It occurred to me how similar Gaster and Chara are. This interaction is the result.

"Who are you? Where am I?"

She should have been petrified. She was a child after all, and those who had seen him and gone mad from it, they were not children. Hell, he was terrified of how his own mind refused to give away the information he needed to understand his seemingly eternal plight.

But she wasn't scared, despite, that here he stood before her, falling apart at the seams. Despite the fact that they were surrounded by darkness from every angle. Defiance was strong in her eyes, and she blew a strand of auburn hair out of her face, unknowing that gravity was far more lucid here than in the "real" world.

Humans were typically that way. They had so much shorter lifespans than monsters, so they were far more determined to accomplish things, to change the outcome of their fate.

"My appellation is W.D. Gaster…" He finally said, able to communicate with her since she was now part of the void, rather than an outsider looking in. Otherwise, he would have been forced to use his rather unconventional method of speech.

That he remembered. That insignificant fact remained in his shattered consciousness. Gaster had to remind himself every five seconds as to how this was happening, but no matter how hard he tried, he could not remember why. It was this fact above all made him feel obsolete.

Not why he was here. Not why there was black slime running out of his eyes. Not why he felt so sad when he stared at the rest of the world from his placement in The Null.

Speaking of-"You and I are in The Null, a void, prevailing only in the fabric of the universe…beyond the cerebral capacity of most mortal beings."

The girl frowned. "What do you mean? I'm supposed to be dead. Like…gone…dead. As in, I don't have to think or feel anything anymore..." Anger struck her, as though he was responsible for this blip in the agenda. "I was supposed to die. I read about the effects of that poison and…and this isn't what was supposed to happen."

He responded as he processed the fact that she had attempted suicide. What could cause someone as young as her to do that? "Procedures don't always go as anticipated. I would know."

She looked around, her blue eyes searching for some seam in the darkness. "Is this…this can't be heaven."

"You are, regrettably, accurate."

The girl swallowed. "Th-Then this is hell…right?"

Gaster paused, and then shifted behind her. "Of a kind…but not The Hell which you may be …merely a hell."

Fear flickered across her eyes as she tried to determine whether or not he was lying. As he observed this, it returned to him who she was. Asgore's daughter, the same who had fallen ill last he heard. Everything after that moment was a blur (I've done all I can for her, there is no hope) of irrational thoughts and frightening images.

"Is it because I committed suicide?"

Gaster cocked his head, first taking in that she had poisoned herself (boy, your brain sure works slower than it used to) and then recalling the bits of knowledge which he had salvaged from books which had fallen from the above world. Many human religions had a special place for those who committed suicide, as though taking one's life was a slight against the universe.

Maybe that, as well as concepts of hell, heaven, purgatory, and the like, were just another way of convincing oneself that you could control the outcome.

"Answer me!" The girl demanded and the rage she exercised caused him to remember her name.

Chara. That stood out to him because it appeared to be something obfuscated by The Rules. Whether it was his own meddling with the code of the universe, or some stronger, deeper power, he knew that in most timelines, her name was replaced by a fake one. Perhaps to facilitate the memories and records which were shattered by his own vanishing.

Perhaps it was just another string connecting to the force behind creating The Rules.

Well, the matter certainly merited further analysis.

"ANSWER ME!" She was so distressed by his silence, perhaps finally taken off guard by his otherworldly appearance, that she grabbed his collar.

Her hands began to melt through, an unpleasant experience for them both. Out of reflex, one of his Helping Hands (With a name like that, we'll make a fortune!) snapped out and struck her across the cheek. They had a mind of their own, assisting him in whatever fashion they considered desirable at the moment.

Still, he couldn't help but feel responsible for the action. He should have warned her. There was no pain in The Null (the universe did not allow for that), so it was not doing any real harm. Only forcing her to his feet.

Did he have feet anymore? His robe had become a physical part of him, something moving and feeling on its own, he certainly didn't need feet, not now. Not ever (this is not going to end).

His telekinetic nature (you needed those kinds of abilities, when you can only communicate in fingers and when you've forgotten spoken and the written word) caused him to notice her mental reaction and his gaze returned to her. The look on her face would have been heartbreaking, had Gaster not found it so captivating.

It was not the pain which affected her this way. She was used to facing pain, that he could tell. She savored pain as well, believing it just another part of achieving one's goals. And again, she couldn't actually be hurt in here.

Instead of a simple nerve reaction, it was the surprise of the action, or rather, lack of surprise in receiving a slap across the cheek, which had hurt her. The memories which the surprise had stirred up, as well as the chilling feeling of being touched by something infected with his nature, was the cause of her discomposure.

She didn't get up, instead forcing herself not to cry. "I…I'm sorry…"

The defiance was missing. It was replaced by a helplessness which had inhabited her since she had first learned to walk. She had learned fear (respect) through blood and bruises. She had learned to hate from her parents (like father like son like daughter like mother). Shackles on her feet shackles on her hands and a fish hook shoved down her gullet. Asgore and Toriel had taken her in, but the shackles, that hook, those were forever.

How unpleasant.

"I apologize…for flouting you and for instigating discomfort. My mind…tends to wander." She sniffed and tried to look resentful rather than derisible. "I admit obliviousness as to why this is your locality, just as I have failed to discern why it is mine. But if you will permit me access to your reminiscences, I am certain I can divulge the femtosecond that you…fell from the norm."

She swallowed. "Y-you won't…d-do that again, right?"

"Strike you? No. I swear I will not be the cause of additional detriment."

She stood, and for a moment he thought she might run. That would be fine with him, there would be nowhere to run to. Yes, he was literally bored out of his mind, but he was patient for answers. He could always theorize about her origins as she figured out that The Annulment had no exits.

But she wanted to understand. She had done something horrible and she wanted to know if that action was the cause of her imprisonment. She was also smarter enough to figure out that he didn't like this place any more than her, and that they were alone in here.

"F-fine."

He shuffled closer, extending a bony finger towards her forehead. Just as he was about to access her memories, she spoke. "This isn't going to uh, be like…one of those brain rape things, is it?"

He stared at her, ignorant to the term, although he was able to grasp the meaning. "No. It shouldn't have any undesirable effects on your conscious or subconscious."

She sighed and then closed her eyes. She winced as, again, his touch sent a slimy cold across her skin. Her own mind linked with his, as his melting eyes flashed with images from her point of view.

"Are you alright? That was quite the fall you just took."

"Asriel…I hate humans. They don't deserve what they've been given. They don't...they don't care about you, about Mom, or Dad…about any of the monsters. They are apathetic…it's disgusting…"

"You must promise me that you will never cook something with those flowers again."

"I don't know about this Chara I…I'm scared…"

"This is for the great good, Asry. If we don't do this…eventually…everyone down here is going to starve to death."

"Okay…f-fine…"

Gaster jerked his finger away, the flashes of agonizing pain brought on by buttercup poisoning, flooding his mind. He had forgotten what it was like to feel that4 much pain.

"You…you're a demon."

Chara took a step back. "Wh-what are you talking about?"

Gaster had the urge to summon his Blasters, although he knew they would do nothing to her. Heh, he had forgotten what it was like to feel rage as well. "You poisoned yourself, you persuaded Asriel Dreemur to harvest the souls of six human beings after he traversed the barrier…you are accountable for his passing…"

Chara began backing away and Gaster realized that he had summoned two Blasters. He didn't care. She deserved ay fear inflicted. He remembered Asriel, he remembered how much Asgore and Toriel had loved him, how he had been the sweetest child in the entire kingdom. How he would have done anything for his best friend, if she told him it was right.

Tendrils began escaping his cloak. "You told him to execute…you wanted to inflict anguish on human beings to satisfy your own emptiness…"

Chara shook her head. "No! I just…I wanted to free everyone…so did you? Right? That's why you're here, isn't it? Because you went further than anyone was willing to go…because you failed when trying to do the right thing!"

That almost gave him pause. But he could hear the lie in her voice.

"No."

She swallowed, and he grew closer, his face unable to truly reflect how much he detested her.

"Maybe you did care for us monsters…but you favored making humans pay for what you believe they've done to you…if Asriel had not been able to go through with the slaughter…well, I can't say things would be better or worse. All I know is that his death…is on your hands."

She shook her head. She didn't want it to be true. She wanted to have her cake and eat it too, she wanted to be a horrible human being but still be loved.

He loathed that more than anything else. Yes, she had caused morning, pain, many humans would no doubt die because of her reckless disregard. But it was that immaturity. He knew he must have done something horrible to end up here, something which crossed the imaginary line so many held onto.

He had accepted that he was a horrible person for trapping himself here, for making himself powerless to help his friends, his comrades. She had not.

Yet.

"I never meant for him to die!" She insisted.

"I never meant to end up here…but don't worry, you'll learn to exist with it…" His eyes gleamed when he saw her eyes beginning to drip a black ooze. "Heh, it is happening already."

She looked up from her hands, horrified at inspecting the slime. "What? What's happening? What did you do?"

Gaster grabbed her by the chin, desiring to consume her soul, if for nothing else than to cause her the discomfort of having her energy used. But he knew that doing so was impossible in his current state.

"I am not liable for this. You are melting, Chara Dreemur. You are melting with how much determination you have…and how little of your own soul you have left. Ironic, you have just enough to save yourself from dying…but not enough to cling to life. Your cognizance will rot away…piece…by piece…by piece…" The horror on her face brought him a grim satisfaction. He chuckled. "Pretty soon…you really will be a demon…you'll have so little love left…so little empathy and so much hate…you will be incapable of thinking about anything but how much you crave the annihilation of this dimension…"

It struck him, as he held her, just how dangerous she would be. That level of determination to defy death was always dangerous. In her case, it manifested in the most vicious way possible. If anyone actually reached a level of violence high enough to summon her, there could be disastrous results.

But it would take lunacy for something like that to occur. Besides, he knew that his friends (My name means "without", talk about a cruel irony) would never allow a level of violence like that to be achieved.

And even if she was ever released, it was not as though he could stop her. He couldn't do anything. Remember that, Gaster? How you fucked up so hard that now you can't do anything?

Disgusted with himself and with her, he dropped her and turned away.

"Don't go looking for me." He requested, before using one of his shortcuts to find his way into a different part of The Annulment. He needed to be alone for a while, to process all these new memories.

Chara called out, begging to for him not to leave her in this place. She must really hate being alone if she wanted his presence after what he had said to her. Good. This place really was suitable punishment in that case. That's why he ignored her. She was a child, after all, a child who would come to think of herself as a demon.

He was clueless as to why he was here, but he understood the laws of The Null, the laws of L.O.V.E., Determination, and EXP. He was not a lost child, but a trapped scientist. Still, he envied her. She would learn to be something horrible, something indescribably foul.

He would forever be nothing.