Chapter Nineteen: Possession
"So, students" Toriel said, addressing her students. "As you know, today is the day of the dance, so I thought I'd remind you that tonight's dance will take place in the gym."
Toriel looked at Chara and Asriel, who were, wonder of all wonders, sleeping. However, they were leaning on top of each other, using their desks like mattresses.
"Great." Toriel said, sighing as she rubbed her eyes with three fingers. "There's two of my children that sleep in class."
"Chara! Asriel!" Toriel shouted, clapping her hands, startling the two of them awake. They looked at Toriel as she repeated her last announcement.
"Wait…" Chara said, looking at Toriel. "That's today?"
"Yes, Chara.' Toriel said, sighing. "That's today. I thought you knew that."
"Eh." Chara said. "I don't really care that much."
"Of course not." Toriel said, sighing again.
With Chara and Asriel—after class
"So" Chara said to Asriel as they grabbed their books from their lockers. "I had this really f #$ed up dream last night."
"What about?" Asriel asked.
"It was a weird parody of Dragon Ball Z." Chara said. "We were basically the characters and it was during the Saiyan saga when Goku returns to earth."
"So, who was who?" Asriel asked.
"I was Vegeta." Chara said. "And you were Nappa. Undyne was Piccolo, Muffet was Tien, her pet was Chiaotzu, Sans was Krillen, Toriel was Yamcha, and Kid was Gohan."
"Weird." Asriel said. "Maybe you watched too much anime last night."
"Probably." Chara said. "Oh well. Doesn't matter. Weird dream, weird appetite."
"Yeah." Asriel said, shrugging. "You going to the dance tonight?"
"Hell no." Chara said. "I'm goin' to the movies with Frisk."
"And you didn't invite me." Asriel said, crossing his arms.
"I did invite you." Chara said. "You just said you didn't want to go."
"Why would I say that?" Asriel said.
"How the f #$ should I know?" Chara said.
"Fair enough." Asriel said.
"So" Chara said, looking at Asriel. "You wanna go? To the movie, I mean?"
"Sure, I do." Asriel said. "When?"
"Six." Chara said, thinking over the answer for a few seconds. "Don't forget. We'll leave you behind."
"Fine." Asriel said, leaving Chara to her locker.
"You've grown quite an attachment to that girl" a voice said from behind Chara, it's tone playful with a sinister undertone. Chara's eyes widened and her breathing quickened. Her left eye began to shift rapidly from brown and red. "haven't you, Chara? Didn't think you were the type."
Chara turned to see an almost transparent girl standing behind her. The girl had blonde hair that went down her back. She was wearing brown shoes with a white pair of jeans and a brown shirt. She had orange eyes with green sclera (the white part of the eye). She had a smug look on her face.
"Arach (A/N: this is pronounced like the name 'Eric'—this is the only name I'm requiring specific pronunciation for)" Chara said, both spitting the word out and growling it. "What do you want?!"
"Oh, you know why I'm here, Chara.' Arach said, chuckling. "You've still got to fulfill your end of our little bargain."
"I'm not a part of that bargain anymore, Arach." Chara said. A couple of other students walking by looked at Chara with confused expressions.
"Oh, silly Chara." Arach said, giggling as she moved behind Chara, leaning over her shoulders and draping her arms down. "You can't leave. You made a deal."
"My resurrection wasn't based on your power." Chara said. "I'm not part of your deal anymore."
"I made you what you are." Arach said, her tone turning to irritated. "I'm not afraid to take away what you had."
"You wouldn't." Chara said defiantly. "You're not strong enough."
"Oh please." Arach said, twirling her finger through Chara's hair. "I can take your body whenever I want. Such a luscious body, so well built"
"You won't." Chara said.
"You know what?" Arach said, giggling. "I think the first person I'll take when I wrench control from you is that little brunette you love so much. So beautiful. I'd love to see what dirty little secrets she's got under that sweater."
"Don't even think about it!" Chara growled.
"Oh please." Arach said, waving her hand at Chara. "You know you can't hurt me. I'm immortal remember?"
"You go anywhere near her" Chara said, leaning closer to the intangible image of the girl. "And I'll show you just how much you misunderstand the meaning of the word 'immortal'."
"Ha!" Arach said, laughing. "You know what? Let's see how empty that threat is."
Arach touched her hand to Chara's chest. Her body disappeared, being absorbed into Chara. Chara dropped to her knees, breathing heavy. She clenched her eyes shut, putting her hand to her head.
Suddenly, Chara's breathing returned to normal. She stood up, chuckling. She opened her eyes. They were orange with green sclera.
"Chara." Frisk said, walking around the corner. "Are you okay? I heard you talking weird."
"Oh, I'm fine." 'Chara' said, chuckling. "I'm just fine."
"Are you sure?" Frisk asked, getting up close to 'Chara'. "Your eyes look weird."
"Just a little problem with my LV, is all." 'Chara' said, chuckling. "It'll go away soon."
"Something's off about you." Frisk said, getting suspicious. "You're not yourself."
"N-nothing's off." 'Chara' said, biting her lower lip slightly. "I'm just not feeling well. I'll be fine."
"I-if you say so." Frisk said, not wanting to push it. "Let's just get to class."
"Alright." 'Chara' said, turning around quickly and walking away."
'Chara' went to class, sitting down. Asriel looked at her, a little confused.
"You okay?" he asked.
"Yeah." 'Chara' said. "Why?"
"Your eyes are weird." Asriel said.
"Nothing much." 'Chara' said, fumbling for an excuse. "Just an experiment with the look of them."
"Whatever.' Asriel said, going back to sleep.
At home—With 'Chara' and Frisk
"So" 'Chara' said, putting her arms around Frisk, her grip tight. "We should grab some food. I'm starving."
"I don't know." Frisk said. "Something doesn't seem right."
"Look." 'Chara' said, sighing. "I'm hungry. I could KILL for something good to eat."
As 'Chara' said 'kill', Frisk's eyes widened. She felt a chill go down her spine for some reason.
"You know, it's funny." 'Chara' said, chuckling, leaning much closer to Frisk, making the younger girl uncomfortable (more so than she already was). "They say opposites attract. Angel and demon. Such a lovely combination, isn't it? Wouldn't you agree, dearie?"
Frisk gasped silently. Chara never called her 'dearie'. She had always said that was a stupid pet name for lovesick ditzy girls. She only ever called her 'Frisk' or 'kid', nothing else. Frisk looked into 'Chara's' eyes and saw something that normally wasn't there: a strange aggressiveness that Chara never had when she was happy. At least not after she met Frisk, that is.
"Y-you're not Chara!" Frisk said, struggling to escape 'Chara's' grip. "Who are you?!"
"Of course I am." 'Chara' said, an almost seductive look in her eyes. "Here, I'll prove it."
'Chara' held onto Frisk tighter, Frisk pushing against 'Chara' as she leaned closer to her, staring into her eyes. 'Chara' laughed at the helplessness of the younger girl.
"Let me go!" Frisk shouted. "I don't want this!"
"Oh, don't lie to me." 'Chara said, chuckling. "You want this. You want it bad."
"You know" a voice said from beside the two girls. "When a lady says 'no', it's polite to listen to them."
Khara, who had just appeared from nowhere, dressed in her armor, punched 'Chara' in the side of the head, sending her into the wall beside her. Khara grabbed Frisk and moved her (Frisk) behind her (Khara).
"Ow!" 'Chara' said, rubbing her head. "What the hell was that for?!"
"You're not my daughter." Khara said, dark magic in her hands. "Whatever you are, release her right now!"
"Oh, please." 'Chara' said, standing up. "You don't have the power to beat me."
"Can it!" Khara said, firing a blast of dark magic at the being that resembled her daughter.
"You're pretty smart to figure me out, Khara." 'Chara' said, laughing. "The only other one was that human."
"Who are you?!" Khara demanded.
"You may call me Arach." 'Chara'—Arach—said, grinning. "I'm an old friend of Chara's."
"Arach." Frisk said, her breathing going shallow. "No, not you."
"So" Arach said, looking at Frisk. "She told you who I am, did she? Figures. She's got a soft spot for you."
"Who's Arach?" Khara asked.
"She's a demon." Frisk said. "Chara and her went through the Underground together during Chara's genocide runs. Arach would be the voice in her head, telling her that she was doing the right thing and stuff like that. Chara never said where Arach first came into her life, but she did say that she tried to sever all ties with her."
"Good." Khara said. "I guess she learned her lesson, but there's a problem now of removing her."
"You can't remove me." Arach said, chuckling. "If you try doing anything to this body, there's a chance that you'll remove your daughter's SOUL as well."
"Fine then." Khara said, moving forward and shoving a blast of dark magic into Arach's face. Arach fell unconscious, collapsing.
"How'd you do that?" Frisk asked.
"It's a variant of dark magic." Khara said. "It's like an anesthetic. Now, we'll need to take out this bitch from the inside."
"Alphys has a machine that can do that." Frisk said, remembering. "Chara, Asriel, and Kid used it to enter my mind when Gaster almost killed me."
"He what?" Khara asked, genuinely surprised.
"I'll tell you later." Frisk said, running to get Alphys.
Ten minutes later, Alphys ran down, device in hand, to Chara's unconscious body. She plugged in the proper plugs to Chara.
"So" she said, nervously. "Who's going in?"
"I am obviously." Khara said.
"B-but, Khara." Alphys said. "I-if you go, then there's not enough power to transmit another high LV inside."
"I'm going in." Khara said, grabbing Alphys by her lab coat. "It's a mother's duty to protect her child."
"R-right." Alphys said.
"I'll go too." Frisk said, volunteering. "I want to help Chara."
"O-okay." Alphys said. "But, be careful in there. I'm not sure if this machine can handle the both of you, but I'll try."
Khara and Frisk hooked up the proper pieces to themselves, Alphys activating the machine. The two of them disappeared into Chara's mind, Undyne coming down the stairs and sitting next to Alphys.
"Are they gonna be okay?" she asked.
"I don't know." Alphys said, sighing. "I don't know."
Will they save Chara? And what connection does this Arach character have to Chara (you know, besides what's already been said)? Find out in the next chapter.
Funny, i'm kind of seeing a slight role reversal here.
