Frisk's eyes fluttered open.
The realm she found herself in was an uncomfortably familiar one. It was a world; an entire existence of nothing but pure darkness seeping from every unseen corner to surround her. Shadows without names or shapes coursed around, surrounding the one tiny human. Her SOUL was glowing in brilliant red, but it was hardly enough to stem the tide and merely made her a more interesting anomaly to pick off.
"You shouldn't have come here..."
The whisper behind her cut right to the bone. It was a voice Frisk has heard many-many times before and almost always inspired some measure of fear. Her SOUL resonated with those feelings, the glow flickering for just a brief moment. While the shadows did not relent, nor dissipate, her eyes slowly accustomed to the darkness. Taking a deep breath, she turned around to face the specter calling out for her.
Her vision was immediately filled by another human face, mere inches before her own. Its eyes were empty voids, with a thick black liquid oozing from them, dripping past the pale, rosy cheeks. The liquid ran past their mouth, broken and twisted into hellish glee. The person before her was giggling loudly, but sounded much closer to static emanating from a yawning abyss. It inched closer to her face, the unbroken laughter of the damned that could shatter a lesser being's sanity.
The figure only stopped when the realized Frisk was rather bored by the performance.
"I liked it better when you screamed and flailed around every time I did this." Chara said, her voice shifting back what would be considered normal for a human.
She wiped her face and by the time the black goo was off, all of her features returned to their original form, including those peculiar red eyes. Her expression was hard to read, but carried that usual cheery smiled Frisk had previously learned was not necessarily always a sign of amusement.
She pushed her luck a bit nonetheless.
"It's hard to get startled after a hundred times."
"You don't get to pick another show, when you're the one who keeps coming back to it." Chara shrugged. Her SOUL was glowing right above her heart in a similar color, but it seemed slightly darker that Frisk's. "So what's the occasion this time? Schoolyard bullies, math problems or sudden interest in knives?" she listed, grinning.
"I do have a couple of equations I could use help with." Frisk mused, sitting down before the other human. Chara raised a brow, but followed her lead. Even with her odd disposition for life, she wasn't about to be rude. "But I'm just here to talk, for now."
Chara snorted loudly and shook her head. The sheer gall of Frisk willingly approaching her like this was already a strike, but with such a banal reason no less.
"You're unbelievable, you know that?" she said, flashing another grin. She scooted close to Frisk, cutting the distance between them uncomfortably short. "Even after everything that's happened, you still risk retreating into the deepest part of your mind, just for a friendly chat."
"Why wouldn't I? We're both in this together." she raised a brow. "I should get to know you better, or something..."
"Well, that's just precious." Chara giggled, her eyes glinting with an immeasurable mixture of amusement and malice. "We both know there's been a few stumbles in this song and dance though, right?"
There was a reason to Chara's words. Their shared experiences were hardly all pleasant. At the beginning, Frisk could only hear brief whispers and fragments. Mockery, encouragement, companionship and scorn were all parts of that weird mix, but strangely enough it always kept her going further and further, up until the very end. But then she grew overconfident, and perhaps too trusting. Chara carefully counted on all of that and took her one and only chance at control.
Under her direction, they cut a bloody path along the Underground, sparing not a single SOUL along the way. Frisk's pleas were dead to Chara's ears, and it wasn't until the end of everything, that she found the determination for a final act of defiance. When the playing field was leveled again, there was no clear path to take. Their conflict over control, over RESETs would have eventually destroyed both of them and such, they were forced to share an uneasy truce, one that not only gave everyone the happy ending they so desired, but even gave both SOULs a chance at a different life.
Frisk looked up again at her 'sister'. Chara was still grinning, having run through the same track of memories. The bond became eternal the very first time DETERMINATION awoke in Frisk's chest and until the last spark of life faded from her heart it would burn just the same.
"Let me make this easier for you..." Chara scooted just a bit closer until there were only inches between them.
Frisk swallowed, a fierce blush creeping onto her face. "W-what are you doing?" she stammered.
"There is a way for us to really get acquainted better." Chara let her head rest in both hands as she gazed at Frisk. It was both comforting and frightening at the deepest levels. "It's quick, easy... though I can't promise painless." she tilted her head and allowed that awful grin to grow even larger.
"What is it?"
Chara leaned closer, almost as if she wanted to hug her 'sister', but stopped by her ear. "Let me touch your SOUL."
There was a moment of complete stillness, during which Frisk could swear she was visibly shaking. Throughout all of her experiences, one thing was constant: her SOUL was most precious. Even in their darkest moments, it was her SOUL that housed her DETERMINATION to carry on. To place it in Chara's trust was carelessly naive at best and suicidally dumb at worst.
But at the same time, there was an element of truth to it. No matter how many monsters she has met, their SOULs were always the most defining aspects of their character. A SOUL could not lie, so even if Chara tried to rope her into something, she would know. Then again, the fallen human had to be aware of this as well and if she was, then the offer could have been a genuine sign of at least a grudging friendship.
That did not mean she wasn't terrified though.
"O-On one condition..." she finally uttered. Frisk raised her head to meet Chara's gaze. "I want yours in return."
Chara raised a brow, before bursting into laughter. "My god, don't be so dramatic!"
"But it's so weird to ask for something like that!"
"You're the one making it weird now. But fine..." Chara paused, closed her eyes and took a deep breath. She raised a hand to her chest, and called upon her very SOUL to manifest, as if they were in a battle. There was a momentary discomfort that made her wince, but in just a few moments, her scarlet red SOUL floated comfortably over her palm. "You get to go first."
Frisk was shaking again, her face flushed deep red with emotions she couldn't even begin to place anywhere. A puzzled glance from Chara quickly brought her back to reality though and she coughed once to cover the embarrassment. She repeated the same procedure as her mental companion and soon the light of two SOULs burned in the shadowy realm that was Frisk's subconscious.
"Well, what are you waiting for?" Chara asked, holding her SOUL out. She scooted just a bit closer again, to where their legs were getting intertwined. "Here's your chance to learn..."
Frisk took a deep breath and reached out. She could feel sweat dripping from her forehead from the intense concentration, her cheeks burning brighter than either of the souls. She stopped her fingers just before Chara's SOUL and observed the deep red glow emanating from it. She gently touched it with the tip of her finger, which drew a sharp breath from Chara.
"It's okay, everything's fine." she quickly said, her already rosy cheeks ripening to match her SOUL. "It just feels... well... you'll see in a bit..."
The other human nodded and reached out again, placing her palm over the SOUL. The experience was indescribable. A tidal wave of emotions all washed over her at the same. Sadness, anger, hatred, joy, longing, even love all burned within the bright SOUL that was Chara's very essence. Frisk suddenly felt uncomfortable, as though she couldn't properly discern memories, she got such a deep insight into her character that it almost felt obscene.
And yet throughout every fold and wave of emotions and aspects, there was one in particular that seemed to tower over the rest:
DETERMINATION
It was at that moment Frisk realized she alone never could have progressed through the Underground. Her SOUL was in no ways weak, but Chara possessed such a concentrated burst of pure life energy, that put everything else to shame. It was no wonder they could stand up to Flowey, Sans and even Asriel in his most deranged form. There was no force that could possibly quell this. Frisk felt drawn to this DETERMINATION, this raw, stubborn power. It was a wave of confidence, self-assurance and a shocking amount of hope. The longer she held on the more intoxicating it felt.
She yelped all of a sudden, feeling like someone just phased right through her body and was trying to drag something out of it. She glanced aside to see Chara repeating the same tentative motions she had done mere moments ago. A deep sense of vulnerability crept into her heart as the fallen human touched their SOUL, but it was quickly eradicated by the pulsating force that still beat under her hand. She somehow knew Chara had no ill will towards her.
"Beautiful..." Chara whispered, savoring the feelings coursing from Frisk's SOUL.
There were bits and pieces that reminded the fallen human of her own soul, but at the same time it was vastly different. Innocence surrounded the SOUL like a comforting blanket and hidden within it was a rush of energy Chara had not felt in a long time. For brief moments, she remembered the moments where even her own restless SOUL found some solace: playing with Asriel, tasting desserts with Toriel and listening to Asgore snoring halfway into the bedtime story.
That wasn't to say Frisk was sheltered though. Chara was amused to find more than a few twinges of mischief and a stubborn, almost rebellious streak. The amount of love and friendship Frisk's heart could hold was nothing short of astounding, but what really surprised Chara was the one little cache, hidden deep within the darkest recesses of the SOUL. It was longing, rooted far deeper than her friendliness, born of crushing loneliness.
She grinned and traced her free hand up Frisk's arm, making her tremble. The SOUL flushed with red, their haphazard link giving both of them almost complete understanding of the other.
"Chara..." Frisk breathed, her head swimming from the sensory overload she was experiencing every second. She swallowed upon feeling her mental occupant's breath on her face again. She was losing her grip on the SOUL, while Chara was still holding firmly onto hers.
There was no lie in what Chara had said earlier. Frisk's soul was the most beautiful thing she had ever seen and to a SOUL teeming with power like hers, it was delectable. She wanted to take that blanketed, innocent. SOUL and expose it to the world, to let it weather every storm and watch as it squirmed, for in their fight against odds beyond their scope, were they truly the most beautiful to behold. She inched ever so closer to Frisk, till the very tip of her teeth touched their neck.
Frisk's grip slipped immediately, the rush from the other SOUL coming to a screeching halt. She jolted from the whiplash, only to be caught by Chara before she would hit the ground, breaking the other half of the connection. The fallen human was grinning down at her in a way that made Frisk feel very small all of a sudden.
"I'll admit..." her mental 'sister' spoke first. "That wasn't what I expected."
Frisk's stomach rumbled as a brief chuckle left her throat. "Me neither. Chara, that was..."
"Freaky." she finished the sentence. Her grin felt a lot more comforting than ever before. "Odd. Weird. Awkward. Everything bad, but also kind of amazing."
"Yeah..." Frisk sighed, taking a couple deep breaths. She eventually realized the gravity of the situation and sat up again, much to Chara's amusement. Making her flustered instead of terrified was proving to be a much more amusing pastime.
A ringing noise echoed across the emptiness of this dark dimension. It slowly gained in volume, exorcising the darkness and giving place to a pure white space.
"I-I have to get up for school." Frisk hopped to her feet, stumbling across the words. "This... really was better than just talking. I think."
"I think so, too." Chara nodded, both her eyes and SOUL glinting with a playful sparkle. She got up, and upon approaching Frisk, surprised her by pulling her into a decidedly not-so-innocent embrace. Frisk flushed red all over again, her SOUL flaring brighter with every second. By the time she stopped getting closer, their noses were almost touching. Chara opened her mouth, the breath of her words like a firestorm across Frisk's cheeks.
"Same time tonight?"
Her laughter continued to echo in Frisk's ears and mind long after she woke up.
This was a somewhat earlier request done for the Anons of /utg/. The original prompt was "Frisk and Chara touch souls", which I finally decided to take into the direction you see above. Fic title was once again given by the DETERMINED Anon maintaining the /utg/ Writebin and I couldn't come up with anything better so here we are! Fic sadly didn't leave an opening for chocolate references or puns. This will remain my great shame for the day.