Soft Reset

[buttercup_eater]

As everything fades away when they die, coming back to life is like seeing everything fading into existence again.

The first thing they're aware of is light, and that they can see, rather than seeing anything in specific.

The second thing they're aware of is sensation, the weight of their limbs pressing into a smooth, stone surface.

Where are they, exactly?

Chara tries to focus, blinking a few times in the hopes of clearing their vision. An empty stone hallway, rather like the one they last died in, with high windows flooding the area with sunlight.

They take a deep breath and try and push themselves into an upright position, only to be hit with a wave of sudden dizziness and have to flop back onto the floor. Okay, that's not good. What happened?

They can remember their SOUL shattering, and laughing so hard their sides were aching. Sans. Bruises. Blood. Theirs? No, not at first. Chasing the other child down unfamiliar hallways. Messy. No EXP increase, no LV.

No partner.

Chara waits a moment, just in case any input is forthcoming, but even after several minutes they remain alone. Once again, they're going to have to do everything themselves.

They manage to sit up with only a minimal amount of dizziness, then lurch to their feet. Minus the dizziness, it's rather like the last time they died and woke up again.

The knife is nearby, again, and they pick it up, again. Their locket is also still hanging from their neck, and they can still feel it faintly beating. But there's also a strange weight in their pocket, and when they slip a hand inside to check- oh. Right. An... alternative version of their locket, they guess.

Gripping the locket tightly, they set out to find their purpose once again.

[As with Frisk's post, this is set three days after their death.]

Comments

have some cryptic infodumping

[buttercup_eater]

Chara is silent for a moment, glancing away from the other child as they try to think over the situation as quickly as possible.

The other child doesn't know about Chara's partner, even though Chara was still revived in their timeline. They also don't know how or why Chara was revived, and was able to progress through the Underground without killing anyone. The other child hadn't had much of a stomach for violence- Chara's fairly sure that was why they'd given up their control over their body to Chara.

It sounds as if Chara's partner was unable to direct the two of them in the other timeline, even after Chara's revival.

And now they have to try and somehow explain all this to someone who probably can't understand.

"Someone who awoke me in the first place," they say, "Who needed me to access our world, and who needed my guidance. I'm afraid I don't have a name to offer you, but I came to think of them as my partner. Perhaps in your timeline, our connection to them was severed early on.

"Our goal was to gain power. To become stronger. To eradicate our enemies and increase our EXP. I'd almost reached LV 20 when Sans came along, and- well, you know what happened next.

"Which reminds me. I made an interesting discovery when I killed you. I thought killing you might be enough to increase my LV. But as it turns out, you aren't worth any EXP."

have some attempted armor-piercing questions in return

[dustless]

Little stomach for violence, yes, but they can handle it if they think they need to.

Frisk turns this new information over in their head.

They felt out of their own control sometimes, but they'd always thought it was Chara. No--when they saw the tapes, the tapes that told the truth, Chara had tried to make them leave. Frisk had wanted to leave. But something else had made them stay. Their own curiosity outweighing their horror, they'd thought at the time, but maybe...maybe...there'd been more to it than they'd realized.

It makes more sense that way. Chara wouldn't kill monsters on their own, there was never anything prompting them like that.

Frisk looks at them for a long time.

Then, slowly, deliberately, they step forward.

"...Whoever it was isn't here anymore, are they? Don't need EXP, from me or from anybody, now. Monsters aren't enemies, Chara. You know that. You died for that." Might as well use the information they've got, even if they hadn't wanted it.

And that reminds them.

"Before...before Sans. In the end. Did you ever want to stop? Because...Papyrus. He said stuff to you, didn't he." Not really a question, and not from Sans telling them he had. He's just that kind of person. "Did you...did he make you think about it?"

[buttercup_eater]

Chara watches Lucas very carefully while he appraises them, feeling an inward pang of annoyance at not being the only one who's hard to read.

They nod, tightly, when he identifies them. "Correct," they say. "And since you know who I am, I expect you know what I am.

"So. At this point you'll either want to attack me, or interrogate me. I hope it's the former. I've already had to answer several questions today."

[buttercup_eater]

Chara tilts their head to the side and purses their lips, in an exaggerated "considering" pose.

"Probably," they conclude, after a moment.

[lovetheme]

"What you are?" His face has been difficult to read up to this point, yes, but now a bit of confusion does cross his features. Lucas blinks. "I mean...I guess? Seems like you're a kid."

This is stated as if it's evident--which it is, as far as Lucas can tell. Chara looks like a perfectly normal kid to him, and he's honestly not really sure what they'd mean otherwise.

But more words follow, and it's Lucas's turn to tilt his head slightly, considering them with a very small frown. "I don't want to attack you." It's sincere; he'd given his word that he'd do his best not to.

Though...he does have a lot of questions of his own, that's true. But clearly Chara doesn't feel like fielding many of those right now; and so, after a moment's thought, Lucas ventures some sort of compromise. "I do have a few questions. But I think you're pretty new to this place, right? Do you still have any questions of your own? Could try to answer those, too...I've been here a little while now."

[buttercup_eater]

Chara keeps trying for a while regardless, thrashing back and forth in a determined attempt to throw themselves off of Tauriel and down the stairs to freedom. Presently, their movements slow, but instead of ceasing Chara continues to shake uncontrollably, tremors running up and down their spine.

They don't speak, but their breathing grows louder, hissing through Chara's clenched teeth.

[lostinmyway]

Unlike Chara, her response comes immediately: "I won't let you do that."

[lightofthestars]

Now aware of the child's attempts to escape, Tauriel easily keeps them in place. When the shaking begins, she wonders if they have somehow made themself ill on purpose. If so, she will look over them once they are in the tower. It is not far now, the Belain be praised.

"You know that one who has committed a crime must be punished," she tells them (though she does not think she will achieve anything by it). "It will be easier if you accept your fate."

[buttercup_eater]

The silence is palpable. One downside of not sharing a body, they realize, is that it's harder to pick up on what the other child is thinking.

Even through the other child's staring, even when they take that slow step forward, Chara holds their ground. They're not afraid of a little confrontation after all.

(Though they do tighten their grip on their knife.)

When the other child speaks, it takes a moment for their words and the implications to sink in- but then Chara recoils, their arms springing out in front of them as if to try and shove the other child away.

"What do you know about it!?" they snap, before they can even stop themselves. "If you know anything then you can see how well that worked out for everyone."

And then the other child asks another question.

Chara's brow furrows. Papyrus? That sounds familiar, but...

"...I killed a lot of people, you know. And I heard a lot of things. Who's Papyrus?"

Whelp. Hope this is okay!

[sansational]

Sans has been listening to all of this, of course. A lot of this information is new. Some of it, he simply refuses to believe, and it's easy to refuse because it's Chara the human saying it.

There have been several points where he's thought of speaking up, but hasn't. He's tired, and if he kills them they'll just come back (again and again and again) and he really did promise to let Frisk try and handle this. Even then, he's had to muffle a snort of bitter disbelief whenever Chara started talking about "someone else" calling the shot. Sure, human.

He doesn't technically need to breathe, but Sans still catches a breath and holds it when Frisk asks that question. He doesn't know what difference the answer will make, if he's brutally honest with himself. He doesn't even entirely know why he wants to know. Just that he does. Just that it's one thing among many to keep him up nights since the fight.

But of all the answers Sans had been expecting...somehow, that one still catches him entirely unprepared. Just like their killing blow had. Enough that his hand flies up to his ribcage, so sure for a moment that he's going to feel blood because that's the only thing that could bring this much pain.

(Papyrus was his brother and Papyrus was important and Papyrus was so sure that they could be better, so sure that even Sans hoped, and by the time he'd realized there was never any hope at all he'd been too late he was always too late and he's not supposed to have to go on without his brother, with a piece ripped out of his soul and bleeding, always bleeding...)

Everything goes...cold and sharp and strange. His mind is empty of anything but that question and the bad memories it brings. His soul is full of hate. His arm hurts so, so much and it's such a good pain and Sans almost hopes it keeps going.

Sans stares down at his hands, shaking hard enough to blur. Then he clenches them tight, and smiles, even as he feels the tears start to gather and fall. Chara will feel their soul turned blue as the first warning they get, just before Sans steps almost sedately out of his hiding place around the corner.

"'who's papyrus?'" He shrugs expansively, grinning widely at the human over Frisk's shoulder. "well, let me tell you..."

Then he swipes a hand forcibly through the air, trying to push and slam Chara bodily into the wall again. This time, he's hoping so, so much to hear that sickening crack of their skull.

ᕕ( ᐛ )ᕗ

[dustless]

Their expression's rather muted. There's some anger there, some hurt, some disappointment, but that's not all they're there for. They aren't finished talking.

Frisk starts to answer, opening their mouth--

And then Sans is there.

They jerk around halfway so they can see him and keep an eye on Chara at the same time. "What--? Sans?" Surprise is the only thing in their voice, now, since they were supposed to be alone--it'd been like the entire world was only the two of them. Sans shouldn't be here.

...Sans very much shouldn't be here, they register, slowly. Too slowly.

[buttercup_eater]

Seems like a...?

Chara's eyebrows lift. "Typical of a human," they say, "To go by appearances. If I were you, I'd forget about the 'kid' part. And worry more about my being a murderous demon."

They suppose they're disappointed when Lucas says he doesn't want to attack them. And even as he dismisses his own questions, they're sure he's hoping for another information exchange.

Still, Chara decides to take Lucas at his word. They take a step forward.

"Why don't you want to attack me? Don't you want to protect your friends?"

[buttercup_eater]

"Won't you?" they say, with a smile. "Many have tried to stop me from hurting others. But not a single person has succeeded. What makes you think you could do anything?"

[lovetheme]

A murderous demon? Well then. Hm. Lucas's frown deepens a bit, at this news, but he only considers Chara a little harder for a moment, as if trying to discern something now. Something that might be unearthly, maybe, or particularly demonic. ...He reaches with that sense that prickles at him sometimes, the same sense that draws on his PSI--but he can't really tell anything in particular, at least for the moment. (Not so surprising anyway--Chara's claim might very well be true, and his own senses just aren't too refined. He could never really pin down the feeling of the Magypsies back home, either.)

"Calling people you just meet demons is usually sort of rude, back home," he informs Chara at length. "Didn't want to assume anything. But I guess I ended up assuming anyway..."

Chara steps forward, and Lucas doesn't move. He watches them gravely, and answers without much of a pause. "Promised I wouldn't." Well, technically, he promised he'd run, in this particular case...but he'd promised he wouldn't fight in general too, on his first day here. It's not untrue. Lucas does pause slightly after that, though, lining up another conclusion that he'd come to at length over his orange collection earlier. "Not sure it'd do much good, either. A fight needs to end with somebody collapsing, or dying. But you might be used to that. And there's not any way to really leave this castle...not even by dying, I guess."

Lucas rests a hand on the edge of his basket, contemplative. "So, there wouldn't be much done. Except you'd probably be mad at me for it. ...And, if you really wanted to, you'd just keep trying to hurt my friends afterwards anyway. Right?"

[buttercup_eater]

Chara themselves isn't sure why they can't stop shaking. In truth it's not really an illness of the body (though there are some bruises and other injuries hidden beneath Chara's hair and clothes) so much as a sickness of the spirit. They want to rip her apart with their bare hands, and Tauriel's words don't help Chara's rancor.

She does achieve something, at least: a scoff.

[lostinmyway]

She only looks at them. She doesn't reply.

rises from the dead...

[littledreemurr]

He shouldnt, but it doesn't stop him from being so.

"Yeah! She seemed really happy to see me," He smiled weakly, trying to invite more friendliness into the conversation. "I bet she'll be so excited to know that you're here too."

However, his expression ticked more and more curious, more nervous as the blade rose, studying it almost. He listened to what they said, and he swallowed hard.

"You... don't need that though," He murmured, one arm crossing as he nervously rubbed his sleeve. He was trying to be stern, especially after the conversation that he had with Frisk, "This place -- everyone's nice, a-and it's safe. You should b... be using that for other things, like cooking or maybe even just pruning plants or something."

[buttercup_eater]

Chara's smile doesn't disappear, but after a few moments of Grune's silence it grows a little smaller.

"...Well then," they say. "I'll look forward to seeing you try."

They step to the side, moving as if they're going to go around Grune.

[lostinmyway]

And Grune takes a step back...but then blue and white lights appear beneath her feet in a circle, and she lifts her hand into the air.

Hopefully this works? w permission from frisk-mun for the auto grabs.

[buttercup_eater]

Whatever answer the other child was looking for, it's evident from their expression that the one Chara gave them wasn't it. Still, Chara regards them woodenly. Maybe their answer wasn't the nice one, but at least they were being honest-

And then there's the distinct clenching sensation of their soul turning blue. What-? The other child can't do that! It has to be-

Chara's head jerks up at the sound of Sans's voice, at about the same time the other child twists to face him. Chara doesn't really register his words, but their eyes narrow upon his face, noticing a distinct shine around his eyes. He's crying and that's weird, grown ups aren't allowed to do that, but they can't really think about it. They have to move quickly, before Sans kills them.

So even with their soul within his grip, they draw upon their determination enough to throw themselves forward and snatch up the other child's wrist within a bruising hold. And at the same moment Chara grabs the other child, Sans swipes his hand through the air and thrusts Chara backwards.

As a result, the other child is dragged along with Chara and the two of them fly down the hallway, although they at least don't smash into the far wall the way Chara does. (87/92)

Ignoring the burst of pain in their skull and the sparks that fly in front of their eyes, Chara throws their free arm over the other child's shoulder and wraps it around their neck. It's not as tight as the grip Chara has on their wrist, but the knife rests as a warning against the side of the other child's head.

"Nice try, you two," Chara says.

[buttercup_eater]

Lucas, Chara is discovering, has a very focused sort of stare. They have to resist the urge to giggle. Just what is he trying to see, horns and a pair of cloven hooves?

"Staring's rude too, you know," they say coolly, "Or at least it is here." Or at least, it was rude in their village and the underground. Their thoughts seem rather muddled, they realize.

Promised who? Someone who didn't want Lucas to get hurt, most likely, like a friend or a relative. And as he goes on to explain more of his reasoning a wide, affected smile slowly spreads across Chara's face.

"...You're smarter than some people," they say. "You're right. No matter how often you killed me, I'd always come back. For me, death is just an annoyance."

They take another step forward. "You see, I have something called 'determination.' Do you know what that means? Once I'm set on a course, I can't be stopped. Although I must admit, I can be delayed."

They shrug. "But like you said. That mostly just makes me mad."

hopefully not as a flower.

[buttercup_eater]

Chara chuckles at Asriel's words. They can feel the back of their skull throbbing. Somehow, they doubt Toriel will want to see them.

They lower their knife and watch the movements of Asriel's throat with interest as he swallows. He's nervous, they observe. Nervous, nervous, nervous, even with the fake bravado he's putting on it. It's just like he was the last time they saw him, before he started shaking all over and ran away. At the memory, another burst of laughter comes out.

"Cooking," they repeat. "And gardening. Asriel... You really don't understand anything. I don't do pointless things like those anymore."

[buttercup_eater]

Chara inhales slowly, their legs tensing up for them to spring into action. The lights that dance along the floor would be almost pretty, if it weren't intensely obvious what their intended purpose was for.

"Alright," they say. "Looks like we're doing this now."

They watch her with a hawk-like gaze, preparing themselves to dodge.

[lovetheme]

Chara seems rather amused by all this--but for his part, Lucas's own expression remains as solemn as ever. He shrugs slightly.

"Haven't been keeping very good track of my manners lately, I guess."

They take another step forward--they're getting pretty close now, he notes--but still, Lucas doesn't shift. He doesn't seem particularly alarmed by all this, but mostly faintly curious, as Chara confirms and expands on his conclusion. Sounds like Chara is the same way as Frisk, about dying--though it's possible the castle could bring anybody else back too, here. And...

"That sounds pretty useful, something like 'determination'." The way they say it, Lucas assumes it isn't the normal sort--but a different sort. A substance of some kind, maybe? Must have a meaning where they're from. (Sort of like how PSI has a meaning where he's from, he figures.) "You could probably get a lot of things done, with something like that. Will you be using it to find a way out of here, too?"

Works great! Good going, Sans.

[sansational]

Sans realizes a split-second too late that he's made a very big mistake. Unfortunately, a split-second is all it takes.

He still tries to salvage the situation, turning Frisk's soul blue instead to try and pull them free of Chara's grip. Unfortunately, even at his best, Sans can't keep a hold of two souls. As he is now, the best he manages is to further soften the impact against the wall for Frisk before he loses his grip on both of them and...

"no..." For all his bravado earlier, it's little more than a whimper now. Without thinking, Sans blinks himself forward, but he catches himself just in time to reappear just out of range of the knife.

For a long moment, he just stares at Chara over Frisk's head. His expression is entirely blank, entirely neutral. Then slowly, he raises his hands, fingers splayed. One arm moves a bit more stiffly than the other.

"yep. nice try, me. look, if you took one second to take a look at frisk's face, you'd see that i'm, uh...really not supposed to be here. kinda promised that i'd let them handle you. but hey." He winks conspiratorially at his old enemy. "you know me and promises, don't'cha, kid? so let's just put everything away, write this off as an innocent little mistake between two old friends, and we'll all just walk away."

His head throbs painfully. It feels like his skull is going to crack. Sans winces, wavers...and then draws himself up.

"because here's how it's going to go if frisk dies again." He takes a deep breath. "i will kill you. and then i will sit here with your dead body, and wait for the second you come back, and then I will put you right back in the ground. From now until the end of time. you think i need to sleep or eat with you in the castle? nuh-uh. I just need spite."

Treacherously, a thought enters his aching head. And it's a thought he's hoping Chara is sharing, because Sans really doesn't want to have to say it aloud.

Anything he does to Chara would hurt Frisk a lot less.

A second and perhaps even worse thought is that Chara probably wants to kill him way more than they want to kill Frisk again.