Chara stumbled a bit as she suddenly felt dazed, confusing her immensely. She's never felt it before in any of the previous runs and the closest thing she could relate it to is LOADING after a death. Connecting the dots, she made a mental note to confront the little cry-baby traitor about it later. Frisk also felt it, but she was still reclusive in the back of Chara's consciousness, still distraught over killing the people she knew and loved.

Sans and Tenebris both felt something similar, though both were limited to slight dizziness and both decided to ignore it. Sans let out a small sigh as Frisk approached the skeleton, with Tenebris still in the shadows and watching with his one "good" eye; the one that can see a person's true face. Thus far, all he has seen of Frisk's face is one full of twisted, sadistic malice, something that made Selendis whimper and regress a little. She still desperately wanted to believe that Frisk wasn't the one in control, but all signs up to this point have been proving otherwise.

Tenebris, oddly, was hoping even harder for Selendis to be correct.

Frisk stopped a fair distance away from Sans who merely shook his head in disappointment. "heya… from the looks of things, you've been busy, huh? so… i've got a question for…" Sans cut himself off when he noticed an odd look from the kid. Thinking that a RESET already happened somewhere, he merely shakes his head. "Let's just skip to the point."

Tenebris frowned. He felt like Sans was skipping something he has yet to hear… yet has already heard. He began wondering if another RESET somehow occurred without Sans or himself noticing or feeling it.

Sans hummed a little bit as the area grew dark and Frisk tensed up, knife at the ready. "it's a beautiful day outside: birds are singing, flowers are blooming. on days like these, kids like you. Should be burning in Hell."

He suddenly turned Frisk's soul blue and slammed it against the ground, earning a wince from the homicidal girl before she suddenly jumped over a bunch of bones popping up from underneath her. She then weaved through more bones before Sans summoned gaster blasters to fire at her. She managed to dodge all but the last two, earning a small grin from Sans. "Huh… I always wondered why people don't start with their strongest attack first."

Chara frowned; she felt like she's already heard that this run and Sans was usually good at reading if people have heard what he said before, like he, somehow, did earlier. Her earlier daze throwing her off and the prospect of Sans doing something new didn't excite her for some reason. Regardless, she engaged Sans once again.

As the battle went on, Sans occasionally managed to get a killing blow on Frisk, shattering her soul and causing a RESET to occur. Despite knowing Frisk would be fine because of that, Selendis let out an anguished cry every time Sans managed to kill her, with Tenebris looking away with a pained expression. Neither of the combatants have noticed Tenebris hiding in the shadows yet.

As the battle waged on between RESETS, Sans started talking about a massive anomaly in the spacetime continuum that ends everything before saying it was Frisk, which only served to let doubt continue to worm into Selendis' beliefs. Sans even stated the reason why he was so depressed on the inside and why he gave up trying to reach the surface: he knew everything would just reset anyways, though this is the one time he couldn't afford not to care about.

A few more misses and RESETS from Frisk and Sans let out a grunt, sweat beginning to form on his skull. "T-that being said, you really like swinging that thing around, don't you? Listen, I know you didn't answer me before, but... somewhere in there, I can feel it. There's a glimmer of a good person inside of you, the memory of someone who once wanted to do the right thing. Someone who, in another time, might have even been... a friend? A little sister? C'mon, buddy, don't you remember me? Don't you remember your sister and your big-brother figure? Please, if you're listening... let's forget all this, okay? I'm sure they would forgive and forget as well."

Chara let out an internal laugh, finally recovered from her bad start. "How utterly stupid does he think I am? As per usual, what a fool, just like his brother!" Frisk suddenly stopped Chara from hitting the FIGHT button within their subconscious, not wanting her to fight anymore. This earned an even bigger grin from Chara. "Oh? This is the third time you've suddenly tried to stop me. First with your sister and that other dumb skeleton, and the second time with that shadow-eyed human whom you've barely known."

Frisk looked away. "I-I know he h-hasn't been in my life t-that long, but- "

"Ever since then, you've been ever so quiet." Chara cut Frisk off and the latter whimpered at the words. Chara saw the look on her face and snickered. "What, you wanted to show this comedian mercy?" Frisk nodded vigorously. "You've truly forgotten what would happen if you did? Adorable. Do you really think he would forgive you THAT easily? That he would forgive you for the slaughter of everyone he loves?"

"I-I-I… I want to believe t-that… that…"

Chara observed for a bit before shaking her head in amusement. "Guess it can't be helped. It's been a while since you've asked for something. Despite something telling me I SHOULD say no, I think I'll… let you have a chance." She let out a maniacal grin. "Well… go on now. Accept his "mercy"." Frisk let out a happy sound as she pressed the MERCY button in her subconscious.

Tenebris frowned in confusion and Selendis was holding her metaphorical breath. Frisk's face was, for some reason, unreadable after Sans extended his offer of just stopping. There was a long silence and it was putting everyone paying attention on edge.

The silence was broken when Frisk suddenly dropped her knife. What threw everyone off even more was when she let out a loud, mournful wail. Tenebris let out a silent gasp when he got a good look at Frisk's face. Gone was the look full of sadistic and murderous glee. What he saw was a face full of tears… sadness… pain… regret…

Selendis let out a mental gasp. "I-I… I was r-right…"

Sans was caught off guard before he said, "H-hey kid, what's with the wail and tears? If you don't stop crying, I'll start cryin' too." He lets out a relieved sigh, despite Frisk's continued crying. "Listen, I know the choice I gave you wasn't an easy one, but I'm admittedly glad we've stopped fighting." Through the shadow he fused with Sans' shadow earlier, Tenebris realized what his intentions were as he spread his arms. "C'mere, pa- "

"Sans… NO…"

Sans cut himself off and adopted a surprised look when he heard Tenebris' voice echo through his mind. Frisk gave him a tearful, yet confused look and Chara, in the back of Frisk's consciousness now, was wondering why he cut himself off.

Everyone suddenly heard footsteps echoing from behind where Sans stood. Frisk couldn't see past him, but when Sans turn around, he realized who it was and let out a small sigh. "Should have known you would observe the fight." He side-steps and Frisk let out a gasp as she saw Tenebris approach both her and Sans.

Chara was suddenly baffled. "How did he survive that wound?! I could have sworn he died when he teleported away; I saw the blood at the lab and assumed the monsters merely took his body elsewhere!"

Tenebris stopped and gave Frisk's tear-filled face a long look before he went down onto one knee. "Come here… kid."

Frisk stood there for a moment longer before her expression became more pained and rushed forward to embrace Tenebris. He accepted the embrace and, much to Sans' apparent surprise, he never attempted "dunking on her" as he was planning to.

Tenebris was trying to comfort the distraught child as best as he could as she cried into his shoulder, choking out apologies. "I'm sorry… I'm sorry… I… I…"

He gives her a kiss on the forehead. "Shh… it's okay, Frisk. I know it's not your fault."

That only made her cry harder. "It… it is… I… I killed… I killed… so… many…" Tenebris let out an internal sigh; He wished he could feel her and know how hard to hug. He didn't realize that Selendis was helping him with the hug as she tried to comfort her little sister through Tenebris.

At this point Chara was trying to win back control. Not only was Tenebris still alive, but he prevented Sans from dunking on Frisk like he did the last time. "Nononono, this wasn't supposed to happen! I need back control and I need it back NOW!"

Chara's panic in Frisk's subconscious tipped Tenebris off that Frisk wasn't out of the woods yet due to his proximity to her. Drawing her away, he held her head steady with both hands and looked her in her green eyes with his purple eye and green heart. "Frisk, I know you aren't to blame for all of these atrocities; you're just as much a victim as everyone else. But I need to know: do you still trust me?"

Frisk nodded as best as she could. "Y-yes. I-I t-trust y-you, T-Tenny!"

Tenebris let out an internal sigh. She responded pretty quickly to the question, yet he still believed her. "Heh… glad to see the Frisk I still know and love."

She gave a tearful smile as he touched his forehead against hers. Selendis knew that Tenebris was planning something, but refrained from asking. "However, I need you to trust me on something I'm about to do. It… may be painful, but you need to stay determined through it. All I ask is that you bear with me throughout it." She gave him a look of confusion and he sighs; he was never good at breaking things to people. "Sans… catch her."

Sans was about to ask why when Tenebris' body suddenly morphed into pure shadow and forced itself into Frisk's soul. Frisk had the briefest look of pain before blanking out and began falling over with Tenebris no longer there to support her. Sans did catch her before she fell onto the ground before looking at her soul. It was now almost enshrouded in darkness, though he could see it just fine, even seeing Selendis' soul right behind it.

Frisk's body twitched a bit as Sans sighed. "Whatever you're doing in there, bud, I hope you know your way around."

Inside the darkness of Frisk's subconscious, Tenebris appeared in a flash of blue light. There was a green flash and Selendis was right next to him, though more transparent than Tenebris. "This is your ability to enter someone's soul?"

"Yes, though it's… not how I imagined it to be. Since you're here as well, we should try and find Frisk in here before anything else."

Selendis suddenly rushes forward. "I think I already see her!"

Tenebris looks and finds the brown-haired girl sitting a distance away with a dazed look. He could already tell that it was the true Frisk and approached as Selendis embraced her sister. "S-Selly? H-how are you here? I-I thought I… thought I…" Frisk slowly started breaking down again.

Selendis held her sister's head to her chest. "Shh, it's okay, Frisk. I know that wasn't you who killed me or all of those monsters."

Tenebris approached with a soft smile. "Truth be told, I somehow managed to absorb her soul when I found her. It was Selendis who managed to convince me that what was going on wasn't your fault."

"You make it sound like I was the only thing that changed your mind. I could tell you still had doubts in the back of your mind." Selendis shook her head. "If only we reunited under better circumstances."

Tenebris started frowning, not saying anything before walking away a bit as Selendis continued to comfort Frisk. He could tell there was another consciousness besides the three of them; more than likely the one forcing Frisk into committing atrocities. He closed his good eye and focused a bit, Frisk looking at him with worry. "T-Tenny?"

He opened his eye and glared forward. "You think you can hide from me here, Chara?" He suddenly shot a dark hand out and slammed the fallen child into the supposed "ground" in front of him, earning a gasp from Selendis and a whimper from Frisk.

Chara looked up with a smile, a black liquid coming out of her eyes from the impact. "I should have known you would find me. It's like you've already done this; else you wouldn't have known my name."

"Wrong. As I was entering Frisk's subconscious, I managed to glean some of your memories. It was just a matter of pin-pointing your location in here and dragging out of the darkness." Tenebris let out a huff as he glares at her smiling face. "But I digress. You're the one who forced her into killing all of those innocent people."

She lets out a cruel laugh. "Yeah, so? What are you going to do about it? You don't know what fighting me here will do to the one who you consider to be a little sister."

Tenebris shook his head. "And you severely underestimate me." He grabbed Chara with another shadow hand. "Selendis, look after Frisk!" He forced Chara and himself to exit Frisk's soul before she could ask why.

Sans had been observing the kid's darkness-covered soul when it started twitching erratically. The Darkness suddenly separated from the soul in two dark balls, surprising the skeleton. The bigger one turned out to be Tenebris, but the other one surprised him; it was a being that looked like a human child; it looked almost like the kid save for the green shirt, red eyes, and black sclera. "Whoa… I suppose that's the reason why the kid you knew suddenly started murdering things, huh?"

"More than you know. This thing was borderline torturing her psychologically by having her kill me and her sister." Sans blanched at that; he felt his sins crawling on his back when he remembered that he was going to dunk on who was essentially the biggest victim in all of this.

Chara couldn't believe that she was so easily forced out of Frisk when their consciousness' were tied together the moment Frisk fell on her grave. "This isn't happening!" What switched her mood was the fact that she once again had her own body, and the fact that her "real" knife was right next to her. Picking it up with another laugh, she looks at the trio, her smile once again gracing her face. "Oh well. Thanks to you, I've got my own body. I don't need her body anymore, but I do need her soul for what I want to do."

Tenebris shook his head as he summoned his own weapon. "Don't think I'll let you get away with that."

Chara laughed as she rushed at Tenebris. "You idiot! What can you possibly- "

Tenebris suddenly ripped a portal open to the world of darkness and hit the fallen child into it. Looking around it at Sans, he sees Frisk beginning to wake up. "Sans, take care of her until I'm done… or dead."

This time, the undead waited for Sans' response. "Heh… you're giving me a workout here, bud. Still, I trust you know what you're doing. Give that… thing a bad time." Tenebris nods before jumping in after Chara.

Chara got back up as Tenebris landed a fair distance away from her, irritation on her face. "How many more times are you going to toss me into a new place?"

Tenebris smirked. "Aw, feeling worn out after just two tosses? Don't worry. I'll make sure you're tossed like a salad before I'm done with you."

Chara sent a red shockwave at Tenebris with her knife, no longer limited to just physical strikes. ""Done" with me? By preventing that comedian from helping you, you've effectively doomed yourself to die by my hands. How you survived the first time, I'm guessing I'll find out soon enough, but I'll make sure your properly dead this time!"

Tenebris simply dodged and fired an umbra blaster in response. "Big words for a little nobody who possessed someone I care about. I'm going to enjoy this more than I should."

Chara sent delayed shockwaves at him in an effort to trip him up. He merely teleported away and began lobbing fireballs at her from a shadowy pillar, forcing her to dodge a rain of dark fire. The dark ice he started spreading on the ground didn't help her case, especially when he coupled it with barbed spikes. She managed to slice the pillar he was standing on, bringing him back down to her level, though not before having an umbra blaster beam get shot through a portal and coming out another at her.

Chara smirks as she dodges a volley of dark energy bolts. "You know, most of the monsters I've killed up to this point were chattier than you. What's the matter, cat got your tongue?"

Tenebris shakes his head as he suddenly teleports her into an energy bolt. "You wish. I'd rather not become acquainted with the likes of you."

"Oh, you wound me! I figured you would be more… talkative, considering how alike we actually are."

Tenebris growled. "Some things I might agree on, but don't you dare lump me with a mass murderer like YOU!"

She merely cackled. "Try telling that to all the scientists you've murdered before all this." Tenebris paused and gave her a horrified look, prompting a mad laugh out of her. "Oh? Did you really think that the memory sharing was only one way? I know your life now. You've been "abused" by scientists and forced into becoming their surgical playground. I remember what you told Frisk last time: that most of the scientists broke you out after a time. Sounds to me like you were lying to yourself that time as well."

Tenebris grimaced before looking away. "I… I didn't mean…"

Tenebris had completely paused, though Chara decided to torment him some more before killing him. "Sure you didn't "mean" it. I mean, you "did" lose control of ALL that magic that was forced into you, yet you never once tried to regain control of yourself during that time. It was only AFTER a scientist called you a Grim Reaper and AFTER your massacre that you tried to regain control. Your parents' deaths were just the icing on the cake of your depression. You're lucky little Frisk didn't get in on that information, else she would actually hate you."

She started laughing again until Tenebris cut her off. "I guess you're right… about me. It was always my belief that no matter how bad they are, nobody ever deserved to die, that everyone should at the very least get a second chance at redeeming themselves. But in my rage at being treated like a lab rat, I let my power run amok and slaughter so many people. Some were… innocent. After the carnage and my escape, I thought I could return home and… try and reforge a semblance of my normal life.

"But here I am, a dark harbinger of destruction, relating to a soulless mass murderer."

Chara giggled a bit. "Then you admit it?"

Tenebris paused for a bit before closing his eyes. "I… will admit it. But… now that I'm thinking more about it… I've realized that agonizing over it will never change anything, that regretting my mistakes won't bring anyone back." Opening his eyes, he gives Chara a determined look. "Even if what I did is unforgivable, I've acknowledged it and am willing to make amends for it. You, on the other hand, only acknowledge because such suffering brings you joy. I go back to what I've said before. On that front, you and I are nothing alike!"

Chara took a step back right as Tenebris suddenly rushed her with his weapon and started comboing her with it. After forcing him to retreat with her shockwaves, Chara shook her head. "You do realize this makes you hypocritical, right?"

"Maybe it does. But like my old man once said: "It's a dirty job, but somebody has to do it"."

Tenebris suddenly started juggling her with spikes before ending off with an explosive orb to the face. Chara managed to cause a giant energy blast to erupt from the ground all around them, but Tenebris blocked it with a deflection barrier. He created another or and set it to fire scatter-shot energy bolts at her before meleeing her again, this time with shadowy claws. He ended off with one of his claws turning into a spike and launching her with it, though he discovered that she was recovering from all of the wounds he was giving her.

The pause Tenbebris gave right there allowed Chara to finally hit him. "I knew it was only a matter of time before you messed up. I'd say it was nice knowing you… but it hasn't." Tenebris merely looked at his new wound before sucker punishing her with a giant shadowy fist. She managed to stay on her feet as she skidded away. "So that's how you "survived". You did die, but you became undead and unable to feel pain."

Tenebris shook his head. "I get the feeling you already knew, but decided to wait and confirm it. Still, this technically means that neither of us can die here."

Chara let out a laugh. "I can't die. I can still kill you; all I have to do is shatter your soul and I've won. It's just a matter of exposing it from that decaying body."

Tenebris chuckled. "Good luck tearing my body apart enough to do that." With that, he suddenly grabbed her with a whip and smacked her on the ground on alternating sides before shocking and throwing her. He hit her a few more times with his scythe before letting out a sigh. "You know… I wasn't lying when I said we still shared some similarities."

Chara grinned. "Oh? Pray tell what those are."

"Well… Chara and I were both abused by our own kind; her by her village and me by scientists. I had it easier than she did, as my parents weren't as neglectful as hers. Both of us suffered at the hands of humanity… I feel as though, if we had ever met before all of this, we could have been… friends? Family?"

Chara frowned. "Stop speaking about me like I'm not here!"

Tenebris gave her a dark glare. "No. You aren't the REAL Chara. The real Chara would never have been this cruel or sadistic. You're just a twisted mockery of what she used to be!"

This clearly insulted her has she went in for a flurry of attacks. "You dare call me FAKE?!"

"I do. You taint the real Chara's memory and for that, I'll ERASE you from existence."

"Chara" lets out an angry grunt. "On top of that, why haven't I crushed you yet?! You and all of these monsters all scramble around, trying to play god! The reality is, there's only one person in the world fitting such a role!" She suddenly caught him off guard and managed to cut up his abdomen before launching him. "Me."

She slowly approached, thinking she won, when Tenebris suddenly said, "I don't know, "Chara". Playing god can't be that hard. I mean, sure, I could be cheating considering I've got powers over darkness and whatnot.

"But, when everything's said and done, I'm not playing god. All this time…" He suddenly gained a glint in his eye. "I've been playing human."

By those words, he did something that was similar to his period of magic rampancy in the lab: he managed to "unleash" all of his magic and bring it all to bear at once. His iris' fire became a towering inferno and his sclera started pouring out a literal river of darkness. Darkness began both clinging to his body and drifting off of it like smoke.

"Chara" took a step back with a look of horror; never has she seen so much power being released all at once, in quantities that would be destructive to a normal human body and soul.

Tenebris didn't pay any mind as he began rushing her down, using multiple apparitions of shadowy fists to punish her or having waves of darkness hit her around. After a bit of that, he suddenly said, "Devour everything!" From that, an unholy screech stunned "Chara" right as what looked like a giant three-segment maw erupted from the ground around her and encircled her. All three suddenly snapped shut on her, "chewing" her five times before releasing her and retreating back underground.

Tenebris' "Unleash" had begun distorting her figure from all of the damage she was taking; she could barely stay in existence from all of the punishment. Tenebris, on the other hand, knew that by doing what his did, he doomed himself to death as, while he couldn't feel it in his body, he could feel the pain in his soul; it wasn't long before it would shatter from the over-flow of magic.

Knowing this, he quickly trapped "Chara" before summoning an altered umbra blaster, one with an unattached lower jaw and dark "machinery" rotating inside, charging. "May you never taint the real Chara's image ever again, for this… is a MERCY."

The blaster was fired, resulting in a massive beam that completely erased the now demonically howling entity from existence.

Struggling to keep his soul together from that final attack, he managed to reopen the portal back to the judgement hall. When he fell out, he was met with a cry from the now conscious Frisk, who rushed over to him. "T-Tenny! P-please tell me you're okay!"

Tenebris chuckles weakly as Sans came over, worry in his eyes. "Sorry, kid. I was… never fine… ever since I… died the first… time."

"N-no! Please, don't die on me! Not again!" Selendis could see through Frisk's eyes and was also begging for Tenebris to not die.

Tenebris lifted a hand to cup Frisk's face with a weak smile. "It's sad… I can't feel… your warmth… the warmth of your kindness…" he shook his head slightly. "I know… You'll do just… fine, kid. I know… you'll find… a… way…"

His had fell to his side as his dark purple soul emerged, shuddering violently with three massive cracks in it. Frisk let out an anguished cry as she watched as his soul split in half along the middle crack, then the two halves split in half again, before the four pieces finally crystalized and vanished.

Sans' eye sockets were dark. Tenebris had truly died this time and in front of the two people who cared most about him. Tears fell down his face, but he said nothing as he listened to Frisk's sobbing. There was a period of time before he finally decided to leave Frisk to her mourning, looking forward to when she RESET back to the beginning of everything for the first time. Not just for his brother and friends to come back to him, but for Frisk's family to come back to her.

Frisk stayed beside Tenebris' now soulless corpse, weeping with Selendis over their friend. It was the second… third time she had to watch him die. She wasn't feeling determined at all; not when everything that has happened ultimately led to his death.

"Hey." Frisk looked beside her and sees Flowey with a guilty look on his face. "I'm… probably the last person you want to see right now, huh?"

Frisk didn't say anything, only to embrace the flower much to his surprise. "F-F-Flowey. W-what s-should I d-do?!"

Flowey patted the kid's back with a leaf. "Have you already forgotten?" She looks at him with a confused look. "You do realize you have the power to RESET, don't you?"

It took a few seconds until it clicked in Frisk's mind, Selendis no longer paying attention to what was going on. "I-I can bring back both Tenny and Selly!"

"Hold on there, let me say something first!" Frisk's had was over the RESET button when she paused and looked at Flowey. "First of all, I'm sorry I egged you on like that in the beginning. I… never thought Chara would turn on me like that; I thought out friendship was stronger than that. Secondly, I wanted to speak to you about something in the last run, but that was cut off by Chara forcefully possessing you and forcing a RESET."

"Y-you were going to tell me something l-last time?"

Flowey nods. "Yeah. You seem clearly distraught over this guy's death both this and last time. I wanted to give you a hint that could, maybe, lead to his survival in the end." Seeing Frisk's full attention on him, he continues, "All I'm going to say is… go on that date with Papyrus when you get there. I'm sure you'll figure things out from there."

Frisk nodded sharply and pressed RESET right as Flowey began opening his mouth again. He suddenly found himself back in the Ruins in the room right after the room with the fallen child. He chuckles a bit. "She cut me off before I could mention anything about my memories. Guess I'll play dumb with her if that's the case."

In Home, Toriel was about to head out to her child's grave to check for fallen humans when she sees a dark purple crystal on her table. "Odd, I don't recall having that before.

Picking it up, she suddenly felt something in her mind. Fear… Loneliness… Desperation…

Flinching, she put the crystal back down, wondering if the crystal was reflecting her feelings back at her.

In Snowdin, Papyrus had just exited the door to check on his lazy brother when he saw a glinting purple crystal in the snow. "OOH, IT MUST BE THE GREAT PAPYRUS' LUCKY DAY! THIS MIGHT MAKE A NICE NECKLACE!"

Picking it up, he suddenly felt something in his mind. Sadness… Despair… Loss…

Letting out a small yelp, he almost dropped the crystal. Sighing, he went back into the house to put it in his room. "MAYBE I'LL ASK SANS ABOUT IT IF I REMEMBER TO. I… DON'T LIKE WHAT THAT CRYSTAL MADE ME FEEL…. LIKE I HAD JUST LOST SOMEONE DEAR TO ME…"

In Waterfall, Undyne was heading back to her house from a patrol when she saw a dark purple crystal glinting in the darkness. "Hmm? It's odd to find a crystal here of all places. They're usually in the darker areas of Waterfall."

Picking it up, she suddenly felt something in her mind. Rage… Hatred… Betrayal… Death…

Undyne grunted. She could tell that these were someone else's feelings, though she couldn't pinpoint who or why. "Guess I'll take this home for now and have Alphys analyze it later."

In Hotland, Alphys had just seen Mettaton off from his enhancements. When she went back into the lab, she found a crystal laying on the floor. "T-that's odd. P-perhaps someone left it behind as a p-present?"

Picking it up, she suddenly felt something in her mind. Joy… Satisfaction… Peace…

Alphys looked at the crystal. "Come to think, this is reminding me of a time I read about memory crystals. Perhaps this is a type of memory crystal, more than likely incomplete as it only recorded emotions, unless it only shows memories to a specific person. I'll have to analyze it later."