Chapter 24: Level Of Violence
When Asriel declared he wouldn't fight Chara anymore, Frisk smiled happily, and Chara chuckled. "So, you're not going to fight me anymore?" Asked Chara. "I guess that makes things easier for me." Asriel swallowed nervously as he saw Chara getting ready to attack. "It's ok to be scared Asriel." Said Chara. "I'll make this quick." Finished Chara before she used her special move. Asriel barely avoided the attack. "I know it's hard to believe, but I'm very happy to see you. It really is too bad, I hoped you would die with the first strike. It would have been easier for you. For both of us." When Chara finished speaking, she charged at Asriel and slashed at him three times with her knife, but he managed to avoid all the strikes.
"Chara, we don't have to do this." Said Asriel, but Chara just smiled back at him.
"Obviously I underestimated you. It's great to face a true challenge again." Said Chara before she landed a kick on Asriel, but he refused to fight back. "But I have to be honest, you not fighting back is making this less exciting." Said Chara before she slashed Asriel's arm with her knife.
A small wind stirred up flower petals from nearby as Asriel began to pray for help.
"Though, you were always that gentle, weren't you Asriel? I envied that. I envied all monsters for having such compassion." Admitted Chara before she landed another kick on Asriel while he continued to pray for help. "You were all so different from humans. When I fell down here you welcomed me like family." Chara shed a tear before continuing. "I-I just wanted to repay you all for your kindness… Was that really so wrong of me?" Asked Chara as she started making her scary face. "Oh well, in a few moments it won't matter."
Asriel continued to use his turn to pray for help before Chara continued.
"Because I've been saving something very important up until now." Said Chara as she slashed at Asriel six times, only for him to dodge the strikes. "A secret weapon of mine. So please, survive my next attack, Asriel. I really want you to appreciate this." Said Chara before she used her special attack, only for Asriel to dodge it and continue to pray.
"Finally, it's time to use my secret weapon." Said Chara as she took her locket in her left hand. "Ready?" Asked Chara. There was a blinding light coming from Chara, and when most of the light faded, Chara was engulfed in a red aura, and she held a red determination soul in her right hand. "What do you think? Does this little trinket look familiar?" Asked Chara. "That's right, its Frisk's soul, and before you ask, no, it's not the only one. I have ninety-nine of them to be exact." Explained Chara as several more determination souls appeared around the one in her hand. "From the Frisk's of the other timelines that came before this one. But they were not stolen, no, they were given to me. Given to me by all those committed genocide. I store them in my locket, which acts as a horcrux and stops my body from decaying. But even with all these souls, I still feel empty. But I know what I'm missing, I need you, Asriel. I need my best friend. So, once I take your new soul Asriel, we will finally be together forever. And I'll use every soul I have to keep you." When Chara finished, she crushed the soul in her hand, and all the souls surrounding it cracked as well. Then the souls released all of their power in a large explosion.
Asgore walked through the ruins and stopped right outside Toriel's house. "Come along now Asriel, we mustn't keep your mother waiting." Called Asgore.
"Coming!" Called Asriel as he followed Asgore.
"Now then human, I am proud to… Asriel, where did your new friend go?" Asked Asgore as he noticed that Chara wasn't with them.
"Don't worry Chara, this is where I live!" Called Asriel. "Come on out, you're safe here!"
Chara nervously walked up to Asriel. "Ah, there you are, now I understand you may not be accustomed to seeing monsters, and our home may not be able to compare to the surface, but we will be more than happy to accommodate you for as long as you wish." Said Asgore as he began walking towards the house.
"Come on Chara! Mom will be so happy to meet you!" Cheered Asriel. "She'll probably bake a pie to celebrate. And then I can show you my room and… ha-ha, sorry if I'm getting too excited. I've never really had a friend before." Admitted Asriel.
"Asriel my child, come inside, your father tells me you have a guest!" Called Toriel.
"Ready Chara? Let's go give her the big news." Said Asriel before he and Chara began walking towards the house.
Asriel groaned in pain as he woke up on the ground, he looked down and saw his entire body was covered in injuries from Chara's last attack. How did I survive that? Wondered Asriel before he looked down at his locket, which was still unharmed. Oh… That's right. The River-person said my soul exist in my locket now, so as long as that's undamaged, I can't die. Asriel then looked around the room and saw that while Frisk and her friends had been knocked over by the blast Chara caused, they were mostly unharmed.
"I don't understand, why are you still alive?" Asked Chara. "Is your soul really that powerful? Yes, I see now. I cannot expect you to die so easily. So be it; if we are to be together, I must give you, everything." Said Chara as she continued to emit a red aura.
She looks impatient. I gotta wrap this up soon. Thought Asriel as he made it to his feet. Asriel prayed for help and his injuries began to heal.
"No two Frisks were alike Asriel. Unlike us they changed with ever timeline." Explained Chara before she summoned more determination souls and fired them at Asriel. "Some tall, some small, some young, some old, some boys, some girls. And none of them were ever satisfied."
Asriel continued to pray while Chara fired more soul blast at him, and then punched him with much more force than she had before. "Every one of them eventually turned to genocide. And when I lost hope that they would change, I finished the job." Explained Chara as she summoned a circle of souls around Asriel, which then detonated creating a large explosion.
Asriel and Chara sat at a table drawing while Toriel sat nearby reading. Chara was drawing a golden flower, while Asriel was drawing an angel. Asriel turns to Chara and gives her a friendly smile, which she gladly returns.
"Your soul pulses with life. You are filled with, DETERMINATION!" Screamed the voices of the fallen children from deep within Asriel's soul.
"Please hold on." Whispered Asriel, before he gave Chara a loving smile, greatly confusing her.
"I don't understand, I've thrown almost every soul I have at you. But you're still alive, why?" Asked Chara before she fired six more soul blast at Asriel and kicked him.
Asriel hissed in pain from where the soul blast had burned him, but smiled as he said, "Heh, don't worry Chara. I'm still your best friend."
"Can't you see? This Frisk will get bored and reset." Said Chara before she fired three more soul blast, all of which missed Asriel.
Chara needs me. Thought Asriel before he hugged Chara tightly. Chara started to tear up, but quickly struggled free.
"I don't want to be alone anymore. I don't want to kill anymore." Said Chara.
"Bull sh-" Sans was cut off when Frisk and Toriel covered his mouth.
"I just want this to end. I just want to be with you." Said Chara to Asriel. "Asriel, I love you so much." Confessed Chara. "So please, DIE!" When Chara finished, she fired every soul she had left at Asriel, but the tears in her eyes made her miss severely. "Please! Please die!" Begged Chara as she began slashing Asriel as many times as she could, before she eventually slowed to a stop. "I…I can't." Cried Chara as she fell to her knees and dropped her knife. "I gave you everything I had, and still, I couldn't finish the job. Heh, not with you making that face." Said Chara.
"What face?" Asked Asriel as he gave Chara a goofy smile, making her chuckle.
"You big dork." Laughed Chara. "I've been stuck here, just like you. Trapped in a nightmare I can't escape from. I don't know what keeps me here, is it some kind of punishment?" Asked Chara as tears ran down from her eyes. "I know I can't beat you. Without those souls, this form will perish."
"Well, I'll give you my soul!" Declared Asriel.
"No… I can't take your soul. The other fallen children wanted to give you a second chance, I shouldn't ruin it." Said Chara as she felt herself begin to lose consciousness. "I can feel it now, I'm fading. I guess this is goodbye."
"No, please! I can't lose you again!" Cried Asriel as he hugged Chara tightly, this time with her hugging back.
"I don't want to let go." Said Chara. "I don't want to." She repeated. "I don't-" As the light left Chara's eyes her body turned cold very quickly.
Chara and Asriel sat on a cliff overlooking the underground palace. There were blue glowing plants that looked like stars on the ceiling of the underground. "Is this what you wanted to show me?" Asked Chara.
"Yeah, this is my favorite view in the whole underground!" Cheered Asriel. "Do you like it?"
"Yes, I do." Replied Chara. "The stars seem so real."
"They do? Is that what stars look like?" Asked Asriel. "I wouldn't know, I've never seen the- Chara? Are you ok?"
"Do you hate humans Asriel?" Asked Chara. "They hurt your people so much. They trapped you down here. So, do you hate them?"
"Nah, I don't hate humans." Said Asriel. "Sure, some might be mean, but they can't be all bad. You're living proof of that."
"I can't stand it." Said Chara. "Knowing that they trapped you down here. That I'm part of that species. I wish I wasn't human, that way, Toriel and Asgore wouldn't have to look at me like-"
"Chara don't talk like that!" Cried Asriel. "Mom and Dad love you, and so do I. I wanted to give this to you when we got back, but…" Asriel then gave Chara a golden heart shaped locket.
"A locket?" Asked Chara.
"I don't care what you are Chara." Said Asriel. "Human, monster, angel, demon. You will always be my best friend."
"'Best Friends Forever' I'll cherish it." Said Chara after reading the inscription on the locket. "Always."
Asriel cried heavily over Chara's body, while Frisk and Toriel tried to comfort him. "This isn't right." Said Frisk. "Someone has to help." Frisk then held out her hand and summoned her red heart shaped soul.
"My child, what are you doing?" Asked Toriel with concern.
"I'm Chara's reincarnation, so this soul is hers, I was just borrowing it." Replied Frisk, but before she could do anything, Sans grabbed her arm.
"Don't do anything you're going to regret." Said Sans.
"She has Asriel back; she won't kill anymore." Said Frisk.
"And what if something happens to him?" Asked Sans.
"With more time, I know we can help her." Answered Frisk.
"…Fine, you're lucky we still have a spare soul lying around." Said Sans as he held out his hand and the red determination soul he had collected earlier appeared, making the red glow in his right eye fade. Sans put the soul into Chara, and shortly after she coughed violently as she regained consciousness.
"Azzy?" Asked Chara as she opened her eyes, revealing that they both had red irises, but the rest of her left eye was still completely black.
"Ah! She still has the soul eater eye! Take her down!" Yelled Undyne as she summoned a spear.
"Wait!" Yelled Asriel.
"My eye was always like that, the people in my hometown thought I was a demon because of it. That's why I was abused, and why I climbed Mt. Ebott." Explained Chara.
"Chara, I'm so glad you're ok. I love you." Declared Asriel as he kissed Chara and she returned it lovingly.
"Aww." Admired the group.
Chara then pushed Asriel onto his back and began kissing him more passionately. "Uh." Stammered the group as Toriel covered Frisk's eyes. Frisk ducked under Toriel's hands, only to have Sans block her view with his arm.
"Chara, Asriel, there are others present." Said Asgore. When Chara and Asriel realized they were being watched they both quickly stood up and brushed themselves off.
"Any particular reason you ducked under Tori's hands kiddo?" Asked Sans.
"Well… Papyrus got to look." Replied Frisk.
"No, he didn't, I covered his eyes." Said Undyne.
"ACTUALLY UNDYNE, I DUCKED UNDER YOUR HANDS." Admitted Papyrus. "IN MY DEFENSE, IF YOU WEREN'T WATCHING THEM, YOU WOULD HAVE NOTICED."
"So, what do we do now?" Asked Alphys.
"HMM, I HAVE AN IDEA." Said Papyrus confidently. "IN ORDER TO HELP CHARA REENTER SOCIETY, I, THE GREAT PAPYRUS, WILL PERSONALLY GIVE HER GOODNESS LESSONS UNTIL SHE'S ALMOST AS GREAT A PERSON AS I AM!"
Most of the group was thrilled by this idea, but Chara just groaned in annoyance. "Am I really going to have to-" Chara was cut off when she suddenly began coughing violently. She covered her mouth with her hands because she knew more blood was about to come out and she didn't want to worry the group. However, when Chara finished coughing, she still had blood on her lips, and worst of all she saw petals from the Buttercups she had used to poison herself all those years ago covered with blood in her hands. The entire group stared in horror as Chara fell to her knees. "I d-don't believe it." Said Chara. "After all this time… those things are still inside me."
"What happened?" Asked Frisk.
"T-the flowers Chara poisoned herself with, t-they must have been preserved inside of her along with her body." Said Alphys.
"Well how do we help her?" Asked Toriel firmly.
"Uh… W-well, i-if we can get Chara to my lab in Hotland. I m-might be able to help her." Replied Alphys nervously.
"Don't worry Chara, I can carry you." Said Asriel, but before he could do anything Chara spoke.
"No." Said Chara.
"Why not?" Asked Asriel.
"…I don't want to get blood in your fur." Admitted Chara.
"Seriously?" Groaned Undyne in annoyance. "Listen here little miss OCD." Said Undyne as she picked Chara up by her collar. "We're going to help you, whether you like it or not." When Undyne finished she dropped Chara into Toriel's arms, then said, "Now let's get going." With that, the group began running towards the ruins.
"Wait, Sans, couldn't you and Papyrus just shortcut Chara and Alphys to the lab?" Asked Frisk quietly to Sans.
"Well, yeah, but I'm not about to risk letting Chara away from the group." Replied Sans.
"Come on, she's in no condition to start another fight." Said Frisk.
"If there's one thing I've learned about what that girl is capable of, it's that I don't know what that girl is capable of." Replied Sans. "But don't worry, I'm sure this will all work out."
Frisk felt a little better after hearing that Sans believed things would work out, but she still felt nervous for what was about to come.