fulllifeconsequences

I think you should research what the word "partner" means.

[First and foremost, it implies equality. Not distance. Not isolation. Not knowing best for one another. And it took them a long time to reach this point, almost a year of it, and they're not about to abandon the endeavor now.

* You tell the Lost Soul that you won't give up on them, no matter what.]

Clearly you do care about what I want. You wouldn't have left otherwise. You wouldn't have tried to hurt me when you did.

Guess I'm just going to care so hard about what you want that I'm going to keep doing the exact opposite of what you're telling me you want, then.

Frisk, look. You already know I am not a variable you can rearrange to your liking. Just because this outcome does not suit your immediate preference does not mean I am going to pull a 180 on what I have made up my mind to do. You cannot "date" this away.

You don't deserve to feel this way.

[For the first time, their voice sharpens audibly.]

You are my Partner. Not anyone else. Not any other Chara, no matter what it is you might think. You're my Partner, and I need you.

I miss you.

[They still do not look away. Their SOUL still drifts idly on the spot, directionless. Like them.]

And you already know that I'm not the sort of person that gives up very easily. I've had a month to wait, Chara.

It's time to make up for lost time.

[You don't deserve, I need you, I miss you. It's sickening. Why are they being this way? Why are they so desperate to come crawling back to someone who almost hurt them beyond repair? Someone who drove them to death? They're not going to let themself be the least bit upset they went through all that?

No, of course they won't. They'll just keep standing there, their heart literally on their sleeve, because that's what a saviour does, isn't it? Never bears grudges, never thinks about how forgiveness has to be earned and not everyone has to be forgiven. Just solves problems perfectly in a single go, because they've had enough practice runs to know exactly what to say.]

You've had a month to get used to having space to yourself. You'll have several more months of it. I am no longer interested in being your partner, and you cannot force me to be your friend. Can you?

[Going to MAKE them love you, Frisk? For their own good, perhaps? Or for the sake of preserving a perfectly happy ending?]

You made your choice. You do not get to go back on it. Or are you telling me not to hold you accountable for your decisions anymore?

I didn't make that choice, and you know it.

[Their tone is still hard, and their eyes have narrowed, just south of a stern glare.]

You made that choice for me. You said what you wanted to hear. What you thought was true. And I was your humble servant.

[But you forgive me every time. There's no escaping it. They robbed them of that control, took advantage of the fact that they had nothing in their head or their SOUL that would refute a single thing Chara had to say, and took it as truth.

But you will always forgive me.

They'll always forgive you.]

I forgive you.

But none of what you said was true.

We had no contract. There was never a contract, Chara. You didn't help me because you were using me. You didn't help me because you thought you'd get anything out of it.

[A lift of their eyebrows, then. A tilt of their chin.]

Do you understand, Chara?

* ...Do you know why I'm doing this...?
* Why I keep fighting to keep you around...?

[Is it cheating to use a script?

Maybe. But they've always been one to take advantage of the rules, haven't they? They took advantage of every law, and with recent times, they've learned, you see. They've learned exactly what makes up the world, the sprites and pixels, the shift of a flag and a number.

Or perhaps, in the end, they're just a dirty hacker.]

* I'm doing this...
* Because you're special, Chara.
* You're the only one that understands me.

[They're alone, Chara.

They're afraid, Chara.

They need you to let them win.

Please.

Just let them win.]

[Disgusting.

Frisk, too. Everyone does it. It's different when you do it, Chara. The choices they made while part of them was missing? Proof they're evil, proof they're not human. Mistakes they're still responsible for. They don't get to shrug it off with "but I couldn't recognize compassion anymore" or "don't think of that as really me" or "at the time I didn't realize." But Frisk? Oh, their hands are clean. They didn't lose their memories, their ability to love, their powers of logic, but surely they didn't have to use any of those, right? They're helpless. Bent to the whims of a vile, puppeteering demon.

But they're not an angel, they're not above consequences. They summon a Chara that wants nothing but LOVE, but that's not what they think of Chara, right? They're better than that now. They're so much better, in fact, that charitably, benevolently, they forgive Chara. For manipulating them. For forcing them into this against their will, right? Just like they're always doing.

And that's not enough. No, they have to pull from the script. Ha ha, Chara, remember your brother? The one who's gone now? Those words must have hurt, so might as well recycle them for my own purposes! Have to twist Asriel's words, have to turn them against Chara like a weapon. Turning the precious few memories they hold onto into a leash again. They're not behaving, so their attachments get wrenched into the bars of a kennel. Meant to hold them.

Just like the first time they died. How very fitting.

Foolish, though. They know how the script ended. They know what those lines lead to. The one saying them wasn't allowed to win. They were just a build-up to while, Frisk, you... are the type of friend I always wished I had. They were a hollow, stupid lie. Flattery toward someone better, someone more deserving, just with the wrong name thinly painted over it.

Chara uncurls.

The look on their face, though, is nothing short of black, vicious loathing. They shoot out from under the bed with all the sudden fury of a striking viper, reach the door in four sharp, furious strides. Slam it in Frisk's stupid face, with nothing more to say to that ploy than a vehement-]

Go to hell!

[The door slams.

It...

slams.

A slow, sharp inhale, and they turn around. Their SOUL dissipates, sinking back into their chest. They lean up against the door with their head back, their eyes dry, and stare blankly at the ceiling.]

I've already been.

[Quiet words. Maybe Chara can't hear them.]

But Orpheus came anyway.

[They stay there. They don't have anywhere else to be, anything better to do. If Toriel comes back - then she comes back, and they'll deal with that too, when it happens.

Giving up isn't in their vocabulary.]

[* But

nobody

came.]

[Did you really think this was the End?

Knock knock. Toriel's door still isn't locked, and if no one answers, Frisk is going to answer for their own dang self.]

[They'd like to hope it's somebody here to visit Toriel. Shepard, maybe. It'd be nice for her to have a break with a friend, or something.

Ha ha, guess what happens when you hope!

They open the door.

They see it's Frisk.

They move to close the door.]

[Frisk catches the door. They don't dare look hopeful, but maybe a bit if it creeps into their expression. A fraction of HoPe, just a shade. But their grip on the door is firm.]

I want to talk.

* But there was nothing to say.

[They apply a bit of pressure. Just enough to be a warning. Just enough to push back against the door a little.

They - they know. Remember. Frisk and their mirror. Going for the fingers. Know how a slamming door can snap careless fingers. Not going to slam, just - going to scare them into thinking they might. Just going to scare them.]

[They could lay a SAVE into motion. They could force them to listen. But they'd really rather not, and - there's no point in abusing everything they've gained now that it's returned.

The door jerks beneath their hands. They simply tighten their grip. If Chara wants to -

They can. They have no reason to stop them.]

There's lots to say.

[There was a thought, just yesterday. What was it?]

Orpheus.

Do you really expect to sway me to anything by waxing sentimental? That's just a pointless story you told me after I tried to shotgun the contents of a flowerbed.

[They don't let go of the door. They don't take the hint. Don't get scared.

Irritating. They don't... have much more than the bluff. Aren't going to reinforce anything the Surface taught them, aren't going to hurt Frisk more than they have already. Have to stick to chasing them off with words, maybe.]

Yet you followed me.

[Norman was not very discrete about finding their body. And that had been the giveaway. The dead giveaway, even.

Chara can claim they don't care all they like. The fact remains that they still wear Green. They cannot escape their own promises, and the fact that they saw fit to keep them.]

Well, you know me. When have I ever turned down a chance to die?

[Badum-tssht. Hilarious, right? Jokes about a kid who slept in the soil are the best jokes they've got.]

You timed it very well.

[They must have seen their body. And Leonard...would not leave them alone. They might know it was him who did it. Do they know how they forgive him? How they -

Well. They can take this one step at a time. More important is the fact that they are talking to Frisk again, albeit with their typical, casual cut-and-riposte of conversation, idly deflecting and then derailing.]

You followed Eurydice.

We don't all see promises as disposable things, Frisk. Even we no longer like the people we made them to.

[They're doing everything they can to drive them away. It's good to know that all those parts of them still work, at least. Pain, frustration, hurt, betrayal - they've been cycling through all of them very briefly. Nice to know that those faculties are still in place.

Still, they keep their expression locked.]

And I'm supposed to believe you don't care?

I don't. I just adhere to the rules I've set.

[Two very different things. Yellowness is not greenness, right? They didn't need a SOUL of their own to still know they had to obey the rules of the Underground. Your turn, my turn. Don't attack shopkeepers. Homes and settlements like Snowdin are safe places. Can't attack the people there. Have to yield your stats when someone tries to * Check, unless you're the kind of self-centered prick who only says their DF is "HIGH."]

I don't care about you, but I care about doing what I say I'll do.

[A pause as they digest the words quietly. Then they shake their head.]

No.

[Said lightly, flatly, as easily as if they were refuting a claim about the color of the sky or the nature of a rainbow, with the lift of pitch that implies they're about to correct a particularly glaring error.]

I don't believe you.

You're doing exactly what you always do. It won't work this time.

Actually, I'm quite confident that it will. We spent a month without so much as glancing at each other, and I certainly wasn't drained of anything in particular. Made no particular difference to me, did it?

No. I do not need you, Frisk.

[They can parrot back Frisk's matter-of-fact tone just fine. Same air of pointing out some patently obvious fact, because it is a fact, isn't it? They didn't lose anything of worth from all of this, and yet they carried on. Proves they're fine. Doesn't it? Proves they don't need anyone.]

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done

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knock knock it's 11/12 now

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