Sorry this took so long; May is the busiest time of year and there was so much that I did not have time to write unfortunately. However, I do have most of the rest of this planned out, for what assurances that provides. Thanks for sticking with and I'll aim to speed up the updates as we get into the summer. This is bit of a slower chapter as we move to set up the second half of the story and spend a bit more time with Toriel and Sans.

Chapter 14 – To Do Better

When you wake up in the morning, tell yourself: the people I deal with today will be meddling, ungrateful, arrogant, dishonest, jealous and surly. They are like this because they can't tell good from evil. But I have seen the beauty of good, and the ugliness of evil, and have recognized that the wrongdoer has a nature related to my own - not of the same blood and birth, but the same mind, and possessing a share of the divine. And so none of them can hurt me. No one can implicate me in ugliness. Nor can I feel angry at my relative, or hate him. We were born to work together like feet, hands and eyes, like the two rows of teeth, upper and lower. To obstruct each other is unnatural. To feel anger at someone, to turn your back on him: these are unnatural.

-"Meditations," Marcus Aurelius

When Frisk had first seen Chara there, alive and well, rifle on her shoulder and her head tilted at that certain angle that just oozed lethal confidence, she'd been unable to contain herself, plunging into her and knocking both of them onto the ground. She was glad that Sans hadn't followed her; she wouldn't have wanted him to see her crying, see them hold each other and fuss over each other and be glad they were both here and alive.

"You're back," Frisk choked out, burying her face into Chara and feeling both the softness of her skin and the sharp angles of her armor and knowing she was alive and back with her.

"Yeah. I'm back," Chara pulled Frisk off a bit so she could rest her forehead against Frisk's, the two sitting there together.

"You . . . remember?"

" . . . yeah. Parts of it," Chara nodded, but her gaze never left Frisk's. She wished she could be so strong.

"I'm not sure if the others . . . if the monsters do. They're all back too."

"How?" Chara asked, and Frisk could only shrug and offer her best guess.

"The VOLUSPA heard me. After . . ."

" . . . after?" Chara prompted. Frisk swallowed hard, the scenes from outside the barrier replaying in her head, and she couldn't help the flinch as she remembered Winter's hopeless voice on the comms, her own despondent screams, that horrible red sky –

"Od – Odinsleep," Frisk stammered out. She felt Chara tense up at that; that was all she needed to say.

"Seven hells," Chara cursed, a hand on her shoulder in silent apology. "I'm sorry I wasn't there with you. We'll be faster this time. Now we know exactly what we're up against."

Frisk's heart sank deep as Chara spoke, and for the first time, she spoke up against her.

"No."

"Hmm?" Chara asked, cocking her head at the interruption.

"No. No more killing."

"This is what we do, Frisk," Chara crossed her arms. "It's who we are. And we already know that they want to kill us. Nothing has changed."

"Even so," Frisk said, facing Chara down. "We can get through without any death. The Aufheben Drive can get us through the barrier and we make it to a shelter. No one has to die; the monsters aren't part of our war."

"And? Chara cocked her head. "So what if they aren't?"

"They deserve better than us."

"They deserve nothing," Chara countered, her voice growing colder with each word. "If we remember, who's to say they won't? They'll come for us. And I will not just stand around and take it."
"Chara . . ." Frisk grabbed Chara's hand; she resisted at first with a scoff, but eventually acquiesced to Frisk's touch. "When I . . . when I was alone, at the end," Frisk forced herself to talk, that all-consuming chill filling her with the thought of that moment. "There was nothing. I was alone and there was nothing." An abyss, a void that there was no coming back from. But the light of the VOLUSPA was there. "All I had was a single wish. Please. Just once, I want . . ." I want to matter. I want my life to have meant something. I want to have done at least one good thing before the end. "I want to save them. Someone, anyone."

"Pft," Chara rolled her eyes, but she relaxed her stance, her shoulders lowering when she looked at Frisk, took in what she was saying. "Fine. I see what this means to you. We'll do it your way. But don't complain when it all falls apart. You'll see."

"Chara!" Frisk grabbed hold of her again, and Chara held her close. Frisk would do it; she could make this work. They would be okay, and this time it would be better. It had to be better.

A pop and a buzzing static in the air stopped the conversation cold, and both Frisk and Chara immediately snapped their attention over towards the door, the muzzle of Chara's rifle aimed into the dark and holding steady. Frisk's hand reached behind her back, seizing hold of her own rifle.

" . . . this is where you first met that flower, right?" Frisk asked.

"Yep. Think he's back too?"

"I'm not waiting to find out. You've got five!" Frisk called out in challenge, unholstering her rifle and stepping forward. She didn't want to use it, wanted to do things differently this time, but that monstrosity was different. She would put him down a thousand more times if she got the chance. No one was ever taking Chara from her again. Just the thought made her finger itch, her heart beat faster and faster-

"whoa, whoa," Sans walked out with Toriel, hands in the air. "just us. you were taking a while so we came over to check 'sall. no need to be all jumpy."

"Sorry to startle you, girls!" Toriel said.

Frisk lifted her finger from the trigger, pulling the muzzle away and taking in a deep breath as if coming up for air. God, but she'd almost just . . .

"As a heads-up, don't try to sneak up on us. It won't end well," Chara scowled. She didn't lower her weapon until Frisk shook her head at her, then rolled her eyes but acquiesced, propping her weapon on her shoulder as Frisk holstered hers. "Ugh. Honestly, Frisk."

"we playing nice? all good?"

"Unless you piss me off," Chara shrugged.

How long had Sans been there? Had he been spying on them? The thought hurt, but she supposed it was fair of him to distrust them. It was fine; she wasn't here to make friends with them. That bridge had been burned. She was here to ensure their survival. That would be enough.

"I told you. We're not here to fight," Frisk said, her voice (mostly) steady. "We just need to get through the barrier." They could break through it even without a soul; they did it last time with the VOLUSPA. She could do it this time with the Aufheben Drive. Leave, make it to an Odinsleep shelter, and then . . .

Go to sleep and keep fighting when she woke up. In a hundred years, or five hundred. A thousand or ten thousand. Take back the planet and keep the forever war going. She was Sovereign, and Sovereign never stopped fighting.

Not until they broke.

". . . have we met?" Toriel asked, staring a bit closer at Chara. "I met your friend just a bit earlier, but I could swear I have seen you before as well. Yes, I'm sure of it!"

Frisk and Chara looked at each other. Guess that answered that question; they did remember. That . . . complicated things.

"Something like that," Chara said. "Lt. Chara-STF16, Sovereign Task Force, Team Three. You've met Frisk, you said. That makes this easier."

"You are . . . fighters?"

"Soldiers. ISAF Special Weapons Group, currently attached to the Brionac Expeditionary Force," Chara replied nonchalantly. "As ranking officer, I'm currently in command."

"But . . . you're just children."

"Flash-grown juvenile bodies accept the modifications easier than adults," Chara replied again in the same tone that she was explaining why the sky was blue or the grass was green. It was what it was. "Or are you implying that I'm not fit to lead?" Her voice grew dangerous at that, a sharp glint in her eye. Frisk knew where this was going.

"She's just confused," Frisk stepped in, waving Chara down (she scoffed and turned away to pout). "Remember, we're back at the beginning." She turned to Toriel and continued. "Above, everyone fights. We, Humanity, are in a war for survival." Were in one. They'd lost. They'd lost everything, everything and everyone and there was only the scorching red fire burning through rock and steel and skin . . .

No. Not now. Push it down, so far down it never comes back up. She could mourn later. She was an Erinye. She was Sovereign, and Sovereign never stopped. She never stopped, couldn't ever afford to stop.

"You should stay down here. Tell everyone you know," Frisk said after a moment, hoping the aching hurt in her chest hadn't shown in her eyes. It was so much easier behind the visor, just a faceless weapon. So much simpler. "It's dangerous on the Surface."

"is that why you came back?"

"What do you mean by 'came back?'" Toriel asked, her voice wary. She looked between them all, and Frisk got the feeling that she was starting to piece things together.

"Back in time. Through a retrocausal weapon," Frisk explained, then realized that that was not a very good explanation. "This is not the first time we have gone through the Underground. So, believe me when I tell you that I know what is coming. I know what is out there. And you do not want to encounter it."

"so you're back out of the goodness of your hearts? that's very generous," Sans said, in just the right tone to suggest he thought the exact opposite. "last time, you were desperate to get out. you had a 'duty,' you told me. now you've got spare time? what changed?"

What changed? She had seen it. The end of everything. True death.

She felt her stomach begin to turn at the thought of it all and swallowed down a wave of nausea, turning her head. She couldn't stand to look at them right now.

"Are you all right, my child?" Toriel asked, stepping forward and reaching for her, but Chara got in the way, stepping in front and forming a wall with her body, giving Frisk space. "What is the matter, dear?"

"Do not call me that," Chara hissed. "I am not your 'dear child' or anything of the sort. And you're not touching her."

"It's okay," Frisk gasped out, taking control of herself. "I'm okay. Let's just go." Frisk took hold of Chara, began to try to pull her away. Sans stayed in the way.

"listen, i want to believe you, honest, but you realize the position we're in," Sans said. "i ain't letting it happen again."

"If you leave, then Asgore will kill . . ." Toriel was about to fret, when she suddenly gasped, pulling back and covering her mouth with a paw.

"You remember, then," Chara said, her face grim. "We aren't afraid of Asgore."

"We're killers, too," Frisk whispered.

" . . . even so. You're both children, and you are hurt. At least stay and rest some," Toriel said, hovering nearby, hesitant to reach out but unwilling to leave the matter alone. Her face, while pale behind that white fur, held a resolve that Frisk envied. She reminded Frisk of Holloway, doting and caring, and Frisk found herself captivated. Would she have been able to offer that level of kindness to someone that had hurt her, killed her? It would have been nice to accept, but . . .

" . . . you don't want us. We're heading for the barrier. No one will be hurt this time. Just stay here and stay safe, please."

Frisk made to leave and this time Sans didn't stand in their way. The pair made it back out into the bitter cold of the forest before Chara spoke up.

"You okay?"

Frisk shook her head in response. No, she really wasn't. But that didn't matter. They had a job to do, and it was time to get moving.