Chapter Text
Chara groaned, the ringing in their ears and the shaking of their vision made reorientating themselves hard, their feet trying to find purchase in the loose dirt and gravel, their back against the rough bark of a tree, digging into their skin. Their arms were trembling, their hands sweaty and clammy, yielding no grip on any surface they tried to pull themselves to their feet with. The soul in their chest was buzzing like crazy, feeling like it was trying to rip through their clothes, making their whole body feel like they’d lost circulation in their leg for too long.
They should be dead. A fall from that height… it should’ve killed them instantly. Instead they just… bounced. It certainly hurt , probably about as much as a fall from a few dozen feet should’ve, but, somehow, they weren’t dead . Which, if Asriel is to be believed about their magic outburst yesterday, means that they’d survived death twice now.
But probably not for much longer, judging by the approaching shadow.
“Pathetic.” There was a crack of something heavy landing on the ground, scattered twigs snapping and fallen leaves rustling as the creature stepped forward, looming over them. “More lightners come to our world to pillage and destroy…”
Chara, completely winded and dazed, can’t even try to flee as they’re grabbed by a huge meaty hand, lifted off the ground, and forced to stare down directly into a giant mouth full of sharp teeth.
“And too weak to even stand and fight.” The voice the creature gave off was deep, guttural. Almost unnatural sounding, it seemed to echo within his chest. “What do you have to say for yourself, Lightner? Thought you could just jump down here, try and play hero to fix our broken word, one that you and your friends caused in the first place? You thought you could come down here and laugh at the misfortune you created?”
The end of that statement was punctuated by a deep bellowing laugh that rattled the trees, which was just as quickly cut off by the hand clenching tighter around Chara, slamming them into the ground so hard it left a crater in the dirt. Chara couldn’t breathe, couldn’t move, their whole body feeling like they were getting crushed under a boulder, squeezed so tight they could feel the soul pulsing in their chest. They were lifted up and slammed down again, the world growing dark around Chara as they sputtered for any ounce of air possible, vision going blurry as their whole body went numb.
“Ho ho… What do we have here?”
A hand reached down to dig their claws into Charas chest, bathed in bright red light from the entity burning in the center of their chest. He wrapped his fat fingers around it, squeezing it slightly, causing Chara to yelp as a jolt of pain shot through their whole body.
“A Human SOUL… I thought this was lost when the Knight destroyed that other Human…” A shocked expression crossed Charas face, the empty eyes of the beast looking directly into theirs. “Heh heh… didn’t know that part? Oh, well, it doesn’t matter anyway. The ultimate power of the SOUL…”
“H-Hey! You!”
A roar of pain caused Chara to be dropped to the forest floor, the big monster that had been holding them spinning his huge body around to glare into the treeline, where Asriel emerged from the shadows, thin swords in his paws, the blades crackling with magic. His hands were trembling slightly, stance unsteady, but he still stood there, his paws wrapped tightly around twin blades.
“H-Hands off my friend!”
The monster growled, scowling, hands tensed as it turned toward Asriel. “Ah, the other Lightner. I suppose I should’ve taken care of you first.”
Before Asriel even had a chance to retort, the monster lunged with surprising speed, magic projectiles summoned around them and tossed toward the goat, who was barely able to jump out of the way before the magic impacted, cratering the ground where he’d been standing the monster arriving only seconds later.
“Chara!” Asriel dashed over to them, lifting them off the ground and leaning them against the tree. “Angel, please tell me you’re alright!”
Chara struggled to breathe, barely even having the strength to lift their arms as their vision and feeling slowly returned to them, every sound they made raspy and strained. “Asriel…”
“Ok ok, just stand there, h-hang on… I took some medical magic training courses back in High School, let me…” The goat's paws glowed green for a split second, rubbed together like a defibrillator before being pressed, paws flat, onto their chest. The action hit them like a bolt of lightning, a tingling warmth spreading out from the chest to their extremities, the feeling in their limbs returning instantly. The human took a giant gasp of air, the sensation of going from almost dead to basically completely recovered was quite a strange one.
“Oh, wow, I didn’t think my magic was that pow-”
Chara leaped forward, pulling Asriel down to the ground as two more bright white magic projectiles flew over their heads, barely missing them and slicing straight through the bark of the tree behind them, leaving large gashes in the wood as the two rolled and jumped to their feet.
“You… cursed… LIGHTNERS!” Now standing far enough away to see the monster attacking them fully, Chara could finally actually see what had almost just killed them. It stood a good three to four feet taller than both of them, body mostly white with a grey stomach, a large blue-lipped mouth taking up the entire space of their chest area, a tail-like tongue emerging from it, thrashing around like a whip. Some crown-like shape rested on its head, looking a lot more like a protrusion from the head than a piece of clothing.
Multiple more glowing magic projectiles hovered around him, pointed tips angled right at them. Chara was quick to scramble to their feet, Asriel taking a few more seconds, pushing themselves up off the damn and mossy ground.
I need a weapon .
Their bomber jacket had been replaced with some kind of wool-lined cloak, thick and heavy on their shoulders. The familiar weight was still in the same place they’d left it on their previous outfit, Chara brushing their fingers over it.
Whatever this thing is, it's obviously out for blood… it wouldn’t be that much of an escalation would it?
Remember what Mom said…
There was something else though, another weight on their other side, and they pulled it out, inspecting it in their hands. It was a lot lighter than the other, frame made of plastic and on first glance, looked a lot like the switchblade they’d had stashed in their bag before they’d jumped in. but pressing the button to open the blade shot out a blade of magic from the top, glowing bright red and dripping with mana like it was on fire.
“Whoa. Thats cool.” Chara thought aloud, just in time for a roar to draw their attention back to their opponent, who was readying up another attack of their bullets.
“Incoming!” Chara and Asriel scattered, jumping in opposite directions, Charas blade slicing clear through one of them that got too close. The handle was a bit light and felt flimsy, but it's lack of weight meant they could swing and slash it around like it was nothing. It was no sword, but it got the job done for what they needed at this moment.
Speaking of swords…
“ Asriel what the heck are you doing?” Chara hissed, dodging yet another round of projectiles. The goat had run off deeper into the woods, peeking out from behind a tree as Chara took the brunt of focus of the attacks.
“I-I’ve never fought anyone before!” The goat stammered, watching the battle with wide eyes, yelping as an attack sheared through the tree just above his head, the tree splintering in half and crashing to the ground, forcing him to expose himself in an attempt to relocate.
“Well, you’d better figure it out quick, or we’re both screwed! You’ve got swords, use them!” Still recovering from almost dying only moments before, Chara wasn’t able to get out of the way of one attack fast enough, a magic bullet grazing the back of their leg, causing the human to hiss in pain and stumble, feeling like a hot iron had been placed against their leg.
The monster approached as Chara was down, growling from deep in their chest. “Hand over the Soul, Lightner, and make this much eas-”
Asriel finally mustered up the courage to fight, hitting it in the back with another magic blast, drawing their attention away from Chara once again, allowing the human to stand and put some distance between them.
“Thanks for getting him off me.” Chara said, regrouping with Asriel.
“Uh… y-yeah.” They still seemed a bit unsure of themselves, but they held their blades tight, waving them around lightly to watch the magic fizzle on the surface.
“This guy doesn’t seem very smart. He seems to only focus on one of us at a time. If we can keep him distracted, we can just keep hitting him from behind.”
“That… seems like a good plan. He seems really interested in you.”
“Good. I’ll try to draw his attention. Got it?”
“GET BACK HERE!” The creature stomped up the ridge they were hiding behind, huffing and panting, his heavy body covered in sweat. Well, it more looked like he was melting, white flakes of magic falling to the ground.
“Hey! Big idiot!” Chara and Asriel split, each running off in separate directions, Chara shouting to keep the attention on them. “Why not tell us who you are, what your stupid deal is, and what you want with us!”
“My deal? My deal ?” He gave a manic roar, laughing as he stomped forward. “I was promised power! A kingdom! Magic and money I couldn’t imagine!” Every statement was punctuated by the ground shaking with his every step. “I was promised everything I ever wanted by the Kright, all to guard that fountain! And then you DESTROYED IT!” His mouth-tail lashed around, swiping at everything he passed. “My subjects, gone! My castle, destroyed! My own SON betrayed me! And after it all, to be cast back into the darkness like we were nothing !”
He suddenly charged, tossing out magic wildly, Chara parrying away whips from his tail, the soul pulsing in their chest from exertion and adrenaline with each attack. “I will TAKE BACK what is mine! I will not be subject to the whims of anyone again! Not the Knight, not the Prince, and especially not you LIGHTNERS!” He was getting more and more crazed now, attacks being thrown out with increased speed and power, but more erratic, his breathing strained and heavy as he followed Chara through the trees, the human occasionally shooting attacks back at them.
“I will take that Soul, and become so powerful that-!” Asriel made himself known at that point, multicolored streaks of magic impacting him in the back in the middle of his sentence, knocking him off balance and causing the big creature to lose his footing on the rough ground, the whole forest shaking as he hit the ground with a thud .
The two roommates closed the distance together, Chara swiping at his exposed backside with their glowing blade, Asriel keeping him on the ground by hitting his arms and legs with magic as he tried to stand.
“Please… please, enough…” He eventually wheezed out, his attempts to get back on his feet ceasing, leaving the two of them standing over his body, weapons ready.
“Are you… ready to give up now?” Asriel asked, in between gulps of air, twin swords hanging limp at his sides.
“And maybe tell us what the heck is going on here?” Chara wiped sweat from their face. The heavy clothes they’d been saddled with certainly gave them great protection, but weren’t great on ventilation. Both of them were panting heavily from exhaustion.
“I…” The downed monster strained, slowly pushing himself up onto his knees. “I’m…” With a flash, he lashed out, quickly coming to his feet, Asriel grabbed by his meaty hands, Chara wrapped by his tail, both tightly bound and lifted off the ground before they could even react. “I’m surprised that you lightners would be stupid enough to fall for it a second time!” He gave a booming laugh, sending spittle and saliva into their faces.
“Unhand us, asshole!” Chara hissed through the tightness around their neck, the King only chuckling. “Now, lets see…” He looked between the two of them, struggling to escape but trapped in his grip, before his gaze landed on Chara. “You asked me for my name before. You’ll be the first to know it. Once I take your soul… the rest of the Dark World will know it too…”
Asriel struggled for air, gasping as the large fists crushed their chest. They were lifted up into the air, a wide snarl on the face of their capturer. “I am the Spade King! And power will be mine!” A ring of magic bullets was summoned around Asriels head like a halo, their pointed tips angled right at his skull. A sinister grin spread across King’s face, a soulless, murderous smile. “Now, how about I start by killing your friend?”
Asriel struggles intensified on hearing those words, his eyes and Char’s locking for a split second, before the King’s meaty arms tossed the goat straight into the air like one would serve a tennis ball, bursting out with laughter with each hit against Asriel hitting him square in the chest, keeping him suspended with the force of the impacts.
Helpless, Chara was forced to watch their friend get pummeled with attacks, the Soul in their chest twinging with pain with every yelp of pain, the burning in the center of their chest spreading outward to their whole body.
The blade… I still have it, I can…
All their limbs were bound and trapped, but the knife was still clutched in their fingers, blade still glowing.
If I can only get my arm free, I could…
Straining against the tail, moving their arm with all their might, the sensation of heat and energy flowing into their arm surprised them, causing their hand to twitch uncontrollably, and with a swing that was as effortless as slicing a knife through paper, Chara’s blade cut right through the King's tongue, a red streak of Magic following the swing.
“What-” Surprising even themselves, they were unprepared for the sudden fall, hitting the ground hard, barely able to recover before they were hit square in the chest with a heavy punch, sending them flying backward, getting hit by another punch as the King leaped after them, this one leaving them in the middle of a giant crater in the ground, grass and leaves scattered around them.
“I AM GOING TO KILL YOU .” A third hit sent them deeper into the dirt, the King practically howling at this point, flinging attacks wildly in every direction, his whole body shuddering and struggling to stand. “I AM GOING TO BURN YOUR WORLD TO THE GROUND. I AM GOING TO-”
There was the sound of metal impacting flesh, the King stuttering and gasping, his head slowly sinking down to find the glowing tip of a sword stabbed right through his chest.
“You… lightners…” He tried in a desperate attempt to reach back and swipe at Asriel, who was standing on their back, one of his swords plunged deep into his chest. With a yank, the sword was removed, clattering to the ground, the tip stained black.
“I will…” The Kind tried to pull himself to his full height again turning to try and face Asriel but failing to even stand, tripping forward into a pile of leaves, a trembling hand reaching out toward the goat desperately. “Don’t think… this is over…”
Then the King slumped to the ground, and was dead. He didn’t even bleed, his body didn’t turn to dust. It just… remained there, slumped and motionless.
Asriel fell to their knees, tears streaming down their face, eyes wide in horror at what they’d just done.
“Oh my Angel… Oh god…” The pulled themselves to their feet, hands trembling, running over to the crater Chara was trapped inside, finding their friend barely alive, their breathing strained and arm twisted at a bad angle, chest smashed in, their right arm covered in blood.
“Chara! CHARA! Please be ok…” The goat slid down the side of the hole, loose dirt piling up on to of the human.
Chara couldn’t move. They tried to stand, move their head, anything, but the darkness around their vision kept creeping in, their eyes burning, staring up and straight ahead, the void of the sky sucking them in deeper. They couldn’t feel their arms.
“Chara, can you hear me!? Chara!!”