No matter how many times Sans saw it, he would always be startled by how suddenly Chara could snap from her innocent façade. And the cursing, screaming mess she became when the royal guard led her to a dungeon cell was certainly an abrupt change from the quiet child she'd been pretending to be.

Gaster had been the one to explain things to the king and queen-kindly leaving out certain details that weren't entirely relevant-with only occasional interjections from Sans. The younger skeleton showed the boss monsters his soul, filled with determination, and explained in greater detail how the strength of Chara's soul allowed them to take over Frisk's body and commit genocide against monsters.

At first they had seemed dubious. It wasn't until they learned of how Chara convinced Asriel to become a part of the plot that would later kill the both of them that they started taking things seriously.

Chara and Asriel weren't there went Gaster and Sans spoke to the king and queen. It was only minutes after the order for Chara's arrest went out that Asriel came running to the throne room, the fur of his face wet with tears.

The prince was just a kid, of course he wouldn't understand. Sans wasn't sure he'd understand it himself if he hadn't lived it.

"Asriel, you cannot go see Chara right now," Toriel said, taking her child into her arms as he only wailed harder.

"At least not until this is all sorted out," Asgore added. Toriel sent him a glare that had the king wilting away, clearly not impressed with his interjections.

"Come, Sans," Gaster said, a hand on his son's shoulder. "We should go."

Here he gave Sans a pointed stare, and the younger skeleton gulped. There were going to be a lot of questions from his father.

But there was something Sans had to do first. Once they were out of earshot of the throne room he stopped, turning to his father.

"I have to go see her," he said.

Gaster looked like he wanted to protest.

"I have to make sure she's down there and locked up," Sans said.

Gaster nodded, hand falling from Sans' shoulder. "I'll be in the lab. Take your time, son."

Sans wanted to take a shortcut, but he also hadn't explained those to his father yet, and didn't want to get attacked by any startled guards that might be lingering near Chara's cell. The dungeons were buried beneath the castle of Home, little more than relics from a war fought before the current monarchy. As it was, the cells had not been used in centuries. The damp smell of mould hung in the air and the stone ground was suspiciously slippery under Sans' shoes.

He didn't know where they'd put Chara. Until he heard the voices, that was.

Sans rounded the corner, finding none other than the prince gripping the bars of Chara's cell, the human child crying the biggest alligator tears Sans had ever seen.

"Get away from her," Sans growled, trying to get between the prince and the human. But it was already too late.

Chara, sensing that her opportunity was about to come to an abrupt end, did the only thing she had the power to do.

Asriel froze as a hand plunged into his chest. Chara's fist emerged closed around a white soul, pressing it to her own ribcage as Asriel's body turned to dust.

"No!" Sans cried, already bringing up the reset button.

But nothing appeared. And Chara laughed.

"Oh how cute," she sneered, and for the first time, Sans really took in what'd happened to her.

She was larger now, magic glowing around the soul in her chest. She was the same, yet different, with black eyes, red slitted pupils. She was floating just a few inches above the ground, gently bobbing in place. It was the only gentle thing about her. Another pair of eyes, Asriel's eyes, stared terrified above her own.

"Your reset days are over." Chara dropped the cheerful façade, face taking on a bored, emotionless expression. With a wave of a clawed hand she brought up the reset button. "I have all the power now," she said.

"Why are you doing this?" Sans demanded, panicking. He had to do something, there had to be something he could do. Chara couldn't have this power, not now. Not after Sans had gone through so much trying to fix things.

In that instant, Sans realised how Frisk had felt. Why settle for just 'okay' when they had the power to keep trying until everything was perfect?

"I'm doing this because they all deserve to die," she spat.

"Who?" Sans yelled, trying to attract attention from the castle above but knowing it was futile. They were too far down.

"The humans," Chara said, shaking with rage. Her fingers quaked above the rest button. "Every human on the surface deserves to know how I feel. I'll make them pay for what they did!"

And then there was nothing Sans could do. Chara's fist slammed to the reset button, and the world went black.