"I DO NOT REGRET HELPING YOU, YOU'RE A...UNIQUE...
“MAYBE BUT FROM MY UNDERSTANDING- SURVIVAL INSTINCTS ARE STILL A THING HEH- IF I WAS TRAPPED ABOVE I…WILL NOT LIE, I MIGHT HAVE TAKEN A LIFE OR TWO…NAH YOU’RE NOT WHAT I THOUGHT.”
“... Believe it or not, most people, or at least humans as far as I know, actually hesitate to kill on purpose. I won’t say there aren’t those who wouldn’t. Those who were trained to, or those who for one reason or another have come to not regard life as precious as it is. But most people would still more likely hesitate and freeze when attacked. Of course, that actually gets a lot of people killed themselves when faced with someone with no such compunctions, but the fact still stands.”
(WELLLLL this isn’t a drabble. It’s very long. BUT it just so happens I’d written this long ago from Frisk’s point of view, from an earlier version of Red, so getting to rewrite it in his POV and with updated backstories was an opportunity I couldn’t pass up. So, here you are~!)
- - - - -
“stop right there, kid.”
Red watched the human child come to asurprised halt, clearly startled by his sudden appearance. They hadn’t spokensince Snowidn, but he’d been there, watching, from Syren’s little concert tothe vents of Hotland to the winding hallways of the core. He wasn’t impressed.He stood facing them, his hands in his pockets, gaze narrowed. They gave himthat innocent, confused look, the same look they gave Mettaton, and Undyne, andVex, and anyone else who fought them. Like they couldn’t believe it. He grit histeeth.
“don’t gimme that look… you and i both knowwhat’s gonna happen next.”
They tilted their head slightly. They wereeven shorter than him, a child, their body stocky and still growing. Theirhands moved precisely, quick and confident.
‘Why are you here, Red?’
“don’t ask stupid questions. you made it allthis way, you beat my boss, and the captain, even the human-killing robot. youshould’ve died ages ago. how did you survive?”
They didn’t answer, their hands hesitating,and he scoffed.
“yeah, i know how. by making friends with them. by being nice to them until they spared you outof pity, or to return the favor. well, lemme tell ya somethin’, kid. no onespares anyone down here. that’s just not how the underground works. for years,there’s been only one rule. kill, or bekilled.”
Frisk set their jaw, straightening up, andfinally found words.
‘But I did neither of those things.’
“that’s right. you didn’t kill, and you weren’tkilled. well. good for you, kid. but now what? you can’t pass the barrier onyour own no matter how much ‘determination’ you have. you need a monster souland a human soul. and not just any monster soul, either. a monster soul thatwill persist long enough after death for you to take it and absorb it. a bossmonster’s soul. and as of right now, there are only two boss monsters. one isthe king. and the other… well, who knows where the queen went?”
Frisk lifted their hands, but he bulldozed on,unwilling to let them dig in with their talk of mercy. Not for this.
“so, kid, we got a good ending and a bad ending.the bad ending is, you walk past me and fight and kill our king – and he’s areal jerk, don’t get me wrong, but he isking – you take his soul, you pass through the barrier leaving us behind in apower vacuum. we fall into despair; monsters everywhere start falling down anddying. we struggle to survive and hope against hope that another human fallssoon. or… the good ending. you die. you give us your soul, and we break free ofthis mountain.”
Of course, the King had plans of war, butthose could be dealt with after. vex and undyne weren’t training for nothing,or just to beat up vagabonds. This kid didn’t need to know these things.
He pulled his left hand out of his pocket, palm up, hispupils softening a little around the edges. He did his best to look genuine.
“you can guess which one we’d prefer. i’m askin’ ya nicely,kid. do everyone a favor, and give it up peacefully. if you do, i’ll make yourdeath quick and painless. i’m a nice guy sometimes, y’know, and i don’t like toput in a lot of effort. fighting is a hassle, don’t you agree? “
He waited like that patiently, with his arm stretched out,while Frisk stared at him in shock. He wasn’t surprised. His offer wasdownright generous, compared to the other fights they’d been through. There wasa chance, a small chance that theymight actually take his offer, and he wouldn’t have to make this a big mess.But, he could tell already they weren’t going to take his offer. Of course. Hewas resigning himself even before their jaw set.
‘I’m going to return to the surface, and I’m taking you allwith me.’
Red sighed, flipping his hand for the palm to face Frisk.
“well, i tried it the easy way. now you get the hard way.”
He turned their soul blue and threw them into the airviciously.
Things seemed to blur after that. He was sure he’d beatenthem, he was sure he could smell the sickening tang of human blood, making histhroat close up and his soul thud in revulsion. But no, here he was again, hishand out, ready to turn their soul blue. He paused for just a moment, watchingthem.
“that expression…”
He turned their soul blue and flung them. They survived hisattack, slamming the CHECK button. He tried not to shiver, and instead smirked,enjoying their shocked expression at his piss-poor stats.
“what? thought i was stronger? i toldja i didn’t likefighting. but hey, you should’ve attacked while you had the chance, buddy.”
He attacked viciously, trying to dredge up the faintest hintof KR to make it easier on himself. He couldn’t. He couldn’t muster therighteous fury needed to make his magic spark yellow, to make his attacks domore than one measly point at a time. But even without it, he had tricks andworkarounds that gave him a severe advantage.
Things started blurring a little more, but he was gettingused to it. He was experiencing the time LOADs he’d theorized they were usingto win. But he still wouldn’t let them win.
‘Hey, Red! What do you call a skeleton that stuck its head inthe freezer? A numbskull!’“hehehe, good one kid. i’ll use it myself when i get tothe surface.”-- - - - - - - - -‘Did you sit on a pile of sugar, Red? Because you have apretty sweet ass!’“hehe. clever, but i’m a skeleton. i don't have an ass.”- - - - - - - - - -'Red, please, stop! You’vekilled me four times now!’“i know how to count,thanks. i’m a physicist. a well-rounded five, maybe?”
- - - - - - - - - -
“lemme tell you a story.”
Red wandered over to oneof the pillars in the golden hallway. The kid was clutching their bleeding arm.The smell of blood made him nauseated, but he shook it off. He watched themwith his good eye, the blind right one closed to give him a casual look.
“so i’m a sentry atsnowdin forest, right? out there, in the middle of nowhere, is a door. the doorto the ruins, i’m guessing. but it’s perfect for knock-knock jokes. one time, iwas sittin’ there, crankin’ 'em out as usual, when i heard a voice. a laugh.someone was on the other side, and they liked my stupid puns. it was a woman. idon’t know her name, i never asked. but she really freakin’ loves puns. then sheknocked herself and told one of her own. she was good. we startedgoin’ back and forth, almost every day. we’ve been doin’ it for years now. it’sgreat.”
He knew he had a stupid,fond look on his face as he told the story. Even though he’d never seen her face,he had a terrible fondness for her.
“one day… thelady wasn’t laughin’ much. somethin’ was wrong, i could tell. y'know, i’mpretty good at telling stuff like that. so i asked her what was up. she neverdid get around to tellin’ me what happened. but instead, she asked mesomethin’. she asked me, 'Red, how do you feel about promises?’ and so i toldher, 'look lady, i don’t make promises to people unless i trust 'em a lot…but you’re one of those people. tell me what you want and i’ll decide.’ so shetold me this: “If a human ever passes through this door… please kill them.’”
'Wait, what?’ Frisksigned incredulously.
“it’s the truth.she said to me, 'Please kill them quickly and painlessly. Do not let KingAsgore torture them. Give them the mercy of a painless death from someone witha good heart.’ and so i promised her that. and then, all these years later,here you are.”
'But… but…’
“look. i take mypromises seriously. i keep 'em even if they could kill me. so i intend to keepthis one too.”
He pushed off from the pillarand outstretched his good hand again, palm up.
“you’ll never get outwithout killing the king, kid. we’ll never get out without your soul. this isthe best outcome any of us can hope for. i’ll make sure it’s painless. just takemy offer.”
It was sparing, in itsown way. Yes, they would die, but he could make it be painless. Hell, if it madethem feel better, he’d give them a hug and a last wish or dying request. He’dmake their name be known and immortalized. But, of course, they refused. Theylooked like they were about to start crying, which made his soul clench.
Don’t you do that to me, kid. I HAVE to dothis.
‘Red… I can’t. I refuseto die. I refuse to give up.’
“but why?”he asked, frustrated. “giving up is so much easier. it takes so littleeffort. it hurts less. just… give up, kid.”
‘I won’t.’
Red sighed, slowlydropping his hand.
“y’see? this is why i hate making promises.”
He rolled his shouldersand jumped back into the fray.
- - - - - - - - - -
He gave that speechseveral more times. He always gave them a chance. He couldn’t stop himself. Itwas a part of the ‘script’ he supposed. But he always doubled down after that.They kept sparing, insisting, and multiple times, he knew he snarled that hehated them as he sent another attack their way. He lost count. It had to beover 30 times he killed them total. And he could feel that he was getting tired.Reaching his limits. They were getting better and better.
No wonder they even got past Undyne.
The worst part was theirwords.
“if you’re not gonnadie, you stupid kid, then just kill me and get it over with!” he snarled, andthey reeled like they’d been struck.
‘No!’
“why the fuck not?”
‘Because I care aboutyou, I can’t kill you!’
“wha…?” He paused in hisattack, staring at them with darkened sockets. “you… care about me…?”
‘I care about all ofyou! I care about your brother, and Undyne, and Alphys, and I definitely careabout you!’
And that ridiculouslittle kid actually made it seem… believable.He recalled Vex going red in the face during their ‘play date,’ watching Undynechasing them down only to have her stalk over tot their house and mumble somethingabout cooking with them, raiding Alphys’s lab only to see her dumping out herworse experiments herself. They had all changed… Was it really only becausethis kid showed they cared? Was that really it?
…No. It couldn’t be.There had to be other things at play. It was all some sick game. He grit histeeth, yanking them with blue magic again.
“you don’t. those arejust words. if you really cared about me, about any of us… you would just die already!”
He saw vividly tearingthrough their fragile flesh with a dozen bones, the blood spattering. His soulseized at the gore, and he felt vomit welling up before the world blurred.
- - - - - - - - - -
“…survive this, and i’ll show you my specialattack!”
He had said those wordseight times before. He was fighting a losing battle. What was the point? Hethrew everything at them. Everything he had, until he was gasping for breath, themagic in his good eye sputtering, exhaustion sweeping through him. He fell tohis knees, the assault ending, and they were still alive. Bleeding, but alive.The smell was horrible, but he was too tired to even be grossed out by thispoint.
“hhh… hhh…hhh… why won’t… you… just die…?” he panted,his eye sockets completely blank now. “why… hhh… why won’t you…just… give up…? hhh… please… hhh… please just… give up…”
He held onto his ‘turn’with the last ounces of will he had in him. Even so, they shuffled closer,kneeling in front of him. He braced for the end. But instead, he heard theirsoft, mostly unused voice.
“I can never give up,Red. I’ve got to get out.”
“hhh… k-kid… i don’t… idon’t have… some special attack… that’s all i got… hhh… you, you beat me… i can’tkill you, s-so… so please, just… kill me instead…”
“No! I refuse to killyou. I refuse to kill anyone.”
“please… please, kid, i’m beegin’ ya… after allof this… i can’t do it… i can’t watch you kill the king… take away our hope. ican’t watch boss feel betrayed… i just… i can’t, kid, i can’t do this anymore,i can’t…”
He broke off in a soband hated himself deeply for that weakness. Here he was, crumpled in front of achild, crying pathetically like he was still a little kid himself. If anyoneelse saw, he’d be dead. But all Frisk did was put their little hand on hisshoulder, and rub gently.
“I won’t. I care aboutyou, I’d never hurt you.”
He shook his head,sobbing quietly again. “if you cared about me, you’d do this for me… i’ve onlygot 1… i’m all out of HOPE. watchin’ you take away boss’s hope is gonna kill meanyway… this would be the less painful way to go, please…”
“I refuse.”
“why… not even for revenge?i killed you so many times i lost count.”
“Yes… But it doesn’tmatter. I know you’re a good person. You were fighting me to protect the peopleyou love.”
“that doesn’t excusemurder… and i ain’t the only one. so many have been cruel, anyone else wouldtake one look at us and just call us all bad people!”
“Well… I believe eventhe worst person can change. That everyone can be a good person, if they justtry. I’m going through life trying to be the best person I can be. Forgivingeveryone of their mistakes and bad choices, in the hopes they’ll try to becomebetter people too. It’s working so far… Hasn’t your brother changed? You sawhim after our date.”
Red wiped at his eyes,shifting to sit on his haunches slowly. “yeah, he… he looked happy… he hasn’tlooked so happy in a long time…” He looked up at them tiredly. “you… you changedhim, kid.”
“I’m glad! Because Icare about him a lot! And I’d never hurt him, especially not by killing you.You’re his precious brother. He loves you, you know. Even if he doesn’t say it.”
Red felt tears well up inhis sockets again. His soul throbbed. He knew, deep inside, it had just… beenso long since he’d acknowledged it. What with all of their fighting, theinsults, the punches, the disappointment and goading, the vicious cycle they’dbeen stuck in… Despite all of that…
“i… i know he does. ilove him too. that’s why i want him to get to the surface. i… want him to drivea cool car, and see the sun ride every morning…”
‘I want that too.’ Friskshifted back to signing now that he was watching them. ‘I’m gonna do it, Red. I’mgoing to set everyone free.’
“but how? we can’tharness the power of your soul without killing you, and we need it. besides,the king is…”
‘I’ll find a way. I alwaysfind a way.’
“heh…” He fell silent,looking down at his hand. He was exhausted, and emotionally wrung out, and…despite all of his conviction, there was something about Frisk. Something hecouldn’t help but trust. “somehow… i believe you, kid. i’m sorry foreverything.”
They smiled at him andoffered their hand. He took a deep breath, then took it to get to his feet.
Florent would be cleaning off a glass with his middle pair of hands. White cloth in one hand as he wiped off the glass. His eyes focus on the door seeing it open which he saw a familiar skeleton. A quiet sigh escapes him but he greets the customer non-the-less.
“Welcome back,once again. What can I get you this time?”
He asks as he adjusts his glasses looking to the other.
It wasn’t… a pleasant sight nor was it an expected one. The small and gentle-seeming Eric was in the heat of a vicious battle right before Arbiter’s eyes and not as a victim. Swarming him were a few larger creatures, one that Eric just roundhouse kicked in the face. In the blur of motion, the most noticeable thing was the shimmer of a blade in the boy’s hand. With seemingly expert movements, Eric fought the demons off, bringing one to the ground and driving the blade into its chest before pulling it out to slash at the next. It seemed to end in seconds, leaving the small boy in its midst. “Christ… these things can make it down here, too…”
Eric ran his fingers through his hair and his posture slumped a little, easing from the high strung stress that he was just going through. He then turned so that he could be seen easier, an unnatural shining blue hue peeking through the blood that was splattered on his face.
Suddenly, his gaze would snap up to finally spot Arbiter, causing him to stiffen up once again and a look of horror to slowly appear on his face.“A.. Arbiter?”
Huh, well, that was easy. Eric felt himself on the brink of wanting to slink away when Arbiter suddenly popped off, releasing him from that awkward embrace. That saved him the trouble of somehow removing the skeleton from his person. Now being able to look at him properly, Eric’s gaze drifted up to Arbiter and offered another little smile. Maybe that warning about “everyone on this side of the door will kill you” was an overexaggeration after all. There seemed to be no malice coming from this one, anyway.
“It’s nice to meet you, too, Arbiter.” He greeted in return, noting the smoke that puffed from his teeth. He didn’t remember seeing him take another drag of his cigarette, “Uh.. sorry if this seems kinda blunt, but..”
Eric looked to the postman’s stand that Arbiter currently inhabited, then let his gaze fall back to the skeleton.
"SO, MATTER- HOW WOULD YOU LIKE SOME PIE?" Timur asked as he pulled some cream pie out of his purple hoodie?, a large grin on his face.
Purple irises looked over the skeleton for a moment, her lips curling into a toothy grin of her own as she placed a gloved hand under the tin just above his own boney hand before bringing pie into his own face.
