Chapter 4: Cracking

Lisa groaned as she awakened to the sound of ripped flesh. The air smelled putrid, and she looked around her. Remembering everything from before, she looked at her missing left arm. The being that inhabited that rotting body, Chara, was eating again. She used her legs to push herself up from the wall. Her body felt weak, her lips parched from thirst. A whole week and she still had no idea how she had the strength to still be alive. The figure turned to look at her mouth still of flesh. "That is disgusting." said Lisa

Chara swallowed and wiped the blood away from the back of her palm. "I can't stay in this body without it. Do you have a better solution?"
"Die."

"Funny."
"Speaking of dying, why haven't you killed me yet?"

"I told you before. You're special. Most humans usually get on my nerves but you, something about your SOUL keeps me from killing you."

Lisa clutched her chest. She had an idea of what Chara was talking about, she had known something was off about her for quite some time, but she didn't tell the rest of her family. "It doesn't stop you from eating my arm."

Chara gave a wry smile and stood up. "You're the one who provoked Ashra. I was just following orders."
"Were you following orders when you slaughtered that entire floor of survivors?"

"Desperate times."
"Enough, just let me go! Let me die already! You obviously can't kill me and Ashra wants me to willingly give up my SOUL! I'm not giving it to either to you so just let me go!"

"I can't do that!"

Chara looked away from her for a moment and looked sadly at the floor. "She's going to make you suffer, just like she did to me."

"How so? I'm already dead."

"I could see in your head. When Ashra was...convincing you."
"She was torturing me. Don't sugar coat it. You ate my arm."

"She's going to go after whoever is closest to you. The girl in your memories."

"If she goes near my niece I will."
"She will. Just give it up already. Just, will your SOUL to her."

"I keep tell you-"

"Stop lying! I saw everything you did! I know you can see it! All of it!

"Chara, my SOUL can see the doors, and it's my ancestor's job to protect."

"You haven't done a great job of it."

"You and Frisk left on your own...well, you ancestors did. When your ancestors left, we had no job."

"It was still your job if our ancestors left or not."

"I'm sorry."
"Don't apologize now, it was fun destroying the world."
"No, it wasn't.
"Don't presume you know anything about me."

"When you saw my mind, I saw yours. Despite everything, you're still a child that was beaten down. Hell, you're still a child."
Chara glared at her, lip turned into a snarl. "Don't call me a child. I've never been a child."

"Your mother loved you."
"My mother was weak. She did nothing to stop him and she died. She forgot its kill or be killed."
"Chara..."
"Stop psycho-analyzing me! You're like every human on the surface! You know nothing!"

"Fair enough. I know that diplomacy won't work on you. What you should worried about are the people you could hurt."
"You should be more worried about your niece." said a voice

Lisa glared at Ashra as she came walking. The female goat monster upturned her nose at all the corpses. "If you do anything to harm my niece-"

"This would all be over if you would will your SOUL over to me. Besides, I thought you would be more willing to do it, considering the trouble she's in right now."

The female goat monster showed an image of Jackie screaming in pain. She pressed the door of the machine, but to no avail. Lisa felt her heart clench. "I'll make you a deal." said Ashra, "If you will your SOUL over to me, I'll save your beloved niece."

"You'll just use her for your own means."

"No, you have my word that I'll not harm her."

"Just like with Chara?"

Ashra sighed and looked over at the child. "No, she's a different case. She came to me on her own volition. She's similiar to your neice, wanting a mother to love her, rejected by the birth mother she was given."

Lisa could hear Jackie scream louder and she looked at her niece, tears forming in the corner of her eyes. "What will it be?" asked Ashra, "Will you will your power to me or continue being stubborn?"

The nurse sighed heavily and then looked at Chara in sympathy. "You are loved, no matter how hard it gets, someone will always love and protect you."

She closed her eyes and touched her heart. "I...will...my SOUL to...my niece, Jackie!"

Lisa felt her heart slowly begin to stop breathing as a bright yellow light emerged from her chest. "NO!" yelled Ashra, "You're niece will pay for this!"

"You can't...do anything..."

Ashra snarled and stomped away. Lisa turned with a soft smile and looked at Chara. Her limbs began getting weak and she felt her body going limp. Chara went quickly, holding her as she began breathing softly. The nurse smiled up and touched her cheek. "Don't forget to change your bandages if you're going to be out in pubic."

Chara began to remember all of the care Lisa did for her, even though she was tortured, and Chara tried to rebuff care. Something in her throat choked up as she felt her stomach tighten. "It's...not so bad..." she said, "dying isn't..."

"You're a liar."

"How so?"

"You said that there's somebody who loves me, despite all I've done."

"I didn't lie...even though...my body is...going...I'll watch over you and my niece."

"Why? Why?! I'm a monster!"

"You're no monster. Just...in pain..."

Chara felt surprised as fat tears came running down her face. In the hospital, she could remember this woman reading to her, and muttering apologies that she should've protected her. She then began thinking about Toriel, and Asgore. Looking at her bandaged hand, she wondered how long she could have feelings. Why now, of all times, did she have to feel anything. Lisa gave a weak squeeze of her hand as her body deteriorated, and she gave her last breath. Chara screamed, not wanting to feel anything. Her goal was to destroy the world, stop all the pain, stop everything happening to her. She began remembering her life before she fell underground. She hated every moment of it, the constant abuse her father lashed on her mother for her mistakes. The day her mother died, was the most horrible day of her life, coming home to a hanging corpse. Her father said nothing, grabbed what was in her mother's purse, and left. Left with a corpse for hours, she contemplated how she was going to kill him. Coming back drunk, he didn't have complex thought, just rage. Her mother's body was slammed against the wall as he pushed back from it. Chara screamed for him to just put his mother down on the floor. It was a mistake to say anything to him. He carved her back, her arm, and then passed out. Pushing the broken beer glass in his throat was a delight...and a pain. The first kill was supposed to be the hardest, and looking down at Lisa's body turning to dust, she grabbed her clothing as her body shrunk, tears making dust go solid. "I hate this..." she sobbed, "why do I have to deal with misery? Why can't the world be miserable?"

Sans hated working with Gaster and hated even more that he had to leave Frisk behind. Whatever horrors he put Jackie through, he was going to kill him this time. The familiar tone of silence filled the hall as he saw flashing lights in the distance. It seemed like his father was expecting him because he put a one minute finger up. Sans summoned one of his Gaster Blasters and his father teleported before he could be blasted. "I told you, we need a test subject."

"Not one of Frisk's friends!"

"I kept my end of the bargain. We need to continue our work.

Sans cried in in anger as he unleashed five gaster blasters at his creator. Gaster merely grabbed him with one of his tentacles and slammed him against the wall. "I will not fight you." he said, "But, you won't stop me either."

Gaster felt pain as a bone went through his back. A bit of blood trickled from the corner of his mouth and his eye twitched, but he never let go. "If you kill me, you kill yourself, Papyrus, and that human you fawn over."

"Don't you bring Frisk in this you-"

Both of them looked at the bright yellow light that went into the machine. The screaming got louder and the machine began to spark. Sans teleported to the machine and was hit with a blast electricity as he was flung back. In a bright yellow light stood someone who looked like Jackie, but she changed. Her face looked like one of theirs, pale white like a skeleton, but she had a crack under left eye like Gaster did. Her right eye glowed a bright yellow color and she gave a high-pitch scream. Both of them felt a rattle in their bones. "I thought you said that all sounds were drowned out." said Sans

"All except voices."

Jackie clutched her head as bones began appearing from the ground, both skeletons teleported away before they could be injured. She then stood up, both eyes glazed over in a daze, right eye glowing yellow. She glared at Gaster. "You..." she said

A gaster blaster appeared in front of them. Instead of taking the usual shape that both of them too, the blasters looked more ferocious, with serrated teeth. "All the deaths...all the doors...why do skeleton monsters torment us?"

"Us?"

"An unfortunate side effect it seems."

The gaster blasters emitted a yellow light that had both skeleton monsters teleport out the way. She screamed and began attacking them. Gaster blocked the bone attack coming for them. "I suggest that we take this fight elsewhere before she destroys the entire lab."

"All you care about is the lab, not-"

"I can't cure her without my equipment."

"There once were two sisters who loved each other very much and ruled together...Then, a man came between them..."

"What is she talking about?"

"He came from a kingdom far away, seeking shelter from the cold. The eldest sister wanted to send him away, but the younger saw something in the man...pain."

A gaster blaster appeared and tried to attack Jackie, but she disappeared. She reappeared behind Gaster and tried to attack him from behind, but he used a black tentacle to grab her and throw her across the room. He turned to his creation and glared at him. "We need to go. Upstairs. Now."

"No. We go somewhere else."

Jackie clutched her eye and screamed. "You can't run away from your sins! You will pay for this! The doors won't close until you die!"

Papyrus grabbed onto the children as he felt a rumble underneath his feet. His brother had popped in and out, and he noticed the changes, the changes that both of them were going through. He didn't understand what was going on, or what Dr. Alphys was trying to tell him, but all he wanted to do was take care of the children that weren't being taken home at the moment. Dr. Alphys and Undyne were handling the diplomatic situations as much as they could. To be honest, it was Alphys doing it more than Undyne. The yellow scaled monster had worked hard on her stuttering as she communicated with human officials. Nobody really knew what to do with the sitaution, considering that some were not going home because their parents were nothing but dust. Papyrus and Undyne helped as best as they could, but she knew that one day they would have to go home, or learn to cope with the fact that their parents weren't coming back. Sans...Sans went underground, only came up after the message that Undyne left him. He didn't bother to apologize, and he didn't need to. Now, something was going on underground, and the three monsters could feel the room getting cold and dark. Undyne put a child down and created a spear. "Something doesn't feel right.." she muttered

The room began getting dark and the children began to cry. "The man was very sick, and the younget sister had to take care of him. The more she tended, the more she began to care. After a while, the more she began to care for humans. Then, the man got better. Of course, this was no ordinary man, for her was a prince."