The cold draft worsened throughout the mansion's busted up state from the bullet shattered windows. As soon as Undyne and I, along with the rest of the Venatores checked for any lingering Infernums, I followed Undyne to where I had last saw Sans. The moment I laid eyes on him and his surroundings, I saw that Sans had put the rest of the mansion's cruddy state to shame; the hallway was filled to the brim with blue sharpened bones as well as the accompanied color of red that came from dead Infernum members pinned to walls and the ceiling. There was a distinct circle that was void of any fragmented bones around Sans' hunched over figure who hadn't made any sign of acknowledgement to my presents.
I began to weave through the outskirts of the battle field of bones to Sans but the firm grip of Undyne halted me.
"I wouldn't do that if I were you, sister."
I ignore Undyne's advice and persisted as she watched in silence, her eye wide with worry.
"Sans? Sans, can you hear me? It's me, (y/n)." I call out.
I made it to the edge of the circle, Sans' back was still facing in my direction as a plume of blue smoke surrounded him. I step into the circle of what was once Sans' safety as the smoke suddenly darted towards me as if the smoke itself had a conscience. I froze in fear that something horrible was about to happen to me, but the smoke only surrounded me bringing a sensation of being pushed towards Sans. The closer I walked the more I was convinced my legs were no longer moving on their own until I was towering over Sans. He was kneeling down staring at the floor with his hands clutching his severely torn white buttoned shirt.
"they got him— they got him and i wasn't there to save him."
I had never heard Sans sound so broken before, but I couldn't blame him, Infernum had kidnapped Gaster who has been crucial to helping us figure out how we were going to leave the Underground. And that chance was gone.
Sans hadn't looked up once since I came to him and knelt down in front of him. I gently place my hands on either side of his cheekbones to lift his head up. He lets go of his chest and pulls me in for a hug as he tucks his skull into the crook of my neck as I quietly comfort him, but the heartfelt moment ended shortly as Undyne and a few others came staggering from behind us as they broke a pathway to Sans and I.
"Boss, we got good news..." A member spoke up.
Sans wipes his tears away before facing the others.
"well spit it out, what's the news?" He says in a gruff voice.
"We've got a hostage and Papyrus is tryin' to get em to talk and—."
"...and?" Sans gestures him to continue.
"He refuses to talk to anyone else but the human."
"Why me?" I reply.
The mobster shrugs.
We were lead to the other side of the mansion where Papyrus was keeping the hostage. The entrance was heavily guarded as muffled screams of pain resonated from behind the door where the hostage was being held. Undyne knock on the door and the screaming ceases, footsteps were heard and the door opens a crack with Papyrus on the other side.
"I'm a little busy at the moment, Undyne." Papyrus huffs.
"Yes, I can see that but—"
"Oh splendid, Infernum hadn't taken you after all!" Papyrus says cutting off Undyne the moment he spotted me.
Papyrus opens the door wider revealing himself holding rusted pliers covered in blood as well as the stained apron he wore over his shirt that had specks of fresh blood; It was quite a site, but not the most thrilling one— at least I now know what Papyrus' profession is.
"Come in, the little bastard has been persistent enough to withstand most of my methods." Papyrus says with a slight smirk at the end.
The monster was tied down to a chair, accompanied with a display of used tools on a tray next to him. Papyrus closes the door behind Sans and I as he wipes the pair of bloodied pliers on a worn rag.
"I think this would be the perfect time to train (y/n) on the art of persuasion, don't you Sans?" Papyrus was getting carried away with wanting to train me rather than getting answers from the hostage.
"Listen up you worthless pile of calcium, I said I wouldn't talk unless the human was here— that means you lay off with the damn torture!" The monster says spitting out a pile of blood and teeth.
"Fine, (y/n) is here now so tell us what you have to say." Papyrus says annoyed.
The gray eyed demon looks at me and gives a grotesque smile of filed and drilled teeth before he spoke.
"I've got a deal for ya, girly. If you turn your pretty self in to Asgore, we promise to leave this little gang alone."
"What about the souls you stole from us, and Gaster who you kidnapped?" I reply.
"No can do with the souls and the mute psycho, girly."
"Then I'm afraid there's no deal, buster." I bite back my urge to yell at the monster demon for calling me 'girly'.
The demon only answers back with a wheezing laugh, indicating that Papyrus had broken his ribs.
"We figured you'd say something like that, so we decided to add a little more to the table."
"if it's dough you're talkin', we don't want it." Sans hissed.
"Oh believe me, it's better than money, why don't you answer the phone and find out." The demon grins.
"But the phone isn't—"
A chill went down my spine as a metallic ring was coming from the phone in the corner of the room.
"What cha waitin' for, girly?"
My hand hovered over the receiver as I tried to hide the fact that I was trembling. I put the ringing to an end as I hold the phone to my ear, letting out a shuttered 'hello'.
"Ah (y/n), how nice of you to reconsider my offer!"
The unforgettable voice of Asgore only made my heart pound faster with worry.
"What makes you think I'll actually reconsider?" I say clutching the edge of the table of where the phone was.
"It's hard for a mother to raise her child without a father, let alone raise him in such ruins..."
My heart dropped to the pit of my stomach, the hint was more than enough.
"You sick horrible—"
"Now, now, there's no need to be vulgar— a child is present." He laughs into the phone, loud enough for everyone in the room to hear him. "Would you like to talk to Asriel? You were like a big sister to him despite the short amount of time you stayed with him."
Asgore puts the phone in Asriel's direction who was sobbing on the other end, God knows what he's already done to him.
"(y/n) I'm scared!" Asriel cried out.
"I know buddy, be brave for me! I'm coming for you, alright? Just be brave—"
"So, it's a deal then? I'd give you a day to think it over, but I'm a busy man now that I have the two human souls you kept from me. If you cooperate, I'll let Asriel go as long as you come to Hotland by yourself. If I see any one of those filthy Venatores even near my territory, I will not hesitate to kill my own son."
The call ended abruptly leaving me speechless with a laughing hostage and two shocked skeletons.
"Looks like my job here is done." The demon chuckles.
"Indeed it is." Papyrus says just before slitting the demon's throat as he sputtered his last bloody breath.
I left the room as Sans quickly followed behind, not wanting him to catch up, I sprinted towards what's left of my ransacked bedroom.
"wait doll, listen to me, we can figure this out."
"No Sans, we can't! Don't you see what Asgore's done!? There was no bargain to begin with! If I don't turn myself in, Asgore will use all the soul's powers and come for me anyways and everyone else. It's just a matter of time before—"
I stop myself. Something was off about the whole phone call with Asgore.
"Two souls."
"ya feelin' alright, doll? maybe you should sit down."
"Two souls. Asgore said two human souls, we had three, Sans." I repeat myself.
Sans' sockets widened as he understood what I meant.
I dash to my dresser were my clothes were strewn about as I dig through the pile.
"Come on, please be here, Chara." I whisper to myself.
Nothing. She wasn't there. I balled my fists up as I still was holding onto my clothes in anger and frustration.
"This doesn't make any sense! I left Chara here in my dresser, but she's missing and Asgore only mentioned us giving him two souls."
I was just about to give up until I spotted a crumpled piece of paper in the midst of laundry. I open it and leap with joy and cheered as I hugged Sans who was completely clueless as to why my mood suddenly changed.
"ya sure ya don't have a few loose bolts up there?" Sans says tapping my head.
I hold the crumpled paper close to me and looked at Sans.
"Asgore didn't take Chara."
"then who has her if asgore doesn't?" Sans says confused.
"The only monster in the Underground who's an expert with souls."
I hand Sans the crumpled paper that had the familiar unreadable symbols written down, his smile grew but it quickly faltered.
"but doll, how do ya know if gaster really does have chara with him?"
"Who else would've taken Chara and hid her from Asgore if they were working for him?"
I continued to cling to Sans with joy over the smallest hope that Gaster is hiding the fact to Asgore that we still have one last soul he doesn't know about. I finally calm down in Sans' embrace but he too didn't want to let go of me for different reasons.
"(y/n), please tell me you're still not considering on going to hotland, are ya?"
"Sans, you know if I don't go he will kill us all, if I go, and there still might be a chance for me to stop this."
"and there's the possibility that i won't ever see you again!" Sans shouts.
I grew silent.
"look, (y/n), i know we don't know each other that well and haven't been together for that long—" Sans looks away with tears forming in his sockets.
"Hey, look at me. I will get us out of the place, and once I do, we'll be together on the surface where you and I, and even Papyrus won't have to worry about killing or being killed in order to survive."
"ya promise?"
"I promise." I smile.
Sans and the rest of the Venatores had come to see me off before I handed myself to Asgore. My body was already beginning to warm up from the intense heat coming from the magma pits below me as a single bead of sweat rolled down my face. There wasn't a monster in sight as I kept to the straight path leading me to an unknown fate. It wasn't long until I spotted two familiar figures in the distance coming towards me. It was the two helmet wearing monsters that I saw at Waterfall, none of them were phased by the sweltering heat below us.
The helmet wearing monsters attempted to grab my arms but I shook them off.
"Hey, I came here willingly, so there's no need to stop me from running." I growl.
"If ya try anything, I swear I'm gonna—"
"Save your breath, I'm not going anywhere." I say as I cut him off.
The monsters weren't pleased with my attitude but they silently knew I was right.
The heat was slowly getting to me every second as we walked closer to the center of Hotland where a massive castle stood high in the distance. There were more monsters in the area and soon a crowd was forming on the edges of the pathway watching me and the two monsters escorting me to Asgore. There were shouts of obscenities coming from the crowd and I soon grew to quickly ignore them. The audience that I had attracted dwindled the closer I came to the castle entrance and eventually became non existent as the large front doors were pushed open, slowly revealing Asgore smiling at my presents.
"Welcome to Hell, (y/n)." Asgore laughs.
I would had shivered by the ominous comment but it was hot enough that I had discarded the top of my blue suit, leaving me with nothing but my sweat drenched, white buttoned shirt and my blue dress pants and worn out heels.
"My, what a sight you are. Let's get you out of this dastardly heat and give you something flattering to wear, hm?"
The helmet wearing monsters leave my side, giving me no choice but to walk with the devil himself.
"Where's Asriel and Gaster?" I say without skipping a beat.
"Patience my dear, we'll talk business once we've had dinner and you've been properly cleaned."
It felt wrong what Asgore was doing, he was treating me as if I had betrayed Sans and Papyrus so I could join him instead.
The tile floor made everything echo along with the unsettling music that filled the atmosphere that was coming from a ballroom. Asgore stops at the entrance of where the source of the music was as he snaps his fingers. A pair of maids came from seemingly nowhere from behind me and grabbed my arms.
"See to it that she's cleaned and ready for dinner, understood?"
"Yes Asgore." The maids reply in unison.
I felt myself being pulled away by the maids as Asgore disappears into the ballroom of cheering and laughter for his return.
"Where are you taking me?" I hiss.
"We're going to bathe you, then we'll dress you." One maid answers.
"No way, I can dress and bathe myself."
"If Asgore wishes it, it must be done." The other maid chimes in.
I didn't want to put up a fight between these two maids who clearly didn't want to be anywhere near this place as much as I did, but I knew this would be the only chance I have to figure out how I was going to get myself out of this mess.
I forced myself to tune out the fact that I was being cleaned and dressed other than by myself. I was almost ready to be sent out to Asgore as the maids started putting on my make up. I couldn't bare to look at myself in the mirror without having the urge to vomit. I was wearing nothing but red shoes, dress, lipstick, eyeshadow.
"Are ready to see Asgore, miss?" The maid asks.
"Ready's an understatement." I mumble.
They ignored my little remark and escorted me back to where Asgore had left me by the ballroom entrance. The horrid music filled my ears as soon as the door opened to reveal a crowd of enthusiastic monsters enjoying the unsettling swing of the orchestra.
Asgore had spotted me from afar and gestured me to the largest table in the room reserved for him and I. At that moment I wanted to run right then and there, but he knew that I knew he wasn't going to let that happen. The table looked like it was ready to be set for a feast as I seated myself next to Asgore. Once the music had ended, he stands and signals everyone to find their seats as he held his glass of champagne in the air to make a toast.
"My fellow members and their accompanying spouses, I would've brought mine but she has been uncooperative lately." The crowd let out a few laughs before he continued with his speech . "I've brought you all here to celebrate the age of my new kingdom, thanks to the many souls my friends have gathered plus the one living human who willingly gave herself to better the cause."
I never raised the glass to my lips once even when the toast had ended and the orchestra began playing a more subtle jazzy tune with the same eerie feeling as the last song.
The food was now being served to us and the rest of the guest, but I wasn't hungry. I wanted answers.
"Where's Asriel and Gaster?"
Asgore was just about to dig in as he and stop himself from taking the first bite and silently clenches his sharp teeth with annoyance.
"(y/n) dear, why can't you enjoy yourself for a moment? I'm sure what Sans has been feeding you is nothing compared to what is in front of you."
"You told me I would get my answers once I was cleaned and dress, and here I am cleaned and dressed." I persisted.
"Don't pester a man that hasn't eaten, dear. You'll have your answers soon enough."
I take note of Asgore gripping the steak knife near his plate knowing I needed to back down before he decides to kill me right on the spot. I kept my mouth shut for the rest of dinner, not wanting to make Asgore any angrier as I listened to the incoherent chatter of other monster's tables. I could tell Asgore was purposefully dragging out the time and was enjoying watching me restlessly sit in place.
"I've never seen a human so eager to give up their life." Asgore chuckles.
"You know the only reason I'm doing this is because you threatened to kill and innocent child who happens to be your son." I glare at him.
"Ah yes, he is my son." Asgore laughs again.
The dinner party had finally come to an end as the guest all left, leaving me with Asgore and his servants that began cleaning up.
"I think it's time I keep my end of the bargain that you've been so desperate to get to."
I follow him as he leads me down to a dark stretching stairway of his castle that lead to a dungeon guarded by monsters dressed with Infernum's signature red.
"You put your child in a dungeon!?" I scoff.
"I couldn't stand having his perpetual screams echo throughout the castle for another hour." Asgore excuses.
As we walked further into the dungeon, I could hear what Asgore was talking about as the sound of Asriel's screaming grew louder with every step. The shouting soon stopped as I saw Asriel come into view behind the rusty bars of a dirty cell.
"Is that you, (y/n)?"
I hadn't heard Asriel's voice in such a long time as I felt tears rolling down my face.
"Yes Asriel, it's me!" I say with joy as I reached through the bars of the cell as Asriel came in for a hug.
"Pa said he wouldn't let me go unless you gave up your soul to him."
"I'm afraid so." I solemnly reply.
"But I don't want you to! I want you to come home with me and ma!" He began to complain again, causing Asgore to mumble under his breath.
"I'm sorry Asriel, but I can't come with you. But you should be glad that you and your mother will be safe now." I continued.
"No! I'm not leaving unless you come with me!"
"That's a choice you have no have power over, brat." Asgore sneers.
His men unlock the cell and dragged Asriel out as he kicked, punched and screamed some more.
I follow behind once more to the main floor where I saw Toriel being held back by more of Asgore's men. They let her go as she runs to her son and holds him close in her arms, glaring daggers into her ex husband.
"How dare you do this to me! Haven't you given your son and I more trouble for a lifetime!?!" Toriel screams.
"Shut it, bitch, you have what you want, now leave!" One of Asgore's members shouts.
She looks at Asgore one last time before looking at me, I wanted to apologize to her for everything I've done to her and how I got her into this mess. Toriel gives me nothing more than a glance before running to the exit. I watched her disappear behind the massive doors closing behind her as I felt myself become more trapped than when I first walked into this place.
"Now that we have all that out of the way, how about I show you to where you'll be sleeping, you must be very tired."
"Hang on there Asgore, you still haven't taken me to see Gaster."
He stops walking and turns to face me with an evil grin.
"I would love to take you to see Gaster, but unfortunately he requests that he sees you tomorrow when he begins on the procedure."
"W-what do you mean 'he begins the procedure'?"
"Well, let's just say that not everyone you trust will always be on your side." Asgore takes my hands in his as a poor attempt to comfort me in my confusion.
"I don't believe you! Why would Gaster join you for such a selfish cause!?" I pull my hands away from his grasp.
"You can ask him yourself, but he won't be happy to see you." Asgore complies.
"We'll see about that." I spit back.
I'm taken to a much nicer part of the castle with chandeliers hanging in every hallway and expensive oil paintings of most likely Asgore's ancestors. We stop at a fancy red and golden trimmed door as Asgore gives me the opportunity to knock.
I knock once and the door opens by itself just like always when I would visit Gaster. His room was cleaner and nicer than the one at the mansion. Gaster's poor standing posture was fixed in an upright position and was wearing a perfectly clean lab coat as he looks away from his organized wall of research papers with the same incoherent symbols just like before.
"Gaster, is it true you're working for Asgore now? How could you when we've been—"
"Out." Was all Gaster could say with a face of disgust.
"You— you traitor! Where are you hiding Char—" I suddenly felt a hard slap on my face and fell to the ground as I felt my cheek began to swell.
Gaster was now towering over me, his foot slowly pressing on my chest.
"OUT!!!" Gaster shouts in my face more harshly than last time.
I push his foot off my chest feeling heartbroken and used. I say nothing else as I walk out of the room and heard the sound of the door slamming behind me.
"Take me to my room." I say void of all emotion.
"Glad to see we're finally on the same page, dear." Asgore says happily.