Chapter 2

Lying there on the bed of golden flowers, lit by the final radiance of sunset, young Chara had never looked as peaceful as he did now. It felt like only yesterday to Asriel that the two of them had laughed and played in a similar garden where their journey had begun. But now, this was no longer possible, and knowing this… knowing that this was the last time he would ever see Chara like this, filled Asriel with a deep remorse. As he knelt over the husk that was once his friend and brother, he felt an unbearable urge to reach out and grasp him, to hold him just once more and cry one last cry… and yet, he could not. Some inexplicable force rooted him to the spot, kept his face stony and eyes dry. This was the same force that compelled his aching feet to carry him to this particular village square that only Chara had known, farther from home than Asriel had ever dared venture.

I used to be so weak. It was pitiful, really. But now, together, we are strong. No… there's no reason to be sad. Tears are for children.

It was Chara. And he was right about one thing. Asriel could sense a burgeoning power coursing through innermost being that he could not account for. All he knew was that he liked that powerful feeling born from this unity with Chara's soul. Whenever he focused on the sensation to the exclusion of all else, it made him almost giddy. At the same time, a latent dread dwelled in his heart and he could not help but wonder at what cost this sudden transformation had come. Had he grown up too fast? Was it right to still think of himself as Asriel? Or had he become something else entirely—

A shrill shriek pierced through Asriel's reverie. He had been spotted, and moments later, shouts erupted out all around him as the villagers began to rouse and gather. "Monster! There's a monster here!" cried an old man across the square, pointing with his cane.

"What has it done to that child?!" another fretted.

Right on time, Chara smiled inwardly. Ready, Asriel?

Like Chara, Asriel was not too surprised at the outrage but he failed to share his brother's conviction. Trepidation swelled in the pit of his stomach as the full extent of Chara's request sank in. Asriel didn't have to say anything in order for Chara to pick up on his hesitation.

Come on, this is what we prepared for. We can do this! We can defeat them all! Together, they rose to face their challengers but only Chara's heart was in it. Together, they balled their fists to channel those arcane currents but Asriel's resistance to the very idea kept those tides to a mere trickle. Damn it, Asriel, I could really use some support here! All you have to do is let go and I'll—

"No, I won't… I won't let you. It's not right," Asriel decided.

I thought this is what you wanted. Don't you want everyone back home to go free?

Asriel clenched his eyelids shut tight, refusing to let his resolve falter, "I do… but not like this. Please, Chara… not like this!"

At first, there was only silence. Then, a broken laugh erupted in Asriel's head. I-I can't believe what I'm hearing. You… would betray me, yet again?!

"Betray you…? No! I'm only just…" Asriel was taken aback and somewhat hurt by the accusation. Meanwhile, the mounting opposition of villagers had had ample time to arm themselves with pitchforks, shovels and rusty blades, and they were cautiously converging on the strange outsider, who appeared all the more strange when talking to himself.

"Wait! Time out!" Asriel crossed his arms indicatively but the villagers only paused to look at each other in bewilderment, shrugged, and then resumed their advance. Apparently, they knew nothing of the games that monster kids played. Even so, Asriel was more interested in what Chara had to say. "When have I ever betrayed you?" he protested.

Hmm… maybe this does call for a time-out. I know where we can buy some time. Let's go! Asriel followed Chara's lead, darting away from the mob, ducking within the shadows behind the little houses until they came upon a dilapidated shack on the village outskirts. They rushed in and barred the door with a two-by-four. This enclosure was little more than a woodshed, with drab furnishings and a narrow window that was broken. Peering through it, the brothers saw that they had not lost their pursuers completely, for the villagers were spanning out in their general direction.

We don't have much time so I suggest we sit and enter mind-space so we can communicate a lot faster.

Asriel wasn't sure exactly what Chara meant by this, but he could guess well enough and so he obliged. He sat on a dusty stool and then his vision gradually went dim. As color bled away from his surroundings he felt as if time had slowed down. Suddenly, Asriel was aware of another presence in the room. It was Chara, pacing agitatedly, and running his fingers through his overgrown mop of brown hair.

"Chara… how did you…?"

"Never mind that right now. All you need to understand that is just like our souls are linked, so too are our minds. What you are seeing is just a projection of that."

Asriel gave a meek little nod.

Chara halted, raising a finger. "What I'm about to say is going to sound crazy to you, but you're going to believe me anyway because you'll be able to tell if I'm speaking the truth."

Asriel nodded again.

"This is not the first time we've done this. The village, leaving through the barrier, our plan to become one… even when you found me – it's all been a matter of history repeating itself."

"I don't understand. H-how could that be possible?"

"It's possible because you made it possible. This path you're about to follow doesn't end well for you, Asriel. You'll always regret your choice to spare the humans. Because you die. They're going to kill us both if we don't fight back." Chara looked at Asriel with such intensity that he could not bring himself to speak. "And that's not all. Dad is so wracked with grief that he kills all the humans that fall into the underground and mom exiles herself from the kingdom in horror. It's not until a child named Frisk enters the underground many years later that everyone finally gets to be free."

Asriel brooded over this but he refused to despair. "That… doesn't seem… too terribly bad. I mean, it could be worse… right? At least there's a happy ending." He tried on his optimism with a smile but it was extinguished by Chara's darkening expression.

"Yeah, happy for everyone except for you and me, Asriel. After you die, you come back as a soulless flower, driven to insanity after enduring countless repeating lifetimes without being able to feel love or compassion ever again. My soul is awakened by Frisk's determination so I hitch a ride in his body, only to be tormented by you in some twisted desire to never be separated from each other again. That is, until you are stopped. Regardless, you remain as a flower in the underground, forever.

"Well, I couldn't let that happen. I hijacked Frisk's timeline to play out his life over and over again until I got it right. I saved the world. I destroyed the world. I made everyone love me. I made everyone hate me. But through all those countless outcomes, the one constant was your cruel fate: no matter what I did, I couldn't save you.

"Then I realized that I was going about it all wrong – that as long as I was joined to Frisk, the timeline was bounded by choices that could only be made through Frisk. By the time Frisk entered the picture, your fate had already been sealed. The only one who could save you, was you. The only way to get you back was to let you have your way, no matter how crazy – to let you kill me again and again. I don't blame you for it. That's all you could do. You were constrained by Frisk's timeline as much as I was. In order to move beyond that, to fulfill your ultimate wish, you needed more power – enough power to stand outside of time itself. You needed the power of a god.

"To do this, I let you absorb all the souls of the underground – monster and human souls alike, even my own. True to your word, you used your power to reset all timelines to a point before Frisk even existed. You put yourself back into the happiest time of your life: the time when you first met me, and mom and dad were together, and we were all one big happy family."

Asriel trembled with the impact of those words and shook his head exasperatedly, "Why are you only telling me all this now?!"

Chara frowned, seeming conflicted. "I didn't want to spoil that hard-won happiness with the weight of this terrible knowledge since it all rested upon the fragile ignorance of an innocent child. You were right to reset your own memory for that very reason. But now I'm forced to break my silence because you're about to repeat the biggest mistake of your life and I'm not about to stand by and watch it happen."

Chara had never looked so determined and somehow it all made sense to Asriel. The thought of becoming what Chara described chilled him to the bone. And yet, as incomprehensibly abysmal as that fate seemed, Asriel still could not imagine having a hand in the alternative that Chara proposed. The muffled shouts of belligerent villagers were closing in, forcing a decision. "I'm still not willing to sacrifice all those people for this, no matter how bad it gets for me." His eyes narrowed with resolve and he gave a brisk, confirming nod of his horns.

"Haven't you been listening?" Chara's widened eyes were like white fire. "Things will become hell for a lot of people for a long time if we don't, and Asgore will sacrifice just as many humans anyway after you're gone!"

"I don't think I could live with myself knowing that it's all because of me—"

"All because of you? All because of me, Asriel. It was my idea to free all the monsters like this. You've already done all you needed to do." Chara sighed and presented a comforting smile, softening his tone. "I'm not asking you to kill anyone. All I'm asking is that you trust me to take care of everything – to do what you never could, but still needs to be done."

"Isn't it just as bad to do nothing while others suffer and die?"

At that moment, a flaming bottle of vodka breached what remained of the window glass and soared between the brothers, blurring in its rotations before smashing against the wall in a surreal kind of slow motion. Glaucous flames roused from the scattered shards and lethargically began to lick and grow upon their surroundings. Asriel remained strangely calm. There was now an equanimity to his mindset that he wanted to pass on to Chara somehow.

Chara scowled at the flames and then at Asriel, "That's assuming you have some control over what's going to happen..." His eyes took on an uncanny light that Asriel had never seen before. Chara reached out and firmly grasped Asriel's shoulder. Suddenly, everything returned to normal space and time and Asriel jolted upright. The enclosure was now illuminated by a bright orange blaze that quickly overtook the shack.

In this case, you do not.

"Wh-what?!" was all Asriel could muster.

You may have stopped me last time, but that's only because I let you. Asrielcouldfeel his control over his body slipping again. Through Chara's will alone, they stepped toward the door. I let you 'win' because I didn't want us to be of two minds about this for the rest of our lives. They unbarred the door. I didn't want you to resent me – not if we were going to be together forever like that. Those dark currents of energy gripped Asriel once more and he could feel an eerie static charge tingling all over his fur as that powerful feeling intensified. This time, he knew, there was no stopping it. But now, knowing what happens because of that choice… I cannot allow that to happen. I cannot bear it! They kicked open the door with a ferocity that surprised Asriel. This time you will live, even if I have to drag you to hell and back again. They stepped out to meet the mob in the cool air of night.

"Chara– wait! No! Stop!" urged Asriel, even though his mouth did not move. "Please…please don't make me do this…."

Asriel… I'm doing this for your own good. I thought I could convince you of that, but I've only wasted my breath.

Asriel saw the rabble of villagers amassing right in front of them, spouting curses and brandishing whatever makeshift weapons they had on hand. He choked back his grief. "If you do this… I… I'll never forgive you for it!"

…That's a chance I'm willing to take.

Someone in the crowd threw a lit torch, which was easily sidestepped. The torch superfluously struck the already-burning shack.

I'm sorry, Asriel, but we're out of time. They raised their palm to the villagers as if to greet them, but then tightly clenched it into a fist, which burst into a beacon of radiant hellfire.

Out here, it's kill or be killed.