VOXISTALE: Novel Edition

Chapter 98

Four days later . . .

By now, everyone was aware of what was happening; a hostile takeover by the Messiah as they crawled out of the shadows again, and slaughtered any who stood in their way. Human, monster, it didn't matter. If you were between them and their target, you were going to die.

The old Messiah outpost Magnum had led them to turned out to be the real deal. The tunnels leading out of it were sealed off for the most part, leaving only two open tunnels in which they could traverse through, both of which met at the station they were taking refuge in. Once they were all safely there, Undyne had left them in search of more monsters to bring in. Frisk, of course, had offered to help, but Undyne seemed uncharacteristically . . . distant. She refused any help, no matter what or who with, and was pretty consistently quiet. It was unnatural seeing her like this, especially considering how much more confident she usually was at the end of her own life every time Frisk had killed her once upon a time.

Asgore was much the same. He didn't speak, just sat on a bench that sagged under his weight, staring intently at a blank stone wall, Demon seeming to have really messed with him. Alphys, for once, seemed to be the most collected individual. She made it her top priority to make sure everyone was safe and comfortable, no matter if they were human or monster. Truck had taken no time at all in returning to his usual self, at least that's what Magnum had called it. While Frisk had thought him just an idiot after their battle, she could see now that he couldn't help it. He acted like a toddler—a very dangerous toddler. He quickly became somewhat of an assistant to Alphys, happy to hand out blankets to any newcomers, alongside anything else Alphys asked of him.

Then there was Magnum. She seemed beside herself, trying to help, yet being, for the most part, refused. It became no secret among their growing group that she was not only a previous member of the Messiah, but the daughter of its leader. Her real name was Trinity Obaseki, but nobody seemed to call her that. Like Frisk, she offered to help Undyne, but was refused. Sometimes she'd assist Alphys, but Truck mostly had that covered.

So she was left to pace all around the refitted subway station, eyes distant, sometimes muttering to herself. They were all a complete mess, and it had come as a shock to learn that Jonathan Obaseki was the leader of the Messiah. Asgore had no initial reaction, as he had with just about everything since he'd awoken.

Monsters, and the occasional human, were brought back to the outpost by Undyne. She never stayed long before heading back out to collect more people, and it wasn't long before several more familiar faces showed up, like Mettaton and Papyrus. Well, Mettaton's body. He seemed relatively dead, and Alphys had quickly gotten to work on him. Papyrus had told Frisk that Sans had brought them here, but had left with a talking flower, which . . . worried her. If Sans and Flowey were operating together, then clearly they were more concerned about the new timeline holder than they were about the Messiah.

She could understand the concern, but it kind of pissed her off that Sans would rather focus on that than the immediate issue. The one that put everyone in harm's way right now. The thought of Sans often left a sour taste in her mouth more and more lately. Thankfully, Papyrus didn't seem as eager to abandon them, as he and Truck seemed to become well acquainted, and Papyrus somehow managed to find food to begin cooking for people, with the help of Truck.

The food wasn't necessarily awful, but it wasn't great, not that she could complain, their options were limited up until Undyne brought back some other monsters including Muffet, who quickly took over Papyrus' sub-par cooking scene.

And yet, still . . . her friends hadn't shown up, and after learning from Magnum and Truck that the Messiah had listed them to be killed by Krashna, who was apparently that Jason Clever kid she'd felt so uneasy about . . .