Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

The haunting mass that is Mt. Ebott was cold and quiet as the night sky glided over it. The enormous, towering figure almost swallowing up the tiny village that slept peacefully by its side. All was still and soundless. Just as the night was nearing its darkest, a shimmer of light sparked and then danced along the horizon. Then, just as the bright sun began to truly make itself known it its surroundings, church bells rang from the small village. The bells chorus growing louder and louder, the dings vibrating the wood of the church. And then…people. First a few, then many more dragged their tired bodies from their homes. The villagers, now simply going about their early morning lives, were unaware another bell began to ring within the vicinity.

No human could ever hear this bell, no matter how loud or long it played, its rapture of sound completely muffled by the stones and rock that made the entirety of the outside of Mt. Ebott. Hard as the Earth itself, but deep beneath the ground – hollow. Cavernous and wide with life. Life that was slowly but surely waking from slumber as well. Some portions of sunlight dipping into what seemed like a throne room, a golden chair with purple cushions placed in the middle, surrounded from all sides by beautiful golden flowers. The sunlight shining against their petals. Behind the throne, rumbling footsteps began to rival the thundering bell as a large figure, cloaked in a purple cape, approached the large chair.

The powerful ring of the bell reverberated throughout the large cavern from atop a large, blue tower connected to a castle. One by one, lights began to shine within the windows of smaller homes that spread around the castle. The underground city, a maze of squished together townhomes that created what many would call a metropolis, the large castle raised above all the other homes. A large bridge connecting to the entrance to the castle.

Deeper in the cavern; hot and steamy lava bounced and hissed from the edge of the risen dirt pathways. The sound of machinery too loud for the bell to ring any further. However, within an enormous laboratory, loud anime-like music played from a cellphone on a work desk. The sounds of pitter-pattering clawed feet darted from atop escalators that went up to the yellow, dinosaur-looking scientist’s bedroom/living room/kitchen/library. The scientist clutched the phone, tapping the snooze button quickly before letting out a deep sigh. Walking towards a large computer, the scientist tapped away at some buttons before lowering a red lever.

Even deeper into the cavern; dark, wet and welcoming. Residents were greeted by a much softer and more melodic bell that played through many intercoms laced through the cave system. Inside one of the many homes, a blue fish-like woman finishes a set of pushups in front a large metal wardrobe. Effortlessly pushing herself onto her feet, the woman walks and opens the wardrobe to see a polished set of heavy armor. The fish woman smiles at her reflection in the metal.

Back in the village at the bottom of Mt. Ebott, countless villagers walked down dirt roads to their destinations. Merchants yelled to their walking audience about their food and wares. Parents kissed their children goodbye as they watched them head to school. Armed guards stood guard and patrolled along their routes, happily waving at passerby villagers. Two guards walking side by side stopped as they made their way in front of a dark, narrow alleyway. A lone, rectangular cardboard box the only decoration to the dilapidated backstreet. The two guards grimaced as they looked from the box to each other before continuing with their patrol. As the sun rose higher in the sky, even this forgotten backstreet was hit with the imposing sunlight. The cardboard box, tipped to its side so the flaps were facing the nearby wall. The word “Frisk” painted in red coloring on the top flap of the cardboard box. The flaps to the box began to gently open to reveal a young boy slowly rising from the makeshift bed made inside the box’s interior. Rubbing his eyes, the boy’s focus went to the rumbling vibration of his empty stomach. He rubbed and calmed his belly with a sad huff, looking at a bowl the boy had placed outside the box. Empty, of food or change.

The closest the boy had gotten to money was a small bronze coin a kind, old man had given him. That was two weeks ago, the bread he bought from it lasting only three days. The boy tried really hard to salvage as much of that bread as he could. He knew it would be awhile before another coin felt the palm of his hand. The gongs of the bell had long gone off, the boy was the last in the village to awaken. Clutching the empty bowl, the boy’s hands began to shiver. Not from the cold, the boy’s body had gotten used to the cold air long ago. No, the boy was shaking with tired anger. It was the irritation from lack of sleep that made him shake the bowl. It was the frustration that made him tear the bowl into two, tossing it to the ground and walking away. Out of the backstreet, into the crowd of people who did not take a second to look at the disheveled boy as he passed them by. No merchant called for his attention nor did any guards wave at him with friendly zeal. None of the kids called him over as he passed by the school, only staring as he walked by. His scruffy hair blocking his eyes from meeting theirs. They all stood and stared anyway.

The boy then made it to the exit of the village, the guards standing resolute and silent on both sides. They made no attempt to stop the child from completely walking outside the village. The boy silently thanked the guards for not impeding his travel. He neither wanted any trouble from the guards, nor did he want to speak to anyone. Instead, he walked farther away from the village and closer to the monstrous mountain known as Ebott. The boy remembered a passing conversation he overheard as he attempted to ask strangers for food one day. His ears perked up as he overheard two young women speaking about Mt. Ebott.

“Did you hear, legends say that those who climb the mountain never return.”

Those words “never return” hung inside the boy’s head as he looked on at the foreboding mountain before him, before steadily making his way towards the behemoth. It did not take long for the boy to soon grow cold, and he found himself wrapping his arms around his body to keep warm.

The boy silently prayed that wherever he was heading would be a lot less cold than here.

It was snowing deep inside Mt. Ebott. The snow dropped onto the multitude of houses that made up the cheerful town of Snowdin.  Furry lifeforms bound and hopped from location to location. A group of townsfolk mingled amongst each other as they surrounded a decorated tree still having lights and ornaments placed and changed around by a polar bear.

Inside one of the homes in Snowdin, a rock slept in the living room, copious amount of sprinkles scattered around its dwelling. Its slumber was not disturbed as its upstairs neighbors soon made their early morning rattle. The sound of bones clanking together sounded from inside the room closest to the stairs. The other bedroom remained silent. The rock snored quietly as both upstairs bedroom doors opened.

Close to the outskirts of Snowdin, a pack of dogs ranging in size and hyperactivity stood in a line as another dog smoked a bone in front of the armored mutts.

“Alright you bunch of puppies, I can’t see any of you, so that must mean you’re all not moving and standing at attention,” the dog standing in front of the rest speaks out.

One of the dogs suited in armor looks across from its compatriots and notices a lack of bones at the end of the line.

“Sir, I think the brothers are missing!” the bog barked.

The head dog let out a long puff of smoke from his nose. “If both aren’t here, I’d have to assume Sans is at fault. His brother will drag him to his station eventually, the rest of you lot head to your stations as well. Make sure to sweep the entire forest for any humans!”

One pup raised their paw in the air. “Do we have to sniff the entire forest? I really hate going near that door, it gives me the shakes.”

The other dogs nodded in unison.

“I keep hearing rumors about that door; doesn’t have a good scent to it either,” another dog whined.

The head dog took his smoked bone from his jowls and stomped it into the snow. “Rumors are for children, and I don’t see stripes on any of you!”

“You can’t see any of us to begin with?”

The head dog continued to stomp on the already defeated, smoldering bone. “That’s enough, all you mutts to your stations now!”

As the pack of dogs went their respective directions, the head dog crossed his arms as he wondered when those skeleton brothers would finally get to their post. Just as the thought came to, the dog’s ears perked up to the sound of movement from behind. The smell of spaghetti and bones stinging his senses.

“SALUTATIONS, DOGGO, MY FELLOW GUARD DOG! I, THE GREAT PAPYRUS HAVE RETURNED FOR ANOTHER DARING MISSION!”

Doggo wiped his muzzle with a paw before turning around toward the skeleton. Doggo’s eyes darted from side to side before setting his sights on the constantly moving skeleton before him.

“I only see only one of ya,” Doggo barked. “Where’s your brother?”

Papyrus rubbed the back of his smooth skull. “WELL, FOR REASONS ONLY MY BROTHER CAN TELL, HE SAID HE HAD BUSINESS WITH A LADY AND WENT IN THE DIRECTION OF WATERFALL. HE MUST BE GOING TO VISIT UNDYNE, ALTHOUGH I THINK SHE WOULD SUPLEX ANYONE WHO CALLED HER A “LADY”.

Deep within the forest, a short skeleton stood before a large door that connected to the rest of the mountain. With a bony hand, the skeleton knocked on the door with a steady beat.

No response.

The skeleton tried once more with the same steady beat.

No response.

“Eh, guess I’m a little early,” the skeleton breathed out with his non-existent lungs. “Wonder what she’s up to in there.”

There were no bells deep within the ruins. There were no signs that told its inhabitants when it was night or day. The ruins itself was a society within a society, no communication between either side except for a few puns shared between close friends.

For one monster that dwelled within the cavernous system of old puzzles and bricks, this was the time of day she would go to the deepest part of the whole underground. A place she alone ever goes to.

Her clawed footsteps tapped as she walked toward through a short hallway into a large, sunlit chamber where a patch of gold flowers adorned in the middle.

The goat-like monster, draped in a purple skirt with a weird symbol displayed on the front, stood at the foot of the flower pile. She breathed softly, closed her eyes and stood silently as if giving a small moment of silence to whatever was on her mind. This was where the monster went to check if any human had fallen into the underground, but for the most part, it was where she could go to be alone and with her thoughts.

Unknown to her however, she was not alone.

Stood beside the large goat-like monster was a young girl. The girl did not look at the monster next to her, nor did she display any sort of fear towards its presence. She simply looked down towards the flowers, a melancholic smile on her face. Her right hand gripping her lime and cream-colored striped shirt tightly.

“The flowers look beautiful today,” the girl said, softly. “Your really getting good at gardening.”

The goat woman did not respond to the girl’s words. It was almost as if, she didn’t say them at all.

“Keep it up, and you might get as good as…,” the girl let out a painful sigh. The child kept silent after that and looked away as the goat woman kept going with her undisturbed prayer.

The boy found himself before a pathway, raised to go higher up the mountain. The pathway looked treacherous, but a weird feeling welled up inside the boy. It was as if the mountain was calling for the child to continue onward, deeper up the mountain.

With no reason to give, the boy felt determined to climb the mountain.

One step at a time, the boy walked up the pathway, careful not to step on uneven ground and fall. As he continued on, the boy noticed how high up he was going. He glanced towards the cliffside and as he kept going higher and higher, he could see more and more of the area. He could see the village he left completely; the villagers looking like tiny ants walking around. Miles away, a tall castle kept to itself far and far away. The boy tilted his head curiously, none of the many villagers he passed by ever spoke of a castle being around here.

The call of the mountain took back the boy’s attention as he soon found an opening to the inside of the mountain. A large cave entrance with an equally large open cavern. In the middle of the cavern was a large, deep hole in the ground. The hole was pitch black; the boy couldn’t see how far down the hole would go. The boy inched closer and closer to the hole, being extra careful to avoid the vines that pocked out around his feet.

The goat woman opened her eyes, turned around, and calmly walked towards the door across the end of the cavern.

“Oh, okay then. See you tomorrow then,” the girl waved goodbye. “Mom…”

The goat woman continued on and, without a word, left the girl and the pile of flowers alone. The girl let out another pitiful sigh. The flowers did look beautiful. The girl wished she could pluck one from the rest and hold it, but many failed attempts made it well known to her that she couldn’t do it. No matter how many times she tried. The girl lifted her hand up to her face and giggled a little as she looked at the flowers through her own transparent hand. She soon stopped giggling and looked up. The light of the sun not blinding her whatsoever.

The boy moved his body forward to get a better look towards the bottom of the hole. The boy had found a stick inside the large cavern and was now using it to keep steady as the boy bent over to look closer at the large hole. Even still, he could not see the bottom. Getting a bit nervous, the boy attempted to move away from the large pit, but a hidden vine grasped onto the boy’s foot. The boy quickly lost his balance and fell into the pit below. Wind began to hit the boy’s face as he dropped farther and farther down. The boy began to think these were the last seconds of the boy’s short, sad life. Nevertheless, the boy still pulled his hands up to shield his face from the impending landing, which eventually occurred.

The fall itself was faster than what the boy first thought, so too was the landing. Instead of pain, the boy only felt soft flowers beneath him. Tall grass, mixed in with the flowers broke his fall. The boy did still feel some pain, as when he tried to stand up, he buckled from a sharp pain in his knee. As he collapsed to his knees, the boy saw something in the corner of his vision. The boy looked to his right and saw the girl standing before him. Her arms crossed and a look of disdain on her face. Her eyes looked at the boy as if she already greatly distrusted him. The boy had never seen a kid like her before.

”Oh, just great, another human,” the girl bemoaned. The boy was deeply confused as to why this girl seemingly hated him with no reason. And what did she mean by human? He looked down, at his hands which were crushing the golden flowers beneath them. In fact, most of the flowers he was on were now crushed from the fall he just had. A look of guilt came before the boy as he turned to look the girl right to the face.

“Um…my name’s Frisk, the boy said. “Sorry about your flowers.”

For a moment, the girl didn’t think she really understood what she just heard. The boy’s words went through her mind like a puzzle needing to be solved. In all the countless decades, the girl never thought anyone would ever respond to anything she would say.

The girl’s eyes grew wide and teary, and her mouth went agape.

“Did…did you just hear me?”

Chapter Text

“Stop! Give me back control!”

“No, I’m not going to kill these people!”

“They’re attacking you! If you don’t do something you’re going to die!”

“We’re going back home! The both of us are!”

“Asriel stop it! Give me back control right now!”

“….Asriel!”

“ASRIEL!”

In a blink Chara opened her eyes. Standing up shakily from where she was laying, Chara placed her hand over her chest as it rose and fell frantically. Her breathing hitched, she looked around at her surroundings. Somehow, she was back to where she fell all those many years ago. Chara looked up to the top of the massive pit, sunlight pierced through the cave at the top and encircled the flower patch where she sat. Chara looked at all the many golden flowers around her feet, how they danced around her as a gentle wind blew through the cavern. They almost reminded her of the flowers from…

Chara stood up, cold realization suddenly hitting her. She shouldn’t be here. She looked at her hands, looked down at her entire self. This isn’t right. She shouldn’t be back in her body; she should be dead.

She should be with Asriel.

“Asriel!” the girl yelled, her hands to her mouth. The call echoed through the chamber. No one answered.

“Damn it, what did that idiot do!?” Chara began walking, away from the flower pile and towards the exit to the Ruins. “No, its not what he did, it’s what he didn’t do. When I see him again, I’m going to gah-“

Without warning Chara had slammed into something seemingly unseen and fell back onto the ground. Rubbing her forehead, she quickly got back up and examined what she hit. With her right-hand hovering in front of her, she suddenly felt an invisible wall directly in front of her. She pressed her hands harder, but the invisible wall would not budge. Clenching her hands into fists, she began to punch at the unknown obstacle, her hands making contact, but showing no sign of successfully damaging whatever was in front of her.

The constant punching was beginning to tire her out, and her arms soon weighed down to her sides. Her breathing was now more heavy and rugged as she stared at the exit far across the cavernous hallway, almost mocking the frustrated youth.

Chara grit her teeth.

“HELLO! ANYBODY!” Chara yelled. “MOM! DAD!”…. “ASRIEL!”

But no one came.

Chara soon found herself growing more and more scared. She was trapped here, in the farthest part of the Underground, farthest from Newer Home and her family. This wasn’t part of the plan. This wasn’t supposed to happen. All they needed were six souls and everything would’ve been perfect. Everyone would’ve been happy. How could she have let this happen! How could he have betrayed her like that! How could he…

The girl walked somberly back towards the flowers. A million thoughts running uncontrollably in her head. The plan was a complete failure. Somehow, she had been torn away from Asriel, put back in her old body and placed here. There was no telling how long she would be here or how long until someone came looking for her.

Anger soon eclipsed fear again and this time the girl directed her fist towards one of the flowers in the pile. Her fist going through the flower completely but without even showing any sign of damaging or even moving it. Chara extracted her fist back in shock and looked at the flower she had targeted. The flower moved slightly in the breeze, no damage on it whatsoever. The girl tried touching, softly this time, the flower but as Chara’s fingers connected with the petals, they went right through and out the other side.

She couldn’t touch the flower. Chara experimented with other flowers in the pile and each time she tried, her hand would go right through them. The answer was obvious to the girl, but it still sent shivers down her spine.

She was a ghost. She was still dead.

Chara’s ears twitched to the sound of clawed footsteps approaching her from behind. Turning around, Chara noticed a female Boss Monster closing the distance between them.

“Mom!” Chara practically shouted. The girl bound towards her mother, Toriel, and stood in front of the large goat-like creature. “Mom…Mom, something bad happened! Asriel and I, we – we made a plan where I gave him my soul and we went to the surface, we were going to get souls to break the barrier, but Asriel chickened out and we got hurt and separated.” The girl took a few breaths but continued. “I’m sorry – I’m really sorry! I-I…I just wanted to break the barrier. It was a stupid plan and if being a stupid ghost is my punishment then I’ll take it. Wherever Asriel is, hopefully he’s okay, I don’t….I don’t. I can’t leave here, I’m – I’m stuck. I don’t know what you and Dad can do but –“

Something was not right. After what Chara and her family had just been through, the girl’s mother would have made some kind of reaction to seeing her supposedly dead child by now, but so far, all Toriel did was stand before her and the flower pile. Completely silent and unresponsive.

“Hello! Mom, don’t you see me!?” Chara waved both her hands in front of her mother’s face. “It’s me Chara. You know…your daughter…. MOM!”

“Hello Chara,” the boss monster exhaled.

“Mom…you can see me. I- “

Toriel walked right through Chara’s visibly shaking body and continued towards the patch of flowers. Chara clutched her shirt desperately trying to catch her spiraling emotions before turning and chasing after Toriel who was now standing before the golden flowers.

“Mom, I know you can see me! Say something – please!” Chara returned to standing in front of her mother, strands of tears flowing down the child’s face. “I’m sorry – I’m so, so sorry for…EVERYTHING!” Chara sobbed. “I didn’t mean for any of this to happen. I – I want to go back home. With you and Dad and Asriel. So please – say something…”

“I’ll make sure to come here every day,” Toriel spoke. “Someone has to take care of these flowers.” Chara steps back as Toriel bends down to her knees and softly glides her paw over the flowers. “And I’ll make sure, if any human falls down here again…that they will not share the same fate as you.” Toriel places her paw onto the soil. “My dear Chara.”

Meer feet away, Chara cusps her hand to her mouth as she watches her mother kneel on top of the flower patch. On top of her grave. Fresh tears made their way over Chara’s hand and dripped down to the ground.

“No….no….this – this isn’t happening,” Chara sobbed as she too fell to her knees. “This is all just a bad dream. “This is all just….just a bad dream. I just need to wake up. “I – I just need t – to wake up.”

*Many years later*

Chara remained awake. She learned rather quickly her ghost form needed neither food, water nor sleep. As a result Thus, she remained awake throughout the entirety of the day, and the day after that, and the day after that. True to her promise, Toriel came by every morning single day to visit Chara’s grave and to check if any humans had have fallen.

Chara had longed wondered, as she laid her back against the cavern wall, why it was only Toriel that ever visited the grave. Where was Dad? Not once had he ever joined Toriel in visiting Chara’s final resting place. The same went for Asriel; he too was missing. Chara had long figured he was dead as well, but she buried that thought in the dirt next to her body.

Chara hid her face between her knees, trying to hide the fresh new sobs from no one in particular. Toriel soon finished tidying up the flowers and left.

*Many more years later*

Chara heard what sounded like a loud thud hit the flower pile. Turning around, Chara was startled to find a human child trying to pick their shaky body back off the ground. The girl looked to be just a few years younger than Chara wearing a sky-blue and peach stripped dress. Her long blonde hair put into a ponytail by a bright red ribbon. As the girl stood up completely the girl brandished what looked like a toy knife from her person.

The girl looked incredibly frightened. Almost as if she was seeing a ghost. Sudden hope rose inside Chara as she took a step closer to the human girl. Despite the girl being a filthy human, Chara put that downside to the back of her mind. She would take any form of contact from anybody at this point.

“S-stay away,” the girl said as she held the meaningless weapon in front of her. “Don’t come near me!”

Chara softly chucked and held her hands up as she approached. “You don’t have to worry; I’m not going to – “

“Oh dear, did you fall down here?”

Any sign of hope that Chara had previously showed was immediately put back into the ground to die as she dejectedly turned around to see her mother standing by the cavern exit.  Chara turned back to the human girl who looked half confused and terrified at the sight of Toriel. Chara waved her hand back and forth, but the girl showed no response to the gesture. Chara bellowed a heavy sigh and watched from the sidelines as Toriel took the child by the hand and left.

This would repeat five more times.

A rather angry looking boy wearing a bright orange shirt squeezed his gloved hands into fists as he readied himself to fight Toriel the moment he locked eyes on her. While Chara was happy to watch her mother roast the human alive, she merely chastised the boy’s hotheadedness and walked him towards the exit.

A rather skinny looking girl wearing an old pink tutu and ballet shoes continued to stay limp on the ground where she fell. The girl took the fall from the pit rather hard and had to be picked up by Toriel. Chara watched as her mother grew more and more concerned as she gazed at the girl’s condition and didn’t waste another second rushing toward the exit.

Ripped paper fluttered in the wind as a boy wearing a purple hoodie looked at his now torn notebook with pity. He adjusted his glasses as he met face to face with Toriel who guided him with a friendly paw towards the exit.

If she wasn’t dead already - the sound of the gun going off and the bullet going straight through her intangible body and out into the wall behind her would have done the job. The idiot boy landed on his butt from the recoil and stared at Toriel who tapped her clawed foot and crossed her arms like a mother would after finding her child with their hand in the cookie jar. Toriel outstretched her hand and nodded for the boy to hand the deadly weapon to her. It took Chara a while to regain her composure after the unusual post-death-near-death experience.

A girl wearing a long-sleeved green shirt tearfully hugged Toriel, pouring out gratitude with every breath. Her tears dripped onto the dirty apron that wrapped around her waist. While Chara watched from her perch on top of one of the many pillars that decorated the bottom of the pit, a sense of unease and déjà vu came over her. Maybe it was the green shirt or the soft expression on Toriel’s face, but whatever it was, it was making Chara remember when Asriel first found her when she fell. She’d never admit it to anyone, but she cried just like this in his arms when they first met.

*A few more years later*

Chara laid flat against the patch of flowers. She couldn’t feel their touch; Chara had long since forgotten what feeling anything was like. She merely tried to bask in the sunlight and watch the flowers. Her eyes lazily kept focus of the golden bouquet that surrounded her. This would be what most days were like. After Toriel would make her rounds, and for the rest of the day, Chara was left by herself and her thoughts. On some days, she would see what looked like a face appear on one of the flowers. It was clear to her she was slowly losing her mind, so she jotted it down as her just seeing things.

If it wasn’t for Toriel constantly coming by to check for humans, which had not occurred for many years now, Chara may very well would have lost her mind completely. Some years Chara would not say a single word. Other years, she would stand in the exact same spot without moving. She had long cried herself dry. All Chara could do was beg for the nightmare to end. To put her out of her misery.

But nobody came.

*The next day*

Frisk stood before Chara with a bewildered expression on his face. When he fell down that pit, he expected pain or death but instead got a very confusing and confused girl in front of him. Both looked at each other, wondering when the other was going to say something next.

“Can you….can you really see me?” Chara asked. She was ready for it, for the great disappointment to occur. The boy would not respond and what had occurred was simply a fluke.

“Of course I can see you,” Frisk said. “You’re not one of those crazy people my mom warned me about, are you?”

Chara didn’t think it was possible, but tears were still able to generate from her eyes. And generate they did as a flood of tears poured down the girl’s face as she sobbed and cried. She tried desperately and unsuccessfully to wipe the tears away with her hands before dropping to her knees in shameful defeat, her crying showing no sign of ending any time soon. It was the ugly kind of crying. The kind Chara hated. The kind Chara would never have even allowed Asriel to see. But this was a river that Chara just couldn't plug up and just succumbed to her humiliating tears.

Frisk just kept quiet as he stood and watched from the flower patch.

Papyrus clapped the dirt and snow off his gloves as he stepped back and examined his latest ground-breaking puzzle. The puzzle was in the shape of his head, with multiple pressure plates scattered on the ground around it. Each pressure plate caused one of the eyes to turn a certain shade of color with the goal of having both eyes turn blue. It took Papyrus a while to iron out the kinks for some of the pressure plates but seemed satisfied with the final result.

“Howdy Papyrus!”

Papyrus looked in each direction but could not find the owner of the voice calling out to him. Papyrus rubbed his head in confusion.

“Down here, behind you!”

Papyrus turned around and looked down to see a golden flower sticking out of the ground, bobbing back and forth, its jolly face showing no sign of irritation whatsoever.

“WHY HELLO FLOWEY! I DIDN’T SEE YOU THERE! IF YOU WANTED TO YOU COULD PROBABLY WIN 1^ST PLACE IN THE SNOWDIN GUARDDOG HIDE AND SEEK CHAMPIONSHIP. I’VE NEVER COME CLOSE TO WINNING THAT PRIZE. APPARENTLY, I SMELL TOO MUCH LIKE BONES!!!”

Flowey chucked a bit. “Hehe, I’ll have to give it a try one day.” The golden flower then looked around in each direction before perking back up to look at Papyrus.

“Your brother sure does love taking those breaks of his!” Flowey said. “Works for me, easier for me to hang out with my bestest pal when he’s not around!”

Papyrus placed both hands on his hips and gave Flowey a disproving look. “NOW FLOWEY, YOU AND SANS REALLY NEED TO GET ALONG BETTER. YOU TWO COULD REALLY BE GOOD FRIENDS!”

“Tell that to your brother!” Flowey bemoaned. “I’m just a sweat lovable flower that wants to help people yet he’s always looking at me like I’m some sort of bad guy!” Flowey turned his attention to what Papyrus has behind him. “Hey, what kind of puzzle are you working on now?! Looks interesting!”

Papyrus quickly returned to his jolly excitable self again and presented Flowey his newest work of art which, by chance, is also a puzzle.

“MY LATEST DASTERDLY PUZZLE WILL SURELY CONFOUND ANY HUMAN WHO SO MUCH AS GAZZES UPON ITS MAGNIFICENCE!”

Papyrus tested the puzzle out for his flower friend who looked exceedingly bored as Papyrus went on with the puzzle but feigned excitement when the puzzle was finished, and Papyrus returned to Flowey’s side.

“WHAT DO YOU THINK!” Papyrus asked.

As pathetic as the puzzle looked from Flowey’s perspective, he still entertained his skeleton friend and gave some thought into what to say next.

“It looks good, but I have an idea to make it even better!” Flowey spoke up enthusiastically.

“OH I’D LOVE TO HEAR ANY IDEAS FROM YOU ON PUZZLES FLOWEY! ANYTHING TO MAKE MY PUZZLES EVEN MORE AMAZING AND GREAT!”

“What about making it even deadlier?” Flowey said which caught the skeleton by surprise. “Like, maybe add electricity to the tiles on the ground and if some stupid human presses on the wrong one – ZAP! Hehehe, you’ve got a nice roasted human to give to the king!”

Papyrus rubbed his chin in deep thought. “I’VE NEVER PERSONALLY LIKED THE IDEA OF KILLING HUMANS WITH MY PUZZLE. DEFEATED THEM WITH MY WITS AND WONDER FEELS A LOT BETTER THAN AN EASY, UM, KILL.”

Flowey mentally spat in his head. Papyrus was amusing to be around and toy with, but he was always too soft for stuff that could possibly really entertain the flower.  Humans weren’t really on Flowey’s mind when he dropped the idea. Flowey imagined himself laughing hysterically at the thought of getting one of the monsters, or Papyrus himself, to electrocute themselves to dust.

“Oh come on, your job is to hunt humans, right?” Flowey said. “Who cares if they’re alive or dead when you nab them. You do know how many more souls we need right? With just one of your shockingly great puzzles we’ll finally be free – and everyone will praise you for doing it!”

Papyrus thinks it over a bit, but Flowey can already tell from the look on Papyrus’s face he doesn’t like the idea at all and is merely thinking of the nicest way to say no to his flower friend.

“Eh, it was only an idea,” an idea Flowey would have to try to make happen on another run. “Maybe we don’t have to make it too deadly just –“

An abrupt feeling hit Flowey deep within himself. Something felt off. Like something was just snatched right under him without his consent. The feeling was interesting to Flowey. He took anything new in stride, but this felt different, more concerning, and he couldn’t figure it out with this bony idiot hovering over him.

“Hey Paps, I just remembered I have to be somewhere,” Flowey said. “Good luck on improving that puzzle.”

With a wink of an eye, Flowey burrowed under the ground and scurried away to a secluded area he knew none of the monsters wondered near on their predetermined routes. Flowey erupted from the earth and scanned to make sure he was truly alone. He then checked his save file and the cold realization hit. His save file was gone. With it, his ability to save, load and reset were now taken away from him. Flowey grit his teeth in anger. His one and only source of entertainment in the world was now gone – stolen from him….again.

This only meant one thing – another human has arrived. Flowey’s grit teeth morphed into a sadistic and hollow smile. “Hehe, alright then, let the game begin.”

Flowey dug under the ground again and tore through the earth towards the Ruins.

It was quiet in the deepest part of the Ruins now as the two kids sat in silence after all of Chara’s crying ceased and all that was left was a mournful girl sitting on her legs with her face to the ground, her body shaking every now and then from her sniffling any remaining tears and snot away.

Frisk was silent and patient from where he sat in the flower patch. He had his hands to his knees, pocking at the soil with a stick. It was the same stick he had found above the large pit he used earlier and seemingly fell down along with him. Frisk soon grew bored of pointlessly stabbing at the soil and rested his head on his arms before perking up as Chara slowly stood up. She seemed tired after that long meltdown, almost embarrassed by it as Frisk could see a blush form on her rosy cheeks as she turned to look at him.

“I have one question to ask you,” Chara’s hoarse voice spoke. “What year is it currently?”

“The year?” Frisk tilted his head. “It’s 2065.”

Chara once again wore a shocked expression on her face but swiftly hid it away from Frisk as she cupped her hand to her face. Soft, raspy giggles escaped from her mouth her whole body wobbled and shook.

Chara then stopped and shook one final time. “No…NO!” Chara breathed out. “I can stay calm…”

“Stay?” Frisk pondered out loud.

Chara face went and looked straight at Frisk; her eyes bore into the young boy like daggers, but after letting out a sigh Chara simply turned to face Frisk.

“Not to alarm you, but you’re right now talking to a ghost,” Chara said.

“A…ghost…,” Frisk blinked before standing up. “So you ARE one of those crazy people my mom told m-“

Frisk was silenced as Chara nonchalantly walks over to the boy and without stopping walks right through him and out the other side. This sudden event causes Frisk to return to the ground on his butt as his mind races to find out how something like that could occur. Frisk’s head turns to look at Chara who has her back to him.

“If what you said is true, then I’ve been here for literally 50 years,” Chara said before chuckling again to herself. “Guess my counting got away from me after a few years, I was sure I had broken 100 a while ago.”

“I can’t believe this,” Frisk stood up. “You’re a real ghost! I met a real ghost!”

Chara chuckled at the boy’s newfound awe and wonder, not a hint of fear that he’s speaking to someone evidently dead and deceased. Chara turned around again, a smirk on her face.

“You said you’re name is Frisk right?” Chara asked to which Frisk nodded in response. “Well Frisk, you ain't seen nothing yet!”

“There’s more ghosts?”

“NO!” Chara rebuffed and turned her focus to the exit of the cavern. “You’ve just entered an entirely new world. Something completely different from what humans have ever seen or dealt with in centuries. You’re about to enter….the Kingdom of Monsters.”

“…monsters…?”

Chara bore down on Frisk again. “How are you more excited about meeting a ghost than you are about meeting real life monsters?!”

Frisk put his hands up in defense. “Hey, sorry it’s just – this is a lot to take in.”

Chara huffed as she crossed her arms and put her back to one of the broken pillars. “Well, everything I’m saying is the truth,” Chara sighed. “But I won’t spoil everything for you. If you’re quick enough, you’ll run into someone really nice who’ll get you nice shelter so you’re not sleeping on hard rock all night.”

Frisk pointed at the exit across the hall. “That’s the exit?”

Chara nodded. “You see any other?” Chara sighed once again as she watched the boy step away from the flower patch and walked in the direction of the exit. After a couple of steps, the boy turns back to see Chara standing in the middle of the flower patch.

“You’re staying here?” Frisk asked.

“Don’t really have a choice,” Chara said. Her arms were crossed, but really, she was just holding herself. This was the first individual she had spoken to in 50 years, and he was already leaving, like all the others, most likely never to be seen again. “I haunt this area, it’s the only part of the underground where I can go. I guess you can say I’m trapped.”

“Oh….,” Frisk rubbed the back of his head. “That sounds like it sucks.”

The sudden comment made Chara burst out laughter. Wiping a singular tear with a finger, Chara regained her composure. “Yeah, it sucks, but after being dead for 50 years I guess you learn to – LIVE with it.” Frisk stared blankly at the too-proud ghost before turning around to walk away toward the exit.

Chara watched Frisk walk off and away. Her melancholy smile doing its best not to fall off her face as she waved pathetically goodbye to the only person, she’s spoken to in half a century.

Chara chuckled. “Half a century huh,” she thought to herself. “Guess I’ll just wait another century for a kid like him to fall down.”

Chara dropped her head low and looked at the flowers. At the very least, she never could get tired of these flowers. How they looked so beautiful when bunched together, how they danced in the breeze, or how they slowly moved away from her as she stared at them.

Wait, what?

Chara perked her head up and noticed her body was moving, floating completely on its own. She turned around and saw that she was slowly putting distance between her and the flower patch. Just as she began to realize what was happening, she had already gone further than she’s ever gone since she woke up as an invisible ghost all those years ago.

“Hey, hey, hey, wait a minute!” Chara spoke up causing Frisk to stop walking and turn around.

“What’s up – oh, wow, you’re actually floating,” Frisk pointed to Chara who was now a few feet off the ground. “I’m guessing that’s a ghost thing?”

This wasn’t the first time Chara had…floated. In her 50 years of solitude, she accidentally figured out she could do so while climbing on one of the broken pillars and upon losing footing found she didn’t need footing at all. It wasn’t the easiest thing to control, however. Like an astronaut in low gravity Chara had to constantly keep herself balanced or she’d flip aimlessly in the air.

“What! IS! GOING! ON!” Chara yelled as her sudden ability to move from her prison made her lose focus and her control of her floating as she kicked in the air in a struggle to keep herself up. She quickly regained balance and pointed at Frisk accusingly. “What did you do!”

Frisk backs up away from the suddenly angry ghost girl. “I-I don’t know, um, I fell, that’s about it,” Frisk replied. Scratching the back of his head, the boy looked at the ghost girl. “Um, shouldn’t you be, you know, happy about this?” Frisk points towards the flower patch. “You’re no longer stuck over there anymore.”

Chara froze upon hearing this. So many things were changing so fast right before her eyes. She was fearful if she blinked, she would return back to those flowers, the boy gone, and her prison remaining the same as it has for the past 50 years. She didn’t know what to say, she was speechless. She had no answer as to why all this was happening. What did this human boy do to undo everything that tormented her? Chara looked at the ground below her feet and calmly returned her feet to the surface floor. She had so many questions and she knew this boy had none of the answers. A part of her still hated that of all people a human had to be the one to “save” her.

“What does he have that mom didn’t?”

“You’re right,” Chara said. “My outburst was unwarranted. I guess this is a day full of new things for the both of us.”

Chara had to test something out and upon trying to walk away from Frisk found that same, old invisible forcefield stopping her movement. It wasn’t that her prison disappeared, just merely moved. Chara gritted her teeth as some of the puzzle pieces began to fit inside her head. She turned to look at Frisk with searing frustration and anger welling up inside her. This prison had to have a focal point and if it wasn’t her dead body anymore than it was this strange…stupid….human….BOY!

Chara had to breath in and out to once again remain calm. It has been awhile since she last felt anger, disappointment and frustration. The past decades of no communication has taken a toll on her without her realizing it.

Chara walked over to Frisk. “Looks like you’re my prison now. Guess that means I will be joining you on your adventure.”

“Um…cool, I guess,” Frisk rubbed the back of his head confused but then smiled. This girl was way too weird, but he kinda liked that. Not only was she a ghost, but a ridiculous one at that. And he’d much rather have someone to talk to than be alone in this dark, strange place. “Let’s get going then, I want to find out more about these monsters.”

Chara gestured toward the exit. “Then let’s be off.”

Frisk and his newfound ghost friend walked towards and out the exit. On the other side was another large room. It was much more pitch black than the previous room without the light of the pit to sent sunlight down. There was however a single mound of dirt situated in the middle of the room. There the duo stood before what looked like a jolly looking golden flower. The flower bobbed side to side as it waited for Frisk and Chara to walk closer. Once the two got close enough the flower stopped moving and with a bright, wide grin and a face hiding not a hint of wicked intent, looked directly at Frisk.

“Howdy!”

Chapter Text

The sound of bones clanking passionately together rivaled that of the blistering cold blizzard that blew through the area. At this time, the denizens of Snowdin would be huddled in their warm homes to avoid the wild storm. Likewise, the Snowdin Canine Unit would also be keeping warm in their sentry stations, built by the Royal Scientist specifically to deal with these kinds of conditions. Once the winds picked up, no amount of fur could stop the icy winds from chipping away at your HP until it reached zero.

Only two residents of Snowdin had the good fortune of not having to deal with frozen fur, due in large part to their apparent lack of fur, or skin for that matter. This allowed Papyrus to hammer away at his puzzles no matter the weather conditions of the day. The tall skeleton was in the middle of working out the kinks in the puzzle he had been crafting earlier before the storm came through. When Papyrus worked on a puzzle, he truly put every inch of his backbone into it. So much so, that he didn’t realize Sans had been standing behind him until the shorter skeleton taped on his brother’s shoulder.

Papyrus turned his head around. “AH SANS, I WAS WONDERING WHERE YOU WERE!” Papyrus said. “I’M GOING TO GO OUT ON A “LIMB” AND SAY YOU HAVE FINISHED RECALIBRATING YOUR PUZZLES.”

“You bet bro,” Sans responded. “Unfortunately, this harsh weather turned my puzzle into a snow puff, so I had to – put it on ice – for now.”

The smile that Papyrus had quickly dropped into a grimace. “WELL LUCKILY FOR MY PRECIOUS PUZZLES, THEY WILL NOT SHARE THAT FATE.” Papyrus continued to work on the puzzle in front of him as Sans watched from behind. The already intense winds began to pick up even more speed causing snow to blow by the Skeleton’s faces

Sans gave a soft sigh “Why not give yourself a break for the day. Even for a skeleton, it’s gotta be a pain in the neckbone to work out here like this,” almost as if as a response to what Sans said the winds began to howl even louder. Papyrus had to brush away snow that had blown onto his puzzle.

“SUCH A MEAGER STORM CAN’T STOP THE GREAT PAPYRUS FROM HIS WORK! BESIDES, I HAVE GREAT PLANS FOR THIS PUZZLE. I HAVE SO MANY IDEAS TO MAKE THIS THE BEST PUZZLE SNOWDIN HAS EVER SEEN! EVEN FLOWEY CAME BY TO GIVE ME SOME – LESS FAVORABLE IDEAS – BUT IT’S THE THOUGHT THAT COUNTS!”

San’s sigh was much more audible this time at the mention of the flower. “Paps, you know I don’t like you talking with that flower.”

“NOW SANS I THINK YOU’RE BEING TOO HARSH ON THAT POOR FLOWER. HE NEEDS FRIENDS LIKE EVERYONE ELSE AND HE TURNED TO THE GREAT PAPYRUS. I CAN’T JUST CAST HIM ASIDE OVER YOUR IRRATIONAL SUSPICIONS.

“They’re not…irrational” Sans thought to himself.

“I just don’t want you getting hurt is all Paps,” Sans waved. “Your bud-y just popped out of nowhere and beelined it towards you to become friends. Now, I know you’re a magnet for these sorts of things, but that flower gives off a bad vibe.”

“I DISTINCTLY REMEMBER WHEN THE OTHER TOWNSFOLK THOUGHT THE SAME THING WHEN WE FIRST ARRIVED IN SNOWDIN,” PAPYRUS SAID NOT LOOKING AWAY FROM HIS PUZZLE. “FRIENDSHIP IS LIKE A PUZZLE! IT MAY TAKE A LOT OF TIME TO ACCOMPLISH, IT MAY CHALLENGE EVERY PART OF YOUR BEING, IT MAY EVEN BEST YOU AT TIMES, BUT IM SURE THE TWO OF YOU WILL BE GREAT FRIENDS!”

Sans turned away and toward the direction of the Ruins. “It’s impossible for you to understand Paps,” Sans thought. “This ain’t your normal run-of-the-mill puzzle. What we’re dealing with isn’t even a normal monster.”

“What we’re dealing with is a weed.”

Flowey smile grew big and wide as he looked at the young, confused boy in front of him. “Howdy, I’m Flowey. Flowey the Flower.”

Frisk gave a light wave. “H-Hi,” Frisk greeted. “Are you a monster?”

“How very astute of you!” Flowey said. “I am very much a monster.”

Chara floated towards Frisk’s side. “One I’ve never seen before. Monsters come in a variety of shapes and sizes, but in all my years down here – alive and dead – I’ve never come across a talking flower.”

“You’re new to the Underground, aren'tcha?” Frisk nodded. “Well kid, someone ought to teach you how things work around here.”

“Get ready!” Chara suddenly said which made Frisk turn his head frantically to his ghost friend.

“What – what?” Frisk had more to ask but was cut off to a vibration suddenly hitting his chest. He gripped his shirt as the weird feeling continued before a small red soul popped out of his chest causing the vibration to instantly go away. Frisk, Flowey – and Chara on the sidelines – all stared silently at the soul as the bright glow washed across their faces. The glow began to dimmer and soon the soul simply floated in front of Frisk by a short distance.

“Is that – “

“Your soul,” Flowey finished. “The very culmination of your being. You wouldn’t be you without it, ha-ha!”

Frisk tries to touch it, but his hand merely goes through it. The action still causes a shiver to run down the boy’s back.

“Your soul looks pretty weak,” Flowey said. “But you’re good ol' pal Flowey here knows just what a soul needs to get stronger.” A concerned look grows on Chara’s face, but Frisk doesn’t notice it. “You need LV!”

“L…V? Frisk titled his head in confusion.

“It stands for Love of course!” Flowey beamed with a bright, happy smile. “You want some Love, don’t you?”

“Don’t listen to him!” Frisk whipped his head back towards Chara who had a mix of anger and hurt confusion drenched on her face. “Love down here holds a different meaning.”

Little seed-like bullets begin to pop into existence above Flowey’s head. “Down here, Love is shared through…little white…friendliness pellets,” Flowey grins. “Go on, get as many as you can!”

Chara’s eyes dart from the pellets to Frisk. “Dodge those quickly!”

Frisk didn’t have much time to ask why but did as he was told and easily dodged out of the way of the bullets, making sure his weird holographic soul…thing didn’t get near the projectiles.

Flowey blinked and a confused and irritated look came on his face. “Hey buddy, you’re supposed to run into the pellets, not dodge em!” More “friendliness pellets” appeared all around Flowey. “Here’ let’s try again.

Chara watched helplessly from the sidelines as more pellets were shot toward Frisk, but with each barrage of pellets Frisk was able to jump and evade the pellets. “Is this a joke or are you just braindead! Run. Into. The. Bullets!” Chara turned her head and scowled at Flowey who didn’t seem to notice she there.

Just as Frisk landed on his feet from jumping away from a group of pellets, a bullet sneakily darted straight toward his floating soul. Frisk catches this at the nick of time and swiftly turns his body causing his soul to follow suit as the bullet misses both of them entirely and hits the ground. Frisk looked at where the bullet had hit the ground and notices the impact of the bullet left a sizeable marking at the impact zone.

“…You know what’s going on here, don’t you…”

Rows upon rows of bullets materialize all around Frisk forming an impassible circle around the boy. Chara looked for any possible way for Frisk to escape but was unable to find an exit point. This weird, violent flower was seriously going in for the kill. This monster was doing all that it could to kill a human. Chara couldn’t wrap her head around it. How could this be happening? Monsters aren’t supposed to be this bloodthirsty – or bloodthirsty to begin with! Frisk turned to look at Chara, both giving each other a look of shock and worry.

Flowey gave a low chuckle which grew louder and louder until it was outright mocking laughter. What was once a cheerful smile turned sharp and wicked. The lights in his eyes faded away revealing black, hollow holes.

“You idiot! In this world – its kill or be killed!” Flowey laughed. “DIE!”

The words escaped Chara’s mouth before she even could think.

“FRISK!”

Just as the bullets begin to move toward the terrified child the dark corridor was suddenly lit by a large fireball that hurdles toward Flowey. The attack causes Flowey to detach from the ground and is flung across the room into the wall. All the bullets that surrounded Frisk blink out of existence just as Flowey quickly recovers and shakes off the damage with ease. Flowey bares his teeth toward whoever attacked him but pulls back as he notices the boss monster that has entered the room. The two exchange looks as more fire radiates from Toriel’s paws. Flowey turns his attention from Toriel to Frisk, giving the youth a jolly wink before burrowing back into the ground.

With the flower now gone, Toriel walked over to Frisk who was busy scratching his head over why the Flowey wanted him dead so much. The large boss monster soon caught the boy’s attention as he turns to look at her.

“Oh, what a terrible creature, torturing such a poor, innocent youth,” Toriel says. Frisk winces upon hearing the word “poor” but Toriel doesn’t notice. “Do not be afraid my child, my name is Toriel, I am the caretaker of the Ruins. I pass through this place every day to see if anyone has fallen down. I had just done that not too long ago but luckily for you I was not far away from hearing the commotion that monster was making and hurried over. I am so awfully glad I made it in time to stop any harm from coming to you.” Toriel looks over Frisk top to bottom. “You are, uninjured, correct my child?”

Frisk gestured both hands in front of him sheepishly. “I’m fine,” Frisk twirled lightheartedly in a circle. “Not a scratch on me!”

Toriel clapped both hands together. “That is very good, my child. Now that I am here, I shall make sure that no harm comes to you from here on out.” Toriel extends her paw out toward Frisk and waits for him to take her hand. Frisk hesitates to do so, however. He had just nearly been killed by a monster just a second ago and now he’s supposed to trust this new one to keep him alive?!

“Take her hand.”

Frisk turns his head to Chara who has her head bowed down, eyes down to the ground and her hands clutching at her shirt. Her whole body was visibly shaking.

“She’s the nice person I mentioned earlier. She’ll keep you safe.”

Frisk was about to ask Chara why she was shaking until the massive paw of Toriel took Frisk’s attention away. The sharply clawed hand mere inches away from Frisk’s face, making the boy gulp.

“Come, I will guide you through the catacombs,” Toriel gave Frisk a cheerful smile.

Frisk paused, his eyes going wide. His mouth hung open.

Frisk could not understand why, for some unknown reason, this goat lady reminded him so much of his own mother. Frisk didn’t hesitate to grasp onto the woman’s hand as she diligently began to guide the two out of the chamber, with Chara walking slowly behind.

Toriel led the children to a new room, one with two rising staircases leading to an upper area. Splitting the stairways was a wall filled to the brim with roses. A decoration of roses litters the ground that Frisk casually walks over. Further near the stairway was a bright flashing star.

“What’s that flashing light?” Frisk pointed.

Toriel looked toward where Frisk pointed but was not able to see anything but the staircases in front of them. “There is nothing flashing in here,” Toriel responded with a worried look. “Are you sure you were not injured when you fell.”

“No, no I’m good, I promise,” the boy said.

Toriel took a step up the staircase when Frisk put weight on their shared hand. Toriel stopped and looked at Frisk. “Is there something wrong?”

“Um…I need to use the restroom,” Frisk blushed sheepishly. “I’ll meet you at the top if that’s okay?”

The sudden request caused Toriel to blush sheepishly herself. “Oh my, that is quite alright,” Toriel said. “I’ll be up top when you’re finished.”

Toriel let go of Frisk’s hand and continued her climb up the stairs while Frisk and Chara high-stepped it toward the weird light on the ground.

Frisk looked to Chara. “Please tell me you can see this thing.”

Chara nodded. “I can see it too, but just like with that crazy flower; I’ve never seen this before until now.”

“I guess we’re both seeing a lot of new things today,” Frisk said. His hand moved closer to the blinking light causing a neon holopad to appear before the duo.

“Please tell me you’re seeing this too!” Chara gawked at the strange object in front of them. Frisk only nodded as his hands moved closer to the screen. Chara swipes her arms madly between Frisk and the screen causing the boy to back away and give a confused look at his ghost friend.

“What are you doing?”

Chara points at herself. “What am I do?” Chara says before pointing accusingly at Frisk. “What are you doing?! Neither of us know anything about this thing and you were just about to carelessly touch it!”

“Well, it can’t be that bad, look,” Frisk pointed at what was written on the screen. On the floating hologram, the words “SAVE” and “LOAD” are written next to each other. In the corner of the screen, Frisk’s name is present. Next to his name, “LV 1” is printed next to his name.

“LV?” Frisk pondered.

“It means Love,” Chara answered. Frisk turned to Chara as the troubled look she had earlier returned. “It’s what Flowey said he was “sharing” with you. But it’s not the kind of love you’re thinking about. To the Kingdom of Monsters, Love is an acronym, it means “Level of Violence”. It’s how monsters measure a person’s capacity to hurt others.”

“So, the more Love you have down here…,” Frisk lowered his head.

“The more likely you’re a dangerous person,” Chara continued. “I mean, you’re a human, so you’re already pretty dangerous already.”

Frisk perked his head back up from the holopad, a hurt and angered look on his face. “How exactly is a kid dangerous here?”

“Oh buddy,” Chara crossed her arms. “You don’t need double digits in your age to be a threat to a monster. How old are you anyway?”

“Ten,” Frisk answered triumphantly. “How old are you?”

Chara glared at Frisk with an annoyed look. “Didn’t your parents ever tell you its not nice to ask a girl her age.” For a brief flash, Chara thought she saw Frisk’s face twitch at the word “parents”.

“Ah come on,” Frisk bemoaned. “Besides, you asked me first!” Frisk returned his attention back to the holopad. “Anyway, I want to see what this thing does!” Frisk’s hands hovered over the two choices before him, “SAVE” or “RETURN”. Neither really sounded all that dangerous, nor did this look like some sort of self-destruct button.

“What did I just say about touching it, we don’t know what it will do,” Chara complains.

“What’s the worst that can happen,” Frisk said. “Anything bad happen and I can just call Toriel to help.”

“Toriel isn’t some sort of instant problem-solver; for all we know she can’t even see this,” Chara said as Frisk moved his hand and placed it on the SAVE button.

Both children stood quietly, nervously for something to happen.

“My child, are you okay down there?” Toriel called out from the top floor which caused Frisk and Chara to jump with fright.

“Y-yeah, ha-ha,” Frisk nervously laughed. “I’ll be up in a moment.” Frisk turned to Chara with a bewildered look. “Did something happen that we didn’t see?”

“Well, the button says “SAVE” so maybe you just saved something, like a file?” Chara stroked her chin, deep in thought as to what happened.

“Do you see any files on here?” Frisk deadpanned.

“I don’t see you coming up with any ideas!” Chara shot back with a roar.

“Okay, okay I get it,” Frisk said, the other “RETURN” button catching Frisk’s attention now. “Maybe we’ll figure out what we did by pressing this!”

“I don’t think that’s a good – “

Before Chara could protest, Frisk slammed his hand hard onto the button.

In a blink, everything around Frisk disappeared. The whole room the boy was in completely vanished in an instant, leaving Frisk in a pitch black, expansive void. Frisk turned in every direction, but nothing changed about where he looked. Everything was dark. The more he stared at the abyss that surrounded him in all directions, the more scared he became. Fear turned into confusion once Frisk took a step making him realize, in this void, he was now standing in a bed of golden flowers. In front of Frisk was the same strange glowing holopad but different. The choices were new. Now Frisk had the choice to CONTINUE or RESET.

“What did I say about touching things you don’t know a thing about!” a familiar voice yelled.

Frisk turned around and saw Chara walking out of the blackness of the void and onto the same flower patch he was in.

“Jeez, you scared me,” Frisk huffed.

“You’re one to talk!” Chara chastised. “Teleporting me like that, you nearly scared me to death!”

“…But you’re already dead...”

“That’s. Not. The. Point!” Chara fumed before pointing into a random direction. “Where are we, where did you send us!”

“I don’t know, I’m sorry!” Frisk apologized. “How was I supposed to know this thing was a teleporter.” Frisk walked toward the hologram. The bright glow of the hologram was almost hypnotic to the young boy who looked at it with wonder. Chara on the other hand was less impressed and more annoyed at their shared situation. “I’m surprised even though the monsters have been underground for a long time still have the tech to have one these things.”

“Monster society has been very resilient in keeping up with the rest of the world,” Chara responded. “Turning human trash into technology is almost an artform down here.”

“Human trash?!” Frisk balked. “A single teleporter is worth like….a gazillion dollars! There’s no way one would end up as trash.” Frisk began walking around the mysterious hologram, analyzing it. “Besides, the ones I’ve seen look nothing like this. “Frisk pointed at the “CONTINUE” AND “RESET” BUTTONS. “And they definitely don’t have these weird words as choices to pick from.”

“Then I suggest you don’t touch it…again,” Chara crossed her arms.

Frisk huffed. “But then how are we going to get back! Toriel is probably freaking out that I just magically poofed away. She’s probably looking for us.” Frisk examined both choices before him, the one grabbing his attention the most was the choice “CONTINUE”.

“I think this one’ll bring us back,” Frisk pointed.

“You sound confident for someone who just said he doesn’t know a thing about what he’s looking at,” Chara chided.

“Just trust me on this,” Frisk said.

“Me trust a human,” Chara thought as Frisk moved to touch the “CONTINUE” choice. “Over my undead body.”

Just like before, Frisk and Chara had no time to form a thought as to what was happening before they were immediately thrust back below the staircase in the Ruins. Both children looked around their surroundings to make sure they were back. Frisk gave Chara a sly grin.

“Frisk 1, Chara 0,” the boy smirked.

Chara just scoffed. “You just got lucky. The commands on this thing are stupid. Why would it say CONTINUE there but RETURN here. It doesn’t make sense.”

“I don’t know,” Frisk shrugged. “Ask the person that made this weird teleporter.”

 “My child, are you okay down there?” Toriel called out from the top floor which caused Frisk and Chara to jump with fright….again.

“Y-yeah, ha-ha,” Frisk nervously laughed. “I’ll be up in a-“

A heavy feeling of déjà vu strangely hit the boy. The way Toriel asked if Frisk was okay didn’t sound like someone asking for the second time when he would come up the stairs. In fact, it sounded exactly like how Toriel asked the first time. A crazy idea came to Frisk.

“I want to test something,” Frisk quickly said to Chara.

“What are you-“

Frisk reappeared in the weird void room. The hologram once again gave the boy the option to “CONTINUE” or “RESET”. Frisk looked to see a fuming Chara walk from the darkness and back onto the patch of golden flowers.

“Why did you send us back here?!” Chara demanded.

“Like I said, I want to test something,” Frisk walked over and pressed “CONTINUE”.

The two children returned to the Ruins, to the bottom of the staircase and in front of the weird hologram.

“What are you doing?” Chara was annoyed but was secretly curious as to what this human boy was up to. Frisk didn’t answer the question, he simply stood still and waited for something to happen.

“My child, are you okay down there?” Toriel called out from the top floor. Neither Frisk nor Chara jumped with surprise, instead looking at each other with muted shock.

“This thing isn’t a teleporter,” Chara said.

Both Frisk and Chara turn their heads toward the hologram. Frisk making an audible gulp. “It’s a time machine.”

Deeper into the Ruins, Flowey finally erupted from the ground. Putting a vine to his forehead he could still feel the sting from where that woman shot him with a fireball. Flowey made a mental note to slowly torture the old goat to dust. But that would have to come later. He had to deal with this kid now, and from the looks of it, the kid finally found out about their new toy. The setbacks the kid was making him do while he was still burrowed underground was annoying, but easy to deal with. Flowey grinned as the memories of his first experiences with the Save File popped into his head. Just like with any new toy, the fun is always at its peak when you play with it the first time.

“Enjoy it while you can, you little twerp,” Flowey slithered his words. “All that fun is gonna come right back at you. Ha-ha, unlike you, I know how to play this game.”

Flowey let loose a hellish howl of laughter that echoed through the Ruin chamber.

“From here on out! We’re on Hard Mode!”

Chapter Text

Frisk and Toriel walked hand in hand through one room after another. At first, Frisk felt awkward having his hand held by the giant goat monster, especially with the way Chara kept looking at him. She didn’t say anything negative about the interaction. Neither really said anything to the other after both kids found they had simple control over time itself. After learning the holopad was some sort of time machine, Frisk confronted Toriel herself about the device, but she made it immediately clear she had no idea what the boy was saying to her. Not wanting her to think he was crazy; Frisk went back to the holopad and reversed time again to where the conversation never happened.

How did he get such a power? The question kept repeating in the boy’s head over and over again. So much so, Frisk didn’t realize Toriel had been talking to him the entire time. Toriel bent her head down to look at the boy directly as she spoke.

“Did you hear me?” Toriel asked in the nicest way possible.

“Um…. sorry,” Frisk apologized. “I got distracted, what did you say?”

Toriel lightly chuckled, using her other hand to cover her mouth. “Oh my, my rambling must be tiresome is it not. I was talking about the multitude of puzzles that are scattered around the Ruins. Luckily, I know all of them as well as their solutions. You’ll soon get accustomed to them as well, I’m sure. Do not worry, the vast majority of them are mere harmless obstacles.”

Toriel and Frisk enter into a room with the entirety of the floor lined with row after row of sharp spikes surrounded by what looked like knee-deep water.

Frisk immediately turned his head to look at Toriel. “Harmless?”

Toriel bleats out a heavy sigh at the sight of the spiked pathway, her grip on Frisk tightens as she bends her neck down to look at the boy. “I am sorry, my child, this is one of the more dangerous puzzles in this area. I’ve thought of filing down the spikes but with how many there are, it will take a considerable amount of time. For now, stay close to me.”

Frisk did just that as he followed along with Toriel who stepped closer towards the spikes. As her paws reached the first one, the spikes slide down into the ground allowing Toriel to walk on the surface with no apparent injury. Frisk himself tapped his foot on the surface experimentally and found it safe to walk.

As Frisk continued to walk with Toriel through the maze of spikes, Chara floated right next to Frisk. “You can thank the humans up top for this kind of thing. They dug as deep as they could through the Underground until they thought they were as far away from humans as possible, then they built all this." Frisk gazed at all the spikes that now surrounded him, their sharpness not looking as threatening as it did before. They just looked sad.

Toriel huffed as she hauled the two of them through the spikes and out the other side. Once she knew they were safe, she unlatched her paw from Frisk’s and took a couple steps forward. “This way my child.” Frisk followed Toriel with Chara not far behind. Unbeknownst to the trio, a golden flower crept in the shadows as it watched them from a distance.

Once in the next room, a beeping sound emanated from within Toriel’s robes. Toriel stopped walking and after a moment fished out an old-looking flip phone.

“Wow, that thing is ancient!” Frisk thought.

Putting the phone to one of her long ears, Toriel listened patiently to the voice on the other end of the conversation. After a couple of nods, a scratch of her muzzle and finally a “thank you and goodbye”, Toriel put the phone back in the confines of her robe before looking over at Frisk who spent the entire phone call poking at a leaf with his stick.

Toriel took a moment to think of what to say to her new human companion. The phone call was a request for help from another monster, one who Toriel knew still held strong feelings toward humans. The request was urgent, and their residence was far from Toriel’s home. She couldn’t take Frisk with them to her home and take care of the request in time nor could she risk taking Frisk with them and potentially start an avoidable fight. An idea came to her mind, one she didn’t really like, but it was all she could come up with.

Toriel turned to Frisk and bent a knee, so both looked at each other at eye level. “You have done excellently thus far, my child.” Frisk smiled cheerfully. “However…I have a difficult request to ask of you.” Toriel stood back up on two feet. Frisk was guessing in his head what she wanted him to do. Did she want him to get her something? Do a puzzle by himself?

“I would like you to walk to the end of the room by yourself.”

Toriel turned around, facing the lengthy cavernous hallway in front of them. “Forgive me.” With blistering speed Frisk, and even Chara, didn’t think she was capable of, took off like a bullet to the other end of the hallway. The hallway was so long and with barely any light besides a few torches on the wall, the boss monster was quickly out of sight before Frisk could process what happened.

“Did she just…run away?”

Chara sighed. “She didn’t abandon you if that’s what you’re thinking. Think of this as just another puzzle.”

“This is a weird puzzle,” Frisk began walking quickly through the passage. Frisk could have sworn he heard shuffling behind him, something moving in the corner of his eyes. Frisk stopped and turned, thinking he saw a flower on the ground move.

“Stop being so paranoid,” Chara bemoaned. “I’m here too so you’re technically not alone.”

Frisk chuckled as he ruffled his hair in embarrassment. “He-he, you’re right,” Frisk’s cheeks blushed as he grinned at Chara. “I guess that would make you my - guardian angel.”

Chara did not respond, the side of her mouth twitching with utter disgust at what she just heard. “Just because it won’t make contact doesn’t mean I won’t slap you.”

All the way across the passageway, Toriel waited patiently for Frisk to make their way through her impromptu challenge. Even from far away, her long ears could still pick up certain sounds coming from the boy – muttered talking and…laughter? Did the child run into a Froggit or Whimsun that Toriel did not notice as she ran through the cavern. Neither monster is really dangerous to the child and the sound of laughter at least calmed some of her anxiety. She at least wanted to be there with the human during his first encounters with other monsters besides herself. She feared the experience the child had with that flower had soured his view on monsters, but that fear seems to have just been another needless worry.

Toriel sighed. Deep down inside, she vowed this child would be different from the others. She would keep him safe, no matter what.

Toriel perked up as it sounded as if the human was getting close. A peak from the pillar she stood behind showed the human walking steadily down the pathway closer to her. As Frisk made his way up to where Toriel was hiding, Chara immediately recognized the boss monster barely able to hide her enormous figure with the pillar. Frisk however continued to walk without notice until Toriel at last walked out of her hiding spot.

“Greetings, my child. Do not worry, I did not leave you,” Toriel smiled. “I was merely behind this pillar the whole time.” Toriel gestured to the pillar before giving Frisk a solemn look. “There was an important reason behind this exercise.

Both Frisk and Chara look up at Toriel, puzzled. “What was the reason?” Frisk asked.

“To test your independence,” Toriel said, bending her knee to be at eye level. “I know after what you’ve just been through, you may be wary of being alone right now, but I have some business to attend to that I regrettably cannot take you along. Please remain here while I am gone.” Frisk didn’t say anything, and Chara just gawked with utter shock as the boss monster stood back up and began ruffling with the inner workings of her robes.

 “I have an idea,” Toriel said as she pulled out a phone. “Take this, if you have anything at all to ask I will be just a ring away, okay.” Toriel smiled again at Frisk. Her eyes closed and smile wide, Frisk was once again bombarded by a weird feeling deep inside himself. He couldn’t understand it let alone address it properly with everything that’s happened to him and around him. This feeling was even more intensified as Toriel offers the two kids a final “goodbye” before walking away completely.

Both kids were left speechless. The only person that could possibly protect them from that flower just high-tailed it out of the room. Frisk examined in his hand the phone Toriel left him. It looked older than anything he’d ever seen in his life. The phone looked more like a brick than an actual cell phone.

“Well, let’s get going!” Chara began walking toward the same exit Toriel had just gone through. It didn’t take long for Chara’s movement to come to a complete halt even as she continued to walk. Chara gave off an annoyed huff as she turned her head to see Frisk standing exactly where he was, not moving an inch. “What’s the holdup?”

“Toriel told me to remain here,” Frisk said. “What if that flower comes back?”

Chara waved Frisk’s worries away from her like she was swatting a fly. “That flower got the roasting of its lifetime. It wouldn’t dare try anything and risk receiving Toriel’s wrath again.” Chara began spinning around dramatically. “Be-sides, you haven’t even seen the good parts of the Underground yet!” Chara’s twirling continued as she made her way back to Frisk before plopping right in front of the boy. “And except for Toriel and the angry turnip you haven’t seen any other monsters!”

“Are you sure it’s safe?” Frisk asked, “None of these other monsters are gonna attack me?”

“Attack you!?” Chara guffawed. “They’d more than likely think some stupid human was about to attack them.”

“Did you have to add the stupid part?”

“Come on already!” Chara waved before going back to running in the direction of the exit. Frisk let out a sigh before walking towards both the exit and his new ghost friend.

Behind the pillar Toriel had just mere moments ago used as a hiding spot, Flowey crept his head out of hiding and watched as Frisk finally left the room. A confused look befell Flowey. Flowey always saw confusion as something to look forward to, something that made him giddy with excitement. Confusion meant something was new in this scripted world of predictability and repetition. But this was different.

“Who was that kid talking to?” Flowey asked himself before burrowing back underground.

The sound of heavy metal clanking onto the tiled floor reverberated throughout the Last Corridor. Undyne, fully decked out in her armor, walked with a constant cadence, every step calculated and anticipated. She was the commander of the Royal Guard. Her role in monster society was crucial for continuous peace and thus had to continuously look the part of a dignified military leader in front of every monster she walked before, even in the blazing hot wasteland that was Hotland. There was no moment of the day she could show any sign of weakness or exhaustion to anyone she stood before. Sleep was for children and fatigue was for weenies. She was a warrior. A warrior for all of monster society! A spear of justice! Undyne’s tempo as she walked grew more pronounced and louder as she walked through the corridor. Her resolute stride continued down the hallway toward the throne room. Undyne marched military-style into the throne room, overflowing with golden flowers, and promptly face-planted onto the ground.

Another monster in the room who witnessed the Royal Guard commander’s rather ungraceful fall approached Undyne who remained unmoved from her spot on the ground. Undyne herself could tell who was approaching her from the booming footsteps that moved towards her. The King of Monsters, Asgore, held in his hands a watering can he was just moments ago was utilizing. Thinking for a moment, Asgore then poured the remaining water that was left in the can onto Undyne who quietly took the water in stride. Soon after the final drop of water left the watering can, Undyne plopped back onto her feet, albeit rather woozily.

“Now, now Undyne,” Asgore said. “You do not have to strain yourself every time you have to make a report. A letter would have sufficed.”

“The leader of the Royal Guard can’t just send a flimsy letter to the King! If I’m gonna give a report its gonna be with me standing in front of you!” As Undyne says this her legs began to wobble and Asgore had to step forward and allow Undyne to brace herself against the large boss monster. “Or sitting – if that’s fine with you.”

Asgore lets out a hefty chuckle. “That is just fine with me. Come, there is a chair over here for you.” Undyne is able to stabilize herself enough to allow Asgore to fetch a chair used for monsters wishing to have an audience with the king. Once Undyne got adjusted in her chair, Asgore likewise went and sat on his throne. The moments of awkward silence between the two were luckily taken over by birdsong that came from the outside world.

Undyne clears her throat and then sits up straight as Asgore listens patiently. “All four sectors of the Underground have been relatively peaceful. A few drunken brawls here or there, as usual they’re mainly at Grillby’s and as you might expect it’s usually just the canines after a bit too many pets. Outside of that the kingdom is prepping for a big concert soon. Alphys’s famous talking metal box is putting together the show with help from Al. The two of them are hoping it cheers the citizens up once um…that day approaches.” Undyne immediately felt like she had just walked into a field of landmines, and she mentally kicked herself for mentioning “that day” without thinking.

If Asgore felt any grievance for Undyne’s slip of the tongue, he didn’t show it. “Ah yes, I think a concert would be very good for the citizens. Do tell Dr. Alphys and Mettaton my thanks and hope that things go smoothly.”

Undyne coughed awkwardly. “Y-yes, will do.” Undyne then immediately straightened back up in her chair. “Now on to other issues. On the matter of humans, none of my subordinates have notified me of any human sightings in any of the sectors.”

“Oh thank the gods” Asgore softly breathed out.

“Did you say something King Asgore?” Undyne asked, not hearing what he said.

“No-no, it has just been a very long day is all, please continue,” Asgore said.

Undyne let out sigh that did not escape her helmet. “It has been nearly eight months since the last human fell down into the Underground. We’re now only one soul away from truly becoming free from this accursed prison. The other monsters know this too and many have become anxious for when the next human will appear.”

A solemn look came to Asgore as he tried in vain to relax on his throne. “It pains me deeply knowing my people are yearning for another’s death. Even if all these deaths cause the destruction of the barrier, I fear for what it will do to our society as a whole.”

Undyne doesn’t respond right away, but after a moment she tightens her fists. “We’ll be a free society! Monsters have been Underground longer than before I was even born. We’ve been prisoners of this Underground for too long. The humans have taken so much from us, it’s only fair we take from them!”

Undyne stands up from her chair and salutes Asgore as he just sits and watches from his throne. “We are one soul away from freeing all of monster society. That is the end of my report!” Undyne the turned and swiftly marched out of the throne room as Asgore only gazed at the swaying golden flowers that surround him.

Frisk laid flat on his chest on the cold ground, his arms being used as a makeshift pillow for his head as he stared down eye-to-eye the confused-looking Froggit in front of him. The Froggit had not a single clue what this strange human was doing, but was too relaxed in its spot to move, so it remained in its spot and allowed this spontaneous staring contest to continue.

“It’s a frog,” Frisk finally spoke up.

“Don’t be disrespectful, it’s a monster,” Chara, who had been standing to the side unconcerned with the epic staring contest, chided. “You wanted to meet monsters, now you have.”

“But it’s a frog,” Frisk gestured with his hand toward the frog.

“Ribbit, ribbit. Ribbit, ribbit, ribbit,” the Froggit responded to the boy.

Frisk’s eyes went wide as the Froggit began to speak, or at least tried to speak to him. “And now the frog is ribbiting at me!”

Chara lets out a defeated sigh. “It’s not ribbiting, it’s talking to you.” Chara walked over and squatted in-between the two. “It says ‘hello’ and that it takes being called a frog as a compliment and is flattered.”

“Um…cool. Well…nice to meet you Mr. Frog,” Frisk replied.

(Ribbit) “Its name is actually Ribert,” Chara translated.

(Ribbit) “You must be new to the Underground,” Ribert continued. “Have you run into Miss Toriel?”

Frisk stood up to his knees upon hearing Toriel’s name. “Yeah, we ran –“

“I” Chara abruptly interrupted.

Frisk looked at Chara like she just ribbited. “What?”

“Don’t use we,” Chara said in a serious enough tone that Frisk didn’t want to argue with. “No one but you can see me, so unless you want to look even more like a crazy person, I’d suggest not talking like an invisible person is somehow in the room.”

Frisk took a second to digest what Chara just said to him before returning to Ribert. “I- mean I already ran into her,” Frisk amended. “She was going to take me somewhere safe, I guess, but she said she had to go somewhere and left.”

Ribert tilted its head as if trying to understand the boy’s words. “That doesn’t sound like something Miss Toriel would do, especially considering what she has gone through.”

Even though Chara just told him to forget she was there, neither of the kids could stop themselves from giving each other a nervous look. “What do you mean? What has she gone through?”

Ribert hopped from where he was sitting. “Too personal for Ribert to say,”  Ribert replied. “Most monsters know, especially those that live outside the Ruins. If you must ask, Toriel would be the one to talk to.”

Frisk saw that Chara almost looked deflated after translating that last part. Curiosity was digging into him, but he decided to drop it for right now.

(Ribbit) “Ribert knows the way,” Ribert said. “Ribert can take you to where Miss Toriel lives.”

Frisk got up to his feet now. “Oh – thank you, um, Ribert.” Ribert shook its body as if fully waking itself up before hopping off in a direction.

Chara nodded toward the direction of the hopping Froggit. “Welp, better follow him.”

Both kids walked closely behind Ribert as it led them through another room. While Ribert had been mainly making small leaps as he hopped, Ribert steadied his legs and made a huge leap across the relatively mundane passage. Frisk didn’t think much of it as he continued to walk. Ribert however hopped to turn himself around, ready to warn the boy about the impending hidden pitfall trap just as the boy’s foot landed on the cracked tile, sending the boy plummeting below with a frightened yell.

Chara slowly floated down to Frisk who was on his back on top of a bushel of leaves, carefully packed together into a large cushion. The smug grin plastered on Chara’s face was all that Frisk needed. “You knew that was gonna happen…”

“Maybe, “Chara playfully prolonged the word. “Just wanted to see how you’d react.” Chara pointed to the bed of leaves Frisk was now buried under. “You can thank Toriel for all of that. These puzzles didn’t have these safety nets until….well, stuff happened.”

Frisk crawled out of the leaf pile, stood up and brushed off any leaflitter that clung to his clothes. “Well, from now on, could you warn me about any other impending traps I might step in. I think I’ve fallen enough for today.”

“My apologies, I’ll try to remember to look out for those,” Chara responded, feeling a bit guilty. Chara followed Frisk through a flight of stairs that led back up to where Ribert was waiting patiently for them.

(Remorseful ribbit) “Sorry human, Ribert should have warned sooner.”

“It’s fine,” Frisk quickly reassured. “I should’ve been more careful of where I was stepping.” Frisk looked past where Ribert was taking them. “How much farther is Toriel’s home.”

(Ribbit) “A little bit further ahead,” Ribert answered. “Lots more puzzles for human to get through.”

Frisk rubbed his head. “Well at least I’m getting used to them, let’s keep going. I wanna see if I can meet anymore monsters before we get to Toriel’s.”

The trio continued their journey through the Ruins, traversing through puzzle after puzzle. Making their way past a room filled with more pitfall traps. Frisk followed Ribert who hopped along the right path to get through the puzzle. After that, Frisk bore witness to the monster frog having a lengthy conversation with the world’s most difficult talking rock, who after much persuasion, stayed on the pressure plate needed for the trio to advance past more sharp spikes.

Frisk himself began to grow hungry after barely having anything to eat all day. So when the boy spotted delicious-looking cheese on a table, his inner cravings kicked in instantly and the boy made his way toward the table with Chara and Ribert following behind. Next to the table was another one of those weird time machines, but the pangs of hunger forced Frisk to put that to the side and focus on the food in front of him.

“Do you care if we stop for a food break,” Frisk asked. “I’m a bit starved.”

Ribert hopped over to the table, smelling the aroma of fresh, wild cheese.

(Ribbit) “Of course human,” Ribert happily agreed.

Chara crossed her arms. “Are you really going to eat some cheese someone just left here?”

Frisk looked at the cheese on the table, examining the solid block of cheddar. The smell was actually rather rancid, but the boy’s many voyages through garbage dumps back in the village in search for food hardened his nose to the worst of smells. “Eh, I’ve eaten worse,” Frisk ultimately through his hands up. Picking up the cheese, Frisk found the cheese was much harder to dislodge from the table’s surface than he thought. After a hard-fought battle, Frisk finally extricated the block of cheese from the table.

Sitting with his back against the wall, Frisk broke off a piece of cheese and placed it in front of Ribert. Ribert gave what Frisk perceived as a frog’s best impression of a smile before digging into the block of cheesy goodness. Frisk glanced over to a hole in the wall beside him and noticed within the small hole appeared a tiny mouse, its small eyes staring attentively at the cheese in his hand. Frisk gave a soft chuckle as he once again took off a small piece from the cheese block and laid it down close to the mouse-hole. Upon hearing a grateful squeak, Frisk himself began to chow down on the remaining cheese in his hand. As Frisk and Ribert enjoyed their cheese, Chara sat down herself and quietly watched the human and monster eating together.

After a moment of eating, the phone Toriel gave to Frisk began to buzz within his pocket. Frisk wiped cheese on his pant leg before taking out the phone and answered it.

“Hello, this is Toriel,” Toriel said on the other line.

“Oh, hi Toriel!” Frisk said.

“I hope you are still doing okay in my absence,” Toriel said.

“I’m doing fine, these puzzles are a lot easier than I thought they’d be,” Frisk said proudly.

“I’m so happy to hear that,” Toriel responded. “For no reason in particular which do you prefer, cinnamon or butterscotch?”

Chara, overhearing the entire conversation felt a twinge of melancholy hit them like a bus. Even after all these years, she still made those pies. Frisk had to take a second to think of which to pick.

“Uh…I guess cinnamon,” Frisk answered.

“I see,” Toriel immediately replied. “Thank you very much!” With a click, the phone call ended. Frisk moved to put the phone back into his pocket when the phone buzzed once more. Putting it back to his ear, he heard Toriel once more. “Hello, this is Toriel.”

“H-hello…” the thought instantly coming to Frisk that he accidentally went back in time. Frisk looked at the glowing time machine. He hadn’t transported to that black void area and made sure not to touch the light when going to the table for the cheese. Could it have done something without him knowing?

“You do not dislike butterscotch, do you?” Toriel asked, flinging the worry out of Frisk’s mind. “I know what your preference is, but…would you turn your nose if you found it on your plate?”

Frisk was never a picky eater, especially in his current situation, so his answer was quick. “No, I’d eat anything really,” Frisk said brutally truthful as he glanced over at the remaining table cheese in his hand.

“Right, right, I understand” Toriel chuckled. “Thank you for being so patient, by the way.”

“It’s alright,” Frisk said, cheerfully.

Click…

Toriel placed the phone back into her robes. The safety of this human child had been on her mind ever since she had saved him from that flower monster. Toriel still had plans on searching for that flower and making it apologize for harming the boy. Toriel dared to even think of what could have happened if she was a second late in stopping the flower. Toriel shoved those thoughts out as she remembered she was now standing in the living room of the monster she left the human to go help.

Going through the curtains that separated the main bedroom from the living room, Toriel approached the bed containing the ill monster. A Migosp coughed and cackled on the bed as a worried-looking Migospel stood next to the bed.

“I’m sorry for the wait, my friend, I just had to check on someone,” Toriel said as she made her way towards the bed.

“Yeah…ME!” the Migosp coughed.

“Now Zerg, don’t be such a stinkbug,” the Migospel scolded.

“I DON’T CARE!” Zerg yelled. “I mean…y-yes mother.”

The sick Migosp’s mother turned to Toriel. “Thank you Miss Toriel for coming on such short notice. At first I thought my little Zerg was just not feeling well so I did my best to cheer him up with my top-quality  clown performance, but all it did was make it worse…” The Migospel began to tremble with beads of tears beginning to form near her eyes. Toriel quickly came up next to the Migospel and comforted the monster with a one-armed hug. “I don’t want anyone to see me or my child this way.”

“There, there,” Toriel soothed. “I will do everything in my power to help your son.” For a brief moment, Toriel herself had to recompose herself. Since the very beginning of her life in the Ruins, she had always been the one other Ruin-dwelling monsters could rely on in situations such as this. A shoulder to cry on, an extra hand to help move things through the small city, and most important of all – a healer. But even so, things such as this always brought back bad memories for her.

Releasing the hug, Toriel moved to the other side of the bed and began to concentrate. Focusing her magic through her body towards her paws, they began to grow a bright green aura that lit the room aglow. Toriel placed her paws over Zerg, the green glow of the healing magic seeping into the Migosp. The Migospel watched as her son’s ragged breathing began to soften and return to a normal tempo. After a few more moments, the green glow left Toriel’s paws, and she retracted them back to her side.

“Mm, cha cha cha!” Zerg said. “I’m feel ‘in a lot better now! I want to go outside and do some dancing!”

“You’ll do no such thing,” Toriel hushed. “Bedrest is what you’ll be doing for the remainder of the day. You can dance to your soul’s content tomorrow.”

“But Mom!” Zerg cried.

“Zerg, you do as Miss Toriel says,” Migospel instructed.  “Don’t make me send in the clowns!” Deep down inside, Migospel was already planning on doing just that once Toriel left.

A defeated Zerg leaned back into his bed. “Well, I guess there’s nothin’ like alone time.”

Toriel clasps her paws together, smiling. “Then that’s settled.”

“Would you care for some tea?” the Migospel asked Toriel. Toriel stopped for a moment to think. She really had to return home to start making the pie for the human child that would now be living with her, but then again the walk to get here took a considerable amount of effort and healing magic did take a lot out of you.

Back in the living room, the Migospel pours two glasses full of freshly brewed tea and handed one to Toriel. “Thank you,” Toriel spoke up as the two of them sat down in their respective chairs.

“I must be the one to thank you,” the Migospel responded. “If not for you, I don’t know what would have become of my little Zerg. If I had lost him, I don’t think anything would be able to make me laugh ever again.” Toriel’s grip tightened on her cup. She had to control herself lest she break the whole thing completely.

“Yes. Losing a child is something that no parent should ever have to go through,” Toriel said. “No amount of healing magic could ever heal such a wound to the soul.”

“Which is why all of us here in the Ruins appreciates everything you do for us,” the Migospel said. “Even after all these years, we still have not forgotten the tragedy that befell your family. The horrors of that day are still remembered even in the closed off Ruins of the Underground. Speaking of, ‘that day’ is approaching is it not?”

Toriel straightened in her chair. She suddenly felt like the scum of the Earth. The sudden appearance of another human child caused her to completely forget that day was just around the corner. She tried to sooth herself with a sip of the tea.

“Yes,” Toriel spoke after finishing her tea. “I do believe that day is coming upon us shortly.”

“Me and my son, as well as the rest of the Ruins will do our best to commemorate the day as best we can,” the Migospel said. “From one mother to another.”

“Thank you,” Toriel said, wiping a tear from her eye. Toriel stood up. “I think it best that I go now. Thank you very much for the tea.”

“You are always welcome back to have some more,” the Migospel said.

The Migospel followed Toriel to the doorway, and with one final goodbye, Toriel left the Migospel household and began walking in the direction of her own home. As she walked, the thought of ‘that day’ returned to her thoughts. Toriel fought back tears as she walked past and waved at fellow monsters that walked through the Ruin city. Once she was more alone and to herself, she would allow for the tears to give way. And afterwards, she would go back to the golden flowerbed and apologize for her forgetfulness.

Frisk, Chara and Ribert had long finished their cheese break and were back to traveling through the Ruins. While Ribert wasn’t looking, Frisk had quickly saved using the time machine next to the table. Something about the shining device compelled Frisk to press on the save button but stayed away from the RETURN button. Frisk and Chara agreed that they shouldn’t touch that button unless they really needed to speak in private.

The trio persevered through more puzzles. Frisk being forced to have to fall down one of the pitfall traps to disable a gate of spikes. Along the way the trio ran into a vegetable-looking monster Chara informed Frisk was called a Vegetoid. It hounded the group to eat their greens even though Frisk informed the monster they had already ate. After escaping the insistent talking carrot, the group made their way into another room. Upon walking in, Frisk saw that the path was blocked by a group of monsters. Two bipedal monsters with a single large, round eye on their heads and something that looked like gelatin surrounded another monster in the middle of the room. The monster being pestered by the group looked like what Frisk envisioned was what an actual ghost looked like before he met Chara. As the trio moved closer, Frisk accidentally kicked a small rock, alerting their presence to the monsters.

The monsters, minus the gelatin-looking one, turned around and gawked at the approaching human. “Woah bro is that a human?” one of the Loox asked.

“If not, this monster is wearing a pretty bad costume of one,” the other Loox responded. “Let’s bully it until it cries!”

Both of the Loox drew closer to Frisk and co. “Good idea bro! I was getting tired of bullying that ghost out of all of its gold anyway.”

Frisk heard the entire conversation the Loox were having, helped by the fact both Loox were shouting every word they were saying to the other. Frisk tightened his hands into fists. He had noticed when they first walked into the room that the ghost looking monster seemed upset and almost to the point of tears. These monsters were straight up bullying the other monster, out of money no less. As the two Loox brothers continued to approach Frisk, the boy made no attempt to run away.

If there was one thing Frisk hated more than anything in this world.

It was bullies.

Chapter Text

The attacks were relentless.

An onslaught of strikes and blows left the defenseless eight-year-old boy incapable of doing anything except simply take the assault. Another hard dodgeball slammed right into Frisk’s mid-section, causing the small boy to double over in pain. Standing over him, a group of much older kids gleefully smiling at the hurt child. School had long since passed, the other school children and teachers had long gone and left for the day, leaving Frisk and the group of bullies all alone in the middle of the playground.

He simply wanted to join in on a game of dodgeball, but things quickly escalated when teams were decided, and Frisk found himself the only person on his team. The young boy stood there. One boy in front of a line of six. One ball flew across the air, followed by another five. Frisk tried to catch one, but every time he would grasp one, another would slam into him, and he’d lose grip and it’d go right back into the hands of one of the other boys.

The cycle repeated with no end, until a battered and bruised boy lay on the ground. The bullies finished with their game, left to go hang out somewhere else. The boy on the other hand, was left shaking and teary eyed over the attack. Scraping himself off the ground, the boy quietly sobbed as he walked all the way back to his home. The only place he truly felt safe in the world. It wasn’t until he saw her, did he feel truly safe to break down and wail. Her hand softly stroking the boy’s hair as he cried into her ribs from the side of the bed where she rested. Her ragged breathing did not stop her from smiling as she looked upon her son.

“Were those boys…picking on you…” the boy’s mother asked, eliciting a cough.

The boy sniffed and sobbed into his mother’s blanket. “All I wanted to do was be friends with them…but all they did was be mean to me.”

Frisk continued to cry as his mother gently stroked her hand through Frisk’s hair.

Frisk stared down the two Looks brothers as they took their attention away from the crying ghost and toward the human. The two grinning bullies had no clue of the rage that was building in the young boy. His mouth shut tight, keeping words his mother told him never to say from coming out all the while his fingers dug painfully into his palms as his fist quickly prepared for a solid punch to the closest of the two Loox.

Just as Frisk was about to wind up a punch, his ghostly companion swiftly floated from beneath the ground right into Frisk’s face.

“What do you think you’re doing?!” Chara shouted.

The out of nowhere question caught the boy off guard. There was no way Chara couldn’t have noticed that these monsters were just seconds ago bullying the other one.

“What were you seriously about to do?!” Chara repeated, suppressed anger slightly seeping out of her words. Frisk was stumped, unable to respond to the questions thrown at him like spears.

“I – “Frisk was about to reply before Ribert hopped from the ground onto Frisk’s back and catapulted off him, launching the boy away from a surprised Chara just as bullets flew right through her body and into the wall.

Chara quickly turned around and looked at the Loox with shocked astonishment. “They just shot to kill! Just like that flower!”

Frisk grunted at he picked himself off the ground. “Guess monsters aren’t all friendly after all…”

The two Loox continued to laugh amongst each other. “Did you see how that human froze with fear at our awesome moves!”

“Yeah bro, even had to be saved by a little Froggit! Hey Moldy, you want in on the action too?” The Moldsmal close to the ghost monster simply wiggled in a conversational manner. “Eh, more fun for us then,” the Loox responded back.

Ribert gave an irate croak. “If Miss Toriel learned of this behavior, she would be most displeased!”

“Eh, what’s she even gonna do, put us in timeout? I ain’t scared of some old monster.”

“Hehe, you tell em bro.” …….” I’m actually really scared of Miss Toriel…”

The Loox waved off his other brother’s worries. “Ah come on! What’s there to worry about? Besides it’s a human. They don’t belong here with us monsters! Remember what big bro said – the only good human’s a dead one.”

“When did monsters start to think of humans like I did…do…” Chara thought. The monster kingdom she knew and grew up in was never this violent.

“Monsters are supposed to be kind.”

“Monsters are supposed to be good.”

“Monsters are supposed to be the opposite of humans!”

Ribert hopped in between Frisk and the two Loox. A bundle of fly-looking specs circled around Ribert’s head. “I won’t let you harm my human friend.”

The two Loox stand their ground, their own bullets forming around them. Ribert got ready to leap into action but was stopped by Frisk marching in front of him, stick in hand. “They want to fight me, not you. I can handle them.”

Frisk could immediately see Chara rushing to him in the corner of his eye. “Even if I’m stuck with you, if you attack them, I’ll never forgive you.” Frisk didn’t respond back, instead looking at the stick in his hand. Thinking for a moment, Frisk gripped the stick and placed it back into his back pocket.

“Don’t worry,” Frisk began walking toward the Loox brothers. “I won’t touch a single one of them.”

The whole room was silent as Frisk and the two Loox stood in front of each other. The Loox brothers took their position in front of Frisk. Chara and Ribert watched on the sidelines as the two bullies generated their bullets.

Breathing in deep, Frisk readied himself, closed his eyes….

And fell right back onto the ground.

Frisk’s whole body was shaking as he desperately fought to stand back up. One knee up and then the whole body lifts. Wiping blood from his nose, the boy stood before the group of bullies.

“Had enough yet?” one asked, mockingly.

“You keep coming back for me, it’s getting boring.” another shouted.

“Makes for good target practice though.” The bully smiled as he drew back the dodgeball in his hand and launched it at the boy’s head. The swing flew the large heavy ball soaring towards the child but instead of landing, the boy moved his head at the perfect moment as the ball passed by completely.

Frisk was just as shocked as the rest of the bullies as even the young boy couldn’t help but look back toward the ball as it bounced hard against a gate, causing it to shake rapidly. Frisk turned his head back and gave the boys a sly, shit-eating grin.

“Hey, you missed,” Frisk was able to shout out just before another dodgeball smacked into his face.

Frisk was once again alone on the playground, left groaning and splayed out on the dirt. Tears had long since dried on his face. Despite the constant pain shooting throughout his entire body, particularly his face, nothing seemed broken or seriously hurt. It helped that Frisk wasn’t focusing on the pain. Despite all the pain he was feeling, Frisk was grinning.

An idea had entered his mind. A kind of personal challenge… and a way for him to beat those stupid bullies.

The bullets fired as quickly as they appeared, going straight for Frisk’s soul. Just as the bullets were about to hit Frisk’s soul, the boy moved his body slightly back as the bullets shot by, missing both Frisk’s body and soul completely.

“That all you’ve got?” Frisk mocked.

The two Loox let out an annoyed growling noise.

“What an eyesore!” one of the Loox shouted, causing more bullets to skyrocket towards Frisk. Once again, Frisk was able to fling his soul out of the bullets trajectory and they missed completely.

A cheering Ribert and a bewildered Chara watched as the two Loox fired another volley of bullets that Frisk easily dodged by merely sidestepping out of the way. Chara saw not a shred of fear on Frisk’s face, no sign of apprehension as to where or when the next bullet would come from. All Frisk did was confidently walk and turn his body to where the trajectory of the bullet passed by without touching either his body or soul.

“What’s the matter, can’t even hit a little kid? Do you two even know how to aim?”

The two Loox became red hot and began yelling incoherent mockery. “You rude little snipe!”

Both Loox formed an assortment of bullets that shot in all directions. The bullet tantrum causing even Ribert to hop around madly to not get hit accidentally. Frisk ran toward both of the Loox, dodging and ducking the bullets as they zipped through the air. As Frisk ran, he clutched the stick in his back pocket and as he jumped over a row of bullets, Frisk retrieved his stick mid-air and aimed it at one of the Loox.

Chara was about to shout, before stopping herself completely as both Frisk and the two Loox stood before each other. The feebler of the Loox gasped as his brother’s single eye was inches away from the stick.

Breathing heavy Frisk was worried himself if he was going to be able to stop himself but from the looks of everyone else in the room, it didn’t show on his face. Putting his full attention back on the bullies, Frisk’s red eyes glared at the two Loox.

“Go pick on someone else.”

As if obeying that very command, the Loox brothers high tailed it away from Frisk and dashed out of the room. For a moment everyone stood silently as they watched the Loox run away until Frisk broke the silence, raising his arms in a stretch.

“Well, that took a lot longer than I was hoping for, but I still got it done, “Frisk smiled. “Whew – wow all that dodging sure got me hungry for more cheese.”

Frisk turned back to his companions as Chara stepped forward, a troubled and worried look on her face. “Frisk… “

Placing a finger to his mouth Frisk motioned towards Ribert. “We can talk later,” Frisk whispered as he walked past Chara and toward the Froggit. Bending his knees and getting eye level with the monster, Frisk smiled. “Thanks for backing me up back there and for the save, you’re a good friend!”

Ribert blushed from the compliment. “Oh well, it was making Ribert hopping mad to see his new human friend be treated so mean. That out of the way – “Ribert hopped to turn towards the ghost and Moldsmal. “What to do about these two?”

Frisk stood back up and walked over to the two other mysterious monsters. The ghost monster had a very stereotypical appearance for a ghost. His most striking feature was his large white eyes that twinkled inside his dark, black sockets. The other monster simply looked like expired jelly left on the side of the road.

The ghost monster noticed Frisk approaching and finished the conversation he was having with the Moldsmal. “Oh… hello, my name’s Napstablook. Um… thanks for helping with those two brothers.”

Frisk bashfully rubbed the back of his head. “It was no big deal. Hope they didn’t hurt you or anything?”

“Oh, they didn’t attack me or anything. They couldn’t really……. since I’m a ghost.” Napstablook said. “…. Oh, I just made it sound like your help was pointless. oh no……………….”

“It’s okay dude…,” Frisk said, awkwardly. “Even so, those guys seemed like they were bothering you.” Frisk’s eyes went to the Moldsmal simply burbling next to Napstablook. “Wasn’t this um….” Frisk turned his head back toward Chara and Ribert.

“Moldsmal,” Ribert and Chara said in unison.

“Um…Moldsmal…. wasn’t it with the bullies?” Frisk asked.

“Kind of,” Napstablook said. “Moldy is actually really chill and doesn’t really fight. The Loox brothers probably just dragged him into their antics.”

“Oh,” Frisk bent down to the wiggling little Moldsmal. “Well, it’s nice to meet you Moldy. It sucks those bullies got you mixed up in all this as well.”

Moldy wiggled in response to the boy. Frisk stood there for a bit trying to figure out what the Moldsmal was trying to say.

“That’s how Moldsmal communicate,” Napstablook said. “Moldy knows you can’t really understand him, but he’s also saying thank you for helping with the Loox.”

Frisk giggled. “No problem at all!” Frisk began to wiggle his hips too and soon Moldy began to wiggle back.

“What a meaningful conversation!” Chara spoke as she walked up to Frisk. “But we should really be on our way to Toriel’s home now.”

As much as he would like to hang out with these cool looking monster friends, Frisk had to agree with his ghostly companion. It was difficult for Frisk to tell time in this underground place, but he knew it must have been a long time since the last time he saw Toriel.

“Best not to make her worry about me,” Frisk thought. “I hope I get to see you all again sometime. I’ve always thought ghost were really cool!”

Blush marks began to appear on both Napstablook and Chara’s cheeks, the latter of which did their best to hide it. “Ah, well, if you really like ghosts my cousin is pretty popular over in the capital. If you’re lucky you might get to mee them.”

“Hope so!” Frisk waved goodbye as the boy walked off with Ribert and Chara.

As Napstablook and Moldy waved farewell, Flowey watched from behind a rock, gritting his teeth. He was really hoping for a fun show watching that annoying twerp getting gutted by those Loox. Incompetent idiots! Useless morons were more bark than bite. A total disgrace to the name Eyewalker…. oh, that gave Flowey an idea. If those losers couldn’t do the job, he knew exactly who would give Flowey the show he was looking for.

Cackling to himself with glee, Flowey returned down into the soil.

Further deep into the Ruins, Frisk and his companions made their way deeper and deeper into the catacombs of the mysterious kingdom. As they walked, Chara kept her distance from Frisk as much as the weird connection the two of them shared allowed. Frisk didn’t seem to notice, his focus spent absentmindedly watching Ribert hop along the path they were taking. The Froggit hopped his way further ahead. It didn’t take long before both Chara and Frisk completely lost sight of Ribert as he hopped his way through a crevice in the cave wall. Frisk bolted to where he last saw the Froggit, immediately becoming worried he had lost his only guide, besides Chara of course.

“He couldn’t have just left us…could he?” Frisk asked.

“Ribert? Of course not, he’s not like those bullies earlier….,” Chara instantly spoke up in defense of the monster, but even she couldn’t shake an anxious feeling that had been building up ever since they encountered that weird flower and the Loox brothers.

Frisk and Chara then heard loud croaking noises come from a small hole dug in the wall of the cave. As the two got closer, Ribert poked his head out from the hole. “Come human, there is a place you can see the entirety of the city. Come, come!” Ribert sounded excited, which made Frisk equally as excited. Getting on both hands and knees, Frisk crawled through the small but child-sized hole. Looking between his legs, Frisk saw that Chara picking up the rear, crawling on her hands and knees as well behind him.

“Can’t you just phase through the wall?” Frisk whispered but audible enough for Chara to hear.

“It never felt weird before, but when someone can actually see me do it, it makes me self-conscious about my current state of being,” Chara said. “Guess it wouldn’t make sense to someone who can’t walk through walls.”

Frisk didn’t say anything for a moment but stopped crawling and bent his head to look through his knees again. “No, I get what you mean,” Frisk smiled before returning to crawling through the hole. Chara on the other hand was left dumbfounded, mouth open and momentarily unable to move. Her mouth quivered but she willed away the uninvited smile.

While it wasn’t long since he first entered the hole, Frisk’s hands and legs were quickly starting to hurt from the rough, rocky surface. Luckily for the boy, his eyes soon caught the flash of light from the exit ahead of him. Careful not to accidentally snag on any sharp edges, Frisk crawled out of the small crevice stopping himself when he noticed two human-like legs in front of him. Frisk slowly stared up to be greeted by Chara’s smug smile looking down at him.

“What are you still doing on the ground? Come, our mutual frog friend was not kidding about the view,” Chara said.

Feeling a rush of excitement, Frisk didn’t waste another moment as he stood up and followed Chara to the edge of a cliff where Ribert was waiting. It was obvious from Frisk’s position that the trio were incredibly high up as his view only saw the far-away walls of the underground that looked as though they stretched for miles. It wasn’t until he stood next to Chara right at the edge along with Ribert that he saw everything.

An expansive city, larger than his old village, spread across the gargantuan cavern. There were towering structures, homes that looked like they were built on top of other homes. Large monoliths that reached close to the ceilings. Elaborate buildings with ornate and intricate designs carved into them connected to each other like the city was just some complicated maze to walk through. What truly caught Frisk’s attention the most, however, were the monsters that roamed through the far-off streets. From high up where Frisk was perched, the distance between him and the monsters made them look like ants…or maybe they were ants. Frisk couldn’t really care at that moment; he was just soaking in the incredible view.

“Welcome to Home,” Chara’s melancholic comment made Frisk focus his attention on Chara who was also gazing at the city. She was smiling, but a more solemn one than he was expecting. Chara was staring down at the city like one would stare at the grave of a long dead friend.

“Was this your home?” Frisk asked.

“It is our home, yes!” Chara responded for Ribert. “This is the home for all the monsters that take the Ruins as their home.”

Frisk couldn’t tell if Chara just assumed the question was for Ribert or if she was sneakily avoiding the question. Either way, he couldn’t ask the question a second time without it coming off as weird, so he dropped the question for now.

It was at that moment; an idea came to Frisk.

“Let’s go down there,” Frisk said.

“What?!” Chara asked, taken aback by the sudden request.

“Ribert thinks that’s a great idea!” Ribert ribbited in delight.

“Alright!” Frisk shouted enthusiastically. “More exploring!”

Chara crossed her arms with a disapproving look that made Frisk think of a stern parent frustrated over their kid. “We can’t make Toriel wait all day for us. She’d get worried about us.”

Frisk rummaged through his pockets before taking out and waving his phone. “If Toriel got worried, I’m sure she’d just call and ask where I’m at. Hey Ribert, how far away is Toriel’s home from the city?”

“Not far! Not far!” Ribert was hopping up and down where he stood. “Miss Toriel often makes many trips back and forth between her home and the main city.”

Frisk’s wide smiling face went from Ribert to Chara, making a silent but excited pleading look. Chara’s disapproving look showed no sign of leaving - but of course this kid had to use the puppy dog routine – a tactic Asriel learned quickly into their sibling relationship was an effortless way to get what they wanted.

Throwing her arms up in defeat, Chara gave a defeated sigh. “Fine, we can check out the city. But if Toriel calls asking where you’re at, we leave immediately.”

With a silent, thankful nod of agreement, Frisk had Ribert show the quickest way down to the city. Making their way through tunnel after tunnel, passing by more Froggits than Frisk could count, the trio finally made it to the base of the Ruins and into the entryway into the city.

While there were a handful of Froggits and floating little monsters around, Frisk couldn’t shake the feeling this place was more deserted than he originally thought. Still, the power to explore was too much for the ten-year old and from the look of the large skyscraper-like buildings, there was a lot to look at.

Turning a corner, the trio came upon a small bazaar-style marketplace with tiny shops lining the walls. Vendors ranged from more Froggits to Vegetoid and Whimsun. Frisk ran up to one stall with a sign reading “PAWn shop.” There was no vender to be found except for a small white dog lounging on a counter. The dog looked up from where it was napping, almost looking surprised to see a human standing in front of it before giving off an adorable bark.

After giving the dog many pets, the group continued on their way until they walked up to another stall filled to the brim with spiders. Frisk began stepping away tentatively only for Chara to belt out a loud chuckle as she walked forward to inspect the shop.

“Scared of itsy-bitsy spiders huh,” Chara grinned. “What’s to be afraid of?” Chara pointed her finger toward the flock of spiders. “Look.”

Apprehensively, Frisk stepped closer to the shop. Little tiny spiders were at work near web-covered shop, their even tinier legs being used to toss an assortment of mixes into bowls before being placed into pint-sized ovens. The whole scene would’ve been cute to the boy had it not been for the fact they were all spiders.

One of the spiders approached Frisk with a short menu.

Frisk’s face perked up as he realized something. Patting both of his pockets, the boy let out a sigh. “I just remembered I don’t have a single cent on me…”

“Do not worry friend!” Ribert croaked. “Ribert shall pay for anything his new human friend wishes!”

Frisk went back and forth between looking at the menu that was being dwarfed by his own hand and Chara who was waiting patiently with a grin on her face for Frisk to decide on what to get.

“I…I guess I’ll go for the spider doughnut?” Frisk requested sheepishly.

As If the spiders themselves could understand human’s speech, the spider dutifully skittered away before returning with what looked like a cookie gift wrapped in cobweb. Frisk shakily took the cookie before jumping back closer to Chara.

Reaching near the end of the bazaar, the trio continued their way by walking up a flight of stairs leading to a large square plaza. Trees and unkept flora decorated the area. In the middle of the square stood the large rusty gold statue of a trident. Chara greeted the statue with an uneasy exhale while Frisk was awed at the cool looking trident. As Frisk ran over to check out the trident closer, a familiar light from behind the statue immediately caught his attention.

“It’s another one of these things again!” Frisk thought.

Chara soon floated toward Frisk’s side just as the boy pressed his hand into the shimmering light. “I still don’t think you should be touching these things. Chances are these are something that kids shouldn’t be playing with.”

Frisk stuck out his tongue. “When’d you become the fun police,” Frisk responded. “Besides, we know what these are. They’re teleporters! Right Mr. Ribert?”

Ribert hopped over upon hearing his name being called and found Frisk bent over behind the trident statue. “What is what?” Ribert asked.

Frisk pointed directly at the flickering light. “This flashy light stuff. They’re teleporters, right?”

Ribert cocked his head, completely confused about what the boy was talking about. “What do you mean by teleporters. Ribert doesn’t understand what the human is saying.”

Frisk waved his hand around the shimmering light. “This thing. Right here. Don’t you see the flashing ball of light in front of us?”

With a worried croak, Ribert shook his head. “Ribert is sorry human, but Ribert doesn’t see any flashy light that you speak of.”

At that very instant, both Frisk and Chara felt a cold shiver run down their spine.

Chara’s attention turned from the weird light to Ribert, then back to the light. While Frisk kept trying to explain to Ribert the light, Chara was busy thinking.

This strange light was something Chara had never seen before. If this was a creation made by the Monster Kingdom during her time in flower-pile purgatory she’d understand, but if Ribert didn’t know anything about it then it had to be something else entirely. Could it be magic? But monsters can sense and see magic. Why was Frisk and Chara the only people able to see this stuff?!

“Frisk…,” Chara attempted to get the boy’s attention, but he was still struggling to tell poor, confused Ribert about the mysterious time machine.

“…. Frisk….”

…..

…..

“Frisk will you just take us to that weird void already!”

Frisk and Chara stood face to face on the pile of gold flowers with the blackness of the void surrounding the two kids in all directions.

“You starting to believe me now when I say touching strange things, we don’t know a thing about is a bad idea,” Chara said with the strongest hint of attitude.

“…Shut up…,” Frisk shot back. “How was I supposed to know other monsters didn’t know about these strange…. stupid lights?!” Frisk proceeded to kick his foot into the pile of golden flowers.

“Taking out your frustrations on these flowers isn’t going to solve anything,” Chara bemoaned.

Walking over toward the hovering “CONTINUE” and “RESET” buttons, Chara began to analyze the two options before her. The two of them have already tried the “CONTINUE” button which they found brought them back to the very point when Frisk last touched the light. The only option they hadn’t tried was “RESET,” but without any knowledge of what a “RESET” would entail, Chara wasn’t too keen on trying it out.

“What do we do?” Frisk asked. Chara didn’t respond back to the question immediately. Her red eyes were transfixed on the glowing “RESET” button.

The more she looked at it, the more ominous it became to her.

“We do nothing, for now,” Chara replied, her focus still on “RESET.” “There is someone who may know what they are. We can ask my Mo-…(cough) Miss Toriel about these things. If she doesn’t know what they are, no one will.” Chara then gave Frisk her usual serious look. “Until we talk to Toriel, we don’t mention these lights to anyone. Treat these freaky little things with the same secrecy you do with me, got it!”

Frisk waved his hand into a salute. “Weird flashy light is now a secret, got it!” Frisk put his hand down. “But what do we do if Toriel doesn’t know either?”

Chara sighed. “We’ll cross that bridge when we get there. Now come on, I don’t like staying too long in this place, gives me the creeps.”

“Same here,” Frisk responded as he leapt toward the “CONTINUE” button.

“WAIT!”

Frisk nearly stumbled over himself after hearing the sudden demand. “What is it?”

Chara rubbed the back of her head as she prepared herself to say what was on her mind. “I almost forgot, back there, when we confronted the Loox…”

It was as if a light switch turned on in the boy’s head; Frisk was so wrapped up about the giant underground city he completely forgot about what happened with the Loox. “Oh yeah, that’s right,” Frisk spoke up before pointing an accusatory finger at Chara. “You nearly got me hit by those bullies back there!”

Chara recoiled from the sudden finger being pointed at her but stood her ground. “I did not know they were going to attack you like that. I’ve never seen a monster attack another person, let alone a kid, like that before. They’re Loox, spiteful little bullies…. but harmless…were harmless.”

Chara could tell right away what she was saying wasn’t getting through to this boy.

“I just…. I wanted to say….” Exhale “I wish to apologize for nearly getting you hurt by that Loox. I was…. unaware their intent was that…bad.” Chara, bashfully, bowed her head. “I also wish to thank you.”

Frisk blinked with surprise. “Thank me, for what?”

“For sparing the Loox,” Chara responded. “You could have easily killed them…but you didn’t.”

…….

“KILL THEM!” Frisk jumped up. “Why’d you think I was going to kill them? They’re bullies yeah but…. but.” Frisk’s voice began to get more and more quiet as the realization began to set in. “Wait, earlier…when you said I was dangerous, even though I’m a kid….”

“You’re probably the most dangerous living being currently in the Underground,” Chara spoke as if she was delivering the worst punchline to a joke ever told. “Put enough anger into it, any attack you make would be lethal to even the strongest of monsters. That’s what makes humans so dangerous….and what makes you such an enigma.”

“A what?” Frisk asked.

“An enigma,” Frisk noticed Chara was now becoming surprisingly more bashful, turning her head to not look at Frisk directly as her already blush cheeks became redder. “You’re a human. To be honest, when we first met, I was just so…. overwhelmed over the fact another living person could talk and interact with me that I just so happened to forget the equivalent to a nuclear bomb just landed at our doorstep.”

Frisk didn’t respond to suddenly being compared to a nuke, but instead sat down against the flowers as he listened patiently while Chara rambled and paced as she spoke.

“It stayed that way for a while even after the whole flower incident and meeting with Mo- Miss Toriel. You were having your fun with Ribert and the passing through the puzzles….and then the Loox showed up. And you brought out your stupid little stick…and then it all came back to me that even a ten-year-old could still ruin everything for everyone.”

“But I didn’t…. I wouldn’t,” Frisk tried to defend himself.

“So that whole stick fake out was just for scare tactics?” Chara turned in a flash and pointed accusingly at Frisk but winced and put her hand down. “S-sorry. I-I just…you just.” Chara pinched her nose in frustration and sighed. “You’re a type of human I’ve never met before. Every other human I’ve met would have gone with that hit instead of a measly little scare-tactic.”

“Chara I’d never kill anyone on purpose,” Frisk pleaded as Chara placed her back to Frisk. “I’m not a bad person.”

Chara held a quick retort on the bottom of her tongue but swallowed it instead. Taking in a long breath, Chara turned around and walked up to Frisk to where the youth had to look straight up at the older girl’s face.

“Then make me a promise,” Chara said. “As long as you’re in the Underground, don’t ever become a bad person.”

Frisk smiled at the easy request. Standing up, Frisk put his hand out.

“Deal!”

Chara glared at the hand held out in front of her like it had just insulted her. “You know we can’t physically shake on this right?”

“It’s the thought that counts,” Frisk continued to smile.

Chara couldn’t help herself from not smirking back, laughing a little through her nose. “Heh, fair enough.”

Chara put her hand out and for a moment the human boy and ghost girl stood still with their hands out.

Holding nothing but a promise.

Frisk returned to the plaza still squatted down in front of the strange light. Turning his head, he saw Ribert still gawking at the large statue as he was before Frisk popped the question about the light. Chara noticed this as well as she walked up to Frisk.

“Well, whatever this thing is, it really does transport us back in time to when you first touch it,” Chara said. “Let’s hurry on to Toriel’s home so we can ask her.”

Nodding, Frisk stood up. As Frisk went to go tell Ribert he had changed his mind and wished to go to Miss Toriel’s home a familiar flower sprung up from the ground in front of Frisk causing the boy to jump back in surprise.

“YOU!” both Frisk and Chara shouted in unison.

“ME!” Flowey shouted back, playfully, before quickly going into a more morose and sad disposition. “O-oh that’s right. You and I kinda got off on the wrong stem. I can’t blame you for not liking me.”

“What do you expect when you try to kill someone?” Frisk spat in response.

Flowey bowed his head in “remorse.” “Yes, yes. My intentions were indeed wrong.” Flowey brought his head back up. “But I assure you it was truly just a fight or flight response. Humans have been a threat to monsters since, well, forever.”

“You don’t really seem all that scared of me now,” Frisk crossed his arms.

“Well, that’s because I’ve been watching you…from a distance,” Flowey said. Frisk couldn’t tell what unnerved him more, the admission that the monster that nearly killed him had been spying on him or the unblinking stare the flower was now giving him.

“Well, what do you want?” Frisk asked, quick to get this conversation over.

“To make up for attacking you, I did something,” Flowey smiled. “A present if you will, that I really want to show you!”

Frisk was fighting deep inside himself to outright reject whatever the talking flower was giving him. As his face scrunched in thought, Flowey’s facial features took on a more pleading, puppy dog look. While he did attack Frisk, Chara’s comments about how much fear monsters had over humans echoed within him. While their first meeting was downright terrifying, first impressions weren’t Frisk’s forte either.

Chara stayed quiet as the group awaited Frisk’s answer. She was never one to let go of things either. For her, she would have swiftly rebuffed this “present” and avoided the flower to her best effort. But this was Frisk’s choice and another way for Chara to see how this human would interact with…less nice monsters.

“Alright,” Frisk responded to the surprise of both Flowey and Chara. “Where’s the present?”

Flowey’s jolly smile stretched across his face. “Not far, there’s a place I call home here in the city. Just a walk and a stroll and we’re there.”

“Great…,” the word slithering out of Chara’s gritted teeth.

Frisk, Chara and Ribert followed the flower as he led the trio to the other side of Home, sprouting out of the ground every other moment to show the group where to go. As the trio walked, Frisk noticed there were remarkably less monsters on this side of the city as a gloomy silence befell the group. More of the buildings were now showing a rougher sign of aging. The flora that had merely decorated the exterior of the other buildings was now more invasive and penetrated the windows. The vines were likewise showing more of a thorny aspect to their composition.

 “Is this really where you live?” Frisk asked as he attempted not to trip on the endless number of vines that cluttered across the ground.

“Lovely isn’t it!” Flowey shouted as he popped out of the ground. “Honestly, this is more of a summer retreat than anything. Since I can burrow under the ground, I can go wherever I want. I’ve got tons of places I call home.”

“If you can burrow underground, couldn’t you leave the Underground?” Frisk asked.

Flowey popped under the ground and for a moment Frisk worried he had just said something very insensitive and made the flower leave. Flowey however didn’t take long to burrow right up in front of Frisk and pop up right in his face, making the boy jump in surprise.

“You’d think!”

if there was any malice in Flowey’s chipper voice, it was well hidden. “Nah, those long dead humans were pretty smart with their magic. Made the whole barrier cover all the Underground. Think of it like a bubble that just won’t pop no matter how sharp a needle you poke it with.”

“Oh,” Frisk rubbed the back of his head, still feeling bad for asking the question even with Flowey’s seemingly happy demeanor.

“Oh, come now, don’t let the overwhelming weight of our species’ never-ending entrapment bring you down. Besides! We’re finally here!” Flowey motioned with his head toward a smaller dwelling then the much larger structures that surrounded it. The still tall, two-story building looked less like a home and more like an abandoned shopping center, a nonfunctioning neon sign still hung on top of the front entrance.

Flowey dipped back underground as the trio walked into the desolate entrance. Cold and quiet, the only sound Frisk could hear was of his own breath. Chara herself was beginning to get an uneasy feeling in her transparent stomach. It didn’t help that their new flower friend had not reappeared in front of them since they entered the building.

“You know,” Frisk whispered to Chara. “This place kind of reminds me of a haunted house.”

“I think any place I step into would technically qualify as that,” Chara responded. Both kids began to chuckle as they attempted to lighten the atmosphere. An already nervous Ribert croaked in confusion as to why his human companion was abruptly cackling to themselves. Ribert was about to croak out a question when he was abruptly outshouted.

“Over here!”

The trio recognized the voice as Flowey but couldn’t put the voice to a physical flower as they looked in every direction but could not see the monster anywhere.

“Over here, this way!” Flowey’s voice echoed in the large open room again.

Frisk twisted and turned to look for any sign of the monster. “Where are you?” Frisk called out.

“I’m over here, come on!” Flowey shouted in the unknown distance. “I want to show you something really cool!”

Frisk walked toward where the weird flower’s voice seemed to be the loudest. He soon made his way toward the bottom of a stairway. After a reluctant step, Frisk began to walk up the stairway as Flowey continue to call out to the child to follow his voice.

“Over here!’ Flowey repeated. “This way! You’re nearly there!”

Back in the entryway, an even more freaked out Ribert was now trying to figure out where his human companion suddenly went off to.

Reaching the end of the stairway, Frisk walked through an open door leading into a dark room. Both Chara and Frisk had a difficult time piecing together where they were or what was in front of them. To make matters worse, the door that Frisk had just walked through mere seconds ago without warning shut and closed, leaving the duo in complete darkness.

“Flowey!” Frisk yelled. “I trusted you! This better not be some stupid trick!”

A cruel cackle emanated from the darkness. The vile sound neither Frisk nor Chara could even call a laugh reverberated from all directions. Without any form of direction, Frisk and Chara simply looked at each other nervously.

“This is no trick, silly…,” Flowey’s voice echoed.

In a flash, ceiling lights brightly illuminated the entirety of what seemed to be an emptied-out storage room. Frisk was now able to see he was standing right in the middle of the room. There were no other doors to run toward and only a single large window at the far end of the room. The only true exit was behind the boy. And as he turned around, the boy stared in frozen fear as three much larger and weirder monsters then he’d seen so far stood before his only means of escape.

“This is a nightmare!”