Like Mother, Like Son

Bonnie took a deep breath before she knocked on the door to the laboratory in Hotland, Alphys the triceratops-esque monster looking out at her, her lab coat stained with a mixture of food, grease and oil. "Oh, another monster?" She asked, Bonnie currently in her dyed hair, fake eyes and with her hat off to show off her "horns". "Are you injured too?"

"I, uh...wanted to try n' help. I imagine a lotta people done got shot, so..."

"Well as much as I'd like to say it's easy for me to treat a bullet wound, it isn't." Alphys sighed as she led Bonnie into the lab, and towards a door in the back, where an elevator laid. Taking the elevator down to the bottom past level upon level of various technology, Alphys exited the door at long last, revealing an immense laboratory level with dark green walls. It was fairly brightly lit up as she led Bonnie through a doorway across dark green and white-tiled floors and into a large hall, various monsters all lying down on big beds with plump pink comforters and fuzzy white sheets.

"Whenever there's things like an earthquake or the like, Asgore orders everyone possible to get to the lab and the core. They're the strongest-built buildings."

"Can y'all really fit in here?"

"You're clearly too young to remember, but...not exactly." Alphys sighed. "At times we got all stuffed together like sardines in a can." She admitted as she led Bonnie over to a form that made her wince. The first "victim". "Ms. Drake here's fallen victim to the same thing so many of the others did: infection."

"Ain't y'all got any pencillen or stuff like that Vaccines n' the like?" Bonnie quietly asked as Alphys sighed, hanging her head as she looked over Ms. Drake's patient clipboard, shaking her head back and forth in shame.

"We don't have any treatments for disease down in the Underground, nobody's gonna toss medical equipment down here, let alone vaccines. So all we can do is treat their wounds and keep feeding them. It sustains them, but won't cure them. That's why I'm trying to use "Determination". The Power of the Soul. The Ability to Change Fate." Alphys murmured. "But I need to test it out first before I do anything. So I'm going to use something I think Asgore will like. The idea came to me almost overnight, why not use the first golden flower that sprouted from in his palace? He loves golden flowers just like Ms. Chara did!"

Bonnie inwardly flinched and watched as Alphys walked off, putting on her best Boston accent as she knelt by Ms. Drake, who murmured as she tossed and turned in bed. "Is...is Snowy here? I-I don't want him to see me like this."

"He's not. Um...how do you feel?" Bonnie quietly inquired, seeing the sweat pouring down the Snowdrake's face.

"I feel so...so COLD." She whispered out. "I'm scared. I'm really, really scared."

"Well, the...the doctor's doin' all she can." Bonnie said nervously. "W-would you like me to get you something to drink?" She asked.

"W-Water, please. J-just a normal glass." Ms. Drake managed to mumble out, Bonnie quickly nodding and taking off for the nearby water cooler, Alphys looking over another patient chart before looking up at Bonnie.

"How, um...how bad is the infection?"

"Spreading horribly. I'm being as sterile as I can in treating them from masks to gloves, you should get some too. Papyrus is over there, he's Mr. Sans's brother and he'll be happy to show you what you need to do." Alphys said, gesturing behind her. Bonnie looked over to the room behind her, a very large skeletal figure who was, like Sans, clearly some kind of living skeleton, but wearing a lab coat FAR too big for him that he clearly wasn't made for. Despite this, his attitude was so gosh-darn-cheery, his smile so broad and beaming, his voice so loud and yet infectious that it was even making the grumpy-shy Lemon Bread smile a little as she lay in her own bed.

"DO NOT WORRY! THE GREAT PAPYRUS KNOWS THAT ALPHYS WILL BE TAKING GOOD, GOOD CARE OF YOU!" Papyrus proclaimed, holding up a small platter of what appeared to be little cocktail weenies. "AS WILL I. COCKTAIL WEENIE?" He said, wearing gloves and boots that were, like the coat, also clearly too big for him.

"Um, could you tell me where the gloves and boots and labcoats are" Bonnie asked as Lemon Bread took a cocktail weenie from Papyrus's tray, Papyrus smiling back at her.

"OF COURSE, RIGHT IN THE CLOSET TO MY RIGHT." He said, Bonnie walking over to it and looking through, putting some on as Papyrus kept talking. "THE MONSTERS HERE ALL SAID THEY GOT INFECTED BY A HUMAN WEAPON. AS DID DR. ALPHYS. WHY DO YOU THINK THE HUMAN INFECTED THEM?"

Bonnie inwardly cringed again, feeling her blood turn to icewater as she struggled to speak. "Well, I...I think the human might have been scared of them."

"OH, THAT'S UNFORTUNATE. BUT I CAN UNDERSTAND. I MYSELF AM VERY SCARED OF UNDYNE SOMETIMES, BECAUSE SHE LIKES TO NOOGIE PEOPLE!" Papyrus admitted as he brought the tray over to Aaron, Brother of Aaron, Son of Aaron B. Aarons, son of Aaron A. Aarons. "BUT I KNOW SHE DOES IT OUT OF LOVE. I'M SURE THE HUMAN DIDN'T MEAN TO REALLY HURT ANYONE. THEY PROBABLY JUST NEED A FRIEND TO KNOW WE MONSTERS CAN BE NICE!"

"Would you be that friend?" Bonnie asked as she put on the gloves and Papyrus went to join her by the water cooler to bring food over to the other patients in the first hall, the skeletal monster nodding enthusiastically.

"OH, ABSOLUELY! I'D MAKE MY FINEST PASTA FOR THEM! ANY SPECIES THAT INVENTED SUCH A WONDERFUL DISH CAN'T BE THAT BAD!"

Bonnie was stunned by this as she walked over to Ms. Drake, giving her the glass of water. "You cook?"

"OH, YES. I AM AN UNPARRALELLED SPAGHETTORE!" Papyrus insisted. "AND EXPERT AT PUZZLES. EXCEPT THE HOROSCOPE. I'VE STILL YET TO CRACK THAT."

"Well, like my dad always used to say, the greatest mystery of all is Love." Bonnie wryly chuckled. "It'll always be quite the puzzle. Even I don't understand it." She remarked, shaking Papyrus's hands. "It's good to meet someone so...cheery." She admitted. "It's kinda refreshing." Bonnie added.

"OF COURSE! A PLEASURE TO MEET YOU TOO, WHOMEVER YOU MIGHT BE." Papyrus admitted as they walked down the hall towards Alphys, who was staring at a large, skull-like machine, a container in the middle of it with a floating heart clearly visible, Alphys slightly biting into her lip. "WHAT IS THAT?" Papyrus asked.

"That's a human soul, Papyrus. It's...it was Christa Lewis's soul. The human who helped me and Sans and G...helped us on the time machine?" The dinosaur-esque monster quietly intoned as Papyrus blinked a bit, then looked at Alphys. "What is it?"

"DIDN'T..." Papyrus seemed to hesitate, bony features filled with confusion, eye sockets staring off into the distance as if trying to focus on something far, far away. "I THOUGHT PERHAPS THERE WERE MORE HERE, I...SOMETIMES I FEEL LIKE I'M FORGETTING SOMEONE." He mumbled as he scratched his head. "...WELL, I HAD BEST BE OFF! I'M GOING TO MAKE SOME WONDERFUL PASTA FOR ALL THE PATIENTS HERE TO ENJOY!"

"Great!" Alphys said with a big, phoney smile before Papyrus walked off and she cringed. "And I guess I'll have to break out the industrial-strength garbage bucket for after that's over." She sighed. "He's a great guy but his cooking's more nightmarish than the stuff I saw in "Grave of the Fireflies"." She muttered, sniffling a bit. "Maybe he'll eventually cook something edible one day."

"You were about to say someone else. Someone with a "G"." Bonnie admitted. "Who was it?"

Alphys stared quietly at Bonnie, then over at the machine, sighing. "His name was W.D Gaster. He got scattered across time and space. I can barely remember him, but...I remember that much. And I remember I...I miss him." She murmured. "I was so excited when Christa called us for the first time. I got to see a real human, TALK to a real human!" The excitable young scientist murmured, eyes going wide and dreamy behind her glasses as her high-pitched, nerdy voice quavered. "It was like a dream. We were finally meeting the species we'd heard so much about and read so much about! There were nights we'd spend hours talking about nothing but Studio Ghibli films, and when Christa came down we could spend hours more just lying on the couch, me, Sans, Gaster and Christa, all watching old anime and just laughing at the silly dub voices. We had...hope."

She trailed off, her voice slightly breaking on the last word. "Hope that the war would be utterly undone and we'd be back on the surface. That we'd make sure the awful tragedies of the past never happened. But now I'm stuck with this, and with the faint hope that the power of the Soul can somehow go into Monsters. That maybe we could pass through the Barrier if we had the right stuff. The stuff humans have." She remarked.

"Really?" The young disguised human girl remarked. "Well, what're you planning, exactly?"

"Well, Asgore had asked everyone outside the city for monsters that had "fallen down." And all their bodies are here today. They always beg for water and then turn comatose, and...and pretty soon they'll turn to dust." Alphys murmured.

Bonnie froze on the spot. They were all going to die REALLY die She knew they were badly off, but...she didn't think...

"Like...as in today, maybe? Or tomorrow?" Bonnie found herself squeakily asking, Alphys sighing as she nodded.

"Yes. But I had an idea. "What happens if I inject "determination" into them" If their Souls persist after they perish, then...well, Freedom might be closer than we all thought. Of course, we'll need a vessel to wield the monster souls when the time comes. After all, a monster cannot absorb the Soul of other monsters unless they're a Boss monster like Asgore or Undyne or the like, and even then I've only seem them able to handle it very rarely, for the most part it evidently...well...it makes THEM turn to dust." Alphys cringed.

"Makes sense, though. According to all the notes Gaster left on humans, they can't absorb each others souls. So the idea is I'll use something neither human nor monster-Oh!" The dinosaur-like being smacked her forehead. "Oh, stupid me! I gotta go TEST it!" She said, racing over to the machine and pulling out a vial from the side compartment of it. "I've brought the flower into the lab, I have to go inject it." Alphys remarked, taking off as Bonnie watched her barrel down the hall...

Soft laughter echoing out from behind her as Flowey rose up through the floor. "Well, well, well. What ARE you doing here?"

"What're YOU doing here" Bonnie muttered.

"Making sure I'm made. I planted the idea in Alphys's head and now she's off to make ME. I'm the Prince of this World's Future, Bonnie Hatfield-McCoy. I have Determination...of a sort. I exist almost utterly outside Time and Space, and can fool around all I want with how things play out! Or at least, I COULD."

His smile turned into a cold scowl as he looked her over. "It's gotten harder and harder ever since you humans came down. I guess you have more Determination than I do. But answer me this. Why haven't you gone after Asgore?!"

"Because Justice sometimes calls for Mercy." Bonnie said as she took off her hat, and began removing her horns. "They're not bad people. Not really. They're just kinda stupid and dangerous and they've done bad THINGS, but they ain't bad people."

"...BOOOORING!" Flowey groaned, shaking his head back and forth. "Y'know, I used to be a fan of all that Saturday Morning cartoon special stuff, oh, let's all hug and kiss and frolick in the fields of friendship! It's MAGIC! Pffffft." He stuck his tongue out, blowing a raspberry. "It's so pathetic. This isn't some cartoon. You won't be able to hug your way out of everything. You shot about ten monsters. They're probably die if something's not done."

Now his grin was the work of demons, his voice twisted and flanging and sick, like something that had crawled out from under a rock and deserved to stay there. "And you waste time with worthless pity! Well you know what I'm putting you out of your misery. I'm just going to RESET back to when you first came here and...and..." He blinked, trying to focus on something, his body flinching over and over. "Reset! Reset, already! C'mon! What in the..."

Bonnie found a smile spreading across her lips. "Y'all can't do your little party trick, can ya?" She asked, folding her arms over her chest. "I think yer just about done playin' around with this world. Now GIT." She growled, pulling out her pistol and pointing it at Flowey. "Before I change mah mind about Mercy." She remarked, Flowey giving her a baleful look.

"Don't ever have kids!" He muttered hatefully, vanishing a moment later into the ground, the tile popping back as Alphys gasped, now standing in the doorway as Bonnie tossed the gun to the side, turning around to face her.

"Yeah. It's me."

"Y-You're...you're th-the..."

"If you wanna call Undyne...go ahead. I'll just...wait outside." Bonnie sighed as she walked past the stunned Alphys, who turned her head to stare at the gun Bonnie had left behind, blinking a bit before picking it up. It felt so oddly heavy in her hands, and yet so...oddly warm. Strange.

Shivering, she pocketed it. Next dumpster she found, this was going in the trash, she thought aloud before suddenly getting a shiver, turning to see what appeared to be a faint form visible in the shadows beyond. A form that had an oddly familiar cracked face.

No, it...it couldn't be.

Could it?

"G-Gaster Gaster, is that you?" Alphys quietly asked, approaching the shadows in the corner before reeling back, reeling back as her cell phone began to ring and ring and RING, louder and louder still as she held it up to her head, the THING moving towards her, its many mouths opening and closing, nothing but sorrow and cruelty etched onto its face, a horrific laugh echoing out from the phone. "Who is this, b-bit busy right now!" She whimpered out.

"LOREM IPSUM DOCET." The voice over the cell phone spoke in an all-too-familiar tone, the thing speaking at the exact same time as it towered over her, its body forming a perfect "heart" as it laughed and laughed and began to fade from side, going down, down into the dark depths beneath the Determination Extractor.

"S-Sorrow...itself teaches?" Alphys murmured in confusion. "...what did he mean?"

...

...

...

...Undyne glowered with the fury of a hurricane as she stared at the cowboy-hat-wearing human that was calmly standing in front of the lab, the Royal Guard watching on as she raised her spear up. "NNGGGGAAAAH! All this time and tracking and you were right under our nose Just hiding in the lab"

"Not "hiding". I just wanted to check in on-"

"The monsters you SHOT" Undyne snarled, Bonnie biting her lip before tossing the knife she had away, as it sailed through the air, sizzling and popping as it struck the magma far below, Undyne giving Bonnie a frown. "What're you doing?!"

"I'm not gonna fight you." Bonnie insisted softly, shaking her head back and forth. "I just ain't."

"Then you'll just DIE!" Undyne roared out, arm shooting up, her spear barreling forth as Bonnie cringed, the spear striking her clear through the stomach as she gasped, blood splurting out from her mouth as if she'd just choked on a dozen ketchup packets. She cringed, slowly rising back up to her feet, heaving and panting, the spear dissapating as Undyne frowned and readied another one, launching THAT through the air.

Again and again, it struck through Bonnie, her health being whittled down over and over. "C'mon! Fight back!"

"I'm...n-not...fightin' ya..." Bonnie managed to gurgle out, mouth filling full of blood as she stood her ground, the spears dissolving slowly as she felt her body fail, flopping to the ground before her eyes closed...

And then reopened as she gasped, clutching her chest and cringing, her yellow soul faintly flashing before them all as she rose up, shaking her head back and forth. "I'm not doing it. Not gonna fight you." She insisted, Undyne racing forward, gauntleted fists held up. Bonnie swerving to avoid her strike as she ducked and dipped. Undyne's fist almost caught her on the side of her head as Bonnie swiftly ducked again, then rolled away to avoid a punch to her chest.

Leaping back up, she sidestepped Undyne's next swing, Undyne furiously glaring at her face. "Stop running away!" She roared out. "And let me kill you!"

"I told y'all, I ain't a-fightin!" Bonnie insisted, grabbing hold of Undyne's gauntleted fist as it sailed towards her, another fist shooting towards her as Bonnie grabbed hold of that too. "It doesn't gotta be this way, Undyne. I'm sorry about what I did, I am. But I don't wanna hurt you no more."

"HA! You?! Wanna spare ME!" Undyne snorted as she shook her head back and forth, her yellow eye glinting darkly. "Get this through your head, human. I will NEVER! Accept! Your MERCY!" She bellowed loudly in Bonnie's face, making her cringe before she headbutted the thirteen-year-old girl in the face, knocking her back, her Soul still shimmering before her as her hand shot forth. "And I will NEVER give up!"

It grasped around Bonnie's soul. And Bonnie realized then in that moment Undyne was simply trying to rip her Soul away from her to kill her, realizing only too late as it was yanked away and she felt a feeling like absolute greyness creeping over her, her body falling to her knees, the light beginning to fade from her eyes as she looked down at her hands.

"At long last...with this, only one more remains. Then we can repay humanity for all its cruelty towards us." Undyne said as she held Bonnie's soul up, her smile suddenly fading as Bonnie stared deep into her own soul, her final words echoing in Undyne's head and across Hotland long, long after her body had turned cold.

"Vengeance isn't justice."

...

...

...

... "Ugh."

Alphys pinched the space between her eyes, the computer screen flickering slightly as she spoke, recording more of her journal entries. "Things aren't going well. None of the bodies have turned into dust, so I can't get the Souls. i told the families that i would give them the dust back for the funerals! People are starting to ask me what's happening. what do i do" She moaned. "And of course it gets WORSE. Experiments on the vessel are a failure. It doesn't seem to be any different from the control cases." She groaned, shaking her head. "Ohhhh! WHATEVER. They're a hassle to work with anyway. The seeds just stick to you, and won't let go. And..."

She sighed, turning her head, looking at a photograph on the table, picking it up. Her...her and Undyne and-

"Now that...Mettaton's made it big, he never talks to me anymore." Alphys then cringed, putting the photo back, "harrumphing". "Except to ask when I'm going to finish his BODY." She muttered. What an insensitive jerk. "...but I'm afraid if I finish his body, he won't need me anymore...then we'll never be friends ever again!"

She blushed, pulling at the collar to her labcoat, cringing. "N-Not to mention, every time I try t work on it, I-I get really SWEATY." She mumbled out, blushing deeply before ending the journal entries, pushing herself away from the computer on her rolling chair before heading to the DT Extractor, staring at the yellow soul flickering in the container on the nearby counter. She'd used every single other soul except that one.

"...I don't know what else to do." She murmured. "Nothing is happening. I don't know what to do." Alphys murmured, taking the Soul out of the container, putting it into the machine as she began quickly fiddling with the console, booting it up. "I'll just keep injecting everything with "Determination." I want this to work." She insisted aloud, taking out her tape recorder and speaking into it before ending her little voice chat, biting her lip.

"PLEASE let it work."

Elsewhere, Undyne was sitting on her front porch, looking down at the cowboy hat in her hands. She tossed it over and over, staring at it for what seemed to be a long time, growing hotter and hotter under the color. Why WHY did the girl's final words kept reverberating in her mind

"Vengeance isn't justice. Vengeance isn't justice. Vengeance isn't justice."

"You wouldn't understand. This is all we have. Our only way left outta this place. All we GOT. One man's vengeance IS another man's..."

But that platitude died in her throat. Deep down, she didn't really buy that. In her own way, Undyne was even more black and white in how she viewed the world than Bonnie had been. Cringing, she took off walking, headed for the garbage dump as she caught sight of two scavenging kids. "Hey!" She yelled out, the cat one poking her head up from a trash bin as she tossed the cowboy hat at them. "Here. Take it. It's yours. Doesn't fit me." She muttered, Catty looking it over in her paws, going "oooh" as she and Bratty looked down at it.

"Ooooooh!"

Unbeknownst to them and to Undyne, Alphys was finally getting results as Snowdrake's mother let out a soft breath, Alphys's hands flying to her jacket pocket as she whipped out her tape recorder, and pure joy filtered into her voice.

"One of the bodies opened its eyes." She whispered.

...

...

...

... "Everyone that had fallen down...has woken up. They're all walking around and talking like nothing is wrong. I thought they were goners..."

A sigh.

"Seems like this research was a dead end... But at least we got a happy ending out of it... I sent the SOULS and the vessel back to ASGORE. And I called all of the families and told them everyone's alive. I'll send everyone back tomorrow."

A click. The tape recorder cut off, and Alphys calmly snuggled up under the covers, allowing sleep to slowly sink into her.

Before a loud crash woke her up. And everything came tumbling down around her.

...

...

...

...pure panic. "no No NO NO NO NO! Monster'sphysical forms can't handle "determination" like humans can! With too much determination, our bodies begin to break down!

...everyone's...

...melted together...

...and the flower's gone."

...

...

...

..."The families keep calling me to ask when everyone is coming home. What am I supposed to say I don't even answer the phone anymore." The being murmured as he read the entry aloud, the fan blowing harshly, cold air conditioner air biting at his long-sleeved form as the being winced, its voice harsh from disuse, its "hand" nothing more than a stubby appendage as it passed over the screen. He then moved past a refrigerator, approaching the next screen as it lit up with green neon words, spelling out another entry. "Asgore left me five messages today. Four about everyone being angry. One about this cute teacup he found that looks like me."

The being would have smiled at this had he a proper face. "Thanks Asgore." He chuckled, shaking his head back and forth. "Oh, dear King Fluffybuns...dearly beloved. How I miss you. And Alphys, you..." He cringed as best he could with his unnatural, nearly-gone face, nothing but the faintest of indentations to reveal anything had ever been there. "You sound so...desperate." He murmured, heading towards the next screen-

Before halting in place. Okay, he was DEAD sure that one of the refrigerators had been shaking about. He whipped around, looking squarely at it. "...are you coming out?"

Silence. Nothing moved. Sighing, he moved over to the next screen and its despairing, final words, sadness permeating every syllable. "I spend all my time at the garbage dump now...it's my element."

It's long, slender, stubby-ended appendage found its way to its "face" as the piece of Dr. Gaster sighed, looking over at the sink where some more..."pieces"...were hiding. Then it slowly dipped its head and slank back to where it had come from. If only it had two arms. Then it could at least give his old friend a hug to comfort her.

Unbeknownst to him, Alphys was not anywhere close to the lab. In fact, she was on her way through the Core, following behind the young Frisk, a nervous smile on her features. "You'll finally get to go home! Isn't that great" She asked him as he quietly bit his lip, briefly glancing back. He had so much he wanted to ask her, but...he wasn't sure it was right. She looked like she was about to cry, and Mom had always told him that making a girl cry was one of the worst things you could do.

"Thanks for everything, Ms. Alphys." Frisk said in his usual polite tone, giving her a nod as he approached the elevator. "I never would have made it here without you."

"Wait! I, um, I wanted to say goodbye and..." Alphys admitted. "I mean, there's something else I have to tell you."

"I don't mind if it's about Mettaton." Frisk admitted with a shrug. "I understand." He told her. "And Father Michael always told me I should forgive people, so I forgive you for that. You just wanted to make a friend, so I'm not that mad."

"It isn't just...I...I can't do this anymore." Alphys murmured, her eyes downcast, her tone sounding dead as she cringed and lowered her head. "...I've been lying to you about more than Mettaton. The truth is that a human can't pass through the Barrier on their own. It takes a human soul...and a MONSTER soul."

Frisk felt his heart leap into his throat. Oh no.

Oh NO.

OHHH NO.

"So that means if you wanna get on through the Barrier, well...you're gonna have to kill the nearest monster to get one. More than likely you'll...you'll have to kill Asgore." She whispered, looking up at Frisk, tears brimming in her eyes. "...I...I'm so sorry." She managed to blurt out before turning around, running off, arm over her eyes as she began to weep, Frisk looking down at his feet and biting into his lip before he slowly ascended up, up in the elevator.

It would not be long before he was greeted by a beautiful, long hallway with rising ivory pillars, the Delta Run flanking stained glass windows on all sides as bells faintly rang through the air across the golden hall. Frisk made his way through it towards the doorway at the end before suddenly there, in the middle, stood Sans.

"So. You've arrived." He said, speaking in a tone that was far, FAR more serious and firm than he'd ever held. He actually sounded like he was taking everything deathly seriously. There was no humor, no warmness in his voice...it all sounded clinical and calm. "The end of your journey is at hand. In a few moments, you will meet the king. Together...you will determine the future of this world."

He waved a hand in the air. "That's then. NOW? You will be judged." Sans spoke, a singular eye faintly glowing with burning whitishblue energy. "You will be judged for your every action. You will be judged for every EXP you've earned."

Frisk tilted his head, confused. Sans held a hand up, cutting his would-be question off. "What's EXP? It's an acronym. It stands for EXecution Points. A way of quantifying the pain you have inflicted on others. When you kill someone, your EXP increases. When you have enough EXP, your LOVE increases. LOVE, too, is an acronym. It stands...for Level Of ViolencE." Sans intoned in that dark, quiet tone he was using. "A way of measuring someone's capacity to hurt. The more you kill, the easier it becomes to distance yourself. The more you distance yourself...the less you will hurt. The more easily you can bring yourself to hurt others."

Sans closed his eyes, his pupils no longer glowing as he bowed his head...and then raised it, his face now smiling warmly. "ahhh. but you? you never gained any LOVE. 'course, that doesn't mean you're completely innocent or naive. just that you kept a certain tenderness in your heart. no matter the struggles or hardships you faced...you strived to do the right thing. you refused to hurt anyone. even when you ran away..."

He shrugged. "you did it with a smile. you never gained LOVE...but..." He walked towards Frisk, and then gently, tenderly, embraced the kid, Frisk feeling Sans gently putting something in his hands as he looked down at it.

A beautiful little clover. It had, at one point, been part of a necklace from the looks of it, but had been somehow broken off, and now only the end remained. Yet holding it in his hand, Frisk could feel a delightful, pleasant, comforting warmth filling his body.

"you gained Love." Sans finished with a whisper. "does...that make sense?"

"...I know this." Frisk murmured. "I KNOW this. This is...this is my Mom's, isn't it?" He asked as he took out his own, holding it up as he compared the two. His had been well-kept, the chain was still silver and glittering, and Sans nodded softly at him, confirming what Frisk suspected.

"your mom left some Love behind for you." Sans said with a smile. "she's waiting with the others for you in the room across the way from the throne room. can't guarantee you'll see her, but...she should be there. and I gotta say kid, you really impressed me. i thought your Mom was hot stuff, but you? you've been able to beat everyone. beat everyone without really BEATING them for the most part." he chuckled. "and your actions here will determine the fate of the entire world."

He then hesitated, flinching. "thing is, kid, if you refuse to fight, well, then Asgore will take your soul and destroy humanity. but if you kill Asgore and go home, monsters will remain trapped underground. so what'll you do?" Sans asked.

"What would YOU do?" Frisk asked quietly. "I...I spent so much time down here hoping to make things right. And to try and find Mom and go home, but after all that's happened...I don't know what I'll do."

"ahhh, I'm the wrong guy to ask. if i were you, i would have thrown in the towel by now. but you didn't get this far by giving up, did you?" Sans laughed, patting Frisk on the shoulder with a big ol' goofy grin. "that's right. you got the gift of "Determination". so as long as you hold on...so as long as you do what's in your heart...i believe you can do the right thing. and you are one smart kid. you'll figure it out. at least I hope so. we're all counting on you, kid. good luck." He said, giving Frisk a wink...

And then, he was gone, Frisk making his way through the long, golden hallway to the doorway at the end. And soon, going down another long, grey set of stairs towards a door that read "Memorial", with a sign beneath that said "Please be respectful: don't touch"."

Frisk bit his lip. He felt his heart becoming cold, as it it was being gripped by an icy set of claws that were digging in. But he had to know. He had to go in there.

Entering the steely grey room, he stared out at the collection of coffins, one eeeever so slightly open, a name plastered over it. "Chara." Frisk read aloud, seeing it was empty, looking at the other coffins before slowly pushing every single one open.

"Hope." A young African American girl. Her body had been almost utterly burnt to a crisp by what he knew had been a Gasterblaster. Her eyes were sad as her faint spectral form stared deep into his own, as if she had been waiting a long, long time for him to come here, and she wished she had more to say.

"Qiang." An Asian American girl. Her neck had been broken, and her faintly visible image gave Frisk a bow as she placed her hands together, Frisk respectfully bowing back with his head. Her face still had that youthful exuberance to it, a sense of bravery and courage still on her features even though she too seemed so sad to see Frisk.

"Neil." A young blonde-haired and blue-eyed boy in a tutu. Frisk blinked in surprise. A BOY wearing it? Odd. He hadn't expected that. But the voice that he'd faintly heard when he'd approached SAVE files hadn't sounded girly when it spoke about them, explaining what they did. He somehow seemed so much older than he was, as if he'd seen even greater pain than Frisk had. Frisk wasn't too sure that was possible given how many times he'd died over his trip through the Underground, but...still.

"Christa." A girl with very cloudy glasses, a purple shirt and messy brown hair, cute little face, adorable smile as she nervously smiled at Frisk, trying to look happy, but still seeming somehow sad. Frisk saw her clutching a notebook to her chest, realizing it had been HER who's notebook he'd gotten from Gerson. The one with the almost ineligible scratches. Had she been that helpful voice he'd faintly heard whispering to him in his heart when he'd faced down monsters to check them out?

"Anthony." The next one seemed familiar and yet unfamiliar. Sometimes Frisk could faintly see another figure off in his dreams, a girl with brown hair and a big, yet almost unnatural smile floating faintly behind the leering face of Flowey. Yet this smile seemed genuine, and this was a boy with a big heart on his apron. The red-haired boy smiled comfortingly at Frisk and waved, Frisk waving back.

The next name made his voice die in his throat.

"MOM." He whispered, that all-too-familiar face smiling back at him as she sat on her own coffin and looked deep into his eyes, putting her cowboy hat off her head and into her lap. Bonnie Hatfield-McCoy smiled warmly at her son, holding up her own little necklace as Frisk clutched his clover necklace deeply, making his way over to the coffin and holding it up, taking it off and putting it around the form of his mother, around her neck.

"H-Here, Mom, I...I think...I think y-you'll look...you'll look better in this, I...I kept good care of it, I really did..." He managed to whisper out, the tears coming freely to his eyes as he pocketed the little silver clover he still had.

"You really did become so much better than I could ever be." Bonnie whispered back, as her form and the necklace on her began to fade away with the others. "You really are the greatest gift God could have ever given me."

And with that, she was gone, Frisk wiping his eyes as he made his way out, heading to the throne room. The gardening knife in his pocket felt heavy, as did the heart-shaped locket...but he put that around his neck, placing the clover inside the locket. JUUUUST big enough to fit.

"So you're always "close to my heart"." Frisk softly said with a small smile. "Heh. You woulda loved that kinda cheesy stuff." He insisted aloud, entering the throne room as soft light filtered in to a beautiful place that was absolutely green and gold, a monster with its back turned watering some flowers as he hummed aloud. "...s-sir?" Frisk called out, wiping his eyes free of the tears.

"Just a moment!" The deep-voiced being remarked as birds chirped softly through the air. "I've almost finished watering these flowers!" He announced. "...aaaaand here we are!" He said, turning around, his face warm and soft as he looked at Frisk, very CLEARLY the same type of monster as ol "Goat Mom" was, with tender eyes that locked onto Frisk's own green ones. "Howdy, how can I-"

But once they locked on and he really, truly saw what Frisk was, his face broke, and Frisk instantly realized he couldn't POSSIBLY fight this man. Asgore Dreemurr's face was one of absolute horror and sadness, and the human child realized that Asgore had never, EVER expected a human to reach him. Had clearly never WANTED a human to reach him. That look of absolute shock and sadness on his face told Frisk all he wanted to know...

Asgore really was a big ol' soft pushover. There was no way he was going to want to fight. Asgore's breath caught in his throat as he gasped.

"OH." He finally managed to get out, the watering can falling from his clawed paws before he looked slightly to the side, smiling nervously. "I, um...I so badly wish to ask you if you'd like a cup of tea, but...well, you know how it is." The King of Monsters nervously mumbled as he walked over to a nearby window and stared out it for what seemed to be a long time before turning back to Frisk.

"Nice day out today, huh? Birds are singing, flowers are blooming...perfect weather for a game of catch!" He chuckled, laughing a bit as Frisk rubbed the back of his neck.

"Did you play a lot of it with Chara and Asriel?" He wanted to know, Asgore biting his lip.

"Right here in this very throne room with my wife." He murmured. "...the time we had together were some of the best days of my life." The King sighed as he closed his eyes, hanging his head.

"...sir?"

"...you know what we must do. When you are ready, come into the next room." The giant horned being sighed, seeing Frisk flinch and cringe as he turned around and walked off through the doorway and into the next room. A room all-too familiar, that eerily resembled where he'd first fallen. Looking far above, he could see rocks had fallen in to block off what had clearly been an entrance to the Underground from ages ago and he thought back to the story the monsters had told, of Asriel desperately making his way back to his home, quivering a bit as Asgore shook his head.

"How tense." He remarked aloud. "Just try to think of this as like a...visit to the dentist." He offered, heading towards the next doorway, giant paw resting on the frame as he bit his lip. "...are you...ready?"

"...I don't know." Frisk admitted softly.

"If you aren't, I understand. Because, in truth..." Asgore mumbled out as he glanced back at Frisk, his eyes filled with pain. "...I am not ready either." He said, his voice a soft whisper as he entered the doorway, Frisk taking in a deep breath before mustering his courage to the sticking point and entering after Asgore.

There before him stretched out a near-endless abyss that stretched on and on and on, ending at a faint, barely-visible "door", waves of energy coalescing towards it over and over to form it. It was as if a never-ending hallway was stretching out before Frisk from some kind of twisted dream, and Asgore's voice was soft and barely audible as he slightly turned his head to look over at Frisk.

"This is the barrier. This is what keeps us all trapped Underground. If...if by chance you have any unfinished business..." Asgore quietly commented. "Please do what you must."

"I took care of that before I came here to meet you, sir." Frisk managed to say. "...had to..." He wiped some snot from his nostrils, taking in a deep breath. "H-had to say goodbye to my mom."

"...I see." Asgore spoke quietly, head bowed before he took in a deep breath. "...it was the girl, was it not? The most recent one. You have her eyes. Bonnie. Her name was Bonnie."

"You remembered?"

"...I remember all their names. I see them in my dreams. Not as much as...the others evidently do. But I see them." Asgore spoke softly. "As I should. After all, I'm the current caretaker of their Souls. And I suppose this is it, then. Ready?" He asked.

With that, he clapped his hands, and seven different containers popped up, all but one containing a floating soul of a different color. Green, yellow, orange, purple, blue and aquamarine.

That same, familiar voice. Friendly and helpful and wise, it echoed in Frisk's head and in his heart, like an omnipresent narrator that was always listening, always watching.

"A strange light fills the room. Twilight is shining through the barrier. It seems your journey is finally over."

Frisk stood up tall.

"You're filled with DETERMINATION."

"Human..." Asgore murmured, smiling nervously and sadly as he looked up at Frisk. "It was nice to meet you." He offered, and there was no hint of cruelty nor hatred nor sarcasm in his tone. Indeed, he almost sounded like he was about to cry as his head lowered even more, and he seemed to stare at the ground.

"...goodbye." He whispered, as his body glowed with pure red magic force, and with two swift stripes, everything went upside-down, and Frisk was now surrounded on all sides by fire magic that was so very different, and yet so very familiar, the faint humming of the Souls behind Asgore as the barrier made his long, regal cape whip about.

"I don't want to fight you, Asgore." Frisk whispered out.

Asgore's breath got slightly funny, his body quivering as he clutched his trident more tightly, hands trembling for a moment before fireballs began to twirl around and around Frisk, who ducked, avoiding the sweeping, blazing balls of reddish/purple flame as he panted slightly.

"I DON'T want to fight you, Asgore." Frisk said more loudly, Asgore shaking as he held his trident up, waves of flame shooting towards Frisk as Frisk cringed and ducked into a tiny ball, the waves barely missing him as he felt their heat twist around him. It was almost like being dunked into an oven, but he wasn't going to give up.

Asgore kept his head low, his grip on the trident now shaking a bit more.

"Mister Asgore, STOP this!" Frisk insisted loudly. "PLEASE. I don't want to hurt you. I don't want to hurt ANYONE!"

"I'm...so sorry..." Asgore managed to whisper, recollection flashing in his pained eyes. "So, so sorry. But I don't deserve any mercy."

Frisk cringed. He couldn't run away, like he had with Undyne. He couldn't talk Asgore down.

Did he truly have no choice?

The knife in his hand felt so heavy. But he raised it up.

And he charged forward, gritting his teeth, hoping against hope he could somehow make Asgore see reason. Asgore's trident swung through the air, glowing a faint orange color, but Frisk jumped through it, slicing at his armored form, knocking him back. Twirling the knife, he stood stock still, avoiding the next slice, this one of bright blue energy before he twisted about and slashed across Asgore's chest again.

The knife went CLANG, knocking Asgore slightly back, Asgore's breathing getting funny for a moment before he cringed, and Frisk could see the tears beginning to fall down his furry cheeks. "Oh no, I'm sorry, did I seriously-"

"Please, just...don't make this harder. I don't want you to suffer. Please..." Asgore's voice painfully murmured as his trident shot out, spearing Frisk and launching him back, Frisk gasping as he clutched at his chest, feeling the wounds and cringing, reaching into his pocket. The blue magic of the axe passed harmlessly through him as the King of Monsters swiped again, but the next time Frisk had to roll away, quickly managing to whip out his piece of saved Cinnamon-Butterscotch Pie and shoveling it into his mouth as fast as he could.

Asgore's body froze, his nostrils flaring as his voice murmured out a faint "...Tori..." Frisk cringing as he saw the pain on the lowered head of the King of Monsters. "...you kept that after all this time?"

"It doesn't have to be this way." Frisk said.

"...th-this is...this is for everyone's good." Asgore murmured, holding the trident up, gritting his teeth. He shot forward, swiping at Frisk, who rolled out of the way, the giant goat-like monster holding out a clawed paw as he whipped around, fireballs shooting through the air at Frisk. Frisk held up his knife, letting out a cry as he swerved about, avoiding the flames and shooting forward, slamming his head into Asgore's stomach before slicing up, knocking him further back.

The two circled each other, Frisk gritting his own teeth as he ducked his head to the side, avoiding more fireballs before launching himself forth again, slicing across the boss monster's chest armor, then slashing again, the Trident sweeping forth, knocking him through the air. Frisk landed on his back, King Asgore tossing himself up, up, bringing the trident down. But luckily, Frisk rolled to the side, then launched himself forth, the knife slashing at Asgore, who was panting more heavily than before.

Clutching the knife tightly, Frisk held still then rolled to avoid Asgore's swift flurry of trident/axe sweeps, and then leapt up through the air, the blade held high. He brought the bottom end down on top of Asgore's head, fists clutching it tightly in a kind of double-fisted karate chop, Asgore crashing back, the magical trident dissapating in midair. Asgore cringed as he slowly rose up to one knee, panting heavily, head slightly bowed as he closed his eyes.

"Ahhh...so that is how it is." He softly spoke, clutching his chest.

"Why did it have to be this way?" Frisk quietly asked. "Why couldn't you just hear me out?"

"I don't deserve any mercy after all I've done. It's my fault all those children are dead." The king murmured. "I can remember the day after my son had died. He had perished carrying young Chara to the surface, and the entire Underground was now devoid of hope. Our future had once again been taken from us by humans, and in a fit of rage, I declared war. I said that I'd destroy any humans that fell down here, that I would claim their souls to become Godlike, and free us from this terrible prison."

"Yeah, I heard about the tale from the monsters, and...from the Souls." Frisk mumbled nervously, rubbing the back of his neck. "You wanted to destroy humanity, right?"

"Yes. To destroy humanity and let monsters rule the surface in peace. Hope entered the people's hearts anew, but my wife felt disgust enter hers. She left me, swearing to have nothing to do with my actions, and never returned." Asgore admitted to Frisk, shaking his head back and forth. "But in truth, I...I do not want power. I never wanted the Souls. I don't want to hurt anyone. I just wanted everyone to have hope. But I cannot take this any longer...I just...I..."

His voice began to break, the tears threatening to spill forth again. "I just want to see my wife. I just...I just want to see my child." His voice was now quavering, his head somehow hung even lower. "Please, little dibbun. This war's gone on long enough. You have the power. Take my soul and leave this cursed place."

Frisk looked at Asgore, blinking slowly...and then he pocketed the knife and gently lifted his giant paw off his armored chest, looking into the king's eyes.

"If it means I gotta kill anyone to go home, then I don't wanna do that." Frisk said. "Not now. Not ever. Never-ever-EVER."

"After everything I've done to hurt you...you'd rather stay down here and suffer than live happily on the surface?" King Asgore asked, his face looking like it was about to break, but this time, not from sorrow...but joy.

"C'mere. I'm gonna hug the Hell outta you." Frisk said warmly as real, true, genuine tears of happiness were filling the king's eyes as he gently embraced Frisk, who smelled so much like butterscotch and cinnamon, Frisk taking in the delightful buttercup smell of the king.

"Human, I promise you. For as long as you remain here, my wife and I will take care of you as best we can." Ol' "Fluffybuns" promised. "We can sit in the living room, telling stories, eating butterscotch pie, we could...we could be like a real family..." He whispered, the tears now flowing freely, and he had no desire to see make them stop.

"Come on, we should go. Toriel would love to find out that-" Frisk began to say as he broke the hug a bit to pull back and smile at Asgore's face...

Suddenly hearing that horrific familiar sound of "friendliness pellets" surrounding him and Asgore as Asgore gasped in shock, quickly shoving Frisk out of the way as the seed bullets that encircled him slammed hard into his body, making him gasp, Frisk's scream echoing through the room.

"NO!" Frisk howled, hand held out, Asgore's giant body fading away into dust, leaving only his glimmering white monster soul behind...a single bullet hovering over it before it SLAMMED into Asgore's soul, shattering it like glass as a proudly smug Flowey popped out, the Six Human Souls circling around him as Frisk clenched his fists, angry tears of real fury popping into his eyes. "What did you do that for?! YOU DIDN'T HAVE TO KILL HIM!" He screamed.

"You IDIOT. You really haven't learned a thing, have you? It's like I told you when we first met. In this world..." Flowey said, his tone becoming sicker and sicker, his face morphing into a monstrous skeletal, laughing skull of a visage, his laughing smile the work of demons.

"It'S kIlL oR bE kILeD."