Only now realizing what they had to do, the hedgehogs became reluctant to move forward. Sonic and Lily went slowly to bide their time to never reach Asgore. Shadow pressed onward almost with the spring in his step.

They went through a gray area where monsters told them the story of a monster and a human who became friends. The human was adopted by the monsters of the Underground but then became deadly ill. It was then that the child died.

Asriel, the monster prince from the story, absorbed the soul of the dead human to fulfill the wish of the human who he had grown to be so close to. With that soul, he crossed the barrier. The humans, when they saw him, they were terrified and attacked him, but Asriel was determined to grant the human's final wish to him. Once he reached the village the human once lived in, he laid the human to rest in a field of yellow flowers. Then... Asriel staggered back across the barrier, but he died, and his dust scattered across a field of yellow flowers like the one he laid his friend to rest upon. Heartbroken and sorrowful, Asgore declared war on all humans and Toriel left him soon after that and disappeared. They had four souls. There were three more in Sonic, Shadow, and Lily. All of the monsters had hope for the future...

But Shadow ignored their hope. He knew what was coming next. Images of bloodstained orange tiles and golden windows flooded his mind. "I'm close... To that place...," Shadow mumbled to himself.

The three of them made it to Asgore's house and went inside. It looked strangely similar to Toriel's house. Shadow looked in frustration at the lock blocking access to the stairs, but there was a sign telling them where the keys were. One was in a vase in the other room. The other was in the kitchen. Lily popped them into the lock and it clicked open. They went downstairs.

Once the monsters stopped popping up and adding to the story, they came to a long corridor. Orange tiles... Golden windows... The shadows of the three hedgehogs were stretched across the floor as if their own shadows were trying to run away from the light. Not a sound disturbed the place except for the occasional bird chirp. Shadow smiled holding the little present he had gotten from back in the house of Asgore.

"The king is just beyond this hallway. And then beyond the king is home," Sonic said putting on a face of determination. Lily nodded beside him.

Sonic and Lily led the way forward and Shadow followed close behind. About halfway through, someone stepped out from one of the shadows of the tall pillars in the room. It was Sans.

"Heya. So, you finally made it," his silhouette said.

"Hi, Sans!" Lily chirped.

Sonic blinked happily for a face he recognized. Perhaps he could give another solution! Maybe he could tell them the answer to the problem! "Sans! We're so glad to see you!"

Sans held up his hands for a second. "Whoa there! Let me say what I've gotta say first!" His gaze avoided Shadow completely. He cleared his throat thinking about what he would tell them. "I came to congratulate you on not accumulating any LOV throughout your entire time here. Usually, the first time someone falls down here, someone always dies... Believe me..., I remember each time clearly."

"Why would they do that?" demanded Lily curiously.

Sans heaved a sigh. "Whenever it'd start, I'd hope it would be because of self-defense and that the next time, they'd have learned their lesson. But as it continues... it becomes a different reason... Boredom. Curiosity. The need to know what happens when you abuse the power of determination."

Sonic tilted his head slowly. "Abuse the power of determination?"

"It gets stronger with the more LOV you get... It's an acronym. LOV is short for Levels of Violence. Each time you kill someone, you gain EXP: Execution Points. The more EXP you gain, the more your LOV increases," Sans explained.

"That's horrible!" Lily pointed out. "Why would you even need an acronym for that anyway?! It's not like a person could be so heartless that there'd be a need to have one!"

A faint breeze drifted through the hall. Not a sound was heard. Sans was almost amazed by this. On most runs where the human, Frisk, became a murderer... there would be a gust of dust flying around wherever they went. But there was nothing. The skeleton didn't want to give them the whole truth about what the human did. He just tried to shrug off the question Lily demanded him to answer. "An unfortunate accident many years ago is why."

Shadow flattened his ears in anger and disappointment. "That's all you have to say about it?! Surely... that human did something terrible, right? Only a mass killer would have created the need for LOV."

"Shadow, what are you doing?" Sonic asked when he noticed Shadow taking a few steps slowly forward. His expression was unreadable.

"I had no idea you were capable of remembering all of those resets... And why you of all monsters would be able to is beyond me! It's not fun when you're constantly hanging over me like a vulture watching my every move waiting for me to make a mistake...," Shadow growled. His voice became garbled the more he approached. An evil ring shot through the air as he spat the words. He almost sounded... like another person.

"Sonic, what's happening to him?!" Lily demanded clinging to Sonic's arm in panic. She had never seen Shadow like this ever and they both knew what was going to happen. Shadow had reached his limit. He was about to break.

Sans got a look of interest. He leered at Shadow from across Judgement Hall. "So..., you finally decide to show up... Showing your true colors on a pacifist run? I'd call that cheating. He didn't want you to take over his soul and your excuse is usually that your host wanted what you were offering them."

"I got bored. I got sick and tired of waiting around! He doesn't miss anything! And he never will...," replied a clear female voice. Chara's voice.

Lily squinted at Shadow who was now Chara's host and noticed his hand drawn back behind him. Upon closer inspection, she found something shiny and metallic. Her eyes stretched wide with fear and surprise. "SANS!" she shouted frantically before launching forward.

"Lily! Wait!" Sonic shouted grabbing her hand and pulling her back. Shadow wasn't safe anymore. "Is Sans in danger?!"

"Shadow has a knife!" she screamed.

As soon as she said that, Sans's eye flared a deep blue and he tried to move away from Shadow at the sudden information. His attempts were all in vain. "Wait! You weren't supposed to-!"

Shadow didn't listen. His knife was sent across Sans's chest and red began seeping from his wound. The hedgehog smiled fiendishly at his wounded victim. "It's time to fix what was broken. It's time for everything to end. It's time... to keep my promise."

Sans didn't speak. At the very moment Shadow finished speaking, his body faded into nothing but dust. Sonic and Lily stared in horror at the monster who now stood before them. Shadow turned to face them. His eyes of insanity were blood red...

"You don't need to interfere. The two of you are nothing more than an inconvenience to me. I will be seeing you... very soon," Shadow mumbled. He shifted his bright red soul to his hand and held up his knife.

"NO, WAIT!" Lily shouted running towards him. She knew what he was going to do.

"You won't remember a thing," Shadow finished. He plunged the dagger into the bright red soul. Pain coursed through his body upon the impact, but it was the only way. It was a reset. The first reset. The world faded white and everything was sucked away. Everything went back to the way it was... at the exact moment, he and Sonic fell into the Underground.

Doesn't it feel good, Shadow? You killed the biggest nuisance in this world without breaking a sweat! Aren't you proud?

You told me that doing this is the only way to free everyone. You told me it was the only way to fulfill my promise.

Well, if you are going to be this way and follow my lead, you might as well enjoy it~ :)

Chara, why do you want to do this? I don't understand. Why do you hate the monsters?

It's not because I hate them. It's because... I love them. Now your job isn't finished. Your first victim in this run is here. Kill him first. You never liked him.

Sonic?!

Exactly. He will only become a problem as you go along. Just do it. If you don't, I'll do it for you!

...

"Faker..., who do you think I am...?" Shadow asked resting on the yellow flowers looking up at the sky. There was no way out from there. The fall's impact was still lingering, but he knew he was perfectly fine.

Sonic looked over at him with a look of curiosity. "That's a weird question. You're Shadow! Did the fall give you amnesia again or something?" he asked.

"No... I remember everything... And sometimes I wish I didn't." Shadow stood from the ground and approached Sonic. "Because if I didn't remember..., I wouldn't have to do this..."

"Shadow? What do you mean...? What's wrong with you? Snap out of it!" Sonic said suddenly aware that Shadow wasn't who he used to be.

Shadow pulled out his knife which he somehow saved from the last run. He grinned fiendishly. "It's knife to meet you, Faker..."

For the first time, Shadow knew what determination felt like. He knew what LOV felt like. When he first felt it, he became addicted to the feeling. Chara was smiling. He could tell. He didn't dare look back at his work. If he did, he would have felt bad about the flowers he ruined.

Flowey popped up with a knowing look. "So, you're back... I had a feeling this would happen sooner or later! You fought the impulse to the bitter end, but in the end, you gave in to it. Everyone does at some point!" he chirped.

Shadow shook his head without a care and began to walk by. "You're getting in my way. Leave me."

The yellow flower who was once putting on his friendly act suddenly looked annoyed. He put on his cruel, twisted face. "You know, it's often rude to ignore someone who's trying to have a friendly chat!" Flowey announced. He launched a vine at Shadow and pulled him back.

"Let me go this instant. Or you will regret it," Shadow hissed.

"Oh! A threat! How cute... Why don't you act on it?!"

Shadow held up his knife and jabbed it into Flowey's vine. The flower shrieked as a result. "YOU! You're not even supposed to have that yet! AUGGHH!"

The vine released Shadow and was sent back to the ground. Flowey bit back a long list of things to say and just shook his head. "Who are you?! Chara wouldn't hurt me! Not like that! We're supposed to be friends! She's supposed to be the only one who understands me!" Flowey sounded so whiny. He didn't sound like the scary villain Shadow once feared. Shadow had grown beyond his fear of the freaky plant. Chara just didn't care.

"Oh Azzy..., you always were a crybaby...," Shadow said with a hint of Chara's voice. He turned away and went to the next room. He touched the save point.

Determination.

Save.

Oh noooo!! Sonic is gooooone!! Will Shadow get away with it?!?! He'd better not... *AHEM* Everyone knew Chara was going to make an appearance at some point, and here she is! And she's gonna hang around for a while... Oh boy.