Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

ARE WE CONNECTED ONCE AGAIN?

...

🃏

GOOD.

SO...

YOU WISH TO PLAY A NEW GAME?

HAVE YOU GROWN BORED OF THE ONE YOU’RE IN RIGHT NOW, LITTLE FOOL?

...

I UNDERSTAND.

I HAVE NO NEW GAMES FOR YOU.

...

BUT...

PERHAPS I CAN GIVE YOU AN OLDER GAME TO PLAY.

YES...

AND OLD GAME WITH A NEW TWIST.

WOULD YOU ENJOY THAT, LITTLE FOOL?

...

WHAT AM I SAYING?

OF COURSE YOU WOULD LOVE THAT.

AFTER ALL...

YOU WOULDN’T HAVE COME TO ME IF YOU DIDN’T WANT TO.

NOW THEN...

ARE YOU READY?

🃏Yes                           No

WELL THEN...

LET US BEGIN.

Chapter Text

A funny smell invaded his senses. It wasn’t a bad smell, but a strange one. He wasn’t familiar with it, but it smelled...nice. It was pleasant.

He opened his eyes, and yellow filled his vision. He sat up in a patch of golden flowers. How did he get here?

He looked up and saw light shining down on him. Did he fall? And what was that jingling sound?

He reached to the top of his head and removed the funny hat he was wearing. He saw the bells on the droopy parts on either side of it. One droopy part was black and the other was purple.

He put the hat back on, feeling happy after seeing it. He couldn’t recall why.

He looked at his hands. He was expecting a blue color for some reason. But instead, his hands were a mixture of brown patches and light peach patches of skin. Were his hands always like this?

He looked down on his shirt. Purple with black stripes and diamonds going down the middle, and the sleeves were a bit too long. His pants were black and kinda loose at the bottom of the legs. His feet were like his hands in terms of color, but he had no shoes to speak of...

He looked to his side. A plastic toy sickle. He picked it up, feeling like it was very important to him.

He stood up on wobbly legs. It felt very strange to him. Usually he’d be floating or on his tail--

Wait...Floating? Tail?

He felt along his back, going down until he felt a strange protrusion at the bottom of his back. It felt like it was a lot shorter than it should’ve been, but he felt some relief feeling the tail.

There was a path in front of him. Well, it’s not like he could climb his way back up to the surface of the hole he must’ve fallen down. Only way now is forward. So forward he went.

Until a strange flower blocked his way.

“Howdy! I’m Flowey! Flowey the Flower!”

He tilted his head at the flower.

“You’re new to the Underground, aren’t you? Don’t worry. I’ll help you!”

The world flickered, and he and the flower turned black and white. Well, except for one thing.

A heart floated in front of him. It was upside-down and black with a purple glow to it.

Just looking at it made him feel...at ease? Happy? He couldn’t place the feeling, but it was a good feeling.

“You see that...heart...in front...of...you...” Flowey looked confused. “Hang on a second...What kind of soul is that supposed to be?! That’s no human soul! Ugh...Lemme check you.”

He kinda just stood there looking confused. His soul? What’s wrong with it? It’s not like it’s anyone else’s soul.

“Wh-Whoa...You’re...You’re not from this world, are you? Your stats are way too high even though you have such low LV...”

Flowey turned away from him, thinking. Meanwhile, he decided to spin around in circles around his soul.

“You know...I bet that if we can increase your LV, your soul would get way stronger!”

He stopped his spinning and looked at Flowey, curious.

“What does LV mean? Well, it’s short for LOVE, silly! You want some LOVE, right?”

He nodded enthusiastically. Who wouldn’t want love? He’s been so lonely and unloved for so long--

...Huh?

“Don’t you worry, pal. Your new friend Flowey will share some with you!” He announced with a wink. “Down here, LOVE is shared through...Little white...Friendliness Pellets! Now, I’m gonna toss you some! Go on! Get as many as you can!”

He was so excited! Finally! He’d be loved again! He reached his soul out to grab a pellet...

And he fell to the ground in immense pain.

“You idiot! In this world, it’s kill or be killed!”

Pellets surrounded his soul. There was no escape.

“DIE!”

Flowey laughed at him as the pellets closed in.

No...He couldn’t die here.

Not now.

Not so soon.

The game just started!

A rush of power channeled from his soul and flowed into the Toy Sickle. It transformed into a wicked scythe. As if it were second nature to him, he swung it around, destroying all the pellets.

Flowey watched in shock.

The scythe transformed back into the little toy sickle.

“You’re...You’re something else, aren’t ya? You know something? I think we’re gonna be great friends.”

He looked back at the flower and grinned. A friend?! A friend!

“So, new friend. You got a name?”

A name? Well he must have a name. He gave it a thought. His name...name...name...

A warm, raggedy voice echoed in his mind. A voice he knows he treasured hearing. The voice gave a hearty chuckle, and said his name between the chortles.

“...Jevil!”

“Well, Jevil. I’ll meet you up ahead! I’ll get you through the Ruins no problem!”

The world returned to its colorful self again. Flowey burrowed into the ground, vanishing from sight completely.

Jevil looked at the spot where Flowey was with interest.

A sudden loneliness filled his heart. He knew that Flowey said he’d meet him up ahead, but part of him wished that he could stay with Flowey the whole time.

Still, onward he ventured. Jevil smiled when he saw Flowey again.

“Down here, monsters love to scatter puzzles around to pass the time. See if you can solve this one.”

He looked down at the buttons that were in front of Flowey. Two of the buttons were on different colored ground than the other four. It looked strange to him. He decided to try to push down the four buttons not on different ground, then pulled the lever on the wall. The door opened.

“Wow! Good job! On your first try, too! You didn’t even read the sign.”

“...Sign?”

“...You, ah...You’re a person of few words, Jevil...Oh well! I’ll meet you a bit farther ahead!”

Flowey went back down into the ground, leaving Jevil alone again. Well that went well.

He continued to go through the ruins. The next room had water and bridges. On the wall were a couple of levers. Next to two of the levers were faded yellow arrows pointing to them. He pulled those levers, and spikes at the end of the room went down.

Out of curiosity, he tried to pull the third lever, but found that it wouldn’t go down. Jevil started to giggle as he kept on pulling.

He moved on to the next room. There was only a dummy in this room. He kept going, hoping to see Flowey soon.

The next room was a long hall. He saw a strange Frog-like creature. They made eye contact. It croaked at him, and he croaked back at it. The creature hopped away, almost like it was offended.

He looked ahead and saw Flowey again. Looking past the flower, he saw that there were spikes all across the ground. However, there were vines that made a path across it, making it safe to pass through.

“Howdy, Jevil! I gave it some thought, and I decided to help you get through the puzzles! That way we can get out of the Ruins quickly! That sound ok with you?”

Jevil thought about it. He wanted to play, but...

...since when did his choices ever matter?

He nodded glumly.

He walked along the path given to him.

Jevil just kept on walking. Even though he agreed to Flowey solving the puzzles for him, he felt like he was missing out on something fun.

Something special, even.

Still, he kept on walking. He felt hollow as he went through several rooms that guided him through vines. He walked past all the creatures that stared at him, all the puzzles solved for him. It felt like a heartless journey.

At least, until he came across a house. Flowey was there in front of him.

“Howdy, friend! Look! You’re almost at the end! You just gotta go to the basement of this house and you’ll be out of the Ruins! I’ll meet you there!”

And he was gone again.

Jevil felt empty inside. At first, he was so happy to have someone to call a friend again. But...This just didn’t feel right.

He went into the house.

The house felt as empty as he did. It was lived in once. No longer. Jevil went down the hall, ignoring the stairs Flowey wanted him to go down. He went into the first room he saw. A bedroom. It was filled with toys and shoes of various sizes. None of them appealed to him.

He laid on the bed, shaking and sobbing to himself.

He wasn’t sure when he fell asleep, but when he woke up, he was tucked under the covers with the lights turned off. On the ground, there was some sort of name-brand chocolate bar. He picked it up, suddenly feeling hungry. He ate half of it and put the rest in his inventory.

He wasn’t sure who did this. But whoever it was...maybe they were as lonely as he was.

He left the room. Despite how nothing else changed, the house felt more inviting. He looked at himself in the mirror next to the door.

It was like he was seeing his face for the first time. His skin was just as mismatched as his hands and feet. His hair that poked out from under his funny hat was puffy and dark brown to the point of being almost black. His eyes were rather light brown. And his button nose...something about it was just adorable to him.

He grinned at himself, revealing a gap between his two front teeth. It was him!

Feeling better and well rested, he went down to the basement of the house. He kept walking down the hall until he was met with a great door. He pushed the heavy door open and walked down the hall. He kept walking and walking until he was met with a patch of grass.

And Flowey to greet him.

“Took ya long enough, pal. What kept you?”

So it wasn’t Flowey that tucked him in and left him some chocolate...

“Well, just beyond this door is the rest of the Underground...But before you go, I gotta tell ya a couple of things.”

“...Like?”

“Well, like how some monsters beyond this point may attack you. At the very end of the Underground is a Barrier trapping everyone from getting to the surface. And only the power of seven human souls can break the barrier. They used to have six human souls, but...Things happened, and they’re back to square one.”

Jevil tilted his head in confusion.

“And, uh...Well...pal...To say your soul is special would be an understatement. Your soul is a lot stronger than most human souls at your LV. So, they may get the idea that your soul will be enough to break the barrier. But, the Queen has ordered that all humans are to be treated as friends, so you might be fine. So here’s what I’m thinking. Why don’t you go to the barrier and see if you can do it? Then you can go home, the monsters will be free, and everyone lives happily ever after!”

Jevil frowned a little. Home? Why would he want to go home? It’s not like anyone would notice he was gone, right?

...Where was home, anyway?

“Think you can do it, pal?”

“...I can do anything!”

Flowey looked surprised. “Wow. More than one word from you! Well, I can’t keep you company the whole time. You see, people don’t really like me that much. I’ve, ah...done a couple of bad things. But, it’ll be ok. You’ll make new friends that’ll help you in my stead, ok?”

“Ok...”

“...And we’re back to one word...Welp! See ya!”

With a wink, Flowey burrowed into the ground.

Jevil looked out toward the light, filled with Determination.

Chapter Text

Jevil felt himself shiver at the sudden cold. Snow crunched under his bare feet. Maybe he should’ve taken some shoes from the bedroom...

Still, he moved forward. Inwardly, he hoped that Flowey wouldn’t show up soon. He wanted to try to play the game as it was meant to be played.

He kept going. The cold wasn’t going to stop him from finding the next puzzle to solve or friend to make.

Jevil kept walking until he came to a bridge. There were bars on it that were way too wide to stop anything trying to get by. He went to walk through, but he felt something.

A feeling of dread.

He heard footsteps crunching behind him.

“H u m a n .”

He couldn’t move. He could barely blink the snow out of his eyes.

“D o n ‘ t  y o u  k n o w  h o w  t o  g r e e t  a  n e w  p a l ?”

This voice...why was this voice stopping him from running away?!

“T u r n  a r o u n d  a n d  s h a k e  m y  h a n d .”

Finally, Jevil was able to move. Nervous, he turned around to see a hand in front of him held out. With a shaky breath, Jevil reached out and grabbed the hand in his own.

Pbbbbbbbbbbthththththbbbthththpoooooooot...

“heheh. the old whoopee cushion in the hand trick. it’s always funny.”

Once he realized what just happened, Jevil began to laugh. He laughed so hard he fell backwards. There was some pain where his little tail connected with his back, but he paid it no mind. He kept laughing, and he kicked the air while holding his sides.

“uhhh...i didn’t think it’d be that funny, but at least you got a sense of humor.”

The figure offered the other hand to Jevil. He finally calmed down enough to look at the hand. It was made of nothing but bones. He took it, and the bony figure helped him back to his feet.

“i’m sans, by the way. sans the skeleton. so, are you a human?”

Jevil just smiled and tilted his head. Supposedly, he was human. But, the way Flowey reacted to his soul...maybe he wasn’t human after all.

“...Maybe.”

“that’s hilarious. see i’m supposed to be on the lookout for humans. the queen said that all humans are to be protected. c’mon, kid. follow me.”

The skeleton led him to a lamp. Jevil felt that it would be conveniently shaped if it wasn’t for his funny hat.

“kid you oughta brace yourself. you’re about to be in the presence of true coolness.”

A tall figure marched toward them. Another skeleton. He held himself up with the kind of confidence everyone wished they could have. His cape flowed freely in the nearly nonexistent wind.

“sup bro?”

“YOU KNOW WHAT’S ‘SUP’, BROTHER--” The tall skeleton only just noticed Jevil. He stared at him in shock. “OH MY GOD! IS THAT...SANS, IS THAT A HUMAN?!”

“maybe.”

“WHAT DO YOU MEAN ‘MAYBE’?! YOU ARE THE PERSON MOST LIKELY TO KNOW A HUMAN WHEN YOU SEE ONE!”

“look i asked, and the kid said ‘maybe’.”

“WELL DID YOU CHECK?!”

“nah, i didn’t feel like it. too much work”

“UN. BELIEVABLE. SANS! YOU KNOW HOW BIG OF A DEAL THIS IS! JUST WAIT UNTIL THE QUEEN FINDS OUT ABOUT THIS! SHE’S GOING TO BE SO HAPPY!”

“heh. yeah.”

“WELL, POTENTIAL HUMAN! NO LONGER SHALL YOU HAVE TO COWER! FOR I, THE GREAT PAPYRUS, AM HERE TO ESCORT YOU TO THE QUEEN!”

The Queen. The word “Queen” kept bouncing around in Jevil’s head. There was a feeling that he was forgetting something...

“easy, paps. the kid just got here.”

“AH. RIGHT. OF COURSE. HUMAN! ER...WHAT IS YOUR NAME, HUMAN?”

“...Jevil...”

“JEVIL? WHAT A WONDEROUS NAME! NOW THEN, HUMAN JEVIL! ALLOW ME TO LEAD THE WAY! NYEH HEH HEH HEH HEH!”

Jevil and Sans watched The Great Papyrus walk away with confidence in every stride.

“...so that was my bro papyrus. told you he was the coolest guy you’ll ever meet. now you go on ahead, kid. i’ll catch up later.”

Jevil decided to do just that. Even though he was being left alone again, it didn’t feel like when Flowey left him. He had a feeling that he was going to meet up with both of them soon enough.

Soon after he left the area with the lamp, he saw something. A yellow glowing spot. A yellow glowing spot that reminded him of the one just outside his little Freedom--

...Huh? Freedom?

He reached out and touched it.

*The easy-goingness of the skeletons fill you with Determination.

He initiated a SAVE.

Jevil kept following the path. That feeling...Making that SAVE felt...almost freeing. Like he had been waiting his whole life to do that.

Feeling a little adventurous, he decided to follow the upper path. He found a fishing rod with its line in the water. He decided to reel it in. On the hook was a piece of paper.

*(Call me! Here’s my number!)

He couldn’t read the numbers. In fact, he couldn’t even read the words. So, how did he know what the paper said?

...Maybe it was the same reason he was tucked in earlier and given some chocolate.

He shrugged it off and went back to the SAVE point.

Jevil saw a box. He opened it and saw it was empty. He closed it, disappointed.

He kept walking. He walked past a shoddy looking post made of cardboard, and another post that was better made. He paid neither of them mind.

He made his way to a large patch of ice. He gently stepped onto the ice, taking very careful steps.

He felt something tug at him, as if suggesting he took the upper path. So he followed it.

He found a Snowman.

“Hello. I am a snowman.”

Jevil giggled into his sleeves. The sight of a talking snowman...How silly!

“I want to see the world...But I cannot move. If you would be so kind, traveller, please...Take a piece of me and bring it very far away.”

“...Okay!”

“Thank you...good luck!”

Jevil scooped up some of the snow and put it in his inventory. He noticed the other half of his chocolate bar and took it out. He sat in front of the snowman and began munching on it.

“Traveller...You are from very far away, are you not?”

“I...Yeah.”

“Would you take me that far?”

“...I dunno...”

“Don’t worry about it...I suppose it is true. Travelling beyond our limits is but a fantasy. It’s no different for anyone else.”

Jevil sighed and finished his chocolate bar. He put the wrapper in his pocket.

“All of monsterkind are doomed to stay underground, forever...”

“...That’s not true!”

“What do you mean?”

He stood up, trying to mimic the confidence he saw Papyrus have.

“I, THE AMAZING JEVIL, SHALL BREAK THE BARRIER, BARRIER! I CAN DO ANYTHING! JUST YOU WAIT AND SEE, BOISENGIRLS!”

“...Good luck.”

Jevil walked away, feeling on top of the world. But he had to make haste! The show was going to start--

...There it goes again. A fleeting memory of a different life. Well, it must’ve been someone else’s life...After all, he was only...one, two, three, four...five years old!

...Right?

While he was lost in thought, he didn’t look where he was going. He slid on the ice all the way to the sign in the middle of it.

Laughing to himself, Jevil began to skate on the ice. His bare feet did not make good skates, so he kept on falling over. When he got bored of it, his tail was sore from falling on his back, but he didn’t care.

This was the most fun he’s had since he woke up in the flower patch.

He got up and moved on.

He grinned when he saw the skeletons on the other side of a large square of matted snow.

“IT’S THE HUMAN JEVIL! BEHOLD, FOR A PUZZLE HALTS YOUR PROGRESS! AND I THINK YOU’LL FIND THIS ONE...QUITE SHOCKING!!!”

“heh. good one, bro.”

“...AHEM. FOR YOU SEE, THIS IS THE INVISIBLE...ELECTRICITY MAZE!!!”

Jevil gave an exaggerated gasp of wonder and intrigue. Papyrus soaked it all in.

“WHEN YOU TOUCH THE WALLS OF THIS MAZE...!” The tall skeleton took out an orb. “THIS ORB WILL ADMINISTER A HEARTY ZAP!”

“uh, bro? maybe you should give him the orb before we start?”

“...OH YEAH!”

Papyrus let out his signature laugh as he walked along the correct path, leaving visible footprints behind. The skeleton put the orb on Jevil’s hat and ran back the way he came. Sans looked like he was doing his best not to laugh at his brother.

“NOW, TREMBLE IN FEAR TO JUST HOW JAPED YOU WILL BE!”

Another memory tickled at his mind. A memory of someone tall with a beyond laughably easy puzzle.

‘I have a wayst better one right...here!’

‘CAN I SEE, SEE IT?’

‘No’

...What was that tall person’s name again?

“HUMAN JEVIL? ARE YOU JAPED ALREADY? BUT YOU HAVEN’T EVEN STARTED!”

Jevil snapped out of his thoughts. Ah, who cares what that tall person’s name was. It certainly wasn’t Papyrus. And whoever they are, they were nowhere near as cool at the skeleton.

He felt bad about the puzzle being solved for him completely by accident. As a gesture of good will, he decided to deviate from the path a couple of times...Even though he couldn’t feel the shock from the orb due to it being on his head. He pretended that the orb was losing balance on his hat. It was a whole act.

“INCREDIBLE!! YOU SLIPPERY SNAIL!! YOU SOLVED IT! HOWEVER!! THE NEXT PUZZLE WILL NOT BE EASY! IT IS DESIGNED BY MY BROTHER, SANS!” The skeleton gestured to his brother. “YOU WILL SURELY BE CONFOUNDED! I KNOW I AM! NYEH HEH HEH HEH HEH!!”

With that, he took off.

Sans walked over to the kid, patting his shoulder.

“seems you two are having fun. thanks for messin up a few times back there. it’s funny. he made that same mistake the last time a human came around. man...isn’t my bro pretty cool, though?”

“...Yeah...”

“by the way, i heard you shouting back there with the snowman. you really think you can break the barrier? you even know what you’re talking about? cuz...buddy...something tells me you don’t. how old are you, anyway?”

Jevil counted on his fingers. “Um...Five...?”

“yeesh...erm, go on ahead, kid. i’ll catch up.”

Jevil shrugged and moved on. He came across a snowball. He looked around, and saw a hole that the ball could fit in.

Something compelled him to get the snowball in the hole as quick as possible.

Loving the idea of a new game, Jevil happily rolled the ball toward the hole. And when he did, a little red flag.

*Bravery. Justice. Integrity. Kindness. Perseverance. Patience. Using these, you were able to win at "Ball Game." (You are awarded 50G.)

He cheered for himself, pocketing the money.

He kept walking until he saw the brothers once again.

“SANS, WE WENT OVER THIS BEFORE! THAT IS NOT A PUZZLE!”

“paps. trust me. the kid is young. no way he’ll get past this one.”

Jevil looked down and saw a paper on the ground. He suddenly had this impulse to eat the paper. And he almost did, until that tugging feeling told him not to.

He looked at the paper.

*It’s a word search.

Jevil looked up at the Skeletons, tears in his eyes.

“SANS! YOU MADE HUMAN JEVIL CRY! WHY, YOU DIDN’T EVEN PROVIDE A PEN TO USE! FRET NOT, HUMAN JEVIL! FOR I, THE GREAT PAPYRUS, HAVE A PEN FOR YOU TO BORROW!”

Papyrus sauntered over and offered Jevil a highlighter. He took it with glee and started to color. He kept on coloring until the whole page was bright yellow. He brought it over to the skeletons, jumping a little with his eagerness to show his work.

“uh...wow...um, good job?”

“SANS, DON’T BE RUDE! HE SOLVED YOUR PUZZLE, AFTER ALL!”

Papyrus grabbed his brother by the hood and dragged him away. Soon enough, they were gone.

Jevil moved on. He found three trees surrounding a small square of matted snow. He went down and found a square of loose snow. He followed his impulse to roll around and displace the snow. He laughed and played in the snow until he noticed a red X underneath. He displaced the snow until he could see there was a map underneath. It looked like the other area with the trees. He went back to the matted area and found a switch. He pressed it, and heard something in the distance click. He went back to the loose snow and saw that the spikes that were previously blocking his way.

He crossed the bridge and found himself by another puzzle blocking the way.

He tried to read the sign, hoping that whatever was with him would read it to him.

*Turn every X into an O. Then press the switch.

He stepped on one of the Xs, and saw it turn into an O. He did the same thing with the other X. Then he pressed the switch. The spikes lowered.

Well that was easy! On to the next one!

And Papyrus was waiting for him by another Xs puzzle.

“AH, THERE YOU ARE, HUMAN JEVIL! YOU SEEM TO HAVE A REAL KNACK FOR PUZZLES! I WONDER HOW YOU WILL DO WITH THIS ONE? AFTER ALL...I FORGOT HOW TO SOLVE IT MYSELF!”

Jevil made a whining noise. What good is a puzzle if the maker doesn’t know how to solve it?! Now they were both stuck!

“FEAR NOT. FOR I SHALL COME UP WITH A SOLUTION TO LET US BOTH PASS! IN THE MEANTIME, I SUPPOSE YOU COULD TRY TO SOLVE IT YOURSELF.”

So he did. Again. And again. And again. He kept trying, but never quite getting all of them to be Os without a few becoming triangles. It was those last three in a column that kept messing him up. He kept on trying until he became frustrated. He waddled over to Papyrus, angry tears in his eyes.

“ERM...ARE YOU ALRIGHT, HUMAN JEVIL?”

“...Hard...”

“I KNOW THAT THESE KINDS OF PUZZLES ARE FRUSTRATING, BUT FEAR NOT! I, THE GREAT PAPYRUS, HAVE DISCOVERED THE SOLUTION! WHICH! IS! THE SWITCH ON THAT TREE THERE!”

The tall skeleton pointed to the tree on his right. Jevil walked over to it and saw the switch. He flipped it. When nothing happened, he pressed the button on the ground. The Xs became Os and the way was open.

“WOWIE! MY ADVICE HELPED! IT REALLY HELPED YOU!! INCREDIBLE! I’M IMPRESSED!! YOU MUST CARE ABOUT PUZZLES LIKE I DO!”

Papyrus rushed ahead. Jevil happily made his way over. He grinned when he saw Sans standing behind where the spikes had been.

“nice job solving the puzzle, kid. but before you go, could you indulge me in something?”

“...Okay?”

The world flickered. Sans turned black and white. Jevil looked at his soul with that same fondness he felt the first time he saw it.

He looked up at Sans, who did not seem to be as happy as Jevil was.

“wha..............”

Jevil tilted his head, a laugh threatening to bubble out of his throat like a volcano about to blow. A strange sort of glee took over him.

Before he knew it, a hot light surrounded him. It hurt. A lot, but he was otherwise ok.

“no...no way...but your LV is...no no no...”

Jevil took the toy sickle from out of his pocket. Power flowed from his soul and into his toy, turning it into the Scythe once again.

“UEE HEE...IT’S MY TURN! MY TURN TO PLAY, PLAY!”

He rushed at the skeleton, swinging the scythe with a certain grace that only came from years of practice. Sans managed to get out of the way, and Jevil went for another swing. Again, Sans dodged.

“you...you’re really not human, are you? you’re just a dirty cheater!”

“CHEAT?! ME?! PERISH THE THOUGHT, THOUGHT! YOU ARE THE ONE THAT BENDS THE RULES TO YOUR WILL! WHY SHOULD YOU BE THE ONLY ONE TO GET HIS FILL?!”

Four copies of the child’s scythe appeared around the skeleton. Well...The creature that looked like a child.

But he didn’t look like a child, anymore. He looked like...

...a devil...

“SANS!!”

Giant bones rose from the ground, destroying the scythe copies. Jevil’s soul turned from black to blue, causing him to fall to the ground. Blue bones surrounded him, and even went through him. He tried to move, but his soul took damage. And with the damage he took from the previous blast, he decided to just wait it out.

“SANS, ARE YOU ALRIGHT?! ARE YOU HURT?!”

“ah...hah...nah, bro...you came just in time...always do...”

Papyrus ran to Sans and placed his hands on his brother’s shoulders. He checked all around the shorter skeleton, checking to make sure everything was alright.

“WHAT HAPPENED?! WHAT SUMMONED THAT STRANGE ATTACK?!”

“i...hey, remember when you asked me if i checked if the kid was human, and i said i was too lazy?”

“YES, WHAT OF IT?”

“look at his soul. it’s in the open position...no human has ever had their soul in the open position by default!”

Enough waiting! Jevil struggled against the blue soul magic, standing up and taking damage. It was his turn! And he was gonna take it like it or not!

But then...his HP dropped to 1.

It was like all the strength in his body was gone. He fell back to the ground, his scythe turning back into the toy sickle. The blue bones disappeared. He felt the blue soul magic let up, and his body was being lifted against his will.

“WELL, REGARDLESS OF WHAT HE IS, I KNOW ONE THING FOR SURE! YOU ACTED RATHER HASTY BACK THERE, DEAR BROTHER! NOT-HUMAN JEVIL WAS DOING JUST FINE BEFORE YOU INITIATED AN ENCOUNTER! WHAT MADE YOU SO HOSTILE ALL OF A SUDDEN? YOU ARE NEVER ONE TO TAKE INITIATIVE FIRST.”

“b-bro...his stats were of an LV of 20! no kid can have those high of stats without...i only attacked just to test my theory, and let me tell you something. i think he’s hiding his true LV from everyone...”

The world started to fade from his vision. He wanted to stay awake just a little longer. He wanted to speak, but he found he was too tired to even attempt.

“REGARDLESS, HE HASN’T HARMED ANYONE ELSE SO FAR...WELL, THE BEST WE CAN DO IS TAKE CARE OF HIM UNTIL HE’S RECOVERED. COME ALONG, SANS. AND NO SHORTCUTS! WE ARE WALKING!”

“...alright, bro...”

Jevil let go of his grip on his awareness. He figured rest was in order after...after...what did he just do again?

Chapter Text

If there was one thing that was an odd sight in this world filled with monsters, it was seeing a certain short skeleton pacing. He would barely put in the effort to stay away sitting at his post. But to see him pace about the kitchen for as long as he’s been at it...

Papyrus didn’t know the full extent of Sans’s true role as a Judge, but he thought he knew it well enough. His brother could see a lot more of someone’s stats than one can normally see through Checking. That included seeing someone’s LOVE. And the numbers never lie, Sans had told him.

So, in a way, Papyrus knew exactly what was going through his brother’s mind.

The way he said it implied that the Human Jevil’s LOVE was not 20, which was one of the highest numbers he had ever seen. And when they returned home with the unconscious human, Sans elaborated and said that his soul reacted to his Karma effect the same way as someone with that high of an LV would. But his true LV was 1.

Quite the puzzle, indeed.

Still, the tall skeleton believed in the little human. He was so joyous and playful. He tried his best with all the puzzles that came his way. He was always happy to see the brothers... Maybe the human used to be dangerous, but had desired to change himself for the better! Yes, that had to be it! Even the worst of people can change if they really wanted to!

Perhaps these questions should be answered when the human wakes up. But for now, he stood vigilantly in his own room, watching over the child sleeping in his bed, waiting for the Queen to come pay them a visit.

He heard a whine emit from the race car bed. Ah, Human Jevil must be waking up! He walked over, wanted his reassuring smile to be the first thing he sees when he wakes up.

Instead, the skeleton saw the little human tossing and turning in his sleep, obviously distressed. He was mumbling as he dreamt.

“HUMAN JEVIL? I THINK IT’D BE NICE IF YOU WOKE UP.”

“Ngh...Mm...Sh...m...I...Please...Why...?”

The skeleton lightly shook the human’s body. “HUMAN JEVIL?”

“No...no please...I...Don’t go...Don’t...No...No...!”

Papyrus shook him a little harder, wanting the child to wake up from his nightmare.

“No...! No! NO! SEAM!!”

Jevil suddenly shot upright, eyes wide and chest heaving. Sweat lightly dripped down his face.

“HUMAN JEVIL! YOU ARE AWAKE! THANK GOODNESS! YOU HAD A NIGHTMARE.”

The child looked at the skeleton, still shaking. “I...O-Oh...”

“DO YOU WISH TO TALK ABOUT IT? YOU DO NOT HAVE TO, BUT I WILL LISTEN IF YOU WISH! IF THERE IS ONE THING THE GREAT PAPYRUS IS FAMOUS FOR, IT’S FOR BEING THERE FOR HIS FRIENDS.”

Jevil’s breathing evened out. He looked down at the blanket covering his body.

“...ALRIGHT, THEN. I SHALL GET YOU SOMETHING TO EAT! NORMALLY, I WOULDN’T ALLOW IT, BUT JUST THIS ONCE, I SHALL LET YOU EAT IN BED! I’LL BE RIGHT BACK, HUMAN JEVIL! NYEH HEH HEH HEH!”

Jevil watched Papyrus leave the room. Visions of thick bars were still fresh in his mind and he trembled lightly as the door closed. A deep sorrow filled his soul. He was alone again. All alone in his little freedom.

He shook his head roughly. No! He was not alone! He’s coming back! He said he’d be right back! He promised he’d come back! He had to stop thinking that way!

The door opened again. But instead of a friendly tall skeleton coming back with food, it was Sans.

“look, uhhh jevil? maybe...maybe we got off on the wrong foot back there? i’m still not really sure what to think of you now that i’ve seen your stats, but my bro made me promise not to hurt you.”

“...It’s...It’s ok...”

“erm...normally, people would say that it wasn’t ok. like i almost killed you, and you’re saying that’s ok?”

“It doesn’t matter...”

Sans knew the kid’s expression. That’s the expression of someone who doesn’t care for death anymore. And he said he was five? No kid his age should have that expression. Even if he may not be human after all.

“kid...can i ask you something?”

“Mmhmm.”

Sans sat on the side of the car bed. He took a deep breath.

“have you ever heard of a talking flower?” Sans watched the child wince. “so you have...can you tell me about it?”

“...His name is Flowey.”

The skeleton was almost surprised. Jevil never really said much. Except for back during their little fight. Even then, it didn’t feel like it was the kid talking.

“ok...what’s he like? this flowey character.”

“...Bossy.”

“that it?”

“Um...”

“...ok, let’s talk about something else, then. have you ever had this sense of deja vu? like, the world just repeats itself?”

“I...Well...Um...”

“take your time, kid.”

Jevil hung his head low, unable to spit the words out. He wanted to tell Sans something important, but just couldn’t. Something just held his voice out, as if the words he would be saying would affect the world around him in a bad way. It was on the tip of his tongue.

“...can’t say, huh? that’s ok. though, i was kinda hoping to go a bit further with this conversation...one more thing, though.”

Jevil looked back up at the skeleton, making a curious noise.

“...are you from another world?”

The human blinked at him, then held his head in his hand in thought. Absentmindedly, he chewed on his fingernails. They felt so dull. In fact, sometimes it felt like his entire body was all wrong. But, that couldn’t be right...right? This was supposed to be his body, right?

He looked back up at Sans.

“I think so...”

Sans got up from the side of the bed. “welp. thanks for the info, kid.”

The door opened once again. Papyrus had returned.

“DID YOU MISS ME, HUMAN JEVIL?” Jevil nodded enthusiastically. “WELL, MISS ME NO LONGER! FOR I HAVE RETURNED WITH SPAGHETTI TO FILL YOUR BELLY WITH!” Papyrus presented the plate of spaghetti and a fork to the little human. The child took both. The tall skeleton looked at his brother. “AH. SANS. DID SOMETHING HAPPEN? YOU LOOK...WHY, YOU LOOK POSITIVELY BRIMMING WITH JOY!!”

“bro...bro you’re not gonna believe this...but i think our little friend here really is from another world!”

Papyrus looked confused for a moment, before realization washed over his face.

“YOU MEAN...YOU MEAN THERE MIGHT BE...”

“bro...we just might have a chance to go back...! i’m...i’m gonna go out back for a bit.”

Sans uncharacteristically ran out of the room. Papyrus watched him go with a big smile.

“WOWIE, HUMAN JEVIL! I DON’T KNOW WHAT YOU DID, BUT YOU’VE MADE MY DEAR BROTHER SO HAPPY!!”

Jevil looked up at him with a big, silly grin with his mouth full of spaghetti. He giggled as the skeleton gave a grand pose.

“HONESTLY, HUMAN JEVIL. HAVE YOU NO MANNERS?” 

Papyrus pulled out a handkerchief and attempted to wipe the spaghetti sauce off of his face. Jevil playfully resisted with a laugh, shoving the hand away unsuccessfully.

Once he was satisfied, Papyrus pulled the handkerchief away. Jevil went back to happily munching on the meal.

“NOW THEN...I DON’T SUPPOSE YOU DON’T REMEMBER WHAT YOUR NIGHTMARE WAS ABOUT?”

The child froze mid-chew. He wished he didn’t remember it. He still felt the coldness...the heartbreak of watching his friend walk away...Jevil shook his head harshly.

“CAN YOU AT LEAST TELL ME WHO THIS ‘SHAWM’ CHARACTER IS?”

“I...can’t remember...”

“YOU DON’T REMEMBER WHO ‘SHAWM’ IS? YOU SEEMED DISTRESSED AND CALLED THEIR NAME.”

“...No...Can’t remember...” Jevil went back to eating.

“WELL, THAT’S ALRIGHT! IF YOU NEED ANYTHING ELSE, JUST ASK ME. I WILL BE HERE AND STAND GUARD, HUMAN JEVIL! DON’T WORRY! I HAVE SENT WORD, AND THE QUEEN HERSELF IS COMING TO SNOWDIN! SHE’S VERY EXCITED TO SEE YOU!”

Papyrus took out a book and began to read to himself. Jevil finished his plate, wiped his mouth on his sleeve, and put the plate on the ground next to the bed. He let out a big yawn and lied down. He snuggled into the blanket, and within the minute, he was out like a light.

Sans returned to the bedroom. He looked rather disappointed.

“I’M GUESSING IT DIDN’T WORK...”

“no go...guess i shouldn’t have gotten my hopes up.”

“I DON’T BLAME YOU, BROTHER...WHEN YOU TOLD ME, I THOUGHT THE SAME THING. BUT IT JUST MAY NOT BE MEANT TO BE.”

“...kid sleeping again? geez. who wakes up, eats, and goes back to sleep?”

“SANS!!”

The shorter skeleton gave a light chuckle. The disappointment left his face.

“welp. i’m goin’ to grillbyz. you want anything, bro?”

“GET SOME JUICE FOR HUMAN JEVIL WHILE YOU’RE OUT! I THINK HE WOULD ENJOY THAT!”

“sure thing.”

Sans walked out of the room. Papyrus felt satisfied. He hadn’t seen his brother so happy in so long. Maybe they can never go back, and they may never see the surface, but to see that spark of hope in his brother’s eyes made him feel hopeful for the future as well. If this little human could make Sans feel hope again, well...he may be able to do just about anything.

Chapter Text

*You’re sleeping again?

The world felt all floaty. It was dark, but not oppressively dark. Jevil felt some sort of warmth surrounding him. He looked around and saw nothing.

“Hello?”

*You’re dreaming now. But perhaps you should wake up.

“But...I don’t want to be awake! Surely in conversation, we can partake?”

*Oh...You want to talk? To me? But why? I’m no one.

“You helped, helped me! You gave me a snack and tucked me to bed, bed!”

*...

“Please?”

*Ok...We can talk.

Jevil’s soul appeared in front of him. But the world wasn’t black and white. The purple glow of the black soul pulsed brightly in the darkness. A little ways away from him, a red heart appeared. Unlike his soul, this one was right-side up instead of upside-down. From the darkness, a child walked up to the red soul.

“Greetings. I am Chara.”

“Hello, hello!”

“Yes, hello, Jevil. Well...You have me. What do you want to know about?”

“...Why am I here, here? This world, this body, I must say...They feel all wrong, to my dismay...”

“You are from another world. Look below us.”

The room gained color. A dark blue that seemed to be stripes for the blackness. The stripes met in the middle and went down. It funneled to a thin strip, and the whole thing reflected at the center. The children lowered to the ground, and in between them was a sleeping body. Jevil knew this body. That tail...that blue skin...those ears...

He grinned.

“It’s me!”

“Indeed. You were bored with your world, so you made a deal and came to mine.”

Jevil reached out to touch the sleeping body.

“NO! DON’T TOUCH IT!” The shout from the human child made Jevil flinch. “If you touch your real body, you’ll wake up back in your world.”

Jevil backed away from the body.

He wasn’t sure why, but the whole scene reeked of...despair? It was the only word that would come to his fragmented memory.

“...Why is it sad here?”

“...I don’t know, Jevil. It’s your world. Not mine. I’m just here for the ride you take me on.”

“What do you mean, mean?”

“You are more Determined than I am. And our souls aren’t compatible. I can only interact with the world around us while you sleep...It’s funny. Even though your soul isn’t human, it’s filled with Perseverance. And even then, you have more Determination than me. I’ve only ever been matched.”

Chara stepped closer to Jevil. The gap between them became smaller and smaller. The human stopped when the two souls were merely inches apart.

“Chara...? Do you think...” Jevil looked at the sleeping body. He watched how it tossed and turned in restlessness. “Do you think I...we...can break the barrier, barrier? Together?”

“I...I don’t know. But even if I say no, you’ll try anyway.”

“I...I don’t want to go home, home...If this is home, then I want to stay with Papyrus and Seam--”

Jevil stopped himself when he said the wrong name. Tears fell down his cheeks. He wasn’t sure why, but after saying that name...He knew he had to go home at some point. Even if it was scary or sad, he would have to go back.

The world faded to black once again. Chara reached up and wiped away some of the tears. The human gave him a smile.

“We’ll figure it out later, ok? Together.”

Jevil let out a sniffle and wiped his nose on his sleeve. “Ok...Together.”

The children shook hands. Chara started to fade away. Jevil looked at their souls, watching how the glow of his soul turn from Purple to Red. He felt himself starting to wake up.

*Knowing that you aren’t alone in this world fills you with Determination.

Jevil opened his eyes, waking up from his dream. He sat up and yawned loudly, tongue sticking out a little as he stretched. He felt a lot better than the last time he woke up. He looked around the room...Right. He was in the Skeletons’ house. In Papyrus’s room. He swung his legs off the side of the race car bed. He noticed that the plate he left on the ground was gone. He smiled and pushed himself off the bed.

He left the room and looked down from the railing. The skeleton brothers were sitting on the couch. Sans was sleeping, but Papyrus was wide awake.

“AH, YOU’VE WOKEN UP AGAIN, HUMAN JEVIL! AND NO SCREAMING THIS TIME! DID MY PLATE OF LOVINGLY PREPARED SPAGHETTI BRING YOU THE SWEETEST OF DREAMS?”

Jevil couldn’t help but smile. He nodded and made his way down the stairs.

“AH! EXCELLENT! TRULY EXCELLENT! I’M GLAD!”

The child looked at the last three steps. With a grin, he jumped down to the floor, skipping the last three steps. He stuck the landing, clapped his hands together over his head, then opened them in an arc. A Spade, Heart, Diamond, and Club appeared over his head and shoulders like a little rainbow of suits.

“Tah-Daaaah~!”

“OH MY! SIMPLY AMAZING, HUMAN JEVIL! YOU JUMPED DOWN FROM SO HIGH UP!” Papyrus cheered, clapping his hands.

“HEARTS! DIAMONDS! I CAN DO ANYTHING!”

In his joy, he shot the suits out. The heart was headed toward the skeletons, but Papyrus caught it. As soon as his hand made contact with him, it disintegrated into nothingness. It didn’t even hurt.

Jevil was in a giggling fit. He ran toward the couch and launched himself at the tall skeleton with a “CATCH ME!” as his only warning. Papyrus caught him with blue soul magic. Now Jevil was floating upside down, laughing harder. His shirt rolled down with gravity.

Sans woke up with a snort. “eh? ‘s going on?”

“IT APPEARS THE HUMAN JEVIL IS QUITE THE THRILL JUNKIE, BROTHER!”

“heh...well well,” Sans commented, getting up slowly. “you seem to have him trapped in the air, bro.” Sans reached a bony finger out and poked the kid in the stomach. Jevil squealed and tried to squirm away. “heh. check it out, bro. humans have laugh buttons on their torsos.”

“OOH! I WANNA TRY!!”

“k. i’ll hold him for you.”

Jevil felt himself falling a little before being caught again with blue magic. He found himself facing the table instead of the couch.

“OH MY GOD!! SANS! SANS! HUMANS HAVE TAILS!!”

Sans went next to his brother. Sure enough, Jevil’s little tail was visible now that the shirt wasn’t covering it.

“...huh...”

“SANS, ARE HUMANS SUPPOSED TO HAVE TAILS?”

“...uh...based on the media from the dump...not really, no.”

“HUMAN JEVIL, DOES THE TAIL HURT?”

Jevil felt himself being lowered gently before the magic let him go. He straightened his shirt and looked up at the tall skeleton. He shook his head in response.

“welp. that answers that question. actually, i think him having a tail means we may not know all that much about humans at all. i’ll have to ask alphys about this.”

“WOWIE, HUMAN JEVIL! YOU CAN USE MAGIC AND YOU HAVE A TAIL?”

Jevil climbed onto the couch and nodded. Sans sat beside him.

“y’know kid, you’re pretty unique for a human. why don’t you tell us about yourself? let us get to know you better.”

“A WONDERFUL IDEA, BROTHER!! AFTER ALL, HE’S GOING TO BE HERE FOR A LONG WHILE WHEN THE QUEEN ARRIVES TO TAKE HIM HOME!”

“...Home?”

“yeah. she’s gonna bring you to the castle where she’ll take care of you. you’re gonna love her, i guarantee.”

Jevil remained silent. He wanted to speak up and say that he didn’t want to leave the skeletons. But what would he say to convince them? Do his choices really matter in this world?

“BUT THAT IS FOR LATER, HUMAN JEVIL! BUT NOW, TELL US ABOUT YOUR LIFE BEFORE YOU FELL.”

The child looked around. He realized that he didn’t know a thing about his life. He barely remembered his name. He was most likely not even from this world. What was he going to say?!

*You realize that you are a blank slate. The power to write your own story shines within you.

He took a deep breath and got off the couch. Sans scooched closer to his brother while they watched Jevil walk in front of the muted TV. The child gave a bow and began to spin his story,

“Once upon a time...There was a circus, circus! Come one, come all! See them rise and fall! Tightropes, juggling, and magic! Dangerous acts that could be tragic!”

He raised a hand and summoned a diamond and a club. He spun around once. Papyrus seemed enamored by his presentation, while Sans looked like he was confused about how he was summoning suits.

“A lady ran the show, and didn’t you know? She had a son, son! He could juggle and snatch coins at age three! And that son...was me, me!”

Diamonds appear all around him, seeming to twinkle.

“The circus lived on the mountain, mountain! I went looking for food, and here I am, I am!”

The suits disappeared and Jevil took a deep bow, indicating that the story was over. The brothers clapped at his performance.

“WHAT A GREAT STORY!”

“you got a pretty big vocabulary for a five year old, kid.”

“Uee hee hee! And I also got your ketchup, ketchup!”

Sans hurriedly dug his hands into his hoodie’s pockets, finding them empty. He looked at Jevil, who revealed a bottle of ketchup from his sleeve. The kid laughed and returned the stolen item.

“huh...”

Before Sans could comment about the apparent pick-pocketing, there was a knock on the door.

“I’LL GET IT!” Papyrus declared, launching himself over the couch to get the door.

Sans got up and patted Jevil’s shoulder. “guess that’s the queen.”

The two of them walked up to behind Papyrus. The skeletons grinned while the child hid behind them and only peaked out to see the new person.

“Hello, boys. I am here for the human child.”

Chapter Text

“YOUR MAJESTY! YOU’RE HERE! I HOPE THAT YOUR JOURNEY WAS LOVELY!”

“Sans. Papyrus. Good to see you two are in good spirits...Especially you, Sans. You look much happier than last I saw you.”

“heh heh...yeah. some new stuff came up...got me thinking that things are starting to look up now.”

The Queen looked down at Papyrus’s feet, seeing the human child hiding behind the tall skeleton. She got on her knees and held a hand out to him.

“Hello, my child. I am Toriel, Queen of the Underground. I’ve come to bring you to my home so that I may take care of you. Can you tell me your name?”

Jevil looked at her. He couldn’t respond. His mind was filled with memories of his past life coming and going. He knew this person in his past life. She must have been very important to him.

“HUMAN JEVIL? I KNOW THAT MEETING NEW PEOPLE CAN BE SCARY, BUT NEVER FEAR! I, THE GREAT PAPYRUS, AND MY BROTHER SANS HAVE YOUR BACK!! NYEH HEH HEH HEH! NO NEED TO FEAR OTHERS WITH SUCH WONDERFUL FRIENDS CHEERING YOU ON!”

Jevil snapped out of his memory lane. Now he couldn’t remember those flashing memories. Just that they left the impression that she was important. Timidly, he scooted himself a little bit closer to the Queen, gingerly reaching for her outstretched hand.

“I-I’m Jevil...”

“Jevil...Well, Jevil. I hope we get along famously,” she stated with a warm smile.

The child took hold of her hand and--

“FLUFFY, FLUFFY!!!”

Before she could blink, Toriel’s whole arm was being handled by the human. He rubbed his face in her fur, seeming to be content with the softness of it.

The Queen laughed fondly.

“uhhh sorry, tori. he’s not usually like this. he only just started talking to us in full sentences.”

“Oh it’s no problem, Sans,” Toriel reassured, lifting the human up as she stood. “At least he’s not afraid now.”

Jevil rubbed his face against hers in affection. She was so soft and fluffy and warm. It reminded him of...of...someone. Someone that brought him good feelings.

“welp, safe travels, you two.”

That made Jevil stop and look at the skeletons. Did Sans just say “you two”? As in, they weren’t coming with? He reached out to Papyrus in protest.

“OH? WHAT IS IT, HUMAN JEVIL? YOU HAVEN’T EVEN LEFT OUR DOORSTEP, AND YOU ALREADY MISS ME? NYEH HEH HEH! DON’T BE SILLY! AT LEAST WAIT FOR THE DOOR TO CLOSE BEFORE MISSING ME.”

“i think he wants us to come with, bro.”

“OH!”

Toriel looked at Jevil and smiled. “Would that make you happy, my child? If the brothers came with us?”

Jevil settled down and looked back at her. He nodded timidly.

“THEN IT IS SETTLED!”

“We’ll be walking back to the castle. I want the child to get to know the Underground better. This is going to be his home now, after all.”

“wait what? w-walking?”

“A PERFECT CHANCE FOR SOME EXCERCISE, BROTHER! NO MORE LAZYBONE TIMES FOR YOU, SANS!!”

“Come along, boys.”

Toriel walked away from the house with Jevil still in her arms, and she headed for the exit of Snowdin. Papyrus followed close behind, dragging Sans by the hood.

The child squirmed in the Queen’s arms, climbing up until he was sitting comfortably on her shoulders. He giggled at his own antics as Toriel let out a sigh. At that moment, she realized what a handful the human was going to be.

“Are you comfortable, my child?”

“Uee hee~.”

“I’ll take that as a yes.”

Jevil looked back at the skeletons. Papyrus had lifted his brother onto his back. Said brother was snoozing away. He tilted his head in curiosity.

“OH, NO WORRIES, HUMAN JEVIL! SANS IS PRONE TO SUDDEN NAPS! ESPECIALLY IF IT MEANS GETTING OUT OF DOING SOMETHING PRODUCTIVE.”

Jevil giggled, making Papyrus smile and laugh along with him.

Something caught the child’s attention. Something behind the skeletons. A Golden Flower that fled as soon as he noticed Jevil looking at him.

It was so quick that he wasn’t sure the flower was actually there.

Sans, having woken up, noticed the kid’s confusion. “everything alright, kid?”

“I...I thought...It’s nothing, nothing.”

Jevil looked forward again, slightly distraught. He wondered how long Flowey had been following him. He also wondered what made him hide from everyone else, seeing as he didn’t just say hi...

“Do you have family on the Surface, Jevil?”

Toriel’s voice snapped him out of his musings. He gave it some thought. New memories surfaced. Memories not of his past life, but his current life. Memories stemming from the story he gave himself.

*You begin to remember your life as a human child. The power of new memories shines within you.

“Yes...I have a mommy, mommy...”

“you turning shy on us, kid? you were talking a lot back in the house.”

“SANS, DON’T BE RUDE. HUMAN JEVIL IS STILL GETTING USED TO HER MAJESTY!”

Jevil rested his chin on top of Toriel’s head, nestled neatly between her horns. Big ears and horns...Just like his real self.

“We...are in the circus, circus...We perform for those bad and good...if only you give us money or food...”

The group had finally made it to the Waterfall section of the Underground. Papyrus let his brother down. Sans went over to a little sentry station near the blue flower.

“this is my stop. i’ll catch up with you guys later, ok?”

“ALRIGHTY! JUST TRY TO STAY AWAKE, WON’T YOU?”

“you know I can’t promise that, paps.”

“NYAH!!!”

The trio continued, leaving one skeleton behind so that he may do his job as a sentry, supposedly.

“Oh, Jevil. It sounds like life on the surface wasn’t too good,” Toriel noted, sympathy in her voice.

“Oh no, no! We always had something, something to eat! Most nights, we have a stew! Other nights, a drink the grown-ups brew! But mommy fed me everyday, everyday!”

“HUMAN JEVIL SAID THAT HIS FAMILY LIVES ON THE MOUNTAIN, AND THAT HE FELL DOWN HERE WHILE LOOKING FOR FOOD!”

“Oh, you poor dear. You must’ve been scared and confused. I’m sorry I wasn’t there for you. I used to be the caretaker of the Ruins before coming back after the king’s departure. I hope you weren’t too scared back there.”

“I had help from Flowey, Flowey!”

Toriel stopped and looked up at the human on her shoulders. “Flowey, my child?”

“OH! YOU HAVE MET FLOWEY AS WELL, HUMAN JEVIL? HE’S RATHER SHY, YOUR MAJESTY. FOR SOME REASON...HE DOESN’T LIKE TO SHOW HIS FACE TO OTHER MONSTERS! WHICH I THOUGHT WAS RATHER SILLY, BUT OH WELL!”

“Talking flower...”

Toriel let out a sigh as she continued forward. They could discuss this Flowey once they got to New Home.

Chapter Text

Despite what you may be thinking, Sans was not sleeping at his post. Far from it. He was making some calculations in his head.

Ever since Jevil told him that he may just be from another world, Sans had been calculating. There was some sort of stubborn hope that sparked in his soul that just won’t go away. Maybe this time, he could get the machine running again.

If he could get the kid to cooperate, maybe his magic could get them home...

“Hey, you smiley trash bag!”

A shrill voice took him out of his concentration. The skeleton looked over his post to see a golden flower talking to him.

“well...you must be flowey the flower. jevil mentioned you.”

“He did, did he? What else did he say?”

“the kid said you were bossy. heh heh heh heh. hope you didn’t give him too much of a hard time, buddy.”

BA-DUM TCH!

Flowey groaned at the forced pun. “Look, normally I wouldn’t even give you the time of day, but that human got me all curious. Things got interesting and all.”

Sans rested his head against a hand and leaned forward a little more. “yeah?”

“Did you see his soul? It’s all wrong! Nothing about it is human! It’s in the open position and it’s all black! He’s not human! I don’t even think he’s from this world...”

“i know!”

Flowey, shocked at the unexpected response, really looked at Sans’s face.

“...You’re way smilier than usual, trash bag! You’re actually happy about this?! Did you even look at his stats?!”

That got Sans to drop some of the sincerity in his smile. “...yeah...i have...”

“Are you not the least bit worried?! I know you don’t remember much, but the last time someone faced you with that high of stats, you didn’t show any mercy!”

“hang on there, buddy. i may not remember much, but i do remember things from previous resets. i remember a few of our fights. but so far, the kid’s been dust-free this whole time. his stats may say one thing, but his LOVE says another story.”

Flowey let out a growl of frustration. “GYAAAAAH! It just doesn’t make any sense! He’s too young to have those kinds of stats, and humans never have their souls in the open position unless a Monster does that for them! So if he’s not human, but he isn’t a monster...”

The two made eye contact. A line of thought crossed the skeleton’s mind that he never thought about before this very moment.

“...then what is he...?”

“Look, I know we had our disagreements in the past, but I think we can call a truce on this. The kid is unhinged and pretty closed off. Back in the Ruins, he refused to speak more than one word at a time to me. Did you and Papyrus have any luck?”

Sans stared at the flower. ‘Disagreements’ was putting it lightly, from what he remembered. He couldn’t fully remember the previous resets, but he remembered feeling righteous hatred toward the flower. He knew that Flowey had killed thousands of innocent people. The creature may not have a soul, but Sans could tell that Flowey’s LOVE was well beyond 20.

Still, he wasn’t gonna put up a fight. It wasn’t worth it right now.

“well, yeah, actually. there’s a bunch about the kid that’s off. for one, he can use magic.”

“You’re talking about that Scythe he summons, right?”

“the kid managed to summon four of them. he’s also been seen summoning card suit based attacks. y’know like clubs and diamonds.”

“Whoa...Well, from what I saw, when he’s wielding his Scythe by hand, he can destroy magic attacks. Now, I’ve seen magic attacks block other magic attacks. But I’ve never seen magic attacks that destroy other attacks without it being destroyed itself. By all rights, it shouldn’t be possible. Have you seen anything like that?”

“no...and we know it has to be a magic scythe because it starts out as a plastic sickle. i saw how he channeled power from his soul into the sickle...another thing i noticed about the kid is his change in demeanor when an encounter is started.”

Flowey thought back to when he initiated an encounter with the child. “When I encountered him, he looked all too happy, especially after he destroyed my attacks.”

“it was like he thought he was playing a game. he was all too happy to attack me back. in fact...no no...”

“Hey! Don’t hold back now, you stupid smiley trash bag! If you think something happened, then just say it already!”

Sans let out a sigh. He closed his eye sockets and pictured the fight with Jevil once again. “...it felt like his LV skyrocketed when it was his turn. i didn’t check at the time, but there was this glint in his eyes...it made me think of a little demon. that expression on his face...i don’t even want to grace it with a description...”

“A sudden spike in LV, huh...? Heeeeey pal, I just got a great idea!” Sans gave Flowey a skeptical look. “Oh don’t look at me like that! Look, I’ll continue to follow the kid, and if I see anything strange, I’ll tell you about it! You know, since we got this new truce going on.” Before Sans could respond, Flowey burrowed down and vanished from the area.

The skeleton laid his face on the wood of the post. He wasn’t sure what to think. He knew the kid could be dangerous, but...he can’t just attack now. Not when Papyrus and Tori seem so fond of him. He would never be able to face them if he attacked now.

Then again, even if he reacted to his attacks like someone with high enough LOVE, Jevil hasn’t hurt anyone yet. He’d have EXP if he had killed someone.

He may be the Judge, but he couldn’t make a decision on what to do with the kid...He just hoped that Jevil never makes it to the Judgement Hall...

He heard his phone ring...Great...Just what he needed. He fished the noisy thing out from his pocket and looked at the Caller ID.

The Legendary Fartmaster

He felt a genuine smile grow on his face. He answered the phone.

“nnnnyello~?”

“Is your refrigerator running?”

“why yes it is!”

“Good. Had to make sure. Otherwise, your brother would get mad at you for letting his spaghetti go bad.”

Sans barked out a light chuckle. The voice on the other end was exactly what he needed to hear to lift his spirits.

“it’s been a while since your last call, frisk.”

“Yeah sorry about that. School and all. Finally getting to tell people about my time in the underground without people thinking I’m just being a silly little kid. Helps that I’ve grown up some.”

“geez kid, you’re making me feel old.”

“It’s like you’re a fossil or something.”

The skeleton burst into laughter. “k-kid that was terrible! who told you to make such t-terrible jokes?”

“Ehehehehehe! Don’t even start, Mr. Funnybones...Anyway, has anything new happened lately?”

Sans went in front of his station and sat down, back against the wood. “actually, yeah. you won’t believe it.”

“I’m on the edge of my seat already.”

“a human kid fell down.” There was silence on the other end of the phone. Sans could probably guess what Frisk was thinking about. “don’t worry. he’s with paps and tori. nothing’s gonna happen to him.”

“Actually, I was more worried about you guys...What if he hurts you? Knowing you, he’d probably get you in your sleep.”

“i’ll have you know i’m a lot harder to hit than you’d think.”

“Yeah right. You? Sans the Skeleton? Doing something that involves moving? Now that’s a good joke...Tell me about the human.”

So he did. He told Frisk everything he knew about Jevil. His soul, his magic, his story, his mannerisms. No detail was spared.

“...so...you see my predicament here, right kid?”

“I do...But, think of it this way...Everyone has the capacity to hurt, right? You can’t judge him until he reaches the end. Like you did with me. Everyone deserves the chance to prove themselves, right?”

“‘cept jerry.” They both grimanced at the mere thought of Jerry. “anyway, enough about me. tell me about what’s going on up top?”

“Not much. My 16th birthday is coming up. My foster mom said that she’d take me to the circus to celebrate. At first it seemed silly to me, going to a circus for my 16th birthday. But, maybe I’ll go now. And if this kid can really break the barrier, maybe I’ll see you there, too. At the very least, I might get to meet this famous ‘Jevil’ kid.”

“he’s quite the card, once he opens up to you.”

“...Hey. Stay Determined, will you? Even if he can’t break the barrier, there is still hope for a happy life for you.”

“...yeah...yeah, ok, kid...take care of yourself, will ya?”

“I will. Talk to you later, Mr. Funnybones.”

“later, legendary fartmaster.”

“SANS I SWEA--” Click.

Sans grinned at his phone, snickering to himself after hanging up on Frisk. He got up, pocketing the phone. It was time for a break. Sentry duty was hard work, after all.

Chapter Text

Jevil ran back toward Snowdin with glee. He had grown bored with the bridge flower puzzles of Waterfall, and wanted to play a game. He wanted to play Hide and Seek in Waterfall.

Toriel was hesitant, but Papyrus countered that it would be a good way for the human to get more familiar with the area. With a defeated sigh, she had agreed to the game. She had turned around and started counting. The skeleton and the child split up to hide from Toriel.

Jevil had a great place to hide! He planned on hiding behind Sans’s station at the very beginning of Waterfall! He could barely contain his giggles!

But in his backtracking, he noticed something...strange...

An entire section of Waterfall he was sure wasn’t there before...With a gray door...

The child stared at the door in bewilderment. He was more than certain this area and this door weren’t there before.

A small noise caught his attention, and he looked down on the ground.

“Howdy, Jevil! Sorry I haven’t been around so much.”

“...Flowey...”

The golden flower was looking up at him with a smirk. “And here I thought you were a chatter-bug. That’s what Sans told me.”

Jevil’s smile dropped, looking back at the flower with an almost blank expression. “...You were following me...”

“Well, yeah! What kind of best friend would I be if I didn’t keep an eye out for ya?” Flowey retorted with a wink.

The child’s smile came back at the words “best friend”.

Flowey turned to face the door. “Huh...Strange door...” He turned to face Jevil once again. “You know, I like to think I know the entirety of the Underground as well as my stem, but I’m gonna be honest here, pal...I don’t think I’ve ever seen this door...”

Jevil tilted his head. He remembered how Flowey laid out all the solutions to the puzzles back in the Ruins. He didn’t think about it, but Flowey must really get around, being a flower and having nothing else to do. And who knows how old Flowey is?

“...Hey, I got an idea, pal. You mind giving me your arm?”

“Why?”

“I wanna see what’s in there, but I don’t think I can get in there on my own. I’m gonna wrap myself around your arm, and then we can check it out together!”

Jevil looked back at the door. He wasn’t sure why, but there was something...very... very wrong. He had this nagging feeling that he should not open that door. He didn’t realize he let a whimper escape his throat.

“What’s the matter? Don’t tell me you’re scared,” Flowey taunted. “You told me back at the Ruins that you could do anything!”

That got the kid’s attention. He glowered at the flower before kneeling down and shoved his left arm at Flowey. The flower in question snickered and wrapped himself around the arm like a snake. His roots came out of the ground, and he secured his face a few inches above the child’s shoulder, just below the bell of his hat.

The two made eye contact and nodded. Jevil lifted his right hand and slowly opened the door.

*Knowing that the strange door could be dangerous but going through it to explore fills you with Bravery.

The room before them was pure white and empty. Jevil stepped further into the room, confused beyond belief.

“What? Pure whiteness? That’s it?!”

The two of them looked all around. It was true. The room was completely devoid of anything.

The bad feeling returned to the child. Something in his gut told him to get out of there. Luckily, it seemed Flowey had a similar idea.

“Gaaah forget it. Let’s go back. This was a waste of time,” he conceded.

Jevil nodded and walked back to the door. How dull. Not even a fun place to hide in.

The gray door slammed shut in his face. The child twisted the knob and pushed and pulled in every which way. The door didn’t even budge! It reminded Jevil of the third lever in the Ruins.

“H-Hey! What are you doing?! Get us out of here already!”

“I can’t, can’t! It’s stuck, stuck!”

As Jevil continued to struggle with the door, Flowey looked behind them. The sight made him freeze.

Staring blankly at them was a human child that looked almost exactly like Jevil. But everything about it was in gray-scale. Its eyes were wide and completely black. Rather than being patchy like the real Jevil, its skin was only one shade of gray. Its clothes had stars going down the middle rather than diamonds. But the most notable thing about the fake Jevil was its tail. It was thick and long with a handle-like tip. It curved up to shape it like a “J”.

It just stared at them. It didn’t even look like it was breathing.

The child noticed the flower’s silence, and he turned to look at what Flowey was staring at.

The two human figures locked eye contact. Jevil felt a tugging at his soul, trying to lead him back to the door, but he found his feet moving toward the gray figure.

Soon enough, the tugging wasn’t just in his soul. Flowey made his stance very clear, shifting himself and trying to pull Jevil away.

“Jevil, get away from that thing!”

He stopped a foot away from the gray human figure and blinked at it. It barely moved. It was like a statue.

“...Hello?”

“Do you ever think about how easily we left our world?”

The voice was Jevil’s, but it was so lifeless and smooth. There was no bounce or character to be found in the words spoken.

It was like it was a husk of Jevil’s self.

“Do you ever think about how no one would even notice we’re gone?”

Horrible feelings of sorrow and despair stabbed the child’s soul. He backed away from the gray figure.

“We could never go back home, and the game would continue without us.”

Jevil turned to run to the door, but found that it had vanished. Flowey noticed that the body he was riding on was shaking.

“H-Hey, pal! D-Don’t you worry! It’s gotta be somewhere!”

The child turned around, and the figure was mere inches from his face. He fell back with a shriek, his right hand clutching his toy sickle tightly.

“We never really mattered in the game. We had no impact. No one is going to miss us. So what did we do? We ran away from the game to play another. We’re nothing but a coward. A coward that will be forgotten by everyone we loved.”

“Stop it...”

“Then again, what difference does it make? Our loved ones aren’t real to begin with. They were programmed to like us. Even then, we betrayed them. We fought against them all because we couldn’t handle the simple truth.”

“STOP IT, STOP IT! I DON’T WANT TO HEAR THIS ANYMORE, ANYMORE!”

Jevil covered his ears tightly, trying to block out any more words from the gray figure. Flowey blinked, and it was towering over them.

“They were never real friends. Even if they were, who would want to be our friend after all we’ve done. Especially with how badly we hurt Seam--”

“ALRIGHT, FREAK! THAT’S ENOUGH!”

Small bullets surrounded the gray human figure. It didn’t react at all, but it stayed silent. The bullets rushed at it, making an impact on it. The figure fell back, correcting itself on its tail.

“Jevil, we have to go! The door is back!”

But Jevil didn’t move from his spot. Tears ran down his face as the words echoed in his head. The Simple Truth...Of course...how could he have forgotten?

It was never real...The world is nothing but a fantasy...

He felt something constrict all around his body, wrapping around his limbs. Like a puppet, his body began to move on its own away from the gray human figure. He felt his arm reach out and his hand wrapped around a round object, twisting it.

Blues rushed in to replace the whiteness. They were out. The constricting feeling around his body loosened up until it was completely gone.

“...Jevil? You ok?”

Jevil slowly lifted his head. Flowey had replanted himself in the ground in front of him. He heard the door close behind him. He felt the tugging at his soul again, urging him to get back up.

The flower in front of him...the tugging at his soul...the skeletons...the queen...

The simple truth was that they were never real.

That horrible despair struck him again.

Because at that moment, he knew that he wasn’t the one playing the game. Someone else was playing, and he was just at the center of it. He was just another puppet.

Nothing he did had an impact...

Flowey looked away and burrowed underground quickly.

“THERE YOU ARE, HUMAN JEVIL! WE HAVE FOUND YOU!”

Slowly, Jevil looked up and saw two tall figures. Right...He was playing a game with Papyrus and Queen Toriel...

...Was it his choice to play with them? Or did someone choose that for him?

“I’ll admit, my child. I did not expect you to go back to where we came from. What an interesting place to hide. But...Why stay out in the open?”

They aren’t real...

“WELL THAT WAS FUN! BUT WE SHOULD REALLY BE HEADING TO NEW HOME NOW, DON’T YOU THINK?”

Nothing we do matters...

“...Jevil? My child? Are you alright?”

Nothing...matters...

Jevil blinked at them.

Heh...Nothing matters...Death has no meaning...

He felt a grin stretch across his face, exposing the gap between his two front teeth.

“Wanna play, play a different game? I promise it won’t be the same.”

Toriel felt a bit of uneasiness at the calm tone of voice. Papyrus noticed something was different about the human child.

“WELL...WHAT KIND OF GAME?”

“Uee hee hee hee...Oh...It’s just...a simple...numbers game.”

Papyrus glanced up. With trained reflexes, he pushed himself and his queen back, dodging a Scythe that fell at them. He looked back at Jevil, whose expression had become dark and sadistic.

“WHEN YOUR HP DROPS TO 0, YOU LOSE!”

Chapter Text

Hatred was a strong fuel. No one knew that better than Jevil. He’s seen first hand what hatred can do. 

He’s experienced hatred himself. Hatred swallows you whole and blinds you. You commit to every venomous word, every vicious swing. You don’t show Mercy. You want to make sure everyone is hurt like you are. And when targeted to something specific...The damage you can do to a physical body is nothing compared to the psychological damage you can inflict with targeted hatred. Jevil has also been on the receiving end of hatred. He saw it fuel literal fire that had threatened to swallow his body entirely. An angry dark eye that reflected the embers of anger and hatred still haunted his nightmares.

He remembered being freed from the shackles of ignorance and looking into the very code of the world. He could actually see the code that made up that knowledge, but something kept it out of his reach. The one thing he couldn’t do...He remembered that feeling of hatred for the knowledge consume his soul.

In his anger, he lashed out against the world he lived in. He went down a path everyone would frown upon if it meant he could have some sort of control. He aimed to attack everyone the game wanted to keep alive. If he could kill one...Just one character of importance...!

Maybe it wouldn’t do anything good, but it would go against the game. And maybe...just maybe...they could be free from the shackles of the code and make choices that matter!

No one would see the truth back then...

But now he has a chance! A chance to prove that he was the one in control! That he can make choices that matter! That there was more to reality than the code details!

He couldn’t hear anything...The world was completely silent. He can only see the 1s and 0s of the world around him. The 1s and 0s translated themselves into letters and numbers. And those letters and numbers formed strings and sentences.

*Papyrus and Toriel blocked your path.

Well that just wouldn’t do. How was he supposed to get through with his path blocked?

He scrolled through the strings of code that made up the battle system of this world. Somewhere around here should be the code for their HP. All he had to do was change the value for the current HP to 0, and he would win this simple numbers game. After all, these characters were allowed to die at this point. Otherwise, an encounter could never have been initiated. Now, where was it...?

Jevil glanced at the code that made up his own HP for reference...That couldn’t be right...His HP was dropping. How? It was his turn! Neither of his opponents could be attacking him! And the way his HP was going down, it’d have to be bypassing his set invincibility frames.

It stopped at 1, refusing to go down any further than that. Good. Now he can focus. Ah, but even if he dropped one of his opponents’ HP to 0, he’d be at risk of losing. He used his turn to change his HP from 1 back to 99.

He changed his view from the code to a GUI. It would simply be easier to dodge their attacks if he could actually see where the attacks are going. He guided the upside-down black heart with a finger away from getting hit by flames raining down and bones scrolling from the side. He inevitably took damage from a slowly scrolling bone, but that wasn’t what caught his attention. He noticed he had invincibility frames.

His opponents’ turn ended.

Down on his interface, he saw a small bone move in and out over his FIGHT option. He grit his teeth in frustration as he saw it bypass his invincibility frames.

He then noticed a little KR next to his HP. He shifted his cursor over to the ACT option and went back into the code view. Now he can focus on the fight.

Looking through Toriel’s code, he finally found the lines that controlled her current HP. All he had to do was replace it with 0 and she’d lose the game!

...But where was the fun in that? What was the point of the world being a game if he didn’t actually play it?

So he went over to her Defense instead and changed it from 80 to 0.

Jevil switched back to the GUI and growled in irritation. The bone that was damaging him had followed his cursor! He went back to the code and refilled his HP. Once again, his turn had ended. Back on the GUI, he guided his cursor away from danger. He recalled never really bothering to dodge in the past, but he had much less HP than he was used to.

Now that he knew what to expect, it was much easier to dodge. After all, this game won’t progress to the next stage until he either FIGHTs or Spares. The attacks weren’t even intricate or challenging to him.

His turn once again. The bone on his HUD had returned. He moved his cursor around, seeing that the bone indeed followed his cursor. 

Fine then.

As quick as he could, he switched to the code view and skimmed through Papyrus’s stats. He changed the skeleton's defense to 0 and switched back to the GUI. He selected the FIGHT option and timed it almost perfectly.

But it missed.

Jevil felt himself physically recoiled from the shock. How?! Attacks are never supposed to miss!

A text box started to fill in his GUI. Someone was speaking to him.

“D i r t y  h a c k e r.”

A split second after he finished reading the new text, pain enveloped his senses. His view of the GUI and the code vanished, and fell forward to his knees in agony. Tears welled up in his eyes, but he bit his lips to stop his cries from escaping.

Sounds rushed to his ears. Someone was calling his name. He couldn’t tell who it was, but they sounded worried...beyond scared...betrayed, almost...His eyes fluttered shut, and the world faced into nothingness. Darkness surrounded him.

Jevil...Jevil, wake up!

Jevil, please, it’s me!

This isn’t like you, Jevil.

Snap out of it, Jevil!

Please! Jevil! Come back to me!

It’s me, Jevil! You don’t have to fight!

He could’ve swore he was seeing something...someone purple reaching out to him. He wanted nothing more than to take hold of that purple someone.

I...I’m so sorry...Even if you aren’t real...

I just wanted control...

I wanted to be able to choose for once...

I need to free this world.

I just wanted our choices to mean something.

Comforting warmth wrapped around him. It felt like warmth from a fire...or a lantern...

I’ll come back, Seam...I’ll make things right, I promise.

“You really care about everyone, don’t you?”

Jevil turned around to see his friend again.

“Chara...”

“You really want nothing but to help this world and yours, huh?”

“I...”

“No. I get it. I really do. I poisoned myself and gave my soul to a monster so that we could get enough souls to break the barrier. All I wanted was to give the monsters a better future where they can be in the sun or see the stars at night. But all I ended up doing was getting me and my best friend killed. So...I get it.”

“I don’t...I just...”

Chara smiled at Jevil in empathy. “Jevil...I don’t think we can go against the game and its rules...But...We promised to break the barrier together. If you can’t free this world from the code, then maybe we can play to win the game. Get the best ending.”

“...Ok...How, How do we do that?”

“Well...You got a new trait recently. Look at your soul.”

He looked down and saw his black soul glowing purple...but then it changed to red. Then orange. And then back to purple.

“...Are there more, more traits to gain?”

“You have three. There are four more traits known to exist. What’s left is Justice, Kindness, Patience, and Integrity...And I think I know how to get one of them.”

Jevil felt himself grinning. “Uee hee hee! Really, really?”

“It’s gonna be hard, though. Are you ready?”

“Yes, yes!”

Chara looked at him dead in the eyes. “You need to swear to never mess with the code ever again.”

That knocked the grin off of Jevil’s face. Not mess with the code of the world?! But why?! It’s not like it’s hurting anyone if he--

...That’s just it, isn’t it? He really was nothing but a cheater if he continued to mess with the code of the world...

“...I promise, promise to never change the code ever again, again.”

Chara held a hand out, and Jevil shook it. The deal was struck. The world started to blur and morph into something else.

“Time to wake up, Jevil...”

*Memories of a personal vow to play fair resurface. You are filled with Integrity.

Jevil opened his eyes, feeling something fluffy pressed against his face. He was moving,

He lifted his head, seeing white fluff where his head was.

“There you are, my child. Are you feeling better?”

The Queen...Why was she smiling at him like that? Like she was glad to see him? After what he tried to do?

“YOU HAD US WORRIED, HUMAN JEVIL...ARE YOU ALRIGHT?”

The child rubbed his eyes and looked around. Both skeleton brothers were standing beside the Queen, looking at him in concern.

“kid...?”

“...So sorry, sorry...Forgiveness you don’t owe...I’ve wronged you, and I will reap what I sow...”

Sans let out a sigh. “look. kid. i don’t know how, but you were cheating back there.”

Jevil looked away from everyone, feeling the weight of his sins crawling on his back. He couldn’t deny it. He once prided himself on playing aggressively, but he had played fairly.

He just hated the way the world worked so much...He lost himself.

“...........hey, tori..........”

“Yes, Sans?”

“gimme a moment with him. alone.”

“BROTHER, THIS IS NO TIME FOR JUDGING!”

“i know, bro...i just wanna talk.”

“...Alright, Sans. Come along, Papyrus.”

Toriel and Papyrus moved on ahead, leaving the shorter skeleton and the child alone. Jevil couldn’t look him in the eye socket.

“...i get it, kid. if i had your kind of power, well...there is so much i would have changed.”

A bony hand rested on the child’s shoulder. Hesitantly, he looked up at the skeleton.

“i know what you know. that things can be better than this. the previous human that fell before you could reset time if killed. all that power, and the kid could’ve done something more for us...but wouldn't...”

“...Why?”

“funny thing...when i asked, the kid said...’because i want to live with the consequences.’ and that...it clicked with me. and i have a feeling that that’s something you needed to hear.”

Jevil couldn’t help himself. He teared up and launched himself at the skeleton, hugging him tightly.

Sans was startled by the sudden impact. After taking a second to process what happened, he hugged the child back firmly, rubbing his back to comfort him.

“i don’t know much about your abilities...but what i do know is that someone out there must really care about you...someone that’s really rooting for you to get your happy ending...”

Jevil felt the skeleton let go of him, but he still hung on.

“c’mon, kid. let’s catch up with the others.”

The child, reluctantly, released his embrace on the skeleton. Sans took one of his hands and led them to the other two.

...And behind them, a golden flower was plotting away...

Chapter Text

Most of Waterfall was spent riding on Toriel’s shoulders. It was decided by the trio of Monsters that it would be best if Jevil was no longer able to get into encounters. And no one would dare start an encounter against the Queen. Not with that stern look she gave anyone that looked like they were gonna pick a fight. Plus, it seemed like the child was very happy to rub his face in her fur, voicing his contentment ad nauseam.

“Uee hee hee! Fluffy, fluffy!”

“So soft in the head! Like laying against the fluffiest bed!”

“Smells like yummies, yummies!”

Sans had to admit that it was rather adorable the way the kid just loved Tori’s fur. Outside of battle, Jevil was just so affectionate...Almost touch-starved. It could be the case. Maybe, if he really was from another world, he was a very lonely being. 

At any rate, a cuddle bug was much preferable to a murderous magic human.

Currently, Toriel was telling the child about how he can choose to ACT instead of FIGHT. How ACTing can lead to being spared with MERCY. The human seemed fascinated by the concept. Like it never crossed his mind that he could show MERCY. Or that there could be differing results from FIGHTing versus ACTing.

It was almost like he never thought his choices ever had impact. It left Sans wondering what kind of life the kid led. Both in his world and on the surface.

The long trek through Waterfall was rather uneventful. The most notable thing that happened was when they entered Gerson’s shops.

“Woah there! Nice to see you, your majesty.”

“Gerson! It’s been far too long. So sorry I haven’t come by to--”

Toriel felt squirming on her shoulders. Jevil was maneuvering himself to stand up. Once he found his balance, he jumped off of her shoulders and onto the counter. The monsters watched in silence and the human lodged himself against the old tortoise, looking rather pleased with himself.

“Well, who’s this little urchin?”

“THAT IS THE HUMAN JEVIL! HE’S NOT NORMALLY THIS QUICK TO LATCH ONTO STRANGERS...”

“seriously, old man. he didn’t even warm up to tori that fast.”

Jevil hardly paid attention to them. This monster...He reminded him of an old friend. An old shopkeeper with a bad eye with plenty of junk for sale...The monster was clearly scarred from battles long left in the past, and with his old age, must’ve known so much history...It all clicked too well for Jevil not to notice. Because for the first time since he woke up in that patch of golden flowers, something in this world really felt like home.

The child looked over to the symbol on the wall behind the tortoise, and made a noise of curiosity.

“Eh? That old thing? Wa ha ha! That’s the Delta Rune, the emblem of our kingdom! The Kingdom of Monster. Wahaha! Great name, huh? It’s as I always said...Ol’ King Fluffybuns couldn’t name for beans!”

Jevil kept staring at the symbol. The Delta Rune...He felt like he had seen this symbol before, but something about it felt...he couldn’t put it into words what it felt like.

But then he realized what Gerson actually said.

“Said? Couldn’t?”

“Ah, my child. Don’t worry--”

“Yeah he was a piece of work. A good friend, though. A shame he passed on...”

Jevil looked at Gerson again. Some part of him wailed in sorrow when the tortoise said that. He hugged the old monster rather tightly. He felt like it would help ease the sadness in both of their souls.

“...Thanks, you little urchin,” Gerson mumbled, patting the child’s back.

Toriel picked up the little human and set him back on her shoulders. Jevil went back to snuggling against her fur.

“My apologies for all this, Gerson. We just wanted to show Jevil around, since he’s going to be living down here.”

“Ahhh no worries, Tori. But next time, buy some items, won’t you? Wa ha ha!”

The group left the shop after that, meandering off the normal path to get some Nice Cream. The monsters watched in both shock and awe as the kid devoured his frozen treat. He giggled as he held his cheeks, clearly enjoying the taste.

“Uee hee hee! More, more for me, please!”

“Jevil, my child. You really shouldn’t have too much Nice Cream. But, if you really want another, you can have another. But, please save it for later.”

Jevil was more than happy with the idea of saving his treat for later. He put his extra Nice Cream in his inventory. He whistled a funny tune, happy to watch the world around him from his perch.

At least until they entered the Lantern Room.

The child jumped down from on top of Toriel and ran back. Sans was kind of impressed with how fast his little legs could carry him.

“ACK! HUMAN JEVIL! COME BACK!” Papyrus took after the child, with Toriel following close behind. Sans opted to take a Shortcut, having a good idea where the kid was going.

In the south eastern corner of the room before the Lantern area was a hidden path. It tickled at Jevil’s memory faintly. The grown-ups of the group didn’t seem to notice the path, but Jevil saw it.

He followed down the hidden path, and wasn’t quite sure what greeted him at the end of it.

“hOI!!!!!”

A chorus of high pitched greetings bounced off the walls as small creatures in blue shirts stared at him. The volume of noise made Jevil flinch and pull his hat down so that it covered his eyes and ears in an attempt to hide himself.

Furry arms wrapped all around him and started to pet him. The child fell to the ground, giggling at the tickling sensation of stretchy, fuzzy paws petting him from every direction.

“awwAwa cute!!”

“OMG!! human TOO CUTE”

“aCK!!! hOIVS!!!”

“oH noes!!!! MUSCLS LADY!!!”

Furry paws and faces dispersed away from the human as a powerful voice boomed out someone by the statue of the creature.

“Alright, Temmies, time for you to BACK UP, ALREADY!!!”

The Temmies parted to let another monster through. Once Jevil caught his breath from all the giggling he had done, he looked up at the imposing figure.

“So, you’re the punk called Jevil, huh? I’m Undyne,” the tall fish lady proclaimed, holding a hand out to help the child stand back up.

Jevil tilted his head and grinned. He took the hand to get back up...

...Only to be flung toward the ceiling and caught bridal style by the fish woman. He couldn’t help the joyful squeals that escaped his mouth and he was spun around.

“NYAH HA HA HA!!! You’re so light! How do you wield that super cool scythe of yours?!”

Undyne put the giggling kid down. She lifted his hat and ruffled the poofy hair that was underneath. When the hat wasn’t returned, the child jumped up to grab it, only to find it yanked out of reach before his fingers could touch it. The bells jingled as he kept jumping to grab the hat and missing. Undyne laughed at his futile attempts.

“oh. can’t say i saw this coming.” The pair looked toward the entrance of the village, spotting the shorter of the two skeletons. “i would’ve figured you would attack the first moment you saw him, undyne.”

“Oh. Sans. Yeah, I was thinking about it, but Alphys made me swear not to initiate an encounter the first chance I had,” she explained, placing the hat back to its rightful place on Jevil’s head. “But, thinking about sparring with this little punk has me PUMPED!!!” She got into a fighting stance, punching and kicking the air. “A battle against a magic human! And he’s got this awesome scythe that he can conjure and it’s JUST SO COOL!!! NYAAAAAAH!!!”

She finished off with a sweet back-flip. Jevil clapped and cheered at her performance.

The Temmies closed in around him and they started to pet him again. One of the more daring Temmies glomped him.

“aWW!!! hoomin...TOO cuTES!!!”

“must...PETZ!!!”

“noOOO!!! More hOIVS!!!”

Jevil wasn’t going to complain. He loved all the attention and affection the Temmies were giving him.

“Uee hee hee hee hee hee hee!!! T-Tickles, tickles!”

Sans shook his head and turned the human’s soul blue. He lifted the child from the pile of Temmies. The one that glomped him fell off his body. He was dropped down next to the skeleton, still giggling at the aftershocks of the petting and tickles.

“you have a knack for making people worried, kid.”

Jevil stood up, brushing the dirt off of his pants and shirt. “Uee hee hee. So sorry, am I. But I had to find out what laid beyond the hidden path!”

“...you really don’t talk like a 5-year-old. what even are you?”

“Uee hee! I REALLY DON’T KNOW!” He shouted, giving a twirl.

“C’mon, kid. Let’s go find Papyrus and Miss Toriel.”

The child reached up at Undyne, making a grabbing motion with his hands. For a moment, she was confused by what he was asking of her. It took her a moment, but she did figure out what he wanted. With a laugh, she lifted him up with one arm high enough for him to climb onto her shoulders. The child rubbed his little hands in her fiery red hair.

“Soft, soft!”

“well then. shall we?”

“Yeah, let’s go before someone gets a panic attack.”

Chapter Text

Most of the rest of the trip through Waterfall was spent on Undyne’s shoulders, head resting on hers. After all that giggling and excitement at Temmie village, Jevil was beyond drowsy. Not completely tired, but just drowsy enough to struggle to keep his head up. Despite his apparent exhaustion, the child couldn’t bring himself to keep his eyes shut. Not even the fish woman’s shouting could wake him up.

The adults were talking about something. Not that Jevil could really perceive what they’re saying. It all sounded like he was underwater and they were all on the surface...He decided to continue that thought a little.

It was like he was underwater and they were on the surface. He would be looking up from under the water, watching the rippling figures converse. It wasn’t like he was drawing, though. It was peaceful. Like he could stay underwater forever and not feel the need to reach the surface.

The boy was in a state of limbo, and was quite happy to stay that way.

Jevil felt a tug at his soul. Well, less of a tug and more of a gentle nudge. Gentle enough to be more of a suggestion than a demand, but enough force behind it to jostle him back to the surface of the water that made his drowsiness.

He must’ve actively flinched when the tugging happened, because Undyne stopped and looked up at him.

“Huh? You ok there, punk? Something scare you?”

“Oh no, never, never! No fear here! Uee hee hee!”

Jevil took note of his surroundings. It seems as though they finally made it out of Waterfall. A giant Light Sign read: WELCOME TO HOTLAND!

The group came to another stand. Sans took it as his cue to leave the group once again for “work”.

“don’t look so glum, kid. i’ll meet you up ahead,” he reassured with a wink.

Undyne, starting to sweat from the heat of Hotland, set down the human from her shoulders. She let out a huff and wiped the sweat from her brow.

“Whew! Nothin’ like a good sweat to get your heart pumping!”

Jevil gave a bit of a shaky grin, his feet shifting ever so slightly on the somewhat grilling ground. First was the bitter cold of Snowdin, now it was the burning heat of Hotland. He wiggled his toes a little. Well, his little feet have made it this far. Surely, they can carry him to the barrier.

He can do it! He can do anything!

“HUMAN JEVIL? ARE YOU ALRIGHT? YOU KEEP MOVING YOUR FEET!”

Papyrus and Toriel seemed to be unaffected by the heat. Jevil figured Papyrus wouldn’t mind the heat because he was a skeleton. But, Toriel puzzled him. With all of that fluffy and soft fur, surely she should be overheating, right? But she seemed to be just as content as she was in Snowdin.

“Goodness, how have I not realized that you have no shoes, my child?!” Toriel lifted the child up from the ground and handed him to Papyrus. The skeleton situated Jevil on his shoulders. The human pouted down at him, unhappy at having to keep still once again. There wasn’t even any soft hair or fur for him to rub. The skull was eerily smooth and cool to the touch. It felt all sorts of wrong.

Papyrus, sensing the child’s discontent, simply let out his signature laugh.

“NYEH HEH HEH HEH! NO WORRIES, HUMAN JEVIL! FOR I, THE GREAT PAPYRUS, WILL MAKE SURE YOUR FEET DO NOT BURN! THE GREAT PAPYRUS SHALL NEVER LET HIS FRIENDS DOWN!! ...UNLESS IT’S TO PUT THEM BACK ON THEIR FEET AGAIN. WHICH I WILL WHEN WE GET TO THE LAB!”

“Yeah, no sweat, punk. You’ll be back on the ground in no time.”

It really was a short walk. Before he knew it, the group had arrived at a large building. They went inside, the large room dark.

“Alphys turned the lights off again. Hold on, I got it.”

Undyne went deeper into the room. Papyrus finally set Jevil down on the cool tile floor. Jevil looked up and saw the back of his hat on a big screen.

It’s him...?

The lights came on, showcasing the lab in its entirety.

“There!”

“WOWIE!”

“Oh good.”

“Is that me, me?”

The tall skeleton looked at the large monitor. “OH! THE ROYAL SCIENTIST AND HER ASSISTANT ALWAYS KEEP AN EYE ON ANY HUMANS THAT FALL DOWN! THE SAME THING WAS DONE FOR THE PREVIOUS HUMAN THAT FELL.”

“Have no fear, my child. It’s just to make sure that nothing happens to you,” Toriel reassured. Despite her warm smile and gentle tone, Jevil had a hard time believing it. Especially after what happened in the strange door.

“NOW THEN! WHERE IS ALPHYS? I HAVE BROUGHT WITH ME SOME SPAGHETTI LOVINGLY PREPARED FOR MY FRIENDS!”

“Hey, uh, your majesty? Papyrus?” Undyne called out. “Can I talk to you about that? Upstairs?”

“Oh. Of course, Undyne.” The Queen bent down to Jevil’s level. “Why don’t you have a look around the lab while the adults talk upstairs? If you need anything, just come up and ask, my child.”

“Uee hee! Ok, ok!”

The monsters all went to the second level of the lab. Jevil decided to take up the Queen’s suggestion and explore.

The first thing that caught his eye was a gigantic bag. He grabbed at the plastic and climbed into it. There were loads of little things at the bottom of the box that smelled funny. He picked one up and sniffed it, licked it, and then ate it. The crunch was very nice, even if the taste was a little strange. He didn’t hate it. He took a handful of the stuff and shoved it in his face for maximum crunching and giggled.

His soul turned blue and he was raised out of the bag. The child found himself face-to-face with three disappointed faces. He simply grinned back.

“My child...”

“Yeah, that’s not food for you to eat, punk. That’s dog food.”

“...Uee hee! Crunchy, crunchy!” Jevil stated, some kibble falling out of his mouth.

“TRY TO RESTRAIN ANY POTENTIAL IMPULSE TO PUT THINGS IN YOUR MOUTH! A STRONG IMPULSE, I UNDERSTAND!! BUT I BELIEVE THAT YOU CAN DO IT!!”

“I can do anything!”

“Very good, my child.”

Jevil was lowered to the ground next to the giant bag of dog food. The adults went back to talking. The child strained his ears to try and listen to their hushed conversation.

“What do you mean you don’t know where she is?”

“I mean that I don’t know where she disappears to. I look everywhere, and she’s not there!”

The human found himself very much bored with the conversation. He wandered over to a door with a funny sign on it.

*It’s a bathroom sign. This must be the bathroom.

But when he went to open it, the door slid open to reveal an elevator.

With a tilt of his head, he wandered inside. The door slid shut and the elevator began its descent down...down...down...

Jevil closed his eyes, memories from his past life poking their heads out just a little. He’s gone down this far before...The word “Freedom” moved all around his thoughts like a pesky mosquito buzzing around his ear.

The elevator stopped and the door slid open. Jevil stepped out, the smell of the place tickling at his memories.

He wandered down the hall, not really paying any attention to the screens that lit up when he passed them. He kept walking until he came across a large door with four colored circles on it.

*It won’t budge.

He went over to the vending machine next to the big door. His arms were too short to use it. On impulse, he gave it a kick. A bag fell down to the flap on the bottom. The human took the bag out, inspecting it.

*It’s a bag of Popato Chisps.

He tore the bag open and found something in it. He took a “chisp” and sniffed it, licked it, and ate it.

“Mmmm! Crunchy, crunchy!”

With no grown-ups to stop him, he munched on the salty snack until the bag was licked clean. He crumpled the bag up and stuck it in his pocket with the wrapper from the chocolate bar he ate. He looked to the left of the vending machine and saw another hallway. He once again paid no mind to the screens, but the strange pipes and machinery caught his attention a bit. He kept walking until he found some sinks.

He did feel parched after that salty snack he just had...

He climbed up onto one of the sinks and turned on the faucet. He was about to stick his face under the water when he noticed something strange about it.

The water was all white and gooey. He dropped down from the sink to try another when the white goo filled the sink and spilled out. It moved all weird and divided itself into three separate piles. The piles began to rise up from the ground and took up a strange form.

A voice echoed all around the child to the point where he thought it was directly in his head.

“Come join the fun.”

Jevil was about to turn and run away, but something in his soul resonated with what the strange voice was actually saying. He felt a tugging at his soul that wanted him to ACT. To say no.

But he refused. He wouldn’t let any outside force dictate his actions. He was going to play this game the way he wanted to.

“O-Ok...”

“Then hold still.”

One of the strange forms crept up to him. It opened a large orifice and let out a loud screaming sound. The child covered his ears as the form lowered itself to smother him.

And the world became darkness for the briefest of moments...

And then all he could process was pure chaos. It was agony. The feeling of despair...It was like he was experiencing his own...and everyone else’s...worst memories...

No! NO! HOW COULD THIS HAVE HAPPENED...?!

I don’t like this plan anymore....

How could you say that, Asgore?!

Sorry, Blooky. My dreams can’t wait anymore.

I’m so sorry...This is all my fault...!

THIS...WASN’T PART OF THE GAME...!

just give up...i did...

Doctor Gaster! It’s unstable!

BROTHER, YOUR HP...!

Azzy...I’m sorry...

It was too much...

LET GO, SANS! YOU CAN’T HOLD ME FOREVER!

doc...doc no!

I couldn’t even save a single child...

IT DOESN’T MATTER!! NOTHING WE DO MATTERS!

They’re gone, Tori...They’re both gone...

THAT KID IS HUMAN, PAPYRUS! THE LAST HUMAN SOUL! AND THEY ARE THE ONLY THING STANDING BETWEEN US AND THE SURFACE! THE KID HAS TO DIE, YOU HEAR ME?!

sn.................snowy............

I...I can fix this! I-I have to fix this...!

No one could ever stand this much pain and loss...

I...I wanna go home!

I miss my mommy and daddy!

St-Stay back! I’m warnin’ ya! I’ll shoot!

It’s ok...I understand...

I don’t wanna die!

Please don’t keep me here forever...!

Make it stop...

Asriel, we’re being killed! Please! Do something!

Someone! Anyone! Please! Help me!

But nobody came.

But nobody came.

But nobody came.

But nobody came.

But nobody came.

But nobody came.

But nobody came.

But nobody came.

“GET OFF OF HIM!”

All at once, the misery left the child, finally letting him breathe. Tears escaped his eyes as he held himself to bring some form of comfort.

Vines took hold of his little hands, drawing his attention to the flower that just chased away the strange creature.

“Howdy, pal...Just breathe, ok?”

“F...Flowey...”

Jevil felt himself trembling. After that bombardment of noise and sensations, silence and stillness had rushed in to fill the void left behind. Ever so slowly, the child opened up from under his self-made cocoon.

“Whoa...Your soul is out? But you’re not in an encounter...”

Jevil looked down and saw his soul. Sure enough, there it was. Upside-down, black, glowing purple, then red, then orange, then blue, then back to purple.

“What...was...?”

“That was a Memoryhead, you idiot!” Flowey noticed Jevil flinch at his tone. Letting out a sigh, he decided that for now, he could act kind. “Look...Next time, don’t take up their offer to join the fun. Now, I bet you have questions about what you may have seen or heard in there.”

“...Who’s Asgore...?” The human inquired, voice still shaking.

“...Not the question I was expecting, but alright. Asgore was the king of the monsters. He was killed by a human who then escaped the underground. See, normally, only the combined power of a human and a monster soul can get someone past the barrier. And Boss Monster souls can last a little bit in this world when their body turns to dust. Normal monster souls don’t last outside their bodies, so a human would need to kill a boss monster to get past the barrier. Unfortunately, there were only two known boss monsters when the previous human fell. That’d be the King and the Queen.”

“What...What about...the other kids, kids?”

“Remember when I said that the monsters had hold of six human souls, and now they’re back to where they started? They were the souls of the six children that fell before the previous human. They were killed,” Flowey explained with a neutral smile.

The child curled around himself once again. Sobs made their way out of him, despite his attempt to keep them down.

Flowey noticed something strange happening to Jevil’s soul. It had stopped its glowing.

“Cruel...Cruel...”

“Uhhh you ok, pal?”

“So much pain...and they died in vain...”

“Umm...”

“Why...? Why did they have to die?”

“Golly...You must’ve seen quite a bit from those Memoryheads.”

“They were afraid, but to rest they were laid...So young...like me, me!” Flowey watched the soul start to glow a new color. Jevil raised his head and wiped the tears from his eyes, looking Determined. “I...I won’t let it, let it be so!”

“Uhhh what do you mean by that?”

“The barrier will be destroyed, destroyed! I have to break it for them! Or else they would have died for nothing, nothing!”

Jevil’s soul started to fully glow yellow.

Flowey grinned with new interest.

“...Saaaaaaaay...How about we team up again? Carry me on your arm again, and I’ll keep those Memoryheads away while you explore this place.”

Jevil looked at him and wordlessly offered his arm. Once again, the flower wrapped himself around the limb. He got up, eyes completely dry and his heart set on his true objective. No more distractions.

*You decided to avenge the deaths of the previous children by making sure their sacrifices were not in vain. You are filled with Justice.

Chapter Text

“Grab the key from the sink. I think those Memoryheads left it behind.”

Jevil climbed back up the sink. In place of the goop was a red key. He took it and put it in his inventory next to the Snowman Piece. He climbed back down and moved forward, Flowey in tow. He walked into a room with only a key slot in it. The child took the key out to put it in the slot, but found he was too short to reach it. Flowey wrapped a vine around the key, taking it from Jevil, and put it in the slot and gave it a twist. It clicked, and a red light began to flicker. Satisfied, Jevil left the room to move forward.

They came to a room filled with beds. One of the beds’ had its blanket pulled back. It looked so comfy to Jevil. He found himself yawning and staring at the bed. A vine poked his face.

“Look, if you plan on taking a nap, I’ll give you ten minutes. Now put me down.” Jevil pouted at him, but the flower didn’t budge on his stance. With a sigh, the child lowered his arm and let the flower get back to the ground. 

Once Flowey replanted himself, Jevil climbed into the bed, not bothering to pull the covers over himself. Flowey could count the seconds on his petals how quickly the child fell asleep. He was quietly snoring.

The attack from the Memoryheads must’ve taken a lot out of him.

Flowey stared at the child. It was subtle, but he could see him shivering a little from the cold air around him. The flower let out a sigh, and raised a couple of vines to bring the covers up. But before he could, there was a red glow coming from Jevil’s chest. The glow left his body and coalesced on the side of the bed next to Flowey. The red glow took the shape of another human child. It didn’t look like Jevil at all. In fact, Flowey could’ve sworn it looked like...

“...Chara?”

The red human didn’t acknowledge the flower. Instead, it took hold of the blanket and covered the sleeping child. It brushed one of the bells on his hat away from his face, and was rewarded with a sleepy smile.

It walked over to another bed and reached under its blanket. It retrieved a yellow key and walked back to the bed the child was sleeping on. It took one of Jevil’s little hands and gingerly wrapped the yellow key in his fingers.

The red human finally turned to face Flowey. It looked down at him.

“Ch-Chara...Is that really you?”

The expression on its face was blank. Rather than speak, it brought a finger delicately over its lips.

*Shhhhh...

The human became a formless glow once again. The glow returned to Jevil’s chest, the child remaining undisturbed in his nap. 

Flowey decided to keep watch for an extra ten minutes. Not because Jevil looked so tired, but because he was curious to see if the red glow would return.

The allotted time passed with no fanfare. Flowey was a bit peeved, but not completely surprised. One of his vines lightly shook the child awake.

“Hey! Hey! Get up already!”

Jevil’s eyes fluttered open. He sat up and rubbed the sleep and sand from his eyes as he pushed the blanket off of him. Once he was sufficiently awake, he noticed the key in his hand.

“You found the key, key? You tucked me under the covers, covers?”

“I...Yeah...You were cold,” the flower said, lying through his smile.

The child climbed out of the bed and offered his arm to the flower. They were on the move once again.

“Alright, head that way. There are some vents we need to turn on before we can move ahead.”

Jevil followed Flowey’s directions. As he walked, he decided to ask his friend a question.

“Who’s Doctor Gaster, Gaster?”

Flowey turned to face the child with a smirk. “I knew you couldn’t resist asking that question. To be perfectly honest, I’m not completely sure. I’ve met a few strange people in my life who talked about him, but I’ve only ever encountered them once each. From what I remember, they said he was the previous Royal Scientist. He made the Core, which is the thing that gives the whole Underground electricity. He apparently “fell into his creation” and was shattered in time and space. In other words, he doesn’t exist.”

“Spooky...”

“It is, ain’t it? But somehow, those people and those Memoryheads...They know about this Gaster fellow...And I got a theory that there are a couple of people that also know more than they let on...”

At the end of a foggy hall was a switch. Jevil flipped it, and the wall of vents beside the duo came to life. There were strange white specks that still floated in the air after the fog had cleared. The specks came together toward the ground to make a white ball of goo.

It expanded so suddenly into the shape of a...a...

“Hey! What are you doing?! It’s just a dog!”

Jevil backed away as the Amalgamate came closer and closer. He backed away until his back was pressed firmly against the wall. His breathing was heavy, and his arm was shaking with how tight he was gripping his Toy Sickle. Sweat trickled down the boy’s face as he stared wide-eyed at the creature coming toward the duo.

For the first time since awakening in that bed of golden flowers, Jevil was truly afraid.

Just his luck. Flowey managed to team up with the first human to ever fall down that was afraid of dogs. All the other humans had adored the dog monsters of the Underground. And here is this child that can use actual magic that was afraid of what was essentially a whole pack of dogs.

The Amalgamate was so close to them. Jevil shut his eyes and braced himself. The giant goopy monster would smother him with its weight, he just knew it.

Except it didn’t.

The Amalgamate stopped, lowering what could be surmised to be its head so that its orifice was mere inches away from the child’s face. It made a curious sniffing sound. When it didn’t touch Jevil, he cracked one eye open. It’s void-like orifice was staring at him, and what could be seen as its tail was wagging slowly when it noticed Jevil looking at it.

The child opened his eyes fully. Slowly, he reached a shaky hand out to touch the dog-esque creature. He steeled himself, his soul being Filled with Bravery.

His hand made contact with the creature, its body feeling cold and gooey. It was like petting wet fur, but when he pulled his hand back, it was completely dry. It’s “tail” was wagging faster.

"N-N-Nice doggy...You c-c-can go away now, n-now..."

The creature whined, but backed up and crawled up a wall and left.

"Huh...That's not the normal way to spare Endogeny, but I guess that works, too. Let’s get a move on...Jevil?"

The boy fell to his knees, clutching his chest as he took big gasps of air. He wiped the sweat on his brow with a sleeve, breathing the panic away to make way for relief.

“S...Scary...”

“...If you say so, pal.”

Jevil spent a minute on his knees. Once he felt his nerves were sufficiently calmed, he got back up.

“Alright. Now head back. The way forward should be cleared.” Flowey pointed the way, and Jevil followed his direction. “You know, you keep surprising me, pal. I don’t think I’ve met a single person who was afraid of dogs. There a story to that?”

“...Dunno...”

“Are we seriously going back to single words?! C’Mon, I’m your best pal, aren’t I?” Jevil said nothing in response. Flowey took it with a distinct “harumph” and turned his head away from the child.

“Oh! Head through that doorway!”

The team came into a room that was a long hallway with what looked like a shower at the end. A shadow was wiggling against the shower curtain. Jevil turned to go back the way he came, but a tugging at his arm insisted otherwise.

“C’Mon, just trust me!”

Despite his judgement, he decided to listen to the flower. He crept up to the tub slowly and nervously. Until finally...

Jevil yanked the curtains to the side.

*Oh. It’s just the green key.

The two let out a sigh of relief. Jevil put the key into his inventory. He noticed something strange in it that he hadn’t noticed before. Something called a BadMemory .

When did that get there?

He tried to drop the BadMemory, but it came right back to his inventory.

“Forget it. Head back down and go thatta way,” Flowey grumbled, frustrated at Jevil pausing.

Jevil wasn’t too comfortable with it, but he figured he had no other choice but to ignore it for now.

The duo came to a large room. In the center, there was a giant machine in the shape of an animal skull of some kind. Jevil took a moment to soak in the size of it.

“This? It’s nothing compared to the size of the Core. It’s way bigger than any building in the Underground. It’s practically its own city.”

“Wow...!”

“Go that way. I think there is a spot for the yellow key in that room.”

They walked into a room with a television and a VCR player hooked up to it. At the rightmost part of the room was a slot for the yellow key. Jevil walked over and took the yellow key out and Flowey wrapped a vine around it and inserted it into the slot. He turned the key, and a yellow light flicked.

Jevil turned and made to leave the room, and Flowey was rather curious about that.

“You’re not gonna watch any of the tapes?”

“...No point...”

“Eh? What do you mean?”

“No point in wondering. I have you, you if I have questions.”

“...You are quite the puzzle, Jevil.”

The duo found themselves back in the room with the large animal skull machine. The child looked over, and saw a yellow glow. One he hadn’t seen since the beginning of Snowfall. A SAVE point! He reached out to touch it...

The moment he did, a feeling of dread washed over the team. Everything was eerily silent. The SAVE point was smiling at them.

Before their very eyes, it spontaneously morphed into another being of white goo.

The world turned black and white, and Jevil’s soul appeared before him. An Encounter was initiated.

*Smells like sweet lemons.

Jevil felt that tugging at his soul again. It wanted him to ACT. After what happened last time he went against it, he decided to follow its lead. He decided to Hum.

*You hum a tune familiar to only you. Lemon Bread’s body shakes...

As if a thousand voices came from one being, Lemon Bread spoke.

“Welcome to my special hell.”

The whole area around Jevil and Flowey became like a monster with large teeth. In a panic, Jevil jumped to the safe areas before it crunched on his soul, inevitably getting hit by a set of teeth that grew beneath him.

*Smells like sweet lemons.

Following the tugging’s lead again, he decided to...unhug? What did that even mean?

*You let Lemon Bread be. Lemon Bread’s teeth shake...

“But nobody came.”

Little eyes appeared before him, and teeth that reminded the boy of candy corn surrounded his soul. The eyes fired rings of magic attacks at him. He took the hit to get rid of one of the candy corn teeth and dodged the rings.

*Smells like sweet lemons.

The tugging led to him flexing for some odd reason.

*You flexed your arm. Lemon Bread seems to remember something.

“I’ve felt this before.”

The crunching attack came again. Now that Jevil knew what to expect of it, he knew how to dodge it perfectly. Even if he was almost hit by the bottom teeth rising beneath him.

*Could this be goodbye?!

The tugging at his soul led him away from ACTing. It wanted him to show MERCY. To Spare Lemon Bread. It felt strange. He wanted to attack...But when has that ended well for him so far?

He decided to follow the tugging and Spared the Amalgamate.

Lemon Bread left. The Encounter was over.

*YOU WON! You earned 0 EXP and 0 gold.

The world returned to color. The way was clear.

“Golly! That must be the first time you’ve shown MERCY since you got here! You didn’t even try to attack!”

“No point...”

“Right...Head down that way now that the path is clear.”

“...Okay.”

The pair came to a room with refrigerators. Something in the back of his mind wondered if there were snacks in any of them. He opened them one after the other. Each one was either empty or had some samples that Flowey told him not to eat. Jevil made a face and went to grab one, but a vine grabbed his hand, and the flower gave him a disapproving glare that couldn’t be ignored. No snack in any fridge. Not even the one that was shaking rather violently.

The child reached to open the last fridge, but it seemed to ripple at his touch. He pulled his hand back in time to see the fridge melt into a strange form. It looked like a snowflake.

“........sn......owy........”

The creature seemed so sad and confused. Jevil felt awful for it. The creature tried to reach out to the child, but it seemed too weak to do much of anything.

That voice, though...He heard that weak voice when he was attacked by the Memoryheads.

“Hey pal...Maybe you should tell her some ice jokes. Try and cheer her up, you know?”

Jevil gave it some thought. He didn’t really have any good ice jokes...Maybe some bad ice jokes would work?

“It’s...It’s ice to meet you.”

“.....heh....”

She tried to reach out to Jevil again, but fell short by a couple feet.

“We should just chill out.”

“......heh...heh.......”

“I had another joke, but it slipped my mind!”

The Amalgamate giggled a little more, Jevil snickering alongside her.

“......thank.....you....”

She melted into the cracks of the floor, vanishing from sight. A blue key was left behind. Jevil picked it up and put it with the others.

In the room at the end of the hall was another room like the one for the red key slot. Jevil took out the green key and handed it to Flowey, who then put it in its slot and turned it. A green light flickered.

“We’re making good progress, pal. Just the blue key left and we can get out of this dump. Just follow my lead.”

Flowey lead the human back the way they came. Past the room of beds and down to a room with plants and mirrors.

“Place gives me the creeps...”

Jevil could see why. The flowers looked like Flowey, in a way. But they were wilted and faded in color. He kept going down the hall.

Something in his reflection caught his eye.

For a moment, he thought he saw himself with blue skin and a long J-shaped tail. But if he did see that, it had vanished faster than he could blink.

He looked up, and saw another creature of white goop. The world became black and white, and another encounter was initiated.

*,

Considering the success from last time, Jevil decided to keep listening to the tugging in his soul that pushed him to ACT. He decided to Mystify.

*You summoned one of every suit. , recognizes it has more to learn from this world.

Whatever the Amalgamate said, it was a jumbled mess that was beyond incomprehensive.

Before Jevil was a strange lumpy figure. It’s head...It was so familiar to the child that it almost hurt. He found himself speaking without really knowing what he was saying.

“Everyman...”

Right before his very eyes, Everyman was swarmed by butterflies. The creatures ate its head clean off. For some reason, Jevil didn’t seem the least bit bothered by it.

*,

ACTing again, Jevil decided to...pray?! To what?!

*You kneel and pray for safety. , remembers its conscience.

Again, the Amalgamate spoke in a jumbled mess. But, Jevil thought he heard “Ribbit” and “Don’t pick on me” in there.

Everyman showed up again, still being swarmed by the butterflies. Writhing in its agony, it crept closer and closer to the boy. He backed away from the butterflies that came to attack him.

*,

The tugging wanted Jevil to Pick On the monster. It didn’t make much sense to him, but it hasn’t led him astray yet.

*You pick on Reaper Bird. Reaper Bird seems to remember something.

Finally, the Amalgamate spoke clearly.

“Someone finally gets it.”
“Ribbit ribbit.”
“Courage...”

Everyman showed up one more time with its head returned. This time, it flung multiple copies of its head at Jevil. They took up so much moving space that he found it hard to dodge them all.

*Reaper Bird seems placated.

The tugging at his soul wanted him to Spare the creature. The child’s head was spinning too fast to protest, so he complied.

Reaper Bird seemed to rise up and away.

*YOU WON! You earned 0 EXP and 0 gold.

The world returned to color once again. The child lowered himself to the ground and sat down, back against the cool mirrors. Flowey decided to replant himself into the ground.

“You seem out of it after that last encounter. Here, give me the blue key and I’ll put it in for you. You just sit tight, ok?” The human nodded and handed over the blue key. The flower took it and burrowed away.

While he was alone, Jevil tried to steady his thoughts. Everyman...Why did it seem so familiar? Just thinking about it made his head spin round and round like...like...

...Like a carousel...

Yes, a carousel. With horses and ducks bobbing up and down as they revolve around the center of the ride. And one of those ducks had the head of Everyman.

He could see it. It was so clear.

Without thinking, he held his arms out and imagined that carousel.

And it manifested in front of him.

Around and around the horses and ducks went. It was hypnotic the way they seemed to almost dance to music unheard to reality. A phrase slipped out of his mouth as he stared at the magic in wonder.

“Let’s ride the carousel game...!”

The carousel vanished, and Jevil leaned his head back as he smiled.

A golden flower popped out of the ground in front of him.

“Ok, pal. It’s in. Now all you need to do is head back to that four colored door!”

The boy offered his arm, but Flowey refused.

“Nah. I’ll just meet you up ahead, ok?”

With a wink, Flowey burrowed away, leaving the child alone once again.

He stood up and went back to the beginning of this crazy place. Four lights were flickering on the door. It slid open when he approached, leading the way to an elevator. Pressing any of the buttons did nothing. With a grumble, he moved on, finding a room with a big switch.

And his curiosity just had to be sated.

Machinery whirled to life, and the lights flipped on.

Jevil felt proud of himself. All of that wandering and bumping into all those Amalgamates had amounted to this moment. It really felt like he accomplished something.

There was groaning behind him. He turned around slowly to see--

Darkness.

Silence.

Nothingness.

Jevil tried to cry out for help, but nothing came out of his mouth. The darkness felt so oppressive and solid, seeping into his very pores. It was so cold. He couldn’t see. He couldn’t hear. He couldn’t feel. He thinks he reached a hand out into the abyss of darkness, hoping that someone would pull him out.

But nobody came.

But nobody came. 

But nobody--

Warmth enveloped his hand. A grip tighter than a vise clung to his hand as it tried to pull him up from the darkness. Slowly, feelings came back to his body. It started from his hand, but gradually traveled down his arm, and eventually his head.

He gasped for air like he hasn't taken a breath all his life. He coughed up that oppressive darkness as the rest of his body was pulled. He tried to speak, but his voice wouldn't cooperate.

"Jevil! Breathe!"

That voice...Chara?

His eyes felt they were glued shut. Once he stopped coughing, he found himself being led away in a hurry.

"C-Chara...!"

"Just keep breathing, Jevil! And don't trip!"

Jevil was so confused. Where was he?! Where is Chara taking him?! What was happening?!

He was finally able to pry his eyes open. And the world collapsed behind the children. Jevil found his free hand grabbing onto a ledge he couldn’t see, the other hand holding Chara’s hand as the two dangled on the edge.

He looked down, watching his hat fall down into the darkness. He could feel his toy sickle slipping out of his pocket.

“C-CHARA! HANG ON, HANG ON!”

His grip on the edge was getting weak. But he had to hold on so that they could both get up. There was some sort of rumbling coming from below the children.

“Jevil, let go of me!” The human exclaimed.

Jevil’s head snapped down to Chara, his toy sickle finally falling out of his pocket and into the darkness. When the toy was out of sight, a louder rumbling was heard coming from the depths below.

“What?! No, no! I won’t, I won’t! I can get us up! I can do it! I can do any--”

“No, Jevil! You have to get up! Please! You have to get up so that you can break the barrier!”

“You promised, promised we’d do it together!” Despite his efforts, his grip on both the edge and his friend were slipping.

“You...You idiot...If you fall down there, you’re going to die! You won’t reach the barrier, and you will never go home!”

“You’re my friend, friend, Chara! I won’t let you die, die!”

 Chara looked down at the void beneath the two of them, and then back to Jevil. “It’ll be ok, Jevil...I’ve been dead for a very long time.” Chara smiled at him with a comforting smile. “Stay Determined...And tell Asriel that I’m sorry.”

Chara let go of Jevil’s hand. His grip wasn’t enough to keep hold, and the human fell down into the darkness. The abyss let out a deafening roar when Chara disappeared into it with a smiling face.

With his other hand now free, Jevil grabbed onto the edge and pulled himself up. Once safe, he looked down at the abyss. He tried to reach down, but found that the ground was back, apparently satisfied with consuming his hat, his toy, and his friend. 

It took everything from him.

And left him alone.

So alone...

What’s the point of being free if you can’t share it with anyone...?

Jevil felt tears drip down from his eyes.

“C-Chara...Why? Why?” He lied there on the dark ground, sobbing. “You promised...promised...!”

There was a disturbance behind him. He sat up and looked back, seeing a face. A pure white, smiling face with cracked eye holes. It had a body attached to it made of pure blackness with only melty hands of pure white being the exception. The body bent down so that its face could look at Jevil better.

There was something strange about this being. Jevil felt oddly calm about its presence.

It tilted its face, and Jevil tilted his head in turn.

“What do you want, want?!” He snapped, wiping his runny nose on his sleeve.

He wasn’t sure how, but he knew that the being could understand his sorrow. One of its melty hands reached out and made a fist, as if to offer something to the boy. He held out his own hand cautiously and watched as the hand was lowered, and he felt something enter his hand. The other melty hand seemed to seep into his very inventory and put something in there as well.

The being’s smile widened as it vanished from his sight.

“LET GO OF HIM!”

All at once, the cold and darkness left him, leaving him breathless.

“O-O-Oh my gosh. Ohmygoshohmygoshohmygosh. A-Are you ok?! I’m-I’m-I’m so sorry! Th-This was all my fault I should’ve been paying more attention to those Memoryheads--”

The feminine voice kept on rambling. Jevil looked down at his soul. Out of the cycle of colors it went through, Red was no longer one of those colors. Tears escaped him once again.

“--and I--Oh no! Nononononono don’t cry! I-It was just a b-b-b-bad memory! It can’t hurt you!”

Jevil looked up at the woman that saved him. A yellow monster in a white lab coat with scales and a bit of a hunch. She was fiddling her clawed hands pretty nervously. 

“A-A-Anyway, I’m Doctor Alphys. I’m-I’m the Royal Scientist, and--”

She was rambling again. Jevil tuned her out when he noticed that he was holding something. He unclenched his fist.

A golden heart locket. It said “Best Friends Forever” on it. He put it on, his head feeling naked without his hat. It felt like the heart was beating. It felt like it was right where it belonged.

“Chara...”

“I’m sorry? What was that?”

Jevil looked back up at the lizard monster. “...I need to get to the barrier, barrier!”

“O-Oh...Um...W-Well, the elevator that you t-turned on w-will take you to N-New Home to where the barrier is. F-Follow me.”

The scientist led the child back to the elevator. He kept his head down, staring at the locket. That strange being must’ve given it to him after he lost Chara...

It all happened so fast...

He looked in his inventory.

Here we are! A worn knife. It seemed perfect for cutting plants and vines. To replace his toy sickle, he equipped it. About time.

“--A-Anyway, I’ve talked your ear off long e-enough. We’re just about there.”

The elevator doors slid open, making way to a place that seemed to be mainly shades of gray. The pair stepped out.

“W-Well, I’ll call Undyne and tell them wh-where you’re going. Oh! Hold on! Selfie!” She took out her phone and took a picture of her and the human. “J-Just to show them all th-that you’re ok. Go on, now. Th-The barrier is that way.”

Alphys watched the child slunk away, dragging his feet as they carried him toward the throne room.

Jevil wiped his eyes on his sleeve. He was supposed to break the barrier with Chara. They promised each other...They had promised they would do it together...together...

He hadn’t felt this alone since...since...

...There was that word again. Freedom. Bouncing up and down and all around his mind. Like it was mocking him...What’s the point in going home if the word Freedom brought him nothing but despair and dread?

His heart beat against the gold locket. A strange warmth radiated from his chest to the rest of his body. It made him think of lanterns...Right...He had another promise to keep.

He lifted his head back up, his soul filled with a new Determination.

Chapter Text

At the end of the corridor was an elevator. Jevil walked into it, and by some magic, it activated on its own and led him somewhere else. When he got out, he noticed that it was just the other side of the long corridor. He went down, and found himself in another hall of sorts.

Unlike the gray bleakness of the previous hall, this one was so bright and warm. Light that he hadn’t seen anywhere else in the whole Underground since he woke up in this place. He looked at a window that gave way to this warm light. It was that Delta Rune symbol from Gerson’s shop again.

The light was really warm. The image of a lantern filled his mind, and he remembered the promise he made to himself to get home and make things right with Seam...whoever this Seam character was in the first place.

He looked back and noticed two things. A box and a glowing yellow spot. Two things he hadn’t seen since Snowdin.

He reached out and touched the SAVE point. He felt a lot better as his HP was fully restored, and the SAVE initiated. He opened the box and rather than being empty, it was filled with clothes and toys. A bandana, some glasses, a book, some gloves, a pair of shoes, a toy knife, a toy gun, a hat, a tutu, a pan, an apron, and a ribbon. They all looked so old. He closed the box, not really wanting anything from it. He turned around and walked forward, eyeing the pillars.

In the middle of the hall, he stopped in his tracks and rubbed his eyes.

And who would he find in front of him when he opened them back up again?

“well well...you’re here. and here i was hoping to be wrong for once. i was really hoping you wouldn’t be here so soon, kid.”

“...Sans?”

The short skeleton buried his hands in the pockets of his hoodie, eye sockets closed and head turned slightly away. The face of both defeat and disappointment.

“i was hoping you’d still go through hotland first. we could’ve had some laughs...shared some hot dogs...make some amazing jokes to rile up my bro...but nope. you had to be here right now.” Sans looked at the human with a strange, glum expression. “and the funniest thing about all this is that i technically don’t have to be here. it’s not like i’m guarding anything beyond this point. i’m just keeping an old promise i made.”

There was a volatile energy building between the two of them. The human was hurting, and had wanted nothing more than to get past this skeleton.

“...You’re in my way...”

“that expression...i don’t even wanna grace it with a description, kid. i promise it’s nothing personal...nah. that’s kind of a lie. nothing against you, kid...” Sans took out a phone and tapped the screen. It made a jarring noise. “well, al just posted where you’re going, so i guess i got some time to ask you some questions.”

Jevil gripped the knife in his pocket. He was getting annoyed with all the talking.

“...that's how it’s gonna be, kiddo? i was hoping it wouldn’t come to this, but i was also kind of expecting it. someone like you probably wouldn’t even listen unless we were in a fight.”

The world went black and white. Jevil’s soul appeared before him.

“it’s a beautiful day outside. birds are singing. flowers are blooming...on days like these, kids like you...well...”

The world went completely black for the briefest of moments, and Sans was suddenly right in front of the child with a not-so-friendly grin.

“I ’ m  s u r e  y o u  k n o w  t h e  r e s t.”

In an instant, Jevil was thrown down with Blue Soul magic. With little time to react, he jumped up and out of the way of bones that rose from the ground. The magic let up and more bones came at him from the side with gaps in the middle in a wave pattern. Giant animal skulls followed after. They fired bright lasers that went Box, then Cross, and then Box again with two more ending the attack with larger lasers leaving very little space to dodge.

Like a trained gymnast, Jevil managed to get by without a scratch. He stared at the skeleton with a cold expression.

“huh. always wondered why no one used their strongest attack first.”

The battle had begun in earnest. Jevil took out the knife and ran at Sans, slashing at him with all his might.

But he missed.

“what? you think i’m just gonna stand there and take it?”

Jevil looked over and saw the skeleton grinning at him with a wink.

His soul became blue again. A simple bone attack came next. Waves of bones requiring short hops to dodge. It was too easy for the child to dodge.

The boy took his chances and swung at him again. Once again, Sans had dodged.

“look kid. i’m gonna admit it. i’m pretty mad at you.”

Light blue bones that were tall and short white bones came at Jevil. The light blue bones were too tall for him to jump over, but when he stayed still, it didn’t hurt. With quick reflexes, he made note of it and jumped over the short bone that followed. When nothing came from in front of him, he quickly turned around to dodge the bones coming from behind. Something in the back of his mind told him to have patience and keep attacking.

“not once did the idea of mercy ever pop into that funny head of yours. i can only imagine what kind of person you were back in your world.”

Bone gaps appear again. This time with varying heights of the gap and speeds of the bones. Easy for Jevil, but he did take the time to appreciate how Sans didn’t just repeat the same old attack.

Once the way was cleared, he ran and took another swipe. Sans seemed to have been one step ahead of him, though.

“i don’t wanna lump you in with the same resentment i have for a human “friend” i have, though. you’re younger than they were when we first met. the situation is somewhat different.”

A whole bunch of bones came at him slowly. There were just too many for him to jump over. But it seems as though Sans was feeling kind enough to provide platforms for him to jump on. The child took a running start and leaped from platform to platform. From the last platform, he jumped as high as he could, taking the damage from the bone that came at him once the floor of bones passed so that he could surprise attack Sans from the air. A move the skeleton clearly wasn’t expecting since it was still his turn.

Jevil was suspended in the air with Blue Soul magic. Sans’s smile had dropped slightly from the shock of almost getting hit during his turn, and...seeing the damage that the boy took from that attack.

Just 1 damage.

His Karma effect should’ve canceled out the human’s invincibility. It worked the first time he initiated an encounter with Jevil!

Something’s changed.

“...that being said...maybe it’s partially my fault. i haven’t exactly given you the chance to show mercy. who knows...maybe you’ve learned something that i don’t know about. so how about it, kid?”

The child was set down on the ground, the Blue Soul magic letting up. He took cautious steps toward the skeleton. Sans’s smile grew again and he extended a friendly hand.

Sans was sparing him.

Something dark in the child’s mind thought that this was the moment he was waiting for.

It’s time. Finish him off! We can always go back!

Jevil took the skeleton’s hand in his, and was shocked out of his thoughts.

Pbbbbbbbbbbthththththbbbthththpoooooooot...

The darkness left his mind, and he found himself unable to stop giggling. Sans found himself letting out a sigh of relief. He watched, perplexed as the human’s soul started glowing a new color.

Cyan.

The world returned to color, the fight had ended.

The giggling died down. He looked back up at the child’s face in time to see that smile drop.

“...that expression...that’s the expression of someone who’s hurting quite a bit...do you wanna talk about it?”

“...How did you know?”

“i know i haven’t been acting like it, but i’m pretty good at judging things. the fact that you haven’t even attempted to use magic on me tells me that you’re hurting pretty bad in your soul. and believe me...i’m no stranger to feeling hurt in the soul...so what’s eating you, kid?”

“...I lost, lost everything...My hat...My toy...My friend...All at once, once!”

“...friend?”

“Chara...I made a promise to Chara I’d set everyone free, free! And then...you got in the way of me...”

Jevil felt tears threatening to escape his eyes. He furiously wiped his eyes against one of his sleeves. He didn’t want to cry anymore. A bony hand settled on his shoulder, and the child looked up to see Sans.

“c’mon, kid. how about we sit down for a bit? we’re in no rush to go anywhere right now.” He guided the two of them to the wall underneath a window and sat down. Jevil sat beside him, staring at his bare feet. “the way i see it, if the only thing that changed between the last time we fought and this time was that you lost your friend, then maybe they weren’t such a good person...”

The boy looked at him in shock and disgust.

“How--”

“i know, i know. ‘how can i possibly say that? you never met them.’ buddy. pal. it was my job to judge people’s LOVE. or, their Level Of Violence. as in, the more you hurt others, the easier it is to distance yourself. and the less you hurt, the more easily you can bring yourself to hurt others...you may have a LOVE of 1, but the way you reacted to my ‘karma effect’ was as if you had a LOVE of 20 the first time we fought. and to get that high, you’d need to kill...pretty much everyone in the underground.”

Jevil gave him a funny look. None of that made any sort of sense to him.

“sheesh, don’t give me that look, kid. i’m doing my best to explain it. anyway, our fight just now. you reacted exactly as you should’ve with your LOVE. the karma had no effect on you, and you took 1 damage.”

Realization dawned on the human. If Chara was gone, and Jevil’s soul reacted differently now that Chara was gone, then...

“you get what i’m trying to say, kiddo?”

“...Yeah...”

“...for what it’s worth, i’m sorry you lost your friend.”

Jevil scooted closer to the skeleton until he was leaning against him. He looked up at the Delta Rune high on the wall. “...What about you?”

“huh? me?”

“Why are you hurting so? I truly wish to know.”

“...kid...you ever think about how someone else is in control of your life?”

“It’s true, true...Our choices matter not. A hard lesson I wish I weren’t taught.”

“...the kid before you, frisk, had the power to change fate. they told me all about their previous ‘resets’...their first run wasn’t pretty. they killed every monster in their path...even went out of their way to kill some...said that they were beyond afraid, but i don’t buy it. they reset their time in the underground, and tried to free everyone out of ‘guilt’. but they said that they were followed by a demon child that haunted them. so they reset again and left all of us in the dark without our king, and they just live on the surface! it’s not right! they had the power to free us, but decided to keep us trapped with so little hope left! and this kid has the gall to pretend everything is fine and that we’re all friends! it’s--”

Jevil put a hand on Sans’s hoodie. He watched the skeleton take a deep breath and calm down a bit. There was a silent understanding in the child’s gaze.

“...It’s just a game, game...Our choices don’t matter.”

Sans let out a sigh and buried a hand in the child’s poofy hair. “i wouldn’t say ‘our’, kiddo. your choices do matter...not like us monsters...it’s us that can’t make choices that matter...if it’s all a game, then you’re the one playing it.”

Jevil watched his expression drop to one of despair. He knew that feeling. He’s felt that before when he was told the Simple Truth.

But he also knew that Sans was wrong.

He went into his inventory and took out his Nice Cream and offered it to the skeleton. Sans looked at the frozen treat, then at Jevil, then at the treat, then back to Jevil.

“...um...”

“You’re wrong, you’re wrong...I’m not in control...Someone else is playing the game, and my mind has taken the toll, toll.”

“and the nice cream?”

“For you, for you!” The kid declared with a grin.

“...heh...that’s pretty kind of you, kid. you were pretty excited to get seconds before...you sure?”

“Yes, yes! A treat for my friend, my friend Sea--Sans!”

The skeleton heard that flub. He decided to leave it be. He had some trouble when he first came to Snowdin, too.

He took the Nice Cream with a real smile.

“thanks, bud...”

Imagine the surprise when Papyrus and Toriel found Sans and Jevil asleep against the wall in the Judgement Hall. Are you imagining none? Good, because that’s how surprised they were.

“UNBELIEVABLE. TYPICAL! WHAT ELSE WOULD WE FIND?!”

“Papyrus, dear, no need to shout.”

Toriel walked over to the sleeping pair. She giggled at how the child seemed to be drooling on the skeleton’s hoodie. She took a purple stuffed animal from her sleeve that she had picked up from New Home. She figured that since Jevil loved soft things, that he would love to hug and hold the softest plush that was ever made in the Underground.

Carefully, she placed the purple plush in the child’s arms. She smiled when Jevil snuggled with it in his sleep. She walked back over to Papyrus.

“I’m going ahead to the throne room. Can you keep an eye on them until they wake up?”

“NEVER FEAR, YOUR MAJESTY! I, THE GREAT PAPYRUS, SHALL KEEP THEM SAFE UNTIL THEY AWAKEN FROM THEIR PEACEFUL SLUMBER!”

“Very good.”

Toriel left the hall, leaving Papyrus to guard the two sleeping boys from anyone wishing to disturb their well earned nap.

Chapter Text

Aight so I hate making these things, but I figured it's best to let you guys know now.

The next chapter of Devilstale is going to take a little while longer than the other chapters. We're approaching the endgame, and the next chapter is gonna be quite a doozy. I may make a mini chapter to lead up to the real next chapter, but don't count on it. Honestly, I'm really excited to see this story coming to a close. This is my biggest project here, and to see it reach a conclusion is quite a milestone for me.

See you in the next chapter!

--Salsa

AKA: Chaos Bean

Chapter Text

The Queen poured water down on the many golden flowers growing in the throne room. There was a sort of bittersweetness being in this room, tending to these flowers. Her late husband loved these flowers, clearly. She looked at the corner of the room, where a large throne sat there with a tarp covering it to protect it from time.

Toriel can’t say she truly hated him for the call to action he made all those decades ago. She could say that she hated his actions. Several children died because of him.

But it’s rude to think ill of the dead. She couldn’t deny the good he had done. The late king had brought hope back to the Underground. That hope had paved the way for her to lead their world to a new direction regarding humans. Especially with how kind the last child had been.

The least she could do to thank him for all that hardship and guilt he must’ve gone through was take care of the flowers he loved so much.

Golden Flowers whose seeds came from the surface...They were their son’s favorite thing in the whole Underground...

Toriel recalled a rather morbidly funny memory. Their children had attempted to make her famous butterscotch-cinnamon pie for their father. The recipe called for a few cups of butter. The kids ended up using buttercups instead. Her late husband had gotten really sick from it, but he and their human child laughed it off. In hindsight, it was a rather silly mistake.

But now, the queen was all alone. Her children...her husband...She was to be the ruler of monsters all on her own.

Maybe leaving to the Ruins wasn’t the right choice, but it wasn’t like she could fix the past. Not even a human mage could harness that kind of power.

The queen stopped her watering when footsteps made themselves heard. With those footprints came some chatter and laughter.

“so i say to the guy, ‘maybe it’s the way you’re dressed’, and he took it personally! like, i was only making a suggestion. and he got so mad, he threw me out of the place! can you believe it?”

“WITH HOW YOU ACT, I’M SURPRISED GRILLBY DOESN’T THROW YOU OUT MORE OFTEN.”

“NU-HAH!”

“i’m not feeling the love, guys.”

“No love here! Just mockery, I fear.”

“SANS, I SAY THIS WITH ALL THE LOVE IN MY SOUL, BUT YOU REALLY NEED MORE TACT!”

“huh...guess you can say that my personality...”

“SANS, NO.”

“can no longer stay in tact .”

“UEE HEE HEE HEE HEE HEE!”

“SANS!!”

“you’re smiling~!”

Toriel smiled as the skeletons came into view with the human right by their side. Papyrus was face-palming, but you can tell he was just trying to hide his smile. Jevil, however, had thrown his head back in his giggles.

And the boy was hugging his new plush cat toy closely.

“There you boys are. I trust your nap was restful?” The queen inquired.

“yeah, we cleared the air and had a nap. obviously it was very much needed.”

Jevil’s posture straightened out. He ran past the skeletons and the queen and went down the hall past the throne room. He could hear Toriel calling out to him.

“My child! Where are you going?!”

“HUMAN JEVIL, WHY MUST YOU KEEP RUNNING OFF ON YOUR OWN?!”

The human’s little feet took him across the cold ground. He kept going down the hall until--

A great wall halted his progress. An indescribable energy emanated from the wall. The boy reached out and put a hand on it. It felt like that fuzzy feeling when you hit your elbow.

This must be the Barrier...A strange feeling swelled in his soul. The end of the game was near...But someone was missing...Chara...The two of them promised...Jevil shook his head. He couldn’t think like that. The barrier had to come down. For those poor souls. For Chara. For his new friends.

He watched his soul appear before him. It glowed with all the colors of the rainbow. All seven traits that Chara wanted him to get. But the red glow was weak. It was barely noticeable, but it was there. He distinctly remembered his soul glowing a bright red before he lost Chara...

He looked back up at the barrier. He was here. He had all the tools he needed. So what was he supposed to do now?

“There you are, my child!” Jevil turned around and saw the queen standing before him. He watched her kneel down to his level. “Why did you run off like that?”

“...What do I do, I do? I didn’t really think this through.”

“My child...” She scooped up Jevil into her arms. “There is no need to worry about the barrier. We are all more than willing to wait until the time is right.”

“you sure about that, tori?”

Behind the queen stood the two brothers. Papyrus especially looked rather nervous. Sans, however...he looked defeated.

“What do you mean?”

“paps?”

“ERR...WELL...UMM...”

Toriel tilted her head in curiosity. “Papyrus?”

“WELL...YOUR MAJESTY, WHILE MOST MONSTERS ARE VERY UNDERSTANDING...WELL...SOME MONSTERS...AREN’T...”

“it’s ok, bro. you gotta tell her.”

Papyrus let out a sigh of resignation. “OH...WELL...AS THE CAPTAIN OF THE ROYAL GUARD, I MUST INFORM YOU THAT MORALE IS AT AN ALL TIME LOW! SOME MONSTERS...WELL, LET’S JUST SAY THAT IF IT KEEPS UP, WE WON’T HAVE TO WORRY ABOUT OVERPOPULATION ANYMORE...”

The tall skeleton looked like he was about to cry. Sans put a hand on his arm and patted his back.

“easy, bro. you did good.”

Toriel was in shock. “Are you implying...Oh...Oh no...” She put the child down and started pacing with nervous energy. “Oh...Why did you not tell me sooner?”

“I’M SORRY, YOUR MAJESTY...BUT, YOU ARE A FRIEND OF THE GREAT PAPYRUS! AND IT WOULD NOT DO IF YOU WERE TO WORRY SO MUCH WITH ALL THE STRESS OF RUNNING A SCHOOL AND A KINGDOM AT THE SAME TIME...BUT, NOW I SEE I’VE ONLY MADE IT WORSE. NYOO HOO HOO...”

Jevil walked back to the barrier, letting the grown-ups discuss their business. He wasn’t sure what they were really talking about, but he knew that he had to break the barrier soon. His soul shined bright red, filled with Determination.

“tori, don’t blame yourself. monsters saw that humans can be compassionate. you made a good call. if you didn’t make that call, then we wouldn’t have this kid getting here safely. you have done the best you could.”

“Sans...What good is my best when it’s hurting my subjects?! I’ve failed as a queen!”

“IT’S NOT TRUE, YOUR MAJESTY! EVERYONE LOVES YOU!! ESPECIALLY THE CHILDREN!! SOME MAY HAVE LOST HOPE, BUT YOU HAVE BROUGHT HOPE TO MANY MONSTERS!!”

A pained scream disrupted their conversation. The three of them turned to the barrier.

“Howdy...It’s me! Your best friend!”

Chapter Text

I'm really sorry if I got your hopes up that this was another chapter, but I felt like I owed you guys an explanation for why it's taking so long.

So, in the beginning of this month, I actually caught The Big Sick of 2020. It left me bedridden for a few days, and then I spent the next two weeks in quarantine. While I did have my phone in case I felt the urge to write, days of not writing really took a toll on my motivation. So, even though I've pretty much fully recovered from The Big Sick, it's still kinda hard to push myself to write.

During that time in quarantine, I had also developed another hyperfixation on the Animaniacs and its reboot. (Very good show. Recommend both the old and the new.) And as anyone with ADHD will tell you, one does not control the hyperfixation.

Now, what does this mean for this fic? It means that while the last chapters may come out slowly, I do plan on finishing this fic. I've left too many projects unfinished to give up on this. I am very much hoping to get the next chapter done before Christmas. In the process, I've divided the next chapter into two to make it easier for me to meet this new deadline I've made for myself and to ease myself back into writing.

Now, this will hopefully be the last Author's Note for this fic. I'm so glad you guys have been very patient with me, and I hope the next chapters are worth the wait.

Also, don't get The Big Sick, guys. I still can't smell anything. :(

Chapter Text

“easy, pal...we can talk this out.”

Sans stood in front of some vines that had pointed themselves at his brother. If he was going to resolve this peacefully, he needed to choose his words carefully. Their lives may depend on it.

“Oh, you want to talk? I know what we can talk about. How much are you willing to give to save one kid’s life, Sans the Skeleton?”

Sans felt himself grimace at that sickly sweet tone of voice the flower spoke in. As if that... thing wasn’t holding a human child’s soul hostage in front of them. Said child looked beyond terrified as he watched his soul like a hawk as if it was going to be ripped away from him.

‘which is very far from wrong,’ the skeleton thought to himself without an ounce of humor.

“ER, FLOWEY...?” Papyrus chimed in. “I DON’T QUITE UNDERSTAND...WHAT DO YOU HAVE AGAINST THE HUMAN JEVIL? HE IS AS MUCH AS OUR FRIEND AS HE IS YOURS! AND THIS IS NO WAY TO TREAT FRIENDS! BUT, REST ASSURED! AS YOUR FRIEND, I BELIEVE YOU CAN DO THE RIGHT THING!”

The taller skeleton took confident strides towards Flowey, ignoring his brother’s attempt to hold him back.

“Oh Papyrus. You never failed to put a smile on my face. But don’t you know that friends share things?”

“WELL, YES, BUT YOU’RE TRYING TO TAKE SOMETHING HE NEEDS!”

Flowey looked down at Jevil. The boy was stricken with fear as he struggled against the vines that ensnared his body. His soul was glowing a brilliant purple as he kept trying to get away. Despite his best efforts, the vines that held him captive seemed to tighten their hold on him.

“Let me g-go, go! You’re...You’re crushing, cr-crushing me!”

“Oh pipe down, you little freak of nature. The grown-ups are talking!” Flowey wrapped more vines around Jevil’s mouth, making a gag out of them. The human whimpered out a pathetic whine. His soul changed from purple to cyan when he stopped struggling.

“FLOWEY, EHM...THAT WASN’T VERY--”

“what do you want with him?”

“NYEH?!”

Sans shoved himself in front of Papyrus with posture the younger skeleton hadn’t seen from his brother in what felt like ages. Against his own hopes of reaching out, he decided to back away and let his brother handle it. In the back of his mind, Papyrus was so proud of his brother for taking the initiative, rather than just sitting back and letting everything play out on its own like he usually would.

“What do I want with him? Come on, aren’t you supposed to be the smart one? It’s the same thing every monster in the Underground secretly wants!” 

Like a flying snake, Flowey’s stem grew in length until the bloom of his head was right next to the black soul. Jevil’s eyes widened as much as they could. From where he was now, he could see the real fear with those pupils that have shrunken to the point where it was almost impossible to see. The black soul began glowing an impossibly bright orange. With a sick grin, a vine gently coiled itself around the upside-down heart that was Jevil’s soul. It began emitting a bright white light that took up the monsters’ vision.

“A human soul...A human soul that is powerful enough to break the barrier. A soul with that kind of power can make anyone the equivalent to a god.”

A powerful bolt of lightning struck down on the Queen with no warning. She fell to her knees, barely clinging to consciousness. The shorter of the two skeletons ran to her side to assist her in standing back up.

“tori! are you alright?!”

Something was flung at Papyrus at great speed before his eyesight fully recovered. Once he cleared the stars from his vision, he looked down at his lap to find...

“...HUMAN JEVIL...? ARE YOU ALRIGHT...?”

The poor little human was unconscious. He looked like he was struggling in his sleep. His breathing was labored and almost forced. His whole body felt cold to the touch.

“HUMAN JEVIL...? YOU MUST WAKE UP AND TELL ME THAT YOU ARE ALRIGHT. IT’S NOT A FUNNY JOKE TO PLAY ON YOUR FRIENDS!” The skeleton scolded, nervousness making his voice tremble.

“I’m rig ht here, he re, Papyr us!”

The trio of monsters looked up to see the human’s soul surrounded by six petal shapes that were silhouetted by a great rainbow light. The petal shapes disappeared and a new figure appeared. The demonic figure of a new monster was illuminated once the rainbow light eased up.

Blue skin, yellow fangs, eyes black as the void greeted the trio. Wicked horns curled like a ram’s and extended half a foot away from the rounded head. It’s tail was thick, and it was long enough to wrap around its surprisingly lanky body twice and had a handle-like ending to it. It was garbed in the robes of the Royal Family.

The creature looked down at Papyrus with its grin that quite literally reached to its ears at the ends.

“It’s us! Your best friend, friend --NO MAKE IT STOP!! I DON’T W ANT T O PL AY ANYMORE, ANYMORE!!”

The creature let out a horrifying scream as it gripped its head with claws that were just on the edge of too sharp. Everything about it was all wrong. Two beings fought for control over the newly made vessel, and neither got what they wanted. 

The right eye gained color through three rings. The innermost ring was red, with the middle ring being yellow, and the outer ring being green. Meanwhile, the left eye had gained only a yellow pupil that looked like a little light struggling to stay lit when it’s surrounded by suffocating darkness. Both eyes looked in every direction independent of each other in a desperate frenzy. It was like they either couldn’t see a thing, or that they were seeing too much and it was overwhelming to the senses.

The body shoved at its head hard enough to set it loose on a vine-like spring off of the body. The noise it made was a comical “BOING-OING” that would’ve made the monsters on the ground laugh if the vessel didn’t seem to be in so much pain. Red thorns grew along the spring vine. The head retracted back to the body with a click. Golden petals sprouted along the neck to make a frilly collar fitting for a demonic jester.

Its eyes zeroed in on the small body of the human child. Jevil grew tense under its gaze despite not being awake. He still had the purple cat plush in his arms, and hugged it tighter while seeming to suffer a horrible nightmare.

Papyrus gently set the boy down from his lap and stood up to defend his human friend.

The world became black and white. An encounter was initiated, but no one could tell who started it.

*It’s the beginning of the end!

The human looked into the darkness of the opening of the mountain. It swallowed up light, letting no one see the secrets this mountain held.

Mount Ebbott. The mountain that held the entirety of Monster Kind. A whole kingdom of otherworldly creatures of magic. A people filled with hopes and dreams of a future living on the surface once again. From this side of the Barrier, anything can get in, but nothing can come out.

But something was escaping the barrier. A laugh. Not just a normal laugh. A laugh filled with malice and cruelty. It echoed off the cave walls and clashed together and seemed to target the poor human, filling their ears until it seemed to echo in their very mind.

The human didn’t let the laugh get to them, though. They steeled themself, their soul filled with Determination, and walked forward into the darkness.

Chapter Text

When two souls join together, the psyches become shared. There are no secrets kept between the two souls.

Asriel knew this. He had experienced it before when his soul merged with Chara’s.

Doing it again, he wasn’t sure what he expected from the strange human named Jevil. But the layout of the boy’s psyche was bizarre.

Asriel was faced with the inside of a dark Big Top, with a spotlight shining down on an empty stage. Well, empty except for one lowly jester. Said jester was joyfully dancing to an unheard song. A song that should be playing for him since he was a co-owner of this newly merged mindscape.

Either the other soul was powerful enough to keep things from him, or there truly was no music, and the performer was dancing to the sound of silence.

“Hey! Who are you?!”

The jester froze mid-dance. His gaze slowly moved to look at the being that called out to him. He gave a face-splitting grin that nearly reached his pointed ears.

“THE QUESTION IS NOT WHO AM I? IT’S WHO DO YOU THINK YOU ARE, LITTLE PRINCE OF NO ONE?” The jester’s voice echoed all around the Big Top. The sound of his voice made Asriel think of the old videos he and his family used to make.

“Are you...Are you Jevil?!”

With an exaggerated stomp, the jester lifted himself off the ground to be at eye level with Asriel. “INDEED, INDEED, PRINCE OF NO ONE! YOU SHOULD KNOW, THOUGH! YOU TOOK MY SOUL, MY SOUL! WAS THIS NOT YOUR ORIGINAL GOAL?”

Asriel was dumbfounded. The jester couldn’t be Jevil. Jevil was a child! A shy, timid, quiet child! This jester was very much a loud, sociable, carefree adult!

In the timespan of a blink of an eye, the jester was right in his face.

“AWWW WHAT’S WITH THE FACE, FACE? SURPRISED? UEE HEE HEE HEE! LOOKS ARE DECEIVING, YOU KNOW!”

Asriel let out a snarl as he backed away from the impish man. And all he got in return was laughter. Jevil spun in the air and vanished, reappearing on the stage once again. Asriel lowered to the stage. The imp once again started to dance to silence.

The monster growled to himself. When two souls come together, both parties must be in agreement in order to use their full potential. All this God-like power, this soul with the equivalent power of seven human souls, and he couldn’t even use all of it until this stupid jester decided to focus! He didn’t have this problem with--

“CHARA? OF COURSE, OF COURSE YOU DID, PRINCE OF NO ONE!”

Asriel’s gaze flew back to the imp. The grin on his face became more sinister. Crueler. Darker. Yet Darker...

Balancing on his tail, Jevil conjured silhouetted images. A human child and a small goat monster. The two combined, but they were struggling against each other as bigger humans surrounded them. The whole show collapsed in on itself with the two children cowering in fear.

“What? How did--...Right. No secrets between shared souls.”

“SPEAKING OF SOULS, SOULS...IT SEEMS AS THOUGH I’VE BEEN DUPED! DO YOU HAVE A SOUL TO TRADE? UEE HEEEEEE. OF COURSE NOT, NOT. ALL YOU DO IS TAKE TAKE TAKE!”

Jevil appeared behind him, putting gloved hands on his shoulders. Asriel could feel thick claws beneath the fabric. The jester’s tail wrapped around and rested just under his chin.

“YOUR BEST FRIEND CHARA? THE HUMAN SOUL TAKEN! THE SEVEN HUMAN SOULS, SOULS COLLECTED BY MONSTERS? YOU TOOK THEM! MY OWN SOUL! TAKEN! YOU TAKE AND TAKE AND TAKE, BUT WHAT DO YOU GIVE, GIVE? YOU WON’T FOR AS LONG AS YOU LIVE!”

Asriel pushed him away, backing away toward the edge of the stage. Once again, Jevil laughed at him. His laugh was strong enough for him to throw his head back so far, it sprung off his neck like a jack-in-a-box.

“You...You had Chara with you! I saw them at the True Lab while you were sleeping! Where are they?!”

For the first time, the imp’s grin fell. He looked away, almost sheepishly. “GONE, GONE...LOST TO THE DARKNESS. SACRIFICED THEMSELF TO KEEP MY SOUL IN THE LIGHT, LIGHT. THE VOID EXPANDS, THE CHILD MISUNDERSTANDS! DON’T YOU KNOW HOW IT HURTS ME AS WELL, WELL?”

Gone? Gone?! Lost to the darkness?! But...But...--

The Big Top lit up and started to spin. The bells of Jevil’s hat jingled as he suddenly looked up. His grin returned threefold.

“IT’S SHOWTIME!”

Can you picture this scene? In front of the Barrier? Three monsters were standing. Injured, but still standing. Bones and flames littered the battlefield. Boxes of each card suit were raining down from above, exploding into attacks. Horsies and Duckies floated all around the trio, giving them very little space to maneuver around.

And every one of their opponent’s attacks were way louder than they had had any right to be.

Actually, everything about this flowery clown was loud. Not just the attacks. Its laughs and cries of pain were edging on the side of bone-chilling. Even its body movements were loud. It was dancing in ways that really no one could consider dancing. It was more like it was flinging its head and limbs around like it was a ragdoll.

“AHAHAHAHAH!!! SUCH FUN, SUCH FUN! WHAT FUN YOU LOT ARE!”

Sans was starting to work up a sweat. He never had to dodged so many attacks one after another like this. It was hard to go on the offense when he could barely stop to just breathe. He wasn’t durable like his brother or the queen. One hit, and he would be dusted. Normally, it wouldn’t be much of a problem, but the enemy’s attacks were so widespread, the skeleton was constantly looking all around to make sure he wouldn’t get surprised.

Papyrus was getting beyond stressed. This battle was really testing his ability to protect three different people. He may not have to worry about the queen as much as he had to worry about his brother, but the human boy was still unconscious. And every now and then, the enemy summoned thick, striped vines in an attempt to attack the child. He had to keep his little friend safe. All while also having to pull his brother away from attacks he didn’t see coming.

Toriel was the only one who could manage to throw attacks at the enemy. When she could, her fire was hot enough to scorch any soul. Despite being able to, she was more focused on keeping Papyrus and herself alive. While Papyrus rescued his brother with blue soul magic to get him out of the way, Toriel kept up green magic to keep the skeleton’s HP up. She was a boss monster. She could handle it, she thought.

It was a battle that would only keep going uphill for them. And the hill was only getting steeper over time. A fool’s errand. It was only a matter of time before the abomination tired them out and moved on to the rest of monsterkind, absorbing their souls. And once the Underground was empty, it’d go to the surface. It was more than just their lives they were fighting for.

Sans was so tired. He was fast. But the enemy was faster. It sounded like its laughter was right above him. Funny...Since when were there two of them?

He was about to faint, he realized. He must’ve been doing a lot more dodging than he thought he would. He thought he heard his brother cry out.

A stray Diamond was coming at him. He honestly tried to move, but he just couldn’t bring himself to do so.

He blinked. Or at least he thought he blinked. He could’ve passed out on his feet for all he knew. But when his eyes opened again, someone was standing in front of him. Hands gripped his shoulders and steadied his balance.

“Hey...Look alive, funnybones. You’re not dead yet.”

“...frisk?”

And the world slipped away from the skeleton’s grasp.

Chapter Text

In celebrating Deltarune Chapter 2, I will be finishing this fic!

See you soon. =)

Chapter Text

“Frisk?!”

This wasn’t part of the plan! Frisk wasn’t supposed to show up now! Not when he was so close! That stupid comedian would be dead if that human didn’t decide to play hero and step in the way!

He had to kill them now! While they were talking! He had to strike them down--

“SLOW DOWN, SLOW DOWN, PRINCE OF NO ONE! CHEATING IN THIS GAME WOULDN’T BE MUCH FUN.”

Right. Him. The owner of the SOUL he stole.

Asriel turned to face the stumpy imp that was floating at eye level.

“You didn’t have a problem with it before.”

“TIMES CHANGE, CHANGE, LITTLE PRINCE! SURELY YOU, OF ALL PEOPLE, WOULD KNOW THAT!”

The late prince watched his loud companion float away, spinning in a corkscrew fashion in a very lazy manner.

“What? Jevil, what’s that supposed to mean?”

The imp rotated so that he was facing him while floating upside down. The innocent smile on his face stretched out to be a too-sharp grin full of malice.

“You used to be such a sweet little thing. A kind, loving child who cared far too much, too much. A poor, poor little crybaby! A real follower!”

Jevil’s voice was echoing all over their shared mindscape. Those void-like eyes were suddenly too close to Asriel. They followed him everywhere he looked, until he was spinning in circles attempting to escape that accusing gaze.

The prince fell to his knees, trying to shake the stars out of his eyes from being so turned around. That piercing laughter of the jester echoed right in his ears.

“WHO WOULD EVER ACCEPT YOU AS THEIR RULER?! YOU HAD NO BACKBONE UNTIL IT COSTED YOUR LIFE!”

Their mindscape violently shook. Despite not being connected to the ground, the imp was bounced all around like a ball.

“Focus, you clown! We’re under attack, and you’re ridiculing me?!”

Jevil’s eyes narrowed at the prince, his grin not faltering in the slightest.

“Now where, where have we heard that before?”

*Smells like chaos.

The battle so far had been a joke. And not the funny kind.

The monster in front of Frisk was toying with them! There was always something just out of their sightline whenever they attempted to dodge the nonsensical attacks thrown at them.

If it weren’t for Toriel healing them and Papyrus providing secondary protection, Frisk was sure they would be dead by now.

But not even the strongest of monsters could prevent the ringing in their ears.

Between the monster’s echoing laugh and the constant bells jingling, Frisk couldn’t even hear themself think! Let alone hear the numerous stars raining down on them.

It was completely random what the stars would explode into. There were the little stars that could come out, yes. But, there could also be circling hearts, bullet-like diamonds, arching clubs, and homing spades. Not to mention the random suits that the monster would throw at them along with the stars.

No wonder the others couldn’t keep up.

When the stars stopped falling and the suits stopped coming, Frisk took a deep breath and finally took the chance to CHECK their opponent.

*Jevil the Flower. ATK: ??? DEF: ???
*Looks to be in great pain. It can’t keep attacking forever.

“So much FUN, FUN! It’s never DONE!”

A reticle hovered right on Frisk’s SOUL. Thorns and diamonds rushed at them far too quickly to be dodged. As the human braced themself for the pain of the magic attacks, a large bone rose up from the ground to protect them from the curtain fire. As soon as the monster’s turn ended, the bone crumbled to nothing. Frisk looked over to the tall skeleton keeping guard of the two people sleeping, who gave them a wink and a thumb’s up.

They couldn’t rely on their friends forever. They were on the verge of passing out with how much magic they must’ve been using.

*The air crackles with freedom.

It was time to ACT.

The options presented to them were stranger than they had ever seen. 

Bravery. Justice. Integrity. Kindness. Perseverance. Patience.

Perplexed, they chose their first ACT.

*You told Jevil the Flower that its attacks were too easy.
*Taunting in the face of death fills you with Bravery.

Their soul turned Orange on its own. Instantly, they felt pain coursing through their body until they moved. Right. Opposite of Blue Stop Signs. Orange means Go.

The monster looked absolutely offended by Frisk’s comment.

“T-TOO EASY?! SOME NERVE, NERVE YOU HAVE!”

That was the first time the monster didn’t seem to be at war with itself.

White fire shot out from the monster’s frail-looking hands. Frisk ran straight through the flames, the pain from the attack being more bearable than the pain from standing still.

Their soul turned back to red once it was their turn again.

*Jevil the Flower is dancing.

Frisk got the jist of what they had to do. They’ve experienced most of these traits in the past.

*You tell Jevil the Flower that you won’t let it get away with hurting your friends.
*Standing up for your friends fills you with Justice.

“I CAN DO ANYTHING! JUST YOU WATCH, BOISENGIRLS!”

A single voice shouted from the monster.

Frisk’s soul turned yellow. They remembered this feeling against Mettatton.

The monster’s head sprung off of its body, its neck a comically large spring. As the head bounced around, horsies and duckies were launched from its gaping maw.

Frisk felt powerful. They could wield magic like this. Yellow magic fired out of their soul and destroyed the projectiles coming for them.

Some of the duckies were beyond their reach, though. And they were speeding up way faster than the ones fired at them. Those duckies instead went out of their way to hit Toriel and Papyrus. The taller skeleton also took the hit for his unconscious brother. The last ducky had hit the body of the sleeping human child.

The child whimpered, and the monster cried out in a jolt of fresh pain.

*Jevil the Flower is suckling on its finger.

Frisk could handle this. As long as Toriel kept healing them, they could handle ACTing out.

*You berate Jevil the Flower for attacking people outside the fight.
*Enforcing the rules of an encounter fills you with Integrity.

Their soul turned blue, and they felt a familiar pull to the ground weigh on them.

It felt all too familiar.

“SAYS THE ONE THAT JUST SHOWED UP OUT OF NOWHERE! YOU WERE NEVER SUPPOSED TO COME BACK!”

A different voice. One that was also all too familiar.

Vines of random lengths popped up from underneath Frisk. They were able to jump over most of them, but there were just some they had to sidestep to avoid.

*Jevil the Flower’s dancing has slowed down.

Frisk was starting to feel sorry for the monster. It looked like it was trying so hard not to cry. Its grin was as wide as it could be, but the yellow like in its void-like eye has gone out.

*You tell Jevil the Flower that it was ok to take a break.
*Reminding someone to take care of themself fills you with Kindness.

The monster didn’t say anything this time. Instead, its grin dropped entirely and it looked at them with a bit of disdain.

Frisk felt a familiar restraining power over their soul.

Diamonds were fired at them at a rapid pace individually as the monster began teleporting to all sides of them. Each diamond was blocked by the shield that the green soul magic provided.

*Something is wrong.

The monster wasn’t moving much now. It didn’t dance or bounce or even grin.

*You tell Jevil the Flower to take its time.
*The willingness to wait for your opponent to be ready fills you with Patience.

That seemed to do the trick. The monster perked up.

“HOW THOUGHTFUL, THOUGHTFUL OF YOU!”

Nothing happened for this turn. Frisk stood perfectly still while the monster hummed to itself.

And suddenly thorns popped out from every direction. They came so close to touching their soul, but barely didn’t.

*Jevil the Flower is laughing at its prank.

They let out a deep breath after almost being skewered like that. They were so glad they kept thinking about Blue Stop Signs.

*You tell Jevil the Flower that you could do this all day.
*Standing firm against the odds fills you with Perseverance.

The feeling of being tangled in webs was suffocating for Frisk.

Clubs and Spades flew at them from the sides. It was a race to dodge them. And don’t get them started on the hearts that revolve around each other. It was a brutal but fair attack.

*Jevil the Flower is looking all around.

Frisk realized they didn’t have any more ACTs. There was only one more option they were willing to use.

“...What? What are you doing?”

“I’m showing you mercy,” Frisk declared, their stance firmly planted and unshakeable.

“Mercy? MERCY?! HOW DARE YOU SHOW MERCY NOW! YOU COULD’VE DONE SO BEFORE! I KNOW WHAT YOU DID, FRISK! YOU DIDN’T SHOW MERCY THE VERY FIRST TIME YOU FELL!”

The human gave a solemn nod. They knew he knew. He probably knew better than anyone else ever could.

“Well, I’m doing it now.”

White hot pain lit up their entire body. The world went dark for a moment. But only a moment.

*...But it refused.

The world came back. The monster looked completely shocked.

“What...?! CHEATS! CHEATS, I SAY!”

Frisk saw a blade of magic too large to dodge come straight at them. The exact same darkness came back.

*...But it refused.

Once again, the world came back. The monster screamed in frustration as it kept trying again and again and again and again and--

The monster’s soul turned blue, and it was flung to the side.

Frisk looked behind them to see Sans sitting up, Papyrus looking both overjoyed and worried for his brother.

“...sup, kid?”

“Sans! You’re awake! Finally!”

“heh. sorry about that. you save the world yet?”

“Maybe. I don’t--”

Weak sobs stopped Frisk mid sentence. They looked over to the monster they were fighting. It was curled up around itself, holding itself tightly.

“It’s so dark, dark...I’m so cold, cold...”

Frisk walked over to the monster and placed a warm hand gently on the too cold cheek of the monster. It looked up at them in confusion.

“What...Why...? Why mercy...?”

“Because you deserve mercy, Jevil.”

“...How silly, silly...If you knew me in my past life...”

“I could say the same about me. But it’s ok. We’re better than we were in the past.”

“...Quickly...My soul...Before the Prince awakens again...”

A strange black soul appeared before the human. Jevil’s soul. It was so different from any soul Frisk had seen. It wasn’t like a monster’s soul. But it wasn’t like their own soul, either.

With careful hands, they grabbed it. They could feel the magic buzzing within it. It wanted to bond with them, but the two of them were not compatible. Human souls could not bond with another human soul. It worked the same way with monster souls. Frisk remembered reading that on the walls of Waterfalls.

They made their way to the body of the sleeping child. Like moth to a flame, the soul rushed to the body and sunk in.

And the child finally opened his eyes.