Determination (Charisk) [OUTDATED]

99 - TRIAL BY COMBAT

*Don't play the music yet*

(FRISK POV)

I was escorted to a large hall. The Guards dropped me off just outside the entrance. I was meant to go alone. I saw this place, in the last timeline. I made sure to SAVE at the SAVE shard, this one smooth like sea glass, and admired the view. The entire place was illuminated by the light of the golden sunset, shining through the barrier outside the stained glass windows. I was told that I would be seen before the Judge to see if I was worthy of Trial by Combat. And so naturally, that means...

"Sans." He appeared out from a pillar's shadow. He certainly wasn't dressed for the occasion, wearing his blue parka, shorts, and pink slippers.

"So you finally made it." He spoke not in his usual font, nor in Gaster's font with the hands and symbols, but in most people's standard 8bitoperator. "The  end  of  your  journey  is  at  hand.  In  a  few  moments,  you  will  meet  the  king.  Together. . .  You  will  determine  the  fate  of  this  world." I went to speak, but he held up his hand. "That's  then." A wave of magic more powerful than anything I've ever felt from him passed over me. "Now." He looked deep into me. His eyes were nothing more than two glowing dots in the center of his eyesockets. His left eye pulsed with a stronger glow, as if he was consciously holding back from something. "You  will  be  judged.  You  will  be  judged  for  your  every  action.  You  will  be  judged  for  every  EXP  you've  earned."

     "What's EXP?" It was a stupid question. I already knew the answer, somewhere deep in my SOUL.

     "It's  an  acronym.  It  stands  for 'execution points.' A  way  of  quantifying  the  pain  you've  inflicted  on  others.  When  you  kill  someone,  your EXP  increases.  When  you  have  enough  EXP,  your  LOVE  increases."

     "Level of Violence."

     "Correct.  You  do  not  need  EXP  to  increase  your  LOVE,  but  EXP  will  always  increase  LOVE. Your  LOVE  is  a  way  of  measuring  your  capacity  to  hurt.  The  more  you  hurt  those  around  you,  the  easier  it  becomes  to  distance  yourself."

     "And the more you distance yourself, the less you will hurt." He nodded solemnly.

     "And  the  more  easily  you  can  bring  yourself  to  hurt  others. . . ." Sans looked up at me.

     "but you. you never gained any LOVE. 'course, that doesn't mean you're completely innocent or naive. just that you kept a certain tenderness in your heart. no matter the struggles and hardships you faced... you strived to do the right thing."

     "But what about the last—"

     "while it's true that your SOUL contained that much LOVE, it was never really yours. even when you RESET, it was chara's determination that got corrupted. listen, kid. while i know we've had our differences, you've redeemed yourself. you literally RESET space and time to give all those people a second chance. a world free from the pain you caused. im not judging you based on what you did in a past life, im judging you based in the content of your character, and the numbers carried in your SOUL. and in this universe? you refused to hurt anyone. even when you ran away, you did it with a smile. you haven't gained LOVE, but instead, you've gained love. does that make sense?"

"Y-Yeah. It does." sans let out a sigh of relief.

"good because i didn't want to explain it again." He looked back at me. "now. you're about to face the greatest challenge of your entire life. and i say that knowing full well of your past on the surface." I flinched. I hadn't told sans any of that... did I? "your actions here will determine the fate of the entire world. if you refuse to fight... asgore will take your SOUL and destroy humanity. but if you kill asgore and go home,, monsters will remain trapped underground. what will you do?" I didn't bother speaking. This wasn't a choice that could be explained in words. But I knew from that look... sans had looked into my SOUL just now, and he knew. he understood. "maybe so... well, if i were you, i would have thrown in the towel by now. but you didn't get this far by giving up, did you? even when chara, whose spirit was corrupted by LOVE, shattered your SOUL in the last timeline... you still managed to push forward and RESET."