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Chara watched as the kid reached the end, the barrier, fresh from their latest kill. They were younger? Maybe older? It didn't matter, they were a child, a murderer just like them.
They could feel it, the amount of death, of power, of violence they radiated from the bright red soul their body contained. It was deadly still in their chest, and Chara wasn't even sure that the other was alive as they studied the way the kid stood there without so much as a twitch.
They stared ahead with closed eyes, a thin lip, emotionless and completely devoid of any sign of personality. The way their attention didn't even flicker as the darkness swallowed them both, how their soul stayed bare and open to the world, as if they didn't care about their life.
Or perhaps… The life wasn't theirs to care about, their power to control.
Chara’s eyes drifted away from the blank face of the other child, back down to the soul. It sat there, idly, but filled with power and determination. It couldn't be this child's determination, with how little they seemed to care about the world around them. That soul. Who's determination was it that kept it going?
Chara frowned and let their gaze settle beyond the child in front of them, glaring at the endless nothing that didn't seem as empty as it appeared.
That always there boiling hatred stirred in their mind, the one that drove them to the mountain, the one that got them and Asriel killed, the one that they never seemed to be able to escape. They remembered why they couldn't truly escape it, because even when the humans locked the monster's away they always came to punish them once more for crimes they didn't commit. To have fun with them knowing that they'd always get their way.
Disgusting. Chara couldn't help but let their everlasting grin widen. A shield of theirs, something that could be weaponized, never knowing what's beneath, never allowing for weakness to show. Chara was smiling crazily at the one who had killed so many monsters to achieve the amount of power they hold now. Did they find it satisfying? Fun? Worth it?
Chara remembered when they first fell down, believing the fall would kill them, only to hear a worried voice and soft paws helping them up. They were angry at first, upset, wanting to get away from others. Then they learned that not everybody, not every race, was as horrible as the other.
They hadn't learned enough before they ended up leading Asriel to their death.
They've had plenty of time to think about everything, plenty of time to see the life they could no longer partake in, and finally got to learn.
They're lesson wouldn't bring back Asriel for their parents that they left behind and hurt, it wouldn't free the underground like they were meant to so long ago, it wouldn't bring back all the monsters that died to the humans that trapped them for slaughter in the first place. It would, however, give them a chance to do one thing right.
And that was to get rid of the true monster in front of them.
They saw, felt, the kid get stronger. With every monster killed, the more greedy the other got, the more alive Chara felt. The more powerful Chara got.
Yet, it still wasn't enough to stop them. After all, it wasn't their soul that they were drawing from, they weren't in control.
Until they began to be, and that power was exhilarating, addicting even, after being nothing for so long. They wanted more of it, and the soul delivered, and Chara hated how their smile never once dropped after they decided it was going to be them that ended this, even when they watched the monsters drop like flies in front of them, even when it began to feel more like they were the one holding the monster's life that crumpled into dust.
Chara knew that it wasn't them who first gained the first level. Wasn't them who chased down each and every monster until none could be found, before marching forward to repeat it over and over. Until nobody could be found. Until there was nothing more to gain.
But it was Chara who failed them. Who let them rot down here for a human to hurt them, and who was now using their deaths to bring them justice.
However, it wouldn't matter in a few moments, not when Chara got full power over the soul, not when they could make it right.
Rewinding time or destroying it wasn't impossible if you were determined enough, just like how dying becomes irrelevant with a determined enough soul.
Chara would make sure that the soul sitting in front of them would never be satisfied with their life again, would always be haunted by their choices, a lesson forever taught. It was the least they deserved after all.
Finally, Chara brought themselves through the darkness, set in their decision. Determined.
“Greetings. I am Chara.” They introduced themselves, almost cheekily, not waiting nor expecting an introduction back. Not when they stole their name anyways.
“Thank you, your power awakened me from death.” They wished that they could see any sort of indication that the kid could hear them, as Chara longed for any sort of reaction. They've been ignored for so long being dead, but they felt like they were getting plenty of attention, of emotion, from the soul. The child serving as a husk in front of them melted into the background with how little importance they actually held, Chara bringing the soul forward.
“My ‘human soul…’ My ‘determination…’ They were not mine, but yours.” Chara could practically taste the power that lingered in front of them, but stood there patiently. They had a little bit more to say, and a lot more convincing to do.
“At first I was so confused. Our plan had failed, hadn't it?” Chara didn't add any context, that part of their story not for others to hear. Not when they couldn't show their own weakness, their own mistakes and naivety, with so much on the line. “Why was I brought back to life?”
“...” They paused, letting the air become thicker, enjoying the atmosphere. It was time to really put on a good show, they couldn't think they had a choice. Not if Chara wanted the power just in their reach. “You. With your guidance. I realized the purpose of my reincarnation.”
A nice dramatic swing of the arms, now wide on either side of them, and Chara forced their aching face to grin wider. “Power. ”
“Together, we eradicated the enemy and became strong. HP. ATK. DEF. GOLD. EXP. LV. Every time a number increased, that feeling…” Chara leaned in and added an edge to their tone, a bit of their hunger for power bleeding through. “That's me. Chara.”
They stood up straight again, hands clasped behind their back. “Now. Now we have reached the absolute. There is nothing left for us here.” Here came the hook, hopefully they'd take the bait. “Let us erase this pointless world, and move on to the next.”
With an inviting hand out, Chara was still met with an immediate resounding “Do Not.” But the moment of weakness, of “choice” that Chara allowed, that took the power of the soul, the soul itself, to make, was exactly what Chara needed.
“No…? Hmmm… How curious. You must have misunderstood.” Chara let the power flow over them, slipping into their very being and overflowing them with power. Corrupt, tainted, but oh so much power. It seeped out of their eyes and mouth and all Chara could do was laugh from the pure feeling. “SINCE WHEN WERE YOU THE ONE IN CONTROL?”
As Chara finally took a swing with their own arm, slashing through a life they truly felt good about taking, one they've worked and sacrificed the power for, they let everything drown in darkness.