Never Die Again

10. What Had to Be Done

"Anyone else who wishes to do something sensible, feel free to join me."

- Undyne

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... what else was Chara supposed to do?

She had said that she wanted to save Frisk - and she had meant it - but now that the moment had come, what could she possibly do? As Mew had said, even if they captured Frisk, he would just be executed, and that was the best-case scenario. As for the worst...

Frisk squirmed in the dirt. Even in this state... Chara couldn't hesitate a moment longer.

She pulled the trigger.

The blaster charged up, and then it unloaded on Frisk's head. His face turned red with blood, and he stopped moving. His soul moved out of his chest and hovered in the air.

250 EXP

Tears flowing down her cheeks, Chara sobbed. It was done.

... she had to collect the souls. She hopped off the Arbiter and went to Frisk's body. She took out her phone, scanned the soul, and transferred it to dimensional storage. She did the same with Cathleen's, and Elara's, and...

Hmm? Chara looked down at Syleth's burned body. He was still breathing. Chara had a fix for that. She aimed her blaster.

"W-wait," Syleth croaked. "Don't -"

Chara fired, finishing him off. His soul came out, and Chara put it in her dimensional box with the others.

She looked at the rest of the battlefield, what was left of it at least. Alpin's corpse lied in the ground. Sans was nowhere to be found, but a pile of dust sat near Alpin. Bodies of dead soldiers littered the field. The vast majority had fallen, and the few survivors stood amongst their dead comrades with lifeless expressions.

Chara heard the sound of a jetpack as someone flew to her position. It was Dacuel. He landed by her, glancing at Frisk's body. "So, after all that, you went and killed him anyway."

"What choice did I have?" Chara asked. "I was a fool to protect him; I realize that now. It's not that I wanted to do it, but he was beyond saving. All we can do is let him rest."

Dacuel nodded. "Yeah, that's the sensible conclusion, isn't it?"

Someone else flew in; Asriel. He stared at Chara with a somber look, but she turned away.

"... don't worry about me," Chara said. "I did what had to be done."

"... that doesn't mean it was an easy choice," Asriel said.

She sniffled. "Guess it really was 'kill or be killed' this time."

All Asriel could do was nod. "Maybe..."

Chara looked Asriel in the eyes. "Remember what I said before? It all comes down to A, B, or C."

"... was there a C?" Asriel wondered.

She shook her head. "Not that I can see... n-no pun intended, h-haha..."

Asriel held his hand over his chest. "I... I'm sorry."

Chara wiped her tears away. "I have a job to do. I need to make sure this never happens again."

"R-right," Asriel said. "I'll help however I can."

"... thank you, Brother."

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The Next Day