The Judgement Hall was quiet. The dying sunlight broke through the windows, creating shadow clones of the Delta Rune etched upon delicately spun glass upon the smooth floors.

Undyne had very rarely set foot in here, usually opting for the training yards or one of the guest rooms, and Asgore tended to prefer to visit her in Waterfall. She stood in the middle of the room for a moment, awed by it. She knew this was sacred ground, and knew that a lot happened here. But she'd never truly understood the magnitude of that until her eye actually took in the place.

"undyne?"

She jumped and looked down, her heart racing, before she recognised that voice, even before he walked from behind a pillar that she was sure he wasn't behind a moment before.

"sans?" she answered, her eye wide.

His expression was also shocked. He stared at her for a moment, his pinpoint eyes unusually dim, before he blinked slowly.

"you killed the human?" he then asked slowly, his voice oddly soft.

Undyne nodded. "I have its soul. I'm gonna take it to Asgore, and then we'll finally be free."

sans looked at her closely, then, a look that she didn't like. It felt almost as if he looked deeply within her, into her very thoughts. She really didn't like it, and she shifted on her feet uncomfortably. She felt a sense of urgency, of a need to get to Asgore as soon as she could, but she felt as if she couldn't move - not with sans looking at her that way.

"you'll die," he then said flatly, startling her. "the soul is keeping you together. if you give it to asgore, you'll die."

Undyne looked down a little guiltily and nodded. "Yeah," she agreed. "But everyone else gets to live on the surface, so who cares?"

She said it, but her voice suddenly wavered, and she gritted her teeth.

"are you sure you want to do that, undyne?" sans wondered.

She didn't look at him.

"you could talk to him, keep the soul. another human will probably fall again. he'll understand."

"No," she growled, clenching her fists. "Otherwise, they all died for nothing. The queen, Shyren, Aaron... Papyrus..." Her voice wavered again. She didn't see it, but sans winced, looking down briefly and blinking hard. "They can't have died in vain."

"true," sans agreed softly. "so they why do you have to?"

"I'm not," she snapped, her head jerking up. "I killed it. I have its soul. I'm bringing it to Asgore. Or I would be, if you'd just get the hell out of my way!"

sans stared at her, his expression unchanging. She glared back, her teeth bared.

The moment felt endless.

Then, slowly, he nodded. "okay. go ahead. I won't get in your way."

Undyne started forwards, but he stopped her.

"undyne," he said, his voice sharp. "you did a good thing. but you can do even better."

She opened her mouth to respond, but he dipped behind a pillar and was gone.

She stood there for a moment, confusion rooting her feet to the smooth floor. She decided it was just another one of sans's many double-talk moments, and thus shrugged it off.

Right now, she had more important things to do.

She'd never seen New Home so quiet. The city's buildings, usually glowing with myriad lights, its streets usually packed with cars and monsters, the very air full of the sounds of life...

All of it was absent, and it made her feel as though she'd stepped into a dream... or a nightmare.

It was a long walk, and Undyne hated it. It forced her to think. And as a result, it forced her to cry. She did it as quietly as possible, but her only comfort was that she was alone, and thus no one would ever see her do it.

Papyrus was gone. She hadn't been able to save him.

Of everyone they'd lost, his loss hurt the most. She could have saved him, could have gone to Snowdin once she realised he was late for his lesson, and maybe she would have chanced upon him facing the human. She knew, deep in her heart, that he hadn't fought the human. He was strong, and probably could have killed the thing in one or two hits, but he probably didn't want to. Knowing him, his gentle heart, he probably wanted to give the human a chance to change, first. And of course the human was unchangeable by then.

She missed him so much already. She even tried to call his phone once while she walked, on the off-chance - or pathetic hope - that maybe she was wrong, and he somehow survived.

But all it did was ring, and the truth hit her hard, and she cried even harder.

She'd wanted to make a warrior of him. She'd wanted to make him proud of himself. She'd wanted to protect him and make him happy.

But she'd failed him in all of those things.

Then, her thoughts fell to Alices, whose words she could still hear ringing in her brain, her desperation and demand that Undyne call her back the moment she could. And Undyne had lied and said she would, when she damn well knew that she wouldn't be calling anyone else ever again.

She'd saved Alices. That was a comfort.

And she'd be saving Asgore, too. That was also a comfort.

She wanted them to survive, wanted them to thrive. But she wished she would be able to be there to see it.

She wanted to be there to see it.

She wanted to be there when the barrier broke, Asgore and Alices at her side, maybe even hold Alices's hand in her excitement, as if not to would make it all disappear into a dream...

But she couldn't.

Finally, she'd made it to the royal palace. It looked daunting from the outside, but once she went in, she found it to be almost deceptively homey, like a little bungalow.

She walked in, as if an intruder on a peaceful moment, and found a note. She read it and smiled faintly; it was so like Asgore to be gardening, and to also leave a tiny puzzle for anyone who wanted to find him.

She held the note to her chest for a moment, her eye closing, regret and longing filling her, for a future she couldn't have, before she started walking around to find the two keys.

It was then that something strange happened, and Undyne had truly assumed that the strangest had already happened.

A flower with a face popped up in front of her.

She froze, holding one key to her chest, her eye huge on her face. She felt a shiver of uneasiness, and her mind half-summoning a few spears and holding them on hair-trigger.

Something about this made her feel... uneasy.

The flower stared at her, their eyes huge and their mouth small.

Then, in a tiny voice, they whispered, "You killed them?"

Undyne nodded slowly, unable to speak.

"Truly? They're dead?"

"I... yes. I have... its soul," Undyne agreed hesitantly, as if giving the flower that kind of information was a bad idea.

But the flower merely stared at her, their shocked expression turning from trepidation to... almost like relief. "Good. That's good. That human... that human wasn't right. That human was... wrong."

"You're telling me," Undyne replied dryly. "Who are you?"

"Nobody," the flower responded. "Nobody at all."

Then, the flower seemed to jump back into the floor, and was gone.

Undyne stared at the place where they had been, confused, before she started looking for the second key. When she found it, she unlocked the way to the basement, and made her way down.

By now, she was shaking. She was scared. She knew these were her final moments, and it scared her. She desperately wanted to call someone.

She wanted to call Papyrus. She wanted to call Alices.

But instead, she called no one, and kept walking.

Asgore was watering the sea of flowers that carpeted the throne room, his back to the doorway.

For a moment, Undyne watched him, listening to him hum idly. It was clear, from this, that the king had no idea what had been happening to his kingdom. He had no idea just how close their world had come to turning to dust.

That thought was confirmed when he turned around, saw Undyne's state, and dropped his watering can, his face falling to terrified shock. He was before her immediately, his hands on her shoulders, and for a moment, she rested her head on his chest, like she used to do when she was younger, and able to be weak.

It was so comforting. It was also painful.

"Undyne, what's happened to you?" he asked, his voice shocked, his hand gentle as he carefully petted her roughly-shorn hair.

"There... there was a human, Asgore," she said softly, shutting her eye. "I killed it."

This was it, she knew. This was her last moment. She was shaking. She didn't want to die. But she knew she had to.

Asgore froze, before he gently took hold of her shoulders and pushed her a little away, looking right into her face. She looked back at him, her lips twitching, her eye stinging.

"It was killing everyone," she added, her voice still quiet, though she knew he heard every word. "I had to. I have its soul. It's yours, Asgore. Take it, break the barrier, and free us all."

Asgore's face darkened, an expression very few people ever saw. "You're dying," he said, his voice hard.

Undyne sagged a little. She knew she couldn't of hid it from him. Slowly, she nodded. "I absorbed the soul to get here. Once you take it, I'm done for."

She smiled weakly. "It's okay. I don't mind. If it means everyone's free, I don't... I don't care..."

Asgore winced; he knew she was lying. His grip tightened on her shoulders, and his eyes closed.

Then, he said, his voice barely above a whisper, "Undyne, it has to be you."

She blinked, confused. "I don't... what are you talking about?"

"It has to be you who breaks the barrier, Undyne," Asgore elaborated, his grip tightening even more on her shoulders. His arms were shaking, and he lowered his head again. "Tori... Toriel... she's dead, isn't she?"

Undyne felt her stomach clench. "Yes," she whispered. "She was one of the first it killed."

He exhaled slowly, a small sob escaping him with it. Gently, Undyne reached up and placed her hands on his forearms, rubbing gently, her own eye burning again. She knew he'd always kept his love of his queen, after all of these years.

"Ah, damn it," he whispered. "I can't do it. I can't set a foot on the surface knowing that. I can't look at the sun without her seeing it, too..."

"But, Asgore," Undyne blurted, suddenly afraid. "We need you. We need you so much. We need you to guide us from the Underground, to lead us, to bring us back to where we were before--,"

"You keep saying 'we', Undyne," Asgore interrupted, looking up at her. His eyes were full, tears already streaking his cheeks, but he looked angry. "Yet you and I know that if I take that soul from you, there is no 'we'."

Undyne swallowed hard. She had nothing to say to that; it was true.

"Undyne," Asgore murmured, one hand moving from her shoulder and touching her cheek gently. "I will be damned before I see you die."

Undyne bit her lip. Otherwise, she knew she'd start to cry.

It was fine, because he wasn't finished talking.

"You're the daughter I never asked for, but got. You're the daughter I got, but never knew I wanted. And you're the daughter I want to keep living, no matter what."

His eyes flashed, two colours that she knew so well from sparring with him. "It has to be you, Undyne."

"But, I don't know anything about any of that," she said, her voice breaking. "I'm too stupid to do any of it. All I know is how to fight."

Asgore gently rubbed her cheek, brushing away dried blood and flecks of dust, all her own. "You know much more than that, daughter. You just don't know it, yet."

He smiled faintly. "And you won't be alone. I can already think of at least one other person in my employ who would be more than happy to help you, and be at your side."

Undyne opened her mouth, then closed it. That confused her. She had no idea what - or who - he was talking about.

"The other six souls are in the basement," he said softly. "Take them, Undyne. Absorb them, and use their power to break the barrier. And then keep using their power to stay alive. And make that life worth living."

"Please," Undyne suddenly pleaded, shaking again, but for a completely different reason, now. "I'm scared. I don't know how to do this. I don't know what to do. Please come with me, Asgore. Please!"

Asgore pulled her close and hugged her tight, and she clung onto him, unable to stop her tears. She had come ready to die, and here she was about to not only live, but thrive. She was terrified.

"You can do it without me," Asgore whispered. "Because you have to. I'm going back to the Ruins, back to... to where Tori..."

His voice choked up, and he had to take a moment before he went on. "I can't go on like this, Undyne. I need to be alone, at least for a while. I'm... I'm not ready to see the world above again. Not after so long. Not after all that I've lost."

"Asgore," she growled out, her fingers digging into his back, gritting her teeth. "Please, come with me."

"You're strong enough, Undyne. You already know it, but you just can't feel it, yet. If you can't trust yourself, then trust me. You can do this. And you can do this well."

She clung to him for a moment, shaking from her tears, feeling him do the same.

For that moment, there was only the two of them, father and daughter, saying the last goodbye for a time they only knew was going to be long - and possibly permanent.

It hurt. It hurt so much.

But soon, Asgore let her go, despite her attempts to keep hugging onto him, to pull him back.

"Undyne," he said gently, reaching forward and brushing her tears away with a kind, sad smile. "It's time to do what must be done. You can do it."

"Asgore..." She dug her nails into his arms. "Dad... I love you so much. I love you so damned much..."

"And I love you," he said softly, kissing her forehead gently. "Now go, my brave girl, and make things right."

He let her go. She hesitantly did the same, staring up at him for a long time, before she turned away and just ran out, running away from him, running away from the pain and the hurt and, worst of all, the truth.

He watched her go, before he slowly made his way back up the stairs to his home, to start his journey back to his first home, for good.