Chapter 21
Frisk sat on the the sentry counter swung their feet idly eating the last of their sandwich with relish. The ache in their stomach had eased now that they had more energy in them.
Undyne leaned against the counter next to them, "Good, huh?"
"Uhuh." Frisk nodded.
Undyne grinned, "The store lady does good work. Waterfall ain't got nothing like it! Gerson tries but he's no cook. There's only so much sea tea and crapapples a monster can stand!"
"Crapapples?" Frisk giggled.
Her grin widened. "You feeling better now? You look better."
Frisk nodded.
"Good!" She smacked them on the back.
Lesser Dog was trying to make a snow dog sculpture and Papyrus had joined them, the resulting sculpture had a very muscular body with a dog head on top. Greater Dog was sitting in the snow beside them, patting together a snow poff.
Undyne's grin faded as she watched them. She asked quietly, "...How many humans are there? On the surface?"
"...Billions." Frisk said, equally as quiet.
Undyne blanched.
Frisk tugged on their gloves anxiously.
"...Are they as strong as you?" she asked.
"I'm... a little kid, an adult...would be really strong."
Undyne's jaw clenched and unclenched rhythmically.
"Monsters fight with magic. Humans fight with force, with violence. They're very different." Chara added. "...and humans have a lot of weapons that can hurt you from a long way away."
They watched the guards playing in the snow in silence.
"...You should teach them to fight together. If a dangerous human falls, they'd have a better chance if they all fought together."
She crossed her arms across her chest. "It would take a lot of training..."
"At least you have Sans and Pap at the ruins gate." Frisk said.
"What?" Undyne raised an eyebrow.
" 'Cause they're really good at figuring people out."
She furrowed her brow.
"...I think I can see what Frisk means." Chara said, "They're good at figuring out a persons nature. Between the two of them they could probably figure out if a fallen human was a killer or not. Sans could teleport to gather the rest of the guard while Papyrus set his traps to slow them down and evacuate as many monsters as he could."
"...Maybe." Undyne said, "It a good idea. I need to do a lot of thinking. There was a lot I never... I need to speak with Asgore." She looked down at her hands and spread her fingers, "I understand what he meant now..."
"...what he meant?" Frisk asked.
"Wanna have a rematch?" She grinned hugely, manifesting a spear in her hand and stepping away from the sentry station.
Frisk slowly slid off the sentry station, biting back their frustration. "Okay."
Undyne didn't start off slow with her attacks this time or with any set patterns. Frisk managed to stop time one more, without collapsing afterwards but they also got hit a couple times. Their soul ached.
They fumbled to put their stick back in its sheath.
"Hey, punk. I want you to do me a favor." Undyne interrupted them.
"What?" Frisk asked softly, something about her tone made them anxious.
Undyne's gaze flicked from the guards to Frisk to the end of the black staff peaking over their shoulder, "I want you to hit me." She looked back across the field, "I want them to know what being attacked by a human means."
Frisk frowned.
The Guard shifted and glanced at one another nervously.
"I know you're a softy and it's not really in your nature but it's important." Her exspression was solemn. For the first time since they had become friends, she looked very much like the Guard's Captain.
Chara said. "...Frisk won't, but I will."
"...I don't like this." Frisk said softly.
"i won't do anything that makes you unhappy." Chara said, "if you tell me to, i'll stop."
Their voice was faint as a sigh, "...do it..."
Chara pulled their stick out, the tip dropping into the snow, "i can make it so you don't have to experience any of it if that's what you want."
"...No..." Frisk said softly.
"Good." Undyne dropped her spear and turned to face them.
Chara bit their lip and twisted their stick in their hands. "Please save, just in case." They murmured under their breath. Determination rose like a painful lump in their throat and captured the moment like a butterfly on a board. Chara nodded, they told Undyne, "Please keep your defenses up, just, i don't want anything bad to happen."
"Don't look away." Undyne ordered the Guard, her voice sharp, "This, is how a human fights." She nodded to them.
Chara took a deep breath and raise the stick. They hesitated, clenched their jaw, and for a moment they let a memory of another time arise in their mind; another face, shouting, a fist raised over them in anger and they remembered, the fear and sorrow and hatred.
The stick cracked into Undyne, hitting across her shoulder and chest. She stumbled back with a grunt of pain.
The stick fell from Chara's shaking hands.
Their eye twitched, they pressed their palm into it. That repulsive, painful feeling welled up in them, trying to flood them, to fill every inch of them. They had to let it out, the only way they knew how. The laugh was strange in their ears, it felt like it didn't belong to them, it sounded like the laugh of a mad-man. It hurt them though they didn't know why, it was such a horrible laugh. Horrible. Horrible.
Arms enveloped them and pulled them close and Chara buried their face in Papyrus' scarf, gripping the thick red fabric so tight their knuckles turned white. He patted their back until they stopped shaking. He didn't speak until they loosened their grip.
"ARE YOU OK?"
Chara nodded very slightly.
"GOOD." Papyrus smiled and squeezed them tight.
Undyne walked over rubbing her shoulder, "You're pretty strong, punk. BUT NOT STRONG ENOUGH!" She flexed and patted her bicep with a toothy grin. "I'm Fine! Now go play in the snow or something while I run these losers through a couple drills."
Chara nodded again.
Papyrus carefully took off his scarf and wrapped it around their neck, "HOLD ONTO THIS FOR ME."
"...ok."
They watched the guards for a while as Undyne tried to get them to fight together in a team. It was a bit like herding cats.
...I wish I could give you a hug too..., Frisk said.
"It's ok." Chara rubbed Papyrus' scarf between their fingers. "Actually, it's been... really, really wonderful... At first-" Their voice cracked, they cleared it roughly, "At first, I was so confused. Our plan had failed, hadn't it? Why was I brought back? But with your guidance I realized the purpose of my reincarnation." They smiled to themselves, "...Atonement. This is my chance to make up for all the bad things I did... But I never thought I'd be able to be happy too. I never thought I'd be able to make friends like you, be comforted by Papyrus, train with Undyne... pun with Sans..." Chara reached up and touched their eye in surprise, tears wet their fingertips and they smiled in bemusement. They weren't sure if the tears were theirs or Frisks' because they both felt the same warm ache in their heart. "It's been so wonderful."
The Guard practiced for another two hours. Near the end they were almost getting the hang of attacking together. Undyne looked only mildly annoyed when she dismissed them.
Frisk ran over to Papyrus and Undyne. "Here's your scarf." Frisk pulled the scarf up and held it up to Papyrus. He knelt down lowered his head and they clumsily wrapped it around his neck.
"THANK YOU FOR TAKING CARE OF IT FOR ME!"
"Thank you." Chara said.
Undyne had picked up their stick and slid it into the sheath on their back.
Frisk reached out and took Papyrus' and Undyne's hand. They walked back to the house together and every now and then they would swing Frisk up and out, filling the air with giggles.
"I THINK THE TRAINING WENT REALLY WELL!" Papyrus said as he opened the door for Undyne and Frisk.
"You mean it went AWESOME!" Undyne pumped her fist, throwing her jacket on the couch.
"Everybody was really cool!" Frisk agreed.
"SPEAKING OF COOL, YOU WERE SUPER COOL!" Papyrus gave them two thumbs up.
"My magic wasn't very good..." Frisk said softly.
"NOBODY PICKS IT UP RIGHT AWAY." Papyrus reassure them, helping them take off their jacket and gloves.
Undyne said, "Fuhuhu! It took me ages to learn how to use enough magic to make a proper spear."
"THE FIRST BONE I MADE, I PUT SO MUCH MAGIC IN IT I PASSED OUT! I STILL HAVE IT SOMEWHERE, I THINK..." He tapped his chin thoughtfully, "IT WEIGHED A TON SO EVEN THAT ANNOYING DOG COULDN'T STEAL IT!"
Undyne ruffled Frisk's hair, "Keep practicing and you'll get the hang of magic in no time."
"magic...?" Sans stood by the open door, snow still clinging to his slippers.
"SANS YOU'RE HOME!" Papyrus said excitedly, nudging Sans forward to close the door, "TRAINING TODAY WAS-"
"the kid knows magic?" Sans cut Papyrus off.
"They're learning." Undyne said, a wary edge in her voice.
"what can they do?" Sans gaze shifted down to Frisk.
"THEY MOVE FROM ONE SPOT TO ANOTHER LIKE THAT," Papyrus tried ineffectually to snap his fingers, "LIKE YOU DO!"
"huh." Sans never took his eyes off them. "seems like a lot of trouble, for them to learn that. they're just a kid, they don't need to learn magic."
Undyne bristled at this, "YOU'VE GOT TO BE KIDDING ME! They need to be able to protect themselves!"
"they've got us now, we can protect em just fine." Sans said.
Undyne lip curled up in a snarl and she put her hands on her hips, "This is what you did with Papyrus isn't it?! YOU CAN'T BE THERE ALL THE TIME! Even if you could, they're gonna grow up eventually and THEN WHAT?! HUH, PUNK?!" She jabbed her finger at him.
Frisk shuddered as a massive wave of magic passed over them, freezing the world in silence. Everything was still. Except the two of them.
Sans sighed and stuffed his hands in his pockets, "look," he said quietly, "you're happy now aren't you? you are happy right?"
Frisk stared at him anxiously.
"you don't need to do anything more, just be happy." he said.
"...but I wanna learn more about magic." they said softly.
Sans walked over to them, "nothin wrong with curiosity, or learning but you're playing with fire, kid."
"But," Frisk said, "I won't reset the timeline."
He raise a brow.
"I won't!" Frisk insisted
"you've already done it once."
Frisk flinched, "...that was an accident."
"yeah," Sans said, "so how many more accidents will there be?"
"If Frisk can learn to control their power then there won't be any." Chara said flatly.
Sans shook his head with a sigh, "i like you kid, i really do. But I don't trust you."
"...don't trust me?" their voice wavered.
He closed one eye and smiled his easy-going smile, "the last anomaly was good in the beginning too. long periods between resets and nice deja-vus but that all changed." He shrugged, "so, yeah i like you kid, you're great, but are you going to stay that way? or are you going to get tired of this," He waved vaguely, "and just," He flicked his hand, "throw it all away. why not? it doesn't hurt you, you'll be fine, you'll always be fine."
Tears dripped from their lashes and tracked down their cheeks, "... sorry." they mumbled.
"hmph," Sans said derisively, "what'd you say about if i ever hurt them chara? 'you'd beat the shit out of me?' was that it? huh, brat? well, go ahead, i won't stop you.
"they're crying for you." Chara said.
Sans pasted on grin slowly slipped and sank into a frown. He rubbed the spot between his eyes. He looked so very, very tired.
Chara wiped the tears from their cheeks with the heel of their palm. They didn't bother trying to stop the tears, they didn't want to, "...so it comes down to trust." they said. "I know that it's mostly my fault you can't trust them. It's because I awoke when they fell, and when they fell, the control over the timelines moved to Frisk. You think I was the source of the anomaly before, is that right?"
He closed his eyes. "that's one hypothesis."
"I can't prove to you that it wasn't me but... I'll plead my case anyway, for all our sakes." They took a deep breath, "My last memory of Azzy, Asriel, was him collapsing in the throne room with my body in his arms. The next clear memory I have is of Frisk, and... it was confusing and frighting, I had no control, no voice, no body. Frisk could hear me, but mostly on a subconscious level."
They wiped the last tears from their eyes, "Six humans fell before but it was only Frisk's soul that gave me this second chance. It's because my soul was like theirs, red, driven by determination.
"I can't use Frisk's magic. The only reason I can use their voice, their body, is because they allow me to. They could just as easily take that away." They held their hands out placatingly.
"i can't take your word for it." Sans said flatly.
"...Are we just... a variable in your equations now?" Chara asked. "Are we just new pieces of the puzzle?"
"honestly, yeah, you are." He fastened on a new grin, his tone light and joking once more, "i mean, no matter how it turns out, this has given me a lot of time to compile more data, start running a few scenarios that might even have enough time to complete. i've gotten a lot of work done so i'd appriciate it if you could tell me if you're gonna reset so I can store my data." he gestured flippantly, "it's been nice and you make my brother happy, so thanks for that."
Frisk voice choked, their throat felt so tight it hurt, "... can't we be friends?"
"i think you would be better off not botherin." he shrugged, "you'll make plenty of other people happy kid, just focus on that."
Frisk's hands shook, "I'll be good." They clenched the bottom of their shirt, "I promise I'll be good. I promise. Please..."
He shook his head. "feel free to prove me wrong. i'd like to be wrong."
He let out a deep breath and his magic dissipated. Time began to move once more.
Undyne looked around in confusion.
"i'm gonna head to grillby's if you need me." Sans said. He walked out the door, closing it quietly behind him with a click.
Frisk slowly sank down, wrapping their arms tight around their legs and burying their face in their knees.
"What the hell just happened?!" Undyne said.
Papyrus rushed over to Frisk's side and knelt on the floor beside them, "ARE YOU HURT?"
"...no..." Frisk said, they couldn't stop shaking.
Undyne knelt on the other side of them and smoothed their hair with an unexpectedly gentle touch.
Frisk leaned into her hand.
"Sans said something to them." Undyne said coldly.
Papyrus nodded reluctantly.
She glared at the door. "little turd."
"WHAT SHOULD WE-?"
"I'm gonna take them to Alphys." She stood and gently pulled Frisk to their feet. "We'll watch anime, eat snack food and chat. In the morning everything will be better."
"I'LL-"
"YOU'LL stay here, and talk to your stupid brother." she snapped, "Now go get anything they might need."
"Y-YES!" Papyrus ran upstairs and returned moments later with Frisk backpack, stuffed full of quite possibly everything they owned and probably somethings they didn't. Frisk gave him a hug and forced smile, they told him not to worry but he still looked worried.
Undyne took the bag, slinging it over her shoulder, and picked Frisk up. Frisk wrapped their arms around her neck and let their forehead rest on her shoulder.
"We'll be back in the morning." Undyne said, "There'll be more training so don't even think about slacking off!"
"YES!" Papyrus opened the door for them and walked with them to the crossroads. Undyne walked to the ferry. Papyrus waved until they were out of sight, then headed to Grillby's.
a/n: next chapter update wednesday.
So that was... yeah... a bit of an emotional rollercoaster this chapter. It was harder to write than I thought. The more I dig into Sans character, and what is known about him in the game and the various theories that arise from that information, more difficult it is to write him. He's easily the most complex character in the game and yet his motivations are a mystery, smoke and mirrors, hints and layers of potential. There is so much that he could be and very little that he is. ...I probably shouldn't be writing this at 4am... Oh well.