justadirtyhacker:
“Yeah. They really are pretty real.” A small smile at that. Zenith had no idea, they did just how real these ‘NPCs’ were. Azazel had been proof enough for PLAYER of that. “As I told someone once. I see games as worlds.”
The smile faded a bit at that. “As for what Sans told me…” Not a good memory. Remembering their time with Azazel, they felt their sins crawl on their back. “It was a pretty personal moment I guess.” They reclined back in their seat, a long and heavy sigh.
“In his words. ‘If you want my advice, I suggest you should end your journey in this world. If only for your own good… since it’s torture for you now, staying here or breaking the barrier and heading for the surface. So it’d be better to let things end sooner… though I don’t want it to end like that.’.” Sans knew how to cut to the heart of things when he really wanted to, he did.
His words burned into their mind, they continued. “ ‘If it was me, I would have given up long ago… But maybe you’ll find a way. Maybe break the barrier at the start? Or maybe just get the RESET button from a player? It’s your decision. I’m just giving advice as a friend. Even if you’ve stopped for a while, you’ll still want to keep moving forward, right?”
They were shaking a bit as they tried to process the mixed emotions they were feeling. Determination holds strong however, as fractured and unstable as it is. “In a way his words reminded me a bit of what Flowey says in the neutral and pacifist endings. A hint for how to get a true pacifist ending. I’ve still got a piece of hope to cling to. I’ve got one shot at this. My last try. If I can restore proper reset powers and seize the command for myself… maybe I can keep the timeline from locking me out. At the least… If I can’t save myself maybe I can make things right. A true happy ending. Even if… I can’t be around for it.”
Games as worlds? What a concept. If it were a while ago, maybe Zenith wouldn’t have been able to grasp that idea as well as today. He was kind of better with that, or so he liked to think. Of course, he was pretty sure that practically everyone-- Everyone he knew, could immerse themselves in a good video game. A good book, or a movie, travelling to some other world in the form of their imagination. A more sophisticated version of ‘playing pretend’ if only for a couple minutes, or hours.
He was always an empathetic person, and he wasn’t afraid to admit there were often times where he was so immersed, that everything felt real. Everything was real, as if it was really happening, and he was right there going through the same emotions as the protagonists. And though Zenith never went into the game world himself, he suspected it was possible. He wouldn’t doubt it if it was. He was more inclined to think it was impossible like everyone else, but he’d believe it if someone told him otherwise. Maybe it was gullibility, or dumb-- or maybe he just dealt with a lot of weird stuff to believe more weird stuff.
Still, Zenith had listened intently to what his new friend had to say. End their journey? To keep going with everything would turn out good, maybe. But at the cost of having them deal with, like Sans said, torturing themself? He understood wanting to keep going even when it didn’t seem like he should, just ‘cause he wanted something so bad. But his Kermit avatar nodded along solemnly as he listened to them.
——— “ I mean... I totally get that. ”
Hopefully he did, anyway. He tried to, as much as he could. “ That makes sense that it’s kinda, like, a hint. And... It makes sense to want to do the best thing for everyone else! To save everyone, and help them, and do good stuff like that. ”
He was sure they both could sense there was a huge ‘but’ coming. It was just so brave of them. Noble. --And still so tragic all the same.
——— “ I think I would’ve given up in your place too. I don’t think I could... sacrifice that much. And I dunno if there’s a way to save you too, but-- Well, are you sure that’s what you want? I’m not gonna tell you what you should or shouldn’t do, but can you really call it a true happy ending... if that doesn’t include you too? ”
Zenith had to think for a moment, trying to figure out how he wanted to say this. “ Like... Imagine you did do it; you save everyone, and everyone’s okay... but you. Sure, that’s awesome that they all get to have the good ending and all that effort paid off that way, but I think you’re allowed to have that happy ending too. I know we can’t do much but hope that’ll happen and your plan will work, and you totally have a point, but so did Sans. I think, you’re both right in your own ways, but it still seems like there’s only gonna be one way it’ll end up. ...I just hope it’ll end up the best way. ”
