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

[mediadarling]

Oh my God. Does anyone else know Grune can do this?

He shakes his head and, once her magic has faded from the air, he strides forward. He almost pushes past her--but, no, that would be rude, and he can't be rude to Grune. He slows down enough to step around her, but after that, he picks up the pace again.

"Come on out, human!" he calls cheerfully. "It's time for your grand finale!"

[lightofthestars]

She crashes the door into its frame hard enough for the sound to echo. Half an instant later, she thrusts the key into its lock and turns it.

That task done, she slides the key into her pocket and takes up her post. She stares straight ahead and readies herself for much shouting.

auto-grab/hit again approved by frisk-mun

[buttercup_eater]

It's ironic, really. For all the bad jokes he'd tried throwing at Chara when they'd first met, they've never actually heard Sans laugh before. And now here he is, despairing to the point of a hysterical breakdown. Chara knows more about that kind of mania than they care to admit, but this time they're the one who remains silent, even with the smile still on their face, regarding Sans with detached determination.

(They know fully well what he was planning on offering but right now they have choices, however limited.)

They almost don't believe it when the Gaster Blaster slowly blooms into existence, and then when it doesn't immediately aim for Chara. The smile fades from their face and their eyes narrow.

Go on, Sans. Prove yourself to me.

When Sans doesn't kill himself immediately, when he opens his mouth and speaks, Chara's so intent, waiting for a trick to come from him, that they aren't expecting what the other child does instead.

It's almost like when they started crying, except the screams are a thousand times louder and more irritating and Chara doesn't even have time to grit their teeth or tell them to shut up before the other kid's skull is ramming into Chara's face. The blow rattles all the way to the back of Chara's scalp, making their head ring- disoriented, Chara's knife hand drops, just before the other child throws themselves forward, towards the Gaster Blaster.

Seems like it's time to take their leave; the situation is rapidly spiraling out of Chara's control.

They not only let go of the other child's wrist, but awkwardly shove at the other child's back with their knife hand, ensuring that the other child smacks straight into the blaster. (19/20) And without a word of farewell, Chara hops to the side and makes a break down the hallway.

[buttercup_eater]

"It's nothing," Chara says, with a shrug. "I happened to run into them earlier. There was a confrontation. I thought as their friend, you would want to be aware."

Seeing the shivering and flickering in the small skeleton, Chara calmly adds, "But you needn't worry. I didn't kill them."

[sansational]

Fortunately for Frisk, the blasters aren't meant to take an impact. In a way, they're even more fragile than Sans is. So after a moment of resistance and a brief backlash of energy, Frisk will actually go straight through it as the blaster fizzles out in the air. As for Sans, it's as though a spell has been broken. Operating more on instinct than anything, he first moves to make sure Frisk is upright and alive before he rounds on Chara, throwing out an arm. He stares at their retreating back and Sans hates so, so intensely that it feels as though his bones will break from the force of it.

He throws out a hand, meaning to turn them to dust on the spot. Except...all that happens is a few flurries of static in the air. All Chara might feel is a momentary squeezing in their chest, before it passes without any other effect. Sans stares after the retreating child, eyesockets narrowed, seeming genuinely puzzled even as he sways on the spot. "what...?" He tries to take a step after them.

Except he's tired he's hungry he's scared he's scared because they're not going to stop, it's all going to happen all over again and he can't stop it, he was never strong enough to stop it, he's just made everything worse he only ever makes it worse and sans misses him so, so much and

what's

the

point...?

The step turns into a collapse, first to his knees and then into a motionless, senseless heap on the floor in a rattle of bones. It's a collapse that's days overdue, and all the heavier for it.

[buttercup_eater]

They don't have time to reflect on any relief that the harmless roar could bring, intent as they are on dashing towards the window. It doesn't take long before they're pushing it open as wide as it will go, peering out at the castle wall below. There's no convenient roof for them to run along, and they're high enough up that they'd probably break their neck if they fell to the ground, but there's decorative molding all along this part of the castle wall that is just wide enough they might be able to edge their way along it. And it isn't as if they can turn back, judging from the threat Mettaton's calling out to them.

"I've got better to do," they mutter, and quickly switch holding their knife in one hand to gripping it between their teeth, rather like a pirate from a picture book.

The window's small, but Chara's a kid and a skinny one at that, so they're able to clamber through and swing out onto the molding. It supports their weight, fortunately, and they slap the window shut before inching further out onto the molding. Maybe that'll slow their pursuants down further- although with the lack of any other exits in the previous room and the trail of water from Chara's soaked clothes leading from the door to the window, it won't take long for anyone who enters to figure out which way Chara went.

[buttercup_eater]

Chara flinches at the slamming of the door, skidding to a stop on the worn wooden floor. Locked in. How to get out?

Tauriel won't hear any shouting, but Chara won't be entirely silent. They take a deep breath, back up until they're almost at the window again... then rush forward and slam themselves into the door.

Nothing happens.

So, they back up and try again.

And again.

After six or seven more times, Chara has to concede that a child who'd weigh maybe a hundred pounds soaking wet is not going to be able to break down a locked door made out of half a foot of solid oak. So they pause to glare at the door, panting a little and rubbing their shoulder.

[dustless]

"CHARA!" Frisk screams after their retreating back, racing a few steps in their direction after Sans lets them go. The side of their face stings; the knife nicked them in their struggles, even if it wasn't the horrible gash that would've come to pass if it'd been right against their skin.

But even in their haze of rage and pain, they can't just leave a friend behind. They slide to a stop, shoes scraping over the stone floor, wildly looking from Sans to Chara to Sans again--

They whirl and race back to his side, hand patting over his skull. "Sans, SANS, Sans, Sans, Sans wake up, Sans you ass you can't give up now, Sans, Sans, Sans, Sans--!"

[sansational]

It's dark, and he likes it that way. It's dark and it's quiet and it's empty and he's tired, everyone's been yelling at him to sleep so why is someone trying to wake him up...?

It would be so easy to just sink and fall and not ever have to open his eyesockets again.

"hey. you're a dork. still love you a lot."
"Well, you--well, so are you, so there. And I love you a lot, too."

But no one ever said being determined was easy.

He's already made Frisk too sad.

Still, it takes several attempts for Sans to open his eyesockets so that they stay open. On reflex, he reaches up to try and bat Frisk's hand away, but somehow winds up holding on to them instead. The other hand, he braces against the ground to at least try to push himself back up onto his knees. That takes a few attempts, too.

He can taste blood, and as soon as Sans is reasonably confident that he's not about to fall on his face again, he runs a hand over his mouth to make sure that none of its oozing out between his teeth. "frisk...?" The events of the last few minutes are still a disorganized whirl in his head. But he knows that something happened that he should feel guilty about, and he does. He knows that Frisk was in trouble because of him. "you okay...?"

[dustless]

Frisk wails and drags him to their chest, trembling. He might get their blood on his shirt. They don't care right now, not after hovering over his body for what was probably only a few minutes but what felt like hours and hours, waiting for him to turn into dust.

They can barely talk, nothing coherent spills out of their mouth, but they try anyway, hard-- "Sans--Sans--th-th-thought--thought--thought--you, you jerk, you ass, fell, not allowed notallowed Sans why did you you shouldn't ever ever ever--"

Frisk's voice gives out into shaking, cracking sobs. They don't want to ever let go.

[sansational]

Sans lets out a sound that might best be described as a rather undignified "eep" as he suddenly finds himself pulled into one of the single most ferocious hugs he's ever been on the receiving end of.

And just like that, all the memories come slamming back as sure and as sharp as a blow to the head. He remembers teetering on the edge, remembers those eyes and how it had all seemed so simple and how it was all his fault and and and...

"because i'm scared!" The words are a sob, choked and painful but no less sharp than the child's wail. They're a truth he's been trying to outrun for days and days and a truth that's now all around him like dust. "they're not gonna stop, i can't make them stop, they're just gonna find someone else and i can't do it anymore, i can't go through that again, i can't i can't..."

He'd realized, on some marrow-deep level when Chara had made their offer, that he would truly rather die instead.

Then there's no more words for a while. Just a lot of clinging and a lot of choked, whimpering sobs, until Sans is exhausted all over again from the force of that outpouring of emotion.

[dustless]

Frisk can't make words happen, no matter how hard they try. Sans will feel their head against his, shaking.

They refuse, grip tightening on his hoodie. "No," they snap. They refuse to accept what could happen, they refuse to let Sans give up. "No, no, n-no, no."

[sansational]

Sans hears that refusal in their voice. And, for just a moment, he's terrified by it. Because for just a moment, he can't possibly imagine reciprocating it.

"i don't know what else to do. i'm tired of being helpless. because i've lived that life, y'know? that life of everyone dying and coming back like nothing ever happened, just because someone else decided they should die. it was awful. and i was still just on the verge of thinking i could live with it when they showed up the first time. and this place is weird and all of us could disappear at any second and i was still happy here and they showed up again."

Twice now that he's started to let himself get comfortable with life. Twice now that Chara has showed up to ruin everything, to kill his friends, to all appearances just because they're there to be killed. Once upon a time, Sans let himself think that he could ever be strong enough to stop them.

He knows better, now.

What can he do but give up, in the face of that boundless, ruthless determination? He's not like Frisk, he's not strong, he's desperately fragile and weak and the best he can ever hope to do is delay and frustrate and plead.

Yet it's that same ruthless determination that keeps Sans clinging tightly to Frisk, keeps him from turning to dust on the spot. Just because he "can" keep going, he knows deep down that he "has to".

"i miss him so much. even if...even if back home he wasn't...i've never had to be without him this long, frisk." He isn't supposed to be without Papyrus for this long. "why does that kid get to show up, when i'm never gonna see my brother again?" He loves S-4, of course he does, but it isn't the same. It's been months since he's even heard Papyrus laugh.

[dustless]

They move their head, looking towards the hallway Chara fled down. Their brain is screaming at them to go, chase them, find them, stop them, but they know how close he is to falling down. Or maybe they're just so afraid of that they can't push past the fear like they usually can.

It takes every ounce of willpower to string words together, and a long pause after Sans stops talking. Frisk doesn't have answers, not enough, but they'll try anyway, even with blood and tears streaming down their face.

"No. No. Don't. Don't give up," they whisper fiercely. "They're stoppable. He might be here someday. You don't know. You can't die. Don't die. Don't go." They want Papyrus too, but Sans is here now and they know he doesn't want to have bad things happen to everyone, and neither do they, and he's a part of everyone and so, so important even though he was so, so stupid.

[mediadarling]

The door isn't locked. Not that it would matter if it were, because he'd simply blast it. Once he's flung it open, he's brought up short by the lack of human inside--but only for a moment.

A smile curls across his lips. Oh, this is going to be easy.

He strides across the room, his long legs making crossing to the window a matter of seconds. He reaches out with his sole hand to open the window--

[lostinmyway]

Grune's hand snaps around his wrist.

"Stop, Mettaton," she commands him.

He tries to pull free. There's a strange pink glow where his other eye should be. "No! I'm not letting them get away!"

"You're going to get hurt."

"That doesn't matter--"

"Yes. It--"

"Frisk could die again!" he shouts. His voice is raw; there's no control at all in it.

Grune hugs him. He struggles for a moment, but then he goes limp. She thinks she hears a sob.

"They said they won't hurt Frisk anymore," she says softly. "And I won't let them hurt anyone else. I promise."

Mettaton laughs--or maybe it's another sob. She isn't sure. "And you believe them, sweetheart?"

She's silent for a moment. Then she says, "If you get hurt, Frisk will be very sad."

When she feels him go stiff in her arms, she knows: it's going to be okay.

[lightofthestars]

There is the sound of running feet, and then the sound of a body hitting wood. It is loud enough to startle her, but when it comes again and again, it simply becomes noise to her.

Foolish child. Do they not know all they will do is hurt themself?

[sansational]

Don't die. Don't go. He's not alone here, no matter how much it feels that way sometimes. No matter what else he's messed up in life...Sans at least used to be able to be there for people.

...he's messed that up lately, too. But not so badly that he can make himself turn his back on Frisk.

"i messed everything up. i know that. gonna try not to do it again." He can't make any promises, though.

Sans sits back, wiping at his eyesockets, and takes a few deep breaths. They steady out, eventually, and only then does he lifts his head to look at Frisk. "...go on." He nods back down the hall where Chara had fled. "i'll...i'll be here when you're done. or, uh...at least i'll be around." It might be a good idea for him to keep moving, for a little while.

He can barely force himself to contemplate the future from here. But Sans thinks he might at least be able to manage that much. What he can see is that, as distraught as Frisk is, there's only so much they can do for one another like this. They might even make matters worse. But Frisk...Frisk looks like they want to get moving. And Sans wants them to be able to get moving. And maybe that still counts for something.

"...i won't die. i won't." He isn't sure if Frisk really appreciates just what they're asking of him, right now. But they are asking it.

[dustless]

They're only asking what he would ask of them. What he kind of has already.

"I--I--I'll--" They don't want to leave him alone but they can't stay. And they're mad and scared and they realize that they can't think well that way.

Frisk forces themselves to their feet, despite feeling heavy and not entirely in their own body. "Okay. Don't die, don't do stupid anything, be back later, see you," they say unsteadily, staring at him hard as they back away.

Only after they feel they're sure Sans isn't going to fall down when they aren't clinging to them do they turn around, and then they're running full-pelt down the hall. They can't scream, their voice is even more shot than it was, but they hope hope hope Chara didn't get too far.

[sansational]

It's an effort, but Sans manages to lift his head and meet their gaze as they back away. The words don't come, but hopefully the intentions get communicated anyway. He's still here. He's not going to die. He can't make any promises, but at least he can try.

"see ya," Sans says. "take care 'til then."

He watches them as they turn and run. And then Sans almost does fall down as soon as they're out of sight. It's a very near thing. Every inch of him just wants to not move anymore. The soul barely has enough energy to keep burning, let alone keep animating the pile of magic that is really all his body is in the end.

But he got up again after Papyrus died. If he survived that, no matter how awful the actual surviving was, he can survive anything.

Sans grits his teeth, and forces himself up into a crouch. Come on. He gets one foot properly under him. Come on. And then the other, and he's up on his feet, and immediately he sways so bad that he has to brace himself against the wall. It hurts, it hurts so much and he's so tired and it's never going to end...

One step. Another step. Pause, take a deep breath. If he breaks this all down into microscopically small tasks that even he probably can't fail...then he just might make it.

Bit by agonizing, exhausting bit, Sans limps his way back to his room. Frisk should be able to find him there if they want to look. Besides, now that he's here, he has to not die. Because for all that he's messed up these past few days, forcing S-4 and Sans-Serif to find his dust in his bed is a low to which even Sans will not sink.

[dustless]

Even if they managed to take after Chara only a few minutes after they first fled, Frisk has no luck finding them. The castle itself seems to have swallowed them up. Or maybe they're just too exhausted to think about which way Chara probably went properly.

The adrenaline of their fear for Sans during the hostage situation and after faded a long while ago. Once, going down some stairs, their legs turned jelly and they had to sit down and take deep breaths. And their face was horribly itchy where the blood was trickling down from the cut, not to mention where it had dried, which added to their general distraction.

But they weren't going to give up. Maybe they considered going to find Sans a few times, but they knew he'd do better if he knew what Chara was doing, had done. (And maybe their frustration was slipping over their fear again.)

By the time they start climbing the tower with Tauriel and Chara at the top, they're wandering completely aimlessly.

thread end?

[buttercup_eater]

Chara can hear Grune and Mettaton- especially Mettaton- through the window, but it's muffled and they only get that there's some sort of argument going on. They don't pay attention to the exact words, just focus on creeping steadily further and further away from them.

Have to keep going... Have to keep going...

They're a bit surprised that the window hasn't been thrown open yet, but at least it gives them a chance to get away.

(It's going to be okay- For somebody, maybe, but if Chara knew Grune's thoughts they'd only be able to laugh.)

[buttercup_eater]

It's strange. Once Chara's had time to catch their breath a little, they feel like their bones are melting, they're so tired. They want to collapse onto the floor and sleep for hours and yet, the rage burning inside them keeps them trembling all over, achingly alert.

As the door won't be budging any time soon, Chara starts to pace around their room instead. They open the door to the privy and stare inside for a moment, but it's just a plain little closet for relieving oneself, nothing useful. The cupboard is also inspected, but opening it up just reveals a few shelves containing spare bedsheets.

In the end, Chara resorts to the window. The bars prevent them from climbing out, but they still begin to test them in various ways- gripping them and trying to shake them, to see if the bars come loose at all, and sticking their skinny arms through them even though just looking at them suggests they're too closely spaced for Chara to fit through.

hold on let me reset the timeline to 3 weeks ago

[littledreemurr]

[so that my tag isnt so late..........]

"It... It was just a suggestion," he shot back, mustering up a tad bit more courage within himself. He trusted Chara, even if the knife was present. "But they're not pointless! D-Don't you remember all of the fun we used to have?"

Even if he was still trying to act tough, he meant well. He just wanted a new start -- he didn't want to go back and have to experience what they did, especially after he had spoken to Frisk. He had to fix this, or at least try...

Even if it really didn't matter at the moment since they weren't in the Underground.

He had to try. "We can keep on doing that. Th-there's a lot of fun things on the island we can do."

[lightofthestars]

Tauriel hears the footsteps long before she sees their owner. She frowns; she can tell from their lightness that they must belong to one of the children, but which one?

"Greetings," she calls down as the child nears.

Maybe she can make them leave before they come too close.