Frisk watched as the sun slowly rose on the horizon, a sigh escaping their lips. They cast a glance backwards at Chara, who was sound asleep in their cot. Another person with nightmares as bad as their own? That really shouldn't have surprised Frisk, not everyone had red eyes, but those who did knew the pain. The pain of everyone in the world assuming you are the spawn of Satan. Frisk knew that pain first hand, hence the reason they always kept their eyes closed, but Chara, Chara seemed to have had it worse than Frisk. Frisk no longer woke up screaming in the middle of the night, Chara apparently did. That worried Frisk, because if Chara couldn't be quiet for the next couple of minutes, then they'd both be caught, and both suffer the consequences.
"Chara," they whispered and gently shook the soldier awake. Chara groaned and pulled the covers over themselves, as if to ward Frisk off.
"Later," they mumbled and Frisk inwardly rolled their eyes. They tugged the covers off and started to shake Chara again.
"Not Later, now!" they hissed and Chara groaned, hiding under the pillow.
"Leave me alone Asriel!" they complained sleepily and Frisk froze. That name again. Chara kept confusing Frisk for their adopted brother, and Frisk honestly didn't know whether to be flattered or a little sad.
"Chara, if you don't get up we're going to be stuck here for another couple days," Frisk growled and got the response of Chara throwing a pillow at their face. "Seriously?" was their muffled reply.
"Yes," Chara mumbled and pulled the blanket back over their body and attempting to go back to sleep. Frisk sighed.
"Okay, I didn't want to have to do this, but you leave me no choice," Frisk muttered and leaned down, picking Chara up and throwing them over their shoulder in a fireman's carry, the soldier's forehead burned against Frisk's back, still hot with fever. Another reason to get the kid back to the monster camp where they had better medical supplies, or something.
"Hey! Put me down!" Chara complained and started to kick in Frisk's hold, but the smaller human was stronger and shifted Chara into a bridal carry.
"Is this better?" Frisk asked, letting their eyelids slide closed, so that the other human (who was now awake) couldn't see their eyes. Still, Frisk could feel Chara glaring at them.
"Put me down, I'm awake already!" Chara hissed, and Frisk laughed before carefully setting the soldier down. Chara brushed themselves off as if Frisk might've somehow infected them with their touch. Frisk did not take offense.
"Great, now let's get going," Frisk said and pulled their bag over their shoulders.
"Are you positive you know where the camp is?!" Chara whined as they continued walking,
Frisk rolled their eyes.
"Yes Chara, it's about three days travel from where we were," Frisk said patiently, but Chara was not a patient person.
"Three days?! I don't think we're thinking of the same camp," Chara growled, ignoring the pain shooting up their legs with every step. Frisk had told them to tell them if they started to feel pain in their legs or felt like they were going to collapse, so of course Chara had not notified Frisk that it felt like they were walking on broken glass.
"Well, the camp I'm taking you has two skeletons in charge of it," Frisk said and Chara instantly groaned.
"Of all the camps, that one?!" they wined and Frisk sighed.
"Well, if you'd like to tell me where the one you're from is I'd gladly take you there," Frisk suggested, and Chara finally went quiet. "Didn't think so," Frisk finished.
They kept walking for what felt like eternity, and Chara kept ignoring the pain running up and down their spine, ignored the spots dancing in front of their vision, ignored the ringing in their ears until they felt like they were going to collapse.
"Jus-Just give me a minute," Chara mumbled to Frisk before stumbling to a tree and leaning against it for support. Frisk dropped down next to them and wordlessly offered a bottle of water. Chara took it without thanks and gulped down the water greedily.
"We should rest here for a while, it's been a hours," Frisk suggested, and Chara resisted the urge to agree and lay down.
"I'm fine, let's just keep going," they growled and tried to stand, almost instantly their legs gave out, and Frisk was already there to catch them.
"You're not fine, you're injured and sick. I don't care if it hurts your pride to admit this, but you need my help, so please accept it. If you keep pushing yourself like just now you'll get yourself killed before we even reach your camp," Frisk said quietly and Chara growled.
"I don't need your help!" they growled, "I don't want your help, I need to get home, and I can do that either with or without your help!" Frisk just shook their head and sighed.
"Chara-" they didn't get to finish their sentence as the clearing exploded with vegetables. Frisk and Chara both went sprawling.
"What the heck?" Frisk yelled and sat up as Vegemite snarled from the other side of the clearing. Chara just lay there, pinned to the ground by a pile of carrots and broccoli. Yes, Chara was so injured that they couldn't even dig their way out of a pile of healthy food. Great. Frisk on the other hand now stood facing what looked like a carrot with teeth.
"Uh, hi Mister…" Frisk trailed off, not knowing what to say to a strange carrot monster. Mister carrot growled at them.
"Part of a delicious and healthy meal," it hissed and Frisk watched in surprise and mild horror as their soul was pulled out of their body. Frisk wasn't quite sure how they knew it was their soul, but they did, and it glowed bright red like it was on fire. The carrot paused momentarily, as if the soul surprised them too, but then started hurling vegetables at it. Frisk yelped as they made contact with the soul, and tried as best as they could to dodge, but felt pain racing through their body as soon as their turn was over. Vegemite stared at them, as if waiting for an attack, but Frisk just slowly stood up.
"H-Hey, er," they began, but heard Chara's voice from somewhere off to the side.
"It's called a Vegemite!"
"Okay, uh Vegemite, I don't mean to be rude, but I think this was all just a misunderstanding," Frisk started, but vegemite just growled again and next thing Frisk knew more vegetables were being hurled at their soul. Suddenly the sound of glass shattering came and everything washed black.
Light slowly slid past Frisk's eyelids and they sat up, to discover that they lay in the clearing again, apparently only moments before vegemite had attacked, and that Chara was staring at them like they had sprouted a third head.
"Did-did you just?" they spluttered out, but Frisk had both hands pressed over their chest and was breathing heavily.
"What the actual heck just happened?!" Frisk whispered and Chara just kept staring at them.
"You… reset…" Chara whispered and Frisk turned to face them.
"What the heck does that mean?" they asked and Chara just shook their head.
"I can't believe it, this whole time I thought I was the only one who could do that, but no. You show up and bam, you can too. What the hell?!" Frisk just blinked the confusion out of their closed eyes.
"Chara, what does 'reset' mean?" they asked and Chara seemed to remember they were there.
"It means you died, and then rewound time so that you didn't," Frisk stared at them for a moment.
"What."
"I'm serious, look, Vegemite will be here in like thr-" the clearing exploded with vegetables. It was exactly the same as last time, the same attack even, Frisk had time to dodge this time though, even though it was really strange that their very soul was floating outside of their body at this moment.
"Look, Vegemite, I don't want to fight you!" Frisk said and the carrot looked surprised, so much so that it even forgot to attack. Frisk carefully approached the carrot, realising now that the monster just looked scared, and hurt. Not angry. "Please, just let me help you, you're hurt," they offered and the Carrot stared at them for a moment, as if considering. Frisk smiled patiently. Vegetables rained down on their soul. Shatter, wake up. It continued like that for another ten times, each time Frisk refused to fight, and instead offered assistance.
Chara couldn't believe their own eyes, every single time, the human just wouldn't hurt the monster, even when Chara urged if they didn't they'd be stuck there fighting it forever. Frisk just shook their head, and told them they had promised that they would never hurt a single creature. Finally, around the twentieth reset, Vegemite accepted Frisk's help. Frisk just smiled, like the stupid carrot had never killed them, and carefully bandaged the monster before releasing it. It left Frisk in peace, who was soaked through their clothes in sweat and so low on HP Chara was surprised they hadn't reset already. Frisk huffed and fell down beside them, their soul settled back into their body.
"Uuuuuuuuuugggghhhhh…" Frisk groaned and Chara was silent. No human, not even themselves had ever been so.. So… kind. Even Chara lost their temper occasionally and killed a monster, but Frisk, no. If Chara had been the one fighting Vegemite they would've snapped around the fifth time and just killed the darn thing, but Frisk… Frisk was patient enough to try again. Kind enough not to hold a grudge. Just… so… different. Different enough to spare the creature. Chara couldn't understand how.
"Chara," Frisk groaned and Chara snapped out of their thoughts.
"What?" they asked, and were surprised themselves that they couldn't hear bitterness in their voice
"Wh-What on earth did I just do?!" they whispered and Chara shrugged.
"Well, you died like twenty times all because you refused to kill a carrot." Chara muttered and Frisk groaned.
"I meant, why did my soul, come out of my body?!" they asked and Chara sighed.
"That, is what I call soul magic. You, my friend, have a soul with the main trait of determination, meaning you reset time when you die, and try again. Your soul came out of your body because when Monsters fight one on one with a human they aim for your soul, which is the fastest way to kill you." Chara explained and Frisk just groaned again.
"Is that why I feel like I was just thrown through a paper shredder?" they said, muffled by their arm.
"Yes," Chara responded, and Frisk groaned again, louder this time. Chara sighed, and slowly stood, their legs wobbled under their weight, but didn't give out this time.
"We might as well get some rest, you aren't going anywhere for a while," Chara muttered, ignoring the fact that they weren't in any condition to travel either. Frisk slowly pulled themselves upright and Yanked their bag close. They handed Chara an energy bar and devoured the other. Apparently 'devour' was the right word, because right at that moment, a curtain of green vegetables came tumbling down on Frisk. Frisk yelped, probably expecting to die again, but instead their HP healed, but Chara was pretty sure Frisk didn't know what that meant. What Frisk did know, was that they no longer felt like they were just seconds away from splitting apart. They caught a glimpse of the retreating Vegemite and called out a thank you.
Chara tried to ignore the feelings of admiration, or the sense that maybe this kid wasn't so bad. So what, they didn't want to hurt a monster, didn't mean that they wouldn't in the future. Still, something inside of Chara had changed in emotion toward the younger human? What was it? Respect? Maybe, but no, it felt deeper than that. Chara couldn't name the emotion, but they knew it made their insides crawl whenever the Human smiled, or when they laughed. Especially when the smile or laugh was directed at them, whatever it was, Chara couldn't dwell on it. In a few days Chara would be home, and they'd never have to speak to Frisk again. For some reason that made them feel sad.