Wholehearted Half-Souls

Chapter 13: Growth (Part 2)

Toriel looks at her watch and taps her foot, noticing that it's 1 pm sharp. "My oh my, we were supposed to begin dining 15 minutes ago! The burgers and hot dogs will get cold." Papyrus is trying to keep the patties and sausages warm while Asgore drinks some tea straight from the teapot. "And where is my eldest," Toriel mutters.

Frisk and Susie rise. "NO," they shout together.

Toriel turns towards them and walks towards them with strength in her step. "What do you mean?"

Frisk points towards the church. "Maybe Azzy was talking to reverend Alvin! You know how he likes to ask him about life and stuff, and...things."

Toriel sighs and nods. "That would not surprise me. Please, fetch him for us."

Susie gives a thumbs up to Toriel, and the duo run towards the church together. Susie smirks at Frisk and chuckles. "Nice cover story, slick."

Frisk shrugs. "It was the best thing I could think of at the moment."

Susie nods. "Yeah, that's fair."

Toriel stares at the church and rubs her head vigorously as Frisk and Susie enter the building. (They are acting strange. They're up to something, I know it.)

Frisk holds the door open for Susie as they walk in. The front lobby is lined with dark ruby carpet. The expanse of the sanctuary is lined with multi-colored glass windows and has a shimmering ruby carpet leading up to the podium. The carpet on the platform at the other end of the sanctuary is white, and emerald linen lines a small table right behind the podium. The emerald linen has a golden cross symbol embossed on it, and off to the side of the podium sit multiple rows of chairs.

"Have any idea where your bro is?" Susie asks.

Frisk looks left and right. To the left stands a door that says "men." To the right is a door that says "women." Frisk leans towards his left and hears a soft sobbing noise coming from the other side of the door. He points to the left and whispers at Susie. "He's in there. I recognize that voice."

Susie shakes her head. "Wouldn't people think it's weird or whatever for a chick like me to walk into the boys' room?"

Frisk shakes his head. "It should be fine; we'll just prop the door open. This is an emergency."

Susie shrugs and chuckles. "Heh, sweet. Sounds like a plan to me."

They walk in together and see Asriel at the sink, tears flowing. His body has a slight glow around it. He stares into the mirror as he clenches his fists around the sink. His height is towering, his horns are long, and his eyes are shrouded in darkness. Asriel then leans away from the mirror, grits his teeth, and stares at Susie and Frisk.

Susie steps forward, her eyes running up and down Asriel's tall, muscular body. Her eyes widen, irises sharp. "What the he-"

"STOP, Asriel screams. His tall, muscular structure recoils and shrinks within a flash while his eye color goes from black and shimmering to a deep green-blue again. After his normal state returns, he wipes his face clean with his arm and calms his breathing. After drying his face, Frisk grabs his church clothes lying on the floor. Frisk pats Asriel on the back and asks, "what's wrong?"

"I'm sorry, guys," Asriel says quietly. "I don't mean to scare you, but I needed time alone to clear my head..." He sinks it. "And it hurts."

"Why did you need to clear your head, bud?" Frisk asks.

"Because I think I saw him," Asriel confesses. 

Susie's face contorts. "Who, Kris?"

Asriel nods, and Susie curses under her breath. Asriel continues. "I'm sorry to worry you guys. I just want to protect you better because I was knocked out in one hit." Asriel lowers his head and gently pats his chest. "I'm a wimp. When I saw Kris, I was reminded of that, and I just wanted a free moment to clear my mind...and prepare for when we face him again. That's why you saw what you saw."

Asriel coughs and looks up at Susie, with their eyes piercing each others'. She shakes her head and frowns deeply. Asriel loosens his tie a little and rubs his snout free of snot whilst raising his voice. "All of the bad memories of the party came flowing back, and it reminded me of how big of a pushover I am. I need to be stronger, and I'm tired of being useless!"

Asriel coughs more. With his face turning red, he leans into the faucet and laps the water like a dog. Susie smirks and chuckles. "You're seriously drinking from the bathroom faucet?" she asks. "Don't churches have a water cooler or something?"

Asriel brings his head out of the sink and rubs his snout. "Er, um...sorry." He sighs and regains control of his breathing.

Susie shrugs. "Hey, it's fine. I think it's pretty sweet. You go for the flavored water, huh?"

Asriel chuckles and rubs the back of his head. A deep grimace appears on his face as he stares at the ground. "I got this idea soon after we met Susie," Asriel half-whispers. "If I can get stronger, maybe I could help you better. It's why I ran away; I needed time to myself prepare...something. My strongest form."

Frisk gently smiles. "No need to worry; we can just have Susie protect us."

Susie nods while Asriel shakes his head and bites his lip. "I was always a crybaby, huh? But I want to knock it off. I want to keep up with you; you're stronger than me."

Susie's hair falls in front of her face, and she snorts. "Be straight with me. What is this strongest form you're talking about? We need to know what it's like."

Asriel takes another drink of water from the faucet and clenches his fists. "This form, before I was redeemed and freed the monsters, was called 'god of hyperdeath'. I had infinite attack and infinite defense."

Susie shrugs. "Yeah, so what? The heck does that mean?"

"It means your axe would be useless," Frisk flatly replies.

Susie's eyes shoot daggers at the ambassador. "My axe is awesome; c'mon."

Frisk waves his hands in front of him. "Hold on; listen to me. No amount of force would've helped. The only way to defeat him was pacifism."

Asriel recoils his head from the sink and smiles sadly. Susie rolls her eyes. "Quit pulling my leg. You have to fight to win!"

Frisk shakes his head. "Not that time. Sometimes, pacifism is the only way. It got me through the Underground, and all the monsters were freed. What's so bad about pacifism?"

Susie spits on the ground. "Dude, I never said pacifism was all bad."

Frisk clicks his tongue and sighs. "Oh...I put words in your mouth, then. I'm sorry."

Susie nods. "It's cool. But, while it did work for you there, my problem is that Kris ain't Asriel. And, if you ask me, you can't win with defense alone. To win, you must attack!"

Frisk allows the hot air in his chest to fly out with considerable grace, and he inhales a cool rush of wind after. "Anyway, in order to defeat Asriel, whether in his hyperdeath form or his Flowey form, I learned that I had to dodge and block...and most of all, have DETERMINATION at the end of the day." He shrugs. "I still won, but he was really strong. Maybe if he could re-access it, we could better defend ourselves against Kris." 

He turns his head towards Asriel, with him nodding. "Azzy, I can talk about what happened during our battles if you don't want to."

Asriel smiles and side-hugs Frisk. "Thank you, bro. Yeah, that'll be ok with me."

"No problem, bud. But first, let's move into the hallway."