//------------------------------// // Chapter 1: The Choice // Story: Cracks // by Detsella Morningdew //------------------------------// "Frisk, don't you have anything better to do?" Frisk sighed. It was the phrase he dreaded, the phrase he had heard time and time again. It was the reason he kept resetting; the reason that he started over after everyone was finally free. Perhaps Flowey had been right. He did want that "perfect ending". But it wasn't for himself. Frisk knew how to do it, and easily, too. He could live a perfect life with his new family on the surface in under three days' time. All his needs were taken care of. He should have been happy, but he wasn't. Nothing could shake from his head the image of Asriel, weeping in remorse over what he had done to his family, what he had done to them all. Asriel, telling him to forget. But he could not. He refused. He returned, again and again. Each time, he walked back to meet him. Each time, he hoped that this time, it might be different. That maybe, something he did differently might ripple, changing the timeline just enough to do it. Just enough that he might finally accept his offer. "Frisk, no! I don't deserve this! Look what I did to you! Look what I did to Mom and Dad! Just leave me be. All I can hope is that I can finally get some rest. At least I can be sure that I did no lasting damage. That I won’t hurt anyone again." Frisk looked at him with pleading eyes. “I forgave you. And so will Mom and Dad, if you let them.” "...I know that, Frisk. But what about you? You have friends now. You have… you have a new family. How can you give that up?" “I’m not giving it up. You know that. Just like you said. Split control. We’ll both be there. We’ll both have a family again. We’ll both have friends.” "I don't know, Frisk, it's just not the same. You should know that. Besides, why should I matter so much to you, anyway? We've only known each other for maybe thirty minutes. Well, when I wasn't… you know..." "More like thirty days." "What? That can't be right..." Frisk placed a hand on Asriel’s shoulder. He flinched slightly before relaxing slowly. "Asriel, I reset. I reset a lot. I went to the surface with the others, the first time. Actually, quite a few times. But every time I tried to settle down, I saw the same face. The face of someone I was told to forget." "Frisk, I-" "The one I couldn't save." Asriel turned away, not meeting his eyes. "Frisk, if I'm just the last piece of-" "No, Asriel, you're not. I saw someone who had lost everything. Someone who did the right thing, and died for it. Then, when they turned around and fixed their mistakes, they sacrificed their own happiness for the sake of another.” “But I-” "Asriel, it doesn’t matter to me what you did back then. It matters to me who you are right now, and right now, I see a good person. This is a way for both of us to be happy. For everyone to be happy. You can have peace again, Asriel." Frisk reached out with both of his hands, grasping his claw. "Asriel, you can finally be free." He paused, then looked uncertainly back at Frisk’s face. “Are… are you sure about this?” Frisk sighed. “More than anything.” He brought a hand to his chest, bringing something out, something that glowed with a soft light unmistakable in the dimly lit room. His soul. Asriel’s hands trembled as he looked up to Frisk’s determined face. He let out a breath slowly as he steadied himself, reaching out. There was a flash, and everything turned white. Asriel groaned, turning over. His face was assaulted by yellow flowers. He grumbled. Gorse... If I ever see these flowers again, it’ll be too soon. Asriel… are you okay? He shot up into a sitting position, then grabbed his head. “Ugh… Frisk? Is that you? Are you okay?” Yeah… of course. Don’t worry. He giggled. It’s kinda freaky. “You can say that again.” And don’t you dare feel guilty. It’s a good thing. Asriel looked down at himself, clad once more in a cloak with the Delta Rune. Frisk smiled, the emotion leaking onto Asriel’s face. Hey, at least you’re not the “Absolute God of Hyperdeath, right? “Hey! S-shut up!” All right, all right. I’ll keep quiet about it. “How did you even know about that? I never told you what… what it was called.” Frisk turned their head to look at the faint outline in the ground. A place where a body once laid. ”I just hope she found peace.” “...Is that what you meant when you said everyone would be happy?” ”. . .” “I don’t know, Frisk. She was in a really bad place when we died.” I don’t know either. But… she seemed… better. She saw everything. It’s all we can hope for. So… are you ready? Asriel chuckled. “No, of course not. But let’s go, anyway.” Frisk smiled. “All right. Just let me load the save. It’s so much better than walking all the way to the castle.” Asriel’s hand flicked open, and the black menu flickered to life in front of them. ...Wait a minute... His hand hit “Continue.” CRACK Asriel flinched away as the menu disintegrated. SNAP They looked down at their feet, jumping away from the crack at their feet. But the crack moved with them, spreading and branching around them like a spiderweb. “F-Frisk, what’s happening?” ”I… I don’t know. I’m sorry. I wasn’t thinking, I was just thinking like I did before. I don’t think my save file reacted well to us being fused… I think we broke something.” The final corridor flickered through the cracks before fading out. The flower bed vanished, shattering into a million pieces. Asriel opened his eyes, but he questioned for a minute if that was indeed the case. He had seen plenty of darkness, and even been underground, but this was something else entirely. “Am I dead? I’ve been dead before, but I don’t remember anything… I still can feel my fur, and I even have my clothes still…” No, I’m still here, too. I have no idea where we are, either. And you’ve once created an entire world by yourself. If you don’t know, I certainly don’t. “Well, it wasn’t so much a new world as a… replacement of the old one.” He shuddered. Look, I told you, don’t worry about it. You weren’t… yourself then. “I just can’t help but think… We’re outside the timeline. I know that. That’s the only thing that makes sense. We became some sort of paradox. I just hope… I just hope we didn’t break everything. Everyone” I… I certainly hope not. Anyway… those cracks followed us when we moved, remember? Like it was only happening from our perspective. So, this is like a space between timelines, right? If we can find a way back in from here... Asriel nodded. “Yeah… I really hope so. But it’s dark as pitch here.” He relaxed his muscles, his arms moving out to the side. “And we’re spinning.” Frisk grinned. ”You still have your fire magic, don’t you?” “...How would that help?” Frisk put the image of a rocket into the forefront of his mind. Asriel’s eyes widened. “Oh. Oooohhhhhh….” He grinned, forming a small fire on each of his palms, angling them to cancel their momentum. That is so awesome…. “You are so lucky that this fire is magic, and doesn’t actually need air. Or that we really don’t need to breathe.” ”Then how are we talking?” Asriel cut off the fire, leaving them drifting slowly. “I… I don’t really know.” He laughed. “Magic?” Frisk rolled his eyes. “Yeah, right. Are you sure there isn’t some sort of atmos- Wait, what’s that? Asriel noticed it at the same time, whipping his head around as his body tried to turn itself the opposite direction. Mentally smacking himself in the forehead, he instead started the fire again, slowly turning himself before canceling the momentum. But that was far less important. Ahead of them was a small, faint light, unmistakable in the absolute nature of the darkness. Hope rose in Asriel’s chest. Is that where we came from? I… I think so. It’s the only one around. If it isn’t… well… who knows how long we were unconscious? We could have drifted too far… No. This has to be it. What else would it be? Asriel pushed himself towards the light carefully with his makeshift “thrusters,” watching it get closer and closer. “So… we just go into it?” he asked as it filled up almost half of their entire vision. ”I suppose so… I can’t think of anything else to do… we could end up at any point in the timeline. This… this really is a shot in the dark.” Asriel sighed. “There really isn’t anything else to do then.” His magic flared, shooting them both into the vast whiteness. This time, they managed to remain conscious as millions of images flashed around them in an instant. Finally the world faded in around them, immediately causing them to faceplant as gravity reasserted itself. Asriel sat up, spitting out a mouthful of pine needles. “Uh oh.” What is it? “The only forest this big in the Underground was near Snowdin, and it certainly doesn’t look very snowy right now.” They looked around at the forest around them. They were near the edge, but the forest was deep and thick, blocking out a large chunk of the light. The sun was clearly visible. Do you think we might be on the surface, then? Asriel suddenly silenced himself, covering his mouth. If we are, I really don’t know what to think. There’s a monster right over there. She certainly didn’t look like any monster he had seen in the Underground, though. She almost looked like a smaller version of the surface’s horses, but she was yellow and had two wings sprouting from her back. Is… is that a pegasus? You know what she is? Well, not really. Pegasi are just myths. But this doesn’t look like those. Asriel… I think we really are on a different world. Asriel slumped, resting on an old stump. I really didn’t want to believe that. Still, we’ll…. we’ll find a way back. Suddenly, a piece of bark broke with an audible snap, causing them to freeze. They both heard a soft gasp from beyond the trees. Uh oh. They leapt to their feet as one in panic. A soft voice called out to them, causing them to pause.”No! Wait!” Asriel turned to look, seeing the pleading face of the pegasus mare for a split second before disappearing into the trees. He breathed heavily, finally stopping at a small stream. That was a close one. I just hope she didn’t see us. Argh… Why did we run away? We could have at least gotten some information from her. We’ve been through much more than this. I know Frisk… it’s just… I know you like to push through things, but… I dunno. I just need a break from all this. We’re not even separate beings anymore, for crying out loud! I just want some time without some crisis being in the way. . . . Their head slumped. I know what you mean. I’ve been trying for so long to change things, to try all these tiny changes in the timeline. Trying to get you back. But now that everything is different, everything is new… I don’t even know what I’m supposed to do anymore. I’ve always been told to be determined, but… I’ve always had some sort of goal. Something to work towards. The freedom of monsters. The happiness of each person I meet. ...You… But now, the only thing that I want is out of my reach, and the only way I can think of getting it would risk this world’s entire existence. ...Frisk? Are we two people? Or one? What…. what do you mean? Asriel shifted uncomfortably. I mean... this feels a lot different than the time I... fused with Chara. We had split control, sure, but... we were both kind of part of the same mind. The two of us... I can feel your thoughts and feelings, and I feel closer to you than before, but... it's not the same, and I don't know why. Oh... Who are we, Frisk? Who am I, if I really have no soul? Your soul gives me life, but how am I still me then? Am I simply borrowing your emotion? Your compassion? Your love? I- Asriel, no. That's not true. But if I- Asriel, let me tell you something. After.... after every timeline, when everyone was safe, when everyone was free... I saw you as a flower again. Asriel gasped. No... I didn't..? You didn't do anything to me. No, you only approached me when I went to reset. And do you know what you said? ...What? You told me to let everyone go. To let them keep their happy ending. You didn't want me to keep "playing" anymore. You wanted me to let go. ...Really? Are you sure? He smiled hopefully. Positive. Asriel, you still have a soul. I'm sure of that. It was damaged so much, but... I care about you too much to not try and make it heal. Asriel's breath caught. "Thank... thank you..." "So.... where do we want to go? What do we want to do?" "Go home, of course. But what if that's impossible?" He smirked. "Impossible? What's that mean?" Asriel chuckled. "I don't know, Frisk, I don't know." "But of course, we should take time to relax, too. With time travel, you never really have to rush, do you?" "Of course. No matter what, though, I want my past... unpleasantness firmly in the past." He closed his eyes, listening to the soft trickle of the stream. "So Frisk... who are we?" "No, I think you have the question all wrong. It's not, 'Who are we?' Not at all. The real question is..." "Who am I?"