Chapter 9 | Sweet Goodbyes

Chara woke up. Everything hurt. They yelled out for someone to help them. They were in a small room with pillars and a long hall leading out. A voice echoed.

"I think it came from over there! I'll go see!"

Chara looked around and finally saw a white, furry monster standing near them. Chara wanted to yell again but they were too scared.

"Oh! You've fallen down haven't you! Here let me help you." The furry monster helped Chara to their feet.

The monster turned to Chara while they were walking and asked,

"I'm Asriel. What's your name?"

Chara of course replied

"I'm C-Chara." They were a bit shaky considering what had happened.

Time goes by and Asriel had introduced Chara to his family. The Dreemurr's. They had accepted Chara into their family and with time, Chara knew Asriel as their brother.

One day Asriel gave Chara a gift. Chara opened the box and saw a red heart locket. They picked it up and saw it had engraved on it 'Best Friends Forever'. Chara put it on and hugged Asriel.

One day, Chara was feeling a little down, so Asriel asked if they wanted to bake something to cheer them up. They looked at an old recipe book and got all the ingredients. Except, instead of putting cups of butter into the pie, they put buttercups instead. This made Asriel's father very sick. Chara felt so bad. They didn't want to hurt anyone. They tried to laugh it off, but it made them feel worse.

Asriel's father got better and Chara had an idea. They wanted to save everyone from the underground. They knew that a if a monster and human soul combined, they could become very powerful. They told Asriel about a plan to kill six humans so they could break the barrier and set everyone free. Asriel at first didn't like this idea.

"You'll be a hero Asriel!" Chara told him.

Asriel then agreed.

Chara got very, very sick from eating the buttercups. They had more than Asriel's father did.

"Chara," Asriel said "I don't think I like this idea anymore."

"Don't you...trust me? Do you...doubt me...Azzy?" Chara would reply barely even able to speak.

"N-no! I would never doubt you Chara! I just...I just don't want to see you in pain…"

That evening, Chara passed away. Asriel absorbed Chara's soul and crossed the barrier. They had Chara's dead body in their arms. They got to the village and the god-like monster was attacked.

They went back to the underground and died, turning to dust. Their found Chara's dead body and put it in a coffin in the castle. The father became very angry and decided to break the barrier once he had gotten 7 human souls. They couldn't get six because Chara's soul was never found.

The mother disliked the father's plan and took Chara back to the ruins and buried them properly with flowers in their hands, which eventually grew and made flower bed above them.

Years pass, and a human with a soul as red as Chara's fell. Chara's spirit was awakened and they followed the human around. They became friends and Chara noticed that only this human could hear and see them. They traveled everywhere together and eventually saved all the monsters from the underground. Chara was overwhelmed. This is what the had wanted from the beginning.

The human reset everything. They saved everyone again and again. With Chara's help of course. The two eventually got bored. Then, out of nowhere, breaking Chara's kindness, they got an idea. They suggested to kill a few of monsters. They said that they could always reset. Frisk, out of curiosity, took it upon themselves to do this. They killed a few monsters and felt bad so they reset. But then they did it again.

They had killed everyone. At this point Chara's kindness couldn't be found. They had changed. They had become corrupted with hate, LV, EXP. Frisk was getting concerned. Chara didn't know that killing monsters, would make them a demon.

So Frisk tried something rash. When they had killed everyone for the fifth or maybe sixth time, they took Chara by the hand, and reset.

Chara woke suddenly. They looked around and saw they were in their room. They had no idea how they got there. They looked at their arms. No burns. They were confused. How is this possible? Was all that...just a dream? They were even more surprised to find their locket around their neck. How did I get this back? I threw it away! And uh...crushed it… Chara was very confused. They got out of bed and went to the door. They heard someone downstairs. They carefully went down to see Sans. They walked over to him.

"Sans?"

Sans jumped, obviously he didn't hear Chara come down the stairs.

"Hey kid, you scared me."

"Oh sorry. It's just...I…heard someone…"

Sans looked worried.

"Are you okay? You look...upset about something."

Chara looked down. Should I tell him about my dream?

"Well, I had this dream," They started "And I ran away and I was found by some royal guards and then I was brought back to the castle, and I was almost killed until you and Frisk and some...dinosaur lady showed up and you went to protect me from the King and then I died and…." Chara was out of breath but they didn't continue because of Sans's face. He looked as if he already knew what they were telling him.

Sans sighed and said "That wasn't a dream."

Chara looked at him and wondered, Was he lying?

Sans told Chara, "You DID die. But, you reset."

Chara got a thought. They had remembered something. They remembered everything. That word, RESET, was a trigger word. They remembered their old family and how they died. They remembered saving everyone in previous timelines, but they also remembered killing everyone as well. Including Sans.

Chara didn't even noticed they started crying until Sans hugged them. They couldn't help but hug him back.

"Sans...I'm so s-sorry!" Chara cried.

Sans didn't know what Chara meant but he still held onto them.

After Chara had calmed down, Sans asked them why they were upset.

"I remembered the previous timelines. Where Frisk and I saved everyone. We did it so many times. I told them to...to...k-ki-kill…everyone...including you." Chara didn't look at him they were too embarrassed. Sans put a hand on their shoulder and told them,

"Chara...it was a mistake. We all make mistakes...and I have a good feeling that won't happen again."

Chara looked up at him. They didn't understand. I just told him about other timelines and that I killed him and he's not angry? And what does he mean by 'It wouldn't happen again'? How would he know?

Chara looked confused. Sans smiled and went into 'battle mode'. Chara suddenly saw Sans's soul, but more importantly, their own. Chara was shocked. It was...different. It wasn't red or had cracks in it. It was green. It looked new and untouched.

"This...isn't my soul…"

"Heh, nope. It ain't."

"So...whose?"

"You don't know, do you?" he asked puzzled as he stopped the battle and their souls disappeared.

"Um no." Chara didn't understand anyone of this.

"When you died, you reset. I didn't think you had that kind of power," Sans said.

"Right before you did though, the green soul from one the King's jar's broke out. It must have been very strong to have broken the glass like that. It went over to you and from what I could tell it went into you and your old soul broke and shattered."

Chara remembered a child's voice calling out to them before they died. That must have been the green soul.

"Really? I don't remember that," Chara said.

"Well you were practically dead and it happened very fast. The next thing I knew I woke up on the couch here." Sans pointed to the couch.

"So...how far back did I reset?" Chara asked.

"Only to last night. Or I guess now. The night before you ran away."

Chara looked surprised again. This time in a good way. They had gone back. They didn't have to run away or get caught or...say the things they had said to Sans..

"Sans….about what I said...before I ran,I'm sorry….I didn't mean it I was just so angry..."

"Kid, it's okay. You were feeling like crud. We all get those days...or I guess weeks in your case. But don't sweat it."

There was silence. It was so quiet they could hear the wind howling from outside.

"Sans? Did you mean what you said? Before I reset...about you...protecting us?"

"Well yeah of course. I would do anything for you two."

"And when you said...MY kids…"

Sans smiled and looked at Chara. "I meant that too."

Chara hugged Sans. He hugged back. Chara really had a home, and a family and they couldn't be happier.