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2024-01-15
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Dust On Our Hands, Justice In My Soul

Summary:

Chara enters the Judgment Hall expecting a familiar battle with a familiar skeleton.

They get a depressed cowboy instead.

Notes:

Discord: https://discord.com/invite/6RP8hAT9fG

Tumblr: https://www.tumblr.com/karmaspidr

(See the end of the work for more notes.)

Work Text:

F̵̱̗͍͌̈́̀͝ͅr̸̟̠̟͖̀̉́ĭ̵̬̮̒̚s̸̨͗̈́k̷̗̤̀̈̌̓... Chara entered the familiar golden light of the Judgment Hall after another successful run of slaughtering Monsters. They couldn't explain it but there was something simply, intoxicating about it. The way they were filled with sweet sweet feelings of euphoria whenever their LV rose, especially when it jumped multiple levels, was simply addictive.

Chara hummed a cheerful tune as they placed their hand over the nearby SAVE point. It was time to kill that comedian yet again. It was a shame that he couldn't truly remember RESETS. His once overwhelming attacks were beginning to become dull. Perhaps they could fix that in some way. Now there was some food for thought.

Chara began to walk down the corridor where they likely spent more time than anywhere else in the Underground. As they walked, they felt the familiar thugs in the back of their mind. The faint shouts they could make out but easily.

Of course, Frisk was yet to give up their fruitless attempts to regain control over the body. It was pitiful but also what made them so special.

Chara still hadn't figured out why their partner wanted to 'go back' so badly. After all, they wanted this. They're the one who had chosen this run. Why would they want to stop now?

Soon enough, the familiar silhouette came into view. Only... was it the same silhouette? The light from the hall made it difficult to tell, but Chara could make out a few details that argued that this wasn't the comedian.

This person was taller and leaner, immediately debunking any notion that this was the comedian. He wore a hat and while Chara could make out the full details, they were pretty sure it was the same type of hat that cowboys would wear. Something metal shined by their thigh. A gun? This was going to be interesting.

"Howdy."

His voice sounded young, but the tone that carried it was tired as if he had lived hundreds of years. This situation kept getting more and more interesting.

"You've been busy." he let out a heavy sigh before continuing, "I know the feeling."

Chara didn't say anything, simply waiting for the stranger to continue. Even Frisk had stopped their fruitless struggle for control they never truly had. This was very interesting.

The human (because that is what he was) scratched the back of his head, ruffling his brown hair and allowing some light to hit his face. Definitely young, late teens at most. Heavy bags were beneath his eyes, which held an unnatural yellow hue.

"Not much of a talker, are you?"

"Don't need to be," Chara answered, their voice a twisted mix of Frisk's and their own.

The human tilted his head to the side and surprisingly smirked, "Heh, I suppose that's true."

Silence filled the hall. Both used to that silence to simply watch the other. See what they can learn about the other.

Without warning, the man in the hat smacked his forehead with the palm of his hand, "How rude of me. I completely forgot to introduce myself."

He removed his hat, revealing his bushy hair, and did a dramatic bow as the words left his mouth, "The name is Clover, and I will be taking over the role of Judge, Jury, and Executioner for your trial this time around, Chara."

Chara's smile stretched beyond what Frisk's face should have been capable of. They could feel the excitement in their stolen soul rise.

"You wouldn't happen to know what happened to the previous Judge, would you? I was looking forward to seeing him again."

Clover happily answered, "Yeah. He's fine. I told him to take a break. Surprisingly, he refused. Apparently, he doesn't trust people like me to do his job for him."

"What does that mean?"

Clover's smile morphed into a confident smirk, "Why don't you CHECK and find out?

Chara blinked, then complied. This was something new. They needed to learn all they could anyway.

Clover - LV 20

ATK - 60 DEF - 50 

"A Paragon of Justice that wants to make things right."

"You done looking? Good.c

Bang!

Chara blinked. They were... back at the Save Screen. The RESET and Continue buttons glowing in front of them. One moment they were reading Clover's stats when they suddenly felt a burning pain in their chest and the next moment... they were here.

What happened?

"He shot you."

Chara turned around to face Frisk. Their appearance was faded, almost one with the darkness, but they still gave off a faint glow of determination. Their expression remained stoic but Chara could not help but believe that their partner was pleased about something.

"I'm not sure if they had guns when you were alive," Frisk continued, "But all you really need to know is that human bullets are much faster than Monster Magic kind, and they hurt a lot more."

"I noticed. I'll just have to be quicker next time."

They turned around to press the button that would bring them back, only to pause, interrupted by Frisk's barely suppressed laugh.

"Is there something that you would like to add, Partner?"

Frisk regained control of themselves and gave Chara a smile that they recognised only from a mirror, "Oh Chara. It's been a long time since you've properly met a human, let alone fought one. I just hope that you enjoy dying."

"Don't worry, Frisk. I always do."

Load

Bang!

"So he remembers Resets. Good to know."

Load

Bang!

Load

Bang!

Load

Bang!

Load

Bang!

"This is going to take a while."

This began a gruelling cycle of dying and Resetting, over and over again. When Chara had fought powerful Monsters like Sans or Undyne, they had time to prepare, they had time to move and they could see the path forward.

The moment they came back, Clover would pull out his gun, take aim, and fire a round that would almost always kill them instantly. And even if he missed by some chance, his second shot never did and the third always finished the job.

Chara cursed when a bullet made contact with their shoulder, taking almost a third of their HP, with more points slowly bleeding away. The only strategy that they could think of running to the cover of a pillar the moment their Save File loaded, but they were never fast enough.

They fell to the ground, burning pain overwhelming their nervous system as blood continuously dripped from their wound. They braced themselves for the killing blow but it never came.

Gritting their teeth, Chara forced her neck to run away from the floor so she could face Clover properly. They expected the barrel of the gun to be aimed directly at them. Instead, Clover's shooting arm hung by his side as he walked across the massive hall towards Chara's feeble position.

He stood over them, like the immovable sentinel that he was. His face remained almost completely stoic, with the brim of his hat casting a shadow over his eyes, but, through their blurred vision, Chara could make out the beginnings of a snarl.

"Why won't you just die?" Clover almost whispered, "Why do you insist on coming back? Every time you do, I kill you before you can do anything. So why bother trying?"

Even through the pain burning in their shoulder, Chara found the strength to pick themselves up. They stood tall but still slumped to the side, leaving their knife on the ground and clutching the bleeding wound... Then they smiled.

"Because I can't give up, especially now. You are the most interesting thing I've seen in this stupid cave for a long time. Do you think I'm gonna give that up just because your weapon is a bit faster than what I'm used to? No. If you really think that then you are a bigger fool than that comedian! Besides, you should understand that. We're one and the same.

Bang!

As life faded from Chara's stolen body... As gravity pulled them into the abyss... Clover said, "We are nothing alike."

Load

Surprisingly, Clover didn't fire his weapon the moment time reset. Silently grateful for the break from the death loop, chuckled as they walked towards Clover, their footsteps echoing through the silent hall.

Halfway there, Clover began to talk, "You and I couldn't be more different. You kill Monsters because you can. You do the same thing over and over because you find some sort of sick pleasure. You would probably kill countless humans as well if you weren't so narrow-minded."

Surprising Chara once again, Clover tossed his gun aside. He discarded the weapon that had given him an advantage Chara couldn't counter and they couldn't figure out why. Was it some sort of attempt that Clover didn't need it to stop them? That they truly couldn't defeat him.

Unbeknownst to them, one thought was circling Clover's mind, 'All I need is a moment. Just a moment. You are still human, even with all that Determination.'

He continued his speech, "I came to the Underground with a purpose, a mission. And I never lost sight of that mission, no matter what I did. No matter how twisted my soul became. Save the children that fell before me, or avenge them. That's what I did."

Surprising Chara once again, Clover took a step forward, "Monsters, in their anger, declared war on people that had long forgotten them. They saw us as the ultimate evil for something I don't believe they knew the full story of themselves. And they had the audacity to celebrate the deaths of children. CHILDREN! All it because it brought them one step closer to mankind's extinction"

The yell at the end caused Chara to take a step back. Something was... wrong. Clover's figure looked darker than ever but also seemed to almost... glow. A buzzing energy filled the hall and seemed to circle the cowboy.

"I saw every Monster that attacked me as an enemy and didn't give them a chance. Guilty until proven innocent, that was the logic I acted on because I couldn't see it any other way. Oh, wanna the best part?"

Clover raised his empty hand, his fingers mimicking the shape of the weapon he had thrown away earlier. He aimed the 'barrel' at Chara when suddenly, something unbelievable began to happen. A sphere of yellow, magical energy began to manifest at the tip of his fingers. Sparks and bolts of energy danced around it as it grew and grew, from the size of a pea to the size of an apple while showing no signs of stopping.

"My timeline is one of the few where I, and the other children, get a happy ending. I die in almost every other world. I'm rarely given the chance to live a full and happy life without my soul ending up in a stupid jar."

The sphere of energy was now the size of a football and still wasn't slowing down. Chara could feel the primal urge to run away deep within them but something was keeping their feet stuck to the floor. Their shoe felt like they were made of lead.

"I survived by sacrificing hundreds. I avenged the children who fell before me by letting my anger twist my ideals into something I could barely recognize. I lost any chance of a proper happy ending because you ate some flowers for a plan with more holes than Swiss cheese."

The ball of power was now as large as Clover himself and it somehow still wasn't done.

"But that is okay because I've been given a chance to become better. You entered this hall assuming that this run was going to be like any other but you were wrong. This Chara isn't another one of your pointless slaughters. No, this is my vengeance and my redemption. This is my Justice, for everything you and all your alternative selves caused. Goodbye."

The ball of energy, now almost as large as the hall itself was released. It zoomed across the golden corridor, leaving behind only destruction. The floor turned black, the windows shattered, pillars crumbled and Chara... Chara couldn't bring themselves to do anything but watch as yellow magic zoomed towards them. Even if they could move, they wouldn't be fast enough to escape.

As the attack came closer and closer, Chara felt something, deep within their stolen soil, something that they hadn't felt for a long time. Fear.

As they were ripped apart at the molecular level, they asked themself, 'Can I really beat him?'

"There."

Not giving Chara an opportunity to hype themself up or anything like that, he grabbed the power of Reset, and all of Chara's Save Files, while they were free. He felt his own Determination rise as the possibility of victory solidified.

He waited in the charred remains of the Judgment Hall. He waited for the floor times to reassemble, for the shattered windows to reseal themselves and the pillars to pick themselves up again. It never happened.

He did it.

He won.

He had once again ripped the power of Reset out of the grasp of his enemy. He had gained total control of a timeline that wasn't his own. To think this all started with him jumping down a hole with nothing but a hat, a poster and a toy gun. What has his life become?

"Heh. He he he. Hehehehehahaha. Ha! Justice prevails once again!" Clover laughed as he dropped to his knees. That attack had drained a lot of energy, he felt like he would drop dead at any moment but at the same time, he felt more alive than ever.

For once in his life, he had done something right. He had attained True Justice.

"Congratulations. I did not doubt that you would succeed." an echoing voice behind him.

Clover steadied his breathing before turning around to face the owner. It was a familiar monochrome child with no eyes, hands behind their back and smiling at the destruction he caused like it was the most normal thing in the world.

"Hey, Frisk." Clover greeted the ghostly figure.

Core Frisk smiled up at him but didn't say anything else. Clover once again took note of the height difference between them. Had he really been that short once upon a time?

After a few moments of blissful silence, he asked, "What now?"

"Continue with the plan. Reset the timeline and a team of specialists will take care of Chara. You can return to the Omega Timeline, Clover. You've earned your rest."

"I'm not sure I did."

"Be proud of what you did, Clover. You freed this timeline from a Genocide Loop. Not many have achieved such a feat."

"Thanks... But this is only the beginning of my journey to pay penance for my crimes."

Notes:

Discord: https://discord.com/invite/6RP8hAT9fG

Tumblr: https://www.tumblr.com/karmaspidr