Another week goes by. Papyrus has been getting the absolute tar beaten out of him. Training seems to have gotten even more violent than usual. He thinks it's because this is what his parents expect of the Dreemurr family. But it only bothers him a little. It's not like he'll be doing much on the ground. In fact, he's pretty much avoiding the fight all together… Not of his own volition… but because he's the best sniper in the family.

Grillby and Flameheart aren't around so much anymore. Mostly because they're not needed at these stages. Civetta is present often though. She always has new gadgets here and there. They're all prototypes and it seems none of them work. Civetta's plumage goes down when that happens. But Papyrus just laughs and tells her to keep her beak up!

Papyrus learns to teleport some things to his hands. Pebbles. Then small rocks. A baseball. It's a bit of a strain when he's forced to move up to guns and knives. The most important things to teleport are his weapons of course. A small hand gun is a chore… But he does it so many times in just one day that he's able to teleport bigger and bigger guns and longer and heavier /On the seventh day, Papyrus can finally teleport his large heavy rifle to him. Gaster moves Papyrus further and further away from the guns and knives and of course it gets harder and harder. But Gaster pushes Papyrus hard and doesn't even let him sit down until he can do it. Teleporting takes up so much magic… He can't believe his parents and his brother can do it so often. Sans, every day with the four of them a hundred miles away from their home to the hangar, and his parents teleporting huge chunks of a fake city all the time… He HAS to do better. He MUST catch up with them!

But just before nine o clock on the seventh night, Papyrus gets to the end of the hangar and can teleport his rifle to his hands. Even exhausted, Papyrus is so happy and gives an excited yell. This teleporting business is getting easier. He's stretching his magic pretty thin, but it feels amazing when he succeeds at something he wasn't sure he'd ever be able to do.

Sans roots for him the whole time, telling him to focus and stop thinking so hard about where the gun is. "Just want it and picture it in your hands!" He'll yell. Gaster tells Papyrus that that's not always the case, but when he's in the middle of saying that, Papyrus gets whatever it is that he wants. He wonders if his sons just teleport things differently.

()

Vrinda continues to have nightmares every night. So she's exhausted during training. But at least she only gets ONE nose bleed from the Determination that was forced into her. Gaster worries for her constantly and it's becoming more stressful to think of the plan they all agreed on… He can't stop that bad feeling from returning all the time now.

()

Christmas is coming up soon, so there are trees with candles on them, popcorn garland wrapped around them and a star or an angel on top. Tinsel on most trees, even though it's a nightmare to clean up after the holiday. It's worth it to have such a sparkling tree.

Even the Gaster family partakes in this, although monsters usually call this holiday "Giftmas." Back in olden times, Monsters didn't know that humans had nearly the exact same traditions they did. So it was easy to merge the two holidays together, being nearly the same thing in the end.

Vrinda and Gaster hand make the wreaths and garland and even the ornaments for the tree that they buy already chopped. Papyrus and Sans decorate the house with the stuff their parents made and while it's a small home, it's filled with Giftmas joy.

When it's time to start baking treats for everyone, Vrinda shows all of her boys how exactly she makes the traditional family truffles her parents used to make for her. When she finishes freezing them, the boys eat and melt right along with the chocolate goo inside that hard shell. They're divine and Vrinda is showered in praise and love for her amazing treats. She loves the attention of course. But after that, she tells them all that THEY'LL have to make truffles too. To see if they were actually paying attention. Vrinda watches the three of them from a chair with the smuggest shit eating grin as they fail rather miserably… Well, except Sans. He does pretty well. Papyrus' look good but taste awful. And Gaster…. Gaster's well… They… they just became puddles somehow. Vrinda doesn't even want to know…

()

December 23rd 1950

The family is out to do a typical recon mission. They're not all together of course, no no. All four of them are in different locations. With help from Civetta, they've managed to time exactly when Chara would be walking around the safest part of town to quietly capture someone. Gaster is at the southernmost position, Vrinda in the east, Sans in the Northwest and Papyrus directly north on a roof top. Civetta is next to him, lying on her stomach. She's acting as his captain.

"[READY?"] Gaster says into his watch. The latest device from Civetta's personal spy shop.

"Yeah." Vrinda says just before Sans does.

"YES." Papyrus says.

"[ANY MINUTE NOW. AND PLEASE BE CAREFUL EVERYONE.]" Gaster says… He has a terrible feeling about this though… And he seriously wonders if he should call this whole thing off… But just as he lifts his watch to say it, he hears footsteps…. But he hears not one pair… but two.

From behind a dark red brick building, Chara steps out in his regular dark green wool coat and hat. He looks oddly pleased with himself. And next to him… Next to him walks Asriel holding a jar. A jar with a large glowing yellow heart. They both have a small bit of blood on their sleeves.

The two turn the corner and spot Gaster.

Neither party speaks to the other….

Chara throws their coat back and grabs a knife. Without a word of warning to Asriel, Chara darts forward. The boy can teleport. At least for very short distances.

Gaster lifts his hands and two large blasters appear from nothing and open their maws. Light charges and then fires at Chara. It's a direct hit….

But…

Chara seems only aggravated that he was hit. He continues to charge Gaster and swings at him with the knife.

"Beat it old man!" Chara shouts.

"[YOU KILLED THAT GIRL DIDN'T YOU?]" Gaster says as he jumps back and sends bones after him. Bones fly past Chara and head for Asriel. Chara blocks what he can with his knife until he looks back to Asriel, which Gaster can't believe. Is he stupid? Confident? Both?

"Asriel move!" Chara shouts to his brother. Asriel ducks and dodges the bones.

"Chara come on, run!" Asriel yells and runs away.

"WHAT?!" Chara half screams. He turns around to face Gaster and is hit with another blaster, harder this time. But still Chara refuses. He stands through the blast and swings his knife, red magic cutting through the beam.

"[W-WHAT?]" Gaster says to himself. The red magic cuts his blaster in half and it falls to the ground into dust. Gaster summons hundreds of bones, his purple eye glowing. He sends them all flying at Chara. But the boy runs away and somehow dodges most of them. He can't get away from a few though. He gets cuts on his legs and arms and even gets a bone that nearly scalps him, taking his hat with the sharp tip. The two boys run from Gaster.

"[VRINDA, THERE ARE TWO OF THEM. CHARA AND ASRIEL ARE BOTH HERE! THEY HAVE A HUMAN SOUL!]" Gaster says loudly into his watch. This was NOT in the plan. Civetta's been watching Chara for two weeks now and he's always taken this path alone… But it seems he recruited his brother to help kill that little blond girl and steal her soul… Asriel was NOT in the equation! Was this what his bad feeling was? He felt that the plan wouldn't go exactly as planned?

To the east Vrinda waits with hundreds of bones, both white and blue.

"TWO? And a soul?" Vrinda whispers to herself loudly…. No matter. She won't be caught off guard this time.

Two pairs of running footsteps come towards her and Vrinda readies her pointed bones in their direction.

Chara and Asriel skid into a back alley and hit the side of a wall. The two stare at her in shock. They're being cornered? Is that it?

"You again?!" Chara says with a glare. But Vrinda doesn't wait to talk. She just sends her barrage of bones flying. Asriel jumps in front this time and throws his hands up, tossing the jar to Chara behind him. Star shapes begin to fall from the sky and crash and stab into the concrete in front of them, blocking the bones and crushing them on impact.

"Wh—" Vrinda says. But she summons bigger bones that could fit a dinosaur's body and sends those flying too.

"Asriel!" Chara shouts. Vrinda can't believe he actually sounds worried. He's such a terrifying child that she assumed he really didn't have any feelings other than "kill."

A huge star, flashing in rainbow colors pops up out of nowhere and boomerangs around, slashing all of the huge bones but one. The final bone crashes through the first layer of stars and sends the boys flying backwards. They smash and roll along the snowy ground. The jar containing the human heart smashes into the ground. A soft yellow glow illuminates the entire ally way, floating upwards… It shakes and finally breaks apart into pieces. Bits of it fall and disintegrate before it hits the ground.

Chara gets up first and grabs Asriel by his suit shoulders.

"Asriel, get up HURRY! They're trying to surround us! We have to split up!"

"But the soul!"

"It's gone, come on! You go that way!" Chara says, yanking Asriel to his feet and points.

"What about you?" Asriel says with worry clear in his voice.

"You idiot, just GO!" Chara pushes him in the direction he ordered him to run in and then turns around to Vrinda.

"I thought a weak monster like you would have been killed after handling my knife. But here you are." Chara says with a low irritated voice.

"Hmph. I'm not as weak as you thought then. Don't underestimate monsters. And especially don't underestimate me!" Vrinda summons bones of all sizes and sends them soaring at Chara in different patterns. He gets cut up as he attempts to dodge and dash towards Vrinda. He's so fast…. Teleportation. At least a little.

"I think I estimated you just fine!" Chara yells as he gets right up to Vrinda, that scary pointed grin on his face. His eyes are narrow and red, glowing like a fire and leaving trails. Vrinda doesn't even have time to move and she can't believe that she's going to be injured again by this kid.

A blaster's huge skull rushes in and smashes Chara from the side hard. Hard enough to knock him off his feet and send him beaming into the cement wall of a building thirty feet away. Chara falls to the ground, bits of cement and rock dust covering him. Gaster rushes in with a furious glowing purple eye.

"Gaster!" Vrinda says happily. It was exactly according to plan, but close enough! Now the two of them are together, outnumbering Chara like they planned.

Chara sits up and looks at them. His health bar… his max is 99. The highest it can be for a human his age… But it's down to 50 now. He realizes this and stands up with some trouble and… sucks up his pride to run west.

"[PHEW… VRINDA ARE YOU OKAY?]" Gaster says, turning to Vrinda. She lets out a sigh of relief and nods.

"I'm alright. Thank you for saving me."

"[I HAD TO MAKE UP FOR LAST TIME MY ANGEL.]" Gaster takes Vrinda's hand, the one that was hurt by the knife handle, and kisses her palm.

"Alright Sans, they split up, but Chara is coming towards you. Papyrus, get ready too alright?"

"Got it mom." Sans says into his watch. So Asriel is here. And they split up. Sans isn't exactly sure what Asriel is like, but his main target is Chara anyway. He hopes that Asriel just runs home or something so that HE doesn't have to deal with him.

"YES MOTHER. I'M READY." Papyrus says. He's so nervous… He'll be shooting a real live person instead of a wooden target… But he promised that he'd do this. And the Great Papyrus does NOT break promises! Down below he can see Chara running down a very narrow ally. He pops out and sees Sans.

"How many of you damn freaks ARE there?!" Chara yells. Sans just chuckles and doesn't even take his hands out of his pockets to shrug.

"I dunno. But I think you're the only freak around here kid. Hey, just do us a favor and stop running. We aren't gonna hurt you if you just calm down and talk to us. Is that so much to ask?" Sans says. He really does want to give this kid a chance. He's a killer yeah, but information is more important than just flat out killing him. The point of this mission is to capture Chara, not kill him… Unless the need arises for some reason. That's what Papyrus is for. So Sans knows that he'll be alright. His brother is the best shot… But he just hopes that Pap can bring himself to shoot a human and actually kill them if it needs to be done.

"Get out of my way you smiley trash bag…" Chara says, holding his knife tightly…

"Sorry kid. Can't do that. Listen to me for a second. We don't have to do this. I bet there's actually a glimmer of a good person inside you. You can stop all of this right now if you just… I dunno… give up?" Sans says.

But Chara just gives him an irritated and bored look. He takes a few steps forward and then dashes. Sans is only mildly impressed by his speed.

From above, Papyrus watches. It's almost like a dance the two preform instead of an all-out life or death fight. It's graceful, it's pointed and Papyrus swears he can hear music.

"Focus Papyrus." Civetta says beside him. Papyrus nods and just keeps his eye on the scope.

Sans teleports everywhere. Vertically and horizontally in every direction. Chara swings and slashes at bones, slicing them into pieces.

"Come on kid, give it a rest already would ya?" Sans says.

"You think you're the only one with fancy magic, trash bag?" Chara says. He finally holds still and throws his knife in the air.

The knife turns red and multiplies until there are exactly one thousand red knives floating in the sky like a grid. Papyrus watches amazed. This isn't good. If the HANDLE could hurt his mother as bad as it did… then this will surely kill his brother.

"Heh. Wow. Pretty impressive kid." Papyrus wonders how Sans can be so calm in the face of death! Is this part of his training? Never show fear even when in the most terrifying circumstances?

"I wouldn't be so jovial you weirdo."

"We'll see what happens. Come at me punk. Show me what you're worth." Sans says with a sly grin, and a bored glare. Chara's eyes widen with anger. The knives start flying at Sans. They slash in midair, soaring at the skeleton in complicated patterns. But Sans dodged them all. As if he's done this a million time and it's muscle memory at this point.

"Why won't you just DIE ALREADY?!" Chara yells.

The knife movements become more erratic and less predictable. Sans actually begins to have trouble. The timing is off now and with a lack of rhythm it's a bit more difficult. But Sans continuously dodges and teleports out of the way. He summons bones now to meet the knives half way.

A knife nicks Sans' cheek a little.

Just that small notch on his cheek makes his vision go crazy. The world around him starts to move and wave. Everything around him turns an orange and yellow, the knives becoming pillars. His body feels hot like he's never felt before. No no, if he just closes his eyes, he can do this right? But his equilibrium is thrown off and he stumbles. He can't stand up straight. He looks as if the earth under his feet is shaking violently.

From the roof, Papyrus watches, wondering what the hell has happened. His brother is acting strange.

"Oh no." Civetta says. "He was cut!"

Papyrus gets Chara in his sights, but he disappears! Papyrus looks away to see where he is, and he's directly in front of his brother. He gets his eye back onto the scope and… everything happens in slow motion.

Vrinda and Gaster rush into the open space since the plan was to completely outnumber Chara and detain them. Surround them.

Asriel comes out from behind a different pathway and skids to a stop.

Sans sees Chara right in front of him and jumps back… But he's not fast enough, disoriented by the cut.

Chara uses all of his strength to slash up at Sans and cut him deeply in the chest.

"No!" Vrinda screams. Her voice echoes like a shrieking bell.

Red determination begins to seep onto San's blue suit. The lights in his eyes go out and red liquid bursts from between Sans' teeth, out his nose and out of his eyes.

His HP is instantly cut away.

Papyrus hears his mother's shriek and hears the terrible sound of blade ripping through ribs. Any music he thought he heard earlier stops… It's replaced by the echo of Grillby's words.

"I think that if YOU are the one that kills them, then they MUST have done something to deserve it."

The sights are right in the center of Chara's head.

Papyrus pulls the trigger.

He's never seen a head explode before now… But Chara's skull is blown to pieces. Blood, bone pieces and brain matter fly into the air.

Sans' body doesn't even have time to hit the ground before that bullet pierces through the other side of Chara's head.

All sound stops. Or if it kept going, none of it made sense to Papyrus. He thinks he hears Civetta chanting "oh my god" beside him. He thinks he hears his mom's heals clicking rapidly as she runs over to Sans with Gaster in slow motion. He thinks he hears Asriel screaming…

But none of it matters. Because all he can stare at is his brother's empty health bar and slowly falling form. Without thought, reality tears itself apart.

Suddenly he's at Sans' side, holding his arms out and catching him just before he falls backwards. His big brother falls limp in his arms, sockets devoid of life. Red determination spurts from his mouth and out of his eyes and nose like rivers. It's getting all over the both of them. It looks exactly like blood.

"S-SANS…" Papyrus can only manage to say in a whisper.

Vrinda and Gaster rush over and nearly slip trying to stop. Gaster kneels down and rubs Sans' skull. Vrinda falls to her knees and tries to give his face a few pats on the cheek.

"[SANS! SANS!]"

"Sans no no no no no!" Vrinda screams.

It's now that Sans begins to shake. It's small at first, but it becomes violent quickly.

"N-NO! BROTHER NO! S-SANS PLEASE!" Papyrus starts to beg between shaking words. Sans' shaking becomes so violent that all Papyrus can think to do is hold him tightly, as if his love will make it stop. But it doesn't. The more Sans shakes, the more red liquid bursts out of him. The more Papyrus is horrified that his brother will become dust in his arms.

Papyrus hears something else now. He dares to look away from his brother to see Asriel holding Chara's body up off the ground, blood getting all over him. Asriel's yellow and red eyes are huge and horrified, full of giant tears.

"Chara!" He screams. His brother's brains completely blown out and only the bottom half of his jaw is there, but just barely. Asriel begins to scream now. He screams in horror. Overwhelming, scarring, traumatic horror.

Papyrus can't bring himself to feel any pity though…

"Sans! Please baby try to listen to us! W-We have to leave, Gaster! Maybe we can save him!" Vrinda says in a terrified squeaking voice, holding her head.

"Chara…" Asriel says. Gaster looks over at the young goat boy. In his hand is a bright red pulsing soul. Chara's soul.

"I… I can save you this way can't I?... That way you'll never be dead… Never ever. I won't let you go." Asriel puts Chara's body down and cradles the soul. It gives the boys white fur an eerie red tint. With tears in his eyes, Asriel looks over at the Gaster family. Vrinda freaking out and trying to use healing magic on Sans somehow, Gaster staring at him in knowing horror, Sans shaking violently and becoming covered in red liquid and Papyrus, tears coming from his sockets and yelling at his brother to please stop shaking.

"Chara… I know you started this… But… You're the only one that ever understood me… I can't let go of you."

Asriel holds the soul close. It slowly drifts into his body.