"Chara. You haven't learned a thing. Hee hee hee."
-Flowey
#
Frisk, Chara, and Asriel were walking at a steady pace. In true military spook fashion, Miller had left to observe them from a distance.
Chara grew anxious. "How much time do we have?"
Frisk checked the time. 8:42 AM. Endogeny had killed the human at around 10:30 AM. The attack probably hadn't started long before that, but he didn't know how long Endogeny had been outside. "We should have at least an hour and a half until the attack starts," Frisk said.
That wasn't enough time to put Chara at ease. "...Well, I suppose if the worst happens, you can just RESET again."
"I hope I don't need to," Frisk replied.
Chara nodded. "We should hurry."
"Yeah."
They picked up the pace, but not so much that they drew attention to themselves. They didn't want to cause panic. Seeing the World Master in distress tended to make people nervous, and part of Frisk still clung to his hope that no one would ever need to remember Endogeny's... episode, even though he knew that Malcom was going to rant about it the first chance he got.
They turned onto Snowdin Road, where most of the dogs lived. Frisk happened to know that the Dogi lived somewhere in there, but he didn't know their exact address. Fortunately, he knew someone who did. Frisk took out his phone and dialed Undyne's number.
"Hey, Frisk! What's up?"
"Undyne, umm... I need to see Dogamy and Dogaressa. Like, now."
"Uh... okay. Not sure what the rush is, but I'll let them know you're coming."
"Thanks, Undyne."
Undyne gave Frisk their address. "But, why do you need to see them so badly?"
"...Sorry, I'd rather not say, but it's very important."
"...They're the ones taking care of Endogeny, right? Is that what this is about?"
Frisk froze. Lucky guess? Or...?
"Alphys still feels really bad about the amalgamates." Undyne's usual fiery personality turned solemn. "I don't think a day goes by where she doesn't think of them."
Frisk's breathing grew unsteady. If Alphys found out about this...
Undyne laughed it off. "Sorry, Frisk! I didn't mean to get all mopey on you!"
Frisk laughed back. "Oh, that's alright! See you later, Undyne."
"Later, punk!" Undyne hung up.
Frisk sighed and headed for the Dogi residence. They walked by a row of townhomes until they found the address Undyne had given them. Frisk knocked on the door. Dogamy opened it, with Dogaressa right beside him. Frisk hadn't noticed before, but both of their black jackets had a picture of their spouse's face on it. Frisk found it both kind of cute and kind of weird.
Chara groaned. "These two are even worse than our parents were," she whispered to Asriel.
"Ugh, I know," he whispered back.
"Good day, Frisk!" Dogamy greeted.
"I don't believe we've met your friends," Dogaressa said.
"Oh, aren't they Asriel and Chara?" Dogamy asked. "The Dreemurrs' children?"
"Ah, that's right. I'm still wrapping my head around the whole resurrection thing."
"Sorry," Frisk interrupted. "But this is urgent. Is Endogeny home?"
"Endogeny?" Dogamy asked. "Endogeny's always home."
"Poor thing hasn't had a walk in weeks," Dogaressa added.
Well, that explained things.
"May we come in?" Frisk asked. "We, uh, really need to see Endogeny."
"Of course, come in!"
Dogamy and Dogaressa let them inside their townhome. It was a humble home with nothing special really. The living room had standard white carpet and white walls. The kitchen had a wooden plank floor, perhaps to make it look like a common home in Snowdin. Monster homes on the surface generally weren't much different from human homes, although some monsters such as Undyne still liked to make more unique and expressive designs.
"We know it's not much, but make yourselves at home!" Dogamy said cheerfully.
"Can we get you anything?" Dogaressa offered. "We were just about to go out for breakfast, but since we have guests..."
"No thanks," Frisk said. "We just need to talk to Endogeny."
"Endogeny's room is just upstairs, to the left," Dogaressa informed them.
"Thanks," Frisk replied.
Frisk, Chara, and Asriel headed upstairs. On the second floor was a simple hallway leading to various rooms. Other than the fact that it smelled like a bunch of dogs, nothing was out of the ordinary. Except... one of the doors was covered in the sticky, white residue of an amalgamate. Frisk's face scrunched up in disgust, but he opened the door. He felt a little relived when he saw Endogeny inside, as opposed to outside. They were sitting in an empty corner, and their body was convulsing. They looked stressed and uncomfortable. Frisk could feel their anxiety.
"...They might as well still be trapped underground," Chara whispered, her voice full of pity.
Frisk walked up to them. He reached out his hand to pet them. Endogeny seemed to appreciate it. They hummed affectionately as Frisk lovingly pet their amorphous body. Frisk smiled. "There, there. It'll be okay."
Chara sighed. "Frisk... you're being too nice. They killed someone. We need to make sure they never do it again."
Frisk frowned. "But, how'd we..."
Chara's expression turned ice cold. "Stand aside, Frisk." She gently yet firmly pushed Frisk out of the way and walked up to Endogeny. "...Asriel, I have no right to ask this, but-"
"Yeah, I'll do it," Asriel replied. He crawled next to Chara. Their ominous tone was creeping Frisk out.
Chara stared at Endogeny. A fire was burning in her red eyes. She smiled; it wasn't a friendly smile. "Greetings, Endogeny. I am Chara."
Endogeny barked happily, as oblivious as ever.
Chara stopped smiling. She spoke slowly. "Endogeny, do you know why we've come here?"
It was hard to tell what Endogeny was thinking, but Frisk got the sense that they were confused.
"You," Chara said with a scathing tone. "Without our guidance, you would have murdered an innocent child. Yes... that's right. A child. An innocent human child died because of you. Fortunately, Frisk was able to use his power to correct your mistake. But, do you think that absolves you of the consequences?"
Even Endogeny was getting creeped out.
Chara cocked her head towards Asriel. Asriel nodded, and he summoned energy bullets.
Frisk didn't like where this was going. "Wh-what are you doing?"
They ignored him. "You need to be taught a lesson, Endogeny," Chara said. "You need to be taught the difference between playing and fighting. You need to understand what you have done. You need to feel all the pain you have inflicted."
Asriel fired his energy bullets. Endogeny made the same heartbreaking whimper that other dogs made when they got hurt.
Frisk really didn't like this. "A-Asriel, Chara..."
"This pain..." Chara whispered. "This is what you made an innocent child feel. Do you like it?"
Asriel hit Endogeny again. Their body shuddered in pain. Frisk couldn't stand the noise they made.
"How does it feel?" Chara asked them. "Is this fun to you? Is this your idea of playing?"
Endogeny's body shook left and right. 'No.' They were saying 'no.'
"No...?" Chara asked. "Hmmm... How curious. You seemed to have a different opinion when the roles were reversed. Let us make sure you understand."
"STOP!" Frisk cried. "They've had enough!"
Asriel fired another volley of energy bullets. Frisk ran in front of Endogeny and blocked the bullets. The white hot energy stung badly. Frisk cried out in pain and collapsed to his knees. A red stain formed on his blue and magenta striped shirt.
Chara's eyes widened. "FRISK!" Her menacing tone was instantly replaced with fear for Frisk's life. She ran to his side.
"Y-you idiot," Asriel murmured.
Chara checked Frisk's wounds. "Why, Frisk?! Why do you have to be so nice?!"
Frisk coughed up a little blood. "I've had worse. Just... don't hurt them anymore."
"A-alright, Frisk!" Chara sobbed. "We'll stop." She pulled out her phone and summoned a chocolate bar from her dimensional box. "Here, eat this. It's monster chocolate."
Frisk took the chocolate and ate it. The magical food dissolved in his mouth. His wounds were healed, but the pain remained. "Th-thanks."
Chara looked at Endogeny. It was hard to tell if they were actually wounded, but they were definitely in pain. "I guess we should give them some, too." Chara summoned another bar of chocolate.
Frisk gasped. "Chara, don't!"
Chara was confused. "Huh? Why not?"
"Chocolate's poisonous to dogs!"
Chara frowned. "Oh, it is...? I'm sorry..."
Frisk smiled. "That's alright. You didn't know."
Chara started laughing. "Heh... I haven't changed at all..."
Oh no... It's just like...
"Heh... haha... Just like when I poisoned Asgore... Pfft, AHAHAHA! I haven't learned anything! Even after what happened, I'm still hurting people. A-and... I'm still making my brother hurt people..."
"Chara..."
Chara took a deep breath. "N-no. I'm not gonna mope anymore. You didn't bring me back just so I can feel sorry for myself."
Frisk sighed in relief. He didn't know if his SOUL could take watching Chara cry again.
Chara looked at Endogeny. She reached out her hand to pet them. Endogeny recoiled back in fear. Chara gave them a friendly smile. "It's okay. I don't hate you, Endogeny. I just... needed you to understand. You don't want to hurt anyone, do you?"
Endogeny hesitated for a moment, and then they shook the part of their body that resembled a head.
"We didn't want to do that," Asriel told them. "But we didn't see any other way. I can't say I'm sorry that I did it, but I am sorry that I had to do it."
Frisk realized something about Asriel; he wasn't really himself or Flowey anymore. He was somewhere in-between. Both the pain of being soulless and the memories of his love had shaped him into a new person. He wanted to do the right thing, but he wasn't afraid to make hard choices, either... He had become strong.
Endogeny hummed in understanding. Chara sat down next to them, still smiling. "Yeah, I love dogs! And to be honest, I'm not even that mad about what you did. Thing is, I'm not particularly fond of humans, with one exception." She glanced at Frisk. "However, that one exception made me believe that peace between humans and monsters might be possible after all. He wants nothing more than that. I'll do whatever I can to help make his wish come true."
Frisk almost felt like weeping. He smiled. "Chara..."
Chara stood up and pat Frisk's shoulder. "This nice young human has done so much for your kind. He's literally died for you. Several times."
Frisk blushed. "It wasn't THAT many!"
Chara continued. "But even as the people he was trying to help kept hurting him, he never wanted to fight back. Even when he bled to death, he did it with a smile."
Uh... I don't know about that one. I love monsters, but dying sucks...
"And in the end," Chara said. "Thanks to his kindness, monsters were finally able to go free. Aren't you grateful for the chance he has given us? Don't you want to make sure it won't go to waste?"
Endogeny barked in agreement.
"Then don't kill, and don't be killed," Chara quoted.
"That's the best you can strive for," Asriel finished.
Endogeny nodded. Contented, they sat on the floor and fell asleep.
Chara smiled at Frisk. "I think we've done all we can."
Frisk nodded in agreement. He turned to leave and opened the door. Before walking out, he looked back and whispered, "take care, Endogeny."
They left the room. Frisk created a new SAVE file.
"...They'll still be unhappy," Chara whispered. "We didn't actually solve any of their problems."
Frisk sighed. "Maybe someone will find a way to heal them someday."
"I don't know."
Dogamy came upstairs. "Frisk-" He saw the blood on Frisk's shirt. "Oh my! Frisk, your water's leaking!"
"O-oh, it's just a scratch," Frisk lied. "Don't worry about it."
"Well, alright," Dogamy replied, probably not too familiar with human biology. "Anyway, did you invite more guests?"
"Ummm... no?"
"Well, more humans are at our door."
Cold sweat formed on Frisk's brow. That could only mean one thing... Frisk and the others ran downstairs. They saw Dogaressa talking to an officer of the Human Government Military Police. Frisk recognized the woman who Dogaressa was talking to; it was the same woman who gave the order to shoot Endogeny. Frisk noticed she had a sword sheathed on her hip; which was common among high ranking officers of the HG Military. Frisk also noted her purple eyes, which indicated a SOUL of perseverance. She wasn't going to back down easily.
"What is this about?" Dogaressa asked the officer. "Why does everyone need to see Endogeny all of a sudden?"
"Endogeny has committed murder," the officer bluntly answered. "They killed a human child. Frisk saved the child's life by resetting the timeline, but that doesn't excuse Endogeny of their crimes. The Human Government demands that you turn Endogeny over for arrest."
Dogaressa yelped. "WHAT?! Endogeny would never-"
"THEY DID! Now hand them over!"
"...Frisk," Chara whispered. "I can't be certain, but I think I know her. She looks like an older version of someone I've seen in one of my dreams. She knew Felicia. I believe her name is Nora."
Chara had another dream? Frisk would have to ask her about it later.
Dogaressa looked at Frisk. "Is... is that true? Did Endogeny really...?"
"...Yes," Frisk sadly admitted. "But they didn't mean to."
"Oh, so they accidentally murdered a kid?" Nora scornfully asked.
"Yes!" Chara shouted. "They didn't know what they were doing! Not that I would expect a human like you to understand!"
Nora scoffed. "Chara... I don't understand why we haven't just put you down like the psychopath you are."
Even though he understood why, Frisk couldn't help but feel a twinge of anger every time someone insulted Chara like that. Nora didn't understand her, and she didn't understand Endogeny. Chara, however, didn't seem to care what Nora thought of her.
Nora noticed the red stain on Frisk's shirt. "What happened to you? Did your bleeding heart get the better of you?"
Frisk always took that expression as a complement. He smiled. "I guess so."
"That was Endogeny, wasn't it?" Nora assumed. "Typical Frisk. Why do you put up with all that abuse? How many times have monsters killed you?" She pointed at Dogamy and Dogaressa. "I bet those two right there have killed you!"
Dogamy started to sweat. "W-well..."
"W-we didn't KILL him!" Dogaressa insisted.
...Yes, they did. Dogaressa got him. She sent an axe right through his SOUL.
"Good thing you were the World Master," Nora said. "Because if not, then not only would you be dead, we'd ALL be dead. Your recklessness would have given Asgore his seventh and final SOUL, and that would have been the end of humanity."
Frisk gritted his teeth. Why was this woman insulting him, all his friends, and everything he stood for? Although, he had to admit that she had some points. He didn't like to think that Asgore really would have used his SOUL to wage war against humanity, but then why did he say it in the first place? Several monsters such as Toriel, Mettaton, and Sans had warned him not to let Asgore take his SOUL; none of them thought Asgore was bluffing. But in any case, the monsters were free now. They no longer had any reason to fight humanity. "It's true that Asgore once declared war," Frisk said. "But we're at peace now. Monsters don't mean humans any harm, and Endogeny never meant to hurt anyone."
"Endogeny is either a murderer or an idiot," Nora countered. "Either way, I'm taking them in."
"You can't do that!" Chara yelled. "We know the law! While RESETs may be used as evidence for a planned crime such as murder, defendants may not be held accountable for spontaneous crimes such as manslaughter if the crime had been RESET."
As an ambassador, the law was something Frisk had studied closely over the past year. The law that Chara mentioned was created long ago. It allowed the World Master to prevent serious crimes without overwhelming the courts over smaller crimes that hadn't actually happened. Logically, this law would certainly apply to Endogeny, who hadn't intended to harm the child. The only problem was actually proving that Endogeny hadn't intended to harm the child. The average human who saw what happened would have a hard time believing it was an accident.
"Well, look who's an expert at the law," Nora mocked. "Funny, for someone who has completely disregarded it, along with all sense of human decency. You probably would have been perfectly happy if Endogeny had absorbed that SOUL and went on a human massacre."
Frisk had heard enough. "Leave her alone! You don't know Chara! You may dislike her all you want, but I won't let you insult her!"
In an instant, Nora drew her sword and pointed it right at Frisk's neck. "Get out of my way."
Frisk had faced death many times before, but something about a human threatening him made it much more terrifying. Nora's eyes were ice cold. Frisk really felt like Nora would kill him if he pushed her just a bit more. His whole body was shaking. He strongly felt the urge to reset, to get away from the cold steel less than an inch from his neck. He wanted to close his eyes and wake up back home, safe with Chara and Asriel.
"CAPTAIN MILLER! STAND DOWN!"
Captain... Miller...?
Agent Miller ran into the room. Much to Frisk's relief, Nora lowered her sword and turned to face him. Her hostility eased, a bit. "Ah, long time no see, Brother. What are you doing here?"
Chara's eyes widened. "N-no way..."
"My job," Miller said.
"Ah, that's right," Nora replied. "You're part of that little 'protection squad.'"
Miller looked offended. "I'm in charge of that 'little' protection squad!"
Nora smirked. "Yeah, sure. Come talk to me when Jacob gives you get a real job."
"It is a real job!"
Nora looked at her brother and chuckled. "You cut your hair!"
"Yours is still the same."
Frisk didn't know why, but Chara was completely freaking out over something. "Th-that's impossible! How could he become that?!"
Nora's brief lightheartedness ended. She ceased to look at Miller as a brother. "Agent Miller, these three are obstructing Endogeny's arrest. They're in my way."
Agent Miller sighed and looked at Frisk, Chara, and Asriel. Frisk dared to think there was some genuine sympathy in his yellow eyes. "Look, Endogeny will be given a fair trial. If they didn't intend to kill the child, they will likely not be charged with anything."
"Like hell they'll be given a fair trial!" Chara snarled. "Malcom is going to do everything he can to shine Endogeny in the worst light possible!"
"That's not our problem," Nora coldly replied.
"Don't you see what's going on here?" Asriel asked. "Even if Endogeny doesn't get charged, the mere existence of this trial is going to be a HUGE strain between humans and monsters! Chara's right! Malcom is going to use this chance to plant as much doubt as he possibly can!"
Nora's purple eyes flashed with hatred. "And maybe we should be afraid! Now, this is your last chance! Turn over Endogeny, or you're going with them!"
"Frisk," Dogamy whispered. "Maybe we should just cooperate."
"It doesn't look like there's any other way," Dogaressa whispered.
Frisk was torn. There was always another way. He was the Royal Ambassador. He was supposed to be better than this, but-
As if reading Frisk's thoughts, Nora said, "Frisk, I know you feel proud of yourself for what you did in Mount Ebott, but this is the REAL world. In the underground, you were living in a fairy tale, but now that tale has ended. In this world, not everything can be solved just by being nice, and not everyone can have a happy ending."
Nora's brother had said something similar. Even Asriel had said something like that. Were they right? Was Frisk living in a fairy tale? Was he too much of an idealist? Frisk looked at Chara. She looked so angry, but she didn't look like she knew what to do, either. Asriel also looked so hopeless. Frisk was just about to concede and let them upstairs, when Endogeny made their decision for them. Endogeny hovered down the stairs and drifted to Nora.
Chara gasped. "E-Endogeny, what are you-"
With great effort, Endogeny spoke. "W-we've... hurt... M-made... mistake... W-will... go with you..."
Endogeny...
Nora looked at the barley coherent mass that was Endogeny in disgust. "Ugh, look at this thing. I don't see why you're all gushing over a blob. Alright, listen up, blob!" Nora read Endogeny their rights.
"J-just don't hurt them," Dogamy pleaded.
"They were like our first child!" Dogaressa exclaimed.
"Sorry, but Endogeny's not the one I'm worried about," Nora said without any sign of actual remorse. "Malcom said this thing shrugs off bullets like nothing. Your Royal Scientist has made some truly grotesque creatures."
"...Get off our property," Dogaressa ordered.
"As you wish," Nora said. With Endogeny in tow, Nora and Agent Miller left the Dogi residence.
Frisk gave the Dogi an apologetic look.
"It's alright, Frisk," Dogamy assured him.
"We're not mad at you," Dogaressa said. "We know you did your best."
Chara was very depressed. She rested her head on Frisk's shoulder. Frisk held her. "Chara..."
"...Let's go home, Frisk."
"...Yeah."