First of all: I want to thank everyone who viewed this story and had stick around. Even if this storys writing had become a bit more complicated and chaotic than I tought. Still, I hope that the final fight of this story will be a satisfied conclusion... for now. I plan on posting a small chapter and epilouge next weekend. After that I want to work on some other story/stories before I start to work on the sequel of this fic.

But enough about that. Let´s continue.

Chara raised her knife and pointed it alternately from Lara to Asriel. She seemed to consider who to attack first. She decided for Lara and ran towards her.

Chara jumped high in the air and pounced on her victim. Lara managed to dodge backwards so Chara landed in front of her. The knife sank with a crunch into the ground. Chara levered out a a chunk of the ground and threw it at Lara with full force. The white souled girl dropped and the rock flew over her, instead chrashing into the wall.

It gave Chara an idea. She levered out another piece of rock and threw it onto a pillar to Lara's right. Cracks appeared at the base of the pillar and it cracked menacingly. Lara tried to move away. But Chara was faster. She threw her knife and hit the base of the pillar again. A soul shard of hers, that was stuck into the handle of the knife, infused the weapon´s blade with its corrupted energy. With an loud explosion the base of the pillar imploded and it fell towards Lara!

Luckily Lara was already moving so she didn't get crushed. But her leg got trapped. She couldn't move anymore which made Chara laugh in relish. She slowly walked towards her now helpless victim. Chara thought about slowly slitting the throats of that fhilty human. How the fearful eyes would go out.

But someone stood in her way.

"Asriel away! I want to kill you last. Move! When the human is gone, we can do whatever we want."

Chara pronounced the word "human" like it was the worst insult ever. And for her it was. To her, all humans were disgusting creatures that must be destroyed. Chara had to wipe out this race and protect the monsters. No, she… she had to make the monsters pay as well. They were family... ENEMIES!

Chara grabbed her head, screaming. The pain of her incomplete mess of a soul increased. Brief memories flashed before her inner eye. Too wild and hectic to be able to take a closer look at them. Too contradictory and incomplete to even make sense. This had to stop.

"Get out of my way!" Chara growled.

"I won't let you hurt Lara. Or ever let you attack someone innocent again. You're not doing anyone any favors by doing this. Especially not yourself!" Asriel exclaimed. "There's still good in you. I know it."

"STEP ASIDE AND LET ME FINISH THE JOB! I'll kill you if you don't step aside. Don't let anything human come between us again."

"No!" Asriels eyes starred determined into Chara´s. The corrupted child glared back in anger and frustration. "...Your fault. Your funeral. Just as before."

Asriel shook his head. "I didn't fight back then because it wouldn't have been right. People attacked us because they thought I was a threat. And it shouldn't have been the same ones who did you... wrong. Whatever it was."

"It where humans. They deserve to die. Because they know no mercy. No goodness. They are all Evil."

"What about the six humans who sacrificed their souls for me." Silence. "What about Frisk and Lara trying to help and improve people even when they're attacking them." Silence again. Chara's body trembled. "What about you, Chara. The person who wanted to protect Monsters at all costs. Because you loved them all."

She was overwhelmed by another memory storm. Chara thought she saw people who took care of her. That accepted her. LIARS. TRAITORS! They had never cared about her. They had forgotten her…

Right?

Chara cringed and nearly fell down, as the pain became worse. She managed to steady herself, breathing heavily.

"Go... away, Asriel."

"No."

"Then... I'll… kill you now!" Chara held up her hand. The soul shard lodged in the knife's hilt drew the weapon back toward its owner. Chara's fingers tightened on the hilt. Then she picked it up and ran towards Asriel. He had no choice but to defend himself. He raised his hand and threw a fireball that glowed in the colors of all the soul traits he possesed.

But it didn´t do much to impress Chara. She filled her kife once again with corrupted soul energy and cut the attack in half, the two flaming halves flew past her. But Asriel was not finished. A wall of blazing flames rose up in front of him and raced towards Chara. The shattered souled child cut a narrow gap in the fire through with her red glowing knife and quickly ran trough the magical flames and heat.

"The six souls make you strong. Unfortunately, your current powers are nothing to those you had as a god. Say my dear little brother, what would you do to me if you still had them. Strike me with lightning, cut me open with swords, or just erase me from existence?"

"None of that. I still care about you Chara, despite everything. I'll try to save you."

She threw her head back and laughed out loud. "Save me? I don't need to be saved. If anyone needs help around here, it's you!"

Chara attacked and managed to get a hit. The blade of the knife pierced the shoulder of her beloved-hated Asriel…

Who had always been there for her…

Asriel gritted his teeth and pressed his hand to the wound. It hurt badly.

Chara thought if he suffered she would feel better. But she felt nothing. Angry, Chara tried another attack. Maybe then she would feel something, satisfaction or gratification, if Asriel's pain was as bad as hers. But the monster prince grabbed his sister's wrist with his other hand in time. Chara held against it with all her weight. Asriel had always been a weakling, he wouldn't be able stand up against her for to long. But he held out. Their eyes met. Chara's red eyes stared into Asriel's green ones. Another memory flashed through her: she was lying on the floor. Injured from the fall. But then there were these friendly, green eyes. Asriel supporting her. Showing Chara what it meant to love and be loved.

The corrupted child backed off several steps.

Those memories… meant nothing. They shouldn't mean anything! They were lies! Chara had never been cared for. And yet there was a small part of her that hoped everything was right. That despite all this, Asriel was still her friend. But then he wouldn't have betrayed her! Unless…. No, this could not be. Chara couldn't be the one who was wrong! The humans, the Monsters, they all deserved to die. Everything she had done could have been for absolutly nothing!

Chara didn't want to admit that she was the only person who was in the wrong. But if she was wrong, didn't that mean all the good memories were real? Had a meaning?

Her inner conflict became too strong. Just like the pain. Chara dropped to her knees and clutched her head convulsively.

Asriel looked at her uncertainty. Then a whimper drew his attention to the fallen pillar. Lara! He had totally forgotten about her. He quickly rushed to her side.

"Lara are you alright?"

"My leg is stuck under a pillar! How am I supposed to be fine? I think my leg is broken."

"I take care of it. Watch out, this might get a bit violent."

Asriel pulverized the pillar with a large ball of flame. He then applied a glowing green flame to Lara's leg and healed it. Asriel did the same with his shoulder.

Lara stood up uncertainly. She could stand, but felt weak and had to lean on Asriel for support. Just then, Chara looked up. She saw how Asriel had gone to this Lara instead of her, and this little slut was now snuggling up to him. This filthy human snuggled up to HER Asriel!

Chara stood up, growling. Lara looked at the other girl. Saw the hate, the anger and the... jealousy(?) simmering in the eyes. Chara hissed wildly and threw the knife.

"Asriel watch out!" Lara shouted. Her friend reacted quickly. Several orbs of flame appeared, racing toward the weapon like an army of mini-comets. Instead of exploding as Lara expected, the knife glowed red, then orange, and then white. The weapon fell to the ground in a bubbling puddle. The soul shard that was stuck in the grip flew out and reunited with Chara's remaining shards. The demonic child looked at the remains of her weapon. Then she looked at Asriel and Lara and giggled. "You think I'm powerless now? No I'm not! I've got an ace up my sleeve."

Several crimson soul shards detached themselves from Chara and flew toward their victims. They pulsated in the same unhealty, corrupted energy as the knife blade before.

Asriel and Lara had to pull apart and ran into different directions to not get hit. When they tried to reunite, more soul shards kept them away from each other. Asriel tried to fend them of, without destroying them with his magic, as he had no idea what kinf of effect it had on Chara´s health.

Lara meanwhile tried to get between them, to dodge the attacks. But the shards were everywhere, forming a rotating circle around her that slowly tightened in on itself. Lara had nowhere to flee.

It was a sight that Chara enjoyed every single second of it.

Yes… It was going to be great seeing the little bitch get shredded to pieces. She would no longer stand in her way. Chara would kill anyone who stood in her way. And then, when there was nothing left, she would be alone with Asriel. Just the two of them. And then Chara would kill him and move on to the next world. Asriel would never care about her. Not as a flower, nor in his true form. Chara saw that now. He would never care for her. Not after everything he had done to her. But she would prevent anyone else from getting him.

Said goat boy had trouble deflecting the shards. He held them at bay with several walls of flame. And yet here and there his defences opened up, through which a shard rushed through. Asriel struggled to fend them off because a direct attack would have destroyed the soul Shard and injured Chara. But he couldn't keep it up forever. And then it happened: Asriel reacted too slowly.

He tried to hold the flame up, but three particularly large shards shot past his arm and pierced his chest. He fell to his knees. The splinters pulled out and gathered to the others. Asriel's chest burned. The wounds hurt a lot more than the one on his shoulder did. Still, he tried to persevere. He held his defense. The human souls within him filled him with determination.

Lara didn't know what to do. She was running out of space, Asriel was weakened, and Chara didn't look like she was going to stop. She had to do something! But what?

Lara tried to think. She remembered what she had done with the Memoryheads. Could she do that again? Would it work here too? She had to try. Lara tried to block out the shards rotating around her. She focused on her soul. Tried to remember that power that she briefly felt in her last fight. Tried to awake it again.

…

Nothing happened…

But Lara didn't give up. She kept going, she didn´t want to give up hope. Not right before the end. When se was so close of seeing her sister again!

Sister… wasn´t Chara also Asriels sister? Why was she being so malicious towards him? He had told Lara that Chara wasn´t the best person. But despite that he still seemed to hold her close to his heart. The monster prince showed that trough his carefulness with the soul shards. He still held on to his hope that Chara could be saved. And despite how sadistic and psychotic Chara acted… Lara understood.

If it where Frisk in her place… Lara would do the same thing. To keep on going and save her family.

Lara felt something. She mentally reached for it. Not hastily, but calmly and gently. It felt like she grabbed a warm and strong hand that pulled her out from the drwoning depts of despair. It felt good. Lara somehow felt stronger, like someone was at her side and quitly supported her.

Lara´s soul manifested in fron of her and shone in a bright light. The blood red shards trembled as the light shined through them. They changed became brighter and tried to connect with each other. Chara gasped in surprise. What... what was that?

The pain… it got weaker. A feeling flowed through Chara. One she hadn't felt in a long time. Hope. But that was not all. The negative emotions inside her, the anger, the jealousy and the hate and whatnot, had given way to something else.

Love.

Not the twisted phenomenon that shared its name via an acronym.

But the genuine emotion.

Something she thought she'd never had before. But now it poured out in masses from the white soul. Chara felt what Lara felt for her: no disgust or fear. Chara felt the sympathie from the other girl. Lara wanted to help her, the demon that comes when people call his name. That made no sense. Humans couldn't have anything good in them. Just like Monsters. No, Monsters had good things in them, but they were evil traitors. But that contradicted itself. So were humans and Monsters now good or bad?

Chara's eyes fell on Asriel. She saw how he suffered from her soul shards. She raised her hand. All of the shards on both Lara and Asriel returned to Chara. She looked back at Asriel. She, without realising, opened her mouth and said: "I love you."

Asriel heard it loud and clear. "W-what?" he stammered confused.

Chara realized she had spoken the sentence out loud. She clutched her head, startled.

No, she really did it. SHE REALLY DID IT! Chara didn't want to hear what he had to say. How he would mock her. Would say straight to her face how stupid she was to think HE could fall in love with someone bad like HER! Chara turned away and looked Lara in the face. The anger and jealousy suddenly returned, tearing at her last shreeds of sanity. It was that human's fault! She had let Chara say it. So that Asriel would despise her completely and she would have him all to herself.

Just like Frisk!

Just like everyone else!

"DIIIIIIEEEEEE!" Chara screamed and jumped at Lara. However, the white souled girl had seen it coming and ducked. Chara sailed over Lara and hit her face on the ground. She lay there for a while. Then she got up on her knees and clasped her hands over her face, crying.

Concerned, Asriel rushed to his best friend, even tough Lara tried to stop him, and asked, "Chara? Are you alright?"

Chara tore her hands off her disfigured face and yelled: "Got you, you idiot!"

She threw him to the ground, jumped onto his chest and used one hand to pinch his neck and head to the ground. With her other hand she held several soul shards directly in front of Asriel's face. Lara, who had ran towards them, froze up. She didn´t know what to do, without trigering Chara into attacking.

"You want to feel death again, hmm? Then I will not deny you this wish. 'Cause I won't stand by any longer while they try to take you away from me. I will make humanity suffer as they made me suffer. Monsters will be punished for betraying me. I will erase this and all other worlds because they contain nothing worth existing," Chara said with a big smile. "And you can't stop me Asriel. Your lies about friendship and love don't work on me. Your mockery will not hurt me. I will…"

"I'm sorry."

"Huh?"

"I'm sorry I didn't fight back then. If I had known what this would lead to, I would have done something. I still think it would not have been right to destroy the humans. But I understand that you hate me for what I've done. Or rather didn't do it. And I'm sorry that this makes you think that there is nothing good in this world. Or in all the others. That all the beautiful things you've experienced were lies. I... I accept my punishment. take it all out on me. Make me suffer for all eternity. Do what you want with me I won't judge you for anything. I won't hate you. I never have. But please, Chara, don't let your hate out on those that didn´t do anything wrong!" Chara looked at Lara. "She wanted to take you away from me."

"No, Chara," Asriel said softly. "Lara and I are just friends. She… no one ever wanted to take you away from me. I've always been there for you We hadn't become best friends for nothing. We weren't called inseparable for nothing. You may not have been the best person, not exactly the kind of friend I wished for. But I know your good parts. And don't think that I despise you. You were important to me, even as a flower. And if you do me any cruelty now, I will not stop looking at you as my best friend who has always been by my side."

"But all the others..."

"Monsters have never betrayed you or forgotten you. They still remember you as the hope of the Underground. And as for the humans, I don't know what was done to you and I'm not going to force you to tell me. But give your race a chance. Let Lara and Frisk help you. They will help you accept humanity. To accept yourself."

Memories flew through Chara's mind. And this time she welcomed them. So many things came back that had been forgotten. Things that brought tears to her eyes. Normal human tears. One memory played out particularly clearly: her trying to calm Asriel after he had a bad nightmare.

"It was just a nightmare. It's okay."

"I… I´m not sure. I'm scared that something really bad will happen someday. I don't want to lose you."

"Aww, Asriel you are so cute. Come here, let me give you a hug. I promise you, no matter what happens, I will be there for you and always protect you."

But what does Chara now? The exact opposite! She really was the one acting obnoxious and evil. It wasn't the world that was corrupt, it was her!

Sobbing, Chara climbed down from Asriel. Why did she always have to do everything wrong? Why could she only do bad things? Chara's eyes fell on a splinter of stone that had broken out of the fallen pillar. It was very sharp. Chara got an idea. Maybe she could do something good after all. She staggered to her feet and went to the splinters. Chara picked it up and aimed it at her neck. Asriel ran to here in a panic and knocked the stone shard out of his friend's hand.

"No! NO!" Chara yelled. "Why did you stop me?"

"Because I don't want you to kill yourself! You, like me, deserve a second chance."

"No, I do not! I do not deserve you. And for me… there is no second chance."

"But-"

Chara showed her soul shards.

"Look at this Asriel. Look at me! There is no cure for my condition. I do not want this anymore. I just can't stand the pain any longer!"

Just then, Lara felt again the power surge trough her soul. But this time… it was like it was urging her to do something.

She stepped very close to Chara. She held her soul to the cluster of red shards. Lara thought about how she compared Chara with Frisk.

She tought about her hope of just wanting to live a peaceful and happy life. With her family. Not just Frisk, but the new one Asriel had promised her. With a mother… a potential father… and with Chara as another sister.

Lara let all of this flow into her soul and tried to transfer the hopes and dreams to Chara. The white heart of light glowed brightly. Chara looked down, blinded. The soul shards trembled in the light... and began to fuse with each other!

Piece by piece, a complete heart was formed. Gradually, the corrupted determination from the genocidal route that Chara carried was purified. All the lust for murder, lack of emotion, all the LOVE was dissolved.

Finally, there was a normal, red soul that glowed softly. The white light went out. Chara looked up. She now had a normal human mouth and normal brown eyes.

Chara gently pressed her soul against her chest and ran her hands over it to make sure she was really there. The soul slowly disappeared into her body. Chara smiled. Then she started crying.

It were tears of happiness, of relief, of regret and many other emotions.

Asriel hugged her. Chara returned the hug.

"I can't believe it's over. That I'm really back I… I…"

"Shh, calm down, Chara. Everything is alright. You now have a second chance and you deserve it. Were you… are you really in love with me?"

"I… I´m not quite sure. It´s just…" Chara pulled away from the hug and looked Asriel in the eyes. „You were always so nice and saw the good in everyone. you were so much better than me. I admired that. But you don't feel the same do you?"

"No," Asriel replied. "I am sorry. You are very important to me, but you have always been a sister to me." Chara nodded, even if her eyes dropped a little. "It's… alright I guess. But… you still care about me?"

Asriel had never heard Chara speak in such a vurnerable tone before. It made his herat ache. Which is why he stated as firmly as possible: "Don't worry, we'll stay together. No matter what comes." Chara smiled, even if it looked like she wanted to cry again. She sniffled: "And I always called you a crybaby."

"Guess we're both overly sensitive."

Chara looked away from her brother and went to Lara.

"Hey… uh… it´s Lara… right? I… I´m sorry for what I just did. I behaved so weird and terrible. And you gave me my soul back in return. My life… thank you."

Lara just looked at her. Chara wasn´t sure what to expect from the other human. She did gave her soul back, true. But what if she still would punish her? Though Chara admited that it would this time be justified. But instead of screaming at her or hitting her, Lara instead…

„You know… during our fight I had to compare you to my sister." At Chara´s confused headtilt Lara quickly added: „Frisk. My sister is Frisk."

Chara´s eyes widened in surprise, but then she just nodded. With a clear head she now started to see the similarities.

Lara continued: „So anyway… I imagined how it would be if Frisk would have been in your place. So if Asriel trusts you…" Said Monster prince gave a nod at that. „… then I´m willing to give you a chance. Just don´t throw any knifes around any time soon, okay?"

Chara coulnd´t help cracking a small smile. "Heh. Okay."

Asriel took the girls hands. "Come on then. Let's go to the surface. Let's go home"