Undertale

Chapter 27: Reunited

I expected to wake up where I had last SAVEd, but instead, I woke up outside the elevator to the CORE in New Home. The doors were jammed shut with vines. Curious and scared, I walked down the hallway and took the elevator to the other side of Asgore's castle. I walked through the Judgment Hall and the Throne Room. I walked all the way to The End, and SAVEd.

What had just happened? Who had called me? Why had they called me, and how?

I walked through the archway, and found Asgore standing in front of the barrier, still waiting for me to fight him. Because that hadn't happened yet. I blinked at him, wondering if I should speak to him. What had changed this time? Not much... I had learned a lot, and I got closer to Alphys, but I was hoping to find some sort of solution. Now, I was back here. We would have to fight until one of us— no, until he died, either by my hand or Flowey's. But what choice did I have? I had literally nowhere else to go, because the elevator was sealed with the vine...

And that phone call...

"This is the barrier," said Asgore. Because of course, I had never been here before. "This is what keeps us all trapped underground."

"I know."

"If... If by chance you have any unfinished business... please do what you must."

I felt I did have unfinished business, but I couldn't do anything else, again because of the sealed elevator. "I can't go back."

"......I see... This is it, then." He turned around. "Ready?" The SOULs and their containers shot back up out of the invisible ground, and the battle began.

A strange light fills the room. Twilight is shining through the barrier. It seems my journey is finally over. I'm filled with DETERMINATION.

"Human... It was nice to meet you. Goodbye." Before Asgore could whip out his trident, however, he was knocked aside by a little fireball. Another creature came running towards me. If anything could have been more unexpected than Flowey killing Asgore the first time, this was it.

"What a miserable creature, torturing such a poor, innocent youth... Do not be afraid, my child. It is I, Toriel, your friend and guardian."

"Toriel! I... I thought I'd never see you again!"

"At first, I thought I would let you make your journey alone... but I could not stop worrying about you. Your adventure must have been so treacherous... and ultimately, it would burden you with a horrible choice. To leave this place, you would have to take the life of another person. You would have to defeat ASGORE. However... I realized... I cannot allow that. It is not right to sacrifice someone simply to let someone leave her. Is that not what I have been trying to prevent this whole time? So, for now, let us suspend this battle. As terrible as ASGORE is... He deserves mercy, too."

"Yeah. He's not terrible, Toriel," I said with a smile. I was happy that Toriel had given me the chance to spare him. I really didn't want to have to kill him.

"Tori..." Asgore breathed. "You came back..."

Toriel suddenly looked very stern. "Do not 'Tori' me, Dreemurr!" she snapped. Asgore's expression changed. "You pathetic whelp." Wow. I didn't think I'd ever, ever hear Toriel call someone a pathetic whelp. "If you really wanted to free our kind... you could have gone through the barrier after you got one SOUL, taken six SOULs from the humans, then come back and freed everyone peacefully. But instead, you made everyone live in despair, because you would rather wait here, meekly hoping another human never comes."

Asgore looked very sad. He finally saw his wife again, and she was furious with him. "...Tori... you're right..." And he hadn't wanted to kill anyone in the first place. "I am a miserable creature... but," his face brightened, "do you think we can at least be friends again?"