Understay - an Undertale Fanfic

Understay I - The King and the Human

Only a few men had seen what stood before Frisk, and only from the other side. This wall, this barrier, was all that stood between him and the outer world. His world.

"Impressive, is it not?" A voice asked him. He turned to see Asgore, a towering monster with white fur and a pair of stubby horns. Most of him was concealed behind a suit of dull purple armour and a cape to match, but everyone who saw him knew him to be a powerful monster, king of his realm. "After the war between our races had ended, after our banishment to the land you have explored, seven human magicians summoned all of their power - their Determination - to create this barrier. Centuries after, it still remains. You met the captain of my guard, did you not?" Frisk nodded gently, the memories of the fight with Undyne still fresh in his mind. "She informed you of the gate's key, seven human souls. We have six." Asgore looked at the barrier, and Frisk did the same. It seemed to be... trembling slightly. "We have studied this magic since our banishment. We understand all there is to understand about it. As a result, we know there is no substitute, no alternative." Frisk turned back to face Asgore. He couldn't meet Frisk's eyes. "Human..." Asgore stepped back, the twilight granting him an ominous shadow. "It was nice to meet you." He suddenly thrust a trident out to the side, showing its three crimson points. "Goodbye." He raised it, pointing it at Frisk. It came rushing at him...

"I'll stay!" Frisk panicked, leaping away from the trident as its head crashed into the ground, burying itself in the cold stone beneath. Asgore stayed still for a moment, repeating Frisk's words in his mind.

"All this time... did you not come to New Home to escape our land? To return to yours?" He dislodged the trident, a pebble rolling off and clacking against the ground. "Why would you stay now?"

"... nobody has to die." Frisk huffed, straightening up again. "Sans, Papyrus, Undyne, Alphys, Mettaton... nobody had to die. Alphys says I need a monster soul to escape, but I won't take one!"

"Then you would give your soul up to grant us escape?" Asgore asked, gripping the trident tighter to prepare for another attack.

"N-no, I can't... I don't want to die either... b-but if I stay with you, you can take my soul once I die from age! Y-your kind outlives humans easily, right?!" Asgore hesitated, the trident drooping slightly.

"... human, I... I don't know what to say... you would sacrifice your freedom to allow ours?"

"I mean... my life was worth nothing up there, I came down here to... to escape them. If I can help here, if I can mean something... But I'm afraid to die..."

"... I... will need to think abo-"

"Oh, please!" a new voice hissed, taking them both by surprise. "Boo hoo, everybody hates me, I don't want to die, waa, waa, waa! I told you from the start, human!" the ground trembled slightly as a yellow flower pushed out from the ground where Asgore had stabbed it. "Down here, it's kill or be killed!" It grinned a dark grin, a grin Frisk had only seen once before - right as Flowey had tried to kill him. "Seems you're pretty thick if you still haven't learnt that. Guess I gotta remind you; everybody down here wants you dead! Dead, damnit!"

"Th-that's not true!" Frisk objected, clutching the heart pendant around his neck. "I've met lots of friends! Papyrus was-"

"Papyrus is an idiot!" Flowey interrupted, vines crashing through the ground and pinning Frisk to the wall. "An optimistic-" he slammed Frisk against the wall. "Clueless-" Slam. "Brain dead idiot!" Slam. The vines receded and Frisk dropped to the ground, winded from the ferocity of the attack. "After seeing the scum down here I'd thought you'd have learnt better, but you're as bad as him!"