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liliallowed · 6 months

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the last laugh

a dusttale pacifist timeline with a twisted protagonist.

-major unreality and 4th walk breaks

-injury

-character death

-psychological mind games

-eventual gore and violence

-angst

-hurt no comfort

-NOT a fix you fic

-NOT a fluff fic

-dead dove do not eat (I'm serious this fic doesn't hold back. read if you like edgy stuff. this isn't fluff.)

chapter 1: old beginnings

you're tired of the monotonous killing sprees. it's time to switch things up a bit.

for whatever reason you've decided to switch play styles.

he wanted to play your role?

two could play that game.

his little stunt had had you feeling a lot of emotions.

guilt, shame pity...

but also...

respect, admiration, interest, and curiosity.

it was an understatement to say you honestly felt... impressed. shocked.

but soon that jumpscare of a fight turned your fear into something different.

you weren't sure WHAT.

perhaps you felt guilty and wanted to undo this? give him the ending he has longed for for so many timelines?

he was a monster of your own making much like Chara.

perhaps you felt responsible for it all and wanted to take back the control you had lost over the script to make amends.

or maybe you couldn't care less and just saw it as another empty challenge to check off on you checklist that kept you from going insane. feeding the never ending apathetic boredom you had cultivated throughout the loop.

regardless of your motives you were pumped and excited to try something new with him.

you had perfected your skills throughout your fights with him to the extent that you could almost do papyrus fight blind in comparison... you muscle memory kicked into high gear as you flawlessly dodged the bullets you had dodged countless times.

it was exhilarating. he was SO DIFFICULT to beat. not because of the damage. in fact the damage he dealt was significantly less than before.

no his fluid movement and complicated bullet patterns was what would screw you over.

and he never NEVER used the same pattern. it was always changing. always keeping up with your pace. predicting your movement, tracking learning improving.

god he was so fun to fight.

it almost felt like you were playing the game on multiplayer.

but... you have had your fill from his shenanigans. you had seen everything he had to offer.

had checked every single corner. exhausted every bit of dialogue you COULD drag out from him...

it was never repeative. always new always flexible and always ALWAYS keeping track of you.

it came to your attention that even if you SPARED monsters... he'd still kill them.

if you tried to save them he'd STILL GO AFTER THEM.

oh.

oh fuck he was ACTUALLY serious.

it wasn't about a simple grudge anymore no he was LOCKING you in genocide on purpose without your input.

and he was aware of it.

he had taken away your CHOICE of mercy without even touching your soul.

it creeped you out.

at first you thought his reasoning was stupid.

if he wanted to save them why did he kill them?

looking at it now though it was almost ingenious... clever and creative.

it reminded you a LOT of what Chara would pull on the end of a soulless pacifist except sans had cranked it to a 100.

he wasn't trying to save them.

no he was just straight up trying to trap you in an inescapable purgatory until YOU decided to leave it.

he never meant to SAVE them he only meant to STOP YOU.

he had taken control over the FUCKING SCRIPT.

you could no longer decide fate. no.

the world had fallen from your grasp.

despite controlling time you could not change fate.

and it BOTHERED you.

oh so he thought he could snatch this world from you the way Chara would ask for your soul every genocide run?

all it took was some few file recycling to fool that idiot to think you were here for the first time.

you could find loop holes inside loops. and he had issued a personal challenge to beat HIM at HIS game.

which also begged the question. how the FUCK did sans know if not even flowey and Chara could recall it? was he hanging out in your recycle bin or something?

you were pretty sure that was not how it worked.

there was literally no trace of your genocide...

you had a sneaking suspicion gaster was involved somehow.

because why not.

either way you couldn't just murder your way into a happy ending...

not unless you could alert the other monsters.

something sans failed to do because his argument felt so unrealistic and-

"sans? psht that guy can't even hurt a fly"

oh.

you were starting to feel a headache already.

god fucking dammit.

why did you do this to yourself. why do you decide to do hitless runs and try sans simulators every Monday... why do you speed run the path of pain in hollow knight.

why do you walk naked in elden ring and get absolutely destroyed...

what the FUCK is actually wrong with you...

god what had you gotten yourself into...

you have this thought process every single time. it seems to be a repeating pattern.

but you're too stubborn to give up.

I mean granted it didn't make sense why Chara would be trying to antagonize sans when they were literally after the same thing... except they had been silent for xxx resets... going back to slumber.

attempt 1:

you woke up and practically rolled over your way out of the flower bed with great agility jumping on your feet.

time to put all that speedrunning to use.

you sped your way across the ruin halls doing skips and wall runs, not even BOTHERING to solve the puzzles as you skillfully hopped over the spikes.

flowey caught on that something was different about you this round. he had popped right Infront of you to ask but you juked him, not even bothering to explain your plan.

it was simple. convince goat mom a frikin serail killer was about to kill her and he might have been the person she had been speaking to behind the door...

monsters encountered you but you flicked your soul skillfully to flee, your movement almost as precise as a Tas each time an encounter was made

you couldn't flee blooky but thanks to the broken script you managed to weasel your way out of the battle box FORCING your way out of battle.

the ghost stared at you with visible confusion and shock as if it has seen you defy the laws of gravity or something... which wasn't strange with magic... but with cheesing the battle box? yeah you must've looked like you were glitching through a wall or something.

you ran straight ahead to steal/borrow a bunch of spider donuts... you meant all you could get your hands on.

you ran into toriel next but didn't even STOP and ran full speed ahead towards the save point near the tree.

you were panting. your body was so tired... it's muscles were sore from being pushed to this extent.

you were sure it was in pain.

not that you could feel it of course.

you saved your time in the save point.

it glowed a brilliant gold, almost five times brighter than it usually was.

*you are filled with determination.

damn right you were.

your body collapsed to the ground, not even able to take another step...

flowey used this chance to approach you.

"another speed run?"

he asked with a scoff.

you shook your head.

"I've... I've got a new idea... you know how sans pulled a YOU on me? I say we pull a HIM... on him hahaha... "

you panted leaning back against the tree.

Flowey's eyes widened in surprise.

"wanna help me try something new old friend?"

you smile.

flowey was overjoyed at first by your offer.

but hesitated.

"what is your plan? "

he asked tilting his head. he didn't trust you.

but you had gained his interest.

"well I know I can't convince people that that lazy couch potato suddenly went psycho without giving myself away... "

you hummed examining a tree branch that had fallen down.

"do we're going to make it look like a coincidence that I know and INDIRECTLY drive everyone away and lead them to the throne room."

a big smile appeared on Flowey's face that made you wonder how he wasn't split in half.

"now THAT sounds interesting."

he laughed as he patted your back with amusement using a vine.

"but we'll have one shot at pulling this off. once he knows my plan it'll be useless."

you warned.

"so I'm currently making preparations and sizing up the chess board. measuring the time it takes to run from checkpoint to checkpoint."

you finished trying the ribbons you found with the stick, making a makeshift spear.

he would usually throw your weapons into the lava pit to sabotage your progress so you had to get creative.

flowey nodded with a small mischievous giggle. "oh this is going to be SO FUN! specially after your whole... eat sleep kill, repeative habits..."

"hey I wanted to try increas-"

"yes yes I know how obsessed you are with skill, precision and speed... but now you're satisfied and want to move to something different. just like old times ey?"

"yep."

"so _____, where do I come in all this?"

"meh I'm just poking around before finalizing the genocide sabotage."

"is that what you're calling it?"

"it ain't pacifist since I'll be fighting that bone head plenty times... it isn't genocide since I'M NOT the killer now... so how about reverse genocide or geno-tage? sabo-cide?"

"didn't you name the previous run rebellio-"

"AY SH SH SHHHHH we don't talk about that."

"what? that you totally got owned by the trashbag?"

the banter was interrupted by toriel walking in, standing in place with a shocked expression.

"oh m-my little one how did you get here? did you fall down? you must've been so scared!"

you shook your head, smiling at the concerned monster.

"no! this flower helped me find my way!"

(my ass. you zoomed across the whole place like it was a marathon)

flowey thought as he smiled picking up on the act.

"o-oh! thank you... pardon my intrusion... my child do you know where you are?"

"yeah! he said it was safe here and he told me all about monsters and magic and the love they have for one another!"

Flowey cringed at the word love...

it had just occurred to him that you had made him say that dialogue XXX times already without his knowledge before sans decided its kill or be killed.

"we did get a chance to make many friends since he told me I should escape if I felt unsafe. "

you finished explaining as you grinned knowingly at his discomfort.

"oh! that's a relief for them to have met such a kind monster like you dear. thank you!" she smiled warmly at flowey.

unbeknownst to her a shiver ran on the flowers stem as he recalled being burnt to crisp by her fire every GOD DAMNED TIME he tried to talk to the human.

"I apologize for the late introduction my child. I am Toriel. gatekeeper of the ruins.

I live in that house just across! would you like to join me for some cinnamon pie?"

you nodded.

"I prefer butterscotch but thank you!"

you smile warmly. god this was SO nostalgic. it made your heart go all fuzzy and warm as you ignored the warning of impending doom at the corner of your mind, coming to bite you in the ass, like the grim reaper itself had taken offense from your recklessness...

now that you think about it... wasn't this whole ordeal just you and that riding hood arguing over who'd have the last laugh?

it was childish immature bit neither of you planned to give up..

if he wasn't out for your blood you'd even consider it close to a sibling dynamic...

"o-oh ! well it's a good thing I also happen to have the ingredients!"

your mind snapped back into the present.

your anxiety over where and WHEN he would strike would not let you linger in one place for too long.

you lift yourself up from the pile of red leaves under you and let flowey climb up to your shoulder, using his vines to keep his position seure around your head.

"a flower crown" ... you smirk at him and he rolled his eyes.

and just for a split second you barley managed to catch the look of sadness on toriels face.

"you look so lovely my child."

she smiled... it was a bitter sweet smile. a sense of grief and longing written all over her expression.

you take her hand, comforting her.

you may have been worse than la literal demon... but you weren't completely heartless... oh who were you kidding of course you were.

the nostalgia hit you like a brick wall when you spend a day crying over killing her by accident. good times good times...

you were tempted to do it again.

bringing yourself to care then cut yourself off. it was horrible it was beautiful it made you FEEL HORRIBLE AND AMAZING.

GOD YOU HATED how much you LOVED it. and loved how you hated it.

you hated yourself SO FUCKING MUCH that you couldn't even give yourself CLOSURE AND RIP OF THE DAMNED BANDAID.

you were a sucker for drama and tragedy.

that bittersweetness... that sweet sweet IRONY.

that sheer agoney of watching something you built crumble into a mess... how it crushed you on the inside.

validating your worst fears in a self fulfilling prophecy.

you had a small kinship with the feeling.

break it fix it break it fix it break it fix it...

you could.

why SHOULDN'T you. why WOULD you.

you could FEEL getting sucked into another self destructive cycle.

fix it.

obsessing over the smallest things. you had to know everything.

break it.

until realization hit.

what had you done?

what HAD you done? what WERE YOU DOING?

... oh it's just for shits and giggles!

I don't WANT to save them.

it doesn't MATTER.

I just wanna STICK IT TO HIS DUMB FACE. HAHAHAHA!

I DON'T CARE ABOUT THESE MONSTERS.

THEY'RE NOTHING BUT CODE!

/you're re wracked with a perverted sentimentality./

then why do I keep them around...?

you cared. you cared SO MUCH it drive you crazy.

a craziness you dared not indulge in in reality but in fiction.

it was your obsession that drive you to this point. not apathy.

you genuinely cared. you couldn't let go you couldn't. you had to. YOU HAD TO SEE IT TO THE END. THIS WASN'T GOING TO THE WAY YOU'D LET THINGS END.

...

now that you think about it... that thought process does sound iconically familiar.

you couldn't help but let out a small hysterical chuckle.

oh the irony. oh how much you wanted to just... laugh at your own hypocrisy for expecting anything different.

"you damned riding hood... "

you mumbled only to find yourself in toriels embrace as she rocked her chair back and forward, slowly stroking your hair to comfort you.

...

you leaned into her soft paws...

god you wished you could actually feel them. the warmth of the fireplace... hear her humming...

how much you craved to make yourself FEEL SOMETHING... ANYTHING. PAIN PLEASURE CALMNESS SUFFERING you'd take ANYTHING.

ANYTHING to make you feel less hollow.

"shhh it's okay child. it must've been hard on you on the surface. "

she cood softly comforting the human in her arm.

you contemplated her words for a moment.

was she talking to you...? how would she know how YOU felt? she couldn't. she wouldn't...

only flowey and sans could understand.

not even CHARA understood it.

you didn't need some npcs PITY.

...

and yet?

her words felt so pure so... genuine.

it sent another wave of guilt back at you.

"no... I didn't really have a dramatic backstory... "

you replied softly.

your throat was tight.

the way it used to be when you had killed papyrus for the first time.

you told yourself you'd give ANYTHING to be able to play this game for the first time again...

and this was as emotionally close as it was going to get

/god dammit/

you teared up.

you were glad they could not see you. the REAL you.

you couldn't afford to show weakness.

you couldn't afford to go soft and back down.

you were always committed to anything you set your mind to. good or evil. you were too deep into the grind to give up now.

you had to remind yourself.

this wasn't because of your guilt or hero complex. you simply did it out of boredom.

you WEREN'T a good person.

you didn't GET TO feel guilty. you didn't have the RIGHT to feel like this.

toriel nodded with a bitter smile.

"it's not something to be taken lightly... your soul... it's... how do I explain it..."

"evil. empty? "

you replied without thinking. it didn't matter. you'd just reset her if she found out too much. you decided to throw her a clue to just exactly WHAT kind of abomination she was cradling in her arms right now.

"oh no! heavens no. it's simply injured. it's scarred and it's broken."

she glanced down to your face with a worried expression.

"you have no idea what I am."

you smile bitterly.

/"I'm not even a "human." " /

/"I'm not even a child in fact." /

/"I've killed you XXX times..."/

/"do you know what you are even talking to"/

you WANTED to say it but... the words just wouldn't come out.

we're you scared of her disappointment?

or was it because you simply felt burnt out and too lazy to reset it...

Flowey could have tattled...

but after sans... "happened" you were too paranoid.

you couldn't risk being arrogant again.

toriel stayed silent for a moment, contemplating how to answer.

"of course I do. you're only human."

she smiled.

you turn to face her. she can't really read your expression. because your face is nothing but a shade of black with pixelated glitches decorating the outline.

not that it's within her code to react to such an odd display.

not that she recognizes you are just SO OUT OF PLACE. she also doesn't recognize the broken script... or the glitches occasionally popping in and out.

it alienates you.

you wished she could see what you saw. understand.

you didn't want to be alone...

"you must be tired my child. would you like me to show you to your bed room?"

she suggested deciding to break the tension.

you nodded.

it was practically tradition to check the mirror everytime at this point.

no description.

not in grey not in red... nothing. it was just a black screen reflecting your own face on the monitor.

your REAL face.

you felt amused at that little taunt of the semi self aware world mocking you.

it was charming.

as if it had aknowledged you.

SAW THROUGH you.

and you loved it. loved it's reactiveness and flexibility.

you flopped into the bed pretending to go to sleep.

"gnight Flowey"

"yeah yeah"

it was honestly surprising that you made more progress by taking a breather under the tree rather than speeding across the whole underground.

maybe there was more to it than just SPEED... you knew these characters like the back of your hand. their schedules, when and where they would go... you could predict them and read them like a book.

sans and flowey were the only variables you needed to be wary of.... well just sans since you and flowey were both practically identical when it came to personality and motivation.

if only you could organize the PERFECT domino effect... it could work.

but dominos were hard to put together without falling off. you needed to do it VERY slowly and meticulously. one mistake and all of it would be ruined.

that was why... they realized they needed help.

this was something impossible to do on a first try. and yet they NEEDED more attempts to secure a consistent solution.

it was time to get creative with the code.

so you decided to keep multiple copies OF THE SAME world on different devices with different accounts just to keep your experimentation clean precise and untreatable.

you were sure gaster would be proud... or pissed. either of the two. you didn't really know the guy.

but judging by sans's methods and his connection to him you had a hunch you two had a LOT on common.

maybe he wasn't AS bad as you? but sans didn't even seem that surprised by your first genocide... nor the second or third... he just... stood there with no motive or drive.

and now he was obsessed with "winning"

if it didn't scream gaster or Chara you don't know what did.

"I know your type"

"no... you're the type of person who will never be happy"

"don't you have anything better to do"

chills, literal chills everytime you heard it.

you squinted around the room keeping your ears sharp to the soulnd of Toriels movements.

she had gone to the kitchen.

"now's your chance! go!"

flowey whispered.

it didn't matter if sans killed her this run. you were simply testing the waters.

you swiftly jumped from your bed and dashed across the hall, your footsteps barely making a sound.

you ran down into the basement and went through all the way to the end.

usually toriel would've brought you back but you had done a sequence break, going downstairs AS the game was playing the cutscene...

yeah this was actually a bit funny to watch.

you could hear Flowey's confusion from the glitching screen, laughing your ass off.

you had no idea where you were going but your muscle memory knew. you had done a blind run before. you could get out of the-

you crashed headfirst into the door.

you snapped back into your vessel from the cutscene grabbing your throbbing head.

"ow..."

you muttered as you stood up and began to push the giant door open.

MAN was this thing heavy.

flowey only gave you a small glare before climbing back on top of your head again.

a brief breeze brushed past you.

there was a certain chilliness to it that you hadn't noticed before. it had gone colder.

you took a deep breath before marching forward with a determined face.

the cold whiplashed snow across your face.

a storm was brewing.

you could feel it.

you couldn't see much due to the blizzard but what you DID know was that from here on out this was a lion's den... and you were the prey.

you needed to get to a save point and fast.

he had a habit of camping near them because he had narrowed down their locations.

you knew he couldn't SEE the save points but that didn't stop him from tracking your record and finding their locations on his own.

you avoided going near the save for that very same reason and decided to take a detour around the forest. the main path was too predictable and the trees provided good cov-

"watch out!"

you held in a scream that threatened to erupt from your throat the moment you had stepped on a FUCKING BEAR TRAP.

"this fucking douche bag... "

you growled as you force it open with your bloody hands.

"I told you to be careful idiot!"

Flowey complained.

that was the SEVENTH FUCKING TIME you stepped on a bear trap.

you drag your injured limp leg.

"oh for the love of... here."

flowey heals you, preventing you from having to use a spider donut.

*HP fully restored.

"have I ever told you I love you?"

you wink at him.

"SHUT UP BEFORE I SHOOT A BULLET THROUGH YOUR HEART"

he scoffed.

you hum with amusement.

wow. who knew he was so handy when he wasn't killing Asgore to stop you from going to the surface.

you march towards... the bridge...

sans had thrown you in the abyss underneath at LEAST twenty times.

he wasn't here which meant be was probably grinding exp at the ruins.

good for him.

you breeze across doggo's station, not making the slightest sound. you were here considerably earlier than you SHOULD have been.

you had even done sequence breaks to get here this early in fact. one could even say you... used a shortcut...

yeah you had no idea how that worked.

something familiar glistened at the corner of your eye.

there was a save point beckoning you suspiciously with an unoccupied and unattended "murder" post beside it.

it used to be a ketchup stand but now? oh boy you some really bad memories from it.

"no bloodthirsty skeletons around? no? don't mind of I do!"

you comment in your head slowly and very carefully stepping closer to the stand.

you stood still staring intently at the crate on top of the save point, positioned in a way that almost made it look like a crude and simple trap.

the lack of spikes or deadly decorations on the contraptions made you realize it might have been the work of papyrus.

the real or fake one? who knows.

"oh that's just pathetic."

flowey scoffts slamming his vines and throwing the crate off to the side.

"you're being petty don't you think? I thought it was cute."

you reach your hand, saving your progress-

*snap*

the snow underneath your feet crumbles sending the two of you to a pit of spikes.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!"

/ah there's sans' trademark. it's definitely from phantom pap/

you realize mid air, hearing flowey screech in terror as he nearly suffocates you from hugging you so tight.

you pull the spear out of your inventory and strike the wall.

it somehow works!

you don't know how a shabby stick an support your weight but you're not complaining.

your left heel got stabbed but it did not go clean through to be that bad.

a single tear fell from your eye as you shook in place curling into a ball hanging from of the horizontal spear struck into the wall.

you let out the sound resembling the cry of a whale and a mouse combined.

"what the hell is that sound... you just made..."

"pain"

you sob in silent agoney. why the toes it always had to be the friking toes man. you were fine dying a super Gorey death. or having your brain's blown out but THE PINKY TOE AND THE HEEL? REALLY!?

"what...??"

"paaaaaain... I'm in great pain"

you hiss grabbing your leg, cradling it to your chest like it's your newborn son.

shouldn't you have stopped falling just inches away from your face like in those movies?

life had many disappointments.

flowey pulled both of you up from the death trap.

he healed your leg back and even restored your torn shoes somehow.

"almost got dunked there. thanks"

you smiled.

you then proceeded to run full speed ahead, dodging any incoming monsters.

you zoomed across the ice ring with your velocity increasing dangerously high.

then you proceed to catapult yourself into a pile of snow at the other side of the froze lake.

"man I miss the old sm64 days where you could do this backwards"

you shake the snow off your head and flowey didn't even seem surprised at this point.

you could literally vibrate back and forth on command and glitch through some walls. you could moonwalk and go forward backwards on the hotland vents. he just stopped questioning it. he didn't want to know.

and you had brought this poor game to it's knees with how much sequence breaking you had done with seedruns.

maybe this was why it became like this.

the world was just angry at you for not stopping to smell the roses and going too fast...

you got yourself out if the snow puff, shaking off the cold from you body before heading towards snowdin.

to your surprise it wasn't a deserted wasteland yet.

but it wasn't warm and cheery ither. the atmosphere was heavy and the laughter of children could no longer be heard.

huh? what was going on?

granted YOU know what was about to go down but why was everyone else acting nervous?

they all seemed paranoid. no one seemed to know WHY or how they felt it but everyone could FEEL something was off and wrong...

a sense of dread had taken over the townsfolk. and no one knew why this feeling was happening.

some were nervous. some had closed up shops... there were also few who were still playing around in the snow but from their expressions you could tell they had their gaurd up.

did they know? did they remember? you really never knew since you never got to see this place before sans made it into a ghost town.

but from the looks of it people had a SENSE of it. they weren't oblivious.

good good.

#dusttale #dusttale au #the last laugh #dusttale pacifist timeline #liliwrites #no beta i die like the random froggit in the ruins sans killed

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