As I Fall Apart Beside You (1)
I woke up to a searing headache and a monochrome sky. My breath felt caught in my chest, as if I’d just fallen from a great height. Sitting up and clutching my skull in an attempt to stop the dizziness, I noticed I was in a vast meadow, dotted with yellow and purple flowers. They seemed to be the only semblance of color in this place… and somehow, that seemed familiar.
“Hello?” I choked out, my voice rough as if I hadn’t spoken in a long time. My vision finally fully cleared, and I realized there was someone standing in front of me. I immediately recoiled in shock upon recognizing him, and my heart began to flutter.
The boy looked stunned for a moment, before crossing his arms with a smirk. “That’s my name. How did you know?” He leaned down to my level, fixing me with an intense gaze. “I haven’t seen you before. Who’re you?”
“I-I… I’m…” My mind, shockingly, drew a blank. When I thought of my name, nothing came up. The gap in my memory filled me with dread.
X!Chara’s amused expression quickly changed into a concerned one. "You don't even know your own name...?" He seemed confused and quite surprised at my response.
“No…” I shook my head, trying to clear my thoughts. “I don't understand... How am I in Xtale?!"
He began to look even more perplexed.
“I’m from the real world!” I blurted out, somehow knowing that fact was true. “S-shit, why can’t I remember anything…? I need to get home!”
X!Chara slowly raised an eyebrow, as if doubting my claim. “Did you just say you’re from the real world?” he questioned.
“Yeah,” I replied, nodding vigorously. “Yeah, you're not supposed to be real... How the hell are you real?! I must be dreaming..."
He looked quite baffled after I said that. Shaking his head, he replied, "Well, I could say the same thing about you. I've never had anyone from the real world end up here. And I can assure you... You're not dreaming right now."
I sat up straight, staring at him in sheer curiosity. "So I'm... In the Multiverse? Like, for real?"
“Mhm,” he replied. “For real.” Standing there with his arms crossed, he watched as the realization fully sank in.
"Holy shit," I breathed. "I... I suppose it can't hurt to stay here for a while, right...?"
“I guess not,” he said with a shrug. “But don’t you have a life in the real world? Friends and family you left behind?”
“I’m sure I do…” I stopped to think for a moment. Nothing came up but a few hazy faces, seen as if through a fog. “...But I can’t remember them.”
He stared at me for a few moments, quietly thinking. “Interesting,” he murmured after the brief pause. “Do you know how you got here?” he continued. “Do you remember anything about before you ended up in the middle of this field?”
I shook my head. "My only memory is waking up here. Aside from that, I feel as if I only retain my knowledge of this Multiverse. Speaking of… Are you sure I’m safe here?"
“Why?” he asked. “Are you worried about X!Gaster?”
I nodded. "That's exactly what I'm worried about, actually. The last thing I want to do is disrupt his 'perfect universe.'"
“Understandable,” he sighed. “Although… To be honest, I'm kind of surprised he hasn't shown up yet. He's probably watching us from across the field or something.”
I gulped, following his gaze across the meadow to a fenced-off area on the horizon. Something about it made my skin prickle. "If he finds me, it's game over. He won't hesitate to overwrite, and... I don't know what will happen to me."
To my dismay, X!Chara nodded in agreement. “Yup - you’d be dead, in one way or another.”
"Then we should probably get me somewhere out of the open,” I replied. “Do you have a home in this timeline?"
He nodded again, taking my hand and leading me across the clearing. To my relief, I was led in the opposite direction of the ominous fence. He was surprisingly fast, and I struggled to keep up with him. Eventually we reached the edge of town, and I began to spot familiar faces.
"They're wearing Royal Guard uniforms,” I whispered as we passed by. “That means this is the tenth timeline. Then why aren't you fused with Frisk...?"
X!Chara paused in front of a lone cabin at the edge of the area and turned to me. "Fused?” he queried. “What are you talking about...?"
"You- you're supposed to fuse with your brother after he dies,” I explained. “But it looks like, for some reason, you didn't. This must be some kind of alternate timeline..."
He paused for a moment as if he were processing my words. "...What?? I...I fuse with Frisk? How the hell is that supposed to work?!"
"You used your overwrite button to exchange your body for his, trapping yourself as a ghost in his head." I stated this as if it were the most obvious fact in the world.
He stared at me as if I’d grown a second head. "Wait... How... How do you know all of this??" he questioned, looking suspicious. He seemed almost disturbed at the idea of being trapped as a ghost in Frisk's head.
"Real World, remember?” I reminded him. “I watched your universe play out, and that's how it went."
He suddenly seemed very disturbed by my response, as if finally believing my claim about where I had come from. He thought about what I had said for a few moments, before saying, "...I...I can't believe I actually do that... A-and to my own brother...?"
"Y...yeah. And it certainly won't be the last time you're reduced to a voice in someone's head. But…” I pause, thinking. “Hmm. Maybe in this timeline, we can avoid that altogether..."
X!Chara slowly began to look more and more distressed. “Wh-what? 'Not the last time'...? Are you saying... I get stuck in someone's head again? Multiple times...?"
“Uh… yeah?” I look away, scratching the back of my head and really not wanting to have this conversation. “Have you started overwriting humans into trying to kill you yet? If so, it may be too late."
He was completely speechless. He stood there in total shock, staring at me as if I had seen the most horrifying secrets of the world. Which, according to him, I probably had. “Yeah,” he muttered. “I…I have…”
"Okay..." I take a deep breath. "You need to stop that immediately, before someone gets very mad at you. Maybe we can still avoid the death of this universe."
He stood there and nodded, still in that stunned and shell-shocked state. "...Um... Y-yeah... You're probably right. I...I should stop... I'm gonna have to stop..."
"Alright, good." We turned to face his house - by this time my shoulders were shaking from the weight of the knowledge that the fate of a whole universe rested on me.
He looked over at me, reaching a hand toward my arm. “Are you alright?” he asked. You’re trembling…”
"I-I'm fine, it's just... It's a lot to take in..." I followed him inside, taking a few deep breaths as soon as I was out of the public eye.
X!Chara nodded, closing the door behind us both as I entered the house. When he looked up at me, he noticed how panicked I seemed to be. “You sure you’re going to be okay?” he asked, walking over to me.
"I'll be fine,” I sigh. “As long as we figure out a way to get me out of here before X!Gaster finds me."
"Yeah,” he replied with a small nod. “That should be the first thing we need to focus on. You can't be here for too long..." He paused as a worried expression overtook his face. "...G-gods... If he gets to you first... Or if he finds out that you're here... I don't want to even think about what he might do...!"
"He probably already knows," I groaned, sliding a hand down my face. "Even if we were to disguise me, he'd still know I'm not one of his creations."
"D-damnit... You're right,” he growled, pacing anxiously back and forth. “T…There has to be something we can do to hide you from him!"
"Maybe he won't bother?” I said hopefully. “At this point, he should be too weak to tweak every minor detail. Perhaps I'm not worth the effort."
He looked at me for a moment, his expression thoughtful. "Maybe... But knowing XGaster, he won't take any chances. He's the type of guy that's paranoid about anything messing up his 'perfect little world'... Especially something as big as you randomly popping up from the real world."
"That's true... I'm a pretty big anomaly. What if-" I paused, suddenly looking out the window.
X!Chara stopped pacing, and turned to look at me with a curious expression on his face. "What? What are you thinking...?”
"S-sorry, I... I thought I heard something outside." I took a moment to steady myself. "I was saying... What if he decides to overwrite the timeline and erase me entirely?”
He paused for a moment, and the worried look from earlier returned on his face. "...That's a very real possibility,” he muttered.
He then continued; "He could just try to reset the timeline completely, and create a whole new start, just to try to avoid you... That would be bad... Very bad..."
"Where would I end up?" I mused. "The Anti-void? Or would I just... Disappear?"
X!Chara thought about it for a moment before replying. "I don't know... If he overwrites the timeline, I'm not sure what would happen to you. You'd probably just end up getting overwritten with the rest of this current timeline..."
"So I'd... become a part of this universe?” I tried to ignore the little voice in my head that wanted to be here, with him forever. “I don't like that idea one bit..."
He nodded and added; "Yeah. That thought definitely doesn't sound like a good one..." Sitting down on the couch with a weary sigh, he continued; "Honestly... I don't even know if there's even anything we can do to hide you, or avoid detection... Or even the chance of him just restarting the entire timeline... It looks like we're kind of in a hopeless situation here."
I sat down next to him, still trembling. "Well... It... It was nice to meet you, at the very least. Maybe it's a mercy that I can't remember my old life, because I have nothing to lose when I'm overwritten…”
He looked over at me, a saddened look on his face. "...Don't talk like that... There has to be some other way. We can't give up. There has to be something we can do or plan... Even if it sounds ridiculous.”
"Maybe I can convince him to send me home instead?” I asked hopefully. “I could apologize for entering his universe, and beg to be returned to where I came from…"
He thought about it for a moment, but shook his head. "...No. That... probably won't work. You have to understand... XGaster is very... obsessive, over his so-called 'perfect universe'. There's no way he'd agree to let you go, no matter how much you beg."
"...You're right,” I sighed. “If anything, he might just send me into the Multiverse to die. What if I-"
Suddenly, I froze. There was tall shadow lurking outside the window.
X!Chara seemed surprised by my sudden pause, and he turned his head to the window, noticing the figure looming outside. He stood up quickly, a worried and anxious expression on his face.
“I think X!Gaster just found us.”
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