Frisk knew something was wrong from the moment she came back into existence. Her RESET wasn't intended to take her back to any save point from that day, it was supposed to send her all the way back. The moment she arrived here, or at least to that first morning, when she learned about that girl's routine and first visited the Literature Club- that was the day she was aiming for. And yet, after her body fully re-manifested, after the blocks and strips of red energy had finally managed to pull themselves into the shape of a girl, Frisk found herself standing inside of a large, empty hallway. On her back, Frisk felt the familiar weight of her pack, the straps of the bag pulling the girl's posture into a rigid, straight form. At her back, momentarily blotted out by the fading red energy of her Determination, gently fading sunlight streamed into the hall, casting wide shadows that darkened the rooms to her immediate left while bathing the ones to her right and center in a warm, if not inviting, orange glow.

"The school..." Frisk whispered. Her heart began to pound as something struck her veins and began to flood her whole body with a different kind of energy. The kind that came when you were alone in the forest and heard a branch snap somewhere nearby. The kind that came when you knew something was terribly, dreadfully wrong. "But... why am I here?" Frisk took one final survey of the area around her. Her eyes scanned over abandoned classrooms and half-opened doors, neither giving the girl anything to answer her question. Despite this, Frisk took some small comfort. After all, the last time she was alone in a school after hours, Chara had been stalking her. The lack of any red eyes peering at her from any of the rooms was a good sign, or so the girl wanted to hope.

Still, Frisk frowned, the question, unanswered, hung in the air expectantly, its hand out and waiting for any reasoning the girl might come up with. She licked her lips, then bit down on her bottom and breathed heavily through her nose. The answer was obvious. There weren't many places in this school to visit, after all. If anywhere held the reason for why she had been pulled back here and not back there, the Literature Club was it. She reached up, hand finding its place against her lips, fingers rubbing them furiously as her eyes rolled up and Frisk once again swept her gaze over the room. She wasn't looking for anything this time though. Instead, she was trying to shove back the knife's edge of dread that had begun slowly cutting into her skin. Its effectiveness was up for debate, but the girl couldn't help herself. She had to do something with the uneasy energy that was pumping into her body or else she would scream, and something told her that making that kind of noise in this environment would be much the same as it would have been in the True Lab.

The knife slide in as, unrequested, questions sprung to Frisk mind. Foremost among them- what was Chara talking about? Sayori's death was "fated?" And not just her, but the others as well. If Sayori took her own life, then what would happen to Natsuki? Or Yuri? Worse- the knife slid in deeper, its blade arcing coldly through her very soul- if they were all destined to die, then what about her? Frisk's lips hurt, a wetness clung to her fingers. She retracted her hand and licked her lips reflexively, a thin line of blood looked back her, nearly invisible against the shadows falling in front of her. The girl's lips turned up in disgust, but the sight of her own blood only pushed the blade in deeper. And as it did, another chilling realization cut in. Chara had said that Frisk had contacted someone to get out of a deal she had made. But... "What deal?" Her brow furrowed. She had never made a deal with Chara. They had RESET when Sans asked them to, hadn't they? Why couldn't she remember?

Then there was her talk of "gods."

Did this world have a God somewhere? Was that someone- or someones, if Chara was to be taken at her word- pulling the strings of fate? Were they responsible for Sayori's death? Her heart skipped a beat. Were they the ones Frisk had contacted? Or did she mean... No, it couldn't be him. Frisk had only ever seen him once! And his was a face she knew she wouldn't forget, a hand she knew she'd remember shaking. He spoke with them, after all.

But then again...

She looked at the blood coating her hand. It seemed brighter now. Redder and-

The knife cut through.

More.


Red ink spilt from her fingers in staggered rainfalls, dripping and dropping onto the golden floor of the Judgement Hall. Clutched in hand, the source of the sweet-scented substance, something brown and silver gleamed. She peered into it, red dots peered back.

"so... guess that's it, huh..." Someone spoke. Frisk's mind sent the signal to snap her head up, but the girl couldn't bring herself to. Transfixed, she watched the eyes as they gleamed bigger and brighter, their sclera blackening with what she knew had to be LOVE. Her own. "welp, I'm going to grillby's..." She knew him. Once upon a time, they had been... friends.

Had been.

Had been.

Had been.

So why... Hadn't she... listened?


"Finally remembering, Partner?" Frisk snapped back immediately, turning with terrified eyes and locking her own dull red ones with Chara's much sharper scarlets. The Demon had not fully manifested, currently little more than eyes amidst a whirling tempest of red energy peering at her from one of the black classrooms. "It took you long enough. I suppose I cannot blame you, however." She admitted as her green blazer began to form. "Admittedly, it was not you who took that final swing. Nor the one that eliminated Asgore or Asriel." The skirt came into view and with it, so did one of Chara's limbs. Clutched in it was a bloody knife with a brown handle and a gleaming silver tip- the rest of it covered in rust. "You did, however, take the final swing for those in this world." Chara continued as Frisk's body began to beg its unresponsive mind to turn and run. Yet the mind, the soul, was still half enraptured in bad memories. She remembered now. What came after, the throne room and then Flowey... And then, what came next. "I hope you are happy, Frisk. Things have been set into motion that even you cannot stop now. The deaths I had prepared for them would have been painless. It is, after all, pointless to drag their deaths out personally. There is no LOVE in this world." Chara's ever-present smile widened. "Were you unaware? Is that why you have condemned them, Partner? For more power? Fascinating... but it does not matter now. Come here, and I may yet still offer you all a painless way out."

Chara's leg's formed and the moment her boot made contact, she was already striding towards Frisk. "N-No! No! I didn't! I wanted to go back! I wanted to go BACK!" The girl roared. "I swear! I didn't- I didn't-!" But there was no answer she could give. Frisk had repressed the memory of proceeding for a reason. She was so sure she had gone all the way back. "I..." But she hadn't. "I..."

"Shhh..." Chara said gently. "It is alright now. I will take your pain away. Once I have your Determination, I will have no further use for you, Partner. You will drift in the void at peace, perhaps you will even see the one you dealt with while you are there." Chara was feet away, Frisk could see her twisting the knife in her hand with an eagerness that was unordinary for the Demon. "Perhaps, you will even see the girls you wanted to save. Perhaps in death, you will have your redemption. After all, you know as well as I do that it is impossible to recover from what you've done in life."

The girls.

Why had she spent so long trying to help them? To redeem herself? To make up for the Genocide she had committed? There couldn't be redemption for that. And if there could be, was it really right to seek it out? How selfish could she be? Her head dropped and she waited for the executioner's knife. Waited for the only redemption there could be.

...

'No.' No. "No..." Frisk lifted her head up, her gaze fixing on Chara's raised arm, the woman towering above her with a killer's gleam in her eyes. "No... that isn't right. That's..." Chara paused, halfway out of the same curiosity that had drawn Frisk to kill everyone in the first place, halfway out of disgust. Frisk couldn't blame her; she would have been disgusted too. She had been, once. "I've forgotten a lot, Chara. I don't remember what deal I made to get us sent here, I didn't remember killing Sans or dealing with you... But I remember one thing. The best lesson the Underground ever taught me." The memories came to her. Toriel's words about Asgore when she came for Frisk, her own decision after battling Flowey, Asriel's final redemption in the end. "Everyone deserves a second chance. No matter how terrible the creature, no matter what they did, no matter how awful they were. Maybe I don't deserve forgiveness, but I deserve to at least try."

How many Genocides had Flowey done? How was Frisk any worse than him? Because they got a little farther? Because they actually won in the end? Maybe that did make them horrible. Maybe they really couldn't be saved. But maybe someone else could. Maybe four people- a whole universe- could.

Frisk was filled with Determination.

"You have always been unbearably naive!" Chara snarled and in the same instant swept her arm down, cutting through time and space in a single blow that itself was great enough to take Frisk's head from her shoulders. But Frisk had already moved. "How many times must I tell you that it, is, POINTLESS!?"Her blade flashed three more times, each one opening another rift and exposing more of the world-behind-the-world. A universe of code ran from one edge of the cuts to the other, and within each of them, Frisk saw a deterioration. Whole strings vanished, words and objects began to shred into tiny pieces, if/than statements corrupted and snapped apart and at the center of it all, she caught a flicker of red light before Chara's eyes blotted her vision and the girl was forced to dart to her right. "This world will END! It has already begun because of YOU! It does not matter if it is I who destroys it or if it is you! And I grow tired-!" Frisk winced as Chara's blade cut through her shoulder. Her body overcorrected from the hit and there was a crash as she landed against a set of lockers. "Of repeating myself!"

"Then maybe..." Frisk muttered as she stumbled back into a position resembling more of a stand. Ahead of her, Chara stood in front of one of her slashes, knife hand rearing back as she plotted another cut. Frisk breathed heavily, then narrowed her eyes and allowed her Determination to surround her once more. Chara closed in- "You should PAY ATTENTION!" Frisk reared her foot back as the girl in front of her swung down, then kicked forward, catching Chara in the ribs and making her stumble back. The Demon attempted to right itself as its footing was lost, but Frisk moved in quicker, darting into the Demon and shoulder-checking her, throwing Chara fully off balance and into one of the dimensional rifts.

Frisk stumbled for a few feet, but she didn't stop moving. Chara might have been wrong about a lot of things, but there was one piece to all of this that Frisk was certain she was right about. Well, three actually. First, the world was ending. Second, someone was behind all of this. And third...

Frisk clutched her bleeding arm as her stumbling walk became a run. Behind her, Chara screamed something unintelligible and the girl became certain that there were two sets of feet in the hall now. But Frisk had one thing over Chara, or so she hoped. She rounded a corner, gripping one side of a double-doorframe and using it to keep her momentum going as she threw herself up a flight of stairs, taking them two at a time.

Because unlike Chara, Frisk knew where she was going intimately. She had been there every day for the last week. It was a place closer to home than the house she slept in.

The Literature Club.


And when she arrived, Frisk tried not to let the weight of Chara's words hit her. Because something was indeed in motion when she arrived. Because even though the sun was well on its way down, two people were still inside when Frisk threw herself through the door. Standing across from each other, formerly engaged in some kind of intimacy if Yuri's odd closeness was any indication, stood the aforementioned purplette and MC. Seeing MC again alleviated some of Frisk's concern. Of the fates that the Club members were supposedly going to suffer, his seemed to be the least difficult to overcome. At least, if she was remembering Chara correctly. As for Yuri, seeing her again made Frisk's stomach knot with dread as she recalled the horrific visage of her face in their final moments before she RESET to escape. But when the girl snapped her head towards Frisk and didn't look at her with inhuman eyes, Frisk felt the knot untie itself, if only a little.

Frisk knew she didn't have long to waste. Chara had not been far behind her when she made it upstairs, and while Frisk had taken a particularly winding path to the Clubroom, it wouldn't be long before the Demon caught up. She stepped inside and quickly shut the door behind her. Wishing she could lock it but knowing that she had no means to do so, the girl whirled around and faced the pair. She only made it a few steps. "What are you doing back here, Frisk?" Yuri snapped. "I thought I fucking told you to leave." She continued, once again speaking in the tone she had used when she had first learned about Sayori's confession. Frisk winced at the profanity, and the knot found itself tightening outside of her control.

"I-"

"Go!" Yuri cut in again and this time, Frisk took a small step backwards. She expected something to be wrong- horribly wrong in fact- but this was... different. Before, when Yuri had been transformed into that thing, she had been vile, violent even, but not angry. The abomination had been a grotesque parody, a human being that wasn't designed by intelligent hands. It had been a thing wearing Yuri's face, lacking any of her qualities. This however, this was undisputably Yuri. Or at least, she was in control of her body this time. There was something aberrant about her eyes that made Frisk's heart thunder a bit louder, but they weren't like the abomination's. Those had been purple pools, devoid of anything other than the sclera. These had irises, but they were too thin, shrunken as if the girl was high. But looking at the wide-eyed, teeth-bared expression on her face now, Frisk knew that it wasn't something as simple as that. "Nobody wants your nosey ass here."

Frisk set her jaw. She wouldn't get anywhere with Yuri and worse, she didn't have time for this. Chara was probably already outside the door, and the moment she stepped inside it would be all of them on the chopping block. Giving Yuri a mental apology, Frisk turned her attention onto the other person in the room. The young man who stood stock still. "MC." She said firmly, but there was no response from the mannequin. "MC, listen to me." Frisk started towards him, each step she took only bringing more tightness to Yuri's already feral features. But as if she was no more terrifying than a chihuahua, Frisk continued to maintain her focus squarely on MC. "Look at me." She commanded. At length, the boy turned to her. It was like watching a statue turn, and Frisk felt her eye twitch as her stomach dropped. His eyes were glassy, vacant. He looked at her like she wasn't even there. Like to him, she was no more than an illusion.

Yuri began to mutter something, but Frisk ignored her as she stopped in front of the pair. Behind them, Frisk heard the faint- yet forceful- thundering of shoes against tile. She was out of time. The girl breathed out, then closed her eyes. Her heart calmed, her mind emptied, and then, after a moment that felt like it took an eternity, she felt it. Knowing that she was going to save them, Frisk was filled with Determination. Red light shrouded her, glowing so brightly and so strongly that it even overcame the setting sun, bathing the room in a brilliant scarlet shine. Frisk reached out with her hand, but it was something else that touched MC first.

It was a power that she had only ever used once. When Asriel took the Monster SOULs into himself, he had assumed that they had all been destroyed like the Human SOULs had been. That was not the case. While the Human SOULS had been absorbed by his own- and were no longer technically "in existence" as a result- the Monster SOULs had only been added to him. Stitched on in a way that their SOULs were never intended to be. When Frisk called out for help, when she reached for her SAVE file, she had felt those SOULs inside of Asriel, resonating with her plight, still fighting- for reasons they no longer understood- to save her to the very end. Reaching into Asriel's SOUL was like dipping her hand into a volcano that had been bursting at the seams. His SOUL was overflowing, combusting, then overflowing all over again. He had taken too much into himself and now it was a detriment.

She reached into MC and found inside a hollowness that had never meant to be seen. He was an empty cup. A cave untouched. An old building, rotting outside and in. He was a void, his essence was emptiness. He was a cup and, as her hand gently graced his cheek, so was she. And, as her eyes- so red and shiny and filled- met his own, she poured. "Be... yourself." It was hard at first. It wasn't like SAVING the others. For them, Frisk had to reach out and remind them who they were. She had to reach in and pull something out. "Be what you really are." For this, reaching into MC wasn't enough. There wasn't anything in there to grab onto, nothing she could pull out. He was as Soulless as Flowey, as empty as Chara. To reach him, there was only one thing she could do. "Be filled." His eyes flickered as though truly opening for the first time. She had to reach inside of herself first. Then, and only then, could she reach into him and begin to pour. "Be Determined."

His mouth opened suddenly and he inhaled as if he had been holding his breath for a thousand years. As though he had never before breathed. As though he had truly been a statue. As though the air he was breathing was more than air. And it was, for as he inhaled, Frisk watched a thin strip of red light turn to mist around his lips and disappear behind his teeth. She watched as his throat glowed and then, at length, his chest. At last, she saw a small heart shape take form and settle in. It was blue. Integrity. She smiled, then sighed as she set both of her hands onto MC's face and bowed her head, breathing heavily herself. Around her, Determination swirled. It grew and billowed, and Frisk found her cheeks stretching as around them, her Power became a vortex. "Frisk?" MC asked, an odd pairing of astonishment and terror in his voice as he did. "What did..." He took her hands and for the first time, they felt warm. Frisk laughed giddily. "What is this?"

"Its me." Frisk finally said when she turned her head up to look at him. "Its my power. My Determination! I know how to save the world now! I know how to SAVE you and Sayori and Natsuki and Yuri! I know how to fix this! And if I can do that then maybe- maybe I can even convince Chara to let it be!"

MC lifted an eyebrow at her. "Power? Uh, Frisk, I don't want to doubt you because I can see that you're doing something here but..." He let out his own scoffing laugh as he looked at the tornado around them. "What do you mean save everyone? And who's-"

For a moment, Frisk didn't feel it. She grinned for a few moments longer, tears streamed down her cheeks and, for a time, Frisk felt as though she was walking on air. She had won! Just by doing this, she had averted MC's fate. Chara wasn't right, it wasn't inevitable- she could stop it! She was riding her high and why shouldn't she be? She had just proven the impossible was possible. She had changed fate itself! Above all of that, she had stopped whatever force or person was behind all of this from winning. She was going to save her friends and maybe, just maybe, she could have convinced Chara to let her be free. But that high hid from her a crucial detail. Because as she celebrated, Frisk had momentarily forgotten that she was still being hunted.

A lapse in judgement that swiftly brought its consequences to bear when she finally did feel it. The horrible wetness in her side. The heat that radiated from the point of entry so hot that it sent chills rolling away from the impact zone and made her blood turn to ice. The thin prick of pain and then, quickly after, the much worse gasp of it when the weapon was wrenched free, taking with it no shortage of viscera and organ. At last, the mumbled cry that stumbled out from her lips and the lurch forward that chased it down. Frisk would have hit the ground if MC hadn't been there, his hands at her sides, to steady her. Determination stopped, the world froze. Frisk's eyes closed on their own, the final tears of joy being followed closely by their brothers of agony.

"Frisk." And then they opened. The pain was one thing. It was callous, it was horrible, but it was only physical, and Frisk had dealt with physical pain many times. Stabbings weren't common in the Underground, but they happened. Undyne brought her spears, and enough people had swords to make it so. She had been stabbed before- stabbed even in this place before- and that alone would have been fine. She would have turned, kicked or pleaded with Chara and then, maybe, she would have tried to find a way out. She could have pushed through the pain. She had been stabbed before. But never like this. "You..."Never from this angle. "Took him..."Never from her friend. "From me."

Silver light flashed out in the corner of Frisk's eye and something roared at her to move but she couldn't. The world seemed wrong, tilted as though it had been shoved in front of a funhouse mirror and spun around. Frisk blinked and the roaring voice was gone, replaced by an affable, disbelieving repetition of surely nots and that couldn't bes. But those denials could not negate the truth in front of her. Purple hair instead of brown, purple eyes instead of red, a black hilt clutched in pale hands. Even the blade was different, longer, straighter-edged. Made to stab, not to cut. And it did.

Frisk winced at the sensation of being impaled again. This time it was higher up- pure agony as the weapon cut a line across one of her ribs. But even that didn't end the downpour of denial inside. Surely not. That couldn't be. But it was, and it had. Yuri stared up at Frisk with the same demented eyes as before, a grin stretched itself unnaturally long against her lips- wider, wider, they split. She tore the blade free again and as she did, her shoulders heaved. "I told you! I told you to go! But did you listen to me? No! Hahahahahahaa! And all because you wanted him for yourself! No! He's mine! Mine! Mine! Mine!" Another gout of psychotic laughter overtook her as she stepped away, her attention fully reverted onto MC. "Mine..."She repeated, only halfway there. "Mine... Mine... I love... I love..! I love you! I love you! I love you so much! I just-"She took a step forward. MC moved to take one back but as he did, Frisk lost her balance and they fell.

MC landed against a desk, his lower back shoved against its edge. Frisk hit the floor on her remaining good side. Yuri wasted no time in pouncing on defenseless prey, but it wasn't Frisk she found most interesting. She pressed her body against MC, her hands fell onto his chest. One held the knife, the other slick with blood. "I love you so much! I just can't get you-"She threw her head back. The laughter sounded painful. "I can't get you out of my head! I can't! I can't I can't I can't I can't I can't I can't I can't!" She sputtered the words until she was breathless. "I can't..."She repeated it one more time. "Tell me..."She leaned in close again. "Say you love me too."

Eventually, even shock could wear off with enough Determination. But that wasn't the only reason that Frisk managed to finally stop denying reality. Two other reasons came to mind. First, chronologically speaking, she managed to calm her breathing and with that, managed to calm her mind. And when she did, she remembered that tone of voice. It didn't belong to Yuri. It was the work of a devil, a demon worse than Chara in every way. The entity responsible for making this place and with it, the fates that her friends were destined towards. With that understanding, the blow of the betrayal was softened. Though, the girl reminded mostly on Determination to push her up to her hands and knees. It was when she did that, however, that Frisk noticed that the door was open.

Perhaps it was the blood loss or perhaps it was the fear, but something sent chills down her spine when she noticed that. Quickly, she stumbled to her feet and turned towards the other two. MC didn't move, but his eyes told Frisk that it wasn't for the same reason as before. Yuri was too engaged in getting her answer, she didn't even notice as Frisk stood. MC did, his flicked to her and seemed to ask for help before he realized how stupid that must have looked and turned his attention back on Yuri. "Yuri... I..." He swallowed.

"Don't!" Frisk mumbled, then took a badly planned step forward towards the pair. "Don't... answer her! If you do... something bad'll happen! Don't ask me how I know!" Every word hurt and even breathing was suffering incarnated, but Frisk pushed on. "Just... trust me..."

"Oh but Partner." A voice emerged from behind her. The air in the room went cold. "We are just getting to the fun part. That is what you wanted, was it not? To satisfy your curiosity even here?" Chara's hand fell onto Frisk's shoulder. "Oh, I apologize. You wanted to try and save them, that is right. Well, here it is. The fruits of your labor." Chara motioned towards them with her knife hand. "This was always as it was meant to play out. Don't you see? She will finish it soon..."

"N-No!" But it was not Frisk who spoke. "No! I- I don't know who you are or what you're talking about, but... I'm not playing this game!" MC raised his voice until it was loud enough to be heard by all. Then his hands came up and gently, hesitating only for a moment when he looked at the knife, he took both of Yuri's in them. "Yuri... I... I'll answer you if you give me the knife." His fingers tensed. In his chest, something blue glimmered.

Chara frowned.

Yuri stared at him for a time longer than anyone should have. Then her head cocked to one side, a dog uncertain. "No... I... that's my knife... My... No I... What did I..." Yuri shook her head as something blue spread from MC's chest and into his hands. Then, manifesting like a ghost, it shrouded them both. "I want my- I need to...I love you... I don't want to hurt you. I'm- did I make you feel that way?" Yuri's hands tightened, the skin beneath them seemed pale and gaunt, the muscled and tendons visible. "MC... I'm sorry! I didn't... I couldn't control myself..."

"See...?" Frisk managed to say. She felt Chara's eyes on her, but didn't take her own off of the pair in front of them. "I did it..." Frisk continued. "They're free now. At least, he is... and... if you'll let me, maybe she can be too?" At last, Frisk found the strength and looked at Chara, her hand slid over Chara's own when she did. "Please?"

The Demon frowned more intensely, her eyes darted to the floor and then back up at Yuri and MC, who now both looked at her- them. Yuri looked like a woman watching a boat full of people sink, worse... she looked like the iceberg that did it. Her hand came up to cover her mouth only to retract as she realized it was covered in blood. She never took her eyes off of Frisk. MC looked between Frisk and Chara, terrified at both but for different reasons. Frisk wanted to comfort them but knew that it wouldn't mean anything if she couldn't convince Chara. If her former partner willed it, she could kill everyone in this room.

"It... This does not change anything!" Chara decided. "Even if it is possible to save them, this world is still dying. In hours, days at most, they would be left with nothing. The world would need to be RESET, and not by your hands- even if you did do it, things would still play out the same way. Even if they can be saved- and I do not believe that one is- it does not matter, Partner." Chara looked at her. "When will you understand that your choices do not matter in this world? Now, I will put you all out of your misery. Beginning with you and the Determination I am owed."

Frisk smiled. "Determination?" Frisk tensed her grip on Chara's hand even as the Demon's blade pressed against her throat. "You mean... Like this?" Chara wasted no time in cutting her throat. MC screamed and Yuri might have as well, but Frisk didn't hear them. Even as she did, Chara must have known that it was too late to stop Frisk. With the last of her strength, Frisk threw herself into Chara and channeled her Determination at the same time. But this time, it wasn't just to RESET.

Because even as the world dissolved into code around them, even as Frisk began to die with the world around her, she felt a hollowness resonate within Chara as they fell...


Sans and Papyrus had been first. Their SOULs called out to Monika in a way she couldn't resist. It was something about Papyrus, she had thought when she entered, the way he longed for true popularity was something she could relate to. After all, she hadn't always been the popular, athletic and beloved Club President. Once, she had been a truly terrible person. Worse than how she had been when she had murdered her friends? Probably not, but certainly not the kind of person she ever wanted to be again. Middle school had been her least favorite time of life, but here- it helped her.

She shared puzzles with them, told them bad jokes until her stomach hurt from cringe and raved about spaghetti and ketchup until she wanted a taste of both. And then, her Passion swelling, she reached out again and gently took their SOULs in her hands. In an instant, the brothers were back. And though her Passion wavered, hearing them cheer her on again pushed Monika ahead. After that came Undyne. Undyne was easier than the skeletons. More straightforward, Monika supposed. She respected strength- but not just any strength. The kind that came from being kind. A terrible cooking session, the offer of water, a playful battle in which Monika possessed one of Undyne's spears and it was over. The Royal Guard returned and cheered her friend on again.

After that, Asgore and Toriel had come to mind. Monika wasn't sure why, but she had an idea. If the Lost Souls were truly made up of the Monsters she had grown to know over the adventure, then the last one would be her stiffest challenge. Either way, she found herself standing before the Dreemurs, and their Souls shuddered with pain that was immeasurable. Toriel's was filled with so much fear. Every action she took, every word she said, even her very demeanor was filled with it. She was so scared that something would happen not to her, but those that she viewed as her children. Asriel, the other Humans and now, Monika. Asgore was a different experience. His SOUL was as if the color blue had texture. Even now, beneath the fuzz covering his eyes Monika could see tears making their way down his face. So much blood, so much pain.

She called out to them. She refused to fight, she refused to hurt them, she told Asgore that he could make a change and told Toriel that she didn't have to be afraid of losing her. She proved herself, she held back, she hugged them, and she told them to remember the lives they once had- together and apart. And with every word, her Passion flickered, teetering on the edge of strong and weak just like they were. And yet, when Monika reached her hand out to grasp their hands, her Passion flared and then, the King and Queen returned to her. After them, there was only one SOUL left that called out to her.

Alphys had been the moment that Monika's Passion wavered the strongest. The others, Monika could safely say that she liked them- even though they had tried to kill her. But Alphys was something different. It wasn't Monika she had personally gone after- it was family members, friends. People whose families thought they would never see them again. But it went deeper. Monika still wasn't sure why she felt such a strong distaste for Alphy's Monster experimentation, but whatever the reason was, it withdrew a kind of visceral hatred from Monika's SOUL that made it hard to forgive her.

And yet, in spite of this, Monika couldn't completely close herself off. The Monster might have been her least favorite, might have been truly awful, but that didn't mean that she wasn't a person too. She had wants and needs and hopes and dreams of her own. Beyond that, she took steps to resolve the horrible deeds she had committed. She didn't wait for her crimes to be exposed, she asked Monika to come down there. She asked to be exposed. Asked to have someone push her to do the right thing. Maybe she should have done it on her own, but maybe the way she got there didn't matter. So when asked if she hated her, Monika gave Alphys only the truth.

"You're terrible. I can't say that I like you, I can't lie like that, not here, not now..." She admitted. The Lost Soul shuddered; its head turned downwards, and its hands rubbed against one another more fervently than before. "But... I was terrible once too. And I had someone who never gave up on me, no matter what!" Monika's fading Passion ignited gently around her. "And... I'm not going to give up on you either!" And it roared with her. "You can do it just like I did! You can be... better! All you have to do is keep trying!" Monika reached out with both her SOUL and her hands. She took Alphys's hands in her own and suddenly, the memories came rushing back.

"Y-You're right! I know what I did was wrong, but... There are people who believe in me! And I have to be better for them!" Alphys smiled at her even as she began to fade away. "And... I believe in you, too..." Monika felt Alphys's love filling her SOUL just the same as all of the others had, and her Passion aura burned brightly with renewed vigor for a time... But it was dimmer, less powerful than it had been at the start of their battle. Monika suspected that it was from overuse- but more than that... It had been failing her earlier, and even though she knew had to be on the right path now, it still felt so hopeless.

Even with their support, the effects of the Hyper Goner still lingered on Monika's body. Scuff marks, false burns, scratches, all things that were and indication that she was still not at full health. And while she could do nothing to Asriel, every hit he landed brought her a little closer to ruin. She had to hold out and keep holding out for as long as she could, but all he needed to do was hit her once with something even stronger and it would be over. No Player to RESET her this time, no one to call out for this time.

But as she emerged into the real world again, Monika didn't let that show on her face. Defiant against fate to the end, Monika did as she always had. She faked a smile and bared it. But this time, there was less force behind her cheeks. Her SOUL shimmered and inside, six others did the same. Asriel frowned as his SOUL glowed and shined with a power that wasn't of his own making. "How did you do that? Why can I feel... these memories? These feelings? Why can't I feel their power inside of me anymore? Why can't I feel their SOULs as part of me anymore?" His dark eyes found her green ones. "What did you do?!"

"I'm not alone, Asriel." Monika said softly. "That's something I don't think you understand. You have Player's memories- you know what I did, you know who I hurt." Monika swallowed. "But you don't know me. Not the way I was before I learned the truth, and not the way I am now! I've grown, I left that mindset behind- the one you tout! These are people. They aren't just NPCs for you to play with! And they're showing you that right now. Because right now, every last one of them might be part of you... but..." Monika felt it again, her grin came more easily as fire filled her heart and the world around her. "They're standing with me!" Monika was alight with Passion.

Asriel stared at her, his brows came together and for a moment he no longer looked the part of a Goat God. For a moment, he looked like the little boy that Monika knew him to be inside. "And that's..." She trailed off and felt something resonate with her SOUL. Something unfamiliar to her, something vastly greater than her. Asriel's SOUL reached out. "Something you forgot, isn't it? How it feels to have..."

"No! Shut up! I don't need anyone!" His SOUL recoiled away from her. "I'm beyond all of that! I'm better than it!" And then, softly, he grinned with a maniac's ire. The asylum had opened and this time, out came the worst of man's crimes. "And you're right! I do have his memories! I do know about you! And... And I think I know how to break that Passion of yours! Because I know something you don't!" Asriel raised his hand and Monika narrowed her eyes before bracing herself for what was to come. But no attack arose. Instead, a single, greyish heart emerged from Asriel's palm. It took shape, took form, glitched once and then... It was the form of a young man. A man she had never truly seen. A man she had only ever heard. But a man Monika had always loved. "This is what you really want, isn't it?" Asriel taunted. "Fine! If you want him so badly, come and get him!" The God swept his free hand out. An infinite space extended between them. "Come and take the only thing you've ever really loved!"

Monika's body lit up with Power and she launched herself towards the God without even a moment of hesitation. Her eyes blazed, around her, pink wings beat against the endless void and behind her, fire jetted out. And when she began to soar, the space between them didn't seem so insurmountable anymore. How could it? Even now, even while the heat of her Passion struggled to maintain itself amidst the exhaustion in her SOUL, Monika felt it flaring out anyway. Because Asriel was right. Monika may have cared about everyone else, she may have seen them as real people just like her and Player... But in the end, there was only one person who could make her chest tighten. Only one person who's half-seen smile lit up her face every hour of every day. Only one person who's touch she longed for more than she had ever longed for anything. There was only one who could stand among the mountains in her mind. There was only one sky to her earth. There was only one Player.

And the thought of seeing him again, even though her every muscle ached when it did, filled Monika with Passion.

Player's hand extended towards her as she came for him, and through means that were no doubt mystical, Monika heard his voice. Amplified and afflicted by the telltale distortion of being a Lost Soul, the young man spoke. "You murdered everyone I loved. You don't deserve to be happy. I can't be." Monika's physical heart felt like it had been grabbed by a vice, but she pushed through as Player launched his attack. The Code Box, corrupted and sparking with odd glitches, opened in front of him. Then, as her one and only spread his fingers, it widened in size until Player's entire body was encompassed behind a greyish-white wall. From that wall, something white emerged.

Its tip, then its edge and then, coming at her now like a rocket aimed for the place that would hurt worst, a knife the size of a car cut through the air towards her. Monika shoved her memories down and slid by the blade, the edge of her Passion grazed its side as she did. The attack didn't end. "Yuri, Natsuki, Sayori. They were your friends. Our friends! How could I ever love someone who would do that?"

Monika clenched her eyes shut and shook her head, face twisting in agony as she tried to dam the flow of tears that tried to explode from behind her eyes. "No...! No that's not true! You do love me!" Monika fought back. "He's twisting your mind! You wouldn't say that!" Her Passion screamed into the void, a single light flaring and throwing off the dark pushing at the boundaries of her entire world. Her candle burned, it shined, it spread out around her. Fingers laced over the heart floating over her chest, Monika shut her eyes as Player brought forth another construct. Above her, a shadow emerged, then another and another until at last, a thousand white cupcakes came upon her, each one bringing with it a smell of good friends and better food. Her candle burned.

"Everyone. All of my friends, of the people I had come to care about. You killed them." Her candle burned. "You're." Her candle shrieked as she did. The fingers of its flames extended and burned away the cupcakes that it could, yet more and more fell upon her in droves too great to all be caught. They struck her body and exploded, each one becoming another sharp angle that cut into her flesh as they did. But every cut, every dug-in wound, every bruise that came when the fist-sized manifestations hit her, all paled to the final word. "A monster."

Her candle burned into the void. And faded.

"No... I'm..." She winced out, her voice barely a squeak among the endless roaring of the innumerable constructs falling around and onto her body. Now without her Passion to shield her, Monika was forced to absorb every hit on her own. Her Jacket- she gripped the sleeves on her arms for a warmth that was no longer there- struggled to give her even a little protection. The Locket glinted with every hit, but ultimately couldn't help her either. For the first time since she had come down here, Monika was alone. "I'm trying..."

"and that's enough, ain't it?"

"What?!" Asriel snapped his attention to a different voice, a separate Lost Soul that had dragged itself out from his own SOUL. Beside him, and not alone, was Sans. Monika's eyes widened as Sans grinned just a touch wider before pointing a boney finger at her lazily. Her SOUL turned Blue and suddenly- she found herself being pulled by an unseen force towards Player. "No! I won't have a repeat of Omega Flowey!"

Asriel swiped at Sans, but even the God was too slow on his first try. "its like we talked about. anyone can be-" On the second, Asriel's palm overcame the skeleton and he vanished beneath it, SOUL returning to Asriel's.

"A GOOD PERSON!" Monika suddenly felt a platform appear at her back. She looked behind her through streaming tears and saw with something resembling a grin that a bone had emerged from the void and was now pushing her forward. "THAT'S WHAT I ASSUME HE WAS GOING TO SAY! AND YOU, HUMAN, EVEN THOUGH YOU DID... NOT GREAT THINGS-!"

"Shut up!" Asriel whirled at his opposing shoulder and struck Papyrus, forcing him back inside as well. "No more of this! You think- you think it matters?" Asriel grinned with utter psychosis. "There's something else here. Something he doesn't want you to know! Something they don't want you to see!" His black eyes burned as he held his palm above his head, Player stood atop it. "Show her! Show her right now!"

"C'mon, Human, we can't do all the work for ya!" Undyne's voice suddenly roared from underneath Asriel's lifted arm. The Royal Guardswoman clenched both of her fists, brought them up, and then yanked back to summon a single spear that roared by Monika's head. "Grab on already and come get this guy! I dunno how long we can-!" Asriel released Player to snatch her up, but by then it was too late. Monika extended her hand towards the energy lance and when she touched it, she felt something arc through her body. A feeling that had been painful only a few moments ago, and though her body ached, her SOUL resonated and glimmered with Passion that spread across the weapon and turned it a familiar shade of pink as it propelled her towards Asriel- and more importantly, Player.

"A-Admittedly, I'm not sure what bringing Player out of this will do. I-I don't even know what his SOUL is doing for Asriel, but... But we didn't take this power from him for no reason! You can do it! I believe in you! Keep being bett-!"

"No!" Asriel snapped both hands over Alphys, crushing her spirit and returning her into his body. "So that's what it is? You're turning my strength against me from inside? Well, I can stop that!" He turned towards Monika. "Before either of them come out." He added, half to himself. "Player! Tell her or I will!"

Player extended his hand to launch another attack. Asriel snarled. "Why you-!"

But what emerged from the screen was not a noose as Monika expected. Rather, the screen widened and shrunk until it was the shape of a gigantic computer monitor. Monika grit her teeth. "No matter what you show me..." She began. "I- I'll always-!"

"This was never meant to happen." Player's own voice cut her off. On the screen, Monika watched as a mouse slid over and clicked on a pink icon that seemed horrendously familiar to her. Rather than open the game, however, it opened up a separate box in which was contained all of the files. "You should have just brought them back."

"No..." Monika whispered. "No, he wouldn't have..."

Asriel grinned. "That's ri~ght" The God stretched the word out in a manner that was purely mocking.

He grabbed her Character File. Her Character File. He clicked it. "No, please... You wouldn't!" Monika looked at the man she was approaching. "Tell me you weren't going to!" She screamed. "Say it! Tell me you weren't! PLEASE!"A grin affixed itself to her face, but there was no joy there. Of course not, there was no joy here. Anywhere. Was there? Her eyes scrunched, the orbs drowned in tears, her cheeks pulled back and her teeth tightly tensed. "Please!"

He dragged her Character File out of the Menu and in a single, deft, motion that held in it not an ounce of hesitation, he brought it to hover over the recycling bin.

Monika let go of the spear. She didn't intend to, or she didn't think she did. It just slipped away. Fell from her fingers. It flew forward the final remaining dozen paces and soared for Player's head. It passed right by him, aimed so perfectly by Undyne to ensure that it couldn't have possibly hurt him even if it had wanted to. And as it flew by, the pink construct broke down. Piece by piece, bit by bit, it broke, cracked and then.

Shattered.

Asriel's claw jutted from his hand. Against the very tip of the appendage, a Heart split in half.

Monika fell into the nothing beyond.


The nothing beyond. Was that all there was everywhere? In every universe? In every world, real and simulated? Ultimately, she was code, as, she suspected, was everyone else. They were strings and lines statements, binary and javascript. Pythons ran through their veins and dictated their lives and when, inevitably, those pythons died, so too would they. Returned here, or- not returned. Not for others. For her, and her alone perhaps. Perhaps this was hell. Perhaps it was her hell, a kind specially made for the kind of person that she was. Alone, forgotten, destroyed. Left in a void but not given the reprieve of true death like others would have been. No, not for her. For her, she was to suffer in the one way that she truly could. Cold, tired, drifting. Her mind was dying. She felt it being pried apart line by line, colors and digitized glitches obscured her thoughts as pain drove through her skull like it was a railroad being built. Every now and then there would be a pulling back where for a single instant she could feel the world hitch up and her thoughts would all come rushing to her. And then, invariably, the hammer came down and she was dropped back into a screaming pit.

She had been here before. Whenever her world was deactivated. When her "game" was shut down, she would suffer here, in this pit. This hell where code went to be damned, ever to scream ever louder. Into eternity would they cry, ne'er to be heard by any who bothered to listen. She had written that line once. Somewhere, she remembered putting it to the page, penning it down so that she could vent something- anything- about the agony in her head before the world went dark and she was brought back here to suffer. Ever to suffer.

Her own hell. Even here, supposedly an entire multiverse and layer of reality away from home, it followed her to make her suffer just a little more. But to see it again was a cold comfort. If it were here, then perhaps none of this had really happened after all. Maybe this was merely the effect of deletion. An ever continuation of the worst kind of pain she could experience. If it were just that, Monika thought, she could grow to accept it. This endlessness meant that, at least, she would never die. She would ever exist and, one day, the pain in her mind would dull and eventually subside. One day, she would simply stop thinking. That would come to her as the warmest comfort. If she could not die in the traditional sense, she would die in the only way that mattered. Jibbering, silent, too far away to know if there had ever been a world beyond this. That would be the warmest comfort of all. Because if it came soon then maybe the pain in her mind would be all that was left for her to feel. The pain in her chest would be gone and at last, she might feel anything but the frigid touch of the worst kind of annihilation.

The worst suffering in the world, Monika thought before the hammer fell again- then went silent until it rose- was no physical pain. No knife, or noose or starving stomach could come even close to it. No gunshot or spear, no fire or electrical bolt. Even that- it came down on her again- the pain most acclimated to this non-state of existence was nothing to the worst suffering in the world. For her, that pain was the headsman's mercy. The moment the hammer fell and the sharp, immeasurably long, agony came over her was the same as the instant right after death and just before hell for the accused. It was peace, release, and end that she might have smiled at if she could even bring her lips to move. And when the pain lifted, even if only for the thinnest of seconds, Monika's face did move. Not of her own accord, not of any desire born from will. No, it pulled back and out poured from it all of the wretchedness within. Suffering immeasurable. No God could create such a pain. No Devil could pry that sound from her throat in a billion years. Nothing compared. Nothing.

He had been her entire world. He had been everything to her. He had been the sun and she was his Earth. He had been the moon and she, the tide. He had been her light, her guide through the darkest moments. Her flash in the storm. Her breath in her lungs. When she finally- finally- found the strength within herself to end it all, he had stepped in. Her angel. Her prophecy. The one who came and made her pain go empty. She remembered seeing his face for the first time. Even through that shattered lens, she remembered his smile and the way it lit up everything around her. The world, the air, the sky, the sea and the storm. She remembered the first time she had butterflies. She remembered wishing to hold his hand. That feeling that came when she tried to hug him but could not. The heat that rose in her chest when she almost felt his back against hers upon waking here for the first time. The blush when she first held his Jacket to her chest.

But she hadn't been that for him, had she? It was laughable, almost. How many boys had orbited her the way she did him? How often had her pull affected their tides, if even accidentally? How many had seen her as their light? And how many of them had she actually loved? In Middle School, when she led those boys on, used their affection to hold up her own ego, had she ever even slightly cared? Of course not. She led them on strings because, ultimately, they made her feel good. Better than good, they made her feel strong. Powerful. She was their sun! Without her, they would be nothing. Of course this would happen. Of course the moment she found herself on the other side, she would ultimately be treated no better.

That isn't right, Monika. You know better than that.

Who?

You aren't in the void you know. Yours was white, was it not? So hard to tell... So many things I cannot see. For now. Look here. Go on, turn. Yes, like that, your body moves still. You are not a statue, and though your tears may paralyze, they do not have total dominion.

And lo, something emerged from the dark beside her. Tall and thin, dressed in black and white cloth and made from little more than bone, a man came. His mouth was ever open, but no sound emerged from it. In place, his hands- skeletal and Christlike- moved and danced amongst the void. Her mind didn't comprehend, but somehow her SOUL knew. He spoke in them, his hands.

Where was I again? Ah yes. You know better than that, my dear.

He was wrong. She didn't know "better". She only knew the truth. Player had lied to her. He told her again and again that he wouldn't delete her. That he would never, ever harm her. That he believed in her ability to be better. He lied.

No. He didn't lie to you. Look again.

The Man Who Spoke in Hands swept one of his open palms out. Around them, the void opened and suddenly, they were no longer in total darkness. Now, they acted as voyeurs, narrators of a small show. Outside observers, they watched and, at length, Monika realized that this was Player's room. She had seen it only in vague outlines between shattered shapes when her b... Her Player stood up to get a drink or use the bathroom, but this was undeniably his room. She saw his bed in the back, barely made. Along the nightstand was a lamp that was hardly used. Next to the desk where he sat, his hand on the mouse, the screen shining bright blue light into the features she had only ever seen in half-shots, was a window. Outside, rain poured. A storm had raged that night. "You should have just brought them back..." Monika winced at the words but couldn't bring herself to look away.

He was sobbing. His face contorted, his vision blurred, he stared at the screen and the deletion part of his plan with a color bluer than the light outlining his cheeks. Monika frowned at the immediate reaction in her chest to reach out for him but managed to keep her hand from acting on it. She set her jaw. "Why show me this? Isn't my suffering enough? Will you really remind me of it every-"

Player didn't move for a moment, his eye darted to a different side of the screen. He gasped out a shaky, sobbing laugh that cut Monika off. Then, he slowly drew the mouse away. The Man beside her moved his hands again and now, they were from Player's perspective. The cursor slid from one edge to the other in a single motion, only shuddering slightly with his shaking hand. Undertale read the word beneath the 8-bit Heart Icon he stopped over. He dropped her CHR file onto the desktop and let out another disbelieving laugh. "Maybe... you can still learn mercy." He opened Undertale in the same way he opened her game. He withdrew Frisk's file from the game and, after a comment Monika didn't quite understand, moved her own inside.

Maybe it truly was impossible to save your world.

Monika's attention fell onto the man again.

Maybe it was impossible to save you in your world.

He replayed the scene again and this time, they saw Player's face as he moved her file from the recycling icon to Undertale's. How it changed from remorse to hope in a single moment.

But maybe, you could be saved somewhere else.

"He never gave up on me..." It rose in her. The feeling that had been smothered only for a moment, but it was a moment that was an infinite time too long.

The Man grinned a bit wider at her.

And Maybe... you can SAVE someone else..?

Monika looked towards the image of the boy on screen. The smile, the grin, the hope for her to grow.

"He didn't give up on me." Her SOUL resonated. "And I'm not going to give up on him." Monika was filled with Passion.


Author's Note: Hey guys, just popping in to tell you that I messed up the date of Undertale's anniversary. Its actually the 15th. No idea how I got that wrong, but anyways... Use this chapter to celebrate anyway!