Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Once upon a time, a human fell into the world of monsters. The child known as Frisk brought peace and happiness to the people of the underground. And ultimately, they sewed the seeds that would lead to the freedom of monster kind. Above ground, the monsters lived their dreams and built new, happier lives. The human’s greatest foe disappeared, and for the next eight years, Frisk and the monsters worked hard to make this the happy ending they all dreamed of.

But this wouldn’t last forever. Not long after the monsters first established their new home outside the mountain, the monsters’ freedom was already threatened by the other humans once again. Through great, painstaking effort, Frisk managed to dissuade the leaders of both camps from waging war once again. Since then, tensions between monsters and humans have been high, and the now 16-year-old human was forced to work tirelessly to ensure the safety of the ones they loved.

It wouldn’t be easy, but the human promised the monsters that they would make them all happy. And they intended to keep that promise.

Frisk’s phone released an infuriating beeping sound which forced them out of their pleasant dream. They turned off their alarm and then checked the time. “4:30 a.m.” This would be a completely unreasonable time for anyone to wake up, let alone a 16-year-old. But for them, this was a necessity. Between paperwork, discussions with other political figures, planning for future political meetings, getting updates on the situations of the monsters, and meeting quotas, all on top of the regular stresses of school and now puberty, what concerned them the most was just how late into the morning they woke up.

To make up for this lost time, they reached over to the other side of their bed at a small, glowing yellow star that floated in mid-air next to their dresser. Upon touching it, they were able to save this current point in time so they could come back to it at any time. This was a trick they came up with back when they were 8 years old, and it's the reason why they're the only person fit for the job as ambassador. Even putting aside that the humans would never listen to the monsters, basically requiring them to act as a middleman for them, the power of the reset saved them from so many mistakes, minor and major, that they all but disregarded any ill effects this may have had on their life or mental state.

After quickly stretching, they got to work on the many documents they needed to complete and send out by this afternoon. They’d have to hurry, too, because they have to go to school in four and a half hours. The reset ability didn't give them all the time in the world like one would hope it would. Instead, they only had the same two hours that they’d need to repeat over and over again until they got everything perfect. They had to remember every single word they typed without trailing off mid-sentence. Luckily, Frisk was almost as patient as they were determined, and seven decades of going through cycles of bureaucratic trial and error trained their brain to absorb information like a sponge. A process that once took Frisk decades of repetition to get right was now accomplished in a mere five hours.

At least from their perspective. In reality, these projects rarely lasted longer than 30 minutes in real-time, but being able to stretch those 30 minutes into hours, days, weeks, or even years if needed came in handy when they needed it. After sending their finalized e-mail and completing their speech, they looked at their computer’s clock. “5:50 a.m.”

Frisk was tempted to use these extra two hours to get some sleep, but before they could even think of doing that, they’d have to practice their speech first. Another save left them with time to practice. And practice they did. For countless hours, they rehearsed every single word of their speech until it was like second nature to them. After a while, they didn’t even need to look at their paper to recite it, and soon, they could recite it perfectly. They then spent the next several hours reciting it in the same exact way until they could do it without even thinking about it, before finally spending the next half hour enjoying a nice, relaxing nap.

Their nap was undone however when their adopted mother, Toriel had to wake them up for breakfast an hour later than they wanted to wake up. So, six hours and thirty minutes of sleep was all they’d be getting. After going through their morning routine, they hopped into the back of their mother’s car and they were off to school.

The rest of the day was a long, drawn-out blur for them. They paid little attention to what their other classmates thought of them. They hardly spoke to any of these people in a long time. Not to say they disliked any of them. Far from it, in fact. It was because they loved all the monsters so much that they were willing to do all of this for them.

So they continued this cycle. Day after day, they’d keep spinning their wheels, all while absorbing information on a scale no normal human could ever contain. More and more and more and more until…

“where’re ya heading, kiddo?” A familiar laid-back skeleton said while Frisk was on a walk.

It was Sans. Sans the Skeleton. Ever since Frisk started using this little trick of theirs, they knew for a fact that Sans somehow retained his memories of the timeline. Since then, he’s been the only person they could talk to. At least in a casual setting. There were other monsters that knew about the resets and one other who Frisk suspected could remember. But due to current circumstances, they never really got to talk to them unless it was in a professional setting.

Sans leaned on the desktop of his hotcat stand, his signature cheesy grin plastered on his goofy looking face. “i didn’t take little mx.ambassador to be the type to go around slacking. so what’re you doing out n’ about at this time of day?”

They told Sans that they needed to walk more often, since they haven’t exactly been taking care of themselves lately.

“yeah, toriel’s been telling me how you’ve been workin’ yourself to the bone lately. then again, it’s not exactly hard to tell just by lookin’ atcha.” Sans winked.

They asked Sans what he meant, and Sans pointed at their face.

“your expression. that’s the expression of someone who reset their school day 4 times because they were havin’ trouble with their biology test.”

They corrected Sans’ observation, explaining that they were taking physics this semester, not biology. However, they did note that the governor clearly never took biology if he genuinely thought that the things he had to say regarding abortion were in any way reasonable.

“heh heh, always got work on your mind, huh kiddo? you gotta learn to relax every now n’ then.”

Their eyebrows pinched together when Sans suggested that. They tried to remind Sans that they can’t afford to do that. That every monster in Ebott City was depending on them to keep the state from bulldozing the whole city. But Sans cut them off.

“i’m serious, kid. relax. you’ve been working non-stop since the day the barrier was broken, and it’s obviously not good for you. you may not think it’s that serious, but it is. at the rate you’re going, you’re probably gonna start developing some serious problems later down the road. plus, everyone can tell that you’re not doin’ great, even if you try to hide it. you barely eat, rarely sleep, you stopped talking to other people. all you do these days is work and stress yourself out about work.”

One thing that frustrated Frisk was that whenever Sans was right, they only had one chance to think of a counterargument. And they never got it right.

“here, how about a hotcat on the house?” Sans grabbed a hotdog with little cat ears off the grill and squirted some ketchup and mustard on it before offering it to Frisk. However, by the time he finished, they were already continuing their walk. Sans sighed. “fine, i won’t try ta stop you kiddo. just try to remember you don’t have ta do this alone.”

Sans then closed his eyes and went back to his nap.

Japan

The wind howled like a banshee as the rippling tides crashed into the fishing ship. The crew onboard were making their way back to the mainland after veering a bit off course. The boat rocked back and forth from the force of the storm around it, and even though the crew had gotten inside long before it could get too bad, they were still left drenched and had to put on life jackets just to be safe. With the tides beating down on the ship so heavily, the helmsman was having trouble getting the steering wheel to budge.

“Captain! It’s no good, it won’t move an inch!” The helmsman grunted. “It’s like it’s stuck or something!”

“What? There’s no way the waves are that bad! Let me see!”

The captain moved in to take the wheel, thinking his helmsman was complaining about nothing, but he too found the wheel would stubbornly refuse to move an inch.

“The hell?”

“I told you! It’s like that island is pulling us in!”

The captain leaned forward and looked out the window. Within the darkness, he did indeed see Daikoku Island slowly coming into view. From where they were, he was able to pinpoint that if they couldn’t get out of the way soon, they’d wind up crashing on the shore. Thinking on his feet, the captain issued an order to send out a distress signal while he tried helping the helmsman move them out of the way. The ship continued to bob and sway as they drifted closer and closer, but with both men working together, they might just make it out of there.

But then, without warning, loud booming noises and bright flashes of light erupted from the island. In an unimaginable display of force, the whole island began to split apart and crumble as an unseen creature rose from underground. With a mighty bellow, the beast shook the very earth itself. The volume of the roar alone was enough to shatter the windows and rock the boat further off course.

As the men onboard were knocked to the ground, the captain held onto the steering wheel, trying desperately to keep his balance. Shards of glass shot into his knuckles and his blood lubricated his grip, making it difficult for him to hold on. However, when the captain rose to his feet, his eyes bulged with utter terror as he saw the towering silhouette of the island obliterating leviathan rise from the rubble. His wrathful gaze landed squarely on the boat as a blue aura illuminated him from behind.

The captain screamed one final scream before he was drowned out by yet another roar so loud and violent that it tore the feeble human asunder.

3 days later…

America

“After hearing your case, we have decided to look past Asgore Dreamurr’s crimes against humanity. In exchange, however, we have chosen to continue our occupation of Mt.Ebott, and we do not recognize it as a sovereign state. We will decide what will be done long-term in a future meeting. Dismissed.”

With the strike of a gavel, everyone began flooding out of the conference room. Frisk was left unsatisfied with how this meeting turned out, but they knew that this was the best they could ask for. Bowed their head to the judge, before following Asgore out of the room. Their assigned bodyguards, Papyrus and Undyne, followed closely behind the two of them.

Upon stepping outside, the group found their family members waiting for them on a bench outside the building. Toriel stood up and wrapped Frisk in a big hug the moment they approached her. They could feel their stress melt away when in the fluffy embrace of their adopted mother.

“Did it go well, my child?” Toriel asked while releasing Frisk.

The adolescent human sighed and rubbed the back of their neck.They explained that while they managed to convince the humans to let the monsters continue to live around Mt.Ebott, independence was not granted. Frisk shifted around as they  continued to explain that because of this, Asgore’s title would have to be reduced from king to simply mayor.

Asgore places his large, fluffy hand on Frisk's shoulder to reassure them. “It's quite alright, Frisk. I've already accepted that my title would not last when the barrier was broken. I was already planning to hang up my crown long ago.”

Frisk smiled, but then felt their nerves shoot up when they heard Undyne’s black gloves creak from the strain she was putting on them.

“It's disrespectful is what it is,” she snarled. “The hell do those humans think they are?! After what they did to us, they still won't let us live freely?!”

“Enough, Undyne,” Asgore firmly commanded. “Need I remind you that we are not free of sin. We took the lives of their young for the sake of our freedom. We are lucky they're being so lenient with us.”

“But we needed those souls to-”

“That matters not. The fact remains that human children still died by the hands of us monsters.”

“But…” Undyne growled furiously, but calmed down when her wife, Alphys, grabbed her hand.

“I-it’ll be alright, Undyne,” Alphys said reassuringly. “Th-things are gonna get better. I'm sure of it. W-we just need t-to stay determined, like ki- I-I mean, m-mayor Asgore always says. F-Frisk and Asgore will figure something out, I-I'm sure.”

Undyne sighed and looked away, choosing to believe in Frisk and her now former king.

Before Frisk forgot, they told Toriel that her custody over them wasn't even brought up this time. It seemed that the verdict in favor of Toriel being their guardian was final. Toriel breathed a sigh of relief at this news.

As Frisk and Toriel began heading to their car, they noticed Sans giving them a knowing smile of approval, presumably because they didn't reset once during the court hearing. While they appreciated that Sans was proud of them, this wasn't really something they felt was worth celebrating. The only reason they didn't bother resetting was because they knew deep down that this was the best outcome that they could hope for.

As the group split off, and Frisk got in the back of the car, their phone buzzed in their pocket. It was a breaking news story they received on their feed. They didn't usually engage much with these, as they needed to focus on work, but this story caught their attention. The headline alone was enough to turn heads with its haunting implications and unbelievable subject matter.

“NEW SPECIES OF MEGAFAUNA DISCOVERED ON CRASHED FISHING BOAT! ONLY ONE SURVIVOR!”

It seemed like click bait. Like the article was exaggerating for the sake of a catchy title. But as Frisk read the actual article, it became increasingly clear that the article was genuine. A ship crashed far off the coast of Japan after a nearby island suddenly experienced a catastrophic earthquake, according to the only survivor. After the crash, a giant creature he described as being, “a bug as long as three men leaning forward” proceeded to kill everyone in the ship except for him. To back up those claims, a photo was taken of the creature after it was finally killed. The monster, dubbed “Meganulon Anisoptera” by Japanese taxonomists, apparently had genetic similarities to the common dragonfly, but with severe genetic mutations that caused it to grow to abnormal sizes. However, further genetic testing revealed that it would have been unusually large even without these mutations, implying it bore similarities to the now extinct Meganeura. But all this was overshadowed by the final lines of the article.

“Between this, the increase in seismic activity in the Pacific, and unexplained spikes in atmospheric radiation levels, the people of Japan, and many across the world are taking this as a sign of the nightmares of the past coming back to haunt us. Though most of the people alive at the time of the 1954 incident are now long dead, the Japanese government, as well as other world leaders, are currently gathering to discuss the potential possibility of the return of Godzilla.”

Godzilla? That name was familiar to Frisk. They remembered it being mentioned in history class today, but the class ended before they could get into it. Out of curiosity, they decided to start researching this creature. After scrolling through the other news articles jumping on the bandwagon of fear mongering about Godzilla being back, they found the Wikipedia article discussing him.

On the article we're several black and white photographs depicting a towering, reptilian monstrosity, its flesh charred and coarse in the same way a nuclear bomb survivor’s would be. Jagged maple leaf shaped spikes jutted out of his back and cascaded along his titanic tail. As Frisk read further into the horrors brought upon Japan by this monster, they saw more photos which gave a size comparison for the creature. It was absolutely massive, able to stare at eye level with high voltage towers. 

They read stories of the monster firing a burning hot radioactive beam from its mouth which would later come to be known as “atomic breath,” and how an ambient aura of nuclear radiation billowed off his body wherever he moved. They read about how the destruction the creature caused was unparalleled, never to be surpassed even by the most powerful nuclear warheads mankind could ever create. With every new bit of information Frisk learned about Godzilla, they grew increasingly more hopeful that whatever happened was a false alarm, and that there was some other explanation for what happened to the ship, its crew, and the Meganulon.

And then, as they reloaded their page to search for more details regarding Godzilla, they saw something that made them cry out in absolute terror. Toriel, startled by her child’s sudden outburst, quickly parked their car and leaned over towards the back seat. There, she saw Frisk catching their breath with a hand on their chest, their heart still racing.

“My child, what's the matter?” Toriel asked. “You look so pale. Did something happen-”

Before Toriel could finish speaking, she got her answer when she looked down at Frisk's phone. There, she saw live footage taken from a cruise ship of a passenger filming a set of maple leaf dorsal spines slowly rising from the ocean. As all the passengers bickered amongst themselves, confused and terrified, they failed to notice the steam rising from the water. It wasn't long until the ocean around them began to bubble like a pot of soup, and a cloud of scalding, salty steam caused the cameraman to drop his phone while waiting in pain. The last thing that could be heard was the sound of something rising from the water before the stream cut out.

Toriel, in disbelief at what she was saying, let out a weak, shaky, “It can't be…”

Despite attempts from multiple governments to keep the incident under wraps, the event that would come to be known as “The Boiling Sea stream” spread across the internet like wildfire. It wasn't long until knowledge of Godzilla’s return was common among people all over the world. And nowhere was this discovery more startling than in America. All subsequent sightings of Godzilla after the initial incident near Japan were growing progressively closer and closer to the shores of the United States. Discussion of Ebott City and its place in America were put on hold in favor of discussing the pressing matter of how to deal with the threat. 

This did not mean Frisk wouldn't have work to do, though. After explaining the situation to mayor Asgore, Alphys, and the royal guard, they began making preparations to fight off Godzilla in case he began to pose a threat to their city. And thanks to their magic, they made rapid progress in comparison to the rest of the country. The royal guard refined their magic attacks with new, deadly power, they expanded their ground forces, and they even built their first artillery with new Magic Missiles developed by Alphys. Everything seemed to be going well.

That was until one day, while filing paperwork, they received a sudden call from one of their assistants, Jared the Loox. They tried to brush him off, explaining that they were going to be busy for a while. However, before they could hang up and reset to save time, he began frantically explaining.

“FRISK, WHERE THE HELL ARE YOU!?! THE PRESIDENT IS HERE SPEAK TO YOU!”

Frisk became incredibly nervous, and anxiously asked what he was the president of, despite already knowing the answer.

“OF THE UNITED STATES!!! GET OVER HERE NOW !”

With that, Jared hung up on them.

The drive to the meeting area was quick, but stressful. As Toriel drove Frisk there, they fumed with frustration. In such a hectic situation where everyone's lives were potentially at risk and confusion spread through the entire nation, the last thing they needed was an unannounced visit from the President of all people. The least he could have done was send a message to Sans that he could-

Oh. That explains why they didn't know about this until now. Suddenly Frisk's anger was no longer directed solely at the President for his sudden visit.

Upon arriving, Frisk practically shot out of their car before marching forward, still straightening their tie as heavy wind blew their hair into an unkempt mess. They were soon followed by Papyrus, dressed in a black suit with his bright red scarf drapes over his shoulders, as they began to convene with Asgore and Alphys, who were both waiting in an open field.

“HUMAN! IT'S GOOD TO SEE YOU’VE ARRIVED! I WAS BEGINNING TO WORRY THAT ALL THIS PREPARATION WORK WOULD HAVE DEMANDED TOO MUCH ATTENTION FROM YOU.”

Frisk disregarded Papyrus' greeting and simply asked him where Sans was. As if on cue, the short skeleton suddenly teleported next to them.

“you called?”

Frisk said nothing, and simply glared at Sans with unimaginable rage.

“what's wrong, kiddo? you seem a bit on edge today.”

Thoroughly done with Sans' devil may care attitude, Frisk began listening the many problems his failure to send the president’s meeting notice caused them, and how badly this would mess up everyone's schedules. They especially made sure to emphasize that because of Sans’ negligence, Greater Dog’s squad wouldn't be able to receive their orders on time.

“forget? i think you might've forgotten, because i did send it to you,” Sans corrected. “don't blame me for resetting before you could read it.”

“YOU KNOW, BROTHER, YOU REALLY DO GET LAZIER EVERY DAY,” Papyrus scolded.

“aww, thanks bro. i’ve been practicing.”

While Sans and Papyrus began their usual banter, Frisk had to remind themself of what Alphys told them about Sans’ HP. Nevertheless, it was time to meet with the President. The mighty wind slowly came to a stop as the helicopter he was arriving in finally landed.

Chapter Text

Ebott City…

Within a tent set up just outside Ebott City, tensions were rising fast. Within the tent was a table with a lantern, with six people inside. On one side of the table was Frisk, the ambassador and de facto speaker for monster kind. Flanking them were their bodyguards, Papyrus and Undyne. On the other side were two humans in black suits and sunglasses with their arms crossed behind their backs standing just behind an elderly man with a spray on tan and thin, white comb over. This man was none other than the controversial, scandal ridden, previously impeached president of the United States of America, Tron J. Donodel. Though Frisk absolutely despised this man, they put their feelings aside because at the moment, the two needed to discuss an incredibly important issue that was relevant to humans and monsters alike. The issue of Godzilla’s return.

It was initially surprising to the young ambassador that the president was taking this level of initiative on a situation such as this. However, it quickly became clear that just because he was taking initiative didn’t mean he would be helpful. His proposed solutions were all nonsensical garbage that were likely to be a waste of time and money. However one particular sticking point really got on Frisk’s nerves, and that was president Donodel’s insistence on confronting Godzilla in Mexico and then bombarding him with nuclear warheads until he died. Frisk repeatedly explained that even if they did kill Godzilla with that plan, which they doubted they would given Godzilla’s origins, the resulting radioactive fallout of such an attack would render Mexico uninhabitable. Despite that, however, Donodel wouldn’t budge.

“Listen, I have a little girl about your age. I know it can be difficult for you all to understand,” he said with patronizing sincerity. “Trust me, it’s gonna work. We’ll send the mexicans to a safe little island, and you don’t have to worry your pretty little head about the big scary monsters anymore.”

Papyrus found himself perturbed by the president’s blatant misgendering of his friend, but held his tongue for the time being. Undyne meanwhile growled at the usage of the plural word “monsters” when just referring to Godzilla. Frisk also understood what he was implying, but repressed their objections for the time being to ask if he even considered what his next action would be if Godzilla survived a nuclear bombardment.

“America is a strong nation. We have lots of strong people with plenty of stamina. We’re the strongest military nation in the world, and we won’t have any problem killing an overgrown lizard.”

Frisk knew at that point that Tron had no plan for if Godzilla survived a nuclear bombardment. Then again, how could he? After all, if nukes couldn’t get the job done, then what could? As the president began to babble on about how he wanted to use the monsters’ magic to assist in his idiotic plan, they began to groan internally. They really wanted this meeting to be over so they could get back to making actual preparations to stop Godzilla. They wanted to end the meeting early and be done with this farce, but they didn’t exactly have a say in the matter when humanity still held so much power over the monsters. So they just had to put up with his idiocy and bigotry while trying their hardest to talk him out of it. That was until Papyrus wound up interrupting. After Donodel referred to Frisk as a girl once again, he decided that he needed to clarify some things.

“EXCUSE ME, MISTER HUMAN PRESIDENT, SIR. I MUST INFORM YOU THAT FRISK IS NEITHER A BOY NOR A GIRL. I FEEL THAT WOULD BE IMPORTANT TO KNOW IN ORDER TO KEEP THIS MEETING RESPECTFUL AND-”

“What are you, blind? That's obviously a woman.”

Papyrus was caught off guard by this interruption as the president continued.

“There's only two sexes, and I won't stand for any disinformation that's poisoning the minds of our kids. All this non-binary nonsense is all just a part of the woke fascist agenda. She may not have titties, but I can just grab her by the pussy to prove it to you.”

Thoroughly disgusted by the human president’s filthy words by this point, Undyne opened her clenched fist. Magic swirled in her hand for a split second, before a blue, translucent spear appeared in her hand. She stomped on the table and aimed her magic spear directly at the president while baring her sharp teeth.

“IF YOU DARE TOUCH FRISK, I WILL PERSONALLY TAKE THAT AS A DECLARATION OF WAR AND RUN MY SPEAR RIGHT THROUGH YOUR HEART! YOU GOT THAT, PUNK!?!”

The president’s guards replied to this threat of violence by pulling guns out of their coats and aiming them at Undyne and Papyrus. Flickers of magic welled up in Papyrus, as he prepared to get Frisk to safety should things go south, but luckily for him, nothing ended up coming if it. Before any shots could be fired, everyone suddenly felt almost completely weightless, and they were all suddenly pushed to opposite sides of the room by some invisible force. After feeling the weight return to their bodies, Sans suddenly appeared in the room, hands firmly in pockets.

“alright, alright, let's all calm down. we’ve got bigger fish to fry, don't we?”

As Sans de-escalated the situation, Frisk actually felt a semblance of gratitude. Even if this was just to avoid going through a barrage of resets, any help was appreciated. This gave them the opportunity to try and come up with some sort of plan to prevent the president from doing something stupid that would likely make things worse.

“You could always just kill him.”

In the middle of Donodel making one of his dopy facial expressions while explaining a plan to build a wall between America and Godzilla, it was as though time suddenly froze. Frisk looked around the tent to make sure they were still conscious, then paused when they saw a kid in a green and yellow sweater standing in the corner of the room. Frisk let out a dejected sigh upon seeing them. It has been a long time since the last time Frisk and Chara spoke, but in their opinion, it wasn't long enough.

“Howdy, partner,” Chara greeted with their signature uncomfortably wide smile. “Didja miss me?”

Frisk demanded that Chara leave them alone.

“Woah, why the sudden hostility? I'm just here to give you a little advice.”

Frisk knew what Chara’s advice was, and they made sure to remind them that their advice was always the same in these situations. They always told them to go around killing all the humans, and they always had to remind them why that was not only a terrible idea, but wouldn't even work.

The childlike apparition floated around Frisk while continuing to whisper words of encouragement to them. “C’mon, Frisk, you're seriously underestimating your own abilities. I mean, the fact that you survived my brother is proof enough that you’re the strongest human on the face of the earth.”

Frisk waved their hand in their face to get Chara away from them.

“But that wasn't what I was gonna suggest, this time. After all, why kill them yourself when you can just let the big guy do it for you?”

Frisk, confused, asked Chara who this “big guy” was.

“Oh come on, partner! You're smart. You know who I’m talking about. I mean, that's what this whole meeting of yours is about, ain't it?”

Frisk’s eyes widened when they realized what Chara was insinuating. They disagreed even harder, but Chara interrupted them.

“Don’t lie to me, partner. I know just as well as you do that you were thinking about leaving those fuckers to their fates.”

Of course they did. They weren't going to deny that. But Frisk explained that they knew that if Godzilla wasn't stopped, everyone was at risk. Not just humanity.

“Not the monsters. Not while they have you on their side.”

Frisk got up and prodded Chara’s incorporeal chest while scolding them. They were quick to point out that this kind of overconfidence in their own arms was exactly what was going to lead to Donodel’s scheme blowing up in his face. Before Chara could try to justify their idea, Frisk already dismissed them again, making it very clear that they had no interest in continuing to humor Chara. After seeing that they weren't going to convince Frisk of anything, Chara finally released them from their frozen point in time.

And just in time too, because as soon as Frisk was returned to reality, a human burst into the tent to deliver an urgent message to the president. Said message was Earth shattering.

Costal nuclear power plant

What started as signs of an earthquake quickly turned into a rhythmic sound of canon fire, then what almost sounded like collapsing mountains. Soon, the source of the tremendous booming made itself known, as the colossal beast making these noises with each step breached the surface of the ocean, then marched onto dry land. The ground itself cracked open upon landing if the roaring leviathan. Despite the best attempts of global superpowers all around the world, Godzilla had finally made landfall. 

As Godzilla marched forward, his anger towards the annoying little specks beneath him boiled. Their tiny screams of terror made him scratch at his ears in frustration, and he proceeded to knock over one of their electric towers just to shut them up. There was a loud CRASH and ground rupturing THUD, before he finally had the peace and quiet he desired. Now left to his own devices, he quickly got to work smashing through the metallic and concrete structures erected around the nuclear energy sources that were abundant in this area. The reason for their construction, he could only assume, was to keep him away from his desired meal.

As radioactive steam billowed into the air, Godzilla's spines emitted a satisfied blue glow, and he began absorbing the energy. This made up for the radiation billowing out of him at a steady but constant rate, and satisfying his hunger temporarily. After draining the powerplant dry, all light in the area shut down, and Godzilla's dorsal spines returned to their normal white color. He prepared to return to the ocean, the motion of his body knocking off a plethora of those annoying parasites that cause him to itch all over.

However, he paused when he felt something off in the distance. A level of radiation so great that he couldn't ignore it. Without a second thought, he changed directions and began his march towards the new, powerful radiation source. Though he did have to briefly stop to scratch his neck, his claws grazing the scars left behind from the bites those Meganulon left on him.

As Godzilla marched onwards, however, he was suddenly bombarded by homing missiles launched from miles away. The explosives created a cloud of smoke which clouded his vision, but the actual bombardment didn't injure him even remotely. The towering leviathan, now thoroughly angered by this futile attempt on his life, turned his attention away from his next food source and towards a flock of tiny, high altitude planes dripping bunker bombs from the sky. The bombs harmlessly bounced off of Godzilla’s back before burrowing deep into the ground.

Godzilla squared his feet and slammed his tail onto the ground. His dorsal spines glowed an intimidating shade of blue and he prepared to expel his energy in an attack. However, just before he could unleash his wrath, the bombs detonated beneath the ground, destabilizing his stance and causing him to fall into the earth. His aim thrown off, he unleashed a blue beam of Atomic Breath into the area around him. It cut through the steep hills surrounding him and caused them to collapse, burying him alive.

“Operation successful! Godzilla has been subdued! Over!”

General Luscious McDean pulled a walkie talkie off of his hip and replied to them while scratching the coarse, gray stubble on his neck.

“Copy that, lieutenant. Clear out of the area and prepare for phase 2-”

But before general Luscious could finish his sentence, a heavy and prolonged buzz abruptly cut off the conversation. When the white noise cleared, the general was receiving updates on the situation almost immediately.

“-Radiation levels spiking in the reactor! It's causing interference! General, give us the order to evacu-AAAAAAAHHH!”

The transmission is cut off entirely, and the general is left crying out into radio static as President Donodel and ambassador Dreamurr exit the tent.

“What happened?” Donodel asked.

The general didn't answer, instead turning to one of his soldiers. “Isaac, contact third and fourth squads and tell them to rendezvous at Titan Alpha!”

“Roger that, sir,” Isaac said before calling the squads.

“General, what the hell is going on?!” Donodel asked with an aggressively authoritative tone.

“Sir, seventh squad’s just gone down. The operation was a failure, and we need to move on to plan B.”

Frisk immediately chimed in on the conversation, suggesting a long range assault to spare as many lives as possible, but Donodel immediately shot that down.

“Alright, then get those fighters in there already! And tell them to get in closer so they don't fucking miss this time!”

“As you wish, Mister President.”

Frisk tried to object to this, but was stopped by a hand on their shoulder. They looked to their right and saw Sans shaking his head “no,” silently telling them that this was out of their control. Frisk's fists tightened in frustration as they realized that all they could do was sit back and hope that no harm befell the soldiers being sent to their deaths.

It was a massacre.

As Godzilla smashed his way out of his tomb with ease, the tanks and missile trucks wheeled in to face him were almost instantly incinerated by a blue beam of absolute destruction erupting from the beast’s mouth. Fighter jets unleashed a barrage of heat seeking missiles which didn't even make him flinch. He walked right through the explosions and smacked the dogfighter pilots out of the sky, sending them crashing to the ground.

As Godzilla absorbed the ambient radiation of the nuclear reactor, his dorsal spines glowed once again and his power began to surge. After a barrage of missiles and tank shells struck his face, Godzilla responded with a mere puff of blue fire, which caused a catastrophic wave of destruction upon landing on the ground. In an instant, a fleet of 1,350 military vehicles were reduced to molten slag.

After finishing off the last of the vehicles, Godzilla continued his march towards the radioactive feast he could sense a good distance away.

A single soldier climbed out of the wreckage, badly wounded, but alive. He dragged his broken body away from his destroyed fighter jet, a streak of red trailing behind him. After slithering across the ground like a bloody slug, he reached for his walkie-talkie to contact his superiors and give them the information they needed. It was only then that he finally realized his left arm was missing. He squeezed the ground, fighting through the screaming pain coursing through his body as he waited for someone- anyone to come and rescue him. And something did come after not too long.

A Meganulon ate its fill, as did the others that were picking through the carnage.

It was all over the news, by now. Godzilla killing 13 military fleets in one night put the entire nation in a state of emergency. The approaching threat of the mighty leviathan became the number one concern of everyone in the nation, and people across the West coast began mass migrating East out of fear.

Among the places people fled to, there was one place that a large number of humans began fleeing to and around the newly constructed Ebott City. The majority of these human refugees were either people who lost their homes when Godzilla passed by, or people who Godzilla was approaching that left before he could arrive. Most of these people settled into areas around Ebott City, but there were a select few who moved into Ebott City itself. And tensions were high when they arrived.

The influx of demand for food and energy required people to work even harder at the CORE to provide the magic needed to make electricity and food, while making sure to not overload the core. This caused several power outages for the first few days, but even once that was sorted out, things still weren't going well. Monsters would frequently be harassed by humans on the streets, and vandalism incidents skyrocketed. Asgore attempted to quell the chaos, but to little avail. Because to the petty criminals, their actions were justified, all for one simple reason.

“IT'S ALL THEIR FAULT!”

“GO BACK TO HELL WHERE YOU BELONG, YOU DAMN FREAKS!”

“MY WIFE WAS CRUSHED BECAUSE OF YOU!”

“CALL OFF YOUR LIZARD!”

Social media has always been a breeding ground for conspiratorial thinking, and it wasn't long until someone started connecting the arrival of Godzilla with the destruction of the barrier. And thus, the conspiracy theory that the monsters controlled Godzilla was born.

With everything they had to deal with, Frisk was forced to take time away from school so that they could focus full time on their work, because Asgore was busy organizing the anti-Godzilla defense force, and a certain skeleton was refusing to put in the effort to help Frisk deal with the situation. With the police stretched so thin by all the reports, a lot was being redirected back to them, resulting in mountains of paper piling higher and higher every day. And after a long enough time of enduring this stress, their body could take no more.

Frisk had gone through challenges no normal human could ever hope to overcome, but one thing they could never overcome was their own body failing them. During one reset, after spending days without sleep, going through novels worth of paperwork and dozens of meetings online and in person, their body had enough, and they suddenly suffered a fatal heart attack. As they lie in their desk, paralyzed and slowly losing consciousness, they could hear their adopted mother scream upon entering their office.

Although Frisk's reset saved them from their demise, it wouldn't save them from their catastrophic mental state. Three more resets were abruptly cut off by their heart giving up on them before they finally learned their lesson and decided to take a few breaks. However, this decision resulted in its own difficulties. In the chaotic state the city was currently in, Frisk had no appointed assistant to work in their stead, so the looming dread of work continuing right where it left off when they returned ultimately resulted in them having yet another heart attack while ordering nice cream. This was eventually resolved by simply asking Toriel for help, which she happily agreed to, but the thought of how much her job as a teacher would suffer stressed them out enough that they had another heart attack. Though they survived this time, they still reset to save time.

But finally, Frisk had a way for their work to get done without them being there, and they could finally get some time to relax their mind and their body. At least, that's what they hoped.

But then they saw the news.

Everywhere they went, news channels were displaying updates on the situation involving Godzilla. Articles detailing Godzilla’s attacks on different cities, leaving them uninhabitable due to nuclear fallout. Digital morgues for the soldiers and civilians that died in Godzilla's rampage. Pages upon pages of the visage of the avatar of destruction. And even if they ignored all technology, irate human refugees would constantly remind them of him.

One day, while walking through their neighborhood, they happened upon a young monster girl being attacked by three men wearing black hoodies and face masks. They tugged on her antlers, threatening to rip them off while she cried in pain, all while screaming vitriol at her.

Frisk knew that they just needed to talk to them and de-escalate the situation. With resets, they could easily convince them to back off by just saying the right things. But they didn't want to talk to these men. They didn't want to go easy on people anymore. They tried being cordial and they were never successful. They knew in their heart that violence would only breed further violence. That escalation was the opposite of what they needed. But the thought of finally letting go, and unleashing their overwhelming rage- the thought of giving these humans what they deserved filled them with…

Determination.

Chapter Text

Through talking to the three boys, Frisk discovered their names were Rick, David, and Jared. They were refugees from a city that Godzilla recently destroyed.

Fragments of Rick's skull shot out and penetrated David's throat, preventing him from screaming for help.

They were orphans and had to take care of their younger sister, Maya. Yet despite that, they loved her dearly, and would give anything to make her happy. When Godzilla rampaged through their city, they were trapped beneath the rubble of a building Godzilla smashed through. They survived long enough for paramedics to rescue them, but Maya was crushed to death. 

Jared’s warm blood splattered all over Frisk as they pounded his face into a puddle of crimson filling a crevice they formed in the sidewalk.

The monster they were harassing was named Noelle, and after getting the chance to hear their story, she comforted them. Frisk could tell that Noelle was a very forgiving person, and it made them smile knowing that someone as kind as her could exist in a world like this.

Noelle’s screams repeated thousands of times as she bore witness to each brutal massacre Frisk committed. Her screams only encouraged Frisk to draw their deaths out even further next time. Knowing she could feel sympathy for those who showed her such cruelty made them hate her assailants even more.

The peacekeeper and ambassador or Ebott City embraced the boys as they cried out in grief for their little sister. After that, they apologized profusely to her, offering to do whatever they could to make it up to her. Noelle appreciated it, and had them carry her things for her just to satisfy their need for atonement. Frisk sighed deeply, satisfied that they managed to solve this problem. No more violence was needed. 

But as they continued their stroll down the street, a regained pep in their step, they heard something- or someone laughing. The laughter was coming from a long abandoned house, its rotten boards infested with termites and bloated from rainfall. As Frisk approached the rusty old chain link fence and peered into the overgrown front yard, their eyes bulged wider than ever before as they saw a face they never thought they'd see again.

“I KNEW YOU HAD IT IN YA!” The sadistic piece of sentient foliage exclaimed with glee.

Frisk took a step back in surprise, but as they stumbled backwards, they were suddenly pushed against the fence by a pair of vines that grew from the street behind them. They looked back and saw the talking flower pop out of the pavement without issue.

“Howdy! It's me, your best friend! Flowey the Flower!” Flowey chuckled mischievously. “Golly, Frisk! I gotta say, that was really clever of you, the way you used your resets. I bet you think you're real smart for sparing their lives.”

Frisk shuddered as it began to sink in what they had done.

“But you and I both know what you did. You murdered them. Over and over again, you kept finding new and gruesome ways to tear them apart with your bare hands!” Flowey’s stem grew longer as he leaned in closer to Frisk, his body widening as more of his mass exposed itself. “And to think, the human that showed the whole underground the true meaning of the word mercy, to the point they’d even spare someone like me, could have been capable of such intense violence all along? I guess you really are just like me, aren't you, pal?”

Frisk shoved Flowey away and ran off. Flowey simply chuckled, content in knowing that he was right all along.

“heya, weed. long time, no see.” 

Flowey scowled and turned around to face Sans the skeleton, who had suddenly showed up out of nowhere as he often tended to.

“Smiley trashbag…”

“really? still at it with the same insults as ever? it's been years, how could you not have gotten new material by now?”

“What do you want this time? Come to kill me again while no one's around?”

“heh, nah. i'll have you know my days of beating up bratty kids like you are long behind me.”

“What did you just call me?!”

“i just wanted to give you a warning.” When Sans opened his eyes, his sockets were empty, black voids. He had only one thing to say to the thing that was once the prince of all monsters. “leave the kid alone if you know what's good for you.”

Normally, this response would elicit dread from the flower, but much to Sans' surprise, his only response was laughter. As Sans glanced around in confusion, Flowey spoke.

“Really, trashbag? You're gonna side with them on this? After they just killed three people?”

“...no idea what you're talking about.”

“Don't play dumb with me! I know you can remember the resets too. And I know you and four eyes have been keeping an eye on them ever since their heart attack twenty-seven resets ago. You of all people know what they did!”

“...”

“Well? Are you gonna finish threatening me, or are you just gonna stand there and-”

“it doesn't matter.”

Flowey cocked an eyebrow and have a confused grunt. Sans sighed and looked off to the side while explaining.

“what am i supposed to do? chastise them for something they didn't even do in this timeline? hell, if i were in their shoes, i might've done the same thing.” Sans turned around and looked down at his slippers. “in the end, they're the one who makes the big decisions. i’m just here to give them advice they won't even listen to. so i've just given up on trying. i don't have the energy to care anymore.”

“Oh… I had no idea. I'm so sorry, Sans.” Flowey responded in a tone of false sympathy. One which twisted into mockery as an impossibly wide grin stretched across his face. “I didn't realize you were so pathetic that you couldn't even bring yourself to talk some sense into a 16-year-old.”

“you don't need to tell me what i already know.”

“Oh, but I think I do! Because clearly, you don't remember what happened last time you thought like that~”

Sans’ eyes went empty again, but this time, the threat they posed had been snuffed out. His expression was downright pitiful. Flowey’s expression soured, but he quickly slapped a villainous smile back on and continued to prod at the skeleton.

“Then again, back then you were way more active than you are now. And that’s saying something.” Flowey prodded Sans' chest with a single vine. “Look at you. Nothing but a sad, worthless Skeleton that lost his touch. All bark and no bite. But hey, at least you're keeping your promise~”

Flowey slowly slithered back into his burrow, maintaining his petal to petal smile the whole way down. “See you next time, trashbag!”

As Godzilla continued to feast upon the abundant nuclear energy in the power plant he had just raided, he noticed something peculiar. He should have consumed all the radiation by now and moved onto his next meal, yet the energy never seemed to run out. Yet despite this seemingly endless food supply, Godzilla’s hunger never seemed to be sated. He wasn't getting hungrier, no. It was more as though his own feast was being repeatedly undone. On top of that, he began noticing that the military vehicles were seemingly repeating the same cycle over and over again. Planes would fly the exact same route, tanks would fire at the exact same intervals, bombs would detonate at the exact same rhythm. It seemed foolish to Godzilla, doing the same thing again and again expecting something to change.

After a long enough time, he stopped feeding entirely, and instead decided to check something. The sun. The universal keeper of time and progress on Earth. If anything could tell him if something unusual was happening, it would be the sun. So, he stared up at the sun for a good long while. It was difficult at first, but his eyes quickly adjusted to direct observation of the brightest star in the sky. His gaze narrowed as he stared intently at the sun, so observant that he could see the minor movement of the big yellow dot across the sky. So when he saw the sun suddenly jump a good distance backwards, he noticed.

Godzilla shook his head in surprise, but he continued to observe. Minutes passed, but then, sure enough, it happened again. He was initially appalled, but then the pieces began falling into place. The repeating actions, the insatiable hunger, the endless nuclear energy. Somehow, time was stuck repeating itself, yet Godzilla was the only being able to notice. Confused and irritated, Godzilla ceased his meal and began venturing out of the nuclear power plant in search of the source of this odd phenomenon. 

His irritation was only heightened when the Meganulons’ bites increased in frequency as time was finally allowed to progress forward. Godzilla snarled and shook in place while scratching at the tiny sores littering his body. The missile bombardment from the military jets wound up assisting him in this regard, as explosions blew Meganulons off of him by the hundreds. And as they all fled to his back, he began charging his Atomic Breath, the heat of his dorsal spines burning them all with the heat of one million suns, which then erupted from his maw. The radioactive beam glowed like a supernova, and incinerated everything in its path.

After expunging the parasites from his body momentarily, Godzilla began marching down a different path than before. However, before leaving, he noticed the Meganulons that had fallen off of him were scuttling through the ruins of the power plant he was leaving behind, devouring humans as they screamed and fled in terror. He understood their hatred of those annoying creatures, but to be terrified of such weak creatures was a strange response in his eyes. All they did was cause minor, itchy bites. That was all.

Frisk’s stomach turned as they thought again about what they had done. Sure, they reset, the boys were alive again. But Flowey was right. They could never truly take back what they did. They could make up as many excuses as they want, but it wouldn’t matter, because they’re still a murderer. Their sins would never be washed away.

But even still, they didn’t have time to worry about that. Donodel was too busy throwing bodies at Godzilla and throwing minorities out of the country to do anything actually helpful, so they had to go help Undyne supervise defenses themself. So, off they went to visit her at the Royal Guard Training Grounds, as the citizens of Ebott City named it. Though the Royal Guard was technically disbanded when the monarchy was replaced by a democracy, the monsters still held onto the title, and it just ended up being the name they gave to their police force.

As Frisk approached the re-purposed baseball field where police were being trained as soldiers, they noticed some of their friends from high school. There was Monster Kid, Snowdrake, Ice Cap, Loox, and even Berdly. They didn’t know Berdly all that well, to be fair, but they knew him well enough that they could call him an acquaintance at least.

As they walked further down the street, they heard someone running up to them. They turned around and their eyes widened, their pupils shrinking to tiny pin pricks as they saw Noelle running up to them. She was… smiling. She came to give Frisk their gratitude.

“I just wanted to say… thank you, for sticking up for me. A-and I’m sorry if this is taking up your time, I know how busy you can be. But I really wanted to tell you just how grateful I am.”

Noelle’s words were genuine, and her expression was bright and joyful. And yet, Frisk couldn’t bare to look at her. Because every time they did, all they could see was her horrified, blood soaked stare. And all they could hear were her soul wrenching wails.

Frisk quickly sprinted away before Noelle had a chance to finish thanking them, leaving Noelle confused, but feeling as though she might have said something wrong. Tha thought ate away at her, that after they just saved her from harassment, she had to go and make them uncomfortable like that.

‘Great job, Noelle. Why do you have to be so-’

“What's their problem?”

Noelle's thoughts were cut off when they heard Snowdrake speak up. She looked to her left and saw that the group across the street had crossed over to her side.

“Who knows? They’ve been acting weird for a while now.” Ice Cap said. He then looked up at Noelle with a reassuring look. “No worries, Noelle. Frisk may not be a people person, but they probably appreciate the thanks.”

Noelle smiled gratefully. A smile which quickly turned to a wide eyed look of surprise as Berdly suddenly leaned on top of Ice Cap’s hat. He gazed flirtatiously into Noelle's eyes while flexing his scrawny arm.

“Just so you know, Noelle dearest, you need not worry about any ruffians besmirching your honor in the future. Just say the word, and I will come running to sweep you up into my loving ar-AYIE!!!”

Berdly’s attempt at flirting was cut off by a giant magic icicle cluster dropped down onto his head. Berdly fell to the ground, whining and clutching a bump on his head as very manly streams of tears flowed down his face and he changed “owie owie owie” over and over.

“Hands off the hat, feather brain!” Ice Cap barked at the bird boy.

While the kids were goofing around together, Frisk rounded a corner, about to make it to the training grounds. That’s when they suddenly got a phone call from Alphys. And this call made them completely disregard their previous quest. See, Frisk had two phones: one for personal use and one for professional use, both of which they kept on them at all times. Ever since integrating monster kind into human society, Alphys never called Frisk on their personal phone. Every time the royal scientist called, it was always on business.

They picked up the phone and addressed Alphys formally, before requesting whatever information she had to provide.

“Frisk, where are you right now?!”

After Frisk told her that they were heading to visit Undyne, Alphys sounded slightly relieved before continuing.

“When you get to her, tell her that we need to speed up the development of our defenses, and by a lot! The seismic detectors and sonar systems I’ve been using to track Godzilla say he just changed course!”

Frisk knew with that context where he was headed. They didn’t know why they asked where he was going. Maybe they wanted to hold onto the sliver of hope that they were wrong.

“At the pace he’s going, he’s projected to hit us in three days! ”