Last we saw our beloved Frisk the Undetermined, she had just stumbled through a dark void into a sphere of golden light. What waits for her beyond the glow? What sort of mysteries is she about to uncover? Only time will tell.
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Chapter 4: A Blast From The Past
Frisk's eyes widened as she looked around her. This was a castle. She could see that just by looking around. Stone walls. But this was not an old dilapidated castle. It was like a mega futuristic one. There were fancy test pipes running all over the place, coming down from the ceiling and up from the floor. It would have been hard to move without bumping into one of them, they covered so much of the room. There were also tables and desks coating over half of the room, with hundreds of different chemical potions on each.
In a corner of the room, Frisk noticed Sans talking to somebody she had seen thousands of times in pictures at her house. Toriel's son by birth, Asriel. This realization threw her mind into a flurry. Asriel was dead. Had died hundreds of years ago. So either she had stepped into an alternate dimension, or she'd stepped back in time!
"You'll never guess what my dad is going to do next," Sans whispered to Asriel, like some kind of conspiratorial spy. He looked exactly the same as the last time she had seen him, except for one shocking difference. He was smiling, and not his natural fake smile. This was a genuine, 'I'm happy to be alive. Isn't the world wonderful?' smile. "He's developing a portal to another dimension!"
Perhaps this was a memory, Frisk pondered as she weaved her way through the pipe maze. Sure she hadn't lived through any of it, but she'd learned long ago that Chara's memories had mixed in with her own. In that case, this was quite possibly a Chara memory. Well, except for the fact that the terrifying girl was nowhere to be seen. A quick glance around the room confirmed this. Chara wasn't there.
"A portal to another dimension," Asriel asked incredulously. Frisk paused and looked at the goat kid with a raised eyebrow. So… he was the voice that she had heard from outside of the sphere. His voice did sound quite a bit like the infuriating flower. That was interesting, but hardly important information. She dismissed it. "Not sure he can even do it, but even if he could… Why?"
"Well, he figures it's the best way to get out from underground," Sans said with excitement. "He says that if the humans don't want us to go aboveground, we really don't need to. All we gotta do is find a different place to go."
Finally, Frisk arrived at the two kids. During the entire trek, they hadn't even looked at her once. She'd been moving quietly though, so that might explain it. "Spoiler alert, it doesn't work." As she said this, she stepped between the two monsters, and looked Sans straight in the face. "And nothing matters. You've told me so yourself."
"So what's it going to look like?" Asriel asked, curiously.
Wait, what? She was standing between the two of them, and they were ignoring her?
Asriel leaned forward, right through her back, so that he was right by Sans' ear. "Is it gonna be some epic circular doorway with wavy blue air that you can walk through?"
Frisk gave a yipe as she watched the head appear through her chest, and instantly jumped out of the way. Apparently, she was just a shadow here.
"It's going to have to be absolutely gigantic," Sans said, proudly, as if he were building it himself. "We tried building one, not much bigger than your dad, back in Dad's Snowdin lab. Didn't work." He looked a little disappointed at having to admit this embarrassing failure. "But we figured out the problem was the size. Instead it's going to need to be bigger than this!" As he spoke, he stretched his arms out as far as they would go. He looked down at it with displeasure. "A lot bigger than that, actually."
That was when things took a turn for the worse, or at least for the bizarre. The really, really, really bizarre. The door to the room swung open, and the girl that haunted Frisk's dreams came rushing into the room. Chara, the violent, bloodthirsty sadist beast in human skin. Only, she didn't look anything like the girl that Frisk remembered. Well, not quite true. The skin was the same. The red eyes were the same. The brown hair was the same. There was no way it wasn't Chara. Yet, those similarities were where the resemblance ended.
This Chara was grinning from ear to ear, her eyes full of mischief, excitement and… love. But not the horrible Level of Violence kind of love the Chara Frisk knew was obsessed with. This was genuine, good-natured, emotionally unstable love. This Chara wore a pink shoulderless ball gown that went from shortly above her chest to shortly below her knees. She spun in a circle, laughing good-naturedly, her red eyes sparkling.
Frisk simply stared, stunned. She found herself slightly grateful that she couldn't be seen, because staring open mouthed at a girl five years her junior would not have looked good no matter where she was. Yet, she couldn't tear her eyes away. This young girl, sweet, innocent, and charming was the demon of death that she'd been battling for so many years? She was almost as different as… Her eyes darted over to Sans for a second, before going right back to Chara. If this was the past… She wasn't sure she wanted to know what had happened to them.
Then Chara blushed and leaned back against the wall, clearly attempting to get into a cool pose. It was pretty effective. "Sans? Bro?" She looked at the two of them with a suspicious twinkle in her eyes. "What mischief are the two of you up to tonight?" The two of them instantly silenced, looking like two spies who had just been caught by the enemy.
"Hey… Chara," Sans said, blushing awkwardly at the sight of the beautiful girl. "We… um… uh… Nothing."
"Good." She quickly strode over to Sans, grabbed his hand, and pulled him to his feet. Asriel quickly scrambled up next to them. "There's a party going on out there." She kissed him quickly on the cheek. "And you are going to be my dance partner." Sans didn't even have time to respond as he was pulled from the room. Asriel glanced around for a second, and then took off after them.
Kissed. Chara. Kissed. Sans. Had he known? She had to fight rather hard to keep the memory of her final battle with Sans out of her head. That question wouldn't leave though. Had he known Chara was there when he'd fought her? And if so, did he know what had caused Chara to change?
After standing there blankly for a moment, Frisk breathed in and focused. Whatever she was doing here, there had to be a point and a purpose. The sphere couldn't have been something that she had just happened to stumble upon. Things like that didn't happen in the Underworld. "WHAT DO YOU WANT?!" She yelled out, hoping that whoever, or whatever, had brought her here would respond. But she was met with only silence.
Actually, silence wasn't quite right. Because as she stood their waiting for an answer, she could hear the sounds of a party in the distance. A party. Never once had a party been thrown during her entire time in the Underworld. And this didn't sound like a simple party, either. Rather, it sounded like a massive celebration. The number of monsters had to be in the hundreds, at least.
Where was the resignation she'd gotten so used to seeing buried in everybody's eyes. They laughed, joked, played, lived relatively happy lives. But deep in every monster was that longing they knew would never be satisfied. To see the world that their ancestors had been driven from, to see the place where they knew they truly belong. Above ground.
Here, it was completely nonexistent. I mean, they were throwing a freakin' celebration! Sans so hopeful, Chara so adorable, the monster populace celebrating. The more she learned the more she began to wonder if she'd stepped into some whacked out other dimension. Surely the world couldn't have been like this at one point?
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Inside her physics defying house, the girl was no longer leaning back nonchalantly. The show had taken an unexpected turn, and she was not happy. Quite the opposite actually. She was ticked off. She was now sitting up, her hands balled into fists, glaring at the world that she saw through Frisk's eyes.
How dare the world return her to this moment! The goal was to erase the Underworld; the good, the bad, and the ugly. Forget all the blasted nonsense, and eliminate all of the infuriating memories. And this moment was high on the list of ones she wanted gone. But here it was, in front of her once again.
Was it not enough to steal her victory at the very moment she'd thought she had finally won? Now it wanted her to relive one of her most hated experiences. She hissed in irritation. No matter what happened, she would make sure that the person responsible for this burned. Everything would burn. And then the moments like this would finally disappear forever.
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Frisk found herself unsure how to proceed. The human version of Chara had shaken her up more than she cared to admit. And all the joy coming from the party, how exactly was she supposed to respond to that? This wasn't the Underworld that she was familiar with, and it unnerved her. That was a feeling that she wasn't familiar with, and didn't like. It sounded… unstable. And she was terrified of being unstable.
As her thoughts ran around in their crazy circles, Frisk absent-mindedly moved her hand in and out of the semi-opened door in front of her. It was a reminder that she wasn't actually here, wherever here was. Considering how she was in the room by herself, she found it somewhat doubtful that it was a memory. Whatever it was, though, she clearly wasn't a part of this world. That meant, at least for the moment, that she was safe, right?
The door swung open the rest of the way rather suddenly, and Frisk jumped back out of habit. In the hallway stood a girl who looked quite similar to how Megan had back when Frisk had first met her five years earlier. The two of them had barely been thirteen at the time. There was one major difference between Megan and this girl, though. She looked eerie, unreal, as if she had stumbled out of the screen of a black and white film. It was as if all color had been drained away, not only from her clothes, but from her body as well.
"Why are you just standing here, Frisk?" The grey, young Megan asked as she looked at Frisk with a mixture of confusion and impatience. "You know the way. Head to Chara's room. There is something there that you need to see." Then she stepped through the hallway wall and vanished, leaving Frisk staring blankly behind her.
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Her room? The girl was no longer sitting on her course, but rather pacing back and forth furiously. No way, no how were they going back there in THIS time period. She knew what Frisk would find there, what she would see there. And there was nothing in the world she wanted to forget about more. Nothing… That left only one option, but it wasn't much better. It felt a bit like having to choose between death by hanging or death by acid. Hanging would be far less painful than watching your flesh dissolve, but that didn't mean it would feel pleasant. Not in the least.
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"Wait-" Frisk called out immediately after her bearings returned, but of course, Ghost Megan was long gone by then. She sighed and stepped towards the door. Go to the ball. Her subconscious urged her. You need to go to the ball. Follow Sans. Frisk held her hand to her head, pushing the thoughts from it. She needed to think. Didn't want to go to Chara's room. She'd worked so hard to forget all of that, push it deep down where it could never bother her again. Plus, heading to Chara's room might be all that was needed to reawaken Chara.
You must follow the kids. They are the reason that you are here. No, Frisk decided, glancing in the direction of Chara's room. There was no way she was going there. But Ghost Megan, she was the only one who could see her. Maybe, she should listen to… You cannot trust ghosts. The subconscious thought interrupted her reasonings. Do not forget about Chara. You cannot trust spirits. All they want to do is use you.
Frisk glanced once more down each path. She had to follow the kids. They were the reason she was here, after all. Making a decision based on a spirit was foolish. It was the whole reason she had never been able to succeed in any of her runs. If she had time afterwards, she would investigate Chara's room. For now though, she had more important things to deal with.
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Chara smiled.
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Frisk found herself meandering down hallway after hallway. It was kind of eerie. No matter where she turned, no matter where she looked, the parts of the castle she traveled through remained empty. She never even saw a single guard. Was the party truly so massive that it would have been unfair to let the guards work during it? Or was it just that the monsters were so happy right now that they were blind to how stupid dangerous that was? These questions were quickly dismissed as Frisk settled into a relative state of unease.
In all but one of her runs, monsters had approached her here and told her sad stories about how the Underworld was doomed. She couldn't take more than a few steps without being interrupted. Even during the run where she'd killed everybody… She shivered at the memory, Even then, Flowey had interrupted her. Most of what she knew about Flowey's sad story had been told while walking down these hallways. It was why she had taken to calling this place The Passage of Sorrows. It was quite unnerving to wander down it following happy sounds.
There was more that bothering her though. She'd been to the future. She'd seen how things ended up, and was afraid that she hadn't come here simply to see some sort of party. Typically these time travel experiences had a purpose. Not that she'd experience any herself… or knew anybody who had actually… but in the novels she'd read that was always the case.
Besides, she did know from experience that terrible things always followed cheerful things. Good cheerful moments like this were meant to lure her into a false sense of security. She'd learned that the hard way, having fallen prey to it a number of occasions throughout her runs. With a reluctant sigh, she glanced back in the direction she had come, and froze.
There was a fog so dark that she couldn't see anything on the other side of it. Just like Ghost Megan, it felt like it had been deprived of color. It was an odd feeling to get when looking at fog, but it was there nonetheless. It looked quite ominous, probably best to be avoided. At least for the moment, Chara's room was completely inaccessible. That was a little disconcerting. Well, when one couldn't go back, it was best to keep going forward. So Frisk turned around and continued walking towards the party.
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Chara's smile had quickly evaporated as they got closer and closer to the ballroom. She didn't want to go to the party anymore. Sure, she still didn't want to go to her room, but she found herself agreeing with her earlier comparison. It was like walking towards a hanging, only… this would hurt way, way more.
She remembered this night too well. It was the beginning of the end, the day that everything she'd spent three years building up had come crumbling to the ground. Every terrible moment in her life since that day had been a result of what happened inside the ballroom. Step. Step. Step. Inch by inch, Frisk got closer. If she had any tears left, Chara felt she would be crying now.
"Stop…" She thought the words pleadingly, though she dared not speak them aloud. "Please… I don't want to be back here. I don't want to have to live through this." Erase the underground. Erase the memories. That was the goal, the plan, the mission. Not… Revisit. But inch by inch, second by second, Chara knew. There was no going back. It was happening, again.
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I hope you enjoyed the latest entry in the adventure. If you enjoyed, please send me a review to let me know what you thought. As always, your fanship means a lot to me. Hope to hear from you.
~ Xanatos Stones
