Author's Note: Hello, everybody! This is my third story (or, well, my third attempt at a story…My first one and its 'reboot' didn't entirely go to plan, and were never finished.).

I can tell you now, updates are definitely going to come very slowly. I don't know how slowly, but I'd expect one chapter around every two weeks or so, give or take a few days, maybe. I am a horribly slow writer, mainly because I get distracted unbelievably easily, and will inevitably end up procrastinating very often.

If that is a problem for some of you, then I am so, so sorry. Setting writing and update schedules, while good ideas for a lot of people, only seem to increase the stress for me, to the point where I won't get anything done. So, I'm going to take this nice and slow, and work on it when I get some inspiration.

Anyways, enough rambling, on with the story! I hope you enjoy!

Everything is gone now. There's nothing left. Everyone else is dead, besides maybe Chara. I imagine they're pointlessly drifting around this… this nothingness.

… What have I done?

Why did I go along with them? Why did I help them murder every single one of my friends and family? Why…?

Orion, an otherworldly being who once thought himself to be powerful and headstrong, is now drifting through the emptiness, torturing himself over his previous actions.

Part of him wants to believe that this wasn't his fault, that it was all Chara's fault, that they manipulated him. But he knows that's not true. Chara may have started the killing, they may have ordered him, but the blood and dust throughout the Underground are on his hands.

This was all his fault.

Four Days Earlier…

Orion awoke to the quiet beeping of his alarm. He sat up, gave himself a moment to completely wake up before taking a deep breath and standing. He walked over to his alarm at the opposite end of the room and shut it off.

He got dressed and walked out into the hallway. He could hear people talking downstairs.

Toriel was laughing at Sans' typical puns, and telling her own as well, while Papyrus was yelling at both of them. He could even hear Frisk giggling at the whole spectacle.

He briefly smiled to himself and started going downstairs, hoping to get some breakfast before everyone inevitably ate it all.

Frisk was the first one to notice when Orion started walking over, and they rushed over to greet him.

"Good mornin', Frisk," he said as he ruffled their hair. "You enjoyin' the show?"

They nod happily. "Mom made bacon and pancakes."

"Sounds delicious. C'mon, let's go join everyone else."

The rest of the day was pretty typical; Frisk and Orion played video games with each other in the living room, Toriel sat in her big, fluffy chair and read books, Sans went to bed very early, and Undyne even came over with Alphys for a while. She tried to start a cooking lesson with Papyrus, but Toriel quickly put a stop to that.

When it was nearing Frisk's bedtime, Undyne and Alphys had already gone home, and Papyrus had gone upstairs to his room, but was probably still awake. Toriel put away her books and went to bed shortly after.

Orion and Frisk were finishing one of their cooperative games, both chatting away about what to do, when Orion suddenly froze mid-sentence. Frisk was too focused on the game to realize until they heard him drop the controller. They turned to face him, and he was just sitting there, emotionless and completely still. His face occasionally twitched.

"…O-Orion? You okay…?" When he didn't respond, they slowly reached out and tapped his arm. He shook, and his face turned to a grimace, visibly in immense pain. Frisk looked on in horror.

"What happe-" They started to speak, but Orion turned towards them with such a serious look, that they were at a loss for words.

"Something's wrong." Immediately, all of the lights in the house shattered and the television shut off, leaving them in near pitch black darkness. Orion quickly clamped his hand over their mouth, silencing them. There was some quiet thumping noises coming from what sounded like Papyrus' room, causing both of them to watch the upstairs hallway like hawks.

Soon after, there was a single thump from behind Toriel's door.

"…My child?" They could barely hear her from down there, but they continued to listen.

"…My child, what are you doing up? Did you have a nightmare?" There was a pause. A few seconds later, she continued, her voice fearful now. "W-what are you doing? No, put that down, my child! What are you doing!? Stop it, plea-"

After that, no sounds were heard. Frisk pulled Orion's hand away and tried to get up, to rush over there to help, but Orion forcefully grabbed them and pulled them back into the couch. He looked into their eyes with the most intense expression.

"Stay here."

There was nothing they could do. They knew Orion would force them to stay there if they didn't listen. They slowly nodded.

"Good."

Orion turned around, facing the stairs. He began to glow, becoming surrounded by multi-colored streams of magic. After a moment, they began to fade, revealing that he was now in a full suit of armor, carrying a quarterstaff, his typical magic weapon. He glanced back at Frisk before rushing up the stairs as if he wasn't wearing armor at all.

He quickly reached Toriel's room and tried to open the door, but it was locked.

"Toriel! Toriel, open up!" He slammed his fist on the door. No response. "Dammit!"

He took a step back, and shoulder-bashed the door open, almost ripping it off of its hinges in the process. "Toriel!"

He quickly noticed that he wasn't the first one to get here. Sans was standing off to the side, pupils wide, staring at the bed.

"Sans! What the hell happened in…here…"

That's when he saw it. The large pile of dust across the bed, and a child holding a knife.

He recognized them.

It was Chara, the demon child from Frisk's and Sans' nightmares, grinning sadistically and clearly enjoying every moment of this. They let out a bone-chilling laugh.

"…Oh, god…" Orion stumbled back, dropping his quarterstaff and bracing himself against the doorway. His shock overpowered his focus, and his armor faded. He wobbled out of the room and into the hallway, facing away from the door and leaning against the handrail.

He glanced toward Frisk. They looked more afraid then he ever remembered seeing them, and the horror spread across his face didn't help, as upon seeing him, they cowered even further into the couch, and began to quietly sob.

He knew had to do something.

Unconsciously, he tightened his grip on the handrail, causing it to creak under his hands. He pushed himself away from it, and began to walk back into the room, determined to get revenge.

He didn't get very far…

There was a sudden, blinding burst of red energy from the room, pushing him back into the handrail before something large and blue came flying out of the room, slamming into him. He felt the rail shatter behind him, and it cut into his sides as he was flung past it.

He was launched all the way across the house and smashing straight through a window on the first floor, crashing head-first into the ground outside. The large, blue object landed beside him.

It sounded like someone was calling his name.

He remained there for what seemed like several minutes. He opened his eyes, but everything was too blurry and wobbly, and his vision swirled. His vision slowly started getting clearer.

"Or…n…Orion! ORION! Wake up, please!" His vision finally focused, and he saw Frisk leaning over him. They were crying again.

"…F-Frisk…?"

They looked surprised. They opened their mouth to say something, but were interrupted by Orion coughing violently. His ribs felt broken, he could feel glass shards in his back, his head was throbbing with pain, and he was sure he could taste blood in his mouth.

He gritted his teeth, and took a slow, deep breath before carefully rolling over and trying to push himself up. He managed to sit up, but his legs felt too weak to stand. He felt something dripping down his forehead. He wiped it away, only to see his fingers covered in blood.

"Dammit…"

Orion started coughing again, and each one felt like his lungs were tearing themselves apart. He turned towards Frisk.

"…Frisk, are you-" He stopped, suddenly at a loss for words as shock spread across his face.

Frisk was silently sitting there, their hand covering their mouth as tears streamed down their face. They were staring at a blue jacket lying flat on the ground, covered in dust. It was Sans' jacket. Orion realized that it must've been Sans that was launched into him.

"…Sans…" He slammed his fist against the dirt. "…You dumbass…"

Chara stepped out of the broken window and started walking towards Orion, laughing at him.

Orion looks up at them, furious.

"You… You bitch!"

"Language…" They waggle their finger at him, frowning at him condescendingly. They walk up to him, anger suddenly flaring up inside them, and they smash Orion in the face with their knee, knocking him backwards. He was still too dizzy to properly defend himself.

"Chara! Stop this, please!" Frisk calls out, desperate.

"Oh, shut up, you idiot." Chara steps over to Frisk and throws them down to the ground.

"P-please, Chara, y-you don't have to do this…" Frisk says as Chara straddles them, tucking their knife into their waistband.

"I SAID SHUT UP!" Chara punches them in the face, then begins to wrap their hands around Frisk's neck.

"Now…We're gonna take this…" They tighten their grip, causing Frisk to gasp, and pointlessly grab at Chara's arms and thrash around. "…Nice…and…slow…"

"...Ch-chara…p-please…" Frisk manages to squeak out.

"Sshhhh… Don't talk. You don't want to waste your breath, do you, Frisky?" Chara giggles playfully at Frisk's gasps and chokes.

Tighter…

And tighter…

Frisk's face starts to turn blue as their life is being choked out of them. Everything begins to go dark, and their eyes start to roll back into their head.

"GET THE HELL AWAY FROM THEM!"

On the brink of unconsciousness, Frisk is barely able to see a very large mass slam incredibly hard into Chara, throwing them off of Frisk. Immediately, they gasp deeply, and their vision clears in time for them to see Orion grab Chara by the neck and fling them into the wall.

He quickly follows up by slamming his fist into their face, hard enough to easily break their nose. He gets up in their face and roars at them like a pissed off bear about to maul his prey's face off.

He grabs them by the face, smashes their head against the wall again, and throws them across the yard. He stomps over to them, and the fury in his eyes even visibly frightens Chara.

"HOW DARE YOU KILL EVERYONE!? HOW DARE YOU HURT FRISK!? I'M GONNA TEAR YOU TO PIECES, YOU GODDAMN BRAT!" His magic quickly flares up, and his armor returns. While his magic was once multi-colored, like the different types of human souls, it's now a deep, dark red. It seeps out of him, like poisonous gas. Frisk can feel the anger and hatred in the air, and it terrifies them.

He doesn't even bother summoning any weapons. He'd much rather rip them apart with his bare hands.

Frisk wants to stop him, they want to tell him not to hurt them, that maybe they can stop this without violence, but all that comes out is a slight whimper. They've never seen him like this. He's usually calm and collected, even in stressful situations, but never this.

Chara stands up, and starts backing away, their grin wiped from their bloody face.

Orion just laughs at them.

"I see why you enjoy this, demon. Hurting the people you hate and seeing the pain and torment on their faces is quite the thrill. I wonder how you're liking the other side of this." He stares at their face for a moment.

"It seems you aren't enjoying this." He fakes being hurt. "How disappointing. What's the matter? Can't take what you dish out?"

Chara trips on their own feet, falling backwards. They blink, and Orion is already standing above them. He grabs their neck again and pins them to the ground, letting go of their neck and placing his knee on their chest. He can feel their ribcage creak under his weight, and Chara grimaces in pain.

"Oh, I am going to enjoy killing you."

Orion summons a blade and holds it against their neck, drawing a small amount of blood.

"Any last words?"

Chara suddenly burst into laughter.

"Wh-what…What the hell is so funny!?" Orion stared at them in shock. They kept laughing for a moment. Eventually, they were just giggling to themself.

"I didn't think you were so sadistic at times, just like I am." They giggled again. "But now that I know, I think you'll do just fine for my plans…"

"…Plans? What…What are you talking about?"

"Why should I tell you? I'm not gonna ruin the surprise. Besides, you'll know soon enough." They pause, then start to frown a bit. "Hmm…Though, you aren't very observant, are you?"

"What?" Orion faltered.

"You see-"

Orion gasped. He looked down, and saw Chara's knife stabbed into his stomach. There was blood dripping down the knife and onto Chara. Almost immediately, his magic completely dissipated, including his armor and blade.

"I still had my knife."

They roughly twisted the knife, releasing a blood-curdling scream from Orion. As they pulled the knife out, blood was pouring out of the wound, and Orion clamped his hands over it in a poor attempt to keep his blood from spilling everywhere.

"ORION!" Frisk yelled.

Chara shoved Orion off of them and he landed on his back. He stayed there, keeping his hands over the wound as he writhed in pain. He wheezed and coughed. He was bad at healing magic, but he tried anyway. It didn't help much.

Work faster, come on! Dammit!

Eventually, he gave up, letting his arms fall to his side.

"…Fr…Frisk-" He coughed again. "…I…I'm sorry…I f-failed you…"

He tried to sit up, but didn't have the strength. "Just…c-close your eyes…and reset…please…"

They nodded, tears running down their face. They closed their eyes and focused.

"I'm just…gonna take a nap…Wake me up when nobody's dead anymore…"

As Orion was about to pass out, he felt an explosion of determination burst out from Frisk's soul. The whole world began to vibrate, and slowly, darkness began to cover everything like a thick, gaseous blanket. Suddenly, the ground seemed to fade away, leaving him floating through the darkness.

His wounds seemed to heal, but his flesh was just rewinding back to before he was injured at all. It was a very strange sensation. He'd never been seriously injured during a reset before.

He took a deep breath, but was surprised when no air entered his lungs, but instead he inhaled some of the dark gas. He quickly became dizzy, as he wasn't breathing actual air.

He felt like he was drowning. No matter how much he breathed, there was no oxygen. He started panicking and began to hyperventilate.

Why is this taking so long!? What the hell is going on!?

The pain was so intense. He could feel himself slowly start to slip out of consciousness. It was getting hard to keep his eyes open.

He tried to call out, hoping that maybe Frisk was somewhere here too, and that they could help him, but all that came out was a quiet wheeze.

F-Frisk…Help me…Please…I don't want to die…

Orion lets out another strangled gasp, and finally passes out.

Author's Note: Feel free to ask questions about anything you may be confused about. I'll be sure to put my answers in the author's notes at the top of each chapter. And remember, constructive criticism is always welcome.