We appear outside Sans' house when we reset. Five minutes back. With all the determination I took from him, I can control the timeline. I can pick whatever time I want to reset.
Asriel is at the door, but now he knows what lies inside. His business is with me now.
He turns around. I grin.
"hey kiddo."
"You're not Sans." He says. "That's not how Sans fights."
"you're right. i'm chara. your best friend."
"Shut up."
I draw the knife.
"Sans doesn't use a knife!" He snarls.
"of course i… of course he doesn't."
"Why are you pretending to be him?" He asks.
"i'm not pretending to be anybody." I say. "it's just me… chara."
"Chara doesn't wink!"
"what?… am i giving you mixed messages?"
"You're not fooling me, Chara." He says. "I know it's you. You think I'm that stupid?"
"well… yeah." I say. "i mean… your head is full of stuffing, right?"
"I know who you are." He says.
His voice is softer.
"And that's not Sans' style." He says. "Sans gets in your head. But he wouldn't impersonate somebody. He wouldn't pretend to be you for all this time."
"it was worth it, though." I say.
He is so mad. I love it.
"what?" I ask. "was it not worth it for you?"
I walk up and kiss him again.
He doesn't recoil. He just glares at me.
No, he's not fooled. He knows it's not Sans. He'd be grossed out if he thought Sans was kissing him.
I drop the act.
"How do you know it's not me?" I ask.
"You don't know Sans like I do." He says. "Sans is way too lazy to pull off a complicated trick like that. Sans wouldn't spend months pretending to be you. He wouldn't kiss me. That's… that's not him. That's too weird for Sans. And Sans would never use a knife."
I flick it out. I see the woods behind me in the reflection of the blade. Very well polished.
"You're the only one who liked cutting things up." He says.
"You don't know what you're missing." I say, admiring the knife.
"Even the other humans weren't like you." He growls. "They fought monsters, but they didn't enjoy it. They didn't try to relive it. You were the only one who liked it."
"What about you, Flowey?" I ask, twirling the blade. "Serial murderer? I can't think of a single monster who killed another monster, even in self-defense… You enjoyed it, too. We're so alike, Asriel…"
"You're sick." He says. "You made me cut off my petals."
"Serves you right." I say. "You were stupid to fall for it. You think I ever would have forgiven you for that message? I can't trust you at all, Flowey. Sure, we can play around sometimes… but we're going to do it on my terms."
I stop twirling the knife.
"You forgot something." I say. "I was always the one in charge. You were just tagging along. You're my buddy… You're my toy. And when I don't want to play nice, I tear you apart. And when I don't want to play with you at all, you go in the box, and wait for me to come back!"
I see little fires on his fingertips. I thought he only used bullets.
"Come on, Asriel." I say. "You really think you can fight me?"
"You're not the only one with determination." He says. "You can't boss me around."
"I took your determination." I say. "When I was moving you to that body, I extracted your determination and injected myself with it. You only have a tiny bit…"
His expression changes.
"You never even suspected, did you?" I ask.
"It doesn't matter." He says.
"Think about it." I say. "I have more determination than you. I have more souls than you. I have a strong young body… you're made of cotton and wood. Body. Soul. Will… All of them. I have every advantage. Do you really think you can win?"
He hurls a flame at me. I bat it away and rush him.
Face.
Neck.
Stomach.
Stomach.
Stomach.
Stomach.
Neck.
He sinks down, shaking. Whimpering.
"Cheer up, Asriel." I say. "Look on the bright side…"
I kiss his forehead.
"I'm having the time of my life."
I dismember him.
Back at Sans' house.
"Hey Asriel." I say.
"I have determination, too." He says. "Even if it isn't much. You haven't won."
We clash again. He singes my clothes. I tear him to pieces. This time, I make it slow.
One more time.
"Hey, Asri-"
He hurls a fire at me. I step to the side. He throws another one, but I smack it away with the knife.
"You're wasting your time." I say.
Another flame. I block it.
"Asriel. I'm trying to speak to you."
The fire comes again. I sidestep the flame and tackle him. I pin him down.
"I can't have you trying to burn me whenever I want to play with you." I say. "I'm going to have to teach you to behave. This is your purpose in life, Asriel. Your purpose is to suffer. Your purpose is to cry."
He struggles. I slice off his hands. It's easy to cut through; I'm just slicing through some cheap knitting.
I put the blade in his mouth.
"Shut up."
He stops crying. Good.
"I created you." I say. "I control you. I am your master. I am your god. You will worship me. You will obey me. If you're good, we can play together. We can have fun. But if you're bad, I will hurt you."
I push the knife through the back of his throat.
"I will hurt you so much you will never dare to fight back."
I remove the blade and shake off the dust. He coughs.
"I'm not like the others." He says. "You can't control me."
I smile.
"You will learn." I say. "You…"
Wait.
"Actually… I have another idea." I say.
I cut off his feet, one by one. He howls. I start dragging him off, my arm around his neck. He tries to scream, but he can't even whisper.
"Hold still." I say. "This is going to be a long trip."
I take him across the Underground, all the way out to Hotland. I drag him to the lab and toss him in the elevator. I step inside.
"That determination of yours is going to be a problem." I say. "I'm going to get rid of it."
His little marble eyes get wide.
"All determination in this world belongs to me." I say. "I am the lord of this world."
We reach the bottom. I drag him off to the DT extractor. I strap him in.
"Chara? Chara, please… you don't know what this thing does."
"I know exactly what it does." I say. "You showed me."
"But… but-"
I laugh.
"Go ahead." I say. "Tell me why I should let you hold onto that determination, the determination that doesn't even belong to you, because Alphys stole it."
He pleads. He cries. He screams at me. But I don't even listen to the words—I just wanted to hear him beg.
I turn on the machine and start it up. Bit by bit, it takes away his determination.
Soon the machine stops. It's done.
I undo the straps and drag him away. I stuff him in one of the refrigerators and shove the fridge onto its front so he can't get out. I don't want him interfering.
I go back to the machine.
When the injection is complete, I hop off the table and strut over to the fridge in the other room. I push it over and open it up.
"I win." I say.
"Chara… Chara, we're best friends."
"Of course we are." I say.
I draw the knife.
"And we will never be apart."
I reset, all the way back to when Asriel first resurrected me.
I sit up. He's already there, back in his old flower body.
Absolutely petrified. Perfect.
"Chara… Ch-chara?"
I stand up.
"Show me to the monsters." I say. "I want my 14 souls back."
He nods. I lead him back to the elevator and press the button. We start to go up.
"I'm sorry I was mean to you." He says. "I won't do it again. I'll be a good friend from now on. I promise."
"Good." I say. "Maybe I'll hold back on your punishment, then."
"Thanks, Chara. You're a good friend."
"I learned from the best." I say.
He smiles weakly. I smile back—a good one, to reward him.
"See? It's better this way." I say.
"Yeah. It's better this way."
He leads me to the monsters, just like before. I kill them myself. Each soul is a rush. Feels good.
The last one is a Whimsun back at the Ruins, hiding in a corner. I kill it with one swipe.
"That's it." I say. "The last of the last."
I look back at Flowey.
"Chara?" He asks.
"Yes?"
"Can I…"
"What?"
"Do you think you could absorb me, too?" He asks. "Even if I don't have a soul?"
"Why?"
"I don't want to be a flower." He says. "I want to be… I wanna be you."
I think.
"We can try it." I say.
I bring him home and cradle him in my bed. I hold him close and try to absorb him. It takes a long time. But he says he can feel it happening.
I wonder if this is a trick.
It doesn't matter. I'm already in control. When the flower goes limp, I snuggle up and close my eyes.
Sure enough, Flowey tries to take over a half hour later, when he thinks I'm asleep. I can feel him reaching across my being, trying to grab at something that doesn't belong to him. But he can't quite touch it.
I'll let him keep trying for a while.
Finally, I decide to interrupt him.
"Hey, Asriel."
He stops.
"I know what you're doing." I say. "And you may as well give up."
Silence.
"I have everything now." I say. "Including you."
I hear his voice in my head—just a whisper.
"Chara?" He asks. "Can I still stay in you for a little while?"
"Sure."
It doesn't bother me for him to be inside me, but if he doesn't have a body of his own, we can't play together. When I wake up from my nap, I head out to Snowdin to jump off the cliff.
I reset back in the lab. When I get up, Flowey has already scurried away.
I look around. Can't see him.
"Don't worry!" I call. "I'm not mad at you for what you did at home. And I'm not going to punish you today, either. Today's going to be fun."
No response. He must have already gone up the elevator.
I follow after. It's a quiet ride up to Alphys' workplace.
"Asriel?"
Still no answer. He's not allowed to run away from me when I'm calling him… I'm going to have to hurt him for this. Just a little.
I step outside into Hotland.
…And then I see green, instead of red.
Everything I can see is shrouded in vines.
Flowey's vines. They took over the lab, the bridges… even far out into the distance, his vines cover the rock.
Hundreds of machine guns hang from the vines.
None of this should be here. It wasn't here when Asriel first brought me back. This isn't right. I'm controlling this timeline. How did he set all of this up without me knowing?
Flowey pops out of the dirt. Smiling at me.
"Asriel? What…"
I've never seen that smile before.
"You IDIOT."
The guns go off, and the world goes black.