[ Y/N ]
"Okay, you understand what's going to happen after I leave, right?" I asked Frisk while adjusting the arm band on my calf. They nodded and kicked their feet back and forth from where they were sitting on the bottom bunk. "Are you sure this'll work?" they asked as they watched me roll the legs up on my cargo pants so that my feet and ankles showed, back to their healthy color now that I wasn't wearing the metal bands.
After Alphys had showed me her plan, she had let me go back to my cell to tell Frisk and Grillby her escape plans while she went to go tell the Co-Captain of the Monster Guard—Undyne, I think her name was—the plans. And for the last two weeks, the five of us have been anxiously awaiting the day when we all would escape the Monster Capital for good. And finally, today was that day.
One minute, I thought as I tied my hair up and rolled the sleeves down on my jacket. "Yes, it'll work," I reassured Frisk before sitting down next to them and giving a quick-side hug. "And when we're free, we'll go find everyone else, okay?" Frisk smiled and gave me a side hug back. "Okay." I smiled and ruffled their hair before the sound of the elevator doors' dinging sounded out from down the hall.
The two guards showed up to our cell on time and opened the door to grab me and haul me out, my arms starting to ache as they gripped me firmly and led me over to the elevator. To not make them suspicious, I struggled in their grasp as I normally did, trying to break my arms free and run away. But just like always, their grip was viselike and firm. Stupid guards.
"Ah! Prisoner #1-543880! Just the person I wanted to see," Dalton chirped when the elevator doors opened to reveal him standing in the doorway of the torture room with a familiar wicked looking knife in his hand. I scowled at him as the guards dragged me out and into the torture room, their strong arms holding me down and tying me up on the dreaded metal table that I was starting to have nightmares of.
Dalton smiled at me and held up the knife to show all the bloodstains that were on it. "You know, before you came along, I hadn't used this knife on anyone," he said while tracing a furry finger down the flat side of the blade. "Just look at how tainted it's become since you showed up." I stared at the bloodstains—my bloodstains—on the knife before quickly looking away.
"Anywho," Dalton said. "I've got some fun things planned for today, so I'll just go ahead and get this part over with before we start this party." He expertly pressed the tip of the knife to my forehead where my scar began and reopened the wound with one swift slice, a cruel smile spreading across his face when I let out a short scream. The wound stung and bled into my right eye like it always did, making the taste of bile rise into my throat as my hands clenched into fists and shook.
He set the knife down on the counter before grabbing two vials filled with what looked like colorful smoke. "I'd suggest that you answer my question today," Dalton said as he turned around and shook the two vials. "Where is the Persistence base?" I stared at the two vials suspiciously before shaking my head and looking away. "I don't know." Dalton sighed and raised his eyebrows. "Are you sure?" I gave him a side glare. "I'm sure."
He stared at me for a few seconds before shrugging and popping open both stoppers on the smokey vials. "Okay then, guess we'll just have to try again tomorrow." One guard walked over and forced my mouth open as Dalton poured both of the vials contents down my throat, the taste sending me sputtering as both the guard and Dalton backed away.
That's when the effects hit.
My eyes clouded over as I was suddenly floating in empty space, black all around me and no way to tell which way was up or down. My eyes widened in fear as I frantically looked around for any source of light or something to tell me where I was. "Hello?" I shouted. An echo was all I got in response.
Okay, this is no big deal, I thought as I curled into a ball and took deep breaths. It's just a little darkness, it won't hurt me. I closed my eyes and took more deep breaths, struggling to control my racing heart and pounding pulse. But no matter how hard I tried to call myself down, my anxiety won.
"Oh god," I whispered shakily as flashes of red appeared around my floating body. The flashes got faster and faster, like a strobe light, until all I could see was red. Then flashes of blue appeared. Then yellow. Then green. Until every single color in the spectrum was flashing at me from different sides and angles, causing my brain to panic and my breathing to get fast. What was going on?
Suddenly, one flash of red shot at me, and once it came in contact with my skin, my body exploded in pain. I let out a scream and clutched my arm just as more red flashes shot at me, causing the pain to become blinding and my vision to become blurry. Then blue shot at me, giving me a quick rush of sadness, hopelessness, and dread. The blue and red flashes mixed together as they shot at me, making me scream for mercy as I was hit with pain and despair. Then yellow started to shoot at me, giving me a small speck of bittersweet thoughts before the feeling drained away to bring horror.
My screams become more shrill as they echoed throughout the darkness I was floating in, all of the colors that were flashing around me starting to shoot at me body, sending emotions, feelings, and physical pain my way. I was ready to collapse and beg to be killed, to make all the colors go away, to beg to be left alone in the darkness to suffer, until a blinding flash of white spread around me, sending all the other colors away with one sweep.
I gasped for breath as my eyes shot open to stare at the white ceiling of the torture room, sweat running down my face and body as I lay quivering on the metal table. "You're probably wondering what all that was," a cheerful voice said from somewhere beside me. I turned to stare at Dalton, his furry hands holding both of the now empty vials. "I like to call it, 'Dry-Deprivation Torture.' It has a nice ring to it, don't you think?"
I forced my breathing to slow down as I closed my eyes and furrowed my brow. "Aw, you didn't enjoy it? I thought it would be quite a fun experience," Dalton continued with a cruel grin. "Fuck you," I sneered. He chuckled and set down the empty vials just as the door opened to reveal a nervous Alphys holding her clipboard in the doorway.
"I-Is the s-session over?" she asked with a stutter in her voice. Dalton nodded and gave me a cheerful wave as he and the guards quickly left the room and closed the door behind them. I relaxed on the metal table once they were gone and closed my eyes again, allowing a few tears to slide down my cheeks as Alphys hurried over and undid my bonds. "They gave you the vials?" she asked with a concerned voice. I nodded and sat up on the metal table, rubbing my raw and bloody wrists.
"You up for what's about to happen? Because if you aren't—" "I am," I interrupted with a determined look. "A little darkness and flashing colors won't stop me." And it was true. I never knew how mentally strong I was until I was hit in the face with torture methods that should've shattered my mind. Oh that's a bad thought. Let's not think about that.
"So," Alphys started as she handed me a pistol that had been concealed in the folds of her lab coat. "You know what to do, correct?" I nodded. "Shoot the guards outside, run for the elevator, go to the second floor, shoot the guards there, wait for Undyne, then we'll get out of there and see you, Frisk, and Grillby at the cellar doors." Alphys nodded. "Okay, good. Undyne is about to complete her part of the plan right now, actually, so you should hurry and get down there."
She set her clipboard on the metal table and grabbed a strange device that looked like some sort of small cyborg gun. She gave me a reassuring smile before hiding the gun in the folds of her lab coat and rushing out the door. I took a quick breath before hopping off the metal table and concealing the gun behind my back, trying to control my racing pulse when the door opened again to reveal the guards who were supposed to take me back to my cell.
Before they could grab me, I quickly pulled the gun out from behind my back and shot them both in the head, a look of surprise passing over their faces before they dropped to the floor and started to bleed out. I ran to them and dragged their bodies deeper into the torture room before bolting out the door and locking it behind me. Alphys had managed to momentarily disable all the security cameras for five minutes, meaning that I had about four minutes to get down to the second floor and meet up with Undyne.
I ran to the elevator and quickly jumped in before pressing the number two button, the doors closing with a ding before the elevator shot down. I clutched my head to try and tame my dizziness just as the elevator doors opened again to reveal an empty hallway. I ran out and held the pistol to my side while making sure I that I wasn't being followed.
Alphys said that Undyne would be by the staircase, which was two hallways over from the right. My brow furrowed as I continued to run down the hallway, until my feet stumbled to a halt when I heard voices and pleading coming from somewhere to my right. God damnit. I quickly moved to the wall and peeked down the hallway to my right, my eyes widening when I saw what was going on.
Three guards were hauling a small monster to a room that looked similar to some sort of mental hospital pad room. The small monster they were hauling was pleading for them to stop as their tiny paws where gripped tightly in the guard's hands. "Pwease!" the monster yelled. "Temmie is sowwy! Pwease do not hurt Temmie!" The small monster began to cry as one guard kicked it in the side, causing rage to burn inside my chest as I leaped out from behind the wall and raised my pistol.
"Hey!" I shouted, causing all four monsters to turn to look at me just as I shot one guard in the chest. Before the other two could grab their weapons, I shot them both in the collarbone, sending them falling to the floor gasping for breath right before dying. The small cat-like monster—I assume it's name was Temmie—looked at me fearfully with its tail tucked between its back legs.
"P-Pwease do not kill Temmie! Temmie will be g-good!" I looked at the dead guards before rushing over to Temmie and holding my hands up. "No, no, you're okay now, I'm saving you," I reassured with a smile on my face. Temmie looked me up and down before it jumped in excitement and grinned. "Hooman save Temmie! Temmie is foreva gratefool!" I let out a small chuckle at the small monster's behavior before going quiet again as the sound of pounding footsteps came from somewhere behind me.
I whipped around and raised my pistol just as another monster came barreling around the corner—her bright red hair tied up into a high ponytail and her blue scales shining in the white ceiling lights. "Don't shoot!" she yelled, her yellow cat-like eyes wide as she held up her gauze-wrapped arms. I stared at her before lowering my gun with a sheepish laugh. "You're Undyne, aren't you?" She nodded and looked down at the three dead guards in surprise. "Wow, nice moves, kid." She quickly looked behind her before rushing down the hallway towards me. "C'mon, we gotta go."
I nodded and scooped up Temmie before running after her down the hallway, making a sharp right and sprinting down that hallway where a set of grey double doors sat that led to the staircase. "Alphys told you the whole plan?" Undyne asked as she threw open the large grey doors and rolled the sleeves up to her black long sleeved shirt. I nodded and readjusted my hold on Temmie in one arm while the other held my weapon.
"So you know where we're going, right? Al said you did." I nodded again and started racing down the staircase, Undyne right behind me. "Yeah, she said to meet up at the cellar, did anyone follow you?" Undyne shook her head, her long ponytail swaying behind her when she did. "Nah, wiped 'em all out, you?" I shook my head as well. "I did the same."
We both reached the bottom floor and quickly raced out of the staircase and into the hallway where a cellar door sat against the wall with a small staircase leading up to it. Undyne and I both heaved the cellar doors open before leaping out and onto solid ground, the late afternoon sunlight blinding me after being underground for almost a month.
We both pushed the cellar doors closed behind us just as alarms started to go off. "Shit," Undyne cursed as she ran over to the cellar door on the far right. I followed after her and stopped a few feet away when the cellar doors suddenly burst open, three figures quickly crawling out in a rush. "Y/N!" Frisk cried when they spotted me, my body almost falling over when they tackled me with a hug. I laughed and hugged them back before looking up at Alphys to see her motioning everyone to follow her.
Undyne picked Alphys up and put her on her back like she was giving her a piggy-back-ride while Grillby took Frisk from me and did the same. "We'll need to steal a vehicle, so follow me!" Alphys shouted before pointing off into a direction where I could see a huge garage in the distance. All of us bolted off in that direction while the sirens continued to blare behind us, the late afternoon sunlight sending our shadows to dance across the roads and sidewalks as we ducked into alleys and sprinted down streets.
"Hurry!" Alphys urged as Undyne and Grillby forced open the garage door where several vehicles sat inside. "Uh, Alphys?" Undyne said nervously. "You know how to drive, right?" Panic crossed Alphys' face for a split second before I was there to save her. "I know how to drive," I said quickly as I ran over to what looked like a huge black convertible with white stripes on the side and hopped in. I set Temmie in my lap and waited for everyone to hop inside the convertible before I shoved my hands into the familiar metal tubes that made the vehicle whir to life.
"Hold on tight!" I shouted as the white stripes on the sides of the convertible glowed brightly when I pushed against the handles inside the tubes, causing the car to lurch forward and out into the street. We raced down the almost empty street for a good ten seconds before monsters started shouting for us to stop and surrender, guards beginning to race towards us with weapons in their hands.
"Undyne! Grillby! A little help?" I shouted over the wind as a monster shot at the window shield. They both grabbed a gun that Undyne had stolen and started defending our escape by shooting any monsters with a weapon or walkie-talkie. Alphys was making sure Frisk was safely covered while shouting directions for me to take that would help us quickly get out of the Monster Capital. "Left! Go down that street! Make two rights then another left! There! There! Use the gas!"
I slammed my palms on the handles inside the tubes, causing the convertible to shoot into the large field and towards the woods as the stripes on the sides glowed brightly with power. "Almost there!" Alphys shouted in excitement as the woods quickly approached us. "Once we're in the woods, we're free!"
A smile spread across my face as the convertible burst into the trees and weaved around bushes and fallen logs, my driving skills quite impressive as I expertly maneuvered us through the thick woods and farther away from the Monster Capital.
And after thirteen minutes of rushed driving through the woods to get away, the convertible burst out of the woods and back into the fields, the sun starting to set at our left. "We're free!" Undyne screamed, a huge grin on her face as she dropped her weapon into the back seat and pumped her arms. I let out a joyful whoop and gunned the engine, my hair flying into my face as everyone celebrated inside the convertible.
Frisk gave me a huge hug before plopping back down into the passenger seat with the biggest smile I had ever seen on their face. I smiled at them and looked back at Grillby, Undyne, and Alphys, who were all shouting and whooping with joy. I turned back to the steering tubes and looked out across the fields, my heart swelling with excitement and happiness.
I leaned forward on the handles and raised my head to shout, "To the Persistence!"
+ + +
I'M REALLY HAPPY BECAUSE EVERYONE IS SAFE NOW
I JUST HAVE THE BIGGEST SMILE ON MY FACE AND I KINDA WANNA CRY
ARE YOU GUYS ENJOYING THIS STORY 'CAUSE I SURE AM
Song: Sia - Alive (Audio)