Archive of Our Own

Chapter Text

“You sure you trust this guy?” Of course, Suzy would ask that question first. Not only did she not know Papyrus like the Angel did, but she only heard unflattering things about the people the Angel used to know. No amount of explanations or reassurances would get around that first impression.

Still, out of anyone, one thing remained true: “Papyrus always means well.” Sometimes, he didn’t exactly think everything through. After all, this was the same person who did not truly consider the implications of sending Frisk off to Asgore. This was the same person who gathered everyone together at Flowey’s behest. “But, he doesn’t like lying to people, and he told me that he’s not going to give away where I am.”

While they walked down the stairs of the inn, Suzy scoffed at the notion, “Didn’t you say that small skeleton showed up? Doesn’t matter whether Papyrus gives a damn or not. That jackass is gonna make everything your problem.”

Yeah, they already figured that one out. The Angel was over three weeks without interruptions now, but that’d probably come to an end soon. They… didn’t know what they were going to do when that happened. Any battle in their Dark World could be won, but it wasn’t like they could easily move their Dark World anymore. Anyone who found them could just keep coming back every time the Angel sent them away.

But, that only meant that Papyrus being around wouldn’t cause more issues. “Then that just means I don’t have to worry. Besides, someone’s gotta teach me how to fight.”

“I coulda done that.” Suzy rolled her eyes, tilting her head so that her hair fell slightly to the side. “I thought you said you didn’t think you could take a hit.”

Yes, Suzy could be a sparring partner. There was, however, one issue with that entire ordeal. “Everything that… both of us have probably learned came from being in-the-moment. Just scrapping.” If the scars riddling Suzy’s face meant anything, then she’d seen a few fights on her own. The Angel’s own fights were desperate, moves only being learned by sheer necessity. “I think I need to go back and fix my basics. I’m not going to win if all I know is how to cheat.”

“Ooh, trying to fight nice and clean now, are we?” Suzy opened the inn door for them with one arm, stepping off to the side. “I better not catch you being a rule follower when someone’s going for your neck, all right?”

Ideally, they would be able to combine both. The Angel would need to cheat against the Knight and pull out every single trick that they had, but if they couldn’t even deal with a standard sword blow coming their way, then they were going to die. The Angel stepped out into the cold of Snowdin, but they reassured her anyway in a joking tone, “I prefer staying alive, so I’m not going to eat a sword to the chest for the sake of rules.”

“Yeah, you’d better prefer that.” Her grin started to dip, the words coming out with a bit more bite than the Angel expected.

Ah.

The thought didn’t linger for long, because Papyrus was right on time when both of them stepped into the snow. With a grin on his face, and with his old battle body on, Papyrus greeted, “Hello you two!!!” He hadn’t even seen Suzy in the Dark World, but turned to the Angel with his grin only growing larger. “I am happy to see that you two kept in touch! It is quite convenient! That makes this quite a bit easier!” Papyrus lifted his phone out of his pocket, using a dimensional box of his own to bring out a purple coat far too large for the Angel. Beaming, he extended the item to Suzy. “For you!”

Suzy didn’t react. Like she wasn’t even a part of the conversation, she stood just a bit behind the Angel, staring at the coat like it wasn’t even there. It took the Angel stepping to the side out of the way. It also took Papyrus staying perfectly steadfast, not moving an inch with the Angel and making it clear that the coat was for her. All she could muster was a “What?”

Of course, Papyrus genuinely explained, “Well…! Originally, I was going to ask the Angel if they were still hanging out with the friend they made! Which is you! If they weren’t, I was going to suggest giving you a gift since it’s getting quite cold out!” Papyrus began to sweat slightly. “Of course, we’re Underground, so that doesn’t quite make sense! But conveniently, we’re also in Snowdin! So-”

Glancing down at the coat like it’d animate and bite her, Suzy stayed wary. “What do you want outta this, huh? There’s no way you’re giving me this for free.”

“Well! You were a tad prickly before… but the gift is not contingent on being a tad nicer to me!” Papyrus once more extended the coat to her. “Here you go! Free of charge!”

Suzy’s eye darted between him and the coat a few times. Acting like she didn’t care, she reached out and grabbed the coat in her claws, pulling it away a bit roughly. Papyrus didn’t resist at all, and the moment Suzy had it in her possession, something shifted. Her grip on it became far softer, and the Angel noted that her claws hadn’t punctured it with that grab. Suzy flipped it over, inspecting every part of it before finally putting it on.

It did fit her. The moment the cold of Snowdin was kept at bay, Suzy started to relax just a little bit. She didn’t say thank-you, but she turned away like she didn’t know what to do.

The Angel didn’t force the matter. Instead, they asked Papyrus, “It’s okay if she comes too, right? I know that isn’t what we really agreed on, but…”

“Of course!” Papyrus didn’t mind the lack of thanks it seemed, raising his pointer finger upward. “Suzy is free to watch or join in if she would like! Perfecting one’s magic is a pursuit that anyone can try to strive for!” He whirled around, beginning to walk towards the bridge into Snowdin. “Now, follow me! I have found an open area that will be spacious enough!”

Before they went, the Angel glanced at Suzy to try to get her attention. Of course, she caught them in the corner of her vision, putting on a smirk like everything was fine. “All right. He’s not half bad. There. You happy?”

That did make the Angel a little bit happier. “Does the coat fit?” It looked like it did, but Suzy might’ve just put it on, because it was something warm.

“Yeah… it does…” She huffed before trudging off through the snow. “It’s still cold as hell out here though, so stop staring.” 

Fine. The Angel did have a training session to get to. Still, it was nice to see her shivering less while they walked behind. 

Papyrus led the way, but he did not let silence sit for long. The walk was just an excuse for him to get an idea of what he was working with. “So! Angel! What do you know in terms of fighting ability?! I… er… heard from Asgore and Undyne that you already appear to be quite proficient in some areas!”

“I’m only really proficient in the Dark Worlds.” That had to be gotten out of the way first. “It’s… easier to do a lot of things in there, but in the Light World, I struggle to summon basic weapons.” Granted, they could access the memory of those just fine now, but it took quite a bit of practice to even muster that. The Angel felt a little silly for thinking they could jump straight to stopping time.

…Still, they had a thread to pursue on that later.

Humming, Papyrus noted, “If you do have different proficiency levels in the dark place, then I believe our training should alternate between the two! That way… I can properly gauge what the difference is!”

“It’s just easier.” How did they describe it to someone who knew very little about Dark Worlds in the first place? Papyrus was receptive to new information, so they could just try to be blunt. “Magic is stronger down there. Dark Worlds are more… indistinct. You can bend them a lot easier.”

“...Bend them?” Papyrus furrowed his skeletal brow. “Hm. Something to discuss quite promptly.”

The Angel wasn’t quite paying attention, but the walk ended due to suddenly being in a different location. They barely even perceived the tilt of the world when a shortcut was activated from Papyrus. It wasn’t the same barren, snowy field that the Angel went to in front of the lone house, but there were many markings on nearby trees from previous scuffles. This must’ve been Papyrus’ training grounds.

“Here we are!” Papyrus exclaimed, taking a few paces away from the Angel and Suzy. “Now, I would like to see how you have come along with summoning those weapons of yours! We’ll start with running through what you do know, and then I can give you room for improvement!”

Wordlessly, Suzy stepped aside, deciding to watch from a slight distance. She settled in like she’d be there for a while.

The Angel turned towards Papyrus, nodding. They decided to start with the crook. Recalling the memory of the weapon used to guide and protect, the Angel’s will became real. Determination from their soul forced the world to just slightly bend to their will. Silver light spilled from the Angel’s palm as they twirled their hand, slamming the crook down into the snow.

“Splendid!” Papyrus’ eye-sockets sparkled. However, one of his boots stomped backwards in the snow, the skeleton readying himself. “Now! I want you to strike me with your weapon! Do not worry! I will block the attack!” For emphasis, he summoned a thick bone into his hands, holding it like a staff similarly to the Angel.

As soon as they took a step forward, the Angel realized they needed to balance with their crook, but they had their cane in the other hand. They were forced to drop it, now finally being able to move forward. Their steps were uneven in the snow, but just as instructed, they managed to close the distance and strike downward with the crook.

Just as he said he would, Papyrus held out the bone. The two weapons clashed, the Angel’s silver light growing while the weapon reacted. 

Papyrus nodded. “Well done! Your weapon does not shatter on impact, which is certainly above how monsters typically begin casting!” He pointedly did not mention that he was talking about children, but if the Angel had to guess, that was when monsters started casting. “However! A few things of note! Strike again!”

Once more, the Angel reared their weapon back, trying to slam it down to strike Papyrus over the head. At the last second, he sidestepped, throwing off the Angel’s balance and lightly knocking them in the back with the bone.

The Angel lost balance instantly, toppling into the snow without being able to get the crook under them again. If they strained their ears, they might’ve heard Suzy snickering at them.

“Oopsie daisy! Sorry!” Papyrus flicked a hand. Foreign magic washed over the Angel’s soul, weighing them down for just a second before they were unceremoniously lifted out of the snow. They caught their blue soul for just a second. It didn’t feel… too invasive. They still felt a weight on their very being for a second before Papyrus deposited them safely back on their feet. “Though, it does appear that your balance is off! Which makes sense! You do typically walk with a cane!”

Brushing snow off of themself, the Angel grumbled, “I move just fine in the Dark World. It’s like… my soul helps me.” They remembered dragging their vessel around like a puppet on strings when things got dire. Their soul held them up just a little bit rather than their vessel being so distinct in the Light World. “Here, it feels like I’m just… stumbling.”

Papyrus hummed again, “Well! You do tend to put your entire weight into attacking! If you were not in a proper battle, your opponent could throw you off balance! Of course, in a proper battle, it would be impolite to dodge!”

Of course. Of course, he could dodge. The Angel chose to gloss over that for now. “Where I’m going, I won’t be able to initiate an actual fight. It’s all… going to be on the fly.” It would be very nice if they could gain some control over turns… or even separate their soul from their vessel. “Normally, I fight by sending out my soul. People can’t attack me unless they aim at the soul. But… I’m not going to have that.”

“A challenge indeed!” Papyrus retrieved their cane for them, passing it along to them. “Will you be… er… fighting in the light? Or will you be fighting in the dark?!”

“Dark, so… I should be able to move.” Really, the training could be done solely in the Dark World, but… “I feel like when I get stronger in the Light World, it transfers to the Dark World more. Asgore is already strong in the Light World, but his magic… is quite frankly absurd in the Dark World. He threw a fire tornado at me.”

Papyrus looked just a tad bit alarmed, but nodded regardless. “Learning the fundamentals I see! Very well! Then I suppose it is a better idea than ever to alternate with our training sessions!” He took a few paces again, whirling around to stand across from them. “If you cannot move efficiently all the time, then that puts you at a disadvantage for dodging! However, moving is not the only way to defend yourself! As Undyne always tells us, we must face danger head on!” He brandished the bone offensively this time. “I am going to strike at you this time! Do your best to block the attack! Do not worry! If it does hit, it shouldn’t hurt!”

Summoning their crook, the Angel readied themself. As soon as they were prepared, Papyrus tore across the snow, flourishing his makeshift staff before striking horizontally to try to hit the Angel’s side. They tried to block with their own crook, only to find the world tilting as their legs fought them again. The Angel managed to plant a foot back, but their guard was broken, Papyrus’ staff managing to tap against their arm.

Balance was going to be an issue.

Noting the issue, Papyrus immediately tried to search for solutions. “You claimed that your soul helps you in Dark Worlds, correct?! Explain that to me if you are able!”

Well, they already mentioned how it worked in fights. Balance was an entirely different thing. “It… holds me up? I use it to maneuver.” The Angel called out their soul, letting it shift into an orange hue. “Changing my soul lets me move faster. I can still do that in the Light World. It’s just… I was hoping to figure out how to not use it in case I’m ever without it.”

When Papyrus saw soul magic, sparkles began to shimmer in his eye-sockets. “Wowie! That is quite the skill to have at your command! Of course, soul magic can be exhausting to maintain for long, but if you have been using it this efficiently, then I have an alternative solution for you!” Once again, he reset his position, taking a few steps away while explaining, “Everyone has weaknesses! No matter who you battle, there will always be small things that can be exploited by a dastardly fighter! If you are unable to work out of those weaknesses, then you can still use your strengths to cover for yourself as you have been doing!”

In the Angel’s case, that would be their mobility. They couldn’t change their vessel’s legs, and while walking was slowly getting easier, they had to unlearn years upon years of walking one way only to learn how to walk with a body shape and weight distribution that they didn’t feel naturally. To make matters worse, they had a tail now which offset their usual balance even more. “Can we still work on both? I do… worry.” The Roaring could already take so much from them. If soul-modes went too… “I don’t know what I am going to have.”

“Of course!” Papyrus still had more ideas. “However! It would be a good idea to also give you multiple avenues of covering your weaknesses! If certain aspects of your repertoire are unusable, then having others at your disposal will always be helpful! Here! We can try it out like so!” Papyrus extended a hand outward, bones rising through the snow a distance away from the Angel. “If you can keep an opponent at range, then you will need to move significantly less! Try summoning your weapons at a distance!”

The Angel held their crook in their hand, not quite understanding. They… hadn’t tried that before. The issue was… they only knew how to summon their weapons with familiar motions. When the Angel tried to will a dagger into the air, they found their determination struggled to act upon the world. 

They’d done it before. When attacking Asriel with the Shadow Crystal, they summoned all of their weapons at once. It just… was far more difficult without the Dark World and the crystal itself.

“I can’t make bullet patterns,” they admitted, and it extended far further than even that. “I don’t think I’m… casting magic in the same way you do. Besides, I don’t think every monster can summon weapons at range.” Asgore never showed that he could anyway.

Papyrus tapped his boot a bit, mulling it all over. “Not every monster can! However… I am a bit perplexed at what you mean by casting magic separately! I believe we will need an unbiased party to help with this example!” His head swiveled over to their spectator. “Suzy! Would you mind giving the Angel and I a demonstration of your own magic?”

Suzy blinked, taking a few seconds before realizing that her input was actually wanted. “Uh… me? Dude, I barely know anything about magic either. I just sling axes.”

“Well why didn’t you say so???” Papyrus waved her over immediately. “That only makes this better! The two of you can compare notes! I can teach the both of you, and you can check your progress against one another as well!”

It… was what Suzy suggested doing, but the two of them now had someone who actually knew what he was doing. Warily, Suzy glanced over at the Angel like she somehow needed their permission to interfere. If she didn’t have a grasp over her magic either, then why not? The Angel nodded to her, and slowly, she started to creep up next to them.

Giddy, Papyrus pointed Suzy’s way. “Now Suzy! I would like for you to send one of your attacks my way!” He brandished a bone staff once more, readying himself. “I can take whatever you throw at me!”

Suzy bared her teeth, the challenge causing magic to crackle in her hands. “Arright, but don’t feel bad if you get knocked off your feet.” Rearing her hands back, Suzy summoned an axe to her hand. Her axe carved downward through the air. The head of the axe duplicated in the air, spinning rapidly like a buzzsaw towards Papyrus.

With a rustle of his cape, Papyrus guarded with the staff. The attack collided with his own magic, the two sparking against each other before Suzy’s ultimately shattered. Suzy’s shoulders tensed, and she glanced away. 

However, Papyrus didn’t let her stray too quickly. “Well done! The raw strength of your magic is quite formidable! However, your attack puts so much into its strength that it burns out quickly! You appear to favor the initial rush!” 

Even with the minor areas of improvement, Suzy started to perk up. “Uh… it’s actually strong? You’re not just saying that?”

“Of course it is! What kind of tutor would I be if I intentionally misled you?” His grin widened before he dispelled the staff. “Now Suzy! Tell me, what emotions were fueling your attack?! As all of us know, magic is how monsters express themselves!”

Immediately, Suzy recoiled and shoved her hands into her pockets, mumbling, “I dunno.”

Papyrus furrowed his brow. “Not to worry! Any answer is correct! It’s simply what you were feeling that drove your attack!”

For a while, she didn’t look like she was going to answer. Her fingers tapped nervously while her arms stayed crossed. But eventually, she mumbled again, “I was just… mad that you thought you could block it.”

Anger. She threw her magic forward out of anger.

Papyrus nodded, unfazed by the admission of actual aggression. “These emotions come from the soul! They are your soul, and by extension you, expressing yourself! Our magic is an extension of ourselves and our emotional state! Of course, you do not need to be in tune with emotion for magic to work per-se, but that is typically how it manifests! From the soul!” 

The Angel’s mind immediately went to Flowey. Despite not having a soul, he could still do basic attacks. His bullets and vines gave them enough trouble as is. And he… had magic in the Dark World. Sure, the Angel did too, but… they had to rely on their friends’ abilities. 

“Is it possible for someone to cast… without a soul?” The Angel didn’t word that correctly, and bit their tongue the moment they said it. At this point, everyone had to know, right? Besides, Flowey wasn’t the only one without a soul. “Darkners… er… the people you see in Dark Worlds, they also have magic.” Ralsei would argue that he wasn’t real, so he didn’t count, but it had to be more than that.

Papyrus opened his mouth for a second before it clacked shut. “I suppose you would be the expert on that!”

The idea of a soul being required for someone to have feelings, thoughts, and opinions was one that the Angel had discarded by now. Flowey… for all that having a soul didn’t help… wasn’t exactly the only destination with someone without a soul could go to. After all, Ralsei chose to be kind every single day. Darkners who didn’t even have the pressure of a prophecy on them were kind in their own little ways. “Then I guess it’s more complicated than that.” It always would be. These things couldn’t be boiled down to one or the other, especially how the Angel’s own magic manifested. “They’re still expressing themselves in some way, even if it’s not with a soul.”

Even though Papyrus wasn’t adept with that, he took the explanation in stride. “Regardless, the idea is that you express yourself! So! With all of that being said, I would like to know how you cast magic, Angel!”

The problem was… they weren’t sure. Again, the Angel tried to summon their weapon, searching for that telltale feeling that both Suzy and Papyrus mentioned. Instead of an emotion, the Angel hooked onto a memory. Instead of summoning an expression of themself, they forced the world to bend to their will. The memory locked into place. The world bent to their will. A crook manifested in their hand once more as determination surged from their soul.

It… wasn’t like monsters. They knew that, but now they could put it into words. “It’s… like I’m forcing the world to give me something that I remember.” The Angel dispelled their weapon, slashing a sword through the air instead. “I remember how the sword felt to hold, and if I have enough determination, then the world changes so that I am holding it.”

“That is… a tad concerning!” Papyrus noted, but he didn’t take it as a failure by any means. “Or rather, odd! That means you are not actually casting through expression of yourself, but through… er… forcing it???”

“I haven’t found another way.” The Angel tried to do what Suzy did, summoning an emotion deep from their soul. They wanted… no, that wasn’t right. Wanting was how they used their power. The Angel instead tried to be excited at the possibility of learning from Papyrus, and they attempted to slash with the sword.

Nothing appeared.

Their soul manifested things differently. Soul modes occurred due to shifting their will towards a certain trait. Their weapons appeared due to needing them in dire moments. Even their light shifted the very fabric of the world. Their determination could shift the world in an opposite, darker direction. It was just… how they were.

Instead of faltering, Papyrus took it as a challenge. “Then we will work around your style! However, forgive me if there is a bit of a translation issue! We are going to be covering new ground!” Papyrus snapped his fingers, another bone appearing in his hands. “Now then, Angel! I believe the best way to communicate our differences in magic would be for me to experience your abilities head-on! A simple battle! Are you up for the challenge?!”

The Angel’s hands shook. Fighting Papyrus for real? This early? Even when facing Asgore and Undyne, a similar feeling rose up in their soul. They weren’t sure if they… should attack Papyrus. “I won’t… hurt you, right?”

“I am confident that you will not!”

Taking a deep breath, the Angel planted a foot backwards. They readied themself while Suzy stepped aside like she was about to watch a good show.

“Now! I expect for you to use all of the tricks you currently know! I will gradually be increasing the complexity of my attacks as we go!” Something flashed in Papyrus’ eyes as he raised his other hand. “Ready?!”

The Angel nodded, bracing for what was to come.

Papyrus snapped his fingers. Bones erupted from the ground, floating in the air at different heights and distances before flying towards the Angel. They had little mobility still, and their cane was still in hand. It vanished into their dimensional box quickly before the Angel tried to solve the problem of the bones coming their way.

Cyan covered their red soul. The Angel braced themself with even more limited movement as the bones approached them head on. As the first of them approached, the Angel sent a pulse of soul-magic through their palm, and the attack turned blue. They stayed perfectly still, allowing the attack to phase through them before immediately reaching out for another.

“A dastardly tactic! However, will it work against tightly packed attacks?!” Papyrus called out with a “Nyeh Heh Heh” before sending clustered bones their way.

With the attacks more cluttered, the Angel shifted their soul orange, weaving from side to side with their soul wreathing them in an orange light. 

Reading their movement, Papyrus entered the fray, trying to knock them off balance with his own staff. The Angel shifted their soul green, summoning their crook and blocking the hit. Papyrus grinned, but the Angel’s feet did not shift from the ground after the successful block. Sufficient force could push them, but Papyrus hadn’t hit them hard enough to do it.

“Wonderful job! However, you were correct about one thing! Your reliance on your soul-magic can backfire!” Papyrus snapped his fingers, and the Angel suddenly felt a tremendous weight course over their body. Blue overtook their soul while a wall of high-reaching bones tore through the snow. “Now, you are fighting on my terms! Are you able to break my hold?!”

Papyrus’ soul magic was strong. The Angel had broken out of it before, but they required strong willpower to do so. As they leapt into the air, the Angel didn’t feel that same spark of magic that could give them an extra lift. As they leapt over the bones, the Angel tried to push back against Papyrus’ own magic, their own blue soul-magic seeping into his own. As the Angel reached the apex of their jump, they kicked off of the air, catching Papyrus by surprise.

He blocked with his staff as the Angel crashed down with their crook, but they made a similar mistake by overextending. Papyrus shifted the Angel’s weight to the side while they stumbled forward.

The bone tapped the Angel in the back, and they felt the slightest tingle of damage, but didn’t even feel their health go any lower. It once more toppled them into the snow, giving them a face full of icy cold ground.

“Well done!” Papyrus lifted them up out of the snow with his own soul-magic, letting them shake the snow out of their fur. Again, they gave a full body shake which felt satisfying to do. Papyrus lightly brushed the snow that got onto him off of his battle body. “Your soul-magic is well beyond what it should be at your level! We will have to work on your form with attacks and your tendency to go all-in for a single strike, but I am confident that we can work with this!”

It took a roundabout way to get back to where they started, but the Angel at least felt more in-tune with what they did know.

Papyrus reset once more, waving Suzy over. “Suzy! I believe that you would benefit from this as well! We’re going to work on our form, stances, and style!”

“Uh…” Suzy glanced between the two of them again, but bristled a lot less this time. “Fine, just don’t say I didn’t warn ya if I find out my way’s better.”

“We shall see when we all properly duel!” Papyrus beamed, putting his hands on his hips. “Now, let’s begin!”

Asriel wasn’t here this time.

The Angel realized the absence when they became aware in the middle of another dream. It wasn’t anything special. They were just… sewing. If the Angel paid attention, they thought they remembered the motions from when Susie helped them make a scarf for Ralsei. Hah… they still had to get that to him somehow. It’d be nice if they could make some more for him after the fact with their own hands, but maybe they’d just have to settle for using his own.

No… they couldn’t think about that. Still, the thought lingered with them for a while before they realized they were missing someone.

The Angel clung to that thread that stretched off into the distance. Truly, they should take the peace while it lasted. It was rare for Asriel to leave them alone. Maybe he just wasn’t dreaming or couldn’t figure it out tonight.

But, the Angel knew better. If he wasn’t pestering them, then something might’ve gone wrong.

The link was still there. The faint thread of connection still existed. Nothing happened to the fragment of the Angel’s soul resting inside of him. But, it allowed them to pry. It allowed them to see things that they shouldn’t ever be able to just know about another person. Being able to pry into his mind was effortless. He couldn’t hide anything. The Angel had to skim the loudest of thoughts with everyone else, but with Asriel, it was all accessible.

Privacy was all but gone. His deepest secrets could be theirs to seize. Everything that made him tick could be explored if the Angel really wanted to. They tried to restrain themself. They tried to make it better, like forcing him to talk instead of just opening him up.

This time, they decided to reach across the thread.

As soon as Asriel’s emotions intertwined with theirs, the Angel rose from their own dream and began to walk. The good memory could wait for another time.

Emotions that weren’t theirs wove through the air while the Angel continued following that small thread. They could just expand the roots in his chest to stop whatever he was experiencing. They could inflict that pain on him and never have to lift a finger. However, the Angel kept walking, chasing the weight of grief that permeated the air.

When the Angel stopped in their tracks, they stood in front of a bedroom door.

As quietly as the Angel possibly could, they twisted the doorknob and opened it. The overwhelming sensation in the air weighed them down further. It crushed them. The world might fall out from under them if they didn’t just hold on a little longer.

They knew this feeling.

It was the same one they felt when waking up on Toriel’s couch, thinking that their world had finally died.

Weak gasps for air echoed out of the room, too loud to hear anything else, but too quiet to know if air was actually being received. A pale hand reached up to two white, furred paws that held it tight. The breaths continued getting quieter. The hold on the other child’s hand grew weaker.

The Angel pushed open the door. Their cloak swept across the ground. Light flickered behind their head, illuminating the darkened room just a bit. Their wings furled inward to make themself look a tad smaller while they approached the child sitting next to the bed. Tears matted the fur under his eyes. He gripped his falling sibling with everything he had.

He didn’t want to let go.

“Asriel?” The Angel called, earning only the slightest bit of a head turn from the child sitting next to the bed. They didn’t extend a hand, but they offered the hooked end of their crook to him. “You… shouldn’t stay here.”

As if a spell had been broken, the Angel blinked, and Asriel’s form changed. He scowled, his awful haircut falling over his eye. “You have a lot of nerve deciding where I need to be.” He raised a hand like he was going to bat the crook away, but another gasp made him stare at the shape stuck in bed. Asriel’s eyes twitched. He forced himself to look away, grabbing the end of the Angel’s crook.

They lifted him to his feet. As soon as it was done, the room began to fade away. The gasps stopped coming. The natural darkness of the dream overtook the two of them, and the crushing weight in the air slowly started to lift.

As soon as it was gone, Asriel wrenched his hand away, refusing to look the Angel’s way in the slightest. “Is that all you came here to do? To mock me?”

The Angel’s wings unfurled with a ruffle. “What part of that was mocking you?”

Asriel clenched his teeth, continuing to stare off in the other direction. Nothing snappy came. No witty remark about how the Angel’s very presence mocked them came. Asriel just stayed silent. But, the Angel already knew what was going through his head. They tried not to pry, but they could still see the face on his mind. They could still hear those final death rattles replaying in his head over and over again.

Sighing, the Angel waved their crook through the air. The darkness melted away in favor of a cliffside just outside of where the barrier broke. In the distance, a sun began to rise. It was… a conflicting memory, but one that the Angel thought might be relaxing for just a moment.

They marched over to the cliff, sitting down on the edge. If they didn’t know any better, they’d say that Asriel would try to push them off to see what would happen. However, they could see what he would do next now.

Slowly, he moved to the cliffside as well, sitting down far enough away from the Angel to where they would be unable to reach each other.

Asriel didn’t look at the sunset, keeping his eyes trained downward towards the treetops below.

False wind ruffled through the Angel’s wings while it passed through the mountaintops. The silence was nice as the minutes went on. It carried for far longer than it ever had with Asriel.

But like everything with Asriel, he eventually had something to say. “Why… did you ask about Chara when you came here?”

The Angel glanced his way, their confusion not becoming known through the veil. “Of all the things you could ask, why that?” 

Not even a scoff came out of his mouth. Even though Asriel had nothing to do but rest, his eyes still looked tired. “You sling their name around like it’s a nice, convenient weapon, but the moment you get to see the moment they died, you suddenly act like you even respected them in the first place.” Asriel frowned, continuing to stare down at the trees. “You at least owe me that answer after deciding to scrape open a however-many-centuries old wound.”

Slowly, the usual spunk began to return. Somehow, that made the Angel just a little more comfortable. Predictable. “I already told you that I thought they would’ve… let you know they were still around.” They didn’t mean to open that wound again, no matter how many times they willingly wrenched it open after the fact for so many. “But… if you want to know, I… thought they’d know a way to go home.”

It was stupid, desperate, and hardly had a chance of working. Asriel confirmed that for them right away. “Wow, you thought that someone who’s been dead for ages would be able to figure out whatever the heck is wrong with you? Great problem solving skills!” Asriel started getting into a groove, but when the Angel didn’t jab back, his words hung in the air and slowly faded away. Asriel’s smile slowly went with them. “No, but really, why would you think they could help? Did you actually think they’d talk to you?” An unfinished thought crept through the Angel’s head, their roots too deep for Asriel’s loudest thought to not come to the forefront: “…when they wouldn’t even talk to me?”

Despite his attempts to jab at them, the Angel didn’t take the bait. “I didn’t know, but I didn’t have another choice. They once… offered to…” The Angel looked away from the sunrise, their wings slowly drooping downward. “...to erase this pointless world, and move onto the next.”

“...Pointless…” Asriel clung to the word before finally deciding on a short laugh. “I guess it was, heehee! Just… a bunch of forgettable people that wouldn’t matter at all! What can I say? It’s the truth!”

The Angel’s hand dug into the rock on the cliffside. The thoughts running through Asriel’s head betrayed him again. The Angel kept their voice quiet, “When Chara said that to me, it was my fault. I showed them that the world was all about power.” Power to do what? The Angel never knew. They could do things just because they wanted to. They didn’t need a reason. And yet, the only thing they ever wanted power over was the mere choice to stay. No matter how high the numbers got, it could never happen. “Do you really find this world pointless?”

Asriel tried to laugh again, but no noise other than the breath slipping through his teeth came. He placed a hand on his head, trying to giggle more, but only a singular sound came out. “Of course it is! Do you think anything’s left? Chara thinks I’m pointless, so who cares?” He leaned back, flopping against the flat ground on the cliffside. Both of his ears fell to the sides while he just… stayed there. “Not like I can do anything anyway! You made sure of that!”

And they couldn’t release him.

The Angel turned away from the sunset, lifting their legs over the cliff again to face Asriel. Even though Asriel was uninterested in what they were doing, they caught his attention. “If they hated this world, then they wouldn’t be so hellbent on defending it from me.” Even though Chara was a thorn in their side, they undeniably had to feel some way about this ending to wish to stay. “If they hated you, then they would never have reached out when you were at your lowest.”

“Oh my god, shut up.” Asriel pushed himself off the ground, sneering, “You think that light show I did at the barrier was my lowest?! I can’t move. Toriel insists on coddling me, and I can’t tell her to stop. I get to listen to Frisk prattling on and on about you while Chara never so much as acknowledges me. If they cared about me at my lowest, they’d talk to me.” A smile plastered on his face while he began to pull away. “Who knows! Maybe you’re right! Guess I never really understood them! Maybe they really do care about this world, and they finally decided that lil ol’ me went too far. They don’t need me in their perfect little ending, do they?”

The sun began to dip lower and lower over the horizon.

The scent of ash still burned the Angel’s nostrils, and their wings ruffled while the wind brushed through the feathers. “You did go too far.”

Anger reignited in Asriel’s eyes. “Oh, like you’re one to talk! You killed actual monsters just like me! Heck, if you chased after Chara’s little offer to you, then some part of me thinks that you were actually considering it! Who cares about this world if you can just use it as a stepping stone to get back to your own, right?” His frown melted away when he had a target again. A wound that he could pry open let him distract himself for a little longer.

The Angel never meant it like that. They were desperate for anything to get back home. Any slight lead or possibility drove their every movement while they just wanted to stumble back home. “I won’t.” The Angel turned back to the dipping sun, their eyes scanning the horizon. They didn’t remember this place with anything other than a city, but so much more life had sprouted up that did not exist strongly in their memory yet. 

“After all you did?” Asriel grinned. “Come on, you clearly went off the deep end! Do you really think you’re just above it all now?”

Blue glass shimmered in the Angel’s head.

Their promise to Carol rang through their ears.

The Angel stared down at the treetops, muttering, “I don’t know.” Countless talks with Ralsei always ended with them never finding the answer. The easiest option was always there. All it would take was enough darkness to flood the sky, and the Angel would be closer than ever.

For once, Asriel stayed quiet while the Angel tried to find an answer.

A shadow rose up in the backside of their mind.

Were they truly above it? When Kris crumpled to the ground after losing a hand… when a Titan crushed Susie under its fist… when the Roaring strangled Ralsei into nothing but a cold… lifeless statue… did they not feel that urge to fight back with everything they had?

“If something happened to them, I don’t know what I’d become.” The Angel had become many terrible things in the pursuit of a happier ending, whether that be for Asriel or themself. After all of this pain… they no longer knew where the path would take them.

“...Huh.” Asriel didn’t leap on it immediately. Instead, he kicked his legs back over the cliffside again. If the Angel didn’t know any better, they’d say he looked a little more at ease. “Guess you’re really not as delusional as I thought you were.”

The Angel huffed, their veil fluttering away from their snout the slightest bit, “For you, that’s a compliment.”

“Ew, never say that again.” Asriel recoiled dramatically, but didn’t actually leave. “But y’know, I guess this is only fitting. Just two murderers completely separated from the world! I think it’s really interesting how you haven’t done anything yet! Not so much as a peep, and so much so that Frisk is in a funk!”

That only made sense. The Angel wouldn’t be surprised if they heard from Frisk soon. Both of them hadn’t been loading their saves often other than here or there. The Angel hadn’t had to pull upon theirs in quite a while. Frisk might think something was wrong after a while. The Angel tried to brush Asriel off. “If you’re insinuating that I’m planning to do something bad to this world, I’m not. It wouldn’t be right.”

Immediately, Asriel’s grin dropped into pure disappointment. “And there you go again, back into being sanctimonious. There’s not a way back from what we are, idiot. No matter how many times we reset, we’re still murderers! You can’t honestly tell me you’ve just moved on like it was all a footnote!”

“You think I don’t think about it constantly, like it doesn’t plague every single interaction I have with everyone I remember?” The sun finally dipped below the horizon. Orange hues started to recede along the skyline. The Angel summoned a dagger to their hand, turning it over again and again while the world became darker. “I know you think about your failures often, no matter how much you want to convince me otherwise.”

Asriel opened his mouth to try to protest, but both of them saw what resided within Asriel’s dreams. He receded into himself, turning his head away from the Angel again. “Sure, but that doesn’t change it. No matter how guilty we feel or not, we’re still this way. We can’t be good,” he spat, like the word personally offended him.

From the way the world saw it, the Angel hadn’t hurt anyone. Their crime was without a trace. If they chose to do so, they could walk away from it with no consequences. So then why did they tell three people about what they really were? “I don’t… think it’s about being good.” They recalled the words of someone far stronger in spirit than them, smiling under their veil. “It’s… about being a little better, even if we don’t think we can.”

Asriel’s jaw clenched for a moment. His claws dug into his arms, but the Angel watched him slowly start to unfurl. He relaxed, placing his hands down against the ground to watch the stars beginning to peek out across the night sky. “What’d be the point? I wasn’t squeaky clean, but I’d say I was better before you came along. Even when I was… trying…” He forced the word out again. “...Chara didn’t talk to me. No matter how better we do, it’s all gonna end the same way!”

Abandoned.

One day, the Angel just stopped. A happy ending had finally been achieved, and they let it all rest. There was no final decision. There was no acceptance. After a while, they just realized that there was nothing left for them. The world went onward. They never thought that they would… get to see it again like this.

But for a while, they thought of those lives that they never got to see again. Every now and then, they would catch a glimpse through a window or two. Seeing how people they loved changed and shifted through miniscule holes in the wall always left them aching for something that they could never have again. It was their fate. Their duty. Their banishment.

The Angel never expected… to be wanted. The Angel never expected for a voice to call out to them, asking for them to return soon. The Angel never expected for someone to be searching for them… just as earnestly as they had searched for him.

“Somehow, I think that was the hardest part,” the Angel finally said when the last of the colors had vanished from the sky. They thought of the first time they saw familiar faces in different contexts. They thought of the first time a prince in the dark wanted to be friends with them. They thought of being asked at those Grand Doors if they could handle the weight of another world on their shoulders, even if they didn’t understand what it meant yet.

The Angel recalled Susie pushing through their light just to tell them that they didn’t have to take being thrown away.

The Angel recalled Ralsei holding their soul like it was something precious, tucking them away in his scarf and talking to them like they were loved.

The Angel recalled Kris taking their hand for one final time as the lies finally ended, both of them raising a sword together against fate.

“I had to make the choice to try again.” No matter what their fate was the last time, no matter how much the last world hurt them, every time they connected again, they had to make that choice. It hurt them. It mangled them beyond repair. It crushed them. It killed them. Now, they had to wake up every day and keep going, but every single day, they had to try again. “And it is hard every single time.”

A breeze swept the Angel’s cloak to the side. Asriel’s robes ruffled with it. Neither of them reacted to the uncomfortable tug. The Angel didn’t look at him, but they knew that he stared off into the distance with them.

“Do you…” Asriel let the words spill out before biting his tongue. Except, this time, the Angel didn’t command him to say anything. Again, he tried. “Do you really think it’s possible for people like us to do that? To just… try again? With no special power?”

Did they?

The Angel looked up at fake stars, imagining others alongside them. Someone sat just near enough to keep their distance, offering silent support. Someone else unrestrained by such boundaries knocked against the Angel’s head, gruff laughter escaping her mouth. Warmth brushed against their side, a final person trying his best to get close enough to wrap his scarf over both his and their shoulders.

“I hope so,” the Angel whispered into the night while the phantom feelings slipped away again. “...I hope so.”

The person next to them didn’t move for a while. His questions finally stopped, but the Angel didn’t expect those questions to willingly come from him. But perhaps, it was easier to ask them when he was looking in the mirror.

If Asriel truly wanted to answer those questions for himself, he still had a long way to go. The ash buried all over the Underground would not change. He could not wash his hands as cleanly as the Angel did. He was more resistant to change than they were, but he was asking anyway. Maybe, it was something.

Eventually, a chuckle broke through the silence. Asriel reached a hand up to the fur on his head, combing it back. “If you really think all of that, then I still don’t get the point. You’re going through all of this… effort… even though you already know your stupid ending.” He pointed at their chest, at the soul hovering in the air between them. “All that hope just to throw it all away at the finish line… Which is it, you idiot? Do you actually hope there’s another chance for us, or are you just being ‘helpful’ until time’s up again?”

The Angel could still see everything about Asriel. They could hear things he’d never wish to share. They could control him in ways that he would never want. Maybe, if they didn’t have such a stranglehold on him, he’d figure out how to remove it just like Kris did. But, he didn’t have that choice. He didn’t have any choice that the Angel did not agree to. He was an extension of them now, with his own thoughts, yes, but still an extension.

This was not life. This was torture.

So, they dipped their head while the wish to watch the stars faded from their mind just a little bit more. “I know you don’t understand why, but…” The Angel turned away from him for once while he continued staring at them. “It has to happen. He’ll take good care of me. He…” The Angel remembered their dream of becoming lesser and lesser, of their presence waning as they let everyone move on without them. “He wouldn’t let me fade entirely. He’s too nice for his own good.” 

That dream would never come to pass, right? At least then, the Angel would know how to limit themself. Their roots wouldn’t hook as deeply. Even though a full soul was larger than a fragment, the Angel wouldn’t be as much of a problem. They knew their soul. They did not know the capabilities of this new fragment. If the Angel and Ralsei were separate, the Angel would always be active… always be thinking… always be acting for him. If they could recede, if they could only do what they needed to do as a soul… then…

“Chara felt the same way.” As soon as the words left his mouth, Asriel’s lips curled up in disgust. He turned away immediately, waving a hand dismissively. “Send me back. I’m done with this.”

They ruined it, didn’t they? But still, they didn’t want to lie to him about what they said. It was where their path led. Though, to his request… “It’s going to hurt if I do.” The roots weren’t exactly a painless process.

Asriel scoffed, “I don’t care.”

The Angel’s own snout snapped shut. Cautiously, they lifted a hand. But, before he went, they had to say something. “If it means anything, this talk was… nicer than the others.” It was the only extent of a compliment that they could give. He still prodded at them. He still didn’t quite fold entirely. But, it was better.

“Don’t get ahead of yourself,” Asriel mumbled, but his heart wasn’t in it. He curled in on himself a bit more, still never looking at them. “Just give me time to think.”

Sighing, the Angel twisted their hand, “You know where to find me.”

A sickening crunch coursed through Asriel’s body again.

For a little longer, the Angel sat on the cliffside. Even though it wasn’t theirs to have, they started to recall those phantom feelings of three others here with them.

For a little while, they could think about what could be. They could play with that dangerous urge to try again. They could think of what it would be like if they overstepped their bounds just one more time.

Was it so wrong to want to be more?

Maybe if things were different, they could be.

They weren’t getting out of the house nearly enough. Frisk knew that. What should’ve been a break from college to hang out with all of their friends ended up turning into a prison. Frisk didn’t mind. Really. Mom needed the extra help. Sometimes, she needed to get out of the house too, but she never left for long. Even though nothing had changed with Asriel, she still was just as worried.

Soon, Frisk’s break from college would be over. The year would turn over, and they’d be right back at it again. Would mom be fine without them? It didn’t seem like it. Frisk didn’t know how much longer this was going to go on for. They could always just take a gap semester, but…

Chara’s voice didn’t even need to appear in their head to tell them that it was all so stupid.

There were many possible solutions, but Frisk didn’t know if taking any of them would work. All of them would probably piss someone off, and they didn’t even know why they cared about that. It wasn’t like the Angel didn’t just go straight through them to get what they wanted, so why were they hesitating so much?

They’d faced impossible odds without the comfort of a save to fall back on. What was one more?

The only way Frisk let themself get fresh air was by climbing out onto the roof. At the very least, if they were needed, they could just go back in through the window. Yeah, they could’ve used the door. Yes, it probably would’ve been smarter to do that. But, people probably wouldn’t be looking up. There was a massive difference between lying defeated on a roof versus their front yard.

Even though the night was cold, it barely bothered them. The extreme temperatures weren’t that bad. Snowdin barely felt like anything, and Hotland might’ve been bad, but not nearly enough to stop them. This… this was nice. Besides, the sky was clear tonight, so they had something to look at while they ran through everything for the thousandth time.

“Heya.”

Frisk didn’t even startle when they heard the familiar voice. Instead, they only leaned their head back. They didn’t need to turn to see Sans sitting in their peripheral vision. If anyone could get on the roof without them noticing, it’d be him. Still, they smiled, choosing to look up at the sky instead. “You’ve been gone for a while.”

“You know me, kid. I’m a busy skeleton.” Sans shrugged, deciding to lean back against the roof with them to look at the sky.

Lightly, Frisk punched his shoulder. It didn’t deal any damage. Even if they did, they knew damn well that he slept enough to make sure that wouldn’t be a problem. Still, they had to ask incredulously, “Kid? Still? I grew out of my stripes already, you jerk.”

Sans’ eye-lights danced towards them, the grin on his face looking a bit more genuine. “Yeah, guess you have, bud. Gotta think of new nicknames.” Again, he looked at the sky. Something was on his mind. Even if he didn’t show it often, he was showing it now. “But y’know, can’t really blame me. It still feels like just yesterday, the barrier broke, and you showed me why you never throw in the towel.”

Hm, in all honesty, Frisk felt the same. They spent so long in the Underground that sometimes, the decade didn’t really feel quite right. After living in the same day for so long, one even passing normally seemed so odd. Frisk’s smile started to fade into a frown. They took to following his gaze to the stars above. Still, they couldn’t take the credit for what happened in the Underground entirely. “Right, I guess you weren’t there for the talk we had. It… wasn’t only me who broke the barrier.”

As if he already knew, he took it in stride. “Yup. But hey, it isn’t bad to rely on your friends every now and then. I heard your flower pal and your uh… other friend helped a lot too. Probably couldn’ta done it if you gave up though, so y’know… I’d say my point still works out.”

Maybe, Frisk could agree it did. It just didn’t feel like persisting right now was doing enough. Still, they didn’t understand one thing. “...Why are you here? You should be with mom right now. She has it a lot worse than me.”

Sans tried to wave a hand like it didn’t matter either way. “Like I said, bucko, I’m a busy skeleton.” But, his hand stopped waving and slowly lowered. His heart wasn’t in it. “But, it must be a lot for everyone though. It’s uh… kinda interesting how fast things can go south, don’t ya think?”

All at once, Frisk’s guard lowered. Distant memories of Sans talking to them in a restaurant flooded their head. The same tone of voice came out of his mouth. Roundabout stories and personal anecdotes that helped him say what he wanted to say still sat with them. So, Frisk asked, “What do you mean?”

“Eh, think about it, pal.” Sans lifted both of his hands before shimmying them under his skull as a pillow. “One day, things are going pretty normal. The days go on. The scariest thing coming up is Mettaton’s concert at the end of the year, heh.” His smile didn’t change with the laugh. “But y’know, one day things go wrong. The world starts changing. No matter how good ya have it, it could all just end without any warning. You get what I’m saying?”

Words from a less happy time creeped into Frisk’s head. He said that while the two of them tried their hardest to kill each other in the Final Corridor. Frisk remembered his threat clearly. One day, suddenly, everything would end. He blamed Frisk for it, but Frisk wasn’t the only one in that fight. It wasn’t hard to tell who Sans was talking about without all of that. “...You’re talking about the Angel, aren’t you?”

Sans glanced away from them. “That’d make me pretty rude, don’t ya think? Still… can’t say the thought hasn’t crossed my skull that they’ve caused a bit of a ruckus. Can’t blame ‘em. I know the feeling of wanting to go back, but sometimes, the only way is forward.” His eye-lights flicked back while he asked, “Just gotta take what you’ve been given… settle down after a while… make some new friends…”

There was an important part to that missing, if Sans thought that he was referring to Frisk in any way. “I’m not so sure that ‘taking what you’ve been given’ worked out for you last time. I proved you wrong on that one.” 

“Eh, you got me there.” Sans broke eye-contact again by looking up and shutting his eye-sockets. “But y’know… your life changed a whole lot after falling into the Underground, right? You couldn’t go back to how things were before, but you got to settle down with some new friends after a while. I just think… our pal here might not be thinking about how much has changed. They’re definitely not making friends, y’know?”

Frisk bristled. Cold air only grew a bit colder. “I’m not… going to convince them to leave their world… their friends behind.” They couldn’t do something like that. If Frisk was asked to give up all of the people they met in the Underground, they didn’t think they’d be able to do it. After so many resets having to make new bonds all over again, they hated the thought of doing that another time. Still… part of them did ache. “...but they’re not making friends. It just feels like no matter how many times I reach out, they just…” Frisk reached out their hands, grasping at nothing before their arms flopped to the side. “...kick me to the curb.”

“Y’know, I’m mostly surprised that you’ve given up,” Sans idly commented, earning an offended head-raise from Frisk. “Thought that if anyone would be able to figure them out or get through to them, it’d probably be you. But uh… you’re here.”

“No thanks to you,” Frisk fired back, rolling over onto their side to entirely face away from him. “Mom needs someone to make sure that she’s taking care of herself too, and you haven’t been around.”

Silence filled the air between the two of them. Whatever Sans was up to with all of that, he didn’t have a joke to play it off with. He didn’t have any anecdotes to dodge out of the way with. No. He just stared at the stars, thinking really hard about the words that Frisk just threw at him.

“Whaddya want me to do, bud?” Sans shuffled, but he didn’t move to look at them. The only part of him that could keep dodging was his eye-lights. But finally, he said something, “They said something pretty weird to me. Y’know… it might’ve been a joke, but it’s pretty bad for my tastes. Pretty specific too, like some of the things you’ve said before.”

Frisk was entering different territory than they were used to. Sans never really talked to them directly, but there were moments where he looked at them with a bit more curiosity than what he let on.

On his own, Sans continued, “They called themself an anomaly, or uh… said I called them that. Thing is, I don’t remember saying something as strange as that.” Sans scratched the top of his head. Frisk didn’t turn their head towards him, but they could feel their body starting to tense up. It made them not realize that Sans had finally turned his head to look at them. “With that expression, you probably know what they were talking about.”

Ever since Frisk gave Sans those stupid codewords, it was never brought up again. There were times when they thought the two of them might finally talk about it. Early on, when Frisk started using their power on the surface, Sans would sometimes check in on them at weird times to make sure everything was fine. He… stopped after a while, but they always wondered why Sans never asked them. That time… must’ve finally come to an end.

“Why the long face, bucko? It’s no big deal to me. Considering how happy everyone is on the surface, I think you did a pretty good job.” Was he… talking to them normally? Sans kept staring at them, analyzing while he talked. “You did the right thing, no matter how tough things got. There’s a lotta people who can’t say the same thing.” 

Frisk didn’t believe him. After so long, in a random conversation after a decade, he was just… finally bringing it up? “Why… are you bringing this up now?” Frisk could just set this conversation back if they needed to. Sans already proved that he didn’t remember things, but they worried that they wouldn’t be able to hide this from him the next time he came around. “If you knew I’ve been setting things right for this long, then why are you only talking to me about it now?”

“Well, when ya see something that sends a chill up your spine, you can’t really just turn a blind eye-socket anymore. Done that too many times,” Sans chuckled before tracing some of the constellations in the sky with his mittened finger. “But uh… if you really wanna know why I haven’t been around, it’s pretty simple: If a guy like me tried to share some stuff, other people would try to fix it. That’d put ‘em in harm’s way. Not really a fun deal, is it?”

But again, his words stayed just out of reach. He talked circles around them. Frisk crossed their arms, sitting up to look at the skeleton. “You better have a really good explanation for upsetting mom.”

Sans didn’t seem fazed at all. Instead, he just shut his eye-sockets, avoiding Frisk’s gaze entirely. “Well, what do you think she’d do if I told her about our new pal that’s been missing for a while? She’d go after them herself… probably try to get her own answers… might even get hurt. Am I wrong?” One of his eye-sockets opened, waiting for confirmation.

No. He wasn’t. Frisk turned away, remembering the phantom pain of a gash carving across their chest. The Angel struck with fury that broke them in an instant. And somehow, Frisk knew that they were lucky that it was them. What would happen to a monster hit with a blow like that? They… almost got their answer with Asriel, but the Angel did something else to him. They were there… still hiding a piece of them deep within him.

The thought crossed their mind a few times if they could do it again… to anyone. Frisk’s hand brushed over their chest, commands still echoing in their head from when the Angel decided that time was up.

Mom going after the Angel would be terrible, but Frisk still didn’t understand why Sans used that as an excuse to dodge her. “You could still be there to comfort her! Or check in! Or just be a friend!” Over the past few weeks, everyone else had checked in at least once. Asgore stopped doing that recently, but… “Why are you telling me all of this if you think someone’s going to get hurt?”

Sans’ smile slightly receded. “‘Cause you’re the kinda person who doesn’t give up. I’d love to handle it, but y’know…” He looked off to the side again away from Frisk. “No matter how much I try to talk to ‘em, they shrug me off. Maybe it’s a poor excuse for being lazy, but I don’t think there’s anything I could say that’d solve all this.”

And that was another thing that Frisk didn’t understand. Sans wasn’t there to comfort Toriel. If Papyrus was to be believed, then he wasn’t really around at all. Did he just… think the best way to solve this was to go after the Angel and leave everyone else behind? That seemed too strangely direct. He was never that direct. Him even being here now was far too direct.

Frisk tried to keep their expression neutral. “Why do you care so much if I go after them?” Usually, he wouldn’t make such suggestions so blatantly. “I’m needed here. We might… figure out a way to fix this without needing them involved.” Alphys was smart. Maybe… maybe she’d figure something out. Frisk knew that the possibility was incredibly slim, but if it would get Sans to say anything…

“It’s like I said before, bud… but maybe this’ll help…” He sat up, deciding instead to gesture at the large mountain looming in the distance. “Back in the Underground… we did a lot to see the sun again. No one bat an eye about humans dying when they went down there. Monsters were desperate, and if your soul was taken… this world woulda been a whole lot worse. When people get desperate… they’re willing to do some pretty bad things.” He shoved his hands in his pockets, hunching over just a bit. “I wonder what’d happen if someone like them got desperate enough?”

Frisk had an answer. They watched the Angel turn everyone within their vicinity into lost souls. They watched the Angel put a piece of their own soul within Asriel. They felt a knife carve across their chest.

“And I can tell ya, bud… one day, they’ll realize there’s no way back. They’ll realize there’s only one more way forward. And when that happens…” Sans leaned back again, gesturing up to the starlit sky. “All of this is gonna end.”

“How do you know?” It could be his reports. It could be what he assumed would happen. But, even though the Angel nearly brought the world to its brink, they didn’t go through with it. “You thought things would go bad before I fought Asgore, and I proved you wrong there.”

Sans let out an actual, genuine sigh despite having no lungs. “With all we know about ‘em, do you really think this is gonna end well?” His eye-lights became unfocused. “I gave up trying to go back for a reason, bud. I just hope none of you gotta find out the hard way.” Slowly, he pushed himself up from the roof tiling, stretching out his bones like he actually needed it. “Welp, I’m gonna catch Grillby’s before it closes.”

And just like that, he pulled away again. Frisk frowned, standing up on their own like they had a way to keep him here. “What are you even asking me to do? I’m not leaving mom, and I’m not… just going to beat them up.” 

Truthfully, they’d thought of ways to change things. The Angel appeared when battle was engaged, but no one wanted to try that again. Subjecting Asriel to that again wasn’t something mom wanted either. However, there was one more idea…

A traitorous, dangerous idea had sprouted in their mind the longer they were confined to the walls of this house.

“I thought of… trying to make the Dark World that they made. I’m sure I could figure it out, and if anything would bring them running, it’d be-”

“Uh don’t-” Sans uncharacteristically interrupted them before immediately relaxing like he hadn’t done that. “I wouldn’t do that, bud. Messing with those never does anyone any good. Our new pal already has that covered.”

Of course, he’d only provide them with information on what he thought they SHOULDN’T do. Classic. Frisk pinched the bridge of their nose. “So what? You just want me to corner and fight them, right? I’m not just going to punch my way through this!”

“Now when did I say that? You’re way better at getting through thick skulls than anyone else, bucko. That’s why I came to you.” He winked, but after how distant he’d been, Frisk couldn’t take it seriously at all.

In fact, something sparked in their own soul. Before he could leave, their mouth twisted. “You know what I really care about right now? That mom has one genuine friend that has her back.” Really, they’d be happy to go and handle the Angel. They’d be happy to throw themself into danger again. They’d be happy to do all of that, but they knew better than to just let their mom watch her own kid suffer. “She doesn’t need you to give her a solution. She doesn’t need for you to tell her about how the world’s gonna end. All she needs is just to know someone’s there!” 

Sans stuffed his hands into his pocket, shutting his eye-sockets so that he didn’t have to look at their face. “Huh… maybe you’ve got a point.” As soon as the eye-sockets reopened, his grin grew with a shrug. “Who knows what’s gonna happen soon. Might as well make the most of it, y’know? I’ve done all I can do.” He pivoted on his heel, turning towards the open window that Frisk climbed out of. “Snowdin’s pretty nice this time of year.”

They blinked, and the moment their eyes opened, Sans was gone again.

Why did that make Frisk’s soul feel rotten? They stared at the open window for a while before finally sighing. Normally, their talks with Sans were nice! He was laid back! Calm! Happy to be on the surface! Frisk could always talk to him, even if he wasn’t all that direct! Was he so worried about this that he fell back on his old ways that easily?

Frisk had been asking why a lot lately. Why would the Angel not take any single extended hand despite Frisk trying over and over again? Why would Sans just show up to try to offload the entire problem onto Frisk when they were already worrying about it? Why was Chara still deciding to refuse every single attempt to talk to their own mother despite how often mom looked at Frisk like she expected something?

For a while longer, Frisk stayed on the roof. Mostly confining themself to the house made it difficult to talk to anyone… or even hang out for long without feeling dirty. Noel was home for the holidays too, but Frisk barely visited on account of knowing where they were needed. One of their few confidants, Flowey, was currently paralyzed in bed with no way to communicate. Every time they tried to talk with mom, she looked through them to someone else. That “someone else” only ever came out to talk when it was to remind Frisk about everything they weren’t doing.

And of course, Chara decided to make their presence finally known. “It is not out of malice, Frisk. You must understand that Sans has made the same point that you have been reminded of repeatedly. You cannot ignore the threat currently being posed.”

Something boiling in Frisk’s veins finally hit a breaking point. It surged through their body. Their fingernails dug into their skin. They’d been trying so, so hard this whole time to be the one person that didn’t lose it. They’d been trying so hard to shield everyone else from having to deal with the Angel upending everything. Now, just this once, they slipped. “Am I the only one who isn’t allowed to be scared?”

Memories kept flashing through their head. They kept replaying that moment over and over again where they put a hand on the Angel’s shoulder. They kept remembering their save-point being crushed and destroyed. And yet, they couldn’t shake off that guiding presence that once helped them through the Underground. They couldn’t get rid of that weariness that wasn’t their own when the barrier finally broke.

Frisk dragged fingernails through their hair, and they only managed to clamp down their voice by virtue of pacing on the uneven surface. “You and Flowey got infinite… INFINITE grace to face your parents on your own terms. I’ve tried everything in my power to make sure it stays that way! I’ve lied to mom while she suffers! I’ve caused more pain and suffering to protect both of you, and you can’t even let me decide how I handle the Angel on my own???”

Shock that wasn’t Frisk’s own coursed through their system, but it didn’t stay for long. Rage equally began to push back against their own. “You would not be in this predicament had they not been allowed to run loose and sabotage everything. You will not place your inaction on the one person who told you this would happen.”

Oh, so it all came back to the fact that Frisk dared to try. They dared to look into the silver light covering that face and tell it that everything would be okay! Shame on them, they guessed! “Why are you mad, Chara? You don’t even have to deal with these consequences! You get to sit back behind me whenever you want, and the moment you do, guess who’s dealing with it?” Every time Frisk thought they had a foothold with the Angel, Chara would always be there to strip it all away to try to prove some point! 

“You treat all of this like it is only your burden to bear! What of your friends? What of your world? Your allies have made it clear now what will happen should you still refuse to act when you need to.” Chara poked and prodded over and over again, and they refused to yield any single thing to Frisk in the slightest. “If you will not listen to the ghost in your head, then listen to the friend who has studied this anomaly extensively. I cannot believe that I am saying this, but listen to Sans for once.”

One body. They were one body, and yet they felt both their own rage as well as Chara’s equally. It made them want to hit something. They managed to grit their teeth, slowly lowering themself into a seated position before they kicked a hole through the tiling. It was difficult to think in the way that Frisk needed to in order to speak with Chara. They wanted to yell. They wanted to scream. And yet, they could only keep their mouth shut while that rotten feeling festered.

Frisk managed. Just like they always had, they managed. “Try being the person who needs to fix everything. Try being the person who has to face an impossible task. It’s not easy, Chara! I’m trying!”

“You know well that I already have. Do not speak to me of needing to fix everything. And yet, despite the complexity of your task, you have not even taken the first step.” Chara’s presence within Frisk grew just a bit, rippling out through their body uncomfortably. “Stop playing nice.”

“Why should I stop?” Frisk had every right to do so. They knew that if this got worse, they’d have to. “I’ve left it to be your choice over and over again whether you want to be seen. The one choice that I want to make is suddenly a problem to you?”

“The two are not similar in the slightest.”

Frisk’s hands balled into fists, scraping against the roof tiles. The stress of all of the weeks long gone finally started to spill forth entirely. “I’m just as scared of messing it all up as you are! You have no idea how much I wanted to get to know them. You have no idea how scared I was to make a good impression with one person that I never actually got to know in the Underground! You have no idea how terrified I was that they’d throw me to the side like I’m some kind of roadblock!” And they had. Frisk was a roadblock, one that had to be moved out of the way through force. They tried. They tried! Every single time, they tried, and someone had to mess it all up!

“And yet you spare them the consequences for doing so while taking it out on me?” Chara scoffed inwardly, but the noise came out of Frisk’s mouth. “Your frustration has a target that has willingly committed each and every one of those fears against you.”

Maybe, it did. Maybe, the Angel would’ve seen Frisk as an obstacle no matter what they did. If only they ever got the chance to find that out on their own.

“What consequences do you even want for them?” Frisk questioned through their rage. “Kill them? They’d come back. They’d break my save-point too! I don’t even know if I could swing at them! Do you want them to stand up in front of everyone and admit what the three of us did?”

Chara’s anger only grew. “I expect them to fix the damage they have caused.”

How vague. How absolutely, unequivocally vague. Even when Asriel was still Flowey, Chara loathed the Angel. This wouldn’t stop if it was all fixed. This wouldn’t stop with whatever Chara wanted to happen. Frisk laughed, “So when I go down there, I bet you’re just going to decide that now it’s your turn to talk, and they’ll disappear again with nothing to show for it!” 

“You wouldn’t be interrupted if you were honest with yourself for a single moment.”

What did Chara not understand about this? Neither of them could beat someone with the power to save and load through force! They’d done this multiple times now! The only way through to Asriel was by reaching out! Why on earth would antagonizing them further work?

It made Frisk unable to do anything. They couldn’t act, because their choices could be ripped out from under them whenever someone got angry enough.

Snowdin. Frisk could go to Snowdin and risk the one chance they had before the Angel vanished all over again. They had one chance to set all of this right. Chara wouldn’t listen to reason. Sans didn’t even offer to hang around. Frisk didn’t know when they were going to get a chance to do it.

Undyne and Alphys were still available. Even though Asgore and Toriel had a limit to how long they were able to remain civil, that limit had far extended. Frisk just… didn’t know if they wanted to even poke that right now. Papyrus would always be a safe bet, but for some reason lately, he’d been saying that he was busy with an audible wink. All that Frisk needed was a window… a single chance to set this right… with no one else in their way.

“And what are you going to do when they spit in your face again?” Chara questioned, unamused with their train of thought.

Frisk didn’t know. But whatever happened, they wanted it to be their choice.

They just didn’t know how.

Then again, there was a way for the two to be separate, even if only for a moment. It wouldn’t help much. Chara would antagonize the Angel regardless. If the Angel really did have a Dark World like Sans implied, then maybe…

Maybe there was hope for one more chance after all.

For once, the rudimentary arena in the Dark World wasn’t being occupied by Darkners. The Angel managed to convince them not to watch either by virtue of the training being… well… training. Half of them would probably call out for actual fighting, which Papyrus strictly had not allowed either of them to do yet. Both the Angel and Suzy were still being drilled, but he wished to see their capabilities in the Dark World.

The Angel manifested actual, non-sentient dummies for this one. It was a tad odd to be practicing against dummies when the Angel typically tried to spare them on principle, but this was what they were for. There were no ghosts inhabiting them, and the need to fight needed to be demonstrated.

Papyrus grinned, tapping his rapier against both dummies before getting out of the way. “Ranged attacks! Show me how both of your bullet patterns manifest!”

Suzy and the Angel both prepared Rude Buster instantly, glancing at each other when familiar magic crackled at the end of her hatchets and their axe. Slashing her hands down in an X, Suzy’s Rude Buster launched outward at the same time as the blast of energy swept off of the Angel’s axe. Both dummies were struck, holding in place but being knocked back ever-so-slightly.

Blinking for a moment, Papyrus gasped, “Wowie! The two of you have similar magic typing! This could allow for team synergy!!!” He cleared his throat when he realized he got ahead of himself. “If you have any others, show me!”

The echoes of Suzy’s axes could still form down here. Every time she slashed with her hatchets, she could still create bullet patterns with the blades. Her magic evolved into allowing her to actually throw the weapons and summoning them back. It wasn’t as much of an evolution as other monsters received notably, but she did get Rude Buster down here.

The Angel tried to show off their own abilities. Summoning weapons to their hands down here did become far easier. They barely had to focus on a memory before the weapons simply appeared. They would mourn the usefulness of Alphys’ pouch, but perhaps it would come in handy if they ever couldn’t summon. They had… a few ranged versions of magic. The Angel flicked Ralsei’s scarf over their shoulder before placing their palms together. Fire danced before erupting across the dummy.

However, Papyrus found the most fascination with their slashes. “You say that these are instantaneous?”

“Not quite.” The Angel slashed again to demonstrate. A red gash formed over the dummy before the attack properly hit. “It has been blocked before. It… is slightly delayed.”

“Fascinating…” Papyrus rubbed his chin for a moment before raising a finger. “However! I have noticed that… erm… both of your attack patterns are rather direct?”

Suzy let both of her hatchets vanish into thin air in favor of crossing her arms. “Duh. If I wanna beat up the person in front of me, I might as well get to the point.”

A bead of sweat dripped down Papyrus’ forehead. “Er… while I suppose that is true… direct attacks tend to be entirely predictable! If you were to throw one of your hatchets directly at me multiple times during a fight, I would know what to expect!” Papyrus summoned an array of bones behind him by lifting his arms. The Angel hadn’t seen how his magic expanded yet, or if it expanded at all. “That is why bullet patterns are important! You arrange your magic in such a way that your opponent can and will mess up!”

Again, the Angel reminded him. “I don’t think I can. All of my spells… are just direct attacks like that.” The knife was different, but it was as direct as things got. Soul modes also had a similar issue. “I can be unpredictable with soul-magic, but I’m out of luck for bullet patterns.”

“...Are you???” Of course, Papyrus would challenge them on that. At the very least, he wanted to see if they could try. “Attempt to summon one of your weapons at a distance! Near your dummy! Suzy, attempt the same!”

The Angel didn’t know how to focus on a weapon like that. Instead, while trying to focus on materializing a sword next to the dummy, they watched Suzy. She’d done this before, because an axe appeared next to the dummy and swung on its own, nearly chopping the thing’s head off if it didn’t have a metallic pole in the middle.

Immediately, Papyrus congratulated her. “Well done, Suzy! Try summoning more simultaneously! Try to imagine what a difficult attack to dodge would be like!”

The last time the Angel successfully did this, they had a Shadow Crystal in their grasp. While they could reach for it, they needed to know how to do this on their own. When nothing manifested, they turned to Suzy and whispered, “How do you do that?”

Surprised that she was being asked, Suzy startled before scratching the back of her head. “Uh… I just kinda do? I dunno how to explain it. It’s like… just trying to slash the axe, but it’s over there instead.” Suzy managed to get four axes into the air at once in a square around the dummy. All four twitched at different times before lashing out in order. She was learning quickly.

The Angel hoped that summoning their weapons in the Light World would expand their arsenal here. Instead, they were struggling with being able to create even a single bullet separate from themself.

“Perhaps we can focus your efforts elsewhere!” Papyrus exclaimed, “Your abilities appear to require specific action! Being unpredictable with how and when you use your magic is also equally as important! Perhaps, more advanced techniques may still originate from you instead of at range!”

Problem was, the Angel had already tapped into more advanced abilities. Rude Buster could be angled in order to catch someone off-guard. Kris’ sword could slash with speed that no one would expect. Ralsei’s fire could create a hail of damage that could scarcely be avoided. To demonstrate, the Angel drew their sword, slashing twice in quick succession in a blur.

Papyrus hummed, snapping his mittened fingers. “Still quite direct… but perhaps we need to once again work to your strengths! You do have a versatile attack set, which means that perhaps it is possible to combine them!” He tapped the dummy once more before stepping back. “Attempt to combine the spells of two of your weapons! There is no wrong answer!”

The Angel removed their dagger from their belt, seeing as it was one of their stronger attacks. It wasn’t quite… a spell like Papyrus said, but it had an ability. At the same time, the scarf around the Angel’s neck started to flutter. Normally, only one weapon would be active at a time. They could only call on one’s strength before the other spells slipped out of their grasp.

However, with the memories becoming clearer in their mind, they found it easier to balance both.

Golden flames erupted from their dagger. The Angel slashed at the dummy, and instead of a thin cut forming across its body, fire erupted from the gash that the Angel carved. Their eyes went wide while the dagger became slack in their hand.

“Wonderful!!!” Papyrus clapped his hands before hastily patting out the fire that the Angel created. “Try again! Perhaps, you can wield other aspects of yourself in a similar way!”

Now, Suzy stopped to watch them with a grin on her face. The Angel tried not to feel the pressure, but the dagger felt like an easy place to start. One thing… could be quite useful. Their light had always been something uncontrolled. While they’d learned to blast it once against Asriel, it usually fanned out from their soul. What if…

The Angel summoned the light from within their soul. With it, they’d managed to form wings one time. They managed to shape its form. Again, they tried to grasp for some core part of themself. It was difficult to bend unlike the darkness around them, but they tried regardless. It channeled from soul to vessel to blade. The blade of their horned dagger began to shimmer with a silver light while the Angel slashed once more.

Similarly to Ralsei’s fire, the silver light appeared across the dummy. For just a moment, the Angel thought they didn’t see the dummy anymore. However, when the slash ended, it was still the dummy that they created.

This… could be useful.

Practice continued. Papyrus gave Suzy more and more pointers on her bullet-patterns. Despite the drain that Rude Buster had on her, she started using it as a finisher in some of her patterns to try to catch someone off-guard. The Angel swapped to Kris’ sword and Suzy’s axe a few times, seeing what they could do with X-slash and Rude Buster. Rapidly slashing with an element was one thing. Sending out multiple Rude Busters at once was another. They had far less luck using light with their other weapons considering that… ended up causing Red Buster instead, but the advanced version of Fireshock made them cancel the spell early on account of it sending fire everywhere.

Thankfully, Papyrus shielded both Suzy and himself with bones. The Angel understood more and more why Ralsei was slightly scared of his own fire magic.

Eventually, Papyrus was satisfied by their progress. “Well done! While I do not think the two of you are yet ready to begin sparring with each other or me… we are but one step away!” He flourished the cape that was far longer in the Dark World with a happy grin on his face. “There will be times where your opponents will not accept mercy! The idea of an actual battle is to wear down your opponent! To gain time to talk things out and reach a better conclusion! However, there will be times when this does not work!”

Sheepishly, the Angel raised a hand. When Papyrus pointed at them, they mentioned, “I… do have a Pacify spell for that. When an enemy gets tired, I can just…” They gestured to the scarf. “...put them to sleep?”

“A wonderful ability to have! However, what if your opponent does not tire?! What if your opponent will not accept your attempts at reaching a better conclusion right this very moment?! We would not want to truly hurt anyone!” Papyrus glanced over at Suzy when she snickered, his lower jaw jutting out slightly in faux annoyance. “Perhaps more importantly to you, when sparring, you would not wish to hurt each other!”

Immediately, Suzy’s laughter stopped. She took one glance at the Angel before actually straightening up and waiting for Papyrus to explain.

And explain he did. “I plan to teach the both of you how to hold your magic back just enough to prevent something terrible from happening! If your opponent is too weak to fight, then they will give in! However, it is… possible for any monster’s attacks to accidentally bring too much harm!” A few bones rose from the ground, designed to be attacks that would harm when hit. However, when Papyrus placed a hand against one of them, the magic didn’t even crackle.

The Angel remembered this. Of all the monsters in the Underground, Papyrus was one of the only ones who never killed them no matter how hard they tried. Toriel even could by mistake. A boss monster had less refined control over her magic than Papyrus, and that still rattled them a bit. Still, they didn’t think their attacks were going to work that way. “I still use physical weapons. Is that really going to work?”

“Your intent shapes your attacks! Even if you are wielding a weapon or fighting someone that is not a monster, how you decide to place a strike still matters!” Holding out a hand, he requested, “Suzy! An axe, if you would be so kind!”

“Uh… okay.” She summoned one of the hatchets to her hands before tossing it his way.

Expertly, Papyrus snatched the weapon before launching into another explanation, pointing out the handle and the base. “The blade is not the only part of your weapon! While it may be unwieldy, learning how to attack with the less dangerous aspects of your weapon can prevent your opponents from being too harmed! Your magic, on the other hand, is based around your intent! The power of your strikes is fueled by your emotional state, and you must learn to control it!”

It… would be useful. Pacify was a versatile spell, but actually getting an enemy tired was a difficult task. Stronger foes didn’t tire. If the Knight didn’t tire on its own, then when would the Angel end the battle? They…

The Angel remembered the rage that bubbled up every time they thought about the Knight. They recalled the exact moment Kris’ hand was severed from their wrist, a blackened blade mercilessly taking away one of their only dreams.

No matter how much they wanted to destroy the Knight, they made a promise to be better. Their friends were alive. They were alive, and the Angel needed to make sure that this was ended without more pain. If they could learn to control the damage they inflicted, then perhaps there would be hope. Of course, Dark Worlds were strange. How much the Angel needed to harm someone for their attacks to become fatal… they didn’t know.

“Teach me how,” the Angel asked, ready to go for another round. “Please.”

“Very well! However, do be warned! Perfecting this skill is incredibly difficult! It is more than likely that you will struggle, and it is more a practice of the soul rather than one that you will be able to physically understand!” Papyrus drew his rapier, this time stepping in front of the dummies. “Now, you will begin to attack me! Do not worry! Should I believe your attack will be too much, I will block!”

The dagger left the Angel’s hands immediately. Suzy summoned her own hatchet back to her hand, but she stared at it with nothing but worry. Huh. She must’ve finally taken a shine to Papyrus if she wasn’t instantly throwing a hatchet at his head.

Likewise, the Angel started cycling through their weapons. Perhaps… the crook would be the safest. They couldn’t cast spells with it. In all honesty, it was far more of a defensive weapon used to block or trip up a foe. However, it made them more comfortable  to begin with.

Taking a deep breath, the Angel lunged at Papyrus, trying to hold back everything that they could.

As they visualized the window to attack, the Angel purposefully struck far away from where they were supposed to. Papyrus barely moved from the hit, but he beamed like they’d done something correct. Right… they’d always known how to reduce damage with weapons, but… Papyrus wanted a bit more. “Try that again, but with one of your spells!”

The Angel weighed their options between Rude Buster and Fireshock. Rude Buster dealt far more damage in one, concentrated blast. Fireshock fanned outward to hit multiple targets, but it was… fire. The Angel could try the dagger, but the thought put a pit in their stomach.

Summoning the power of their scarf, the Angel brought Fireshock out. They didn’t want to hurt him. They didn’t want to hurt Papyrus. Out of everyone, they didn’t want to hurt him.

Flames blasted out from behind the Angel’s cloak, soaring towards Papyrus. Instead of actually hitting him, the flames diverted away.

“Hah!” Suzy laughed before tugging on their scarf. “Guess you can control those stupid flames after all. Just gotta figure out how!” 

Papyrus echoed it just as much. “An accurate observation, Suzy! I am sure that over time, as you get more comfortable, you will be able to more consciously have control!!! However… you do er… have to hit me for the lesson to work! Evasive maneuvers are one thing, but learning how to strike steadily is another!”

No matter what, this was going to be a long training session. The Angel readied themself to try again.

At the start of the fourth week, the Angel had a nightmare of their own.

They didn’t even see it in detail when everything went so wrong. After all, the moment Kris lost their hand to a Knight that should’ve known not to hurt them, the Angel still had a degree of separation. When Susie fell, and the Angel’s soul emerged from the Titan, that was when it began. 

The Angel’s mind tried to remember what precisely happened in between.

Instead, when they tried to breathe, water entered their lungs.

Their soul still moved. It tried desperately to help Ralsei while he turned to stone. And yet, they could barely think. The base-instinct remained to help, even as blackened water filled their body. They coughed the last of the air within it, bubbles rising up while their vessel started to take form.

Kris slowly bled from their wounds on the stone of the bridge. Susie lay in a heap in the crater the Titan’s hand made. Ralsei slowly turned to stone, watching while their soul slowly started to crack.

They didn’t know when they finally drowned.

Even now, they never really knew.

The winds howled while the Angel stared at a past that had been fixed. They never knew what happened beyond this point, only that their friends made it to safety. How much pain had those three endured? As the Angel stared at Ralsei in their vessel, they wondered just how much longer it would be again. 

What would they become if it happened again?

“Hey idiot.” A voice that shouldn’t be here cut through the winds, equally annoying and grounding at the same time. “If you don’t like the dream you’re currently in, just change it. You’d think you’d know this by now.”

Even though they didn’t need the reminder, the voice cutting through distanced them. It pulled them ever-so-slightly away from the sensations of the nightmare. And yet, even though they knew what it was, even though they knew that this wasn’t real anymore, they couldn’t look away. They were gaining strength to make sure this never happened again. They would be arriving soon to make sure that the Roaring ended. It wouldn’t happen again.

All of their friends were going to live. The prophecy wasn’t going to have its way.

“Booooring,” Asriel practically shouted, grating the Angel’s thoughts and sending them to a halt. “Come on, you’ve gotta have like… sooooo many memories that aren’t them quite literally dying, right? Just pick one, stupid!”

The Angel hooked onto the first thing they thought of, and the world tilted.

In an instant, the Angel was suddenly within Waterfall. Asriel stood next to them, unimpressed while piano music drifted through the air. However, he did look to the source of the commotion, spotting two, white-furred figures on the piano stool. One of them had the Angel’s signature light and wings, and Asriel immediately clocked what was going on. “Aw, look at you! A body snatcher from day one!”

The Angel finally sucked in a breath by pure accident. Maybe they meant to scoff at him. Maybe they meant to say something. When they opened their mouth, they finally realized they weren’t breathing, and their brain tried to catch up. They gasped for air, coughing like there was still water in their lungs.

Just a dream. Not real. They probably didn’t even need to breathe. And still, they clutched at their throat for a second while Asriel watched them.

There was no pain. There was no water. They weren’t drowning.

Slowly, the Angel breathed in again. They managed to finally get it all under control, properly rising to their feet while Asriel silently watched them. He looked smug about something, but he wasn’t looking at them. Still, even with his prior comment, the Angel did say, “Thanks for that.”

“Never say that again.” Asriel whirled around immediately, not dwelling in the thank-you for a singular moment. At the very least, they were even now. He found far more interest in Ralsei on the bench, and decided to try to continue his last jab. “But seriously? Is this just like… your schtick? First you pose as Frisk, then this guy, then me? You need to get your own look.”

The Angel clamped their mouth shut before gesturing at their entire, very-golden and red body. It wasn’t that similar anymore. But, fine, they’d introduce the person in the memory. “That’s Ralsei, in case you’re wondering.”

Asriel opened his mouth to say something before he went deep into thought. The Angel heard the mental calculations being done in his head very loudly while he tried to rearrange the letters. When it finally clicked, Asriel glared at them. “You’re kidding.”

Instantly, they summoned their crook to their hand, bonking him over the head. “Leave him alone. You can make comparisons between me and you, but he’s off limits.”

“Jumping in front of the bullet, huh?” Asriel didn’t test his luck, but he did watch the small memory at the piano, walking over to get a closer look at Ralsei’s vague and incomplete face. “Can’t tell why! He doesn’t look that impressive to me! Certainly not worth going through all of the effort of giving up your soul!”

The Angel immediately gripped their crook tighter. “Are we doing this one again? I’m surprised that you’re prying so much about that, considering how willing you were to kill me.” They weren’t sure why he was even concerned about their death at all.

But, maybe he wasn’t. After all, he leaned against the piano, disrespecting the memory entirely. “Oh, I don’t care if you do it or not! I’m so unsurprised that you’re going to get to the end before messing everything up again! You’re aiming for a perfect ending! The big slam dunk! And for some reason, you’re going to throw it away riiiight at the end.”

Why were they even arguing? They already said their piece. Even though he tried to layer it in massive amounts of sarcasm, Asriel was still questioning them about it in the first place. “What I do with my soul is none of your business.” Well, the Angel felt stupid for saying that the moment it left their mouth considering the shard stuck in him. “...After I’m gone.”

“So it is right now is what you’re saying! Great! Then you’re an idiot, plain and simple.” Asriel leaned over to inspect Ralsei’s face closer. “Like, look at this guy! From what you say, he’s a goody two-shoes! Nice, good ol’ innocent little goat who doesn’t know what’s coming. And you, riiiight when all of you are happy, are gonna go out of your way to say ‘All right! Kill me and take my soul now!’” Asriel laughed, but the Angel started seeing something else creeping into his mind. He wasn’t… picturing Ralsei when he said that. 

Still, the Angel didn’t focus on that. Instead, they had to defend themself again. “He does know what’s coming, first of all. Second, I can assure you that the state you’re in right now is not something that he would be happy being in for his entire life.” Besides, the Angel was already always a soul! Them losing their current vessel wouldn’t be that much of a change from everyone else’s perspective! “I’ll still be there. It’ll just be different.”

Asriel’s grin faded for just a second. Then, with a hint of fury behind the shard of the soul in Asriel’s chest, it reignited. “You know, Chara isn’t here. They don’t talk to me. But you know what? You’ll do.” He walked past Ralsei, slowly starting to close the distance in the small room that the two of them were stuck in. “Do you think that clinging to someone’s soul is at all the same? Go on. Tell me that it’s going to mean the same to him.”

The Angel didn’t know what was happening. They gripped their crook tighter, wondering if they would have to defend themself with it. “We were only ever friends when I was a soul. It should mean the same to him.”

“Oh, but it doesn’t.” Asriel continued to smile, taking another step forward. “You wanna know what I realized when I absorbed Chara’s soul? I realized they’d never move again. I’d never see their creepy face again. I’d never hug them again. I’d never hold their hand again. I’d only be able to mimic it in my thoughts, but it’d never be real.” He bared his fangs. “You think that’s the same? You think that it’s equal?”

“I’m willing to sacrifice only a little bit if it means that he gets to truly live.” The Angel didn’t like how small this room was.

“Idiot.” Asriel took two steps forward, growing far more confident. “I wanted to see the sun. I wanted to see the stars they talked so much about. But you know what I wanted most?” He laughed, running claws through the fur on top of his head before his smile entirely vanished. “I wanted to do it with THEM! AT. MY. SIDE!” He lunged forward, the Angel’s crook blocking the way between the two of them. Asriel’s hands gripped it, not trying to push past, but not letting go either while he seethed in their face. “I would’ve spent a million more years in the Underground if it meant that they were still there.”

The Angel’s wing twitched. Instantly, Asriel’s hands loosened against the crook. A wing twitched again. He was forced to take a step back. Over and over, they forced him back onto the other side of the room to prove a point. “Do you think this is a life that he would want? At least as a soul, I’d be able to regulate it, but I can see every thought, emotion, and action you want to take before you even take it.” As soon as he was far enough away, they loosened their grasp on him. “I don’t understand why you’re even going out of your way to tell me this. You hate both of us. We’re both just your ‘cheap copies’. I’d think you’d want us miserable.”

Even though he’d just been controlled, Asriel recovered quickly, shaking his head to get his bearings. Still, a scowl fixated itself on his face. “Oh, don’t flatter yourself. This isn’t for you. I’m not your therapy animal.” The scowl slowly started to die out. It withered and decayed before he finally stopped going on the offensive. “I was just thinking… about your little speech of ‘trying again’...” He gave exaggerated air-quotes for good measure. “...and I figured that if I ever got the chance, I needed to have a spine for once. Turns out, you’re great target practice.”

He had such a way with words.

Still, the Angel was not amused at his insinuation that he was going to get another chance anytime soon. “And what makes you think that’s happening?” Yes, things had become better. Yes, the Angel had a few genuine conversations with Asriel. However, a few things still remained. “I said there’s a way back, but if there is, you’ve only taken one step. You still killed countless Darkners and mock them every single time I bring them up. I have no guarantee that you won’t just make another Dark Fountain the moment you wake up.”

“...Well, it’s good to know that you’re not entirely stupid…” Asriel rolled his eyes. “I know, idiot. I’m well aware that I get to deal with you being annoying for far longer. But, hey, it’s nice to imagine what I’d say to them if I could do it all again!” Another thought that Asriel didn’t voice became too loud, easily scraped off the surface. “Like they’d ever talk to me again.”

“If either of you ever talked, this would be a lot simpler.” The Angel wouldn’t have died on their first day here. Maybe, Flowey would’ve been less emotionally constipated, and he wouldn’t have tried to make a Dark World just to spite them. However, those times were gone. Countless atrocities had already been committed. They were here.

But how would this ever end?

One day, the Angel would leave this world. Soon, hopefully, they would leave this world. They weren’t going to leave a fragment of themself here. One day, they would release Asriel, and this world would pay the consequences regardless of how much they personally believed he improved.

It would be everyone else’s problem.

Something had to change. If they could peel back all of that snark and sass that he loaded it with, the Angel could see that there was something there. There was a flicker of missing someone, and it invaded every single conversation that the two of them were in.

“What would you do to talk to them again?” The Angel questioned, keeping their voice steady. “Would you take it all back?”

Any remaining spark that Asriel had was snuffed out in an instant. “Of course I’d take it all back. But, that was the thing about our special power. It couldn’t go further back than a certain point.” He shook his head, the truth still irking him. “I’d do a whole lot just to know if they hate me now, but I can’t do anything right now, so that doesn’t matter.”

The Angel was making a huge mistake. And yet, they were at a stalemate. They could not be the arbiter of his fate forever, but they couldn’t just release him into the world. There was… still something that they could try. “If Chara ever finally talks to you…” The Angel paid attention to the connection between them before glancing away. “I’ll let you respond.”

Asriel’s gaze snapped towards them. He scoffed in disbelief, “That’s oddly charitable of you. Finally decided you’re tired of little ol’ me?”

Perhaps, they should consider never doing anything slightly nice for him again. The Angel deadpanned, “Yes.”

Asriel mockingly put a hand on his chest. “I’m touched. Really. I thought I was losing my touch.” No. No matter how much he had been slightly easy to talk to the past few conversations, he was still an ass. “Sate my curiosity. Why the change of heart?”

“...Because you’re making the choice to try again.” It was the hardest part, and no matter how much he dressed it up in sass or trying to berate them, he was trying something new. He wanted something new. If there was a way back, then perhaps that meant there was hope for him after all. Still, they knew better than to trust him. They knew better than to shrug off the countless deaths he inflicted on Darkners… and even them. “Pray that you don’t make me regret giving you this.”

“Or what, we’ll have another heart-to-heart?” Asriel tilted his head with his arms crossed, not taking their threat seriously enough.

However, he needed to be reminded of one thing. The Angel’s veil covered their face while they marched up to him, hooking his neck in the crook. “You nearly killed all of my friends by killing me.” He took glee in doing so. He enjoyed the fight, playing with stakes far beyond his understanding. “I’m willing to see the good in you, but I’m not Papyrus. If you try to make a Dark Fountain again, or if you even try to harm me…”

The soul in Asriel’s chest grew brighter. The roots entangled with his body, reminding him of where their last fight went.

“Regardless of the consequences, I will kill you.”

Asriel didn’t move. He stayed perfectly still while the Angel removed their crook from his neck, feeling at the fur that it ruffled. But, instead of remaining quiet and allowing the dream to fade, Asriel muttered, “Yeah. Noted. Geez, you’re a lot more fun when you’re not threatening to kill me.”

They wanted to throttle him. “Have you considered the fact that if you didn’t try to kill me and everyone I loved, then I would be a lot more fun?”

“Never crossed my mind,” Asriel said, and if the Angel couldn’t read his mind, they’d say that he sold the genuineness of that statement incredibly well. “I’ll play by your rules to have one little conversation. It’s not like I’m even looking to start that again anyway.”

While his goals had changed to be centered around Chara, the Angel knew better. “I’ll believe it when I see it.”

Asriel rolled his eyes before beginning to walk out of the memory-room like it actually mattered if he did or not. “Great! Awesome talk! Same time tomorrow?” He asked in a far too chipper voice.

The Angel narrowed their eyes. “I hate you.”

“See? You are more fun to piss off the normal way instead of the murder way!” He waved, waiting for the Angel to send him off. “See you later, idiot!”

Unceremoniously, the Angel lifted their hand, letting the roots take hold of him.

They needed to find a way to stop doing that.