what now?

What is and what isn't.

Frisk breathed in, and breathed out. He breathed in again, and out again. His eyes shut slowly as he settled down into the bed so generously provided to him by Asgore and Toriel. While he felt bad about leaving Chara on the surface, he knew that she'd be safe. Hoped that she'd be safe. Well, if anything bad happened then he could just load an old save file and fix it. Then deal with a sad Chara...

He opened his eyes again and let out a short huff as he sat up in the bed, rubbing at his tired eyes with a weary smile on his face. "Oh Chara..." Frisk mumbled as he pulled the blanket closer around himself. "Even when you're not with me, you occupy my every damned thought..." He mused for a moment before staring around the room. Had this timeline been the 'Correct' one, than it should've been Chara lying here restlessly. But of course, the interference of Frisk's meddlesome self had changed the course of history.

"Well that sounds a bit dramatic." He thought to himself as he laid back down and shut his eyes again, feeling sleep tugging at the corners of his brain. "But then... So is everything I try to do." Frisk thought as his body fell into a limp state of sleep.

Perhaps hundreds of miles away, Chara herself was having similar thoughts to her partner, as she too was lying down to sleep. Of course, on the surface it was only the early evening but she still felt compelled to fall asleep according to the times of the Underground that she'd spent so much time in. It was odd, she thought, that she'd spent so long in so many timelines striving to get out of the Underworld, that she'd now follow it's standards in the world she'd been trying to return to.

"Isn't it ironic... And a bit silly." She thought to herself with a small and unamused giggle. "I wonder what Frisk is doing... I could feel him fighting... Not so long ago. But it feels so long... A year almost... Time moves so slowly up here..." Chara mused as her crimson eyes gently shut, settling her down slowly to the land of dreams.

But the land of dreams was no place of relaxation, nor was it a place of a particularly nasty disposition. Rather, a stressful place of memories and monsters from times gone by. It was neither good, nor particularly bad. But it was always memorable. Yet... They always found each other there. Always.

And as always, they met at the same point in those dreams... That one same memory. Not a joyous day at a beach, nor a painful battle, nor a time of tremendous hardship. It was always at the end. Whether it was the end of a genocide or the end of a peaceful life. Regardless of whether it was the end Masochistic Slaughter or the end of Paganist Pacifism, they always met at the end. To Reset or to Erase. To continue or start over.

And so it went now. They stand in the blackness of the void and stare for a while, catch up. Then they step forwards and embrace. Then they drift to an idyllic memory to stay the night in. And so they say the same mantra to reassure themselves that everything will be fine when they wake up.

"I know what is, and that's our love forever. We know what isn't, a world where we're not together."