That path towards the factory was a lonely thing, even if it wasn't a long thing. The girl hadn't realized how much she'd come to rely in the presence of her peer. She imagined Asriel would poke fun at her for something like that.
The girl nursing her aching head, trying to muster together her thoughts into a more cohesive whole. When she tried to focus, they just seemed to scatter. She vaguely recalled something her father said about having a train of thought. And how at the time she'd thought it was a literal train.
"Ughhhh, stop it!" Chara audibly yelled, while smacking the side of her head. "Just..."
Whisper commented. "Please, calm down. You're getting anxious, about being anxious. It's just gonna feed back into itself."
Chara knew that the bat was right, but she couldn't seem to stop it. Had she always had this problem? She couldn't recall. Well, she remembered talking to her mother about it once. How she was having trouble focusing, but that was after starting her meetings with the nice man, and-
"Stop it, stop it, stop it." Chara all but pleaded, trying to get her mind in order. "I'm trying...I'm trying, just-"
At this point it hurt. And she could smell something burning. Even though the smell wasn't there before. And was that...a smell like metal, and a taste in her mouth. Her eye twitching, as she stopped in the middle of the road. Clutching her head, unmoving for a moment, beyond the way her body seemed to writhe, and convulse in brief moments. Teeth grit, as she shook her head.
Something Toriel said was repeated. "You're not alone. I'm right here. And whenever you need me, just call out, and I'll come find you, okay?"
Chara wasn't sure the origin of this whisper. Despite it sounding like it was from someone in front of her. The girl struggling to even recall why she was standing in the middle of the road. Trying to focus on the whisper, on the suggestion. Feeling afraid, and confused.
"Mom." Chara whimpered. "Make...it...stop."
Her eyes closed. A feeling surrounding her. Like someone pulling her into a warm embrace. As she slowly, gradually, began to calm down. In spite, of how the scratching dark pulled, and tore...this sensation was more than it. The memory of someone who really cared, gave Chara the will to Persevere.
The girl opening her eyes, stumbling a little. Sniffling, while looking around. Head feeling a bit light, though, her focus was returning to her. She felt something on her face, running a hand to a space above her lip. Brushing at it, she glanced at her hand. Now stained with blood, which seemed to have seaped from her nose.
Whisper was in a panic. "C-chara, are you alright?" It inquired. "You...you weren't responding again and-"
"I'm alright." She assured brushing that against her pants. "Sorry, I'm sorry. I didn't...I didn't mean to freak you out, honest. I just, uhm...I dunno, g-got lost in thought is all."
"You are bleeding." Whisper stated in a concerned echo of her voice.
"I...it...uhm...it happens. I'm alright, just-" Chara laughed nervously. "got a...little overwhelmed...for some reason?" She shook it off. "We should...keep moving."
Whisper let out a huff, or, something like one. "Chara, something is seriously wrong. We need to go back to town."
The girl did her best to ignore this, as the idea of heading back into town made her head hurt. And, she didn't want the pain it offered. Yet, every step towards the Meat Factory, looming in the distance, seemed to make the dull ache, ache, a little less.
And besides -
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The sound of distant water, met the sound of muffled machinery. The girl drawn near, pausing several feet before the door. The Meat Factory was rather substantial, and blocked much of the path. Ensuring that the only way forward was through the door.
Whisper asked. "Why...is there smoke?"
Her purple eyes, slightly glassed over looked up. The sides of the building were covered with overgrowth. Glowing blue vines, and mushrooms. But even without them, smoke billowed out, a solid grey contrast against the 'starlight' and darkness above.
She wasn't sure why a meat factory would produce smoke. Given that it was meant to be operating on, and processing magic. She surmised it to be steam, perhaps, and turned her focus to the door. There was nobody guarding it. So she opened the door.
"No." Chara muttered quietly, her hand shaking.
"Chara-" Whisper spoke up. "listen...we...we shouldn't go in here."
"Huh?" Chara hummed, forgetting her thought. "But, what if-"
"We both know that something is wrong. Everytime we realize it, something happens." Whisper replied, as quietly as it could. "I don't know what it is. But there's something here. Can't you feel it?"
Charas heart began to beat a little bit faster. Her eyes growing somewhat brighter. Eyes able to process something she had been ignoring this whole walk. The shadow that was looming above hers. The feeling of someone standing behind her. The burning that came when someone was staring at you.
Her initial instinct to commit violence, and flee, was met with doubt. She kept forgetting this. Kept losing focus of this...entity. Surely, she must have tried that before. But...if she was noticing, it wouldn't be long. Her eye twitching, her breathing growing irregular again.
She wasn't sure why she'd even come to the factory. Why hadn't she checked the crystal cave? Or gone back through the tunnel? Down by the river, perhaps? Why did it want her to come here? Her eyes scanned the door, as she felt compelled to open it.
"I...I don't know." Chara noticed the shadow moving some. "I won't...just...leave me alone."
"We should go back. We should tell someone, or try and get the phone, maybe, we can get it charged?" Whisper suggested.
The girl felt her head pounding. "We can't...it's-"
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The girl forgot what she had been thinking, exactly. But knew the debate was about whether or not to head back, or investigate the factory. And, admittedly, they were already there. Would it not be wiser to investigate it now?
Chara realized it would be a waste of time, not to. The girl brushing blood from her nose. Giving in to the compulsion.
She girl noted. "We'll...we'll check. And then head back, okay?" There was no response. "I...Whisper?" She got no response. "Please don't be upset."
Chara received no response from the weapon on her back. The girl feeling all the more anxious as a consequence. She didn't want to make Whisper upset. But she...couldn't turn back. Her focus falling on the door, as she stepped forward.
Pushing it open, the interior was vast and dark. The sound of machines churned within. She looked around, and felt unnerved. Taking a breath, before stepping inside.
Elsewhere, down, deep in the dark, a form sat underneath a tree. Eyes glued on the space before her, crimson, and dull. Replaying a scene, held in place, in perpetuity through sheer determination.
It began, when a bone struck through her chest, eyes widening. The sudden pain, sharper than anything she'd felt before. Hands trembling, body going into shock. Desperate to halt the recognition of the injury, if only to buy more time.
Her crimson eyes looked up, staring at the Skeleton before her. At the anger, and lack of empathy in his eyes. She didn't comprehend how she'd gotten here. To this spot.
Just a moment ago, she had been attempting to stave off this threat. She a moment ago, her head began to ache. She had felt scratching, like a torrential downpouring. Stripping away her ability to focus, to keep a thought. Leaving her mind vulnerable.
And then it all became nearly non-existent. But she heard a voice crying out. Heard someone call her name. Just a moment before, everything was fine. And now...and now...
"I don't...understand." Frisk managed to choke out, watching her soul tremble and crack.
Death had come to her before, on the path to this. But she'd evaded it. Too determined to permit it taking her soul. And yet, something was wrong. It felt like...there was someone looming behind her. Unseen, by even the skeleton.
Frisk tried to focus on the heart-shaped object. Hearing a whisper. A little taunt, from a voice not unlike her own.
"Shh...just give up. It's easier. Trust me." The Non-Human whisper demanded, her resolve buckling, against her will.
She tried to stay determined, to hold on just a moment longer. Everything began to get dark, dark, yet darker. The soul shattered, as the light faded from her eyes. A feeling like falling overtaking her. It became like liquid, molding dark. That presence looming tearing her away, dragging her through this inky absence, into nothingness.
Then, finally, there was a light. Frisk reached out towards it. The world rushed by, tearing at whatever she was in that instance. And then, she was tossed to the ground.
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Rather suddenly, and unpleasantly, she had begun to cough violently. Drawing in deep sudden breaths. Blood slipping from her nose, as a terrible ache gripped her head. She felt like she had been suffocating, hands trembling, as she keeled over.
Hair hanging, brushing against the luminous blue grass. Blood dripping down onto it. The terrible pain she'd felt, having only lasted a moment. The girl finally brushing the blood away, while sitting up. Looking around, feeling...confused, and strangely anxious.
"You." A voice said, growling angrily.
"I'm...alive?" She asked in confusion, while starting to sit up. "Chara, are you...here?"
She had failed to even register the voice. Now upright, and searching the area, she was somewhat relieved, and confused that she wasn't dead. Then again, Frisk noted to herself that she didn't really have a good way of determining whether or not she was dead. After all, how would someone even determine such a thing?
Her focus then fell on a scary looking Flower, that had sprouted near her. Staring, scanning it, simply trying to determine what she was looking at. It was a sunflower of some kind, or, well, that was the closest flower she could compare it to. Only, it had a face, and a hate-filled evil grin.
It had a grey tint to the petals. And bale in its otherwise empty eyes. Bullets appeared in the air around her, as she tried to rise. Vines snagging her arm, yanking her back down.
"Let's see how you like getting butchered, freak!" It viciously laughed.
"W-what!?" She asked in alarm.
She stumbled back, and tried to shield herself. She didn't know what was going on. And she was ill prepared, for the torment and death that followed. Though thankfully, she only retained snippets of those memories.
But she remembered the pain, if nothing else. Over, and over. Not just from the Flower, but the other horrid things, lurking in the dark.
The girl sat beneath the tree, and heard something in the grass.
