False host (undertale fanfiction)

chapter 16: from dust, we rise

Alphys gripped the cannon tightly, its oversized barrel trembling in her shaking hands. The device pulsed faintly, light running along its length like veins. I'd ignored it at first—after all, she wasn't a fighter—but now?

It made my ribs ache just to glance at it.

Her hands didn't steady as I started past her toward the barrier room, but she didn't fire, either. She just stood there, sweat clinging to her scales as her wide, darting eyes followed my every step.

"Relax, Doc. I'm not after you," I muttered with a sigh. "I'm done gathering EXP. I've got bigger goals."

Alphys didn't move, though her grip on the cannon tightened.

Her silence gnawed at me, but I kept walking, past the weapon, past the crumbled golden flowers of the garden. Buttercups were nowhere to be seen—Toriel must've had them cleared ages ago.

My steps echoed louder as the barrier room grew closer. Light danced from the white walls, bending space itself, reaching infinitely outward but constrained, imprisoned.

Finally, I reached the terminal at its edge—a wall-mounted panel inset with controls. My fingers hovered over the largest button. When I pressed it, the floor beneath the chamber rumbled, then split. Seven heavy pods rose from beneath the barrier platform, their metallic casings gleaming under the surreal glow.

My grin froze, then shattered entirely.

The pods were hollow. Lifeless. No color, no glow, no power.

No souls.

My fingers curled into fists, my mind racing, the weight of the room suddenly crushing in ways I hadn't anticipated. My key, the solution to every problem I'd clawed and killed for—it wasn't here.

Before the truth could fully sink in, the wall behind me exploded in a violent storm of rubble. Dust and fragments scattered as a shadow fell across me, massive and commanding.

Two arms—strong as steel—seized me, pinning my arms to my sides in a crushing grip. The force was suffocating, the air forced from my chest in an instant.

"Asgore," I hissed

"Doctor, now!" his booming voice echoed through the chamber, reverberating through the walls.

He pinned me tighter, his hand pressing into my chest, and in an instant, that strange, pulsing weight surged back—worse this time. My entire body tensed, the fight bleeding out of me for just a second. I twisted, craning my neck to see Alphys. Her eyes were locked on me, her pupils blown wide as she aimed that cursed cannon.

I shoved against Asgore's chest, yanking hard, but it was like moving a mountain. "and I thought you'd be the one to understand my actions" I growled, headbutting him hard enough that I could hear the crack of bone. He staggered just slightly, his grip slipping.

It was all I needed.

I jerked free, spinning midair and summoning my knife in one hand. Asgore had barely steadied himself when I lunged, blade raised, red energy coursing through its edge.

He met my strike head-on, his massive trident sweeping in an arc to deflect the blow. The clang reverberated, splitting the air as his strength sent me sliding backward, my boots screeching against the floor.

"Where are the souls, Asgore?" I spat, my grin now a grimace. A flicker of crimson energy sparked around my fingers as I summoned a Gaster Blaster, its mouth snapping open and firing point-blank toward him.

He didn't move.

The beam hit his chest, spreading in tendrils of sparking energy—but before I could even smirk, he raised his trident. The energy bent around the weapon, surging upward until a burst of the same magic arced back toward me.