"Hey." Said Chara as Nemo and Frisk walked while they floated behind them. "I'm talking to you, $$hole."
"You could try saying my name." Said Nemo drily.
"Don't wanna." Huffed Chara with their arms crossed.
"This is the person who almost eradicated the entire world?" Thought Nemo as he looked at them over his shoulder.
"Come on Nemo." Said Frisk as they tugged on his wrist. "Be nice."
"What did I-?" Said Nemo before stopping and sighing. "Fine. What do you want, Chara?"
They turned and looked at him with a serious expression. "How does your magic work?" Asked Chara.
"Why should I tell you?" Asked Nemo with narrow eyes.
"Nemo." Said Frisk.
"What?" Asked Nemo. Frisk stared at him. Nemo sighed again. But before he could say anything, he stopped when he noticed that this was the area of pit traps with the ribbon and lever. Nemo scratches the back of his head as he looked at the traps, trying to remember where both of the aforementioned items were located.
"We've got this." Said Chara as they and Frisk stepped into one of the traps.
They returned moments later, ribbon in hand. "Nice." Said Nemo, causing Frisk to giggle in amusement while Chara did a proud huff and crossed their arms again. Nemo rolled his eyes again, before looking down in surprise as his and Frisk's souls manifested.
"Misgop crawled up close." Said Chara. The humans turned to see a Misgop and a Moldsmal.
Nemo went first, Checking the Misgop, causing words to appear by it. "MISGOP - ATK: 7 DEF: 5. He isn't evil, just with the wrong crowd." It said.
"Squorch." Said the Moldsmal.
"Heed the swarm." Said Misgop.
Bugs flew around the humans while the Moldsmal flung globs of goop at them. Fortunately they managed to dodge. Frisk used Talk. "Come on, we don't need to fight." They said.
"I don't care." Said the Misgop. More bugs came flying while Moldsmal threw goop that exploded into smaller balls of goop. Their attacks still failed to hit the humans though.
"Moldsmal is ruminating." Said Chara.
"Thanks, that's real helpful." Said Nemo as he used Spare, causing the Moldsmal to leave.
"La la la, just be yourself." Said Misgop happily as he did a little dance.
Nemo was shocked by the abrupt personality shift. That's when he remembered what the Check said. "'He isn't evil, just with the wrong crowd.' So once he's alone, he doesn't want to fight." Thought Nemo.
"Misgop doesn't have a care in the world." Said Chara. Frisk then spared Misgop. "You won! You earned 0 EXP and 2 gold." Nemo picked up the two coins the monsters left behind. Frisk then dropped into the pit with the lever. There was a clunking sound as the pathway opened up for them. Frisk climbed out of the tunnel and went over to Nemo, holding out the ribbon for him. He smiled before tying the ribbon on them. Frisk then looked over before walking over and going into a third hole. Nemo watched in confusion until he saw Napstablook fly out a moment later. Frisk then climbed back up and they were able to continue on their way.
They found themselves in that room with colorful letters. Nemo walked over and observed the sign. "The far door is not an exit. It simply marks a rotation in perspective." Read Nemo.
"Wait, you can read the signs now?" Asked Frisk.
"Yup." Said Nemo. "Probably an effect of when Chara… well…" He reached up and rubbed the area around his right eye. He lowered his hand. "Right… back to work." It took some time, as well as a fight with some Misgops, Vegetoids, and a Moldsmal but eventually the trio managed to make their way through the puzzle, with another fourteen gold in hand, making for a total of seventeen. Frisk did wind up taking an onion to the face though, and while the Vegetoid's green attacks had healed some of it, there was still a bruise forming.
"Just use one of the monster candies." Said Chara.
"How is candy gonna help?" Asked Nemo.
"What, didn't you know? Monster food has medicinal properties." Said Chara.
"No, I didn't know that, why would I know that, whatever gave you the idea that I knew that?" Asked Nemo.
"I… well…" Said Chara as they realized he had a point. "Well it's your own fault for being too dumb to think outside the box!"
"Dear god you are obnoxious." Said Nemo as he paused at the fork in the road. To the North was Toriel's home, and to the East was that area with the Toy Knife. Nemo stood there for a moment before going East. Frisk and Chara watched leave before seeing him return with the knife in hand.
"What did you grab that for?" Asked Chara suspiciously. "Are you planning on using it to ki-?"
"Don't be an idiot." Said Nemo. "This belonged to the cyan soul, I'm gonna return it."
"...Patience." Said Frisk.
"Huh?" Asked Nemo.
"That's the cyan soul's attribute." Explained Chara. "Every soul has one, which can be told by the color. Like how Frisk's is Determination."
"Oh…" Said Nemo as he stuck the Toy Knife in his pocket. "That's nice."
The trio went North through the doorway. "Oh dear, that took longer than I thought it would." They heard a familiar voice say. Toriel walked up to them. "How did you get here my children? Are you hurt?" "There, there, I will heal you." he extended her hand and a warm feeling passed over them as Frisk's injury vanished. "I should not have left you alone for so long. It was irresponsible to try and surprise you like this. Err…" Said Toriel as she made an embarrassed expression. "Well, I suppose I cannot hide it any longer. Come, small one!" She then began to walk away to where she came from.
"This is gonna drive me nuts." Thought Nemo as they started following her. They stopped at another save star.
"Seeing such a cute, tidy house in the Ruins gives you determination." Said Chara as Frisk saved their progress to this spot. Nemo rolled his eyes, accepting that he'd have to get used to them talking like that as the trio walked into the house.
"Do you smell that? Surprise!" She said cheerfully. "It is butterscotch-cinnamon pie. I thought we should celebrate your arrival. I want you to have a nice time living here. So I will hold off on snail pie for tonight." Nemo did his best not to gag at the thought of snail pie. "Here, I have another surprise for you." Said Toriel as she walked to the right and down a hall. Frisk and Nemo followed her. She waited for them in the hall and held out her hand. "This is it." Frisk took the hand and walked with her down the hall, Nemo close behind while Chara just kinda hovered. They stopped in front of the first door. "A room of your own, I'm afraid you will have to share, but I hope you will like it."
"I think we'll manage." Said Nemo.
"I love it." Said Frisk.
"Third time around and I still think this place sucks." Said Chara drily, but was ignored. They crossed their arms and huffed as Toriel petted Frisk.
"The pie's burning, Toriel." Said Nemo drily as he remembered this scenario from the first timeline. Toriel smelled the air and realized that he was right. "O-oh my! Excuse me!" Said Toriel as she moved past them and down the hall. The humans went into the room and started getting ready for the night. Nemo reached up and ran a hand through his messy white locks as he made his way over to the lamp. Frisk kicked their shoes off before jumping into the bed. They nuzzled into the scarf before rolling over and started trying to fall asleep. Nemo gave them a weak smile as he killed the lights.
"Oi, I was using that." Said Chara, who had been floating around and looking at all the stuff in the room.
"Tough." Said Nemo as he sighed and leaned his back against the wall opposite from the bed before sliding down the floor. Chara puffed their cheeks out and floated in front of him. Despite the darkness of the room, Nemo could still see them with relative ease. "What?"
"I'm bored. And the dead don't sleep. So since I can't see what I'm doing in this darkness, you're going to have to entertain me." Said Chara.
"...F*ck off." Muttered Nemo under his breath as he crossed his arms and leaned his head forward in an attempt to get comfortable before trying to sleep.
"Oh my! Such language towards a child!" Said Chara with a mock gasp. Nemo responded by flipping them off. "Well… if you can't entertain me, maybe I'll just possess Frisk and find something else… or rather, someone else to entertain myse- urk!" Chara was cut off as Nemo's hand, which was glowing white, wrapped itself around their throat. He opened his magic eye to glare at them. "Joking! I was joking!" They wheezed. Nemo released them and crossed his arms again. Chara rubbed their throat. "You know, I really am curious, how does your magic work?" Nemo didn't bother responding as he closed his eye. "Come on man! I'm bored! And I'm not letting you sleep until you do something to entertain me!"
Nemo shifted a little bit before finally getting comfortable to fall asleep, despite Chara's protests.
Death… Dust flying everywhere. Nemo was in Snowdin, though perhaps Dustin was a better name for this place, since it seemed like there was more of that than dust. Nemo couldn't move as the sounds of screams haunted his ears. "Honestly… it's pathetic." Suddenly a thorny vine wrapped around Nemo's neck and yanked him down to Flowey's eye level. "I can't believe you just stood by and let Chara kill everyone."
"N-no, I-" Said Nemo.
Flowey smiled menacingly at him as he looked over Nemo's shoulder at something. "Looks like they can't believe it either." He said. Flowey used the vine and forced Nemo back up and turned him around. His eyes widened at the sight of everyone. Toriel… a large gash in her midsection. Papyrus was holding his own head. Undyne was slowly turning to goo. Most of Mettaton's body was destroyed, he was just balancing on one leg, and his left arm was gone. Alphys's eyes were cracked to the point that he couldn't see her eyes. Asgore was sporting a slash that mirrored Toriel's. And Sans, with a chest slash that was profusely bleeding as his body slowly crumpled to dust.
"WHY?!" They all demanded at once, the volume of their combined voices making the inside of Nemo's head shake. "Why did you let us die!? Why didn't you stop them!?"
"Stop… please…" Nemo said weakly… tears falling from his eyes. He wanted to crawl into a ball and hide from it all, but he couldn't even make his finger twitch. All he could do was listen to them continue to scream at him. Suddenly there were multiple familiar slashing sounds. Nemo's eyes widened as they all faded to dust and vanished. In their place was Chara, who stared at him with an evil smile, black tears falling from their eyes. Their knife was powdered with the dust of countless monsters, his stolen scarf blowing in the wind.
"They're right you know, you failed Frisk, and now the dust of countless monsters is on their hands, as well as the memory of those atrocities forever lodged in their mind. I hope you're proud of yourself." Said Chara. Nemo blinked and in their place was Frisk, who was crying.
"Why…?" They asked. "Why didn't you help me? Why did you let Chara take me?" They slowly approached him and raised the knife as their face became dark and twisted like Chara's. "It's all your fault!" They then brought the knife down.
Nemo screamed as he jolted upright. He clutched the fabric of his shirt as he tried to calm his breathing. "Dream! Just a dream! More like a nightmare actually…" He thought.
"So… are you done?" Asked Chara. Nemo looked up to see them hiding under Frisk's bed. Frisk was standing on the bed in an awkward way to avoid familiar white objects from skewering them. Nemo blinked as he looked around to see a combination of spears and bones sticking out of the walls and floor, while parts of the room were covered in white fire. Nemo sighed as he desummoned the magic. The trio hear the thudding of footsteps. The door opened with a bang. They turned to see Toriel standing in the doorway, a look of worry in her eyes.
"My children, are you alright!?" She asked worriedly.
"We're fine, we're fine." Said Nemo as he waved off her concerns. "Just a bad dream."
"Oh… would you like to talk ab-?" She asked.
"No." Said Nemo, cutting her off.
"Ah… I see…" She said as she stood up. "Very well then, I shall leave you to rest. Don't be afraid to come to me if you ever need me."
Chara snorted. "I can't believe you of all people are saying something like that." They said sourly. The humans looked at them, but they didn't elaborate on their statement. Toriel, who couldn't see nor hear them, simply ignored Chara and left the room, closing the door behind herself. Nemo sighed and rested his head against the wall. "So… what was your dream about?"
Nemo gave them a tired look, lacking even the energy to glare. "Take a wild freaking guess." He said sourly.
"Ah…" Said Chara as they nodded their head.
Frisk jumped off the bed and walked over to him. "Nemo…?" They asked worriedly.
Nemo looked over at them, flinching slightly at the sight of them in that scarf, but he took a deep breath and pulled them in for a hug. "Dooon't worry 'bout me." He said tiredly. "Just get some sleep. We've got three days of this little house ahead of us."
"Mkay." Said Frisk, their voice muffled by their scarf. They exited the hug and went back to bed. Nemo sighed as he watched them lay down before Chara floated down next to him.
"So…" They said, but Nemo's glare caused them to trail off. "Nevermind." Nemo shifted away from them, but made no attempt to go back to sleep.
When Toriel came in with their pie, he didn't bother reacting, and pretended to sleep.
Page 43 End
