip. They smiled wickedly when my green eyes landed on them, and they yanked back both of those stingers just before the lights went out again. I didn't know how long, not until my consciousness flipped back on and I could feel dozens of dings against my emerald armor. My KIND aura protected me against Frisk's assault, they couldn't even manage to break my skin before that Time Void reached its limit.
The frustration was clear on their face as they jumped back away from me, landing on the balls of their feet and skidding back another pace or two. I didn't pursue them, didn't have to. Instead, I just turned my body back towards them after my KIND aura died down some. I tilted my head to the side, and I cracked a smile while their lips peeled back in a snarl. "... Sixty seconds."
"... What?" Frisk hissed while they lowered their stance. Their knees were bent, they were spring loaded. It was so unlike how they'd stood and moved at the wedding, and even when they fought Chara and I together. Now they actually took up a defensive stance, like they actually believed they could be hit.
"You waited exactly sixty seconds between Time Voids." I elaborated, and their brows furrowed with frustration and surprise. They muttered, 'He was counting that whole time..?' under their breath, but I didn't bother acknowledging it. Instead, I rolled my shoulders and started walking towards them while I went on. "Factoring in the time it would have taken you to safely snag your rapier a minute ago and Melanie's theory that the void works on proximity, I'm gonna go ahead and hypothesize that for every fifteen seconds you pause time, you've gotta wait sixty seconds before you can do it again. If that's true, then the cooldown time is probably four times however long you pause."
"..." Frisk stood there in silence for a minute. For the first time in awhile, they were choosing their words carefully. Finally, they took a deep breath. They stood up straight, released that defensive stance in favor of a more casual and comfortable posture. Then, they squinted those eyes shut, and they flashed a plastic smile. "You have no idea what you're talking about."
"Maybe." I shrugged my shoulders casually, but I didn't stop my march towards them. Numbers went by one after the other in the back of my mind, every second was calculated behind my cold emerald stare. I smiled again, it was a mockery of Frisk's own fake expression. "But the longer this goes on, the closer I'm gonna get to figuring it out."
Frisk had to have known that was true, and I'm sure they hated it. Their beloved Underground adventure was always on their own time, every fight could go as long as they needed it to. Time had always been on their side... Until now. The longer we fought, the more data I could gather, the easier it would become for me to break through their clock manipulation. They wouldn't be able to stand there and wait for me to take their bait and get reckless, they would have to be aggressive if they wanted to win.
So, the traitor didn't bother speaking. Instead, they blipped forward a few steps, starting on a mad dash right at me. My eyes narrowed, and I was quick to yank back my blade. Green light began shimmering behind me, and the moment Frisk was in my range I cleaved through the air. They vanished in another time skip, the sound of their feet hitting the ground behind me told me that they'd flipped over me. The green light that had been flickering behind me finished forming a KIND wall just in time to stop their stingers, and I spun around as their rapiers bounced off the barrier I'd created.
With one swing I cleaved right through the wall of KINDNESS I'd created, and Frisk jumped over my slash, pulling their legs close to their body and dragging back the both of those steel stingers. I threw my head back, and as those rapiers stabbed through the space my face had occupied just a split second earlier twin walls of KINDNESS appeared to Frisk's left and right. Those walls crashed inward, and Frisk threw both hands hastily over their head. They tossed both their weapons up into the air before throwing their hands down just in time to grab the top of each of the walls closing in on them.
Frisk yanked themself up just in time to evade being squished like the bug they were. They flipped up into a hand stand atop those walls, and they bent their elbows before springing up into the air overhead after their weapons. Reality blinked, and in the next instant they were dropping right back down towards me with the both of those rapiers in their grasp again. I jumped back, their stingers clanged against the stone path and they landed kneeling in front of me before bursting forward in pursuit.
I tilted my head to the side, felt a cut open in my cheek as their rapier jabbed just by my face. In one hand I got started on flipping my sword around so that the blade pointed out behind me while I cocked my free hand back in a green glowing fist. The moment Frisk vanished from my fist's path I stabbed the blade I'd flipped around back behind myself, and my plan was rewarded with Frisk's blood. Their eyes widened, they arched and twisted their back as my emerald saber slid across their side. That KIND steel split their flesh and the cloth of their stolen shirt, they'd flipped over me with a time skip and my backwards stab had been just a few inches off from stabbing clean through their back.
Frisk jumped forward while I spun around with a slash that just barely missed them, and I watched them turn around in air to face me. One of those rapiers disappeared from their grasp, and they didn't flinch or wince as they grabbed their now bleeding side. Their fingers were drenched in the red spilling out of their open wound, and they smiled as they then pulled that hand away from the now red misting gash and up to their mouth. Their tongue slithered out past their lips, it licked up their now blood stained index finger just before they slipped their red drenched middle finger past their lips. They popped that finger back out after sucking it clean, and they smiled at the way I grimaced. "Feels like it's been forever since somebody really made me bleed~! Would you think it was weird if I said I kinda miss the way death hurts~?"
My lips curled down into a frown, and I leaned forward before darting at them in a sprint. I flipped my blade back around in my hand, and they effortlessly side stepped my upwards slash. My eyes darted over to them from over my shoulder, they had their hands folded behind their back and were wearing that fake friendly smile. I cleaved back down at their head, but they ducked down beneath my emerald blade and unfolded the both of their hands from behind themself with lightning quickness. Both rapiers in their grasp again, they stabbed up at me, but I yanked my blade back towards myself and flipped it to its broadside. Their stingers were stopped against the flat side of my emerald saber, and the impact had enough force to send both of us skidding back a few steps.
"Y'know Angel, you've been running your mouth about how easy my power is to figure out," Frisk folded their hands behind their back again while I rushed after them, and they jumped when I slashed at their waist. In the air overhead they yanked back one leg, and I threw up my forearm just in time to block the kick they swung at the side of my head. "But that KINDNESS of yours is hardly as reliable as you want me to believe!"
Reality blinked, Frisk was suddenly standing a few paces ahead of me. My eyes darted to them, my brows furrowed at their peculiar use of a time skip. But, no sooner did I see that both the rapiers had vanished from their grasp did agony stab suddenly through my back. Those steel stingers jabbed clean through my mid back on my left and right, forcing me to arch my back and gasp while those points jabbed out of my front. The feeling of metal jabbing up through my kidneys and lungs made my knees buckle, and I dropped right down onto my hands while I puked red onto the stone path. A Time Void..?!
"It sure does seem like your defenses are a lot less sturdy against me than they were against Anthony! Is it because you can't decide whether you want me dead or not?" Frisk pondered aloud while my pained eyes glossed up to them, holding their chin with that blood and saliva stained hand. Then, they flashed me a wicked smile. They suddenly broke into a sprint, raced right towards me and jumped, flipping over me and grabbing ahold of both of the rapier handles sticking out of my back. They ripped their weapons right back out of my body while they finished their rotation, landing behind my kneeling form and sneering over their shoulder at me while I arched my back and cried out in pain. "I guess KINDNESS is a little more finicky when you hate your opponent, huh~?"
I didn't respond, I was busy gasping and holding my free hand over the two puncture wounds in my abdomen. The KIND glow of my hand was healing those injuries quick enough, but it still wasn't the speed of my DETERMINATION's hyper regeneration. How had they done that? It had to have been a Time Void... They threw their rapiers at my back while time was paused, then stood in front of me to get me to think they had just skipped to put a little distance between us. My jaw clenched with frustration, I can't believe I fell for that..!
"You would probably love to vaporize me with that magic and DETERMINATION, right?" Frisk spun around to face me, and they yanked up the both of those now blood soaked rapiers. That grin yanked up their expression, and they laughed as they sent a barrage of stabs raining down upon my back. "Go on, bring out those wings! Are you afraid you won't be able to beat me without your stupid green shield?"
It took more focus than I cared to admit, but my KIND aura flared once more, and that barrage of brutal stabs dinged uselessly against the armor of my green soul. Still, Frisk loomed there, laughing and poking and prodding and waiting for something to give. Unfortunately nothing did, and the moment those holes had sealed in my chest, I spun back around and slashed viciously at them with my KIND saber.
Frisk jumped back out of the range of that emerald blade, and they continued to smile as I rolled up to both feet and one hand. I held my blade out to the side as I launched forward and out of that crouched position, racing after them. They ducked when I cleaved at their head, side stepped when I slashed down at their shoulder. They yanked back their stingers and drove them forward, but the shine of my soul stopped both points dead against my chest.
I reached out to grab them by the collar of that stolen shirt and hopefully hold them in place while I drove my sword through their chest, but time flickered and they were suddenly leaning to the side. I didn't bother letting this slow me down, instead just reaching right over their shoulder and grabbing them by the back of the head. Their eyes went wide as I yanked them forward and into the knee I was driving forward, blasting a brutal strike right into their solar plexus and sending green light blasting out of their back.
While Frisk was hunched over my knee trying not to puke, I grabbed a fistful of their hair and yanked their head back. Their wide scarlet eyes met my furious green ones as I lined the point of my blade up with their heart, and my pupils trembled. I hesitated...
"Y-you're my friend... I-I don't want you to die!"
Time skipped, blood sprayed through the air. Frisk smiled as my scarlet color spattered up their face, the both of their rapiers driving up through my neck. Those steel stingers crossed over one another somewhere in my larynx, I couldn't inhale through the blood trickling down my throat. They yanked those stingers out of my neck with brutal force, sending two red streaks splattering across the stones at our feet. I clasped one hand over my throat to stop the blood spraying out of my punctured jugular while I dropped to one knee, and the sound of Frisk's hysterical cackling drowned out the memory of the words I had held on to for so many years.
*Get vicious, Angel. It's the only way to make them pay.
"Probably a good thing that you hesitated." Frisk spoke casually, like they were trying to console me while I healed the holes they'd punched in my throat. Their eyes were wide now, they were so obviously elated by the sight of me kneeling and coughing up blood. A grin shredded their face while they yanked back a leg and prepared to kick my head off my shoulders, "I mean, how would mom and dad react if they heard you'd gotten two of their kids killed?"
They swung a gruesome kick at my lowered head, but I suddenly jolted with life. My jaws snapped out, they crunched shut around Frisk's shin and stopped their kick dead. They didn't wince as bone creaked and crunched under my bite, but they flinched when my rabid eyes darted up to them. My eyes flickered with red, my Killer stare pierced their soul. For just a moment, Frisk The Traitor was alone in The Dark with me.
In the next instant my head whipped to the side. I tore Frisk off their remaining foot, dragged them through the air with my teeth and launched them to the side. They flew back through the air after my bite released, managed to flip and land on their hands and feet. The leg my jaws had crunched trembled and gave, dropped to its knee and dragged across the stone path, shredding their skin. They stopped sliding after a sizeable streak of blood had been left on the path, and their eyes nearly closed once again while they flashed that plastic smile.
"There it is... That ugly thing inside you." Frisk climbed slowly to their feet. Scarlet mist was slowly steaming off of their fractured and skinned leg, their regeneration was slower than most these days but it got the job done. I rubbed my throat while I stood right after them, my cold emerald eyes watched them carefully while my tongue licked their blood off my teeth. "You can't hide it from me, Angel. I know what you really are."
"Congratulations." I answered with sarcasm, wiping blood off my chin with the back of my fist. I'd heard this spiel a thousand times from a thousand different voices, after all. And being told I was twisted didn't really mean much from a scumbag like Frisk, who looked at least a little annoyed by my dismissal of their words. I flicked my wrist and held my blade out to the side, before suddenly lurching forward. In a split second I was racing across the blood stained path, running low to the ground and rapidly closing the distance.
I jumped into the air and quickly spun for more momentum, and they blinked to my right when I slashed down at them. My KIND saber cleaved right through the stones at our feet, and my emerald eyes darted right to Frisk now on my right just before I suddenly yanked my head back. Their rapier stabbed right through the space my skull had just occupied, and I swung a brutal backfist up at their jaw, only for them to jump back out of its range.
I turned to face them while they landed and skidded back on their heels, and I launched right after them. They pushed forward right with me, darting to meet me half way. The air over my head shimmered green as I slashed out at them, only for them to vanish. Their rapiers bounced off the panel of green I had quickly manifested over my head, stopping a stab that was undoubtedly aimed right at my C1 vertebrae. They snarled irritably at this, they must've hated feeling so predictable.
I was quick to spin around while Frisk landed behind me, and the moment I had turned to face them I had to throw my head back. Their rapiers launched right over my face, the twin stingers crossed over one another in what was likely another attempt at puncturing my jugular. I leaned back further, reached back and planted one hand on the ground before swinging my feet up and attempting to plant a kick right in Frisk's jaw. Time skipped, and suddenly they were backflipping out of the range of my upswing kick. I completed my own backflip, landing crouched with one hand on the ground and my KIND saber held out to the side at the same time that they landed crouched with both rapiers held out to their sides.
I darted towards them, lifting my blade just in time to brush a vicious stab off to the side and away from my face with a shing! I yanked back my fist in the mean time, and Frisk tilted their head to the side just in time to let my punch sail over their shoulder. This time when I tried to make a grab for the back of their head they dropped down, yanking back both rapiers and driving them with vicious force at my scarred chest. They were stopped against a powerful green aura, and Frisk's eyes widened as the force of their stabs were suddenly blasted back up their weapons, launching their arms back and breaking their guard.
I snarled as I pulled back my KIND saber, and Frisk was too busy stumbling back to dodge. Reality blinked, time skipped and they tried to jump back and escape... Only for their back to hit a green wall. They were trapped in that instant, I'd created a box of KIND energy around the two of us. It was all they could do to push their back against that emerald shine before my blade cleaved up across their abdomen. From hip to shoulder, I cut right across that shirt they'd stolen and sliced into the wretched flesh beneath. What little distance they'd put between us kept me from cutting them in half, but their blood still splattered up the side of my face and reminded me of the time I gouged out their eye.
While Frisk was still reeling, I stomped forward. I yanked back my fist, planted my feet, and roared my fury as I sent a punch blasting right into their jaw. My knuckles crashed into their chin, forcing their head to swivel and sending the back of their skull crunching through the wall of KIND energy behind them. They were knocked clean off their feet, and the rest of their body shattered through that wall right after their head. Their prone body launched through the air, they careened for yards and yards before they finally landed flat on their back and bounced once or twice. They skidded for another few feet, before the torn fabric of their clothes caught on the rocky path, making them flip and tumble over themself. By the time they'd stopped sliding, there were laying flat on their face, shaky hands twitching around the handles of the weapons they'd used to stab me in the back.
I could have told them to give up, but they wouldn't have listened. Could have suggested they laid down their weapons and never fight again, but that didn't work out so well last time. So, I didn't say anything. I just put one foot in front of the other, started to march towards them. They didn't even look at me, they were busy peeling themself off the floor. Their scarlet color dripped endlessly out of the gash I'd cleaved into their frame, mist of a similar shade following close behind. And after they spat mouthful of blood and a tooth shard or two up onto the rocky path, they lifted their soulless eyes up to me. It didn't even look like they were in pain. They cracked a smile while their DETERMINATION gradually reformed the bottom front tooth that my punch had split and shattered. "Feel better?"
"No." I answered without any hesitation, blinking my empty emerald eyes. They grunted as they shoved themself up and onto their knees, where they leaned back and let their arms lay limp at their sides. They didn't bother squinting, I could see into their wretched soul while they smiled even wider.
"Better try again, then." Frisk's eyes gleamed a wicked red, and they lifted their hands in a shrug. I stopped my march, I was standing in front of them now. My shadow fell over them, stretched and engulfed them and they didn't notice. I remembered what they looked like when we first met, trapped and beaten. If I knew then what I knew now, I wondered if I would have just skewered them and gotten it over with.
"... We read your diary, y'know. Chara and I." I narrowed my eyes while I spoke, and Frisk's eyebrows rose with some surprise. I was frowning now, my KIND soul shined brightly on my chest. "I really wish you had told me. About the panic attack, about the dreams, about anything."
"Yeah and I wish you were dead. So we all make wishes." Frisk gave a nonchalant shrug of their shoulders. Then, they flashed that slimy smile again. KIND energy shimmered around the two of us, made a green box and tinted our world green. A prison, not unlike the one I found them in years ago. But now we were both trapped inside. "Difference is, my wish is gonna come true, and yours isn't!"
In the next instant, they had moved. A blink in time, and suddenly they were lunging up from the ground, sending one of those rapiers rocketing towards the space between my eyes. It stopped dead before hitting my skin though, stonewalled by my KIND aura. And Frisk struggled. They snarled, they pushed... Before that force blasted back up their steel stinger.
The Traitor's eyes went wide as their arm was sent whipping back, their scarlet stare locked onto the steel of that rapier as it cracked and shattered. The thin metal had gave way to the doubled force of its own strike, and Frisk's lips peeled back into a furious snarl at the sight of their weapon broken by the might of my soul. Their pupils shrunk in a rage, they yanked back their other rapier and roared their wrath as they sent it firing right at the emerald soul on my chest.
My frown dug deeper into my face, my teeth ground with the fury that their stubbornness caused. I swung my KIND saber up and I cleaved right through the side of that rapier. The metal shrieked as I cut it in two, its point clanked uselessly onto the stone floor. Frisk's indignant eyes darted from their broken stinger and back into my scorned stare, and I hesitated for just a split second before I swung my blade back and slashed at their head.
Time skipped, and suddenly Frisk had ducked down under my slash. Those rapier handles had vanished, and in their place a Worn Dagger had appeared in Frisk's right hand. My eyes widened at the sight of it, green reflected in that old steel and I could see my own eyes staring back at me in the metal.
In the blink of an eye, reality shifted. My perception was forced to adjust to a split second change, and suddenly I was laying flat on my back. Pain fired through my body, death was chilling my chest. A Time Void had taken me in my moment of hesitation, and now I was flat on my back with Frisk on top of me. My chest and abdomen was already filled with holes from the assault they'd started while I was paused in time, and they still kept screaming and yanking that knife back up, just to stab it back into my flesh. Pupils shrunken in emerald eyes, my jaws snapped open so I could hack up globs of red. The music faded out.
"You wanted to know what I was feeling?! Yeah, well I would have liked to know that Chara was still alive! I would have liked to have known about Anthony, I would have appreciated you sharing your real fucking name! I would have liked it if you told me anything instead of just treating me like a tagalong in my own world!" While Frisk snarled and frothed about our pacifist run memories, my hazy vision drifted to my left. They'd knocked Chara's knife out of my left hand, which they also stabbed a few times. I was missing a few fingers, my palm had a hole punched right through its center. My eyes drifted back up to Frisk, I coughed another mouthful of blood as they drove their knife right back into my solar plexus. "The one thing I had that was supposed to be mine, and you never thought twice about taking it away! My adventure, my power, my life! How was I supposed to trust you when all you've ever done is take from me?!"
"You were, hurting i-innocent people..!" I refuted through blood soaked teeth, but Frisk still stabbed me again. My abdomen was mutilated, a handful of my most important organs now had a Dagger shaped hole or two in them. My KIND soul was flickering red, scarlet steam was starting to trickle out of my wounds and the scars on my left arm were turning crimson. Frisk wiggled that knife loose from my ribs, tore it back up over their head.
"I tried to be your friend! I tried to be good, I tried to do things your way and you abandoned me!" Frisk plunged that knife down again, and it sent my blood splattering up across their face. My hands trembled and grabbed at the ground, my back arched and my left eye flickered red while more blood leaked through my gritting teeth. Frisk didn't care, they just ripped their Worn Dagger out of me and stabbed me with it again. "When Chara tried to take you away, I tried to protect you and you pushed me away! When they killed you and I stepped up to stop them, you threatened me with that stupid fucking promise!"
"You selfish, inconsiderate, egotistical, favorite-playing fucking Hacker! If Anthony won't do what has to be done then I will! If you won't support me doing things your way, I'm gonna do them MY WAY!" Frisk wrapped their blood stained hand around my throat, and they yanked their Worn Dagger high up over their head. They were so focused on snarling at me that they didn't notice me throw my right hand up over my head, they didn't see the pen that appeared in my grasp. With that KIND prison surrounding us, we were both illuminated entirely in green. "If you don't want me in your game, THEN WE'RE GOING BACK TO PLAYING MINE!"
I swung my hand up before they could swing theirs down, and I drove that pen like a spike right into their left eye. They screamed, I didn't know if it was from physical or emotional pain but I knew it was because something hurt. They tried to pull their head back, but I reached up and grabbed ahold of the top of their head with my mutilated left hand. I wiggled and pulled on that pen until it popped back out of their left eye, and Frisk screamed even louder when I plunged its point right back down and into their right eye.
They flailed their arms and shook their head, tried to pull away while I tried to hold them in place. Finally, after blindly swinging that Dagger around in attempts at cutting my arm, they yanked it up over their head for another stab at my chest. I winced, my body shifted and up from my shoulder one of my wings shot free. Ink droplets flicked out onto my blood puddle as that wing yanked back, before it crashed right into Frisk with a smack so brutal that it sent them launching back off me.
I fell back flat on my back while they tumbled and skidded away. I gasped and sputtered while I stared up at the crumbling emerald roof over our heads. The prison I had put us both in was breaking away, green shards were raining down from above while scarlet steam smoked off my body. That blood stained pen laid in my open palm, I stared up at the overcast sky and I remembered what it felt like when The Killer almost beat me to death in Granny's backyard.
"Mother, fucker..!" Frisk growled on their hands and knees a few yards ahead of me. They had one hand wrapped around their eyes, scarlet color leaked through their fingers with red steam while their crimson soul tried to put their eyes back together. Their fist clenched tight around the handle of their Worn Dagger, "What kinda psycho goes for the eyes..?!"
I forced myself to sit up the moment it felt like my abdominal muscles had reconnected, placing my now healed left hand over the gaping wounds in my core. My hand glowed green while red mist poured out of my wounds, and I stared through the emerald shards trickling down from above at Frisk The Traitor. I was slouched forward, my lips were parted with my gasping and more DETERMINED smoke was overflowing out of my mouth. It didn't feel so good stabbing them in the eye this time around.
They were turned away from me when they finally lifted their head and peeled their hand away from their eyes. Blood trickled down their face from their eyelids like scarlet tear stains, but their eyes had reformed well enough. Now, they could see the KIND barrier crumbling around us, and it put a spiteful smile on their face. Through their ragged breaths they got right back to berating me, "Ha, I knew it... Your stupid KINDNESS isn't gonna work against me, Angel. You hate me too much."
"You... Idiot..." My gravely voice creaked out of my blood soaked throat, and Frisk's eyes narrowed furiously. They looked back towards me, turned their body back to face me and saw that I'd managed to get up to my knees just like they had. The both of us were kneeling on blood soaked rocks now, but I was still hunched over. My scarred hand rested on my chest and my hair fell with shadows over my face... "You really think, hating you is what's making it hard to fight you..?"
For once, Frisk didn't speak. They just knelt there in the filth with me, watched with narrowed eyes as that halo flickered over my head and that single wing twitched and struggled to move while it laid limp over my shoulder and arm. My blood soaked right hand tensed over the stone path, sent that red drenched pen disappearing back into my inventory. All the while, green shards continued to fall around us.
"I know I should kill you, I know you're not gonna listen to me and that I can't trust you... But, even after everything you've done, even though I know you only want to hurt me..!" Suddenly, I lifted my head. An updraft of scarlet heat lifted my hair, green and red light was cast across my face and matched the glow in my ruby left eye and my emerald right eye, which reflected in the twin streams of tears running down my face. The cracks in my arm were of two colors now, streams of red and green flowed side by side and into one another through my scars. And as another wing sprouted from my other shoulder, as my halo shined bright and the both of my wings spread wide behind me... A half KINDNESS, half DETERMINATION soul exploded to life on my chest, and I shouted across the screwed up, blood soaked path that the both of us were on. "I STILL DON'T WANNA HURT YOU!"
Frisk recoiled, their wicked red eyes went wide as the force of my red/green soul blew their hair back. Red droplets were thrown back off of their face, their pupils shrunk with some emotion that they didn't understand. And after kneeling there with me, staring in shock and awe at the sight of my wings and my halo... Their hand clenched tighter around their Worn Dagger. They planted their free hand on the stones, and they screamed as they shoved themself up and into a ragged sprint towards me. "LIAR!"
I didn't move. I just knelt there, watched with heterochromia eyes as they put one foot in front of the other. While I watched their eyes go wide and their lips peel back into a vicious snarl, I found myself thinking about my last time in the Garbage Dump. When Anny was trying to destroy me, when all my friends were trying to save me. When Frisk was trying to save me. I remembered their diary entry about that day, they said they were trying to help me. They said that there was some part of them that wanted things to work out, that there was something in them that cared about me... I watched as they started to pull back that knife, and I remembered how I'd protected them from Anarchy that day. How I'd used my KINDNESS to shield everyone from his rage. My ability to project my KINDNESS as armor onto the people that I loved...
That Worn Dagger was inches from my forehead when it came to a sudden stop. Frisk's eyebrows furrowed, their shrunken pupils darted left and right in search of an answer. Why couldn't they move? Why did it feel like their body was encased in cement? Why was everything so... So green?! Their stare glossed back down to me, their eye twitched while I knelt under their blade. They tried with all their might to stab into my forehead... But my KINDNESS didn't give.
Frisk's body was trapped in a green aura. Not quite the solid emerald walls of Melanie's Iron Maiden, that was made to trap foes in the name of protecting the people Melanie cared about. Frisk, on the other hand, was the one being protected by my KINDNESS. They were wrapped so tightly in a protective, healing light that they could not move an inch. It was my will, my KINDNESS powered by my DETERMINATION, that they would be safe. Even from themself. And as they watched more tears overflow from my heterochromia eyes, they growled through grinding teeth. "What. Did you. Do?"
Silently, I rose one knee. I planted my hand on top of it and pushed myself up to my feet. I rose from beneath them, their furious stare followed me up to my full height. My wings spread wide behind me, and my reserved expression did not change. The halo weighed heavy on my head, and though I knew they would hate me for it... I took their hand in the both of mine. I lifted that Worn Dagger in their grasp, their fury only burned hotter when they saw the way I was able to move their body through the green light that they could not move at all in. And I carefully pulled their fingers open. Once more, I pried the weapon from their hand. But this time tears streamed down my face, because I knew how much they would hate me for it. The Worn Dagger clattered to the ground, and I kicked it aside. It skidded down the stone path, out of Frisk's reach again.
"... I'm sorry for keeping things from you." Finally, I spoke. No more tears overflowed, and I braved Frisk's enraged stare with my forgiving one. I gently pushed their still raised hand down because I knew they couldn't. I knew they were struggling, pushing and pushing with all their might and still unable to break free. I took a deep breath, and I continued. "I understand why you acted like everything was okay, I know it's what you thought you were supposed to do. I'm sorry I wasn't smart enough then to know what I needed to do."
"Let! Me! Go!" Frisk's eyes were bloodshot, their muscles tensed and their teeth continued to grind against one another. They knew they were trapped, they knew they lost and they couldn't handle it. They tried with all their might to break free, I figured they probably weren't even listening to what I was saying. But, whether they heard me or not, it had to be said.
"I had a lot to learn about being a good friend in those days, and you were a victim of that. So I'm sorry." I apologized, but I didn't feel guilty. It wasn't my fault, I knew all of this was a result of Frisk's disfunction and not my own. But, I also knew that if I had known more then, I would have been able to help them. So while I didn't agree with their sentiment, I understood where it spawned from. "Chara was easy to help. They were upfront, they were honest. I knew they needed me, and I believed you were okay because that's what you told me was true. I was never trying to pick them over you."
"Fuck you!" Frisk hissed, indignation burning in their eyes. My resolve didn't falter, my expression didn't change as they screamed at me. A raw, primal rage was pouring out of them. But, anger was a reactive emotion. I knew it came from something else. I knew they were just screaming because they were hurting, so I didn't take offense as they shouted over and over. "Fuck you! Fuck you fuck you fuck you!"
"I believe we'll figure this out, Frisk. I'm not going to give up on you, even though I know you want me to." My eyes narrowed a little painfully, and I took another deep breath. They kept screaming obscenities as I stepped around them. I grabbed both of their wrists, and I carefully pulled their frozen hands behind their back. Once there, ink slithered up my cracked arm. It wrapped around the both of their wrists, then up their forearms. Their arms were bound together from wrist to elbow, and their furious shouts reached a new indignant pitch. Still, I delivered the bad news. "But... Until we get there, I can't trust you. So, after this is over, I'm going to find a place to put you where you can't hurt anyone. I can't let you cause more trouble just because I care about you."
"So what, you're just gonna lock me up somewhere?! That's not how this works, Angel!" Frisk kept snarling, even as I put my foot behind their knee and slowly pushed them down into a kneeling position. As the ink wrapping their arms hardened, more wrapped their legs from ankle to knee, binding all four of their limbs and assuring that they would be immobile. After the ink was in place, steel keys morphed around the bindings, reinforcing them to make certain that Frisk would not break free. "You either let me go or you kill me! That's how the game is played! That's always how it's supposed to be!"
"Time's are changing, Frisk. Whether we like it or not, no matter how hard we fight it, things aren't ever going to be as simple as they were again." I looked over my shoulder then, lifted one hand and made a single pen rise from the earth behind the two of us. From that pen, ink hastily whipped out. It wrapped around a latch I'd left on Frisk's arm bindings, and it hardened into a chain link. With that, they were indefinitely restrained. So, I patted them on the shoulder, and I walked right past them. "I'm glad I got to talk to you, Frisk. I'll see ya around."
"See me around? SEE ME AROUND?! THAT'S IT?!" The moment I was out of the range of their chain, the KINDNESS that had kept them totally motionless faded away. They jolted with movement, leaned forward and pulled desperately on their chain like a rabid dog. And, also like a rabid dog, they barked viciously. "Don't you dare walk away from me! Angel! ANGEL! LOOK AT ME YOU SON OF A BITCH!"
I didn't turn around. Didn't have anything more to say. I just kept walking ahead, my eyes remained forward. I only stopped to lean down and pick that Real Knife up off the blood stained path. I looked into its steel briefly, narrowed my eyes at the reflection of my heterochromia eyes... Then, I lowered their blade. I opened my right hand, and I let one gold, heart shaped locket appear in my grasp. Chara had left it in my hand when they made their deal with Xander, apparently it took Anarchy's strength to pry it out of my grip. I had decided to keep it in my inventory after it was returned to me, I figured Frisk would use their time skip to steal it and get under my skin.
"THIS IS THE BIGGEST MISTAKE YOU'VE EVER MADE!" Frisk snarled and writhed. They wiggled their restrained body as best they could, yanked with all their might against their chain. Those blood stain tear streams had dried to their face, their eyes were open and bloodshot. Their plastic smile and fake expression was long gone, and I didn't bother looking at the wretched truth that was on display. Instead, I busied myself with lowering my head and lifting the chain of Chara's locket over my head and around my neck. Who Frisk was on the inside was their business and their problem, not mine. "I'LL GET OUT! WHEREVER YOU PUT ME, I'LL GET OUT! I'LL GET BACK AND WHEN I DO YOU'RE FUCKIN' DEAD!"
They stared at my Deltarune brand, they waited for a response that wasn't coming. They shifted their shoulders, violently wiggled like some trapped worm. All while I walked further away, now feeling the beat of that heart shaped locket on my chest in sync with my own heart beat. They lurched forward, and they screamed from where they were trapped behind me. "DEAD LIKE CHARA! DEAD LIKE YOUR FUCKIN' GRANNY! DEAD LIKE ALL THOSE PEOPLE YOU KILLED!"
My stare fixated on the tower looming overhead. My eyes narrowed at the sight of lightning blasts, explosions of fire and waves of ice. Somewhere behind me, Frisk's tantrum screeching hardly registered. "ANGEL! STOP WALKING AWAY FROM ME! I'M GONNA KILL YOU, I'M GONNA RESET THE TIMELINE, I'M GONNA RIDE THAT ALBINO DICK! SO GET BACK HERE AND FUCKING FIGHT ME!"
My wings spread wide, before flapping down with incredible power. An updraft of burning winds blasted out around me, and I was sent launching into the sky. With The Traitor already gone from my thoughts, I blasted right over The Gatherer's golden fence and into his domain. We were close now, so close I just knew it! Chara's soul, the safety of the multiverse, the end of the Fortune Empire. No matter what, I would get them back. I would make all of this right.
Whatever it takes!
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