Chara kept staring at the intruder in the eyes, the injured human was not moving. It seemed like they were waiting for Chara to do something, either that or they just didn't know what to do.
The first fallen human did the best they could to keep a straight face, to continue to look calm and collected. Chara couldn't let the enemy know that they were panicked on the inside.
This was surely the last chance they would get to protect the underground from this threat, this unstoppable time traveling human.
If they got past Chara… They'd destroy them all wouldn't they ? Asgore… Toriel… Asriel…. Everyone.
They had no room for error.
Chara needed to get the human to give up. They didn't care what it took to achieve this goal, they only needed to make sure that one way or another, they wouldn't be a threat anymore.
And for this, they had one last trick up their sleeve.
A single drop a sweat rolled down Chara's face as they felt the touch of the hidden button on their finger. It was the last chance they had. One moment was all it would take them to press it and depending on Chara's action in the next few minutes, this press of a button would either save or doom monsterkind.
As the 'future of humans and monsters', they were used to being under somewhat high pressure, but nothing ever came remotely close to this. The rest of their life and that of everyone they cared about would be determined by what they did right now.
They had to put themself in the place of their enemy, what would be the worst possible outcome for them ?
"Tori ?" The king called out, sounding slightly worried.
"What is it Gorey ?" Toriel asked as she entered the living room and nuzzled her nose with Asgore's. This made the two of them share a short laugh.
Asriel, who was also in the room along with some crayons and paper, hid his face in his hands. Watching his parents being like this to each other made him uncomfortable.
"Have you seen Chara ?" Asgore asked, going back to a more serious tone. "Weren't they supposed to come back from Home almost half an hour ago now ?"
Toriel's expression shifted. "No, I have not seen them. That Snowdrake better not have distracted them again or his father will hear from me."
"That little comedian ?" Asgore wondered. "I thought that after how much he was grounded by his father the last time he did something like this, he wouldn't risk delaying Chara for this long with his jokes again."
"Maybe they are just late ?" Asriel proposed after having overheard his parents talking.
Toriel was usually rather strict when it came to this stuff, she knew that her child was very aware of this and thus doubted that Chara would just blatantly disobey her like this.
She decided to wait just a little longer, but if they didn't come back in the very near future, someone would have to go look for them and Chara would be grounded when they returned.
Frisk had no choice. The only way to go for them was forward, however the human with rosy cheeks stood in their way. There was nothing that they could do aside from waiting to see what they would do, either that or running away back to where they came from if they really had to.
They were afraid, afraid that any second the other human would bring out their dagger again and try to slit their throat with it. It didn't matter if they could come back, the pain would still be just as real. They maintained eye contact while remaining as close to the door as possible in case they had to flee.
What now ? Was... was either of them actually going to do something instead of just staring at the other in the eyes ?
As they examined their attempted murderer again, Frisk noticed that they were a bit sweaty and… Were they slightly trembling as well ?
If it wasn't for the fact that they were still holding a knife in their direction with one hand, it would almost have looked like they were the one that was scared of Frisk.
The other human's second hand was pressed against the wall, their fingers slipping inside of a small crack in it.
Against all expectations, the human in a green striped shirt let out a sigh before slowly lowering their weapon over the span of a few seconds.
"L-listen…" They begun.
Frisk said nothing but kept looking at them, eventually they gave a very quick nod to signal that they were willing to listen. Frisk easily liked this alternative over risking to get stabbed.
"I… Im sorry for earlier." They added. "I wasn't in my right mind, i was just afraid and I acted on impulse."
Were they actually apologising for what they tried to do to them ? This wasn't the turn of events Frisk had been expecting.
"I know its difficult to trust me after what happened, but I mean it." The other human smiled at them.
Frisk was really uncertain of what to make of this situation. They weren't sure about this after how it ended the last time they acted nice, however they couldn't deny that it felt good to hear some sort of remorse from them.
They examined the other human's expression again, they were trying to smile but Frisk could tell that it was fake, they were stressed about something. Maybe they feared Frisk wouldn't accept their apology, they definitly had the right to after all, attempted murder wasn't an easy thing to forgive.
But in that case, it would also mean that they were sincere.
"I… I messed up okay ? Can we just… Start over from the beginning ? Please ?" The human continued.
Frisk was always too trusting in nature, it caused them a fair share of problems on the surface. They were a 'forgive and forget' person, but could they really still give them another chance after this ?
"L-look !" The human with rosy cheek threw their knife away behind them, now being completely unarmed.
"See ? There's nothing to be afraid of." Chara tried to sound as convincing as they could.
Frisk was hesitating.
The only way for them to go was forward wasn't it ? They needed a way for the human in a green-yellow striped shirt to let them pass one way or another. Besides, would it really be a good idea to get on their bad side again by refusing their offer ? They just threw away their weapon, they wouldn't try to hurt them again right ?
Frisk could barely believe they were doing this, but they gave them a silent nod.
"Thank you !" The other human sounded so cheery, was that really the same person who had tried to kill them earlier today ? "Come here, I've got something to show you." They added along with a hand gesture.
At the moment, Frisk was still standing just near the door, but after hearing this they finally let it go.
The room they were in was like most other rooms down here, the only noticeable features it had were a sign on the wall, a sort of button on the ground and another small patch of gray floor which was clearly deactivated as Frisk had seen the other child stepping on it previously without making sure to step on a particular tile.
They advanced a little bit and gave a quick look in in direction of the sign, it said something about pushing rocks but there were no rocks around here anyways.
Frisk made eye contact with the other human child again before finally getting the courage to make their way towards them. They were currently a few steps away from each other with the line of gray floor at the halfway point between them.
As soon as Frisk stepped over the line, they heard a click, they instinctively looked at the second child again to find that they were smiling. But it wasn't a cheery smile this time, it was a malicious one.
The next moment, an indescribable pain burned through their lower body again as their legs were transperced by spikes again. Frisk screamed their soul out before falling forward, unable to stand anymore. Their upper body laid on the other side of the room, just next to the other human whilst the lower part remained stuck impaled.
After a few more moments of pure agony, another click was heard and the spikes pulled out of their legs and back into the ground. However, in the same way that pulling out the knife after being stabbed only made the injury worse, it merely caused them to bleed out even faster.
The other human removed their fingers from the small crack in the wall, allowing Frisk to see that there was actually a hidden button there. Surely the one that controlled the spikes. They were the one who just did this to them.
Frisk hurt as much physically as mentally while tears ran down their cheeks again. They had been betrayed, They had attempted to give them a chance only to be backstabbed at the first occasion. All that apologising was just a trick to gain their trust and make them fall for this.
They were unsurprisingly unable to move their legs anymore, Frisk tried to drag themself away from the trap to avoid any chance of it firing again but the pain made it hard to concentrate on any kind of task.
Frisk looked at their legs for a split second. This turned out to be a horrible mistake. They couldn't handle the gore and ended up puking just a few seconds later. They now laid in a pool of their own blood, tears and vomit. It was disgusting.
They attempted to use their power to go back to the past again, but it didn't work. They weren't able to concentrate enough to use their power as they couldn't focus on anything but the pain.
Chara looked away from the disgusting spectacle they had caused, they might have had a certain tolerance towards these kinds of disturbing sights but they weren't certain they'd able to stare at it for too long either.
They had actually been slightly off with their shot, if they had fired it with the right timing, it could have pierced through most of their body which would have certainly killed them in seconds. This was what had most likely happened a bit earlier although Chara wasn't here to see it.
Instead, they had clicked the button ever so slightly late, which led to only their legs being hit while the rest of their body made it past the trap.
However, now that Chara thought about it, maybe this was actually a good thing. Perhaps a non lethal hit might actually benefit them more in the end when it came to reaching their goal.
In between the screaming and crying that the injured human was doing in irregular intervals, Chara distinctly heard a call for help.
"Mom... Dad... Anyone help me..."
It wasn't loud, barely more than a whisper, but they were. They were crying for their parents for help like a little child.
...Even if they were just a child, it didn't change anything. They were a human and a threat. Chara was just doing what they had to save monsterkind.
They took a quick look at their victim again. They had almost done it, they were at their mercy and they appeared to be already broken for the most part, in both body and mind.
Chara didn't really have the time to improvise much of a plan yet, the human had managed to go back in time even when they were supposedly killed earlier on so that meant that there was no way Chara could actually kill them for good. No matter what Chara would have to let them live, but they had to do so in a way that ensured that they would never be a menace to anyone for the rest of their life.
After a bit of consideration, Chara took a decision.
They knelt down next to Frisk, the latter didn't look at at them but instead just kept weeping against the floor. Chara held Frisk under their shoulders and rolled them around so that their were now facing towards the ceiling rather than the floor. Frisk didn't have the strength nor the courage to attempt to resist Chara and let it happen.
The first fallen human then dragged Frisk along slightly until their chest was positioned just above the spike trap. They then got back up and made their way back to where the button was. As soon as Frisk noticed that detail, their survival instinct began burning like wildfire, knowing that if the second child pressed that button again they would...
Using the energy they still had left, Frisk did the only thing they could. They begged.
"No ! Please ! Not again…" They pleaded as Chara's fingers caressed the hidden button.
They had no intention of actually using it, they were just doing this to get Frisk to react, the injured human had no idea of course.
"Why wouldn't i ?" Chara questioned them.
"I-im scared… It hurts… Please don't kill me..."
It seemed that despite their apparent immortality, the human was still extremely afraid of death. This was very good news for Chara. They could use this to their advantage.
"Give me one valid reason to spare your life." They asked as they brought their hand back to them.
"I-i…" Frisk only had a couple seconds before Chara interrupted them again, they didn't actually intend on giving them a chance to answer.
"That's what i thought." They concluded. Bringing their hand back to the button.
"Wait ! Stop ! I'll do anything you want !" Frisk begged them again, Chara stopped.
They had told them this once before, but last time they were just improvising anything they could to save their life with no knowledge of their power yet. This time they knew that they could just come back, if they were still willing to make this bargain, it meant that what they really feared wasn't the act of dying itself but rather the horrors Chara could put them through.
They actually had leverage over them. The time traveling threat was actually more willing to obey to whatever Chara wanted rather than to continue this any longer. They has actually reached their limit, Chara had broken them mentally, they had won.
Well almost, Chara wasn't taking risks, they wanted to make things more official and more clear. They had to be certain the other human child would never attempt anything again.
They brought out their knife and walked up to Frisk, their eyes widened as they thought Chara was about to kill them. Instead, Chara stuck the knife right against their throat but didn't actually hurt them.
"Are you certain ?" They asked the injured child.
Frisk didn't move, but they made an approbating sound. Anything over having to go through one of those spike traps again, never had they been so afraid of any kind of machinery.
"Do you promise that you will always obey to anything i tell you without question ?" Chara repeated.
Frisk swallowed their saliva before making another nodding sound... What were they signing up for ?
"Say it." They asked.
With their voice still trembling, Frisk did as they were instructed. "I p-promise that I will always obey to a-anything you tell me without question."
"Do you understand what will happen if you ever disobey me ?" Chara pressed the knife a bit harder against their skin.
"Y-yes." They answered.
"Good." Chara finally got back up. "First of all, no more time shenanigans." This was the number one thing that Chara was concerned about. That weird ability of theirs made them so much more dangerous than they already were.
Frisk wanted to say that they didn't really understand how that power worked very well themself, but their counterpart had made it very clear they wouldn't take anything but acceptance as an answer.
"Yes."
"Get up." They asked afterwards.
Frisk attempted to get up but they weren't able to, their legs just couldn't support their body in the state they were in. Chara sighed and took something out of their pocket that they had picked earlier to prevent Frisk from getting any of it : some monster candy.
"Eat this." They handed it to Frisk, who silently obeyed. Once they did, they were surprised to see that they felt suddenly much better, they were still in great pain but they were fairly certain they would at least be able to walk now.
When they got up, Chara went behind them and held them like one would hold an hostage. They also put their knife on Frisk's throat again, but it wasn't pressed as much as the times before. It seemed like this time it was more of a safety measure of intimidation method than an actual threat.
"No sudden movements." The voice that they could no longer see added before slowly guiding them forward. There were a couple more puzzles on the way but they seemed to already know the answers to all of them.
After a few more minutes of walking, they made it to what appeared to be an old house with a tree in front of it, it had no leaves, it seemed that whenever it grew any they fell off shortly after. Frisk got slightly distracted by it and stopped, they quickly resumed what they were doing when they felt metal against their flesh again.
Their captor led them to a dead end with nothing but the door to a room 'under renovations'. To Frisk's surprise, the other child let them go and instead went to remove the planks blocking the way to it. They opened the door and ordered Frisk to go inside.
Once they did, they locked Frisk in the room.
Chara let out a sigh of relief, as long as things kept going the way they were, the human wouldn't be a threat in the near future.
"Asriel ?" Asgore asked. "Can you go search for Chara ? Your mother has been getting… pretty tense." Just as he said that, they both heard Toriel complaining about something on the phone, she was probably asking monsters if anyone had seen Chara.
Asriel was fine with it, he had finished his drawing anyways.
"Alright, i'll go find out what Chara's doing."