Chapter Text
There was a story I read once. Long ago, HUMANS and MONSTERS ruled over earth. Unfortunately, that didn’t last very long—A war breaking out between them.
After a long, treacherous battle, the HUMANS won, sealing MONSTERS underground once and for all. There’s rumors that HUMANS used up all their magic for that last moment.
Legends said that those who climb the mountain that MONSTERS were sealed in never return alive.
My dull blue eyes pried open, they stared at the open crater above. Dim sunlight kissed my pale skin as birds flew over, casting temporary shadows. My eyes blinked off any dirt that might’ve gotten on my eyelashes after I…fell? My head shifted to the side, jaw a bit slacked. Golden flowers surrounded my being, petals that seemed to be well taken care of.
God, what kind of flowers were they? Daisies? Daffodils? Pansies—A jolt of pain shot down my back, no time to worry about flowers, I guess.
I wiggled my fingers in place, making sure I wasn’t caught in some dream. They sure ached a bit, but in a way, I was still…comfortable. It was like a prayer answered. But, this place felt familiar, like home.
Like home?
My body creaked and a groan escaped my lips as I managed to bring myself to my knees. The flower bed beneath me looked a bit trampled and guilt suddenly wracked my brain. I slowly rose to my feet, “God. The dirt is…uneven.” Oddly enough, it reminded me of a grave. That guilt struck my heart like a chord and I recoiled.
My fists balled up and I continued onward, it seemed like all I could do was explore while I could. A familiar habit came out of my lips, “That bed of grass doesn’t stretch for long, does it?”
The light tapping of my sneakers echoed throughout that empty hallway, through a giant door frame. I brushed my hands lightly against it, just to try and ground myself, which led me to a room of beautiful purple bricks.
“Woah…” I muttered to myself, once more. My hands still grazed against the walls, I was in my own little world at that point. I pulled away my hand, a weird light dust coated my finger tips.
My eyes met with a yellow shine just ahead of a bed of red leaves. A silver staircase surrounded it, an opportunity to leave this room was presented. But for some reason, that golden, twinkling star pulled me closer, either out of my own curiosity or some drive to explore more.
Crunch, crunch, crunch.
I made my way through that scattered leaf pile. And my hand reached out to the light, and just for a moment, it felt like home again. I wanted to cup it in my hands, wanted to hold it, return it to its home—
Ding!
The pain rattled through my head like a hammer to the skull. My dull blue eyes were shocked to life at that moment, something that felt like it hadn't happened in a long time. My nerves were lit on fire, pain shot from the core of my being to the ends of my fingertips and toes. I was aware of every single cell living in my body, flashes of memories glazed over my eyes.
I’m ######, careta#er of #he ##ins.
E#ER#ONE CA# BE A ##EAT PER#ON IF THE# TR#!
…You’# be de#d w#ere you s#and.
Se#en. #even h#man souls.
#a… h#…
I d#n’t #ant t# let #o…
[*you’re filled with determination. you saved the game.]
My eyes stayed wide, they trembled as my rattled brain tried to comprehend the words in front of my face. Plain in sight was a black textbox with white accents and pixelated text in front of me.
Something that was familiar. Something I knew all too well. Something as a means of escape.
“…Okay.”
Chapter 1: Silver and Gold
"It's a whole new world out there."
My chest still heaved as I looked at the scenery in front of me. That silver staircase still called to me, begging me to go forward. I then managed to balance myself on my wobbly legs and carry onward.
[*move forward.]
“I know,” I grunted at the textbox in front of me. The textbox shifted to a stats page, and finally, I was able to see maybe a glimpse into who I was.
NEMESIA
LV 1
HP 20/20
ATK 2 (7) EXP: 0
DEF 1 (4) NEXT: 10
WEAPON: Old Hammer
ARMOR: Knitted Scarf
GOLD: 0
“…Checks out. I think.” My hand reached out to click on the weapon button. It felt a bit odd to be able to physically press these buttons.
[*”old hammer” - weapon AT 5]
[*it’s old and stolen, but gets the job done.]
I reached into the inventory to take it out, and soon enough, it popped into my hands. Wasn’t…quite used to this convenience yet. I inspected the old hammer, and it seemed a bit rusty on the metal parts. But the way I held it, it felt right where it needed to be. I let my arm dangle with the weight of it and checked my armor.
[*”knitted scarf” - armor DF 3]
[*hand sewn with love and care. it might be thick, but at least it’ll keep you warm.]
I looked down at the said armor, wrapped around my neck. I stuck my fingers through the tiny holes and smiled to myself. I was surprised I didn’t get any warmer, but the whole situation must’ve distracted me enough from that fact.
My head slowly turned around, being cautious of anything around me, but I had a feeling this place hadn’t been inhabited in a second. Then, I listened to the textbox and carried onward.
My feet carried me through, there was something unnerving about this place. The colors felt like they should’ve been comforting, a welcome, but something terribly awful happened here. Until I came to a halt. The dummy was slashed into, mangled. I winced at the sight of it, but who was I to judge? At least it wasn’t a living thing, right?
I then realized that dust that coated the dummy was dusted everywhere in the rest of The Ruins, wedged in the cracks of the poorly placed brick. Footprints from someone’s shoes were a path to where I knew I should follow, but something in me ached again.
The purple hallway came to a close, and I went through that tall, gold doorway. In front of my sneakers was a purple and white robe with dust sprinkled on top of it. The Delta Rune emblem was plain as day on the front of it. I crouched and with gentle precision, held them into my hands. My eyes went a bit wide, understanding the situation I had gotten myself into…Or was unintentionally put into.
That’s what this was… A genocide run of Undertale. But, I hadn’t done anything, right? Ugh, all of this was getting to my head. The grasp of that royal robe relaxed, the folds trying to make its way out of my hands. I let it drop back onto the floor and stood to my full height, my gaze still fixated on the crime scene in front of me. My eyes wouldn’t budge from the dust pile, wouldn’t budge from the scene that I had seen other people go through. It felt all too real now, whatever actions I took, it would shape the world around me.
“I’m sorry, Toriel,” my eyes started to sting. A mother figure I would’ve never felt the presence of, something I was awfully familiar with. The golden arch called to me again, knowing I had to go forward. And so, I did, with an uncomfortable pit in my stomach.
The dim lighting was now behind me, a sheet of fresh snow was present before me, brightening my sight some. I took a deep breath and put out my foot. Snow crunched beneath my feet, and unfortunately, it started to seep within my sneakers. An uncomfortable feeling that I was well used to before, but I still marched on. Hopefully, I could make it to Snowdin and make some sense out of this whole…thing.
Dark green trees stretched, snow stacked on the many branches. It was honestly quite beautiful, and even if I had seen this scenery so many times when I was younger, it still felt nice to stare at. Honestly, the brightness of the snow made me forget I was even underground.
I was stopped in my tracks as my gaze was brought away from the scenery. This time it wasn’t something to admire, like scenery, or something to wince at, like the managed corpse of a dummy—But another human. My blood ran cold and my heart rang in my ears.
[*feels familiar, doesn’t it?]
Their brown, curled hair turned to face me. Their skin tanner than I remembered, a bit tattered as well. Their eyes were shut, just as they always were. And, oddly enough they looked around my age…At least I think I was about 17 or 18 by now. That blue and magenta striped shirt, bright as ever, was covered in a thin coat of monster dust. And in their hand, they gripped onto that toy knife like it was their duty, their god given right.
“Uh…” was all I managed to muster out of my mouth. I must’ve looked stupid with my mouth hanging open.
[*dummy, it’s just another human. talk to them.]
“Yeah, but they have a—“
I was soon cut off by their raspy, cold tone, “Another human? That can’t be right. I’m the only one here.”
“Y-yeah, you’re telling me,” I laughed, a bit nervously. I had no idea what to tell them, I was a bit lost on any words. Weirdly enough, I wanted to inspect them.
“Why are you so scared of me, someone who’s one of your kind? Didn’t you see all the other monsters here?” They then stopped, recalling something, a sick grin spread across their face. “Ah, nevermind. You wouldn’t have seen any yet…I killed them all up to this point.”
My lips quivered, like I wanted to say something, like I wanted to do something. But I had no right, did I? What, did I want to bring justice to this already broken life these monsters will live out? From what I remember, monsters experience the grief cycle as humans do. What if they also feel the need to take lives, like the human in front of me?
No, I knew monsterkind could do that as well. They were no different than us. I didn’t want that burden to fall on my shoulders. This, alone, was too much to bear. I wanted to go home, but the thought of going home left me with a throbbing in my head.
Frisk approached me, one boot stomped in front of the other, snapping me away from my thoughts. “You can’t be a witness. I don’t care if you’re new text to be ogled at, I need you gone.”
My eyes went wide and my legs wobbled once more. I looked back at the forest behind me and figured I could do some good trying to hide in a tree, or climb one—Anything to get away from the genocidal person in front of me.
[*run.]
Va te foutre by Igorrr began to play.
Snow dusted around me as I made a break for it, my scarf whipped wildly in the wind behind me. I could feel the bitter cold nipping away at my skin, the comfort of my hair couldn’t protect me from this angle. The old hammer I once gripped onto blipped into my inventory and I remained defenseless. The sound of Frisk stomping accompanied my erratic footsteps. Sweat started to bead and drip down my forehead, god I don’t remember this being a part of the game at all.
It wasn’t until I got into the sea of black-barked trees, rid of all their shrubbery. My head whipped from side to side, trying to find a getaway plan, but I couldn’t think straight. I began to run until I felt a tightening force around my throat.
“Gah?!” I exclaimed as that black scarf went tighter around my throat. I snapped my head backwards and there they were, balled fist tightly wrapped around the end of my scarf. Bright crimson eyes looked up at me from under their curled bangs, puffs of condensation surrounded their opened mouth. They looked like a rabid animal, blood thirsty, and I was their prey.
“Get back here!” They growled through gritted teeth as they yanked the scarf upwards, then snapped it back down, pulling me with such force into the ground. I nearly fell backwards onto my ass before somehow catching myself, I spun on my shoes to face them. I then slowly backtracked away from them, slow crunching accompanying each careful step.
My hands went up, a measly surrender as a nervous chuckle slipped through my cracked lips. “It’s not easy to fight in the snow. Why don’t we…wait?”
“Don’t care,” Frisk scoffed as they ran up to me and slammed their fist into my stomach. Spit flew out of my mouth as I fell flat onto the snow beneath us, leaving some sort of twisted snow angel where I laid. Frisk hovered over my torso, they bit onto the handle of that toy knife as they slipped their torn gloves onto each hand. “You’re in my game. You’re getting in my way.”
Still planted in the snow, I tried to sit up, but I was met with Frisk’s foot pinning me down by the shoulder. “Gh—I haven’t d-done anything yet!”
“You’re right. But you will,” they coldly remarked. Their hands gripped the handle of that toy knife and it slammed into my shoulder with such force, it awakened something in me. Strings of blood followed the motion of stabbing, drops flew onto the snow. God only knew why a toy knife was doing that much damage to me.
[*you remember how sharp those can get though.]
Any attempt to access my inventory was pointless, I had to use my hands. They tried to snake around any limbs of Frisk’s, but any attempts had failed to do so. If anything, I could try and reach their neck to strangle them, but god, this stabbing was making it hard to do so.
Then, they tossed aside the toy knife into the snow, leaving the fresh batch of untouched snow stained a gruesome crimson color. Their hands slammed together before they punched one of those gloves directly into the core of my chest.
Punch after punch, I ended up coughing up blood all over their shirt, now adding red to the arrangement of colors on their outfits. My eyesight was fading, blurry. I couldn’t focus and it felt like the world we were in spun around and around. Clearly their LOVE was higher than whatever I had.
I could do nothing but let my eyes roll back into my head as the determination on their face grew stronger.
A crackle of lightning illuminated a cramped room. Two beds in a dimly lit room were wedged in their respective corners. One of the blankets was taken off of the beds and thrown across a table sitting in the middle of the room. All across the walls were crudely drawn characters, ranging from various media, but notably, two children with those copyrighted characters. It’s like they were living a double-life.
The silver-haired child let the door slam shut behind them. They brought their sleeves up to their face with a loud sniffle, tears dripped off of their silver eyelashes onto the fabric. They then took in a shaky breath and put on a brave face. They pulled up on the edge of the blanket and snuck underneath that blanket adorned table.
A boy with brown hair, no older than 16 years, hugged his knees, eyes tear-stained from what could only be hours of crying. He practically hid himself well in that brown cardigan of his. His fingertips were white from the pressure of the position he was in. His golden eyes nearly glowed in the dark as he saw the person crouched in front of him, “N-Nemesia…?”
“Hey…” they gently said. They brushed at his bangs a bit as they tried to hide a sniffle that came from their own nose. They then sat down right next to that brown-haired boy and outstretched their arms, “Hug?”
That boy seemed to shy away at first, his eyes cast downwards. His arms then wrapped around their waist, giving them a tight squeeze. Sniffles from the boy’s nose were the only noise filling the room besides the pattering of rain on the windows.
All Nemesia could do was pet his hair and stare into the darkness of their fort. Their eyes darted around, but there was nothing to look at besides shadows.
He spoke once more, breaking the silence, “Are we…ever gonna get out of here?”
Nemesia’s eyebrows furrowed, their fingers dug into his shirt. This house was no place for them to live in, they weren’t even their parents…They only had each other, it felt like. This makeshift tent was their only escape from things outside of this room. “I…think we will. We have to.”
“You promise?”
They nodded into his shoulder. “I promise, Miro.”
“Get out of here,” I muttered with a chuckle, a stream of blood went down my lip.
For a moment, Frisk looked like someone I recalled. Someone I took care of, protected, called my own. Short, brown hair that framed a round pale face, with lovely golden eyes. But, they weren’t him. They weren’t as kind as him, they weren’t as gentle as him. They weren’t him. I blinked a couple times, only to be met with Frisk’s red eyes once more.
“What?” Frisk hovered over me in disbelief. Their eyebrows furrowed in anger, teeth clenched. “What?!”
I cocked back my leg and slammed it into their stomach, “GET OUT!”
They flew backwards and slammed into one of the black trees, exclaiming with a small yelp. They puffed out their cheeks and spat out saliva stained with blood. A scene that would definitely rattle in my brain, a reminder that they weren’t just pixels now. I pushed myself up and approached them as they knelt in the snow. Out of what felt like nowhere, the black textbox approached me. My eyes glossed over the words and my pupils shrunk a bit.
[*give them a taste of their own medicine.]
Suddenly, the old hammer was blipped back into my hand, weighing it down once more. I swallowed hard, studying the tool that rested in my palm. I dropped to their level, studying them with dull eyes. With a force beyond my control, my hand went to reach around the collar of the sweater, until—
“Human!” A deep familiar voice called out to us. It sounded like his voice came directly from his belly. Frisk snapped their head around to the short, yet fat skeleton with the blue hoodie. His pink slippers were planted into the fresh snow. “…Humans,” he exclaimed, putting an emphasis on the ‘s’ as he winked one eye socket shut with a wide grin on his skeletal face. “My brother’s gonna be reaaaal happy to see two of ya.”
Frisk’s red eyes snapped open as we met eyes. Their teeth still grit as they stood to their full height—Which wasn’t much. “I’ll be back for you, you know. I’ve got something else to take care of.”
My eyes went wide, knowing well what they were going to do, or what they could do. “No, get back here—“
They shoved me back into the snow, yet again, another morbid snow angel was created. “Listen to your own advice; Get out of here.”
I laid there in the snow, arms outstretched. It started to soak my blue and white striped shirt, but all I could do was look up at the clouds above Snowdin’s deep forest. I squinted my eyes and saw flakes falling gently from the sky, before the black textbox appeared before my eyes.
[*do you remember who you are now?]
“Yeah,” my voice croaked a little as my blue eyes slowly shut, silver eyelashes kissed by snowflakes. “I think I remember now.” My lips curled into a small smile, “I’ll be back soon, Miro…”
“Human?” That familiar deep voice woke me up, my eyes peeled open. Hovering over my head was Sans’ face, giving me a wide grin, his default expression. “What’re you still doin’ here? Let’s head on over to Snowdin.”
It seemed I passed out again in the snow, a light coat of snow covered my shirt. I had a gut feeling this would be a common occurrence; Running into Frisk, getting my ass beat while trying to reason with them, and then passing out wherever it was most comfortable…As comfortable as you could be with blood loss. I guess being a punching bag wasn’t so bad if I was stuck here.
“C’mon,” he reached out a boney, off-white hand to help me up. Upon grabbing it to get some sort of support, a loud fart from his hand echoed in the forest. It bounced off the trees and into the white sky. My eyes blinked some as I stood to my full height. Then a small “pffft” slipped past my lips and I slapped my free hand over my mouth.
[*you’ve always had an immature sense of humor.]
“Heheh, the ol’ whoopee cushion in the hand trick! Go on, laugh it up!” Seems like he hadn’t been able to get Frisk with that one, the amusement on his face was present as ever. A stupid smile spread across my face and I shook my head, letting him continue.
“Anyways,” he winked an eye socket shut, “I’m Sans, Sans the Skeleton. Ya got a name?”
I scratched my head, opening my stats page just to be sure. In bold letters, I saw the name NEMESIA…Sounded close enough. “Uh…Yeah, Nemesia.”
“Quite the name you got there, huh?” He nodded, “My brother’s been on the hunt for humans, y’know? That Frisk fella has been keepin’ him busy, but I got other questions…”
“Like what?” I tilted my head slightly, my silver locks that shaped my face followed.
“Why’s there two of you?” He interrogated, the breeze hummed between my ears and his ear sockets.
“Yeah, I’ve been trying to find that out too, Skeleton,” I muttered through my teeth, a bit sarcastically.
“They’re killin’ anything in their path too. Ya didn’t put up much of a fight, didja?” His words were like a jab into my heart. It’s like he was stalking them already, but I couldn’t quite accuse him of that. “I mean, if ya got the chance, why not take it?”
I stood there though, my fingers formed into a tight fist. I felt myself mentally regress back into flight mode. “Why though? What right do I have?”
“Huh?”
“I dunno. Who am I to stop them? Surely they had a reason to drop down here, maybe not a pleasant one at all,” and sometimes I didn’t believe the words coming out of my mouth, they contradicted my actions from earlier. They echoed a belief I had when I was younger. “Who am I to play God? Why can’t I stop them when they hit RESET and start anew?”
“Heh…Listen, kid. You got your values all messed up,” Sans’ voice was a bit pained as he let out a sigh. “People like ‘em? They don’t need to continue that cycle of violence, but they will. Over, an’ over, an’ over again.”
I gripped the sleeve of my white undershirt. Something stung my eyes, “Why can’t we wait it out?” I was whining like a kid, and my eyes trailed down to the textbox that suddenly blipped into existence in front of me.
[*you always hated that aspect about yourself.]
“Sometimes, we don’t get a chance to RESET. We have to ACT.” Sans turned back to the entrance of Snowdin Forest. He began to turn, waving a bony hand along so I’d follow. And reluctantly, I did so after staring at the snow angel behind me.
My arms were crossed tightly against my chest, weathering the light snow that was falling in the forest as I followed Sans through the paved path. I replayed the scenario over and over again in my head.
Was what I said even true? Was what Sans said even true? It’s not…really my fault I’m here at all. I could cower away to some place in the Underground, try to survive Frisk’s awful wrath, and find a way back to the surface. This isn’t my fault, after all, I’m not the one that hurt them. I’m not the one that killed everyone up until this point.
[*you could still help them though.]
[*isn’t that the beauty of humanity?]
[*maybe that fat, stupid skeleton was right.]
I let out a sigh as Sans and I entered the entrance of Snowdin Town. It seemed like Sans had relaxed some, his shoulders a bit lower than they once were. Maybe he had seen what Frisk was up to, or had a hunch.
“Hey,” he turned to me, those white pupils seemed to peek into my SOUL, “Let’s go see what my brother’s up to. That human and him went through all those puzzles.”
I nervously swallowed and tapped my finger tips together, “Umm? Shouldn’t w-we have a game plan?”
“I got it covered,” Sans winked an eye shut, that big grin spread across his face some more. “C’mon.”
It seemed the place was a bit vacant, footprints in the snow showed a lot of scuffling about. The golden buildings didn’t seem to have anybody in them; The blinds tightly shut, some places had their lights off. It was eerie, like some sorta ghost town. My eyebrows narrowed some as I studied Sans and I’s footsteps as that feeling started to twist my stomach into knots.
We passed by a giant Christmas tree with a select amount of presents underneath it, it was the only thing glowing with life in this town. Then, my eyes met with a small, yellow…lizard? What even were they? Some sort of monster, obviously…All I knew is they looked quite comfortable in that yellow and brown striped sweater. They sat crisscrossed on the snow, their small, stubby tail swayed about.
“Yo!” They called out to me, their once bored eyes sparked to life.
“Hey…” I waved, a bit awkwardly. Sans noticed I trailed behind and stopped, and slowly turned his stubby legs. I continued as I nervously scratched at the side of my face, “Um, where is…everyone?”
Monster Kid’s eyes looked downward, seemingly out of disappointment. “Everyone ran away and hid somewhere for some reason.”
“Ah…” I stared ahead towards Sans and the forming blizzard beyond us. Before I could continue, Monster Kid carried on.
“Adults can be so dumb sometimes! We got Undyne to protect us, don’t they know that?!” They exclaimed, they nearly shot up from their spot. Seems like the name ‘Undyne’ got them all excited. “You know Undyne, right?”
I bit my lip for a moment. Should I tell this kid a lie, or expose the fact I don’t belong here? Of course I knew who Undyne was, to an extent, but I was never physically by her. I only knew her as pixels on my screen, code in my computer. My eyes darted everywhere for a second, trying to muster up the courage to blurt anything out, “Y-yeah! Totally!”
[*you suck at this lying thing.]
“Tch-“ I glared at my textbox, then looked back up to Monster Kid. “Listen, Sans and I have a mission to go on. Just…stay here, okay?”
“Oooh! A mission?” Monster Kid seemed even more intrigued, their eyes still glittering with fascination. “Yo, I wanna tag along!”
“No!” I blurted out, making Monster Kid recoil in response. I froze a bit, then waved my hands out of panic, “It’s not safe, not even for us…Trust me.” I outstretched my hand and gave them a firm pat on the head, giving it a slight rub.
“Okay! But, hey, I still wanna get through and see Undyne soon,” they nodded their big yellow head. They looked like a bobble head in a way, and I couldn’t help but smile.
I was finally able to get a move on, and before I could get the words, “I’m ready, Sans,” out of my mouth, I noticed that the fat skeleton was no longer where he once stood.
[*seems the hoodie and shorts full of bones left.]
“What…?” My words trailed off, my head darted around at the snowy scenery around us. “Where did he…” Maybe he hid in one of the buildings, maybe the inn, maybe the store? I stepped forward towards one of the windows of some random structure before being rudely interrupted by my textbox.
[*move forward.]
[*you’re slacking.]
“Why don’t you just control me instead?” I grumbled under my breath, knowing well that couldn’t happen. And so, with nervous and weak legs, I turned around and trekked on through Snowdin Town’s messy snow piles. My hands started to itch uncomfortably, and I didn’t know what to do about it.
Frisk’s blank face stared ahead at the blizzard that surrounded them and Papyrus. Their brown, choppy hair waved around, flakes getting caught in certain strands of their hair and sweater. Papyrus’ gloved hands pressed firmly against his bony hips. He was in quite the heroic pose, his vermilion, torn cape fluttered in the wind.
“HALT, HUMAN!” His voice boomed from his chest as he held out one hand, still a pretty sizable distance from Frisk. They then took a step forward, boots crunched in the crispy sheet of snow. “HEY! Quit moving while I’m talking to you,” Papyrus slammed down a red boot into the snow, flakes scattered about. Frisk gave them a sinister smile, putting their hands behind their back.
That tall, lanky skeleton then shifted back to his heroic pose, hand on his chest now, “I, the Great Papyrus, have some things to say!” He cleared his throat as he brought a gloved fist up to his boney mouth, then promptly blurted out, “First: YOU’RE A FREAKING WEIRDO!”
Frisk seemed to smirk more at that line. Whether they relished in the fact that they were, in fact, a weirdo, or whether this was their favorite character—God only knew. They nodded, letting Papyrus continue. They wanted to hear the innocence, the naivety coating his words, it made them feel smart. It was like they were fooling everyone in their path, which may as well be true by this point.
“Not only do you not like puzzles…But the way you shamble about from place to place…The way your hands are always covered in dusty powder,” the concern in Papyrus' voice started to grow, a small bead of sweat dripped down his rigid head. Even though Frisk’s eyes weren’t open, it felt like something was staring into his SOUL. “It feels…Like your life is going down a dangerous path.”
He shook his head thoughtfully, some sort of confidence beaming on his face, “FEAR NOT! I, Papyrus, see great potential within you! Everyone can be a great person if they try! I see it in you, human.”
Frisk continued to march through the frost-covered snow, which prompted Papyrus to exclaim, “Quit moving! This is what I am talking about!” He held both hands outwards and waved them about cartoonishly, “Human, I think you’re in need of some guidance! Someone needs to keep you on the straight and narrow.”
For a moment, it seemed like Frisk froze at something in their line of view, and it made that devilish smile persist. Their own black textbox, reminding them of their goal at hand.
[*Take him down.]
Papyrus let his speech continue on, Frisk and their textbox had heard it all before, “But, worry not! I, Papyrus…Will gladly be your friend and tutor! I will turn your life right around!”
[*I’m the only one that can truly guide you.]
Frisk was merely inches away from the tall skeleton at this point. His head tilted to the side, a bit relieved, “I see you are approaching! Are you offering a hug of acceptance?”
[*Remember what we’re here to do.]
The blizzard intensified, or maybe it was Frisk’s SOUL ringing in their ears. The pressure coursed through their body and with shaky hands, they tightened that orange manly bandana around their forehead. “I, Papyrus, welcome you with open arms,” Papyrus heroically stated, his bone arms outstretched in front of them. His eye sockets now closed, giving Frisk a complete opening.
[*Papyrus is sparing you.]
And something within Frisk wanted to laugh in his face, truly, a monster can’t be this stupid, can they? Their threatening stance, the way they adjusted their armor before making the perfect strike across his stupidly thin body. It was perfect, and all they wanted to do was lau—
A searing pain shot Frisk in the back of their skull, like it shattered upon impact. That burning pain shot across their nervous system, paralyzing them for seconds. Their eyes shot open, those ruby eyes glowing in front of Papyrus as their being fell to their knees, with a loud shrill from their mouth. An old hammer crunched into the snow behind them, specs of blood dripped onto the snow.
“Human!!” Papyrus’ eye sockets went wide with worry, and before he was able to bend down and assist to their injuries, I shouted through the roaring winds.
“STOP!” My arms partially blocked my view as the bitter blizzard blasted through. The red glow from my SOUL illuminated underneath my shirt. It soon died down, but my adrenaline didn’t in the slightest. A puff of air came out from my lips before I continued, “Don’t get close to them! Please!”
Frisk’s head snapped around to where I stood, one of their eyes glowed a fierce red from beneath their bangs. It felt like all the wind was knocked out of me, either from the force of the brutal winds or the murderous glint I saw in Frisk’s eyes. Possibly both, but there was no time to wax poetic about it.
“Another human!?” Papyrus must’ve felt like he was in heaven for a moment, but he stumbled backwards as Frisk sloppily made their way up towards me; Their new target. They completely ignored that hammer in the snow, either out of pure rage or they thought it was utterly useless to them.
“I told you to get out of my way,” Frisk hissed through their teeth. Fresh blood trickled down their forehead as seething rage grew in their voice, “What is with you and not listening?”
“You can’t…do this,” my voice went weak, speaking up was never a strong suit of mine. And I’m sure I looked pathetic as usual, I had no idea what I was trying to do. But, I felt like I was getting a grasp of it.
“SPEAK UP!” They roared, that red glint returning in their eyes. The snow groaned underneath their boots as they sped up the pace, it’s like the snow from the blizzard was guiding them towards me, not letting them slip an inch. “If you’re gonna try and act so heroic, at least try and sound like you care!”
Papyrus’ head waved in worry. His brows furrowed, then raised a leg and slammed it down, bones shot out from the beneath the ground, inching closer to where Frisk was headed. Several of the tall bones threw them into the air, creating some sort of suspended cage for them. Their joints were uncomfortably bent between the cracks and Papyrus reeled back a bit out of discomfort.
“Other human!!” He shouted from across the blizzard and my blue eyes met his empty sockets full of worry. He had my old hammer in his gloved hand and waved it around. He reeled his arm backwards, stumbling on his wobbly legs, and threw it forward. That old hammer glinted through the flying flakes, and it managed to smack right into my hand.
Papyrus had made it past the cage of bones, his gloved hand tried to shield his sight from the blinding storm. He bent down to level himself to my height, or at least to where I could hear him better. “What a strange human! But, you! You saved me?”
“I…did, yeah,” I finally caught my breath. I didn’t believe what I did for mere seconds. I didn’t want to hurt Frisk, but something in me knew I had to. To protect myself, to protect Papyrus. I pushed down those conflicting feelings with a swallow and another deep inhale. My gaze trailed upwards to Papyrus’ face, eyebrows furrowed, “I need your help, Papyrus.”
“Anything, human!” He turned to Frisk, who was now inching their way out of that useless prison he had created for them. He pointed at them heroically as they barred their teeth in response, “But, under one condition: I want to turn that human’s life around!”
I stared up at Frisk, knowing this could end either way. But truly, I wanted to follow in Papyrus’ naive steps. I nodded my head with a smirk, as I stood next to his bony side, feeling the weight of that hammer in my hand again. This time, it wasn’t an itching pain, it wasn’t a guilt tugging at my chest; It was to serve justice.
[*the old hammer feels right at home.]
I pointed the old hammer towards Frisk as they leapt down from the piles of bones. Their hands wrapped around one of the many bones Papyrus summoned from beneath the ground. The snow and dirt flung up from the ground, and they whipped that bone around them like a baton. I felt ready for any move they had prepared for me.