I chopped more wood and breaking single logs into twos and then into fours. I gotta say, I haven't went wood chopping in long while and I even forgot how good it felt to be able to work out. The feeling of being out of breath and just exhuming steam felt good, the rush of magmadrenaline surging inside of me was exhilarating.

I looked again behind to see if the owner of the cabin returned but found nothing but the darkness of the forest engulfing my surroundings and me as the only source of light around. Being a flame elemental has its advantages after all aside from being a natural hot-head.

The snow seemed to be thickening even more. Snowdin hasn't changed at all, of course in my perspective. Or maybe that was me who has already adapted to the change that everything around me is pretty much normal. Then again, there's no such thing as normal. The world keeps its secrets from everyone so deep that you begin to wonder what everyone is hiding from each other. And what you see as normal is pretty much a facade of the truth that the world is much darker and messier than we have imagined. You begin to question if there's a better world out there, if there is then where? If there isn't then do we have to endure for the rest of our lives living in this cycle of pain and happiness? If Haruno would be here, she'd slap my head just about thinking philosophically.

Speaking of Haruno... A few words about her.

"I moved on."

I seem to have spent enough time with the wood chopping that I almost forgot that I had customers waiting for me back in the resto-bar. I quickly grabbed a sack and gathered as much wood as I can supply for the day. Just as the bag was filled, I turned around and looked up.

I chuckled, " Well, so much for living."

I began to walk back to the resto-bar.

Sent from my ASUS_X00DDA using Tapatalk

I could have saved her. I could have stopped Sans. Or rather I would have died, Sans killing me instead of her. But I wasn't there.

I wasn't there to do anything.

I wasn't there to save her.

I didn't... save her.

"I couldn't save anyone."


My chest began to ache. The pain was indescribable, something was completely scratching my heart like a beast clawing it over and over again. And it hurts, but I didn't want to cry, I still have so much of the promise I made that I can't bear and show that I'm weak.

I promised myself that after the war, I would do everything in my power to save people, that no one would die, that I would put others before myself, that no one would ever feel what I had felt during the war.

Fear, sadness, sorrow, anger, rage, blood spilling, heartbreak, loss... Death.

No one deserves to feel any of that. And yet, I failed to even save a person. Even the one who I thought could be a start of something beautiful. I lost so much, my family, my friends, my people, even the beautiful landscapes of the former glorious kingdom of Flame, that would shine on the rise of the bright sun up on the surface.

I suddenly dropped down on the snow, kneeling. I felt it all coming to me, everything that ever haunted me ever since the beginning of the war. It all caught up to me. These demons that I didn't think would ever appear.

But something was wrong. Something wrong with my body, it wasn't the thought of all demons catching up to me that felt like it was all coming up to me. But something in my body was somehow reacting to my emotions and wants to break out of me.

Then that's the moment it hit me. This was the reason why flame elementals don't let their emotions get to them too much. Their core would fuse too much of the elements inside to sustain itself and produce too much hydrogen and helium. It would reach iron and you can't fuse iron.

I thought it would be okay here to let it out. No casualties would be counted, an empty forest. So, I could try to let it out now. But then unexpectedly, Linny showed up, crying and chasing after me. She must have seen me running into the woods, then that means...

"WAIT... LINNY, STAND BACK!"

I turned back to the front, "No... Not like this..."

The blast radius would devastate a quarter of the forest. So, I had to do the next good plan.

Focus it on one single direction instead of an explosion.

And that moment, I looked up and a vortex of swirling, angry flame came out of my mouth, scratching the ceiling of the Underground. Everything that I ever felt left me, pain, and everything dark came out of me in the form of a dark orange flaming vortex.



Sent from my ASUS_X00DDA using Tapatalk

I continued to clean the wine glasses as I listened to Sans and heard that his long debt has already come to a close by finding a way to get the gold. "Thanks, Sans. I appreciate it." I replied with a calming smile.

But somehow, that smile won't be written on my face for too long.

When Sans continued... I heard words that I never thought I could ever hear from his mouth. I froze, dead stop and stiff. "...What?" I uttered. My head started to pound, my heart began to ache and my guts became heavier and heavier. I can't believe it, not even one single bit of this damn nonsense.

I wanted to tell myself that this was just a dream. That everything wasn't real, it was just a simulation, a test to see how long I could take until I break. I wanted to tell him that they're just playing a joke on me, a one sick and twisted joke.

But it never was. "Haruno is... Dead?"

As those words escaped from my mouth, the glass I was holding fell to the floor, and shattered into broken pieces. My eyes slowly drifted to Sans, and when I looked at him... There was nothing but anger and violence that filled every single crevice of my mind. Shouting voices that pierced the ears of my thoughts... But I tried my best to control myself.

"And you... Killed her?"

Sent from my ASUS_X00DDA using Tapatalk

Sprite’s explanation perked my ears up and had gotten my attention. “So I was right, someone did send you.” I glanced at the box, there was a hole on the side of it could be caused by Tails’ repeated beating of it. My mind quickly began working, trying to find a way to open it but there was only one plausible solution to it. ‘Ugh… I was hoping for a cooler way to open the box but eh… Brute force would work.’

My eyes moved back towards Sprite, I managed to crack a laugh. “Oh trust me, a lot of people had tried to do that already, I’ve lost count. But you know what happened to them? What happened is that they stopped and gave up… and RAN. And I’m still alive and kicking. You really don’t want to do this, and I too. So,” I pointed at Sakura and Gust. “I’ll leave the fighting to them.”

The battle continued to ensue for a long time. I didn’t care to watch because I was trying to work out how to get the kids out of the box. A pink hand sprouted from the box and tried to get out, I looked inside and suddenly a pink creature popped in front of the hole.
The fear and hopelessness in their eyes was painful to see, so I tried to diffuse their emotions. “Oh, hi! Name’s Grillby, no time for introductions right now so keep tight for now and me and the boys are going to get all of you out. If you can or want to try to make the hole bigger on the inside, yeah? Good, remember to keep calm!” Brute force was the only way to make this hole bigger for the kids to get through and out. I removed my coat and folded my sleeves up and tried to get make it larger by kicking the hole.
No use, it’s too difficult for my own strength to do that. ‘You’re a Fire elemental! What the heck did you expect? That we come with super strength?’
Speedy, Tails and Chilly McIcypants were at it for quite a time as I was trying to find out how to open this stupid giant box. Yes, it was made of the same material that the old warriors made during the war and unfortunately it became a scarcity that they resorted to use plain old steel in the end.

I noticed quickly that Speedy ran to my side to help in making the hole bigger and used his super speed and all of his strength to punch the hole bigger. I looked behind to see how the battle between Fish face and Trinity are going. It wasn’t going that well, if you ask me. I mean if you read the previous posts, things are chaotic.

Oh… I’m breaking the 4th wall  again. Sorry.

The machine that we created in front of them has been activated while Greeny played some sort of weird instrument and they began to vanish. I quickly stood up and ran towards them, “OH NO, YOU DON’T!”
I pointed my scanner at the machine and pressed the button, emitting a flashing red light. But they vanished before I could see if the slight modification of the machine worked.

I stood there, too frustrated and angry to move even the slightest twitch. I let the enemy get away again. Damn it, why does it always have to be like this? They always win because of my mercy, my compassion. It’s not fair that it’s  always fighting and violence that could solve everything.

Agh… don’t you just hate it when people get hurt and die around you? Doesn’t it just eat you away when you promised but it’s just frustrating to see that everything becomes so difficult all of a sudden that you just want everything to end?

I stood there and did nothing but just stare at the empty space. Nothing more than just a hollow space, a void. My mind suddenly got interrupted when I saw newcomers suddenly come up behind me except… they weren’t new. I looked back to see the hole of the box got bigger, big enough for the trapped children to escape it and reunite with their friends.

“Must be nice.” I whispered. I didn’t care because there’s no one here who’s actually glad to see me, so I walked away. I should probably ask questions about Trinity to the kids but they seem to be in trauma enough that I considered asking them later.

After the heartfelt reunion, I sat on a rock neat the box and started to think about what happened today. ‘The Trinity Sisters… Greeny, the machine, her father’s wish? What could they be after? A wish…? A wish… “

Undyne suddenly stepped in gave me a headband of some sort. “What’s this? Alphys made it? For what?” I asked. I pulled my scanner and pressed the button.

Suddenly, my heart skipped a beat as the scanner told me what it is. My gut filled with apprehension, a sense of foreboding. “Oh no… you don’t mean…”

I quickly wore it on, and the silver of headband, and hope for the best. “Whatever Alphys is doing or has done, I hope this helps us greatly.”

Then the next thing that happened, was that the Koray had surrounded us. I facepalmed, but I maintained my stance. “Fighting again? Does no one ever get tired of EVER throwing punches? Does it ever get dull after awhile?”

And suddenly an ice fortress formed around us, separating us from Undyne, Red hoodie, Cobalt, Marver and Tails leaving with just me, Speedy, and… Pink inside. The fight suddenly escalated with Sprite now firing shards of ice at us and etc.
I gave my best to fend off the attacks and defend myself and the others. But as soon as we were fighting or rather defending, the blue crystal shone on our heads. “Oh… here we go. Someone did a RESET!”

There was only one person or rather thing who could have done that. I looked at Sprite and he seemed amused… VERY AMUSED and impressed. Plus, his head shone a bright red, a thorn worn in his cranium also means that he’s protected from the reset…
Which means… “Oh… I know who sent you. And I know who you are working with. And I'm telling you! YOU’RE MAKING A HUGE MISTAKE!”

Sprite made this speech about fear, change, morals, and choices. Everything about what he said reminded me of myself somehow, the time I went to war. The me that I wanted so badly to forget, the me that wasn’t me at all.

I was beginning to be frustrated by every word he spews out. A power hungry idiot on the journey to a road that leads to nothing, reminds me of the old Flame leader. The same effect of his speech had the same effect on me when I confronted the leader, every word he threw was like a rock thrown against my brain as if it was a giant ball of gum. Sticking and making a mark.

It was nostalgic… the feeling, I mean. I hated it but I welcomed it. I didn’twang to hurt anyone but I suppose this is the last resort then. Because if words won’t knock his sense back into place, then giving him a good lesson would do the trick.

And… so I had enough.

“I didn’t say that peace was the best way to solve every conflict. It is because it should’ve been the only way. Why?” I suddenly removed my vest in anger and stress, 

“If you think that you're so high and mighty… well let me tell you a story. There was this young flame elemental, a very smart one at that and once upon a time there's this war that ravaged the two sides, human and monsters. And one time, the leaders of the flame elemental decided to join and use their source of fire as a weapon but the young flame elemental told them that they shouldn’t because it will corrupt them.”

I began unbuttoning my shirt and looked dead straight into Sprite’s eyes. “AND THEN, they tried to experiment on the source. And in the process, they corrupted it, along with the minds of a million fire elementals excluding the young one. And so they became power hungry, they became violent and crazy, every single one except for him and his family. They were planning to kill all of the monsters of the Underground and the humans of the world so that the flame elemental will be the only superior being in the whole world… do you know what the young elemental did?”

He stopped, tears forming in my eyes. It hurts remembering the past.

“DO YOU KNOW WHAT HE DID?!” I shouted as I ripped my shirt apart from myself, showing my naked upper torso, flaming brighter and intensely.

“He ran towards the chamber where they kept the fire source… and destroyed it. Along with his family and friends, all the millions of fire elementals… dead, vanished, destroyed. And he was the only left. He killed his own kind… to save the whole of the others. After that, they saw and referred to him as a beast, a traitor, an outcast, tried to hunt him so many times but failed every single attempt. The loneliness and depression ate him, the voices of the dead haunted him, the guilt washed over him DAY AND NIGHT… but he never gave up. Eventually, he came back, forgave him, and started anew.”

I took a step forward, and removed my glasses slowly. I smiled, but it quickly faded, “And every time I close my eyes, I hear screams during the war, lots of them, men and woman and children. More screams than you will ever be able to count. And then I promised myself that no one would get hurt. I promised myself that no one would ever like that ever again.”

My flame grew brighter than it was, “It wasn’t fear the held us back, Sprite. It was fear that made us stronger, and faster, and cleverer. It was fear that made us who we are, helping people, protecting them no matter what. Our friends, our families, they also make us stronger than ever.”

“I've come this far in life, Sprite. I killed my people, dealt with my exile, and saved people a lot of times because they don’t deserve to live in pain and fear. Because every one I meet is important to me, villain or not. AND I AM NEVER GOING TO BACK DOWN, NOT TODAY, NOT EVER!”

“The best things in life, are the people around you. The people who gave meaning to your life. The people who became your light in the darkness. The people who helped you out of it. And I'm never going to let them down.”

My flames grew intensely brighter that it ever was before, and it’s still growing. And I don’t know how much I can last to maintain this much power inside of me.

Oh well… it’s worth the risk.

I looked at my back and spoke, “Kids… get behind me. And when I say go… GO and knock them out.”

I raised my hands, and shouted as I swiftly and forcefully slammed them to the ground, and when it hit…

*WHOOSH!*

A massive intense heatwave erupted in front of me and knocked the Koray and Sprite back in the ice and also giving them damage. “NOW, GO!”
While the heatwave persisted I felt every single ounce of my energy drop out of me. Fiery sweat streamed down my face as I spoke “Come on… don’t falter now…”

Sent from my ASUS_X00DDA using Tapatalk

Everything was in chaos. Everything went crashing down quickly than I had anticipated, and the moment I did try to diffuse the situation, it didn't. I scoffed in annoyance, frustration and anger. It was these moments that I wanted to avoid as much as possible, that I wanted to end it quickly as possible.

The war... Changed me. Ever since that day, I made a promise. To myself, to the ones I love, my friends, family, and to my people that no one should ever live like they did during the war. Conflict. Pain. Children crying. People dying. Monster dust and human corpses scattered across the battlefield. A sight that would forever haunt me in every recess of my mind.

I had to act fast. I have to do something.

"Sorry, Undyne. I don't speak idiot! I don't care about myself, arrest me if you want, you can even kill me. But our chances of getting to the bottom of everything is if all of you put down our weapons AND STOP ACTING LIKE STUPID CHILDISH MORONS AND TALK ABOUT THIS! Wouldn't that be nicer?"

Suddenly, my ears were pierced by a sound of what seemed to be metal creaking. I looked around and saw Sakura trying to open the box forcefully, "Wait! Brute force won't be enough to break it open fully! It's reinforced!"

I quickly ran towards her, "Let me try opening it, there's got to be a secret way to do that. Every room has a way to be opened, because if not, it wouldn't be called a room."
I swiftly dodged through the crossfires of the two groups fighting to reach Sakura but as soon as I did, Mr. Snowy McIcypants appeared behind her and sent her flying across the floor. I grunted and felt even more annoyed about what was happening, "Agh, confound this wretched moment!"

My hands grew brighter as I aimed at Sprite. But my intention was different from expectation. I moved my aim and blasted streams of scorching fire on to the floor and swerved around to encircle Mr. Iced Tee with a ring of fire.

"You! If you want a fight, I suggest you WARM UP? Eh? Funny, right? Oh come on! Is everyone here in the Underground have no sense of humor?"

I then dashed towards the box and quickly tried to think on how to open this. I circled around the box and examined the box, "Huh, well! This is going to be certainly a rough one. This is expertly put together, even I don't know how it would be opened from the outside. But it's worth a try."

Behind me, the battle still raged on. Fire after fire. Hit after hit. They were unstoppable, but letting out the children would do. I looked at it again and gave a glance at it. It's been damaged a lot. Guess it's time for me to do something.

"Uhh... Hello! HELLO! Can anyone hear me inside that box? Hello? HELLO!" I shouted. If somehow I can't open it from the outside, there could maybe be a way to open it from the inside. Something the children inside could have missed somehow.

'Well, it's worth a try.'

Sent from my ASUS_X00DDA using Tapatalk

"Hey, you were in my bar awhile ago, right? Tails, I suppose the nickname I gave you." I asked the person with a lot of tails. A kitsune, they called themselves. It took me a moment to recognize her in the dark but she was the exact same multiple tailed person I served in the bar. 'Huh, what a small, tiny world.' I thought to myself.

As soon as I heard about what's in the box, my instincts kicked in again. "There's people trapped in here? This giant box?" I asked, eyebrows furrowed.
I took my scanner and pointed it at the box.

"Interesting." I said, lowering my scanner. "Somebody took the time to make this incredibly tough box. Last time I heard, these materials were almost gone. Used in Royal Guard armor. So, of course... Somebody needed a lot of money."

I leaned in and took a look at the box closely. Something was wrong... When I scanned the box for life forms, it didn't register as dangerous or noxious, but developing life forms. Puzzled, I inclined myself further towards the box, but as soon as I did, I heard someone cry out for help... But it wasn't just someone...

It was a child, a voice of a child screaming for help.

Link drew his sword and started to slash it numerous times. I quickly grasped his hand and halted him from damaging the box. "STOP! STOP! WAIT! THERE'S A CHILD INSIDE THE BOX! Don't damage it! You could potentially hurt whoever they are inside the box. Well, it's super tough box but we don't want to risk the chances. We need to know how to open this without any brute force."

I carefully looked at the box from top to bottom. "I haven't seen this material in years. Looks like metal and bricks but stronger than metal and bricks. Someone must have been super rich to pull this mass mining off to make this reinforced box."

Ugh, the sight of Greeny ruined my day. One of the things that I didn't need was to see him so soon.

The amalgamation's response made me a bit confused and surprised. I was initially weirded out because I've never seen one up close, the only I did was only through the lens of a camera years ago. After Alphys' incident.

"Uhhh..." I muttered. "Is this new? Because well, I didn't know that amalgamations can maintain their sanity after being injected with Determination like what Alphys did. And who are you exactly?" I asked.

The idea of being in front of a royalty or someone so high up never really bothered me. I chose to ignore it.

Sent from my ASUS_X00DDA using Tapatalk