The somewhat gentle hum of the elevator filled my ears as I turned to Frisk, a sigh escaping me. "What the hell was that about?"

She continued having a staring contest with the floor, playing with her fingers along the way. "I..." Her voice trailed off as she looked up, still not facing me. "You look so tired Jack, and I know you probably went through hell trying to find me. The way you've been treating me this entire time is just..." She smirked. "Too nice." Her feet began to move around. "You've bought me food, cheered me up when I'm at my lowest, been a shoulder to lean on while I cry. And, you've looked past all my flaws, continuing to give me second chances I don't deserve." She shook her head with a heavy frown. "While all I've done is make you worry about me, or make your life twenty times harder than it should be. I'm even the reason you fell into the abyss; I was too careless to block a few spears." It didn't take long for her eyes to be staring down at the floor once more, her eyes a bit more shiny this time. "I don't deserve you, or your kindness. And yet-" a chuckle escaped her. "You keep giving it to me." She finally met my gaze, one of her cheeks having a streak of water going down it. "So I thought... the least I could do was give you a goodnight's rest." She smiled as a tear escaped her other eye. "But I even failed at that."

"Frisk..." Two more tears splattered against the floor as I finished. I got a little closer to her; she clearly wasn't in a good place, beating herself up over something as small as a bed. "Frisk..." When she looked away from me, I decided that my actions would help her more than words. Without a second of hesitation, I wrapped my arms around her, resting my head on her shoulder. Thank god I did that because I was at a loss of what to say. Eventually, I did come up with something. "You're so dumb sometimes, you know that?" I attempted to add some much-needed comedy to the tension.

It took her a few moments, but when a small laugh came from her followed by her returning the hug, I knew I had succeeded. "Yeah." She was too short to reach my shoulder, so she just buried into it instead. "Y-yeah, I know." Then we sat there hugging, like we had done so many times in the past. If we ever made it to the surface, the first place I would bring her was a therapist. Even after the elevator had stopped, we held each other for a little longer. Her grip around me began to loosen. "Please Jack, just-" She fully let go of me and looked me in the eyes; she had been crying, but not full-on sobbing. "Just take the bed, okay?"

I squinted at her. "It's no big deal, Frisk. I've slept on far-"

My sentence was cut short as her face scrunched up. "Please." She looked to the floor. "It'll make me feel... a lot better."

She was so beaten, like I had just given her every insult I had. It would make her happy, but I just really didn't care; my bed at home was probably harder than a couch. Plus, she needed sleep too, that much was obvious. Sure, she didn't get stabbed through the heart like I did, but she was so emotionally exhausted. "How about-" I was hesitant to say it. "How about we just share the bed?"

I could see her eyes light up. She looked to me. "You really want to do that?"

"Yeah!" I smiled. "We did it once before. How much more awkward could it get than that?"

She giggled. "Yeah, I guess you're right." Maybe my eyes deceived me, but her cheeks looked redder.

"Then it's settled." I walked out of the elevator. The room was nothing more than a long hall stretching to either side of me, hundreds of doors with numbers next to them stared at us. I gestured Frisk to follow, who was seemingly cowering in the elevator. "Now come on, we got a room to find."

She quickly came out and we were off. As we walked, I got progressively more confused by the number system of the rooms. First of all, we were on the top floor even though our room was 208. Secondly, the numbers had seemingly no pattern. It jumped from 50 to 600 through the passing of a single room. Finding our's would be no easy task. Maybe there was a pattern, but my tired mind could barely process the color of the walls, let alone what four plus four was. Frisk was following along, far more quiet than normal. I mean, it was obvious why, but it still surprised me to hear barely a word from her. I hoped a goodnight's sleep would fix her up, but I wasn't sure; I'd have a hard time moving on if I thought Comet had died only to find out she was fine.

On the topic of Frisk, I wasn't sure how I felt about her. I knew she was my friend, but I'd be lying if I said I wasn't starting to see her as more. It's not like I was deeply in love with her or anything; just, a part of me seemed to really like every part about her. My eyes were finding it more and more difficult to not peak a glance at her. I struggled to keep my heart from fluttering when she spoke. My cheeks would become as bright as a lightbulb if she were to simply say "Nice jacket." And, as embarrassing as it was for me to admit it, I was looking forward to sharing a bed with her, waking up and seeing her body next to mine. It wasn't a sexual thing, either. I just… loved being around her, even at her worse. And I'd struggle to say that applied to many people. But, it didn't matter. I beat the thoughts away. She probably doesn't feel the same. I verbally sighed. Shouldn't get my hopes up.

My thoughts were cut short as I felt something appear behind me. I must have been getting better at the whole soul thing because I didn't even need to turn around to know who had come out. It was all of them; Chara, Grace, and even William. Chara was the first to come to my side though. "Listen Jack," she said in a voice I couldn't quite pinpoint.

Feeling I already knew what she was going to say, I interrupted her. She'll know about you when we get into the room.

Her eyes widened. "Oh… Well, thanks I guess, but that's not what I was going to say." Now my eyes grew wide as I glanced at her. "You may not think so, but-" She sighed as she looked at Frisk. "She likes you. Probably more than you like her." I rolled my eyes, but she didn't stop. "I know her Jack. She has never treated someone like she treats you…" She crossed her arms. "Not even me."

Grace was the next to approach me. She had a wide grin, like normal. "Yeah! I knew it the moment she started hugging you!"

My gaze went to her as I squinted. Then why not just tell me?

She shrugged with a look to the ceiling. "I just thought you'd put the pieces together yourself." Her hand went up to her mouth as she giggled. "Then I remembered how dumb you are."

Finally, William joined Grace's side. "I mean, they are right Jack. I've barely been around, but just from the moment you guys reunited, I could already tell she cared a lot for you."

I shook my head, holding back a chuckled. You guys are joking, right? I slightly faced Frisk and gestured at her. Someone like her? Liking me? When all of them didn't say anything, I rubbed my face. You can't be serious. She'd never like me… My voice trailed off as I thought of everything we had done. She couldn't like me; I was just some random dude, too awkward to even get a sentence out most of the time, while she had confidence I could only dream of. But then, I remembered the little moments. How bad she felt for acting mean, opening up to me more than anyone else had ever done, letting me sleep in the same bed as her, hugging me regularly, being traumatized from my fake death, holding my hand, and even feeling like a failure because I didn't get a proper bed. My hands slightly shook as I looked to the wall. ...Right?

No one could answer me before Frisk's voice cut through my ears. "Umm, Jack?" she said from behind me. I spun around only to see her next to a door. She pointed at the number on the side. "Pretty sure this is the room." She was right; number 208. I was so focused on my thoughts that I hadn't even noticed.

"O-oh yeah." I coughed because of how gravely my voice sounded. I dug into my pockets before pulling out the keycard, walking next to her. "T-this is i-it." For some reason, I felt… nervous around her. The doorknob had a little keycard reader so I, as quickly as possible, swiped it across it as the door unlocked and went in.

The room looked like what you'd expect from a hotel. We were immediately greeted with the kitchen, a small, fluorescent light hung from the roof lighting up the entire room. A living room sat in front of it, as standard as you'd expect. Then there was just a door, which I assumed led to the bedroom. Frisk went over and leaned against the kitchen's bar, glancing around the room. "Pretty nice. A lot better than what was in Snowdin." She scratched her chin. "That was an Inn though, so I really shouldn't compare it.

"Y-yep." I still struggled to speak. I strolled into the living room and felt the couch; it was surprisingly soft. So soft in fact that I couldn't resist sitting in it. If we were in a different situation, it would've made a great bed. Chara, Grace, and Will stared from the corner, reminding me of what I said I'd do. I closed my eyes with a sigh. "Hey, Frisk?" My gaze turned to her as I gestured to the empty couch cushion "Could you come over here? I, uh, have something to say."

Her eyes widened slightly. "You do?" When I responded with a nod, she began walking towards me. "Alright then." She plopped down next to me. "What's up?"

I blushed slightly, only then realizing how strong a crush I had formed on her. Never in the history of my life had I gotten flustered after deliberately asking someone to sit next to me. "Umm…" I scratched my neck. "How do I put this into words?" My stupid feelings were making it hard to speak; I had to tell her, and soon at that, otherwise, it'd start eating me from the inside out.

Frisk looked confused. "Is it something important?"

"Yeah, actually. Really important." I sighed, barely having a sentence planned out. "You remember that ghost you traveled with way back in the past? Before I fell down here?"

She moved her head up and down. "Yeah…"

"Well, um-" I took a deep breath; there was no simple way to say it. A few moments of me holding said breath in later and I pointed at the locket around my neck, cringing slightly. "They're in this locket."

Frisk just raised an eyebrow at first. "What?"

I stared at her blankly; thought I made the message pretty clear. "Chara, the sassy ghost. She's in the locket I'm wearing."

Frisk proceeded to stay silent for quite some time, her eyes getting progressively wider. She eventually snapped out of her trance, almost jumping up. "Chara's with you?"

Speaking of the devil, she let out a sigh from the corner. "This is taking too long."

I shook my head. Well, I'm trying my fucking hardest over here! Not exactly easy when you can barely speak.

"Fine then." She raised one of her hands. "I'll just do it myself." Her two fingers scraped together and a loud snap echoed through the room. Even Frisk seemed to hear it because she looked in its direction. I expected my soul to pop out like last time she had snapped, but instead, nothing… at first. Then, after I blinked, I was looking at the couch I once sat on, exactly where Chara stood. In front of me was… me, sitting on the couch next to Frisk. I had been removed from my body, almost like I had died and came back as a ghost. I, or my body, was in exactly the same position I once was, even my cheeks were still pink. My own eyes stared at me, a bright red piercing my soul instead of the usual blue. As I continued to stare, I noticed something; everything around my body had this blurry, almost distorted form, the entire area appearing far more grey than I remembered. It was slight, like looking out a poorly washed window, but still very noticeable. The only thing that lacked all of these characteristics was my body in front of me.

I looked around, William and Grace were next to me, lacking the distortion I just described and the transparency they once had. Hell, they even had some color, letting me see Grace's blonde hair and Will's purple-ish sweater. When I glanced down, I was shocked to see that I had an almost exact replica of my normal body, dirty clothes and everything. If my reflection wasn't staring me in the eyes, I'd have no idea something was amiss. I felt it all around, my senses seemingly unchanged. "What the fuck..." was all I could let out.

Will rubbed his chin as he stared at me. "Well, that was unexpected." He titled his head to the side, looking up slightly. "You're taller than I remember.

Instead of staying her distance, Grace went up and poked my shoulder. It made contact with it, causing a little jolt of surprise from me. "Hey! I can touch you without trying now!" She poked the same spot again. "Cool!"

Panic filled my head more and more as wildish thoughts popped up. Am I stuck like this? Did I have a sudden heart attack or something? Where's Chara- My thoughts were thankfully stopped by a sigh from my real body. "We just swapped places for a bit," Chara's voice boomed around me as if there were multiple speakers she was talking through. "Nothing to freak out about."

As I looked back up, I realized my now red eyes were staring right at me. It took me a second to put everything together, mainly because of shock, but I eventually did figure it out. I waved my fake arms around. "Since when could you do this?"

She… or is she a he now? Anyways, Chara shrugged. "The entire time." She shook her head. "I just now remembered it." She wasn't joking about her memory becoming jacked up.

Frisk rubbed her head, still staring at where the snap had come from, or me, I guess. I almost forgot she was there, but can you really blame me after the shock I just went through? "Wonder what that was." A few seconds of staring later and she quickly spun towards Chara. "So you said you have Chara-" She pointed at the locket around her neck; boy was it strange to refer basically my reflection as she. "-In that?"

Chara gained a cringe. "I'm actually right here," she said with a wave. She sounded just like me when she actually spoke, so it made me a bit disoriented.

Frisk's face scrunched up as she squirted at her. "Yeah, sure you are." When a few moments passed and Chara's expression hadn't changed, she raised both of her eyebrows. "Wait, you're not joking?" I mean, why would she think I'd make a joke like that?

She shook her head. "Unfortunately, no." Despite her previous reaction, Frisk still looked skeptical, and I wasn't the only one to notice. Chara rubbed her face. "Okay, look, if you want proof-" She glanced at me with a sigh before facing Frisk. "Flowey is actually Asriel." I had almost forgotten about Flowey because of how long it had been without an appearance from him. Honestly. I'm glad that was the case.

Frisk began to glance around as she nodded her head. "Yep, okay. You're not lying." She continued to do this before suddenly, and quickly, snapping to Chara. "Why the hell are you in that locket? You're meant to be buried under the flower bed!" Clearly, the shock just hit her.

Chara raised her hands like a gun was pointed at her. I don't blame her after seeing Frisk's glare. "Don't ask me. All I remember is being on the surface with you one moment, and then with a blink, seeing Jack in front of me with my locket on."

Frisk leaned back against the couch arm, crossing her arms. "Great! You know even less than me about what happened!" She turned to the floor. "We can talk about this later; I'm too tired right now."

She gained a disgusted face. "What? No we can't! This has never happened before!" Her hands went up and jingled the locket around. "Items being in different places, people doing things they had never done before. I mean, look around, Frisk." She gestured around the room. "None of this existed in all the other timelines. And we had done everything possible." She rubbed her body, or my body, I guess. "On top of all that, another human fell with you for crying out loud! Don't you see how big of a deal this is?" When she still didn't return her stare, she rubbed her eyes. "Could you just tell me anything you know about why it's like this? I need to know."

Frisk continued to stare at the floor, trying her hardest to keep a stern expression. It began to flicker though as a progressively more strong frown crept onto her face. She eventually let out a sigh after trying to keep it for a few more moments. "Alright, fine." Her eyes finally returned Chara's stare. "I don't know much more than you. The only thing I'm sure about, and it's more a theory than fact, is that Gaster caused the reset." She shook her head. "When we were leaving the Ruins, Gaster brought us to the void. He was… different. Less sophisticated and more glitched. He chose to speak in his language at first, and he very rarely does that. It just… wasn't him." Her eyes returned to the floor; she liked the color, I guess. "Jack has told me little about the Gaster he saw, but it sounds a lot more like him to me. Calling him a glitch and knowing how he shouldn't exist. But, the thing we saw in front of the Ruins… an imitation at best."

Chara looked to me like I had all the answers. I shrugged in response. "I mean, she's right. Gaster acted very differently the two times I've seen him." I crossed my arms and leaned against the walls. "Just thought he was bipolar."

She returned to staring at Frisk. "So, what do you think then? Did he cause it or not?"

She looked away from her. "Look, Chara, I don't have a clue. Maybe if I was less tired I could actually tell you something useful, but I'm not." She stood up, stretching as she did. "Could you bring Jack back? We need to go to bed."

Chara shook her head for a few moments, looking like she was going to say more. Her mind quickly changed. "Fine, but-" She pointed directly at her face, stern eyes staring her down. "We got to find out why this happened, Frisk. It can't just be ignored."

She seemed completely unphased. "I know. I want to know what happened just as much as you." She yawned, continuing nonetheless. "I'd prefer to be in a somewhat awake state when we do though."

Chara raised her hand into the air. "Okay. Just..." Her voice trailed off, clearly hesitant don't forget, alright?" When Frisk nodded, she scraped her fingers together like before. Just like last time, nothing happened for a little bit. Then, when I blinked, I had indeed moved. The problem was… I wasn't in the same room.

A/N

Wassup. Sorry for the month between the chapters; took Christmas week off and have really been slaving away at this game. I've put a lot of effort to it, and I got a feeling people will enjoy it. Anyway, hope you enjoy that cliffhanger. Originally, this chapter was going to be massive... 9,000 so far, and I'm still not totally done with it. But, because of how long it had been since I updated it, I decided the best course of action was to split it into two parts. This is the shorter, 3,000-word chunk, while the next will be well over 6,000. A lot of things go down, two of which have an impact on the plot for the rest of the fic. It goes from 0 to 100 like that, so be ready. Oh, in other news, we got a beta reader again! This time, I'm pretty confident they'll stick around. Their go by the name Artiikii and are overall a lovely lady. Check out their stuff if you get the chance. Alright, I'm done now. See you soon (hopefully).