(Holy heck, I am so sorry. I meant to finish this ages ago but the words kept getting harder to type as I neared the end. Thank you to everyone who followed this story. I hope that you enjoy this final chapter!)
Lips upturned, the blue skinned woman confidently strode up close to where the two humans stood side by side. Cocking her head to the right and then cracking her fingers , the noise causing both skeletons in the room to flinch in reaction, she loudly demanded to know, "Ngah, only the REAL Frisk could answer this one! What is my favorite thing to drink?!"
"SERIOUSLY, UNDYNE?" interjected Papyrus, eye sockets narrowing skeptically. "HOW IS THAT QUESTION BETTER THAN WHAT HAS BEEN PREVIOUSLY ASKED?"
Frantic scribbling followed as the humans both rushed to answer the question. The true Frisk turned their piece of paper provided by Alphys over to reveal the word "hot" while their lookalike revealed their answers to be "water".
"*Fuhuhu, I knew this question would be the one to… Oh, wait… Technically I do like to drink water…hot water. And hot doesn't specify which drink," Undyne said, beginning to waver in confidence now. Worried glances followed from her girlfriend who was technically the next in line to ask a question.
"*Uh, um, well, Alphys will surely be able to ask the best question anyhow! She's clever and has watched the human the most anyhow!" Undyne added, grinning widely now, preemptively proud of her girlfriend's abilities. Meanwhile, sweat had begun to break out on the Professor's forehead and her lizard hands were shaking noticeably now.
"*Um, r-right, right. No p-pressure or anything, haha…," responded the intelligent woman as she tugged at the collar of her dress. "*Actually… To be truthful, I-I not sure I can do a-any better than you, Undyne." Finally it seemed that Alphys was doing a good job of being upfront and honest, rather than shy behind lies she thought someone wanted to hear.
"*I have confidence in you!"
"*A-alright. My question i-is, um… Which do you prefer? Kissy Kissy Mew Mew or Kiss Kiss Mew Mew 2? Um, actually… wait. Which did I recently review would be a better question?"
Scratching followed as pen was taken once more to paper. Under each of the hastily drawn spaghetti were scribbled the answers.
"*Oh, yeah, both answered the same. Um… Well, which did you prefer out of curiosity?"
Cards were overturned and then turned back, revealing that both humans had fiercely scratched out the 2 on their cards.
"*O-oh, yeah, me too, actually, heh…," she added with a chuckle. "*Maybe after this we can all watch it together?"
"*Oh yeah! Movie and a sleepover at Papyrus' house!" cried Undyne excitedly.
"YES! I WOULD BE The BEST PARTY HOST!"
There was a visible tick happening with Chara's eye now, their patience visibly wearing thin the longer the conversation progressed.
"*can we get takeout?"
"SANS, WHY WOULD WE GET TAKEOUT WHEN YOU CAN HAVE MY DELICIOUS COOKING?"
"*oh, yeah, you're right bro. don't know what i was thinking," responded the blindfolded skeleton with a shrug of his shoulders and a chuckle.
"*On second thought, let's have the sleepover at Alphys' lab or something," Undyne quickly decided, reminded of the reasons why she never actually stayed the night inside of the skeleton brothers home.
"THEN I SHALL COOK IN ALPHYS' KITCHEN!" declared the royal guard wannabe with an incredible amount of enthusiasm which was quite opposed to the expression on Alphys face. Clearly she was not to thrilled with the idea of someone invading her kitchen.
"*You know what goes good with spaghetti? More spaghetti! Fuhuhu!"
"*My, my. You all are so enthusiastic. But have we decided on the matter at hand? Which of these children is our lovable child that we have all come to love?" Tories calmly questioned, raising her voice just enough to quiet the room and pull everyone back on track.
The lighthearted atmosphere suddenly shifted, as everyone glanced at each other. No one was quite sure how to respond at first, or who should be the one to speak up first.
"*actually, let me ask something real quick, Tori," the jokes terms asked, raising his hand and facing the wrong way from where Tori was standing as he addressed her.
A nod followed as the goat mom agreed, taking a step back to allow the questioning of the humans to resume.
"*okay pal. so, if you really were my buddy and everything, you would know the answer to this one. which condiment is my favorite: mustard or mayonnaise? This one mayo be a bit tougher than it looks," the goof joked lightly, continuing to keep the atmosphere light. Meanwhile, red boots tapped impatiently in a rythmatic manner as the tall skeleton grew ever more steamy.
Pieces of paper were once again overturned and rustling followed before the two revealed their very cluttered pages that at one point had been pure white. Graphite scribbles, cross outs and even goofy drawings could not distract from the answers for long, however.
"*okay, i can't see anything so would someone be a pal lend me their eye sockets?"
"*Uh, one answered mayo and the other on the left wasn't even paying attention," snarled Undyne, fish lips pulling back, hands on her hips as she leaned forward. Her thick brow was furrowed in semi-annoyance.
"*oh? what did they write?"
"Ketchup?"
"*ah, right. yeah, that definitely wasn't one of the options," Sans agree with a turn of his head and a grin that almost seemed to be larger than normal (if that was even possible).
"OH, KETCHUP? SANS DRINKS THAT NASTY FAKE SPAGHETTI SAUCE STRAIGHT FROM THE BOTTLE!"
"*T-that doesn't seem healthy…," added Alphys with a wry smile to her girlfriend.
"*Very well, I believe we have all had a chance to question the child now. Surely by this point we can…," started Toriel, dragging the room back into order just by the authoritative tone she used. There was a dejected grumble, however, from nearby that cut her off and served to earn the individual a side glare.
"*Um," came an unconfident deep rumble, that seemed to be mismatched with the individuals large stature. "*But, Tori, I have yet to ask either human a question…" Asgore took a chance and gave his ex a hopeful smile. It was banished immediately with a more intense, firey scowl.
"*Nevermind."
"*Right, as I was saying before. Perhaps now we should compare notes and decide?" she propositioned to the group.
"*the one on the left is the right one. i know, confusing," Sans informed her with some certainty. In fact, he never hesitated. His taller counterpart nodded his narrow skull.
"I AM INCLINED TO AGREE WITH MY BROTHER. HAT OR NO, THE HUMAN ON THE LEFT PUT MORE CARE INTO REPRESENTING SPAGHETTI! NYEH HEH HEH!"
Flabbergasted by the reactions, Toriel eyelashes fluttered before she gave a small smile and turned her head to give Undyne and Alphys her full attention now. Hands clutched together in front of her purple dress, the kind mother said, "*And have you two decided as well? Remember, snails are slow but they always reach a point with time. You don't have to rush to-."
"*Alphys and I are pretty sure we figured it out. At the start even! Kinda… Well, no one can pretend to be our friend and get away with it. Right?!"
"*I-I w-was not as sure as U-Undyne, b… but I am now!" came the unsure stutter. "K-kinda…"
"*Why don't you tell 'em?"
"*Huh!? Me!? Uh, um, o-okay, uh… Well, you see," came the frantic response. "Is it hot in here or is it just Undyne!? Um, what, no, I didn't say that!" Hands waved in front of her face rapidly. "*We also agree that Frisk is probably the one on the left!"
"*Hm, I have to agree that I concur with your assessments. Also, snails are better at being eaten…"
Somewhere, a ghost cried.
"*If Toriel is sure that the human we seek is the one on the left, than I agree!" added Asgore enthusiastically, sliding closer to where she stood, only serving to cause the Queen to walk further away to put the distance (plus some) back between the two.
Throughout the entire conversation, Chara's had progressed from calm and collect, watching events unfold confidently for the majority of the time to a burning rage. Hands clenched into fists, a slight twitch caused their eyebrow to flick up and down.
Cautiously, Frisk eyed their lookalike, body stiff and rigid now; preparing to move quickly to intercept any attacks if need be. Of course, it had been painful enough to be cut open with the psychos knife the last time and Frisk was very much out of instant noddles now.
"WHAT?!" exploded forth from their lips with such venom that snakes would be jealous. "You're joking, right? There's no way you could figure that out without cheating from those questions! And if you cheated, then that nullifies my promise!"
"*We didn't cheat!" protested Undyne, brandishing her spear once more with a confident grin.
"*N-no, we just know our friend," responded the scientist with a sweet and warm smile tossed toward her friend.
"I don't believe you~!" came the overly sickening fake sweet answer.
Rules of the game now flung out the window, Sans ripped off the blindfold.
"*i guess you could say you just don't see it, huh?" The joke was delivered intensely as thin finger bones flicked upward, a blue flame beginning to emerge in one singular eye socket. "*but no one can fool us, doppelganger or not. there ain't anyone like our Frisk."
Just before events could escalate any further, a soft voice with an almost melodious tone spoke. Despite the timid nature of the owner, immediately all attention was diverted to the source.
"*Chara. Please stop this," they requested, hands wringing nervously. Their large eyes focused upon their old friend, pleading toward whatever semblance of humanity or love for monsters that still remained within the murderous youth to find its way to the surface.
Everyone besides the two humans had an extraordinarily large reaction to the appearance of the new monster to the group. Not because of them confronting Chara persay (though that played a small part), but rather because of who this monster was. A child, but not just any monster child. This one's name was Asriel. Simon of both Toriel and Asgore. Presumably dead for many, many years.
"*Hi…, uh, mom… dad… Everyone," he greeted, tears welling up in his large, doe-like eyes upon seeing the others. Despite all the emotions flaring in the room, this goat was on a mission to appeal to his old friend and was not about to be distracted from it.
"*My child! How is this possible? It's a miracle!" Exclaimed his mother, overjoyed. She restrained herself from rushing across the room, however, only because her son rose a hand to signal for her to stay put, eyeing Chara at the same time. This human would not hold back if given the opportunity to strike whilst someone was at their most vulnerable, after all.
"*My son!" gasped Asgore, a tear forming in one eye.
"What? Are you going to make me stop? Funny!" was the response from the blood lusting child. The chilling smile that they gave Asriel caused the little goat to shiver.
"*Please don't make that silly face anymore, Chara. It's scary," their friend replied softly at first before raising their voice a tad. "I can feel everyone's hearts beating as one. I can not only break the barrier, but fix this mistake and send you back to where you belong. With everyone's power, with everyone's determination."
"But I'm having so much fun. I'm bored with that old timeline. This is something new!"
"Is that why you've been killing? To pass the time because you're bored?" responded Frisk, gritting their teeth together, hands balling into fists. " You passed up making unbelievably wonderful friends just because you were trying to pass the time!?"
"I've done it before. Once or twice. Befriended them all. Spent TIME with them. They're all unbelievably predictable," Chara sneered. "It's more fun to see what will happen when you kill. Because in this world it's kill or be killed, right?"
"*No! I was wrong… I didn't know what I was saying when I said that," Asriel protested.
"If you truly did become friends with them, you would have remembered enough to win the game. Clearly you missed something important here," the human declared, eyes practically slots as they crossed their arms and stared down at their opposite, judging them. As they spoke, everyone drew closer , backing up their beloved child in silent support.
"*I'll send them back now. Then it's up to them if they want to take your words to heart, Frisk." As Asriel spoke, his arms stretched out as their eyes closed. With some incredible power, they began to rise from the ground as all of the hearts from each and every monster began to emerge from inside of him, dancing around before launching forward, dazzling with light so bright that Frisk had no choice but to close their eyes and shield their face from the display.
It was just Frisk and Asriel alone standing in the dark, empty space.
"*Chara scared me at first, Frisk, but you showed me that I shouldn't have been afraid to stand up to them. Thank you for that. Now, I have to go. Without the power of everyone's souls, I can't keep maintaining this form. In a little while, I'll turn back into a flower. I'll stop being "myself". I'll stop being able to feel love again. So… Frisk, it's best if you just forget about me, okay?"
Stepping forward, the humans arms reached out and enveloped the tiny goat, pulling them into a tight embrace that was eventually reciprocated. Eventually the two separated and Asriel told them to take care of their mom and dad before walking forward, eventually fading from sight.
"Frisk, this is all just a bad dream…! Please, wake up….!"
Slowly, Frisk's eyes opened and took in the world, each of their friends leaning in close to see if they were alright. Asriel was no longer there and neither was Chara, for that matter and it appeared that the barrier had finally been broken. Pushing up from off the cold, hard ground, the human had a smile on their face, despite the dried tear stains that marked their skin.
"*Oh! You are awake! Thank goodness!"
"W-we were so worried! It felt like you were out forever!"
"Yeah! Any longer and I would have freaked out! Tell us next time you decide to take a nap, okay!?"
"*yeah, you made Papyrus cry like a baby!"
"WHAT! I DIDN'T CRY! I DON'T CRY! I JUST CAUGHT SOMETHING IN MY EYE..."
"*what did you catch?"
"TEARS!"
"*Now, now, the important thing is Frisk is alright. Here Frisk, drink some tea."
"*How about we give them space first? They must be very exhausted. Though, from what... I am not certain."
(I hope you enjoyed the ending! It didn't turn out as grand as I wanted it to be. I left it ambiguous on purpose, as it is meant to tie straight into the true pacifist ending but it is ultimately up to you to decide the rest such as if Chara learned their lesson and changed anything, etc.)