Across the timelines [an Undertale Fanfic] (revised)

Finding Chara

Meanwhile...
"AHHH!!!" Chara screamed as yet another experiment failed. He tried to take a deep breath, but he couldn't help but feel drowsy as the serum slowly began to wore off. The pain was agonizing as sweat dripped from his forehead from the bright light shining down on him. It was enough to bring tears to his eyes. "St-stop this please! AHHH!!!"

As Sans read some blueprints over, he could hear Chara's cries each and every time Alphys tried something new with him. With every scream, he couldn't help but flinch as the cries reached him. Sans was never one for pain, and the sounds of it was getting too much for him to handle. He couldn't listen to anymore screams even from the kid who was supposed to be his enemy.

"Alphys, isn't there something else we could do? Is there something we could give him that won't hurt him? His screams are awfully annoying," Mettaton said as he covered his ears, letting out an exaggerated sigh as he did so. Sans didn't really agree with the way he said it, but was grateful to him for just bringing it up to her.

Looking over at the child they were keeping prisoner at the moment, Alphys couldn't help but agree with the others about his screams. Hearing screams, even someone like Chara's, only reminded her of her last mistake. The screams. The calls. She remembered how she couldn't take it anymore and had locked herself away in her lab. Only now was different. Since they've caught Chara, everything is changing. Sans doesn't know of any timeline like this, and after all her research, she concluded that there wasn't one yet in existence. They were truly making this up as they go.

"I'm so-sorry, but I don't th-think I have anything else for him," she explained, a frown on her face as she looked back at her latest trial. As she finished up the new ray, she tested it out on some instant noodles, just to make sure it doesn't incinerate the kid, before aiming it at Chara. She watched as the boy shook his head no, practically begging her not to hurt him anymore as tears filled his eyes once again. "I'm sorry, Chara. I really am, but we have no choice in the matter."

Sans couldn't bear to watch this any longer, but knew that he had no other choice. They had to find out if it works or not. As Alphys fired at the boy, he forced himself to watch, hoping this would work so he wouldn't have to hear those painful screams anymore. Chara, by himself, had a high tolerance for pain, maybe due to his time spent in both the surface world and Home, but even this was too much for him to handle. If Chara was in this much pain, he could only imagine what Frisk was feeling. 

"AHHH!!!!" Chara shouted again, only this time, something did change. A dark shadow rose out of his body, almost as if baring fangs at them before sinking back inside. The others stared in horror at the boy before seeing dark liquid pouring out of his eyes and mouth. As they watched him, Chara stared up at the ceiling, practically lifeless. "Frisk... he-lp..."

Just then, both Frisk and Toriel walked inside, frightening the others as they turned to see them. Toriel had to carry Frisk inside, but as soon as their eyes landed on him, they froze where they were. To see Chara that way, so different from his usual self, frightened them. There was never a time when they had seen Chara look so... defeated and scared. Chara was as still as a doll, his breathing shallow as his eyes refused to meet theirs. If they didn't know any better, it was like they were watching that boy's final moments.

"Chara." Frisk called out as he was placed back on his feet. He couldn't help but try to gain the other boy's attention, wanting him to show some sign that he was okay. "Chara, we're... here to... help you." As he stumbled over to the tied up boy, he was suddenly held back by his skeleton friend. "Sans, let me go. I need to get to Char-"

"Don't go near him." Sans warned, not bothering to release his hold on his friend. It was time they knew the truth about Chara and the monster he truly was. If he didn't say it now, then it may be too late. "We weren't wrong when we said he was a monster. There is definitely something in him."

As if snapping out of it, Toriel stepped further, ignoring the others cries until she reached him. Chara hadn't moved since they walked in, but he was still very much alive. His breathing proved that to her as she took in a closer look at the broken boy. Despite their warnings, she took hold of Chara's hand, giving him a reassuring squeeze as she looked into his unfocused eyes.

"What did you do to my son?" she asked, not even bothering to look at them. She couldn't bring herself to as tears began to fall down her cheeks. She couldn't help it. "Why isn't he moving? What did you do to him?"

"Mo-m? I do-n't feel so good," the words were almost too silent that she could have sworn she imagined them. As she met his red eyes, Toriel noticed how they were trying to slowly focus on her. The grip she had on his hand changed as he gave her a weak squeeze as a response. "My body hu-rts too much to m-ove. C-can we g-go home? Whe-re's Fr-frisk?"

Hearing him call her mom again struck a cord in her heart. Toriel couldn't just leave him here like this, not when he's asking like this. There was no way she would let them hurt him anymore. This. This is what she knew was in him. This was her Chara, the one who wanted to protect her so much. Pushing some hair away from his face, she said, "he's here. We're both here to take you home."

"I can't let... them get away with this. None of them," he whispered again. "I can't... let this happen again..." With those words, he closed his eyes as a pained look overtook him once again. When they opened, she could see how clouded his eyes were. Something was wrong with him, but she didn't know what. "Get me... out of this... Please!"

Before she could release him, Mettaton's arms stopped her. She, like Frisk, was pulled away from him as Alphys tried to explain what they just saw. At first, Toriel couldn't believe her, finding it just plain cruel to have him here like this when he was clearly in pain and in need of a doctor. Even Frisk was horrified, but as they heard about what they saw, he couldn't help but sit down.

"Show me. If I say its too dangerous for him, then this is over. He's not some kind experiment you can try stuff on." Toriel said as she looked over at the boy on the table. She was afraid of what they were going to do to him, but she had to see it for herself what was causing Chara to act so differently.

As Sans began to take her and Frisk back to a few chairs they've pushed aside, he could have sworn he heard someone calling out Frisk's name. Turning back to Chara, he could see him holding out his hand as best as he could in the restraint, which wasn't much,  trying to reach for him. "Fr-frisk! Get me out of here! Help me!" Tears fell down his face as he called out for the other boy, only making Sans feel worse about this. Despite everything he's done, even he didn't deserve all this. He's already endured enough pain to last about two or maybe even three lifetimes. " Someone get me out of here! Please, help me!"

Alphys took the injection once again, filling it with the last serum they created before going over to Chara. He stared back up at her again, pulling against his restraints as he shook his head no before feeling the needle enter his arm. Once again, he let out a chilling scream as the shadow once again made an appearance.

The black shadow creature glared at each of them with it's glowing red eyes, giving off a similar grin as Chara's. Only this time, it seemed like it was laughing at them. It was nothing like they've ever seen before. As it slowly went back into Chara, more of that black liquid poured down his face from his eyes and corner of his mouth.

Frisk couldn't take it anymore. He ran over to Chara, freeing his arm despite the pain they were both in, before freeing his other one. As soon as Chara was free, Frisk hugged him close, whispering the words "I'm here" into his ear. Chara weakly hugged him back, tears falling down his cheeks as he felt a small pain in his heart.

"You came. You actually came," Chara whispered back, pulling away enough to look at him. He couldn't bring himself to smile at them, no matter how much they deserved it. He couldn't bring himself to do it. "Nobody ever comes when I need help. You're the first."

"I'll always come, Chara. I promised you we'll stay together, remember?" Frisk threw one of Chara's arms over his shoulder, carefully helping him off the bed. As soon as Chara's legs hit the ground, the monsters saw just how much damage they've done to him. The boy was in so much pain that he couldn't even stand without his legs shaking. Chara wanted to fall down to his knees, but with Frisk there helping him, he was able to make it back halfway over to Toriel's side. "Let's go home. Okay?"

He nodded as Toriel came up to meet them halfway, allowing her to scoop him off the ground. Chara knew better to complain right now. After all, this was the first time in a long time that he had to call for help. It was the first time in a long time that someone actually came for him, and he couldn't help but feel grateful for that. 

"No more of this. Alphys, please don't do anymore experiments on him. They're just boys. If you must, please just find out what that was, but don't hurt them anymore." As Toriel glanced down at the boys in her arms, she couldn't help but lock eyes with her favorite skeleton friend. "Sans, you were helping them hurt Chara too? I'm disappointed to see that you are involved with this."

"Tori, it's not what it looks like. I was ju-" Sans tried to explain. He didn't want for her to be upset with him about this. He does care for them like they were his actual family. He just wanted Toriel to be careful this time. All he wanted was for there to be less causalities when Chara finally loses it... 

Toriel shook her head no, not wanting to listen to him at the moment. She was angry at all of them. Everyone she never expected to ever be angry at was here in this room. They knew she loved Chara and would care for him the same she had done for Frisk. They knew that Chara wasn't exactly human, but they didn't trust her with this when they should have. "I know, but it still disappoints me that you would do this now of all time. Frisk and Chara are connected, and there maybe nothing we can do about that, but you couldn't leave that alone. You had to keep trying, even if it means hurting them."

As they left the true lab, Sans watched as Toriel gathered Frisk in her arm as well, letting both boys rest their heads on her shoulders. His eyes locked onto Chara's for a bit, watching as the kid's eyes filled with hatred. His tired frown changed into a sinister smile, but it wasn't Chara's.

"Do you have anymore ideas, Alphys?" Mettaton asked as he watched the woman walk away. When the door shut behind Toriel, he turned back to look at Alphys. "I love that woman just as much as anyone else, but what are we going to do about that hideous monstrosity she's keeping near her?"

Before she could answer, Sans looked over to see what he could have sworn was W.D. Gaster himself. Gaster was the former royal scientist long before Alphys, and was Sans's adoptive father. Of course, Sans knew he was still around the underground, but like before, Gaster was a man of space. He never bothered interfering with their problems unless it was absolutely necessary. There was something about the way he suddenly appeared now that gave Sans the idea that he knew what had gone wrong, and what they had to do.

"We're going to watch him. Twenty monsters were killed in Snowdin, frightening the others into actually leaving. We may have a plan after all."