Chapter Text

They both took in a sharp breath. Chara’s eye twitched. He would be the first person she would meet on this side gate, wouldn’t he? She bit down on her own tongue until she tasted blood, feeling Rain bunch herself up for some sort of revolt despite how tired she was.

“turn around and shake my hand.” He instructed.

They could feel his eyes boring into their back, right between their shoulder blades.

How much did he know? How much did he remember? How much had he been told?

Taking comfort in the cool steel in her hand, Chara slowly turned around and did as she was told.

It was strange seeing his left eye without the blue glow. Yet still it was easy to see that something was troubling him. He was watching her with a careful expression. He still had his hand held out to her in expectation. The little embers of light inside his skull glanced between his hand and her eyes. “c’mon lady, don’t leave me hangin.” He pleaded.

Rain was strangely quiet.

Chara took his hand, brow furrowed ever so slightly. He relaxed a bit when the hidden whoopee cushion went off. His shoulders slackened, the light in his eyes looking relieved. He laughed, sounding perhaps just a little bit nervous. “the ol whoopee cushion in the hand trick. it’s always funny.” He looked down at their hands, feeling Chara’s grip tighten. “that uh, that’s your queue to laugh.”

Her other hand came racing up, newly sharpened spear cutting through the wind. She yanked him towards her, her grip an iron vice.

His relief shattered into panic, his eye turning that too-familiar blue.

Adrenaline raced through her veins, heart leaping at the thought of such an easy triumph. But when she meant to drive her weapon forward and strike him down, instead her arm just kept arcing backwards.

She looked at her arm in confusion, watching it shoot high above her head; that one impossible second of error seeming to slow down in time so that she could enjoy every frustrating moment of it. Rain’s rebellion hit her too hard and too fast for her to salvage anything from it. Her fingers were pulled free of her weapon at the height of her rouge arm’s arc and she felt the cool steel slide from her hand. She watched out of the corner of her eye as it cartwheeled overhead and out of reach. It bounced off of the wooden bars of the ineffective gate, chimed against a nearby stone and tumbled away into the dark ravine beyond.

When her eyes snapped back to Sans she was no longer holding on to his hand, he was gripping hers.

With a look both cruel and unforgiving he pulled her forward, sidestepping with one leg lifted at an awkward height to avoid a single bone lance that shot up through the snow behind him right as she was pulled into its path and skewered. Several more attacks shot up around her as Sans stepped away. The strikes were nearly simultaneous.

No longer able to support her own weight, Chara slid further down into the jagged maw of cold spines.

Sans was looking down at her, hands in his pockets and a sad haunted look on his face. He sighed, looking rather deflated. His eyes never left their body as the world began to fade. It didn’t even hurt that much to be honest. She just felt…numb.

“sorry tori. i didn’t want him to be right about any of this either.”

***

The vines were back. She had forgotten to make a proper save once she had opened the door. She cursed at the deaf face of the carved obsidian while Rain drifted about their mind in lazy, smug circles.

She was enjoying her little victory, reliving the memory over and over again while she tried to regain some of her strength. Her smug emotions radiated through their mind in waves.

“Shut up. I will get him this time. You didn’t save them, you just prolonged things a little.”

“The look on our face when you dropped the poker was priceless.”

“Don’t make me punish you.” She warned, hacking away at the vines with vicious swings.

“You don’t have anything to punish me with. What are you going to do? Stab me? You can’t hurt me without needlessly hurting yourself.”

Chara bit down on her reply. For now she would just have to tolerate her smugness. Rain would get what she deserved in good time.

Knowing that Sans was still alive- having actually seen him standing on his own two feet again- had given Rain hope. Knowing that Toriel was still out there somewhere, Papyrus was blessedly oblivious to her past transgressions and Undyne was still the guardian of the glowing waterfalls made Rain's current situation a little easier to live with. Hell, even the thought that Mettaton was still running around Hotland on his one obnoxious wheel filled Rain with the faint light of cautious Determination.

According to Rain, there was still time to find a way to fix all this.

And that little spark of hope had gotten Rain thinking. She was trying to figure things out and Chara didn’t like it. Things Chara did her best to hide from her.

So long as Sans still stood, there was hope. So long as he acted like a proper sentry and refused them passage Rain would have a reason to fight.

That knowledge ate at the back of Chara’s mind like a persistent rat. Right here, near the beginning, this was when she was most vulnerable. She was stronger than before because she was fully awake now but until she gained enough XP and LV to properly overpower Rain again the two of them were going to perpetually butt heads. Unfortunately there was nothing she could do to help fix that problem aside from just continuing to push herself forward.

So this time when she cut through the vines and shoved the door open, she made sure to make a proper save point. Then she poked her nose around the corner, checking every shadow and under every snow-laden evergreen for signs of Sans as she crept back out into the cold.

This time when she heard the soft sound of him moving through the snow she made sure to keep an iron grip on her weapon and waited for him a safe distance away from the bridge and its ravine. Only this time she was so focused on making sure Rain didn’t throw away her weapon that she was not prepared to stop her from screaming.

“I reset and I’m going to kill you this time, Sans! I’m going to kill everyone all over again!” She shouted, hot breath causing a cloud of fog to rise up from their lips.

Chara glued their jaw shut and looked around wildly, wondering if Sans had indeed heard them despite not having revealed himself yet.

…He had.

Pain.

Blood.

Darkness.

Reset.

“Stop it!”

“Bite me.”

“Why are you still defending them? If you let them live they will still just take your soul in the end. Take it, use it, discard it like so much worthless trash! That’s all they want. That’s all any of them want! You don’t really matter to them. Why can’t you see that? People will only ever befriend you because you’re useful. You are just a means to an end!”

“Hypocrite.”

For some reason, that hurt. She didn’t really know why.

Back in the dark basement of Toriel’s house, she yanked the door open again, pulling against the feeble grasp of mutilated vines. She ran out into the snow, now annoyed by the cold that she had once welcomed. She hurried back to their meeting point; cursing every step for how long it took. She bit her tongue and held her weapon close this time as she waited with her back to the path; gaze looking out past the too-wide wooden bars in front of the bridge but never quite focusing on anything in particular. He wouldn’t show up if she was looking for him. She just had to wait.

“human, turn around.”

She should have caught the change in his tone but Rain’s biting words had left her distracted. When she turned around and reached out to grasp his hand, ready to finally catch him and run him through, he was not quite where she had expected him to be.

He was a few feet back, a look of worry turning into grim conformation as soon as she revealed her weapon.

Curved bones ran right through her like she was made of little more that tissue paper and pinned her down within the familiar snowy rib cage. From under the rim of Sans’s fur-lined hood she could see only haunted disappointment. His words drifted towards her as if through thick static, growing softer and softer as the darkness came to take her away.

“…is that any way…to greet an old pal?”

The resets were coming too close together. He was starting to become wary. He was starting to remember.

Pain.

Blood.

Darkness.

Reset.

She would have to try a different strategy.

He was too observant to keep tricking. For all she knew he would kill her as soon as he saw her this time. Sans was slow to action but once he was pushed to that point he did not seem to be the type to show any mercy or hesitation.

She had to find someone else to disarm him for her. She needed something new. Something conflicting.

She looked at the prints in the snow. A few hours may have slipped by for her between the resets and having to re-cut all those vines but for the rest of the Underground not that much time had passed at all.

Would she still be nearby?

It was worth a shot.

She began to cry out, taking slow and cautious steps against the wind, each footfall pressed up against the already existing footprint of the being she had once called mother with affection instead of resentment.

“Hello? Mom?” She called, ever wary of who was surely watching her from somewhere among the near identical trees. “Mom! Toriel? Where are you? It’s me! It’s Chara!”

She squinted through the flurries, sniffing as her nose went red. Did she dare press on towards the bridge? “I came back! I woke up! Mom? Mom!”

Rain hissed through her teeth, angered by her scheme. Her presence pressed up against her and tried to cut off her words. She tried to demand that they be quiet but her attempts to silence her only made Chara’s calls seem all the more pitiful. Her chokes sounded like coughs and sobs.

She inched along a few cautious steps at a time; moving so slow that her limbs started to go numb before she even reached the bridge. Oddly enough Sans did not appear when she did reach it. She did not hear his footsteps or see any shadows move out of the corner of her eye.

She took a cautious step out onto the bridge, tensing in anticipation for a trap. Yet there was nothing. Just the creaking of old wood gone damp and rotted by the eternal snowfall.

“I’m so scared, mom! I woke up and I didn’t know where I was! And- and now all the monsters are trying to hurt me. Why is dad collecting souls? Why is everyone so scary?”

She was almost surprised when he showed up this time, late to the show.

“human, don’t move.” San ordered, voice sounding tired when he added: “…please.” He was behind her again. Too far away for her to attack from the sound of it.

She took a deep breath and ran, shouting as lout as she could. “Toriel! Toriel help me! Toriel! Mom! Hes after me!”

She felt cold ice reach up and touch her skin. Something shot out of the ground behind her and just narrowly missed, spraying ice everywhere in its violent upheaval.

She thought she heard a new voice call out to her from somewhere up ahead.

Yes! Up ahead a large figure with broad shoulders and a small set of horns had just stepped out of hiding among the snow laden trees. She was hesitant at first but seemed to be approaching a little faster with every other step.

Chara continued to run, using the deep-set tracks left by her mother to help avoid some of the drawbacks of the snow.

Sans was behind her. Shouting warnings as bones continued to crop up around her like vicious weeds. “tori! no! get back! she’s an anomaly. she’s dangerous!”

“Mom, help!” Chara cried, voice going raw.

“Sans! Stop! Don’t hurt her!” Toriel begged, barreling through the snow at full speed now. Flames were growing in her open hands; the bright orange creeping up along her arms as she became more and more distraught.

“That’s her! That’s Chara! Do it, you smiley trash bag! Do it!” Another voice shrieked, high pitched and cracking with the effort of maintaining such volume.

A bone cartwheeled through the air and hit her square in the shoulder. She felt something pop as she was sent spinning into the many layers of old ice and new snow.

“No!” Toriel bellowed.

Bones rose up around her, one row after another until there was a thick barbed barricade surrounding her in a lopsided square.

She pushed herself to her knees, cradling her limp arm and wincing from the throbbing in her shoulder. It felt like it had been dislocated. She reached out to Rain, trying to snag her evasive form and pull her into place to numb the pain but she danced away, dissipating between Chara's fingers and drifting farther and farther out of reach. She was not strong enough to throw her around yet.

Chara waited for the end to come, eyes screwed shut and jaw clenched. Yet nothing happened.

“Sans you made a promise. You remember it, do you not?” Toriel asked; voice low and deadly as it trembled. It was far from the kind, mothering tone Chara had so often awoken to in the mornings once upon a time.

“Dammit Sans for once in your pitiful life do something that’s worth a damn!” Flowey commanded.

She could hear Sans standing behind her now, staring at Toriel from across his makeshift box. She could see their shuffling shapes move between the small gaps in the rows of bone. Frustrated shock and confusion came off of Rain in waves as she tried to comprehend why Sans wasn't finishing them off.

“i know, tori, i know.” He sighed.

“M-mom.” Chara squeaked, voice quavering against the pain. “Help me. It’s me. It’s Chara. It really is.”

“Mom,” Flowey echoed in taunting, his voice going raspy, “if you get close to her, she’s gonna kill you.”

On the other side of the fence Toriel shifted. She was nervous. Uneasy. “Prove it, child.” She managed, pressing up against the bars and allowing the barbs to burrow into her fur just so she could be closer to them.

“tori…” Sans warned with a growl, pulling the interlocking bones closer together so that there was barely a gasp for them to look through. “stay back. something is wrong with this one. i don’t think its human. not anymore. “

They could not see them through the bars but it was easy to tell that there were tears in Toriel’s eyes. She sucked in a shaky breath. “Its… it’s been a very strange day. I would not even think to believe you if I had not learned of the true fate of my son mere hours ago and…My child, please, prove to me that you are telling the truth. Prove to me that you are my Chara.”

Chara glanced at Sans through the bars of her prison, then at Toriel. She could see vines draped across her mother’s shoulders, barely out of reach of the rising flames that cling to her fur.

“You used to bake us pies.” She finally proclaimed. “We always argued about which pie to make. I liked the one with cinnamon. Asriel always wanted butterscotch. One day, you decided to combine the two so we would both be happy.”

A hand tried to reach through the barrier. Toriel’s voice was full of pain, relief and confusion. “Chara. My Chara! It is you!... I am so confused, my child. I have been told so many frightening things.” The tips of her fingers made it through the gap and then stopped.

Toriel gasped, gripping the bones to try and hold herself in place. From the other side of the barricade the sound of vines whipping against the snow disrupted the moment. Flowey’s golden head rose high above the wall, leering down at Chara and Sans.

“Asriel, n-no! Let go! That’s your sister in there! That’s Chara!”

“I know that’s Chara, you idiot.” He rasped. “I’m the one that told you in the first place. Did you not listen when I said she would kill you?”

“tori!” Sans barked, stepping forward to come to her aid.

Flowey hissed at him in warning, head rising higher and higher into the air as Toriel’s flames became more and more chaotic.

Chara bore her teeth and began to swing her spear at the wall of bones. She was desperate to get out. Desperate to still somehow save this.

“Sans, listen very carefully to me.” Flowey warned, eyes going black.

“Shut up Asriel!” Chara shouted.

“Asriel, let me go!” Toriel begged, clawing at the snow as his vines dragged her farther and farther away.

“i’m warning you kid, let her go.”

“I am the legendary fart master.” He snapped.

On the other side of the barrier Sans lowered his arm. The glow in his eyes faded just a bit. “...what?”

“You heard me! And I know she has reset this scenario at least three times now because she couldn’t kill you!”

Chara continued to swing, splintering bones in her wake while Rain tried to slow her blows.

Sans closed his eyes. Toriel’s pleas fell upon deaf years. “i'm sorry tori, but i gotta choose the lesser of the two evils here.”

The bone walls slipped half way back into the ground, adjusted its angle, and ran Chara through.

Pain.

Blood.

Darkness.

Reset.

“Of course he would do that.” Chara bitterly mused, pulling them through the darkness once more and back to their body. “Little Asriel never does anything by himself. He always has to get someone else to fight his battles for him.”

She should have known he would strike a bargain with Sans. He had had countless resets to learn about everyone while she had slept beneath the ground. He knew everyone's strengths already. He knew their weaknesses and their secrets and their habits. They did not remember all the horrible things he had done to them but he still remembered all the strings he could pull to make them dance.

Of all the enemies she had made, her brother was quickly becoming the worst.

***

It was a losing battle after that. They never found Toriel again. Maybe Asriel had learned from that near-fatal mistake and kept her farther away from all the commotion. Maybe he just quietly killed her himself off in the silent stillness of the pines to ensure that no one else could use her power against him. Whatever the reason, she never answered Chara’s cries for help again. Instead it was Flowey who would come slithering out to greet her.

Over and over again they met Sans. Over and over again Flowey came tearing out of the woods, his shrill voice shrieking: “I am the legendary fart master! I am the legendary fart master! She reset! She reset!”

Chara was hunted down like a dog again and again. Each attempt leaving her body farther and farther back from her last point of death and closer to the cold stone face of the Ruin’s door.

She tried to trick them, reason with them or confuse them. Sometimes her frustrated attempts even came close to working. But as the resets stacked up against her, Sans’s gullibility became all the more scarce.

She nearly had them a few times when she tried to parrot these ridiculous phrases that Sans seemed to find so important but one way or the other something always went awry.

He would demand that she give him the “other” code word. He practically begged her for it while she lay pinned down in the snow, bleeding once again. He wanted this to end. He just wanted this to end! Yet she never learned the other word. Asriel kept that one to himself and would carefully whisper it to Sans from a safe distance.

Then he would kill them and the cycle would begin anew.

Pain.

Blood.

Darkness.

Reset.

Inside her head Rain laughed bitterly at the cycle Chara’s own reckless violence had cursed her with, even though she was forced to share her suffering. She would hear Asriel coming and mentally greet him with sarcastic glee. “Ah, our flatulent hero returns! All hail our lord and savior- the flower who farts through time!”

Pain.

Blood.

Darkness.

Reset.

She tried to sneak off through the trees and find a different path but Ariel was always nearby, baying like a shrill hound. Unlike Sans he was able to learn from past mistakes and keep up with her ever-changing choices.

Pain.

Blood.

Darkness.

Reset.

She could feel Rain’s presence standing beside her. Eventually becoming still and silent. She watched her with something akin to pity. She rarely had to do anything to intervene now.

She said nothing as Chara marched back into the cold. The flurries that clung to her eyelashes were a nuisance now. The wind seemed to be howling with laughter and the trees whispered of past failures as they stumbled past them.

The footprints in the snow taunted her. Always the prints were waiting for her while her own continued to disappear again and again with every reset. The others had made their progress. She had not.

Rain watched her body continue to die out in the cold. In some distant part of her awareness she felt the sting of the attacks. She heard Asriel’s voice on the wind. She felt the cold ice on her skin. She watched it and wondered why this had to keep happening.

Had Chara always been this malevolent? She had obviously been a deeply troubled child in life but those who remembered her spoke fondly of her memory, even if there was a shadow to those words that they did not wish to see.

Perhaps Chara was simply mad. Who knows what terrible things had happened to her soul over the years? She had shared her soul with three others before Rain had come along and each time she had done so she had been rejected and pushed back into a dreamless sleep. Perhaps something other than her body had rotted away with time. Perhaps she had suffered a fate akin to that of her brother. Asriel had lost the ability to love, Chara had lost the ability to forgive.

Could she regain it? Probably.

Did she want to?

…No.

Rain would have been more than willing to help her if things were just a little different but she couldn’t save someone who did not want to change.

Pain.

Blood...

The darkness stretched on a little longer than usual this time.

Rain could see the abnormal form of her mental cellmate twisting through the darkness with her.

“What’s this?” She asked.

“Going back again."

“To the beginning?”

“Yes.”

“It won’t change anything. Flowey will still be suspicious.”

“Maybe. But what if all they have to remember is nothing?”

“Nothing?”

Falling.

Healing.

Rain.

“Howdy! I’m F-”

Pain.

Darkness.

Reset.

Oh. Oh no.

Chara sensed her realization and grinned through the darkness. “That’s right. He doesn’t seem to be fully immune to true resets. So what do you think will happen if we just do nothing over and over and over again? How long until he can’t remember the oldest timelines? How long until they will be replaced? How many pointless resets can he cling to until there is nothing left for him to remember?”

Rain closed her eyes braced herself.

She was going to get really sick of the taste of granola down here.

Falling.

Healing.

Rain.

…Reset.