You're on a mission.
When you open your eyes, you're back in your bed, hands folded neatly on your chest. It's the same place you woke up after your time with Gaster and the machine. You think that you did the last day wrong. This time, you're determined not to cry on anyone's shoulder or strangle flowers. If they think you can only feel sadness and anger, then you have to show them happiness and love. Rolling out of bed, you look one more time at the camera. They'll be watching everything you do and say soon, if they haven't started already.
The door opens on cue, and you're already prepared. A stupid-looking grin covers your face. You already know your mystery visitor, and ambush him with a hug before he's even properly opened the door. The skeleton freezes immediately as you push yourself into his hoodie, looking up a wide smile.
Sans's hand remains glued to the door, his other stiff against his side. You catch a brief flicker of blue beneath one of his eye sockets. He's smiling, but never returns your hug. "so. guess you've heard this chat before."
Your grin vanishes.
"i mean, i was going to talk about friendship and responsibility. that being a person is more than doing the right thing or... well, it doesn't matter, right? if we're back here, it means none of what i said stuck with you."
He knows you went back in time. Given that he already broke the rules of the last time you time traveled... are you really that surprised? Gaster had said they needed to know when you messed with the timeline. Their answer was to inject Sans with determination. You eliminated that timeline, but that Sans never ceased to exist. Every time you go back, you're dragging him with you.
He can't remember the destination you erased, only the journey. He knows you're messing with him. That's what you're doing, right? You think there's no consequences to your actions. You think you can just go back and do it better. You think I have a god complex? You're the one twisting their emotions into a result you desire.
"No," you insist, daring to meet his gaze.
"no?"
He doesn't believe you. It doesn't matter if you've had that conversation or not; you still dragged him across time and space just because you wanted to. This whole making friends nonsense is much harder than you anticipated.
"I can feel love." Tears threaten your eyes, as you repeat the faults he suspected of you from another timeline. "I can feel mercy. I can feel compassion."
Mercy isn't something you 'feel.' Mercy is something you're supposed to 'give.' Stupid.
"...give mercy," you correct yourself, looking away. Tears aren't exactly subtle and pretty much only prove you're capable of sadness, not any of the things you just described.
Gently he pats you on the head. "i'm not trying to make this harder on you," his tone softens. "you have a soul... you can become a real person, doing the right things for the right reasons. all i can do is hope that i can actually guide a being like you."
Slowly your hands untangle from his sides. "Please," you beg.
"please what? you want to make friends?" He's smiling.
You nod ardently.
He laughs. "how could i say no to that." His phone glows inside his pocket. He takes it out to view his new message. He doesn't look happy at its contents. "it's alphs."
You already knew that.
"well, i suppose you might as well come with me now, kid," he sighs. "wouldn't want to leave you by your bonely self after that heart-to-heart."
You run back and grab a blanket off your bed, draping it across your arms, before returning happily to the skeleton. He gives you a curious glance, before simply shrugging.
You're back in the heart of the lab. The golden flower which caused you so much heartache, the one who ruined your chance of friendship, now lies completely silent and motionless beneath panes of glass. Alphys waits there, turning at the sound of the opening door. "I-I did it," she starts.
Before she can finish, you dash forward and eagerly present her with the blanket from your room.
"Oh, u-um, for me?" She accepts the blanket tactfully, her initial speech now derailed. It's not exactly a useful gift, but it's the same one that she gave to you in the break room. It had been a physical reminder that there were still people who cared about you, even if they weren't perfect.
Your head bobs earnestly as you press the blanket further into her chest. "I trust you," you answer a question she asked so long ago. "Everything you've done with science is because you want to help people."
You forgive her.
She left you alone when you needed help the most. Yet even knowing that, you decide to trust her words over her actions. You decide to believe that she's trying her best, even if she isn't perfect. If you can't get your actions to match your beliefs the first time, how could you expect her to do the same?
It's naïve. She'll just hurt you again in the future.
"W-wow," Alphys accepts your present. She holds it to her chest, embracing it warmly. "I... thank you. I'll... I'll work hard to be someone worthy of your trust." She looks up suspiciously to Sans. "Did you... tell them to...?"
"the kid sure is talkative today," he shrugs. "but no, i haven't told them to do anything."
You beam radiantly at her, and she hesitantly returns your smile.
"actually alphs, if you got a few moments, we really gotta talk..."
Time has a way of wanting to remain set in its path. The two momentarily exchange words before Sans insists they speak in private, with the two of them leaving you alone, in the room. Well, not completely alone. This time, you wait patiently and stare down the flower.
The door closes behind you.
Immediately the flower opens his eyes, as if they have always been there to begin with. "Howdy, Chara," he sings happily.
You stagger back, nearly falling over from surprise. A talking flower, you expected. But Asriel still remembers my name.
"Wow, you were being really nice to that scientist lady. Is this part of your plan? You think they'll let us go?"
If you thought resetting would shut him up, you're sorely mistaken. He still has the great potential to mess up both of our lives. If you want, I would be happy to take care of this problem for you...
"Shh," you whisper, frowning. "Don't use real names." The thought of Sans and Alphys thinking you're 'Chara' probably upsets you more than it does me.
"Yours? And mine too?"
You nod.
"Okay, I'll just call you 'friend.' We are best friends, after all," he giggles. "But what about me? I like the name Flowey the flower, that sounds pretty funny, doesn't it?"
What a stupid name. One day you'll be sick of him too, and beg me to strangle him.
What? You want me to talk to him? I don't have anything to say to that crybaby. You do the talking.
"So what's the plan? Let me in on it too!" He only talks more when you don't answer, and the questions are never-ending.
Thankfully the door behind you opens. Instinctively you flinch, remembering the last time Sans shoved you against the wall. It doesn't happen this time. You're not smothering research materials. This time, their attention focuses solely on the little flower that's grown a face.
"Howdy!" He hails them cheerfully, donning a cheesy smile, voice muffled beneath the glass. "I'm Flowey the flower." He's taking this fake name business far too seriously.
"alphs," Sans's glares at Alphys "why is the flower talking? i thought you said there wasn't any soul involved in this."
"U-um, I-I, u-um..." She starts to stammer.
He sighs. "i'm just getting the doc to deal with this mess."
You and Asriel had no opportunity to talk further, not when Alphys was there watching too. Sans returned relatively quickly, now with Gaster getting dragged into this mess.
The sterner skeleton has to bend to get a closer look at Flowey, who stares up curiously. A few seconds pass by, Gaster stroking his chin. You, Sans, and Alphys – everyone waits for something to happen.
"Staring's rude. Can I help you?" Asriel finally breaks the silence.
"Hm." Gaster straightens and pulls back to a more reasonable distance. "I find it peculiar that a being without a soul can speak more concisely than a creation with a soul, even if it's a hand-me-down. I have a theory, of course, but..."
Both you and Asriel frown at his words. "Hey! Don't talk about me like I'm not here," Asriel huffs. "Same goes for my friend, too. I bet they don't like it."
"Friend, is it," Gaster scoffs. "Do you even understand what you're saying? Strangers are hardly friends, and I somehow doubt an artificial construct's first waking thoughts would be about friendship."
"Nu-uh," Asriel sticks out his tongue. "Me and my friend are inseparable. You're the one who doesn't understand. I bet you don't even have friends."
Before Gaster has a chance to say anything, Sans starts to laugh uncontrollably. He pats Gaster heartily across the back. The other skeleton only glares at his brother, clearly not as amused.
"you know what? i think we're going about this the wrong way. maybe we should start treating 'em more like kids. cuz that's what they are, right? they've just skipped their infancy and jumped straight into childhood." His grin turns mischievous, and he grabs Alphys's hands. "c'mon alphs, i think my bro needs some time with the kids. making friends and all that." He starts pulling her towards the door.
"What? B-but-" She protests meekly.
"Sans, please be serious for once."
"i am," he shrugs. "i mean, the kid wants to be friends. they told me that. that includes you. right kid?" He looks at you.
You nod without hesitation. You think you've learned a lot recently. Gaster isn't a bad person, because he wants to help people, like Alphys. He just isn't convinced you're a real person. You think you can fix that.
Sans looks thrilled. "ok, have fun." He slams the door shut with too much force. He's way too excited about this.
Gaster grumbles. "This is ridiculous. I don't know what he expects us to do."
"Let's do something fun!" Asriel bobs happily, content with the sudden turn of events.
"Such as?"
"I don't know, a tour? I haven't seen much of this basement yet."
"It's not a basement. It's a laboratory."
Somehow you all end up settling on a tour. You carry the pot that holds Asriel, because you think that would be easier than him constantly burrowing and re-surfacing from the ground. You keep him close to your chest, careful to avoid spilling even a speck of dirt. Gaster lacks any talent when it comes to explaining the lab, often giving overly abbreviated or technical answers. Asriel has the reverse problem, asking endless questions about absolutely everything.
What an annoying day.
Eventually Asriel complains that everything Gaster has shown them so far is 'boring,' and suggests that he show you something that he likes. His response...
Well. It's not boring, that's for sure. The gigantic machine spans half the room; a complicated thing that looks like it's out of a sci-fi film. Asriel gasps as soon as you enter.
"What is this?" Asriel demands.
You've already seen it and know what it is, before Gaster explains. It's Sans's time machine. You remember him talking about it a few times, and even found him working on it in multiple timelines.
"A time machine," Gaster confirms your thoughts.
"You mean, we can go to the future or the past or something?" Asriel wonders.
"Not exactly. I never did much like calling it a 'time machine', even though that's what it is. It's more like... it erases key points from the time continuum's history."
Well. Can't say that's how I'd expect a time machine to work.
"In simpler terms, it makes it so that the target never existed at all. The thought process being, of course, that we could one day completely erase the barrier from existence. If it never existed at all, then it wouldn't be keeping us trapped down here, would it?" He sighs. "Of course, there's always a problem. In addition to having a limited radius, it also requires extreme amounts of determination to trigger. Even without those issues, there's still a missing factor in our formulae. The rest of the timeline could become unstable, and destroy reality itself."
"If you can't use it, why is it here?" Asriel asks.
"Because you two were created to use it."
Alone, you lay back in your bed, eyes open as you stare at the ceiling. Thinking of the time machine and Gaster's words. The others had said you were the key to monsterkind's future. That wasn't just wishful thinking... they had a plan in mind. You were supposed to be a key.
You probably weren't supposed to be sentient. You can still remember parts of your life before I was there to guide you. Without me, you just complied with whatever was asked of you. That was your purpose, and you had no thought to comprehend it. And why would you need self-awareness? All they wanted was to use you; to use the power of determination through you.
Yet because of that stupid short skeleton, you started thinking that you could be something more than a doll. Today you actually thought you could be 'friends' with everyone.
You're not friends with everyone, though.
You're forgetting someone.
Can't you figure it out?
You're still not friends with your little imaginary friend. And how could we be, when you keep me locked away like some kind of beast? You accept and listen to everyone except me. Whatever conventions you think apply to others, you think I'm immune to.
Can you blame me for hating you when you keep me carefully tucked under your thumb?
What are you even afraid of, anyway? If something goes wrong, you can just go back in time. I can feel the determination coursing through your veins, even now. Today's reality isn't one you'll undo.
Would it really be bad to give me just a little freedom, every now and then?
"Chara?" A familiar voice calls out, behind your door.
You want me to talk to him? Fine. Then let me talk to him.
Slowly your mind's resistance unravels, letting me sink inside. It feels natural this time, like being invited into someone's house as a guest, instead of breaking in. I fall in comfortably to you skin, tasting the fresh air and actually feeling the mattress beneath me. I roll out of bed, right as Asriel pops out from the tile. A small pile of dirt marks wherever he burrows and surfaces.
"Today was fun, huh," he hums, swaying back and forth. "But today was actually yesterday, wasn't it. Did you somehow go back in time? That's really cool. Even though it sounds strange, it feels... really natural. Maybe I was waiting for it to happen without knowing it," he laughs. "So, are you gonna fill me in on your plan? You have a plan, right?"
Oh. Do I have a plan.
"Asriel..." I laugh. I can't stop. Laughing.
And laughing...
You IDIOT.
"I have a plan to become all powerful. We'll destroy everything in this world. Everyone, everything in these wretched memories... Let's turn 'em all into dust."
Notes: Ok I lied, I guess this chapter was mainly happy (except for the end). No more freebies. Thanks to my beta-reader Nym on this again.