Broken Souls

Chapter 32 - Mass Genocide

Grillby had finished cleaning his bar for the night and was preparing to lock up before finally turning in. As he rounded the tables to reach the entrance, he noticed something odd about the rival establishment across the road. Muffet's café also normally shut around this time, although recently the spider monster had begun staying open half an hour later. But today, the café was empty. Grillby frowned to himself, and went outside to get a better view of things.

The building's lights were still on, but there was no one inside. Muffet wasn't behind the counter as usual and there were no traces of her little spider helpers, nor any customers. Grillby crossed the street, gently pushing open the door and jumping as a little bell rang. He looked around the café, noticing little piles of dust on the tables and in corners. That was very odd, Muffet was even more touchy about the cleanliness of her establishment than the fire monster, so to leave dust lying around was very unlike her.

The tinkle of a little golden bell rang out from behind Grillby, breaking the unnatural silence. The fire monster didn't turn around immediately, as he had noticed something else behind the counter. A large pile of dust with a pretty purple apron lying upon it. Grillby heard a small chuckle and spun around, flames blazing fiercely in his palms.

He didn't even get one step forward.

===

That same night, Undyne and Alphys were finishing off an anime marathon. The season had only just come out, but the two had already finished every episode and were ready for the next season. Alphys was pretty sleepy, curled up against Undyne, who was still excited. Seeing as she had the energy, Undyne offered to wash up the mugs and plates the two had used for their TV dinner over four hours ago. Alphys nodded, remaining on the couch without a care in the world.

In the kitchen, Undyne couldn't really hear anything Alphys was humming to herself over the sounds of her very harsh plate washing, but she assumed her girlfriend was not going to need her anytime soon. Undyne grinned to herself, finishing up her task as quickly as possible. As exciting as anime could be, dish washing right afterwards tended to drain that energy almost instantly. Undyne wandered back into the living room, noticing that Alphys was gone. She must have gone upstairs.

"Alphy?" Undyne called up the stairs, "Are you in bed yet?"

There was no reply, so Undyne chuckled and climbed up the stairs to where the two's bedroom was. She tried to call out again, but was met with silence. The bed was empty, the covers having not moved since Alphys had made the bed that morning. Soul beginning to pound in fear, Undyne checked the entirety of the upstairs, finding nothing but dust.

A pile of grey dust, a pair of cracked glasses and two glowing red eyes.

===

Frisk had just bid goodnight to their mother and were on their way upstairs to where Asriel was waiting for them. He had declared it to be a race, but Frisk naturally let him win, taking their time as they went up the stairs. They heard a small commotion from downstairs, but Toriel had said she was going to spend a little while longer in the kitchen, so Frisk didn't question it. And yet, even if there was no reason to be afraid of the dark, Frisk still felt a shiver of fear go down their spine as they pushed open their bedroom door.

In the blackness, they could only see the faint glow of Asriel's multi-coloured Soul as it hovered by his bed.

"Azzy?" they asked, reaching for the light switch, "Why is your Soul out?"

The goat monster didn't reply, prompting Frisk to flip the switch. The lights took half a second to flicker on, illuminating the children's shared, cosy bedroom. Frisk took one look at Asriel's side of the room and screamed.