Golden Flowers (Female Chara X Male Reader) [On Break]

Chapter 8: A Long Time Ago...

(This chapter is going to be very dialogue heavy. Just figured I'd give a warning.)

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"Humans and Monsters used to coexist. That changed when a war broke out, resulting in the monsters being sealed underground. One day, a long time after the monsters were sealed away, a child climbed the mountain. She wanted to escape from her village, which had never treated her with any form of kindness. On the mountain, she found a hole, the one entrance to the underground. With nothing left to lose, she jumped down, not expecting to survive the fall." Chara begins her story, taking a breath to steady herself. She clearly wasn't comfortable talking about this, and at first I was a bit confused why, as I thought she was talking about Frisk, but as she continued I realized she was talking about her own story.

Chara continued, explaining her side of things up until she died, having eaten poisonous flowers to allow her brother, Asriel, to absorb her soul to free the underground by collecting another 6 human souls. When a monster takes a human soul, they can cross the barrier, so Chara and Asriel had planned to cross and sacrifice 6 people to have enough souls to break the barrier. The plan failed, though, as Asriel couldn't bring himself to harm the humans, despite them attacking him on sight.

"When I woke up, I was confused. I thought the plan didn't work, that the flowers didn't kill me. That's when I saw Frisk. Her sheer amount of Determination had awakened me. At first, I couldn't do much. She didn't even know I was there. I watched as she traveled through the underground, sparing all the monsters, until she reached Asgore. He couldn't be reasoned with, and she died. I thought that would be it, that he would take her SOUL and that at least the underground would be free. But as Asgore reached for Frisk's SOUL, something happened, and I was back in the Ruins. Frisk was back, too. See, the real reason Determination is such a rare soul and so powerful isn't because it's innately strong with magic, but because it gives you a measure of control of time." Chara continues, taking another pause to let me process.

"So, Frisk turned back time is what you're saying?" I ask after a few seconds of processing.

"Essentially, yes. She did what we came to call a RESET. At the point of death, Frisk can RESET time back to when she first fell, which allowed her to master the underground, learn every secret that there was to find, and become friends with everyone. She even found ways to convince Asgore to back down and freed the monsters multiple times. I was happy. My family, my adopted family, could finally reach the surface. But, without fail, within hours after reaching the surface, Frisk would RESET. She never did tell me why. After the first few pacifist RESETs, she began to experiment. She thought she was above consequences due to her ability to RESET. At first, she only killed a few monst-" Chara explains, but I cut her off in disbelief.

"Frisk killed people? She would never, she barely defends herself, like yesterday when she was being attacked." I say, more confused than anything. Chara sighs as if expecting that response.

"That's because she wants everyone to believe she's a perfect little pacifist that couldn't hurt a fly. She tried to kill as few monsters as possible, but every time she reached the surface, she would RESET again and kill more. With each reset, I became stronger. I'm not entirely certain, but I think I was feeding off of her excess determination somehow to stay 'alive' or as alive as I am now. Eventually, she killed everyone she could find in the underground. Sans tried to stop her, but every time she killed, she became less and less like herself. She became cold, uncaring. Sans was helpless against her and gave his life trying to buy the monsters' time to hide. When she reached the barrier, I finally had enough Determination to act. I pulled her into my plane of being and made a deal. She would give up half of her SOUL in exchange for a complete RESET. She accepted, and that 'timeline' was erased. We both woke up in the Ruins, but this time, I was there as I am now, and she could see me. I could now interact with the world around me, albeit minorly. I thought that I could change something, stop her from killing again if I had part of her SOUL, but I didn't realize that by having part of her SOUL that I would also have part of her desires. Her SOUL had no remaining goodness in it. All that was there was pure hatred, and I had invited it into myself." Chara looks down to the floor, avoiding my gaze as she takes a deep breath before continuing.

"We traveled through the Ruins, and despite my pleas, she killed again, and as she did part of the corruption she gained from killing transferred to me, and I began to almost enjoy it, as sickening as it was. It was intoxicating. A few RESETs later, and I had gained the ability to possess Frisk through her SOUL, and we committed genocide countless times together. She eventually wanted to stop, but I wouldn't let her. I wanted to keep going. This last RESET, though, she managed to fight me for control of her SOUL, and she won. I don't know what became of the corruption in it, or if it's still there, but this time, she didn't kill. She freed everyone, and she did it without RESETting. The rest from there, I imagine, you know." Chara finishes explaining. I could tell she was struggling to not cry.

I was at a loss for words. It was a lot to take in. And you know what? I don't think it changes anything still. Chara saved me from death and/or serious bodily harm 3 times. I consider her a friend, and that isn't a title many have.

"If you want me gone, just say so, and you'll never see me again. I wouldn't blame you if you hated me now either, I dont deserve forgiveness..." She sniffles. I immediately get up and walk over to her, taking a seat on my bed next to her. "Not at all. What you did doesn't sound like it was entirely within your control. It sounds like it was Frisk's fault. I don't hate you or whatever you may be thinking, either. You'll always have a place here." I say, trying to reassure her that I wouldn't hate her. She leaned close to me, catching me off guard as she cried into my shoulder. I didn't mind at all. She needed support right now, and I wasn't going to just up and leave her without any.

"You're far too nice of a person..." Chara says, wiping some of her tears away. "I do my best." I say, smiling at her some, to which she smiles back. I finally checked the time for the first time since I woke up, and I saw that it was around 3am. I think I'll just take tomorrow off school. Not like my parents are here to stop me, and besides, I don't think I'd get much more sleep tonight anyway.

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(Very wordy chapter (which I get is the point of a book, but I mean not much movement or action), but I hope you enjoyed nonetheless, and as always, feedback is always welcome!)