[They ain't here to judge, huh? That's funny. That's real funny, coming from someone who's done nothing but judge him since they showed up and ran into him.
He keeps choosing to meet their gaze. He keeps choosing to hold it. He chooses - he chooses. He chooses to give them a second chance. 'Cause Frisk asked him. 'Cause Chara hesitated. 'Cause they stood there with a knife held over him and yet - didn't go through with it.
'Cause they threw water balloons at each other, just for kicks.
'Cause they've got a pretty nice smile, when they mean it, when it ain't the kind of carefully-cultivated, false thing that he's learned to slap on his features a long, long time ago.
'Cause they know how to deliver a joke with a killer punchline.
'Cause there are moments - little moments, but moments - that they stop being the demon, the murderer, the kid who ripped through the Underground at LV 20 and stopped for nobody, not for Papyrus, not for Undyne, not even for the skeleton who actually got off his tailbone and tried to give a damn for once - and they start being a kid.
He chooses.]
You think I need that reminder?
[He's screwed that one up too, and he knows it. Words that've been burned into his skull with how many times he must've said 'em. Words about kids not knowing when to QUIT, how if you're really friends, you won't come back, how you're the type of person who won't EVER be happy.]
Kid. I know.
And that's why I'm sayin' right here and right now that enough is enough.
[Once upon a time.
Once upon a time, someone hurt someone else, who hurt someone else, who hurt someone else. And once upon a time, a kid put their foot down. A kid said no more. A kid said enough.
A kid said this suffering stops with me.]
I might not be the right guy to end it. But it ends.
no subject
He keeps choosing to meet their gaze. He keeps choosing to hold it. He chooses - he chooses. He chooses to give them a second chance. 'Cause Frisk asked him. 'Cause Chara hesitated. 'Cause they stood there with a knife held over him and yet - didn't go through with it.
'Cause they threw water balloons at each other, just for kicks.
'Cause they've got a pretty nice smile, when they mean it, when it ain't the kind of carefully-cultivated, false thing that he's learned to slap on his features a long, long time ago.
'Cause they know how to deliver a joke with a killer punchline.
'Cause there are moments - little moments, but moments - that they stop being the demon, the murderer, the kid who ripped through the Underground at LV 20 and stopped for nobody, not for Papyrus, not for Undyne, not even for the skeleton who actually got off his tailbone and tried to give a damn for once - and they start being a kid.
He chooses.]
You think I need that reminder?
[He's screwed that one up too, and he knows it. Words that've been burned into his skull with how many times he must've said 'em. Words about kids not knowing when to QUIT, how if you're really friends, you won't come back, how you're the type of person who won't EVER be happy.]
Kid. I know.
And that's why I'm sayin' right here and right now that enough is enough.
[Once upon a time.
Once upon a time, someone hurt someone else, who hurt someone else, who hurt someone else. And once upon a time, a kid put their foot down. A kid said no more. A kid said enough.
A kid said this suffering stops with me.]
I might not be the right guy to end it. But it ends.
And if it ends with me, then it ends with me.