For a while, you were fine. No horrible pain, no gut-wrenching sickness. You felt normal. Then again, it was just stupid to expect yourself to feel the pain of death instantly. You sat down in the flower patch, intent on waiting for something to happen. You could still taste the bitterness of the flowers. You wished you had brought a glass of water.

After a while, you began to feel something. It started small, a weird irritation, but it grew into a painful burning within seconds. Your mouth felt as if it was on fire, like that time you cut your leg and it got infected, but much worse. It was as if your entire mouth was infected! Before you knew it, the pain had grown unbearable and you were frantically rubbing your cheeks as if that would stop the pain. After who knows how long, you realized that you were screaming from the pain.

This was an awful plan.

Your gut exploded in pain. It was like getting stabbed in the gut. And the pain didn't stop. You clutched your stomach and clenched your eyes shut. You dropped to the ground in agony. You didn't even care that you were getting dirt all over yourself or crushing flowers. You barely even noticed when someone walked in.

"Chara, it's almost time for dinner, would you- Chara!" You could tell it was Dad, but you couldn't open you eyes at all or speak. Why did it have to hurt so bad? In seconds, you felt him pick you up, and the feeling on moving very quickly. You felt like you were going to barf.

Between your frequent moans of pain, you heard Dad muttering to himself. Things like "How are they sick again" and "We must call Dr. Gaster again!" were the most frequent. You could hear the panic in his voice, and even though you felt like death, you felt more sorry for him. How could you put your father through this?

Finally, you felt him running up the stairs, and then shout for Mom. Before you knew it, you were back in the bed you had spent the last few weeks in. It looked like you were going to make it a full two weeks. If you even lasted that long. Your head was already starting to feel muggy.

Your mom knelt over you, rubbing your forehead gently. You were probably burning up. Your Dad was on a phone, probably trying to reach Doctor Gaster. You could see the immense worry in their expressions. The wide eyes, the pained smiles. But it was too late. And all for the best.

"You're going to be okay, Chara," Mom said soothingly. It gave you a false sense of security. "It's all going to be alright." No, you weren't. But it was going to be perfectly fine. Another burst of pain shot through your body. You winced, causing concern to flash over your mother's face.

At that moment, you heard Dad shut off the phone with a loud click. "He's not picking up. I'll have to go to his lab myself."

Mom stood up and walked over to him. "Please, hurry back dear." She didn't say it, but you had a feeling she knew what was happening to an extent. She knew that you probably weren't coming back from this illness.

"I know." With that, he opened the door and hurried out, his loud footsteps resounding through the house. And with the door open, Asriel slipped right in. He looked even more concerned than your parents. He ran right up to the bed, with tears in his eyes. God, such a crybaby.

"Chara! Are you okay? Mom and Dad look really upset and you were fine just a while ago and- You managed to force yourself to sit up, cutting him off. You ignored the pain in your abdomen.

"It's f-fine," you forced out. Man, even talking hurt. Especially when you were lying. "Just sick."

Asriel's expression calmed some, but you had a feeling he could tell you were just pretending for his sake. He was too perceptive for his own good sometimes. "Chara, I…."

At that moment, your mother interrupted. "Asriel, I'm going to finish up dinner. We can't have the food cooked wrong, after all. Please, stay with Chara." She walked out, but her movements were stiff and generally just off. She was trying to keep it together in front of you. She just couldn't stand seeing you like this.

Now that she was gone, it was time to get Asriel to play his part, as much as you hated it. "Asriel, I lied. I'm going to die." Saying it out loud sent an uncomfortable jolt through your body. You really were going to die now. It wasn't just some messed up concept in your head. Death was ahead of you.

Asriel didn't take it well at all. The moment you uttered that last word, his mouth opened as if he was going to say something, but only a choked sob came out. The tears flowed freely. "Chara! No! You're not going to die! You can't!"

You looked away. You couldn't stand to see this. "Yes, I-I am I can already tell. But I need you to do something for me." Talking hurt so much, but you had to keep going.

"N-no! I can't because you won't die! I won't accept it!" His cries were turning into shouts, and you just prayed Mom couldn't hear.

"Please, Asriel!" You were starting to get desperate now. If you couldn't get him to go with your plan, then what? You would die for nothing. "I need you to absorb my SOUL."

"What!"

"You need to cross the barrier and find six more SOULs so you can break it completely. Then, everyone can go free and have their happy ending."

Asriel's eyes were wide with fear and surprise. "Wh-what? No, I can't absorb your SOUL! Why would I do something like that!"

"Because you need to! Don't you want everyone to be free? This is the only way. I'm going to die anyway, so at least make my life worth something!"

"I… I don't like this idea, Chara." He began to cry again, the light glinting off of his tears. Why did you have to do it like this?

"Stop crying already…." you muttered. He somehow managed to stop.

"Wh-what? No… I'm not crying. Big kids don't cry." He wiped his face on his sweater sleeve. His eyes were red already.

You managed to force a small smile. "You're not doubting me, are you? Besides, we'll still be together. And as strong as your 'God of Hyperdeath.'"

"No, I'd never doubt you, Chara. Never!" He managed a small smile. "Yeah, we'll be strong! We'll free everyone!"

A thought occurred to you. You were kind of surprised you didn't think of it earlier. Maybe you could see those golden flowers again. "Hey, do you mind taking me up there with you? I wanna go by the golden flowers in my village again. You can't miss 'em."

He nodded, but you could still sense the apprehension. "Of course. I'll go get the flowers." You sighed and lay back down. Despite all of the pain you were feeling, you felt at ease. Everything was falling right into place, even if that did sound like something a crazed villain would say. It was time for a happy ending. And to think, all it took was a single life.

Something occurred to you, and you forced yourself to reach behind your neck and unhook the chain there. You always wore the heart pendant, to the point that it was just a normal part of your wardrobe. It was pretty much the only thing left of your old life. "Hey, Asriel. Hold onto this for me, okay?" You dropped it into his hands.

As you closed your eyes, you noticed the camera on the nightstand. It had been charging there since last night, when Asriel was playing with it. A red light shone on it. It was recording and pointing right at you in bed. You really should remember to turn it off more often.

A lot of time passed, you could tell that much. But you couldn't open your eyes. It was like you were floating, trapped in an empty space. You had fallen asleep, you knew that. But you didn't feel awake or asleep. It was something in between. Your body didn't hurt any more

Dimly, you heard something. It was like listening to someone talk while you were under water. It was just harder to concentrate.

"Chara, can you hear me? We want you to wake up…" Asriel's voice. It was hard to tell, but you thought his voice was cracking as he spoke. Was he crying again?

"Chara! You have to stay determined!" Was that Asgore? His voice sounded even more distant. "You can't give up! You are the future of humans and monsters!" He sounded pained too. Why was that again? You're thoughts were too unclear. It was like your head was filled with cotton.

More and more words echoed around you, until they just faded into meaningless babbling. You couldn't tell the difference between who was speaking anymore. You just wanted to sleep.

"Chara, I don't like this plan anymore…." Plan? What plan? "I… I… no, I said I'd never doubt you. Six, right? We just have to get six." What were they talking about? Six what? You felt so tired. You'd figure it out after you woke up….

Suddenly, you could see something. A dim light shone around you, lighting up the darkness just a bit. You looked down, seeing a glowing red heart set in your chest. Somehow, you could tell it was your SOUL. It shuddered every few seconds, sending uncomfortable tingles through your body every time.

It was about to break. This was it. This was what your plan lead to. The only thing holding your SOUL together was some primal need not to die. But this was what you wanted, right? It was time to let go.

You fell back. Your SOUL detached and floated above you, its glow fading even more.

And then it broke in half.

Yeah, shorter chapter this time. But we're nearing the end of the story now. Only two chapters left. Hope you're looking forward to it as much as I am. *evil laugh*