Across the city of Chicago, the beginnings of the sun's rays were peaking over the rooftops. Humans had begun to stir from their slumber, unaware of the chaos that had consumed the western half of their city. Monsterkind had been thrown into chaos and disrepair, families divided and at each other's throats as the drug hidden in their food consumed their minds and memories.

Some who hadn't consumed any food soon realized that whatever was bringing about this violent state was in the food. However, those that were quick to catch on usually succumbed to the drug after being attacked and infected by some unsuspected family member, or failing to realize that the water supply as well contained the venom.

The two stages of the drug varied from monster to monster. The first could range anywhere from thirty minutes to six hours, and the second stage usually followed after that, when their brain was completely corroded. That was most common speculation anyway, but the more scientific explanation was that the drug ate away at the prefrontal cortex, leaving the rest of the mind intact. It wiped the slate clean and created the perfect work force, the perfect army.

The eight-ó-clock bell tolled within the heart of the city, signaling the beginning of the new work day. Mayor Grimes smiled to herself as she stood looking over the entirety of the city from her sixty-eighth story apartment, watching as the first of the converted monsters headed towards their designated work stations. It was the one memory left behind, where they were to work and they had been doing it for their entire lives.

"The numbers are looking great Ms. Grimes," her assistant secretary James said, entering the room unannounced. "Without pay going to the monsters now, this opens up for more job opportunities and more funds for rebuilding the city. We estimate that the power should be completely restored to the eastern half of the city by the end of the month."

Eastern half, the half claimed by humanity. The western side was to forever be engulfed in darkness. Eventually, when humans were at a high enough state of recovery, monsters would permanently be eradicated. It wasn't like there was anything that could be done. They simply lacked the self-will to even raise a fork without the requested permission.

"Some of our patrols found a disturbance in the western half," James continued tentatively, fear laced in his words.

"So?" Mayor Grimes asked. Rebellion like this was to be expected, but eventually every monster would be forced to succumb to the drug. Every living being required water to live and would eventually have to consume it from the tap or face the long and painful death of dehydration.

"There have been eyewitness accounts of [Y/N] amongst the last few monsters that haven't consumed the drug yet. They might be heading here in a matter of days."

"Days, James," Mayor Grimes doted on the word. "By then the band of rebels will have been eradicated, either by the drug or starvation. If anything, [Y/N] will be the last one alive, and they can't possibly face the entirety of the Chicago police form alone."

"But what about their condition?" James asked, touching the subject lightly in fear of provoking backlash from the mayor.

"James..." Mayor Grimes growled, rubbing her temples. "Even with their condition, [Y/N] is still susceptible to injury as much as the next."

"But why now?" James continued, shaking his head in disbelief. "After all these years, [Y/N] remained impartial to the division between humans and monsters. In fact, their magic levels were even hidden, buried under the idea that they were simply another human, another displaced refugee after the war. But in the last two days, they have begun to recollect their past lives. It's only a matter of time before they realize what they can do - "

"Won't you ever shut the hell up!" Mayor Grimes snapped, her patience lost. She grabbed a knife from a nearby table and flung it into James' chest. "Brenda," she hissed, as James collapsed to the floor, his eyes empty and devoid of life, pressing the button for the intercom. "Bring up a new secretary. It seems that my old one has had a... complication."

~*~*~*~*~*~*

"Alphys!" Undyne exclaimed and barely had enough time to avoid the sharpened claws that were anxious to bury deep into her heart. Your breath hitched in your throat as Undyne formed the translucent blue spear in her left hand, poising the tip threateningly at the royal scientist.

"The thoughts she had about you," Alphys chuckled, her voice a deepened pitch than the high-toned one that you had known. It caught you by surprise, the way she was referring to herself in third person, as if perhaps there was another individual watching from behind their computer, controlling Alphys for their own sadistic pleasure.

Undyne let out a feral cry and slashed at Alphys, tears welling in the corners of her eyes. "I'm going to kill you, you sick son of a bitch!" she screamed, intending the message for whomever was controlling Alphys' body. It was obvious, however, that Undyne would not kill her, no matter what the price would be. But was that the right thing to do? As long as there was an infected present, no matter what stage they were in, they acted as a window for those controlling them.

"Hello [Y/N]," Alphys continued, ignoring the agonized screams coming from Undyne. "We haven't had the pleasure of meeting yet, though I presume we will in a matter of days give or take. It's such a shame, really. You could prove to be a valuable asset to the rebuilding of the human race, but have decided to stay and fight for the few miserable lives that remain of monster kind."

"Mayor Grimes," the name clicked into place and you felt a wave of sudden and sheer hatred towards every fiber of her being. "You won't win, we'll stop you."

"I'm afraid you're already too late," Mayor Grimes chuckled. "But it would be curious to see you try. Even when the world has been ripped away from you, even when all logic suggests otherwise, you still keep fighting. You still stay determined," she let loose a sigh on the last word.

"As you may or may not have figured out already, the infected are practically empty vessels that follow any order given to them. But better yet, they can act as cameras, minds completely altered and tuned to hone in on a radio frequency that allows us to jump and practically control them if the occasion arises. I - "

Mayor Grimes' pitiful speech was cut short as a blue spear cut through Alphys' abdomen, red blood spilling across the ground. "Oh," Mayor Grimes voice whispered through Alphys' mouth before any signs of life escaped from the yellow dinosaur's form.

"Oh my god," Undyne gasped, like she hadn't been entirely aware of the action she had done. She bent down and brought Alphys close to her, rocking her back and forth. An icy silence followed for half an hour.

You and Sans disposed of Asgore's body, but left Undyne be. You weren't sure how long the three of you planned on staying here, but the need to leave was obvious. Mayor Grimes had seen through the eyes of Alphys and had therefore witnessed your location, perhaps even extracted it through her brain. Just the thought of it, the way that they could seamlessly attack the central nervous system and control you like a puppet was nerve-racking.

"Sans, what are we going to do?" you asked, shaking at even brushing against the memories of the recent hours. Already, you had transformed from an average-day pedestrian to the beginnings of a civil war, if even your pitiful group was enough to count as a counter force.

"We're going to kill them all," Sans growled. He was thinking of Papyrus, the one he had sought to protect for all these years, only to end up killing his brother himself to prevent hours more of what would only be a gruesome demise. The only two living things he could firmly place his trust in was Undyne and [Y/N], who had saved his life one too many times.

"Sans!" Undyne's startled exclamation caught the two of you off guard. For a moment you thought that she too had somehow been infected, and you weren't quite sure if you were mentally prepared to take yet another life today.

But in fact the horror was much more than that. Outside, monsters were beginning to wander out of their homes, driven by the work bell that tolled in the distance. Their flesh was a sickening grey like the beginnings of a decomposing corpse. A milky white membrane had fallen over their eyes, their dead eyes staring off into some fixed point in the distance. Undyne whirled around and vomited, horrified by the sight.

When the work bell finally ended, the monsters had resumed their jobs that they had assumed when they were still capable of their own thoughts and feelings. "If we want to leave, we better leave now," you cautioned, seeing a multitude of police sirens beginning to head their way over here.

"It's too late," Undyne whispered as another wave of police cars sped in the other direction, virtually leaving the three of you cornered.

"We have to stay and fight," Sans whispered, his voice a deadly calm. Sure, Undyne and Sans were amongst some of the most renowned fighters, rumors of them being able to withstand an entire army of humans. But you weren't capable of anything. Unlike them, you didn't have any magic, didn't have any abilities...

You know that's not necessarily true.

There was a pocket in your mind, one that was tucked away. It seemed to hum with some unknown energy if your subconscious ever neared it. You closed your eyes and concentrated, imagining a hammer within your mind and delivering blow after blow on the glass barrier between you and the energy source. You could have sworn you heard cracking as you felt the barrier weaken, felt an immense amount of energy flow through you.

It composed your entire essence, your entire being. Every vein stretched toward the energy as if it were water and had been deprived of it for eons. It was a drug, a drug with no end in sight and kept delivering.

Your eyes snapped open, only a few seconds having passed. Neither Sans nor Undyne had noticed the change in you, the way you seemed so much more alive than you had been. It felt like your entire body was humming, struggling to retain the energy that was now consuming you. For a moment you were afraid that you would explode simply from trying to contain it all.

"Hands in the air!"

The first of several distinguished shouts filled the air as the police task force of Chicago swarmed the run-down streets, motioning for each patrol to take an opposite direction and surround the house. "Grab a weapon," Sans instructed and that was the last you heard of him and Undyne as they both took off in different directions, caught up in the intensity of the battle.

You felt guilty at the prospect of having to kill humans, humans that had not been the ones to engineer the drug, probably even weren't aware of what had happened to monsterkind. They were just following orders from Mayor Grimes, and disobeying would mean certain deaths for their families.

But your anger was driving you, clouding your judgement. In them you saw the sinister sneer of Alphys as Mayor Grimes had seized control over her body, the writhing form of Papyrus as he succumbed to the venom in his food, the knife that had torn through Asgore.

It's all their fault.

You felt a distinct hum within the center of every human, one that had not been as prominent with the other monsters you had surrounded yourself with. Their soul, you realized as the first police officer stepped into the house, his flashlight aiming left and right. You stepped behind a bookcase, ready to pick off the first one that came close to you.

As the footsteps grew louder, you directed your focus to the energy source of the human. Your energy was just an extension of your being and it flowed with command, flowing into the form of the police officer, attacking his soul. "What the hell?" You could hear his startled cry as he was lifted several feet from the ground, immobile.

However, humans weren't designed to wield magic as well as monsters could. The tax on your energy reserves was enormous and a wave of fatigue crashed over you, tiredness making it seem like you hadn't slept in months, years even. The police officer collapsed to the ground as your line of concentration broke.

Outside the world was a spectacle of blue as several lasers flashed across the terrain. Spears also joined in on the mix, nailing down police cars and squadrons. However, Sans and Undyne's attacks would do nothing to divert the attention of the officers already inside. You were on your own.

Once more you directed your focus on the souls of the people who were now within feet of your hiding spot, having already been alerted of your presence. Before you could do anything, pain flared in the back of your skull and the world went dark.