Chapter Text
Sleep sounded like a dream at this point. Comfortable, dreamless sleep sounded like a myth. Good dreams sounded like bad joke. Frisk would be lucky if they got a mere hour of sleep these days.
Tossing and turning, trying to keep their eyes open despite how many times they'd slipped shut of their own free will, they sighed, resigning themselves to their fate. They stopped fighting as their eyes slipped shut, breathing evened out and they fell into a restless sleep.
The horror was almost instant. As soon as Frisk nodded off, they were met with utter chaos. A barren land, the ground black and the sky painted various shades red - none of them friendly -, sun nowhere in sight. Fire flickered in the distance, screams and cries brimming with utter pain and desolation that Frisk felt the sheer hopelessness in their own heart.
The child stood there, waiting for death to appear to do what happened every time they fell asleep. They waited for the subject of their nightmares to appear and torture them again, putting them through their worst fears with no break and no way out.
As if hearing their despair, he appeared.
"Ah, Frisk, you're back. I was wondering when you'd return," came a silky male voice from behind them, "I missed playing with you :)."
Frisk slowly turned around, head lowered. 'Please, Chara, leave m-' they began to sign before their rapid hand movements were interrupted by iron shackles that bound their only means of communication behind their back, a sadistic smirk playing on the lips of the man in front of them.
"Stop? Now where's the fun in that?" He asked innocently, finger on his lip as he blinked at Frisk with wide eyes. "I already told you the conditions of your freedom. Reset, and I'll leave you alone."
Frisk gulped and shook their head.
"Oh well, your loss!" Chara cried before the already terrifying scenery changed. The ground was no longer black, no, it was red. It wasn't naturally red, either. The sky was still red but it was darker, some sort of a crescent moon up in the sky, a major difference between the real moon and this being that this "moon" was black - as black as the void. Frisk whimpered.
"Scared already, Frisk? But I haven't done anything yet!" Chara giggled, leaning closer as he bopped Frisk's nose with his finger. "You're so adorable."
When Frisk stumbled backwards in disgust, the green-sweater clad child just shrugged, expecting nothing less. "So, what'll it be today?"
The male seemed to be listening out for a response that would never come. "Maybe I'll leave you be?"
Frisk nodded as quickly as they could, a tiny spark of hope shining in their eyes. Chara grinned. That light had no right to be there; after all, Chara's had stopped shining like that years ago.
"Hm, no response. Frisk, I didn't expect you to want to stay, but you're not telling me otherwise!" He smirked, head tilted to the side. "Well, if you insist on staying silent, I must assume that you don't want me to leave you alone!"
The sheer emptiness and hatred in Frisk's eyes had the green-clad child beaming. A feeling in their cold, stone heart. A feeling, that while it might not be a positive one, it was there, and that's all Chara could ask for.
"Well, if you insist on staying, I wonder what we should do today! Maybe we could pay a visit to Toriel? Sans? Mettaton?"
Frisk shook with fear.
"Hm, maybe Alphys? Oh, wait, we haven't done Papyrus in a while, have we?"
Chara delighted in the way Frisk paled and shook even harder. He knew they hated seeing Papyrus die, which is why it was a death they saw less of. After all, he couldn't have them getting used to seeing him dying, could he?
Mind made up, Chara began preparing. Frisk waited in silence, in no way ready for what was to come. Papyrus had to be one of their best friends out of everyone. He tried his best, even if it didn't always turn out, and he was always so optimistic, expressive and truthful. Frisk could admire that about the tall skeleton. He always looked on the bright side of things. Of course, they hated seeing Sans and Toriel die, but they knew deep down that those two could protect themselves. While Frisk had no doubt that Papyrus could too, Frisk wasn't sure that he would. He'd probably just ask for a hug while he was on his deathbed or something else insanely trusting or stupid like that.
"SMALL HUMAN, I COME WITH SPAGHETTI!"
Frisk ducked their head and Chara grinned. It had begun.
The skeleton in the super-duper awesome outfit came to a stop in front of the two children, completely disregarding the green one and focusing his attention on the purple one in front of him. "ARE YOU HUNGRY, HUMAN?"
Frisk shook their head, a tear rolling down their cheek.
"Aw, crying already? You're adorable, Frisk - it hasn't even begun!" Chara cackled, and as by magic, dream-Papyrus was captured in the same iron shackles Frisk was and strung up in front of the pair, gasping in shock and pain.
"W-WHAT? WHAT IS GOING ON HERE? UNHAND ME THIS INSTANT, INVISIBLE FOE!"
"Hey, Frisk, you could save him if you just reset , you know? You don't have to watch him suffer and he doesn't have to go through all this pain!"
Frisk shook their head, tears dripping faster but resolute in their answer.
Chara sighed. "What a pity. I hate to do this, but..."
Papyrus screaming out in pain, his forearm snapping, then snapping again. Black sludge dripped down his bones from his eye sockets as he struggled, trying to get away.
"You're gonna reset. Undo all of their efforts because you're so selfish. Their true happy ending will go to waste, but...that doesn't matter, does it? They won't remember, anyway." Chara giggled, a smile stretched wide on his face, grotesquely distorted with insanity.
Frisk tried to refuse, but they'd never cursed their muteness more than in that moment.
"HUMAN! HUMAN, HELP ME! IT HURTS, MAKE IT STOP!"
"Haha, you know I'm right. You're getting bored, I can feel it. One day, you'll do it. I'm gonna make you if I have to!"
"HUMAN...IT HURTS..."
Frisk risked glancing up and promptly leaned to the side and vomited. Papyrus was a mess of black sludge and snapped bones at this point, his signature scarf hanging on by barely a thread. His pupils locked onto Frisks as they looked back up despite their mind's protests and they were filled with so much pain and hopelessness and despair that Frisk swore they were made up of those three emotions.
"HUMAN...IT'S OKAY, I UNDERSTAND. Y-" Dream-Papyrus paused to cough, black sludge flying out of his mouth despite not possessing lungs. Or blood. "YOU CAN'T HELP ME."
Frisk was noisily gasping for air, tears dripping faster and snot running from their nose.
"I BELIEVE IN YOU, HUMAN."
At those words, Papyrus turned to dust, and Frisk broke.
Chara observed in twisted glee. Maybe he couldn't feel positive emotions any more, but negative emotions existed too. And he'd just had his fix. Perks of being able to torture someone so expressive. An upside is finally getting them to reset and watching Frisk wallow in the pain and horror of what they'd done.
"You know you'll do it, Frisk. You know you'll reset. No one will remember a thing! Don't worry, it's not too hard. Just press the button and it'll all be over. All these nightmares and all this pain."
Chara grinned, beginning to blur as the same black sludge that seeped from Papyrus' sockets began to leak from his eyes as if he was crying.
"Until next time, Frisk."
And just like that, Frisk awoke, promptly curling into a ball on their bed and sobbing.