Chapter Twenty 9
Inside:
Frisk kicked the heck out of a blob as it splattered against the pulsating walls of the hall that seemed to pulse much more the further they traveled in this particular area.
"Nice one," Curtain complimented, as Frisk nodded with a thumbs up.
They continued along as they reached a doorway of obsidian and marble knobs with various designs embedded into it. The two looked towards one another and nodded before pushing open the double doors from each side simultaneously. They walked in and at first couldn't see much since it was very dark. As the doors closed, they were able to see better oddly enough since the room seemed to increase in lighting. Their eyes slowly widened upon realiziing what stood before them, as the doors locked loud enough for them to hear.
"Ah, you two made it, and in good timing too. Not bad," The figure who's back was towards them said, as they recognized them to be Chara.
"I'm sure you aren't that happy to see us. And how… are you even here? Are you a projection or something?" Curtain asked, as the girls cautiously stepped forward.
"Heh. On the contrary, I'm actually happy that you two made it here. Being part of this beast has actually limited how far I can travel at the moment, so it's nice to see that you came to me instead," Chara said and then turned towards them.
Their eyes were completely darkened besides their red orbs that blazed with a gleam only found in the rariest of jewels within the dark overflowing pools of their eye sockets that branched out over their face. Curtain grit her teeth with a low growl, as Frisk eyes hardened in a steely gaze towards their enemy, and Chara couldn't help but widen their smirk.
"Ah… look at those faces. The annoyance, the disgust, the anger… Could all those emotions really be towards me? Heh Heh Heh Heh. In a way, it feels so... rewarding," Chara said as they took a step forward.
Curtain and Frisk instinctively held up their weapons towards Chara.
"Sicko," Curtain spat.
"How is us disliking you so much rewarding?" Frisk asked with a hint of confusion.
"It's LOVE, obviously," Chara suddenly appeared in front of Frisk, as her eyes widened more to her reply then speed.
Frisk was able to move her arm to at least block a swift punch from Chara that sent her across the room, though hurting her arm a little in the process from the surprise and short range.
"Such a fast reaction… you've improved exponentially, Frisk!" Chara praised with an excitement that only made Frisk's eyes narrow in contemplation of what hidden agenda they could have had.
An attack coming from the side made Chara quickly sidestep away but just barely as they felt the skin of their cheek slice with the dagger Curtain swung with precision and instinct at them. Trickles of blood fell from the small wound, as Chara's bloody red orbs were fixed on Curtain, who's radiant purple orbs glared with the most dangerous of intent towards them.
"Ahh, Curtain… honestly, you make me feel in such danger, even if I have the power to defend myself from you. Such a powerful and dangerous vitality that has not only rivaled Corruption, but can easily protect those precious to you… true love. Though it's not my LOVE, but it's sort of like... two sides of the same coin," Chara said as they brought forth a large knife that had the pulsating veins on it.
"Shut up already. What is the point of looking into the ocean when you're afraid of water?!" Curtain said, as her blade glowed.
"… Point taken. But I can't help it. When opponents can rival me it's just so… fascinating," Chara replied.
"Well screw you! You caused all this stupid trouble and junk and now you want to talk because we are strong enough to grab your attention?! I don't care about what you want or your interest! I care about saving my family! So you can shut up and jump off a cliff or something! Just get out of our lives already!" Curtain spat as she used her dagger like a gun and shot a projectile of white energy in the shape of a fan towards Chara, who dodged just in time.
"Heh. Obviously there are some things you just can't reset… and your disdain towards a creature like me is one of them," Chara said, and they ran towards her as their blade gained a glow of red for their next attack.
Frisk was able to jump in front of Curtain and block the attack with her blade that glowed in pink and yellow, as Chara's eyes widened at the sudden exchange. In that moment, her eyes quickly flickered behind when she realized that Curtain had skid around and was ready to stab them in the back. Chara was only able to turn and grab the blade with their bare hand which made it bleed more profusely then the slice on their cheek. Between Frisk's blade pushing forth from the block in front, and Curtain's blade slicing in her hand from the back, Chara was sandwiched between both attacks and could feel a slight quiver in their calm demeanor, which only excited them more. Their smile blazed as the wound on the cheek only served to make them look more insane, as Curtain and Frisk grew more tense and cautious.
"How unfulfilling my life truly was! No rival or game that could rule over my mind and soul to invest my full heart into something! And yet here I have two of them and in my favorite form of combat! No wonder Corruption let you come here! It's so perfectly clear now! Come Curtain! Frisk! Let's fight on and on! FOREVER!" Chara enthusiastically yelled, as they sent a surge of their power from their body outward and knocked Curtain and Frisk away.
Both girls landed on their feet as they prepared themselves to fight, while Chara looked between the two of them as their bleeding hand slowly began stitching itself back together.
'Darn it. We have to beat them faster then they can regenerate it… when the heck did they learn to do this?!' Curtain thought.
'I don't want to fight forever, Curtain! And just because they can regenerate doesn't mean we can!' Frisk thought.
'I agree! We need to hurry and beat them... maybe even decapitate,' Curtain thought.
'That would be disturbing, especially since I don't think they would die from that at this poi-' Frisk stopped her thoughts.
'…'
'…'
'You can hear me?!' The two thought as they realized they could hear the other's thoughts.
"Huh? Something troubling both of you?" Chara asked, noticing both of them suddenly appearing shocked.
"I don't think you'd understand since you don't have a friend who's mind you can suddenly hear…" Frisk replied.
"Hmph… consider that in your current states, your established connection makes certain abilities now possible. The extent of those abilities depends on you two of course," Chara clarified, as the two's eyes widened.
"Now, if you two don't mind, I'd like you to focus more on ME and FIGHT!" Chara said as they began to glow darkly, while Curtain and Frisk readied themselves with much more Determination.
Outside:
A fang was knocked out of the mouth of a dragon head from a blaster that the head caught and spat it towards the brother of the one who shot them. The brother had no time to dodge since he was blocking a different attack, but before it could strike him, his sweetheart dived into the attack as her hand was impaled by the tooth though she caught the whole fang in her arms. Annoyed by the wound, she shattered the sharp bone in pieces within her arms, startling the dragon whom the tooth belonged to. The brother grew very concerned for his love, though she quickly tied her hand in a wrap to keep the wound covered.
However, the one who fired the blaster noticed the main dragon head smirk towards the wounded one, and he realized by examining that she was poisoned, as well as three others in their group.
"Awww, what's the matter, Sans? Need a break?" Corruption asked, as he glared towards her.
"… underhanded tactics aren't something to be proud of, ya know," Troth replied.
"But it bothered you greatly, didn't it? That's good enough for me," Corruption said with a grin.
"i can't wait for the end of this story, so that i can see you burn… in double hell," Sans said.
"Hahahaha! Double hell?! Hahahaha!" The Genocide Corrupted head laughed.
"Quite on the contrary, you disgusting slug of skeletrash! You will BURN!" The Ruling Corrupted head hissed as she licked her gum where her fang was missing.
"What's the matter, Corruption? Too weak and fragile to fight fairly? Or… do you admit we are better then you?" Blaze asked, as the Corruptions glared in offense.
"YEAH! Why don't you stop these petty antics and really fight!" Papyrus yelled out as his Marisol held his arm that was earlier scratched by a fang.
"But games are fun. Especially when playing with other people's lives. If YOU had the power over others and the consequences of your actions could be reversed… wouldn't you go all out too? Just to see what would happen? Wouldn't you too be curious?" The Genocide head asked.
"Weren't you curious of humans, Papyrus? Even though you've heard of how dangerous they could be, and you potentially put the underground in danger for not doing your job correctly? And Sans wouldn't you have killed the child if not for Toriel's promise? Though let's ignore the fact that you would crush your brother's hopes of ever meeting one, but would listen to someone you've never seen… not even aware if she could have been human or not," The Crowned head said.
"... i mean when you put it like that, then we kind of suck at our jobs then... like you," Sans said with a shrug as the Crowned head narrowed their eyes at him.
"... Now that's just being unfair! And if Sans had to well... kill the human because they were dangerous then I'm sure if I didn't meet them it would be because he was doing his job and keeping a promise! And even if I didn't capture them well enough, that doesn't mean I failed because I still fulfilled my duty of sentry by spotting them! So take that to your logic with my technicalities!" Papyrus refuted, and the Crowned Corruption hissed.
"The whole ordeal of the Underground was possibly by their own misinterpretation of which human they should have watched in the first place and their own reactions by not basing it on emotions... but all well. Everyone made their choices, and though some of those decisions left scars, those scars can be reminders to make better decisions, so long as guilt doesn't eat you up on the inside to hide from you from the wounds," The Main head said, as the two heads looked towards her slowly.
"interesting way to put it. is that you… or the judge talking?" Sans asked with a smirk.
The three heads' eyes darkened as the two growled, while the main one glared.
"Sounds like you should at least let me make a cure, to be fair," Marisol said, as the main head looked at her.
"… Do as you wish then. As long as the other entertainments keep us preoccupied… though you'd better hurry considering our attention span may run short," Corruption taunted, as Marisol glared at her.
"Mari, you can make a cure?" Papyrus asked her.
"Yes, I just need time and considering your wound and how this poison seems to work, I have an idea of what it can be. I just need some plants to work with," Marisol said as she turned towards Asriel, who looked at her and nodded.
"Go ahead and try! You might all die before then!" The Genocide head threatened.
"Oh? So you're serious now… then let's get serious," Blaze said, as the aura around her body increased.
"until the poison is healed, let's keep it a bit fair, huh?" Troth asked the crowned head.
"And for poisoning me!" Sol added with a shake of her fist that was damaged.
"Hahahahah! Very well!" The Crowned head agreed.
Marisol and Asriel kept their distance far enough to not get hit and to quickly craft cures for the poison while, Sol and Troth were battling the Crown, Blaze and Veil were battling the Genocidal, and Sans and Papyrus continued battling the Main Corruption.
Inside:
Chara was shoved back as they caught their barrings by flipping once and crouching on the floor with one hand sliding on the ground. They looked up at the two, with a few gashes on their face and a shredded hand that wasn't the same one used on the ground as it tried to stitch itself back together.
Curtain and Frisk were panting lightly as to hide how tired they were, especially after exchanging multiple attacks with Chara that eventually gave Frisk an opening to land a strong kick to send Chara sliding back. Frisk had a clawed scratch on her cheek, a stab wound on her leg and a slice on her shoulder from a thrown knife. Meanwhile, Curtain had a slash on her shin, a bruise on her cheek from taking a punch to land a direct blow to Chara's gut, and a few small scratches on her arms.
A stare down later and Chara snickered before speaking, "Wow. I'm pretty impressed. Even if there's two of you, to actually be rivals with me while I'm this powerful... how?"
Frisk sighed as she reaffirmed her stance and said, "Chara, your power is formidable, but power isn't just strength, which is why you don't understand how we can rival you. Your power is only based on one thing, but that limited you in other areas, which is why you can't beat us. We have power in other areas, while you are limited to one."
"... Limited, huh?" Chara wondered as they lowered their weapon slightly.
"Yes, I didn't limit myself to one way of solving things, and that's how I even made it this far. I learned a strength better then LOVE… And even if you don't agree, I wouldn't be here if it wasn't true," Frisk added.
"Hmph. Don't think a little speech will swa-" Chara was kicked on their cheek by Curtain which made their wound bleed out more.
"I'm sure you understand violence better, right?" Curtain said, as she held two daggers in each hand.
Chara looked towards her with an unreadable expression, as they wiped the side of their mouth and spit black blood on the floor.
"Let us cross swords again. I wish to finalize my understanding of you two," Chara said, as they readied themselves with a sly smile.
'I'll go for the throat to shut them up,' Curtain thought.
'… That sounds really dark, Curtain,' Frisk thought.
'… Dang you're right. It's just... they're so frustrating," -Curtain.
'Yeah, but we should have expected that… Still, I don't like how Chara said 'finalize.' I don't trust that,' -Frisk.
'This must be the last round then… We need to work as simultaneously as possible for our plan. Are you up for it now?' -Curtain.
'… I don't feel completely ready, and messing up would be really bad,' -Frisk.
'Alright. Then you give the signal when your resolve is absolute. I'll be right behind ya,' -Curtain.
'Okay! I'll definitely give it before this round ends,' -Frisk.
Curtain and Frisk resumed their battle with Chara, as the grinning demon child was quite pleased and much more analytical during the next round of attacks.
Almost there.