Only Through Determination

She was the hero after all, right?

Upon seeing now that the human could not move, Undyne grinned with her sharp and yellow teeth. She was nearly as determined as the child was, but she didn’t really think of it as such, as monsters couldn’t have DETERMINATION. But she… maybe she was a different case. The shield cast an ominous green light upon the both of them, the fish monster’s razor sharp gaze and hunter-like expression illuminated with that glow. She raised her spear, slashing it in front of the child and calling out, “En garde!”

The spears were thrown slow, at first, each hitting the shield with a high pitched ‘clink.’ Undyne found slight amusement about how the child was facing the situation, finally choosing to at least take her attacks instead of running away. Not like they could run… As long as their soul was green, they were trapped. And Undyne liked it that way, with her prey facing the danger head-on. 

And then, the child’s pleas fell upon her ears, and she bit her lip. They were trying so hard to stop this battle, all of this fighting, while really, Undyne felt like this was the only choice. She shook her head. For her next round, she would try and at least go a bit easy on them… She threw spears at the child again, but with less force. Gritting her teeth in the frustration, she looked the side and placed her hands on a large object.

Then as their gaze finally got out of the trance of shielding away spears. The kid saw Undyne... suplexing a boulder. Actually, they felt kind of relieved that wasn’t them. Yet. They had to escape. They needed their SOUL, RED. Although BLUE wouldn’t be too bad, they needed the regular color just for safety measures. Where was TORIEL when they require her. Though. the child was doing this for her sake, no one must die. Even if they desired or deserved it.

“Please... Please... Let’s not fight.”

Oh, how their luck was great today.

After rows and rows of blocking the arsenals of spears. Their SOUL was RED. They could FLEE. They really couldn’t take anymore hits. The Captain of the Royal Guard was as tough as the monsters had spoken about. With a hit of a button, they turned and ran into the snowing plains. In these conditions, they wouldn’t survive. Their breaths were already ragged and their knees buckled every few steps. Even so, to meet their King is to leave the Underground. It really would be nice if they could free everyone. But do they really have the power to do that? They could SAVE and LOAD, there was no ‘freeing the underground’ power.

“We don’t have to fight?!” Undyne asked, gritting her sharp, yellow teeth. “Listen, kiddo, you may have not been aware of this, even when I was SCREAMING IT OUT TO YOU JUST NOW, but the only way monsters are going to have their happy ending is if you DIE! That’s the only option! We are so close to getting the seventh piece of this… puzzle we need, and I’m not going to let it run away! Not again!” 

She thought of her friends. Papyrus, Alphys, Asgore, even her sweet little neighbor, Napstablook. Clenching her fist, she pounded it into the snow, swearing that she could feel a piece of the ground buried underneath crack. That was just how strong she could be; however, why hadn’t this child fallen yet, if that were the case? She couldn’t let this go on for much longer. Her heart thumped with the Underground, the place she was fighting for. She. Could not. Lose.

“You can’t keep running away forever, you little brat! There’s gonna be a time where you’ll have to face danger, and you can’t run away! And that time - is NOW!” She jabbed towards the human with her spear, unknowingly tossing it in front of the child. Maybe they would be smart and use it as some type of shield, or block. She had them trapped; as far as she was concerned, it’s all they could do. 

Every single second that passed, moments were extremely slow in their eyes. They were DETERMINED, those types did things because they could do them. And they would survive. They will keep their promise. Their own eyes were closed hoping for something better to happen in their favor. Then, a sound equivalent to hitting a glass with a spoon resounded. Opening eyes, a shield was placed in front. A green translucent shield made of determination.

They couldn’t escape, their soul was GREEN, but they had to FLEE. There was no way to run and they would not commit to murder, no matter what CHARA says. They were frantically looking around, hoping there was anything to work with. But all they had was their voice, and it was already running out.

“This... This isn’t the only option! W-we can find one together!” The child said with a rather hoarse voice. All that could happen was negotiating, until their SOUL was prepared to FLEE. “No one needs to perish!” The blizzard felt more prominent once the child began to notice it. They were freezing. “I promised her... I promised that I wouldn’t die... and I can’t let her see another human die for the cost. And I won’t see anyone die because of this, or me.”

“You’re standing in the way of everybody’s hopes and dreams!” What was she saying? These words that were coming out of her mouth, she had no idea where they came from, but she was almost pushed to say them. She felt like she had to. “Alphys’ history books made me think humans were cool…” But wasn’t she human as well? No, she felt… different. “…with their giant robots and flowery swordsmen. BUT YOU? You’re just a coward! Hiding behind that kid so you could run away from me again!” Now, the child was already starting to run more, and even so, she gritted her teeth, starting to walk at a fast pace.

“And let’s not forget your wimpy goody-two-shoes-schtick! ‘Oooh, I’m making such a difference by hugging random strangers!’” She mimicked in a high-pitched voice. “You know what would be more valuable to everyone? IF YOU WERE DEAD!” She was still unaware why she would be running after (and trying to kill) an innocent child. However, her morals were damned, because something deep in the back of her mind told her she was doing the best for her people. …Whoever they were. “That’s right, human! Your continued existence is a crime! Your life is all that stands between us and our freedom! Right now, I can feel everybody’s hearts pounding together! Everyone’s been waiting their whole lives for this moment! But they’re not nervous at all. When everybody puts their hearts together, they can’t lose!”

She then grinned even more so at her own heart rate, hammering in her chest at a million miles a minute. She was filled with a sense of purpose… “Now, human! Let’s end this, right here, right now.” Something was in her hands, a long yet firm material. When the scenery flickered from a blizzard to a rocky area, as the child had also seen, she could make it out as some kind of spear.

Nothing seemed to be blocking their way except their own endurance. They chanced a glance behind them to see the pursuer. She had a spear, and she was charging at the kid. There the child went, possibly narrowly missing the charge, but they couldn’t be sure, they weren’t going to stop at any reason possible, but they could hear their own teeth chattering about. It could be soon that the child could gain frostbite, this whole place is frostbite material, were their clothes even suited for this occasion? And anything that was happened seemed to come by too quickly.

Dying wasn’t an option, albeit they couldn’t keep running. They were trying to escape the blizzard, no wait, the Underground. To meet the king and escape this place. But... but... They were frightened and their tears seemed to already freeze before they have fallen. Words seemed to land on the tip of their tongue, but they seemed to already cry for help. “Sans... Papyrus... Mom!” They knew it was a waste of breath, but it was right to call the names, but there was no knowledge to those belong to. This place, it wasn’t supposed to be snowing, right? But why were they in a blizzard instead of that rocky terrain that seemed to flash every now and then, though there were small glimpses of a very hot place, maybe even containing some sort of lava. Wait... Waterfall and Hotland, those were the names of the places they have seen. Although this might as well be absolutely out of topic, who actually names these places so obviously?

Yards and yards the plains of snow does extend, no note of civilization was seen in these long areas. They couldn’t give up just yet, not now. There was no way they would stop. Someone was telling them to fight, but they couldn’t, they couldn’t put dust on their hands, plus the stick wasn’t there. They probably lost it on their way here.

Now they weren’t so sure that they would survive this chilly climate as they fell on the cold yet soft snow, The tried to push themselves up, but all they could suffice was turning their body and facing the other, shakily. All their energy might be used in vain and the spear seemed to shine terrifyingly at the child.

Exerting their own energy was an option, also fighting, but they couldn’t being themselves to do those said things. It was too late now, they were so exposed.

Frisk slid down the roof and landed near the snowy stranger with an expression of sheepishness visible.

She could feel her fingers and her toes getting number with each icy footstep, her boots submerging into the snow and having to be dragged out with much more force than needed. Frostias was never this bad, so why was Zenith, the spring region, getting way more snow than the actual winter region? It confused her and irritated her to no end.

But her own grievances were of no concern; she had a kid with her who was probably suffering much more than she was. A kid who got lost in the blizzard, and was only trying to get home. The whole reason Undyne was in Zenith in the first place was because of being temporarily stationed in the unusually snowy region. It was her job to make sure the child got home safe, but soon, her vision wasn’t the best… Her head began to hurt. 

Her hands, placed on the child’s shoulders, were removed as soon as she felt something metallic instead of her normal black gloves made of leather. This frightened her, strangely, because when she looked at her hands, the gloves were replaced with silver gauntlets, and her whole body covered in a suit of thick armor, like a knight’s. The confused woman suddenly felt herself turning around, looking off into the whited out distance.

“Seven.” She said to the child, her back turned. “Seven human souls, and King Asgore will become a god.” She paused. “Six. That’s how many we’ve collected thus far.” She turned to face the child again, breathing through what seemed like a helmet to match the armor. Her breath almost made the metal feel moist. “Understand? Through your seventh and final soul, this world will be transformed.” She looked to the left. “First, however, as is customary for those who make it this far… I shall tell you the tragic tale of our people. It all started, long ago…” And her voice drifted for a moment, her lips parting, as she found herself staring blankly at the child.

“No, you know what?” She felt a pent up anger running through her system, and all of the sudden…

“SCREW IT!”

“WHY SHOULD I TELL YOU THAT STORY-”

“-WHEN YOU’RE ABOUT TO DIE!?!”

“NGAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!”

Even now, the child refused to give up to stay in this blizzard, especially when there was someone guiding them. They couldn’t help but feel familiar with this new character, maybe it’s because of the blizzard. Also maybe the blizzard was the reason for this sporadic headache, but they would push it aside. The pain began to shoot up as the other put a hand on their shoulder.

                               “Chara, stay Determined...”

Really, they had no way what to call that, their name, they knew it wasn’t Chara. Once their guide seemed to be a bit out of place, something, no rather, someone was telling them to run. What is this about human souls? Weren’t they both humans, Then, a child’s mind seemed to blank as the whole terrain seemed to flash back-and-forth from a snowy to a rocky place. It was surely dizzying, until the kid’s mind landed on one thing, to run.

Carefully, they zoomed off, something telling them to dodge whatever may come. The human didn’t know what to say, they saw a monster donned in clad armor. Keep calm, deep breaths, though this whole area felt wrong to be in. A snowy place, isn’t this supposed to be somewhere else. Their soul will be used to free all the monsters from the underground, but they didn’t want to disappear. Not now, not ever. They would find a solution to free them all, but not like this. Not like this at all.