The alternate title to this chapter, by the way, is "Skeletons." I think you all know why.

Also, for once, I can't blame FF for this. I was originally(and still am) writing all this in a Google Doc, and I just randomly thought, "Hey, they have Comic Sans as a font. I'm going to use it for Sans when writing for him!"

Naturally, I also had to write Papyrus I the same way, as well, so I found a font slightly similar to the papyrus font and the doc is quite beautiful with all these crazy fonts everywhere, and then I copied and pasted it into deviantart and all of that went away.

Well, at least I don't have to type everything again, at least.

Also, I've been listening to a lot of Vocaloid music again, particularly Kemu's Pandora Voxx(I think that's what it's called...?) series and Mothy/Akuno-P's Evillious Chronicles.

It has made quite an impact on the story.


Chapter 6: Snowdin


Chara pushed opened the doors widely and peered out at the expanse in front of them.

"Well, what are facing next?" Steven asked, peering over his former friend's shoulder. "Woods? And...snow?"

"Cold." Chara replied calmly. "Lots of cold." They fastened the messenger bag a little bit and looked back at the Gems. "Once you leave, there's really no going back to the Ruins. If there's anything you need to do, do it now. We'll be going up ahead to Snowdin. Avoid the skeletons as much as you can, especially the smaller one. He's...quite...interesting."

Garnet grabbed Chara's shoulder. "What makes you think we're leaving you alone?"

"Oh, you don't decide that, trust me." Chara replied, chuckling softly. They brushed Garnet's hand off easily. "If they think you're being a nuisance, or influencing me wrongly, they'd surely intervene. Like with Connie and her making me discover…'feelings.' Why else do you think she's been silent all this time?"

"Connie's much stronger than you!" Steven finally shouted, upset. "And I'm sure than she can get you to change your mind! I'm sure that you will eventually see...why...why this World is important! I just know it! I...I..."

Chara jumped over towards Steven and pointed the toy knife at his neck. "You really don't understand how this works, do you? You are Frisk. If we were to ever meet, I would instantly kill you faster than you could say 'I don't want to fight.' But, I'm sparing you only to keep Connie alive. I can't infiltrate Gem SOULS. I'm using Connie as a human vessel. That's the only reason you aren't dead, Frisk." Chara stepped back and walked through the snow away from them. "I'm going on ahead. Don't even think about following me, or stopping me, for that matter." They stopped walking and turned around. "That's the most surefire way to get yourself killed."

The Gems were silent as they watched Chara walk away into the woods, and finally, Pearl closed the door and walked upstairs. The others followed suit as they settled around the still-going fireplace, Amethyst occasionally poking it with the fire poker. Steven just watched the flames dance around, entranced by how something so familiar could seem so strange at the same time. He frowned slightly at the dust on his sandals, and brushed it off, being careful not to get it close to the fire, making sure to have it near her armchair, around her bookshelf full of snail books. He grabbed one off the shelf, perhaps out of sheer curiosity, perhaps just to stifle the horribly uncomfortable silence around the house that would always remain empty.

"Hey, you guys, so…" Steven said, looking through the book. "I took off a snail's shell the other day. I thought it might've one faster like that. Um, if anything, it was more sluggish. Get it? Because a snail...looks like a slug...without…" Pearl just looked at him tiredly. "Um...uh...hold on…" Steven began flipping through the pages again. "Uh...you know, there was...um...a snail...driving a car the other day. The car was really fast. With a giant 'S' on the hood. People all day kept saying to me, 'Wow, did you see that s car go?' Heh heh…" Still more apathetic glances. "Do you wanna...hear a snail fact…?"

"Just shut up about the snails, Steven!" Amethyst snapped. "Toriel's dead, and she's never coming back, and you're just going to have to get over that! I know this is hard, but this is basically our life! It's always been our life! Do you know how much pain we've gone through, how many Gems we had to watch shatter in front of our faces, how many former friends we watched corrupt and turn into monsters? Death is just a part of our job, Steven, and you're just going to have to suck it up!"

"You...you weren't even there for the war, Amethyst!" Steven yelled, and ran into the room Connie had stayed in, slamming the door.

Pearl got up from in front of the armchair and knocked on the door. "Steven, it's me, Pearl. Do you want to talk about this?" The door opened slightly. "Look, I know it seems like we don't care about this, but we actually really do. Listen, there's something we need to tell you, something that we made you forget a long time ago. The reason everyone calls you Frisk, why everyone thinks that you're some powerful being is because when you were a lot younger, we took you on picnics here on Mt. Ebott. One day, you ran away from us when we weren't looking, and you fell into the Underground. Toriel found you, and she took care of you here. You were so happy, but you were never supposed to know about this place. Humans today hate monsters with all their hearts, and the monsters hate us as well as them, so we never taught you how to undo the Barrier, to protect them."

"But, what does this have to do with me?" Steven asked, opening the door wider.

"There is a prophecy behind the Delta Rune, that symbol we've been seeing all over the place." Garnet replied, walking over. "The One Who has Seen the Surface will return, and the Underground will go empty. Some say it's someone with a pure heart who will find a way to destroy the Barrier, others think it's an angel of death who will kill everything in sight. In reality, it's both. The one named Frisk, after a human who nearly succeeded several hundred years ago, only to mysteriously disappear, is the one who is a reincarnation of a loved one past. You, Steven, are Frisk."

"So, then, if I'm Frisk, then what's Connie?" Steven asked.

"The thing possessing her is what's left of the first child that fell in the Underground, and the angel of death in the prophecy." Pearl explained. "A soulless husk known as Chara. Chara wants humanity to suffer, to atone for whatever sins they might've done. To suffer like he did. Even though he was cared for like a son, it just wasn't enough for him. He wanted power, and would stop at nothing to attain it."

"But, he has to stop eventually, right?" Steven asked. "I mean, can't he realize that what he's doing is wrong? Does he know? Does he…?"

"He doesn't have a SOUL." Garnet said gently. "He can't feel anything. So, no." She pet Steven's hair affectionately and walked towards the basement. "We've wasted enough time here. Despite what Chara said, Connie would surely appreciate us trying to save at least a few monsters. Let's get to Snowdin."


Log 007- Phase 1- Initiate- [REDACTED]

Just as thought, Determination acts the same as energy or matter: It can't be created or destroyed, rather, it is absorbed through the air into the body's SOUL, and can either be turned into Despair or expelled from the body entirely. The latter seems more common as the host of the Determination energy dies, causing a massive energy wave to spread out in a wide radius.

It also appears that some's Despair, like Subject 003's, can also manifest even further. It appears to be a combination of strong negative emotions and a large influx of Despair that is both being released out of the body and being turned from Determination. As much as I would love to do further research on this, it appears to put massive strain on the host's SOUL and Core of Being, completely shutting them down for a certain period of time.

I wonder, too, if there's a way for the same to occur with Determination. It would make sense, as Determination and Despair are inverses of each other. So, that state would most likely be caused by strong positive emotions and a large influx of Determination both being released from the body and from being turned from Despair.

However, I couldn't interfere just for the sake of research. I'll just have to wait for it to either to actually happen naturally, or "accidentally" cause it to happen if Subject 003 decides to take a little too much control again.

End Log 007


Connie was finally awake again, but still had no control. She couldn't even think, she felt so numb. But, she could at least feel the cold wind on her skin, and the snow crunching beneath her feet. And she could see, but only just a little. And

All

Of

It

Hurt

So

Much.

"Oh, you're finally back." Chara said. "We're outside the Ruins now. Fifteen left. How are you doing?"

"HuRTs tO ThInK…" Connie managed to muster. "CoLD...TUnnel vIsiON…"

"Don't force yourself." Chara replied. "Your SOUL is still weak from all that Despair. Just rest for a bit. And yes, I'm letting you watch. You should know what's going on." They stopped. Slow, steady footprints sounded from behind them. They continued on, moving faster, until they reached a small bridge, where they slowed down. "Who's there?"

"Hmph." The person following them said. "Don't you know how to greet a new pal, human?"

"I personally don't care for…'pals'." Chara said.

"Well, you have one." They replied. "Now, turn around and shake my hand."

Chara sighed. "Your call, Connie. What do you want to do?" Connie took a step to the side, and slowly, unsteadily, turned to face the mysterious monster, holding out her hand. The monster took her hand…

...And the sound of a whoopee cushion filled the silent forest.

"heh heh heh" The monster, a skeleton about Steven's height, laughed. They wore a plain light blue hoodie, a pair of black sweatpants, and pink house slippers. A strange combination, Connie thought. "ah, the old whoopee cushion in the hand trick. it's a classic, you know?"

Chara was silent, and Connie was reduced to just watching again.

"um, that's your cue to laugh." The monster said after a while. "or, you know, emote. oh, well, everyone's tastes are different. i'm sans, by the way. sans the skeleton. i'm supposed to be on the lookout for humans right now, but eh, we never find any, and i don't really care. but, my brother papyrus on the other hand...he's a little, uh, obsessed with it. but, that's fine. just go through this gate thing."

Wait...doesn't he know…? Connie thought. Chara ignored her.

Sans and Chara walked across the bridge into a small clearing, where Sans gasped.

"that's papyrus over there. quick, there's a really conveniently-shaped lamp over there. hide behind it." Sans said. Chara took three steps towards it and stopped. "or not. whatever works, i guess."

Papyrus was a complete foil to Sans in terms of appearance. He was tall, almost as tall as Garnet, and quite lanky. He wore an oversized white shirt with some kind of crest on it, blue shorts(?), as well as a red-orange scarf around his neck and a pair of boots of the same color. Any bones, save his head and hands, that were exposed to the elements were covered in black leotard-like fabric. His hands were covered with white gloves with red-orange trim.

Complementary colors, too… Connie thought. They really are foils.

"Sans?" Papyrus called. "Have you found a human yet?"

"actually, yeah, i have." Sans replied, winking with his right eye.

"Wowie!" Papyrus said, excited. "Well, glad that's settled!" With that, he walked off, happily humming.

"I'd better get going." Chara said, and walked away, as well. "Suppose I'll see you around."

"wait." Sans said, stopping them. "before you go. i think my brother would really like to see a human. he's been down a lot lately. i think it would cheer him up a lot, so...if you could just keep pretending to be human, that'd be great."

Connie finally gained control from Chara. "But, I am a human. Why are you…?"

"oh, i know that, connie. it is connie, right? i know you're human." Sans said. His eyes suddenly went blank. "It's the other one I'm sure that isn't. Keep an eye on them. I wouldn't want you getting caught in the crossfire, after all."

Sans walked off after that, in the opposite direction. Connie continued on silently. She didn't have enough strength to lock Chara away yet, anyway, but he seemed quite content with letting her be in charge for once.

The only exception being, of course, when it came to confronting monsters.

"By the way, we have eight left." Chara said at one point as they walked on. They had found a box, free for use, and got a new weapon from it, the Tough Glove. Connie also made sure to put the pie in the box, against Chara's wishes. Other than that moment, she hadn't really been paying attention to what was happening. Chara was mostly in charge.

Lesser Dog bounded up to them, happy and just waiting to be pet. Connie barely had anytime to react before Lesser Dog curled up in fear and turned to dust.

"Make that seven." Chara corrected, wiping the dust from the glove. "Luckily, we won't have any more interruptions from the skeletons for a while, so getting rid of those seven monsters should be pretty easy."

They tore apart a snowman and managed to kill three monsters before coming upon the brothers again.

"Guess I was wrong." Chara muttered. "Dammit."

"Sans, when's the human getting here?" Papyrus asked. He paced back and forth for a little bit. "I want to look my best for them."

Sans shrugged and shook his head. "they're going to be here soon, i'm sure." He glanced over towards Connie, standing still, a strange expression of apathy and innocence on her face. "oh, hey, i think there's something over there." Papyrus looked around, confused. "behold. right in front of us."

Papyrus frowned. "OH MY GOD! Sans, that's a rock. Why are we looking at a rock?"

Connie lost control and just simply stood there, a soft wind blowing through her hair. Chara resisted the urge to smile with malice.

Sans blinked for a second. "well, i think there's something in front of the rock."

"Oh, yeah, I see that." Papyrus responded. "...I don't know what that is."

"well, there's one thing we do know about it." Sans said, winking. "and that's it's not a rock, that's for sure."

Papyrus glanced over towards Chara with curiosity, stepping forward a little. "You're right, it's not a rock. But, then…" He gasped. "Then, if it's not a rock, then can only mean one thing!" He struck a heroic pose and pointed at Chara, an ambitious grin on his skull, completely changing auras.

But still sounding exactly the same.

"Human!" Papyrus declared. "Prepare yourself, for I, the great Papyrus, shall go to great lengths to capture you! Yes, you shall experience hijinks, and lojinx, and any other jink in between! There shall be traps, and puzzles, and refreshments, but only if you dare on that last one."

Chara attempted to walk away as Papyrus was speaking, only for Connie to stop them.

Papyrus, too, noticed Chara's failed escape.

"Are you trying to run away as I'm speaking?" Papyrus asked, incredulous. "You must be terrified, then! See, Sans, I told you that the human was intimidated by my entrance! Nyeh heh heh!" With that, he ran off.

Sans glanced at where Papyrus had gone to and then back at Chara. "yeah, sure. that's probably it."

He sighed. "and you don't even bat an eye during all that, huh? you must have quite an interesting life on the surface…" His entire demeanor changed to defensive. "...That I know you stole from her."

"Why do you always remember everything?" Chara asked. "Even after this...it was the same as a True Reset."

"You know they like me best." Sans replied coolly. "The doctor wouldn't dare let the resets affect me. Besides, you know very well why exactly I'm not affected. You've seen that room, too. I know that much. You can't deny it anymore. Maheswaran will remember everything, and that will be your downfall. The doctor's, too, once she realizes the truth."

Chara was silent.

Sans was quite pleased with the result. "nothing to say, hm? that doesn't seem like you at all. maybe you have been growing soft, after all." With that, he laughed and walked off.

However, what Chara said next made him stop.

"Well, at least I don't sequence break, unlike you." Chara retorted. "In fact, you did it twice in this timeline, if I'm remembering it correctly. Not to mention all the other times you've tried to kill me before."

"...You're really trying me now, kid." Sans said. He snapped his fingers, a small blue flame lighting up in his hand and his right eye. "Let's see how long you can last in a fight now, shall we?"

"I'm sorry." Connie blurted out. "Chara's out of my control, and my soul's corrupted. I took in a lot of despair earlier, and I'm just recovering from it. I have the ability to lock them in my memories, but I'm still not strong enough to keep them in there for long."

The flames died out.

"But, please, if you could…" Connie said quietly. A cold wind blew through her hair against her back. "...Could you at least tell Papyrus to be careful? I know that I'd just be delaying the inevitable, I'm playing around with a game of cheating death that I myself know that I'm eventually going to fall prey to in the end, but still, knowing that I at least tried… I think that would be nicer than just letting him die without any sort of effort."

"i'll see what i can do." Sans replied, smiling slightly. "it's nice that you care about everyone so much. for a human, you're really kind. a little too kind, if you ask me. be careful about that. it might just lead to your downfall."

Connie nodded and muttered a small, confused "okay" as Sans walked off, towards...the trees…? There was no clear path there, and Papyrus had continued on the path that stretched out in front of them. Why was he walking through the thicker part of the woods?

Connie took a couple steps forward, then stopped. There was something glistening in the snow where Sans had been. He must've dropped it when he walked off. Connie picked it up and looked at it. A box? That's what it looked like, anyway. The brightest shade of white Connie had ever seen, the box seemed to twist around and glow in her hand. In fact, she hadn't even had picked it up, it appeared to levitate in her grasp. Strange symbols appeared on all sides, glowing and pulsing black, static filled whispers blocking all other sound.

It was such a strange source of power, this box. She felt like she was being filled and spilling over with Determination, her entire body being consumed with energy. Gravity even seemed to lose its hold on her, she felt like she was floating upwards. The world beneath her seemed to twist and distort, losing any and all color it had before. Connie let out a sly smile, then a short giggle. The giggle turned into a laugh, and then into a shriek of hysteria. She laughed loudly, tears streaming down her face, her irises slowly turning into a colorful marbled pattern. The same began to happen with the whites of her eyes, being filled in with complementary colors of her irises. Her hair formed a mind of its own, twisting and bending around everything, stars forming and becoming entangled in it. The world, this entire World was her's, and she could do anything to it.

A great shockwave of energy burst from her soul, and she felt the last few monsters around crumble into dust. The trees shook with fright, and the wind howled, louder than her laughter.

"Yes, Asriel, it is a wonderful idea!" She screamed happily, clutching the box close to her. "Let's turn everything to dust! After all, it's even more fun destroying a World when you actually destroy what it's made of."

"How about no?" A familiar voice replied. The wind died down, and Connie obtained a moment of clarity again.

This feeling, why was it so familiar to her?

"So, it appears that even humans have their limits with Determination." Rose smiled, a fiery pink aura surrounding her. Her gem glowed brightly as she gently took the box out of Connie's hands. "Don't worry, Steven's fine. For right now, anyway."

"You...you helped me when I was overcome with Despair earlier, too." Connie said. She sank to her knees and sat down. "Why? You knew all this was going to happen, and you know that I have to reset this time, too. So, why are you helping me like this?"

"Did you really think I was just going to watch you destroy yourself?" Rose asked. "Your SOUL would've shattered if I didn't stop you."

"My SOUL?" Connie asked, giving a sideways glance. Rose scoffed and looked at the trees.

"Yes." Rose simply said after a while. "Anyway, I just don't understand. Why do you keep putting yourself so close to death like this? To a situation where you could never come back?"

Connie stood up. "...So, you don't remember anything either, huh? Even the invincible Rose Quartz, who's not even part of this time and space anymore, is still affected by them."

"You're quite naive, Chara." Rose commented. "I was wondering when you were going to come back to control. But, just remember this. Unless you want to end up like me, I suggest you look for another way to fix all of this. Maheswaran's Determination can only take her so far, after all."

"No need for Determination." Chara replied. "I'm getting her to the end, and that's that. No matter of how many times she has to do this, we're getting to the end. So, stop getting in the way before I force you out of here."

"Very well." Rose said. "Just remember where you'll end up when Maheswaran's true power awakens."

Chara pulled out their toy knife and threw it at Rose in anger. Rose disappeared in a burst of glowing pink flame before it got to her and landed calmly in the snow.

Chara just calmly picked it up and continued walking on.


Log 008- Phase 1- Initiate- [REDACTED]

In The End, there are several ways for a Story to reach its ultimate fate. Once the Story is completed, it goes to the Masters to decide how the World would continue on.

The Master of the Universe controls them all, and sends Worlds into a peaceful state after they die, and the Master of the Puppet Strings takes the characters of that World to the other Masters before that World dies. This is different from the World reaching The End. Dead Worlds are incomplete, crumbling, useless. The Lesser Masters deal with the Worlds at The End, rather than the High Masters, and also with the stray characters of the dead and dying Worlds.

The first is the Master of the Trial, who brings judgement to the World for whatever they have done.[REDACTED]

The second is the Master of the Flood, who uses water to cleanse the World anew and reuse it again.[REDACTED]

The third is the Master of Light, who purifies the World of darkness surrounding it, but not within the World, causing a thin veil of a happy ending.[REDACTED]

The fourth is the Master of Innocence, who removes the darkest entities of the World and leaving only the purest ones, causing a World left with happiness on the outside, but pain on the inside.[REDACTED]

The fifth and sixth ones are the Masters of Guidance and Strength, and they help guide the World to independence and "Utopia," a perfect state of being.[REDACTED]

The seventh one is the Master of Sin and Virtue, who releases either a great evil, or a fulfilling blessing upon the World.[REDACTED]

The final Master is the Master of the Hellish Domain, who drags the World through endless pain and suffering to finally destroy it, and cause the fragments to bring a new World into existence.[REDACTED]

I hope to seek the truth, however of the twin souls interfering with this. There was spoken, long ago, of a prophecy that two future Masters would be born, and cause great suffering to {The One Pulling The Strings} and {The Legion} would crumble in the wake of their power.

The prophecy, too, spoke of a way to counteract this. Take the {Purest of SOULS} and corrupt them to beyond recognition. Drag them through the pain of the Hellish Domain, take their shards and spread them across time and space. Those SOULS are the {vessels of the twin souls}, and must never be chained together.

The twin souls shall never be born…

End Log 008