Chapter Text

Running for your life really puts things in perspective. Nobody in their wildest dreams would have thought they would be running up a mountain with an almost-four-centuries-old person chasing them, throwing large magic knives at them. The three friends had been running in silence, the only sound being the sound of their panting and attempts to regain their breath. And while Asriel and Frisk were immensely scared, Patta could only feel the adrenaline and the wish to stay alive. They weren’t exactly ‘scared’. That is what Patta didn’t really understand.

Some would have thought that the Hermit’s pursuit would be related to the traumatic memories that had assaulted Patta not too long before, when they had started climbing the mountain, but somehow Patta didn’t feel the same fear they had experienced before. That was mindboggling, but there was no time to think too deep about it.

The Hermit’s continuous assault was horrifyingly strong. It was truly a miracle none of them had been hit by any of the knives the Hermit had conjured. If any of their SOULs got hit, it was very likely death would be the expected consequence. The danger was even greater in Asriel’s case, as his body was directly linked to his SOUL. Something as simple as getting grazed by a knife would be enough to kill him. The humans were in slightly less danger, but not by that much. The physical quality the knives had would cause grievous wounds, it wasn’t much better than Asriel’s situation.

Asriel felt like his lungs were going to explode. He wasn’t in bad shape – walking from side to side of the Kingdom of Monsters at least twice in a weekly basis did wonders for one’s physical state – but the constant pursuit and the steep mountain were starting to take a toll on him. He was starting to run slower, gripping the jar with the human SOUL. Frisk didn’t seem to be faring much better.

Frisk threw themselves onto the rocks, getting some scrapes and bruises instead of a severe wound to the torso. The fall got them gasping for breath, though. Patta reacted quickly, grabbing Frisk’s arm and brusquely pulling them so they started running again. Frisk, still in pain from the fall, protested loudly, startled by the sudden action. “I’m okay!” they managed to scream, but Patta ignored it. Better to be safe before apologizing, that is what they thought.

The chase continued for a few minutes, but for the three it seemed like an eternity, and the Hermit still showed no signs of being tired or wanting to stop. Bits of rock and clay flew at every strike of the knives, the dust falling onto Asriel and his companions. Some of that dust got into Patta’s eyes, making them stumble blindly. “Patta!” Asriel, who had been not too far ahead of Patta, stopped and acted quickly. Puny distractions were better than nothing right now.

Balls of magic fire were aimed towards the Hermit, but they didn’t hurt them not even a little bit. It was enough to slow them down for a moment, just enough for Patta to recover and continue. Frisk had gotten ahead, deviating from the established rocky path and entering a new forested area. “Keep doing that, Asriel!” Patta ordered. Asriel nodded, trying to conserve his energy, but it was very difficult to keep running and attack behind him. The Hermit wasn’t affected at all by the fire, but during Asriel’s attacks they took a more defensive stance, using their knives to block the fire. That was better than having those knives hurtled at them, at least.

The little advantage gained was used by Asriel and Patta to dive between the trees. Frisk was hidden behind a trees, peeking and breathing heavily, but when they saw their friends had managed to get to where they were the child waved, getting their attention.

“We can’t keep running…forever…” Frisk said with difficulty, leaning against a tree, but Patta didn’t let them rest. With some luck the trees would help stall the Hermit, but it was better to not to push their luck. Asriel agreed with them. This was Mt. Ebott, the Hermit’s turf. It’d be extremely difficult to know where to run, so he said it. It was matter of time before the Hermit succeeded. Maybe there was something that could be done about that.

“Let’s try hiding in a cave!” the monster suggested.

“What cave?! We left the caves behind already!” Patta shouted, looking around to try to find any path they could follow. All they could see was trees. That shut up Asriel, feeling like Patta wasn’t in mood for any suggestions. He suppressed his annoyance in favor to continuing running for his life.

It didn’t take long for anyone to find out the trees weren’t very effective in stopping the Hermit. While they couldn’t move very well, those large magic knives still existed. Patta could hear those knives colliding against the trees. The noise of logs being cut and of trees crashing against each other felt like a giant wave about to fall onto them. At least it was an incentive to continue running as fast as possible.

When Asriel turned around to take a look at the knives, a small stray blade flew through the air, aimed at him. It struck the jar in his hands, shattering it in pieces and dispersing the human SOUL inside. Asriel jumped back in surprise, feeling the cuts from the glass on his fingers and his palms.

The knives rebounded between the trees, getting stuck on the wood and on the soil. The children, being smaller and overall nimbler, stayed near the ground, but Patta didn’t have that advantage. A particularly large knife blasted through the foliage, obliterating the trees and aimed towards Patta. They had just enough time to move towards a side to avoid a fatal wound, but they weren’t quick enough to not to be hurt at all. The blade whizzed through the air, cutting deep through Patta’s right shoulder. Patta didn’t even have enough time to scream in pain before the hilt crashed against them, the impact making them fall to the ground.

“Patta!” Frisk screamed. The children stopped immediately, extremely upset, and went back to where Patta had fallen down. While Frisk tried to get the adult to stand up Asriel, gathering strength from his anger at seeing Patta hurt, decided to try to make the Hermit back off.

Asriel focused immediately, forcing himself to use his strongest attack. He hadn’t completely mastered the use of his stars, but in this situation he thought it’d be his best chance. Star after star was thrown towards the direction the knives had come from, each one fragmenting into smaller stars. It was doubtful any of those stars would be effective, but it was possible that, just to avoid getting hit by any, the Hermit would slow down.

Just a few seconds were needed for Patta to stand up, cradling their right arm. Their body was immobilizing it involuntarily to avoid the intense pain that’d happen on the shoulder if the arm moved, but it was futile. Merely running was enough to cause great pain to Patta, but right now that was the least of their problems. The adrenaline was enough to allow Patta keep running despite the pain. “Asriel, move!” Patta shouted, Asriel obeying immediately. The knives had stopped, and the Hermit was nowhere to be seen, but that didn’t mean they were safe. It was better to not to stop moving. Patta’s SOUL had suffered no damage from the Hermit’s attack, but that wouldn’t matter at all if the body was too hurt to continue living. The wound was very slowly sapping their HP, the longer it went untreated, the more dangerous it’d be.

The moment of respite was important. The three continued running, soon reaching what seemed to be one of the larger paths on Mt. Ebott, just a little below. They were standing on a ledge, it took a moment to descend from it to the path. Asriel had the feeling it was the path he and his friends would have traversed if Frisk hadn’t found that alternate trail. Maybe they all would somehow managed to avoid the Hermit if they had stayed on that road instead of exploring new trails. It was no time to think about how things could have gone much better, though. “Where to?” he asked, looking towards both ends and immediately trotting uphill. It seemed like the logical choice. Patta and Frisk seemed to agree without directly replying to his question, as they followed Asriel.

It was easier to run on the road than through the forest, but the feeling of being watched continued. The Hermit still couldn’t be seen anywhere, no matter how much anyone stared at the trees lining the sides of the road. It didn’t stop the Hermit from attacking, though.

The blades were materializing from the sky, falling onto the ground and creating deep holes on the clay. The drizzle had softened the ground, although the leaves over their heads stopped most of the drops. The road seemed endless, although the fact it was uphill gave an illusion of progress. After a while once another problem arose.

This time it was a bifurcation in the path. One went to the left, seemingly a slope towards the base of the mountain, while the other curved to the right and continued upwards. The three stopped for a moment. “To the right!” Asriel suggested, but before he could move in that direction a knife crossed the air towards him. Frisk, acting quickly, pushed him out of the way, barely avoiding the blade themselves. It wasn’t long before Patta saw in the distance the Hermit, slowly dragging their feet.

The Hermit raised their arm languidly, several knives appearing on a row over their head, aiming towards where the children were standing. Patta was away from the line of fire, standing near the slope, Asriel and Frisk were the ones in danger. The children didn’t even have time to agree to what side to move, Asriel stumbled back, ending near Patta, while Frisk jumped forward and towards the second path. The onslaught of knives didn’t stop, more appearing out of thin air and piercing the trees between the roads, forming a wall nobody dared to try to pass through. “Frisk, are you okay?” Patta asked, trying to find a hole in the wall of knives.

“I’m fine! Run!” Frisk replied before the sound of feet pattering on the wet ground resonated. It was obvious Frisk had just moved away, running to the upwards path.

“W-Wait! Frisk, wait for-!” Patta really didn’t like the idea of getting separated from even one of the children, but the Hermit wasn’t willing to even give a choice. With Frisk gone, they were now aiming towards Patta and Asriel. The knives weren’t added to the wall, instead starting to get closer and closer to the adult.

“Over here!” Asriel had advanced a bit before turning around and calling for Patta. The adult turned their head around, stumbling back just enough to be safe from the knives for the moment, clearly torn between the feeling of responsibility they had towards Frisk and the need for survival. The idea of leaving Frisk stranded somewhere in the mountain and in mortal danger was something they wouldn’t ever take willingly, but right now there was no other option. The Hermit was forcing their hand, and Patta knew it.

Besides there was another child they couldn’t leave alone right now. It was true Patta couldn’t do much to protect Asriel right now, in fact, it hadn’t gone unnoticed to them Asriel had done more protecting in the last hour than they had done. It was almost humiliating, in their opinion, to depend on the monster in such a dangerous situation, when they were the adult, the one who was supposed to be take the lead and take Asriel and Frisk to safety, yet so far all they had done was get wounded and bumble around.

Patta felt like they were useless.

The few seconds of hesitation may have been all the Hermit needed to get close enough, that is what Asriel thought. Just when he was about to return to Patta to try to snap them out of it the adult shook their head and descended the slope to where he was. “Let’s get going. We’ll look for Frisk later”

“They’ll be okay. I’m sure they will…” Asriel said, although partly it was to convince himself Frisk would be okay. He’d be lying if he said he wasn’t worried at all.

“Do you know if they know to fight?”

“I once talked to them a bit about that. They won’t back off if there’s no other option” That is something Frisk had said back at the inn while Patta was planning the return to Celia’s house. They had said that to show Asriel their support, and Asriel had to admit those words were partly why he felt ready to defend himself. He was sure that, if the worst situation possible happened, Frisk wouldn’t go down without fighting…even if they wouldn’t be able to do a thing.

The slope was steep but thankfully short and, although the drizzle had stopped by now, the dirt and mud had the potential to be a problem. It didn’t take long for Asriel to trip and roll down until the end of the slope Patta hurried to help him, but Asriel wasn’t hurt, just a bit sore and covered in mud. “I-I’m okay” he said as soon as Patta got to him. Asriel tensed, as if readying himself for more of those knives to try to pierce him again, but nothing happened. “Where is the Hermit?”

“I don’t know, just stand up!” Patta said, extending their left hand. They and Asriel continued their way as fast as they could, but the lack of attacks got Asriel very worried. That meant the Hermit was pursuing Frisk, didn’t it? Asriel really hoped he was right, that Frisk would be okay.

The lack of attacks incoming at them didn’t go unnoticed to Patta. Ten minutes later they decided to stop to rest for a bit. It was risky, but the possibility of the Hermit being far enough to let them rest for a few minutes was tempting. Patta was starting to feel the severity of the deep cut on their shoulder, carefully pressing onto it to try to stop the bleeding. “That looks really bad, Patta…”

“I think I’m okay, don’t worry about it” Patta tried to seem confident, but that was difficult when one was in pain. Asriel didn’t believe it not even for a second. Patta looked awful. Running through a forest left other minor wounds on them, their clothes had gashes and there large cut on their forehead “At least you are unharmed, Asriel. That is great”

Asriel shrugged noncommittally. It really was fortunate monsters didn’t bleed. His sweater hadn’t fared much better than Patta’s clothes, but other than that it did look like he hadn’t suffered any wounds so far. Asriel hadn’t said a word about all the scratches he had suffered in the last hour, nor about the cuts on his hands from the shattered jar. Although he was much sorer than he had said and the pads on his palm and fingers stung and caused constant pain, he endured it without a single complaint.

Not too long after that the two of them continued running away, although a bit slower than before to try to conserve energy. The road had formed a U of sorts, now the downward trek was over and now it was time to go upwards again. Unfortunately, it seemed that the relatively calmer times were over. A knife falling a few feet behind them showed that. When Patta saw it they felt a sudden burst of terror, although it was quickly buried under the need of having to get away as soon as possible. If the Hermit was here then that meant…Patta forced themselves to not to think about it, instead focusing on once again trying to be as far as possible from the Hermit.

There had been no other possible paths neither they or Asriel could follow, it had all been a long road. They hadn’t realized what it meant for the Hermit to have gone for Frisk first, but that soon was obvious when they reached the cliff that was at the end of the road.

The Hermit had known this path led to a dead end. Of course they’d go for Frisk first, they had been on the right road. There was no possibility of Patta and Asriel escaping.

While Asriel tried again to keep the Hermit at bay, Patta examined the cliff, trying to see if there was any chance to descend, but it was impossible to do it safely. The bottom of the cliff was a long way down, and there was no chance to cling to the rocks to get there. The cliff formed a concave wall, around fifty-feet tall. “We are cornered!” Patta blurted out. Asriel, whose attempted walls of fire had gotten the Hermit to be defensive again, didn’t turn around.

“W-w-we can’t die here! We were so close! There must be something-“

“What can we do?! There is no way out, we can’t jump down from here”

Jump down…maybe that wasn’t as outlandish a possibility as it sounded. Asriel felt something nagging in his mind, it was more like a feeling that maybe it wasn’t all as hopeless as it seemed. “That is it! We can do that!”

“What?!” Patta’s first instinct was to go against that idea. It was ridiculous! But Asriel seemed sure about that seemingly ridiculous idea. The monster slowly backed off until he was near Patta, all the while keeping the barrage of magic fire attacks towards the Hermit.

“I was up on that tree the day I met you! I was in danger and when I fell down I-I-I-“ Asriel tried to think of the right words. He was sure there was a word for that, but he didn’t know it “I flew for a moment!”

“…oh, that is right. I remember that” Patta had vague memories of that “Are you sure you can do it again?”

“…no” Asriel admitted. He was already to Patta’s side, there was no more space, and sooner or later the Hermit would stop taking a defensive stance. Patta and he were vulnerable, that’d undoubtedly mean death “B-But it’s worth a try! We don’t have other options!”

Patta looked at the Hermit. “Certain death” Then they looked at the bottom of the cliff “Not so certain death. Fine! We’re jumping”

That didn’t make Asriel as happy as the monster thought he’d be. After all, it wasn’t guaranteed to work. He didn’t even know how it happened back at that first day! All he knew is that he had instinctively not wanted to get hurt, and that a second later he was falling much slower, levitating leisurely. Could he do it again? He didn’t know. All he wanted was to get back home, to find Frisk, to survive.

“Grab onto me!” Asriel commanded.

“Are you kidding me?” Patta spluttered before grabbing the back of Asriel’s sweater, pulling Asriel up and breaking his concentration. Asriel was forced to stop attacking, the fire on his claws extinguishing immediately “You grab onto me, and don’t let go” they ordered, that was more logical and Asriel realized it. The monster child obeyed, clinging to Patta’s torso as strongly as he could. Patta could feel Asriel trembling, although he had been fighting not even five seconds before it was undeniable Asriel was very scared. Patta could feel Asriel’s claws digging through the fabric and grazing their skin.

Without saying another word Patta hugged Asriel tightly with their good arm and turned around, leaping forward and beyond the edge of the cliff. Knives soared through the air, crossing the air where Patta had been standing just a moment before. Asriel’s weight made Patta fall onto their side instead of feet first, so they twisted around, facing the incoming ground and making sure Asriel was grabbing onto their coat, closer to their back. They didn’t even realize they had done it, it was likely that, at some level, they wanted to heighten Asriel’s chances of survival if levitating wasn’t an option. They closed their eyes involuntarily, preparing themselves for impact.

Asriel had closed his eyes too, just after Patta jumped, but that was more because he was focusing. There wasn’t much time. His mind went blank, but he knew very well he wanted to live, and not only him, but Patta and Frisk too. The intense wish to survive welled up in him, and he clung tighter to Patta. He didn’t immediately start floating like he did before, Patta was too heavy for that, but the fall did slow down. That, combined with the softened soil thanks to the recent drizzle, made survival happen.

Patta crashed against the soft ground, feeling their breath knocked out of them. Something cracked in their chest, Patta swore they heard that sound, and the fall didn’t do any favors to the shoulder wound. They wanted to scream in pain, but they didn’t have any breath for that. They had never experienced so much pain at once. “Are you okay? Patta!” Asriel seemed to be fine, the fall hadn’t hurt him at all. He was now trying to drag Patta under the cliff, oblivious to Patta’s new wound. “I’m sorry! It was-why did I-please, be okay!” he was blaming himself for the fall, even though there hadn’t really been other options. Patta weakly got on their knees, crawling the rest of the way. The convex shape of the cliff would mean they should be safe from the Hermit, as they wouldn’t be able to see neither Asriel nor Patta.

The two huddled against the rocks, listening carefully. They couldn’t hear anything, at least until a knife fell and plunged on the ground, just a few feet away. Another fell nearby immediately, then another, until the whole area was covered in knives. Asriel and Patta could only stare. It took a minute before all the knives disintegrated. There was no more noise.

Asriel didn’t dare to get out of that temporal shelter to see if the Hermit was gone. For all he knew they were on top of the cliff, staring and waiting for him or Patta to walk out. Patta and Asriel waited for almost fifteen minutes, Patta breathing with difficulty. They felt they had one or two ribs broken, and if they remembered right, that was very dangerous. They didn’t dare to inhale deeper, in fear of puncturing their lungs.

“P-Patta, are you okay?” Asriel asked at some point. Patta looked terrible, bruised and battered, and didn’t even seem the strength to complain about it. Patta waved their left hand, trying not to cry.

“…no. I am…I’m not fine…” they wheezed. Asriel winced, shaking his head. He felt very guilty, believing himself to be the cause of the worst part of those wounds. When he tried to apologize Patta looked at him “It’s not your fault. I think…you saved our lives…” At least for now. Patta did feel awful.

-ooooo-

After the fifteen minutes passed Patta shakily stood up, dragging their feet and getting out of the cliff’s shadow. They weren’t in condition for long trekking up a mountain, but they weren’t also going to sit around and die. Besides they wanted to look for Frisk. They hoped they were okay. Asriel wasn’t able to do much to help Patta, either. He was just a child, much shorter than Patta, it wasn’t like he’d be able to support him. The most he was able to do was get a long and sturdy stick for Patta to lean on, which they took gratefully.

…I admit the first twenty or so times I didn’t even dare to rewatch this part of the timeline. I refused to look at these painful moments, because I wanted to spare myself from reminiscing about them.

The place they had fallen in was shaped like a bowl, the earth forming a large depression on the ground. There was one single way out, leading to places unknown. It was going to be a grueling trek, but Patta didn’t care. All they wanted was to find Frisk. How to do that? Would they even be able to find the main path and get to the bifurcation where they had separated? Asriel wasn’t saying anything, immensely worried about Patta and Frisk. He was keeping a close eye on Patta, expecting them to fall down at any moment. The way it took them quite a while to ascend to level terrain showed how weak they were.

There were no signs of the Hermit. Asriel couldn’t feel them nearby, and it was unlikely they were wrong. The Hermit’s terrifying presence – undoubtedly their irreversibly sick SOUL – wasn’t around, and while Asriel felt very relieved to know there was no immediate danger right now, he feared this meant they were looking for Frisk too…if the worst hadn’t happened already. “…Aaaaagh!” Asriel groaned loudly, as if he hoped to drown out those nagging negative thoughts. That got Patta to ask him if he really was okay, if he was wounded. Asriel hurried to say he was okay, but didn’t tell Patta what he feared.

I still remember how I felt for quite a long time. I don’t have anything here other than my own thoughts and all these timelines I have influenced, and my guilt was very strong…I told myself many things for a long time.

The main path was found after fifteen minutes of walking through the mountain. Patta spent all that time wracking their brain for a solution, a way for everything to be okay, but they couldn’t think any good plans. They knew the three of them had a blade over their necks, so to say, and no way to solve it. Maybe it could be possible to at least fulfill the reason they had crossed half of the planet with a monster… “Asriel, listen to me. I want you…to go ahead and…leave me behind”

“What?!” Asriel’s eyes widened. He shouted that single word at full volume, almost furious Patta had the gall to suggest such a thing. He stood right in front of Patta’s path, he wasn’t going to let Patta continue walking until they dropped that suggestion. Patta ignored Asriel’s clear outrage and spoke with faint voice, wheezing from the lack of breath. They were convinced the broken ribs meant they couldn’t breathe like normal.

If I had been smarter. If I had been quicker. If I had been more assertive. If I had been less cowardly. If I had been more reliable. If I had said something. If I had noticed something.

…

If I had been better.

“…get to the top of the moun…the mountain. Return to your…home. I’ll find Frisk, and help them get away from…from here. You leave it to me, and go”

“I’m not going to leave you behind. You can’t do this alone!”

And even though I now know it was something I couldn’t have changed, I still feel I could have done more.

“…and…and what if the Hermit returns? I can’t do anything, and you won’t…be able to hold them away f-forever. Get…get away while you have the chance”

“I won’t!” Asriel said firmly. To him it was unconceivable to leave Patta behind in such state. It was said with such a firm tone Patta realized it was useless to argue. Instead they laughed hoarsely, sounding more as if someone had just punched them in the gut.

Don’t get me wrong, I still feel terrible about everything that happened, but after so long…the pain turns dull, you know?

“You…you are too nice for your own good, Asriel…” they said but didn’t insist. It had taken them a good while to gather enough resolve to tell Asriel that. They really didn’t want to leave Asriel up to his own luck, but they felt now they couldn’t achieve the goal of taking Asriel to the Barrier. It had been difficult to accept it, and now the monster had refused to follow it. They were so tired now they didn’t have the energy to argue.

Another ten minutes later Asriel and Patta got to the bifurcation again. The destroyed trees and the thin trenches on the ground showed this was the correct place. As soon as they got to that place, Asriel and Patta started walking faster. They still hadn’t said much to each other; the atmosphere was tense. Both had been too busy keeping their minds busy to avoid thinking about anything remotely negative, and Asriel also had tasked himself with staying alert to any sign the Hermit was approaching or nearby. It wasn’t going hard to know it, nothing else could make him feel that foreboding pressure in his chest. It had also been tacitly agreed calling for Frisk was dangerous, as they could get the Hermit’s attention. All the two could do for now is keep their eyes and ears open for any sign of Frisk.

Remember what I told you at the beginning? This timeline has a lot of anomalies. You have seen a lot of them, compared to every other timeline in existence.

It took a while of slow and difficult walking uphill to find something. There was splatter of fresh blood on the ground. It wasn’t much, but it was clear someone had gotten wounded at that point. When Asriel saw it he gasped and immediately started running, leaving Patta behind. Patta couldn’t do the same, but they did hasten their pace. “They are okay…they must be okay…believe in them, believe they are… okay…” Patta murmured over and over to keep themselves from breaking down.

“Frisk! Frisk! Say something! Where are you?!” Asriel shouted at the top of his lungs while he was running. There was a faint trail of blood. The injured person had clearly kept their wounds covered to avoid bleeding too much, which gave Asriel some hope. He didn’t know much about human biology, or how about the whole blood thing worked – it seemed that for humans the veins and arteries didn’t cauterize and heal when they were wounded – but he did suppose losing a lot of that red liquid humans had couldn’t be good. If that was what happened to Frisk then…Asriel’s eyes started watering, those scary thoughts breaking like a dam and filling his head. He ran faster.

There is this strange power determined people can have. Usually it is the person with the most Determination. I won’t go into much detail about it.

Patta felt their own bad feelings increasing just from hearing Asriel’s desperate calls for Frisk. Slowly, bit by bit, a familiar feeling started filling them. They identified it immediately, it was the very same level of terror that had invaded them at the beginning of the trip up Mt. Ebott. It was that same fear, the unbearable crushing despair. This time it didn’t feel like a mere memory, though.

It was real.

The last big anomaly…was that Frisk didn’t have that power. I think the Hermit had it.

“…nooooo…” they would have yowled that if they had the energy for it. They had finally got to a point where they could see Asriel, and the monster child wasn’t alone. He was clinging to someone who was lying on the ground, and he was crying as loudly as he could. Patta, refusing to accept what they were seeing, dropped the stick they had used as support and hurried to get to Asriel. They hadn’t been mistaken. It really was Frisk, and it was too late.

Frisk was dead.

Patta felt the overwhelming weight of the situation crushing them. Without realizing what they were doing Patta stumbled right until they were to their side, staring at Frisk all the time, and fell to their knees. Their mind was blank, there was nothing they could say. They could only stare.

Asriel had sensed Patta had arrived but he ignored him. His grief was too strong, he didn’t care he was in middle of a muddy path on a mountain, very close to his home. He didn’t care that in that moment there was something plain wrong roaming somewhere on that same mountain, and that it’d be dangerous if it came back again. All he wanted was for what he was seeing to not to be true, for Frisk to not to be lying there and to stand up like nothing happened. He wanted his best friend back, he wanted to show Frisk the Underground and have them as his best friend for years, decades…

I can’t say it with certainty, but it seems if Frisk hadn’t been with us everything would have gone like it should have.

He felt it was his fault this had happened. Patta felt the same. Two people, blaming themselves and regretting everything they had done that could have led to Frisk’s death and keeping it to themselves.

Asriel had no idea how long he spent crying. The sun had started to beat down onto the clay and over him, and his eyes hurt. He felt exhausted and wanted the day to end and forget anything had happened. Patta hadn’t moved at all, but their stare wasn’t blank anymore, it was full of pain. They hadn’t said a word yet, and it looked like they didn’t want to. They were grieving too. Patta hadn’t been as close to Frisk as Asriel was, but they had grown to like that child and had wanted nothing more than the best for them. They felt they had failed as an adult and as a person, and were convinced there was nothing they could do that would serve as penance for this.

Asriel would have returned home, I would have survived and left Mt. Ebott, none of us would have ever encountered the Hermit…and after a few decades monsterkind would break the Barrier and go free, humanity receiving them with open arms thanks to what Asriel sparked when he was over the surface, it seems. He would have been the King of All Monsters, and those who remembered him on TV would have vouched for him. Everyone would have worked to achieve a new age of peace, living in harmony with monsterkind.

The monster child sat down, he had been kneeling all this time and his legs felt like they were going to fall down. He was going to look away when he noticed something glowing faintly over Frisk’s chest. His attention piqued, Asriel dried his tears and looked a bit closer. It was unmistakable. After having seen those in jars not too long before, he recognized the shape and the intense red color. Undoubtedly, it was Frisk’s SOUL. The Hermit hadn’t taken it yet.

“…Patta?” Asriel sniffled and tried to get their attention, but Patta didn’t reply. Asriel stood up and approached, shaking slightly Patta’s left shoulder. The monster stumbled over his own words. He didn’t mean to ask anything complicated or banal, but Asriel felt like he was trying to ignore what had happened. What he meant was to ask what they should do, he needed Patta’s guidance “What are we going to do now?” Patta didn’t answer “Patta, please, we…we need to…” Asriel went silent, a short burst of grief shutting him down again. He didn’t have the time to start crying again when that heavy and menacing presence started appearing again.

This timeline was perfect. It was ready to create a wonderful era; everything that happened was going to lead into that direction. That is why I don’t understand why everything went so wrong. IT was not something I did, but then…what caused it? What made Asriel tell Frisk about Celia leaving the city, or if that was necessary to happen, why did Frisk lose all hope?

Asriel stood up immediately, furious and balling up his fists, his claws digging into his fur. The person who had killed Frisk was getting nearer, but although Asriel felt so angry…he couldn’t muster the intention to hurt the Hermit or anything similar to that. Right now all he wanted was to protect Frisk’s remains, make sure the Hermit didn’t take their SOUL. Patta ignored Asriel and didn’t notice the Hermit approaching.

The Hermit was there, a hundred feet away. Asriel could see them clearly, they had a jar in their hands. They really had gone away just to retrieve a jar to put Frisk’s SOUL in, and now they had found the other two people on the mountain, right to Frisk’s side. Their expression didn’t change, but they started to languidly approach. Asriel had the feeling once they were close enough it would mean the end for both him and Patta.

It is because of all this that I’m trying to create the best future. That is all I want to see before I let myself die once and for all, I want to know there is a timeline where everything is okay.

He couldn’t let it happen, that is something he had no doubts about. It led to one single action, born from that determination. It was a decision taken hurriedly, something that, if he had the time to think it twice, he may not have done it. It didn’t matter right then what the consequences would be or what would happen, all Asriel cared about was about protecting both Frisk’s SOUL and Patta’s life from the Hermit.

A future where no one has to die, and monsters go free.

That was why he immediately wrapped his hands around the red floating heart, wishing with all his being to be able to protect what was dear to him. Merely touching a human SOUL isn’t enough; the monster must have a sincere wish to actually take it.

And so Asriel absorbed Frisk’s SOUL.

…hey, tell me something. Was it you? Did you…have anything to do with what happened? The way you introduced yourself to me...that kind of told me you had something to do with this. Is this your fault?

No.

…fine. Keep watching. Only 26 hours are left.