The Moon, chapter 48: The Understanding

Surprisingly enough, Susie had always avoided seeing the inside of the police station, whether it was by her luck or Undyne's brashness, she always managed to wiggle her way out of whatever mischief she had gotten into. And if not, she was never formally escorted to the station. Though Susie had her doubts that Undyne knew what the word “formal” even meant. The door to the police station squeaked, in comparison to everything else, rather loudly. So loudly, in fact, that it echoed for a few seconds off the boundaries of the forest. The sky, stars, and snow laden ground were bathed in a dim shade of blue as the moon began to rise in the direction of the lake. She could just barely see it peeking above the treeline, but it was massive. The largest, brightest moon she'd ever seen, at least three times the size it was usually. Time was running short.

Susie and Hazel entered the station, the ever fading light of the outdoors making visibility minimal. Hazel stepped ahead and began looking for any sort of microphone for the loudspeaker, while Susie looked for a light. She searched around frame of the door for a bit before finding a light switch and flicking it. Nothing. A few more flicks, and nothing in the sort of a light flicks on. Susie steps further into the station as Hazel turns around to face her. A horrified expression quickly forming.
“Susie! Behind you!”
But it was too late. Susie knew this as a dull pain fell over her body as she dropped to the cement floor, face first. Suddenly, she felt the weight of a foot pushing down on her spine. A harsh, female voice that Susie had dreaded hearing ever since she returned barked at her.
“I knew it. I knew you'd be back.”

The next feeling Susie felt was a small, dense rectangular object pushed against the back of her head. When she heard the sound of a gun cocking, she realized it was a pistol. Hazel took a step forward and was about to raise her voice before the sensation of the gun against the back of Susie's head left. From what she could see, Undyne was now pointing a pistol at Hazel.
“And you... You helped her, didn't you?”
“U-Undyne, please put the gun do-”
“Shut it! You think you can step into my station after 'disappearing for a week? Where have you been hiding her?” She growled at Hazel.
Susie struggled underneath the weight of her captor.
“What the hell is your problem?! Let me go, she has nothing to do with this.”
“You expect me to believe that? You two were always hanging around each other and talking, I've seen it. All I need is a reason to put you in, and now I do.”
“You're not going to get away with this.”
“Who's gonna stop me? Everyone else left since the roads got fixed, but I don't believe a second of that. It was the perfect cover for you to come back, I knew it.”
“You're insane! What the hell did I do to deserve this?!”

Without a response, Susie could hear nothing but the clinking of chains behind her, followed by a cold steel ring being locked shut around her right wrist. Undyne gasped quietly when she grabbed at the empty air where her other arm should have been. Her foot shifted a bit, enough to put her foot straight through one of the holes in Susie's torso. Undyne stumbled backward as Susie crawled away from her, turning to face her crazed, bloodshot eyes. Her uniform had been torn in a few places, and she was missing her badge. Her arms shook as she held the police pistol towards Susie's head, the firearm making slight metal clinking noises in sync with her. She was breathing a bit more heavily than before. The cramped nature of the police station didn't help the stressful nature of the situation, placing Undyne only a few feet away from Hazel and Susie. The only way of escape was either through the entrance door, or down a hallway behind Hazel that they surely wouldn't be able to reach in time.

“What the hell are you?” Undyne shakily asked.
“Look, I have a very limited amount of time on my hands, and there's a hell of a lot more at stake right now than whatever troubles we have between us.”
Undyne pointed her pistol toward the roof and fired a round, making Hazel squeal in fear behind her.
“That's not what I asked. Tell me what the hell you are or you're getting a bullet through the brain, I swear to god. I have nine more, and I'll use as many as it takes, you freak.”
“Undyne... I-I'm not sure how to convince you of this, but our entire world is in some sort of sick, twisted test chamber, and we aren't the first. If I don't stop whoever is behind this, it won't be the last either. We just need to broadcast a message through the loudspeaker here, and get a pistol or something, and-”

Undyne began to nervously laugh, keeping her eyes centered on Susie.
“Are... Are you serious? You really expect me to believe that?”
“No, not really, but it's the truth whether you believe it or-”

Suddenly, a loud metallic bang echoed from the roof top, as if a heavy object had been dropped upon it. Hazel and Susie looked upward, and their hearts sank as they began to hear footsteps.
“Stay. Right. Here.”
Undyne demanded as she stepped out the door and into the outside. Hazel and Susie both looked out the windows intently as she walked. Stepping around in the snow, she turned back towards the station and pointed her gun at the roof of the building. The footsteps started up again until they ceased right above where Hazel and Susie were. Then, an incredibly elongated, dark red, fleshy hand punctured the roof, grasping, and completely covering in the process, her torso. Hazel shrieked as Susie was quickly pulled through the roof, and met face to face with an enormous, at least nine foot tall humanoid being.

Just like its arm, the rest of its body was a dark red, fleshy mess of bone and organs, its head being the most horrid of all with a near featureless head full of holes. Resting in these holes were small, glowing spheres that resembled moons, which rotated and pulsed independently of each other. It had a striking resemblance to the gigantic red being that she made contact with in the ashen world. Susie attempted to struggle, which only made the being's grip tighter. With its other monstrous hand, it lightly placed the tip of its finger on Susie's forehead, which is the only thing she remembers before she blacks out.

The next time she opened her eyes, she's in a black void, completely barren of anything but white and blue dots in the distance. She gets to her feet and blinks, and before her the ever pale blue moon appears. What was at one point a horrifying cacophony of screaming and terror was now an angelic, almost holy chorus of singing voices, all in perfect harmony with one another. Susie fell to her knees and began to cry. The voices, the song, the droning on of it all, she couldn't stop the tears that were flowing from her face. It was simply too beautiful for her to handle. As the tears blurred her vision, she suddenly felt a looming sense of dread fall over her. For all the majesty the voices brought, she knew that something was hiding behind it all. Her trembling body faltered as she fell to the floor, and for once she felt she finally understood something. An idea had been forced into her brain by a force she couldn't comprehend.

And in that moment, every star blinked.

It was never about the moon. It played a part, but it was never the focus.
She wasted so much time fearing the moon's presence that she forgot about the stars.

And the darkness between them.