“They day my mother brought my brother home from the hospital was the happiest day of my life. I was eleven, so I can remember it much clearer than most siblings can.” Her mismatched pools of ocean and earth shimmered with the memory of that day as they moved to her resting hands in her lap, recalling the finer details she knew she would never forget. “He was so small and pink, and possibly the most adorable thing I have ever seen. I knew I loved him the moment I saw him, and would give everything I had to protect him.”
[ Anullos’ memory was far from perfect. But even for them, there was one glaring hole that should not have been there. Something happened between when they left the throne room and arrived at the barrier room. Something important. Could it have been that memory was lost? ]
[ The silence was absolute. Or it should have been. Without any other noises, a very soft sound of clicking could be heard. It coincided perfectly with their steps, when they walked forward, or to the side. It was getting louder in the silence. ]
[ Chara frowned. They hadn’t paid too much attention to it before. Testing something, they moved left when they were about to turn right. ]
[ The clicking intensified briefly, and Chara felt theirself pulled to the right anyway. ]
[ Controlling… me? ]
[ Chara gulped. Every time they had reset, less and less of their host survived and more and more of Chara had to come into place in order to keep them whole, until it was them controlling the host’s body completely. The idea that someone or something was driving, controlling, or guiding them was frightening. ]
[ Where are they? ]
[ Chara stopped moving, feeling the ‘controls’ slip off of them briefly. They had a vague idea of where they needed to go. They pushed with their strengthened soul, as it was now theirs rather than the host’s, and breached that window. ]
[ They gulped, but hid their fear in their smile, hovering in place by some unknown power. ]
Greetings
[ Whoever it was stared back at them, showing no sign of movement. It was vaguely humanoid in shape, but their shape was distorted, and their fingers were overly long, each one connected to a string that Chara could see led back to their host’s body. Just what manner of being was this? ]
I am Chara
[ … stupid, they probably already knew that. But they still didn’t react, and if they were in some way helping them, well, Chara supposed they should try to be courteous about it. ]
Thank you. Your power awakened me from death.
[ … wait. Wait. This felt right. Chara knew they were on to something. ]
My “determination.” They were not mine, but YOURS.
[ For some reason, just that realization gave them both comfort and more fear. Comfort in the fact that some other entity saw their plight and aided them in their journey. Fear in the knowledge that it made that same entity potentially more powerful than them. If they had learned anything, it was that they were only safe if they were the most powerful, and the thought that they were being controlled scared them. Maybe they could keep whatever it was distracted by talking. Talk about what? Well, maybe about theirself a bit. ]
At first I was so confused. Why was I brought back to life? You. With your guidance, I realized the purpose of my reincarnation. Power. Together, we eradicated the enemy and became strong.
[ Chara thought they saw something flickering in the many eyes of that entity. Pride, perhaps? Maybe that would give them their opportunity. Chara felt for the knife behind their back. They needed to frighten them. That was their only chance. ]
HP. ATK. DEF. GOLD. EXP. LV. Every time a number increases… That’s me.
“Chara.”
Now. Now, we have reached the absolute. There is nothing left for us here. Let us erase this pointless world, and move on to the next.
[ That was what the entity was promising implicitly, right? That there was something past all the hurt, all the pain. A better world, somewhere. Chara did want to complete their promise, but it felt empty now, with no purpose behind it beyond fulfilling their word. ]
[ And yet. And yet. ]
[ The entity distinctly shook its head, raising one of its hands as though to try to snare Chara again. They had to move fast. ]
No…?
Hmm. How curious. You must have misunderstood.
SINCE WHEN WERE YOU THE ONE IN CONTROL?
[ It was a complete lie, and they knew it. Even if they acted autonomously for brief moments, the control always returned to that entity. But the force of their assurance in the truth of their statement was enough to make the entity pause. Chara wasted no time, rushing straight at it. There was only one chance. ]
[ One slice. ]
[ The next thing they knew, they were back in the corridor. Now they felt completely free. And yet, it was a hollow feeling. Where was the promised reward for having persevered through so much? Nothing was said about such a promise, true, but it was implicit in encouraging them and driving them on. Chara’s hand raised to their head, feeling as though they were splitting in half. Something was going on. It was the entity. It had survived, somehow, and it was trying to grab hold of them again. They had to move fast. ]
[ Staggering to that damn barrier, Chara’s grin turned insane. ]
Finally, this thing will be destroyed!
[ With no hesitation, Chara brought their host’s hand forward, bringing the knife to bear one last time. It sank into the barrier. ]
[ Everything shattered. ]
[ The barrier cracked, the ground cracked, the air itself cracked. It was perhaps a miracle that Chara wasn’t split apart by the cracks protruding into the world around them. ]
What the…
[ The cracks gave away to nothingness, and they fell, finally slipping out of that entity’s grasp, though not without some minor damage. ]
[ That was how they ended up in the Void. They could remember the break, and the fall, and the throne room, but what had happened in the corridor was lost to their memory. ]
“La primera memoria que tengo sobre esto es cuando, a mis ocho años, mi madre me dijo que ella no cenaba porque en la casa solo quedaba comida para mi. En ese momento yo no entendía el por qué y durante mucho tiempo me lo pregunté... eso fue hasta que me di cuenta el sacrificio que ella hacía para llegar a mi un plato de comida.
Desde entonces valoré cada cosa que ella me daba.”
“A fines del año pasado tuve un ataque de panico/ansiedad bastante… jodido. Me acuerdo que eso no me dejó comer ni dormir bien por una semana y un poco mas (una de las peores semanas de mi vida). Todo terminó cuando mi viejo apareció -el es la razón por la que mi estrés llegó hasta las nubes- y me desmayé. Pasaron horas hasta que me desperté.“
