(Frisk POV)

Her eyes opened to see the dark space from the bad dream around her, her eyes rolling as she started walking forward with purpose. "Not funny Chara. Can't you choose somewhere else?"

"Careful now. Your Determination makes you speak in your sleep if you aren't careful." Chara's voice came from behind her, causing her to spin to find him standing there with a smile on his face. Her eyes narrowed as she stared at him, her eyes checking for any weapons he could have. "Hey, stop staring at me like that. I'm not trying to attack you, idiot."

"Then why am I here, Chara?" She asked, her hands going on her hips. She was only mildly surprised that she was wearing her striped tank and jeans, knowing her mind probably created the outfit to make her feel safer. What she was surprised about was the fact Chara was trying to talk to her, despite the fact that before this timeline he was either goading her into doing something horrible or silent and brooding in the back of her mind.

"Unlike the comedian I can't talk to you whenever I want, face to face like this. And you probably would look kind of insane if you started doing that constantly. So this… place, I guess you can call it, is perfect to talk face to face." He answered, one hand lifting to the side, the movement creating a couple chairs for them to sit on. "After all, soon I won't be in your head anyways. Gotta get used to seeing me."

"This isn't like you, Chara. Not the you I know anyways. Why are you trying to be friendly now?" She asked, choosing to trust he wasn't plotting anything and sit in a chair. She was genuinely curious about the change however. Chara's shoulders lifted in a shrug as he sat across from her, his legs crossing as he clasped his hands on his lap.

"I…. I want to believe. In you. Your goal. I miss Azzy. I messed up when I did what I did. I was so angry, at humanity and the whole world. He has suffered because of my anger, my hatred. And when you fell into the Underground I thought I had a way to erase everything. Free Azzy from his suffering and kill everyone." He paused for a moment, his gaze turning from her as he stared off into the darkness around them. She waited, knowing that he needed a moment to understand himself. She was like that at times, stopping actions and words to understand what she really wanted to do or say. She had also noticed Sans was like that, as well as Gaster. They thought more than someone would believe just by looking at them, a quality she respected in both of them.

After a few moments she heard him chuckle as his head shook and he looked at her, his smile sadder than it had been just moments before. "You know, I hate that you think I am like that pile of bones but…... I think I understand what you see. Words are hard, and actions can have lasting consequences. I get that now. I am still so full of anger, still want to watch humans suffer. But watching you, knowing the past that no one else knows…. It helps me understand you. It helps me understand myself. I won't promise that when we all reach the surface I will be a nice person. I may even hurt people. But I can promise one thing. As long as I have you and Azzy I will try to be a good person."

"Why me, Chara? I can understand Asriel being someone to help you. He was like a brother to you before you died. But I don't understand why I am important."

"Because you know me. And I want you to understand me. So…... I did this so we could talk this time, so I can tell you my past. I know yours, being a part of your soul and mind. But I never let you in, never let you know what my past was beyond little bits to make you sympathize with me. That was wrong but this time…... This time I want to tell you for the right reasons."

"Alright Chara. I will listen. I want to understand you, so I can help you."

He chuckled at her words, one of his hands rising to push his dirty blond hair from his face so she could look into his ruby red eyes. She knew she had thrown him off guard by being herself, understanding and willing to help anyone. Why it still surprised him she wasn't sure but she remembered the fear he had shown when they had heard Sans and knew he needed someone like her to help him.

"I should have known you would agree. Despite what that idiot spouts you can feel things within me that he cannot." He paused and turned away from her again, his hair once again hiding his eyes from her. Again she waited, not bothering to stand up for Sans this time. No matter what she said she knew Chara wouldn't understand what was between her and the skeleton. The bond wasn't like what she had with anyone, even Chara, and that made it harder to put into words so others would understand.

"You know that, like yourself, I was not in a good place before my fall. Like you I was trying to kill myself. I was sick of humanity, their hatred and greed. The way they would hurt those weaker than them. People like me were nothing even to our own so-called parents. My parents were in one of the cults of the time that worshipped the mages. Not that any of those stupid cultists actually had magic. They just thought they saved us from the scary monsters. Anyone who did not believe was punished, severely. I was hurt so many times I stopped feeling anything, anything but my rage. I wanted to be stronger, to hurt them all the way they hurt me." As Chara spoke about his birth parents she could feel his anger growing, hear the barely restrained rage as he spoke about the cultists. She reached out and took his hand, an action that startled him for a moment before he smiled at her and patted her hand softly with his free hand.

"Don't worry. I am controlled. I know now they can't hurt me. Can't hurt anyone ever again, if the history books are correct." His words were murmured softly, the rage she felt slowly fading away as he reassured her, something that made her laugh a bit.

"If that is controlled I am a bit afraid of what uncontrolled rage looks like."

"It wouldn't be too far from what you saw when your skeleton realized I was talking. The only thing saving me at that moment was you. Well the fact I reside inside you. Had we been standing side by side I wouldn't have put it past him to throw me aside like I was nothing but a toy."

"Not if I told him not to. He worries about me right now because of the past, what I have told him. Once there is no chance for you to take over I think he would stop being so angry."

"No. He would still be angry. I am a reminder of what could have been. Luckily, for all of us, you are too gentle, too sweet, and too Determined, to do what I would have wanted. You are nothing like the humans I saw in the past, mine or yours, or the idiot ones since you freed everyone else. It actually worries me, the one thing I will agree the comedian about."

"What are you talking about?"

"Frisk, you are so naïve. Everything about you is kindness and serenity. If it weren't for the fact that your skeleton watched over you…... Do you know how many times you came close to being hurt? If I couldn't sense magic like I do I wouldn't have realized what was going on myself. He saved you countless times when the worst of our people tried to hurt you."

Chara's words had her sitting back, her own head turning to the side as she tried to think of what Chara was talking about. Sans wouldn't, would he? He had a made a promise never to hurt anyone, to allow her to do her job as ambassador. As she thought this she heard Chara laugh, her eyes looking over as he tilted his head and grinned at her.

"Seriously? You do know he said he would never KILL anyone right? Hurt…. Now hurting is something else completely. And in this situation, I completely agreed with him. They would have killed you, or worse. He protected you, and kept his promise at the same time."

Chara's words had her sighing, one hand lifting to rub her temple. She had wondered why Sans had looked so tired when ever she saw him after walking away from groups of protestors at meetings with humans. She always assumed that he was just tired from keeping them back when she walked past them, not that he had used his powers to hurt people. Again a soft laugh left Chara, his hands reaching to take hers and bringing her attention to him. Surprisingly his laughter didn't seem to be at her, for once. Instead he was looking at her with a look that mixed some humor with gentleness he wasn't known for showing.

"Don't over think it Frisk. He did what he needed to, to protect you. It's the only reason I won't just kill him for hurting Azzy. He has always known there was a dark aspect to you, even though he didn't know it was me until now. Despite that, despite his worries that you would hurt everyone, he kept you safe. So, as long as that never changes, I will keep my hands to myself."

"Why do you want to protect me Chara? Until my fall you didn't even know I existed. And I have never agreed with anything you wanted me to do. You can't tell me it didn't frustrate you, or make you angry. I felt every bit of anger aimed at me, every bit of frustration when I was nice to everyone."

"Because you showed me I was wrong." He said softly as he let go of her hands and sitting back, smiling at her. His eyes seemed to glow in the shadow of his hair, but for once she wasn't scared of him because of that. "I still want to kill every human but you. I won't lie about that. Too many are twisted and evil, like me. But you showed me that it isn't always the way to do things. I hope I can learn the serenity you have, to calm my rage. However the chances I will are slim. I will always be angry. People like you and I, ones that have been hurt by those we should have been able to trust, have two ways to turn out. I am one of those and you are the other. Sure there are some who land in the middle, getting to live normal lives because they aren't too calm or too angry. But most end up like us."

"I am not too kind. I punched people."

"You did it to protect others. You have been in the shoes of someone in pain, someone who was different. Because of that you became a protector and pleaser. You want to make people happy, want to protect them from anything that may hurt them."

"You were in those same shoes, Chara."

"Yes, but I went the other direction with it. I wanted to hurt everyone the way I had been hurt. I wanted others to suffer. Like I said, people like us can go either way. Fortunately for me, I got merged with you somehow when you fell. Your gentleness, the light you bring into the world, it has helped me. Sure it took a couple dozen true resets but it did affect me. And now seeing what all those resets were for…... I want to believe you can fix my biggest mistake."

"You mean Asriel's death?"

"I tricked him. I knew when we entered my village they would attack him, my body in his arms or not. I wanted to kill them all, make them suffer. But Azzy was like you. He couldn't hurt anyone, even as they threw sticks and stones, fired arrows…... He just smiled that gentle smile of his and walked home. If I hadn't done what I had he would still be alive."

Hearing Chara's voice break at the end of his confession she stood up, leaning over his chair to hug him tightly. "Asriel wouldn't want you to keep blaming yourself Chara. What I know about Asriel, he would have wanted you to forgive yourself, and your past."

"I know. But I need to fix this as much as you want to. I can't forgive myself until I see him and our parents together again." Chara's words were muffled against her shoulder, though she could feel his shoulders shaking with the sobbing he was trying to hide as he clung to her. She stroked his hair softly, letting him get all his sadness out before she straightened and gave him an encouraging smile.

"Don't worry, Chara. Together with Sans and Gaster we will free everyone. So hold on to your hope." As she finished her sentence the world seemed to shake, her eyes jumping to his with her confusion showing clearly on her face. Chara just grinned and shook his head.

"Looks like the comedian is awake and shifting around. He won't leave till you wake up but we better cut this off now. Don't need him thinking I am torturing you after all."

She nodded, about to will herself awake before Chara took her hand to catch her attention. The look on his face seemed apprehensive, like he wasn't sure if she would do whatever he was about to ask.

"Frisk…. Do me a favor. Gaster might need to know about me to help me…. But don't tell the comedian. I don't want his sympathy. I don't want him to have fuel to hurt me either."

"He wouldn't hurt you with such a thing, Chara. But I promise. Unless you tell him yourself, I won't tell Sans what you have told me about your past." With that she closed her eyes, willing herself to wake up.