She did not notice when she got up. She did not understand what she was doing anymore. Everything was a haze. A blur. Chara forced her into movements she did not care for. She pulled them both to their feet and forced them to stand even when Rain strained to remain behind.

“There is nothing left you can do for him now.”

“I should stay. I should stay.” She murmured, pulling against an unseen force that kept her from falling back down. “They deserve to know.”

“There is nothing you can do to fix this. Here. Take these. We will need them.” Her hands reached out and grasped for something.

“No. No, put them back. I don’t want them.”

“You need them.”

She watched herself put on the dusty flame colored boots. It felt like she was watching everything happen from the other end of a long tunnel. “I said I don’t want them!”

“Take them and be quiet.” Chara snapped.

Rain tried to pull them off but her hands wouldn’t work. Her fingers felt numb and sluggish.

Chara pushed them forward, forcing them into a painful run. Rain tried to drag her feet but Chara refused to let her stop.

Chara filled her head with a constant stream of insistent chatter.

“We can’t stop now.”

“It’s too late. Keep going.”

“I won’t let you turn back.”

“It was an accident.” Rain breathed over and over again. Long into the night she whispered her apology.

“I didn’t mean to.”

“I don’t know what happened.”

“How? How did I kill him so easily?”

Chara smothered her in a cloak of numbing shadows. She hushed her and made sure she kept placing one foot in front of the other. They marched against the howls of the night guard, wandering through the diminishing fog with their face against the growing wind; their hair dancing behind them like flame and ash. The world became a soggy slush. Frozen earth gave way to mud that stained their flame colored boots brown. They moved onward into the awaiting reeds of Waterfall and did not stop.

Over time Rain regained her composure to some degree and reclaimed control over her movements, if only because she did not like the feeling of someone constantly making her legs move for her. She kept them going well into the daylight hours. Or at least she assumed it was daytime. Snowdin seemed to have had some sort of regulated artificial light that came and went as time wore on but Waterfall was a different case. The light did not come from the sky so much as came from the watery expanse stretched out before them. It was like the daylight was trapped in the water, leaving the crystals overhead to rule the ceiling like stars.

Soon the howls of pursuit were drowned out by the breathtaking roar of majestic waterfalls that tossed up a cool mist and dampened their hair.

Where the mud did not reign supreme the ground was now covered in a thick carpet of dark green grass or blue moss. Docks and bridges were commonplace here. Old water worn planks of gray wood creaked under each uneasy step, threatening to snap and dunk them into the water below if they were careless.

They did not see anyone on their path. Yet the air always seemed to be filled with whispered conversations that put Rain on edge. Chara assured her it was just an odd quirk of the strange blue flowers that grew in abundance in the area but it still sent shivers down her spine every time she heard one of them speak.

Children laughing, someone crying, odd bits of passing conversation that sounded absurd or unnerving out of context- all of it drifted around her as she walked by the flowers that never failed to produce a fog of words.

There was tall grass and reeds everywhere. When the reeds became so tall and so thick that they could no longer see over them, Chara at last agreed to let Rain rest. Her dark shadow swirled around in Rain’s mind; her presences sinister yet oddly calming. It smothered her emotions with darkness and made it easier not to feel.

They sat down in a little clearing among the reeds where the crash of a waterfall off in the distance helped to drowned out the whispering flowers. Off to their side the reeds parted just enough to let them look out across a large pond of glowing water; the silhouette of Lilly pads turning black against its eerie light.

Chara prodded her. “Do you see those things among the reeds? The ones that look like cattails?”

Of course she did. The place was littered with them.

“Those are called water sausages. They are safe to eat. I doubt we will be getting much help around here so be sure to fill up on them. I never liked them raw but food is food.”

Rain plucked a few nearby sausages from their drooping stems and sat down in the dirt and nibbled at them. She didn’t really notice the taste that much. Her mind was elsewhere.

Her words came out choked and feeble. “Chara… you didn’t have anything to do with Papyrus’s death, did you?” It felt like a weird thing to ask. The words were awkward on her tongue. But she was growing wary of her partner. She was beginning to wonder just how absolute or subtle her control over their body could be.

Chara snapped into motion at once, feeding her lines she had rehearsed in anticipation for this moment. “Of course not! Don’t try to blame me for this so you can feel better. You wouldn’t let me touch him, remember? I was putting all of my energy into keeping you upright.”

Rain picked at her water sausage. She didn’t feel hungry. “So then that was me. All of it… It was my fault.” She rubbed at her eyes. “I murdered him.”

“You defended yourself. It was unfortunate.”

Her voice quivered. “I didn’t mean to hurt him! I still can’t believe what happened. I don’t understand how I did that.”

“Well, I warned you that you would be stronger than anything they have dealt with down here. You just didn’t know your own strength.”

“But you did!” She picked up a stone and tossed it into the nearby pond. “You lied to me about that dog. You knew I killed him. You knew this could happen!”

“Rain, I told you, you were stronger. I didn’t just mean there was more you could endure- that line is drawn both ways. You would be dead if that wasn’t true. It’s not my fault you didn’t understand me.”

“Well you didn’t try very hard to explain it, now did you?” She snapped, voice rising. “You told me everyone down here was evil but Papyrus wasn’t. He was just misinformed! And the guard dogs were ok too, once you gave them a good pat. Sans and Grillby even helped us! And I can’t even remember what happened with Toriel.” She pulled her knees close to her chest. “Chara, I’m scared. I don’t know what’s happening to me. I can feel myself forgetting things. Memories and thoughts are going fuzzy. I’m looking back and questioning everything now. I’m afraid that, well…” She lost her voice.

She was afraid that the most dangerous creature she had met down here was the one she had let inside her head.

Chara seemed to get the gist of what she had intended to say. “Rain, Rain, Rain, so naive. So quick to forget. I have protected you from so much already. I have healed your wounds and kept watch while you slept. I saved you from a death you would have brought upon yourself. And this is how you repay me? You blame me for this? For protecting you? I admit that I will never be as forgiving as you because I won’t let them trick me again. So if we must be at odds over that, then so be it.

“ But this is my body now too. My soul. And I will do everything within my power to protect it. I will trust no one but ourselves. I’m sorry if that disturbs you, Rain. I admit it was wrong to be so evasive about these things but to be honest I was afraid that, well, that this is how you would take it.”

She felt the darkness wrap itself around her, cold and numb. Her emotions got lost in its smoke. The turmoil in her mind became less chaotic. Her troubles and actions began to feel like some far away idea she was no longer connected to.

She hugged her knees and looked out across the pond. “I was just so scared. I never wanted to hurt anyone… I just didn’t want to die.”

“I know Rain, I know. I can see that fear inside of you. I feel it every moment of the day. I remember how you felt when I first found you. It’s your greatest fear now, isn’t it? Being put back into that sad state that I found you in. Being aware but unable to move. Being lost in that dreamless sleep, just like I was before we found each other. In the end you realized you did not want death, you simply wanted to run away. And now death is just one more thing for you to run from.”

Rain sighed. She was right. She was ashamed to admit it but she was right. “How the hell are we going to get out of here, Chara? I’m stuck in a long dark tunnel and the end seems so far away.”

“Just stay Determined. Let me help you face your fears. As always, I will guide you.”

“I don’t want to hurt anyone else.”

“Sooner or later you are going to have to embrace the side of you, you are running from. I won’t always be able to save you unless you do.” She warned.

“That’s not something I want to do.”

“In time everyone has to face the things they do not want to do. Now come on, time to get moving again.”

She brushed back her hair and dusted off her clothes. She avoided looking at the boots. Chara had let her abandon San’s coat back in the slush now that it was no longer cold but she insisted on the boots. It made Rain sick. They scared her.

They pushed through the reeds, nose upturned and walking on the tips of their toes to try and see over the tall plants.

Rain stopped. For a moment she thought she had heard something. Something that broke through the monotony of roaring water and disembodied whispers.

“Do you hear something?” She whispered.

“Like what?”

“Metal.”

There it was again. That heavy ringing sound. Thunk, thunk, thunk. Like the beat of a war drum.

A hulking metal figure stepped out from the shadow of a large rock formation on the other side of the pond; its foreboding helm accented with a single thick plume of red. It walked over to the water’s edge and looked out over the pond from under the glowing veil of a willow tree.

Chara tensed like a cat that had been cornered by a pack of dogs. Her swirling black mass felt like a storm cloud trying to contain its own lightning. “Don’t make any sudden moves. Do not speak. Do not breathe.”

Rain had the common sense not to speak out loud. “What is that?”

Chara recognized the armor at once. “That, my dear Rain, is the Captain of the Royal Guard. That is Undyne.”

The weight of understanding fell upon her shoulders all at once and she froze in place with fear. She did not move, she did not speak, she did not breathe.

The creature was massive! A true monster that would have towered over her had they stood shoulder to shoulder.

From deep within the shadow of the monster’s helm a single eye gleamed in the light, like a wisp ensnared by shadow. All at once the creature moved, lightning fast despite wearing such heavy armor. Undyne yanked a moss covered bolder from the ground and held it high above her head before throwing it into the pond with a roar like iron clad thunder. She fell to her knees, still screaming as her head hung low.

Chara drew Rain's attention off to the side. “We should go. Careful. Crawl if you must.”

A prick of curiosity caused Rain to wonder why this hulking beast seemed so upset but self-preservation kept her from wondering aloud.

So like molasses, Rain lowered herself back into a crouching position and began to crawl through the mud; always keeping one eye on the water’s edge where Undyne was.

Her foot slipped. It kicked a clump of reeds. They rustled back and forth.

“Don’t. Move.”

Undyne was back on her feet in a flash. That one point of light inside her grinning helm seemed to wink at them.

Rain pressed herself into the mud and watched things unfold out of the corner of her eye. Her heart was pounding so fast she was certain the Captain could hear it.

Undyne stalked forward, one hand held above her head. In that raised hand the light around her converged into a more solid shape. A long blue spear.

Undyne walked right into the water, allowing it to go all the way up to her waist before she stopped again to listen. She seemed to peer at the reeds for a restless eternity. But when no other sound came, She eventually lost interest. Her hand fell to her side and the spear dissolved before it could hit the water. She turned back, kicking another stone out of her way as she slogged back up onto land.

For a moment Undyne just stood there on the shoreline and held her head in her hands. Then, just as suddenly as she had appeared, she took her leave.

Rain and Chara remained frozen in place for several minutes after that. The soft ambience of Waterfall suddenly seeming odd and sad; the warrior’s unknown grief hanging heavy in the air even after having left.

Eventually Chara spoke up. “I think it would be wise if we start moving again.”

For once they were in complete agreement.

***

She was not sure but she thought Chara was resting again. Well, that was not true. Not if she really thought about it. Chara’s attention just seemed to be on other things at the moment. She was not gone and she was not sleeping, yet her shadow remained distant. Rain had been given full control of her body again. It was her job to sneak along at her own pace now.

She stuck close to the reeds and took the long way around whenever her cover grew thin. It was a shame that her situation was too grim for her to stop and appreciate the beauty around her. Had her situation been better she would have loved to sit under a glowing tree and skip rocks across a pond.

Instead she kept her belly to the mud and sloshed through streams and hopped across loose stones with a shadow of dread constantly looming over her.

They encountered a curious place in their wanderings. The foliage was well maintained and accented with several polished marble plaques guarded by old statues shaded with moss.

Rain managed to read some of what they stood in memory of but Chara did not allow her to ever pause in her step long enough to read more than a sentence or two when she encountered them. She got the gist of it though. These were memorials to the monsters lost in a war against humans. The plaques were were flecks of history and prophecy eaten away by time.

“So there really was a war between humans and monsters?”

She felt one of Chara’s shadowy eyes crack open a bit. “So they say. The human side of things has been lost to myth so the monsters got to spin things however they wanted to down here. The humans wanted to absorb powerful monster souls to become stronger and vice a versa.”

“Humans can absorb souls too?”

“Of course. But only very rare monsters have a soul strong enough for a human to fully absorb. Killing off the weaker ones can still grant you some small level of power though.”

Rain scowled. She didn’t know if she believed all of that. As someone who happened to be an expert at being human, she believed her special human abilities to be depressingly mundane. The only reason she stood any chance down here at all was because, as Chara had eventually explained it, monsters were made of dust and magic instead of something more solid and durable. They could deal massive damage but their bodies couldn’t endure much.

“If humans can absorb souls then how come you never see people doing that up on the surface?”

Something like a scoff or a snort echoed inside her head. “Because it’s just never worked that way. It would be like trying to force two negatively charged magnets together or something. They don’t want to be together.”

“Oh.” Her cheeks reddened a bit in embarrassment under Chara’s condescending tone. It made her more reluctant to ask the next question. “What about that symbol carved in the stone? I think I have seen it before. Didn’t T-Toriel have one?”

“Oh that old thing? Who knows what it was supposed to be. Everyone seems to think it’s a prophecy now. Something about how someone will come from the surface and free everyone. A savior of some kind. Personally I think they are taking the myth way too literally. Besides, I was always partial to the interpretations that it was the angel of death. You know; some artist’s poetic belief that in death all things will be equal and free or something.”

“Oh.” Rain said again, feeling a little uneasy for some reason.

“Now be quiet. You’re talking out loud again.” Chara’s eyes closed and she withdrew to the far reaches of Rain’s awareness once more. “Honestly, how many times am going to have to keep reminding you about that?”

Rain bit her lip and continued on. It wasn’t that she kept forgetting to think her words to her, she just didn’t like it. As long as she spoke out loud like she was addressing another individual it was easier for her to visualize Chara as an entity separate from her own. Addressing her like she was just another segment of her own thought processes felt dangerous. She didn’t want to accept responsibility for that sinister shadow that was growing ever thicker inside her head.

Rain spotted a decent clump of tall grass over by a rock formation with a small spring trickling out from the cracked stone. The water pooled into a small natural basin before running off farther down the cavern’s floor where it could join the deep murmur of a nearby waterfall.

She wiped the mud from her face and made herself a little bed against the stone. She was so thirsty. It was pure torment to have water all around her but never being able to drink any of it. The last thing she needed was to get herself sick while she was on the run.

She felt the dryness in her gums and on her tongue, stretching all the way down into her throat where it felt so dry it hurt.

The little spring that sprang from the stone seemed clean enough to be safe. It came from deep inside the rock after all.

She sat down with a sigh and massaged her sore muscles. A nearby echo flower startled her when it copied her sigh but it soon fell quiet again.

She took long sips from the cool water. It tasted clean enough and it felt good to finally sooth her parched throat.

It had to be near the end of the “day” by now. She had to have been crawling around down here for hours but she knew Chara would want them to press on into the supposed “night” when less roaming monsters would stumble across them. Rain would need some rest before they could do that. Just an hour or so to sit and catch her breath would be enough.

She wiped the sweat from her brow and pulled a water sausage off of a nearby plant. She propped herself up against the mossy stone and nibbled at it. It was still kind of green and gross.

She looked down at Papyrus’s boots. She still shied away from the sight of them. It was like looking him in the eye again.

She set her water sausage aside. She had lost her appetite.

She waited alone in the quiet for a while longer, prodding and testing Chara’s awareness. She was dwelling within a cloud of her own thoughts again and not paying much attention to what was going on in the outside world.

Ever so slowly Rain brought her legs up. Her hands inched closer to the boots, now so stained with mud and dust that their original color had been dulled.

She pulled off one boot. No response.

She slipped off the other. Still Chara did not notice.

She brushed the cracked dirt off of them as best she could and used the spring to wash away some of the filth until the majority of their red-orange color had returned. With a somber reverence she set the cleaned boots down next to the basin where the echo flower was.

She touched the steel buckles and smiled a little when she recalled Sans telling her how proud Papyrus had been of his garb but the smile quickly vanished into guilt.

“I’m so sorry, Papyrus. I really am. I don’t know what’s going to happen to me now. I messed up. I will try to do better... but I’m not sure that’s an option anymore.”

Behind her something stirred in the grass.

She spun around, Chara waking up and causing her to clutch her spear.

“Yo, cool spear! “ An enthusiastic voice greeted. A small yellow creature emerged from the grass. He had a little row of dull spikes running down his back and was wearing a striped black and yellow shirt. He looked young.

…Also for some reason he did not appear to have arms.

Rain got up and without realizing it, slipped the weapon behind her back and out of view.

“Uh, hello.”

“Where did you get it?” He gasped, a sudden thought dawning on him. “Yo, Undyne didn’t give that to you to train with or something, did she? Cause I would be sooo jealous if she did! I can never get her to notice me.” He bounced in place, excitement running from the top of his nose to the tip of his tail. “Oh, wow! How did you do it? How did you get her to notice you?”

“Uh, no. That’s not where I got it from.” Rain muttered, trying to piece together something to tell the child. “I just found it lying around. Off in that direction.” She pointed off in the first direction that came to mind. “I think I saw another one over there if you want it. If you hurry you may find it before someone else comes along.”

He smiled, his big goofy front teeth peeking out from behind his lips. “Oh, wow, really? Thanks, miss!” He turned on his heels, tail quivering with excitement. He took two steps away from them then stopped. He slowly turned back to her with his head bowed and faked a laugh. “Eh, actually… I really don’t think a spear would be my thing, you know? Not very good at holding them.” He scuffed the ground with a toe.

Rain was looking around impatiently for a way to get rid of him. “Well maybe you should go get it anyway. Something to keep you motivated.”

“Yeah, maybe.”

“Uh, so, run along then. Go on.” She tried to wave him away.

When he realized she was trying to get rid of him his tail drooped a bit. “Oh. Ok. Ah jeez, sorry lady. I’m being annoying aren’t I? I guess I should just-” He noticed the half eaten, not-quite-ripe water sausage next to her. He tilted his head. “Hay, why are you eating that old thing? There is a shop that sells stuff just over there.” He bobbed his head off in the direction of a distant hole in the cavern’s wall that probably made for a nice cubbyhole.

“Don’t have the money for it, kid.”

“Rain, chase him off.” Chara groaned. Her presence was coiling up against itself like a snake waiting for the right moment to strike.

“If I scare him he may tell someone he saw us.” She hissed under her breath.

“What’s that?”

“Nothing.”

“Oh. Well the guy who owns the shop is really nice. If you’re hungry I bet he would give you something for free.”

“I don’t think he would.” She started dusting herself off.

“Yo, are you from the city or something? My mom says that city monsters are not as friendly as the rest of us. Oh, sorry, that probably sounds rude. What I mean to say is, ol man Gerson is really nice and you should give him a chance to prove it. He used to be a hero and fight bad guys, just like Undyne! Oh! Is that why you are afraid talk to him? Because he’s a hero like Undyne?” He tilted his head like a curious bird. “Are you shy?” He beamed at this self-imposed revelation. “Yo, don’t worry, I got your back! Stay right here. I will go talk to him for you and get you something to eat. A-and then maybe if you’re not busy you could tell me what it’s like in the big city?”

Rain forced a kind smile. “Sure kid. If you get me something nice to eat I will tell you all about the city.”

He bounced in place. “Cool! Alright! Yeah! Ok, I will be right back!” He practically tripped over himself in excitement and had to pull his face out of the mud. He assured them he was ok as he got back up and scampered off at full speed.

“Well that was exasperating. Come on, drink up. We need get out of here before the little pest comes back.”

“He’s just a kid, Chara. He doesn’t know any better. If he did he would have ran.”

“He was a waste of time.”

“Well he’s gone now so calm down.” She snapped. “I felt the way you were looking at him.” She stooped to take one last quick swig of water and splashed a little on her face to get rid of the itchy flakes of dry mud.

She frowned at her reflection, noticing it for the first time. There was far less red in her hair now. It was thick with gray and white. She wasn’t that dirty, was she? She tried to shake her hair out. Some dirt fell free but still it did not help the color much. It still looked like she had ash stuck in her hair.

Or dust.

“What are you waiting for? Let’s go!”

She pressed her lips into a fine line and bit back a sharp remark as she got up to leave. Her feet became locked in place. “Nice try. Take the boots too.”

She ground her teeth and turned back for the boots.

Behind her she heard the reeds rustle again.

“Ugh, is he back already?”

Rain turned around.

A long white muzzle parted the reeds. A black hood shielded the intruder’s hungry eyes. Its lips pulled black to reveal its teeth in a snarl.

Rain stepped back in surprise. The moment she moved the monster launched itself from the reeds with a vicious snarl; closing the distance between them in a single leap; hood falling back so that its long ears trailed behind it. It brought a battle-axe to bear mid leap and Rain just barely managed to deflect it with her fire iron.

A howl split the air and a second hooded white shape shot from the reeds off to her side, swinging low.

“Uh, hello again!” She stammered. She reached for a nearby stick and threw it. “Remember this? G-go fetch!”

For a brief moment both dog’s attention flickered to the stick and Rain tried to slip past them but it did not enthrall them like it had in Snowdin. One of the dogs knocked her over with the blunt side of their weapon.

From somewhere up ahead a pair of answering howls came in. She could hear the clang of armor now. All four of the guard dogs from Snowdin were closing in on her position.

“Chara! Where do we go?” She cried, rolling out of the way of another brutal axe swing. She scrambled to her feet and ran for the water, batting reeds out of the way; the occasional water sausages smacking her in the face.

“Chara? Chara!”

There was a thunderous symphony of rattling to her right. It was all the warning she got and it saved her life. She looked up just in time to see the towering figure of the largest white dog looking down at her; its little snout bearing a snarl.

She bobbed to her side just as the spear shot out of the weeds, ripping her shirt and leaving a cut across her back.

Up ahead and to her left the fourth dog waited, sword drawn.

“Nice doggies. D-don’t you remember me?” She stammered, holding her hands out and stumbling back as they approached. “I smell like a weird puppy, remember? Put down your weapons and I will pet you.”

The lesser dog lifted its sword and swung, cutting down swaths of foliage as he went.

“Oh yes, we remember.” Dogaressa howled behind her. “You killed our friends!”

“Chara, Chara where are you? I can still feel you. What the hell are you doing?”

At long last Chara spoke, her voice calm and sly. “Yes, I’m still here. But I thought you said you did not like the way I did things. So I have decided to let you do things your way this time.”

“Help me!” She dodged another jab from a spear but backed into the lesser dog’s range as a result. She cried out in pain when the sword struck against her thigh. She fell forward into the water.

“No, no, it’s ok. I want to try things your way now. That’s what you want, isn’t it? To show me how to take the higher road? To show mercy? I can protect you from them, or you can protect them from me. You can’t have both. Choose one and make your peace.”

The dogs were crashing through the water in hot pursuit. She made a weak attempt to deflect another blow with her fire iron while clutching at her new cut with her free hand. “Chara, please!” She cried, breath coming in uneven croaking gasps. Her heart was beating so hard she was getting dizzy. She could see red wisps of light coming from her chest. Her panic was causing her soul to become more prominent.

The guard dogs were baying now.

“Catch her!”

“Call for Undyne!”

“Murderer!”

Someone crashed into her. She felt their hot breath against her ear. Snarling, baying, howling, bodies thrashed in the water; paws and snarling mouths reaching out to ensnare her.

She felt several sets of teeth sink into her. She screamed, batting one of them away with several desperate blows from her weapon. “I will give you anything you want! I just don’t want to die! I don’t want to die!”

They remaining three dogs were dragging her under, trails of blood mixing with water between their teeth. She coughed and gagged against the murky taste of pond water. She continued to plead with anyone who would listen between her choking gasps.

This was it. She was going to be sent back into the darkness. The painful, absolute, smothering darkness. She would lose the ability to move again. She would be met by an eternity of isolation where she would be left alone to think about her inability to do anything.

At long last Chara believed her point had been made. “Give me control.”

“It’s yours!”

“Full control. I can’t save you unless I have full control.”

She felt herself weakening. They were tearing her apart. She couldn’t breathe.

She closed her eyes and gave up.

Chara step forward.

The fear vanished. The pain became a dull throb.

Chara found this whole thing amusing. How cute. How…funny.

Her grip tightened on the spear. Her mouth split into a grin. She lashed out; water spraying everywhere.

Rain was left disoriented and confused. She could feel Chara smiling. She could feel the adrenaline coursing through her. She saw Chara up on the water’s surface, fighting the dogs, causing them to yip and back away from her wild swings.

Yet Rain could still feel herself sinking deeper into the black water at the same time. Her body was numb, distant… cold. Sensations came to her in an odd diluted way. She felt like a string was tied to something inside her chest and it was that string alone that connected her to what was now Chara and her old body.

The lesser dog yelped. All at once its armor was falling into the water along with handfuls of cloudy dust.

They were climbing back up onto the shore now. An uphill battle. They were outnumbered yet still progress was made. Chara bent over backwards to dodge the greater dog’s spear, then she reached out and caught the shaft. The two hooded dogs lunged at her but the greater dog pulled his spear back for another attack and had carried Chara off with it.

She was smiling at them.

She let go of his spear and spun around, brandishing her own weapon. She drove it into a chink in the dog’s armor and kicked Dogaressa out of the way when she came to try and save her friend. With a pitiful whimper the greater dog’s armor crumbled to the ground in a dusty haze.

She spun around, dogging one attack and taking the brunt of another. “It’s been so long! I’m rusty!” She mused.

The fight backtracked to where it had all started. Reeds were trampled underfoot, flowers cut from their stems, petals and water sausages knocked from their place in the frenzy until there was a haphazard open space for them to fight in.

The two remaining guard dogs fought valiantly, managing to score several deep blows to Rain and Chara’s body.

“Rain, heal me.”

Rain opened her mouth to ask how but nothing came out. She had lost the ability to speak. She had to think the words instead but by the time she did, their wounds were already starting to close up due to her desire to make it so.

“See? Good girl.” Chara purred, “But you-“she spun around to face one of her attackers. She accepted a backhanded blow to the shoulder in order to grab Dogamy’s battle-axe. “You are being a bad dog.” She yanked his weapon forward and he came with it, snapping at her as he came forward.

“Dogamy watch out!” His mate barked.

It was too late. Chara hit him in the side. The pain startled him into letting go of his weapon and she turned it on him, cutting deep into his side with a single blow. He was dust before he hit the ground.

“No!” Dogaressa howled, lips foaming with rage. “You will pay! I will make you pay! Dogamy!” She swung hard. Too hard. It lowered her stance. She had overreached.

Chara took her down with her mate’s own axe. The look of rage on the guard’s face faded into disbelief, then nothingness. Her wound bled a strange white ichor for a fleeting second, each escaping drop turning to dust and scattering on the breeze before her body crumpled into a heap and lost its shape.

Rain stared on in shock. It felt like she was looking over her own shoulder. She wasn’t sure what she felt. She knew this was probably a bad thing that was happening but she felt like this was all just a dream. None of this was really happening. Not to her.

“There. See, Rain? That was not so hard, was it?” Chara hefted the axe in her hand but grimaced when it began to fall apart. “Oh. It’s one of those things. Bleh. I hate it when the weapon dies with the carrier. Oh well.” She picked up one of the empty cloaks and shook the dust out of it and tried it on.

Rain opened her mouth in protest but again nothing came out. “Chara, no. come on, we don’t need that. Let’s just go. Please. Let me have control again.”

“Mmm. But I like it. And it will hide our face.” She pulled the hood up for emphasis. “See?”

“Chara, let me have control of my body.”

Something rustled in the reeds again.

Something thumped against the ground.

Chara was ready in a flash, body lowered into a fighting stance and spear held at the ready.

…But nobody came.

They stalked towards the sound. Chara pushed the plants aside with the spear.

A small set of muddy footprints marked the area. There was a white handkerchief bundle lying on the ground.

Chara picked it up and examined it. Two red apples with yellow offshoots shaped like crab claws had been bundled up in the kerchief. The edges were damp with little bite marks.

Something up ahead bolted, causing the plants to shake back and forth. A little yellow shape scampered away.

For a moment Rain felt Chara considering something.

Rain reached out to her own body, grabbing the arm their weapon was in. It was a disorienting sensation. It felt like she was passing right through herself but as she worked for it she could feel her arm again. She could feel it lowering.

Chara let her do it. Chasing the monster kid was not worth the effort now. “Come on. Let’s get out of here. I can’t face Undyne until I have healed from this.” She reached for Papyrus’s boots and shook them off.

Rain tried to regain control of her body but she felt Chara push her away. “No. it’s not your turn. If Undyne finds you, you will die. I will take care of our body until we meet her.”

“Please, let’s just leave the boots.”

“No. I like them.”

She struggled with herself. She tried to force her way back into control but in the end it was Chara that got her way.

Rain looked away. Her eyes settled upon the piles of dust around her. She sank to her imagined knees and held her head in her hands. For a brief moment Rain regained a little bit of control, panic and regret washing over her in jarring waves. “I’m sorry Papyrus.” She whimpered.

Chara shook her head, a little surprised that Rain had managed to say something out loud.

They departed, Chara walking with a newfound confidence while Rain found her awareness taking a back seat, towed along whether she liked it or not.

Behind them the soft voice of a single damaged echo flower whispered to their backs.

“I’m sorry Papyrus….I’m sorry… I’m….so…rry…”