Work Text:
“It’s not really like Capture the Flag,” Undyne explained. “In Capture the Flag, both teams would be going after the flags at the same time. In this game, only one team’s on the offense.” She grinned. “I’m feeling generous today, so I’ll even let you punks go first.”
“Pfft, like we need your generosity,” Frisk snorted. “You’ll never defeat the Dreem Team!”
“Yeah!” Asriel chimed in, throwing his arms up in the air dramatically.
I frowned. “I do not believe these teams are perfectly fair. You three can all do magic, whereas our ‘dreem team’ only has Asriel.”
“C’mon, Chara,” Frisk said, pronouncing it as if the first syllable was a synonym for an automobile. “We don’t need magic to win!”
“It’s pronounced Care-a, actually,” I said. “And... oh well, Asriel’s flashy enough for ten monsters.”
“YEAHHH!” Undyne shouted. “That’s the spirit!”
“Where do we need to take the flag once we’ve got it?” Frisk wanted to know.
“Umm...” Undyne mused. “Papyrus, any ideas?”
“HOW ABOUT SANS’S AND MY HOUSE?” Papyrus suggested.
Sans shook his head. “no way, bro,” he said. “way too far away. ‘Sides, the roof’s still damaged from that fire last week. a shingle might fall off and kill one of the kids or somethin’.”
“AH YES, I SEE.” Papyrus considered some more. “I KNOW! WHAT ABOUT THE KING AND QUEEN’S HOUSE?”
Asriel’s eyes went wide. “Our house? That’s like...” He thought for a second. “... half a mile away!”
“Yeahhh, that works!” Undyne said. “Everyone knows how to get there alright?”
“Well duh,” Frisk said with a laugh. “We kind of LIVE there.”
“Great! So we can start now, right?” Undyne was clearly impatient to get going.
“Yeah!” Asriel responded enthusiastically. “Come on, team!” He towed Frisk and me into the dark woods, leaving Undyne, Sans, and Papyrus behind to discuss their strategy.
“I don’t know why I’m doing this,” I muttered. “It always ends the same way.”
“THIS time will be different,” Frisk said, stretching her arms. “And you know perfectly well why you’re doing this: because Asriel promised you all the chocolate from his Halloween candy if we win.”
“And we’re definitely going to win!” added Asriel.
I rolled my eyes. “We need a plan.”
“Easy,” Frisk said. “We have three, they have three. We each take one in single combat. Then when we all win our fights, we take the flag in a blaze of glory.” She turned an expert cartwheel, then looked back at us hopefully. “I can take Undyne if I’m warmed up.”
“And I can get Papyrus,” Asriel put in. “We’ve been training together a lot, so I know all his attacks by heart!”
“That leaves me with Sans,” I said flatly.
There was a moment of silence.
“Yeah, we need a real plan,” agreed Frisk. “Any ideas, Chara?”
“You’re saying my name wrong, and yes,” I replied. Kneeling down on the ground, I began to sketch out my master plot, using acorns and twigs for the opposing team members. “We’re disadvantaged since we have two humans, but...” I sat up in frustration. “This would be easier if I knew where they were actually standing.”
“I can go look,” offered Frisk, straightening up.
“Wait, what?” I said. “You can’t - ” But Frisk was gone.
Asriel laughed. “It’s fine, Chara,” he said. “Remember when we played hide-and-seek? We could never find her, even with all of us looking! She’ll be fine.”
Sure enough, less than a minute later, Frisk strode into our circle of trees. “Your drawing is pretty close, but Undyne is in the middle and Sans is over here...” She moved a few acorns around, then stepped back, looking satisfied.
“Very well, then here’s what we’ll do,” I began. Asriel and Frisk gathered around me, a captivated audience, hanging on my every word.
Five minutes later, we were in position. I heard Asriel crashing through the trees, and smiled. He had been overjoyed when he heard what his role would be (“you mean I can be as flashy as I want??”), and it seemed as though he was doing his job perfectly.
A flash lit up the night. Three flashes, actually: Asriel appeared to have summoned his Chaos Sabers, and Undyne was now holding a spear in her hand.
“Give us the flag!” Asriel growled in a deep voice somewhat unlike his own. I gasped softly - he was being the Absolute God of Hyperdeath. Perfect.
“Come and get it, punks!” Undyne challenged.
Frisk waved her hand sharply from her hiding place behind a tree a few yards away from me. We were stationed behind Undyne, Sans, and Papyrus, ready to run at a moment’s notice. I blinked and snapped my attention back to the task at hand. We had a plan to execute, and I had to stay focused... even if Asriel was being completely awesome.
Frisk held up three fingers. I nodded, and she started the countdown. 3... 2... 1... 0! I burst out of the forest at the same time as Frisk. She snatched the flag, one of Toriel’s dish towels, off the spear holding it up. Undyne whirled around. “Papyrus! Get Frisk!”
Asriel jumped at Papyrus, swinging a Chaos Saber. Clashes ensued as Papyrus sent a line of bones, white and blue, back. I grabbed the spear Undyne had left as a flagpole and was about to attack Papyrus as well when a shout rang out from Frisk’s direction:
“HELP!!”
Right about then I noticed that Undyne was gone.
I dashed away from the clearing, spear forgotten on the ground. Undyne was up ahead on the path, not too far ahead. Running as hard as I possibly could enabled me to catch up - almost. But determination can only take you so far.
Ok, that’s not true. Determination can do anything, if there’s enough of it.
I gritted my teeth. Undyne was nearly to Frisk, and I was so... close...
I launched myself forward, missing Undyne’s head but hands latching on to her boot. She yelled, coming crashing to the ground. “Thanks, Chara!” Frisk yelled, before speeding away.
“You said it wrong!” I yelled back, but she was out of earshot.
Undyne twisted to look at me. I smiled back, still clinging to her boot.
A second later I flew through the air, screaming. Branches and leaves whacked me as I fell. I clutched the boot like a lifeline. Curled up into a ball, eyes closed tight, I tried to shield my face from the impending doom and destruction that would surely follow upon my impact with the ground.
My soul turned blue with a ping. I cracked one eye open tentatively and peeked downwards. I was hovering in the air, suspended by magic. Papyrus stood below me with one arm outstretched. I shuddered. I’d never gotten used to the way the skeletons manipulated gravity - of all things, shouldn’t gravity be a constant? But, in this case, blue magic had probably saved me from a broken bone, at the least.
Papyrus lowered me to the ground carefully. “Thanks,” I said, then sighed. “I guess this means I’m captured?”
“NYEH HEH HEH!” crowed Papyrus. “YOU SHALL NEVER ESCAPE THE BARRICADE CRAFTED BY THE GREAT PAPYRUS!” He pulled a wall of bones from the ground around me.
“hey paps, you finally captured a human,” said Sans, strolling by at a leisurely pace, hands in his pockets.
“AH, YES!” Papyrus exclaimed. “MY QUEST IS FULFILLED! I’LL BE SO POPULAR! NOW UNDYNE WILL LET ME INTO THE ROYAL GUARD!” He paused. “WAIT. I AM ALREADY IN THE ROYAL GUARD.”
Undyne stormed into the clearing. “Sans! The kid got away.”
“cool,” Sans said. “good for her.”
“COME ON, SANS!” Undyne yelled. “You have to do something! She’s probably over halfway to the house by now, and you’re the only one who can get there fast enough!”
Sans yawned. “ok, fine. don’t expect too much, though.”
No! I thought. Frisk can’t get caught! I’ll never get Asriel’s chocolate if she does! Before Sans could disappear, I thrust my arm through the bones and grabbed his hoodie.
Teleporting is rather uncomfortable, I learned. I had imagined it to be instantaneous - simply disappearing and appearing somewhere else. As it turns out, it was pretty much like that, only it felt like being shoved into a frozen swamp after a training session with Undyne, and with a stomach full of Papyrus’s spaghetti.
We appeared on the path. I could faintly see the twinkling lights of the Dreemurr house. If we’d arrived so close to the goal, Frisk must be going fast.
“hey, kid,” Sans said. “in the future, you probably shouldn’t tag along for my shortcuts, at least unless I tell you to, ‘kay?”
I shivered. “I won’t.”
“not what you expected, huh?” Sans chuckled.
I shook my head. “How do you do it so often?”
“well, it’s not so bad for me,” he replied. “dunno all the physics of it, and I doubt you really want to hear all that, but it doesn’t really matter. it’s usually fine.”
Footsteps sounded on the path ahead. I jumped, remembering that Sans was the enemy. “FRISK!” I yelled. “WATCH OUT!”
Frisk came hurtling around the bend in the trail. She skidded to a stop as she saw us. “What... Oh come on, shortcuts are cheating!”
Sans shrugged, grinning. “sorry, kid. what can I say?” A prison of bones appeared, trapping Frisk the same way I’d been trapped a minute ago.
“Ugh,” she groaned. “We were SO CLOSE.” She clutched the flag protectively to her chest, glaring defiantly at Sans. “I’m not giving you the flag.”
He chuckled. “heh. keep it. I’m just here so Undyne stays happy.” He sat down at the base of a tree, leaned back, and closed his eyes.
I walked up to the bones enclosing Frisk, resisting the temptation to poke them. “Can you squeeze through?” I whispered.
She shook her head with a grimace. “No, they’re too close together. Ugh, we ALMOST won, too.” She scowled.
“Wait,” I said, glancing over at Sans. Still asleep. Good. “Give me the flag.”
Frisk’s eyes widened. “Are you sure? If - ”
“What other choice do we have?” I demanded. “It’s either this or defeat.”
She sighed. “Ok. But - ”
The sound of Undyne crashing through the woods cut her off. “Quick, she’s almost here!” I whispered, muscles trembling with anticipation.
Frisk practically threw the flag at me. “Go, Chara!” she said, waving her arms to shoo me on.
“It’s Care-a,” I hissed, before bolting.
I crashed through the leaves and branches littering the path in my mad flight for escape. Sans opened one eye as I passed, then closed it again, apparently unwilling to give chase. I took a fearful glance backwards. Undyne had almost reached Frisk's prison. I needed to get a head start before she started the chase in earnest.
A spear whizzed past my head. I yelped and forced my legs to move faster. I AM NEVER DOING THIS AGAIN, I thought fiercely as more spears flew past. One almost ripped the flag, but it missed by a hair. The house was just a few yards away...
I stole a look over my shoulder. Undyne was hot on my heels, her one eye glowing slightly. Her hand reached out. I clenched my teeth and wrenched open the door, just as Undyne grabbed my leg.
“HA!” we both cried at the same time.
I grinned. “We won!”
“No you didn’t!” Undyne said. “You didn’t make it inside the house!”
“No,” I agreed. “But the flag did.” I pointed inside the door.
Undyne followed my finger. “Oh come ON.” The towel lay just inside.
Heavy footsteps thudded along the carpeted entryway. “Hello?” Asgore’s voice called out. “Is someone - oh.” He blinked down at us. “Howdy, Chara, Undyne. May I ask why you are lying in the dirt in front of the door?”
“Oh, just a game of Capture the Flag,” I said, pulling my leg out from Undyne’s grip.
“Which you didn’t win,” Undyne added.
“Which we did, if just barely,” I corrected. “The flag is inside. That is what you said the requirement was.”
Asgore picked up the towel from where it was lying on the floor. “Toriel was looking for this earlier. I should - ”
“Asgore?” came Toriel’s voice from the hallway. “Is someone at the door?” She peeked round Asgore’s giant body, catching sight of Undyne and me lying on the ground. Her eyes widened. “Oh no! Chara, are you hurt?” She pulled me up with a worried expression on her face, hands beginning to glow bright green.
I laughed. “I’m fine, Mom, just a little dirty.”
Behind me, Frisk, Asriel, and Papyrus came running up. “Chara,” Asriel panted. “Did we win?”
“The Dreem Team has triumphed!” I declared, holding up my fist in a gesture of victory. Frisk and Asriel cheered and raised their hands as well.
Toriel and Asgore, still watching from the doorway, laughed. “Perhaps the mighty Dreem Team and their competitors would like to join us for pie after everyone gets cleaned up?”
“Pie sounds great,” said Frisk, grinning at me. “Don’t you agree, Chara?”
“For the LAST TIME, Frisk,” I snapped, “it’s pronounced CARE-A. And yes, pie sounds wonderful.”
“Actually, the pronunciation of your name is kinda debatable,” Frisk said. “It’s...” She trailed off at my glare.
“I think I know how to pronounce my own name, thank you.” I crossed my arms and stalked inside, where I was greeted with the sight of a freshly-baked chocolate chess pie sitting out on the table. For some reason, there was a small pawprint in the filling. I shrugged and went off to the bathroom to wash my hands.
Sounds of laughter and muffled barking drifted in from the kitchen, along with a warm chocolatey smell. I heard Asriel’s voice vigorously recounting the game to the wonder of all who heard, and I smiled. It had been worth it after all - and not just for the chocolate.