Skeletons and Robots (Discontinued due to lack of time)

Chapter 23: Spare Them

A shuddering yelp emitted from my mouth as one of the bones I had been attempting to dodge slammed into my chest. I went tumbling backwards, trying to handspring out of it. I failed, and I heard a snap as one of my fingers jerked backwards. I cursed loudly, struggling back to my feet. "Come on, King, you're gonna have to do better than that if you need to kill Asgore." Sans said, shrugging. He let a Gaster Blaster fly, and I watched as a beam struck the ground and started to fly towards me. I leapt out of the way, holding up a hand to signal Sans to stop. "Stop. Please. We've been doing this all day. I swear to god I'm about to die." I wheezed, clicking my finger back into place. Sans rolled his eyes, strutting towards me, a smug smile on his face. "Bud, listen. When you fight Asgore, you don't get stops. Now, Pap would probably want his bedtime story." Sans grabbed my chin, dragging my face close to his in a sharp kiss. "See ya, mosquito bot." He said, waving before teleporting away. I frowned, collecting Jacin and leaving. "I hate him."
I let the day's events unfold in my closed eyes, a smile on my face. I couldn't sleep. How could I? I was just told that soon Frisk would die and I would get the power to reset so I could be king of the Underground. A shudder crept down my spine, so I sat up. I kicked back my covers, and wrote a quick note to Napstablook or Nami in case they wondered where I was. Then I noticed another note. It was written in large letters, huge but small enough to fit on the paper. It appeared rushed, as if the writer was busy during the creation.
HI NEO! THIS IS PAPYRUS. I HAVE A... STRANGE QUESTION FOR YOU. HOW DO YOU PLEASE A MOODY ROBOT? NOT YOU, YOU SEEM TO HAVE NO EMOTION AT ALL. OH, THAT WAS RUDE. SORRY. ANYWAYS, WHAT SHOULD I DO ABOUT METTATON? ALL I SEEM TO BE DOING IS GETTING HIM ON HIS NERVES. SO WHAT DOES HE LIKE? DISLIKE? AND HOW CAN I GET AROUND HIS... MOODS? THANKS NEO.
-PAPY-
The end of it was cut off,  a trail leaving the Y like Papyrus was dragged away. I took another piece of paper responding to him, and put it in my chest compartment, promising to myself I could clean out all the junk inside it. Since there was nothing going on, might as well take the letter to him.

I didn't know what other monsters' opinions were, but all I could say was that I loved the surface. It was so much warmer than in the Underground, and the moon glistened above me, as bright as all the stars surrounding it. I really beat the crystals we had Underground. I exited the broken barrier and began a quick errand to the skelebro's house.

Upon arriving, I slid the note under the door and gave a small knock in case anyone was awake. In response, a light flicked on, and I heard the pitter-patter of feet rushing down stairs. It wasn't either of the skeleton's, it was too light. The note was taken and the door opened, revealing Frisk. She smiled, waving. "Hi Neo!" She chirped. "Long time no see! What brings you here?" She asked. "Eh, just responding to a note Papyrus left at my house." I said, shrugging. "Ah. I'll give it to him." She scampered back up the stairs, and a couple minutes later she responded with Papyrus yelling "THANK YOU!". "No prob, Paps." I yelled back up the stairs. I glanced at Frisk, who was walking back to the TV. "Hey, I was gonna take a walk. Care to join me?" I asked, turning and stepping out the door. "Yeah, thanks!" Frisk said, jumping off of the couch and racing over to me. Frisk reached out and grabbed my hand, and a jolt went up my spine. Out of reflex, my blaster activated. Frisk took multiple steps back, and once I manually powered it down she stepped back up to me. "Sorry. Um, not very used to holding hands." I said, rubbing the back of my neck sheepishly. "It's okay. Come on, it's going to get really dark soon."

"Hey Frisk?" I asked after a little bit of walking in silence. "Yeah?"
"How do resets work?" Frisk quieted immediately, stopping in her tracks. I stopped too. "Who told you? Was it...?" She whispered, trailing off. "Sans told me. All I know is that there's three different routes, all with different endings. This is Pacifist. Apparently I'm in Genocide." I said. Frisk reached out and touched the glass case that held my soul, and traced a line down the dusty surface. "Always a direct hit. If I didn't, Chara wouldn't be pleased, and we'd reset back to the last save point. I remember what you say. "Guess you don't wanna join my fanclub?" It's really sad, Neo. When I first saw you, I thought Chara would overcome me and I would kill you on the spot. But you're... Different. I like you more." She said, wiping the dust on her finger on her shirt. "Anyway, other than this ending, there's one that I find very funny. King Mettaton ending. It kinda explains everything, doesn't it? If I spare both Papyrus and Mettaton, Mettaton becomes king of the Underground and Papyrus leads the Royal guard! Although everyone gets brainwashed." Frisk said. She glanced at me, looking confused. "You okay?" She asked, tapping my arm. "Yeah. Heh, king Mettaton. Sounds kinda funny, don't you think?" I said. "Yeah." Frisk didn't seem to buy it, and she kept walking. I followed, and asked if she wanted to go home. "No. I'm okay. It feels nice out here. You know what, Neo?"
"What?"
"This is my favorite reset. Everything is actually going okay." Frisk said, a soft smile on her face. I smiled warmly, attempting and probably failing to hide my cringe. It was almost as if Frisk knew what I was about to do with Sans.
We walked for quite some time, with me throwing questions and curiosities while Frisk answered them innocently, without any knowledge of my plans. It was like one of those stories Nami told Jacin about every single night, the ones that made me throw my pillow at her head, praying she would shut up. The one where the evil witch secretly tricked the innocent little girl and boy into putting themselves into an oven and getting cooked alive. I never heard the end of that story, but I was sure the witch would have had a nice dinner. She got what she wanted after all, didn't she? Besides, I was sure the witch had her reasons, like I had.
A buzz in my ears signaled the rising of Nami back at home, and a heat bubbled in my chest. Oh, great. Thanks to the new software from dear Alphys, My new companion could contact me and sense my feelings and status, just like when she was a phone. Thanks god it was an easy function to turn off, or I think I would implode. I forgot to turn it off today, but I figured it would not be problematic if I am just taking a walk.
"Agh!" Heat blurred my visions so the attacker whom had sent lapping pain to me from the all-too-forceful face slap was temporarily concealed. Still, I had slapped myself. Frisk, God bless the child, hopped up onto my back like a ninja and whispered ever so softly into my ear, "Are you okay? Hurting yourself is not good, Neo, no matter what you did or how big the injury." I nodded sheepishly, my fingers prodding around to find the child behind my back.
"Yes, thank you Frisk, you are very sweet. I don't know what came over me, please excuse me." My fingers grappled onto Frisk, bringing her before my face. "That is very smart of you to say, by the way. Where did you learn that, you are just too young to know that!" Frisk accepted my harsh praise, batting her doll-like eyelashes.
"Toriel taught me." She winked. I shook my head, setting her down gingerly.
"So, little expert, since we are obviously nowhere near where I intended to go in the first place, where do you want to go?"
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Never listen to a human child. I crumpled my fist, boredom practically oozing through my veins. A long sigh seemed to float around my being, the cold morning mist not helping my condition. Frisk, however, was a very different story. She bounced enthusiastically around the purple town playground slide, flailing her arms around and screaming giddily like she had just seen a unicorn. Hey, why not run around screaming at six AM on a playground? Geez, this kid, I swear, was like a vampire. Weren't kids not supposed to pull all-nighters?
"Neo, wanna play with me?" Frisk chimed, her cheeks stained pink from the cold. I nodded grimly, getting to my feet with a groan. The sky glowed pink with pride from behind the candy-colored playground, a young, newly woken sun rising from behind. It was a new beginning- a beautiful new start. Earth was so beautiful. As my feet touched the playground surface, I noticed something peculiar. A lingering figure of smoke slowly danced upward from the plastic canopy underneath the slide, twisting and turning threateningly. I was riveted, my eyes fixed on the smoke. I crept closer, my feet moved numbly and drunkenly as I was in a trance. Everything inside of me propelled me foreword, every bit and bolt inside spoke the same language. Why I was so enticed, I didn't know. Grappling onto a lone handlebar, I leaned in just close enough to hear voices. There was one, a young female. She sounded frightfully pained, it almost made me cringe. The poor little thing was crying, her aching sobs so loud I feared Frisk would hear them. There were other voices, too. All males, late teens to early twenties.
The young girl broke her weeping to speak, "It hurts..Darwin, it hurts...please, take me to a hospital.". A male spoke, his voice fragile and trembling.
"We can't, they will find your family, and your father will find you. He will finish what he started. You know that." The girl spoke again, this time full of anger.
"Let him know, I don't care anymore! Killing a man is worse then what he did to me, and I am not afraid of him!" Curiosity overcame me, and I scurried around to a peephole. There was a girl around seventeen, cradled in the arms of who I assumed to be Darwin. His muscular figure shone through his leather jacket and denim jeans, but his face told s more soft and sentimental story. He obviously loved her, the way he held her said it all. As for the girl, her beautiful face was contracted in pain, her shiny white teeth bared. Her right arm was reddened even through the layers of cloth covering it, obviously donated from the shirtless boys surrounding the two. Some of them had cigarettes plugged in between tonsils, the smoke from them all combined creating the apparition I had witnessed earlier. They all looked so rugged and tough, yet showed a yearning to help the girl.
"We can get out of the state," one offered bluntly. Darwin nodded weakly, then turned to the girl for approval. As a small, pitiful smile crossed her face, the group seemed to breathe a sigh of relief. A group member stood up, as if to give a toast.
"No one will ever stab Jenny in the arm again!" He boomed, pumping his fist in the air.
"Here here!" Cheered the rest of them. I smiled in melancholy, leaning into the peep hole closer. A sudden pull brought me back to reality, and down at my side was Frisk.
"Neo, what are they talking about in there?" Frisk piped, attempting to poke my soul. Panic surged through my body, and I slammed my fingers to her lips. She screamed under my hand, surely loud enough probably for the whole park to hear. Mumbles and sharp whispers from the canopy signaled that it was. I heard calls of, "you take Jenny and the others, Mike and I will stay," and, "okay, good luck," from the canopy, and a shiver shot down my back. Two burly teens stepped out of the canopy, walking around the playground to look for us. I could feel myself trembling, pressed against the canopy wall and clutching Frisk for dear life. The others scurried out of the canopy, disappearing into the foggy morning. I wished I could disappear like that.
"Hey, you!" A low voice called threateningly, the two figures rising out of the fog to meet us. They were two teenagers, both or very strong builds. The blonde one on the left had a slight limp in his right leg, it would be an easy target to hit if I angled my heel collision point right. And as for the one on the right, his chest looked way too strong to hit from the front, but maybe if I could get his back he would be vulnerable. Frisk tapped me aggressively, rolling her eyes. I slowly uncupped her mouth, only then realizing that I had just sized my victims up. Victims. I liked the sound of that.
"Yo Monster, you and junior here picked the wrong place today." The blonde spat, obviously trying to hide the fear he felt.
"Did I? Oh, I don't think so. Thank goodness I was here, Jenny's father will want to know about you scallawags. " I teased, any fear I had of these boys diminishing almost instantly. I was the monster here, not them. It was about time I started acting like it.
Neo? Your adrenaline has spiked, is everything okay? I have this weird feeling, like I can't remember something that was there. It feels like a memory of you doing bad things. Oh, God. Just what I need.
Yup, everything is just fine, Nami. Frisk and I are just having a little play fight. I tell her, glancing over at Frisk. She returns the stare, whispering to me the words, "Spare them."
Okay, you two be careful! If anything happens, I guess I will know. This telepathy stuff is still weird to me, and I would hate to eavesdrop. I rolled my eyes, nodding to Frisk.
"I am afraid we can't let you get to Jenny's father, let alone anyone anymore." The one on the right choked, the grit in his voice teasing in a not-so playful way. I sneered, about to make an edgy comeback when his fist struck my face. Pain rocketed through my system, my head practically rang as I bent over to gather myself. My nerves sizzled, a sudden shock befalling my upper body. Out of the corner of my eye, I could see Frisk sparing one of them, while the other jumped up to finish me off. I bounded upwards to meet him, twisting around and kneeing him in the back. He grabbed my face and twisted it, exposing my weak neck. I continued to knee him weakly as he craned my head around, twisting it practically halfway around my body. In my desperate seconds of life before being decapitated, my blaster slammed outward into my opponent's body, pressing against the soft flesh. Before I could fully comprehend what was going on, a loud bang told me all I needed to know. I backed away, allowing the limp body to fall off of me and onto the ground. Massaging my neck, I briefly examined the massive hole in his abdomen, still steaming and sizzling. Yes. Twirling around to face Frisk and her opponent, I figured to save her the trouble. Another satisfying bang and her fight was over too. She stood over the body in shock, like a looming shadow over it's master. Except that master was dead, dead because of me. And it felt good. I snickered maniacally, beckoning for Frisk to come to me.
"Good job, Frisk. Come here, kiddo. " I cooed, opening my arms for the expected hug. Frisk only stared, mortified, at the oozing body. Too anxious to wait, I strutted over to her proudly. Her head still hung limply over the body as she asked, "Why did you kill them? I told you to spare them.". I held out my hand, and, reluctantly, she took it.
"Awe, don't be all mad, scamp. Anyway, Toriel isn't going to know about any of those, is she?"