Morning, Frisk. 'Morning, Chara.' The two told each other at the exact same time when they got up on Monday, which made them giggle a little.
Frisk quickly jumped out of bed and immediately almost tripped. Chara had to take control of their leg for a moment to prevent them from starting their day on the bad foot. Both figuratively and literally.
Hey, careful.
"Thanks." the younger child whispered before walking out. Frisk usually had a pretty good balance, Chara didn't know many people capable of stacking 29 hotdogs or a literal sphere on their head without dropping them after all. It was quite odd for them to trip so easily. Then again, Toriel's document did mention loss of balance among the possible symptoms for their condition, so they guessed it wasn't that surprising either.
One of the good sides of what was happening to them was that it made eating more convenient. Having most of their tastes now in common made it easier for them to agree on what to eat rather than having to make deals or compromises. Sure, these compensations paled in comparison to the worry it brought them, but well-
'Might as well focus on the positives, right ?' Frisk completed Chara's thought for them while showing some cereal in their mouth. They would have taken chocolate ones if they could, now that they were able to enjoy these as well as Chara did, but of course Toriel had not bought any as Frisk was not really a fan until now.
They actually felt a bit more in shape today than they did yesterday. That was likely for the best, it would have been too bad to go on what would probably be their last day of school for a few days while feeling unwell.
Toriel waved them goodbye when they were about to leave for school and reminded them that they would be going to the hospital once they came back. This was not necessary, Frisk had not forgotten.
There was only a slight breeze outside. This was the kind of weather that Frisk liked. Today though, they didn't feel like running through the wind or anything.
In fact, Frisk was not really walking normally, they were more just shambling about. Dragging their feet from place to place. Chara could feel that Frisk's body felt a little sluggish. Their movements were ample and stiff, they didn't feel very natural.
Are you stressed ? Obviously, Chara could feel that they were, but they couldn't tell wether this was the reason as to why they seemed tense while walking.
'Of course i'm a little stressed. How could i not be ?' Frisk answered while wiping away some sweat. They were however uncertain as well regarding what Chara was thinking about. They weren't tired, like they had noticed earlier, they felt pretty much alright today. Their body just seemed a little heavy to carry around.
Though considering all that happened recently, Frisk knew they shouldn't dismiss it like that. It was probably not 'nothing'. As Chara had thought of earlier, it was likely another new symptom of their condition. They would just have to be careful not to fall over today, they guessed.
The young human had the luck of not living far from school. It was just a few minutes away. Sometimes, when their schedule matched, Toriel even accompanied them as she took care of a class of kids younger than they were at the same school. Today though, she started a few hours later and would finish a couple hours after Frisk as well.
The number of other kids walking near them grew as they got closer to their destination. Frisk was going a bit slower than them.
Paying attention in class was somewhat difficult when they had so many things on their mind. Chara had to frequently give Frisk inner pokes to make sure that they were listening. This was made even harder by the fact that Chara didn't really have anything to learn from this class, which meant that Frisk could know everything that was being said pretty much immediately through their link.
However, they were not actually learning anything, it was just Chara's own knowledge which made them feel as if they had understood, not Frisk's. Frisk themself grasped the concepts instinctively through Chara, but would not actually learn much themself if they stopped at that. If they wanted to actually learn what was being said in the long run and not forget how to do it once their current 'condition' was fixed, they had to keep on focusing and go through the process they were studying over and over again.
It was difficult to tell the difference between Frisk knowing how to find the answer and Frisk finding it through Chara's thought process. This meant that it was hard to know when they were actually done with an exercise or a property and could move on to the next one or not.
It felt slow. It felt to Frisk as if they were spending ages working on things that they knew how to solve. If school was already tiring before, it was nothing in comparison to this. They felt like they were making no progress, even if they were. There was nothing to try and understand for them. They were just repeating the same things in their mind over and over until they eventually arbitrarily decided that it must have been enough for Frisk's consciousness to retain it. Every hour felt like an eternity.
They were actually really glad that this would only last a day. Frisk might have ended up hating school within a couple weeks if they had to keep this up for longer. They didn't have many words for it other than that it just sucked and they wanted it to be over as quickly as possible.
Frisk felt relieved when the bell finally rang to signal the end of class. Chara, who at that point was mostly zoned out, suddenly regained their focus as well.
Hey, can we-
'Get something from the vending machine ? Sure !' They finished once again before Chara could do it. As much as they enjoyed being close enough to each other to do these things, they both wondered if they should be worried that it was becoming a bit more frequent for them to have matching thoughts...
They hurried to take their treat, but took their time to savor it. They were lagging behind the other students which were already leaving while they ate.
Once they were done, the pair went through their planning again as they headed home. Now all they would have to do was to get there and wait for Toriel to pick them up. After that, they didn't really knew for how long would they be in the hospital. Hopefully not too long, but they had the feeling it would be several days. Maybe even longer. They should probably have taken some time to text goodbye to their friends first.
Had Toriel warned their school that they would be absent for some time ? She probably had by now, they couldn't imagine Toriel forgetting about it.
Maybe they cou-
Frisk suddenly screamed.
They felt a pain not unlike that of a blade shoved into their head (Frisk really wish they didn't knew what that felt like. But unfortunately, they did.)
It was happening again. They were having another spike. It was as if the tissues inside their head were tearing themselves apart. Their legs were trembling and...
and...
It stopped ?
They breathed in and out slowly. It was over so soon ? It had barely lasted one second.
Well, they were certainly not going to complain.
Are you alright ? The first fallen human wanted to make sure as the very first spike had not quite felt the same for the two of them. Chara had been in great pain for an instant and could tell that Frisk was as well, but was uncertain of how bad it had been for them this time.
'I... I think so.' The human responded. 'It was comparable to yesterday.' They added to answer the question Chara was asking themself. 'Just much shorter.'
Glad that the episode had not been as bad as it could have been, Chara relaxed a little.
Frisk took another step forward and felt like their leg weighed a ton. Their feet was practically dragging against the ground.
Try to lift up your shoe a little more. You might damage it otherwise. The older child suggested.
Frisk followed their tip. But with every step, their movements felt increasing forced. Chara noticed it took more effort for them to push themself forward. Their walking cycle seemed almost... mechanical ? Like it had been divided into its composing steps : First raising one foot, then advancing it and posing it back on the ground, then leaning forward to shift their center of gravity to the foot they just pushed forward before repeating the same steps with their other foot.
Frisk ? Are you alright ? You feel... Chara was about to say 'tired'. But that wasn't correct. Frisk wasn't tired. They still felt just fine. They were just... struggling to walk properly ?
'I... Im just a-'
Frisk lifted up their left foot, and when they tried to push it forward, their body caved. They felt their muscles relax in the span of a moment and Frisk collapsed on the ground, face first.
They hit their nose pretty hard and attempted to voice out their pain, but Frisk was unable to.
Worse, their mouth didn't even open itself when Frisk attempted to do so.
They tried to move their arm, so that they could use it to get back up, but it was unresponsive. Frisk's body refused to move a single muscle even if they tried.
'Ch-Chara ?' Frisk asked within their mind. 'What's going on ? Why can't i move ?' They were starting to freak out. Frisk tried to wiggle a leg, to bite their lip. Nothing was working. They told their body to do something and... it just wasn't obeying them !
I... I don't know ?
Chara was clueless as Frisk was regarding what had just happened, but they did have an idea.
Let me try to see if i can move you ? They proposed.
Frisk attempted to give control of their body to Chara, but quickly realised that this was useless.
Not because they couldn't give them control, bur rather because Chara was already in control.
How did this happen ? At no point did Chara intend to take control, they hadn't even realised it until Frisk tried to give it to them. The first fallen human attempted to move Frisk's leg, but got no better results than Frisk did. They were unable to move their body as well. When they tried to give control back to Frisk, they couldn't do it because once again, Frisk was already in control.
Frisk was in control, but so were they.
Somehow, they were both 'in control' of the body at the same time.
Their shared headspace filled itself with terror when it came to them that this was why their common body wasn't responding. Frisk couldn't move because Chara was in control, and Chara couldn't move because Frisk was in control.
If the pair wasn't panicking before, now they certainly were. How were they going to get up ? Were they stuck like this ? Was anyone going to help them ? Oh god... Were they even going to be able to move ever again ?
Blood slowly oozed from Frisk's nose while the consciousnesses in their mind were racing.
Frisk desperately tried to find a way to make their body respond again. Let it be by attempting to move something, by trying to take full control or give it to Chara, or even by trying to go limp again, hoping it would somehow undo the effect.
Chara was usually the wiser one, but here they were too terrified to think properly and Frisk wasn't making it any easier to concentrate.
There had to be something they could do. Something ! ANYTHING !
A few moments later, Chara attempted to move one of Frisk's fingers at the same time as them. And to the surprise and relief of them both, the finger did tilt slightly. Not for more than half a second, but it did move.
'Did you see that ?' Frisk wondered.
I have. Chara sounded very shaken up, but somewhat hopeful.
'I have an idea. I think i got it.' Frisk told their companion. 'If we're both in control, we might be able to move something if we both try to make the exact same movement at the exact same time.' They proposed. Both of them were aware that this was a way easier thing to say than to do though...
Chara still gave them an inner nod.
Alright. At the count of tree, try to raise your index finger on your left hand. They decided to verify their theory.
One.
Two.
Three !
The finger jumped a little.
If they could, they would have sighed in relief. So they were not immobilised forever at least.
'G-good ! Want to try moving my arm next ?' Frisk proposed. Maybe by working together, they could still manage to get up.
Sure. At the count of three.
Frisk got ready.
One.
Two.
Three !
…
Nothing happened.
Damnit.
Chara was the first to realise what went wrong, Frisk learning about it from them just a few instants later. Simply agreeing on 'moving an arm' wasn't enough coordination. In order for it to work, they would need to both want to move the arm in the same way, in the same angle, at the same moment, and to keep that coordination up every instant all the way up until the arm rotation movement was finished.
That… That was just not possible. The two of them may share their feelings and their thoughts, but there was simply no way that even they could coordinate the countless factors of a complex gesture.
And that was just for moving an arm !
While something very simple like blinking or lifting a finger upwards was possible, things like speaking would require far more coordination than they would ever be capable of. Let alone something which involved coordination of the entire body such as walking…
Frisk and Chara took a moment to cope with the fact that they might have just lost the ability to walk or to talk forever.
Well… n-not necessarily forever ?
For the first time since they left the underground, Frisk genuinely considered LOADING.
As they thought about it, a realisation came to their mind. LOADING wouldn't help them avoid this problem. Since they and Chara persisted through LOADS, they didn't even know wether the state of their blending would be RESET along with the timeline or not. And even if it was, it would just be a matter of time before it all happened again.
At best, it would delay the inevitable. At worst, it would destroy everyone's happy ending.
They had promised to themself not to do it… They couldn't break that promise for something that not only wouldn't help all that much, but that risked backfiring as well.
As horrible as their situation was, they decided not to LOAD. They were going to have to get through this somehow. They could stay strong. They could do it together.
...right ?
But for now, there was one thing and only one thing they needed.
We need help… Chara admitted.
Something. Someone. Somebody had to come by eventually. Surely people wouldn't ignore it if they saw them seemingly passed out on the tar, Frisk thought.
The tar was burning, and so was the sun on their neck. In all likelihood, it was likely only a matter of time before the two of them really did pass out if they stayed like this any longer.
So they waited. A few minutes passed, but nothing happened. They didn't hear voices, they didn't hear footsteps in the distance, nothing to indicate that anyone was nearby.
Frisk ? Listen to me. Chara eventually spoke up. We need to attract attention to us.
'How can we do that ?' Frisk thought back.
Maybe we cannot form words, but i believe there is one thing we may still be able to do.
The younger human nodded after perceiving Chara's idea. Yes, they should be able to do that…
'...Ready ?'
Whenever you are.
'One.' Frisk began.
'Two.' They were quite glad that their body was still breathing in and out on autopilot...
'Three !'
They didn't coordinate things like how much to open their mouth, or even what to say exactly. The body would work out the details on its own, what counted was that it would work these out in the same way for both of them in response to the single command that Chara and Frisk gave to their body : Scream as hard as you can.
Hoping that someone, anyone would come to their aid, Frisk and Chara called for help.
...But nobody came.
Author notes :
Here we are...
This chapter was meant to be posted last Sunday, im sorry for the slight delay. I have been quite busy.