The void was silent.
Chara's crimson eyes shimmered in the empty white, her smile a perfect, merciless curve. The choices still hung there — ERASE or DO NOT. A simple decision, after everything. A single flick of determination to decide the fate of a dead world.
But Frisk…
For the first time in what felt like forever… hesitated.
The faces of the fallen flickered behind his eyes. Sans. Undyne. Papyrus. Toriel. Monster Kid. Even Flowey. All of them gone, ground to dust beneath his hand — or hers.
And in that moment, a tremor ran through him.
Chara noticed.
Her smile faltered, a shadow of displeasure crossing her face.
"What's wrong?" she asked softly. "We did this together. This was what you wanted, remember?"
Frisk took a step back.
And another.
His hand clenched at his side. A spark of defiance — so small, so fragile, yet burning brighter than it had in ages.
"No…" he whispered.
Chara's eyes narrowed.
"Excuse me?"
The knife appeared in Frisk's grip, materializing from the void as if summoned by will alone. He raised it, his voice steadying.
"I… I'm done."
"I won't let you do this."
Chara stared at him for a long moment.
Then, she laughed. A cold, broken, gleeful sound.
"Oh? Is the killer pretending to be a hero now?"
Her form blurred, crimson energy crackling around her, and in an instant, she was upon him. Their blades clashed — light against darkness, grief against guilt. The void itself shuddered under the force of their collision.
Frisk fought.
For the first time since his fall into the Underground, truly fought to save something — even if it was already gone.
But it was never going to be enough.
Chara moved like a phantom, each strike sharper, faster, more vicious than the last. She danced through his desperate swings, slicing shallow wounds with a mocking ease.
"You think you can undo this?"
A gash across his chest.
"You think it matters?"
A slash through his arm.
"You think you get to stop me?"
A final blow.
Her blade plunged into his heart.
Frisk staggered, blood — or something like it — spilling from his lips.
Chara leaned close, her voice a taunting whisper.
"You're nothing without me."
She let him fall.
—
The Void Dimmed.
Frisk lay in the nothing, his vision blurring. And then — a voice.
His own.
"Wait… please…"
Chara loomed over him, one eyebrow raised.
"Begging now?"
But Frisk didn't beg for his life.
He made a deal.
"Reset it."
"Start over. I'll do it right this time. I'll… I'll fix it."
For a moment, silence.
Then Chara smiled.
"Ah… you're learning."
She knelt beside him, pressing a hand to his chest. The world around them flickered, like static on a dying screen.
"Very well."
Her crimson eyes gleamed.
"But remember — you let me in once. I'll always be there."
The light consumed them both.
—
The girl stared at the man, wide-eyed, clutching the book tight against her chest. Rain streaked down her face like tears.
And then what…? she gestured.
The man's lips curved into a faint smile beneath his hood.
"Then… the world reset."
He gestured to the horizon, to the endless gray of storm clouds above the distant mountain.
"And it all began again."