Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

HOW LONG!" A certain human screams into his mind. "HOW LONG HAVE I BEEN IN HERE!"

The human inhales trying to catch his breath after screaming. Examining the humans wardrobe would reveal his white shirt, green zip up sweater with a stripe of yellow across it, jeans, and pair of red shoes, but if you were to see him personally his most memorable features would be his rosy cheeks and especially his almost supernatural ruby red eyes.

"Alright Chara you of all people should know screaming into the abyss won't get you anywhere." The human now named Chara says to himself. "besides you shouldn't act like this isn't your fault in the first place." He says after contemplating his choices that lead to this prison within his own mind.

*FLASHBACK*

"Chara I-I don't like this plan." The goat boy named Asriel tells Chara in fear of what might happen to them if something goes wrong.

" what if I mess up, what if I do it too early, what If-." The goat was cut off by the hand of the Chara covering his mouth so he can listen to what he has to say. "Azzy that isn't going to happen, I trust you to do this because you mean a lot to me and I can't picture anyone else helping me with this, besides what is one life for thousands of others freedom." The human child explained. "I'm tired of seeing them like this and you know the situation is bad when even I can't put smiles on there faces." The human says jokingly when mentioning his infectious positivity to everything.

The goat boy grumbles. "Are you sure it has to happen like this. I'm not okay with hurting people, I can't stand seeing people get hurt when I can do something to help and, you are going to hurt yourself if you do this." He states to the boy.

"Would it help if I made a jo-." The boy is cut off. "Damnit chara your going to die if you do this stop messing around." The goat boy tries to explain. "This isn't a game of would you rather it is literally a life and death situation that can end up with you dead and me ungodly power-." The goat boy is interrupted mid sentence again.

"WELL MAYBE ITS BECAUSE I ALREADY LOST EVERYTHING TO THE PEOPLE UP THERE!." The human screams to his friend. "MAYBE I JUST WANT TO SEE THEM AGAIN M-maybe I ju-just..." the human boy starts to break down. "I-I just want to see th-them again. I-I'm s-so so-sorry azzy I just w-want to help them, I just do-don't want to be a burden to you, I don't wa-want to be a burden to your parents, I don't want to be a b-burden the underground by being a key to there freedom." The human boy weeps. "Your right this is a stupid plan but, I just want to help them and, it's not like I already lost everything before right, what's a single soul to freedom for thousands of others." He says starting to calm down.

*FLASHBACK ENDS*

"The world works in funny ways doesn't it." He says in the dark, talking to himself. "I mean this wasn't exactly what I had in mind when I first made that dumb plan, trapped in my own mind." He states in frustration.

"*sigh* I guess I deserve this though, taking advantage of someone who thinks the world of me, maybe I am dead and this is the hell the afterlife made for me." Chara contemplates. "I just wanted save him though, I wanted to save everyone here, they don't deserve this closed off place away from the light of the sun, they don't deserve to serve a sentence their ancestors left on them, they don't deserve the suffering this place has cau-." the human boy cuts off as he suddenly wakes up with his breath knocked out of him.

'Alright,' The boy states in his mind, thankfully not literally. 'Out of all the things I expected to happen today this was not one of them.' he says to himself trying to catch his breath.

"Oh my god I didn't mean to do that so sorry!" a voice says. "I didn't know you were sleeping here I just thought this place was just an empty cave, I promise I only tripped down here when a-," The voice is cut off by my own. " branch caught your leg, same thing happened to me when I first fell too." I state to the voice still trying catching my breath.

"Oh my god." The voice says seemingly in disbelief. "Why are you there but also here." The voice states as the body of it starts to seemingly point at me while also pointing at- wait is that me?

"What the," I start to state as I get up from the floor I fell onto when I had my breath knocked out of me. "Wait I thought I woke up, what is going on-." I was cut off mid-sentence. " why are you transparent." the voice states it's figure becoming more identifiable to that of a more feminine figure.

"What do you mean by-." I start to say but notice my arms seem to be see through. "Huh this is new." looking at myself seeing that I am entirely see through.

"Oh where are my manners," I state to myself after I realized I was being rude. " allow me to introduce myself." I start to say, "My name is Chara Hector, pleased to be at your service ma'am." I say in complete honesty with a jokingly snobby attitude.

"Well aren't you the polite person," she says starting to play along. "well it would be rude if I didn't also introduce myself," she starts, "my name is Frisk Fox pleased to meet you as well kind sir." she introduces in the overly formal attitude as well.

Chapter Text

'What is a decision?' I think to myself pondering the thought of choice. 'Is it something you use without thinking as you go by the day as-.'

"HONEY! BREAKFAST!" A voice calls in the kitchen trying to get my attention.

'... or is it a group of predestined thoughts that someon-.' I continue but, was once again was rudely interrupted by that voice.

"ARE YOU STILL ASLEEP, COME ON GET YOUR FOOD!" The voice screams a tad louder trying to convince me to come down to the kitchen.

'...'

'... I don't know but it kee-' I couldn't even get past the sixth word before the voice try's to convince me one last time with an enticing promise.

"ITS YOUR FAVORITE!" It says not as loud but with the biggest impact on my thought process.

'...THOUGHT PROVOKING IDEAS PREPARE TO BE IGNORED!' I scream into my head as I rush down to the kitchen but, not before getting ready with my white shirt, blue sweater with two magenta stripes, jeans, and tennis shoes. Running to that part of my house to eat those holy homemade blueberry pancakes my dad always makes for special occasions, such as today.

The day I finally see where the golden flower path leads to.

You might be wondering what the hell am I going on about aren't you. Well to explain let's go back a bit to last month where something strange happened. On that day as the village was preparing the defenses for that night a creature was seen that seemed to be angered by something, not uncommon as a variety of things could've been angered as it was common for the eldritch to steal from, attack, and especially kill most of the wildlife in the forest but this one wasn't a wild animal.

It was a monster, a monster from a kingdom not seen or heard from in years. I wasn't sure of it myself but, the way most monsters seem to have recognize or at the very least made claim that it has looks that are similar to that of the king of the Dreemur Kingdom has left me with a feeling that something bigger going on that no one here seems to be a part of.

When they saw the monster the people claimed to have tried to calm him, in a attempt to ask him where he had come from or, who he was but according to witnesses he seemed to be to enraged and attacked. luckily for the group the guards were near the area as they were patrolling the edges of the village and protected the people before any serious damage can be done to the people or the defenses of the outskirts.

After the battle the monster was heavily injured, in a state where it will most likely become dust within at least half an hour of the battle ending. When confronted with the choice to accept the offer of coming in to be healed it is claimed it said it had to say sorry to its people and gave a quick apology before running back into the forest never to be seen since.

Afterwards the word spread of the encounter quickly reaching my parents and myself to an extent after overhearing the story by many people in the streets and stores saying there might still be a chance for some of them to see there family from the Dreemur Kingdom again. Hope spread quickly among these people but, after the encounter there hasn't been as much as a speck of the encounter since.

Until last week, where something strange happened. Where there was nothing but grass a mysterious batch of flowers suddenly appeared. What was so mysterious about these flowers some of you might be asking? Well other than no one claiming to have planted them, the fact they were all the golden flowers the Dreemurs seemed to have hold dear and, that it seemed to follow a path that the assumed Dreemur took after the incident, not much was mysterious about them.

After there appearance my father has decided to announce the investigation of these plants but, as he was to busy to do it I decided to contribute and volunteered to investigate in his place. Afterwards my father along with my mother started to help me prepare for the trip to see where they led with supplies along the lines of food and camping materials which took the rest of the week leading to today.

The day I would venture the farthest I've ever been to home. Now I might seem like I'm exaggerating when I say this but, according to the witnesses the monster seemed to have been fast even when injured so who knows how much ground he took in his presumed last half hour of life, hence the extra supplies I'm bringing to the trip. Even then the farthest I've ever been to the village was about an acre even with my father due to the dangers of the eldritch. This is the first time my father is allowing me to go farther than that and I am making a promise to myself to not let him down by getting in a serious life threatening situation during the journey.

"Now remember the RFH rules if you ever encounter an eldritch." My mother says to me dotingly in a fair matter as this 'is' a life threatening mission I'm going on.

"Alright mom." I tell her as I'm making a last minute check of the supplies.

"If you know them so well let's review them." She responds since I have a bit of a habit of not working well with acronyms.

"Okay so R is for running from a dangerous eldritch as it would leave the least amount of damage in me," I start as she is making me review.

"Go on." She says.

"F is for fighting if I can't seem to run from it wether it be due to it being faster and catching me off guard or it cornering me,"

She hums in approval nodding for me to finish.

"And H is for hiding if it's to dangerous to beat due to its skill or wisdom if it's old enough." I finish waiting for her response.

"Alright your ready," she says with a sigh. "but don't blame me for worrying about you while your out there alright."

"Mom I'm going to be fine, I promise you that." I say though knowing that it is dangerous.

"I said I can't help it okay." She says embracing me lovingly when I finish my check and picking up the bag.

"Come on frisk!" My father yells outside. "I'm going to take you the farthest we've been before you go off on your own!"

"Coming!" I yell back. "See you mom." I say before hugging her one last time before going outside and meeting my dad outside before going into the forest.

The walk following the flowers was mostly silent though not awkward as we viewed the beauty of the forest before reaching the farthest he can go before having to go back leaving me to walk the rest of the way by myself.

"Dad I know what your goi-." I start before I was interrupted.

"I'm proud of how far you've come when it comes to everything," he starts to say to me. "From the little premie to the confident woman you are. to venture into the unknown with no one forcing you here, to see you make this decision yourself with your only motivation being to help others. It's all just amazing to experience as your father and if anything happens just know, that I'm always there and always with you, got that hon."

"I-I." before I finish I hug him as tightly as I could crying. Knowing that he thought of me like that, knowing he has put all his faith into me, to solve this, it really puts how much he cares into a perspective I didn't think I'd ever seen from him.

We were there just hugging for about five minutes before we started to separate. Afterwards when I went further into the forest after calming down I started to absentmindedly follow the trail and before I noticed how long I must've been walking I was already at the place where there was the most flowers.

Following my investigation during which, I decided to put down my bag and, after I tripped and scraped my knee got a bandage to keep the area uninfected I made a mistake. When going more into the center I didn't realize I should've been paying attention and accidentally tripped on a branch and fell through the hole. I tried to do something during the fall like grabbing the edge or using ice to make a platform but it seemed to me that I lost all feeling within me to move and as I fell.

What I didn't expect when I finally landed was... the feeling of something warm? After I got up from after I rolled off it I realized I probably landed on someone and sure enough I hear someone wheezing from losing there breath.

"Oh my god I didn't mean to do that so sorry!" I yell at the person. "I didn't know you were sleeping here I just thought this place was just an empty cave, I promise I only tripped down here when a-." I was cut off mid-sentence yet again today.

"Branch caught your leg,"a clearly masculine voice says most definitely my age. "Same thing happened to me when I first fell too." He says clearly trying to get his breath back before I notice something odd about him.

"Oh my god." I say after seeing apparently the same guy wheezing on the other side of the bed still on it still sleeping. A bed surrounded by the golden flowers. "Why are you there but also here." I point to him while also pointing at the double on the bed still sleeping.

"What the," he starts to say as he gets up, finally catching his breath. "Wait I thought I woke up, what is going on-." I cut him off mid-sentence. "Why are you transparent." I say pointing out his figure, most definitely a man by the way.

"What do you mean by-." He cuts off after seeing himself. "Well this is new." He states after viewing all of himself making sure it wasn't just his arm.

"Oh where are my manners," he says to himself. "Allow me to introduce myself." he starts with the exaggerated accent of a British butler with no real harm behind it. "My name is Chara Hector, pleased to be at your service ma'am." He states as he bows.

Wanting to play along, I join in in his overly formal greetings. "Well aren't you the polite person," I start. "My name is Frisk Fox pleased to meet you as well kind sir." I state while raising an imaginary gown in courtesy of his bow.

Chapter Text

'Wait a minute,' Frisk thinking to herself after realizing what he said. 'Ch-Chara Hector? Is-is it really him?'

'Hold on,' Chara says to himself at the same time. 'Frisk Fox? It can't be, could it?'

"Chara?" Frisk says in disbelief and excitement, looking at the figure on the other side becoming more and more clear, showing her childhood best friend, covering her mouth with her hands and tearing up once again today.

"Hey Frisk, How long has it been?" Chara says nervously as he walks around the bed to be in front of her with that nostalgic smile she always loved when growing up together, Slowly tearing up himself seeing her become more and more recognizable as well, memories of fun times, sad times and, times where they were just there for each other, all popping up in his mind as he looks at her.

Quick note though, was she always this beautiful?

"Ch-CHARA!" She screams as she barreled towards him, surprisingly taking him off-balance leaving them on the floor embracing one another tightly.

"I-I thought I lost you! The-there was s-smoke an-and we saw everything b-burned and I c-couldn't find a-anything and we thought you and e-everyone else were gone!" She screams into his shoulder, tears and mucus trailing onto it in excess.

"I'm-I'm so so-sorry frisk! So many th-things were h-happening and I didn't kn-know what was g-going on a-and and," he also screams, holding her and being mindful of her clothing by undoing his sleeves and crying on his arms instead.

They stayed there for at least half an hour. Just in there surprisingly warm embrace, with Chara saying numerous apologies to Frisk and Frisk just glad that her best friend is back. Not aware of the passage of time nor caring as there emotional state starts becoming more and stable.

Slowly, they start to separate to see each other eye to eye.

"*sniff* *sniff* so," Frisk starts, "Is this where you were the entire time?" She asks him with a questioning tone.

"I... I honestly don't know." Chara starts. "I lost track of time during my 'missing' period, I feel like I've spent years down here but for all I could know it could've been three months in my... how long was I gone again?" Chara says, finishing with a question he hopes doesn't come off wrong.

"Let's see," Frisk says, thinking about the timeframe for his disappearance to now. "I think it was about a month after my 9th birthday so around December 5th when we found out something happened, but we should probably talk about this when we leave this place. Also sorry for the mess I made on your shoulder."

"Eh it's fine, you didn't mean for anything to happen, also yeah your right," he says thinking about the situation there in. "But before that I should probably tell you about this place first." He says getting up from the floor motioning her to follow.

"Now then," he starts clearing his throat to mimic the voice of a game show host. "WELCOME TO THE UNDERGROUND! My name is Chara your lovable host here to explain the rules, now everything might seem normal at first but this isn't what the monsters see around you. No what they see around us is a pixelated form of everything inside this world and, everyone including humans are weaker as the inside of the barrier somehow causes this effect, wether intentional or not." He then explains the battle system, movement, communication and interactions with certain items in the underground.

"Wait," Frisk says after Chara explanation. "What would they see if they look at me or you?"

"Well my underground body is technically in a coma, so they can't see me so there's that. With you though... your not gonna like it, like at all." He says pointing toward his comatose form for her to pick up a mirror from his pocket to see her form from the monsters perspective.

"WHAT THE HELL! Why do I look like that?!" She screams pointing towards her 'reflection' according to the barrier.

"I know right! It clearly does not look like it did your form justice at all!"

"Wait, did you jus-."

"Ignore I said that till we are done with this."

"Wait, if this is what I look like, what does your form look like?" She says as she starts pointing the mirror towards his 'physical' form.

"...Why do I look like a loon?" Chara reflects looking at his underground reflection.

"Let's just move on from this and just go to the next room."

"Your probably right let's just go."

Frisk then walks towards the next room, Chara following in tow, when they encounter the flower with a face.

"Howdy! I'm Flowey. Flowey the Flower! Hmmm... your new to the Underground aren'tcha? Golly, you must be so confused. Someone ought to teach you how things work around here! I guess little old me will have to do. Ready? Here we go!"

"He's creepy as hell, the music certainly doesn't help, but other than that everything seems normal, though I'd prefer not to go through the mechanics again."

"Yeah I get it, but the most you can talk to monsters here are in short bursts till you get used to the barrier, and even then it isn't much of an improvement as your only dialogue here is either scripted or just telling people your name, so you can't tell him you already know."

"Wait can they hear us?"

"Not really. I tried talking like this with the monsters while I was here and all I got were weird looks, doesn't help that I have the face of a complete psycho with that creepy smile and considering there looks I feel like I looked like I was staring blankly at them."

"Huh. I guess having the most bland face in the world could help with our talks considering I look absolutely done with everything to them."

"I guess there are advantages to that. Still greatly appreciate the fact that I can actually see you emote considering our situation right now."

"Yea- wait is he done?" Frisk says noticing the pellets around her soul and the flowers dialogue box.

"Die." It says as it laughs maniacally while forcing the pellets to get closer and closer to her soul.

"I thought they did patterns, what the hell!?"

Before they can touch her however they suddenly disappear. While the flower was confused it got hit by a fire ball, flying off the screen.

Suddenly a goat monster appears sliding into the middle of the screen where the flower was prior.

"What a terrible creature, torturing such a poor, innocent youth. Ah do not be afraid, my child. I am Toriel, caretaker of the Ruins. I pass through this place every day to see if anyone has fallen down. You are the first human to come here in a long time. Come! I will guide you through the catacombs."

"Okay? Any explanation on 'Ms. I've got free candy' here?" Frisk says, looking at Toriel suspiciously.

"I wouldn't really say she's that kind of person. The biggest comparison I can make is the old grandma across street everyone knows. She's actually one of the people here who took me in when I first fell." Chara explains hoping to convince Frisk.

Chapter Text

After Toriel introduced herself she decided to keep Frisk within her vicinity to make sure she doesn't get hurt. Rooms afterwards posed little to no threat to Frisk or anyone with a braincell and afterward promising to come back, leaves her in the hallway. Frisk, still not one to trust strangers easily questioned her ghostly companion once again if she has done anything suspicious to him.

"... did she make you do anything you didn't want to do?"

"Frisk for the last time, she is not a predator!"

"I can't help it okay!" She told the spectator of her journey. "She keeps calling me her child for some reason and is being really clingy about me being around other monsters that cannot pose a threat to me in the slightest!"

"...Do you not trust me on this journey?" Her spectator friend asked honestly as he genuinely doesn't get why she is insistent on her suspicion of the goat monster.

"It's not you, if that's what your asking," she responds to the question. "It just doesn't feel comfortable to trust someone like her so easily after what happened with... 'Ms. You know who'." She finished reluctantly, sitting down shivering and wrapping herself in her arms.

"Frisk I know it isn't easy to trust people that seem like her," Chara starts as he sits behind her, holding her hands to caress them in warmth. "But I promise you she is nothing like her. Besides, do you really think I would really let her live if she would try anything 'suspicious' to you or anyone else." Chara finishes trying to sound jokingly sinister to help Frisk' mood.

"Hmmm, I guess your right." Frisk says as she feels more and more warm in his presence, starting to feel drowsy. "But, *yawn* let's make one thing clear. I could so finish her faster."

"Of course you could, you could shatter her almost instantly." Chara responds to the little challenge the minute away from sleeping girl made, feeling drowsy himself. "But, in my defense she would suffer more with me than she would *yawn* with you." He finishes in a childish checkmate remark before following her to dreamland.

——————————————————————————

"Who are you talking to momma?" A little boy asked his mother, who is currently talking to a man In a grey sweater. Not familiar with his presence or identity.

"Hm oh hey honey," the boys mother notices his presence after talking to the man for a bit. "This is just a friend who helps me here with my research, he means no harm." Diverting her attention from the boy for a sec to ask something of the man. "Hey Freddy why don't you introduce your daughter to my son here."

"Why is everyone so insistent on that nickname, my name is Frederick why is it so hard to make a nickname that I like being called." the man whispers to himself after the woman asks him of the favor. "But sure thing, hold on a sec as she doesn't trust others easily." He finishes as he starts to turn around and crouch down to talk to the girl who was behind him.

"Why are we here?" The girl asks her father as she hides from the woman in the doctor uniform with a white coat, afraid of possibly getting a shot.

"Because your mother is out eldritch hunting, and I couldn't schedule a proper babysitter in time." The father responded jokingly before stating what he wanted to ask of her. "But papa needs to talk to the doctor, so why don't you play with the boy in overalls while we talk about boring adult things."

"Can we get ice cream after?"

"Sure thing hon."

Slowly, she starts walking into the view of the boy. Still nervous she starts to introduce herself to him. "Hello, my name is Frisk. what's your name?" She asks still not sure of him.

"Oh hello there, my name is Chara. Pretty bow by the way." The boy finishes quickly and unflinchingly.

"Thank you, do you want to play?"

"Sure thing, come on my room is this way."

The little girl looks at her father before following the boy leaving the office to go to his room. The slowly fading voices of the adults quickly made her on edge but, was immediately dashed by the curiosity of the fluffy thing the boy had in his arms, presumably picking it up while she wasn't paying attention.

"What are you holding?" She asks noticing the fluffy things movement, before shaking in excitement as he turns around to show her the savage beast wearing a deerstalker hat in all its glory. "It's a puppy!" She yells before petting it. "what's his name?" She asks while still petting the little piece of fluff masterfully.

"His name is Watson, he is a Pomeranian and we solve mysteries together." The boy answers joining in on spoiling the puppy with love by petting it.

"What mysteries did you solve?" The girl ask, a bit sad about the puppy not accepting pets at the moment and jumping out of Chara's arms to walk besides them.

"Well we solved 'the mystery of the missing sandwich'." The boy answers noticing her slightly sad mood and trying to cheer her up with a funny mystery.

"Really, what happened to it?"

"It turned out my dad ate my sandwich in a rush to get to work, not realizing it was mine and not his." The boy answered remembering vividly of the moment he found out when his father came home embarrassed after realizing he ate a plain grilled cheese and not a bacon and egg sandwich for breakfast.

After that they finally reached his room and played. Not knowing what they went threw would snowball to something amazing. That small talk about his small in scale story in everything but emotional relevance would lead them down a path they would walk, together.

——————————————————————————

"That was the moment when we first became friends. One of my favorite memories, and definitely one of the most important. I will never regret talking about it, I would never regret meeting you, and I will never regret being by your side. All it took though was a leap of faith. A leap of trusting you with a small personal story that I used to help you when you were down." Chara whispered as he recalled his dream after waking up and sitting by her bedside, watching her as she slept. realizing Toriel must've picked her up after she was done with her errands.

"I might not understand your trust issues but I'll just roll with it if it's what your so set on right now."

"Thank you for understanding." Frisk states after waking up from the small nap.

"Sure thing frisky bits."

Chapter Text

"Well... that was something?" Frisk says, facing the closed door wondering how to respond to what just happened.

"I'm going to be honest, I have no quirky response to any of that. Lets just focus on what's in front of you, maybe that'll get your mind off it." Chara responds turning her around to get her attention on her element.

"What do you mean by..." Frisk trails off noticing the environment representing her favorite season of the year despite it being October. "WINTER!" Frisk screams into the sky, eyes filled with wonder.

"Can you refrain from screaming into the sky when I'm right next to you?" Asks Chara, plugging his ears, trying to prevent from going deaf.

"Hehe sorry." Giggled frisk in embarrassment, but still giddy from excitement. Following Chara getting ready for the introduction to this beautiful place.

"Now then, welcome to Snowdin Forest, yes the names get worst the farther we get into the underground." Chara says with high energy, as if the previous involuntary manslaughter attempt on his eardrums never happened.

"Wait how far away are we from 'actual' Snowdin?"

"I don't really remember, memories kinda blurry. Doesn't help that time also blurred with it so I don't know how much could've changed with the amount of time I was gone. Hell, maybe they moved to Waterfall."

"Water-?" Frisk was about to question, confused by the weird name before being interrupted with the answer by her company.

"I wasn't kidding when I said they get worse. Let's just focus on here for a while, I mean I don't know why I said that considering you basically have your face glued to the snow already, so yeah."

"Hey, I'll have you know that I haven't made a single snowball since we entered here, so HA."

"Oh really?" Chara says, smugly pointing towards the snowball she absentmindedly made whilst talking about not having a snow addiction.

"Huh!?" Frisk let's go of the snowball, honestly surprised by its appearance. "It's like they just show up in my hand."

"Don't worry, we can get you help. You can get through this." Chara says, snickering the whole way through when mentioning snow therapy.

"Hmph, your mean." The girl says into hers sleeves, fake miffed at his rehab comment at her expense.

"Aw, you know I'm only joking Frisk."

"HMPH!"

"...you want something don't you?"

"You can't prove that."

"There you are!"

"Oh shut up."

"Huh, was that always there?" Chara said pointing towards the poorly made gate structure.

"I think it's an attempt at being intimidating, and succeeding as well as a pug trying to look cool while wearing a beanie." Frisk responds, stopping in front of it to criticize it on certain aspects.

"human. don't you know how to greet a new pal? turn around and shake my hand."

"What, your not going to tell me to trust this one blindly?"

"Jeez," Chara responds to the tease. "You question a girls trust issues once and she'll never let it go."

"That was barely an hour ago."

"Semantics!"

After the skeleton encounter where Frisk and Chara heavily favored the eccentric skeleton than the know it all, they absentmindedly walk further into the cave.

"This whole place makes me feels like I'm walking into a winter wonderland!"

"Trust me when I say this was my favorite place to be at in the Underground. Second and third being Waterfall and New Home, yes 'New Home'." Chara says, before absentmindedly answering her of if she misheard him.

"Why?" Confusion defining her entire demeanor as she whispers. "Why would he name a place New Home?"

"I don't know." Chara shrugged. "I just think he's as bad with names as you are with acronyms."

"...that was a low blow and you know it."

"Worth it."

Frisk just shrugs it off before thinking about what he said earlier. "Wait, why 'was' this your favorite place to be at here?"

"Oh," Chara looks avoids looking at her, looking nervous? "I mean it's just a personal preference nothing else in the slightest." He says in a quick fashion, putting on his hood and pulling the string to tighten it to the point it covers everything but his eyes.

"Chara is there something your not telling me?" Frisk says, worried about her friend.

"No, it's nothing let's just go." Chara said quickening in pace before stopping when Frisk grabs his arm.

"Chara, is something wrong?" She expresses most definitely worried now.

"Okay okay, no need to be worried." Chara says, getting out of his hood, hand scratching his shaggy hair and trying to dismiss her thoughts of anything bad due to his nervousness. "It's honestly just feels embarrassing to say, especially to you."

"What is it your so nervous to say then?" Frisk states waiting for an answer.

"Well," he starts, cheeks reddening in embarrassment. Slowly retreating back into his hood. "I've always liked this place because it reminded me of you while I was down here." He finishes, cheeks practically glowing and completely retreating into his hood once again.

"Oh," Frisk says, surprised by the honestly heartwarming answer her friend gave. Blushing up a storm herself, and twirling her long hair with her finger. "I had no idea."

"Of course you couldn't have known," Chara's muffled voice says, coming from underneath the hood. "I am a master of mystery after all."

"I thought you were a master of solving mysteries not making them."

"...shut up." Chara states, getting out of his hood to see her.

"There you are!"

"Hehe," Chara let's out a little laugh, looking at her. Wishing he could take a picture as snowflakes fall perfectly to frame her giggling face breathtakingly. "Wow..."

"Wow what?" Frisk asked, noticing her friend looking at her...mystified?

"You heard that!"

"Man with the amount of blood going to your head it's any wonder how you didn't get a migraine yet."

A plan in his mind clicks into place before the First step is initiated. "Ow..." Chara's muffled voice goes through his hand before getting to the ground and holding his head in pain.

"Sorry! I didn't mean to jinx it!" Frisk starts lowering to his crouching figure.

"Heh, got ya!" Chara exclaims before running from the girl. Second and final step initiated.

"Oh, you asshole get over here!" Frisk screams chasing after him playfully.

"Never!" Chara screams into the sky, not noticing the ice rink in his path. "Oh okay this is happening now apparently!" The slipping figure figures as he try's to get his balance on the ice, keyword being 'try'.

"Aw what's the matter, first time ice skating?" Frisk says while showing off, skating around him masterfully.

"Oh, that's just not fair!" Chara states, still trying to gain some semblance of balance on the middle of the rink.

"Here let me help you," she starts to explain as she skates in front of him to give him something to hold onto.

"Wait, how are you skating? You only had tennis shoes and it didn't look like you had anything else on you when running after me so you couldn't have changed to skates while I was here." Chara questions as Frisk helps him gain a semblance of balance in the ice ink.

"Well turns out I could still use my cryokinesis. just in the 'exploration' part of the Underground though, doesn't help that it's so weak that the only worthwhile thing I can make are literal 'ice' skates and it literally melts almost instantly at the Ruins." Frisk states while tutoring Chara, pointing at her feet to show the artificial blades that connect to her shoes, during which, she made a pair for him.

"Huh, then your not gonna like later areas then since the Ruins is the second coldest place in here behind the obvious." Chara explains, starting to get a sense of normality when skating with only Frisk' hand as support.

"I'll just enjoy it while it lasts then." She whispers to him as she tightly holds his hand to get him skating alongside her and not behind her.

Was he always so handsome though?

Chapter Text

'Wh-where the hell did that come from!' She asked herself confused and embarrassed as she noticed her grip on Chara's hand tightened.

"Frisk, are you alright?" Chara questioned, noticing her surprised demeanor and flushed face.

"It's nothing, I swear! I think we spent enough time in here, let's go." She answers quickly as she holds his hand harder and starts rushing to the exit of the rink.

"Frisk, hold on!" Chara shouts as he tries to regain his balance as he was being dragged through the exit.

When Frisk calmed down, they encountered Papyrus' maze. Though calling it a 'maze' would technically be misleading as the puzzle wasn't splitting pathways and making dead ends. It was just a invisible hallway that shocked you if you touched the walls, nothing serious.

"So, what happened back there?" Chara decided to ask after walking for a bit after the little ice rink incident. "Did I do something wrong? If so I'm sorry."

"No no it wasn't you, -er I mean it had something to do with you," Frisk started to explain but with no direction.

"Frisk." Chara tries to catch her attention calmly, noticing her explanation has signs of going off the rails early.

"but it's not like you did anything to me for that to happen," Frisk says, a bit desperate for control of her mouth as she tries to explain.

"Frisk!" Chara tries harder to get her attention, seeing her struggle further.

"I mean you did do something but it wasn't something bad you were jus-." Frisk goes off the rails completely, losing her breath as her face becomes a bit blue from oxygen deprivation.

"FRISK!" Chara shouts to her, breaking her out of the broken since the beginning explanation, and helping her catch her breath.

"I'm sorry." Frisk starts before trying to get a good grasp with her breathing once again.

"It's fine," Chara responds with one of his hands on her back, the other holding hers. "you just lost track of what you were going to say."

"Would you mind if we leave this topic for later?" Frisk asks after a couple of seconds of hesitation.

"Sure thing, I mean it's not really as serious as being trapped with a bunch of monsters swarming you, even if there just civilians compared to you. I think I can handle a secret being kept from me."

"Thanks Char-bear." Frisk thanks with a little tease of there life as kids.

"Please don't remind me of that nickname." Chara says horrified by the memories of that nickname, Oh the humiliation!

"Chara, they laughed for five minutes the first time they heard me call you that and never again after. stop being over dramatic." Frisk deadpanned after seeing her friends stare into the dark abyss.

"You can't prove they didn't laugh in their heads every time they looked at me after that."

"True, but you can't prove they did."

"Touché ice princess."

"You of all people should know how much I hate being called 'ice princess'."

"My apologies, my Ice Queen."

"That's better."

"Now then, where were we earlier?"

"I believe Papyrus was too chicken to use the gauntlet so he let us pass, Fire King sir."

"Huh, that was quick. By the way the town is quite literally a couple feet in front of us then. Quick note though, that still sounds so cheesy."

"Anything I should expect from this place. Also I just think it's cute." Frisk asks as she walks those last steps before hitting town.

"Do you remember how we tried to get more presents by making up fake holidays during December."

"How could I not. That was so *yawn* embarrassing."

"The monsters here have low morale, so to combat this they decided to make up as many traditions as possible before any serious will loss occurred."

"I mean, I guess that makes sense if your morale is low, but making so many traditions will most likely lead to the disappearance of the original holidays and what makes them so special."

"Thats something I tried to warn them about, but as you can probably *yawn* tell by looking at the town and earlier conditions for communication between us, no one listened." Chara explained, pointing at the pretty and ironically warm town of Snowdin.

"Can you point me to a place to lay down? I'm just tired now."

"Oh sure there is this 'hotel' down the street. The reason I say 'hotel' like this is because it's just an extra bedroom."

"I just want to lay down thank you very much. I don't need a full motel nirvana review."

"Honestly I'm just tired as you, you don't need to be pissy about it."

"I know I'm sorry I just want to sleep for a quick second."

"Its *yawn* alright let's just get there before we fall asleep on the snow."

They somehow made it to the receptionist without falling asleep and got the keys to the room, and somehow managed to get on the bed before finally succumbing to sleep, unaware of a figure wearing a grey sweater following them to dreamland from above ground.

——————————————————————————

"You called." Greeted a voice as he walks into an office with the little patter of small nervous feet following him in tow.

"Good afternoon to you too, Freddy." The doctor sarcastically replied as she got out of her chair to speak to her friend, already aware of the situation that led to him taking along his daughter to their meeting.

"You puke in a pizza place one time," 'Freddy' whispered to himself, pinching his nose."Your never going to let go of that name are you?"

"Are you ever going to break the tie streak you have with my husband anytime soon, Frederick?" She asks in return to his question.

"Point taken."

"He-hello Mrs. doctor lady." A voice said, hiding behind Frederick sounding scared.

"Hello Frisk, it's a pleasure to meet you. Your father told me all about you and don't worry I'm not going to hurt you, I promise."

All her response does is scare her a little more as she hugs her father's leg tighter.

"Sorry about her Isabelle, she ca-."

"Who are you talking to momma?" A little boy asks standing at the entrance.

After introducing the two kids to each other they decided to quickly distract them by asking them to play with each other while they talk.

Frederick let's out a breath after the kids get far enough from them to talk without them over listening. Isabelle following quickly with a pained look.

"How's progress with the medication?" Frederick asks solemnly, looking at her for a response.

"The medicine is still in the testing phase, though progress has stagnated as there isn't a difference between his condition from before and after injection. So I guess we are back to square one." She says while her face is covered by her hair, looking disheveled.

"Isabelle we are far from square one and you know that." Frederick states, looking at her with a look of defiance.

"I know, it just feels so hopeless."

"So you're just going t-."

"Don't you FUCKING DARE TELL ME THAT YOU THINK I'M GIVING UP! YOU THINK I WANT THIS! YOU DON'T THINK I CARE ABOUT HIM! YOU DON'T THINK I CRY MYSELF TO SLEEP THINKING ABOUT MY SON IN A DEATHBED! YOU DON'T THINK I FUCKING HATE EVERY MINUTE OF MY SON LIVING HIS LIFE THINKING EVERYTHING IS PERFECTLY FINE WHILE HE SLEEPS IN A HOSPITAL BED! YOU DON'T THINK I HATE LIVING HERE! YO-you d-don't th-." She gets cut off by the embrace of her friend before finally breaking down.

"Everything is going to be fine." and "you'll get through this." is what fills the room for an hour before the doctor finally calms down enough to speak to her friend properly.

"You did *sniff* that on purpose, didn't you?" She asks looking much more relaxed.

"You look like you needed to let it all out. So, being the grade A friend I am I decided to let you let it all out on me. Before you ask though, if things got physical I would've stopped you." He says matter of factly as he takes off his tear soaked sweater before tying it around his waist.

"Thanks, I needed that."

"Now then, status report on his condition. This time don't make me go deaf."

"Alright asshole, now th-." She is cut off mid sentence as Frederick wakes up.

——————————————————————————

"What happened?" Frederick asks as he wakes up.

"You had a dream about the Hector's hon." His wife said pointing out the tears on his cheeks, crying slightly herself.

Chapter Text

"I-I'm sorry for waking you honey." Frederick stutters as he gets up to look his wife eye to eye.

"It's okay, it's just... you were whispering out loud the things you told me you told frisk that day." She says as she fixes herself to sit properly in front of him, recounting the situation. "You still miss them don't you?"

"I shouldn't be missing and remembering them in my dreams, they should be alive and well if I got there in time!"

"You couldn't have known what was going to happen, It isn't your fault."

"I know, it just..."

"Hurts," she says before hugging him tightly. "It hurts knowing you can't visit them, it hurts knowing you can't compete with William anymore, it hurts not being able to tease Chara, but you have to understand that we can't do anything about it."

"I-I know..."

"If you know then why do I have to tell you then hmm?" She says with a playfully snarky tone, hoping to calm him down.

"Alright smart ass, let's just get back to bed." He says as he drags her back to his chest as he falls asleep, not realizing a certain blue sweater wearer is developing a nightmare at the same time.

——————————————————————————

'What the?' Frisk says as she gets up from the floor of a room completely covered in darkness. "Where the hell am I?" She asks herself as she walks around for a bit.

"Hmm maybe I shouldn't have eaten that nice cream before going to bed." She says to herself as she stops walking to observe her nonexistent views. "Ha, I got it!" She says to herself before finding a small torch on the ground to see if her vision would lead to answers on what this room is.

"Sorry Chara, I'm only going to borrow fire for a little bit." She says to herself as she finds two sticks to start the torch, before raising it as high as possible.

Shock and fear is what covers her face as she looks to see something she wishes she never saw again. "H-how?! My dad and Mr. Hector destroyed this place years ago, it's all supposed to be gone! Your supposed to be gone!" She screams before running away. Not unaware of its chase.

"Stay the hell away!" She screams as she summons an ice wall, hoping to at the very least slow down its pursuit. Full well knowing that won't stop it.

"Chara! Chara, where are you! I-." She stops mid sentence as she was blocked off by the abomination, holding something in its fangs.

"Fr-frisk?" The... no it isn't, please don't let it be...

*SNAP*

*Thud*

"Chara..." she says, not caring of the eldritch or the sudden age change to both her and Chara as she ran towards him. "no no no no no No No...”

——————————————————————————

"NO!" She screams as she wakes up panting and sweating, sitting up to look around the room. "Alright Frisk, deep breath in," she says as she practices her breathing exercises. "Deep breath out, deep breath in,"

this goes on for about two minutes before calmly realizing she was alone. "Where's Chara?" She asks herself before getting out of bed rejuvenated.

After returning the keys to the room she looks around behind the trees before hearing something. 'Is that grunting?' She asks herself before investigating further but stealthily, finding the source but still hiding behind a tree from the figure's perspective to observe it.

"Ninety-seven, ninety-eight, ninety-nine, one-hundred! Ha, that should do it," Chara surprisingly announces as he gets off the floor before eyeing the trees around him, looking for a stable branch. "now then... that one looks perfect!" He states before jumping up a bit to grab hold of the stable branch he found.

"One, two, three..." Frisk counts out loud softly watching as he practices his pull-ups, Eying his surprisingly built body. "Wait hold on, what am I thinking?" She asks herself as she notices her currently sweaty hands and red face.

"Huh what was that?" Chara questions after hearing something, looking around for a bit.

"Crap." Frisk says silently as she presses her back further into the tree and ducking, trying to lower her chances of being caught.

"Hm must've been the wind." Chara says to himself before returning to the branch to continue his pull-ups.

'Damn it what am I thinking?!' Frisk screams to herself in her mind. 'I shouldn't be looking at Chara that way!'

'But he's hot though.' Another part of her mind says shamelessly.

'I don't care! We're violating him and his privacy by doing this!'

'It isn't like you cared a minute ago when you were eying him like a piece of meat, doesn't help that he definit-.'

'STOP IT!'

'Never!'

'What if he walked in on us in a revealing state?! Double standard much!'

'Please, if he walked in on us I would make sure he gets more tha-.'

'I know what your going to say, and if you so much as let out another word your not leaving this conversation unscathed! Got that!'

'But I'm you though.'

'Damn it!'

'Why are you so against this anyway? It's not like you only feel 'this' around him.'

'That's the point!'

'...'

'you did that on purpose didn't you?'

'Caught red-handed ...well see ya.' The voice says before fading away.

'I just confessed to myself in one of most stupid ways ever, and the weird thing is I've had weirder moments.' Frisk thinks calming down from her state of perpetual heat ironically.

"Wait a minute," she starts to question. "Why is he doing this in the first place?"

Deciding to get an answer directly, she decided to confront Chara. Ironically bumping into his chest and falling back a bit before he catches her. "Good morning Frisk."

"G-good morning Chara," she starts as she pushes him a bit to clue him in on letting her go. "Now if you don't mind since I regained my balance."

"Oh sorry about that," he states as he let's her go gently. "I have a bit of a strong grip."

Frisk grumbles to herself suppressing her more 'honest' feelings on his statement before deciding to ask him a question. "Why are you back here anyway?"

"Oh," Chara says not expecting the question and looking for the right answer in his head. "I just workout. Nothing too special. Wanna feel?"

As if she wasn't struggling enough with the containment of that feeling. "Let's just go." She says before dragging him to the edge of Snowdin.

'Why did you say that you moron?!' Chara screams at himself in his head. 'As if this could get any worse.'

'What do you mean worse?'

'The way I see it, she probably thinks I'm a creep for asking.'

'Why would you be the creep when you gave her the permission to feel you up?'

'I... well...'

'You certainly got a build that would impress her, not to me-'

'Shut it!'

'Why should I?'

'I'm not going to use my body to start it.'

'Start what?'

'You know what I mean.'

'Yeah I know it was a trick question but why don't you do anything at all?'

'I just...'

'Your nervous, I know it's ironic. The weird thing is your probably the last person I would think of to get stage fright.'

'It isn't stage fright!'

'Why are you so scared then?'

'I...it's just... *sigh* we haven't seen each other for a while. I just don't want to go too fast.'

'I get it, really I do but, how long are you going to wait before it's "appropriate".'

'Alright fine, I'll give it a shot.'

'That’s all I ask.' The voice says before fading back into his mind, just in time to when frisk finishes her battle with papyrus.

"Heh, too easy. So what's next partner?" Frisk asks, clearly unsatisfied with the battle.