All that judgment. All that cold resignation. Their words are flat. This is happening, and they hate it, and he hates it, but there's nothing either of them can do.

So they've both stopped trying to fight.

"frisk..."

And it's true. There's a lot he wants to ask. A lot he refused to ask, that he told himself he would leave buried, because that's how it should be. For god's sake, the kid should be allowed to keep something. Something he doesn't know about, something he doesn't claw out of them.

He wants to ask what he did. He wants to ask how he can help. He wants to ask what makes them happy, what would be best for them.

"...can we fix this?"

It wasn't too late for him. It wasn't too late for Chara, and it wasn't too late for their...friendship, or whatever it is. The bridge hadn't burned. It can still be mended. They're both mending it.

But Chara is not Frisk.

"is it too late?"