It didn't take long for Frisk to regain consciousness. During that time Chara, who had quickly grown bored, had picked many of the flowers that weren't too broken when they had landed and with some effort, made a couple of flower crowns.

After Frisk sat up Chara said flatly. "About time you woke up."

Frisk looked around before asking. "How long was I out?"

Chara shrugged. "Ten minutes, maybe fifteen."

Frisk nodded as she pulled a cinnamon bun out of her inventory and ate it. "Well, that was the last of my food."

Chara thought back to her times strolling through Waterfall with Asriel and remembered a shop they used to pass by on their way to Hotland. "There should be a shop not far from here that sells food."

"Yeah, you're right, we should get moving then." Frisk said as she stood up and brushed herself off.

Chara followed suit, tossing the flower crowns to the side. "Not yet Frisk, I have a question."

Frisk looked surprised and then smiled almost mischievously. "What happened to 'We need to keep moving, there's no time to stop for anything.'"

Chara ignored her prodding. I need to know why she's always protecting me, and why she cares so much about monsters when she had no problem killing everyone before. "I need to know why, Frisk. Why are you doing all of this? Why do you care so much about me and monsters? You said before that I deserved to be brought back after selflessly sacrificing myself to try and free everybody from the Underground. On top of that, you had no problem killing everyone, yet now you care about what they want and how they feel. So why, why do you care so much about me and them?"

Frisk's smiling face had quickly fallen and was now replaced with regret? Sorrow? Chara couldn't quite tell.

After a few moments, with nothing but the sound of rushing water to fill the silence between the two of them, Frisk took a deep breath and responded. "Chara, what I did was, the most difficult thing I've ever had to do. I didn't want to hurt anybody."

"Then why do it in the first place?" Chara frowned, anger beginning to crack through the LOVE suppressing her emotions.

"Chara, you know why, I wanted to save you for what you had done. You know that I had searched for any other method. If there had been one, I would've used it in a heartbeat."

"So what? Now you're being nice and helping us as a way of saying sorry for killing everyone last time?!" Chara's hands had balled into fists. "You said you care about them and me, but you don't know them, you haven't spent any time with them or gotten to know them. You just killed them all without a second thought!" Chara's anger was beginning to get best of her as she gripped the handle of her knife so hard her hand ached.

"That's not true Chara, I've gotten to know them, I've even gotten to know Asriel."

At the mention of her brother's name Chara snapped. Frisk yelped in pain as Chara punched with her right hand, knocking Frisk into the knee-high water.

*Your LOVE has increased!*

Chara angrily stabbed the dialogue box that had appeared in front of her. The dialogue box shattered, the broken pieces soon disappearing.

Chara glared down at Frisk who had placed a hand on her now swollen cheek. If Chara had used her dominant left hand, she would've done much damage.

Frisk looked up at Chara's furious face, tears already streaming down her face and dropping onto her soaked sweater.

"You don't know anything about Azzy. I'm the only one that understands him, the only one that knows his hopes and dreams. You couldn't possibly know anything about everybody if you've only spent a few days with them before RESETing and killing them all." Chara continued to glare down at Frisk, her anger still roiling in her chest.

Frisk stayed silent for several minutes before standing back up and looking directly into Chara's eyes with her own. "Chara, how many times did I say I had RESET while searching for a way to bring you back to life?" Frisk's voice was calm despite the occasional tear running down her face.

Chara thought back to the previous timeline, after she had killed Asgore and Flowey. "You said you had lost track of how many times you had RESET. What's your point?"

Frisk nodded her head. "Yes, I did say that I had lost count, but I never said that I had RESET immediately after the barrier was broken."

"What are you talking about?" Chara's anger was starting to recede, being replaced with confusion.

"There were many times where I had spent time with everybody after they were freed. Sometimes it was just a few weeks while searching for a new method to bring you back, but other times, it was a few months or even years. During those times I stayed with the monsters, and I got the chance to meet everyone and get to know them. There were even a few times that I convinced Asr-Flowey, to follow us out of the Underground."

Realization was beginning to dawn on Chara as she listened to Frisk.

"They, all of the monsters, had become like a family to me, and they weren't the only ones. After all, you were with me ever since I fell into the Underground and woke you up. Every time I freed everyone, I helped you reconnect with your family through me. We all became a family, but every time I RESET to try and find another way to save you, everybody would lose their memories of what happened after I fell, even yours."

As what Frisk said, began to sink in, Chara fell to her knees as a wave of realization and regret burst through the suppressive LOVE.

Frisk knelt down in front of Chara, her red eyes looking directly into Chara's with a gentleness she had only seen from Toriel.

"That's why I care so much about everyone, including you. Because the culmination of all the time I've spent with you all, is a lifetime's worth."

This whole time Chara had only been concerned with how she and everyone else had been affected by what Frisk had done, that she didn't even consider the potential scars it had left on Frisk. What Frisk had to go through to kill what she considered her family must have torn her soul apart. And what she was going through now with the memory of what she had done haunting her. Chara thought back to when they had slept at the Snowdin Inn and even further back to when Frisk had slept at Toriel's house in the Ruins. Both times, she had clearly been plagued with nightmares.

Chara could no longer look Frisk in her red crystalline-like eyes. "Frisk I... I'm so sor-" Chara was cut off by Frisk pulling her into a gentle warm embrace.

"It's okay, Chara, I don't blame you for getting angry or frustrated." Frisk rubbed Chara's back as she held her close. "I'll always care about you and Asriel and everyone in the Underground. No matter what any of you do or say, I will always care about you."

After a few moments, Chara hesitantly returned Frisk welcoming embrace. As they held each other Chara felt that everything would be okay. After several moments of letting their warmth seep into each other, Chara and Frisk separated and helped each other to their feet.

"Frisk I really am sorry for yelling and hitting you." Chara said. "You're not hurt, are you?"

Frisk shook her head before opening her menu. "It looks like you only did five damage."

Chara was relieved, the worry of having reduced too much of Frisk's HP quickly evaporated.

"Whelp, we should get going." Frisk said after closing her menu. "There's a special place I'd like to visit, if that's okay"

"Alright, then let's get moving." Chara said as they began walking side by side.

Wading through the cold water, they came across another save point siting on a small, raised platform. Placing their hands on it, they saved and made their way deeper into Waterfall.

*Chara and Frisk seemed to have come to an understanding with each other.*

*This fills you with Determination!*