Chapter ten: A decision to make

"Chara…" Asriel softly spoke after a long silence.

"No," Chara curtly said. "Shut up."

"Do you remember us all those years ago?" Asriel asked. "You remember those days? Our family?"

The Human gave him an annoyed look. "Really? You think I'm so soft that reminding me of the past will change my mind?"

"Remember that time when I put Dad's crown on my head? Or, well… Heh… I tried to. The thing was a bit too heavy for me."

"Are you done?" Chara asked. Then, without waiting for a reply, she stood up. "Stay here. I gotta do something."

She walked out of the room.

Asriel felt his eyes sting again.

The manifestation of the lab

"So, this Entity," Frisk said, "is…Chara? Asriel's late sister?"

Gaster nodded. "Yes. Chara's experience with Humanity is not the best. Since her corruption, her hate for Humans has only increased. This is one of the primary factors that caused her to attack you."

"And now she's got Asriel captured," the Human said. "We've got to help him."

"There is nothing I can do," Gaster regretfully sighed. "Chara is too powerful, and Asriel is being held in the very heart of her domain."

"Chara uses her determination to keep him there, right?"

"…yes, she does." The Royal Scientist tilted his head and narrowed his eye sockets. "What are you planning…?"

"How much determination do I have compared to her?"

"Frisk, I respect your attempt to forge a plan to save Asriel, but—"

"How. Much?"

Gaster hesitated.

"Look," Frisk said, "what else can we do? This is Asriel we're talking about."

Gaster sighed again. "I suppose. And it appears that your Soul has begun to produce more determination. But this is still not without hazards – especially since Chara's determination virtually rivals yours at the moment."

"That doesn't matter," Frisk negated. "We've gotta do something. Where do I begin?"

"Very well," Gaster admitted. "I will assist you. Your first objective is mere seconds away."

"Where?"

"Here." The tall Monster turned his gaze to the double sliding door.

For a second, nothing happened. Frisk almost began to believe that the scientist was lying. He didn't want her to go, that much was obvious: during his explanations, he revealed to her that Sans and Papyrus' fondness for her had been carried over to him through his connection with the two skeletons. This was why he had regarded her as a friend even before they met. And like Sans and Papyrus, he'd want her to be safe.

But then, the double door opened. In the doorway stood a figure.

It was a Human girl – or a young woman, rather. She seemed to be somewhere around Frisk's age. Her eyes had the color of blood. Her hair, pants and shoes were brown, her t-shirt was green with a single stripe of yellow. She stood there, slightly slumped, her arms crossed. When the doors were open, she gave a smile that didn't seem too friendly.

"Chara," Gaster said with no emotion visible. "Why are you here?"

"Come on, Doc," Chara smugly replied. "Is that how you greet an old friend?"

"At the most recent instance where I offered you help, you reacted as if I insulted you beyond forgiveness. How come a mysterious amity has suddenly appeared between us without my awareness?"

Frisk looked at him. "You're just going to let her waltz in here?"

"You better," Chara said. "I have some info I'd like to share."

"What sort of information?" Gaster asked.

"The magic spell that allows ghosts to age?" Frisk scoffed, crossing her arms.

Chara narrowed her eyes at her. "Since when am I the villain in this story? You stole my family, remember?"

"What do you mean, I 'stole your family'? They accepted me."

"Sure, blame this on them."

"Is that why you hate me?" Frisk angrily asked. "Because you don't like seeing me as part of the Dreemurr family?"

"You're no Dreemurr. You're just desperate for friends."

"Is that so?! And how are you any different?!"

That turned Chara's face into a glare. She took a threatening step towards Frisk – who stubbornly stood her ground – but was interrupted by Gaster.

"Enough, both of you!" the Royal Scientist commanded with an unusually authoritative voice. "Chara, it is my belief that you should be careful. Despite your power, I can still remove you from my domain by force. Now, the two of you will cease your fighting so we can talk."

"Talk? With her?" Chara sneered.

"Funny," Frisk calmly but venomously said. "I was about to say the same thing."

"Silence, both of you!" Gaster demanded. "Chara, inform us of whatever you are here to inform us of and depart. The sooner our business here is concluded, the better."

The Entity sighed. "Fine." She looked at Frisk again. "I've got Asriel in my domain."

"Yeah, we knew that," Frisk said. "What're you going to do to him?"

Seeing Frisk's anger allowed a smirk to appear on Chara's face, but she didn't say anything about it. "As long as you're here in Gaster's place, I can't use your memories against you like I did in the physical world."

"That explains a lot."

"But you should know…" Chara's smirk turned into a grin, "I can keep Asriel here forever."

"You're bluffing," Frisk immediately assumed. "He's still bound to his physical body, isn't he? Just like me. I'm no genius, but he'll have to return to the physical world sooner or later."

"Hear me out on this one~," Chara practically sang with her ever-present smugness making no attempt to hide itself. "If I'd want to keep him here forever, I could kill his body while leaving his mind intact."

The Human's eyes widened. "What?!"

"That's right~. He'll become just like me: a ghost. And when that's the case, I don't think you'll be seeing him as often as you used to."

"Bullshit."

Chara's challenging grin widened slightly, and she turned her head to Gaster. "Is it?"

Gaster sighed and closed his eyes in defeat. "No. Chara could easily do that. And if she does, the chances of Asriel gaining a new physical body are extremely slim."

Upon seeing Frisk's distressed expression, Chara began to laugh. "Ahahahaha! Oh, this is rich! You were so sure of yourself a minute ago, and now look at you! Ahaha~… You-you were so determined to 'save' Asriel, and now you know that you can't even get close to him without losing him—"

She wasn't quick enough to react to the hand that grabbed her by the collar. She was also unable to keep Frisk's rage-powered fist from connecting with her face. As a result, Chara fell to the floor, her laughing silenced and her nose bleeding.

For a second, no sound could be heard.

"You think you're in control!" Frisk fumed. "But you're not so great now that you're on the floor, are you?!" She spat on the floor next to her enemy. "I guess ghosts do bleed."

Chara didn't respond at first, still lying on the floor, astonished by what just happened. She had vastly underestimated the strength of Frisk's Soul. The Entity herself was so used to being the most powerful creature in the Underground and the incorporeal world, that she automatically assumed that she was untouchable. But Frisk's ability to harm her had proven that assumption wrong.

Chara glared up at the other Human, who glared back.

"Huh…" she muttered. "Guess I underestimated the power of your Soul… Anyway, that's all I have to say to you. If you don't go back to your physical body, I'll keep Asriel trapped here." Her smirk reappeared. "See ya."

"You're not going anywhere!" Frisk said. But even before she was done talking, Chara's figure faded into nothingness.

The Human turned to Gaster, who looked at her with an incredulous spark in his eyes. "Doc. We gotta do something before Chara traps Asriel here permanently! You going to help me or what?"

"Frisk…" Gaster said. "I…I believe you are unaware of the display of power you just gave."

"What're you talking about?" Frisk asked. "I just punched someone in the face, what's so special about that?"

"In order for a corporeal being to harm an incorporeal one in this world, the former needs to rival the latter in power. You being able to battle Chara implies that the strength your Soul equals – or possibly exceeds – hers. And Chara's Soul is extremely strong.

"I was aware that you were potentially more powerful than Chara, but to exercise such power requires your Soul to produce and hold more determination. There must be something motivating you."

"Asriel's been captured," Frisk said, making no effort to hide her frustration. "I'd say that's a pretty big motivator, right?!"

Gaster's shoulders dropped. "Right. Of course. Forgive me, I…"

"Forget it. We have a prince to save."

A young Asriel was sitting on the throne of the Underground, resting his head against the backrest with eyes closed. Asgore and Toriel weren't home: they had gone to some kind of conference, after making their children promise them that they'd behave. Asriel had agreed without hesitation.

He had also seen his chance to sit on the throne. It looked comfortable to him, and it did not disappoint. He just had to make sure Asgore wouldn't see it, since Asriel really didn't know how the old man would react.

Suddenly, a familiar voice reached his ears. "Oh, Azzy~."

Startled, the prince opened his eyes to see Chara's 'creepy face' right in front of him. He immediately threw himself backwards against the throne's backrest, his eyes wide.

"AHHH!" he screamed, to which Chara's face dropped as she began to roar with laughter.

"Ahhhahahaha!" she guffawed. "Ahaha…oh man, that was perfect-ahahahaha…I-I…haha…I can't breath-ahaha!"

"Chara!" Asriel pouted. "That's not funny!"

"No, tha-that wa-hahaha, was hilarious!"

Asriel crossed his arms. "Cha-raaaaa! Stop!"

"O-oh…haha…I-ha…I'm sorry, Azzy, I-I couldn't help myself, it was the, heh, the perfect opportunity."

"Shut up!" Chara snapped. "You think I don't know what you're doing?! I'm doing this for you, Asriel!"

Without flinching, Asriel looked back at her with bloodshot eyes, not bothering to dry or stop his tears. "Chara…"

"Shut. Up!"

"Attacking Frisk isn't—"

"Don't tell me what is and what isn't 'right', little man!"

"What do you want, then?" Asriel softly asked.

"I want us to be a family again! You, Mom, Dad, me. And Frisk is standing in the way of that!"

"No…" the prince denied. "Chara, I…" He sighed. "You're still my sister. And you'll always be."

"Yeah? Looks like you've taken someone to replace me. What, you royals only choose the most powerful people as family members?"

"It was Dad's war that—"

"No, Asriel. When're you going to take responsibility? It was because you refused to fight back during our mission. Because of that, Dad started the war. I became a ghost. You became a flower. Those six Humans were killed. At the end of the day, you caused all that to happen."

Asriel flinched mentally, but he wasn't ready to give up just yet. "That doesn't mean Frisk has to suffer like this. Besides, if she'd died, Dad would've wiped out Humanity."

"Good!"

"You don't mean that. When're you going to stop, Chara?"

Chara tilted her head. "Stop what?"

"This. When're you done exacting your revenge?"

"Now you sound like Gaster."

"When, Chara?"

The Human cracked her neck. "Not soon."

"Humans deserve to live in peace too. Frisk—"

"That's where you're wrong. Humans aren't like you Monsters. How many times do I have to tell you that?"

"That doesn't matter. Everyone deserves a chance." Another tear rolled down Asriel's cheek, but he managed to crack a small, brief smile. "That includes you, Chara. If you let me help you—"

"Shut up!" Chara stood up from her chair.

"No!" Asriel rose from his seat as well, showing his superior height. "No, I won't shut up! You keep saying you want us to be a family, but how do you think Mom and Dad will react if they find out that you're responsible for what Frisk's gone through?!"

"In time, they'll understand!" the Human retorted. "Same goes for you. But Frisk needs to be out of the picture!"

"Why?! What if you were in her position?!"

"Well, I'm not! And I'll never be!"

Asriel sighed and growled. "You're not helping anyone, Chara!"

"I'm helping myself. I'm helping you. In time, you'll—"

"No, I won't 'see' or 'understand' anything! You've changed, Chara – you used to be better than this!"

"I think we can both agree that I was never really the best person in the Underground – or the world, for that matter."

"But you never brought up the subject of…of this! You never liked Humanity, but now you're torturing an innocent person."

"I told you, Frisk is not innocent!"

"Well, what do you say she should've done with her power?" the prince asked as he sat down. "Kill everyone and everything in the Underground? She could've done that, you know. But she chose not to."

"That doesn't necessarily make her innocent," Chara negated as she sat down as well.

"You're jealous of her."

The Human narrowed her eyes. "What?"

Asriel remained unfazed by Chara's glare. "That's the real reason why you're doing this. You want Frisk gone because she's practically part of the Dreemurr family now. You don't like seeing her as one of us."

"She isn't one of you!"

"And with that, you proved my point. You deny it because you don't want to know it."

Chara wasn't too happy with that comment, but was unable to retort, knowing it would only support Asriel's argument. Why couldn't this stupid goat see sense?! She was helping him, and while she had expected his initial reactions to be resistant, she didn't know he was that stubborn. It had been too long since they talked, and both of them had gone through obvious changes in that time.

Asriel sighed and closed his eyes in regret. Then, he began to speak.

"Charaaaaa!" young Asriel whined. "Stop!"

Chara giggled as she made another attempt to grab one of Asriel's droopy ears. The prince was able to dodge the move, glaring at his sibling as he did.

"Sorry," Chara apologized. She made another lunge, forcing Asriel to dodge again. "They're just so fun to mess with!"

"It's not funny!" Asriel objected.

The Human giggled again before finally getting a hold of her brother's right ear. "Yes it is!"

"No! I can't grab your ears, they're too small for that!" The goat boy tried to escape Chara's grasp on his ear, but was not very successful.

"Yeah, I know!" Chara grinned.

Of course, while she stubbornly refused to let go, she also made sure not to hurt Asriel. She didn't want any pain to be involved.

She wasn't going to stop messing with him anytime soon, though. Asriel's ears were too fuzzy to not be messed around with.

"How long did we fight over that?" Asriel smiled.

Chara remained silent. She now knew that no determination could stop Asriel from reminiscing out loud, so she just let it happen. This wasn't how she'd expected to spend her day, though. She'd thought her brother would be more reasonable than this. She'd expected him to choose his long-lost sibling above Frisk. But in retrospect, she also should've known that he'd be the pacifist who'd try to find a peaceful way to resolve the problems.

But his ways of resolving problems involved making compromises. And that was something Chara wasn't going to do.

Then, she got an idea. It was reckless and probably wouldn't help her, but it'd be a final insult towards Frisk – and therefore worth it. The mere thought made a grin appear on her face.

She looked at Asriel. "So you want to see Frisk again, do you?"

The prince looked back, his eyes suddenly hopeful. "Yes."

"Alright then." Chara stood up. "Come with me. I'll take you to her."

Asriel quickly rose to his feet, only for his hope to be replaced by doubt. Was this really happening? What was Chara going to do? Was he going to see Frisk at all? Obviously, Chara was planning something. She wouldn't just give up, would she?

He eventually decided that he probably didn't have a choice in the matter. He wasn't sure what Chara was capable of, but it was probably a good idea to obey her for now. At the moment, she was his only chance of seeing Frisk again.

As Chara led him to where Frisk supposedly was, Asriel couldn't help but be a bit creeped out by the constant silence that hung in the air. The world he was in manifested as an exact copy of the Underground, except that there were no people present. As revealed by Chara, the Asgore and Toriel from before were fakes – illusions, created and controlled by the Human herself in an attempt to fool Asriel. That knowledge scared the prince even more.

Eventually, they arrived at the world's manifestation of Hotland, which oddly enough had a lower temperature than its 'physical' counterpart. In fact, Asriel hadn't felt any change in temperature so far. The whole time, it had been pleasantly warm, regardless of where he was.

Chara went straight to where Alphys' lab was, with Asriel cautiously following her. During the entire trip, the former was too cheerful for the latter's liking. He'd expected Chara to be angry, but she behaved like she was about to arrive at an amusement park. This induced the prince with nervousness and made him progressively more hesitant to continue walking. Chara had rarely ever been cheerful in any situation, and seeing how nothing currently seemed to go the way she wanted…

Upon opening the double sliding door, Asriel was met with a more empty version of the lab. The majority of furniture was gone, making it look rather boring and… Well, empty.

Despite the lack of furniture, there were two people inside. One of them appeared like some kind of tall skeleton. The other…

Asriel silently gasped upon seeing who the other one was. "Frisk!"

"Asriel!" Frisk said in a slightly raspy voice.

Both started to approach one another, maybe for a reunion hug or conversation. This was cut short, however, when Chara grabbed Asriel by the shoulder and threw him back with amazing strength. The prince practically flew through the air until his back hit the wall, knocking the air out of his lungs.

He was dazed when he hit the ground, but not unconscious. He groaned and slowly looked up at the others, but made no attempt to stand up just yet.

The intense glare Frisk sent to Chara almost made Asriel flinch. If it weren't for Gaster grabbing the former by the shoulder and keeping her away from the latter – who was grinning victoriously – Frisk would've undoubtedly attacked her opponent.

"Cha…ra…" Asriel wheezed. "What're you doing?"

"You bitch!" Frisk screamed to Chara as she subconsciously tried to escape from Gaster's grasp. "I'll kill you!"

"Will you?" Chara taunted. "You can't protect him, Frisky. I can."

"SILENCE!" Gaster's voice boomed, surprisingly causing both Humans to jump. Chara's grin was wiped off of her face, and Frisk stopped struggling. "Chara, if you are merely here to play your petty games, I demand that you depart. Should you disobey me, I will use force to remove you from my domain."

Chara sighed. "You're no fun, Gaster."

"Only those who fail to recognize the value of puns would regard me as humorless," the Royal Scientist shot back. "Now, why are you here, Chara?"

"Because I'm getting tired of waiting," the Entity responded, sounding annoyed. "So, I'm going to stay here until you're done choosing." She looked at Frisk, who defiantly glared back.

"Patience is a virtue, Chara," Gaster calmly said.

"Well, I'm not the most virtuous person in the world," Chara negated. "So Frisk…what're you going to do? Either you're going to go back to your body and let me do my thing, or Asriel stays here forever."

Before Frisk could answer, Asriel suddenly spoke up. He had managed to rise to his feet, and was now looking at the other three with a serene expression. "So that's what this is about…"

He went to stand between the two Humans, right in front of Chara. He faced the Entity with no fear or anger visible in his eyes. "Either you'll let Frisk go or you'll let me go."

Chara nodded, once again looking victorious. "Yup. Sounds about right."

"That's not right," Frisk growled. "Chara, you—"

"I'll stay here," Asriel said. "I'll gladly stay here, as long as Frisk will be safe from you."

A silence fell.