[Frisk says nothing as they speak, doesn't try to interrupt or get a word in edgewise, because it's...it's just how they feel. And they think they might understand it, if on a reduced scale. They think the pain in their chest doesn't really go away, not completely, but maybe it dulls.

We're disgusting.

Frisk almost joins in. The words are thick on their tongue like a rash.

We don't need poison, Chara. We are poison. We were born with poison inside us. We inflict ourselves on others and spread it to them. And there is no cure.

There's no cure for being us.

They think, and stand in silence for a long moment, shivering slightly from the recent abuse they've put their body through, the icy cold of the mud seeping through their clothes and sticking to their skin, their overtaxed muscles and still-healing injuries.]

When I kissed you. Woke you up. That wasn't...all terrible.

[It was a rocky moment, yes, and Chara might still be in denial about it, but it wasn't irredeemably awful. Not like things feel right now.]

When you saved Toriel, woke her up too. When we snuck into that movie in a trenchcoat. And when you... [They huff lightly.] ...I can't even remember all the times you've saved my life. It's not...I know it's hard. And I hate it sometimes too. I hate it so much I can't stand it.

[Like now. Like those few days ago.]

But it's the moments like those that - that make it worth it. That help me keep going when it gets really, really bad, like now. It's not perfect. But it's...it's a little bit easier. A little bit better.