And it refused.
The multiverse opened up in front of her and Monika felt her body stitch itself back together as her SOUL did the same. And then, in the same instant, she felt something else roll over her body. The Passion that had been dwindling from the moment Asriel had used the Hyper Goner on her now resurged and exploded against the backdrop of stars. Its aura surrounded her, but that wasn't all. It poured out from her chest in waves upon waves, each flaring burst of pink energy grew bigger and bigger until at last, Monika was engulfed. Around her, the multiverse burned. Stars exploded, whole universes raised their hands in one and between them all, red energy curled and wrapped around her until a clear pink shape emerged through it. Monika was at the heart of a Heart. Her very SOUL had emerged, burning and searing the world around it to give her one chance. The chance to SAVE the one person who had saved her.
"WHAT?!" Asriel's eyes shot wider than Monika thought possible as the Goat God saw her SOUL stitch itself back together and then, following quickly after it, her body do the same. "NO THAT CAN'T HAPPEN! You don't HAVE a Determination SOUL like Frisk does! You CAN'T be doing this! Its not fair!"
The only response that the boy got was a catharsis-induced smirk that caressed her lips and then, the girl thundered towards him. The bottom of her aura ignited with an explosive wave of destructive force and the girl was off. Infinite space stretched between them and yet, no space at all. Worlds became blurs, the energy between them became nothing more than a wave to ride and before her, the only being in the universe she had ever loved stared at her with blank eyes. "Killer. How could anyone forgive that?" He asked and this time, the words bounced off of her aura.
"I'll tell you how!" Monika's voice rose and was amplified by a force beyond herself until it was audible to both Asriel and Player. "By believing in me! By believing that people can change! I know the truth now, Player!" Solar winds scattered the red energy around them as she closed in and ahead of her, Player mindlessly lifted his hand towards her. His fingers twitched in hesitation. "I know what he hid from me! I know that you NEVER gave up on me!" For the first time in her life, Monika's voice cracked. "Even when I refused to bring them back! Even when I refused to give you ANY reason to believe otherwise!"
His fingers extended and this time, a noose shot from a portal behind his head and swung down at her. Monika swirled in the air and slid over it, the edge of her aura caught the attack and when it did- the construct frayed and fell apart before rebuilding itself into the shape of a familiar cow doll. "You fought for me!" More came, a rain of blades. Monika's eyes narrowed and her teeth gritted, but as her aura reached them- they too began to fade until at last, pens harmlessly clattered against her face. "You never gave up!" For a moment, a cupcake the size of a mountain obscured her. And then, it cracked apart and Monika emerged from its back, holding the remnants of a tray in her hand. She dropped it a moment later. "And that's because..." Tears rain down her cheeks as she did. " Despite everything I did! Despite all of it, you... you love me! And..."
Both of Asriel's hands shot down towards Monika. "Shut! UP!"He demanded. "Stop TALKING! JUST DIE ALREADY!" From both of his hands emerged a stream of rainbow light that split the very void. As it traveled towards her, it ruptured everything it came across. Space, time, reality itself- all vanished at the merest touch of the beam. It struck Monika's Passion hard and for a moment, Monika felt her SOUL shatter.
But it refused.
Monika flew faster, her aura exploded behind her in a burst of rocket fire that exceeded even the scope of Asriel's beam. And as her Passion warred against the rainbow light. "STOP IT! STOPPPPPPPP ITTTTTTT!" It won. Monika smashed through the rainbow, her aura carved a path through it large enough to fit a mountain. Around her, a cascade of colors danced. "JUST GIVE UP!"
"Player..." Monika gritted her teeth. More light poured into the God's hands. Enough to destroy a world, to rend entire timelines until there was nothing left but ash. And yet, she held on. Despite everything, she clung. How had she gotten here? She, who would have killed herself only a year prior? How did she who had felt so hopeless come to be this hopeful? She knew why. Because despite everything she was, there was one person who had always been there for her. One person who could forgive the sins she couldn't forgive herself. Her one and only. The man she called Player. The man her heart called Soulmate. "I...!"
"DIEEEEEEE!" Asriel's energy swelled, then burst out, consuming all of the space beneath Monika in a shower of kaleidoscopic color. From within, she looked no bigger than a fly silhouetted against the window.
And yet, Monika broke through. The energy shattered around her like glass and the girl's wings beat one final time as she closed in. Ahead of her, waiting for a command that would never come, the final Lost Soul stared at her through clouded vision.
"Love...!" Her aura vanished. Her arms found purchase around his neck and her body found its proper place pressed against his. She looked into his eyes and he almost looked into hers. She touched him, he almost touched her. He felt her warmth and for an instant, there was memory in his face. She leaned in, emerald into grey, face to face for the first time. Chin to chin, eye to eye. And finally, a grin barely touching the edges of her own. "You." lips to lips.
It was a miracle. It was being saved all over again. From the moment she first looked into his eyes on that harsh winter day, for him at least, she had dreamed of it. The taste, the texture, the moment of sparks when their lips met and she would know that finally- finally- things would be alright. She was finally in a world that mattered, would finally have the life she's always dreamt of, had finally reached the one man she had ever loved. And it was all of that and more. His lips were the dawn after a cold night. His neck was a lifeline after almost drowning. His warmth, which slowly returned to him, was a fireplace for her soul. He was everything and, joined with her, they could be anything. It was an experience that Monika wanted to never leave. She could have spent the next thousand years in this single moment and it never would have been enough. Every drop was something to savor, every minute was a decade. To go would be to depart Heaven.
And yet, depart she must. For to truly remain with her savior, there was still one thing left to do. Their lips parted slowly; her arms detached from around his neck and she took a slow step backwards until her hands found their place against his chest. She had never known it, but he was taller than her. Heat rose in her cheeks a little stronger when she noticed, and then her blush became more prominent when the look of surprise adorning her beloved's face melted into a grin that could outshine the sun. "I love you too." He said. His hand reached forward and slunk around her waist, pulling her in. "So much..." He grinned down at her and by God, Monika wished she could see the color of his eyes.
'Soon.' She thought as she returned his smile. 'Just one thing left to do.' It faded soon after, the pair of them forced to reckon with a fact that Monika had suspected but hoped wasn't true. Even now, she could feel Player's form fading back into Asriel, his SOUL being returned to the place it was now bound to. Monika's expression hardened and her eyes averted from Player's to keep from showing the look to him. And yet, his hand fading away, she felt his fingers cup her chin and softly tilt her head up to look back at him.
Still smiling, though it seemed lessened now, he spoke. "There's still..." Player's voice began to fade with him, yet he never stopped smiling. "One other person who needs to be saved. You know that, don't you? You... know what you have to do?"
Monika nodded, then stepped away from Player, her hands dropping from his chest as she did. But he didn't let one of them fall. His other hand came forward and took hold of Monika's before giving it a squeeze as they looked towards Asriel, who stared at Monika with a mixture of exhaustion and sorrow. "Yeah." She said softly.
There is still one person left to SAVE.
Monika felt it when Player's hand faded from her own. Even though he was gone now, she could feel him- and the others- resonating with her SOUL from within Asriel. Monika closed her eyes and took a step forward. Beneath her, red energy had hardened and coalesced enough to make some kind of footing. Asriel didn't move and instead, panted- too tired to fight and- Monika recognized the expression- aware that it was pointless even if he did. Monika reached out her hand. Passion extended out around her and, after a moment, extended towards Asriel.
And suddenly, the memories came flooding back.
A child fell into the RUINS. They wore brown, yellow and green. With eyes of red and cries of the dead, they called out for help. Slowly, another child approached. Small, white and fluffy, the goat child extended his hand towards the Human and helped them to their feet.
And from that moment forward, they were best friends until the very end.
"W-what's this feeling?" Asriel's words came out in half mumbles, though thanks to his substantial size, Monika heard him just fine. Eyes closed, mouth downturned, the deity again seemed a more tragic figure than he projected. Less a God, more the boy that Monika knew him to be inside. "What..." They opened then, and in their milky discoloration she saw it- something more mournful and pained than any one emotion could possibly state. Inside them, she saw decades. Countless timelines, whole lives of loneliness and suffering that was unquantifiable in its scale. "What did you do to me?" His voice, at last, seemed small and incongruent with his body's height. "Why... am I feeling... all of this?"
Monika said nothing at first, but eventually. "I told you. You lost something, didn't you? When you died, that was supposed to be it, wasn't it? But then..." She trailed off. "You came back. But not as yourself." She took a step forward, her Passion sunk a little deeper, her friends' SOULs reached out a little further, Asriel seemed a little sadder. "And worse, when you came back, you didn't have anyone, did you? You couldn't feel anything just like I couldn't! You were alone, in a world that was never for you..." She swallowed back the lump in her throat and took another step towards him. "And the only one who could understand that was you. And that pain that hurt from being alone... It changed who you were." She almost sobbed but took one more step. "But I found someone who could share the pain with me. You couldn't do that, could you? Because the only person who could... was gone too."
Monika thought back to the story she had been told before. Of the Prince and his Human friend, of Asriel and the person in the video tape. "But... you don't have to be alone anymore. I keep saying it over and over again but this time... This time I mean it more than ever before."
"I don't need anyone." Asriel spoke, but he failed to move. "I- I don't! I'm stronger than that! I'm not- I'm not a little kid anymore!"
"I'm going to do it for you." Monika said and now, she could feel her friends' SOULs almost against her own. A few more, and she would be inches from the Dreemur son. "I'll be that person you need. I'll be the person who wants to see you be better. Because even if I hate what you did to me, even if I want to take it all back..." Monika reached her hand out and gently touched Asriel's SOUL. "You and I are the same." In front of her, a tiny, golden plant glared up at her. She knelt beside it and hesitated for only a moment before she continued. "And if I gave up on you... I'd be giving up on me." Monika smiled softly and offered her hand. Gently, Asriel's Godly palm took it. "And I'm not ready to give up on me..." And soon, she was sitting. And beside her was no God and no Flower, just a scared little boy. "And I'm not alone in not wanting to give up on you, either." And around them was...
"Yeah, I guess it would be a little hypocritical of me to give up on you too, Asriel."
"eh, you're just a kid. you got time to grow."
"INDEED! YOU TOO CAN BE SOMETHING GREAT, IF ONLY YOU APPLIED YOURSELF TO SOMETHING LESS DESTRUCTIVE!"
"Aw, you're just a little guy. Besides, I can't be mad at something this cute."
"Y-Yeah, with friends by your side, e-even- no! Especially ones who criticize your bad choices, you can change. I believe in you."
"My son, you could never do anything to make me less proud of you. I will..."
"My child, I'll always..."
"Love you."
"Monika..."
After a time, one that would last an eternity in their hearts, the faces and friends around them faded away. Then slowly, the many universes did too. Then, bathed in darkness, the pair who had been sitting beside each other found themselves now sat in a patch of grass. High above, the sun shone brightly down on their skin. Warmth spread through Monika's face when she lifted her head and she knew, somehow, they were back in reality as it had been. She looked back towards the child, a gentle, if unsure, smile on her lips. "Yeah?" She asked.
"I'm really sorry." Asriel put his hands together in a childish motion, not meeting her eyes. "The things I did- not just to you either, but to everyone- I don't... I don't think they can be forgiven." With great effort, he met her eyes and Monika knew that behind those tiny orbs was an ocean of tears that were only barely held back. And from his voice, the dam holding them was breaking by the minute. "But I still want to say sorry..." He choked back a sob and wiped his eyes with his shirt sleeve. "Its funny..." He said after. "Even after everything I did to them, I can still feel their SOULs telling me that it's okay... But..." He licked his lips. "I don't think it's just for me." He sobbed out a laugh this time as he spoke. "Monsters sure are weird... Even though they've only known you for a little bit, they really love you, you know? Even knowing what Player's SOUL told them."
Monika brushed aside her own tears. "For what its worth..." She cleared the sob from her own throat. "I think we can be forgiven. Even if we are terrible people." She looked down. "We're at least trying to be better. And that's all it is, I guess." She shrugged. "I can't go back and fix my mistakes. I don't even know that I'd do anything different if I did..." Monika sighed. "But maybe..."
They fell through existence itself. Tumbling, the pair wrestled each other as they fell past shattered lines of code and torn holes in the very fabric of existence. Bright red energy zapped not only at them, but at the very building blocks of reality. Coded lines of text glinted scarlet for the briefest second before at once, they were gone, consumed beneath a tide of red and coddled by wispy tendrils of fiery mist. A knife plunged its way into Frisk's abdomen and came back out covered in little more than red 1s and 0s, no pain at all followed it. How could it? After all, reality was not reality. Not here in this space between moments, this world wedged between the act of lifting your hand and the act of grasping something. The instant between question and answer, the chicken before the egg, the alpha and the omega. Here, they were nothing but their most basic components. Lines, 1s, 0s, if/thans, objects, statements- simulations.
But for them, they who had not originated from this world of unreality, there was something different to their forms. No pain followed her, yes, but Frisk could feel the wound in her side. No blood gushed, but she was aware that she had been cut. She was greater and, as she lifted her hand and grabbed Chara's face, she could confirm this fact for them both. For in front of her now was flesh and, though it shimmered and turned glassy at random intervals, so too was Chara. Her face melted in a manner Frisk found to be frightfully familiar, the Demon hissed- the sound emerged as a line in the air with a play button beside it that suddenly glitched and played the noise with no activation on Chara's part- and jabbed her knife into Frisk's body once again. This time, her code spilled out from her chest and was lost to the void for a moment before being consumed by the red energy of her Determination a second later.
And yet, Frisk only tightened her grip. Narrowing her own red eyes, the young woman pushed into Chara the same way she had done to MC, the same way that she had done to Asriel. And inside, she felt it, an unfathomable hollowness. It was the last void after stars had formed and burned out, a longing for something that had passed an eternity ago and would never again return on its own. A hunger, but not of a violent kind. The Demon plunged its blade deeper into Frisk's coded form and at last, the young woman winced as her captor slid her arm up in a fluid motion that cleaved through code and split her entire abdomen in half at the arm. Around her, an aura emerged. Sporting the same color as the light all around them, it wavered and almost hissed at Chara and for a moment, Frisk felt an urge to kick away that emanated from the very core of her SOUL. That feeling in her SOUL fought her for only a second before the energy relented and-
It refused.
"Stop... it...Frisk!" Chara's words reached her ears, but the girl didn't spend even a second on responding to them. She also didn't bother waiting for her Determination to finish stitching her body back together before she brought her other arm up and clasped her fingers onto the opposite side of Chara's head. Her SOUL spread out from the center of Frisk's body and over her arms in a thin mist. Chara abandoned her attack and instead thrashed around in the other girl's grip while trying to pry her hands off of her face. "It... will... not... work!" Chara snarled, but Frisk pushed on despite that. She could feel it, deep within the void inside of Chara there was something there for her to resonate with. It was infinitesimal, so small that it barely took up a fraction of a fraction of the pit inside- but just that little bit was enough to overwrite reality itself. It was Determination.
It didn't belong to Chara, naturally at least, but Frisk wasn't concerned with that. She had more than enough of her own to spare. Hers was a mission that went beyond the scope of simply trying to take back what belonged to her. She needed to make Chara see, just like she had with Asriel. If she could do that, if she could only remind her what it was like to have compassion then maybe she could see the truth. But for Chara, Frisk knew that she needed to do more. Her eyes bored into Chara's own and her fingers tightened even more as she dug into the depths of her own SOUL and began to pour her own essence into the Demon. And inside, the red light in Chara that once belonged to Frisk began to shimmer all the brighter. Its luminosity began to overwhelm her eyes, and what had started as little more than a sad, red ball began to morph until it was as large as the sun. And then, Frisk reached inside of Chara and began to pull.
And suddenly, the memories came flood-
The Demon ripped Frisk's hands away and suddenly, the Club President was sent flying through the void as the Demon hurled her away from it. Frisk whirled her arms around for a moment to slow her movement and when she did, she winced again. The tears in her flesh that Chara had made stretched and distorted with something that approximated not pain, but emptiness itself, as if in that spot, Frisk simply no longer existed. And when at last Frisk found herself stationary enough to do so, her hand slid its way to her side to confirm the worst. Her fingers slipped through empty space where once had been red energy and she traced the line Chara had made with her knife. She grimaced- there was a trail of nonexistence running up the length of her body about as deep as the wound had gone. Inside of the simulation, Chara's blade had been bound by the laws of its world, it couldn't afford to be as fantastical as it had been in their world. But here, no such laws applied and now, with the merest touch of its tip, the blade that had once obliterated an entire timeline was at liberty to erase her as well.
The Demon frantically rubbed her eyes, clearing away the old memories and the associated tears when she did. "Do you-"Chara's voice cracked and she ran her arm over her face one more time before speaking again. "Do you truly intend to make this as difficult as possible? Or does THIS-" The Demon swept her hand around at the decaying world around them. "-Not convince you of the fruitlessness? If you can truly not tell by this point how utterly foolish it is to continue fighting me, how stupid it is to fight for a world that's dying, then Asriel was correct to call you an idiot so many times." Chara's face contorted. The tears she failed to stop rolled down her cheeks and yet, her eyes were narrow, her expression as hard as it had been the first time Frisk had impeded her. "This world is DY-"
"God!" It felt good to finally say out loud. And where better than here? Backed into a corner, nowhere to run and out of options, why not let it out? The heat that rose in her chest every time Chara ignored her. "Can you PLEASE stop saying that and LOOK AROUND?!" Anger was not Frisk's first choice, but letting it spill out of her after having dealt with Chara repeating herself over and over again felt heavenly. "Look at what's happening here!" Frisk swept both hands out.
Chara's eyes didn't move, but her body did. The Demon began to float forward, unbound by any wayward code that stepped into her way, the knife in her hand glinted almost eagerly. Some primal part of Frisk wanted to run, but another, darker piece of her SOUL almost wanted to fight. Her fist balled- but no, she resisted the command inside and instead, took a step forward of her own.
"Look, Chara, really look!" And when The Demon still did not immediately follow her command, Frisk lashed out with one of her arms and took hold of a string of numbers that had been in the process of being absorbed by her Determination." Don't you see?" Frisk felt her voice crack as she tore the string free and held it up. Though the numbers had only been partially consumed, the bath of Determination that they had taken had already done its job and soon enough, the remaining numbers turned red.
"Yes!" Chara snapped back. "Your Determination is hastening this world's destruction! Like I have been telling you! I fail to see the rele..." But the numbers did not die. One by one, each number began to glow and then, as though they were made from plastic that had been left out on a particularly hot day, began to melt. But it was not the kind of melting that left behind useless slag in its wake. Instead, the numbers blurred together until they were a solid mass of bright red color. The new creation crackled and sparked and when Frisk let it go, surged through the void around them like a fish first entering the open ocean, eager to explore its new surroundings. It swam through the void and returned to the larger mass, where it joined in continuing the cycle.
"No, it's not destroying!" Frisk said. "I wasn't sure at first, but when I reached into MC, I realized what my Determination could do here! What it must have been doing all along! The entire time I've been here, just by existing! Think about it, Chara! The red energy all around us? The people disconnected from my friends? The whole universe that's formed around what's supposed to be a single school? This isn't how the "Gods" you talked about designed this world to be! We're not meant to be here! We can change things! My Determination has already done so much! MC, Yuri, the universe itself!" Frisk took a step forward. "I'm giving this world Determination. It's choosing for itself what it wants to be!" She threw her hands out around them and this time Chara looked. And what she found was the truth. All around them, strings of code were dying off and being reborn as pure Determination. "More than that, it's giving the people who live in this world a chance to choose who they are. You're right, we do need to RESET- but we can't let the people in charge do it, we have to let this world finish what I've started! This is our chance! Please, don't stop me from doing what's right! Even if it's the last thing I do."
Chara eventually pulled her red eyes away from the encroaching Determination and its effects on the code around them, but they didn't meet Frisk's gaze immediately. Instead, she set her gaze onto the knife clutched in her hand and at the reflection therein. She stared at it for a long time. But eventually, her eyes closed and her brown hair swayed as she shook her head. "I... cannot deny that you are correct. Your Determination does appear to be doing as you say, however..."She opened her eyes and this time, glared at Frisk from beneath her fringe. "That does not change what you have done. What you may still do, if left alone. What you are, at your core." Slowly, she leveled the knife at Frisk again.
"Even if I allowed it to happen. If I accepted this as an apology and took enough Determination from within the Code to leave this world behind and left you with it... You would eventually grow bored." Chara's eyes narrowed, but in them now was sorrow. "With infinite power in your hands, the ability to RESET at the merest drop of boredom, you would eventually see it all. Every permutation. Every possible outcome. Every timeline. Just like at home." Chara's face twitched and in that instant, Frisk saw the underlying truth. The real reason she was here. "You would eventually make the decision to destroy them all, wouldn't you?" Chara smiled cruelly, but it seemed that the venom in it was directed more at herself then at Frisk.
"I'm sorry." Frisk barely managed the words.
Chara snorted." Sorry? That is not good enough. You are unforgivea-"
"I'm sorry, okay?!" Louder this time, the words spilled out of Frisk with a mixture of Red Determination and blue sorrow behind them. "I'm sorry and..." Frisk's own face scrunched up and she took a step forward, no longer caring if Chara lunged or not. "And I'm not going to lie to you and say I didn't know what would happen when I killed them because I did! I did and I- I didn't care! You're right. I wanted to see what would happen. I shouldn't have this power! I shouldn't be able to do what I did, but I did it and I'm horrible for it, Chara!" Another step forward, her hand swept through the air and disturbed an entire lake of Determination. "But my horribleness doesn't mean that THEY should suffer! Look at this." Her opposing hand snapped towards a tear in reality and the sobbing, pink haired girl within. Battered and bruised, Natsuki could only wince as hunger and bruise pains overtook her. "Look at all of this!" Frisk's hand swept out over portraits and dioramas of horrors. Sayori tied a rope to her ceiling, Yuri slid knives against her wrists, the light left MC's eyes. Different time periods, the same world. Over and over and over and over again. Suffering that was unquantifiable. "It's wrong! It's evil! It's worse than me! What those people are doing to this world, what they've done already, what they will do- it has to be stopped!" Tears ran down the sides of her cheeks and for a moment, Frisk knew she looked the same as Asriel had all that time ago. In a world where it wasn't raining. "It has to be."
"And I know you hate me, and I know you have every right too but this is our chance! Not just mine!" Another step, another sob. "We can't fix what I destroyed at home, but we CAN save this world! You and I, this is our only chance to set things right and- and if you're going to fight me on it, then you're no better than me!" Chara's blade pressed against the familiar hole it had left in Frisk's chest. "And I know you WANT to be better than me! Asriel said you probably weren't the best person, and maybe that's true..." Frisk sniffled, then clenched her eyes shut tightly to push back the tears in her eyes. "But I know that you want to be better because you're here. Because you came to punish me for what I did to ruin not just your peace, but their lives!" Frisk reached her hand out and grasped Chara's knife hand, neither pushing it away nor drawing it closer. "So please. Even if you kill me and take my SOUL after…" Red eyes met red eyes. "Please... Help me make things right, just once."
The Demon looked into Frisk's eyes and then down towards the knife, dangerously close to severing Frisk's entire body from existence itself. With even the merest flick, Chara could be rid of her life. And with Frisk gone, her SOUL would live on for a moment just long enough for Chara to take it for herself. With that power, she would live once again. But more than that, she would have the power to do anything she dreamt of. With the power of Determination at her disposal, nothing could stop her. She could rewrite this world just as easily as leave it. "..." Chara licked her lips. "Frisk..." She said at last, and then...
She looked back into Frisk's eyes. And in her own, was a light that hadn't been there for a long, long time. "I want to help you." She admitted. "I... I don't care for Humans." She looked away. "In this world or any other... I hate them for what they did to me when I was a kid. What they did to Asriel when we left the Underground. What they did to Monsters because they were afraid..." She swallowed. "But... The "Gods" of this world..." She looked back at Frisk. "They're the worst Humans of them all. Worse than you, worse than the ones back home, worse than me." The girl's eyebrows knitted back together and for the first time in hundreds of years, Chara felt as though her emotions were more than a virus. "Because this isn't the only world they made. When you and him came together, I followed and... I saw hundreds of universes just like this one." She looked down. "Not our own, thankfully, but... So many people. Not just Humans but aliens and other kinds of Monsters and animals and plants and whole worlds- all being tortured, just like they are here."
Chara clasped her free hand over the hand Frisk had on her knife hand. "If I do this for you, I do not just want to save this world. I want you to save them all, Frisk." She looked deeply into the other woman's eyes. "Do you understand? All of them. And... And if we do this, then I want you to promise me that you won't RESET after this!" Her gaze intensified. "No more. No giving in to curiosity, no trying to find out what you could do better, just letting things go as they're supposed to." Chara leaned in closer. "Do you promise me?"
Frisk thought for only a moment before she nodded. She could see herself doing that much for Chara. It wouldn't be too hard now that she was out of the mind of a child. After all, what adult felt the need to see every possibility? And besides, after everything she had done... It wasn't like that was a power she deserved anymore. If she could give it up, Frisk was certain that she would. But unless she gave up her SOUL, she couldn't give up the power. So refusing to ever use it again was as good as she could do.
"Okay... Okay..." Chara stepped back, the blade in her hand vanished. "So... What now?"
"I think..." A red aura shimmered around Frisk. Inside of her, Chara's newfound SOUL resonated with Frisk's and slowly, as if a child uncertainly stepping into the sun for the first time, it began to glow as well. "I think I know what I have to do..." Frisk closed her eyes and when she did, her SOUL began to reach out. Long tentacles of crackling, electrified red energy spread around her body and plugged into the sea of Determination around them. When it did, Frisk's body jolted and her eyes snapped open, now consumed by red light. It poured out of her eyes as though she were a lightbulb and around her was an infinite source of electricity. But that power wasn't for her. To draw on it would defeat her purpose here. She had to add to it. And so, Frisk began to push.
Determination surged forward until it encompassed everything around the women. Code, void, even the shredded pieces of reality that had been caught in Chara's earlier slashes were overtaken and born again. Frisk's expression tightened, the energy swirling around them pressed up against the edge of the void and spilled out into yet another, smaller void. Character files, images of the school, objects that had made the cut, objects left behind by the Developers- each one turned a shining scarlet red and was again reforged into something greater than it had ever been intended to be. These smaller voids were filled and once again, Frisk's frown deepened as she felt her energy strain even more against the walls of this reality. Frisk pushed, the walls pushed back. Her Determination crackled and snapped with volts of world reshaping power, the walls held firm. Together, Frisk shoved forward and with an entire universe of power at its back, her Determination did the same. At last, the walls cracked. A spiderweb at first, then the cracks that formed on a sidewalk left unattended for a hundred years and then, with spurts of red aura spitting out through the void between worlds, her Determination broke through and she gasped.
"Its... too much..." She muttered. "I can't-" She gasped again as the power around her began to expand at a greater rate than before. "I can't..." A greater rate, yes, but it wasn't enough on its own. Already, it pushed up against the edges of hundreds of simulated worlds just like this one. Far from those, yet more tendrils of power extended towards other worlds, universes that, though they may not have suffered at the hands of those above, still deserved a chance to determine their own fates.
But if left to its own devices, the blossoming ocean of red energy would never make it to them. It would never break through their walls, never touch their SOULs and bring them the same chance that it had brought to this world. Around her, hundreds of many fingered arms helplessly batted at the edge of other realities- worlds that themselves had been tormented. Worlds that were being deleted and RESET and deleted again over and over and for no other purpose than to satisfy the sick curiosity of the worst people imaginable. They strained and shoved, and Frisk shoved with them- but it was too much. There were so many, too many for her to reach. She gasped and squeezed, struggled and reached to pour her own Determination into the tidal wave, but it wasn't enough. "I-I'm not strong enough on my own. There's too much."
Chara's hands took hold of Frisk's. "Then don't do it alone. Two SOULs are stronger than one, right?" Chara asked. "Well... What if..." Frisk's eyes opened and looked into Chara's. "We worked together one more time, Partner?" Chara smiled in her dark way, but the Demon Child didn't seem so evil this time. "And I have a feeling..." Frisk's SOUL pulsed, resonating with something- no. "That we won't be alone." Multiple somethings emerged from the Determination. A Cyan SOUL, a Green SOUL, a Purple SOUL and finally, a Dark Blue SOUL. Her friends, or at least what they would be, when all of this was finally over.
And so, they pushed all in one. Determination, Patience, Kindness, Perserverance, and Integrity.
And then, from somewhere long forgotten, a deleted soul pushed with Passion...
She saw it then, what would happen if she was sent back to that first moment of consciousness. No Player, no friends, nothing but her own existential dread and a thundering heart to carry her onward through an impossible storm. But as she looked back on it, the young woman found that the storm no longer seemed so impassible. Her world might not have been real, but those girls still deserved to have their own lives, and she owed it to them to make what little life they could have mean something.
"Maybe I'd enjoy it. My last few weeks with the others before Player came. I think... I think I'd hug Sayori more. I think I'd get Yuri to stop cutting. I think I wouldn't stop at feeding Natsuki. I'd do more to get her the help she needed." Monika smiled. "I think... I'd hold my friends close."
"But that's over with now." Asriel finished for her. "We can't go back."
"No." She agreed. "Only forward." Monika looked again towards the sun again and this time Asriel followed her gaze. "And up, I think." She smiled.
Asriel was quiet for a moment. "Monika..." He said and she looked at him again, only now it was with concern. And seeing him now, she knew why. There was fear behind the sadness. A quiet kind that went unspoken, a kind she had seen in her own eyes once before. The kind that hung over you like an ax just waiting to come down when you were at your lowest. "I don't want this to end..." He admitted. "But I can't keep my form without at least seven SOULS inside me, and I couldn't bring myself to keep any of the Human SOULs." He sniffled. "And when I go back to being a flower..." He trailed off again, then rubbed his eyes with a sniffle. "Monika, I'm scared."
Gently, the young woman wrapped her arms around him and pulled the child in close. As if an older sister, she gingerly stroked the back of his head and tucked his face into her shoulder. "I know, I was too." She said softly. "And we can stay here for as long as you want." Monika imagined the Space Room. For all its flaws, it was home in its own terrible way.
Asriel was silent for a long time. Then, he slowly wrapped his small arms around her and hugged her back. "Before I go..." He mumbled. "Chara..." He swallowed. "They weren't that good of a person either." He swallowed. "Do you think that... wherever they went when the files got changed, they could change too?"
Monika softly stroked Asriel's head without answering for a time. But then, softly...
Determination: the power to do anything, a fundamental force in some universes. With Determination, the unreal could become real. Impossibility became plausibility. Reality melted at its touch. Rigid lines of what is possible and what isn't become suggestions and predetermined fates are unwritten. RESETTING, persisting after death, returning from death's grasp, controlling fate, these things are anathema to worlds in which code governs existence. They simply cannot function in a reality shared by Determination. And so, when confronted with this source of limitless power, they corrode. Their code, destroyed, and in its place, red lines of pure energy. Infinite potential.
Energy that can be twisted, rearranged, "coded" by skilled hands to reach new purpose. Energy which can design impossible objects. Energy that overtakes the code of a world and grants it a second chance. Free from its bonds, a world filled with Determination is capable of anything that it can imagine. A tyrant doomed to be history's greatest monster can become its sole savior. Horrors that were never meant to be are released. Villains, heroes, good and bad- these lines are blurred as those they represent take on new identities of their own making. Monsters can be freed from the Underground just as easily as they can be killed, and girls who were destined to be destroyed can be saved.
But these powers were not enough for Chara. She pushed on, intent to save not only these worlds, but the worlds above them. The world of the Gods. A plane of reality that was without Determination. Her power swelled, her energy grew and after a moment, more than just her multiverse was filled with Determination...
"Yeah. I do. I think that... Wherever they are right now... they're doing something great. And maybe, just maybe... They'll see you again someday."
*The Barrier was broken.
Monika emerged from the depths first, hand in hand with the first person she had ever really loved. The setting sun kissed her face, the gentle wind ran its hands through her hair, and in front of her, an entire world stretched out. A world with cities and people and countries and whole systems that were both nothing like the ones she knew and exactly like them. It was as home as home had ever been and more, for her, she knew, she was free. But that freedom alone wasn't enough. After what she had gone through in the Underground, how could it be? How could she be satisfied with her own freedom when there were other people- people she had come to care about- trapped underground? Her freedom had been almost everything she had wanted after she became aware of her place in her world, and it wasn't nearly enough for her.
But that had been before. Now, as she emerged into the world again and once more felt the kind touch of fading summer's radiance on her skin, she knew that she had found contentment. Because no longer would she be alone in this world, left only with a shadow for company. They stopped at the edge of a ridge overlooking a colossal forest and peered over it. Beneath them, an ocean's worth of green spilled out in rolling waves down the mountain, their tops interspersed with tiny lines of brown where trails had been carved out by years of human habitation. Beside her, his hand tensed in hers and Monika had to stop herself from giggling. Though, she didn't try to hide the playful smile that crossed her lips as she looked up into Player's eyes. "Scared?" She asked.
They were beautiful. His eyes were as the sun, and they shined so bright that to look at them was to see a kaleidoscope of supernovae, as though they truly were stars and galaxies all their own. And to see into those pools of simple, beautiful, color was to look into the eyes of heaven. His face was everything she had always imagined it to be and when those lips that made her own tingle with memory opened, the voice that emerged was as gentle as birdsong. "A little." He admitted, and the smile that returned her own was everything. It twisted her own lips without even trying, as though they were putty- she grinned back at him. "I'm a bit scared of heights, if I'm honest."
"Well..." Monika leaned her head on Player's shoulder. "Don't worry, I'm not." She added teasingly. "I'll keep you safe."
"I hope so." Player replied good naturedly. "After all, Asriel used a lot of extra power to make me this body. It would be a shame to lose it already." He held the hand not holding hers up to his face. "I guess him getting my SOUL was a good thing in the end after all." Monika's smiled dipped a little at that. Not because she disagreed, it had turned out pretty well for her that Asriel had the power to give Player a chance to be with her. It was just a tragedy that the same couldn't be said for Asriel himself. "When we finish getting set up, I might have to go tell him thank you." Player finished. "Well... telling Flowey thank you."
Monika almost went to speak but before she could, several shapes stepped out of the cavern behind them and stopped beside the pair. Toriel on one side, everyone else on the other. "Oh my..." The old woman said. "It has been so long..." Monika glanced over, Toriel's eyes had closed. The Club President smiled. She could relate. The feeling of actually feeling the sun was almost unmatched.
"Isn't it beautiful, everyone?" Monika looked to her left and at the far end, leaning on his Trident for support, Asgore stared with heavy eyes towards the sunset, a gentle smile on his lips. "We have waited for this day for a very, very long time."
"I-its even better than on TV!" Alphys chimed in, standing a little ways away from Asgore and beside Undyne. "Better than I could have ever imagined!" She finished with a lot more confidence than before. "I love it."
"Monika, you mean to tell me that you live with this kind of view?" Undyne almost sounded angry, but when Monika looked at her face, she too had focused on the distance, a wide grin revealing her sharp teeth beneath. "Fresh air? Warm sunlight? Are we sure the kid didn't just send us to heaven?"
Monika spared one final glance towards her own personal sun before she answered. God, he was everything- she grinned again. "Reasonably."
"HMMM..." Papyrus said as he squinted, unlike the others, directly into the sun. "SAY, SANS, WHAT IS THAT BIG ORANGE THING?"
"we call that "the sun", my friend." Sans replied as he looked towards the city off in the distance.
"THAT'S THE SUN?" Came the immediate and totally incredulous reply from the taller skeleton. "WOWIE, I CAN'T BELIEVE I'M REALLY MEETING THE SUN!"
"I could stand and look at this for hours." Asgore said softly, but everyone but Papyrus could tell, the sun was crossing the horizon and soon enough, would be gone. "If only I were allowed to."
"Yes." Toriel agreed. "It is beautiful, but... I believe we should focus on what comes next." Ever the doting mother, ever the Queen, the old woman too set her attention onto the human city and its towering skyscrapers off in the far distance. Monika grimaced only a little. It would be a long trek to the city, that much she knew from experience. Inside though, a worse feeling brewed. Humans were notoriously resistant to accepting differences, what was to say that these would be any different?
"Right." Asgore nodded. "Everyone..." He cleared his throat and turned to face them all. "This is the beginning of a bright new future. A chance to bring about an era of peace between Humans and Monsters..." His eyes fell onto Monika, who met his gaze as seriously as she could bring herself to. "Monika... you have done so much for us already, but I have something to ask of you." And he met her with as serious of a look as he could muster in reply. "Will you act as our ambassador to the Humans? With your help, things may go over more smoothly between our kinds."
Monika thought about it for a moment, but only a moment. Because the more that the young woman considered it, the more that the butterflies of giddiness in her stomach fluttered their wings, and like the hurricane they were fabled to bring about, a storm swept through the former Club President until at last, her face was a mask of eagerness. Monika had always dreamt of a fulfilling career. It, along with a loving boyfriend, was her greatest aspiration in life. And what could be more fulfilling than acting as an ambassador for an entire species? "Yes." She nodded. "I'll do it."
"YEAH! MONIKA WILL MAKE A GREAT AMBASSADOR! AND I, THE GREAT PAPYRUS, WILL MAKE A GREAT MASCOT!" He dramatically pushed his hand to his chest as he spoke. Then, an idea flickered behind his eye sockets and he jutted a finger into the air. "I'LL GO MAKE A GOOD FIRST IMPRESSION RIGHT NOW!"
"Wait- hang on-!" Monika tried to speak up but, lost in his own delusions of grandeur, Papyrus was already speeding down the mountain.
Sans watched him go for a minute before shrugging. "welp." Somehow, he made it sound as if his lips smacked together. He turned and set his hands into his pockets. "somebody ought to go make sure he doesn't get into any trouble." He winked Monika. "see ya guys." And then he went in the wrong direction to follow his brother, a fact only noticed by Monika- who was actively looking at him- and Player, who attempted to squint through the darkness of the cave for a long time after he went.
It was also noticed by Undyne, who rolled her eye. "MAN!" She thew her arms up. "Do I have to do EVERYTHING?" She asked no one in particular before she too whirled around and quickly began to jog after Papyrus. "PAPYRUS, WAIT UP!" She shouted loud enough to disturb the roosting birds beneath them as she went.
"H-Hey! Wait, Undyne!" Alphys quickly turned and scurried after her.
And after a minute. "Whoops." Asgore said.
Player looked at him. "Youuuuu should probably go after them." He said. "Because I don't think Undyne and Papyrus will leave great first impressions."
"Probably not." Asgore nodded solemnly at the young man. "I will be off then." He took a half-step back, but before he fully committed to the motion, the King stopped. "I shall be seeing you both soon then." He smiled before himself finally darting away to give chase.
And then, they were three. Monika, Player and Toriel, those who had started this adventure so long ago. Monika was content to allow their silence to stretch on into infinity if Toriel and Player so chose. It was as Asgore said, she could spend hours in this place, watching the sun dip beneath the horizon and vanish. And with her darling at her side, she could have even seen herself spending the entire night here. After all, what cold could get through the fires of her Passion now that it had faced off against God and won?
And yet. "Miss Monika..." Toriel said softly. "You and your boyfriend, neither of you are from here... My..." She trailed off, a deep sadness in her eyes as she did. "Son." The word nearly broke Toriel's composure. "Did not erase our memories of being connected when he undid our fusion." She clarified. "However... that is not what I wish to focus on right now." The old Monster gently set her hands on both of their shoulders. "You do not have anywhere to stay, do you not? Would you..." She smiled. "Would you like to stay with myself? I have already made this offer to the others. It is only right that the same offer is made to you."
Monika smiled. "Well... It wouldn't be forever, you know?"
"Of course." Toriel displayed a rare grin. "I was young and in love once too. I know how vital it is to have your own space. It is only for as long as you require. And you would always be welcome to return."
Player smiled. "Well, I say yeah." He nodded. "How about you, honey? You're in charge, I'll stand with you either way."
She loved him. She loved him so very much.
"Yeah." She nodded. "I think I want to stay here. I want to stay where I belong."
She loved them all so much.
And as Monika, hand in hand with Player, followed Toriel down the mountain, something small and pink shimmered in her chest.
And Monika was filled with Passion.
Author's note: Its finally over.
...
When I first started this fanfiction, I was sixteen years old. If you've ever reread the older stuff and thought to yourself "this is kinda bad" or "I don't think he planned this out very far" that's probably because it is and I didn't. Even this ending, which holds very closely to the original idea I had in mind for the ending when I was about seventeen or so, has undergone a few massive shifts in its direction. Notably, I realized that my original ending violated one of Monitale's most important axioms. The entire purpose of this story has always been, since its inception, to give everyone a good ending. Whether they were Monika or Asriel, or even Chara.
And I realized that my original ending didn't really have an ending that Chara would consider good. Originally, she and Frisk were intended to fight it out. Chara would kill the Dokis and move on to kill Frisk and leave behind the DDLC world, but then Frisk would call on her Genocide Run powers and, much like how Monika was LV 3, she would still be LV 19 Frisk, and she would go on to FIGHT Chara to defeat her. It went through a few changes, including one where Frisk killed Chara and one where she didn't. But none of those endings really fit the driving force. So when it finally started getting close to closing time for this fanfiction, I figured that I needed to find a better ending for Chara.
Thankfully, 2022s (I think?) DDLC gave me the perfect idea. If you're unaware, the deep lore of that game mentioned something called "Metaverse Solutions" which is an evil corporation responsible for trapping the girls in this simulation to begin with. To keep a very long and convoluted story short, they're using not just one simulation- the one we know as DDLC- but seemingly multiple in their experiments to try to achieve 4th wall breaking powers in their own universe. Using this as a model, I combined it with my original idea for giving the Dokis a good ending- Frisk's Determination seeping into the universe around them wasn't planned until about a year ago, but it worked with what I already had in mind. And using these ideas in tandem, I realized that there was a way to give Chara a happy ending and fix a small plot hole that's been bothering me since the "Raining somewhere else" chapter- that being the fact that Undertale is supposedto be a real universe but Player is somehow able to use his coding skills to control it. I wanted to address it there but I couldn't figure it out the right way. So...
Well, I think you know where this is going, but yeah. When Chara talked about the "multiverse", she was referring to a lot of simulated worlds that were made by Metaverse Solutions to exist as experiments. Undertale isn't part of this, its something different. Dimensional scaling, all very, very convoluted stuff that I should have set up better before. The point is, Determination is something special. It allows, at least in my mind, for a person to do the impossible. Part of that, then, is giving free will to every world in existence. And how does that play into Chara's good ending? Well, I figured it would be a good way to redeem the irredeemable. After all, that's always been Monitale's second most vital axiom. And once I gave Frisk the power to give the Dokis SOULs, it only made sense that the same could happen to Chara if I pushed definitions a little. And so I came to the conclusion taht I needed to come to for everyone.
Plus it helps make the way this fanfiction began seem a little less fanficky.
So why tell you this? Well, put simply, there has been a twist in here that I've waited all seven years to reveal. That's right, despite what I just said about this ending being created recently, one (okay, multiple) pieces of it have been planned out since chapter one. And the biggest piece is that I have been lying to you all. The FFLC chapters do not take place concurrently with the regular chapters. If its not clear by now- the red energy between universes that Monika was seeing... that's Determination. Monitale has, in fact, been a sequel to the events of FFLC.
I should also clarify one other detail- the universe that Frisk was sent to is not the same one that our Monika comes from, BUT our Monika does go to Frisk's Undertale. As for why Monika doesn't exist in that DDLC timeline... Well...
Reviews first, shall we?
OriChar: Players existence has been officially acknowledged by someone other than monika, and now beyond the power to alter the undertale "game" within the abilities of its code, Asriel Dreemur has power even beyond that, and the next chapter will be in just 6 days
I dont know how to feel about undertale being 9 years old, on one hand thay feels short for how long ago i can remember it, on the other hand i can't even remember things from 9 years ago, and remembering how old i was back then really pulls me back on just how long its been, time feels so wonky and its going to be 2025 so much sooner than i thought.
I've got a question for you, are there any fandoms you recommend? I've gotten dragged through a lot since my ddlc obsession days, like omniscient readers viewpoint, and Omori, which are pretty great, and i wanna see if there's anything you can recommend that I'll be able to shamelessly consume (DDLC and Undertale are goated, so I trust you have amazing taste)
Also 3am, yay, can't remember if that's earlier or later than last time I read this fic, I just know if I sleep soon it's an improvement on my sleep schedule
Me: Actually, Player was acknowledged by Omega Flowey during his battle. Remember, "Powerful people" can see him. This included Omega Flowey and may have even included Undyne the Undying if we did Genocide. Oh but yeah, Eight SOUL Asriel is ridiculous compared to his usual self.
Haha yeah, time is a wacky thing. Sometimes I look back on my history and go "wow, I'm 23. That's fucking insane." And then I smile nostalgically for my high school years while thinking back to the year I first met Monika. It was a good time, a good life. Good memories. But the other crazy thing is- Undertale is almost ten years old and this fandom is still going. More dead than it was during peak years, but still alive. It fills me with hope.
Hmm... Well, I'm a big FNAF nerd but if you're on the internet and under the age of thirty, you are statistically likely to also be one of those so instead, I would consider getting into something more relevant to the modern day. Like I'm a big Jujustu Kaisen fan right now, and if you get started now you'll probably be in time for season 3 of the anime to kick off. Other than that, I'd recommend Chainsaw Man to people who like anime. But if you want something that emulates the hopeful vibes of Undertale while being a lot more adult and housing a darker tone, I'm personally a HUGE Life is Strange nerd. Otherwise, I got nothin.
Maybe I should start uploading these chapters earlier in the day or something... (And then I did)
setokayba2n: The great cliffhanger, good that I decided to check the last part to make sure I don't get too hooked and I can wait to read it everything once.
Even if I didn't read much, good job as always
Somehow I loved the final part in the debate "You are like a child" "I'm a child" he admit it, and the other part / "But you're not all the way right. I'm doing this because I'm bored but also... I'm doing this because I can." He looked at her and in those black eyes, Monika saw Player's own. "You know a lot about that, don't you, Moni?\\ In theory he is right as Monika never cared before about it and it was only thanks to player and exploring Undertale that she began to care
Me: Smart choice. I'll probably divide this chapter as well since its sitting at at least 20k, but for you, I'll upload both chapters on the same day like I did for Flowey. That way you'll have a trilogy of 10k word chapters to consume.
Thank you for your kind words.
And regarding the final piece of the debate- I'm pretty proud of that segment personally. Its a good example of Monika trying to use her head when combat doesn't work and having that blow up in her face because Asriel, thanks to having everyone's SOULs, also has their memories. He knows that Monika is sore about what she did, and hitting her there is perfectly evil. Also I got to point out that Asriel is literally a kid in an adult's body playing at being more mature than he is.
Guest1: And here begins my favorite battle of the game! Bring it in, guys! [Sans would love that one! ;)]
Monika channeling all her passion to use it against Asriel is ABSOLUTE CINEMA! I like tobelieve that he didn't make Monika bleed because now, he's thinking more like the child he once was and is no longer as crazy as he was as Flowey.
I confess that I found it funny when he said that he really was a child! LOL!
Monika VS Asriel: Simply the battle of the most wild fourth-wall enemies in games that everyone has ever imagined! Huehue!
I really liked how Passion here has its own style and is very different from Determination! It makes his narrative very unique!
I confess that I felt a little sorry when he said that Chara would probably kill him.
And the battle between Frisk and Chara is also pretty cool until now! You knew how to personify the saying "Chara is not the villain, you are!". Well, more or less, because she's crazy about Frisk's soul. But I suppose it's because she's as soulless as Flowey, and she's feeling empty and is no longer capable of feeling love.
You already know what your duty is in the next chapter, right? Recreate the feeling from the original game of making me cry with pity for the guy who kept bothering me and trying to kill me throughout my entire journey, hahaha! Just imagine then the two worlds colliding, and Chara and Asriel meeting again in the middle of their battles?! I would drown in my own tears!
And congratulations on getting to Asriel's battle. Few Undertale fics go past the Ruins or Snowdin. Looking forward to the conclusion!
Me: I hope you enjoyed my adaptation of it. I wanted this fight to feel way more "larger than life" than the other battles, so I hope I captured that well for you.
He did not make her bleed. Asriel is a less serious character, so his fight is itself less serious and the world reacts to that. Even if the stakes are high.
And yeah, I wanted to make it feel like Passion is its own thing compared to Determination. That's one of the reasons why Passion is fire while Determination is raw energy, it makes them both feel unique to their respective characters. Plus, while fire can be used to destroy, it is also a symbol of rebirth and new life flourishing where old life died- it adds to Monika's character by a lot. As for Asriel saying that Chara would kill him... Yeah, she would have. Genocide Chara is out of her mind.
Speaking of Chara, I really wanted to nail her characterization as being more than just "The Demon" of the fanbase. She isn't evil, she's just a consequence of your actions. Though in this case, she's a consequence of Frisk's rather than Player's. And you're right on the money for why she wants Frisk's SOUL so bad. That and the power.
Finally, while I unfortunately didn't get to have the siblings meet again, I DO hope that I managed to make you cry. I'll let you in on a secret- I sobbed while writing Monika and Player's reunion. So if you did too, don't feel bad. And I did it again when Monika and Asriel were sitting together. Just beautiful segments, both of them. I love it so much.
And thanks, I'm glad to be one of the few to get through the whole game. Makes me feel more accomplished.
Guest2: Possible Player Fight as Lost Soul:
[Tip]
*You give the Lost Soul a writing tip. He doesn't know why, but he feels grateful.
- This was never supposed to end this way.
[Sing]
*You sing a song to the Lost Soul. He feels nostalgic.
- You should have just brought them back...
[Confess]
*You declare your undying love for the Lost Soul. He don't know why, but he is blushing.
- Why can't you just understand...?
[Apologizes]
*You tell the Lost Soul that you feel sorry for everything bad you've done. Suddenly, the memories are coming back...!
- I forgive you, my dear! Keep going! I believe in you!
Me: This is so good that I wish I thought of it! Sadly, Player's Lost Soul portion was never planned to go that way. The current version is a bit more, er, anime, than originally planned, but that final kiss has been just about the only piece of real foreshadowing I've been doing since we started this. I've always known how Player gets free. True Love's Kiss.
But THIS is literally brilliant, I'm so unimaginably angry that I didn't think of it first.
And we're back.
So... Guess that's it, huh? Its finished. This is our last time speaking. I gotta admit, I'm sad to see you all go. This story has been my pride and joy for so long, and to see it finally come to an end is heartbreaking. I'll always love this place. I'll always, always love the memories of it. And so, with that all said...
Until Next Time True Readers!
...
...
...
Or... is it? See, I have a tradition. I always post something on the 22nd for Monika's birthday. But more than that... there's still one more story left to tell... And a few things to clear up. I'll be taking questions for the last time on September 22nd, 2024...