Chapter 13
Links to the Pasts
Frisk slowly opened her eyes and took in her surroundings as she had 'woken up'. She and her friends were getting closer to finding Chara after taking a couple wrong turns and going down a few different paths. After an hour or so, they knew for a fact they were definitely going the right way, and were approaching Chara with every second they moved on.
It was late at night at the time, and everybody was tired and hungry, so a few more jokes from Sans about how he had never done as much work as walking so far in his life and a few puns about his aching bones, they had finally decided to stop for the night and rest. Toriel had cooked for them again, and this time made a Snail Pie for everybody. Frisk was reluctant on eating it at first, and it definitely had a unique flavor when she finally decided to eat it, but overall it wasn't as bad as someone might believe.
After their meal and a couple of other things, they had decided to book it for the night and get some rest. They weren't sure how early they would have to get up tomorrow, but they knew that they couldn't dilly dally too much in the morning. The faster that they got to Chara and the sooner they stopped him, the better for everybody.
Frisk opened her eyes and found herself in a small room, the walls a dull blue color and there being very little in that room aside from a bed and a desk and chair. She gave a little shudder as she looked around. She knew this dream all too well. Even before she began having nightmares from Chara, this was a dream that always haunted her at night, no matter when or in what way she fell asleep.
As she laid there in the bed, hesitant to get up and to look around the place and be reminded of the life that she had before she had fallen into the Underground, she began to hear the drunken yelling voices of a man and a woman from downstairs. Those voices she was immediately able to identify as the woman and man she was forced to call her mother and her father for so long. She had dreaded every single time she heard their voices in her life, whether it be in her dreams or in the days where she was forced to live with them every day of her life.
"They're arguing again..." she thought to herself as she reluctantly forced herself out of the bed and stood up. There was rain and a bit of thunder in from outside, the rain hitting itself against the window of her room and sliding down the glass, illuminating for a split second every time a bolt of lightning boomed from outside.
The wooden floorboards creaked and groaned with each slow and hesitant footstep she took. The floor sounded much weaker and less steady than she had remembered in her youth... then again, that was quite some time ago. Perhaps the floor was always this creaky, and she had never taken the time to notice it past her parents' drunk arguments and the sound of glass bottles breaking and shattering.
She slowly exited her room and began to walk down the stairs, which were just as creaky and sounding unstable as the floor to her room. As she slowly descended, the sound of her parents' bitter quarrel was being heard louder for her as she could slightly make out what they were yelling about. Her biological father sounded to have been accusing her mother of taking his money and spending it for herself, to which her mother was responding with shouts and throwing of beer bottles, based on the sound of shattering glass against a wall.
She made her way down the stairs and looked into the kitchen, where she could see her mother and father arguing. She shuddered as they had looked just like she remembered.
Her father was a tall man with brown hair, the same color as Frisk's hair, and rather light skin. His arms from under his short sleeved green t-shirt were covered quite fairly by dark hair, and on his middle and index fingers of his left hand, he had a ring each, which Frisk had particularly bad memories of whenever her father had hit her with his left hand, feeling the rings scratch against her skin with each hit. He also had a brown beard goatee that protruded upon his upper lip and chin.
Her mother was an average height woman with long hair as black as the night. Her skin wasn't very dark, but it was just the slightest bit darker than Frisk's. On her right hand, she also had two rings, one of them on her middle finger and the other on her ring finger. Frisk didn't have nearly as many terrible memories of those rings hitting her as she did with her father, but she had quite a few moments where those rings were what she saw when she had her most awful punishments.
As Frisk took another quiet step, she could hear the sound of glass breaking under her shoes. The kitchen floor was covered in the shards of glass that came whenever her parents broke one of their bottles throwing it at the other. The sound of glass shattering under her shoes was nothing new to her, as she had heard it several times in her childhood before her adventure in the Underground had started.
She took a glance at some of the other features of the kitchen that brought back terrible memories that she had long since hoped she could have forgotten. She had seen a wooden paddle by the kitchen counter that her mother had used constantly on her for the slightest mistakes. It was nothing new for parents to spank their children as discipline for misbehaving, Frisk knew that, but she was always paddled for things that were minor and not at all major, and she was always hit with that thing much harder than what should be allowed.
She glanced at the kitchen table and had found a salt shaker, filled with salt and really shuddered at that memory. Her parents made sure she knew that she wasn't to talk about what happened to her from them to anyone, and she was to hide any wound she got from the beatings. If someone figured out about this or brought the wounds to their attention, they would take her open wounds and rub the table salt into them, to let the burning pain 'teach her a lesson', as they would call it.
There was also a hammer that she could just barely catch a glimpse of on the kitchen counter. Though the hammer was never used physically on her, and it was honestly rarely used, there were times where her parents had smashed her possessions for some reason. The reasons that they may have had were never really clear to Frisk; she never wanted to know them anyway.
The memories were becoming too much for her as she began to walk out of the kitchen towards the living room. As she did, she could hear the sound of a little girl crying out of fear and sadness. She didn't have to look around to know that that was herself as a young child crying under the table in the living room. She had seen it several times, so it was nothing new.
When she had gotten there to the living room, however, she was very surprised to see that at the table, there was somebody else standing there. She could never forget the look of the person who stood there, though it was someone she thought she would never see again. It was a young monster, very close to around her height. He looked pretty much like Asgore and Toriel, with the exception of not having any horns. He wore a green and yellowish-green striped shirt and a pair of black pants.
"Asriel?" Frisk asked softly, causing the monster to look at her.
"...Hey, Frisk." Asriel said with a little smile and a nod. "It... it's been quite a while, huh?"
"Wh... what are you doing here?" Frisk questioned as she slowly approached Asriel.
"...I had to know the truth, Frisk... I wanted to learn why exactly you went to the mountain that day." Asriel said as he looked back under the table. "...I... I never pictured that this was what life was like for you... you both seem to have had it so bad in your youths..."
"...Both of us?" Frisk questioned as she began to slowly approach the table. "...What do you mean both of us?"
Curious, she looked down under the table to see what Asriel was talking about. She saw herself as a child, curled up under the table, crying loudly, but nobody hearing her cries. She was covered in wounds and had many bruises on her body. It was exactly like she had always seen in this dream.
However, she was surprised to see that beside her was another child that looked just as bad as she did. He too had many wounds covering his body, and his hands had several red burn marks. The boy kept his face down and buried under his arms, so she wasn't really able to make out who it was.
She was more than confused. She didn't have any siblings, and she was never with somebody in those moments; she had always been alone every single time she was in this situation. "Who... who is this?" Frisk questioned as she began to slowly approach the boy. Sensing that she was approaching, they boy looked up to her, and Frisk couldn't believe her eyes.
Aside from having many bruises and wounds on his face like her, there were two details about the boy's face that really stood out to her. The first one being his eyes, which looked all too familiar and haunting to her. The other detail was hard to notice past all the bruises, but if she looked hard enough, Frisk was able to make out the boy's cheeks having a rose color blush to them.
To her knowledge, there was only one boy in the entire world that always had that rosy blush on his cheeks, and the eyes the boy had matched perfectly. "It... it can't be..." Frisk said as she stared at the boy, unable to believe just who it was she was seeing.
"...Pitiful, isn't it?" came the voice of the one Frisk was thinking of, causing her to glance away from the two under the table and look at the owner of the voice, which made Asriel look at him too. "...Pitiful to think there was a time where I was so weak and helpless... a time where all I could do was let all these terrible things happen to me, and be unable to do anything about them..."
"...Chara..." Frisk whispered silently as she stared at him in disbelief.
"...Yes. It's me." Chara said as he walked over to Frisk and Asriel. "...Now do you see what I meant when I told you that you and I really aren't so different, Frisk?" Chara questioned as he glanced at Frisk's younger self and his own younger self cowering under the table. "...Do you now understand what I meant by us going to Mount Ebott for the same reason?"
"...You... you were abused too." Frisk said. "...You... didn't get any love from your parents..."
"...They were drug addicts... much like your parents were drunkards." Chara said with a sigh, his voice filled with bitter resentment towards the memories of those he was forced to call his biological parents. "...I was always accused of taking their money that they had for those drugs... they always beat me to get me to say I did... always neglected me if I kept on asserting that I took nothing... even a few rare times where they burnt my hands on the stove for 'lying'... they made my life a living Hell..."
"...So... the reason that you went up to the mountain really was the same as mine..." Frisk said as she gave a little shudder. "You... you went up to the mountain-"
"To kill myself... yes." Chara finished with a nod. "...I decided that if my own parents couldn't give me any love... if I didn't have anybody I could run to for help... what good was living if I was just going to have to face the same pain every day for the rest of my life?... I ran to the mountain... and I was originally going to just jump down the ledge and fall to my doom... but then I saw the hole that led to the Underground... and I decided that perhaps it would be more efficient if I just jumped down there."
Frisk gave a shudder at that and Asriel sat down quietly as the sound of Frisk's parents arguing seemed to have melted away, and they were left with silence as Chara went on. Asriel didn't like hearing stories of sadness and pain like that, but he knew that he had to know the truth sooner or later.
"...I was surprised, however, to find that for some reason, even after that massive drop that most certainly should have killed me, I found myself alive... injured and in great pain... but alive, nonetheless." Chara said with a shudder. "...I began to grow a bit apprehensive as I laid there, letting the thought of what would happen after my death sink in... 'Is there really a God up there?' ... 'What will happen to me after I die?' ... 'Is there a Heaven or a Hell?' ... 'Where will I go?' ...all these questions raced through my head, as I laid there, writhing in pain as I waited for either death or unconsciousness to take me away..."
"...That's where I found you." Asriel said as he looked down. "...You were hurt... bleeding on the ground... Mom and I... helped you... we took you in as a member of our family..."
"...And for that, my brother... I could never thank you enough." Chara said as he sat down and looked down. "...The time that I spent with you and our parents was the only time in my whole life where I genuinely felt happy... I finally had a mother and a father that loved me as a son... I finally had a family..."
Frisk listened on silently as she looked at Chara. She knew that he was telling the truth... but part of her still couldn't believe it. He really was very similar to her.
"...Overtime, however, as my dreams were becoming worse, and my sleep still taunting me with those memories... my hatred for my biological parents had grown to a hatred for all of humanity... after all, if my own parents hated my guts like that, then there couldn't have been any other love in all of humanity... it began to eat at my very being... I couldn't allow everything they had done to me to go unanswered... and so... I devised a plan with Asriel... I would poison myself and kill myself, and allow my brother to absorb my soul to get through the barrier... we'd gather human souls until we had enough power to destroy the barrier, and we would let all the monsters free... it would undoubtedly cause a war... and I knew that we could destroy humanity through that..."
"...But if that's the case, why didn't you?" Frisk questioned.
"...My brother began to think twice before going along with the plan... he's... so pure and innocent, he could never hurt anybody... when he got to where I once lived, he was attacked and mortally wounded by the humans... I tried to get Asriel to fight back, to save my brother, but he wouldn't do it... he went back into the Underground and eventually died... my own plan had caused my brother's death..."
Asriel gave a little shudder at the memory. He remembered Chara shouting his name, telling him to fight as he was getting attacked by the humans.
"...However, even though my plan seemed to have failed... it wasn't completely over with... through the humans killing my brother, Father went into a great rage." Chara said. Somehow, it sent a chill down Frisk's back to have Chara refer to Asgore as his father still. "...He declared that he would reap the souls of any humans that entered the Underground and break the barrier... then he would use that power to destroy all of humanity, so the Monsters could finally live on the surface without any problems."
"...And he almost did." Frisk said as she looked at Chara. "...He almost got all of the souls needed to go along with his plan, but... Toriel stopped him before he and I could fight."
"...Oh, that's not quite how it goes." Chara said as he looked at Frisk. "...You see... overtime, as the Seventh Human that had fallen to the Underground had their soul reaped, I began to realize that my father didn't have the stomach to do this anymore... I knew that he couldn't bear to hurt anyone anymore... so I decided to take matters into my own hands... and I chose to do so with you, Frisk."
Both Asriel and Frisk looked up at Chara. Neither of the two had any idea of what he was talking about. "...What do you mean?" Frisk questioned. "...What do you mean by taking matters into your own hands with me?"
"...You remember when I told you several times that we had made a deal?" Chara questioned. "...Well... when you had hurled yourself into the Underground and survived, I came to you... I had made you a deal... if you would allow me to go into you and take control of you as if you were my own body at times... I would protect you from anyone that tried to hurt you..."
"I... I don't remember that at all." Frisk said with a shake of her head. "I never met you back in the-"
"Hold your horses... let me finish." Chara said. "...The deal was made, and we went about with your adventure... together, you and I made our way to Asgore, and we killed everyone that got in our way... Toriel... Papyrus... Undyne, Sans, Metatton... we killed them all..."
Frisk suddenly stopped cold as Chara said that. Suddenly, she began to remember those dreams she had. She remembered dreaming of every single thing that Chara was telling her... her hands began to shake as she was starting to get a very chilling realization. What she was dreaming in all of her dreams... was it all true?
"...After we killed everyone in the Underground, I went through and destroyed the entire world with the power I had gotten from us slaughtering everybody... but sooner or later, you began to regret what you had done for whatever reason... you wanted to go back... and so I decided that that was the best time to start my plan anew... and I had made the deal with you."
Frisk looked down in shame as Asriel looked at Frisk, unable to believe what he was hearing. He was looking to see if what Chara was saying was true, and Frisk's actions told him everything. "...You... you killed everybody?" Asriel questioned.
"...And I made a deal with you." Frisk said and looked at Chara. "...You allowed me to go back into the world and undo what I had done... in exchange for my soul..."
Chara nodded and gave a sigh. "...You had done everything that you wanted to do... you changed the future and saved everybody... and I would have gone along with my plan and taken your soul right after you were finished... but... I had discovered something that ultimately changed my mind then and there." he explained. "Something that caused me to put my plan to a halt right then and there."
"...You discovered that I was still around, right?" Asriel questioned. "...You found out that in the form of Flowey... I was still alive."
"...I had thought that Flowey was nothing but an imitation of my brother... I thought that he just claimed himself to be Asriel... but when I saw Flowey change into my own dear brother... that changed everything for me... I now had a decision on my hands... I could either go along with my plan then and there, and guarantee that everything would go how I expected them to go... or I could use a majority of my power to find my brother's soul, and bring him back to life... and after several days of weighing my options and thinking about everything... I made my decision..."
He went over to Asriel and hugged him close for a minute or two. "...I brought my brother back."
"...I'm alive and with him now." Asriel said as he looked down. "...When you find where Chara is... you'll find me there with him, Frisk."
Frisk looked at Chara. "...You... you took control of me." Frisk said. "...You had me kill everybody... and then... you let me go back... for my soul..."
"Yes... in a way, I guess you can say I made your life a living Hell." Chara said with a shrug. "...You probably hate me now that you know the truth, huh?" He gave a sigh and looked back at the table, the two children still sitting there, huddled up and cowering.
"...Do you want me to answer that question honestly?" Frisk asked as she looked at Asriel and Chara. "...Because in all honesty... no. I don't hate you."
Asriel and Chara both looked at Frisk when she said that. Asriel wasn't really surprised, as even after hearing about what Frisk had done before all of this, he knew that Frisk was still one of the best people he had ever met. Chara, however, was more than shocked. "...Wh... what?" he questioned.
"I don't hate you." Frisk repeated. "In fact... I almost feel like thanking you right now."
"Th... thank me?" Chara was really confused now. "Wh... what are you talking about?"
"Well... if what you had just told me is true, then I really did quite a number of terrible things before you and I made that deal, yes?" Frisk asked. "...You gave me the chance to reverse that... you let me go back and change everything I did."
"...For my own benefit, Frisk." Chara said. "Besides, I'm the one that had you do all those terrible things anyway..."
"...They always do say that the ends justify the means." Frisk said with a shrug of her shoulders. "Besides, looking back at what you've shown and what you've told me, you and I really are similar in a number of ways... we both had rough lives and we both didn't have any love before we had fallen into the Underground... in all honesty... I just can't bring myself to hate you."
"..." Chara gave a little curious sigh as he stood up and began to walk over to the window. He watched as the rain began to hit against the window. "...I... don't suppose I can have you change your mind and honor our deal... now that you know everything about it." he said as he looked out the window.
"...Sorry, Chara... but I'm afraid not." Frisk said as she stood up. "...I now understand that we made a deal... I now see that I gave my soul to you... but I can't let you have it... not when I know what you're planning to do with it."
"...I understand." Chara said with a little nod and a sigh. "...So be it then... when you arrive at where Asriel and I are... then we'll have our battle to decide the fate of humanity... I suggest that you and your friends be prepared, Frisk..." He looked at Frisk, his eyes looking like wide empty sockets again, as if he was about to do that creepy face. "...Because once you arrive... and we start our battle... I'm not going to hold anything back... I'll fight with all my force."
"...As will I." Frisk said. She didn't want to fight Chara, but if she really had no choice, then she would fight if absolutely necessary.
Chara gave a nod, and he slowly faded away. Frisk gave a sigh and looked down with her eyes closed, waiting to be taken out of the dream and back into reality.
"Frisk! Wait!" Asriel said, making Frisk open her eyes again and looking at Asriel. "Frisk... I... I want to ask you something."
"...What do you want to ask me, Asriel?" she questioned. "...If it has anything to do with what Chara said about what happened before he and I made that deal-"
"No... it has nothing to do with that." Asriel said. He gave a sigh and looked at his hand as he put it in his pocket and pulled out a little heart shaped locket from it. "...Do you believe... that even the worst of people can change?... That they can be good people if they tried?..."
"...I suppose if it's possible for someone like me... it's possible for anyone." Frisk said as she looked at Asriel. "...You... want me to see if I can help change Chara... am I correct?"
Asriel gave a sigh and a nod. "...I don't know if you'd understand it... but I still really love Chara... he's my brother, and my best friend..." he said as he held the locket close to his heart. "...Sure, he's done bad things in the past... but I still believe that he can change if he just gave himself the chance..."
He looked at Frisk and went on. "I... I know that he's done a number of things to you in the past... I know that you might not be able to understand why I would want you to... but... please... help Chara... save him... like you saved me..."
"...I don't know what I can do for your brother, Asriel." Frisk said. "...I don't know whether or not he'll give me the chance to save him..." She looked at him, her eyes burning with a familiar determination. "...But I promise you... so long as I still stand and breathe... I'll do everything I can to save your brother."
Asriel smiled and nodded. "Thank you." he said. "...Please stay safe, Frisk... you're Chara's only hope of changing now..."
Frisk gave a nod and watched as Asriel also faded away, leaving her there. She glanced back at the table and saw that both of the beaten children were gone. The house seemed completely empty. "...So then... this is it... there will be no turning back now." she said with a sigh. "...Once I wake up and continue on... I'll have to keep going forward..." She gave a nod and closed her eyes as she was slowly waking out of the dream world, arriving back into reality.