"You want me to what?" Alphys gaped. Asgore had told her everything. How he wanted her to find a way to separate the souls. How Frisk had started the killings but Chara had continued them. How Frisk sometimes killed them as well and had odd motives for doing so. How Frisk was Chara's vessel and how Chara was using Frisk's SOUL. How Flowey was Asriel and how Chara and him were both soulless-

To say that Alphys's blood was turning cold would have been an understatement. Her blood was frozen solid. "O-oh, no - nononono! Y-you know how it turned out the last time I did any research on SOULs - The amalgamates, the flower, who you just now told me was your son-! Chara?"

The name was familiar to her from the video tapes down in her lab. After watching the tapes, she'd tried to find any info on whoever 'Chara' was. She hadn't found much - just a few snippets here and there. They had alluded to Chara as the king and queens' adopted second child. A human. She'd assumed it be somewhat of a rumor, and even now she was having a hard time believing it - after all, how was that even possible, two human souls merging? Well, she supposed Chara wasn't fully human - but even so! Where did she even start? What did she-?

Alphys must have looked quite crazed because Asgore smiled, resting a hand on her shoulder. "Its okay, Alphys. I have faith in you to do this."

Alphys fidgeted, her breaths nervous and unsteady. "B-but, I... I don't have faith in me to do this! What if I fail? What if I get it wrong, like I did last time? What if...?"

"Then you fail."

"Then you'd have to kill this Chara girl, y-your daughter! Frisk-! I mean, I know Frisk isn't the best person for what she did, but...I can't be responsible for that, I just can't! B-but if I say no to you now, I'm also going to be responsible for someone's death - I... I..." Alphys grabbed her head in her hands and whimpered. She looked at Asgore, her eyes brimming with concern. "What if..." She breathed. "What if I shatter their soul or something? What if I manage to separate Frisk and Chara... and something goes horribly wrong? What if...?"

"We'll figure this out, Alphys." Asgore promised. "Don't worry about it, okay? I'll give you some time to think, if-

"N-no!" Alphys cut in. "No, I... If I don't give you my answer now, I feel like I might chicken out. Like I might regret it. If I get this wrong, I think I'll be okay. I remember so much now and I know..." She gulped. "I know that there are people who love me. Who want to help me. Who knows? Maybe I'll get it right this time, and I'll be a hero."

Asgore relaxed. As he exhaled, he seemed to shrink about ten percent. "Thank you," he breathed. "You have no idea how much this means to me."

Alphys looked unsure. "I-I'll do my best."

Sans lay on his mattress, staring at the trash tornado across the room from him. Far cooler than a bin, he thought. He frowned at the white dog he swore he could see spinning alongside the plates of spaghetti, the crumpled scientific theories and... other, far more depressing notes. Had that dog been there before? ... He supposed it didn't matter.

He hadn't come out of his room all day in spite of Papyrus's distress. Just further proves what a horrible brother I am, he thought. Chara's words had cut deep. He'd had them playing in his brain on repeat for the past few hours now, over and over and over again like a miniature time loop of his own. If Chara had wanted to get to him, he supposed that she had done a good job. All of the hate that he had been directing at Frisk was now directed at himself. It didn't matter how he tried to reassure himself.

Why hadn't he tried harder to save them?

When Frisk had reset that first time, he had been so confused. Moments ago, he had been on the surface, driving down the highway with Papyrus, laughing and joking with his friends. They'd all taken a photo together. He'd put that photo in his pocket. He'd woken up in his bed in Snowdin.

He remembered asking himself: Why? He'd tried to tell himself that they must have had a reason. Maybe there was someone they didn't save, or something that they had forgotten to do -

Then Frisk had killed Papyrus.

He hadn't known at first. It was only when Papyrus didn't return from his usual cooking lesson, that he didn't answer his phone that Sans had grown concerned. He'd gone to check at Undyne's house just in case he was there, entertaining some tiny glimmer of hope he must have had. He'd walked maybe five minutes before he'd found Papyrus's scarf and chest piece, buried beneath the snow and dust.

He'd felt so numb.

He'd thought, what if he never comes back? What if he stops existing, just like Gaster did?

Nothing had really mattered after that. By the time had had snapped out of it, it had been too late.

Maybe the reason why he hated Frisk so much for killing Papyrus, the reason why he was defending Papyrus so fiercely now because he hadn't done so before, because he had let his guard down. He'd known about Frisk's power to reset, but he had trusted her nonetheless.

He had been so stupid.

Past that was just... apathy. The kid had learnt all of his moves and could beat him within one or two tries. He'd managed to dunk on her once or twice and the payback had felt good - but the novelty of killing her had soon worn off. Frisk always came back. So did Papyrus. What was even the point of trying to save him?

He was snapped out of his train of thought by Papyrus banging on the door. "SANS! OPEN THE DOOR... PLEASE? YOU'VE BEEN LYING AROUND EVEN MORE THAN YOU USUALLY DO! ... I'M GETTING WORRIED, SANS."

Sans didn't answer. I'm such a piece of scum, He thought, shutting his eyes.

The pounding stopped. At first Sans thought that Papyrus had gone, but then he heard him speak. "CAN YOU GIVE ME A SIGN THAT YOU'RE STILL ALIVE AT LEAST, BROTHER?"

Something sparked inside of Sans. "Yeah, sorry bro - I just didn't get much sleep last night, that's all." It took all of the energy that he had left to call the words out, but by some miracle, he managed.

Papyrus paused. "... SANS, YOU KNOW YOU CAN TALK TO ME, RIGHT?"

Once again, Sans didn't reply.

"SANS?"

After Sans didn't reply a third time, Papyrus's voice became resigned. "...I'M GOING TO GO GET YOU A BURGER FROM GRILLBYS, OKAY? I'LL LEAVE IT OUTSIDE YOUR DOOR. OR YOU CAN UNLOCK YOUR DOOR AND COME WITH ME?" He sounded hopeful.

"Nah, just leave it outside." Sans called. "Thanks, bro."

There was a pause, and then Sans heard footsteps.

Papyrus didn't reply.

"Where are you even taking me?" Chara grunted as Undyne bound her hands for the second time that week.

It was Asgore that replied. "To the royal scientist's... Uh, to Alphys's lab. I've asked her to look into a way to separate you from Frisk, so that you won't have to control her anymore."

"You're going to let me live out the rest of my life as the play thing of some wierdo scientist who can barely set one foot outside without being reduced to a nervous, shaking wreck! You're going to let her poke and prod me, cut me open and chip away at my SOUL until it breaks!" Chara scoffed. "Can't say I'm surprised!"

Undyne looked livid. "Shut it, kid. Don't you dare talk about Alphys that way. She's twice the m-

"It's not your SOUL. You stole it." Asgore cut in. He glared at Undyne, a cue for her to keep her mouth shut. "Trust me, I'm doing this for the good of you, as well as everyone else. It was this or kill you."

"I'd rather die!" Chara bluffed. "At least then, Frisk would reset! I'd be free! Things would get interesting around here! Why are we still dragging this on? Let's get armageddon started already!"

"No. I don't think she would." Asgore said. "I was wondering about that also. After thinking about it, I've finally decided. Frisk said before that she would be willing to die if it meant getting us safely to the surface. Nothing has changed between then and now that would change her mind." Chara growled, clenching her fists. Asgore's face remained serious. "If you die, you stay dead, Chara. The royal guard, me, Sans - Even Frisk has you trapped. So you'd do well to stop throwing a temper tantrum and go along with what we tell you."

A look of confusion came over Undyne's face as Asgore said this. If Frisk was so desperate to save them, why get them to the surface over and over again only to reset? Her guess was it had something to do with Chara - she wasn't completely sure of just how far Chara's control over Frisk extended. She opened her mouth to speak, but ultimately decided against it. The king hadn't chosen to tell her and unless he did, she knew she could very well be out of line to ask.

I dont get you, Frisk. Chara thought, tuning out the world around her as she was dragged through the castle halls and out towards the core. You're so determined to stop me from killing your friends, even at the cost of your own life. ... Why? That's so... pointless.

"Don't you remember why?" Frisk asked.

Chara frowned. What? You mean because you love them? Loving people... that was the me from a long time ago. Loving someone unconditionally like that, to the point where you'd die for them - how stupid."

"I don't know. It just... feels good, I guess. To have people who love you and to love them back. They... they help you."

So you use them?

"No. No, its more than that." Chara could almost hear Frisk sigh from inside of her mind. "Never mind. I don't know how to explain this to you. ... If you wouldn't mind too much, could I ask you a question, too?"

Chara paused. ...Go ahead.

"Why do you want to kill everyone, to destroy everything? Was your hatred the only thing left of your SOUL? When I fell into that flower bed... Was it the only part of you determined enough to survive? You obviously felt drawn to me, as opposed to one of the other six - whether that was because of my own determination or some other reason, I might not ever know. What I do know is that that kind of existence, living only to kill and harm... It seems so shallow." Frisk paused. "...Truth be told, I almost pity you."

It was ever so subtle, but just for a moment, Frisk could have sworn she heard Chara's voice waver. "D-don't." She snarled. "Don't pity me. I would rake you down in an instant, if you weren't..."

"Who are you talking to?" Asgore raised his eyebrows.

"Well done, genius. You said that out loud."

Chara ignored Frisk. "Nobody you need care about." She deadpanned to Asgore.

"F-Frisk? Is that who you're-? What did she say?" Asgore questioned eagerly.

"Why does Frisk..." Undyne made a face. "Pity you?"

"It's none of your business!" Chara snarled. Her voice echoed off the vast metal walls of the core.

Asgore's face fell. "Oh. S-sorry."

Undyne scoffed, rolling her eyes. She didn't want to hear about Frisk or Chara anyway. Chances are Frisk was just lying about being willing to die - she'd lied about so many other things already. Sure, she hadn't reset after being beaten up and she'd allowed Chara to be captured, but...

She just didn't know if she could trust Frisk or not.

The three of them walked the rest of the way to Alphys's lab in silence.

Alphys had a miniature heart attack the moment the doors to her lab rolled open. She had been preparing herself for this moment since Asgore had told her that he was bringing Chara over. She had been thinking happy thoughts and trying out some new breathing exercises that she had found online, doing some light yoga and stuffing herself with chocolate, but nothing would cease her accursed trembling. "O-oh, this must be Chara!" She squeaked, rushing over to greet the trio.

A little shiver ran down her back as she stared at Chara. She looked so normal, it was almost hard to believe that this was a human - no, a thing - that had killed her and everyone that she loved god knew how many times. Then again, their eyes were dead and cold, their faces twisted with rage - maybe it wasn't so hard after all. She glanced anxiously up at Asgore. "She uh... she's secured well, right?"

Asgore frowned. "Her restraints have been reinforced with binding magic. There's no way she's getting out of those."

In response, Chara pulled at her restraints as hard as she could, clenching her knuckles white with effort. She grinned wickedly at Alphys. "That's what you think." Chara sneered. "It might be next week, next year or it might be a lot longer than that - but one way or another, I am getting out of these wretched binds."

Undyne rolled her eyes. "You keep telling yourself that, you wimp."

"Can we trust you to find a place to stay for her?"

"H-huh!? Y-yeah!" Alphys nodded. "B-but I mean, this is still all so sudden for me! I mean, I don't even know what humans e-eat, or does Chara even need to eat if she's not fully human, or does she only need to eat to keep Frisk alive, or..."

Asgore laughed. "I'm sure you'll figure it out, Alphys."

Alphys gulped. "Uh - Y-yeah, I'm sure I will! I said I'd do my best before, so... I'd better get to that then. Doing my best, that is. Heh." She scratched the back of her neck.

As Asgore and Undyne started to leave, Undyne paused, looking back. "Hey, Alphys - no pressure, yeah?" She grinned, winking. "I love you no matter what timeline we're in."

Alphys went red and began to babble incoherently. Asgore and Undyne chuckled as the doors slid shut behind them.

Alphys, Chara and Frisk were alone.

Alphys tapped her fingers together, biting the side of her cheek. "So - uh... You're out for the d-destruction of everything."

Chara stared blankly at Alphys. "And?"

Alphys chuckled. "'And'." She shook her head. "You t-took away everything from me so many times... and all you have to say for yourself is 'and'? ... What about Frisk? Does she have the same attitude?" Alphys sighed. "You know, i-it's funny. I remember all the timelines... all of the awful things you did to the people I love. I remember being the hero, the coward, the friend, the survivor and the victim - there's so much I want to say to you. There should be, I hate you so much - but Asgore has trusted me with this. If I get this right, I will have saved everyone. I can't afford to treat you as an enemy. I need to treat you as an obstacle to overcome and move past."

"What if you get this wrong?" Chara cocked her head to the side. "There are plenty of timelines where you've committed suicide. I wonder if this will be one of them?"

Alphys's face flickered with frustration and grief for a moment. "... No." She said. "Never."

"We'll see, I guess." Chara picked at some dust under her fingernails. "So... are we going to get this started or what? I'd prefer you to shatter my SOUL quickly, rather than staying cooped up in here for years."

Chara's pessimism barely phased Alphys, or if it did, she chose not let it show. "Uh - Y-yes, of course! I guess if I'm trying to find a way to separate you and Frisk from each other, I'll first need to know how exactly you two became fused in the first place."

"Heh." Chara scoffed. "I'd say we merged when Frisk first fell. I was buried beneath the flowers she fell onto, you see - I guess that whatever was left of my consciousness was drawn to her."

Alphys frowned, although Chara could see she was trying hard to conceal excitement. "... Why Frisk? Why not one of the other humans that fell before her? Why were the particles of SOUL that found their way into Frisk all so hateful?"

"You all deserve to be destroyed. That fact doesn't change whether I have a full SOUL or not." Chara spat. "As for why I chose Frisk... I'd have to say her determination. Her will to live exceeded even my own. Sure, my determination is built off of hatred, 'questionable' motives and 'LOVE', whereas hers is built off of kindness and 'love' - which can prove to be tiresome. Frisk made it easy for me to work around that, though." She chuckled. "No doubt Asgore told you how she awakened me."

"She started to kill of her own free will." Alphys mumbled. She felt sick thinking about that. "So... let me get this straight. When your hatred or LOVE overpowers Frisk's love, or when Frisk feels some sort of urge to kill, you can control her. ... So what if you felt some form of love? Would Frisk be able to...?"

Chara shrugged. "I-I don't know. She's never been able to make me feel love. The only reason I let her stay in control sometimes is because she gets us to the surface, or because I'm tired." It was a bluff. It was rare, but there were moments where Frisk regained control - either when Frisk fought particularly hard, or when she made her feel... something. Not love, but something. "I think I make it a little easier for her to kill you guys, truth be told. I mean, do you really think someone entirely sane would kill their friends just out of some desperation to see what'll happen, or to experience something new?" She laughed. "No - I think a little of me rubs off on her. I think a little her likes it."

"Then wouldn't a little of her, even the tiniest amount, rub off on you?" Alphys raised her eyes. She grabbed a notebook off of a nearby desk and began to scribble something down. "I mean, it makes sense - you are sharing souls."

Chara froze. "I... hadn't thought of it that way." She snorted. "whats the point of love, anyway? Its pointless. It doesn't help you - you need to try really hard to give and to get it and even when you do, it just gets you hurt. The smallest mistake can make people hate you again, as Frisk showed us all. Isn't it better to have people hate you from the get-go and to still get what you want, rather than to work your ass off for something that may or may not work out?"

Alphys paused. "Yeah, well... I guess the point of it is to make others happy."

Chara made a face. "Who cares?'

Alphys thought about that for a while. She gave up because it was making her head hurt and decided to change the subject. "...You mentioned that you were buried underneath those flowers, Chara. Asgore also said that you died years back." Alphys frowned. "... How did you die? Asgore didn't tell me."

Chara said nothing for a while. "I died because there were some people that I loved too much."

The look on Alphys's face was tragic. Thinking about what Chara had meant by that sent chills down her spine. "Oh. Right. You took those buttercups, didn't you...?" She smiled sadly. "You know, everyone in the underground thinks that your death was an accident. Even the king and queen think that you just got ill."

Chara looked up, her eyes burning with shock and rage. "How do you-?"

"O-oh! I found some tapes in my lab. Asgore, Toriel, Asriel and you were all on them."

"Tapes?" Chara scowled. "... Oh. Those. Killing myself like that... I was an idiot."

"N-no, you just had a SOUL!" Alphys protested.

"If having a SOUL would make me as dumb as that, why the heck would I want one?"

"In my opinion..."

"I really don't care about your opinion."

Alphys continued anyway. "I-in my opinion, isn't loving someone to the point where you'd die for them kind of the same thing as hating someone so much that you'd kill them over and over again? Just in one, you're happy. In the other, you're-

"I am happy!" Chara snapped. She grinned wickedly. "Killing you sorry bastards makes me very happy!"

"That's..." Alphys sighed. "Its not the same thing."

Chara's smile fell. She rolled her eyes. "Ugh, how would you even know?" She turned her back and, obviously deciding not to answer any more of Alphys's questions, she said nothing more.

It was getting late, or at least that was the illusion given off by the few working human clocks and gadgets that had fallen underground. Alphys wasn't sure of exactly what time it was - her phone said it was around 8:00PM, whereas another clock said it was about 10:00PM. About five hours had past since Chara and her had last talked and Alphys, lacking a place to keep Chara where she could be sure that she would not find a way to escape, had anxiously chained her to a leg of her work table.

Scattered around her desk were stacks of notes, theories and potential ways she could split the SOUL. So far, nothing had worked out. She'd considered the amalgamates as one of her first examples. Monster SOULs, partially melted together by determination. Ultimately though, the theory had flopped. Frisk was a human and Chara was somewhere in between the two species, and the two seemed to be fused in a far more symbiotic, complex nature than the amalgamates.

She'd asked herself what the true nature of the SOUL really was, how it was made. She prided herself on what little progress she had made. Determination was a key element in human SOULs. It appeared in tiny amounts within monster SOULs, although monster SOULs were made up primarily of hope and kindness. She'd found herself thinking - if monster SOULs contained a tiny amount of determination, would it not make sense for human SOULs, which were made up of primarily determination, to possess a small amount of love and kindness?

Chara had no love and kindness left.

Another point that Alphys had made was that Chara's memories, her motive for why she was so determined to survive had seemed to have remained. That motive was murderous and hateful, and it had twisted her determination into something that it wasn't meant to be.

That led Alphys onto another point that had been bugging her for a while.

Chara had been 'awoken' within Frisk when Frisk had started to kill. That implied that Chara hadn't had murderous intent until then, even though there had been at least one whole timeline in which Chara could have taken over Frisk. That was assuming the remaining fragments of Chara's SOUL had latched onto Frisk in that first timeline - to which there was no evidence suggesting that she had done otherwise. Why would Chara wait to kill everyone? Why wouldn't Chara take over Frisk the second she got to the surface, like Asgore had said she had done in every timeline since?

It made no sense - unless you considered that Frisk's love and kindness had rubbed off on Chara's SOUL.

Not enough to fully rebuild her SOUL - just enough to repress those feelings of hatred. Enough to get Chara to feel some form of genuine love again.

When Frisk had reset, when she had started killing and gaining LOVE, she had undone all of that.

If anything, she had amplified the feelings of hatred that Chara had felt.

On top of ruining their chances at a happy ending, on top of her existence threatening to destroy the multiverse, on top of her decision to reset and kill out of curiosity being just plain selfish, Frisk was the reason that 'Chara' existed.

"God, Frisk..." Alphys muttered. "That's some mistake you made."

Next to her, Chara sat still as a doll, resigned after much shrieking and raking at the table leg. As Alphys spoke, she swore she could see some glimmer of sadness, deep inside of her glassy eyes.

Alphys wondered if the sadness was Frisk or Chara she saw.

Just then, she heard pounding at the door. For just a moment she was confused as to who it could be - then it hit her.

Oh god, she thought. Mettaton. She'd completely forgotten - just a little after she'd gotten back talking with Asgore, Mettaton had come by asking that she work on his defensive capabilities for his NEO form. The request had taken her by surprise, it had been so sudden. All the same, she'd told him that she'd meet up with him later that night, as she had something she had to do first. Mettaton hardly ever came by and, not wanting to put him off, she hadn't included specifics at the time.

Now she was kind of wishing that she had.

Mettaton banged at the door a second time. Alphys scowled. Did he have to be so impatient? "C-coming!" She called. She almost tripped over a step on her way down. She could feel her legs turning to lead as she approached the door, her hands becoming jello. This was going to be so hard to explain - maybe she could just turn him away. Maybe she could tell him to come another day, or...

No. She couldn't keep hiding things like this. This was exactly what she had done with amalgamates, and things had just gotten worse and worse as a result.

She took a deep breath and opened the doors.