The Moon, chapter 44: The Cycle

Susie gripped the knife in her hand tighter, and as if he read her mind, Asgore immediately leapt toward Susie at a speed that knocked her right out of her daze as a blood red trident flew towards her face. Dropping the lantern to the ground and ducking to the left just barely saved her from colliding with him and as he landed, the trident squealed and sparks flew from its tip as it scraped across the ground. Asgore stopped in his tracks and turned quickly to face her, swinging the trident across the room in the process. Susie had to back away again and scramble to her feet just to avoid getting eviscerated by the weapon, and Asgore was still a couple meters from her at least. She was outmatched, both by the length and range of his weapon, and his raw speed and strength. There's no way she could run for the heart as Asgore would close the gap between them with ease. The only way for her to have a chance would be to incapacitate or distract him in some way. But how?

Before she had a chance to think any further, Asgore readied another attack, this time crouching down for a second, then leaping directly upwards. Susie looked upward just in time to see him hit the top of his jump, now descending at a frightening speed with his spear pointed directly downward. Susie did her best to jump out of the way, Asgore's attack missing once again, lodging his trident directly into the ground, cracking the blue brick below. Susie took this opportunity to quickly do any sort of damage, and raised the knife above her head, striking it down into the arm of the beast. Opening his mouth, yet making not a sound, Asgore stretched his arm out to his side suddenly, brushing Susie off of him and sending her into the air. The impact was rough as she landed on her back, but the near empty backpack softened the blow to the point where it didn't knock the wind out of her. Susie got to her feet quickly, being far further away from him than she realized. That attack would probably only anger him, but she would hope that would make him make more mistakes.

Susie looked towards the void that was behind Asgore, and the dark red heart that floated within it. She also observed the path between her and the heart, and found it empty besides a single bone and all of the blood that caked the floor of the area he stood. Susie got to her feet as quickly as she could and, looking backward, began to run towards the heart. Asgore seeing this seemed to make him even more agitated than before. Something unexpected followed, something Susie had no way to account for. A circle of sparks began to surround Asgore as he watched Susie run, before his cape erupted in an inferno of flames. Dislodging his trident from the floor would reveal that the tips of each of the three tines of the spear were covered in flames as well.

Susie barely had time to react as Asgore lifted his arm and faced his open palm towards her, from which erupted a white ball of flames that left a trail of fire on the ground where it traveled. Susie dodged to the right of the fire, tripping in the process and landing on the ground face first. She began recuperate and got to her knees before she felt an incredible weight on her back which planted her body firmly into the floor of the void. Susie looked behind her back and could see an enraged Asgore with one foot on her backside. He took no time at all to make his dominance known, pushing further down on her back and putting a terrible amount of pressure on her ribs. Susie squirmed to try to get out from underneath him, clawing at the ground in front of her with her left arm and attempting to stab at his leg with her right. It was when Susie felt an unbearable pain in her left shoulder that she knew this was a futile act. She looked to her left and screamed as, in her blurred vision, she could see the burning tine of the trident digging deep into her skin. Susie could feel a mixture of blood and saliva pooling on her back as Asgore twisted the trident, shooting an ungodly burning pain through her body the likes of which she had never felt before. She could do nothing but tear up and, to no avail, claw away with her knife hand.

It only took one more twist.

There was no pain from her left arm anymore. No feelings at all, in fact. She felt as if her lungs were getting smaller by the second as she began to hyperventilate, her eyes tearing up as she could barely make out the form of her severed left arm in front of her. This was no longer about hunger. This was about hate. He wanted to cause as much damage and pain to her as he could. She could feel the loss of blood almost instantly, her consciousness dipping below the halfway point in less than a second as her vision blurred even more so in addition to her tears inhibiting her vision already. There wasn't a lot of  bleeding due to the flames, but this did little to comfort her. The weight of Asgore's foot was lifted, and in its place, a talon-lined hand roughly grasped Susie's chest. She could feel a couple ribs crack as multiple sharp pains laced their way across her chest like an explosive chain reaction of hellish agony. The hand holding her turned itself. She was in its grasp a few feet off of the ground, looking directly into the monstrosity's eyes. It opened its mouth, bearing terribly long and disfigured teeth, and raised Susie's head towards his maw.

She was going to fail if she didn't do something soon. Anything. She needed out, but the pain was so much. With what little strength remained in her body, and with only half the determination she had to succeed at all costs, she raised her right hand and plunged the knife's blade deep into the right eye of Asgore. It sprayed a white liquid across her mask as Asgore recoiled backwards, dropping Susie on her back once again. This time hurt exponentially more than the last, and nearly knocked her out then and there. The pain from her ribs and her loss of a limb utterly destroyed any physical strength she thought she had. Something was keeping her alive though. A burning flame deep within her, hotter than any pain she could ever experience. The determination to do what's right. Susie slowly got to her feet, using as much of her physical strength as she could and balancing on one arm to get her into a standing position. She paid little mind to the squirming and wailing Asgore in front of her and turned backwards, toward the heart.

Susie stumbled weakly towards the still beating bio-mechanical mass that was the cause of all the pain in this world. Pipes and ducts of all sorts spouted from its skin and disappeared into the void as the crimson surface pulsed with life, or something close to it. It was nearly twice the size of her, and began to beat faster and faster the more she approached it. Her knife reacted in a similar way, glowing a dark red color as she neared the demented organ. She raised the knife above her head as she was but a few steps from the last thing between her and salvation. The vision and sensation of three, red, sharp points piercing through her back and to her front shook her entire system. She puked blood into her mask as her lungs began to fill with blood. The bottom part of her mask had filled with a mixture of her blood and tears, and created an abhorrent scent and taste of metal around her face. She knew Asgore was too late however, and despite everything she had endured up until this point, found it in her to smile.

Susie fell upon the heart, and plunged the dagger into its surface, and that was all it took. A bright flash of light filled her vision as she got blasted backward, a high pitched wail echoing around her as the ground shook from the sound alone. The knife, in all the commotion, had disappeared entirely.

When the white faded from her eyes, she saw and felt an orange, warm glow from above. Hundreds of miles above her, she could see sunlight from a mile wide circular hole in the ceiling. Susie would lay on her side, the trident sticking out of her back still lodged firmly inside her body. She used the last of her strength to unmask herself, tearing the apparatus from her face as blood spilled to the floor, both from her mask and another influx of blood vomit from her throat. She curled her legs up to her belly as much as she could as her blood pooled around her, a seemingly endless stream of tears falling from her eyes. The sobbing started soon after, her pained wails coming between bouts of blood spilling from her mouth. From the hole in the ceiling, she could see gallons of water spilling over the edges and all the way down to where she was. The cold water that began to surround her body felt nice on her wounds, but as her vision blurred she knew her time was short.

Even through all the tears pouring from her eyes, she cracked a smile. She could see nothing but orange now, and the pain was beginning to fade. She coughed, and began speaking to no one in particular.

“H-Heh... I... I d-did it g-guys... I s-saved everyone...”
Another coughing fit, but she could barely feel it.
“I...I hope e-everyone's okay... Y-You were all I... had...”
More tears, but no nerves left to feel them.
More words, but no contentiousness to hear them.
More feelings, but no mind left to feel them.

Nothing but bliss remained.

Nothing but love.

Nothing but light.