Chapter 19
Packing away the last of the library books, Frisk blew her bangs out of her eyes. Sans and Papyrus had left half an hour ago, and the plan was to meet them at the rendezvous by sundown the next day. The only way Frisk could remain calm was to keep working so that she didn't have time or energy to worry.
"Thank you so much for your help," the librarian said as Frisk tucked the last of the boxes in the red wagon the monster would use to transport them.
"It's nothing," Frisk replied. "It would be such a shame to lose all these books."
"Nothing worse than lost knowledge," the librarian agreed. He said nothing else as Frisk bade him a farewell and walked out into the snow.
Snowdin Two was practically bare. No longer did it appear to be the warm, welcoming town Frisk had come to know. Anxiety made the air tense. Monsters were skittish. It was practically a house of cards waiting to collapse at any second.
"They found us sooner than we thought," Chara mused suddenly. Frisk froze and looked at him. He noticed her staring and pointed to the distance. "Over there."
It was just a small shadow, but Frisk knew what she was seeing. An army. Running over the mountains like blood flowing down and soaking into the snow, the Reds were coming.
The house of cards began to fall.
Thinking came later. Frisk bolted from the library and waved her arms. "The Reds are coming! The Reds are coming!"
Left and right, monsters saw that what Frisk said was true. Many began to panic. Few tried to maintain order. There was no waiting till morning to calmly leave anymore. Everyone had to get out now.
"We need to leave!" Frisk exclaimed as she burst through the inn entrance. Beatrix and Alice both cast Frisk surprised looks.
"The Reds will be here any minute!" Frisk exclaimed in a breath.
Beatriz immediately jumped into action. "Alice, you and Frisk help me gather everyone. We have a few underground tunnels we designed just for this, and it's important we get kids and the elderly out first."
"'Out first'?" Frisk questioned even though she already knew what Beatrix meant.
"Not everyone is going to escape by the time the Reds arrive," Alice supplied.
"And those who are still going to be here need to be able to fight to protect those who cannot," Chara added.
There was no coherent order to all that came next. Other than a few previously assigned caretakers, the only monsters to rush out of the village through the underground tunnels were the very young and the very old, each monster carrying a pack of the necessities they could not live without. It would only be a matter of time before the Reds came upon Snowdin Two.
"Frisk," Alice had tried more than once, "you need to get out of here and go with the others. It's you the Reds want. They won't hesitate to kill you."
"I'm not leaving until everyone else makes it out safely," Frisk retorted each time. "It's my fault the Reds are here. I should stay behind until everyone else can escape."
Alice never argued, but it was clear she disapproved of Frisk's decision.
With the Reds coming in quickly, it was chaotic getting everyone out in time. Beatrix, Peter, Doge, Alice, and Frisk all helped in the exodus of the young and old, and other monsters prepared to protect the borders. It had only been five minutes, but it felt more like five hours as everyone tried to get so much done before the Reds closed in.
"They shall be here any minute now," Chara told Frisk after she helped an elderly monster couple inside the library to use that underground tunnel.
"Any minute is a minute too soon." Frisk looked around, searching for anyone who might still need to flee. Many monsters would stay behind to fight off the Reds while those who already escaped traveled someplace safe. However, those many monsters were still too small an army for the oncoming Reds. The realization of how much ash would mix with the snow before all of this was over made Frisk's stomach twist.
"I think that's everyone," Alice breathed as she ran up to Frisk. "We should-"
"I can't find her!" Mon ran up to them, breathing heavily. Panic etched into her demeanor, Mon looked around frantically as she exclaimed, "My sister is missing! Our parents haven't seen her, and nobody's seen her enter the tunnels!"
"Mon, Mon, honey, relax," Alice tried to sooth. "There's a lot of disorder going on. Nobody's sure where anyone is right now. I'm sure Carla is safe in the tunnels."
Mon shook her head so hard Frisk was afraid it would roll off the monster's shoulders.
"I don't think she's in the tunnels," Mon explained. "She wouldn't go without me. I just know she's running around here somewhere, trying to find me but can't."
Biting her lip, Alice racked her brain for something to tell Mon. They needed to leave, but Mon wouldn't so much as step inside unless she knew her sister was safe and away from danger. Alice didn't know if there was any way to convince Mon to escape and simply trust her sister was already someplace safer than here.
"We'll do a quick run through of the village," Frisk said, thinking fast. "If she's nowhere to be found, then Carla would have to already be in the tunnels. There's nowhere else she would be, right?"
Stiffly, Mon nodded. "Are we going to stick together or split up?"
"We need to stick together," Alice mused, "but we can cover more ground if we split up."
"I'll be the one to split off," Chara told Frisk. "You three need to stay close."
Frisk looked at him, hoping to convey in her subtle expression how grateful she was he would choose to help. Time was of the essence, and Chara was the only one who didn't have the limit. Besides, there was no way he and Frisk could ever lose each other.
"We should stick together," Frisk decided for the group, "but we need to go now."
Frantically, the three girls ran around in search of Carla. They asked every monster they could if they have seen the smaller, armless monster, but the only answer they received was a grim shake of the head. The Reds would be upon the village at any moment, and they would have to leave with or without Carla.
"Stripes!"
Frisk looked in the direction Chara called her. He pointed behind him.
"The river!" he shouted.
"We should check the river!" Frisk exclaimed, not stopping to consider if this was another of Chara's tricks to get her killed. If it was, Frisk would make sure that next time she found Carla before the Reds came into sight.
Alice and Mon didn't question the suggestion. The three of them ran to the river, not truly realizing they were leaving the remaining safety of the village. This was a give everything or nothing at all situation.
"Carla!" Mon cried out as if in pain. "Carla!"
"Monika!" The girl's voice was laced with panic as it echoed from the distance. "Help me!"
"Carla! I'm coming!" Mon burst forward, leaving Alice and Frisk behind.
"Mon, wait!" Alice bolted after her friend, leaving Frisk to struggle to keep up, but she was not as fast a runner as her monster companions, and her friends quickly fell out of sight.
"It is a trap," Chara then said, close enough to Frisk now that he didn't have to shout.
Freezing in place, Frisk didn't care if anyone else heard her as she turned to Chara and shouted, "And you're just now telling me?!"
"I could only hear her cries before. I did not see the Red until you were close enough for me to push my boundaries," Chara argued. "Think, Stripes. If you walk right over there, it's the end. Game over. What can you do now to make sure you do not have to relive this all over again?"
Biting her lip, Frisk thought fast. There wasn't much she could do. However, her options were better when she stopped thinking of plans that required only her.
"Chara," Frisk began, determined, "how would you like to make a new friend?"
Slowly but surely, Frisk approached the river. Mon and Alice were stuck in place, as if their feet were frozen to the ground. In front of them, to Frisk's horror, was Carla held at knifepoint by a strange cat-monster.
"So," the Red purred, "the human has arrived."
If Frisk was wearing the locket, she knew Chara would have made some sort of snide comment about the monster. "This is the scary monster we have to deal with? Wait, never mind. Knowing you, Stripes, this monster is still too much for you to handle."
Frisk didn't know which was worse: Predicting what she was certain Chara would say, or missing that he wasn't around to add the commentary himself.
"Let Carla go," Frisk said, trying to sound brave but failing epically. It wasn't that the monster looked threatening for Frisk to quaver. It was her own lack of faith in herself keeping Frisk back.
The monster grinned, as if to say, "Or what?" There really was nothing terrifying about the monster. She was actually pretty cute. A small, thin pink cat with thick red hair decorated by an oversized pink bow, large green eyes with dark lashes, a red collar with a big silver bell, and a red dress and white petticoats that looked like something a doll would wear. The monster was only little taller than Carla, whom she had one arm wrapped around the younger monster's waist as the other held the knife under Carla's chin. Based on that height difference, Frisk assumed the monster was about as tall as she was.
"Come quietly," the monster ordered in a voice as smooth as silk, "and the child won't get hurt."
"Monika!" Carla exclaimed, and the cat-monster pressed her knife harder against Carla's throat.
"Don't!" Mon cried, fear stricken. Gone was the tough girl act. Mon looked ready to charge at the cat-monster to save her sister, and she probably would have if Alice wasn't holding her back by the collar of her turtleneck.
Seeing no other options, Frisk began to walk forward, past her friends. Alice called Frisk's name, but Frisk ignored her. She couldn't bear to see the worry undoubtedly etched into Alice's demeanor.
"Let the girl go," Frisk said when she was three feet away from the Red.
"No, no, no," the monster tsked, "that's not how this works. I'm the one with the leverage. I'm the one making threats."
She waved the knife over Carla's throat for emphasis. Carla merely whimpered. "I think that means I get to be the one to make demands."
It's now or never.
Holding out the locket, Frisk said, "You're not the only one with leverage. Let the girl go, or I'll toss the locket into the river."
"You think I care about a measly locket? Ha!" The cat-monster showed all her pointy teeth. "Why should it concern me what you do with that child's toy?"
"It should concern you, Red," Frisk said, never sounding so strong in her sixteen years of life, "because my soul is trapped within it. Without my soul, I'm useless to you, right?"
The cat-monster furrowed her brows and pursed her lips. "Your soul is trapped in the necklace? How?"
"Through magic, of course."
"Impossible." The monster sneered. "Humans cannot use magic."
"That's debatable," Frisk said, unwavering. "It was human wizards who concealed you monsters Underground, and the wizards used magic. I am one of those wizards, and I used my magic to extract my soul and safekeep it within this locket."
Meeting the cat-monster in the eyes, Frisk demanded, "Now let the kid go, or the locket will be thrown to the bottom of the freezing river. Don't test me either, cat. I don't need my soul as much as monsterkind does."
When the cat-monster hissed, Frisk knew she had her cornered. Maybe she was fooled, or maybe she wasn't, but the cat-monster clearly did not want to take any chances. With a flick of her tail, the monster removed her knife from Carla's throat and pushed the kid away.
"Carla!" Mon exclaimed, ready to rush towards her sister but still being held back by Alice.
"Monika!" The smaller, pink and purple monster ran towards her sister, tears streaming down her face. "I'm so sorry! I should have went straight to the tunnels, but I was looking for you. I didn't mean to get caught."
The sisters embraced in what seemed to be an armless hug. Carla kept apologizing, and Mon kept insisting it was okay. No longer concerned about Carla, Alice locked her attention onto Frisk. Eye contact could only be maintained for a moment before Frisk had to look away. She could only hope Alice would use this opportunity to usher Mon and Carla to safety.
"A deal's a deal, human," the cat-monster snarled, paw outstretched as she approached Frisk.
Holding her ground, Frisk agreed, "So it is." With great reluctance, she dropped the locket into the monster's waiting palm.
"Where do you think you're going?" the monster asked when she noticed Frisk trying to retreat. "Soulless or not, you're still coming with me."
"That wasn't part of the deal," Frisk answered, but the bite was nearly gone.
"New condition," the cat replied, "come with me, and I'll let your friends go. Resist, and I'll kill them before your very eyes."
Frisk didn't so much as glimpse behind her to see how the others were responding to all of this.
"Then may I have my locket back?" she tried. "I feel rather empty without my soul."
"Hmm, I don't think so." The monster smiled as she threw the chain of the locket over her head and let the red heart sit on her chest. "This should stay close to me, especially since I think it goes great with my dress."
The monster's ears perked up then, hearing something Frisk did not. Turning around, the monster hissed and demanded, "Who are you?"
Silence, then she snarled, "What did you say to me?! Wait, get back here!" The cat-monster began running, chasing something the others could not see or hear. Yet Frisk knew what the monster saw and heard, even if Chara was currently as invisible to Frisk as he was to everyone else most of the time.
"Run, now," Frisk ordered her friends while the Red vanished into the woods.
"What about you?" Alice asked as Mon and Carla only stared at Frisk.
"I . . . I have to get my locket back," Frisk answered, wishing she didn't feel as empty as she did without Chara by her side.
"It's just a locket, Frisk," Alice whispered, stepping towards her.
"You don't understand, Alice." How could you understand? Fighting back tears, Frisk said through the lump in her throat, "That locket was the last thing Mom ever gave me."
"You two need each other now."
Toriel wanted Frisk and Chara to stay together, although for what reason, Frisk didn't know. It wasn't as if Toriel knew how Frisk and Chara would interact. They barely got along, and moments in which they tolerated each other were rare. Yet Toriel insisted they needed each other, and in that moment, Frisk began to wonder if there was some truth to the comment after all.
"Trust Chara. He will be there for you like no one before him has."
In so many ways, Chara was the least trustworthy person Frisk had ever met. In other ways, Chara really had been there for her in incomparable ways. Not simply because they were forced to be together whenever Frisk wore the locket, but because in his own twisted, sick way, Chara did care. Worse yet, in her own nearly as venomous way, Frisk cared for him, too. It was a messed up relationship – toxic, even – but Frisk couldn't bear to give it up.
"Is this really worth your life?" Alice asked, oblivious to the mental struggle inside of Frisk's head. "Would your mom really be okay with you throwing your life away for some kid's toy?"
Flinching away from Alice's outstretching hand, Frisk answered, "I can't tell you why, but that 'kid's toy' really is this important."
Alice frowned and whispered, "Does it really have your soul in it?"
Not knowing exactly why she did, Frisk replied, "It does," before turning around and chasing after the cat-monster.
When Frisk came up with the plan for Chara and the Red to engage in a cat-and-mouse sort of chase, Chara didn't expect the Red to be an actual cat. Or this cat-monster, at least.
The plan was simple enough, but even then there was no guessing its success rate. Frisk would trick the Red into wearing the locket, the Red would as a result see Chara, and Chara would annoy the Red and make it chase after him into the woods so that the others could escape. The Red didn't know Chara couldn't go far from the locket, and the Red didn't know she couldn't touch Chara if she tried. She was engaged in a wild goose chase. The hilarious part was she didn't even realize it.
"When I get my hands on you," the cat-monster kept threatening. It was almost shocking to hear such gruesome, intense descriptions of what she would do to Chara come out of her pretty face, in a voice as sweet as the ringing of a bell.
"Somebody definitely likes horror movies." Chara stopped running and stood in front of a tree. He grinned at the charging Monster. "Go ahead, rip me apart. I dare you."
Not even stopping to wonder why Chara would stand still and wait for her, the Red kept running towards him. Her arms were open wide, perhaps to tackle him. A wicked smirk took over her furry pink face.
Then she ran right through Chara and crashed face first into the tree. Howling, the Red began shouting a stream of curses. Chara merely laughed as he took in the swearing cat as she placed a palm over her flat nose.
"I forgot to mention," Chara replied coolly after he stopped laughing, "you cannot touch me. Kind of a big part about my being nothing more than a soul."
"Soul. The human." The Red cursed again. "This was all a trick!"
"Not a horrible one." Chara shrugged. "I am still a human soul. I am just as valuable as the girl's. Actually, I'm probably a lot more valuable to King Asgore than that weakling."
Recognition finally overtook the Red's features. She stared at Chara, eyes traveling up and down his body. Her lips turned downwards in a scowl.
"Prince Chara," she greeted as if she was reciting a list of deadly poisons.
"Darcy," Chara returned. He didn't recognize her the first time he saw her, but there was only one person he knew who used that kind of strong language.
"It's been a long time."
"How long?"
The cat-monster narrowed her eyes. "A hundred years."
If Chara still had a beating heart, it would have stopped as he tried and failed to not look surprised. A hundred years. . . .
"You certainly changed a lot this past century, Darcy."
"While you haven't changed at all. And I go by Mew Mew now."
"Mew Mew? Never mind. Now that you know about me, what do you plan to do?"
"Hmm," Mew Mew swished her tail back and forth, "an excellent question indeed. What do I want to do with you? Well, other than hurt you in all the ways you hurt me."
Chara grimaced. Dying with enemies was bad enough, but having an enemy who spent a century nursing a grudge was so much worse. Perhaps he would finally get what he deserved.
"Hey, you!"
Both Chara and Mew Mew looked towards the direction from which the voice came. Standing ten feet away was Frisk, a tree branch the size of her arms in hand. She didn't look scared as she shouted, "I want my locket back!"
That idiot or What does she think she's doing? weren't the thoughts that popped into Chara's head at the sight of Frisk. Instead his first thought was, She came for me. It was a strange thought that puzzled Chara more than why Frisk would even try to get him back in the first place.
"Nah," Mew Mew said, showing Frisk a taunting smile. "You gave it to me, remember? No givesies backsies."
"I will tear it from your throat if I have to," Frisk threatened, holding the branch up higher.
"Look," Mew Mew began in a way that sounded as if she was looking out for Frisk's best interest, "I don't know why you want to hold onto the soul of Prince Chara," Frisk visibly flinched at the sound of his name, "but I can assure you of this: You're better off without him. Prince Chara and I knew each other when he was alive and I wore a different body. I know full well that he's a liar, a manipulator, and a murderer. Leave him with me. Turn around, and walk away. I'll let you live. No tricks."
For a minute, Frisk seemed to be considering what Mew Mew said. Chara didn't blame her. Mew Mew was right to say that Chara was all those things.
Yet Frisk glared at the cat-monster, gripped the branch tighter, and said, "Chara's a lot of awful things, but that doesn't mean I'm going to just walk away so easily."
"Do you even know the kinds of terrible things he's done?" Mew Mew challenged.
"What does that matter?" Frisk returned. "There's nobody I want to strangle more than Chara, and sometimes I fantasize about throwing the locket into the river just so I never have to see him again. Yet like it or not, Chara and I are in this together. As much as we can't stand each other, there's no way I'm continuing on my quest without him."
"That has to be the nicest thing you have ever said about me, Stripes," Chara said, more surprised than anything. It wasn't until he noticed Frisk's lack of response that he recalled she couldn't hear him while Mew Mew wore the locket or realized that the Red just heard what he said.
"Looks like it warms that cold, dead heart of yours that somebody's willing to give you a chance after all you've done," she taunted Chara. "Reminds me of somebody. Who, who, who? Oh, yes. Your mother."
Chara snarled but said nothing.
"Leave Toriel out of this!" Frisk snapped.
"Oh, that's right," Mew Mew mused, "she raised you too, didn't she? I wonder, Chara, does that make you and this human brother and sister, in a way?"
"Chara is not my brother," Frisk hissed.
"Yet you insist on taking the locket back." Mew Mew giggled. "You truly are Toriel's child. She died to protect you, and now you will die to protect Chara, right?"
Lips quivering, Frisk slowly asked, "How do you know Toriel's dead?"
Chara wished he could drag Frisk away. Or maybe cover her ears. Anything to keep her from hearing the truth.
Grinning wickedly, Mew Mew answered, "I know because I killed her."
Frisk paled whiter than the snow. "No."
"Yes." Mew Mew pulled a knife from her skirt pocket. "And now I'm going to kill you just as I killed her." Mew Mew lunged.
It was habit by this point for Chara to shout at Frisk to get out of the way, but his words were left unheard by the person they were meant for. Fortunately, Frisk anticipated the attack. She side-stepped and swung the branch at Mew Mew's head.
Then she proceeded to scream when the head rolled off the body.
Mew Mew laughed, unfazed.
"Nice try, human." Her body walked towards her head, picked it up, and placed it back onto her shoulders. Smirking, Mew Mew said, "You can't hurt me while my guard is up. I'm a ghost who has fused with this body, and you can't kill a ghost."
Helpless to do anything other than watch as with every other time before, Chara observed as Frisk and Mew Mew battled. Well, Mew Mew fought while Frisk was on the defensive. Yet the fact she couldn't kill Mew Mew must have been an encouragement of sorts to the pacifist Frisk. Whenever Mew Mew left an opening, Frisk took it and attacked her with the branch as if it was a sword of sorts. Mew Mew's head would occasionally fall off, but all the cat-monster had to do was reattach it, and she would be good as new.
"Aren't you the cutest thing?" Mew Mew giggled, slashing at Frisk with her knife. "You really think you can beat me, don't you? Even the exiled queen was no match for me!"
"Stop talking about Toriel!" Frisk exclaimed, swinging harder in her rage.
"Aw, you don't like that I killed your mommy?"
"Shut up!"
It was gradual, but Chara noticed something inside of Frisk changing. The more Mew Mew mentioned Toriel, the more effort Frisk put into fighting. After seeing Frisk combat with Undyne so many times, Chara could tell when Frisk was getting frustrated. This was not frustration. Frisk's clenched jaw and bulging veins conveyed enough. Sometimes she would scream in rage whenever she swung the branch, hitting Mew Mew hard enough to send her flying.
It wasn't the fact Mew Mew couldn't die that encouraged Frisk to actually fight. It was Frisk's hatred for the monster that fueled her, and Mew Mew's inability to be killed was the greatest cause to Frisk's frustration. For someone like Mew Mew, Toriel's killer, there would be no mercy.
After spending so much time encouraging Frisk to fight, Chara was surprised to see that he didn't like seeing her finally listen to him.
"You are a pesky little thing, aren't you?" Mew Mew hissed, clearly irritated that she could not land a blow on Frisk. "Why don't you just stand still so I can stab you already?!"
"You killed Toriel!" Frisk shouted. "I will never, ever forgive you!"
This time when Frisk knocked off Mew Mew's head, the locket fell off with it.
"NO!" Chara shouted when he noticed what was happening.
Then the world vanished.
All she could see was red. Toriel's killer was this fluffy, pink cat. A monster who looked so innocent she was bound to be deadly. All talk Frisk previously did on kindness no longer mattered. If she could, she would have killed the cat-monster.
Then the last time Frisk knocked off her head, the locket went flying as well.
"Chara!" Frisk gasped, recalling her reason for chasing after the monster in the first place.
While the monster ran after her head, Frisk sprinted towards the locket. She scooped it up and cradled it to her chest. Had she the time to do so, Frisk would have put the locket back on just then.
"This is the last time you'll knock my head off!" the monster roared before she slashed at Frisk.
As with the previous times, Frisk dodged. Except she was too slow as she tried to keep from losing her grip on the locket. The blade cut through her leggings and sliced her skin. Blood immediately began pooling. It stung far worse than any cut should.
"Aha!" The cat-monster laughed in what had to be relief. "Finally! The blade is coated in deathlust, the very same poison that killed mother dearest. It'll only be a matter of time before it kills you, too."
Frisk barely processed the words. Locket in one hand and branch in the other, Frisk lurched forward and struck the monster in the side. She yelped in pain.
"Perhaps a slit throat is a better ending for you," the monster decided, reaching out for Frisk again.
Reacting, Frisk swung the branch and hit the monster's hand. The knife went flying. Frisk's limbs were quickly growing heavy and her vision blurry, the poison working fast, but there was no way Frisk was going down without a fight.
"Weapon or no," the monster snarled, "I still have something you don't have: Magic!"
Suddenly, Frisk felt she had been divided into two. In her weakening state, she couldn't really describe even to herself what was happening. Her right had different obstacles to dodge than her left. It was difficult trying to keep up when it felt she had two sides to watch out for, especially with the deathlust growing stronger by the second.
Maybe it was an optical illusion. Maybe it was the poison. Maybe one side really did have different things to dodge than the other.
All Frisk knew was she couldn't keep this up much longer.
She cried out in pain when something cut deeply into her arm.
"What?" The monster sounded amused. "Did you really think I only had one knife? Of course, the first one was the only one coated in poison. Can't go accidentally cutting myself with a blade covered in deathlust!"
Risking a quick look away, Frisk saw the sleeve of her sweater had been completely torn. Blood ran down her bicep as it ran down her thigh. The world was growing too dark too fast.
"Come on," the monster swung again and again at the still dodging Frisk, "you should be dead by now. Why the hell aren't you dead yet? What are humans made of?!"
Frisk fought until she could fight no more. Her numb fingers let go of the branch against her will. Her rebellious knees gave out from under her. Even as she collapsed, Frisk still stared at the monster. The world was growing cold, and soon she would be dead, but she would come back ready to knock this monster's head into the river.
"That's more like it." The cat-monster stood over Frisk. She giggled, looking far more innocent than she had any nerve to. "Any last words before I take your and Chara's souls, human?"
If Frisk was still capable of speaking, she would have said something vulgar Toriel would never approve of.
As the world began to vanish, she heard a voice. The monster before her cried out. Holding onto life for one final second, Frisk saw a rabbit monster arrive just in time to take the cat-monster's head off herself.