Chapter Text
“Well, we’re here again,” the voice mutters, Frisk nods to them self, knowing that the petulant hitch-hiker could see the gesture. The small voice was almost soothing now after how long they’d been stuck together.
“Why don’t I take the wheel for a bit?” They asked, “I know your script for this fight by heart, it’d be easy,” they were doing their absolute best to sound innocent but after so many resets and reloads the two had gotten to know each other pretty well, and Frisk knew what happened when they, no, Chara had control.
Chara had felt what they were thinking about and did their best to blow a raspberry, it had been a very long time since that had happened; she’d even gotten control for a few seconds when Frisk had been too tired to finish a fight, simply finishing what Frisk had been doing and then waiting patiently for her host to wake up. They grinned slightly as they felt Frisk’s soul pulse slightly and heard a muffled giggle through their ears.
They both knew Chara wouldn’t be able to fight Undyne, they both got a little too into the action and wouldn’t be to hold back, they knew from experience.
Dust, so much dust and all they could do was stare in horror. She didn’t mean to…. Frisk had trusted her… They ran to the collapsed pile of armour and gripped it tightly, hoping beyond hope that it was hallucination and she’d feel the familiar pain as a spear ran her through.
They had sat there for hours before numbly reloading, they didn’t say anything for the rest of that run.
Frisk could feel Chara pulling away slightly at the memory, could faintly hear the muttered apologies, they shook their head and whispered reassurances to their friend. That had been so long ago, over a hundred resets had happened since then.
They looked up as the familiar royal guard began their speech whilst Frisk did their best to pull Chara’s consciousness back, reminding her of the familiar thought of Undyne with a giant anime sword. The familiarity of the thought pulled the unwilling Chara back, this fight always gave Frisk the most trouble, they couldn’t get the rhythm right without her help.
“Left, right, right, forward back,” she whispered, nodding her head to the familiar beat, watching as Frisk blocked each of Undyne’s attacks. “Now right, right forward left,” grinning slightly despite herself, the soldier was the easiest fight for Chara, the attacks were to a familiar rhythm, she held her arms in a familiar position as she began to play the pretend instrument. “Forward, forward, left, right duck,” she could almost hear the notes that the instrument should play. There was a slight hiss of pain as the last hit just caught Frisk’s arm, leaving a small cut in their sweater, a few droplets of blood catching the edges as they regained their balance. “You’re doing good, now left, wait, right, right wait,” Chara encouraged.
Frisk smiled slightly as they almost danced around the spears, waiting for their guest to take back the rare compliment; instead they heard a gentle piano medley.
The rest of the fight was practically a blur for Chara, she just continued with her instructions, barely paying attention to what they could see, the warmth radiating from Frisk’s soul was a new distraction. She was surprised Undyne hadn’t seemed to notice; surely Frisk was showing something, or they could feel the heat of their soul as well as she could.
Slowly, her hand reached out and touched the pulsing heart, feeling Frisk’s everything as she did so, it felt wrong to touch but the heat was pulling her in, they could feel their eyes close slightly the soul beat beneath their touch. This feeling… She had never felt anything quite like this before, they felt so close and it was… Comforting?
They should be in the clear now, Undyne should be walking away after Frisk had poured the water to cool them off, and she cast a glance to the outside world as she pulled her hand away. The familiar wooden bridge in Hotland sending cold darts to the centre of her being, she could feel when Frisk rolled over onto their back to look at the imposing figure above them.
“Go, run!” Chara screamed, watching numbly as Undyne pulled her arm back.
“What are you doing, do something,” she added, eyes widening as a spear appeared in the guard’s hand.
“I’m sorry,” Frisk mumbled as they slowly pushed them self away from the fearsome soldier.
The vicious grin followed them, almost taunting them as she followed them across the bridge, barely feeling the dirt that now clung to their sweaty palms.
“You will be,” the guard said, throwing the spear forward Chara pushed Frisk, taking hold for a brief moment before a long forgotten feeling cut through their being.
“No!” they screamed as one second they were watching the pulsing red heart to being surrounded by uncomfortable heat, feeling their sweat covered body convulse in unimaginable agony.
She could still hear an unforgettable shattering ringing through her ears as the red gleam faded, looking down at the dull shards that floated before her chest, their body shaking as she attempted to look at the one who did this.
Undyne.
Who was just staring at them, for a second she looked smug as she prepared to contain Frisk’s soul, but as time went on and the screams didn’t die down, her face started to twist with confusion then fear, realising that the child before them wasn’t dying and was staring at them with eyes filled with anger and hatred and so much pain. Surely this wasn’t normal, surely something was supposed to happen other than this screaming.
Chara wanted her pain to stop, she couldn’t hear Frisk’s quiet, reassuring tone in her ear, she couldn’t feel the warming presence at the back of her head.
She wanted the soul now being gripped to her chest to be whole again, for the familiar tug of a reload or a reset, but the pain still tore her apart.
She wanted the monster before her to die for what she just did, to hit her over and over again until she was just dust.
But she couldn’t move, everything hurt too much to attack the one before her, so Chara could only watch as Undyne backed away, never once taking their eyes off the child’s chest, off the shattered remains of Frisk’s soul that were right there, incredibly exposed against the blue and purple sweater.
Slowly, she curled in on herself, wrapping their thin frame around the soul, desperately trying to protect it from further harm.
Reload, please reload, don’t abandon me now.
Something pulled on the back of their sweater, but Chara didn’t care, she just held the shards close as she wailed, a heart wrenching screech that rang through everything within earshot.
Please Frisk…
Please.