There's that feeling again. Finality.

The surge in my chest... The fear in my eyes, accompanied by the fire of determination in my heart?

There's a question in my mind. I wonder if this feeling is real this time.

...This is really the end, isn't it?

As I step into the unknown once again, afraid yet unfaltering in the face of whatever lies before me, there's only one thing I can think of.

Here we go.

en_d.ogg

[ * In my way. ]

~~~

This will not be a full story. What you are seeing here is how the story of Lianna and the Underground could have been twisted had this story taken place earlier, with Lianna being the fourth human to fall rather than the seventh - assuming Charlie and Frisk find themselves in the Underground before Lianna. At this specific time period, things would be different enough for the story to be pushed into another direction - while remaining similar enough to have each character within it to remain the same.

Lianna's encounters throughout the Ruins are much more common than Sunset Grove. She almost finds herself happy after each encounter, feeling something primal burn inside of her with every speck of dust she scatters across the wind. Toriel is nowhere to be seen, and neither is Madelyn - Until the very end.

Madelyn attacks Lianna from behind, initiating a sudden fallout between them. Enraged at the loss of someone that her friend had loved, Madelyn finds herself in over her head - and she almost loses it.

The surge of magical attacks and projectiles latch on to Madelyn - and in the middle of the battle, she fuses with her body, finally being able to feel. She erupts into a burst of happy laughter and giddy movements, though Lianna does not laugh with her. The tension in the room skyrockets as Madelyn realizes something.

If she can feel things, that means she can also feel pain.

As Lianna inches closer, seeing Madelyn as nothing but an obstacle between her and her family... Fear flashes in Madelyn's eyes.

"W-We can talk this out! Right?"

storySHIFT? ~ Standoff

"I'LL KILL YOU, TOO!"

~~~

This will not be a full story. What you are seeing here is how the story of Lianna and the Underground could have been twisted had this story taken place earlier, with Lianna being the fourth human to fall rather than the seventh - assuming Charlie and Frisk find themselves in the Underground before Lianna. At this specific time period, things would be different enough for the story to be pushed into another direction - while remaining similar enough to have each character within it to remain the same.

At the last second, Toriel leaps into the battlefield and takes the blow, enduring a magical slash of searing hot energy to save Madelyn's life. Without needing to be told twice, Madelyn bolts - She runs, and she lives, able to enjoy her newfound feeling after she calms herself.

Toriel, the most magically adept and powerful monster in the entire Underground, is nearly killed in a single blow. She barely holds on, and on the verge of death, looking into her murderer's eyes... She realizes something.

"You...!"

"WHAT DID YOU DO TO MY SON!?"

She realizes that if this human - if you could even call Lianna human anymore, considering her state of mind - was to pass her here, that it would not just be her son to fall to her magic. She realizes that her one goal her entire life was to keep her loved ones safe... and the only way to do that is to stay alive.

To kill the human in front of her.

Fueled by the Determination to save the lives of thousands, the rage of losing her son, and the terror of losing her other children...

Toriel stands back up and uses fire magic to cauterize her own wound.

"I, Toriel Dreemurr, swear on the graves of every single human and monster, felled by your blade or not, that you will NEVER SEE THE LIGHT OF DAY AGAIN!"

storySHIFT? ~ As The Night Burns Brighter Than a Thousand Days

(Original 'Battle Against a True Parent' by Whirligig231 (?) : https://soundcloud.com/whirligig231/battle-against-a-true-parent )

[ * The heroine appears. ]

~~~

This will not be a full story. What you are seeing here is how the story of Lianna and the Underground could have been twisted had this story taken place earlier, with Lianna being the fourth human to fall rather than the seventh - assuming Charlie and Frisk find themselves in the Underground before Lianna. At this specific time period, things would be different enough for the story to be pushed into another direction - while remaining similar enough to have each character within it to remain the same.

"Hell will be a vacation when I'm finished with you."

A brutal duel cloaks the battlefield in hellfire, scattering embers across the wind more abundantly than the ash of the monsters who encounter Lianna. Lianna feels no fear in the face of the heroine of the Underground, but excitement. She sees this encounter as a challenge. Her original goal was once to see her family, but now, that goal is long since lost to her. She thirsts for power, and with each strike, she gets it.

She has gone completely mad.

The battle between Lianna and Toriel the Torrefying is long, violent and forceful - It shakes the very mountain itself and scorches everything around them. Lianna is left with several horrid burns and is almost defeated.

After a long and vicious battle, Toriel the Torrefying is struck down. Lianna leaves, satisfied, before the overflow of Determination can finish painfully dissolving her.

storySHIFT? ~ Hell Hath No Fury Like a Mother Scorned

(Original 'Battle Against a True Parent' by Whirligig231 (?) : Whirligig231 – Battle-against-a-true-parent )

This will not be a full story. What you are seeing here is how the story of Lianna and the Underground could have been twisted had this story taken place earlier, with Lianna being the fourth human to fall rather than the seventh - assuming Charlie and Frisk find themselves in the Underground before Lianna. At this specific time period, things would be different enough for the story to be pushed into another direction - while remaining similar enough to have each character within it to remain the same.

On her journey throughout Atlantis, Lianna is constantly ambushed by Undyne. An onslaught of magic is thrown her way at every corner, and Lianna has never been more on-edge. She is forced to find another way through the locked-down, empty city as Undyne chases her through the streets. (storySHIFT Season Six - Escape! would play during these moments)

Little does Lianna know, Undyne is funneling her right into her trap. At the end of Atlantis, Undyne corners Lianna and destroys the way out, leaving Lianna with one path forward - through her.

"You're gonna have to try a little harder than THAT!"

After a vibrant transformation, Undyne OVERDRIVE confronts Lianna and allows her to attack first, believing her strength to be far superior.

Despite her massive strength...

Undyne is struck down in one hit, obliterated by a blast of ineffably powerful raw magic.

storySHIFT? ~ Assault of the Fool

[ * Keep going. ]

~~~

This will not be a full story. What you are seeing here is how the story of Lianna and the Underground could have been twisted had this story taken place earlier, with Lianna being the fourth human to fall rather than the seventh - assuming Charlie and Frisk find themselves in the Underground before Lianna. At this specific time period, things would be different enough for the story to be pushed into another direction - while remaining similar enough to have each character within it to remain the same.

Forced to take a detour, Lianna finds herself face-to-face with a location she never would have visited otherwise - the GENERATOR, the source of the Underground's magic and energy. She leaps and jumps her way through the massive machine in creative ways, as the machine is highly dangerous and not meant to be travelled through. Despite this, however, she feels... watched. Shadows move in the corner of her vision. Machinery moves in ways it shouldn't, as if manipulated by a phantom hand. Doors and hallways she was sure she closed are found open again.

She realizes now that Blue had vanished a long, long time ago. Lianna thinks they had made a good choice, as they definitely would've been killed by her by now. Blue was useless. Unworthy. How dare they think she had no chance in surviving, how dare they try to 'TEACH' her how to fight? How dare they.

Eventually, she makes it to the other side - a gigantic platform, seemingly a maintenance room for manual operation of the machine. Here, she meets exactly who had been following her...

...Though it is not who she expects.

storySHIFT? ~ GENERATOR

[ * Heart to heart. ]

~~~

This will not be a full story. What you are seeing here is how the story of Lianna and the Underground could have been twisted had this story taken place earlier, with Lianna being the fourth human to fall rather than the seventh - assuming Charlie and Frisk find themselves in the Underground before Lianna. At this specific time period, things would be different enough for the story to be pushed into another direction - while remaining similar enough to have each character within it to remain the same.

At the end of the GENERATOR, Lianna is confronted by a strange figure. They seem very much in the know, very much aware of themselves - and they reveal that they have been following in Lianna's footsteps. They have been hurting. Destroying themselves. Distancing themselves from the one thing that made them THEM.

All for one goal - to strike Lianna down. The horror of what they've done to try and accomplish this dawns on them slowly but surely, and the depths of their mind have never been more tainted.

At the end of it all, Lianna finds herself facing the same thing she had in the story that should've happened...

A mirror of herself.

storySHIFT? ~ Cadaverine II

(Neurovaniac by Solunary! https://soundcloud.com/solunary/chara-megalovania-neurovaniac-break-my-heart-v3 )

---

[ * The hands of sin wring my neck. ]

~~~

This will not be a full story. What you are seeing here is how the story of Lianna and the Underground could have been twisted had this story taken place earlier, with Lianna being the fourth human to fall rather than the seventh - assuming Charlie and Frisk find themselves in the Underground before Lianna. At this specific time period, things would be different enough for the story to be pushed into another direction - while remaining similar enough to have each character within it to remain the same.

"There's something in me that tells me to run away. Something that tells me to hide. A burning, stinging feeling in my chest that screams the danger I'm in."

"But, I won't run away. I won't let you go free, not after you've taken everything from me. From everyone. You took Rei. You took Mom. You took Charlie. You took so much away from so many people."

"You want to see your family again, right? Is that why you're hurting everyone who gets in your way? It's a shame how what you do here comes back around to bite you in the ass, huh?"

"How do you think those families feel, knowing their children will never come home? Or perhaps the children themselves, wondering just where their parents have disappeared to for so long? You took away their family... So, I'm not going to let you see yours. Ever again."

Frisk and Lianna face off in the depths of the GENERATOR, with Frisk leeching energy from it to power up the light magic they use to fight. The GENERATOR itself crumbles throughout the fight, and Lianna and Frisk will find themselves desperately trying to stay alive through it all. The entire GENERATOR is the battlefield, and the soldiers are both fighting a losing battle. As the GENERATOR falls apart around them, both are pushed to the very limit, realizing things about themselves and each other that they'd never figure out otherwise.

"Let's dance, bitch."

storySHIFT? ~ SHOWSTOPPER

[ * This isn't going to end well. ]

~~~

This will not be a full story. What you are seeing here is how the story of Lianna and the Underground could have been twisted had this story taken place earlier, with Lianna being the fourth human to fall rather than the seventh - assuming Charlie and Frisk find themselves in the Underground before Lianna. At this specific time period, things would be different enough for the story to be pushed into another direction - while remaining similar enough to have each character within it to remain the same.

At the top of the GENERATOR, Frisk reveals their trump card. In a dazzling finale, Frisk unleashes an all-or-nothing attack - HYPER GONER. Both parties collapse from exhaustion as the attack sparks and dies out, and the entire Underground holds its breath, waiting, worrying, about who would be the first to stand.

Frisk does not wake up.

In the end, Frisk had not even taken a single blow - they had worked themselves beyond what was possible for their body, and died after their body shut down. Lianna simply leaves - satisfied. Nobody else blocks their path until they meet someone at the very end of their journey - in the judgement hall, Charlie awaits Lianna's arrival.

"You've really got a sick sense of humor, huh?"

Here, Charlie explains their thought process - and how Lianna has zero chance to walk away alive, revealing their SOUL: The SOUL of DETERMINATION.

"You have the power to come back after death, right?" Charlie says, taking a step towards them. "I have that power, too, along with something else - I can save segments of time, and revert the entire universe right back to that time period."

At this moment, Lianna realizes something. She had lost before it began - Just like Charlie had said.

As Charlie begins to RESET, overwriting Lianna's 'autosave' to set time back to where it started, before Lianna fell, Charlie leaves Lianna with one last witty remark.

"Sorry, not sorry."

storySHIFT? ~ Factory Reset

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1kH5Vy7cZeicubIoxVqp83Ug_4yI9fsy2ISEYzrjMbbs/edit?usp=sharing

(Please read the document!)

We're overdue for credits, aren't we?

Caramel/Hypecat! ~ Writer, Main Composer, Main Artist, Take/Account Owner - @its-pronounced-caramel
Bereavera! ~ Logo Artist, Guest Composer (There's no link to them here. Sorry! If they provide one, I'll put it here in the future)
Starbuntr! ~ Guest Composer - @sturnt

And one last, special thanks -

Bowser Man! ~ @epik-bruh

---

Thank you for reading. This time, Lianna's story has truly reached a conclusion. I hope you enjoyed your stay. I hope you enjoyed the strange things I came up with. I hope you enjoyed reading, and I hope you'll stay for more one day. I hope you understood the message I tried to send, and I hope it could resonate with you on some level.

For now, though? There's no goodbye. Only a "see you later"!

So... I'll see you later~! :3

STORYSHIFT ~ THE END

That's All, Folks! ~ Thank You Dearly For Reading

[ CHAPTER ONE ~ Weak Signals ]

Some say that one's greatest honor in life is to die at the hands of another.
It's a pitiful mindset. On what foundation does this proverb rest? To justify failure?
Death by another's hands shows your life had meaning in another's, that your existence had caused pain.

I pity humanity. Are they proud? Satisfied? To cause pain in others, does that bring them enjoyment?
I pity the world they view, and I pity the things their vile fingers touch.

And I pity myself. I lived my life in fear of what might happen to me, that this horrific world would change me.
That it would make me horrific, too. I won't allow it to happen. I won't.

Legends speak of a cursed mountain - one where the damned are tormented, where the unholy find penance.
And where monstrosities beyond salvation reside, where no one can save you. Where you are never safe in the first place.
Where all who attempt the sacrilege of ascending in hopes of their own, cynical desires...

Will never return.

My name is Chara.

My name is Chara, and I am afraid.

My name is Chara, and I ascend this mountain not for my own desires. I ascend it as a savior, as a warrior.
As an angel of death, sent as an executioner, a liberator for the damned.

...

If you want things done right, you have to do it yourself, I suppose.

❤️ Respice Finem

[ Archived/Completed ❤️ ]

THE EXPERIMENT
IS FINALLY COMPLETE .

I HOPE YOU ENJOYED YOUR STAY .

---
CREDITS
---

Caramel/Hypecat - Writer, Main Artist, Main Composer, Take/Account Owner @its-pronounced-caramel
Bereavera - Logo Artist, Guest Composer (I have no link for them yet but they're here)
Starbuntr - Guest Composer @sturnt

en_d.ogg

storySHIFT

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