"How're you feeling, Aofil?"

Not the best. Far from it, to be honest. Their head is thumping, like it's being pushed out from inwards. They clutch their head.

"That bad?" Chara rubs Frisk's forehead, "Hm, this wasn't supposed to happen. No problem though!" they exclaim in a cheer that's vastly more afraid than it is happy, "I'll just have to," Chara sighs deeply, "tell you all about what happened before so that you don't descent into those memories and go after us all. Oh well..."

Chara checks their twin to see if it's bad. They instantly conclude that it is, and again rubs Frisk's forehead tiredly while sighing through Frisk's lips, "Aofil, try and think about everything leading up to, but not including when you met the monsters. Does it help?"

Maybe? Aofil's not sure. Ebott looks way different in their mind. It makes them feel a bit angry, "I don't know. It's like a pressure building up inside my brain."

"How bad?"

"Like a headache is forming."

"Good, so perhaps it's not too bad. Just try and keep focus on things before you met the monsters. I'll just talk about what happened and you can stop me if you feel better? Otherwise we might-" Chara stops mid sentence,"I know, Frisk," they whisper to themselves, "but it's gonna be worse if I don't. Yes, I know what happened, but it'll be worse if they slip back. It's better if I ease them into it. It's not ideal, but it's the best choice for us now."

Chara stands still for a couple of second, before throwing Frisk's arm out, "Of course it'll be worse! I can feel that. I don't want them to go through it more than they have to. We're supposed to convince them, remember?"

Chara clutches Frisk's fist, "To be honest, you'd be much better at this than me. No… Well, maybe I'll have more control now that I've talked to them proper, who knows? Oh please, can you think a bit about yourself? You know full well why you're nice to people, Frisk. You can knock it off with me!"

With a deep sigh Chara pinches the bridge of Frisk's nose, "I'm...I'm sorry Frisk. I'm not used to this, not used to the emotions. Just one of the million reasons why I shouldn't be in control here. Besides the biggest reason that it's been years since I talked with anyone. I'll try and give Aofil the short version, and if they want to longer one you two can talk it out more? Like I said, maybe I'll be a bit calmer now that I've met them? Maybe you two can actually speak with each other? Come on now, you literally hand waved and gestured everything that happened in the Underground to Aofil. I mean, it's you, right? Shouldn't be a problem. You've done things far more difficult, Frisk."

A small smirk grows on Frisk's lips, "Well, tell me the last time whatever any of us had planned panned out the way we wanted it do be? How many times do I have to tell you? I don't even know why I'm arguing with you at the moment," but it fades quickly, "Sometimes it panned out for the better, right? Plenty of times! Yes, I know that you know that I'm lying, but I'm not gonna say otherwise, now am I? Of course not! You know me better than that."

Chara glances over to check on Aofil. Aofil nods carefully, and a bit confused. Chara moves over to the broken mirror, "Yes, and I know you better than that. Just listen, Frisk, you're not in control any longer. I warned you that this was gonna happen, but you didn't listen. I'm gonna talk to Aofil about the first reset, and then I'm gonna give you your body back. I'm swimming in your emotions at the moment, and no way am I strong enough for any of them. That is what is going to happen now. You know why? Because this is what happens when you surrender your soul, Frisk, you're no longer the one making decisions. I'm pulling away the wool from Aofil, and that's final."

A small tear forms in Frisk's eye, "Besides, no way in hell am I going to impersonate you," Chara glances over to Aofil, "Like I would ever think of stooping so low. For what it is worth, Frisk, I'm sorry for doing this. I'm also gonna apologize for another thing while I still have the chance..."

Chara walks over to another mirror. Frisk's hands clutch the sink, and Chara has to muster up courage to look at the reflection. They stare deeply into the eyes of the reflection, "Sorry for being here. Sorry for being a leech on your soul. I want to thank you for letting me be here, but I know I shouldn't. I just," Chara can't stand seeing Frisk's face through Frisk's eyes, and they avert them, "I just feel like I had to say it out loud. Had to get it out of my system. We'll get through this now, I promise."

They sigh again, "Why do still bother to try and lie to you again?" and scoff, "I promise I'll try and do this as quickly as possible though. That as much I can be truthful about."

Chara leans over the sink. Eyes and hands clutching with titan like grip. Chara's breathing turns unstable, and not long after they start sobbing. Heavy gasps follow, but not for very long. Chara tilts Frisk's head up, and heaves a sigh to banish the emotions, "Again, I am not used to emotions. Not that it will be a problem for long now."

Chara wipes away the tears with Frisk's sweater, "Yeah, I know. I'll stop bringing attention to it from now on. I'll keep focus."

With a cleansing splash of cold water Chara turns to Aofil, "Sorry to keep you waiting. So-"

"Wait!" Aofil interrupts, removing one hand from their head, "What was that? Were you talking to Frisk?"

Chara nods, "Yes, I was."

"But..."

"Aofil," Chara lowers Frisk's brow into a serious furrow, "please just be quiet. Frisk's soul is used to being in control, they are used to being in control. I am not. Every second spent in control my soul is in a state of panic, and that's an understatement. I know it might seem like I've been on top of things here, but the only reason for that is Frisk. We've flipped the house upside down to do this, and the less you talk, the less things are gonna fall from the floor and crash against the ceiling. I.e, me. The less I have to focus on that the more I can explain to you."

"I'm just..."

"Confused? Yeah, I know, and I sympathize, but," Chara drags Frisk's hands over their eyes, "I really don't know how to put this gently, Aofil. Just, shut up, okay? I know you want answers, I know I'm supposed to convince you to stay, but I'm stretched thin as it is. You and me talking are putting such a strain on Frisk and me you wouldn't believe. I've already smashed one of Frisk's hands to try and keep control."

Aofil's too familiar with that.

Frisk's neck twitches violently, "Yes, Frisk, I lied! No, don't push yourself even further, you might hurt yourself. I'm saying that for you first, and me second. Just be quiet yourself so that I can focus on explaining to Aofil."

"So," Chara wipes away from hair from Frisk's face, "Frisk saved the monsters, Asriel broke the Barrier, you know it all, Aofil, but they didn't meet you at first. You were the second try. We're on the third try now, and it really seems like it is the charm now."

Aofil's not sure if they would agree completely on that one.

"Anyway, the first try. Frisk didn't have any clue what to do, nor did any of the monsters. At first, it seemed to be going just fine, but as we later found out, it was because the shock hadn't faded. When it did," Chara blows Frisk's lips, "Ho boy..."

They have to recollect themselves for a bit before continuing, "If you thought the Above Lab incident was bad. Hell, even the riot, then unfortunately I have some bad news."

Aofil rubs their skull, they feel some stuff start to jumble. Vague thoughts deep inside their mind.

"It was bad, really bad," Chara blows Frisk's lips, "like, uproar and riot times ten, if not more, bad. War, war happened."

It sounds...true?

"We were to slow to integrate, too passive with our resurfacing. More focus was spent on trying to look good for the humans rather than acting good towards the humans. It's easy to see with the benefit of hindsight, or in this case, a couple of resets, but at the time. At the time it sounded like the best idea to be careful. Can never be too careful, right? Turns out that yes, yes you can be too careful. As we've seen from the second and third try, the more the monsters threw their arms out, announcing loudly that they were back, the better things turned out. Above Lab not withstanding."

"Pun not intended," Chara adds as they see Aofil clutching their fists, "Being too careful stirred up distrust, fear. Smiles are good and all, but if you don't know the person behind you kinda revert to seeing the exposed teeth as a threat rather than a friendly gesture. To top it all of, the humans found out about the fallen children before any of the monsters confessed about them. This caused some tensions."

With a careful bite on Frisk's tongue Chara exhales to try and calm themselves, "In the same way the war before caused some tensions. Since we'd been so passive about ourselves and our relations with the humans, there was no goodwill to fall back on, not like how it was this time around. There were no human friends for the monsters that could take a step back and think. There was no human pillar the monsters could lean on. No adult human, that is. Frisk was there, but it only made things worse since they were a child."

Chara has to clear Frisk's throat as their words get stuck, "Frisk was taken away from Toriel and Asgore almost immediately. Placed in the," Chara lifts Frisk's hands up, "care," and bends Frisk's fingers into quotation marks before shrugging, "of the government. Care is the last words I'd use to describe what went down. Constant questioning, constant prodding of information. All sorts of tests, both medical and psychological, to find out something that they could use to pin at the monsters."

With a sigh Chara gazes into the distance, "Didn't help much when Sans kidnapped Frisk, even less so when Frisk actually asked Sans to. It prompted immediate action to investigate the Underground," they shake Frisk's head tiredly and almost mumbles the last words, "Didn't take long for them to find the fallen humans."

The pounding in Aofil's head calms down, but it's not to their relief.

"And then the trial happened. It happened so quick. What did the monsters have as a defense? That Asriel and I attacked a village and that the village defended itself? What was even worse than the monsters not having a defense, was the humans having an ace up their sleeve. The only living relative of the first human to die in the Underground."

Aofil's eyes shoot wide open, and Chara's soft nod confirms their suspicions. Two times… two times they've been the same tool.

"But," Aofil shakes their head, "I didn't remember you the second time."

"Your soul did the first time, or at least, that's what I, sorry, Frisk, could gather. The second time things were different enough that it didn't apply. You're familiar with this, Aofil. The memories."

Aofil raises their eyebrows, "Not because of my own choosing."

Chara narrows Frisk's eyes, "You could've just left, you know?"

"And look where that got me?" Aofil throws their arms out, "In a bathroom slash sightseeing tour for monsters talking to my dead twin about actions I did that I don't remember but apparently are important enough to shatter my world view once again!"

Their arms retract back in towards their head as Aofil presses their palms against their skull, "I'm so sick of all of this."

"Well, I have to continue, Aofil, for your sake."

Aofil scoffs loudly.

"Good thing that you stopped me though, might be a sign that this is working."

A hard glare is shoot towards Chara.

"It's either that, or you descending back into the memories," Chara defends, "You know I'm speaking the truth. You feel it deep inside you, in your soul."

Aofil feels it, but it doesn't means they're happy about it. They retract their glare, and Chara nods.

"Don't think I'm getting any joy out of this, because I don't. Frisk is struggling not to collapse in tears at the moment, and by extension, me. Whatever the case was that you remembered me, you recalled what happened at our summer home, and in enough detail to worry both Asgore and Toriel, not to mention the human jury. You knew almost more than the monsters did. After that, it was all downhill, more downhill."

Chara moves Frisk's arm diagonally down while whistling a descending tone, "Asgore trying to negotiate, Toriel suggesting they just move back to the Underground to work things out, Alphys buckling almost instantly. Just a straight line down until."

Frisk's hand opens up quickly as Chara smacks Frisk's lips, "Poof. No hope remaining. No trust for the humans, no trust from the human, no trust from anyone. Just chaos. Some monsters turned on Asgore, unhappy with his leadership. They were promised to return to the Surface now that the Barrier was broken, but all that happened was that another Barrier was raised. This one was more prominent, believe it or not. Wanna guess why?"

Aofil feels the answer deep inside.

"Because," Chara points back and forth between them and Aofil, "this one was made out of humans. Angry humans, scared humans. Each one more powerful than the entire monster kingdom combined, but none of them knew that. They only saw the scary magic, and the deaths of the kids. Unfortunately the chants of a thousand protesters was too loud for the lone rational voice to be heard. I say rational, but that would only had been the case if either one of the monsters had played their cards right and actually talked rationally themselves instead of trying to subdue the differences between monsters and humans."

"And on the front line of the militia was none other than you," Chara opens up Frisk's hand and presents Aofil to themselves, "Aofil. Your soul was probably pumping you full of determination with all the magic from the monsters, so there was no stopping you, or the humans around you. I remember Undyne trying to subdue you when you went for either Asgore or Toriel. She was swarmed a second later, and you..."

Chara exhales deeply, "You didn't have time, because Frisk reset in the last second. Seeing a human go for the kill one second, and then realize that they had to battle Asriel again. Frisk almost gave up there, right on the spot. One more chance though, they convinced themselves to give it one more try. They wiped their tears and headed up to face the Hypergod for the second time. They won again, had to see Ariel beg them to let him win, again. See him ask Frisk to leave forever, again. Saying the things he did about me…again. Then, when they exited the cave, guess who shows up?"

Chara turns Frisk's head to Aofil, "Imagine their fear when the first human they saw, was you. Were you here to finish the job? Did you remember anything? I don't know if you hitting your head knocked some memories away, but Frisk was so relieved you didn't remember anything. Sans was a bit suspicious as well, but he couldn't put his finger on why, exactly. Luckily you as a friend was enough of a difference to have Asgore and Toriel remember that they had to be more open, but not exactly why they had to. Lucky balance, I guess. Your shift in team also helped with their memories of the whole ordeal."

With a pair of lamenting eyes, and a tired tilt of Frisk's head, Chara sees Aofil press harder and harder against their skull, "But I guess we're not out of the woods yet with that whole debacle. You feeling any better, Aofil?"

"No."

"Please don't tell me it's getting worse."

"I don't know?"

Chara looks around, despite being well aware that the bathroom's empty besides them and Aofil. Just to extra sure, "Sorry if this might hurt, Aofil, but I have to ask. After you met the monsters, what happened?"

"They..." Aofil stares into a distance. Their head provides too many answers, and none of them feels correct. None of them feel wrong though, but it's all in pieces. A thought from one direction, but two from another, but three from the first one, but five from another! It's all a jumble! Nothing makes sense! They're in their own house, reading about how the monsters have been sighted, but not confirmed.

The monsters are in their living room though. Toriel and Asgore have just come back from meeting the Mayor. They're not there though, Aofil's never seen the monsters.

Monsters? Like what that list talked about? What was it? Ten signs a monster is here and in your shower? No, that can't be right.

Or can it?

No, it sounds just as weird as monsters existing.

But they do, Aofil just met some. They just spent two entire days with a whole gang of them!

"Aofil!" Chara claps Frisk's hands as hard as they can, "Aofil!" they repeat even louder.

Aofil blinks, and the white tiles around them come back into focus. Their head is spinning though, like a centrifuge. Good thing they're sitting on a toilet. Right now they really-

Chara winces back from seeing Aofil twist around so quick and violently to shove their head inside the toilet bowl. Their even more violent hurling has them covering Frisk's ear.

Neither one of them wants to hear this.

After a solid minute or ten of constant spewing Aofil slides down onto the bathroom floor exhausted, with barely anything left in them to move around. They fumble the stall wall for some paper, and wipe their mouth with the last energy left.

"Water..." they beg silently.

"Is it black?"

"Water!" Aofil coughs from the strain it takes on their voice.

Chara fetches a plastic cup from a nearby dispenser and fills it up before handing it to Aofil, "Shit, this really wasn't supposed to happen."

"When will it stop?" Aofil drinks greedily, "Just...everything."

Chara's sinking facial expression worries Aofil. Didn't they just beg for it to end? "Sorry, Aofil, but you can't be like this."

If Aofil had any strength left they'd thrown the water right back into Frisk's face. They don't need to be reminded of the blatantly obvious. Please and very much thank you.

"And I don't want Frisk to reset. Don't even know if they can. Frisk doesn't even know," Chara looks at Aofil with eyes that scream for forgiveness, "I have an idea though, but..."

Oh here we go.

"We need to make your head and soul share the same memories, Aofil. I don't think we can pull an Asriel on you though. Doesn't work with me, so that's clearly evident. The only other way I, or Frisk, know of, is -"

"How about I just leave?" Aofil blurts out.

Frisk's ears perk, and Chara narrows Frisk's eyes, "What?"

Aofil throws up their arm, but it comes crashing back down almost instantly, "How about I just get out of here and never think about monsters again? The memories trigger when they become somewhat relevant, so I'll just get away from it all."

Chara's not sure if Aofil's joking, "Like how you did after you brought back Asriel?"

Aofil tries to summon enough strength to lift their finger, but it fails. They can only tilt their head in the brief period they're not gasping for air, "Fuck you..."

"That's your old memory talking."

No, it's not!

Or is it?

Aofil crawls in a panic up to the bowl again, and just barely manages to get their mouth over the porcelain edge with the help of Chara. Only a handful of hurls happen, but it's a handful way too much.

"You think you can move away from anyone talking to you ever again, Aofil?"

God.

Fucking.

Dammit.

Gently, Chara eases Aofil back down onto the tiles, "Listen, I do have an idea. The discrepancy is between your soul and mind, so we have to close it. The simplest way is to transfer the memories into your mind."

Aofil's already shaking their head, but Chara's not gonna stop. If there was another way they would, but...

"We'll have to get you a memory box."