When Chara had died, his love went with them.
Absorbing a human soul, especially one belonging to your dead sibling, was certainly not an experience Asriel would recommend. Hearing someone else's thoughts and feelings, having someone else listen to your own. It was especially strange and off-putting with Chara. Though they'd planned for it, a wave of strange emotions had hit him on the surface: wonder, regret, pain, loss, awe. He wasn't sure whose emotions were whose.
Stronger than anything was what he felt right before their death. Chara's horror at his slowing, his regret, their anger. More than anything, the one thing he remembered vividly was betrayal: coursing hot in their shared veins, and the horrible feeling of splitting down the middle. Chara's yelling wavered in his ears and then died, as the both of them did, simultaneous.
Being soulless was the opposite. It was him and him alone. It was better that way.
A life without love - he soon came to realize, after plunging vines through Papyrus's chest for the third time - was probably the best off. Chara's death, though not as prominent in his memories now that he was a flower, had stung him like no other, as had their screams of betrayal as the two of them fell in unison. But without love, without the desire that only brought him pain? Excellence. He could befriend everyone. He could murder anyone. He could befriend some and kill the others, watching those who remained scramble in their grief. With the power to RESET and the power to not feel love, why, he was in wonderful shape.
So, of course, he was very, very very mad when someone swooped (or more literally, fell) in and snatched that power from him.
He had received a shock when seeing them. They looked like Chara. Their hairstyle, their striped sweater, their shoes, their SOUL. But Chara had started to instead of slumping hold themself up tall, head high, their bangs falling back so their wide red eyes and pale skin were hard to miss. His fears dissolved because then, they were clearly not Chara - they slumped over like Chara first had when they'd met, eyes small and narrow, skin a fair shade darker than the sibling (Asriel) Flowey had once known. It wasn't really relief, because he didn't love Chara anymore, he couldn't. It was literally impossible.
Do the cheery thing. Take their soul. Get out of there.
(His mom) Toriel stopped him, though. Hip, hip, hooray! That hurt a lot, thinking back on it. Fire and plants do not mix well. Though he'd already known that from countless RESETS of working in Alphys's true lab.
Still - looking at that human, he couldn't help but sometimes see Chara in them. The way they spoke quietly to monsters, the way they quivered at threats when Chara used to when they cried; the way they stopped slumping and straightened up, head held high and chin held up. Sometimes the two stripes seemed to blend into one like he and Chara used to wear. Every time he taunted them and held himself back from moving to kill them, letting them pass and swearing to stop for a moment, they'd pass him and glance at him and something in his head would scream, Chara, Chara.
Flowey would move to follow them, and tell himself, I'm doing this to take their SOUL. It's one step closer to godhood. Follow them, find out their weaknesses. Then he'd corner them, kill them somehow (friendliness pellets, vines, other plant-like methods of murder) and snatch up their SOUL for his own. But that wasn't true, was it, said the voice in his head, the one that sounded like Asriel.
He'd follow them anywhere.
He would never doubt them.
The underground was very strange.
How were they supposed to feel? A voice muttering in their head, going from scolding to reassuring them, sharp to soft. Monsters all over, ranging from impaling them on spears to casually watching over them on their journey. A seemingly friendly flower turning evil and attempting to murder them. Though everything was new and off putting, Frisk was determined to be a pacifist...
for now, at least.
Speaking of that flower, it was not too sneaky. Sometimes the voice would hiss in their head, Look behind you. It's that... thing again. Frisk would spin and catch sight of the golden flower before it popped into the ground, hiding from them. It's a flower, they tried to tell the voice the first few times, but eventually even they started sharing the voice's dislike for the flower. Especially after Sans's mention of the talking flower, which, even though he said it was an echo flower, they knew was certainly Flowey. And no one should mess with Papyrus like that, especially not some little flower. The voice had not commented on that as they usually did, but Frisk was feeling very sure that in that moment, they had been in agreement.
Keep going, said the voice in disdain, there's no use wasting time over that flower until it comes.
Frisk agreed, and put the flower off their mind for a long while. It wasn't until they'd backtracked from Asgore's castle into Alphys's true lab that they really started thinking about him again.
There were more flowers like him, like the ones they'd landed on, not alive - but there.
The voice in their head was silent. Confused. Frisk agreed. They'd listened to some tapes in the Lab, which had seemed to drive the voice away from talking for a very long while, but by the time they'd came upon the entries to the flower, the voice had picked up its talking again.
The flower's gone, the voice narrated, their voice trembling.
Nearly by the exit elevator, Frisk's phone rang. Before they'd even started to open it, a shaky, scared breath came. Frisk lifted their phone to their ear.
The voice spoke again. If their voice had been trembling before, it was shaking like crazy now, slow and stuttery and confused. It's a voice you have... never heard... before...
"Chara? Are you there?"
A faint whimper in Frisk's ear. Someone seemed to shiver next to them.
"It's been a long time, hasn't it...?"
The voice pricked something familiar in Frisk, like they'd heard it before...
"But you've done well. Thanks to you, everything has fallen into place. Chara..."
Two cold spots gripped their shoulders... like someone's hands.
"See you soon."
And the elevator doors slammed shut.
With his locket and the worn dagger, they looked even more like Chara. But Chara had never worn such an expression of fear on their face, hadn't they...? Nevermind that. There was a first time for everything, he was sure. As the monsters crowded around him, their expression melded into something more confident. You are the hope of humans and monsters rang in his head.
"I can't believe you're all so stupid."
Chara - was it Chara, was it them, though? It had to be - recoiled, shock plastered on their features.
"ALL OF YOUR SOULS ARE MINE!"
Suddenly he was himself again. He flexed his small hands into fists, let his arms tremble, shifted on his legs which he hadn't felt in ages. He took a deep breath, shifting back on his feet, turning around, and facing the only other being there with him. The only one he'd keep there.
"Chara, are you there?" he asked to the small human. In the dark of the Void, they looked even more like Chara than they already had, only their silhouette with the glint of the locket and the knife visible. And while he had a sudden, sinking feeling that they were not Chara, he simultaneously could almost feel his sibling's presence, for it whispered in the wind and in the nonexistent sky.
"It's me, your best friend."
Asriel Dreemurr, the voice in Frisk's head said, but Asriel didn't seem to hear it. It's the end.
Frisk didn't know what to do besides hope and dream.
The world around them changed again, to a mess of color - flashing rainbow and bright lights, filling through the void around them like water through a riverbed. A strange surge of excitement hit through them, which made no sense, because they were still so confused on how to stop this; how to stop a being of such incredible power. The voice in their head spoke again, now less of a strangled cry but more of an enthusiastic shout (had the excitement come from them?)
ASRIEL DREEMURR ∞ATK ∞DEF
The Absolute GOD of Hyperdeath!
The narrator was right.
They could feel their friends, but..
Someone else still needed saving.
They spread their arms wide, as if for a hug.
"Asriel!"
"Huh?" he cried, expression shocked. "What are you doing...!?"
"I'm so sorry."
Nothing made sense. He remembered meeting Chara - for some reason, then - he'd tried to kill them but it hadn't worked, and - they'd tried to save him, arms spread out for a hug like Chara used to give, pristine, empathetic smile like Chara had once worn on their face, their posture held high like they were ready to carry the weight of the world on their small, small shoulders. He was so used to hardly feeling but then he felt too much, too much; sadness, pain, loss, regret...and care, and love, and he hadn't felt those two emotions in a longer time than he could count.
The human said nothing. They'd stuck the knife in their back pocket, away from him. He sniffled, and wiped the tears out of his eyes, and smiled.
They focused on him, confused. "I always was a crybaby, wasn't I, Chara?" The human bit their lip, fingers twitching at their sides like they wanted to move, but couldn't. He didn't have a hold over them anymore, but somehow, they knew to give him a moment.
"... I know. You're not actually Chara, are you?"
The human shook their head. Not Chara. A pang of disappointment hit Asriel in the chest. But still, "Chara's been gone for a long time." He hesitated, and then, meeting their eyes, asked, "What... What is your name?"
"I'm Frisk," they said quietly, and he made a note to remember that.
"Frisk?" he asked. "That's a nice name."
Frisk smiled knowingly but sadly, as if they knew what he was subconsciously making a callback to. But they couldn't know that, he scolded himself, because they were not Chara.
"Frisk," he said, "I haven't felt like this for a long time."
As he spoke, they watched him. Not in scrutiny, not in impatience, but silent and sympathetic. Chara was always empathetic, but they weren't all that sympathetic sometimes. He could vent to them, and Chara to him, but it would've been nice to have someone so blatantly understanding, while Chara was more of a confusing character, in whatever situation.
"I...I understand if you can't forgive me. I understand if you hate me. I acted so strange and horrible. I hurt you. I hurt so many people. Friends, family, bystanders..." He went silent for a moment. Frisk only frowned. "There's no excuse for what I've done."
They didn't hesitate in answering, "It's okay." He stared at them, and softly, they said, "I forgive you."
"So, Frisk, it's best if you just forgot about me, OK?"
He felt almost sad. He would have liked to stay. He would have liked to have a friend like Frisk. He didn't know it, but they would have liked to have a friend like him, too.
"Just go be with the people who love you."
Comfort him, or do not, suggested the voice in their head. It seemed uncertain, confused, like Asriel was.
Frisk did not need to be told twice. They crossed over and hugged him without a second thought. There was silence, and then, finally, Asriel wrapped his arms around them, too.
"Ha... ha... I don't want to let go."
They felt a teardrop hit their shoulder, but said nothing about it.
It felt like someone else was hugging them, too, like there were three people instead of just the two of them.
Frisk really is a nice name.
