When I finally stop being lazy and pick up my lazy-ass butt to actually update this story.

Translation: I apologize for the procrastination. :P


Well that was certainly a big change of events.

Just as I leaped out the doorway, the other girl came exploding out behind me, banging the door open with fury. "I can't believe you!" She screamed angrily.

"What in the heck?!" I yelled back, heading towards the Papyrus battle-ground. "I didn't even get to ask any questions yet or defend myself, and you're already trying to kill me?"

"I told you we couldn't trust anyone." Chara grumbled.

Panting, I kept running. And now, we were back in the blizzard. I was now wishing I hadn't given up the scarf so easily. Now I would just get cold again, while the other girl would be all warm and wrapped up. Was this her plan all along? To get me to think she was a friend, and then take the scarf from me before getting rid of me?

Well, she sure was going a long way just to get that scarf. Was it really just for warmth, or was it for something else? Maybe she has other plans for it, plans that I don't see. Just there for her own selfish reasons...

The snow was raining down too hard. It was starting to get too hard to advance. I was going to have to stop and try to understand why the girl was trying to kill me. Or at least, convince her not to.

"It's simple." Chara replied. "She's just following the rule, to kill or be killed."

"So I just have to convince her that the rule applies only to monsters?"

"...maybe."

Dissatisfied at her own uncertainty, I watched as the girl approached, the scarf still lying limply in her hands. So she wasn't wearing it? However, her expression was furious. I stood uneasily, trying to figure out what to say.

But she spoke first. "I don't understand."

Flurries of snow drifted around, sinking my shoes in deeper. Maybe it hadn't been such a good idea to wear the ballet shoes. "Then we can start over, talk it out. There's no need to kill anyone this early on."

She laughed pitifully, the echoes being drowned out by all the snow fall. "Oh really? For someone like you to say that is... that's quite a laugh!" She looked ready to fall into hysteria.

I wanted to protest, but I didn't want to increase her fury. I was going to have to approach this differently, step-by-step. "Why do you want to kill me anyway?" All I did was kill Papyrus!

"Because you killed Papyrus!" Oh. "He's such a nice and innocent person… but why did you do it?" She looked like she wanted to cry. "You were the one that killed everyone, right? I-I thought you knew how the Underground works. I thought you would have…"

"Would have what?" I myself was starting to grow impatient. "I've done exactly what the rule of the Underground implies for me to do. In this world, it's kill or be killed. So there! What are you so mad about?"

"Huh?" She paused, thinking. "That stupid rule? That… you know that's not the rule! What's in the world is wrong with you? Are you just…" She stopped suddenly, realization dawning in her eyes. "You're curious."

I frowned, tilting my head. "Well of course I'm curious! Who isn't?"

The girl started to tremble, her eyes widening. "Oh no… no! Erisa, you can't!"

"Can't what?" Things were just getting more and more confusing. And there was that dumb Erisa title again.

"You can't continue with this." She pleaded, all bloodlust gone. "It's wrong, and you know it. Go back! This isn't worth it."

I grimaced. "I don't understand?"

"Stop it!" She took a step forward, a terrified look in her eye. "Stop this… genocide!"

I stopped when I heard the word. Genocide. So that was what all this was. One simple word… who knew? It was slightly startling. And it was true… this was exactly what it was. Exactly what the word prescribes. It was the perfect word.

"Why?" I hardened my gaze as I faced her. "You can't stop me. I'm doing this for the greater good. To make a safer place for people, and to escape the underground so that I can get home." Then, as an afterthought, "If you join me… you can get home too."

Confusion littered her gaze. "Just stop it. Please." I didn't understand what she was so upset about. The facts were staring her right in the face! What was there to be so confused about?

"I don't get it. Don't you want to go home? Do you want the monsters to live? Unless… you really don't get the rule of the underground at all."

"She doesn't get it." Chara concluded, sighing. "She's just another stupid idiot. She'll just get in your way if you don't get rid of her."

"You can still go back." The girl said insistently. "It's not too late. It really isn't." She gulped. "I know you can do it. Reset this. Change this for the better.

"Reset? You really think all this can just be reset?" I shook my head, stepping forward. "I don't even know what you're talking about anymore. But if you're really going to get in the way of what I'm doing, then you've just made yourself an enemy."

Stepping forward, I felt my soul draw out, and I floated into the air. Had I just activated a battle? I didn't know I could do that! Blinking in surprise, I watched the other girl's soul draw out as well. Her's wasn't red, surprisingly. Instead, it was a dark blue, and she stayed completely rooted to the ground.

She took a hesitant step back before frowning. "Wait. This doesn't seem like you."

I narrowed my eyes. "How do you know how I'm supposed to act?"

The girl was completely ignoring me now, seeming to be in her own thoughts of doubt. Maybe she was finally getting it? Finally understanding that my way made sense? Maybe she would finally stop being so paranoid, and join my side?

So her next question surprised me entirely. "Do you know my name?"

I blinked, confused. "How am I supposed to know it if you never introduced yourself?" The other girl could only stare back in shock, and the two of us stayed completely still in the middle of a heavy snow storm. It was cold, I realized. I was going to have to bring out my plan quickly if I didn't want to turn into a pup-sicle. (Ha-ha)

She spoke slowly. "You don't… remember." Huh? "Cinder. That's my name. Does it strike anything? Anything at all?"

Cinder, huh? The by-products of a fire. Like the ashes of a crumbling fury. Cinders. Ashes. Dust. "Nice name." I commented.

Hope deflated from her eyes. "No?"

"Look, I don't understand what you're getting at, but this is starting to get ridiculous." I moved forward, successfully causing her to take a couple more steps back. She just needed to go a couple more. "I don't know you. You don't know me. So stop pretending like you do." She was annoying. Oh so annoying.

"May I help?" Chara asked. I nodded, and she disappeared, controlling my senses.

Cinder said something else, but I didn't hear her. I flew down so that I was almost eye-level with the her, and she took another step back, fear glittering her gaze. Her mouth moved rapidly, speaking messages I couldn't hear. Then, almost like she was desperate, she started to rapidly wave her arms around to convey a message to me. But I heard nothing, thanks to Chara.

I flew forward and Cinder took another step back. She had stopped talking now, almost like she knew it wouldn't do any good. Realization flickered on her face, like she had finally understood her death wish. Right before I brought my hand forward, she whispered one last word at me.

And then I sent her plummeting into the river, as she was washed away by the currents. No protests or screams of help were heard. Her head went under once, and then she was gone. Signifying the end of the battle, my soul retracted into my body.

But I had recognized the word she mouthed, right before I had pushed her into the dangerous rapids of the cold river. It made me slightly wary, and confused. Chara.

Chara left my body, reappearing in front of me. "She's gone for good now." There was a tone of finality in her voice.

"Not dead though, right?"

"Not dead." Chara confirmed.

I narrowed my eyes. "How can you be so sure?"

"I know these things."

I narrowed my eyes. "Then can you explain how she knew your name?"

Irritation suddenly flashed onto Chara's expression. "Who?"

"Don't play around with me." I took a step forward, trying to show my aggressiveness. "You know who I'm talking about. Cinder. She knows who you are. How?"

Chara glowered at me, not protesting to my claim. It was like she knew I had seen it, almost as sure like she saw it with her own eyes. Or maybe she had, since she had just been controlling my senses a moment ago.

"You're hiding things from me, aren't you?"

Chara ducked her head, curses rolling out of her mouth in whispery comments. "I knew I should've…" The rest was too quiet for me to hear.

"So. Care to explain?"

Chara sighed. "I can try. But not now. Let's leave this place first. You look like you're about to die from frostbite."

I wanted to protest, but I knew she was right. My legs were quivering, just trying to hold myself up. I couldn't last much longer. "Fine, let's go forward until we get out of this stupid snow storm."

Chara raised an eyebrow confusedly. "Not back to the Snowdin Town?"

"No." I spat. "I've already had enough of that place."

Chara frowned like she wanted to ask me why, but ended up shrugging instead. "Suit yourself." Her ghostly figure followed me as I trudged through the blizzard, moving farther and farther away from the original home of the skelebros.


"Alright, talk now." We had managed to escape the snow, and were now sitting in a long indigo-colored corridor. Waterfalls cascaded around us, leaving faint echoes bouncing all around us. It was annoyingly loud, but it would have to do. At least it wasn't that cold. My skin prickled at the cool, damp air.

Chara eyed the river disdainfully. "But will you listen carefully?"

"Well, duh."

"Alright then." She took a deep breath. "Before I died, I used to live with the King and Queen of monsters. And their son, Prince Asriel."

My eyes widened. "H-huh? How? Didn't they try to kill you?"

"That." Chara shook her head. "See, I managed to convince them that I was on their side. They wanted to wage war on humanity, and they figured that having a human captive on their side would be favorable to their end."

I crossed my arms. "How is this related to my question?"

"Just wait and listen." Chara answered. "See, word got around that the King and Queen had me captive. Keeping a human in a world of monsters was a dangerous thing. Soon, all the monsters knew about it. So I'm guessing that Sans might've told Cinder about me."

"Well, why would he do that?"

"To prove that monsters are innocent." Chara shrugged. "I'm not exactly sure partner, but I believe they may have relayed the story a bit differently."

No wonder Cinder thought Papyrus was good. "How do you think they told it?"

Chara moved her hands around. "I don't know… maybe 'The human killed Prince Asriel mercilessly, and once the monsters realized she was evil, they cast her away.' Or something like that."

I frowned. "That's not very convincing." If Cinder heard this, she surely wouldn't believe it.

Chara shrugged. "Well, they must have been better liars. Anyways, that answers your question, right?" Right.

But my curiosity still wasn't satiated. "But I wanna know what really happened."

"Curious." Chara grinned. "Although I suppose it's for the better. Alright, I suppose I can tell you exactly how it happened.

I sat myself down, preparing for a long story. "Cool."

"So as I lived with the King and Queen, I tried to hatch plans. I tried to figure out ways to escape, or to kill them so that I could rid them of my life. But they were very powerful, and way too strong. Not to mention that they were very observant, constantly keeping a watch on me, so that I couldn't start anything without them getting suspicious. And then, that's when I realized I had to gain their trust. That way, they would stop pestering me, and I could successfully launch a plan.

"I tried to gain the King and Queen's trust, but they were resilient, constantly suspicious of my movements. So I moved onto the Prince, and eventually, he warmed up to me." Her smiled softened some. "With his help, it made all my plans easily simpler."

"Wow…" I mouthed. "How did you get him to trust you?"

"Long story." Chara dismissed. "But anyways, the point was that my attempts were much easier with him helping me. Although half the time, he didn't even know what I was plotting. See, once we made a pie for the King. They were filled with poisonous flowers."

I frowned. "The King of monsters wouldn't fall for something like that though, right?"

"That's when Asriel comes in." Chara pointed out. "Since he was the one that presented the pie, and since the King trusted his own son, he was more than glad to taste the pastry for him."

"Oh… that's pretty smart."

"See?" Chara grinned. "But the plan failed. The poison wasn't strong enough. Sure, it made him sick for a couple of days, but afterwards, he was back to full health. Like nothing had happened to him at all."

"I guess he has a strong stomach, or something."

"Maybe." Chara shrugged.

I frowned. "So then you were caught."

"Nope!" Chara replied cheerily. "I said I didn't know the flowers were poisonous. I tried to settle the uneasiness, and Asriel covered for me. He trusted me."

"What? So you just laughed it off?"

"Basically." Chara shrugged. "But then, I had another plan in mind. All I had to do was to eat those exact poisonous flowers, die, get absorbed by Asriel, and then control him to kill the King and Queen before escaping-"

"Whoa whoa whoa!" I waved my arms around, trying to make sense of things. "Slow down a bit! So you're telling me you killed yourself for this plan? Isn't that a bit far-fetched?"

"I was tired of being with them." Chara grumbled. "Living everyday in fear, always making plans to escape and trying not to get caught. It was terrible. I would've rather died in an attempt to accomplish a plan than to continue living with them."

Wow. She must've really hated living with monsters. I nodded slowly to show that I understood.

"Now." Chara continued. "All I had to do was to make Asriel agree to the plan, so that he would absorb my soul after I died."

"Absorb?"

"Yes. Once monsters take a human soul, they become ultimately powerful, so I figured Asriel would agree to it no problem. But he didn't accept is as quickly as I thought he would've. He was so used to having a pet that he wasn't so willing to sacrifice it for power he didn't need."

I winced slightly. "A pet?"

"That's all I was to them." Chara shrugged indifferently. "A pet. They could play with me, use me for amusement, and I always played along just to gain their trust."

"That's harsh."

"Yeah. But the point is, I eventually got Asriel to agree. So then, I ate the flowers and became sick. The King and Queen started fussing all over me, not wanting their pet and human advantage to die. When Asriel realized that his parents were attempting to save me, he got jealous. He didn't like how all the attention was focused onto me. After that, he didn't hesitate to kill me."

"He killed you?"

"A knife through the stomach." Chara agreed. I gagged. "Then I bled to death, and they took my soul, and cooked me in a pot before eating me for dinner."

"What?" I was shocked into silence, watching Chara with horror.

After a moment, Chara laughed, slapping her knee. "Oh my gosh, you should've seen your face! It was priceless!" My face transformed into doubt as I realized that Chara may have tricked me.

"You were lying?"

"Exaggerating." Chara confirmed.

"So none of that was true?" I wasn't sure whether to feel relieved or stumped.

Chara rolled her eyes before sighing. "Only slightly exaggerated. But I still died."

I noticeably deflated. "So what happened then?"

"Just as Asriel stabbed me, I stabbed him back."

"Wait, what!?"

"It's true. I killed him just as he killed me. It was my revenge. Completely inevitable."

"But then doesn't that ruin your entire plan?"

Chara sighed. "Basically, yes. But he was the one that stabbed me first. It would've been impossible to not retaliate."

"...fair enough." I finally decided.

"Even still, I waited to see if the King or Queen would try to absorb me, so that I could still try to control them. But instead, they just stored my soul away before putting my body into a coffin."

"Why would they do that?" I frowned. "I mean, about the storing your soul away."

"They're trying to save up for 7 souls." Chara explained. "See, there's a barrier that keeps all the monsters trapped in the Underground, and the only way to break it is with seven human souls."

I gasped. "Then how am I going to get home?"

"Don't worry." Chara reassured me. "Humans only need their soul and a monster's soul to pass through the barrier. It won't be a problem."

I pouted. "But they're trying to break the barrier. So that they can wage war on humanity."

"Exactly. So that is why I am trying to help you. This way, we can protect our kind and destroy our enemies. Do you understand now?"

I sighed, absorbing the brand-new information. "Alright. Just one more question though?"

"Go ahead."

"Why is there a barrier? Or at least, how was it created?"

"Oh, that." Chara sighed. "Even I don't know that. Maybe the world sensed the danger of monsters, and just trapped them all underground to keep humans safe?" Wow. Monsters were so dangerous that they had to be trapped in order to keep them from attacking the world.

I smiled playfully. "So there is something even you don't know!"

Chara stared unamusedly back at me. "Well, if you're done asking questions, then I think it's about time we moved on."

There were a few holes in her story, but Chara's tone left no room for arguments. My curiosity was mostly satisfied anyway. It looked like I would just have to wait until she was more comfortable with accepting more questions.

I stood up, testing my legs. Wobbly, but I felt more confident now. Chara's story just made me feel more determined than ever. "I'm ready!"


Wow Chara, that story of your's is kinda messed up.

But eh, this chapter is pretty messed up too. Don't worry, the next one will be better. And won't take as long to update as this one. ;P