"Chara?" The odd poltergeist froze in place.
"Oh, right. Game saved." They said, as there was a knocking on the door.
"Are you almost done? How long does it take to wash your hands and your face?" asked a voice, presumably Enoch.
"Just a little bit more, okay?" They asked, smooshing their cheek against the door so that the morbid boy could hear them better. They faced the sink area again, turning on the faucet and quickly washing up.
"Done!" They announced, opening the door for Enoch. As the ring-eyed boy walked in, Frisk started towards the stairs.
"Wait." They suddenly said, and Chara gave them a weird look.
"What?"
"Didn't we already have dinner?" Chara thought about this for a second and then nodded.
"Yeah, maybe we just misheard that lady." Frisk nodded as well.
"Mhm." They walked down the stairs and tugged on the sleeve of the first person they saw, who happened to be Bronwyn.
"Bronwyn, are we having dinner?" This time it was she who gave the weird look.
"Of course. Didn't you hear the Bird?" Frisk's face went beet red. So they were wrong after all. So they went to the dining room table and sat down.
About half an hour later, because the author doesn't want a dinner scene taking up most of the chapter...
"That was really good..." Frisk said as Chara floated around the various plates.
"I wish I was alive so I could eat with you." They lamented as everyone began to put away their plates. Chara, feeling a bit cheated, decided to stubbornly plant themselves on the table.
"Being a ghost isn't fair." But Frisk was already gently placing their plate(s) in the sink. As Chara sat, frowning, Frisk looked at them.
"Hug?" Chara kept frowning.
"Okey." The notably-now-overall-wearing child said and decided to follow Hugh, who was going outside. The long-deceased child suddenly started being dragged along by some invisible force, sliding off of the table and across the floor.
"This again?" They huffed, then decided that being grumpy was unfun. They speed-hovered to Frisk and noticed that all the others were gathered somewhere around some topiary sculpture of a man pointing to the sky.
"What's this?" They heard Frisk asking, and the mourner-looking old lady known as Miss Peregrine.
"Oh, right, I failed to find a time to explain changeovers to you. Every night at exactly this time, I reset the loop." At the word RESET, both of the Determined children froze.
"RESET?" Frisk shakily repeated.
"Don't worry, no harm will come to you. It is an ymbryne's duty to protect her wards, after all." The fact that she handed some weird, rubbery mask to them after that was not very comforting.
"A reset allows the loop to repeat the same day over and over. If it is not reset, then the loop will slip and utter chaos will ensue." Chara was pacing around in the air, very worried as well.
"She knows how to RESET but not how Determination works? Frisk, I think she's hiding something from us." Frisk shook their head.
"She said that an ymbryne protects her wards, right? I think she just wants us to stay safe." They muttered.
"How is sending us back to the garden of the evil flower keeping us safe?!" Chara replied as the rain poured through their transparent body.
"As much as I love the Underground, I don't want to watch you die over and over! I don't want to see my Da-Asgore die, either!" Both children were obviously distressed, but not any more than their fellow peculiars as they watched Frisk have a very animated debate with nothing. And Millard was standing next to Emma, so it couldn't be him. For the sake of correct timing, they had already started Run Rabbit Run, so that played over the rain and Frisk's cries of 'I don't want to go back any more than you do!'.
"Frisk, it's okay. You aren't going to get hurt by this, I promise. The mask is just a precaution." Miss Peregrine assured, which snapped Frisk out of their worried shouts.
"Huh?" They said, as the song winded on and the rain kept pouring.
"It's alright, Frisk. The loop resets before any harm can come to us or the house." Frisk smiled, doubtful but willing to trust Miss Peregrine for their own comfort.
The song was finally beginning to fade as loud roars of engines came from the skies, followed by a fleet of World War II-era planes.
"Miss Peregrine!" The child cried, clinging to her, "The planes are going to attack us!" They held the mask tightly between their hands as one of the planes released a metallic object. It eerily whistled as it descended, leaving Chara screeching,
"EVERYONE'S GOING TO DIE!" as Frisk cried for Miss Peregrine's help. Suddenly they realized what the object was, and they promptly squeezed their eyes shut preparing to be blown to bits. And afterward, of course, it was back to the flower patch. The deluge of rain paired with the song and the bomb's warning of imminent death created a very unsettling piece. The other children had notably gathered around the topiary statue and watched the metal explosive come ever closer to their home. Now it was about to make contact and explode violently. Frisk mustered up all their Determination in order to prepare for Flowey's cruel act and all that would follow as Chara held on to the smaller child.
Strangely, there was no explosion. No chorus of screams to join Frisk's and no smell of burning metal. Frisk opened their eyes to see everything frozen in place, even the raindrops. The bomb's tip was right at the tip of the topiary statue's outstretched finger.
"Huh?" Frisk asked, very confused and baffled. Why did the bomb stop? Did something bad happen and now they were stuck like this forever? They looked to the other children who were, in fact, moving around and talking.
"Maybe this is the RESET!" Chara suddenly exclaimed, "It makes so much sense!" Frisk was silent, which wasn't an unusual occurrence but it was still a little odd in this situation.
"Hey Frisk, are you listening, I'm tryingggg-" They trailed off as they found out why Frisk had gone quiet. The rain started moving backward, as did the bomb. They flowed upwards and away, the house untouched. Everything rewinded faster and faster, the night spinning into the evening, day, and then the early morning. And, most notably, they did not meet the Underground's floor again. And Frisk had one and only one thing to say after all this:
"Miss Peregrine, I'm confused..."