“Jane.”

“Kid.”

Both sat across one another, the shift in power rather obvious. There was Chara, upon a high chair, with a tube connected to a vein in their arm. Then there was Jane, on the floor, chained to the wall as some she was prepared to be stolen from. 

It was funny how her weakness simply repeated itself. So many years ago, she gave herself to experiments for the idea of love. And now, here she was again. The same scientists, the same experiment, and the same reason. Was it foolish to fall in love again? Was love her true weakness?

Or was it other people? They’ve always let her down before, people were always unneeded weight for her. But the people she found were better. Mostly. 

“How does it feel to be utterly powerless?” The child giggled. 

“How does it feel to be so power hungry as to steal power from others?” Jane retorted. 

They tsked, looking annoyed, but quickly regained their happy grin. “You can call me Chara, the person who’ll be killing you after I get your void.”

“Void? I prefer hate juice, much cooler,” Jane said, tilting her head as black hair fell across her empty eyes. “You do realize that your constant search for power is flawed, right?”

“I don’t care,” Chara said, “I just want it.”

Well, that was a well defined motive. But wasn’t that why they died? Asgore had mentioned his child, Chara, had killed themselves with flowers in search of gaining more souls. With that kind of death, they would have gone mindlessly obsessed over this power that they failed to achieve before. Chara probably didn’t have much of their humanity anymore, did they? Only determination to grow stronger. Just how much had they lost to get to this point?

Nothing was left. Jane could tell. Chara was nothing but an empty shell of obsession. 

Jane glanced over, watching the soft burn of a candle flutter. They did the same procedure when she first obtained her hate juice. Hatred was an emotion of darkness, of insanity, of the black, emptiness of terrible emotions. Light directly fought against that. It could be injected with light, but it was enhanced by the darkness. At least, that’s what the scientists told her. 

“Hey, listen,” Jane muttered once she felt a buzz of a phone on her pocket. Her pocket of bloody jeans. They were disgusting. She hated them. “I know we’ve have some differences, but I think I… before you take everything from me, let me tell you something.” 

Chara rolled their eyes, but nevertheless complied. They leaned forward from their chair, analyzing Jane in her weakened state. When power went to your head, and you saw your enemy in a state of disarray, you guard was easily dropped. 

“Ah f*ck!” 

Chara was thrown back after a firm headbutt, knockin them out of their chair. Jane was up the instant Chara hit the floor, straining the chains until they groaned. No, she’d need more time to break them. 

“Bye!” Jane hummed, pressing against the door with her shoulder to push it open. 

The guards outside tried to fight back, but her quicker reflexes already kicked one of their guns up, causing the man to shoot himself in his own face. The woman next to him tried to shoot, but Jane was once again faster, elbowing her before she twisted the mans gun to shoot her. 

“While knives are much more preferred… a weapon is a weapon,” Jane said lightly, picking it up from the now dead hands. Chara wasn’t going to stay down for long, so she should get going. 

Chara managed to open the door in time to see Jane running down the hallway, escaping around a corner. Having heard the gunshots, the nearby scientist had run away, two more guards in tow.

“Chase after her,” The woman snapped at them, the two quick to nod and give chase. 

“She has my void! She has my power!” Chara said, grabbing the scientists arm. 

“Not for long, we’re going to get her back,” The woman said. 

“What about the other zombie boy? What about his void?” Chara asked. 

“He disappeared as well, we’re going into lockdown,” The scientist said, “We’re going to lock up the remaining void containers and-”

“Give me those!” Chara said, shaking her arm lightly.

“We can’t! They’re the only void we have left!” She said, “Those are for an-”

She dropped down the moment Chara pulled out their knife and twisted it into her gut, jerking it up into her heart. Their L.O.V.E jumped up a letter, granting them more power. 

Fine, they wouldn’t use the void. L.O.V.E never failed them before, why not use it again?

~~~~~~

With a firm snap, Jane managed to break out of her chains using a thick iron door, looking down at her phone. Sans and Jeff were out safely, good. She ran fingers through her dirty hair, pulling out her given black lipstick. 

She walked forward down the hallway, carrying the weapon at her hips. Once she made sure everyone was away, she’d have to fight Chara alone. Then, finally, put an end to all of this. Chara was dangerous, just like those scientists. She had to make sure no one left this building alive. 

But how?

Jane rested the gun under her chin, thinking. A fire was a good solution, but some of the zombies would be vulnerable, not to mention herself. She’s been burned alive once, no need to go down that road again. Additionally, would a fire even be strong enough on a facility like this?

“Put your hands-”

Jane shot the nearby guard without any thought on it, still trying to find a solution. Hm. Explosion, maybe? But that could prove to be just as, if not more, dangerous than a fire. Going around, simply killing everyone wasn’t a perfect idea either. She would eventually tire, and if Chara somehow managed to get their own hate juice, she’d have a difficult fight. 

What to do, what to do.

If Jane even did manage to stab or shoot everyone, she couldn’t even guarantee she would get all of them. An escape car might be set up, and they could run away with the notes. That’s what happened the first time, and it’s why the zombie outbreak occurred. Something big would be better, but she’s already knocked those ideas out. 

Best to find the others first, then go on from there. 

With a plan now set, Jane shuffled off, reloading the gun. This is going to be a little more difficult than she expected. 

Little did she or Chara know, inside of the room where they had been previously, a candle had been knocked over.

And flames crawled up the side of a curtain. 

《》《》《》

Uploading early today! I think one of my biggest writing problems os that I rush into stories without properly plotting out all of the events, so that might be why my writing quality just drops down near the end. Don't worry, though, I have plotted out my entire next story, and since I have a good chunk of the chapters done, that means they'll all be pretty good quality. And I might work on rewriting some stories with that free time, we'll see. Either way, enjoy the early upload!