(I'm sorry I couldn't stick to my theme with character names, but I couldn't come up with one I haven't already used...)
I'm back! Sorry, it seems I'm bad at updating regularly... But this isn't a time line directly after when Byakuran talked to Chara, it's long after that. There's a fighting scene here, but I'm not sure if I did it that well...
Only three chapters left and then the story is done!
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"This will be the last time, Sans-kun…"
Sans looks up at Byakuran, having stared down into the floor as the two of them wait for Chara to show up. Sans nods, looking towards the entrance to the hall with hatred in his eyes and seems almost eager for the child to get here. That child is a demon, a real monster who's killing everyone.
"yeah. this time, we'll kill that thing for good."
"No, that's not what I mean." The skeleton looks back at Byakuran, the human has an empty look in his eyes as he stares down at the floor. He doesn't have his wings now, he says that having them out constantly takes some energy out of him, energy he would rather spend fighting with. But Sans vaguely remember that Byakuran said his wings made him stronger. Something is wrong with him, Sans is sure of it. But Byakuran won't tell him no matter what. Byakuran meets his gaze and Sans frown. His eyes look almost hollow, this isn't like him at all.
"What I mean is, this will be the last timeline I'll remember everything. Even if I'm powerful, I can't do this constantly. If we don't succeed this time… I don't know what I'll do. Perhaps I'll continue fighting. Or perhaps I go to the surface alone. I'm not sure what I'll decide on."
"go to the surface?" Sans asks, the white dots in his eye sockets shrinking slightly in surprise. Is it really that serious? "you mean… you can actually break the barrier? on your own? but why-?"
Sans cut himself off, looking down at the floor again. Just when he was about to ask the question, a small glimpse of a previous timeline enters his skull. Byakuran has told him about it before, but he isn't strong enough to break the whole barrier. Only enough for himself to get out. Apparently, they need Frisk if the whole barrier should be broken. How many times has it been now? How many timelines have passed since the human kid came here? Sans doesn't know. But for Byakuran to say something like 'I can't do this' then it must have restarted many times already.
"what's wrong, Byakuran? something is happening to you, isn't it?"
Byakuran hums, a happy sounding sound, even if he's far from happy, and looks towards the entrance where Chara will come from. He feels tired, the constant weight on his shoulders and soul that never lets up even for a second. It has always been there, but it feels even heavier now. As if it knows that he is on the verge of breaking and pushes just a little harder. This pressure almost feels alive. It led him to the True lab. It doesn't want him to be there. It doesn't want him to change things in the timelines. Almost as if the feeling is the sound of a booing crowd trying to bring him down morally. It's just… tiring for him. And also, he doesn't want to feel cruel anymore. He isn't lonely, far from it, but no one quite understands him like Yuni does. And Yuni brings out the best side of him. He hates how he needs to kill Chara over and over in hope that Frisk will come back. He doesn't want to become like the man he was in that future. He won't be, Yuni has made sure of that, but the longer he stays here the more it feels like he'll really snap and become that cruel person. Byakuran doesn't want that…
"There's a constant weight on me while I'm here. It's finally taken its toll on me… But I have an idea on how to bring Frisk back. We just need to make sure that the demon stays still while I try it."
Sans gets worried over his friend, knowing that Byakuran must be sugarcoating his situation. But if he has an idea, it's worth trying. Sans is about to confront Byakuran about this 'weight' when they hear distant footsteps getting closer to them. Knowing that it's Chara, Sans stands up from leaning against the pillar and face the entrance, his hands in his pockets.
"alright then. I've got your back, buddy. just don't drop dead on me, ok? we'll talk more later."
"Of course." Byakuran chuckles, standing up as well and walk over to stop next to Sans, a small smile on his face. Now that Sans is paying attention to it, Byakuran looks a little paler than usual. They really need to talk about what has happened to him once all of this is over. When Sans looks ahead again, Chara is already in the room and is walking towards them at a steady pace, determination burning in their eyes with a knife in hand. Once they've stopped, Byakuran holds up his hand in greeting with a cheerful looking smile.
"Yah, kid-chan. Did you enjoy my little present?"
Chara grimaces slightly, their determination wavering slightly. This interaction surprises Sans, because he never heard of Byakuran giving that thing a present of all things. But he supposes it's alright, since the kid seems to have hated it. But he can't help but wonder what it was he gave them.
Seeing Chara's expression, Byakuran feels pleased about himself and laughs softly. So it worked after all. "Good, I'm glad you liked it." The pressure around him gets tighter and Byakuran quickly has to focus on himself to not flinch. The 'attack' only lasts a second and when Byakuran opens his eyes again, Chara is staring down at the floor quietly.
"And you still don't give up. You must be insane, aren't you?"
"I'm not insane, you bastard!" Chara screams out, glaring at the man. Sans is slightly confused over this conversations, but Byakuran must have a reason for it. So the skeleton settles on watching Chara for any sign of attacking while Byakuran plays his little mind game. If it makes the kid give up, everything would get better. Since he remember everything, it'll be a lot easier for Byakuran to push the kids buttons.
"But you are." Byakuran says with a small laugh, lighting up the ring on his hand in orange flame, an A-class sky ring. "Don't you know what insanity is? It's doing the same thing, over and over and expecting the same results. It's useless, Chara. You know we always win. Why continue doing this game if you have no chance of winning from the start?"
This makes Chara even angrier and they charge at the two with a cry of rage escaping their lips. Sans quickly calls up a battle and some of his Gaster Blasters with his left eye glowing in a blue glow. The child's soul exits their body with a 'ping' sound and Byakuran makes his flames materialize into a dragon that sails toward Chara.
The human child is able to dodge the dragon coming their way with a quick side step. Sans bone attacks joins Byakuran's dragon in attacking Chara. A predictable move on their part. The two fights from a distance most of the time, but sometimes, Byakuran has entered a close combat with them. That's when it becomes more dangerous, because of what Byakuran would do once he gets a hold of their soul. There is a slight advantage that Sans is more careful with how he attacks. But the advantage weights out the disadvantage. Not to mention that Byakuran has very high pain tolerance. Once, they got a lucky hit in, but he still kept on fighting.
Chara swings their knife at Sans once they have gotten close enough, seeing as Sans would get killed with one hit. But the skeleton dodges the attack and appears at another place entirely, charging up a Gaster Blaster aimed towards them. Chara turn towards Byakuran, swinging their knife through the air to cut through his stomach. But Byakuran dodges the hit as well and moves in closer towards them. Chara's eyes widen when his hand reach out towards their soul, the ring on his finger burning. But for some reason, which the child didn't believe was possible, they were able to lean away from him just in time and scramble backwards to gain some distance between them and Byakuran.
When they are at a safe distance, they look more closely at Byakuran. He seems to be frozen, his fingers twitching only the slightest. When they see him in such a vulnerable position, Chara starts to grin and take a step towards him to finish off the human. Reacting on instincts though, Chara quickly drops to the ground, letting a beam pass over them and quickly rolls away to avoid the bones following close after. How foolish, they almost forgot about Sans for a second there.
As Sans attack Chara, he can't help but glance towards Byakuran in worry. Now, the human is clutching at his chest while taking deep breaths. Something is seriously wrong with him to act like this during a fight. Chara continues to try and get closer to Byakuran so they can kill him and Sans does his best to get in their way. But Chara is just too good at dodging and is soon upon Byakuran with their knife raised in the air to cut him.
Sans is just about to call out to him when Byakuran looks up and stares Chara in the eyes. Without wasting a second, he grabs hold of the child's arm, bending it backwards so they'll let go of the knife and hits them hard in their stomach. Chara goes limp in his grip when their air is knocked out of them and Byakuran adjusts his grip on their arm so he can throw them hard against the closest pillar. Although, after he has let go of Chara, the pressure once again presses hard against him and leaving him motionless. It feels as if his core is getting squeezed, like someone is squeezing a water balloon hard and hoping that the water will burst out. Byakuran quickly shakes his head and does his best to ignore that tight feeling over his whole body. Sans walk by him towards the kid lying on the ground, the kid who is struggling to get up from the floor. Sans stomp a foot on their back to keep them in place, glaring at Chara with his left eye still burning blue.
"you said you had a plan to get the real kid back?" He says, looking towards Byakuran. The man nods, staring at Chara as he too walk closer to them. The child meets his gaze, trying to put on a brave front but he can see the slight hint of fear shining through their facade. They don't want to feel that pain again it seems. He stops right in front of the child, turning to look at Sans with a small smile. The pressure is still there around him and it's getting slightly hard to focus.
"Yes. Though, it's not a guarantee that they'll come back. I need to be careful." Byakuran sits down on the floor by the child's head, staring blankly into the child's eyes. Under their shirt, Byakuran can see the small glimmer of their red soul beat wildly. Byakuran puts a hand to their head, the hand with his ring on it, and prepares himself for what he's about to do. He has never tried to do anything like this before and he really hopes nothing bad will come out of it.
"I trust you to take care of my body, Sans-kun."
"your body?" The skeleton asks, looking at Byakuran with wide eyes. The man closes his eyes in concentration, looking closely at his flames and converting them like he wants them to. He doesn't answer Sans but rather shuts everything out in favor of concentrating.
Chara opens their eyes to stare at Byakuran, getting worried over the thought that Byakuran could actually successfully bring back that brat. They look towards their knife that's lying far behind Byakuran. If it just was closer to them. Even if they don't have a weapon nearby, Chara starts to struggle now that both Sans and Byakuran are distracted. The skeleton quickly snaps back to reality when he feels Chara moving and quickly puts more weight on them to hold the child still.
"what are you going to do Byakuran?" Sans asks again, struggling to hold the child still. Chara does not want to experience whatever it is Byakuran has planned for them. Byakuran is trying to get rid of them. They still have to get to the surface, they still want to feel alive, they still have things to do, they have to live up to their name. They can't let go of this body!
Chara gets filled with determination and starts to struggle even harder to get Sans off them. If they can get up, they can hit Byakuran in the face and daze him long enough to get their knife. They can kill them both!
But a sudden tingle in Charas head makes their body go completely limp, making their eyes widen in fear. No matter what they try, none of their body parts will move. It is almost as if the are a marionette with all of their strings cut off. Sans quickly look towards Byakuran when he notices that Chara becomes completely limp. Byakuran is smiling in success, a small bead of sweat trailing down his temple. His smile grows larger when he manages to 'unlock' their mind and prepares himself for try to enter it. Just because he isn't an illusionist doesn't mean he can't affect or enter the mind. He must at least try.
"Sans… If something happens to me and you still make it to the surface… Call Yuni-chan and tell her I did it to protect someone."
"what? hey, I told you to not-!"
Byakuran then let's his own mind connect with theirs and everything goes black.
When Byakuran is aware of himself again, everything is still black, but he can see a faint orange glow around himself so he assumes that he succeeded. Byakuran concentrates to feel his body, his real body, and is pleased when he feels the connection. He has heard that people have gone lost in a mind walk and he wouldn't want the same to happen to him.
As he starts walking, the world around him bends and twists to form small colors in the dark. Yellow by his feet and blue everywhere else, like a sky. Either Byakuran hasn't reached the core yet and has to keep walking, or he hasn't actually fully unlocked their mind. So Byakuran continues walking, not wanting to use any more flames on the child's mind. Since he is a sky flame user, it could prove to be really dangerous for Frisk to have more flames inside their head. This is his first time mind walking and he plan on it being his last. Once they get to the surface, he'll bring Frisk to a mist user so they can look over their mind.
His patience is rewarded in the end, because after a few minutes of walking, the blackness completely disappears and shows him a field of buttercups stretching as far as the eye can see. And right in front of him, is the person he's been looking for. Frisk. They're tied up to a stone pillar seemingly in the middle of the field. They're tied up over their whole body with thin roots and is unable to move. Byakuran smiles, focusing on the connection to his body again before he approaches Frisk.
"Yah, Frisk-chan. You don't look so well even with this beautiful weather."
The child flinches when they hear a voice, looking up quickly when they recognize Byakuran's way of saying their name. Tears of joy prickle in their eyes as a large smile shines up their whole face. He came for them! He actually came!
"Byaku! You're here!"
Byakurans smile widens at hearing the nickname they gave him and nods, starting to tear off the roots binding them to the pillar. He starts off with their arms so they can help in tearing off the roots.
"Of course I'm here. You didn't think I would leave you alone, did you? I still have to kidnap you to a few places."
Frisk laughs happily when he says that, wiggling their fingers slightly before they start to tear off the roots on their chest, their grin widening even more. Byakuran has never seen Frisk this relieved before, it must have felt like an eternity to be stuck here with no one around. No further words are needed as Frisk is getting freed and when all the roots are gone, the child doesn't hesitate to throw themselves into Byakuran in a tight hug, shaking and crying. Byakuran lets them cry, patting their head gently while his other arm is wrapped around them in return. This is the real Frisk, the one he got to know. Byakuran concentrates on his connection to his body and then realizes that he'll soon be out of flames. Also, he can feel the pressure on him even in Frisks mind, which must mean that it's even worse for his body.
"Frisk-chan, we can hug later but I need to go now." He tells the child, pulling away from the hug and hold onto Frisks shoulders. Frisk nods, beaming brightly at the man. But their body suddenly tenses up as they glance towards their right. Byakuran follows their gaze and slowly stands up when he realizes who it is. Red eyes, brown hair, rosy cheeks, angry snarl on their face. There's no doubt about who it is.
"Leaving already? But we hand by even started to have fun, Byakuran."
Then, the field flowers all wither at the same time and is replaced by a single rock platform they're standing on, surrounded with lava. Chara starts to burn with determination, literally burn as their hands are covered with red and indigo flames. Byakuran walks forward to protect Frisk from the demon, prepared to protect them with the few amount of flames he can use within their mind. He won't have that much time left, he need to make this quick.
"This is my body! Mine! And you won't take it away from me!" Chara screams, motioning with her hand towards Byakuran to make vines and roots appear from the ground to attack him. But Byakuran's resolution is absolute. He will kill Chara and then go back to his body. That way, everyone can have their happy ending.
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Mind walking is some dangerous shit if you're not a mist flame user, but this was literally his last option. If you want, I can write up all the different ways Byakuran has tried getting Frisk back. There were many different ways he tried... I'm thinking about posting those attempts on my blog, but I'm not sure.
Please leave a review, any review means a lot to me. ^^
See ya soon~.