Chara had another dream, more vivid this time.
These dreams were strange, because Chara wasn't actually part of them. She was inside someone else's body, kind of like how she had once been inside Frisk's body. The same boy from the last dream walked up to the girl that Chara was inside. The boy was a small child who looked somewhere around ten years old. Although Chara could not see her face, she guessed that the girl was about two or three years older than her brother. Again, they had met in an open field, filled with golden flowers, and it was a beautiful sunny day.
"Felicia..." the brother said. "Are you really the World Master now?"
Felicia nodded.
"That's... great," the brother said. "But... you know what Mom and Dad want you to do."
Felicia clenched her fists. "I don't care."
"But Mom and Dad-"
"MOM AND DAD ARE WRONG!"
"S-sister..."
"... sorry," Felicia apologized. "But I've made my decision. I'm going to do everything I can to set the monsters free. They've been trapped for way too long. They deserve to see the sun again. It's time for the barrier to go."
The brother looked conflicted. "I want to believe you, but Mom and Dad said they're dangerous. After all, they killed that one child."
"Then why didn't he fight back?" Felicia asked. "Everyone just assumed the monster had killed the child, but if that were true, he would have attacked the village. I think the monster was just trying to return the dead child. It must have been a gesture of peace! And how did we respond? With violence!"
"But what about the other six kids who climbed the mountain and never returned?" the brother asked.
"Well, duh! Once you go in the barrier, you can't get out! It doesn't mean the monsters killed them!"
"Then why did the Government block off the mountain?"
"That's not to keep us safe. It's to keep the monsters trapped."
"But... Mom and Dad-"
"Jacob... I know you love them, but you don't have to believe everything they say."
Jacob grimaced. "I don't want to choose between you and them."
Felicia whimpered, and she hugged her brother. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to put you in the middle. I don't want you to accept what they say without question, but you can believe whatever you want. Whether you agree with me or our parents, I'll still love you."
Jacob hugged back. "Thank you."
"So, what do you believe? You can be honest! I won't get mad!"
"... I don't know," Jacob answered. "I've never met them."
Felicia smiled. "Well, that's alright. I love you, Brother."
Jacob smiled back. "I love you too, Sister."
#
Chara woke up.
Why was she having these dreams? Was it... from her SOUL? Was her SOUL really empty...? She thought back to when she was inside Frisk's head. Back then, it took deliberate effort to communicate with him. Chara took a deep breath, and she tried to communicate that same way again.
... hey, is anyone there? Felicia...?
No response.
Apparently, Chara was experiencing memories from the SOUL's previous owner, but this Felicia did not seem to be around. Chara's curiosity overwhelmed her. She had to know whose Felicia was. Was she still out there somewhere? If she still existed... Chara wouldn't be able to justify keeping the SOUL for herself. Chara would gladly give it back. Maybe she could even go back in Frisk's head. Even without a SOUL, living inside of Frisk wasn't so bad...
If Chara's dreams were accurate, Felicia was so much like Frisk. Even though she didn't know them, she wanted to help the monsters so badly. Not only that, but she also loved her brother, even if he didn't agree with her. Whoever she was, she definitely deserved to live more than Chara did.
Despite that, Chara was happy that she could be with Frisk, and what was left of Asriel.
Chara got out of Frisk's bed and looked around. The couch was empty. Frisk had already awoken and left the room. It was just her and Flowey, the remains of the brother that Chara had destroyed. Unless Chara really could turn Flowey back into Asriel, Chara would never forgive herself.
Flowey looked at her and smiled. "Good morning, Chara."
She smiled back. "Good morning, Asriel." Out loud, she still called him Asriel, even though she saw him as Flowey.
"Frisk has already left for the Embassy, and Toriel's out on errands. It's just you and me!" Flowey chirped.
Chara couldn't help but feel a little disappointed. "Oh, Frisk's gone already? I wish I could have at least told him to have a nice day or something."
Flowey laughed. "Yeah, I'm sure you miss him already."
She gave him a funny look. "Uh, what's that supposed to mean?"
"I'm just saying, you seem to care about Frisk a lot."
"Umm, yeah?"
"And I hope you still have time for your little brother."
"Oh, of course," Chara said. "Why wouldn't I? Yes, I like Frisk a lot. We're best friends, but you're still my best friend, too."
He frowned. "Well, I'm not really Asriel anymore."
It made Chara sad, but that was the truth. Frisk probably didn't see it that way. He was too optimistic to think of him as Flowey. He knew that he couldn't truly be Asriel without his soul, but he wanted to believe that Asriel was still alive.
Chara hugged him. "I'm sorry," she whispered. "If only I could give you my soul."
"Hey, stop beating yourself up so much."
"Heh, that's what Frisk said."
"Yeah, it's good advice. You should take it."
"Maybe..."
Chara let go of Flowey and went to Frisk's desktop computer. She logged in and opened a web browser.
"Ooo, what'cha looking up?" Flowey asked with great interest.
She typed in a search query, 'World Master Felicia.' "Asriel, I've been... having some weird dreams. I think they might be memories, belonging to whoever my SOUL once belonged to. My last dream revealed something very interesting: apparently, she was once a World Master."
"G-golly," Flowey breathed. "That does sound interesting!"
It was going to be a painful search. World Masters - who weren't Frisk - were easily Chara's least favorite thing in the entire world. There were many reasons why Chara hated humanity, but the ability to RESET and avoid consequences was the worst one of all. She scrolled through the old histories and records of known World Masters. While it was true that there had been some Masters who used their powers for good, too many used them for selfish purposes, and even among the apparently good ones, how did anyone know that they didn't just reset after doing something vile, leaving no memory of it? So many of them thought they were above consequences.
But Chara wasn't concerned with them at the moment. She just had to find the World Master named Felicia. Judging by her dream, she had lived after the seventh human had climbed Mount Ebott, but before Frisk had. It shouldn't have been difficult.
Unfortunately, it wasn't so easy. Apparently, there was no World Master known as Felicia, meaning her powers had never been publicly identified. Indeed, the World Master's identity was often unknown. For quite some time, it had been a mystery until it was revealed to be the future President Jacob Malcom. He was the exact opposite of the girl who Chara was looking for, so it appeared that she had reached a dead end. All Chara knew was that Felicia must have been an unknown World Master before Jacob Malcom.
... wait, Jacob?
Chara looked up Jacob Malcom and his family. It turned out, Jacob had a sister who supposedly died of an illness at the age of thirteen, and... her name was Felicia.
A fatal illness, huh? That sounded awfully familiar. Felicia and Jacob had made it clear that their parents strongly disapproved of Felicia's desire to free monsters. Chara looked up their parents. They were both politicians dedicated to keeping the barrier active. Horrified, Chara started to piece together what must have happened.
Chara clenched her fists. Did they...?
Did they murder her?!
"Ch-Chara, what's wrong?" Flowey asked.
"They killed her!" Chara screamed. "They killed Felicia!"
"Chara, calm down!"
Chara started laughing. It was funny. "Haha... Felicia and I have a lot in common!"
"You don't know that. Maybe-"
"Hahaha! Of course they did! They were human, after all!"
"Chara..."
Chara's laughter dissolved into light sobbing. She covered her eyes. "I shouldn't have looked. I shouldn't have looked."
The implications of this made everything even worse, and it raised so many questions. How did the terrorists get their hands on Felicia's SOUL? Did Malcom... give it to them? Did he really hate monsters enough to arm terrorists with his own sister's SOUL? Did he have a hand in his sister's death?
Flowey tried to comfort Chara. "It's okay, Chara. You're fine."
"Asriel..." Chara whispered. "My SOUL once belonged to Felicia, the sister of President Malcom. How could the terrorists have possibly gotten it?"
"... I don't know," Flowey answered.
Chara sighed, and she logged off the computer. She had to take her mind off of this. "I... need breakfast."
Chara got up, picked up Flowey, and headed to the kitchen to make herself breakfast. She was feeling lazy, so she just popped some frozen waffles in the toaster... and then she slathered them in chocolate syrup. Chocolate always made everything just a little bit better.
As she ate, Toriel returned home. Chara tried to smile as if nothing was wrong. "Greetings, Mother!"
"Greetings, my child," Toriel replied. "I have something for you!" Toriel handed Chara a cellphone. "Do not worry, Alphys made sure that I found you a suitable model."
Chara giggled and took the phone. "I'm sure it's much more advanced than the one you gave me back in 201X." Chara grinned, and she dialed Frisk's number. Talking with Frisk would definitely clear her mind!
Sadly, the call went to voicemail. Chara left a message as cheerfully as she could manage. She supposed that Frisk was busy at the Embassy. After leaving her message, she sighed and put her new phone away.
Chara looked at Toriel. "Thank you, Mother."
Toriel could sense Chara's sadness. "Aww, you miss Frisk, do you? Worry not! He will be back tonight."
Chara smiled slightly. "I know. It's just... I'm not sure what to do today."
"Hmm... may I suggest getting to know another friend? Perhaps someone such as Papyrus, or Sans?"
"That doesn't sound like a bad idea." Chara thought about who she wanted to meet. Sans seemed like a good choice. He could be a little annoying sometimes, but he shared Chara's love for puns. Despite that, he could also be very serious. It seemed appropriate. "What's Sans's number?"
Toriel beamed. "Ah, excellent choice!" She gave Chara his number, and Chara dialed it.
"Hey," Sans answered.
"G-greetings, Sans. It's me, Chara. Umm... I was wondering if you'd want to... umm... hang out. M-maybe have lunch?"
Sans chuckled. "Geez kid, you sound like Alphys, but sure. I suppose I can pry myself away from my work."
"OH, YEAH!" Chara heard Papyrus sarcastically yell in the background. "You're working real hard, watching me sell all these hot dogs!"
"Yeah," Sans replied. "Think you can handle it on your own, bro?"
Papyrus sighed. "Yeah, I've got it! Have fun with Frisk!"
"It's Chara, actually."
"Have fun with Frisk's clone!"
"We'll meet at Grillby's around 1 o'clock," Sans told Chara. "Is that good?"
"Yeah! See you there!"
"I think we'll have a good time. See ya," Sans hung up.
Flowey groaned. "Why are you going out with that smiley trashbag?"
"Why not?" Chara asked.
"Don't underestimate that guy," Flowey whispered. "He may act harmless enough, but he's always watching you, judging you. And if he doesn't like what he sees... the bad times begin."
She blinked. "The... bad times?"
"Yes, the bad times. Trust me, it's not a good time."
"Hmm... if I confess my sins to Sans, will he give me one of these bad times?"
"I don't know, maybe. I mean, it does take some serious effort to antagonize him. He is kind of lazy. If you incur his wrath, you've really worked hard for it."
Chara was intrigued. "What does it take?"
"Sometimes, even killing Papyrus didn't make him attack."
"Wait, what?!"
"Well, it always pissed him off. He always judged me for it, but he wouldn't always kill me over it."
"Seriously?! If someone killed you, I'd hunt them down across the Earth. No, the universe! I wouldn't rest until you were avenged!"
Flowey laughed. "Good to know. Anyway, yeah, it took a lot of kills to make Sans kill me, but when he did, he was really good at it."
"What on Earth are you two whispering about?" Toriel asked.
"Nothing!" Flowey exclaimed.
Chara thought about what Flowey had said. Aside from Undyne, it sounded like Sans was one of the Underground's main lines of defense. She grew curious. How would Sans react if Chara told him the truth behind her death?
"Asriel," Chara whispered. "Serious question, what if I told Sans everything? You know what I mean."
"Probably not the greatest idea," he answered.
Chara wanted to tell couldn't hide from her past forever, and she wanted to know what Sans really thought of her, good or bad.
Chara looked at her mother. "Sans and I are going to Grillby's."
Toriel smiled. "That sounds wonderful! I will drive you there!"
Chara considered declining her offer and walking, but she decided to accept her help. "Alright. Thanks, Mother."
"Of course, my child!"
Chara looked at Flowey.
"Don't worry about me," Flowey told her. "I'm used to being alone, and Mom won't even be gone long."
"Actually, do you want to come with me?" Chara asked.
Flowey frowned. "No... I'm... not comfortable around him."
Chara felt like talking to Sans would have done Flowey some good as well, but she didn't want to force him. "Okay. I won't try to pressure you... I've done that far more than enough."
"... no, you're right, Chara," Flowey said. "I need to face him. I'll come with you."
Chara became flustered. Did she manipulate him without realizing it? "N-no, Asriel! You don't have to come if you don't want to!"
"This is my choice, Chara," Flowey stated, understanding Chara's concern.
Chara tried to protest, but Toriel interrupted them. "Great, Asriel! I think this will be good for both you and Chara!"
"I hope so."
When it was time, Chara and Flowey both let Toriel take them to Grillby's.