Core Issues: Season 5
By Nicolle

Episode 13: Isn't It Time You Talked to Me?
(Fell Chara is our narrator!)

The Planar Pearl burst through the clouds, making an arc in the air before coming to rest next to the main building of Site Epsilon. The area below us had been cleared of snow and the ship came to rest just above the ground, bobbing softly. The gangplank came down and everyone onboard disembarked. During the flight, the little Frisk followed her steampunk double in absolute fascination. And true to form for Frisks, he happily let her hang off of him the entire flight.

On the ground, Star waited next to Brass, vibrating with barely contained excitement. It took all I had not to just run down the gangplank, shoving everyone aside to get to her. She slammed into me as soon as my feet hit the ground, arms wrapping around my neck. I hugged her back with everything I had, before resting my forehead against hers, our noses touching.

"Why are you hugging me so tight? Shouldn't you be excited that you'll be seeing your fiance soon?"

Star smiled brightly. "Yeah." She rubbed her nose against mine. "But you're my Chara."

I sighed that contented sigh that only a Chara had at seeing their Frisk happy. I kissed my partner's forehead, eyes closed for a moment. Taking a deep breath, I opened my eyes. And out of the corner, saw the child Frisk waiting next to me. She was pointedly looking away and not out of any sort of politeness. There was an awful anger in her expression, but so was a deep seated loss. I frowned and put a hand on her head.

"Hey. Are you all right?"

Star looked down and immediately dropped to one knee. "It's you!" She threw off her gloves to touch the girl's face. "Oh my God." Star hugged her tightly and the girl melted into it, eyes watering.

"Please. Please don't look so sad. You never look sad in my dreams."

Star leaned back a little, giving the little Frisk a smile. "In my dreams, you aren't doing so hot."

"Says, Captain Understatement," I muttered. "What's with the sour look, kiddo?"

The child frowned. "You love her. You're happy to see her."

I glanced back at the adult Chara and timid Asriel as they were being directed inside the building. I sighed deeply and looked to Star. "Let's move inside before I feel the need to warm up by beating someone to death."

Star nodded and looked over at Brass and his brother, the two talking excitedly in complete gibberish; full on cryptophasia. "Come on, guys!" She drew the child along, walking out of the cold and into the warmth of the facility.

Brass put a hand on my shoulder, nodding for me to keep pace with him as we entered the building. "She's still overworking herself. Now that she knows how to get in and out of the void again, she says she's making up for lost time." He sighed and rolled his eyes before frowning. "Still, she's disconnected from the void while on a timeline, so she's wearing my locket to keep her connected."

His brother elbowed him. "You gave it to her? I mean, I get it. It has a piece of the void in it, but…Woah."

Brass held up both hands. "I'll get it back when everything is back to normal. We have a better idea of what's going on now and Star will fill us in as soon as we've had some reconnaissance on the world the Frisk who managed the timeline folding came from. Until then-"

Frisk looked around. "Where's Stephen?"

"I was getting to that. It's tea time and I left Stephen pouring a cup for Miss Charlotte Featherstone."

"Charlotte Featherstone? THE Charlotte Featherstone?!" Frisk grabbed his brother's arms excitedly, smile wide and bright. And then it fell. "Wait. What is she doing here? Is she all right?"

"She's fine now. Come on. You need to meet her. She's brilliant. And you are going to love Miss Tamanna when you meet her. She's a fish monster-human hybrid from an advanced science timeline. They've roomed with Stephen and I."

Frisk gave his brother a reproachful look. "That's scandalous."

"Charlotte's an American."

"Oh. Well nevermind."

The Steam twins broke off when we reached the stairs, rushing up them. I kept going down the hall to the labs, catching up with the others. The photos and various awards on the walls had the young Asriel and adult Chara looking around. Though they stopped once we got to King Asriel's biomedical lab. As usual, the goat king had his snout buried in his research, eyes to the microscope. Honestly, where did he find the time for all of it?

Star waved. "Hey, Boss Man! We have some guests."

Asriel sat up, leaning back in his chair to look over the newcomers. The young Asriel next to me shuddered and bowed. His brother looked between the two for a moment, obviously terrified, before grabbing the young goat's collar, and pulling him back up. The child Frisk stared at him, mouth slightly open with a blush spreading across her cheeks. Oh dear. I've seen that blush before. Right on my Sunshine's face.

The goat king stood and came out to lean against the door jamb, arms crossed over his chest. "Howdy." He looked to Star. "Special instructions?"

"Keep Frisk and Chara separated."

Asriel nodded. "C? Did Delta send you any information?"

C's red hologram burst to life on his brother's shoulder. "Oh yeah and oh hell. I just dumped all the files on Frisk. She's already on the phone with mental health. Besides room assignments, Frisk and Chara are going to need physicals."

Asriel nodded and looked at Star. "Think your parents would be fine with another one?"

She snorted, rolling her eyes. "Oh come on! They'd be disappointed if we didn't put her with them! We'll just need to put the top piece on Princess' bed to turn it into a bunk."

"They already have a full house."

Star snorted, but not in a happy way. "Whenever you're ready to make it less full, let me know." Her eyes narrowed. "I'll help."

Oh? Has Princess' Toriel been that out of hand?

The child pulled on Star's sleeve. "Princess?"

Star gave her a smile. "My little sister. We call her Princess. She's a Frisk too and one that carries all the scars of her deaths on her body."

The girl touched her neck for a moment, running her fingers across an unblemished arc. "I don't. Why not?"

"Her Chara is dead and the remains of their soul cling to hers. That puts a heavy draw on her Determination and it prevents her body from completely healing when she comes back from death."

The girl thought about that for a moment and looked up at C's floating red hologram. "You're Chara too, right?"

C's hologram moved down so that it hung in front of her face. "Yeah. But everyone calls me C. My Frisk is in the office behind you looking over the information Delta gave us about you."

Her Chara frowned. "You mean about us."

"No. I was being specific. She's looking at Frisk's information right now."

His shoulders dropped in annoyance. "How would you even know that?"

"Okay. Let's get something straight. I am the AI that runs this facility. I know absolutely everything that happens in this building. I have to actively think about it to not be aware. And all that aside, it's my Frisk we're talking about. I live in her head. So yeah. I know." The hologram was suddenly in his face. "I also know everything you've done to the little girl you should have been protecting with every ounce of your being, so you'll want to tone down the attitude."

The man blanched and backed away.

That had Alphys attention. She looked up from her computer, lips drawn back from sharp teeth. "How bad?"

C disappeared only to reappear on her shoulder. "If I told you, you'd probably claw him to death with those razor sharp toes of yours, so we'll just leave it at that."

She made a strange and ominous sound I'd only heard once before while on a timeline where dinosaurs still roamed the earth. The hair on the back of my neck stood up. For a moment, I was legitimately afraid of an Alphys. That's a new one.

Asriel waved it off. "His LOVE is an eight, which doesn't make him the most dangerous person here," Asriel mused. "What's the likelihood of harm to others?"

C shrugged. "Delta says he's okay to be walking around freely."

Asriel walked over and knocked on the door to Church's office. "Frisk?"

"Yes, Az?"

"Have any suggestions for placement of our guests?"

The door opened and Church stepped out with a notepad in her hand. Being as she was still technically on maternity leave, she was in a pink, long sleeve, mid length dress with a long, cream colored skirt underneath, and a white lace cardigan on top. Baby Marigold slept peacefully in the baby sling around Church's chest. The child Frisk stared at her, a little wide eyed. She tugged on Star's hand and timidly pointed at Church.

Star nodded, letting go of the girl's hand. "Go on."

The child walked over, the Frisk fascination on full blast as she looked up at Church. Church smiled and put the notepad down on the table just inside her office door in order to offer the girl a hand. The girl took it immediately.

Church petted the child's head. "With all the people stuck here, we have a pretty good group for this. Bunk Frisk with Princess. I've already set her up so her first sessions are group ones with Princess and Frisk Ossein the Elder. We'll bunk Asriel with Prince Asriel and Prince Chara. They have an extra bed. And we'll put this Chara with my brother in law."

Bones raised a brow bone. "In my room?"

"You haven't slept in that room since Sophia was born."

He shrugged. "Point conceded."

"Charas do best in close proximity to a Papyrus and your brother is perfectly suited to help."

Star frowned. "Why not put him with our Surfer Sans?"

"Because there's a huge difference between hiding murders from Toriel and having her order you to commit them."

"What?!" Both the young goat and his Chara stared at her, plainly stunned.

Church gave them both a long look. "Not every Toriel is a good woman."

Star elbowed me. "What? Not adding anything?"

I shrugged. "Mom's been doing better. My brother still needs to beat the hell out of dad on occasion, but he's taking the defeats better."

Both of them stared at me like I'd just uttered blasphemy.

The child pointed at me. "What's your Frisk like?"

I smiled, chuckling a little. "I've got two of them." I jerked a thumb at Star. "This one is like chasing a shooting star and the other one is like standing in the face of the sun."

Star nodded. "Oh yeah. We call her Sunshine."

Cross came down the hall with a several files in his arms. He handed one of them to Asriel before kneeling in front of the child Frisk. "Hey there, Little Lion. I was wondering when you'd show up."

She touched his face, smiling brightly. "It's you!" Her smile fell. "You were being dragged underwater by a huge octopus."

Cross nodded. "That was an interesting day. Obviously, it didn't eat me."

"I also dreamed about you eating dinner with a skeleton."

Cross shrugged. "That's a much more normal day. I had a nightmare about you in a prison cell under a decrepit castle."

Red frowned. "*i thought the nightmares were something your chara did to you."

Cross shook his head. "I've always had them. Chara just made them more intense."

The Little Lion pulled on Cross' sleeve. "Your Chara was evil?"

Cross frowned. "That's one way to put it."

Church elbowed her husband. "Hey, take Chara over to meet your brother."

"Sure thing, Babe."

"Star, will you take Frisk up stairs?"

Star smiled. "Of course!" She held out her hand and the child took it. "Mom and Dad are gonna love you!"

"Chara?"

Oh. She was talking to me. "Yes?"

"Please take Asriel to Suite Fourteen."

I gave her a quick salute. "Can do."

Before I could move, she shifted the baby a little and hugged me. "Good to see you again."

I hugged her back. "It's good to see you too. I notice you assigned everyone in just the right way to give you maximum time with my Sans."

She pushed at my shoulder. "Hush. You're not supposed to notice that."

I smiled big and waved for the young goat to follow me. "This way, Your Highness."

He stepped after me, a bit unsure. "Um... just Asriel is fine."

"All right then. I'm Chara, though I bet you figured that one out already."

He tugged on one long ear nervously. "How do you have two Frisks? Are they both from your world? The one... Star? It seems as if she lives here."

"She does live here. But she doesn't have a timeline of her own. Because she lacks a place and people of her own, she finds others to fill those rolls. So, I'm her Chara. The Prime Sans is her Sans and so on."

"So, whose timeline is this?"

I stopped in front of the door to Suite Fourteen. "The Frisk in the dress back there? This is her timeline."

Asriel stopped dead. "She has so much LOVE."

"She earned it serving her country in war." I knocked on the door to the suite.

A dark haired, red eyed jerk in a white, button down dress shirt and purple vest over black slacks, opened the door. "Yes? Chara!" Prince Chara held out a hand to shake and I took it, patting him on the other shoulder. "Does this mean my long vacation in the land of plentiful chocolate is soon going to end?"

I shrugged. "That depends on how soon Church tells Sans Boneweaver. And I have a suspicion that she's in no hurry to do so. Until then, would you mind keeping this Asriel for a bit in the spare bedroom?"

He smiled at the goat. "Not at all. Come in." He opened the door wide for us to come in.

The suite let into a living room with a lovely, hardwood floor. A dark wood couch sitting on top of a muted brown rug, faced the windows that looked out on the snow covered garden. Sitting on the couch was Frisk Boneweaver, dressed in her white cleric robes, quietly reading a book. Prince Asriel, in white button down and brown slacks, sat in the chair next to the fire, reading as well. A tea service with spider donuts rested on the coffee table while a robust fire roared in the slate fireplace.

I gave Asriel a wave. "Hey there! You're looking much better since last I saw you."

He smiled. "Star is pretty good at motivation." He grimaced. "Though I don't want to go through the horrible walks of pain ever again."

Frisk jumped to her feet, long brown hair swinging as she hugged me. "What are you doing here? Shouldn't you be with Star right now? She really misses you." She stepped back. "I mean it. She talks in her sleep about you and her beloved a lot."

"I just saw her and I promise, I will spend copious amounts of time with her. She'll be sick of seeing me before I'm gone."

Frisk pushed me a little. "I doubt that!"

Prince Chara gestured for the young goat to come in again while looking at me. "How's your brother and Frisk?"

"They're expecting another one."

"Tell them I said congratulations."

"I will." I turned and looked back at the goat, who still hung at the doorway. "Come in. They won't bite."

Frisk moved a blanket from the couch and patted the seat with a smile. "Please sit. Tell us about yourself."

The goat sat and looked around. "I'm sorry. There isn't really all that much to tell. From what I understand, I wanted so badly for my brother to stop hurting Frisk that I kept making us jump timelines."

Frisk placed a hand on his shoulder. "Why was he hurting your Frisk?"

"To take her soul and open the barrier." He stared at the floor. "Except now we know that isn't how the barrier is opened and now we might be trapped underground forever."

Chara sat in the chair closest to the fire. "Because you need Frisk to open the barrier and she might not be willing too?"

The goat nodded.

"Well, if there's anything I've learned from being around the copious amount of Frisks in this building, it's that there is hope and you shouldn't walk around as if your Frisk's decision is a foregone conclusion." He reached over and tweaked his fiancee's nose. "This one changes her mind all the time."

She gasped. "I do not!" She gave him a mock glare. "You're asking for trouble!"

He winked at her before turning serious. "Is there something Mrs. Gaster would like us to help with regarding our new roommate?"

I shook my head. "Help him get comfortable for now. I'm sure she'll have something in mind later." I turned to the goat. "Considering that you immediately bowed to His Majesty back at the lab, you definitely need some growing up and a few lessons in rulership."

Prince Asriel shut his book with a snap. "We can handle that."

Prince Chara gestured toward the goat. "What about his Chara?"

"He's being placed with this world's Papyrus."

Frisk clapped her hands. "Oh that's good! Dr. Papyrus is fantastic. His insight has really helped Frisk Tamanna." She gave me a conspiratorial glance. "He's also been nudging Star about a new skating routine and it's been helping to keep her from working on her days off. Still, she's been pretty bad on her days on."

I thought about that for a moment. "Well, with travel no longer out of the question, I'll push forward the 'super secret mission.'

They all looked at each other, before Prince Chara asked the obvious question. "Which is?"

"Getting Star in a wedding dress."

Frisk bounced a little in her seat. "Oh! Star was telling me about that!" She turned to the princes. "You know how most women back home simply wear their nicest dress or borrow the nicest one they can for the occasion? Here, the bride will try on multiple, beautiful dresses at a shop dedicated just to wedding attire. And it's treated like an event all it's own. A whole group of family and friends will attend to watch and give opinions on the dress."

Prince Chara grimaced. "That sounds exhausting."

Prince Asriel laughed. "Well, for you, it would be."

Chara nodded. "Star will lose it on us if we keep you too long. Head on out." He looked to the young goat. "He'll be fine with us."

I nodded and gave them a wave as I went out the door. Heading down the hall, the door to Papyrus' room was open, and I saw the new Chara sitting on the couch, talking with Papyrus; Bones observing from where he leaned against the wall with his hands in his pockets. Going up the stairs, I headed directly for the Ossein apartment. Sophia, Princess, and the Little Lion ran passed me, Dead Sass floating after them with a shrug. They stopped at Star's door, opening it and calling for Umbra. Umbra's head popped out of the door, eyes glowing lightly.

"It is a Pokemon!"

Umbra came out, happily submitting to the copious amounts of petting the children provided.

Star came out of the Ossein apartment with her mother and Princess' Toriel, though her words were for goat mom. "She's been tortured to death multiple times. Keep that in mind before doing anything against mental health's orders. She's already going to have to live with PTSD, don't make it worse."

Toriel groused, "I do not need to be lectured."

Mrs. Ossein gave the goat woman a sour smile. "Oh, lecturing is the least of the things you need, dear. But it is still on the list."

Toriel growled only to stop dead at Mrs. Ossein's glare. A glare from any kind of Fell Frisk was enough to silence a lot of people. But, wow, that was a lot of tension. Time to break it up.

"Super secret mission."

Star blinked. "But my Tori isn't-"

I shrugged. "Like the twins can't just pick her up." I unzipped my bag and pulled out a wooden box with the Delta Rune engraved on the top. "Sunshine wants this to be your something borrowed."

Star took the box and slowly opened it, inside a soft, velvet lined interior was my sister's personal tiara; a gold and diamond affair arranged to look like stylized peacock feathers set with rubies for the 'eyes.'

Mrs. Ossein gasped and hugged Star around the shoulders while Star sniffed and rubbed at her eyes, happy tears falling down her face.

"Oh, Sunshine…" Star nodded. "Okay. I'll call the shop." She closed the box, holding it tightly. "Oh man. Where do I keep this so it's safe?"

I shrugged. "Same place Asriel keeps all the artifacts Church keeps finding."

"I found the last one." Star held up her hand, and pulled on a gold band set with several tiny gemstones, a copper and an iron half ring flanking the stones. "I can't get it off."

"By D&D rules, that means it's cursed." I reached over to give the ring a little tug. "So what does it do?"

Star stared at it. "I have no idea. We originally thought it would control monsters, but it doesn't." She shrugged and hugged the box to her chest tightly. "Oh my god… It's getting close, isn't it?" She sniffed.

Mrs. Ossein patted her daughter's shoulder before leaning in to give her a kiss on the cheek. "I'll call the shop. Go tell Asriel that you're taking tomorrow off."

Star nodded, sniffing a little, and headed for the stairs. As soon as she was out of sight, Mrs. Ossein turned to Toriel.

"You are not going with us tomorrow. Do not attempt to tag along, do not attempt to prevent Princess from going, and if you, in anyway, make my youngest feel bad just so she'll stay behind with you, I will take you out of the equation permanently." Mrs. Ossein leaned in close. "And I won't feel bad about it."

Mrs. Ossein turned and walked back into the apartment. She turned to me. "This is less than acceptable."

I raised an eyebrow. "A word of advice about Fell Frisks: they can burn the world should they so desire. And Frisk Ossein the Elder has done such a thing already. So back down."

"I can't."

I sighed. "I get it. You're afraid of losing your daughters, but the plain truth is that they need support you can't provide. That being the case doesn't make you a shoddy parent. Choosing to stand in the way of what they need makes you a shoddy parent."

Toriel crossed her arms over her chest. "Oh? And I suppose you have an example of this?"

"When Dr. Alphys told my father that she might be able to get the barrier open by experimenting on me, my mother stood aside, too fearful to do anything. Fast forward a few hundred years to Frisk and my mother understood that she was in no condition to help anyone. She knew she couldn't raise a child, that she was too damaged to do so. She didn't fight it when Sans took Frisk into his home. She just did the best she could from the sidelines, knowing that there was a future where she could have a good and solid relationship with her."

"Your situation is hardly the same."

I pointed at her. "It is the same. It's all about fear. It's only the details that are different. My mother was afraid and so are you. You are filled with deep fear and refuse to see past it." I crossed my arms over my chest, one hand lifted. "The simple fact of the matter is that, so long as you count this as a loss, you will never be able to properly parent anyone. You need to think of it as a win. Frisk's win. Chara's win. Here they get a mother and father who are married and have a stable, loving relationship. They get a mother who understands what it means to carry the fate of an entire world on her shoulders as well as the post traumatic stress that entails."

Toriel scoffed. "So just sit back and I miss out on my childrens' lives?"

I shrugged. "Maybe. But wouldn't you rather have daughters who grow up to become functioning adults? Ones who can really hold all the hopes and dreams of monsters and see them into a happy future?"

I leaned in, voice going low. "I know about the assassination attempt and Princess needing an infusion of Determination to survive. That she'd reached the end of her rope trying to support herself and Chara, and ended up in a coma because of it. Those things should never have happened and it infuriates me to no end that, while surrounded by so many people who could do something about it, you never thought to ask if Chara's broken soul could be made whole again. That the connection between your children could be made to benefit them instead of harm them."

I turned away shrugging dramatically. "But I guess that's just the way things are for Charas, huh? Always the short end of the stick."

I stuck my hands in my pockets and walked down the hall toward the girls, watching them fawn over Umbra. Umbra spotted me and rushed over, jumping up into my arms. "Hey, Girlfriend! Miss me?" I got a lick on the cheek before she jumped back down to the kids.

The Little Lion looked up at me. "Do you have a pokemon?"

I nodded. "My partner's a Luxray named Tesla." I reached into my pocket and pulled out a tiny pokeball. It grew in my hand and I hit the button before tossing it. "Come on out, Buddy."

A blue lion with a black mane landed in front of me. Tesla turned with a happy smile to rub his face against mine, until he heard Umbra's call. He spun and pounced. Umbra jumped back to avoid only to crash into him the moment he landed, the two rubbing up against each other. The kids squealed petting them both.

I sighed and patted Tesla's shoulder. "If I find an egg in the morning, I'm not going to be happy about it."

The Little Lion's hand slid through Tesla's mane. "Has that happened before?"

Sophia nodded. "With these two? Oh yeah. Baby Eevee's are super cute. There have been three so far, right? Where are they now?"

I counted off on my fingers. "The oldest is my Espeon, the middle child is Cross' Jolteon, and the youngest is Agent Franklin's Vaporeon."

Star came back up the stairs with Asriel; Star babbling away while the goat king smiled. She still held the box tightly to her chest, smiling happily as they entered Asriel's apartment, the door shutting behind them.

Dead Sass floated over to me, ghostly eyes on the spot in the hall her mother had so recently stood. "Can you fix my soul?"

"Me personally? No. But I know that it's possible. Do you want to try?"

They looked back at their partner for a moment and then to me. "Yes. I'll do whatever I have to, just so long as Frisk doesn't need to support me with her determination."

"Then I need to make a call."

Dead Sass nodded and floated back to the others. I pulled out my phone and dialed one of my favorite Frisks. I wonder how long it will take her her jerk of a husband to butt in on the conversation?

A sweet and melodious voice flowed from the speaker. "Hello?"

"Good afternoon, Your Majesty. Thank you for taking my call."

Mage Frisk chuckled. "I will always answer your call, Chara. What do you need?"

"It's about Dead Sass. Her soul is in pieces and Princess' determination is the only thing holding it together. Can it be fixed?"

She hummed thoughtfully. "It depends on how much of the soul is there. If we have all the pieces, it's no trouble to bring it back together. But if we're missing something…"

"We're boned?"

"Maybe not. I've heard that Snow is capable of moving things through time and space. If pieces of the soul are missing, she may be able to pull them to us. Now that we have a mode of travel back in place, I will see what I can do to visit-"

There was a strange scraping sound as the phone was pulled from her hand and a velvet voice with all the danger of a wolf came over the phone. "We'll see you tomorrow, Prick." King Chara hung up.

Well, that was almost a full conversation. Asshole.

I snorted and shoved my phone back into my pocket as Star came out of Asriel's apartment. She threw her arms around me, hanging off of my back, face against the back of my neck.

"You're done for the day, right?"

She nodded against my neck.

"Eat in and crash early?"

She nodded again. I walked awkwardly to her apartment door, while she continued to hang on me, being dragging along.

The Little Lion looked up from petting Umbra. "Do they always do that?"

Princess nodded. "Hang off of each other? Oh yeah. It's pretty normal."

Dead Sass floated around to put their arms around Princess. "I hang on Frisk most of the time. For some Frisks and Charas, it's something of a thing."

Star turned her head as I opened the door. "Be ready to go on the super secret mission in the morning."

Princess grabbed ahold of the Little Lion, hugging her as much as presenting her. "Can Frisk come?"

"Absolutely!" She spied Tesla and Umbra getting snuggly. "Hey, you two. No eggs. It's not like I can find a trainer who'll want an egg right now."

Both pokemon ignored us, happily rubbing their faces together.

Yeah. We should just be ready for another egg.

I dragged Star the rest of the way into the apartment, but left the door open a little so Umbra and Tesla could come back inside. After an easy dinner of grilled cheese and tomato soup, we snuggled on the couch, watching an old MST3K. Somewhere in the middle of a terrible film, she fell asleep on my shoulder. Frisk Boneweaver came in the apartment just as I was tucking Star into bed and gave me a wave from the living room.

After kicking off my shoes, I laid down, putting my arms around Star. She immediately turned over and cuddled against my chest, breathing deeply. I held her for a while before rolling onto my back and staring up at the ceiling, marveling a little at the soft light of the glow in the dark paint she'd splattered on it to create a field of stars: a void in her room.

"Chara."

I started awake in the middle of the night. I sat up, looking around, listening carefully. Star murmured in her sleep and I leaned over to kiss her forehead before standing to have a look around. A gaster blaster floated around the living room interior and it came over, looking for pets. I rubbed its boney snout while noting the time on the wall clock; three in the morning. The door to the spare room was open and Frisk Boneweaver snoozed quietly on the guest bed. Umbra and Tesla slept on the couch.

I leaned into the blaster, hugging it a little. "Did you wake me up?" I whispered.

It cuddled against me, but the answer was no. Something else had me up. And on edge. I opened the front door to the hall. It was dark but for the soft glow of the occasional orange light along the wall where it met the floor. I crept down the hall toward the stairs, the blaster floating after me. Not seeing anything in the hall, I went down the stairs, and right into Papyrus. Bone's brother was looking considerably dapper in his long slack, dress shirt, long jacket, and red scarf.

"GOOD MORNING, CHARA. I SEE YOU FOUND ABEL."

"Good morning." I patted the blaster's nose. "Abel?"

"HE IS THE YOUNGEST OF MY BLASTERS. I'M NOT SURE HOW HE SLIPPED THE KENNEL." Papyrus shrugged. "IT IS NO MATTER THOUGH. HE IS NOT THE PERSON I'M LOOKING FOR. MY HOUSE GUEST HAS GONE MISSING."

I frowned. "You're looking for 'Mr. Child Torture.' I didn't think he had it in him to get my hackles up."

"OH NO. THAT FEELING IS VERY LIKELY MISS DAMALI. SHE GOES INTO HER ACTIVE PHASE AT NIGHT."

I sighed. "Well, I'm up, so I might as well help you find Chara."

Papyrus nodded and walked with me down the hall, Abel floating along with us, eyes lit up like bright blue flames. The light of the full moon shone brightly through the windows in the hallway, hitting the stained glass at the very top in such a way as to cast a blue glow reminiscent of echo flowers. Using a little magic, Papyrus dampened the sound of our footfalls on the floor a little so that we would make no sound as we walked down toward the labs and the soft lights emanating from inside.

The main lab, Asriel's personal favorite, was quiet, with only a nurse rabbit monster monitoring the equipment now that all patients were out of the nurse gave us a wave.

"HAVE YOU SEEN ANYONE ABOUT, MY DEAR?"

The nurse nodded. "I saw a male Chara walking toward the conference rooms, though he didn't look like he was going anywhere in particular. And I saw Damali. She's really active tonight and came by to spook me a few times."

Papyrus nodded. "THANK YOU.".

The doll, Damali, was Straight Man Sans' lady friend and had been trapped here while visiting our world. Once midnight hit, she would suddenly forget herself and wander the halls, frightening and giving chase to anyone she found. Though she was quick to break off the chase and disappear once her quarry was cornered. Damali once informed me over tea that she broke off pursuit because she was without her 'sisters.' The dolls hunted as a pack and and could not complete a hunt without five of their number at the very least. She would not elaborate on what happened after their victim was within their clutches.

Continuing on, we headed deeper into the building and back toward the conference rooms. We stopped at the door to the cafeteria, finding it ajar. The cafeteria never actually closed and you would be sure to find a few night staff and guests. That said, the room was left only dimly lit at night; the glow of the fire light flickering from the massive fireplace giving the large room a cozy warmth. The shine of a pair of eyes like pools of gold watched us from a seat near the fire. Was that the vampire Frisk? I hadn't actually met her.

She gave us a polite wave and continued to read while she ate a meal I assumed was specially formulated for her needs since vampires and food didn't seem to go together. Or maybe I had it wrong and she wasn't undead. After having a look around the cafeteria for the missing Chara, we turned to leave and Frisk's head hit the table with an agonized groaned.

Papyrus teleported to her side. "DEAR LADY! HOW MAY I ASSIST YOU?"

She counted softly under her breath for a full minute before taking a deep breath and lifting her head. "If you would be so kind, please help me over to the lab." She rubbed her large stomach as if to sooth away the contractions. "I think it's almost time."

"CERTAINLY." Papyrus took her hand and helped her stand.

Frisk looked me over. "I'm sorry. I don't believe we've met." She held out her hand. "I'm Frisk Luna."

I took her hand and swept it up to kiss her knuckles. "Chara Dreemurr. Specifically Fell Chara."

She smiled widely, fangs fully on display. "Star's Chara! It is a pleasure to meet you."

"And you."

She jerked letting out an oof, and Papyrus put an arm around her waist. Carefully tucking her book under her arm, she rubbed her round stomach again. "Patience, little one. No need to kick so hard."

Stepping out of the cafeteria, we found the missing Chara. He gasped, leaning against the wall, eyes darting around wildly. His legs gave out in relief when he saw us, sliding down the wall to sit on the floor.

Frisk looked him over for a moment. "Giving our doll friend a merry chase, are we?"

"Hardly," he gasped. "I've been trying to get away from her."

Frisk smiled, her fangs poking out from under her lips. "Then all you need to do is stop running." She looked to the right, spotting the porcelain beauty that waited at the end of the hall and gave her a wave. She grimaced again, leaning heavily on Papyrus. "Would someone be a dear and let my husband know that it's time?"

I nodded. "Where can I find him?"

"It's still too early for the gym. He'll be in the library."

I looked at Chara. "Get up. You're coming with me."

His eyes narrowed. "I don't take orders from-"

I cut him off. "Then you can be Damali's exercise for the rest of the night." I turned and walked away.

Chara found his feet. "Wait!" He rushed after me. "So, library. This place has a library?"

"A pretty decent one."

He looked me up and down and then did a double take. "You aren't wearing any shoes."

I shrugged, wiggling my toes in my socks. "Something woke me up. I didn't want to give it the drop on me by making too much noise walking around."

Chara eyed me for a moment. "What? Why would you need to do that? Monsters are literally made of love and compassion."

I sighed. "Not all of them. You remember the Sans with the gold tooth on the ship?"

"Yeah."

"That's my Sans. And just like him, all monsters on my world are complete assholes with one glaring exception."

"Who is the exception?"

I snorted. "Who else? Asriel."

We hit the stairs and started climbing.

"What's your story?"

I shrugged. "I fell down a hole, was adopted by monsters, lived happily for a while before my father sent me to be experimented on in the lab, and was killed by a duck monster when I attempted to escape. After spending hundreds of years stuck in my own corpse, my soul possessed Frisk. An attack meant to kill Frisk split us into two people instead. I met Star a little bit after that and we became partners when we took our test for full agent together."

I turned down the hall at the top of the stairs.

"Stuck in your own corpse… As in, completely aware?"

I didn't answer. Instead, I opened the door to the library and found the interior to be lit. Not brightly, but all the lamps on the various tables were on. Taking a guess, I went to the left and the boxes of craft supplies. I heard the soft tap-scrape of knitting needles as I rounded a bookcase. Chara Luna, sat in an ironic tee and green hoodie, headphones on, carefully watching his pattern as he knitted. He stiffened and then relaxed as he turned his head to look back at me.

"Holy shit. The second Chara ever makes an appearance." He held out a hand to shake as the other pulled his headphones off.

I shook his hand. "I'm not that famous."

"Bullshit."

I held up both hands, conceding before I inclined my head back toward the door. "Your wife sent me up to find you. It's time."

He shoved his needles in his yarn ball. "Then you'll have to excuse me." Luna paused as he stood. "C? Please take me off the training floor this morning."

There was a soft beep and Fase's voice of happy doom whispered from the nearby speaker. "C's asleep. I'll remove you."

I smirked. "Having a date?"

"I'm not human," came an overly matter of fact reply. "That's something humans do."

I rolled my eyes. "Your lucky Bones didn't hear that." I smiled at Luna. "Who were you on with?"

He stuffed his knitting in a backpack."Prince Chara."

I chuckled. "Keeping all the calories from the chocolate under control, huh?"

Luna snorted, swinging his bag onto his shoulder. "Oh please. Find me a Chara who isn't that bad." He disappeared around a bookcase.

Chara shuddered. "What was that voice?"

"That's Fase. A Frisk who is an artificial intelligence. Her voice always sound like that." I turned. "Come on. We need to get Asriel up for the delivery."

Chara followed after me. "Shouldn't we have woken him first?"

I shook my head as we made our way back to the hall. "Having watched my Frisk go through several pregnancies, Frisk Luna will be in labor for a couple hours at the very least."

"What did he mean by 'second Chara ever?'"

I stopped. "Wait. You can't tell?" I turned around to face him. "You saw Luna stiffen when I came near. He knew I was there before I was close enough to touch him. What do you feel when you look at me?"

He took a deep breath and it came out as a sigh as he looked away. "I feel like… like you could swallow me whole. And no one would ever have known I was gone. I'd simply stop existing."

I raised an eyebrow. "I'm sure you get by now that all of us are variations based on an original. That somewhere in time and space there is a first Frisk. A first Chara. We call them Prime and they are incredibly powerful. The source of all our triumphs and misfortunes. After that come the variations. Each time you have an original variation from Prime, they are uniquely powerful. While Bones, this world's Sans, is in no way the original of his kind, his Frisk is the first of her kind and it's made her superhuman."

I turned and kept walking, leaving the library. "But for all that, there is one variation that is more powerful than the rest and that's the first variation: Fell. I am the second Chara to ever exist and within me lives all of the beauty and horror of the first Chara."

"Where did you go?" Star whispered.

I paused and looked down the hall.

She leaned against the frame of her front door, yawning. "I woke up and you weren't there."

I smiled and hugged her. "I wasn't prepared for it so Damali roaming the halls woke me."

She teetered a little. "Come back?"

I shook my head. "I have to wake Azzy. Frisk Luna is ready to have the baby."

Star snapped into focus and she stood up straight, alert and awake. "I'll get him. Get me some coffee, please." She went into the Goat King's apartment without knocking.

Chara pointed at her. "What the heck was that? She went from falling asleep on her feet to-"

"She's always like that." I headed for Star's apartment and caught sight of a beautiful doll standing at the end of the hallway, half shadowed in the dim lights. "If you want to avoid Damali and actually get some sleep, head back to your room. Things are going to get busy in a few hours."

Inside the apartment, Frisk Boneweaver was already up, humming to herself as she made some tea.

I leaned against the wall, hands in my pockets. "You came in late last night."

Frisk Boneweaver smiled. "Oh yes! My beloved once asked Fase to tell him a story from another timeline and it's become our evening ritual. Last night, Fase told us of a Chara who lost the love of his life in a moment that was both tragic and heroic. He stayed in the home they'd built together, living like a ghost on the mountain side until Frisk burst into his life; a little girl escaping the violence of her country's collapse. She opened his heart and he gave her the family she desperately needed." She clapped softly, but excitedly. "It was a wonderful story! It was sad and funny and terrifying and happy all at once."

She opened the fridge to pull out a bottle of cream. "Did I hear right that Frisk Luna is ready to have her baby?"

I nodded.

She smiled happily. "Wonderful! I hope the birth goes well."

"With Asriel on it, there's nothing to worry about."

Star came into the kitchen hand out for the coffee and stopped dead, blinking when I didn't hand her any.

"Where's…?"

I raised and eyebrow. "You're off today."

She turned to the counter to plug in the coffee pot. "I'm just helping Asriel until Adrea gets here in an hour."

I grabbed her arm. "You are off today."

She took a deep breath and it came out in a whoosh. "It's okay. One hour is no-"

I shook my head. "It's not okay. I haven't seen you in months. I finally get here and you weren't even going to take today off." I cupped her cheek with my other hand, keeping her eyes on me. "You aren't working. You're killing yourself. And everyday you are step closer to me using that power to rewrite reality to rewrite you, to slow you down, to unwind that thing in your head that has you spun so tight."

"Chara…"

"I know what you're doing. You're trying to catch Frisk Church. To match her and the truth of the matter is that you can't. Because you aren't her. You are Frisk Ossein. You need to be you. The you I know is in there."

"But she wants me to succeed her…"

I put my face in hers. "By being you. Not by repeating her." I pulled Star close, hugging her against my chest. "You're off today. The night staff is here."

She hugged me back, face against my chest. "One hour. It's just one hour."

"One more hour of sleep before we start putting you in dresses."

She let out a breath with a shudder.

"Your bed is calling. It says, 'Frisk! Frisk! Why have you abandoned me?!"

Star snorted, a deep fatigue coming over her as she leaned into me. Her eyes fluttered against my chest, closing. I turned her around and walked her back into her bedroom.

"Stay with me?" she whispered, crawling back under the covers.

"Always."

She was asleep as soon as her head hit the pillow, the tiny bit of adrenaline that was keeping her up dying without caffeine to sustain it. We woke up several hours later to a lullaby playing over the PA system, a sign that Frisk Luna had given birth. Star rushed out of bed at that, going down to the lab to coo over a baby girl named Isabella Grace. Luna sat in a chair, cradling his baby girl while his wife slept. Prince Chara sat next to Luna, gently petting the baby's small head.

The queenly Toriel Star called her own stood with Asriel in the lab, Brass having gotten up early to retrieve her for the super secret mission. They spoke quietly while Asriel cleaned up, and I wondered what it was like for her to see her long dead son as a grown goat, both doctor and king. She was one of the very few people he allowed to interact with him as if she were a true relative; King Chara and Star being the others. Maybe it was because she wasn't all that different from the mother he lost.

After Star was properly dressed, we piled into several cars for the ride to Lily and Rose, St. Canard's most elegant bridal shop. Dresses in red, gold, and white filled the store, every one different and displayed so as to show off the best qualities of the dress.

The Little Lion spun in a circle when she entered, marveling at the dresses. She was wearing one of Princess' pale blue frocks, looking very cute and very much like a little princess herself. She pulled on my sleeve as we entered. "What's Star's fiance like?"

I smirked. "Well, if you've ever met a cement parking barrier, then you've met him."

Princess gasped. "Hey! That's not true!" She took the Little Lion's hand. "Star's fiance is the head of Seraph. Chara's just mad because my future brother in law is better looking than him."

The Little Lion giggled and looked at me.

I shrugged. "Honestly, we look pretty similar. Chara's tend to have a typical look."

The Lion turned, arms crossed over her chest. "Yeah, well, you're way better looking than my brother."

The dress consultant spoke with Star for a few minutes about the list of dresses Star wanted to see, while we all took seats around the mirrored area. She'd hemmed and hawed over the list for weeks and narrowed it down to ten, which was a pretty short list all things considered. The shop had hundreds of samples to look at. Star disappeared with the consultant into the dressing room.

Mrs. Ossein jerked on my sleeve, pulling my ear down to her mouth. "If you make me fight you on paying for the dress…" Her eyes narrowed. "I will never make my baked chicken for you again."

I rolled my eyes. "I already called dibs on the cake and I had to fight Az for that one."

Church leaned over in front of me, baby Marigold nursing away. "I'm still paying for the flowers and don't you dare try to change that."

"Change that? At this point, I'm still fighting Az on the reception!"

I snorted. "You are not winning that one. If the goat king wants to pay for Star's reception, it's going to happen. Stop fighting it."

Princess jumped up, sitting on my lap while Sophia and the Little Lion sat on a set of pillows on the floor.

The queenly Toriel in her shining, silver dress sat next to Mrs. Ossein. "I am so very excited. I've never done anything like this. Do you think she'll find a dress today? Also, I am the one most likely to fight you on paying for the dress."

Mrs. Ossein groaned.

Toriel laughed softly, covering her mouth with one elegant hand. "I'm joking, my dear. Tell me what I can contribute and it's done."

Star came out in the first dress and none of us really got a chance to see it. She caught one look at herself in the mirror, said no, and walked back into the dressing room.

Dead Sass blinked. "That was quick."

Church nodded. "Yeah. We all hated that one."

The next five dresses went the same way. The seventh dress she actually stopped and looked at for a while. It was white, form fitting, and covered in a delicate lace. The neckline ran low, shoulders bare, while little ringlets grasped her biceps like an illusory sleeve.

Sophia cooed, "That's pretty."

I relaxed back in my chair. "It's sexy."

Star sighed. "I know. It's like one of my competition skating costumes. I don't want to look sexy on my big day. I want to look beautiful."

"Then let's see the next one."

The next one was a ball gown with delicate gold and pink flowers, but the shoulders were still bare, the neckline still very low.

Church switched Marigold to the other breast. "Better, but not it, right?"

Star nodded.

The next dress covered the shoulders, but was as form fitting as the first. And still, it managed to be matronly.

Star said, "If this dress came in silver I'd buy it for you to wear at the wedding, Mom."

The dress consultant looked at Mrs. Ossein. "This dress can be made in silver if you want to try it, ma'am."

Mrs. Ossein looked to Church and got a vigorous nod. "When we're done finding a dress for Frisk."

The last dress came on and Star looked deflated. The dress was lovely in red and gold, with a modest cut and a slim skirt. It looked beautiful, but Star looked done. It's hard to go through all your picks and not have any of them work.

She turned to us. "What do you think?"

Church put Marigold up to her shoulder for a burp. "What do you think?"

Star looked back at the mirror, frowning. "I don't like it."

"Then I hate it. Take it off."

The consultant drew Star off to the side. "Come on. Let's take a moment to regroup and go over what you didn't like about your original picks."

I pulled out my phone. "Princess, Dead Sass, So-So, and Lion, come here." I pulled up a picture of my sister wearing her tiara. "This is the tiara Star will wear on the big day. Let's find a dress that goes with it."

The girls oohed and aahed over the tiara before heading off to look at the dresses. I stood and followed behind, keeping an eye on them. They went dress to dress discussing it's design and what it would look like on Star until the Little Lion broke off. She was staring at a manikin in an enchanted manner. The dress it wore was a white, ball gown with sleeves that hung loosely off the shoulders, but the neckline wasn't too low on the bodice. The whole gown was covered in golden embroidery, baubles, and lace.

I crouched down next to her. "Do you like this one?"

She smiled and nodded.

I inclined my head toward Star. "Think she would like it?"

She nodded again and I stood to motion the consultant helping Star over.

"How about this one?"

The woman grimaced. "The only sample we have is the one on the manikin."

"Can we strip the manikin?"

She stared at me for a moment before coming around to the front of the dress. She gently pulled at the skirt for a moment and looked over at Star. "Lift it for me so I can get the dress off."

I held up the manikin while the consultant stripped it and carried the dress over to Star. Star frowned and looked up at me. I nudged the Lion and she got the hint.

"Try it on!"

Star smiled indulgently and went back into the dressing room. She came out a few minutes later, standing tall as she walked. She stared at herself in the mirror, smiling a little. The girls came back over, Princess jumping back into my lap as I sat down, snuggling against one shoulder as Dead Sass rested against the other.

Church leaned over, nudging Mrs. Ossein. "That's the smile," she whispered. She sat up to rock Marigold. "What do you think, Star?"

"I don't know…"

Toriel tapped her chin. "It's beautiful, Frisk."

The Little Lion bounced on her pillow. "It's totally the best!"

Star lifted the skirt a little, shifting from side to side gently, still smiling. I picked up Princess and set her on her feet, walking up behind Star, careful not to step on the train of the dress. I put my hands on her shoulders, stilling her as I leaned in, mouth to her ear.

"Mrs. Chara Seth Dreemurr."

Star put her hands over mine, a full smile breaking out on her face as she giggled.

"Is this one it?" I asked.

She nodded vigorously, smiling brightly. "This is it." She spun around and hugged me around the neck.

"Chara."

I shivered. That feeling from earlier… I was suddenly on edge and I had to stop myself from reaching for the knife hidden up my sleeve. I looked at Star, but it hadn't been her who'd said my name.

A dark chuckle echoed in my ears. "I'm not waiting for you to figure it out, Prick. Get over here."

"Damali didn't wake me up," I whispered. "You did."

Star leaned in. "Chara?"

"I'm being summoned."

She half frowned, half pouted, confused. And the her jaw dropped. "Oh! How are you going to get to Prime?"

C popped on my shoulder. "Brass is readying the Pearl."

"You too?"

C nodded. "Yeah."

Church stood. "We'll see you two later then. I'll keep Star from going back to work while you're gone."

I nodded and shortcut away. "What do you want?"

I didn't get an answer. I put myself outside Epsilon, and ran for the Pearl. Brass waited at the gangplank, looking at his pocket watch.

"You hear it too?"

Brass shrugged. "I hear the coordinates I need for the Pearl and an order to take you to them."

Stephen came up behind me, shrugging into a coat. We boarded the ship and Brass had us launched, flying through a rift into the void.

Stephen leaned back against the rail edge of the airship. "Any guesses on where we're heading?"

"Prime," I answered, eyes on the darkness around me. "We're going to Prime. Even if I don't recognize the coordinates with the change from the folding, I recognize the direction."

"Then that voice you're both hearing is the-"

"Prime Chara." I looked back at him and nodded.

Stephen shook his head. "But why you two?" He spotted C's red glow on my shoulder. "Excuse me. You three?"

Brass looked out into the dark. "If it's us, then it's about Star."

Stephen frowned and pointed at his sovereign and then me. "You two I get. But C?"

C appeared to sigh. "We, as in my Frisk, Bones, and I, have been tossing around the idea that Star isn't a fell variation. That she's an original. I'm hoping that this is where we get the details." He shrugged. "Either that or the prime asshole of assholes is messing with us."

I snorted and turned to the dark, eyes on a particular point of light. We came to it faster than I expected, going through a rift and coming to rest near a building in the middle of a field on a sunny day.

Blue stood there, hands in the pockets of his hoodie, waiting for us to come down. "*hey, kiddos."

I jumped down from the gangplank. "Expecting us?"

"*frisk is, so i guess i am too. follow me."

Instead of into the building, Blue led us across the field and into the woods beyond. After a short walk, we came to an ornamental, black, iron gate and a small road into a cemetery.

Blue pointed with one boney finger. "*you're looking for the dreemurr mausoleum. make a right at the first turn and walk all the way to the bank of mausoleums. the dreemurr one isn't hard to find. just look for the delta rune."

I raised an eyebrow. "Not coming along?"

"*frisk says this is chara business, so no. i'll be here when you're all done."

The cemetery was a peaceful place, heavily wooded and filled with golden flowers around old tombstones and new. Taking the first right led us back to a rock wall against the side of a hill and a row of mausoleums interspersed with heavily decorated crypt entrances. As promised, the Dreemurr mausoleum wasn't hard to find. A big Delta Rune was carved into the stone door.

The lock was undone and the stone door stood ajar. I pushed on it and it opened easily to reveal a wide staircase made for monster feet leading down into the dark. Brass and I looked at each other for a moment, before shrugging and pulling out flashlights. I went first, taking the steps carefully. We might have descended fifteen or so feet when the stairs spilled into a large, rectangular room of well laid, blue-gray stone. In alcoves long the walls stood large sarcophagi with a statue of the Dreemurr who lay inside, resting on the top. Going past several goat monsters we stopped at the one, lone human in the room.

Stephen eyed the tomb. "We're not going to open that, right?"

A voice encompassing all of darkness and all of hope, laughed. "I'd rather you not. I wasn't embalmed so my body isn't exactly in great condition. Exhuming me from the Ruins to move me here didn't help."

I turned around to see a ghostly version of myself, wearing my red shirt, black slacks, and black coat. My shoulders dropped.

"What? I liked when I looked like you. We're really damn hot."

I frowned. "I'm here. Get on with it."

The ghost floated around me to sit on its statue. "And I remember that 'don't waste my time attitude.' An attitude that didn't apply to those we loved. You'll have to forgive me. I do get visitors. Azzy and Frisk are pretty frequent, and Az likes to bond with me for strolls, but otherwise, I don't get much conversation."

The ghost gestured vaguely in the air. "But you know why you're here. Star. Problematic Frisks, right? But damn was it ever hard not to love her. I remember lifetimes as the most evil bastard I could possibly be, but all it took was a 'please' from Star and I'd melt. A stern look and I fell into line."

"Star choosing you as her partner is no accident. You two hitting it off so well was always in the cards; engineered by Frisk since the beginning. Which is a good thing because Star is, as you and others have long suspected, an original variation. The Comedian waiting by the gate calls her the Amaranth Frisk: the undying flower of the void. The only one who can effectively fill in for any other Frisk."

A thought occurred to me. "Does that mean she can also fill their role? Open barriers and the like?"

The ghost nodded. "She's an extremely powerful being. That said, she may never reach her full power, and that's okay." The ghost appeared to sigh. "But it is also the reason why she collects Charas. She needs multiple Charas to assist her. And anytime she calls, we will go to her."

The ghost looked up at the arched ceiling. "There are versions of us out there right now, seething that she was hurt, even though they've never met her. They don't even know why. And there are others waiting, knowing that, at some point, they must assist her. And they are eager for it."

I frowned. "If she needs multiple Charas, what makes my being her partner so significant?"

The ghost held out both arms grandly. "Isn't that obvious? You are the very second of us. Uniquely powerful and so uniquely suited to care for her even while caring for another Frisk of unique and incredible power. But I'm getting off track. I called you here for a lesson." The voice changed, growing dark. "To teach you something you aren't technically supposed to learn for years from now."

I shivered and willed myself to step back, only to find I couldn't move.

"You're learning to control our power in small doses, but you still lack the ability to stay aware of what you are doing when our full power is summoned." The ghost floated away from its tomb. "The reason you remain unaware is your own emotional state. It consumes you and you feel like you're back in your corpse, feeling the worms eat your body while it rots away."

"I don't want-"

"To remember? Too bad. It's holding you back and I hate being held back."

I tried to move, to do anything, and wondered why the hell Brass, Stephen, or C weren't doing anything. I couldn't see them. Where they behind me? C wasn't on my shoulder. Where did he go?

Ghostly hands touched my head, sliding through my hair before sinking in. An awful, icy cold dug into my mind and I screamed, except no sound came out of my mouth.

The world was dark. Dirt and mud pressed around me. The roots of the golden flowers reached down, into my skin, digging deep. Insects crawled all over me, fungi and mold grew over my exposed bones. Something gnawed on my stomach. I whimpered, unable to do anything other than feel. The thing that gnawed on my stomach crawled up inside me.

"Make it stop! Please! Make it stop!"

I wanted to cry, but my eyes had already rotted away. I wanted to scream, but my vocal cords had been snapped by the monster who'd cut open my neck. I wanted to push the thing eating me out, but one arm had been severed in my escape attempt; the other half eaten. I was helpless in the dark.

A hand reached out, touching one side of my soul: Sunshine's soft touch. "Hey. We'll be together forever. Remember?"

Star's hand touched the other side. "You always bear my burdens. Let me bear a few of yours."

I looked down with my eyes at my hands. I wasn't a corpse bound soul, locked in darkness. I was a living breathing person. I shuddered.

"No. It's not your job to bear my burdens."

The black ink dripped from my eyes, and filled my mouth. I licked my fingers, slicking them with the ichor. Squeezing my eyes shut, I brought forth the memory of those centuries in the ground; a child fighting a battle of attrition against his own terror. And once I was sure I held it firmly in my mind, I wiped my fingers across my forehead.

And erased it.

I opened my eyes. I was in the crypt, staring up at the ghost. It sat on its tomb.

"You did well. But I knew you would."

I blinked. "What happened?"

"I reminded you what having a partner meant. Now, whenever you need your- our -full power, you'll remember that being loved deeply by another will give you strength. And you have the deep love of two."

"I did something to myself. Erased something."

The ghost hopped down from the sarcophagus and floated toward me. "You did. Don't worry. It wasn't something you needed." He pointed to the right. "We'll talk again sometime, but right now, you'll want to catch up to the others."

I looked to the side and saw Brass walking up the stairs, leaving the crypt, Stephen walking slowly behind him. Without thinking about it, I rushed after them, only to stop when I hit the stairs. I looked back and nothing was there, just a silent tomb.

Brass frowned as we came out of the crypt, blinking against the light. "Who did you see down there?"

I shrugged. "I saw myself."

"I saw me."

C nodded. "I saw myself as well."

Brass turned to his second. "Stephen?"

"I saw you, but that makes sense right? If you each saw yourself, I would see my version of him. So I saw you." Stephen gestured to C. "Your Frisk has spoken to the Prime Frisk, right? What does she see during those conversations?"

C's eyebrows went up. "She sees herself."

"Then the experience makes sense. We saw and heard individually."

Brass stopped in his tracks. "Did we all have different conversations with Chara at the same time?"

Stephen nodded. "Yes. He even told me that was what was happening."

"So what did he say to you?"

Stephen smirked, but it was soft, unexpected. "He said thank you."

Brass blinked. "Really?"

Stephen nodded. "I expected him to be… I don't know... The complete wad I call my best friend?"

Brass snorted.

"But he wasn't. After all the things I've heard and seen, the darkness I expected wasn't there. Instead, there was this deep warmth. He was filled with incredible gratitude, like my being there was its own, unique blessing. He said that it was because of me that he opened up, and learned to trust others, to accept offered friendship. That I was the reason, in other lifetimes, that he had friends. That because of me, other Charas opened up and that change meant that even in places where he'd 'won,' he didn't become an awful destroyer of worlds. And he was sad that Frisk, Asriel, Cephas, Anne, Mary, and Meritamen weren't with us, he missed us all so much."

Brass looked back toward the mausoleum. "He said that my lifetime was the one he loved best. That, of all the many, amazing lifetimes he'd lived, mine was where he'd learned his most important lessons. That hurts don't have to mean forever, that wounds can be filled with love, and mistakes could not just be made up for, but forgiven."

He looked down, tears in his eyes. He wiped at his face with the back of his arm. "Damn."

Stephen put an arm around his sovereign's shoulders. "Thinking about Miss Luxon?"

Brass laughed and it came out half choked. "That's Mrs. Bromer to you."

My phone rang and I stopped among the gravestones to fish it out of my pocket. I expected Star, but instead, it was 01.

I answered. "Yes?"

"Star said you were out with Brass on the Pearl. Call Fase for the coordinates and come pick me up at Site Alpha. I'll be bringing a few people with me."

"Do we have reconnaissance on the target?"

"Yes. And the situation has changed."