*Chara*

I walked quickly through the wide corridors, the sooner I can get to my room the sooner I can be done with this ridiculous dress I was forced to wear for 'Royal appearances' god I hated it, well at least I think I hated it. Emotions were hard to pinpoint these days. Many servants and staff bolted from my sight out of fear, I may have once found this amusing, now I felt nothing. It was getting old. Feeling nothing, everything was just numb. Should I be worried, perhaps, but alas, I hardly ever feel anything unless I connect to Frisk. I somewhat feel a smile stretch across my face, I had been told my smile always came across as sinister. Not that I care. Frisk, it was fun to torment her, plus dipping into her mind always made my day more entertaining. She hardly ever knew I was there which was even better. Although she was always with that betraying, abandoning bag of bones, she actually likes him! Earlier was fun, if only she had let me take control I could have had even more fun. It had been too long since I felt the life of someone bleed out, no I was stuck here at the damn capitol, told to behave, ack, I'm bored!

I slam the door shut once inside and practically rip the dress off before throwing myself onto the bed, sleep was probably a must have but that meant dreaming and I really wasn't in the mood for those, I could go another day without sleep but... my thoughts are suddenly halted by a quiet voice stuttering across my mind,

'Chara?' I grin, well well well, this is a first, Frisk reaching out to me, I should respond.

'Yeah sissy?' I had always called her that, ever since we were little,

'Have you ever died?' her question catches me slightly off guard, why would she be asking me this, unless,

'Did something happen?' Uhh I actually sound concerned, I shouldn't, I feel nothing after all.

'You could say that,' her response comes back. I sit up on my bed and frown,

'You gonna tell me or do I have to route around in that mind of yours?' I hear her mentally sigh at me,

'I think I died tonight,'

'You think..'

'Look I don't understand it okay, I'm trying to but it just makes no sense!' she sounds annoyed, I chuckle,

'Chill sissy, don't get your panties in a twist, just snuggle up with your boyfriend there and calm yourself,'

'He is not my boyfriend,' she practically hisses at me, I don't say a thing, I mean come on! She can't keep denying she likes the idiot, I don't understand how or why she does but even I can sense her feelings towards the guy, 'can you just tell me if you have or not?' I'm silent for a little while longer, mainly because I'm trying to figure out why she would come to me about this, 'fine never mind!' I feel her start to pull away,

'Yes,' I respond, I don't want her to leave just yet. The connection feels nice, I don't like to feel emotions but I like it when she's close, it's confusing and I won't stay connected very long because then I will really start feeling and after switching places with her, I didn't want to feel that much again, the guilt...

'But you're alive,' her voice flutters in my mind,

'Yes I am, bet you wish that were different though,' I respond with spite,

'No, as much as I want to hate you for what you've done Chara, you're still my sister, my big sister who protected me when we were little,'

'You should hate me sissy, because one day I'm going to kill you,' I promise,

'Perhaps, we will have to see when that day comes,' everything goes silent again, for a moment I think she's gone but then she speaks again, 'so what is it, if we actually died, how are we still alive?'

'Haven't a clue really, just something we can do I suppose, I've been calling it a reset,'

'A reset...'

'Yeah, it's like I save my progress each time I sleep, and if for some reason I die, I reset to that last point,' should I be explaining this to her? I kind of feel obligated to, uggh, more feelings, time to disconnect, she obviously feels me pulling away,

'Goodnight Chara,'

'Yeah yeah, enjoy cuddling your boyfriend,'

'He's not my boyfriend!' her voice yells in my mind as I pull fully away. Blessed numbness flows over me, what an idiot she is. I lie back down and close my eyes. I'll face the dreams, get it over and done with. Even if they make me feel.

*Frisk*

I almost growl in frustration, why must she be so irritating! "YOU SHOULD BE GOING TO SLEEP," Paps says looking at me through the rear view mirror,

"I'm trying," I mumble, but it totally sounds guilty, G shifts in his sleep and pulls me to him even tighter, I know what Chara thinks and it's wrong, yeah its totally wrong! I sigh, who am I kidding like seriously? I like G. I look up to find Paps still watching me, "don't even say a thing,"

"DO I NEED TO?" he chuckles, I pull my tongue out at him and rest and arm around G,

"Don't be taking pictures or go telling Undyne and Al, I've enough of their damn shipping as it is," I warn,

"FRISK, YOU WALK INTO THOSE SITUATIONS THOUGH," he informs me smiling brightly,

"Yeah, I know," I sigh and close my eyes, "but let's not add fuel to that particular fire yeah?" he chuckles again and I let myself drift off to sleep.

"Smile girls!" our Mother called happily holding up a polaroid camera, Chara grabbed my hand and we waved at our Mother with joy, she snapped a picture and we ran over to her,

"Can I see, can I see!" I squealed, she crouched down and we watched as the picture slowly formed, I found it fascinating,

"Sissy lets go climb the tree!" Chara said pulling at me, I followed,

"Be careful my sweethearts," other Mother warned us,

"We will!" we both called back. Chara climbed up the tree like a monkey and pulled her tongue out at me when I couldn't do it, I started to cry,

"Aww come on sissy, it's okay, I'll show you how!" she jumped down and then helped me climb into the tree,

"Mummy look!" I called, Mother smiled at us proudly as we both giggled while swinging our legs,

"What are they doing in THAT tree!" our Father yells running over,

"They are just having fun dear, it's what children do, they are perfectly fine, not even that high up," Mother chastised him,

"You should know better!" Father snarled at her, I grabbed Chara's hand, I didn't like this, Father never talked like that, "Girl come down this instant!" he ordered, we climbed down, Chara helped me, then we ran towards our parents. "No.." he gasped, he looked horrified, "See what you have done!" he accused Mother, I looked to Chara confused and she looked to me, we both gasped, Chara's silver eyes were not silver anymore, they had changed to red,

"Sissy your eyes are red," she whispered,

"They are possessed!" Father screeched, that sounded bad, we both looked at Mother fearfully, she looked scared,

"No, they can't be, they are my dear little ones," she had started crying,

"Look at them woman, don't you see the blood curse in their eyes, possessed by demons!" he roughly grabbed us, it hurt, I started to cry,

"You're hurting them!" Mother exclaimed, but then Father hit her,

"You did this to them, this is your fault!" he proceeded to drag us home,

"Stop you're hurting sissy!" Chara cried, she was also obviously being hurt but Father wouldn't stop. Not until we reached home. He made us strip off our clothes and stand in the bathtub,

"You must be cleansed of these demons," he growled before dousing us with ice cold holy water.

I gasp and open my eyes, my mind still trying to pull itself from the dream so it took me a moment to realise the truck wasn't moving and I was lay down in the back. I sit up and look around, G is asleep in the front seat silently snoring away. We are at a petrol station. I climb out of the truck and stretch wondering where Paps is. Thankfully before I can start to panic over his absence he comes walking out of the small shop, two bags in his hands, he grins at me, "GLAD TO SEE YOU AWAKE," he looks in at G still sleeping, "SANS TRIED TO GET ME TO LET HIM DRIVE AGAIN, BUT I FORCED HIM TO SLEEP MORE,"

"He obviously needs it," he had been driving all night, plus for however long after the diner yesterday, "what you go there?"

"DRINKS, SNACK. SOMETHING TO KEEP US GOING," he shows me, I grin and grab a bottle of water,

"Just what I need," I take a long drink, "how long have I been sleeping?" it's some point in the afternoon going off the position of the sun,

"ABOUT NINE HOURS," he informs after a moment, obviously mentally counting,

"Okay, well I've definitely slept well enough, I'll take over for a while,"

"YOU SURE? I DON'T MIND DRIVING LONGER,"

"No it's fine Paps, besides we promised to take turns, I'll wake Sans up when it starts to get dark if that makes you feel better?"

"OKAY," he sighs, "BUT EAT SOMETHING FIRST," he says pushing a packaged sandwich at me, I chuckle and comply. We get back on the road shortly after and surprise surprise it doesn't take long for Paps to doze off. There is something about long journeys in hot vehicles that just makes you sleepy if you have nothing to do. I turn the radio on, not too loud because I don't want to wake either of them up and turn my focus to the road. I grin as my favourite Napstablook piece comes on, I have got to see him again soon, he's much easier to get along with than his cousin. A couple hours go by and I'm eventually singing quietly along to the music before I feel like I'm being watched, I stop singing,

"Aww don't stop, I was enjoying it," G chuckles quietly, I send him a mock glare,

"How long have you been awake?"

"For about two songs," I can see his grin from the corner of my eye, "How long you been driving?"

"Only couple of hours, so I got plenty energy left," I tell him, he chuckles again and sits up more, "so uh, don't get mad, but I found out about what happened exactly, last night,"

"Why would I get mad?" he questions,

"Because I reached out to my sister," I answer quietly, I hear him sigh, "there's nothing in the book about red SOULS at all and she's the only other person we know with a red SOUL so I took the risk and.." I start rambling out,

"It's okay," he laughs, "I just don't want you disappearing like last time," I glance at him, "that scared us, it scared me," he looks at me with concern,

"I know, but I felt safe enough since you were holding onto me, she really doesn't like you, like she really hates you, and that's something because she hardly feels anything," I smirk,

"Well some people love me some people hate me," he shrugs, "the only people I care about how they think of me are in this truck," I smile ever so slightly at that,

"What about Undyne and Al?" I ask,

"I suppose," he chuckles making me smile wider, "so what did the little demon tell you," I frown at him slightly,

"She calls it a reset," I tell him, "the way she explained it is like making a save every time you sleep, so if I die I simply reset to my last save point," I ponder for a moment, "the way she said it, makes me feel like she may have done so a few times," I shudder, "I hope I don't have to experience it again,"

"You and me both," he grumbles in agreement. We both go quiet, G picks up my book on SOUL traits and starts flicking through. After a while I start to sing along with the radio again, G smiles. I'm singing along and remembering my dream, it's a long time since I had dreamt of when we were little, even longer since seeing my Mother, "sweetheart you okay?" I flinch slightly as G's hand strokes my cheek, I then realise he's wiping away a tear,

"Yeah, I'm fine," I give him a little smile, he doesn't buy it, I sigh and concentrate on the road, "it's just a dream G, I'm fine I promise,"

"Kitten, half the time you wake up screaming from your dreams, so forgive me if I'm still going to be concerned,"

"At least I don't use my magic," I point out,

"Touche," he chuckles, "but still," he watches me for a moment as I concentrate on changing to the correct lane, "I'm not going to make you talk about it, but I'm here and will listen if you need me to be,"

"I know G, and I appreciate it," I smile, he goes back to the book and I lose myself in my thoughts again. The sun starts to set and I sigh, "it was a memory," I say quietly, he continues staring at the book but I can tell he's listening from how he tensed up, "not necessarily a bad one, well not a really bad one at least," I let the memory flow through my mind once again before smiling sadly, "it began with my last happy memory of my Mother," I feel G's gaze on me now, "we were playing in the field, there was this big ancient tree there, some of the villagers believed it was sacred, some believed it was curse, my Father believed it to be both," I shake my head, "Chara wanted to climb the tree," I chuckle slightly remembering how good she was, "I wasn't quite so talented, I've always been more clumsy, but she got down and helped me. When we both climbed up we were so happy, and Mother looked very proud of us. Father was livid. Demanded we get down, of course we did, we always did what Father told us. But that's when it happened, that day our eyes turned red, and neither of our parents looked at us the same again," I could feel tears flowing down my face again,

"Pull over Frisk," G says quietly, I comply because my vision is starting to blur because of the crying. Once I pulled onto the side of the quiet road, G unfastens my seat belt and pulls me onto his lap, I bury my face in the crook of his neck and he strokes my hair, the tears keep coming silently,

"They all thought we were possessed by demons or cursed," I mumble, I'm not sure he can hear my words but I continue, "day after day, Father would try to exorcise the demons, but the red eyes stayed, he'd shout at Mother blaming her for it, then he decided he would have to force the demons out of us a different way, Chara took most of the abuse, I was never good with pain," he hugs me to him tightly, "Mother couldn't take it anymore, she believed every word he said to her, she became a shadow of her former self, and in the end, she just gave up," I grip G's jacket tightly, "she ended it for herself, leaving us with that monster of a man, who only got worse," the tears come harder now. Somewhere in my mind I register sounds of movement in the back, Paps must be awake, "the irony of it all is, the real reason our eyes turned red that day, we gained our SOUL trait, we became determined, Chara determined to help me, myself determined to get to her level," now I'm sobbing uncontrollably and I hate it, hate it! I feel Paps hand come to rest on my head, in an attempt at comfort. We sit silently in the truck, the only sounds are my muffled crying into G's shoulder.