What's so funny about HoPe, MERCY and the Pacifist way?

Frisk looked at the people reunited in front of them, and took a deep breath, knowing that the news they were about to give wouldn't be well received.

"There's no easy way to say this: Horror, Dust and Kill-"
"Oh for fuck's sake!" G shouted, slamming his palms on the table and standing up. "They escaped again, didn't they?!"

Frisk could only nod, but the confirmation was unnecessary, as the whole Council started arguing and talking over themselves, because once again, the Murder Trio had escaped their cells, and they would have to expect another attack very soon.

"-can't keep doing-!"
"-stronger cells-"
"-how did they-"
"-prepare evacuations-"
"-which AUs are gonna-"

Frisk could hear everything that was being said, and the grey child wished they had a solution, but they didn't: no matter how many times the murderers were captured, or how they were contained, sooner or later Nightmare (or in rare cases, Error) showed up to retrieve them, and the fight for the Multiverse would start all over again.

"-useless to capture them-"
"-not be hasty-"
"-only way to-!"
"-they did hurt a lot of people-"
"-irredeemable!"

And just like every other time, the discussion had shifted to the usual debate: should the Murder Trio be killed, instead of imprisoned? What is it even worthy it to capture them and then have them break out again and again and hurt others? Didn't they deserve to be punished?

Frisk firmly disagreed, and despite everything they saw in the Multiverse, they remained steadfast in their pacifist morals, but for the same reason, they wouldn't impose their will on the rest of the Council. Still, the assembly was strongly divided.

"What other proof do you need?!" shouted an Undyne, dressed as a queen "Arresting them is not a valid solution anymore! They have to face justice!"
"We won't stoop to their level!" said a steampunk styled Toriel "We're better than this!"
"Fat lot o' good that's gonna do when we're dead." snarled Red, crossing his arms.
"It's not our place to kill criminals." argued Lust "Our duty is to help collaboration among the Multiverse, not execute those who disagree with us."
"Slaughtering AUs isn't exactly an ideological difference now, is it?" hissed a wooden Mettaton.

It wasn't easy, both for those advocating for the execution and for the ones arguing for mercy, but every time the Gang attacked and hurt others, the percentage of people unwilling to kill decreased, though they were still in the majority.

"I, for one" said Razz in a harsh tone "think that if our Guardians did their job, then we wouldn't be having this discussion."

Everyone turned to the three skeletons at the head of the table, the Star Sanses.

Ink tilted his skull and his pupils changed to a purple question mark and a green spiral, his expression one of guarded confusion, Blue straightened his posture with a stern look on his face, and Dream interlocked his fingers, letting out a small sigh.

Ink unconsciously created a pencil and started spinning it in his fingers, and said: "Our job is to protect the Multiverse-"
"And get rid of threats against it!" shouted a Swap Alphys, slamming her fist.
"By containing them." Dream's voice took a hard edge "We are not murderers. If the Council decides to execute convicted criminals, we won't oppose its collective decision, but we're not going to kill our opponents in battle."
"Bet Nightmare and Error won't give you the same courtesy." said Outer, glaring at the table.

A tense silence fell on the assembly, and the empath rose, putting his open palms against the table and looking at everyone with a serious expression.

"It's true. Our enemies are more ruthless than us, and willing to do things that we won't. This doesn't mean that we should do the same, and renounce our morals and ideals. Blue, Ink and I are not the law, judges or executioners, we are Guardians, and we protect all who live in this Multiverse: we cannot allow ourselves to have exceptions or double standards. We will always give MERCY to our opponents, whether you think they deserve it or not."