RESET.
Even though the smell of buttercups long permeated her clothing, Frisk didn't sit up.
Haha! That was the best one yet! The sound of a child's laugh reverberated within her thoughts. I knew that comedian was something else, but I had no idea he was such a hit!
Frisk shrunk away, even though there was no way to block it out. Chara's pleasure was Frisk's torment.
Hey, aren't you getting up anytime soon? I can't wait to see what'll happen now.
She ignored those prompting words.
Aw, why're you being so difficult, huh? After all, I did do you a favor, didn't I? The fallen child's snicker sent a chill up her back. I let you RESET. I just couldn't refuse. You were just so devastated, and you'd never asked anything of me. So quiet, especially after we killed that other dumb skeleton.
"Human, are you offering a hug of acceptance?!" Papyrus' scarf flapped valiantly in the wind. "Wowie! My lessons are already working!"
With every bit of her strength, Frisk fought. But her desperation wasn't enough to overcome the fallen child's DETERMINATION. Chara's will overwrote every aspect of Frisk's, and Papyrus, the sweet, oblivious monster he was, stood no chance against her. That was why there was no way he could have seen that knife coming.
"But still. I believe in you." Papyrus spoke with the greatest amount of optimism on his face. As if he didn't know he was going to die."You can do a little bit better."
Chara merely smirked at his words. As she advanced, she made sure to step on the dust that was once the Greatest Royal Guard-to-be.
Frisk stopped fighting since then.
Come on. Let's go say hi to Sans. I really want to see him again.
As if Chara were sitting beside her, she turned her head aside.
If you don't get up...
...then I'll take it from here. For the rest of this timeline.
"..."
At that, Frisk slowly sat up, then stood upright. Eyes set on the path that would take her to Toriel.
There we go. Good girl.
As soon as she met Toriel, the first word out of her mouth was, "Mom." And just like she knew the monster would, Toriel's expression softened. Frisk knew everything about the child she'd lost, her desire to teach, her reproach towards any chance of any human child walking into danger. Throughout her stay, she'd been waiting for Chara to take over, dreading the moment it would happen. But it never did. It seemed Chara was satisfied with watching Frisk's guilt.
When it came time for Toriel to pull the human child into that familiar battle screen, Frisk did nothing. Every attack aimed for her landed, but as injured as she was, she knew that Toriel would never finish it. So Frisk stood without a word until Toriel gave in. And with a warm hug from the monster, she was left to go her own way. And still, Chara did nothing.
Snow crunched under her feet in the same satisfying way she remembered. Even when she had the feeling she was being followed, it didn't bother her at all.
Crack.
Still, she trudged on. In ill-suited clothes for the winter, she stopped at the bridge where the bars were too wide to stop anyone.
"Human."
A sense of familiarity welled up in her chest.
"Don't you know how to greet a new pal?"
Sans. She turned around immediately, and as his eyes met hers, no fleeting recognition crossed them. His hand was still held out invitingly, so she grasped it, a smile surfacing on her face at the sound of the whoopee cushion.
"Hehe. That one's always funny." Sans seemed quite pleased with the reaction his prank drew. And she laughed with him.
"You turned around real quick though. Have you heard this joke before?"
Frisk blinked, realizing that she had in fact, jumped ahead of herself where she shouldn't have. She wasn't a good liar. So the only thing she did was shake her head in denial. Maybe a little too hard.
"Hm." Sans, with his ever-unchanging expression stared at her a moment longer before dismissing it. "Anyways. You're a human, right? That's hilarious."
He stuck his back into his pocket.
"I'm Sans. Sans the skeleton." His left eye closed in confidence. "I'm actually supposed to be on watch for humans right now. But you know, I don't really care about capturing anybody."
Frisk knew exactly what he was going to ask.
"Now, my brother, Papyrus. He's a human-hunting fanatic."
She was already nodding before he finished making his request. Of course. Even if she'd already done so once before, she would redo those puzzles a billion times over if that would make him happy.
"Uh. Not one for words, are you, kid?"
When he got no spoken reply, he tilted his head towards a conveniently-shaped lamp off to the side.
"He's coming right about now. Better go hide."
The way he spoke to her now. She hadn't heard that voice in a long time. Neither had she seen him look at her the way he looked at her now. Or close his left eye in friendly jest.
Then suddenly, hearing the crunching footsteps of his overenthusiastic brother, she snapped out of her thoughts and ran to stand behind the lamp. Sans' demeanor was completely unchanged in casual greeting.
"'Sup, bro?"
From electrified mazes to junior jumble to canceled death traps, Frisk did them all, slowly forgetting about the second presence in her head. She laughed with Papyrus and suffered through puns and admired Sans' unconditional affection for his brother. By the time Sans offered her advice on battling Papyrus, she nodded without a doubt that the naive skeleton would relent to her persistent flirting and choose to become her friend.
But.
As soon as the battle screen appeared and her soul materialized in front of her, a familiar weight settled over her mind. And she was so unprepared, so weak from kindness, that Chara's will overrode hers in an instant.
Alas, poor Papyrus. Chara mocked. What a dummy.
She didn't release Frisk for a single moment, forcing her to stare at her own handiwork.
I wonder where the cooler brother is~
At that moment, her body moved to playfully kick up the ground at her feet, mixing dust and snow together.
"Sans~!" For the first time in this timeline, Frisk's voice could be heard loud and clear. "Where're you at? Papyrus and I sure missed you!"
No. No no no no no. Frisk reached out to pull her will back into herself. But at that very moment, Chara stopped, the same wide smile on her face.
Since when were you the one in control?
To prove her point, Chara didn't give it back. She played along as the quiet, pacifistic Frisk, and not a single point of EXP was to be found. From place to place she progressed, dutifully following Frisk's every action from a timeline long past. Only one thing was missing. Much to Chara's disappointment, Sans never showed up. Not by the telescope. Not at his sentry post.
"What a freaking bore." She scoffed as they doubled-back through Snowdin again.
So when they encountered Shyren, the ecstatic fallen child played along. Falsely, cheerily, she sang with the timid monster, showing her nothing but mercy. Frisk and Chara, the both of them knew who the hooded figure watching from the shadows was. The red scarf around his neck no longer flapped valiantly. There was no wind here. One SPARE after, before the child left on her way, she turned to the shadows and blew a kiss and wink. A grin spread on her face as the air charged around her. But she knew. That he would do nothing.
"I guess that skeleton really wasn't all that great after all." Chara said out loud, as if she were talking to herself.
The suddenly empty air did nothing to prove his absence.
Despite the nonchalance in her words, the grin in her expression was provoking. "I don't know what I expected from someone who gave up a long time ago."
Absolute fun. If only she knew before just how interesting he was. Whenever Frisk would finally muster up the DETERMINATION to ask to let her RESET, she wouldn't even mind. How many different ways could she behave? How many different choices? If she did this, what would he say? If she told him that, what would he do? Just thinking about all the possibilities was exciting. She had someone she knew she would never get bored playing with.
The time another RESET would happen once again came at judgment.
When Frisk's body walked through the empty hall to Asgore, the speech Chara heard was without any ounce of the hate she expected. Then.
"You know, kid. Something weird strikes me about you." Sans' ever-unchanging expression fixed on hers. "Sometimes, it feels like you know what's gonna happen. Like you've seen it all before."
An inkling of an uncharacteristic smile pulled at Frisk's mouth.
"So. Uh." Sans asked in his same lethargic manner. "If you've got some kind of special power, isn't it your responsibility to do the right thing?"
Chara could feel Frisk's silence. Yes. No. Maybe so. She played with the possible answers in her head. ...Then she pulled out the most mockingly innocent smile she could imitate.
"No."
Naturally, Sans betrayed nothing of his real thoughts. It was only the misplaced extra second that told her all she wanted to hear. He closed his eyes.
"Well. That's your opinion. I won't judge you for it."
Two light-less voids fixed onto her.
"You dirty brother killer."
Suddenly, the heavy pressure she didn't realize was there lifted from the air around them. Although she was sure she didn't blink, her vision seemed to blank out for a fraction of a second, and in the next moment, Sans was gone.
Chara released Frisk just then, and her legs gave out, sitting her onto the cold tile floor.
In the silence, elsewhere, birds were singing. Flowers were blooming.
Alone in the beautiful sun-lit hallway that led to the barrier she could not break, she did. Knowing that she'd let down the monster who, once, in a timeline, had grown to be her friend.