(AN: So I read Swaptale by scotchtapeofficial over on tumblr recently and really fell in love with the idea they were going for. Since I found out that they wouldn't be continuing it, either indefinitely or for a while, I decided to take the story and put my own twist on it and got permission to do it! So while the intros might not be exactly the same, this story is mostly based just on the premise of what Swaptale is. Which is something I want to stress; this is just a fanfic on the idea. Thank you all for your time, and for reading my story! I hope you enjoy it because this will be a long tale.)
"Sans...I figured I would see you here."
The skeleton with the blue hoodie shrugged, "i'm sure it wasn't much of a surprise, you've fallen a lot to get here...chara." He pointed a bony finger towards the child, "you should have left us the way we were the first time."
A laugh came over Chara, and they grinned at Sans, "But it's so much more fun with everyone together, isn't it? I just got so lonely...and now we can always play together!" The bangs covering their eyes were brushed aside as Chara darted towards Sans, knife in hand. Three bones appeared from nowhere and pushed Chara back.
Sans stepped back, "i should have known you were a monster from the start." The room went black and white, yet the only color came from Sans's blue eye. Four boxes came up from the ground; "FIGHT", "ACT", "ITEMS", or "MERCY".
Chara laughed again, and stared at Sans with completely red eyes, "YoU WeRE aLWaYs a fOOL!" They smashed the FIGHT button.
-=IN A DIFFERENT TIMELINE=-
Frisk sat up, dazed. On their way back to the ruins they had tripped and fallen, but excitedly got back up, running to the area where it all began. They had just managed to break the barrier open, sparing everyone that they met, making friends with all those around them. It was the hardest thing they had to do, and almost everyone put up a fight, but Frisk managed throughout their entire journey, not once killing a soul. Now, going back through the underground, seeing everyone's expression when they found out they were free...it filled them with determination.
And as the young child stumbled into the first room for the last time, they saw Asriel standing there, looking at the flowers.
Without turning to face Frisk, Asriel spoke, "I didn't want to give myself false hope but...I figured I would see you here." He turned and gave Frisk a weak grin, "I assume you're here to kill me right? After all I've done, I don't think I could accept mercy." Frisk stopped Asriel from talking anymore by giving the boy a hug.
Asriel, stunned by this action, stood still before slowly returning the gesture. Tears were welling up in his eyes when Frisk said, "I'll always be here to comfort you, we're friends aren't we?"
"Yeah, I guess so," He chuckled. Asriel could stay in Frisk's grasp forever, there was so much love pouring from this being's SOUL that it really made himself feel as if everything was going to be okay. Unfortunately, there wasn't much time left, so he pushed away from Frisk gently. The kid looked confused, "I have to go Frisk, but thank you for coming all the way here just to comfort me."
"Wait, where are you going? Come with us to the outside!"
"I can't, Frisk. It takes too much to maintain this form. Eventually, I'll return back to Flowey, but please, never forget about me." Frisk nodded, and smiled. Asriel appeared happy and his form very slowly became more transparent, until there was nothing left.
Suddenly, a mound in the middle of the field of the yellow flowers grew bigger and a flower popped out, "UGH! I didn't think it would take that long….AH!" Flowey noticed Frisk standing close to him, "What?! Are you here to 'mercy' me to death again? Don't think I'll go easy on ya!" Everything turned black and white, and four options abruptly came up before Frisk; "FIGHT", "ACT", "ITEMS", or "MERCY". Frisk chose ACT to try and reason with the golden flower.
"Come on Flowey, everyone is free to leave the underground now! Let's go together, it'll be fun."
Flowey furiously shook his head, "Don't sweet talk me with your words human!" Ten small white specks appeared in front of the flower and flew at Frisk. They sighed to themselves and expertly dodged them, "Grrr! Why are you so hard to kill?!" Frisk only smiled, knowing that the only option was to Spare the poor flower. Frisk placed their hand over the MERCY button.
-=BOTH TIMELINES=-
A feeling of dread came over both Chara and Frisk. Both their SOULs felt heavy, a massive pressure was being exerted on the two. They grunted in agony, closing their eyes as they were being pushed down. When they tried to peer through the pain, they noticed that instead of their original opponents, they were staring at each other. One with a green and yellow striped shirt, the other with purple and blue. One that fought with love, and the other that fought with LOVE. Both were equally shocked.
"Wh-who are you?" Frisk asked, the pressure seeming to ease up on them.
Yet the one across from themselves still seemed to be in pain, and, through gritted teeth, spat out, "Why...why are you GETtiNG iN MY WAy?!" Chara tried to move towards Frisk, swinging the knife around erratically.
Frisk avoided the heavy strikes and asked, though frightened, "Why are you trying to hurt me, what's going on?"
"Grr...JUST DIE!" Chara screamed putting all of their weight into the attack. Before the blade could even touch Frisk, they disappeared. Momentarily confused, Chara stared at the blank void they were in, before they too, vanished.
…
A laugh echoed throughout the void.
"L37 7H3 G4M3 B3G1N."
-=FRISK=-
A bright light encompassed Frisk, blinding them. Painful rays of white pierced through their closed eyelids, so they put up their arm in hopes the sleeve would help. Once it had faded, Frisk opened their eyes to see they were now in the Judgment Hall. Soft light poured in from the windows, giving the golden tiled floor a gentle shine. Birds chirped in the distance, contributing to the tranquil scene. Yet, something wasn't right.
Frisk shouldn't have been in that hall in the first place, and why was Sans there, staring at them? There was no friendliness emanating from the goofy skeleton, just bitterness. The atmosphere here was nothing like Frisk had ever felt before, devoid of any feeling. Even the calmness the environment provided was suffocated by this horrible feeling.
"Sans, what's going on?" Frisk asked shakily, but received no answer. They looked down, shocked to see that their hand was on a broken FIGHT button, "Wait what? Why is this happening Sans?"
But he just laughed, and Frisk noted how hollow it was, "don't play dumb with me. after what you did, it should make complete sense what's going on."
"No Sans, listen to me!" Frisk pleaded, "There's some mistake!"
Sans looked down, "you're too far gone...someone like you…" His expression went dark, "Should be burning in hell."
-=CHARA=-
"Mercy? This again!?" A familiar voice shouted, "Why are you so kind?!"
"SHUT UP!" Chara shouted back.
Flowey shrunk back, not expecting to hear such a forceful response, "Wait, that sounded like someone I used to know. Is that you, Chara?"
Chara stared at the flower, "No, Asriel?"
"Chara! I-I never thought you would come back!" The little flower wiggled around with happiness.
Chara clenched their teeth and gripped the knife, "What did you do? You interrupted my fight with Sans."
"What are you talking about?" Flowey slowly stopped moving.
"Even after death, you're still getting in my way." Chara tried to make a move towards Flowey, but noticed their hand was stuck to the MERCY button, "Urgh! Come on!"
"W-what were you going to do Chara? Friend?"
"Friend?" The word made Chara smile malevolently, their red eyes beaming once again, "If you really want to know, I was about to KILL YOU!"
"H-huh?" Flowey's smile had left as fear surged through his tiny body.
"Well GO ON! Use an attack so it'll be my turn!" Chara screamed, still trying to get their hand off MERCY. Instead, the shivering flower quickly ducked underground, appearing to have run off.
Chara scoffed, "Coward…"
"hey pal, whatcha, uh, doing over here?" A familiar voice said behind Chara, who slowly turned their head to face the speaker. A cold sweat broke out over the murderer as, not only was Sans standing before them, but also everyone they had killed; Toriel, Papyrus, and Undyne. Even that craven Alphys was with them.
"Oh my god." Chara muttered.
-=FRISK=-
"Sans, you don't understand!"
Dozens of bones flew at Frisk, all aiming at their SOUL, yet they easily dodged them. Sweat was dripping from every pore as they sensed that same feeling of dread when they arrived here. It felt like ACTing was pointless, but at this point, everything felt pointless to Frisk. Their friend was attacking them mercilessly. Sans's first attack nearly killed Frisk, and unfortunately for them, they didn't have any healing items. Their friend only had one goal in mind, and they could see it plain as day; to kill Frisk. It drowned out everything that they knew about the skeleton. There was no Sparing in this fight, nor MERCY. Someone was going to die, and that was all.
"looks like this is it for you, kiddo." Four gaster blasters appeared in front of Sans.
This was too much. Frisk couldn't take it anymore. They dropped to their knees and put wounded hands over their head. Tears were already falling on the beautiful floor, "Please help me! Toriel! Undyne! Papyrus!" Frisk sobbed. They didn't care anymore, they wanted someone, anyone, to help them. Any moment now, Frisk would be blasted away. Yet the attack never came.
"why…" Frisk looked up to see Sans standing still, "why are you calling for them?" A tear fell from his blue eye now white, "i just don't get it...after everything that you've done." Sans stared into Frisk's SOUL, "is this some kind of sick joke? calling for my brother's name? Just what are you after?!" More tears ran down Frisk's face, that was the first time they had ever heard emotion in Sans's speech.
"was it not enough that you killed him? now you're going to mock me emotionally? that's low, even for you kid!" Frisk's SOUL turned blue and they skid along the floor towards Sans. Roughly grabbing Frisk's collar and lifting them up, Sans spoke, "those that received no mercy from you. those that were wronged by your hands," Sans looked down, hiding his face from Frisk, "I am their mercy. I am their vengeance." Frisk struggled to get out of Sans's hold, but the skeleton gazed back up at Frisk with his one blue eye.
"I am JUDGMENT!"
-=CHARA=-
It was like something out of a nightmare, to see all of their faces again. Chara had thought they were dead, for good, but yet...how was this possible? They shook their head. This was obviously not the same place they were just at. Sans wasn't even attacking them on first glance, in fact, the skeleton acted like he did when they first met. Perhaps it was a trick of his, to capture them off guard.
Sans spoke, cutting off Chara's thoughts, "you okay kiddo? you've been starin' at us for a while now."
"WELL, FRISK DID RUN OFF WITHOUT US! WHO KNOW'S WHAT THE CHILD HAS GONE THROUGH!" Papyrus jumped in happily.
"oh?" A mischievous grin grew on his face, "i guess you could say..."
"SANS, DON'T"
"they were a bit bonely." Sans winked.
"URGGGHHHHH"
"Not bad, bonehead." Toriel giggled.
"NOT YOU TOO?!" Papyrus stomped his foot on the soft ground.
Chara gripped their knife, and muttered, "Shut up..."
Undyne laughed at Papyrus, "Aw come on, lighten up, these jokes are pretty bare bones anyways."
Papyrus fell to his knees, "UNDYNE NOOOOOO!"
The entire crowd laughed, save Sans, who had one eye on the human. The kid wasn't looking at Sans and the group was mostly focusing on Papyrus, so he figured it couldn't hurt. He opened his left eye, revealing the blue fire underneath, and analyzed Frisk. Then, everything froze.
what...in the hell, Sans went cold, colder than usual for a skeleton. He had never seen so much murderous intent, especially from Frisk, who had never killed a soul.
"Just shut up!"
Everyone stopped what they were doing and turned to face who they thought was Frisk.
"W-what's wrong, Fr-Frisk?" Alphys asked, not expecting the sudden outburst, much like everyone else. Even Sans was caught off guard.
Chara's breathing was abnormal, this wasn't happening right now. These things weren't alive right, no...just a figment of their imagination. Yeah, that was it, just an hallucination...right?
"say, kiddo," Sans spoke up, eyes closed. Suddenly, Chara was enveloped in a blue light, "w-where'd ya get all that LOVE from?"
Papyrus looked shocked, "WHY, FROM US OF COURSE! WHERE ELSE WOULD IT COME FROM?"
Chara let out a small laugh, "You have no idea..." Sans eyes snapped open, one blue, the other dark.
"Where is FRISK?"