The progress was not pleasant. The pain did not numb over time but Chara was no stranger to suffering. It was simply par for the course. They felt the pain of death chase them from the physical world over and over again. Yet each time they lost, they had lasted a little bit longer in battle than the time before. They had done a little more damage than the last time they had tried.

With each reincarnation Chara would whisper to Rain and prod at her for help. And each time she did, Rain would bend to her will a little more. Every time they died Chara made sure to wait just a little bit longer to pull them back to their save point; pretending to struggle to pull them back from the brink of death.

Adults were sad and foolish things. They thought they had been around long enough to understand how the world worked. Throw them down here with all this magic and they would struggle to rationalize everything.

Rain didn’t know how things worked so Chara could feed her all the lies and half-truths she needed. As long as Rain believed there was a danger to run from and a gray area to hide in, Chara would be able to control her.

So she made her believe that their ability to pull themselves back from death was limited by something other than their own will to survive. She made her believe that they were running out of time.

Rain tried to regain control and run once or twice, but Undyne would not allow it. The ironclad Captain did Chara the favor of being Rain’s inquisitor, relentlessly beating her down. She forced Rain, who was soft and weak, to experience the pains of death over and over again as punishment for her reluctance to fight.

Her attempts to free herself from Chara’s grasp and seek some form of retribution were meant only with torture. Her reluctance only resulted in being thrown back into that darkness she so feared. There Chara would claim that this may be the last time she could bring them back.

Then she would whisper about how the monsters killed children for their souls. She would tell her about how king Asgore would wage war on the humans if they let him win. She would remind her of how the monsters had taken her best friend away.

Poor Rain, she had loved that boy of hers so much.

Five or six painful deaths and progressively slower reincarnations later, Rain’s will finally broke.

She was ready to cooperate. After all, she still forced herself believe that after Undyne was gone Chara would let her regain control of her body.

Poor little puppet.

Rain’s shaky presence finally staggered up to Chara within the swirling darkness of their shared mind. Chara could feel her like a hand on her shoulder; her face hidden. Above them Undyne was giving her speech again. To her credit she had shortened it a bit. She probably sensed that they had done all this before.

“Yes?”

“I will do it. But only if you promise to give me back full control when it’s over. No more violence.”

“Of course Rain, that’s quite a reasonable request. After all I only ever assumed control to protect you. And after she is out of the way, Asgore will be the only thing between us and the barrier anyway. So, are you ready to be done with this? Or do you need to take another nap in the soil?”

Her presence shuddered, unease rising up within her like cold shadows. “I am ready.”

“Good. All I want you to do is watch my back. Let me see what you see.”

Once again Undyne shouted “En garde!” and came flying down at them. Once again they were hit by an unavoidable spray of energy that pulled their soul to the surface and tainted it green.

They were quite familiar with the routine by now. They danced past the first few waves of attacks and welcomed Undyne onto the battlefield.

Chara deflected one blow after the other, dancing around within their little sparring box with Undyne looking on. With Rain acting as the eyes in the back of her head it was easy. Each time Undyne thought she had boxed them in Chara would back away from the invisible wall at the last second or deflect an attack that had come at her from a supposed blind spot.

“Not bad.” Undyne grunted, eventually launching herself into the ring and going toe to toe with them.

“Well you know what they say, practice makes perfect.” Chara quipped.

For a brief moment it looked like Undyne may have caught the gist of what she was implying but she was not given long to ponder over it. She was falling back from their melee exchange and sending down another rain of hellfire.

Chara advanced anyway, too hungry for a blow to back off despite the oncoming danger.

She took another quick step back; surprised that Chara was willing to take the risk. Undyne deflected the first jab but Chara scored a cut across Undyne’s leg with the second, driving her even farther back into a defensive stance.

With this new space opening up between them, Chara had enough room to bring her spear all the way up again and deflect the next round of magical attacks as they fell. She rolled to the side, getting nicked in the arm but otherwise avoiding the rest of the attack.

“Really Undyne, is that all you’ve got? I expected more from the Captain of the Royal Guard.” She struck out at her again. Undyne sidestepped and retaliated, red hair trailing behind her like a war banner.

“You really want me to kick it up a notch, you little shit?”

“Don’t provoke her!”

“Why not? People tend to get sloppy when they’re angry.”

Three jabs, one after the other, each one causing Chara to take a step back to avoid getting skewered. Shorthanded spears with vicious barbs on their sides started to fall in from several directions, Causing Rain to tense up out of habit.

Chara knocked two of the oncoming attacks out of the air, spinning in place and deflecting a third. Undyne was giving her no quarter now. Another relentless attack caught her in the ribs, throwing them off balance. Chara managed to knock Undyne back with a desperate, wild swing before falling onto her back as another spear streaked by overhead and sent up a shower of sparks as it collided with Undyne’s armor.

“Get over here, you little brat!” Undyne spat, spittle flying from her lips as she began creating and then smashing spears into the ground one after the other.

Chara rolled back and forth in an ever decreasing area of space to try and avoid her. One hit her in the back but didn’t sink deep enough to remain logged there. “Rain, heal!” Chara snapped. She soon felt the warm itching sensation of flesh knitting itself back together.

Undyne raised her arm again to command the next wave. Chara screamed her battle cry and snaked forward; raising her spear and catching the warrior in the side during a brief moment where she had exposed herself.

Undyne grunted in shock and doubled over a little, hand shooting up to the wound in her side. She finished off her attack command in a desperate attempt at recovery.

Chara reached out to Rain, whose disembodied presence had a wider scope of awareness. She sensed Rain bracing herself for the blow and knew where the next strike would land. Without batting an eye Chara lifted her spear and blocked the shot without even turning around. Then in the same smooth motion, she sprang forward and brought the tip of her spear around to gain another cut to Undyne’s good leg.

Undyne was falling back now. She was being forced to put all her weight on one bad leg or the other. The wound to her side was draining her; she struggled to catch her breath.

“Surprised?” Chara taunted, knocking away another shot that came in from behind without even turning back to look.

“What… the hell are humans made out of?” She panted, staggering a step before righting herself and pushing forward, back into the fray. Each word she shouted was punctuated by another frenzied stab.

“Stop!” She cut left, Chara dodged.

“Being!” A school of knee high spears darted through the weeds while a second wave came in at shoulder height. Chara jumped over one and then ducked under the other.

“So!” She caught Chara in the shoulder, causing her to be knocked sideways into an ungraceful spin.

“Damn!” She had pushed Chara into a corner now. Their green soul throbbed in warning as they neared the line in the dirt.

“Heal me. This will hurt.” Chara warned.

“Resilient!” Undyne went in for the kill, aiming for the heart. Unbeknownst to her, Chara and Rain had seen this move several times before by now. They tucked their arm up against their chest as the spear slid through the air, cutting a gash in their arm but being knocked off course by their elbow.

Chara lashed out with her own spear, aiming over Undyne’s shoulder and snagging against a chink in her armor. After that everything happened all at once.

Undyne corrected her strike and hit them just under the heart. The pain made the world go white and out of focus but Chara snarled and fought her way through it. She yanked her good arm back, dragging Undyne forward a step on her weakened legs while Chara herself advanced forward against the pain of the recent blow.

She gripped her lent energy spear with one hand while the other vanished into the folds of her stolen cloak. She had been waiting for the proper opportunity to use this.

She clutched the cold steel of her fire iron. It was far shorter than Undyne’s spear but now that they were face to face it did not matter. In one lightning fast move she plunged the cold iron down into Undyne’s chest; her desire to harm driving its iron edge past her protective armor like it was paper.

Undyne staggered back over the sparring line, looking down at her chest in shock. “No…You can’t…” She laughed; a strange, wild look in her eye. “You… you were stronger than I thought!” She fell to her knees. Her body was beginning to shimmer. “So… this… this is where it ends?” Her whole body shuddered as she coughed.

Chara spent several seconds doubled over and gasping for air before she managed to pull herself to her feet. She tried to pick up her energy spear but it disintegrated in her hand as she touched it.

Undyne began to sound panicked. “No. No! I Can’t! Everyone is counting on me to protect them! ” She gripped the fire iron lodged in her chest and pulled it free. She tossed it away with a clatter. Her entire form danced and shimmered like a watery reflection disturbed by a pebble.

Chara limped over and retrieved her trusty weapon like a wary dog scavenging for a bone.

Undyne created a new spear and threw it at them. They tumbled out of the way and fell into a defensive stance; expecting a second attack that never came. Undyne was too busy trying to hold herself together to strike at them in rapid succession.

“Heh. H-had enough yet? Because…I…won’t give up.”

Rain looked down on her with a cold sort of pity. Was this what justice looked like? It was far less satisfying than she had hoped.

Revenge wore an ugly face. A face that looked far too much like hers.

“…Leave her.”

“No.” Chara purred. The green was fading from their soul now. It was beginning to glow red again, matching the stains on their shirt.

Undyne swung her arm, causing her body to shimmer again. Another rain of bullets assaulted them but they were slower now. They quivered in the air and some even fell to the ground and vanished.

“Alphys...” She gave a shaky laugh, “This- this is what I was afraid of. This why I never told you!”

“Chara, give me my body back.” Rain’s presence gripped at her like a hand on the shoulder but the hand trembled. Her grip was weak. Her efforts to keep them alive had left her feeble and drained.

Chara watched Undyne with hungry eyes. “Just close your eyes, Undyne. Sleep.”

“No. No! I won’t die!” for a moment Undyne’s body reformed a bit. “I won’t die!” It grew a little more solid.

Chara stepped over the sparring line, twirling her fire iron into a striking position as the last green wisps vanished from her soul. She struck at Undyne again.

She deflected the blow with her gauntlet but it broke her concentration and her body began to shimmer again.

“Chara, Chara, we won! We won! Just leave her! Why are you tormenting her?”

“I won’t die! I-if you think I’m going to give up hope then you’re wrong! Alphys told me she would watch our battle….and if anything went wrong, she would evacuate everyone. But… but that-” She coughed. Her entire body shuddered.

Undyne looked up with a big, mocking, toothy grin that lied about everything she was feeling. “That… won’t be necessary! Because I won’t…die..”

Chara looked down at her, emotionless. “You are already dead.”

“I….won’t…” She fell over, a dusty shadow of her former self following behind her like an after effect. The world seemed to fall eerily quiet save for the wind. She struggled one last time to pull herself back up but her arms slowly slid back out from under her with a rattling sigh.

It felt like all of Waterfall sighed its last breath alongside its heroine when Undyne’s smile died on her lips and the deadly light in her single sharp eye faded away into a glassy dullness.

Her last words were lost to the wind that scattered her dust.

Chara took a long, deep breath that hurt her injured ribs, then sighed. She could feel her power increasing. Undyne’s strength was hers now.

She could feel Rain’s attempts to push her away becoming a feeble notion, like the mewling of a kitten.

“Shut up, Rain.” She stooped down and picked something up out of the pile of dust. Another trophy to remind her of her cunning victory.

She took the eyepatch and tied it to the end of her improvised spear. “Undyne was strong. But I was stronger. And now,” she cast her gaze towards the distant smoldering features of the Hotland, her new hunting grounds. “I am stronger than you, too.”

Rain’s feeble voice was a whisper now, crying out that that this was her body. That she should be the one in control.

Chara laughed at this foolishness as she set out on her new path. “Oh Rain, you idiot. Since when were you ever the one in control?”