Frisk's eyes darted open. They sat up and looked around, but saw only darkness. Within the darkness, shapes were appearing, but those shapes didn't make any sense. The more they tried to see them, the more frightening the shapes began to seem. They felt themselves saying something, but they didn't understand what it was. Nothing made any sense. A voice was speaking back to them. Like the shapes, the voice was incomprehensible, and when they tried to listen to it, they just felt more and more scared.
Frisk gripped their head with their hands and screamed. What came out was nonsense. They didn't hear their own voice.
Some time passed, and things started to fall in place again. They blinked until the shapes around them became shapes that they could recognize: their bed, the walls of their room, the door, the window, and Chara. And then they listened, and they realized that it was Chara speaking to them, not some intangible voice with no origin. There was someone holding them, too. They looked carefully at this person, ascertaining that they were who they believed it to be.
"Frisk. Frisk. I'm here. Don't say those things. I'm here for you."
Chara was holding them tightly. So tightly, in fact, that Frisk thought for a moment that they were being squeezed by Undyne. But it was Chara, and they were leaning against them with arms wrapped around their body. Chara's head lay against their shoulder. It was comforting to have them so close. Slowly, Frisk's breathing started to relax, and they began to calm down. They could feel themselves sweating.
"Are you okay? It's fine, Frisk. Everything is fine."
Frisk raised their arm and wrapped their hand around Chara's back, holding them with all their strength. They took a deep breath, allowing the comfort of the hug reassure them. Having Chara so close made them feel secure. They held onto Chara as if letting go would make them fall back into that void of nonsense and terror.
Chara looked up at them. There was a sad expression in their eyes.
"Frisk. Was everything that you said...was it all true?"
Frisk blinked in response. "What?"
"All those things you said when you started flailing around."
"I...don't remember," Frisk said. They were starting to feel like they were going to get into a lot of trouble.
"That's scary."
"What is?"
"You were inconsolable," Chara continued. "You just sat up in bed, grabbed the blankets, and started yelling for some reason. I woke up and I grabbed you and I hugged you until you calmed down. But...you said a lot of strange things in the meantime."
A pang of guilt struck Frisk. It wasn't like them to be like this. It wasn't like them at all to lose all their self-control, to be the one that needed consolation – to be the one that needed Chara's comfort.
"I'm sorry," Frisk said, letting their head fall against Chara's shoulder. "I really don't remember anything. I don't even know why this happened."
"It's all right," Chara whispered. "Nightmares happen sometimes."
"That was a...nightmare?"
Frisk had had nightmares before. They filled them with fear and anxiety, but this time, it was different. It was outright terror. They didn't remember what their dream was about, and when they thought about what they had seen and heard when they woke up, they couldn't make any sense of it. All they could remember was a feeling of pure dread – like a vague notion that everything had went wrong, and everything was spiralling out of control.
"I think so," Chara replied.
Frisk softened their grip on Chara. They tried to lean back, but Chara didn't let them, instead giving them another tight hug.
Despite that, Frisk felt thankful. They let themselves collapse against Chara, to feel their closeness and warmth. When they breathed again, they realized that they were shuddering.
"What were the things that I said?" Frisk asked weakly.
"I think it's better if I wait until tomorrow morning to tell you," Chara replied. "You...probably don't want to hear about them right now."
"But why?"
Chara patted them on the back. "Just trust me, Frisk," they said.
"But...I don't think I can sleep without knowing!"
With a playful smile, Chara gripped Frisk and then laid their head back down, causing Frisk to fall beside them. Then, Chara leaned towards Frisk, nuzzling against their face.
"You can hold me while you sleep," Chara whispered into Frisk's ear. "I'll keep everything secret until you wake up tomorrow."
"..."
Chara kissed Frisk on the nose. "I promise."
"...Chara?"
"Yeah?"
"I...didn't say anything really bad or inappropriate, did I?"
"Umm..."
Frisk closed their eyes and buried themselves against Chara. They wanted to feel that closeness again, that sense of security from having them right within their arms. "I really hope I didn't."
"...I'll tell you everything when you're ready."
"A-actually, that s-sounds more like a night terror," Alphys said. "I r-read about it once. The symptoms are inconsolability, p-panic, increased heart rate and breathing, and thrashing around."
Chara turned to face Frisk. "That seems, right."
"I...hope I didn't do anything out of line," Frisk said embarrassedly.
"T-tell me, Chara," Alphys said, her tone suddenly becoming very concerned, "What did Frisk say when they woke up?"
Frisk had already heard everything from Chara, before they went to Alphys' room to have breakfast. They could hardly believe it, and their first reaction was to wonder if Chara was lying or just playing a prank on them. But, even if Chara had been playing a prank, they would never tell them something so obscenely...dark. Even for Chara, it was ridiculously grim.
"You can tell her," Frisk said to Chara with a nod.
"Do you really want me to?"
"...Yes."
Chara turned to face Alphys, a sad look coming over their face again.
"I d-don't mean to intrude on your p-privacy," Alphys said. "If you don't want to tell m-me, that's o-okay!"
"It's fine," Frisk said before Chara could speak up.
Sighing, Chara began to recount everything that they had told Frisk.
"Frisk was saying that...they were back in the underground again," Chara said. "They said that this time, there was nobody around, no matter where they went. They kept calling for help, but nobody came."
"They went all the way to Asgore's castle. Along the way, all they saw was dust. Dust covered the ground and walls and everything around them. The more they walked, the more the dust kept appearing."
Just hearing that sent shivers down Frisk's spine.
"Right before they entered the throne room, they fought...a friend," Chara continued. "It was Sans. They fought, and they kept losing, and blood covered the entire hall. But then, they finally managed to win. After that, they couldn't stop themselves from killing. They just hit and stabbed and slashed until everything had disintegrated into dust, and there was nothing left but blackness. And then...they saw me."
"The last thing you said," Chara said, turning towards Frisk, "before you came to, I mean. The last thing you said was that you made this decision long, long ago. And then, you told me that I killed you."
Alphys' face went white. Frisk couldn't help but shudder again.
"...Alphys?" Chara said.
She appeared sweaty, and her hands and feet were starting to shake.
"Ummm...Frisk, Chara," Alphys said, "Th-there's something that I've b-been meaning to show you. I, I g-guess I've been avoiding it f-for long enough, now. B-but! It's the r-reason why I told Sans to ask Toriel to let you two c-come live with me and Undyne. I...I should have shown y-you this much sooner."
Alphys turned to face the door of their room. "Come w-with me," she said. "I'll t-take you to my personal laboratory."
Frisk and Chara exchanged doubtful glances at each other. Chara stood up first, and then Frisk.
"Do you...want to hold my hand?" Chara asked, blushing a little. "If you don't feel well, I can walk with you."
"I guess," Frisk replied, their voice still shaky.
They took Chara's hand and walked together out of the room, following after Alphys. From the elevator, they went down to the third floor, where Alphys' main laboratory was located. Like her lab back in the underground, it consisted of a single hall with a large monitor display, wooden desks stacked with papers, and a washroom. Alphys led them in front of the monitor.
"Th-this is where I've been doing all my l-latest research," Alphys began, turning on the screen. "I h-haven't just been working on studying souls and d-determination. Someone...uh, Sans, gave me a suggestion, and I s-started looking into a new subject: timelines."
Chara coughed, still a little sick. "Sans?"
"Y-yes. He introduced some m-methods by which I could study other timelines. H-here, I'll show you our research."
The monitor turned on to reveal the startup screen of UnderOS (the most popular operating system used by monsters – also a derivative of Unix). Alphys tapped a few keys, and the screen transitioned to display the interface of some program called Timeline Tracker.
"I'm s-sure you know," Alphys said, facing Frisk, "That multiple t-timelines exist, since you can do a 'r-reset'. But resetting simply destroys the c-current timeline and creates another at an earlier point in time. Because of that, a reset d-doesn't actually create a truly independent timeline."
"What r-really causes two or more timelines to exist at the s-same time is a particularly s-significant event," Alphys continued. She typed a prompt, and the monitor began to display an animation. Frisk recognized it immediately. The animation was of a child falling down a hole and landing on a bed of golden flowers in a cave.
"These e-events are impossible to predict, but the timelines they create are d-detectable with the use of certain signals. What we do know for sure is that, when you f-fell down the hole on Mount Ebott, you began an event so s-significant, that hundreds – perhaps even thousands of different t-timelines were created."
"...Did I really do that?" Frisk asked.
Alphys nodded. She typed something else, and the monitor began to display a simulation of dozens of different Frisks, each doing something different from the moment that they woke up on the flower bed at the bottom of the cave.
"It m-must have been because you made a connection with Chara," Alphys said. "Such an extraordinary event w-would fire off thousands of different p-possibilities, each independent of each other. Thus, we have thousands of different t-timelines starting from that point, all continuing in their own way as we s-speak right now."
"Hey, wait a minute," Chara spoke up. "Where am I in most of these timelines?"
"Uh...well, you d-don't actually show up in most of thes-"
"Allow me to explain," a familiar voice said.
Frisk turned around to see a short, fat skeleton dressed in a blue jacket walk into the room.
"Sans!" Frisk yelled, running up to him to give him a hug.
"Hey, kiddo," Sans replied, ruffling up Frisk's hair. There was a big grin on his face. Chara looked a little scared, but Sans continued smiling as he stared towards them.
"I haven't seen you for so long!" Frisk said.
"Were you feeling 'bonely' without me?"
Frisk turned up their head to give Sans a disappointed look. "You got that from Toriel!"
"Did I?" Sans chuckled. "Well, can't say I'm surprised. We're both pretty humerus, after all."
Alphys cringed.
"Welp. I'm on my lunch break, but I wouldn't mind explaining some timeline physics. Or at least the bare bones of it."
Sans continued staring at Chara as he walked towards the monitor to stand beside Alphys. Chara glared in return until Frisk had come back to stand beside them again.
"Chara, huh?" Sans said.
"...Yes," Chara replied.
"Nice to see that you aren't so bad," Sans winked. "I've gotta say, I feel pretty lucky to exist in this timeline. It's a heck of a lot better than what some of the other Sans have had to deal with."
Chara remained silent.
"S-sans," Alphys said. "I was just explaining to them about the other timelines, s-specifically the, uh..."
"Oh, right."
Sans turned to face the monitor.
"As far as we know, most of the timelines don't end with monsters returning to the surface," Sans said, his voice suddenly growing serious. "There are only a few timelines where Frisk succeeds in breaking down the barrier. Here's one of them."
Sans pressed a button, and the monitor began to display a simulation of Frisk walking alongside Toriel down Mount Ebott after emerging from the cave within Mount Ebott. However, there was no Chara or Asriel anywhere.
"In this timeline, Frisk is alone with Toriel," Sans continued. "They're also the ambassador between humans and monsters, and they've earned themselves the title of 'True Pacifist' for their efforts in maintaining peace. Therefore, we've decided to name this the 'True Pacifist' timeline."
"What's our timeline called?" Chara asked.
"Well, you don't show up at all in most of these timelines, either," Sans replied. "So, if I were to pick a name, I'd say this is...the 'Chara has their own body' timeline?"
Cringes all around the room.
"In any case, it's i-interesting how all of these timelines s-seem to differ for arbitrary r-reasons," Alphys said. "But, m-most of them end in the same way, with the barrier remaining, and monsters still being stuck the u-underground. Other than our timeline and the 'True Pacifist' one, there is only one m-more notable timeline..."
Sans' expression grew somewhat somber. He pressed another button, and the monitor began to display yet another simulation.
As they watched it, Frisk began to feel goosebumps.
It was exactly what Chara had recounted earlier. They were walking alone through the underground, and there was dust everywhere. However, the simulation showed more clearly what had actually happened. The Frisk in this timeline had a bloodthirsty look on their face. Every time they met a monster, they would put on a sadistic grin. Then, they would take out whatever weapon they had and beat the monster to death with it.
Countless monsters fell this way, monsters that Frisk had – in this timeline – always tried to befriend. Froggit. Toriel. The Snowdin dogs. Papyrus (Sans had to turn away at this one). Undyne. Muffet. Mettaton. Even Sans himself. Finally, Frisk slew Asgore and a very frightened looking Flowey.
All of a sudden, the simulation went dark.
"...Curiously, this timeline just ends here," Sans said after taking a deep breath.
Frisk felt themselves beginning to shake again. They couldn't believe what they were seeing. How was it possible for another version of themselves to do something like this? How could this other Frisk be so cruel and violent?
They felt Chara holding their hand again.
"It's okay, Frisk," Chara whispered. "It's okay. This isn't you. It's a completely different person. Someone more like...who I used to be."
"Chara..."
"Hey, kid. We're thankful that you aren't like the Frisk from that timeline," Sans said, putting on an uplifting smile. "If you were, none of us would be here right now."
"W-we've named that timeline the 'Genocide' timeline," Alphys added. "Hopefully, none of what happened there is g-going to affect us."
"Wait, what?" Chara said suddenly. "What do you mean by that? How could another timeline affect ours?"
Alphys and Sans exchanged very uneasy glances towards each other. Frisk felt themselves become worried again.
"W-well, we've been hypothesizing about why the 'Genocide' t-timeline just suddenly ends," Alphys said.
"There are only three ways that a timeline could completely go dark," Sans began. "The first and most obvious way is that a reset was performed. However, if there was a reset, we wouldn't have been able to detect all the events leading up to the reset in the first place, so that's out of the question. The second possibility is that the entire universe of that timeline is destroyed."
"Th-that's probably not it, either," Alphys said. "Nothing can really wipe out the entire universe instantly."
"So that just leaves the third way," Sans said. Once again, his expression turned grim. "We've only been able to study these timelines through a very precise signal emitted by a specific person in each of these timelines. This person is the being who contains the most determination in that timeline, as they carry the sole ability to reset. Were this person to disappear without resetting, we would lose that signal, and the entire timeline – to us – would appear to go completely dark."
"It's w-why we're only a-able to view each timeline from Frisk's p-perspective," Alphys said.
"So they just disappeared?" Frisk asked.
"...Either that, or they really did destroy the entire universe," Sans answered. "However, something has been happening recently that has led us to believe that they did indeed just disappear."
Sans clicked a button, and a directory appeared on the monitor screen. It contained a list of files, each named "TimelineXXXX", where the X's was any number between 0 and 9.
"When we s-started these simulations, we were able to f-find exactly 6581 timelines," Alphys said. "S-since then, the number of t-timelines has been steadily decreasing."
"We only have 4493 timelines left," Sans said. "Either 2088 timelines have had their universes destroyed, or all the signals – the Frisks – from those timelines have disappeared."
"What could that mean?" Frisk asked.
"It m-means, w-well, uh..."
"We don't know," Sans said. "But, it's worrying, to say the least."
"Th-that's why we a-asked for you two to c-come live with us," Alphys said. "In case anything h-happens. You're the person with the m-most determination in this timeline too, Frisk. So, you know, we j-just want to, uh, keep watch over you..."
All of this was completely overwhelming.
Frisk closed their eyes and leaned back against the wall. They felt profoundly disturbed by how closely the descriptions Chara had given of their ramblings last night matched what the simulation of the 'Genocide' timeline had showed. It was inconceivable. Could their dreams somehow reach across the different timelines? What could have caused one Frisk to behave in a certain way, and another Frisk to behave in a completely different way?
They felt Chara holding their arm. When they opened their eyes, they found Chara staring concernedly at them.
"I'm okay," Frisk said, even though they really weren't.
"Hey, don't worry about all this, kid," Sans said. "Maybe the timelines disappearing is just because our technology is malfunctioning. Maybe there's nothing for us to worry about at all."
"S-still, that d-dream Frisk had last night," Alphys said.
"Dream?" Sans asked.
"Stop," Chara said suddenly. "Frisk doesn't need to hear it over and over again. Let them take a break right now."
"Thanks, Chara, but it's fine," Frisk said. Chara wouldn't let go of their arm.
"I'm s-sorry if all this was too m-much for you to take in," Alphys said, lowering her eyes.
"No, it's all right. I'm just a little bit...confused," Frisk said, shaking their head. "I don't understand why some of these other Frisks are so...different."
"Me neither," Sans said, shrugging. "But, yeah, that Genocide Frisk gives me the chills."
"Wait!" Alphys spoke up. "We know th-that timelines split off when an event occurs that c-can result in multiple drastically d-different outcomes, r-right?"
She raised her head and turned at Frisk. "What if the event that actually caused this s-split had happened earlier? What if it was s-something in the past that had changed Frisk, making it so th-that not one Frisk, but – rather – multiple different types of Frisks ended up falling into Mount Ebott?"
Sans looked curious. "That's a possibility," he said. "You got anything, Frisk?"
Frisk turned away. Their head was spinning.
"Let's go," Chara urged.
"I'm s-sorry!" Alphys said. "S-sorry, Frisk. I d-didn't mean to make you feel so uncomfortable."
Once again, Frisk shook their head. They smiled at Chara and whispered a 'thank-you' to them, but then turned to face Sans and Alphys again.
"...Nothing happened in the past," they said at last.
"You don't know?" Sans asked.
Frisk nodded. "I don't believe anything from my past could've caused such a drastic change in my character."
Alphys sighed. "All right. Th-thank you, I guess."
"Come on," Chara said, pulling on Frisk's hand. They put on a big smile. "Let's go get lunch already."