Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

CHAPTER 1

From the silence came the quiet clacking of black worn shoes against the tiles of the judgement hall. A small thirteen year old girl stalked through the corridor, her red eyes flashing. Her pink and blue sweater was covered in dust, and in her hand was the true knife. A golden heart necklace swung freely around her neck. On her face a stoic, emotionless expression on her face, and her eyes were dull, as if all light had been sucked away.

From the darkness a skeleton materialized, and she halted, waiting calmly. He spoke, but she could only hear the blood pounding in her ears. She was only slightly afraid, ready to die.

He turned to look wistfully out of the windows of the hall. He sighed wearily, shoulders slumping as if he knew that this would be the place where he would die. His smile was as big and false as ever. His eye flashed blue, and her body stiffened.

“Ready?”

…

Listen and hear a song the birds are singing

Sit down a while, and watch the flowers blooming.

A pleasant breeze blows by, leaving a trail of dust…

How could you have done this?

...

Her scarlet soul flashed cyan as he flung her small form against the ceiling. There was a large cracking sound from her body, but she did not scream. She dropped to the ground, somehow managing to dodge a flurry of bones that hurled themselves at her. Her body snapped back and forth, away from the white projectiles and careening herself from harm. A large skull like creature emerged from Sans’s magic. It opened its mouth, and white energy flooded out of it. More appeared, and Frisk escaped them with ease. One would be amazed of how expertly she dodged the attacks, but Sans just scoffed. Obviously, this girl had seen them many times before.

…

Standing in the corridor

How thought we’d be like this together?

On a gorgeous day like this, I ask

“What is it that you want?”

...

Whatever could this child gain from all of this? Was it the lust for power? Was it for fun? Was it out of curiosity? What was she to gain from killing the light of his life: his brother and a countless number of others. The old lady behind the door of the ruins that would keep him company and tell jokes. Undyne, his brother’s best friend and the warrior of the underground. Mettaton, the robotic celebrity who shattered into pieces in front of his heartbroken fans.

But on her face...emotion there was none. Fear there was none. She was almost just a hollow being with no empathy for anything or anyone.

On her face there was no emotion, no fear, no regret...no nothing! Not even the slightest spark of the sweetness and joy it once had just a timeline ago.

At least... this is what it seemed.

…

I believe there was a time.

When we could be pals and things were better.

Eating bad food

Enjoying laughs

Can we go back to that?

...

A faint memory of a small child with a little branch in her left hand bloomed in the skeleton’s mind. Her smile was sweet and genuine, and her heart was determined and kind. The faded timeline of the loving girl who freed all monsters clung to him...he did not want to kill her. He didn’t want to kill anyone. But the girl gave him no choice as she lunged at him with her knife.

Within the girl’s mind, a small girl held herself in the darkness. Her red troubled eyes glanced from side to side. A small deranged smile played on her lips, as tears forced their way down her face. “Keep going Frisk,” her smirk grew. “He cannot dodge forever.”

Bones flew at Frisk, and she tried to stay put and let them slice through her body and kill her again. But her DETERMINATION did not let her, and she dashed out of the way, one scraping against her cheek. But she still didn’t react. Not on the outside, anyway.

All the screaming and crying took place in her mind. Chara could not handle the boiling anger inside her as she lusted for control. She had taken away everything, put away all of her morals, her own compassion and everything that kept her from hating herself in order to obey the message from the soul: To leave them all for dead, to stay determined...to reach the end. Neither Chara nor Frisk wanted this. But they could not resist the calling of her soul, the cumulation of the being. Frisk was so far away from control…

But if neither of them had it, then who did…?

Who was the one who willed the reset of their happy ending? Who was the one who willed for peace? For death? Or the end?

Through the turmoil, Chara scrunched her eyes in thought. It was so particular how this sounded so familiar. Wasn’t it Flowey who had stated something that DETERMINATION could relate to?

“I’ve read every book and I’ve burnt every book. I’ve won every game and I’ve lost every game.

“I’ve appeased everyone…. I’ v e k i l l e d e v e r y o n e.”

It was not Chara nor Frisk who had caused the genocide, oh no. It was more than what met the eye.

The children were not the ones that wanted to leave their mother to die in the empty ruins alone, crying at the betrayal. They were not the ones who had neft Sans with a dusty red scarf in the middle of the cold, dry snow.

But Sans did not know this. In fact, no one did

Who’s fault was it? Who had done this? Where was the twisted message from the DETERMINATION coming from…?

That was the true mystery of the world. Only time would tell, but it was slowly draining away. Soon the world would end, reset and even if the actions of the children changed, nothing would ever be the same.

…

If you’re in there listening, kid.

Please just reset the timeline.

Please let’s forget about this.

...

Sans ground his teeth together as the girl died again and again at his feet, only to come back and show how helpless they all were to their fate.

One of these resets, Chara would be fully corrupted and never be able to truly be herself again.

One of these resets, Frisk would not have any control and be a parasite to her own body; a ghost that couldn’t control their body on their own.

One of these resets, Sans would die, and all of his attempts would be in vain.

...but, at least he would get to see his brother soon…

Papyrus’s death had been painful for him. He had been holding out his arms for a welcoming hug. His smile only faltered when she had stabbed him, and his body disintegrated into dust.

Frisk could only cry as the LOVE infested Chara only laughed. “Forgettable.”

*DETERMINATION

...

Even after what you did he believed it you.

Till the end.

...

“Dirty brother killer,” he slammed the girl into one of the solid, golden pillars, and her skull cracked. She felt her sins crawling on her back, and she stared at him, her face emotionless. And yet, a lone tear slipped down her cheek.

Sans swallowed hard and inspected her face. He chuckled quietly.

“Welp, that’s new.”

…

Looking at your face right now

Something tells me

I can’t afford to care anymore

Turn this path around, wipe your dirty hands clean

Give up!

...

The world reset, and Frisk emerged from the shadows. Sans raised his hand, and multiple gaster blasters appeared. Frisk simply raised her head to face death, energy crashing down onto her and making her vision go black.

Chara hissed angrily. “Too slow…” Black liquid started to fall from her eyes. She could not stop the LOVE from coursing from her veins. It was wasn’t her fault, But it made it easier to laugh. It made it easier to kill...

She died again.

And again.

And a g a i n.

…

The time has come

Nowhere to run…

Please!

...

Frisk’s body crumpled at his feet, and blood trickled out of her eyes. She looked up at him with wide eyes. Sans gave a large smirk, though his heart felt it was being smashed into smithereens. No one could fake that look; a face of absolute sadness and helplessness. Was Frisk really there? Even if she was, she was too far gone to ever make a difference.

“What? You waiting for a joke or something?”

Chara could not fight to cure herself of the corruption and the LOVE that it had given her, but to no avail. Black tears spilling down her face. She half laughed and half cried.

“Chara...it’s going to be alright!” her adoptive father’s deep voice echoed in her mind. “You are the future of humans and monsters. All you have to do is STAY DETERMINED.”

…

Frisk reached out to grab the hem of the skeleton’s jacket. His eye flared, and sweat dribbled down his forehead. But he stood still, exhausted.

“S-Sans…”

…

Listen and hear a song the birds are singing

Sit down a while, and watch the flowers blooming.

A pleasant breeze blows by, leaving a trail of dust…

How could you have done this?

...

She struggled to hold her knife but dropped it beside her. Her hand twitched as her body tried to pick it up.

No. No. No…

Chara fought against the corruption and against the darkness that tore her insides apart.

Sans kept silent and waited for death to swallow him up and take him far away from this hell.

“H-help me…” Frisk whimpered. “I...can’t…” Her body shuddered violently, and Sans jerked himself away from her.

“Frisk…?”

…

Is there still a glimmer of hope?

Will you choose to do the right thing…?

Please, now, bud…

If you’re there…

Have a change of heart.

...

She grabbed her knife and flung herself at Sans before he could react. He was so tired that he let her pin him to the ground. He gazed at her, his pinpricks lost in the darkness of his eye sockets. “Welp,” he chuckled darkly.

Her body lifted the knife over her head. Sans closed his eyes, defeated.

Chara had given up once again.

No…

NO…?!

NO!

“Chara!” Frisk screeched at her. “Please!Help me!” She mentally fell to her knees. “You can’t let him die! Please, not another…not another one...again...”

But Chara was lost in her own world...into a time long ago...

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Holding Asriel’s hand as her life trickled away, Asriel afraid of the plan. Concerned that failure was ever to be an outcome. Crying everytime Chara got more sick. Crying everytime she would remind him of the plan.

She could not understand…

“Asriel...you crybaby”

“Aren’t you happy? Aren’t you excited?”

“You’re going to be free….!”

Asriel could only weep harder as he held onto her hand. “B-big kids don’t cry, r-right..?

Chara envied him for being so innocent, so pure. So oblivious to the hatred that radiated between the humans and monsters.

As the humans sprinted toward Asriel’s godlike form, Chara prepared to wipe them out of their miserable existences.

Asriel...refused.

Both of them died that day, because Asriel could not lift a hand to kill anyone.

It was only until he was a corrupted, soulless plant that he could kill. Enjoyed it, even.

…

…

But she was the reason that her brother died.

Why her father and mother’s love shattered.

Why the kingdom fell into despair.

Why she…

…

She hated herself.

…

But then, she remembered the last timeline, where no corruption in Frisk’s soul made her act out like this. The timeline where she had helped Frisk spare and befriend every monster. The timeline where she got to see her loving brother once again.

She wasn’t blameless for all the suffering.

But.

She could do something about this.

She was Chara… and she was the fate of all humans and monsters.

All she had to do was STAY DETERMINED...

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Her eyes snapped open to hear Frisk’s pleas and she broke free.

I’m Chara...

Frisk’ vision grew dark, her scarlet soul gleaming eerily. Chara’s pale fingers reached forward to grasp it. Inside of Frisk’s DETERMINATION, she could feel it: the anomaly. There was someone or something using her as a puppet. It was a corrupted version of once a curious and loving soul, but there was one thing that could destroy this connection between whatever what was controlling her. There was one thing that Frisk had not ever shown to anyone in this run, and this is what the soul needed. It was compassion and not LOVE, but love.

Chara attempted to purify the soul, but she could not. The LV that she possessed...she tried to think of how much she loved Asriel...but her emotions were blocked off and muffled by her high amount of LOVE.

Frisk’s blade hovered over Sans’s soul, and she struggled. It was the will to be merciful that made her not want to give up, though her soul urged to kill out of curiosity. To mame and think that she was above the consequences. And the emotion that swelled within Frisk as she refused...was intoxicating.

“This soul resonates with a strange feeling…” Chara mused. “But I cannot understand these feelings anymore. However, with the kindness in her heart she still has…”

“I love Sans.” Frisk thought, and Chara smiled. “I love him because he’s funny and protective...and he’s family. I could never hurt him...I could never hurt anyone...but I did.”

“But it wasn’t your fault,” Chara stated. “It was the will of the unkindness in your soul. But you can overcome it. All you have to do…”

Voices.

Voices of the dead monsters. But they were not angry. No...they were encouraging. The ghosts muttered encouraging words to the soul,

“My child...look inside yourself and prove to the world that you are as selfless as you were back then…”

“HUMAN! FRISK! I KNOW THAT YOU HAVE IT IN YOU TO BE AS GREAT AS ME, AND SO...YOU CAN TRY HARDER, I’M SURE. I BELIEVE IN YOU!”

“Human, you may have done a lot of terrible things, and if it was someone other than you I would be ripping your face into shreds...but you are strong. And with that strength, you can overcome anything…”

“T-technically i-it's impossible for you to ever d-disobey the culmination of your being...b-but I know that...somehow you can!”

“Human...for the future of human and monsterkind, you must stay DETERMINED.”

Chara smiled eerily as the soul began to shake. The darkness that clung to it faded, and the anomaly was destroyed.

With the corruption gone, Frisk regained control; the knife slacked in Frisk’s hand. In a flurry of tears, she stabbed herself in the stomach. She let out a little whine as she twisted the blade, tears dripping down her cheeks. The pain was unbearable, pulsing throughout her entire body. She stumbled off of Sans, whose eyes snapped open in shock.

“What-?”

Frisk lost her balance and fell to the floor. Blood was pooling onto the tiles of the judgement hall. Sans was staring down at her, teeth unhinged. Her eyes returned to its brown normal color and managed to give a weak giggle. “Oh Sans…” her smile went rubbery. “I really messed up this time, didn’t I?” She closed her eyes from the pain, whimpering softly. She laughed halfheartedly as her life began to fade.

The skeleton inched forward, a look of disbelief on his face. “Frisk…?” he whispered. He reached out a hand to brush the hair out of her eyes. But by that time they were already far away, soft pink lips curled into a painful smile.

“F-Frisk?!”

…

Listen and hear a song the birds are singing

Sit down a while, and watch the flowers blooming.

What a nice day....

`````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````

Chapter Text

CHAPTER 2

After aborting the genocide route, Chara and Frisk went through the Pacifist route as fast as they could. Almost everything went as it had gone the first time they spared everyone…

Well, almost everything. Flowey was waiting for the child when she resetted. His fake smile stretched upon his face as he spotted her. He giggled somewhat angrily.
"Why? WHY, Chara?” He shook his head, twisting with confusion. Frisk lowered her head to see him act this way.
“We were on our way to a real victory...to make up for last time!” He laughed as his eyes turned pitch black. “Why'd you have to SCREW IT UP?” His last words were a shriek of anger. “Hahaha…” His laugh was bitter and he stared at the ground for a while before muttering quietly, voice broken, “Is this REVENGE?
“Making me watch you so pure and happy, while I...?”
Frisk didn’t say anything. What was there for her to say? The flower looked so betrayed, and his petals drooped. Flowey...though he had no soul, still cared for Chara… She was the only one he cared about. And she was the only one not around anymore...
Flowey was silent before he perked up, smiling again. “No. NO!” He gave a delighted laugh. “I KNOW what you're doing. You just want to see what it's all like. Before we TEAR IT AWAY from them!!!AHAHA!!”
Both Chara and Frisk stiffened in alarm.
“Ahahaha...Genius, Chara.” the buttercup chuckled, his eyes sparkling devilishly. “Well, I'll let you mess around. I know you'll come back eventually. And when that time comes…”
His evil smirk faded from his face as he gazed softly at Frisk.
“Chara...I'll be waiting for you."
And with that, he disappeared into the earth.
…

But that was a long while ago… After Frisk and Chara broke the barrier, it came time for a new start. With their Determination under control, it was no longer possible for the world to reset and go back into a time of genocide. Everyone would be safe and sound.
...But not everyone was happy.
After the humans had offered the monsters a large abandoned village to live in, the first thing Sans did was confront Frisk about the past timeline.
She had been helping her mother with the packing when Sans had teleported behind her, making her yelp in surprise. His eye sockets were dark. “Hey kid,” he murmured. “S’okay if i talk to you for a sec?” Without waiting for her response, he grabbed her arm and dragged her into another room.
Frisk’s heart thumped in her chest, and Chara was muttering reassuring words to her. “You know this would happen,” she reasoned. “Just tell him the truth.”
But Sans only stared at her for a long time. Frisk squirmed under his gaze. “Um...Should I be saying something…?” she asked timidly.
“Yes.” Sans growled. “Yes, i think you should be.”
Frisk sighed, her short hair brushing against her face. “I suppose I should be telling you about the last...timeline.”
Sans rolled his pinpricks, and her heart sank. He was not in a good mood at all. “Sans, I…” her fear and guilt brought tears to her eyes. She could not look at him, her eyes fixated to the ground. “God, Sans. I…”
Chara shifted in her mind. “You going to apologize? I don’t think that’ll work.” Sad, strange emotions swirled inside of her. Chara desperately tried to get Frisk to respond with the fact that it wasn’t her fault. Frisk ignored her, squeezing her brown eyes shut. “I...hate myself so much!” the last part burst out of her before she could stop herself. “I’m so sorry!” She cried hysterically, panting through her tears.
After a moment, Sans stepped toward her, handing her a tissue. She looked up at him, amazed. His expression was softer, but still rather cold. “That still doesn’t tell me what happened.” he muttered. When she didn’t take the tissue, he cleaned her himself, as if she were a small child. This made her cry harder. “Geez, kid. When you went around killing everyone, you didn’t have any emotions at all..you were so different.”
Frisk shuddered. “I’m sorry,” she repeated.
“Why are you sorry?” Chara hissed, irritated. “It’s not your fault.”
“I...wasn’t in control.” Frisk whispered, to the other child’s relief. She bristled, however, when she told Sans, “Inside my mind..there’s this girl…named Chara.”
Sans stiffened but didn’t say anything.
“She always helps me.” the girl explained. “But...after I got a happy ending...there was something wrong with her. Something made me kill, and she s-started telling me that I should do more of it...and I couldn’t stop...and so I started to…” she took another shuddering breath, and Sans twitched. “But when I tried to stop… I couldn’t.” She paused, remembering the feeling of not being able to move by herself. “I couldn't move…”
Chara was very quiet, and Frisk could almost feel how guilty she felt.

“So then you were forced into genocide.” Sans muttered. Frisk nodded, shaking. She looked away and started to cry again.

“Aw, kid.” he put her arms around her in a comforting hug. The girl cried into his chest. He muttered comforting things to her until her tears dried up. They held each other for a while until she heard Toriel calling her. She moved away from him, conforted, a small smile on her lips.

Sans gave her the most kind look in a long while. “Well, see ya, kid,” and then he vanished.

There was silence.

…

“So.”

“So I guess I am the bad guy, huh?” Chara’s voice wasn't threatening, but rather sad. Frisk did not reply.

“Frisk, I had no idea you thought of me that way.”

Frisk was quiet.

“Frisk, I’m sorry.”

“It’s not your fault.”

“Then who’s is it?” Chara asked.

Frisk did not respond once more.

“My point exactly.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

A three years passed, and things were going well for the monsters. Alphys was working on a new body for Napstablook, much to Metatron's delight. Undyne had become a police officer. Toriel became a school teacher, and a quite popular one at that. Sans, Papyrus, and Asgore were unemployed, but still had a lot to do. Papyrus was still on his way to becoming a chef, and Undyne gave him lessons everyday after work. Asgore was working with the garden he had made in the backyard. Sans was…

…

No one knew what Sans was doing.

But besides that, there was something missing.

Frisk was turning fourteen in a month. She was eating pie in the kitchen as she was reading about human anatomy. It was very interesting, but moved a bit off topic as she wondered what kinds of puns she could make with this chapter…

“Frisk.” Chara muttered. “I hate this so much.”

“Huh?” Frisk turned her attention away from her book. “What did you meany?”

“I didn’t use to mind sharing.” Chara muttered. “But this is ridiculous. I want a body.”

Frisk couldn’t help but agree. There was a lack of privacy when it came to Chara. Both of them knew what each other were thinking...which sometimes made them uncomfortable. They would have disagreements constantly, Frisk wanting to chill with Sans or Papyrus, while Chara wanted to play fight with Undyne. Or maybe the times where Chara would always tell Frisk to eat chocolate, though she prefered pie. When a human approached Frisk and confronted her about the monsters in a threatening or rude manner, Frisk would never listen to Chara’s brilliant lines of comebacks and so-called “burns”.

So maybe...just maybe…

“Let’s ask Alphys.” Chara said.

Frisk returned her attention to her book. “Hmm. Okay. I’ll wait till-”

“No no no no!” Chara begged, she waved her arms up and down in Frisk’s mind. She was very bored, as anyone could tell. “Now! I swear!”

Frisk ignored her. Her concentration snapped as Chara started screaming internally.

“Fine.” Frisk muttered. And so, abandoning her book, made her way into Alphys’s lab.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Before she entered, she knew what Alphys was doing. She heard voices through the door.

“Uh...um...how’s that Napstablook?” the scientist stammered nervously. It was funny that most everything Alphys did was amazing, though she was always worried on the miniscule things she might have done wrong. Thanks to Frisk, her confidence has better, but still needed to realize her amazing abilities.

“Ohhhhhhh.” a soft quiet voice responded. “It’s very nice. I like it. What do you think, Metta-”

“OOOOOOOOOOOOOOH~~~~!” a loud, overly dramatic voice rang out. “It looks marvelous, Blooky~~~!”

Frisk giggled to herself as she rapped on the door quietly.

“OOOOOOOH~! I wonder who that could be…” Footsteps were heard before Metaton swung the door open with his legs. He gasped and posed in wonder, doing the splits in midair why putting a gloved hand to his lips..

“Make him stop.” Chara muttered.

“No way.” Frisk laughed.

“Frisk, darling~~~~~~~!” She was swept into a breath-taking hug. “Alphys, dear, Frisky’s here!” He winked at her as he put her down and strutted back into the room. Frisk followed, and gasped.

“Hi, Frisk…” It was Napstablook’s new body. It looked much like Metaton’s body, but with shades of blue and white instead of hot pink and black. He held himself close together, and smiled shyly. It was very cute.

“Wow, Napstablook!” Frisk exclaimed. “You look amazing!”

“Thanks,” the robot blushed. “And it’s Napstabot now.”

Metaton squealed excitedly. Together, they both danced out of the room, Mettaton doing a flawless waltz while Napstabot stumbled adorably after him.

“Thank god.” Chara sighed. “Now we can get to business.”

“Be nice.” Frisk scolded.

Chara sighed again. “Sorry, Frisk.” The poor child sounded bored and unhappy.

Alphys watched the robots happily before turning to Frisk. “Hey!” she exclaimed happily. “How have you been doing?”

Frisk smiled. “Good. Have you seen the latest episodes of ‘Kissie Mew Mew 3’ yet?”

Alphys rolled her eyes. “OMG. Yes. I watched it with Undyne last night, and it was awful! The new characters they introduced were terrible and so clique!” And Kami- chan got together with that jerk, UGH!”

Frisk smiled as she ranted on and on about the new episodes. Chara listened, actually distracted from their initial task at the moment. “I hate like Kissie Mew Mew 2…it’s neither kissie nor cutie...” But eventually she realized why they were there, and returned to their initial problem. “Come on, Frisk! Hurry up!”

As Alphys paused to take a breath, Frisk interjected softly, “Please don’t spoil it! I haven’t watched it yet…”

The scientist put her hands to her mouth and apologised. “S-sorry…” she grinned sheepishly. After a moment's pause, she pushed her glasses to her face. “Hm...so, why are you here?”

The girl sighed and looked to the ground. “I was wondering…” she mumbled softy. “Are you busy?

Alphys looked bemused, but shook her head.

“...can you keep a secret?” Frisk whispered.

Alphys nodded slowly.

“...um…” Frisk shifted nervously. “Then...can you do me a favor?”

Alphys nodded her head vigorously, sweating slightly from all the tension. “Of course, Frisk. Anything!”

The brunette took a deep breath, and with Chara prompting her, explained and told the scientist her request.

After she finished, Alphys looked intrigued. “So this spirit is living inside you?” Her voice came in sharp gasps. “And you’ve never told anyone?”

“Well…” Frisk glanced at the door. “Sans knows.”

“Hm…” Alphys nodded to herself. “I think I have an idea.” Muttering, she scrambled to her desk, which was covered in books and pages. She took out a notepad and jotted down a few notes. “It’ll be easy to separate her from you…” she tilted her head side to side in thought. “Huh...the body will be a bit difficult. We’ll have to, uh…” Sweat dribbled down the side of her head. “Dig..up..the body…”

Frisk gave a nervous laugh. Chara however, was practically dancing. “Oh yes!” she cried joyously inside Frisk’s mind. “When do we start?”

Frisk repeated Chara’s question for the scientist, fearing the answer.

“As soon as possible. Maybe right now.”

The ghostly child whooped with joy.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Wake up, my child.” A familiar voice sounded from the door along with quiet knocking. “Come down downstairs when you are ready.” The sound of footsteps faded down the hall…

Frisk sat in bed and rubbed her eyes. She felt very groggy and was tired since Alphys had started the project of giving Chara a body. But for now, the spirit was still inside her. She woke up as well.

“Frisk, sis, don’t wassa get up...five minutes...ugh…” Chara muttered unintelligibly as
Frisk slithered out of bed. She struggled into a small purple dress and put a buttercup in her hair. She finally trudged out the door and down the stairs, until she realized something.

It was...completely dark. Usually her mother or Papyrus would be making breakfast at the moment. Her sleepy brain struggled to think of a reason why this was happening. “Huh…?”

Chara seemed confused as well, but then chuckled. “Hey, Frisky. Isn’t it your birth-”

“HAPPY BIRTHDAY FRISK!!!” The lights flashed on, and Papyrus and Undyne charged at her out of nowhere. Fortunately, they were rather gentle with their embrace, so it was like being hit with a tractor, and not by an entire farm.

“Easy, children!” Toriel scolded, though she looked rather amused. She was holding a small gift, in which she placed in the corner of the living room with an array of other gifts.

Alphys nervously beamed behind Asgore, both giving her a smile and and wishing her a happy birthday. Sans was on the couch, apparently asleep. Papyrus marched over to him, annoyed.

“SANS!” he yelled. “WHY ARE YOU NAPPING DURING AN IMPORTANT CELEBRATION?! APOLOGISE TO FRISK AT ONCE!”

“Merry Christmas, kiddo.” Sans muttered sleepily.

Even Chara laughed. Frisk fell onto the floor, laughing hysterically. At this, Sans woke up (almost) completely and grinned at her. “Looks like I tickled your funny bone, huh?”

Papyrus let out a large groan, and his reaction sent everyone hysterical- from Asgore’s loud bellows to Alphys’s quiet giggling.

“Fuhuhuhuhuhuhuhu~!” Undyne laughed. “I can’t wait until you open the presents! You will like mine THE BEST!!”

“SORRY, UNDYNE!” Papyrus ‘nyeh-heh-heh’d happily. “MY PRESENT WILL DELIGHT FRISK THE HUMAN THE MOST!!”

“On your mark, get set…” Sans fell asleep. Frisk giggled.

“Sans will be Sans,” Chara noted.

Opening the presents was a blast. The three friends, along with her mother and father, watched her as she opened them. Alphys, however, “had to go to the bathroom”. No one really paid attention.

Frisk opened Undyne’s present first, who had given her a large spear with fancy swirly designs on it. Chara squealed as Frisk gave a forced smile. “Thanks, Undyne. It’s…”

Visions arose of Undyne kneeling on the bridge, blood trickling down her front as Monster Kid scurried away, tears in his eyes.

Her body starting to shatter until she refused to let it happen, just she had only postponed her death…

Her magic, her body, it started to melt…

“Hey, punk? What’s up?” Undyne waved a hand over her face. Chara was eerily quiet.

“...h-horrifying…It’s a horrifying gift.”

Undyne only grinned.

Sans was awake. He stood next to her, leaning toward her a bit. “... open my present?” he asked, but Papyrus spoke over him.

“MINE NEXT!!! NYEH-HEH-HEH!!!”

The wrapping was fancy and decorated with silver and gold paper. The present, however, turned out to be a large bone with a huge sparkly red bow on it.

“Thanks!” her mouth was twitching in amusement. “It’s humorous!”

Sans doubled over, laughing hysterically. “Oh god, kid…” he chuckled.

“SANS! YOU HAVE INFECTED THE HUMAN WITH YOUR AWFUL PUNS!”

Her mom’s present was wrapped with purple paper. Frisk opened it to find an array of different books. One was a cookbook with recipes for pies. Another was a science and a math textbook. Lastly, a book of flower puns, at which Sans stared at enviously. Frisk turned around, a smile on her face. “Thanks momma!” She hugged Toriel, was was very pleased.

“You’re welcome, child…” She noticed the flower in her hair. “What’s this?” She smiled at it and tucked it further into her daughter’s hair. “Oh my.” She pulled back to stare at Frisk. “I can’t believe how much you’ve grown. She smiled fondly. “I remember when you fell down into the underground, four years ago…”

“Four years ago?” Sans was still lying on the floor, face down.

“Yes, Sans. Four years ago,” she smiled. “Time does really does fly by, huh.”

“Time flies when you’re having fun.” Sans sighed.

Frisk frowned. “Not really.” she said. “The froggits taught me differently. Time’s fun when you’re having flies!”

Toriel, Sans and Frisk laughed uncontrollably.

The next present was Sans’s, which was not even wrapped. She opened the plain box to find a blue sweater, not unlike the one Sans wore. Without hesitation she pulled it on, turned around, and imitated his smile.

The group laughed as Sans chuckled slightly. “You tryin’ to be like me?

Frisk winked at him. “You sweater believe it.”

The room echoed with Papyrus’s screams.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The family settled down in the kitchen to cook after they finished with the presents. Toriel made her famous Butterscotch Cinnamon pie, while Sans went through all of the puns in the book. Along with the pie, Muffet had dropped off some delicious pastries from her bakery. Papyrus and Undyne offered to help Toriel cook, but the goat mom insisted (rather franticly) that she would be fine.

“So flower you doing, Sans?” Frisk asked, a huge smile on her face.

“Not good...the world is full of terrible people…” he closed his eyes in mock sadness. “They’re all clover the place. It’s driven’ me daisy.”

Papyrus screeched and ran out of the room, Undyne following him.

They both laughed and went back to the puns. Sans was absolutely in love with the plant pun book, so that he didn’t notice her staring out the window…

She was so lucky. She was so lucky to be adopted into such a wonderful family. Their gifts, like the gardening book from Asgore and the Kissie Mew Mew collection from Alphys did not have to be given. And yet they were. And that is why she loved them.

“Hey, Frisk. You deserve it.” Chara reminded her. “You’ve been through a lot.”

“So have you,” Frisk countered.

There was silence for a long time. The girl wondered if she had made the late princess upset. She sighed to herself and turned to Sans. “When I leaf you alone,” she told him, as he looked up. “Iris-k making you feel unwanted.” She got up, headed to the counter, and took a couple of hotdogs. San’s grin covered his whole face as she put one on her head. “Thistle will cheer you up.” The skeleton lept up to place more on her, when Toriel shook her head at them. She marched up to them, wearing a grumpy look.

“You need to save your appetite fir dinner.”

…

Toriel burst out with laughter. Sans followed suit.

But Frisk did not. The uneasiness that she had not felt for so long prickled at the nape of her neck. She could feel Chara gasp inside of her. “Look out the window.”

Frisk obeyed to see a little yellow flower, with a forlorn expression, petals drooping. Once it had seen her looking, however, he gave her a false smile, and batted his eyelashes mockingly. Frisk stopped abruptly before running out the door, much to Toriel and Sans’s confusion.

“Kid?”

“My child?”

Chara was excited. “He’s here. Asriel’s here!” she panted. She shifted impatiently as Frisk rushed out into the flower filled backyard. It front of her was Flowey, giving her a bored expression.

The ghostly child was going berserk. “Asriel. Asriel. Asriel. Asriel...”

Flowey glared up at her. “I’m so bored.” he spat. “I’m so bored! I’M SO BORED!” He gnashed his teeth together. “WHEN?!?” he shot up into her face with his vines. “When are you going to reset?! C’mon Chara!”

Frisk found her voice, and she croaked, “I’m not Chara.”

Flowey swallowed, but then scoffed to hide his discomfort. “I know that. Just the slip of my tongue.”

“Asriel I-”

“Shut up, Chara!” he gasped and shook his head. Damn. Again.

“I’m not Chara.” Frisk muttered, an edge to her voice.

“Well I’m not Asriel!” Flowey screeched, losing the little patience that he had. His vines reached for her and dragged her to the ground. She screamed. “You know what this means?” the flower leered at her, and Frisk trembled violently. “You know what it means for you not being Chara?” His smile grew larger, his eyes like a void.

“It means that I don’t have to care when I kill you,” Flowey gagged her with a sharp vine. The thorns bit into her soft lips. A sharp vine was poised in front of her throat. Her voice came out in panicked gasps.

“Flowey--! Please--!” her cries went unheard as the vines strangled her.

“Oh, and by the way,” Flowey’s voice was full of laughter. “Happy 14th birthday,
Frisk.”

“FRISK, YOU IDIOT! FIGHT BACK!!! GET UP! SCREAM! WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!” her friend’s cry rang out loudly in her ears, but she still did nothing.

“How many times do I have to tell you that it’s K I L L O R B E K I L L E D .”

Frisk’s whole vision was only of the giggling, maniac flower. Tears of fear burned her eyes. Chara screeched at her to do something. Just before he could stab her, however, there was a flash of blue light, and Flowey yelped. A bone pierced his vines and he retreated into the dirt.

Chara let out a sigh of relief. “Thank god.”

“Heya, Frisk. Flower you doin’?” Sans stood over her, eyes devoid of light. Frisk shivered slightly and stumbled to her feet. “T-thanks.”

“My child!” There were footsteps and the girl was enveloped in her mother’s arms. “What a miserable NASTY creature, tourturating such a innocent, sweet youth, oh…”

“I’m fine, mom.” Frisk gave a small smile. “It was just… that flower…” Toriel’s eyes darkened.

“We have to do something about that little pest,” the goat mom muttered to herself. “I cannot let Frisk wander around with him on the loose.”

“Hey, Tori.” Sans put a reassuring hand on her shoulder. “I promised you I would protect her, didn’t I? I rescued them just now, didn’t I?” he grinned, and Frisk knew that there was a pun coming on. “Aren’t you rootin for me?”

Toriel worried face turned into one of laughter. Frisk herself doubled onto the floor. Sans looked proud.

“That was awful!” Frisk laughed. “Maybe that was why Flowey was so quick as to growing away~”

…

...

Chara sat within Frisk’s mind, eyes glowing red.

“A S R I E L.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Alphys was still missing. No one really noticed until her girlfriend, Undyne, made note of this. After looking through the house with no sign of the scientist, everyone started to worry. Sans and Frisk exchanged glances. Was it possible that Flowey had to do with Alphys’s disappearance? What if he had harmed her? Frisk’s heart tightened. What could have happened?

“When did you see her last?” Chara prompted. “I remember seeing her before you were opening the presents...”

Undyne was checking inside the trash cans. “HERE, GIRLFRIEND! HERE, GIRLFRIEND, GIRLFRIEND, GIRLFRIEND!” She whistled.

“Glad to know how highly she thinks of her,” Chara giggled.

Frisk’s phone buzzed, and pulled it out to find that she had two new messages from Alphys. She quickly clicked her texting app.

Alphys: Go into the basement. I’m ready to help Chara
Alphys: Don’t tell anyone I’m here

The girl froze in shock. Now? On her birthday? Still, she sighed and responded to the scientist. Chara couldn’t help quivering with anticipation.

Frisk: Alright. I’m coming.
Alphys: great see u

Chara sighed happily but then noticed her friend’s discomfort. The child internally patted Frisk on the back comfortingly. “You ready for this?”

“Yeah,” Frisk slipped her phone into her pocket and headed down the hall. She started down the dust- ridden stairs.

*Knowing that I will once again have a body of my own...
*It fills you with...

*DETERMINATION
``````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````

Chapter Text

CHAPTER 3

Alphys was waiting for her. A large machine stood boldly behind her, making her seem smaller that she actually was. It was made of two glass cylinders, connected by one large beam. In the right cylinder was Chara’s body, while the left was empty.

The scientist was sweating profusely. “S-so...a-are y-you ready…?”

Frisk smiled calmly and put a hand on her shoulder. “Don’t worry, Alphys. Everything will be fine.” Though she said this, her soul was trembling. “I-I’m really surprised that you finished so quickly though.”

“I’ve checked and double checked and triple checked the numbers…” Alphys muttered and scrambled to her papers. There were markings of things that Frisk and Chara could not understand. “Basically we are splitting your Determination equally, taking a half and putting it into Chara.” Beads of her sweat got on the notes. “E-everything seems fine, s-so I don’t know why…”

“It’ll be fine. Don’t undermine yourself.”

Alphys smiled awkwardly. “Eh...thanks Frisk.” She cleared her throat. “Just to warn you, though...both of you might have flashbacks from each other’s pasts. It may also hurt...like, hurt really bad, but it won’t kill you…” she paused uncertainly, but continued on as she saw Frisk’s determined face. “ L-Let’s get started. Head over here…” she lead Frisk to the left cylinder, which opened automatically. Frisk stepped inside and it closed.

The scientist walked behind the machine to program it, and it whirred to life. Frisk’s breathing became shallow as pressure began to build in her chest. She glanced over next to her at Chara’s dead body.

She looks like me…

“I don’t know if that’s a good or bad thing, Frisk.” Chara said breathlessly. “You good?”

Frisk whimpered and curled into a ball. Her head started to hurt as her soul was forced out of her chest… It was being cut, it was so agonizingly slow, and she muffled her screams in her sleeve.

“FRISK…!” Chara screeched. “Keep yourself together…!”

Tears dribbled down the girl’s face as she passed out.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“HELP!”

“SOMEBODY HELP ME!!!”

“...”

“...Is...anyone…?”

It was dark and cold. A small girl, perhaps the age of eight, huddled in a dark, damp room. Tears streamed down her face. A man opened the door leading to her room with a loud thud and marched inside. She wiped her tears immediately as he came into her view.

“Hello,” Her smile was too wide for her face. “Come to bother me again, I presume?”

The man grinned in a dark, creepy manner. The girl’s smile faltered slightly.

“I do not enjoy cleaning up your mistakes, Kerensa.” his voice was barely a whisper, though she easily held onto every word. “Today, one of our allies came to visit. Remember those men?”

The girl recalled the dirty scumbags that had waddled into the camp and taken most of the food. The leader had tattoos all over his scarred, sun tanned arms. All of them smelled as if they were dragged through a landfill, and they obviously had not changed in weeks, perhaps months.

She laughed. “Such disgusting creatures. However could I have forgotten?”

The man slapped her, and she fell to the floor. “You speak so mature for your age, you know that?” he grabbed her neck and pulled her to him. “You think you’re so old, don’t you, Kerensa?”

Her short brown hair covered her face, and her laugh sent chills down his spine as it echoed throughout the dark stony walls. “Don’t call me that, freak.”

“I guess that means yes.” He shoved her roughly to the ground. She struggled to get back up, but he was much stronger.

It’s not like it had never happened before. In this world...it wasn’t much of a big deal…

“STOP TOUCHING ME.”

“STOP--”

In this world...it wasn’t much of a big deal…

“SOMEBODY HELP ME!! GET AWAY FROM ME!!”

But it was enough to twist anyone’s mind and drive them to insanity.

“ I H A T E Y O U. I WILL KILL YOU.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

When it was dark, she would hear screams, men racing up and down the hall…

She wasn’t the only child in the building. There was a twelve year old boy named Ryan, a boy her age named Sean, a six year old girl named Lily, and twins named Timmy and Jeffery, who were fourteen. If they were lucky, the guards would get so drunk that they would forget to lock their doors. Of course, there were consequences...nobody liked it when they were drunk, especially the two girls. But once the coast was clear, they would run into one room together and huddle together. However, this did not happen much, probably only a handful of times a year. When it finally happened, they could be desperate for kindness and attention.

The last night she saw the others, they were in Ryan’s room. Jeffery had been taken away, so it seemed. If only they had any tears to shed…

The children themselves had grown cold and angry. But it was reassuring that not all humans were rapist and murderers.

That didn’t stop Chara from hating them.

They were picked off one by one. All of them died. Only she had survived, and only then did she escape, only willing for death.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

…

…

“Frisk.”

…

“Frisk, wake up.”

Her whole body was sore, and she couldn’t move. She could, however, hear the scientist’s nervous mumbling from beside her. A cool, wet cloth was pressed against her scalding forehead.

“Oh no...We’re going to be in so much trouble…” Alphys mumbled frantically.

“Don’t worry about it.” Frisk heard Chara’s voice speaking to the scientist. “We’ll just blame ourselves. We’ll say we dragged you into it.”

“Toriel would still hate me.”

“Then I’ll remind her that Frisk even persuaded her to let her go out of the Ruins when she was little.”

Frisk’s head burned as she struggled to think properly. I can hear Chara...does that mean the plan worked…?

She felt a hand on her shoulder. It wasn’t scaly or dry like Alphys’s hand but softer...and felt so much like hers…

Chara…?

“What, do you have a hand fetish?” Frisk was shocked that she could still read her thoughts. “We share halves of the same soul. We can still communicate telepathically.”

I thought you wanted some privacy.

“I guess, but I wanted to move around myself and talk by myself more.”

Hm…

“You should try to wake up now. Your phone is being blown up by texts. The longer we wait, the harder it will be to persuade that this is not Alphys’s doing.”

How are we going to do this?

“Do what?”

Introduce you to everyone.

Chara was silent for awhile. Then, “Just wake up. We’ll figure that out when you do that.”

Frisk felt like she was lifting seventy pounds, but she was only lifting her droopy eyelids. She looked up to see a living, breathing Chara.

Tired.

“I know, Frisk.”

Sleep.

Chara smiled sadly. Sometimes Frisk reminded her of Asriel. “No Frisk, not now…” Then, out loud, she turned to Alphys, who was scanning her notes again. “She’s awake.”

“Oh!” She sprang forward. “Frisk, I’m sorry! Are you okay? How do you feel?”

She slowly opened her mouth to speak. “Sleepy...head hurts...and body is sore…” she licked her cracked lips. “Water…”

“She has a fever…” Alphys felt her head. “For sure.”

“We have to work out an excuse,” Chara said hurriedly. “Alright, fine. Frisk, you can go to sleep, we’ll take care of this.

Frisk didn’t complain one bit. Her eyes snapped shut immediately. Chara turned to Alphys. “Now what?”

“M-me?” she swallowed. “Uh…” There was a pregnant pause. She rubbed her hands nervously. “Shouldn’t we just tell the truth?”

“Too late for that.”

‘I-it’s not good to lie…” Alphys mumbled, referencing her past situation with Undyne, which Frisk had helped her out with…

“We’ll tell the truth eventually. But we need to find the right way to introduce me. I’m afraid… Sans in particular will take this all the wrong way, I’m sure.”

Alphys nodded. “B-but your parents…”

“I’ll see them soon, I’m sure. Now, here’s what we do. You tell everyone that you were outside because you saw Flowey. Then everyone will look for Frisk. I’ll stage a little accident for her. I’ll make it look like she fell somewhere and into water, explaining why she has a fever.” She noted Alphys’s skeptical stare. “What?”

“What will you do afterwards?”

Well, I’ll watch and make sure nothing hurts Frisk as we’re waiting for everyone to find her, and once they’re gone I’ll stay in the basement until Frisky and I figure out how to...you know…”

Alphys nodded. “O-okay.”

“I’ll head out first.” She hoisted Frisk onto her back and started up the stairs. She opened the door carefully. She peeked out, and after seeing that the coast was clear, walked down the hall. She heard noises from upstairs, however. She would have to be quick.

She shuffled through the family room and out the sliding glass door into the yard. She passed the separate building where Alphys and Undyne lived. Chara still considered the couple to be living in the same house as all the others, for they shared the same yard and both houses were inside the same fence.

Putting all irrelevant thoughts aside, she started for a wall that led into a forest- like area. It wasn’t very high, perhaps about six feet tall. She easily placed Frisk on top of it, climbed over and dragged her down. She then walked down a deer -worn trail into the woods.

She was sure that there was a creek somewhere, and the area was full of mountains. So that there were these things here, she was certain. Where they were, she would have to find out for herself. Frisk seldom walked in the woods alone, (excluding the time four years ago when she climbed Mt. Ebott), and only came here with Undyne for training. Evidence of such training were littered among the trees. Spears impaled the ground and trees. One would think that it had rained spears. Chara gave a chuckle at that thought.

The girl was so distracted that she did not notice the sudden drop in front of her. She plummeted down several feet into a muddy creek.

“What the hell…” she spat out water and made sure Frisk hadn’t breathed in any of it. The water was only three feet deep, but it was very cold. Shivering, she pulled both herself and her friend out, swearing underneath her breath.

“Well, looks like my job here is done,” she muttered sarcastically. She was still wearing her green sweater and brown leggings. Chara was very fond of the outfit and hoped that the mud would not stain it permanently.

“Heya.”

…

She turned around to see a certain skeleton, his rage apparent in the absence of light of his sockets…

“Knocking out their friend and dragging them into a ditch? That’s not how to greet a new pal.” He chuckled in an agitated manner. Then, his voice dropped lower, his right eye pulsing blue…

“YOU’RE FUCKING DEAD, KIDDO.”

…

…

Well, fuck.

He looked pissed.

Chara giggled nervously as she tried to think of a way out of this situation. Knowing that he wouldn't hurt Frisk, she wrapped herself close to her body . Sans’s eye flared. Bones shot through the air, all expertly aimed at Chara. She dodged, though one stuck her and her HoPe was draining away quick. She scrambled to the ground, blood starting to drip out of her mouth. Her eyes gleamed red. Sans watched in contempt as she struggled to get up.

Chara L1 2/10 HP

No…

“G-get away…” she gagged on her own blood. Without any LV, she would never survive a fight against him. They both knew it. Sans lazily walked over to her, a single bone in his hand. She was finished, for sure. She felt fear engulf her, and her mind raced. She glanced desperately at Frisk, who was still unconscious.

She called for help.
…

BUT NOBODY CAME.

“How does it feel to be the victim, Chara?” Sans mused. “Feels pretty bad the other way around, huh?”

“You’ve got it all wrong…” she laughed away the pain, and tried to think straight. If she died, would she ever be able to reset?

Probably not.

Her soul levitated from her chest, and the skeleton gasped. The left side of Chara’s soul was colorless and pale. But the other side was a rich scarlet of DETERMINATION. He shook, a terrible thought entering his mind. He turned to Frisk to check up on her.

Frisk L1 2/10 HP

His attacks on Chara harmed Frisk as well. Chara let herself sigh in relief as she realized that she would be, for the most part, safe. Her relief, however, morphed into fear as she was surrounded by his blue magic.

“W H A T D I D Y O U D O T O F R I S K ? ?”

“Funny, I was going to ask you the same thing,” Chara scowled. Sans’s smile grew noticeably forced.

“You know what I’m talking about.” God, he wanted to kill her. If Chara hadn’t had a part of his angel’s soul, he would have slammed her into the trees and watch her slowly bled out onto the forest floor…

…

That sounded nice…

“You’ve got to hear me out.” Chara held her arms out, sparing him. “Let’s have a nice chat, you and me both, seeing that you can’t hurt me.”

The glow in his eyes dimmed, but he still glared at her suspiciously. “You want to talk?”

She smirked. Never before had he listened to her. Now, with Frisk in danger...he had...

“Fine then. Talk.” Sans closed his left eye lazily, his right pinprick still watching her intently.

“Aww...You don’t even want your princess?” Chara crooned. She pulled Frisk upright, clicking her tongue. “Some friend you are.”

“Tsk. You’re the one to talk.” Sans chuckled darkly. “You’re the one who killed everyone.”

“Not true,” Chara noted. “But it wasn’t entirely Frisk’s fault. Throughout the genocide run, I could control Frisk… to an extent. There was something wrong with Frisk’s soul, it was a corruption that had once ordered her to do good, but then told her to start to kill, and she couldn’t fight it... I suppose I’m in no position to tell you this, for I don’t know much about this myself. Not to mention that you won’t believe me...but…”

“...I didn’t kill anyone.”

Sans laughed hysterically. “You little freak. Fuck no i won’t believe you.” Did she think that he was an idiot? Chara had controlled Frisk and forced her to do the genocide run AND IT WAS ALL HER FAULT ALL HER FAULT! He got to his knees and he couldn’t stop laughing. She was just SO stupid and he was so pathetic. She was sick and it was all so sick...just a sick little game that would continue repeating, never sparing his pain or HoPe...

His laughter woke Frisk, and she recognized it to be not one of happiness, but of hurt. The reasons why Chara and Sans laughed were not different at all. They both… tried to laugh their pain away.

“Sans…” the skeleton’s eyes widened as Frisk shifted in Chara’s grasp. “She’s telling the truth…” she rasped quietly. It hurt to talk, and Chara hushed her.

...

Sans was at a loss for what to do. It just did not make any sense. Chara had a part of Frisk’s soul, and was telling the truth that she hadn’t killed anyone. However, Frisk hadn’t killed anyone either, and she had told him that Chara was telling the truth. But...if they weren’t the ones who did it, then who…

…

…

Oh.
…

OH.

…

Was it...HIM?

His thoughts were interrupted as a loud yell erupted throughout the woods. Undyne’s muscular form crashed through the trees. Her lips drew into a vicious sneer as she charged toward Chara, a blue spear in her hand. The girl fled, dropping Frisk and trying to make her way past Sans. Not surprisingly, she was surrounded by his blue magic and lifted into the air.

“MEET YOUR DOOM, PUNK!” Undyne bellowed as she poisoned her weapon to strike. Chara shouted and tried to escape, but to no avail. It was hopeless; she was about to be impaled by her heroine and Sans was too preoccupied to give a shit. “It looks like this is the end, Frisk,” she thought.

Before Frisk could do anything, the fish warrior and the skeleton were surrounded by bullets. Sans teleported away, dropping Chara, and taking Frisk with him. Undyne swore as about six of them hit her at once. Flowey emerged from the earth between the two females. He glanced at Chara. “Oh, Chara~! Long time no see...”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Frisk was in so much pain. It wasn’t helping that Chara’s frantic thoughts were causing
her own head to spin. But then she was enveloped with warmth. She looked up, her eyes foggy with tears of pain. Sans was carrying her. He had teleported into the yard.

“I’m taking you to Doctor Alphys,” he muttered gruffly. He, for sure, was not in a very good mood. It would probably be best if she stayed quiet. Her head felt like it was splitting anyways. But...but she had to tell him...

“You don’t have to be kind to me, you know.” she whispered quietly. “It’s okay if you hate me…”

“Naw, kid.” he sighed. “You’re pissing me off, with all of this that’s going on, but I could never hate you. You have to tell me what is going on later, though. Understand?” He teleported into the living room of their house, right in front of Alphys. “Hey Alph. The kid is sick.”

Alphys flinched and sweat began pouring down her forehead. “Uhhhh...h-hi S-Sans…” she looked like she wanted to disappear. She fiddled with her claws madly and looked towards the sliding glass door. “N-nice day today, isn’t it?” Outside, grey clouds rumbled. Twittering birds stopped singing as they sadly retreated into their nests. Alphys glanced around, as if looking for an escape.

“Looks like you’re not telling me something, Alph.” Sans mused. “Mind if ya spill the beans?”

Alphys shot a frantic look at Frisk, but she had dozed off again. A wave of anxiety flooded through the scientist. Sans’s smile was the same, but held a different meaning when his eye sockets were dark as night.

“TELL ME THE TRUTH, ALPHYS.” His voice was quiet and calm but pounded through her eardrums. Out of fear she made up her mind to comply.

“I-I might have h-helped Frisk’s f-friend come b-back from the dead,” she stuttered nervously. Sans looked unimpressed.

“But you don’t even know who Chara is! Yes, I know her name,” he noted Alphys’s shocked expression. “Come on Alphys. Frisk couldn’t have saved the entire underground...or even get past the ruins by herself. Someone had helped her.”

“Chara,” Alphys muttered. “But I don’t see how this could be a bad thing.”

Well, of course. Alphys didn’t remember the genocide run. He groaned inwardly.“Froggit about it…” he sighed lazily. “But there’s still this one thing that I need to know…Something you’ve known for a long time but never had told me...”

Alphys went completely rigid, caught off guard by his sudden, unrelated question…

“How come you never told me where Gaster is?”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Chara wouldn’t leave Flowey. Even if he was only a hollow creature with only memories of her beloved brother, she wouldn’t abandon him. Not him, and not ever again. “I see that you actually fight now,” Chara muttered. “But I still won’t leave.”

“NNGHH!” Undyne raised her hands, and spears erupted from the ground. Flowey ducked under the ground and reappeared behind Chara, who had jumped away from harm.

“...we can be together again…” Flowey whispered. Arrows came at them from all sides. Chara ran about, dodging the weapons flawlessly. She kept it for up for about ten minutes, until she started to feel exhausted. Flowey let his “friendliness pellets” loose, intending to hurt Undyne. “You stupid fish,” Flowey sneered.

“Flowey, wait,” Chara called. He turned and smirked at her. Vines erupted from the ground and wrapped around Undyne. She growled and pulled away from them in almost half the time, but it occupied her, taking her attention away from the spinning bullets centimeters from her head…

“Asriel!” Chara grabbed at his stem, panting heavily. “She’s...she’s not the enemy. She just thought that I had hurt Frisk…”

Flowey grinned. “Well, didn’t you?”

“There are other ways to beat someone, Asriel.”

His eye started to twitch and he started to breathe heavily. “You keep doing that Chara, and we’ll die again.”

Guilt rose in Chara’s chest, and she laughed it off. “Look how we’ve changed, Azzie~” Undyne, free from her bonds, stepped forward, her eyes burning with malice.

“I would gladly die for you, though...” Flowey flashed a wicked smile. “You’re the only one who understands me. You’re the only one who matters to me.” Chara’s heart was about to melt until-

“You’re the only one who’s fun to play with anymore…”

“Alright you fucking dandelion.” Undyne roughly yanked Chara by the neck, who let out choking sounds and clawed at Undyne’s arm. “Enough with your bullshit.”

“Put her down you fucking whale!” Flowey screeched. “She’s mine!”

“Oh, I’ll put the bitch down alright.” A spear appeared in her hand, and Flowey bristled, friendliness pellets appearing around him.

Suddenly, the area around them burst into flames. Flowey recognized the fire at once and disappeared into the earth. Undyne looked shocked as she looked up to see Toriel, her eyes aflame.

“LET GO OF MY CHILD,” she roared.

Amazed and shocked, she opened her hand and the girl fell, coughing erratically. Though the fire disappeared, the fish warrior backed away when Tori ran up to them. Slowly, carefully, she tilted Chara’s head up to peer closely into her face.

Brown eyes, light brown hair, green sweater, rosy cheeks...she looked just like how she last saw her...

The former queen started to shake. “C-chara, my daughter…” She embraced her suddenly, and Chara’s eyes went wide. When was the last time her mother held her like this?

“Mom...I’m…” her voice broke, and sobs tore her throat. Toriel picked her up, and she buried herself into her mother’s fur. “I missed you so much…”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

…remember what you did?

A knife slicing through her mother’s body. Chara’s screams went unheard as the monster crumbled to the floor and turned to dust.

But it was so simple.

Left arrow key, enter, enter, enter. Click click click...And then he won.

…

What a fun game.

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Chapter Text

CHAPTER 4

Alphys stood before Sans in a cold sweat. How could he have known?

“Gaster’s my father, Alphys. And according to the notes you leave all over the house, he has escaped the void somehow.”

The scientist rubbed her back nervously. “Uhhh...well, I-I don’t know for sure...that’s why I haven’t told you yet…”

Sans rolled his pinpricks. “Heh. Okay, whatever. Just help the kid already, would ya? We’ll talk about this later.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
…

…

“Wake up, Frisk.”

…

“It’s me, Chara.”

…

Frisk groggily opened her heavy eyelids. Chara’s face was peering down at her. “Finally, you’re awake. Everyone was freaking out about you.”

Her head lolled restlessly on her pillow and muttered the first thing that came onto her mind.
“Saans..ss?”

“Talking with Alphys,” Chara said quietly. “Too busy watching you to eavesdrop on them now.”

Frisk reached for Chara’s hand and she smiled. How sweet. “Plan...failed,” Frisk stared up at her apologetically.

“It’s fine, Frisk.” Chara shrugged. “It’s not the first time my plans have failed.” An image of Flowey flashed in her mind. She shuddered and pulled away, hugging themselves tightly.

“Chara...did you see Flowey earlier?” Because of their empathy link, it was probably impossible to keep things away from Frisk. Chara sighed.

“Yes, we were fighting Undyne together.” Chara dipped her head sadly. “Jeez...the way he acts...it really gets to me. He’s almost the opposite of how he was when he was Asriel. He used to be so sweet, so innocent, so pure and now…”

He wouldn’t hesitate to kill anyone. He wouldn’t even care…

In the genocide run, Chara remembered herself feeling so angry. angry at Asriel for making everything end up like this, angry at Frisk for being SO PATHETIC SO WEAK and furious at Sans for NOT DYING. She remembered towering over Flowey as he shook, overwhelmed with fear. “You’re not Asriel,” she had proclaimed. “You’re just a empty shell of what died long ago!”

...

“All of that’s not your fault. You didn’t do anything wrong,” Frisk whispered.

“No...,” Chara muttered. “I know that isn’t me now, but…” she sighed and layed her head on the side of the bed. “I’m too confused to think about this right now…”

“Do you love Asriel?”

Chara looked up in surprise. “Y-yes...he is...he was my best friend.”

“Do you love Flowey?”

Chara went quiet for a while, thinking. “I wouldn’t want him to get hurt...I care about him...But, you know…he’s not really him...” Chara looked at Frisk with sad, brown eyes. “I really miss Asriel. I really, really miss him. He’s the first to ever show kindness to me, and I just…” she shuddered angrily, her eyes blazing red for a split second. “Look what I’ve done.” Frisk stared at her levelly, not flinching one bit.

“You can’t hide anything from me,” Frisk muttered darkly.

Chara froze.

“I know how you felt when you saw Asriel, both times we fought him. Everytime he returned to his small, green-sweatered self, you would…”

“Shut up, Frisk.”

“You would start…”

“FRISK.”

“...telling me how adorable he was and showed me a memory…”

“FRISK, EVIL OR NOT I WILL HIT YOU.”

She laughed, and Chara’s face was bright red. “When you were younger, you wanted to marry him.”

“That was a long time ago,” Chara fumed.

“Yeah, well, based on the way you think, you still feel the same way…”

Chara tried to brush it off by rolling her eyes, but her rosy cheeks had transformed into a tomato red blush. “Whatever.”

Frisk smiled, then frowned and rubbed at her head. She closed her eyes sleepily. “You love Asriel,” she mumbled. Chara flushed.

“Oh, yeah?” Chara snarled. “Well, you like Sans!”

One second she was quietly laying in bed, and in the other she jumped into the air in shock. “NO! NO I DON’T!”

Chara let out a bark of laughter. “Oh wow, Frisk. You’re not lying. Not at all!” her voice was thick with sarcasm. After a moment’s silence she whispered, “I’m gonna tell him.”

Frisk shook her head. “Nooooo...Chara, don’t do it! I have so much to live for!”

She snorted. “Alright, Frisk. Alright.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Frisk had fully recovered within a week, much to everyone’s relief. Toriel was relieved, scared that she would lose a child in exchange of another. In fact, she spent much time fussing over her children. Undyne and Chara made up very quickly, and soon became friends. She joined Papyrus and Undyne’s cooking lesson every week.

Asgore nearly crushed his daughter and would not stop crying for about two hours when he realised that his daughter was alive. Chara was so pleased to see her father once again...

But still...something was wrong with Chara. It wasn’t unusual that she had nightmares, as Frisk and Sans had them too...but Chara would wake up in a fit, screaming and crying.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Asriel! Don’t leave me!” Chara kicked at Frisk, who was trying desperately to wake her up. She kicked at Frisk’s stomach and she fell backward, gulping for air. She struggled to her feet as Chara shot up in bed. She looked at a groaning Frisk, who was clutching her stomach. Chara burst into laughter, tears streaming down her cheeks.

After a few moments, she muttered through her giggles, “I’m sorry, Frisk.”

“How come you laugh whenever you’re upset?”

Chara shrugged. “Sans does the same thing.” She wiped her tears away. Her reddish brown hair covered their eyes, and she stood up. “Frisk, I’ve been thinking…” She got down from her bed, and Frisk followed. She went to her closet and pulled out a spade and pot.

“Oh.” Frisk understood immediately.

“I want As- Flowey here with us.”

“Oh. Well, tomorrow-”

“NO,” Chara hissed. She blinked and shook her head. “No,” She said more gently. “I-I can’t stand this anymore. Perhaps Alphys could help him…”

“Wait,” Frisk stepped back. “We go now?”

“Yeah.”

Frisk looked at Chara’s clock. “But...it’s one in the morning.”

“Yeah.”

“Can...Can you see how that could be a problem?”

“Yeah…”

“...Are you going to answer all of my questions the same way?”

“Yeah. But if we sneak out, we can keep him secret. Everyone here’s got an awful opinion of him.”

Frisk nodded. “...okay…”

Chara smiled. “You’re a lot like Asriel,” she muttered. She leaned forward and brushed the hair from Frisk’s forehead. Then without another word, Chara turned, jumped onto her desk, and opened her window. Cool air billowed through. She threw on a jacket. Frisk went to her room to get hers.

Two ropes were attached to the base of the window. Chara leaned under the desk to pull the rest of...a makeshift ladder! (“Uwa! I’m so badass”)

The girls climbed down the ladder and into Asgore’s garden. They scampered through the golden flowers and toward the broken barrier.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Finally, rest. Sleep without nightmares.

This is what Sans thought.

He was standing in the judgement hall with Frisk. It was a beautiful day outside. Birds were singing, flowers were blooming, and on days like this, kids like Frisk...should not be burning in hell; she had spared everyone and had made so many friends.

She looked older for some reason. Now she was exactly his height. She wore a blue dress, which was strange because she never wore dresses in the underground…

“Hey Sans…” The way she moved toward him made his soul flicker. His body moved my its own, wrapping his arms around her waist.

“Heya, Precious,” he muttered, knocking his forehead to hers. She hummed happily and rested her head on his shoulder. “I’m so glad that freak allowed us a Pacifist run.”

“Gareth perhaps feels bad for us…” Frisk snuck her hands under Sans’s jacket, tickling his ribs. He chuckled and pulled away. “...perhaps wanted to give us a happy ending.” Frisk then winced and put her hand to her forehead.

“Frisk,” Sans held her face in his skeletal hands. “You okay?”

She sighed. “Chara. Ever since the complete genocide run, she’s been acting...really scary. Killing Flowey had really…”

He froze.

…

…

The genocide run.

Oh, he remembered.

Sans remembered.

...

He remembered falling over, blood dripping down his front. He had smiled weakly, crawling pathetically away…

“Sans?”

His last words on his tongue, “Welp, I’m off to Grillby’s…”

“Sans!”

“Papyrus...do you want anything?”

“SANS!”

He blinked, and Frisk was shaking him. “Please, snap out of it!”

Tears were dripping down his face, and his eyes flashed blue. In one second, Frisk was slammed against the wall with his magic. Bones tore at her small, weak body.

“S...Sans…?”

He snapped out of his trance, and he stared at Frisk, shaking his head. “NononononoNO!” He teleported to her quivering form, tears flooding out of his eye sockets. “Sweetheart…” blood leaked from the bones in her chest. “ I-I’m s-so sorry…!”

Her health drained before she could respond. Sans could see the outline of Chara by Frisk.

“L O O K W H A T Y O U ‘ V E D O N E.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Sans jerked awake, sweat dripping down the side of his skull. Hands trembling, he scrambled out of his mess of bed sheets. He looked at his clock; it read 1:27 AM in red glowing numbers in the darkness of the room.

He needed to see Frisk. Usually after nightmares he would go into Papyrus’s room, but…

He had many questions about the dream he had. Was it a warning from the future? If so then… his dream/future self had mentioned that … someone had let them do a pacifist run...and there had been a complete genocide run beforehand…?

Why was he so intimate with Frisk in the dream…? If he wasn’t so terrified, he would have blushed. He would think more about this later.

He teleported in front of Frisk’s room, anxiety crawling through his bones. He rapped on the door.

…

But nobody came.

Well, of course. She was obviously asleep. It was better if he left her alone. He passed Chara’s room and glanced inside; the door was wide open.

…

The window was wide open as well. Sans peered closer. A ladder hung from the windowsill to the garden below.

…

He opened Frisk’s room and crept up to the bed. It was empty.

…

Frisk and Chara were gone.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“What the fuck is this? What the fuck is that?” Flowey’s commentary of the true lab was excellent, describing the area in a very unique and interesting manner. “Why the fuck is that there? The world may never know.” He crawled into a room, which was filled with flowers. He knocked all of the pots over, and they shattered onto the ugly green tiles. He giggled and tore at the petals of a flower, for no apparent reason. After destroying all of the dumb flowers, he stood there, petals waving ind boredom.

He had explored the laboratory before, but never in absolute detail. He decided to do so now, as he had nothing better to do.

Of course, after looking at everything he could find, he started to break more things. He shattered the entries, cackling, wishing for something more to break.

The love and compassion that he had felt because of the monster souls, when he was Asriel...those memories started to fade into the abyss. Chucking, he came to the strange machine...the “Determination extractor.”

It wasn’t worth anything to him. He began to pull it apart with his vines, giving in to his boredom. But something odd happened. As he began to tear at the base of the strange tool, liquid started to spill out of it.

But it was wasn't just any liquid. The substance was glowing. It was red.

Leaves cupped the liquid greedily, taking care to gather every last drop.

“Now this should be interesting.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The girls sat in the throne room, lazing around in their father’s flowerbed. Chara picked up a golden flower. “What a beautiful flower.” She started to pluck the petals off until it was only a bare stem. “It was a beautiful flower...” she laughed slightly, gazing at it with remorse.

Frisk looked around the familiar walls of the throne room. “This place brings back memories…”

Chara griminced. “I...I guess…” They were silent for awhile. Earlier they had decided to wait for Flowey to appear there; he would find them eventually. Plus, it was a good time to talk about things that they had never discussed with each other before…

“Chara. How was your life on the surface?”

She tensed up. “ W H A T?” She sent Frisk a smirk that sent shivers down her spine. Her eyes gleamed. “I D O N ‘ T W A N T T O T A L K A B O U T I T.”

Frisk sighed and dropped her gaze. “I’m sorry that it was bad up there for you."

“BAD? BAD?!” Chara jerked to her feet, eyes contorting into pitch black voids. “I WAS A CHILD, AND MY PARENTS SOLD ME FOR FOOD!” She gritted her teeth. “And I was experimented on along with other unwanted kids,” Chara had burst out the words before she could stop herself, and after a moment's pause, she took a step back.

Frisk was frozen. “Chara…?”

“Shut up,” she turned away from her.

Frisk sighed and looked at her feet. “I’m sorry.”

“I know.” her tone had grown softer, though there was still an edge to her voice. Chara sat on the ground beside her, and she could feel memories swirling around her…

Asriel was so afraid of what they were going to do. He was worried for Chara, and how much she hated herself. He didn’t want to kill humans, despite what they had done to his race. All his concern, his morality, and childlessness...he had put all that aside for her, for Chara.

Chara’s hold tightened around the flower pot. “He loves you,” Frisk muttered, obviously getting in on her thoughts. “I don’t know if it’s anything other that platonic, but he still really cares. Asriel cares so much about you that even Flowey somehow does as well. He loves you more than his own parents. So if you’re worried about how he feels about you...don’t be.” Chara shrugged, though her words made her feel a bit better.

Frisk sighed, wondering if they should actually look for Flowey. Chara disagreed. Moments passed, and Frisk was starting to fall asleep; it was very early in the morning. Chara didn’t mind… She straightened suddenly, hearing something behind her. She rose to her feet, eyes narrowed. She walked into the dark hall, leaving a sleeping Frisk behind her.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Standing in a dark filthy room.

... A girl around the age of seven huddled in the corner.

... Her body was on fire, tears dripping from her eyes as her senses were dulled with an ear-splitting headache.

... Pain is a good thing. It means you're still alive.

... Someone was laughing. He was crying out, "It worked!" Only one other child had survived the experiments she had gone through, and that was a long time ago.

... He said her name was Kerensa. Who was she?

... The laughter grew louder. It rung in her ears.

... All the other children were dead.

Seven who had survived similar experiments had run away. Only Frisk and another female had survived the DT shot.

... Who was she ...?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
She burst awake as pain erupted in her shoulder. She cried out, grabbing at it and scampering to her feet. Her brown eyes opened wide to see a small golden flower smiling up at her.

The smile was anything but friendly.

"I thought Chara got rid of you," Flowey laughed cheekily, a dark shadow crossing his face. "It doesn’t really matter though..." he shrugged as much as a flower could and winked at her. Vines crept around her ankles, keeping her in place. He glanced behind her at the pot and trowel with a cheeky grin. It faded into a glare. "What?!"he yelled as she bit her lip. "You feel bad for me, so you want take me home like a freaking houseplant, are you serious?" The vines grew around her torso, but she stayed silent. He shook her. "Answer me!"

"Not my idea," she whispered. Flowey narrowed his eyes, suspicion and confusion apparent in his beady orbs. Just then, voices echoed loudly in the hallway behind them.

"Sans, put me the fuck down."

"Nah."

"I'm serious!!"

"Well I'm sans,"

Chara and Sans appeared in front of them, the child looking very pissed and encased with the skeleton's magic. The vines around Frisk fell away, Flowey's eyes fixed on Chara like she was the only thing that mattered to him anymore. Which, in this case, was true. Sans dropped Chara on her face with a shit-eating grin on his skull. Flowey hissed angrily.

"What's wrong weed?" Sans smirked. "Didn't know you cared about someone other than yourself."

"Sans," Frisk's unusually hard tone held warning. She gestured for Sans to follow her and walked out of the room.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Chara and Flowey stared at each other. "You've gone to live with Frisk's 'friends',"he mumbled.

"Yeah."

"You've befriended Frisk..."

"Yeah."

"You don't want to kill anymore..." He looked hurt. Betrayed even.

"Yea- I've never wanted to kill just for the sake of killing, Asriel." Flowey tilted his head.

"No...but what happened in that last timeline...?" Chara sighed, wringed her hands and
glancing away from him. "I don't even know myself, Flowey. I feel like as if it was a compulsion..her determination, Frisk's soul willed her to do what she did. I didn’t make her do anything. Though..." She looked at her feet. “I probably helped that anomaly. I don't know what it was…”

"He."

The girl blinked. "Huh...?"

"You don't really know what he was."

Chara narrowed her eyes. "You don't think Gaster is the one who's causing this, do you...?"

"Perhaps he plays some part of it...but I'm talking about someone else." Flowey shook his head and sighed. "We can speak later of this. But I'm sure you know what I'm talking about..." He nodded to her. "Unless you really don't want to know..." They were silent for awhile.

Flowey looked very conflicted.

"Asriel..."

"I'm not him, Chara. Jeez." He shook his head at her. He smiled, though there was something behind his eyes that gave Chara hope. "Leave me alone. If I dare come with you, I may hurt some of your friends. Then you'd regret this decision you're making."

"Asriel I-"

"I can't feel anything, Chara. I'm not your friend, I'm not Asriel. I'm just a sick screwed up imitation of what died long ago. So if you're thinking of bringing me up to the surface with you, than forget it. So-"

"Y O U I D I O T," Chara glared at him. "Why can't you listen to me, just this once?! If you had listened to me before, you would still be alive. And I would have died for a purpose. And now..." She waved her hands in the air. "Now you refuse to accept my request." Flowey was silent. He sighed and gave her a cheeky smile.

"Fine," He declared. "I'll go with you." Then to himself, he muttered, "I'm just worried that I might hurt you..."

Chara narrowed her eyes. "What was that?"

The flower sighed once more. "I said..."

... "I said I'd never doubt you."

``````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````

Chapter Text

CHAPTER 5

"Thanks for sneaking out in the middle of the night in order to take a psychopathic flower home," Sans mused.

"How did you know where we went?"

He shrugged. "Footprints."

"Ah. I see."

…

"...Frisk. Now that you have complete control over yourselves versus the previous timelines...can you still reset?"

"...I’m guessing so. Though,.." She smiled at Sans. “I would never.”

Chara left the throne room, arms wrapped around the flowerpot Flowey resided it. His eyes were huge, and practicality shivering with excitement. None of the others questioned this behavior. But damn, he was really full of it. When Sans teleported away to fetch an umbrella (it had started to rain on the surface), Flowey had dragged Frisk through the mud with his vines, despite Chara’s protests. Sans was not happy when he appeared once more, wrapping his arm around her and trying to rub the dirt off her as much as he could.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

They had all arrived home, Frisk was damp and cold but everything was fine all the same. Chara was excited that Flowey was with her... she couldn't wait to show what was left of her best friend the beauty of the above ground... especially the sunset. Especially the sunset. In fact, she held the pot close to her as she lay in bed that night, mumbling random but a beautiful string of words to describe the transition of day to night…

“Slowly, slowly, slowly, the sun gradually sinks, turning a dazzling gold, setting the blue sky to pink. There’s a whisper in the air...that’s the wind, Asriel...You can close your eyes the stress of the day...float off... Golden droplets fall, dipping green leaves gold. Above the ground, ...the transition of day to night changes to a whole different mold of beauty. Without a single warning, the sun disappears. The sky fades into the shade of dark blue...Indigo! The sky's a velvet blanket of dust,... and is studded with jewels. The stars twinkle.... and sing a song to the Earth. The Earth smiles back. As the Moon arises. . .shedding her rippling cloak of black. Her beams fall upon the grass, the trees, announcing arrival of night.Soon they are bathed in silver. . .a blue-white bath... of heavenly light.”

She was silent for a long while.

“Chara…” The flower touched her chin with his vine. “Are you already asleep?” The whisper of her lost brother’s name and a small smile on her face was her only response. Flowey turned away, something building up inside of him... What was it? After a moment’s pause, he gently butted his petals against the girl’s face. She giggled in her sleep, and he couldn't help but smile. He looked out the window, his eyes meeting black. Her speech about the sunset was nice, he decided. But, it needed an ending...He spoke in a way he hadn't spoken in a long time, his voice soft and sweet…

"Stillness, hushes the last twittering birds

Stillness, brings back the memories

Stillness, presents those sweet and simple dreams

Stillness, falls upon everything"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Though he knew at perhaps he couldn't truly care for her, he vowed to keep her safe.
Besides, when she had gotten a body of her own, the determination the Frisk had been split, making them less determined.

Flowey smirked to himself. Now he was even more determined than them. Never before had he felt so excited when he finally spotted that sparkling warm save point in the throne room.

He had the power to reset once more.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Papyrus used to have nightmares about Gaster when he was younger. He would cry in his sleep and it made Sans so unhappy to see such a positive skeleton be so down. Sans...didn’t have nightmares about Gaster at all, however.

One would have to fall asleep to have nightmares.

Alphys and Sans had been working on injecting DETERMINATION into monsters, with no avail. Their entries were scattered among the true lab, Sans’s entries easily distinguished from her’s because of the lack of grammar. But even with Gaster’s blueprints and the scientists’ knowledge, their plan was a failure. The monsters could no longer withstand their normal form, and many melted together, creating amalgamates.

...

…

It was 11:30 in the morning, and Sans was still asleep. Even with Papyrus yelling and banging on his door, he was determined not to budge from his mess of a bed. He had been thinking about the dream about Frisk he had, and decided that this may as well be a snippet from a future timeline.

...But it couldn’t be, right? Not with him acting like that, with her...

He covered his hands with his face and groaned. Frisk was sweet and very cute but she...was only a child. In monster culture, age gap did not really matter unless either of them were of “age”, which, similar to human culture, 18.

She was only 14. He sighed and vowed not to ever think about this again. And so he tried.

…

And so he failed.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Frisk,” Chara knocked on her sister’s door. “Frisk?”

But nobody came…

She huffed and kicked open the door. Frisk was in bed, her head covered by the bulky blue covers. Heat radiated from her body. Chara placed her hand on her forehead. It was burning to the touch. Seemed like being dragged through the mud in the rain had made her sick. Again. She reminded herself to scold Flowey for this later.

“My head hurts…” she groaned, shivering violently.

“You have a fever,” Chara sighed. “What do you want me to do about it?”

“We could reset~!”

Chara jumped as Flowey appeared, a large smirk on his face. He cocked his head innocently. “Whaaaaaaat…? You guys really haven’t noticed?” Chara snorted.

“No. Obviously not. So you can tell us right now. Nothing’s stopping you,” Chara spat, agitated.

Flowey gave a genuinely concerned look before grinning again. “Okay then~!” He laughed. “I’m gonna tell ya guys something reeeeally interesting!” He winked, beckoning the girls’ souls out of their bodies. “Looky here! You guys split your determination evenly! When you guys shared a body, you guys had twice as much as determination as you do now! Hmm...but now you guys have half. I guess sharing is caring…” He tried to hide a snicker with a cough. “But now, it seems that you’re not the most determined person around here! Now, who do you think is the determined one now?”

“You mean…?” Chara gasped.

“Yep~!” he crooned. “Little old me! And now I have the power to reset! So- h-hey!” Flowey flailed as Chara pinched his cheek. “What the fuck, Chara?”

“Woah,’ she scolded. “There are ladies present. Can I have my soul back now?”

Flowey let the souls back into their regular position, speechless. He looked at Frisk for a more interesting reaction. But she had fallen asleep. “You two are no fuuun…” he whined, swinging his head back and forth.

“Trust me,” Chara mumbled. “I know.” She looked at Flowey with absolute seriousness. “I need to tell you something, okay? You shouldn’t reset. You shouldn’t fool around with timelines.”

Flowey rolled his eyes. “And why is that?”

Chara’s eyes flashed red and a wicked, detached smile twisted her features. “YOU ALREADY FAILED ME ONE. DO IT AGAIN, AND I WILL HARM YOU.”

He winced, then sighed in defeat. “Fine... For you.”

Chara found this slightly endearing.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

A special someone had arrived later that afternoon. No one could tell who it was (sarcasm) , from the loud dubstep music booming out of a pink limousine, a loud “OH YES!” for a horn as the vehicle zoomed across the street. The door was opened, and a red carpet rolled out across the driveway. Mettaton himself waltzed out, followed by a equally FABULOUS Napstabot. (Who tripped around adorably, the cinnamon roll)

Sans, Flowey, Chara and Undyne “mysteriously” disappeared as the doorbell rang. Papyrus, however, screeched with joy and the door flung open. “METTATON!” he looked behind him to see Napstabot. “NAPSTABOT! IT’S SO VERY NICE TO SEE YOU BOTH! WHAT BRING YOU HERE TO THE LOVELY HOUSE OF THE GREAT PAPYRUS and Dreemurrs??!”

“Please, uh...please, call me Blooky...if you don’t mind, that is…” Nabstabot’s humanoid blue eyes gleamed shyly. Papyrus squealed loudly.

“A NICKNAME?!” He snatched him up for a warm hug. “IT’S LIKE WE ARE SUCH GREAT PALS ALREADY!!! WHICH IS CONVENIENT! I, THE GREAT PAPYRUS, AM ALREADY YOUR SHOW’S NUMBER ONE FAN!!!!!!!!!!”

“Yes, darling. That I’ve heard,” Mettaton let out a pleasant laugh as Papyrus put down a happier looking Napstabot. “That is why I have here for you, tickets for my first live performance this Saturday!” His tone was loud and expressive, if he were advertising the tickets.

Alphys was walking through the hall when she spotted Mettaton. “O-oh! Metta-”

“Darling~~! Good to see you, as always!” He threw his robotic arm around her shoulder. “As I was saying,” He pulled out 8 glittery tickets, words written in fancy cursive. “Tickets. For free! Even one for the other human I heard about. So.” He looked around, eyes narrowed. “Where is she…?”

In the basement of the home, Flowey and Chara shuddered in fear, pulling each other closer in fear that they would have to see other people. And … do … things… (le gasp)

“That’s okay, Mettaton!” Alphys laughed awkwardly. “You can see her on the day of your performance.”

He sniffed disdainfully, but then covered it up with a dazzling smile. “You are correct, my dear doctor Alphys. I will see all of you then.” He posed dramatically for all to see, and wished them farewell. Napstabot blushed and dipped his head adorably to both Alphys and Papyrus, little tears falling out of his eyes as he scampered after Mettaton. Papyrus waved enthusiastically even as the limousine pulled away and was out of sight.

“...Is he gone?” Undyne was in the kitchen. She had been leaning against the wall and only revealed herself once he left.

Alphys rolled her eyes. “Yes, he is.” She put her hands on her hips. “There’s no need for you to hide.”

“I’m not going to his preformance.”

Toriel was baking pie, as usual. “Well, that’s not very kind, my child. Mettaton is your girlfriend’s friend, you know. You should learn to get along.”

Undyne snorted. “Eh. Maybe I’ll go to cheer on Napstablook. Er- Napstabot.” She huffed and gave Alphys a tender kiss to her cheek as she passed. “Hey Papyrus, you wanna buy some spaghetti?”

Papyrus’s discomfort at his best friend talking trash about his idol faded as quick as the speed of light. “WOWIE! CAN WE BUY THE SPIRAL NOODLES THIS TIME??!”

“Only if they’re on sale,” Toriel recommended.

The friends raced each other to buy store brand noodles (and possibly ravioli) in order to start their cooking lesson.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Chara and Flowey were back in Frisk’s room, and because Frisk had refused to drink anything, (she was too tired to do so), she had a temperature of 104 degrees F. Asgore was out at the moment, buying more flowers for his garden, so Chara decided to call him to bring some medicine for Frisk. She grabbed Frisk’s phone. “Hey Siri?” Siri activated immediately. “Call daddy.” Siri responded and dialed the number.

…

…

You wouldn’t believe what happened next.

At that second, Sans teleported into the room, his phone ringing as he rubbed at his eyes. “What is it?”

Chara twitched as she glanced back at the contact: ‘Bone Daddy <3 (XXX)-XXX-XXX.’ Flowey, who was perched on her shoulder, cocked an eyebrow in confusion. HE, surprisingly, had not yet lost his innocence.

...If you didn’t count the bloodlust and killing, that is…

“What does ‘Bone Daddy’ mean?”

Sans’s eyes flew open as he made a startled sound. He leaned close to look at Frisk’s phone. He stiffened and immediately turned away, his face as blue as Undyne’s skin. “G-god d-dammit Frisk…”

“No, seriously, what does it mean?” Flowey asked.

Chara started to laugh, dropping onto the floor and hitting the carpet with her fists. “Ahahahahhaaa…! Frisk, what the hell- hahaha…!”

The sick child simply frowned and shifted in bed, mumbling something about butterflies.

Chara was actually crying now and her chest was starting to hurt. Sans glared at her, his face still flushed. She wriggled her eyebrows at him. “I knew that Frisk was a flirt, but I didn’t know that she’d refer to you as…” she smirked as Sans looked nervously away. “...that.”

“Chara, what does it mean?” Flowey asked.

“Here you go, search it up.” Chara handed him the phone, and little vines took it away from her, google searching it.

“That’s really not funny,” Sans muttered. “That’s weird she’d would use a name like that...for a...for a family member…”

Chara shrugged. She starting to speak in a sing -song way. “Perhaps she doesn’t think of you that way. Perhaps she likes you more than you think. Perhaps…” she smirked as sweat trickled down the side of his skull. “...perhaps you feel the same way…?”

“What the heck,” Sans glared at her. “I don’t know what you’re trying to do here, but it’s not funny...or right at all. She’s a kid.”

“She won’t be one forever,” Chara argued. “Four years ‘till she can date anyone she wants. That time will go past very quickly, I’ll tell you that.

Sans was silent before teleporting away. Chara smirked to herself, certain that Sans was open to this idea, though he had tried hard not to show it.

...hope always had a way of creeping up on people, didn’t it?

…

“I really need to call dad now,” Chara told Flowey. “You find out what it means yet?”

Flowey coughed and dropped the phone into her hand. “I hate my life.”

She laughed. “Join the club.”

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