Vlad tossed the child forward. They landed with a thud, standing up almost instantly. "Dammit. What do you think you are doing, kid?" He crossed his arms and let out a sigh. The child turned around with an angry expression glued on their face.
"Who the hell do you think you are." They signed. "Why are you getting in my way?" The child was picking the toy knife up off the ground, while Vlad began walking towards them. He knelt down in front of them. "And why are you acting so calm?! Do you want to die?"
Vlad put his hand on their head. "Someone seems cranky. Seriously, kid, calm down. Lets talk for a minute." He took the toy knife from them, and stuck it in his pocket.
"Hey! Give that back! That was mine!" The child was furiously struggling to get to the toy knife, but Vlad held them back. "Stop it, jerk! You're getting in the way of my genocide!" The signed, huffing at the fact that they were obviously overpowered by Vlad.
"Whoa, what? Genocide? How does a kid your age even know what that is?" Vlad knew what this kid was capable of, but didn't realize how aware they were of what they were doing. "I thought you just saw this all as just some game."
"It is." The child signed, laughing slightly. "And you just reminded me of it. I'll just reset to before you stopped me and get on with my fun." They reached behind them, giving Vlad an evil smile. But then, their hand fell to their side, and the evil smile changed into an expression of shock. "Wait, where is it?!" They turned, looking at the empty room.
"Looking for something?" Vlad said in as neutral a tone as he could. The child turned back to Vlad. "Oh. You must be looking for this." The glowing orange reset box appeared in front of the two of them.
"What?! How did you get that?!" The child tried to grab at the box, but Vlad willed it away before they could reach it. "You bastard! What are you doing?!"
"Well, I decided to stop you from killing everyone last timeline. So, I came back here and did so. Now, with no weapons and no control over time, let's see you try and murder all of those innocent people now. Wanna give it a go, Chara?" Vlad gave Chara a smug smile.
Upon hearing the name Chara, the child fell unconscious and laid passed out on the floor. An ominous red mist began to fill the air, and Vlad's heart dropped to his stomach. The room became black and the mist began to form together. A figure much like a child's formed in front of Vlad. The figure smiled at him. The ground began to shake as it had earlier, and Vlad was then covered in the roots of some plant like creature. "So you know who I am, and what I planned on doing. But did you see this coming?" The figures face became disfigured and began laughing.
Flowey sprout out of the ground under the figure. "This is Chara's true form. You really don't stand a chance, idiot." The two of them began laughing in unison.
"No, Chara, I honestly can say I did not expect this." Vlad said, giving out a nervous laugh. "But it doesn't matter." He looked Chara in the eyes, giving them as fierce a look as he could muster. "I am determined to keep you from killing anyone else!"
"Oh? Well, maybe I should take control of your determination, instead of that child's. Besides, It would be much more efficient to kill everyone in the body of an adult." Chara smiled, and began moving closer to Vlad.
"Fine. Do what you must. Just make sure to leave the kid alone after you take hold of my soul." Vlad dropped his head so Chara couldn't see him.
"That's what I like to hear. Let him go, Flowey." Flowey did as he said, releasing Vlad and then vanishing again. Chara moved directly in front of Vlad, then their body began to separate again into the red mist. Vlad's soul began to glow brightly, and the mist began flowing into it, creating red, thorn covered vines around it. Eventually, the mist dissipated, and the light returned to the room. Vlad fell onto his hands and knees, his head hanging towards the ground. He was breathing heavily, and his body was shaking.
After a few minutes, the child who had previously been possessed by Chara's spirit awoke. They looked around, unsure of where they were. When they spotted Vlad, they became concerned. They ran over to Vlad, worried that he was hurt. He put his hands on Vlad's shoulders and shook him lightly. Vlad let out a small chuckle and leaned back up. He was smiling, his eyes closed. Then he let out a hearty laugh. The child moved back away from Vlad, and Vlad looked at them, tears in his eyes from laughing. "Are you okay, mister? Where are we?" The child signed.
"Where are we?" Vlad spoke, his voice slightly distorted. He coughed. "Well, I think we're about out of the ruins. Underground, beneath Mount Ebott." He held out his hand to the child. The child reached forward and grabbed his hand. Vlad pulled them in for a hug. "As for if I'm okay, I could ask you the same thing. You did just get over being possessed by a being of pure hatred." The child nodded, then gasped.
"Wait, do you mean Chara? Did you stop them? What happened? Is Toriel okay? What about the Froggits, Whimsuns, Moldsmals, and everyone else in the ruins?" The child was frantically signing questions.
"Don't worry kid. Got rid of Chara in the most secure place I could think of... But as for your friends..." Vlad laid his head against the child's. "I didn't get here soon enough for them. I was able to save Toriel, but the others... Their gone." The child began to tear up, and started shaking their head. They began crying furiously, and Vlad hugged them tighter. "I know, it's hard. But there isn't anything we can do about it. I'm sorry, kid."
"Frisk." They signed, sobbing still, wiping tears from their eyes. "My name is Frisk."
"Well, it's nice to officially meet you, Frisk. I just wish it could have been under better circumstances." Vlad let go of Frisk and stood up. He walked forward slightly towards the exit of the ruins and extended his hand to Frisk. "The only thing we can do now, though, is move on. So come on. If we go make new friends, then maybe we can get your mind off of this pain." After a few more minutes of crying, Frisk took Vlad's hand and the two moved forward.
As the two made their way out of the ruins, they found themselves surrounded with snow. Or at least, it seemed like snow. Which was odd, because it was almost summer and they were underground. "What is this? I still haven't figured out why it's snowing down here." Frisk signed.
"Well, since we're under a mountain, I would assume that the snow falls from a hole somewhere on the top. But how it stays cold enough to keep all this snow here is beyond me." Vlad had been very interested in observing nature, but was never one to get himself into trouble, so all of the information he knew on how the environment worked came from things he had read from books and on the internet. "By the way, you said you STILL haven't figured it out. So how many times have you been down here? I mean, I know all about resets and the alternate timelines created by making different decisions, but, how many times have you gone through this place?"
"Too many times to count." Frisk signed. "I just love them all so much. And, after leaving the underground, I just wanted to experience it all again." They sighed. "You probably think that I was being selfish. I understand if you do."
"Well, I mean, it is kinda selfish. But, being selfish is part of being human. The thing you need to understand is that these are the lives and memories of kind people you are changing. You can't expect this to go on forever without SOME kind of consequence." Vlad grabbed Frisk and picked them up, placing them on his shoulders. "I mean, I went back, too. But, I did it for the benefit of others. Do you understand? If you can go back, make sure it's for something you know is worth it. Because when it comes back around, you want to have a good excuse to tell everyone. And even if they don't like it, you will be able to live with yourself, knowing you helped someone." The two approached a wooden bridge, and Frisk motioned for Vlad to turn around. He did, and was greeted by a short, sturdy skeleton. He knew exactly who it was. He instantly held his hand out with a smile on his face.
Sans walked up and shook his hand. There was a noise that sounded like a fart, and Sans and Frisk began laughing. Vlad continued to smile as he tightened his grip on Sans' hand. His eyes began to glow red, and Sans and Frisk noticed this. "Vlad?" Frisk signed, tugging on the sleeve of Vlad's shirt. Vlad's eyes returned to normal, his smile morphed into a frown as he let go of Sans' hand.
He put Frisk back down on the ground and shook his head. He laughed awkwardly. "Hey, kid, maybe you should go on ahead with our friend here. I'll meet up with you later. And don't forget what we talked about." Frisk nodded, looking concerned. Vlad walked back towards the entrance to the ruins until he was out of sight of Frisk and Sans.
After waiting for a few minutes, Sans walked up next to Vlad, who was sitting in the snow. "Hey, buddy. I think we need to talk." When Vlad looked at Sans, he noticed one of his eyes glowing blue. After watching Sans and Chara fight, he knew he was in trouble.
"Sans, wait. I think you have the wrong idea." Vlad held his hands up in front of him, hoping to show Sans he wasn't going to hurt him.
"I remember you. I never learnt your name, but I remember seeing you. You saved my life before, in that other timeline. So, I'm gonna give you the benefit of the doubt and hope you know what you're doing. Thanks to you, I get to see my bro again." Tears formed in Sans' eye sockets. He wiped them away. "However, I know the feeling I get from you too. That thing, the one who almost killed me in the last timeline, they're inside of you right now, aren't they?"
Vlad nodded. "I didn't know what else to do. But I figured, if I can contain them long enough for everyone to get away, I could lock myself up somewhere later. And if we're lucky, maybe I can change their mind about all this violence. But, it seems like this isn't going to be as easy as I thought." Vlad looked down at the ground. "I don't want to upset the kid, and I don't want anyone to get hurt... Sans, if I lose control, and it looks like there isn't any way for me to make it back, don't let me hurt anyone."
"What are you asking me to do?" Sans sounded calm.
"If it looks like I won't come back, then I need you to take me out." Vlad said, looking Sans in the eyes. Sans nodded. "Thanks."
"Sure. Hey, let's get back to the kid. I left him with my brother, and who knows what kind of trouble they could get into without someone watching over them." Sans held out his hand to Vlad. Vlad stared at it for a minute, then took it and pulled himself up with Sans' help. "Come on, follow me. I know a shortcut."
Vlad and Sans entered an area with a marble floor in the middle of the snow. Looking around, Vlad found no signs of anyone. He was about to ask Sans if they were in the right place, when he heard footsteps in the snow. In the clearing opposite of them, a tall skeleton came running through. He ran at Sans, until he noticed Vlad standing beside him. "SANS, WHO IS THIS?"
"This guy? He's a human. But don't worry. I already captured him. How's it going with capturing the other human?" Sans had his hands in his pockets, pretending nothing was wrong. Vlad figured he should follow his lead.