They hear a song. They take a step, then two, then three - closer, closer to the music. They pause, and see Mother at her desk. It's so cold. They go closer, without alerting her, and can see the music box playing a gentle melody. So cold, it's so cold.

"Chara," she says, except that's not what she really says. It comes out garbled. It's not their name. "My child," she goes on, except she doesn't say that either, she says something but it's not them - "You are the future of humans."

Their whole body is cold. She does not hold them when they ask. She does not acknowledge who they feel they are. All they can see is the cold disappointment in her eyes, colder than their skin even as ice freezes over it.

They hear a different song.

It's more lively, but still gentle. They walk into the living room. It smells like pie. He is at the table, drawing something. They go sit next to him to look - golden flowers? "Ri," they say, their voice coming out low, "I'm so scared. I don't want to do this, but I don't want to hurt you." But they don't say that. They assure him that everything will be fine. The words that leave their lips are lies. They meant it at the time.

Traitor.

They didn't think it then, why should they think it now?

Coward.

Everything backfired so quickly, they can't even breathe-

Liar.

They see the vines creeping over the ground toward them, and reach out to them to grab them. Like holding hands with an old friend. "Ri," they say, but they do not say it, because it is not him. His soul isn't gone. Isn't shattered. He's still alive. He's still alive, he still has his soul.

They squeeze their eyes shut, then open them again. They are back in the underground. Their brother is gone. He is dead. He is gone. They think they had a nightmare. But then they see the knife in their hand, they see the dust on the ground. Their hands are shaking.

Slowly they start to remember themself. And Frisk's eyes widen as Chara drops the knife, startled by their sudden awakening. Which one of them was dreaming? Who was in control?

"Don't- do that," Chara grumbled, turning to look at Frisk, only to realize how badly they were shaking. What did they see, exactly? "H….Hey, don't get cold feet on me now, okay? ….I-I'm the one who…" They started to make a joke, but cut it short, frowning down at the ground. Still in control of Frisk's body, only seeing them internally…. They weren't sure they liked all this mess. "What happened…?"

Frisk didn't answer initially. How to explain? They had basically seen into Chara's past - and just thinking back on it, they were surprised Chara couldn't tell. Maybe they were blocking it out? They weren't sure. "I...I fell asleep."

Oh, Chara thought, and Frisk could audibly hear it. Chara let out a sigh and only mumbled, "That's probably for the best… Just don't get too comfortable. As soon as we fix this mess…" The mess that they caused. The mess that they were killing for. If they could just get enough soul power to break the barrier…

"...let's continue on."