Chapter 3:
I had way too many questions to ask, yet I had to stay quiet in order to hide from whoever this Papyrus guy was. What were these players? What was the true world? Who was in my body? And what the heck were SAVEs, LOADs, and RESETs?
"I'll answer the questions in random order," the voice in my head said, me frowning at that as another skeleton appeared, him being taller than Sans and wearing some battle armor that looked like it was made of cardboard. "If you want to know who I am... I'm Chara Dreemurr, the first fallen child," the voice said, me gulping at that. Weren't they dead? And how could they be alive without a soul?
"Just call me a girl from now on, since we are female in this body that we share... and it was my gender before I died," Chara said, me sighing at that, though quietly. And I also saw that Sans and Papyrus began to talk to each other while Chara continued to speak. "The true world is what Sans and I refer to as the one beyond this one. The one that had complete ruling over ours due to this reality being a video game in theirs... and the players were just random nobodies that took control of you and me in the game... and they had you either spare everyone, kill a few monsters and leave some alive, or kill everyone... and for those that killed everyone, I stole the souls of the Frisk that the character controlled... and it took nearly 1 million of them in order for me to go to the true world and take the soul of a common street thug named Thorn," Chara said, me sighing at that.
But I still wanted to know more. How cruel were the humans in the real world? And why did Chara manage to come back to life regardless of anything happening prior? "On a scale of one to ten, the humans in the true world ranged from 15 to 200 in terms of their evil while the worst in this world could be described as a 6 at worst. That's how horrid the true world can be... and as for how I gained my existence after death, it is due to your soul and mine being the same in color. We have red souls fueled by Determination... though without my original soul, I was simply a ghost of my former self... unless the player forced the different Frisk's to commit Genocide against the entire Underground. And when that happened, the soul of that Frisk became corrupt and I took it... though, because of it being corrupt, I still felt empty, even after gaining 100 thousand of them, I still felt empty... but then, I got an idea. To go to the true world and steal the soul of at least one human there," Chara said, me shuddering at how strong she was.
"No, I'm not. I can only take control of your body for short bursts. You're the one that's in control this time... as for what the SAVEs, LOADs, and RESETs were, they were the system that was in place by the true world to make it so we kept living the same day and the same scenarios day after day. RESETs restarted the adventure from scratch, when you fell into the Underground. SAVEs made a record of progress to let you have the ability to LOAD from that specific SAVE. And as for how Flowey can do that, it is because he can manipulate the system with his own powers... the only reason he can't do so this time is because of your soul being more powerful as well as its very existence causing these three things to be abolished forever... now, if you come across a dangerous situation, you can't afford to get sloppy and die. Because if you do, then both of us are dead," Chara said... and only then did I hear Sans say something to Papyrus.
"hey, take it easy. i've gotten a ton of work done today... a skele-ton!" Sans smirked as a rim shot happened shortly after and I just smacked my face from how stupid that joke was.
"Get used to it. The comic makes tons of bad jokes throughout the adventure," Chara said. And before I could ask about their feud, Sans, after getting yelled at by Papyrus said something else.
"wow. sounds like you're really working yourself... down to the bone!" Sans said, me feeling like pelting him with a tomato just because of how bad his jokes were, so I had to ask Chara something in thought. Can throwing a snowball at a monster consider as dealing damage to them?
"No, so long as you don't have the intent to kill, it won't harm any monster at all. A snowball to the face could get the comic on your bad side, however," Chara said, me frowning at that and waiting until Sans gave the all clear.
"okay, it's safe. you can come out now," he said, me getting a fistfull of snow and then throwing it at Sans's face, him being a bit surprised at that and me smiling at him.
"If I had a tomato, that would be the thing going in your face instead," I admitted, Sans smiling again and looking at me with a smile.
"i guess that's the price i pay for punning, then... you think i can ask for a couple favors, frisk?" Sans asked, me nodding at that. "i want you to let my bro see you. it'd really make his day if he saw a human in the flesh. and i also want to know if you can make everyone happy down here... and that means that everyone gets a happy ending. and i do mean everyone. even a certain flower that you know very well," Sans said, me frowning at that and looking around, hoping that Flowey wasn't nearby. "don't worry, the flower isn't around right now. he isn't brave enough to get near me when not at full strength," Sans said, me sighing at that. "anyways, can you promise that?"
I simply nodded at his offer, since I knew that the RESETs couldn't happen anymore and that Flowey would be powerless regardless. I just had to refrain from mentioning anything regarding Chara or anything about the SAVEs and whatnot. "thanks, kid. i owe ya for this... see ya in a bit," Sans said as he went to the left... before teleporting away in a puff of blue smoke.
"Be careful not to upset him. He declared me his nemesis for good reason... during the genocide paths, I was the one to strike the final blow... after he killed me and Frisk tons of times. For every single time I defeated him, there were at least a hundred different times he killed me and the Frisk in the timeline," Chara said, me being a bit worried at that part. I walked forward afterwards and saw a strange box nearby. I went to it and was surprised to find some stuff inside of it, Chara being just as surprised as I was.
"Oh my... there's at least one item from each of the different fallen humans that are in this box," Chara said in surprise as I looked at the items in there.
"Okay, we have an old and faded ribbon, a pair of glasses with cloudy lenses, a pair of gloves with biceps on them, a pair of ballet slippers, a cowboy hat, and an apron... do I need to wear all of this?" I asked both myself and Chara.
"You don't need to, but it is recommended to wear as much clothing as you can. It'll increase your defense against the monsters' magical attacks if they choose to harm you... though, if Flowey, Sans, and Toriel were able to sense your strength, I doubt that the other monsters would be willing to try and attack you," Chara said, me nodding at that and putting the stuff on my body... and I then looked at myself in the water due north of the box and saw that I looked pretty stupid, especially with the apron and cowboy hat.
"Maybe I should keep the hat and apron on standby for now," I said with a frown as I simply put them inside of a small bag that I had on my back. It was full of the belongings I had with me from the orphanage... the stuff that didn't burn to the ground, that is. It was a photo of me alongside my original parents, along with a couple things such as a security blanket and a small plush toy shaped like a yellow dinosaur.
"Um... why do you have those things on you again?" Chara asked, me sighing at that. I then thought out that I was 9 years old and I had trouble sleeping in random places without my special blanket or my plushy. And that if she ever joked about it, that I would find some way to hurt her.
"Huh, I guess you do have a mean side to you. Though, to be honest, I have no idea how you could even do that... I'm inside of the soul that gives you your strength, after all," Chara said, me nodding at that as I then came across a monster... one that looked like a bird with a snowflake-shaped crest and a beak that had teeth that retracted in and out at times... and he looked like a kid while also being a little scared.
"Um... hi... is there something wrong, bud?" I asked, the snowy bird backing up when I approached him, which confused me.
"S-Sorry... but I can't let someone like you roam free... that guy told me you were horrible... a horrible, horrible human... i-if you get any closer to me, I'm going to put you in the deep freeze," the bird said, him sounding like he was about the same age as I was and sounding scared stiff.
"Who told you something like that?" I asked, the bird gulping at that. "Wait... was it a flower, by chance?" I asked, the bird gasping at that.
"Y-Yes... it was a little yellow flower. He's been telling everyone that you're a horrible murderer and that your soul is absurdly strong... and that you're a heartless murderer," the bird said, me shaking my head at that.
"Listen, kid. If I really wanted to kill you, which I don't, you'd probably already be dead by now, right? I'm very nice and I made a promise to someone. I would never try to hurt anyone with the intent to kill... because if I did so, the attack could destroy the entire world. That's how strong my soul is, so I refuse to kill anyone so long as I'm down here," I said, the kid gulping at that, but him then approaching me cautiously.
"Y-You promise you aren't evil?" he asked, me smiling and nodding at that as he then got close enough that I was able to hug him, the bird creature looking surprised at first and wanting to struggle free... but then he sighed and hugged back, my affection wearing off on him. "Okay... I... I trust you, human... what's your name? I'm Snowy the Snowdrake," he said.
"I'm Frisk... and I'd like to tell you the whole story, but I fear that no one would believe me... but let's just say I have two human souls inside of me and that one of them is absurdly strong," I said, the kid smirking at that.
"So... if the king wanted to, he could just take one and then free us?" Snowy asked, me shaking my head at that.
"I don't want the king to go to war against humanity... I want to have all of us freed peacefully without anyone getting hurt in the process. And to do that, since my soul is actually the equivalent of a billion human souls, I'm going to destroy the barrier myself," I said, the kid gasping at that.
"A-A... A billion? As in, a hundred times more than a million?!" he asked, me nodding at that. "T-That's insane! No human could be that strong!"
"Like I said, no one would believe me if I told them the whole truth... but I would like to make a request to you, Snowy," I said, him smiling at that. "Can you find some way to spread the word about me being a good human that is nice and not a killer? Because I don't want a little flower to try and spread lies about me," I said, Snowy nodding at that.
"I'll do my very best, Frisk. I'll tell them exactly what you told me. If you really wanted to kill me, you would've done so the moment you saw me. And you didn't, so obviously you aren't a ruthless murderer," Snowy said as he then flew off into the distance and I then heard Chara talk to me in my head.
"Well, it appears that Flowey is aware of me being in this soul... and that's the reason he's spreading lies about you. He fears us, and for good reason... he and I have a very intricate past together," Chara said, me wanting to ask a question, but she immediately shut me up with another sentence. "No, not yet. That is something that must be kept secret from everyone, including you. It's extremely important you don't find out about it until much later," Chara said, me sighing at that.
"Fine..." I sighed as I then proceeded due south to see Papyrus and Sans speaking with each other.
"SO, AS I WAS TALKING TO UNDYNE EARLIER..." Papyrus said, me simply whistling to get his attention, Papyrus looking at me, then at Sans, and continuing to do so until he looked ready to burst with glee. "OH MY GOD! SANS! IS THAT... A HUMAN?" Papyrus asked with enthusiasm as Sans looked behind me and smiled.
"actually, uh, i think that's a rock," he said.
"OH," Papyrus said, me smacking my face at that.
"hey, what's that in front of the rock?" Sans asked, Papyrus looking at me and then exclaiming in jubilee once more.
"OH MY GOD! is that a human?"
"yes."
"OOOH MY GOD! SANS! I'VE FINALLY DONE IT! UNDYNE WILL... I'M GONNA... I'LL BE SO POPULAR! POPULAR! ! POPULAAARR! ! !" Papyrus exclaimed, me wondering if he was going to end up exploding with happiness. "AHEM! HUMAN! YOUR JOURNEY THROUGH THE UNDERGROUND ENDS HERE! I, THE GREAT PAPYRUS WILL TRAP YOU! I WILL THEN CAPTURE YOU! YOU WILL BE DELIVERED UNTO THE CAPITAL! THEN!... THEN!... I'M NOT ENTIRELY SURE WHAT HAPPENS NEXT... IN ANY CASE, CONTINUE, ONLY IF YOU DARE! NYEH HEH HEH HEH HEH HEH!" Papyrus sneered excitedly as he then rushed off ahead and Sans looked at me with a smile.
"well, that went well. oh, and don't worry about him hurtin' ya. even if those rumors are true, paps is hardly a killer. i'll keep an eye socket out for ya, okay?" Sans said as he then went down the path as well and I smiled at how he teleported away shortly after.
"So you're aware, Flowey will probably go to even greater lengths to try and get us killed, so be ready for more turbulence in the near future," Chara said... and she was right. I had no doubt that Flowey would keep spreading lies and keep trying to do other things to get me killed. I just had to hope that none of them actually worked.