Thanks go to Skele, Wingah, Zack Frost, Alrarora, Allagenda-domsitzers-chan, Gray Kanzakai, cassianaswindell123, 10burgers, BadDRUMMERboy15, WhoWritesThisCrap, Redskye22, XRabbit14, Infinity Soul, and DescendantYl2.
Disclaimer: I do not own Undertale.
We stood there like for seconds that felt like hours, trapped in the gravity of the situation. Our hands and eyes locked together.
Eventually, we let go of one another, taking a step back, not taking our eyes off of one another.
"Well, Cter, I suppose I'll see you whenever Error rears his ugly head." Smirking, Chara reached out to open one of their portals to escape.
"Wait." I lifted my blood stained hand, making them pause with confusion.
"What, you're just gonna show up and claim to be all I've got and then peace out?" I smirked lightly with amusement at my own words. "What kinda dead beat dad shit is that?"
"And what would you like me to do?" They asked, furrowing their brows.
I shrugged, gesturing to the path ahead. "It's a long walk."
"... You're joking." Chara leaned back, clearly recoiling at the notion that I would want to spend time with them without some form of death and/or destruction involved.
"Chara when have I ever made a joke?" I asked, grinning as they frowned, clearly not amused by such a dumb question.
"C'mon, dork." I gestured for them to follow, beginning to walk ahead. "I know you don't have anything better to do."
"... Well you got me there." Chara muttered, crossing their arms and glancing to the side as I walked by, before stepping after me.
"But why would you want me tagging along?" Chara cocked a brow at me as they caught up with me.
"Meh." I shrugged, continuing to walk along. "If I'm alone I'm just gonna keep getting more pissed off about Sans' stupid shit talkin' ass."
Chara chuckled at that, smirking lightly at me as we walked.
"So you need me around so you won't be irritated?" They questioned further. "I don't mean to question your logic, but-"
"Look, Chara, right now?" I looked over at them, gesturing to them. "You're the only thing that makes sense."
"Monster Kid doesn't remember me, Sans is picking a real bad time to get on my bad side, and some skeleton I've never met wants to tear me limb from limb." I looked ahead, shaking my head and sighing with exasperation.
"I'm... Tired of all these moving parts." I blinked, widening my eyes and looking to the ground. "I just wanna go for a walk with my mortal enemy. That too much to ask for?"
"..." They watched me curiously, before shaking their head, looking forward as well.
"You never cease to surprise me, Cter Hacker."
Chapter 14: Best Friends
"It's either we team up or we die. Your choice."
"So what's your opinion on Waterfall?" I cocked a brow over at Chara, who gave me a surprised look. Probably just from how utterly mundane my question was.
"My opinion on Waterfall?" They felt the need to repeat as we made our way over a bridge of flowers, likely already placed down Frisk.
"Did I stutter?" I asked sarcastically, and they glared.
"Well... It's not the worst place in the Underground." Chara crossed their arms, frowning as they looked over the blue scenery. "That would go to either Snowdin or Hotland."
"Snowdin or Hotland, huh?" I snerked, lips curving up some as I placed my hands in my pockets, tilting my head to look over at them. "And what makes those places so bad?"
"Snowdin's frickin' freezing and and Hotland is literally a boiling lava pit!" Chara threw their arms up into the air. "The CORE would be great if it wasn't filled with Mettaton propaganda, and Waterfall is just a horrible, sticky, humid, wet mess!"
"The only good places in the Underground are the Ruins and New Home." Chara crossed their arms, regaining their composure and looking over to me with a frown. "And that's a fact."
"I'm not disagreeing with you." My lips curved upwards with some amusement as I watched them lament their frustrations at the Underground's layout.
"And what about you?" Chara cocked a brow at me. "What's your big opinion on Waterfall?"
"... Eh." I looked up to the ceiling as we stepped onto that wooden platform, which then began to carry us across the water to the bridge across the way. "S'alright, I guess."
"Riveting." Chara said sarcastically, rising their eyebrows to emphasis their fake intrigue.
"Only part I don't like is the rainy part'a the cavern." I shook my head, furrowing my brows.
"Really?" Chara seemed surprised. "You always seemed like the type of person who would like the rain."
"Why? Because I'm depressed?" I smirked over at them, and they shrugged, closing their eyes.
"You said it, not me." Chara returned my smirk as they peeked open that right eye to look over at me.
"Yeah, well." I stuffed my hands in my pockets, looking ahead. "Everybody loves the pouring rain 'till they get beaten within an inch of their life and left to die in it."
I didn't put thought in to those words, and to this day I'm not sure why. But when I looked over at Chara, wearing the same old casual expression, I was jarred by the bewilderment that had overtaken their face.
". . ?" They slowly tilted their head to the side, the corner of their mouth beginning to curve upwards slightly while they arched a brow.
"I'll tell ya about it some other time." I waved a hand dismissively, looking ahead as our little raft landed on the next chunk of land, the two of us stepping forward off of it.
"You know, there might not be some other time, Cter." Chara said, and I glanced over at them. "Depending on what ending you decide to give me, you and I could be saying goodbye soon."
There was malice in their tone, like they were trying to scare me. But, as it often was, I felt nothing. The future didn't ever seem to scare me, not when I had the past to be afraid of.
When the future came, I always made it work. Reckonings came and went. Debts were paid.
"Maybe I'm God, maybe I'm the Devil. I watch over you either way, my sweet little Angel."
BANG. BANG.
"G-guh..!"
"Well, you die like you're human. Crazy how that works, ain't it, asshole?"
*Good times.
"... Does that make you sad, Chara?" The wood of the bridge creaked under out feet, and I looked up into the darkness of the cavern above.
"What?" Chara asked, like they really couldn't believe I would ask such a question.
"If I let you kill me." I explained further, expression not expressing much while I kept interested eyes on the shimmering blackness above. "If you destroy me, and we never speak again, would you miss me?"
"..." Chara considered my words. They furrowed their brows and puffed out one cheek, looking to the ground, as if the damp wood would give them the answer they were looking for.
"... I don't know." They answered honestly, and I looked back over to them with eyebrows raised. In all honesty, I had not expected that.
"I guess I hadn't thought about it, a world without you." Chara raised their eyes to the ceiling, reaching up and taking hold of their chin in thought. "I've been very focused on getting to it, and haven't considered much what I'd do when I'm there."
"..." I don't know why hearing that made me smile, but it did nonetheless. And when Chara saw that smile, boy did they frown, squinting their ruby eyes at me.
"... And what are you smiling at?" Chara asked, clearly aggravated by the fact that it seemed they'd accidentally made me happy.
"It's nothing, really." I answered, smile almost seeming to be glued to my face as I looked down the path ahead.
"It's just that this time you surprised me, Chara Dreemurr."
Error's glitching eyes glossed over the many overturned tables and broken windows with twitching legs protruding from them, along with the groaning, freezer burnt bodies that were scattered across the floor, each one weakly writhing in pain.
There were some piles of dust, but Error had contributed most of those, as one would be able to tell from the dusty bones that jutted from the walls and the floor in some spots.
These deaths were, of course, of no consequence to Error. They were all just glitches, anyway. Anomalies that should not exist. They were different, and because of that they were wrong.
"Where. Is. Gaster?"
Error looked up, grinning in mild amusement at where Predator stood on the stage, holding her hand over the face of some grizzly bear looking monster, who's body was half encased in a block of ice, only his chest and head free.
But as Predator leaned in to get in the monster's face, he roared, snapping his jaws at her and making her lean her head back out of the way, laying a swift slap across it's face, throwing it's head to the side a sending the sound of the smack echoing throughout the club.
"Where's Gaster?!" She snapped, grabbing the bear by the collar, blood now running from his broken lip.
"Gaster will kill me if I tell you..!" The bear confessed, jaw clenching with pain and frustration, but mostly to stop the chattering of his teeth. "That's politics around here!"
"Well I'm gonna kill you if you don't tell me!" Predator snarled, frosted breath seeping from between her barred fangs.
"Predator."
Predator paused her interrogation, looking over her shoulder to Error with a calm smile.
"Yeeees?" She asked patiently.
"I helped you Lone Digger this joint." Error carelessly waved his hand out to the carnage in which the two were the only ones still on their feet. "Now hold up your side'a the bargain or we're gonna have a real problem on our hands."
"Right, riiiiight." Predator nodded once, before turning back to the bear and patting him on the chest. "You stay right here sweetie I'll be back for you."
"You know," Predator turned back to Error, hopping from the stage and landing right on some beaten bystander's gut, making them groan before she stepped off of him, grabbing a chair from a table and pulling it free, spinning it around so that the back was facing Error and sitting in it, resting her arms across the back and leaning her chin onto her forearms. "I didn't think you'd know about a song like Lone Digger."
"Yeah well I jump between that and Spooky Scary Skeletons on my morning jogs." Error's pupils darted to the side as his grin widened at his joke.
"Now," Error lifted one hand, and Predator's eyes narrowed some as she watched blue strings fire from his finger tips and launch across the room, grabbing a chair and tearing it into the air and bringing it down to the ground before him, where he sat casually, tilting his skull to the side.
"Whaddaya know about Pencil Pusher?"
"Huh. Sans is usually here." Chara stated plainly as we came up on his telescope, set next to the room where the Nice Cream Man was likely to be sadly manning his ice cream cart.
"That would have been a little awkward." Chara smirked lightly, glancing over at me with their little joke.
"Lil' bitch is probably ducking me 'cause he knows I'll slap the shit out of him." I fumed quietly, sinking into my jacket and frowning. My displeasure certainly made Chara chuckle, though.
"It's not as easy as it looks." Chara admitted, before cocking a brow as I didn't seem to notice their words, instead pausing and glancing into the Nice Cream room.
"Hmm..." I stroked my imaginary beard in thought, before shrugging and glancing back over my shoulder at Chara. "I'm gonna get some nice cream. You want anything?"
Chara looked at me like I'd just offered them human flesh for dinner, completely taken aback. "... What?"
"Do you. Want. A sweet. Frozen. Treat?" I widened my eyes, repeating my words comically slowly. "C'mon Chara, you can't be shocked every single time I ask you a question."
"Well who just offers their mortal enemy ice cream?!" Chara exclaimed, face growing red in embarrassment.
"The same guy who invites them on a pleasant walk now do you want one or not?" I turned around to face Chara, impatiently awaiting an answer.
"Well... It has been awhile since I've had ice cream..." Chara pondered aloud, glancing to the ground.
"Great!" I exclaimed, making them look up as I turned and walked into the room.
"Hey, wait-!" Chara reached out, before groaning and letting their arm drop back to their side, frowning deeply. "Ah, forget it."
After a few moments, I reemerged from the room with a Nice Cream in each hand, walking over to Chara and casually outstretching one.
"..." Chara stared thoughtfully at the wrapped treat, before squinting back at at me. "... You didn't poison it, did you?"
"Yeah, I actually injected it with the syringe full of cobra venom I keep in my back pocket." I gave them an exasperated look to accompany my sarcastic remark. "It takes the ice cream or else it gets the hose again."
"Silence Of The Lambs?" Chara cocked a brow while they took the ice cream.
"Joe Dirt." I answered with a shrug.
"Ah." They nodded, tearing the wrapper from their Nice Cream. "Should have known."
"'You look nice today'..." I read aloud, smiling a little after looking at my wrapper. "Aww."
"'Is this as sweet as you?'..." Chara read their own aloud, before arching a brow and speaking thoughtfully. "Well, I am sweet..."
I laughed at that, but they didn't seem offended. Perhaps they'd wanted me to laugh. I never asked if they had been telling a joke or if they were delusional. I like the thought that they'd been joking, however. Because that would mean they had been trying to amuse me, which was very unlike them.
We continued on our way while we ate our nice creams, walking through the room with that beautiful glowing blue water.
"... I don't understand you, Cter." Chara confessed after an admittedly long pause.
"Hm?" I looked over to them, tilting my head to the side with some confusion.
"In the time loop, you were happy fighting savagely with me forever." Chara began, furrowing their brows and keeping their eyes on the ground. "And then I give you the offer to do just that on a much larger scale, and you kill me."
"And then when I'm gone, you miss me!" They threw their hands up with confusion, still not looking at me. "And then when I come back, you punch me in the face and tell me to go away forever."
"But then you realize you still need me, so you offer up everything to get me to stay." Chara closed their eyes, shaking their head and running a hand through their hair.
"And then you invite me on this..! This stupid..!" Chara waved their arms all around, gesturing to the world around us. "Ice cream walk! And talk to me like we don't have this screwy, twisted up relationship! And you're surprised when I look at you like you're being weird when you're being nice to me even though that is weird!"
"You say I'm the one and only thing that makes sense to you," Chara suddenly turned to look at me, and I was already recoiling from the words that were unstoppably tumbling from their mouth. "But you're the one and only thing that makes absolutely no sense to me!"
"Why can't you just make up your mind?" Chara demanded to know. "Friend or foe! Me or them! It's not hard!"
"It's like one second you're perfectly content here and the next you're done with this place and want out!" I watched them with wide eyes, utterly stunned by their sudden show of emotions.
"Even now when you literally have to pick between dying and joining me, you won't give me a straight answer!" They pointed at me angrily. "Because you don't have one, do you?"
"It should be pretty obvious considering one of your two options is being dead, but you still can't make the choice, can you?" Chara narrowed their eyes in a glare, stepping closer. "How can you be that indecisive?"
"..." I blinked a couple times, eyes wide. I hesitated before I spoke. "... I don't know."
"I wanted to be a good person because I thought it would make me happy." I glanced to the side. "But I've been trying to be nice and friendly like a good person would be, and it hasn't made me feel any better."
"It should be an easy choice, right?" I arched a brow at them. "Picking between hurting people and being kind to them. It's supposed to feel nice to be nice."
"..." My shoulders sunk, and my eyes drifted to the mushy earth that squished underneath my feet. "... So why doesn't it?"
"I guess it's probably because it's not working like it should." I shrugged, stuffing my hands into my pockets.
"Frisk is terrified of me half the time, Sans apparently thinks I'm a douchebag and has since day one which is real confidence booster." I rolled my eyes sarcastically. "I've hardly had any interactions with Papyrus outside of the base game BS, and Monster Kid doesn't even remember me."
"And I guess it's all reasonable." I frowned lightly, staring at the ground. "It's just... It seems like anyone who has any idea who I actually am doesn't give a damn that I'm trying. Like they think it's... Inevitable, me being a jackass."
My eyes narrowed painfully then. I looked tired, and I felt tired.
"... They're probably right."
"..." Chara tilted their head to the side, cocking a brow with genuine confusion. "... Cter, that's really dumb."
"Thanks." I shot them a glance from the corner of my eye.
"Well what do you want me to say?" Chara shrugged. "None of that crap matters. At all. There aren't good people and bad people, Cter."
"I just don't understand how you can let yourself be so concerned what people think of you. Have you really let yourself slip that much in the few days out of our battle?" Chara questioned with furrowed brow. "Good, bad, nice, mean. All of that only has as much value as you give it."
"The only thing that matters in this life is strength." Chara grinned, stepping close as that crazed look once more entered their eyes. "What the weak think of you doesn't matter when you're strong. Reality is yours to shape, Cter. Everything can be yours as soon as you are willing to reach out and take it!"
"Then why do I feel like shit?" I blinked my tired eyes, tilting my head to the side.
"Because they make it so." Chara gestured out around us, presumably meaning the little people in our story. "You let yourself play in their world, when you don't belong with them. They are sheep, and you are a wolf, Cter Hacker."
"And of course a sheep would feel bad if the other sheep looked at it like a wolf..." Chara circled me, and I didn't have the energy to follow them with my eyes, their words ringing true in my mind. "But a wolf?"
Blackness oozed from their right eye as they stepped up behind me. A grin twisted their expression, and they reached out with one hand, placing it at the center of my back, and the center of the Deltarune engraved in my flesh just under my clothes.
"A wolf draws strength from the terror in their eyes." Darkness overtook the whites of Chara's eyes while they smiled wickedly. "A wolf's joy is in their screams, and no where else. Not in the sheep's games, not in the sheep's lies."
"It's a wolf's world, Cter Hacker. And you are most certainly a wolf. That's why you'll never be happy with the sheep. You can't live with them because you. Are not. Like them."
*I like this one. They understand. Understand like you used to.
"I think it's time you stop pretending, Cter." They circled back around me, wiping a black tear from their eye while they stood before me, a small smirk clear on their face. "You won't be happy as a sheep, and you know it."
"... So what?" I looked to Chara from the corner of my eye. "I have to eat them?"
"If you so desire." Chara shrugged, smile curving their lips upwards. "Their lives are in your hands."
It probably shouldn't have comforted me, Chara's words. Something so arrogant and grim should have been hard on the ears, but for some reason I was put at ease.
I stood there, looking on to the bright ceiling of glowing crystals above while I pondered the advice I'd been given. And then, eventually, I began walking forward again.
"... Come on, lets keep moving."
"Do you have any idea what you've done?!" Gaster snapped, eyes alight in blue and orange as he glowered down at Sans, who casually leaned forward in his post, resting his elbow on the counter and his chin in his open palm, grinning right up at Gaster.
"Whaddaya want me to say, G?" Sans' grin widened, eyes darting to the side. "Honesty is the best policy. That's a rule they don't teach up on the surface, apparently."
"Cter isn't from the surface, Sans!" Gaster threw one arm out to the side, gesturing to the world around them. "He's not from another timeline, he's not from anywhere in the multiverse!"
"..?" Sans narrowed his sockets up at Gaster. "... Gaster, if ya don't mind me bein' so bold, what is Cter?"
"He looks human, he certainly acts human, but..." Sans' pupils disappeared from his eyes. "Judgin' by the terror in your eyes right now, he ain't human, is he?"
Gaster recoiled some, sweat forming on his brow as Sans glared up at him.
"What did you do, Gaster?" Sans' jaw clenched. "Where were ya meddlin'? Do you even know where Cter is from or who he is?"
"..." Gaster's eyes narrowed, darting to the side. "No."
Sans' digits dug into the sturdy wood of his post, cracks splitting the counter.
"Cter is human, I know that much." Frowning, Gaster looked back to Sans. "But he's not like the humans we know."
"How isn't he, again?" Sans tilted his skull to the side. "'Cause he sure acts a lot like all the humans I know."
"He's stronger." Gaster narrowed his eyes. "Much stronger. He just doesn't know it yet."
"Perfect." Sans' grin widened, his dot eyes darting to the side. "All the same genocidal tendencies with twice the power."
"Genocidal tendencies?" Gaster narrowed his eyes incredulously. "Cter has done nothing but try to save us monsters since he arrived here!"
"He only ever helped us to advance his own means." Sans looked back up to Gaster, grinning happily and winking an eye shut. "Kid's an ass."
"Oh, you think that?" Gaster tilted his head to the side. "I guess you haven't heard."
"Heard what?" Sans' grin shrunk some, and he squinted curiously.
"Cter made a deal with Chara." Gaster's jaw clenched.
"What?!" Sans shot up, slamming his palm down on the table of his post.
"Chara helps save us from Error, and in return, Cter has offered up his own life." Gaster's eyes narrowed. "He is giving his future to the devil in order to save us, even after you spat in his face."
"... Oh." A bead of sweat dripped down the back of Sans' skull as his eyes darted awkwardly to the side.
"Maybe if you had looked past your own racist trust issues and arrogance, you wouldn't have misjudged our savior." Gaster held his hands behind his back, glaring down at Sans. "Cter Hacker is in every way The Angel the legends have foretold, and he is willing to sacrifice everything to stop devastation from rocking our world."
"... Whoops..." Sans awkwardly reached up and scratched the back of his head, carefully considering the words that had scolded him so.
"Oh it gets more whoops." Gaster slammed his hand down on Sans' counter, continuing to grill him. "Cter's importance lies far beyond that of our reality. If he is allowed to die now, the consequences could be devastating for trillions of innocent people."
"..." Sans' pupils disappeared form his eyes, and he anxiously leaned forward. "How?"
"There is another."
Sans' and Gaster's eyes both darted up to CORE Frisk, who sat atop Sans' post, looking up to the sky above, which dropped gentle snow down on the three.
"Who in the..?" Sans stared up at CORE Frisk, who didn't bother answering.
"Core Frisk." Gaster explained, looking back to Sans. "They have a very large presence in the multiverse."
"An omnipresence in the multiverse, if you will." C Frisk smiled and winked down at Gaster.
"And what do you mean 'There is another'?" Sans cocked a skelebrow. "Kind of an ominous thing to leave open ended."
"There is another human from another realm, like Cter." C Frisk looked down to Sans. "He's powerful, he's malevolent, and among his wants are Death, Devastation, Chaos, and Cter."
"... Does Cter know about this?" Sans' pupils were once more gone from his eyes.
"As it stands, Cter has enough on his plate, and holding that plate already has him off balance." C Frisk blinked emotionlessly. "Currently, the details are unimportant."
"That's debatable." Sans' reappearing pupils darted to the side, his grin widening.
"But make no mistake, Cter is the only one who can hold a candle to Chaos Incarnate." C Frisk's void eyes narrowed. "And if Chara is allowed to kill him or turn him to their wicked side, The Anarchist will be unopposed and free to be a hurricane of mayhem across the multiverse."
"... So that's how powerful these kids are, huh?" Sans narrowed his eyes up at Gaster. "All from one irresponsible decision."
"We cannot change the past, Sans." Gaster spoke calmly, hands once again behind his back. "We can only prepare for the future."
"..." Sans' sockets narrowed down at the snow covered earth, before he nodded once.
"I'll talk to Cter."
I watched quietly as Chara stared down at the statue. It seemed Frisk had already put an umbrella in its grasp, shielding it from the rain and starting the music box hidden inside.
Chara's hair shadowed their eyes. They did not move and they did not speak for several minutes.
"... Do you wanna talk about it?" I'm not sure why I asked them that question.
"... No." They finally spoke, sighing before turning away from the statue, walking right by me and on to the pouring rain ahead.
I shrugged, not objecting as I walked after them, watching them pluck an umbrella from the bucket. I reached out to take an umbrella, but after a moment of thought, I retracted my hand, deciding to continue on without one.
"Interesting decision from someone who hates the rain." Chara commented, and I shrugged as I began to feel drops land on my head.
"It's something that I think about a lot." I confessed, looking up to the sky as more and more rain began to fall, splashing to the puddles around us and pitter pattering off of Chara's umbrella.
"What?" They asked simply, and I blinked emotionlessly up at the rain.
"I was too weak." I continued, Chara cocking a brow with confusion. "He was stronger than me. Stronger than everyone."
"He laughed when my bones snapped under his foot. I guess anything is funny when you look at it the right way." My hair was quickly matted to my head, streams of water beginning to make their way down my face. "Told me I wasn't strong enough, and that's why he won."
"I wasn't strong enough, and that's why he was able to kill her."
"Kill who?" Chara's eyes narrowed, and they tilted their head to the side.
I paused for a moment, before smiling lightly over at them.
"Did you ever let someone down, Chara?" I tilted my head to the side. "When they needed you the most, did you ever fail someone you cared about?"
"..." Chara went silent, and their expression hardened. "... No."
"Hm." I looked ahead, lips curved up in a small smile. "I don't think I've ever felt happy since that day. I don't think I've felt much of anything at all."
"... I still don't know what you're talking about, Cter." Chara spoke, and my eyebrows raised in some surprise as I glanced over at them.
"... Oh, right." I smiled again, politely. "Sorry."
"... You keep acting stranger and stranger." Chara narrowed their eyes.
"I guess I just feel strange." I shrugged lightly, clothes sticking to me from the water that rolled over me. "Saying goodbye is always hard, isn't it?"
...
Rain stopped rolling over me, and I looked with some surprise to find that Chara had stepped closer and lifted their umbrella higher, shielding the both of us from the downpour.
They stared ahead while I looked at them curiously. Their expression was hard to read. A lot of things were hard to understand these days, it seemed.
"... Yes." They agreed, not blinking in the pouring rain.
"Yes it is."
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