Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Frisk stared at the hole for who knew how long. It was intensely dark, and it seemed to stretch downwards simply forever. She was certainly afraid, but when the fear of being caught grasped her coldly, flooding her nervous system with a chill worse than the fear of the fall, she jumped without another thought.

No one came back from the mountain. That was what they said.

Frisk took this to mean everyone who went up the mountain died. Naturally, as fate would have it, she was quickly proven wrong when she smashed into the pile of flowers painfully.

‘Ow…’ she thought, picking herself up. That fear from before was still present, but she kinda felt better knowing they would never follow her down here. She felt a dull sort of ache emerge from her leg.

Whimpering in pain, Frisk dragged herself to the doorway. She could see another patch of grass with a flower in it ahead of her… it filled her with determination for what lied ahead.

She winced. Something was really starting to hurt. Looking down she noticed a large gash on her right leg, and another that cut straight through her left elbow. That dull ache turned into a rushing waterfall of pain.

She had to keep going, she thought. “Gotta… keep… going…” she murmured, the world starting to spin as she recognized the true danger she was in.

As she collapsed in front of another, larger doorway, she heard voices. One was a girl’s voice and the other was a boy’s… well, at least she thought so.

“Help… me, please…” Frisk’s voice cracked as she collapsed, and the voices stopped. Her vision flickered. Was this what happens when you die..?

“Huh? Was that you, Chara?”

“No…”

The two rounded the corner and were met with the startling sight of Frisk, lying there on the floor, clearly in severe pain.

Asriel screamed. “Chara. C-Chara. I’m g-gonna go find M-M-Mom.” He whispered, turning tail and hurrying out of the room.

Chara, meanwhile, knelt next to the girl. “What happened to you..?” She muttered, taking note of the scars the girl had. She’d have to inquire about those when the girl was healed.

Frisk forced open her eyes long enough to find an angel staring down at her. Smiling, she reached out for them…

And promptly everything went black.

Chara was shocked as the girl reached up to her, smiling, and then immediately slumped. She tried to shake the girl, to no avail.

“Damn it, shortie, this is no way to live! Do you have a death wish?” Chara scolded the girl, trying desperately to wake her up. Even she knew with her limited medical knowledge that falling asleep with such grave injuries was a sure death sentence.

Chara wondered quickly if it was even possible to die that fast from your wounds, although knowing how fragile humans were, it wasn’t out of the realm of possibility. She continued to try to revive the girl, again to no avail. This was horrifying, and Chara knew the girl was slipping away. Her soul was fracturing, it was plain as day. She needed healing… And where was Asriel, damn it?

Chara took a moment to breathe. Why was she getting so worked up over some human? She had barely known them. Must’ve been those empathy lessons Mother gave me, she concluded. At the end of the day, though, it was an injured person. Not all humans were horrible… right? That simply was not possible, however that wouldn’t matter if this child died. But really, where was..?

Asriel turned the corner again and shrieked. “Chara! Chara! Wh-what happened? Why i-is she s-sleeping? Is that s-supposed to h-happen?” He stuttered, also rushing to her side to attempt to wake her. She sighed. Asriel always was the more empathic one of them.

Chara’s mother Toriel brushed past the two. “Excuse me, my children.” She murmured a quiet phrase and Asriel and Chara watched tentatively as the girl’s wounds miraculously closed.

Even after nearly 50 years of living with the Dreemurrs, their healing magic never really got old. Time down here was not an issue due to that damn barrier, so Asriel was the same age he was when they got trapped down here, that age being 14, although he acted like a child. That meant Chara was stuck at the ripe old age of 13, since that was how old she was when she fell down here. And now this girl would be stuck at whatever age she was at right now too. Hopefully she wasn’t younger than 10, Chara didn’t know if she could handle that. Maybe she could pass them off to Asriel in that case…

Toriel finished, sighing and picking up the child gingerly. “You children really must be more careful up there, that’s the second one now. Two children! And to think the humans cast that barrier spell…” She muttered more such items to herself as she walked with the child in her arms, presumably back to the Ruins, where their ‘vacation home’ was located. Well, it wasn’t exactly a vacation, since it was only a few hours away from New Home, but still. The point stood, Chara thought.

“Now, it’s all of your bedtimes.” Toriel said sternly when they arrived at their home. Asgore smiled at the children and pecked Toriel on the cheek, before noticing the small child held in her arms. “Ah, it appears there is another fallen human.” He said quietly. Toriel nodded somberly.

“I will take her to her room. Chara, Asriel, can I trust that she will stay in the room next to yours?” Toriel said, raising an eyebrow.

“Yes! Yes!” Asriel yelped, excited. Chara just rolled her eyes and smiled. “Yes, mother.”

“Good.” Toriel said, smiling at the children, before placing the child down into the guest bedroom’s fairly large bed and then closing the door quietly. “Now, off to bed, you two!”

“But Moooom, I wanna talk to the girl!” Asriel cried. “That’s another playmate for our movie, Asriel: The God of Hyperdeath!”

Toriel just smiled again. “Tomorrow, if she is feeling better. If not, I can feed her snail pie and then we shall see.”

Asriel grinned. “Okay! Goodnight!” He plopped into bed.

Chara turned to her mother. “Mother… ah, would it be… odd, if I had felt a sort of sense that I have known this girl before?” She whispered.

Toriel hummed. “I suppose not. The mind is a wonderfully odd place, and it can easily mistake one person for another whom we might recognize, yes?”

Chara nodded. “I understand. Goodnight, mother.” As she got into bed next to Asriel, she heard Toriel whisper goodnight back.

Lying in bed, she heard Asriel whisper, “Chara.”

Chara turned, groaning quietly. “What, Asriel?”

He grinned again. “Let’s go see that girl.”

Chara frowned. “I don’t believe she is awake yet. Those were some grievous injuries, you know.”

He laughed, and jumped out of bed. “Mom’s healing is fast though! I trust she’s awake already!” He opened the door only to be greeted by Asgore, standing there.

Chara slumped in the bed like a ragdoll, and Asriel yelped and tried to run back to their bed, only for Asgore to chuckle and snatch him by his collar.

“Aw, Dad!” Asriel whined. “Lemme go!”

He chuckled again. “If you promise to sleep. You heard what Toriel said.”

He sighed. “Okay. I will go to sleep.”

Asgore put his son down and rubbed his head. Then, he closed the door again.

Asriel slowly walked over to the bed and slumped next to Chara. “Look, if it’s so important to you, we’ll go see her tomorrow, okay?” Chara muttered.

Asriel brightened considerably. “Okay!” And with that, he was asleep.

Chara sighed, before sleep overtook her, too. Her last thought process was of the incredibly adorable smile that girl had, and she wondered why that was on her mind. Certainly it was a different sort of cute compared to Asriel, because Asriel was her brother. Perhaps… a sort of “cute because they’re a child” cute? Or maybe it was more of a “cute because they’ve got a cute smile” cute. This would never end unless she just forgot about it.

So, Chara forced herself to sleep, and she went to sleep trying to not think about that smile.

Chapter Text

Frisk awoke with a loud gasp, shooting up and banging her head against the headrest of the bed, hard. She felt sick, and then dizzy, and finally after what felt like a year she was able to look around the room without the world spinning.

She looked around warily. She remembered that angel, and then the boy… the goat boy? And then… she thought she died, but Frisk quickly realized this was not heaven when she looked outside. It was clearly the real world, or at least some sort of semblance of it, based on the very touchy-feely aspect of everything here.

She began to think a bit. Surely the people who she saw earlier had gotten her here, right? And then also healed her wounds seemingly very quickly… but Frisk really had no idea how long it’d been since she blacked out.

Looking back, that was probably not an angel, but rather a girl… kind of about her age? Frisk knew she was incredibly tall, though. The girl had seemed to be genuinely worried about her. Not many people did that kind of stuff for her, especially after…

She shrieked as the door opened, and the goat boy shrieked back, clearly surprised to see her. The girl stepped in after him, smacking him on the back rather loudly. He coughed and stopped shrieking. Frisk, on the other hand, clammed up as soon as the goat boy had come inside the room, her throat aching a bit. Maybe the sleep was longer than she thought and it was unused for a while…

“Greetings. I am Chara.” The girl - Chara? - told Frisk gently, smiling at her. Frisk smiled back, feeling better. “This is-”

“Asriel!” The goat boy yelled. “The God of Hyperdeath!”

Frisk giggled, but quickly covered her mouth. It was to no avail, though, as Chara began to laugh too whilst Asriel pouted.

“I told you it was a dumb name!” Chara wheezed, trying her best not to cry.

“I think it’s cool!” Asriel insisted.

“It is.” Frisk murmured, wincing slightly, and Asriel turned to her, surprised again. “You can talk?”

“Of course she can talk.” Chara said matter-of-factly. “All humans can.”

“W-Well, I dunno!” Asriel shot back. “Maybe she was mute!”

“I highly doubt that.” Chara said, rolling her eyes, then turning to the girl and smiling again. “What’s your name?”

“My… name…” Frisk whispered. She cleared her throat and tried again, that irritating ache coming back. “My…”

Just then, Toriel opened the door, and smiled at the girl in surprise. “Good morning, young one. My name is Toriel. I am the mother of these two ruffians,” she ruffled the hair of Chara and Asriel, which got a laugh out of Frisk, “And you seem to be better, yes? However… your throat was badly damaged. Nothing too bad, but you might not be able to talk for a while. I am truly-”

Frisk ran to Toriel and hugged her tightly. She smiled up at Toriel and the goat mom felt herself loving this child just a bit more.

Frisk quickly let go, and drew her name on a nearby piece of paper.

“Frisk? What an unusual name…• Chara said, pondering that name. She felt like she’d heard such a name before. Perhaps one of the humans in her town…

Asriel laughed. “That’s a cool name, Frisk! Almost as cool as…”

“Don’t you dare.” Chara warned him.

“The God of HYPERDEAAAAATH!” Asriel yelled, running out of the room.

Chara growled and stood up to give chase, but as she did she stopped and grabbed Frisk’s hand. “Come on, shortie, we’re catching that goat!”

Frisk smiled and went along with it, running with Chara along the halls of the Ruins.

“Ah, you see, Asriel does this sort of thing all the time.” Chara explained as they ran through the Ruins, following Asriel’s laughter. “That’s how I’m so prepared to chase after him.”

Frisk nodded and ran faster, Chara grinning wildly. “You’re pretty speedy, shortie!” Chara sped up, quickly overtaking the younger girl. “But… not speedy enough!”

Chara took off across the Ruins, leaving Frisk behind quickly as the girl stopped to catch her breath. In a flash, she could no longer hear Asriel’s laughter nor the echoing steps of Chara.

Frisk tried to call out for help…

But no one came.

She remembered with a shock that her voice was, “Damaged.” That was what Toriel had said.

So she was lost, and she couldn’t call for help. That was refreshing…

She began to walk, looking for Chara and Asriel or perhaps Toriel. However, no such figures appeared, and Frisk was getting more worried. What if she didn’t find anyone… she certainly didn’t know how to get back to Toriel’s home.

She turned the corner and heard some soft humming. “Hum-dee-dum.” Excited that she had found Toriel, she ran towards the noise quickly, trying to get to her as fast as possible… and she ran straight into a ginormous goat monster, watering some golden flowers.

“Hello, young one. You must be Frisk.” The monster said warmly. “I am Asgore, Chara and Asriel’s father. I believe you ran out with them, no? Where are they? And why are you not with them?”

Frisk tried to tell him something, anything, really. But no matter how hard she tried, the most she could get out were a few syllables at a time. “I… they… ran… faster… couldn’t catch…”

She began to sniffle, slightly afraid of Asgore berating her for losing the two, but instead he just laughed and picked her up. “That’s alright, I understand, I think. They ran faster than you and you couldn’t catch them, mmm?” Frisk nodded. “Well then, I suppose we’ll have to bring you home then whilst we wait for Chara and Asriel to return. We can talk about you with Toriel, yes?”

Frisk nodded rapidly. Toriel was fun.

As Asgore carried her home, she looked behind him and she saw a large frog waving goodbye. She smiled and waved back. The frog seemed surprised… but sort of happy? As happy as a frog could get, of course. It hopped away, and Frisk went back to trying to decipher the writing on the walls as they passed.

A short while later, they had returned home. Toriel was waiting for them. “Gorey, you’re back! And… Frisk is with you? I thought..?”

Asgore put her down and nodded. “She lost them after they outsped her.”

Toriel sighed. “That does seem like the Chara thing to do. Well, that’s alright. We can wait here.”

Frisk ran inside to grab a piece of paper, but she found no pencils. She ran outside again to ask Toriel for a pencil, or perhaps a crayon. Luckily, Toriel quickly understood and went to grab her one.

Frisk began to write out what happened to her up on the Surface, as well as a few minor details.

(I am 10 years old. My name is Frisk. My parents hated me. I climbed the mountain because I was afraid. I miss my friends from school.)

Toriel looked rather horrified. “Your parents… hated you?” She found it inconceivable that a child as sweet as Frisk was hated by anyone.

Frisk nodded, and turned the paper over. (They said I was a good-for-nothing, and that everyone would leave me alone eventually.)

Toriel was half tempted to try to leave the barrier now just to burn those miserable humans to a crisp. However, she knew it was impossible, and she thus settled for a hug for Frisk. “Well… just know you’ll never be called that here. We will treat you as our own child, if you so wish?”

Frisk contemplated this. She believed Toriel, and she trusted her. So, Frisk nodded, and Toriel smiled happily. “Wonderful! Ah, that will be wonderful to tell Asriel, he would love another playmate…”

At that very moment, Asriel and Chara turned the corner, looking very out of breath. “Mom… we… lost Frisk!” Asriel yelled, although he stopped short when he saw Frisk come out from hiding behind Toriel at the sudden appearance.

Chara looked equally shocked. “What? How did…”

Asgore came outside, holding a pie. “She found me by accident. I had been watering the flowers when she ran into me.” He explained, handing the pie to Toriel, who went inside presumably to cut it. “And… I believe Tori asked her if she wanted to be your sister?”

Asriel jumped. “And? What did she say?”

“Yes, I would assume.” Asgore said, looking to Frisk. She nodded, and then walked over to Asriel and Chara. Chara looked oddly disappointed, while Asriel couldn’t look happier. “Yay! Can she stay in our room too?” Asriel asked quickly.

Asgore chuckled, amused. “Yes, I suppose so. Although… if you all feel rather squished, I could commission Mr. Gaster to make a bunk bed for you.”

Asriel might have burst from the amount of happiness he was experiencing today. “Wow!” Frisk giggled, and Chara just looked equally amused and disinterested.

This family was pretty fun so far.

Chapter Text

After nearly two full days of straight playing (Chara had to rest on the second half of the first day) Asriel woke Frisk up with a message.

“Frisk! We’re going to Snowdin!”

Frisk rubbed her eyes and smiled tiredly. Then, she signed at Asriel, ‘What’s Snowdin?’

The Dreemurrs had taught Frisk sign language while she awaited her throat to heal. It was useful since everyone in the family knew it, for reasons Frisk never wondered about and the Dreemurrs never answered.

Asriel grinned. “It’s the coolest town in the Underground! See, it even made me make a pun!”

Chara groaned and weakly hit Asriel with her pillow. “Shut up, ‘Sriel…” She murmured, turning over and going back to sleep. Frisk giggled and hugged Asriel, kicking his back. Asriel smiled and stood up, leaving Frisk hanging from her arms ‘round Asriel’s neck. She shrieked and giggled, swinging around wildly as she tried to hold on. Chara sat up right as Frisk was swinging close to her, causing Frisk to let go right as Chara grabbed her legs and pulled. Frisk crashed into Chara and Asriel soon followed, not prepared to be yanked backwards. They all ended up in a ginormous mess on the bed, laughter ringing through the bedroom.

Toriel poked her head in. “Children! We must prepare to-” She stopped in her tracks once she viewed the strange amalgamation that was her children, squished together in a sort of hug cuddle. She smiled and tried to hide her laughter as Chara attempted to escape the hug cuddle. “Ah… I’ll leave you to it. Just hurry and prepare to leave, alright?”

She exited the room, and Asriel and Chara immediately began to laugh, while Frisk tried to squirm out of the hug pile. However, it appeared to be impossible…

Until Chara and Asriel began to do the same thing, everyone unhugging all at once. Then it was rather easy.

Chara dusted herself off. “Asriel, you’re older than me and you act like such a child.” She teased, leaving the room quickly as Asriel lunged at her. “You’re 13!” Asriel tugged Frisk along, Frisk giggling at the two’s bickering.

Asgore greeted the three in the kitchen, their bags all packed. “Ah, here you are. Chara, here’s your bag,” He handed Chara her bag, which, Frisk snickered at, was full of chocolate bars. “Asriel, your bag,” Which was full of assorted monster books and gardening equipment. “Frisk, I don’t see anything you have, but… well, when we get to New Home, we can have you choose your favourite items too!”

Frisk tried to grab a giant bag of clothes, but she wasn’t strong enough and she dropped it quickly. Asgore laughed, a deep, resounding boom, and he picked it up with ease, along with herself, placing her delicately on his shoulders. Frisk giggled and waved down at Asriel and Chara, Asriel waving back while Chara just smiled at the girl.

Soon enough, Toriel finished packing up her bag and they were off, leaving through the door in the basement of the Ruins.

After the confined darkness of the Ruins, Snowdin was comparatively bright. Frisk gaped at all the interesting sights, and the snow. She found that snow was pretty and fun, and easily malleable in her hands. She wondered what she could do with the snow…

As they continued along the path, Asriel pointed out various things to Frisk. “See? The trees here grow without sunlight! And look, it’s always snowing!”

Chara grumbled as Asriel pulled her along, Frisk’s hand in her opposite hand. Frisk giggled at Asriel’s excitement; he never seemed to run out of it. Chara, on the other hand, seemed to be more proper and down-to-earth. Both children fascinated her differently, Chara being more interesting to talk to, whilst Asriel seemed more fun to play with.

After a few minutes of walking, the Dreemurrs made it to Snowdin Town. Frisk stared at all the different monsters here; there were many more than just Froggits or Whimsuns (those were the names Chara fed her.) There was even a fire man!

Asriel whispered the names to her. “Grillby… Noelle…”

Toriel and Asgore stopped them in front of an inn. “We’ll be staying here tonight, children. Please give us your bags, and we will set up the room. Just… go have fun, and be safe! Do not leave Snowdin Town!”

“We won’t!” Asriel promised, dragging the two girls along with him, Frisk waving goodbye and Chara looking at them, both her hands in use.

Asriel brought them to a snowy clearing just inside the town’s limits. “Here! Chara, do you wanna introduce the game or…”

Chara cleared her throat and turned to Frisk. “Ah. So, the game is essentially us running away from Asriel while he films us. Also, he’ll shout a bunch of weird names at us.”

Asriel flushed. “Hey! They’re not weird names…”

Chara snickered. “Mmmm, yep. That’s the truth.” Frisk laughed, and Asriel turned on her. “Aww, Frisk! I thought you’d be on my side!”

‘I am! But I think Chara has a point, just that your names are pretty funny.’

Asriel pouted, causing Frisk and Chara to laugh. He pointed at Chara, smirking at her. “I’m going for you first!”

Chara smirked back. “Try to catch me, slowpoke!”

‘Don’t leave me behind this time!’ Frisk signed, huffing. Chara ruffled her hair. “Don’t worry; we won’t. Just try to keep up!”

~Three Hours Later~

Frisk slumped onto the ground, exhausted. Asriel sat down next to her, reviewing the footage on his camera. Chara, meanwhile, leaned against the Welcome to Snowdin Town sign. She hadn’t been caught by Asriel once, while Frisk was tagged multiple times. Chara explained while running that if you were tagged, you had to sit down until the game was over, or until someone tagged you back up. This rule never came into effect before Frisk was there, since Chara never got caught.

However, Frisk changed everything. She seemed to be letting Asriel tag her sometimes, making him happy he could at least tag her. The true prize, though, was Chara, and she would never let Asriel tag her.

Chara wondered what caused Frisk to want to come down here. No one climbed the mountain on purpose unless they wanted to disappear… so instead, perhaps the real question was what caused Frisk to want to fall down here.

She studied the girl closely. Interacting with Asriel, she seemed to be very happy, and interacting with herself… Frisk would talk. About anything, really. Chara didn’t know how, but Frisk could find anything to talk about and make it interesting, in a way no one else could. Chara enjoyed talking to the girl immensely, and Frisk probably enjoyed it too… well, she hoped she did. Everyone knew Chara didn’t exactly speak much, but compared to Frisk who literally couldn’t speak without using sign language she was mute. It didn’t help that the girl signed lightning fast, too. If Chara didn’t know sign language so well, she would’ve never known what the girl was saying.

“Hello? Underground to Chara?” Asriel waved a hand in front of her face. Chara shook her head, her thought train shattered.

‘Chara? Are you okay?’ Frisk signed, worry evident on her face. Chara smiled inwardly at the girl; she was incredibly pure and friendly, something Chara could never do.

“Yes, of course.” Chara said, waving Asriel off with a grin. She picked up Frisk (causing the girl to shriek) and placed her firmly on her shoulders. Then, she started running, causing Frisk’s shrieking to grow ever louder, with Asriel trailing behind them, yelling, “Wait! My camera isn’t on!”

As they reached the inn, Frisk’s screaming had gave way to gleeful cries, and Toriel rushed outside to see what the commotion was. She was glad to find that it was only her children being children. Idly, she wondered if screaming while your vocal cords were healing was a bad idea. If they were she could just heal them after the fact…

As Chara ran past, Toriel was barely able to see Frisk sign, ‘I’m okay!’ As they rushed past. She saw Asriel trailing behind them, struggling to get the camera on and run at the same time. She swiftly grabbed the camera and turned it on, seamlessly handing it back to Asriel. He yelled, “Thanksmombye!” And ran off to follow the two girls.

With a start, Toriel realized that the lens cap was still on the camera. Unfortunately her son was already out of sight. She sighed and went back inside; she was sure Asgore was waiting for her.

Chapter Text

In the morning, Frisk got up early to grab a cup of water before they left for Waterfall. However, she found she wasn’t alone, as after she grabbed the cup she noticed Chara, sitting on the couch. There was some sort of device in her hand… like a black rectangle.

Frisk tapped Chara on the shoulder, causing the older girl to jump and nearly drop the rectangle. “AH! Oh… woah. Hi, Frisk!” She said, smiling.

‘What’s that?’ Frisk signed, pointing at the rectangle. She finished her cup and put it down, sitting next to Chara, who turned rather red.

“Um. Well. I-I don’t… know… h-how to explain…” She stuttered, flushed, causing Frisk to giggle softly.

‘It’s okay. Is it a toy?’ Frisk asked, curious. Chara turned even redder.

“Um- uh. No? It’s called a Phone. It lets me call Father and Mother. And you and Asriel, too… wait. Do you even have a phone?” Questioned Chara, motioning to Frisk. The younger girl shook her head. ‘I don’t think I have one of those.’

Chara nodded. “We’ll have to inquire to Mother about getting you one. In case you get lost… you can call us. But you’d need to talk… ugh. Maybe we can try to get Mr. Gaster to install better technology on these things so you can… I don’t know, perhaps send us blocks of text instead of needing to talk?”

Frisk smiled, and nodded vigorously. ‘That’d be great!’

Chara patted the girl’s head. “Anything you wanted to talk about? Why’d you wake up early? Was it to escape the wrath of a recently-awoken Asriel?” She teased, and Frisk shook her head. ‘No. I just wanted to get water.’

“Mmmm.” Chara hummed the tune of the Dreemurrs. She embraced the girl, whose breathing evened out after a few minutes. Chara sighed. The girl was truly pure, and she seemed to be incredibly good at making friends. In just the few days since falling, the girl had made friends with nearly every monster she had met. A few alluded her, such as the dummy, but most were impressed with her friendliness and thus enjoyed her company.

Chara drifted to sleep thinking about Frisk’s friend-making skills.

When Asriel woke up, he wondered idly where Chara and Frisk had gone. When he went out to the common room he subsequently found them sleeping on the couch, Frisk tucked inside the crook of Chara’s elbow. Asriel smiled and took a picture with his camera. This would be gold.

When Frisk awoke, Chara was chasing Asriel around. “Give me that camera, Asriel Dreemurr!”

Asriel just laughed and dodged her desperate snatch, keeping the camera just far enough away from her to keep it safe whilst still enticing her. “Ah ah ah!”

Frisk smiled and got off the couch, right as Chara pushed Asriel onto it while trying to grab the camera. “Give it!”

Asriel was just slightly taller than Chara, but he was much lengthier than her, and thus his arms easily held the camera away. “No!”

Chara growled and jumped off Asriel, quickly running around the couch to try and grab it from the other side. However, Asriel anticipated this and moved it from hand to hand, causing Chara to glare at him.

For now, they were not fighting over the camera, so Frisk took this opportunity to sign at them. ‘Why were you trying to grab Asriel’s camera?’ Frisk asked Chara, eyes wide with curiosity.

Chara shook her head. “He took an embarrassing photo of me.”

“Of you two!” Asriel corrected cheerfully, making Chara glare at him again.

‘What’s wrong with that?’ Frisk asked, confused. It was a photo. She knew lots of those! She looked in her pockets for one, and she found it. She showed the two eagerly. ‘Look!’

Chara and Asriel peered at the photo. It was a picture of Frisk, and presumably her parents, standing in front of some sort of amusement park. The parents were not smiling at all, while Frisk (who appeared to have been a few years younger) smiled gleefully. Chara also noticed that the parents were not holding Frisk nor doing anything affectionate towards the child.

Frisk put the photo away. ‘See? Nothing wrong with the photo!’

Asriel sneaked a glance at Chara, whose face was darkened. Chara looked back at him, and they seemed to agree on something.

‘What is it?’ Frisk asked them, lower lip trembling slightly. ‘Was… it bad?’

Chara shook her head vehemently. “No, no! It’s got nothing to do with you, Frisk.” The older girl walked over to Frisk, and kneeled down to her level. “You’re perfect just the way you are.”

Frisk laughed. ‘Thanks Chara! I’m gonna go find Mrs. Toriel and tell her!’ With that, the girl ran off, most likely to tell Mother that she was ‘perfect.’

Chara just laughed and waved at her, and turned back to Asriel, all manners of the camera forgotten. “Okay, those were not good parents.” Asriel said, shaking his head. “They looked like they didn’t want to be there at all.”

Chara nodded. “I don’t think Frisk realizes her parents were kind of assholes.”

“Yeah. But… are humans really that cold? Especially to their own children…”

Chara nodded solemnly. “They can be, and usually are.”

Frisk came back, dragging along Mother, who looked surprised. “Oh! You’re all awake! Perfect. We must leave for Waterfall, let us begin to pack up.”

~Three Hours Later~

Frisk was once again on Asgore’s shoulders, and she was happily looking at everything. When Chara said everything, she meant it. The girl was looking at nearly everything within her sight, and subsequently pointing it out to the others.

Frisk smiled when she saw the fish house which Chara recognized as the Royal Guard Captain’s house. Inside resided the Captain of the Guard, a fish monster who seemed to be incredibly obsessed with spear weaponry. ‘Who lives in there?’ Frisk signed to Chara. “That’s the house of the Captain of the Royal Guard.” Chara explained. “He’s a fish monster who really, really likes spears.”

As if to prove her point, a spear went flying out the window at that exact moment, crashing through the glass and landing in front of the group. “King Asgore? Is that you?” A voice yelled from inside, and the door soon opened to reveal the Captain of the Guard.

“How refreshing it is to see you again, old friend!” Asgore laughed, waving at the fish. He walked over to the Captain, while Frisk waved at the fish monster.

“And who is this?” He asked, staring up at Frisk. “Another human child? Come now, Asgore. You can’t just take in every fallen human, you know!”

Asgore laughed. “And yet I manage.”

Frisk signed at the monster. ‘My name is Frisk! What’s your name?’

The fish monster laughed, a deep, rumbling noise. “And she knows how to sign! My name is Adjin, and I am the Captain of the Royal Guard!”

Frisk giggled. ‘That’s so cool!’

Chara felt a pang of jealousy. She wanted Frisk to tell her that, too.

Asriel noticed and nudged her. “Don’t be so obvious, Chara.” He whispered, Chara turning to glare at him. Today was probably a record of glares for Asriel. “She gives you lots of attention anyways.”

“Well, yeah! But… I could always use more!” Chara whined. (She’s so cute, her mind added.)

Asriel shook his head, laughing. “You’re so needy…”

Chara turned red. “W-Well, that’s n-normal isn’t it? Especially f-for a child a-as adorable as Frisk!”

Asriel snorted. “Yeah, sure.”

“Goodbye, King Asgore! Be sure to visit again! And bring the little one with you!” Adjin winked at Frisk, causing her to giggle and wave goodbye.

They continued walking, Asgore and Toriel waving to various monsters who recognized them and either saluted, yelled, or just plain waved at the royal family. “Greetings, King Asgore!” “Salutations, Queen Toriel!”

Many monsters didn’t bat an eye at Frisk, and that made her happy she could fit in so well. This place seemed way more fun than her home… but she still sort of missed it. It was still her home, after all, and one did not so easily leave that idea behind. But she felt conflicted, since she liked living with the Dreemurrs a lot too. Which one was her real home?

Frisk pondered this for a long time, until she felt Asgore put her down. She was startled out of her thinking spree by the sight of New Home, which seemed to be like the Dreemurr’s palace.

‘Wow…’ Frisk signed dazedly, mouth open with awe. ‘It’s so big!’

Chara nodded. “It’s even cooler inside. Come on, we’ll show you the rooms! You can pick one too.”

Frisk giggled and ran after Asriel and Chara, who ran inside to show Frisk the rooms. Toriel could faintly hear Asriel say, “Slow down, Chara!”

Toriel just smiled and got to work unpacking the family’s bags. Children would be children…

Chapter Text

After Frisk chose a room directly across from Chara, whose room was next to Asriel’s, the three children frequently met in one of their rooms to talk at night.

Curiously, after a few months of living with the Dreemurrs, Frisk’s throat injury never seemed to get much better. Chara was a little worried at this point; the girl should’ve had a functioning voice by now, surely?

“Hey, Frisk? Is your throat feeling any better?” Chara asked during one of these nightly sessions.

Frisk shook her head. ‘Not really. I tried to talk… and it kinda hurt.’

Asriel frowned. “Do ya think Mom forgot to place a healing spell or something? Maybe there’s something we’re missing here.”

Chara pondered this. “What about we ask Mother to bring Frisk to Mr. Gaster’s laboratory to check? It couldn’t hurt, right?”

Frisk shook her head. ‘He’s scary.’

Chara turned to her, and hugged the girl. “I know. But he’s possibly the only one who can help you. Aren’t you willing to at least try?”

Frisk looked scared for a moment, then nodded slightly. ‘Yeah…’

Chara smiled. “Good. How about this, I’ll hold your hand when we walk into his office, okay?”

Frisk smiled. ‘Thank you.’

Asriel laughed quietly. “I’ll make sure he doesn’t attack us, using my-”

“Shut up!” Chara hissed.

“God of HYPERDEATH form!”

“Urgh!”

The next day, the three plus Toriel went to see Dr. Gaster down in his lab located near a large machine known as the Core. Chara wondered if the Core was really all-powerful like Mother said, as well as supplying the whole underground with magic.

When they entered his office, Frisk’s grip on Chara’s hand tightened considerably. Chara looked down, impressed at the strength Frisk held.

Asriel stood in front of the two, as if something would jump out and attack their souls. Unlikely but not impossible, Chara seceded.

“Ah? What do we have here, hmm? A visit from the Queen and her children…” The skeleton doctor hummed. “To what do I owe the pleasure?”

“Greetings, Gaster. I was hoping you could take a look at my child Frisk’s throat using some of your technology?”

Gaster nodded. “Of course; right this way.”

After the scans completed and Chara thought her hand might fall off due to the grip Frisk had on it, Dr. Gaster returned the results to Toriel, whose face turned grim. “Thank you, Doctor.” Toriel murmured, rushing the three out of there.

Once they returned to the palace, Toriel turned to Frisk and sadly told her that she would no longer be able to coherently speak again. The damage to her throat was nearly permanent. Frisk’s face was something terrible to behold, a mix of sadness and fear. The girl bolted as soon as Toriel turned away.

“Wait! My child..!” Toriel cried.

“Don’t worry, Mom. We’ll talk to Frisk.” Asriel said, running after the girl, Chara not far behind.

When they got to the hallway with the rooms, they heard screaming and sobbing coming from Frisk’s oddly closed door. A lump of fear placed itself firmly in Chara’s throat upon seeing the closed door, it was such an unusual sight. What was worse was Frisk’s screams and crying.

“What do we do?” Asriel muttered, sliding down against the door. “It’s clear she won’t open the door.”

Chara frantically tried to think of something. “I… maybe we could make her a gift? To get her to come out of the room?”

And then, the idea came to her as easily as breathing. “Let’s make her a butterscotch pie! She said it was her favourite flavour!”

Asriel smiled widely. “Oh yes! That’s a great idea!” Then, he frowned. “Wait, what do we need for a butterscotch pie?”

Chara smiled. “I know where the recipe is.”

After sneaking into the kitchen to grab the butterscotch pie recipe, the children had it. “Okay… four cups of butter… two spoonfuls of sugar… and flour?” Asriel read the ingredients out loud.

Chara snapped her fingers. “I know where to get cups of butter from! We can just grab flowers from Father’s flower garden; those are buttercups!”

Asriel grew excited. “And I know where to get sugar and flour!”

~ A few hours later ~

Chara looked proudly at their finished product. “It looks so good!”

Asriel beamed. “Okay, it’s dinner, right? We can give it to Frisk for dessert!”

As if to prove his point, Toriel’s voice rang out from nearby. “Children! Dinnertime!”

“Okay, we have everything ready.”

“Yes. This will be sure to cheer her up!”

When they got to the table, they saw Frisk looking tired and sad. She brightened, however, when she saw Asriel and Chara. ‘Is that a pie? Did you bake it?’

Chara nodded. “It’s for you!”

Frisk eagerly bit into it, much to their surprise. “Wait! It’s supposed to be for dessert!”

Frisk looked guiltily at them. ‘Sorry?’

“Well, how does it taste?” Asriel asked her eagerly.

Frisk… frowned. ‘It’s really bitter…’

As soon as she finished signing it, she collapsed and started to convulse. Toriel shot up, healing magic already flowing from her fingertips.

Chara looked on in horror. What was happening?

Asriel whimpered. This was not supposed to happen!

After a few minutes, Frisk stopped convulsing and went to sleep. Toriel gingerly picked her up and brought her to her room.

As soon as Toriel came back, she was furious. “What was in that pie?” She demanded from them.

“Buttercups, flour, and sugar!” Chara cried. “The recipe told us!”

Toriel went white. “Buttercups… you were supposed to use cups of butter. The flowers are poisonous!”

Chara’s vision narrowed considerably, shock causing her heart to beat a million times a second. “They’re… poisonous?”

Asriel started to cry. “What?”

Blood pounded through Chara’s ears. She… she killed Frisk? Ingesting poison meant death, right?

She… poisoned Frisk.

Chara felt herself falling over and everything went dark.

Chara awoke in her bed. What..?

Then everything flooded back. No… no no no NO! She had to find Frisk, make sure she was okay-

Chara bolted out of her room, and tried her best not to slam open the door opposite her room. When she saw Frisk lying in bed, she turned pale.

Frisk looked incredibly exhausted but otherwise okay. Her face, although sleeping, was relaxed considerably more than normal.

Chara slumped against the wall. She was so afraid… afraid of what she had done. Maybe she was one of those bad humans she always hated… maybe she deserved to die just like them.

At least Frisk was still alive. That was a plus. But Chara knew she didn’t deserve Frisk’s respect or forgiveness; she needed to be punished for her actions.

At least she knew how to continue about such a thing. Buttercups were poisonous… and she could turn this around. She’d save everyone and then leave.

Permanently.

Chara went back to her room after giving Frisk one, final look. Maybe she’d be able to forgive her after this.

The next day Frisk was still resting, which meant Chara didn’t need to feel the guilt of looking her in the eyes and knowing how badly she hurt her. Chara went to Asriel, because she knew she needed him for her plan. He was scared as he usually was, but this time Chara wouldn’t budge. This needed to happen.

Over the next few days Chara and Asriel worked out the finer points of the original plan. Chara would eat a deadly amount of buttercups, and her soul would be absorbed by Asriel, who would use the power to leave the barrier and take enough human souls to break the barrier and set the monsters free.

What Asriel didn’t know was that Chara planned to go much, much further than just six souls. No, she would slaughter everyone, and then take out the rest of the world. Then, and only then, would the monsters be safe to leave. She knew the humans would kill any monster on sight, so she needed to eradicate the world of the human plague.

Asriel. Mother. Father. They could all live safely in a world where there was no threat left. All monsters could.

Frisk could live safely without her there to harm her.

By the second day, Chara was ready. She nodded to Asriel, who went to her room to wait for her.

Once she got the buttercups, she went to see Mother and Father one final time.

“Mother?” Chara said. “I… I love you. And Father, too. Please tell him.”

Toriel looked rather shocked, but she smiled at Chara. “Thank you, my child. I love you too.”

Chara smiled at them one final time, and then went to her room. Across the room she went to check on Frisk before she left.

The girl’s breathing was laboured. Chara was a little worried but she trusted in Toriel’s ability to heal the girl.

She hugged the girl, and then went to her room.

“Chara..? I’m… I’m scared.” Asriel whimpered. “I don’t… want you to die.”

Chara smiled sadly at her brother. “I’m sorry. This is the only option left.”

“Goodbye, Asriel. I love you.”

She put the flowers in her mouth and started chewing. Frisk was right, the flowers were extremely bitter.

She swallowed and felt sick. She felt so sick. “Asriel… I…”

She threw up. When she opened her eyes, there was blood and flower petals mixed in with the blood. “Chara… I don’t know if I want to do this anymore!” Asriel cried. “Please!”

Chara collapsed, and rolled onto her back. “I…”

Then everything went black.

When Chara opened her eyes again, she found she was within Asriel’s mindspace.

“Asriel? Did it work?” Chara asked her brother.

“Yeah. It did.” Asriel said quietly. “I absorbed your soul.”

He picked up her body, and left the room. He went to check on Frisk too, and what he saw when he entered her room caused Chara’s breath to hitch. She heard Asriel begin to cry.

Frisk’s soul, a bright red colour (Chara remembered that meant her most dominant trait was determination) was floating above her body.

She had died in her sleep. Chara’s pie had killed her.

Chara nearly yelled in her fright. “Asriel! Absorb her soul! Please!”

“Please…”

Asriel walked over, and held the soul in his hand, absorbing it. He shuddered as the energy flowed through him.

Chara looked around desperately for any sign of Frisk. Anything at all.

But the girl never appeared in the mindspace.

“Where’s Frisk?” Chara murmured. “Where’s Frisk?”

“Chara… Chara. We have to go on. We have to. You can’t die for nothing. Please. Frisk can’t die for nothing.”

That shocked Chara into movement. She took control of Asriel’s body and moved it to the barrier room.

“Do you think my body will get stopped by the barrier?” Chara asked Asriel softly. He was crying even in the mindspace.

“No. It’s not alive, so I’m sure it won’t.” Asriel sniffed.

“Has Frisk appeared yet?” Chara asked him. He shook his head. “She’s just… not here. She’s gone.”

Chara felt tears prick at her eyes. Frisk didn’t deserve this.

As she approached the barrier she felt her sins crawling on her back. Then, she passed through as effortlessly as thinking.

“We… we did it!” Asriel cheered. “We… made it.”

Chara nodded. “Enjoy the sights while you can. We’re going to need to fight the humans eventually.”

Asriel sighed. “Yeah… but this world is so cool!”

Chara saw her old village… it had grown so much. This must have been where Frisk was from. It seemed to match some of the things she talked about.

Well. Because of Chara she’d never talk again.

Chara fought back the tears. This wasn’t the time.

As she set her body down, she heard a scream. Looking up, she saw a woman screaming.

Chara smiled. Now would be the beginning of the end.

“Chara? What do you mean by the beginning of the end?” Asriel asked her. “We’re just going to get six souls, right? Well, five now.”

“No.” Chara said. “No. The monsters will never be safe if humans are around. I’m going to eradicate them… all of them.”

Asriel screamed. “No! That wasn’t our plan!”

“Maybe not yours. But it was always my plan.”

Chara raised her hand, a fireball appearing. She saw the humans approaching her with various weapons, and she smiled sardonically as the fire grew.

Then, she was kicked out of control just like that.

“Asriel! Let me back in! I’m going to save monsterkind!” Chara yelled. “I’m…”

She noticed Asriel sitting next to her. “Chara.. who’s in control right now?” Asriel shook.

“It’s not me…” Chara murmured. Then, it struck her. “Frisk’s in control.”

Asriel trembled. “What? How? I thought…”

“She must not have entered the mindspace.” Chara reasoned. “Or she didn’t know how.”

They watched as Frisk turned away from the humans, while they charged once her back was turned.

Chara watched in horror as Frisk let the humans attack her. “Frisk! Fight back! FIGHT BACK!”

Asriel just cried and shook. “She wouldn’t fight back even if she was dying. It’s not in her nature.”

“Let me back in! GIVE ME CONTROL!” Chara screamed. “Frisk! PLEASE!”

Frisk continued to walk back to the barrier while dust poured out of her wounds. The humans kept on attacking until finally, they stopped. One of them seemed to recognize that Frisk wasn’t fighting at all.

Slowly, the humans left, and Frisk continued to walk to the barrier.

“Please… please…” Chara sobbed.

“Frisk… let Chara in.” Asriel said softly. “Let me in.”

“No.”

A quiet, melodic voice echoed through the mindspace. Chara stood up in shock. “Frisk?”

“Yes?”

“I’m… I’m so sorry… I didn’t know buttercups were poisonous… I was just trying to make you feel better!” Chara wailed.

Even from here, Chara could see Frisk’s smile. She heard the girl giggle. “It’s okay, Chara. I forgive you!”

“I don’t… don’t deserve forgiveness…” Chara muttered.

Frisk passed through the barrier and started to walk back to New Home, until she collapsed.

“Frisk?” Asriel said. “Are you… are you okay?”

“Well. I got stabbed a whole lot. I think we’re dying.” Frisk murmured. “I’m sorry…”

Chara just cried. Asriel slumped onto the ground. And finally, Frisk appeared in the mindspace.

She hugged Chara. Then she hugged Asriel. “I’m sorry. I couldn’t just let you kill anyone.” Frisk said to Chara.

“I miss Mom and Dad…” Asriel whimpered. “I hope they’ll be okay.”

“Me too. They were really nice to me.” Frisk added.

As Asriel’s body turned into dust, you could hear Toriel’s scream as she watched her son die in front of her eyes.

She had already found Frisk’s motionless body, and she had read Chara’s journal detailing her plan.

The Dreemurrs had lost three children in a single night.

Chapter Text

Frisk opened her eyes. Everything was very… bright? She didn’t expect heaven to be so bright.

When she got up, she was back in the clothing she wore on the day she… died.

Frisk smiled. At least heaven had the decency to give her her favourite sweater.

When she looked over to her right, she was shocked to find Chara nearly right next to her. Then she remembered that they had all died that night.

The girl shook Chara lightly. “Chara! Wake up!”

Frisk immediately shut her mouth. That was her voice. Whoever had copied it must have known her from the surface…

She looked around frantically. There was no one around except for her and Chara. Surprisingly, she was back in the room she fell into when she fell in the Underground. Heaven was kind of a weird place.

Frisk opened her mouth again… if this was heaven then maybe she could talk here? Physical injuries wouldn’t carry over to her soul, that just didn’t make any sense.

Chara groaned and turned over, Frisk getting startled from the noise. “Chara..? It’s Frisk. Wake up!”

As soon as Chara heard Frisk say her name, she shot up. “What- what just happened?” Chara exclaimed, looking around wildly. Her panic seemed to quell when she saw Frisk. “Oh… Frisk…”

Frisk giggled. “That’s no way to treat someone you’ve just seen for the first time in a while.”

Chara sighed and patted her head. “Greetings, Frisk. Where are we? This place looks eerily similar to…”

“The room I fell into? I think this is heaven.” Frisk finished. Chara nodded. “Yes, it does bear a strange resemblance to that room.”

Chara stood up, holding a hand out for Frisk to take. “Here, Frisk. Let’s go see what heaven’s all about.”

Frisk laughed, and took her hand.

The two continued through the hallway, down to the first room of heaven, which Chara disturbingly noted was looking more and more like the Ruins.

“Chara… I didn’t think heaven looked so familiar…” Frisk said quietly, turning to the girl for some reassurance, or perhaps an affirmation that no, heaven didn’t normally look like the Underground. But Frisk saw instead Chara’s incredibly shocked look etched on her face, and when she followed her gaze she understood why.

Toriel stood at the doorway at the end of the hallway, staring back at them with a haunted look on her unnaturally pale face.

“Mother… died?” Chara whispered to Frisk. “While we were… asleep, or whatever?”

Frisk shrugged nervously. “I don’t remember seeing anyone when I was in control of Asriel.”

While they were discussing how Toriel could have possibly gone and died while they were gone, Frisk turned to look at Toriel again and was surprised to see her leaving quickly. “Chara! Come on! Toriel’s leaving!”

Frisk tugged Chara along. “Why is Mother leaving? If she died, shouldn’t she be happy to see us?” Chara muttered.

Frisk turned the corner and took a moment to stop. “She’s… fast…”

Chara nodded. “Father said that she was once a great athlete down in the underground.”

They continued their pace and when they got to a room with a bridge made of spikes they finally saw her crossing the bridge. “Mother!” Chara yelled, running to the bridge. However, she stopped short when she realized there were spikes on the bridge, and they didn’t seem to retract.

“How do we get across?” Frisk wondered, and finally Toriel stopped to look at them.

“Mother! Come back and help us cross the bridge!” Chara yelled at the goat, causing her to take another look at the girl.

“Chara… Frisk? Is that… is that really you? Or have I finally begun to hallucinate after all these years in the Ruins?” Toriel laughed hollowly. “Of course my mind thinks first of the children I had lost, and not of, perhaps, food. Or a bad joke. Where, then, is Asriel?”

Chara frowned. “He wasn’t near us when we woke up.”

Toriel’s eyes widened. “So, then… you are both real.”

She rushed over the bridge to scoop up the children, causing Frisk to giggle and Chara to exclaim, “Mother! Put me and Frisk down!”

Toriel laughed. “Oh, how happy I am! I never thought I would get to see you both again…”

Chara looked confused. “Mother? Are we in your heaven? Because we didn’t think heaven would look like the Ruins.”

Toriel turned to her. “Chara… I am still alive. This is not heaven. You both came back to life after nearly a thousand years.”

Frisk’s breathing turned uneven and Chara felt sick. “We’ve… been dead for a thousand years? And came back to life? How?” Frisk asked.

Toriel shook her head. “I do not know, child. However, I do know that this calls for celebration! I will bake a butterscotch pie for all of us to share at my house!”

Chara frowned. “What happened to the palace? Where’s Father?”

This, evidently, was not the thing to say to Toriel. Her face darkened and what she said next was angry and quiet.

“Asgore and I are no longer married. Our paths diverged when he announced a war against humanity. All humans who fall into the underground now are to be killed on sight, and their souls delivered to Asgore to store. Once they have seven souls, Asgore will break the barrier and destroy humankind.”

Chara fell limp in her arms, and Frisk gasped. “That’s kinda scary.”

Toriel nodded. “Yes. I found Asgore’s actions disgusting. I understand his reasoning, since humans took two children from us. However… I cannot just kill in cold blood. Especially since the last six humans who fell down here after you three died were all human children.”

Frisk turned pale. “So… they’re dead now?”

Toriel nodded solemnly. “All due to that horrific policy from Asgore.”

Once they arrived at Toriel’s home, Chara awoke and asked Frisk for a fill-in on what happened while she was asleep once they got to their room.

“So Asgore wants to kill all humans and free monsters because we died?” Chara summed up, Frisk nodding in confirmation. “Hopefully no monster attacks us…”

Chara huffed. “Well, if they do, I’ll protect you.” She said, smiling amiably at Frisk, who sighed. “I can fight too!”

Chara just laughed and ruffled Frisk’s hair. “Of course you can!”

“Children! The pie is ready!” Toriel called from the kitchen. Frisk jumped up. “Race you there!”

Chara smirked. “Oh, you’re on.”

When they ran past the mirror in the room, Chara took a quick look in it.

It’s still you, after everything.

Chapter Text

Frisk was drawing in her room when Chara walked in and closed the door quietly.

“Frisk? The barrier hasn’t been broken, so… we should go to see Father.” Chara said, shuffling her feet. “I think I have a plan to save monsterkind.”

Frisk frowned, and the look felt foreign on her face. “Like your plan which got us all killed?”

Chara flushed. “Well… this time, I won’t do something as stupid as trying to kill the entire human race.”

The younger girl sighed. “Fine. Just… don’t leave me behind this time, okay? We lost Asriel already. He didn’t come back with us. I don’t want to lose you, too.”

Frisk moved to reach her hand out to Chara, who felt sick. She didn’t want to… but she knew it was necessary. They couldn’t wait for another human to fall. That could take decades.

“Let’s go tell Toriel that we have to leave the Ruins.” Chara suggested, and Frisk nodded. When they left their room, Frisk took one last look, and she decided to take her drawing with her. Maybe she could use it..?

When they proposed their plan to go to New Home and try to break the barrier, Toriel nearly screamed at them. “What are you saying?” Toriel yelled, clearly trying to keep calm.

“We just want to help monsterkind after everything they did for us.” Chara stated calmly. Didn’t Toriel see that this was something only they could do?

“No. No. No, you’re children. Children! You should not have to fight a nation’s war!” Toriel cried, despair leaking through her voice. “If that miserable welp Asgore would just go through the barrier and take the final soul we would be free!”

Frisk smiled, and hugged Toriel’s hand, which was nearly as tall as her. “Ms. Toriel. With all due respect, I think we can do this.”

Toriel fixed her with a glare. “You are ten years old! You’re not even in adolescence yet! And you!” She turned to Chara next, who stood firm. “You… you’re probably the one who started this whole idea, yes? Think! Frisk is too young! You are both too young!”

Toriel’s voice lowered to a whisper. “If you go out there… Asgore’s decree will force every monster you meet… to kill you on sight. You will die by the hands of monsters. I cannot allow that.”

The goat monster stood. “I have something I must do. Stay here. Do you understand? You must stay here!”

She ran out of the room. Chara and Frisk looked at each other, confused, but they followed her anyways.

“Wait! She’s going to go destroy the exit to Snowdin! We have to hurry!” Chara screeched, pulling Frisk along.

When they got to the exit, Chara was horrified to see that Mother had her flames ready to burn the exit away. “Mother! Wait!”

Toriel turned, a fire in her eyes. “No. We must stay here. You can be safe. We can be a family again, Chara. Frisk, you can draw anything you want. Anywhere you want. I can bake pie every day for us. Please… do not make me do this.” Frisk’s eyes grew watery, but she held firm.

Chara stood her ground. “Mother. Let us through.”

Toriel’s face hardened. “Then prove to me… prove to me that you are strong enough to survive out there.”

She engaged the two, and their souls were drawn out of their bodies. Frisk marveled at hers, a bright red colour. Chara found hers to be a lovely dark red.

“Hey! Look!” Frisk giggled. “Our souls are the same colour!”

Chara coughed. “Ah… well… y-yes, I suppose so…”

Toriel growled. “Fight or run away!”

Chara hovered over Fight for a few seconds, but she felt shameful. She would never attack her own mother. So instead she decided to go for Spare.

Frisk almost immediately went for Spare, which made Chara surprised. They both knew that this was an unwinnable fight if you were sparing her, right..?

Toriel grew a dozen fireballs from her hand, and directed them at Chara and Frisk’s souls. Frisk found dodging to be a breeze, while Chara stumbled and tried to not get hit. How did Frisk find this so easy?

Once it ended, Chara and Frisk’s turn began. “Chara! Frisk! Fight or run AWAY!”

Chara looked over at Frisk, who had again chosen Spare. She followed her lead, and Spared Toriel.

Toriel grumbled. “Don’t you see? You will die if you do not fight!”

She summoned a wave of fireballs, making them weave and spin in odd patterns. Frisk dodged easily, while Chara found this wave a little easier. Perhaps Chara was better suited at doing the actual fighting then dodging or running away.

Chara and Frisk continued this charade of dodging and Sparing Toriel continuously.

“Children! Fight or DIE!” Toriel yelled, waving her fireballs at the children again. Finally, Chara’s soul was intercepted by one of them, causing Chara to gasp in pain. It hurt just as badly as it might have if she actually got burned.

Toriel seemed to shake at this.

“Please… you must fight! Fight or leave!”

“Stop looking at me that way.”

“I understand you want to save monsterkind… but…”

“Please… please go upstairs now.”

“Why are you making this so DIFFICULT, Chara?”

“Frisk, we can have a good life here. I know we do not have much… but…”

“Please go upstairs now…”

“Please… no. I understand now.”

Finally, Toriel stopped attacking the two. Chara had been hit by only one fireball, but the pain caused by the fire was lessened when Toriel moved a glowing green hand over the burn mark.

Frisk was the first to embrace the saddened Toriel, with Chara soon to follow.

“You both would not be happy here. Pathetic, is it not? I cannot even take care of two children…” Toriel laughed dryly, and embraced the two. “Goodbye, my children. And please… do not come back to the Ruins. I am sure you understand.”

Chara nodded. Frisk smiled and waved goodbye to Toriel, who waved back sadly. Then, she left the children just outside the exit from the Ruins, and the children found themselves to be in Snowdin.

Chara and Frisk walked quietly along the path to Snowdin Town. Both children were silently thinking about various subjects, almost all of which stemmed from their battle with Toriel.

Chara was thinking about Toriel’s magic. She had never seen it before… although she knew it existed, seeing it heal the burn as well as summon flaming orbs was a completely different story.

Frisk was thinking about what food to buy from Snowdin. She had a bit of money from Toriel, which she got after first seeing her again. She also considered the possibility of Toriel killing one or both of them, which made her shudder. She didn’t think the goat monster had it in her to kill a child.

The two were snapped out of their thoughts by a twig snapping behind them, causing both girls to stop walking.

Chara whirled around, looking for any possible monsters sneaking up on them, but saw nothing. She continued to look around, watching for any movement.

Frisk slowly looked around, listening intently for any noises which could possibly hint towards their mysterious assailant.

Both of them, however, heard the crunching of snow behind them, and they both turned around immediately.

“Humans… don’t you know how to greet a new friend. Shake my hand. Well, hands.” A shadowy figure said.

Frisk reached out for their hand, but hesitated and looked to Chara. Chara, surprised, realized that Frisk was silently asking Chara for her support. She wanted to make sure that Chara felt comfortable with this.

She shrugged, and they both shook the monster’s hands at the same time. A loud, drawn-out farting sound ensued, causing Frisk to giggle and Chara to roll her eyes.

“heya. i’m sans. sans the skeleton.” The skeleton monster said. “the ol’ whoopie cushion in a hand trick.”

Frisk smiled. “I’m Frisk, and this is Chara.”

Chara huffed. “That was not a particularly funny joke.”

Sans grinned. “of course it was. all my jokes are funny.”

Chara rolled her eyes again. “His jokes do not impress me much.”

Sans didn’t seem to hear this. “you’re humans, right? that’s hilarious. i’m supposed to be on watch for humans right now, but i’m taking a break. c’mon, let’s go further.”

Sans led them down the path, through a ginormous set of bars, to a station with a oddly shaped lamp. “my brother will check in here soon to make sure i’m working. he’s a human hunting fanatic, but to be honest, he wouldn’t hurt a fly. so if he does see you, just… try to be human-y, i guess? here. one of you can hide behind the lamp. or both of you, i guess.”

The two children went behind that conveniently shaped lamp, while Sans went to sit at the station and nap.

In a few minutes, a taller skeleton wearing an odd outfit run down the path and slam his hands down on the station, waking Sans up.

“SANS! WAKE UP!”

“oh. heya, bro.”

“SANS! WHY ARE YOU ASLEEP?! HAVE YOU EVEN DONE ANY WORK TODAY?”

“of course i have, bro. i’ve done a ton of work today. a skele-ton.”

Frisk giggled softly, and Chara turned to her. “How can you possibly find Sans’ jokes funny?”

Frisk shrugged. “I don’t know. They just are.”

Chara huffed. “Very helpful.”

“SANS! NO MORE PUNS!”

“okay, bro.”

The two skeletons spoke for a little while longer, Sans making a few more puns and the taller skeleton groaning at each one. Then the taller skeleton left.

“you can come out now.”

The children came out from behind the lamp. Frisk yawned, and Chara looked bored.

“welp. i guess you’re going to the capital, huh?” Sans asked them, causing Chara to narrow her eyes at him.

“Yes… how did you know?”

Sans shrugged. “just a hunch. anyways… my brother, that tall skeleton, papyrus. he’s been kinda down lately. it would be real helpful if you two could… play along, with him, y’know? let him capture a real human. that’d make him pretty happy, and if he’s happy then i’m happy too.”

Frisk nodded. “We can do that! Right, Chara?”

Chara nodded as well. “I believe that is within our abilities.”

Sans somehow grinned even wider. “thanks a million. anyways, see ya.” He walked down the path, and out of sight.

“Okay… so if we see Papyrus again, we have to let him capture us.” Frisk said out loud. “Seems easy enough.”

Chara shook her head. “Sans mentioned he wouldn’t even harm a fly. I’m sure he wouldn’t intentionally hurt us.”

They continued down the path, before Chara stopped. “Oh. Crap.”

“What?”

Chara frowned. “I forgot to ask Mother for a phone for you.”

Frisk smiled. “It’s okay. I don’t really get the point of a phone, anyways.”

Chara shook her head. “It’s more for keeping you safe. If you get stuck you can call for help, or you can call your family and friends.”

The girl shrugged. “I still don’t see the point. Why would I rather call you than just go see you in person?”

Chara flushed. “Well- um… if you can’t? Because you’re sick or something.”

Frisk giggled. “Okay. Whatever. I can just ask Ms. Toriel for a phone later!”

As they walked down the path, they saw another guard station. Chara was confused. “Huh? Didn’t we leave Sans’ guard station behind..?”

When they got to the station, their souls were drawn out of them, and they started a battle sequence.

“Huh?”

A dog monster slowly rose out of the bottom of the station. “Who’s there? Did something move? Was it my imagination? I can only see moving things. If something WAS moving… for example, a human… I’ll make sure it NEVER moves again!”

Frisk giggled. “Hey, it’s a dog, right? So it will probably leave us alone if we… I dunno. Pet it, I guess?”

Chara shrugged. Frisk had an… odd way, to say the least, of approaching battles. She never fought the monsters; she seemed to want to befriend them instead. Chara felt like this would get the girl killed one day.

For the first time, the two opened the Act menu, and chose the Pet option.

When they tried to, though, Doggo shook them off. “Something there!”

His attack consisted of a completely blue sword. Chara’s eyes widened. “Frisk! Don’t move!” The girl hissed. “Blue attacks will hurt you if you move through them, but if you don’t move then they can’t hurt you.”

The sword passed harmlessly through their souls, and the two relaxed.

“Well… if we can’t pet it…” Frisk dug through her pockets until she found and produced a stick.

Chara raised an eyebrow. “You had one of those lying around?”

Frisk giggled. “No! I found it in the Ruins.”

The girl threw the stick, and Doggo yelped. “HUH!!!! A FUN STICK APPEARS!”

The dog monster seemed to be happy enough to be spared now, so the two pressed Spare.

“A stick appeared out of nowhere, then disappeared. Was it a ghost stick? Did I just return it to the afterlife? I need some dog treats to think about this.” Doggo slid back down into the station, and the two continued on their way.

“Well… that was odd.” Chara murmured. “Why was Doggo in a human-watching station?”

Frisk shrugged. “Maybe cuz he’s part of the new Royal Guard.”

Chara considered this. “Hm… I suppose that is possible. We have been dead for nearly a thousand years, it is not unlikely that there is a new set of Royal Guards. I wonder if Adjin is still around.”

Frisk smiled. “I bet we could go see him after we’re finished in Snowdin!”

Chara smiled back. “Yes, I believe that can be in order.”

They walked in silence for a while until they got to a shorter path, where they found Papyrus and Sans talking.

“SANS! WHY WOULD YOU-”

Papyrus turned to the two humans, and stopped short. For a few minutes he turned back and forth between his brother and the humans until finally he stopped on the humans.

“SANS… ARE THOSE TWO HUMANS?!!”

Sans shrugged. “nah bro, those are some rocks.”

Papyrus looked sad. “OH.”

Sans pointed at Chara and Frisk, who waved shyly. “those two are humans, though.”

Papyrus was ecstatic. “TODAY IS THE BEST DAY FOR THE GREAT PAPYRUS! I, THE GREAT PAPYRUS, SHALL CAPTURE THESE HUMANS! AND THEN I WILL FINALLY JOIN THE ROYAL GUARD!”

“nice, bro.”

“SANS! WE MUST PREPARE THE TRAPS!” Papyrus said, spinning off.

Sans winked at the two. “thanks a million. i’ve never seen paps so happy before.”

Sans followed his brother, and Chara shook her head. “What an odd set of individuals who live here now.”

Frisk giggled. “I think they’re kinda funny!”

Chara smiled. “Yes. They’re kind of funny.”

Chapter Text

Papyrus did not seem to know how to properly trap a human, Chara noted. The skeleton had a great deal of determination to do so, but he didn’t quite have the ideas to do so.

One of his traps, for example, simply didn’t work. Another was literally a word puzzle. And the last one was just too “EASY” in his words. So then they entered Snowdin Town again.

Frisk went and bought some food for them, while Chara explored the town. There weren’t many new residents, but there were many old friends Chara recognized. They, of course, didn’t recognize her. She didn’t blame them; it had been centuries since they’d seen her or Frisk.

When she got back to the room they had rented in the Snowed Inn, she found Frisk there, staring off into space.

Chara sat next to the girl on the bed. “What are you thinking about, if I may be so inclined to your knowledge?”

Frisk giggled. “Don’t be so formal, Chara. I’m thinking about what we’ll do on the surface.”

Chara frowned inwardly.

“Maybe… we’ll go to the same school. I’ll live with Ms. Toriel, I think. We can see all our friends, and have fun!”

Chara nodded. “I think I would enjoy living with Father. I always liked gardening.”

Frisk yawned. “G-Goodnight, Chara.” She flopped onto her bed, and fell asleep within a few minutes.

Chara stayed awake for a little longer before also succumbing to the draw of sleep.

When Chara awoke, she was incredibly hungry. She went to grab breakfast from the nearby inn, which she enjoyed immensely. Unfortunately it was not nearly as good as the cooking Toriel could make.

When she got back to the Inn, Frisk was still sleeping. Chara sighed and began to shake the girl. “Friiiiiisk. Friiiiiiiiisk. You have to wake up, we have to go.” She just sniffed and rolled over.

Chara sighed, and tried to remember how she woke Asriel up when he wouldn’t get up, either. Then, an idea came to her.

Chara wiggled her fingers. “Frisk… if you don’t wake up, I’m going to poke you until you do.” She began by just poking the girl in the shoulder. She increased this to two fingers, and so it went.

Once Chara got to 20 fingers, though, she wondered if Frisk would even wake up.

Chara decided to switch tactics, and she began to scribble her fingers haphazardly along Frisk’s side, which her sweater didn’t cover. This did the trick; Frisk shot up and started to giggle and wave Chara’s hands away.

“Okay, okay! Chara!”

Chara grinned. “You are adorable.” She wiggled her fingers and Frisk squealed and ran away to the other side of the room. Chara laughed, and left the room. “Frisk! We really should be leaving!”

Once they had left the Inn, they continued along the main road to the exit of Snowdin and to the entrance to Waterfall, where Papyrus awaited them.

“HELLO, HUMANS.” Papyrus said, facing them. “I PITY YOU... LONELY HUMANS... WORRY NOT!!! YOU SHALL BE LONELY NO LONGER! I, THE GREAT PAPYRUS, WILL BE YOUR... ... NO... NO, THIS IS ALL WRONG! I CAN'T BE YOUR FRIEND!!! YOU ARE HUMANS! I MUST CAPTURE YOU!!! THEN, I CAN FULFILL MY LIFELONG DREAM!!! POWERFUL! POPULAR! PRESTIGIOUS!!! THAT'S PAPYRUS!!! THE NEWEST MEMBER... OF THE ROYAL GUARD!”

Chara sighed as Papyrus explained his whole plan and dream again. “Papyrus?”

“YES?”

“Can we get on with the capturing?”

Papyrus looked shocked. “SO… YOU ADMIT I CAN CAPTURE YOU?”

“Yes.”

“YOU ARE… ADMITTING DEFEAT?”

“Um… sure.”

“GREAT! YEAH… THAT’S GREAT…”

Papyrus seemed to be unhappy.

“I CAN’T EVEN CAPTURE SOMEONE AS WEAK AS YOU TWO… UNDYNE WILL BE DISAPPOINTED IN ME…”

Papyrus went on to tell them about Asgore, but what he said was vastly different from what Toriel said. He told them the king was, “A BIG FUZZY PUSHOVER,” and that they could probably just ask for directions through the barrier.

Chara and Frisk looked at each other. Either Papyrus had no idea who Asgore was, or Toriel hadn’t seen Asgore recently. Papyrus seemed relatively new to Snowdin…

“ANYWAY! THAT’S ENOUGH TALKING! I’LL BE AT HOME BEING A COOL FRIEND! FEEL FREE TO COME BY AND HANG OUT!”

Papyrus then walked off the path and into the river, causing the battle to end. Chara looked extremely confused, as he broke the laws of physics by literally floating over the water while he walked away.

“How- what? Huh?”

Frisk giggled. “That’s pretty funny.”

“No! That shouldn’t be possible- what?” Chara felt like she had melted and died right there on the spot. She turned to Frisk who was rolling on the floor with laughter.

“Glad you find Papyrus literally destroying the laws of physics funny.” Chara grumbled.

“Not him- you!” Frisk snickered.

“Hey!”

Once the two went back to Papyrus’ and Sans’ house, Papyrus seemed happy.

“WOWIE! I’VE NEVER HAD FRIENDS OVER… EXCEPT FOR UNDYNE, OF COURSE! BUT SHE KINDA JUST STAYS OUTSIDE AND SHIVERS ALL THE TIME.”

The two explored the house. Chara found it funny that the dog came in to steal the bone, and Frisk bumped her to get her to stop laughing silently as Papyrus freaked out.

When they finally entered Papyrus’ actual room, they talked about themselves for a while. Papyrus told them about various items around his room (he didn’t seem keen on explaining what Undernet was.)

Papyrus seemed to like race cars, Chara noted. He mentioned something about driving one on the surface.

“We should go.” Chara whispered to Frisk, who yawned and nodded. They’d listened to Papyrus talk about his relatively eventful life for a while now, and they really did need to go.

“BYE BYE, HUMANS!”

The two went to Waterfall. They were tired but determined to push forward to Asgore.

Along the way, they met Nabstablook, an odd and awkward ghost who seemed to be nice for the most part. And… then they saw Adjin’s old house. It had crumbled to ruins in the time they’d been gone.

Frisk cried after seeing it, and Chara just stood there numbly. She wondered what monster had the strength to kill Adjin; Father had told her he was one of the strongest monsters the Underground had.

After leaving Adjin’s ruined house, they met… Undyne. Presumably the captain of the Royal Guard, Chara seethed as she figured Undyne killed Adjin to take his place. She was even a fish monster, too…

And then Undyne confronted them and told them the story of their kingdom, causing Chara and Frisk to listen lest she attacked them.

“Through one of your souls, we’ll have the seventh and final soul. And then we’ll be free…”

After Undyne decided they were not worthy of hearing the story of their people, which both children already knew anyways, she jumped down at them, spear ready to impale them.

Chara readied herself, moving Frisk behind her, causing Undyne to roar. “Come out and face me, coward!”

She knocked Chara out of the way, throwing the girl into the wall of the cave. Frisk’s soul was dragged out of her, causing the battle sequence to begin.

Chara yelled and ran back to the two. Frisk trembled but held firm as Undyne thrust her attacks at the girl. Chara felt scared as she watched them fight. Frisk was so, so small compared to Undyne.

“You killed Adjin to murder children?” Chara screamed, fury burning in her. “For what? Murder? Death?”

This accusation made Undyne turn. “Adjin…? I didn’t kill him. He… was my grandfather. He was killed by a human child much like yourselves a few hundred years ago.” Chara watched Undyne waver in confusion. “How did you know about him…?”

She turned back without another word. “He talked about the royal children. Said there were two humans, and one monster… could you…?”

Her spear punctured Frisk’s sweater near her stomach, and Frisk screamed, falling to the ground limply. Chara saw only red as the battle ended, and Undyne seemed to be… surprised?

“I… I got one… See, Grandpa…?”

“Chara… run…”

The teen unsheathed her knife and twirled it around. “You… mother fucker.”

Undyne grinned. “You want to fight me?”

Chara smiled and gripped her knife tightly. “Yes, of course.”

Chara’s soul was drawn out and the battle began.

Undyne shook with exhaustion. She and Chara had been fighting for nearly twenty minutes now, the girl going on the offensive every chance she got. Undyne just blocked her attacks, but when it was her turn, she spared Chara. Every time, the girl growled in anger and swung her knife a little harder.

Finally, Chara slashed recklessly at the captain, the resulting block’s force knocking the knife out of Chara’s hand.

The two both breathed for a moment, before Chara ran at Undyne again. Undyne swung the blunt end of her energy spear at Chara and she saw nothing.

Chapter Text

Chara’s eyes opened slowly. She blinked a few times, trying to get the blurriness to go away, before she sat up. She was in an unfamiliar place… it looked kind of like a house?

She looked over and saw Frisk lying next to her, unconscious. A wave of fear drew over her as she remembered the previous events that transpired. Chara went to check on the girl, who seemed to be alright. A bandage had been wrapped around her stomach, and there was monster food on the nightstand.

Chara turned around and opened the door to the room, walking out with one last look at Frisk. She found herself in a kitchen, and she was shocked to see Undyne sitting at the table, eating some sort of monster cereal. The fish monster turned and yelped. “AGH! Oh… you’re awake.”

Chara shook her head. “Why did you help us?”

Undyne looked… ashamed? “I recognized your fighting style, and your spirit. You’re Chara, aren’t you…? And the pacifist sleeping in my room is Frisk.”

Chara nodded. “Yeah. That sounds about right. Frisk wouldn’t fight anyone unless she had to.”

Undyne laughed. “That takes guts, you know. It’s always easier to kill someone then to talk it out with them so they don’t want to kill you anymore.”

“I suppose you have a point.”

“So… sorry about the whole stabbing thing, you must know that it’s rather strange seeing two long-dead humans come along this way. Tell me… are you going to see Asgore?”

Chara nodded again. “Yes. We have a plan to free all the monsters from the Underground.”

Undyne’s eyes widened. “Ahhh… you two really are something special, huh?”

The girl shrugged. “I suppose.”

She stood to leave, and was about to close the door to the bedroom when Undyne spoke up. “You know… your dad never stopped saying that stuff about you two. Even after you… well. Grandpa always told me about it. ‘They were the future of monsters and humans!’”

Chara scoffed. “We were never the future of monsters and humans. We couldn’t even save monsters, could we..?”

The door closed quietly.

When Chara woke up again, Frisk was gone. The girl tried to shrug off the feeling of fear she got whenever Frisk was out of her sight. Undyne was here, and loath as Chara was to admit it, Undyne was a great fighter.

Chara stretched her limbs and walked out to the kitchen again, but the fear returned when she found neither Frisk nor Undyne to be in the kitchen.

“Undyne..? Frisk?”

When she went outside, she searched for any signs of them. Walking along the path led her to a shy ghost’s home; Nabstablook.

Questioning him led her to Hotland. She’d met Sans again, who asked her if she wanted some hot dogs. When she said no, he asked her where Frisk was.

“You’re just full of questions, huh?” Chara snapped. His eyes widened slightly.

“woah. calm down, i just wanted to know where the kiddo was. something wrong?”

Chara sighed and rubbed her forehead. “Yeah. You know Undyne?”

After telling Sans the whole thing, Chara was sure his eyes would’ve popped clean out of his head if he had any.

“wow. you held your own against undyne for twenty minutes? that’s crazy.”

Chara smiled. “I suppose so. She was a good fighter.”

“and you don’t know where she’s gone? presumably she took frisk with her.”

Chara nodded. “Exactly right. Listen, I really must be going…”

Sans held up a hand. “got a shortcut to a place undyne frequents. let’s go.”

Chara followed the skeleton along a seemingly normal path, but after a few feet of walking they were in front of… Dr. Gaster’s laboratory?

Chara raised an eyebrow, looking ar Sans. “Dr. Gaster’s laboratory?”

Sans shrugged. “dunno who you’re talking about. this is doctor alphys' lab.”

The girl looked again. “Huh. Labs must have changed in the past thousand years…”

“what?”

“Nothing.”

Chara waved goodbye to Sans, and went inside the laboratory. She had grabbed her knife from Undyne’s house before she left. She had wondered how Undyne retrieved it, but didn’t bother asking.

The lab’s lights were on, and Chara could hear faint laughter.

Following the noise, she found Frisk, Undyne, and another monster, sitting in some sort of room.

Undyne stood quickly at the entrance of Chara. “Oh- hey, Chara. This is Alphys, and-”

Chara hid her knife. “Greetings, Alphys.”

Undyne seemed to be… worried? Frisk waved at Chara. “Hi, Chara! Alphys is cool, she likes anime! She’s got a bunch of it on her television!”

Chara shook her head and smiled, sheathing her knife. “Ah. I believed you and Undyne may have been in trouble of some sort.”

Undyne laughed nervously. “Oh, no. I thought Frisk might like Alphys’ shows, since I read that human children enjoy watching television shows.”

Alphys shrugged and spoke for the first time. “Well, u-um, she seems to e-enjoy them, s-so…”

Undyne looked uncomfortable. “Hey, Alphys? Could I… talk to you for a second?”

The two monsters left the room, leaving the children to converse.

“Hi, Chara!” Frisk said cheerfully. “What took you so long?”

Chara smiled wider. “Just… lost my way. My apologies.”

“Chara! Undyne said she likes Alphys! Why do you think she said that? Obviously they like each other, ‘cuz they’re friends!”

The older girl flushed red. “Very rude… don’t listen in on people.”

“Why not?”

Chara wondered how long it took for people to talk.

Frisk had fallen asleep while waiting for Undyne and Alphys to come back, that was how long they’d been gone.

Idly, Chara checked her phone for any calls from Toriel. Unsurprisingly, there were quite a few.

Perhaps she could spend some time talking to her mother.

Chara smiled. That seemed like a wonderful idea.

Chara awoke to the sound of loud arguing outside.

She went to the door, and tried to open it, only to realize it wasn’t budging. She pulled on the handle, kicked the door (and yelped), shook the handle, nothing worked.

The window the door had showed Chara an odd scene.

Sans and Papyrus had somehow gotten into the lab, and seemed to be talking to Undyne and Alphys.

Chara pulled on the handle some more. Growling, she thought about what she could do. Then, an idea struck her. Living with the Dreemurrs had taught her something.

She concentrated, and she opened her eyes to a red orb of light in her cupped hands. Smiling, Chara focused on the warm feeling coursing through her, and the orb shuddered, shaping itself into a glowing red knife.

Chara waved her hands at the doorknob, and red knives battered the door until the doorknob shattered.

The girl wiped sweat off her forehead. She’d have to practise; exhaustion was a factor every magic-wielding monster had to face.

Chara kicked the door open and brandished her knife. “What-”

“oh hey, the kid got out. nice.”

“HELLO, HUMAN!”

Undyne turned. “Chara… please go back inside your room.” She noticed Undyne gripping her spear. Alphys seemed to be hiding behind her.

“No! What is going on?”

“well, ya see, kiddo-”

“THEY CAPTURED YOU! AND WE’VE COME TO BREAK YOU OUT!”

“paps got it.”

Undyne growled. “No one is breaking anyone out because no one is trapped!”

“except for the kids.”

“THEY’RE NOT ALIVE! THEY ARE UNDEAD!” Undyne roared, throwing her spear at Sans.

Chara had moved unconsciously in front of the skeleton. Sans looked confused, and Undyne looked shocked and sad.

“Wh- I…” Chara collapsed, the spear protruding out of her arm. “Undyne… why would you attack… Sans…?”

Papyrus gingerly picked the girl up. “WE WILL EXPLAIN LATER, CHARA. FOR NOW… LET’S GO!”

“No… I want… to stay!”

Sans shrugged. “alrighty. paps, make sure she’s safe.”

Papyrus nodded and saluted Sans. “YES! I CAN DO THAT!”

Sans stood in an odd, face-off against Undyne. Papyrus and Chara were on the side, Papyrus trying in vain to heal the wound. The spear had already been taken out.

Undyne stood across from Sans, Alphys standing next to her now.

“look… undyne. just put the spear down, and we can talk about this.”

Undyne shook her head, fury in her eyes. “No. I am done TALKING!”

Sans started the battle sequence. “okay.”

Chara was shocked to see Sans spare Undyne. “let’s talk this out.”

“I said… I’m… DONE… TALKING!”

Undyne shot her spears at Sans, and when they hit him, the air filled with dust…

And when the dust cleared, Sans was still there, shaking his head. “what? you think i’m just gonna stand there and take it?”

Nearly everyone except for Alphys (surprisingly) and Papyrus seemed to be confused as to how Sans survived this attack.

“ya know, dodging is pretty great.”

“Wait… so he could’ve done that… the entire… time…?” Chara muttered, wincing in pain. Papyrus gave her some monster food, which helped her feel a bit better. Those spears hurt…

“It doesn’t matter, Sans. Those kids aren’t real! They should not EXIST!”

Undyne summoned more spears and held them at the ready. “Sans… move out of my way.”

“nah. don’t you see this is wrong? who cares if they’re ‘real’ or not?”

Undyne roared and threw the spears at Sans, the skeleton moving out of the way effortlessly.

“you can’t just experiment on children because you think they’re not real. what constitutes something real?”

Chara didn’t understand how Sans did this. She would’ve starting attacking Undyne by now… which she supposed is what made Sans and her different.

“What’s… going on?” Chara whipped her head around to see Frisk standing in the doorway.

“heya, kiddo. just some adults having adult talks. it’s not really that interesting, go back to sleep.”

Frisk yawned. “Can I stay anyways?”

Sans shrugged again. “sure.”

Frisk smiled, and ran over to Chara. “Hi, Chara!” The girl whispered. “Why are you lying down?”

Chara winced. “Got… a little hurt?”

Frisk frowned. “That doesn’t seem fun. Let me try…”

Frisk closed her eyes, and Chara’s eyes widened as Frisk’s hands glowed green. Her wounds started to close and Chara breathed a sigh of relief. “Didn’t know you knew magic.”

Frisk giggled. “Toriel taught me some. She said it might be helpful!”

“You’re being too lenient, Sans! There is no possible way that humans- no, anyone, can come back from death! That’s IMPOSSIBLE!”

Spears shot up from the ground around Sans, and still none of them were able to hit him. Chara noticed a small amount of sweat appearing on Sans’ forehead. Perhaps he was using magic to dodge these attacks…

“nah. it’s totally possible. just ‘cuz we don’t understand it doesn’t mean anything. ya know, like DT.”

“DT? Determination? I don’t think that’s how DT works, why would it take nearly a thousand years to work, then?”

Sans shrugged. “who knows. it’s crazy stuff.”

Undyne seemed ready to blast Sans with more spears, and Chara wondered how much more dodging Sans could do before he got tired out. They had to do something.

“Papyrus! Back me up here! You were supposed to capture these humans, weren’t you? GET THEM!”

Papyrus looked down at Chara, who looked back. Frisk smiled hopefully at the tall skeleton.

“UH… UNDYNE? MAYBE YOU’RE RIGHT. MAYBE I’M NOT MEAN ENOUGH TO BE IN THE ROYAL GUARD. BUT I CAN STILL HELP PEOPLE!”

He raised his hands, and light blue bones shot out of the ground in a cage around Undyne.

“PAPYRUS!”

“nice one.”

Both skeletons walked over to the cage. “Let’s have a nice discussion now, like adults do. Alphys?”

Alphys nodded. “I… guess so.” She waved at Chara and Frisk. “Sorry about the trapping you in the room thing; we thought you might try to murder us.”

Sans looked confused. “Why… would they murder you? They’ve spared every monster they’ve come across.”

Undyne growled. “That… flower, told us about all the monsters they’d killed in the Ruins, and Snowdin.”

Papyrus shrugged. “WELL, I DON’T KNOW ABOUT THE RUINS, BUT I KNOW THEY DIDN’T HURT ANYONE IN SNOWDIN! THEY WERE TOO BUSY WITH MY PUZZLES! NYEH HEH HEH!”

“We never killed anyone.” Chara said quietly. “Check our EXP; We haven’t killed anyone.”

Sans looked at them for a moment before nodding. “nothing.”

“No… EXP?” Undyne said uncertainly. “Then… what was that flower talking about?”

As the monsters talked, Chara stood up, Frisk supporting her. Chara laughed dryly. “Look at us. A little girl, supporting a young adult.”

Frisk giggled. “You’re not even 16 yet.”

“And yet it feels that way.”

The two walked over to the exit from the lab. When they left, Chara saw an elevator presumably leading to the Core. She remembered Papyrus telling them about that place.

Taking the elevator led the two to some sort of spider monster bakery. “All proceeds go to real spiders~” The spider girl had said.

Once they were past that, they found themselves in some sort of… spider web?

Frisk and Chara stopped at the edge of a large web, spanning across half the room.

“Do we have to go through that?” Frisk asked Chara, eyes wide.

“Uh… I suppose so.”

They tried to wade through the webbing only to get stuck about halfway through.

“I heard… that they’re very stingy with their money.”

The spider monster from before appeared before them.

“Uh… hi! Could you please let us go?”

“Let you go? Don’t be silly~”

Chara growled. “We don’t have time for this!”

She drew her knife and slashed through the webs, the spider girl screaming. Chara cut through Frisk’s webbing, too, and they ran away from the spider.

“We’ll get you next time~”

They stopped right outside the room, breathing heavily. “Okay… that… was weird…” Frisk murmured. “Why did… she want to attack us…?”

Chara shrugged, chest heaving. “Who knows.”

Chara held her hand out to Frisk, who took it. Then, they continued down the path.

Chapter Text

Chara and Frisk walked quietly through the Core.

Mettaton had sung them a lovely song, and the two watched as his attempts to kill them failed over and over. Alphys and he seemed to be in a sort of battle, Chara noted.

Finally, they made it to Mettaton’s… hotel? That was what it seemed to be, at any rate.

Sans waved them over to him, and led them to the diner area.

“buddy… you’d be dead where you stand.”

He then told them it was just a joke. Chara felt too tired to care at this point, and she pulled Frisk along to the hotel rooms where Chara fell asleep immediately.