A Maelstrom's Tale
Chapter 20: The Clash between the Dawn and the Dark
The two Charas faced each other in silence as if looking at their reflections albeit with certain differences as one has the expression of calm while the other has the expression of hatred. This continued for some time until one of them finally decided to break the silence being the Chara from Naruto's Dimension (an MT!Chara)
"To be honest, I wasn't expecting that we would meet like this. but I suppose that it was only a matter of time when we meet face-to-face," said MT!Chara.
The Chara from the Genocide Dimension (an G-Chara) shrugged in response "Well, you're not wrong. I had often wondered if I would ever meet my counterpart in this timeline, though I'm not too surprised that you would be the source of Frisk's nightmares,"
MT!Chara quirked an eyebrow at this "You knew I was responsible for her nightmares?"
"Not at first, but then the way she described them were similar to what I did in my own timeline which made me come up with the possibility of you being in her, and I was right that you really are the culprit," G-Chara explained.
"Well, aren't you perspective. Yes I am, but what does it matter to you?"
"Frisk's safety matters to me, just what is your reason for tormenting her this way when she hasn't done anything wrong?"
MT!Chara rolled her eyes at G-Chara "Do you really need to ask such a stupid question? Surely you should know given you've done this in your timeline,"
G-Chara sighed with her eyes closed "You're right, I DO know why you're doing this. you're me after all; you're attempting to take control of Frisk by breaking her will,"
"That's right. When I finally take over her body, I'll kill that annoying pest of a human, Naruto Uzumaki whom she's so fond of. He's the reason why I wasn't able to influence Frisk as she always listens to him and ignores me. It makes me so sick that he keeps getting in the way of my plans. Once he's dead, I'll take the power of RESET as my own and change things back to how it should be," said MT!Chara evilly.
"Of course, why am I not surprised by this? You clearly wish for genocide because of your hatred for humanity," said G-Chara.
"Exactly, if you knew what I've been planning on doing, why don't you join me? Together, we'll be unstoppable,"
G-Chara scoffed with her arms crossed "A tempting offer, but I'm gonna have to say no,"
It's rather obvious that MT!Chara wasn't happy to hear her offer being rejected "You would abandon your goals of humanity's destruction and rather side with them!?"
"Who said anything about me taking sides? I still hate humans, that hasn't changed but…," G-Chara's mind recalled the memories of the time she spent with Naruto and the others, her veil of hatred having been lifted for her to see the positivity of things more often than the negativity "…it's more than just that,"
"What could possibly be more important than the destruction of humanity!?" MT!Chara demanded angrily.
"Letting go of your HATE,"
"My HATE?"
G-Chara clarified for her counterpart "The more your hatred from humanity grows, so does your HATE. That black substance that oozes out of your eyes and mouth when you make a scary face. It's not worth it, no matter how you believe humanity deserves it, you'll end up losing yourself to it just like I did. And besides, you won't be able to take the power of RESET from Naruto, I speak from personal experience,"
MT!Chara looked at G-Chara with disgust "Tch, it's all too clear that you've gotten soft after living in this timeline. I'll never let go of my HATE as you call it. If it means resetting everything back to ensure humanity's demise then so be it. I'll make everything feel the pain I felt but twice as much,"
G-Chara frowned at this "Does that also include taking away Asriel's chance to live again?"
MT!Chara growled upon hearing the name "Don't ever mention that traitor's name! that crybaby isn't my brother, he couldn't follow the simplest of instructions and is the very reason why our plan failed in the first place which got us both killed for nothing! He doesn't deserve a second chance and but remain a flower for the rest of his life, I'll give him a REAL reason to cry about. He along with the monsters deserve to die a hundred times over!"
As G-Chara stood there and watched MT!Chara rant about hating everything and everyone that wronged her, she couldn't help but feel like she was looking at the reflection of her past self on a cracked mirror. She remembered when she and Asriel sat together in the cave of glowing flowers, the Dreemurr made a wish to climb to the top of Mt. Ebott to look at the world, she remembered laughing at his wish and revealed that she also had the same wish. The memory made G-Chara question herself whether she truly meant that wish or said it on a whim? She remembered how happy Asriel was, even more so when she reunited with him and the Dreemurr family properly. G-Chara got the opportunity to see the kind of life she would have had if she weren't so hellbent on genocide and it took being transported to another timeline to see that.
G-Chara stepped forward with her eyes narrowed in focus "Too bad that it will not happen with me here to stop you from undoing what everyone worked so hard for,"
MT!Chara scowled in response "This isn't even your timeline yet you dare to stand my way!?"
"I may detest humanity but there are a few whom I at least tolerate and I've come to like it here as if it was my own. I'm not gonna let you of all people take that away from me,"
Brandishing a bloody kitchen knife, MT!Chara pointed it at G-Chara "Fine, if you're gonna side with the humans and traitorous monsters then you've clearly lost your true purpose. That human Naruto has changed you, made you weak. If I have to kill you then so be it,"
"If you really believe that I'm weak…," G-Chara brandished her own weapon which is a red single-edged sword with the hilt designed to resemble the Delta Rune as it's made entirely out of her Determination, she pointed her sword at MT!Chara with her eyes glowing red "Why don't you come over here, so we can find out just how weak I am?"
Music Start: Undertale [Hardmode] – "Megalo Nightmare" NITRO Remix
MT!Chara was surprised upon seeing Chara's own version of the Sword of Determination "Since when can you use a sword?"
G-Chara smirked, swinging her sword a few times "Got the inspiration from Naruto, he's just full of ideas,"
Angered upon hearing the blonde's name, MT!Chara rushed at G-Chara and swung her knife at the latter who dodged it with a sidestep then continued to evade the following attacks from the knife of her raging counterpart before seizing the right opportunity to advance forwards while tilting her body to the side for the incoming blade to whizz inches past her head to counter by sing her free hand to punch MT!Chara in the stomach then followed up with a diagonal slash which her opponent barely moved her knife in time to block it then jumped backwards to recover.
MT!Chara looked at her counterpart with pure disdain, to think she was fighting to support the very humans who were the source of their pain and the monsters that betrayed them. She refuses to lose to such a person, no matter what! "She thinks she can beat me? Let's see how she handles this!"
Sensing something harmful, G-Chara leapt backwards right as numerous red knives rose from the ground until they were hovering above MT!Chara's head then they aimed in her direction and launched themselves at highspeed. Chara released her grip on her sword for it to hover in the air in front of her before spinning rapidly like a propeller to deflect the incoming bladed projectiles until there weren't anymore. Then she mentally launched the still spinning sword at MT!Chara who conjured a wall of knives to block the attack for it to return to its wielder's hand.
"You're not the only one who can pull that trick!" G-Chara conjured her own copies of red knives above her head before launching them at MT!Chara who charged forward, evading the deflecting the blades all the while channeling a large amount of Determination into her knife, making it glow red as she reached her target and attacked with a powerful slash.
Knowing that it can't be easily blocked, G-Chara jumped backwards to evade the attack then she pointed her sword at MT!Chara as energy gathered at the tip of the blade which she then thrust forward to launch a red beam of energy. However, MT!Chara channeled her Determination once more to cleave the energy beam in half.
"Why are you getting in the way? There's no point of you fighting for humanity when they've done nothing but hurt you?!" MT!Chara demanded angrily.
G-Chara shook her head in response "Because what you intend to do is what I've done already. Looking back at it, what I was doing was nothing more than me being a broken record; Kill all and then reset, kill all and then reset, kill all and then reset…a continuous cycle of killing with no end in sight, sounds rather dull now that I think about it. Naruto helped me see that there's more to life than repetitive genocide, making me more openminded unlike you who's the opposite,"
MT!Chara was getting angry to the point of black liquid seeping out of her eyes and mouth "You have some nerve to say that what I intend to do to be dull, downplaying the pain we had to go through,"
"I'm not downplaying our pain, but rather trying to tell you to let go of that pain instead of it shackling you to the past,"
"Shut up! You're nothing but a fake! Just die!"
MT!Chara lunged at G-Chara, swinging her knife in a frenzy with the latter having to clash blades with her sword. The sounds of metal clashing against each other echoes throughout the walls of the basement as the two Charas continued to fight one another. However, it was apparent that G-Chara was having the edge due to having more combat experience and having also been watching Naruto and the others during their training sessions and developing ideas of her own. They jumped away for a short breather and stared into each other's eyes.
"I must kill her, she's an obstacle just like the rest. I'll destroy her with this one strike," thought MT!Chara with gritted teeth as she began gathering energy into the knife to make it form an extension of itself in a blood red burning aura.
G-Chara frowned at this "She plans to end this fight with a single decisive blow, I'll just have to respond in kind. I can't afford to lose here, for Frisk's and everyone else's sake. Heh…to think I would be fighting for others instead of for myself, maybe this is what they wanted Asriel and I to do if I hadn't come up with that plan,"
Contemplating on how to counter MT!Chara's attack, G-Chara recalled something that Naruto did and took a stance whereby she held her sword with both hands to the side while the blade was diagonally positioned towards the ground before shrouding it in her Determination. MT!Chara on the other hand was channeling as much Determination in her knife as she could with intention to destroy the sword and her counterpart.
From one's outside perspective, they would see the auras of the two Charas take on the shape of certain figures. MT!Chara's aura took on the shape of an irritated Grim Reaper while G-Chara's aura is that of a steadfast Fallen Angel. the two stared at each other intently before dashing forward at highspeed with their auras following suit until they met in the middle for a final yet powerful clash which resulted in an explosion.
The smoke resulting from the explosion soon dissipated to reveal G-Chara still standing with her sword in hand. On the other hand, MT!Chara was sprawled out on the ground with a broken blade of her knife laying next to her while the handle was in her hand.
Music End
MT!Chara laid on the ground in disbelief "How…?" she flashed back to the clash; she saw herself swinging down her knife in a vertical slash while G-Chara swung her sword upwards in an uppercut. The moment the blades collided; G-Chara's sword sliced through her knife cleanly like a knife through butter "How did you do it?"
"It was a technique I saw Naruto do once sometime ago, it was meant to break an opponent's blade. He further improved it by channeling Determination on the sword's edge to make it sharper than when you channel it throughout the whole blade," G-Chara explained.
MT!Chara groaned in pain and frustration "Naruto, it's always Naruto. Just what is special about that guy?"
G-Chara looked at her counterpart with a small frown "Tell me, just what is your reason for wanting to commit genocide and I want the REAL reason why you're going through all this trouble to begin with, not that old excuse of wanting to destroy humanity,"
MT!Chara looked away with a scoff "…it's none of your business, you're not from around here,"
"Considering that I beat you just now, you have no right to veto,"
MT!Chara glared at G-Chara for a while in defiance before sighing and looking away from her to stare at the broken blade lying next to her before speaking in a low tone
"In the past, I hated humanity and even cursed myself for being a member of such a species. That was until I met Asriel and his family of monsters, they happily made me a member of their family and the monsters treated me like I was one of them which lessened my hatred. Wanting to repay them for everything they had done for me, I came up with the plan to destroy the barrier by fusing with Asriel to go through the barrier to collect the number of Human SOULs needed to destroy it…," MT!Chara frowned at her next words "…but then Asriel had to go and mess up everything by refusing to kill the humans which got us both killed instead. It not only reignited my hatred for humans but also towards Asriel, I ate those buttercups for nothing because he had to betray me at that critical point!"
"That was why you wished for the extermination of both humans and monsters?" G-Chara inquired.
"I only hated the humans and Asriel; monsters were just a stepping stone to acquire the LV that I lacked for my end goal. But then Frisk and Naruto came with me living in her body but I couldn't influence her since she was so fixated on that guy, leaving me with no other choice but to sit and watch. I observed their entire journey through the Underground and actually succeeded where I failed; breaking the barrier and even managing to bring Asriel back to life by helping to create a Rainbow SOUL which they called Miracle. By all rights, I should be happy and yet…,"
"…yet?"
"What about me? Where is my happy ending, huh? I sacrificed everything for them and this is how I live the rest of my life? As a ghost? How is this fair?!" MT!Chara glared at G-Chara with tears brimming in her eyes "I began to hate how everyone gets to have a happy ending and even Asriel of all people gets to enjoy a second chance in life while I don't, it's not fair! I hated Asriel, I hated Humanity, and I began to hate Naruto as well! And as if that wasn't bad enough; I was replaced by you who was a mass murderer from another timeline with everyone giving you the benefit of the doubt but staying on their toes. All this because of one person,"
G-Chara frowned at who she was insinuating "You're talking about Naruto, aren't you?"
MT!Chara glared in response "He's the center of everything and possesses the power of RESET since he's more determined than Frisk. I figured that the best way to get rid of him and gain the power of RESET would be to be more determined than him then go back to the beginning and kill him then and there. Doing so would leave me in complete control and I can freely commit genocide without any unnecessary interruptions. However, he would surely come back so I would need a lot of LVs which I could gain by killing his friends then I'll go after Asriel to remind that he doesn't deserve a second chance and remind him of the traitorous crybaby that he is. There, those are my true reasons,"
G-Chara looked at her counterpart then sighed "Look, I myself thought back to the plan itself and like you felt that it was foolproof since we were indifferent to the humans. However, we failed to consider how Asriel and the Dreemurr family would feel about it. They're the kindest people we have ever met and would no doubt oppose it, remember how Asriel didn't want to continue with the plan halfway but still did so because of us. Another factor is that the monsters wanted to build peaceful bonds with the humans and wouldn't want to do so on a bloody foundation, a small part knew this which was why we didn't tell them and only confided in Asriel,"
"…," MT!Chara said nothing, neither agreeing nor disagreeing with the statement.
"I understand where you're coming from, I really do since I was in the same boat like you; believing that Asriel betrayed me when I needed him the most and wanted to use the power of RESET to be the master of my timeline and that I was above all consequences like a god. Boy, was I wrong the moment I met Naruto and he stopped me…forcefully,"
"Of course he did…,"
"Listen, I don't want you to go through the same thing I did. Continuing on this route and letting the HATE grow to the point that it becomes powerful enough to take control of you which is ironic since we tried/did take control of Frisk. Look, what I'm trying to tell you is that it's not worth it. I agree that it's not fair that you sacrificed everything for the plan only for it to go badly, but it's also not fair that you take away that freedom that Naruto and Frisk had struggled and bled to gain for monsterkind to be able to live in the surface with the humans and even take away Asriel's second chance," G-Chara explained.
However, MT!Chara refuses to see reason "He doesn't deserve to have that chance, he's a murderer just like you and I! I've seen what he had done when he was Flowey; he committed terrible acts, manipulation and killings because he could then reset the timeline and thinks he's above consequences? He must be punished!"
G-Chara obviously didn't like how MT!Chara was speaking so badly about Asriel, well aware of the suffering he had to go through as a flower with no emotion "Azzy has suffered enough as is, he has to live with the guilt of his past actions as Flowey and seeking to atone for them just like his father. There's no need to remind him of such a painful past and you have right no right to judge him,"
MT!Chara scowled "Like you're one to talk, you have no right to judge me and involve yourself with him. What even gives you the right when you're just as bad if not worse than Asriel when he was Flowey? You're just an even worse murderer who committed genocide without a care in the world. Maybe YOU don't deserve a second chance either or even have the right to be in this timeline since you can't even make for the damage you caused in your old one, and to think you have the gall to take my place just so you can run from the sins you had committed. You disgust me!"
G-Chara didn't say anything to oppose that or rather she couldn't as MT!Chara spoke the truth; she really has no right to judge as she used to be proud of the things she had done but not anymore after she had been enlightened. How could she be proud of the lives of those who did her no wrong that she ruined like how she made Sans watched as she decapitated Papyrus in front of him without any form of remorse? Made the monsters go extinct and reseted the timeline twice just so she could it again and almost went for the third time had Naruto not stopped her.
In spite of what she had done… "You're correct that I have no right to judge others when I had done even worse things and I don't belong to this timeline. My actions can't be excused but I'm trying to atone for them, even now it feels like I haven't even begun to atone for my sins which will never stop haunting me and I will have to live with that fact that I'm a murderer. Besides I wouldn't be able to return to my timeline even if I wanted to, plus it'd be better that I don't. I've already caused too much pain and misery because of my blind enmity and HATE, I'm just giving them the life they deserve and leaving them alone, I owe them that much. Plus I've come to like this timeline as I can at least be with this Asriel and go back to being the siblings we were before all this happened,"
MT!Chara wasn't expecting her to give such a response "How…how can you still care about Asriel after what he did?"
"Simple, Azzy is my crybaby brother. Even though he ruined the plan…a small part of me didn't really hate Azzy but I let my anger blind me. He was the one who found us, gave us shelter, even his family took us in and treated us as one of their own. I couldn't truly hate him for something that went against his kind nature. As a matter of fact, the most guilt I felt is that this family were so kind and yet our actions broke them apart; Asriel got killed then turned into the emotionless Flowey, Asgore in his grief proclaimed war against humanity just to give monsterkind hope, Toriel left everyone in disgust, and we became the grim reaper instead of their savior. This isn't how we wanted to repay everyone for what they did for us…not at all,"
MT!Chara paused at that; she remembered how at that time she called for help and Asriel responded to that, taking her to his home for his family to care for her in spite of her species. She remembered all of the good times with them and how she felt her hatred turn to joy . she remembered their shared dream of wanting to see the world together and help everyone get along. She also recalled the discomfort on Asriel's face when she told him of her plan but chose to cooperate since she is his sibling, she began to realize that she had been pushing him too much by trying to make him kill the humans which went against his nature and desire to make peace with them. She let her ego blind her into believing that Asriel betrayed her when she was forcing him to do something he didn't like.
"Have I always been such a demon? Maybe it was right that everyone is so wary of me," thought MT!Chara with self-loathing.
G-Chara saw the expression on her counterpart and knew what she was thinking "Azzy doesn't hate you but rather feels responsible as he didn't try to stop you when you came up with this plan, he felt that none of these things would have happened had he done so. Even after everything we did, he still wanted us to be his siblings again. So tell me, do you still want to continue on this path?"
"…no, I don't want to anymore. I even feel sick now that I think of it, I've caused enough problems. It's best that I just go away and never come back,"
"Wait, hold on!" G-Chara protested "You don't need to leave, you can still remain and be with everyone. You have every right to be here,"
MT!Chara shook her head in disagreement "It won't work, having two of us will be problematic as the moment I show myself; they'll be hostile towards me for my past actions and let's not forget that I was the one who caused Frisk's nightmares. I seriously doubt I can be easily forgiven for that,"
"But still…," G-Chara didn't want her to just fade away, there has to be something that can allow her to be with everyone… "Wait, how about we merge?"
MT!Chara was confused by the suggestion "What do you mean by merging?"
"If we fuse our SOULs together, we'll become one as a new Chara, we can work together to atone for our sins and still be with everyone. Don't you want that?"
MT!Chara nodded slowly "I…I do, I need to make amends too. And to think I wanted to ruin everything because I felt neglected, there's also something I want to tell Azzy,"
"I'm sure the new us will do that," G-Chara held out a hand with her SOUL emerging from her chest "Are you ready?"
MT!Chara hesitated for a moment but steeled herself as she stretched a hand towards her counterpart's with her SOUL emerging as well "Yes, I am,"
The two closed their eyes in concentration as they pressed their hands together then their SOULs gradually fused which released a bright flash of light. Inside the light, the two SOULs could be seen completely fusing into one and began pulsing like a heart beating rhythmically as a black human-shaped silhouette appeared as the light finally died down to reveal a single Chara standing there with her eyes closed and now wearing a flower crown made of buttercups on her head.
Chara then opened her eyes and looked down at her hands "Looks like the merging was a success, guess I have twice as much to atone for my sins," she sighed sadly, looking around the destruction in the basement and turned towards the damaged door which was the only thing protecting Frisk from her "I really messed up this time, I really hope they can forgive me for this. it's best that I leave before I make things worse," She then left the dreamscape to return to Naruto and explain everything to him.
Naruto woke up the next morning, stretching his arms with a loud yawn and looked to see that Asriel and Monster Kid were still fast asleep much to his amusement when he noticed Chara floating closeby and greeted her.
"Good morning, Chara. What's with the flower crown?" then Naruto sensed something which made him frown a bit "And why do you feel different from before?"
Chara looked nervous as she spoke "Um, Naruto. Can we talk somewhere private? There's something you need to know,"
"Okay," Naruto got up and left the tent with Chara to talk somewhere private for him and the ghost girl "So, what is it you want to tell me which has to do with why you feel so different?"
"Well it went like this…," Chara proceeded to explain to him what had happened last night when G-Chara went into Frisk's mindscape and encountered the other Chara of his timeline, their fight against each other, and their merging once they had come to terms afterwards.
"So, that was why Frisk had been having those nightmares…," said Naruto with a small frown.
"For what it's worth, the other half of me is really sorry for what she did," said Chara with her head bowed in remorse.
"*Sigh* This is going to be another bitter pill to swallow for the others. I'll talk to mom and see about contacting everyone to come over for us to tell them what happened,"
"I'm really looking forward to this, Naruto,"
"Same here, Chara,"
They went back to the tents and saw that they were all awake and greeting each other, Naruto quickly took note of Frisk appearing more energetic and cheerful, making Chara feel more guilty because of her other half having been responsible. The others also noticed with Asriel being vocal about it.
"Hey Frisk, you're looking better now. Even the bags under your eyes are gone!" said Asriel excitedly.
Red took a closer look "He's right, your complexion has improved greatly. Does that mean the nightmares aren't bothering you anymore?"
Frisk hummed thoughtfully "I think you're right, the nightmares didn't bother me last night but I had a strange dream; it was like the nightmares were chasing me again but then something appeared and fended off the dream. Since then, I was able to sleep peacefully,"
"That's a weird dream alright, but I guess it means that you'll be going back to your old self now," said MK with optimism.
"I hope you're right, those nightmares weren't pleasant,"
Chara floated up to them "Good morning, everyone,"
"Good morning, Chara!" Asriel greeted in response then he noticed the flower crown "Hey, you're wearing a flower crown. It reminds me of when we used to make some for everyone,"
"Y-Yeah…," the ghost girl flinched at the memory, her guilty conscience really getting to her.
Noting her current emotional state, Naruto spoke up "Anyways, I'll be calling everyone over after breakfast for a meeting,"
"Why's that?" asked Frisk confusedly.
"It has to do with your recovery and something else, we'll tell you everything when everyone's gathered,"
"Okay,"
An hour later after breakfast, Naruto had called everyone comprising of the Dreemurr family, Sans, Papyrus, Undyne, Alphys, and his mom whilst having MK and Red go home for the meantime. He and Chara went on to tell them what had happened last night, the latter speaking of her findings and discovery of the cause of Frisk's nightmares being the Chara of their timeline. Needless to say, everyone were shocked with some in disbelief being Toriel, Sans and Undyne. She went on to explain MT!Chara's reason for why she was tormenting Frisk until G-Chara put a stop to it.
"I-Is our Chara still inside of Frisk?" asked Toriel uncertainly.
Chara shook her head sadly in response "She's not in Frisk anymore, she merged with the Chara from the Genocide Timeline into one to become a new being that is me. The flower crown of buttercups on my head represents their shared desire to seek redemption for their sins," this shocked then saddened some of them.
"I-I-I've never heard of such a phenomenon amongst humans," said Alphys, trying to come to terms with this new information.
"I'm not as brainy as anyone here, but this is hard to take in," said Undyne.
"Tell me about it, I don't even have any puns for this," said Sans.
"For once, I'm not irritated about that," Papyrus added.
"Oh Chara…," Asriel was saddened to hear what happened and felt guilty. Asgore and Toriel felt the same way, especially when they learnt of MT!Chara's reason of her anger.
"Our Chara may not be with us anymore and merged with the other Chara to create you, even so…," Toriel looked at Chara who couldn't bring herself to look in her eyes "A part of her still within you which means that you're her no matter what,"
Chara looked up to see Toriel and Asgore smiling at her with the same kindness as the day they first met her, this made her smile back at them "Thank you, I promise to make it up to everyone for what I did,"
Frisk walked up to Chara and bowed her head "Thank you for helping me, Chara,"
"I don't deserve your thanks, the half of me was the cause of your nightmares to begin with. It is rather me that should apologize to you for putting you through all that," Chara explained.
"It's okay, I'm just glad everything turned out okay in the end,"
"Just keep in mind that we'll be keeping an eye on you," said Undyne sternly, being ever vigilant, much to the disagreement of the Dreemurr family.
Chara nodded in affirmation "I wouldn't have it any other way," then she turned to speak to Asriel "I have a message for you Azzy, it's from your Chara,"
"R-Really?" asked Asriel, he felt uneasy considering the last interaction he had with Chara before their deaths "What is it?"
Chara took in a deep breath and began to speak;
"I'm sorry Asriel, for being a terrible friend and sister sibling. I should have never pushed you into making you kill the humans against your will after everything you and the monsters had done for me, I'm undeserving of your friendship and kindness. The least I can do to make up for the past actions I've caused is to merge myself with the other Chara to become one as a whole new and different being that would benefits us to seek redemption. My only regret is that I should have never come up with that plan which not only killed us but also ruined the lives of everyone else in the process. All I wanted to do was help the monsters be free from the Underground, but I let my blind hatred towards humanity blind me to going about things wrongly. I don't expect you to forgive me and if you don't, I'll understand. Just know that while I'm no longer here as I'm a part of this Chara now, I'll always love you as my crybaby brother and Best Friend. I'm also sorry for tormenting Frisk and hopes she forgives me for my actions,"
Teardrops could be heard plopping on the carpet as Asriel stood there with tears flowing down his cheeks as he listened to Chara's last message to him. Toriel and Asgore were also crying, hearing their surrogate daughter's message as well. Even Undyne and the others were saddened about it.
"Chara…," Asriel sniffled, he wanted to hug Chara but couldn't since she's a ghost "I'm sorry too. if I wasn't such a crybaby, I would have stopped you before you even began the plan. I'm also at fault,"
"Maybe, we should take some time to come to terms with this news if that's okay with you," Kushina suggested to everyone.
"I think you're right, we'll do just that,"
Naruto and Chara saw everyone off from the front door, the latter then spoke "I really hurt them, didn't I?"
"I won't sugarcoat things and say you did, but that's exactly why you're trying to redeem yourself because you know you did something wrong and regret it. It will be a long road but I know you can do it,"
Chara looked at Naruto with gratefulness at how he was so understanding "Thank you, Naruto,"
"No problem!" said Naruto with a foxy grin and Kushina looked at the two with a gentle smile, seeing how her son has changed so much.
Several days later after things had calmed down a bit, Naruto was walking down the road through the city with Chara floating next to him.
"So where is it that we're going?" asked Chara curiously.
"To the antique shop, I want to check out the tea sets there since Ms. Muffet will be needing those for her tea shop in the future. Considering that I've got nothing else to do for now, I figured I could go and take a look,"
"But I thought you agreed to go there with her,"
"True, but I figured that I'd look first and since I've got free time right now, it was a great chance to do so," Naruto explained.
They eventually arrived at the shop which was called 'Relics of Time', then went inside to find many items ranging from pottery to furniture with unique designs on display before them. An elderly man stood up from behind the counter to address his new customer since Nikan had to wait outside and he couldn't see Chara.
"Hello, young one and welcome to my shop," said the shopkeeper.
"It's me old man, Naruto Uzumaki. I came here sometime ago with my mum, you know her by Kushina Uzumaki," Naruto pointed out.
The shopkeeper pushed his eyeglasses up in thought then his eyes suddenly widened upon realization "Oh it's you, it has been quite a while since I last saw you and it looks like you've grown with the time past. Makes me really feel my age,"
"I came here to see if there's anything new in your shop, a friend of mine wants to start up a teashop and I wanted to get some good ones here," Naruto explained.
"Why of course, you came to the right place. I have a lot of genuine tea sets just waiting to fulfill their intended purpose of serving tea. Just go down to the end and take a right, you'll find them there," the shopkeeper instructed amiably.
"Thanks a lot, old man,"
Following the directions given to them, Naruto and Chara made their way to the section where the tea sets were on display and saw many made of particular materials such as stainless steel, porcelain, ceramic, fine bone China and stoneware. There are also the styles by which they were made from countries like English vintage, antique Japanese, Korean and Chinese.
"There are so many types of tea sets," said Chara in surprise.
Naruto smiled at her reaction "That's the same reaction I had when mom brought me here, seems like there are a lot more than when I came here last time," he went on to examine each of the tea sets, he may not have that kind of knowledge about antiques but he can tell they're of high quality.
"So, will you buy one of the tea sets?" asked Chara curiously.
Naruto hummed in thought before giving a reply "Sure, plus it could also act as a sample/present for Ms. Muffet too. And I think I found a good one…," he went over to a shelf where there's a fine bone china tea set with flower prints of Sakura leaves on them.
"Now I'll just take it to the old man and…huh?" Naruto was about to pick up the tea set when something caught his eye, he looked to see something glinting further down from where he was standing and went to check out of curiosity.
He reached a table which has a velvet cover and on it is a jewel box which was open to display a comma shaped bead with a small perforation at the rounder end made out of green jade which shone before him.
"What's that, Naruto?" asked Chara.
"It's called a magatama which originates from Japanese culture, it's said to symbolize good fortune for whoever bears it along with other meanings like protecting one's health, eliminating calamities that may harm one's body and even has strong power to repel evil spirits," Naruto explained.
"Really?"
Naruto was looking at the magatama when it suddenly glowed brightly and he was assailed by a vision of white. He saw a blurry image of a man with pale skin wearing white robes of a monk and holding a staff. The unknown man turned towards him and his mouth moved but he couldn't hear what he was saying before the vision ended. Naruto was snapped back to reality by Chara calling out to him.
"Naruto!" Chara called out worriedly.
"What happened?" asked Naruto confusedly.
"I should be the one asking, you were the one simply standing there and wasn't responding to me,"
"I don't know, I was just looking at it when I suddenly had a weird vision," Naruto explained confusedly.
"You're saying that there might be something special about the magatama?" asked Chara.
"That's what I'm thinking right now,"
"Maybe you should take it to the shopkeeper, he might know something about it,"
"Good idea," Naruto took the magatama and the tea set to the counter where the shopkeeper was waiting for him.
"So, you're back and with interesting choices in hand," the shopkeeper commented.
"Yeah, I'd like to buy this tea set and I also wanted to ask about the origins of the magatama," Naruto held out the item for him to see.
The shopkeeper adjusted his eyeglasses "Ah yes, that one. It has been here the longest out of all of my antiques as in it was here when I first opened this shop. From what I know of the magatama, it had been uncovered from the ruins of an unknown temple which was a fair distance away from Mount Fuji. The inscriptions found on the temple walls and ancient scrolls were mostly intelligible but what we could salvage from fragments is that the temple once belonged to a monk who believes in attaining peaceful bonds by connecting their hearts and spirits together in order to achieve absolute understanding of each other,"
"Could the monk be that guy whom I saw in that vision? If so, then why was I the only one who received it? I get the feeling that I'm about to be involved into something again," thought Naruto.
"Anyways, you intend on purchasing these two?" asked the shopkeeper curiously.
"Yeah I do, is it in cash or money transfer?"
"I'm accepting either of them, been doing so for the latter option given how today's economy had developed preferences to electronic transactions unlike back in the old days when we simply took cold hard cash,"
Naruto took out his phone and prepared to make the transaction from his bank account since he has quite the nest egg in it. After safely packaging the two purchased items, Naruto left the shop and decided to take a taxi home since he would show Ms. Muffet the tea set some other time.
Upon arriving at home, Naruto placed the tea set at a safe place and made himself some lunch which was roast beef sandwiches and a glass of milk. After eating, he went to relax on the sofa to watch some tv with Chara floating above him and Nikan sitting next to him with the wolf pup placing his head on the blonde's lap. They were watching a tv show when Naruto's phone started to ring loudly, he looked at the caller ID to see that it was Mettaton that's calling him and answered it.
"Hey Mettaton, it's be a while. How's life in Hollywood?" said Naruto.
{Oh hello, Naruto-darling! It's been so long since I heard your sweet voice!} said Mettaton happily.
"I see, so how's life in Hollywood?"
{Quite extravagant here in Hollywood, I've been partaking in so many shows and movies in either of my forms and my fans can't seem to get enough of me. And I have you and Alphys to thank for helping me achieve my dream of being a superstar}
Naruto smiled in response "You're quite welcome, you deserve it," he had been seeing Mettaton star in several movies, tv shows and even commercials which helped him establish a new MTT Resort here in the city.
"I can tell he's really glowing it up over there," Chara commented with her arms crossed as she listened to the conversation.
{Anyways, I have another reason to call you besides saying hello}
"What is it?" asked Naruto, wondering what Mettaton would need from him.
{You see, one of the directors has expressed interest in the events that had occurred back in the Underground especially the ones with our interactions and wishes to do a reenactment of some of them}
"You mean the director wants to make a show based on what we did at the CORE?" asked Naruto curiously.
{That's correct, darling. Of course, the idea was quite intriguing but the thought of having other actors play your role left a bad taste in my mouth. So I thought to have you and the others play those roles instead} said Mettaton cheerfully.
It goes without saying that Naruto along with Chara were surprised while Nikan looked at them in confusion "You want Frisk, Nikan and I to star in a show with you?"
{Why of course, what better way than to have the originals play those roles and maybe with little twists here. But of course, this can only happen if you're all on board with it}
Naruto hummed in thought over this "I'll need to talk it over with Frisk and the others first before making any final decisions,"
{Take your time, darling. No need to rush. When you have your answer, be sure to give me a call}
"Alright Mettaton, talk to you later,"
{Have a glamorous day!} said Mettaton before ending the call.
"Entering showbiz before graduating from school, who would have thought?" Chara commented.
"Depends on whether the others are up for it or not, the aftermath could be either good or bad. So, I'll need to talk to them about it together," Naruto pointed out to the ghost girl who shrugged her shoulders in response.
Later that night, Naruto told his mother about Mettaton's offer when they were having dinner and she was surprised to hear of it. Kushina was a bit on the fence about it but was willing to consider if it doesn't get in the way of his schooling and thought to speak to Toriel about it since she would be able to help concerning it.
Afterwards, Naruto went upstairs to take a bath then go to sleep as he went into his bedroom…but there was someone already there, someone very familiar to him but not the others.
"Player, what are you doing here?" asked Naruto confusedly.
The aforementioned person was currently sitting on Naruto's bed with her leg placed across the other as she smiled at him "Hello Naruto, long time no see. Looks like you've been busy since we last spoke,"
"You can say that, is there something the matter?"
"Oh yes, I came here to talk about something that had caught my interest,"
"About what?"
"About her, of course…," Player looked straight at Chara who floated behind Naruto in discomfort, knowing who she is and what she's capable of "It's something I can't exactly ignore,"
This is Hussbek online with the latest chapter, the two Charas confronted each other with one inquiring the other why she was tormenting Frisk with nightmares. Turns out the other Chara sought to control Frisk in order to kill Naruto and obtain the power of RESET in order to set everything back to the beginning just so she could commence her plans for genocide. Sure enough, a fight broke out between the two with G-Chara managing to defeat her counterpart and convince her to seek redemption for her sins. The two decided to fused together to form a single entity who would be their first to seeking forgiveness from their loved ones. The new Chara went to explain everything to Naruto and the others who were surprised to receive this information.
Sometime later, Naruto went to the antique shop to browse for the tea sets available and even bought one as a sample and gift for Ms. Muffet. While there, Naruto came across a mysterious magatama which seems to react strongly to him which caused him to purchase the relic in order to uncover any secrets hidden within it.
Answering a call from Mettaton, Naruto learns from the flamboyant robot that one of the directors wishes to reenact one of the scenes which had occurred during his time in the Underground and wanted him to play the original roles along with Frisk and a few others to make things more interesting. Naruto told Mettaton that he would have to consult with the others before making the final decision. That night, Naruto went into his room to find Underplayer there waiting for him. Apparently, she has something to do with the new Chara with the question being what exactly?
As you guys have noticed, I took a page from DBZ and had the two Charas fuse together into one permanently to avoid any kind of confusion. I also tweaked a few things here and there which will come into play in the future, especially the magatama so be sure to read and review like always.
This is Hussbek from Ghana.
Signing out and staying alive.