"Sans?" Papyrus wandered through the snow of the Snowdin Forest searching for his brother. Despite being told to go to his post, the skeleton was nowhere to be found, "Brother, where are you? You'd better not be napping again!"
Last time Papyrus had found Sans napping on the job, he was forced to sleep on the couch for a full week. It wasn't a very effective punishment when he could effectively fall asleep in any scenario. To Sans, a couch and a bed were almost exactly the same thing.
"Sans, I swear if you don't show yourself I will be confiscating your ketchup!" Papyrus yelled, the silent forest echoeing his own voice back to him.
It was awfully quite today. Papyrus hadn't ran into a single other monster.
On any other day he would've ran into a few members of the royal guard, since they liked to patrol the areas closer to the Ruins. The most common guards around the forest were usually the dogs, but even they were nowhere to be found.
"Don't make me do this, Sans! You know you wouldn't like it if I had to-“
His voice was caught within his own throat, despite being made entirely of bones. He froze dead in his tracks, remaining still for long enough for falling snow to begin gathering on his shoulders.
Laying slightly buried in the snow was a blue jacket with white fur lining the edge of the hood; Sans' jacket.
"S-Sans?" Papyrus cautiously approached the jacket. Sans would never take that thing off, even if his life depended on it.
Before the falling snow could continue to bury it, Papyrus reached down nervously, lifting it off the ground. He called out once more, but he was met with only silence.
That silence was unnerving.
“Hm, that lazy bones. He couldn’t even be bothered to pick up his own jacket,” he told himself, brushing it off as the wind blowing Sans’ jacket off of him without him realising.
Perhaps the best cause of action was to go and tell Undyne. She would know what to do, and she'd be able to organise a search party.
Preparing to head back home, he turned the jacket around to brush of the snow and his eyes widened with horror.
Almost in line with the centre of the hoodie was a large stab wound, a red fluid staining the once blue fabric around it. Specs of dust were scattered across the material, but most of it seemed to have gathered on the ground, blending in with the snow flakes. Various other scratches and holes covered the front and sides, some barely holding together at the seams.
"S-S-" was all he was able to say, staring down at the blood soaked jacket.
Maybe it was ketchup?
Perhaps the heavy wind that took his jacket also made him spill some ketchup?
No, that didn’t add up.
A few tears began to form in his eyes, falling slowly down his face and eventually down into the snow like a raindrop. It might not have been raining here, but as always it was raining somewhere else.
Papyrus couldn’t deny what this was any longer.
Papyrus knew what had happened.
Unable to hold back any longer, he held his face up to the back of the hoodie and cried uncontrollably.
"W-Why, S-Sans?" he asked, knowing he wasn't going to get an answer, "W-Why would an-anyone do th-this?"
Papyrus continued to cry with no end to the torrent in sight, the occasional tear falling down onto the fresh snow, but no matter how much he cried, Sans wasn't coming back. Sans was gone, and the only thing Papyrus could do now was make sure that the other monsters didn't meet the same fate.
His crying began to slow, eventually stopping completely.
Now, he was going to teach the human a lesson they would hardly forget.
Chara trudged through the pre-evacuated Snowdin with their knife in hand, despite already knowing that there were no monsters to be found here. It was almost natural for them to be holding their blade at this point, as if it had become a part of them.
Still, she checked all the buildings in the town, just in case something was different. Already, she had seen more than enough evidence that this timeline was special, to say the least.
She was only in Snowdin, but already Sans was dead.
Soon, his brother would join him. She felt her grin widen.
There was no time to waste. The bloodlust was insatiable. She had already killed Papyrus hundreds of times before, but this time it was different. This time, she knew there was no smiley trashbag still left to deal with, and so she planned to savour the moment.
Before long, she had reached the edge of the town, and immediately she noticed that something was off.
Papyrus wasn’t there.
Interesting.
Perhaps that idiot had finally grown some sense and decided to evacuate with the others. Of course, this meant less EXP, but Chara would make up for it. She'd just make sure that she got to Asgore before Flowey did.
She made her way into Waterfall, cutting down all the monsters she could find. Like always, it was almost effortless. Every single monster she encountered was nothing more than a pile of dust on the ground in no more than a few seconds. Even with the drastic changes that were affecting this timeline, it was still incredibly boring.
She passed one of Sans' sentry stations, already prepared to slaughter everything she found in the next room, but then something... strange happened.
Instead of the next room that she would usually be in, she was met with a long corridor, its only notable feature being a mysterious grey door.
Chara looked around. This was confusing to even her. She expected to see a few changes after her encounter with Sans, but this?
She couldn't understand why Sans dying early would cause this door to appear.
Inconceivable sounds emanated from the door, and quite honestly Chara wasn't even certain whether she could truly even hear them or not.
She reached out and grabbed the handle to the door, and immediately it felt as if she was no longer in control of her body, as if her soul had been pulled out. Her hand, now acting under its own will, swung the door open, revealing a gaping black abyss of nothingness. Unable to control her legs, she took a step out into the void and began to fall. It was an endless fall, a fall that was to last for all eternity, but Chara wasn't scared, or even intimidated.
She was intrigued.
The void grew dark, darker, yet darker, until it overwhelmed her senses, leaving nothing behind.
✡︎⚐︎🕆︎ ✌︎☼︎☜︎ ☠︎⚐︎❄︎ ✡︎⚐︎🕆︎☼︎ ⚐︎🕈︎☠︎ 💣︎✌︎💧︎❄︎☜︎☼︎📬︎
❄︎☟︎✋︎💧︎ ☟︎✌︎💧︎ ✌︎☹︎☹︎ 👌︎☜︎☜︎☠︎ 🏱︎☼︎☜︎👎︎☜︎❄︎☜︎☼︎💣︎✋︎☠︎☜︎👎︎📬︎
👎︎⚐︎ ☠︎⚐︎❄︎ ☞︎☜︎✌︎☼︎ ❄︎☟︎☜︎ 👎︎✌︎☼︎😐︎📪︎ ☟︎🕆︎💣︎✌︎☠︎📬︎
✡︎⚐︎🕆︎☼︎ ☼︎⚐︎☹︎☜︎ 💧︎☟︎✌︎☹︎☹︎ 💧︎⚐︎⚐︎☠︎ 👌︎☜︎ ☞︎🕆︎☹︎☞︎✋︎☹︎☹︎☜︎👎︎📬︎
Before long, every monster in Waterfall had met their end by Chara's hand. That is, every monster except for that scrawny yellow one and Undyne. By now, she had killed Undyne enough times that their fight should be pretty short lived.
Chara stepped out onto the bridge, expecting Monster Kid to follow from behind, but strangely, there was no one.
It was just her, on the bridge alone.
Her heart felt like it was beating out of its chest, like her soul was attempting to tear free from her body. Of course, this wasn't her soul to begin with, but even if it were to get free, its previous owner was long gone.
The edges of her vision became dark like a black void, and a faint feeling of déjà vu crept over her.
Something had happened.
Something unique to this timeline had just happened, but she couldn't remember it. Somehow, she had forgotten about one of her previous saves, but she could still barely see some of her memories of it.
Falling.
Darkness.
More darkness.
For a being who had full power to save and load time and space at will to have their memories of a reset wiped was... startling.
Something was very wrong with this timeline, and Chara planned to enjoy it while it lasted.
Finally, her endless slaughter was beginning to pay off. At last something was changing, and if she had to continue her genocide to see it change even further, then so be it. She would gladly wipe out the monster race countless times if it meant she could alter the timeline in such ways.
"Human," an ever so familar voice called from the shadows. Almost on cue, Undyne stepped onto the bridge, "No... You don't even deserve to be called that. Creature."
Her spear was already gripped in her hands, prepared for a fight that no one would be able to back down from.
"I think it's time I brought your slaughter to an end with a slaughter of my own. In the name of all those who have fallen... In the name of Sans... I will take your soul," she proclaimed. Something about the way she was speaking seemed different. It was almost as if she was giving a final speech, knowing that this would be her last stand, "I don’t even know if your soul will work to break the barrier. We need human souls, and you are far from that. Either way, I will strike you down!”
“Right now, I can feel every-“
Pain surged through her entire body like a thunderbolt.
Chara had already grown bored by her monotonous speech, plunging the knife deep into her chest.
She knew full well that it wasn't over yet, however.
"J-Just like that? S-Somehow, with just a single..." Undyne muttered, pieces of her body already deteriorating into dust, "Papyrus... I couldn't avenge him..."
"I've failed everyone..."
The sound of dust scattering in the wind echoed throughout the cavern, combining with the sounds of pouring water to create something that sounded almost peaceful.
"No... My body... It feels like it's splitting apart," Undyne said, the dust that she was becoming slowly transforming back into a single being, "Like any instant, I'll scatter into a million pieces..."
Her grip on her spear was more intense, that burning desire to win growing stronger within her.
"But deep, deep in my soul... There's a burning feeling I can't describe." With her body fully restored, she opened her remaining eye, a bright light shimmer of hope glowing within her iris, "A burning feeling that won't let me die."
Her spear raised, pointing at Chara threateningly.
"This isn't just about monsters anymore, is it?" she said, "If you get past me, you'll..."
"You'll destroy everything, won't you?"
That was unexpected.
Chara had never heard Undyne say such a thing before, not even with the amount of times she had killed her. However, if she had to destroy everything to see all the potential outcomes for this timeline, then she'd gladly do it.
Every world, every universe. she would slaughter them all if she had to.
"Right now, everyone in the world... I can feel their hearts beating as-"
A loud clang echoed through the cavern as Chara's knife met with her spear. The idea of committing genocide in another world was interesting...
She wasn't going to waste any more time on this walking seafood.
"I'd only expect a coward like you to break the rules of their own game."
Undyne smirked. With a huge push, her spear managed to deflect the blade, causing the two to engage in a close range sword fight, only without the swords. A small knife versus a long spear, surely the victor was already decided.
Somehow, despite its range, Chara's knife managed to block all of Undyne's strikes, parrying each blow with a metallic clang. Undyne had begun moving her weapon with such speed that its blue glow had begun to look like a vortex surrounding her, almost invisible to the human eye.
Still, Chara kept up with her pace, occasionally attempting to make an attack of her own. The two exchanged blows as the wind continued to howl, the chorus of the waterfalls crashing around them.
"Is this all you've got?" Undyne mocked, pulling the spear back for a moment.
Chara grinned, seeing an opening and seizing it, swinging her knife down with enough force to kill. Her demonic grin faded however, when Undyne thrust her spear forward, sending it slicing through Chara's flesh.
She let out a blood-curdling scream as Undyne braced herself for another attack, lifting the spear once more. It came crashing down, slicing through the air with remarkable speed, only to miss its target completely. The weapon collided with the bridge, causing the entire structure to shake violently and become jammed in the old wood.
Chara had dodged the attack, and that sickening grin had returned to their face. They had let themselves get hit in order to put Undyne in a more vulnerable situation.
Her knife raised, convinced that the fight was already over.
"You're going to have to try harder than that," Undyne stated proudly, summoning a small spear in the air above them. It fell down, slicing through the decrepit infrastructure of the bridge and sending them both falling down into the waterlogged cavern below.
Chara felt herself crash into several sharp rocks as she fell, but any damage they could deal was insignificant. Upon hitting the floor, she was immediately back on her feet as a sharp spear erupted from the ground where she lay. Countless spears burst from the rocks surrounding her, caging her in like a zoo animal.
"Waterfall will be your final resting place, creature," Undyne's voice called. She stood on one of the many rocks that were coated by deadly blades, determined to end this by any means necessary, "En guard!"
Flying through the air, Undyne leapt forwards, sending a torrent of miniature spears in the direction of her foes like a flying cyclone. Each one sizzled upon hitting the ground, disintegrating as it touched the water. Chara dodged and weaved effortlessly, before jumping up and attempting to slice Undyne as she was still airborn.
The blade sliced through a portion of her armour, but thankfully didn't manage to cut any deeper. The flooded ground splashed as she landed, ignoring the close call that she had just experienced.
A flash of blue light illuminated the cavern as both of their weapons collided once again, a true symbol of good versus evil, blue versus red. Behind Chara, a miniature spear had formed, preparing to fly straight into the back of her head and end this for good.
It flew forward towards the duo who were still maintaining their blade lock, closer and closer...
Chara wasn't entirely unaware of Undyne's plan, as she could see the faint reflection of a blue object flying her way in the water below.
She ducked down, sending the spear flying over her and into Undyne, piercing her only remaining eye.
"NYAGH!"
She let out a scream that made Chara's previous one seem like that of someone who had just stubbed their toe. From this moment forward, Undyne was fighting blind.
Chara moved back, savouring her opponents pain as her end neared closer. The fight had not yet concluded, but like always, she would come out on top. She had experienced this too many times to lose, but she could at least have fun with her victim's last moments.
Undyne let out a furious cry, "I refuse! I refuse to die! Monsterkind's hopes and dreams lie within me, and I will protect them from you!"
It seemed that even blind, she still had some fight left in her.
A rainstorm of spears fell from the heavens, leaving almost no space to dodge. A few of them actually managed to graze Chara's arm, but alas it was almost pointless.
She positioned herself so that she was stood almost directly in front of one of the rocks that had been coated in spears, splashing the water with her feet to draw Undyne's attention. She could end this now, but where was the fun in that?
"You. Will. Die!" Undyne screamed as she charged in the direction of Chara's splashing, swinging her spear with as much might as she could muster. All Chara had to do was take a few steps to the side, and then watch as she ran straight into her own spears.
Like moths to a flame.
-
“God… Damnit…” Undyne coughed, her spear falling to the ground as her arms went limp. Head hung low, her magic began to fade and the spear wall she had created vanished into a cloud of blue dust, causing her to fall to the ground with a splash, “You… You won’t win…”
Chara approached the fish out of water, watching as it flopped helplessly on the ground as she prepared to fillet it with her blade.
“Even though you got past me… Asgore will crush you… Like the insect you are…”
Her face had begun to twist and contort, drooping downwards akin to the wax of a candle. Her own determination was too much for her, and now the effects were on full display.
“Sans and I can rest easy… Knowing that everyone will be safe… And this world…” Chara raised her knife high above the helpless fish’s head. Where was the fun in letting her pray melt?
“This world will live on!” Undyne proclaimed, a large smile on her disproportionated face as Chara delivered one last strike to the dying monster. The sound of dust scattering along the wind joined in the chorus created by the waterfalls, but this time you could see it too. Dust being carried along the breeze only to hit a puddle of water and dissolve, leaving only a pile of grey sand behind.
That was all that was left of Undyne.
Chara smiled to herself, looking back up to the bridge that they had fallen down from.
Nothing stood in her way now.