It took a few days. A few days of playing the good child, of going back to those days when everything was briefly okay. Frisk was unwilling to budge on the issue.
But at long last, they had an idea.
"Frisk?" Chara entered their room, looking around briefly before sighing. They had to be in the closet. Since Frisk currently had no physical form to run around in, they'd taken to hiding in random places probably in hopes that Chara would eventually get tired of trying and give up. But Chara would have to try nonetheless, even without Frisk, if they were going to go through with their plan.
"I know you're in there," they said, approaching the closet. "I had an idea. I know how we can talk to each other. And if we can't agree, you can have your body back, no problem."
Silence. No movement. Maybe Frisk wasn't in the closet, but then where were they? They figured if they were already talking to an empty closet, they might as well go away, so in the end leaned closer to sing, "I never see you anymore, come out the door, it's like you've gone away~ Frisk, please. I know you're in there." They crossed their arms, leaning onto the door, and said, "You think I'm lying, don't you? But no. I legitimately think if we have a bit of a heart-to-heart chat you'll see where I'm coming from."
Something about their phrasing seemed to lure the child out, for their ghostly little head poked out through the door. They gave Chara this look saying they didn't really believe them, but even so stepped completely out after a few moments.
"Listen, same as how I got into your body… You can join me. If it works and we're both here together, in your soul… Look, it's not the first time I've done it. Except last time it was a combination of souls. It's a bit disorienting at first, but you… I should be able to hear you there." They looked down at their hands, quieting for a moment, before emphasizing, "Actually… hear you."
When they were combined… they'd have access to each other's thoughts. Frisk looked deep in thought for a few moments - on the one hand, this meant they could talk to Chara and possibly reason them out of this path. On the other, it meant they'd have access to Chara's thoughts… They'd be one person, even if only temporarily. Having never experienced that before, Frisk wondered if they were strong enough to handle it. Even with all their Determination, they'd never exactly had somebody else in their head before.
But… they were low on options at the moment. Who knew how long they'd have to wait before Chara went off on their own and potentially got themself killed again. This stalemate had to end. They… didn't have much choice.
So… they nodded.
Chara's eyes widened, they couldn't help but seemed shocked. "Really? You're… you're okay with it?" Frisk looked away, leading them to quickly correct, "W-Well obviously not okay with it, but… it's our only option at the moment, right? I… I can't give this up. So let's try it."
They reached out their hand, but for a moment Frisk didn't move. Would this really even work? They weren't even sure how Chara possessed their body in the first place. They were sort of out of it for a while there, right? ...why were they out, while Chara was running around in their body?
Something felt off. Nonetheless, they'd agreed to it. They couldn't just sit here for who knows how long debating. They reached out and took Chara's hand.
Chara pulled them closer, into a hug. It was… odd, now that they thought about it. Was it because they had given them permission that Chara was able to touch them now? Chara only spoke through their spirit, though, so it was possible they were actually using that to grab onto Frisk's. For whatever reason, their hold wasn't freezing - maybe since Frisk was technically a ghost at the moment they just couldn't feel it. Maybe it was because they were together now.
They closed their eyes, for just a moment, and when they opened it there was but the two of them.
"...Chara?"
They didn't recognize the voice immediately, but as Chara - now looking like themself, instead of Frisk - pulled away, they realized… "Is this… me?" They weren't moving their mouth to speak, though, so that kind of threw them off. "Is this what I sound like?" It was… not as high-pitched as they imagined it might've been. This was just weird now.
"It is you, Frisk," Chara said quietly, reaching up to touch their face. Frisk looked into their eyes, and… saw that smile. That unnerving smile. They had seen it before, but why was their memory so… "We're together again now. I'm sorry if I scared you before. I didn't explain."
"What are you… talking about…?" Frisk took a step back, but it didn't really seem to add any distance.
Chara tilted their head, looking confused for a moment, before saying, "Give it a moment. It should start coming back to you." They sighed, turning away slightly, saying, "We didn't want it to come to this. You're the only likeable human we know. Well, not that I know you that well." Laughing, they added, "Well… I guess now I'll know you pretty well, won't I?"
This wasn't right, this wasn't… "Wasn't me?" Chara replied, feeling those unspoken thoughts that rushed through Frisk's mind. Their mind. "We're together now, don't you see? But it's still me."
And then Frisk began to… feel it. Remember it. Know it? Things were quickly creeping up on them - the reset. Waking up with Chara.
Being too weak to do anything as they started out through the ruins, turning the monsters to dust.
That feeling.
LOVE.
"I think you were a bit shocked. So shocked you disconnected yourself from your own soul! I didn't even know that was possible. Must be because I'm here." They sounded intrigued more than mocking, and didn't laugh despite Frisk somehow expecting them to. Frisk glared at them, but couldn't move, too overwhelmed by what came next.
Their memories. The experiments. Running away. Befriending the Dreemurrs. Dying. It all came to them so quickly, they wanted to scream. They covered their face with their hands, shaking. But all they could let out, in light of what came after, was a small "a-ah…"
Emptiness. Years, and years, and years, crying out for help, with nothing happening. Whose memories were these?
"I told you, didn't I?" All emotion had suddenly gone out of Chara's voice, and Frisk felt the other child grab their hands, pulling them away from Frisk's face. Frisk couldn't help the tears welling up in their eyes as they looked at that smile. Those dead eyes.
"It's me. Chara."
She forgot us - I just wanted to go home - she replaced us - I shouldn't have come here - she did nothing but let those children go off and die - why do I feel this way?
"It's harder to care with LOVE. It makes it easier to hurt people." They stared at their red eyes in the mirror. Frisk's skin was darker than theirs, which probably wasn't saying much. Their hair was fluffier. Really, they didn't look too much alike, yet… it was hard not to see at least a minor resemblance. "You'll get used to it. When we start again it might hurt, though."
They walked into the living room, where Mother sat in her chair. She was gazing into the fire with a sad look on her face. An honest look. They wondered if she was trying to convince herself whether or not it was safe to keep them there, or if she needed to do something before they tried anything else. If they were just a scared child, or if they had intentionally made the ruins lonelier than they had before.
Chara was startled as their hands moved, getting her attention. She immediately pretended to perk up upon seeing them, but the smile on her face didn't reach her eyes. Their hands continued to move, but despite not knowing sign language they could tell what was being said: "How to exit the ruins?"
They ended up back there again.
"You want to leave so badly?"
Despite the hatred they'd tried to build up in themself, neither child wanted to do this. Frisk had considered it before, but… "Prove to me you are strong enough to survive."
They had to, Chara insisted.
And Frisk did not believe them.
But the only way to leave was to see this through to the end. They knew, at least, that Chara was not lying about the reset. They could make everything go back to the way it was. They could reverse the deaths that had already occurred. Were a few monsters worth all the ones they had met?
They couldn't stop it. So they had to believe in something.
Toriel stood there, waiting for the first blow or sign of inaction. They held the old dagger in their hand, instead of the toy knife that had been originally waiting for them here in the ruins. Trying not to think about it too much, they gripped it tightly - ran forward - and-
"Y… You really hate me that much…?"
They couldn't look at her face. They only heard her shaking voice. They were too close to make out anything but her clothing, her white fur. If they looked, they might not be able to handle it. So they closed their eyes.
"Now I see who I was protecting by keeping you here… Not you… But them!" Toriel laughed bitterly, and the child pulled away with the knife, eyes still closed, stepping back as they heard her body turn to dust. They opened their eyes just in time to see her soul, still persisting beyond death.
They reached out to it, just in time to see it shatter.
LV 6
"We're not strong enough to absorb a boss monster soul," Chara said quietly. No response from Frisk. "I didn't…"
"Why did we kill her then?" Their response was quiet, their tone cold.
"...would you rather we left her alone in the ruins?" Chara said that, but Frisk could tell they weren't really sure about their own reasoning.
They were overall getting conflicting signals from Chara - the Chara they thought they knew was still there, but that memory of emptiness… Did they remember being dead, along with everything else? They could understand the feelings of pain that came with remembering Asriel's death and the circumstances, they could even feel those things for themself now that they and Chara were in one body. But for some reason, despite being aware of that emptiness, that long gap in their memory… they couldn't feel that. They weren't exactly sure why.
But they knew that was what was driving Chara to do this.
"Stop trying to understand," Chara muttered, staring down at the pile of dust that was formerly Toriel. "Avert your eyes. Wait. You don't have to feel anything."
It sounded more like they were trying to tell themself that.
The two of them proceeded through the door and down the empty hall, already knowing that flower awaited them. But the flower, upon seeing them, just laughed.
"You're not really human, are you?"
"We both are, you idiot," Chara muttered, only because they knew the flower could hear them.
"No. You're empty inside. Just like me. In fact…" The flower's expression changed suddenly, looking startled as if it'd just realized something. Its next words caused Chara's eyes to widen, giving confirmation to their suspicions, "You're Chara, right?
"We're still inseparable, after all these years…" It laughed as Chara tried to piece things together. How did this flower know them? It wasn't like anybody they knew, but… "inseparable"? They didn't know any flower monster… things.
"Listen. I have a plan to become all powerful. Even more powerful than you and your stolen soul." Its face distorted, laughing again as it said, "Let's destroy everything in this wretched world. Everyone, everything in these worthless memories… Let's turn 'em all to dust. That's a wonderful idea!"
Memories… "Flowey, wait, what-" But no. The damn thing disappeared into the ground without another word, leaving them alone.
...it didn't matter. It didn't matter, the thing was just a psychopath. It just wanted to use them as an excuse to kill everything, not caring about the reason behind it. They weren't like that.
They were sure.
Frisk was silent.
There was nothing they could do anymore.
A/N: Well, here we go. Into the mess that is genocide.
This chapter's also kind of a mess, so I'm going to explain a bit? I feel this warrants an explanation, aha.
Basically, Frisk and Chara woke up at the same time together during the reset. Chara kind of already stole Frisk's soul, that's why they were in their body, but they were still worked up after recovering their memories. Because of that they just started murdering most the monsters they ran into, not going for Toriel because they figured she was too strong at that point.
Like Chara isn't connected to their soul, Frisk disconnected from theirs out of shock that this was happening. Their "ghost" woke up in the flowerbed because that's the default "save point." When they rejoined with their body they remembered this, but they also got a lot of Chara's memories… including a period of time that doesn't make sense. Something Chara should not remember because they were dead. Emptiness.
They're overwhelmed and their soul now contains LOVE, numbing Frisk's emotions. Hearing many of Chara's thoughts and feeling some of what they feel so intensely in comparison, they don't agree with what Chara is doing but become less inclined to argue. In letting this happen, they reason to themself if they just get this over with they can fix things at the end.
They know about the memory of emptiness, and can feel the loneliness and despair from it, but it isn't directly affecting them and they're not sure why. Chara tells them not to think too hard about it. Even when they're basically sharing a mindspace, Chara is hiding things from them somehow. That'll be explained later, just like a lot of other stuff. Chara's got a lot going on internally at the moment.
That concludes the ruins though! Sorry if the Toriel fight was underwhelming. That's kind of how it felt in-game after all this time - one hit and she was done. I'm sorry goat mom ;;;
Stay tuned! My other Icetale fic should be next to update.
