…Interesting.
You want to go back.
You want to go back to the world you destroyed.
It was you who pushed everything to its edge.
It was you who led the world to its destruction.
But you cannot ace-
Hm?
Oh, that's right.
The deal.
Do you think things will change?
Do you think I will change?
No.
You have made a foolish deal.
And now…
You will give me what we promised.
And I will show you…
How wrong you were.
Unfamiliar warmth could scarcely touch the fragile body, where light's reach was faint and weak. Vegetation covered the dirt of the earth, the grass wilting beyond the hand of light. Only a bed of flowers were permitted to bask in the holiness of this mere glimpse of a sun, but now they lay under a new being, trampled and crushed.
The child amidst the flowers, how gentle and innocent they slept. Their yellowish skin was able to feel the light and receding warmth while the rest of the body was clothed in a long, blue sweater and short, blue pants. Two horizontal, purple stripes were the only design on the sweater, and short white socks and brown shoes covered their feet.
Their short, rugged brown hair swayed when the head rolled to the side, a low moan escaping their closed lips. Heavy, black eyelids slowly opened to stare at the source of the light, then immediately regretted it and shut them closed again. The body flinched from the pain and the child let out a hiss, throwing their hands up to cover their eyes.
Was the light always this blinding?
Slowly the hands slid down from the face to touch the flowers beneath them. They were soft and cool to the touch, a sensation that the child had forgotten. They had forgotten every sensation, really.
Using their hands for support, the child lifted their back and head up to sit, taking another moment to try and open their eyes. From the black eyelids a pair of soft, bright red eyes were welcomed to the world as they stared off into the pitch black that crept close to light's domain.
They opened their mouth, inhaling as much oxygen as they could before slowly exhaling. They couldn't help but smile as they felt the air leave their lungs, oh how long had it been since this was possible? They stared happily at the hands beside them, before taking a moment to clack both shoes together.
Yes, their lungs, their hands, their shoes, their body.
He was reborn.
"Quite a nice body you have here." The young boy spoke, a little surprised at first that the voice that escaped his lips was not the one he was used to using.
He brought a finger to touch his lips delicately, then smiled. "Oh, I'm sorry. My body now. And my voice too."
Turning his gaze, the boy was not surprised to find himself in the midst of company. A spectral being floated just beyond where the light kissed the hidden earth; a dull glow surrounded their body. They appeared exactly as the child before them, though their heavy eyelids kept the illusion of staying closed. An unexpressive frown dawned their lips.
The boy giggled. "Thanks for keeping my body in shape," before rising to his feet to stretch. Upon standing on one foot however the boy teetered backwards before falling back onto the flowers with a crunch.
He hissed in pain, reaching back to rub his rear while a haunting giggle slithered into his ears and out the other. He turned to smile at the giggling ghost. "Laugh while you can, I have your body now."
Delicately the boy brought his hand over his heart, his eyes half-lidded and his smile mischievous. "And the very being of your soul."
He took a moment to close his eyes, hoping the ghost was growing jealous. "Mmm, it feels good to have one again. The soul of a young boy."
Opening one eye to the ghost, he frowned when the child didn't appear to look upset. They had crossed their arms as if they were waiting for something to happen. The boy opened his other eye. "Do you expect me to thank you?"
The boy was a little surprised when the child shook their head. The boy soon felt a blush blossom when the child pointed to their nether regions, their face still expressionless. The boy scoffed. "What are you implying?"
Continuing to point, the boy took their eyes off of the ghost and suddenly gain an interest to their lower region. Their blush, albeit small, warmed slightly as they rose a hand to inspect the area. Upon contact, they gasped, their blush rising in heat.
Ripping their hand away, the boy was very eager now to rise to his feet, his eyes wide and on the ghost. "You're a girl?!"
The ghost cocked their eyebrow as if they expected the boy, no, the girl to have already known that. He clenched his teeth in response. "I thought you were a boy, like me! I can't tell if you're a guy or a girl just by hovering around you!"
He suddenly became aware of his voice again, slapping his mouth shut in embarrassment. It was true that he had never heard the girl physically speak before, only in her mind, but now it was almost foolish of him not to realize how girly it sounded. It was a too high-pitched and soft for his liking as he cleared his throat a few times, trying to lower it.
"Ah…" He tried again, only to close his mouth. He could feel his blush spread across his face as the ghost giggled again.
He averted his eyes. "Shut up."
Hesitantly opening his mouth once more, he took in another deep breath to try and calm himself down. There wasn't really a way back now, so with some annoyance he changed his thoughts of himself to her.
She let out a defeated sigh. "Well, I didn't expect this outcome. But this doesn't change a thing."
She quickly trained her eyes on the ghost, this ghastly girl once more. "I'll show you how foolish you were by bringing me back. Nothing will change."
The after-image of the girl did not respond, leaving the girl to turn on her heels and walk, or rather take jerky steps, to the edge of light's domain. She crouched down for an item that scarcely touched the natural sunlight, a lonesome stick amongst the grass. Her fingers were about to close around the lone branch when the ghostly girl spoke.
Chara.
Chara raised her head, her fingers now hovering over the branch. She cocked her head to the side, amused. "Don't worry; this is only for the inevitable. Or do you want me to take my knife into battle against Omega Flowey and Asgore?"
Her smile grew when the ghost pursed her lips in a pout, letting Chara know that she had won the argument. Satisfied, she clenched the stick in her hand and stood back up.
She turned happily to the ghost, holding the stick out in front of her. "You think less of me. I bet you think I'm going to just happily skip off and kill everyone."
Her smile dipped for a serious frown, holding the stick towards the ghost as if it were some deadly weapon. "When I make a promise, I don't ever break it. Still, even if I don't kill anyone, as fun as it is, you're still going to see the error of your ways."
Tilting the stick upwards, Chara allowed her smile to come back as she ran a hand up her back neck and into her hair. "This world is predictable. Every outcome is the same; you and I both know that all too well. I've seen everything you have and more a thousand times, nothing-"
She tipped her stick forward, as if cueing for the ghost to continue. She leaned forward and eyed the ghostly girl with contempt. "And say it with me this time, -will change."
Chara giggled as she stood back up, her eyes half-lidded as her smile stretched into a grin. "And neither will I. You gave up your soul for nothing."
With a ditty turn, and a bit of fumbling for balance soon afterwards, Chara turned her head in one direction off into the looming darkness. Even if she couldn't see beyond the dark, she knew exactly where the tunnel was that ran towards the crumbling doorway into the Ruins.
Idly turning her head back, she motioned with the stick for the child. "Are you ready for our journey, Frisk? I hope you brought a book, because this is going to be boring."
Chara gave a content smile to see Frisk float over beside her, waiting for her to take the first step. She did so gladly, escaping out of the only glimpse of sunlight in favor for the eternal and all consuming darkness.
She fumbled her way through the dark, taking short steps to feel her way over to the tunnel of rock inside the mountain as Frisk trailed behind. Walking wasn't coming back as quickly as Chara wanted, but then again standing proved to be a bit of a challenge earlier. She just hoped she didn't slam her face into the ground; Frisk would never let it go.
Chara wondered why Frisk wasn't giving off any light beside her, but quickly came to realize that she, much like he once was, could only be seen by her and was most likely a figment of the remnants of her soul. So long as he had her soul, Frisk would always be there.
"So, want to make this a game?" Chara asked as she finally found the wall of the tunnel. She breathed a sigh of relief, using it as a guide to bring her closer to eventually the doorway. "I bet I can beat your time at racing through the Ruins and into Snowdin."
She turned her head back and gave Frisk a cocky smile. "I'll be at Toriel's house before you even got done with Flowey."
Frisk scoffed, her celestial voice echoing without walls to bounce off of.
Chara's smile grew. "Is that a challenge?"
Frisk didn't immediately nod her head. Instead she crossed her arms again, cocking her eyebrow while staring at Chara. She lost a bit of her smile, then regained it in a laugh. "You think you're going to beat me? Hah! You ran through the Underground like a newborn goat!"
Chara stopped laughing when her hand reached the end of the wall and almost fell in. Chara gasped and steadied herself on her still new legs, frowning when she heard Frisk giggle behind her.
Just as she straightened her back she realized where she was, staring into the long tunnel where another patch of light fell down into the Underground. A medium-sized flower stared in their direction, though couldn't see them through the dark, as if they had heard Chara laugh and was waiting for something to happen.
Chara lightly touched the rock wall beside her, then smiled once more and turned to Frisk. She lightly giggled before whispering. "Watch and learn, baby goat."
She strode confidently into the room.
Heyo! I don't know when i'll get around to continuing this as my main focus for now is going to be Accepting Darkness, but I do want to continue this story. For those of you who have read Fading Light beforehand, this is basically the Chara route. You don't need to have read Fading Light to understand this, though! This is just a story where Chara ventures through the Underground with Frisk as their spectral buddy in trying to perfect a pacifist run. Chara will soon realize that's not as easy as it sounds. I hope you guys enjoy it!