(OOC: Hey Guys! I recently learned some sad news on Tumblr. I've been following ScotchTapeOfficial ( tagged/swaptale) who has been posting a lovely little comic called Swaptale, based off of the idea of Frisk and Chara swapping timelines in the midst of their final battles. I was absorbed in the story but Scotch recently announced that they will most likely not be continuing the comic. I reached out to them and, surprisingly, received a fast response that it was alright to go ahead and do a fanfiction version of the ending!
Of course, my own interpretation of the characters themselves and how they would react came into play, and so I changed up some key elements to make it feel "different" and closer to what I would imagine for it. So, I'm sorry… I couldn't just reuse someone's work entirely so it's changed a lot. This goes sometimes for whole segments of the story or simply for dialogue. I hope that you guys enjoy this!)
The halls were bathed in intense golden light streaming through delicately crafted stained glass windows. The taps of shoes echoed in the space, echoing before fading out, only to be replaced with more determined footsteps. Other than that, the hall was devoid of sound which might have unnerved people passing through.
A glint reflected off of a shiny object clasped firmly in the hand of the moving figure. If one were to look with some level of scrutiny at the object, they might have noticed it was a very dusty weapon and appeared to be an old kitchen knife.
Suddenly, the figure drew to an unexpected halt, a shadow cast over their face, obscuring their facial reaction to the sudden arrival of a new being in the area. It stood directly in front of their path, hands shoved deep into the pockets of its light blue hoodie. One could easily feel the tenseness in the air. The pressure increased the longer it remained silent. It was unbroken for only a short period of time before the obstruction spoke casually.
"*heya. you've been busy, huh?"
There was a pause as the person being blocked to their destination merely stared straight ahead, a glint in their eye which was unsettling at best; sinister or downright chilling at worst. It might have shaken a person down to their bones even. Despite all this, the casual barrier to its plans was grinning; that same grin he always had plastered upon his face. It seemed to irritate the other one as a grimace flashed over its face immediately after their eyes locked.
"*so, i've got a question for ya. do you think even the worst person can change? if everyone can be a good person if they try?" there seemed to be some hopefulness to the voice now, as the grinning skeleton seemed to make a last ditch appeal toward whatever humanity might have still been lurking in the depths of the young person's body.
In response, there was a threatening step forward, met with the rising of the weapon it clung so closely to. What had in the past sent others running merely was met with a laugh from their opponent, however. With a shrug of his shoulders, Sans the Skeleton seemed to realize there was no going back at this point. Or, perhaps it was more accurate to say he already knew, as there was no surprise in the comedian's reaction. Quite the opposite, in fact: he seemed calm and collected.
"*alright, well, here's a better question. do you wanna have a bad time? 'cause if you take another step forward you are REALLY not going to like what happens next."
As if challenging the skeleton to do his absolute worst, the figure slid forward, this time with a wild grin on its face. Now illuminated completely, pieces of dust were visible coating the human's brown hair and blue and pink striped sweater. The blood lust at this point was visible and for a brief instant, a flash of red seemed to reflect itself inside the kid's eyes. At the end of the day, this monster was merely a child but their actions leading up until this point meant that they had lost their innocence quite a long time ago and everyone knew; everyone still breathing, at least.
Birds had begun to chirp outside of the window, their sweet music filtering through into the Judgement Hall.
"*welp. sorry, old lady. this is why i never make promises."
XXXXX
A long narrow hall stretched ahead. It was white on all sides at first, then grey and dark waves seemed to wash over it. A faint glimmer of twilight flickered through the barrier, however, which gave an uplifting feeling to the room. Two opponents faced each other, standing at a crossroads as emotions ran high, the end of a journey at hand.
The creature with its back to the barrier was slightly hunched forward, his coat wrapped in front of his relatively large form kept anyone from knowing what he had up his sleeve. The monster leaned forward, horns pointed toward the child in the room. A tiny crown, symbolizing his stature, rested upon his head. Their purple cape rustled as the massive frame beneath prepared for their next move.
"Human. It was nice to meet you. Goodbye."
Tensing, the young child stood there, waiting for what was to befall them next. Despite their eagerness, the brunette seemed to be worried about something and kept casting anxious looks around their location now and again.
Before any words could be uttered through the young person's lips, there was a ball of intense orange light launched from the side, striking the soft spoken King dead on and effortlessly knocking him to the ground.
Swift realization struck. It took a full minute for the kid's mind to process what had just happened. Spinning, eyes were already beginning to water up before they had full sight of her. Much like the King whom had stood before them previously, this being had similar features to that of a goat down to the white ears and horns. Her large eyes and the patient, kind stance she adopted constantly, however, were an immediate clue that despite the title, she was no real "monster".
"*What a miserable creature. Torturing such a poor, innocent youth... Do not be afraid, my child. It is I, TORIEL, your friend and guardian."
"*just lay down your weapon and, well, my job will be a lot easier."
The fight had been waging on for a long time. Sans had sweat pouring down from his cranium and was breathing in and out with some difficulty as he struggled to catch a breath of air. The human meanwhile, rubbed its back, as though something were troubling it there. A pulled muscle? Or something more? Perhaps they felt the sins of his crimes catching up to them there.
It was obvious who was beating whom at this point in time. So many repeats of the battle had taken place that now it was all a blur for both of them. No one knew just how many times they had reset and tried again to take the other out. Both were fighting for their own reasons and had their own determination pumping fiercely inside of them. Still, Sans was opening himself up at this moment and sparing the human, allowing one last glimmer of redemption.
There was almost no hesitation behind the move.
Fist clenched, the human went to strike with the trusty knife which had brought them this far already, signaling that all he cared about was FIGHTing. Chara's heart had long sense iced over which was ironic due to it being colored blue now.
"ASRIEL DREEMUR!"
Loud and clear as a bell, the voice rang out. A flash of blinding white light filled the space before fading back into pitch black. Darkness had filled the room soon after the surprise attack which had followed. No one had seen it coming, really. Least of all the human. Still, despite everything he had done and all the people he had tried to hurt to get to this point, there was something inside Frisk was shouting to reach out and SAVE Asriel. Everything suddenly shifted in their vision. There was a flash of white light that forced them to shut their eyes tightly. A moment later, they reopened their eyes to see their hand hovering directly above the words FIGHT.
XXXXX
It wasn't hard to imagine their astonishment at the sudden change, especially when the button they had seemingly pressed accidentally had been shattered. Pieces of it were broken and were chipping away, clanking onto the floor. Looking up, eyes meeting their supposed target, Frisk dropped his stick to the ground, missing the chance on purpose. He would never FIGHT, of course!
Especially when the monster he was fighting was his friend… Sans.
"*welp. it was worth a shot. guess you like doing things the hard way, huh?"
"Sans, wha-," Frisk started, the baffled expression intensifying with a slight hint of terror. Taking a step backward, several thoughts and questions were dancing around in the young person's mind. What was going on? Why was he suddenly in the midst of a battle with one of his best friends in the Underground? Was this… Perhaps a trick perpetrated once again by the mischievous flower? One last ditch effort to stop them from winning this time around?
With the strange and bizarre events which had befallen them thus far, it was honestly not out of the question to consider Sans hadn't been properly SAVEd yet. Perhaps the process needed to be done a second time? Feeling their heart grow heavier, the blue attack now in effect, Frisk prepared themselves for what would happen next. There was really no way to prepare for it, however. It was too much of an onslaught.
Attacks were flying at them every which way possible. Bones of various lengths and sizes. Leaping, rolling, dodging, they did everything to try to avoid one blow only for the entire attack to suddenly switch on them midway through. In the midst of jumping from one attack, they would find themselves grounded again only to have to leap again to avoid a different technique directed their way. Heart pounding from the intense movements, Frisk could not even fathom a light at the end of the tunnel this time. It was obvious that Sans was not holding back.
Lying on the floor for a moment, it took them a full minute to realize that the turn had finally passed. It felt as though they had been thrust into a hurricane. Bones had been flying at them every which way. Never before had they even seen such a powerful enemy that could give Flowey and Asriel such a run for their money. But what really was causing the immobilization of their entire body was not the exhaustion from the blows they had received, despite their health being in jeopardy. No, the shock of it all was almost too much.
"I can't… Fight you, Sans."
Without a second thought, their hand struck the Mercy button in a last ditch effort to SPARE his friend. Perhaps, whatever was causing the normally cheerful happy-go-lucky skeleton bro to behave this way would change. Frisk wanted their comedian back and badly.
"*sounds strange, but before all this, i was secretly hoping we could be friends. i always thought that the anomaly was doing this cause they were unhappy. and when they got what they wanted they would stop all this."
"S-san's… We are fri-,"
The response wasn't allowed to be finished. A strange skull creature appeared, opening its giant mouth before unleashing a blast that struck the child directly as they struggled to remove themselves from the ground and dodge. Somehow, miraculously, their health did not drain completely but it was probably only because they were clinging to intense hope right now and was fighting not to give in.
But, they weren't alone. They had friends! Recalling this, they reached a hand out, sliding it along the tiled floor for a moment and then lifting it into the air.
"Help!"
The blast that should have come next suddenly stopped, the blaster's grinning mouth closing shut with a weird clanking noise.
"Toriel!"
"*hey, what are you…"
"Papyrus!"
"*is this is some sort of joke… it ain't funny, kid."
"Undyne!"
"*knock it off."
"Alphys!"
But no one that Frisk called out came. Only Sans stood there in front, casting his gaze to the side. Despite his obvious distress, that same grin was still stretched across his skull. Something about what Frisk had said had struck a chord within him.
"*i don't get it. am i missing the punchline? you must have one sick sense of humor, pal." The pupils in their friend's eyes seemed to disappear into blackness.
"It's not a joke, Sans! If you want me to tell you a joke to make you stop… I will!"
"*…are you kidding me?"
"What does a skeleton tile their roof with?" Frisk continued quickly, remembering one of the last jokes they had learned.
"…"
"SHIN-gles."
Quiet filled the hallway. No laughs followed. Not even a chuckle. It was bizarre to say the least. It felt worse than when Papyrus and Sans had been Lost Souls attacking him. In fact, they would have rather seen that then their buddy acting perfectly normal outwardly but wanting him dead. Frisk hugged their shoulder where it had once smacked straight into the hard tile floor, ignoring other places that were screaming equally in pain. Hopes and Dreams had already run out and so had the rest of his inventory supply.
"Sans, please," they pleaded, hoping that somewhere deep inside of their friend they would be heard, allowing him to finally give MERCY to Sans and to end this needless fight. In one final attempt, Frisk added, "We can go get burgers at Grillby's with lots of ketchup and take a break from work…?"
"*so you're trying to mess with my head, huh? well, it ain't going to work. i know what you did. you killed everyone, pal, so don't start acting innocent now," Sans replied. There was a strange blue glow that began deep within his left eye, growing ever brighter.
"What? I never killed anyone! Everyone is fine, we were just with them a moment ago," was the protest that the skeleton received. "You said it yourself… I never gained any Level of Violence."
Something about those words seemed to resonate and for the first time, their gaze met fully and some of the tension lifted for just a fraction of a second. There was a sharp intake the skeleton took note of an important detail he had overlooked. The human did indeed appear to be telling the truth, for they had no LV in them that his eyes could see. That was impossible if they were indeed the same person he had just been fighting. After all, LV was gained by killing innocents and distancing yourself from the rest of the world.
XXXXX
"*you're not the same human I was just fighting, are you? huh, kiddo?"
A confounded expression on their face, Frisk's shoulders went up and down in one smooth motion. Everything seemed to be happening so fast that their mind was a blur. Then again, what was new? Each of the friends that they had met along the way had at one point or another attempted to kill him, right? Well, save for Papyrus. That kind and gentle soul couldn't hurt an ant, let alone go through with murder or even turning Frisk into the Royal Guard. But they had been locked in a dusty old shed more times than they could count.
Fortunately, it was only a few seconds later that a hand was outstretched. Frisk grabbed the boney palm with their own hand and allowed themselves to be pulled to their feet.
"*heh, sorry kiddo. appears there's been a bit of a… mix-up."
XXXXX
Gradually, eyes opened up before blinking several times, long lashes dusting off bits of tears that had collected somewhere in the corners. The tiny, almost fragile form that stood in the middle of the darkness was a stark contrast to the mammoth of a being that had been there a moment prior. An arm reached up to cover the face of the figure as more tears appeared there. The room had gone starkly quiet before a tiny voice spoke.
"*I'm so sorry." Finally, the tears all wiped away with the sleeve of their green and yellow striped sweater, they smiled in the general direction of the human in front of them, doe-like eyes almost sparkling. "I always was a crybaby, wasn't I, Chara?"
The being in front of them stared coldly at them for a moment before their weapon was drawn up and the distance between the two figures was quickly breached. Shocked and appalled, the little goat tripped over their own two feet and fell straight onto their rear end with a thumping sound.
"*Hey, what are you doing, Chara? I… I already know you aren't actually their old friend. I was just about to ask who you really were and-," stammered Asriel rapidly. Despite the immense power contained within them at that very moment, the little guy was paralyzed with unexplainable fear. Something had rapidly and inexplicably changed about the human and the expression they wore was creepy if not downright homicidal in appearance. "*I get it, you must be mad at me still. I understand…"
"What's going on here? Asriel, what did you do?"
"*Huh?"
"I thought I told you to stay out of my way!"
The tears sprung loose again, unable to be controlled now. Scrambling, the tiny youth picked themselves back up from the ground and began to run until he was very much out of sight.
"Where's Sans? Why did you interrupt us?" the bloodthirsty voice questioned loudly, shouting after the fleeing youth. "GET BACK HERE!"
"*heya, kiddo, looking for me?"
Turning around, the intense anger flickering away it was replaced by shock so deep that it actually caused their fingers to slip on their weapon, allowing it to clank to the ground uselessly. What should have not been possible was staring them straight in the face. T
The faces of those that they had cut down along their journey in cold blood were now standing beaming in their general direction.
First was a kind looking older goat monster who was batting their lashes and waiting eagerly as if patiently biding their time to chime into the conversation. Next was a very tall skeleton with a long narrow face and large teeth. They were sporting a white chest armor which looked more like a costume than anything, complete with a red scarf, gloves and boots. The chest armor, spandex underwear and gloves were all trimmed in gold. In the middle stood Sans himself, looking rather calm despite their earlier battle that had put such a tax on his stamina. To his left stood a monster fish woman with blue skin, an eye patch over her left eye. Red hair seemed to be perpetually flapping in some sort of invisible wind. And last, but not least, was someone they had never seen in their recent adventures through the Underground. A yellow lizard monster with nerdy black rimmed glasses and a white lab coat.
"*what's wrong, buddy?" asked the shorter skeleton nervously, casting his eyes to the side, seeming to be unnerved by the reaction the group had received. Instead of looking thrilled to reclaim his friends from the clutches of Asriel, they instead look terrified and suspicious of their arrival. "*ya look like you've seen a ghost but everyone else is still knocked out."
"*What's wrong, my child?" the sweet voice belonging to Toriel spoke.
But Toriel should have been dead. The first major monster that Chara had cut down on the way here, she had fallen in just one single hit.
"N-no," came the whispered response from the human's lips, falling onto their butt in surprise.
"WHAT IS WRONG, HUMAN? YOU SHOULD BE OVERJOYED BY THE ARRIVAL OF THE GREAT PAPYRUS! OR ARE YOU OVERCOME ONCE AGAIN BY YOUR FEELINGS FOR ME? OH NO!" gloated the tallest skeleton, placing a hand on top of his chest armor before laughing a hardy, "NYEH HEH HEH!"
Despite believing in the human, Papyrus was also supposed to be merely ash at this point. Dust in the wind. Chara could still picture their head talking to them from the ground, promising that they could "do a little better than that".
"No."
"*Hey, punk, you're looking a bit blue around the gills. Stop acting like such a wimp! How did you even get on the ground, huh? Nothing can take you out THAT EASILY!" the tough as nails fish monster practically shouted before giving a big grin and a thumbs up into their general direction.
Undyne had been a special case. Despite initially falling victim to their attack, she had clung onto life with a strange amount of determination that monsters usually didn't have. But eventually even Undyne the Undying had met her demise.
"Why…"
"*H-hey, there, I'm not sure w-what you d-did back there but, y-you definitely saved o-our skin from that evil flower! I-I'm sorry… I f-feel like it was all my fault…," stammered the self-conscious lizard, tapping her fingers together and casting a nervous gaze to the side, immediately acting like she was to blame for everything.
Alphys. Recalling the name after a second, Chara remembered having seen her before. Back before… Everything.
"How are you all…?"
Everyone glanced at each other, waiting for the words that would come next.
"Alive?"
"*oh, i get it. you want praise for saving us back there, huh, kiddo? well, you have our thanks. Looks like everything is coming up ROSY now."
"SANS!? WAS THAT A FLOWER PUN!?"
"*maybe."
"NYEH! THIS IS NO TIME FOR BAD JOKES? CAN'T YOU TELL THAT THE HUMAN IS DISTRESSED?! THIS IS CLEARLY… A TIME FOR PUZZLES! LUCKILY I HAVE PREPARED ONE FOR JUST SUCH AN OCCASION. HUMAN! BE PREPARED TO BE AMAZED BY THE LATEST ISSUE OF-!"
"*paps…"
"JUNIOR JUMBLE!"
"*not sure puzzles are appropriate right now either."
"Why are you all alive!?"
"IS THIS SOME SORT OF PHILOSOPHICAL PUZZLE? THOSE ARE… THE ONLY PUZZLES THAT I DO NOT ENJOY, ACTUALLY!" Papyrus declared, rather strongly, frowning slightly.
"*O-oh, perhaps they're having a, uh, e-existential crisis? I-I get those… A lot. I-I'm actually not sure how to stop actually. S-sometimesIjuststareforhoursatthesameplaceonthewallandIcan'tstopthinkingaboutwhyweexistatalland… O-oh, yeah, I usually just watch anime to make me feel better, haha!" Sweat was already pouring off of the smart monster's forehead.
"*NUGH! That stupid flower would have to do much better than that to actually kill us, if that what you're asking, punk! Also, Alphys, you never told me that?" she quizzed, giving a sideways look at her crush, wondering what else she didn't quite know about the intelligent Doctor.
"O-oh, it's n-no big deal," was the stammered response. "A-anyhow, it'll pass, Frisk, I'm sure of it!"
"My name. Isn't. Frisk," shouted the human, almost borderline enraged at this point as their hands balled into fists.
By this point, everyone in the room had fallen deathly quiet. The cheerful atmosphere that had been building up a moment prior had died and no one was quite sure what to make of the spectacle that they had just witnessed.
"IT'S CHARA!"
Toriel's gasp came immediately after, hands flying up to her face to cover her mouth. The name, of course, was one she was familiar with. But it was impossible. There was no way that this human was Chara. After all, the human with that name had died years ago quite suddenly from an illness that had struck them. Still, how would this child even know that name?
Undyne and Alphys exchanged looks with each other, each one just as baffled as the other. If this was some sort of joke, it wasn't funny to either of them and neither was laughing. Instead, the Captain of the Royal Guard was really regretting not having her armor with her here. But, of course, she had relaxed her guard… Because she trusted Frisk. Still, she found herself gripping a summoned spear tightly.
Papyrus seemed confused and his usual big beaming smile had faded, replaced with a worried frown. Perhaps the human was simply confused? After all, they had just suffered an immense ordeal, right?
Meanwhile, Sans was strangely silent. In fact, if not for the fact that he was standing upright, he might have looked to be asleep. Stance relaxed, head bent down, it was almost impossible to see what expression the comedian was currently wearing.
"And you are all in MY WAY!" with the sentence fading into a battle cry, the child suddenly rushed forward, snatching their weapon of choice up from the ground where it had fallen and readying it to plunge straight into Sans as he stood in place, unprotected.
"looks like you wanna have a bad time…"
XXXXX
"A mix-up?"
"*here, have a hot dog. it's on the house," he offered, pulling the food item out of a pocket of his hoodie. Had the circumstances been different, one might have questioned the storing choices that the skeleton made; however, there was really nothing to gain from calling him out on food safety practices right now.
Taking the morsel, Frisk raised a brow and instead questioned, "Normally you charge me for these or joke that you're selling them for too cheap… And not even a BONE appetite joke? Sans, are you feeling alright?" There was a pause before they added, "You aren't my Sans, are you? Did something mess up with the resets?" Now their question was in between bites of the hot dog, which was actually not a hot dog at all. In fact, the normal food item had been tweaked and was a water sausage with little itty bitty cat ears on it but still in a bun.
"*so you know about the resets, huh? well, i've always wanted to meet a time traveler but… not like this. hey, kid, let's talk at Grillby's. i know a shortcut." Taking hands again, this time Sans began to walk them both forward. Before they got too far, however, their surroundings blended from the yellow lit hallway into a semi-hazy orange lit area that was a clearly the interior of a bar. Many tables and booths were aligned inside the large square space. Typically, it seemed rather crammed despite this fact and it was troubling now to see each seat unoccupied. In fact, as the two walked across the wooden floor and slid onto their own individual bar stools, it became evident that they were the only two living creatures inside Grillby's. And that went for the owner, Grillby himself, as well.
"W-where is everyone?"
Slouching down over the counter, arms outstretched, Sans buried his head for a moment, turning his skull face away from the human. The stillness that followed unnerved Frisk who shuffled in their seat and turned this way and that for a moment as if expecting the doors to open behind them and the entire squad to come flooding in. But nothing happened. No one came.
"Sans… When you said that I killed everyone…," they started, swallowing hard. "Do you mean that the Frisk from this rest did all this?"
"*kiddo, that wasn't you that did this. the one that i was fighting was just pretending to be human," Sans started, turning his attention back toward Frisk for a moment. Nervous in his seat, the normally funny guy spun the opposite way, falling silent for a time before continuing. "*i promised to protect the next human that passed through the ruins and make sure that nothing happened to them. the lady i made that promise to, she and i used to tell each other jokes when i was on sentry duty for humans. but after the "human" left the ruins, she stopped answering me…"
"E-even Toriel?" Frisk questioned, immediate panic setting in before they whisked out their cell phone. Despite all of its fancy gadgets and additions that had been installed, they opted not to attempt to text, but immediately dialed the number that they had almost memorized by this point. The phone rang and rang and rang, but there was no answer. "She's not answering but it's okay, I know that she usually doesn't answer my calls, not since I left the ruins… I'm sure she's okay…?"
"*yeah… maybe she just went on vacation," Sans whispered, slowly shutting their eyes and leaning back in their seat with their hands shoved deep into their pockets. "*but the others, i saw. i was going to step in, but it was too late…"
"Others? So… Everyone else?"
"*alphys managed to evacuate a lot of the monsters to somewhere safe, but yeah… get-togethers are going to be a lot smaller now here in the Underground…"
"Wait, what about Papyrus and Undyne? Did they make it out?" was the rapid fire question from the little child.
The pupils in San's eyes seem to dim once again and a sinking feeling entered Frisk's heart, as the answer was wordlessly conveyed. Fingers flew across the number pad again, this time with even more vigor, knowing that Papyrus and Undyne should be together and that they would undoubtedly answer the phone. The number had been called so frequently during their journey that it was a wonder there was even any battery left.
Holding up the cell, the child waited as the phone rang. And rang. And rang.
And no one answered.
"*i guess you are friends with my bro too, in the other reset? no, it must be a different timeline entirely. must have been nice to see him so happy, giving you puzzles to solve all the way to Asgore's place…"
"Yeah…," Frisk answered numbly, the phone barely held in their grasp any longer. "W-we even went on a date before Papyrus friend-zoned me?"
*heh, what, really? you'll have to tell me about that sometime," Sans responded, actually perking up and giving what looked at first to be the first genuine smile that the human had seen since meeting this version of the normally happy-go-lucky skeleton.
After a moment, Sans turned to Frisk fully and asked, "i've had dreams where we all make it to the surface… past the barrier. you must be the human from those dreams where everything goes right, huh?"
"Yeah… But I guess that isn't going to happen here because of-,"
Shooting upward and stumbling off of the stool, nearly injuring themselves on the way, the human child's eyes widened dramatically. An audible gasp escaped their lips. Like an electric spark had made contact with them, they were suddenly alive with so much energy that didn't seem to know where to go.
"If I'm here than, they must be-!"
They both looked at each other. Frisk felt a sudden drop in temperature as the blood rushed to their feet. Heart pounding, both said at the exact same time, "IN THE OTHER TIMELINE!"
(GAH I just realized the breaks between transitions didn't show up the first time. Fixed that in this chapter. Sorry folks!)