Underearth/Book 3/Chapter 12

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Frisk opened his eyes. He was back at the beginning of the hallway. Clenching his teeth, he advanced back through the hall. About half-way through, Sans appeared out from behind a pillar.

"Heya." he said. "You look frustrated about something. Guess I'm pretty good at my job, huh?"

*What!?* Frisk thought.

Before he could move any further, a great weight overpowered Frisk again, forcing him to the ground. This time, however, Frisk rolled out of the way of the bones that erupted through the floor. As soon as those bones retracted, hundreds of bones erupted out of the ground and raced towards Frisk.

Frisk, not catching sight of them fast enough, was cut up severely by them. His clothes heavily bloodied, his entire body in pain, especially his chest, which felt like it was melting, but he was still alive. The weight had also lifted. Pressing this, Frisk pulled the dagger and charged Sans. Once he was about twenty feet away, one of the stained-glass windows suddenly shattered as a massive canine skull rammed through it. After it had entered, Frisk saw a glowing red orb situated within its mouth. As soon as it could, it then turned to face Frisk, opened its mouth, and discharged the energy within the orb right at him. Not expecting this, Frisk didn't have time to dodge. Almost the moment the beam touched him, Frisk found himself back in the darkness.

*Stay DETERMINED*

The moment Frisk returned, he ran towards where Sans was hiding. Like before, Sans came out from behind the pillar and spoke.

"Wow. You look really pissed." he said.

Frisk didn't even bother saying anything, he just pulled the dagger and charged Sans.

The moment he did this, the great weight returned, though this time, the chitinous figure appeared in front of him, and the weight almost immediately disappeared. The figure then flipped around and threw Frisk up into the air, jumping up itself just before the spikes erupted from the ground. Once Frisk was in the air, the figure grabbed hold of him and pulled him to the ceiling. Once there, the giant skull from before erupted through one of the windows and pointed itself at Frisk, opening its terrible maw. When it fired, the chitinous figure launched Frisk, along with itself, towards the ground to avoid the beam.

Sans kept his calm, even though none of his attacks landed.

"Huh," he said. "Always wondered why people never use their strongest attack first."

"You're *dead*!!!" Frisk declared as he charged Sans again.

As soon as he got close enough to take a swing at Sans, Frisk took it. When he did, however, Sans teleported out of the way.

"What?" he said with his right eye winking at Frisk. "You think I'm just gonna stand there and take it?"

Frisk changed the trajectory of the knife to where Sans was now standing, though before the swing could hit him this time, Frisk was sent falling backward.

"Our reports show a massive anomaly in time itself. Timelines stopping and starting. Until suddenly, everything ends."

Frisk, not caring, charged Sans again when he stopped falling, avoiding the hundreds of bones Sans summoned to kill him with. Sans simply continued speaking.

"That's your fault, isn't it?" he said.

Frisk ignored this remark, taking another swing at Sans before being sent falling back to the beginning of the Hall again.

"You can't understand how this feels." Sans then said. "Knowing that one day, without any warning... it's all going to reset."

Upon hearing this, Frisk froze where he was. Sans, seeing this, caused a bone to erupt from the ground, aimed straight at Frisk's heart.

Before the bone struck, however, the chitinous figure re-appeared in front of him, blocking the bone with its arm. The moment the bone struck the figure's arm, the arm began melting into a lavender-colored liquid. As it melted, Frisk felt a similar melting sensation within his chest.

"*Pay attention!!!*" the voice hissed. "He's using Karma."

Frisk looked back at Sans. Swallowing hard, he charged him again, took a swipe then got sent backwards.

"Look," Sans started saying. "I gave up on the surface long ago. It just no longer appeals to me. 'cause even if we do make it out of here... we'll just end up right back without any memory of it, right?"

Frisk took another slash at Sans upon reaching him again, though Sans once again simply teleported out of the way and launched Frisk back to the beginning of the hallway.

"To be blunt... it makes it kind of hard to give it my all... or is that just a poor excuse for being lazy...? Hell if I know. All I know is... seeing what comes next... I can't afford not to care anymore."

Frisk took another swing at Sans, who simply dodged it by teleporting up to the ceiling and holding on up there.

"Ugh, that being said..." he said. "you, uh, really like swinging that thing around, huh?"

Frisk simply looked up at him.

As the both glared at each-other, Sans eventually let out a sigh.

"Listen..." he said. "Somewhere in there, I can feel it. There's a glimmer of a good person inside you. The memory of someone who wanted to do the right thing. Someone who, in another time, might have been... a friend? C'mon, buddy, do you remember me? Please, if you're listening... let's forget all of this, ok? Just lay your weapon down, and... well, my job will be a lot easier."

Upon saying this last thing, Sans teleported back down onto the floor, then stretched his arms wide.

Frisk simply stood where he was, staring at Sans.

*Maybe...* Frisk thought. *Maybe I should stop this.*

Frisk's grip on the knife began loosening.

"To have come so far, only to throw it all away. What a waste." something whispered into Frisk's ear.

Frisk's eyes widened. It was the whisper from the Citadel.

"Yes, young Human, it is I. I felt your LOV weakening, so I came to see what the matter was. You foolish child. Do you honestly believe that Asterian won't murder you as soon as you lay down your weapon? And for what? It seems that you have forgotten why you are doing this. Why you must FIGHT! Have you truly forgotten how your supposed friends were when you died? You started on this quest to get the power to protect them, yet here you are throwing that power away."

"I... I..." Frisk started to say.

Sans watched him carefully.

Frisk reaffirmed his grip on the dagger.

"I must see this to the finish..." Frisk said. "I'm sorry."

Once he'd finished, Frisk charged Sans and took another swipe at him. Sans simply moved out of the way.

"Welp," he said. "it was worth a shot. Guess you like doing things the hard way, huh?"

Frisk was then launched back to the beginning of the hallway, where a gauntlet of bones awaited him. As he fell, Frisk could see Sans's eyes glowing a bright red.

"Sounds strange," Sans started saying. "but before all this I was secretly hoping we could be friends. I always thought the anomaly was doing this 'cause they were unhappy. And when they got what they wanted, they would stop all this. And maybe all they needed was... I dunno, some good food, some bad laughs, some nice friends. But that's ridiculous, right? Yeah, you're the type of person who won't *ever* be happy. You'll keep consuming timelines over and over, until... well, hey, take it from me, kid. Sometimes... you gotta learn when to *quit*."

Frisk had once again made it through another gauntlet of bones from Sans and, upon reaching him again, taken another swipe at him. After missing again, Sans tried to throw him back to the beginning for another gauntlet, but the chitinous figure appeared and blocked the magic, just like at the start. Instead, Sans simply teleported to the beginning himself.

"That day's *today*." Sans said after reappearing at the beginning. "'cause... y'see... all this fighting is really tiring me out, and if you keep pushing me... then I'll be forced to show you my special attack."

Frisk made it back to where Sans was for another attack, but Sans simply teleported back to where he was standing originally.

"Fine then. Survive *this* and I'll show you my special attack!" he said after appearing back where he was.

As soon as Sans teleported, Frisk flipped around and started running back to where he had teleported to.

When he started running, great weight fell upon him again, causing him to nearly fall to the floor, where spiked bones erupted. After evading that attack, he was swiftly blocked by an array of bones that had erupted from the floor and were now rushing towards him. Frisk countered this one by having the chitinous figure pull him into the air. Once Frisk was in the air, Sans launched him back to the beginning of the room, where spiked bones had erupted. Frisk had himself thrown to the floor, where he pulled out the knife and sank it into it, stopping his downward descent.

In response, Sans reversed the gravity of Frisk, causing him to fall towards Sans. Along the way, bones shot from all surfaces, trying to stab Frisk as he fell by. Frisk, using the chitinous figure, moved out of the way of each before hitting them.

When Frisk approached where Sans was standing, his gravity reverted to normal, bringing him to the floor. Upon hitting the floor, he slid for a bit, protected from damage by the chitinous figure, stopping roughly twelve feet from Sans. Seeing where he was, Frisk quickly stood up.

When Frisk was on his feet, a giant canine skull appeared out from behind every pillar in the room, each one holding a glowing red orb of energy in its mouth. Once revealed, they all opened their maw, preparing to fire.

Frisk looked over where Sans was standing. He held his hand in the air. They both then once again stared at one-another for about a minute before Frisk charged. As soon as he did this, Sans thrust his hand down, and the great skulls began firing their beams.

In just a second, the entire hallway became one grand laser show. Frisk, being in the middle of it all, didn't seem to find the beauty in it. Nimbly dodging each beam, Frisk himself was beginning to feel tired. Eventually, the last few beams fired, and everything became clear again. When the beams finally ceased, Frisk found himself in the center of a giant cage of bone, the last few pieces falling into place less than a second after Frisk noticed what had happened.

"Congratulations. You fell for it." Sans said. "Say hello to my special attack. I know I can't beat you. The second you get the chance, you're just gonna kill me. So, uh, I've decided... that you're never gonna get the chance. Ever. I'm just gonna keep you in that cage until you give up. Even if that means we have to stand here until the end of time. Capiche?"

Frisk looked dumbstruck at the bones the cage was made of. After a few seconds of looking at them, Frisk pulled the dagger and began approaching one of the bones.

"You can't do anything, you know." Sans taunted. "That's summoned bone reinforced with karma and shield magic. You're trapped. The only way out is for you to finally quit."

Frisk couldn't just quit, not when he'd come this far. The whisper was right. He had to finish this. He was DETERMINED to finish this.

Sans simply watched, standing ever vigilant over this murderous creature. Frisk, on the other hand, simply went to the center of the cage and sat down.

The two then remained there for what felt like forever. Each one watching the other endlessly.

After what seemed like an hour, Sans's eyes began to wane shut. Another hour, and Sans had fallen asleep.

As soon as this happened, Frisk leaped into action. Having the chitinous figure be summoned, he had it charge the edge of the cage, where its eyes began to glow red, and where it sank its hands into the shield that connected the different bones of the cage. After a second, the shield shattered, and the figure was grabbing the bones themselves. Even though it was using magic to defend against the karma within the bones, its hands were still boiling as it pulled the bones apart, creating a bigger gap. After a few minutes, this gap was finally wide enough for Frisk to escape from.

Once outside the cage, Frisk approached Sans, who was still asleep. He drew his dagger and brought it straight down on Sans.

The very second before the knife made contact, Sans teleported to his right a few feet.

"Heh." he taunted. "didja really think you'd be able to—"

Sans was cut off by Frisk flipping around and sailing the knife straight across his chest.

Upon being struck, Sans collapsed to the ground.

Sans looked up at Frisk, then down at the gash, then back up at Frisk.

"So..." he said. "guess that's it, huh? ... just... don't say I didn't warn you."

Frisk then brought up his boot and smashed Sans's skull in with it. Seconds later, Sans's body turned to dust.

With the last obstacle out of the way, Frisk advanced towards the throne room. All he could think about as he walked was how heavy his chest was feeling.