When the Stars Die

Chapter 9

(So because I can't write fight scenes for the life of me, there's gonna be a time skippy at the end of the chapter and start of the next chapter.

Guys I swear we're getting to the good stuff now, trust me.)

Chara's smile grew as she glared down at the AU.

She never really did like Underfell. The Frisk was weak and a doormat to be stepped on, and the Flowey was a weak-willed coward. She did like how the law of the land, "kill or be killed", was strongly enforced around here. But there was just so much red and black everywhere.... calling the AU and its inhabitants edgy was an understatement.

She had decided to start things like a Genocide Route. This timeline's Frisk had done a Pacifist Route, so they were living with Asgore in the castle. But Toriel was still living in the Ruins with a bunch of other weak, no-name monsters who had no spines. The Ruins was always the easiest place to clear out. By the time she made it to Toriel, there was no fight to be had. She just needed one hit.

She'd sent the door of the Ruins flying in broken pieces, sending them into the woods of the Snowdin Forest. Her pale skin and tattered black clothes were covered in the dust of monsters. In her hand she was clutching the soul of Underfell's Toriel, digging her claws into it as she drained it of its magic.

She turned her head to look directly into the camera hidden in the bushes. She may as well give the Alphys a little bit of a scare, right? She held up Toriel's soul in perfect view of the camera, and once she had drained it of its last drops of magic, crushed it in her grip. The sound of the soul snapping and shattering into tiny specks was like music to her ears.

She turned on her heel, walking down the paved pathway in the snow. The freezing white melted under her feet, leaving dust-littered, scorched patches of the ground where chaotic matter had marked her movements. She knew that at any given moment, those stupid Star Sanses would appear to try and stop her. Whether or not they got help from the Bad Guys would hardly affect the situation. However.... if they did join forces, which was highly unlikely, then she could present her gift to that bastard right there.

You see, Chara had once been part of Nightmare's gang. She'd had her own bedroom in his castle, along with her own "trophy" room, as she called it. She had loved all of it. She'd once tried to take Flowey there, but Nightmare had forbidden it. She had been a loyal member of his team for five years, and then he gave her the boot.

All because she nearly killed Betty and Crescent the one day, and because she nearly ruined Nightmare's oh so precious spellbook from when he was younger!

Talk about being ridiculous. But once she gave him Dream's soul, he would have to take her back! It was what he wanted all along. He would never shut up about how much he wanted to kill Dream, and not in the "my sibling pisses me off to no end" kind of way. Though he would probably want to kill Dream himself, right? She could probably figure out a way to get that to work.

Chara laughed to herself as she readied the scythe, eyeing the monsters up ahead.

~~~~

"Everyone remembers the plan, right?"

The group had gathered together in the Doodle Sphere. Only the five enforcers of the balance had showed up, and for a good reason. If an AU had too many characters that didn't naturally belong in it, things would start to go wrong. Life was not present, as she was keeping things maintained back in Reapertale. But they would most likely go to her for healing once they were done dealing with Chara.

It wasn't hard to find the AU where Chara was having her rampage. The paper was glitching and the files within it were becoming twisted. At one point, Toriel's file disappeared entirely. Ink was getting the portal to the AU ready, taking extra steps to secure it with the unstable condition of the AU. They were just going over some last minute details and making sure they knew what to do.

"Alright. The portal's ready," Ink informed the group, turning to face them. "Ready whenever you guys are."

"There's no point in delaying. Let's go." Nightmare nodded. "But Dream, I swear to our mother that if you do something stupid.... you're not gonna wake up tomorrow."

Dream let out a laugh, and so did Reaper and Error. Ink turned away from the group to open up the portal for transportation. There was a small smile on his face, his pupils changing shapes and colors in an odd way. Error, who was standing closest to him, took notice of the abnormality of this. Ink had been acting a bit off the whole time, and on their way to the Doodle Sphere he'd seemed like he didn't want to go at all.

"InK? YoU gOoD?" Error asked him, bring the others' attention to it.

"Huh? Oh, yeah, I'm good," Ink replied.

Yeeeah.... Error doubted that. But he didn't push the matter. That could wait until later. The last thing they needed was to piss each other off, and then have to go into battle together. One by one, they jumped into the portal. Soon, the only one standing in the Doodle Sphere was Ink. He turned his head, taking one last look at the AUs.

"Hm... in the case of an emergency...." He murmured to himself, grabbing Broomie from his back.

He took a few seconds to make little ball-shaped devices. They would let whoever was holding them be instantly teleported back to the Doodle Sphere once the "master" device was activated. Speaking of that device, he slipped it into the folds of his clothes. Clutching the other four devices, he jumped through the portal.

Silence filled the Doodle Sphere.

"...... He wasn't supposed to do that," an echoing voice commented.

"It's not like we can do anything about it," another voice added. "We aren't the ones writing the story."

"When Ink comes back, can we remind him of the consequences?"

".... What is wrong with y'all?"